Dec 13 2024
Voice Search SEO: How Does It Work? via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

When Google Voice was released in 2012, and then Amazon Alexa was released in 2014 voice search was expected to be highly influential.

Voice search didn’t quite take off in an industry-shaking way. But, as the technology has improved, it’s become integrated into so many devices and daily user journeys that it’s important to understand for SEO.

What Is Voice Search And Voice Commerce?

Voice search describes when people use their voice devices to access information available from search engines.

Voice commerce describes people using voice devices to make purchases. It’s part of voice search, and users often interact with search engines to complete purchases.

For SEO professionals, there are two core functions you should pay attention to:

  1. Local intent searches: People often use voice searches when they’re traveling to search for things they need and places they need to go. In these cases, your local SEO is critical. You need to ensure your Google Business Profile is up to date and that you can be discovered in map applications.
  2. Using voice assistants to access Search: There are all sorts of reasons someone might prefer or need to use their voice to access search engines. When this happens, the questions tend to be highly specific and in “natural language.” This means you should prioritize not only organic rankings but also SERP features, because SERP features tend to better represent natural language picked up in voice search and where you want visibility.

Alongside core functions, there are three different core voice search intents to consider for SEO:

Transactional Intent

Someone is looking to purchase a product or go to a location for a product or service.

  • Using an Amazon Alexa to order products. Voice assistants can connect to accounts with saved payment options and perform the process automatically. “Alexa, order cat food.”
  • Using a smart assistant, likely on a phone or a car’s own voice recognition feature, to direct them to a local business for a specific need. “Hey Google, take me to Home Depot.” “Hey Siri, find me a gas station.”

High-Intent Consideration

Someone doesn’t know exactly what they want, but they need something.

  • While driving, looking for something to eat or a coffee shop. “Hey Google, show me coffee shops nearby.”
  • Using an Amazon Echo device to create a shopping list. “Alexa, add eggs to my shopping list.”
  • Asking a voice assistant where to find a specific item. “Hey Siri, where can I get cast iron pans?”

How-To/Active Learning Query

Users interact with voice assistants to answer questions or find information.

  • Using a voice assistant to refer to a recipe while cooking.
  • Accessing search functions using a voice assistant. “Hey Google, how do I find a wall stud?”

Informational Query

Someone uses a voice assistant to come up with a quick answer.

  • “Hey Google, who is the current King of England?”

Accessibility

  • Voice devices and screen readers are used by people with vision issues and other disabilities to access the internet.

Voice Is Part Of Everyday Search & Purchase Journeys

Voice search and mobile SEO are highly interconnected.

Basically, every mobile device is also a voice device, so I find it helpful to think about the place in the journey a user is when they use their voice.

If you take a look at what people say they use their voice assistants for, there isn’t much room for traditional SEO discovery – in the sense of Googling things, in the real-world functions. But they are making shopping lists and making purchases.

What Devices Use Voice Search?

Voice recognition technology has a long history, but the first true voice assistant was Siri, released on the Apple app store in 2010 and integrated into the iPhone in 2011.

Many voice assistants have connectivity to either the internet at large or certain aspects of search functionality, such as Google Maps. The main voice assistants are:

  • Google Assistant.
  • Apple Siri.
  • Microsoft Cortana.
  • Amazon Alexa.

Voice search is embedded into many devices. Some have limited functionality, like a Roku remote that searches for TV shows and movies. Others can access almost anything online, like an Amazon Echo or the Google voice assistant.

There’s voice tech in your phone and your car if you’ve bought a vehicle made in the last 10 years. There’s voice tech in your TV or streaming device.

Devices that can connect to voice search functions include:

  • Phones.
  • Tablets and laptops.
  • PC computers and gaming consoles.
  • Cars.
  • TVs.
  • Appliances such as refrigerators.
  • Voice assistant devices (such as the Echo).

Not all of these devices have implications for SEO. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for you to do SEO for someone giving voice commands to appliances around their house.

Why Is Voice Search Good For SEO?

There are multiple reasons that voice search is critical for SEO strategy, and the specific reason depends on the intent and use case.

These intents also inform your approach and the tactics you use to target users engaging with voice search.

Accessibility

People with visual impairments likely use devices like screen readers and may use voice interactions to engage with content online.

Ensuring your content is easy for devices like screen readers to navigate improves the user experience for all users, not just those needing accessibility functions.

User Experience

Some people prefer voice interactions or activate search functions using their voice when they’re not able to use their hands. Common examples include driving and cooking.

Immediacy & Intent

Voice searches are often conducted for convenience when a user doesn’t need to spend time searching or when they need something quickly.

Examples of this intent include:

  • Using a voice-activated device to place an Amazon order.
  • Using the voice function in your car or on your phone to look for a local business while you’re out.

How Do You Optimize For Voice Search?

In many cases, if you’re properly targeting intent and keeping updated with the SEO fundamentals of your website and content, you’re already optimizing for voice search. This technology is advanced and mature and can read the web.

There really is no disadvantage to targeting voice search if you think about it in terms of intent and use case.

If you perform well in voice search, you likely also perform well in overall SEO because voice assistants can connect to external sources to provide you with information.

So, if you’re the top result in that source (Google Maps, Google Search, Amazon marketplace, Etsy, etc.), you’re more likely to be the result the user hears or sees.

However, certain elements of voice search need specific attention, such as conversational queries, Amazon shopping, and local search.

Local SEO: Voice Search & Near Me Queries

Voice search and local queries are closely aligned due to the use case. People on the road, looking for somewhere to stop, will likely use voice search. Or they might look for somewhere to go right before leaving the house.

The good news is that if you’re investing in local SEO, you’re already well-positioned to appear in these kinds of voice searches.

It’s critical to optimize for the Map Pack, build your Google Business Profile, and develop local-SEO friendly websites to serve these voice search intents.

You want to make a local-focused experience as smooth as possible. When people are out traveling or running errands, being the first to serve their immediate and specific needs can mean walk-in traffic.

Screenshot from Google search, November 2024
  • Make sure your Google Business Profile is complete, including contact information, address, service area, payment types, etc.
    • Navigate to your business profile by searching for your business.
    • Click on “Edit Profile.”
    • Ensure that you complete all relevant fields.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, November 2024
  • Make sure that you add products and services to your Google Business Profile. This helps people discover you when they’re looking for something specific.
    • Click on “Edit Products” or “Edit Services” depending on your business type.
    • Add details about all of the things you offer. Pair this with keyword research to understand what people are looking for and align your offerings with their intent and wording.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, November 2024

Follow these resources from SEJ to achieve higher local rankings and show up in local voice searches:

Optimize For Ecommerce Queries On Amazon And Google

The Alexa ecosystem connects with users’ Amazon accounts and allows them to make purchases quickly and easily using their voice.

If you’re in ecommerce, this makes your optimization on platforms like Amazon critical. While the Alexa ecosystem often means that users skip platforms like Google, that doesn’t mean SEO is irrelevant.

Amazon is a search engine, too, and properly optimizing your business and products on the platform could help you increase sales via direct voice purchases.

Other voice assistants might access search engines like Google for product searches.

Optimize your product landing pages with structured data (expanded on in the next section) for an easy user experience, both in Google Search and if a user decides to explore your page using voice.

Optimize Structured Data And Target Featured Snippets

SERP features and AI Overviews focus on providing short, quick summaries and answers to specific queries.

If you can appear in these additional features, then you’re right at the top of the page where those queries are answered, whether they’re typed or spoken.

Structured data is particularly important for voice queries, especially those spoken back to the user without a screen.

Properly structuring the data about your pages and content helps the algorithms choose what to display and helps voice assistants speak coherent results.

On the smaller screens of mobile devices, featured snippets become important because there’s less screen space for users to see organic results.

Schema should be part of your overall SEO strategy and you can learn more here:

Target High-Intent Long-Tail Keywords

Voice search involves answering queries that people speak. While SEO often involves targeting short phrases that people type, people speak very differently.

There are three key considerations for keyword targeting when it comes to voice:

  1. People tend to speak in long phrases.
  2. Many people use voice search for purchase-related queries, such as making online purchases and creating shopping lists.
  3. Voice queries tend to express immediate or short-term needs. People often ask their voice assistants to find something or perform an action. (Play a podcast, find a recipe, find or direct to a place.)

All these facts make long-tail queries and high-intent task or product-focused queries important.

By creating content on your website that serves these types of queries, you can get yourself in front of audiences during decisions or consideration points in their process.

SEJ has many resources on long-tail queries and targeting query intent:

Answer Questions Conveniently

Developments in AI have improved how search engines respond to queries in longer form, “natural” or “conversational” language. These types of queries are more likely from voice searchers. They’re also key to successful SEO strategies overall.

As AI algorithms get better at understanding and responding to complex queries, voice search is becoming less of a separate thing to optimize for and more of a benefit of a robust SEO strategy.

Your content strategy should involve developing easily accessible answers to questions and common queries you expect from your audience.

You can use Google’s features, such as People Also Ask, and your keyword research tools to identify questions your audience will likely ask and then build them into your content strategy.

Read these resources from SEJ to find out more about questions and answers:

Understand Intent To Serve Voice Queries

Advanced natural language processing means search algorithms can easily interpret queries, even in complex language, and return results that match them.

Your focus should be on search intents for users who are either in a hurry, have a high intent to action, or need additional accessibility.

For all these users, you should make your website easy to navigate and focus on acquiring the top spots in featured snippets and local SEO results.

While voice search wasn’t as disruptive as expected, it was a step in the development of natural language processing towards AI technology. Understanding these concepts can help you succeed in modern SEO.

More resources:

Featured Image: New Africa/Shutterstock

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Dec 13 2024
CMS Market Share Trends: Top Content Management Systems (Nov. 2024) via @sejournal, @theshelleywalsh

WordPress has held the dominant share of the content management systems (CMS) market since it was launched in 2003.

Currently, the popular platform stands at 62.2% market share, according to W3Techs, which offers the most reputable and trustworthy data source. But in the last two years, WordPress has seen it’s market share start to reduce for the first time.

In this report, you’ll learn about the size of the CMS market, how it has evolved over the past decade, how different content management systems stack up against one another, and why this matters for someone working in SEO.

How Large Is The CMS Market?

According to W3Techs, 70.2% of websites have a CMS, and Netcraft reports 1.13 billion live websites.

From this, we can assume that the current market size for content management systems is approximately 793 million websites.

Top 10 CMS By Market Share (Globally)

CMS (as of November 2024) Launched Type Market Share Usage
No CMS 29.8%
1 WordPress 2003 Open source 62.2% 43.7%
2 Shopify 2006 SaaS 6.6% 4.6%
3 Wix 2006 SaaS 4.5% 3.2%
4 Squarespace 2004 SaaS 3.1% 2.2%
5 Joomla 2005 Open source 2.3% 1.6%
6 Drupal 2001 Open source 1.3% 0.9%
7 Adobe Systems (Adobe Experience Manager) 2013 Open source 1.2% 0.9%
8 Webflow 2013 SaaS 1.1% 0.8%
9 PrestaShop 2008 Open source 1.0% 0.7%
10 Google Systems (Google Sites) 2008 Online application 0.9% 0.6%

Data from W3Techs, November 2024

What Is The Most Widely Used CMS?

*Graphs are separated due to the dominance of the WordPress market share.

  • WordPress’s market share has reduced by nearly 5% in the last two years. This could possibly continue with the issues it has experienced this year.
  • Shopify’s market share took a dip of almost 14% in 2023, but it bounced back and gained some ground this year.
  • Wix’s market share is on the upswing, with just over 3% of all websites using its platform. This could be attributed to the work they do on branding.
  • Joomla and Drupal are seeing a downward trend lately, while Duda is gaining some momentum, which could be attributed to the efforts of leveraging influencers for their webinars.

WordPress has held the dominant market share almost since its launch in 2003.

From 2013 to 2022, it experienced strong growth of 148%. WordPress then peaked at 65.2% market share back in January 2022, but, in the last two years has started to contract by nearly 5%.

Between 2023 and 2024:

  • Websites with no CMS system have declined by nearly 8%.
  • Websites with WordPress have increased by just over 1%.

WordPress Vs. Joomla Vs. Drupal Market Share

WordPress vs. Joomla Vs. DrupalScreenshot from W3 Techs.com, November 2024
  • Since 2023, Joomla has decreased its market share by nearly 15%.
  • Since 2023, Drupal has decreased its market share by nearly 28%.

In 2013, Joomla and Drupal used to hold 15.9% of the CMS market share, but they have slumped to 3.6%.

This decline has seen them drop from positions 2 and 3 to 5 and 6, as Wix and Squarespace have risen and finally superseded them in 2022.

That’s quite a decline for Joomla, which might not have had the same market share as WordPress, but up to 2008, it had more search interest, according to Google Trends.

Screenshot from Google Trends, November 2024

Why did these popular content management systems decline so much?

It’s most likely due to the strength of third-party support for WordPress with plug-ins and themes, making it much more accessible.

The growth of website builders, such as Wix and Squarespace, indicates that small businesses want a more straightforward managed solution. And they have started to nibble on market share from the bottom.

Website Builders Market Share: Wix Vs. Squarespace

Screenshot from W3 Techs.com, November 2024
  • Wix has increased by 18.4% this year, from January to November.
  • Squarespace has increased by 3.3% this year from January to November.

If we look at the website builders, their growth is a strong indication of where the market might go in the future.

From 2023 to 2024:

  • Shopify grew by 15.8%.
  • Wix grew by 25%.
  • Squarespace grew by 3.3%.

When we compare the 5% contraction of WordPress over the last year to the other players, we have to ask, why is that happening?

SaaS web builders such as Wix and Squarespace don’t require coding knowledge and offer a hosted website that makes it more accessible for a small business to get a web presence quickly.

No need to arrange a hosting solution, install a website, and set up your own email. A web builder neatly does all this for you.

WordPress is not known as a complicated platform to use, but it does require some coding knowledge and an understanding of how websites are built.

On the other hand, a website builder is a much easier route to market, without the need to understand what is happening in the back end.

Consider that, during the pandemic, much of the population worked from home, leading to more interest and attention placed on how being online could be a source of income.

Elementor

Elementor is a WordPress-based website builder that has a market share of 16.5% and is used by 11.6% of all websites.

elementorScreenshot from W3 Techs.com, November 2024

It also has significantly more market share than Wix and Squarespace combined.

However, because it’s a third-party plug-in and not a CMS, it isn’t listed in the Top 10 CMS above.

If we compare the volume of traffic to the number of CMS, we can see that WordPress is in the golden section, up and to the right, clearly favored by sites with more traffic.

Joomla fits into a niche of fewer installs but more high-traffic sites, indicating that more professional sites are using it.

Squarespace and Wix are to the left and down, highlighting that they are installed on fewer sites with less traffic.

This is a strong indication that they are used more by small websites and small businesses.

Elementor bridges the gap between the two and has the weight of the WordPress market share, but is used by sites with less traffic.

The appetite is growing for drag-and-drop, plug-and-play solutions that make having a web presence accessible for anyone. This is the space to watch.

Ecommerce CMS Market Share: WooCommerce Vs. Shopify

Screenshot from W3Techs, November 2024
  • WooCommerce has a market share of 13.1%.
  • Shopify has a market share of 6.6%.

The ecommerce CMS space echoes a pattern similar to that of website builders.

Technically, WooCommerce is not a standalone CMS, but a WordPress plug-in – which is why it doesn’t appear in the Top 10 CMS data table.

However, it’s essential to the ecommerce space, so it’s worth considering and mentioning.

9.2% of all existing websites use WooCommerce.

Looking at the distribution, we can see a clear pattern emerge. In comparison to other ecommerce CMS platforms, WooCommere is dominant.

It has more market share than its competitors combined: Magento + OpenCart + PrestaShop + Shopify = 8.8% market share.

Screenshot from W3Techs, November 2024

Smaller sites might favor WooCommerce, but it has the WordPress platform’s weight for market access and, therefore, more installs – much like Elementor.

Shopify has more market share, but the traffic levels are similar to WordPress.

Shopify saw growth during the pandemic, by 52.9% from 2020 to 2021 and then 26.9% from 2021 to 2022 – far more than any other platform. After that, it retracted in 2023, but in 2024 has come back to the same market share as 2022.

Why Does CMS Market Share Matter To Someone Working In SEO?

WordPress retains its dominance in the CMS market share, but website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify are on the rise, indicating where market growth lies, especially for small businesses.

If more small businesses are switching to website builders, understanding the limitations and intricacies of these platforms for SEO could be a competitive advantage.

Shopify is installed on 4.6% of all websites (not just sites with a CMS) – a total potential market of 51.98 million websites.

With their increasing market share, specializing in Shopify SEO could be a strategic move for an SEO professional.

Similarly, specializing in Wix and Squarespace is a way to differentiate yourself from the competition.

WordPress might be dominant now, but that also means that many other people are servicing that specific CMS.

Aligning with a more niche CMS can be a strategic move for new client opportunities.

More resources:

All data collected from W3Techs, November 2024, unless otherwise indicated.

W3Tech samples its data from the Alexa top 10 million and Tranco top 1 million. Websites with no content or duplicate sites are excluded. Limitations of the data source mean that hosted Tumblr and WordPress.com sites are not included, as the data collection doesn’t count subdomains as more than one site.

Featured Image: Genko Mono/Shutterstock

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Dec 13 2024
China banned exports of a few rare minerals to the US. Things could get messier.

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

I’ve thought more about gallium and germanium over the last week than I ever have before (and probably more than anyone ever should).

As you may already know, China banned the export of those materials to the US last week and placed restrictions on others. The move is just the latest drama in escalating trade tensions between the two countries.

While the new export bans could have significant economic consequences, this might be only the beginning. China is a powerhouse, and not just in those niche materials—it’s also a juggernaut in clean energy, and particularly in battery supply chains. So what comes next could have significant consequences for EVs and climate action more broadly.

A super-quick catch-up on the news here: The Biden administration recently restricted exports of chips and other technology that could help China develop advanced semiconductors. Also, president-elect Donald Trump has floated all sorts of tariffs on Chinese goods.

Apparently in response to some or all of this, China banned the export of gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials used in manufacturing, and said it may further restrict graphite sales. The materials are all used for both military and civilian technologies, and significantly, gallium and germanium are used in semiconductors.

It’s a ramp-up from last July, when China placed restrictions on gallium and germanium exports after enduring years of restrictions by the US and its Western allies on cutting-edge technology. (For more on the details of China’s most recent move, including potential economic impacts, check out the full coverage from my colleague James Temple.)

What struck me about this news is that this could be only the beginning, because China is central to many of the supply chains snaking around the globe.

This is no accident—take gallium as an example. The metal is a by-product of aluminum production from bauxite ore. China, as the world’s largest aluminum producer, certainly has a leg up to be a major player in the niche material. But other countries could produce gallium, and I’m sure more will. China has a head start because it invested in gallium separation and refining technologies.

A similar situation exists in the battery world. China is a dominant player all over the supply chain for lithium-ion batteries—not because it happens to have the right metals on its shores (it doesn’t), but because it’s invested in extraction and processing technologies.

Take lithium, a crucial component in those batteries. China has around 8% of the world’s lithium reserves but processes about 58% percent of the world’s lithium supply. The situation is similar for other key battery metals. Nickel that’s mined in Indonesia goes to China for processing, and the same goes for cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over the past two decades, China has thrown money, resources, and policy behind electric vehicles. Now China leads the world in EV registrations, many of the largest EV makers are Chinese companies, and the country is home to a huge chunk of the supply chain for the vehicles and their batteries.

As the world begins a shift toward technologies like EVs, it’s becoming clear just how dominant China’s position is in many of the materials crucial to building that tech.

Lithium prices have dropped by 80% over the past year, and while part of the reason is a slowdown in EV demand, another part is that China is oversupplying lithium, according to US officials. By flooding the market and causing prices to drop, China could make it tougher for other lithium processors to justify sticking around in the business.

The new graphite controls from China could wind up affecting battery markets, too. Graphite is crucial for lithium-ion batteries, which use the material in their anodes. It’s still not clear whether the new bans will affect battery materials or just higher-purity material that’s used in military applications, according to reporting from Carbon Brief.

To this point, China hasn’t specifically banned exports of key battery materials, and it’s not clear exactly how far the country would go. Global trade politics are delicate and complicated, and any move that China makes in battery supply chains could wind up coming back to hurt the country’s economy. 

But we could be entering into a new era of material politics. Further restrictions on graphite, or moves that affect lithium, nickel, or copper, could have major ripple effects around the world for climate technology, because batteries are key not only for electric vehicles, but increasingly for our power grids. 

While it’s clear that tensions are escalating, it’s still unclear what’s going to happen next. The vibes, at best, are uncertain, and this sort of uncertainty is exactly why so many folks in technology are so focused on how to diversify global supply chains. Otherwise, we may find out just how tangled those supply chains really are, and what happens when you yank on threads that run through the center of them. 

Now read the rest of The Spark

Related reading

Check out James Temple’s breakdown of what China’s ban on some rare minerals could mean for the US.

Last July, China placed restrictions on some of these materials—read this story from Zeyi Yang, who explains what the moves and future ones might mean for semiconductor technology.

As technology shifts, so too do the materials we need to build it. The result: a never-ending effort to build out mining, processing, and recycling infrastructure, as I covered in a feature story earlier this year.

STEPHANIE ARNETT/MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW | GETTY, ENVATO

Another thing 

Each year we release a list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies, and it’s nearly time for the 2025 edition. But before we announce the picks, here are a few things that didn’t make the cut. 

A couple of interesting ones on the cutting-room floor here, including eVTOLs, electric aircraft that can take off and land like helicopters. For more on why the runway is looking pretty long for electric planes (especially ones with funky ways to move through the skies), check out this story from last year. 

Keeping up with climate  

Denmark received no bids in its latest offshore wind auction. It’s a disappointing result for the birthplace of offshore wind power. (Reuters)

Surging methane emissions could be the sign of a concerning shift for the climate. A feedback loop of emissions from the Arctic and a slowdown in how the powerful greenhouse gas breaks down could spell trouble. (Inside Climate News)

Battery prices are dropping faster than expected. Costs for  lithium-ion packs just saw their steepest drop since 2017. (Electrek)

This fusion startup is rethinking how to configure its reactors by floating powerful magnets in the middle of the chamber. This sounds even more like science fiction than most other approaches to fusion. (IEEE Spectrum)

The US plans to put monarch butterflies on a list of threatened species. Temperature shifts brought on by climate change could wreak havoc with the insects’ migration. (Associated Press)

Sources close to Elon Musk say he’s undergone quite a shift on climate change, morphing from “environmental crusader to critic of dire climate predictions.” (Washington Post)

Google has a $20 billion plan to build data centers and clean power together. “Bring your own power” is an interesting idea, but not a tested prospect just yet. (Canary Media)

The Franklin Fire in Los Angeles County sparked Monday evening and quickly grew into a major blaze. At the heart of the fire’s rapid spread: dry weather and Santa Ana winds. (Scientific American)

Places in the US that are most at risk for climate disasters are also most at risk for insurance hikes. Check out these great data visualizations on insurance and climate change. (The Guardian)

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Dec 13 2024
The Download: Google’s Project Astra, and China’s export bans

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Google’s new Project Astra could be generative AI’s killer app

Google DeepMind has announced an impressive grab bag of new products and prototypes that may just let it seize back its lead in the race to turn generative artificial intelligence into a mass-market concern.

Top billing goes to Gemini 2.0—the latest iteration of Google DeepMind’s family of multimodal large language models, now redesigned around the ability to control agents—and a new version of Project Astra, the experimental everything app that the company teased at Google I/O in May.

The margins between top-end models like Gemini 2.0 and those from rival labs like OpenAI and Anthropic are now slim. These days, advances in large language models are less about how good they are and more about what you can do with them. And that’s where agents come in. 

MIT Technology Review got to try out Astra in a closed-door live demo last week. It gave us a hint at what’s to come. Find out more in the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

China banned exports of a few rare minerals to the US. Things could get messier.

—Casey Crownhart

I’ve thought more about gallium and germanium over the last week than I ever have before (and probably more than anyone ever should).

China banned the export of those materials to the US last week and placed restrictions on others. The move is just the latest drama in escalating trade tensions between the two countries.

While the new export bans could have significant economic consequences, this might be only the beginning. China is a powerhouse, and not just in those niche materials—it’s also a juggernaut in clean energy, and particularly in battery supply chains. So what comes next could have significant consequences for EVs and climate action more broadly. Read the full story.

This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate and energy newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 It’s looking pretty likely 2024 will be the hottest year on record
But average temperatures are just one way of assessing our warming world. (New Scientist $)
+ The first few months of 2025 are likely to be hotter than average, too. (Reuters)
+ The US is about to make a sharp turn on climate policy. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund
In an effort to strengthen their previously fractious relationship. (WSJ $)
+ Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the only tech figure seeking the President-elect’s ear. (Insider $)

3 How China secretly repatriates Uyghurs
Even the United Nations is seemingly powerless to stop it. (WP $)
+ Uyghurs outside China are traumatized. Now they’re starting to talk about it. (MIT Technology Review)

4 How Big Tech decides when to scrub a user’s digital footprint
Murder suspect Luigi Mangione’s Instagram has been taken down—but his Goodreads hasn’t. (NYT $)
+ Why it’s dangerous to treat public online accounts as the full story. (NY Mag $)

5 Russia-backed hackers targeted Ukraine’s military using criminal tools
Which makes it even harder to work out who did it. (TechCrunch)

6 What Cruise’s exit means for the rest of the robotaxi industry
Automakers are becoming frustrated waiting for the technology to mature. (The Verge)
+ Cruise will focus on developing fully autonomous personal vehicles instead. (NYT $)

7 Researching risky pathogens is extremely high stakes
The potential for abuse has some researchers worried we shouldn’t undertake it at all. (Undark Magazine)
+ Meet the scientist at the center of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Altermagnetism could be computing’s next big thing
It would lead to faster, more reliable electronic devices. (FT $)

9 Why some people need so little sleep
Gene mutations appear to hold at least some of the answers. (Knowable Magazine)
+ Babies spend most of their time asleep. New technologies are beginning to reveal why. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Inside the creeping normalization of AI movies
The world’s largest TV manufacturer wants to make films for people too lazy to change the channel. (404 Media)
+ Unsurprisingly, it’ll push targeted ads, too. (Ars Technica)
+ How AI-generated video is changing film. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“They’ve made him a martyr for all the troubles people have had with their own insurance companies.”

—Felipe Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, explains why murder suspect Luigi Mangione is being lionized online to Reuters.

The big story

Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch

November 2024

Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics.

But while the field struggles with the realities of tricky quantum hardware, another challenger is making headway in some of these most promising use cases. AI is now being applied to fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials science in a way that suggests quantum computing’s purported home turf might not be so safe after all. Read the full story.

—Edd Gent

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A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Working life getting you down? These pictures of bygone office malaise will make you feel a whole lot better (or worse—thanks Will!)
+ Gen Z are getting really into documenting their lives via digital cameras, apparently. 📸
+ If you believe that Alan MacMasters invented the first electric bread toaster, I’m sorry to inform you that you’ve fallen for an elaborate online hoax.
+ The case for a better Turing test for AI-generated art.

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Dec 13 2024
Why materials science is key to unlocking the next frontier of AI development

The Intel 4004, the first commercial microprocessor, was released in 1971. With 2,300 transistors packed into 12mm2, it heralded a revolution in computing. A little over 50 years later, Apple’s M2 Ultra contains 134 billion transistors.

The scale of progress is difficult to comprehend, but the evolution of semiconductors, driven for decades by Moore’s Law, has paved a path from the emergence of personal computing and the internet to today’s AI revolution.

But this pace of innovation is not guaranteed, and the next frontier of technological advances—from the future of AI to new computing paradigms—will only happen if we think differently.

Atomic challenges

The modern microchip stretches both the limits of physics and credulity. Such is the atomic precision, that a few atoms can decide the function of an entire chip. This marvel of engineering is the result of over 50 years of exponential scaling creating faster, smaller transistors.

But we are reaching the physical limits of how small we can go, costs are increasing exponentially with complexity, and efficient power consumption is becoming increasingly difficult. In parallel, AI is demanding ever-more computing power. Data from Epoch AI indicates the amount of computing needed to develop AI is quickly outstripping Moore’s Law, doubling every six months in the “deep learning era” since 2010.

These interlinked trends present challenges not just for the industry, but society as a whole. Without new semiconductor innovation, today’s AI models and research will be starved of computational resources and struggle to scale and evolve. Key sectors like AI, autonomous vehicles, and advanced robotics will hit bottlenecks, and energy use from high-performance computing and AI will continue to soar.

Materials intelligence

At this inflection point, a complex, global ecosystem—from foundries and designers to highly specialized equipment manufacturers and materials solutions providers like Merck—is working together more closely than ever before to find the answers. All have a role to play, and the role of materials extends far, far beyond the silicon that makes up the wafer.

Instead, materials intelligence is present in almost every stage of the chip production process—whether in chemical reactions to carve circuits at molecular scale (etching) or adding incredibly thin layers to a wafer (deposition) with atomic precision: a human hair is 25,000 times thicker than layers in leading edge nodes.

Yes, materials provide a chip’s physical foundation and the substance of more powerful and compact components. But they are also integral to the advanced fabrication methods and novel chip designs that underpin the industry’s rapid progress in recent decades.

For this reason, materials science is taking on a heightened importance as we grapple with the limits of miniaturization. Advanced materials are needed more than ever for the industry to unlock the new designs and technologies capable of increasing chip efficiency, speed, and power. We are seeing novel chip architectures that embrace the third dimension and stack layers to optimize surface area usage while lowering energy consumption. The industry is harnessing advanced packaging techniques, where separate “chiplets” are fused with varying functions into a more efficient, powerful single chip. This is called heterogeneous integration.

Materials are also allowing the industry to look beyond traditional compositions. Photonic chips, for example, harness light rather than electricity to transmit data. In all cases, our partners rely on us to discover materials never previously used in chips and guide their use at the atomic level. This, in turn, is fostering the necessary conditions for AI to flourish in the immediate future.

New frontiers

The next big leap will involve thinking differently. The future of technological progress will be defined by our ability to look beyond traditional computing.

Answers to mounting concerns over energy efficiency, costs, and scalability will be found in ambitious new approaches inspired by biological processes or grounded in the principles of quantum mechanics.

While still in its infancy, quantum computing promises processing power and efficiencies well beyond the capabilities of classical computers. Even if practical, scalable quantum systems remain a long way off, their development is dependent on the discovery and application of state-of-the-art materials.

Similarly, emerging paradigms like neuromorphic computing, modelled on the human brain with architectures mimicking our own neural networks, could provide the firepower and energy-efficiency to unlock the next phase of AI development. Composed of a deeply complex web of artificial synapses and neurons, these chips would avoid traditional scalability roadblocks and the limitations of today’s Von Neumann computers that separate memory and processing.

Our biology consists of super complex, intertwined systems that have evolved by natural selection, but it can be inefficient; the human brain is capable of extraordinary feats of computational power, but it also requires sleep and careful upkeep. The most exciting step will be using advanced compute—AI and quantum—to finally understand and design systems inspired by biology. This combination will drive the power and ubiquity of next-generation computing and associated advances to human well-being.

Until then, the insatiable demand for more computing power to drive AI’s development poses difficult questions for an industry grappling with the fading of Moore’s Law and the constraints of physics. The race is on to produce more powerful, more efficient, and faster chips to progress AI’s transformative potential in every area of our lives.

Materials are playing a hidden, but increasingly crucial role in keeping pace, producing next-generation semiconductors and enabling the new computing paradigms that will deliver tomorrow’s technology.

But materials science’s most important role is yet to come. Its true potential will be to take us—and AI—beyond silicon into new frontiers and the realms of science fiction by harnessing the building blocks of biology.

This content was produced by EMD Electronics. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.

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Dec 13 2024
Charts: U.S. TikTok Shop BFCM Sales 2024

Adobe estimates U.S. shoppers spent $41.1 billion online in the five days from Thanksgiving 2024 through Cyber Monday. Shopify says global merchants on its platform received $11.5 billion in revenue from Black Friday through Cyber Monday.

The $137.14 million in sales on TikTok Shop for 2024 Black Friday ($85.9 million) and Cyber Monday ($51.24 million) may seem small, but the platform is little more than a year old, with growth rates far exceeding most retailers and marketplaces.

Charm.io is a U.S.-based data provider helping retailers, sales teams, and investors with in-depth industry analytics, including the TikTok Shop performance metrics in this recap.

According to Charm, from Black Friday 2024 through Cyber Monday, Tarte Cosmetics (makeup) emerged as the top-performing brand on U.S. TikTok Shop, generating an impressive $15.33 million in revenue. Goli Nutrition (supplements) followed with $9.17 million, and Halara (female apparel) secured the third spot with $7.28 million.

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The top-performing products highlighted diverse consumer interests. The Flybird Vibration Plate Exercise Machine led with $1.17 million in revenue from 15,940 sold units, followed by the Rhino USA Retractable Ratchet Straps ($981,190, 21,0000 units) and the ecozy Nugget Ice Maker ($930,650, 8,360 units).

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U.S. TikTok Shop’s top categories from Black Friday through Cyber Monday underscored broad consumer appeal. “Beauty & Personal Care” led with $51.11 million in revenue, followed by “Womenswear” with $26.47 million, and “Sports & Outdoors” at $19.21 million.

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Per Charm.io, livestreams were a powerful sales driver, with the 14-hour “Black Friday Knockout!” from Canvas Beauty Brand (hair and skin products) generating $2.10 million in revenue from 2.25 million viewers. The “Cyber Monday Mega Live” 10-hour event from Simply Mandys (cosmetics)  stood out with $667,430 in sales and 1.49 million viewers.

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Dec 13 2024
New Ecommerce Tools: December 12, 2024

This week’s rundown of new products and services for merchants includes generative AI app builders, virtual commerce, product image tools, customer experience platforms, blockchain payment solutions, and drone deliveries.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Amazon introduces Nova foundational models for genAI apps. Amazon has announced Nova, a new series of foundation models, available in Amazon Bedrock, a generative AI application builder. The Nova models lower costs and latency for almost any generative AI task, per Amazon, including analyzing complex documents and videos, understanding charts and diagrams, producing videos, and building sophisticated AI agents.

Web page for Amazon Nova Foundation Models

Amazon Nova Foundation Models

Seguno introduces Shopify Connect for Canva. Seguno, a provider of built-for-Shopify apps, has released Shopify Connect for Canva, an app to streamline content creation and allow users to move seamlessly between Canva and Shopify. Per Suguno, the app enhances product photos and brings consistent designs across storefronts and other marketing channels. The integration also streamlines file management, allowing media to flow in both directions.

Alibaba International launches Pic Copilot, an AI-powered ecommerce design tool. Alibaba International has announced the U.S. launch of Pic Copilot, an AI-driven design tool to help ecommerce businesses save on photography and design costs. Pic Copilot provides 12 AI design features for swapping image backgrounds, editing images and videos, generating ads, and more. The tool’s virtual try-on facilitates multiple skin tones and body types, featuring more than 160 models. Pic Copilot also allows users to upload personal images for product try-ons.

Adobe and Amazon Web Services partner to bring Adobe Experience Platform to brands. Adobe has announced an expanded partnership with Amazon Web Services to make Adobe Experience Platform available on AWS. The collaboration enables brands to strengthen customer relationships through highly personalized experiences, per Adobe. Applications powered by AEP — e.g., Real-Time CDP, Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics — will also be available on AWS. According to Adobe, brands can create and engage with high-value audiences, orchestrate personalized customer journeys, and analyze and optimize campaigns.

Web page of Adobe Experience Platform

Adobe Experience Platform

Roblox begins closed beta of Shopify integration. Roblox, the gaming platform, has allowed select developers to gain access to Shopify integration tools, including the creators of the Roblox experiences “Catalog Avatar Creator,” “Tower Heroes,” and “Creatures of Sonaria,” with more experiences expected to launch soon. The Shopify storefronts participating in the closed beta primarily sell merchandise tied to the in-game experiences rather than movie tickets or goods from external brands.

Amazon successfully tests delivery drones in Italy. Amazon has completed a test of delivery drones in Italy, the first country in Europe to receive the service. The test occurred in San Salvo, a town on the central Adriatic coast, with the new MK-30 drone, an automated Amazon system prompting drones to move away from obstacles and avoid other aircraft.

Nuvei launches blockchain payments in Latin America. Nuvei, a Canada-based fintech company, has launched a blockchain-based payment service for merchants across Latin America. Through Nuvei’s partnerships with Rain, a vertically integrated issuing partner for global platforms, BitGo, a digital asset custodian and wallet solutions provider, and Visa, Nuvei is enabling businesses to utilize stablecoin, including USD Coin, for faster global settlement and reduced reliance on traditional payments rails. The new service enables payments from a digital wallet anywhere Visa is accepted.

Screenshot of Nuvei's web page for the blockchain payment service

Nuvei blockchain payment service.

Clearco and Boundless launch integration to streamline funding for ecommerce brands. Clearco, a working capital provider for ecommerce brands, and Boundless, a capital marketplace, have announced an integration that builds on their partnership for working capital access. Clearco offers companies direct access to Boundless’s marketplace, while Boundless connects ecommerce brands to Clearco to secure funding in as little as 24 hours.

Asendia USA launches multi-service direct entry for ecommerce shipping to Mexico. Asendia USA has announced the launch of direct entry shipping to Mexico for ecommerce sellers. The offering provides Asendia logistics — from U.S. origin hubs through customs clearance and final Mexico delivery. The new service includes both delivered duty paid and unpaid options, multiple entry points to Mexico, simplified customs clearance, improved transit times for both expedited and standard deliveries, and enhanced tracking.

ShipStation provides U.K. SMBs with discounted daily collections from DPD. ShipStation, a shipping software provider, is serving small businesses in the U.K. with the launch of discounted daily parcel collections through DPD, the Geopost-owned parcel delivery company. This offering makes daily pickups for ready-to-ship packages more accessible and cost-effective for small businesses using ShipStation. U.K. consumers also have access to one-hour delivery windows with DPD Predict, real-time tracking through the DPD App, 10,000 drop-off shops, and next-day delivery seven days a week.

Maropost unveils AI-powered email marketing for commerce brands. Maropost, a connected commerce platform for mid-market merchants, has announced two AI-driven features for its Marketing Cloud product. The new eRFM harnesses AI to process and analyze four key dimensions of customer behavior: recency of interactions, frequency of interactions, monetary value, and enhanced metrics on other behavioral data points. Marketing Cloud’s new AI-driven product recommendation engine automatically populates email campaigns with personalized offers based on real-time purchase data and customer behavior.

Marapost home page

Marapost

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