Google

According to Reuters, Google has made an offer to acquire Fitbit. The report explicitly states that there is no certainty that the offer will lead to a deal. But think about this… what could Google/Alphabet be thinking? Google’s existing wearable strategy is not working. Fitbit’s wearable strategy is not working. WearOS requires more processing power and battery life than can be had in a smartwatch, so the user experience is awful (and I’m being kind).... Continue Reading →

Have you started hitting your caps on Gmail or Google cloud storage? Lots of people have. Alphabet (Google) took the email market by storm when it launched by offering more free storage than any of the competitive services. That seems to be completely over.... Continue Reading →

According to eMarketer, the U.S. search ad market is expected to grow to $55.17 billion (up 18% YoY). Roughly 73 percent (approx. $40 billion) of that goes to Google. But Amazon is on fire. Its search business is growing fast and it is expected to reach almost 13 percent this year and nearly 16 percent... Continue Reading →

Online publishers in the EU were all excited about Article 15 of the EU’s copyright directive which allows the press to request money from platforms like Google and Facebook when copyrighted material appears on their respective sites. France transposed the EU’s copyright reforms into a national law that takes effect October 1st. There’s only one... Continue Reading →

Google got some good news from the European Union’s top court yesterday, “The Court concludes that, currently, there is no obligation under EU law, for a search engine operator who grants a request for de-referencing made by a data subject, as the case may be, to carry out such a de-referencing on all the versions... Continue Reading →

Mr. Zuckerberg went to Washington yesterday for private meetings with the President and several lawmakers. The meetings were private and Mr. Zuckerberg did not answer questions about specifics. However, according to the WSJ, Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) challenged Facebook’s CEO saying, “Prove that you’re serious… sell WhatsApp, and sell Instagram.” There is only hearsay... Continue Reading →

It’s becoming a trend for smartphone brands to release TVs, as OnePlus, Xiaomi and now Motorola are doing it. OnePlus is due to unveil its own Smart TV this month, so Motorola effectively beat it to the punch. With all the hoopla around Apple TV+ (the service), I think it’s important to remember that Google’s... Continue Reading →

An invitation to walk in the Labor Day Parade got me thinking about labor law as an alternative path to meaningful data privacy regulation. Think about this…... Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmer talks with Kerry Drew and Robert Moses about Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account being hacked, and what you can do to protect yourself. Original Airdate: September 3, 2019... Continue Reading →

Amazon says its Rekognition facial recognition software can now identify fear and seven other emotions including, happy, sad, angry, surprised, disgusted, calm and confused. What Amazon is not telling you is that facial recognition when combined with other data will be able, in short order, to take a pretty good guess about lying, cheating, jealousy, and other emotions that you do your best to hide with your "poker face." Lie detectors are so last century.... Continue Reading →