Lake Erie may be the warmest and shallowest of North America's Great Lakes, but it's more beast than beauty.The world's 12th largest lake is notoriously stormy and has been known to pound boats, break walls, and beaches with waves reaching 25 feet.His work captures Lake Erie at its most turbulent, creating mesmerizing images that show the grace and power of the natural world.Sandford shares some of his photos with us.Follow him on Instagram and Facebook for more.His camera gear is protected in water-housing equipment from Aquatech Imaging Solutions.

Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale.Airlines who force passengers to check their bags at the gate should pay out an automatic $500 to those affected.Since that’s not the case, we have another option.Everlane’s $98 Weekender is a stylish, durable, reasonably-priced, water-resistant bag that definitely fits in that overhead compartment.It sports real leather, twill fabrication, and gunmetal feet, and should still hold enough clothes for, ahem, a weekend.

Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale.Airlines who force passengers to check their bags at the gate should pay out an automatic $500 to those affected.Since that’s not the case, we have another option.Everlane’s $98 Weekender is a stylish, durable, reasonably-priced, water-resistant bag that definitely fits in that overhead compartment.It sports real leather, twill fabrication, and gunmetal feet, and should still hold enough clothes for, ahem, a weekend.

The updated app was quietly pushed live yesterday, and Google has now officially confirmed that Android Pay is available for anyone in the U.K., assuming they have a compatible NFC-enabled device.Similar to Apple Pay, Android Pay lets users purchase goods in physical retail stores by associating their MasterCard or Visa card with their device and swiping their phone against a contactless terminal at the point of sale.It can also be used to pay for things within third-party apps, including those by JD Sports, Deliveroo, Zara, Kickstarter, Airbnb, and YPlan.Crucially, Android Pay can also be used on London s public transport network, including the Tube and buses.The Internet giant launched its Apple Pay competitor last May, but so far, the feature has only been available in the U.S. Google did confirm back in March, however, that Android Pay would be landing in the U.K. some time in the next few months.The company has now confirmed that it will be launching in Australia and Singapore soon, with more countries added to the mix in the coming months.So it sounds as though the U.K. is serving as the launchpad for a major global rollout across 2016.Google had previously confirmed that eight banks would be on board for launch — Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M Bank, MBNA, and Nationwide Building Society, though it did note that more would be added.Barclays was also slow to embrace Apple Pay, which has been available in the U.K. since last summer.

Xiaomi s VP teased that the company would have a presence at Google I/O, and, true to his word, the Chinese firm has unveiled a new set-top box bound for U.S. shores.Voice commands, as on Android TV devices like Asus Nexus Player and Nvidia s Shield TV, are parsed by Google s dedicated search app, and the Mi Box s Cast integration will support the standard library of Chromecast-compatible video, photo, and music apps available on iOS and Android.The 4K Mi Box will also ship with the newest version of Android, tentatively named Android N. It features picture-in-picture support, APIs for live video recording, and playback of High Dynamic Range content.In terms of inputs, the 4K Mi Box sports an HDMI outport, a USB port, and an AV port.At an I/O developer session, Sony announced that Google s operating system will power its 2016 Bravia TV line.On the set-top box side of things, Sharp s releasing the Net Player.

Video game maker Activision Blizzard wants to make e-sports mainstream by bringing video game competitions not to television, but to the world s largest social media company.The California-based company s Media Networks unit announced this month a trio of plans intended to increase awareness of e-sports, hooking viewers with specially formatted videos and smarter statistics.Photo: AFPClosing the gap will be crucial to attracting advertisers, which eSports teams, organisers and companies such as Activision Blizzard expect to be a top source of income for the fledgling industry.But Mike Sepso, senior vice-president of Activision Blizzard Media Networks, says his team will focus on Facebook, as video viewing there has skyrocketed.The size of the audience and the rapid pace of video consumption on Facebook has a lot of advertisers interested in it, he says.Match broadcasts should get a new look in the coming weeks as Activision Blizzard rolls out a new tool that automatically analyses statistical databases and pops findings onto the screen.

The new app will be available later this summer.On stage at the Google I/O developer conference, Erik Kay explained how assistive technology can make messaging more productive and expressive.Messaging isn t just about text; smart replies have stickers and emojis too, Kay said.Another interesting aspect of Allo is when you send people photos through the app.During a demo on stage, a picture of a Burmese dog was shown and Allo displayed three options.You could either say awww, or perhaps cute dog, or get more specific.You can also use Google Assistant to play games such as guessing movies based on emojis, finding out sports scores, and more.Think about it as being Google s counter to Facebook s M assistant, which is available to a limited few through Facebook Messenger.And Google isn t done consolidating all the features from other messaging services, including end-to-end encryption, private notifications, and more, likely alleviating security and privacy concerns people have in light of Edward Snowden and the FBI/Apple case.Reports first surfaced at the end of last year with sources telling The Wall Street Journal that Google was building a mobile-messaging service that taps its artificial intelligence know-how and so-called chatbot technology.The move probably should not be surprising, especially as applications like Line, WeChat, Skype, Slack, and Facebook Messenger have gotten into the bot market.Signs of development were furthered during this year s Mobile World Congress, where the company formed a partnership with multiple mobile operators such as Orange, Sprint, Deutsche Telekom, America Movil, Vodafone, and the wireless standards body GSMA to roll out the Rich Communication Services for Android.

If we re right, this poses a long-term strategic risk for these firms, analysts including Jason Bazinet wrote in a research note.Citigroup downgraded Scripps and Discovery to sell from neutral and maintained a neutral rating for Viacom.Hulu, the online video service co-owned by 21st Century Fox Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp., is said to be planning a live TV package of channels from its owners and their peers.Because the three represent the largest buyers of sports rights in the U.S., Citigroup expects one Hulu bundle to be sports-centric -- what it termed NewLu.Discovery slumped 3.3 percent to $26.55 and Viacom lost 1.7 percent to $38.74.Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger confirmed Hulu s plans to become a cable-like service Wednesday, saying the move will help his company as a part owner of Hulu and as a programmer.Media companies and pay-TV distributors are beginning to offer smaller packages of live channels as an alternative to costly cable and satellite service and to draw new viewers to their channels.Sports content is unique: it s not fungible with Web-based video offerings from Netflix and Amazon, they wrote in the note.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google has decided to echo Amazon.The search giant is developing an in-home voice-activated Internet device that will be able to answer users queries, play music and control smart home devices, the company announced at its I/O developer conference Wednesday.Dubbed Google Home, the device, which will be out later this year, looks like it s targeted straight at Amazon s Echo.Home will serve as a showcase for Google s new intelligent assistant technology, prosaically named the Google assistant.Google representatives at the conference indicated that consumers will be able to use the device to make or cancel dinner reservations, check flight information, look up sports scores and turn on lights in their home.The device will have a built-in speaker, and owners will be able to use it in coordination with Google s Chromecast Audio product to play music throughout their house.Google didn t say what Home will cost or when exactly it will be available.Amazon s Echo, which the company debuted in late 2014, costs $180.Photo: Google s Home product viewed on a screen above the stage at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View during the keynote presentation at Google s I/O developer on Wednesday, May 18, 2016.Troy Wolverton, Mercury News.Tags: amazon, amazon echo, chromecast audio, Google, google assistant, google home, intelligent assistants, smart home

One of Electronic Art s oldest employees is no longer with the publisher.EA confirmed to GamesBeat that Rich Hilleman, who was serving as chief creative director, has left the company.Hilleman joined EA back in 1982.He was instrumental in the creation of the Madden series of football games, one of the most successful franchises in the history of the industry.It s also the second-best selling sports franchise, only behind FIFA also from EA .Rich Hilleman is a pioneer — a creative mind whose work influenced many games at EA and beyond, Electronic Arts told GamesBeat.We are thankful to Rich for his contribution over more than 30 years with the company, and we look forward to seeing what he pursues next.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google is getting in on the bots game, joining Facebook and Microsoft.This summer, the search giant plans to launch a new messaging app called Allo, Google representatives announced at the company s I/O developer conference on Wednesday.The app incorporates Google s intelligent assistant technology and is to allow users to accomplish more things without having to launch other apps.By simply typing questions or commands within Allo, users will be able to make dinner reservations, check sports scores, find photos or check their flight reservations.So it can understand the context questions are asked in.So, in one demonstration, Google representatives showed how users could use Allo to find information about soccer star Cristano Ronaldo and then get Allo to find videos of him by just typing best tricks.The Google assistant was able to glean that the user was interested in seeing videos of Ronaldo from the context of the conversation.Google s move into text bots follows Facebook and Microsoft.Meanwhile, Facebook at its F8 conference last month unveiled similar features that are coming to its popular Messenger app.Bots have the potential to make it less important which operating system users have on their smartphones.Troy Wolverton/Mercury News Tags: allo, bots, chatbots, facebook, Google, intelligent assistants, Messenger, Microsoft, Skype, the google assistant

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is discussing becoming a top sponsor of FIFA, according to people familiar with the matter, a partnership that would strengthen the ties between China s power brokers and global soccer s top executives.Alibaba would become the second Chinese company to commit to soccer s governing body at a high level after Dalian Wanda Group Co. signed up earlier this year.Since President Xi Jinping made soccer success a national priority, Chinese companies and businessmen have made a slew of investments in national and international clubs, and the country has made plain its desire to host the FIFA World Cup.A sponsorship deal hasn t been finalized and details aren t known.For example, Alibaba E-Auto is the title sponsor of the FIFA Club World Cup.Alibaba Sports has been in touch with FIFA because of the affiliation with the Club World Cup, said Wang Jingyi, a Shanghai-based spokeswoman who declined to comment further.Before Wanda, it hadn t added a new top-tier sponsor since 2012.Six to eight slots are designated for "FIFA partners," a commitment that costs about $40 million per year and lasts for a four-year World Cup cycle.In March, Wanda joined Adidas AG, Coca-Cola Co., Gazprom, Hyundai Motor Co. and Visa Inc.. at that top level.There are still two open slots, which the people familiar with the matter said are expected to be filled by the end of the summer.

On Wednesday at the 10th annual Google I/O developer conference, Google introduced Allo and Duo, which will arrive for both Android and iOS later this summer.It suggests automatic replies to incoming messages—even if someone sends a photo.In addition to emojis and stickers, there is a whisper and shout feature that lets you use a slider to make text giant or tiny.If you type @google, it will run a search query inside the app.Anything you can find on Google.com shows up in the app, including weather, sports scores and even YouTube videos.All chats will be encrypted, but a special incognito mode will have an end-to-end encryption, and expiring chats that are permanently deleted once you leave them.

From Marketing Land:VR is coming to the Google Play store this fall with DaydreamMay 18, 2016 by Ginny MarvinGoogle s new Daydream platform is set to deliver virtual reality to Photos, YouTube, Street View, apps and movies.Amazon reaches $100B in annual salesMay 18, 2016 by Amy GesenhuesCEO Jeff Bezos says Amazon is the fastest company ever to reach the $100 billion sales milestone.Google I/O Live Blog: Home voice-activated assistant, Allo messaging app announcedMay 18, 2016 by Danny SullivanGoogle announces its rival to the Amazon Echo, unveils yet another messaging app.How to understand the value of content and measure digital emotionMay 18, 2016 by Erika TrautmanColumnist Erika Trautman explains why marketers need to go beyond surface metrics and instead focus on delivering personalized content.Recent Headlines From Search Engine Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Search News & Information:Online Marketing News From Around The Web:AnalyticsContent MarketingConversion OptimizationCopywriting, Design & UsabilityDomaining.Top Blows Past .Biz To Become The 6th Most Registered Top Level Domain, www.thedomains.com.VIP breaks new TLD launch records, domainnamewire.comE-CommerceCould Guided Selling Help Your Ecommerce Store?, www.practicalecommerce.comEBay eyes huge opportunities to personalize shopping through artificial intelligence, www.retaildive.comGap CEO says the company would be delusional not to consider selling on Amazon, qz.comIs omni-channel retail a delusion?, econsultancy.comTop Ecommerce Merchandising Tactics, smallbiztrends.comEmail MarketingIndependence Day Email Campaigns: Don t throw away your shot!, blog.movableink.comThe Time-Saving Secret to Grow Your Email List, blogs.constantcontact.comGeneral Internet MarketingBrand Personification: The Ultimate Way to Get to Know Your Brand, www.marketingprofs.comHow to Grow Marketing Innovation In-House, adage.comHow to Personalize Ads & Stop Annoying Users, blog.marketo.comInternet Users Want a More Personalized Ad Experience Report , www.adweek.comSteal This Sales Tool to Beef Up Your Marketing Strategy, www.convinceandconvert.comWhy You Must Get Scrappy with Your Marketing, www.ducttapemarketing.comInternet Marketing IndustryAberdeen Group Partners With Bombora to Offer B2B Intent Data, www.marketwired.comCrossInstall Expands Team with Former Chartboost Executive Anuj Kucheria On Board as New Vice, www.ireachcontent.comHookLogic Expands Network in Effort to Extend Brand Clout, adage.comOpenprise Announces Free Diagnostic Tool to Assess the Readiness of Companies Lead & Contact Data for Marketing Automation, Account Based Marketing, & Predictive Analytics, openprisetech.comYuMe Doubles Up on Protection for Advertisers and Brands with Native SDK-Driven Brand Safety and Integral Ad Science s Bid Expert, www.yume.comMarTechMarketers Struggle to Balance Marketing Technology Tools and Talent, www.emarketer.comMarTech Advisor Investscape Q1 2016 – Analyzing the $2240.51 Million Martech Investments that Kicked Off the Year, www.martechadvisor.comWhy chief digital officers are all the rage, www.internetretailer.comMobile/Local Marketing5 Things You Need to Know About Mobile Ad Blocking, www.tune.comA better approach to app monetization, venturebeat.comBig Updates for Yahoo Mail Apps, yahoomail.tumblr.comThis one factor keeps people coming back to their favorite apps, www.businessinsider.comWhy marketers should be A/B testing mobile apps, www.retaildive.comReputation ManagementTo rebrand, or not to rebrand?That is the question, econsultancy.comSocial Media Here and Now – Facebook s First 3D-360 Film, media.fb.com11 Little-Known Facebook Features You can Try Today, www.searchenginejournal.com2012 LinkedIn Security Breach Strikes Again, www.adweek.com4 Secrets to Building Social Momentum, contentmarketinginstitute.com5 Steps to Improve Your Customer Service Using Twitter, www.socialmediaexaminer.com6 Proven Strategies for Successfully Promoting Content Across Social Media, blog.bufferapp.comFacebook blocked in Vietnam over the weekend due to citizen protests, techcrunch.comGoogle and Facebook still dominate tracking on the web, www.theverge.comHow Snapchat Discover Competes with Facebook Instant Articles and Twitter Moments, simplymeasured.comHow Sports Fans are Using Facebook Reactions, www.newswhip.comHow To Create Perfect Posts, unbounce.comHow to Find Facebook Post Ideas for Higher Organic Reach, www.razorsocial.comHow To Use Facebook Chat Bots to Market Your Business, smallbiztrends.comHow To Use Snapchat Effectively For Marketing, www.searchenginepeople.comPublishers and brands, get ready for the Snapchat algorithm, digiday.comSnapchat s newest power users: Entrepreneurs with advice for startups, digiday.comSnapchat s shoppable ads can unlock data, sales if relevant, www.mobilecommercedaily.comSocial Contests in 2016 – Why You Can t Ignore Them, www.jeffbullas.comWhat if Facebook Gave Us an Opposing-Viewpoints Button?, www.wsj.comWhy Employees Don t Share Company News on Social Media, www.marketingprofs.comVideoAbout The AuthorAmy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land.

The football season is almost over – but don t despair: as far as the FIFA franchise is concerned, it s only just beginning, with FIFA 17 certain to be announced at E3 next month.But rather than let Twitter decide, why not reward the undisputed English stars of this Premier League season – Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Jamie Vardy?With Lionel Messi s deal as the face of FIFA still to be renewed, and given that EA has been experimenting over the past few years by having different cover stars for different territories, this wish could well be granted.Personally, I endorse this, but suspect any return might be saved for the 20th anniversary of that game, in 2018.DivingThis has been a real blind spot for the FIFA series, and probably has more to do with the governing body the game gets its name from than any sense of righteousness from EA Sports.But it does seem pretty remarkable that the most realistic football video game omits a very real part of the game today, whether we like it or not.

Earlier this month, Hulu confirmed that it was developing a cable-like online TV package to expand its footprint to areas like sports, news, and events.And this new service could seriously shake up the sports TV landscape, according to analysts at Citi.In a note on Monday, Citi analysts laid out a contrarian point about the future of sports programming.Wall Street tends to think sports-centric cable networks with their long, fixed-price contracts face the greatest risk from cord-cutting, the analysts wrote.Citi thinks Hulu will keep price down by limiting expenses including fees from set-top boxes, DVR services, and franchises, while also cutting out the channels of Viacom, Scripps, and Discovery.Citi doesn t think sports fans will care about content from Viacom, etc., and thus will get shut out.The analysts argue that a focus on making sports an immersive experience would help Hulu charge a premium for its new service in the long-run.But, by making this strategic pivot now, NewLu what the analysts are dubbing the new offering puts sports on a radically divergent path from the rest of linear video.

In Google s example, a feature in Allo called whispershout adds a slider to your chat window that scales the sixe of your text, and add text overlay to images.There s also a smart reply feature that assumes you ll say something like so cute!It recognizes pictures because it taps into Google s powerful image recognition engine, while your replies are learned via text.It can find sports scores, show you the roster of players; basically, a lot of what Google Search can do.You just don t need to move away from Allo to tap intothe lighter features of Search.You ll also be able to decide how long messages stick around.

Google I/O: Google attempts to monopolise mobile life even further with video app Duo and smart messaging app Allo that can reply for youGoogle is attempting to compete with WhatsApp, Snapchat and iMessage with two new messaging applications that hope to keep people using its services, and inputting information, even when they re communicating.Allo and Duo will be available on Android and iOS this summer and claim to take a fresh look on how people connect – either with friends or family or in a business environment.Allo AlloGoogle AlloIntegration with Google s newly announced Google Assistant is a key distinguishing feature of Allo, which learns how you interact and can even reply for you depending on the context of the message or even a photo thanks to image recognition technology.This includes weather, flight details, maps and sports scores and Assistant can even perform tasks like booking a table at a restaurant.Crucially for businesses, Allo offers end to end encryption for chats with an incognito mode similar to the one in Chrome.Messaging has become an increasingly important battlefield for technology companies that want to keep users in their ecosystems for as long as possible so they view more ads and provide more information.

New upstarts like DriveClub have tried to steal the crown, but Polyphony is finally back to defend it with GT Sport.With some serious sponsorships and FIA approval, the first Gran Turismo to hit the PS4 is gearing up for its parade lap, but after I got the chance to sniff the virtual petrol at Sony's London launch event, I'm wondering if there have been a few missed gears in the run up to launch.There were 20 on show at the reveal event, with 137 promised for the full release, split between four power groups.Beginners should stick to the hot hatches and stock sportscars of Group 4, but eventually you'll progress up to the mental race-spec road warriors and fictional GT Vision concept cars of Group 1.Anyone can jup into an official FIA race weekend, with winners from each region progressing to an international finals event, with full race commentary and global broadcast online.Polyphony has a long way to go to hit the eSports big time, but the in-game spectator camera looked as slick as anyting you'd see on Sky Sports F1.

While Yahoo may be currently touting its merits to attract the highest bidder, the former web giant is continuing to ramp up its product offerings with the launch this week of its esports app on iPhone.The launch comes less than three months after Yahoo first made a push for the burgeoning esports market by introducing a dedicated section for the category on its website, followed by the Android incarnation last month.With Yahoo Esports, the company is setting out to be the premiere destination for esports content, covering syndications, scoreboards, video interviews, highlights, and livestreams of matches.While the iPhone version is largely the same as the existing web and Android apps, it does come with one unique feature: reminders.Users will be able to set alerts for themselves and receive push notifications when a match is about to begin.The esports market is big business, expected to grow to $1.1 billion by 2019, which is why Amazon acquired Twitch, and Google is increasingly embracing the trend — with YouTube seeing 144 billion minutes of game videos every month.In 2016 alone, it s estimated that esports will drive $325 million in sponsorship and advertising spending from brands seeking the attention of the young gaming demographic.And this is why Yahoo has jumped on the bandwagon despite its troubles elsewhere — esports offer a potentially lucrative opportunity to boost its revenues in the short- and medium-term.It also adds to Yahoo s existing sports coverage, along with fantasy sports.