Want to See Something Really Scary? — October 30, 2017
The spooky side of technology; Walmart leverages machine learning to scale to 60 million items online; AI myths, busted; why car ownership may not be worth it; agencies have new competition; the precedent for Amazon's conglomerate model; Walmart is a disruptor; e-commerce means more jobs; Facebook has some serious issues; YouTube on TV passes 100M hours/day; hacking secure buildings with your personality; get ready for the bike-sharing war; how to spot a machine learning opportunity; the five elements of effective thinking; and more in the Want to See Something Really Scary? edition of The Full Monty from Brain+Trust Partners for the week of October 30, 2017.
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Top Stories
Tomorrow is Halloween, which of course turns everyone's thoughts to the macabre and ghoulish. When it comes to technology, there's plenty of that going around, so we rounded up a few stories that range from creepy to chilling to downright dystopian.
- Artificial intelligence is getting better at a number of things, including writing. Try these horror stories written by AI. Happy Halloween. ☠
- What happens when skilled upper class workers lose their jobs to artificial intelligence? It could lead to a rebellion.
- Get ready to welcome our new robot overlords. A little-known but entirely appropriate Twilight Zone* episode would be "The Brain Center at Whipple's." The closing monologue:
"There are many bromides applicable here: 'too much of a good thing', 'tiger by the tail', 'as you sow so shall you reap'. The point is that, too often, Man becomes clever instead of becoming wise; he becomes inventive and not thoughtful; and sometimes, as in the case of Mr. Whipple, he can create himself right out of existence. As in tonight's tale of oddness and obsolescence, in the Twilight Zone."
- Should your driverless car kill you if it means saving five pedestrians? How the technology will challenge our morality. Well, we certainly know what the car will do if Stephen King writes about it.
- So maybe your car takes out your friend instead of you. No worries! Your next new best friend may be a robot.
- A VR exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh transports viewers to fictional landscapes with four separate 3-minute experiences. The exhibit presents a “digital dystopia inflected by rapid climate change, social unrest, and shifting global economics.”
- And if all of this is too much, cheer up: Apple is hiring engineers who can understand psychology, because people are using Siri for therapy.
* For those paying attention to our choice of title this week.
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, blockchain, mobility, and autonomous everything.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / MACHINE LEARNING
- Check out the chatbot startup that has Fortune 500 companies talking.
- Trends in seed funding include: AI, hard tech, and the Midwest.
- Speaking of the heartland, Walmart’s massive size — 10,000 stores, 2.6 million store associates — means it has a massive amount of high-quality data, an advantage if you’re trying to leverage machine learning technology.
- The Information Technology Industry Council — a DC-based group representing the likes of IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — released principles for developing ethical artificial intelligence systems.
- With new technology comes the inevitable hype, both positive and negative. So maybe we need a few AI myths busted.
- A regular New York Times commenter used voice commands to leave a comment. The comment she left wasn't exactly what she had intended. Maybe we’re not quite there yet on this whole voice AI thing...
AUTONOMOUS / MOBILITY
- Automotive supplier Delphi is acquiring self-driving startup NuTonomy for $450 million. The autonomous driving space is up for grabs, as suppliers, OEMs and startups alike vie for market share...
- Tesla charged an $8,000 premium for self-driving cars, but failed to deliver. How did this happen?
- Researchers at MIT have created an app that uses your phone's microphone to diagnose issues with your car. Hey Siri, why is my car making this noise?
- A Carnegie Mellon professor and his partners have designed a “smart traffic system” called Surtrac, that moves vehicles through intersections more efficiently by changing traffic lights based on real-time traffic at intersections.
- Facebook partnered with auto dealers, including Edmunds, Cars.com, Auction123, CDK Global, and SocialDealer, to add used car listings into its Marketplace. Look out, traditional dealers!
- A look at why car ownership may not be worth it any more.
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
COMMUNICATONS / MARKETING / STRATEGY
- The digital divide is already taking shape as the digital reinventors are pulling away from the pack. Find out how.
- Agencies are bracing for new competition in consultancies, as they're seen as niche practitioners while consultants can more effectively address broader business concerns. Which reminds us: it's a good time to have a conversation with Brain+Trust.
- Related: CTOs reveal what they wish all leaders knew about digital transformation. tl;dr: it's about more than technology; vision matters; platforms over tools; and more.
- The More You Know: front-facing cameras were never intended for selfies. But we narcissistic humans couldn't help ourselves. It's too late to take it back now.
- The first in a three-part series on the future of journalism from The Economist looks at how leading American newspapers got people to pay for the news.
- Related: the six elements of an effective audience growth strategy, from Josh Spector, who has spent 20 years helping grow audiences for a variety of projects.
- Amazon may not typically be considered a digital advertising company, but the marketplace and content behemoth is the fifth largest generator of digital revenues in the U.S.
THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:
- Amazon obtained wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states, including Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Oregon, and Tennessee.
- Which is the perfect explanation behind the CVS bid to buy Aetna. Amazon shakes up industries it hasn't even entered yet.
- There's a precedent for the conglomerate model that Amazon is pursuing. And it doesn't end well.
- Amazon Key lets couriers enter your home and leave your order inside. And it's the same as Walmart's announcement 5 weeks ago. Disclosure: Walmart is a Brain+Trust client.
- Walmart is using robots to handle tasks that are repeatable, predictable and manual, like scanning shelves for out-of-stock items, incorrect prices and wrong or missing labels.
- And yes, L2 is calling Walmart a disruptor.
- Department stores aren't completely disappearing, but in order to prevent that, three things need to happen.
- After 100 years, Sears will no longer carry Whirlpool products, including Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air brands. Changing market dynamics mean that brands have alternatives other than traditional retailers.
- Growth in e-commerce could mean more jobs: the surge has required the rapid build-out of a vast network of warehouses and delivery systems that include both robots and human workers.
- Sellers like Zulily, Amazon and Walmart are competing to get goods to the buyer's doorstep as quickly as possible, giving rise to a constellation of vast warehouses — some of them shuttered manufacturing plants — that have fueled a boom for worker and the communities where they live.
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Platforms
News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.TWITTER / PERISCOPE
- In its quarterly earnings call, Twitter admitted that it unintentionally overstated monthly active users for three years.
- The platform also announced that it will ban advertising from Russian sources RT and Sputnik in the wake of the Russian meddling in the election.
FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP
- Facebook introduced new guidelines for News Feed publishers, calling for more objectivity but guiding publishers on how to get more traffic. Can objectivity and clicks mix?
- Facebook is testing a News Feed change in six countries, moving non-promoted posts from Pages to a secondary "Explore" feed, decreasing engagement for some media. This isn't going to end well. See?
- Facebook announced its new political advertising policies after having dealt with 3,000 Russian-linked political ads seen by 10 million people. The updates include a requirement that political advertisers are verified before an ad runs.
- Facebook has some serious issues. It's a main source of information and news in many countries, and yet it allows fake news and hoaxes to run wild on its platform, without stepping in. Its problems abroad might be greater than in the U.S. Facebook is a utility and media company and needs to start acting like one.
- Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg's U.S. tour isn't helping his image.
- Ben Thompson of Stratechery makes the case that Facebook should not be allowed to acquire tbh.
- Ticketing platform SeatGeek is partnering with Facebook, giving third-party companies a way to sell tickets via Events pages.
SNAP
- Snap is busy making strategic plays to prove that it’s a business with a scalable revenue stream. The recent announcement of location-based Context Cards, a partnership with TripAdvisor, Foursquare, Lyft, and OpenTable, represents one such enhancement.
- It's a good thing, because Snap reportedly has “hundreds of thousands” of unsold Spectacles sitting in warehouses in China.
ALPHABET / GOOGLE
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says people are watching YouTube on TVs for 100 million hours per day, up 70% in the last year.
Media
The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.VIDEO
- Apple is putting $1 billion into video content, but its move to challenge Hollywood is less than edgy.
- Spotify is canceling original video series on the service, as well as shows it hasn't released, as the company rethinks its video strategy under a new video chief.
- Netflix partnered with Lyft over the weekend for the launch of the second season of Stranger Things with "Strange Mode" for Lyft passengers. Frozen waffles, hazmat suits and more await...
AUDIO
- Program of the Week: This week, in honor of Halloween, we bring you Spooked. Host Glynn Washington was born to a seer and has traveled the world seeking the strange, mystic, and divine. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.
Regulatory / Security
Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.SECURITY / HACKING:
- Security isn't just about online systems and hacking. There's a human component to guard against as well, as this author shows by socially engineering herself into high security facilities.
ON-DEMAND ECONOMY
- Uber has a new general counsel, hired from Pepsi. He'll have his hands full.
- If you're not satisfied with the phone, app and geolocation data you've been sharing with Uber, then share your financial dealings with them with the new Uber-branded credit card. Bonus: it also gives them yet another percentage of your money too.
- Uber will charge you extra if your driver needs to go out of their way to reach you.
- Prepare for the upcoming bike-sharing war, as investors are pouring money into new entrants to the market.
Measurement / Analytics / Data
The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.- How to spot a machine learning opportunity, even if you're not a data scientist.
- Last week we shared links to predictive analytics articles and to one about creating transparency in hiring. Here's something that brings both together: Ascendify.
- Could the Charge of the Light Brigade have worked? This study is an example of “digital humanities” research as it uses math and computers to investigate a humanities topic.
Mental Nourishment
Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.- Do you want to come up with more imaginative ideas? Do you stumble with complicated problems? Do you want to find new ways to confront challenges? Then you'll want to read up on the five elements of effective thinking.
- The New York Times' Adam Bryant has interviewed 525 chief executives through his years writing the 'Corner Office' column. Here's what he has learned:
- "[T]hey share a habit of mind that is best described as 'applied curiosity.' They tend to question everything. They want to know how things work, and wonder how they can be made to work better. They're curious about people and their back stories."
- "CEOs seem to love a challenge. Discomfort is their comfort zone."
- "They focus on doing their current job well, and that earns them promotions. ... [M]any people can seem more concerned about the job they want than the job they're doing."
- Similarly, Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent years caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives and identified common elements that gave her the top five regrets of the dying.
- Napoleon had a Kindle of sorts: the miniature traveling library that he carried on his campaigns.
- Pay close attention to those who zone out: daydreaming may be a sign of greater intelligence.
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Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements
- SocialFresh in Orlando December 8-9, 2017 (Christopher and Tim)
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