Good Monday Morning

It’s December 19. Chanukah began last night at sundown, Christmas is next Sunday, and Kwanzaa is one week from today. Whatever you celebrate, I wish you peace and happiness now and always. Spotlight won’t publish during this holiday period and returns on January 9.

Today’s Spotlight is 670 words — about 4minutes to read.

 Spotlight On … Online Accessibility

People with disabilities continue to encounter obstacles in modern online life.

In response to complaints by more than one thousand individuals that they were charged waiting fees when needing more time to enter a vehicle, the Justice Department settled a lawsuit with Uber. In the end, more than 65,000 people were affected.

Barriers to access or prohibitively high prices can also affect disabled people. Instead spending hundreds of dollars for accessible joysticks and controllers, Andreas and Oskar Karlsson helped 8BitDo develop video game controllers that cost $35.

Almost all websites: The most alarming online accessibility trend deals with websites. Ninety-six percent of the top one million websites had accessibility errors, according to one trade group. That includes issues like improper contrast settings, broken buttons, and links that do not work with screen readers.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) last week released a report identifying federal agencies as non-compliant sites, including Veteran’s Administration sites vital to people with disabilities. Casey highlighted a VA pharmacy and drug abuse website containing more than 6,400 accessibility errors.

Get help here:  The GSA runs the Section 508 website that helps organizations understand their legal online accessibility requirements and offers free tools like color contrast analyzers. 

 3 More Stories to Know

1) Airbnb removed 4,000 property hosts this year for violating nondiscrimination laws. The service removed more than 5,000 last year out of more than 4 million hosts worldwide.

2)  TikTok edged closer to a national ban after the U.S. Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to pass a bill prohibiting the app on federal devices. Nineteen governors have also banned the app on their states’ devices.

3) Microsoft signed a 10 year $2.8 billion cloud computing deal with the London Stock Exchange and has taken a 4% equity stake in that exchange. Google signed a similar deal with the Chicago Exchange in 2021 and made a $1 billion equity investment.

Trends & Spends

Did That Really Happen? — Ex-Marine Whelan Punitively Discharged

Following the release of two-time Olympian and WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison, many conservative media outlets accused the administration of choosing to leave a “highly decorated Marine” as a Russian prisoner.

The details of the prisoner swap negotiation aren’t public, but Snopes uncovered that former US Marine Paul Whelan received a bad conduct discharge in 2008 following a special court martial proceeding that convicted him of multiple crimes including larceny, check fraud, and dereliction of duty.

Following Up — Juice Jacking

The FCC is reminding travelers to avoid using public USB charging stations in airports or at hotels this holiday season because those jacks can compromise your device with malware. Among the agency’s hints about “juice jacking”:  carry your own plug and charging cable and use an electrical outlet.

Protip — Apple’s New Security Feature

Protect your iCloud data with iOS’ new software update that allows you to encrypt the information so that only you (not even Apple) can access it. The Wirecutter shows you how.

Screening Room — A Last Holiday Tearjerker

Science Fiction World — No GPS Needed

Ship and submarine crews can look forward to a day when GPS is no longer needed for navigation. A French research team has invented a 3D quantum accelerometer that uses lasers and atoms to measure movement in three dimensions. At worst, the system functions as backup for a vessel that loses its GPS signal.

Coffee Break —  Sturdy Gingerbread Houses

Thrillist has your back if you need to venture into gingerbread house construction this week. One hint: use a “royal runny icing made with egg whites and confectioners sugar.”

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

It’s December 12. Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook. Those murdered children would be busy talking about driver’s licenses and school dances right now. Learn how to join the vigil and protest outside the NRA at 10 a.m. Wednesday if you’re in the DC area.

Today’s Spotlight is 895 words — about 4 ½ minutes to read.

Spotlight On … ChatGPT

As technology continues to advance, chatbots have become an increasingly useful tool for businesses and organizations looking to improve customer service and streamline their operations. One of the key factors in the success of chatbots is the use of large language models to train them. These models allow chatbots like ChatGPT to understand and respond to a wide range of human inputs, making them a valuable asset for many different applications.

1. Customer service: One of the most common uses for chatbots trained on large language models is customer service. By using these chatbots, businesses can provide quick and accurate responses to customer inquiries, helping to resolve issues and improve the overall customer experience. This can be especially useful for handling common questions or issues that may arise, allowing customer service representatives to focus on more complex tasks.
2. Order processing and tracking: Another common use for chatbots trained on large language models is in the processing and tracking of orders. By using these chatbots, businesses can automate many of the tasks associated with order fulfillment, such as verifying information and updating customers on the status of their orders. This can help to improve efficiency and reduce the workload of human staff, allowing them to focus on more important tasks.
3. Personal assistants: In recent years, chatbots trained on large language models have also been used as personal assistants. These chatbots can assist with a wide range of tasks, such as scheduling appointments, setting reminders, and providing information on a variety of topics. This can be especially useful for individuals who may have difficulty managing their own schedules or who need help with daily tasks.

Overall, chatbots like ChatGPT that are trained on large language models are a valuable tool for businesses and individuals alike. By leveraging the power of these models, chatbots can provide quick and accurate responses to a wide range of inputs, making them a valuable asset for many different applications.

P.S. ChatGPT wrote this. Here is a link to a short video showing you how amazingly fast ChatGPT writes.

3 More Stories to Know

1) Epson announced that it will no longer make laser printers after 2026. The company says that inkjet printers are more eco-friendly.

2)  TikTok is continuing negotiations with the Biden administration regarding ways that the company can continue operating in the U.S. FBI director Christopher Wray has made multiple public statements about TikTok which he calls it a threat to national security.

3) San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors quickly reversed their decision that would have allowed law enforcement agencies to use robots armed with lethal weapons in hazardous conditions.

Trends & Spends

Trends and Spends has the week off because Google published its Year in Search feature that includes global searches in multiple categories as well as a drop down to show top searches in individual countries.

Did That Really Happen? — Electric Bike Graveyard

A hoax photo purports to show an electric bike dump in France filled with abandoned bikes whose owners didn’t want to pay for replacement batteries.

Snopes did some great research (read it here) and discovered that the bikes were in China and had been abandoned by a company going out of business.

Following Up — Log4j Exploits Continue

We wrote extensively about the Log4j hacks that occurred last December. At the time, government and large organizations warned that hackers would attempt to exploit this vulnerability affecting hundreds of millions of devices.  Last week, security firm Arctic Wolf disclosed that more than 800 of its commercial customers had been targeted using this exploit during 2022.

Protip — A Chrome Browser Setting to Save Memory

For years, Google Chrome’s browser has suffered from overusing memory that caused it to slow down or even stop. Now the company has released a new version with a feature called “Memory Saver”. Read about how you can install it now ahead of its rollout date in a few weeks.

Screening Room — Uber Eats’ New Guarantee & the NFL’s OBJ

Science Fiction World — Smart Bandages

There’s news about an international group of researchers who have created a smart bandage that uses microelectronics that transmit data wirelessly and report back to medical teams on the amount of healing, presence of certain cells, or infection.

Coffee Break — The World Cup of Microsoft Excel

Mama, your boy can finally be an international competitor. We told you last year about the Excel Championships. This delightful article in The Atlantic takes a close look at this year’s spreadsheet championship complete with TV coverage on ESPN 3.

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

Welcome back. It’s November 28. Breaking late Sunday was news of yet another mass shooting. One person is dead and four others are injured at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. There have been 652 mass shootings nationwide since Jan. 1, an average of one every 12 hours.

Today’s Spotlight is 805 words — about 4 ½ minutes to read.

Spotlight On … Companies Behaving Badly

A new year often prompts us to reexamine our financial decisions. We have compiled a list of warnings and examples of companies behaving badly online.

Internet pricing is confusing and suffers from a lack of competition. 

A Consumer Reports study published just before Thanksgiving found that internet service providers often charge additional, confusing monthly fees that can reach $9.95 and may be avoidable. About half of the bills they studied came from companies with no competitors.

Websites disguise ads, hide terms, or make it difficult to cancel.

In October, the FTC warned about all companies behaving badly using the jargony term “dark patterns”, citing subscriptions that are hard to cancel, opt-outs that protect private data being hidden, and disguised ads. Despite being owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post created an impressive graphic showing disguised ads on Amazon.  

According to the FTC, Credit Karma falsely represented that 90% of consumers would qualify or were pre-approved for credit cards when only about 33% did. Those who didn’t also experienced credit score penalties. 

Tax software sites shared data with Facebook

The Markup reported that H&R Block and Tax Act returned user income, tax filing status, scholarship information, and refund amounts to Facebook despite Facebook’s program allowing advertisers to easily avoid sending that information.

Auto companies are building features into cars, but only enabling them with ongoing subscriptions.

Mercedes is the latest carmaker to demand subscriptions. It costs $100/month to activate the enhanced acceleration already installed in some Mercedes models. In the past, BMW offered a similar subscription program requiring $18 monthly to activate heated seats that were also already installed.

 3 More Stories to Know

1)  Google will pay $392 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 40 states over its Location History data collection policies.

New and inconclusive: security researchers from Mysk claim that Apple usage data includes a permanent, unchangeable ID number assigned to each consumer.

2)  Ransomware hackers targeting a Belgian local government instead hacked a Belgian police department. The police claim that only administrative or personnel records were exposed. Apparently unrelated was a cyberattack on the European Parliament’s website last Wednesday that made it unavailable for several hours.

3) Anti-vaccination content is gaining traction on Twitter under new ownership, as entities have purchased the once-prestigious “verified” status for $8. According to The Guardian, vaccine scientist Peter Hoetz criticized the move for promoting anti-vaccine disinformation.

Trends and Spends

Did That Really Happen? — Sen. Cornyn Signs Tweet As Sen. Cruz

The Twitter account belonging to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) posted a Thanksgiving greeting from fellow Texas Republican Ted Cruz and Mrs. Cruz. The jokes were funny and many pointed out that the lawmakers might share a digital firm that committed the error or that the senator or someone on his staff did a sloppy copy and paste job.

Following Up — 1Password Buying Passkey Company

We wrote last week about passkeys, the next evolution of security beyond passwords. Now there’s news that password manager software company 1Password is buying Passage to also offer passkey products.

Protip — Remove Your Home’s Image from Google Maps

You’ve probably seen street-level views on Google Maps that show you pictures of each building. Now there’s an easy way to request that Google blur the image of your house from its Maps software.

Screening Room — US Cellular’s Poignant “Right Number”

Science Fiction World — Robots Cleaning Skyscraper Windows

Israeli firm Skyline Robotics has introduced Ozmo, a window cleaning robot for skyscrapers that operates without people aboard or the previous 10 story height restriction. This articles shows Ozmo in action at the 15 story RXR plaza in Uniondale, NY.

Coffee Break — Free Palm Pilot Apps Online

The amazing Internet Archive strikes again with a new Palm Pilot emulator and access to more than 500 apps that will work on your smart phone. Sean Hollister at The Verge says it best: “You can reach out and touch a 1996 pocket computer with your 2022 pocket computer and it works like a charm. It’s a tiny interactive window into the pre-iPhone era.”

Sign of the Times