What a difference a year makes. This time last year, I was in the Dominican Republic celebrating the beginning of my fourth decade on this earth. This year, we spent a long weekend in the music mecca of Woodstock.
We got into the swing of things from the moment we stepped into our hotel. We spent the weekend listening to old vinyl classics on a record player instead of listening to a TV. It was a welcome change to manually flip records instead of having our three year old daughter shout “Alexa, play Ayla music!”
A few classics to add to your list if you don’t already have them: Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson, Blues Traveler, The Monkees, The Marshall Tucker Band, Leon Bridges, Chuck Mangione, The Cars.
In other news, I’ll be advising for the Google News Initiative over the next few months. The program is designed to help small to medium sized publishers accelerate their business growth. I’ll be helping to develop a playbook and workshops for revenue.
Feel free to comment, share and provide topics you would like to see covered. Happy reading!
Epic’s MetaHuman
Epic Games has announced a new, browser-based software tool powered by its Unreal Engine called the MetaHuman Creator that can craft highly realistic human faces and help power more realistic body movements and facial animations.
“MetaHuman” appears to be the term the company is using to describe this brand of virtual individual.
Epic says the MetaHuman Creator can be used in conjunction with modern motion capture and animation techniques. This will allow for the creation of lifelike movements and human interaction scenes built for video games, film, TV, and other formats.
These “metahumans” can be manipulated in real time within the tool itself while using a web browser.
Up until now, one of the most arduous tasks in 3D content creation has been constructing truly convincing digital humans. Even the most experienced artists require significant amounts of time, effort, and equipment - just for one character.
The Big Picture
Speaking from personal experience using 3D Studio Max software during my college days, developing characters takes months of time. This new tool could truly be a “game changer” for the digital TV and gaming space - if it can live up to the early prototypes. You can check out the trailer here.
Jeff Bezos to Step Down as CEO of Amazon
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who built the Seattle company from a small online bookseller to a global retail, entertainment and tech juggernaut with more than 1.3 million employees, is stepping down.
2020 revenue was up 38% to $386.1 billion as shoppers flocked to Amazon during the coronavirus pandemic. Net income nearly doubled to $21.3 billion compared to the prior year.
Amazon veteran Andy Jassy, chief executive of the company’s lucrative Amazon Web Services division, will become the new CEO.
Bezos’ fortune stands around $184 billion, making him the world’s second-richest person behind Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla.
Bezos will become executive chairman by the end of September, focusing on new products and initiatives.
The Big Picture
Although he noted that he plans to focus more on outside endeavors that include Blue Origin, which funds space travel, and the Washington Post, rumors are also in play that Bezos wants to purchase a portion of the Washington Football Team. An expansion into the sports world during a down year makes perfect sense, and I would expect many more acquisitions in the future.
Image from Morning Brew
HubSpot, a publicly-traded sales and marketing software company, is acquiring The Hustle, an email newsletter and content company targeted at entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The deal could help HubSpot generate leads to acquire more customers while reducing investment in ads on Google and Facebook.
The Hustle makes most of its money from advertising and a small portion from subscriptions to its premium research arm, called Trends. Its events business was sizable, but has been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
The Big Picture
A recent trend has emerged with regard to the valuation of start-up companies. Soon a company’s value will be based solely on putting a value amount on emails.
HubSpot - 1.5M emails for $27m = $18 per email
Morning Brew - 3M emails for $75m - $25 per email
Australia Versus Big Tech
All eyes were on Australia this month as media companies worked with the Australian government to push Facebook and Google to pay for the news that appears on their platforms.
Facebook took the nuclear approach and removed all news sites, coverage and links from their platform in Australia - without notice - before retracting and coming to an agreement after alterations in the terms.
Google has signed deals with a number of publishers — including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. — to pay for content in Google News Showcase.
The Big Picture
There has been no shortage of discussion about this in recent months. While both Facebook and Google certainly direct a significant amount of free traffic to all news sites, the individual deals have angered some as they aren’t necessarily beneficial to the small news companies in greater need. However, both Facebook and Google have agreed to invest $1 billion over the next three years in news. Google has already invested $300m in the Google News Initiative to accelerate the business growth of small to medium sized publishers.
Greatest Sports Person of All Time
February also brought along another Super Bowl, with Tom Brady winning his seventh ring with his new team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Afterwards there were many calls to deem him the greatest of all time, I disagreed and got into a few days discussion with many people on Twitter. (Including @keithdeller a professional darts thrower as I mistakenly left out 16 Time World Champion Phil Taylor)
I didn't expect that much interest but it's a topic that no one has answered in a substantive way. In 2021, there is enough data out there to generate cross-sport comparisons.
Areas such as:
- Team/Individual Sport -
- Risk Level - (1 - 10) Think formula one versus a Quarterback
- Athleticism - (speed, balance, power, skills)
- Mental Strength - (Nascar v a goal scorer)
- Longevity - (Years at the top)
- Achievements - (Goals, wins, trophies)
- Sport Popularity - (US/Global)
- Sport Difficulty - (Amateur to professional players, world players)
- Frequency - (Events per season)
- Global Appeal - (Social following)
I'm going to think about this a little further; it could be an interesting side project if anyone is interested. Imagine being able to add any player and have them ranked!
JOBS IN MY NETWORK
For anyone qualified and looking for referrals, recommendations, introductions for any of the below roles I am happy to help.
WebMD - Senior Product Manager
The New York Times - Project Manager, Audio
Product Director - Vanity Fair
Programmatic Operations Manager - VOX
Strategy & Operations Manager - Google News
If you would like to have your open role(s) featured in next month's newsletter, please get in touch.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to share, comment and provide suggestions.