The Tech Landscape #138 💃
This is issue 138 of The Tech Landscape, a weekly collection of news about consumer digital technology. Stories are selected by me, Peter Gasston, with a little insight and opinion where appropriate.
The Guiness World Record for longest videogame marathon is held by Carrie Swidecki of the USA, who played Just Dance for over 138 hours between 11th and 17th July 2015.
Top Stories
Pinterest launched a new AR cosmetics try-on tool in partnership with major beauty brands. It’s the latest company to do so, following Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and many more. US-only for now.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterests-new-ar-tech-lets-you-try-on-makeup-before-you-buy
A new service called Scroll offers ad-free browsing on a selection of popular news sites for £3.85 ($5) per month. It seems like a better option than putting news behind paywalls, but is a bit more complicated to use than an ad-blocker, which may be a problem.
theverge.com/2020/1/28/21111865/scroll-ad-free-website-subscription-launches
Stats
More than 4.5 billion people (59% of the global population) are internet users, with 3.8 billion (49%) using social media.
wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media
Facebook has 2.5 billion monthly active users, although growth is slowing.
techcrunch.com/2020/01/29/facebook-earnings-q4-2019/
Amazon Prime has 150 million subscribers, a 50% increase in two years.
theverge.com/2020/1/30/21115823/amazon-q4-19-earnings-prime-membership-fresh-one-day-shipping
Social
Facebook rolled out its Off-Facebook Activity tool, which shows users sites that send data to Facebook and lets them opt out if they wish. This is a good move for transparency, but still puts the privacy burden on users.
about.fb.com/news/2020/01/data-privacy-day-2020/
YourStack is a new social network based around products, by the team behind Product Hunt. Another example of the movement towards interest-based social networks.
buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/product-hunt-has-released-yourstack-a-social-network-where
The latest product from Area 120, Google’s internal incubator, is Tangi, a social network based around tutorial videos. Like a more focussed Pinterest.
blog.google/technology/area-120/get-creative-with-tangi-area-120s-latest-experiment/
Regulation
The UK Government announced it will introduce new laws for securing connected devices, including unique, hard-to-guess default passwords, and explicitly declared length of support and software updates.
governmentcomputing.com/technology/news/uk-internet-connected-products-new-law
Huawei equipment will be permitted in the UK’s 5G networks with usage caps and in non-core parts of the system. The US was pressuring the UK for a full ban.
theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/28/boris-johnson-gives-green-light-for-huawei-5g-infrastructure-role
Everything Else
Voice specialist agencies Vixen Labs and RAIN have announced a global partnership. They will remain independent but share resources and clients. It’s another example of the consolidation of the voice market: fewer, bigger players.
medium.com/vixen-labs/news-vixen-labs-rain-announce-global-partnership-uniting-the-leading-voice-specialist-agencies-d9cc59c8923e
Apple rolled out its updated Maps to all users in the US, with Europe to follow soon. The new Maps is more accurate and detailed. Location services are critical for many future technologies including autonomous vehicles and AR.
apple.com/newsroom/2020/01/apple-delivers-a-new-redesigned-maps-for-all-users-in-the-united-states/
Google Photos is testing a subscription service which will print and send 10 algorithmically-selected photos to your home for $8 a month.
ww.9to5google.com/2020/01/31/google-photos-print-subscription/
Douyin (China’s TikTok) premiered a new full-length movie called Lost In Russia, which was originally scheduled for cinemas but pulled because of the coronavirus outbreak. It shows how Douyin (and, perhaps, TikTok) sees a future market beyond short-form video.
walkthechat.com/douyin-launches-first-ever-movie-premiere-on-a-short-video-platform/