Following rumors that surfaced back in May, Yahoo has officially acquired RayV, a Cali-based video streaming start-up that specializes in delivering high-quality video streams to a large audience. It makes sense for Yahoo to acquire RayV’s HD broadcasting platform with the aim of improving its streaming tech. After all, competition in current OTT video market is already quite fierce, and Yahoo would need more than a new season of cult favorite Community to help establish Yahoo Screen’s market awareness and presence.
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Snapchat’s New Geofilters Open Up New Oppotunities
Snapchat has been experimenting with location-based features for a while now, especially with “Our Story”, a publicly shared, geo-specific event album that they first tested at Electric Daisy Carnival and later at the recent Rio World Cup final. Now they are rolling out the new location-based photo filters, named Geofilters, to enable all Snapchatters to stamp their specific location (limited to NYC and L.A. at the moment) onto their photos with a simple swipe.
Unlike most messaging stickers, these geofilters are currently free to use, and Snapchat offer no comment on future plans around monetization. But if the heavily featured mouse-ears in Disneyland in the promo video is any indication, there would no doubt be room for brand integration and native advertising, potentially opening up a new revenue stream for the messaging apps to follow.
Fitbit Gets A Fashion Makeover by Tory Burch
The flirtation between tech and fashion continues as Tory Burch introduces a new accessory collection, which includes a pendant, a bracelet, and a pair of silicone bands, all designed to help you wear your Fitbit Flex with style. Now all the techy fashionistas and fashionable techies can finally wear a fitness tracker to a nightclub without being constantly asked about it. Applying fashion to elevate and normalize new tech devices has always been Apple’s motto, which they are certainly following for the much-rumored iWatch. It is good to see the wearable tech companies catching on as well.
Nest And Samsung To Introduce New IoT Network Protocol
Not long after the announcement of OIC, Samsung is now joining Google’s Nest Labs and six other manufacturers to launch a new wireless network called Thread for smart home automation. This new IP-based IoT network protocol doesn’t rely on Bluetooth, and will be made compatible out of the gate with 250 products, allowing smart gadgets to talk to each other. With Apple’s HomeKit, the aforementioned OIC, and other generic Bluetooth networks, the state of IoT network protocols seems to be getting a bit messy, which is understandable since the market is still in an early stage. For the sake of truly integrated IoT network, however, sooner or later the tech giants will have to figure out which one works the best and settle the matter. Until then, stay tuned for new developments.
Google Teams Up With Novartis To Develop Smart Contact Lens
Watch out, Google Glass! The next star in wearable tech is coming. Google is teaming up with Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop a smart contact lens that analyzes the user’s tears to consistently monitor blood glucose levels. This product appears to be health-focused, at least for now, only emphasizing its functions in tracking diabetes and correcting farsightedness. Nevertheless, with this deal to develop and commercialize the smart lens, it would only be matter of time before other potential functions, such as photography, being integrated in. The real question here is, do we really want our wearable tech this close to our eyeballs?
More Reality TV To Incorporate Activity Tracker FitBit
CBS is integrating Fitbit Flex activity trackers into this season of “Big Brother,” letting viewers track the contestants’ indoor movement and other physical data. Although this is the first time a wearable technology will be incorporated into prime-time TV, several other reality shows, as suggested by the source, also seem eager to jump on the tracking bandwagon as well (curiously absent from the list, however, is CBS’s Emmy-winning global traveling competition show The Amazing Race). The jury is still out on whether, or rather, how fast would our voyeuristic demand of documenting surveillance in reality entertainment overflow into our personal daily life. Nonetheless, reality TV might just very well become the foreground for normalizing consumer wearable tech.
Ashton Kutcher Brings Attention To TapTalk
Right after the World Cup Final ended on Sunday, celebrity tech-enthusiast (and sometimes, investor) Ashton Kutcher took it to Twitter to shill a new messaging app called TapTalk to his 16 million unsuspected followers. Pretty much a simplified Snapchat with an instant “tap-and-send” interface, TapTalk was developed by Berlin-based company Onno Faber. It is unclear whether Kutcher has invested in this particular app, but he had taken a shine to other companies in Berlin in the past. It also remains unclear if enough percentage of Mr. Kutcher’s followers would give TapTalk a try to help it break into the U.S. market. But given that Gen Z, the major force behind the rise of messaging apps, is very fluid and fickle when it comes to their platform choices, such conversion is at least possible.
Twitter Launches New Analytics Dashboard
Twitter has launched some brand new analytics to help digital advertisers and marketers alike to gain better insights on their tweeting efforts. For years, Twitter has been lagging behind Facebook in terms of providing a built-in native analytic platform that goes beyond simple favorites and retweets. Now available to Twitter advertisers, Twitter Card publishers, and certified users, this much-needed new dashboard features an impression count, i.e. how many people have seen your each individual tweet. Meanwhile, all click-throughs to profile pages, clicks on hashtags, retweets, replies, and link clicks are counted to generate an “Engagement Figure” for each tweet. Overall, this comes off as a move in the right direction for Twitter to offer a more detailed measurement tool to compete with other social media for the attention of brands and marketers.
LinkedIn Acquires Newsle To Deliver Personalized News
LinkedIn has acquired news alert start-up Newsle in an effort to bring a Google-alert-like real-time news notification to millions of professionals networking on the social site. The major product of Newsle “scans the web to find blogs and articles that mention specific people and then return results that are relevant to those connections”. So expect to see all your former co-workers’ recent achievements blowing up your LinkedIn news feed. As LinkedIn expands it positioning from a mere professional social network to a sophisticated, multi-faceted digital career fair, it is a smart move for them to continue buffing up their news platform. Not only would it help retain users by establishing LinkedIn as a go-to site for daily consumption of professional news, it could also potentially function as a platform for some native advertising within targeted professional circles.
Pioneer of Google Glass Moving To Amazon
Babak Parviz, the man who helmed the Google X project that eventually led to Google Glass, has moved to work at Amazon. The optics expert announced the news on his Google+ page, saying that he is “super excited” but doesn’t disclose any details about what he’ll be doing next. One would assume that with Google Glass largely moved past the research stage, this move certainly signals Amazon’s interest in expanding the company’s effort around optical tech. Or at least, improving the “object-recognition Firefly feature on their new Fire Phone. Given the hot market trend of moving towards wearable techs, it looks like Mr. Parviz will keep busy for the foreseeable future.
