How safe is Clubhouse? asks Wired magazine in the latest critical look at the social audio service that appeared in April 2020 - less than a year ago. It's attracting huge attention globally. Alongside the hype and hyperbole that have been hallmarks of the perceived attractiveness and exclusivity of the invitation-only iOS app that passed ten million users in February - a five-fold growth since recording two million in January - there's increasing scrutiny of how the app works and how it … [Read more...] about FIR 204: Won’t you Join Us in our Clubhouse?
Web
Civilising Wikipedia
Last month, Wikipedia celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the founding of its English-language website, an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. Today, Wikipedia has more than 55 million articles available in over 300 languages, in addition to the original English. It says that 1.7 billion unique visitors come to its websites every month. For many people, it's the first stop on the Internet when you want the answer to "What is…?", "Who is…?", "Where is...?", "When … [Read more...] about Civilising Wikipedia
The Internet and a brighter future
Most people would agree that what we have experienced over the past 12 months has changed - in a lasting manner - the ways in which we share information and communicate with each other, whether for business or for pleasure. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated far-reaching change in ways that no one could accurately have predicted in 2019. Communications technology and the Internet are central to all of this and are at the heart of discussion I had in late January with Paul … [Read more...] about The Internet and a brighter future
Tim Berners-Lee’s plan to save the Internet: give us back control of our data
Releasing his creation for free 30 years ago, the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, famously declared: “this is for everyone”. Today, his invention is used by billions – but it also hosts the authoritarian crackdowns of antidemocratic governments, and supports the infrastructure of the most wealthy and powerful companies on Earth. Now, in an effort to return the internet to the golden age that existed before its current incarnation as Web 2.0 – characterised by invasive data … [Read more...] about Tim Berners-Lee’s plan to save the Internet: give us back control of our data
FIR 188: Translating the Internet into Arabic
Finding news and information online you can trust about things you're interested in is a high expectation for most people in these connected times in which we live. Unless you're looking for wide-ranging content in the Arabic language, that is. Just 0.6% of Internet content is available in Arabic despite it being the fourth most common language among internet users, according to a report by the Guardian. What some people like Ameen al-Jaleeli in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and … [Read more...] about FIR 188: Translating the Internet into Arabic
FIR 184: An Incomprehensible Disaster
The June 2019 edition of “The Hobson and Holtz Report," aka FIR 184, features Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz talking about these stories: Boeing’s Max 737 crisis is a textbook case of ignoring standards of crisis communicationMary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report has a lot of meat for communicatorsPrivacy policies are an incomprehensible disasterNorth Face and its ad agency thought it was clever gaming Wikipedia. Now they’re sorry.A privacy issue with precise-location tagging led Twitter … [Read more...] about FIR 184: An Incomprehensible Disaster
FIR 182: Hot Bee Action
The April 2019 episode of “For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report” features co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz discussing the following topics: How China is shaping the future of shopping — it’s online, social, and highly appealing to Gen ZMedia coverage of local news is evaporating. Should business pick up the slack?Customer reviews are the new content marketing, says Jay BaerMovements mean more than brand purpose. Just look at Pornhub’s new movement to save the bees.The UK … [Read more...] about FIR 182: Hot Bee Action
FIR 181: Some decisions to consider about social media
With this episode of The Hobson and Holtz Report, FIR 181, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz embark on a renewed journey every month with conversation at the intersection of business, communication and technology, just as when they first started out in January 2005. In this episode for March 2019, H&H discuss these stories: Print is still a viable communication tool; Raspberry Pi is distributing multiple print magazinesPandora is the first streaming service to introduce a sonic logoIn the … [Read more...] about FIR 181: Some decisions to consider about social media