IOT Archives - Page 8 of 17 -

Google extends work at home for one year

Google delays office reopening until July 2021

The Mountain View company announced that the work from home option, for employees who are not required in the office, will remain available for another 12 months. The move is attributed to the uncertainty of schools reopening for the Fall 2020 to Spring 2021 school year. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Google is confirming that which was expected — uncertainty over the Covid-19 pandemic will last well into 2021. The move will likely be followed by many companies, and will further the diaspora of urban workers to mountain, beach and lake houses, keeping restaurants, transit systems and shopping malls mostly empty for the coming year.

Atlas of Surveillance shows where surveillance is occurring

Between Ring doorbell cameras, license plate readers, traffic cameras and individual building security cameras, a fabric of surveillance points cover urban areas. The mapping project is a collaboration between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada, Reno, Reynolds School of Journalism. Wired

dis-rup-shun: Just like in the action series 24, it appears that cameras are almost everywhere in urban areas, but unlike 24, accessing all the feeds quickly and easily is a bureaucratic impossibility. Perhaps the constitutional separation of states and Federal governments and their agencies will keep this an impossibility, or perhaps Google will do it first!

Chernobyl fungus could prolong space visits

The sun’s harmful radiation is filtered by Earth’s atmosphere, minimizing damage to humans. In space, however, without the filtration of the atmosphere, humans receive 20 times the radiation as on Earth, making outer space uninhabitable, long-term, for humans. A fungus that is thriving on the radioactive Chernobyl site has been sent to the International Space Station for observation and results show that it may become an important companion to space explorations, as the bacteria consumes harmful radiation and converts it to energy — enabling fast growth of the organism. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Further wonders of science — a “clean up” fungus is available to do what mankind has not figured out how to — clean up harmful radiation. Just when you thought Earth could never undo the damage inflicted by man, we see an auto-correction mechanism. Does such an organism exist for the damages caused by global warming?

Apple begins manufacturing iPhone 11 in India

Apple holds 1% of the share of the Indian smartphone market, but it is a dominant player in that country’s luxury phone market. After striving to find a contract manufacturer in India, its partner Foxconn has started building iPhones in Chennai. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: The move enables Apple to reduce its reliance on China-based factories while increasing its presence in the world’s second largest smartphone market, from which it could launch a lower end iPhone built especially to take advantage of the enormous market.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Alexa is now asking you the questions

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Alexa is now asking questions to consumers

Hunches are the Amazon name for machine learning triggers that anticipate, most frequently correctly, what you want Alexa to do. Alexa may ask you, upon hearing you walk into the kitchen, if you want to turn on the coffee maker, as you do daily. Alexa usage has quadrupled over the past two years, and the devices are getting better and better at understanding our patterns and habits. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Creepy or cool? On the one hand, one must remember that Alexa’s “mind” is only a series of algorithms that become more accurate the more data they have to factor into their calculations. On the other hand, if a third-party has the ability to analyze this data for unauthorized or un-known purposes, conflict is coming. What is a fact, is that voice has already become an important part of our interaction with machines and will likely be used to start the car engine or select the floor for the elevator to stop. Touchless controls will be more important to a pandemic-aware society, and those that resist will find it increasingly difficult to function in many settings.

Big Tech goes to Washington

Big Tech companies have been summoned to testify before Congress on Monday and discuss anti-competitive practices. Wired’s scathing account of how competition is dead, and has been for a couple of decades among the tech giants, spares Apple from bad boy status. Amazon has altered commerce, Google has created a curated Internet, and Facebook has fueled extremism in America, according to Wired.

dis-rup-shun: If competition is good for both business and consumers, and if the U.S. and Western nations are experiencing unprecedented income inequalities, then it will important to see if the visit with Congress next week leads to any real action by regulators, or more “window dressing.”

Intel announces chip delay

Intel’s stock price was hammered in the markets yesterday after the company announced an expected six month delay on its next generation product – 7 nanometer processors. The delay will cause Intel’s largest PC customers, including Dell and HP, to delay new product offerings. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Will Intel’s dominance over intelligent devices ever return? Not likely, as the chip making business, as the delay announcement reminds us, is a very difficult and precise business. Intel owned personal computing, but recently lost Apple, as the company has moved to making its own semiconductors. Intel mostly missed the mobile market, and the Internet of Things business consists of hundreds of device types, so being really good at more than a few will be exceedingly difficult. Note that Intel’s execs were not invited to the antitrust conversation in Washington this Monday, as the chip company is no longer a candidate for limiting competition.

Microsoft shows off Halo Infinite

Microsoft’s Xbox Series X preview session live streamed yesterday, teasing the public with views of new games. Front and center was Halo’s new release, Halo Infinite, which boasts bolder and bigger graphics at 10x the frame rates of prior versions. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: The Halo franchise has been the biggest driver for Xbox, and Microsoft is counting on the sequel reviving the core market’s appetites for another helping to the tune of probably close to $400 or more for the Series X console, plus the game. Our society has greatly changed in the last few years, and have the tastes of core gamers changed as well, such that they are less interested in Halo and other first-person shooters? Microsoft conducts a great deal of research, and has apparently concluded that the core buyer is still a shooter.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Cybertruck plant lands in Austin

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Austin scores $1.1 billion Tesla plant

The much hyped Tesla Cybertruck will be built, only appropriately, in Texas. Tesla confirmed that Austin will be the location of the $1.1 billion factory, nestled along the Colorado River between downtown Austin and Austin’s Bergstrom airport. The factory is expected to employ 5000 people on 2,100 acres, with an average starting wage of $35,000, including benefits. Austin American Statesman

dis-rup-shun: Austin has long been a winner of innovative projects, continuing to host significant outposts for tech companies including Apple, Google, Dell’s headquarters and IBM — the company that arguably started tech in Austin. Other than several semiconductor fabs, Austin is not a manufacturing center, so the Tesla plant diversifies the type of tech in the Lone Star capital, and will also serve as a strong market for the new electric pickup truck.

Xbox debut event starts now

Microsoft will follow Sony’s big online event that occurred last month with a big reveal today at 9 am PT. The event will offer a sneak peak at new games to be offered on the Xbox Series X, in hopes that Playstation’s slick reveal won’t sway any of the console faithful to the dark side. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Now, more than ever, Sony and Microsoft have to make the console experience really special as cloud gaming services enable the convenience of all-you-can-eat plans, as well as cross-platform gaming. “Premium experience” is the driver for console gamers and both of these platforms look like they will deliver.

Facebook enables Zoom-like features

Facebook has announced a feature for its Messenger Rooms app that enables users to stream video calls to up to 50 people. The move is to counter the ability of paid Zoom users to livestream to Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: The race to own the video conference is becoming fierce, and the big winner is the corporation and organization, as conducting virtual business could not be much easier. The big losers, of course, may be real estate owners, airlines and hotels, as virtual meetings seem to work really well.

Slack sues Microsoft for bundling Teams

Slack has filed suit against Microsoft for its virtual work app, Teams, which is bundled as a part of the Office suite (no additional cost). Slack’s complaint is not about the similarities of the product (there aren’t many), but about Microsoft’s practice of bundling the app with its Office suite, just as it did years ago with Internet Explorer — the move that buried Netscape’s Navigator (and Netscape– RIP). Onmsft.com

dis-rup-shun: A virtual workplace app such as Teams should be a part of every suite of products, and we can expect Google to add something to their office suite at some point. Perhaps Slack should be selling to Google right about now.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Spotify continues march to dominate streaming audio entertainment

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Spotify continues dominance with Joe Rogan acquisition

Spotify is the dominant player in streaming music and is doubling down to be the streaming audio entertainment leader. The company has 130 million paid subscribers worldwide, well ahead of Apple, Amazon, and Google. Streaming music makes up 47% of global music revenues. Adding Joe Rogan’s podcasts, along with DC Comics and Kim Kardashian further differentiates the service with hot names. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: As the streaming video players have taught, offering original content is the key to keeping ahead of competitors. Spotify has taken a play from the video streamers and is widening the gap between it and its nearest competition. The company will be the dominant radio station, not just music station. Expect other popular audio entertainment, including sports and news, to be added to the platform.

Uber drivers sue for access to proprietary data

A group of Uber drivers in the UK who seek driver data to help unionize drivers in their nation are suing Uber for access to driver information. Uber says that statistics on drivers, including their speed, locations, acceleration, etc., are part of the company’s secret algorithms that bring it competitive advantage, and cannot be disclosed. Gizmodo

dis-rup-shun: The need for competent regulation of Big Tech firms, and difficult decision making about ownership of data is becoming more important, and more difficult every day. These data ownership questions are very significant, and precedent setting, and the creation of better government regulation is not only justifiable, but critical.

Coming soon: balloon rides to space

Space Perspective, a Florida based company, wants to take passengers to the highest levels of the Earth’s atmosphere, where the sky is black and one can see the curvature of the Earth. The pressurized capsule seats eight and includes a bar and bathroom. The company hopes to begin operations as early as next year. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Coming soon — kiddie birthday parties at 100,000 feet. The experience sounds exciting, but what government body regulates and inspects Space Perspective, ensuring that craft are well maintained, adequately equipped with safety gear, and is willing to send out a rescue party should something go wrong? Is this the purview of NASA or the FAA, or the FTC?

Instagram adds fund raising feature

Instragram, in response to a rise in activities to respond to social justice causes, has enabled a fund raising feature within the app. The fundraiser lasts for 30 days, but can be renewed. Fundraisers will be reviewed by Instagram before they can be posted. Does fundraising on social media work? Since 2015, 45 million people have raised over $3 billion on Facebook and Instagram according to CNET.

dis-rup-shun: Instragram is taking on GoFundMe, the best known fundraising platform, finding yet another important use case to incorporate into its platform. Despite criticism to the contrary, Facebook and its entities have a finger on the pulse of the population, and seek to ride the wave of people’s growing passion about causes.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Microsoft’s xCloud keeps gamers in the family

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Microsoft straddles gaming platforms with xCloud

Microsoft will offer xCloud cloud-based games to subscribers of its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. The free offering will extend cloud titles to subscribers, allowing them to play titles across mobile devices and computers. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: It’s a smart move — keeping Xbox enthusiasts within the brand even as cloud gaming offerings attempt to lure players from consoles. Microsoft must fight a two-front battle: keeping core gamers enthralled with its next generation Xbox platform, Xbox SeriesX, while also taking on cloud game offerings from companies such as Nvidia and Amazon.

Covid crushes Indian smartphone market

India is the second largest smartphone market and has experienced more than one million cases of Covid-19. When the nation ordered a lockdown in March, even online retailers Flipkart and Amazon were prohibited from selling. Smartphone sales for Q2 are down 48%. Xiaomi is the market leading seller of smartphones in India. TechCrunch.

dis-rup-shun: Does a setback of this magnitude offer an opportunity for rivals to unseat Xiaomi’s leadership in the Indian market, or will the company emerge from the quarantine with even more market force? At this stage in the game, buying market share is an even more long-term strategy, as economies of scale are more difficult when revenues are half of expectations, but Xioami has much to lose if rivals such as Vivo and Samsung gain on the company during difficult times.

Netflix — tech company or media company?

As Netflix has been, for a number of years, the face of the future of home video entertainment, a debate has ensued if this is a media or tech company. Wall Street has treated the company like a tech company, with a market value comparable to giant AT&T, even with revenue less than 10% of the latter. With the promotion of co-CEO Ted Sarandon, a content mastermind, the company’s emphasis on media content is clear. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Properly valuing Netflix is a challenge, as the company must spend vast sums to keep ahead of catalog-rich rivals such as Disney +, Peacock and AT&T (HBO) TV. This investment keeps profits out in the far distance as well, yet being first and the king of market share continues to provide the company with an out sized valuation.

UAE Mars probe launches successfully

The UAE’s space program, with a probe heading to explore Mars, launched from Japan early Sunday morning, Pacific U.S. time. The probe, launched from a Mitsubishi made rocket, is the first of three Mars explorations to launch this month as NASA and China also expect to launch Mars missions. CNET

dis-rup-shun: The space race, between sending probes to Mars, re-exploring the Moon, and sending satellites into space has become a very active business. With problems seemingly escalating here on terra firma, will governments and corporations continue to focus vast investments on things in outer space? How are the benefits of exploration and science quantified beyond the ability of companies such as SpaceX to build a commercial, low-orbit internet facilities?

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

China and Europe driving home-grown internet infrastructure

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China’s plan for a new internet, called New IP

The Chinese government has ambitions to build a new, faster internet. This version, called New IP, will be controlled and operated by governments, giving governments access and insight into users, activities, and, presumably, control over all of the above. CNET

dis-rup-shun: To say that users will not be in favor of governments controlling the internet, and access to apps and content, is, well, a gross understatement. China’s proposal will undoubtedly be vehemently opposed by people everywhere, including China. Those that stand to lose the most, of course, are Chinese citizens who may find that alternatives to New IP are one day closed,creating isolation not experienced since before the internet.

Europeans seek alternatives to cloud giants

German and French policy makers have formed an alliance called Gaia X as an alternative to U.S. and Chinese cloud giants, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Alibaba. Orange, Deutsche Telekom and SAP are the foundation members of the alliance, which will undoubtedly involve other Europe-based companies. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: The fear of concentration of power, in this case information, into the hands of a few very strong players, has, for several centuries, led to rebellions, revolutions, resistance and new legislation (anti-trust). Once again, the European Union is far more active at working to curb Big Tech’s market dominance than the U.S. Congress.

Boeing 747: another Coronavirus victim

British Airways announced that it will ground its entire fleet of 31 747s and rely on more efficient aircraft during this time of anemic international travel. The company has been operating the iconic aircraft for nearly fifty years. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Like a hurricane, Coronavirus is reshaping the landscape and accelerating the evolution of many technologies, including aircraft. The world’s largest production airplane, the A380, was shuttered a few months ago after only fifteen years of production. The travel industry has been, arguably, one of the most impacted by new technologies over the past decades (Sabre, Expedia, AirBnB, Hotels.com, Uber, to name a few) and now the industry must quickly adapt to a much different and much smaller market.

Time for an e-Bike?

e-Bikes, bicycles with electric assist motors to help with hills, acceleration and long hauls, are popping up all around us, helping to replace public transportation. CNET offers a look at several top models, from a compact by Swagtron, to a premium model from Trek.

dis-rup-shun: Expect the standard bicycle that most every boy and girl receives between ages 8 and 12 to be an e-bike, as the electric-assisted versions become more affordable and eventually only a little pricier than non-electric versions. In a handful of years, the only non-electrified bikes will be built for avid road racers and those seeking super-cheap basic transportation.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

5G to transform healthcare – eventually

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5G to be a life saver for emergency health

Imagine a call to 911, where the health statistics and full history of the patient’s pre-existing conditions are sent to the paramedics for review en-route to the patient. Care choices they make, and preparations made in the ER will be patient specific and could make the difference in the patient’s recovery or death. CNET

dis-rup-shun: The implications for 5G to transform healthcare are many, including remote patient visits (telehealth) and emergency response. While that is exciting, such a scenario also depends on easy and fast access to a database that stores patient records. Whose database, and how can we ensure that the important privacy afforded by HIPPA laws don’t prevent emergency technicians from gaining immediate access? Better network technology is a great start, but access to patient records remains an industry challenge.

Wattbike is a different connected stationary bike experience

Wattbike offers a indoor cycling experience for “real” bikers. The Wattbike, available for $2,599, has 22 gears and uses magnetic resistance to simulate a real bike. It does not have an integrated monitor, but features a holder for a smartphone or tablet, which can be used with a number of third party riding apps for those that are not into Peloton’s virtual studio experience. CNET

dis-rup-shun: The Wattbike experience will likely appeal, much moreso than Peloton, to the true biker — not only given the bike itself, but because of the “solo” approach without scheduled classes, and the freedom to choose apps. Of course true bikers may also prefer to bring their bike inside, put it on rollers, and choose a favorite app. Expect to see more variants of connected fitness experiences in the coming months.

California registration of Tesla’s halved during Q2

The number of Tesla’s registered in the company’s best buying state, California, halved during Q2, the initial quarter of the quarantine. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: No, the citizens of California are not falling out of love with electric vehicles, nor of Tesla, but of driving itself — and therefore of purchasing the next car.

Espresso portable display is an elegant solution for Mac or PC

Many knowledge workers now insist that having external monitors are critical for work, and Espresso has developed a slim, easy-to-use and easy-to-connect model with a compact stand. The device sells for $320 to $350. TechCrunch

dis-rup-shun: The quarantine has required home offices to be setup in interesting places, and places that often change. Piling monitors into a car or plane to relocate to the office/retreat at the beach or the mountains often results in some beat up monitors, if they can come along at all. Portable monitors are the answer, and you can use them long after the quarantine is over.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Grocery carts obsolete cash registers

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The cart is the cash register, declares Amazon

Amazon’s Dash carts — grocery carts that watch what you put in them and scan as you go — are replacing cash registers and cashiers at a pilot store in Woodland Hills, California (near Los Angeles). CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Skipping the check out line at the grocery store — good news! Eliminating more employees from the economy — ouch! If this is the new face of shopping, then Amazon will have a lead — perhaps by not sharing the cart technology with non-Amazon stores, or perhaps by dominating point of sale technology as a technology provider, or by creating so many Prime membership benefits that Prime will be the biggest buying club ever — leading to preferred video, shipping, shopping, delivery, doctor visits, theater seats, airline tickets, hotel rooms, and the list goes on.

Google fined for not erasing personal data

A high ranking European official put Google to the test, citing a European Union law, enforced in 2014, that gives a citizen the right to request removal of data from a search engine. When Google failed to comply, the company as fined 600,000 Euros. CNET

dis-rup-shun: More power to the EU for keeping Big Tech inline. Using my personal data in exchange for free services is fine, until it isn’t, and then people should have a way to turn back and become anonymous. In some cases those rights are granted by law, but how can they be enforced? Call in the data privacy police. This is an emerging problem that will become a political hot potato in coming elections across the globe.

It’s happening: companies are cancelling office space

Companies, particularly start-ups that are always looking for ways to reduce cash burn, are not renewing office space. CBRE predicted, in May, a 7% drop in office rental rates and vacancies to rise as high as 15%, up from 12% in Q1. Many companies in Silicon Valley have already started to beef up staff outside of the Bay Area.

dis-rup-shun: There are great reasons to have an office, but the pandemic has proved that many businesses can run quite well without them. After a drought, leasing will increase, but space planning and use will be different, with many more “hotelling” configurations for workers that may spend only a day or two per week in an office.

Microsoft is ready to take back schools, with Kano

Kano, a maker of inexpensive computer kits that kids can build and use, has partnered with Microsoft to build an inexpensive computer kit that runs Windows and can help cash-poor school districts purchase computers for kids. Wired

dis-rup-shun: Between iPads and Chromebooks, Microsoft was being forced out of the public education marketplace. In another sign of Microsoft’s return to a great run company, this partnership should help more kids grow up on Microsoft products. The problem, of course, is that the future of schools is in question as the shelter-in-place continues and the return to classrooms is very questionable one month before many school districts normally open.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

The new world order of entertainment

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Understanding the new world order of home video services

CNBC lays out the new taxonomy of home video distribution: the first tier is the pipe into the home — which has changed the least. It is still mostly Comcast and AT&T, but 5G players such as Verizon are shaking up this tier with mobile broadband (no wires to the home). Tier 2 is messy. New players such as Roku and Amazon with Fire TV control 70% of connected TVs in the US (about 400 million). Other streaming device players include Apple, Google, Samsung, Comcast, Xbox, Sony PlayStation. The third and top tier consists of companies such as Netflix and Disney + that aggregate their own content with other content to create a comprehensive streaming platform, designed to keep you in their “home” as long as possible. The big players have sought to be the new network, offering a mix of genres and formats. Others, like ESPN+, continue to be specialists in a particular category.

dis-rup-shun: In the midst of the market’s creative destruction, it is helpful to have a map of the new world. Thanks CNBC. If the market can support only two or three major providers, then will other streaming offerings continue to pop-up for special interest segments — replacing today’s myriad of special interest channels that garner very few hours of the total market’s viewership? It is possible that the new world will feel a lot like the old world, just with different players in the middle.

The UAE is going to Mars

The United Arab Emirates is ready to send Hope, its Mars orbiter into space this summer, as the result of six years of preparation. The launch is scheduled for July 14th, U.S. time. The project has been in cooperation with University of Colorado Boulder, UC Berkeley, and Arizona State University. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: The renewed space race — with multiple entities quickly sending new crafts to the Moon and Mars — is a curious mix of private enterprise and government agencies. Will China, the U.S., or Amazon be the first to establish meaningful activities on Mars, and what constitutes meaningful?

Sirius buys podcaster Scripps

SiriusXM has announced that it will follow a prior move of Spotify, and beef up its podcast offerings. The company will purchase E.W. Scripps for $325 million. CNET

dis-rup-shun: Just as stated in the first story above, the new landscape players are continuing to evolve, reinvent themselves, and blur the lines. The new consumer, thanks to the Internet and the proliferation of podcasts, has quite an appetite for specialized content. Podcasts are the new talk radio and to be a full content platform you have to offer all content. SiriusXM started with cars and is creeping onto computers and other devices. Spotify started on computers and smartphones and is creeping into cars.

Consumer Electronics, IOT, Smart Home

Mmhmm and Teams transform video conferencing

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Mmhmm app turns video calls into interactive show

Former Evernote CEO Phil Libin has developed the future of video teleconferencing. The Mmhmm app works with any video conferencing system and transforms the experience by enabling the presenter to become large, small, semi-transparent, “stand” in front of the presentation content just like in a conference room, choose any background, and place presentations in a picture in picture window. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Innovation — it never stops amazing. This is a simple idea yet so innovative and potentially transforming. If virtual presentations are as compelling and attention grabbing — perhaps even more so — than live presentations, then the future of work really is changed forever. Mmhmm’s functionality will be integrated with video conferencing apps, and the real losers will be airlines, hotels and Uber drivers, as the benefits of being live and in-person become smaller and smaller.

Microsoft Team’s Together mode, like Mmhmm, will transform virtual meetings

The timing of this Microsoft news flash is surely no coincidence, following the unveiling of Mmhmm. A new Teams feature, called Together Mode, puts all virtual conference attendees in the same background setting, so they look like they are in the same room. It is a way to neutralize the distraction of individual settings and create a virtual institution. CNET

dis-rup-shun: This is a pretty intriguing development. Suddenly the fun of exploring someone’s home office or bedroom over their shoulder is removed and we are back in a classroom or auditorium, focusing on the speaker, the content, or on the faces in the crowd. Universities and colleges, especially those that are really expensive — you need to be very, very swift to re-purpose your dorms, your lecture halls and labs. You won’t be needing many of them starting last semester.

Next generation Google Home Nest speaker

The original Google Home speaker was released in 2016 and has not had a major refresh. As part of a regulatory filing in Japan, watchers have identified the next generation product. It is tall, flat and fabric covered. What will be more interesting is to see if the product’s skills, or software functions and sound quality are drastically different from the generation one product or if this is mostly an update of the form factor. TheVerge

dis-rup-shun: Google has some branding work to do, as just describing this new product as the Google Home Nest smart speaker is a mouthful. As the sound quality of the flagship product improves, Google takes on the traditional speaker makers such as JBL, Sonos, Sony and Bose. As Amazon rapidly adds thousands of “works with Alexa” partners, Google continues to figure out what it does better than Amazon, and so far, that is search. The company’s marketing, however, is yet to position it as the best “_______,” and so consumers continue to struggle with the decision of which ecosystem to invest in, and the product continues to be a distance second to Amazon’s Echo line, but well ahead of Apple’s HomePod.

Facebook’s civil rights audit reveals setbacks and missteps

Facebook performed its own internal audit of decisions around civil rights-related posts and censorship. Civil rights organizations that reviewed the report criticized the company for some missteps which were “significant setbacks” for civil rights. CNBC

dis-rup-shun: Where is today’s equivalent of the Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who made tough and unpopular decisions about the identity of that publication? Facebook can no longer be the world’s bulletin board — that position has led to unending acrimony. Facebook is the new Washington Post, New York Times, or Asahi Shimbun. It must change its position to a curated, biased source of information with stated editorial guidelines that not all will like, but that are clearly stated. Trying to define the narrow path between free speech and dangerous rhetoric is losing battle.