R obots, LinkedIn and Mobile Games
Here’s the news we’re talking about around the Zbra Studios water cooler. We’ve provided key bullet points from each article for the speed readers out there. For those looking to dig in, click on the link for the full story.
The Touchy Task of Making Robots Seem Human—But Not Too Human
By MARGARET RHODES from Wired
- “It seems most robot helpers take one of these two shapes: humanoid or monolithic. Yet, a middle ground is emerging—one with just a hint of anthropomorphism.”
- “Sundar and his team study people’s reception of social robots, and found that robots that appear too human—not in a creepy, uncanny-valley sort of way, but in their abilities—inevitably encourage unrealistic expectations.”
- “The right amount of anthropomorphism could encourage more or different kinds of interaction from users.”
LinkedIn’s new design looks a lot like Facebook
by TOM WAREN from The Verge
- “While most LinkedIn users probably visit the site infrequently, or because of a deluge of nagging emails, LinkedIn’s new design makes navigating the site a lot easier.”
- “The main feed now looks a lot more like what you’d find on Facebook, with trending stories that are curated by human editors and algorithms, and you can unfollow and hide posts easily (just like Facebook).”
- “Perhaps the biggest change is a new real-time messaging interface that’s always available at the bottom of every page (just like Facebook).”
Tapjoy: Mobile games are more engaging and fun than social networks
By DEAN TAKAHASHI from VentureBeat
- “One finding from “The Changing Face of Mobile Gamers: What Brands Need to Know,” is that consumers are twice as likely to say they feel relaxed when playing mobile games than they are when using social apps.”
- “… it’s critical that brands take into consideration the activities that consumers are engaged in at the time and how they make them feel,” said Shannon Jessup, chief revenue officer of Tapjoy, in a statement. “There are nearly 2 billion mobile gamers in the world, and the unique state of mind consumers have when playing games on their smartphones or tablets represents an incredible opportunity for brands to truly connect with consumers.”
- “70 percent of mobile gamers say they play while sitting in front of the television, and they are more than twice as likely to play while relaxing at home than while at work or during their commute. They are also more than twice as likely to play at night right before they go to bed than when they first wake up in the morning.”
Nick Cotton is a project manager based out of Los Angeles, California. He’s got a background in the entertainment industry, and uses his talent at online messaging to extol the virtues of content marketing, interactive fiction and sentences measuring 280 characters or less.
FOLLOW