# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watch the premiere of Fanta's new all-Vine comedy show on CollegeHumor, with a ton of new Vines from some of Vine's funniest Viners. Vine. Watch "Fanta For The Funny / Episode 1" and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

# data[].attributes.headline
MPs unsure how to help entrepreneurs - 48% of them haven't even heard of Tech City

# data[].attributes.subject
MPs unsure how to help entrepreneurs - 48% of them haven't even heard of Tech City

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hundreds of MPs are unaware of many of the policies put in place to aid entrepreneurs and boost tech.

The Parliamentary Snapshot survey has revealed 48% of MPs haven't heard about the Tech City UK organisation that was launched in 2010.

A further 13% have heard of it but do not know if it has been effective and 4% believe it has had no impact.

By 2016, UK tech is expected to account for 12% of British GDP, rapidly approaching the 14% that is driven by financial services.

Differences in policy opinion

The survey conducted by YouGov also shed light on the vast differences between Conservative and Labour opinion on helping entrepreneurs.

While Tories were strongly in favour of cutting regulation and lowering personal income tax to help entrepreneurs, Labour MPs were more in favour of increasing spending on grants, loans, and support services.

The biggest split in opinion came to Europe's involvement in British business. 91% of Tory MPs were in favour of exempting the UK from EU business regulation, compared to 15% of Labour MPs.

Classroom coding

The one policy both sides were able to agree on was increasing spending to close the skills gap. Around 90% of MPs from both parties were in favour of the policy.

As of today, schools have to start teaching how to program as a result of changes to the national curriculum.

The hope behind the change is that the UK will be able to produce students with the sufficient skills to contribute to the country's growing tech industry.

Reason to worry?

Many will be concerned about the split in opinion on policies, as well as the lack of knowledge about existing ones.

Philip Salter, Director of The Entrepreneur's Network for whom the survey was conducted, believesthe unfamiliarity with policies is worrying.

As things stand, MPs don't appear adequately informed to vote on future policy changes impacting entrepreneurs.

Also, MPs should be familiar with these schemes so that they are able to pass on details to the many entrepreneurs they meet in their constituencies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Half of MPs have never heard of Tech City UK - UKTN (UK Tech News)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hundreds of MPs are unaware of many of the policies put in place to aid entrepreneurs and boost tech. The Parliamentary Snapshot survey has revealed 48% of MPs haven't heard about the Tech City UK organisation that was launched in 2010. A further 13% have heard of it but do not know if it has ...

# data[].attributes.headline
PurpleBrick disrupts estate agents with £8 mill fundraise

# data[].attributes.subject
PurpleBrick disrupts estate agents with £8 mill fundraise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Purplebricks has raised £8m of equity investment in a Series B round led by Neil Woodford.

Purplebricks is a new estate agency founded by agency entrepreneurs Michael and Kenny Bruce. The company aims offer all the services of a traditional high street agent without the physical office, so it can pass lower fees onto home owners.

Former Invesco Pertual star fund manager, Neil Woodford, reportedly took a 30% stake in Purplebricks.com.

The investment values the agency at £21m.

Woodford joins Previous investors DN Capital, Alchemy Partners and Paul Pindar, the retired CEO of Capita.

Tech City News sat down with Founder and CEO Michael Bruce to find out more about the future for Purplebricks.

Purplebricks has been classified as an online agent; is that how you see yourself?

No, we're a hybrid agency. Online is DIY, whereas we have local support in the form of local property experts.

We offer everything but the high street storefront.

Where did the idea come from?

My previous business was an estate agency group. We were seen as innovative, so were being courted by the corporate estate agents.

Before we sold, we looked at how to improve the process. So we sold up to start Purplebricks in 2011 and started with a blank piece of paper.

What are you trying to achieve with Purplebricks?

By April 2012 we had spoken to thousands of people: sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants. Based on these conversations we started Purplebricks wanting to offer convenient, transparent service, without the poor high street reputation.

People tend to interact with property when estate agency offices are shut. 51% of our traffic comes outside of normal agency hours.

What do you offer?

Our platform allows buyers to contact us at any time, wherever they are in the world. They can make an offer online, instantly.

It's the same for the owner, they can change their sale price instantly and it'll update on Rightmove and Zoopla for buyers to be alerted.

What makes this different from a traditional estate agency?

Transparency. We make sure everything we do is viewed by the customer.

The seller is the first one to see an offer coming in, and no agent conflict of interest can come in to play, like commissions from conveyancing and mortgage services.

Agents are often seen to represent the buyer, as they want property to sell, regardless of the seller's interest.

Do you hire people with property experience, or those with a fresh point of view for you to train in your way of the world?

Property experience is most important to us. We're looking to hire the very best.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but there are some great people in the industry. We've been very surprised at our ability to attract people.

The best agents see the sea-change and have taken great comfort with what we've done.

Will technology ever replace agents?

As time goes on, I can see technology change the face of property.

There will be a tension in the future: people will say what you're doing is so simple and straightforward, we don't need a local property expert.

For landlords, it's as simple as the press of a button, but I don't expect change to happen in the next 3-4 years.

Property owners selling a home through Purplebricks will pay £599 up-front, instead of the traditional no-win, no-fee. Is a lower price hampering you or seen as a winner?

6 of one, half a dozen of the other. We've introduced a price that engages customers, although some think there is something missing. It can put people off, because they haven't learnt about the service.

Is there another story to Purplebricks, other than price?

Service. You get a local property expert, someone who takes ownership over your sale. They visit your property and conduct viewings if you so wish. You are given a personal mobile number, so they're accessible to you.

Purplebricks is less about price, more about service. It's key for us to really get this message out there over the next 3 to 6 months.

Better service sounds wishy washy. Do property owners care enough to desert high street agents?

What property owners want is to get that local expertise, but they are more tech-savvy and want to see what happens as it happens. You don't get this on the high street. We need to be a credible alternative to the high street.

Will there be an inflection point when bricks and mortar agencies close down en-masse? If so, what will be the trigger?

There'll be a greater concentration of agents reviewing their position. Agents will remain, but be more boutique in their approach. But the ability to justify the traditionally high fees over the next 2-3 years will get harder.

If Purplebricks does well and you become ludicrously wealthy, what would you do next?

I'll always be slightly restless, so I wouldn't sit on the beach and let the world go by. I'll maybe look at other areas of the market to improve Purplebricks, or focus on a different place where there are technological ways to advance.

If Agents' Mutual welcomed you in, would you drop Rightmove or Zoopla?

Agents' Mutual is set up for all the wrong reasons. It's for agents, not for customers. It is set up to only allow agents that charge a certain amount to advertise.

Leaving Rightmove or Zoopla is not in the interests of customers. Dropping all that traffic in favour of an unknown site, that's not in the interest of the customer, and that's not what we're about.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Purplebricks raises £8m to disrupt high street estate agents - UKTN (UK Tech News)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Purplebricks has raised £8m of equity investment in a Series B round led by Neil Woodford. Purplebricks is a new estate agency founded by agency entrepreneurs Michael and Kenny Bruce. The company aims offer all the services of a traditional high street agent without the physical office, so it can pass lower fees onto home ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're a regular reader of this blog, or in fact any publisher dealing in digital or marketing, you'll likely be well versed in the world of beacons, iBeacons and other near-field communications (NFC).

If not, head on over to this handy beginner's guide which should bring you up to speed.

Examples of beacons being used in everything from retail to one-off music or sporting events are becoming more frequent as the months roll on. It's an exciting time, and there's a genuine belief that this technology really will build the bridge between offline and online marketing.

Which is probably the reason why every individual use is so widely reported in the news. How many articles will you read proclaiming '2014 as the year of the iBeacon' by the end of the year? Beacons are still in a trial period and it's hard to tell if there is genuinely a massive push to use the technology or if online hype is perhaps blowing things out of proportion.

It's possibly too early to say. Although the first NFC enabled phone came out in 2006, retail trials didn't begin until 2012. It then wasn't until the end of 2013 that Apple began rolling out its own version of NFC (iBeacons) across all of its US stores.

That was only eight months ago. However in this short period of time, the iBeacon has penetrated the media, become the brand name widely recognised as the product name (joining Hoover and Sellotape) and has inspired a wave of marketers to adopt the technology and trial their own efforts.

How successful have some of these trials been? I did a little digging...

InMarket

InMarket is a company installing iBeacons in more than 200 US grocery stores including Safeway and Giant Eagle. These beacons send notifications via a number of advertising partner apps, like Conde Nast's Epicurious and Gannet's Key Ring.

According to an article in 9to5Mac from June 2014, interactions with advertised products increased 19 times after roll-out. This means an almost 20 times increase in the number of users interacting with in-app advertised products thanks to iBeacon notifications.

App usage was also 16.5 times greater for users who received an iBeacon notification vs those who didn't.

Users receiving an iBeacon notification were also 6.4 times more likely to keep an app on their phone.

A later article published last month reveals stats from InMarket's partnership with Hillshire Brands. The company witnessed a 20 times increase in purchase intent for its American Craft Link Sausages, which meant a 500% increase over the CPG average for mobile ad engagement.

American Craft also achieved a 36% increase in brand awareness and a lift in overall sales between April to June 2014 in the 10 US markets where iBeacons are deployed.

The campaign also experienced approximately 6,000 in-store engagements in its first 48 hours.

Bonnaroo

The US music festival that took place in June 2014 worked with Aloompa to set up 100 beacons across its 700 acre ground. This resulted in more than 97,000 push notifications being sent via its official iPhone app.

Festival Insights reveals the following data from Aloompa:

20% of app users opted-in for push notifications

Each of these users spent 102 minutes interacting with content

Each user received an average of 12.6 notifications over four days.

The company didn't collect any personal data about users and all the data was collected anonymously but the festival organisers were able to track the most popular stage, the average length people spent in specific areas of the festival, how many users went inside VIP and other areas.

The 'What Stage' was the most popular venue, 1,980 users went into the VIP section and the average time spent in the VIP section was 102 minutes. These figures in isolation may not be particularly helpful, but they do reveal an insight into what can be achieved with iBeacons and how data such as this can be used for future planning of major events.

For more on event marketing using iBeacons, check out David Moth's article on RFID and iBeacons.
Our Festival of Marketing event in November is a two day celebration of the modern marketing industry, featuring speakers from brands including LEGO, Tesco, Barclays, FT.com and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're a regular reader of this blog, or in fact any publisher dealing in digital or marketing, you'll likely be well versed in the world of beacons, iBeacons and other near-field communications (NFC). If not, head on over to this handy beginner's guide which should bring you up to speed.

# data[].attributes.headline
The problem with app store distribution in 3 charts

# data[].attributes.subject
The problem with app store distribution in 3 charts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Last week, Comscore released its US Mobile App Report, a comprehensive analysis of app usage in the United States. At a general level, the report highlights the continued shift in consumer digital media engagement from the desktop and mobile web to mobile apps and paints a relatively optimistic picture of the mobile ecosystem:

Continued growth in mobile engagement, from 47% of total digital media time in March 2013 to 60% in June 2014;

Relatively high median income levels for mobile device owners: $85k for iOS and $61k for Android, compared to a $51k median household income overall in the US and $55k for viewers of 'America's Funniest Home Videos';

A healthy balance of age groups, especially on iPhone, where no single group represents more than 23% of the total ownership base or less than 16%.

But one subtextual theme present throughout the report casts a bleak pall over the prospect of app store distribution becoming less concentrated in the hands of the largest developers. Three charts in the report describe a winner-take-all app ecosystem in which the winners have already become apparent.
1. Just four companies own apps that generate 70% of the unique visitors to the Top 25 mobile apps
Apps owned by Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Apple receive 71% of the unique visitors to the Top 25 mobile apps. This kind of viewership concentration presents obvious competitive challenges to smaller developers: launching new apps into relative prominence is far easier and less expensive for a developer commanding a substantial existing user base.

One example of this phenomenon - wherein a developer can cross promote its existing user base into a new app, propelling it into the top downloaded platform charts - is Facebook's messenger app. Messenger was released as a stand-alone app for iPhone in August of 2011, although the Facebook iPhone app retained messenger functionality. But in late July 2014, Facebook forced users to migrate into the stand-alone messenger app for communication; as a result, the app quickly ascended the Top Downloaded chart and, as of this writing, holds the #1 position. To sustain a similar position, a developer without the existing reach of Facebook would have to invest hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars into paid acquisition.

Another problem this concentration poses to small developers is the very real threat of being replicated. These large companies, with massive development teams and budgets, can replicate novel features from other apps in short order, before any given app can generate enough of following to challenge the incumbents.
2. Nearly half of all time spent in mobile apps is devoted to users' single favorite app
While time spent engaged with mobile apps has increased over the past 18 months, according to the report, that time is not distributed across a large number of apps. The report claims that the average mobile user spends 42% of all in-app time using their favorite app; from favorite to second-favorite, that percentage drops to 17% of total time, and from second-favorite to third-favorite, to 10%.

This means that growing an app's user base may be less dependent on challenging the functionality of a competing app than challenging consumers' entrenched behaviors. A more stratified app engagement landscape - in which users engaged with many apps for smaller proportions of total in-app time -- would present opportunities for developers to simply confront the apps in their specific functionality space (eg. photo sharing, or music streaming, or puzzle gaming, etc.).

But the Comscore
report makes it clear that mobile use is dominated by just a handful of apps, which means in order to win engagement share, a developer not only has to beat the apps in one specific space but must also demonstrate enough value to convince a user to forfeit some time in their top 2-3 favorite apps.
3. The majority of mobile users download zero new apps per month
This is perhaps the most damning indictment of app store distribution, and it follows logically from the first two points: if most users don't veer from their favorite apps, and a small number of the largest developers make users' favorite apps and thus control the most effective means of app distribution (app install ads), then it makes perfect sense that most users don't feel compelled to download new apps often.
App store discovery functions perfectly; it just doesn't work.
App store discovery is not broken; the app economy wasn't architected to work in favor of small developers. The Comscore report confirms this.

That's not to say that competing with the largest incumbents is impossible: breakout successes such as Snapchat, which famously rejected a $3BN acquisition offer from Facebook, support the notion that, given a novel differentiator (in the case of Snapchat, disappearing messages), building a significant user base without spending lavishly on marketing is possible. But this report indicates that other instances of Snapchat-like success may be increasingly rare going forward.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The problem with app store distribution in 3 charts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Last week, Comscore released its US Mobile App Report, a comprehensive analysis of app usage in the United States.

# data[].attributes.headline
Amazon prepares to launch sponsored links

# data[].attributes.subject
Amazon prepares to launch sponsored links

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
With Google dominating the digital ads market, Amazon is taking steps that could lead to the online retailer competing on the search engine's turf, anonymous sources told the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon's new advertising system will start on the retailer's website. But after the new ad system tests its legs, it could move beyond Amazon's website and pop up among content on other websites.

Functioning much like Google's AdWords, the new advertising platform would draw users back to the retailer's inventory and storefronts housed on Amazon's website. To help it launch quickly, Amazon's new advertising platform would allow marketing agencies to buy in bulk.

Amazon's newest ad platform, said to be called "Amazon Sponsored Links," will use data collected from customer browsing and purchasing habits to customize the ads it displays for each individual, which gives it an edge over Facebook and Google. As the United States' largest online retailer, Amazon is poised to make relevant plays for consumer attention and dollars.

With Google claiming a roughly 31.5 percent share of global ad revenue, Amazon will have a lot of ground to cover to compete with the search engine company. Google's ads draw in roughly $50 billion annually, while Amazon takes in around $1 billion.

Google's portion of ad dollars is followed by Facebook's 7.79 percent share and Microsoft's 2.54 percent slice of the global pie. Thus far in 2014, Amazon's portion of the world's digital ad revenue was 0.75 percent.

Back in July, Facebook expanded its approach to drawing in ad dollars by introducing its " Buy" button. Facebook's Buy button is a form of direct-response advertising that offers the social media company a chance to reap large rewards if the site's users become comfortable with buying third-party products and services through the feature.

Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO of BlueSnap, said Facebook's Buy button could fall flat with every country, except the U.S.

Payment systems that are popular in the U.S., such as PayPal and Visa, aren't available or as well-received in other parts of the world, Dangelmaier reasoned. Approximately 15 percent of Latin America's population has credit cards, making the Buy button useless to roughly 85 percent of the region's citizens, said Dangelmaier.

"The Buy button will appeal to a certain group of people," said Dangelmaier. "It's going to have a double-edged sword. It will work well for Americans, but if you're in Chile or South Africa or China, it's probably going to be a turnoff. That's just part of an American company not understanding the differences."

See Now: 27 Most Inspirational And Motivational Quotes By Influential Leaders In Tech

© 2018 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Amazon encroaches on Google turf with 'Sponsored Links'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With Google dominating the digital ads market, Amazon is taking steps that could lead to the online retailer competing on the search engine's turf, anonymous sources told the Wall Street Journal. Amazon's new advertising system will start on the retailer's website.

# data[].attributes.body
Know when your phone is ringing by this piece of gear vibrating...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Samsung's vibrating Gear Circle headphones

The Gear Circle wireless headphones can pair with a user's smartphone to take calls and text notifications, and play music through Bluetooth. Users can also use the Gear Circle's Bluetooth connection to issue voice commands.

When not in use, the Gear Circle can join together around a user's neck using the magnetic clasp. The new headphones will be available in black, blue and white from October, though Samsung hasn't given a price.

Samsung also launched the Gear S smartwatch, its second with a curved screen. The biggest change is the addition of 3G connectivity, meaning users can make calls and access the web without having their phone nearby.

The new watch features a 2in Super AMOLED display, runs Samsung's own Tizen operating software, and features fitness and mapping apps. The watch is dust- and water-proof with a battery lasting around two days.

Samsung touted its credentials as an innovator in wearable tech, with the company launching a raft of devices in the last year, starting with the first Galaxy Gear watch last September.

"Samsung is leading this exciting and rapidly developing wearable category through progressive innovation," said CEO and head of IT and mobile communication, JK Shin.

"The Samsung Gear S redefines the idea of the smart wearable and the culture of mobile communication. It will let consumers live a truly connected life anywhere, anytime."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Samsung unveils vibrating 'necklace' for incoming calls

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Gear Circle wireless headphones can pair with a user's smartphone to take calls and text notifications, and play music through Bluetooth. Users can also use the Gear Circle's Bluetooth connection to issue voice commands. When not in use, the Gear Circle can join together around a user's neck using the magnetic clasp.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Charlotte Beyer, author of 'Wealth Management Unwrapped,' shares insights on what can be finished to make improvements to the relationship among traders and advisors. Much more: http://knlg.web/1AYCjIV source

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
2014 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates the Maturity of More Than 2,000 Technologies

2014 Marks 20th Anniversary of the Gartner Hype Cycle

The journey to digital business is the key theme of Gartner, Inc.'s "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2014." As the Gartner Hype Cycle celebrates its 20th year, Gartner said that as enterprises set out on the journey to becoming digital businesses, identifying and employing the right technologies at the right time will be critical.

Gartner's 2014 Hype Cycle Special Report provides strategists and planners with an assessment of the maturity, business benefit and future direction of more than 2,000 technologies, grouped into 119 areas. New Hype Cycles this year include Digital Workplace, Connected Homes, Enterprise Mobile Security, 3D Printing and Smart Machines.

The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies report is the longest-running annual Hype Cycle, providing a cross-industry perspective on the technologies and trends that business strategists, chief innovation officers, R&D leaders, entrepreneurs, global market developers and emerging technology teams should consider in developing emerging-technology portfolios.

"The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies is the broadest aggregate Gartner Hype Cycle, featuring technologies that are the focus of attention because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that Gartner believes have the potential for significant impact," said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow. "Enterprises should use this Hype Cycle to identify which technologies are emerging and use the concept of digital business transformation to identify which business trends may result."

"The central theme for this year's Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle is Digital Business (see Figure 1). As enterprises embark on the journey to becoming digital businesses, they will leverage technologies that today are considered to be "emerging," said Hung LeHong, vice president and Gartner fellow. "Understanding where your enterprise is on this journey and where you need to go will not only determine the amount of change expected for your enterprise, but also map out which combination of technologies support your progression."
Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2014
Source: Gartner (August 2014)

As set out on the Gartner road map to digital business, there are six progressive business era models that enterprises can identify with today and to which they can aspire in the future.
Six Business Era Models in the Digital Business Development Path
Stage 1: Analog

Stage 2: Web

Stage 3: E-Business

Stage 4: Digital Marketing

Stage 5: Digital Business

Stage 6: Autonomous

Since the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies is purposely focused on more emerging technologies, it mostly supports the last three of these stages: Digital Marketing, Digital Business and Autonomous.

Digital Marketing (Stage 4): The Digital Marketing stage sees the emergence of the Nexus of Forces (mobile, social, cloud and information). Enterprises in this stage focus on new and more sophisticated ways to reach consumers, who are more willing to participate in marketing efforts to gain greater social connection, or product and service value. Buyers of products and services have more brand influence than previously, and they see their mobile devices and social networks as preferred gateways. Enterprises at this stage grapple with tapping into buyer influence to grow their business. The following technologies on the Hype Cycle represent the Digital Marketing stage:
Software-Defined Anything; Volumetric and Holographic Displays; Neurobusiness; Data Science; Prescriptive Analytics; Complex Event Processing; Big Data; In-Memory DBMS; Content Analytics; Hybrid Cloud Computing; Gamification; Augmented Reality; Cloud Computing; NFC; Virtual Reality; Gesture Control; In-Memory Analytics; Activity Streams; Speech Recognition.

Digital Business (Stage 5): Digital Business is the first post-nexus stage on the road map and focuses on the convergence of people, business and things. The Internet of Things and the concept of blurring the physical and virtual worlds are strong concepts in this stage. Physical assets become digitalized and become equal actors in the business value chain alongside already-digital entities, such as systems and apps. 3D printing takes the digitalization of physical items further and provides opportunities for disruptive change in the supply chain and manufacturing. The ability to digitalize attributes of people (such as the health vital signs) is also part of this stage. Even currency (which is often thought of as digital already) can be transformed (for example, cryptocurrencies). Enterprises seeking to go past the Nexus of Forces technologies to become a digital business should look to these additional technologies:
Bioacoustic Sensing; Digital Security; Smart Workspace; Connected Home; 3D Bioprinting Systems; Affective Computing; Speech-to-Speech Translation; Internet of Things; Cryptocurrencies; Wearable User Interfaces; Consumer 3D Printing; Machine-to-Machine Communication Services; Mobile Health Monitoring; Enterprise 3D Printing; 3D Scanners; Consumer Telematics.

Autonomous (Stage 6): Autonomous represents the final post-nexus stage. This stage is defined by an enterprise's ability to leverage technologies that provide humanlike or human-replacing capabilities. Using autonomous vehicles to move people or products or using cognitive systems to write texts or answer customer questions are all examples that mark the Autonomous stage. Enterprises seeking to reach this stage to gain competitiveness should consider these technologies on the Hype Cycle:
Virtual Personal Assistants; Human Augmentation; Brain-Computer Interface; Quantum Computing; Smart Robots; Biochips; Smart Advisors; Autonomous Vehicles; Natural-Language Question Answering.
"Although we have categorized each of the technologies on the Hype Cycle into one of the digital business stages, enterprises should not limit themselves to these technology groupings," said Mr. LeHong. "Many early adopters have embraced quite advanced technologies, such as autonomous vehicles or smart advisors, while they continue to improve nexus-related areas, such as mobile apps - so it's important to look at the bigger picture."

Additional information is available in Gartner's "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2014" at http://www.gartner.com/document/2809728. The Special Report includes a video in which Betsy Burton, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, provides more details regarding this year's Hype Cycles, as well as links to all of the Hype Cycle reports. The Special Report can be found at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/hype-cycles/.

Contacts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gartner's 2014 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Maps the Journey to Digital Business

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
2014 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates the Maturity of More Than 2,000 Technologies 2014 Marks 20th Anniversary of the Gartner Hype Cycle The journey to digital business is the key theme of Gartner, Inc.'s "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2014."

# data[].attributes.body
Prankvertising - but with an emotion twist and solution to the problem

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a smashing way of making a serious point about our generation's failure to pass on cooking skills to our children. Instead of getting all preachy on our ass, this viral for Uncle Ben's demonstrates what happens when an estate agent shows a number of families around a house that doesn't have a kitchen.

Creative Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

Creative Director: Mike Hannett

Creative: Liam Donnelly / Phil Holbrook

Board Account Director: Gau Narayanan

Account Director: Paddy Heaney / Jen Knox

Account Executive: Georgia Totvanian

Senior Planner: Raquel Chicorel

Planner: Matt Turnbull

TV Producer: Richard Grisman

Film Production: Fat Lemon

Director: Chris Faith

Ad of the Day is brought to you in association with David Reviews.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ad of the Day: Uncle Ben's - Where's The Kitchen?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a smashing way of making a serious point about our generation's failure to pass on cooking skills to our children. Instead of getting all preachy on our ass, this viral for Uncle Ben's demonstrates what happens when an estate agent shows a number of families around a house that doesn't have a kitchen.

# data[].attributes.headline
Instragram releases new tools for advertisers

# data[].attributes.subject
Instragram releases new tools for advertisers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Instagram today announced three new business tools to help brands build their following on the social network: Account insights, Ad insights, and Ad staging. The Facebook-owned company says the new suite will be rolled out "over the coming weeks and months," but wouldn't provide details regarding timing or markets.

Instagram says the dashboards are a response to brands asking for more insight into how users engage with and respond to their photos and videos. The tools will thus let brands monitor the reaction to posts and campaigns, as well as give them suggestions for the best time of day to post a photo or video.

The suite is broken up into three sections:

Account insights allows businesses to see how they're increasing brand awareness on Instagram through impressions, reach, and engagement.

Ad insights shows the performance of paid campaigns with brand analytics (impressions, reach, and frequency) for each individual ad delivered to the target audience.

Ad staging allows advertisers and their creative teams to preview, save, and collaborate on ad creative for upcoming campaigns.

All Instagram advertisers will be getting access first. The company then plans to use their feedback will to improve the tools before releasing them more widely to additional brands "later this year."

Remember: ads on Instagram are still quite rare, limited to the US, and only a handful of companies can post them. Facebook is making a point to take things very slowly with ads on Instagram so as not to scare off users. Ads are differentiated from regular content in two ways: a Sponsored label in the top-right corner, which you can tap to find out more about ads on the social network, and an option in the bottom-right corner to hide the photo or video and provide feedback.

See also - Zuckerberg: Facebook will generate 'a lot of profit' from Instagram, expect ads 'when the right time comes' and Instagram previews how ads will look in its apps, will push a one-time sample ad to US users in the next week
Image credit: Thomas Coes/Getty Images
Read next: Facebook adds analytics support to App Links and Windows universal support

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instagram Announces Account Insights, Ad Insights, Ad staging

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Instagram today announced three new business tools to help brands build their following on the social network: Account insights, Ad insights, and Ad staging. The Facebook-owned company says the new suite will be rolled out "over the coming weeks and months," but wouldn't provide details regarding timing or markets.

# data[].attributes.headline
Newsletters will always be better than a Facebook community

# data[].attributes.subject
Newsletters will always be better than a Facebook community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Like 60% of C-suite executives, I turn to newsletters first for industry analysis and help. The problem is most don't offer either of these things. After doing some lengthy research into good newsletters to subscribe to that would save me time when setting up my own business, I decided that the majority of what was available simply regurgitated websites, contained little original content and provided no value to the reader beyond not typing in a URL (although I totally recognise that sometimes this is enough). I saw this as an opportunity and decided to kill two birds with one stone and create a newsletter instead. C_NCENTRATE has just celebrated its first birthday and now hits more than 11,000 subscribers' inboxes.

Those 11,000 didn't come easily. I am luckier than most in that I have amassed a fair few followers on a (frankly) ridiculous amount of platforms that I (and there's no sugar-coating it) have zero control over beyond adding content into them. This is a problem because when posting you have little to no idea who is seeing what, whether it's the same few and a host of other major flaws with the current state of social analytics. Yet millions of marketers do so and increasingly pay a fair whack to be seen; what happens if you don't have (or want) to spend money on these platforms?

Despite the modest numbers I have to play with, social media accounts for less than a fifth of the sign-ups for C_NCENTRATE over the past year. Now 20% is nothing to be sniffed at but when you think about the content and whom I target, this number starts to feel low. The truth is the majority of the sharing came from our friend dark social. It was me asking friends to email three of their friends after they signed up; me speaking at conferences; email signatures; and pure word of mouth among colleagues.

The social platforms both consumers and brands are addicted to are businesses. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ (and others) are all out to make money and keep you paying (if you aren't paying, you're the product). This doesn't mean they're evil, wrong or a waste of time, but arming yourself with the right tools and strategy for the future is always a smart move. The issue is that this is highly unlikely to change and we are creating armies that are partly blind, do not follow us to new places or are difficult to command so you should start thinking seriously about your future "army" now. I mean army too. Community often feels relaxed and laissez-faire; I want people to understand the cause and fight for it.

Setting up the newsletter has been an invaluable project for a number of reasons. Not only have I utilised learnings for clients, I now have a unique research panel, an invite list for future events, a new product focus group, an international advisory board and a way of directly selling without having my reach limited. If you aren't utilising newsletters and lists you should be. Not only are they trusted but they can often take you beyond the inbox very quickly.

There are five things that stick out from my first year that I think brands can use on social platforms and newsletters:

1. Analytics only get you so far

While I will bestow the virtues of click rates and a/b testing on anyone who wants to listen, understanding the person behind the click is most important. What are his or her fears, issues and concerns? How can I help him or her be better?

2. Active communities trump large ones every time

Think about the communities you have created on platforms such as Google+ and Facebook. Are they really communities or are they just glorified noticeboards? I find time and again that too many brands do not think about what a true community is (and should be) long enough for sustained business success.

3. Curation is a powerful tool that many brands still ignore

Whether it's because they fear losing people from sites (or never getting them there), I still see a lot of pages, newsletter and blogs simply talk about themselves. Original content is one thing but having a clear position and including others is much more well rounded. If @brainpicker simply blurted out comments or statistics people would quickly unfollow the account, but the level of curation and analysis by Maria Popova ensures people return.

While it's counterintuitive and certainly not what I started out to do, providing insight to people that is unique to subscribers is a key part of C_NCENTRATE. While the links section is well read (and has a significant amount of content by HERE/FORTH plugged in) it is the actionable insight and clear "be better" and "do this, don't do this" frameworks that subscribers say they like. A member of the subscriber base gave me the idea for the new product 15-minute executive based on the top section of the newsletter.

5. Go beyond the screen as much as you can

I have called, met up for coffee and rewarded regular readers and people who have sent feedback to help C_NCENTRATE improve. This has led to other ideas, new business and countless other opportunities I would have been unlikely to see had I not created the newsletter.

As each of the networks tighten its grip around marketers with less and less free organic reach, it's only natural we look for other ways to reduce reliance on paid networks when time, resources and budgets remain tight. Newsletters and bespoke external options are often scoffed at for expense and set-up time, but I believe that with a little strategy they are a truly untapped resource for most brands.
Paul Armstrong runs To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled 'Advertisement feature'. Find out more .sign up free for Media Network membership. You can follow Paul on Twitter @paul__armstrong Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Building a Facebook community will never trump a newsletter you own

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Like 60% of C-suite executives, I turn to newsletters first for industry analysis and help. The problem is most don't offer either of these things.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Hollywood-ification Of The App Store

# data[].attributes.subject
The Hollywood-ification Of The App Store

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood's success in the App Store could open the doors to future celebrity-publisher partnerships, suggests app analytics firm App Annie in a new report out this morning which looks back on the latest in app store trends. The game, a joint effort between the celeb and publisher Glu, was the most downloaded game on iOS in July, and helped Glu become the number one publisher by game downloads worldwide, as well as #10 in iOS game revenue.

The game also exists as further proof of the App Store's push into the mainstream, where its top charts now tend to highlight titles that are more broadly accessible by everyday users. The Flappy Bird'sdu jour. Or, more pessimistically, the app store is proof we're in Idiocracy as ridiculous titles like Toilet Time and Make it Rain become temporary hits until the crowd moves on to the next time-waster.

Kim Kardashian, however, at least requires its users to devotedly play for an extended period of time in order to advance. But it also encourages those users to part with their money, or risk losing all their hard "work" as they rapidly lose their "KStars" (energy levels).

The strategy clearly works: the game made $1.6 million in its first five days and is reportedly on track for $200 million in annual revenue, thanks to its in-app purchases.

Last month, the game saw 68,000 iTunes reviews. And to put that in perspective, that's more than all the other new releases in the iOS top 10 by downloads combined. It's just a massive success, not only in terms of celeb-publisher match-ups, but of games in general.

The Hollywood takeover the App Store wasn't limited to Kim's game last month, though it was clearly a dominating force. Another top title was Transformers: Age of Extinction, whose release was designed to coincide with that of the movie's, and quickly became a top 5 Google Play game. It, too, showcased another Hollywood-powered app store trend in action, by again demonstrating how well movies and apps can go hand-and-hand, and how successful those tie-ins can be. For instance, other recent winners in this genre have included Despicable Me: Minion Rush, Frozen Free Fall, and Maleficent Free Fall.

Outside the games genre, celebrity match-ups can work well when they are seen more of an extension of the Hollywood icon, rather than some mindless vanity project where the celeb simply agrees to let someone use their name, or donates a small amount in order to play "investor." (And generate press releases announcing such a thing.)

For example, Tom Hanks' well-built Hanx Writer typewriter app, which mimics the act of typing on old-school clickity-clack machines, shot up to the top of the App Store shortly after its launch in August. People connected with not only the Hanks "brand" but also the man's personal passion for typewriters, which he eloquently spoke of in an NYT op-ed last summer.

Hanx Writer was the Overall #1 app and the #1 Productivity app on the App Store from August 15th through 20th in the U.S. It was released on the 14th and quickly shot up to #2 Overall and #1 in Productivity. But since the 21st, the app has declined proving that Hanks' app did not have the staying power of Kim's.

Not all celeb-publisher partnerships play out as well as Kim's, of course. Neither Justin Bieber's "selfie" app Shots nor Leonardo DiCaprio's investment Mobli have found massive success. Meanwhile, other celebs - especially those in the music space - see apps as these complementary accessories that exist alongside their real passions (i.e., their music) - like Snoop Dogg (Snoopify), Taylor Swift (American Greetings partnership), Jay Z (Magna Carta Holy Grail), and Lady Gaga (Artpop), for example.

The older generations had liner notes; modern kids have apps.

But even if celeb-backed titles become more common thanks to the fallout from Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, that doesn't mean newcomers don't have a chance. Viral hit Timberman, developed by Polish indie developer Digital Melody, was able to finish last month in the top 5 apps by downloads, even briefly displacing Kim Kardashian: Hollywood at the top of the iPhone download ranks in the U.S. for a time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Hollywood-ification Of The App Store

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood's success in the App Store could open the doors to future celebrity-publisher partnerships, suggests app analytics firm App Annie in a new report out this morning which looks back on the latest in app store trends.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Only one day after Instagram launched the stand-alone Hyperlapse app that makes short, time-lapse videos, a number of big brands are testing the feature out.

Instagram's Hyperlapse app is intended to turn shaky videos into high-quality clips, which should satisfy marketers who already employ Instagram and Facebook to create fun, short content but want videos to look a bit more polished.

The handful of brands initially trying out the social video app seem to be focused squarely on playing around with time and scale to pack the most into a 15-second clip. But some brands, like Naked Juice, are already using the fast-moving images alongside clever pieces of copy. The brand posted a video yesterday of people rushing past a naked person, with the caption, "Don't let life pass you by. Get Naked."

Agencies also appear to be having fun with Hyperlapse. Yesterday, Razorfish posted a clip showing fast-moving traffic above its Time Square office, while Crispin Porter + Bogusky shot a video of its Los Angeles office at warp speed.

Similarly, Hearst's Cosmopolitan posted a video showing off its new online office earlier today.

Check out some marketers' first stabs at Hyperlapse below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
12 Marketers Already Experimenting With Instagram's Hyperlapse App

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Only one day after Instagram launched the stand-alone Hyperlapse app that makes short, time-lapse videos, a number of big brands are testing the feature out. Instagram's Hyperlapse app is intended to turn shaky videos into high-quality clips, which should satisfy marketers who already employ Instagram and Facebook to create fun, short content but want videos to look a bit more polished.

# data[].attributes.headline
Magnum beacon tech allows Londoners to 'get together' for ice cream

# data[].attributes.subject
Magnum beacon tech allows Londoners to 'get together' for ice cream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Magnum: launches the beacon-enabled M-Pulse app

The brand has developed 'M-Pulse', an app that allows Londoners to seek out friends, find their closest Magnum retailer and invite them to meet for an ice cream, as part of Magnum's 25 th anniversary celebrations.

M-Pulse is also designed to enable "proximity marketing," highlighting exclusive deals and offers, in a bid to drive sales and footfall. The brand has partnered with WHSmith in London and the South East, where outlets will install beacons in chiller cabinets throughout the region.

Neil Gledhill, Magnum global brand director, said: "We're thrilled to pioneer an innovative technology such as beacons to deliver a mobile experience, which can really strengthen Magnum's promise of delivering pleasure and connect thousands of pleasure seekers in the city."

M-Pulse had been developed by start-up NewAer as part of the Unilever Foundry, an initiative that aims to connect tech-orientated start-ups with brands.

The app is the first set of projects supported by The Unilever Foundry, an initiative to bring tech-orientated start-ups and brands together.

Marc Mathieu, global senior vice-president, marketing, at Unilever, said: "Start-ups are pioneering the future of marketing and through the Unilever Foundry, we're making it possible for innovative tech companies to pilot with our brands.

"M-Pulse is a great example of how a start-up, agencies and an iconic brand like Magnum can collaborate to deliver a transformative social and brand experience."

Karmarama handled the project's strategy, creative, design and user experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Magnum beacon tech allows Londoners to 'get together' for ice cream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The brand has developed 'M-Pulse', an app that allows Londoners to seek out friends, find their closest Magnum retailer and invite them to meet for an ice cream, as part of Magnum's 25 th anniversary celebrations. M-Pulse is also designed to enable "proximity marketing," highlighting exclusive deals and offers, in a bid to drive sales and footfall.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Depending on your view, the stuff you own is either a boon to business or a tremendous loss of opportunity.

For example, your collection of spice bottles in your pantry means that I could possibly sell you a spice rack. On the other hand, it also means that I can't design a special spice rack that only admits spice bottles of my own patent-protected design, which would thereby ensure that if you wanted to buy spices in the future you'd either have to buy them from me or throw away that very nice spice rack I sold you.

In the tech world, this question is often framed in terms of "ecosystems" (as in the "Google/Chrome/Android ecosystem") or platforms (as in the "Facebook platform") but whatever you call it, the discussion turns on a crucial different concept: sunk cost.

That's the money, time, mental energy and social friction you've already sunk into the stuff you own. Your spice rack's sunk cost includes the money you spend on the rack, the time you spent buying fixings for it and the time you spent afixing it, the emotional toil of getting your family to agree on a spice rack, and the incredible feeling of dread that arises when you contemplate going through the whole operation again.

If you've already got a lot of sunk costs, the canny product strategy is to convince you that you can buy something that will help you organise your spices, rip all your CDs and put them on a mobile device, or keep your clothes organised.

But what a vendor really wants is to get you to sink cost into his platform, ecosystem, or what have you. To convince you to buy his wares, in order to increase the likelihood that you'll go on doing so - because they match the decor, because you already have the adapters, and so on.

Switching costs

The vendor wants to impose a switching cost on you, to penalise you for disloyalty should you defect to another ecosystem/platform. The higher your switching costs, the worse the vendor can afford to treat you - rather than supplying the best goods at the best price, he can provide the best goods at the best price, plus the switching cost you'd have to pay if you went somewhere else. Or he can offer the best price, but offer goods whose manufacture - and quality - is cheaper by a sum of about the cost you'd have to pay for switching.

Without competition, this would all go very badly indeed. When an entrenched vendor grows too predatory, another vendor is likely to enter the same market, offering a better deal - a whole kitchen replacement that comes with a spice-rack to fit all brands of spice (but may require some expensive inserts to fit the fiddly drawers).

The thing to pay attention to is the gap between the extra bit of price/quality squeezing that the vendor can exert upon you before a competitor emerges. The bigger that gap is, the more pain you have to endure before a rival steps in with something better. The size of the gap is determined by both law and technology.

Firstly, technology. Companies often add technical countermeasures to their products to lock their customers in. Your gadget might take a nonstandard battery, or need a strange screwdriver to open the case.

Secondly, law. Governments often intervene to protect walled gardens. For example, the proprietary connector on your power adapter might be patented, meaning that even if a competitor can figure out how to make a cheaper and/or better version, doing so would expose them to horrific legal jeopardy. Patents last 20 years, so it's likely your gizmo will be long gone before someone can release third-party spares.

It's not just patents. Global copyright laws establish special protection for any technology that can make a claim - however silly - to preventing copyrighted material from being accessed without permission. These laws, like the US DMCA and the EUCD, criminalise any such breach - they even ban revealing information that would facilitate such a breach, such as bulletins about significant flaws in your devices that could expose you to personal and financial risks.

Importantly, the stricture against unlocking these devices is not limited to copyright matters. Copyright has nothing to say about which legitimaely acquired software you are allowed to run on your phone. But if you have an iPhone and you want to run non-Apple software, you have to remove its locks - notionally an anti-piracy measure - to do so. And that's against the law, so you can't.

When Apple introduced iTunes, it was with the slogan "Rip, mix, burn" - take your music collection and use Apple's product to manage it all.

But if you wanted to do the same - install non-Apple apps on your iPhone for example, you'd be out of luck.

Adversarial compatibility

Whether you're talking about iTunes' Rip/Mix/Burn for your CDs, or a jailbreaking tool that lets you install third-party software on your iPhone, the same principal is at play: "adversarial compatibility."

That's when company B figures out how to work with company A's products in spite of company A's objections, overcoming any technical countermeasures introduced by company A.

Adversarial compatibility is one of the secret pivots on which technology turns. Every successful company starts out by being adversarially compatible with what's already in the market, and every company that attains success tries to stop other companies from doing the same thing to it. In other words, every pirate secretly dreams of becoming an admiral.

Without adversarial compatibility, your property could only be improved in ways that the manufacturer believed wouldn't interfere with its business. You'd never be able to fit a third-party phone case, or plug a phone charger into the lighter of your car.

There's more at stake than consumer rights, though. There are lots of modifications that the original supplier would never make possible because they just don't see any profit in it. If you want to mix paint in a Magimix, that's fine, but don't expect the company to provide paint-mixing attachments to help you with your weird bodge.

There are two groups of people who especially rely on this kind of thing: poor people - especially the global poor - and people with disabilities.

These groups of people have all sorts of needs that are unique to their situation that leads them to adapt technology for their own needs - whether that's Mohammed Osman Ali, a Somali refugee in a Ugandan refugee camp who repurposes Playstation consoles to serve as merchandise in a makeshift arcade, ruggedising the controllers to survive continuous hard use; or carers of people with dementia who cover up or glue shut unneeded and confusing buttons on TV remotes; or Brazilian hackers who localise free and open-source software so that it can be more readily used by the kids who visit the "telecentros" in the favelas of Rio

It's unlikely that the vendors who produced these goods would not agree to these uses, but if their products are designed with technical countermeasures that can't be defeated without falling afoul of the law, no one will be able to advertise a service or even post DIY instructions online without facing legal jeopardy.

Both states and industries have long recognised the value of standardisation, whether that's mains-plugs or wall-studs. No engineering firm would ever be allowed to use secretive, proprietary systems to calculate the load-stresses on your home and prohibit you from knocking out a wall without using their special RSJs.

But when it comes to commercial firms, there is an unresolvable tension between openness and closedness.

Unfortunately, lawmakers and regulators are often swayed by companies who convince them into making rules that sabotage adversarial compatibility. There's no excuse for it, really. Without the right to change your stuff in ways that the company that made it doesn't like, you are forever a prisoner to that company's whims and priorities.

Or, as the Maker Manifesto has it: "If you can't open it, you don't own it."
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Adapting gadgets to our needs is the secret pivot on which technology turns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Depending on your view, the stuff you own is either a boon to business or a tremendous loss of opportunity. For example, your collection of spice bottles in your pantry means that I could possibly sell you a spice rack.

# data[].attributes.headline
The last generation to remember life before the internet

# data[].attributes.subject
The last generation to remember life before the internet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Technology has a lot to answer for: killing old businesses, destroying the middle class, Buzzfeed. Technology in the form of the internet is especially villainous, having been accused of everything from making us dumber (paywall) to aiding dictatorships. But Michael Harris, riffing on the observations of Melvin Kranzberg, argues that "technology is neither good nor evil. The most we can say about it is this: It has come."

Harris is the author of " The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection," a new book about how technology affects society. It follows in the footsteps of Nicholas Carr, whose " The Shallows " is a modern classic of internet criticism. But Harris takes a different path from those that have come before. Instead of a broad investigation into the effects of constant connectivity on human behaviour, Harris looks at a very specific demographic: people born before 1985, or the very opposite of the "millennial" demographic coveted by advertisers and targeted by new media outlets.

These people, says Harris, are the last of a dying breed. "If you were born before 1985, then you know what life is like both with the internet and without. You are making the pilgrimage from Before to After," he writes. It is a nice conceit. Harris, like your correspondent, grew up in a very different world, one with limited channels of communication, fewer forms of entertainment, and less public scrutiny of quotidian actions or fleeting thoughts. It was neither better nor worse than the world we live in today. Like technology, it just was.

Being in this situation puts us in a privileged position."If we're the last people in history to know life before the internet, we are also the only ones who will ever speak, as it were, both languages. We are the only fluent translators of Before and After."

That means being able to notice things like the reduction of interactions to numbers, and how that translates into quantifications of human worth. "I think it has to do with this notion of online accountability. That is, noticing that you actually count seems to be related to a sense of self worth," he says over the phone from Toronto, where he is based. "So it's like if a tweet gets retweeted a couple of hundred times, that must mean that my thoughts are worthy. If my Facebook photo is 'liked,' that must mean I am good looking. One of the things that concerns me about a media diet that is overly online, is that we lose the ability to decide for ourselves what we think about who we are."

Not yet a Luddite

Harris isn't railing against these things, though. He doesn't prescribe fewer internet hours or complain much about "kids these days." Instead he acknowledges that his worries stem mainly from his anxieties about his own behavior. Like many of us, Harris checks his email on his phone first thing in the morning. "When you wake up, you have this gift of a blank brain. You could fill it with anything. But for most of us, we have this kind of panic. Instead of wondering what should I do, we wonder what did I miss. It's almost like our unconsciousness is a kind of failure and we can't believe we've been offline for eight hours," he says. It is habits like this that are insidious, not the internet itself. It is a personal thing.

Analog August

Toward the end of the book, after having investigated our penchant for online confessionals, the perils of public opinion, and technology's impact on everything from sex to memories to attention spans, Harris writes about his decision to take a month off from the internet. In the hands of a less talented writer or a shallower thinker, this might have been a bit of stunt journalism, and not a particularly original one either.

But Harris emerges unrepentant from his month in the wilds. Did he experience an epiphany? Not really. "But it's the break itself that's the thing. It's the break-that is, the questioning-that snaps us out of the spell, that can convince us that it was a spell in the first place," he writes. I asked Harris if he would recommend an "analog August" to others, as his publishers are doing to publicize the book-albeit only for a weekend rather than a whole month-with a free Penguin Classic thrown in for good measure. "A full month off is a huge luxury which I was able to take because I was writing a book. For most people, taking a month off would mean losing your job," he says.

Still, Harris says an occasional break can be helpful. "I think what you get is a richer interior light and the ability to see yourself in a critical light, living online. Because if you're in the middle of something you can never see it properly."

Most Popular

Read full story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What it feels like to be the last generation to remember life before the internet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technology has a lot to answer for: killing old businesses, destroying the middle class, Buzzfeed. Technology in the form of the internet is especially villainous, having been accused of everything from making us dumber (paywall) to aiding dictatorships. But Michael Harris, riffing on the observations of Melvin Kranzberg, argues that "technology is neither good nor evil.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Amazon said on Monday it would pay $970 million in cash for Twitch, a live video-game-streaming site with more than 55 million users that's like YouTube for video games.

As of July, Twitch had over 15 billion minutes of content, and users were spending more than 100 minutes a day on the site, on average. Twitch users can host live streams of their gaming sessions and broadcast them to the world. They can also chop up their sessions into segments for streaming later.

It's also a resource for gamers who like to show off their unique skills. For example, there's an entire community on Twitch dedicated to doing weird stuff like beating Zelda games in under 20 minutes or playing massively collaborative games of Pokemon.

Twitch is a huge part of the internet, and it accounts for nearly 2% of all traffic in the U.S. during peak hours, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Only Netflix, Google, and Apple account for more traffic. In that respect, Twitch even streams more video than Hulu.

Twitch also accounts for 40% of all live-streamed internet content, according to Business Insider Intelligence:

What's really impressive is that Twitch was able to become so big after just three years.

You can see Amazon's purchase of Twitch as a play to take over the future of TV. More and more content is being streamed online, and more and more hours of video watching are being done on sites like YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. Amazon has its own streaming video service called Amazon Instant that comes with Amazon Prime memberships. Amazon Instant includes thousands of streaming movies and TV shows, including original shows like "Alpha House."

Earlier Monday, multiple reports indicated Amazon was in late-stage talks to acquire Twitch. The news came as a big surprise because just last month it was reported that Google had agreed to acquire Twitch for about $1 billion. That deal, however, was never officially confirmed.

The Google-Twitch deal felt like a natural fit, since it would've been a good way for YouTube to expand its video offerings. Yahoo also tried to buy Twitch for $970 million, but Amazon swooped in and got it instead.

It's unclear what had caused the Google-Twitch deal to fall through, but one possible reason is over antitrust issues. Since Google already owns YouTube, the world's largest video streaming site, acquiring another massive video streaming site like Twitch could raise antitrust issues. According to Forbes, the two sides couldn't agree on the potential break up fee.

Here's the official announcement from Amazon:

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Twitch Interactive, Inc., the leading live video platform for gamers. In July, more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than 1 million broadcasters, including individual gamers, pro players, publishers, developers, media outlets, conventions and stadium-filling esports organizations.

"Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month - from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community."

"Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming," said Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. "Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world."

Twitch launched in June 2011 to focus exclusively on live video for gamers. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by Twitch's shareholders, Amazon will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Twitch for approximately $970 million in cash, as adjusted for the assumption of options and other items. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

Here's a letter from Twitch's CEO:

Dear Twitch Community,

It's almost unbelievable that slightly more than 3 years ago, Twitch didn't exist. The moment we launched, we knew we had stumbled across something special. But what followed surprised us as much as anyone else, and the impact it's had on both the community and us has been truly profound. Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance - these have made Twitch what it is today. Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us. Together with you, we've found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans. We've created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We've brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start. Today, I'm pleased to announce we've been acquired by Amazon. We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We're keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon's support we'll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch. I personally want to thank you, each and every member of the Twitch community, for what you've created. Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles. Thank you for bringing your very best to us and sharing it with the world. Thank you, from a group of gamers who never dreamed they'd get to help shape the face of the industry that we love so much. It's dangerous to go alone. On behalf of myself and everyone else at Twitch, thank you for coming with us. Emmett Shear, CEO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Amazon Buys Twitch For $970 Million In Cash

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Amazon said on Monday it would pay $970 million in cash for Twitch, a live video-game-streaming site with more than 55 million users that's like YouTube for video games. As of July, Twitch had over 15 billion minutes of content, and users were spending more than 100 minutes a day on the site, on average.

# data[].attributes.body
Prankvertising - but interesting focus on senses rather than shock and awe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#TimsDark Experiment | Tim Hortons Dark Roast Coffee

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tim Hortons surprised customers by taking away their senses and inviting them to Get into the Dark. What happens next is an experience with Tims Dark Roast that no one saw coming... Learn more: http://TimsDark.com

# data[].attributes.body
Apple blocks developers selling user health data

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Apple updated its privacy policy to prohibit the sale of user health data to advertisers, according to The Financial Times. The policy update comes just ahead of an anticipated Sept. 9 launch of the first iWatch and next-generation iPhone, which will both connect to Apple's new health tracking software dubbed HealthKit.

The Financial Times dug into the new iOS developer agreement to find new wording, including a clause that says developers may "not sell an end-user's health information collected through the HealthKit API to advertising platforms, data brokers or information resellers." Also, developers agree not to use the data they collect "for any purpose other than providing health and/or fitness services."

"HealthKit is aggregating data from what will likely be multiple sources within one location on the device," Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight, told FT. "Apple is being very careful as to how that is utilized or controlled. It's Apple tightening control on developers."

The HealthKit API is expected play a large role in the iWatch, capable of tracking heart rate, calories, blood sugar, sleep and blood oxygen levels. In addition to agreeing to the terms, Apple is also requiring HealthKit developers to include a link to a privacy policy in the app as well.

Apple has met with officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss regulatory concerns, and reports have surfaced that the company is in talks with medical record firms, insurance companies and other healthcare providers about greater integration of information into the Apple system.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Apple Blocks Developers From Selling User Health Data to Marketers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apple updated its privacy policy to prohibit the sale of user health data to advertisers, according to The Financial Times. The policy update comes just ahead of an anticipated Sept. 9 launch of the first iWatch and next-generation iPhone, which will both connect to Apple's new health tracking software dubbed HealthKit.