title: tech exaggeration link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/tech-exaggeration/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 279 created: 2009/07/23 14:58:45 created_gmt: 2009/07/23 14:58:45 comment_status: open post_name: tech-exaggeration status: publish post_type: post

tech exaggeration

From The Register comes this terrific quote vis-a-vis the BBC’s revelations about a service called Spinvox and what amounts to “fraud-and-deceit-as-usual” in the tech business:

So when it comes to making exaggerated technology claims - the bigger the lie, the more reporters repeat it.

I’ll leave it to you to read the substance of the article, which while it starts out a little slow (who really cares about speech-to-text anyway? Just another executive toy as far as I’m concerned), found here, but there are a few priceless gems of commentary on the sociology of business tech that cry out to be highlighted:

First, re the technology itself:

Spinvox is a voicemail to text service that purports to use “D2 … a combination of artificial intelligence, voice recognition and natural linguistics”, when in fact, the BBC claims today, low-paid sweatshop staff in foreign countries do almost all of the translations. This had been known for ages.

Next, the business analysis:

Spinvox’s decline set in when it failed to scale its operation while maintaining quality… But you’d only have to use the service for a day to see that it was human-powered. Any prudent investor would have asked how many staff Spinvox employs, and how many messages they process, to determine its cost base and scalability.

Finally, a word about the role of press actors like the BBC when it comes to other Web 2.0 companies like Twitter or Spotify:

Critically examining the claims of these “new media” wonders is something the BBC hasn’t been particularly good at - partly because it has so many “new media” evangelists and disciples of its own, whose own prospects are heavily tied to these fictions being maintained.

The BBC is, of course, not alone in this. All the major American broadcast and cable TV networks, and their magazine and newspaper counterparts, are in the same boat — joined by their country club friends in the general corporate and government sectors.

It’s actually quite amusing to watch them stumble along, discover how badly they’ve been fooled and then try to cover up in the hopes of preserving their reputations and dignity.

Too bad that in the meantime real money is being flushed that could go to things that actually count.

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