In this article, we look at what Wordle is, and how a change of ownership has led to some online criticism.

What Is Wordle?  

Wordle is a free, web-based word game where players have six chances to guess a randomly selected five-letter word. Each day there’s a different word to guess. Players choose letters from a virtual keyboard and enter their choices into the five blank tiles/squares. Once a user is happy with their choices, they press a submit button. The right letter in the right tile shows up green, a correct letter but in the wrong tile shows up yellow, and a wrong letter (not in the word) shows up grey. If a user correctly guesses the word, they win the game and users who win the game two days in a row receive a winning streak.

As well as enjoying the brain-teasing aspect of the game, users share and compare their scores on social media. The game was created and developed by Welsh software engineer and former Reddit employee Josh Wardle and has only recently been sold and moved to the platform of The New York Times Company.

Popular 

It has been reported that Wordle now has 2 million players globally thanks to its viral appeal. Josh Wardle’s Twitter account shows how engaged many users have become with the game, with many sharing their Wordle ideas and stories.

Now Owned By The New York Times 

The New York Times bought Wordle from Josh Wardle in February 2022. It is reported that the NYT paid a seven-figure sum!

Where To Play Wordle  

Wordle can be played by going to www.nytimes.com/games/wordle.

Spoiler Bot Stopped

Just prior to the sale to the sale of Worldle to the NYT, Twitter had to ban a bot from its platform called “The Wordlinator,” because it was responding to peoples’ tweets by giving spoilers for the next day’s word. The bot was also issuing rude comments.

Trouble At Mill? 

When Josh Wardle sold the game to the NYT, he announced on his Twitter account that he “long admired the NYT’s approach to their games and the respect with which they treat their players”.

However, since the sale to the NYT, users have been loudly voicing several concerns online. These include:

– users who navigated to the game’s original home at powerlanguage.co.uk were redirected to its new home on the NYT website. Unfortunately, some people reported that the move to the new online home had wiped their winning streaks.

– Complaints that the game has become too difficult, and this has led to users breaking their much-valued winning streaks. For example, the difficulty of Wordle 245’s answer led to comments that it had ruined the day of some users.

– Criticism that the word choices had become more obscure and ‘random.’

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The New York Times made the point that acquiring Wordle gave “millions more people around the world another reason to turn to” its platform, so it is clear why it paid such a sum for a word game. Wordle, however, is an example of how engaged people can become with some games, brands, tv programmes and more to the point where they feel a sense of familiarity and ownership. This is particularly prominent with Wordle because it becomes part of not just a habit or daily ritual, but because it can become linked with a user’s view of ‘self’ (through ability to solve the puzzle), and self-image e.g., sharing the results with friends and competing with friends. How closely some users had become involved and engaged with the reward or negative reinforcement aspect of the game, and the emotional response was illustrated by the those who said their day had been ruined by not being able to guess the word.

This story also illustrates how taking over ownership or management of an established entity, where there are many engaged stakeholders with an emotional connection and existing culture and norms can be precarious situation. This becomes particularly apparent where changes or mistakes are made. No doubt the New York Times is paying very close attention to the daily management of the game and will be keen to avoid any further disruption which could have a negative rub-off effect on its brand and image.

In this insight, we look at what scalping is and why some people are looking to introduce legislation to stop it.

Scalping  

The term “scalping” refers to stockpiling popular products and reselling them at a higher price for profit (the secondary resale market). This being a tech insight, this article will look at how technology is used in scalping and how tech devices are often stockpiled and sold in this way.

High Demand and Scarce Tech Products  

Products such as some games consoles (e.g. the PS5 in 2021 and now the PlayStation 5) are in short supply, partly because of a global shortage of semiconductor chips. This scarcity means that demand is high and higher prices can be charged. This makes them an ideal product for scalping.

Using Bots  

Bots are used in scalping for buying gaming products and then reselling them at a higher price (scalping) because bots are faster and better at it than humans. This is because they can monitor websites for the moment stock is available and immediately complete the ordering process. The console scalping market is worth millions, and it is not unusual for consoles to be sold at many times their normal retail price. There have been reports of some scalpers using multiple computers operating 24/7 to maximise profits.

Some sellers have even set up their own reselling company that teaches others how to scalp, charging them subscriptions to learn.

Not Just Tech Products  

There are many products other than tech products that are also part of the secondary retail market e.g., trainers and toys.

Christmas Scalping 

The run up to Christmas is a time when scalping particularly frustrates buyers, particularly parents, as those engaging in scalping have bought the must-have toys and are selling them online for high prices.

What Is ‘Sniping’?  

Similar to scalping, but just on eBay is “sniping”. This is where a user waits until the last few seconds of an auction to make a winning bid. Just as bots are used in scalping, bid sniping software can be used to automate the process and get the edge on human bidders with last minute winning bids. Bid sniping software is allowed on eBay and examples include EZ Sniper, My ibidder, BidSlammer, GIXEN, Goofbid, and Justsnipe.

Seeking New Laws To Prevent Scalping  

Some politicians, however, are seeking to protect consumers and are looking for a ban on the resale of electronic goods bought by automated bots. For example, Douglas Chapman, Scottish National Party MP for Dunfermline and West Fife tried to introduce a bill in March 2021 to prohibit the automated purchase and resale of games consoles and computer components, and for connected purposes. In his speech at the House of Commons, he said: “Scalpers manipulate and skew the supply and demand chain to create an unfair advantage in the marketplace, using bot attacks to use up basic supplies of coveted goods, such as the next generation of games consoles and computer components, then selling them on at hugely inflated prices”.  

What Does This Mean For Your Business?  

The arguments against scalping and sniping are that they are unscrupulous practices used for profiteering, a form of legal market manipulation, they put other sellers at a disadvantage, and they don’t benefit the consumer who ends up having to pay inflated prices or go without. Scalping is clearly very profitable but has been likened to ‘ticket touting’. In terms of technology, bots are a vital element in the success of those engaged in scalping and the rise of the use of bots for all manner of activities and services is a trend that looks set to continue.

If you’ve started using Windows 11 and, as a long-time Windows user, you’d prefer the Start button to still be on the left rather than centred, here’s how to move it back:

– Press the Windows Key + I to open the ‘Settings’ app.

– Select ‘Personalisation’ and ‘Taskbar’.

– Select ‘Taskbar behaviours’.

– Click ‘Left’ under ‘Taskbar alignment’.

In response to the invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has suspended all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.

Other Aspects Of Its Business Too  

Microsoft has described how it has been “horrified, angered and saddened” by the “unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia” which has led to its decision to suspend sales to Russia.

In addition to this, Microsoft has explained how, working with the governments of the United States, EU, and the UK, it is also stopping many other aspects of its business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.

Focusing On Helping Ukraine  

Microsoft has described how its “single most impactful area of work” is now the protection of Ukraine’s cybersecurity following recent Russian attacks, including a cyberattack against a major Ukrainian broadcaster. The software giant has highlighted how, since the war began, it has acted against Russian attacks on more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT, and financial sector organisations, and against cyberattacks targeting several civilian sites. Microsoft also says that it has now publicly raised its concerns that the attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention.

Helping Refugees  

As part of this focus on helping Ukraine, Microsoft says that it is also using its resources to help the country’s people by putting its Microsoft Philanthropies and UN Affairs teams to work alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and multiple UN agencies to help refugees. Also, Microsoft says that it will be providing technological and financial support for key NGOs (non-governmental / non-profit organisations) where needed, while defending these groups from ongoing cyberattacks.

Many Big Names Now Suspending Sales In Russia  

Microsoft joins many big-name corporations who have now suspended operations in Russia. The list, so far, includes Apple, Dell, H&M, IKEA, Marks & Spencer, the credit companies Visa and MasterCard, large fuel/energy companies like BP and Shell (exiting its joint ventures with Gazprom), ExxonMobil, Eni, and Siemens Energy. The conflict has also seen the suspension of operations in Russia for well-known vehicle manufacturers including Honda Motor Co. (shipments), Daimler Truck, Volvo, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Harley-Davidson (deliveries suspended).

What Does This Mean For Your Businesses?  

As well as governments, the business world in the west appears to have united behind the people of Ukraine by imposing their own commercial sanctions i.e., ceasing operations in Russia. It is hoped that combined sanctions of governments and corporations from many different sectors and countries will help to apply some serious pressure that will send a clear signal of a unified opposition and, hopefully, lead to negotiations that could halt a full invasion of Ukraine and the further suffering of its citizens. For those much smaller businesses who are more reliant upon trade with Russia, however, there are likely to be some tough times and tough decisions ahead. It is still relatively early days, and although sanctions have caused some serious effects on the Russian currency and the normal lives of its citizens, and while the country is looking increasingly isolated, Russia is still receiving $700 million per day from the US and its allies for oil, gas, and commodities. Unless this income stream is disrupted, which will have consequences in the west, Putin’s government look likely to press on with its war agenda.

Microsoft has announced that higher demand for cloud services resulting from home and hybrid working is the reason why it will delay its planned commercial price increases for Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

Two Week Grace Period  

An announcement posted in the ‘Partner Center’ section of Microsoft’s website states that the commercial price rises announced back in August will now be subject to a two-week grace period. This means they will come into effect after March 14 rather than on March 1.

Microsoft says the grace period will provide partners with additional lead time for adapting business processes and placing orders for “six Modern Work products” – Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3.

This means that all CSP new commerce transactions for these products submitted into the system no later than March 14, 2022, 5 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or 12 a.m. UTC on March 15, 2022, will be invoiced at the February 2022 pricing. Those submitted after this cut-off point will be invoiced at the increased March price list pricing.

Price Increases  

As announced back in August, the new prices for Microsoft’s commercial products which were originally due to come into effect on March 1, 2022, range from increases of 9 per cent to 25 per cent depending on the product. The increases, as listed on Microsoft’s website are:

– Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 USD to $6 USD per user).

– Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $ 20 USD to $ 22 USD).

– Office 365 E1 (from $8 USD to $10 USD).

– Office 365 E3 (from $20 USD to $23 USD).

– Office 365 E5 (from $35 USD to $38 USD).

– Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 USD to $36 USD).

Why?  

Microsoft has justified the prices by saying that although there hasn’t been a substantive price rise for 10 years, users have benefitted from many extra services and more value being added to services. For example:

– Since the introduction of 365, the company has added 1,400 features, and 24 apps to the suites.

– Microsoft 365 has added security capabilities including data loss prevention (DLP) for email and documents, sensitivity labels, and message encryption to help guard valuable company data.

– Content Search, eDiscovery, and core Litigation Hold have been added to help users with compliance.

– Built-in mobile device management (MDM) and other management tools like Microsoft Endpoint Manager have been added to, as has Microsoft Teams to help support remote and hybrid workforces. Teams, for example, has been particularly helpful to many businesses during the pandemic.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The price increases were announced 6 months ago, so were expected. A grace period, albeit just a couple of weeks is, of course, welcome. It is true also that there have been no major price increases in 10 years, which is a long time in the tech world, and many businesses will acknowledge that Microsoft 365 is better than it used to be. It is also much better for Microsoft to now have customers on their SaaS models. The cloud and apps like Teams have proven to be very important to users over the lasts two years of remote and hybrid working and, Microsoft says, it is the popularity of hybrid working that is behind the decision to give a grace period before the price increases. Of course, Microsoft needed to invest heavily on innovation to keep its products relevant and, over the last couple of years, to stay ahead of competitors in the collaborative/remote working market (Google, Zoom and Slack), which is another justification for its commercial price rises.

In this article, we look at what Starlink is and why it has been making the news in the last couple of weeks.

What Is Starlink? 

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company uses a constellation of low orbit satellites around the earth (launched by SpaceX rockets) to provide broadband internet. Starlink provides satellite Internet access coverage to most of planet and is particularly useful for areas where connectivity is unreliable or completely unavailable.

Starlink says that users of its satellite broadband can expect to see download speeds between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s and latency as low as 20ms in most locations.

Sent A Kit 

Starlink customers are sent a kit which includes the Wi-Fi router, cables and base that enables them to connect to their satellite broadband. Being a satellite connection, however, users need to have a clear view of the sky to connect and need to download the Starlink App to determine their best install location.

Can Be Seen In The Night Sky 

Starlink’s satellites can be seen with the naked eye as a bright, equally spaced line of star-like objects orbiting in a line/train. This has led to criticism by astronomers that the SpaceX satellites are ruining their observations. Astronomers also say that in addition to the amount of light reflected by the satellites, there are also the problems of diffusion of background light and the radio noise from the satellites. Back in June 2020, SpaceX responded to the criticism by developing a new strategy to reduce the amount of light Starlink satellites reflect down to Earth. Starlink says that it now leads the industry in innovations to reduce satellite brightness, minimising the impact on astronomy. The company says that it is also testing rolling satellites, so the vector of the Sun is in-plane with the satellite’s body, i.e., so the satellite is knife-edge to the Sun.

Satellites Destroyed By Solar Storms 

Starlink suffered a costly setback recently after 49 satellites it launched in one mission were burned up in the earth’s atmosphere only days later costing the company $50 million. The failure was caused by a sun storm/geomagnetic storm. These storms, sometimes called ‘space weather’ happen because of explosions of plasma from the surface of the Sun and solar winds escaping Sun’s outer atmosphere. The result of these fluctuations is that electrons, protons, and other particles are blasted out from the sun into space. When this happens, as in the case of the recently launched satellites, the earth’s atmosphere absorbs the solar storm’s magnetic energy, heats up and expands upward. This expansion creates drag on satellites, and it was this drag (while the new batch were in their lower dropping off orbit i.e. between 60 and 120 miles/100 and 200 km) above the Earth’s surface, that caused them to fall towards earth and burn up.

Is This Your Space Junk? 

So-called ‘space junk’ (debris orbiting the earth/orbital debris) is a big problem. NASA (2021) said that the Department of Defence’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors are tracking more than 27,000 pieces. Also, the European Space Agency estimates there are now 36,500 pieces of space junk larger than 10cm. These pieces of natural meteoroid and artificial (human-made) orbital debris include non-functional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragmentation debris. The significant dangers are that are that debris and spacecraft are traveling at orbital speeds (approximately 15,700 mph in low Earth orbit), and any impact of even a tiny piece of orbital debris with a spacecraft could create catastrophic problems.

Recently, astronomers accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm as being the company responsible for an abandoned three-tonne rocket part that they had been tracking since 2015 and which was on a collision course with the moon, travelling at 5,500 miles per hour. On colliding with the moon, the part is reported to have left 65ft crater. Elon Musk has confirmed that the part did not belong to SpaceX, and it is now believed that it was a part of a Chinese rocket.

Needed In Ukraine 

Starlink also made the news last week after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for Starlink internet terminals to be sent as Ukraine’s broadband infrastructure was damaged in Russian attacks. As well as being able to work in any areas where there is a clear view of the sky and not dependent on ground base infrastructure (apart from somewhere to mount the dish) President Zelensky has also commented that Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. Elon Musk, who communicated personally with President Zelensky, has now donated Starlink satellite internet terminals to the embattled country.

Thanked, But A Warning 

Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted his thanks to SpaceX’s billionaire chief executive officer Elon Musk for help, including a photo of the truck, loaded with terminals. President Zelensky has also expressed his thanks.

There have however been warnings via Twitter from Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab project, that the terminals could become targets and beacons for Russian air strikes. Concern has also been expressed that the dishes would need to be installed in vulnerable locations for the system to work.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The crisis in Ukraine has highlighted how useful the often-criticised Starlink system can be and has illustrated its advantages overs traditional ground-based systems operated often through state control. Although it can’t fully replace terrestrial internet on a large scale, it is likely to provide vital communication links where they’re needed. The speed with which Elon Musk responded and the fact that he became personally involved, which could hold a risk for him in the future, is also likely to have a positive impact on his public image which could rub off on his SpaceX and Starlink businesses. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Starlink terminals, and even the Starlink satellite operations end up being targeted by physical and or cyber-attacks.