Tag: apple

Social Pulse, Week of 10-12-2020

Posted on by Perfectporridge in Social Media

Every week I keep tabs on what’s trending, new technology and consumer habits that impact the social web. These are summed up in a round-up called Social Pulse. Sign up to get this in your inbox every Friday here.

Your Next Amazon Box Comes Alive with AR: Between now and Halloween, Amazon will ship boxes with a new eco-friendly design that has a large white pumpkin on the side. Customers that draw on the pumpkin and scan the QR code will see their pumpkin drawing come to life through the magic of augmented reality. Download the Amazon AR app here (iOS, Android).

The Next Instagram for Audio: Would you rather talk and listen than watch and record? With the early success of invite-only audio start-up Clubhouse and gaming platform Discord, dozens of audio startups are raising capital, including: Betty Labs, Geneva, Chalk, Rodeo and Spoon. Key quote: “Entrepreneurs are betting that consumers and professionals, sick of endless texting and Zoom calls, will turn to these apps with relief.”

Google Duplex Can Finally Make Your Phone Appointments For You: Google has quietly rolled out haircut appointment booking for Google Duplex, its AI chat agent. Similar to this 2018 demo video, users with supported devices in the U.S. can have Google Assistant call barbershops, hairstylists, and salons to reserve appointments on their behalf without having to place calls themselves.

“Hey Siri, tell everyone…” Beyond the new iPhone news this week came the introduction of “Intercom,” a new feature that allows an iOS-ecosystem-enabled home to communicate between HomePod, CarPlay, iPhone, etc. It’s similar to Alexa’s “announce” feature and finally connects all of Apple’s IoT devices together in a really compelling way, especially with the growing scale of CarPlay, Apple Watch SE for kids, AirPods, and more. PS: here’s how to choose which new iPhone is right for you.

Anti-Racism Moves: Facebook banned Holocaust denier content and anti-vax content. Yelp will start flagging businesses that have been accused of racism, a new practice that some critics say could be abused by users. Triller joined TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and Etsy in banning QAnon content. Twitter has said it suspended a number of accounts that claimed to be owned by Black supporters of President Trump. Barbie may be a controversial toy character, but this week a video called Barbie and Nikki Discuss Racism is going viral and earning praise for its clarity and tone about standing up to racism.

Business Reads of the Week: What is a show without an audience?; The 100 Sequences That Shaped Animation; How Futurists Cope with Uncertainty; CEO’s Rediscover the Family Dinner Table

Weekend Watch: The Social Network just turned 10 years old and is a fascinating watch in 2020. John Was Trying to Contact Aliens is a super compelling 16 minute Netflix pick. Walt Disney Imagineering lead Mark Mine produced 25 Years of the Gartner Hype Cycle about which technology is immediately adopted and which are “stuck” in the hype. Maker Faire has moved virtual and you can tune into all of their events this weekend here.

And if you’re not an Apple fan, it’s worth watching the first 15 minutes of the #AppleEvent this week. Apple is redefining how to do “live” virtual events in the Covid-19 era, with a mix of pre-recorded live action, highly produced video, camera movement, on-screen graphics, and music/audio mix that captures and holds attention. Watch the stream here.

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Social Pulse, Week of 8-24

Posted on by Perfectporridge in Social Media

Every week I keep tabs on what’s trending, new technology and consumer habits that impact the social web. These are summed up in a round-up called Social Pulse. Sign up to get this in your inbox every Friday here.

SocNet Updates:

The Event Industry’s Napster Moment is Here: Before Napster (then iTunes and Spotify), the music industry didn’t see the digital paradigm shift that would disrupt its industry. In the same way, Rafat Ali writes you can see parallels with the event industry not being prepared for our move to digital events, networking and even dating. Will we ever meet in person again? Definitely, but it will look different. Key quote: “It is important to point out that neither the music nor radio nor the news industry nor the TV/film industry died, it’s that the incumbent players were simply shunted aside by new companies without the institutional bloat and interests that nearly always keep incumbents from advancing to the next thing.“ Of note, Spotify has launched a virtual events feature already!

Touchless Shopping Adoption: In the COVID-19 era, we’re seeing a massive rush of adoption of touchless interaction including mobile payments at retail checkouts, QR codes being rapidly adopted for everything from restaurant menus to hotel check-ins, and “pay by face” being tested in LA this week. Will Whole Foods start piloting their whole hand scan technology to checkout? We’ll see.

The New Celebrity: The life of a paparazzo is informed by trends and “who’s hot” versus “who’s not.” And in March, the A-listers hid while Gen Z’s rising social media stars stayed in plain sight. That may be why you (and certainly your kids) know more about Charli D’Amelio’s love life than Ana de Armas’. The NYT writes about what’s happening in Hollywood, as shelter-in-place redefines “influence.”


Machine Learning to Help You Make a Sandwich: This week saw the launch of the world’s first end-to-end computer vision program for building optimal peanut butter and banana sandwiches. It’s potentially the best worst use of machine and deep learning I’ve seen so far. Certainly the most delicious.

Facebook is Building a Robot to Walk Around Your House: This week Facebook Labs shared the progress its AI research team has made in the realm of household robotics, including one that roam your house. Key quote: “To accomplish a task like checking to see whether you locked the front door or retrieving a cell phone that’s ringing in an upstairs bedroom, AI assistants of the future must learn to plan their route, navigate effectively, look around their physical environment, listen to what’s happening around them, and build memories of the 3D space.” This reminds us of the Samsung Ballie demo I saw at CES, where a little robot ball can detect a spill, direct your Roomba to clean it up, and even tattle on who did it.

Brain-Control Interface Demo is Today! Will we soon be writing this email by just thinking it? Elon Musk’s Neuralink neural lace company will be demonstrating a working brain-machine interface at 6PM ET today! Tune in here. 

Tweet of the Week: You know those horrifying robot dogs that can climb stairs and haunt your nightmares? This week Unitree Robotics shared a video of one wearing a cute hat and dancing. Which is honestly just as haunting.

PSL Season Makes Trends: The pumpkin spice latte hit Starbucks for a release earlier than ever, and it took the social world by storm per usual. Here’s an updated #PumpkinSpice launch history timeline. And Last Week Tonight did its hilarious annual supercut of local news commenting the arrival of PSL season. Watch here: “Jill, you have to try it. Jill!” (note, some NSFW language here – who knew pumpkin spice was so… spicy?).

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