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Don’t Clip Your Toenails On Your Next Zoom Meeting And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – to decode the future. We discuss everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more about what’s happening in the transformation of our digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

Are we all tired about the GameStop and Reddit debacle? I completely understand, but this is the top story in the technology world these days. A group of folks on Reddit used their stimulus cheques to completely dismantle the hedge funds that were trying to “short” the retailer, GameStop (and other businesses as well). Now, what we’re all seeing (what many knew) is this: Some knowledge about how to utilize certain financial instruments can topple the hedge funds. And, as these hedge fund companies complain that it’s unfair, many are left wondering if those complaints hold little water, considering that what has happened to them is similar to how they have been hollowing out businesses (and making billions) through the suffering of others. The financial mechanicals are complex, but the ethics seem pretty simple.
Spotify has a patent to monitor their user’s speech, intonation and emotion to “better” recommend music. We already know that Amazon’s Alexa system can tell by the timbre in your voice if you may be dealing with depression, but how far has this technology evolved? Can it figure out things like your emotional state, gender, age, accent and more? Might this make for better recommendations, or is the data of this information way more valuable than just trying to figure out if it’s a Morrissey kind of day for you?
If you’re on a Zoom for work and you are working from home, is it ok to smoke on your call? What about clipping your toe nails? Eating cereal? What about a messy bed in the background? Have we stopped caring about office etiquette even though we’re working for home? If we have, I’d argue we have a problem. It seems like Wired Magazine is on my side.
App of the Week: Screenity – A Google Chrome extension for screen recording and annotations.