Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what’s going on in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

• Facebook is having a brutal week… and, in turn, it is us (the users) who are paying the price:
• Facebook was hacked. 50 million users were affected (but close to 90 million may have been). To put that into perspective, Canada has a population of around 36 million. Were you affected? Here’s what you need to know. 
• Facebook is using something Gizmodo calls “shadow contact information” (like your home phone number that you never gave the company, but that a friend might have added when allowing Facebook to access their personal contact list). The big deal? Facebook is giving advertisers access to this information. This is another layer of privacy, information and data being tossed around in ways that most of us could have never thought. 
• Imagine a store that only sells products that everyone loves. Amazon made this happen. Last week, we discussed the potential for 3000 Amazon Go stores (their cashless and employee-less convenience stores). Last week, they also opened the first ever Amazon 4-Star in New York City’s Soho neighborhood. As the name implies, the store only carries products that have earned – at least – a four-star average review from Amazon customers. So, Amazon continues to bring physical retail to life, but with a heavy focus on data and experience. 
• App of the Week – Apple’s new Mojave macOS.