Issue 2.1 — Twitter as broadcaster, Apple privacy and more

A look back, to learn what’s next. By Augur.

Issue 2.1 — Twitter as broadcaster, Apple privacy and more

The tech world is naturally drawn to novelty. But too often, this makes it easy to lose perspective. How can we understand the importance of today’s events of today without considering those that came before?

Every seven days, we take a look at this week’s news in previous years to see what we can learn. Feedback to augur+lookback@augur.london


2015

'Dislike' button coming to Facebook - BBC News
Facebook is to add a "dislike" button to its social network, founder Mark Zuckerberg has said. In a Q+A session held at…

Except, it never did. Instead, we got a series of basic emoji responses— and an interesting article that explained why.

Apple delays WatchOS 2 software update - BBC News
Apple has delayed a major upgrade to its smartwatch's operating system, after finding a bug in the software. The update…

Has *anything* gone smoothly for Apple Watch? Born with an unclear remit, hobbled by strange interface design, lacking apps.

However, having used WatchOS 3 for a while now, I do think it represents a promising fresh start.


2014

Apple's Tim Cook attacks Google and Facebook over privacy flaws
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has fired a new salvo against Google and Facebook, emphasising in an open letter to…

It’s clearer and clearer that Apple was laying the seeds for a “differential privacy” approach for a while now. Shrewd but many have mentioned that this may leave them at a disadvantage in the coming age of machine-learning power. No matter what their PR efforts to pretend otherwise say.


2013

Inside Twitter's plan to go public as quickly and quietly as it can
Twitter would like to go public as quietly as possible. And to do that, it will go public as quickly as possible, too.…

Three years later and Twitter seems in even more trouble, not less.

Why Investors Should Ignore Calico And Other Google Moonshots
Another day, another weird business that Google enters. This time, according to a Time magazine cover story, it's…

Relevant in light of examples like Project Ara shutting down and Nest (a relatively mild effort) being such a mess.

But this must be the future of these companies — just look at Facebook’s ambition with drones, VR etc to see how they must diversify over coming decades.

See also “Did Google Shutdown ___ Yet?”

How Apple's iTunes Radio will rock the world
With the arrival of iTunes Radio, which comes out this week with the release of iOS 7, Apple is poised to tackle the…

Foreshadowing of Apple Music…

Twitter #Music becomes more useful with its own Spotify app
After a launch with plenty of buzz, Twitter #Music got awful quiet. There are a number of reasons for this, but the…

Were these kinds of efforts at Twitter a way to suggest potential value and future avenues ahead of the IPO? Hard to see what else the point was.


2012

What to Make of Google's Decision to Block the 'Innocence of Muslims' Movie
The attacks on U.S. missions abroad this week have been a test for Google's "bias in favor of free expression."…

Interesting in light of Facebook’s recent controversy with censoring photos. These businesses are having to determine the outside limits of their editorial policy against things like this and how they curate stories in particularly interesting ways.

Amazon to open new tech base at 'Silicon Roundabout'
East London's reputation as a technology hub received a major boost today as US online giant Amazon opened a new global…

Opened in 2012.

Creating 100 jobs in 2013.

Claiming to bring 3000 jobs in 2014.

I feel like there are various examples of Amazon pursuing a narrative with these iterative press releases — see previous LookBack for example where they announce eBooks overtaking print for about 3x years in a row.

Apple to surprise with late-2011 MacBook Pro refresh this month
Exclusive: With Intel's next-generation Core i-Series mobile platform not expected until the second quarter of 2012,…

I know plenty of people (including us) are waiting for announcement of new MacBooks. Goes to show it’s nothing new.

Twitter Opens The Kimono On Web Analytics; 3 Million Sites Now Using Tweet Button
It's well known that one of the missing parts of Twitter's offerings for publishers is an in-depth analytics platform.…

A more innocent time.

Facebook sucks up Americans' time
Nielsen finds we spend more time on the social network than any other destination on the Web--nearly a billion hours a…

Arguably, Facebook is now losing this to Snapchat.


2010

Twitter as broadcast: What #newtwitter might mean for networked journalism
So Twitter.com's updated interface -- #newtwitter, as the Twittery hashtag goes -- is upon us. (Well, upon some of us.)…

Tweet yesterday from City AM Tech Editor shows how these things go around in circles:

Celebrities discover the downside of Twitter
LOS ANGELES Is celebrities' obsession with Twitter starting to wane? When singer John Mayer, one of Twitter's most high…

Six years later, it’s still a massive problem — abuse arguably more potent than ever.

Diaspora, the Open Facebook Alternative, Releases Its Code
On Thursday Diaspora, a social Web site that hopes to offer an alternative to Facebook, announced that its developers…

For all the fuss about Facebook and privacy, Diaspora is the best demo that normal people really don’t want to change their behaviour. You could probably say Snapchat created the real dynamic that ‘preserves’ privacy in public perception.


1959

The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City.


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