š” Technology. Noise. Attention. Isolation.
Welcome to another Pulse issue!
First, Iād like to thank everyone who signed up for Revue via the affiliate link in the last issue. You helped Pulse push beyond the 50 subscribers limit; so, thanks a lot! And I kept my promise of removing inactive subscribers so weāre not wasting any space.
Now, there are a couple of pieces in this issue highlighting one of our most important assets in life: our attention.
āAttention is a resource ā a person has only so much of it.ā ā Matthew B. Crawford
Look through the images in āRemovedā photo series and the photo of Hugo Gernsbackās Isolator from the 1920s. Now, think about what you are paying for with your attention? Is it even worth it?
Let me know what you think.
- Ben
š° News
Appleās self-driving car hits a milestone: the first accident! [TechCrunch] Apple reported their first autonomous vehicle collision in California where they now have 66 of them approved for testing. The accident caused no injuries and it was a human error. [CNBC]
Appleās next iPhone event will be on 12 September [TechCrunch] and there already are a few leaks: iPhone XS [TheVerge] and a bigger Apple Watch [9to5Mac]. What are you most excited about?
Last week, Facebook rolled out its Watch video-on-demand service to the rest of the world beyond the United States. Have you had a chance to try it? Or even had you heard about it at all? Well, itās not Facebookās most popular product yet! We ran a poll on our Telegram channel in addition to some data from Statista about peopleās familiarity with the service. Itās worth taking a look.
Your Twitter followings about to shrink! Twitterās testing a new handy feature: personalised āunfollowā suggestions! [Slate] How many unfollows are you expecting?
š§ Insights
Credit - Sandrachile on Unsplash
12 Stunning Instagram Themes (& How to Borrow Them for Your Own Feed)
Having a themed Instagram profile would definitely make it visually more attractive. But remember, it would also make posting new images more difficult as it limits what you can post. If you can deal with that, having a theme is great.
'Removed' - How Cellphones Isolate Humans by Eric Pickersgill
Are you reading this on a handheld device? Thereās a good chance you are. Now imagine howād you look if that device suddenly disappeared. Lonely? Slightly crazy? Perhaps standing next to a person being ignored?
Eric Pickersgillās eerie photo series serves as a reminder to put your devices away.
Not just yet! Finish reading this first!
š Statistics
How Often Do Smartphones "Phone Home"?
How often does your smartphone phone home?
As you probably already know, smartphones can (and do) gather a lot of information about their users and then āphone home,ā meaning send them to the companies behind their operating system; usually, Google or Apple.
According to a new study, Google, in particular, likes to keep tabs on its users. The study analysed how often Android phones and iPhones send information to Googleās and Appleās servers during a 24-hour period, distinguishing between the amount of data collected in idle mode and during normal use.
The results are pretty clear: even when not used, Android phones send information to Google around 40 times per hour, compared to just 4 times iPhones send info to Appleās servers. During normal use, that total rises to 90 information requests per hour for Android phones compared to 18 for iPhones.
Interestingly Google even collects more data from iPhone users than Apple itself does. This, however, only works when the phone is used. In idle mode iPhones very rarely communicate with Googleās servers.
Read more on Statista.
The State of Chinese Voice Assistants. Credit: CBInsights
The Rise Of Chinese Voice Assistants
China is the second-largest consumer market in the world, hitting $4.3T in consumer expenditure in 2016 alone (for reference, the US ranked first with $12.5T, and Japan third with $2.7T).
The Chinese smart home market will reach nearly $23B in 2018, according to Juniper Research. Smart speakers and AI voice assistants are becoming an integral part of that.
Now that smart speakers are becoming commonplace, the early entrant, Amazon, is losing its market share ā and not just to its rival Google, but to newer players emerging in China.
Read more on CBIsights.
August update š External referral traffic to https://t.co/HPfhrjA3cx's network:
- Google News is currently sending 2.3% of traffic and Twitter is sending 2.2%.
- Referral traffic from Pinterest, Google (other), and Bing is neck and neck.
https://t.co/iw0DCgHpMF https://t.co/8YymCTvYuy
External referral traffic to Parse.ly network
Itās interesting how close Flipboard is to Twitter and Google News in terms of referral traffic. If youāre a publisher (or work for one), make sure you have a strategic presence on Flipboard.
š± Tools & Apps
IGBlade: Keep an eye on your Instagram stats - and maybe your competitors!
BuyMeACoffee: If youāre a creator or a curator, this can help your fans support you with a coffee or two. [Example: You can support me and have a chance to win $20!]
LinkedIn Message Generator by Andrew Duberstein: A generator for tech industry recruiter messages.
š® Fun Stuff
Isolator: To save your most valuable asset - Attention!
šHugo Gernsback wearing his Isolator, which eliminates external noises for concentration, from Science and Invention, July, 1925. [Credit: Syracuse University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center via NYBooks]
The Amazing Life-size LEGO Technic Bugatti Chiron that DRIVES!
Just watch the two-minute videoā¦ Itās so good.
And remember to like it if you liked it, and donāt be like people on Jamesās flight:
I got on a plane today and everyone was scrolling instagram but not liking things. I wanted to grab the intercom and remind everyone that likes are free and unlimited and everyone loves getting them.
This is not goodbye...
This is a request! This week, Iād like to pick your brains about the different sections of Pulse. So, if you hit reply and let me know what your most and least favourite sections are, that would be fantastic. Even if you think something is missing or is too much, Iād love to hear it.
See you in your inbox next week!