While you were cherishing the last few days of summer and tweeting away during NFL football, Carousel30 has been keeping up with the big updates in the industry. Here are a few you may have missed…
Technology
You’ll never get tangled up in a mess of white cords again with Apple’s new iPhone 7. The new iPhone 7 and 7 plus will feature updates including a dual camera, water resistance and—the feature everyone is talking about—wireless earbuds. Just after the wireless headphones were announced, Beats by Dre, which is owned by Apple, jumped on the bandwagon and rolled out a new line of wireless headphones that can be used with the new Apple devices.
The iPhone wasn’t the only Apple product to get a major makeover. Apple also introduced a new Apple Watch that will be faster than ever. Despite one CEO’s belief that the Internet of Things is stalling, what isn’t stalling is the idea of wearables that help provide peace of mind and an improved lifestyle to consumers. The Apple Watch updates aren’t just in the hard drive. Apple partnered with Hermes (for the fashionistas) and Nike (for the workout junkies) to add aesthetics to the watch. If fashion and fitness aren’t your style and you’d rather catch Pikachu, you’ll be happy to hear that you will be able to play Pokemon Go on the new device. And, if you’d even like to invest in a product specifically for your Pokemon catching missions, a wearable accessory called Pokemon Go Plus will be available starting September 16.
Social Media
While technology announcements have us excited for the future, social media updates kept us on our toes with problems and lawsuits. Facebook and Instagram sent the British anti-littering application, LitterGram, a deadline for the app to change its name. Facebook, which owns Instagram, cited the use of “gram” in the title and the use of photography with social aspects as reasons why the application is undermining the Instagram brand. While fighting to keep the Instagram brand one-of-a-kind, the app also announced its plan to slowly remove the photo map feature which could affect businesses who get their name in front of potential customers by having their location tagged in photos.
Facebook also changed its trending topics feature from being run by human editors to being compiled by an algorithm. This update could’ve been a step into the future but has failed with numerous blunders including a false story about Megyn Kelly getting fired by Fox News and an offensive 9/11 conspiracy story. Twitter is also in hot water with its investors due to a drop in the price of the company’s stock prices. Although Wall Street was impressed with Twitter’s claim to have added three million users in the last quarter, their stock prices just don’t match.
Luckily, it isn’t all mishaps in the social media world, with social media furthering its positive impact on business. Facebook announced that it will get rid of its ad-blocking technology which means advertisers will now have more opportunities to target Facebook users, and Twitter is hoping to make a comeback by expanding to Apple TV, Fire TV, and Xbox One with an app where users can watch video and a Twitter feed side by side during live broadcasts.
Amazon
Amazon and Pandora plan to cut the costs of music streaming with new services coming out in the next few weeks. Both online media giants are hoping to take over the music streaming scene by cutting prices to half of what popular sites like Spotify and Apple Music now charge. Amazon isn’t just expanding online. While the company started completely online, it currently has 22 pop up stores across the country and plans to open as many as 100 within the next year. However, with Amazon dominating the e-commerce space, some experts are wondering if it’s a smart move for Amazon to move into more physical spaces.
Advertising
With election season in full swing, Rock the Vote is teaming up with Virgin America in hopes of getting millennials to turn out and vote during flights. The two groups created a PSA that is now aired at the beginning of Virgin’s flights immediately following the in-flight safety video. The video encourages passengers to use the airline’s Wi-Fi to register to vote. AdWeek also announced the big winners in their Media Plan of the Year contest and the grand prize winner, which naturally followed the election theme, was Netflix and MEC for their House of Cards ad during the Republican National Convention. The ad, which seemed like a typical presidential ad campaign, surprised viewers when it was revealed that the campaign was for the House of Cards star Frank Underwood and his 2016 reelection bid.
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