Why Marketers Should be Paying Attention to Twitch

An article posted about two years ago still remains relevant today regarding the internet streaming service Twitch. Twitch.tv is a live-streaming platform for video games, chats, and competitions for eSport genre events. Amazon bought the company in 2014 at the time for a bit less than $ 1 billion, but this to me demonstrates the significance Twitch carries as an industry titan like Amazon saw the potential in the platform's services. Unlike competitors such as Youtube or Netflix, Twitch has become something that is more than just video-streams, it has created a novel environment that integrates social interaction alongside a viewing experience.

The main point of this article is, why should marketers care about this seemingly small subgenre of video-gaming and streaming? Many people are unaware of the grossing profits and numbers this platform has been generating on average.

Some facts include:

• Over 100 million monthly viewers
• On average viewers spend more than 1.5 hours per day.

At this point Twitch is becoming more than just a "video game space" it has become a direct competitor to media outlets such as Netflix, iTunes, and Spotify. The article I am referencing which can be found here, shows that in terms of Twitter mentions, Twitch is keeping an equal pace with Netflix.

Twitch is becoming a large part of this generation's digital identity. One tactic going forward will be to see companies begin to create their own content, whether it is cooking, video games, arts and crafts or discussion, companies have plenty of opportunities to advertise within this space. If companies feel that Twitch demographics match the companies target consumers, it would be beneficial to start advertising. I personally just a week ago was browsing the Twitch.tv website and found Wendys, popular fast-food burger chain had created a profile and was live-streaming video games with over 8,000 viewers. During this viewing session, the viewer-chat was generally surprised and excited to see that "the Wendys" was partaking in their culture. Wendy's was showing live footage of someone playing Rocket League, a popular computer game, while having popup ads for burgers appear every now and then. Twitch may be unfamiliar ground for companies to get their feet wet with in regards to marketing, but I feel both this article and in my opinion, there is a lot of potential for companies to begin streaming and advertising their content in front of millions of viewers.

Link to Article: https://marketingland.com/marketers-paying-attention-twitch-202984

Q&A:

1) Can you think of some other examples of companies that could benefit from marketing via Twitch? If so who?

2) The most popular Twitch streamer has been able to generate $500k per month through the platform. Is this a good indication that Twitch streaming may become a full-time job in the future for some dedicated content creators? Is this a good or bad thing if you believe it becomes a career option.

Big Mac or Big Data?

In late March, fast food giant Mcdonald's announced their plans on acquiring an Israeli based tech company, Dynamic Yield Ltd. The company is known for offering retailers with "decision logic" technology. The offer is estimated to be over $300 million, making it the largest purchase by the company since Boston Market in 1999.

Over the past several years, you may have noticed many technological changes within many Mcdonald's locations, mainly with its menu displays. These technological investments have been made since CEO Steve Easterbrook took over in 2015. Mcdonald's plans on implementing this new AI predictive technology at the drive-thru and ordering kiosks inside the restaurant. In an exclusive interview with Wired, Easterbrook said, "How do you transition from mass marketing to mass personalization? To do that, you’ve really got to unlock the data within that ecosystem in a way that’s useful to a customer.”

In a pilot program in Miami, the algorithm used data not only from historical orders at the location, but also local time, date, weather, traffic, and even nearby events. It can track trends at the location and around the globe causing more potentially effective upsells.

Personalization will also be focus with the adaptation of the new technology. They plan on using user information (if they are willing to provide) to create a "personal" menu when they arrive. Mcdonald's already uses geofencing technology to know when mobile app customers is approaching to begin the order. This technology can raise privacy and security concerns, so it will be interesting to see how Mcdonald's goes about protecting it. “We will be very sensitive as we learn, as we go forward,” says Easterbrook. “I think over time it’s going to be important to demonstrate that we can offer value back for customers willing to open themselves up to us.”

Questions:

1. Do you think AI predictive technology will affect the way you order at the drive-thru?

2. How soon do you think it will be until other major franchises begin adopting this technology?

3. What privacy concerns, if any, can you think of with this technology being implemented?

Weaponization of the Internet of Things

by Alex Windle and Maddie Stidham

What are IOT Devices?

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to something that most of us interact with every day, but may not realize. IoT is the network of everyday, physical objects that are equipped with Internet connectivity. The main goal of IoT devices is to collect and share data about the way they are used and the environment in which they function. They can be embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware and can be remotely controlled and monitored. From smart refrigerators, to self-driving cars, to our fitness watches, the valuable information that these devices can track opens us up to some serious security and privacy concerns. Their pervasive presence is supposed to make life easier, but there is a darker side to these new emerging technologies--the weaponization of the Internet of Things.

Botnet and DDoS?

A Botnet is a group of IOT and traditional computing devices that have IP addresses and have been compromised. A botnet could be just two devices, or as much as Mirai; 600,000. A botnet then can be used in a DDoS or Distributed Denial-of-Service attack to overwhelm a system with a massive amount of data. This usually happens to web servers but can even bring down connectivity to large geographical areas like Mirai taking down US east coast connectivity. Essentially, a botnet performing a DDoS attack is like a bunch of zombies creating a road block between you and Illegal Pete’s on a Thursday night.

Organizations and people create botnets to perform DDoS attacks for a multitude of reasons. Companies perform attacks in order to shutdown competitor's E-commerce website. People can use DDoS attacks to keep a small or medium sized company’s website down, then demanding money to stop their attack. This is similar to the mafia ‘requesting’ money to ‘protect’ you. Another example of DDoS attacks is humorously, competitive online games to block their competitor's packets to the game's server so that they can gain a competitive advantage. There are many more examples here.

Can I make my devices secure?

As more and more of these devices make their way into our homes, cars, and businesses, the rush for convenience might leave security as a non-priority. Considering the serious security concerns surrounding Internet of Things devices, there are steps we can take to secure those devices. The following are our team’s top three tips for securing your Internet of Thing devices:

Make sure you have the latest firmware

Major companies prepare for security threats and patch the vulnerabilities that they become aware of. That being said, one must update their devices in order to receive those security updates, they are not just trying to stop your 12th binge of The Office. It is important to remember that there are lags between when vulnerabilities are discovered, and when they are patched. See the following to remain more secure during those times.

Disable Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)

Universal Plug and Play is a set of protocols and related technologies that allow devices to automatically discover one another. This feature, though convenient, serves as a gateway for hackers to infiltrate your IoT devices and network. According to Dan Goodin, “security experts are advising that a networking feature known as Universal Plug and Play be disabled on routers, printers, and cameras, after finding it makes tens of millions of Internet-connected devices vulnerable to serious attack”. If you want to avoid cyber criminals potentially discovering your devices from beyond your local network, simply disable UPnP completely.

Pick strong, unique passwords for every device

Strong passwords are not necessarily passwords with 6 characters, 1 uppercase, and 1 special character. Strong passwords or pass-pharases are generally supposed to be fairly large (12 characters or more), since brute-force password crackers take exponentially longer to hack with each additional character. Password managers such as LastPass are helpful for managing and creating large randomized passwords if you need help. Here is LastPass’s free password generator.

Questions

1. Have you heard of IoT devices being used for cyber attacks before reading this post? Is so, in what context?
2. How many IoT devices do you own and have you thought about securing them before?
3. Do you use a password manager? If so, which one and why?

What is Intelligence?

How do you define intelligence? You might consider it to be the ability to:

• Learn, understand or to deal with new or trying situations (Merriam Webster)
• Acquire and apply knowledge and skills (Oxford)
• Understand and learn well, and to form judgments and opinions based on reason (Cambridge)

Since the invention of the computer, people have strived to create powerful machines that can imitate human intelligence. Computers generally do what we tell them to do, but a machine that can make its own decisions is incredibly powerful. One way to approach building such machines is to “teach” them using virtual games (like chess) since they have defined rules and strategy, which the computer can understand and evaluate.

The history of Artificial Intelligence and game theory starts with IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess-playing machine developed in 1997. It was incredibly powerful and could process 200 million moves a second. Deep Blue gained notoriety by beating Gary Kasparov, one of the greatest human chess players of all time, in a 6 match tournament.

IBM built this machine by programming the rules of chess into its system and gave it some basic guidelines, such as the weight of each piece (eg. a rook is more valuable than a pawn). It also had a pre-programmed memory of millions of chess positions, such as opening and closing strategies. However, Deep Blue was not intelligent. Blue could compute the optimal move given any board setup, searching its own library of millions of position, and its game was always reactionary. It didn't out-think Kasparov, it simply out-calculated him.

To illustrate: even though a sports car or jet plane can move much faster than any human, we do not consider it to be athletic. It simply has the correct parts that allow it to achieve such speed. Similarly, chess-playing machines relied on raw power rather than decision making. They did not understand the game or learn from their mistakes.

There have been other chess playing machines since Deep Blue, all of which approached the game in a similar way. However, a revolutionary new machine appeared last year that took a new approach. DeepMind, a company partnered with Google, created a machine called AlphaZero. This machine used deep neural networks to process its moves, rather than a data bank. It was only taught the basic rules of the game (piece movement, check/checkmate rules), but it wasn't given information on the weight of the pieces or any pre-programmed moveset.

Instead, the machine played millions of games against itself. After every game, it would decide which moves where beneficial and contributed to victory. This process, known as reinforcement learning, allowed AlphaZero to develop its own standards for move evaluation and strategy. After a few short hours, it had uncovered many of the most popular strategies that have taken years for humans to discover.

AlphaZero was matched up with Stockfish, a chess machine similar to DeepBlue (albeit exponentially more powerful). Out of 1000 games, AlphaZero won 155 and lost only 6. It was also able to beat other machines playing Shogi (Japanese chess) and Go. in short, AlphaZero destroyed its competition.

Kasparov, who witnessed the beginning of chess machines, commented on the

effectiveness of AlphaZero, saying that it “prioritizes piece activity over the material, preferring positions that to my eye looked risky and aggressive.” He also noted that the style that AlphaZero plays with mirrored his own, calling it “dynamic and open.”

AlphaZero could mark the beginning of intelligent machines, using programs that can learn over time to become more effective. There is still much to be discovered in regards to the usefulness and shortcomings of these machines. As they are integrated into our everyday lives, we will have to decide if computers are truly intelligent, and if so, how we should use them responsibly.

Questions:

1. Do you consider AlphaZero to be “intelligent”?
2. What other functions do you think artificially intelligent machines could perform?

Biotechnology and Gene-Editing

One of the most controversial types of technology is biotechnology. It has may positives attributes that include improving the quality of life for those who are born with disabilities, eradicating diseases, and even strengthening the nutritious density of agriculture. However, it could have dangerous implications.

In recent years, gene-editing has been expensive, labor intensive, and inaccurate causing it to be infrequently thought about as a realistic option for regular consumers. That is about to change with the creation and improvement of CRISPR/Cas9.

CRISPR is a form of biotechnology that uses the immune systems of bacteria to cut and alter the genes of other organisms based on programmed artificial genetic code. It has become more cost effective and faster to do than traditional methods. According to an article on Vox, some key implementations of this biotechnology include:

1.     Editing crops to become allergen free, live under extreme-weather conditions, or survive devastating diseases.

2.     Preventing or eradicating genetic diseases. Scientists have begun research to change the structure of DNA so that it changes the BRCA genes (found to increase risk of breast cancer) and the mutations that cause cystic fibrosis. There is already research showing that this technology can create a gene to be immune to HIV. Read more on that here. However, occasionally a misfire could lead to cancer, so heavy precautions needs to be taken before this can be used safely.

3.     Creating new and stronger antibiotics. With antibiotic resistance on the rise, this new technology can help create more antibiotics cheaper than before.

4.     Gene Drive. This biotechnology works with CRIPSR to choose which genes are passed down or survive and which ones don’t. This has the potential to eradicate the mosquitoes that carry malaria.

5.     Finally, and potentially most dangerously, creating designer babies. The ability to edit human genes is great when talking about reducing the risk of certain cancers or building immunity for life-threatening diseases. However, that also gives us the power to pick and choose which genes are desirable and lends the ability to design what a person could look like.

This theory of adapting or augmenting the human genome isn’t something new. In 1957, the idea of transhumanism gained traction in the science-fiction community. The movement focuses on “the use of technological advancements to enhance our physical, intellectual and psychological capabilities, ultimately transcending the limitations of the human condition.” As much as it was science-fiction then, it is now real, possible, and has potential to become accessible. The questions lie in what we choose to use this new technology for.

In reference to being asked about how humans and technology interact in the future, science historian at Vanderbilt, Michael Bess says, “I think each of us needs to ask, “What does it mean for a human being to flourish?” These technologies are forcing us to be more deliberate about asking that question. We need to sit down with ourselves and say, “As I look at my daily life, as I look at the past year, as I look at the past five years, what are the aspects of my life that have been the most rewarding and enriching? When have I been happiest? What are the things that have made me flourish?”

Questions for reflection:

1)    Do you believe that biotechnology has the ability to make our lives more rewarding and enriching? Why or why not?

2)    Do you think the pros and cons are equal for gene-editing?

3)    Do you think CRISPR has the ability to interfere with the human condition?


Ted Talks for more additional thought:
One of the creators of CRISPR 
Technology and the human condition 

Can Big Data Predict Your Future For You?

Big Data is an emerging field that has impacted every industry in America. This impact has stretched to education, and Georgia State nursing school has began to use Big Data to predict student success. They were surprised to see that your performance in an introductory Math class would be a good predictor for your success as a junior or senior. Studies showed that less than 10 percent of students that earned a C in that math class graduated, while 80% of students with a B+ graduated.

This has led data analysts at Civitas Learning to conclude that students are much less likely to graduate if they got less than an A or B in a foundation course for their major. This article by the New York Times cites University of Arizona as having uses for big data. Studies from the University of Arizona have shown that a student's grade in English comp is crucial to graduation. In the U of A, 41% of students that received a C in English comp graduated, while 61% of students that received a B graduated, and 72% of students that received an A graduated. Conclusions like these can allow colleges to decide where to deposit resources to ensure higher graduation rates. If studies like this prove causality between performance in a certain class and graduation rates, it is not far fetched to assume more resources will be thrown at the students that aren't performing well in select classes.

It is incredibly interesting to see the long term benefits that universities can encounter if they use big data. The Insite Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics in the U of A MIS department is experimenting using big data on current freshmen. They are measuring social interactions, such as whether freshmen go to the gym, where they buy their food from, and even when they buy clothes from the bookstore. They are putting all this data into algorithms to measure the likelihood that a freshman would make it to sophomore year. This attacks the idea that comfort with a student's environment could impact how successful they are academically. Insite has tracked 30,000 students over the past three years, and have cited an accuracy rate of 85%!

Of course this information could be use in a negative manner, which makes security of this information of utmost importance. It is imperative that this information not land in the wrong hands, but rather be used to advance the student's goals and aspirations.

I have a couple questions regarding this topic for you all!

1. Do you believe that every day interactions within a campus can have an impact on how successful a student is?
2. Would you like big data to predict your future for you? Such as your likelihood of graduation, best major for you, or even how you should interact with others on campus.
3. Do you think that big data can be abused? How?

Tech Talk - DevOps

In today's fast-paced environment organizations are adopting new tools and practices that streamline the deployment of applications and services.  With this, a new concept has taken shape and is now in high demand within the technology community: DevOps.  In simple terms, DevOps bridges the gap between developers and their users.  Through the use of Agile methods, DevOps help deliver, maintain, and update hosted applications to adapt with changing workflows.

As more and more services are turning to cloud-based solutions, the demand for DevOps engineers will steadily increase.  According to a post on the website 'The Agile Admin', there are three main roles for a DevOps engineer:

1. Infrastructure Automation
2. Continuous Delivery
3. Site Reliability Engineering

For example, a DevOps Engineer in my department would help with the creation of a new application - working closely with their primary customers and other developers - while also creating and configuring the systems that will host the new application.  Even after "go-live" for the applications, the the DevOps position is in charge of maintaining and updating the application and its hosted system to ensure security and functionality. 

Essentially, there are no pre-defined roles for a DevOps engineer.  They are usually developers who become interested in networking and and deployment operations, or they could be systems administrators who have an interest in scripting and programming.  According to Kelsey Hightower, an operations lead at Puppet, a major software configuration management tool,  “The DevOps engineer encapsulates depth of knowledge and years of hands-on experience,... this person blends the skills of the business analyst with the technical chops to build the solution..."

Questions:

1) Would you be interested in a DevOps position?

2) Whatever your position, how do you think Agile will tie into your daily functions during your career?