It’s rare to find an app where even the free version is also free of advertisement. So what’s the catch? Surely it profits from user data in some way, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in tech…

In a nutshell, Camo is an app that turns your smartphone into a webcam
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Yet according to Camo’s Founder Aidan Fitzpatrick, the app’s strict no-tracking policy is a point of principle, and there is, in fact, no need for such intrusion into user privacy. Enough of their users are happy to pay the very reasonable $4.99 a month for the “Pro version” to fund the free app as well.

In a nutshell, Camo is an app that turns your smartphone into a webcam. Like all great tech ideas, it’s a simple concept, well-executed.

Even cameras in older phones are much better than any webcam on the market, so by using that old phone sitting in your drawer doing nothing as a webcam, you can get next-level video quality.

A big part of the harm consumers face with advertising is their data, demographics, and tracking running across the web
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The app has been used by the likes of Seth Godin, Wall St Journal’s Joanna Stern plus employees from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford Universities, who praise it for its ability to create a professional-quality webcam experience from the user’s phone and browser.

“I’ve spent years building products to help people get better access to their own data,” says Fitzpatrick, who founded his company Reincubate in 2008 after building the world’s first tool for iOS data recovery, which enabled users to securely manage their data.

Camo’s Founder Aidan Fitzpatrick is a software engineer, angel investor, entrepreneur, and author who started his first company at 14

There's a huge amount of competition by unworthy publishers, trying to rank low-quality services or information
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Working in that space for so long gave him many opportunities to see the more distasteful ways to use data, and the wide range of bad actors out there looking to get access to it, he explains as he unpacks how important the issue is to him.

“The internet has played a big role in my life and my career, and it’s in almost everyone’s interests to push it along the responsible, sustainable path of public good rather than narrow, private interests.”

Fighting Fakery

Fitzpatrick talks about the idea that consumers on the web these days are surrounded by “fakery.”

Yet while some forms of fakery — fake news, fakery in public discourse, and the use of trolls to attack viewpoints on social media – have been widely discussed, there is a lot more to it than that, he explains.

“Fakery pays off for the unethical. Amazon and other platforms have received coverage for fake product reviews on their platforms. Instagram is busy with promoted products, many of which use fake reviews and undisclosed influencer endorsements. Sometimes even the products themselves are fake.”

Even cameras in older phones are much better than any webcam on the market
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“More broadly, consumers have experience with this fakery on Google. There are some Google searches that are just hard to do. Have you ever tried searching for a plumber or medical advice on Google?  There’s a huge amount of competition by unworthy publishers, trying to rank low-quality services or information.”

Even services like Grubhub and Postmates have been criticized for allegedly faking profiles for restaurants that they don’t partner with, in an attempt to capture and redirect their leads. “A big part of the harm consumers face with advertising is their data, demographics, and tracking running across the web,” says Fitzpatrick

Making it Pay

While Fitzpatrick believes that consumer privacy and choice have been jeopardized by large web corporations and social media giants, he recognizes that they must make money.

His argument, however, is that there is no need for such companies to be so data-hungry in capturing and monetizing information about their users. It is, in fact, still possible for them to build effective first-party advertising networks with a smaller set of data.

“Paid services along the lines that Apple focuses on, or which Google have explored with YouTube Music may prove increasingly worthwhile.”

And of course, his own product manages to make money without storing and tracking consumer data:

“Our model is very simple: we offer a free version of our products, and a paid version. We’ve no need to track data for trials, or to try and monetize with ads baked into our products, so we don’t.”

Algorithm Anarchy

He breaks down this disruptive rationale into three key areas that those designing tech products must think about to enable consumers to have more authentic experiences online:

1. Product: We don’t track user data in the products. We have no need to, and no interest in doing so. People’s data belongs to them. If the app fails, we do record information on what went wrong, but that’s clearly metadata, and about the functioning of the product in order that we can improve it, rather than anything about the customer. Where we record limited metadata on how the app is used, we only do for the purpose of better understanding and developing our own product — not for marketing — and we don’t share that information with any third parties.
2. Customer Records: If you buy something from a company, what data do they collect? We ask for the UK’s statutory minimum. We need their email and country of residence in order to send them the license and to apply the correct taxes. We use a third-party for card-processing, and don’t have any card details. In the UK we have to keep financial records for at least 6 years, but where users have lifetime licenses we need to keep that data for at least that time. Fortunately, it’s a very narrow set of data.
3. Marketing: This is hard because overreach in data capture feels like the norm. Most systems that permit advertising ask customers to embed tracking tools in their mobile or desktop apps or on their sites, and this is something we push back on. We don’t embed any advertising analytics tools in our products for this reason. Then there’s visitor tracking. We do use an analytics product to count the number of visitors to our site, and we’ve more work to do as the industry evolves to get ourselves happier with how these systems work. We’ve made good progress.

“The tech industry often assumes that using particular channels to market a product requires tracking. We reject that. Reincubate will continue to safeguard consumer privacy and choice with our commitment to respect privacy, refuse data monetization and intrusive tracking.”

Camo key features include:

• Film-quality video
• Easy customizing:  lighting, crop, zoom, focus, at your fingertips
• Plug and play
• Plays well with others:  use with Zoom, Meet, Teams, Skype, Slack, Google Chrome, Cisco Webex Meetings  +.
• Previews before going live
• The newly released 1.3 version offers even better functionality, including support for an additional 11 languages supported, power conservation, and screen aesthetic features.

Camo’s free edition is great for straightforward, high-quality calls, but lacks adjustments. It gives you resolutions up to and including 720p video, along with a choice of the device’s selfie lens, or it’s main back lens (the wide one). The free version of Camo also lets you access your device’s audio, and keep the screen of your device dimmed while using Camo. With free version, you can also connect multiple iOS devices and switch between them.

If you upgrade to Camo Pro, you get the following:

• Access to every lens on your phone (such as selfie, telephoto, ultra-wide & wide)
• “Portrait mode” on iPhone’s that support it, with bokeh effect and shallow depth-of-field
• Control of the device’s flash for use as a light ( turn it on and off, control the brightness)
• Access to any resolution the device provides (opening up 1080p and 1440 x 1080)
• Video mirroring
• Rotation of the feed in 90° increments (in case your phone is orientation locked)
• Zoom controls, with pan and tilt to keep you front and centre
• Focus adjustments (autofocus, focus on a particular area, manual focus control)
• Shutter speed and ISO adjustments
• Image adjustments including brightness, temperature, tint, hue, saturation, contrast, gamma, sharpness

Alice Bonasio is a technology journalist, communications consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post How Algorithm Anarchy Can Set You Free appeared first on Tech Trends.

So, you want my attention? Then you’d better inform me, entertain me, or offer me something that has a real, clear, and immediate value. Preferably all of the above.

While it is true that traditional advertising still generates plenty of revenue, the writing is on the wall as people’s attention spans – already very short – become even shorter, and we become ever more adept at ignoring blatant messages that are forcibly bombarded at us in the digital advertising arena.

Ad blockers are becoming increasingly common, so much so that some websites have started to demand you turn them off before you’re allowed to browse their content
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The fact is that online advertising doesn’t really do it for me most of the time, because when I’m online I’m doing something – either for work or fun, or a mixture of both – and my brain automatically sifts through any pesky interruptions. The only engagement that pop-up windows get from me is enough eyeball time to locate the little cross to close them so I can get on with my business already.

Ad blockers are becoming increasingly common, so much so that some websites have started to demand you turn them off before you’re allowed to browse their content (I immediately leave such sites out of principle, nobody likes being told what to do in that way)

The fact is that most consumers actually prefer to engage with more traditional out-of-home advertising such as billboards, but this comes with another whole set of shortcomings compared to digital
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Advertising, in other words, needs to be relevant, but not pushy, and relevant, but not in a creepy way. For instance, I sometimes do notice the bots that follow my web journeys and try to capitalize on what I’ve been searching, and the fact I notice I’m being targeted makes me less likely to engage with them.

A classic example is that of a friend who told me that he once needed to buy a toilet seat to replace a broken one, and after he made that less-than-thrilling but necessary purchase, seemed to be forever doomed with being pushed adverts for toilet seats on Facebook. “I don’t collect them, you know” he mused.

The fact is that most consumers actually prefer to engage with more traditional out-of-home advertising such as billboards, but this comes with another whole set of shortcomings compared to digital – namely inflexibility, lack of interactivity and inability to measure results, not to mention the fact that this option is simply out of reach for most small-scale businesses, since the industry is highly centralized and controlled by a few established players which impose high costs and tend to be rather inflexible and antiquated in their requirements.

Advertisers can book displays in near real-time and run their campaigns on the screens selected by them within the desired radius or area
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Digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) until recently also fell into that category, but here’s where the technology trend that has disrupted every other major industry – namely the shared economy that has given us Airbnb, Uber and countless others– could come into play to level the playing field.

A platform that is looking to do just that is HYGH, which connects advertisers directly with outdoor display providers so they can create hyperlocal advertising campaigns at a much lower cost.

The idea is that any screen – tablets, televisions, digital billboards, etc. – in a public space can be converted into ad space, no matter its location or intended purpose. The owner of the screen can easily download the software and link it to the HYGH platform. Once paired, the device becomes a node in a flexible advertising chain that is available for interested businesses to leverage and engage consumers with.

The idea is that any screen – tablets, televisions, digital billboards, etc. - in a public space can be converted into ad space
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Advertisers can book displays in near real-time and run their campaigns on the screens selected by them within the desired radius or area. They can also pick specific time slots for their advertisement to be played, which in return helps them to target the right audience. HYGH simplifies the booking process so they only need to register in the system, create a campaign, search for displays and soon the campaign is good to go live.

This could prove to be a lifeline for many bricks-and-mortar businesses currently struggling to stay competitive in the high street, which can monetize parts of their real estate by allowing such displays on their premises.

The advantage of such an approach is that it combines the scalability and ease of deployment that you get with online advertising with the engaging, impactful location-based user experience, with precise targeting powered by smart analysis. This allows campaigns to be highly customizable, interactive and adaptive.

The advantage of such an approach is that it combines the scalability and ease of deployment that you get with online advertising with the engaging, impactful location-based user experience
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Under their revenue share model, the display owner gets 83.5%, validators will receive 2.5%, HYGH takes a rather modest 5% cut, and security token holders receive 9%. The idea here is to build a globally distributed ecosystem by ensuring that all parties derive maximum ROI from it.

So where it comes to the future of advertising, the strategy pioneered by HYGH here really takes the best of both worlds by bringing the physical and digital together in one blended and coherent user experience. Where it comes to getting your message across without annoying your prospective customers, that really would seem like the smartest approach.

So, you want my attention? Then you’d better inform me, entertain me, or offer me something that has a real, clear, and immediate value. Preferably all of the above
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Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Shared Economy Advertising appeared first on Tech Trends.

Attention spans are short, and getting shorter. Consumers are bombarded with editorial, commercial and social messages through more devices and sources than ever, and overcoming their perceptual vigilance is the key to getting through.

By Kai Henniges, CEO of Video Intelligence

Context is the key to capturing and keeping a consumer’s attention, and by delivering content based on a consumer’s current behaviour, we see a far greater level of engagement. A recent study we conducted with entertainment site The Wrap saw dwell time increase by 33% on pages with contextual video content, while consumer perception of the platform also increased. Equally, a contextually placed commercial is far less likely to irritate a consumer, and spark negative feelings towards the publisher or brand whose product is featured.

Consumers used to exercising perceptual vigilance are automatically on the defensive when it comes to giving away their attention or affection
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We recently worked with a number of top academics from the fields of linguistics, neuroscience and marketing to identify the theories and practices required to capture a consumer’s attention. The unifying theme from each of our experts was the importance of contextual storytelling. If consumers are to give up precious moments in their busy schedule to listen to what advertisers have to say, we have to offer them something worthwhile in return.

Attention spans are short, and getting shorter
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Thousands of dollars are wasted as good video ads are delivered in the wrong context every day. An ad for a Burberry trench coat is out-of-place on a sports website, but on a fashion site it makes sense. And this use of context translates into engagement and subsequently, sales.

Publishers must learn to be creative when trying to capture consumers’ attention. We know that grabbing that attention doesn’t work – push notifications are often cited as a leading reason for users uninstalling apps and ad-blockers are more popular than ever, with 30% of internet users set to use one in 2018.

Thousands of dollars are wasted as good video ads are delivered in the wrong context every day
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Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing at Birmingham University, breaks down two key pieces of consumer behaviour that present a serious challenge to publishers and brands – multi-screening and perceptual vigilance. Multi-screening is a relatively new problem facing advertisers – it’s now completely normal for consumers to switch from one screen to another – whether to avoid advertising content or simply because they are distracted by what’s happening on another device:

“One of the problems advertisers face when consumers are using multiple platforms is that consumers are taking in less information from more sources,” Szmigin explains. “Publishers have to think about getting a story or piece of information across quickly and succinctly. We have to accept that consumers will be moving from their phone to their tablet, to a TV.”

Perceptual vigilance, meanwhile, has always been around – but an increase in branded content across multiple platforms means consumers use this more and more often nowadays. Essentially, perceptual vigilance is a subconscious mental state where our brain is ‘on guard’ to deal with non-essential content – often advertising. When adverts were delivered in predictable formats like four-minute breaks in television shows, we could easily predict when to switch this ‘vigilance’ on, but in the age of branded content and sponsored social posts, we’re constantly having to decide for ourselves if content should be taken at face value or treated as an advert.

Ad-blockers are more popular than ever, with 30% of internet users set to use one in 2018
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This presents a major problem when it comes to capturing a consumer’s attention: if they are used to exercising this perceptual vigilance, they’re automatically on the defensive when it comes to giving away their attention or affection, and are less likely to engage with advertising content.

Perceptual vigilance can also be used to tackle a method used by many modern brands and publishers: disruption. Szmigin explains how disruption can be both a positive and a negative for consumers: “Doing something that’s different or unexpected often triggers vigilance – consumers basically filter these messages out. Very often consumers get annoyed if their lives are disrupted. If they’re visiting a site and looking for something in particular, disruption affects their whole process, which is a problem for them.”

“On the other hand, finding something that disrupts us in a way that grabs our attention makes us think or makes us look at it can be a good thing. The trick to overcoming perceptual vigilance is finding disruption that consumers can relate to. Publishers have got to be aware of different age socio-economic groups who might be consuming their content. When we can find something that is specific and interesting to particular groups, we should aim to match these stories with relevant audiences.“

The key to ensuring we’re engaging consumers with content, rather than irritating them, is context. If we can present consumers with content we know they are likely to be interested in, we can use the element of surprise to our advantage. If we use disruptive techniques without considering context, we’re likely to irritate consumers and risk turning them off our brand, message or campaign completely.

Disruption can be both a positive and a negative for consumers
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With the advent of GDPR, advertisers have a real opportunity to heed this advice and focus on creating compelling, narrative-led content to engage consumers, rather than the hyperactive, programmatic approach that has helped create the attention-deficit economy we now have.

Now the reset button has been hit on consumer data, contextually targeted storytelling can help rebuild a degree of trust between advertisers and consumers. If we’re delivering messaging that takes its cues from a person’s actual interests and activities, we’re much more likely to deliver relevant content that is of interest to consumers, and in turn hold their attention long enough to convey our message.

With the advent of GDPR, advertisers have a real opportunity to focus on creating compelling, narrative-led content to engage consumers
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Expert View: Harnessing Disruption to Capture Attention appeared first on Tech Trends.