Jun 25, 2018 | Uncategorized
So one of the biggest travel times is coming up: the 4th of July holiday. However, if you’re flying to Orlando, you could be in for a security shock. Orlando Airport facial recognition is here.
Because this airport offers facial recognition to all international travelers. Right now, this is for passers coming from London’s airports. But by the end of 2018, this airport’s system will be fully open for business. They’re not the only ones. Because airports in New York and Atlanta are running the tests. How does it work? The facial recognition system checks your face against your passport photo. Keep in mind they already have your passport photo in a government database. They will save this images for two weeks. According to US Customs, it’s 99% accurate and will combat terrorism and other ills.
However, privacy rights groups show concern over the Orlando airport facial recognition. Some, like the ACLU (America Civil Liberties Union) say they can abuse the system and follow people beyond the airport. They also say they’re not enough clarity of how they’re going to use the data. Also, there is concern that a hacker could break in the system and compromise the ID’s of millions. I watched a CNN report on this. A customs agent, in almost a condescending and sarcasm tone, assured this is safe.
But political figures also show concern about this new piece of IT service. In fact, two US Senators, Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) want to pause all bio metric screening. They are very concerned and want an investigation of potential privacy and cyber threats. They are not the only ones. Some say this will be a matter of quickness and convince. It may be. But Senators Markey (whose office is just down the street from our computer service shop) and Lee are right. We need to talk about safety and privacy first. Look at how good these hackers are getting and the damage they can do. Whose to say they won’t try to attack this Orlando airport facial recognition database?
Jun 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
So You Tube is trying to step out of it’s traditional You Tube offerings. In many ways, they’re already doing that. But You Tube steps up it’s game, adds program.
So as far as memberships, they already have You Tube Gaming. For around $5 a month, you get your own channel and choice of games. But now, these new Channel memberships will have stricter rules. Channel creators will need to be 18+ and have at least 100,000 churches. This includes a members only tab, where people of that community can exchange ideas and items. The pool and potential is there. Because the number of You Tubers making six digit figures increased 40% in just a short time.
Then there is a You Tube merchandise. That’s right. Now, You Tubers can sell products to their people directly through You Tube. It’s already happening. One channel, Lucas the Spider, sold over 60,000 dolls in less than three weeks. So this one channel made over $1 million. You Tube calls this program Teespring. This program will help you sell your merchandise, for those who never sold a item online ever. They tested it and these tests were successful. Then you can you You Tube Premiers. That’s a landing page. On that page, you can promote your videos and merchandise before you release them. Also, you can put the price of merchandise on this page.
You Tube steps up it’s game. I’ve seen my competition where they displayed laptops fixed. They didn’t have the parts or anything like that for sale. But let’s not dwell on them. There are a lot of You Tube videos I do love and follow. One is considering selling merchandise online. There are also a few others that sell stuff online, and could use the merchandise service. How many in IT service have a You Tube channel? I’m sure there are quite many. And You Tube steps up it’s game. Could you take advantage?
Jun 21, 2018 | General
So we know that all things IT service is changing. For example, five years ago, Uber comes out. But today, Uber and Lyft drivers make millions in tips.
Last year, the ride sharing app started an in-app tipping service. It paid off…in every sense of the word. They introduced the tipping program in May 2017. Since then, drivers saw a 30% increase in their bottom line. In fact, in August 2017 alone, Uber drivers made $50 million in tips. They’re not the only ones. Because their rival, Lyft, launched a tipping app service around the same time. They saw their drivers make over $500 million in tips since then. That’s nearly a 10% increase.
They even broke it down to cities and times. Uber says their most generous tippers are in Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Orleans and Nashville. However, Lyft says their most generous tippers are in New York City, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Jose, CA. Not surprisingly, ride sharing customers get really generous close to weekend time. Drivers get the biggest tips between Thursday night and Saturday night. Keep in mind these stats are just in the USA. Yes, Uber is available now in most of the world. But Lyft is only available in the US and Canada.
One thing that surprises me. Boston isn’t on the most generous tippers’ list. People use it in this town often enough. I see them come and go in front of this computer service shop all the time. But I’m not surprised the people are more generous on the weekend. People have tendency to spend more money late week and weekend then during the week. Also, people are more generous when they’re in celebratory mode. This is a huge step for Uber and Lyft drivers. This isn’t good for cab companies, who are already hemorrhaging because of Uber and Lyft. Can they come back and compete with this?
Jun 20, 2018 | General
So job search and career development website Glassdoor?came out with their most popular CEO’s. Apple and Google, two of the biggest IT service companies, are here. But it’s not good news for them.? Because Apple and Google CEO’s lose favor.
Apple CEO Tim Cook dropped a whopping 43 points in the ratings. That’s the lowest drop of any CEO since they started doing this list. Then you have Google CEO Sundai Pachai, who also dropped a lot in these polls. They did these ratings by anonymously asking employees what they think of their CEO. Pichai went from 17th to 45th place. But that’s good compared to Cook. Cook went from 53rd to 96th.
Do you really want to add salt to these wounds? Think about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Think about all the scandal and controversy his company faced over the last couple of years.? However, his popularity points only dropped 6 places. Life just isn’t fair, is it? So why did Apple and Google CEO’s lose favor? Some insiders say Apple’s intense culture of secrecy creates a lot of stress and fear among their employees. Complaints of long hours and them calling you to work at anytime don’t help, either. But what about Google, and why their big drop in just a year? With Google, employees complained about company politics, favoritism, and an increasing corporate culture.
However, it’s not all bad news for Apple and Google. Because their approval ratings are still in the 90’s. The average CEO is 69%. In fact, most if not all IT support CEO’s are about average. That says something about our industry as a whole. Yes, our industry has turbulence. But as long as we’re on Earth, every industry will have some turbulence sometimes. No industry or line of work is going to be perfect. And even among consumers, I head more complains about Apple than about Google. So what do you think Sundar and Cook can do to improve these numbers?
Jun 19, 2018 | Computer technology
So they rush a woman with stage 4 breast cancer to the hospital. Also, her lungs are drowning in her own fluid. Google AI gives her less than 20% chance of living to see the following week. Unfortunately, they were right. Because she passes away three days after her rush to the hospital. Can Google predict your death?
So now, Google uses health-care data and AI software to predict someone’s health. This includes hospital stays, chances of recovery, and even chances of death. One way Google can do this is by going through your health data, no matter how old. And they have the IT support and technology just about there. In fact, they’re even working on predicting symptoms and diagnosis. Now, they’re trying to peddle this IT service to hospitals and medical facilities all over the country.
However, it will not be easy. Others company and their creations, like IBM’s Watson, tried AI medical predictions. But they had little, if any, success. Even Google is having a hard time with certain aspects of this, like obtaining medical records. These records are sensitive documents to everybody: the patients, the hospitals, the insurance companies as well as the hospitals. Google is trying to get deals with certain universities to get anonymous medical data. Good luck with that.
Because let’s face it. Some people don’t want their medical data and records in the hands of a robot. I know Google leaders say they’ll do all they can to make sure they run their AI, and make sure the AI don’t run them. However, that’s easier to say than it is to do. I have a feeling when AI takes over, it won’t want to let go. This will include medical records. Do we want to give AI that much power over our life and death? Have we already? Can Google predict your death? Do we want them to?
