Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Radionet interviewed four European industry professionals, seeking their predictions for streaming media in 2018. The responses included high expectations for smart speakers and podcasts, while a crowded space could pose some challenges in the music streaming space. Read more from the experts, including James Cridland and Michael Hill, managing director of the nonprofit Radioplayer.
Wired ran a feature by Antonio García Martínez that examines both the anecdotal and factual reasons behind a shift to voice controls. He compared the results of being interviewed on TV and on a podcast about a book he’d published, and found that the podcast appearance generated a longer and more sincere reaction from listeners. His takeaway from that and other stories is a prediction that voice systema and touchscreens could see touch-typing become an activity only done by specialists and the same hipsters currently helping revive vinyl.