Zag To The Zig #51 :: Slander, gender and decision bender
Hello strangers. My bad for the delays. Too much to read and watch, too little headspace. But this edition should give you enough material to open a few browser tabs. Be curious.
In the Tech Basement this ‘week’
This is pretty ZTTZ. While most people are still talking about making their website totally SEO compatible, user behaviour and Google tweaks means that 65% of the search needs are met without a user needing the click. 65%! Platform power.
Talking about the power of Google and search trends, read and shiver about how personal slander information can stick to the interwebs for a long time and how people build an economy around it.
Talking about wrong information, read and shiver part 2. Dutch politicians were invited to do a Zoom meeting with the Chief of Staff for Russian opposition leader Navalny. Turns out they spent a whole meeting with a Deep Fake imitation (in Dutch).
While we’re in the mood, some more doomsday reading. Taiwan's production of computer chips is crucial for the global hardware production, so this is what a Chinese invasion would mean.
On the roof terrace, by the solar panels
I know at least one, childless, ZTTZ reader who will be chuckling at this graph. It is a bit of a taboo, but most people don't recognise the one major way to reduce carbon footprint.
In the Ethics Corridor
I find this intriguing. Like in many other countries, Spain is creating laws to protect gig economy workers from exploitation from the Ubers and Deliveroos of this world. But rather than outright banning the whole thing, they're demanding transparency with regards to the algorithm(s) that decide the ratings (and therefore the potential income) of the workers.
Think about it: Alexa, Siri,... these 'voice assistants' have by default a female voice. Talk about gender bias. Now Apple wants to change that by not using a female voice as the standard setting for Siri.
In the Economy Room
Is this the real reason for the current power play in football's institutional world? In 2020, for the first time, FIFA made more money from video games than from football itself.
The mainstream is trying to grab some of that crypto value. VISA has said it will settle transactions in USDC (a blockchain-based stablecoin aka a blockchain-dollar) on the Ethereum blockchain. In a similar announcement, PayPal said it will facilitate payments in crypto. PR spins FTW, but nevertheless interesting to see that this stuff is PR-able. The old web (web 2) is exploring the value-web (web 3). Web 2.5 is going to be interesting.
A very heavy read, so I've bookmarked/downloaded it for now. But I thought the ZTTZ readers may want to know that this Future of Money report looks worth downloading/bookmarking and one day, skimming/reading.
The economy of missed calls.
I remember a story from years ago about how Indian people developed a 'language' to communicate using missed calls. You'd call me, I wouldn't answer, it had a meaning. This article tells the story of that habit, how it fuelled business models and how it's become obsolete now the average Indian is also a data-guzzling smartphone user.In a previous ZTTZ, we featured Ian Rogers' intriguing career move, from Chief Digital Officer at luxury brand LVMH to the crypto start-up Ledger. Little did we know that the NFT rage was going to make that move look so relevant so soon. This interview covers the overlap between crypto/NFT, digital and luxury brands.
Random ZTTZ
I found these 5 tips about how to avoid bad decision making very true.
🏁 End note: 1 thing I’m doing
I'm helping a blockchain start-up with their pitch deck and value proposition. It’s quite a technical product, so boy-oh-boy, this is proving to be pretty challenging for this non-techie. AKA, this is fun!