Long time, no post. That's partly because it's been summer, partly because I've been busy, and partly because I've been lazy. Also, for the past week, I was at the
Recommender Systems conference in Dublin, Ireland. This was my first time at the conference, and I found it to mostly valuable for industrial and academic researchers - not product folks like myself. That said, I did meet some interesting folks, and saw some good presentations during the industry track. Two good recaps are
here and
here.
Other than that, there have been a few tidbits on the interwebs that have caught my eye recently...
Speaking of recommender systems above, this piece talks a little about the process that underpins the metadata which drives your "witty romantic comedies for dudes" recommendations on Netflix:
Cadre of film buffs helps Netflix viewers sort through the clutter
Their reliance on both people and algorithms is just proof that entertainment is creative human process, not only in its creation, but also in its subsequent discovery. This next piece gets into why people are shifting toward TV viewing rather than going to the movies, arguing that movies are no longer made by creative people, but by committees, based on complex models of what has been successful in the past:
The Main Reason TV Is Now Better Than Movies
While we're on the subject of TV, this new report suggests that good old-fashioned channel surfing is still people's primary mode of consumption:
Live Viewing Still Overwhelmingly Dominates TV
But there are still plenty of pundits who suggest this evidence doesn't necessarily reflect the reality that the pay-TV industry is crumbling. This piece mounts the argument that cable TV as we know it is dead; I'll let you decide for yourself whether you agree:
Cable’s Walls Are Coming Down
Either way, it's impossible to ignore that there are lots of companies out there trying to disrupt the existing TV ecosystem. According to this rumor, one of the big players in disrupting the music industry now has its sights set on TV as well:
Spotify for TV – could it finally be true?
And finally, you may have heard about a new phone that was announced recently. Fanboys and pre-orders aside, I enjoyed this very forward-looking piece in the Atlantic on what the "phone" will look like ten years hence:
iPhone 5? Yawn. What Will the 'Phone' of 2022 Look Like?
