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lmasanti said:

What I would like to see in News is a ‘pay-by-issue’ button. I will put, say $10- in my News account (part or iTunes, of course) and after reading an article I can click on $.05 or any other small amount to pay for the article. It has to be in a ‘article-by-article’ basis, not a subscription —that could be another oprion—. The idea is that you pay for the quality of the publication and of the author.

That idea of micropayments for articles has been around forever. Remember Digicash circa 1990s? In theory great, but look at general newspapers on web today. Celebrity and SNL rehashes drive readers. Whereas investigative stories that take months often require "charity funding" at places like Pro Publica or even the Guardian now. It is scary. Smart people will always find ways to be informed. But now "the default" is lower than it's ever been in my opinion.

Coupling "Siri & Search" is new-- a little change from the iOS loaded on the 12.9 iPad Pro that I got yesterday. Even now, Apple seems more aggressive in search, and using data from notes, locations, etc. to improve search results. A note on Privacy and Spotlight Search under GENERAL/SIRI SUGGESTIONS/"About Spotlight Suggestions & Privacy" outlines the policy. Default is to allow surveillance of all apps, preloaded and ones you buy. But Apple spells out in note what's happening, which data is sent to Apple, to Microsoft Bing, and what stays on device. Differential privacy and other preserving techniques mentioned.

Anyway, I've kept all switches (dozens of them) on, for now. Trust Apple more than others and it looks like they are readying Siri for Prime Time.

[What a pleasure the new iPad! More than a few touches of magic here. I'm still giddy. I thought drawing might have noticeable latency on the super-sized model, but it's fast and natural. The free drawing program with NOTES is better than I expected. Perfect to make birthday cards, personal handwritten illustrated notes, etc. Procreate app for 5 or 6 bucks not as intuitive but can do more with custom palettes and brush sizes and layers, etc. Still have to master that one. (The tiny charger NBD for me since I charge it off iMac.)]

Nice find. With that price point, HomePod, and untethered watch I probably will find it impossible not to finally subscribe to AppleMusic. 

FWIW, a recent survey of more than 1000 U.S. consumers on e-commerce and streaming had good and bad news in it for AppleMusic. Compared to Amazon Prime or Netflix, it’s not that sticky. Only 35% of respondents said they were “most likely” intended to keep AppleMusic. (Compared with 37% for Spotify and 53% for Pandora) Netflix had 72% and Amazon Prime 67%.

Good news for Apple is Spotify users looking slightly less satisfied, declining from past surveys. While AppleMusic slightly improving. [But bar graph, so not certain within 3% error rate]

As far as HomePod, it was too early to make the survey. But of Amazon Echo and Google Home users surveyed, “Play and control Music” ranked highest (32%) as most appealing feature. Ability to Ask it Questions (23%) and Home Automation (15%). Shopping only 5%. More confirmation Apple's emphasis on music for HomePod was right on target.

[This came out 30MAY2017, Bank America Merrill Lynch Analytics updating periodic survey with 20-page report by Justin Post et al.]

Who can make the most amiable intelligent assistant? Many recent steps Apple is taking: Applewatch, AR, HomePod, expanded iMessages, etc. encourage me that Cupertino is in a leading position. 

Tim Cook wisely is terse about it. Few have as big a picture, strategic and tactical, as he does. My hunch is so many things will suddenly come together maybe as early as a few years or so,  all centered on continual machine learning coupled to an individual.

If you cataloged all your screen-based annoyances during one day, it might included obnoxious ads, poor click bait articles, repetitive ads, stale information, inefficient communications, ineffective searches, and so on. 

Never tried to quantify this, but I’d guess for myself it easily exceeds 100 times— on one slow afternoon. I’d pay extra for any smart digital agent that would buffer me against some of this.

My biggest bet is on AAPL. Since the company is not driven by advertising income, its personal digital helper can block ads that you find annoying, repetitive,  too creepy, etc. You better be able to trust it. As it’ll hang with you more than your spouse.

Eventually by reading your face, gestures, measuring your BP, it might learn what makes you happy, irritated, etc. as well or maybe better than your mother.

Within five years, the enhanced Siri offering I hope is no longer generic for us. Instead it’s distinct for each user it serves, and we call him/her/it whatever we want, and own or co-own the rights for much of it. They would develop expertise alongside the individuals they serve, and be their sentinel and advocate, as long as conduct is above the law.

Not just be smart and hyper-aware, but uphold the interests of their owners. Ideally it’d be a partner you’d never wish to discard-- for whoa, the secrets it could tell. ;-)

Once decades ago I asked CMU’s then emeritus polymath Herbert Simon his view on AI. I expected he might say (like most at the time) it would be a panacea for society’s woes. But he was not as rosy, emphasizing that conflicts of interest, not intelligence, was at the root of many problems.

Long story short, relating to DED’s insightful piece, it hints at some upcoming conflicts of interest in artificial intelligence. Of course, it’ll be hard to find anything with no AI. But you might imagine AMZN and GOOGL preeminent use of AI will be on server end for corporate interests. Harness power of Deep Mind to say to combine psychology profiles and mine all available databases not just to serve but to take advantage of vulnerabilities and impulses of shoppers. Might consider consumers as ultimate prey, to find and exploit weaknesses and adapt. 

Apple has a different corporate model where in essence you pay a premium to be protected. Let’s hope smart and more individually oriented agent on devices cuts distraction and works more as personal advocate. We’ll likely have several intel agents, but probably only one trusted general purpose one. So far my bet is more people, as they wise up, will choose Apple’s ambient agent. Triple A rating.

PS With better intelligent agents on devices it should be easier for busy people to determine that the price per unit when buying a case of smoked brisling sardines at Amazon now is significantly more expensive than when buying a single tin bought off the shelf at Walmart. Not an isolated case. Point: Smarter devices not helpful for AMZN “discount” business model; savvy of them to push AWS, content, echo, stores, etc.