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Category: Censorship

Hanging by a Thread: A Double Entendre?

Hanging by a Thread: A Double Entendre?

 Unless you’ve been under a rock – or unplugged due to an extended Independence Day holiday – you do know that Meta has released ‘Twitter killer’ Threads. Thirty million people signed on Day One, and it’s easy to join. No special invite required. No early adopter wait list. All you need is an Instagram account and click on the icon. You’re in!

Ah, but can you just as easily get out?

Long answer: no.  Not without deleting your Instagram account and even then, who knows what data capture threads Meta has left behind. Read More...

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

Photo by Nicolas Cool on Unsplash

Anyone working on a startup – or an investor deck – knows that one of most important criteria to investors (besides what your company will do to ensure that they’ll see an exit at some point in their lifetime, or at all) is product-market fit, which is especially important at this juncture, given the downturn in the market. Although we will remind you once again that some of the biggest companies emerged during the worst of times.

That said, Big Tech is no more immune to the vagaries of the market and the importance of product-market fit than is anyone else, but one thing that they do have- so far – is deep pockets.

Does that really help? At Alphabet, “Revenue growth slowed to 6% from 41% a year earlier as the company contends with a continued downdraft in online ad spending,” said CNBC. It had missed analysts’ expectations. “CEO Sundar Pichai said in the statement that the company is “sharpening our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” while Ruth Porat, the finance chief, said “we’re working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities.” So, does that mean so much for moonshots et al and, instead, sharpening the focus on what people do want, rather than what the company feels that they might or should want? Read More...

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

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

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...

Elon Musk and the Battle for Twitter Explained

Elon Musk and the Battle for Twitter Explained

Image by Iván Jesus Rojas from Pixabay

You gotta love Elon Musk, whether you’re a fan or not. Or at least give him the fist bump of respect for his – going there – elan. No one has that flair for shaking up the tech landscape quite like him, and one never quite knows what his next move will be, or why.

So, what’s with Musk’s focus on Twitter, be it as a majority shareholder or actual owner? At the end of the day, does it really matter?  Forest through the trees: every tech cabalist owns a media outlet: Apple has Apple News and Apple TV; Google has Google and YouTube, Meta has Facebook and Instagram; Amazon has The Washington Post. With Twitter, power influencer Musk now has his. Period.

The Twitterverse has gone wild since Musk announced his takeover plans, especially Twitter employees. OMG! He’s threatening to restore freedom of speech! Can you imagine??? Yet, “Several employees noted in internal messages that Musk, who considers himself to be a champion of free speech, has appeared to express disdain for the use of gender pronouns,” The Washington Post reported. Or is controversy the tool he uses to shine a light on hypocrisy? Hmmm…. Read More...

The Billionaire Boys of Summer

The Billionaire Boys of Summer

Image by asderknaster from Pixabay

In early July – Independence Day Weekend – 1500 tech leaders and shakers and movers and government representatives met in Sun Valley at the Allen & Co Summit

/Billionaire’s Boys Camp ostensibly to “discuss and somewhat unofficially close on deals that go on to have a greater impact on the rest of the regular world.” Most arrived by private jet as, although lowering the carbon footprint is important to the climate change agenda that applies to the world at large, they’re just not the ‘rest of the world.’

  Read More...

The Latest Global Moonshot

The Latest Global Moonshot

As more cities and states ease up on lockdown restrictions, and the emergency-use only Covid vaccines are becoming more readily available, the concept of requiring vaccine passports for travel, attending events and who knows what all else is getting a lot of press – a cause for concern, whether you’ve been vaccinated or not. According to the Cleveland Clinic: Already Had COVID? Vaccine Provides No Added Benefit. In fact, according to the study, “Of all infections during the study period, 99.3% occurred in participants who were not infected previously and remained unvaccinated. In contrast, 0.7% of infections occurred in participants who were not previously infected but were currently vaccinated. Significantly, not one of the 1,359 previously infected subjects who remained unvaccinated had a SARS-CoV-2 infection over the duration of the study.”

 

We’re hearing more and more about events where proof of vaccination is required.  What about the deaths and serious injuries resulting from the vaccines themselves? Again, they were approved for emergency use only, as they did not go through the usual rigorous testing. Yet Reports Indicate Vaccines Causing More Injuries, Deaths Than Natural COVID-19 Infections. This is not about conspiracy theories. It’s a heads up to you, entrepreneurs and important to pay attention to everything: every coin has two sides. Read More...

1984: Blueprint for the New Normal

1984: Blueprint for the New Normal

George Orwell. Photo from Gordon Johnson/Pixabay

This just in: Wall Street A-Listers Fled to Florida. Many Now Eye a Return, Bloomberg News reported. For the record, “USPS data shows few New Yorkers moved to Miami, Palm Beach; New Jersey, California and Connecticut were most popular moves.”

Looks like things are about to return to normal, right?

In case you missed it, Google will invest $250 million this year in building out New York City office presence, while Facebook Bets Big on Future of N.Y.C., and Offices, With New Lease, and note to self, “With the 730,000-square-foot lease, Facebook has acquired more than 2.2 million square feet of office space in the city for thousands of employees in less than a year, all of it on Manhattan’s West Side,” the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, we saw Amazon buying Lord & Taylor building for $1.15 billion, “While Facebook has been in talks to lease the 700,000-square-foot Farley Building, Apple last month inked a lease on 220,000 square feet at 11 Penn Plaza,” said the New York Post. Why Is Jeff Bezos Buying Up Apartments in the Coronavirus Capital?, Realtor.com queried during the height of the pandemic.

Why indeed and lest we forget, all of these companies already had a considerable footprint in NYC even prior to the pandemic. While many formerly NY-based companies, shops and restaurants pulled up stakes – or were driven out due to high rents and property damage – seems that the various members of the tech cabal didn’t bat an eyelash, and rather, waited for real estate prices to drop, even though it seems some will still pay top dollar. Read More...

Meet the New Club. Not the Same as the Old Club

Meet the New Club. Not the Same as the Old Club

 

It isn’t often that a newco launches that fairly quickly captures unicorn-level attention the way that Clubhouse has. The audio-only social network, which has amassed 2M+ users and $100M in funding in just under a year after launch, seems to have raised the bar by lowering the barrier to participation, meaning, that in most rooms, anyone can raise their hand and, in most cases (depending on the moderator), participate in the discussion. It’s still in beta, so it’s currently iPhone only and invitation only: patience.

“If you could plug into a live conversation about a topic, you’re passionate about, on demand, anywhere in the world, and have an opportunity to not only listen to some of the smartest people on the subject, but also participate with them, would you?” asked Brian Solis in Forbes (The Latest Silicon Valley Unicorn, Clubhouse Raises $100 Million And Also Raises Attention To The Importance Of Audio-Based Social Networking). “…it represents an unquenchable thirst for meaningful community and engagement, especially in light of the chaos and devastation that played out in the forms of disinformation, political theater, and divisiveness across other social networks.” Read More...

Jesus Was a Blackbelt: A Lesson in Moving Forward

Jesus Was a Blackbelt: A Lesson in Moving Forward

Image by Artistraman on Pixabay

Last week, Twitter removed US President Donald Trump from the platform, tweeting that “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” Never mind that Twitter Allows ‘Hang Mike Pence’ To Trend. Violent groups and terrorists have been using the platform for years to coordinate their activities, but we cover technology, not politics, and are more focused on the implications of Twitter’s move – as well as those of tech cabal members Google, who removed Parler from their app store, as did Apple, and Amazon, which eliminated Parler app from its servers.

As actress Emily Ratajkowski warned: If Mark Zuckerberg Can Shut the President Off Facebook, He Can Shut Any of Us Off. History will remind us that no one is truly immune.

There’s no doubt that censorship is alive and well and spreading – unchecked – and it’s not simply to do with politics but also having opinions that are not in lockstep with those of the cabal or the prescribed talking points. Example: Big Tech censors COVID-19 video featuring doctors, YouTube REMOVES viral video of two California doctors questioning stay-at-home orders  and Facebook declares war on anti-vaxxers as it pledges to remove conspiracy theories, never mind that Hundreds (were) Sent to Emergency Room After Getting COVID-19 Vaccines, and “Thousands of people self-reported being unable to work or perform daily activities, or required care from a health care professional, after getting one of the doses from the first tranche,” as the Epoch Times reported. Read More...

Technology’s Latest Overreach

Technology’s Latest Overreach

In late October, MailChimp updated their terms of service. Fair enough, and its Acceptable Use is pretty standard: “Please don’t use Mailchimp to distribute anything offensive, to promote anything illegal, or to harass anyone.” All well and good. They spell out a few other businesses that offer services, products, or content that may be considered questionable, and the list is there, although it’s pretty much the usual offending suspects. Again, fair enough and we certain fall far outside of any of those categories and practices, so all good.

But wait! There’s more! Read More...