Tracx is one of many social media listening, analysis, and reaction platforms. They just raised another $12.5 million in funding. That’s nice. I’m including this because social media marketing is another important area outside the realm of machine-driven messaging.
Cloud-based customer service system provider Freshdesk has acquired Pipemonk, a small data integration vendor. This should help clients integrate Freshdesk with data from other systems, including Freshdesk’s own half-dozen acquisitions in the past 16 months. My hidden message: integration among cloud systems is possible but still not trivial, so most companies will need specialized systems like CDPs to help.
Looking even further into the future, we have a personal virtual reality camera being announced at the CES show in Las Vegas. Personal virtual reality is exactly where things seem to be headed. Just to be clear, though, this particular product does is use six cameras to create a 360-degree streaming video of your own actual reality to share with others. So it’s still disappointingly tethered to the real world. It does help to clarify the importance of streaming video.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.