I’m excited about Magic Leap’s Lightwear

Sam Harrelson on December 20, 2017

We’ve been working on this tech since the 1830’s and we’re almost to the point of mass adoption and use cases…

Magic Leap today revealed a mixed reality headset that it believes reinvents the way people will interact with computers and reality. Unlike the opaque diver’s masks of virtual reality, which replace the real world with a virtual one, Magic Leap’s device, called Lightwear, resembles goggles, which you can see through as if wearing a special pair of glasses. The goggles are tethered to a powerful pocket-sized computer, called the Lightpack, and can inject life-like moving and reactive people, robots, spaceships, anything, into a person’s view of the real world.

via Lightwear: Introducing Magic Leap’s Mixed Reality Goggles – Rolling Stone

Building a website is cheap, but not protecting it is costly.

Sam Harrelson on December 18, 2017

massive-brute-force-attack-dec18

We use Wordfence as a default on all new WordPress client sites that we create for good reason. Here’s a scary reminder that while building a website has become quick, easy, and relatively cheap your company / nonprofit / church / community group should not take WordPress security for granted with cheap hosting and no one overseeing these sorts of things:

This is the highest volume brute force attack we have seen to date. It may also be using the fresh credentials that were provided in the database released on December 5th, so it may achieve a higher than normal success rate. Please spread the word among the WordPress community to create awareness of this new threat.

via Breaking: Aggressive WordPress Brute Force Attack Campaign Started Today, 3am UTC

Nonprofits, the smartphone, Facebook, and Google

Sam Harrelson on December 18, 2017

Interesting thoughts here from the NY Times CEO on how they are shifting focus in relationship to Facebook and Google due to the smartphone revolution … much of this applies to how nonprofits and churches can do better marketing as well:

It’s about how you think about the product and what you’re trying to do and what is the value you’re giving to users. The areas of weakness in the publishing industry have been not having an audience strategy or sufficient brain space to think about how you serve your audience. It’s very easy to get tracked into assumptions about who your audience is. In legacy media, journalistic parameters were set by the geographical limitations. [The smartphone] changes everything. You need to reinvent journalism from the ground up with this device in mind, and then try and figure out what you’re going to do on a laptop and the physical newspaper.

via ‘Facebook is not transparent:’ NY Times CEO Mark Thompson says the platform’s role needs to be clearer – Digiday

It’s a 3 Screen Kind of Monday

Sam Harrelson on December 18, 2017

Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-9-25,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-ve

Working from home with our son this week. He likes to contribute to my setup with various design inspirations.

Left to Right: Google Pixelbook, iPad Pro, Samsung Chromebook Pro

Why two Chromebooks? I’m using Chrome Remote Desktop on the Pixelbook to run Adobe Illustrator via the Windows desktop in my office and keeping notes on the Samsung. The iPad is there for renderings in Pixelmator and for Trello.

I’ve got the Pixelbook Pen and Apple Pencil for the iPad but still really only use those when I’m in tablet mode and taking notes on a meeting or call in Evernote.

Facebook Cracks Down on Engagement Baiting

Sam Harrelson on December 18, 2017

What you see on Facebook greatly depends on what Facebook thinks you want to see. It’s a complicated algorithm of past behaviors, your own demographic info as well as what people who you interact with often are liking or sharing. “Likes” and “Shares” on a post can greatly amplify the number of people who see it.

However, you shouldn’t be blatant and ask for likes or shares in a way that can be perceived as annoying or “spammy.” Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google have all been throttling this sort of “engagement behavior” in small ways over the last year or so on their respective platforms. We’ve been encouraging clients to not use those terms regardless of how much goodwill might be behind a post.

But it’s great to see Facebook publicly discouraging people from asking for likes and shares:

Facebook is cracking down on a new type of clickbait: Posts that ask people to Like or share or comment to goose engagement numbers, what Facebook is calling “engagement bait.”

You’ve probably seen posts like this in your feed before. Like if you think cats are best. Share if you think dogs are best. It’s a tactic that publishers will use to game Facebook’s algorithm, which rewards posts that get better engagement and shows them to more people.

via Facebook is clamping down on posts that ask people for Likes or shares – Recode

Episode 133: Our Holiday Extravaganza

Sam Harrelson on December 13, 2017

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Dr. Thomas Whitley and The Rev. Sam Harrelson are joined by The Rev. Lauren E. Larkin, Prof. W. Travis McMaken ("McBacon"), and The Rev. Merianna Neely Harrelson in an extravaganza of epic proportions. They discuss Clash of the Titans, why you should write a book, gendered religious language, Ancient Aliens, Alex Jones, flogging, and hate watching the world burn.

Special Guests: Lauren R.E. Larkin, Merianna Neely Harrelson, and W. Travis McMaken.

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Episode 132: Is It Worth Selling Your Soul?

Sam Harrelson on December 7, 2017

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Dr. Thomas Whitley and The Rev. Sam Harrelson discuss the #metoo Revolution, amplifying voices, and whether anything is worth trading your integrity.

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