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Jill E Duffy

@jilleduffy.bsky.social
335 followers 568 following 214 posts

Writer: work, workplace issues, women in midlife, tech Words at WIRED, PCMag, BBC, Gloria, others Currently living somewhere along the Mekong jilleduffy.com

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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 09/09/2026
yeah
From the wired article, regarding hiring (and applying) using AI: "“This is the first time I can remember when both sides are unhappy,” Chait says. “It's just not working.”"
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
www.wired.com/story/ai-job...
wired.com
AI Use in the Job Market Is Creating an Infinite Doom Loop
Job seekers are trying to game the application process using AI. It’s not working, and not for the reasons you might think.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
"Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu and Yale economist Pascual Restrepo call this 'so-so automation': It’s not superintelligent robots taking over our workplaces. Instead, reliably mediocre ones are being installed that displace human work while annoying us all." www.fastcompany.com/91572019/sta...
fastcompany.com
Starbucks made a national bet on an AI tool; 9 months later, it pulled the plug
The exclusive inside story of how a promising AI system flamed out, as told by dozens of Starbucks employees and the tech startup behind it. Plus, what leaders everywhere should learn from the experie...
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
"Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu and Yale economist Pascual Restrepo call this 'so-so automation': It’s not superintelligent robots taking over our workplaces. Instead, reliably mediocre ones are being installed that displace human work while annoying us all." removepaywalls.com/https://www....
removepaywalls.com
https://www.fastcompany.com/91572019/starbucks-bet-big-ai-tool-national-scale-9-months-inventory-automated-counting-nomadgo
View article without paywall
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Here the link to the story www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Big Tech Needs to Justify AI Spending as Investors Dump Stocks
After last week’s wipeout in chips and the broader selloff in technology stocks, pressure is building for the biggest spenders on artificial intelligence to justify their expenditures to beleaguered t...
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I begged the editor to leave in my jokes. He did. Flipper's $249 Busy Bar Tells Your Coworkers to Scram and When to Come Back www.pcmag.com/news/flipper...
pcmag.com
Flipper's $249 Busy Bar Tells Your Coworkers to Scram and When to Come Back
I went hands-on with a desktop info panel that aims to protect your focus at work—but might make your colleagues hate you.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
"much token usage, or ‘chewing,’ is not from supercharged engineers creating lots of code, but people converting PDFs into presentation slides." In other words, the message from companies is: "AI doing grunt work is too expensive." You cannot make this up. www.404media.co/companies-ar...
404media.co
Companies Are Throttling Employees’ AI Use Because It’s Too Expensive
Sources and leaks from Amazon, Adobe, Atlassian, Citi, and more show what is really happening with AI right now: companies are trying to rein in AI use as costs spiral out of control.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
A lesson in making it difficult for people to feel sympathy for you www.the-independent.com/life-style/b...
the-independent.com
Millionaire biohacker reveals he has incurable disease amid mission to ‘defeat death’
‘My stomach is eating itself,’ the tech entrepreneur announced on social media
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
The last 2 weeks, I've been unable to load a ton of web pages that usually go just fine I turned VPN on and then off I reset browser settings I searched for other causes: DNS, firewall, network settings... No dice Then I QUIT my VPN application. All the pages loaded 🤦‍♀️ Beware NordVPN users!
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Michael Calore @snackfight.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Truer words never spoken (by @jilleduffy.bsky.social) www.wired.com/story/halo-s...
Screenshot: I launched Instagram because I'm Gen X and that's where we watch TikTok.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
"Born in the USA" at a political event (even better if it's war-related) "YMCA" at a conservative event "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley/Leonard Cohen at a wedding Lyrics, people! Lyrics!
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
AI companies coming to make us stop using em dashes, or make us double-down on em dashes... #AI #writing #TheGreatEmDashDebate
A page from the Dr. Seuss book The Sneeches; many Sneeches are sitting on a hill when a creature named Sylvester McMonkey McBean drives up in a vehicle. The text reads: "'My friends,' he announced in a voice clear and keen, 'My name is Sylvester McMonkey McBean."
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Knowledge workers who are highly productive balance the "mindless" or easy or low-focus parts of work with the hard stuff. We work it into our day so that the low-focus tasks provide us with a break. That break is integral to getting back to the high-focus work
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
People who hype AI have no idea about diminishing returns We have decades of research showing that when people only work on hard stuff & don't get sufficient breaks, they burn out If AI is sold as a tool that "automates the mindless parts of work" then the worker is only left w the hard parts
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
What I don't get about AI hype is this: People w middling productivity don't need masterful tools They need to minimize distractions. They need to develop the skill of focus. They need to differentiate between planning & strategizing. They need to evaluate risk AI doesn't give them any of that
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
This article asks, "What if the problem isn't AI but men?" www.wired.com/story/meet-t...
wired.com
Meet the Sad Wives of AI
Men are obsessed with AI. Many of their wives absolutely hate it—and them.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Interesting design, and it's true about the ear being a good, steady source for HR via the skin, but aren't we all just so over "innovative" wearables? Give me a watch or give me nothing www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
kickstarter.com
Lumia 2 Smart Earrings: Discreet Next-Gen Health Tracking
Track your sleep, cycle, activity, blood flow, and more. Beautiful enough to wear anywhere. Styled as jewelry, sized to disappear.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
One of America's leading tech writers, @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social , has announced he's leaving the newsroom to start the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media geoffreyfowler.substack.com/p/what-is-ai...
geoffreyfowler.substack.com
What is AI doing to our kids? I’m going to find out.
After 12 years as a tech columnist, I'm helping launch the new Youth AI Safety Institute to test the AI products shaping childhood.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
A top contender in the Shittiest Announcement to Fire Employees category www.coinbase.com/blog/buildin...
coinbase.com
Building a leaner and faster Coinbase
Building a leaner and faster Coinbase SEO
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
LOL! Who are these people making up these numbers? "a 2024 report by HTF Market Intelligence found the worldwide sector is worth more than $690bn (£544bn) and is forecast to grow by another $400bn (£315bn) between 2024 and 2028." www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/artic...
nationalgeographic.com
What is sleep tourism and why is it on the rise?
Across the world, resorts and retreats are using the latest technology alongside holistic practices to create dedicated sleep-improving programmes.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Tom's Guide said "sleep tourism" would be "one of 2025's biggest travel trends" Was it? I thought "sleep on vacation" was something parents of small children do when their kids are finally old enough to be left with another adult, but not an industry www.tomsguide.com/wellness/sle...
tomsguide.com
Sleep tourism will be one of 2025's biggest travel trends — here’s why you should book a sleep retreat too
Should you hop on the sleep tourism trend this holiday season? Absolutely and here’s why
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
“Telling people that they can become ‘toxic’ if they don’t go on X diet or plan is a very obvious scare tactic. I can assure you that if you’re ‘toxic,’ you’ll be in the ICU,” [Langer] wrote. “Fostering distrust in our bodies — it’s part of the marketing.”
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Beans are wonderful, no doubt, but the online conversation around beans is concerning. The health-grift side of it is wild hellogloria.com/essays/the-n...
hellogloria.com
The New Midlife Wellness Trend is … Beans? - Hello Gloria
By Jill E. Duffy
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Scientists found a "golden orb" at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Alaska. After 3 years, they finally figured out that it is... a bunch of dead cells from a sea anemone www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/s...
smithsonianmag.com
Scientists Found This Mysterious Golden Orb on the Seafloor Nearly Three Years Ago. Now, They Finally Know What It Is
After a long, winding road of tests, researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and other institutions determined that the strange blob once attached a large sea anemone to a ...
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Tip: If you cannot locate an email address for customer service for a company, open the Terms of Service, search for (press ctrl+F) "@". Almost always, you can find an email address in there. #techtip #customerservice
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
You went to the Red Rooster Harlem approximately 14 years ago, and today you got your first ever email from them
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 21/04/2026
an absolutely brutal reminder that as reporters at non-worker-owned outlets, you don't own your story; your corporation does. it's their IP, not yours.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
"Economists & labor researchers are increasingly asking why the gains from AI-driven productivity aren't flowing to workers" Are they? ARE THEY? Have they not paid attention to the last 50yrs of capitalism?! *Unions* help workers, not increased productivity qz.com/ai-productiv...
qz.com
AI boosts worker productivity but not their paychecks
Economists and labor researchers are increasingly asking why the gains from AI-driven productivity aren't flowing to workers
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Counterpoint: Did it ever know? www.theverge.com/tldr/915176/...
theverge.com
Silicon Valley has forgotten what normal people want
Did the tech industry get high on its own supply?
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
That is grim. The juxtaposition of the story and the layoff. I'm sorry. Although it's good to document and remember and resurface it for others.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
The acronym POS will never ever mean "point of sale" to me
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
You know what? It's not even that the worker is being disrespectful. I take that part back. When the employer isn't showing respect for the employee and their time, the employee isn't going to bend over backward for them anymore. I think that's a more apt way to describe what's actually happening.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
This is pushback from the last 25-30 yrs of corps/orgs (in the US, where there are so few labor laws) treating workers as disposable. When a company shows no loyalty or respect to the worker and their time, the worker is going to do the same
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Soft off days for remote workers. I'm 100% PRO this. Get your job done, don't leave your immediate coworkers hanging, and then go live your life #work #worklife #remotework www.fastcompany.com/91528048/no-...
fastcompany.com
‘No one knew I was in a different time zone’: The workers who travel, play tennis, and do chores on the clock
The trend is called ‘soft off days’—and it's a sign work-life balance still feels out of reach for many.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I also love that she has absolutely no social media presence, as far as I could find. Her publisher links to a supposed Facebook page that doesn't exist Reminds me of Mary Roach's social presence. She built one when her most recent book came out, made a few posts during book tour, then abandoned it
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Went back and read that 2016 Guardian interview with Ottessa Moshfegh where she says she wrote Eileen by buying a book called The 90-Day Novel and following all its instructions. I know she got some shit for it, but honestly, she's a complete bad-ass www.theguardian.com/books/2016/s...
A screenshot from the linked article with the following highlighted: "Because there are all these morons making millions of dollars, so why not me? I’m smart and talented and motivated and disciplined and … talented: did I say that already?”, she laughs. “I said: fuck it. Which was also: fuck them. I was pretty hostile. I thought: I’ll show you how easy this is.”"
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
www.theguardian.com/books/2016/s...
theguardian.com
Ottessa Moshfegh interview: ‘Eileen started out as a joke – also I’m broke, also I want to be famous’
The books interview: the Man Booker-shortlisted author talks about writing a thriller to get noticed, exorcising her childhood and sexist critics
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Didn't we hear about this, like, two years ago? Ah, it's the same case, but now the trial has concluded. www.npr.org/2024/11/14/n...
npr.org
They told insurers a bear damaged their car. But it was actually a person in a costume
Four LA residents allegedly defrauded multiple insurance companies of over $141,000. A wildlife expert who reviewed footage of the incidents said that the culprit was "clearly a human in a bear suit."
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
UnDERrated
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
An unrated thing about email is, you know how you have a conversation sometimes and you think to yourself a day later "what I should have said was..." — with email, you can just wait a day, have the thought, and send the right message.
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Weedle @weedle.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Exactly one year ago today:
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Quote post with something "good" that lasted longer than the Confederacy (1861-1865) Action Park (1978-1996)
A wide shot of a water slide at Action Park, New Jersey, where the slide is an enclosed tube that makes a full loop at the bottom
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I very nearly started writing for a new client until I read the terms of service for its CMS (which doubles as its payment system) closely. The CMS charges writers 10% of their payment You want me to PAY A FEE to WORK FOR YOU?! GTFO I declined the work
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
wesley b @wesburt.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
the irony of having a one-on-one HR layoff meeting in the conference room with my Loki mural on it
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
This is NUTS www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...
Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health.

When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.”

Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
isaac @sevier.io · 14/04/2026
Energy policy think tanks keep putting out proposals like "give Mark Zuckerberg sole control over our utility rates by making him America's next grid czar" and the people in Everytown, America are like "go ahead and fuckin try"
Politico headline: "Missouri town fires half its city council over data center deal"

Residents of a St. Louis suburb turned out in droves to unseat four incumbents just days after the council approved a development agreement for a $6 billion data center.
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
I do sometimes think it's funny that a weather app, now owned by IBM, is named after an anti-government revolutionary group who were classified as terrorists
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Reposted by Jill E Duffy
Scott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
WATCH THE NASA YOUTUBE NOW
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Someone asked me if I use AI in my work as a writer No. Unequivocally no. 1) It's not reliable for anything I do 2) Whatever value it *might* provide is not worth the water, energy & other resources it'd take to get there "Is the potential value worth burning down a patch of rainforest?" Nope!
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Jill E Duffy @jilleduffy.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Could you even imagine if those 4 astronauts on Artemis II had seen a nuclear bomb go off on Earth? What are we doing down here?...
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