While the world’s greatest athletes continue to fight it out in Rio, the big tech firms on America’s West Coast continue their own relentless competition for a different kind of gold. Video (in particular Live Video), VR, AR, and AI, continue to be the dominant battlegrounds.
Headlines
- Facebook is testing streaming videos – including Live – to TVs via Apple TV and Chromecast, with the option to minimise the video and carry on with other phone activities
- Snapchat is rumoured to be developing scannable ads – think Blippar but with over 150 million daily active users
- Both the BBC and NBC are broadcasting selected Olympic events – some live – in 360 and VR, including for the Samsung Gear.
Insights
- Kik users have sent branded chatbots over 2 billion messages
- How teens are using Snapchat
- What Sky has learned from VR so far.
Cool
- MIT Media Lab develops temporary tattoos that act as an ‘on skin’ interface
- J Crew uses Instagram Stories to tease its new sunglasses range
- Vroom turns the HTC Vive into a Virtual Showroom for cars.
Deep Reads
- An interview with Tim Cook, in which he talks about the importance of AR for Apple
- A Q&A with Facebook’s Director of AI Research, Yann LeCun
- ‘The Apple Watch is the most anxiety-inducing device I’ve ever owned.’
