Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #156
Innovation

hbr.org

HT @fgilbane Most companies don’t have a clear path to success. But that might change with a new, data-centric approach to AI. By @AndrewYNg #AI

Some K-pop stars are bypassing Twitter and Facebook to create platforms for fans, like Universe, which features AI-generated voice calls with the idols — www.theverge.com

Korea’s fancafes have given rise to new social platforms like LYSN, Weverse, and Universe, which serve as self-contained versions of Facebook or Twitter entirely for K-pop fans. #AI

Technology

Facebook Wants Us to Live in the Metaverse — www.newyorker.com

What does that even mean?

stratechery.com

Interesting Take on Metaverses via @stratechery #metaverse

Gaming braces for its Netflix and Spotify moment — www.protocol.com

A new wave of game subscriptions has only just begun emerging in the last few years. Now, as these subscriptions are married to nascent but fast-growing cloud gaming services that allow you to stream games to almost any screen, the industry is bracing itself for a potential paradigm shift akin to what happened to television, film and music.

mitsloan.mit.edu

Having built new norms during COVID-19, firms should now focus on operations, employee experience, customer experience, and organizational culture. Via @MITSloan

techcrunch.com

Twitter may have shut down its Stories features known as Fleets, but the Stories format will continue to invade other social platforms. TikTok today confirmed it’s piloting a new feature, TikTok Stories, which will allow it to explore additional ways for its community to bring their creative ideas to life.

Apple wins patent for in-screen Touch ID and Face ID — 9to5mac.com

#Apple #patents

www.adexchanger.com

#Amazon

How Amazon plans to cut waste after backlash over destruction of unused items — apple.news

Amazon has launched two programs as part of an effort to give products a second life when they get returned to businesses that sell items on its platform.

Amazon will pay you $10 in credit for your palm print biometrics — techcrunch.com

The retail giant has a spotty history with biometric data.

libn.com

The online shopping giant is pushing landlords to give its drivers the ability to unlock apartment-building doors themselves with a mobile device.

www.axios.com

A 9/11 documentary, “The Outsider,” will debut on Facebook Live for $3.99 on Aug. 19. #Facebook

www.bloomberg.com

Facebook Inc. has disabled the personal accounts of a group of New York University researchers studying political ads on the social network, claiming they are scraping data in violation of the company’s terms of service.

adage.com

RT @adage Alphabet Inc.’s Google was accused in an antitrust lawsuit of giving itself the edge in online advertising by cutting a cozy deal with Facebook that gives the social network an advantage in virtual auctions which determine whose ads appear where.

www.theregister.com

‘This is peak Chrome; a reasonably good idea hampered because it was pushed out thoughtlessly’

www.mediapost.com

HT @MediaPost

www.technologyreview.com

MT @michellemanafy Many TikTok users assumed that the text-to-speech voice they heard on the app wasn’t a real person. It was. A Canadian voice actor named Bev Standing had never given ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, permission to use it. By @histoftech

Publishing & Media

publishingperspectives.com

A total 2,661 authors, illustrators, and translators question UK ‘reconsideration’ on post-Brexit copyright and parallel imports on books. #Copyright @Porter_Anderson @PublishersAssoc @Soc_of_Authors

www.bincfoundation.org

MT @BincFoundation Join us in celebrating Binc’s 25th Anniversary! Thursday, August 12, 2021, 8pm EST #ThinkBinc #Bincat25

www.publishersweekly.com

HT @BoSacks The International Publishers Association and PEN have documented hundreds of attacks on press freedom, many of them targeting LGBTQ and dissident groups.

Scribd Originals Issues Short “Semi-Autobiographical Tale” By Margaret Atwood — www.prnewswire.com

www.booknetcanada.ca

Pearson CEO predicts demise of physical textbooks as digital service launches — money.yahoo.com

The 177-year-old company debuted its Pearson+ subscription service in the U.S.

deadline.com

Private equity deals like the recent $900 million takeover of Hello Sunshine are poised to continue long into the future, dealmakers say.

www.niemanlab.org

“No matter the amount of tweeting or social media promotion that you might do, [the place] where you need to look to grow your audience is existing podcasts.” #podcasting

www.theverge.com

HBO Max is becoming more of a podcast app. This fall, it’ll be the exclusive home for Batman: The Audio Adventures, a scripted podcast starring Jeffrey Wright and Rosario Dawson.

www.adweek.com

The two companies have formed Condé Nast Certified Video Plus, providing advertisers access to both audiences through one offering.

www.adweek.com

This will be a year-long content-sharing collaboration to cross-pollinate the Bloomberg Equality and Ebony audiences through original content.

digiday.com

Good Housekeeping set a standard at Hearst UK that the rest of the portfolio wants to replicate.

wwd.com

wwd.com

In recent years, a number of media brands have been tapping into the beauty market. #magazines

apnews.com

Twitter signed a deal with The Associated Press and Reuters to help elevate accurate information on its platform. Twitter said the program will expand its existing work to help explain why certain subjects are trending on the site, to show information and news from trusted resources and to debunk misinformation.

www.reuters.com

AT&T Inc’s satellite television provider, DirecTV, will become a standalone video business as part of a deal between the wireless service provider and buyout firm TPG Capital.

www.nytimes.com

The company expects to end the year with about 8.5 million. In its quarterly results, it reported holding nearly $1 billion in cash.

variety.com

News Corp will pay $1.15 billion in cash for Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a specialized, digital-centric info provider.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

HT @LWShanley @publishingtrend

LinkedIn Acquires Tutorial Video App Jumprope as it Looks to Expand its Creator Tools — www.socialmediatoday.com

Revel Acquires The Woolfer, the Leading Social Platform for Women Over 40; Announces $3.5M Seed Round — www.prnewswire.com

Resources & Opportunities

Scholarships — Hugo House — hugohouse.org

MT @diversebooks Writers: @HugoHouse is offering writing classes both in-person and online, along with scholarships for their Fall Quarter courses! Applications close on August 16th:.

New Visions Writing Contest for Writers of Color and Indigenous/Native Writers — www.leeandlow.com

RT @diversebooks Unpublished BIPOC writers: @LEEandLOW has extended the deadlines for both its annual writing contests to August 15th! Winners receive $2000 + a standard publication contract.

New Visions (MG/YA): http://ow.ly/kGM450FKw62

New Voices (Picture Books): http://ow.ly/B5Cw50FKw60

help.medium.com

RT @rgay Medium is hosting a writing challenge. Details here: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405083394455-Medium-Writers-Challenge-Contest-Official-Rules… And there are some FAQs about your intellectual property and the rights Medium is seeking.

publishingperspectives.com

HT @elizabethscraig The new award, with its inaugural presentation set for next summer, is open to submissions both in fiction and nonfiction. @pubperspectives #wkb84

Join us for Penguin Teen Summer Festival! — Penguin Teen — www.penguinteen.com

#teamPRH

www.nyfa.org

RT @MadeinNY We invite NYC storytellers to apply for #NYCWomensFund for the opportunity to bring their films, docs, TV shows, music projects, and theater productions by, for, or about women to life on screen and stage. Apply now at @nyfacurrent: http://nyfa.org/NYCWomensFund.

www.cbsnews.com

MT @MarkLevineNYC Very cool: @Yelp now let’s you filter your search for restaurants, stores etc by whether all its staff are fully vaccinated, and whether they screen for vaccination.

www.microcovid.org

MT @Pistachio I’m planning to __________ but now I wonder if it’s safe given how Delta COVID spreads. How can i calculate the risks?
['Kathy Sandler']
['Podcasting', 'Technology', 'Media', 'Publishing', 'Innovation']