Marketing Craziness Okay or Not? Socks Not Software May Provide Some Answers
July 27, 2022
I recall reading about a mid tier consulting firm which “discovered” via real mostly research that software may not work. The Powerpoints and the demos explain the big rock candy mountain world. Then the software arrives, and one gets some weird treat enjoyed east of Albania or north of Nunavut. Companies may sue software vendors, but those trials sort of whimper and die. I mean software. Obviously;y it does not work.
But socks or sox as some prefer are different.
I read “Bass Pro Getting Sued for Not Honoring Guarantee for “Redhead Lifetime Guarantee All-Purpose Wool Socks.” Yeah, socks. The write up states:
If a company puts “Lifetime Guarantee” into the name of one of its products, you would expect the product to have a lifetime guarantee. But in the case of Bass Pro, Lifetime Guarantee is apparently shorthand for “If your lifetime guarantee socks fail we will replace them with an inferior sock with a 60 day guarantee.” A man who bought a bunch of “Redhead Lifetime Guarantee All-Purpose Wool Socks” is now suing Bass Pro for being deceptive.
What about the unlimited data offered by major US telecommunications companies. How did that work out? My recollection is that “unlimited” means “limited.” Plus, the telcos can change the rules and the rates with some flexibility. What about Internet Service Providers selling 200 megabits per second and delivering on a good day maybe 30 mbs if that?
The answer is pretty clear to me. Big companies define their marketing baloney to mean whatever benefits them.
Will the socks or sox matter resolve the issue?
Sure. The consumer is king in the land of giant companies. If you want your software to work, don’t use it. If you want hole free socks, don’t wear them.
Simple fix which regulatory agencies are just thrilled to view as logical and harmless. Those guarantees were crafted by a 23 year old music theory major who specializes in 16th century religious music. What does that person know about software or socks?
Stephen E Arnold, July 27, 2022
Kenyan Survey Shows Social Media Usage Tripled Since 2015
July 27, 2022
Global market research firm IPSOS conducts a study in Kenya to get clues on how media and other organizations can better reach their audiences in that country. Last performed in 2015, the company just released its latest iteration. We learn some of this year’s findings in Capital News‘ article, “Social Media Reach Triples in Past 7 Years.” Reporter Wendy Wangui tells us:
“The Kenya Media Establishment Survey 2022 revealed that mobile device has been the major disruptor in the media landscape with an increase in ownership from 79% to 95% and growth of smartphone from 19% to 51%. Speaking during the launch, IPSOS in Kenya Managing Director Chris Githaiga said that Kenya has witnessed accelerated growth and diversity in media touch points since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘We found out that internet use has more than tripled from 13% to 46% mainly driven by social media. We also discovered that social applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google are debasing more quickly as newer applications like Betting, TikTok, Telegram and Opera become more attractive to the youth,’ he said.”
So it seems a combination of mobile devices and COVID are helping platforms extend their reach. This survey illustrates how social media’s grip over the Internet is spreading around the world like a plague. Alas, we may be approaching a day when no one remembers a Web free of its big tech overlords, a time when the Internet is synonymous with social media. Then again, perhaps folks working to avoid that digital dystopia will prevail.
My hunch is that social unrest will increase.
Cynthia Murrell, July 27, 2022
TikTok, TikTok: The Doomsday Clock at the Googleplex May Be Ticking
July 26, 2022
I read “Time Is Ticking for Google to Catch Up with TikTok”. The write up — which is unlikely to be greeted with cheers at the Google — says:
Google complained that almost 40% of Gen Z prefers using social apps like TikTok and Instagram for online queries instead of Google Search and Maps. Instead of complaining, perhaps Google should take the necessary steps to make valuable changes to its services to draw in its losing customer base.
The write up quotes a Verity-trained Googler as saying:
“We keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to,” Raghavan said. He added that younger users are making queries in an entirely different way.”
I love the royal “we.” Very King Carlos II of Spain.
The write up points out that Google is a dinobaby:
But in recent years, we changed the way we consumed content. We prefer watching videos that are short and to the point — the type of content TikTok succeeds in, and one Google is trying to catch up with.
How fast can Googzilla adapt?
TikTok, TikTok, is that the doomsday clock?
Stephen E Arnold, July 26, 2022
Intel Horse Feathers: The Graphics Edition
July 26, 2022
Intel, famous for its remarkable quantum facilitator chip, is back in the horse feathers’ news. I read the allegedly spot on “Intel Won’t Be Troubling Nvidia This Year, Because the Arc A780 GPU Never Existed.” I don’t get to excited about graphics cards. The ones we use are stable and good enough (that’s the benchmark for excellence these days). The write up is more interested in this branch of video razzle dazzle, however. I noted this statement in the cited article about a wonder product from the Intel Inside folks:
Ryan Shrout, who handles Intel’s graphics marketing, has confirmed via Twitter that there isn’t an incoming A780 card – and not only that, but he also claims that Intel never even had plans to make one.
The former podcaster apparently knows when horse featherism must be addressed. How? Via Twitter!
What I find interesting is that assertions abound. Many of these sell products, licenses, and services which are marketing centric. My perception is that a desire to capture mind share takes precedence over reality.
I think part of the problem is sparked by insecurity or belief that publicity can make up for delivering something that solves a problem. Intel is going to build or was thinking about building big semiconductor fabs in a state which faces some water challenges. Next up was a build out in Ohio, just not too close to the big river. Plus we have the horse thing.
As TSMC and others move forward with 3 nm chips, Intel relies on a former podcaster and a tweet to make clear. Yeah, no A780. Credibility? Absolutely.
But a tweet? Very 2022.
Stephen E Arnold, July 26, 2022
Hasta La Vista News. Et Tu Facebook?
July 26, 2022
Many Internet users use Facebook as their main news platform. One of the problems of using Facebook is that it builds a confirmation bias, conspiracy theory, and misinformation trap. Facebook has garnered a lot of bad press as a news purveyor throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Nieman Lab explains that Facebook might be done sharing the news: “Facebook Looks Ready To Divorce The News Industry, And I Doubt Couples Counseling Will Help.”
Facebook could never officially divorce itself from the news, but the social media platform is moving as far away from the news as possible. Facebook pays news outlets millions of dollars each year to post stories in its “News” feature that users can access for free. Facebook had three-year contracts with many news outlets that will soon expire. Facebook is interested in reinvesting the news fees into short video producers like TikTok.
Speaking of TikTok, Facebook has informed its workers to make the platform resemble TikTok. Facebook will now prioritize posts on feeds regardless of their origin, instead of posts users follow. Facebook’s app will continue to feature content from people, then show items recommended by its discovery engine.
The breakup might be mutual:
“So on one hand, Facebook might stop writing checks to news publishers, having found they don’t make its PR problems go away. And on the other, Facebook wants to demote what little news still remains in its primary feed, having found that it doesn’t keep users engaged as much as an algorithm-generated stream of random videos.
This is what a breakup looks like. Facebook was not originally intended to be the world’s largest distributor of human attention to news stories. It became that, circa 2015. But that responsibility became a nuisance, and it’s spent the past seven years walking away from it.”
Maybe this will be the end of conspiracy theorists with a megaphone.
Whitney Grace, July 26, 2022
Now We Know Why Consultant Reports Are Long, Wordy, and Just So-So
July 26, 2022
I noted the research findings (allegedly spot on and reproducible) in “Experts Don’t Always Give Better Advice—They Just Give More.”
Here’s the killer statement:
Top performers didn’t write more helpful advice, but they did write more of it, and people in our experiments mistook quantity for quality…
Several observations:
- What is “helpful”? Maybe helpful means that the person listening was sufficiently intelligent to pick out the important bits?
- Why more output? Maybe more reflects what the individual thinks he she it knows?
- Why fiddle with experts in the first place? Maybe when one needs brain surgery, the doctor should have a bit of a track record whether he she it can talk coherently or not?
How about a simple crowd sourced test? Ask a question on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Pick a short answer. Apply it. Let me know how that works out for [a] tattoo removal, [b] investing in NFTs about psychologists, [c] where to purchase contraband via a Telegram group, or [d] working for a dinobaby who wants a person who thinks, is reliable, and has a good attitude.
Not appealing? Okay, just guess like many MBAs working in high-tech market sectors or blue-chip consulting firms.
Stephen E Arnold, July 26, 2022
Microsoft: Excellence in Action
July 25, 2022
I wanted to print one page of text. I thought a copy of the cute story about the antics of Elon and Sergey might be nice to keep. My hunch is that some of the content might be disappeared or be tough to see through the cloud of legal eagles responding to the interesting story. Sorry.
Nope.
Why?
Microsoft seems to be unable to update Windows without rendering a simple function. Was I alone in experiencing this demonstration of excellence? Nope. “Microsoft Warns That New Windows Updates May Break Printing.” The article states:
Microsoft said that the temporary fix has now been disabled by this week’s optional preview updates on Windows Server 2019 systems. This change will lead to printing and scanning failures in Windows environments with non-compliant devices.
There you go. Non compliant.
But wait, there’s more.
But wait there’s more!
“New Windows 11 Update Breaks the Start Menu Because Microsoft Hates Us All” explains:
It looks like Microsoft has once again shipped dodgy Windows 11 updates, with reports suggesting that the two latest cumulative updates have been causing serious issues with the Start menu. The updates in question are KB5015882 and KB5015814, and it looks like they’ve introduced a bug which causes to Start menu to disappear when you click to open it.
What do these examples suggest to me?
- A breakdown in basic quality control. Perhaps the company is involved in addressing layoffs, knock on effects from SolarWinds, and giving speeches about employee issues
- Alleged monopolies lack the management tools to deliver products and services which function like the marketing collateral asserts
- Employees follow misguided rules; for example, the Wall Street Journal’s assertion that employees should “ditch office chores that don’t help you get ahead.” See Page A 11, July 25, 2022. (If an employee is not as informed as a project lead or manager, how can the uninformed make a judgment about what is and what is not significant? This line of wacko reasoning allows companies with IBM type thinking to provide quantum safe algorithms BEFORE there are quantum computers which can break known encryption keys. Yep, the US government buys into this type of “logic” as well. Hello, NIST? Are you there.
Plus, Microsoft Teams, which is not exactly the most stable software on my Mac Mini, is going to get more exciting features. “Microsoft Is Launching a Facebook Rip-Off Inside Teams.” This article reports:
Microsoft is now launching Viva Engage today, a new Facebook-like app inside Teams that encourages social networking at work. Viva Engage builds on some of the strengths of Yammer, promoting digital communities, conversations, and self-expression in the workplace. While Yammer often feels like an extension of SharePoint and Office, Viva Engage looks like a Facebook replica. It includes a storylines section, which is effectively your Facebook news feed, featuring conversational posts, videos, images, and more. It looks and feels just like Facebook, and it’s clearly designed to feel similar so employees will use it to share news or even personal interests.
That’s exactly what I don’t want when “working.” The idea for me is to get a project, finish it, and move on to another project. Sound like kindergarten? Well, I listened to Mrs. Fenton. Perhaps some did not heed basic tips about generating useful outputs. Yeah, Teams with features added when the service does not do the job on some Macs. Great work from the Windows Phone and Surface units’ employer.
Net net: Problems? Yes. Fixable? I have yet to see proof that Microsoft can remediate its numerous technical potholes. Remember that Microsoft asserted that Russia organized 1,000 programmers to make Microsoft’s security issues more severe. In my view, Russia has demonstrated its inability to organize tanks, let alone complex coordinated software exploits. Come on, Microsoft.
Printers!
Stephen E Arnold, July 25, 2022
Bayes and the Good Old Human Input
July 25, 2022
Curious about one of the fave mathematical methods for smart software? You may want to take a look at the online version of Bayes Rules! An Introduction to Applied Bayesian Modeling. A hard copy is available via this link. The book includes helpful explanations and examples. Topics often ignored by other authors get useful coverage; for example, the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. I liked the chapter about non0normal hierarchical regression. The method promises some interesting surprises when applied to less-than-pristine data sets; for example, cryptic messages on a private Telegram channel or coded content from a private Facebook group. Good work and recommended by the Arnold IT team.
More general knowledge of human input methods can be helpful. Some talking about the remarkable achievements of smart software can overlook the pivot points in numerical recipes tucked into training set formation or embedded processes.
Stephen E Arnold, July 25, 2022
Googzilla Made to Look Like a Specially Enabled Dinobaby
July 25, 2022
I read “Google Gaffes: 9 Branding Misfires from the Smartest Company Around.” Two thoughts. First, we have one addled dinobaby or maybe two who are language challenged. Second, no wonder this outfit cannot manage its professional staff. Those are people. The information in the article is about services. The write up states:
From Android Automotive to YouTube Music, Google regularly misses the mark in branding its offerings
Branding? I think some synapses are shorted or incorrectly infused with logic proteins. The duplicative names and the apparently duplicated services illustrates what one might call a lack of strategic cohesion.
I won’t repeat the nine flubs. Three stand out as particularly remarkable, probably on a par with the now infamous New Coke from the friends of the dentistry world in Atlanta, Georgia. Here’s my pick of the litter:
YouTube Red, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Music and Android TV and Google TV and Google Play Movies & TV and Google TV (but not that Google TV)
Amazing. Google wants to cut costs, increase margins, pause hiring, stop hiring, publish important articles, fire authors of important articles, help creators, harm creators, sell subscriptions to YouTube, give YouTube away with amazingly irrelevant ads, etc.
This is not a high school science club effervesced with a box of free electronic components. This is a science club drunk on their ability to solve cubic equations and play Foosball. Sounds like a great place to work. I would point out that the author of the nine misfires is unlikely to land a job at Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind. Not Googley enough to see the brilliance behind Red, Premium, Music, TV variants, Play Movies, and chat. How many chat apps and services has Google crafted?
Oh, well, dinobabies are creative.
Stephen E Arnold, July 25, 2022
About That Harmless TikTok Thing
July 25, 2022
As a tool, the Internet and social media platforms do not officially kill people. Users do stupid things that end up getting them killed. It just so happens that YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms share stupid ideas and the idiots copy them. YouTube used to be the go-to place for Internet challenges such as planking, ice bucket challenge, and trust falls. TikTok is now the place to get dumb challenges such as the Tide pod challenge and more recently the “blackout challenge. The Verge shares what the challenge is and how people died in, “The TikTok “Blackout Challenge” Has Now Allegedly Killed Seven Kids.”
The blackout challenge is where users record videos strangling themselves with various items: belts, purse straps, shoelaces, etc. until they pass out. Seven kids have reportedly died from the challenge and parents are filing lawsuits against TikTok. The latest victims were nine-year-old Arriani Arroyo and eight-year-old Lalani Walton. The five other victims range between 10-14 years old and are from the United States, Italy, and Australia.
TikTok claims it prevents users from searching for the blackout challenge or warnings are placed on the videos. Parents of the victims assert differently:
“However, Smith and Arroyo’s newer suit alleges that their children weren’t searching for challenges when they saw the videos. Instead, it says, TikTok put it right in front of them on the app’s main screen, the For You page. The suit accuses the company of having ‘specifically curated and determined that these Blackout Challenge videos – videos featuring users who purposefully strangulate themselves until losing consciousness – are appropriate and fitting for small children.’”
The parents believe TikTok should be held accountable for the content it shows children and should do more to monitor dangerous content. TikTok paid $5.7 million to the FTC in 2019 when it allowed kids under thirteen to create an account without their parents’ permission. TikTok also has Family Pairing that allows parents to link their accounts to their kids’ and control the amount of content and how much time they spend on the platform.
Family Pairing is a brilliant idea, especially if parents vigilantly monitor what their kids watch. TikTok should prevent dangerous items from being seen on its platform too. Maybe TikTok should have a warning that says, “Kids don’t try this at home” like TV has.
Whitney Grace, July 25, 2022
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