Month: July 2020

Stop Alexa listing to you private conversations

AlexaGate is a smart addon which stops Alexa from listening to all of your private conversations, its a cool looking addon that sits nicely on top of your echo devices

to activate clap three times, or tap the alexagate three times, and it toggles on and off so that you can talk to your echo as you would normally.  Turn on with three claps, and you’re once more assured of privacy. The device works by using pulsed ultrasound to jam the echo’s microphone. 

Here is the makers website Alexagate

TikTok to pay creators for their videos

TikTok will launch a $200 Million Dollar fund to pay creators for their videos.

The scheme is to help people whom wish to make a living from creating social content, Previously creators could monetise their live streams, this new program will pay people directly for creation. We would assume this is a program for top influencers as Tiktok has not confirmed how many or how much each contributor could earn 

This news also relates to the other post regarding Facebook Reels  which is also paying influencers to solely create content for their platform.

Seems we will have a battle for the best video content app coming very soon.

 

TikTok Competitor Reels plan to take over.

With TikTok being pulled in India because of border issues. Instagram which is owned by Facebook is going hard after TikTok to take away share. 

They reportedly offering money to lure influencers from TikTok to Reels on Instagram, which has a lot of the functionality of TikTok

Information from WSJ says Facebook has offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to creators with the most followers, paying more money to those who agree to post their videos exclusively on Reels, people familiar with the deals said.

 

Via Forbes

The New York Times R&D

Screen recording by Azad Balanian

The New York Times has a R&D site, thats the first piece of big news, the second is this web based experience called photogrammetry where scrolling lets you enter into an immersive the story inside the visual
Imagine being able to do this with all flat images, giving you the ability to explore and immerse into different world through a visual portal. 

CES 2021 Canceled and will be a completely Digital Event

Noooooo, I completely understand why with all the health risks, just upsetting because this was my favourite conference of the year. I’m really not sure how popular it will be being purely digital, yes the talks and panels can easterly be virtual, but people also got to see the new innovations, people like to touch and play with technology.

#ces2021 #innovation #technology #products #productinnovation #productdesign

Via Bloomberg

OpenXR – Hand and Eye tracking for Oculus

OpenXR Launched last summer enabling VR development across platforms, several large companies, including Oculus, SteamVR, HTC, and Microsoft, have worked to support OpenXR. Last week, Microsoft added OpenXR support to Windows Mixed Reality devices. Which is a huge deal because developers don’t have to code in different languages to have their titles working across many platforms.

Now we have an additional feature with the addition of Eye and Hand tracking modules which enable game developers to integrate these new features into up and coming games. Hand tracking is still super new, so there are not a lot of games or headsets which currently have these two features enabled.  Oculus Quest and Microsoft HoloLens 2. do and I am sure more will in the future.

These two added features might seem quite small but they wil enable significant performance increases and additional types of UI interaction on supported headsets.

The group behind the OpenXR platform is the Khronos Group

Here are some apps that use hand tracking.

Source: Nick Sutrich / Android Central

Important takeaways from Android Central where the article information was sources

  • Oculus is now accepting OpenXR-developed titles on the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest stores.
  • Eye tracking and hand tracking are now an official part of the OpenXR standard, enabling cross-platform development with these features.
  • Minecraft’s RenderDragon engine now uses OpenXR for the development of Minecraft VR.

Give your Zoom Super Powers

We are spending hours upon hours on Zoom or Teams and using other apps along side them when working.

This company called Marco.io have developed a wrapper over Zoom enabling over tools to be integrated into the meetings  

The example below is based on inclusion and diversity and maps the conversation so all parties have a say. Other examples include  smart notepad that categorises Action Items, Questions, and Takeaways as they’re being taken, another usecase is workflow integrating with google docs.

 

Social influencer shopping app

Google has created a web based social media platform that is geared purely around influencers sharing products reviews and affiliate links, giving them the ability to sell the products directly from the platform.

Currently the platform only has focus on Makeup, skincare, hair and nails, but I am sure if its successful it will roll out to other markets.  Also to note the platform is mobile only. 

An interest quote that I came across from TheNextWeb

While affiliate linking is already deeply embedded in the review industry, the focus is usually placed on good content — there might be a product promoted in those videos, but the content itself is the product. Shoploop seems to reverse that dynamic, putting the emphasis back on discovering and purchasing products, and leaving the entertainment part of it in the background.

I find this a bit strange, not the quote, the subject matter, I feel Entertainment is the key to better content and better content leads to engagement and … you see where i am going here right.. Purchase intent.

but, if you want to join this platform and be followed as a “telemarketer” I quote TheNextWeb there.. then pop over to here and sign up because its not free for everyone to jump on and be the next famous influencer.

ShopLoop.app from Google

Handheld Printing

Printing is moving fast with 3D printing becoming the norm.

This new solution from EveBot makes printing even more portable with a product that fits into the palm of your hand.

More information here

 

Spotify Workout Playlist

Spotify has created a new tool called soundtrack your workout.

“The feature will ask for the length of your workout, if explicit content is okay (since your kids are home until further notice), type of workout, workout partner(s), your “workout vibe” and preferred genres (can choose up to two). For an hour-long solo lifting session where I wanted to be “pumped up” with rock and metal, Spotify compiled a mix of more indie rock than metal. Artists like The Killers and Paramore are alongside Europe and Twisted Sister. When I submitted the same answers with just metal as the genre, I got some of the same, but with Tame Impala and Com Truise thrown in. Those are both artists I listen to often, but they’re definitely not metal.” via Engadget

 

 

What is Flutter

Flutter is a development tool kit to develop apps, mobile web and deskop from a single codebase.. meaning you can create apps for Apple and Android phones with a single codebase.. Wow.

Direct quote from their website 

“Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit for building beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.”

I have yet to try this, but its defiantly on my to do list, this would make app development so much simpler and faster if all they say is true.

Here is a video that shows what its all about.

Some great examples of Flutter Apps can be found here with the developer stories.

Copy&Art or Other

I know this is a subject that’s been batted around for years, but I have honestly not seen much change. I look at myself as well with the agencies I have built up and run.

Well I’m now taking a step to change this… ‘finally’, most of you might say. But like I just said, most are talking and not doing.

Saying that, we still need the skills of traditional art and copy – they are not just important, but vital – but we also need other skills such as technology, digital, social media, design, 3D, editing to name a few.

Before I changed, I asked myself a couple of questions: why should I need to change and how do I change?

 

Why

Clients are wanting quicker, cheaper and better solutions, because their customers want the same, therefore we have to deliver on this. Gone are the days where we get a brief and have one month to work on strategy, then another three weeks creative before presenting to the client. Then you have more time, with many rounds of changes.

These days we could have a brief from the client and be asked to respond within 24 hours with solutions, these solutions could be live tested and adapted while in market.

This sort of quick creation takes a mindset that reacts in a different way vs the creation of a 30 second TVC. It takes a different team set up to get the concept from thought to produced in a very short time.

To recap: we need to work quicker and better which equals time and skills.

 

How

Let’s look at how smaller agencies work, most of the time they work on project-based work. When the job comes in they put a team on it that can answer the brief in the quickest and best way possible. Most of the time they hire in freelance specialist to compensate for the lack on knowledge in a certain field such as technology.

So why not use this model in the larger agencies, but instead of freelancing use shared specialists across the group?

Instead of fixed teams why not select people best suited to the project?

We should break the traditional structure to be more flexible in the future. We don’t always need the big teams or groups you would normally see in an ad agency, we could have skilled people that are flexible, and are able to team up with either an art or copy partner one week and a creative technologist the next.

The brief defines the team…

Sounds logical, but how many are really doing this vs firefighting because your structure doesn’t allow you to do otherwise?

To get back to the headline of this post – should the traditional art and copy team still exist?

In my view – yes, but they should open up to working in different constructs otherwise they will become a hindrance rather than helpful.

Amazon Dash Cart

What on earth is the Amazon Dash Cart I hear you say..

Well it could be the future of retail, with a trolley that registers all your purchases with automated scanning and then charges your amazon account accordingly based on your physical basket. 

The cart basically scans your items once they are placed in cart, if the cart flashes orange then the item hasn’t been read and you have to try again. 

Another nice trick is Amazon have linked the cart to your Alexa app so you can check those items off your shopping list as you go.

Here is the video to explain the process in more detail:

The cart will first be made available at the Amazon grocery store opening in Woodland Hills, California later this year, the retailer says. it will only be for 2 bags of shopping max and isn’t really for the larger scale weekly shops.

 

Is this the future and can you upscale this to larger shopping experiences. 

Or could this be automated and you just pick up your shopping in the parking lot?

So many questions.

 

Shoe Projection Mapping to Purchase

Projection mapping on to a sneaker / trainer giving the ability to select designs or even customise on live tangible products.

Projection mapping has been with us for a while now seen in the New Balance concept below, but projection mapping is normally all show and no functionality, this example enables direct purchase instore, giving a unique consumer experience.