Where digital meets travel + lifestyle … A collection of can’t-miss news from this week. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox every Friday.
New Year, New Facebook Leak
Ever wondered how Facebook recognizes objects and the people in your photos? This week, a new Chrome and Firefox extension revealed the labels that Facebook has assigned to your images. It’s called Show Facebook Computer Vision Tags. Adam Geitgey, the developer of the extension, thinks "a lot of internet users don't realize the amount of information that is now routinely extracted from photographs by products like Facebook and Google Photos.” With this information tech companies can figure out what you enjoy and your interests … and that is information advertisers are willing to pay a pretty penny for.
2017 Will Be All About The Bot
Google Assistant is one of the smartest bots out there. On the surface, it’s pretty similar to other bots in that you can ask it questions. But it has many more features. Currently, Google Assistant is only available for Android phones, but it will be coming to Android TV shortly. Users will be able to make commands like “ Play Home Alone,” “ Tell me about Jurassic Park,” and even, “Dim the lights.” It has been said that Google wants Assistant to have a back-story and a personality. (side note: you can actually apply to be one of the creators of the Assistant's story: job listing here). Perhaps the best part about Assistant is that it works with third party companies, such as Uber and OpenTable. Thanks for the assist, Google.
Happy Forbes Year
Over the past year, more companies and publishers started using Snapchat as a way to reach users. This year, Forbes is kicking things up a notch, sharing its well-known “30 under 30” list via a popup channel on Snapchat’s Discover feature. This will be the first time the publisher is releasing one of its major franchises on a social network ahead of its own website. Forbes seems to be rethinking how it shares content – the publisher already extensively uses other platforms such as podcasts, Facebook live video and e-newsletters and plans to use more social platforms, cutting back what they are sharing on Forbes.com.
Resolution: Get Smart, Get Outdoors
Trail riding just got a bit smarter. LeEco’s two new smart-bike models may change the way people bike, providing fitness information and directions to bikers via a four-inch touch-screen display. They run on the Android 6.0-powered BikeOS, with a quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor, and both models have horns, sensors, automatic lighting and location tracking in case it is stolen. Now that is the bike of the future!
Weekly Moment of Zen
Can we forget these terrible advertisements ever existed?
Tyler Wilcox : July 28, 2017