This week's best things
Google is under threat for the first time in a long time, what your smartphone knows about you, background on the arrest of the Telegram CEO, a survey on digital accessibility, One Million Checkboxes, and a strange Korean website.
The Search Engine Wars Are Back On
Remember Altavista? Lycos? No? There used to be a world in which information online wasn't always discovered through a Google product.
Now this article in New York Magazine's Intelligencer argues that for the first time in about 20 years, Google has serious competition.
"Google has something to worry about. The courts have declared it a monopoly; the searchable web has been made less relevant by social media; and, much like Yahoo! at its peak, it feels like a product built with advertisers, not searchers, in mind.
Then there’s AI. The arrival of ChatGPT in 2022, a new sort of box that people ask for stuff, sent Google, an AI powerhouse in its own right, into a panic. Google redesigned search to make it more like a chatbot, with mixed early results; meanwhile, AI companies are making their chatbots more like search engines. For the first time in years, tech giants and start-ups are competing directly with Google for control of the text box, and they think they have at least a slim chance of winning. Google seems to think so, too, if its risky rush into derivative and error-prone generative search is any indication."
John Herrman
Hey Big Spender - Donald MacKenzie on what your smartphone knows about you
A good piece in the London Review of Books about the digital ads economy (using smartphone games as a jumping off point) which is also, in turn, an explanation of what your smartphone knows about you.
Even if you are already familiar with the mechanisms that apps use to extract money from users this is still an interesting, and pretty depressing, read that details many of the tricks, dark patterns, and addictive tools that developers use to keep users engaged, and paying.
It also covers the advertising and 'user aquisition' strategies that app-makers, corporations, and political parties employ, how this adtech works, and the policy decisions that have enabled - and are now trying to constrain - the surveillance capitalism dynamics that define much of the tech landscape in 2024.
"‘I’m buying users from you, you’re buying users from me, a lot of revenue was materialised but actually it all got sort of negated by the fact that we’re just buying from each other,’ Seufert said. The executive I just quoted told me that ‘fundamental tensions’ come with earning money by showing ads for other games: they ‘can be competitors, which isn’t awesome’, and can cause ‘my players to churn out’. Most ads in smartphone games are sold through automated bidding systems, not in face-to-face negotiations, so it isn’t always straightforward to block specific unwanted ads. If a competitor ‘is determined enough, they can get an ad in your game, no question’."
Donald MacKenzie
How Telegram played itself
A useful piece from Casey Newton's Platformer about the recent arrest of Telegram's CEO, and some thoughts on the potential wider implications for the internet as a whole.
"By now you’ve surely heard that Telegram founder Pavel Durov is in French custody. On Saturday, the Russia-born billionaire was arrested after landing in a private plane at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. Durov is now being questioned as part of a wide-ranging investigation into criminal activity on the platform, and under French law can be held until at least Wednesday. If he is charged with a crime, though, he could be detained much longer. "
There's more on this story in this piece in The Verge "Telegram’s CEO has taken a hands-off approach for years — now his luck might have run out".
This will be interesting to watch, as Platformer says it could embolden a more wide-ranging crackdown on tech platforms and their employees. However, Telegram's apparent discretions do seem pretty brazen, as the piece in The Verge says, "the ecosystem of extremist activity on the platform is so well-known that it even has a nickname: “terrorgram.”".
Casey Newton
The secret in One Million Checkboxes
A fun and extremely nerdy story about people on the internet - or more specifically how a group of people used One Million Checkboxes.
It includes messages in binary, hidden Discord servers, clever teenagers, and Jake Gyllenhaal gifs.
I found this quite heartening.
itseieio
🚨 BRAT vs. DEMURE: Which side are you on in the world of #classicalmusic?
Dan Alicandro, Head of Digital Engagement at the Southbank Centre, shared some reflections on a recent, wildly popular reel created by the social team at the Southbank.
"Our latest Instagram reel has taken off, amassing 1.1 million organic views (and counting)! 🎉 Yes, we’ve hopped on the trend train, but success like this is no accident. It’s built on some key pillars..."
Daniel Alicandro
Attitudes to Digital Accessibility 2024
The fine folks at AbilityNet are running their fourth annual Attitudes to Digital Accessibility survey.
As they say "Our annual survey identifies how attitudes to digital accessibility are changing in organisations across the world.".
Well worth participating, and keeping an eye out for the results later this year.
A strange website
A Korean website that is...unusual in its design.
This week's consumption
My wife is a big fan of sailing and I am a big fan of overambitious challenges, so Maiden, a documentary about the first all-female crew to complete the Whitbread Round the World Race, was a great watch. It's on Netflix.
I'm reading The Return by Hisham Matar which is, thus far, excellent.
I spent last weekend with some pals from the UK and their 4-year old daughter, Lyra. Lyra insisted that we listen to her favourite song (a lot), and it turns out her favourite song may be the greatest song ever. For fans of 1970s orchestral/big band Brazilian disco (also Rod Stewart stole the melody from the chorus), it's a banger.