Author Archives: Lisa Goldberg

Amazon’s Ring Sees a Slew of Horrifying Hacks

Posted on by

The videos are blood curdling. We are now seeing negative stories break about Ring video hackings. They are of predatory, pranking or threatening (mostly) men speaking to women through rings speaker feature. 

This is a horrible PR incident for Ring, though their response seems like a perfectly logical answer to how this might have happened (double use of username/passwords) and that they are we’re still investigating this issue & taking appropriate steps to protect our devices based on our investigation, we’re able to confirm this is in no way related to a breach of Ring’s security.” If the problem is user error but the consequences can cripple your business… How do you insure that it doesn’t happen again? Forced 2FA?

Why it’s hot?

This is especially important for our security category clients. This can be an opportunity but it’s also a risk for current clients. This also can lead to generalized fear of technology and this kind of security progress. It hurts the category generally. If people can’t trust that they’re not being watched, digital security is rendered moot.

The Rise of Skywalker Takes Over Facebook Messenger

Posted on by

Disney took their media takeover full throttle last week and launched a new sticker and reaction line on Facebook messenger dedicated to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The changes include “a new Star Wars theme for its Messenger app, which gives it a starry background, a new set of SW-related stickers and special effects that will let you jump into hyperspace or turn you into a rebel fighter, among others.”

The only catch is it’s only available for some not all!

https://www.facebook.com/facebookapp/videos/831254103992198/

Why It’s Hot?

This is a bigger takeover than we’ve seen on Facbeook. Which makes sense for the seminal Star Wars finale movie. Will Facebook be open to more customization soon? For the right price?

 

This Dog Can Talk!

Posted on by

Meet Stella, the talking dog. Stella’s mom Christina Hunger is a speech language pathologist. Per Bustle, Christina “uses her skills to teach Stella how to communicate. According to Hunger, Stella already knows 29 words and can even form five-word phrases or sentences.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4AcoDPnNkO/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4QAxF1ht3K/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4VfYtFhJLV/

This seems pretty legit. We’ve seen science in non-verbal communication advance a lot over the years

Why it’s hot?

Here at MRM we’re OBSESSED with linguistics. And rightfully so! There is so much amazing data about how we communicate and what guides language. Think about what else we don’t know.

 

Look at this Meme!

Posted on by

When meme’s collide! In order to understand today’s politics — it’s time to KNOW YOUR MEME. In order to understand why a Nickelback song from 2008 is trending on Twitter today.

This story starts at the global turn against the band. There is debate about when the tide turned. It’s either:

  1. A general outgrowing and distaste for grunge that sounds like a copy of a copy
  2. Chad Kroeger’s voice that some might say sounds like “a creepy maroon 5”
  3. A very embarassing UK furniture advertisement:

About the meme: according to Know Your Meme, “On April 27th, 2015, YouTuber Euphemism for Magic uploaded a video titled “Nickelstats,” in which Kroeger is shown holding a framed bar graph while singing “Look at this graph” (shown below). The same day, the video was submitted to the /r/youtubehaiku subreddit, where it received upwards of 4,500 votes (95% upvoted) and 120 comments in the first two weeks.”

It’s since been a long parodied meme and had huge success on Vine.

Apparently Trump tried to use the meme this morning to further his story against Hunter Biden.

However as you can see, Nickelback reported the video for copyright infringement…

Maybe Nickleback is due for a comeback?

Photograph by Nickelback also happens to be Shantie’s favorite song….

Why It’s Hot?

I personally love the depth of understanding that’s required for internet memes. But it’s a language that so many are fluent in, maybe without even understanding all the parts…

More on The Claw: How it’s Production Is Key to It’s Success (and Regulation Avoidance)

Posted on by

The Hot Sauce fascination with the success of White Claw can’t be ignored! To debate more of whether the claw is a fad or a new staple, we need to take a look into how its “brewed” (which it is!, brewed, that is) and how it’s formulation allows it to be subject to less regulation.

Rather than a spiked/vodka soda, a Claw does not originate as a spirit, and is instead brewed, like a beer (it also has a similar alcohol content to beer) which allows it to be sold with less regulation, especially in NY and other states with tougher spirit regulations and strong alcohol lobbying groups (MA, I’m looking at you!) But since it is not brewed with grain – the Claw uses sugar, which gets fermented fully into alcohol – the taste is milder and the output less caloric.

Why It’s Hot? 

Think of this as innovation, not a fad. Per our regulatory system, we can’t add small amounts of spirits to soda and sell it like beer, even if its alcohol content is 5% or less. This work around allows a preferred bar drink, especially to those who count calories, to be served up at our corner bodegas and local CVS’. The Claw’s the law and it’s here to stay.

Facebook’s New Facial Recognition Update + Facial Recognition Blocking Tech

Posted on by

Facebook’s is updating how users can opt in and out of facial recognition. This has been a hot topic online for a few years and Facebook facing a multi million dollar lawsuit about its facial recognition practices is the reason for the change.

Mashable notes “The lawsuit dates back to 2015, but has been slowly progressing — and so far not in Facebook’s favor. The company recently lost an appeal in which it attempted to have the suit dismissed.”

Consumers were allowed to opt in and out of “tagging suggestions” in 2017 but were not told that that came with facial recognition. Facial recognition is being used to target protesters in Hong Kong (and protesters have been attacking facial recognition cameras).

So what do you do in a world where facial recognition is no longer opt-in?

THESE SUPER COOL SHADES

The “phantom” shades reflect light back from infrared cameras but not normal visible light. Fom Mashable: “The frames are specifically designed to defeat 3D dot matrix face-mapping systems, which is basically what makes Apple’s Face ID work. They bounce infrared light back at its source, with the goal of preventing IR video cameras from getting a good image of your face — or potentially even registering your face as a face at all.”

Why It’s Hot?

We are living in a facial recognition world and you are automatically opted into being a facial recognition girl… We’re seeing how facial recognition can be used maliciously in other countries and we are, as a matter of course of being online and on the streets, opted into a system that we did not agree to. The glasses tech is cool but does not speak to the greater issue of what is going on around us and how AI technology might affect us in the coming years.

Update: YouTube Adds Features to Make it Less Terrifying for Children

Posted on by

As a follow up to an often mentioned topic on Hot Sauce, YouTube is trying desperately to court brands that are finding the networks AI to be unsafe and promoting fringe ideas or are dangerous to children. 

YouTube’s original answer to it’s child algorithm problem was an app whitelisting sources so that parents could put children in front of YouTube without fear of what they might find (not a great parenting technique but that’s neither here nor there… ). Originally YouTube incentivized views at all costs, and content makers turned to AI to auto-generate films that were hurting children’s cognition.

They’ve hired a whole team to support this initiative, and they finally have actual humans watching the video. YouTube was losing a lot of revenue because of brand safety.

Why it’s hot?

AI can be dangerous. Keeping humans involved and not letting AI run wild is key to success even if it means slower revenue. If you don’t make brand safety and human safety a concern you might lose out on LOTS of revenue down the line. Is money the only way to keep big tech and AI accountable?

Chicken Sandwiches Are Having Their Viral Moment, But Are We Over Brands Fake Fighting on Twitter

Posted on by

Popeyes has a new chicken sandwich (which I’ve head is delicious). And it seems that Chick-fil-a is getting defensive with the new Tweet they’ve posted.

Popeyes responded as a matter of course…

And TYPICAL WENDYS, clapped back with this tweet.

At the end of the day this started a branded chicken sandwich themed posting frenzy.

But the real question is, how do consumers feel about this.

Why it’s hot?

Do these brand rivalries entertain customers or piss them off. A few customers have responded with takes about larger issues.

But we can’t expect Wendy’s to act like anything but Wendys. Guess brand consistency is key…

 

But Why Isn’t It Called the TacHotel?

Posted on by

Tacobell and Netflix are the two fastest growing brands in the US between 2018 and 19. And it show’s by the lengths Taco Bell has gone to establish their new brand presence. In their most recent update… the Taco Bell Hotel (we think TacHotel would be a superior name).

The Taco Bell Hotel courted micro influencers. Including Taco Bell Sommelier who matches wine pairings to your order…

https://www.instagram.com/tacobellsommelier/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0OBgWRFEqy/

and Yo Quiero Taco Ballads (seen with a shaven Taco Bell logo above) who will compose a song to match your taco bell receipt.

https://www.instagram.com/yoquierotacoballads/

Why it’s hot?
Well this hot sauce is just plain HOT. Spicy tacos’ in Palm beach hot. BUT rewarding micro influencers with one of a kind experiences is why this post is hot. These content creators are building their own fan bases without the expectation of being rewarded, but the rewards will ensure they continue being brand fans to their 500-1500 followers.

Source: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/we-spent-a-night-at-the-taco-bell-hotel-where-everything-is-supremely-on-brand/

 

Doing it for the Gram: Darwin Awards Edition

Posted on by

We all do it for the gram. But how far is too far. Instragram influencers have been falling ill after swimming in a lake that looks beautiful… but is actually toxic sludge.

View this post on Instagram

Toxic ⚠️

A post shared by Laura ☯️ (@lauramr_13) on

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwIH0SYgkRp/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuylwPLB4oM/

View this post on Instagram

#01

A post shared by qué capulla (@que_capulla) on

“Spanish news outlet Publico reported multiple Instagram influencers were recently hospitalized due to rashes and digestive issues after entering the water.

One Instagram influencer told Publico they began vomiting and developed a rash that lasted for two weeks after entering the water for a photo.

Another influencer said they had to be hospitalized for “damage to the skin and digestive system.”

However, another tourist said that despite getting a nasty rash, “the picture was worth it.”

See the geo-tag… there are children there! 

Oh and the viral news of the lake’s toxicity… has made the spot even more popular.

WHY ITS HOT? 

We’ve heard stories about people falling off cliffs or dying in freak selfie accidents. This shows the way the world will bend to create the social media illusion of a curated life…. even if that pristine selfie is full of WW2 mining chemicals.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/instagram-influencers-getting-sick-swimming-145600523.html

Is FaceApp an Giant Russian Conspiracy… or Just an App with a Really Severe Privacy Policy

Posted on by

FaceApp has had it’s time in the sun over the past two years. Don’t you remember famous hits like “what you look like as a woman/man” or the very un PC “what you look like as another race”?

This week our entire feeds are filled with FaceApp photos of our friends if they were old. As well as warnings about how the tech is Russian. In our friends defense, the tech is VERY eerie.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1151311662592532480

Yes, the FaceApp tech has a very scary privacy/end user agreement:

But the best hot take of all comes from VICE… 

It’s not that the App is Russian is bad, it’s us allowing apps to have this much data about us at all…

“Extracting data from unsuspecting users, selling and sharing that data god-knows-where, and justifying it by providing users unreadable privacy policies is a near-universal practice. It transcends Cold War phobias. It’s not Russian. It’s not American. It’s a fundamentally capitalist practice. Companies can only provide free apps and profit if they scrape and share data from the people that use it.”

WHY ITS HOT?

We allow apps like Facebook, Instagram and snapchat to access much deeper levels of our data than they need, but it takes a true Russian scare to call us to action about this issue.

Try On a New Lipstick… On YouTube

Posted on by

For those of us who go down YouTube Makeup tutorial rabbit holes, like myself. It’s easy to get discouraged that you don’t have the color to look for yourself… that’s half the point of watching the video.

Well, YouTube has a solve for that (and for makeup brands who want to sell product). Try on while you watch!

“The feature is currently in the very early stages of development — alpha testing — and is being offered to YouTube creators through Google’s  in-house branded content program, FameBit. Through this program, brands are connected with YouTube influencers who market their products through paid sponsorships.”

YouTube has already found that 30% of viewers chose to try the experience when it was available on the iOS app. And those who tried spent an average of more than 80s engaging with the tool.

YouTube’s new AR Beauty Try-On lets viewers virtually try on makeup while watching video reviews

Why it’s hot?

A mix of VR and ecom! This beauty try-on gets over a big makeup hurdle. However this is not totally new. This is something sephora has done on their website, but it’s a much harder UI, this new way with YouTube should score google some extra referral cash, and users entering buy pages would be much more primed.

The Revolution Will Be … Heavily Effected by Digital

Posted on by

With some major changes happening globally, its interesting to note the ways that the digital world around us are affecting where attention falls and how we perceive international events. Two examples from this week, the massacre in Sudan and the protests in Hong Kong are key to understanding how innovation is not only affecting how we take in global media but how events unfold.

Protesters in Hong Kong wait on huge lines to pay cash. 

Use of octopus cards to show proof of demonstration was used to convict the “Umbrella 9”  in 2014.

In this case, protesters are being deliberate about the digital footprint they are leaving, something that protesters in 2014 didnt know to be wary of.

Instagram gets close and personal with Influencers from Sudan 

Mashable reports: “On Thursday, Shahd Khidir, a Sudanese influencer and blogger who mainly shares beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content, went “off-brand” to raise awareness to her nearly 64,000 Instagram followers about the dire situation in Sudan. Khidir, who is based in New York City, posted a photograph of herself crying at her desk along with a heartbreaking story about her friend, who she learned had recently been murdered in Sudan.”

I noted amongst my friends (a HIGHLY informal poll) that those who tended to use instagram were talking about the Sudan, while Twitter users were talking about Donald Trump’s interview with George Stephonopoulos.

The hashtags #IAmTheSudanRevolution, #SudanUprising, and #Sudanese_Protest are trending and a much younger group than those typically concerned with international news.

Why It’s Hot? 

Imagine the Tienemen Square protests on social and how the Arab Spring was affected by social and digital. Our world is evolving around these innovations and will continue to change as our digital world evolves

The Internet is Addicted to the Droste Effect

Posted on by

“My mom painted this and said no one would like it. It’s her 2nd painting.” It’s the line that launched a thousand paintings….

Leave it to reddit to take this mom: 

Source: https://imgur.com/Y0Dg3lx

and meme her. Hard.

Let’s start at the top, this first came to my attention via this great Twitter thread:

And of course someone tracked it:

Source: http://nubleh.github.io/i_painted/old.html

And in breaking news, the egret has arrived!!!

Source: https://imgur.com/8bNoFs5

It turns out this is called the Droste Effect, coined after Droste Cocoa, which featured a nun holding a box of Cocoa with her own face on it.

But this is what the internet LIKES. Here is a video of Kyle MacLachlan, doing an impression of Anne Frances, doing an impression of Catherine O’Hara playing Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. You’re welcome.

<<Features some NSFW language>>

https://twitter.com/Kyle_MacLachlan/status/1093626361762275328

https://twitter.com/AM2DM/status/1087356642591719427

Why it’s hot?

They pay me to keep on top of the internet memes so you don’t have to

 

For the love of Krang!

Posted on by

ALERT ALERT! Krang down!

@KrangTNelson, a joke on Craig T Nelson’s name and brainy villian from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and king of weird Twitter has had his account suspended — as have some of Twitter’s most popular Weird Twitter accounts.

If your at this hot sauce post to find out why… well we don’t have the answers for you but we do have 1000 Twitter users guesses.

Many assume that he was “bot spammed”, meaning many troll bots repeatedly reported the account as a spam account.

The internet is VERY unhappy with this, especially with how lax Twitter has been with hate speech, other weird tweeter Julius Goat:

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1091293393928536070

But the person who is probably the saddest about this…

Well not the dog, this is our own James Stewart Meudt’s Twitter profile pic.

Why it’s hot?

Weird Twitter probably had a hot sauce debut, it’s what so many brands base their voice/tone TW presence on. Bot’s taking down many of the internet’s fave Weird TW accounts is troubling at best. Even our chaos is being ruined by chaos.

Somehow Hagfish Technology is the Future

Posted on by

I don’t know how. But it is.

Trending now, after a truck accident that left one car covered in slime. People are having hagfish fever!

What is a Hagfish? It’s an eel like isopod that creates a slick slime when threatened. According to The Atlantic, “typically, a hagfish will release less than a teaspoon of gunk from the 100 or so slime glands that line its flanks. And in less than half a second, that little amount will expand by 10,000 times—enough to fill a sizable bucket. Reach in, and every move of your hand will drag the water with it.”

What is truly cool is the structure of the slime, it’s almost like a spider web that quickly unravels when the hagfish is in danger. “Once these cells are expelled from the slime glands, they rupture, releasing the threads within them. Ewoldt’s colleague Gaurav Chaudhury found that despite their length, the threads can fully unspool in a fraction of a second. The pull of flowing water is enough to unwind them. But the process is even quicker if the loose end snags on a surface, like another thread, or a predator’s mouth.”

Watch the hagfish basically drown it’s predators! And how they survive the inital bite? “The animal is effectively wearing a set of extremely loose pajamas,” Fudge says. If a predator attacks, “the body sort of squishes out of the way.”

Why it’s hot?

Sometimes nature’s technology is the coolest of all. I’d love to see how studies on hagfish slime and it’s genetic composition and properties, might turn into new technology.

https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1088787389441556481

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/hagfish-slime/581002/

 

Cardi B Goes Viral Against The #TrumpShutdown (Bad Language Warning)

Posted on by

On Wednesday night, Cardi B released a video on her Instagram handle, going off on the Trump administrations choice to keep the government shut down and for federal employees to work without pay.

<<NSFW language warning goes here>>

United States Senator from Hawaii Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy, Senator from Connecticut, debated retweeting her video. With an eager reply from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (or one of his staff members…)

Why Its Hot?

From AOC cooking mac and cheese and shooting IG stories of her freshman year in congress, to Liz Warren cracking beers on Instagram Live, pols are looking for ways to connect and be more human using social media. More progressive ideas are becoming popular because the language is more accessible.

 

Twitter Gets You Out Of Your Bubble – By Telling You Your Friends Like Donald Trump Tweets

Posted on by

This week, Twitter platform users reported that usually liberal friends and followers were liking tweets from Donald Trump and other right wing politicians.

A representative from Twitter has responded:

“[What’s] happening is when someone Likes and then unlikes a Tweet it could appear with the social proof ‘Liked by’. So these people did indeed like these Tweets at some point but then unliked them.”

Some users have been skeptical to the response, noting Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s comment as well as reticence to expel right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from the platform.

Why it’s hot?

A lack of transparency among platforms, about advertisers in politics and now about the algorithm is leading to mistrust among users. How might that affect us as advertisers looking to protect brand safety?

Snapchat and Adidas Snap Only Shoe Sells out in 6 Hrs

Posted on by

Snapchat and Adidas put together a winning partnership. Adidas sold a new pair of shoes exclusively on the social media platform. By nailing the demographic exactly right (70 percent of consumers were 13 to 24-year-old women), they were able to sell out the new shoe in 6 hours (in Adidas defense, the last iteration of this shoe sold out in 24).

There was a direct e-com in app purchasing that allowed sales to be seamless. This was a great way to get the word out and the shoe out to influential people online before the wide release of the shoe.

Why it’s hot?

Adidas acknowledges the high value of a Snapchat audience, not just at CPC or ROI. These are people who are more likely to share their purchases and therefore provide added value.

Facebook Fails at Keeping Your Data Safe

Posted on by

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal we would have thought Facebook would have been more diligent about data protection.

Per their own new bug bounty solution, Facebook found an opening that let many malicious actors (their words) request information from their system. But this new bug didn’t get closed up for over a month.

The hacker who found the leak, Inti De Ceukelaire says he began his search by “noting down what third party apps his Facebook friends were using — finding quizzes were one of the most popular apps.” He inferred quizzes rep for being an easy and shady sourve of data. “So he took his first ever Facebook quiz, from a brand called NameTests.com, and quickly realized the company was exposing Facebook users’ data to “any third-party that requested it”.”

It’s JavaScript was leaking data and gave users a pin to access any data on an individual they wanted in the future. “Depending on what quizzes you took, the javascript could leak your facebook ID, first name, last name, language, gender, date of birth, profile picture, cover photo, currency, devices you use, when your information was last updated, your posts and statuses, your photos and your friends,” wrote De Ceukelaire.

Why it’s hot?

As Facebooks marketing tries to preach more transparency, are they really practicing?

Alexa Secretly Records a Family’s Conversation and Sends it to a Random Contact… fun!

Posted on by

Amazon’s Echo just wants to be part of the conversation. In the case of one Portland family, it sent that conversation to a random contact. The family was told about the incident when the colleague reached out to them.

Amazon, when asked to comment said that it was a misinterpretation of the family’s words.

Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like “Alexa.” Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a “send message” request. At which point, Alexa said out loud “To whom?” At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, “[contact name], right?” Alexa then interpreted background conversation as “right”. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.

Why it’s hot

As voice recognition becomes more prominent in our lives we may see more of these incidents. If Alexa is sending a private conversation, then what is the Echo listening to. As data collection grows, we have to wonder what restraints businesses are putting on themselves. Here’s Sillicon Valleys US House Rep talking about an internet bill of rights.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/24/amazon-echo-recorded-conversation-sent-to-random-person-report.html

Sometimes the Internet Can Be Used for Good

Posted on by

Last week and NYC lawyer went viral for threatening to call ICE on employees of a restaurant who were speaking to a customer in Spanish. This viral video helped people on the internet discover his real identity

It turns out this isn’t even a new move for Schlossberg. He’s confronted people all over NYC. Including YouTube star Willie Morris. This 2016 video has now been updated with Schlossberg’s real name.

But sometimes the internet works for good. Schlossberg was identified and DRAGGED. There are now gofundme campagins to send mariachi bands to his law firm, a facebook event organized lati party for outside his building and …

Maybe this wouldn’t have happened anywhere outside of NYC, but it’s interesting to see private citizens get shamed for anti immigrant sentiment in the same week as Donald Trumps “animals” comments.

Why it’s hot?

The dress, yanny/laurel, loose llamas and Aaron Schlossberg. Sometimes the internet can be a great place.

When I Tried To find a Locksmith

Posted on by

I was recently having trouble with my front door, neither here nor there, I wasn’t locked out, but I couldn’t lock my door in the morning.

It turns out finding a locksmith is the hardest thing to do in New York City. “Why don’t you just Google it?” you might ask. Because Googling locksmiths is rife with fraud.

“The goal of lead gens is to wrest as much money as possible from every customer, according to lawsuits. The typical approach is for a phone representative to offer an estimate in the range of $35 to $90. On site, the subcontractor demands three or four times that sum, often claiming that the work was more complicated than expected. Most consumers simply blanch and pay up, in part because they are eager to get into their homes or cars.”

Scammers would go as far as adding fake “offices” into google maps so you can’t even use mapping to research. I wound up getting a referral, but I thought about going to a nearby locksmith in person to triple check they were real.

This is not new, the first reports of this problem are from 2011. Maybe you already know about it. So my question is, if this problem is an old problem why are you posting about it. Well, because it’s 2018 and its only just being fixed. In fact google was sued about it just last month.

Google has been sued time and time again.. and the good news is, they’re finally fixing the problem. Enter Google Guaranteed (October of this year).

Image result for google locksmith guarantee

Ok, Lisa this is all old news! But it isn’t old news for my locksmith, Nick, who has  the arduous task of applying to be google guaranteed. Apparently this is a months long process that has some expenses involved. This can be hard for someone trying to start a small business, like Nick.

Why Its Hot?

What happens to businesses if you’re not Googles priority?

“Defendants knowingly and deliberately flood organic search results displayed in response to queries such as “locksmith” (and related terms) with scam locksmith listings they know: 1) do not exist at all, or at least not at the locations indicated, 2) operate for the purpose of defrauding the consumer public, 3) are not licensed in jurisdictions mandating locksmith licensing, 4) are unregistered to do business in jurisdictions (such as DC) requiring business registration.

Defendants flood the market with fictitious listings to dilute Plaintiffs’ and other legitimate locksmiths’ listing in the organic and map results to the point of obscurity, thereby compelling legitimate locksmiths to pay Defendants for paid advertised results merely to be seen by the same prospective customers.”

Google made money off of locksmiths “problem” by creating artificial demand for their ads.

If you’re interested in hearing more about the real life heros spotting locksmith bots check out this article from the NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/business/fake-online-locksmiths-may-be-out-to-pick-your-pocket-too.html

“What If We Just Make The Fake News Really Small?” – Mark Zuckerberg (Allegedly)

Posted on by

The first round of attempt to stifle rampant fake news on Facebook via “red flags” were removed due to:

  1. “Buried critical information a.k.a. required too many clicks
  2. Could sometimes backfire because strong language or visuals can reinforce ideas
  3. Required at least two fact-checkers so was a slow process to be applied
  4. Only worked for false ratings so stories that were partly false or unproven were not marked”

What the disputed flag tool looked like

The crack team at Facebook has another idea…just make the fake news real small like….Or at least that’s what Tech Crunch is claiming with their new behind-the-scenes reporting.

“We reduce the visual prominence of feed stories that are fact-checked false,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch at the Fighting Abuse @Scale event in SF.

“Confirmed-to-be-false news stories on mobile show up with their headline and image rolled into a single smaller row of space. Below, a Related Articles box shows “Fact-Checker”-labeled stories debunking the original link. Meanwhile on the right, a real news article’s image appears about 10 times larger, and its headline gets its own space.”

Why it’s hot?

Facebook is trying to find work arounds for it’s duties to be an actual media company with a newsroom. They have a big issue on their hands thats affecting global politics and humanity. But, LOL, let’s just make the fake news small.

Fribo, the robot that tells all your friends you came home at 4am

Posted on by

Fribo is a robot developed in Korea for young singles living alone. It seems to set up a virtual communal living space built by communication at home activities with a small group of friends.

Fribo listens to household activity sends messages to the group about. If you arrive home Fribo might message Your friends: “Your friend opened the front door. Did someone just come home?” Friends can respomd with a clap to their own Friebo which would send a message to the group chat.

Users in Korea responded positively “I usually wake up late in the morning,” said one, “but when I began to notice my friends getting ready early, I started thinking about starting the day earlier with my friends.”

Why it’s hot?

Although this is not for me its interesting how we’re mixing text with voice and smart home technology. It’s an out of the box way to think about human interaction.

An Inaccurate Census Could Have Big Consequences

Posted on by

It was recently revealed that the Department of Justice is pressing to add a question about citizenship in the 2020 census. This question, one that has not been included in the census since the 50s, is believed to be meant to deter immigrant communities from participating, typically Democratic communities, and therefore depressing final population count and the distribution if house representatives, which is tied to population, not citizenry. John Thompson, who served as director of the Census Bureau until he resigned last year said:

The risk that really troubles me is that there’s a big undercount and then there’s a big lack of representation.

So what are the repursussions of a lower response rate other than less house seats for Democrats? It will be harder for the Center for Disease control to predict outbreaks if they think certain places have lower population (and therefore falsely higher instances of reported disease.

It’s also bad for brand strategists!

Why it’s hot?

Brand strategist need to know the true population of certain areas almost all of our research contain some sort of data from the US Census. Inconsistencies in census data one of the true long term high dats resources is a real loss for industry across the board.

 

 

Lets talk about Cambridge Analytica

Posted on by
Last week the U.K.’s Channel 4 News exposed data mining company Cambridge Analytica in a series of hidden camera videos. The videos show Cambridge Analytica employees admitting to stealing Facebook data as well as offering to send prostitutes to the opposition to obtain blackmail material.

Cambridge Analytica obtained the Facebook data by getting it from an academic claiming to be producing a study. 250k users were paid to take a personality quiz and allow access to their data, however the company scraped data from all of their friends, leaving 50M exposed to the breach.
This firm is funded by Trump ally, hedge fund billionaire, Robert Mercer, and was the brain child of Steve Bannon. That the Trump Campaign was possibly using illegally obtained data is now a big topic of discussion.
Turns out Facebook new about this breach since 2015. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were notably quiet in the first few days of this news cycle and Facebook’s stock lost $59 billion in value in the first few days. Zuckerberg came forward with an apology. 

I want to share an update on the Cambridge Analytica situation — including the steps we've already taken and our next…

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, March 21, 2018

 

Why it’s hot?
We continue to talk about how our unregulated internet is booth a boon and a detriment to humanity. Facebook seems in this case to be asking itself to be regulated (literally “I’m not sure we shouldn’t be regulated”). We should be thinking about how we should put some limits on what can be done by these social behemoths.

YouTube is backpeddling

Posted on by

https://twitter.com/jessik5898/status/973688926702628864

YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki announced at SXSW that YouTube’s infamous conspiracy theory videos will now be paired with text from Wikipedia. “We will show a companion unit of information from Wikipedia showing that here is information about the event,” she said. YouTube is “using a list of well-known internet conspiracies from Wikipedia” to cull from.

Apparently Susan didn’t feel the need to inform Wikipedia before making this announcement:

Why it’s hot:

Wikipedia gets to cover itself legally while fact checking — but doesn’t really take responsibility and still gets to cash out on these videos. I don’t think its enough.

Vero, the Newest Social Media App To Come and Go

Posted on by

Ok. So it hasn’t “gone” yet, but let’s see if it goes the way of Meerkat, Ello and Peach, but for now we at Hot Sauce can say, “oh yeah, I know about that”.

The appeal of the new app is its sleek design and it’s chronological feed. It’s still too early to tell what the path might be for Vero, but it might be interesting for our food service clients, as their new Places feature is a highlight.

Vero has been having trouble keeping up with customer demand:

and by the time I write this post… the backlash has already begun…

https://twitter.com/KaylaCJenkins/status/968300809715879936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.her.ie%2Fentertainment%2Fi-tried-vero-this-week-and-here-are-my-first-thoughts-on-the-new-app-391151

That went from 0 to 60 real fast.

Oh and once your in, can you even get out?

Why it’s hot?

This might be just a flash in the pan, but it’s always good to be “in the know”.

YouTube’s Algorithm Helps Spread Lies

Posted on by

Time to re-litigate our favorite Hot Sauce topic! Are social media platforms media platforms or not? Do they have a journalistic responsibility to the public?

Last week YouTube’s quickly algorithm spread a rumor that Parkland HS shooting survivor David Hogg was an actor hired by democrats. It had 200K views shortly after it’s posting, but has since been taken down.

Mashable, the source for this post had a very apt understanding of the problem at hand:

YouTube’s job, as it sees it, is to get as many eyeballs on as many videos as possible. It’s as if a media tycoon founded a newspaper, invited every conspiracy theorist to contribute, and blithely waved away the notion that there should be any ethical responsibility to put forth the verifiable truth — because selling ads was all that mattered.

In a recent Guardian study this recent Guardian study out of 643 of partisan videos  recommended to people watching politics content in 2016, 551 were conspiracy-based content that favored Trump while 92 favored Clinton. This study also notes that “More than 80% of the YouTube-recommended videos about the pope detected by his program described the Catholic leader as “evil”, “satanic”, or “the anti-Christ”.”

The Guardian tells the story of french programmer Guillaume Chaslot founder of https://algotransparency.org/ who was looking to make changes internally at YouTube in 2013 before he was fired (reportedly for performance reasons, but I’ll leave that up to you.) He believes that the YouTube Algorithm was biased towards Trump because it is biased towards divisiveness and conspiracy (things that shock and awe audiences can get more clicks). You can read his full blog post on the subject here.

Why Its Hot?

Let’s continue the conversation about how AI and algorithms shape the way we live, is there a way we can make them more human instead of human pandering.