Digital’s a broad church and I think you need to read widely
to get a sense of the changes it’s bringing.
This week: Google wants your face, Internet advertising is
doomed, Korean killer robots, hovering rockets & Wes’ new movie
Traditional business models
A sneak peek at Apple’s new headquarters. Berliner… http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24290808/apple-offers-sneak-peek-at-its-new-headquarters#!
Apple also announced this week that it’s hired Burberry’s
CEO to be their Head of Retail. Burberry have been notably successful in
creating a unique luxury retail experience, so this move makes a lot of sense
for Apple in my view. http://gigaom.com/2013/10/15/apple-poaches-burberry-ceo-ahrendts-to-be-its-new-retail-chief/
New business models
Every self-respecting internet ad platform has the ability
to self-serve, now FourSquare has one too. This might finally make the service
useful outside of the USA. As an aside: although I rather like checking in, I
don’t really know why because there’s basically no point. Fact. http://allthingsd.com/20131014/foursquare-opens-up-its-self-serve-ad-platform/
Google will use users’ images in online advertising.
Interesting to see how people respond to their face or those of their friends
on a banner ad! http://qz.com/134564/google-just-granted-itself-the-right-to-use-your-name-and-photo-in-its-online-ads/
Supermarket chain testing Kinect-enabled shelves that can
tell the age and gender of people passing by them. Cool. http://www.fastcompany.com/3020041/fast-feed/the-future-of-shopping-shelves-that-track-the-age-and-gender-of-passing-customers
A fascinating study into the bystander effect in innovation –
why people wait for others to act rather than doing it themselves. http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2013/03/27/innovation-and-the-bystander-effect/
The effectiveness of Internet advertising is declining,
leading to consolidation of inventory and challenging the business models that
have been the basis of the online economy. This paper on the approach of Peak
Advertising sets out the challenge. http://peakads.org/images/Peak_Ads.pdf
Neat little presentation on the evolution of business models
caused by digital. http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/the-future-of-business-models?sf18347154=1
Technology
Apple will launch new Macs and tabs next week. I feel a
spending spree coming on… http://www.maclife.com/article/news/rumor_updated_macbook_pro_ipad_mac_pro_available_nov_15
Some data from Microsoft profiling technology usage in the
modern UK family home… do mothers really IM their kids to tell them that
dinner’s ready? http://www.iabuk.net/blog/technology-in-the-modern-family-home
A new VR/ augmented reality solution from some former Valve
employees. It looks like a clever system and the low price of the (admittedly
self-assembly, inelegant) starter kit is only $200. Shows how cheap this tech
will be within 3 years’ time. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-10-14-ex-valve-inventor-jeri-ellsworth-kickstarts-castar-glasses
Facebook acquires 3 year old data compression firm Onavo for
between $150m and $200m. Onavo is a good business and I can see why Facebook
would want its knowhow to improve the way their app works on low bandwidth
connections… http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-facebook-onavo-idUKBRE99D05620131014
Drones are a
technology du jour. Cheap control systems and falling costs of actuators
and motors means that we’ll see a lot more of them in all sorts of
applications, not just law enforcement and agriculture. It also means that new
air traffic control regulations will be required to prevent chaos. http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/drone-driver-licenses-how-make-flying-robots-safe-american-skies-8C11382275#!
Darpa is working on a $30 headset to enable technology to be
reliably mind controlled. If they succeed it will really open up the wearables
and bionics markets. One to watch. http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/124333-want-to-control-your-phone-with-your-mind-there-s-an-app-for-that-under-darpa-development
Korean killer robots hunt down jelly fish then mince them
with rotating death blades. There’s a film in there somewhere, but in the
interim it’s yet another example of the falling cost of technology that was
sci-fi until very recently. http://www.fastcoexist.com/3019164/these-robots-hunt-jellyfish-and-then-liquify-them-with-rotating-blades-of-death
Space X demonstrate what’s possible in the new machine age.
Their latest “Grasshopper” rocket can take off and land vertically, just like
something out of a movie. http://www.fastcompany.com/3019922/fast-feed/a-flying-hovering-landing-rocket-filmed-by-hexacopter-this-is-spacex
Funny, isn’t it? Last year people were saying hardware is
dead. Now it’s all about hardware. Shows how much analysts know about anything J. http://blog.upverter.com/what-is-the-hardware-revolution
All that technology has its downsides. Human beings are
terrible at task switching – often the thing we were doing previously continues
to run in the background, as it were. Here Sendhil Mullainathan argues that to optimise your mental bandwidth
you switch off your phone. A terrifying prospect. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/10/ideas-bank/ditch-the-smartphone-to-optimise-your-bandwidth
Media
I’ve gone on a lot about new types of journalism and here’s
a great example from the Telegraph – coverage of the ongoing troubles in the
West Bank. Brilliant journalism. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/meetthesettlers/
In a slightly surreal move, it looks like Twitter is
preparing a news alert service within itself… a giant news alerts service. My
head hurts just thinking about it… http://gigaom.com/2013/10/10/why-twitter-is-testing-a-real-time-news-service-when-it-already-is-a-real-time-news-service/
… and Twitter’s just hired a new Head of News. I can’t
comment on Vivian Schiller’s credentials for the role, but AllthingsD don’t
seem impressed! http://allthingsd.com/20131010/vivian-schiller-is-a-lock-as-twitters-head-of-news/
An excellent lecture on the future of journalism. It’s long,
but worth taking the time over as its contention, that the Internet has enabled
a return to human behavioural norms that have been suppressed by progress to
date, is one that I wholeheartedly agree with. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/09/the-rise-of-the-reader-katharine-viner-an-smith-lecture
Hearst Magazine readers spend twice as much time reading the
digital edition than those who read in print… although there’s 13 years between
the two studies so the conclusion is almost entirely meaningless. Ah well. http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/bulletin/campaign_daily_fix/article/1216270/a-third-read-tablet-magazines-cover-cover/?DCMP=EMC-CONCampaignDailyFix
Russia has always been tantalising for media owners as it’s
a large market and reasonably affluent. This (rather bulky) report suggests
that anti-piracy laws have helped develop a legitimate online video market with
YouTube leading in UGC and local players in paid and ad-funded. How long before
Netflix gets involved? http://www.ewdn.com/files/online_video_full_version.pdf
Just for fun
Latest Wes Andersen movie, out March next year. So exciting!
http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/watch-the-trailer-for-the-grand-budapest-hotel.html
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