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Disney + and the Rise of The Self Marketer

I've been following Disney's pursuit of their own streaming service and the process they've undertaken to get there. For starters they signaled their intention and then acquired the infrastructure of MLB's streaming group. That was a key and very schrewed move, as the MLB infrasructure was already supporting other companies, like WWE, and was a proven, battle tested and state of the art network. It also brought with it relationships and talent that understood how to stream and scale.

Next they signaled again, telling the market that properties of theirs in the Marvel family would be coming to Disney+.  This was less about taking the content away from rival Netflix than it was the first step in how the streaming service would be where the best Disney content could be found when it launches. And then yesterday Disney indicated that as soon as the theatrical release obligations of their cinematic efforts were up, they would immediately become available on Disney+ which is lining up massive distribution from the start.

Well, reading between the lines, the battle lines are being drawn but that's not as important as what Disney is doing with Disney+. It's about you, the viewer, and how you interact with Disney, the brand. Up until Disney+ once a video asset left Disney and was aired on a network, shown in a theatre, or offered as a DVD, that asset, much like what the wine and spirits industry understands too well, is that the customer wasn't known.  With Disney+ it's all about the data, and you the customer.

By adding data to the mix, Disney knows who has children watching what. That makes it easy to work with their licensed products team to decide what to market to whom. For their theme parks efforts, Disney+ data crossed with other cookie data they have access to means offers and sales. The list of opportunities goes on and on.

When you add it all up, Disney has done with Disney+ what they have done with the theme park business. Acquire infrastructure (land now technology), engage with the market via distribution (travel agents, airlines and hotels now set top boxes), put together the content (the rides, experiences now video elements). 

Now that Disney will have the data, which connects you to them even more closely, Disney is poised to become the biggest self marketer since Amazon....now that's Imagineering...

The CES Ramp Up

If you're a techie, a gadgeteer or an electronics junkie or simply someone who enjoys entertainment gear, CES is where the action is every January. It starts next week, and already, the ramp up is happening.

So next week, as the publicity machines crank up there will be lots of news surrounding what some will call "the next big thing," but in reality, it's not what's on the floor that's big. It's CES that is the "big thing" as it takes over the entire city of Las Vegas. It's where every brand fights for attention and where every attendee fights for a cab ride.

Already, rumors are floating around about this being the big show for Google (I disagree as I/O, and Next are where Google shows off). Apple never really does anything at CES except walk the floors, and Amazon, which has Re: Invent every November only needs to be there to support licensees. 

The mother of all trade shows is for the mega brands and the want to be brands to generate "heat" around their newest products. That's why CES has morphed into so much more than just "consumer electronics" and is why FoodTech, SportsTech, AutoTech, GreenTech, SeniorTech and BizTech are all there. CES creates new markets, builds awareness and is where the exhibiting companies are selling in.

And CES is about just that. SELLING IN. It is not about selling through. CES is where new products are seen, where meetings are held and where orders get written.

In many cases, the hype around the new products is so early that consumers salivate for the next big thing. It used to be TV and Stereo gear, but now it's about smart devices, smart homes, smart kitchen appliances-seriously, does anyone want dumb anything? 

This year marks the third year I'm skipping CES because, in this era of instant journalism, you can know all that's going on in more places more quickly by just using Google.

And that's why for Google, CES is really a big deal.

Why the WWE is A Telescope, Not a Microscope

I grew up watching WWWF wrestling when Vince McMahon was the broadcaster. Actually, even before that. I would stay up late to watch Florida Championship Wrestling with Gordon Solie. The same with Georgia Championship Wrestling, even the AWA when Thunderlips pre-dated the creation of Hulk Hogan. In the 80's was at the Spectrum in the media conference for the first promotional tour for Wrestlemania and in the late 70's I interviewed Bruno Sammartino for the Philadelphia Journal (well promoter Phil Zacko did most of the talking). I'm also a music junkie and what is going on with the WWE and music plus their talent roster is all part of a bigger play. 

 

The idea of a campaign is typical to marketing. It starts with a hint. A tease. It grows. And grows. What the WWE and Rousey's managers are doing, are building more than just one person.  Wrestling has always been a soap opera. Stories within stories. Themes within themes. As a student of advertising I love a great campaign and seeing all the nuances that the public takes for granted. This is one of them.

 

The WWE has done a masterful job at reviving the song "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett. They are doing it with "Rowdy" Rhonda Rousey, a former MMA champ, but also with the whole women's movement surrounding the Divas, what they did in the UAE last summer and with their upcoming all women's pay per view. That means some music supervisor came up with a few songs that could be the core of the campaign. Hats off to that person. Then a creative director and team built upon it. Mastery on so many levels.

 

 

 

This is a campaign around a campaign, carefully crafted to broaden their audience at a time where the "Me Too" movement is alive and growing. While I have no doubt that at some point the same thing went on in the WWE, that's ages ago and from a different era. As someone who grew up in sports and entertainment, that was part of the game off the playing field. It wasn't right then, it was just how it was.

 

 

But today, with youthful stars like Rousey, Charlotte Flair and others who are now competing on par with the likes of the top male wrestlers, the WWE, their close confidants in the world of Hollywood agentry are shaping things the way the big 4 networks have not even come close to. The same can be said about the NHL, NFL and MLB, while the NBA at least has the WNBA. You don't see the NHL glorifying women's hockey, yet it's an Olympic sport. The NCAA has the women's hockey championships. So while we all know wrestling is reality TV at it's finest, and live reality in the arenas, it has surpassed the rest of the groups at moving in the direction of giving women their place, "bad reputation" or not.

 

 

 

 

 

The Comunicano for Wednesday February 22 2017

FEBRUARY 22 - ISSUE #28     UPS, like Amazon, is fascinated with what flying drones can do for their business. For normally silent UPS, their efforts with drones seem to be “taking off” in Florida the way Uber is testing driverless cars in Arizona. We lift off today with three items about UPS and their lofty ideas surrounding drones….those stories and a lot, lot more are all in today’s COMUNICANO. UPS tests drone deliveries, eyes future price changes WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share   UPS Tests Residential Delivery Via Drone Launched From atop Package Car PRESSROOM.UPS.COM – Share UPS works with truck-launched drone-maker Workhorse Group in latest test   Test demonstrates potential efficiencies drones can provide on rural delivery routes Unlike previous drone tests, UPS/Workhorse test incorporates drone delivery into day-to-day delivery operations   SportsTech Watch Exclusive: Facebook in talks to live stream one MLB game per week - sources WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share Facebook Inc (FB.O) is in talks with Major League Baseball to live stream one game per week during the upcoming season, which could be a key win as the social media platform works to offer more live sports, according to two people familiar with the situation. Amazon Watch Move over, Amazon: Here comes Walmart MONEY.CNN.COM – Share Walmart reported surprisingly strong growth in its e-commerce operations, thanks to its recent purchase of Jet and online grocery sales. Amazon plans to sell beer and wine at its new high-tech convenience store WWW.RECODE.NET – Share The Amazon Go store in Seattle also carries sandwiches, salads and snacks. Wireless Watch Verizon offers taste of 5G as it expands network trials WWW.CNET.COM – Share The company plans to offer 5G to some customers in 11 cities by midyear. It’s not full mobile wireless. Instead it’s a replacement for fixed broadband. Some subscribers of Project Fi are getting access to VoLTE on T-Mobile's network WWW.PHONEARENA.COM – Share Although it’s no longer a spring chicken, Project Fi is continuing to get updated with new features. The latest one? Official support for VoLTE calls… Odds & Ends Israeli glass tech can help car windows show ads WWW.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM – Share Startup Gauzy and Germany’s Daimler display film that allows projection of messages on windows while vehicles are parked An AI Hedge Fund Created a New Currency to Make Wall Street Work Like Open Source WWW.WIRED.COM – Share Wall Street is a Darwinian battle for the almighty dollar. But Richard Craib thinks his AI-powered hedge fund will soar if everyone can just get along. Apple has kept Steve Jobs promises with its new HQ WWW.COMPUTERWORLD.COM – Share Apple will open its new San Jose HQ just in time for WWDC 2017 Do you enjoy receiving this? Please share it:     Tweet     Share   Carefully curated by Andy Abramson with Revue If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.

The Comunicano Communique for Wednesday April 13th, 2016

The Comunicano Communique

This week is best viewed as Facebook's Week. With their F8 conference they are setting things up for their next few years of growth. This basically means now that they have attracted enough of us to be regular "users" and we're "hooked" it's really time to make money. The two big themes coming out of the event are API's to work with Facebook and Live Video.  Thus Facebook is really going after the ability to be present in your life all the time. The series of stories below are a nice primer, so I encourage you to look at what they are up to and draw your own conclusions so needless to say, "the Times, they are a changing. So read today's Comunicano Communique and get into the news. Yesterday on Business Rockstars with Ken Rutkowski, we talked about the cool apps, sites and tools to make you a better entrepreneur. The three you can watch from yesterday were: FastLane - gets you an Uber from your Mac. Teleport - Uber for Groups. You book. They ride. You pay. WeLive - WeWork For Living spaces. In NYC and D.C. now... By the way, don't miss the API event of the summer in Las Vegas. "All About The API"......     Technology to Connect the World: F8 Day One Roundup F8 2016 kicked off today, with a packed house of more than 2,600 people and hundreds of thousands of people watching via Facebook Live. Mark Zuckerberg kicked the conference off with a keynote detailing Facebook's 10-year technology roadmap, and the ways those technologies will help bring people together and give everyone a voice.     [continue...]     Facebook Bets on a Bot Resurgence, Chattier Than Ever To browse for a pair of brown loafers on Facebook Messenger, you can now text a message to the service to begin a conversation with the mobile shopping start-up Spring. Spring will ask you for a preferred price range for the shoes and show a smattering of what it thinks you might like.     [continue...]     Live, local, late breaking: On Facebook Live, news outlets take a cue from TV (but don't call it TV) Around 5 p.m. on April 1, everyone in our little office crowded around my desk, watching a live video of baby goats roaming inside BuzzFeed Motion Pictures president Ze Frank's office - a prank by staffers for his birthday. Would Frank be angry? Would the goats escape?? Would chaos ensue?!     [continue...]     Facebook Opens Up Live Streaming API to Allow Streaming from Any Device Facebook just took video streaming on its Live platform beyond the mobile phone: CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced during his keynote at the company's f8 developer conference in San Francisco Wednesday that it is making its Live API publicly available. This will allow developers to integrate live streaming into third-party apps and devices.     [continue...]     This is the first official camera for Facebook's Live Video: the Mevo Facebook has made a huge push into live broadcasting recently, including putting a new video discovery hub right in the center of its app. And now Facebook has its first official hardware partner for live video, and it's a nifty camera from industry pioneer Livestream.     [continue...]     Facebook launches "Agents On Messenger" platform with chatbots Facebook will now allow businesses to deliver automated customer support, ecommerce guidance, content, and interactive experience through "Agents on Messenger", Facebook's term for chatbots.     [continue...]     Inside Microsoft's build-a-bot strategy | ZDNet Tomorrow, Facebook is expected to roll out new bot-related programming interfaces and possibly new chatbots of its own at its F8 developer conference. Microsoft recently used its own Build developer event to talk up our bot-centric future. In the couple of weeks since then, I've been watching recorded Build bot sessions and following various links to understand more about Microsoft's approach.     [continue...]     Find time for your goals with Google Calendar Whether it's reading more books, learning a new language or working out regularly, achieving your goals can be really hard. One day it's "I got called into a last-minute meeting." The next day it's "I have a friend in town." And before you know it, your goals are delayed or forgotten.     [continue...]     Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers just went on strike NEW YORK - About 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning after little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly eight months ago.     [continue...]     How to Find the Customers Who Need Your Product Aspiring founders who think they've developed an amazing offering often believe that their product will sell themselves. While there are occasional instances of unique apps, software, hardware, and services that were so valuable that they instantly made their founders famous, this is rarely the case.     [continue...]     Building more accessible technology Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population will have a disability during their lifetime, which can make it hard for them to access and interact with technology, and limits the opportunity that technology can bring.     [continue...]

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The Comunicano Communique for Friday April 8th 2016

The Comunicano Communique

Good Morning. It's Friday and it's been a busy week. Our big client news was YipTV joining T-Mobile's BingeOn. For the New Jersey based company this is a major milestone and likely a harbinger of things to come......The news cycle this week has also been fast and furious as next week tax day looms on April 15th, so it "usually" slows down. We'll see. What company is hot? Facebook. Why? Start with pal Stephan Rust's blog post from last Thursday and then read the following few stories about the social network giant and I think you'll agree that we all can begin to drop "social" from the description of Facebook. They are really cresting into an all everything company. Then there's the "let's buy Yahoo" news. I bet shareholders are wishing they took Steve Ballmer's offer a few years ago now.....What is it about Pigs and Hogs? Of courseencrypted communications remains in the news. What'sApp did it this week (read what the EFF has to say). Signal is available to more now via the desktop (as announced on their blog). The Amazon Echo remains the hottest product on the market ,and as I have all three, I can say that first hand, having been a user and raving fan since the Beta over a year ago. Talk about a daily experience changer, the Echo is just that, all of which rolls nicely into the talk about Bots...yes Bots. Not Bats.. There's all that and more in today's Comunicano Communique, so grab your coffee mug, tea or chai and get on with the news. By the way, don't miss the API event of the summer in Las Vegas. "All About The API"......     Facebook leading the way in Mobile disruption After digesting some of the insights from Barcelona during Mobile World Congress, it's becoming more and more apparent that Facebook, not Apple or Google, nor Ericsson or Cisco, and especially not Vodafone or China Mobile, is leading change in mobile.     [continue...]     Facebook Messenger now lets you start a chat by scanning profile codes Becoming friends with someone on Facebook Messenger just became a lot easier. In a new update that started to roll out Thursday, Facebook's chat app now has Messenger Codes - circular patterns around a user's profile photo, which can be scanned to start a chat with that person.     [continue...]     Facebook Messenger may soon have more bots Facebook Messenger will soon have more bots. According to a leaked slide deck, the company will announce a bot platform for its chat service at next week's F8 conference. According to TechCrunch, Facebook is seeding APIs to developers that allow them to build bots for Messenger and Web plugins for Live Chat.     [continue...]     When do bots beat apps? When context and convenience matter most     There's a question I've been asking founders when they pitch me their bots: "Why is this a bot and not an app or a website?" I've been fascinated by the explosion of developer interest and startup activity around chatbots and am pretty bullish on their potential as both a user and an investor, but it's important to take a step back and think about why we're all so focused on conversational interfaces.     [continue...]     Video game Olympics announced for Rio A new eGames international gaming tournament will make its debut in Rio during this summer's Olympic Games. The event, launched as part of this week's London Games Festival, offers medals and national pride rather than cash prizes for the winners. The competition, backed by the UK government, will be run by the new International eGames Committee (IEGC).     [continue...]     Verizon to Proceed With Yahoo Bid, Google Weighs Offer Verizon Communications Inc. plans to make a first-round bid for Yahoo Inc.'s Web business next week, and is willing to acquire the company's Yahoo Japan Corp. stake to help sweeten the offer, according to people familiar with the matter. Google, the main division of Alphabet Inc., is also considering bidding for Yahoo's core business, a separate person said.     [continue...]     Is That Email Really From Your CEO? The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week warned about a "dramatic" increase in so-called "CEO fraud," e-mail scams in which the attacker spoofs a message from the boss and tricks someone at the organization into wiring funds to the fraudsters.     [continue...]     Taking Alexa for a ride Alexa, the ever-present voice control assistant living inside Amazon's Echo, Echo Dot and Tap products, has been a useful addition to the CNET Smart Home -- our spot in the Kentucky countryside for testing out all sorts of connected gadgets and gizmos (the Echo, Echo Dot and Tap included).     [continue...]     Amazon expands free same-day delivery to 11 mid-sized cities, increases coverage in existing metro markets - GeekWire Amazon continues to increase the value of its Prime membership, this time expanding its network of free same-day delivery options for members. The retail giant announced today that same-day delivery options are available to Prime members in 11 new cities, bringing the service's footprint up to nearly 30 metro areas across the U.S.     [continue...]     Reddit launches official iOS and Android apps Remember when, in October 2014, Reddit bought the unofficial Reddit mobile app Alien Blue? Even though the app was quickly relaunched, that was the first step towards Reddit launching its own official apps. That moment has finally arrived. On Thursday, the official Reddit apps landed on Android and iOS (iPhone only).     [continue...]     Now's your chance to try Signal's desktop Chrome app The desktop version of Edward Snowden's favored end-to-end messaging system, Signal, is now available to anyone who wants to check it out. Open Whisper Systems announced the desktop version back in December, but until today it was invite-only.     [continue...]     Tesla Proclaims Early Model 3 Demand A Victory For EVs A week after the Model 3 unveiling, and Tesla is in the endzone doing a touchdown dance. A blog entry on the official Tesla blog boldly states that this past week was "The Week that Electric Vehicles Went Mainstream." Elon also couldn't contain himself and let the good news from the summary of reservations for the week overflow onto Twitter.     [continue...]     Most Airbnb hosts flout SF laws, city report says More than a quarter of San Francisco homes listed as vacation getaways on Airbnb violate the city's 90-day annual limit on such rentals, while the vast majority of Airbnb hosts have yet to register their properties, flouting a law enacted last year, according to a report released late Thursday by the San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst's Office.     [continue...]     YipTV Joins 'Binge On' Mix YipTV said it has joined Binge On, T-Mobile's controversial optional service that delivers mobile video in 480p resolution and zero-rates the streams of its growing list of OTT partners. YipTV is a no-contract OTT-TV offering launched last May that's focused on Spanish-language video and features plans from more than 100 international and domestic live TV channels.     [continue...]     YipTV, Dailymotion, others bulk up T-Mobile's Binge On streaming ... International-focused streaming service YipTV and OTT provider Dailymotion are among a block of over-the-top providers and TV networks that have signed on to T-Mobile's ( NYSE:TMUS) streaming service, Binge On, setting a challenge to its primary mobile-first video streaming challenger, Verizon's ( NYSE: VZ) Go90 service.     [continue...]     StubHub Will Use Virtual Reality to Let You Preview Your Seat Like many companies, eBay is convinced virtual reality is the next big thing. But also like a lot of companies, eBay is trying to figure out just what that means for its business. On Thursday, the company is announcing its first small foray into the VR arena, as subsidiary StubHub offers Final Four ticket buyers the option to get an immersive, 3-D view of available seats.     [continue...]     Regis McKenna's 1976 Notebook And The Invention Of Apple Computer, Inc. At first blush, it appears to be an utterly unexceptional spiral-bound notebook. Manufactured in the U.S. by the National Blank Book Company of Holyoke, Massachusetts, it's got a light green cover and 80 sheets of narrow-ruled 8-by-10-inch paper. The first sign that its contents might matter is a request haphazardly rubber-stamped on the front: "RETURN TO REGIS McKENNA HIMSELF."     [continue...]     The Hidden Economics of Porn A gender-studies professor explains how the industry works.     [continue...]     Andy's App of the Week - SENDERS Back in the day, Rapportive was a great go to app to discover more about the person you were engaged in an email conversation. Then it was acquired by LinkedIn and its usefulness waned. Fortunately a new service has come out and it's awesome. I'm referring to Senders, which I talked about on Thursday's BusinessRockstars. Senders does for social and contact information what USA Today's bite size round-up stories did to the news. Makes it easy to know all you need to about someone in one place with their LinkedIn, Twitter, About, Angels List data and a quick search on Google all baked in. Senders is still in beta, so expect a bug here or there, but after a day of using it, I can't live without it.

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The Comunicano Communique for Thursday March 31st 2016

The Comunicano Communique

Good Morning. It's Thursday and as I wrote earlier in the week, the NEWS is happening. Today there is more than double the usual number of news stories you'll receive, with 18, and also far less feature content.....so grab the coffee and get ready to read. In technology we'll go well beyond the FBI iPhone Hack and all the news surrounding that, much of which is more speculation than fact. The tech news is from the usual and some unusual suspects. Microsoft with their Build 2016 Conference is dominating the tech press with stories surrounding their Hololens, API's, Bots, Cortana, their new Edge browser and how it deals with Ad blocking, Skype and more. To parry Microsoft's news a bit, Google is coming out with news about their efforts in Virtual Reality, with an update on their cardboard viewer with 360 degree viewing. Then there's news on Tesla's new car debut and how the tax credits for buying one may not last... Of course Apple has well timed news around their Major League Baseball sponsorship all based upon the iPad going in the dugout and getting mentioned on air.  There's more news about their "New" iPhone, the SE with a strong review leading the way for that and the better way to charge iPad Pro 12 inchers... Oh, and Uber announces how they are improving customer service by moving it into the app which makes things easier and also lets the world know how they have expanded what they are doing with Hilton. In the world of "what's old is new again", we have AOL's Tim Armstrong, who is now working for Verizon, with access to their war chest, going on record on wanting to buy Yahoo which some may remember used to power the telcos DSL, now he wants to power their ad network with their platform.  There's all that and more in today's Comunicano Communique. By the way, don't miss the API event of the summer in Las Vegas. "All About The API"......     BUILD 2016: Microsoft talks Cortana, Skype, bots, and intelligence APIs On March 30th, during the BUILD 2016 keynote presentation, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about "Conversations as a platform." That means conversations between two or more people, between people and digital assistants, and between people and bots, which are intelligent applications that humans can converse with.     [continue...]     Microsoft launches HoloLens emulator so developers can test holographic apps, no headset required As promised, Microsoft today started shipping its $3,000 HoloLens development kits. In addition to sharing that bots are coming to the new platform, the company also released a HoloLens emulator, which lets developers test holographic apps on their PC without the need for a physical HoloLens.     [continue...]     HoloLens, A Year Later: A New Demo At Build 2016 A year ago at Build 2015, we got our first demo of Microsoft's HoloLens. At this year's event, we got a second crack at seeing the augmented reality device in action, and it was a completely different experience. Or, we should say, Microsoft took a completely different approach.     [continue...]     Microsoft plans to build ad blocker into its Microsoft Edge browser | ZDNet One of Microsoft's biggest gambles in Windows 10 is its decision to turn Internet Explorer into a legacy product, primarily for enterprise customers. Its replacement, Microsoft Edge, has been developing slowly since its version 1.0 release with the first release of Windows 10.     [continue...]     Skype is getting Cortana and crazy bot messaging You'll soon be able to use Skype to books trips, shop, and plan your schedule, just by chatting with Cortana. During its Build conference, Microsoft demoed how Skype users will soon be able to start a chat with Cortana and get things done just by having a conversation.     [continue...]     Google makes it really easy to embed 360-degree VR experiences You've tried out Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR, you've seen those nifty virtual reality experiences, and now you want to create your own and put it on your website. Well, Google just made that a pretty simple task.     [continue...]     Google tackles simple 360 content embeds with VR View, introduces Cardboard SDK for iOS Virtual reality is great for gaming and movies, but when it comes to real-world use cases there's still quite a bit of room for VR to prove itself. Google is hoping to kickstart this process by making 360 VR content a bit more simple to implement and, in the process, way more spontaneous for users to discover and view.     [continue...]     AT&T moving away from Social Security numbers for customer security, will use pass codes instead AT&T ( NYSE:T) is asking its customers to use pass codes rather than Social Security numbers when dealing with the carrier in an apparent effort to better protect users' sensitive information. "Previously, we required the last four digits of your Social Security Number as part of the process to access your account when calling Customer Service or visiting some Retailers," the carrier recently wrote in an e-mail to subscribers.     [continue...]     Meet The iPhone Dream Team Hackers: FBI, Japanese Pinball Machine Maker, Israeli Cyber Firm FBI Director James Comey leads a dream team which pulled off the iPhone hack.     [continue...]     Apple strikes deal with MLB to provide every team with iPad Pros Apple and Major League Baseball have signed a multi-year deal that will see every team receive iPad Pro tablets for use in the dugout, reports The Wall Street Journal .     [continue...]     iPhone SE review: It's a pocket-size powerhouse The SE is the little iPhone that could. With a 4-inch screen and the body of an iPhone 5s, it fits in my pockets better than my iPhone 6s, and it's easier to use one-handed. But it doesn't compromise much over its bigger, more expensive siblings.     [continue...]     Testing Apple's 29W USB-C Power Adapter and iPad Pro Fast Charging When Apple refreshed its online store with a new USB-C to Lightning cable with support for fast charging through a 29W power adapter on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro last week, the addition immediately caught my interest. You can also use the cable with an Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter to take advantage of the fast [...]     [continue...]     With Model 3, it's make or break for Tesla On Thursday night, at an invitation-only, Hollywood-style premiere on his SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, Elon Musk and his Tesla team will unveil their latest creation: the Model 3, Musk's long-awaited electric car for the masses. Few details have been revealed so far, but the car is essentially a...     [continue...]     Report: AOL's Tim Armstrong wants Verizon to acquire Yahoo to build an ad powerhouse AOL, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong has grand plans to turn parent company Verizon, Inc. into an ad powerhouse, and acquiring Yahoo, Inc. may be a part of that plan, according to a new report Wednesday.     [continue...]     Drone Startup Airware Raises $30 Million, Adds Former Cisco CEO To Board A drone powered by Airware technology inspects the roof of a home. (Photo courtesy of Airware) Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration projected in a report that 7 million drones will be sold annually in the U.S. within four years. Some 4.3 million, the FAA forecasted, will be bought and operated [...]     [continue...]     Checking Your Uber Rating Or Getting Your Purse Back Just Got Much Easier After years of forcing customers to use email to complain about anything, Uber is now committing to more updated technology. On Wednesday, the ride-hailing giant announced it plans to roll out globally its in-app customer service support features, which it has been quietly implementing in the U.S. since late 2015.     [continue...]     Hilton Deepens Its Uber Relationship in New Loyalty Push Hilton may not have been the first hospitality company to partner with Uber - that distinct honor goes to Starwood - but it is the first hotel company that's allowing its loyalty members to view their hotel stay information and be able to check-in from the Uber app, all while they travel to their hotel in the very Uber they were reminded to book from their Hilton HHonors app.     [continue...]     Why Do the Feds Usually Try to Unlock Phones? It's Drugs, Not Terrorism Until the FBI backed down from its battle with Apple over accessing the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, it seemed the agency had chosen a near-perfect case on which to make its stand against encryption.     [continue...]

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The Comunicano Communique for Friday March 4th 2016

The Comunicano Communique

It's no surprise that this week the Amazon Echo is the darling of the news this week or that my pals at Telzio announced their start of integration with the Echo. Now we're seeing more and more reasons coming out about how voice is the next UI, of new line extensions to Echo. As someone who has been using the Echo since its beta stage, I've seen first hand how it makes my life easier. I'm turning lights on and off with the sound of my voice, ordering items from Amazon, scheduling an Uber. Over the summer while in Portugal, "Alexa" was keeping me abreast of the weather, the time and I was even able to stream Pandora due to the way Amazon has structured their network. The new additions to the line up are interesting, but what is really neat about the Echo platform is the voice control. If Amazon really opens up the Echo API, developers to include it in their apps, all of a sudden we may finally be free of the keys....Speaking of which, don't miss the API event of the summer in Las Vegas. "All About The API"......     Voice: The Next UI Layer Lately, I've been obsessed with the power of voice. Not voice as in self-expression (though important!), and not voice as in voice calls or - worse! - voicemail, but rather voice as the next major UI layer for software in the living room and beyond.     [continue...]     Amazon's Echo Dot, Tap, Alexa equate to Amazon Everywhere strategy Amazon is putting Alexa, the brains of Amazon Echo, in more places via the Tap and Echo Dot and now has formed a comprehensive smart home strategy that links up with e-commerce. The Echo was Amazon's surprise hit last year. Simply put, Echo has become the platform Amazon will use to jump further into the Internet of things.     [continue...]     Amazon's Ingenious Plot to Take Over Your Living Room When Amazon released the Echo in late 2014, people didn't quite know what to make of it. It looks like a speaker, but it listens to your voice, talks back, and can play songs, radio broadcasts, or podcasts on demand. It can also do some other, seemingly unrelated tasks, like telling jokes, checking your calendar, and buying stuff on Amazon.com.     [continue...]     Meet tech's new odd couple: the CIO and CMO When Akamai was laying the foundation for its digital business back in 2010, CMO Brad Rinklin had a relationship with IT, but it wasn't exclusive. Because the content delivery network provider had no CIO, Rinklin might call on IT for help tweaking a website or deploying a sales-enablement tool, but the marketing group often turned to cloud tools or outside service providers for the heavy lifting.     [continue...]     Instagram starts blocking 'add me' deeplinking for Snapchat, Telegram Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram is flexing its platform muscle by shutting down 'add me' deeplinking for some other social media services within its apps. Previously Instagram users were able to include 'add me'/'follow me' links in a website section on their profile page, directly linking out to any other profiles they had on third party social services' apps.     [continue...]     Facebook Plans To Open Messenger To Publishers At F8 In April Mobile messaging apps are usurping social networks as the shiny new platform through which publishers can distribute their content. Now Facebook is looking to join the fray with its own uber-popular messaging app. Facebook Messenger will soon let publishers distribute their content automatically through the social network's messaging service, according to three people familiar with the company's plans.     [continue...]     Spotify becomes first music platform to integrate with Facebook Messenger Music has arrived on Messenger. Facebook announced today that its mobile messaging platform now integrates with Spotify. The new feature, which is rolling out to iOS and Android users, is the first music integration for Facebook Messenger and allows people to share their Spotify songs or playlists directly within a chat box.     [continue...]     Yahoo exploring sale of $1 billion-$3 billion in 'non-core assets': CFO Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) is exploring the sale of $1 billion to $3 billion in patents, property and other "non-core assets," its chief financial officer said on Thursday. Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman told the crowd at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that a committee created to explore alternatives to the company's plan to spin off its core business is looking at quick sales of assets.     [continue...]     B&N is Shutting Down One of Its Top Three Digital Blunders on 15 March Barnes & Noble announced a slew of of closures on Thursday, including Nook Video, the UK Nook Store, and what had to have been one of B&N's greatest digital mistakes. B&N sent out an email on Thursday which informed users that the Nook's own branded app store was going away: Effective March 15, 2016, NOOK will no longer offer third party applications (Apps) for sale from the NOOK Store™.     [continue...]     Life and death in the App Store As last year began, the app developer Pixite held its company retreat at a converted Old West movie set outside of Palm Springs. They spent a few days dreaming about the future while eating barbecue and sipping whisky in the sun. But 2015 was not a good year, and by last month the company's dreams had narrowed to survival.     [continue...]

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The Comunicano Communique for Tuesday March 1st 2016

The Comunicano Communique

Slice of Life Time....I penned a piece over on Medium.com all about home delivery services. It's a six minute read. As for news, we have some Google news. Some travel news. Some other news. Oh, and it turns out I'm on Business Rockstars today-prerecorded-so give a listen or watch it...as for the rest, well just read on..!!     Home Delivery, Take 2 Living in Los Angeles means home delivery is a staple for me. I use or have used a combination of Amazon Fresh, Amazon Prime Now, Google Express, FedEx, UPS, the USPS, UberEats, DoorDash, Caviar, GrubHub, Postmates, and of course, direct from the pizzeria, pasta shop, and other restaurants.     [continue...]     Google adds Virtual Reality section to Google Store; starts selling Cardboard compatible viewers in the US - Ausdroid Google has been moving into the Virtual Reality space for a few years now, ever since Cardboard was announced as a throwaway at the end of Google I/O back in 2014. They've previously left the sales of devices, including the DIY Cardboard headsets to other manufacturers but now it seems you can buy them from Google themselves, at least in[Read More...]     [continue...]     Google Self-Driving Car Hits A Bus In Los Angeles And It's At Fault: Here's What Happened For Google, Feb. 14 is more than just Valentine's Day, as it also marks the first accident that one of the autonomous vehicles (AV) of the company caused. The accident involves a public transit bus and a self-driving Lexus RX450h SUV, and it occurred on El Camino Real near Google's hometown of Mountain View, California.     [continue...]     Cord-Cutting Continues: Don't Believe the Early Q4 Hype Early in this quarter's earnings season, some industry watchers questioned the cord-cutting narrative. But despite signs of a turnaround due to better-than-expected numbers from Comcast and Time Warner Cable, it's clear that the trend continues unabated now that the last of the big pay-TV providers reported their subscriber numbers this week.     [continue...]     MLB star Mike Trout is using a smart bat at spring training Major League Baseball players are once again shaking off the winter and hitting the field in warmer climates for spring training. But this year Los Angeles Angels centerfielder Mike Trout is using a high-tech bat to learn more about his swing.     [continue...]     Wynn Las Vegas launches new mobile sports betting app Wynn Las Vegas will officially launch a new mobile sports betting app today. The app was designed in partnership with technology company Miomni, and will be active for March Madness, the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The app will feature various types of wagers including straight bets, parlays and future books.     [continue...]     Think leisure players aren't touching business travel, think again The business travel community swings between denying any impact from Airbnb, Uber and the like, to worrying what to do about them. Yet there they were, at last week's Business Travel Show in London with Uber exhibiting for the first time alongside other newcomers to corporate travel such as Booking.com For Business.     [continue...]     Facebook and Instagram Among Top Choices for Travel Marketing Winter is almost over and with gas prices at their lowest levels in nearly a decade, retailers should be expecting to see a lot of travellers this spring and summer. This is great news for local retailers and travel brands, and now is the time to use internet marketing to get the most of the upcoming travel seasons.     [continue...]     The complete guide to faking your own business-class upgrade Flying business class on long flights has never been nicer, often featuring lie-flat seat-beds, large TVs, champagne, fancy meals, Japanese bidet toilets, and walk-up snack bars. Meanwhile, passengers in economy class are getting squeezed-literally, often 10 per row, in narrow seats with knee-crunching legroom and lousy food.     [continue...]     The Messaging Landscape in 2016 The Messaging Landscape in 2016 There's a surge of excitement around messaging as a new platform and the idea of 'Conversational Commerce'. There are a number of great pieces and podcasts that have been published documenting and forecasting the new ways we will see messaging used in 2016.     [continue...]     3 Red Flags to Avoid When Pitching Investors | Startups.co Active investors sift through dozens of deals a week, and some hundreds a month. In order to find the gold, they need to quickly weed out the junk. The junk usually involves startups with any one of three red flags that deems the deal a "pass."     [continue...]     Confessions Of A VC: Crap - Why I Passed On Uber's Seed Round A version of this article previously appeared on Entrepreneur.com. Did I passed on Uber's seed round? No. It's worse than that. I never even bothered to listen to Travis' pitch, even though I was repeatedly offered the opportunity. I then passed on Uber's A Round as well, which I thought was valued too high, in light of the company's progress.     [continue...]

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The Sunday Paper Edition- The Comunicano Communique for January 31st 2016

The Comunicano Communique

Happy Sunday.....Facebook is going to disrupt sports and entertainment as we know it.  Forget TMZ. Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood. ESPNs SportsCenter. Facebook with live, streaming video is now a live new outlet for real time news, sports and entertainment. How are they a news outlet? First, with their move to Stadium, they have set themselves up as a news outlet in sports. By becoming a news outlet that affords them protection in the USA by the First Amendment. Next with photos and now live video, and their ability to aggregate and share content, they are going to be able to use their massive audience delivery platform to be a NETWORK, just like FOX, ABC, the BBC, etc. Third, their source material, at least in the USA can't be blocked, jammed or otherwise intercepted, thanks to the Communications Act of 1934 and 1996 with regard to unlawful intercept and blocking. That means all the money which stadium and arena operators have put into networking their venues so the "fan experience" is able to be one that's both "connected" and "socialized" also means they can't stop the content from leaving the building. As someone who grew up in pro sports and entertainment, Facebook is going to really toss a monkey-wrench/spanner into the whole rights issues game as today, anyone with an iPhone with those sharp and clear add on lenses, a good seat at a game and a steady hand, a cool voice, and knowledge of the sport will be a net caster...... Next is Instagram, another Facebook property. It's become the engine of endorsement. Think commercials, but with the power in the hands of those with followers. Given the whole "never corders" as YipTV founder Mike Tribolet calls them, and their growing up digital without cable tv or landlines, Instagram + Facebook video will be how the sub 20 year old generation of today and tomorrow gets their news, shapes trends and defines "cool." So if today's Communique has a "times are changing" or is all about "Changes", it's only fitting to bring some videos to the forefront about David Bowie, who was so much a driving force of change, not only in music, but as an icon for change in society. David Bowie's passing touched many. As someone who grew up in the many phases and faces of David Bowie era from the 60's to today, to see and hear the comments and performances by so many stars is touching and endearing. I've been collecting these the past few weeks, and have been moved by the performances of Madonna, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Rick Wakeman and the comments of Jimmy Fallon. Having also seen all of the musical stars perform in their own right, it's always fun to watch and hear artists do cover versions of other artists material. Madonna's may not be safe for the children, or for some workplaces, but between hers and Elton's  and the Boss' comments about going down to Philly on "Greyhound bus" the historical impact of Bowie can't be better expressed....so kick back, and enjoy some good old fashioned "rock and roll" this Sunday morning. Have a view on the news today? Please let me know what you think....Andy Abramson     Expanding Live Video to More People-News From Facebook In December, we started testing the ability for people to share live video on Facebook, and it has been inspiring to see all the ways that people have used Live to connect with their friends and family. Today, we're excited to expand the ability to share live video to everyone in the U.S.     [continue...]     How Instagram Changed the Celeb Crush My back is turned, and I'm probably 12 years old, so the only thing I can imagine them doing is some sort of tight-lipped smooching. Maybe his hands are resting heavily on her shoulders. I'm resigned to my empty little corner of what must be a bed or a couch when I feel Joey's hand reach over and pinch my butt.     [continue...]     Techiest Super Bowl ever: Silicon Valley's stadium girds for the big game Levi's Stadium is one of the most high-powered venues in sports. On Super Bowl Sunday, we'll see if its network can handle the data-storm caused by throngs of smartphone-wielding fanatics.     [continue...]     Media Trends in 2016: Why I'll Be Watching the Underdog Forecasting the future is usually a fool's errand - especially in a fast-changing industry like media. But I recently recruited two brave colleagues to make their 2016 predictions for a new internal GE podcast, Marketing Decoded, and I loved our conversation so much, I wanted to share it.     [continue...]     The Best TV is Korean TV: A Guide to Awesome K-dramas Game of Thrones isn't on, you've finished Orange Is The New Black, and fall TV hasn't kicked in yet. You need something to get obsessed with. Allow me to suggest a Korean drama, or K-drama, as they're called.     [continue...]     Jimmy Fallon Pays Tribute to David Bowie Jimmy takes a moment to remember legendary entertainer David Bowie.     [continue...]     Madonna's Tribute To David Bowie Houston, Texas, January 12, 2016.     [continue...]     Elton John Tribute to David Bowie Private concert at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles Jan 13, 2016 to promote his new LP Wonderful Crazy Night. Elton describing hearing Bowie's 'Space Oddity' for the first time and his desire to have the same producers work with him in the early days.     [continue...]     Bruce Springsteen: David Bowie Tribute (Pittsburgh) Opening night of The River Tour 2016. Bruce performs Rebel Rebel as a tribute to David Bowie. Instagram: dustinjohns Twitter: dustinjohns     [continue...]     Rick Wakeman's Tribute To David Bowie - Life On Mars Rick Wakeman, pianist on the original Life On Mars, performs the song at Radio 2's piano in memory of David Bowie.     [continue...]     Obama Pledges $4 Billion to Computer Science in US Schools President Obama today pledged $4 billion in funding for computer science education in the nation's schools.     [continue...]     The worst thing about driving is about to change If you drive out to visit Disney's Epcot center in Orlando, Florida, you will arrive at one of the biggest parking lots in America. With room for 12,000 cars, it sprawls out over 7 million square feet-about the size of 122 football fields.     [continue...]     Amazon's rent-a-Buddhist-monk service causes controversy in Japan YACHIYO, Japan - In Japan, where communal ties to local Buddhist temples are fading, families have in recent years been able to go online to find a Buddhist monk to perform funerals and other rituals.     [continue...]     Five Leadership Tips During Executive Turnover This week hasn't been short on major corporate changes. On Sunday night, Twitter announced that four senior executives are leaving the company. It's the biggest leadership shakeup since CEO Jack Dorsey took over in order to breathe life back into the social media company.     [continue...]

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