Welcome to another edition of our Dreamers Digital Digest. This week, we’ll be covering stories about Twitter, British Airways, Slack, Google and the person who everyone’s talking about a the moment, Donald Trump.
BA to offer Wi-Fi on short haul flights
British Airways has (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37848554 text: announced) that they will be offering Wi-Fi internet access on short haul flights from 2017. This move comes from competitors offering Wi-Fi options on a number of long haul flights across the world. There has been no word on whether the Wi-Fi will be free of charge and if it will be working well just yet, but the addition is sure to make flights more bearable no matter how long it is.
Twitter gets rid of Vine
Twitter has (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37788052 text: announced the closure) of its video sharing app, Vine. After four years after its conception, the site has faced a number of competition from the likes of Instagram videos and Snapchat causing user numbers and popularity to fall. Sources confirmed that Vines would not be deleted without permission and there would be opportunities for Vine users to download any content they may have. With the face paced world of social media, the shut-down is not necessarily a surprise.
Shop with Instagram
It’s no secret that mobiles and smartphones has changed the way people shop. You can see this from the amount of mobile visits and revenues compared to the number coming from desktop. With this information, (link: http://blog.business.instagram.com/post/152598788716/shopping-coming-to-instagram text: Instagram have announced) that they are bringing shopping to the ever-used app. Brands will be able to feature products on their posts which will then be made available to buy by Instagram then taking customers through to the brands website. With testing occurring over the next few weeks, it’s safe to say that the transition will be a slow one to help ease users into buying products on the app.
Slack vs Microsoft Teams
We previously covered news that Microsoft has brought out a new business chat feature to rival Slack. With the new Microsoft feature to be unveiled imminently, Slack has (link: http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13497766/slack-microsoft-teams-new-york-times-ad text: revealed a full page letter) in the New York Times welcoming Microsoft with some friendly advice. Whilst they gesture may be innocent, it looks like Slack are being very sore losers in terms of what they actually say in the note. With mentions of how they are here to stay, the competition between both tools will be hotting up over the coming months.
Mobile and Desktop traffic: who’s winning?
With all of us predicting a time where mobile search will surpass desktop, the (link: http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-has-blown-past-search-to-become-the-leading-ad-format-in-the-us-2016-11?IR=T text: time has finally come). Figures show that in the US, mobile advertising climbed up to 47% compared to 30% during the first half of the year. Figures also showed that desktop was down 10% with just 27% of digital revenue. With more and more people using mobile and the convenience of having a smartphone, the figures are bound to get higher and higher.
“The Donald” acquires a number of self derogatory domains
The latest story in the Presidential Elections, comes from Donald Trump (link: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/trump-master-domains-bash-43208525 text: buying a number of domains) and web addresses to alleviate his critics and rivals from owning them. With reports of Trump and his organisation buying around 3600 domains ranging from “(link: http://www.donaldtrumpsucks.com text: www.donaldtrumpsucks.com)” to even domains mentioning his daughter Ivanka, Donald is taking measures to stop criticisms from all angles. Compared to Donald’s 3600, Hillary Clinton is thought to have purchased around 214 domains.
UK gov to spend nearly £2bn on Cyber Security
With cyber-attacks making the news around the world recently, the UK Government has (link: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/11/cyber-attacks-uk-vows-1-9-billion-cyber-security-strategy/ text: announced) its plans to spend £1.9bn to help combat any threats of cyber-attacks in the country. With recent research declaring that the UK is particular susceptible to these attacks, the movement comes to ensure Britain is acknowledge as a global leader in cyber security.
Google to combine Double Click
With DoubleClick being acquired by Google back in 2007, there were concerns over the privacy of people who use Google Products. With (link: https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-dropped-ban-on-personally-identifiable-web-tracking text: Google coming out) and saying that privacy would be on the forefront of their minds, they kept both databases separate for nearly 10 years until now. Google have now come out, albeit silently, and said that browsing data may be combined with what they learn from tools such as Gmail. The effects of this, which is an ‘opt in’ feature, is that DoubleClick ads can now follow people on the web and be customised based on names and other information that Google may know.
That’s it for this week, join us again next week to digest some more digital news!