Last week I made mention that a long team reader told me that he’d not seen my weekly news letter in months, and I asked you to respond if you’re getting them. Oddly, that reader got my email last week, and so did many others who said they had missed it for quite some time. I realize the technology isn’t there to improve my email credibility just because I asked people to respond… but it sure seems awfully coincidental.
Regardless, I had a ton of people respond, which was awesome. There were those who hadn’t gotten my emails and assumed I’d removed them from the list (I’d never do that), and those who see it every week. It was great to hear from each and every one of you, and if you didn’t respond last week, feel free to do so today!
Meantime, we’re moving to a new sales and marketing CRM platform ASAP. That’s Hubspot, for those of you who might be aware of it. The hope is we’ll be able to do a better job marketing Ashton’s products, services, and solutions, and that I’ll be able to get in more of your inboxes and fewer spam folders.
Something about ...
Fraudulent Advertising
I saw something about this last week, but ran out of space. Then I saw it again earlier this week, and figured that since it still caught my attention, it was worthy of being shared. It seems that around 10% of Meta’s (Facebook) annual revenue ($7B) came from scam ads and illegal products. Meta is aware of the issue and acknowledges that they provide 15 billion ads a day across all platforms that are for the fraudulent products and scams. You read that right. 15 billion ads a day. With all that AI can do in terms deepfakes and other scams, you’d like to think that it could be used to determine when an ad is a scam and remove it from the platform. Is that asking a lot?
Bathroom Etiquette
This one about, shall we say, “proper bathroom etiquette” was not going to make the cut… until I read the line “…all you can do really is clap at the social-anxiety-fueled ingenuity on display.” And when I laughed out loud at that comment, I had to have it. It reminded me of my good college buddy who, even as a 50 year old, was still going home from the office for those certain moments. And it also reminded me of a great scene in American Pie that I won’t include here. But if you know, you know.
Uber Ski
In a new co-branding effort, Uber and Vail Resorts have teamed up to offer Uber Ski, for those of you looking to get to the mountain without driving there. Through the Uber app you can get your Epic passes and also book rides for two or four with all your gear. Interesting idea, and I’ll be curious to see how many people actually use this to book rides to ski resorts.
Attorneys and AI
Remember the days of trying to get teachers to believe that the dog ate your homework? Some were definitely better than others with their excuses. Now with AI “hallucinations”, many attorneys have been called out for filing incorrect briefings generated by AI, and some of their excuses are better than others… Whether it’s what you see on social media or what AI spits out for you, you’re always best off doing a little research to determine whether what you see is legit.
Elder Fraud
This is a good reminder that when your grandson calls to tell you he’s in jail and needs bail money, it may be an AI generated scam. With AI making it easier and easier to take a brief snippet of somebody’s voice and turn it into a realistic conversation, combined with the fact that tons of personal information exists online, hackers are having all sorts of fun at the hands of unknowing people, many of whom are senior citizens.
Balloons
While I can’t remember all the specifics of my involvement with Balloon Fest (it was all the way back in 1986, after all), I can remember the event itself. It took place on Public Square downtown, and involved the release of 1.5 million helium-filled balloons. And it was pretty much a disaster. I recall some of my classmates volunteering (or maybe they were ‘volun-told’) to assist in the inflation efforts (the event was sponsored by United Way), and know that it was an all night affair. I seem to remember that the rest of us taking the train downtown to watch the festivities. And it still reminds me of Cincinnati’s famous Thanksgiving turkey drop.
Nancy's Nuggets
Nancy sent me a couple of good ones this week. The first we’ll refer to as polynucleotide facial rejuvenation (having once sold facial injectables to derms and cosmetic surgeons, I had to laugh at the founder who seemed to have trouble speaking clearly due to the number of lip injections she’s had).
And then there’s the seemingly drunk Russian robot (and the obviously drunk aides who couldn’t get a curtain untangled). This one reminds me of college days…
That’s all for this week. I’m finished early with this one and taking the rest of the day off as my son and his fiancee are in town for an early Thanksgiving dinner (now that they’re engaged, we have the issue of ‘whose house for the holidays?’).
Buckeyes should have another uninteresting one tomorrow night (but the band is always amazing), and the Browns? Well, they’re always uninteresting. Maybe they’ll humor us and give the Ravens a scare.
And for those of you who pay close attention, I mentioned last week that my former Browns season ticket rep had texted to offer me a suite to last weekend’s game, for the low, low price of $11,000. I’ve paid so little attention to them this year that I didn’t even realize they were out of town last weekend until I turned the game on. So, if you’re interested in that $11K suite, it’s actually for the Dec. 7 game against the Titans (for those keeping score at home, that would make for the 29th and 32nd ranked teams in the 32 team NFL), and I’m sure that it’s still available.
Go Bucks!
Abbey