A Call to Stand for Justice: Vote for Third-Party Candidates Today

It's been a while since I've posted and this is decidedly not a tech post. Nevertheless it seems like a good place to share an email that I send out today on the eve of a very important election. 

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Dear Friends in Fairfield County,

I’m reaching out to you in my personal capacity today to urge you to vote in this crucial election for the Green and Independent candidates who are running for federal office. These candidates stand for the values of justice, peace, and human dignity that we all hold dear.

The candidates I encourage you to support include:

• Jill Stein & Butch Ware – Green Party candidates for President and Vice President
• Justin Paglino – Green Party candidate for US Senate
• Ben Wesley – Independent Party candidate for Connecticut's 4th Congressional District

The ongoing genocide in Palestine and the rise of anti-Muslim bigotry in the U.S. are central to why I believe voting for third-party candidates is vital. By supporting these candidates, we send a message to the Democratic establishment that our votes cannot be taken for granted. I've seen first hand that their presence on the ballot forces the Democratic Party to engage with issues they often prefer to avoid, especially the suffering of Palestinians and the rise of Islamophobia here at home.

Through my work in civil rights, I have had the privilege—and the responsibility—of sharing our community’s concerns with federal representatives. Unfortunately, I’ve repeatedly witnessed a lack of empathy for Palestinians, and a disturbing disregard for human rights. In my conversations with Connecticut’s elected officials, I have been dismayed to hear what I believe is an unconscious bias against Muslims and Arabs, and in some cases, a neo-colonialist mindset cloaked in racism.

In the wake of October 7, I spoke with one elected official who claimed to have seen evidence of atrocities of "biblical proportions." Though he didn’t specify, I suspect he was referring to the horrific stories of babies being beheaded and mass rapes that were circulated in the media. Yet, we know these atrocities were not perpetrated by Palestinians but actually by Israelis against innocent civilians in Gaza. As they say every accusation is a confession.

Another official told me that it was “not the right time” to discuss the suffering of Palestinians, as Americans were overwhelmingly supportive of Israel’s thirst for revenge. Despite the mounting death toll of innocent Palestinian men, women, and children, our representatives in Washington have refused to call for a ceasefire, and instead voted to approve $19 billion in additional aid to Israel to "finish the job."

At the presidential level, I am deeply concerned about the possibility of a second Trump presidency, particularly given his history of enacting harmful policies like the Muslim Ban. However, we must also recognize that it is the Biden-Harris administration that is currently funding the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The Vice President has made it clear that she will never stop supporting Israel, no matter the cost to Palestinian lives.

As residents of a "blue" state, we have a unique opportunity to register our protest and hold the major parties accountable. By supporting candidates who are not beholden to the political establishment, we are reaffirming our commitment to human decency, justice, and values that reflect the best of America.

Please make your voice heard and vote for the future we all deserve.

Alexa is Your New Guard Dog -- and Snoop

A new in-built skill in Alexa monitors your house for break-ins and emergencies while you are away.

There's no hiding from Big Brother  Alexa

Simply say "Alexa I'm Leaving" and the device will go into "Guard" mode. If the device hears the sound of breaking glass or a smoke alarm it will send out an alert with that message. Users can also playback the sound from their phone with that message.

If the homeowner uses ADT as a security company Amazon will also send an alert to them so that it can take action.

To enable the service Alexa uses the same acoustic technology as it does to monitor for its wake word (ie Alexa). This is a very novel use of technology, but it certainly opens the door for abuse.

For example police departments have been known to get warrants for recordings that Alexa has made, but now since we know that Alexa is listening in real-time I can imagine that the police could get a warrant to eavesdrop.

Forget about those movies where the police place bugs in your house or tap your phone -- we've done the work for them.

Amazon Look is Discontinued

Smart speaker blog voicebot.ai is reporting that Amazon is discontinuing the Echo Look device.

The Echo Look was an Alexa-enabled smart speaker for fashion advice. Users could stand a few feet away and say, “Alexa, how do I look,” and it would snap a full-length photo capturing your entire attire. Then Amazon’s virtual fashion consultant “Style Check” would kick in and users could review their photos and feedback in the dedicated Echo Look app. It would recommend clothing options that could be purchased that match the users wardrobe. 

Echo Look's functionality is being incorporated into the Amazon Shopping app.

While its great that the AI feature is now going to be available to everyone, pity the people who bought the device and trained it on behalf of the company. Bezos gets to profit some more. 

Alexa "Drop-In" Feature Becomes Intercom for the House

For those too lazy to find their family members in another room to announce dinner time or don't want to scream at the top of their lungs, Amazon has extended their "Drop-In" feature that allows a message to be broadcast to all devices in a house.

It's well known that some households have more than one smart speaker. Whether in the bedroom, dining room or kitchen smart speakers are proliferating around the home. People are even putting then in the bathroom (whatever happened to reading material).

So now anyone can invade every nook and cranny of a house with that important announcement.

You can read more about the feature from Business Insider.

Amazon is Buying Your Old Echo Devices

Amazon Echo 

CNET reports that Amazon will let consumers trade-in their old Amazon Alexa devices. Depending on the model and type of device you can get between $5 and $30 plus 25% off of a new qualifying 

The original  Amazon Echo looks like a giant compared to the new generation product. My youngest son has inherited my device and uses it in his room. It's his alarm clock and audio-book player all in one (really the only thing that he listens to is Harry Potter).

My preferred Alexa device are the ear buds. I didn't really like these before compared to the Apple Air Pods but they've grown on me mainly because they stay in my ear without dropping out. What's interesting however is that I never use the Alexa functionality of the earphones.

Anyway back to the story, the buy-back program certainly is a great way for consumers to refresh their devices. I'm sure Amazon is ripping them apart for parts that may be still useable but more expensive to use from scratch

PayPal's Reaction to Departed Exec Required Better Appreciation of Mental Health Issues

Rocky Agrawal's public meltdown on Twitter this week attracted its fair share of rubberneckers who were perversely entertained by his five-day break from reality. Many in the virtual crowd of Silicon Valley workers, VCs and tech media pundits egged-on the fired former PayPal Director of Strategy as he manically tweeted insults about his former colleagues, and made wild claims about raising money for a supposed new venture coupled with six-figure job offers to people who could locate him in New York City based on his tweets.

Let me first disclose that I've known Rocky for several years. He hired me as a product manager at AOL. Seeing a friend and colleague fall from grace in this manner saddened me as I watched my feed in realtime. However I was more shocked by the callousness of PayPal in publicly firing him on Twitter and the lack of compassion of its CEO David Marcus towards someone who was obviously mentally unstable.  "I will not tolerate your mad rants any longer," wrote Marcus on PayPal's corporate blog claiming to defend the honor of his staff. But rather than exhibiting "Leadership" (the topic of his post) Marcus displayed what little regard he has for employees who breakdown in times of emotional crisis.

A bit of background for those not following this saga. Rocky was hired by PayPal a little over two months ago. He was a high-profile get for the company based on his two decades of product management experience for AOL, Microsoft and others.  He also appeared frequently on Bloomberg TV offering prescient commentary on the value of GroupOn and other second generation dot-com companies. For some reason on Friday night while he was on vacation in New Orleans Rocky started sending out obscene messages on Twitter about PayPal employees  (I don't think its constructive to repeat them) and others that were just plain gibberish.  He later claimed that they were supposed to be private direct messages written on a new Android phone that malfunctioned. On Saturday, PayPal fired back -- literally:

Rakesh Agrawal is no longer with the company. Treat everyone with respect. No excuses. PayPal has zero tolerance.
— PayPal (@PayPal) May 3, 2014

Rocky moved on to New York City and started to go into destructive overdrive:

I will have to work on cap table but pretty sure I'm worth $200 million at least.
— Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster) May 6, 2014

You are watching an amazingly capital efficient company being built at warp speed.
— Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster) May 6, 2014

Seriously folks there are no issues.
— Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster) May 6, 2014

Observers following the stream could plainly see what was going on: outbursts that broke through social guardrails, delusions of grandeur, and long periods without sleep all seemed indicative of a bipolar disorder and a manic episode.

According to the American Psychological Association, nearly 14 million  Americans suffer from bi-polar disorders -- almost half of them are, perhaps like Rocky, undiagnosed. Handling such employees can be extremely taxing for any HR department. "Some of the bipolar people can be your greatest stars and the biggest problems all at the same time," says Tom Wooton who has developed a series of workshops for employers on how to deal with bipolar disorders in the workplace.

Wooton advises companies that a bi-polar employee can be both a high performer - with lots of energy, creativity, and ideas - but also cause problems with coworkers or engage in risky behavior. Regardless, these employees have to be reasonably accommodated under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and can't be easily fired (or forced to resign) if problems arise.

I don't know if Rocky had other problems with PayPal that caused such a precipitous reaction, but Paypal should have asked him to end his vacation and return to HQ once his insulting tweets started. In person the company may have been able to better assess the situation and helped Rocky decide whether he needed medical care. Instead it tossed him overboard and left him all alone without the company of friends or family to absorb the shock.

To truly add insult to injury CEO Marcus then declared in his blog posting that Rocky needed assistance but that it was someone else's problem: "Now...if you're a close friend of Rocky's and you're out there, I'd strongly suggest getting to him sooner rather than later, as his behavior is extremely worrisome. We at PayPal are putting this episode behind us, as always working on behalf of our customers."

Let me suggest to Mr. Marcus that there are millions of Paypal customers like me who have friends and relatives suffering from bipolar disorders or other mental illnesses. How you treat your employees is a good indication of how you will treat your customers when the chips are down -- which is to say not very well.

Update: I spoke to Rocky earlier this evening. First, his brother has flown in from San Francisco and is with him. This  is good.  Rocky insists he wasn't fired but had resigned by email before ever sending his epic tweets. The sequence according to Rocky has been  reported by Business Insider. Rocky is upset that PayPal's tweet was vaguely worded so as to give the impression that he was fired. Rocky says that he resigned because three executives who he respected had just left PayPal and he came to the realization that company's product was would never meet his own high standards. He felt that he could do better by executing his own vision so he fired off an e-mail on Friday night at 9:34 pm. He receievd an e-mail from his manager saying that they would sort it out on Monday morning. Howver it  seems that his nocturnal misadventures between Friday night and Saturday made this discussion moot.

My take is that Rocky's resignation,  his Twitter comments against PayPal employes, and his growing mania in New York cannot be viewed as isolated incidents. They are an escalating set of events that need to be looked at together in order to be properly understood. It did not help at all that PayPal poured fuel on the fire. I've counseled Rocky that he needs to take a break and with the help of a therapist he can start to undertand why his,  actions which make so much sense to him, caused the rest of us so much worry.

Square Wallet at Starbucks Doesn't Work Very Well

Updated. Square’s wallet technology won a big endorsement when Starbucks decided to adopt it nationwide. In practice however using an ordinary credit card to pay for my daily cup of joe and pastry would be much quicker given the time I have to spend at the cash register teaching Starbucks’ staff how to use their own technology.

The Square Wallet is supposed to let a customer use their iPhone or Android smartphone to easily pay for their Starbucks purchase. After it’s downloaded from the app store the user inputs his or her credit card number into the app and Square stores it. Then when you enter a Starbucks location that accepts Square Wallet, the app geo-locates you using your phone’s GPS. After you select the store you’re in you can pay for your purchase by showing the QR code that appears on the phone’s screen. The check-out clerk scans your phone and you’re on your way – in theory.

In the two or so months since its debut I’ve tried using Square Wallet at a half dozen Starbucks in the New York City area. It hasn’t once worked like it’s supposed to.

First Starbucks barristas are often confused between the Square QR code they have to scan and the code generated for Starbucks’ own mobile app. I usually have to tell them that it’s Square that a want to use and then they have to step back and consult with their colleagues. One of these folks will remember that a separate button has to be pressed on the Starbucks cash register before Square can be accepted.

Then what I’ll call the “scanning dance” begins. Try as they might  barristas have never been able to scan Square’s QR image. Instead I have to slowly read out to them a 16 digit alpha numeric code that appears beneath the below the image. This error prone process causes everyone frustration.

People standing behind me in line glare since I’m standing between them and their coffee fix. The barristas aren’t happy because throwing them a curve ball that’s upending their happy task of mixing drinking. I’m of course fuming because everyone else is mad at me. It’s a circle of discontent. (Sometimes though it’s so busy that the barrista will give me my drink for free. This maybe an ironic incentive to use Square Wallet more often).

A spokeswoman for Square told me that the company is continuing to learn from its efforts and it's working closely with Starbucks to perfect the experience. Square hopes to introduce more features this year to make it even better.

One nice feature about the existing app is that once I make a purchase an itemized version of my receipt appears automatically and is stored with all my previous purchases. Besides saving a few trees, not having my pocket or wallet filled with crumpled bits of paper is a good thing.

Selecting a Starbucks location shows a QR Code that a barrista is supposed to scan, but often the scan doesn't work. I have to read out the alpha numeric number to the barista and sometimes I get a free drink because its too much of a bother. 

From the perspective of a consumer having a virtual wallet where the credit or debit card stored on my phone is a compelling proposition because it reduces the number of items I have to carry. Cash was replaced by plastic. Plastic may be replaced by a digital image (or radio waves travelling in the air in the case of NFC based technologies like Google Wallet). Payment for goods and services becomes frictionless.

However the promise of the virtual wallet will go unfulfilled unless there is mass adoption by merchants. Certainly Square and Starbucks are demonstrating the promise of things to come, but mobile payments will only be a brand associated novelty unless it becomes more widespread.

Given this, I wonder whether Square is rightly placed in the mobile payments eco-system for long term success? Does it become and acquisition target for another player or will it become roadkill as a result of a company that is better positioned. If Visa, Mastercard or American Express had mobile wallet services that would certainly make the service more available amongst merchants. Integration of Square Wallet at the device level by Apple (iOS) or Google (Android) would also make the technology more universal.

The Square Wallet has other features that Starbucks hasn’t rolled-out yet that make mobile payments unique. One service allows hands free payment by having the customers picture appear on the merchants’ check out screen. This way the consumer doesn’t even have to take their phone out of their pocket.

No doubt Square Wallet is innovative and its distribution with Starbucks gives it some heft in the marketplace,  but without nailing down the ability to consistently scan the QR code it’s a broken experience and creates more friction than it eliminates.

Update: Looks like this was fixed through a software update to the point of sales system. Starbucks reached out to me through Twitter after I posted this article for the addresses of the locations where I was having trouble. A couple of weeks later the location was able to scan. According to the manager he had to scan a new barcode into the system and in effect "teach" the system. Coverage is still spotty though because not all locations have received the code update.