auction

Two 'auction' stories August 2015 - March 2016

Google’s AI-created artworks sold at San Francisco auction for as much as $8000

We’ve read a lot about Google’s machine-learning projects over the past 12 months. Perhaps most intriguing was the Deepmind project which created works of art using neural networks. Or, perhaps a more accurate description is, that the DeepDream algorithm would turn existing pictures in to the stuff of nightmares. By distorting shapes in to animal heads and psychedelic patterns and colors, the finished product was almost terrifying.

As it turns out, Google put on an auction at a trendy San Francisco venue and sold some of its larger pieces for as much as $8,000.

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OnePlus auctioning OnePlus 2 invites on eBay for charity

In a blog post this morning, OnePlus announced that it is auctioning off 100 OnePlus 2 invites on eBay with the proceeds going towards the UNICEF Tap Project. Fifty invites have already landed on OnePlus’ official eBay shop with the other fifty due to hit the store a little later.

All invites are for the 64GB Sandstone Black OnePlus 2 and the auctions work just like any regular eBay auction. Winning bidders will be sent the invites by email and once received, will be able to use those to immediately go and buy one the new OnePlus 2 handsets from the manufacturer’s store. All invites will be sent out on August 10th and unlike regular invites, winning bidders will have an entire month to purchase the phone. With the reservation list having already hit the 1 million mark, there will surely be a number of people clamoring to get an invite any way they can.

Part of this move was in order to combat the invites which would unofficially make their way to eBay. In the past, people have been selling their OnePlus invites online and pocketing the pure profit. With this strategy, OnePlus doesn’t just open up a more “official” way to buy invites, it’s also helping out an important cause.

UNICEF’s Tap Project was started to get clean, safe water to children in underprivileged areas and 100% of OnePlus’ eBay auction proceeds will go straight to the charity. If you’d like to, you can read more about the charity here. OnePlus Invite auctions on eBay last 5 days and — at time of writing — there are invites that have raised more than $500.

As promotional moves go, this is a hugely redeeming strategy from a company which has drawn so much negative attention over the past couple of years. Kudos, OnePlus.