All posts by Paul Stradling

News

Tech Insight : How To Know If Someone Has Read Your Email?

In this tech insight, we take a look at the better-known ways of being able to tell if someone has read your email.

The Usual Suspects

The main ways to tell if a person has read your email include:

– Request a read receipt when you compose the email.  The read receipt is then sent to you as an email with the time and date of when your message was opened.  For example, in Gmail, when composing the email, bottom right, click “More options” > “Request a read receipt”. In Outlook, Go to File > Options > Mail, and Under Tracking, select “Read receipt” which confirms that the recipient viewed the message checkbox.

– Delivery receipt. This is a way of confirming (by receiving an email back) if an email message has been delivered to the recipient’s e-mail server.  In Outlook, for example, go to File > Options > Mail, and Under Tracking, select “Delivery receipt”. Although it will directly confirm if the email has been read, it will confirm if the email address you sent to exists.

– Tracking pixels. A tracking pixel / marketing pixel / spy pixel is a 1×1 pixel graphic that can be hidden in anything from banner ads to emails and used to track user behaviour.  Tracking pixels can be inserted in emails and used to log if and when an email is opened, how many times it’s opened, and what device / devices are used. It can also use the (IP) address to get a rough idea of the recipient’s physical location.

– LinkedIn’s Inmail.  This service, within LinkedIn, allows one LinkedIn member to directly message another LinkedIn member that they aren’t connected to. LinkedIn allows read receipts on its internal messages so that the sender can see if the email has been read.  These receipts can be requested by clicking on the ‘Me’ icon at the top of the page, and selecting “Settings & Privacy” (dropdown list), “Communications” > “Messaging experience” > “Change”, and next to “Read receipts and typing indicators” turning the toggle to ‘on’.

– Third-party mail marketing programs and CRMs. Mailchimp, for example, can track who opened your marketing email (sent to their email address), and how many times. Zoho can track emails but requires a read-receipt request to see if the email has been opened (using the “Ask Receipt” feature).

– Third-party email tracking tools/ apps. Many of these work as an extension in Google Chrome, for example, Right, SalesHandy, Mailtrack, Streak, or MailTracker.

– Using codes. With Campaign Monitor, for example, UTM codes can be set within the emails to tell the analytics tool which recipients visited from your email campaigns, thereby confirming that the email has been opened.

Fooling Read Receipts?

App security and the option to opt-out/turn-off features like receipts mean that in many cases, it’s possible to fool these features. There are, however, some ‘hacks’ and methods for some apps posted online. One example involving WhatsApp, involves recording a voice note (in WhatsApp), where a sender can see if a recipient has played the recording, even if the recipient has disabled the ‘Read Receipt’ feature.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For business, marketing (and sometimes legal reasons), it is often important and helpful to know if a person has seen and opened your email. Emails, however, are private communications involving the management of personal data and, as such, there are relatively ways to monitor email openings (e.g. requesting a read receipt or other methods described earlier). For businesses, this may be an ongoing marketing challenge but, as individuals, there is value in maintaining our own email privacy and security.

News

Featured Article : Digital Markets Act Could Protect Whistleblowers

The EU’s adoption of a proposal on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on Tuesday not only offers the potential to help tackle the market dominance of big tech businesses but could also protect whistleblowers.

What Is The Digital Markets Act?

Currently at the proposal stage, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) from the European Commission is designed to ensure a higher degree of competition within the European Digital Markets, by preventing large companies from abusing their market power and by allowing new players to enter the market. The idea is to create more of a level playing field for businesses which the EC believes could help to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness. The DMA will apply to businesses, and the EC has another initiative called the Digital Services Act (DSA) which will be used help protect the rights of users of digital services.

DMA Will Apply To “Gatekeepers”

One of the core ideas of the DMA is that rules are needed to govern “Gatekeeper” online platforms. These “Gatekeepers” are defined as “digital platforms with a systemic role in the internal market that function as bottlenecks between businesses and consumers for important digital services”.  For a large online platform to qualify as a “Gatekeeper” and, therefore, be subject to rules of the DMA, the EC says that the criteria to be met are that a company has:

– A strong economic position, significant impact on the internal market and is active in multiple EU countries.

– A strong intermediation position, meaning that it links a large user base to a large number of businesses.

– An entrenched and durable position in the market, meaning that it is stable over time.

To be more specific, a Gatekeeper platform has:

– A core platform in at least three EU countries with at least 45 million end users, and more than 10,000 business users.

– A business that operates in the European Economic Area (EEA), and generates €8 billion (£6.7 billion) in annual turnover, and has a market capitalisation of at least €80 billion (£67 billion).

Recent Whistleblower Allegations

Antitrust allegations, arguments about paying tax, and criticism about how big tech platforms are (or aren’t) policing themselves (with issues such as harmful content and misinformation) have long been made against the big tech platforms. The recent allegations by Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower, Frances Haugen, has shone a strong light on the subject.  Haugen alleged that Facebook, now ‘Meta’, which could be described as a “Gatekeeper”, is putting profit before people, and not addressing alleged issues about the safety of young users (Facebook and Instagram). For example, Frances Haugen claimed that Facebook was “unquestionably” making online hate worse, and told UK MPs that safety teams were under-resourced, and that “Facebook has been unwilling to accept even little slivers of profit being sacrificed for safety” and being “more dangerous than other forms of social media”.

Why Whistleblowers Are Important

Whistleblowers are insiders who take an ethical stance (or have other motivations) by publicly speaking-out about a company/organisation’s wrongdoing or questionable behaviour, often at their own expense.  Some of the reasons why whistleblowers are important are that they:

– Protect a company’s customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

– Protect an organisation by helping to combat fraud and misconduct.

– Help enforce the general rule of law by shining a light on law-breaking.

– Point to areas that may have been causing problems to the business itself and this can lead to the creation of a better culture and greater transparency which can business perform better.

Whistleblowing, however, is often unwelcome as it can show individuals and companies in a negative way and can lead to retaliation against the whistleblower. Given the power imbalance between the organisation and the individual who speaks out, plus the barriers of being able to speak out, companies need to have systems in place to allow reporting of concerns, and there needs to be protection for whistleblowers.

Already A Whistleblowing Directive

The EU already has a directive (DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/1937) which came into force in October 2019 which is specifically designed to protect whistleblowers by stipulating that companies working in the EU with 50 or more employees must create internal reporting systems in order to help employees and third parties report violations of EU law and to protect those persons from retaliation when they speak up.

How The DMA Will Protect Whistleblowers

The DMA proposal states that Internal Market MEPs should ensure adequate protections are afforded to any whistleblowers at companies who come under the DMA’s remit and violate the DMA’s rules. This should help protect whistleblowers from retaliation by big tech “Gatekeeper” platforms.

Other Points in the DMA

Other important things that DMA seeks to do include:

– Protecting personal data-collection consent under GDPR, particularly where the data of minors is concerned in relation to direct marketing or targeted advertising strategies.

– Strengthening existing laws to give greater powers to help tackle absolute market dominance of big online platforms in the EU.

The Punishments

The proposed punishments for big digital platforms that the DMA rules against could be fines of no less than 4 per cent and no greater than 20 per cent of the gatekeeper’s global turnover. Given the size of a big digital platform’s operations, this could represent a significant punishment.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For the household-name digital platforms, this means a toughening-up of regulations in the EU area and could represent a threat to what many perceive to be their huge market dominance and, therefore, their profits. Greater protection for whistleblowers could also represent a threat in terms of allowing yet more damaging and costly bad publicity. For other, smaller digital companies operating in the EU area, the DMA is likely to be a welcome step, allowing them more of a chance to compete and gain more share in a market dominated by giants for so long. Big digital platforms, however, already operate in a highly regulated environment and whistleblower revelations, such as Frances Haugen’s, illustrate that they may still be able to operate in ways that could be perceived as questionable. The wealth of digital platforms may, however, mean that the threat of smaller fines may not be such a big deterrent. As such, it remains to be seen how much difference the DMA can make when it is finally introduced.

News

Tech News : Hamster Crypto-Croaks

Max, a.k.a. “Mr Goxx”, the hamster that found Internet fame through outperforming many human cryptocurrency-traders, has died.

Experiment With ‘Wheel’ Results

The hamster’s life as a crypto trader was down to him being used as part of an experiment by an anonymous German lecturer and prototyping specialist duo who set out to demonstrate the randomness of the crypto markets.

How?

Max’s cage (“office”) contained an ‘intention wheel’ used to select different crypto-currencies, and two tunnels, one for ‘buying’ and one for ‘selling’. A run on the wheel, followed by which tunnel he chose to walk through, decided which cryptocurrency would be bought/sold. His ‘office floor’ activities were shown on ‘Twitch’ (a video live streaming service).

Live Fast, Die Young

The hamster’s financial predictions only began in June this year but in his short time as an unsuspecting crypto-trader, he occasionally came out slightly ahead of Bitcoin, gained followers around the world on Twitter, and even attracted the attention of multi-billionaire Elon Musk.

Finished On A High

Following his last trading session on 20 November, Mr. Goxx was reported to have been up 19.72 per cent, apparently outperforming Warren Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway.

The Point

The duo behind the experiment, who always stressed that Mr Goxx’s predictions should not be taken as any kind of real financial advice, were making the point that for most people, the world of cryptocurrencies is baffling, and lacks transparency. For example, the pair are quoted as saying that “It seems like most people from our generation see no other chance than throwing a lot of their savings on the crypto market, without having a clue what’s going on there”.

One-Third of Investors Know Little To Nothing About Crypto

The point of the Mr Goxx experiment is also illustrated by a report from Cardify (March 2021) which showed that only 16.9 per cent of investors who have bought cryptocurrency “fully understand” its value and potential. The survey also showed that 33.5 per cent of buyers have either little or zero knowledge about cryptocurrencies and would describe their understanding of the subject as “emerging.”

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Many businesses are likely to share the view that despite much of the hype and news about the benefits and the apparent volatility of cryptocurrencies to date, there is still a lack of clear information and guidance about how crypto-currency investment can be undertaken successfully, and how it can be used to benefit businesses. Whereas blockchain (the technology behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin) is already being used successfully in multiple business sectors, if the random choices of a hamster can outperform the deliberate moves of renowned investors business, trust in crypto-trading is likely to remain very low, scepticism will remain high, and all things crypto-currency are likely to remain a mystery. For those businesses already involved or thinking of getting involved in crypto-currency investment, some of the suggested guidance includes setting limits on investment amounts and which currencies, having a diverse portfolio, taking a long-term view, as well as using automated purchases, and possibly using trading bots. Without the knowledge and understanding of crypto-currencies, however, many may be tempted to seek the help of professionals in crypto-investment.

News

Tech News : Self-Powered Mobile Masts Could Beat Remote Off-Grid Challenges

Vodafone’s announcement that it aims to deploy self-powered ‘Eco-Tower’ mobile masts across the UK could mean connections for remote areas as well as environmental benefits.

Wind and Solar Powered

The new masts will be self-powered, using wind turbine technology, combined with new solar and battery technologies developed through Vodafone working with renewable energy technology specialist Crossflow Energy over the last two years.

Most Remote Sites Can Now Be Connected

One of the big civil engineering challenges of expanding phone networks with new mast sites has been, up until now, the need to connect them to the grid. Being able to generate their own power on-site, anywhere, means that the new masts are a promising way to provide connections to even very remote areas. This could help people in rural communities and help Vodafone to grow its network while achieving its energy-saving ambitions (reducing Vodafone’s energy consumption), and provide a more environmentally friendly and sustainable solution to connection challenges.

Other Benefits

Vodafone has highlighted other possible benefits of the self-powered Eco-Towers as being:

– Reducing the environmental impact of each site by using locally generated renewable power.

– A reduced reliance on diesel generators for back-up power thanks to the increased renewable contribution from the combination of wind and solar, together with battery storage systems on-site.

– The ability to be sited in the most sensitive of sites, including Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, because of the quiet, bird-friendly turbine of each Eco-Tower.

– A more secure power supply. I.e. it will not be affected by problems associated with the grid.

Helping Vodafone To Meet Targets

The Eco-Towers also provide a way for Vodafone to meet two important targets, which are:

– The Shared Rural Network (SRN) initiative, whereby all four mobile network operators have agreed to deliver 95 per cent combined coverage across the whole of the UK by the end of 2025.

– Vodafone’s own commitments to remove all carbon emissions from its own operations from 2027, remove all carbon emissions from its operations and the energy it purchases (across 21 countries) by 2030, and reduce all its global carbon emissions to net zero by 2040.

Sustainability

Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer, Vodafone UK, said: “Our approach to managing our network as responsibly as possible is very simple: we put sustainability at the heart of every decision. There is no silver bullet to reducing energy consumption, but each of these steps forward takes us closer to achieving net zero for our UK operations by 2027.”

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This is likely to be good news for businesses in rural areas that have struggled to get any reliable phone connections due to their distance from the grid, and any masts. It also provides a promising way for Vodafone to meet its environmental targets and commitments, as well offering a source of competitive advantage for Vodafone. The company also plans to deploy a new 43 per cent more energy efficient 5G radio unit which could decrease the energy consumption of its future 5G network once deployed, thereby giving it even more efficient operations going forward. Whilst the environmental and practical benefits of Eco-Towers are clear, Vodafone customers may hope that an expanding network won’t contribute to higher bills and that the efficiencies of the new 5G radio unit may also be a way to keep prices down.

News

Tech Tip – Using Windows ‘Hello’ For Easier and Safer Device Sign-In

Microsoft Hello offers a way for Windows 10/11 users to get a more personal (and secure) way to instantly access Windows 10 devices using a PIN, facial recognition, or fingerprint. Here’s how to set it up:

– In your device, Select “Start > Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options”.

– Select “Manage how you sign in to your device”.

There are three choices to sign in with Windows Hello:

– Select “Windows Hello Face” to set up facial recognition sign-in with your PC’s infrared camera or an external infrared camera.

– Select “Windows Hello Fingerprint” to set up sign-in with a fingerprint reader.

– Select “Windows Hello PIN” to set up sign-in with a PIN.

Please note: you will need to set up a PIN as part of setting up fingerprint or facial recognition sign-in. The PIN is associated with just one device.

News

Sustainability: Ethical Phones and Computers

In this article we look at what ethical phones and computers are, what makes them ‘ethical’ and what contribution they could be making to helping the environment by tackling issues such as the growing e-waste mountain.

Tackling E-Waste

The world currently has a big problem with electronic waste in terms of a “take, make, consume, dispose” attitude, mounting volumes of production and disposal, and little engagement with the circular economy by many manufacturers. For example, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor report (2020) shows that e-waste is now the fastest growing global waste stream with a record 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste generated worldwide in 2019, up 21 per cent in just five years. Not only does the worldwide pile of electronic waste weigh more than all the commercial airliners ever made, or the Great Wall of China (WEEE), but less than 20 per cent of the world’s e-waste is collected and recycled. This means that gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high-value, recoverable materials, conservatively valued at US $57 billion, are simply dumped or burned, and there is a huge polluting environmental impact.

Other Issues

Also, there are also arguments that many of the factory workers who manufacture electronic goods such as phone handsets are on low wages, and that governments are overlooking opportunities to promote and incentivise more re-use and recycling of the kinds of scarce materials found in e-waste. There are also questions about ethics and responsibility and whether manufacturers are putting profits before the planet and people.

Right-to-Repair

Making phones and computers that can be repaired by their users, rather than just by approved repairers is seen as another important way to help reduce the e-waste mountain. The ‘right-to-repair’ is a movement that seeks to have rules/legislation passed that forces manufacturers e.g., of electrical products, such as phones to make parts (and information) available to end customers, not just approved/authorised repairers, and technicians, so that it is possible for end-users to fix the product at home. The basic idea is that this could help tackle built-in obsolescence, thereby prolonging product life cycles, creating better value and saving money for consumers, and reducing the number of products going to waste thereby helping the environment. Ethical phones and other ethical devices have the ‘right-to-repair’ built-in to their design.

How Could Ethical Electronic Devices Help?

If devices such as ethical phones and computers are manufactured with fair trade, welfare of workers, repair, and recycling already built into the business model from the outset, and if there is wide market adoption, it could have a much more positive environmental impact than the current situation, and could slow and cuts the flow of e-waste, and help countries to meet their environmental targets.

What Is An Ethical Phone?

An ethical phone is one that has been manufactured with the circular economy in mind and the end-of-life of the product being incorporated into its design and manufacture (repair and recycling). Taking ‘Fairphone’ as an example of an ‘ethical phone,’ it offers:

– A take-back scheme so that customers can easily return the handset, thereby giving the opportunity of recycling the phones rather than sending them to landfill.

– A handset that’s ‘e-waste neutral’ because an equivalent volume of electronics is recycled per phone that’s sold.

– Workers who manufacture the handsets have a living wage bonus scheme enabling them to (depending on targets) receive 30 per cent extra on their wages.

– Ethically sourced precious metals and recycled metals are used in the handset manufacture e.g., aluminium and tungsten, plus recycled tin, copper, and rare earth metals. Also, Fairphone claims to be the first and only smartphone company to integrate Fairtrade gold in its supply chain.

– Recycled plastic for the phone casing.

– A modular design to minimise both repair costs and downtime. This helps tackle popular phone damage issues such as screen damage (accounts for 67.4% of phone repairs) and battery problems (33.9% of phone repairs).

– The right-to-repair built-in to the design with handsets able to be repaired using just a screwdriver and easy access to parts. This coupled with the phone’s modular design can give it longevity, thereby reducing the need for a new phone and reducing the environmental impact.

Big Phone Manufacturers Turning To More Ethical Ideas

Apple, for example, recently announced the introduction of “self-service repair” programme, beginning next year, which will give iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 customers access to parts and information which will allow them to repair their own phones.

Ethical Computers

There are now also ethical computers on the market which have many of the same ideas as ethical phones incorporated in their design and manufacture. For example:

– The Iameco D4R (laptop) – encased in recycled wood and made so that it can be repaired easily/components can be swapped. The company claims that this laptop model accounts for at least 30 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and 75 per cent less freshwater use compared to standard laptops.

– Aleutia PCs – made primarily for use in the developing world, (where there is little access to grid power) these computers use solar cells for power.

– VeryPC computers e.g., the Broadleaf model, built to ‘green’ principles. In 2009, for example, the company set out to build “the most sustainable PC on the planet”.

– More well-known brands introducing models with a more environmental focus. For example, these include the Lenovo ThinkPad L Series laptops with their low energy consumption and more post-consumer recycled content (30 per cent) than other ThinkPads.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

Organisations get through a lot of phones, computers, and other electrical devices, and although they may be happy to promote environmental aspects of their operations and services, this aspect i.e., the problem of contributing to the e-waste mountain is often overlooked. As Fairphone points out, choosing ethical phones is a way that organisations can make a conscious decision to contribute to globally recognised UN Sustainable Development Goals, and it is an opportunity to send a clear signal about environmental and ethical values as an organisation, and as an employer. Consumers, employees, customers, and other stakeholders are increasingly conscious of the environment and value the environmental credentials of organisations. Using ethical phones and devices, therefore, is a way to both help the environment, and enjoy the benefits of improved customer attitudes to an organisation.

News

Apple’s New ‘Business Essentials’

Apple has announced a new ‘Business Essentials’ service that enables small businesses to easily manage every employee’s iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Device Management Solution For Small Businesses

Aimed at business with up to 500 employees, Apple says that ‘Business Essentials’ has been designed to make it easy to manage every aspect of the Apple devices in the customer’s organisation as the organisation grows. Apple says this device management package for small businesses “makes managing Apple devices as easy as using them,” and that it’s “like having the big IT department, without having the big IT department.” Apple says that Business Essentials will allow a small business to easily configure, deploy, and manage Apple products from anywhere.

What Is Included With ‘Business Essentials’?

The service is described as a “complete solution” and includes help with setup, onboarding (described as being “as easy as logging in”), backup (using iCloud), security (built-in), support (24/7 with AppleCare), repairs, and updates. Apple stresses that the service will make it easy to get replacements and update devices.

There is also a new Apple Business Essentials app that employees can use to install apps assigned for work and to request support.

Collections

Within Business Essentials, ‘Collections’ enables IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individual users, groups, or devices. This means that when employees sign in to their corporate or personally owned device with their work credentials, Collections automatically pushes settings such as VPN configurations and Wi-Fi passwords. Also, Collections will install the new Apple Business Essentials app on each employee’s home screen, where they can download corporate apps assigned to them, such as Cisco Webex or Microsoft Word.

Security

Business Essentials allows IT managers to enforce critical security settings such as FileVault for full-disk encryption on Mac, and Activation Lock to protect devices that may be lost or stolen. Apple Business Essentials also ensures these can’t be turned off by mistake. For BYOD, when employees use a personal device at work, ‘User Enrolment’ creates cryptographic separation for work data, to ensure employee data remains private while company data remains secure.

Support and Repairs

Apple says businesses have the option to add fast and reliable service for employee devices with prioritised Apple Support. Also, when a business adds AppleCare+ for Business Essentials to their plan, they will receive 24/7 access to phone support, training for IT administrators and employees, and up to two device repairs per plan each year. One aspect that may be particularly appealing in the world of remote and hybrid work is that with Business Essentials, Employees can initiate repairs directly from the new Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician will come onsite in as little as four hours to fix their device.

When?

Business Essentials is currently only available for small businesses in the U.S. with up to 500 employees but potential users can apply to try Apple Business Essentials before its release in spring 2022 by enrolling here: https://smb.apple.com/essentials/ .

How Much?

There are three different Business Essentials plans available which can be customised to support each user with up to three devices and up to 2TB of secure storage in iCloud, starting at $2.99 per month, with optional AppleCare+ for Apple Business Essentials.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

With many different SMBs now using Apple devices for employees, and perhaps employees using their own Apple devices for work, and businesses operating remote and hybrid working practices, this sounds like a valuable service. Not only does it offer security and control, but the fact that it offers training and support and promises to be easy to set up and operate is likely to make it attractive to many businesses that are getting used to subscription-based everything, and who may not have the tech expertise in-house. It also sounds flexible enough to grow easily with businesses as they expand and change and provides a manageable way for them to move from BYOD (while ensuring data security) to IT deployed. For Apple, it is a way to get more enterprise business, learn more about its SMB customers and their needs going forward, and be immediately on hand when new devices are needed thereby retaining its customers and their loyalty.

News

Apple Introduces “Self-Service Repair”, Starting With iPhone 12 and iPhone 13

‘Right to repair’ campaigners finally had something to celebrate last week as Apple announced its “self-service repair” programme, aimed at “customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs.”

Initial Phase

Apple says that the initial phase of the programme, beginning in the US early next year, will be for iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models, and will focus on the most commonly serviced modules, such as the iPhone display, battery, and camera.

How Will It Work?

The programme, which Apple says is “intended for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices” relies firstly on the customer reviewing the Repair Manual. From here, Apple expects the customer to place an order for the necessary Apple genuine parts and tools using the Apple Self Service Repair Online Store. After the repair, any customers who return their used parts for recycling will receive credit toward their purchase.

Access To 200 Parts and Tools

Those choosing to attempt their own repairs via the “Self-Service Repair” programme will join the global network of 5,000 Apple Authorised Service Providers (AASPs) and 2,800 Independent Repair Providers who already have access to Apple parts, tools, and manuals. Those in the initial phase of the programme, however, will only have access, via the new store, to the 200 parts and tools which are commonly used for iPhone 12 and 13 repairs.

Next Phase

The wider roll-out of the programme is due to take place beyond the US to “additional countries” throughout 2022. Apple’s plan for the next phase of the programme is to provide Self-Service Repair for Mac computers featuring M1 chips.

Professional Repairs Still Best For The Majority

In its announcement of the new programme, Apple acknowledged that “For the vast majority of customers, visiting a professional repair provider with certified technicians who use genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to get a repair.”

Devices To Landfill A Big Problem

Devices such as phones contain precious elements that can be extracted and recycled, but vast numbers of phones simply go to landfill, adding to pollution levels. For example, a recent assessment by the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) showed that 151 million or more phones per year (approximately 416,000 per day) are incinerated or landfilled and that 40 per cent of heavy metals in US landfills come from discarded electronics.

Right To Repair Movement

The ‘right to repair’ movement has grown in recent years with the basic idea being to help tackle built-in obsolescence, thereby prolonging product life cycles, creating better value and saving money for consumers, reducing the number of products going to waste, and helping the environment. There have been calls for rules/legislation to be passed that force manufacturers (e.g., of appliances, electrical products, white goods and more) to make parts (and information) available to end customers, and not just approved/authorised repairers, and technicians, so that it is possible for end-users to fix the product at home.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

In reality, it seems unlikely in what has become a society used to simply “throwing away and replacing” (rather than repairing products) that many users will attempt home repairs on what are relatively complicated, delicate, high-value, and important daily-use items. Nevertheless, being seen to give the right to repair is likely to be really valued by some people and viewed positively by many. Apple has gone from the low-point scandal of being fined (for using a software update to slow down some old iPhones and not telling people how to fix the problem and prompting a battery replacement) to what appears to be the complete turnaround with this transparency and positivity of giving customers the power, means, and choice to fix their own devices rather than forcing them to only use approved technicians. Many businesses are aware of the need for improved environmental credentials and use Apple devices. This could mean a positive rub-off value for them and, coupled with the recent announcement of offering a Business Essentials full device management service, businesses now have some good reasons to view Apple in more positive light.

News

Tech Insight : Elon Musk : ‘Twick’ or Tweet?

In this tech-insight, we take a brief look at billionaire Elon Musk’s usage of Twitter, how and why he makes such use of the platform, and what Mr Musk’s interactions can teach businesses about using Twitter.

Who Is Elon Musk?

South African-born, business magnate Elon Musk, is the CEO, early investor and Product Architect of Tesla Inc, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX, as well as co-founder of Neuralink, and OpenAI. Musk formed bank X.com, which merged with Confinity in 2000 to create PayPal which was bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Musk also set up the tunnelling and engineering company called ‘The Boring Company’ which is reported to be working on hyperloop transport projects. Elon Musk is ranked second on the Forbes rich list with an estimated 151bn, although other lists rank his wealth as much higher.

Twitter Trouble

Elon Musk is known for his Twitter interactions, some of which have had seismic results. For example, back in 2018, Musk was reported to have made what turned out to be the most expensive tweet in the world. The tweet(s), about taking the Tesla company private using ‘secured’ funding cost him not just his role as Chairman for 3 years, but also a $20m (£15m) fine, and some damaging accusations of fraud.

Musk also faced a defamation trial after a short Twitter spat with a British cave diver who played a leading role in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. It was reported that after the cave diver labelled Musk’s offer to provide a mini-submarine for the rescue a ‘PR stunt,’ Mr Musk made a series of tweets aimed at the rescuer, one of which referred to him as “pedo guy”. Musk apologised for the tweet.

Climate Carbon Crisis Cash?

Back in January, Musk famously took to Twitter to pledge a prize of $100 (£73 million) prize, through Xprize Foundation, to whoever could develop the best technology to remove carbon dioxide (which is generated from burning fossil fuels) from the air.

Recently – Sanders Showdown & Customer Service Tweets

Some more recent Twitter battles that Musk has been involved in include:

– Going after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders after Mr Sanders tweeted that the extremely wealthy should pay their fair share of taxes. Musk’s replies made the point he doesn’t take a cash salary or bonus, but only has stock, which means that the only way for him to pay taxes personally is to sell stock. Mr Musk then held a Twitter poll among his followers to decide whether he should sell some stock. After his followers said he should, Musk sold nearly $7bn of shares in Tesla, which resulted in a fall in the Tesla share price.

– Personally tweeting a reply within 3 minutes of a complaint by a Korean owner over a problem with the Tesla app. Musk also came back with an update about the issue 5 hours later.

What’s Happening?

Despite Mr Musk’s lawyer arguing in a defamation case that Twitter is “infamous for invective and hyperbole,” and that Twitter users expect to hear opinions and not facts, Elon Musk makes frequent use of the platform, often to make Tesla announcements. Some of the reasons why Musk tweets in the way that he does may include:

– Instant, direct reach to all interested parties, including investors. Elon Musk has around 30 million followers. The platform’s effectiveness in bypassing traditional media (so that opinion must follow the message rather than shape it) was shown by how former US President Donald Trump used Twitter.

– Brand communications value. Unlike advertising, tweeting is free and with millions of followers, Musk can have a huge impact for (very) low cost.

– Strengthening an image. The way that Musk tweets (e.g., with sometimes controversial comments) and with the expectation that he could personally comment in anything from a single customer complaint to comments from politicians appears to strengthen his image as maverick and someone with an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit, strengthen his own brand image (and value), retain investor interest, and keep him in the public eye.

– Taking risks. For a billionaire, whose words can have an enormous impact on the value and brands of companies, taking to Twitter can be a risk (e.g., of saying the wrong thing). It could be argued that perhaps this risk is part of the attraction and/or it could be a way that Musk can feel/show himself to be an equal to and have the same freedoms in some ways as anyone else by allowing himself to express his own opinions freely online.

– Creating a buzz. Expressing opinions in an informal way can create not just a media buzz about Musk and his companies but can also stir up debate.

– Getting instant market intelligence and opinions. With so many followers, Musk can use Twitter as an instant gauge of opinion that can feed into making important business decisions.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Although Elon Musk’s wealth, fame, and audience size make him by no means a typical Twitter user, his use of the platform highlights both its value as a low-cost, direct, impactful communications channel to an opted-in, interested audience, but also how tweets should be thought about carefully first (e.g., where they concern a business and its investors) and how entering into personal spats can be damaging.  Its instant, conversational nature can, therefore, help businesses to respond quickly in a way that is helpful to customers but can also be risky if used too spontaneously. Twitter can help build the personality aspects of a company and can help stakeholders feel more in touch with a company.

News

Pesky Pop-Ups!

In this article, we look at some of the pop-ups that users find most annoying, some of the issues around them, and how users can minimise the annoyance and interruption from them.

Pop Up Ads

Pop-up (adverts) refer to online advertising that takes the form of an interruptive graphical user interface display area that suddenly appears in the foreground and is used to drive traffic to (e.g., a website) with a view to generating enquiries and sales. Pop up adverts have been used extensively in online marketing for years and vary in design and size. The reason they have been used so much is that they can be very effective. For example, a Sumo study (2019) found that although the average conversion rate for pop-up is 3.09 per cent, the top 10 per cent highest-performing pop-ups averaged an impressive 9.28 per cent conversion rate. One of the big problems with them is, however, that people generally find them to be VERY annoying

How Annoying?

In a HubSpot survey of US and European Internet users, online pop-ups topped the list of the most disliked type of adverts (73 per cent), and 48 per cent of respondents agreed that online adverts are more intrusive now than they were 2 to 3 years ago.

Why So Annoying?

Some of the reasons why pop-up adverts are so annoying include:

– They slow things down. Back in 2019, for example, research by developer Patrick Hulce showed that around 60 per cent of the loading time in a browser is caused by JavaScript code that is used to place adverts or analyse what users do. The research found that if ad-placing and analytics JavaScript code are used together on a page this can add more than two-thirds of a second to loading times

– They are intrusive, and they interrupt what a user is doing. Pop-up adverts can also be obstructive and distracting.

– They create security concerns, both for the websites that host the ads for third-party suppliers, and for web users, particularly if users accidentally click on a pop-up advert e.g., fear of downloading malware.

Particularly Annoying Types?

A Coalition for Better Ads survey (2017) found that of all adverts, desktop users least preferred pop-up ads, and autoplay videos (especially with sound).

How To Stop Pop-Up Adverts

Some examples of ways to stop pop-up adverts include:

– Install a pop-up (ad) blocker. Ad blockers are browser extensions or other filtering software that block web requests to download content (e.g., pop-up adverts) into the browser. In addition to stopping annoying pop-up adverts, ad blockers can also stop annoying banners or video ads on YouTube and Facebook, help with security by blocking malicious adverts, and help privacy by blocking third-party trackers.

– To stop pop-up ads in Chrome, go to the three dots menu (top right) and select ‘Settings.’  Under ‘Privacy and security’, click ‘Site setting’s, click ‘Pop-ups and redirects,’ and choose the option you want as your default setting.

– On Android (phone or tablet), open the Chrome app. To the right of the address bar, tap ‘More’, ‘Settings’, tap ‘Permissions’, ‘Pop-ups and redirects’, and Turn off ‘Pop-ups and redirects’.

– On an Apple Mac, pop-ups can be blocked using the Safari browser. For example, in Safari, find and click ‘Preferences’ in the drop-down menu, click on ‘Websites,’ click ‘Pop-up Windows’ (left-hand menu), click on the ‘When visiting other websites’ menu at the bottom and select ‘Block’ or ‘Block and Notify.’

Cookie Policy Pop-Ups

Another particularly annoying pop-up for many users is a cookie policy pop-up. The number of these pop-ups exploded with the introduction of GDPR in 2018. Some of the main complaints about cookie-policy pop-ups are:

– Cookie consent alerts are now widely viewed as being pointless.

– The countless cookie pop-ups in countries where online tracking needs to be actively consented to by a user lead to ‘cookie fatigue’ which in turn, can make people give away more personal data than they would like to.

– Many companies use cookie banners that don’t comply with the PECR and GDPR requirements.

– On mobiles, half the screen can sometimes be blocked out by them, making it very difficult to navigate and proceed.

Examples of how you can stop being plagued by annoying, and sometimes incredibly large, obtrusive, and obstructive cookie policy pop-ups include:

– Turn off cookies in your browser settings.

– Use a privacy-first web browser such as Brave, Ghostery, Tor, and DuckDuckGo.

– Use a special browser extension/add-on, such as Privacy Badger, Consent-O-Matic, (which automatically fills in your preferences when cookie popups appear), Consent Manager, or Ninja Cookie (which rejects cookies by default).

Third-Party Cookies Being Phased Out By Google

One of the big pieces of ‘cookie news’ this year was Google’s announcement (in March) that it will be phasing out third-party cookies over two years before rendering them obsolete. The reason for the slow phase-out is given as allowing time to develop workarounds that address the need of not just users, but also of businesses, publishers, and advertisers.

Cookie Shake-Up Planned

Also, a planned shake-up in data laws by Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden (who favours ‘light touch’ regulation) and the introduction of the new Information Commissioner, John Edwards, could soon see an end to the annoyance of cookie pop-ups.

Email / Mail App Pop Ups

The email ‘Mail’ app on Windows 10 can be another annoying pop-up. For example, notifications of new emails can interrupt the user as the notifications slide into the screen from right to left, requiring the user to click on the cross to close each one (which only leads to more) or click on ‘dismiss’. Although it can be helpful if the emails are important, many emails are of much less immediate importance than the work that the email interrupts.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Pop-up adverts and messages can be effective because they are interruptive, are difficult to ignore, and can grab the attention, sometimes with the right offer at the right time. Online advertising is an important way that companies and publishers can help fund their business and the content they produce, and this is why pop-up blockers have become such a contentious issue. Nevertheless, research shows that pop-up adverts can be very frustrating and annoying to Internet users, particularly if they impede, bombard or divert the users who may accidentally click on them. Cookie consent may have a place from a compliance perspective, but the effects of ‘cookie fatigue’ and the change of Information Commissioner, coupled with a ‘light touch’ Digital Secretary mean that sea-change is on the way for companies and users as regards cookies, and although users value their data privacy, they also value a smoother experience of the web.