Until recently Linkedin seemed like the social platform that had the least misinformation, the least spam, and the strongest comments.  Its refreshing to have that and I think Linkedin members appreciate it and want to keep it that way.  But lately there is an increase in comment spam; and they are often subtle.  For example an article about electric cars might get a comment from someone who claims to be into sustainability, and then they say how ugly a Tesla car is, or how terrible EV batteries are.   Sometimes they are worded in an awkward way and its hard to even understand some of the comments.

Facebook has a feature that few people use, perhaps they do not know it is there but its very useful: you can Hide a comment.  
 
If you post an article, and someone makes a spammy comment, if its really bad you can Delete it - but Hiding it is better.  When you Hide a comment on Faceobook, no one sees it - except the person who made the comment.  That means they are unaware it was hidden.  This helps everyone, it makes a discussion more civil, and there is no angry backlash from the comment author.

I would  love to see Linkedin add a Hiding feature  People who post articles need this, and there might even be more senior people posting if they know they can control the comment flow in a more flexible manner.
​ 

​Controversy has gone on now for quite some time about the role of social media in enabling and propogating fake news; and nowhere more so than the political arena.
 
Twitter and other social media companies no longer allow political ads at all.  But Facebook refuses to do this.  Obviously they derive some income from it; but Facebook is the largest social network and this seems to have gone to their head.  Its hard to understand what principles they think they are upholding. 

Many prominent people (and scores of regular people) have left Facebook.  Stephen King recently announced he has closed his Facebook account, and you can follow him on Twitter.  

Facebook refuses to stop showing political ads. If Zuckerberg were in charge of advertising in New York's Times Square, we would have ads  like this one:

There is only a downside to political ads; they provide no useful information.  Allowing ads gives an unfair advantage to the right and powerful (who may very well friends of Mark Zuckerberg).  In terms of accuracy, politicla ads are inherently misleading, and have always been so; its not aa modern development.  Given the long history of aggressiveness in political ads, it will obviously continue to be the style of such advertising.

One solution is that Facebook could create a separate area, and not part of the Timeline of people.  But Facebook will never do this, because no one would go to it.  No one likes political ads, except for the candidates running them.

Sacha Baron Cohen said it best: if Facebook had been around in the 1930's and 1940's, they would have allowed ads from Nazi's  Facebook is not a government, it is more like a restaurant - and thus not bound in any way by the First Amendment; speech can be barred.  Read more here about Sacha's comments.

Facebook in general is all about advertising; so now it has become intrusive, and is just not as much fun anymore.  Facebook is damaging itself, but they cannot see it.  If enogh people leave Facebook thta it finally recognized the damage they are doing, it would be too late to stop the tide of departures.

The US Constitution, and the State constitutions, promote Free Speech right only in regards to government contexts.  In the rest of society, it is called 'Private Action' and it is legal to make such choices.  You dont have to allow racists in your business or home.  Wikipedia explains more

Facebook is showing they do not understand the pervasive and damagingnature of propoganda - especially on young minds.  Facebook used to talk of the 'Social Graph" as the metaphor for Facebook; but nothing could be further from the truth.   

Note: the first image, of the giant swastika in Times Square, is taken from a TV show called "The Man in the High Castle", which is a series about a fictional world where the Nazi's were victorious in WW II.  

Consumers now have dozens of payment methods to choose from.  This includes Cash; Debit cards; Credit cards; Phone-based 'wallet' and payment methods like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay; Identity-based payment methods (some coming soon) such as eye/face recognition, fingerprint recognition, and Hand-print recognition; and Cryptocoin such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Etherium, and many more (over 2,000 different crypto-currencies exist as of January 2020!), and other kinds of payment methods are being discussed as well.
​ 

With thousdands of payment methods now available (and new ones coming every year), there is a need for better ways to organize payment options, and signups for new payment methods.  This need will grow more important over time as payment methods continue to grow.  ​Each payment method has its advantages and disadvantages; so a person shopping close to home might have different needs than someone travelling, or doing something creative online.  A solution is needed that addresses all scenarios.
​ 

We are working on a patent for a new way of organizing payment methods, making it easier on consumers. Our solution will be revealed once it is Patent-Pending. It is a creative way to let users choose their favorite payment method, at any point in time.  Our solution is intuitive and makes a lot of sense; and is instantly understood when you see it.  Check back with us to find out more!
​ 

If you are working in the payments industry, and have some new ideas, or waant to discuss new payment methods in general, contact us.  We are especially interested in new ways of organizing categorizing, and publicizing payment methods.
​ 

The music streaming industry has been steadily growing, and finally hit 1 trillion streams, in 2019.  That is a very impressive number.
 
The likes of Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer, and other music streaming companies are supplying us with the majority of our music now.  
 
Vinyl also continues to grow, and its about to surpass CD sales; while vinyl is growing, CD's continue to decline.  The CD has a very low cost to produce, so it will stick around for awhile and you can still find new cars with CD players - but that will soon change.

Some of the music streaming services are working on higher resolution formats, and that will become a big growth area later once it gets more traction.  Wikipedia has a good article on high resolution audio.

There is a movement called the MLC, which stands for Mechanical Licensing Collective, and is part of a new law called the "Music Licensing Modernization Act".  Its goal is to improve how music licensing is done, to make it fairer and help artists earn; but it is early days for the MLC. You can read more here.

Spotify continues to be the best music streaming service, no question.  Many people kind of gave up on Google, which at times has offered a rather confusing mish-mash of services.  Amazon is starting to raise its quality level, even talking about higher definition music, so lets keep an eye on Amazon Music, too.

You can also read more about our invention, called the Master API, at our music blog site: MusicStreaming.com
​