Welcome to the latest issue of Brandtech News, an update on building brands better, faster and cheaper, using technology.
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Artificial Intelligence – “Thinking About You”
The ignominious suspension of Microsoft’s experiment with artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, “Tay” (an acronym for “thinking about you”), after it degenerated in a sexist, racist, Holocaust-denying mudslinger, has been much discussed. But while it's an entertainingly distracting story, AI bots really are going to be useful, smart and not at all racist (we hope).
Read a great overview on the background to Tay on Bloomberg Businessweek. Meanwhile, Shelly Palmerblogs on what can be learned from the experience. In fact, Microsoft’s Chinese version of Tay, called Xiaoice, has been already available for 18 months and has 40 million users.
While we are on the subject of artificial intelligence and machine learning, this thoughtful essay by Scott Santens reflects on what automation may mean for jobs and society. “Jobs are for machines, and life is for people.”
Facebook Messenger – much more than chatting with friends
Facebook's F8 Developer Conference kicks off on 12 April (sign up to watch it here). At last year's F8 Facebook announced several services and tools for its Messenger platform. Look out for more very interesting announcements next week.
Airline KLM is already using Messenger for boarding passes, flight information and customer services, as covered in Venture Beat. Now, Apple Insider says Facebook looks to be gearing up to transform Messenger into a retail service and may be negotiating a deal with Apple to integrate Apple Pay for checkouts.
Elon Musk: “Definitely going to need to rethink production planning.”
Tesla launched its entry-level Model 3 electric vehicle and, within two days, had more than 276,000 pre-orders. People put down $1,000 each to order the car, due to be delivered late 2017,The Guardianreports. The car has a base price of $35,000, translating to $10 billion. And this is all before they even know what the car will really be like! Even the self-assured Musk was amazed, saying on Twitter that he had expected about a quarter to half that number of orders.
Bloombergreviews the new model, and says it "lives up to the hype".
At last, an electric car that does not look like it sprang off the pages of an illustrated children’s book!
“As magical as VR has become, this is only the beginning.”
We defy you to read this blog by Oculus chief scientist, Michael Abrash, and not feel excited by the sheer possibilities that are truly just around the corner.
If you are not among the lucky few who have received an Oculus Rift, which shipped in the last few days, then The Verge has done an exhaustive review of the new product. The Wall Street Journal also takes an interesting look at practical uses of VR that will make the world a better place. Meanwhile, Advertising Age looks at Samsung and Vice’s VR partnership and TechCrunch, erm, uncovers details of PornHub’s new VR category. Because, *of course*, that had to happen.
Online ads – “not so much a supply chain as a tangle” The Economist takes a long, hard look at the online advertising landscape, discussing the convoluted supply chain alongside concerns about fraud and standards of viewability.
Meanwhile, the finger of blame is pointed at ad agencies for sending oversized files to publishers, and thereby contributing to adblocking problems in this Wall Street Journal article. And the latest Digiday “Confessions of" sees a publisher bemoan the state of the relationship between media agencies and publishers, saying, “Agencies are scared to change their existing model.”
Still not sure how to use Snapchat?
Look no further - Business Insider published a very helpful step-by-step guide for the complete novice. Advertising Age gives a run-down on Snapchat filters and how brands can use them.
Snapchat’s latest addition is geo-filters, launched last month, which allow people and businesses to design their own filters for specific places at selected times. This smart Minneapolis-based agency is using them to recruit interns on college campuses.
News about us:
Back in February, we invested in Niantic, Inc., which is making Pokémon Go - geolocation + augmented reality + gaming. Last week, Niantic revealed some more details about the game. Wired and Mashable both covered their first looks.
Fifty-five, our recent acquisition, held a Brandtech event at Google's HQ in Paris. The day was covered (in French) by Viuz. The proceedings were also brilliantly illustrated by cartoonist Deligne, who depicted our founder as David "Indiana" Jones. Not to be missed :)
