Five things on Friday #232

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2. EMOJI GARGOYLES

No, not another review of THAT movie. I mean, bonafide emoji-as-gargoyle usage.

LOOK.

  

Believe it or not (and trust me, you’re allowed a hefty amount of disbelief on this one) these faces can be found on the Plein Rond de Eik building in Amersfoort, Netherlands.

Ahem:

‘Changiz Tehrani, of Attika Architekten, was inspired by classic architectural ornamentation, as well as a nearby building called “The House With the Heads,” which features busts of six Greek gods on its own facade. The use of emoji—in this case the WhatsApp designs of Willem Van Lancker—in the building is an acknowledgement of the fact that the yellow smiley faces have become the fastest-growing “language” in the world.’

Riiiight.

Are we at shark jumping moment for pop culture references featuring our yellow friends?

One can only hope.

The photos and the quote/story come via Atlas Obscura. Go read.

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3. MAKING MY FIRST GOOGLE ASSISTANT TOOL

I got bored a couple of Saturdays ago and decided to make something.

Y’all remember I built a Facebook Messenger bot for the Sea Containers building (aka Ogilvy London) called Roombot, right?

(no? ok, well here’s the primer, here’s some chat about it, and here’s the bot itself).

Well, what you’re looking at above is the first take at it being incorporated into Google Assistant using Actions on Google.

A few things to note on this:

• The timestamps on the screenshots should show you just how quickly and easily you can go from ‘I want to build an Action for Google Assistant’ to actually having a demo live on your phone. That’s fantastic.
• I AM NOT A CODER. I needed a grand total of ZERO code skills to start getting this Action built.
• At the time of writing, I’m probably about 25% into the process but I’m hoping to get the rest of it finished this weekend whereupon I’ll submit to the big G for actual usage/go-live.

But yeah, if you want to go mess about with Google Assistant Actions, you can do really quickly and easily with their developer console. Oh, you’re going to need an api.ai account too (but that’s easy) – they’ve also got a few pre-made Actions you can mess about with too.

GO PLAY.

And I’ll yell again when/if this ever makes it live.

  

Bonus thing for those Google Assistant users reading this based in the UK – you had a whole bunch of new features roll out this week. Check to see if you have them yet.

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4. TURN OFF YOUR PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Like, now.

“Kill your notifications. Yes, really. Turn them all off. (You can leave on phone calls and text messages, if you must, but nothing else.) You’ll discover that you don’t miss the stream of cards filling your lockscreen, because they never existed for your benefit. They’re for brands and developers, methods by which thirsty growth hackers can grab your attention anytime they want. Allowing an app to send you push notifications is like allowing a store clerk to grab you by the ear and drag you into their store. You’re letting someone insert a commercial into your life anytime they want. Time to turn it off.”

This is just one of many super-powerful paragraphs from a WIRED article going under the above name.

Having spent the last few months without the main social apps on my phone I can tell you that YOU DON’T MISS ANYTHING AND YOUR LIFE WILL CARRY ON AS USUAL.

So yeah, do that.

There should be a bonus item related to this at the bottom of the newsletter too, btw.

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5. MORE WEIGHT-Y STUFF

A few editions ago, I (actually, my mate Matt) shared this awesome Medium post from Dave Parkinson, ‘50 ways to lose weight‘.

It is a great and easy read.

Earlier this week I was reminded of another decent – but more data-led – piece on a similar matter, this time by Mat Morrison.

I know Mat fairly well and being reminded of how he looked back then (three years or so ago now) is weird in a way. As cliché as it sounds, it really is like looking at a different person.

OK, so the point is: if you’re looking to change your body shape, Mat did it with determination + data.

Read how.

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BONUSES: 

BONUSES THIS WEEK ARE A HOTCH POTCH OF RANDOM STUFF I’VE WRITTEN, FAVOURITED ON TWITTER, OR SIMPLY JUST STOLEN FROM OTHER NEWSLETTERS.

FOR SOME OF YOU, I KNOW THIS IS YOUR FAVOURITE SECTION. I HOPE THIS WEEK’S DOESN’T DISAPPOINT.

READY?

LET’S GO!

• David Brent is based on Ian Botham. Fact?
• Linked to Thing 4 above: Have smartphones destroyed a generation?Hard reading.
• No, your Snapchat campaign was not ‘a hit’ (thread).
• Proper decent research into VR by Ipsos on the BBC. Good reading.
• Ogilvy’s Group CEO did a ‘Women in Business Q&A’ for HuffPo. It’s a decent read. And, in fear of sounding like a suck up, I work for this woman and she’s always been amazing to me (there was that one time with an ice bucket, mind. But we don’t talk about that). Sidenote: having brilliant women leaders attracts other brilliant women. I have female friends at Ogilvy who cite the female leadership team as a key reason for originally wanting to work there. And that’s just effing great if you ask me. More, please.
• Looking for good documentaries to watch? Here’s a thread of recommendations.
• Looking to buy a new laptop? The Verge has updated its recommendation and you should take notice.
• Payments are coming to Facebook Messenger in the UK. Important side point: Matt Navarra is the BEST person to follow for ALL Facebook product/feature news and rumours. I have no idea how he does it but he always knows everything. First. Follow him.
• This is a phenomenal thread calling out ‘One Minute Briefs’ for probably failing the new ASA’s new standards when it comes to the objectification of women.
• This toaster’s new button is EVERYTHING.
• This is how Twitter fuels your anxiety.
• What’s the hardest video game you’ve ever played?  (Me? Bart vs Space Mutants, NES)
• The trouble with sex robots.
• Your smart vacuum will sell ur floor data to Google Maps (and others).

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And I’m done. See you in September x

Last updated by James Whatley at August 5, 2017.