Welcome to our 60th edition of our Digital Digest. Below, you will find stories on Google Adwords, Oculus, Google Pixel phones as well as data tools!
Oculus in talks to bring out more affordable VR
Facebook-acquired Oculus is (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37581679 text: talking about )creating and releasing a VR experience with a considerably lower price tag in a bid to make this exciting technology more widely affordable. The company wants to see people using the software as part of their interactions with friends and family. The announcement comes amid fierce competition in the virtual reality market with Googled announced its first VR headset and Sony due to launch the PlayStation VR headset.
Google Pixel phone & Daydream VR headset
The (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37551413 text: big news) from Google this week is is the release of its new Pixel phone. As mentioned in one of our previous posts, the latest version of the search giant’s Pixel smartphone will boast a virtual assistant tool similar to Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Echo. This week the company has also unveiled their new virtual reality headset, Daydream View, which uses the Pixel to control it.
Samsung acquires Siri Team
Samsung has (link: http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13180286/samsung-viv-labs-acquisition-siri text: announced) that instead of creating a personal assistant for their smartphone, they’re acquiring the team which created Apple’s Siri. The reason being a desire to bring a team in with experience of dealing with many platforms. The company’s hope is that incorporating a more intelligent personal assistant into their gadgets and devices will give them a competitive boost. That’s yet another organisation getting into the AI market!
Google bring out new data tool
Google has announced a new data tool called(link: http://searchengineland.com/google-data-studio-258871 text: Google Data Studio), which allows you to create reports using a combination of all of the current data tools Google has including Analytics, Sheets and Big Query. The branded reports that you can create enable is a great help to us when it comes to reporting to clients in a way that is easily read and understood. Currently the Data Studio is part of the Analytics Premium tool although if you do use the free version you can access a limited version. The tool is currently only available within a few countries with a full roll-out expected later this year.
Google Adwords introduces Audience Targeting
With Adwords updates progressing faster than SEO for example, Google has (link: http://marketingland.com/whats-new-cool-google-smx-east-2016-193155 text: announced a feature) which looks set to revolutionise PPC advertising. The big development – Audience Targeting – a feature which helps advertisers target their ads to specific audience demographics including age, gender and income.
Adwords enables people to bid via Device
As well as letting advertisers target ads via audience, Google has also announced that they will be enabling them to bid via (link: http://marketingland.com/whats-new-cool-google-smx-east-2016-193155 text: separate device types). This means that advertisers can bid by mobile, tablet and desktop instead of altogether. This will make it easier for bidders to adjust bids separately for the different device type according to how well the bids have performed.
Join us next week for more digital news!