In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update. Users, the company said, could now enable its virtual-assistant technology, Google Assistant.

The problem: Nest users didn’t know a microphone existed on their security device to begin with.

The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard, which is the alarm, keypad, and motion-sensor component in the Nest Secure offering, was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device.

On Tuesday, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider the company had made an „error.“

Business Insider

Ohne Witz und ohne Ironie: Ich nehme Google ab, dass das ein „Fehler” war. Ich glaube nicht, dass Google geplant hatte, dieses Mikrofon ohne Einverständnis einzuschalten; es als Wanze zur Profilbildung zu verwenden.

Ich glaube aber auch, dass dieser „Fehler” uns eine viel größere Erkenntnis offenbart: Google ist das Konzept von Privatsphäre einfach schnuppe – komplett egal. weiterlesen

If you want to build a sustainable long-term business – a direct-to-consumer business – and your main product is a zero marginal cost product, you have to reframe what you’re selling and that framing is not just a marketing technique. It’s not just throwing up a slogan. It is actually going throughout your entire organization and changing sort of the way that you think about everything and the New York Times, I thought, articulate this extremely well.

I’m going to quote what they wrote: „We are, in the simplest terms, a subscription first business. Our focus on subscribers sets us apart in crucial ways for many other media organizations. We are not trying to maximize clicks and sell low margin advertising against them. We are not trying to win a page views arms race. We believe that the business strategy for the times is to provide journalism so strong, that several million people around the world are willing to pay for it.“

The messy, semi-embryonic state of AR partially explains why Apple hasn’t had an AR marketing chief until now. Last night — nearly three years after Cook began touting AR, and almost two years after Apple released ARKit — Bloomberg reported that Apple has just named Frank Casanova as its first head of AR marketing. […]

From where I stand, that sort of marketing — backed by legitimately worthwhile products — is highly necessary to reignite interest in AR at this stage. Apart from Pokémon Go, which had the benefit of a massive pre-existing fan base and Nintendo series name recognition, and free social media AR face-augmenting apps, average people don’t seem anywhere as interested in augmented reality as Tim Cook or numerous fellow technologists. There’s been no shortage of AR software announcements, such as furniture placement and virtual clothing try-on apps, but scant evidence of consumer interest.

Good marketing might change that, though Apple now has an uphill battle to reverse AR’s history of overpromising and underdelivering.

Apple plans to keep about 50% of subscription revenue from ‘Netflix for news’ service, likely won’t share customer data with publishers

Wall Street Journal

Große Publisher, so wie die New York Times oder die Washington Post, stecken nach Angaben des Wall Street Journal noch in laufenden Verhandlungen mit Apple. Es ist schon ein verdammt großer Zufall, dass die (zugegeben groteske) 50/50-Umsatzteilung gerade gestern durchgesickert ist – am Tag, an dem sich der Event-Termin zum Startschuss für diesen Service herumsprach…

Ich habe keine Ahnung, wie ernsthaft der Vorschlag über einen „50-Prozent-Cut“ tatsächlich im Raum steht, aber die Abwertung der journalistischen Produkte hat dadurch bereits stattgefunden.

Wer erinnert sich noch, was Eddy Cue bei der Übernahme von Texture damals in die Pressemeldung schrieb? „We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users. weiterlesen