We’ve all been hearing a lot about bots — but what are they? Facebook Messenger’s new release paves the way for more bot interaction, and Engadget has compiled a list of Facebook Messenger bots in the works. The lag time between interactions is odd — my early interactions showed early bots are rough, if not outright frustrating and useless. What …
Friday 5 — 1.15.2016
Mobile apps versus native web is a false dichotomy, per Luke Wroblewski. Brands need both: the former offers rich experiences, while the latter provides greater reach (including in-app browser views). We have a longstanding, love-hate relationship with email, where gratifying immediacy for the sender often means notification hell for the recipient. The Atlantic explains how we got here, why email …
Friday 5 — 11.20.2015
Google just made a big improvement to finding in-app content on mobile. On Android devices, Google will now launch the app if you have it installed, or stream the content to you if you don’t. This is an important step forward in a world where 50% of all online time — not just mobile time — is spent in-app. …
Friday 5 — 11.6.2015
Tired of drafting the same email reply over and over? Google is here to help with SmartReply, a new Inbox app feature that suggest replies to your email messages. You can edit the reply as suggested, or delete it and write your own. Extra credit: Geek out on the machine learning under the hood. If you …
Friday 5 — 9.18.2015
A survey of >4,000 designers revealed the most commonly used design tools, from brainstorming to wireframing to project management. As a big user of different project management platforms, I found it interesting to see the fragmentation of the market. In a similarly complicated arena, Growthverse is an interactive visualization of marketing technologies, a tool for marketers who have a …
Friday 5 — 9.4.2015
When Instagram changed photo sizes to allow more options than square, there was predictable hue and cry. Eugene Wei eloquently explains why social networks should not adhere slavishly to features, but focus instead on the power of their network of users. There’s a lot of rhetoric about what it means to be “digital first” or “digital …
Friday 5 — 8.14.2015
Are you getting started on Slack to increase your productivity, reduce your email, and fuel your dependence on animated GIFs? Here’s a helpful how-to explaining all the basics. Technology has consequences, positive and negative. This week a new refereed online publication forum, Technology Science, launched as a place to share timely academic papers exploring the benefits and …
Friday 5 — 4.10.2015
The first round of many Apple Watch reviews are in — here’s my favorite one, although it’s derided capably here. Certainly no one is suggesting it’s a digital must-have, but most agree it packs a few canny features. (For the optimists: Pre-order here.) New Pew research covers teens’ 2015 use of social media and technology. A solid …
Friday 5 — 3.6.2015
Meerkat is a new livestreaming video app that launched and skyrocketed this week. Tightly integrated with Twitter, the app allows you to livestream video direct to your Twitter feed. It’s ephemeral content — viewers cannot replay it, but creators can save the original video to their phones. Despite the mass adoption of Gmail, Google has …
Friday 5 — 2.6.2015
Social media preferences vary by race and ethnicity. Instagram users reflect some stark differences, with 38% of blacks and 34% of Latinos using the photo sharing service, compared to just 21% of whites. In the surprising news category, it turns out that the best Gmail app for the iPhone is now made by Microsoft. Gmail has always worked well …