Business Tech News: Buy Your Laptops Now!
Here are five things in business tech news that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
This Week in Business Tech News
Business Tech News #1 — If you need a new laptop, you might want to buy it now — here’s why.
Tech manufacturer Acer recently announced its plans to increase laptop prices in the US due to new tariffs imposed by President Trump. These tariffs — which include a 10 percent increase on imports from China — are expected to affect the cost of laptops significantly. Acer’s CEO mentioned that prices could rise by about 10%, with some laptops potentially costing nearly $3,500. Other companies like Asus and Dell might follow suit. If you’re in need of a new laptop, it might be a good idea to buy one soon before prices go up next month, according to reports. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your business:
My primary laptop is starting to go on me and I’ve been putting off buying a replacement. 10 percent is a pretty big price increase. This will definitely speed me up. The question is when to buy a new lapto of your existing is still functioning OK! If you’re thinking of replacing devices in your company this year, it may be a good idea to plan these purchases in advance of these tariffs taking effect as well.
Business Tech News #2–97% of shoppers abandon purchases due to inconvenience.
FedEx published a new report published its report — “FedEx eCommerce Trends to Watch 2025” — underscoring the importance of a seamless end-to-end customer experience. (Source: Digital Commerce 360)
Why this is important for your business:
According to the report, key consumer insights stressed the importance of convenience as over 80 percent of consumers prioritize home delivery, free shipping, and real-time tracking. A seamless post-purchase experience — including easy returns — is crucial. Gen Z prefers digital interactions and discovers brands through TikTok and Instagram — while Millennials focus on corporate ethics and prefer direct-to-consumer purchases. Boomers still value in-store shopping. The report also found many consumers start holiday shopping early to manage expenses, with 22 percent beginning as early as August. Finally, AI-powered tools are becoming essential for hyper-personalization and operational efficiency.
Business Tech News #3–6 underrated Microsoft Office features you’re not using.
Tech writer Tashreef Shareef listed the six under-utilized Microsoft Office features. Ready?
-Dictation and Transcribe converts speech to text in Word and OneNote for quickly getting your thoughts down or transcribing meetings.
-Microsoft Search allows users to apply commands in Word and Excel by typing actions directly into the search bar (inserting tables or applying formulas).
-Focused Inbox in Outlook automatically sorts emails into Focused and Other tabs to help you manage your inbox more efficiently.
-Quick Steps in Outlook applies multiple actions to emails with a single click — such as moving, deleting, or flagging emails.
-Compare Documents in Word will easily look over documents side by side to spot differences.
-Math Solver in OneNote — solve math problems directly within OneNote. (Source: MakeUseOf)
Why this is important for your business:
I include this piece of news in this roundup not only because it’s a great blog but it underscores the importance of getting training. Let’s face it: if you’re an Office (or Google Workspace) user I’m positive that you’re underusing your platform. Which is a shame because you’re paying for it. I’ll even bet you weren’t aware of most of the six items listed above. There are more features that you’re not using either. Find a Microsoft consultant or partner either on their website or on LinkedIn and pay them their hourly rate to train your team. You’ll maximize the effectiveness of the technology and gain more productivity.
Business Tech News #4 –Cybersecurity pros are preparing for a new adversary: AI agents.
According to cybersecurity professionals, the next challenge they’re facing are AI agents that can execute tasks autonomously. Agentic tools present both opportunities and risks. While they can enhance efficiency and productivity, they also introduce new vulnerabilities and threats. Cybersecurity experts are concerned that these AI agents could be used by cybercriminals to launch more sophisticated and scalable attacks. Mark Stockley of Malwarebytes — a firm that specializes in cybersecurity software — said “AI agents could scale up big game ransomware attacks enormously, freeing cybercriminals from the scaling problems that currently hold them back.” Robust governance, real-time monitoring, and human oversight are essential in managing these risks effectively. (Source: Fortune)
Why this is important for your business:
I think we can agree that whatever advances in AI are used to provide “better” security over our date will be dwarfed by bad actors using the same AI tools to steal data and cause other problems. The introduction of agents into the workplace will certainly cause similar problems.
Business Tech News #5 — Musk debuts Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival OpenAI, DeepSeek.
Elon Musk’s company xAI has launched Grok 3 — the company’s “most advanced model yet” according to the website. Grok 3 is claimed to outperform rival AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Google’s Gemini, and DeepSeek’s V3 in benchmarks for math, science, and coding. Increased Compute Power Grok 3 was developed with ten times the compute power of its predecessor, Grok 2. New features include a “Think” button for more detailed reasoning and a new search feature called DeepSearch. Grok 3 is available to Premium+ subscribers on Musk’s social platform, X, with a new subscription tier called SuperGrok offering early access to new features. (Source: Bloomberg)
Why this is important for your business:
The chatbot race heats up! It’s getting to the point where just using one chatbot isn’t enough. I find myself leaning on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. Why? Because I get different answers to the same question depending on the platform. Not that they’re in conflict, but some are more detailed or informative. Grok is certainly a consideration too. My biggest concern is that Grok data is trained on data from X/Twitter. Should I be concerned by this? Probably not.
