GoPro quits drones & other news

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GoPro quits drone business

GoPro quits the drone business – The Verge – because of the grip that DJI has on the drone market. GoPro had expanded into drones in the face of declining growth in the action camera market. You can start to see drone footage being cut into extreme sports videos providing a variation of views that weren’t possible previously.

Business

Pony Ma, the global strategist with deep pockets | FT – interesting profile of Pony Ma, CEO of Tencent

Consumer behaviour

Japanese convenience stores showing “hardening of society” with touch-screen age verification? – Japan is a high trust society lying would be a really big deal. More related content here.

Design

Tucker Sno-Cats Are the Latest Toys of the Superrich – Bloomberg – interesting design approach focusing on floating over the snow

TCCC Unity on the App Store – Coca-Cola did an iPhone app to explain the ethos behind its bespoke fonts (presumably beyond not having to pay licence fees and hubris)…

Media

Create & Share Your Own Marvel Comics | Coming Soon – Sign Up Now!  – Horrible caveats to usage but could be interesting for notices around the office – memes etc

Click-to-WhatsApp messaging buttons are now rolling out in Facebook ads | TechCrunch – makes total sense in markets like Hong Kong where so much brand and business communications happens on WhatsApp

Technology

Imaginary Soundscape – Qosmo, inc. – machine learning guesstimated soundscapes

Wireless

AT&T Backs Off Deal to Sell Smartphones From China’s Huawei – WSJ – if true it represents a spectacular loss of face for Huawei. There would be likely internal repercussions in Shenzhen as it dents the company’s reputation as a brand on the rise, its aspiration to be seen as a globally recognised premium brand and the oft talked about objective of cracking the US handset market beyond burner phones

Web of no web

A Concise History of the Smartwatch – Bloomberg – quite a nice bit of analysis

Your Car May Soon Start Serving You Ads | Slashdot – it begs a question about the economics of car software

First Amazon Alexa-Enabled Digital Glasses to Debut at CES – Bloomberg – don’t sound particularly promising