Microsoft recalls its "Recall" feature, a report on the impact of artificial intelligence on the small and midsized business landscape, the continuing evolution of Chromebooks, and other recent developments in technology you may have missed.
1. Microsoft recalls 'Recall'
![microsoft-sign.jpg](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a700ff0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4000x2250+0+416/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F6d%2F7e%2F3b12a6f54e3e9d4172da73be5ed8%2F388709299.jpg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: Given that I
2. Why a tech writer is unlikely to use Copilot anytime soon
![Copilot](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5f5e331/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1152+0+448/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F1c%2Fc8%2F9b63a7c4447fbf29eb05275596a7%2Fmicrosoft-365-copilot-icon-svg.png)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: Phillips is only scratching the surface. I recently did a webinar where I had optimistically and naively hoped to demonstrate how Microsoft Copilot could be used in Dynamics and it failed miserably. Spinning screens, no responses, inaccurate responses and an overall lack of functionality that really made me question why Microsoft even released this product. All it did was make my company look bad. I truly believe that Copilot will mature into an actual productive and useful tool. But it's far from it right now.
3. How AI will transform the SMB landscape
![artificial-intelligence-eight.jpg](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6aafadf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/204x115+0+40/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fb3%2F96%2F24a47d1a4d8ba855754ee804bffc%2Fartificial-intelligence-eight.jpg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: I'm betting that SMB's use of AI here is nothing more than doing queries in ChatGPT or messing around with Copilot and Gemini. As I
4. The evolution of Chromebooks
![investigate.jpg](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/785a513/2147483647/strip/true/crop/405x228+0+21/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2Fe7532d584da285bc524ad2f6c74c%2Finvestigate.jpg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: There used to be a time when Chromebooks were simply a cheaper laptop that were required to be online to be useful as data and files were stored in the cloud. But these devices are changing to becoming full-blown laptops that can rival Windows and iOS machines.
5. Everything Apple announced at WWDC 2024
![Customers shops in an Apple Inc. store in Sydney, Australia.](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1a64840/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1125+0+0/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fe1%2F4d%2Fb22ced234460a9775735814f2dd9%2Fapple-store.jpg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: Apple's approach to AI has been consistent: Instead of launching AI "products" (like Gemini or Copilot) it's just incorporating AI into its existing products, applications and hardware. As a business owner, you should be making sure you're aware of these features and work closely with your IT team to determine which can improve productivity in your office.
6. Shopify's AI chatbot for merchants in early access
Why this is important for your firm and clients: As I've
7. Google automates lead credits for Local Services Ads
![google-office.jpg](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d1d5247/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2200x1238+0+0/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F9b%2Fa5%2F4635d3954c118ac46b08c5b5a8ee%2Fgoogle-office.jpg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: The change aims to save advertisers time, increase fairness, and improve lead quality. Manual disputes for lead credits will no longer be necessary (though exceptions include health care verticals and EMEA advertisers). Advertisers are encouraged to provide feedback to enhance future lead quality. I'm sure there will be some bumps in the road initially, but ultimately this automation will save significant time and improve accuracy for local businesses advertising on Google.
8. X to soon make live streaming premium-only
![NL_footer_social_icon_X@2x.png](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb0af4c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/66x37+0+15/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fa7%2Faa%2Fba237adb47cbb1a6cbc4e1b973e8%2Fnl-footer-social-icon-x-2x.png)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: I would like to see X charge for more services and ultimately turn their platform into a paid-only community. When people pay, they behave better. And we need much better behavior on X for it to truly become a legit place for businesses.
9. Yahoo to take on Apple and Google with its own AI features
![yahoo.jpeg](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/724288a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/200x113+0+44/resize/240x135!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F33%2F9e%2Fc4adccd94dd681ec383977bf0b60%2Fyahoo.jpeg)
Why this is important for your firm and clients: The changes aren't earth-shattering, and they mainly focus on Yahoo Mail, but one thing caught my eye. As tech writer Muskaan Saxena reports: "There's one big new change that's cool enough to sway me over to Yahoo Mail. You'll soon be able to link your Yahoo inbox to other email accounts like Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook so you can send and receive all your emails right from Yahoo Mail."
10. Send a 'digital twin' to a meeting in your place
Why this is important for your firm and clients: Getting used to "digital assistants" impersonating real employees in order to attend meetings will take some getting used to. Adding the risk of deepfakes will only complicate this adoption. Like Windows Recall above, here is yet another example of AI technology that's very early days and likely hasn't received the level of usage and testing necessary to not only deem it effective, but safe. I would use this feature sparingly and re-evaluate its potential in another six months.