Weekly Digest of Must-Read Articles (16.08)

Every week we spend hours browsing through a variety of articles to choose the 10 most interesting pieces you can’t miss on any occasion. This week you’ll find out whether the future can be private in the era of AI, silicon will become the backbone of the new tech industry, why most of the brainstorms are not effective and how to boost your digital signage content with David Ogilvy’s rules. Read all of this and more in our new weekly digest of 10 articles we’d like you to like.

People Are Starting to Realize How Voice Assistants Actually Work. – The Atlantic

“Among tech companies, hiring humans to review clips of conversations between devices and their users is routine. Apple tasked contractors with transcribing audio clips Siri overheard, then ended the program earlier this month after it became public. Microsoft contractors transcribed users’ out-loud interactions with Skype Translate. Google contractors transcribed commands spoken to Google Assistant. Amazon contractors transcribed the demands users made of Alexa.” Read the article.

I Shared My Phone Number. I Learned I Shouldn’t Have. – The New York Times

“Our mobile phone numbers have become permanently attached to us because we rarely change them, porting them from job to job and place to place. In fact, your phone number may have now become an even stronger identifier than your full name.

A security researcher at Fyde quickly plugged my cellphone number into a public records directory. Soon, he had a full dossier on me – including my name and birth date, my address, the property taxes I pay and the names of members of my family.” Read the article. 

The Renaissance of Silicon Will Create Industry Giants. – TechCrunch

“More and more, storage and computing are being done at the edge; that means, closer to where our devices need them. These include things like the facial recognition software in our doorbells or in-cloud gaming that’s rendered on our VR goggles. Edge computing allows these and other processes to happen within 10 milliseconds or less, which makes them more work for end users.” Read the article. 

Don’t Burn Trees to Fight Climate Change – Let Them Grow. – The New Yorker

“As concern about climate change rose during the nineteen-nineties, back when solar power, for instance, cost ten times what it does now, people casting about for alternatives to fossil fuels looked to trees. Trees, of course, are carbon – when you burn them you release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But the logic went like this: if you cut down a tree, another will grow in its place. And, as that tree grows, it will suck up carbon from the atmosphere – so, in carbon terms, it should be a wash.” Read the article.

Welcome to the Empire State’s New Media Galleries. – AV Magazine

“London and New York-based creative digital studio Squint/Opera has announced the official opening of Phase Two of the Empire State Building’s reimagined top-to-bottom Observatory Experience. A core contributor within a team of interdisciplinary professionals responsible for the new galleries at the Empire State Building – including design agency Thinc and creative audio studio Antfood – Squint/Opera created all digital elements within the exhibits across more than 10,000 square feet of interior space on the second floor.” Read the article.

UK #OOH Reports Strong Growth of +9.4% in Q2, 2019. – DailyDOOH

“Outsmart, the trade body for the UK Out of Home industry, has announced that Out of Home revenue reported for the quarter April to June 2019 saw the total market grow by +9.4% year-on-year from GBP 284 million in Q2 2018 to GBP 310 million in Q2 2019.” Read the article.

13 Timeless Lessons From the Father of Advertising. – Copyblogger

“David Ogilvy was one of the pioneers of information-rich, “soft sell” ads that didn’t insult the intelligence of the prospect. Ogilvy’s successful advertising campaigns demonstrate how to persuade prospects, influence readers, and create memorable, evergreen content. But “The Father of Advertising” also has plenty to teach us about productivity, branding, research, and ambition.” Read the article.

Why Most Brainstorms Don't Work. – Dropbox

“David Osborn’s brainstorming principles will sound familiar to most modern workers, and they’ve held strong for more than 70 years. First, go for a high quantity of ideas—worry less about quality. Second, withhold criticism. Third, embrace wild ideas. Fourth, look for opportunities to combine or mix ideas.

When done with the right group in the right setting, a brainstorm can create a lively, motivating atmosphere, where a modest group can produce hundreds of ideas in the space of 30 minutes. Osborn went on to write two more books on creativity, and to further promote brainstorming as the best method for generating ideas.

There was just one problem. Osborn was wrong.” Read the article.

Youtube Is Changing How Some Copyright Claims Work, and It Could Result in ‘More Blocked Content.’ – The Verge

“YouTube’s hope is that, by removing the ability to make money off of these tiny snippets or accidental clips, record labels will spend less time searching them out and instead just choose to leave creators alone. The trouble is, there’s no guarantee that’s what’ll happen. Record labels could keep up the pressure, but choose to block the videos entirely.

Based on a blog post written by YouTube, that heightened reaction is what the company seems to expect will happen right off the bat, as labels adjust to the new policy. “We acknowledge that these changes may result in more blocked content in the near-term, but we feel this is an important step toward striking the right balance over the long-term,” the company wrote.” Read the article.

The Hazards of Writing While Female. – The Atlantic

“There is anecdotal evidence that gender affects every step of the publishing process. In 2015, Catherine Nichols submitted proposals for a novel to agents and publishers under both her own name and a “homme de plume.” Her male alter ego, George, received far more interest: His manuscript was requested 17 times, compared with two for hers.” Read the article.