MarTech Today: Distil’s free bot detection plug-in, push notifications on Alexa-enabled devices & Google Actions for smartphones

Here’s our daily recap of what happened in marketing technology, as reported on MarTech Today, Marketing Land and other places across the web.

From MarTech Today:

• Distil buys Are You a Human, launches free bot detection plug-in for Google Analytics
  May 18, 2017 by Barry Levine
  The plug-in, which Distil said is the first of its kind, can detect ‘close to 100 percent’ of bots running JavaScript from a web page.
• Amazon says push notifications are coming soon to Alexa-enabled devices
  May 18, 2017 by Matt McGee
  The opt-in-only alerts will be tested in select skills before Amazon opens the feature to all developers.
• Live Blog: Google talks AR & VR at Google I/O 2017
  May 18, 2017 by Danny Sullivan
  What’s new with augmented and virtual reality with Google? Our live blog has the news.
• Google Actions are now available to smartphone app developers
  May 18, 2017 by Barry Levine
  The tech giant adds Actions to phones, plus purchase history, hotword support, shortcuts, and a new app directory to Assistant.
• MarTech, conversational UI, and the future of connecting with customers
  May 18, 2017 by Jeff Eckman
  Contributor Jeff Eckman recaps a session by MarTech San Francisco 2017 speaker Nick Pandolfi of Google’s Global Product Partnerships team in which he shares Google’s view on this emerging topic, as well as five tips on designing for the conversational interface.
• The effect of Moore’s Law on behavioral marketing
  May 18, 2017 by Brian Massey
  Even marketing isn’t immune to Moore’s Law. Columnist Brian Massey explains how Moore’s Law has changed behavioral science, making it cheaper for marketers to create and use behavioral data than ever before.

From Marketing Land:

• Facebook will live-stream 20 MLB games starting tomorrow
  May 18, 2017 by Tim Peterson
  Twitter won’t be the only social network broadcasting a Major League Baseball game tomorrow night.
  
• What to look for in a paid media campaign management tool
  May 17, 2017 by Digital Marketing Depot
  Paid search, mobile, display/banner ads, and social media advertising lead an expanding group of paid media that are now being managed by paid media campaign management platforms. This report examines the current market for enterprise paid campaign management platforms and the considerations involved in implementing paid media software.
• 3 key takeaways from MarTech San Francisco 2017
  May 17, 2017 by Sheldon Monteiro
  Contributor Sheldon Monteiro insightfully wraps up the key themes of last week’s meeting of the martech minds.

From Around The Web:

• Medium launches audio versions of stories for members, TechCrunch
• Microsoft will soon open its first two data centers in Africa, TechCrunch
• Twitter Hires Ad Tech Veteran Bruce Falck to Rejuvenate Advertising Tools, Wall Street Journal
• Hey E-commerce Managers, Amazon Loses Their 1-Click Patent This Year, Distilled
• Tapad Partners with Resonate to Enhance Audience Analytics for Mobile App Brands, PR Newswire
• 3 Ways Marketing and Sales Tech Can Boost Your B2B Content ROI, Search Engine People
• New Tech Friends on the Marketing Block, Content Marketing Institute
• Turbocharging AMP, Accelerated Mobile Pages Project
• Facebook Messenger debuts a new look focused on improving navigation, TechCrunch
• Facebook, Messenger and Instagram unite with cross-app notifications, TechCrunch
• Should You Make an App for Your WordPress Business?, WPExplorer
• Universal App Campaigns Vs. Mobile App Install Campaigns, PPC Hero
• 3 Must-Use Tools to Curate Your Twitter Testimonials, Internet Marketing Ninjas
• Big Tech Dominates Viral Video Chart, AdAge
• Soon you’ll be able to voice chat with YouTube commenters in VR, TechCrunch
• YouTube mobile streaming is open to all, no longer has a subscriber requirement, Android Police

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.