Sunday Newsletter (No. 6): QR codes, the odd one out & 'undo send'
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” - Michael Jordan
Here’s my take on a few things in tech that have been happening recently:
The QR code comeback. QR codes have been around for a while, but never really took off in the western world. It seems they’re now making a comeback, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. This week, I used QR codes three times - this is probably equivalent to the amount of times I’ve used them in the past 10 years. It was a surprisingly seamless user experience, bridging the physical and digital world. Scanning a QR code is now a built-in feature on every phone - you simply open your camera, point it at the code, and get the information you needed. This is a process that requires minimal technical ability beyond owning a smartphone, and takes just seconds. The coronavirus pandemic has made re-opening businesses look for ways to become more contactless and the QR code has been instrumental in solving that problem. One of my experiences this week was at a pub: I scanned the QR code, provided my email address, placed my order, entered my payment details and my order was delivered directly to my table. This seems to be common practice at restaurants, pubs and bars at the moment, and in addition to helping to protect staff and customers, it also serves as a mechanism for track and trace (in order to use the QR code ordering system at the pub, I had to enter my email address). I don’t think QR code popularity will end with these use cases, and we don’t have to look far for inspiration of how else they might be used. QR codes have always been popular in China and they’re used for things from payments to panhandlers to advertising at scale. They also used QR codes earlier this year to track and prevent spread of coronavirus. So, why do I think now is a great time for QR codes? In addition to the current need for contactless interactions, in the years since QR codes first came about we’ve become increasingly connected to our phones, and they are a perfect match for this way of life.
Links:
16 ways QR codes are being used in China (Andreessen Horowitz)
China’s Covid-19 QR code surveillance state (The Financial Times)
One of these things is not like the other. Windows, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype, LinkedIn, TikTok? Yeah, that final one seems a bit strange to me too. This week we found out that Microsoft is planning to buy TikTok from it’s parent company ByteDance, but the potential deal was put on hold after Donald Trump made a statement suggesting he’d ban the popular short-form video app from the US. Microsoft’s interest in TikTok is somewhat confusing, given that the company doesn’t currently operate in a similar space - it feels a bit like a dad trying to say “that’s lit” to prove he’s a cool dad. Microsoft do own the social network LinkedIn, but it serves a purpose to users in a business and professional context, which fits more clearly with the company’s other products. TikTok has about half a billion users worldwide, with about 100 million in the US, so an acquisition would give Microsoft access to an entirely new user base and allow them to compete with Facebook on a new level. It’s possible that they’re simply taking advantage of the situation between China and the US to make this deal without any particular strategy. A sale would mean that Microsoft would be responsible for protecting the data of American TikTok users - mitigating US government concerns that user data is being shared with the Chinese government. Personally, I’ve never downloaded TikTok - partly due to being in my late 20s (I’m a bit older than the typical TikTok demographic), but also because I don’t trust how my data might be collected and used. While this deal with Microsoft would protect the data of users in the US, it’s important to remember that this doesn’t appear to apply to any other countries, such as the UK. Earlier this year ByteDance was exploring an option to move all their non-Chinese business to a global headquarters in London, meaning it would have to abide by European data protection rules. This would allow better data protection for more users and would be a better option for ByteDance rather than selling to one of the big 5 technology companies, though it seems that the latter may now be their only option.
Links:
ByteDance and Microsoft deal for TikTok to stay in the U.S. waits for White House ruling (TechCrunch)
Microsoft Is in Talks to Buy TikTok in U.S. (Bloomberg)
TikTok’s Chinese parent is scrambling to hang on to its hit app (The Economist)
TikTok: How would the US go about banning the Chinese app? (BBC)
Have you ever wished there was an ‘undo’ button after sending a message? Well, if you’re a Twitter user, there might be soon - for a price, as the company is considering a subscription model with premium features. At the moment, there’s no edit button on Twitter, despite users being frustrated by not being able to edit tweets. This makes sense, as content which has been liked and retweeted could be retrospectively edited to have a completely different meaning. The ‘undo send’ button wouldn’t allow this - it would instead provide a 30 second window for a user to recall or withdraw a tweet before anyone sees it. This would solve some of the problems for which users typically request an edit button, for example allowing people to fix typos that they might have only noticed at the last moment. While I don’t tend to post on Twitter, I can understand how this would be useful - I’ve certainly sent emails where I noticed a typo moments too late, just as I press send (though I’ve just discovered that Gmail has a feature where you can unsend an email sent up to 30 seconds after you’ve clicked send). This situation is unique to the digital world - as we know in the physical world, there is no CTRL+Z option, and you can’t retrospectively edit the words that have already come out of your mouth. I’m interested in the ethics of editing on social platforms - should users be allowed to amend things they have posted? Standard practice with messaging platforms at the moment appears to be that when something has been deleted (e.g. WhatsApp) or edited (e.g. Slack) there is a visual way of demarcating this. On Reddit, edited comments are marked by an asterisk and Reddit etiquette is that you state your reason for editing a post. To correct typos and spelling errors, editing makes sense, but this ability can also be used for malicious purposes. As people who build online networks and communities, should we trust our users or plan for the worst case scenario?
Links:
Twitter survey reveals the subscription options it’s eyeing, including an ‘Undo Send’ option (TechCrunch)
Reddiquette (Reddit)
This is a newsletter of a three things in tech and science that I've found interesting this week. It's a 5 minute read every Sunday, in which I’m hoping you’ll learn something new.
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