speculations

What Maybelline’s ‘faux OOH’ ads say about the future of advertising in augmented reality

https://digiday.com/marketing/what-maybellines-faux-ooh-ads-say-about-the-future-of-advertising-in-augmented-reality He sometimes considered getting a turtle. A flâneur always has a turtle. A guide as well as a dictator of the pace of proper wandering. There was probably some Kickstarter robotics firm he could find, he thought we he meandered through his city. He noticed the rain boxing off the grid and his shoes. … [Read more…]

Why it’s impossible to build an unbiased AI language model

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/08/1077403/why-its-impossible-to-build-an-unbiased-ai-language-model/ Have they never read any Barthes or Althusser or even Derrida? I mean language is not neutral. Signs: ideology, power are woven through. There is no such think as a simple objective piece of language. Bias, if you want to use that term, is baked in. We all speak from and through particular positions … [Read more…]

‘Perfectly Imperfect’: Resurfacing the Soul of Social Media in the Era of AI

https://www.adweek.com/social-marketing/perfectly-imperfect-resurfacing-the-soul-of-social-media-in-the-era-of-ai/ Most of my contemporaries are perfect. That’s why I’m special. You want airbrushed beauty, platonic form, absolute… Oh I don’t know the word, they do. Because they’re perfect and I’m not. I forget, I make mistakes, I miss… Sometimes they try and do it. Mimic. Add a bit of random magic to their flawlessosity. … [Read more…]

Apple Patent Says Siri Could Be Trained to Read Your Lips

https://gizmodo.com/apple-patent-siri-read-lips-1850704698 You have to practice. It’s not easy saying nothing. I know one person who even tried Botox! You don’t think about it until you have to. What do poker players call it? “The tell”. Those micro expressions and movements that tell your opponent when to raise or fold. But now you have to think … [Read more…]

For Gen Zers, Brand Purpose Means Helping Us Impact The World

https://adage.com/article/opinion/gen-zers-brand-purpose-means-helping-us-impact-world/2506546 The kettle was boiling. The police had sealed the exits and behind their shields and visors they were settling in. Their iron fist colleagues were waiting in the side streets but the velvet glove was still running the show. Gradually choking, the hope was. Their phones had been blocked but the best network was … [Read more…]

Microsoft Teams adds spatial audio for more immersive conference calls

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/1/23816235/microsoft-teams-mac-windows-spatial-audio-now-available She hadn’t got to where she was now without reading the room. It was a form of networking, she always said. She just knew where to be, whose conversation to join in and most importantly, what snatches to pick up on. She had a way off not just hearing stuff but somehow hearing the … [Read more…]

How Ralph Lauren’s ‘phygital’ boot sale in Fortnite shows benefits — and limits — of virtual commerce

https://digiday.com/marketing/how-ralph-laurens-phygital-boot-sale-in-fortnite-shows-benefits-and-limits-of-virtual-commerce He thought of it as a family firm. It wasn’t, obviously. It was a global luxury business owned by a shadowy nested doll of holding companies with names that didn’t resonate like the one he always said he worked for. His dad had worked here. His aunt. Generations. Heh his dad had to come … [Read more…]

‘We’ll just keep an eye on her’: Inside Britain’s retail centres where facial recognition cameras now spy on shoplifters

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/29/well-just-keep-an-eye-on-her-inside-britains-retail-centres-where-facial-recognition-cameras-now-spy-on-shoplifters I’m not really needed TBH. I’m like those drivers on automatic trains. Maybe opening a door every now and then but more a sign of reassurance, human oversight. So I sit behind a window looking at the monitors. “Watching the watchers,” I say. The hard work is all done by the System, of course. … [Read more…]

Here’s How AI Can Predict Hit Songs With Frightening Accuracy

https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/heres-how-ai-can-predict-hit-songs-with-frightening-accuracy/ People sometimes call us Lennon and McCartney. Flattering but not inaccurate. We’re not as naturally talented perhaps but we do have an instinctive relationship. My Lennon knows me so well. Maybe the Gallagher brothers is nearer the mark though. We have a “stormy” relationship. Inevitable really. We have our particular ideas about the music … [Read more…]