WEEKLY REVIEW  |  February 2, 2017

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TECH

Amazon Alexa and six-year-olds everywhere becoming BFFs.

This week, a six-year-old from Dallas ordered a $160 dollhouse and 4 pounds of cookies through Amazon’s virtual assistant, simply by chatting to Alexa about her favorite things. And events like this are not uncommon. Thankfully, there’s a fix: just set up a confirmation code in the app. Unless of course your six-year-old is Veruca Salt.

Tech city, San Francisco, gets the techiest upgrade yet.

Just blocks from our office, in the San Francisco Metreon, Cafe X debuted its first robotic cafe. Gordon, a white robot arm, serves as the cafe’s barista and is able to make 100 to 120 cups an hour. But don’t worry, they still employ real, live people to help customers place orders and choose their coffee beans.

MARKETING

Create content for...goldfish?

The average human attention span is now just eight seconds—shorter than that of a goldfish. Marketers have the toughest challenge yet: creating content worth reading and able to hold our goldfish-like attention. The article suggests putting more thought into thought leadership and focusing on visual content, among other methods.

Two brands join together to make sure you get home safe this Sunday.

Tostitos and Uber seem like an unlikely pair. But they’ve partnered with MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to equip Tostitos bags with a device to detect alcohol on your breath. And if the bag gives you a “no,” it’ll give you an Uber code to get home safely. Kudos to all brands involved in keeping everyone safe this Super Bowl Sunday.

DESIGN

The drink label that shouldn’t work, but it does.

La Croix flavored sparkling water has a memorable design, no doubt. With Instagram fame and a can customization UX, the throwback design seems more of a happy accident than a purposeful, market-driven decision. Why? Because it was designed before “throwback” became a thing. Read it’s full genesis story here.

Umbrella drone keeps you dry—and hands-free.

An umbrella drone is exactly what it sounds like: an umbrella-equipped drone that uses your phone’s GPS to fly over you and protect you from precipitation. While Drones Direct, a UK based drone company, has a great idea here, we can’t imagine using these in the bustle of our city. There is sure to be a casualty, either human, object, or drone.

INFLUENCERS

Google Doodle celebrates another great birthday.

Last week we highlighted a Google Doodle in our influencers section, and this week we just have to again. In case you missed Tuesday’s Doodle, it was of Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu for what would’ve been his 98th birthday. Korematsu was a civil rights activist and survivor of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1998. Read more about Korematsu (there’s so much more).

EVENTS

Watch the big game on an equally big screen at Bayview Opera House, or check out the Nvisible contemporary art show in Oakland if that’s more your style.

AND JUST FOR FUN

Need an excuse to cuddle up through the last stint of winter?

Here it is: the nine essential movies and shows coming to Hulu this month, according to Wired. Highlights include 1998 Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love, the entire series of Golden Girls (yes, just put in your PTO requests now for a 90-hour staycation), and the timely The American President.


“My point is, life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.”

Ellen DeGeneres