Good Monday Morning


It’s October 30th. Happy Halloween tomorrow with a comforting note: researchers cannot find any instances of children ever being seriously harmed or killed by doctored trick-or-treat candy. 

Today’s Spotlight is 839 words — about 3 minutes to read.

Headlines to Know

  • California authorities suspended Cruise’s robotaxi permits following an incident involving one of its driverless vehicles. 
     
  • Elon Musk boorishly trolled Wikipedia during its annual fundraising campaign by offering to make a $1 billion donation if the company changed the service’s name to Dickipedia. Separately, Fidelity further wrote down the value of its holdings in Musk’s X and has now devalued the original investment by 65% in under 1 year. 
     
  • Google announced eight measures to bolster daily task accessibility, with significant emphasis on voice control and customizable settings for individual functional needs.

Spotlight on Meta Sued Over Kids’ Health

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia filed suit against Meta, alleging that the mental health of children is harmed by addictive features such as harvesting personal data about children and creating tactics designed to keep them online longer that are built into the systems.

This legal challenge highlights the culmination of growing concerns surrounding Meta’s child-centric offerings like Messenger Kids and the proposed Instagram for Kids, programs that drew strong opposition from psychologists and other experts, who urged Meta to abandon them.

Documents provided by corporate whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 led to bipartisan outrage in Congress and days of headlines, illuminating Meta’s internal deliberations on their findings regarding children’s mental health impacts. The scrutiny, intensified by Haugen’s revelations and the planned services for children under the age of 13, eventually derailed those plans.

One damning internal slide read, “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”

As this blockbuster case unfolds over the coming months, Meta is sure to face withering criticism over more than 5 years of negative headlines related to privacy and child safety. Repercussions or scrutiny will also undoubtedly extend to other popular networks among children, including YouTube, Snap, and TikTok. T

Practical AI

Quotable“There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear. It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording.”

— Paul McCartney, in a statement describing “Now and Then”, a song to be released this week after AI correction allowed producers to use long obscured vocals.

Google Bets On Anthropic:  Following Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in ChatGPT maker Open AI, Google announced a $2 billion investment in competitor Anthropic.

 Tool of the Week: Canva’s new Magic Studio does all sorts of nifty tricks, including translation, repurposing past creative, text-to-video, and lasso-style tools. 

Did That Really Happen — People Are Not Flying to Austria Instead of Australia 

A funny viral meme claimed that a special counter at Salzburg, Austria’s airport reroutes 100 passengers each year who meant to fly to Australia.  It may well happen, but the Washington Post confirmed the numbers are not tracked nor is there such a counter.

Following Up — MGM’s Costly Hack 

MGM Resorts said that the computer intrusion it suffered after a help desk employee inadvertently allowed a non-employee network access will cost the company $100 million in lost profit.

Protip — Going Off Grid with a Phone

The Markup has created an easy-to-use guide that shows how to use a cell phone and remain off-grid. Caveat: it’s not just burner phones or one time so you have to seriously want to do this. But it’s a great thought experiment read too.

Screening Room — De Niro & Butterfield for Uber One

Science Fiction World — Space Pollution Fine

The FCC has fined Dish Network $150,000 for failing to move its now defunct EchoStar-7 satellite away from other operational satellites. It’s the first time that the agency has enforced regulatory authority in space.

Coffee Break — The Headline Clock

Check out this whimsical clock where each new minute is displayed using clickable headlines from today’s news stories in a playful blend of words and numbers.

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning


It’s October 23rd.  Big Tech is reporting Q3 results this week: Microsoft and Alphabet tomorrow, Meta on Wednesday, and Amazon on Thursday. Expect a lot of product and holiday announcements.

Today’s Spotlight is 839 words — about 3 minutes to read.

Headlines to Know

  • FCC takes steps to reinstate net neutrality, undoing Trump-era repeal to promote equal internet access.
     
  • Minecraft, the bestselling video game ever, hits 300 million sales.
     
  • Atlassian to acquire video messaging platform Loom for nearly $1 billion, enhancing its collaboration tools amid rising hybrid work demand.
     
  • Best Buy to cease DVD, Blu-ray sales in-store and online by early 2024 while Netflix said that it would open 2 new stores weeks after stopping DVD mail fulfillment.
     
  • Google expanded social media links in its Business Profiles, allowing organizations to link to 7 of its competitors.

Spotlight on Airbnb’s Course to Navigate The Holidays

In March, we highlighted the regulatory challenges Airbnb faced. We also talked about security risks, ratings inflation, and complaints from municipalities about lost tax revenue.

The situation has since escalated in New York, with Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky voicing concerns over stringent regulations that virtually eliminate short-term rental options. New York City regulations now limit the number of guests and mandate hosts to be present during a guest’s stay.


Even smaller cities, like Bozeman, Montana, and Palm Springs are considering cracking down on Airbnb properties, as are larger world capitals like Paris and London.


Airbnb’s strategy in the face of such regulatory disparities has been to engage with local governments, attempting to shape rules that protect local interests while also supporting the home-sharing economy. As the winter holidays approach, Airbnb is also investing in promoting longer-term rentals, a segment not typically subject to short-term rental laws. 

Beyond regulation, Chesky is addressing operational hurdles. Recently, he acknowledged cleaning fees as a “huge problem” and unveiled measures to tackle it. Following the launch of Airbnb’s total price display, over 260,000 listings have lowered or removed cleaning fees. 
 

These regulatory tussles remain significant for both hosts and guests. Most host applications filed with New York don’t meet the city’s requirements. Hosts, especially in restrictive markets like New York, face the dilemma of adhering to laws, which in many cases means removing their listings, or facing hefty fines. Guests, on the other hand, find fewer and often more expensive lodging options, making travel less accessible.

Practical AI

Quotable“There are already a number of music lyrics aggregators and websites that serve this same function, but those sites have properly licensed publishers’ copyrighted works to provide this service,”

— Suit filed by music companies, including Universal, against Anthropic for allowing its AI chatbot to post music lyrics when responding to prompts.

Alexa Denies Election Results: The Amazon assistant is using information it sources online to tell its users that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” in the latest horrifying example of Garbage In/Garbage Out.

 Tool of the Week: The AI Incident Database is a repository of user-supplied information about AI failures such as errant identifications of people or autonomous car collisions.  

Trends & Spends

Did That Really Happen — EU Wants Social Media Answers  

The EU is requiring that Meta, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) provide details on how they are combating Israel-Hamas conflict misinformation. Failure to comply with those regulations can result in fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual revenue.

Following Up — Online Tax Filing  

We’ve written extensively about how the federal government accused former participants in the Free Tax File program of improprieties. Now, the sector is navigating challenges resulting from the IRS’ announcement that it has expanded free direct filing to 13 states. 

Intuit is warning that the new program will hurt black taxpayers, a fraught statement that a researcher has already debunked. Meanwhile, the FTC has warned five tax prep companies that they may face penalties for tracking confidential data about taxpayers.

Protip — Hiding, Not Deleting Painful Photos

Google Photos now allows users to hide images of specific people or pets from their Memories feature, providing a respite for those troubled by past images. Lifehacker explains how.

Screening Room — Gallaudet & AT&T’s 5G Helmet

Good Monday Morning


It’s October 16th, the 100th anniversary of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio signing its first distribution deal.

Today’s Spotlight is 941 words — about 4 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1.  User data from 23andMe’s genetics database was posted on underground digital markets following an online data scrape, with Ashkenazi Jewish individuals notably targeted. The breach, suspected to be a result of credential stuffing, reignites debates around cybersecurity and how data can target individuals or groups.

2.Big Tech’s evolving ad game:YouTube’s nudging ad-blocker users to pay up, X (formerly Twitter) debuts a covert ad type that dodges forwarding and reporting, while Meta explores premium ad-free accounts in Europe and leverages generative AI to up the ante for advertisers.

The gist: A mixed bag of tactics aiming to redefine advertising-consumer dialogue

3.  From consumers to government, Big Tech’s dance with regulation is intensifying. In India, Facebook faces scrutiny over alleged propagation of hate speech at the government’s request, while in the U.S., the Texas Attorney General sues Yelp over the company’s labeling of “crisis pregnancy centers” typically providing “limited medical services” and operating without a requirement for medical professionals. Meanwhile, significant regulatory lawsuits continue against Google and Amazon and Microsoft fends off an IRS claim for nearly $29B-with-a-B.

Spotlight on Passkeys: One Year Later & Ready for Their Closeup

Nearly one year after we told you about passkeys, the landscape has evolved, with Google recently swinging the door wide open. The search giant announced that they are making passkeys the default for personal accounts, a significant nod to this burgeoning change.

Passkeys, a form of passwordless authentication, are essentially public-key cryptography securing user accounts. Unlike traditional passwords, they don’t require memorization and reduce the common headache of duplicating them on other sites–which led to that 23andMe data scraping. They’re created and stored on devices, with a public key registered to the service and a private key securely tucked away on your device.

Passkeys Pros and Cons

Consumer Reports elaborates on their ease of use, noting a better user experience, while the potential for enhanced security makes a compelling case for passkeys. Apple has also been in the fray, simplifying passkey use in its iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma updates. .

Our previous Spotlight on passkeys highlighted their promise in combating phishing and other cyber threats. The trail blazed by Apple, and now followed by Google, shows growing tech industry alignment.

The Future of Passkeys

Yet, as with any nascent technology, hurdles remain. ZDNet points out the initial setup can be intimidating for non-tech savvy individuals. And there are often questions of what happens if you lose the device your passkey is stored on. Of the two passwords managers we recommend, passkeys are available on 1Password and coming soon to BitWarden.

Google’s pivot, however, is a significant stride towards mainstreaming passkeys, nudging us closer to a potential password-free reality. As passkeys continue to mature, they could very well become the keystones of digital security, blending ease of use with robust protection.

Practical AI

Quotable“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,

— Tom Hanks posting on Instagram

Spotify’s new groove: The audio streamer developed an AI-powered voice cloning tool to translate podcasts across languages, broadening auditory horizons while tiptoeing on the thin line of deepfake technology that Hanks wrote about.

The bottom line: Your favorite podcasts could soon speak your language, but at what cost to authenticity?
 Tool of the Week:Likewise, kickstarted five years ago as a haven for shared TV, movie, and book recs among like-minded folks, now generates buzz with its AI chatbot, Pix.

My hands-on test, even post-Goodreads sync of hundreds of books, exposed a clunky rec mechanism. There is a commercial vibe missing Netflix or Amazon’s finesse. The buzz, fueled in part by Bill Gates’ financial backing, hints at a shift: generative AI like ChatGPT or Bard, might soon yield the stage to personalized chatbots like Pix.

Did That Really Happen — Ukrainian First Lady Didn’t Buy Jewelry
 

A claim went viral alleging Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska splurged $1.1 million on Cartier jewelry and got a salesperson fired during a U.S. visit last month. The tale, originating from a YouTube video, is debunked by Snopes.

Following Up — YouTuber Shot

YouTube creator Tanner Cook was shot by Alan Colie during a Virginia mall prank, but a jury acquitted Colie of aggravated malicious wounding. The incident sparks debate on prank ethics and self-defense as Cook plans to continue pranking, and Colie faces a potential 10-year prison term on other charges.

We’ve covered social media pranks before, as well as this one in particular. This video was played in court.

Protip — How To Set Up Your Passkeys

If you’ve got the urge, here are step-by-step instructions to use passkeys with GoogleApple, and 1Password.

Screening Room — Google Pixel 8 with AI Camera & Recording

Science Fiction World — NASA’s Moon Neighborhoods

NASA unveiled plans to construct lunar houses by 2040, exploring durable, self-repairing materials for sustainable habitation, nudging closer to long-term human presence on the Moon.

Coffee Break — CR’s Permission Slip

Consumer Reports unveiled Permission Slip, an app for iOS or Android that allows users to track, manage, and delete their personal data across companies. Get it here.

Sign of the Times