Surge in remote freelance workers

Even as companies order their working-from-home employees back to the office, they are embracing one group of remote workers: freelancers. A Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report found that “freelance work is on the rise,” especially for short-term and project-based work. About 20% of the white-collar work is now done by freelancers, many working remotely.

The report said by 2027, “half of the U.S. workforce is expected to be freelance,” an outgrowth of changes hastened by COVID-19, the Great Resignation and new technologies that facilitate remote work.

Still, for many companies, the term “freelancer” is being shunned. Instead, the report said these workers are often categorized as external talent, contractors, independent workers, contingent workers and on-demand talent.

Sports boosts traditional TV viewing

Traditional TV viewing is staging a comeback, thanks to the NFL. Nielsen says broadcast and cable viewing among adults 18-54 rose about 34% in September as the NFL posted its highest ratings in eight years. Streaming, meanwhile, fell slightly because of a drop in viewing by teens, who had less time to watch TV as the new school year began.

QR code scams on the rise

QR codes, those matrix barcodes you scan with a camera that send you to a website, are commonly used in everything from ads to restaurant menus to wedding invitations. And they are also increasingly being used by scammers in emails. Security firm Tessian says this form of phishing — known as quishing — evades traditional email security defenses, raising the likelihood that recipients will install malware from malicious websites.

Nvidia eyes Windows market

Nvidia is developing chips that would challenge Intel processors in personal computers, potentially ratcheting up competition between the two semiconductor makers. The chips would run Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, already dominates the market for artificial intelligence chips, as tech companies around the world adopt A.I. tools — and need more processing power to run them. — BLOOMBERG NEWS