Facebook tests “subscription Groups” that charge for exclusive content

Facebook is starting to let Group admins charge $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to special sub-Groups full of exclusive posts. A hand-picked array of parenting, cooking, and ‘organize my home’ Groups will be the first to get the chance to spawn a subscription Group open to their members.

During the test, Facebook won’t be taking a cut, but since the feature bills through iOS and Android, they’ll get their 30 percent cut of a user’s first year of subscription and 15 percent after that. But if Facebook eventually did ask for a revenue share, it could finally start to monetize the Groups feature that’s grown to over 1 billion users.

The idea for subscription Groups originally came from the admins. “It’s not so much about making money as it is investing in their community” says Facebook Groups product manager Alex Deve. “The fact that there will be funds coming out of the activity helps them create higher quality content.” Some admins tell Facebook they actually want to funnel subscription dues back into activities their Group does together offline.

Content users might get in the exclusive version of groups include video tutorials, lists of tips, and support directly from admins themselves. For example, Sandra Mueller’s Declutter My Home Group is launching a $14.99 per month Organize My Home subscription Group that will teach members how to stay tidy with checklists and video guides. The Grown and Flown Parents group is spawning a College Admissions and Affordability subscription group with access to college counselors for $29.99. Cooking On A Budget: Recipes & Meal Planning will launch a $9.99 Meal Planning Central Premium subscription group with weekly meal plans, shopping lists for different grocery stores, and more.

But the point of the test is actually to figure out what admins would post and whether members find it valuable. “They have their own ideas. We want to see how that is going to evolve” says Deve.

Here’s how subscription Groups work. First, a user must be in a larger group where the admin has access to the subscription options and posts an invitation for members to check it out. They’ll see preview cards outlining what exclusive content they’ll get access to and how much it costs. If they want to join, the admin vets their application, and if they’re approved they’re charged the monthly fee right away.

They’ll be billed on that date each month, and if they cancel, they’ll still have access until the end of the month. That prevents anyone from joining a group and scraping all the content without paying the full price. The whole system is a bit similar to subscription patronage platform Patreon, but with a Group and its admin at the center instead of some star creator.

Back in 2016, Facebook briefly tested showing ads in Groups, but now says that was never rolled out. However, the company says that admins want other ways beyond subscriptions to build revenue from Groups and it’s considering the possibilities. Facebook didn’t have any more to share on this, but perhaps one day it will offer a revenue split from ads shown within groups.

Between subscriptions, ad revenue shares, tipping, sponsored content, and product placement — all of which Facebook is testing — creators are suddenly flush with monetization options. While we spent the last few decades of the consumer internet scarfing up free content, creativity can’t be a labor of love forever. Letting creators earn money could help them turn their passion into their profession and dedicate more time to making things people love.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2JQXjkd
via IFTTT

Google Podcasts app review

Apple has essentially owned podcasts since their inception. Hell, even the format’s name betrays its close tie to the company’s once ubiquitous player. At best, Google has reluctantly embraced the form, incorporating podcasts into the broader scope of Play, leading many of Android’s billions of users to rely on third-party solutions.

There are plenty of solutions out there, of course — Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts — seemingly as many as there are podcasts. For whatever reason, Google has seemed content to let the competition own the category. Until now, that is. The company just dropped the simply titled “Podcasts.” It’s exactly what you’d expect from Google — a straightforward listening and browsing experience that prioritizes discovery above all else.

I asked Google why it was so late to the draw in terms of fully embracing the medium. I never really got a great answer on that front, but a rep told me the company was driven to create the new standalone app thanks to the “explosion of creativity” that’s occurred in the past few years. Fair enough. The category is undeniably in the midst of a renaissance, making it one of the most exciting entertainment and informational mediums in the world today.

And with its longtime goal of “organizing the world’s information,” certainly Google is well-positioned to provide a unique service for the 500,000+ active podcasts out there. The new app’s mission statement is, fittingly, to “make it really easier for them to discover and listen to the podcasts they love.”

With that in mind, the app’s discovery mechanism is framed differently than Apple’s. In recent years, Cupertino has pushed toward curation, hiring editors to determine which properties to promote in its various channels. In the case of the iOS podcast app, that generally means that the most popular programs are pushed to the top. Publishers like NPR or ESPN tend to get preferential treatment. And the algorithms that control the top podcast lists are anyone’s guess.

That’s all well and good for first-time listeners. That manner of curation generally does a good job assuring that featured shows adhere to a certain expectation of quality. But podcasting is among the most intimate forms of communication — a proxy for a close conversation with friends. Certainly it stands to reason that recommendations ought to be tailored to listeners in a way that respects that relationship.

Of course, the first time you log into the app, Google’s recommendations are anything but. The page that greets you is fairly generic. You’ve got all of the usual “top podcast” subjects in there — This American Life, Radiolab, Serial. You know the deal — if your parent who’s never listened to a podcast has brought it up in casual conversation, it’s probably in there.

Once you start subscribing to shows, however, the home page shifts accordingly. According to Google, “a few factors, such as your listening habits and the podcasts you subscribe to.” That means, theoretically, that it continues to get better the more shows you listen to and subscribe — and the more others use it, as well.

I’ve only had a short time with the app; so far recommendations still feel a bit generic — things like “Top Podcasts by NPR” and “Popular with Listeners of Stop Podcasting Yourself.” There are also kinks here — my friend Robin does the alternative comics podcast Inkstuds, so the app recommended a bunch of other shows by people also named Robin. That strikes me as a very strange way to choose podcasts. Maybe it’s just me.

There’s also no rating system on-board yet. The feature is likely coming, and will probably go a ways toward helping customize those recommendations. It’s one of a number of features that just weren’t ready at launch time. Google’s also experimenting with speech to text podcast transcriptions as a way of both providing additional metadata to crawl and offering up future features like closed captioning for users with hearing loss. That could be big for a larger potential audience that simply isn’t served by the audio-based format.

There’s a lot of room for improvement here, but Podcasts is a solid first effort. The interface is packed without being overwhelming. The shows you subscribe to populate a grid up top. Below this, they’re separated by New Episodes, In Progress and Downloads. It’s a nice way of serving up a lot of information, all at once, unlike the Apple app, which seems to make that more difficult with each update.

When a show is playing, it pops up in a small field at the bottom of the screen, which you can swipe up to enlarge. There’s a time scrubber, 10-second rewind and 30-second fast-forward. And yes, there’s a speed feature, for all you weirdos who listen to podcasts at 2x. Google’s offered a lot of customization on that front, with 15 different time increments between 0.5 and 2.0 speed.

There isn’t a lot to distinguish Podcasts, but it’s a solid first stab at the category. Google would likely be the first to admit that there’s room for improvement here, and based on my conversations with the company, it seems they have a lot planned on that front. Among other things, the company is looking into offering deeper analytics like the kind Apple recently rolled out.

In the meantime, it’s certainly worth the download for Android users who have been looking for another way to listen to their stories. And if you’re looking for a place to get started, why not check out one of these fine TechCrunch podcasts. 

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2lij4KY
via IFTTT

Amazon launches an Alexa system for hotels

Alexa is coming to your hotel room. Amazon this morning is announcing a new program called Alexa for Hospitality, designed to bring its voice assistant technology to everything from chain hotels to vacation rentals. The system can be customized to include key guest information, like checkout time or pool hours; allows guests to request services like housekeeping or room service; and can be configured to control “smart” hotel room functions, like adjusting the thermostat or raising the blinds.

Marriott is Amazon’s launch partner on the new platform, which is notable not only for the potential scale of this rollout, but also because the hotelier had been testing both Siri and Alexa devices ahead of today’s news.

According to Amazon, Marriott International will introduce the new Alexa experience at select properties in Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels starting this summer.

The system will also be available by invitation to other hospitality providers beginning today.

Alexa for Hospitality works over Echo devices installed in guest rooms which will be customized for the hotel. Currently, supported devices include the Amazon Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Plus.

Via the Echo, guests will be able to ask Alexa for information about the hotel itself – like where the fitness center is located, when the pool is open, and other general information. But they’ll also be able to contact services like in-room dining, the concierge, the front desk, housekeeping, the spa, and so on, just by speaking to Alexa.

Amazon says the system will also work with existing hotel technology, including DigiValet, Intelity, Nuvola, and Volara. This allows guests to say things like “Alexa, order wine” or “Alexa, book a spa appointment,” and then have those requests routed to property management, point of sale, and guest request systems for fulfillment.

Alexa can partially take the place of the in-room telephone, too, as a promo video Amazon shared showed how a guest called her kids at home from her hotel room using just the Echo.

If the hotel desires it, the Alexa system can be customized further to control various “smart home” features like the lights, blinds, the thermostat, and even the TVs.

Specifically, it works with guest room entertainment providers World Cinema and GuestTek for voice control of TV experiences, and offers in-room control of connected devices using Crestron and Inncom by Honeywell, Amazon says.

In addition, the guests will be able to play music and radio over iHeartRadio and TuneIn, which can be set up to play music stations that match the hotel’s brand. (The hotel can control the volume, too, so guests can’t blast their neighbors.)

Guests can access third-party apps for things like workouts, airport wait times, meditation, white noise and more, including custom skills that may tie into a hotel partnership – as with Marriott Hotels’ partnership with TED. In those locations, guest can ask Alexa for a TED Talk on mindfulness, creativity or leadership.

The Alexa for Hospitality system isn’t just the Echo devices in the room, however – it’s a suite of tools for configuring the Echo devices, available via a dashboard where hotels can update their information, enable skills, adjust settings and track usage.

Amazon says the devices are designed to be provisioned in minutes, and can alert an admin if they go offline.

They’ll also allow the hoteliers to measure guest engagement through analytics and reporting, allowing the hotel to adapt its own systems accordingly.

Though not available at launch, the platform will be updated in the future to allow guests to personalize their in-room Echo further by temporarily connecting their own Amazon account for the length of their stay.

This may be the most compelling feature of all.

Hotels are famous for rolling out technology in an effort to cater to their guests’ needs that’s never really used – for example, those in-room Android tablets with hotel info that are too locked-down to enjoy; or those fancy clock radios you unplug so you can instead sleep in the dark with your smartphone by your side.

But with the ability to turn your hotel room Alexa into “your” Alexa, you’d be able to play your own personal music from services like Amazon Music, Spotify and Pandora or continue to listen to your audiobooks from Audible, Amazon says.

Plus, let’s be honest – hotels will be able to capitalize on the fact that Alexa owners have grown so comfortable using Amazon’s virtual assistant, they’ve probably already called out for Alexa by mistake when traveling, forgetting for a moment that she’s not there.

Except now she will be.

Amazon says it’s also working with vacation rental companies like RedAwning, and boutique lifestyle properties within the Two Roads Hospitality portfolio including Thompson Hotels, Joie de Vivre, Destination Hotels and Alila to test out the new platform.

The company declined to share pricing information for the system, nor what (if any) bulk discount the hotels would be getting on their device orders.

“Marriott has a long track record of innovating for our guests, and we’re thrilled to be among the first to offer Alexa for Hospitality,” said Jennifer Hsieh, Vice President Customer Experience Innovation, Marriott International, in a statement about the launch.

“So many of our guests use voice technology in their home, and we want to extend that convenience to their travel experience. Guests of Charlotte Marriott City Center and Marriott Irvine Spectrum will be among the first to experience a curated list of Alexa for Hospitality features. We will be evaluating guest feedback and adoption to inform how we expand the skills, features, and functionality offered through Alexa in our hotels,” she added.

Marriott says that Alexa for Hospitality will be rolled out to ten properties across the U.S. this summer.

This includes the Charlotte Marriott City Center in North Carolina and the Marriott Irvine Spectrum in California where the company often features its latest innovations, as Hsieh noted. It will also be deployed in eight other properties across Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels brands.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2K1Wtxb
via IFTTT

Uber’s chief brand officer, Bozoma Saint John, has left

Bozoma Saint John has left Uber for entertainment company Endeavor, Recode first reported. Saint John’s employment at Uber came in the midst of the company’s scandals around sexual harassment, management issues and toxic culture.

“I want to thank Boz for her contributions over the last year,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told TechCrunch in an emailed statement. “Boz joined Uber at a time when the company was hurting—but her energy, optimism and creativity have been a key part of our ongoing turnaround. Endeavor is lucky to have her, and I’m excited to watch her work in her new role.”

Before joining Uber, Saint John made a name for herself at Apple, where she led the company’s global consumer marketing division for Apple Music and iTunes. Saint John joined Beats Electronics only a few months before Apple bought the company for $3 billion.

Before that, she spent several years at PepsiCo doing music and entertainment marketing. But it wasn’t until Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2016 when the masses began to understand her talent. At Endeavor, Saint John will serve as chief marketing officer.

“Boz’s strong creative vision has the power to create cultural moments that are transformative for brands,” said Endeavor CEO Ariel Emanuel said in a statement. “We’re excited for what it means when her vision comes face-to-face with our client roster and portfolio of brands who are shaping the cultural conversation around the world every day.”

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2l1rjeb
via IFTTT

By automating code compliance, UpCodes AI is “the spellcheck for buildings”

For many architects, the hardest part of their job starts after they finish designing a building, when the onerous process of code compliance begins. Written to ensure the safety and accessibility of buildings, codes dictate everything from the height and depth of stairs and where railings end, to the amount of floor space in front of toilets and the height of windows. Regulations are constantly updated, which means that even the most diligent team of architects often miss violations, resulting in costly delays. Y Combinator alum UpCodes wants to help them by using artificial intelligence, including natural language processing, to create what the San Francisco-based startup describes as “the spellcheck for buildings.”

Called UpCodes AI, the program is a plug-in that scans 3D models created with building information modeling (BIM) data and alerts architects about potential issues. It draws on the same backend as UpCodes’ first product, an app that compiles regulations into a constantly updated, searchable database with collaboration tools. UpCodes AI, which launched to the public last week, currently supports recent versions of Autodesk Revit and will add ARCHICAD, Sketchup and IFC in the future.

“This is like Grammarly for the construction industry. By highlighting code errors in real-time, the software acts as a code consultant working beside you at all times,” UpCodes co-founder and CEO Scott Reynolds tells TechCrunch.

UpCodes’ co-founders Garrett and Scott Reynolds and UpCodes AI technical lead Mark Vulfson

UpCodes was founded in 2016 after Reynolds became so frustrated by traditional code compliance while working as an architect that he switched career paths and launched the startup with his brother Garrett, a former software engineer at PlanGrid, to fix the process.

Building codes change so often that they are sometimes referred to as “living documents.” UpCodes’ database draws directly on regulations put online by municipalities and is updated almost in real-time. This eases a major pain point because many architects who thought they had followed regulations find out too late that they missed an amendment. In worst case scenarios, completed work needs to be torn out and rebuilt, potentially costing tens of thousands of dollars. This is a frequent occurrence and Scott Reynolds points to studies by McKinsey and the National Association of Home Builders that cite the complexity of code compliance as a major reason for reduced productivity in the construction industry and rising home prices.

Automating code compliance may also make it easier for architects to expand their practices, since regulations can vary dramatically between jurisdictions. UpCodes currently covers building codes in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Though UpCodes AI is still in its early stages, Reynolds tells TechCrunch that during its private beta it identified an average of about 27 violations per project.

One of its private beta users was Nicholas LoCicero, a designer with CallisonRTKL, an architecture firm known for retail design. LoCicero told TechCrunch in an email that the company used UpCodes AI on two retail locations that needed brand updates. Accessibility, which includes making sure that there are unobstructed ways of exiting a building from any point within it, is one of the most important parts of code compliance, and LoCicero said UpCodes AI was able to flag issues with door clearance, depth on stairs and tread width more quickly than the typical compliance process.

The program “definitely has the potential to save us hours of time with smart egress and accessibility tools and components that will help us develop projects faster during different phases of design” while ensuring that compliance is maintained, he added.

So far, UpCodes has raised $785,000 in funding from angel investors, as well as Y Combinator and Foundation Capital. It now has over 100,000 monthly active users and recently hired Mark Vulfson, former senior manager of engineering at PlanGrid, to serve as UpCodes AI’s technical lead.

Though the adoption of BIM data has made planning buildings more efficient, that’s “only a modest use of BIM’s full potential,” Reynolds says. He notes that it’s just within the past few years that more than 50% of American architecture firms have started using 3D information-rich modeling instead of 2D modeling. Programs like Revit and ARCHICAD, and new developments in APIs, finally made automated code compliance possible.

The use of AI in architecture is still new, but there are already several companies, including Autodesk and CoPlannery, exploring how to apply AI technologies to solve common problems in design, construction and engineering. Since AI is used in other major industries, including finance and healthcare, to automate compliance, it makes sense to assume that somewhere down the line, another company might try to build a competitor to UpCodes AI.

Reynolds believes that the UpCodes team’s combined industry and technical expertise will give it an edge over future rivals. He says his brother Garrett has a background in diffusion MRI analyzing large 4D data sets, while Vulfson brings “extensive experience deploying client side and web-based products” to the startup. UpCodes also works with a building code consultant who is based in New York City.

“The whole industry of code compliance has been neglected by software engineers for so long that it’s hard to imagine someone else doing what we’re doing,” Reynolds says.

“Building codes are a creativity killer.  These regulations are one of the most restrictive components of design,” he adds. “Imagine restricting every brush stroke an artist makes with ten thousand rules–that’s what building codes feel like to an architect. That’s why I quit my career to do this. I want to take away that frustration and make architecture more fun, like it is in school.”

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2y2hYfF
via IFTTT

Spotify será la Media Brand of the Year en Cannes Lions 2018

Cannes Lions acaba de anunciar que Spotify será reconocida como Media Brand of the Year en la edición 2018 de Festival, galardón que recogerá Daniel Ek, cofundador, Presidente y CEO de la marca en nombre de los más de 3.000 empleados con los que cuenta la empresa.

La elección de esta compañía, tal como explica Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential Events y presidente electo de Cannes Lions se debe a que “Spotify ha transformado la manera en la que nos relacionamos con la música. En los diez años desde que Daniel y su equipo lanzaron el servicio ha participado en el rediseño del futuro de los medios y en la transformación sobre cómo los artistas y las marcas se comunican con sus audiencias. Su continua innovación y asociación con marcas ha derivado en una cultura de creatividad y en una plataforma para que nuevos artistas compartan su voz y nosotros estamos encantados de poder reconocer a Spotify con este premio.”

El mayor servicios de música en streaming del mundo cuenta con más de 170 millones de usuarios en 65 países y lidera un marketing basado en la gente, a través del entendimiento de los usuarios y su comportamiento musical en streaming, que permite a las marcas y anunciantes conectarse mejor con sus necesidades.

Por su parte, Daniel Ek, ha expresado ante este reconocimiento, que: “Mientras puedo apreciar que este premio normalmente reconoce a un individuo, no me embarqué en este viaje solo. Estamos donde estamos hoy en día gracias a nuestros empleados, pasados y presentes, quienes han sido la parte más integral de nuestros 10 años de historia. Me siento energizado a diario por la creatividad, coraje y pasión que nuestro equipo tiene en el trabajo. En nombre de toda la empresa, agradecemos al Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity por este premio.” El mismo que Ek recogerá en la ceremonia del próximo miércoles 20 de junio en Cannes, Francia.

The post Spotify será la Media Brand of the Year en Cannes Lions 2018 appeared first on Revista Merca2.0.

from Creatividad – Revista Merca2.0 https://ift.tt/2LZkzK0
via IFTTT