Curating the Internet: Business and leadership micro-summaries for October 26, 2019

Optimistic about cloud technologies on the eve of Google's earnings announcement; Investigating TikTok; Transforming the Internet into a place of trust; IBM launched a P-TECH public school in 2011. Now there are 220 of them; and a Steem photo-essay on surfing in Australia

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Fresh and Informative Content Daily: Welcome to my little corner of the blockchain

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Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.

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1. Google’s cloud business is sky high heading into earnings - Google will be announcing earnings on Monday, and one factor in particular leads to optimism. In July, Google said it's cloud business was on pace for a run rate of $8 billion, suggesting that year over year sales have doubled. Analysts say that Google's cloud business has been gaining momentum and cutting into margins for Microsoft and Amazon.


2. Congress concerned teenagers’ favorite app is national security threat - On October 24, Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York) wrote a letter to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and requested a formal investigation into TikTok and other China-owned applications. TikTok responded that they support transparency, that data is stored in the US and in Singapore - outside of China, and that none of the data that they store is subject to Chinese jurisdiction. They add that China has not asked the company to remove any data, and they would not do so if asked. Cotton and Schumer express concern that the company is bound by Chinese law, which raises the specters of censorship and espionage by the Chinese Communist Party.


3. How you can help transform the internet into a place of trust - This TED talk by Claire Wardle was published in April and came through TED's RSS feed on October 24. The video argues against categorizing things from propaganda, hoaxes, rumors, and conspiracy theories all under the banner of "fake news", saying that it demonizes the press, and that the press is vital to our democratic societies. She also says that free expression is a human right, and the instinct to take down misleading posts is a harmful impulse. She goes on to say that there is no easy fix. She argues that we don't want global corporations to be the guardians of what's true and false, because there's no way to verify the quality of their controls. She also argues that governments cannot be trusted to determine what is "allowed' and what isn't. So, pointing to the example of wikipedia, she says the solution is "us" and suggests building a global community who collaborate to create a "wikipedia for trust" where people can rate content for trustworthiness and for ethical problems. To this end, she founded and chairs a non-profit organization called, First Draft.


4. IBM runs a public school in Brooklyn that could change the way we think about education — and it's one of the only things both Trump and Obama support - As one of the rare areas of agreement between Presidents Trump and Obama, IBM's P-TECH school launched in 2011, offering all students a chance to graduate high school and earn an associates degree in six years. The school also positions students for potential jobs at IBM. The acronym stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School, and by the end of this year there are expected to be 220 P-TECHs. The P-TECH model depends upon six core values: (i) partnership with school district, higher education, and industry; (ii) Six-year default model allows students to finish early; (iii) Includes workplace training; (iv) open enrollment with focus on historically underserved areas; (v) No charge for college classes; and (vi) Graduates are "first in line" for certain jobs with industry partners. The program is overseen by 23 year IBM veteran, Grace Suh, and the school's founding principle Rashid Davis is quoted as saying, "We literally don't close, and we inform family and students that our summers will be either preparing students for the world of work or preparing students for college, but not the traditional summer experiences that you would find in high school".


5. STEEM Our first Time Surfing at Bondi Beach - In this post, @katrin-lux talks about a trip to Bondi Beach, in Australia. The post says that wet suit rental was less than $20 per hour, and surfing turned out to be more difficult than expected. Later in the trip, @katrin-lux took surfing lessons at Port Macquarie, and recommends that surfing lessons with a professional would be useful for all beginning survers. The post also contains some photos of the beach and the surf. (A 10% beneficiary setting has been applied to this post for @katrin-lux.)

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About this series

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