Your weekly round-up of the latest digital marketing and tech news. This week: Milton Keynes gets the UK’s first driverless car, everyone wants to be Snapchat, and the spontaneously-combusting Samsungs.
Driverless cars take to the road
(link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37618574 text: The first driverless cars in the UK have been tested) on the roads, or rather the pavements, of Milton Keynes. The driverless “pods”, powered by software developed at Oxford University, navigated a 1 kilometre route around the town’s railway station, with a safety driver on hand in case of emergencies. It’s anticipated that a 40 pod fleet will be rolled out for the public to use as early as next year.
Samsung Note 7 recalled after spontaneous combustion
Samsung is facing yet another catastrophe after being forced to (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37630605 text: recall its Note 7 smartphone) for a second time due to them combusting. The advice from Samsung was to “stop using your device, back up your data and switch it off”, with the company sending out fire proof boxes so that customers can return them safely. Though linked to the battery, the true cause of the fires is as yet unknown. This would seem to signal the end of Samsung’s challenge to the iPhone throne for the time being.
Instagram Stories hits 100 million daily users
Despite much scepticism at its launch, two months down the line and hot on the heels of rival Snapchat, (link: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/06/instagram-stories-has-100-million-daily-active-users-after-just-2-months/ text: Instagram Stories has just hit 100 million daily active users). Instagram as a platform has a total of 500 million monthly active users, already halfway there to catching up Facebook Messenger’s 1 billion monthly active users.
Operation ‘WhatsnApp’ continues
It seems Whatapp is at it too as it tries to (link: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/03/whatsnap/ text: copy and sell Snapchat’s best features) to audiences who haven’t really experienced Snapchat yet (inhabitants of Mars?). WhatsApp users now have the option to add text (in multiple colours and fonts), drawings and emoji to images and video messages. Their incorporation of a Snapchat-like front-facing flash feature has led some commentators to begin to refer to it as ‘WhatsnApp’.
YouTube offers new paid promotion text option for creators
Following a long and well-documented crack down on disclosure of paid content, (youtube: https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2016/10/a-new-optional-feature-for-paid.html text: YouTube has created a new feature) which makes it easier than ever for creators to declare when they have been paid to create content. They now have the option to add text to videos for the first few seconds. Text can also be added to existing videos without affecting view counts or other metrics.
Oculus demos new VR friends hangout opportunities
This week a (link: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/06/facebook-social-vr/ text: new Oculus feature) has been unveiled that lets you hang out with friends (in avatar form) in virtual/augmented reality. Using Oculus touch controllers users can express emotions, select real-world scenes in the form of 360 photos, and ‘meet’ their friends there to play a range of games. If this catches on there look set to be countless exciting opportunities for brands.
Facebook launches Marketplace
Whilst buying and selling on Facebook is nothing new (it’s estimated over 450 million do it currently), Facebook has made it official with the launch of (link: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/03/facebook-marketplace-2/ text: Marketplace) – an in-app tab dedicated to peer-to-peer shopping that will highlight items deemed relevant to and nearby to users. Currently available on mobile in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, it’s likely to be rolled-out globally if successful. It could extend to ‘pages’ or businesses in the future too.
Twitter bot makes light work of the moral high ground
Arguing with people on Twitter can take up a lot of time and energy. So someone had the brilliant idea to create a (link: http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/10/13/hilarious-genius-has-built-twitter-bot-tricks-idiots-arguing-it-hours text: Twitter bot) that tricks people into arguing with it, doing all of the hard work for us. Baiting the ultra-right, to date the bot’s seen someone try to sexually harass and argue with it for a whole ten hours.
Ingenious use for new £5 note
Stylus broken on your record player? No bother. Just whip out one of the shiny new £5 notes. Thanks to being made from polymer – a type of plastic – the new fiver is able to transmit note-perfect sounds to your speakers. (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37630555/how-the-new-five-pound-note-plays-vinyl-records text: Have a listen)…
No tea in WiFi
Take pity on the poor man who spent 11 hours trying to make a cuppa using his new (link: https://www.rt.com/viral/362570-briton-wifi-kettle-tea/ text: WiFi kettle). Live tweeting the whole ordeal, he had to resort to boiling water in a pan while he worked on calibrating his new piece of kitchen tech. Then when it finally worked, it turned the lights off…