TIS Weekly (#93): SXSW Vibes
[March 20th, 2017]
This week was all about South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual festival held in Austin (Texas) which presents the latest in music, film and tech. Our colleagues from Fast Moving Targets (FMT) were at the festival, so you can imagine, we’re quite jealous! Here’s a small selection of what we picked up on from this year’s SXSW on (social) media and FMT’s notes.
Theme | ROBOTS & AI
Chatbots everywhere
Two buzzwords at this year’s SXSW: AI & Chatbots..! According to many, 2017 will be the year of chatbots. Why? Because the use of messaging apps has long outgrown the use of social networking apps. There’s a huge potential to employ chatbots for many (online) companies. Read this cool example of how the Call of Duty franchise gained the attention of its audience with a chatbot 6(!) months before its release! And then watch this short clip from 1–800-Flowers to see how you can order flowers from a chatbot!
Theme | ROBOTS & AI
Try to hide..
Michiel Berger (in FMT’s Handpicked, sorry it’s in Dutch):”The company Spaceknow uses Artificial Intelligence to continuously analyze satellite images. In doing so, they can — among other things — get an even better view of the growth in the Chinese economy compared to statements released by the Chinese government itself. Simply by counting and classifying docked ships and analyzing oil production…”
Article | SXSW
SXSW — Hangovers
I can highly recommend this WIRED article by Issie Lapowsky as it shares the sentiment we’ve noticed on (social) media as well. Techno-optimism at the heart of tech festivals as SXSW has led to many glorified apps and platforms, but they ‘haven’t really made the world a better place.’
And you might also want to read Nick Statt’s (The Verge) article on people in panels / interviewees taking the easy way out, avoiding controversy, which meant that ‘the hard questions have all gone unanswered.’
We’d love to hear your thoughts on #SXSW, so let’s continue the conversation on TIStv.
Expert Selection | ENERGY
Judith Joan Walker
This week the ambitious Director of Operations from African Clean Energy (ACE), Judith Joan Walker, has honored us with an Expert Selection. The company is based in Lesotho and is known for their award-winning ACE 1 cook stove. In her Expert Selection Walker discusses sustainable and safe cooking solutions in Africa.
Theme | ENERGY
Solar Windows?
And we shouldn’t forget that it’s Energy month at TIS. So here is another awesome energy solution: the award-winning PowerWindow by the Dutch company Physee. It’s a fully transparent window that generates energy from the sun.
Add your own videos and maybe they will feature in the next TIS Weekly. Questions? Remarks? Ideas? hello@tis.tv is the address! From TIS with love, Simone de Bruin.
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- Expert Selection: Judith Joan Walker — Sustainable And Safe Cooking Solutions In Africa
