Technology

State of AI Report 2018

This report is a snapshot of the exponential progress in AI with a focus on developments in the past 12 months. It seeks to trigger informed conversation about the state of AI and its implication for the future.

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Stop Letting the Data Decide

This is a good long read. We’ve all heard “What gets measured gets managed.” Per @NielsHoven: That’s true, but in my experience, “What gets measured gets manipulated, especially if you are being evaluated on that metric.”

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Voice Camp 2018

“Developing for voice is like writing a script for a TV show, only the actor is unknown to you and doing improv.” — Allen Firstenberg, at the first part of Google Developers Group NYC VoiceCamp 2018. You can still sign up for the full day of coding on 7/28.

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The Web 3 Stack

Have you heard of Web 3? It may be a technology to watch – Per @fredwilson: Web 3 is the next gen web: Decentralized apps (dApps) operate on top of shared data layer + users have control of their data + are able to move btwn dApps w little to no switching costs

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Innovation

Washington Post Builds Tech That Dynamically Inserts Ads Into Podcasts

Inserting fresh ads into podcasts is challenging. Listeners download content and ads together, which means the two must be stitched together beforehand. Because of this, many older podcasts run with no ads or stale ones. WaPo developed a dynamic ad insertion tool that identifies places to put ads, automatically inserts them, and sends the file to different podcast platforms. It also stores metadata about each episode so advertisers can buy based on topics such as politics, finance or history.

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Facebook Will Let You ‘Try On’ Items in Ads Using AR

Ad Age calls it “Selfie Commerce.” These ads have a “Tap to Try it On” option. When you tap, Facebook accesses your camera and proceeds to put an AR version of the advertised object on you. The first company to test out the ads is Michael Kors, which allowed users to see what its sunglasses would look like on their own faces. Facebook showed an example of what a Sephora ad might look like.

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Automated Fashion is Now a Reality in New Chinese Store

From Alibaba: When you take say a pair of shorts off the rack, a mirror suggests pairing them with a matching blouse, shoes, and a bag from existing inventory. The suggestions become personalized, based on what you’ve previously bought on Alibaba. Try them on – Is it too big, or the color not right? Press that on the mirror, and the new item appears on a hanger. Not ready to buy? The app remembers everything you looked at, so you can purchase later.

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Publishing

#ReadTheBook1st – Publishing Has Great Impact on Other Creative Industries

Based on a new study from the UK-based Publishers Association:

Films based on books took 53% more globally ($91m or £68m) at the box office.
Literary-sourced TV shows attract 1.3m viewers more, on average, than original-script TV shows (56% higher).
Book-based theater productions make almost 3 times more in ticket sales than an original script.

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The New York Times Mostly Skips Ad Agencies

The New York Times started moving its media buying in house more than a year ago. In that time, the paper scaled back its use of agencies, almost doubled the amount of media it manages, and now buys nearly 90 percent of its media itself.

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Volunteer Opportunity

Bronx Book Festival 2019 Volunteer Sign-up

HT @thebxisreading Apply to volunteer for the #BronxBookFest 2019 planning committee until 7/23! #TheBronxisReading

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Events

CreativeMornings/New York

Just in time for Summer Fridays! There’s a free monthly event called Creative Mornings that’s in almost every city. They are always seriously amazing and inspiring, thanks to awesome founder @swissmiss and the Creative Mornings community. The next one in NYC is 7/27. Sign ups start on 7/23 at 11am EST and sell out in minutes, so register as a user now and mark your calendar. Hope to see you there!

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