Piracy is on the rise as consumers struggle with too many streaming services

Sandvine (an analytics firm focused on helping ISPs improve their offerings) has released a new study of global internet traffic and has found that video piracy is the second highest form of data uploading in North America, and number one everywhere else. The cause of which seems to have been put squarely on the abundance of streaming options.

This finding is in contrast to reports last year of declines in piracy thanks to services like Netflix and Spotify.

The full report is quite interesting - if you want to check it out - here you go: https://www.sandvine.com/hubfs/downloads/phenomena/2018-phenomena-report.pdf

Key Takeaway

There's a saying in information theory circles - if you give someone too many options, they won't choose any. That's exactly what's happening here. When Netflix was the only game in town, we saw people using their service, but still downloading Game of Thrones (an HBO property and not available on Netflix). With everyone coming out with their own streaming services, the cost of having access to everything is coming close to what cable cost before any of this started. So it's no surprise that people are resorting to piracy again.

In this age of "too much", it's important to create experiences for people that don't make them choose between more than 3 options.

The US has fallen behind in Venture Capital investments

A new study by NYU is showing the US is lagging in relation to other major finance hubs for the past 10 years. What used to be a 95% global share in VC investing is now closer to 50% with China, India and other markets spending huge amounts on startups in recent years. See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/05/study-says-the-us-is-quickly-losing-its-entrepreneurial-edge/

Key Takeaway

We are not alone. While we've been watching Facebook grow and... do whatever they're doing now, companies like Tencent (think Spotify but in China) are growing like crazy. It's as good a time as any to pay attention to what's happening beyond North America as there's a ton of money being put into everything from entertainment to Blockchain that isn't being met with as much skepticism as it is here.

A drone in the UK rescues a rape victim using thermal vision

Speaking of cool stuff happening outside North America, a police drone was able to find a 16 year old girl who dialed 999 (that's our 911). The teenager wasn't able to give her exact location, but by describing where she was, the police were able to dispatch a drone and find her using thermal vision. It also helped them find the attacker. See the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/06/police-drone-finds-girl-16-who-called-999-to-report

Key Takeaway

This is a fantastic example of how AI may not be taking our jobs, but is here to help. That said, this story is also a good example of a police force that has been trained in using drones to aid them in their work.

While technology is moving faster than ever, it's critical that we continue to keep a finger on the pulse of these advances or we risk the inability to take advantage of it all. Who knows, maybe your next training session will result in a life being saved.