Google Maps to Drive Profits
April 2, 2021
Google loves money. Google wants to make more money. How does Google make more money when it already monopolizes Internet ads and search engine traffic? Auto Evolution tells how in the article, “Google Has Crazy Idea To Bring More Ads To Google Maps.”
Google recently filed a new patent called “Valuing advertisements on a map” that essentially will put more ads on Google Maps. The patent reads:
“Depending on a user’s view of a map, different combinations of locations can be shown. Similarly, different combinations of advertisements associated with those locations can also be shown depending on the user’s view of the map and the amount of display space available for advertisements, Advertisers can advertise on a map to promote businesses that may satisfy a user’s intent, such as to identify a navigational route, to explore a geographical area, or locate desired products or services. These advertisers may also find value in differentiating themselves from other advertisers, and/or from being unique in their local area.”
Google continues that it could “have a positive impact on the user.” In other words, it is more targeted ads in places that do not need them.
Market Screener explains another way Google is trying to make money: “Alphabet: Google To Offer Travel Sites Free Hotel Booking Links.” Google will now offer hotel and travel sites the ability to list empty hotel rooms for free on price-comparison pages. The goal is to support vendor competition and give users more options. Google is under mounting scrutiny for influencing Internet commerce. Travel sites have a love-hate relationship with Google because of this influence:
“Travel sites have seen Google as one of the biggest drivers for new business. But some of them say the company is also a big competitive threat, with critics saying that Google’s travel boxes and other kinds of specialized search products increasingly keep users within the Google ecosystem, encouraging them to use Google products rather than clicking to other sites to transact business.”
Google will continue to search for new ways to wrestle money from the Internet. One wonders if they even see Amazon as a threat.
Whitney Grace, April 2, 2021
Hard-to-Detect Cybercrime Bots Target Young and Old
April 2, 2021
A recent report from research firm LexisNexis emphasizes bad actors’ growing reliance on bots to pull off their attacks. Not only that, these bots are becoming harder to catch. As TechBullion states, “Cybercrime Report Highlights the Need for Greater Security Visibility.” Reporter Oren Rofman writes:
“While hacks and attacks primarily driven by humans tend to be more sophisticated, bot attacks are not much easier to detect and remediate. Former Akamai security expert Ido Safruti, who is now CTO at PerimeterX, describes new bot attacks as invisible invaders that are becoming more difficult to detect. … Having evolved over the decades, these attacks have become more sophisticated than ever. While previous bots can be detected because of their inability to perform tasks humans are expected to do easily, advanced bots are now capable of doing complex actions and can even interact with humans. They can latch onto host users like parasites and perform actions that make them appear as human users.”
Since bot attacks tend to infect multiple devices, IP blacklists do little against them. Application firewalls and similar defenses are also ineffective because attacks successfully mimic legitimate users. Instead, we’re advised, companies must boost their security visibility so they can react to threats promptly. Rofman suggests continuous security validation as an effective approach. He writes:
“This entails the use of multiple strategies including behavioral detection solutions, SIEM/SOC validation, full-kill chain APT simulation, and purple team automation. The creation of the MITRE ATT&CK framework also helps in dealing with the most recent bot attacks, as it provides comprehensive and up-to-date threat intelligence along with detailed descriptions and information on attack patterns and processes. Many security solutions already integrate ATT&CK in their systems.”
Another important, though perhaps obvious, point is the role age plays in user vulnerability—those over 75 are more likely to fall victim because they are less familiar with technology in general. Those under 25, on the other hand, are profitable targets due to their lack of experience and tendency to forgo security best practices. The report also found that mobile e-commerce transactions are especially vulnerable, and that streaming media has opened new opportunities for hackers. One thing is clear—the problem of cybercrime is only getting worse, and users of all ages need to learn, and follow, security best practices.
Cynthia Murrell, April 2, 2021
No Joke: Amazon and Social Media
April 1, 2021
A change at the top and Amazon gets wonky. Coincidence or just a new crew of social media advisors? Who knows. “Amazon Wanted Twitter Warriors with Great Sense of Humor, Leaked Doc Shows” reveals some allegedly accurate information about the humble online bookseller.
The write up states:
Amazon sought out warehouse staffers with a “great sense of humor” to build a squad of Twitter warriors to knock down criticism of its fulfillment centers, a leaked document reveals.
Yep, warehouse workers with the skills of a tweet master like the real Borat.
The story adds:
While Amazon wanted the workers to speak for themselves, the memo shows company officials wanted a standardized format for their Twitter handles and usernames. They mulled adding an emoji to the username to “give personality, for example a small box emoji…
A happy Amazon worker surrounded with positive tweets is running with an “emergency necessary bottle” from the automated Bezos bulldozer and its business processes.
The write up includes what may be an April Fool joke:
“| work for Amazon and not sure about other facilities but I’ve never felt pressured to pee in a trash can,” one trainee wrote in a draft tweet. “My managers understand when you gotta’ go you gotta’ go.”
You can read the allegedly accurate document at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2021
No Joke: Academics Cheat Bit Time
April 1, 2021
It looks as though academic journals are finally addressing the scourge of fraudulent studies that plague their pages. Heck, that publisher Royal Society of Chemistry now publicly acknowledges the problem is a big step. Nature examines “The Fight Against Fake-Paper Factories that Churn Out Sham Science.” Prompted by outside investigations, journals have retracted hundreds of fraudulent papers since last January, with more under investigation. Nature has assembled a list of over 1,300 articles identified as possible paper-mill products over that time. Many of these suspect papers come from authors at Chinese hospitals, but China is not the only place fake research is churned out. Iran and Russia are also home to paper mills, for example. However, writers Holly Else and Richard Van Noorden report:
“China has long been known to have a problem with firms selling papers to researchers, says Xiaotian Chen, a librarian at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. As far back as 2010, a team led by Shen Yang, a management-studies researcher then at Wuhan University in China, warned of websites offering to ghostwrite papers on fictional research, or to bypass peer-review systems for payment. In 2013, Science reported on a market for authorships on research papers in China. In 2017, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) said it would crack down on misconduct after a scandal in which 107 papers were retracted at the journal Tumor Biology; their peer reviews had been fabricated and a MOST investigation concluded that some had been produced by third-party companies. Physicians in China are a particular target market because they typically need to publish research articles to gain promotions, but are so busy at hospitals that they might not have time to do the science, says Chen. Last August, the Beijing municipal health authority published a policy stipulating that an attending physician wanting to be promoted to deputy chief physician must have at least two first-author papers published in professional journals; three first-author papers are required to become a chief physician.”
Here’s a thought—maybe remove these requirements. We’re told reports produced by physicians in these positions are already widely suspect and not taken seriously, so where is the value in maintaining such hoops? See the lengthy article for more details on how the pros detect fraudulent papers and what the industry is planning to do about it.
Cynthia Murrell, April 1, 2021
Who Spends $69 Million on a Digital String? Pals Do.
April 1, 2021
The buyer of Beeple’s digital art is Metakovan. One suggestion is a person allegedly named Vignesh Sundaresan. NBC, the real news outfit, was not convinced and reported: “Metakovan’s real identity is not known.
Sure but don’t tell The Straits Times which reported in the story “I Don’t Have a Car or House” that the savvy buyer of a digital string is allegedly Vignesh Sundaresan, an entrepreneur, a technopreneur in fact. Plus, I love the quote attributed to the digital Warrant Buffet type:
I don’t have a car or house.
Makes sense. Singapore has apartments, lots of apartments. A rental in a Marina Bay makes it easy to get around. No encumbrances to haul around like some Roman statues from a covert dig near Naples (Italy, not lovely Florida). A Grab ride is good enough when physical movement is required.
Yep, a digital Warren Buffet.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2021
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
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