By BY NEIL VIGDOR AND AZI PAYBARAH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2YS1vpi
Monday, 31 August 2020
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies Fatally Shoot a Black Man They Say Had a Gun
By BY NEIL VIGDOR AND AZI PAYBARAH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2YS1vpi
How the Fatal Shooting at a Portland Protest Unfolded
By BY EVAN HILL, STELLA COOPER, DREW JORDAN AND DMITRIY KHAVIN from NYT Video https://ift.tt/2EJienR
Quotation of the Day: In Command: The Few, the Proud, the White
By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/3hZg421
Saudi King Fires 2 Royals in Defense Corruption Inquiry
By BY REUTERS from NYT World https://ift.tt/32Hcgfk
Trump Refuses To Condemn Kyle Rittenhouse's Murderous Rampage
Donald Trump continued his lifelong trend of supporting racists, Nazis, domestic terrorists and straight up murderers, this time by defending Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17 year old high school dropout who crossed state lines with an AR-15 (that he illegally possessed) that he used to shoot 3 unarmed people, killing 2. From videos, one man is holding a plastic bag, the other a skateboard. These are the "threats" that Rittenhouse felt he had to defend himself from?
In addition to not being legally allowed to carry an AR-15 (crime 1), Rittenhouse crossed state lines with the weapon (crime 2) AND shot at 3 people (2 murders and 1 attempted murder - or assault with a deadly weapon). Rittenhouse, at the least, committed 5 crimes, probably more. Oh, and he broke curfew. That is 6.
But "Crime and Chaos" President Donald Trump is all in for Rittenhouse. After all, he is white, a Trump supporter, a gun lover, he killed non-Trump supporting Democrats, he is friends with police and he really hates Joe Biden. This is the profile of Trump's entire base, right? How could he possibly condemn poor old murderous Kyle?
Well, after all that, Trump still refused to condemn him, saying:
from Latest from Crooks and Liars
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Elecciones 2020: el Partido Republicano postula a Trump y el demócrata Biden aún lleva la ventaja
By BY ANNIE KARNI AND ASTEAD W. HERNDON from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3hM7seV
Biden Condemned Violence. Why Won’t Trump?
By BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2QNebcp
A Long History of Language That Incites and Demonizes
By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31KRbBp
‘We Germans,’ Alexander Starritt by the Author: An Excerpt
By Unknown Author from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2ENgSIq
Gillmor Gang: Platforming
Much was made during the Republican Convention of the lack of a party platform. The media characterized this as a capitulation to the Cult of Trump phenomenon, but the questioned begged was: so what? If you’re running as a candidate to disrupt the status quo…. But beneath the media framing, an important question emerges. What exactly is the platform we need to emerge from the toxic situation we find ourselves in?
For months, if not years, the technology industry has been working on a new platform to succeed the previous one. Mobile would seem to be that fundamental shift from the desktop world of Windows and PCs. The twin dominance of powerful phones by Google and Apple has created a new language of notifications and streaming video perfectly timed for the devastating pandemic. Our devices are now the front lines for managing the struggle to stay alive for our loved ones, the economy, and our future.
Zoom is of course the poster child for all that it enables, and certainly what it doesn’t. The notion of work from home is more likely a question of what is home and what’s the difference with work? The routines of life are congealing around the interactions with phone, watch, iPad, laptop, and TV. When I wake up, the first dive is for the notification stream built up overnight from overseas and then the East Coast. The rhythm varies from day to day: intense on Monday as the weekend cobwebs dissipate, more issue oriented through the middle of the week, and finally a thank-god-it’s Friday feel. Email, text messages, media updates, and work calendar reminders.
And then there’s the outline of the new platform — live streaming notifications from what some call citizen media, or the influencer network, or the loyal opposition. That last one refers to the decline in trust of the mainstream media. Maybe it’s just me, but the cable model of host-driven cyclical repetition of the headlines, talking heads, and medical ads adds up to a trip first to the mute button and eventually the off switch. Which plugs me right back into the notification stream and a new contract with us based on whether we click on the link or even allow the notification in the first place.
And these new voices are networks of one or a few, broadcasting on a global reach pastiche of cloud services that begin with the ubiquity of Zoom and its click and you’re there ease of on boarding. Then there are the key networks of record as it were: Facebook Live, Twitter/Periscope, YouTube, and maybe LinkedIn if you’re Brent Leary and got an early invite. There’s a whole bunch of streaming accelerators like Restream and StreamYard and Just Streams (I made that up) to use software and a dash of hardware to do what it took many thousands of dollars and cables just a few years ago. Right now it’s early days, but soon you’ll be seeing something that looks like the media it’s replacing as the OG buys in.
Don’t believe me? Just look at how streaming has disrupted the television industry. Or the music business. Or the reemergence of podcasting and newsletters. Or how messaging is growing rapidly as a preferred digital commerce and marketing channel. The pandemic has certainly had a devastating effect with the loss of theaters, events, and travel that drive so much of our economy and the emotional underpinning of our lives. But as we learn to respect the power of the virus to force this digital wave of transformation, we fuel the winners that emerge from a new hybrid blend of evolution and adaptation.
Technology has often been seen as impersonal and cold to the touch. But now we should be making friends with robots for touchless shopping, At the beginning of this Gillmor Gang session, Frank Radice seemed stunned by the administration’s takeover of the symbols of our Washington monuments for political purposes. By the end, he seemed more hopeful of a different result. We have more ways now of making our voices heard, broadcasting our own names in fireworks above and beyond the fake news and suppression. Our platform: suppress the virus, not the vote.
__________________
The Gillmor Gang — Frank Radice, Michael Markman, Keith Teare, Denis Pombriant, Brent Leary, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, August 28, 2020.
Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor
@fradice, @mickeleh, @denispombriant, @kteare, @brentleary, @stevegillmor, @gillmorgang
For more, subscribe to the Gillmor Gang Newsletter and join the notification feed here on Telegram.
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…and here’s our sister show G3 on Facebook
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Stop Letting Republicans Create Their 'Own Reality'
The mainstream media is now implying that violent protesters are the central issue in the presidential election, or at least one of the central issues.
That's what Donald Trump's campaign wants the #1 issue to be. Is it? No, it isn't.
Gallup routinely asks an open-ended question about what’s the most important problem facing the country today. In August, 35 percent said something about COVID/disease. 12 percent economy. 10 percent race relations. Only 4 percent crime. https://t.co/mHxoAWM0Fc
from Latest from Crooks and Liars
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Facebook Could Block Sharing of News Stories in Australia
By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI AND MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/32KSNdo
Frustrated by Election Boycott, Venezuela’s Leader Pardons 100 Opponents
By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT World https://ift.tt/3hYVvCR
A Teacher and Congresswoman Confronts School Reopenings
By BY REID J. EPSTEIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jxJ29n
Trump Fans Strife as Unrest Roils the U.S.
By BY PETER BAKER AND MAGGIE HABERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2YQLyQa
A series of primaries in Massachusetts could be a bellwether for the Democratic Party.
By BY JACEY FORTIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34OFiMu
American Intelligence Knows What Russia Is Doing
By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2YQMJiE
Attach an Asterisk to This U.S. Open? Tennis History Mocks That Idea
By BY CHRISTOPHER CLAREY from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2DegAd7
Youth and Experience Will Face Off in the U.S. Open Women’s Draw
By BY MAX GENDLER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2YOB8QV
With Some Big Names Missing, U.S. Open Men’s Draw Still Looks Strong
By BY MAX GENDLER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/31HkC77
A Quick Virus Test? Sure, If You Can Afford It
By BY J. DAVID GOODMAN from NYT https://ift.tt/31IXSUE
At the U.S. Open, Doubles, of All Things, Stays Stable
By BY MAX GENDLER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2YPJvvB
2020 U.S. Open: What to Watch on Opening Monday
By BY MAX GENDLER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3jtysjB
TikTok parent ByteDance says it will ‘strictly follow’ China export controls
While Beijing has repeatedly spoken out against Washington’s pressure on Huawei, it has remained relatively quiet amid TikTok’s recent struggles in the U.S. As the red-hot video app approaches a final sale in the U.S., however, the Chinese authority moved unexpectedly to make the deal more complicated to go through.
On late Friday, China’s Ministry of Commerce updated its export control categories to cover artificial intelligence technologies. AI is the anchor of ByteDance products including TikTok, which has thrived on customized content surfaced by machines. The next day, China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted scholar Cui Fan as saying the updated rules could apply to ByteDance. He advised companies with ongoing deals to “halt negotiations and transactions so as to conduct the relevant procedures.”
On late Sunday, TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance issued a statement saying it will “strictly follow” the new technology export rules and handle its “related export businesses.”
Though the new rule is not explicitly targeted at the TikTok deal, its timing is curious, just weeks before ByteDance is due to divest from its largest overseas market. ByteDance could now face hurdles as it advances to sell TikTok, for the regulation restricts the export of personalized recommendation and AI-powered interface technologies, according to Cui, a professor at China’s University of International Business and Economics.
A TikTok sale is already complicated on the technical level even without China’s trade restrictions. As The Information pointed out, ByteDance’s engineers and developers at its headquarters Beijing provide all the software code deployed in its family of apps including TikTok. It’s a strategy known as the “central platform” in the Chinese tech sector, one that also undergirds many businesses of Alibaba and Tencent for its purported advantage of increasing productivity and minimizing redundant resources. As such, breaking TikTok off from its Chinese parent would almost certainly disrupt the app’s operations in the short run.
Many Chinese internet users have chastised ByteDance chief Zhang Yiming for caving in to U.S. pressure, which ordered the TikTok sale over alleged national security threats. Some go as far as labeling the tech boss of the world’s most valuable startup a “traitor“. They compare Zhang to the Huawei boss Ren Zhengfei, whose responses to American sanctions have been thought of as much more aggressive.
It remains to be seen whether Beijing will further step in TikTok’s negotiations with the U.S. Industry observers have noted that the case is distinct from that of Huawei, whose 5G technology is a focal point of China’s race with the U.S., and who directly and indirectly has created many manufacturing jobs in China. Albeit being unprecedented in its penetration into the Western internet, ByteDance develops software that is considered more replaceable and relies on a narrower range of elitist talents.
A damaged TikTok app may cause complaints from marketers who live off the app, but it probably won’t set off the same level of corporate resistance as seen with Trump’s proposed WeChat ban, which reportedly had giants including Apple, Walmart and Disney move to discuss the issue with the White House.
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YC alum SockSoho is using data science in a bid to become the “Uniqlo of India”
SockSoho co-founder Pritika Mehta with some of the company’s socks
SockSoho is a direct-to-consumer brand that aspires to become the “Uniqlo of India.” The company launched sales ten months ago, starting with men’s socks, and recently completed Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 program. Founded by Pritika Mehta, a data scientist who has worked at companies including TripAdvisor, and growth marketer Simarpreet Singh, SockSoho now has more than 30,000 customers, and plans to launch into new menswear verticals soon.
Before launching SockSoho, Mehta and Singh worked together on MindBatteries, a technology and content IP provider whose corporate clients have included The Times of India, The Economic Times, Mercedes, Infosys, the World Economic Forum and Uber.
The two are relying on several factors for SockSoho’s growth: India’s position as one of the largest and fastest-growing e-commerce companies in the world and the company’s in-house technology, which will include proprietary chatbots and AI-based recommendation engines as it scales.
SockSoho launched with a multi-platform distribution strategy, selling on its on site as well as ecommerce platforms. But its main driver is WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app in India with over 400 million users. About 70% of the SockSoho’s sales happen through WhatsApp, and it also uses the messenger for marketing and A/B product testing.
Eric Migicovsky, the Y Combinator partner who invested in SockSoho, told TechCrunch in an email that SockSoho “looks like a fashion brand on the surface but at the backend they operate like a tech company. They’re A/B testing every aspect of the product and ecommerce path, not something every fashion brand does.”
“I think they’re winning strategy here is WhatsApp,” he added. “They have figured out how to acquire and service customers exclusively through the platform.”
One of SockSoho’s gift boxes
Before starting SockSoho, Mehta earned a Master’s in computer science from the University of Buffalo, focusing on artificial intelligence. Then she spent several years in the United States, working at tech companies including TripAdvisor. But she continued keeping an eye on her home country.
“When I saw the growth happening in the Indian market, it looked phenomenal because the population is huge and data was becoming really cheap. There was a huge increase in people shopping online,” she told TechCrunch. “That is when I thought, what the hell am I doing in the U.S. when all the action is happening in India?”
Most online fashion brands in India focus on women, so Mehta and Singh decided to go into menswear. They say there are about 200 million men living in cities in India, representing a potential $8 billion market. Before doing consumer research, the two wrote down a list of 80 items they could launch with. Socks won because they are easy to fit and ship, and have high margins and low rates of return.
Before launching new socks, SockSoho does its version of A/B testing through WhatsApp by sending design ideas to customers and gauging their interest in pre-orders before placing manufacturing orders.
Data analytics is key to reducing the cost of marketing and customer acquisition, a challenge for many direct-to-consumer companies.
“We are basically gathering data points to understand customer behavior and spending patterns, and those insights help us refine every single thing that we are building, from our designs to marketing and inventory planning, and even expanding into future verticals,” said Mehta.
Analyzing data has already revealed a couple surprises. For example, SockSoho expected almost all of its customers to be men, but about 30% of total purchases are made by women buying gifts. SockSoho’s founders also assumed that most of its buyers would live in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, but its data revealed that smaller cities were major growth drivers. “All these insights came purely from data,” said Singh.
Over the last six months, 58% of SockSoho’s customers have made repeat purchases, and sales grew during India’s COVID-19 lockdown, which started in March.
“COVID has accelerated the shift of people to online shopping,” said Singh. “Like my dad, he never shopped online, but during COVID he’s even buying his toothpaste online. It’s a tectonic shift.”
But many traditional retail brands haven’t nailed the online shopping experience yet, Mehta added.
“With ecommerce, it’s not just about selling the product,” she said.
To keep customers engaged, SockSoho relies on WhatsApp to share new products and customer photos. But that level of personal engagement will become more challenging as the brand grows.
This is where the proprietary technology SockSoho is developing comes into play. This includes AI-based chatbots that can handle simple queries, like exchanges. For example, a customer who receives the wrong item will be able to upload a photo and get a replacement shipped to them. More complicated issues will be be flagged for human customer representatives.
“We are building this proprietary software inside the company, which can actually replicate the human experience. We are collecting all the data, all the interactions that are happening currently with customers to understand the language, the data and the kind of experience they like,” said Mehta.
SockSoho is also developing its own AI-based recommendation engine, that will show customers products they are likely to be interested in based on their browsing and shopping habits. The startup isn’t revealing yet what verticals it will expand into next, but it is already doing A/B testing for its next product lines.
“Once we have built our tech stack, our whole supply chain and nailed down the socks, it will be very easy for us to go into any other vertical and eventually become the Uniqlo of India,” said Singh.
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Sunday, 30 August 2020
What’s on TV Monday: ‘All or Nothing’ and ‘American Ninja Warrior’
By BY PETER LIBBEY from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/34Mhclz
Meet Germany’s Bizarre Anti-Lockdown Protesters
By BY ANNA SAUERBREY from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3gDgNnS
As Japan’s Abe Leaves, ‘Abenomics’ Will Remain, for Good or Ill
By BY BEN DOOLEY AND HIKARI HIDA from NYT Business https://ift.tt/31G9QxZ
The Runway Lights Failed, So Villagers Used Their Headlights to Aid an Airlift
By Unknown Author from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2QENSp6
When Comets Hit The Sun
On this day in history in 1979!
We had the first recorded instance of a comet hitting the sun.
Why would I pick this event to celebrate an open thread?
Covering two political conventions in two weeks can do that to a person.
I'm burnt out.
As a side note:
"The energy released is equal to approximately 1 million hydrogen bombs."
Open thread below.
from Latest from Crooks and Liars
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Quotation of the Day: As China Flexes, Taiwan Revamps Its Military
By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/2EwV5VO
How to Help Someone Who Lost Their Job
By BY DORIE CHEVLEN from NYT Smarter Living https://ift.tt/2YPiDMn
Think You’re Making Good Climate Choices? Take This Mini-Quiz
By BY VERONICA PENNEY from NYT Climate https://ift.tt/2YOnXj6
I’m Still Reading Andrew Sullivan. But I Can’t Defend Him.
By BY BEN SMITH from NYT Business https://ift.tt/31FeH2G
Portland Shooting Amplifies Tensions in Presidential Race
By BY MIKE BAKER, THOMAS KAPLAN AND SHANE GOLDMACHER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32EEtTN
Jon Rahm Sinks a Big Putt to Win Playoff at the BMW Championship
By BY ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/31Iok0E
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