This week on FWD, Uber announces a merger and a key investment focus, a ‘glasses-free’ 3D cinema experience is in the ether and Kanye West announces his love of affordable furniture.
Headlines
- Uber’s attempts to break the Chinese market is over, as it agrees to merge its business with main rival Didi Chuxing
- Reuters announces a partnership with Samsung VR, to give users a truly ‘new’ news experience
- Twitter has opened up the blue verified tick on Twitter to us mere mortals
Insights
- 84% of Facebook’s total ad revenue comes exclusively from mobile. That and other gems in their Q2 financial review and how the platform will make you talk in the future
- Uber is pouring $500m into its map service, aimed at challenging consumer reliance on Google Maps
- The total number of paid clicks on Google grew by almost 30% year on year – that and other insights from their revenue report
Cool
- How Skoda brought the Tour De France to the UK, using data and content
- Amazon patent noise-cancelling headphones that turn off when someone says your name
- A ‘glass-free’ 3D cinema experience is being prototyped at MIT
Deep Reads
- What’s the trump card to pull in a presidential race? The marketing strategy, obviously
- How Kickstarter pushed crowdsourced investments into the mainstream and generated more than $5bn in the process
- Given Snapchat has purchased Bitmoji, there are some implications for brands and marketers to explore
Finally, the US army could be about to have their own hoverboards and Kanye could be the creator of your next Ikea bookcase.
