/ Weekly Takeaways

Adobe threatens to sue older customers, Amazon replaces more staff with robots and Intuit gets sued for hiding search results

Adobe tells customers that they may be sued if they use older versions of their software

The makers of Photoshop and many other essential creative tools for any content creator have begun telling customers that they're at legal risk if they use older versions of software.

Adobe was one of the first companies to move their software to the cloud, breaking from the traditional industry model of one time license fees. In 2013, they started offering monthly fees instead of large sum payments.

The move was made largely to combat piracy of their product, which was much harder to steal once it was available through the cloud.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3xk3p/adobe-tells-users-they-can-get-sued-for-using-old-versions-of-photoshop

Key Takeaway

It has become nearly impossible to understand our relationship with technology companies. We don't own anything anymore - we're either renting products, or getting them for free through payment of our own data.

Amazon fires 1,300 employees in the US after replacing them with robots

At $1MM a pop, Amazon has created robots that automatically scan and package up products - reducing the need for 24 employees at each of their warehouses. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-automation-exclusive-idUSKCN1SJ0X1

Key Takeaway

These are small numbers for now - but this is the beginning of the end for manual labour as a workforce.

Intuit hid their free software from search results during tax season this year

Search engines are able to determine the contents of a website using their HTML code. For over a decade, marketers have used this code to increase the visibility of their websites; however, Intuit got caught using this code to hide their free products - reversing said visibility for their own gain.

Users who figured this out are now suing Intuit for their attempt to block access to their free products.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/14/turbotax_intuit_sued/

Key Takeaway

Similar to the story with Adobe - we are losing our grasp on our understanding of what we own, or what rights we have when it comes to technology.

Adobe threatens to sue older customers, Amazon replaces more staff with robots and Intuit gets sued for hiding search results
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