1. Good Monday Morning

It’s August 2nd. The World Wide Web turns 21 years old this week. CERN still maintains the first webpage, called “The Project.“

Today’s Spotlight is 1,229 words — about a 4 1/2 minute read.

2. News To Know Now

Quoted:“After careful consideration of the CDC’s updated guidelines, and in light of current conditions, Twitter has made the decision to close our opened offices in New York and San Francisco as well as pause future office reopenings, effective immediately.” — Twitter statement last Tuesday

a) Google will begin showing verified company logos in Gmail for organizations that authenticate their email server. The company says you’ll start seeing them this year.(9to5Google)

b) Facebook implemented new rules that prohibit advertisers from targeting the interests or activities of 13-17 year old users. Only age, gender, and location can be used to select users to see ads. It’s a significant setback for anyone who sells anything — even entertainment — to middle and high school students. Facebook properties Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are covered by the ban.

c) The Big 5 Tech companies (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft) announced quarterly earnings last week. The five combined in Q2 for $332 billion in revenue and $76.5 billion in net income for the period. That buys a lot of spacecraft. Two areas where the firms seem to have insurmountable leads are cloud computing and advertising. Both experienced double-digit year-over-year growth. 

Our take: Facebook in particular enjoyed 56% year-over-year growth in advertising largely due to a 47% increase in ad prices. Since the ads are sold at auction, there are more dollars chasing opportunities, which ultimately increases pricing. We’ve seen that with every Facebook advertising client this quarter. And there’s no pandemic slowdown either. Q2 Facebook ad revenue was up 28% in 2019, 10% in 2020, and 56% this year.

3. Search Engine News — Google Shopping Plus Direction on Redirects

As back-to-school shopping begins in earnest this month, Google is promoting three programs for local retailers. The company says that more than half of school shoppers check online inventory before heading to a store.

Google’s inventory solutions include the ability to run “inventory ads” showing shoppers in search that you have a product in stock. We know that click rates improve when an ad and search result appear on the same page for the same product.

Google also has also introduced a two click product called Pointy for very small retailers. The software is accessible through Google My Business and will connect your Google account and point-of-sale system. 

Google also has news for website managers regarding redirects. The company’s Gary Illyes now says that redirects should stay in place for “at least one year,” and advises that they should be kept as long as possible for users. Gary posted this on Twitter and called it a “concrete answer,” which is something they almost never say.

4. Spotlight Explainer — US Attorney Hacked

The Justice Department announced last week that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service had access to emails from 27 US Attorneys offices. Among them were four districts in New York that had at least 80% of their accounts compromised.

What is Solar Winds again? SolarWinds is a software company that was compromised by Russian agents during 2020. Their software then allowed other software to be compromised. Some questions about the company’s finances and cybersecurity practices remain. 

Who else was hacked? The U.S. government confirms that agencies within the State, Treasury, Energy, Homeland Security, and Health departments were all hacked. Private companies were also compromised, including Equifax, Cox, Cisco, and Nvidia. The software that was compromised was used by 33,000 organizations. 

Details were scant and remain hard to track although we learned this spring that acting Homeland Security director Chad Wolf had his email account compromised. 

So they’re still hacking? Last week’s announcement about the US Attorneys hacks was one of the first and most specific with details. There wasn’t a new hack, but we learned more details last week.

What else is new? We’ve talked to more than one technologist about this issue after a friendly organization asked us for a referral. None of the organizations were accepting new business. At the start of this summer, there were 465,000 open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S.  Forget plastics. Go into cybersecurity.

5. Debunked — German Group Coordinated Australian Protests

Stellar reporting at The Guardian came out last week that alleges a German conspiracy theory group called the Free Citizens of Kassel coordinated anti-lockdown protests in Australia that resulted in more than 60 arrests.

6. Following Up — Unencrypted VPN Server Found

Virtual Private Networks (called VPNs) create a secure connection between you and the internet, but some unscrupulous companies offer free VPN services and then sell your data. Others may be cutting cornersand not using good security practices. 

Ars Technica discovered one of those last week from Canadian company Windscribe. Ars’ review found that the company’s servers were left unencrypted among other issues.

Here’s Lifehacker on how to choose a VPN and Wirecutter’s recommendations for two VPN services. The sweet spot for consumer internet retail remains $50-$75 annually so expect to pay in that range for quality VPN services.

7. Protip — Google Drive Security Warnings

Google is doing some security cleanup on files that its users store on Google Drive. If you use that service, you’ve undoubtedly seen security warnings in the last couple of weeks. And you if manage multiple Google networks you’ll have seen many, many security warnings for all the accounts. So. Many. Warnings.

But fear not, because here’s a handy explainer to show you how to accept or remove the new security patch. It’s super-simple and will save you from so many warning messages. Really, just a lot of them.

8. Screening Room – Miss America

9. Science Fiction World — Google’s “Time Crystals”

Let’s preface this whole thing by agreeing that The Next Web’s Tristan Greene is really, really excited about a Google announcement dealing with (squints at paper) a new phase of matter.

OK, so it is a big deal because it could potentially be a tottering step to maybe taking another tottering step. Or watching the soon-to-be walking child fall down on their butt. And that walking has to do with zero-entropy motion. And quantum computers. And really, well, Tristan suggests warp drive and just needs to settle down. But in his defense, he does caveat everything and goes so far as to write, “ … it could accelerate the timeline for quantum computing breakthroughs from “maybe never” to “maybe within a few decades.”

Read about the interesting and cool crystals here.

10. Coffee Break — What Your Browser Leaks About You

I’m not going to sell you on using a VPN every week (although you should). But your coffee break today should feature one of my favorite demonstrations: Robin Linus’ excellent tool that shows you on one screen how much information your browser leaks about you.

11. Sign of the Times

1. Good Monday Morning

It’s July 26th. Jury selection begins today in the federal civil rights trial of Derek Chauvin and three other former police officers. Chauvin was convicted on state-level murder charges earlier this year.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,024 words — about a 4 minute read.

2. News To Know Now

Quoted:“This is a big deal. For so long, the tide has been going the other way, with companies adding arbitration clauses to their contracts.”

— NYU Law Professor Florencia Marotta-Wurgler about Amazon dropping mandatory arbitration from its terms of sale in favor of federal courts. (NY Times)

a) Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a bill on Thursday that would remove liability protections from social media platforms when their users spread misinformation related to public health emergencies. The bill calls for Health and Human Services officials to determine what qualifies as misinformation. (Wall Street Journal)

b) Windows 11 upgrades will be free for Windows 10 users when the new program rolls out later this year. CNET suggests that the rollout could begin in October. 

c) Amazon has canceled NSO Group’s hosting services after the spyware company’s software was found on tens of thousands of phones, including those of activists, journalists, and 14 heads of state. (Gizmodo)

 3. Search Engine News — New Labels on Search Results

There are new technical guidelines to let Google know that videos on a website have key moments that can be shown separately in Google’s search results.

The company also announced new best practices for websites that have content about discounts on their websites. One big change: a separate page for each sales event, but reusing the same URL each year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. In other words, Google doesn’t want URLs ending in blackfriday2019, blackfriday2020, etc. 

Google has also expanded the explanation area on its search results to provide more information about why it provided a specific result. You won’t be getting a key to Google’s secret algorithms, but you will see which words in your search query triggered the specific result. There will also be an indication if your search query was answered by a local result. 

Here is what that expanded section will look like.

 4. Spotlight Explainer — Getting Sued For A Review / SLAPP News

A favorite line among attorneys who have spoken with me over the years is that anyone can sue anyone else over anything. That includes online behavior as many have found out.

You Spelled SLAP wrong: SLAPP is an acronym stands for (S) trategic (L) awsuit (A) gainst (P) ublic (P) articipation. It’s a way the legal profession identifies lawsuits meant to intimidate and silence a defendant. It’s such a serious problem that many states and countries have passed anti-SLAPP laws. Unfortunately, anti-SLAPP laws in the U.S. vary widely between states.

Uh-Oh. Someone Got Sued, Huh? Yep. A Vancouver couple wrote a negative review about a roofing company that worked on a house they rent. The company demanded it be removed and eventually sued them for $112,000 plus $28,000 per week. 

Does This Happen A Lot?  More often than you might expect. You can read about many cases at the Public Participation Project. A well known case from two years ago involved a retiree complaining online about a vet practice following the death of his 10-year-old poodle.

Other famous cases involve Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) filing a lawsuit against the unidentified owner of a Twitter parody account. The content need not be negative. A mini amusement park in Branson, Missouri, sued a man over a 3 star review on Trip Advisor.

Help Me, Spotlight! How Can I Protect Myself? You know that we have you covered. The folks at Community Action Works have assembled a nifty infographic called The Truth About SLAPP Suits that you’ll want to read.

5. Debunked — Anti-Vaxxers Now Hiding

NBC News reported last week that anti-vaccination groups are using coded language on Facebook and Instagram to evade bans on their activities. One group has 40,000 members online with a backup group of 20,000.

The groups are reportedly calling themselves “Dance Parties” or “Dinner Parties” and refer to vaccinated people as “swimmers” who have joined “a swim club.”

6. Following Up — Amazon Reviews and Missing Merchants

We’ve written a lot about how some companies sell fake Amazon reviews. Oft-cited brands Aukey and Mpow were banned by Amazon, reportedly for that practice, although The Verge has found both companies still selling via Amazon.

The Verge is also reporting that a sixth Chinese electronics company, Choetech, is now missing from Amazon. Their review found only listings from third-party sellers.

 7. Protip — Hotel Wi-Fi

With so many more people traveling this summer, it’s worth remembering that hotel Wi-Fi services are unsafe to use. You should absolutely avoid them if at all possible, and certainly never login to your bank or other private information services.

For now, you should read “I’m Begging You To Use A VPN At Hotels.” The VPN services we see recommended most often are Mullvad and IVPN.

Both have plans for only a few dollars each week or month. Please don’t use a free VPN service. 

8. Screening Room – Cow Pedometers

9. Science Fiction World — Charging on the Go

Some of you are still stuck on the notion that electric and hybrid vehicles are science fiction enough for you, and I absolutely understand that. Now there’s word from Indiana that work is beginning this summer on pavement that will charge electric vehicles in motion.

 10. Coffee Break — Is It Prime?

Let’s find out how well you remember your multiplication tables. Remember that a prime number is one that can only be evenly divided by itself and the number one.

This browser game gives you 60 seconds to sort prime numbers from non-prime numbers. It’s ridiculously addictive. You have to restart if you get one wrong. 

11. Sign of The Times

1. Good Monday Morning

It’s July 19th. Jeff Bezos will be the famous passenger aboard the Blue Origin rocket lifting off at 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday.  You can watch it here or see the petition one guy started last month to bar his return to Earth.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,575 words — about a 5 minute read.

2. News To Know Now

Quoted:“We have written confirmation from [the Ministry of Defence] that this document remains classified.. Every time you post this, you place us, especially any UK citizens, in hot water as the warning so helpfully states that unauthorized retention of a protected document is an offense.” 

— A Gaijin Entertainment moderator’s response to a video game player who kept sending confidential documents suggesting that the game company had erred in its game’s portrayal of the UK’s Challenger 2 tank.   (IGN)

a) Quicken and TurboTax maker Intuit has taken the road less traveled. The company told QuickBooks and Intuit Online payroll customers that it will begin sharing payroll data with the Equifax credit bureau if those customers didn’t opt out by July 31.

Inuit also announced last Thursday that it would leave an industry consortium that works with the IRS to offer free tax filing to low income taxpayers. Before the pandemic, we wrote about IRS criticism of Intuit and H&R Block hiding free tax filing options on their websites.

b) Fakespot is an app that launched this summer that helps shoppers detect fake reviews on Amazon. The ecommerce giant said that they were concerned about the upstart using an overlay over their own app. Apple agreed and pulled the plug. The app was still live on Google’s Android store this weekend.

c) News broke this weekend about widespread use of a military grade spying app called Pegasus found on the phones of more than 1,000 people on four continents. Those phones belonged to activists, politicians, journalists, and several heads of state. The data first appeared at a French nonprofit and at Amnesty International before a coalition of 16 media partners helped investigate the hacks.

Here are links to coverage at the Washington Post and The Guardian.

3. Search Engine News — Ranking Help From WordPress

We’ve previously told you about Google and WordPress partnering more. Now it appears that the next major WordPress revision due in December may include a way to streamline how images are loaded on a website. An analysis in Search Engine Journal suggests that using that version of WordPress can improve a major Google ranking indicator by 7%-33%. Website managers will benefit as will users accessing their sites. 

Google also announced that it has partnered with GoDaddy to offer streamlined services for e-commerce websites as it did earlier this year for Shopify customers.

TL; DR: WordPress 5.9 is scheduled to have lazy-loading images native in December. Google also is promoting free Google Shopping listings to GoDaddy e-commerce customers.

4. Spotlight Explainer — New Search Engines

You’ll likely hear soon about a couple of new search engines. I’ve been test driving Brave and Neeva plus looking at Search Atlas and can break them down for you.

Why more search engines? It’s a natural market force, not only something unique to Google’s virtual monopoly. There were always multiple directories and later search engines. People tend to pick a search engine and stick with it forever. Even professional researchers make that mistake, but Microsoft and Yahoo! still combine for about one-third of all US searches.

What’s different? In large part, the difference is how the competitive search engines portray themselves. DuckDuckGo has promoted itself as a privacy-oriented search service for a dozen years, but now newcomers Brave and Neeva are adding their voices to that song. It’s a big deal if you focus on just their numbers. DDG had more than 100 million daily searches in January and February.

How do you start a search engine? The new companies have very capable executives. Neeva was launched by Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s former head of Ad Sales. Brave is led by former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich. No one is starting those search engines from their dorm room and scaling up in a garage.

How are the results? Different. Not great yet, but different, and that’s important. When we analyzed the results across Google, Bing, Neeva, and Brave, we always saw different results, but we also saw entirely different sites appearing on page one for the new companies. If I were researching something without a lot of public information or facts behind it, I would absolutely use all four plus DuckDuckGo and some others.

Can I Use Them? You bet. Find them here:

Brave: https://search.brave.com/
Neeva: https://neeva.com/

What’s This About Search Atlas? This is a new service in beta that is not yet open to the public. It’s also one of the exciting search engines on the horizon. It’s a new take on meta search engines that use results from more than one place. Search Atlas lets you compare results on one screen from multiple countries. This will be an exciting tool to use as countries begin imposing laws on what can be found via search. Example below:

5. Debunked — The Big 12 Is True

We wrote in April about a then-new study that showed that 65% of the anti-vaccine content on Facebook and Twitter can be traced back to twelve people. Yes, the number after eleven.

Spotlight readers already knew all about this, but the White House and several big media organizations are having quite the scrape this week over that data.

“On Facebook alone, the dozen are responsible for 73% of all anti-vaccine content, though the vaccines have been deemed safe and effective by the US government and its regulatory agencies. And 95% of the Covid misinformation reported on these platforms were not removed,” wrote The Guardian this weekend.

6. Following Up — REvil Disappears & Google Fined in Australia

Last week’s Spotlight Explainer was all about REvil, a Russian hacker gang that has successfully targeted more than 1,000 organizations including meat processor JBS and Acer Computers. The glare of a Spotlight Explainer was apparently too much for the gang, which disappeared from the dark web early Tuesday according to Threat Post. Some fella named Biden also complained to the president of Russia, but whoever was responsible, you’re all welcome. I’m sure Mr. Biden would say that to you too. But honestly, no one knows where they are or why their sites went dark.

You might remember that we’ve also written about Google and Facebook facing regulatory action in other countries for allowing or posting news articles on their platforms without compensating the media companies. The French government said last week that Google was not negotiating in good faith and fined the search company nearly $600 million. Don’t be surprised if you read this week that Google News has vanished from French browsers as fast as a Russian ransomware gang.

7. Protip — New Emoji

The consortium that coordinates emoji standards is due to vote on the next group, which will be released in two months. There’s a saluting emoji, another that is holding back tears and a melting face that has apparently been outside lately. Here’s the full coverage with images.

8. Screening Room — Paralympians

 9. Science Fiction World — Typing by Thought

We’ve told you before about the exciting work being done with brain implants for people with disabilities. We’ve always cautioned that these were extremely early days and reports are sometimes based on news releases.

Now there’s a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine that’s touting the work of UCSF researchers who report that they’ve been able to use a brain implant successfully up to 76% of the time. The implant is used by a man in his 30s who lost his ability to speak after a severe stroke.

Caveats: This is not yet scalable. It’s only one person. The vocabulary is limited to 50 words, but it is amazing.

Wall Street Journal coverage (paywall)

University of California, San Francisco news release 

10. Coffee Break — Joy Generator

Even The Grinch likes to feel joy. NPR has put together a wonderful set of interactive videos called the Joy Generator.  They’re short, informative, and make the happy chemicals in your brain, which is good enough for me. At the end of short session is a button to get some more joy. Start your dopamine journey here.

11. Sign of the Times