Search results for: “Eric Schmidt”

Boris Johnson + more things

The Irreparable Damage Boris Johnson Is Wreaking on Britain – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – unlike many members of his party, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not have any particular animus toward foreigners. He has betrayed pretty well everyone in his various lives as philanderer, journalist, and politician: wives, mistresses, editors, readers, party colleagues, Parliament, and the wider public. EU negotiators are merely the latest victims of his boundless treachery – wow a sick burn, but factual and truthful in their analysis of Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson in a Valspar ad

China pledges expanded trade with EU but stops short on market access concessions | South China Morning Post – interesting that China is intransigent on so many fronts. More on China here.

Pooj Morjaria, founder, Did They Help? – Wunderman Thompson Intelligence – A growing pattern of morally driven consumption has emerged over the past few years, from ethical fashion edits to anti-excess beauty to carbon credit spending to cruelty-free travel. But what was once pioneered by a niche group of true believers is ballooning into a base rate, fundamental expectation of brands. Morally and ethically sound practices are increasingly considered table stakes for brands—and are an important factor in consumers’ path to purchase. The difficulty, according to Pooj Morjaria, was tracking and cataloguing brand behavior. Which is why he created Did They Help?, an independent watchdog website that keeps a running record of brands’ good and bad deeds

Science-backed brands – Wunderman Thompson Intelligence – A heightened focus on health is reshuffling the hierarchy of consumer priorities. In the wake of a global pandemic, consumers are putting more stock in medically and scientifically endorsed offerings. 89% of Americans put their trust in medical scientists, and those reporting a great deal of confidence in medical scientists has gone up from 35% before the outbreak to 43% in April, according to findings from Pew Research Center. Now, brands are harnessing that trust by enlisting medical professionals and spotlighting scientific credentials

Beats by Dr. Dre Sets Its First-Ever Campaign on TikTok – I like when campaigns actually inspire creative action. For this challenge, people need a bit more creative than just replicating a dance. I really liked the emphasis on color, which works well on TikTok as a full-screen, immersive experience. You couldn’t really replicate this on other platforms. What we’re starting to see on TikTok is this mass participation in creativity. The concept of UGC isn’t new, but TikTok has made UGC so much more powerful. – Good TikTok Creative newsletter on the campaign

Language Log » “Mulan” critique – academics on the issues with Disney’s life action version of Mulan

China’s top 100 brands: National pride affects rankings | Marketing | Campaign Asia – With some world markets souring on particular Chinese brands, people in China rally round homegrown heroes. – the move towards rallying around the flag started before world markets went off some Chinese brands. The current environment has only accelerated this process somewhat

Ex-Google boss Eric Schmidt: US ‘dropped the ball’ on innovation – BBC News – In the battle for tech supremacy between the US and China, America has “dropped the ball” in funding for basic research, according to former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. And that’s one of the key reasons why China has been able to catch up. Dr Schmidt, who is currently the Chair of the US Department of Defense’s innovation board, said he thinks the US is still ahead of China in tech innovation, for now. – The irony is that at Google Schmidt & co. pretended that this was precisely what they were doing

U.S. Google Antitrust Case Set to Expand With GOP States Joining – Bloomberg – Democrats want to more time for a broader probe. Areas focused on include Google search, advertising and Android. Of course, all of this would go away with Kamala Harris as vice president in a Biden administration.

China Defense Blog: China Army “hot chow” drone delivery service – what looks like larger DJI drones pressed into providing hot cooked food to Chinese soldiers in the field

September 16, 2020
The Google search post
the Charles Arthur wrote an an interesting analysis piece on Google search business which I have linked to in the more information section called Google’s growing problem: 50% of people do zero searches per day on mobile.

According to Fortune, Google search and display advertising counted for 90 per cent of Google’s revenue stream in 2014. By comparison Tencent makes just 17 per cent of its revenue from advertising; its revenue instead comes from payments a la PayPal, premium accounts (brands pay for specialist facilities on WeChat for instance) virtual goods including gaming and stickers. Whilst Google has tried to diversify beyond advertising (payments, paid for content on YouTube, enterprise product sales), it has failed to change the balance of revenue. Any disruption of their Google search advertising unit represents an existential threat to their business.

The key points in Charles Arthur’s article:
- Consumers are using apps on smartphones rather than searching for a given services (which puts to rest the app versus mobile web argument mobile developers have)
- This will have a more pronounced effect as the world internet population starts to level out next year
- New internet users in the developing world may not be worth having (from a commercial perspective ‘An ad click from the US/Germany/Japan/Taiwan can be worth from 5 cents to $1 depending on the day/season, but clicks from China/India/Brazil/Vietnam are worth fractions of a penny to maybe 1 penny’
Arthur’s assertions represent a huge change in consumer behaviour. Working for Yahoo! in the mid-naughties, we used to cite a Morgan Stanley quoted statistic that seven out of ten web journeys started with search. Search Engine Journal cites Forrester as the source of a claim that 93% of online experiences started with search.
Mobile application is just one part of a wider change:
- Google started to see a decline in the growth rate of search volumes to about 10 per cent a year, yet the amount content to be indexed continues to rise on a non-linear scale
- Whilst the internet usage has been expanded by cheaper broadband with wi-fi and the rise mobile devices (both feature phones and smartphones) there hasn’t been a universal adoption of the open web. Yes smartphones have apps which disrupts the open web, but in places like Indonesia a lot of new feature phone surfing netizens don’t realise they are online and only go as far as Facebook
- Amazon has risen as a wide ranging threat to Google. If you want to buy a book, many people’s evoked set is to go on Amazon. Amazon is not only an e-tailer but a vertical search engine across an increasing number of retail categories. Eric Schmidt claimed that about 30 per cent of purchase web journeys started on Amazon, that represents a significant lost opportunity for Google
More information
Google’s growing problem: 50% of people do zero searches per day on mobile | The Overspill
10 Stats to Justify SEO | Search Engine Journal
Is Tencent leading the way or lagging behind Facebook? | Walk The Chat
In online search war, it’s Google vs. Amazon | Fortune
Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Really, Our Biggest Search Competitor Is Amazon” | Search Engine Land
Amazon Vs. Google: Understanding the buyer’s search engine | Wordtracker
Millions of Facebook users have no idea they’re using the internet | Quartz
Google Search Stats | Internet Live Stats
October 22, 2015
Group direct messages + more news

Now on Twitter: group Direct Messages and mobile video camera | Twitter Blogs – playing catch up with OTT messaging apps with group direct messages.

Media

Disney’s Maker Studios Struggles to Migrate Its Audience To Maker.tv – CMO Today – can’t get the traffic off YouTube

Online

Mayer’s Yahoo Plan Could Affect Softbank Interests – WSJ – it depends on who Mayer sells to

Eric Schmidt Just Admitted Google’s Dominance Is Under Threat: ‘All Bets Are Off’ (FB, GOOG, MSFT) – actually not as billed but an interesting more nuanced portrait of the current landscape by Schmidt who has become the most acceptable face of Google leadership. More here

Tumblr Launches An In-House Ad Agency That Pairs Creators With Big Brands | Fast Company – interesting move, shame agencies aren’t stepping up to the plate

Security

Army Communications In Pacific Stretched, Tested « Breaking Defense – interesting discussion about data networks issues

Technology

Google Joins Apple, Others Cutting Off Crimea, Blocks AdWords, AdSense, Google Play | TechCrunch – interesting to see how this rolls out from a tech point of view. Russia does have replacements such as Yandex in search, advertising and Android app stores

Davos 2015: Tech giants risk reputation, warn business leaders – FT.com – this is less about the tech sector per se and more about lightning rods of inequality and economic disruption; of which the tech sector is just one. The bigger question is whether issues like the dark side of free speech and privacy start to spark with consumers?

Wireless

Mobile internet slower in Hong Kong than mainland, S Korea | Hong Kong Economic Journal Insight – and the service I enjoyed in Hong Kong was significantly better than the UK…

The Real Story Behind Jeff Bezos’s Fire Phone Debacle And What It Means For Amazon’s Future | Fast Company – I don’t agree with some of the conclusions, but an interesting piece nonetheless

January 28, 2015
Dan Catt + more things

Rev Dan Catt | Conference Eaters – captures the dichotomy of conferences really well. Dan Catt compares the experience of conferences to religious services where the faithful gather.

Brand Brain Britain! How Brits engage with brands differently across the regions | Weber Shandwick – interesting research on brand attitudes. More branding related content here.

Huffington Post and Leo Burnett partnership | Marketing Interactive – in reality this line is being blurred all the time Vice Media etc

How an FBI Informant Ordered the Hack of British Tabloid ‘The Sun’ | Motherboard – could the FBI be legally liable?

Generation Flux’s Secret Weapon | Fast Company – interesting analysis of Chipotle

Only 25% of iPad Users are aged 16-24 | Global Web Index – it makes sense given that the iPad is a discretionary purchase with adequate substitute products

Slack is Killing Email | PixelBits – is it really? I think there is still a use case for email and a use case for less email

Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Really, Our Biggest Search Competitor Is Amazon” – trying to spin their way out of European sanctions

Microsoft And Salesforce Promise Windows, Office And OneDrive Integration | TechCrunch – hell froze over

Saudis would accept lower oil prices | Hong Kong Economic Journal Insight – all about trying to raise barrier to entry for competitors

The Cost of Living the Luxe Life Has Fallen — if You Live in Asia | TIME – softening property prices

Ofcom | UK leads the way with new wireless technology trials – overly dramatic headline for white space trials

How China’s ‘naked officials’ make the getaway｜WantChinaTimes.com – since there is such an obvious behavioural trail shouldn’t card transactions and travel record patterns create ‘red flags’? Why do so many get through?

Finland is in trouble, and it blames Apple for everything – Quartz – bit of an exaggeration but gives you an idea of how crucial Nokia was

Singapore rail operator eyes UK minicab firm | Hong Kong Economic Journal Insights – interesting move. Is Addison Lee a technology company or a transport company?

October 15, 2014
Hurun listings & more news

Hurun

Money slipping through China’s wealthiest fingers: Hurun｜WantChinaTimes.com – Hurun is like the Forbes or Sunday Times rich lists. In other countries being on the rich list brings scrounging letters from charities and assorted liggers, possibility heightened security risks due to kidnapping attempts. Being in Hurun also means immense government scrutiny. Even the most politically connected would be wise to not want to appear in Hurun. Yet, Chinese entrepreneurs still view a Hurun listing as a reflection of personal status and prestige that they look to leverage into further business. Hurun is widely used a consultant and partner for luxury brands. Hurun seems to offer everything from contacts to market sizing for luxury brands. I am surprised Rupert Hoogewerf is allowed to run Hurun Report in China given the sensitivity of the information

Branding

Interbrand: Apple, Amazon, Samsung fast becoming brand darlings, ousting crusty traditional labels — Engadget

China

China’s “One Country, Two Systems” Under Threat | The Diplomat – I am surprised China has managed to resist its Stalinist instincts for this long

China sets leadership succession congress for November 8| Reuters – my money is on the dangerous neo-Stalinist authoritarian ultra-nationalist Xi Jingping. Bo Xilai’s brand of red tub thumping has meant that even though he is out of favour, he has set the agenda politically in the Communist Part of China. Expect a massive consolidation of power coupled with slowing economic growth massive acceleration on lightning rod issues in foreign policy as he plays for the nationalist peanut gallery. He is a leader in the mould of Mao rather than Deng. His views are at odds with the more liberal leanings of his father who was communist party royalty

Information Processing: “… the good things just don’t get shown to Western investors”

Consumer behaviour

China’s younger generation sees changing marriage landscape

Pew: Almost 70 Percent Of Affluent Adults Own Smartphones – a new digital divide?

Double Lives: Study Reveals Germans Less Confident than they Seem – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Economics

Surveys hint at poor level of social mobility in China｜WantChinaTimes.com – I would imagine that this would be pretty similar in many western countries. However it presents a problem of social instability in a middle income country like China which depends on a compact of the people staying out of politics so long as the Party looks after them

More Money, More Problems in South Korea | The Diplomat

S Korea: reasons to be cheerful | beyondbrics – beyond the scary household debt numbers things are looking pretty good

Cellphones Are Eating the Family Budget – WSJ.com – disrupting substitute entertainment products: eating out, children’s confectionery sales. Not at all surprised by this, I was hearing this back at the first MobileYouth conference panels that I spoke at

Factory activity caps worst quarter in three years: Markit| Reuters

Finance

Silicon Valley’s Strangest Sex Scandal Gets More Dramatic Yet – Business Insider – interesting that this hasn’t been settled and they don’t seem to have done anything to help their legal case. Are they hoping legal muscle and strong arm tactics will work or do they have something else that they know? Badly handled from a PR PoV

Ellen Pao Files For Wrongful Termination – Business Insider – one long train wreck in slow-motion

The sociology of risk and the dark side of dot-com parties – SiliconValley.com

Presenting The World’s Biggest Hedge Fund You Have Never Heard Of | ZeroHedge

FMCG

Deal Profile: Kraft’s Snack Spinoff – WSJ – basically a sign that the Cadbury buy didn’t have the desired effect on the Kraft share price

Ideas

Some technology curbs creativity | Monocle

What Happens When We Reach ‘Peak Car’?

AirAsia X to make first 7 rows of economy class child-free zone ‹ Japan Today – interesting move

Innovation

US Defense Biz Outlook Grim, Foreign Sales Won’t Save It: Deloitte

3M buying Ceradyne for about $847 million – The Sacramento Bee – Ceradyne does interesting things with ceramic material innovation including nuclear fuel pellets and ballistic plates

Room Temperature Superconductivity Found in Graphite Grains – Technology Review – IF this is true, things could be getting very interesting

Japan

A New Tech Generation Defies the Odds in Japan – NYTimes.com

Chinese economist weighs up how to inflict damage on Japan

Korea

A Rare Analyst Discussion of Weakness at Samsung – WSJ – Samsung is overleveraged and could damage the Korean government as well

South Korean Companies Give Bonuses as Thanksgiving Nears – WSJ

Luxury

Jing Daily: The Business of Luxury and Culture in China

Mainland Chinese Students Eager to Enroll Abroad, Just Not in Taiwan – WSJ – education could be considered a luxury product in China as it is used by parents to show ‘success’. I have questions about this research. Chinese propaganda doesn’t see Taiwan as the separate country that it obviously is. Secondly, it wouldn’t be viewed as a high status move both of which would impact on the survey and its methodology

How China’s wealthy transfer their assets abroad

Is Chanel the Swatch of luxury? | Material World – is this Chanel becoming vertically integrated and getting a monopoly position

Media

Facebook Lays Out All Of Its New Targeting Techniques In One Easy-To-Read Blog Post – Forbes

Microsoft launching news operation, new MSN | Reuters – I think that this is as much about stepping out of legacy infrastructure of MSN as it is about journalism

Newspapers and TV drag down Zenith’s UK adspend forecast – Brand Republic News – no olympic dividend

Marketing, China ad spend to hit RMB 440 billion, CHINA, ADVERTISING, Research, Budgets, | Market-interactive.com

Social TV Comes To China: Kaixin001.com Teams With Samsung, Haier, Hisense

Study: Smaller news websites depend more on social media for traffic than larger sites – Poynter

New Google Ad Planner Will Exclude Domains Outside Google Network – Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

Facebook Lets Businesses Plug In CRM Email Addresses To Target Customers With Hyper-Relevant Ads | TechCrunch

Eric Schmidt Says Google Would Love to Replace Microsoft as Yahoo!’s Search Partner – Forbes – but the same antitrust barriers that Microsoft would rake up still remain

Pew study: News consumption up via mobile, social media | Internet & Media – CNET News

Portugal’s prosecutor punts P2P case • The Register

BBC News – Japan introduces piracy penalties for illegal downloads

More spring cleaning | Official Google Blog – with no Adsense for feeds, does feedburner make any sense for Google anymore?

Online

Mobile health is taking off but what’s still in its way? — GigaOM

KitchenAid Twitter Account Sends Offensive Tweet About Obama’s Deceased Grandmother (TWEETS)

Mobile Phones and Tablets Now Account for 1 in 8 U.S. Internet Page Views

Facebook Usage Declining – Business Insider

Friendster Founder Jonathan Abrams Launches Nuzzel: A Fast, Simple, Social News Reader | TechCrunch

Google Bought Something, Announced Some Google+ Numbers, And You Probably Aren’t Impressed | TechCrunch

Security

Looking inside your screenshots – steganography in real-world application

EU Officials Propose Internet Cops On Patrol, No Anonymity & No Obscure Languages (Because Terrorism!) | Techdirt – because this all worked really well in Korea when Cyworld got cracked and wholesale identity theft occurred

New Zealand Prime Minister orders enquiry into “unlawful” spying of Kim Dotcom (Jon Russell/The Next Web)

Software

Windows 8 early adoption numbers: low compared with Windows 7 – not as bad as it looks as there aren’t that many PCs would could use all the features of Windows 8 yet

The Future of Customer Service: Using technology to increase both efficiency and relationship strength | Trends in the Living Networks

Mark Zuckerberg promises a native Android app, says betting on HTML5 for mobile was a ‘mistake’ | The Verge

Russia’s Yandex combines Chromium and Opera code for new browser | ZDNet – all of which misses out that WebKit came from KDE Conqueror and Apple’s work on Safari…

Am I An Outlier, Or Are Apple Products No Longer Easy To Use? | John Battelle’s Search Blog

Groklaw – SCO Files Final Chapter 11 Report in Bankruptcy, Files August MORs; Now It’s Onward and Downward in Chapter 7 ~pj

Survey: iOS 6 Leads To Decrease In Device Satisfaction Among iPhone Users | TechCrunch

Samsung plans acquisitions to become a software company – Rethink Wireless – it will be interesting to see how this clashes with Google’s plans

Technology

Thunderbolt, on an iPhone 5? ~ I, Cringely

After a decade of research, Intel shows off its digital radio chip | VentureBeat

Intel Confirms Decline of Server Giants HP, Dell, and IBM | Wired.com

Ten Office Items that Will Be Relics by 2017 – Technology Review

Coding Horror: The PC is Over – hyperbole but some interesting data points

Telecoms

AFP: Japan’s Softbank to buy rival eAccess for $2.3 bn

Web of no web

Apple-Google Maps Talks Crashed Over Voice-Guided Directions – AllThingsD

(24) Maps (iOS app): Why is everyone so obsessed with picking faults with Apple’s new maps on the iPhone? – Quorav- good discussion on everything wrong with Apple’s Maps app

Wireless

Microsoft Surface Phone release date: Windows Phone 8, 2013 launch

Communities Dominate Brands: Previewing Nokia Q3 Results later this month? Kantar confirms disasterous smartphone collapse

StreetInsider.com – Credit Suisse Downgrades Nokia (NOK) to Underperform; Things Aren’t Getting Better, a Break-Up Needed – interesting that Microsoft isn’t seen as a purchaser

Samsung schedules strategy meeting with Google’s Schmidt over Apple’s Android war – SlashGear

TI ready for complete exit from smartphones – Rethink Wireless

Just In Case You Forgot How Far RIM Has Fallen

Nokia: BMO Cuts to Sell, Doubts Windows Phone Appeal – Barrons.com

October 6, 2012

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