Versatile Amphibian

Digital’s a broad church and I think you need to read widely to get a sense of the changes it’s bringing. To that end, this blog summarises some of the stories that have caught my eye this week. This week: apps flop at Christmas, Polaroid launch tiny and huge imaging products, PC on the slide, super-tech on the rise Media Sony announce the streamed games service that was presumably the idea behind their acquisition of Gaikai in 2011. In summary, from the summer, PS3 games can be streamed to Sony Playstations and TVs. An interesting idea, but I’m not sure how the games themselves will compare to those already available on tablets, smartphones and even smart TVs. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/playstation-now-lets-gamers-stream-ps3-games-to-ps4-vita-and-tvs/0126467 Ace Metrix ranks the most effective TV adverts in the US last year – Google #1 - I include it here because I’m not sure how it works! I’ll try to find out… http://www.acemetrix.com/news/press-releases/the-search-is-ove...

The pace and breadth of change in technology and media is awesome right now, so my view is that people in the industry need to read widely to get a sense of what’s going on. To that end, here’s the stories that caught my eye. This week: Macy’s becomes Minority, HBO struggles in Sweden, self-driving cars by 2020, inkjet-printed electronics and digital puzzle baffles Internet Business models Macy’s becomes the first big store to trial iBeacon, Apple’s new in-premise presence technology… cue Minority Report comparisons galore. In seriousness, this kind of store based presence technology should be a godsend for retailers as it can link online experiences to physical in a much more engaging way. http://gigaom.com/2013/11/20/macys-is-the-first-retailer-to-use-apples-ibeacon-for-in-store-presence/ The ultimate narcissism, combining Kinect, 3D printing and $59 to create a figurine of yourself. http://www.gizmag.com/shapify-kinect-3d-printing-selfie-statue/29885/ Not really a business...

Last week was a bit of a busy one, but I still had chance for a bit of reading. Here’s a brief roundup of stories from the TMT industry that caught my eye. This week: Google vs Facebook in Internet Risk, goodbye  Google TV, cars drive themselves (but not in Canada), kids break Murdoch’s tabs Traditional business models FT says that its print product will henceforth derive from the digital. I’m not so sure that’s really practical. There’s a big difference between the fast twitch, unlimited word count world of the web and the more structured, quality-first print product. There’ll be two newsrooms for a long time yet. http://gigaom.com/2013/10/09/financial-times-our-print-product-will-derive-from-the-web-offering-not-vice-versa/ BT bows to the inevitable and goes back into mobile. I think they’ll do well, since BT Retail has seemingly figured out how to do product marketing. Bad signs for O2 though, who now have the poorest spectrum asset in the UK and seem to be goin...

I’m of the belief that participants in the TMT industry need to read widely in order to understand the present and future dynamics of the market. To that end, this post is a collection of the articles that have caught my eye. This week:  robots, wearables, self-driving cars & some thoughts on decisions Media The BBC has suspended 3D programming indefinitely, citing limited audience appetite. 3D just hasn't worked out as the TV industry hoped, but these things happen. And 4K is nearly here. The audience will definitely like that. Oh yes!  http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2013/07/05/BBC-announces-decision-to-halt-3D-television-programming/UPI-41911373064121/ If you were somehow watching the Wimbledon tennis championships on 4K you could also enjoy adverts placed onto nails, water bottles etc... in real time. Fascinating. Pointless. It's tech!  http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/04/video-wimbledon-allows-adverts-on-nails-as-sony-showcases-4k-ultra-hd-386...

In my first posts about 2013’s trends I covered wearable computing and 4G in the UK . In this third instalment I’ll look at the self-driving car, a long predicted technology that is finally ready for the limelight. What are they: pretty simple to describe! A self-driving car doesn’t need a human driver to get from A to B. The driver tells it where to go and the car does the rest, navigating, dodging other road users, swearing at bad driving and doing burn outs at traffic lights. My prediction: cars that self drive under certain circumstances will go on sale in 2013, starting with Mercedes’ flagship S Class and Audi’s A8 executive saloon, both of which are already announced. These first generation self-drivers can operate autonomously on the motorway, but not in urban areas or back roads. Second generation self-drivers, able to operate anywhere, are probably for 2018 or 2019’s models. Why I think this: Plenty of cars on sale in the UK today have elements of self-driving techn...

I’m firmly of the belief that participants in the TMT industry need to read widely in order to understand the present and future dynamics of the market. To that end, this post is a collection of the articles that have caught my eye. This week – Google makes me want to shine lasers in my eyes, Nokia’s brim is full of Asha, differences in male and female social network use, planes and automobiles go robot and I get nostalgic about the number two. Mobile technology I’ve been predicting this for years – heads up display is the next step in mobile technology interfaces. Even without a non-manual way of interfacing with the device, there’s plenty of data that can be dragged off the Internet already and overlaid onto the real world automatically. I just hope they make a version for those of us who already wear spectacles... If not then I’ll have to get ‘em lasered... http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/google-to-sell-terminator-style-glasses-by-years-end/ But before we get to mass adopti...

A great article in Slate about the price of heavier cars in terms of road safety. As a long term driver of small, lightweight vehicles, it makes disturbing reading, even before one considers the environmental damage associated with 2T four wheel drives. I think that the idea the author proposes of increasing fuel duty to account for the additional health costs makes perfect sense. I fail to understand why in the UK we feel the need to pay for a vehicle licensing body like the DVLA (at the cost of 100's of millions of pounds) to ( ineffectively ) police road tax, when we could save a huge amount of money and gaurantee compliance by putting additional fees on fuel. Oh, and it would actually target those who pollute the most. Anyway, back on road safety, I remain really excited by the potential of self-driving in this area, even if it is only allowed on major trunk roads. British roads are quite safe but if one death can be avoided by mass adoption radar cruise control , brake assis...