https://gizmodo.com/disney-made-a-skinless-robot-that-can-realistically-sta-1845522375 We’ve been partners since we started in the business. It was just after Reset and agencies were hiring cheap and investing in Artificial Creativity. Give us a shared screen and we’ll bounce ideas with the best of them. We even work together whenever we’re allowed out. Me talking to my wrist, her arguing in … [Read more…]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX2XCBH-6zQ As we emerge into Normal 2.0, it is time to think again about our position in the new marketplace. As you know, from last week’s “fireside chat”, we have said goodbye to a number of valued friends as we have doubled down on leveraging our OmniAI system within the creative process. We have also … [Read more…]
https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/cannes-lions-offers-best-practices-for-lo-fi-content/44267 You’ll have seen Chris’ message after the client saw the work. I am sure you were as shocked as I was. To have such a stinging attack from a long-standing partner hurt us all. And it should. Chris was right. Message, story, idea: all great, but execution? The technical quality just was not there. … [Read more…]
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/24/21454872/amazon-ring-always-home-cam-flying-drone-ad-demo The profiles were nearly complete. The different dimensions were in place. Shopping JDoe was catalogued. Consuming JDoe was captured. Emotional JDoe was measured. Moving JDoe was tracked. There was no need to worry about the JDoe office space as there had been in The Before. The JDoe home space was visualised. The various dimensions … [Read more…]
https://www.engadget.com/oldest-computer-manual-zuse-z4-161214346.html It had been a themepark for a long time. Students came on fieldtrips and marvelled at the rows of desktop computers, giggled at the printers and looked puzzled at the meeting rooms. The guide was programmed as a Don Draper-style CD, from The Before. He talked about pitches and client meetings, and told tales … [Read more…]
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/09/traders-set-to-don-virtual-reality-headsets-in-their-home-offices/ He’d always been slightly envious of them, their corner of the office. It was just more… fun. They had paper, lots of it. Doodles and post-it notes with half-written jokes or quotes. Their screens always looked better too, their software exciting. And then there were the gadgets and games. They justified playing as work … [Read more…]
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/18/1008559/letter-writing-lockdown-loneliness-get-out-the-vote/ I imagine them opening it. You’ve seen feeds of them waiting by their new letterbox for my papergram to arrive: expectant, delighted. Sometimes they rip them open, sometimes they take endless time. I can almost feel it when I’m writing. Of course I’ve always had their profile to work with, but I think imagining … [Read more…]
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/ai-ruined-chess-now-its-making-the-game-beautiful-again/ They called me the “ugly duckling”. They were the ones people wanted to see. “It’s a revolution, a whole new world,” the press marvelled. There were documentaries and of course awards. I knew they were the next big thing when commentators used the word “dangerous”. They were perfection. And then there was me. I … [Read more…]
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/3/21420383/animal-crossing-sylvan-esso-music-video-nintendo The shoot was on. The script was finally agreed and the storyboard signed off. The Creative Director was already practising his awards acceptance speech or at least the soundbites he’d use at the next conference. Probably something like “the New Normal calls for abnormal creativity” or something about purpose. Negotiations with the ‘talent’ had … [Read more…]
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/30/1007786/elon-musks-neuralink-demo-update-neuroscience-theater/ The JammerChip has been around as long as implants. Some say the capacity to think our ads away has led to new forms of creativity as we built ad-experiences people would choose to have. But data from our partners in the gaming, education and health industries’ chips shows little or no neural response to … [Read more…]