Here are a few of the things that caught my attention over the last couple days.
Facebook Bans multiple Disinformation Networks, including Accounts for a Canadian PR Firm
Facebook has taken down multiple accounts and pages linked to Roger Stone, long time friend of US President Donald Trump who was convicted of lying to the US Congress in 2019. The accounts were linked at least partially to a white supremacist group that Facebook previously banned in 2018.
Facebook has also banned Estraterra, a PR firm based out of Vancouver, according to the company Linkedin profile. Facebook says that Estraterra was involved in a “foreign interference campaign” targeting several countries in South America.
Lastly, Facebook banned several accounts and pages linked to the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
Google Confirms Existence of New Smart Speaker After Leak
On Thursday morning, images of an unreleased Google Smart Speaker surfaces, as the device passes through the FCC in the US. Generally, companies do not comment when asked about these kinds of leaks, but in a rare and amusing case, after being contacted, Google basically shrugged and said “yeah, sure, here are a couple official pictures and a video of the device”
Practically, this new speaker, which does not yet have an official name, will likely replace the original Google Home which was discontinued in April after nearly 4 years on the market.
PC Shipments Rise Sharply as Everyone Needs a Laptop to Work From Home
This is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating. As many sectors of the economy shut down and contracted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one area of growth in Q2 2020 was PC sales, which were up over 11% year over year, according to one analysis. PC sales have been flat and declining for years as smartphones and tablets do more of the “heavy lifting” of our day to day computing. But in Q2 2020, when employers suddenly had to roll out huge work form home programs, or households needed more than one PC/laptop that everyone shared, PC sales surged. This isn’t a long term change, and a surge now could actually have a negative impact moving forward as households bought now instead of later in the year, but it is notable that as much as our phones and tablets can do a lot of what we need, there are times when the majority of people still just need a computer.
YouTube Offering More Revenue Transparency to Creators
YouTube has added a new metric for creators to look at, something many have been asking for for years. The new “Revenue Per Mile” metric will tell creators exactly where the revenue on their videos is coming from. RPM will show total video views, ad revenue from those videos, as well as other metrics like how much revenue is missed from videos that are not monetized. This will give creators a more granular look at how they are making money on the platform, which should help them refine and hopefully generate more revenue. Considering how hard it is for independent creators to actually make money on any platform, any little bit helps.
Microsoft’s Windows 10 May 2020 Update Still Not Available On most Microsoft Surface Computers
This one is a straight facepalm, and one of the many, many reasons why the general attitude towards Microsoft in the consumer space is souring. The Windows 10 May 2020 update, which was in various stages of testing for almost a year, is currently incompatible with Microsoft’s own Surface PC lineup due to some bugs that can cause system instability. How Microsoft can’t make sure that its own operating system update is ready to go on its own computers is mind numbing.