So author Noam Cohen is coming out with a book. He calls the book “The Know-It-Alls: The Rise of Silicon Valley as a Political Powerhouse and Social Wrecking Ball”. It is a scathing book about IT support culture in Silicon Valley. Have we sold our soul to Silicon Valley?
So the first problem Cohen has is with the tech monopolies. But I like to call them the Big 5. They are Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. However, at first, they were all idealist companies. Today, they exploit their huge, huge, customer base for profit just because they can. Or at least, that the picture Cohen paints.
Then there is the progress their technology gives us. Maybe that’s why nobody wants to call out Silicon Valley on their sins. Nonetheless, Cohen has us asking, “Is it worth it?”. Is it worth them interfering with elections? Or is it worth them sending jobs overseas, or even replacing jobs with robots? Or how about the way they swallow up companies, creating monopolies, and leading to huge wealth inequality. Okay, this is mostly how I feel, but Cohen tackles these issues. Have we sold our soul to Silicon Valley? And if we have, can we do anything about it?
Not only does Cohen says ‘yes’, but he offers suggestions. He calls for anti-trust action to stop, or at the very least, curb these potential monopolies. Cohen worries that if only a handful of men control the way we buy, sell, eat, communicate, or do anything, that just spells trouble. And quite frankly, that worries me as well. This is what I mean by selling our soul. Because if we let a handful of men like Bezos, Zuckerburg, Cook,?Pichai, and Ballmer control our lives like this, then what now? And what if we decide to speak out? Will they retaliate by cutting us off and suspending our service? This may sound like a movie, but this is not entertainment. This is our reality. But I’m just a little computer repair blogger. What do I know?
Twitter says they suspended McGowan’s account because the Scream and Charmed actress tweeted a phone number, which is a privacy violation. But many aren’t buying it. Some even call it a double standard. They say this because women and minority groups have been victimized by Twitter trolls for a long time. However, they did little about it. But when McGowan posted her controversial tweet, they suspended her account immediately.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey promises radical changes. He says Twitter will outlaw the following: hate symbols, violent groups and glorification, sexual advances, forced nudity. Oh, they will be more new rules next week. The response to this IT service mogul is mixed. Some applauded his stance. But others replied by saying, “Then ban President Trump”. Still, even others say all parties are playing victim. This isn’t new to Twitter. Between 2015 and 2016, they trolled actress Leslie Jones and rapper Iggy Azelea so bad that Jones and Azelea down their Twitter accounts altogether.
But some trolls don’t stop there. Some even used Twitter to go after celebrities’ kids. You can’t get much lower than to go after somebody’s child! It seems Twitter can’t win. I’m sure there will be free speech advocates who say Twitter is going to far. And I’m sure there are some on the other side who won’t come back to Twitter, no matter what. Twitter use is down across the board. And this will certainly shrink usage further. With all computer servicing industries, with freedom comes responsibility. But look at our society today. We’re more divided than we’ve been, well, in my lifetime (I was born in the late 1970s). It seems like everybody is mad at everybody for everything. Is this really about Twitter rules…or is this a reflection of 2017 America?
So we’re just coming off the worst data breach in US history, the Equifax data breach. In computer servicing, we see this all too often. This is how to protect yourself from data breach.
So this is the first thing we tell clients in our Boston computer service shop: get a strong password! Because 81% of hacking breaches start with weak passwords [like 1234567, password, baseball]. That’s up from 50% just two years ago. Hackers love to take advantage of weak, or default passwords. If you had the same password for years, they’ll use that for a target also.
Then there is this question. Who is behind all these breaches and hacks? According to Verizon, 75% are done from the outside. Then they say organized crime caused over half of them. Furthermore, 73% of breaches are about money. If that’s not scary enough, there is a community of hackers. In fact, there are small time hackers who will sale your ID to bigger groups for as little as five dollars! But who are they after? Once again, Verizon data says so far in 2017 24% of breaches hit financial facilities. While another 15% hit medical facilities. They targeted weak, stolen and venerable information. Does this still not concern you? Keep in mind banks and medical places make up for 16% of all the business in the USA!
I don’t know about you, but what’s more alarming is that hackers hit up 59% of places that aren’t banks or hospitals. These could be government entities, IT support firms, entertainment firms, even where your kids go to school! Now we know most of the breaches are all about money. But what’s really scary is that 27% of them have even a more sinister motive, like revenge, sex-motivated, or even to start a war. This is why we you need to know how to protect yourself from data breach. Making a strong password is a great start. Include letters and numbers, and make the password personal. Make it something only you would know (example: Your elementary school and what year you started there). How do you protect yourself against this growing threat?
So actually, it’s three systems in one. They are the Nest Secure alarm system, video doorbell, and outdoor security cameras. It also includes, through the security base, an alarm, keypad, motion sensor, and voice. They say the voice is friendly. But the voice won’ t be so friendly when thieves try to come and are told to stay back. However, could the voice be so ‘friendly’, that thieves ignore, or laugh at the warning?
Then there’s Nest Direct. It detects things opening and closing. For example, when a door or window opens or closes, Nest Direct lets you know. One can attach Nest Tag to your key chain. Therefore, it can arm and disarm without those annoying passcodes that you sometimes forget. Don’t pretend that it never happens. The video doorbell not only tells you somebody’s there, but it gives you alerts and snapshots. You can even talk to your guest through the doorbell, before they enter. This can make for some interesting moments. The Nest Security System will run you about $350. If you order now, they will ship it in November.
How ironic. Just in time for Christmas. But what about that Nest Tag? What if somebody stole your Nest Tag? Or what if you lost it? This means anybody can mess with your system and run away and have their way. That makes passcodes sound a little safer, wasn’t it? So the Nest Tag could be a security breach waiting to happen. However, I’m more fascinated with this doorbell. Yes, it keeps thieves away from you? But could it keep a teenager”s girlfriend/boyfriend away if a parent says so? There are other analogies I have in mind. Can you think of any?
Can computer technology help you with body language and public speaking? Two men think so. Because at a Disrupt SF hackathon event, these men took part by introducing Vocalytics.
Vocalytics critiques your body language while studying videos of your performance. This system also looks at hands, eyes, facial movements, and posture. It even studies movements you’re not even aware of. The two men to thank for introducing Vocalytics are?Danish Dhamani and Paritosh Gupta. They used AI to build it. Also, they use a 2D map of a skeleton on any video. Furthermore, they use Open CV, Open Pose, and Microsoft Pose Data Set.
So after all this, they study normal pose, gestures and power pose. They even asked the public to send them videos of public speaking. They offered to send feedback using Vocalytics. Keep in mind they don’t critique your speech or your words, but they do watch your body language. However, there are others who do watch the words you speak. That’s where Speechcoach.ai comes in. In fact, the men that are introducing Vocalytics also introduce Orai, a speech coach app. That’s already at the Apple Store. Sorry, but I don’t know if Vocalytics is available yet.
However, there is good and bad potential to this. This really can help you in your public speaking. Sometimes, our body language may send bad messages and we don’t even know it. And most of us have to speak in public sometime. So Vocalytics can help prevent those awkward moments before they arise, whether it’s in front of a job or class, or trying to impress that first date or job interview. But if you’ve followed me for a while, you know I look at more sinister motives. What if somebody uses this to study somebody’s body language 24/7, just to study your personality for spying purposes? And what if people use this to disrupt people’s lives? To disrupt somebody’s privacy is never a good thing. How will people use Vocalytics?
Do you know people are recruiting for hate groups, street gangs, even terrorist organizations through Facebook? People are also selling Nazi stuff through Facebook. So this begs two questions. Does Facebook enable hate? How do they fight it?
Then I read an article that leads me to believe they are fighting it. Because Facebook shuts down ‘self-targeting fields’. These self-targeting fields will shut down indefinitely. We can thank Pro Publica for their exposure of this flaw. They also exposed categories so vile that I won’t even include them on this blog. But you can imagine. However, now, if someone types something like “Hitler was right”, or other vile,hateful field of study, they will find nothing.
Furthermore, the hatemongers will use this to target advertisers and sell products. Therefore, they make money off their hate. This is a blind spot they exploit, more than you may think. This came at an already trying time. You see, some accuse Facebook of selling ads to a Russian networks that don’t even exist. You don’t think haters are going to expose that. Of course it wasn’t intentional. But you know the old saying…the road to (fill in the blank) is full of good intentions.
Does Facebook enable hate? Not intentionally. But there are two red flags here. The first one: People will exploit loopholes for their own hateful purposes. Facebook’s biggest source of revenue are advertisers. Why do you think it’s free for the users? So the money has to come from somewhere? However, are they so desperate that they’ll sell ad space to hate groups, or non-existing groups. Then there is the second red flag. What is hatred? I always worry that some will use crack down on hatred as an excuse to crack down on any speech they don’t like. Don’t think they won’t do it. And don’t think people won’t fall for it, either. So how do you walk that line without falling off either way?
