Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Apr 18
FIR #246: Who Wants to Live Forever?
In the April edition of The Hobson and Holtz Report, Neville and Shel discuss these stories:
- The advertising industry weighs in on an Ogilvy policy banning influencers from photoshopping their images
- A metaverse company plans to offer a form of immortality with its “Live Forever” mode
- Coca-Cola is offering a limited-edition drink that tastes like pixels and includes a Fortnite code
- Corporate America seemed bound for a more purposeful existence. Has it all fallen by the wayside?
- Elon Musk believes in unfettered free speech, a key reason he wants to buy Twitter. Is it a good thing?
- Research reveals consumers care more about how a company donates than how much
Dan York’s Tech Report covers how the Russian war against Ukraine is splintering the Internet (along with other tech-related fallout from the invasion); Wikipedia’s decision to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations; how much Jack Dorsey’s first tweet — initially purchased as an NFT for $48 million — attracted in an auction; the state of the Ethereum merge; TikTok’s rollout of AR capabilities; Spotify’s rebranding of its Clubhouse clone; and more.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to 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. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.
Links from this episode:
- Industry weighs in on Ogilvy’s influencer editing policy
- Ogilvy will no longer work with influencers who edit their bodies or faces for ads
- Metaverse Company to Offer Immortality Through ‘Live Forever’ Mode
- A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says?
- Coca-Cola’s new limited-edition drink tastes like ‘pixels’ and comes with a Fortnite code
- Coca-Cola’s tweet announcing limited-edition drink
- Nifty News: Meta wants 50% of NFT sales, Coke’s Metaverse flavor, and more
- Coca-Cola animation detailing its metaverse promotion
- Virtual Thirst Winner Announced (YouTube video of Coca-Cola’s 2007 Second Life promotion)
- Is corporate America no longer interested in purposeful business?
- Disney shareholder tells CEO Chapek to stop wasting money on ‘political crusades’
- Disney Fans Want Companies To Oppose ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill—But Not Take Drastic Measures, Poll Finds
- Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store
- How Free Speech Absolutist Elon Musk Would Transform Twitter
- Elon Musk talks Twitter, Tesla and how his brain works — live at TED2022
- Elon Musk Demonstrates How Little He Understands About Content Moderation
- Giving Back: Consumers Care More About How Companies Donate Than How Much
Links from Dan York’s Tech Report
- What Is the Splinternet? And Why You Should Be Paying Attention
- TikTok created an alternate universe just for Russia
- U.S. and Ukrainian Groups Pierce Putin’s Propaganda Bubble
- Russia VPN usage continues to soar
- Russia Is Leaking Data Like a Sieve
- Wikipedia community votes to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations
- Wikipedia editors don’t want your bitcoin
- ‘Jack Dorsey’s First Tweet’ NFT Went on Sale for $48M. It Ended With a Top Bid of Just $280
- Ethereum Merge No Longer Expected in June
- TikTok is rolling out Effect House, which lets creators make AR effects that others can use in videos, to all users after a closed beta test last fall
- TikTok is testing a “dislike” button in comments
- Instagram upgrades its DM inbox with music sharing, statuses, polls, silent messages and more
- Spotify rebrands companion app Spotify Greenroom as Spotify Live and integrates its live audio capabilities in the main app minus the interactive features
The post FIR #246: Who Wants to Live Forever? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Apr 07
Remembering Tadao Takahashi
We honor Tadao Takahashi for all his work over many decades to build a bigger and stronger Internet, and to use the Internet to build a better society.
The post Remembering Tadao Takahashi appeared first on Internet Society.
Mar 23
What Is the Splinternet? And Why You Should Be Paying Attention
The “Splinternet” is the idea that the open, globally connected Internet we all use splinters into a collection of fragmented networks controlled by governments or corporations.
The post What Is the Splinternet? And Why You Should Be Paying Attention appeared first on Internet Society.
Feb 09
Proximities – a great email newsletter with three news stories about the non-Western world
In a world drowning in email, and increasingly with email newsletters, one of the messages I actually look forward to receiving each day is:
It’s an email newsletter from a journalist named Barry Malone that comes out almost every day. His goal is to highlight three “non-Western news stories you should know”.
What I enjoy is that he very simply and succinctly provides a summary and then a link to read more. It’s three quick paragraphs that I can quickly scan and then decide if I want to read more.
Living in the USA, as I do, most of the news in our US media tends to be about, well… the USA! And maybe Europe on a good day. Every so often we might hear about Canada, too.
But the only times we really hear about countries and regions in other parts of the world are when there are natural disasters or maybe some violent conflict (but sometimes NOT).
To help broaden my view, I get Barry’s email and also the news letter from the Rest of World site, which I highly recommend.
Many thanks to Barry for all the work he’s done - and for consistently delivering such concise, succinct summaries. I would encourage you to subscribe!
Feb 02
What Is a LEO Satellite System—and Can It Help Build a Bigger Internet?
There’s a new space race happening right now and the stakes are just as high as they were half a century ago. Companies such as SpaceX, Amazon, OneWeb, and Telesat are racing to launch large systems of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide Internet access. These LEO “constellations” could help bridge the digital divide, […]
The post What Is a LEO Satellite System—and Can It Help Build a Bigger Internet? appeared first on Internet Society.
Jan 07
Google stats now consistently over 35% IPv6
It’s great to see Google’s IPv6 statistics climbing up consistently over 35%. This means that 35% of all users connecting to Google globally are doing so over IPv6.
And if you look at the statistics per country, the % is much higher in some parts of the world.
All in all a good sign that if you haven’t started migrating your applications to using IPv6, the time to do so is now!
Jan 07
Google stats now consistently over 35% IPv6
It’s great to see Google’s IPv6 statistics climbing up consistently over 35%. This means that 35% of all users connecting to Google globally are doing so over IPv6.
And if you look at the statistics per country, the % is much higher in some parts of the world.
All in all a good sign that if you haven’t started migrating your applications to using IPv6, the time to do so is now!
Jan 05
Poem: In the end, it didn’t matter
In the end
It didn’t matter
That their kids got many other required vaccines for school
It didn’t matter
That their jobs required annual flu shots
It didn’t matter
That unvaxxed people they knew died
It didn’t matter,
Their lords said this vaccine was bad
Nothing else mattered
In the end
Jan 04
The Best Return To Work After Vacation Ever
Yesterday was my first day back at work after 10 days away on vacation where I did not check work email or Slack.
I approached it with the usual perspective of “Ugh! How many messages will I have to wade through!” Quite often it can take a day or a couple of days to get caught up.. and sometimes you can feel like you need a vacation from taking a vacation! 😀
I have a whole regular “return from vacation" routine down. The first thing I do is copy my entire email inbox to a mail folder so that my inbox only has new messages and I can start responding to those items. Then at some point in the day I start scanning through that mail folder to triage messages in importance, making sure I see messages from our CEO, senior management, my manager, our team, etc., etc. Before I do that, of course, I usually spend time working my way through the zillion Slack channels we have trying to figure out what his most important. Usually the whole process can take hours to days to recover.
So I was prepared that this would be my first Monday of 2022.
To my utter surprise… it was the exact opposite!
You see, our executive team had decided to shut down the entire organization for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, judging that all of us needed a full break to rest and recuperate given the pandemic and so much chaos happening in so many parts of the world.
And… perhaps more importantly… people DID take the time away!
There were a few email messages from staff, and a few from people outside the organization, but so few that I didn’t even bother with my usual “move everything to a folder” routine.
And Slack was blissfully quiet… at least until I got there yesterday! 🤣
There was no recovery time needed! I was just able to get in, answer a few queries and then get started with 2022 work and planning.
In 30+ years in the corporate world, I’ve never had a “return from vacation” quite like this - but I’ve also never had a company or organization truly shut down.
It was wonderful - and I highly recommend it for other companies!
P.S. We’re hiring! (Although only for a couple of positions right now, but other positions do open up over time.)
