trends
The CD is dead? Not so fast
Best Buy might have dumped it and we’re all addicted to Spotify, but the truth about the format’s health is complex.
The New Neural Internet is Coming
So, at the end of the day, we are going to see a fully personalized content everywhere on the Internet.
Everyone will see fully custom versions of all content, that is adapted to the consumer based on his lifestyle, opinions, and history. We all witnessed arousal of this Bubble pattern after latest USA elections and it’s gonna be getting worse. GANs will able to target content precisely to you with no limitations of the medium — starting from image ads and up to complex opinions, tread and publications, generated by machines. This will create a constant feedback loop, improving based on your interactions. And there is going to be a competition of different GANs between each other. Kind of a fully automated war of phycological manipulations, having humanity as a battlefield.
The driving force behind this trend is extremely simple — profits.And this is not a scary doomsday scenario, this actually is happening today.
A Field Guide to Fake News and Other Information Disorders
Recent scandals about the role of social media in key political events in the US, UK and other European countries over the past couple of years have underscored the need to understand the interactions between digital platforms, misleading information and propaganda, and their influence on collective life in democracies,’ writes First Draft, an online journal published by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Conversational Commerce: Why Consumers Are Embracing Voice Assistants
What do consumers think of Conversational Commerce, and how can retailers and brands devise a sound voice-driven Conversational Commerce strategy?
Source: Conversational Commerce: Why Consumers Are Embracing Voice Assistants
Intel’s new Vaunt smart glasses actually look good
Smart glasses that won’t make you look like a Google Glasshole.
Source: Exclusive: Intel’s new Vaunt smart glasses actually look good – The Verge
IDC: Tablet shipments decline for 13th straight quarter, Amazon overtakes Samsung for second place
The tablet market has now declined year-over-year for 13 quarters straight. Q4 2017 saw a 7.9 percent year-over-year decline: 49.6 million units shipped worldwide, compared to 53.8 million units in the same quarter last year. The only silver lining is that declines for 2017 haven’t been in the double-digits, like they were in 2016.
What might explain the unhappiness epidemic?
Every activity that didn’t involve a screen was linked to more happiness, and every activity that involved a screen was linked to less happiness. The differences were considerable: Teens who spent more than five hours a day online were twice as likely to be unhappy as those who spent less than an hour a day
If you wanted to give advice based on this research, it would be very simple: Put down your phone or tablet and go do something – just about anything – else.
Stop blaming Apple and take responsibility for tech addiction
There are many accusations against Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and others for their addictive effects on our brains and culture. Most of the discourse is about how evil tech companies are (covertly) peddling addictive products/services that are destroying our minds, our society and our relationships. I’ve been frequently quoted in this dialogue as an example of someone who used to focus on increasing addiction (through gamification) to a “changed man” who now believes things have gone too far — with a startup to prove it.
Source: Stop blaming Apple and take responsibility for tech addiction | TechCrunch
The transformation of the Super Bowl ad experience
Companies are now tracking how consumers react on social media to Super Bowl ads. They’re also studying how the brain responds to them. Could personalized Super Bowl ads be on the horizon?
How Amazon Rebuilt Itself Around Artificial Intelligence
The Alexa voice platform and other deep learning projects have made Amazon an AI leader.
Source: How Amazon Rebuilt Itself Around Artificial Intelligence | WIRED
Nearly Half of US Households Are Now Amazon Prime Subscribers
New data from Kantar Consulting shows that an impressive 45% of households are more than willing to pay Prime membership fees, in exchange for free two-day shipping, along with ancillary benefits like access to Amazon’s streamable content.
Source: Nearly Half of US Households Are Now Amazon Prime Subscribers | eMarketer Retail
Samsung’s now making chips designed for cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency miners now demand specialized hardware — and Samsung wants to sell them it.
Source: Samsung’s now making chips designed for cryptocurrency mining – The Verge
On the Path to Purchase, ‘Showrooming’ is a New Way to Shop
Nearly 75% of grocery shoppers have used a physical store to “showroom” before purchasing online. The store is still pivotal to the shopper experience, and there’s opportunity to convert showroomers or drive online purchases through one’s own online retail platforms.
Source: On the Path to Purchase, ‘Showrooming’ is a New Way to Shop
2017 Year in review: Building immersive experiences
Looking back at the new technologies and advancements from Facebook engineering in 2017.
Source: 2017 Year in review: Building immersive experiences | Engineering Blog | Facebook Code
Are the Grammys Relevant in a Digital World?
In the latest episode of eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, analyst Paul Verna discusses trends in music consumption and how the Grammys fit—and don’t fit—with consumers’ evolving habits.
Source: Are the Grammys Relevant in a Digital World? – eMarketer
From Amazon, Apple, Comcast and AT&T: This is who owns the media today
Consumer Time Spent on Publisher Sites Fell in 2017
Fake news, a grudging dependence on social media platforms, the pivot to video—all of these add up to create an obstacle-laden environment for publishers trying to figure out a viable business model. Now, new data from native content discovery platform Taboola raises yet another difficult factor: a decline in the duration of US internet users’ sessions on publisher sites.
Source: Consumer Time Spent on Publisher Sites Fell in 2017 – eMarketer
The UX of AI
Using Google Clips to understand how a human-centered design process elevates artificial intelligence.
As was the case with the mobile revolution, and the web before that, machine learning will cause us to rethink, restructure, and reconsider what’s possible in virtually every experience we build. In the Google UX community, we’ve started an effort called “human-centered machine learning” to help focus and guide that conversation. Using this lens, we look across products to see how machine learning (ML) can stay grounded in human needs while solving for them—in ways that are uniquely possible through ML.
Blockchain: The New Technology of Trust
Beyond just Bitcoin, learn how blockchain technology is transforming how we interact with the world with our immersive infographic.
Source: Blockchain: The New Technology of Trust | Need to Know | OZY
Why Amazon Alexa is the best way to future-proof your smart home
Amazon is in a better position than any other company to dominate ambient computing, the concept that everything in your life is computerized and intelligent. Amazon’s Alexa platform continues to get better while remaining open to third parties, unlike Apple’s Siri. Buying into Alexa now will future-proof your home.
Source: Why Amazon Alexa is the best way to future-proof your smart home – Business Insider