Delicious Digest #19 - Cookies, Mentos, and Bread
A tasty newsletter of what I’ve seen in (mostly) tech & games and thought was interesting. This week: Cookies, Mentos, and Bread.
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😳 Must reads of the week
◼ Apple now allows “premium subscription video providers” (Amazon) to charge consumers directly – no 30% cut to Apple. In turn, these apps play nicely with Siri, tvOS, Airplay etc. And it’ll look good to anti-trust regulators. Still, this and changing default apps in iOS? Hell must be an ice palace by now. Link
◼ Should you wear a face mask? “Face masks for COVID-19: A deep dive into the data”. Link
🗞 News
◼ Safari now blocks all third-party cookies on iOS and macOS. Great for web privacy, less so for advertisers and attribution tracking. Link
◼ “The Coronavirus Is A Media Extinction Event” as local advertising business is in total freefall.
Link
See also: “Facebook, Google Could Lose Over $44 Billion in Ad Revenue in 2020 Because of Coronavirus”.
Link
◼ Glimpse is tracking the non-obvious trends impacted by Coronavirus (positively or negatively). DIY haircuts, yeast for bread, portable blenders and beard straightener. Link
◼ Zoom has skyrocketed from 10 to 200 million daily users. Unfortunately, it also surfaced a lot of privacy and security issues, which they are now scrambling to address. Link
◼ Google is using machine learning to improve quality of VoIP calls. AI is everywhere. Link
◼ Some people seem to believe that 5G networks cause the Coronavirus (among other things). I don’t even know where to start… Link
◼ “Onward”, Pixar’s latest, is already on Disney Plus after launching in cinemas just on March 6; “Artemis Fowl” will go straight to streaming. Crazy times, crazy measures. Link
◼ Apple has acquired Dark Sky, one of the most popular weather apps and weather prediction providers. Lots of weather apps are owned or driven by marketers to collect more user information (including location) and this might be a move on Apple’s part to provide a better 1st party experience. Link
🕹 Games
◼ So far over 50 game companies have joined the WHO’s #PlayApartTogether coronavirus awareness campaign. Link
◼ Celebrating Women in Tech: interesting interview with Camilla Avellar, game designer at Supercell. Link
◼ Unite Now, a series of online lessons, talks, demos, Q&As etc., will stream free starting April 14th. Link
◼ The next E3 will be a “reimagined showcase”" on June 15 to 17, 2021. Playing it safe with dates. Link
◼ “ESPN will air 12 hours of esports including Rocket League, NBA 2K, and Madden”. Is this an accelerated trend or desperation? Time will tell. Link
◼ Sony delays The Last of Us Part II indefinitely because of “logistics issues”. A shame really. Lots of people at home would love that premium content now and maybe that would have been a “better launch experience”? We’ll never know… Link
◼ AppAnnie: “Weekly Time Spent in Apps Grows 20% Year Over Year as People Hunker Down at Home”. Link
◼ Twitch and YouTube Gaming consumption has gone up 23% and 10%, respectively, as people stay in. Link
😋 Tasty Tidbits
◼ Fun with magnets: bored Astrophysicist tries inventing a device that detects when he touches his face or nose. Emphasis on “tries”. Link (via Borja Arruebo)
◼ A great deep-dive into why Coronavirus case counts are (mostly) meaningless, by FiveThirtyEight. Link
◼ Fun about branding: “The Pepsi DNA finds its origin in the dynamic of perimeter oscillations.” Pure Internet Gold. Link (via Abel Fernandez)
◼ Free ride skiing at home. Link (Video) (via Kalvin Ou)
◼ “We now know the effect of altitude on classic ‘Diet Coke and Mentos’ fountain”. Aaah, science… Link
I work for King. All views in this newsletter are personal and my own. They do not represent the views of King or ActivisionBlizzard. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only and no investment advice. This newsletter links to other websites and information obtained from third-party sources and I cannot ensure nor verify accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.