networking
How IBM lost the cloud
Insiders say that marketing missteps and duplicated development processes meant IBM Cloud was doomed from the start, and eight years after it attempted to launch its own public cloud the future of its effort is in dire straits.
Source: How IBM lost the cloud
Gig workers are uncertain, scared, and barely scraping by
The platform work model is reshaping entire economies, sectors, lifestyles, and livelihoods.
Source: Gig workers are uncertain, scared, and barely scraping by
The Largest Autocracy on Earth
Facebook is acting like a hostile foreign power; it’s time we treated it that way.
Beyoncé, Jay-Z blasted over Basquiat painting in Tiffany & Co. ad
New York City’s preeminent power couple, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, are facing backlash online after appearing in a new Tiffany & Co. advertising campaign that features a never-before-seen painting by late NY artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Many critics are wondering how the anti-capitalist Basquiat would feel about having his work featured in a jewelry ad.
Source: Beyoncé, Jay-Z blasted over Basquiat painting in Tiffany & Co. ad
China proposes strict control of algorithms
China is not done with curbing the influence local internet services have assumed in the world’s most populous market. Following a widening series of regulatory crackdowns in recent months, the nation on Friday issued draft guidelines on regulating the algorithms firms run to make recommendations to users. In a 30-point draft guideline published on Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) proposed forbidding companies from deploying algorithms that “encourage addiction or high consumption” and endanger national security or disrupt the public order.
Source: China proposes strict control of algorithms – TechCrunch
Amazon will offer ‘buy now, pay later’ option via partnership with Affirm
Customers shopping on Amazon.com will be able to buy more products in monthly payments thanks to a new partnership with Affirm . The feature will be available for purchases of $50 or more. It’s rolling out to select customers now and more broadly in the coming months.
Source: Amazon will offer ‘buy now, pay later’ option via partnership with Affirm
Workers in the Global South are making a living playing the blockchain game Axie Infinity
Part Pokémon Go, part NFT economy, the online game has replaced regular jobs for many players
Source: Workers in the Global South are making a living playing the blockchain game Axie Infinity
Inside Afghanistan’s cryptocurrency underground as the country plunges into turmoil
For many Afghans, this week has laid bare the worst-case scenario for a country running on legacy financial rails: A nationwide cash shortage, closed borders, a plunging currency, and rapidly rising prices of basic goods. In some ways, it’s a perfect test case for the usefulness of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. CNBC spoke with several Afghans who are using crypto to learn how they got into it, how it’s helping them, and barriers to further adoption.
Source: Inside Afghanistan’s cryptocurrency underground as the country plunges into turmoil
The farmers market is moving online
Farmer-specific e-commerce apps and services — among them, GrazeCart, Farmdrop, Farmigo, and GrownBy — have cropped up in recent years, offering the direct-to-consumer sales, customizable CSAs, preorders and delivery that farmers markets haven’t. When the pandemic began, this tech offered a new world of possibility.
Big tech blue collar workers cling to hope for return to work soon
Many service workers at Silicon Valley tech campuses aren’t sure whether the delta variant will delay their returns even longer or even jeopardize their jobs entirely if in-office work becomes less critical than it once was. As many white-collar workers have settled into a work-from-home routine, blue-collar workers are struggling even more for answers after more than a year of unpredictability.
Source: Big tech blue collar workers cling to hope for return to work soon
Apple’s Double Agent
For more than a year, an active member of a community that traded in illicitly obtained internal Apple documents and devices was also acting as an informant for the company.
Source: Apple’s Double Agent
Should Doxing Be Illegal?
Slang for doc-dropping, doxing is the process of making someone’s address, contact information, identity, or other information public, usually in order to intimidate, harass, or incite public outrage. The term dates back to the mid-2000s, but doxing has since become a well-known harassment tactic. There aren’t clear statistics on how many people have been doxed, but a 2021 report from the Anti-Defamation League estimates 9 percent of Americans have experienced doxing.
Organizers Of A GoFundMe To Help Queer And Trans Afghans Say The Platform Won’t Allow Them To Access The Money
Organizers of a GoFundMe fundraiser to help queer and trans individuals in Afghanistan have been barred from withdrawing the money they raised, they said, leaving vulnerable Afghans in peril amid the Taliban’s takeover of the country and raising questions about the popular fundraising platform’s policies.
Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?
“Facebook launches VR remote work app, calling it a step to the ‘metaverse’” — NBC News headline, Aug. 19, 2021
“Do you ever think …” a voice said from what sounded like Greg’s right. Greg turned his cartoon avatar to look in the direction of the voice, “ … that maybe the Metaverse is a stupid waste of everyone’s time?
Source: Opinion | Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?
The New WikiLeaks
Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets, had been a thorn in the side of secretive governments, corrupt corporations, and powerful law firms since its founding in late 2018. In June 2020, in a release known as BlueLeaks, the group published 269 gigabytes of law enforcement data, which exposed police malfeasance and surveillance overreach across the United States. DDoSecrets also published incriminating records from overseas tax shelters, from the social media site Gab, and from a Christian crowdfunding site often used by the far right. The group has affected autocrats as well, exposing the Russian government’s plans in Ukraine and mapping out the Myanmar junta’s business dealings.
Source: The New WikiLeaks
School Boards Are the Front Line in America’s Culture War
Public gatherings of local officials have always been battlegrounds, but now those fights play out online for millions of viewers.
Source: School Boards Are the Front Line in America’s Culture War
The Taliban have nearly 900K Twitter followers as they ‘fish for legitimacy’
Social media didn’t exist when the Taliban last held power in Afghanistan, in 2001, but propaganda did, and the group’s members were experts when it came to deploying it. Twenty years later, the organization has updated its tactics for the digital age.
Source: The Taliban have nearly 900K Twitter followers as they ‘fish for legitimacy’
Why no one really knows how bad Facebook’s vaccine misinformation problem is
Is Facebook “killing people” by enabling the spread of Covid-19 misinformation, as President Joe Biden said a few weeks ago ? Or is the social media company efficiently purging Covid-19 misinformation from its platform and showing millions of people information about where to get vaccinated, as the company argued a day later in its response to the president?
Source: Why no one really knows how bad Facebook’s vaccine misinformation problem is
Gen Z LinkedIn Is Full of Parodies and Snark
There is a corner of LinkedIn free from humble brags, self-promotion, thought leadership and strict decorum. You just need to connect with a zoomer. Although LinkedIn is not a popular online hangout for Generation Z, some of their most viral posts are parodies of LinkedIn itself.
Afghans are racing to erase their online lives
Every photo and every data point is a link to the old way of life in Afghanistan – and a reason for Taliban retribution
