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Apr 25
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Featured Article : LinkedIn Testing Premium Company Pages

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LinkedIn is testing a ‘Premium Company Page’ subscription service for SMEs which includes AI-produced content and tools to grow follower counts, as well as other features to raise the profiles of subscribers.

What Is It? 

LinkedIn says the LinkedIn Premium Company Page is: “a subscription to help you make your Page stand out and convert more LinkedIn members into clients for your business. Premium Company Page gives you access to certain features that are only available to premium subscribers.” 

How Much? 

This service is rumoured to cost a pricey $99.99 per month per Page, reducing to $839.88 per page for an annual subscription. LinkedIn says that users can subscribe to their Premium Company Page from their Page super admin view. Users do not need a Premium Business subscription to get a Premium Company Page (these are separate subscriptions).

What Do You Get? 

The LinkedIn Premium Company Page offers users a range of premium LinkedIn features. These are:

– A custom call-to-action (CTA) button. As the name suggests, this is a button in which users can select their own custom name and unique url (for the call-to-action). Super admins who subscribe to the Premium Company Page can add this call-to-action button at the top of the Page, feed posts, and search result cards.

– The “Who’s visited my Page?” feature.  Again, as the name suggests, this feature allows Page admins to review visitor traffic and demographic trends across different time periods in Visitor Analytics. The Admin of a Premium Company Page can also use this feature to review a list of recent visitors to your Page within the Who’s Visited your Page section, subject to those visitors’ privacy settings. Admins can also see up to one new visitor’s details each day when eligible members visit the Page.

– The “Custom Testimonial” feature allows the inclusion of a testimonial or quote from a client and an optional image at the top of a subscriber’s LinkedIn Page. Linked says this feature will be made available “gradually.”

– Perhaps the most noteworthy feature is the “AI-powered post-writing assistance.” In other words, this is the use of LinkedIn’s generative AI (only available with a Premium Company Page subscription). LinkedIn says subscribers can use it to “generate a first draft of a post for your Page using your ideas on a topic” and that the tool “quickly transforms your ideas into a draft that you can edit before posting.” 

The ability to “auto-invite engaged members to follow your Page.”  LinkedIn says, with this feature “you can grow your followers by automatically inviting members who engage with your content to follow your Page” and that “After you enable automatic invitations (auto-invites), members who publicly reacted, commented on, or shared your posts in the past 30 days will be invited to follow your Page”. 

A gold LinkedIn ‘IN’ logo in the top right corner of each subscriber’s Page header to show that they have a Premium Company Page subscription. LinkedIn says this will help subscribers’ pages to stand out.

Premium Services – Monetising LinkedIn 

LinkedIn’s Premium Company Page is another example of how Microsoft’s LinkedIn has been engaged in significantly monetising its platform through the introduction and expansion of premium services, although these services still represent a relatively small percentage of overall users. This year, for example, LinkedIn’s premium subscriptions saw a notable 55 per cent growth year-over-year (Kinsta), highlighting the popularity of these services and the marketing efforts of LinkedIn.

Examples of other primary premium services offered by LinkedIn include:

– LinkedIn Premium Career. This service is designed to help individuals enhance their job search and career development by offering features such as the ability to see who viewed their profile, detailed insights into competitive applications, and direct messaging capabilities through InMail.

– LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This tool is geared towards sales professionals and offers advanced search capabilities, lead recommendations, and the ability to track potential and existing clients. It’s useful for generating leads and managing sales processes.

– LinkedIn Learning. Formerly known as Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning provides a wide range of courses aimed at professional development, covering topics from business and technology to creative subjects.

– LinkedIn Premium Business. This service focuses on providing deeper insights into business trends and the ability to make more informed decisions through more comprehensive market data.

Also, LinkedIn has rolled out other features like Collaborative Articles and verification badges, to enhance user engagement and trust on the platform. These initiatives not only improve the functionality of LinkedIn for its users but also contribute to LinkedIn’s overall monetisation strategy by making the platform more indispensable to business and career-oriented people.

While some critics have suggested that the features of LinkedIn Premium aren’t that much better than the free offerings, LinkedIn’s premium services can provide a way to gain advantages for those looking to expand their professional network and access detailed insights and opportunities not available with a basic account.

Competition 

In addition to monetising more of its premium services, LinkedIn’s Premium Company Pages also provides a way for LinkedIn to compete with other business-oriented social networking and content platforms’ offerings. For example, Facebook Business Pages, Twitter for Business/X For Business, Instagram Business Accounts, and Google My Business all offer tools that support brand visibility, customer engagement, and online marketing.

How Do You Sign Up? 

Since it’s early days and still in the testing phase, who can see the options for signing up (and a free trial first) depends on the user’s “eligibility” and LinkedIn says those who go to their LinkedIn homepage “may see different ways to try or purchase Premium.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The introduction (it’s still being tested at the moment) of LinkedIn’s Premium Company Page service marks a strategic move by Microsoft’s LinkedIn to further monetise its platform while offering enhanced tools for SMEs to distinguish themselves in a crowded digital marketplace. This service is particularly significant as it includes AI-produced content and features designed to increase follower counts and enhance page visibility, which could potentially be a game-changer for some small to medium-sized enterprises looking to expand their reach and convert LinkedIn members into clients.

For Microsoft’s LinkedIn, the Premium Company Page service represents another layer of monetisation on an already profitable platform. By adding premium features that are targeted specifically at businesses, LinkedIn can increase its revenue streams and also its appeal as a business-to-business service provider in the competitive social media landscape. This aligns with LinkedIn’s recent strategy of rolling out more specialised and high-value features, such as Collaborative Articles and verification badges, (aimed at boosting user engagement and trust).

For SMEs, the benefits of subscribing to LinkedIn’s Premium Company Page could be substantial, if it lives up to the hype. Features like custom call-to-action buttons, AI-powered post writing assistance, and advanced analytics on page visitors could enhance the marketing capabilities of a business directly within the LinkedIn ecosystem. For example, these tools may allow businesses to craft more targeted, effective marketing strategies and to engage more personally with both existing and potential new clients. Also, the visibility boost provided by premium features like the gold LinkedIn IN logo could potentially help SMEs stand out against their competitors on the platform.

However, the introduction of these premium services is also a sign of increased competition (and monetisation efforts) among social networking platforms that cater to business users. LinkedIn’s move, therefore, places it in more direct competition with platforms like Facebook Business Pages, Google My Business, and Twitter for Business/X For Business, each of which offers tools for business visibility and customer engagement. As LinkedIn enhances its offerings, these platforms may also respond by innovating and updating their services, which could lead to a more dynamic, competitive environment that pushes further advancements in digital business tools, and provides more new marketing options for business users.

Ultimately, therefore, LinkedIn hopes its Premium Company Page will make money and help solidify its position as a leader in professional networking and as an important platform for business growth and digital marketing. As and when this service rolls out, it will be interesting to see how it influences the competitive dynamics among the major players in social media and digital marketing.

Apr 25
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Tech Insight : ‘Networkless’ Attacks?

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In this article, we look at why and how networkless attacks (which target cloud apps and identities) have created new opportunities for attackers and new risks for businesses, plus what your business can do to mitigate these risks.

The Move To SaaS and Cloud 

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, one of the key drivers enabling attackers to compromise an organistaion without needing to touch the endpoint or conventional networked systems and services is the increased reliance on cloud-based services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications (to drive efficiency and innovation). This shift, while beneficial, has also created new cybersecurity challenges for businesses, primarily due to the decentralisation of ‘digital identities’ and the interconnected nature of cloud services.

The SaaS Revolution and Its Impact on Security 

The proliferation of SaaS applications is a direct result of the digital transformation that has reshaped the business world. For example, companies can now be using hundreds (if not thousands) of cloud applications to perform daily operations, from customer relationship management to financial operations. This shift is driven by the convenience and scalability of SaaS solutions, however it comes with inherent security risks.

The new risk that businesses are facing is that each application potentially serves as an entry point for malicious actors, and the interconnectivity between these apps can allow a breach in one service to cascade through to others.

Why Digital Identities Are The New Security Battleground 

As the traditional network perimeter dissolves, digital identities become the new security frontier. Put simply, a digital identity can be a user account created for services that someone in the business has signed up for using a username/email and password. More broadly, it can also mean other personal data used to identify and authenticate users online.

These digital identities, which provide access to a myriad of cloud applications, are now central targets for attackers. Securing them has become increasingly complex due to the sheer number of them that businesses may be using and their dispersion across various cloud platforms, each with its own security environment. This decentralisation not only makes consistent security policies harder to enforce but also increases the complexity of monitoring these identities for potential breaches.

How Attackers Are Exploiting Vulnerabilities in Cloud Identities 

Attackers have adapted to this new environment by developing sophisticated techniques to exploit vulnerabilities in cloud identities without ever touching the physical endpoints or traditional networked systems.

Examples of techniques include AiTM (Adversary in The Middle) phishing, SAMLjacking, and Oktajacking, all of which exploit weaknesses in the authentication processes and session management of cloud services.

AiTM phishing involves intercepting and manipulating real-time data during a session to steal credentials or manipulate transactions. SAMLjacking and Oktajacking focus on manipulating Single Sign-On (SSO) processes to gain unauthorised access.

Security stats now increasingly reveal that attackers are deliberately targeting cloud services as a way into organisations. For example, CrowdStrike figures show that 3 out of 4 attacks last year were malware-free (malware used to be one of the main threats) and that the targeting of cloud services has increased 110 per cent. This helps to illustrate why cloud identities are the new digital perimeter and that Cloud apps and identities (because of the shift to cloud services) now give attackers the same result as old-style attacks without them having to try and breach a network perimeter via the endpoint.

The Security Gap in Identity Management 

Despite advances in cybersecurity, it’s clear to see why many businesses are now vulnerable to identity-based attacks. Traditional security measures like endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems and firewalls, for example, are less effective in a cloud-centric world where applications are accessed primarily through web browsers. This gap is exacerbated by the reactive nature of many security strategies, which focus on mitigating threats after they have been detected rather than preventing them proactively.

What Does This Mean for Your Business? 

For UK businesses, their move to the cloud and the usage of a wide range and complicated combination of SaaS apps, digital identities, and the interconnection and decentralisation of these have meant that they are now vulnerable to networkless attack techniques, perhaps without realising it until now. The shift to cloud computing has not only expanded the attack surface but also highlighted the inadequacies of traditional security models in protecting digital identities. This means that UK businesses must now take a much closer look at the security of these identities as part of their overall cybersecurity strategy.

To mitigate the risks associated with networkless attacks, businesses should perhaps consider adopting a zero-trust security model, which assumes that threats could be internal or external and verifies each identity and device continuously, regardless of their location. Additionally, enhancing visibility across all cloud services and implementing advanced security measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA), behavioral analytics, and more sophisticated identity and access management (IAM) solutions could help.

In short, as these networkless attacks continue to evolve, UK businesses must be proactive with security, stay vigilant and adapt their security strategies. By understanding the vulnerabilities associated with digital identities and cloud services, and implementing security measures accordingly, businesses can safeguard their assets in the cloud era.

Apr 25
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Tech News : Microsoft Deepfakes Too Dangerous For Release

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Microsoft says its new VASA-1 AI framework for generating lifelike talking faces of virtual characters is so good that it could easily be misused for impersonating humans and, therefore, Microsoft says it has “no plans” to release any aspect of it until it can be sure it can be used responsibly.

What’s The Problem? 

2024 is an election year in at least 64 countries (including the US, UK, India, and South Africa) and the risk of AI being misused to spread misinformation has grown dramatically.  In the US, for example, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law has held a hearing titled “Oversight of AI: Election Deepfakes”. There is also now widespread recognition of the threats posed by deepfakes and proactive measures are being taken by governments and private sectors to safeguard electoral integrity. AI companies are keenly aware of the risks and have been taking their own measures. For example, Google’s Gemini has been restricted in the kinds of election-related questions that its AI chatbot will return responses to.

Google has also recently (in a blog post) addressed India’s AI concerns as regards its potential impact (deepfakes and misinformation) on what is the world’s largest election. None of the main AI companies have, therefore, wanted to simply release their latest updated generative AI without being seen to test them and include what safeguards they can against misuse. Also, none of the main AI companies are keen to be publicly singled-out as enabling electoral interference.

VASA-1 

Microsoft says its VASA-1 AI can produce lifelike audio-driven talking faces, generated in real-time, all from a single static portrait photo and a speech audio clip.

How Good Is It? 

Microsoft says that its premier model, VASA-1, is “capable of not only producing lip movements that are exquisitely synchronised with the audio, but also capturing a large spectrum of facial nuances and natural head motions that contribute to the perception of authenticity and liveliness.” 

The “core innovations” of VASA-1 include “a holistic facial dynamics and head movement generation model that works in a face latent space, and the development of such an expressive and disentangled face latent space using videos”. 

See some demos of VASA-1 in action here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/vasa-1/

Key Benefits

Microsoft says some of the key benefits of the VASA-1 model that set it apart are:

– Realism and liveliness. The model can produce convincing lip-audio synchronisation, and a large spectrum of expressive facial nuances and natural head motions. It can also handle arbitrary-length audio and stably output seamless talking face videos.

– Controllability of generation. Microsoft says its diffusion model accepts optional signals as conditions, such as main eye gaze direction and head distance, and emotion offsets.

– Out-of-distribution generalisation. In other words, the model can handle photo and audio inputs that weren’t present in its training set, e.g., artistic photos, singing audios, and non-English speech.

– Power of disentanglement. VASA-1’s latent representation disentangles appearance, 3D head pose, and facial dynamics, enabling separate attribute control and editing of the generated content.

– Real-time efficiency. Microsoft says VASA-1 generates video frames of 512×512 size at 45fps in the offline batch processing mode and can support up to 40fps in the online streaming mode with a preceding latency of only 170ms, evaluated on a desktop PC with a single NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU.

Not Yet 

However, Microsoft says it is holding back the release of VASA-1 pending the addressing of privacy and usage issues, stating that: “we have no plans to release an online demo, API, product, additional implementation details, or any related offerings until we are certain that the technology will be used responsibly and in accordance with proper regulations”. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Given what VASA-1 can do, you’d think Microsoft would be itching to get VASA-1 out there, monetised, and competing with the likes of Google’s Gemini family of models. However, as with Gemini and other generative AI, it may not be fully ready and may have some issues – as Gemini did when it received widespread criticism and had to be worked-on to correct ‘historical inaccuracies’ and woke outputs.

This is also, crucially, an important and busy electoral year globally with governments nervous, trying to introduce legislation and safeguards, and keeping a close eye on AI companies and their products’ potential to cause damaging deepfake and misinformation/disinformation and electoral interference issues, as well as their potential for use in cybercrime. As such, AI companies are queuing up to be seen to be acting as responsibly and ethically as possible, claiming to be holding back and testing every aspect of their products that could be misused – at the same time basically avoiding the eyes of governments and regulators, and potentially bad publicity and penalties.

As some have pointed out, however, it would be difficult for anyone to regulate who uses certain AI models for the right or wrong reasons and that some very sophisticated open source models can be made from source code found on GitHub by those who are determined. All that said, it shouldn’t be forgotten that VASA-1 appears to be very advanced and could offer many benefits and useful value-adding applications, e.g. for personalising emails and other business mass-communication. It remains to be seen how long Microsoft is prepared to wait before making VASA-1 generally available.

Apr 25
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Tech News : Amazon Launches Amazon Live FAST Shopping Channel

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Previously available on desktop, mobile and Fire TV, Amazon has now extended the reach of its “Amazon Live” FAST free ad-supported, interactive TV “shoppable” channel by launching it on Prime Video and Freevee, for US customers.

What Is Freevee? 

For those who aren’t familiar with Freevee, it’s an Amazon-owned, ad-supported, premium, free streaming service that offers a 24/7 variety of TV shows, movies, and original content. It was previously known as IMDb TV. Freevee can be watched via an app on Amazon devices like Fire TV and Echo Show, smart TVs from brands like LG and Samsung, streaming media players including Roku and Apple TV. It can also be watched on gaming consoles (Xbox and PlayStation), mobile devices with Android and iOS apps, and directly through web browsers on PCs and laptops.

Amazon Live 

Amazon Live was originally launched on February 7, 2019. It’s a live streaming service where influencers and brands can promote and demonstrate products available on Amazon in real-time, similar to a digital shopping channel. The platform allows viewers to interact with hosts through a live chat feature and directly purchase products featured in the streams.

How Popular Is It? 

Amazon says that in 2023, more than 1 billion customers in the US and India watched Amazon Live streams across desktop, mobile, and Fire TV.

Easy To Buy 

Amazon also says that one of Amazon Live’s most unique benefits is how customers can “easily add items to their shopping cart and complete their purchases in just a few clicks without ever leaving what they’re watching”. 

Now On Prime And Freevee 

Wayne Purboo, vice president of Amazon Shopping Videos, announced the launch of Prime and Freevee saying “We are excited to bring customers more ways to shop with their favorite Amazon Live creators and brands on our premium streaming services”. Mr Purboo described the reason for (and the benefit of) extending the reach of Amazon Live Fast saying: “With the new ‘Amazon Live’ FAST Channel on Prime Video and Freevee, we’re making shoppable entertainment more accessible, interactive, and engaging than ever before.” 

How It Works 

With Amazon Live FAST, while watching the FAST Channel, customers can open the Amazon Shopping app on their phone, and type “shop the show” into the search bar. This enables them to be instantly directed to a shopping carousel highlighting the featured products they see on TV in real-time.

Why?

Amazon says that with 75 per cent of adults in the US looking at a mobile device while watching TV, the “shop the show” technology means customers are given a seamless, interactive, and convenient “shopping experience”. In other words, it’s incredibly easy to buy on impluse!

Creator and Brands 

Amazon Live FAST on Prime Video and Freevee will feature customers’ most-watched and most-loved content and will also provide an opportunity for creators and brands. Amazon says its creators “bring their unique style, expertise, gossip, and authenticity to each stream, making the experience even more engaging and entertaining.” 

The experience that Amazon is trying to create for customers can be summed up by Paige DeSorbo, described as a TV personality, fashion tastemaker (and co-host of Giggly Squad) who says: “Watching Amazon Live is like shopping with a friend who is also a personal stylist.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Amazon’s launch of Amazon Live FAST on its two premium channels, Prime Video and Freevee, is a move designed to extend a successful format of live streaming and ad-supported content. This move should help Amazon to capture an even larger portion of the digital advertising market while boosting user engagement across its platforms.

For content creators, this could open up new opportunities for real-time audience engagement, which could significantly enhance interaction and visibility. Also, the direct integration of streaming with purchasing options, making it incredibly easy for customers to buy on impulse, offers a lucrative new channel for monetisation through advertising revenue shares and increased sales conversions. Creators can also benefit from Amazon’s vast customer base, potentially expanding their reach well beyond traditional or social media channels.

For competitors, Amazon’s entry into the FAST channel market is a heightening of competition, challenging established players in live streaming and ad-supported content like YouTube, Twitch (an American interactive video live-streaming service), and other streaming services. These competitors may now face increased pressure to innovate and improve their offerings in terms of content quality, user experience, and pricing models to retain and grow their user bases. Also, Amazon’s extensive data capabilities and its seamless integration with its retail and advertising businesses mean it’s now an immensely powerful contender for attracting ad spends.

This could result in the shifting of advertising money away from traditional TV and other digital platforms, compelling content creators and competitors alike to adapt to these rapidly changing market dynamics. Amazon’s strategy not only aims to diversify and enrich its content offerings but also to further integrate its ecosystem, making it a comprehensive hub for entertainment, shopping, and social interaction (no need to go anywhere else), which could reshape the landscape of digital streaming and advertising.

Apr 25
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An Apple Byte : China Orders Removal Of Popular Messaging Apps From iPhone App Store

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It’s been reported that the Chinese government has ordered Apple to remove popular messaging apps including Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal from its iPhone app store in China, due to national security concerns.

Some reports indicate that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may not be happy that the apps are outside of their control and are pro-democracy media, plus contain political content (such as criticism of the Chinese president and government).

Also, this is likely to be part of the ongoing poor relations, trade wars, and tit-for-tat responses between China and the US. For example, the US is currently in the process of trying to ban the Chinese company Bytedance’s hugely popular TikTok app in the US due to the company’s alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party and, therefore, the possible threat to US national security.

Apr 25
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Security Stop Press : Google’s Cookie Replacement Plans Fall Short Says Regulator

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It’s been reported (WSJ) that an internal report by the UK’s privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has said that Google’s proposed replacements for cookies fall short in terms of protecting consumer privacy.

The ICO’s draft report reportedly says that Google’s proposed technology, known as the ‘Privacy Sandbox,’ leaves gaps that could be exploited by advertisers, potentially undermining privacy and identifying users who should be kept anonymous.

The WSJ reports that the ICO now wants Google to make changes and share its concerns with UK’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Apr 25
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Sustainability-in-Tech : Ultra-Fast Charging Sodium Battery Developed

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Research by a team of doctoral candidates, supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, has resulted in the development of an ultrahigh-energy density and fast-rechargeable hybrid sodium-ion battery.

Why? 

As highlighted in the published research paper, there is now an increasing demand for low-cost electrochemical energy storage devices with high energy-density for prolonged operation on a single charge and fast-chargeable power density. These are needed to meet a wide range of applications from mobile electronic devices to electric vehicles.

Sodium-Ion Batteries 

Sodium is approximately 1000 times more abundant than lithium, making sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) potentially more sustainable. Also, since Sodium can be sourced from seawater and other abundant minerals, this reduces the environmental impact associated with mining (a significant issue with lithium sourcing). This could also mean lower costs in producing SIBs – they are a more cost-effective solution than lithium-ion batteries.

Challenges 

However, as noted by the researchers, SIBs have “slow redox-reaction kinetics,” which results in poor rechargeability due to their low power density, although they provide a relatively high energy density.  However, another sodium-ion battery option, sodium-ion capacitors (SICs), have high power density due to charge storage via fast surface ion adsorptions but extremely low energy density.

A Hybrid

Bearing in mind the strengths and limitations of both SIBs and SICs, the researchers’ answer was to develop a hybrid version of the two with newly developed anode and cathode materials. The researchers described these new materials as “a low-crystallinity multivalence iron sulfide-embedded S-doped carbon/graphene (FS/C/G) anode and a ZIF-derived porous carbon (ZDPC) cathode of 3D porous N-rich graphitic carbon frameworks.” 

The Result 

The result was the development of a high-performance hybrid sodium-ion energy storage device (a battery) which surpasses the energy density of commercial lithium-ion batteries and has the characteristics of supercapacitors’ power density. In other words, a high-energy, high-power hybrid sodium-ion battery that can charge in just a couple of seconds.

Applications 

Clearly, this development could have a number of applications, not least for EVs. The development of a high-energy, high-power hybrid sodium-ion battery could be particularly advantageous in addressing the cost, environmental, and safety concerns associated with current lithium-ion batteries in EVs.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

This sounds like a breakthrough in overcoming the main limitations of sodium-ion batteries. Although it’s one piece of research, the combination of adding new materials to the anode and cathode with a hybrid of SICs and SIBs appears to have created a potentially cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and better performing replacement for lithium-ion batteries.

More research and investment will be needed to fully explore and develop the idea, but it is a promising development in terms of its potential to provide a boost to the flagging EV market. The fact that this new battery can charge in seconds and offers high energy density for prolonged operation means it could tackle challenges like range-anxiety and reduce worries about the availability of an effective charging network in the UK. A cheaper battery may also mean lower prices for EVs which could also provide a boost to the market. This breakthrough (although it needs more exploration) could prove to be a big leap forward that could have a positive impact on many industries as well as helping to reduce environmental damage (no need for lithium mining).

That said, it could be not-so-welcome news for countries that have recently discovered potentially lucrative large lithium deposits, e.g. the US (at the McDermitt Caldera), Iran (Qahavand Plain), Nigeria, and India (the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir).

Apr 25
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Tech Tip – Enable Clipboard History for Easy Access to Multiple Clipboard Items

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If you frequently copy and paste various items, Windows Clipboard History is an invaluable tool that saves multiple clipboard items for later use, allowing you to access a history of copied text, images, or files. Here’s how to use it:

– Press Win + V to open the clipboard history panel. If it’s your first time using it, you may need to enable Clipboard History by clicking the ‘Turn on’ button that appears in the panel / type ‘Clipboard Settings’ into the start menu and toggle the ‘Clipboard history’ switch to ‘on’.

– Once enabled, each item you copy will be saved in the clipboard history, and you can access and paste older items by pressing Win + V and clicking on the item you want to use.

Apr 17
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Featured Article : A Big Stink About Ink

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After trying to dismiss a lawsuit from HP customers angry at a firmware update (meaning that their HP printers wouldn’t work with third-party ink cartridges), we look at how HP is answering the arguments within the antitrust ink cartridge lawsuit and what the implications could be for customers.

The Lawsuit

Back in January, printing premier HP was sued in a Federal court in Chicago by 11 consumers (a class action lawsuit) who claimed that their HP printers wouldn’t accept replacement ink cartridges made by other manufacturers, thereby forcing them to pay artificially high prices for HP-branded cartridges. The lawsuit accused HP of violating US and state antitrust laws in a bid to monopolise the market for replacement ink.

The plaintiffs allege that they weren’t told that automatic software updates (firmware updates between late 2022 and early 2023) from HP would disable some printers unless HP-branded ink was used and that faced with non-functional printers, they were then forced to purchase more expensive HP-branded ink that they would not otherwise have purchased.

Damages

The plaintiffs, in this case, are seeking damages of greater than $5 million from HP, which include the cost of their useless third-party cartridges (the ones that won’t work in their printers because of the firmware update) as well as an injunction to disable the part of the firmware updates that prevent the usage of third-party ink.

Trying To Get IT Dismissed

HP’s lawyers recently attempted to have all 79 causes of action in the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the central premise of the Plaintiffs’ case was wrong, i.e. that HP failed to disclose to consumers that their printers were equipped with “dynamic security” measures designed to prevent the use of third-party printer cartridges that copy HP’s security chips, thereby locking them into an aftermarket where they were overcharged.

HP argued that it goes to great lengths to disclose that its printers are intended to work only with cartridges that “have an HP chip, and that they may not work with third-party cartridges that do not have an HP chip.” HP also argued that “this information is displayed in clear terms on the printer box, on HP’s website, and in many other materials.” It also highlighted that “many third-party cartridges are not affected by dynamic security. HP does not block cartridges that reuse HP security chips, and there are many such options available for sale. Nor does HP conceal its use of dynamic security.”

HP’s lawyers additionally argued that the plaintiffs also didn’t allege that they didn’t authorise firmware updates in their printers and that many plaintiffs also claim that they purchased HP-branded ink cartridges after receiving the software or firmware updates, and that their printers began to again function properly.

In short, HP’s lawyers attempted to find a long list of reasons to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Previously

These types of allegations against HP have gone on for some time now. For example, back in 2019, HP agreed to resolve related consumer claims in a California case, for a $1.5 million payment, without admitting any wrongdoing (as part of the settlement). However, just last year (in California) a judge said that HP must at least face some claims that it designed some all-in-one printers to stop scanning and faxing when the machine was low on ink, thereby forcing consumers to buy cartridges.

The Backdrop

All these antitrust printing arguments are taking place at a time when HP has been through a long period of shrinking revenues, mainly due to enterprise customers affected by the uncertain economic environment, holding off on their hardware purchases a bit longer.

Instant In Subscription & All-in-One service

Following a strategy re-think, two solutions that HP has devised to help it through these difficult times are its ‘Instant Ink’ services and its All-in-One service, both of which see it focusing on a subscription model going forward.

HP’s Instant Ink service is a subscription-based model that is beneficial for users who want to avoid the inconvenience of running out of ink and dealing with last-minute replacements. It also helps in managing printing costs more predictably. With Instant Ink (for a monthly fee, on an agreed plan), the HP printer’s ability to monitor ink levels means that before users’ ink runs low, HP sends replacement cartridges directly to the doorstep. HP claimed to have 13 million sign-ups to the service back in the beginning of March.

As the name suggests, The All-in-One service, which launched in the US last month, includes not just the ink but hardware as well, i.e. the HP Envy or HP OfficeJet models. This is also a two-year subscription contract, based on a printed page plan, with cancellation fees (to raise the barriers to exit).

In addition to trying to reduce its costs, HP’s CEO, Enrique Lores, speaking recently at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference outlined HP’s strategy since the 2019 rethink as trying to “protect supplies revenue by upping subscription services, selling hardware loaded with ink, smart models, and charging more for printers when a customer isn’t committing to HP ink.”

AI Apps Too

HP is also hoping that AI will boost PC sales and has indicated that alongside its PCs, it’s developing new AI applications to run on top of its installed base of more than 200 million commercial devices.

Printing Declining Anyway

Despite HP’s court battles over printer ink and its move to a subscription-based model, for many businesses, the need (and demand) for printers and ink has declined in recent years. This has been due to factors like the greater proliferation of digital tools and technologies, advancements in cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and businesses are moving towards greener practices (despite printer companies trying to produce more sustainable/greener ink). Also, the need to reduce costs has favoured digital storage over printed documents, alongside a disruption in global supply chains (e.g. for paper), plus the effects of the pandemic also meant a lowering of demand for printers and ink.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Having to constantly renew expensive ink cartridges or running out of ink at the wrong time have long been a significant cost and source of frustration to many businesses. In recent years, however, many businesses, for many of the reasons above, have updated to becoming more reliant on the cloud and digital solutions rather than printed documents. HP itself has had to change its strategy in 2019, moving customers to a subscription model for its ink and hardware in order to weather difficult economic times and falling demand.

This court case around HP’s attempt to curtail consumers’ adoption of cheaper third-party ink cartridges in favour of more expensive HP ones is likely to be unwelcome and reputationally damaging for HP at a time where it needs to protect its position in the marketplace. For competitors, HP’s dominance being challenged is good news and could provide a beneficial commercial outcome for them if events go the wrong way for HP.

For business customers who still need a printer, the ability to have trouble-free operation with their printers and to be able to benefit from the choice of using different, lower-priced print cartridge alternatives are likely to be valuable. Most of us will understand the frustration that printer ink problems can cause.

Looking ahead for HP, its cost-cutting and its shift to a subscription model for its ink/printer products, plus the promise of developing AI apps for its large installed base of commercial devices are ways it hopes to turn around the declining revenues of challenges of recent years. The company has a trusted business brand and the hope for HP is that their valuable brand won’t be tarnished too much by the outcome of the lawsuit that’s currently making the headlines.

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