Harvard Channels MIT: The Epstein Ethos
April 1, 2021
I read “Harvard Punishes Professor Who Had Ties to Jeffrey Epstein.” Amusing. I noted this statement:
Harvard’s 2020 review found that the university accepted more than $9 million from Epstein during the decade leading up to his conviction but barred him from making further donations after that point.
Is it possible that nine million reasons were identified to make the issue less visible. But what was fascinating was this statement from the write up:
Other universities have also faced scrutiny over their ties to Epstein, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The former director of MIT’s famous Media Lab, Joi Ito, resigned in 2019 amid uproar over his financial connections to Epstein. He issued a public apology and vowed to raise money for victims of trafficking.
Just like a couple of grade school kids exchanging “He did it too” comments. How similar are these outstanding, highly regarded, influential, and upstanding institutions?
PS. The British newspaper The Independent reported, “A 30-year-old MIT graduate has been found dead in an apartment n Chicago surrounded by equipment that could be used to make bombs…” Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2021
Sounds Good: Financial Firms Need Organic Search Strategies
March 26, 2021
ATM Marketplace draws our attention to a recent study from SEO firm Terakeet in, “Google Study Shows Companies Need to Tap Into Organic Search Strategies to Drive Greater Traffic.” Hmm, sounds like Google’s algorithm may be at odds with its goal of selling paid-search ads. We learn:
“The report, Google Market Share Report for Personal Finance, focuses on three primary areas of personal finance: consumer banking, credit cards and personal investing, along with nine underlying market sectors to reveal that non-bank websites are dominating Google across all sectors. For example, non-banks hold 90% of the market share for cash back credit cards and for rewards credit cards, with NerdWallet owning the large percentage of both categories at 19.62% and 24.92% respectively.”
The study observes that, though organic search drive more than five times the ROI than paid search in the financial market, most banks put little value on organic search. NerdWallet, of course, is a financial information and comparison site. It is a good illustration of the sort of site that is edging banks out of search results. The write-up continues:
“The competitive SEO landscape has evolved and encompasses more than just traditional offline competitors, including publishers, aggregators, comparison sites, government sites and others.
Many of the websites have long-form content clearly organized by topic areas. For example, Bankrate’s long-form content has helped it capture more than 29% of the organic search market share for keywords examined. The websites offer a range of free, interactive online tools and calculators (i.e. financial literacy scoring tools, free credit score tools, free credit reports, and free credit monitoring) that are not only helpful to site visitors, but offer backlinks to other websites to increase SEO visibility.”
Terakeet used its own proprietary search-engine market-share analysis tool, Carina, to crunch the data. Founded in 2001, the private SEO company is headquartered in Syracuse, New York.
Cynthia Murrell, March 26, 2021
Brin Balloons His Bet on Buoyancy
March 22, 2021
I spotted the story “Is Sergey Brin Really Building the World’s Biggest Aircraft? Here’s Everything We Know.” Darned uplifting. The drift of the write up is:
… the ninth richest person in the world’s focus has been on exactly that: building a giant “sky yacht.”
As the IRS might term it, this is a hobby.
The write up explains:
… the LTA [Lighter Than Air] website states only humanitarian goals: “LTA airships will have the ability to complement — and even speed up — humanitarian disaster response and relief efforts, especially in remote areas that cannot be easily accessed by plane and boat due to limited or destroyed infrastructure.
Ah, ha. Tax deduction maybe?
How big you ask?
At this size [650 feet or two soccer pitches], the flying machine would definitely be the world’s largest aircraft today — although it would still be smaller than the ill-fated Hindenburg zeppelin of the 1930s, which was 804 feet long. For context, that’s more than three times the length of a Boeing 747 and more than four times the length of your typical Goodyear Blimp.
Several observations:
- The write up does not explore the Loon balloon initiative. It drifted into oblivion by the way.
- The airship’s size is bigger than Roman Abramovich’s Solaris super yacht which is about 200 feet smaller in the length department. But the ship is fungible; the balloon is plein d’air chaud.
- The science club project will prove that buoyancy is a verifiable phenomenon.
Soon the uplifting impact of the world’s largest humanitarian balloon will cast its long shadow over the land. Quick question: Will Mr. Abramovich undertake an even larger inflatable object with a possible tax deduction. Solaris is difficult to shape into tax benefit, but it could be done with surplus Loon balloons.
Stephen E Arnold, March 22, 2021
Facebook WhatsApp, No Code Ecommerce, and Google: What Could Go Wrong?
March 5, 2021
The Dark Web continues to capture the attention of some individuals. The little secret few pursue is that much of the Dark Web action has shifted to encrypted messaging applications. Even Signal gets coverage in pot boiler novels. Why? Encrypted messaging apps are quite robust convenience stores? Why go to Ikea when one can scoot into a lightweight, mobile app and do “business.” How hard is it to set up a store, make its products like malware or other questionable items available in WhatsApp, and start gathering customers? Not hard at all. In fact, there is a no code wrapper available. With a few mouse clicks, a handful of images, and a product or service to sell, one can be in business. The developer – an outfit called Wati – provides exactly when the enterprising marketer requires. None of that Tor stuff. None of the Amazon police chasing down knock off products from the world’s most prolific manufacturers. New territory, so what could go wrong. If you are interested in using WhatsApp as an ecommerce vehicle, you can point your browser to this Google Workspace Marketplace. You will need both a Google account and a WhatsApp account. Then you can us “a simple and powerful Google Sheet add-on to launch an online store from Google Sheets and take orders on WhatsApp.” How much does this service cost? The developer asserts, “It’s free forever.” There is even a video explaining what one does to become a WhatsApp merchant. Are there legitimate uses for this Google Sheets add on? Sure. Will bad actors give this type of service a whirl? Sure. Will Google police the service? Sure. Will Facebook provide oversight? Sure. That’s a lot of sures. Why not be optimistic? For me, the Wati wrapper is a flashing yellow light that a challenge to law enforcement is moving from the Dark Web to apps which are equally opaque. Progress? Nope.
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2021
Saudi Influence in Silicon Valley
March 5, 2021
Data scientist Vicki Boykis noticed many of the cool kids in tech have something in common—Uber, WeWork, Flexport, Slack, MapBox, and DoorDash have all received financing from Vision Fund, a venture capital firm run by Japanese holding company SoftBank. The firm does not exactly advertise it, at least in the US, but one of its major contributing partners is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Boykis considers the implications on her blog, Normcore Tech, in “Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi.” She ponders:
“What does it mean for relentlessly forward-looking companies like Slack, who publish effusive blog posts about diversity and collaborative leadership, to be fueled in part by money from a government that only recently allowed women to drive, and has a record of flogging bloggers who disagree with the regime? Even probably more importantly, what does it mean for members of the Saudi Public Wealth Fund to be on the boards of these companies and directly calling the shots? As I’ve written about before, being on the board, particularly if you have money, has influence.”
Few have more money than the Saudi crown prince, who has taken a personal interest in US tech companies and invested a huge chunk of personal change into the Vision Fund. The write-up shares some photos of him palling around with Silicon Valley nobility. Boukis writes:
“But of course, it doesn’t hurt that Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the one who made the decision to pledge $45 of the initial $92 billion into fund, is making all the right noise in Silicon Valley. MBS has been making a ton of noise lately about modernizing Saudi Arabia, including starting a long-term investment project out of oil, restricting the power of the religious police, and giving women the ability to drive. On the surface, it all looks great, particularly when he engages with Silicon Valley.”
Below the surface, however, we cannot know what decisions have been informed by Saudi values. True, the Crown Prince is a progressive—compared to others in Saudi Arabia. That is not saying much. It looks like his influence is waning a bit, we’re told, but other nations are taking an interest in Silicon Valley—like Kazakhastan. Not better. We know tech companies need funding. So go where the money is.
Cynthia Murrell, March 5, 2021
Google Gets into Insurance
March 3, 2021
Worrying about the relevance of search results? You probably should. The online ad giant is facing some big problems. And what do giant corporations do when their core business faces competitive, legal, employee, management, and customer pressure?
Give up.
Here’s the answer: Sell insurance.
“Google Rolls Out First of Its Kind Cyber Insurance Program for Cloud Customers” reports:
Google LLC has teamed up with two major insurers to develop a cyber security insurance offering that will provide Google Cloud customers who sign up with coverage against cyber attacks.
Ask an actuary. Is insurance a good business? Listen to the answer… carefully.
The article notes:
The Risk Manager tool is available to Google Cloud customers by request. As for the cyber insurance coverage against data breaches, it will initially be offered to organizations in the U.S.
There are several implications of this deal. But it is early days, and one cannot purchase insurance to cover a ride in a Waymo infused vehicle directly from the GOOG yet.
The thoughts which ran through my mind after reading the news story were:
- Is Google cashing in on SolarWinds’ paranoia?
- Does selling insurance for cloud services suggest that cloud services are a big fat bad actor target which cannot be adequately protected?
- Will Google insure homes, yachts, and health?
- Has Google run out of ideas for generating revenue from its home brew and me too technology?
I have no answers, just hunches.
The Google has looked backwards to bottomry contracts shaped in Babylon. When did this insight dawn? Round about 4,000 before common era (that’s AD in thumbtyper speak).
Will Google innovate with stone flaking methods and sell non fungible tokens for these artifacts?
Stephen E Arnold, March 3, 2021
Funding Terrorism with Information about Wretched Situations
March 2, 2021
People often try to help. I recall talking to a street person in San Francisco in the chocolate chip cookie shop near the Diva Hotel on Geary. The chocolate chip shop is, I believe, long gone. I asked the person which cookies he liked the best. He said, “I buy them every day for my family. I get a dozen or so. I eat one on the BART to Daly and then take the rest to the family.” I asked, “What do you do?” He said, “I beg. It works really well. People are very generous.”
“Funding the Needy or Funding Terror?” reminded me of this little life lesson from the 1980s. What looked like a person who was down on his luck was a hard working exploiter of people’s desire to help others. None of those Berkeley coupons for the beggar in the cookie store. Now the stakes are higher.
The article reports:
Last year, online fundraisers began to appear on behalf of al-Hol residents. Many were seeking to finance escapes, others to pay for food and supplies. (While some donations have likely gone toward terrorism, the campaigns are careful to avoid mentioning violence.) The petitions spread via social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and often involved PayPal and other payment systems as well as messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Telegram. Before long, intelligence and law enforcement agencies began to monitor them.
The idea is that money flows in and some of it goes to fund activities not included in the video, the email, or the TV commercial.
How do social media platforms police this allegedly fraudulent activity?
Well, that’s a good question.
The write up reports:
he architects of these networks tailor their messages and methods to geography, specific donors and goals, and national laws and platform regulations. Of the Facebook accounts identified by Rest of World that claim links to al-Hol, only some explicitly asked for donations. Others disseminated pictures or news from the camp in different languages, alongside Islamic scripture and memes. A few users fondly reminisced about their time in the caliphate. Facebook disables and deletes accounts that share terrorist propaganda, so ISIS was never explicitly mentioned. Instead, references to the organization were camouflaged by alternative spellings. “I miss the Dawl@,” one said, with a crying emoji, referencing the Arabic word for “state” in ISIS’s full name.
Again. What are social media platforms doing to address this issue?
Outputting words, forming study teams, and hand waving.
Is this a problem? Not if there are cookies at the meeting. No faux street people needed.
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2021
Common Sense and Artificial Intelligence: Logical? Yes. Efficient? No
February 23, 2021
People easily forget that machines are only as smart as humans make them. Continuing on that that, AI and machine learning are the height of humanity’s most advanced technology but they are still stupid computer programs. AI and machine learning lack basic reasoning and logic, so these concepts must be taught to them. The Business Reporter discusses how AI needs more common sense programmed into its algorithms in “Trial And Error: The Human Flaws In Machine Learning.”
Humans are prone to cognitive biases and we need to monitor them. The best way to monitor cognitive biases are through slow, logical energy-intensive processes that point out illogical inconsistencies. Humans have two thought processes that are called different things in the varying science disciplines. However they are labeled, the thought processes are a “fast one” and a “slow one” or the reactive and active minds. Modern technology centers on the reactive/fast one, lacking active/slow one thought processes.
“But where does this fit into AI and machine learning? Those who trust technology more than humans believe that the most efficient way of eliminating the flaws in our thinking is to rely on disinterested, even-handed algorithms to make predictions and decisions, rather than inconsistent, prejudiced humans. But are the algorithms we use in artificial intelligence (AI) today really up to scratch? Or do machines have their own fallibilities when it comes to preconceptions?”
Machine learning algorithms are fantastic tools for closed systems when they are fed terabytes of data to learn and form correlations. Machine learning algorithms then apply what they know to the closed system and learn more via trial and error. One closed system machine learning algorithm cannot be transferred to another, so machine reasoning is a new technology concept.
Machine reasoning AI could eliminate cognitive biases, but no one has successfully programmed it yet. It will take tons of data, transferability of closed systems to discover common correlations, and lots of trial and error before computers have a nanobyte of common sense.
Enabling common sense in AI adds time and cost. The goal is to generate revenue with a juicy margin. That’s common sense.
Whitney Grace, February 23, 2021
Palantir Fourth Quarter Results Surprises One Financial Pundit
February 22, 2021
I read “Palantir Stock Slides As It Posts a Surprise Loss in Fourth Quarter.” The pundit noted:
Palantir stock has been very volatile this year. It is among the stocks that were been pumped by the Reddit group WallStreetBets. Palantir stock had a 52-week high of $45 amid frenzied buying. However, as has been the case with other meme stocks, it is down sharply from its recent highs. Based on yesterday’s closing prices, Palantir stock has lost almost 30% from its 52-week highs. The drawdown is much lower than what we’ve seen in stocks like GameStop and AMC Theatres. But then, the rise in Palantir stock was also not comparable to the massive gains that we saw in these companies.
Yikes. Worse than GameStop? Quite a comparison.
The pundit pointed out:
Palantir has been diversifying itself away from government business that currently accounts for the bulk of its revenues. This year, it has signed many deals that would help it diversify its revenues. Earlier this month, Palantir announced that it has extended its partnership with energy giant BP for five more years.
Who knew that a company founded in 2003 would have difficulty meeting Wall Street expectation? Maybe that IBM deal and the new US president’s administration can help Palantir Technologies meet financial experts’ expectations?
Search and content processing companies have been worn down by long sales cycles, lower cost competitors, and the friction of customization, training, and fiddling with content intake.
Palantir might be an exception. Stakeholders are discomfited by shocks.
Stephen E Arnold, February 22, 2021
Facebook Decision Sparks Colorful Language
February 19, 2021
I noted this headline:
Facebook Gives Middle finger to Australia as Google Strikes Multi-Million Dollar Deals over News
Very colorful. Google decided to write checks, not do the crazy pull out a country play bandied about. Facebook, on the other hand, seems content to kiss the kangaroos good bye. Not shrimp on the barbie when Mr. Zuck entertains, I assume.
The write up with the middle finger headline includes this quote from a Googler:
In response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content,” wrote William Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia & New Zealand in a blog post. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content.
What happened to Melanie Silva the Managing Director,, Google Australia and New Zealand. She assumed her job in November 2020 or October 2018 depending on which source one examines. She was — at least to me — the hard line Googler.
But the article with the middle finger headline focuses on William Easton. He has VP attached to his title. What’s interesting is that he was at Facebook before becoming a Googler.
What I find interesting is that both Ms. Silva and Mr. Easton are finance types.
Remember the good old days of Google when senior executives were engineers?
Who at Google is calculating the cost of paying for news to publishers worldwide? How many ad sales will it take to offset the cost of news? The Google News page has lacked ads for many years. Perhaps that will change? If not, Google will have to trim more costs and find a way to hold down costs.
The Google is entering a new phase and high school science club management tactics won’t work. Writing checks does it seems.
Stephen E Arnold, February 19, 2021
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