Variety – “YouTube has concluded that its investments in original programming should have a home on the free, ad-supported side — not just tucked behind a paywall. In a shift in strategy, the Google-owned video platform said that starting next year it will move to make all of its new original programming available for free… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Book Review – The unmaking of the steady job
The Nation – Ad Hoc Nation – The unmaking of the steady job. Reviewed – Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary, By Louis Hyman “…Today’s temps, permalancers, subcontractors, and underemployed do have an advantage that their predecessors didn’t: The effects of the gig economy permeate society more thoroughly and… Continue Reading
Amazon’s own ‘Machine Learning University’ now available to all developers
Dr. Matt Wood – “Today, I’m excited to share that, for the first time, the same machine learning courses used to train engineers at Amazon are now arevailable to all developers through AWS. We’ve been using machine learning across Amazon for more than 20 years. With thousands of engineers focused on machine learning across the… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – Technology giants didn’t deserve public trust in the first place
Via LLRX – Technology giants didn’t deserve public trust in the first place – This commentary by Zachary Loeb synthesizes the increasingly frequent calls for oversight, regulation and even breaking up giant tech companies who have strayed way beyond their initial mission statements of “don’t be evil” and “helping you connect and share with the people… Continue Reading
Shop Safe This Holiday Season
Mozila: “Teddy bears that connect to the internet. Smart speakers that listen to commands. Great gifts—unless they spy on you. We created this guide to help you buy safe, secure products this holiday season.” Continue Reading
Google, Facebook, and Amazon benefit from an outdated definition of “monopoly”
Quartz: “…big tech companies have amassed so much power that even Apple CEO Tim Cook has called for stricter regulations to be placed on them. Google owns 92% market share of internet searches, Facebook an almost 70% share of social networks. Both have a duopoly in advertising with no credible competition or regulation. Amazon, meanwhile,… Continue Reading
Amazon’s AbeBooks backs down after booksellers stage global protest
The Guardian: “After almost 600 booksellers withdrew 3.5m books from the secondhand marketplace in support of countries dropped by the website, it apologises for a ‘bad decision’. An “extraordinary and unprecedented” global protest from antiquarian booksellers has forced the Amazon-owned secondhand marketplace AbeBooks to backtrack on its decision to pull out of several countries. AbeBooks… Continue Reading
Amazon Pushes ICE to Buy Its Face Recognition Surveillance Tech
POGO – Amazon employees are up in arms about possible collaborations with law enforcement. “That hasn’t stopped Amazon reps from pitching ICE on its face-scanning tech. “Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement met with Amazon this summer and the corporate giant pitched the government agency on its controversial technology that can identify people in… Continue Reading
Study – Almost 9 in 10 Android Apps Are Able To Share Data With Google
Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem. Reuben Binns, Ulrik Lyngs, Max Van Kleek, Jun Zhao, Timothy Libert, Nigel Shadbolt. 18 October 2018. “Third party tracking allows companies to identify users and track their behaviour across multiple digital services. This paper presents an empirical study of the prevalence of third-party trackers on 959,000 apps from… Continue Reading
FTC is Making Consumer Complaint Data More Accessible
“The Federal Trade Commission hears from millions of consumers each year about fraud, identity theft, and other problems, allowing us to warn other consumers about scams they should watch out for, while also providing the agency with an important source of information to support our enforcement actions. Starting today, the FTC will be making this… Continue Reading
A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared
The New York Times: “…The [tech] industry’s new goal? Not a computer on every desk nor a connection between every person, but something grander: a computer inside everything, connecting everyone. Cars, door locks, contact lenses, clothes, toasters, refrigerators, industrial robots, fish tanks, sex toys, light bulbs, toothbrushes, motorcycle helmets — these and other everyday objects… Continue Reading
Alexa, Should We Trust You? The voice revolution has only just begun
The Atlantic: “…Cynics of every age suspect their virtual assistants of eavesdropping, and not without reason. Smart speakers are yet another way for companies to keep tabs on our searches and purchases. Their microphones listen even when you’re not interacting with them, because they have to be able to hear their “wake word,” the command… Continue Reading
