Researchers Test Personal Data Market to Find Out How Much Your Information Is Worth
Unsurprisingly, people value certain kinds of information more highly than others. But exactly how they value it depends on a complex set of other factors, such as the conditions under which information was gathered.
The experiment involved a kind of living lab in Italy that monitored people continuously. The team recruited 60 people to take part in the study and gave them each a smart phone that recorded phone calls made and received which applications were in use at any time and the time spent on them, the users’ locations throughout the day and the number of photographs taken.
The results clearly show that some information is more highly valued than others. “We have found that location is the most valued category of personally identifiable information,” say Staiano and co. And participants tended to value processed information more highly as well because of their perception that it gave a greater insight into their lifestyle.
But interestingly personal information becomes even more highly valued in certain circumstances. For example, the study covered two unusual days. The first was a holiday in Italy known as the Immaculate Conception holiday. The second was a day of particularly high winds which caused multiple roadblocks and accidents.
“The median bids for all categories in these two days were significantly higher than for the rest of the days in the study,” say Staiano and co. In other words, participants value their information more highly on days that are unusual compared to typical days.
Another curious finding is that not all participants valued their personal data equally. In fact, people who travel more each day tend to value their personal information more highly.
HDTV Displays May Soon Go “Quantum”
Similar to OLED, the technology involves nanocrystal semiconductors that emit colors based on their size. The technology promises to rival OLED displays and could possibly be more useful in the flexible displays that manufacturers have been experimenting with.
The hope is that such displays may have a better color performance than other display technologies on the market.
DisplaySeearch estimates that around 9% of LCD TV displays will use quantum dot technology by the year 2020. This compares to the less than 1% that will use the technology in 2015.
See the full story here: http://www.webpronews.com/hdtv-displays-may-soon-go-quantum-2014-07
Will Smartphones Jump-Start 4K Video Adoption?
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this is another tech advance that puts the focus on talent and away from tech and financing.]
An estimated 160 million phones sold this year will feature 4K video-capable cameras, while only two percent of TVs shipped to North America will have 4K screens. These cameras will be available on high-end models, including the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Sony Xperia Z2 and the LG G Pro 2. Meanwhile, cable, satellite and telecommunications companies are unlikely to move to Ultra HD for a few years as they wait for more TVs to show up in American homes.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said cinematographer Alec Weinstein, who conducted his own video test to compare the performance of a phone’s 4K camera and the Canon 5D Mark III.
“He found that the Galaxy Note’s 4K video provided a more detailed, crisper image, even when downscaled to the lower high-definition format, though the Canon did better in low-light conditions and offered greater control over depth of field and focus,...”
See the full story here: http://recode.net/2014/07/06/will-smartphones-jumpstart-4k-video-adoption/
Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand
Taylor is right that music is art, and that art should be valuable, but figuring out how to value art in a world without scarcity is a problem unlike any other in human history. It's why subscription music services like Spotify are the only way music makes money in countries that have rampant piracy, and it's why Apple had to buy Beats to compete. The only real answer anyone's got so far is advertising, which is probably why Taylor's RED tour was sponsored by Keds and product placement is so rampant in music that the Chris Brown song "Forever" was literally an extended Doublemint gum jingle in disguise.
People will pay to go have experiences they treasure, and they'll pay for spectacles like a Taylor Swift show. And they'll pay to get a piece of someone they've connected with — that's why there are hundreds of teen YouTube stars you've never heard of selling out shows around the world. "In the future, artists will get record deals because they have fans — not the other way around," writes Taylor. We're in that future now; that's where Justin Bieber came from. Here's Iovine again, noting that people will pay for experiences, but not for simple access to music. "It's not enough."
Virtual Reality is exploding in California
The first virtual reality group in Los Angeles was VRLA, which was created by a film production student at the University of Southern California by the name of Cosmo Scharf. He then recruited Music Video and Commercial Director Jonnie Ross to help organize events in Los Angeles. Their 1st meetup was help in April 2014 at Digital Domain, which is an American visual effects and digital production company based in Venice, Los Angeles, California. Exhibitors included E McNeill with Darknet, Matt Sonic with VirtualReality.io, Ed Mason with Gameface Labs, and many many more. Even Philip Rosedale showed up to present HighFidelty.io
This strong sense of community was ever-prevalent at an Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) afterparty hosted by VRLA. Enthusiasts came from all across the world to be there. New games were demoed before their upcoming releases at this VR mixer including the Mario 64-style third-person cartoony run-and-jump platformer game called Lucky’s Tale (created by Playful Corp). The energetic team with Survios floated in and out of the crowd. In-between all the commotion were the founders of most of the California Virtual Reality meetups. Some travelled from Silicon Valley, while others flew in from the United Kingdom just to be a part of the scene. Callum Underwood, the Development Relations Manager for Oculus, was present. A few reporters showed up as well including Imad Khan with the Daily Dot and a gonzo-style blogger for HackerTrips. Ben Lang, Author at Road to VR and VR podcaster Reverend Kyle was there too.
Read the full story here: http://www.digitaljournal.com/technology/virtual-reality-is-exploding-in-california/article/386436