Ged Carroll

Blog

  • Happiness blanket & other news

    Happiness blanket

    British Airways Happiness Blanket Changes Colors To Reflect Your Mood | PSFK – the happiness blanket is a nice bit of technology meets art, less sure how it works from a research point of view as being a valid output. The measurement is actually done using sensors in a headband. The blanket provides a visual cue though fibre optic fibres woven into the front of the blanket. The happiness blanket is a great cyberpunk maguffin.

    Economics

    Startup Incubator Economics, Revisited | Excapite – are incubators part of the problem or the solution

    As China’s wages increase, so does its rich-poor gap, says study | Shanghaist – interesting challenge, explains crack down on corruption etc

    Ethics

    Data Science: What the Facebook Controversy is Really About | The Atlantic – the last Facebook emotional research link that I am going to post

    Ideas

    The Military Is About to Get New Spy Glasses – Defense One – closer to what the vision of Google Glass et al should be

    A Breakthrough in the Checkered History Of Brain Hacking – Defense One – probably a little longer for the Johnny Mnemonic-style brain implants

    Luxury

    Why Chinese luxury consumption continues to surge | Marketing Interactive – driven by e-commerce

    Marketing

    Cannes 2014: PR’s Battle For Marketing Relevance | Holmes Report – interesting debate

    The changing face of Facebook | iCrossing – handy infographic on Facebook

    5 tips for B2B social media marketing | Marketing Interactive – nice piece for agencies

    Online

    Google Discontinues Q&A Services | Google System – no Yahoo! Answers competitors

    Alibaba boss Jack Ma says he has never used Taobao or Alipay, and doesn’t plan to | Quartz – did Jack Ma use TaoBao or not?

    Facebook Still Dominates Teens’ Social Usage | Forrester Blogs – Facebook is still important for teens with 28% saying that they use it all the time

    “Buy Now” Buttons Start Appearing in Tweets. Is Twitter Shopping Here? | Re/code – Twitter follows where Weibo led

    Google shuts down Orkut | Marketing Interactive – not terribly surprising. Though with all eyes on Brazil with the World Cup and Brazil having been Orkut’s lead market there is a certain amount of irony in the timing

    Tencent’s SY Lau : Mobile First | Holmes Report – interesting interview with Tencent executive SY Lau on WeChat

    Technology

    24 million Internet-connected TV Sets Sold in China in 2013: iResearch Report – but nothing about how they are used

    Web of no web

    Smart Picture Technologies Turns Your Smartphone’s Camera into a Measuring Tape | TechnoBob – really nice idea

    Multi-touch Haptic Display Vibrates Desired Points on Screen | Nikkei TechOn – this is exciting stuff, will change interface design

  • Auditing in China & other news

    Auditing Chinese companies

    Democracy and auditing | China Accounting Blog – given that auditing big four are under pressure in China, this might have been an effort to curry favour. But the auditing firms have screwed themselves over in Hong Kong and other countries with this move in China. I could imagine that in the years to come, the lack of transparent auditing will hurt Chinese companies listing on other stock exchanges.

    Consumer behaviour

    The Rising Importance of Single Person Households Globally | Euromonitor International – interesting data points, I am waiting for food packaging to better represent this demographic

    Do Screens Make Us Stupider? Time for a Rethink of Reading | Discover Magazine – the challenge is that books might be written for a reason around learning, but are published to make money, unless there can be a special cognitive edition that makes even more money…

    [1406.2293] Gossip: Identifying Central Individuals in a Social Network – market research as a network analysis tool

    Economics

    Banks in China make as much profit as those in the US, Europe, and Japan combined | Quartz – by comparison the European banking system is a minnow and has horrendous losses

    FCMG

    Confectionery Trends and Innovations at the 2014 Convenience U CARWACS Show in Toronto – Euromonitor International – focus on sharing occasions is a marketing agency opportunity

    P&G’s Always celebrates the “Like a Girl” way of doing things | PopSop – interesting bit of culture hacking

    Legal

    APAC has highest software piracy rate – combination of being gadget driven and piracy is easy. More related content here.

    Luxury

    WeChat + Vivienne Tam = International Model Search 2014!| WeChat – interesting campaign for mass affluence brand. Tam is also trying to encourage usage of WeChat amongst English language customers, so I suspect that this is partly funded by Tencent.

    Marketing

    mirador – interesting application for analytics

    Study: Social Media is Not a Trusted Media Source for PR Pros | Convince & Convert – interesting-ish piece I guess

    Online

    Ikea built a website inside Instagram | The Verge – gimmicky idea that would work as a one-off

    Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment · The A.V. Club – and people will be surprised why? Good TV consumer product advertising is all about inducing anxiety with current states and promising some sort of emotional reward on purchase

    Software

    QuickOffice Will Be Discontinued | Google System – bad news for mobile workers

    Technology

    An Online Course For FPGA And CPLD Development | Hackaday – Reddit as an old time free university – but without the hippy politics

    Xiaomi founder Lin Bin reveals global ambition | Marketing Interactive – no real surprise, but interesting how they will expand the web services side of the Xiaomi experiences

    Wireless

    Huawei’s Honor 6 cannibalizes sales of its Ascend P7 | WantChinaTimes – poor product management or a larger sign of the smartphone as a commodity?

  • Emotion research paper by Facebook

    Over the weekend if you went on to quality (not Buzzfeed) news sites you would have probably seen something about a scientific paper that was published by researchers in the pay of Facebook on how emotion spreads through social networks.

    Emotion research explainer

    There was a lot of copy written already about the experiment, so I recommend that you read The Atlantic‘s piece on it instead. There has been a lot written about whether it is moral, legal or ethical. As far as it being legal, Facebook’s highly paid legal counsel could provide a better steer on it than I could; and I suspect they would tell you it was completely legal.

    As for the morals and ethics of it, I rather think that those are a mute point. Consumers emotion states have been tweaked for decades, the question of morality sailed with the rise of the mass market consumer product.
    Guilty Viewing Pleasures: They Live
    Whilst public relations as it is practiced now is more of a mechanistic craft; its father Edward Bernays viewed propaganda as a ‘modern instrument’ driven by scientific thinking including understanding of audience psychology to move people.

    Advertisers utilised motivational research from the early 20th century on to create cognitive dissonance  with a consumer and then provide the product as a solution. The Atlantic carried an article on the psychology of advertising back in 1904. You are a better Mum if you wash your kids clothes with Persil, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk will put a smile on your face. All of which mine directly into consumer’s emotion, spreading dissatisfaction.

    Political pollsters use voter psychographic profiling to induce a constituency result. We already live in the world of a malleable proletariat envisioned by by George Orwell in his novel 1984.

    The people who are outraged by this need to get over it, log-in to Facebook less and realise that they are already sheep with a gallery of multinational shepherds herding them through their consumer lifecycle. What you can do is become more informed and read your environment in a more critical way. More related content here.

    More information

    Everything We Know About Facebook’s Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment | The Atlantic
    Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks by Adam D. I. Kramera, Jamie E. Guillory and Jeffrey T. Hancock
    The Oxford Handbook of Propaganda Studies (Oxford Handbooks) the Auerbach and Castronovo edited anthology gives you pretty much everything you need to know from Bernays onwards about psychology and audience manipulation
    The Psychology of Advertising by Walter D Scott | The Atlantic (1904) – no that’s not a typo
    Frontline: The Persuaders | PBS
    Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals | Jib Fowles

  • Android moves to life OS

    If you read the Telegraph online last Wednesday 25th or the Financial Times on Thursday 26th June,   you would have seen some great coverage about Google’s developer conference with Android’s move to become a life OS. There was also coverage about the corresponding rise of the Android economy in the UK. Like iOS and web development, software and services are now a major part of the creative economy.

    Google announced developments to move Android to being a ‘life’ OS rather than just a mobile OS.

    Android expanded to a true life OS across numerous hardware platforms:

    • Run wearable devices
    • Run applications within Google’s lightweight desktop OS chrome
    • Be a games console platform
    • In-car entertainment
    • Take another run at the smart TV market
    • Lowering the price-point of smartphones even further with AndroidOne

    All of which presents a range of interesting choices for the UK’s Android platform developers.

    What does this mean for app-enabled brands?

    Google has created more choice and there will be the inevitable surge of experimentation to figure out what works.

    The expansion of Android presents a more challenging time for marketers. There will be more platforms to develop for; since iOS cannot be ignored as a platform. There will be a corresponding complexity in the development of Android applications:

    • Increased application testing time
    • Increased application development
    • Increased application maintenance time to cater for new devices and firmware updates
    • Increased requirement for application marketing support to encourage app downloads and usage across platforms
    • Increased budgets will be required to support new platforms where consumers will start to expect to find brands they use

    There will be a corresponding increase in new risks that these applications bring which will require careful communications planning and preparation:

    • Software rendering hardware useless – ‘bricking’
    • New versions of applications no longer supporting older versions of Android / Android devices – particularly as different manufacturers update their hardware at different rates. Some cheap smartphones may not have any upgrade path. Now imagine this on televisions or car dashboards…
    • Hacking attacks | cybercrime
    • The withdrawal of a well-loved app
    • The poor reception of a newly-designed application

    Who will lose out?

    The most obvious casualty of this move is not Apple or Microsoft but the Java language that Android’s application language is very similar to. Java was touted in the mid-1990s as a write-once, run-anywhere development language and pops up in surprising places. A variant of Java ran most of the pre-iOS smartphone games. It provided a development environment for early web applications including those used in the enterprise. Java had developed a strong footprint in consumer electronics that Android is now looking to usurp.

    Microsoft would be more threatened by Google’s integration of its internet services into Android. Gmail has become a development platform in its own right and Google is providing enterprise users with unlimited storage for $10 a month. Whilst Microsoft has failed to build a serious mobile platform, its web services business has been growing rapidly to challenge Amazon. Every part of that business, from Azure cloud computing to hosted Exchange server functions, is threatened by Google’s recent announcements. Neither Microsoft nor Sony will be particularly worried by Google’s plans for an Android-powered games console, at least for now.

    Companies in the wearables sector are likely to face rapid commoditisation in hardware as Android makes it easier to design wearable hardware. The challenge will be if they can differentiate on superior industrial design and maintain a premium price, or move into providing web services that support compatible devices – a direction where Nike seems to be moving with its Nike+ Fuel Lab.

    The closer integration of Samsung and Google’s development efforts including the integration of KNOX, puts other Android handset manufacturers like LG, Sony and HTC at a further disadvantage.

    The integration of KNOX will also affect the core enterprise business of BlackBerry, providing yet another reason for not purchasing BlackBerry devices or server software.

    Who will benefit from this life OS?

    With such a wide range of devices that Android could develop for, software testing will become an even more daunting prospect than it is already when developing for Android smartphones and tablets. The question is whether the current range of testing tools will cover this new product set adequately or if there is an opportunity, particularly in the enterprise environment for new players?

    Designers are going to be tremendously important, as new versions of the Android software and new use cases pose a number of user experience challenges:

    • Redesigning current apps to match the new flat design of Android
    • Understanding user behaviour and designing compelling smart TV applications
    • Understanding in-car entertainment and designing intuitive, unobtrusive in-car experiences
    • Understanding wearable use cases and designing device experiences that consumers don’t want to put down

    A wider range of Android devices will mean a greater potential market opportunity for ARM-powered chips where they may be going into embedded systems previously powered by lower power X86 processors, PowerPC or MIPS RISC processors.

    Google is a technology company that makes most of its money from customer data and selling advertising space. The expansion of the Android ecosystem will present more advertising formats, inventory and more contextual data. This will be a boon for media buying agencies and potentially for the platforms that support programmatic advertising like DataXu, as the data will help support targeting in real-time bidding. More wireless related posts here.

    More information

    ‘Powerhouse’ UK leads Europe app development, says research | FT (paywall)
    Android TV hands-on: Google makes a new play for the living room | The Verge
    Google announces Drive for Work with unlimited storage at $10 a month | The Verge
    Google Opens Gmail, Making It More of a Platform for Developers | WSJ
    Google previews Android apps running on Chromebooks | TNW
    Razer’s making a gaming ‘micro-console’ with Android TV, available this fall | Engadget
    Google Introduces Android TV, Its New Platform For Smart TV Apps And Navigation | TechCrunch
    Google Unveils Ambitious Android Expansion at Conference | New York Times
    Nike+ Developer Portal

  • Google IO: who is Google trying to disrupt?

    Google IO this week played out like a science fair trying to be an Apple keynote. It was interesting for me to watch to try and discern how this will affect commercial rivals.
    Made it to Google I/O "extended". Now what do those guys in Mtn View have to share? #google

    Google IO and Java

    The most obvious casualty of Google IO announcements is not Apple or Microsoft but the Java language that Android’s application language is very similar to. Java was touted in the mid-1990s as a write-once, run-anywhere development language and pops up in surprising places. A variant of Java ran most of the pre-iOS smartphone games. It provided a development environment for early web applications including those used in the enterprise. Java had developed a strong footprint in consumer electronics that Android is now looking to usurp. Oracle had worked hard to support Java for embedded devices ever since it released the first Java development kit for OSX a couple of years ago.

    Microsoft

    Microsoft has already failed in mobile devices, having spent billions of dollars to maintain a toe hold – this situation may change over time, but for now Microsoft isn’t a relevant player in mobile devices. So Microsoft would be more threatened by the Google IO announcement of integration of its internet services into Android, than by Android itself. Gmail has become a development platform in its own right and Google is providing enterprise users with unlimited storage for $10 a month. Microsoft’s web services business has been growing rapidly to challenge the current market leader Amazon. Every part of that business from Azure cloud computing to hosted Exchange server functions are threatened by Google’s recent announcements.

    Gaming

    Google’s announcement of a smart TV come games console would threaten neither Microsoft nor Sony will be particularly worried by Google’s plans for an Android-powered games console, at least for now. It is interesting that Google thinks there still a market for games console casual gaming rather than just for the zealots. This could be a winner if Nintendo became a developer and abandoned the Wii U – similarly to SEGA’s retreat from the games console market after the Dreamcast console.

    Amazon

    The expansion of Android and related web services puts Amazon squarely in the frame as a competitor – however this is not a pushover for Google. Amazon has a strong position in digital goods and is the number one player in web services. In addition, Amazon (unlike Google) isn’t restricted in China, which will be one of the main makers of, and main markets for the products that Google is looking to put Android inside. Amazon has crashed and burned as a traditional e-tailer in China with just over 2% market share; web services and digital content could give the company a second wind. Outside China, Amazon already has the payment details of more high-spending consumers than Google, which gives Amazon the edge in the living room.

    Wearables

    Whilst Google probably hasn’t set out to ‘kill’ players in the wearables sector, wearable hardware companies are likely to face rapid commoditisation as Android makes it easier to design wearable hardware. This hollowing out of the market will be similar to what happened to handsets before Samsung managed to prevail through the scale of its resources. The challenge will be if they can differentiate on superior industrial design and maintain a premium price, or move into providing web services that support compatible devices –  a direction where Nike seems to be moving with its Nike+ Fuel Lab.

    The closer integration of Samsung and Google’s development efforts was probably the most interesting movement at Google I/O. Google’s divide-and-conquer strategy works when you have a number of evenly competitive players, but Samsung rapidly built scale and used its vertical integration to its advantage driving Motorola and HTC to the edge. Sony consolidated its hold on Sony Ericsson and LG have been grimly hanging on against its rival chaebol. Samsung tried to expand control of its eco-system with new applications, services and two new OS over the years – Bada and Tizen. Samsung partnership announcements including the integration of KNOX, represented a degree of detente between Samsung and Google – at least for the moment. This alliance puts other Android handset manufacturers like LG, Sony and HTC at a further disadvantage. It is less clear what this will mean for those developers who Samsung has persuaded to support their Tizen platform. Will that work have been wasted?

    The integration of KNOX will also affect the core enterprise business of BlackBerry, providing yet another reason for not purchasing BlackBerry devices or server software.

    Consumer electronics

    The further expansion into the home is Google trying to hammer the nails into the cross that consumer electronics companies like Sony, Sharp, JVC and Panasonic are already attached to. However, Google would need to build rapport with Chinese companies like TCL; yet companies TCL is less likely to want to get on the Google train for a few reasons:

    • China is one of the largest markets for home consumer electronics, yet Google can’t play
    • Many of these companies are vertically integrated and already have lower-tier handset manufacturer within the group who aren’t getting much love from Google already and some of these manufacturers are already playing with other Android-based distributions. They may even create forks from the open source distribution that is the basis of Google’s Android
    • A tighter relationship with a content provider will be more important than tying into Google – particularly as Google services face an increasing crackdown in China
    • A tight relationship with a payment provider will be more important than tying to Google – Tencent or Alibaba

    Google needs to find a way to address these issues, or partner with another player like Tencent which would take a lot of corporate manoeuvring; any partner maybe careful (if not leery) after they can see how Google’s relationship with Apple went south. Google may not be the barbarian Microsoft of the 1990s, but the organisation is now so big and complex that it could easily crush a partner thoughtlessly. That’s the last of my take from Google IO. More related content here.

    More information

    It’s A Java Embedded World | Dr Dobb’s – I guess I am showing my age, but if feels strange that it isn’t Dr Dobb’s Journal or DDJ anymore
    China Top B2C Websites Market Share in Q1 2014 | China Internet Watch
    Android TV hands-on: Google makes a new play for the living room | The Verge
    Google announces Drive for Work with unlimited storage at $10 a month | The Verge
    Google Opens Gmail, Making It More of a Platform for Developers | WSJ
    Google previews Android apps running on Chromebooks | TNW
    Razer’s making a gaming ‘micro-console’ with Android TV, available this fall | Engadget
    Google Introduces Android TV, Its New Platform For Smart TV Apps And Navigation | TechCrunch
    Google Unveils Ambitious Android Expansion at Conference | New York Times
    Nike+ Developer Portal