Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering on about what’s happening in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

• There’s a constant meme that TV advertising is dead. Then, we hit Super Bowl season and all we talk about are the TV ads. That… and… our social media feeds are usually filled with the ads, behind the scenes and teases for what the ads will be on Super Bowl Sunday. So, what’s the truth… is TV advertising dead? Is social media more important to the advertisers than the actual TV spot? The average price for a 30-second spot this year was $4.51 million.
• Everything we text is now colored with Emojis. Often, we don’t even have to type at all. The Emoji does the work. Did you know that which emojis we use is governed by the Unicode Consortium? They’ve announced 117 new emojis for 2020. “The expansion includes 62 brand-new emoji as well as 55 new gender and skin-tone variants, many of which are new gender-inclusive emoji. Other notable additions this year include the transgender flag — from a proposal co-sponsored by Google and Microsoft — as well as the new smiling face with tear, the two people hugging, pinched fingers, a disguised face, not to mention tons more animals, food items and other objects.”
• With the Brexit news this past week, many missed that the EU – after ten years of discussion – has voted (in a landslide) to create a standard charging solution for all phones (and smaller tablets, etc…). The goal is standardization and an attempt to reduce waste (we all get power bricks and cables that we never use). Of course, Apple argued against the common charger, because it would stifle innovation and increase e-waste (short term) as gadget makers and consumers would be forced to get standardized wires and bricks. Is this a smart idea or an impossibility?
• App of the Week: Scott Galloway – No Mercy / No Malice.

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.