Interesting Reads. Industry news that you may have missed.
The Making of a Computer-Generated Influencer – The Wall Street Journal
Miquela Sousa, also known as ‘Lil Miquela,’ tested the power of fabricated social-media celebrity. Lil Miquela grew a rapid social following as in her photos she seemed like a human, but had a unique CGI-look to her characteristics. Recently a startup called Brud announced she is completely fake and is betting that they can turn her and an expanding group of CGI-based people into social-media personalities.
Facebook’s Version of YouTube Takes Shape With Pranksters, Magicians and Cartoons – The New York Times
Facebook believes that the key to its future growth is Facebook Watch. With a rising number of videos from internet stars like magicians performing in the streets of Thailand or Australian brothers pulling pranks on bystandards, this looks like the tech giant’s answer to YouTube. In just a few months, creators who get running ads on their content are attracting a revenue around six figures.
Dictionaries chose 3 different words of the year for 2018, and they’re all perfect – Fast Company
To sum up 2018, Oxford Dictionary, Dictionary.com, and Merriam-Webster all chose top words to reflect the year. The Oxford Dictionary picked “toxic,” which could be applied to anything – environment, political debates, office culture, etc. Dictionary.com opted for “misinformation” aka Fake News. Merriam-Webster chose “justice,” a word that is slightly more hopeful, yet also frustrating.
These Are The Technologies That Will Change Our Lives In The Next 10 Years – Forbes
New technologies are forming all the time, but what will truly make an impact in 10 years? Researchers at Lux narrowed down the key technology innovations that will impact the world economy and our lives over the next decade. Top five transformative technologies include: Machine learning and AI, wearable electronics, 3D printing, genome editing, and augmented and virtual reality.
