I’ve been blogging on this wonderful Computer Geeks site for over two years now. I’ve learned lots. I’ve learned Japan is robot obsessed! They’ve got everything from robot girlfriends to all-robot operated hotels. Guess what they came up with now?
Here I am introducing robot boss. Last week, Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi announced an artificial intelligence boss called AI to dispatch employee duties, responsibilities and work times. In fact, they put AI in charge of warehouse management. Somehow, AI managed to get an 8 percent work production increase among it’s human employees. In that same statement, Hitachi praised AI for this increase, and wants to further AI and human cooperation. Yes, ?machines and humans have been working together since the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution began. But this is a level virtually unheard of 20 years ago. Hitachi’s AI robot has the authority to send out tasks, quickly adjust work orders, even adjust work orders depending on inclement weather. This fusion of human and artificial intelligence is part of a Japanese business concept called kaizen. That basically means employers, managers and workers are always urged to improve work production, and implement new ways to do so.
I’m not a fan of humanizing robots, unless they’re in movies or on TV. But this robot boss could go either way. You can’t get away with blame it on the weather…because apparently, AI will find you out. But if I were at Hitachi, I would miss the human approach of having a boss/manager. Who is going to invite me to barbecues and other company outings? Who is going to praise or raise me when I do a good job? Who is going to teach and correct me when I’m doing wrong? Who will I go to for advice? But then again, do you think a robot is going to fire me for pulling an office prank or throwing an unexpected office party behind his back?
The world is very different from what it was in 2000, or 2005 for that matter. In the last ten years or so, social media and smartphones have changed the way we do everything. They’re even changing the way we handle divorce.
Let me introduce the new social media craze: divorce selfies. When a married couple seeks divorce and the divorce is finalized, the former couple take one last selfie. These selfies are often happy, funny, even celebratory. For example, take Chris and Shannon Neuman from Calgary, Alberta, Canada ?(look at the picture above). After their divorce went final, they took a smiling selfie. With the picture, Shannon posted, “Here’s Chris Newman and I yesterday after filing for divorce! But we’re smiling?! Yep, we’re cooky like that.” This picture went on Facebook. Their post has been shared over 36,000 times…in one day! They said they went this route because they wanted an honorable end to their marriage and move forward as parenting partners to their kids. There’s more where that came from. There’s one picture of a couple with their divorce certificate, with thumbs up and quoting, “They couldn’t wait to sign.” Another smiling divorced couple posted their selfie with the quote, “Because you can get divorced while smiling.” There’s another young former couple giving peace signs saying, “Awww look, even kids have been doing it.” I can go on and on.
There may be some moralist out there who say, “How can anybody celebrate a divorce or treat a divorce in this fashion?” But I don’t see it that way. I applaud how these couples are handling a difficult situation. Shannon Neuman said it best. Keep it civil and respectable for the sake of the children. I’ve read too many stories of divorces ending in unspeakable tragedy. I’ve seen people who get totally depressed and even suicidal after divorce. I’m glad these couples can hold their head high, and even make fun of themselves through it. So you still say divorce selfies are wrong? What’s the alternative?
Happy birthday Facebook! Okay, it’s not their birthday. But they have reached a milestone very few online companies will ever see. Now that’s worth celebrating!
Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced back on Monday, August 24, one billion users logged on Facebook in one day. That’s the first time any social media network has accomplished such a feat. Facebook was launched in 2004 at Harvard University. It was exclusive to Harvard as an online directory. But by the end of 2005, Facebook had over 2,800,000 users and available on 800 campuses. That same year, Zuckerberg and his creation got their first piece of national notoriety. The New York Times released an article called “Student Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million”. ?Venture capitalist Jim Breyer believed in young Facebook so much he invested $13 million in Zuckerberg‘s dream. It was probably one of the best investments in US history. Around this time, MySpace was launched and became the premier social website. But by the end of the 2000s decade, MySpace was left in the dust and Facebook became social media king. Back in 2012, Facebook had one billion active monthly users. That was a tremendous feat. But now, 1 in 7 people, almost 15%of the world’s population, are now using Facebook on a daily basis.
So far this decade, Mark Zuckerberg was awarded Time’s Person of the Year (2010). Facebook is now worth over $250 billion. It’s been involved in humanitarian efforts like reporting the 3/11/11 tsunami in Japan and raising funds for it’s victims. Though Facebook’s stock market started shaky, they now trade at over $90 a share. What makes this so phenomenal is that 40% of the world’s population still is without Internet service. That mean nearly half of the world’s population can’t even get access to Facebook, yet 15% of the global population are using Facebook on a daily basis. What if the whole world had access to the Internet? How?much?more powerful would Facebook be?
Friday, I did an article about a venture capital investor warning that the stock market party was all but over. Was he right?
Between Thursday and Friday, August 20-21, 2015, the stock market lost more than 5% of it’s entire net worth. Friday alone, the NYSE lost more than 530 points. Global markets did just as bad. Tech and online companies took a hard hit. Friday, Twitter lost 6% of their stocks. At one point, they went to an all-time low of $26 a share. They’re still at their record low. Apple lost over 8% of it’s market last week. For Apple, that equals $158 billion dollars of hard work and careful planning just vanishing into thin air. All the gains they had so far in the eight months of 2015 were wiped out in less than one week. Computer maker Hewlett Packard was lucky to gain 0.32% Friday. But they’re struggling with revenue as desktops sales dropped 20% just the previous quarter. Google, in the wake of their Alphabet announcement, lost over 5% of their stocks Friday. But perhaps the biggest loser last week was software company Intruit. They develop tax preparations for businesses and individuals. Friday, they lost over 13% of their stocks. Nobody prepared them for that.
I can’t stress this enough: We at Computer Geeks are not doom and gloom forecasters. But we can’t ignore reality. Investors are on edge. The global economy is shaky. And tech companies aren’t immune, not even giants like Apple and Google. Some say this is a perfect time to invest, in hopes that company stocks will eventually go up. There’s quite a bit of wisdom in that strategy. But what will next week hold for tech stocks on the NYSE and international markets? What will the next month or so hold? If you talk to a lot of financial experts, it’s nothing too good. Tech stocks fall. Now what?
Yesterday, news broke that Russia is the main suspect in launching a sophisticated cyber attack against the Pentagon. This international hacking confirmed what many of us in the tech industry already knew: nation is on the cyber warpath against nation.
According to leading mainstream US news agencies like NBC News, US officials accuse Russia of cyber attacking the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of ?Staff unclassified mail system. Thanks to the hack, this email system had to be shut down for two weeks. Officials say the intrusion happened around July 25 and around 4,000 Joint Chiefs of Staff employees were hit. Sources say the hacking started with an automated system that gathered overwhelming data in a matter of one minute. Then that overwhelming data was distributed, all at once, to thousands of machines and accounts throughout the Internet. Officials say Russian hackers pulled it off through encrypted social media. Authorities aren’t claiming the Russian government had anything to do with this cyber attack…at least not aloud. But some officials say, “It was clearly the work of a state actor.” Authorities also insists it was only unclassified email accounts that got hacked. No classified emails were in danger or compromised. The email system should be back to normal in the very near future. It may be already be.
It shouldn’t be surprising at all this was an international attack. China has been accused of hacking several US institutions over the years. And look at the tensions between the US and Russia over the past several years. ?Some foreign relation experts fear we’re slipping back into the Cold War. But what is a surprise is that it made national news. Often times this would only make tech news. I guess they don’t want to scare the masses. What Russian entity do you think is responsible? Or is there something ‘the authorities’ aren’t telling us?
Remember gathering around the TV at 6:00 and 6:30 for the news? For most, those days are long gone. But it’s eye opening to discover what’s replacing the trend.
According to Pew Research Center and Knight Foundation, more Americans get their news from social media sites Facebook and Twitter. In fact, 63% of social media users say they get their news from these two sites. Compare that to 52% of Twitter users and 47% of Facebook users back in 2013. More than half of those Twitter users say they follow breaking news on their site. Twitter and Facebook notice and take advantage. Twitter is developing a news source called Project Lightning. This app will allow users to instantly upload videos, photos and other rich images. Meanwhile, Facebook teams up with news organizations to release Instant Articles. You can only find that app on Apple products. This trend crosses many demographics. However, Millennials and Gen Zers (those born after 1980) are more likely to use Facebook and Twitter as a premier news source than anybody else. ?But for all races/ethnicity, economies, and education levels are about equal. Not only that, Facebook and Twitter users are more likely to facilitate and receive political news than ever before. That should make the next sixteen months very interesting.
This is just the world we’re living in today. I can get news 24 hours a day because someone is posting about a news event, whether it be breaking news, weather, sports, politics, and especially entertainment/pop culture. Plus, this tells you the sorry state of mainstream media. Very few Americans trust mainstream media today. When most news media are owned by only six corporations, you get what you got. People are fed up with it and get their news from alternative sources. I know you get fake news and hoaxes on social media from time to time. But ask yourself: Is regular news these days any better?
