InterActivate

02/16/2024

Chris Velazco of the Washington Post gives his insights on Apple's Vision Pro. He's impressed by the potential but unsure of how it fits in the present.

To see what “spatial computing” could really do for me, I wore the Vision Pro every day for two weeks. Here’s what you should know.

01/05/2024

Visual Capitalist shows us the level of interest and usage of AI throughout the world in 2023. The Philippines tops the list for text-generated AI, Israel led the world in image-generated AI, Uraguay was the leader in audio-generated AI, while Singapore saw the highest rate for video-generated AI.

Latin American countries dominated audio AI as twelve countries placed in the top 15.

These graphics highlight interest in generative AI by country, covering interest in text, image, video, or audio generation.

12/27/2023

Gartner is predicting that half of us will be either exiting social media presence or, at the very least, significantly cutting back on it.

The top three reasons: the spread of (and possibly the inability to escape from) misinformation, the toxic "user bases" and the inevitable user interactions that inevitably sour experiences, and the threat posed by unwanted bots. Add to this the idea that AI-generated content will or could exacerbate the above three concerns while making the entire experience of being online feel less authentic.

I do believe that this is likely true although I can't predict the percentages. Of particular concern is the upcoming 2024 presidential election in the United States. That could play a huge role. Political toxicity has already played a huge role in how people use platforms. Perhaps now many will simply exit.

A perceived decay in the quality of social media platforms will drive 50% of consumers to abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media by 2025, according to Gartner, Inc.

11/10/2023

Good to see Maine lobsterman Jacob Knowles take off like this. I've been following him for a while. He's got 2.5 million followers on TikTok, 1.3 million on YouTube, and about 400,000 on Instagram. He's a fifth-generation lobsterman out of Winter Harbor, ME and he's part of a growing trend of digital creators who are from blue-collar industries. His cheerful yet educational videos show what his workday is like starting from early rising to which lobsters he can keep and which ones he has to put back (with a gift of a small fish). He removes barnacles from those heavily crusted to clip the tails of sexually mature females before returning them to the water. The videos are informative and entertaining and are perfect examples of how storytelling is an effective tool for practically any industry.

A new crop of popular social media personalities includes a trucker, a shepherd and a commercial fisherman. What they earn from sponsorships is just a nice bonus.

07/20/2022

Good article by Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta.

The metaverse is coming. How? For training, for entertainment, for education. When? I have no idea.

When Facebook rebranded as Meta last October, it brought into the mainstream a concept that has been exciting the bright minds of Silicon…

07/01/2022

Not because of a dir. Because of sabotage.

OpenSea has confirmed the data breach, adding that all users who provided their email addresses to the marketplace have been impacted.

07/01/2022

Neither. It's an evolution for both.

Research by Improbable suggests that, while interest in the metaverse is growing, the real conversations are centred around Web3 technologies such as NFT and crypto.

05/13/2022

Increasing the diversity of representations in advertising in an increasingly diverse society is sound marketing. And healthy for that society.

Nielsen's latest insights report, which also show increased family viewing, was released in honor of AAPI Heritage Month.

04/13/2022

Huge gains, perhaps pushed a bit by the pandemic but here it's more about user expectations and preferences. Brands need to embrace this and realize that much of their customer base are themselves creators.

Digital video and audio were the fast-growing digital advertising categories in 2021, according to a new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

06/07/2021

Influencer marketing is going to go through a resurgent growth now that the pandemic.

What's compelling for marketers is that Instagram maintains its strength in both its platform and via stories. Add to that its new offering of Instagram Reels. Then we've got the massive growing impact of Tik Tok.

05/28/2020

This is about a company I'm rooting for. Spatial. They create holographic experiences for remote business teams collaborating together. They're not fully there yet, but they're well on their way.

AR headsets can be price prohibitive ($399-$499) and long exposure to AR or VR takes some getting used to, but this may end up being a common way to conduct business.

Thanks to standalone VR headsets and free holographic meeting software, employees can now attend gatherings from home -- but some practical hurdles remain.

05/18/2020

Benedict Evans offers a wisely written take as to what is ailing virtual reality. He sees it as a fantastic technology that can't quite fully find itself to broaden its appeal. The answers as to why aren't necessarily obvious...they're just there in an undefined manner.

For me, it's not overrated. It's over-hyped. Analysts and developers and insiders insist that it's going to be huge in ways that most others can't quite relate to.

I believe in it...but I don't believe in what many of its advocates have been saying.

This should be VR’s moment, but instead it’s still stuck as a subset of games consoles. How will that change? Do we get another VR winter?