Since it’s the beginning of a new decade, as a starting point, we thought we’d take a look at 2010 and see what the sentiment was then. Eric Schmidt set the tone when he famously said, “There is what I call the creepy line. The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.”
Said Business Insider, “If you don’t cross the creepy line, we suppose by definition you aren’t creepy. But making it a policy to go right up to that line “on a lot of things” is, well, something a lot like creepy.” So, where do we stand now and as for the creepy line crossed – how often and in how many ways was it breached, if not completely ignored? Some instances from the past year and the past decade:
The final few weeks of any year – what to speak of a decade – tend to give us pause to reflect on, in the words of Alexander Graham Bell, “What hath God wrought?”
We realize that, in terms of historic industries and major industrial transitions, tech is relatively new to the planet. Every major industrial shift prior to tech has done precisely what tech has done: basically, created efficiencies. But given the breadth, scope and speed at which tech has engulfed the global landscape, forgiving founders for their youthful business missteps has tended to create those efficiencies at great expense to some, and in many cases, quite a few members of the planet’s population.
Uber entered the ride-hailing space without consideration to local regulations (Ask forgiveness, not permission) and scaled quickly, following yet another tenet of technology: move fast and break things. Uber did make ride-hailing more convenient and, surge pricing aside, less expensive. However, their drivers were not all properly vetted, which led to, in several cases, criminal allegations. But Uber skated a fine line, insisting that it is an ‘app,’ and that their drivers were not employees – the same argument they made in order to avoid paying drivers employee benefits. Job creation? Uber did contribute to the swelling underclass: the money mostly went in one direction. The Next Web summed it up pretty well back in 2017: Uber: The good, the bad, and the really, really ugly. Given Uber’s (current) legal challenges around the world, it seems to be going to the lawyers.Read More...
Google’s Leadership Change: Passing the Baton, or the Buck?
Let’s face it: privacy is gone. Still, there are a few people out there in the wild who don’t use electronic payments, still shop at actual brick and mortars – where they may even pay in cash – and feel that they have no use for social media, with the possible exception of a Facebook profile, and only because they were missing too many of their friends’ and family’s social gatherings and announcements.
Since we’re nearly 20% of the way into the 21st Century, it may be time to change all of that and what better time than the holiday season? So we’ve compiled a short list of gifts that you may want to consider giving those on your list who are still living in the past:
23 & me or some other DNA-tracking/sharing genetic testing service. Who knows? They may discover long-lost relatives. Or an ethnic background that they never knew they had. Or you may discover that your friend is a criminal and you’ve given the police the break they had been looking for, since there are no rules or oversight when it comes to law enforcement collecting that information. Win-win!Read More...
Thanksgiving is upon us, and how often do we all truly stop and give thanks for all that we have, sometimes whether we know it or not. Here are a few examples, with tongue held firmly in cheek:
First, here was a time when you had to read a map or ask for directions when you were driving or walking somewhere you’d never been before and weren’t quite sure where you were going. Men notoriously hated to ask for directions, and would often get lost or go in circles, from what we hear. Now, all you need do is enter the destination into that map app on your phone, and no worries. In fact, Apple or Google, depending on your map of choice, often knows precisely where you’re heading, even before you’ve finished inputting the information. Wouldn’t you be lost without them?
Google knows better than you. The Wall Street Journal reported on How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results and let’s be honest: Google has been tracking you for so long now that the company no doubt knows you better than you know yourself. Or at least, knows what’s best for you, so may gently sway you in that direction… Say amen, somebody.Read More...
The so-called sharing/gig economy is under fire – in California, anyway, with State Assembly Bill 5 (AB5). “Under the new “ABC” test (which is part of the new law), an individual is presumed to be an employee, unless the company can prove all of the following: A) that the worker is free from control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact; B) that the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and C) that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed,” The National Law Review explains.
When you were a kid how many times did your parents say No! N-O, NO! More than once, we’d wager. How many times did they say, Yes, Y-E-S, YES!’ Bet I can count the number of times on one hand – zero. Never happened.
We did notice this at a fairly young age – long before we knew that there was such a word – that NO is an acronym. It was parent-code for ‘keep trying’ or ‘change the talking points.’ In some cases, and we found that if we changed our approach or arguments, we could get a yes. Persistence pays. And the same can be said of investors. Investors hate to miss opportunities, so they don’t really like to say No. Investors like to hedge their bets and keep their options open. Sometimes they will give you a hard and fast No and mean it. Still, that said, things change, so one never knows if it truly is a hard No.Read More...
Mark Zuckerberg was back on Capitol Hill last week, testifying before Congress about the proposed cryptocurrency, Libra.
“I don’t control Libra” was the central theme of the Facebook CEO’s testimony,” according to TechCrunch. “The House of Representatives unleashed critiques of his approach to cryptocurrency, privacy, encryption and running a giant corporation during six hours of hearings. Zuckerberg tried to assuage their fears while stoking concerns that if Facebook doesn’t build Libra, the world will end up using China’s version.”Read More...
Tech has always been lax about security, while the average consumer has been socialized more or less to a plug and play environment. Plug in the (non-IoT) iron, plug in the (non-IoT) fridge – they work. If there’s a problem, and the warranty is still in effect, the manufacturer or retailer steps in. The problem is generally resolved.
Just his week, a indignant father reported that the voice from our Nest camera threatened to steal our baby. Worse, he Googled ‘Nest + camera + hacked’ and found out that this happens frequently. As the Mercury News reported, “Nest, which was designed to keep intruders out of people’s homes, effectively allowed hackers to get in.”Read More...
If you’re starting a tech company and are in search of outside investment, your chances of raising that funding will rise exponentially if you’re potentially a unicorn. But there is something that you need to understand: that tech is driven as much by hype and press as it is by investment dollars. It’s the tech industry that produces the rock stars of today – and some of that spotlight has reflected back onto the industry’s now high-profile investors. But careful there: if you’re wondering why Adam Neumann’s name is still in the headlines, albeit via Monday morning quarterbacking and as a cautionary tale, his outsized ego is a wakeup call to the media’s – and some investors’ – sometimes priorities: their exaltation of the cult of personality, their acquiescence to the notion that it’s acceptable for a single individual to have enormous control over a company or vertical, and the idea that investment dollars trump common sense, even when the math doesn’t quite add up. Cases in point: Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos), Adam Neumann and yes, even Mark Zuckerberg qua his foray into the financial world with Libra.
First, if you’re going to hang your hat on the Cult of Personality, good idea to take a bold stance at some point – and aim for a hot button. In the We Company’s case, we will remind you that not too long ago, We advocated reimbursing employees’ meals at events only if they were meatless, in the name of corporate responsibility, of course. ““New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact,” (We co-founder Miguel) McKelvey told employees. WeWork estimates the ban will save 445 million pounds of CO2 emissions, 16.7 billion gallons of water, and 15 million animals by 2023,” Bloombergreported and never mind that Neumann’s contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions imperative was to travel on a company-owned Gulfstream – a fact that somehow never made it into that reporting.Read More...
