There is never a shortage of tech toys and tech issues t be thinking about and Andrew from Nexa has some great insight as usual.
Andrew and James the tech dream team!
The show notes.
Coming
Huawai P10Plus
Sony Experia XZ Premium
-how easy to go iOS /android?
-iOs and android differences with app update!
-Instagram discovery!
Dropbox appoints CIO, finally!
For nearly five years, Veilleux was Mozilla’s VP of enterprise IT and security where she was responsible for the operations of Mozilla’s business technology, information security, data management, network and infrastructure services.
She was also around at Apple during the company’s surge to become a dominant power in the corporate world between 2001 and 2004 as a senior manager of database management.
She has also had a stint working with Salesforce as its senior director of infrastructure engineering and operations.
Get ready for facebook original videos! Aimed at the Millenials who may in some cases be on other platforms, come home!!!
Facebook's dreams of pushing original video shows may be delayed, but that's doing little to stop its ever-growing ambitions. Reuters sources claim that Facebook has landed deals with a slew of "millennial-focused" internet media companies, including BuzzFeed, Vox Media, ATTN and The Dodo operator Group Nine Media. The material would include both short clips under 10 minutes (owned by the individual providers) and longer videos over 20 minutes (owned by Facebook), and they'd naturally have ad breaks. You'd initially find the videos exclusively on Facebook's website and apps, but they'd eventually migrate to other sites.
Not surprisingly, Facebook isn't commenting on the apparent leak.
It doesn't take much divination to understand why Facebook would sign up these brands: if it's going to make a big deal out of original videos, it needs to cater to the audiences that already spend lots of time on its pages. And they may well be receptive, too. Although it's still uncertain just how much money they'll really make (Facebook is reportedly promising a 55 percent share from ads on shorter clips), they may be reassured knowing that they'll make money even if people steal their videos. Whatever short-term uncertainty they face could easily be worthwhile given the many, many potential viewers.
This is what I love about Google roll out some cool stuff just like that! Photos now have archive ! Do you use? Coming to iOs soon
Google Photos has been gently nudging users to store and share more on its service lately. Earlier this month, the Photos team unveiled some AI-powered sharing suggestions and a Google Lens integration that will make its image recognitions even smarter. But the latest update is a much simpler one meant to keep your photos in Google's cloud without crowding up your main stream.
According to 9to5Google, a simple Archive feature is already rolling out to users on Android and is accessible from the navigation drawer in the app. Archived photos will stay in your albums and search results, but won't appear in your main Photos tab. It's a handy way to keep your main stream clutter-free and hide extra shots that you don't want to delete completely. In a similar move, Instagram also unveiled an archive feature recently, giving users the ability to make individual posts private. While Instagram is more of a social network than a cloud archive solution like Google Photos, both services obviously recognize their users' compulsive need to prune their feeds.
The Archive function is currently live in Google Photos on Android and will reportedly be coming soon to the web and iOS versions.
New affordable Samsung 360 camera, get it with the s8?
Samsung's updated Gear 360 is almost here -- you'll only have to wait one more day to be able to get it in the US. The 360-degree camera will be available tomorrow, May 25th, in store and online from Best Buy and its website, Amazon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, US Cellular, Samsung's website and through the ShopSamsung app. In addition to being cuter than its predecessor, it can also capture real 4K videos and has the ability to livestream 360-degree footage at 2K resolution through a compatible phone, including newer iPhones. Even better, it's also cheaper at $229 -- the older Gear 360 was priced at $350 when it launched stateside, though you can get one from Amazon these days for around $160.
The updated camera isn't without its faults, though. When we took it for a spin in March, we found its base less stable than the older one's tripod legs. Also, it has a smaller battery than its older sibling, which translates to shorter battery life. If you still dig it despite those and you're also looking to buy a Galaxy S8 or S8+, take note that you can get the new Gear 360 for only $49 if you also buy one of the Korean conglomerate's latest flagship devices from May 25th to June 19th.
Facebook tweaks trending topics… all about the algorithms!
Facebook says it wants to expose you to more news sources.
The social network on Wednesday said it revamped its Trending Topics feature -- which shows you buzzed-about news stories on Facebook -- to include a handful of stories on any given topic. Now, when you click on a trending topic, you'll see a carousel of stories from different publications that you can swipe through. You'll also see what your friends and public figures are saying about different topics.
Facebook is also trying to make the feature more prominent on phones. The social network is running a test with a small group of users that puts the top three trending topics in a your news feed.
Facebook has been accused of proliferating "filter bubbles," the notion that Facebook distorts people's view of the world because mostly everything they're fed on the site aligns with what they already think. The tweaks to Trending Topics seem like Facebook's attempt to quell that criticism.
This isn't the first time Facebook's made big changes to Trending Topics. In January, the company got rid of personalized topics and instead decided to show all Facebook users in the same geographic region the same lists.
Video ads auto play in pintrest, who is using it?
Less than a year after launching video ads, Pinterest is expanding the feature with autoplay, search integration, and new metrics. On Wednesday, Pinterest announced the three new business features for advertisers.
Video ads have been around since August but now those clips will automatically play as users scroll through their feeds. The autoplay feature means the video starts playing as soon as it pops up on screen, with no tap necessary to start the footage. The move, Pinterest says, is designed to bring businesses more views — and with a per-impression payment structure, the platform says the change could bring the cost per view down for many businesses.
Those promoted videos are also branching outside of the news feed. Paid videos will now appear in related search results, as well as popping up when users tap on the circle in the corner or the “More Like This” feature that uses object recognition technology to find similar pins. Like in the home feed, video ads will autoplay in both the search and More Like This results.
Microsoft uping the game with the new surface pro?
Tech behemoth Microsoft has been making its branded notebooks for the past five years, and has just taken the wrappers off its new Surface Pro devices, which boast 13.5 hours of battery life.
Last night (23 May) in Shanghai, the company revealed the new Surface Pro, which weighs just 1.7 pounds and is 8.5mm thin. The 12.3in screen, Microsoft claims, has 50pc more pixels than a 12in MacBook.
Where this gets interesting is that the company has now developed its own custom silicon, which it calls the PixelSense Accelerator, to improve colour and ink quality, and precision.
“This is something that evolved out of what we are doing with HoloLens,” explained Shirley Finnerty, Windows business group lead at Microsoft in Ireland.
“We have developed tiny controllers that sit inside the pen, leading to improvements in ink and colour.”
Finnerty said that the Surface family of devices is growing. “We have matured in terms of our ecosystem, with a huge emphasis on design but also around brainpower. We have learned that if someone writes or draws as opposed to typing, their recall is better.”
The silicon improvements developed in-house at Microsoft provide the new Surface Pro pen with a fourfold increase in sensitivity, with 4,096 levels of intensity, added tilt and no latency.
The increased battery life, emphasis on design and Microsoft’s decision to embark on creating its own silicon electronics is a statement of intent that the software giant has not only taken a leaf from Apple’s book – it wants to take on Apple.
In doing so, it is trying to take on both the MacBook Pro stable as well as the iPad Pro line. For example, Microsoft claims that the new Surface Pro has 800 custom parts and a 35pc longer battery life than the latest Apple iPad Pro.
Advice from Tim Ferris, actually has a lot to do with tech!
During the course of our conversation, he told me about the best advice he has ever received — advice he got as a teenager that has guided his life and career to this day:
“You are the average of the five people you associate with most.”
Since those teenage years, Ferriss has heeded this advice and gone on to amass four #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling books (including The 4-Hour Workweek and his most recent, Tools of Titans), over 150 million downloads of his podcast The Tim Ferriss Show, as well as highly-successful early-stage investments in companies like Uber, Facebook, and Alibaba.
SNAP and custom stories!
influencer collaboration on Snapchat just got a whole lot easier, with the introduction of custom Stories, which enable you to invite other users to contribute to your Story, or set a geoblock within which anyone can contribute.
Custom Stories will appear on the Stories page for as long as they are live, and will disappear if no one adds anything new for 24 hours, or if the creator deletes the Story. Users will be able to contribute to as many custom Stories as they like, but will only be able to create three custom Stories at a given time.
This creates a whole new dynamic for Snapchat storytelling, a new way to connect with friends, and expand your on platform connections through extended exposure and sharing.
And for brands looking to maximize their use of Snapchat, it could provide a big boost.
The most obvious example that comes to mind is events – through the creation of a custom Snapchat story for your event, through the 'Geofence' option, you can invite attendees to connect, then add their own perspectives, creating a larger, more immersive story around your gathering. This could help generate greater exposure on the platform, with friends, and friends of friends, able to view your content, a great way to utilize the stories option.
But as noted, the most significant benefit could be for influencer marketing. Now, rather than having to use influencer takeovers - where you give control of your Snapchat account to an influencer - you can simply invite them to contribute to your story, enabling you to capitalize on their platform expertise and storytelling talent, while also exposing your audience to theirs through the ‘friends of friends’ option.
