'Snooper's charter' bill becomes law, extending UK state surveillance

The new surveillance law requires web and phone companies to store everyone’s web browsing histories for 12 months and give the police, security services and official agencies unprecedented access to the data.

“The government is clear that, at a time of heightened security threat, it is essential our law enforcement and security and intelligence services have the power they need to keep people safe. The internet presents new opportunities for terrorists and we must ensure we have the capabilities to confront this challenge. But it is also right that these powers are subject to strict safeguards and rigorous oversight.”

Undisclosed ads on Instagram are no longer just limited to posts by celebs

General users may be able to make the distinction when they see a Kardashian, for example, posing with a brand of tea they’ve never heard of. But the problem now facing the FTC and Instagram is that these types of posts are no longer limited to celebs and influencers. In fact, marketers are now targeting regular users, or what they term “microinfluencers” by offering them free products in exchange for social media posts.

The letter highlights two websiteS in particular, operated by Influenster and Bzzagent, that encourage users to share posts in which they’re seen using a free product. In exchange, the so-called “microinfluencer” receives even more freebies from brands including Maybelline, BITE beauty, Kleenex, and International Delight. Anyone with a social media account can join the websites and receive free products.

Amazon Wants Live-Streaming Sports Rights for Prime Video, But What Will It Really Be Able to Secure?

Despite the high prices and paucity of available rights, Amazon has been making the rounds recently at a number of leagues and rights-holders about potential deals. According to a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous sources, Amazon has met with the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball, as well as Major League Soccer, the ACC, and other smaller players to discuss licensing their content.

Cheapest Labor Since Tsars Ruled Russia a Draw for Samsung, Ikea

A combination of the country’s worst currency crisis since 1998 and an unprecedented slide in real wages for most of the past two years has resulted in salaries that have become “broadly competitive” with China’s for the first time since the tsarist era ended a century ago, according to Renaissance Capital.

“It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Russia may become the region’s factory,” said Yaroslav Lissovolik, chief economist at the Eurasian Development Bank. “The goal of our manufacturers in Russia is to create alliances with foreign companies, to become part of regional and global chains of added value and thus to increase not only the country’s competitive potential, but also its export potential.”

IMAX is going VR, so put on your headsets and hold on

Late last week, IMAX announced that it had “completed the first phase of a $50 million virtual reality fund between IMAX and other strategic investors to help finance the creation of at least 25 interactive VR content experiences over the next three years for use across all VR platforms including in IMAX VR centers.” That means that at some point in the near future, we’ll be able to enjoy higher-quality VR content on really, really giant screens.

Российский сервис аренды вещей Rentmania привлек 15 млн рублей

Сервис Renymania был запущен в ноябре 2013 года и представляет собой онлайн-сообщество аренды вещей между пользователями в Москве и Московской области. Через сервис можно сдать или найти определенную вещь, при этом Rentmania сопровождает каждую сделку об аренде и взимает комиссию в 20%.

Burberry – moving from digital prowess to e-commerce leadership

Burberry’s spent a lot on digital over the years, but it hasn’t achieved the e-commerce leadership it aspires to. CEO Christopher Bailey wants to change that.

In financial terms, that translates into an expectation that e-commerce strategy will drive a third of revenue growth over the coming three years. That’s only going to be possible if the firm can achieve its stated objective of creating more personalized customer experiences, online and offline.

Smart billboards will identify car models and target ads to drivers

Some day in the not-too-distant future ads you see on billboards will be there simply because of the make, model, and year of the vehicle you’re driving. Smart data storage company Cloudian and Japanese advertising company Dentsu are launching just such a program in Japan this fall, as reported by CNN Money.

Cloudian and Dentsu tested smart billboard vehicle recognition earlier this year with impressive results. Combining big data and deep learning, the test identified vehicles in traffic correctly 94 percent of the time.

Netherlands first to establish nationwide Internet of Things network

Three initial projects give a sense of the scope and types of application that will make up the Internet of Things. At the port of Rotterdam, depth sounders have already been outfitted with sensors and network connections. An experiment at Utrecht will connect all railway switches so they can be monitored centrally. And at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a major European hub busier than JFK and Miami International combined, tests with baggage handling are already underway. If you think of the number of pieces of luggage moving through the worlds sixth-busiest international airport you begin to get a sense of the scale of applications for IoT. If each piece of luggage has an IoT tag, nothing should be unaccounted for.

Forget keywords — this new system lets you search with rudimentary sketches

They’ve taught a deep learning neural network — an incredibly powerful tool that mimics the way that the human brain works — to recognize hand-drawn sketches and use them to search for real-life products.

The network was “trained” to match sketches to photos based on a data set consisting of around 30,000 sketch-photo comparisons.

IMAX is Offering to Build Private Luxury Theaters for Homes

The cinematic experience has been decreasing in popularity thanks to a multitude of at-home streaming services that make movie-watching at home much more convenient. For people who have between $400K and $1 million to spare, IMAX is bringing the cinematic experience to homes. The company is designing home theaters that can seat 18-49 people, have 2D and 3D projectors, an IMAX sound system and large screens that vary in size depending on the room.

Gimenez’s take is “shoppable Instagram:” an app that uses image recognition and a large collection of retailers — 400-500 merchants selling over two million items from upwards of 15,000 brands — to create a more engaging and ultimately more fruitful social commerce experience.

Social commerce, the idea of buying products listed on social media sites, is huge in Asia.

“When you see anything online or on Instagram, the frustration is that you can’t shop even when people are using it as merchants,

DEAR CONGRESS: THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) IS BROKEN AND NO LONGER WORKS FOR CREATORS

One of the biggest problems confronting songwriters and recording artists today is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This law was written and passed in an era that is technologically out-of-date compared to the era in which we live. It has allowed major tech companies to grow and generate huge profits by creating ease of use for consumers to carry almost every recorded song in history in their pocket via a smartphone, while songwriters’ and artists’ earnings continue to diminish. Music consumption has skyrocketed, but the monies earned by individual writers and artists for that consumption has plummeted.

The DMCA simply doesn’t work.

These T-Shirts Have Customizable Digital Animations When on Camera

The animated t-shirts work by first having the user choose a graphically themed shirt to start the process. Through the 'Drawsta' app, the user can then see which animated designs come with the shirt of their choice and take videos of the animation. The videos can be used on any and all platforms that are compatible with videos -- they can be texted, put on Instagram, tweeted, vlogged and messaged. Each week a new design option appears on the app for the animated shirts -- making them fun and creative. These animated t-shirt apps are a playful way to reinterpret the t-shirt and its uses by combining GIF-like technology with this classically casual clothing.

Citizens of Kuwait must now register their DNA with the government or face hefty fines

In a bold and controversial move, Kuwait has just passed a new law that makes it mandatory to register your DNA with the government. Starting soon, the 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents of Kuwait will have to enter their individual DNA profiles into a government database.

Since the program is being mandated, the government of Kuwait will spend the equivalent of about $400 million to subsidize the DNA testing and management. Refusal to comply or DNA tampering could result in fines as high as $33,000, and even time in prison.

By Obsessing Over the Present, Big Media has Forgotten its Past and Endangered its Future (But it’s Not Too Late)

When it comes to digital-era investments, Disney has certainly been the most active of the major media companies (though IP represents more than 80% of total outlays). Over the past decade, the House of Mouse has bought the largest YouTube Multi-Channel Network (Maker Studios), a mobile gaming company (Playdom), several multi-media storytelling platforms (Marvel, LucasArts, Pixar), become Vice’s largest outside shareholder, doubled down on technology-driven theme park experiences (MagicBand, VR), established an annual fan expo (D23), formed an accelerator program with TechStars (Disney Accelerator) and launched an ever-expanding sandbox video game at the cost of more than $125M (Disney Infinity)

For the past 20 years, television networks have reaped more than $1T inflation adjusted revenues and $300B in net cash flow thanks to what was sown throughout the 1980s and early 1990s (most cable networks took years to hit cumulative net profits, with several market leaders accumulating hundreds of millions in losses doing so). But the harvest is coming to an end. Crop rotation is not a waste; it’s an essential investment in forward productivity.

Группа компаний “Обувь России” начала тестировать пуш-уведомления. В начале марта в магазине сети Westfalika (входит в группу) в Новосибирске были установлены маячки iBeacon. Когда посетитель, у которого на смартфоне установлено и запущено приложение Westfalika, проходит рядом с магазином, в зоне действия маячка, он получает всплывающее персонифицированное уведомление о скидках, распродажах или акции в магазине, с приглашением зайти в офлайновую точку сети. 

В прошлом году мобильная аудитория интернет-магазина Westfalika увеличилась на 7%, и сейчас уже каждый третий посетитель заходит со смартфона или планшета. Поэтому в компании тестируют новые способы мобильного продвижения. В то же время, технология iBeacon –  инструмент, который позволяет не только создавать персонифицированные предложения, но и собирать разнообразные данные о покупателях: сколько людей зашло в магазин, сколько времени они там провели.

“Обувь России” тестирует пуш-уведомления