Dan York

Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...

Author's posts

Aug 11

TDYR 411 – Turning the Mic Back On! And an invitation to play with Reddit Talk

It's been a loooonnnngggg while since the last episode! But I'm back with a long list of episodes... and I'd like to engage with YOU, listeners, in experimenting with Reddit Talk as a way to record podcast episodes. If you are a Redditor, please drop me a note and lets figure out a time to try out Reddit Talk! (More info: https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4404349195284 )

Aug 09

FIR #276: Should I Tay Or Should I Go?

Remember Microsoft Tay? The 2016 Twitter chatbot suffered from a concerted effort to teach it all manner of vile things, prompting Microsoft to withdraw the service and apologize. That experience is top of mind for pretty much everyone talking about Meta’s new chatbot, now available in public testing in the U.S. The developers behind BlenderBot 3 insist that they, too, had the Tay experiment in mind when they developed the process for teaching this new chatbot to behave. In fact, the beta is designed so people can report when it says something inappropriate that it may have learned from another user. That information is used to teach it what is not appropriate. Will it work?

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 22. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #276: Should I Tay Or Should I Go? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Aug 05

FIR #275: Will You Have An NFT With Your Coffee?

Brands have been tripping over themselves to jump on the Web3/metaverse/NFT bandwagon, but few have articulated a strategic and comprehensive approach at the level Starbucks has. In this short mid-week FIR episode, Neville and Shel look at how Starbucks plans to build loyalty and community using these emerging tools, along with some other organizations that are starting to give Web3 similarly serious looks.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #275: Will You Have An NFT With Your Coffee? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Aug 04

Experimenting with a Horizontal Pyramid Gallery

Following the instructions in this tutorial from WordPress, to build this page using only the blocks in the WordPress editor.

Aug 02

FIR #274: Is Unbranded Unethical?

According to one definition, unbranded content “isn’t specifically about your company but is relevant to your industry or product in some way.” There are unbranded videos like this one from WREN, an online clothing retailer. Released in 2014, it’s a film in which the filmmakers asked 20 couples who had never met to kiss. The only reference to WREN is at the very beginning of the video, “WREN Presents.” There isn’t even a link to the retailer in the film or on its YouTube page.

And there are entire unbranded websites. We even interviewed Ike Pigott from Alabama Power about Alabama News Center, where Alabama Power’s involvement is barely noticeable.

There are sound reasons for brands to produce unbranded content. From the perspective of the audience reading or viewing the content, is it underhanded? A failure to disclose? Does it matter? Neville and Shel have differing points of view in this short mid-week episode of For Immediate Release.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #274: Is Unbranded Unethical? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Jul 28

FIR #273: What Is The Metaverse? It’s A Network

If you peruse search results for “the metaverse,” it will seem like half the content you find focuses on defining it. At Nvidia, executive Richard Kerris thinks it’s pretty easy to define. “The metaverse is not a place,” he says. “It’s the network for the next version of the Web.” Neville and Shel explore that definition and related developments in this short midweek FIR episode.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #273: What Is The Metaverse? It’s A Network appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Jul 26

FIR #272: Tick Tick Tick Tick Search

Research conducted by Google found that nearly 40 percent of Gen Z are using Tik Tok and Instagram for search instead of Google. It’s a real-world example of significant shifts exhibited by this group of 10-to-22-year-olds. By 2025, they will represent 30 percent of the workforce and be a considerable presence in the consumer marketplace.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #272: Tick Tick Tick Tick Search appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Jul 20

FIR #271: Work-From-Home and the Generational Divide

A lot is fueling the debate over whether workers should be able to continue working remotely, at least some of the time, or get themselves back to the office. The debate pits workers against leaders, and the assumption is that it’s just a matter of how each side perceives what’s best. But anthropologists see another factor at play: most leaders come from a different generation than those employees who want remote or hybrid work to become the new normal.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #271: Work-From-Home and the Generational Divide appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Jul 18

FIR #270: Disgust, Convenience, and Reputation

Topics up for discussion in the monthly long-form episode include the following:L

  • Are holograms about to go mainstream?
  • There is outrage over revelations of massive wrongdoing by Uber. Will everyone keep riding them anyway?
  • Uses of NFTs are expanding far beyond collectible artwork for investment purposes.
  • How Wikipedia remediated dozens of fake articles could be a lesson for the rest of the world.
  • Bad guys are extorting gift cards in exchange for removing negative online reviews.

Dan York’s report explores NFT adoption by Reddit and Snap; Instagram’s move to let creators confine posts to subscribers; Facebook’s test of multiple profiles; Twitter’s latest innovations; and mobile live-streaming with Starlink.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

Links from Dan York’s Report

The post FIR #270: Disgust, Convenience, and Reputation appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Jul 14

FIR #269: Doppelgängers Everywhere!

Soon golfers and fans of the sport will be able to interact one-on-one with the legendary Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. Well, not Nicklaus himself, but his digital twin. Nicklaus spent hours in a studio having every facial expression and gesture recorded. The first digital twin will be of his 37-year-old self, but more are planned. And rest assured, Nicklaus won’t be the last celebrity to make himself “available” as a digital twin in the online world. And there’s more to digital twins than celebrities.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, July 18. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #269: Doppelgängers Everywhere! appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.