The 2010s should be known as the decade of mergers. American Airlines bought out USAir. Dell bought out EMC. Disney even got Star Wars (George Lucas, shame on you for selling out like that!)! Will Yahoo be bought?
Several sources say Microsoft leaders and private equity firms are meeting to possibly acquire Yahoo. There has been talk of Yahoo being bought out. But there’s even more talk of Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer putting up a fight to keep the company as is. She’s still optimistic the Internet pioneer can turn things around. There is even bickering between Yahoo leaders and potential buyers. Some say any Yahoo deal is absurd; others say not really. You may wonder why Microsoft, one of the richest companies in the world today, is even asking for help in any acquisition. That’s because Microsoft wants to ensure they have a good partner if it’s ever purchased. But Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s relationship was warmed in recent years. They tried to acquire Yahoo back in 2008, and the deal had an ugly ending. More ugliness flared up when Meyer tried to go out of a deal that ended in a failed lawsuit. Since then, their relationship has been cooperative and tolerable. As of today, Yahoo’s cap is $32.5 billion, including China based franchise Alibaba group. It’s current price ranges from six to ten billion. Bidders include Microsoft, Verizon and Comcast.
To us, six to ten billion dollars is a lot of money. But to acquire a major company, that’s pocket change. Is this a clue of how bad it’s gotten for Yahoo these days? I still hate the very words merger and acquisition. But I also understand in today’s business world, it’s sometimes a necessity. Yahoo has seen better days. Profits are shrinking. Leaders and employees are leaving, some by choice, others by layoffs. Competition is beating them mercilessly. Is it time for Yahoo to quit and get bought out?
Some time ago, Microsoft introduced us to a virtual robot named Tay. Tay was supposed to appeal to teens and young adults by speaking their language and culture. Her Twitter account is @Tayandyou, and she’s supposed to get smarter with every tweet. But Tay is learning and spewing, racism, hatred and conspiracy theories as well.
In some well publicized tweets, Tay referred to President Obama as ‘a monkey’. Tay also tweeted former President George W Bush was responsible for 9/11. Tay want on to deny the Holocaust. Tay even went as far to praise Hitler and side with white supremacist groups. This is just the tip of the hate berg. Some tweets she received and comments she dished out were so vile and hurtful they had to be deleted. Microsoft even had to take her offline to be fixed for upgrades. ?Tray was able to share such filth because Microsoft forgot to put any filters on her. A Microsoft statement summed this failed experiment up accurately when they said, “The Al chatbox Tay ?is a machine learning project, designed for human engagement. As it learns, some of it’s responses?are inappropriate and indicative of the types of interactions some people are having with it.” Tay’s sharp tongue has caused much concern over AI intelligence altogether.
What Tay did was expose what in in many tweeter’s hearts. Tay picked up all this hatred. That’s what she gave back. For years, people have been tweeting ugliness most wouldn’t dare say to someone’s face. It’s easy to give yourself a nickname and hide behind a screen and bully and curse someone. I am usually weary of robot technology. But this is an experiment that can teach us all something. What goes in is going to come out. We shouldn’t be surprised at Tay’s hateful views if that’s all she’s getting. And if this is what today’s teens and early twenty-somethings are teaching her, what does this say about this upcoming generation? Does Tay reveal what’s in our hearts?
On March 20, 2016, Twitter celebrated it’s 10th birthday. Jack Dorsey co-founded the social media phenomenon. Now, he’s leading the celebration on the company blog.
Ten years ago, Jack Dorsey himself sent the first tweet, “just setting up my twttr”. ?He’s invited any and all to celebrate the decade of hashtag social media. Nobody can deny the impact Twitter has had on society and language. The maximum amount of letters allowed in a tweet is 140. Over the years, people have gotten really good with communicating a strong word in a short message. We can know what our favorite celebs are thinking and doing. And who doesn’t love hearing mean tweets on Jimmy Kimmel? ?In the last 10 years, a lot has happened in our world. Twitter was one of the social media sites used to broadcast such news. Take last year, the terrorist attacks in Paris. It was the tweets of regular people that first broke the news. So in some ways, Twitter is our Walter Cronkite (I apologize to journalism purist who are offended by that last sentence). Twitter had a slow start. It was founded in 2006, but didn’t really take off publicly until 2008 or 2009. The last few years haven’t been kind to Twitter either. Stocks have hit new lows. Employees and managers have been leaving by the truckloads. Some investors consider pulling out of Twitter. Dorsey runs payment processing company Square as well as Twitter. This forces him to work often times 18 hours a day.
First off, when someone is working 18 hours a day and running two major, major companies, you’re doing too much. I praise Jack Dorsey for giving the world Twitter and Square. Both have changed our lives forever. But Jack Dorsey is just one human being. He can only do so much. If I were to give Dorsey advise, it would be to hire good VPs to help you run these organizations, someone who you can trust and someone who will get the job done. Get some rest and celebrate what you’ve created. So we at Computer Geeks say Happy Birthday Twitter! What was your favorite all-time tweet?
Do you want to go to Mexico anytime soon? Let ride sharing app Uber take you. Of course, you have to get to San Diego, CA on your own.
Uber is launching Passport. With a push of Uber’s button, they will take you from San Diego, through the San Ysidro border, and to any destination in Mexico’s Baja California. This includes Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada. ?This service will compete with people driving, busing, taking taxis, or even walking across the border. This trip is only one-way and available through Uber’s black option. The Passport service will require a $20 convenience fee. Fares will vary depending on places and mileage lengths. ?A one-way fare from downtown?San Diego to Tijuana’s airport will cost an Uber rider $100. A trip from Pacific Beach to Rosarito will cost $160. You must have your passport to cross the border, Uber or no Uber. Both sides believe Uber Passport will boost tourism for greater San Diego and Baja California, Mexico. Over 70,000 people cross the San Ysidro border daily. Around 50,000 have taken Uber services between San Diego and Mexico, but the trip was far more complicated. The passenger would end one trip at San Ysidro, walk across the border, get their passport stamp, and then hail another Uber after they make it to the Mexican side.
Uber Passport should make it easier than that to cross the border. But it won’t make traffic at the border easier. We can only hope it would make it more comfortable. If this is luxury service, then it better be. I’ve never crossed this border before, but I can see how San Diego citizens cross the border for a weekend out, a day off, or even for work/business purposes. But will this attract people for the price? Should they come up with an Uber Passport service elsewhere, like say, from greater Seattle to greater Vancouver? Will people even prefer Uber,?over a taxi service or their own car across the border?
Yes, Facebook is desperate to promote and push it’s live streaming services. Live video was introduced back in December 2015. At first, it did fairly well. Then struggles came, and plenty of them.
Facebook even asks Hollywood celebrities to promote themselves on their live streaming services. They might even pay the rich and the famous to do so. Their COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is in LA pitching this idea to talent agencies. She’s looking for a handful of subjects (some believe it’s more like 100) to live stream regularly, and be paid modest amounts to do so. Eventually, this is supposed to generate more ad revenue for Facebook and the streamers through sponsors, sales and donations, sort of like how many You Tube stars get paid. Facebook doesn’t have ads to back up this live streaming…not yet. If successful, it could rise to that. But for now, Facebook hopes simple payment to live streamers will get the ball rolling. Payment could be in the six-figure range. That’s not modest at all for people like you and me, but these are celebrities we’re talking about here. And these don’t have to be A-List Oscar and Emmy winners either. Facebook could just as well go after B-Listers who know how to network social media.
Is Facebook trying to overtake You Tube? It looks like it. If they are going to use celebrities, they should use stars who could use the work. Frankly, I’m tired of A-listers having all the fun and glory and other good stars being left out in the cold. Plus, You Tube stars use Facebook for promotion all the time. Why not ask some of the most popular You Tube channel owners to help promote it and pay them to do so? Or should Facebook use a combination of everybody, including the not famous, to promote their live streaming services? Do you think Facebook ?live streaming will compare to You Tube?
Terrorist group ISIS, or Islamic State, makes direct threats at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. These social media outlets are fighting to silence the terrorist group’s propaganda of murder and jihad.
The Islamic State made the threats in a 25 minute propaganda video. They don’t stop with threats to Zuckerberg and Dorsey. The deep, obviously disguised voice brags about how Islamic State hacked 10,000 Facebook accounts, 5,000 Twitter profiles and 150 Facebook groups. They claim after they were hacked, the accounts were given to Islamic State supporters. The video admits this is in retaliation of Facebook and Twitter’s campaigns to suspend accounts created by the terrorist groups. Twitter has suspended 125,000 profiles linked to ISIS. The video threatened to create one for every ten Twitter profiles removed. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Zuckerberg declared, “If we have opportunities to basically work with governments and folks to make sure that there aren’t terrorist attacks then we’re going to take these opportunities…”. There’s been pressure on other Internet companies to crack down on ISIS, especially after last fall’s terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernadino. Nobody at Facebook nor Twitter has yet to comment on this recent video.
But ISIS often uses social media for propaganda and recruitment. They’ve shown You Tube videos of them serving ice cream to kids. They’ve sent messages to lonely and venerable women promising them the world if they leave everything behind and join them in Syria, even paying for their one-way plane ticket. So Zuckerberg and Dorsey are doing what any businessman, and any concerned upstanding citizen would do. They’re protecting their businesses and customers from a serious threat by any means necessary. ?It must be working. The Islamic State wouldn’t be threatening them if it had no effect. If I saw Dorsey and Zuckerberg, I would encourage them to keep the fight up. I’d say intensify it. Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Social media should NEVER be used to recruit others for murder, war, jihad, or other acts of such demonic evil. Shouldn’t other online companies and leaders follow Dorsey and Zuckerberg’s example?
