Millions tune in to watch the ultimate battle of the States

What Next?

Samsung makes TVs useful, even when they’re turned off

Samsung has come up with a way for consumers to get the most out of their TVs. For many people, the TV screen is positioned as a centrepiece in their living rooms, and Samsung’s new feature for their QLED televisions will ensure that there is always a use for the screen and that it doesn’t simply lie dormant when it isn’t turned on. In ‘ambient mode’, the TV screen can be used to display images such as photography and art, or can instead display the time, weather, the news or by mimicking the appearance of the wall behind it, become completely transparent. This mode can be accessed through the accompanying mobile app SmartThings. See how the new feature works below.

CoverGirl thanks women for speaking up

CoverGirl have acknowledged that for many years multicultural women and their skin haven’t necessarily been catered to in the makeup world, especially when it came to foundation. In the ever-changing landscape that is fashion and beauty, CoverGirl created Trublend Matte Made: a foundation made for the unique needs of multicultural skin, available in 40 shades. To promote the product launch, CoverGirl created the short film “By the Infinite” as a part of the “I Am What I Make Up” campaign to emphasise the power of makeup to express individuality. The film is, in a way, a thank you letter to the many women who spoke up about their skins’ unique needs. It begins by addressing these voices, “For everyone who told us what they needed in foundation.”

Watch it here (when you have a spare 14 minutes):

Millions tune in to watch the ultimate battle of the States

Program Station Audience
State of Origin: Rugby League QLD V NSW 2nd Match Ch9 2,130,741
State of Origin: Rugby League QLD V NSW 2nd Match Pre-Game Ch9 1,085,624
House Rules – Sunday Ch7 1,013,965
House Rules – Monday Ch7 1,011,298
Have you been paying attention? Ch10 977,321
Masterchef Australia – Monday Ch10 944,244
Masterchef Australia – Tuesday Ch10 937,779
Masterchef Australia – Wednesday Ch10 847,380
Masterchef Australia – Sunday Ch10 821,446
Masterchef Australia – Thursday Ch10 786,274

24/06/2018 – 30/06/2018

Instagram announce new features that discourage overgramming

Instagram is doing what no other social networks are – encouraging people to spend less time on their platform. Seemingly, people are spending far too much on time on the app that they’re introducing new features to reduce users’ endless scrolling. The first feature is a warning that lets people know when they have seen all of the new posts from the past 2 days. It’s aimed to stop Instagrammers from scrolling through endless amounts of posts because they’re worried they missed something. Additionally, the channel is also prototyping ‘Do Not Disturb’ features that let users shut off notifications from the app for 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, eight hours, one day or indefinitely. The new features are all derived from the ‘Time Well Spent’ philosophy, but it remains to be seen if they will have any actual effect on users’ time spent on the Gram.

AirBnb hosts can now grant access to guests when they’re not at home

Whilst on holidays, many travellers enjoy working to their own schedule, which Airbnb have noticed can pose as a bit of an issue when regular people are required to act as hoteliers and aren’t necessarily available to greet their guests on arrival. In response to the problem, the service have teamed up with lock-makers August Home, eliminating the need for meet-ups between hosts and renters by using an electronic pin code that the owner can provide the renter access to via the phone app. The renter then punches the code into a keypad… and open sesame!

Target is one step closer to cashless retail

Target is one step closer to cashless retail. As of next month, the retailer will begin installing automated cash-counting machines in their North American stores called ‘cash recyclers’. Target estimates that on an average day, the cash-counting process can take up to an hour and a half collectively for all team members working in a store. Since counting cash manually is not only time consuming and inefficient but also presents room for error, the machines will allow employees to focus their time on more important tasks like personalising in-store experiences for customers. This is a major step for the retailer to eliminate the constant headaches that cash causes in the day-to-day store operations.

Alibaba’s AI copywriting tool (apparently) passed the Turning Test

E-commerce platform Alibaba, and their digital marketing arm, Alimama, have released an AI-enabled Chinese copywriting tool that they claim has passed the “Turning Test’ – although they have provided little detail into whether they actually conducted a test to prove this. Even so, the tool is able to produce 20,000 lines of copy a second, which is impressive in itself. The AI copywriter uses deep learning to process millions of top-quality existing samples to generate its own copy for retailer sites such as Tmall. The idea is that the tool will allow staff to devote more energy to richly creative work rather than dwelling over whether their Chinese is up to standard.

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