Friday Five: Beaten by the bots on Black Friday
Tags: Twitter, Technology News, Black Friday, Bot, AI

Zone’s Ross Basham handpicks and shares the five best new stories on digital trends, experiences and technologies…

1. Bots snapping up the stock on Black Friday

Happy Black Friday! But whether that phrase gets your pulse racing or just elicits a big sigh, there’s no doubt we’re shopping online more this year. And with in-demand items like the PlayStation 5 just released, that’s thrown the problem of bots — which can automatically buy a product the second it goes on sale — into the spotlight.

That’s why out-of-stock PS5s are available on eBay for hundreds of pounds more than the RRP. But it’s not just big-ticket electronics — everything from cuddly toys to film collectibles are seeing bots snap up the stock, while the most advanced bots were originally developed for the highly lucrative limited-edition trainer market.

2. Time to embrace a life of digital minimalism?

Should we radically simplify our digital and online lives? That was the theme explored by Professor Cal Newport in the latest edition of The Book Club, hosted by Zone and Campaign in partnership with Penguin Business. Newport is the author of Digital Minimalism, in which he explains how to take back control from our devices.

According to Newport, “a digital minimalist starts with what they care about and then asks themselves how they can best support or amplify those things using technology”. In this Campaign article Newport discusses how this concept can apply to the world of marketing, while you can catch up on The Book Club here.

3. Twitter asks users: are you sure you like this?

In the latest move to curb the spread of misinformation, Twitter will now issue warnings when users attempt to like content that has been flagged as “misleading information”. Twitter had already introduced the same warning for attempted retweets, and claims those prompts had decreased quote tweets by 29%.

It has also introduced a prompt when users try to retweet a post containing a link to an article they haven’t actually read. Will any of this actually stop Trump supporters jumping on the bandwagon when the outgoing president goes on one of his late-night rants? Probably not, but at least Twitter is making an effort.

4. Lift-off for Stannah’s ‘revolutionary’ platform

Zone has helped leading stairlift and chairlift manufacturer Stannah launch an innovative digital platform in the UK that allows customers to buy its life-changing products online. The platform distils the process of buying a new stairlift into a simple 20-minute interaction on a laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

Customers are able to find and buy a stairlift tailored to meet their needs by submitting specific information about their home, including type of staircase and number of turns, and choose from two packages. Sam Stannah, head of the Strategic Projects team, said: “This is a revolutionary move in the stairlift industry.”

5. Romantic robot pens very modern love story

As anyone who’s ever tried will attest, writing romantic fiction is harder than it looks. So when the New York Times challenged an AI language system to write for its popular ‘Modern Love’ column, you’d expect the worst, right? Well, author GPT-3 surprised many with its tender, unexpectedly romantic offering.

GPT-3’s story has everything: the meet-cute, the shared interests, the chemistry, even a casual bit of infidelity (bad AI!). OK, so it ends in an endless stream of drinks and dinner but that’s at the heart of many successful relationships, isn’t it? And it’s still a cut above 50 Shades of Grey.