The Low-Down: 2015-11-22

Nov 28, 2015

This Twitter Bot Will Tell You How Good Your Selfies Are

C'mon, poor quality is an essential part of the experience. JL

Abby Ohlheiser reports in the Washington Post:

@deepselfie has been trained to judge (and often, insult) the composition of the ubiquitous images. Deep Selfie has its own taste in selfies, including a gender preference.

Some can - and will - be replaced by machines. But not all. JL

Kathy Chu and Bob Davis report in the Wall Street Journal:

Over the coming decades, a labor shortage will force Levi and scores of other Western brands to remake their China operations or pack up and leave. The changes will mark a new chapter in the history of globalization, where automation is king, nearness to market is crucial and the lives of workers and consumers around the world are once again scrambled.

Because education encompasses so many factors? JL

Shane Shifflett and Ben Hallman report in Huffington Post:

A small handful of the very wealthiest athletic departments harvest so much revenue that it almost doesn’t matter how much they spend.

Is the fact that 'there is no there there,' because technology has convinced us that we no longer care - or even notice? JL

Colin Ellard excerpts from his book in Slate:

The genericization of urban settings relates to our increasing reliance on digital technologies and information to mediate our relationship with the built environment. Technologies produce connectedness without proximity and emphasize the virtual at the expense of the real. The focus of human attention has shifted palpably downward into the upturned faces of our phones. We may no longer care about our surroundings because we are no longer there as we used to be.

What are we telling ourselves as we become fascinated, repelled - and dependent on devices? JL

Adrienne LaFrance reports in The Atlantic:

Computer scientists who focus on machine learning have all kinds of examples of how a computer’s way of seeing is a surprise to the human who programmed it. What building a robot in a person's image can reveal about identity and humanity.

Phones Expected To Become Primary Shopping Device This Holiday Season For the First Time

And we will never be the same. JL

Jenny Anderson reports in Quartz:

Mobile traffic for the five-day shopping bonanza over Thanksgiving is expected to reach 56.9% of total traffic, up from 48.5% last year.

But officer....JL

Don Melvin reports in CNN/Money:

No driver? No ticket. "After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" the car project posted.

It may not feel like it for anyone shopping on Black Friday, but the mall is doomed. If you cant get it on the internet - and delivered free - then you probably dont need or want it.

The cause is digital to a large degree, but flat incomes, rising costs for car ownership and - a rebuke to climate deniers - climate change is significantly reducing demand for seasonal clothing. One of the big surprises already of this holiday season is that people are buying more housewares than clothing, reinforcing the notion that they are spending more time at home than out and about. T he question is to what degree this is cyclical - or long term. JL

Scott Rothbort reports in Marketwatch:

The American consumer is not sitting on their wallets. They are using their cash and cards in different ways and in difference places, many of which are digital. As for the American Mall, death is certain

This is a momentous decision because the meaning of words like 'sale' and 'ownership' have come under attack as software increasingly manages the performance of everything from smartphones to automobiles, with tech firms attempting to retain the rights to the underlying code.

If you can't operate your device because you refuse to pay for a 'voluntary' upgrade or the company changes the terms of your deal, then who really owns it? JL

Barry Meier and Jad Mouawad report in the New York Times:

The decision was one of many changes to a federal copyright law, including allowing people to “jailbreak” their mobile phones and reprogram older video games.

Let the buyer beware. JL

Suzanne Kapner reports in the Wall Street Journal :

Since September retailers are selling 21% fewer items at full price, compared with the same period a year ago, according to an analysis of $5 billion consumer transactions. But some of those discounts are more of an illusion than a real bargain.Shoppers also have a tendency to get confused over whether a dollar amount versus a percentage off is the better deal.

Millennials, in particular are thought of us altruistic, to the extent that an entire generation can be characterized. And perhaps some of them are simply reacting to the dearth of opportunities they faced thanks to changing economic circumstances. Critics may argue, as Winston Churchill was thought to have said, that ' a young person who isn't liberal has no heart and an old person who isnt conservative has no brain.'

But the reality is that the interpretation of success - and happiness - evolves over time. Meaning - and money - assume different values, as well, depending on the individual, the society and the era. It is likely that their role in our lives will continue to change - and that we will be the better for it. JL

Lisa Evans reports in Fast Company:

In a 2014 study commissioned by McGraw-Hill Education, The Grad Gap, the majority of graduating students (73%) say it was more important to find a job that allows them to do what they love, than to find a job that pays well (20%).

Consumer Device Purchase Trends

As gluttony Thursday begins to morph into Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a young consumer's fancy turns to...sales. JL

Bob O'Donnell reports in re/code:

If we see a resurgence in desktop PCs next year, remember: You heard it here first.

Happy Thanksgiving. JL

Louise Fresco reports in The Atlantic :

“Dinner’s ready!” The call represented the most important moment of the day, a confirmation of family life, of the caring role of the mother and the authority of the father. The table is a place of memory where we become aware of who we are and with whom we are. The human is the only species that surrounds its food with rituals and takes account of hunger among others who are not direct relatives. The table makes us human.

Just a thought as you surreptitiously sneak away from the family to check messages. JL

Ellie Zolfagharifhard reports in the Daily Mail:

This is according to a document prepared by the New York District Attorney's Office which revealed just how easily investigators could see the contents of a device.

Examining their choices for Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts, it is understandable why Americans face irreconcilable differences on so many other issues. JL

Walt Hickey reports in 538:

There are three Americas: The America that disproportionately has apple pie (New England and the Middle Atlantic), the America that has pecan pie and sweet potato pie (the assorted South), and the America that consumes cherry pie (the Midwest and West).

Perhaps just facing the reality of holiday eating habits?

Andrew Nusca reports in Fortune:

It’s already been a tough couple of years for Jawbone, the wearable technology company that once made popular Bluetooth headsets and is now better known for its Up fitness trackers and Jambox speakers.It just got tougher.

Concern about the sourcing and quality of food confronts economic reality. The question is whether that is an insurmountable limitation - or an opportunity. JL

James McWilliams reports in Slate:

Producing humane alternatives comes with limitations. When corporations such as Whole Foods and Chipotle—the most notable supporters of alternative agriculture—attempt to meet consumer demand for responsibly sourced goods, they run into a frustrating economic reality: Compassion for animals makes it impossible to raise them en masse.

The Internet of Booze: Robo-Bartender Serves Five Drinks Simultaneously, Then Offers a Toast

Because who has time to mix drinks - and text? JL

Sean Gallagher reports in ars technica:

The perfect robotic assistant for the holidays: a Wi-Fi-connected bartending machine that mixes up to five drinks at a time.

And just in time for the holidays, when everybody gets a little fed up with family and friends. JL

Kit Eaton reports in Quartz:

How exactly do you program a robot to think through its orders and overrule them if it decides they’re wrong or dangerous to either a human or itself?

What goes around, comes around. JL

Thomas Ricker comments in The Verge:

They are your parents, so try to help out. Not everyone is as steeped in technology and mysticism as you. And who knows, maybe if you’re nice you’ll wake up to clean laundry.

It's the day before Thanksgiving in the US, always the biggest travel day of the year. And,invariably, just as the weather is beginning to turn nasty. Which, freely translated, usually means discomfort, frustration - and delays.

But as in all other contemporary endeavors, there is now data. It may not prevent misery, but can help you analyze your situation as you endure it. JL

Ritchie King and Nate Silver report in 538:

Virgin America continues to be the indomitable Michael Jordan of airlines, generally saving its passengers seven minutes from gate to gate compared to its peers. And Delta was the best of the big four, shaving off four minutes on average.

'Cyber Monday' began before Halloween and will continue until a few days before Christmas, rendering the Friday after Thanksgiving a quaint social event by comparison. JL

Davey Alba reports in Wired:

Amazon isn’t just winning Black Friday shopping. It’s undermining the holiday completely. 48 percent of US shoppers had finished the majority of their 2014 shopping by Cyber Monday, up from 40 percent in 2013. And one-fourth of shoppers had already begun to shop for the holidays even before Halloween

The not-unreasonable assumption in most tech companies is that if you were good enough to be hired (or be awarded a contract), you already possess extraordinary talents. There is a reason, after all, why tech enterprises have created so much value while quite literally changing the world in the space of a generation.

Any number of skills can contribute to the success of any given enterprise. But tech has also been a leader in getting individuals to work in teams and getting companies to work in collaboration with others as partners and allies. Google, among others, is attempting to categorize - and where possible, quantify - the factors that contribute to that success.

The findings, as the following article explains, focus on the dynamics of the group or team assembled to achieve any given task. Which is not to denigrate the skills, intelligence or accomplishments of the individuals that make them up. What it suggests is that if you are really going to scale whatever you are doing, a lot of very talented individuals are required. But to achieve success, harnessing their collective abilities is essential. Which is what the best companies do better than their competitors. JL

Richard Feloni reports in Business Insider:

The main finding: A team's dynamics are more important than the talents of the individuals who make it up.

The Ultimate Cord Cut: The Case For Time Warner Divesting HBO

You gotta know when to fold 'em...but, as we have seen in the case of Yahoo's stake in the far more valuable Alibaba, the argument for selling a highly prized subsidiary is based on the assumption that management will know how to effectively deploy the profits they reap from the sale. JL

James Surowiecki reports in The New Yorker:

This is an era of radical uncertainty in the media business. But Time Warner can be very certain about one thing: in HBO, it has an asset that’s worth close to thirty billion dollars in a spinoff. Time to cut that cord.

What could go wrong...? JL

Penny Crosman comments in American Banker:

"As bankers, do we care if our customers connect their refrigerator to the Internet? I say we should care. If you're paying for groceries with your refrigerator, as a banker I want to have my credentials in your refrigerator making that payment."

Uncertainty based on the impermanence of employment, its impact on declining household income and the persistent fear that technology may obviate the need for even part-time work are part of the anxiety spiral affecting today's workforce, its productivity and health.

Add to that the relentless demand for attention driven by technology and a globalized economy. The result is an issue that used to be ignored or considered a sign of weakness, but that in a human capital-driven economy can affect enterprise success. JL

Emma Jacobs reports in the Financial Times:

A growing number of days lost to absence are blamed on mental health issues. 41 per cent of employees from a range of industries reported high levels of anxiety .

Most patent lawsuits are filed by 'trolls,' individuals or firms whose business is suing companies for the value of their intellectual property, not actually using the patents, copyrights or trademarks for productive ends.

Such firms are looking for a quick hit in order to minimize their legal costs. So the best policy, as the following article explains, is to not respond to such a suit (after doing appropriate research) as the plaintiffs are more likely to pursue those who do so, assuming that the response is a sign of owner uncertainty about the validity of their claim. JL

Colleen Chien reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The best way to deal with a patent demand may be to take a deep breath — and then do . . . nothing.

Threat Multiplier? Where Security Experts Stand On Claims That Climate Change Contributes To Terrorism

Demand for scarce resources - like water and arable land - inevitably causes conflict. The question is to what degree. JL

Tierney Sneed reports in TPM:

The security community is taking seriously the idea that climate change, primarily by causing resource scarcity, is leading to more instability in regions vulnerable to unrest. That in turn is helping to create the breeding grounds for terrorism.

It is hard to imagine that another story about the non-existence of personal privacy will shock any sentient being.

What may be interesting in this case is that governments are beginning to raise questions about what is now called cross-tracking, and that there may be demands for notification of consumers who are subject to it. And there is little question that blocking technologies are soon to follow. JL

Kaveh Waddell reports in The Atlantic:

Information about which devices belong to whom is immensely valuable to advertisers hoping to target ads specifically to you.

Contract manufacturing is a brutal business: low margins, intense competition, uncertain loyalty from customers. Becoming the best at this set of tasks helped fuel the Chinese economy's growth. But now that they have learned the elements of success - including where the greatest profits lie - Foxconn and other Chinese companies are intent on moving up the value chain from the 'brawn to the brain economy.'

This strategy is aligned with China's broader goals as a global competitor. Foxconn and others are using their knowledge of manufacturing and of the country's supplier network to become lenders and investors in order to secure a future free of dependence on western companies. Competing enterprises - from electronics to finance - have every reason to be concerned as the knowledge Chinese companies gleaned is turned to others' advantage. JL

Eva Dou and Gillian Wong report in the Wall Street Journal:

Foxconn Technology Group doesn’t want just to make iPhones. It also wants to be the banker for the world’s electronics supply chain. Contract manufacturing is a brutally low-margin business, with assembly fees making up less than 1% of the sticker price of an iPhone. Apple’s largest contract manufacturer joins Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent as it quietly ventures into lending

In the knowledge economy, where data rules, the logical assumption is that cognitive skills - the ability to master the numerical and analyze the life out of any digit within reach - would dominate and define success for anyone intrepid enough to enter.

But the reality is, as the following article explains, that all those analysts are already in the process of being replaced by machines and the algorithms that love them. And even in those circumstances where quantitative mastery remains highly valued (if not essential), it is the ability to communicate what you know that really matters.

To illustrate, a university near my home recently inaugurated a new cyber-security lab and an entire major course of study designed around it. At the opening ceremony, a panel of luminaries from the country's preeminent intelligence agencies discussed the future of the discipline and answered questions about it. When asked what specific skills they sought in new hires, they were unanimous in their priorities: the ability to write, speak and work effectively with others.

The point is that a certain level of cognitive achievement is now assumed - fairly or not - for anyone seeking advancement in this economy. But the factors that differentiate those who are at risk of being replaced by computers from those who will choose, run and interpret the output of those devices lies in their social skills. JL

Greg Satell comments in Digital Tonto:

The new economy really is a social economy. The future belongs not to the strongest or the smartest, but those who can collaborate—with humans and machines—most effectively.

The Generation That Doesnt Remember Life Before Smartphones

Adaptation of the species. JL

Jacqueline Detwiler reports in Popular Mechanics:

A generation of task-switchers who can't think deeply about anything. We're all doomed! But then ask teenagers if they feel drained by the relentless demands of the Internet, and they'll tell you they don't.

"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."

And who can compete with logic like that? JL

Dan Kopf reports in Price Economics:

Today, one in four children’s first book is one penned by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss’s given name). The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, all published prior to 1970, remain among today’s bestselling children’s books. The Grinch might have stolen Christmas, but Geisel stole all our hearts.

The poor generally have to pay more for basic services than those even slightly better off because they are often charged separately for services that those with access to credit get bundled into their fees.

It has been hoped that mobile services would improve connections with the broader economy for those less well off, but the barriers are proving harder to surmount - due to the impact of data - or its absence - on the lack of credit. JL

The Economist reports:

Life is expensive for America’s poor, with financial services the primary culprit. The poor are not yet well placed to benefit from the mobile revolution in financial services. Only half of those earning less than $30,000 per year own a smartphone, compared with 70% or more of those in higher income groups

With purchases increasingly digital, reducing tangible costs like real estate, inventory and salespeople, while distribution is free to consumers and same day delivery considered a right, not a privilege, enterprises need to find new ways to connect with their customers.

To remain competitive, marketers' vocabularies are increasingly shedding financial cliches and embracing emotion, passion and feelings. JL

Ben Thompson comments in Stratechery:

Business was difficult before the Internet, and it’s difficult now — but the nature of the difficulty has changed. Now that distribution is free the time and money saved must be invested in getting closer to customers and more attuned to why they are spending their money. Software — writing, or music, or video, or clothing, or anything else — has never been purchased for its intrinsic value but rather because of how it made the (buyer) feel.

Gives new meaning to 'reboot.' JL

Lauren Smiley reports in Medium:

For decades, miners have been middle-class breadwinners making $60–80,000 a year, with a mortgage and a boat and a truck and kids in new Nikes. Now they’re hitting the unemployment office in the thousands. A potential miner-to-coder pipeline actually makes a weird kind of sense. Miners are already technical workers, machine operators, drafters, engineers.

And sometimes you just gotta live dangerously. JL

Beth Mole reports in ars technica:

Weekly sleep changes may cause trouble by throwing off the body’s internal clocks, putting metabolic cycles out of sync with other circadian rhythms. For instance, fat accumulation in tissues, food absorption in the gut, and insulin secretion in the pancreas and liver all show tissue-specific circadian rhythms.

Apple only accounts for 13.% of the smartphones sold globally. So capturing 94% of the profits is even more extraordinary.

The interesting strategic question is whether it is even possible for a disruptive innovation to emerge, given the economics - or whether Apple's dominance will, at some point, be deemed a strategic threat by countries in Asia or Europe - and its growth curtailed. JL

Rob Price reports in Business Insider:

Samsung comes in a distant second, making 11%. Yes, that adds up to 105%, because other handsets makers have either failed to make a profit or actively lost money. Many of Apple's most successful competitors in China are deliberately unprofitable. In Q3 of 2014, Apple made 85% of profits in the industry.

Nov 28, 2015

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