5 in 5: Google Self-Destructing, E-Sports, Melinda Gates, Smart Jeans, Speedy Texting

Each week, Padilla’s Insights + Strategy team stands at the intersection of people, culture and brands to bring you five stories that you can read in five minutes.

1. Google Self-Destructing

Google is introducing a new privacy setting that allows you to choose for your data to be automatically deleted after a set time period. Why should you care? Privacy is becoming a bigger issue in the digital space. People feel that Google should not be able to own our data in perpetuity. Google uses our data to be able to market correctly to each person. If our interests are constantly changing, why would Google need our data from X years ago? This new feature is Google’s way of demonstrating they respect their customers’ growing concerns. [The New York Times]

2. E-Sports

This week 12,000 fans of Overwatch, an e-sports game, came together in Philadelphia to watch the Overwatch League Grand Finals. Why should you care? The events are said to be like a mixture of a traditional sporting event and comic-con. Blizzard Entertainment, which released Overwatch in 2016, said their strategy was to make the game as appealing as possible to all players, regardless of sex, orientation or race. The league finished its season with an average audience of 313,000 viewers. This year, professional e-sports leagues, including Call of Duty and League of Legends, are expected to make over $1 billion in revenue. [The New York Times]

3. Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates pledged $1 billion to expand women’s power and influence in the United States. Why should you care? In 2018, there were more men named James running Fortune 500 companies than there were women. Gates says, “I want to see more women in the position to make decisions, control resources, and shape policies and perspectives.” With the recent events of women’s marches, the #MeToo movement, and women running for office in 2018 and winning – the window has been pried open for this type of investment. [Time]

4. Smart Jeans

Levi’s using Google’s Jacquard hardware has created touch-sensitive jeans. Why should you care? The jacket has a battery-powered Bluetooth tag attached to the sleeve that is washable. Wearers are able to check their diary, the weather, Google maps and control their music by touching a tab on the sleeve. Levi hopes to use this technology on jeans next. The idea is that, “you can keep your phone in your pocket and your eyes on the world around you, staying connected without being distracted.” [Wired]

5. Speedy Texting

People are now texting 70% as fast as they type. Why should you care? The gap in typing speeds is being reduced due to increase of skill, but mostly due to improving spell-check technology on smartphones. Two things that hinder texting speeds are word prediction and typing with one hand. The younger generations who have always used touchscreen devices are typing way faster than older generations who may have been using electronic devices for longer. It will be interesting to see if computer manufacturers will improve auto-correct technologies to keep keyboards in the game. [CNN]

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