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CuriousMarketers.Club

Because marketing is more than advertising, it's pretty much everything. But it's also not that serious. And curiosity is the most important ingredient.

Ambient Computing

    ∞

    Apple is bringing in the big guns to power Siri: now with AI!

    OpenAI and Jony Ive are thinking screen-free.

    Google and Perplexity are powering assistants elsewhere.

    Smart glasses are spilling from every nook and cranny.

    As the ambient computing future draws nearer, what does your brand sound like?

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    This Exponential View episode is worth a listen as a quick overview of the current tech inflection points, like:

    • the AI layer upending the current ad funded model of the “open” internet
    • why we should approach AI model advancements with optimism

    But this is the big one for me:

    It”s no longer about phones. It’s about ambient computing.

    Ambient, invisible computing

    I started writing about this way back in 2020, this will be the biggest marketing shift of the era.

    Apple’s liquid glass is the public facing beginning of this shift (for them).

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    Does Meta have its long-desired hardware platform? Or at least the start of it?

    It’s extended the contract with the Ray-Ban parent company for more years of smart glasses collaboration.

    Now, according to Bloomberg, Oakley is joining the crew.

    Plus…

    Company resumes work on smartwatch and develops AirPods rival

    First real AR glasses, dubbed ‘Artemis,’ are planned for 2027

    The question used to be: what will replace the smartphone?

    But the path now seems to be to replace the interface and turn the smartphone into a personal, portable server for ambient computing peripherals and AI features.

    ∞

    2025: rise of the smartglasses?

    Halliday Glasses have boarded the smart spectacles hype train, featuring “proactive” AI assistance and a near-eye display that shows information directly in the user’s field of view.

    The display appears as a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of the user’s view with minimal obstruction

    The near-eye display is supported on both prescription lenses and if no lens is used at all. The displayed information isn’t visible to other people and can be controlled using either voice commands, frame interface controls, or a ring that features a built-in trackpad.

    The number of in-optics display announcements is accelerating.

    ∞

    Soliddd’s scientifically formulated and user-tested virtual reality smartglasses are lightweight and feel like normal eyeglasses. SolidddVision provides the first true vision correction—and, indeed, sight restoration for those living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.

    The smartglasses use Soliddd’s unique and proprietary lens arrays, which resemble a fly’s eye, to project multiple separate images to the areas of the retina that are not damaged. This allows the brain to naturally construct stereopsis (the making of a 3D image in the brain) and a single full-field image with good acuity that feels like normal, in-focus sight.

    We’ve already hit the point of wearable-tech-as-health-improvement-device with glasses.

    ∞

    2025: The Year of AR?

    Sources told the Financial Times that Meta is planning to expand its partnership with Ray-Ban to make glasses with a little display on the inside, so users can gaze out at the world with a digital overlay

    The sources said Meta wants to add a screen on the inside of the glasses that would be able to flash things like text messages, and that the product might be ready to hit the shelves as early as the second half of next year.

    On-lens optics is the next big step.

    ∞

    😎😎😎

    Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers’ main computing device.

    According to people familiar with the matter, the company has accelerated Orion’s development following the enthusiastic response of early testers.

    The next form factor has been decided.
    Ambient computing is coming.

    via the Financial Times

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    I just concluded a prez to the Blue Ion crew by saying that smart/AR glasses are the next consumer computing wave.

    This piece from The Verge makes me feel better about that prediction.

    and the third is the idea that no one device is the future of XR. Headsets, for example, may just be “episodic” devices you use for entertainment. Glasses could supplement phones and smartwatches for discreet notifications and looking up information.

    “The way I see it, these devices don’t replace one another. You’ll use these devices throughout your day,

    Ambient computing!

    There are plenty of hurdles left, but if Google has figured out on-lens optics, the big ones left are for the accountants.

    ∞

    Samsung and Google are working on smart glasses to rival Meta’s Ray Bans to be released late next year.

    Gemini would handle AI tasks alongside support for “payment,” QR code recognition, “gesture recognition,” and “human recognition functions.”

    I think we’ve found the most probable next consumer computing platform.

    AI needs a computer, but not necessarily a screen.

    The era of ambient computing is upon us.

    ∞

    2020 Tech and Marketing Trends Distilled

    It’s a new year, a new decade(?), so you know what that means: it’s trend time! We dusted off our crystal ball (not to be confused with our Cristal Ball) and took a peek at the future of marketing. Here’s what we saw (actual footage above).

    Techlash: The Fallout

    It’s been a rough time for platforms, fire hose marketers, and data vacuums lately. Enough scandals have piled up that users seem legitimately interested in their privacy and data security. A mix of regulations, technical changes at the browser level, and ad blocker use is going to make it more difficult to track users around the web and will shake up the current status quo. 

    How should you adapt? Provide value and service via your marketing. It’s about messaging transparently, having people opt in to your movement, and providing value to them through content. Or, it’s the opposite of spam. Treat your marketing and messaging as an invitation, not an offer they can’t refuse.

    These changes, in tandem with some device trends, could mean it’s time to start thinking beyond the screens. Eyeballs are so 2010s.

    The Robots Cometh

    What will replace our love affair with screens? Robots! (we are contractually obligated to mention robots at least once per quarter) 

    Improvements in voice assistants and chatbots, machine learning capabilities (especially on consumer devices), and devices like smartwatches and headphones becoming increasingly robust could lead to a shift from screens to a more ambient form of technology. Like Radio 2.0: now with screens too!

    In the more immediate future, we should have a growing number of toys that utilize machine intelligence to give us more ways to automate different tasks, both internally and externally. 

    Venture into the Dark Forests

    Another trend arising from the shine fading from social media and similar algorithms? The growth of “dark forests”. Sounds ominous, right? It’s not, it’s just a fancy term for mediums like email newsletters, podcasts, private groups, and other non-broadcast messaging platforms. People increasingly want the information they’re interested in waiting for them when they’re ready versus bombarding them, and usually without a comment stream of sadness attached. They want community, not trolls with megaphones.

    Does this mean social media is dead? No, but it is changing. Or at least we need to change our approach to it, especially as organic reach continues to decline. Approach these as focused content and story platforms more than broader social connecting.

    Fly Your Flag

    You know what is in your control? Your brand, story, and the content you create. Yes, your brand and story can change and transform once they hit the public domain, but it is still your brand. Tools and tactics change over time but the strength of content and stories endures. Craft your anthem and build a storytelling platform around it, with a focus on the channels you own.

    Own the Moment

    Gone are the days of the monoculture and the cultural moment. That one thing we all watch or hear. Our approach to marketing needs to reflect this reality. Customers move through a series of micro-moments in which we can message them, small windows of opportunity to catch their attention. These moments typically occur as they’re exploring on mobile, avoiding ads, in control, and expect to be able to act with the touch of a button. You have to utilize the other trends above to craft and deliver messaging that fit these moments and start a conversation.

    Trends 2020 Distilled: Respect your customers. Own your channels. Tell your story.

    What do you think we should expect in the future?

    originally posted on the Blue Ion blog