computers, broadband, and social networking

"Finishing up shutter installation on sliders. Need input on how to get stubborn screws in concrete loose."  It’s October 5, 2016 and 125 mile per hour winds may be barreling into Florida. The streets of a neighborhood are connected and reveal what residents are doing, what they need.  The residents yesterday and today are mostly online (these are their quotes) and in need – or their neighbors are online and asking for help on their behalf. They have been invited in by their neighbors, the rental agency, homeowner association office and realtors.  That tool is Nextdoor, a last resort invention by a handful of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs right before before they returned money to investors.

So Facebook overstated ad video viewing – but no matter.  Is this a big deal, that this overstatement was 60-80% over a two-year period?  Enough to influence ad buying during that period, favoring Facebook, perhaps, over TV ads. It was enough for plenty of news coverage and an apology from Facebook, their ad revenue was 63% of its total revenue in the last quarter – more than $6 billion. Had they known, advertisers could have poured a bit more into TV ads.  Does any of this matter? Well, if you’re not sure what your target audience is viewing, numbers could be misleading. In fact, perhaps Facebook was one of those online venues for almost $69 billion spent on Internet advertising in 2016. Next year, Internet ad spending is projected at $77 billion, outpacing TV ad spending for the first time.

Research about loneliness among older adults matters -- to researchers! RANT ON. This past week produced an oddly-titled article: Researchers confront an epidemic of loneliness – among the elderly, focusing on the connection between loneliness and poor health and cognitive decline. This was not 'The New Old Age' -- quite  the contrary. The article described how much more advanced Britain is than the US in "addressing the problem of loneliness as it relates to health." Okay, okay. Why not attempt to address loneliness among seniors? So in Britain, consider this call-in number, The Silver Line, started by a 73-year-old woman, herself admittedly lonely following the death of her husband.