Innovation
Niantic COO Megan Quinn thinks consumer AR glasses are just around the corner — www.protocol.com RT @mgsiegler “We are building a planet-scale platform that connects AR experiences to the real world. That has always been the primary thesis of the company since we first started. We just happen to be the very best customers of that platform today.”
Engineers put tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses on a single chip — news.mit.edu The design could advance the development of small, portable AI devices #AI#innovation
Technology
Apple Buys Startup to Turn iPhones Into Payment Terminals — finance.yahoo.com Apple has acquired Mobeewave Inc., a startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals
Did you think everyone’s YouTube feed has the same information as your own feed? Be prepared to have your mind blown.
Publishing
It’s Time to Radically Rethink Online Book Events — electricliterature.com
Some good ideas here: via @electriclit #bookpublishing
No, B&N Didn’t Stop Selling Android Tablets — the-digital-reader.com
via @thdigitalreader
Booker Prize Longlist Includes Hilary Mantel, Kiley Reid, and Anne Tyler — www.nytimes.com
Digital Printing: The New Normal
www.publishingtrends.com POD wisdom from @LWShanley#printondemand #POD #digitalprinting #bookpublishing
Australia to make Facebook, Google pay for news in world first — www.reuters.com
Australia will force U.S. tech giants Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay Australian media outlets for news content in a landmark move to protect independent journalism that will be watched around the world.
Magazine publisher Meredith won a $12.2M battle with the IRS over whether its work is technically manufacturing. — www.desmoinesregister.com
At Hearst Magazines, Print Continues to Shrink — wwd.com
O, The Oprah Magazine’s regular print run is ending, while other Hearst titles have had their frequency reduced in recent months.
BoSacks Speaks Out: The untimely and Sad deaths of Folio: and Publishing Executive Magazine
myemail.constantcontact.comRT @BoSacks
Library of Congress Wants To Try Adding Humans to Automated Processes — www.nextgov.com The Library of Congress has automated its metadata tagging but wants to reintroduce humans to the process to ensure a level of accuracy and ethics. #metadata
Audiobook White Paper from Frankfurt
COVID crisis accelerating the shift to digital advertising: Zenith — which-50.comDigital now accounts for more than half the world’s advertising for the first time, according to new figures from Zenith.
The Pandemic Pushed Publishing Into the Digital Realm. So What’s Next?
www.publishersweekly.comThe future hasn’t changed — it’s just been accelerated
A running list of when, how — and if — publishers return to the office — digiday.com via @digiday
After Quitting Deadspin in Protest, They’re Starting a New Site — www.nytimes.com
The journalists who took part in a staff rebellion last year are starting Defector Media, a company with a podcast and a website dedicated to sports and culture.
Business
Google’s Top Search Result? Surprise! It’s Google — themarkup.org RT @JuliaAngwin Remember when a Google search used to lead you somewhere? Now it increasingly just keeps you on Google. In fact, Google results take up 62.6% of the first screen of search results in a sample of 15,000 searches.
How people decide what to buy lies in the “messy middle” of the purchase journey
www.thinkwithgoogle.com Discover in-depth research on the buyer decision-making process and purchase behaviour, and how you can adapt your strategy to fit the process. @thinkgoogleuk
Ecommerce is hard!
theeqplanner.wordpress.com Omnichannel is still a thing. Ecommerce is hard to do, expensive, difficult to scale, lowers profitability (if you can even make it pay), + in some cases doesn’t just work on its own. It requires thought and a proper strategy. via @JCPHankins #ecommerce
Walmart+, an Amazon Prime competitor, launches in July — www.vox.com
Walmart+ will cost $98 a year and include same-day delivery of groceries, fuel discounts, and other perks.
EU regulators to probe Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants— uk.reuters.com
EU competition regulators are seeking information from 400 companies to establish if there are problems in the market for voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri and other internet-connected devices that could lead to antitrust cases.
Instagram is making lucrative offers to TikTok creators to join its competing service, Reels — www.wsj.com Facebook’s Instagram has offered financial incentives to TikTok users with millions of followers to persuade them to use a new competing service, an escalation in a high-stakes showdown between the two social-media giants.
Tencent is Ready to Own the Record Industry
www.getrevue.co HT @BISG Watch Tencent and their impact on the music industry
In Bangladesh, everything is bought and sold through Facebook — restofworld.orgRT @benedictevans Fascinating story about online retail in Bangladesh, which runs mostly in private Facebook posts. -> There is no Amazon. There is no eBay. If you want to buy a dress or a crested finch from the comfort of your home, you have to use Facebook.
BuzzFeed Starts Selling Products Directly to Consumers — www.wsj.com RT @michellemanafy BuzzFeed has long recommended products to its audience, earning a cut of the revenue. They’ve now introduced a standalone website called BuzzFeed Shopping that lets visitors complete purchases without going anywhere else.
Racism in Public Radio — Aug. 4
docs.google.com RT @CelesteHeadlee We have 12 items that need to change in order to make public radio an anti-racist industry. Want to talk about them or help create a new anti-racist plan? Join us on 8/4 (pub radio peeps only). Fill out this Google form to register.
Blippi, Cocomelon Purchased by Kids Media Giant Moonbug— www.bloomberg.comMoonbug is acquiring Cocomelon and Blippi to create a YouTube network with 235 million subscribers.
Old Navy, POPSUGAR Launch Tween Apparel Line — www.licenseglobal.com
The PS x ON collection will be available in August. #branding
Resources and Opportunities
The Boston Public Library needs help transcribing 40,000 anti-slavery documents from the 19th century — boingboing.net This is a pretty cool — and historically important — project from the Boston Public Library.
Job Search during the Pandemic: How to Tap Into New Opportunities and Ace Virtual Interviews — nywici.org RT @NYWICI Join us for #NYWICIConnect series Thursday, 8/6 at 5–6pm est. @vickisalemi will share insight on how to tap new opportunities and ace virtual interviews. There will also be a Q&A session. This virtual event is FREE and open to all!
Hermanas — LAS MUSAS BOOKS
www.lasmusasbooks.com RT @LasMusasBooks Applications for the Las Musas Hermanas Mentorship Program for #kidlit writers and illustrators open August 1st #lasmusas #writingcommunity #readlatinx#writerscommunity
Queer Creatives/Writing in Color Retreat | Lighthouse Writers Workshop — www.lighthousewriters.org
The 2nd Annual Queer Creatives/Writing in Color Retreat is August 3–6, 2020 as the retreat goes virtual! Join us for a retreat specifically designed to welcome, celebrate, and amplify voices of writers of color and writers from the LGBTQIA+ community. Whether working on a novel, memoir, short fiction, poetry, or hybrid/interdisciplinary forms, our experienced faculty and
Toolkit for careers in publishing launched
www.stephenlawrencetrust.org From Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust with Hachette UK
Cool free online classes from MoMA — www.moma.org
Virtual Museum Tours
RT garysguide.com The MetMuseum. Musee du Louvre. Musee D’Orsay. VaticanMuseum. Uffizi Gallery. Istanbul Museum Of Modern Art. British Museum. Chateaude Versailles. Van Gogh Museum. National GalleryLondon. GuggenheimBilbao. Getty Museum. National Parks.
Women’s Media Group — How to Write Persuasively with Trish Hall
www.womensmediagroup.org RT @WMG_NYC WMG members: If you want to learn how to write persuasively and communicate above the digital noise, don’t miss this free, virtual event with Trish Hall on Aug 5 @ 12pm.
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