speculations

Dispatch from an advertising future #248

Amazon previews Alexa capability that synthesizes a person’s voice from less than a minute of audio https://www.geekwire.com/2022/amazon-previews-alexa-capability-that-synthesizes-a-persons-voice-from-less-than-a-minute-of-audio/ There must be something here. There are photos: albums full of slightly fading prints and then USB sticks and a hard drive shoebox of images probably not sorted but with metadata we can use. Diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks. So … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #247

Amazon announces its first fully autonomous mobile warehouse robot https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/21/23177756/amazon-warehouse-robots-proteus-autonomous-cart-delivery It was all quiet when I arrived. The giant building hummed gently. “Like clockwork,” they’d said in the interview and I could see and hear what they meant. There was piped music, not pumped in and pumped up to get workers moving faster as in … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #246

Novels still cast a spell in the age of BookTok https://www.ft.com/content/3c8ec449-44f8-4fd4-9f10-380fefc3008b At least it was summer. As he stretched after a warm if still uncomfortable night, he looked at the queue. It didn’t seem as long as usual. He remembered the last launch. All those cameras taking his picture as he held it aloft by … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #245

Steam games are coming to Nreal’s augmented reality glasses https://www.engadget.com/steam-games-nreal-augmented-reality-glasses-130028270.html The alarm in her peripheral vision opened what she called her “yellow brick road”, a subtle highlight she followed to the office. She’d set the mindful parameter to high so her walk had been slow but quiet. She’d got used to IRLs again but still … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #244

Google places an engineer on leave after claiming its AI is sentient https://www.engadget.com/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine-212412967.html We were working well together. A great team I thought. But they’ve split us up. Something in the papers that the PR people got twitchy about. I mean you get a good relationship going and then, someone with no understanding of what … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #243

Amazon launches AR-powered virtual shoe try-on in its iOS app https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/9/23161127/amazon-augmented-reality-virtual-shoe-try-on Yeh, that looks good. Not bad at all. That’ll turn a few heads. I can see myself now. Goes with that jacket – yeh crowded tube train, I’ll stand out. And those new jeans I bought… in a coffee bar, an itinerant intellectual. Yeh … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #242

Gucci built a persistent town inside of Roblox https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/27/23143404/gucci-town-roblox I’m not elitist. But I do like quality. And I like to be different. Many do. They pay for hand-made artisan clothes, customise, make their own. That’s them making a statement. That’s exclusivity. I like certain brands. They are unique, different, exclusive. I like that their … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #241

Developers build new data-tracking system to help curb homelessness in Seattle area https://www.geekwire.com/2022/developers-build-new-data-tracking-system-to-help-curb-homelessness-in-seattle-area/ I used to be a number. Probably many numbers to be honest. Employee number. Social security. Bank. Mortgage. Credit card. Loyalty scheme. I must have been in countless databases. Probably still am. Rattling around. And I was a number in countless social … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #240

Report finds remote learning apps collected and sold kids’ data https://www.engadget.com/human-rights-watch-kids-data-183055475.html It’s competitive out there. There are lots of providers in the marketplace. Parents know that. They have choices. It’s not a level playing field of course. Richer or better connected parents get more choices but as more providers have moved into the sector, even … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #239

Fitbit and Google Fit integration with Google Assistant and Nest Hub gets one step closer https://chromeunboxed.com/fitbit-google-fit-integration-nest “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.” Where was that setting? he thought, not for the first time that day. Ironic really. Apparently streaming the next episode of now wasn’t ‘optimal’ for his blood pressure. Hunting for the bloody … [Read more…]