When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I doubled my laptop's battery life in a single click. This week in Smart Mode, we look at Microsoft's ways to save power within Windows and keep your laptop up and running for longer. It's not often that I come across a productivity tip so good that it amazes even me. And that's what happened when I started testing Windows' hidden "energy recommendations" to extend laptop battery life.

Turns out we're not more productive and happy in the office. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Working from home won't hurt morale, no matter what your boss says. Remote work isn't new--I've known people who telecommuted in the 1960s, and farmers were working from home long before that. But many people worked remotely for the first time in 2020, for reasons you may remember.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. LG's 45-inch OLED ultrawide with dual refresh modes is $700 off Ultrawide monitors offer significantly more horizontal screen real estate, which is handy whether you're gaming (for immersion) or working (for focus and productivity). OLED panels offer true blacks, vivid colors, and ultra-fast response times. The LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B combines both into a single 45-inch display that'll upgrade any PC desk. The 45GX950A-B is priced down on Amazon right now, available for "just" $1,299.99.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft's Edge team has posted a timeline for migrating away from Manifest Version 2, the extensions foundation upon which uBlock's superb uBlock Origin adblocker lives. Remember how one of the best adblockers, uBlock Origin, was effectively killed by Google Chrome? Throughout 2024 and 2025, Google said that it was migrating its extension support from what is called Manifest, from version 2 to version 3. Now Microsoft says that it is following Google's lead, and beginning that transition as well. Ads stink, and anyone who says that they don't affect productivity has never turned off an adblocker and tried to surf a major media site, including our own.

More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Open offices are loud and not great for productivity. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . I think a lot about productivity.

The future of AI and jobs will be so much weirder than you think. This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Last year, Steve Yegge started "suddenly getting pounded by nap attacks in the middle of the day." Without fail, Yegge--a programmer and tech blogger--would "hit a wall, fall over, and sleep for 90 minutes," he told me. Like many developers, Yegge no longer writes code by hand; instead, he manages a legion of bots to do that for him.

Christopher Marquis is a professor at the University of Cambridge and the author of The Profiteers. In 1930, in the depths of the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes wrote a short essay called . It is often remembered for one striking prediction: by 2030, people in wealthy countries might only need to work about 15 hours a week. What Keynes imagined was a society advanced enough to solve what he called the "economic problem" of basic material provision. If technology kept improving, and societies kept growing richer, then fewer hours of human labor would be needed to produce the necessities and comforts of life.

For some, AI can help remove the drudgery from daily work. For many others, though, AI is not an assistant. For some, AI can help remove the drudgery from daily work. For many others, though, AI is not an assistant. Forget the AI job apocalypse.

WiseTech's headquarters in Sydney, where staff fear many jobs will be lost to AI. WiseTech's headquarters in Sydney, where staff fear many jobs will be lost to AI. 'Your craft is obsolete': WiseTech staff in limbo as AI touted as better than humans Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they are among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI, with workers criticising the wait as stressful and "ridiculous". The comments come as its founder on Tuesday told investors an AI agent could learn a human's job in just 15 minutes, according to the Australian Financial Review. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company announced in late February that it would lay off almost 30% of its workforce across 40 countries, with 2,000 of the 7,000 jobs set to go over the next 18 months. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Some areas would be hit harder than others, with product and development and customer service teams expected to be reduced by up to 50%, the chief executive, Zubin Appoo, told an investor briefing in February. "The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over," Appoo said.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Discover MSI's 2026 AI-powered laptops, including the Prestige 16 Flip AI+, Stealth 16 AI+, and Raider 16 MAX HX - designed for productivity, portability, and high-performance gaming. CES 2026 highlighted a major shift in computing: AI-powered PCs designed for everyday users. These new AI laptops and AI PCs combine dedicated AI acceleration, powerful GPUs, and modern processors to support everything from productivity to gaming. Companies like MSI are now building AI capabilities directly into their latest laptops, making advanced features like AI-assisted productivity, content creation, and gaming performance available across multiple device categories.