Zag To The Zig #48 :: Uber bashing, Facebook bashing and a jet fighter cockpit
To all the new subscribers that signed up in the last few weeks, thanks so much for your interest. Do note, this is not really a weekly ‘news’-letter, rather a periodic interest-letter. 🗓️
Let’s start off with an article worthy of this publication’s title
When everybody Zigs and launches their brand on Instagram, with pastel colours to beat, then why not Zag.
How 2020 killed the Instagram brand.
In the Tech Room this week
In the same vein, personal websites are back in vogue: to publish, to sell, for personal branding.
Makes sense, so how many of you have bought the URL relating to your full name? I randomly checked a few subscribers and I found 1.Everyone who's been following ZTTZ knows I'm a sucker for anything to do with tokenisation. MetaVerse is trying to mix Augmented Reality and blockchain NFTs (unique tokens) by creating avatars of yourself. 🤖
If you're into that stuff, then set aside a good chunk of time and explore Packy McCormick's excellent deep dive on the Value Chain of these Web3 token-based universes. It covers digital fashion, art vaults and whatnot.
(also available as audio).Also related to tokenisation, VISA has filed a patent to tokenise photographs, using the technical metadata as well as - check this - a selling price. This would enable immediate, conditional payments for people wanting to use your images.
These are exactly the kind of blockchain use cases we've been talking about for 5 years, but the fact that an organisation like VISA is taking action in this field, triggers my interest.What have we come to.
Activist livestreams his visit to a police station.
Police is not happy and starts playing copyrighted music, hoping that Instagram's algorithms block the content.
In the Economy Room
In the UK, Uber have lost their appeal to claim their drivers should not be treated as employees. This thread cuts to the bone.
Note: it's Twitter, so brevity over detail, but it's a pretty good read nevertheless.Uber have now LOST their appeal on the ruling that they employ workers, not contractors. I said back in 2019 that refusing basic benefits was silicon valley bro culture at it's worst and a massive own goal. Because English Employment law includes the Duck Test. A quick threadThe digital news economy is taking some complex turns. Australia has forced tech companies (read: Facebook and Google) to pay Australian news websites to feature content from these sites in their platforms. This includes individuals sharing news articles. ↗️↗️
Lots of different incentives here. I understand the value of independent journalism and the immense pressure on its business model. I’m also not against challenging the big tech platforms. At the same time, lots of people rely on getting access to ‘news’ through these channels. But my gut feeling says this government approach may be flawed, because it won’t align incentives.
This Australian economist and advisor wrote a solid analysis and his conclusion expresses my gut feeling quite well. To be continued, for sure…We will end up with the large digital platforms doing deals with the largest news outlets. Those deals will be multi-year lump-sum payments which otherwise enable everyone to go about their merry business. There will be no new digital platforms. The existing ones will change nothing. There will be no new content providers.
In the Salon, where Humans mingle
Is this AI off or does it do exactly what humans would do?
Study: when AI is used to gauge personality treats in online job interviews, it ranks you as smarter when it can detest bookshelves in the background.
Guess what my speaking setup looks like.New job for travel journalists: don’t review destinations, review AirBnB online experiences instead.
🦥 I'm a fan of laziness.
"You waste years by not being able to waste hours" must be my new favourite motto.
On the other hand, as expressed in this (old) article on being too busy, it worried me that someone like former US politician Schulz actually only had one hour a week of strategy time. 🐝🐝The danger of feature overload. I think this article about a jet fighter pilot and his relationship with new tech in his cockpit will find its way into my presentations. 👩✈️👩✈️
Random ZTTZ
Just watch and listen.
🏁 End note: 1 thing I’ll be doing this week
I’m preparing a talk on innovation for a bunch of Data Intelligence Consultants. Title so far: “Innovation is BS”.
OK, two then. Next week Thursday and Friday I’ll be hosting the Blockchain Summit (online). Sign up for free.