Month: February 2016

Amazon’s Ad-Free TV Series

Amazon has started to create “free” tv shows. The only catch is that there are ads every 90 seconds! The Fashion Fund is the first show that Amazon has picked up to start its ad-based model, that originated on Hulu.com, and is now on its third season. It is also possible Amazon is launching this new model to attract more subscription based users for “Amazon Prime” that gives users ad-free access to a number of movies, books and music while giving unlimited 2 day free shipping on all your purchases.

This could be seen as an example of how Amazon is incorporating Karl Marx’s idea of absolute and relative surplus value into their model. Absolute surplus, being the extension of work time by each worker, is obtained from the implementation of ads every 90 seconds. For a 40 minute length show this would correlate to about 26 ads. Relative surplus value is obtained by increasing the efficiency. This is done by producing a show that is inherently about brands and products. The Fashion Fund is about 10 up and coming designers competing to win prize money, which is co-sponsered by Condé Nast’s Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers. It is also judged by three of “fashions elites” that work for popular fashion brands. Therefore, users who are watching the show that are interested in fashion are being ad-targetted by Vogue and companies were the judges work, on top of all the branded cloths that the contestants are using to compete.

I’m not sure if users will get frustrated with the high density of ads and constant interruption throughout the show but am interested to find out how successful the venture is. The article can be found here: http://www.wired.com/2016/02/amazons-newest-original-show-brings-tv-ads-streaming/

The dress all over again?

The craze about what colour an Adidas jacket is has gone viral over Tumblr. The  original Tumblr user who posted it wanted to get the advice of other social media users. Since it has been posted, the photo has received more then 16,000 reblogs. It just goes to show that even the weirdest and not at all important things become what people are obsessed with talking about over the internet.

Here is the link to the article http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/debate-jacket-color-viral-tumblr-article-1.2545323

 

Facebook launches “Reactions” worldwide

Today I noticed the latest Facebook introduction to ‘reactions’. As stated in the article, “Facebook users around the globe can now do more than “like” a post. They can love it, laugh at it or feel angered by it.” Mark Zuckerberg explained that the company was thinking about adding a “dislike” button, however, this created a large debate as to whether or not it would increase negativity and cyber bullying on the site.

Here is the link to the story about the update:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-reactions-idUSKCN0VX1L7

The Killers Phone

I personally find Mark Zuckerburg and many of the big corporations in Silicon Valley contradictory. They say that they care about the encryption of our privacy and secrecy but at the same time sell this to advertisers and whoever can make them more money.

Why is it acceptable for advertisers to use our information but the FBI aren’t able to access a terrorists phone? Just seems like Zuckerburg is saying what the users of his site want to hear.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/23/bill-gates-fbi-apple-san-bernardino-killer-phone?CMP=fb_gu

Fallout 4: Mod mayhem

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/fallout-4-cheats-how-activate-god-mode-get-infinite-ammo-turn-clipping-and-more-489019

Found this video today and actually found it pretty funny. It shows a bunch of different, funny and straight up random “mods” that you can use in Fallout 4.

Players have decided that they don’t like certain things about the game (player, story, setting) and have taken it upon themselves to fix and customize it in order to make the game their own. They did this through “modding”.They even created a My Little Pony mod for all the “Bronies” out there! We haven’t talked a lot about modding but because this overlapped with the Bronie fandom I couldn’t not post it.

 

eSports: An Upcoming College Sport

Came across this really interesting video from AJ+ that talks about schools in the US giving out eSports scholarships. The first school to give out eSports scholarships was at Robert Morris University in Chicago and now there are four other US colleges that have joined with many others that seem to be interested. Most of these scholarships are around $19000 and it seems to be something that is getting bigger and bigger. It will be very interesting to see if this does catch on and who knows, maybe one day Western will have an eSports scholarship and team!

 

Screenagers.

Found this video very interesting and it uses one of the best terms we’ve heard to describe teenagers (and pre-teens) screen time obsession so far. Check it out.

 

Instagram Launches Account Switching

I though this article about Instagram officially launching an account switching aspect to the app would be interesting for people in our class to learn. Especially for those with jobs that involve social media managing, or for clubs on campus, this new aspect to the app will definitely be of benefit to many people!

Here is the link to the story:

http://hypebeast.com/2016/2/instagram-officially-launches-account-switching utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook_post

Virtual Reality Meets Virtual Gaming

Found this interesting article discussing the merging of virtual reality with virtual gaming, in order to create an even more realistic experience. However, devices like these bring up new issues such as desensitization. Desensitization means that “the person is no longer affected by extreme acts of behaviour such as violence and fails to show empathy or compassion as a result”. For example, a game about war become too real in the sense that killing someone in the game vs. killing someone in real life becomes the same thing. With more and more virtual reality projects immersing in the up and coming years, will we know where to draw the line between the gaming world and the real world?

http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/4/10908444/epic-unreal-engine-editor-vr-edition