WhatsApp interferes with Facebook's attempts to root out fake news

There is a conference room inside of Facebook's headquarters that is devoted to fighting election interference. Casey Newton a reporter with the Verge visited what is called the war room and wrote a recent article about the visit.

Newton visits the Facebook war room

After an introductory briefing, Newton got to visit the actual room. The room MPK 20 is just one of many conference rooms in the headquarters in Menlo Park, Palo Alto as shown in the appended image. There were desks for 24 people and the room is ringed by seventeen screens. Each screen highlights a stream of information that Facebook is monitoring.

Employees watch for suspicious spikes in spam and hate speech. In some cases they use special software to do this. They are looking for activity such as voter suppression. For example there may be posts saying that an election has been delayed because of long lineups. The team recently uncovered a hoax claiming that the Brazilian election had been delayed a day because of protests. The offending posts were quickly removed.

Newton was unfortunate in that nothing dramatic happened while she was there.

Facebook's war room is fighting a war in the Brazil election

Newton notes that the room was festooned with both US and Brazilian flags. The war room is waging war against fake news not only in US elections but those in Brazil as well. Surely, this might be considered interfering in the Brazilian election. Even if this is done in the name of stopping fake news, it could be considered interfering in the Brazil election. If Bolsonaro wins then Facebook could very well find itself banned in Brazil because its actions meant that he probably had less votes than otherwise.

It seems that a report by Folha on the scheme to use WhatsApp for fake news was timed to coincide with the reporters visit as it appeared while they were there. Buzzfeed notes: "The report was released the same day that WhatsApp's new CEO, Chris Daniels, published a piece in Folha, writing, "We have a responsibility to amplify the good and mitigate the bad." Thursday morning, also, appears to have been the time when Facebook allowed access stories from American journalists such as CNN covering Facebook's new "election war room" to publish. The timing of the embargo — an agreement between news organizations to publish news provided by a source at the same time — the investigation by Folha, and Daniels' op-ed throw into question exactly how Facebook intends to monitor fake news and hyperpartisan misinformation, especially in a WhatsApp-dominated country like Brazil."

In other words the timing was intended to ensure that the stories would point out the failings of WhatsApp. Newton uses Buzzfeed to explain what happened.

How the scheme worked

Media firms that support the right-wing front runner Jair Bolsanaro used his supporter database along with third party databases of phone numbers. Some agencies even broke down data on the basis of income level and location. They then used a service called mass shooting to send thousands of messages.

The Folha investigation alleges that the firms bought contracts worth up to $3.2 million dollars. This is not only an abuse of WhatsApp, its illegal in Brazil where companies are banned from donating to political campaigns and are not allowed to access a candidate's database.

The scheme may not show up on any Facebook screen

The media companies' scheme is most insidious in that it is not evident that any of the many screens in the Facebook war room can capture the malign activity. The fake news is spread virally using a platform that almost no one can see inside.

How the damage might be limited

Several Brazilian researchers have suggested three ways the WhatsApp propaganda could be limited. The number of times a message can be forwarded could be reduced from 20 to 5. Facebook already does this in India. Secondly, Facebook could lower substantially the number of people that a person can send a single message to from the present very large 256. Finally, the company could limit the size of new groups in the hope that this could limit the formation of misinformation mobs. As to the last technique, surely this would be easy to avoid by just forming many clones of smaller groups and having them work in concert.

Newton concludes that it would be best to not allow an app to have both end-to-end encryption and viral sharing mechanics just one or the other. This would allow the mobs to be in plain sight. It would be interesting to see what WhatApp would have to say about Newton's complaints and suggestions.

Are those helping to filter fake news neutral?

One should always be suspicious when giant corporations decide to protect us from fake news and misinformation. Obviously political figures such as Donald Trump and many other politicians make announcements that are lies and they are dutifully reported by the mass media ad nauseam often without comment since to comment is not straight objective reporting. Now this is not regarded as fake news but it has the same effect especially if the politician is regarded as truthful by many of his or her followers. No one suggests banning those reports. People are left to determine themselves whether what important figures say is true or false. Other reports may show these are lies or claim they are but such reports do not ban the original statements.

Among those helping Facebook to filter the news is the Atlantic Council. Rania Khalek an independent journalist said in a tweet: “This is alarming. The Atlantic Council — which is funded by gulf monarchies, western governments, NATO, oil and weapons companies, etc. — will now assist Facebook in suppressing what they decide is disinformation." In Facebook's statement which announced the partnership it said that the company will use the Atlantic Council's Digital Research Unit Monitoring Missions during elections and other highly sensitive moments.

Adam Johnson, a contributor at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, said in response to Facebook's announcement: “Monopoly social media corporations teaming up with [the] pro-U.S. NatSec blob to determine truth was always the logical end of ‘fake news’ panic.”

While Facebook will naturally try to ensure that it does not place itself in a position where it breaks the laws of a country where it operates it would be wise not to hold itself otherwise responsible for filtering what appears on its platform. Leave it to the authorities to warn them when posts are against the law and to prosecute those who break the law as happened in Brazil. The companies using WhatsApp in Brazil broke the law and there is evidence for it. The way to stop them is to prosecute them not to complain about WhatsApp.

As the appended video shows Facebook even banned a video by well known Guardian columnist George Monbiot.

Published earlier in Digital Journal

About an hour after pot legalization Winnipeg police issue a ticket for consuming pot in a vehicle

(October 18)Yesterday at around one AM, just an hour after use of recreational marijuana was legalized in Canada, during a traffic stop, Winnipeg police issued a ticket for consuming marijuana in a vehicle.

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You cant smoke pot in a car

Consuming cannnabis in a car is a specific offence under the Highway Traffic Act. Inspector Gord Spado said: "An hour into legality and something illegal." It is not clear if the offender was the person driving at the time. Consumption of alcohol in a vehicle is also illegal.

Spado said that the cannabis was likely not purchased legally. Although online sales started at 12:01 AM they weren't being delivered yet at 1 AM. However, no ticket was issued for that.

Spado said: "It doesn't look like anything was pursued as far as the illicit component of it goes. I think that's just the education piece of our members, knowing where to go with that. It's still new to us, too, right, so we're still learning."

Spado said it would be difficult to determine if marijuana has been purchased illegally. Another challenge will be ticketing people for consuming cannabis edibles in a vehicle. He notes that if someone has an edible in a car and we can prove it that is an offence. On some occasions Spado notes they can but in others they cannot. Right now the edibles are not legally on sale. When the edibles are legal it may be easier to prove consumption in a vehicle through the presence of packaging that may be visible.

There are hefty fines for offences

The fine for smoking pot in a car was $672 dollars. There is the same fine for consuming cannabis in or on an off-road vehicle. Other fines are even higher.

Supplying marijuana to someone under age 19 or growing non-medical pot in a residence in Manitoba carries a fine of $2,542.

Other fines of $672 are for smoking or vaping cannabis in a provincial parks or doing so in a public place.

There is a $237 fine for carrying marijuana in or on a vehicle including an off-road vehicle. However, there can be marijuana in the trunk of a car.

Where can you buy marijuana?

Where you can buy pot and who can sell it varies from province to province. Manitoba has a hybrid public/private model. The Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation will buy cannabis from licensed producers and deliver it, or arrange for delivery to approved privately operated marijuana stores. Details of the arrangements can be found here.

Many stores have yet to be opened.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Twitter releases huge archive of tweets by foreign trolls from Russian and Iranian accounts

Twitter has announced that it has published an archive of almost 10 million tweets from troll accounts today. This will provide a treasure trove of data.

Tweets originated from Russian and Iranian accounts

The tweets were sent between 2013 and 2018. Nine million were published by 3,800 different accounts associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency. The last million tweets were posted from accounts Twitter said were associated with Iran.

Note that the archives are only of material from Russia and Iran. What of all the trolls that are based in other countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia? Are there no significant trolls there to be suspended? Do they not attempt to influence US elections?

In the announcement Vijaya Gadde and another author say: "It is clear that information operations and coordinated inauthentic behavior will not cease. These types of tactics have been around for far longer than Twitter has existed — they will adapt and change as the geopolitical terrain evolves worldwide and as new technologies emerge. For our part, we are committed to understanding how bad-faith actors use our services. We will continue to proactively combat nefarious attempts to undermine the integrity of Twitter, while partnering with civil society, government, our industry peers, and researchers to improve our collective understanding of coordinated attempts to interfere in the public conversation. Our dedicated site integrity team, in partnership with a diverse range of committed organizations and personnel across the company, continue to invest heavily in this area. We are constantly seeking to improve our own ability to detect, understand, and neutralize these campaigns as quickly and robustly as technically possible."

However, the suspension of accounts and collecting of data seems selective. In some cases too there are doubts about the neutrality of those chosen to help weed out undesirable tweeters. The Atlantic Council is just one example.

Vijaya Gadde is the chief legal officer of Twitter and is well compensated for her work. Salary.com claims: "As Chief Legal Officer and Secretary at TWITTER, INC., Vijaya Gadde made $908,060 in total compensation. Of this total $500,000 was received as a salary, $0 was received as a bonus, $0 was received in stock options, $406,560 was awarded as stock and $1,500 came from other types of compensation. This information is according to proxy statements filed for the 2017 fiscal year. "

The Atlantic Council

Facebook uses the Atlantic Council to help it sort out bad actors. Twitter had the Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Lab sort through the data before its official release. In a Medium post the organization pointed out several strategies that the Russian and Iranian accounts used as part of their operations. The post said that the most effective toll posts used exactly the techniques that drive genuine online activism and engagement. They targeted polarizing communities and large events in order to influence public discourse. Much of the material would not be blocked if it were not from Russian trolls. Trump no doubt makes similar tweets and often what could be considered actual hate speech tweets without any response from Twitter. You can probably say anything you want about Putin, Assad, or Kim Jong Un

The Atlantic Council is hardly a neutral arbiter on the issue of bad actors in social media. Rhania Khalek, an independent journalist, said of the Council working with Facebook: “This is alarming. The Atlantic Council — which is funded by gulf monarchies, western governments, NATO, oil and weapons companies, etc. — will now assist Facebook in suppressing what they decide is disinformation.”

The announcement on Verge quotes the Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Lab approvingly: "Identifying future foreign influence operations, and reducing their impact, will demand awareness and resilience from the activist communities targeted, not just the platforms and the open source community."

Twitter has become global censor

As far back as June last year an article appeared in the Business Insider titled "Twitter has gone from bastion of free speech to global censor". The article gives an example of one of the ways the censorship works: "On June 17th at around 10 am Doha time (07:00 GMT) the Twitter account of Al Jazeera's Arabic channel, a verified account with more than eleven million followers, was suspended due to an organised campaign. Engineers at Al Jazeera Arabic who were in communication with Twitter said there was a "storm attack" of mass reports of the account to Twitter, which forced the algorithm to temporarily suspend the account, but Twitter did not immediately respond to request for comment."

There is a partial listing of suspended accounts over the years at Wikipedia. Among those suspended were Jack Dorsey founder and CEO of Twitter in November 2017 due to an internal mistake. Jamal Khashoggi was suspended until he left Saudi Arabia, at the request of the kingdom.

Twitter will provide plenty of data to further the campaign to examine Russian attempts on social media to influence US elections but don't expect to have masses of data on Israel or the Saudi attempts to influence elections to say nothing of the myriad corporate lobbying groups who no doubt also use Twitter as a tool to advance their agendas.

Previously published in Digital Journal

New software called Journal is able to search your material for you

Journal is a machine-learning and natural language processing-powered platform that will enable you to make searches across all your web services and tools. It has been able to launch a beta community to test the platform.

Searching your information for you

A recent Techcrunch article notes: "In today’s world of Slack, email and a gazillion other web apps and services, it’s become increasingly hard to search for information. Did your boss Slack you or email you that information about your bonus? Or did they share it via a Google Doc? Who knows? Clearly not you, but Journal knows."

With all the information you are accumulating a search engine that can readily look for anything you are seeking within that mass of data will be a valuable tool.

Journal has millions in seed money

In a funding round led by Social Capital, Journal had received funding of $1.5 million. Journal has used the funding to launch a beta community of users as mentioned. It is also launching today its Mac app, a webb app and a Chrome extension. The Journal website describes what it can do.

What Journal does

The Journal website says in part: "What would be possible if our information — about people, projects, and ideas — was connected and easily accessible?...Journal integrates with the services where your information lives (like Slack, Gmail, Evernote, Pocket, and Dropbox) — so that you have one connected home for all your stuff. You can use the best services for messaging, documents, and more — and Journal will tie them all together so you stay in control."

Co-founder and CEO of Journal Samiur Rahman said his group wanted to help people use information effectively. With Journal people would be able to manage their knowledge and help individuals leverage all of that knowledge that they possess.

His team want to build a suite of tools that will act as a kind of second brain for people. The group has a long way to go he admitted but that was their vision

Social Capital the company

Wikipedia describes Social Capital as follows: "Social Capital, formerly known as Social+Capital Partnership, is a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California,USA. The firm specializes in technology startups, providing seed funding, venture capital and private equity.[1][2] The firm has "stood out strategically", according to Fortune, "with a focus on...healthcare, financial services and education...when those fields were...neglected by the VC community."[1]"

Social Capital was founded in 2011 by Chamath Palihapitiya, who had previously worked at Facebook who is featured on the appended video.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Riichard Branson of Virgin Galactic has suspended a partnership with KSA until Khashoggi case is cleared up

Richard Branson founder and chairman of the space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic has temporarily suspended a partnership with Saudi Arabia until the issue of missing Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi is cleared up.

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Khashoggi went missing after visiting the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul back on October 2.

Branson's statement

In a recent blog post Branson wrote: "I had high hopes for the current government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and it is why I was delighted to accept two directorships in the tourism projects around the Red Sea. I felt that I could give practical development advice and also help protect the precious environment around the coastline and islands."

Branson also said that in the light of what has reportedly happened in Turkey with respect to the disappearance of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi many businesses' ability to do business with the Saudis would be changed if the reports turned out to be true. Branson has asked for more information from the Saudi authorities in relation to the Khashoggi disappearance.

Tension has increased between Branson and the Saudis

Due to the disappearance of Khashoggi an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime tensions between the Saudis and Brandon have been growing. Khashoggi has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate some time ago. Turkey claims he was killed and dismembered and that they have audio and video tapes to prove it, although they have not released the evidence. For their part, the Saudis deny the accusations and claim that Khashoggi left the embassy not long after entering but there are no security photos showing this.

Until the issue of Khashoggi is cleared up Branson said that any discussions over the Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit investment would be suspended.

Virgin Group moving forward with space flight plans

In the meantime, the Virgin companies are still moving forward with their spaceflight plans. Virgin Galactic has been testing its space plane, the VSS Unity since late 2016, and Branson claims the vehicle will be able to reach space on an upcoming flight test in the next few weeks. In addition, Virgin Orbit hopes in the near future to perform its first captive carry flights of its rocket, LauncherOne, during which the rocket will ride under the wing of its carrier plane for the first time but will not be released on the test flight. If the test is successful then on the next test, Virgin Orbit will test launching the rocket, sending it into space.

This will all be quite costly and the Saudi funding would help out considerably but it remains to be seen if the issue can be cleared up satisfactorily if the evidence the Turks claim to have is confirmed.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner investigating Twitter over data privacy concern.

Irish privacy regulators are launching an investigation into precisely how much data Twitter collects from t.co, its URL-shortening system.

Investigation taking place under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

An earlier Verge article describes the GDPR: "The General Data Protection Regulation is a rule passed by the European Union in 2016, setting new rules for how companies manage and share personal data. In theory, the GDPR only applies to EU citizens’ data, but the global nature of the internet means that nearly every online service is affected, and the regulation has already resulted in significant changes for US users as companies scramble to adapt." Complete information about the GDPR can be found here.

The investigation results from a request by Michael Veale a UK professor. The GDPR allows citizens to request any data that a specific company collects about them. When Veale made the request to Twitter concerning its link-shortening service, the company replied that the service collected no data about him. Veale was sceptical and asked the Irish Data Commissioner to investigate to see if the Twitter claim were true.

The Commissioner's letter to Veale

The letter from the office of the Irish Data Privacy Commissioner said: “The DPC has initiated a formal statutory inquiry in respect of your complaint. The inquiry will examine whether or not Twitter has discharged its obligations in connection with the subject matter of your complaint and determine whether or not any provisions of the GDPR or the [Data Protection] Act have been contravened by Twitter in this respect.”

Link-shortening

Wikipedia describes link-shortening as follows:

"URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) may be made substantially shorter and still direct to the required page. This is achieved by using a redirect which links to the web page that has a long URL. For example, the URL "http://example.com/assets/category_B/subcategory_C/Foo/" can be shortened to "https://example.com/Foo",... Often the redirect domain name is shorter than the original one. A friendly URL may be desired for messaging technologies that limit the number of characters in a message (for example SMS), for reducing the amount of typing required if the reader is copying a URL from a print source, for making it easier for a person to remember, or for the intention of a permalink. In November 2009, the shortened links of the URL shortening service Bitly were accessed 2.1 billion times.[1]Other uses of URL shortening are to "beautify" a link, track clicks, or disguise the underlying address. Although disguising of the underlying address may be desired for legitimate business or personal reasons, it is open to abuse.[2] Some URL shortening service providers have found themselves on spam blacklists, because of the use of their redirect services by sites trying to bypass those very same blacklists. Some websites prevent short, redirected URLs from being posted."

Link-shortening has not only saved spaces within the limited space of a tweet, but it has also proved to be effective at fighting malware, and also gathering some rudimentary analytics. It is these analytics that can provide a privacy risk when used in private messages. Not only Twitter but Facebook also has faced lawsuits for collecting data on links shared in private messages even though no wrong doing was conclusively established in either case. Twitter has declined to comment on the investigation saying only that they wer

Previously published in Digital Journal

Chinese firm Huawei to partner with German auto maker Audi to develop self-driving trechnology

The Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei will partner with the German auto maker Audi to develop self-driving technology for cars that will be made in China.

The nature of the deal

The agreement will focus on creating what is called Level 4 technology. The Society of Automotive Engineers defines this as a car that completely drives itself within a specific area. This new deal is just the latest in a long line of similar partnerships between car companies and tech companies in the move toward creating truly autonomous vehicles. Details of the agreement were not announced. However the deal should help Audi to do tests on autonomous vehicles in China.

Huawei did show off an Audi Q7 outfitted with the technology company's Mobile Data Center(MDC) rig at its Connect 2018 conference just this week. The MDC is reported to consist of a number of AI chips, a central CPU, cameras, and LIDAR. It sits on the car roof. Huawei is also to work with Audi on vehicle-to-vehicle communication and connected car solutions. See the appended video.

China has relaxed its rules on foreign ownership

For many years China has required foreign automakers to partner in joint ventures with local companies if they want to manufacture cars in the country. However, earlier this year the government announced plans to relax the rules so the automotive manufacturing landscape in China is changing.

Tesla to open wholly owned factory in Shanghai

In an earlier article the Verge announced: "Tesla has signed a “cooperative agreement” with the Shanghai Municipal Government to build its third Gigafactory and the first in China, the company announced today. Tesla says it aims to be able to make 500,000 cars per year there in what is the biggest market for electric vehicles in the world, though the company says it will be a while before the factory is up and running."

However, the Chinese government is still strictly guiding Western car companies. It strictly controls permits required to test self-driving vehicles, as well as licences that allow companies to make digital maps of the country's roads. This restriction has led major car companies such as Daimler, Ford, and BMW to partner with Baidu which has the ability to do both.

The Chinese government regards a free market approach to be a security risk. It does not want detailed maps of China's roads and other data in the hands of foreign countries. Similar fears abound in the west as well. Earlier this year the US in effect banned government employees and contractors from using Huawei handsets or components.

Audi's work on self-driving cars

Since September Audi has reportedly been testing cars with Huawei and is planning to open an autonomous vehicle development center in China next year. Audi has developed its own Level 3 system it calls Traffic Jam Pilot, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and eyes off the road while the car handles all the driving in most situations.

Volkswagen, the owner of Audi, is developing level 4 and 5 complete autonomous driving with Aurora a new startup founded by the former head of Google's self-driving program.

Huawei

According to Wikipedia: "Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (/ˈhwɑːˌweɪ/; Chinese: 华为; pinyin: About this sound Huáwéi) is a Chinese multinational networking, telecommunications equipment, and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong.[3] It is the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, having overtaken Ericsson in 2012.[4] In 2018, Huawei became 72nd of Fortune Global 500 in Fortune Magazine.[5] As of 2018, Huawei is the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world behind Samsung.[6]"

Huawei, as of September 2015, had over 170,000 employees. About 76,000 of them are engaged in research and development.

It has over 21 research and development institutes in many different countries. In 2017 the company invested $13.8 billion in research and development.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Banksy's shredded "Girl With a Balloon" may be worth much more now

Last week, a framed copy of Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" shredded itself just moments after it had been auctioned off for the huge sum of $1.4 million at Sotheby's auction house.

Value of the art may have doubled

As the shredding was an intentional decision by Banksy, the shredded print may be worth twice what it sold for. The buyer has no longer a print, one of many, of the "Girl with Balloon" but a unique Banksy performance piece.

Don't try this at home

Already according to reports at least one owner of a print has decided that he or she would increase the value of the print by shredding it. MyArtBroker reports: "While Banksy's stunt involved destroying the classic artwork using a remote device, this person reportedly took a stanley knife to the expensive piece - which is apparently one of just 600 mint condition prints in the world." The people at MyArtBroker estimate the piece is now worth about one pound or about 1.30 in US dollars.

The seller wanted to list the shredded piece at 80,000 pounds or about twice its original market value. However, as noted, the broker estimated it was worth just one pound in its shredded condition. The difference between the two is that Banksy decided to shred his print in a very specific setting at a very specific time in order to add additional context so the act becomes part of the work. However, if at home you shred your Banksy print to imitate Banksy you end up destroying your valuable work and showing you are an idiot.

Ian Syer, co-founder of MyArtBroker said: “Banksy is unique to the art world. No other artist captures the hearts and minds of the public like he does." However, when Banksy does something crazy like shredding his own artwork, it will naturally have a dramatic affect on values. What this person today seems to have done is needlessly ruin a print worth around £40k and reduce its value to almost nothing. We strongly recommend nobody else takes valuable art and tries to cash in on what history will judge a simply brilliant stunt. There are limited numbers of ‘Girl with Balloon’ prints in the world, today, we lost one and it’s a crying shame.” While one print was lost it was transformed into an even more valuable piece of performance art which is hardly a crying shame, at least for the buyer.

Banksy

According to Wikipedia: "Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director.[1] His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.[2] Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.[3] Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist who later became a founding member of the English musical group Massive Attack.[4]"

Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. He does not sell photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti. Banksy also created a documentary file "Exit Through the Gift Shop" that was billed as the first street art disaster movie. It made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011 it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Part of the film is on the appended video. In 2014 Banksy was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby awards.

Previously published on October 11 in Digital Journal

New Zealand firm declares four-day week trial a definite success

Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand business that manages trusts, wills, and estate planning, claims that its trial of a four-day work week over March and April this year was a success. The company will be adopting the new schedule full time.

Academics found positive results from reduced work week

About 250 staff members in the company chose the four-day week of eight hour days. They still got paid for five. The reduced work week was voluntary. Those workers who did not opt in were able to start or finish early in order to avoid traffic congestion or take care of child care commitments. The company checked to ensure that their trial conformed to New Zealand labor laws.

Academics who studied the trial found that staff at the firm's offices around the country reported lower stress levels, higher levels of job satisfaction and an improved sense of work-life balance.

Two New Zealand academics collected data before and after the trial period. In November last year, just over half of the staff (54 percent) felt they could balance work and home commitments. After the trial this number jumped to 78 percent. Stress levels decreased by seven percentage points during the trial. Stimulation, commitment and a sense of empowerment at work all improved significantly. Overall life satisfaction increased by five percent.

Founder aimed to increase productivity

Andrew Barnes, the founder of Perpetual Guardian, initially undertook the trial after observing the pressure that some of his workers were under to manage their personal and professional lives. He thought that if workers had an extra day to sort out issues to do with their home life then they would be more productive and focused at work. As you can see on the appended video Barnes had been reading reports that showed much time during the working day was unproductive.

Barnes said: “For us, this is about our company getting improved productivity from greater workplace efficiencies … there’s no downside for us. The right attitude is a requirement to make it work – everyone has to be committed and take it seriously for us to create a viable long-term model for our business.”

Workers were involved in constructing the new system

Helen Delaney, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School, claimed employees’ motivation and commitment to work increased since they were included in the planning of the experiment. Employees played a key role in designing how the four-day week would be managed so as not to negatively impact productivity.

Delaney pointed out: “Employees designed a number of innovations and initiatives to work in a more productive and efficient manner, from automating manual processes to reducing or eliminating non-work-related internet usage,” So this was not just a top down imposition on the employees. Barnes allowed his employees an active role in designing the new system.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Vespa's new all-electric scooter has a hefty price tag of over $7,000

Two years after it was first announced, the first all-electric Vespa scooter is about to start selling in Europe. Parent company Piaggio said the starting price will be 6,390 euros, or a bit over $7,300

Scooter available only in Europe for now.

Preorders of the Vespa electric can be made now in Europe before the scooter's ship date later this year. Customers in the U.S. and China will not be able to buy the vehicle until next year.

The new electric scooter will cost nearly twice as much as the cheapest gas-powered scooter.

Details about the new electric scooter

The Elettrica, as the new Vespa scooter is called, has a range of about 62 miles per charge, and it takes about four hours to charge it from a standard wall plug. The battery pack should be good for about 10 years of driving. It offers peak power of 4kW, which is about the same as a 50cc gas-powered scooter. However, it has only about one third the range of its gas-powered cousin. There is a color display between the handlebars.

The Elettrica X

There is also to be an Elettrica X, a hybrid version of the scooter pushed at the Milan Motorcycle show last year. The X is to be very much like the electric version but will have a small gas generator that can extend the range up to about 124 miles. The Milan Motorcycle show will be in about a month so perhaps there will be more information then.

Since Vespa announcement many competitors have electric scooters already

When the Elettrica announcement took place two years ago now, it seemed like a rare addition to the market. But now Vespa is facing competition from a number of electric scooters that are already for sale. Chinese startup Niu has a full lineup of electric scooters within China. Taiwan's maker of two-wheelers, Kymco has also come up with a scooter that uses swappable batteries.

Yamaha and Honda have partnered on the development of an electric scooter as well. Gogoro has also spread its scooters, which can be both bought and shared, to a number of countries both in Asia and Europe.

Vespa

The Vespa line developed from a single model motor scooter manufactured way back in 1946 by Piaggio and Co. However, now there is a full line of scooters and Vespa is just one of seven companies owned by Piaggio.

Vespa scooters have long been known for their painted, pressed steel unibody. There is a complete cowling for the engine, a flat floorboard providing foot protection, and a prominent front faring providing wind protection all unified into a structural unit.

The main factory is in Pisa Italy. The Vespa is sold in many countries including the U.S. It is popular in the U.K., is also sold in Asian countries and has sometimes been made in other countries under licence.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Honda to invest $2.75 billion in Cruise the GM autonomous vehicle subsidiary

Honda has hardly any electric cars in its lineup — yet it is going to invest $2.75 billion in Cruise, the autonomous driving company bought by giant GM.

Investment spread over 12 years

There will be only $750 million in investment that will take place right now. The rest will be spread out over the following 12 years. Cruise has attracted other investment as just five months ago Softbank invested $2.25 billion in the project. Cruise is now valued at more than $14 billion.

What will the new vehicle be like?

Founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cruise, Kyle Vogt said that it would be innovative, space efficient and multi-purpose. He noted that when there is a chance to design a vehicle from scratch, one is not limited to a design that looks like an existing autonomous vehicle, but can work from first principles. He said that everything was in place to move reasonably quickly on the project.

The president of GM, Dan Amman, would not say what the new car would look like, claiming that it would be the next evolution in the future of transportation, and that it would be manufactured in high volumes for global deployment. Amman said: "This is a purpose-built vehicle that will be the first vehicle produced at scale that is freed from the constraints of vehicle design and having a driver at the wheel".

Mary Barra, CEO of GM commented on the close relationship between the two automotive companies that brought about the new project: “This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda’s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise. Together, we can provide Cruise with the world’s best design, engineering and manufacturing expertise, and global reach to establish them as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology — while they move to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.”

A recent CNN article indicates the novelty of such a partnership: "With Honda's engineering and financial assistance, Cruise will begin developing a new vehicle that is not based on any existing car, the companies said. It will represent the next step in autonomous driving, one in which controls for human operation are entirely absent."

Honda, GM, and Cruise hope to expand Cruise network globally

Cruise claims it will begin to offer a commercial ride-hailing service using autonomous Chevy Bolts next year. The service is expected to be in San Francisco where Cruise has its headquarters. Cruise is already testing autonomous cars in the Bay Area.

Both companies have had decades of experienced building cars and this should stand them in good stead for the future in competition with Tesla. As the leader in the field, Tesla is setting sales records in spite of troubles with its founder Elon Musk. Tesla claims it has already equipped every car it makes with the hardware needed for fully autonomous operation. The company's Model 3 car is already increasing production in order to serve a mass market.

Previously published in Digital Journal

A strong demand for low potency pot expected as Canada legalized recreational marijuana

On October 17 legal recreational marijuana will go on sale in Canada. Some industry insiders claim this will create a strong demand for less potent products as new customers enter the market.

New consumers may want to try low potency products

Many new customers may be interested in dabbling and trying out marijuana rather than getting high as they would from more potent types of marijuana. They may want marijuana that contains less psychoactive ingredients but still will provide relaxation and reduce stress.

A report by Deloitte predicts the legalization of the drug will bring more risk averse consumers into the market who are older and are not likely to consume the drug as regularly as those already using the drug for recreation. The report says: "Today's consumer is what we describe as a risk taker. They're young, typically with a high school or college education. In their quest to live life to the fullest, they're more likely to put their health or safety at risk, even going so far as to skirt or break the law."

The report describes the new recreational users as typically 35 to 54 years old and fully three quarters of them will have had some recreational marijuana but only 41 percent will have used it in the last five years. The report continues: "This consumer is more of a conservative experimenter -- typically middle-aged, with a university or graduate school education. They don't tend to put their personal interests before family needs or other responsibilities." The report claims that almost half of those currently using pot say they would move to the legal market if there were more choices in terms of product potency.

Marijuana producers are paying attention to the new consumers

Andrew Pollock, of the Green Organic Dutchman said that many customers are requesting products with higher concentrations of CBD a non-psychotic cannabidiol, as contrasted with THC or tetrahydrocannabinol which is the main mind-altering ingredient in the marijuana plant. Pollock said that there is a trend towards CBD.

CBD and THC

CBD and THC are some of the most common compounds found in marijuana. Plants with a higher amount of CBD produce marijuana that gives relief of anxiety, pain, and inflammation while leaving one clear-headed. In contrast THC provides a high as well while relieving symptoms such as pain and nausea according to Pollock.

Pollock said: "What we're finding is more and more consumers are just looking for something to help them relax, to take away the stress, maybe to help them sleep. What most consumers are looking for in this day and age is calm." Pollock's firm the Green Organic Dutchman is building 130,000 square metres of cultivation facilities in Ontario, Quebec and Jamaica.

Ali Wasuk, the store manager of a dispensary in Vancouver said that CBD products were already popular among medical clients. Especially older users who had never used recreational marijuana used the CBD products because they worried about getting high. Wasuk said those who use the CBD products mainly wanted to dabble and get their feet wet with the lower dose. He said that on the medical side of marijuana use it was generally of products with lower quantities of THC.

Lower dose products becoming common in the US

It used to be that the US marijuana market was dominated by high dosage THC pot on the black market. Pot that created a high and packed a wallop. However, things are now changing. This may be partly because there are sometimes adverse reaction to the high TCH marijuana. Maureen Dowd a New York Time columnist wrote of her experience after taking a sample of a cannabis-infused chocolate at a legal Colorado pot shop in 2014. She claims to have ened up "curled in a hallucinatory state" for eight hours in her hotel room.

The industry is now trying to urge lower-dose products be used by new users and is also emphasizing responsible consumption of products, particularly of edibles.

Tom Adams, managing director of BDS Analytics in Colorado said: "The industry has very much harped on the theme of, 'Start low, go slow." Adams also notes that there are also regular users in the market who want to take some edge off without getting high.

As the appended video shows, users should be aware that marijuana use and possession is still against US federal laws. Users must be careful when they enter the US or they could end up being banned from entry.

Who can buy marijuana and what will be available?

As with alcohol the minimum age for possession or purchase is set at 19. However, unlike liquor stores those under the age of 10 will not even be able to enter stores even if accompanied by an adult.

At present, only dried cannabis, seeds, and oils will be legally available as well as accessories such as rolling papers, pipes and bongs. Edibles such as pot-infused cookies or brownies will still be illegal. They are expected to be available within a year.

Cannabis concentrate and vape juice will also still be illegal. Health Canada claims that it needs more evidence of the risks involved in each.

Previously published in Digital Journal