Browsed by
Month: December 2017

Google and Facebook threaten to control our thoughts (WSJ)

Google and Facebook threaten to control our thoughts (WSJ)

In his 2014 book “Zero to One,” Peter Thiel notes that because Google “doesn’t have to worry about competing with anyone, it has wider latitude to care about . . . its impact on the wider world.” If executives at a Silicon Valley monopoly believe that censoring certain content will push the world in a positive direction, market pressures cannot sufficiently restrain them. Journalists also argue that tech companies are pushing media toward the lowest common denominator. Social media rewards…

Read More Read More

Facebook will automatically recognize people in any photos uploaded to Facebook

Facebook will automatically recognize people in any photos uploaded to Facebook

Facebook will automatically scan all uploaded photos and automatically identify who appears in the photo – if someone posts a photo of you, Facebook will now send you an alert. What could go wrong? Update: Fortune has this to say The social network debuted new features on Tuesday intended to alert people when someone else has uploaded a photo of them, even if they weren’t “tagged” in the photos with their real names. Users can then approve the image for…

Read More Read More

Taking “selfies” may be a sign of a behavioral health disorder say psychologists

Taking “selfies” may be a sign of a behavioral health disorder say psychologists

Term was first coined in 2014 as part of a spoof article claiming selfitis was to be deemed a mental disorder Now researchers from the UK and India have confirmed that ‘selfitis’ does exist There are three categories – borderline, acute and chronic, they say ‘Selfitis’ is a genuine mental disorder Says if you take 3 or more selfies a day, even if not posted on line, you are borderline. People taking 6 or more selfies per day are suffering…

Read More Read More

Facebook to censor posts that ask for sharing or likes

Facebook to censor posts that ask for sharing or likes

Facebook reports that it is using machine learning tools to analyze posts. Posts that seek to boost reader engagement by asking for shares, likes and comments will be automatically de-emphasized such that they do not appear in news feeds. Specifically, To help us foster more authentic engagement, teams at Facebook have reviewed and categorized hundreds of thousands of posts to inform a machine learning model that can detect different types of engagement bait. Posts that use this tactic will be…

Read More Read More

Much news reporting is pure speculation, not actual reporting

Much news reporting is pure speculation, not actual reporting

I ran across a link to an old CNN Money financial news report from October 24, 2016. Every speculation made in this news report was wrong and illustrates how much “news” is not really reporting on events but is speculation about the future. One week before the 2016 Presidential election, CNN Money’s report is titled A Trump win would sink stocks. What about Clinton? by Heather Long   @byHeatherLong Key points: If Donald Trump wins, U.S. stocks – and likely…

Read More Read More