Zag To The Zig #49 :: Ownership, ownership, ownership + an octopus.
Greetings to you all. Hope you’re staying sane, wherever you are. Don’t read too much and get out enough. To test your resolve, I’ve compiled another ZTTZ for you. 💪🚶♀️
In the Tech Room this week
I've been using the weekly Patent Drop newsletter as an information resource for ZTTZ. What do big companies think is worth tinkering with and/or investing in? Recently: MasterCard patented a system to reward customers for buying eco-friendly stuff.
Why take notice? The fact that there might be a business model in this (Eco-)Sustainability wave. Plus: surely there must a blockchain involved somewhere? 😉The coin is starting to drop. I’ve had a quite a few friends of ZTTZ ask me about this NFT thing.
NFT = Non-fungible tokens.
It has been one of the key use cases of blockchains for years, but recently went mainstream with digital art being sold by Christies, Kings of Leon releasing their album as an NFT, Paris Hilton dropping by on ClubHouse to say she’s into it. (friend of ZTTZ @wildebees was excited about that - HT).
But that’s only the beginning, I would imagine. Very simply put, an NFT is a unique digital asset, issued on an immutable ledger, that comes with a unique proof of ownership. A collectible on steroids.So when creatives and artists start embracing a tech like this, things move in mysterious ways.
Check this one: Logan Paul (famous YouTuber, boomer!) sells moments, literally recordings of him unpacking Pokemon Go cards.
And.Look.At.The.Price.On.That. All sold out!
Mind you, he's not selling the actual card, he's selling a digital video moment! Scarcity = valuable.Expect to be confused.
🤔🤷♀️⁉️But why take notice? If mainstream DJs like Steve Aoki are getting in on it (he's 'dropped' some stuff on Sunday), this complicated blockchain tech might get some mainstream traction.
And/or read this interview with musician/painter Devendra Banhart on the artistic opportunities of NFTs, where the word ‘blockchain’ does not get a mention even once. Now, that's progress.
In the Economy Room
As an antidote to that artist-centric movement, I was also intrigued by this report from Rolling Stone on some business myths from the ‘old music industry’. Didn’t know: 85% of the revenue now comes from streaming.
Digital ad targeting is becoming more of a topic and Google is taking a position in this narrative: no more 3rd party cookies in Chrome, they say, and no other bits-and-bobs that can track your behaviour across websites.
For “ a more privacy first web.”The last paragraph mentions the fact that brands should focus more on first-party relationships with their clients. That sounds good in theory, but surely that will only be good for bigger companies, who can afford to implement and/or maintain such a strong data strategy?
On that topic, also dive into this letter from the Executive VP from Oracle: ‘Consumers Deserve A Data Dividend’. Not sure if that reward should be financial, but this is nevertheless bold language, including a short 12-step program to restore the data economy balance.
And finally in the Ownership section this week, Microsoft is hotting up its efforts to become the standard for safe/decentralised identity management.
Random ZTTZ
Octopuses/cuttlefish have passed a cognitive test designed for kids. Good headline, but if you’re into this stuff, do check out the Netflix docu ‘My Octopus Teacher’, where a filmmaker develops quite a special relationship with an octopus.
Prefer to see your historical paintings animated? There's an AI for that.
🏁 End note: 1 thing I’ll be doing this week
Buy some NFTs. 🗝️ 🖼️