The Tech Landscape #190 💕
Gaming, short video, and social commerce: this is issue 190 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.
A lot of the perceived harms of ‘big tech’ are focused on Facebook & Google, but there are two which get kind of a free ride because of how essential many of us find them: Amazon, and Apple. But doesn’t everyone love Apple? Well yes, they make probably (almost certainly) the best hardware in the industry; but the prevalence of the iPhone and Apple’s control of the App Store are stifling the next generation of creators and the internet. Don’t take my word for it; put aside an hour and read Matthew Ball’s long, in-depth, and insightful explanation.
Apple, Its Control Over the iPhone, The Internet, And The Metaverse
It’s St Valentine’s Day as I write this. I love you all, in my own way.
Life or Death
The NHS COVID-19 app has approx. 16.5m active users, and is estimated to have prevented some 6,000 cases. More people downloading and activating it means more lives saved. It’s a simple as that.
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55985562
Gaming
Rocket League partnered with Ford to sell its popular F150 truck through the game store, and on an eSports championship. Rocket League is owned by Epic Games, owner of Fortnite, and this indicates a desire to start bringing more brand partnerships into the game as its sibling does. It’s the third most-watched sports game on Twitch.
rocketleague.com/news/ford-is-driving-into-rocket-league-with-the-ford-f-150-and-esports-event/
Grand Theft Auto 5 passed 140m in sales, and enjoyed its highest sales year since it launched in 2013. The game’s impressive lifespan is largely down to its online multiplayer, which continues to receive updates and events.
eurogamer.net/articles/2021-02-09-grand-theft-auto-5-has-now-sold-140m-copies
Console games specialist Electronic Arts is buying mobile games specialist Glu. Glu makes the popular Kim Kardashian game, amongst others, so this gives EA a leg-up into the mobile gaming market.
wsj.com/articles/electronic-arts-to-acquire-glu-mobile-in-2-4-billion-deal-11612818823
Short Video
YouTube is testing a quick-record button under music videos. Tapping the button will record up to 15s of video with the currently playing track. The test has only been seen in India, which makes sense as that’s where YouTube is also testing its TikTok competitor, Shorts.
androidpolice.com/2021/02/08/story-time-youtube-is-adding-a-button-to-quickly-make-tiktok-style-videos/
TikTok added recipe links through a partnership with Whisk. Notable because it indicates how more features can be brought into the app, and monetised in future.
socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-adds-new-recipe-integration-pointing-to-the-next-stage-for-the-app/594976/
Snap added its Snap Camera to Moj, an Indian short video app. TikTok was huge in India and its ban by the government was an opportunity for other short video apps to move in—hence Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and now the Snap Camera-powered Moj.
techcrunch.com/2021/02/10/snap-partners-with-sharechats-moj-to-roll-out-camera-kit/
Everything Else
Social Commerce Shopify’s Shop Pay is coming to Facebook and Instagram. Businesses powered by Shopify can offer Shop Pay as a payment option for faster checkout when customers buy directly through Facebook’s platforms (in the US, for now). I keep banging on about social commerce, but it’s only going to get bigger this year.
news.shopify.com/shop-pay-expands-to-facebook-and-instagram
XR Apple TV+ released an AR app that ties-in with its show For All Mankind. The app bridges the story between the first and second seasons, and is notable as it spans Apple’s hardware, software, and services—an early indication of what it can offer.
theverge.com/2021/2/12/22278780/apple-augmented-reality-ar-app-for-all-mankind-tv-plus
Synthetic Media Unreal Engine unveiled Metahumans, a service that generates photorealistic digital humans. The output comes ready-rigged for animation, games, customer service… anything you might want to use a digital human for.
unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/a-sneak-peek-at-metahuman-creator-high-fidelity-digital-humans-made-easy
Entertainment Post Malone will play a virtual concert for Pokémon’s 25th anniversary. The gig will be broadcast live on the official website, YouTube, and Twitch. I bet this isn’t the future anyone predicted.
pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/a-post-malone-concert-and-pikachu-distribution-for-the-pokemon-25th-anniversary-celebration/
Subscriptions Google is making its Pixel-exclusive photo editing features available to all Android phones with a Google One subscription. Subscribers will see the features, including dynamic portrait lighting, unlocked in the Photos app; it’s the first feature beyond storage that the subscription offers. Pixel owners gain a new video editor in the latest update.
blog.google/products/photos/new-video-editor-plus-enhanced-editing-features/
XR Perfect Corp added eyeglasses to its suite of virtual try-on tools. It also announced a new technique making it easier to create 3D models of glasses from a few photos. Perfect, which makes the popular YouCam app for cosmetics try-ons, recently announced a deal to include its technology in Snapchat.
businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005809/en/
Assistants & Voice Amazon added a music sharing feature for owners of Echo devices or the Alexa app. When listening to a song you can ask Alexa to share with a friend—interestingly it doesn’t require Amazon Music, but will try to find the song on most popular services.
engadget.com/amazon-alexa-music-sharing-to-echo-devices-170003886.html
Social Facebook will start to reduce the amount of political content in the News Feed. Starting in Brazil, Canada, and Indonesia, with the US to follow. Some might say it’s a little too late.
about.fb.com/news/2021/02/reducing-political-content-in-news-feed/
Audio iHeart Media announced a slate of podcasts recorded using 3D binaural audio techniques. It’s built three studios for recording the podcasts, with 10 to 12 series coming by the end of the year. There’s a lot happening in audio this year, from new formats like Clubhouse to new(-ish) technologies like binaural.
businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005908/en/
Stat of the Week
The Oculus Quest 2 VR headset sold 1m units in its first quarter on sale. (According to SuperData estimates.) That’s not a bad figure, but it’s still small compared to games consoles, etc. I also wonder how much the audience was grown, and how much was current headset owners in the upgrade cycle.
superdataresearch.com/blog/superdata-xr-update
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