Where Creativity Is Headed Next
Researchers showed off new tools to augment human creativity at Siggraph, the year’s biggest computer graphics conference.
Source: 5 Mind-Bending Experiments That Show Where Creativity Is Headed Next
What Does ‘Late Capitalism’ Really Mean? –
The cynical #latecapitalism meme going around social media calls out the inequities and absurdities of the modern economy. Google search interest in the phrase has more than doubled in the past year.
Source: What Does ‘Late Capitalism’ Really Mean? – The Atlantic – The Atlantic
Why all new music sounds the same
THE CLICK – THE DRUMMERS from Greg Ellis on Vimeo.
“People are consuming the musical equivalent of McDonalds: processed, mass produced, and flavorless.”
The Revolution in Advertising: From Don Draper to Big Data
Advertising in the digital age bears little resemblance to the Mad Men depiction—the Don Drapers of advertising have been replaced by big data and the people who work with it. Professor John Deighton, the author of the case “WPP: From Mad Men to Math Men (and Women),” and Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and group chief executive of WPP and the protagonist in the case, discuss how WPP has been successful in the new advertising world order, where algorithms and robots rule
Can Snapchat Survive?
Although Snapchat is one of the most innovative social media platforms out there, it is certainly not the most profitable. The brand lost $1 billion alone last quarter, forcing marketers to question Snapchat’s future as an essential medium for advertising.
Source: The Cases for and Against Snapchat’s Survival – Social Media Explorer
The “Phigital” Generation
A major generational clash is underway, says a foremost expert, and it’s affecting all industries, including education. The clash is coming from so-called Gen Z, the first generation to be considered fully “phigital” — unwilling or unable to draw a distinction between the physical world and its digital equivalent.
Source: The Rising “Phigital” Student Is More Wired In | edCircuit
The iPhone turns 10 – and it’s isolated us, not united us
How has the first generation of kids to grow up with the iPhone been affected?
Source: The iPhone turns 10 – and it’s isolated us, not united us
See also: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
How The Dream Of Social VR Can Become A Reality
Virtual reality is still searching for the killer app. Social VR can fill that void.
Source: How The Dream Of Social VR Can Become A Reality – ARC
The Peak TV Bubble Hasn’t Burst, But It’s Leaking
As Netflix, Amazon and Hulu continue to dominate, the quantity of new scripted content from the second tier of cable networks is likely to decline.
Source: Tim Goodman: The Peak TV Bubble Hasn’t Burst, But It’s Leaking | Hollywood Reporter
Millennials, Gen Xers outvoted Boomers and older generations in 2016 election
Millennials and Generation Xers cast 69.6 million votes in the 2016 general election, a slight majority of the 137.5 million total votes cast.
Source: Millennials, Gen Xers outvoted Boomers and older generations in 2016 election | Pew Research Center
Is Amazon getting too big?
A 28-year-old law student takes on the “Everything Store” by questioning whether antitrust law is ready to deal with a winner-take-all economy
Source: Is Amazon getting too big? – The Washington Post
See also The Yale Law Journal article: Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox
How do we know the millennial generation exists? Look at the data
It’s become fashionable to suggest that generational designations are arbitrary or a ‘myth.’ But social scientists can pinpoint generational and cultural changes with a surprising degree of accuracy.
Source: How do we know the millennial generation exists? Look at the data
How High-Frequency Trading Is Conquering Emerging Markets
It’s sweeping the world, but can emerging markets handle the risk of a flash-crash?
Source: How High-Frequency Trading Is Conquering Emerging Markets | Fast Forward | OZY
See also: Why Marx is Essential
How the Tech Revolution Is Bringing Flip-Flops and Beanbags to Wall Street
Finance giants love to announce that they’re actually now tech companies. But can Wall Street really change?
Source: How the Tech Revolution Is Bringing Flip-Flops and Beanbags to Wall Street | Fast Forward | OZY
A musician’s take on the analog-digital divide
The Audiophiliac reviews Damon Krukowski’s new book “The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting in a Digital World.”
Source: A musician’s take on the analog-digital divide – CNET
Our Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones
The founder of a nonprofit aimed at stopping tech companies from “hijacking our minds” says internet users must reclaim their humanity.
Source: Our Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones. Tristan Harris Wants to Rescue Them | WIRED
How CGI & AI will empower ‘fake news’
An image from a video suggesting that Julian Assange is dead and has been replaced by a CGI model.
Most people trust what they watch — but that won’t always be the case. Tech is being developed that will make it easy to create fake video footage of public figures or audio of their voice. The developments aren’t perfect yet, but they threaten to turbocharge “fake news” and boost hoaxes online. In years to come, people will need to be far more skeptical about the media they see.
Source: How CGI, AI will empower ‘fake news,’ make it harder to tell if videos are real – Business Insider
Google, Samsung boost in-app revenue to match Apple
Apple may be losing its grip as the most valuable app platform
Source: Google, Samsung boost in-app revenue to match Apple – Business Insider
Why Marx is Essential
What is extraordinary about Das Kapital is that it offers a still-unrivalled picture of the dynamism of capitalism and its transformation of societies on a global scale. It firmly embedded concepts such as commodity and capital in the lexicon. And it highlights some of the vulnerabilities of capitalism, including its unsettling disruption of states and political systems. The election of Donald Trump, the vote for Brexit and the rise of populism in Europe and elsewhere can all be understood as indirect effects of shifts in the global division of labour — the relocation of key aspects of modern production away from Europe and the United States. That has been brought about by changes in what Marx identified as the capitalist enterprise’s incessant drive to expansion.
Source: In retrospect: Das Kapital : Nature : Nature Research
The Three Eras Of Paid Streaming
Streaming has driven such a revenue renaissance within the major record labels that the financial markets are now falling over themselves to work out where they can invest in the market . . . .
Source: The Three Eras Of Paid Streaming | Music Industry Blog