For the December edition of The Hobson & Holtz Report - aka episode 190 of the For Immediate Release podcast - Shel and I picked an eclectic list of topics to talk about. As a European and, specifically, a Brit, my hot one was about the result of the General Election that took place here in the UK on December 12 - the result was a landslide win for Boris Johnson and the Conservative party - and the role social media played in influencing voters. Did social media influence voters to … [Read more...] about FIR 190: Digital vs analogue behaviour in the UK general election
Trends
The time of the AI writer
Developments in artificial intelligence that can write authentic-looking stories took a big leap forward earlier this year with the release of GPT-2, a predictive text-creation algorithm that can create a coherent, realistic-sounding continuation of a text input as short as one or two sentences. In other words, the software looks at a text you write and predicts the next words and phrases. It uses a huge data set as its training source: 8 million web pages which have been curated or filtered … [Read more...] about The time of the AI writer
FIR 187: It may be a Car but it Sounds like a Starship
With this September 2019 episode of The Hobson and Holtz Report or FIR 187, Shel and I discuss a handful of notable, even memorable, topics and include a segment we recorded two weeks beforehand in Winchester when we were together during Shel's UK trip. Automotive is a star feature of our discussion with a detailed exchange of views and thoughts on news out of the US about regulatory developments regarding electric cars, specifically on the sound they make. Which is a thing that concerns … [Read more...] about FIR 187: It may be a Car but it Sounds like a Starship
FIR 184: An Incomprehensible Disaster
The June 2019 edition of “The Hobson and Holtz Report," aka FIR 184, features Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz talking about these stories: Boeing’s Max 737 crisis is a textbook case of ignoring standards of crisis communicationMary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report has a lot of meat for communicatorsPrivacy policies are an incomprehensible disasterNorth Face and its ad agency thought it was clever gaming Wikipedia. Now they’re sorry.A privacy issue with precise-location tagging led Twitter … [Read more...] about FIR 184: An Incomprehensible Disaster
SDF Podcast 28: Summertime Special
Show notes by Sam Knowles. In England’s distant past, long before the spread of wealth and the explosive growth of the middle classes, holidays were a rarity. Overseas holidays were unheard of, except for those gilded few who’d grown fat on the Empire and took a ‘grand tour’ of Europe for months at a time, or else went off to add new lands to said Empire. The closest most workers got to any kind of holiday was being taken in a charabanc to the nearest seaside resort, where enforced fun … [Read more...] about SDF Podcast 28: Summertime Special
FIR 183: Let’s get personal
The May 2019 edition of “The Hobson and Holtz Report,” aka For Immediate Release episode 183, features Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz talking about these stories: A trio of technologies — from Google, Amazon, and The New York Times — show how marketers will be able to get into your head, assess your emotional state, and manipulate your intent.GDPR is one year old. Has it succeeded in protecting Europeans’ privacy?PR professionals are relegating earned media to the dustbin.Arabic podcasts are … [Read more...] about FIR 183: Let’s get personal
FIR 182: Hot Bee Action
The April 2019 episode of “For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report” features co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz discussing the following topics: How China is shaping the future of shopping — it’s online, social, and highly appealing to Gen ZMedia coverage of local news is evaporating. Should business pick up the slack?Customer reviews are the new content marketing, says Jay BaerMovements mean more than brand purpose. Just look at Pornhub’s new movement to save the bees.The UK … [Read more...] about FIR 182: Hot Bee Action
SDF Podcast 27: When April Fool’s meets Groundhog Day
So this is the episode when the three stooges of the SmallDataForum were meant to reflect wistfully on what was Great Britain exiting Greater Europe. The irony of recording this on April Fool’s Day wasn’t lost on us. Brexit Fool’s day is every day, these days. Our resident classicist Sam even managed to squeeze in Juvenal’s Satire VI, and even though the reference was in regard to another April Fool’s – Facebook regulation, haha – Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes might just as well … [Read more...] about SDF Podcast 27: When April Fool’s meets Groundhog Day