📊 Perplexity reveals how people actually use AI agents

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Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:

☀️ On this day: On December 16, 1947, physicists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs developed the first working point-contact transistor, a semiconductor device that could amplify electrical signals. This breakthrough laid the foundation for all modern solid-state electronics and the microchips that power computers and smartphones.

What’s happening:

• 📊 Perplexity study reveals how users actually use AI agents

• 🤖 US government launches ‘Tech Force’ to hire AI talent

• 📈 Samsung doubles RAM prices amid shortage

• 🎬 Netflix opens its first permanent Netflix House

• 🛰️ Starlink satellite narrowly misses Chinese spacecraft

• + 📊 Daily poll and results

• + 📈 Trending tools and resources

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Hand-picked news:

📊 Perplexity study reveals how users actually use AI agents ↗️LINK

• A new Perplexity–Harvard study analyzed hundreds of millions of anonymized queries from the Comet browser and found AI agent use is focused far more on cognitive work and research than on automating simple daily tasks.

• More than half of queries involved research or workflow support—such as summarization, document editing, and coursework—with most activity coming from tech workers, academics, marketers, and finance professionals.

• User behavior evolved over time, with many starting on casual tasks like travel planning and later shifting toward deeper knowledge work, suggesting AI agents become more valuable as users grow more comfortable and skilled.

🤖 US government launches ‘Tech Force’ to hire AI talent ↗️LINK

• The US government is launching the “US Tech Force,” a two-year early-career hiring and training program aimed at bringing 1,000 software engineers, data scientists, project managers, and AI specialists into federal agencies to help modernize government systems.

• Led by the Office of Personnel Management under Director Scott Kupor, the initiative targets a growing tech talent gap as the government competes with private companies offering high salaries, with Tech Force pay expected to range from about $130,000 to $195,000.

• Participants will work on agency-specific projects involving AI and advanced technology, receive mentorship from major tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and xAI, and conclude the program with a job fair offering both public- and private-sector opportunities.

📈 Samsung doubles RAM prices amid shortage ↗️LINK

• Samsung has reportedly doubled DDR5 contract prices to nearly $20 per unit amid a severe supply shortage, with industry watchers warning inflated DRAM pricing could persist into 2026 and be passed on to consumers across phones, PCs, and laptops.

• The surge isn’t limited to DDR5: DDR4 prices have also climbed sharply, removing a key cost-saving option for OEMs, while spot market prices are rising even faster as memory makers prioritize higher-margin and data-center demand.

• Rising DRAM costs are already reshaping product plans—smartphone makers may cut RAM tiers (even reviving 4GB base models), PC makers are planning price hikes, and TrendForce expects “significant cost pressure” on device makers to intensify in early 2026.

🎬 Netflix opens its first permanent Netflix House ↗️LINK

• Netflix has opened its first permanent Netflix House at the King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia, with two more locations launching in Dallas and Las Vegas, transforming former department stores into immersive venues with themed attractions, theaters, food, and merchandise tied to its shows.

• The concept builds on Netflix’s earlier live experiences like Stranger Things plays, Bridgerton events, and VR activations, aiming to extend the life of its biggest series and give fans something to do after binge-watching ends.

• Netflix House also reflects a broader shift in struggling US malls toward “experiential retail,” as landlords replace empty anchor stores with interactive destinations to boost foot traffic and keep malls relevant in a post-pandemic, post–department store era.

🛰️ Starlink satellite narrowly misses Chinese spacecraft ↗️LINK

• SpaceX says a Starlink satellite narrowly avoided a collision with a Chinese spacecraft on December 12, passing within just 200 meters at about 560 km altitude, with Starlink executives blaming a lack of coordination between satellite operators.

• The Chinese Kinetica 1 launch carried nine satellites for multiple countries, and CAS Space said it used ground-based tracking to avoid known objects, adding that the close approach may have occurred nearly 48 hours after payload separation.

• The incident underscores growing congestion in low Earth orbit, where satellite numbers have jumped to around 13,000—up from 3,400 in 2020—with SpaceX operating roughly 9,300 of them, renewing calls for better international coordination.

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