The Tech Landscape #174 đȘ
Planet-scale XR, IGTV Shopping, and Assistant + apps: this is issue 174 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.
This newsletter started off as a way to keep my colleagues at a digital agency aware of whatâs going on in the technology market: product announcements, trends and signals, that kind of thing. For the people who were too busy to follow everything that gets announced, but want to stay informed. I continue to write with that audience in mind. If you work in digital marketing or advertising, especially in agencies which have broad capabilities, youâre solidly in my imagined audience. And if this also describes your colleagues, Iâd love it if you invited them to subscribe too.
Top Stories
Instagram announced shopping features for IGTV videos. Creators can tag products which are highlighted in the videos, which can then be sold through third-party platforms or using Checkout (in the US). Instagram is transitioning from photo diary to next-gen shopping mall; this is social ecommerce.
twitter.com/instagram/status/1313123143532199936
Google announced new features for Assistant, notably making it easier to integrate with apps on your phoneâfor example, âHey Google⊠tweetâ will open Twitterâs compose tab. Itâs also aiming to improve discovery of this feature with app suggestion chips in search results from Assistant. This is similar to the way Apple integrates Siri with apps, so developers used to building that way may be a benefit to Google.
developers.googleblog.com/2020/10/google-assistant-developer-day-new.html
Google will start to feature Web Stories in a carousel at the top of Discover, the feed of relevant content in the Google app, for users in Brazil, India, and the US (initially). Google is really putting its weight behind this format, because the increasing growth of Stories in other apps is content thatâs essentially invisible to it.
blog.google/web-creators/web-stories-discover-search/
Planet-Scale XR
AR is moving into a new context: planet-scale. To understand what I mean by that, hereâs a short (three-minute) talk I did for MAD/FEST DMEXCO a couple of week ago: Physical Gets Clickable
Googleâs Cloud Anchors, an AR technology which âpinsâ AR experiences to places so that they can be shared with other people who visit the same spot, are now generally available. It also announced Earth Cloud Anchors, a system which combines Cloud Anchors with Live View to discover and navigate to pinned experiences; imagine PokĂ©mon GO for everything.
developers.googleblog.com/2020/10/improving-shared-ar-experiences-with.html
Snapchat launched City Painter, its first Local Lens, in Londonâs (swinging) Carnaby Street. Local Lenses are shared, persistent, AR experiences tied to locations.
wired.co.uk/article/snapchat-launches-local-lenses
Everything Else
Social Instagram announced two new features to combat bullying: automatically hiding comments which get flagged as negative; and warning users when they repeatedly try to post negative comments.
about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/national-bullying-prevention-month
Social Twitter is planning to add friction to tweeting to combat mis-/dis-information around the US election. Quote tweeting will be recommended over retweeting, and âliked byâ and âfollowed byâ recommendations will no longer be added to the algorithmic timeline.
blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/2020-election-changes.html
Smart Home Facebook updated its Portal smart displays with Netflix access on Portal TV, and Zoom calling and expanded AR features on all Portals.
about.fb.com/news/2020/10/bringing-netflix-zoom-and-more-features-to-portal/
XR Samsung is removing the AR features of its Bixby Vision camera, which let users virtually try on glasses, makeup, etc. There are so many other apps that offer these services, it seems that Samsungâs offering wasnât competitive.
samsung.com/global/galaxy/what-is/bixby-vision/