🛸Weekend Links 12/19
Business travel jails + 2020's Best Xmas ads + Uncanny valley history + CIA UFOs and more: The Neal Ungerleider Newsletter #66
Hey there,
Merry early Christmas to all who celebrate. Can you believe that there’s less than two weeks of 2020 left?
I don’t know about you, but I’m already planning a heartfelt ceremony to put 2020 and its legacy in the past. Is it wrong to want to dress up a giant boxing bag as the year 2020 and beat the crap out of it? That’s a rhetorical question—we all know that impulse is right, just and basic.
Now onto the links.
New Futures:
SINGAPORE’S BUSINESS TRAVEL ZONE: Singapore’s government is allowing business travel to the city-state with no quarentine requirements, but with a catch… Visitors will be restricted to a special facility where they can see local contacts but are separated from them by floor-to-ceiling air-tight glass panels.
1 OUT OF EVERY 200 AMERICANS DIAGNOSED WITH COVID LAST WEEK: A new analysis of state-by-state COVID-19 data from Axios’ Danielle Alberti and Caitlin Owens finds that approximately 1 out of every 200 Americans was diagnosed with a new case in the last week *alone*.
COVID-19 VACCINE HEADED TO US RETAIL PHARMACIES IN SPRING: Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, executives at CVS and Walgreens predicted the general public could get vaccinated at their pharmacies in the early spring.
OFFICE PARTIES IN COVIDTIME: With traditional office Christmas parties running the risk of getting employees ill or even killing them, companies are trying alternative 2020 approaches like champagne gift baskets for employees and Zoom scavenger hunts.
Advertising/Marketing/PR:
2020’S TOP CHRISTMAS ADS: A new System1 study analyzes 2020’s top Christmas ads in the US and UK by emotional reaction; Coca-Cola’s Taika Waititi ad is the big winner.
INFLUENCER CAMPAIGNS FOR COVID VACCINES: The Ad Council is recruiting celebrities and influencers to take COVID-19 vaccines on camera as part of a $50 million campaign to promote the vaccines’ safety and efficiacy. (Disclosure: My wife is on the Ad Council’s UX Committee.)
YOUTUBE ALLOWING OPT-OUT FOR BOOZE, GAMBLING ADS: In a positive development for user experience, YouTube is now allowing users to toggle out of having gambling- and alcohol-related ads show up.
THE BLOB ORCHESTRA: Google’s new blob orchestra, created by David Li, is an interactive instrument with four animated characters users control to warble at different pitches and vowels and create their own music.
Media:
RACISM AND CG/CGI: Theodore Kim argues in Scientific American (correctly, in my opinion) that the computer-generated skin and hair that’s omnipresent in gaming and movies are based on Caucasian-centric models and algorithms.
RIP GOODREADS API: Amazon appears to be soft sunsetting Goodreads’ API, in yet another sign of the end of Web 2.0. Goodreads’ API is used by a small but highly visible and active group of book lovers to create homegrown apps and services.
SAMSUNG SIGNS TIKTOK TV DEAL: Starting in 2021, Samsung smart televisions will come preloaded in the UK and Europe with a TikTok app that provides a version of the social video service designed for larger screens.
FACEBOOK BUILDING CAMEO COMPETITOR: Facebook is introducing “Super,” a new tool which lets entrepreneurs, creators and celebrities host live video events. Super monetizes digital events by letting users send organizers payments (which Facebook takes a cut of, of course) or requiring payment for users to ask on-camera questions during the event.
TWITCH BANNING “SIMP”: Starting in early 2021, Twitch is forbidding streamers and moderators to call each other “simps,” “virgins” or “incels” as part of a move towards increased content moderation.
HOW ROKU CONQUERED THE WORLD: The Wall Street Journal’s Patience Haggin examines Roku’s two-pronged business model of viewer-friendly UI/UX and aggressive negotiation tactics with content providers.
ALISON ROMAN LEAVING NEW YORK TIMES: Former New York Times columnist Alison Roman announced that she won’t return to the newspaper following an interview where she slammed Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo.
VICE JOINS ONLYFANS: The mainstreaming of OnlyFans continues with Vice launching a $5/month subscription for their food vertical Munchies on the platform.
WALMART TESTING TIKTOK SHOPPING LIVESTREAMS: TikTok part-owner Walmart is experimenting with livestreamed shopping shows where viewers can order products in app. So basically, you know, QVC.
FORMER CRACKLE CEO LAUNCHING KIDS STREAMING PLATFORM: Ex-Crackle boss Eric Berger is helming Sensical, a new free-to-watch ad-supported streaming network for childrens’ content.
RIP PERISCOPE: Twitter is retiring Periscope.
Tech:
PLA-AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS LEAVE US: A new Washington Post expose finds that more than 1000 Chinese researchers at American universities had hidden their affiliations with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and fled the US this summer after warnings from Chinese diplomats.
CASEY NEWTON’S 2021 CONSUMER INTERNET PREDICTIONS: Tech journalist Casey Newton’s new predictions for the internet are out.
FACEBOOK’S WHATSAPP MONETIZATION STRATEGY: Bloomberg’s Kurt Wagner looks at Facebook’s plans to monetize WhatsApp in mostly non-US markets through offering enhanced services for businesses using the platform.
ROBINHOOD AS ‘TECH VILLAIN’: Matt Taibbi argues that stock trading app Robinhood “combined the pure greed of a Goldman, Sachs or JP Morgan Chase with the cheery, youth-friendly user-engagement strategies of Instagram or TikTok.”
RIOT AT INDIAN IPHONE PLANT OVER UNPAID WAGES: Approximately 2000 workers at a Wistron plant in India that produces iPhones for Apple rioted and ransacked the factory over allegedly not having been fully paid wages in four months.
TIMNIT GEBRU ON GOOGLE DEPARTURE: AI ethicist Timnit Gebru speaks with Technology Review on her last weeks at Google and the research which allegedly led the company to fire her.
TOYOTA PRESIDENT CRITICIZES EVS: In a public appearance, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said adopting electric vehicles would lead to the loss of millions of jobs and raise the price of new automobiles.
HYUNDAIxBOSTON DYNAMICS: Hyundai has purchased a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics, the ex-Google robotics firm behind all those creepily realistic animal robots.
Fun:
HAIM’S CHRISMUKKAH SONG: Haim’s annual holiday song is out, and it’s amazing.
MAILCHIMP’S ANNUAL REPORT: The latest Mailchimp year-in-review, which is really just an excuse for the company’s designers to do cool s**t with browsers, is out.
WHAT IS TIME?: Quanta Magazine has an amazing new history of time (both actual time and the concept of time) which is just so damn awesome.
HOLIDAY BEERS OF THE MIDWEST: The Midwesterner’s David Nilsen looks at the best holiday-themed beers the midwest has to offer.
Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately:
Twitter threads on the real meaning of the uncanny valley and the places where paleontology, pre-history and existential horror all meet.
Blackfreelance’s project management tips for frustrated freelancers.
This essay on Shane MacGowan and Irish identity.
Figuring out if you are a serial under-earner.
Ex-CIA chief John Brennan talks with economist Tyler Cowen about UFOs, geopolitics, American soft power, the legacy of the Trump administration, and lots of other stuff.
That’s it for this issue. Email me here and please don’t hesitate to contact if I can be of assistance. Thank you for taking the time to read this damned thing. And donate to Oak Park Mutual Aid.
Love and coffee,
Neal
About This Newsletter: Neal Ungerleider is a strategic communications consultant who works with individuals, agencies and brands. He writes this weekly newsletter about the media comminucations industrial complex and hopes that you found it of use. Check out his bio, his portfolio, and current projects.
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