Googler Departing: Dr. Eric Schmidt and His Visibility
May 10, 2020
DarkCyber commented on the New York Times’ story about Eric Schmidt, a former Sun Microsystems professional. No, we did not comment about Google and Java. No we did not remark about our longing for NetWare’s compsurf.
Yes, we did suggest that the purpose of the write up “I Could Solve Most of Your Problems: Eric Schmidt’s Pentagon Offensive” was a PR play by Google.
That may have been part of the motivation. But we learned in “Eric Schmidt, Who Led Google’s Transformation into a Tech Giant, Has Left the Company” that the former “adult” at Google and leader of NetWare departed from the Google in February 2020.
Who knew?
Not the New York Times it seems.
As a result, an alternative motivating factor for the revelations assembled by the NYT could have been publicity for Dr. Schmidt himself.
That NYT story is probably a better job hunting tool that a short item in Microsoft LinkedIn. Just a hunch, of course.
When will that compsurf process be completed? A week, maybe more. By then, Dr. Schmidt may have a new post pandemic job. Is Palantir hiring? Does the White House have a job opening? Is Oracle poking around for an expert to advise the Dolphin Way outfit about Java? What about the Department of Defense as it navigates the Amazon Microsoft worlds of technology?
Opportunities are out there.
Stephen E Arnold, May 10, 2020
TechRepublic: Unintentionally Amusing Non Playing Videos about Videos
May 10, 2020
DarkCyber noted “How to Hold Video Meetings Like a Pro.” We clicked the link to learn what this interesting publication offered for those struggling with the video work from home activity. Here’s what we saw, and we left the page rendering for 10 minutes:
Yep, a video that would not play. But take heart, gentle reader. The write-up includes a link to an audio version of the podcast about video meetings. That worked even though the guest’s audio was subdued. And, if the rich media from the article leaves you with some disappointment thoughts, just read the article itself. It contains some amazing observations; for example:
- There’s a part of the brain that knows when you’re alone in the cave, when you’re a cave person in the dark that there’s someone in the room with you.
- Now, I didn’t pay retail for it. I bought it on Craigslist.
- I believe very strongly in nesting. This isn’t performative. [Interesting word]
- It’s also worth pointing out that I’m looking at a mirror image of myself as you are as well. That’s because people hate looking at themselves as they are seen.
For more insights and maybe the video if you are lucky, this interview is the cat’s pajamas with Lego toys in the background.
Video interviews probably should include video which actually renders. The spinning green thing is interesting for a short time, then it’s boring… just like… video like a pro? Amusing.
Stephen E Arnold, May 10, 2020
Google Apple Contact Tracing Interface
May 9, 2020
Now Toronto published “Here’s What Apple and Google’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing App Looks Like.” The article includes sample screenshots and some explanation about the data displayed. Worth a look. Much more is possible in terms of tracking, contact mapping, and analytics, of course. Who or what will have access to these more useful views of the collected data?
Stephen E Arnold, May 9, 2020
Content Marketing: The Faux Monte
May 8, 2020
I wrote about the SEO hustle email I received on April 30, 2020. That email became the subject of the conversation I had with the former CIA professional, Robert David Steele. He interviewed me and posted the video from his Web site PhiBetaIota.net. You can view the video at this link. In this post, I want to call attention to the SEO expert’s example blog content, thoughtfully provided by an individual named Christian Arriola and using the alias of a person named Jeffrey Garay. The blog in question is part of a kitchen remodeling business doing work in Pearland near Houston and Allen near Dallas.
The blog post is “How to Get Your Dream Kitchen Remodel Without Breaking the Bank.” Here’s an example of the content which the outfit Woobound wanted to provide to Beyond Search / DarkCyber:
When you have an excellent suggestion of what you desire, take a seat and also write a great breakdown of jobs that you desire finished. You do not need to be technological and also you do not need to make use of building terms yet simply state all the important things you desire a service provider to do and also bid. It can be as easy as: eliminate all existing floor covering and also closets; mount brand-new floor covering, cupboards, kitchen counters, sink as well as home appliances per the strategy; paint; attach sink pipes; as well as mount brand-new lighting fixtures.
It appears that the connection between Beyond Search / DarkCyber is that the root “techno*” appears in the paragraph above and some of Beyond Search / DarkCyber’s more than 18,000 articles. I may be missing other, more sophisticated connections, but on the surface, the idea that kitchen remodeling and the topics in Beyond Search / DarkCyber are tenuously related. Oh, wait, I do cover cyber crime, perhaps that is the hook?
The blog features some broken image links, an 888 number to contact the firm, and a content pool exactly one post deep.
My concern about search engine optimization’s latest “trick” is that some people will accept this “link trade” or “backlink” pitch.
Meaningless links are not helpful to a user. We will be monitoring this ploy because deception is a precursor of cyber crime. Our objective is to take a close look at this faux monte. What we see so far is not appealing; in fact, one of the DarkCyber team used the term
Stephen E Arnold, May 8, 2020
SEO Groan: The Business of Hustling
May 8, 2020
DarkCyber has noted an uptick in the rhetoric for search engine optimization. SEO, as the dark art is referenced by its supporters, focuses on methods for making a Web site appear in Google search results.
Over the years, search engine optimization has worked as a feeder for online advertising. After SEO fails, what’s a company do to generate business in the datasphere?
The answer, “Advertise online.” Several companies are dominant in online advertising. These are the Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Google’s angle has been to hook advertisers’ messages to search terms. One part of the method was the work of engineers at Oingo (renamed to Applied Semantics before Google purchased the company). Facebook has its social graph to allow precise demographic advertising. Amazon has its user data, its customers’ purchase history, and sellers vying to get the attention of Amazon customers.
For the moment, let’s focus on the search advertising segment. When a user formulates a query, say, for example, “mountain bike gear replacement,” Google displays a long page of results. Here’s a snippet:
The page contains a link to a catalog of gear parts. That’s the Google Shopping service. Advertisers get a free listing as Google tries to win back product search which Amazon now dominates. Google was a contender with Google Froogle, but when the team lost interest, the product joined other discontinued services. Someone in Google management may have wanted Froogle to be enhanced, but that type of directed management is not often evident. Therefore, Amazon had the field of product search to itself.
The page also display pictures of parts. These range in price from $217 to almost $1,000. Then there is a video which is marked as a suggested clip. Google tells me that the replacement section is 49 seconds after the video starts.
Next is a map which shows where bicycle shops in Louisville, Kentucky, are located. Presumably Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart will have gear replacement parts. (They don’t.) Then there are more videos. Next are common questions? None of the questions addresses the replacement aspect of my query.
And after these items of information, there are links which address the “how to” aspect of my query. There’s a link to replacement gears available on Amazon”
And the first page of search results concludes with images of bicycle gears and suggested queries:
It is obvious that Google search engineers have looked at user queries and developed a template into which a range of information has been inserted. Links, videos, ads, and traditional links to “relevant” pages.
Where does SEO come into play? Presumably the pages which are squeezed between the ads, the video, and the images, and suggested searches are the knowledge beef.
An inspection of these links reveals that the results are not Kobi beef. The information provided is a fruit basket.
One assumes that each of the Web pages contains high value content related to gear replacement. No, but several of the pages are in a gray zone. The gears have become “cassettes.” The idea of replacement is related to the cost of getting the parts and installing them. And there are buying guides.
Is the search useful? The answer is, “It depends.” Since Google’s approach does not allow the user to disambiguate a query with a form which allows the user to say, “No, pictures, no videos, and no images.” Quite a bit of scanning and scrolling are necessary before locating the one link which addresses the query. This is the link to a StackExchange page:
SEO is partly responsible. Pages only tangentially related to the query are interpreted by Google as highly relevant to the query. To Google’s credit, its vaunted PageRank system located one useful link. But the other information is handwaving and an excuse to display ads.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of SEO experts working to help people get pages listed in a Google search result whether those SEO infused pages are useful to the user or not. When SEO fails, what does the vendor do? As stated above, the answer is to buy Google ads.
SEO Groan will take a look at some of the more interesting SEO experts. One example is the content presented in a series of videos labeled as The Hustle Show. You can view these via the links on this page.
SEO Groan believes the word “hustle” is an excellent one. It captures the essence of search engine optimization. Watch for our announcement of a special page on our law enforcement and intelligence centric Web site. The goal is to provide information so that individuals will be aware of what is a cyber scam.
Net net: Articles like these underscore what’s happening at this time in the world of SEO services:
- 4 Tips to Build a Strong SEO Program During COVID-19
- 7 Ways COVID-19 Is Affecting Search Traffic & How SEOs Can Respond
- Turning to SEO Due to Covid 19? Start Here
- How to Leverage Insights in Botify to Adapt During the COVID-19 Outbreak: 12 SEO Questions Answered
And there are more. That’s not just Covid disease surfing; the implication that SEO is appropriate during a pandemic is a quite disturbing signal.
Stephen E Arnold, May 8, 2020
SoftBank in the News: The Caldron of Son, Masayoshi Son, That Is
May 8, 2020
Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank, could feature in a new Star Wars movie. Tentative title: Trouble: The Caldron of Son. (A tip of the hat to The Wrath of Khan, of course.)
A short time ago, Banjo’s founder was allegedly involved in some non-high tech activities; for example, a possible drive by synagogue shooting and a KKK event. Why’s this important? SoftBank wrote a check for $100 million in 2016 to help this cyber intelligence firm become a better Palantir Technologies. Banjo’s secret sauce: Real time video alerts about “events” for law enforcement. Palantir does real time, but it is not exactly the TikTok of the investigative software world. Banjo was supposed to achieve that useful goal: Real time intelligence in real time.
That went south.
DarkCyber noted the real and trustworthy news story “WeWork Co-Founder Neumann Sues SoftBank over Failed Tender Offer.” WeWork, like Banjo, appears to have been a questionable investment. Now the very entrepreneur in whom Son had faith has turned around and bitten the hand that once fed him. How much? A significant portion of $9.6 billion to rescue the WeWork outfit.
What do these two investments have in common?
Answer: Due diligence which seemed to leave some issues in the fog. One issue: Damien Patten’s pre-Banjo life activities. Another issue: The interpersonal relationships and personality quirks of Adam Neumann.
These two events could be sufficient to make The Caldron of Son into a possible Quibi 10 part super successful video event. Who knows maybe the litigation will overlap with Quibi’s adventures with Eko?
DarkCyber perceives the due diligence evidenced in the Banjo and WeWork matters illustrate the weaknesses in the good enough approach to investment research.
One thing is clear: Spreadsheet fever may impair vision. That’s no fun(d).
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2020
For more coverage of “good enough,” navigate to this special page.
Once Proud, News Outfits Accept Handouts
May 8, 2020
News outlets have long refused government bailouts, because they are supposed to be free of government influence. News outlets are more COVID-19 victims and according to the Star Tribune’s article, “News Outlets, Long Resistant To Government Help, Take Loans” they are forced to take loans or fold their last paper newspaper.
During the crisis, news outlets, were forced to scale back as advertising and sales revenue were lost. Due to the profit loss, employees were furloughed and wages lowered. Government small business loans are acting like blood infusions for news outlets, because it allows them to pay employees and keep providing news. The conflicts of interest of taking the loans are concerning:
“Kelly McBride, ethics specialist at the Poynter journalism think tank, said she’s spoken to the heads of more than a dozen news organizations about applying for a loan.In each case, she advised them to go for it — a stance she could not have conceived advocating for at the beginning of the century. ‘On an industry level, we have crossed a threshold without putting a lot of thought into it,’ McBride said.
It’s clearly a conflict of interest, and not unreasonable for consumers to wonder if an organization receiving government money will aggressively report on what the government does, she said. It’s up to the news organizations to explain to consumers that they will still be closely watching how the stimulus package works.”
Despite taking government small business loans, news outlets are informing their readers/viewers that they are receiving the money but will remain steadfast to quality journalism. News outlets are not without their allies, because lobbyists have fought for news outlet relief in the next stimulus package. The government plans to spend $5 billion on health-related advertising with news outlets as part of the package.
Despite their ambivalence of journalists, politicians realize that local news outlets are important and want to keep them running.
Whitney Grace, May 7, 2020
Microsoft Monetizes Asian User Database
May 8, 2020
Retail companies are out to sell their products and services to customers, so they hit up social media platforms and other large networks willing to sell customer information. Private organizations, on the other hand, guard their clients’ information, but Microsoft is about to take advantage of its large client base to generate more profit says IT Brief: “Microsoft To Monetize Huge Windows 10 User base.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Microsoft users are working remotely, 33% are in Asia, and Microsoft sees an opportunity to make money via its office suite. Microsoft is rebranding Office 365 to Microsoft 365 and they are adding Windows 10 upgrades for enterprises and new items for Microsoft Teams. Microsoft 365 will continue the subscription based service for both individuals and enterprises.
New offerings in Microsoft 365 are:
“ ‘In terms of inclusion of features, Microsoft 365 Business Premium does offer more than Zoom or Slack: it includes the Office apps, 1 TB of cloud storage, Outlook with a 50 GB mailbox per user, device and data protection tools, upgrade rights to Windows 10 from previous versions, and of course Teams, which competes with Zoom and Slack. The pricing, in addition to the bundling of Windows 10 upgrade, is likely to resonate strongly with the price-conscious Asian market in the shrinking economy,’ says [Nishant Singh, head of technology and telecoms data at GlobalData.]”
Microsoft attempted to monetize Windows 10 in Asia through the Microsoft Store, but it was not successful. Instead Microsoft will make an enterprization of consumers through Microsoft 365, who need to replicate a business enterprise through their own systems. Microsoft is less likely to make revenue through Windows as the only thing left for the OS is newer releases, but if Microsoft charges for Microsoft 365 and apps sold through it the profit margins will be bigger.
It also means that Microsoft could implement the pricing method used by airlines: Pay per bag, buy a snack, pay for another four inches of leg room.
Whitney Grace, May 7, 2020
New Arnold-Steele Discussion: Findability Is Terrible
May 7, 2020
Robert David Steele, a former CIA professional, stored a video of our recent discussion about finding open source information. The main point is that findability has degraded to the point that results are generally useless. Bing, Google, and other ad-supported systems have abandoned precision and relevance. Search results are a dog’s breakfast. To view the findabiity discussion, navigate to this link. The video was produced by Mr. Steele.
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2020
Amazon: Coining New Terms in a Time of Crisis and Money Gushers
May 7, 2020
Our news filtering system (not quite as effective as Google’s, however) spotted a Ycombinator Hacker News post about Amazon. The topic was treatment of warehouse workers in the wake of the Tim Bray hasta la vista, conquistadores. Deep in the comment thread was a new word, a coinage, a neologism! Here’s the word:
Frupid
The author of the comment noted:
Given how a key Amazon value is being “frugal” or often times called “frupid” internally, they regularly have little resources for FTEs let alone the workers in warehouses.
This is a useful term. Frupid. DarkCyber likes it.
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2020
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