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We cannot ignore what’s going on with Reddit. This one is more “of interest” than a direct hit on topics we think you need to know about. There are many ramifications for business people, of course. And it’s also a reflection of some bigger trends in society generally.
We spent more time on Reddit, so this show only features two topics.
Topic 1: /r/wallstreetbets/ . . . Good, bad, or just ugly?
Sub Reddit takes on hedge funds. “Professional” hedge fund managers are selling Game Stop short – and the Reddit users are forcing the stock UP. They are bankrupting professionals hour by hour.
Overall, is this just gambling, or is there s business purpose here?
Lots of related links.
https://apnews.com/article/gamestop-stocks-reddit-updates-0bfe08b10002e7bb334983948f53b6e4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKQ90CzxgM
https://www.cnet.com/news/reddit-and-elon-musks-gamestop-stock-surge-its-a-ponzi-scheme/
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/27/22251964/amc-stock-price-reddit-wallstreetbets-trading-gamestop
Reddit: These folks are intentionally manipulating stocks. Completely outside the world of regulations. https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/
Topic 2: Apply Says They’ll Increase Privacy by Default
Apple promises you will be “opted out” by default from targeted remarketing. Is that necessarily a good thing? Do you really want to see a lot of random advertising?
Google has this cool tool – https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated
Apply thinks you value privacy so much that you don’t care that you’ll be ignoring a bunch of ads. Google’s bet is that you will tire of random, unrelated ads and choose to go back to the world where ads are relevant once again.
What do you think? Drop some comments at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
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Sponsor Note:
PC Matic — Endpoint Security built on a zero trust philosophy, allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. Light weight, simple to deploy, easy to manage, find out about PC Matic’s unique lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime-time national TV campaign. Together, we bring advanced security solutions combined with more than sales enablement … we bring actual leads. Find out more about PC Matic by visiting PCMatic.com/msp/.
🙂
Topic 1: Update on the update: Alphabet cancels their balloon-based internet offering
Apparently, they listened to last week’s show. After many years and billions spent, Alphabet (Google) has dropped their plans to provide Internet access to remote areas via lighter-than-air balloons.
Side note: We are deep inside an era where private organizations are taking on challenges – and trying new things – without direct government help.
Related Link: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-parent-company-shutting-down-loon-its-internet-beaming-balloon-project/
Topic 2: Shall we adopted the word “integrator” to describe our channel partners?
A view from another industry. The Commercial Integrator magazine proposes the work Integrator for their slice of the channel. We think this mostly works. Is there a similar term for the so-called managed services providers in the channel?
Related Link: https://www.commercialintegrator.com/business_resources/technology-integrator/
Topic 3: Is this a good or bad use of chat bots?
Microsoft has patented some technology that they now say they will not produce. Basically, they can take pretty much anyone with a substantial data record and create a “realistic” chat bot. This easily includes lots of famous people. But it might also include someone close to you who just happens to be dead.
Creepy? Some people think so. What do you think?
Related Links: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-patents-a-chatbot-to-imitate-real-people-2021-1
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/tech/microsoft-chat-bot-patent/index.html
“Microsoft patented a chatbot that would let you talk to dead people. It was too disturbing for production”
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Topic 1: SpaceX Takes Off!
SpaceX launched sixty more satellites last week – with ONE rocket. They now have more than 1,000 satellites deployed. Their target is a total of 1,440. These will be dedicated to Internet-beaming.
Last year, SpaceX launched 26 rockets successfully. This year, the goal is 40. Most of those rockets have landed successfully on their floating platforms in the ocean.
Related Link: https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-17-satellites-launch-webcast
Topic 2: Microsoft coming after your customers. Really.
Amy Babinchak has raised the alarm with a couple of blog posts. We look at Microsoft’s complicated relationship with their so-called partners.
Third Tier Links: https://www.thirdtier.net/2021/01/13/microsoft-really-is-coming-for-your-clients-this-time/
https://www.thirdtier.net/2021/01/19/what-microsofts-new-auditing-initiative-means-for-partners/
Topic 3: It’s never good news when the popular media know what we do for a living
When our problems become “mainstreet” topics, it’s not good for us. This includes the concept of Managed Services and the basics of Ransomware. We discuss.
Related Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/tech/ransomware-2020-review/index.html
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Closing in on 100 episodes . . .
After a few hiccups on the Internet, we managed to record this week’s show. Please support our advertiser!
Topic 1: Azure in a box?
Microsoft is rolling out data centers “in a box.” Earlier, we reported on Microsoft putting data centers on the ocean floor. This containerized project has been in the works since at least 2008.
Note: We hereby claim copyright to the phrase, “Dude. I need a data center.”
Link:
Topic 2: Net Neutrality Revived for 2021
Dead? Not at all! With the recent election, the Democratic version of Net Neutrality could see the light of day. We use this as a launching pad to discuss access in a larger context, including bandwidth availability, and its effect on education, business, and opportunity.
Link:
Topic 3: Amazon to compete directly with UPS, FedEx, and USPS?
Amazon is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 jets from Delta and WestJet, the first time it has bought rather than leased. We speculate about what Amazon’s up to . . . and several non-obvious related technologies. Once again, supply chain is a huge topic for 2021.
Link:
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One very serious topic, and two somewhat-lighter topics this week. Please post questions or comments. And don’t forget to share with your friends.
Topic 1: Open Source Managed Service Tools?
Here’s a seriously interesting question: Is open source software for managed services a beautiful vision of the future . .. or a nightmare. We have different thoughts on this one.
Link:
Topic 2: The next interface? Gesture controls.
We start with a link to a white paper that lays the groundwork for this discussion. It’s a quick read, and very interesting. We also encourage you to Google “computer gesture control” to dig deep into the kinds of products and software you can start deploying today.
We also added a link to one cool example: BMW’s radio control.
Links:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2010.13197.pdf
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/124-bmw-gesture-control
Topic 3: Touchless in 2020
On a somewhat related note, gest controls are one example of touchless controls. Clearly, the need to go touchless has come to the forefront during the pandemic.
https://www.engadget.com/touchless-contactless-technology-2020-160048513.html
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Sponsor Note:
PC Matic — Endpoint Security built on a zero trust philosophy, allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. Light weight, simple to deploy, easy to manage, find out about PC Matic’s unique lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime-time national TV campaign. Together, we bring advanced security solutions combined with more than sales enablement … we bring actual leads. Find out more about PC Matic by visiting PCMatic.com/msp/
🙂
Topic 1: Forrester says US online holiday shopping to reach $173 B
Constant question: How much of this is temporary vs. permanent?
Have you built a store for your clients? We think this is a great opportunity for IT professionals.
Related Link:
Topic 2: Is there any good news for MSPs in 2021 Cybersecurity?
Predictions include:
Link:
https://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/Cybersecurity-Predictions-for-2021-144487.aspx
Topic 3: 75% of electrical capacity growth expected to be renewable for the next three years
Solar, Wind, and Water power are growing dramatically – without regard to political points of view. Coal dominates the power source being retired.
This actually matters, going forward.
Link:
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Special show – and video! We recorded a video version of this podcast. You can view it at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com. Or on YouTube on the Small Biz Thoughts channel (https://youtube.com/smallbizthoughts).
In this episode, we take a look at technology in the year gone by and what it means for the year ahead. So, we’re breaking away from the strict timing and 3-topic format.
First up: What’s the status of our big pizza/burrito delivery race? Delivery improved on many fronts in 2020. But none of us took delivery of a burrito! No visible progress, although technology is inching forward
That morphed to a discussion of how much of the “changes” from 2020 will stick? How much of the pandemic-centric behavior is preferred in the long run? How much business travel will return, and how soon?
We certainly learned a lot about location independence and remote work in 2020. Over time, people actually started stretching a bit and adding creativity to the remote component.
In all of this, there’s still a human component to the changes. That will certainly affect the speed and nature of any return to the in-person world that emerges in 2021.
Then we looked at . . . the things we totally missed. What did we not see coming a year ago. One biggy was the visibility of our industry to legislatures. It looks like 2021 will be a year of increasing regulation.
Another is the nature of cybersecurity. Ryan was hoping that we’d stop selling on fear, but fear seems to be the future. But, on a positive side, a lot of clients have finally seen true value in the money they spend on technology. Many IT service providers are enjoying great success.
The barrier to entry in IT is higher than it used to be, and true competence is noticeably more difficult than ever. The era of the amateur are over.
A final umbrella discussion is on the changing nature of the supply everywhere, at every level. The problems with JIT (Just in Time) delivery have never been more obvious. Will companies build a little slack into their systems.
Again, our discussion turns to percentages. Some will; some won’t. What lessons will be learned?
. . . We had a great time making this show. We hope you enjoy. Please like, share, subscribe, and send us any questions you have. We have a question form at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
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Heading straight on toward year end . . . and Episode 100.
Stay tuned for a December 29th Year-end special. But today’s show is also good.
Topic 1: AI may help you find your doppelganger.
The YouTube video below has a look at the technology involved in AI doppelganger research. You can see right away that this dataset can be used to “crowdsource” the improvement of this technology.
Related Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nz5Bkpmcw
Mentioned in passing: Google’s AI singing blobs. https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30
Topic 2: Google went down . . . and the world went down with it.
Well, for a short while. Below is a commentary (not news) about the use of technology to track us and control us. We discuss how accurate this is, and the lessons we hope to learn from the analysis.
Commentary:
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: What we’re learning from Vaccine Apps
Tracking might be good or bad. “Vaccine Passport” apps may be used for ways they are not intended. Aside from fighting the pandemic, there are some obvious questions about privacy, HIPAA, and personal liberties.
We discuss. And remind you that there’s tech that you might be able to integrate into your service offerings.
Related Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/technology/coronavirus-vaccine-apps.html
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We’re approaching Episode 100. Also planning a big year-end podcast. Always stay tuned.
Topic 1: Burnout in a Pandemic World … and What to Do About It
Okay. It’s been nine months of being shut in. This is getting old. What does that really look like? What the best way to deal with it? We explore.
Related articles:
https://www.axios.com/work-burnout-economic-growth-d45b9a7a-f6bb-4b69-9306-cc85e17a1813.html
https://insights.dice.com/2020/12/07/employees-at-apple-google-big-tech-were-feeling-demotivated/
Topic 2: Data centers aren’t dead
But they’ll never look the same again. Data center in a box becomes reality.
https://www.protocol.com/manuals/new-enterprise/data-centers-hybrid-cloud
Topic 3: Uber Exits the Self-Driving Car Race
. . . well, mostly. Kinda. Uber sold off their self-driving department . . . to a company they have a huge stake in. So they continue to flop around trying to figure out what their business model is.
https://www.wired.com/story/uber-gives-up-self-driving-dream/
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Sponsor note:
Gozynta Mobius – the easiest way for ConnectWise Manage and QuickBooks online to connect. Keep invoices, expenses, and inventory automatically updated right from Manage to QuickBooks Online, and payments right back into Manage. With simple pricing, set it and forget it auto sync, Gozynta Mobius delivers with no restrictions on the number of invoices, expenses and payments, and plays well with others like ConnectBooster. Trusted by over a thousand MSPs. now introducing a free plan, go to gozynta.com/mobius, and tell them Killing IT sent you.
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Looking forward to Episode 100! As we close in on the end of 2020, we are also fast approaching our 100th episode.
Thank you for following us, sharing our podcasts, and giving us the big thumbs-up.
Topic 1: AI Reveals Racial Inequalities in NYC
We’ve talked about the layers of bias within Artificial Intelligence, and the impact of human bias on the creation of AI. So this topic looks at using AI to find bias inside existing databases. It’s very meta.
https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/11/30/ai-reveals-vast-racial-inequities-in-nyc-homeownership/
Topic 2: Growth in renewable energy finally takes off.
I think we all know that various electrical generating systems have become cheaper, but this article has some jaw-dropping statistics. Solar energy is going to dominate the world for one really good reason: It’s not cheaper BY FAR than anything else.
Price of electricity from solar dropped 89% in ten years !!! Price of solar photovoltaic cells dropped 99.6% since 1976.
https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth
Topic 3: “Edge” (whatever that means) Brings Opportunity.
And while we’re at it, we all hate the term Edge. Having said that, the real focus is on new and various protocols that you can just let run wild. Complexity brings opportunity!
We discuss.
https://smartermsp.com/survey-unveils-edge-computing-opportunity-for-msps/
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Sponsor Memo:
PC Matic — Endpoint Security built on a zero trust philosophy, allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. Light weight, simple to deploy, easy to manage, find out about PC Matic’s unique lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime-time national TV campaign. Together, we bring advanced security solutions combined with more than sales enablement . . . we bring actual leads. Find out more about PC Matic by visiting http://PCMatic.com/msp/.
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