The Offline Report

Custom robotics manufacturer Anthony Nighswander is highlighted in this news story today: The problem is that Nighswander faces a hiring challenge in his own business, especially because, in this town of fewer than 4,000 people near the Indiana border, the pool of skilled workers is shallow. But rather than turn to robots himself, he has adopted a lower-tech solution: training. APT has begun offering apprenticeships, covering the cost of college for its workers, and three years ago it started teaching manufacturing skills to high school students. “I never thought that I would be training high school students in our facilities,” Nighswander said. “What I knew was that I was in survival mode. I knew the orders for robots and for automation were coming in faster than I could get the jobs out.” It's largely a story about the science of economics and productivity growth. Lay person's economic conventional wisdom, said economic downturns are the times companies innovate and beco...

Yesterday's post on Ad Tech being ineffective at building brands kicked off some discussion. The Google Doodle is the closest the open web today has to the non-targeted ad on the internet. Not only is the 'Doodle non-targeted (many ads on the internet are not targeted ads) but everyone knows it's not targeted. The animations shown during this year's Winter Olympics were the most delightful and memorable 'Doodles in memory. I imagined other people watching them as I did, and looked forward to talking about them at the next family gathering when conversation topics that bridge the generations can be a challenge. Although a contemporary person, I did something about a year ago to rejoin civilization in one form: I bought a digital antenna for my television. And for the first time in years I was able to view non-targeted ads. One such ad was an incredibly manipulative spot for the SPCA with the most skilled dramatic dog actors I've ever seen. Another ad that...

In April this site published " Ad Tech Primer " to lend this writer's background in ad tech to the democratic conversation around social media ads and market surveillance finally taking place in our public sphere. Today this site brings you a transcript of a podcast that explains why ad tech may nudge you toward a conversion event, but has yet to be effective at building brands. It may never be effective if tight surveillance remains the norm. The Ad Contrarian produced this podcast episode " I Finally Understand Why Online Advertising Doesn't Build Brands " and the title immediately caught this writer's eye. This episode falls squarely inside this site's beat. Begins "Ad Contrarian" Bob Hoffman: For years I've been writing about a mystery that should perplex any clear-minded marketing person: the mystery is why online advertising seems to be incapable of building customer-facing brands . We've had 20 years of phenomenal gro...

Thursday June 28 2018 "The first step in working toward data security is to assess where the company data is stored. This step can be much more complicated than it would seem."    technologylawdispatch.com "The order describes specific steps the credit bureau must take, including conducting security audits at least once a year, developing written data protection policies and guides, more closely monitoring its outside technology vendors, and improving its software patch management controls."    nytimes.com "Each credit agency will also be required to follow the state’s new cybersecurity regulations, which until now only applied to banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions."     law.com Another Equifax Faces Charges of Insider Trading After Big Breach:     nytimes.com "They found that the more the manager used oral face-to-face communication to get across their message as opposed to other approaches,...

Saturday June 23 2018 "There was not an ounce of cruelty in Charles Krauthammer, yet we live in a moment when too many people think cruelty is a form of strength."    nationalreview.com Friday June 22 2018 "'This legislation, like the initiative, would provide simple, powerful rights to Californians: Tell me what you know about me. Stop selling it. Keep it safe.'"    sandiegouniontribune.com "'If they were stylish in their youth, they will still be stylish now. They continue to be who they were.'"    nytimes.com Inside European copyright proposal is controversial Article 11 "the so-called 'link-tax,' which will require sites that link to news stories to pay the original authors."    tomshardware.com S.F. sues developer for permitting scam:     sf.curbed.com "And she should not expect to reunite with her daughter for a month. Maybe two."    nytimes.com The bait-and-switch and lack of...

President Trump displays two character traits prominent in news stories this week: he operates with an "unsubmitted will" and he doesn't study child development, once telling Howard Stern, " I'll supply funds and she'll take care of the kids ." The latter is forgivable - I didn't know it was state law to drive with a childseat in the car when transporting toddler-aged children until about ten years ago. A lot has changed since I was a kid. The latter is forgivable, but the latter combined with the former is creating problems for innocent kids who did not choose their parents and kids who had no power over their parents' decision to migrate. What does it mean Trump operates with an "unsubmitted will"? This is in the public record. On the first two seasons of "The Apprentice," Trump implored his proteges, the contestants, to never apologize for their actions. This has been lost from public memory but someone has the tapes or ...

(Here's an opportunity for a software developer: print news layout is a honed craft. Online news leaves much room for improvement.) In the modern internet news era, "today" is obsolete. In its wake, survive two time concepts: history, and "breaking." I subscribe to newspapers and I want today's paper. But online, the cognitive load required to dilineate today's news from yesterday's and last week's leaves me with less brainpower to start my day, or even absorb the news. Getting today's news online is a project. A quicksand heap of clickable headlines on www.sfchronicle.com offers readers no place to land their eyes . No target or marker to signal "I'm almost done" or "I'm relatively informed, and ready to start my day." Many working readers surrender to the "breaking" news reading model via cellphone headline alert.  This reaction-based reading model leaves readers either riddled with anxiety o...

Wednesday June 20 2018 The FTC commission plans to hold up to 20 public hearings on technology, competition and privacy from September through January after hearing comments about what it should focus on by August.    abcnews.go.com "The newly formed American Conservation Coalition is working across two dozen states to convince Republicans to return to their pro-environment roots."    abcnews.go.com "Verizon said that about 75 companies have been obtaining its customer data from two little-known California-based brokers that Verizon supplies directly — LocationSmart and Zumigo."    abcnews.go.com "Common theme: A Trump supporter in Duluth, one of many waiting in a long line outside tonight’s rally location, just told me she has compassion for separated families but ultimately believes that the detainment center photos and videos are fake and photoshopped."    twitter.com The dataficatin of HR:     www2.d...

The world's largest iceberg has shrunk to 58% its size from the year 2000 - which can mean one of two things: Climate change is underway or Microsoft corp. is saving cooling cost payments by operating a data center under the sea . Join us for meeting number nine of the DrawDown bookclub. Since it's such a low-stress week we're serving high-carb comfort food, recipe courtesy of thekitch.com (We could not find zucchini noodles for the recipe, but with regular noodles, the parsley-pistachio pesto sauce offers a refreshing twist on traditional pesto.) I. Review II. Recycled Paper, page 168 III. Next Readings Summer officially starts days from now on June 20th, but in California first responders are already at work dousing small fires. And, thanks to many preventative controlled burns, only twelve "major fires" are burning up and down the state right now, CalFIRE's map says . This is early - fire season hasn't really started yet, we've a hot sum...

Manipulators are all around us. Some unintentionally manipulate. Some have an agenda. But they all use tactics from a small, finite set that need widely-known names for the civilians among us to navigate our fast-moving world. If the phrase " foregone conclusion " could be used as a verb, it would vividly describe one manipulation tactic actors use. Example: a large, even "mega-" corporation, actor A, announces plans to merge with another, actor B. Speculation abounds about the concentration in power the merged company would hold. The government's lawyers contest the deal in court on grounds the combined companies would diminish competition and stifle market activity. In a surprise ruling, a judge strikes down the government's argument that the merger would hurt competition. This clears one hurdle for the two companies to merge but a few hurdles remain: the judge's ruling could be appealed or a stay of proceedings could apply. Competing companies...

Saturday June 15 2018 "There are many reasons the newspaper industry is in free fall, but widespread failure to get the product delivered properly is certainly part of the problem."    nytimes.com Friday June 15 2018 Breaking down the AT&T Time Warner decision.    wbur.org/onpoint "Delrahim’s remarks were a rebuke to his hosts at the Open Markets Institute, who argue that antitrust enforcement should consider larger social and economic questions than the mere effect of consolidation on consumers."    buzzfeed.com The FCC in July is planning a vote that could lift or end ownership caps of local tv broadcast spectrums.    bloomberg.com Thursday June 14 2018 "It is also the antithesis of what WhatsApp professed to stand for. Mr. Koum, a San Jose State University dropout, grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine, where the government could track communication, and talked frequently about his commitment to privacy."   ...

Tuesday June 12 2018 More H1B workers than native-born workers in San Francisco in 2015 for jobcode 210 "Software Developers."    econdataus.com "'And the data just tells you what happened in the past. It doesn’t tell you anything that will happen in the future.'"    wbur.org Glass drinking straws.    amazon.com Electric cars are popular in China.    qz.com Yahoo incurs fine for 2014 data breach.    engadget.com The difference between good digital marketing and spam is simply human:     nextconf.eu Sunday June 10 2018 Student lists for sale - who is buying them?    fordham.edu A blogger translates Facebook speak to English.    onemanandhisblog.com 🔗🔗 🔗 🔗🔗🔗🔗 🔗 🔗 This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .

( * Nov 4 2018, we appended an update , below.)     A San Francisco Board of Supervisors debate in 2007 dragged for weeks, weighing whether to ban plastic bags at retail checkouts. Dozens testified in support, but momentum stalled with an industry lobbyist urging instead, a ban on plastic bag bans. A conservative, usually combative, drop-by visitor, jolted the idea back into motion: 40-ish Irish-American man, president of the Residential Builders Association, stood to report a similar ban passed in Ireland and "we keep paper bags in the trunk of the car" there now, it couldn't be easier to comply! People are talking about plastic this week. We're talking "BioPlastic" page 168 for the eighth meeting of DrawDown bookclub. Part I is Review, part II covers "Bioplastics" page 168 and Part III decides what to read next. Do know plastic news is breaking as we begin this meeting. Monday June 5 was "World Environment Day" the search results f...