1. Monthly archive
  2. February 2017

February 2017

Still Wondering How Trump Won? Try Psychographic Targeting

[Commentary] You wake up, yawn, stretch. Pick up the phone. Check Facebook. “Like.” “Like.” “Like,” again. After 10 “likes,” Michal Kosinski knows you better than your work colleagues. After 70, he knows you better than your partner does, including -- whether these things were explicitly referenced in your clicks or not -- your skin color, your sexual orientation, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whether you smoke or do drugs… The list goes on.

Like some creepy alt-Santa, he knows how open you are. Whether you’re a perfectionist. Whether you’re considerate. Whether you’re neurotic. Kosinski isn’t a CIA agent or a spy. He isn’t even a marketer. He’s a researcher at Stanford, and he’s worked out how to turn your clicks into psychographic profiles. Kosinski’s technique is similar to the technique used by the company Cambridge Analytica to help the Brexit and Trump campaigns win.

Rise Broadband: Fixed 5G Broadband Has Real Rural Challenges

Despite increased interest in fixed 5G on the part of the nation’s largest carriers, it’s still not a great choice for rural areas, said Jeff Kohler, co-founder of rural broadband wireless network operator Rise Broadband.

In discussing fixed 5G vs. broadband wireless, Kohler said he sees the relatively short range of 5G wireless as a disadvantage in rural areas. “On the 5G front, what we’re seeing is a lot of high-frequency millimeter wave technology,” said Kohler. As Kohler noted, millimeter wave spectrum is “great for high capacity and high speed over very short distances.” In contrast, the broadband wireless technology that Rise is using can cover distances of up to five miles from a tower, Kohler said. “Using millimeter wave you would probably have to split [the signal] five to seven times using small antennas and repeaters to reach three to five miles,” he commented.

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