How ‘Zoom’ became the ‘Kleenex’ of video calling

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What’s in a name? For Zoom, it’s quite a lot. One of the reasons why Zoom became so popular, and the reference point for virtual meetings and video conferences amid a yearlong pandemic, is because the brand name itself is a strong selling point. It’s helped Zoom become the “BandAid” of pandemic life. An early pioneer in the video conferencing market, Zoom employs the sound symbolism onomatopoeia , which is when a word describes a sound by imitating the actual sound. According to the field of linguistics, sound symbolism is a theory which hypothesizes that there is a relationship between sound and meaning in multiple forms. By definition, zoom means: (for a person/thing) to move or travel very quickly, (2) (of a camera or user) to change smoothly from a long shot to a close-up or vice versa, or (3) to express sudden fast movement. Hence, the word itself takes on the meaning of “fast” and “sudden” and lends itself to the action of changing the focus of a camera. The brand name directly connects with the meaning of the word. Plus, brands with names that symbolically fit their purpose—like through onomatopoeia—are more memorable, according to a 2017 study by Colby College psychology researchers Melissa A. Preziosi and Jennifer H. Read More …

Citizen’s dystopian new feature is mass surveillance disguised as public safety

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O n October 26, 2020, police killed Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia, as his mother stood on the sidewalk, pleading for his life. Over the next few days, the neighborhood erupted in protest, and my phone lit up with alerts from Citizen, a public safety app. Writers for the app monitor and transcribe police scanner chatter, which is then converted into push notifications. There was a break-in at Rite Aid, a burglary at a nearby liquor store, a dumpster fire one block over, a trash fire 900 feet away. As local news has been decimated by budget cuts and layoffs, apps such as Citizen and Nextdoor have ascended to fill the void. Citizen in particular has increasingly positioned itself as a news organization. “We act fast, break news, and give people the immediate information they need to stay safe,” reads an overview on the company’s LinkedIn profile . Citizen often ranks higher than The New York Times among news apps in the Apple App Store. In theory, the platform democratizes reporting; it allows anyone with a smartphone to post comments and videos to a neighborhood network. But in practice, these alerts and the neighborhood commentary attached to them often read like police stenography and amplify existing biases Read More …

This hilarious game mimics all the insane ways companies trick you into giving up your data

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Yes or no: Do you agree to the terms and conditions of this website? Would you like to not receive our newsletter? If you don’t want to receive our newsletter, would you rather have bad breath and no friends? Those are a few of the easier questions in “ Terms & Conditions Apply ,” a new online quiz game that spoofs the modern web’s dark patterns . Too often, the act of rejecting cookies or dismissing newsletter sign-up prompts can feel like a video game, with hidden buttons to press and cryptic menus to decipher. So Jonathan Plackett, a creative technologist at the ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, teamed up with The Guardian puzzle columnist Alex Bellos to build an actual puzzle game out of it. [Image: Wieden + Kennedy] The game’s goal is to reject all notification prompts, cookies, and terms of service agreements, and while its 29 questions start out simple enough, they quickly take a turn toward the farcical. One question pays homage to the “ two-door riddle ” from Labyrinth , while several others involve buttons that move around when you try to click them. [Image: Wieden + Kennedy] In reality, websites employ much subtler tricks to secure the outcomes they want. Last year, a group of university researchers found that when a site made users click onto a secondary menu page to opt out of data collection, consent rates increased by 22% . Another study, by Deloitte , found that 43% of websites tried to “nudge” users toward accepting cookies through “strategic use of font size, color, and level of complexity” in their prompts. The good news is that workarounds exist. Browser extensions such as I Don’t Care About Cookies for desktop and Hush for iOS will automatically hide the prompts that ask you to allow tracking or sign up for newsletters. In other words, you can opt out of playing the game entirely. Give Terms & Conditions Apply a try by visiting the site in your browser . The creators promise they won’t track you. Read More …

In Epic case, Apple might win the battle and lose the war

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No matter who prevails in the Epic Games v. Apple app store antitrust trial, history may see it as just one skirmish in a wider war. Apple has a good chance of winning. Current antitrust laws—which are ancient—as well as decades of jurisprudence in U.S. courts make it very hard for plaintiffs to win antitrust cases. But Congress is now considering reigning in the monopoly power of companies like Apple through changes to antitrust laws or even through direct regulation of app marketplaces. Indeed, my sources in Congress say lawmakers are watching Epic v. Apple , which is expected to wrap up this week in a federal court in Oakland, California, with great interest. Both the House antitrust subcommittee (led by Democratic Congressman David Cicilline of Rhode Island) and the Senate antitrust subcommittee (led by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota), have held hearings on app distribution through Apple’s App Store and Google Play. During those hearings, app developers complained about the strict rules they must abide by in order to be listed in the App Store, which is virtually the only way developers can access the huge worldwide market of iOS device users. In the U.S., more than half of all mobile devices run iOS, and studies show iOS users spend far more money on apps and in-app purchases than other mobile users. Apple requires that apps use the App Store’s in-house payment system to sell goods or services within their apps, and it charges developers a commission of up to 30%. App developers are prohibited from selling their apps and many forms of digital services to iOS users any other way. Here’s the language from Apple’s own developer guidelines document: “Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality markers, QR codes, etc. Apps and their metadata may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.” Apple, of course, makes its own apps, such as Apple Music, and can give them better visibility within the App Store than competing apps from third-party developers. (Search for “Music” in the App Store, and Apple Music, not Spotify, is the top result.) Developers are urging Congress to pass a law that limits the “gatekeeper” power of companies running app stores. Epic complained of all of these things in the courtroom in Oakland but, at least in light of past court decisions, Apple has a compelling defense. Read More …

Haven is dead, but JPMorgan still wants to transform healthcare

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In February, JPMorgan, Amazon, and Berkshire Hathaway ended Haven, a buzzy joint venture that sought to improve patient outcomes through better primary care and that shook up the entire healthcare world. Now, the banking giant is launching its own version of Haven: Morgan Health. Dan Mendelson, a healthcare consultant who previously served as the associate director for health at the Office of Management and Budget under the Clinton administration, will head up JPMorgan’s new health company. He says that Morgan Health will have the same goals as Haven did, in terms of improving quality, access, and cost, but differ in its approach. “The Haven experience focused us on primary care, digital medicine, and specific populations. . . . You can see this as a continuation of the work that was started at Haven,” he said in an interview with healthcare industry publication Becker’s Hospital Review . Haven was attempting to build a system from the ground up, he says. Instead of taking that approach, Morgan Health will focus on collaborating with outside partners to create a new health program for the bank’s 165,000 employees and their families. The goal of the new venture is to reinvent how employees receive their healthcare Read More …