Is EU competition working? One company shows a 250 percent increase. Hashtag Trending for Friday April 12, 2024 - Related to more, its, a, 2024, xiaomi

Google users say two-factor authentication didn’t protect them. Hashtag Trending for Monday, April 15th

Early Saturday morning listeners may have missed my weekend interview segment with Senator Colin Deacon. If you did, it was totally my fault. A typo in my posting instructions meant we didn’t get it online til late Saturday morning. But if you didn’t get a chance to listen, it’s still there, and it’s really worthwhile.

Google Enhances Browser Security with AI and announces a New Paid ‘Premium’ Version. Google people study account lock outs that beat their two-factor authentication. Google Blocks California News Access Amid Fight Over a Journalism Payment Bill and Gen Z Ditching Google for TikTok and. YouTube Searches**.

All this and more on the “too much Google” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.

Before we start, I have to say, I didn’t set out to write an all Google edition, maybe it’s because of Google’s major event last week, but when I evaluated the tech stories over the weekend, these hit the top of the pile.

Google is rolling out major new security enhancements for its hugely popular Chrome web browser used by billions worldwide.

At its Cloud Next conference last week, the tech giant revealed it has developed custom artificial intelligence language models specifically trained to detect and block spam, phishing and other malicious content targeting Gmail individuals.

Deployed late last year, Google says these AI defenses are already yielding big results – catching 20% more spam in Gmail, reviewing 1,000% more reported spam each day, and responding 90% faster to new phishing threats in Google Drive.

The organization says the AI models are uniquely adept at identifying semantically similar malicious content at a massive scale across over 3 billion Google Workspace customers.

While highly effective so far, Google admits it is “very focused” on innovating further to tackle the remaining of spam and malware that slips through its advanced filters.

In a separate move, Google is introducing a new premium version of its Chrome web browser specifically geared towards enterprise user.

Called Chrome Enterprise Premium. The paid tier adds enhanced data loss prevention controls as well as deep malware scanning missing from the existing free Chrome browser.

While the core free version will continue receiving general malware and anti-phishing protections, the premium edition aims to provide businesses with an extra level of security and administrative elements.

Furthermore, this new AI-powered data protection will cost $10 per user per month on top of existing Workspace subscriptions.

The launch comes as Google also explores giving all Chrome customers more control over limiting website permissions like access to keyboard, mouse and other device inputs.

The need was never greater – another story in Forbes this week reported that a number of clients were reporting that their two factor authentication had been by-passed giving away access to the their Google accounts.

How do they do this? Apparently they don’t hack the two factor authentication process itself, but the employ something called “session cookie hijacking”.

As far as Google’s systems are concerned, the attacker has already successfully authenticated using the hijacked cookie data.

Once they gain access to the account, the hackers can lock the real owner out of the account.

Security experts warn session hijacking remains a critical risk capable of undermining popular multi-factor authentication protections relied on by billions.

Major providers are also working on other mitigations, but individuals remain advised to stay vigilant against phishing and. Keep software patched to prevent falling victim to these attacks subverting account two factor authentication.

And can you stand one more Google story?

In a battle that will seem eerily familiar to our Canadian listeners, Google is now wrangling with. California lawmakers. Google has started restricting access to news articles from the state for some clients in a hardball tactic against a proposed law that would force tech companies to pay publishers for content.

The move comes as the California Journalism Preservation Act, which cleared the state assembly last year. Is being revived. The bill would require digital giants like Google and Meta to compensate news outlets when their articles and links get displayed on the tech platforms.

In a blog post, Google executive Jafar Zaidi stated the legislation represented an “unworkable” tax on linking to news information that has already prompted “significant changes” to services it can offer Californians.

Zaidi wrote that the business has temporarily blocked news from appearing in search results for an unspecified “small percentage” of California clients in anticipation of the bill potentially passing.

Google indicates the proposal is the “wrong approach” to bolstering the struggling news industry, which has suffered waves of layoffs and newspaper closures amid skyrocketing digital ad revenues for big tech.

Bill supporters argue it would provide a crucial lifeline to California’s publishers, with over 100 outlets shuttering in the state over the past decade as advertising income plummeted.

The legislation aims to direct a slice of the billions in digital ad revenues captured by technology giants like Google and Meta toward compensating journalists and publishers for reusing their content.

With over 70% of digital ad dollars now going to just those two companies. Advocates say they have a responsibility to support the news industry they have disrupted and profited from.

Critics, however, argue such link taxes represent an unworkable model that undermines principles of the open internet.

The aggressive move by Google mirrors past tactics deployed when facing similar pay-for-journalism rules in Canada and Australia. After initial threats to block news, the enterprise ultimately struck deals with publishers.

As California’s bill regains momentum, the fight over compensating news outlets appears headed towards an increasingly acrimonious showdown between lawmakers and the tech giants dominating digital advertising markets.

And although. Google ultimately reached a deal of sorts with Canada, Meta continues to block Canadian news stories on its platform. This story may continue for some time to come.

It turns out while Google was top of the news last week. The giant may want to watch where it’s search engine dominance is going. There is no doubt that Chrome is the dominant browser by a country kilometre – okay. A country mile still sounds more effective.

But it has some threats to its dominance. We did some stories last week to show that when given a real choice, people in Europe were opting for other browsers.

And although Google is trying experiments in the UK to add AI to its search, junk content is more likely to hit the top of search.

For others. Using AI search like is proving to be far more reliable and informative than Google. But now, a generational divide is evolving.

For Gen Z, it turns out even Canadians call the GenZ. Google is no longer the default starting point when searching for information online. Instead, many young people are turning to social media platforms like TikTok and. YouTube as their go-to search engines.

New data from youth research firm YPulse reveals a stark generational divide emerging. While 58% of millennials aged 25 to 39 still begin their internet queries on Google, that falls to just 46% among those aged 18 to 24.

For Gen Z, 21% are initiating searches directly on TikTok, with another 5% heading straight to YouTube – a clear break from the Google-centric behavior of older demographics.

The shift highlights how social media has evolved from just connecting with friends into a vast “information superhighway” for the first truly digital native generation.

Gen Z consumers cite a preference for the more relatable, authentic results surfaced through human-curated videos and posts compared to Google’s algorithms heavily featuring sponsored content.

There’s also an innate comfort and affinity with social platforms fostered by younger consumers having no memory of Google’s earlier era of search dominance.

The trend represents a growing headache for Google and its parent Alphabet, which derives the bulk of its nearly $2 trillion valuation from digital advertising tied to search traffic.

In response, Google has rolled out new aspects aimed at Gen Z, including AI tools to generate more personalized search feeds and improved highlight social media conversations.

However, many remain dissatisfied with the quality of Google results plagued by excessive ads and. Search engine optimization tactics.

As Gen Z increasingly eschews traditional search engines, established tech giants will be forced to adapt to changing behaviors ushering in a generational shift in how information is discovered and consumed online.

Picture this – sometime in the future, somebody born in 1990 will be my age, they’ll mention some 90’s rock group, get a blank stare and say “TikTok” it.

Hey, there’s no longer a Kleenex tissue. There could be a world where search is not Google.

And tomorrow, I promise, unless the sky falls in with a monumental story, we’ll be Google free.

I’m your host Jim Love. Have a Marvelous Monday.

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Is EU competition working? One company shows a 250 percent increase. Hashtag Trending for Friday April 12, 2024

US Internet providers must now display clear pricing and product information. HP Ink controversy continues to stain the firm’s reputation with consumers. Is the EU’s competition legislation working? Early numbers seem to show it might be. And there’s a 10 million dollar bet that Elon Musk is wrong about AI.

All this and. More on the “all bets are off” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.

New regulations from the Federal Communications Commission have taken effect yesterday, mandating that all broadband internet service providers clearly display labels detailing the prices, speeds, data caps and other key information about their service plans.

The rules are aimed at helping consumers make more informed choices by requiring ISPs to disclose this data in a simple, standardized format akin to nutrition labels on food products.

In addition to fees charged, the labels must also now list any monthly data caps or overage fees, upfront costs like equipment rental fees, a provider’s customer service contact information, and any other plan limitations like throttling policies.

Despite this progress, consumer advocacy group Next Century Cities continued to push for even more information, saying that these broadband “nutrition labels” often overstate the real-world speeds consumers can expect or obscures caps and fees.

Speaking to the FCC last month, one group urged that in addition to maximum speeds, the labels should show the average speeds customers actually experience. As estimates of “typical” speeds are frequently overly optimistic.

The FCC is still gathering feedback on whether to mandate the display of promotional pricing periods and expiration dates, as well as taxes and fees beyond the base rate.

Next Century Cities is further advocating for a streamlined complaint process to investigation issues like digital discrimination in broadband deployment to the commission.

With the labeling rules now in place, the hope is that people will be more effective equipped to comparison shop for broadband and avoid being misled about the true costs and capabilities of different internet packages.

Of all of the emails I get about stories, the HP printer issue is near the top of the list. People write me, with their frustrations. And it turns out, they take these to the courts as well.

Printer owners are pushing back against HP Inc. in an ongoing class action lawsuit over firmware updates that allegedly disabled their devices from using third-party ink cartridges.

In a filing this week in an Illinois court, the plaintiffs accused HP of using software changes to monopolize the replacement ink market and “take advantage of individuals’ sunk costs” in HP printers.

The consumers claim that despite never agreeing to only use HP-branded ink, recent firmware updates prevented their printers from accepting more affordable third-party cartridges.

They allege HP violated several anti-competitive statutes through this “tying scheme” accomplished via unauthorized software changes solely aimed at blocking rival ink suppliers.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages covering the cost of now-useless non-HP cartridges, as well as an injunction forcing HP to undo the firmware lockout.

For its part, HP insists it went to “great lengths” to inform buyers that its printers are designed to exclusively use HP cartridges containing security chips.

Furthermore, the enterprise says the updates represent legitimate “dynamic security” measures to combat counterfeit ink, and. That it does not conceal or block remanufactured cartridges reusing official HP chips.

HP also argues the plaintiffs cannot claim overcharge damages from the manufacturer under federal antitrust laws when they purchased through intermediaries.

As printer makers increasingly push subscription models, the controversy highlights long-standing tensions over the high costs of proprietary ink replacements versus third-party alternatives.

The bitter legal battle seems primed to further antagonize HP’s customer base over what critics condemn as anti-competitive practices designed to sustain lucrative ink sales.

We’ve done a number of stories on legisltation and regulation from the EU that is aimed at increasing customer choice and promoting real competition. Is it working? In one case it seems to have had an impact.

It turns out that some alternative web browsers are reporting an uplift in user interest and downloads in the European Union following the recent enforcement of a new digital regulation called the Digital Markets Act or DMA.

The landmark rules, which took effect last month, require dominant tech gatekeepers like Apple and Google to present mobile consumers with choice screens displaying alternative browsers and other core apps.

The goal is to shake up competition against pre-installed defaults and make clients more aware of their options beyond Safari on iOS or Chrome on Android.

While it’s still very early days, several smaller browser makers have already shared positive metrics pointing to increased attention from EU individuals.

Norway’s Opera says new user growth was up 63% from February to late March. While fellow Norwegian browser Vivaldi reports a jump in EU downloads, rising to nearly 70% in the eight countries where it appears on Apple’s choice screen.

The privacy-focused Brave browser also cited a doubling of daily iOS installs in the EU compared to pre-choice screen levels.

And little-known Cyprus-based rival Aloha claimed to have seen 250% growth in new customers as it jumped from the 4th to 2nd biggest EU market.

However, not all alternative browsers are seeing clear gains yet. Veteran players like Mozilla’s Firefox, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia say it’s too early to accurately assess the DMA’s impact as choice screen rollouts are still ongoing, although some claim that these browsers are purposely holding back from reporting success because they want to keep the pressure on to make the choices even more clear and easier to adopt.

For example, the are complaints that Apple’s iOS implementation in particular has significant design flaws hampering consumers’ ability to make meaningful choices about switching browsers.

The European Commission has open investigations into suspected cases of improper compliance by the tech giants, including Apple’s choice screen methodology.

With this continued pressure from the largest alternative browsers, and given the EUs track record, it is likely they will be monitoring closely to ensure dominant gatekeepers are genuinely opening their platforms to greater competition and consumer choice as intended.

Some tech industry CEOs are putting their money where their skepticism is when it comes to Elon Musk’s ambitious predictions about artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence in the next few years.

During a recent interview, the billionaire claimed AI will likely exceed the cognitive capabilities of any single human by the end of 2024, with AI as a whole outstripping the combined intelligence of all humans within just five years.

But those bold forecasts are being met with raised eyebrows and big bets from some AI experts who view Musk’s timeline as wildly unrealistic.

Gary Marcus, CEO of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence, publicly offered up $1 million to anyone. Including Musk, who can prove him wrong.

That prompted Damion Hankejh, CEO of , to raise the stakes even further, saying he’d cover a $10 million wager against Musk’s AI predictions coming true.

Marcus stated Musk has not responded to the million-dollar challenges yet, but added the Tesla CEO has previously ignored Marcus’ smaller $100,000 bet that artificial general intelligence was not actually imminent, as Musk claimed.

For Marcus, the bets are about more than just money. He wants to spark a public discussion with Musk about what artificial intelligence can realistically achieve in the near-term versus the almost utopian promises that have become common from tech leaders.

Marcus argues many in the industry have a track record of making scientifically implausible proposes and missing self-imposed deadlines, pointing to the ongoing challenges with self-driving cars as one example.

While large language models have made rapid advances, Marcus contends the notion they could exceed human-level general intelligence within just a couple of years is fanciful. Estimating that milestone may still be decades away.

As CEOs literally gamble over contrasting AI outlooks, the high-stakes bets underscore an intensifying debate over whether too much hype is obscuring the real state and timeline of artificial intelligence development.

I don’t know. Just this once and only once. I’m putting my money on Elon being right.

As always, love to hear what you might think.

Thanks for those who’ve written in with comments including the person who wrote me about their trials and tribulations HP printers and ink purchases.

I’m your host Jim Love. Have a Fantastic Friday.

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More Android phones should copy how the Xiaomi 15 offers its AI writing tools

This sets it apart from OnePlus and Pixel, which make their AI writing capabilities available through select apps.

Samsung also lately started to offer its AI writing tools through the text selection menu, suggesting this could become a broader trend in the future.

If you struggle to find the right words to say. Then you might find it useful to employ AI to refine your message. There’s a lot of different AI writing tools to pick from, though, and many are limited to certain apps. This makes it challenging to combine different services unless you’re prepared to repeatedly copy and paste text. The Xiaomi 15 series addresses this by integrating its AI writing tools directly into Android’s text selection menu, a surprisingly underutilized feature.

The Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra, like many of the best Android phones, offer an AI writing toolkit that uses generative AI models to summarize, proofread. Extend, or rewrite text.

To access this toolkit on the Xiaomi 15, simply select text and tap the AI writing button on the left of the selection menu. This works in any app, as the text selection menu provides consistent base options across all applications.

Most other phones with AI writing tools only make them available through their first-party keyboard or note-taking apps. Which is disappointing for anyone who uses third-party alternatives. Pixel phones, for example, require you to use Gboard for Google’s AI-powered proofreading. Additionally, their AI-powered rewriting feature is limited to the Google Messages app. Similarly, OnePlus’ AI writing toolkit is exclusively accessible within the OnePlus Notes app.

Building AI writing tools into first-party apps makes a lot of sense for vendors. As it encourages people to use them instead of alternatives. However, it’s frustrating for people if the first-party app is inferior or lacks certain functions compared to alternatives. Android has long offered the ability for apps to build custom text selection actions, so integrating these AI writing tools into the system enables people to utilize them seamlessly across all apps.

Samsung seems to be the only other smartphone corporation to have recognized the practical utility of this approach. In its upcoming One UI 7 release, the corporation no longer requires you to use its Samsung Keyboard app to take advantage of its AI writing functions. Hopefully, other companies adopt the approach of Xiaomi and Samsung and make their AI writing tools available system-wide rather than only in first-party apps.

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