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  Geebo 8:57 am on May 8, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: landlines, mobile phones ( 8 ), phones ( 5 )   

  Most US homes ditch landlines in favor of mobile 

  

  In a survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for the first time since the advent of the telephone, more than half of US homes have eschewed the once required landline in favor of mobile phones. This really should come as no surprise, the surprise really is what took everyone so long?

  Back in the days that even predate television, landline phones were once hard-wired into the house. There was no unplugging the phone and once it was installed the phone couldn’t be relocated anywhere else in the home. In addition to that, even when the phones advanced to the point where they could be unplugged and relocated, you could only get your phone from the phone company itself. You didn’t even get to own the phone, instead you were charged a monthly rental fee. Service itself was often difficult to get and if you didn’t meet certain financial requirements. the phone company wouldn’t even allow you to have service. That’s not even mentioning they were the company that invented the “We’ll be there sometime between 1 and 6pm to install service”. The service was prohibitively expensive too if you had to make long distance calls.

  Conversely, in today’s market, you can go to just about any store, including gas stations, pick up a relatively cheap mobile phone and be up and running with service in just a few minutes. Rates are relatively cheap plus you get the added benefits of texting and internet. The only real advantage to having a landline is if you ever need to call 911, emergency services know exactly where you’re calling from. However, mobile phone technology is advancing to where that should no longer be an issue.

  While we may take our plastic fondle squares for granted, it’s amazing to take a moment to reflect on just how far the technology has come in such a relatively short period of time.

   

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  Geebo 9:00 am on May 5, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Fraud ( 4 ), greyball ( 3 ), Uber ( 25 )   

  DOJ launches criminal investigation into Uber 

  

  If you haven’t been following the plethora of problems that have plagued ride sharing service Uber, they got into a bit of hot water not too long ago for allegedly using a program called Greyball. Investigators with the city of Portland, Oregon, accused Uber of using Greyball to try to identify city inspectors and obfuscate their findings. Uber defended Greyball saying they were using it to protect themselves against user and driver fraud but still vowed to discontinue the program. Apparently, that apology was not enough for some people, as the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Uber’s alleged use of Greyball.

  While Uber has not yet been charged with any criminal activity, they have been subpoenaed by a Northern California grand jury. No details have been made available regarding the subpoena, however, many tech news outlets are speculating Uber may have violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by using Greyball. Neither the US Attorney’s Office nor Uber is commenting on the pending investigation.

  So far, Uber appears to be coated in teflon when it comes to any controversy sticking to them. People continue to use the platform by the millions despite all the accusations of anti-competitiveness and their alleged culture that has fostered sexual harassment. What would it actually take for people to stop using Uber to the point where the company would no longer financially viable to exist? Probably not a criminal fraud conviction.
   
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  Geebo 8:57 am on May 4, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: craigslist ( 129 ), Forbes, geebo ( 22 ), LetGo ( 10 ), OfferUp ( 23 )   

  Geebo is not for naught, despite what Forbes may say 

  

  Recently, Forbes.com published a blog post about startup classifieds apps LetGo and OfferUp and how one of them may be the latest craigslist killer. By that we mean a proverbial David taking on the Goliath of craigslist, and not one of the 100+ murderers that have used craigslist to find their victims. We’ll get to those startups in a moment, but first a comment in the article made about Geebo needs to be addressed.

  Halfway down the page Geebo is dismissed by the Forbes blogger in the following manner…

  Every few years, someone in Silicon Valley looks at Craigslist and thinks he or she can do better. In the late 1990s, the startled newspaper companies tried collaborating with each other on various projects, and in 2000, Geebo launched as the “safe” Craigslist. In 2004, there was Oodle, a well-financed website that later tried to incorporate Facebook identities. All these efforts basically came to naught.

  The Forbes blogger seems to have not done his research as very little what he wrote about Geebo is correct. Geebo was founded in 1999, however, it was not launched as the “safe” alternative to craigslist as he put it. Geebo CEO Greg Collier founded Geebo to provide a better user experience than what was being put out by hard-copy newspapers. Not only that, but at the time of Geebo’s founding Mr. Collier had not even heard of craigslist as it had not yet become the brand that we know today. Mr. Collier even said that he didn’t want Geebo to be anything like craigslist. He also wanted Geebo to have its own users rather than trying to take users away from craigslist. Since that time Geebo has in fact marketed itself as a safer community classifieds. That’s a claim that Geebo takes very seriously considering the number of murders and other crimes that have been committed through the so-called industry leaders craigslist and Backpage. Even relative newcomer LetGo has had a couple of murders committed through its app.

  The rest of the Forbes blog post seems to be nothing more than a love letter to OfferUp. While OfferUp may not be headquartered in Silicon Valley, it still follows the same old Silicon Valley routine. They went to venture capitalists looking for seed money in order to get their startup off the ground. And let’s face it, apps like LetGo and OfferUp are usually founded for one primary reason and that’s to be bought out by a larger company. Geebo has always been a self funded company and has maintained profitability in an industry where many startups don’t even have a monetization plan. In fact Geebo generates more net profit than craigslist per 1 million users.

  Speaking of users, the Forbes post states that LetGo has a userbase of 7.3 million while OfferUp users come in around 6.3 million. Legitimate user numbers can be tricky in determining since a number of companies use click farms overseas to inflate their numbers. These click farms can also be used to scrape content from other sites.

  This isn’t even taking into consideration that Forbes.com isn’t the financial journal of record that it once was. A few years ago they opened up their website to just about anyone who cared to write for them. They have basically become a content farm for the financial sector.

  In conclusion, Geebo has been a successful business in an industry that has seen many proverbial bodies left in its wake. We were here before the startups and we’ll be here after they’re gone. All while maintaining a reputation of being an ethical and safer classifieds.

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  Geebo 9:02 am on May 3, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Airbnb ( 13 ), San Francisco ( 9 )   

  Airbnb waves the white flag in fight with San Francisco 

  

  In case you were unaware, there is a dire housing crisis in San Francisco. There is little housing available and the housing on hand is priced out of the range of most working families. This is why the city of San Francisco decided to step in when it came to home sharing services like Airbnb. For those of you who may not know, Airbnb is a service that allows you to rent out your home for temporary or short stays. The city’s concern was that property owners would keep their properties unavailable for renters or buyers so they could instead make more profit by renting them out on Airbnb as de facto hotels. Some sources say there are close to four times more Airbnb properties for lease then there are Airbnb property owners.

  Airbnb and the city were locked in a legal battle over the registration of its users with the city. The municipal government feels the registration is necessary due to the potential abuses landlords could inflict on their tenants, such as evicting them so they could instead cash in with Airbnb. Airbnb tried a tactic that may be familiar with some of our readers. They claimed the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and the First Amendment protected them since Airbnb believed they were not responsible for the actions of its hosts. This is the same argument Backpage uses when it comes to defending the sex trafficking ads that continue to litter their site. As much as patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel so is claiming free speech in order to potentially violate the rights of others.

  On Monday, Airbnb finally settled with the city and will require its San Francisco hosts to be registered with the city.

  Airbnb has said they will institute software for their hosts to register with the city and current hosts have 8 months to register.

  Much like Uber and Backpage, it seems start up culture tries to establish their businesses before not only taking the legal ramifications into account, but also not seeming to care who is harmed in the wake of their search for profits.

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    varitasit 2:30 am on May 4, 2017 Permalink

    I like this on little housing available and the housing on hand is priced out of the range of most working families.

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  Geebo 9:00 am on May 2, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Bloomberg, News ( 7 ), Twitter ( 13 )   

  Twitter strikes deal with Bloomberg to provide real news 

  

  Limited character count social network Twitter, announced yesterday they were entering into a partnership with one of the more trusted news organizations in the business. On Monday, at an event for advertisers, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey detailed plans for them to host a 24 hour live news stream produced by Bloomberg.

  Dorsey was quoted as saying…

  “We want to be the first place that anyone hears of anything that’s going on that matters to them, the first place where people hear of what matters. That is our focus, and that is what we will work so hard to deliver.”

  This is a great move for Twitter. Not only is Twitter usually the first place a lot of people go worldwide for details on breaking stories, now it could be the first place where a lot of these stories are confirmed. This is in direct contrast to what Facebook is doing by relying on themselves and users to try and combat the modern scourge that is fake news.

  Outside of the Bloomberg news stream, Twitter will also be entering into other entertainment streams as well. This could be beneficial for the financially questionable platform as the streams will be ad supported. In its history, Twitter has always had the spectre of profitability hanging over its head. Not only could this push Twitter past Facebook in legitimacy, but it could also bring them to new levels of financial stability.

   
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  Geebo 9:01 am on May 1, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 21 ), Facebook ( 182 ), fake news ( 12 ), propaganda   

  Facebook claims that foreign agents used propaganda to influence 2016 election 

  

  Facebook recently released a report claiming that there were agents they believe were backed by foreign governments who tried using the social network to influence the 2016 presidential election. While not outright saying that it was the Russians, Facebook did say in its report that their findings did not contradict the US Director of National Intelligence’s claim that Russia was allegedly interfering.

  The propaganda was supposedly spread through the following ways. First, bad actors would create legitimate looking websites that would post false information, or as we commonly call it now, ‘fake news’. They would then set up fake Facebook accounts by the thousands and repost the false information. Then, actual people, who don’t know it’s false information, would repost these false stories. Surprisingly, this wasn’t done by using bots, or automated scripts, but were done by multitudes of human users.

  The social network has said that it’s taking steps to prevent these kinds of events from happening again, but don’t Facebook’s users bear some responsibility in this matter? It’s so much easier to just click share rather than researching a story. This is especially true for people who prefer to remain in their own echo chambers with their personal biases.

  While Facebook can take steps to try to prevent this spread of misinformation, it’s ultimately up to us to be more discerning with what content we post to our virtual walls.

   
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  Geebo 9:15 am on April 28, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Cuba ( 3 ), Google ( 33 ), internet ( 9 )   

  Google’s new data center aims to make internet a better experience for Cubans 

  

  Google recently announced they have opened a data center in Cuba, being the first American company to do so. Cuba’s internet is incredibly slow compared to other Western nations. Cuba receives its internet through an underground cable provided by the government of Venezuela. The distance between the countries is roughly 1300 miles. This would roughly be the equivalent of someone living in New York having an internet service provider whose only servers were in Dallas. While Google’s new data center won’t speed up current Cuban internet, it will make some content easier to access.

  Google’s servers in Cuba will fetch information through the existing Venezuelan cable but will then store it on their servers. This will make it much easier and a little faster for Cuban internet users to access popular or viral content.

  What hasn’t been discussed is how Google is going to get along with the Cuban government. While advances in freedom have been made in Cuba in recent years, it’s still not the most democratic country in the world. Cuba’s internet is still heavily regulated by the government. Google pulled out of China after the Chinese government made incessant censorship demands. Will the Cuban government ask the same of Google and if so, will Google abandon their Cuban project if the Cuban government pressures them into acting against the people?
   
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  Geebo 9:05 am on April 27, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook ( 182 ), Facebook Marketplace ( 67 )   

  Facebook locks out Marketplace users in bid to fight fake news 

  

  Recently this blog posed the question “Is Facebook too big for its own good?” Another issue has arisen that requires that question to be asked again, as it seems the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Users of Facebook’s classifieds section called Marketplace have been complaining about being locked out of their Facebook accounts after placing an ad.

  The problem stems from Facebook’s continuous promise to combat fake news among its pages. Users claim after posting an ad for the first time on Marketplace that they’ve been locked out of their accounts while the ad is being reviewed. However, it’s not the content of the ad that’s causing any red flags, but the ads often include pictures which for some reason is triggering Facebook’s review process for fake content. This is similar to the temporary ban some Facebook users have received for posting inappropriate content.

  Facebook has claimed the glitch in the Facebook Matrix has been corrected and only affected a small number of its users. No answer was given as to what caused the problem in the first place. While Facebook is far from infallible one would think they would test these features more thoroughly before implementing them site-wide. As has been stated before, when Facebook tries to be all things to all people it seems they lose a little bit more quality each time a new feature is implemented.

   
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  Geebo 8:59 am on April 26, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: flying cars, Uber ( 25 )   

  Is Uber’s flying car announcement a case of wagging the dog? 

  

  Say that your multi-billion dollar transportation company has been embroiled in some recent controversies ranging from dubious immigration policy decisions to a an alleged culture of sexual harassment and misogyny. What should be your next step in trying to get the public back on your side? Announcing a fleet of flying cars of course. The much embattled Uber recently announced a plan to have a fleet of flying vehicles in both Dallas and Dubai by 2020.

  While Uber has had this announcement in the works for some time now, the timing of this announcement seems to have the added benefit of distracting the pubic from the real problems plaguing Uber’s corporate culture. That’s not even mentioning that the flying cars are not cars at all but flying vehicles called VTOLs, which is short for Vertical Take Off and Landing. Most of these VTOLs are still in the testing phase and could be more than three years from being commercially viable.

  This service could be a hit in Dubai as their citizens tend to enjoy an extravagant lifestyle, however, there’s a major hurdle that Uber needs to clear for this to be a viable program in the US. The Federal Aviation Administration,aka the FAA, has never had a favorable view of these types of vehicles. In the past they have claimed the vehicles could interfere with commercial air traffic that could cause a catastrophic event if the pilots are not careful. As awash with capital as Uber is, it’s doubtful that the FAA under any administration will ever allow these vehicles to be used as a form of mass transit in the US.
   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on April 25, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: fake news ( 12 ), Jimmy Wales, wikipedia ( 2 ), WikiTribune   

  Another ironic name pledges to fight fake news 

  

  The concept of fake news continues to make headlines in the real news. First it was Mark Zuckerberg and the monolithic Facebook who vowed to combat fake news, even though most fake news is spread like an office cold through Facebook. Then it was Craig Newmark of craigslist fame who poured millions of dollars into fighting fake news while his site continues to house racists, scam artists and criminals. Now, another person who shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house has thrown his weight behind the fight against fake news. Jimmy Wales is the founder of Wikipedia, and he just launched a new platform called WikiTribune to help combat the supposed menace that is fake news.

  So I’m sure you’re asking. “What’s wrong with WikiTribune”? On the surface, nothing yet. However, if it follows the same pattern as Wikipedia before it, WikiTribune could eventually end up propagating the fake news it claims to prevent.

  While Wikipedia is a valuable resource on the web, it’s not 100% reliable. Go to just about any page on Wikipedia that deals with a controversial topic and click on the ‘Talk’ tab and you might just be able to see the heated arguments over facts that go on behind the scenes. Also, some trusted Wikipedia editors have been known to have biases on certain subjects and edit their pet pages to reflect that. That’s not even taking into consideration that Wikipedia is often subject to cyber-vandalism since the pages can be edited by just about anyone.

  So far it seems the Generals leading the fight against fake news have never heard the phrase “We have met the enemy and he is us.”