https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/28/advertima-rings-up-17-5m-for-computer-vision-powered-behavioral-analytics-for-in-store-retail He took a deep breath in as the doors opened. It wasn’t the gently encouraging signage that appeared as he passed, or the patronising, approving messages that appeared on his trolley when he chose the ‘right’ things. He didn’t even mind the way the prices changed under the words: “This week you lost five …
Author Archives: praxis
Dispatch from an advertising future #70
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/29/tech-hearings-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-amazon-jeff-bezos-apple-tim-cook-google-sundar-pichai-congress The politicians sat in rows remembering the physical etiquette of the committee, after years of virtual meetings. The “techwraiths” lined up with their DeepMinds. @AOC, a veteran of “looking them in the eyes” had demanded they appear in-person but she couldn’t stop them bringing “advisors”. The agenda progressed as normal: opening moves, middlegame gambits, …
Dispatch from an advertising futures #69
https://scitechdaily.com/mit-dream-research-interacts-directly-with-an-individuals-dreaming-brain-and-manipulates-the-content/ Ever since the ban, we’ve asked to be treated as creatives. Artists, authors, filmmakers have all been allowed in. We’ve not. We presented our award-winning work; research that showed people loved our content,showed our cultural impact. We made a strong case that we were a Creative Industry. But still the ban. No commercial dream …
Dispatch from an advertising future #68
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/24/1005602/ai-hiring-promises-bias-free-job-hopping-prediction/ She couldn’t afford a job hacker. But she knew she couldn’t afford not to hire one. AIs had got better and ‘employability coaches’ that helped you steer your answers, no longer cut it. Advice on how to avoid appearing as a “job hopper” or a “activist” was just the start. Now you needed to …
Micro-speculations: w/c 20/7/20
They meet every year. In their club. The founding ‘fathers’. Reminiscing. Tales of transformation. Glory days and deals. Remembering when they were fast enough to pounce. The accountant. The creative turned CEO. The quiet one in the corner: the algorithm. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/21/sir-martin-sorrell-wpp-facebook-s4-capital She was used to the sell. The moment when Speak2aDoc tried to sell her …
Dispatch from an advertising future #67
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/23/pandora-launches-interactive-voice-ads-into-beta-testing She enjoyed playing with ads. The more literary-minded might call it ‘deconstruction’’; the more political, ‘ad jamming’. It was fun to see how many times it took saying “depends” to get the Voice to give up and play a jingle. The bed company that wanted to offer sleeping tips was easy to wind-up when …