Hobson's Choice

What's happening right now across the social web. Things I see that might interest you, too.

By Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson
Media Industry
The Dark Psychology of Social Networks
The Atlantic - Jonathan Haidt
Suppose that the biblical story of Creation were true: God created the universe in six days, including all the laws of physics and all the physical constants that apply throughout the universe. Now imagine
Now
Neville Hobson
Bluetooth
Burglars Really Do Use Bluetooth Scanners to Rob Cars
WIRED - Lily Hay Newman
Bluetooth scanners are readily available and easy to use—which means that smash-and-grab car break-in might not have been pure chance. At the …
2 days ago
Neville Hobson
Facebook
Facebook’s fake numbers problem — Lex in depth
Financial Times - Elaine Moore, Hannah Murphy
At first glance, Amy Dowd’s Facebook account appears perfectly normal. There is a smiling profile picture of a young woman surrounded by autumnal leaves and the date that she began a new job at Southeast
2 days ago
Neville Hobson
Social Media Companies
Social media content too 'ghastly' for humans to monitor, Tim Berners-Lee says
The Telegraph - By Mike Wright
Social media content is too “ghastly” to be monitored by humans, the British inventor of the web has said. Tim Berners-Lee warned that sifting through harmful and dangerous online content was an “awful
2 days ago
Neville Hobson
Privacy
A guide for startups to prepare for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
geekwire.com - Christopher Budd
This week, Microsoft announced that it will be implementing the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) for all customers in the U.S. The CCPA …
3 days ago
Neville Hobson
Social Media
Twitter Releases New Political Ad Policy Following Announcement of Ban on Political Ads | Social Media Today
socialmediatoday.com - Andrew Hutchinson
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was heavily praised last month when he announced, in no uncertain terms, that Twitter would ban all political advertising on …
4 days ago
Neville Hobson
Technology
Facebook will let nonprofits include a donate button on their Instagram profiles
The Verge - Ashley Carman
Facebook is launching three new product features to increase fundraising across its platforms: a new Instagram donation button, a fundraising sticker in Facebook, and the broader rollout of fundraising
6 days ago
Neville Hobson
Advertising Industry
Brands Can Remove Negative Comments on Paid Social Posts With This New Tool
Adweek - Sara Jerde
A certain chicken sandwich touched off the Great Twitter War of 2019 over the summer. Pair that energy with the criticism that some influencers can …
November 13
Neville Hobson
Technology
Here’s The Major Exception To Twitter’s Political Ad Ban
buzzfeednews.com - Alex Kantrowitz
The policy may be less sweeping than CEO Jack Dorsey initially announced. Representatives from Twitter met with advertisers last week to discuss the …
November 12
Neville Hobson
Technology
The computing power needed to train AI is now rising seven times faster than ever before
MIT Technology Review - Karen Hao
An updated analysis from OpenAI shows how dramatically the need for computational resources has increased to reach each new AI breakthrough. In 2018, …
November 11
Neville Hobson
Technology
Have We Gone Too Far to Ever Switch Off?
VICE - Moya Lothian-McLean
The first thing visitors to Somerset House’s major new winter exhibition, 24/7: a wake up call for our non-stop world, will experience is momentary blindness. The loss of vision is thanks to an array flashing
November 11
Neville Hobson
Tesla Model 3
The demise of the car key: Tesla, Lincoln lead auto industry in ditching keys for mobile entry
CNBC - Michael Wayland
DETROIT — Key fobs and emerging virtual, or digital, keys from the likes of Tesla and Lincoln are increasingly making traditional metal car keys …
November 9
Neville Hobson
T-Mobile
Months-Old 'Ghost Texts' Were Sent by This Company You Never Heard Of
VICE - Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
On Thursday night, hundreds of people complained about receiving seemingly random, out of context, text messages from friends and relatives. Countless people who got the messages reported that the apparent
November 8
Neville Hobson
Advertising Industry
Facebook’s New Logo Is Neutral—and That’s the Point
Adweek - Adam Pierno
The hot takes were flying on Monday when Facebook (or is it FACEBOOK?) released their new corporate logo. Commentators from the worlds of design, …
November 8
Neville Hobson
Deep Learning
This is Not a Person, But She is a Threat
Medium - Thomas Smith
GANs generate realistic fake people, and they’re raising big questions in media, the law, and AI Take a look at the person at the top of this article. …
November 4
Neville Hobson
Innovation
McDonald's Just Fired Its CEO. The Way McDonald's Announced the News Is Fascinating
Inc Magazine - Bill Murphy Jr.
If you ever have to share bad or controversial news, this is a pretty smart way to do it. News broke Sunday that McDonald's had fired its president and CEO, Steve Easterbrook, who had led the company four
November 3
Neville Hobson
The White House
How Trump Reshaped the Presidency in Over 11,000 Tweets
The New York Times
The president’s tweeting was once a sideshow. But it transformed how he exerted power, leaving the White House and Twitter to grapple over whether, and how, to rein it in.
November 2
Neville Hobson
Google
Google's .new shortcuts could reshape the web as we know it
Wired UK - Brian Barrett
A year ago, Google introduced one of those time-saving tricks that makes the cold, relentless march of time just a little bit more bearable: You …
November 3
Neville Hobson
Media Industry
Woman reveals the truth behind "social media mums"
Mashable - Aisha Victoria Deeb
We've all seen it. The husband bending himself into a pretzel for his wife's perfect angle, the girl's night where no one is having a good time until a camera comes out - and, we're all kind of guilty
November 3
Neville Hobson
Opinion
Don’t abolish political ads on social media. Stop microtargeting.
The Washington Post - By Ellen L. Weintraub
Ellen L. Weintraub is chair of the Federal Election Commission. Twitter’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that it would stop selling political advertising is an inflection point in paid political ads
November 1
Neville Hobson
Twitter casts itself as the anti-Facebook
Axios - Sara Fischer, Ina Fried
Twitter's move to ban political ads is just the latest of several moves by the platform to position itself as an antidote to what critics see as …
October 31
Neville Hobson
Ross Perot
Thread by @jack: "We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message
threadreaderapp.com
Conventional wisdom may be that @GMButts is a liability for #Liberals because of his connection to #SNCLavalin affair. But there is zero doubt in my …
October 30
Neville Hobson
Opinion
2020 Predictions About Automation And The Future Of Work From Forrester
Forbes - Gil Press
Over 1 million knowledge-work jobs will be replaced in 2020 by software robotics, RPA, virtual agents and chatbots, and machine-learning-based decision management. So predicts research firm Forrester a
October 31
Neville Hobson
Technology
Here's the Internet's 'Birth Certificate' From 50 Years Ago Today
Gizmodo - Matt Novak
Fifty years ago today, on October 29, 1969, the internet was born. It was a humble beginning—a single login from a computer terminal at UCLA in Los …
October 29
Neville Hobson
Analytics
It's Time You Finally Learn Google Analytics
Entrepreneur - Entrepreneur Store
This beginner-friendly course will get you up to speed with the leading digital analytics platform. Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you'll find interesting and useful.
October 29
Neville Hobson
Technology
Why you should worry if you have a Chinese smartphone
The Guardian - Ian Tucker
Samantha Hoffman is an analyst of Chinese security issues at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi). She recently published a paper entitled Engineering Global Consent: The Chinese Communist
October 26
Neville Hobson
Apple Store
Six Reasons Why iOS 13 and Catalina Are So Buggy
tidbits.com
iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina have been unusually buggy releases for Apple. The betas started out buggy at WWDC in June, which is not unexpected, …
October 21
Neville Hobson
intended to form the foundation for an eventual nationwide roll-out in order to help connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices
Internet of Things
Three UK Pilots New Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) - ISPreview UK
ispreview.co.uk - Mark Jackson
October 22
Neville Hobson
Greta Thunberg
The letters on Greta Thunberg's climate protest signs are now a typeface anyone can use
Ad Age - I-Hsien Sherwood
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist, inspired millions of people around the world to take a stand for the health of the …
October 20