Excellent links by way of the fediverse today. First up, Cory Doctorow about saving the news from Big Tech, with sentiments that aren’t far off my own, many of which have been recorded on this blog. His post is from June 2023. Highlights include this on contextual advertising: In studies, these contextual ads perform slightly […]
Tag: California
Lucire at 25: how things have changed
The below was originally posted in Lucire. We have made it to 25 years of age there, and rather than reinvent the wheel, this little piece—as well as the one I uploaded yesterday hours after we turned exactly 25—reflect how I feel upon reaching this milestone. Olivia Macklin, photographed by Josh Fogel, make-up by […]
Chatting at a pro level on Leonard Kim’s Grow Your Influence Tree
Shared on my social media on the day, but I had been waiting for an opportunity to note this on my blog. It was an honour last week to guest on Leonard Kim’s Grow Your Influence Tree, his internet talk show on VoiceAmerica. Leonard knows plenty about marketing and branding, so I thought it […]
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Facebook allows ad preference editing again
I was surprised to find that I could access my Facebook advertising preferences again, after the section stopped working in January 2019. What was there was still way off, in June 2021, but it’s nice to be able to edit (read delete) them again after two-and-a-half years. Things move slowly in Menlo Park when it […]
The FT covers lawsuit alleging Facebook knew about inflated metrics
I’ll be interested to read the judgement, should it get to that point: Facebook is being sued over allegedly inflating its audience numbers, and COO Sheryl Sandberg and financial officer David Wehner are also named. The plaintiff alleges that Facebook has known this for years. The suit dates from 2018 but there are new […]
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In the wake of terrorism in your own country
Above: Flowers at the Islamic Centre in Kilbirnie, Wellington on Monday. On 9-11, I wrote an editorial in Lucire immediately. It was clear to me what I needed to write, and the editorial got quite a few readers at the time. Today is March 20, five days after a terrorist attack on our country, […]
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Life inside Google—an ex-Googler airs the dirty laundry
In amongst all the political fallout of the National Party this week—what I’m dubbing (and hashtagging) ‘caught in the Rossfire’—was a series (well, over 100) Tweets from Morgan Knutson, a designer who once worked for Google. Unlike most Googlers, especially the cult-like ones who refuse to help when you point out a fault with Google, […]
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How Silicon Valley and the Soviet Union are alike
Anton Troynikov’s banner on his Twitter account. I really enjoy Yakov Smirnoff’s old jokes about the Soviet Union, and the Russian reversal that is often associated with him. In the 21st century, I’ve used the odd one, such as, ‘In Russia, Olympics game you!’ and ‘In America, internet watch you!’. I’m sure I’ve done wittier […]
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Facebook’s ‘clear history’ option: why should I begin believing them now?
Maurizio Pesce/Creative Commons At the F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook will offer a ‘clear history’ option. Considering that opting out of Facebook ad tracking does nothing, individually deleting the ad preferences that Facebook claims it would not collect only sees them repopulated, and hiding categories of ads does nothing, why would I […]
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Wired’s Louise Matsakis did what no other journalist could: break the story on Facebook’s forced malware scans
With how widespread Facebook’s false malware accusations were—Facebook itself claims millions were “helped” by them in a three-month period—it was surprising how no one in the tech press covered the story. I never understood why not, since it was one of many misdeeds that made Facebook such a basket case of a website. You’d think […]