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First impressions, gut reactions, and unexamined assumptions about the future of work become embedded in conventional wisdom. Even when they turn out to be false, people still believe them.

Here are the three biggest myths about the future of work.

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]

The COVID-19 pandemic crushed the business travel industry, hammering trade shows, hotels, airlines, and other services. As video meetings went mainstream, the industry’s loss was Zoom’s gain.

But now, restrictions are being lifted. As a result, business travel is coming back.

Travel management company TripActions says business travel bookings for the first quarter of this year exceeded all bookings for the entire previous year.

Unsurprisingly, the “return” of business travel, in fact, is less of a return and more of a new world of trends.

For example, TripActions says more than one-third of business travelers are now booking longer “bleisure” trips, combining business with leisure. Some business travel will be workcations. Other trips will be remote workers visiting the office.

Despite the changes, some companies are still sending employees and executives on good old-fashioned business trips.

A recent Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) poll found that three-quarters of respondents’ companies (74%) now allow international travel, up 48% in February.

The only difference is the price.

This was a two day event, and we met some awesome winemakers. (And awesome cheese makers!)

Last summer, law enforcement officials contacted both Apple and Meta, demanding customer data in “emergency data requests.” The companies complied. Unfortunately, the “officials” turned out to be hackers affiliated with a cyber-gang called “Recursion Team.”

Roughly three years ago, the CEO of a UK-based energy company got a call from the CEO of the company’s German parent company instructing him to wire a quarter of a million dollars to a Hungarian “supplier.” He complied. Sadly, the German “CEO” was in fact a cybercriminal using deepfake audio technology to spoof the other man’s voice.

One set of criminals was able to steal data, the other, money. And the reason was trust. The victims’ source of information about who they were talking to was the callers themselves.

Here's how a zero trust mindset could have easily thwarted these attacks. 

Last summer, law enforcement officials contacted both Apple and Meta, demanding customer data in “emergency data requests.” The companies complied. Unfortunately, the “officials” turned out to be hackers affiliated with a cyber-gang called “Recursion Team.”

Roughly three years ago, the CEO of a UK-based energy company got a call from the CEO of the company’s German parent company instructing him to wire a quarter of a million dollars to a Hungarian “supplier.” He complied. Sadly, the German “CEO” was in fact a cybercriminal using deepfake audio technology to spoof the other man’s voice.

One set of criminals was able to steal data, the other, money. And the reason was trust. The victims’ source of information about who they were talking to was the callers themselves.

Here's why remote work makes zero trust a must for deterring social engineering attacks. 

Super-commuting was (and is) mainly a burden and a problem — a failure of public policy. (Super-commuting is when your commute takes 90 minutes or more each way.)

According to the US Census Bureau, even before the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing remote- and hybrid-work surge, super-commuting was very much on the rise. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of super-commuters in the United States increased by 45%, according to an analysis by Apartment List. In 2019, some 4.6 million Americans commuted for more than 90 minutes each way.

Pre-COVID, the rise in super-commuting was driven by rising housing costs and road congestion. Nearly a third (roughly 1.4 million people) were found near only three over-priced housing markets: New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. And nearly half live within 30 miles of the office; those longer commutes resulted from slower traffic, not further distances.

Many super-commuters, especially in and around New York City, live only 10 miles from their place of work. But it takes so long to get to the office because of slow rush-hour traffic, long waits to switch between buses or subway trains, and other problems that have nothing to do with living far from work.

So what is the effect of post-COVID work arrangements on the super-commuting trend? The answer will surprise you. 

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]

Magic Leap just unveiled an advanced prototype of its Magic Leap 2 headset and the consensus among reviewers is that it’s a great product.

Founded 12 years ago, Magic Leap first offered up a series of proof-of-concept prototypes that started out being bigger than a big refrigerator. Then, four years ago, the company introduced its first headset, aimed also at the consumer market. The technology wasn't ready for the world, or maybe the world wasn't ready for the  technology, but the company sold only a few thousand units. Magic Leap was barely hanging on until it raised more money to continue.

The prototype, unveiled last week, delivers universal improvement in all aspects of the device's technology, usability and functionality. And two features put Magic Leap into contention as a device that can co-dominate enterprise augmented reality (AR), along with Apple.

The current thinking goes like this: Hybrid work is a great compromise between requiring all employees to either be in the office full time or requiring employees to work remote full time. Remote work is a great solution because employees can enjoy the convenience and focus of a home office, then go into the office for the real-world collaboration they can only get in person.

Many large Silicon Valley tech companies are embracing hybrid work, including Google.

It feels like a great solution. But I think the hybrid model may create more problems than it solves over time. So here are the potential issues with hybrid work.

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]

We celebrate This Week in Tech's 17th anniversary! Plus we solve every problem related to Elon Musk, Apple, Microsoft, hybrid work, argan oil, NVIDIA, Russian army audio, Unreal Engine, WWDC, Magic Leap and enterprise AR, the climate crisis, r/Place, Alphabet drone delivery, Windows 3.1, baseball tech, Amtrak trolling, Chatterbox and much more! Watch now!

A convenience store chain in Japan, called FamilyMart, is experimenting with remotely controlled robots to stock shelves. The employees can work from anywhere using what are essentially VR googles and controllers, and among their number can be disabled employees with limited mobility — people who lack the physical ability to stock shelves unassisted by robotics.

Heavy equipment maker, Cat, is developing increasingly-capable remote-control earth movers and other such equipment — as are several other European companies. For now, it's marketed as a safety technology, so humans don't have to work in dangerous work environments. But in the future, it could be that high-skilled machine operators could be hired from anywhere. Construction. Road work. You name it — it could all be done from a city apartment.

Planes, trains, and automobiles could be piloted and controlled remotely. Some factory work can be done at home, as long as the equipment isn't too large or complex.

In fact, a great many jobs now considered impossible as remote positions could become remote with the right technology, along with some creative thinking.

Here's why the blue-collar remote-work revolution is about hit. 

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]

In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described a future in which our workplace would exist in the so-called "metaverse."

Our commute would involve little more than slipping on a pair of virtual reality (VR) goggles. Once jacked in, we’ll interact with colleagues via avatars, attend meetings, give presentations and do all our work in a VR world.

Instead of sitting at a desk in front of a keyboard and screen, we’ll instead sit in front of a virtual keyboard and virtual screen, doing our work as before, but all virtualized.

Zuckerberg specified the virtualization of even jobs that involving typing — such as writing and coding — where VR would be preferable to actual reality because you could have a virtual screen of any size — "your ideal workstation," he said.

That scenario, he said, is "no more than five years off."

Zuckerberg's predictions, which are more than predictions because his company is investing billions to realize them, confront futurists (especially those of us writing newsletters called "Future of Work") with the question: Is the future of work virtual?

Amazon's Amp is the newest and best social audio service. Amp is thousands of radio stations where you're the D.J., if you want to be. (Or you can just enjoy the music.) You can play music free from Amazon's tens of millions of songs. You can talk. You can take callers and have conversations. 

It's ambient social audio, and people are spending 10 hours at a time on the service, even as they work. Here are my current thoughts on Amp. 

Amp is currently in beta, US-only, iOS-only and requires an Amazon account. Here's how to get on Amp and follow me (I'll follow you back, too): 

1. Download the iPhone app here. 

2. On the app, log into your Amazon account

3. Use the Access Code GOLIVE

4. Click here to go to my profile, and smash the button to follow me.

Have fun!

I’ll just come out and say it: Amazon Amp is BY FAR the best social audio service.

Because it’s “ambient.” It’s designed to provide a soundtrack for your life, without all the scheduled, trade-show-conference intensity of Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces.

Amp lets you be a DJ. You can select from any of tens of millions of songs available to use (but not download) for your shows. You build a playlist, then play that music for yourself and your audience — the Amp users who choose to listen. Between songs, you can talk. And, like a radio DJ, you can open it up for “callers.” They queue up, and you can choose whomever you like to talk. And you have a conversation.

Currently live shows are featured on the app, and as you scroll through them you eventually see the scheduled shows in order, with the soonest first.

The result of this format is a very relaxed, easygoing ambient kind of social audio experience.

Unlike Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces (which can become a kind of extrovert Hunger Games of microphone hogging and bloviating pontification, and where far too many conversations descend into boring chatter about crypto), Amp shows are great for everybody. Even the most extreme introverts can host shows without discomfort.

I think Amp is going to be huge. But even if it doesn’t blow up, Amp is already a super fun way to discover music and have conversations.

Go here to get all the details. 

The Russian government used to be very good at disinformation. In the last two weeks — not so much.

Russia's disinformation strategy is rooted in 20th-Century KGB tactics for using information warfare against the Russian population to suppress popular support for political opponents of the state.

In the 21st Century, where information is global, Russia's disinformation services are working overtime to serve the regime's interests as Putin sees them, with sometimes opposite messages for internal and global consumption.

In general — both inside Russia and around the world — Russia's falsehoods and propaganda aren’t having the usual effect. And this failure may hold the keys to combating disinformation in the future. 

If so, here's the apparent formula for defeating state-sponsored disinformation.

The magic of gathering around the table with kindred spirits is unforgettable. It’s the place where lifetime memories and lifelong friendships are created.

We had the pleasure of creating a magical gathering with an exquisite meal prepared by our friend and talented chef Israel Loyola Espinosa at the beautiful Hotel Sin Nombre during the recent Oaxaca Experience. But there are always secret new gatherings and endless surprises during this once-in-a-lifetime Oaxaca Experience. We can’t wait for you to feel the magic of gathering for The Oaxaca Experience in December.

Two years after much of the business world abandoned offices to avoid COVID-19, it looks like it’s time to get back to the office. Just how is that supposed to work?

The moment we all anticipated (or feared) is here: After two years of on-again, off-again pandemic lockdowns, the "Great Return" is happening for most offices between mid-February and the end of April. Read the rest in my Future of Work newsletter!

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry, the publishing company formerly known as IDG. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]

In other words: Is it time to sell the house, tuck away your belongings in storage and turn your life into a permanent workcation?

The answer is yes.

[About this newsletter. My "Future of Work" email newsletter is published by Foundry, the publishing company formerly known as IDG. The newsletter is both ad-free and free of charge. BUT, because Foundry newsletters are aimed at technology and business professionals, you'll be asked some basic information as part of the subscription process. Please provide! I'd love for you to subscribe to my Future of Work newsletter. -Thank you! -Mike]