[Miscellany] The Monarch’s symbols, writing for the algorithm vs. your audience, and people that shaped me

On the power of symbols Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday, September 8th. In addition to being a person, Elizabeth II was also an institution, and, in that latter role, she was promptly replaced by her first-born son, Charles. The change in Head of State will be reflected in ceremonial as well as functional objects … Continue reading [Miscellany] The Monarch’s symbols, writing for the algorithm vs. your audience, and people that shaped me

Early results suggest that UK residents would trust and use NHS contact tracing app

At the time of writing, the UK Government is testing a contact tracing app. Contact tracing apps are seen as key in enabling an easing of lockdown measures, but are effective only if a majority of citizens use it. And that, in turn, could vary with the app’s features. A team of researchers at … Continue reading Early results suggest that UK residents would trust and use NHS contact tracing app

What’s the problem with personalisation, anyway?

Recently, Google announced that it is buying Fitbit, the fitness tracker company which, not long ago, was the leader of the fitness wearable devices market. This acquisition gives Google a foothold in the large, growing and lucrative smartwatches / fitness band arena, which was lacking from their product portfolio. Most importantly, for Google, it gives … Continue reading What’s the problem with personalisation, anyway?

Digital 2019 report: nearly four in ten internet users now using voice commands or voice search

DataReportal has released its annual report on the state of everything digital. It is a fantastic resource, with all sorts of statistics about Internet access and use across the world. You can access the data here, and you can read the analysis here. One aspect of the report that caught my eye was the data … Continue reading Digital 2019 report: nearly four in ten internet users now using voice commands or voice search

Smart speakers – consumer behaviour, industry structure, and implications for marketing

Smart speakers are very popular consumer electronic devices, and their penetration is not showing any signs of a slowdown. According to the analysts at Canalys, almost 100 million smart speakers will make their way to homes all over the world by the end of 2018, more than double the number in place at the end … Continue reading Smart speakers – consumer behaviour, industry structure, and implications for marketing

A peak into tech giants’ terms and conditions

I don’t think that I have ever read a full set of terms and conditions from one of the tech giants. And I think that I am in the majority, here. Most terms of service are extremely long, as illustrated by Dima Yarovinsky’s installation at the Visualizing Knowledge 2018 exhibition. The artist printed the … Continue reading A peak into tech giants’ terms and conditions

Smartphone manufacturing costs vs retail prices

Statistics company, Statista, published this chart showing the manufacturing costs of leading smartphone brands: Focusing on phones launched in 2016, only, we can see that Huawei uses the cheapest components, and Google Pixel the most expensive. And that Samsung phones use more expensive hardware components than their Apple counterpart: Phone model Manufacturing cost $ … Continue reading Smartphone manufacturing costs vs retail prices

Google research on choice and use of mobile apps

For a customer facing company, there are many potential benefits of developing an app. It can provide valuable customer insight; it offers a vehicle for personalisation; and it can foster loyalty towards your brand, as discussed here. However, with more than 1 million apps available in Apple’s app store, alone, you really need to understand … Continue reading Google research on choice and use of mobile apps

Google data centre

We get so accustomed to the technology that we use everyday that we stop questioning how it works. We forget how amazing it is, as I discuss in this post. One of those amazing technical developments are search engines. They revolutionised how we obtain information about people, places, products, organisations, events... So, I thought I … Continue reading Google data centre