So geeks, admit it, many of you are sports fanatics. I know I am. In fact, many in our Boston computer service shop are sports fans. I have good news. Introducing ESPN+: ESPN and Disney goes streaming.
So ESPN+ will be ESPN, and their father company Disney’s first streaming launch since they partially acquired BAMTech last year.? BAMTech also provides streaming services for HBO, Major League Baseball, and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), among others. It will cost $5 a month. Okay, it’s officially $4.99. But I hate when they try to tease us with that ‘save a penny’ trick. Or you can get it for $50 a year ($49.99 is the official price). Also, you can even get a free month trial.
So what will you get? You’ll get MLB, NHL (hockey), and MLS (soccer). Then you’ll get college sports, and documentaries like ESPN’s award winning 30 For 30. The only adds you’ll get will be the commercials you watch as if you’re watching the game on regular TV. The ESPN+ app will be seen on Fire TV, iPads, iPhones, Apple TV, Droid devices, and Chromecast. This app will also include sports news and scores. But this new ESPN+ app will not have big annual games, like the Super Bowl, World Series, or NBA Finals.
So that’s pretty much introducing ESPN+. But do you know what I’m seeing in IT service? I see a big shift from cable to streaming services. One example of this is You Tube’s new streaming service. You can get much of what you can on cable for a far less price. Furthermore, I read an article where many of the most hated companies in America are cable companies. Ouch! So once again, our technology is changing the game. About this ESPN+. To me, it’s worth a trial for a couple of months. But they didn’t say anything about the NFL regular season. I hope they include that, because that’s perhaps the biggest money maker of the year, despite the NFL’s problems. Is the ESPN+ app worth getting?
In the 1990s, the Internet boom changed everything. But now, in the late 2010s, it seems to be at a crossroads. I say this because this technology gave us so much jobs, innovation, and ease. Now, it’s giving us fear, scandal, cyber crime, and if you ask some people, borderline apocalypse. Look at the AI/robot technology movement. At one time, people looked at the Internet as finally, a level playing field for prosperity. Anyone who wanted to get rich, or add income, could just start an online business. However now, it looks like all of online industry and computer manufacturing are dominated by a handful of mega corporations. There was a time when tech seemed like an escape from harsh realities. But now, big brother technology follows us everywhere, whether we want it to or not, adding more gray hair, ulcers and stress.
Don’t get me wrong. I love 21st century technology and modern IT service. It kept me employed for nearly 15 years. I love the fact that I…no…we can do things that we couldn’t do with it even 10 years ago. But just like a parent with a misbehaving child…who and what I love is also who and what I chastise. Many say, “Companies like Facebook and Amazon are too big to fail. So they’re too big to care.”. I understand that concern, but they better care. If Mark Zuckerberg didn’t care before, you can bet he’s caring now. Imagine your company’s dirty laundry being aired out for all America and rest of the world to see. That is what is happening to Facebook now. President Trump is already calling Amazon out. These two stories alone should be warnings to us all. How do we fix big tech? Can we?
So it starts when Ben Taylor from Utah gets a Facebook message from Liberia, a small West African nation, asking for help. Most would dismiss this as a trick or scam. But Taylor replied, “How can I help?”.? Taylor wanted to see how they pulled these scams off. Then there is Joel. He’s the Liberian man who asked Ben Taylor for help. He asked for electronics. He would sell the electronics, then send some of the profits back. Still thinking it’s a scam, Ben sent a cheap camera, not expecting anything back. This is where it gets good.
Because Joel did keep his end of the bargain. Then Ben asked for pictures of Joel’s homeland. He made a book of Joel’s Liberia. Then, he made over $1,000 selling these books. Taylor promised Joel that $1,000, but with a catch. Ben made Joel promise to give half of it to charity. Once again, Joel proved Ben wrong. Because Joel send back proof that he did give $500 to charity. It gets better. Taylor, who claims he never left the US, went to Liberia and met Joel in person. This is a friendship that continues to this day and will probably continue for years to come.
Let me put a disclaimer out there. This isn’t an excuse to look to buy electronics from Africa. There are a lot of scams that originate from West Africa. In fact, several years back, someone at our Boston computer service shop got burned. Then why do I write about Facebook’s good news? Because we could use some. I report so much about malware, scams, rip-offs, wealth inequality, scandals, bullying, sextortion, etc. So it’s time to report on good news. It’s inspiring to see how a Facebook message can turn into a partnership and friendship around the world. Do you have any good tech news to share?
So the year 2018 is not off to a good start for Facebook. First, many blame Facebook for ‘fake news’. Then, a movement starts calling for people to delete Facebook altogether. Now, an Ars Technica report says Facebook collects SMS data from Androids without users’ permission or approval. So this is Facebook embroiled in another scandal.
Keep in mind they already apologized for the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Now comes this. But this time, Facebook denies these new reports. In fact, Facebook denies ever logging in people’s call and text history. Then they explained the deal. Facebook said that on the Android Faceook app, it includes an opt-in feature. With this feature, they agree to use it. However, they can turn off the opt-in feature at anytime. When they do, that will release any call, text or any other data the app might share.
It didn’t take long for Ars Technica? to respond. They say that Messenger was never even installed on the Android devices they use. This came from their editor, national security editor Sean Gallagher. He further says in installed the app on tablet Nexus and Blackphone 2. It’s almost like he’s backtracking here. But is it too late?
Even on my Facebook page, I’m losing friends. It isn’t because of anything I posted (at least I don’t think so), but because some people are tired of the scandals. They’re also heeding peoples’ call to get off one of the most popular IT service sites in the world. That’s not good for Facebook. Stock markets are proving it. As of right now, Facebook stocks are down over 4%. This doesn’t include the downfall their stocks had last week. I don’t know if Facebook is right, neither does anybody in this computer service shop. We don’t know if Ars Technology is right. But we do know this article will do even more to Facebook. So here we have Facebook embroiled in another scandal. What do you think this one will do?
So let’s wish the World Wide Web a happy birthday. But I bet you don’t know who Tim Berners-Lee is. That is the man the IT support world credits for creating the WWW on this day in 1989. The World Wide Web founder speaks out. It’s not good.
So Berners-Lee writes a scathing letter about the WWW’s current condition. He published it to The Guardian. He remembers the Web’s infancy of the 1990s, when small time bloggers and businesses, dreamers and artists ran the show. But now, major corporations not only control the Web, but made it so that smaller businesses can’t even compete. He complains about the Facebook’s and Google’s of the Web. Not only do they control the business aspect, but they control our ideas and opinions as well.
Berners-Lee believes the Web is now too centralized. And because there is little competition, fake news outlets and social/political/radical extremists can use this to manipulate the masses. He complains these mega web companies are all about profit now; they’re not ready to take on helping human beings socially. Then, Berners-Lee challenges online companies to close the wealth, gender, racial, and global gaps. He also calls on a new generation of dreamers to, “build a web we want”. That’s a clear hint that we need to challenge the WWW current status quo.
The World wide web founder speaks out. I agree with most of it. But I will give the Web giants credit where Berners-Lee doesn’t. Facebook and Google leaders often do use their wealth and power for good. However, I do remember an Internet that wasn’t dominated by the Amazons, Googles, Apples, Facebook’s, and Walmart’s of the world. Back then, it really was a level playing field. Those days are long gone. This repealing of net neutrality isn’t helping matters, either. I see such issues play out in our Boston computer service shop.? So yes, I do agree that too much Web power is in the hands of too few. So what can we do about it?
So in the 1990s, Yahoo was at the forefront of IT support and Internet technology. Then, in January 2000, Yahoo’s stocks peaked at $118.75 a share. How the mighty have fallen. Author and former Florida State Senator Jeremy Ring recalls his Yahoo employee days. We Were Yahoo: According to a former senator.
In fact, Jeremy Ring calls his book We Were Yahoo. At 25, he started a Yahoo office in New York. But soon after that, Yahoo sent him to their Silicon Valley headquarters. So he was there at their peak. During his tenure, Yahoo was worth over $120 billion. That was more than most car companies, combined. Ring also recalls how Yahoo had over a billion customers. Keep in mind the world’s population at that time was around six billion.
So what happened? Well, they missed some opportunities. Yahoo could have bought out Google…twice! But decided not too. Then Yahoo declined to do a paid ad search program. But Google was happy to do a paid ad program . The rest is history. Not only that,? in the 2000s, Yahoo could have bought Facebook. That didn’t happen either.? Ring also talks about other factors in later years, like the Wall Street woes of the late 2000s, which helped Yahoo’s demise. And we all remember the Yahoo email hack of 2013.
Despite all these woes, Ring recalls Yahoo as an important pioneer. They were the first to have sub-sites, like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. They were worth more than most media and news conglomerates combined. Plus, they were the first Internet company to have a Super Bowl commercial. However, let’s play what if. I named today’s report after Jeremy Ring’s book We Were Yahoo. What if Yahoo purchased Google and Facebook? Today, these two entities are worth over a trillion dollars. And now, Yahoo has to depend on Verizon’s acquisition just for mere survival. It didn’t have to be this way, Yahoo. Jeremy Ring’s We Were Yahoo book is available online for as little as $10.? Would you buy Jeremy Ring’s book?
