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Mike Boland

Mike Boland, senior analyst with Localogy, was one of Silicon Valley’s first tech reporters of the internet age as a staff reporter for Forbes magazine starting in 2000. His comments have appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Yelp's Trust & Safety Report Has New Meaning in the Age of AI

Yelp’s Trust & Safety Report Brings New Meaning in the Age of AI

Yelp’s annual Trust & Safety report is out today. Every year, it reveals how Yelp’s local search and reviews engine works, including reliance on machine learning and human moderation to police deceptive reviews. As part of this exercise, it also quantifies its policy enforcement efforts around bad actors.

Mike Boland February 5, 2025
Meta's Boosts its Visual Search and Spatial Computing Road Map

Meta’s Elevates its Visual Search Aspirations

This week saw the latest clues in Meta’s beleaguered but potentially-promising spatial computing roadmap. Otherwise known as extended reality, we’re talking about the spectrum of AR, VR, and MR. These are often lumped into the gaming realm but have other endpoints, such as local commerce.  

Mike Boland January 24, 2025
T-Mobile Uplevels Ad Monetization, Acquires Vistar Media

What’s Behind T-Mobile’s Vistar Media Acquisition?

T-Mobile has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vistar Media. For those unfamiliar, Vistar is a formidable ad network and adtech play in the digital out of home (DOOH) realm. This diversifies T-Mobile’s revenue mix and achieves some synergies with its core business. 

Mike Boland January 22, 2025
Sphere of Influence: Word-of-Mouth Aint What it Used to Be

Sphere of Influence: Word-of-Mouth Aint What it Used to Be

Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted in September, a GoDaddy report signals that recommendations from family, friends, and colleagues are losing their potency, given the greater trust that’s now put in the influencer economy. 

Mike Boland January 21, 2025
What Does a Post-TikTok World Look Like?

What Does a Post-TikTok World Look Like?

Though there are orbiting variables that could change the fate of TikTok in the coming days, the current reality is that its “divest or die” congressional act is in effect. What will this mean for SMBs that rely on the platform?

Mike Boland January 20, 2025
Specialization and AI: What Hiring Trends will 2025 Bring?

Specialization and AI: Hiring Trends to Define 2025

Where are we now in the world of hiring? Skills marketplace Upwork has ample first-party data to answer that question… and insights to make sense of it all. We recently gathered some of those insights.

Mike Boland January 17, 2025
Google and Microsoft Double Down on AI Productivity

Google and Microsoft Double Down on AI Productivity

Two notable AI updates crossed our desks this week: One from Microsoft and one from Google. Both continue to push AI features front & center in their respective productivity suites. This will be a high-stakes arms race for both.

Mike Boland January 16, 2025