Data quality and identity tool vendor Melissa has announced a “comprehensive customer data management platform” that combines Melissa’s data cleaning and enrichment with Pentaho data extraction, transformation, and loading. The combined solution, called Contact Zone, includes a drag-and-drop interface for building process flows and hundreds of integrated connectors to common source systems. It’s probably too technical to consider a CDP but it’s certainly something a company’s IT department could use to build their own unified customer database.

Alphonso also watches the OTT watchers, in its case through content recognition software embedded in more than 30 million smart TVs, gaming consoles, mobile apps, and other devices.

Tech is fun but a little caution is always a good idea.  This Pentagon-funded report on blockchain says that, whatever its theoretical virtues, existing real-world implementations contain major security weaknesses.  Raise your hand if you’re shocked.