Think, Thought, Imagine: Daily tech, media & more (1/5/16)

Quick News (read the headlines and you’re done)

Oracle Buys Audience Tracking Firm AddThis For Around $200M [why interesting: it’s not, but it is – see Snapchat story below] - TechCrunch
 
Fitbit’s New Wearable Is A Fitness Watch Called Blaze [why interesting: Fitbit tops “activity tracker” sales, and they’re profitable, but they have competition in the Apple Watch] – The Verge
 
Snapchat Is Building An Ad Technology Platform [look, this is super boring, but this (super) matters because it’s a big reason “big tech” became “big money” – and because Snapchat specifically stated they wanted to stay away from “targeting” and the like – turns out…] - Digiday
 
Nikon Announces A 360-Degree Action Camera [why interesting: it’s another camera, fine, but it’s from a “legit” camera company and there hasn’t been a ton of competition for GoPro besides Sony (also interesting they made it 360 – most 360 cameras that’ve been announced are much larger, including GoPro’s)] – The Verge
 
Twitter Considering 10,000-Character Limit for Tweets [“considering” may be “confirms” as CEO Jack Dorsey just tweeted (many characters) about it – and it seems weird to be talking about characters in 2016, but the 140 limit defined the platform and made for a different style of social content, so this isn’t insignificant (…for Twitter)] – recode

Please Explain (someone's gotta do it)

Twitter’s ‘Conversational’ Ad Unit Encourages Users To Participate With Customizable Hashtags [i.e. two options, choose one, tweet – one question though, why restrict to ad tweets?] - TechCrunch
 
Sling TV Emphasizes On-Demand Content with New Interface, May Launch Multiple Streams This Year [why interesting: Sling TV was a big deal last year for being an early “cord cutter” option and this focus on on-demand content is a shift from the traditional channel focused interface it launched with] - Variety
 
Secretive Tesla Competitor Unveils Concept Supercar [company is “Faraday Future” and they have (a lot of) investment from Chinese backers as well as employees who held relatively prominent positions at Tesla and IBM – their headquarters are in SoCal, but they’ll build the cars in Nevada (quite close to Tesla’s battery factory)] – CNN

Look, Listen (and um, learn)

Watch: Idris Elba on Fatherhood and Hollywood Stereotypes [Elba is nominated for two Golden Globes (BBC’s Luther and Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation] – NY Times

Great Reads (why settle for good?)

How to Cultivate the Art of Serendipity – NY Times
 
“Some she called “non-encounterers”; they saw through a tight focus, a kind of chink hole, and they tended to stick to their to-do lists when searching for information rather than wandering off into the margins. Other people were “occasional encounterers,” who stumbled into moments of serendipity now and then. Most interesting were the “super-encounterers,” who reported that happy surprises popped up wherever they looked.”
 
“One survey of patent holders (the PatVal study of European inventors, published in 2005) found that an incredible 50 percent of patents resulted from what could be described as a serendipitous process.”

Culture (more)

Coachella 2016 Lineup Announced [LCD Soundystem, Guns N’ Roses (both reuniting) and Calvin Harris headline, along with M83, Sufjan Stevens(!), Courtney Barnett, Ice Cube(?), Grimes(!), Purity Ring, Vince Staples, Sia, Churches, Death Grips and many, many (many) more] - Pitchfork
 
When Are You Really an Adult? [this article is too long (IOHO) so skim away, but still interesting because it makes us think that maybe we should be asking different questions of ourselves...] – The Atlantic
 
““people who are in their 50s, 60s, 70s now look at today’s emerging adults, they compare them to the yardstick that applied when they were in their 20s, and find them wanting. But to me that’s, ironically, kind of narcissistic, frankly, because that’s one of the criticisms that’s been made of emerging adults, that they're narcissistic, but to me it’s just the egocentricity of their elders.””

Industry"ish" (we're so Hollywood)

Twentieth Century Fox’s Spaceshot: ‘The Martian VR Experience’ to Debut at CES [Thursday – it’s a 20 minute “companion” to the film and the largest VR effort by any major studio] - recode
 
Netflix, DreamWorks Animation Expand Streaming Deal [why interesting: Netflix has backed off licensing studio content, but appears ok with creation collaboration – who knows, maybe they'll collaborate as one company someday…] - THR

Google Trends
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Jeremy Rowley – iCarly (Nickelodeon show) star married his co-star

Top YouTube Videos
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Watch: Our Pick — Justin Fiddler. Stiletto hammer tricks, Master
 
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