Adobe-Pantone, Has an Innovator Covered You You with Freetone Brown?
October 31, 2022
Annoyed about the loss of Pantone colors in Adobe products? I am okay with Affinity and assorted open source tools, so what the innovation free outfits do is not of consequence to me.
Should you want an open source alternative, a color wizard named Stuart Semple has a solution. The details of the colors or “frequencies” as I think of them appear in “I’ve Libertated [sic] the Pantone Colour Palette and I’m Giving It Away for Free Unless You Work for Adobe.”
The colors can be downloaded at this link. If the link goes dead, navigate to Culture Hustle and hunt around for the download link. Even though the palette is free, you will be coughing up your email address and some other potentially interesting information.
Several observations:
- The cloud monetization plays are likely to stimulate some innovation. The vector of new angles will be designed to block, undercut, undermine, or discredit the corporate cleverness
- As options become available, increased friction in work processes will result. File formats, digital fingerprints, and embedded sequences similar to those used in steganography will derail some activities. Getting back on track will consume time and resources
- User groups are dangerous constructs. In person groups are less volatile than online communities. Clever corporates may find themselves locked in an unpleasant and litigious social dust up.
Check out those Freetone browns. What does the color suggest?
Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2022
When the Non-Googley Display Their Flaws, Miscommunication Results
October 31, 2022
If you are Googley, you understand the value of the Google way. You embrace abandoned products because smart people do not get bonuses working on loser services. You advocate for new ways to generate revenue because losers have to pony up cash to pay for salaries. You ignore the bleats of the lesser creatures because those lower on the Great Chain of Digital Being deserve their mollusk status.
I want to point out that the article “How Google’s Ad Business Funds Disinformation Around the World” illustrates the miscommunication between the Googlers and the Rest of the World. With ignorance on display, little wonder the free services of the online services company are neither appreciated nor understood.
Consider advertising.
Smart software does not make errors. If a non Googley person objects to an advertisement which pitches certain products and services, it is the responsibility of the “user” to discern the issue and ignore the message. Smart software informed by synthetic data and functionality of Oingo identifies interests and displays content. By definition, the non Googley fail to appreciate the sophistication of the Google method. Hence, how can these non Googley mollusks perceive the benefits of the Googlers.
The cited article purports to provide proof (not big data, not psychological profiles based on user history, and not fancy math informed by decades of sophisticated management actions) that something is amiss in the world of Alphabet Google YouTube and DeepMind Land. Here’s an example:
The investigation also revealed that Google routinely places ads on sites pushing falsehoods about COVID-19 and climate change in French-, German- and Spanish-speaking countries.
Where’s the beef? By definition, the non Googley have to decide what’s on the money or not. If one has flawed mental equipment, the failure to understand Google is not Google’s problem. It is the way of the world.
Google has a business model which works. True. Google did have to pay to avoid a legal hassle with Yahoo for the online ad furniture before the Google IPO. But in the Google, good ideas are, by definition, Google’s. Therefore, getting caught in a Web of insinuations is further proof that a gulf separates the Googley from the non Googley. Maggots, remember?
The cited article presents examples from countries which provide a small percentage of Google experts. It makes sense that those who are non Googley would apply their limited intelligence and analytic skills to countries with certain flaws. Google’s smart software makes smart decisions, and the failure to recognize the excellence of Google’s methods are, by definition, a problem but not for Google. Come on. Serbia? Turkey? France? Where are these entities on the Great Chain of Digital Being? At the top? France has more types of cheese than Googlers I think.
Net net: Criticize Meta. Take a look at the Apple tax. Examine the dead squirrels crushed by the Bezos bulldozer. Those are lesser firms which are well suited to scrutiny by the non Googley. So if you don’t work at Google, how can you understand the excellence of Googlers? Answer: You cannot.
Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2022
Musky Metaphor: The Sink or Free for All Hellscape?
October 28, 2022
I read “Elon Musk Visits Twitter Carrying Sink As Deal Looms.” The write up (after presenting me with options to sign in, click a free account, or just escape the pop up) reported:
In business parlance, “kitchen sinking” means taking radical action at a company, though it is not clear if this was Mr Musk’s message – he also updated his Twitter bio to read “chief twit”. Mr Musk has said the social media site needs significant changes. At least one report has suggested he is planning major job cuts.
There was a photo, presumably copyright crowned, showing the orbital Elon Musk carrying a kitchen sink. A quick check of kitchen appliance vendors provided some examples of a kitchen sink:
I compared this sink with the one in the Beeb’s illustration and learned:
- Mr. Musk chose a white sink
- The drain was visible
- Mr. Musk’s “load” was a bit larger than a Starlink antenna
Now what’s the metaphor? Wikipedia is incredibly helpful when trying to figure out certain allusions of very bright inventors of incredible assertions about self driving software.
Wikipedia suggests:
- Freaks of Nature (film), a 2015 comedy horror film, also known as Kitchen Sink
- Kitchen Sink, a 1989 horror short directed by Alison Maclean
- Kitchen Sink (TV series), cookery series on Food Network
- “Kitchen Sink”, a song by Twenty One Pilots from their album Regional at Best
- Kitchen Sink (album), an album by Nadine Shah, 2020
- Kitchen Sink Press, an independent comic book publisher
- Kitchen sink realism, a British cultural movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s
- Kitchen sink syndrome, also known as “scope creep” in project management
- Kitchen sink regression, a usually pejorative term for a regression analysis which uses a long list of possible independent variables
- A sink in a kitchen for washing dishes, vegetables, etc.
I think these are incorrect.
My mind associates the kitchen sink with:
- Going down the drain; that is, get rid of dirty water, food scraps, and soluble substances (mostly soluble if I remember what I learned from engineers at the CW Rice Engineering Company)
- An opening into which objects can fall; for example, a ring, grandma’s silver baby spoon, or the lid to a bottle of Shaoxing wine. The allusion becomes “going down the drain” equates to a fail whale
- A collection point for discarded vegetable matter, bits of meat with bone, fish heads, or similar detritus. Yep, fish heads.
What’s your interpretation of the Musky kitchen sink? Scope creep from Wikipedia or mine, going down the drain? Nah, hellscape.
Be sure to tweet your answer?
Stephen E Arnold, October 28, 2022
Google: Beavering Away on Trust, Privacy, and Security
October 27, 2022
Google and trust: What an interesting pair of words. I wonder if anyone remembers the Google Search Appliance and its “phone home” function. I sure do because I was paid to go to a government meeting at one of the Executive Branch agencies so I could intermediate with my contacts in the search appliance mini-unit. I want to point out that customer support, technical support, and access to specific details of the operation of the Google Search Appliance were not easy for licensees to access. Hence, a dinobaby like myself was enlisted for the job. What was the reason for the concern? The GSA worked but the government technology folks were interested in the “phone home” function; specifically, what was available to the GOOG, what was transmitted, and who had access to those data from the government agency?
What do you think the Googler on the call with me in a conference room stuffed with government professionals said? As I recall, the Googler called me on my mobile and I stepped out of the room. The Googler said, “Ask them if the shipping crate was available?” I said, “Okay?” and returned to the room. The Googler popped back into the conference line and said, “Steve, do you have a question?” I turned to the group in the room and asked, “Is the shipping crate in the store room?”
The team leader’s answer was, “Yes.”
The Googler then said, “Steve, would you ask the client to ship the GSA back to us to check?”
The Googler disconnected. I organized the return. The senior government executive later asked me, “Do you trust that outfit?”
My answer was, “I do.”
The government executive said, “I don’t.”
Ah, a different opinion. As a result of the “phone home” feature of the cheerful yellow GSAs Google made a business decision and abandoned what it delightfully called “enterprise search.”
I thought about this meeting from years ago when I read “Court Documents Allege Google cultivated Privacy Misconceptions of Chrome’s Incognito Mode.” Was I surprised? Nope. Google is loved by people who like free services. Critical thinking about the data gathered by the online ad agency has not been a widespread practice for decades.
Why now?
My hunch is that partial understanding of what the Google datasphere has become is now coming into focus. The response of Silicon Valley “real” news outfits is amusing. From cheerleaders to aggrieved info-addicts is interesting.
The cited article states:
Google faces a potential privacy case as a class of millions of users filed to sue it for billions of dollars over Chrome’s Incognito mode lack of genuine privacy protections. While user ignorance is never a great argument in front of a judge, court documents first filed in March of 2021 paint a picture that Google has been complicit in cultivating user misconceptions on privacy. According to the filings, Google Marketing Chief Lorraine Twohill emailed CEO Sundar Pichai last year, warning that they need to consider making Incognito “truly private.” Even more concerning is her indirect admission that they have had to use misleading language when marketing the feature.
That’s the Google game plan.
Like many game plans, other teams figure out how to thwart what once was quite effective. Heck. In the case of the GOOG, the game plan won the equivalent of 20 or more World Cups. Now, however, the play book and its simple methods of saying one thing and doing another, apologizing and moving forward anyway, and paying trivial fines and taking advantage of advertisers and users has to be fluffed up.
Are the broad outlines of the new playbook discernable? I keep track of some of the changes:
- Distraction
- Shuffling product and service offerings
- Acquisitions which are not technology but consulting
- Continuous interactions with lobbyists and other contacts in Washington, DC, London, France, and Paris, France, among other locations
- Low profile but significant efforts to keep the online ad company’s India activities out of the news spotlights
- Hand waving about new policies in order to put some moats around certain skyrocketing operational costs because…. plumbing is expensive even for the GOOG.
What’s the outcome in my opinion? (Don’t want it. Just stop reading.) My view is that Google’s management methods will continue to show signs of fragility. Maybe some big cracks will emerge? Lawyering and marketing will kick “real” engineers off the fast track to bonuses. Yikes. The Google is a changin’… and fast. Example: Incognito which isn’t incog or neat-o.
Stephen E Arnold, October 2022
Measuring How Badly Social Media Amplifies Misinformation
October 26, 2022
In its ongoing examination of misinformation online, the New York Times tells us about the Integrity Institute‘s quest to measure just how much social media contributes to the problem in, “How Social Media Amplifies Misinformation More than Information.” Reporter Steven Lee Meyers writes:
“It is well known that social media amplifies misinformation and other harmful content. The Integrity Institute, an advocacy group, is now trying to measure exactly how much — and on Thursday [October 13] it began publishing results that it plans to update each week through the midterm elections on Nov. 8. The institute’s initial report, posted online, found that a ‘well-crafted lie’ will get more engagements than typical, truthful content and that some features of social media sites and their algorithms contribute to the spread of misinformation.”
In is ongoing investigation, the researchers compare the circulation of posts flagged as false by the International Fact-Checking Network to that of other posts from the same accounts. We learn:
“Twitter, the analysis showed, has what the institute called the great misinformation amplification factor, in large part because of its feature allowing people to share, or ‘retweet,’ posts easily. It was followed by TikTok, the Chinese-owned video site, which uses machine-learning models to predict engagement and make recommendations to users. … Facebook, according to the sample that the institute has studied so
far, had the most instances of misinformation but amplified such claims to a lesser degree, in part because sharing posts requires more steps. But some of its newer features are more prone to amplify misinformation, the institute found.”
Facebook‘s video content spread lies faster than the rest of the platform, we learn, because its features lean more heavily on recommendation algorithms. Instagram showed the lowest amplification rate, while the team did not yet have enough data on YouTube to draw a conclusion. It will be interesting to see how these amplifications do or do not change as the midterms approach. The Integrity Institute shares its findings here.
Cynthia Murrell, October 26, 2022
The Robots: Fun and Friendly Colleagues?
October 26, 2022
Robot coworkers make us uncomfortable, apparently. Who knew? ScienceDaily reports, “Robots in Workplace Contribute to Burnout, Job Insecurity.” The good news, we are told, is that simple self-affirmation exercises can help humans get past such fears. The write-up cites research from the American Psychological Association, stating:
“Working with industrial robots was linked to greater reports of burnout and workplace incivility in an experiment with 118 engineers employed by an Indian auto manufacturing company. An online experiment with 400 participants found that self-affirmation exercises, where people are encouraged to think positively about themselves and their uniquely human characteristics, may help lessen workplace robot fears. Participants wrote about characteristics or values that were important to them, such as friends and family, a sense of humor or athletics. ‘Most people are overestimating the capabilities of robots and underestimating their own capabilities,’ [lead researcher Kai Chi] Yam said.”
Yam suspects ominous media coverage about robots replacing workers is at least partially to blame for the concern. Yeah, that tracks. The write-up continues:
“Fears about job insecurity from robots are common. The researchers analyzed data about the prevalence of robots in 185 U.S. metropolitan areas along with the overall use of popular job recruiting sites in those areas (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.). Areas with the most prevalent rates of robots also had the highest rates of job recruiting site searches, even though unemployment rates weren’t higher in those areas.”
Researchers suggest this difference may be because workers in those areas are afraid of being replaced by robots at any moment, though they allow other factors could be at play. So just remember—if you become anxious a robot is after your job, just remind yourself what a capable little human you are. Technology is our friend, even if it makes us a bit nervous.
Cynthia Murrell, October 26, 2022
TikTok: Your Source for News? I Hope Not
October 24, 2022
I read “A Quarter of US Adults under 30 Now Get Their News from TikTok” reports:
Among American adults, reliance on TikTok for news content has roughly tripled since 2020, rising from 3% to 10% in the past two years. More than a quarter of US adults under 30 now regularly use TikTok for news, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. This defies a larger national trend. Fewer Americans are consistently looking for news on social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat, according to Pew data since 2020.
Let’s assume these data are accurate. Furthermore, let’s assume that TikTok can display weaponized information.
What downstream consequences will this weaponization by a China-affiliated company have? Here are some ideas my team and I generated at a local chicken joint today )(Saturday, October 22, 2022):
- Digital content may spark directed mob behavior among cohorts consuming TikTok news
- The TikTok content consumer may find it increasingly difficult to accept ideas from a source other than TikTok
- The already declining ability to think critically may be accelerated
- Consumers of TikTok news may experience difficulty focusing on mental tasks requiring concentration and attention.
What if the research is flawed? My hunch is that most research is. It is entirely possible that those responsible for doing the work have had their mental faculties eroded. On the other hand, unacknowledged biases may have distorted the questions, the methodology, and the analysis.
But what if the research is spot on like a laser targeting site? Oh, that’s a question to research. Perhaps TikTok videos have an answer?
Stephen E Arnold, October 24, 2022
Characteristics of a Dinobaby
October 21, 2022
Someone called my attention to the Buzzfeed article “Millennial Managers Are Sharing Toxic Things Their Older Bosses Did That They Won’t Do To Employees, And I Relate To A Lot Of These.” The list of millennial management precepts makes it very clear why I am a relic. The 25 characteristics are interesting. The table below provides my dinobaby view of five of these statements about the cohorts now in the workplace.
|
Millennial Mgmt |
Dinobaby Approach |
| No micromanagement | Micromanage when warranted |
| Open communication | Sometimes |
| Rat on colleagues | Not this dinobaby |
| Ask staff for ideas and examples | Yes, dinobabies do this |
| Communicate what is needed to get promoted | Follow organization’s policies and procedures |
I cannot imagine how difficult it would be for this dinobaby to work with staff and managers who absolve themselves of the responsibility for knowing what the company expects, inculcating the organization’s policies and procedures in the work, and getting the best from each person. Eliminating managers and allowing employees to do their own thing is a recipe for disaster.
What if the organization has no rules of the road, is managed by a crazed genius, and lacks policies, procedures, and planning? Don’t take a full time job. Be a consultant and work on a short term contract. Avoid problem firms.
Stephen E Arnold, October 21, 2022
Forty Firms and the European Union Demonstrate Their Failure to Be Googley
October 20, 2022
In the last 25 years, an estimated 300,000 people have worked for the Google as FTEs (full time equivalents). My view is that the current crop of European Union officials as well as the senior managers of several dozen online shopping services firms are not Google-grade human resources. Why do I make this distinction between those who are Googley and those who do not make the grade. Being Googley is not like the French Foreign Legion. In that organization, a wanna be Legionnaire must do push ups, master the lingo of the new homeland, and be ready to die for France. At Google one must be clever, have the “right stuff” intellectually, and be adept at solving problems, playing with a mobile phone, and manipulating a Mac simultaneously. Being Googley means understanding the ethos of the forever young online search system. That system, as I understand it, accepts the constraints of the GoTo, Overture, and Yahoo online advertising concept. Furthermore that system accepts that Oingo became a key component in matching advertising to user interests. Thus, to be Googley means that smart software, minimal interaction with humanoids who are by definition are “not Googley,” and reliance on charging for entering and leaving a digital saloon. Extra cash is required to enjoy the for fee options in the establishment; for example, a mouse pad with the Google logo silkscreened thereupon.
I read “EU Companies Claim Google Still Abusing its Shopping Power.” The article explains that a number of companies believe the Google is not behaving in a warm, friendly, collegial manner. Are these firms’ allegations correct?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that the companies signing the letter to EU regulators are demonstrating to me that these organizations are not Googley. What does this mean? May I hypothesize about the implications of lacking an understanding of the Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind organization might be? Of course, you say. So here are my thoughts:
- None of the signatories nor the employees of these signatories will receive first-class tchotchkes at conferences at which AGYD has a booth or stand equipped with freebies
- None of the signatories, their employees, nor their progeny will be hired by AGYD due to manifest non Googliness. (Remember, please, that Googliness is next to Godliness. Who else can solve death?)
- None of the Web sites, online properties, or content objects will be made findable by the “black box” operated by closely guarded algorithms and informed by the superior methods of the smart software. (I must admit I find the idea “if you are findable in Google, you do not exist) a most existentially well formed idea.
- None of the elected officials involved in fining, criticizing, or demonstrating non Googliness will be supported in their re-election efforts by the GOOG’s powerful systems.
AGYD is not a company. It is a digital country. It handles more than 90 percent of the search queries in North America, South America, and Western Europe. YouTube is television for those in Eastern Europe. The Google is bigger than the definitely Google challenged in Europe. Perhaps thinking about the downsides of not being Googley is a useful activity? Just a thought. But it may be too late for the 40 outfits signing a letter attesting to their failure in the Google Comprehension Examination.
Stephen E Arnold, October 20, 2022
Does Apple Evoke Fear?
October 20, 2022
Fast Company points out how Apple is appealing to America’s overwhelming culture of fear in: “Apple Used To Sell Wonder. Now It Sells Fear.” For forty years, Apple has presented itself as an optimistic brand of the future. Its aesthetic and state-of-the-art technology was and is supposed to improve our lives.
Under Jony Ive’s design lead, Apple has taken to upholding Murphy’s Law by selling fear. Apple’s newest marketing campaign promotes how its technology is used by survivors. Commercials and other advertising feature tales of survival from heart attacks to plane crashes. All these people survived thanks to an Apple product, usually the Apple Watch. The watch even has a new car crash feature that is supposed to make people feel safer:
“Do note that Crash Detection, which is part of the new Apple Watch Series 8, won’t prevent any accidents from happening, of course. But that wasn’t Apple’s point. These examples implied something else entirely: The world is already on fire. You’re already getting burned. Just make sure that you live to tell the tale.”
A great example is the new Apple Watch Ultra which was specifically designed for outdoor exploration with a compass and bright international orange accents that help wearers be noticed in emergencies. Apple also quoted Sir Ernest Shackleton’s alleged advertisement for an Antarctica expedition to appeal to consumers: “…describing a ‘hazardous journey’ with ‘long months of complete darkness, constant danger.’ While ‘safe return [is] doubtful,’ the ad admitted, it promised ‘honor and recognition in case of success.’”
Apple is telling consumers life sucks, but use its products to make it better. Another way to broach the new advertising campaign is Apple wants people to go outside and exercise more as a response to the growing obesity endemic. Maybe it’s Apple’s way of telling people to exercise safely?
Whitney Grace, October 20, 2022
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