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Author: Bonnie

On Apples, Oranges and Mangos: An End of Summer Compote

On Apples, Oranges and Mangos: An End of Summer Compote

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This week is the last hurrah of summer, so something different this time: a look at what’s been happening in Big Tech at large, primarily with  a number of the FAANG companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, for those playing the home version – or more appropriately now MAANG, since Facebook is now Meta – and for our purposes here, MAANGO, as we’re including Oracle and some information that recently came to light. Plus, mangos are very much a summer fruit, after all.

Oracle

Speaking of just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water (not!):  Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses Oracle of Tracking 5 Billion People. “Oracle stands accused of collecting detailed dossiers on 5 billion people, with the information gathered including names, home addresses, emails, purchases online and in the real world, physical movements in the real world, income, interests and political views, and a detailed account of online activity,” PC Mag reported.

“This claim is backed up by a video on the ICCL website(Opens in a new window) of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison describing how the company’s real-time machine learning system collects this information and confirms the 5 billion profiles stored in the “Oracle Data Cloud.” The profiles are referred to as a “Consumers Identity Graph.”” Read More...

The Demise of Tech’s Boy Band Founders

The Demise of Tech’s Boy Band Founders

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Photo by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash

We also like to call them the Boys of Summer – those unicorn tech super founders, that is.

As the New York Times noted, The Boy Bosses of Silicon Valley Are on Their Way Out, dismounting their unicorns and heading for the hills, with their largesse in tow and never mind the layoffs and loss of shareholder value that they’ve left in their wake.

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Has Zuck Run Out of Luck?

Has Zuck Run Out of Luck?

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Photo by Annie Spratt @unsplash

 Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook (now Meta) has always been something of a bellwether for the Web 2.0 Age of Surveillance nee Age of Social and high time to just call it as it is.

Since Zuckerberg did help to define the last iteration, it stands to reason that he would lead us once more into the fray as we barrel towards Web 3, no?

He thinks so. He may not be building his own metaverse as originally planned, but nor is he sitting idly by. Au contraire. Instead, as Futurism noted, “the company wants to get in on the ground floor and determine its rules.” Read More...

Meet the New Boss: The New Work Paradigm?

Meet the New Boss: The New Work Paradigm?

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Photo by Austin Chan of Unsplash

A lot has changed since the lockdowns and the Submit or Flight response that ensued, when the migration from the Draconian rules of the tech hubs – Silicon Valley and New York in particular – began.

 

Working conditions shift with each new industrial revolution and despite the fact that the Information/Internet Era has been somewhat established for close to 20 years, we haven’t really seen a change. Until now. Read More...

The Heat of Summer: Cue Up the Global Warming Warnings

The Heat of Summer: Cue Up the Global Warming Warnings

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Photo by unsplashed

Since we’re in the heat of summer in most parts of the world, it’s a good opportunity to address climate change. For the record, according to Weather.com, last “July (was) on track to be the coolest in the U.S. since 2015, according to Todd Crawford, Director of Meteorology at Atmospheric G2.” Although not many of us were around to experience those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, to quote Nat King Cole, re last summer, how quickly we forget.

 

CNN has been all over ‘climate change’ and recently hosted the founder (whom CNN misidentified as the co-founder) of the Weather Channel, climatologist John Coleman. Read More...

The Twitter Battle: What’s Not Being Said

The Twitter Battle: What’s Not Being Said

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Photo by Piotr Makowski on Unsplash

Everyone’s waiting for the outcome of whether or not Elon Musk will eventually own Twitter. He’s purportedly walking away from the deal, claiming that Twitter users are primarily bots, and the company isn’t offering any hard evidence to prove otherwise. In fact, as TruthTent reported, “Twitter’s bot check sample size was only 100 users, Musk reveals.”

Then again, he didn’t do his due diligence before making the offer…

The stock price is way down, which employees are blaming on Musk, even though the market is way down in general, but if ‘users’ are primarily AI-generated bots, well, that does affect whether or not advertisers and marketers will pay a premium to the platform, so it may well be Musk’s fault for pointing that out, and further depressing the stock price. Read More...

AAAAIIiiii!!!! Or, It’s Just Another Algorithm…

AAAAIIiiii!!!! Or, It’s Just Another Algorithm…

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image by Gerd Altmann @Pixaby

An issue that the mainstream tech seems bent on ignoring is whether or not AI is sentient. As Yahoo!Finance reported, “the issue of machine sentience – and what it means – hit the headlines…when Google placed senior software engineer Blake Lemoine on leave after he went public with his belief that the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot LaMDA was a self-aware person… Google and many leading scientists were quick to dismiss Lemoine’s views as misguided, saying LaMDA is simply a complex algorithm designed to generate convincing human language.”

 

Nothing to see here…Seriously?

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There’s No Place Like Chrome

There’s No Place Like Chrome

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Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

The holiday weekend is coming up, so short and well, ok, maybe not so sweet. No surprise there.

 

Crypto meltdown, Celsius crash deepen rift between Web3 fans and skeptics, PitchBook recently noted.  “Proponents of Web3 hope that this new iteration of the internet, characterized by decentralized platforms based on blockchain technology, will eventually overturn the “evil” of big tech and traditional banks, allowing all users—not just founders, investors and employees—to benefit financially from their participation.” Read More...

What Do Quicky Vegas Weddings and VC Funding Have in Common?

What Do Quicky Vegas Weddings and VC Funding Have in Common?

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Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

Back in 2010, Mark Suster penned a blog post entitled Invest in Lines, Not Dots and like many investors, Suster has sat on both sides of the table. It a must read for entrepreneurs, especially if you plan on raising money from investors, now or any time in the not-too-distant future, or ever. It’s also a great explanation of the importance of establishing relationships with investors before you need the money – and gives you something of an idea of a good investor’s mindset.

Why can’t investors simply understand what a monster company you’re building and just write the bloody check?

As Suster points out, “We want to make sure we’re in love. This sometimes frustrates entrepreneurs who just want to “get back to running the business.” But if you understand it you’ll see that it is perfectly rational and it should also influence how you form relationships with investors. And remember, if we get married you’re stuck with us, too.” Read More...