Reader's Corner No. 109: The Website Obesity Crisis, Real-Time Health Updates via Tattoos, and Twitter's Hilarious New Ad Campaign

August 02, 2019

The future is now and the tech world is becoming a weird, yet fascinating place! Today's topics include the unexpected website obesity crisis—with the average web page size averaging at about 2MB you'd think that just like the majority of technology, websites would also be smaller, faster, and more efficient? Wrong! Next up, avoid unnecessary doctor's appointments by monitoring your health statistics in real-time with a unique color-changing tattoo! And finally, you really don't want to miss Twitter's newest, meme-inspired guerilla marketing campaign... so keep reading if you want some interesting water-cooler conversation topics!


The Website Obesity Crisis

Jay Roberts

Source: Idle Worlds

Takeaway: This is a text version of a talk Maciej Cegłowski gave about the steady march of bloat in text-heavy websites. This is a well-worn topic. Here, Maciej goes deep on several aspects of the problem beyond just the simple "too many scripts" complaints which are the focus of similar articles.

Tags: #Performance, #Programming, #Design


Get one of these tattoos, and you get real-time updates on your health status

David Minton

Source: Fast Company

Takeaway: Might your health insurance cover your next tattoo? If preliminary tests in pigs, by a team of scientists at the Technical University of Munich in Germany work out, this might be the case. They developed a special fluid, made up of different dyes, that change color when they react with a person’s metabolic system. So far, they have tested dyes that shift color when pH, glucose, and albumin levels in blood change. While not intended to be a diagnostic tool, the high-tech inks may eventually allow patients with chronic health concerns to easily monitor their health, just by glancing at their body art.

Tags: #Technology


Twitter’s new ad campaign desperately wants to remind you that Twitter used to be fun

Hunter Kenny

Source: The Verge

Takeaway: As a symptom of modern-day society, creative corporate marketing campaigns are becoming more and more eccentric each year. Sometimes it isn't even about marketing a product anymore, but about getting in the face and minds of the target demographic in any way possible. We see this with infamous corporate Twitter feuds, that although completely unconventional, prove to be a great return on investment for brand recognition and customer engagement. Younger Millennials and Gen Z in particular, have a sense of humor that evolves more rapidly than any other generation in history. So it's no surprise to see a prolific social media corporation such as Twitter, consistently alter their marketing strategy to appeal to the offbeat, bordering on surreal interests of the younger generation. As a Gen Z'er in the Marketing field who is completely captivated by the art of obscure memery, I am happy to report that it's 2019 and we are finally seeing actual memes on sidewalks thanks to Twitter's newest ad campaign!

Tags: #Marketing, #SocialMedia, #Humor


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