All posts by Adrian
Everything you thought you knew about inbox zero is wrong
Forget everything you think you know about inbox zero: it’s completely and utterly wrong. Merlin Mann, the lifestyle “guru” that invented the concept of inbox zero in the early noughties, claims people took his idea far too literally. They advocated treating work emails like a never-ending task to be completed: once an email has been […]
How To Spot A Deepfake
Just when you thought modern life couldn’t get any crazier, a video emerged during the run-up to the recent UK election, in which the Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to endorse his political opponent Jeremy Corbyn. “Appeared” is the important word here, because this was actually just one of the latest in a steady stream […]
Diageo eyes ‘real growth opportunity’ in no-ABV sector
After taking a majority stake in non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ brand Seedlip, Diageo said it sees a “real growth opportunity” for the group and will continue investing in the alcohol-free category. UK drinks giant Diageo increased its shareholding in booze-free Seedlip to a majority stake in August 2019. At the time, the group said it “will be […]
Google’s New Meena Chatbot Imitates Human Conversation and Bad Jokes
Google announced the creation of Meena in a new research paper, claiming that it is the most advanced, chatbot ever built. According to Google, Meena can carry on a conversation at a level that feels far more like talking to another person than any existing chatbot. To prove it, Google’s researchers also created an entirely […]
Maybe Information Actually Doesn’t Want to Be Free
Jessica Lessin’s online tech publication costs $399 a year and has no ads. Silicon Valley’s elite is eating it up. Jessica Lessin thinks the biggest story of the moment — how tech is swallowing the universe — is hopelessly under-covered by the news media. The issue is “massive,” she said not long ago in her […]
If AI Suddenly Gains Consciousness, Some Say It Will Happen First In AI Self-Driving Cars
There has been a lot of speculation that one of these days there will be an AI system that suddenly and unexpectedly gives rise to consciousness. Often referred to as the singularity, there is much hand-wringing that we are perhaps dooming ourselves to either utter death and destruction or to becoming slaves of AI once […]
Newsonomics: Here are 20 epiphanies for the news business of the 2020s
It is the best of times for The New York Times — and likely the worst of times for all the local newspapers with Times (or Gazette or Sun or Telegram or Journal) in their nameplates across the land. When I spoke at state newspaper conferences five or ten years ago, people would say: “It’ll […]
How Influencers Got Swallowed by the Talent Management Machine
A new wave of agents is cashing in on social media influencers — with strings attached. Bcoming a social media influencer might be a lucrative career option for some people today, with consumer brands growing ever more reliant on influencer marketing. Until around 2012, however, most influencers were just creating content for their websites and […]
How to Make Meetings Suck Less
Jessica Powell, the former Google vice president who wrote The Big Disruption and told you how to quit your job, is here to answer your common but tricky work questions. Whoever owns the meeting needs to keep it moving. I am a manager with a secret: I hate meetings. I’m at a big company and […]
Google Kills the Cookie, Leaving Digital Media Companies Craving a New Way Forward
The industry is racing against a 2-year countdown. Some are calling it the “cookie-pocalypse.” Others see it as a new dawn for the $565 billion global ad industry. What’s certain is that Google Chrome’s decision to phase out support for third-party cookies will affect everyone in the digital media industry. While the move was not […]