Dispatch from an advertising future #106

https://adage.com/article/digital/heres-what-facebooks-new-future-facing-ar-glasses-look/2281271

She liked offending people. No, that’s wrong: she liked that she could offend people. No, that’s not fair either: she liked that she could inadvertently offend people. She liked accidents and mistakes, social failures. She liked clumsily saying the wrong thing or making some faux pas. It was part of her. As Oscar Wilde said: “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” Her therapist disagreed. He thought she should wear them. “You’ll know…” he kept saying. “They’re live so any change in how someone wants to be addressed, any new norms… you’ll know. They just correct your insight.”

Dispatches from an advertising future #105

https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/15/researchers-ready-world-first-vision-restoration-device-for-human-clinical-trials/?guccounter=1

It was his birthday. They remembered the doctor, five years ago. He’d be able to see, she said. The operation was simple and free. The sponsored Glimpses (™) were not invasive, she told them. The Reith act meant they had to “educate, inform or entertain”. And, she said, she had good news. Previous patients had to pay to switch off Glimpses, but now they automatically switched off after five years: when the brain was “attuned” apparently. Today was the day, uninterrupted vision. Their son stared. Then his eyes flicked, he smiled and asked if they could go for a burger.

Dispatch from an advertising future #104

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/facebook-leak-reveals-oculus-quest-2-as-a-4k-standalone-vr-headset/

Of course The Retros wanted them. They’d pay whatever to complete their collection, to have another thing to get working for their Boot-Up parties. But they didn’t need them. They had Visuals: invisible or stylised, designed to fit with their image. They could flip in and out with a thought. Visuals were great for people with money and confidence. He had neither. His wearable said it was Real Anxiety Syndrome. His gran said he was just shy. He longed to be invisible, to disappear. Masks helped but a headset, he’d look cool and could hide. If he could find one.

Dispatch from an advertising future #103

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 had a glitch. I got the colour ‘wrong’, I missed what they all identified, and picked out that thing at the edge. My solutions weren’t in line. My ideas were just a little off. But now, suddenly, I’m the one they all want to work with.

Dispatches from an advertising future #102

https://gizmodo.com/engineers-have-figured-out-how-to-make-interactive-pape-1844918464

He really liked her. He wanted to make the right impression. It was her birthday and he had to get the present just right. Every time he looked at her dataprint feed, it changed. Her preferences and interests seemed to him to shift from moment to moment. What if he got the gift wrong? Missed the moment. Misjudged. He looked at the tiny 3D printer as he put it in the much larger box and folded the Shrödinger paper carefully around the box, wearing gloves so he didn’t touch it. He didn’t want the printer to create his ideal gift.

Dispatch from an advertising future #101

https://www.engadget.com/nfl-microsoft-teams-covid-19-coronavirus-180945560.html

Running a start-up has never been easy. Your team needs you as founder, your personality. And you need them; their energy. But as you try to build businesses in the New Normal dispersed across Office 2.0, there are no TGIFs, no chance for you to use their feelings towards you. But with Adore (™) you can. We use your existing team platforms to bring back that all-team feel. Adore (™) activates your team’s cameras and the AdoreWall (™) puts them right in front of you: a life-size, live crowd ready to hang on every word. Adore: feel the love.