Innovation
The Future Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Publishing Industry
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Is Attempting To Make Brain-Machine Interfaces To Help Individuals With Paralysis
www.forbes.com
According to the company, “The initial goal of our technology will be to help people with paralysis to regain independence through the control of computers and mobile devices.”
Strategy In A Post-Digital World — www.digitaltonto.com
Increasingly, we can no longer just move fast and break things, but will have to learn how to prepare, rather than just adapt. via @DigitalTonto
Technology
How Many Lives Could You Save Wearing a Face Mask? This Calculator Tells You — www.mentalfloss.com
An online calculator developed by Ph.D. students in Poland estimates how many people could be spared from infection or even death when you opt to wear a mask.
Amazon’s new Ring camera is actually a flying drone — for inside your home — www.cnet.com
Ring announces the $250 Always Home Cam indoor drone and plans for end-to-end encryption.
LinkedIn now has Stories, just like Instagram — blog.linkedin.com
Google introduces COVID-19 layer to Maps, revealing hotspot infection areas — www.zdnet.com
You can now view state and city trends in coronavirus caseloads.
Rumor alert: New Microsoft Office won’t require you to pay for a subscription — www.cnet.com
In 2021, you’ll be able to pay a flat price to get the Microsoft Office suite, instead of subscribing to Microsoft 365.
Publishing
Amazon Takes On Spotify In Podcasting — www.forbes.com
Amazon has added full podcast functionality to Amazon Music, in a strategy that follows Spotify’s highly successful foray into podcasting and could have implications for the future trajectory of the podcasting business.
Podcaster Wondery Explores Sale for Hundreds of Millions —www.bloomberg.com
Podcast publisher Wondery has hired financial advisers to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, which could bring in at least $200M #podcasting
Publications Resource Sheet 2020 — Publishing Trends
Proud to say that this Technology Innovation Publishing newsletter is included in this impressive list!
Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network launches the first-ever coalition of major U.S. fact-checkers to debunk misinformation in English and Spanish
The project, FactChat, lead to the creation of a WhatsApp chatbot and two Spanish-language fact-checking units
ePaper readers are a younger, more profitable group than print readers: A case study from Germany — whatsnewinpublishing.com
19% of German population reads ePapers, digital replicas of print editions, of which 65.8% are under 50, and every eighth newspaper sold is an ePaper. ePaper readers are a younger, more profitable group than print readers.
Dotdash acquires Simply Recipes and Serious Eats — www.axios.com
Dotdash, the IAC-owned digital publishing company that grew from http://About.com, has acquired two new digital publishers, Simply Recipes and Serious Eats. The acquisitions make Dotdash one of the biggest digital food and beverage publishers.
Collective Pictures Picks Up Wattpad’s ‘Float’ by Kate Marchant for Film — publishingperspectives.com
The Code 8 team at Collective Pictures is partnering with Wattpad to adapt story ‘Float’ by Kate Marchant, with 25 million reads, into film.
Stolen books worth £2.5m found under floor of Romanian house —www.bbc.com
The “irreplaceable” works, including a first edition by Galileo, were taken in a dramatic London heist.
NYC’s Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore Surpasses Fundraising Goal
E.W. Scripps Agrees to Buy ION Media for $2.65 Billion in Berkshire-Backed Deal — www.wsj.com
E.W. Scripps agreed to buy ION Media for $2.65 billion in a move to significantly expand the TV station owner’s reach with the backing of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter Combine in Joint Venture —www.nexttv.com
Deal puts control of the two oldest and largest trades covering the entertainment industry, along with Deadline Hollywood, into the hands of PMC
Business
Foot Locker stores to serve as voter registration centers in 2020 election — abc7.com
Foot Locker is teaming up with the nonprofit Rock the Vote to turn its stores into voter registration centers.
Come to Vote, Stay for the Art — www.nytimes.com
ICYMI A museum in California that had closed because of the coronavirus has found a way to reopen, legally, for four days and share its art: It will become a voting center.
Tory Burch, Old Navy, other companies offer employees paid time off to serve as poll workers — www.businessinsider.com
ICYMI Other companies like Patagonia, Salesforce, and Starbucks are also working with Power the Polls, the organization leading the effort for more companies to sign on to their mission of getting more poll workers. Earlier this year, more than 380 companies including Deloitte, Dell, and JPMorgan Chase announced partnering w nonpartisan Time to Vote coalition to encourage workers to cast ballots in the 2020 US presidential election.
Facebook Says it Will Stop Operating in Europe If Regulators Don’t Back Down — www.vice.com
The decision Facebook’s referring to is a preliminary order to stop transfer of data about European customers to servers in US, over concerns about US government surveillance of data
Amazon, which had struggled to gain a foothold in Italy, benefited from a shift to online shopping during pandemic lockdown as 75% of Italians shopped online — www.nytimes.com
ICYMI The e-commerce giant had struggled to gain a foothold in a society that prefers to shop in person, with cash, but now Italians are hooked on online shopping.
Amazon announces new Fire TV devices and a brand-new home screen that makes it easier to find stuff to watch — www.cnbc.com
Amazon announces updated $40 Fire TV and $30 Fire TV Stick Lite with new home screen for easier content discoverability, arriving on September 30.
Jeff Bezos is about to open a tuition-free preschool called the Bezos Academy where ‘the child will be the customer’
Resources & Opportunities
Have a Character Named After You in the Next Novel by Kate White, NY Times Bestselling Suspense Author, Plus Meet w Kate via Zoom —www.charitybuzz.com
Do you love reading suspense novels? Check out this awesome @charitybuzz auction item from fab @katemwhite to support scholarships @WMG_NYC! #Readwomen #mysteries #thrillers
Fall WMG Virtual Small Gatherings Hostess Sign Up
Hey @WMG_NYC Members: Don’t forget to sign up to be a host for a small group virtual dinner or lunch — it’s easy to do — just pick a theme and date here. No cooking or clean up! It’s a great way to stay in touch w the WMG community you know and love!
Freelancer Listing Submission — People of Color in Publishing
RT @PocPub Attention all BIPOC publishing freelancers!!!
Representation Matters Mentor Program
RT @kendralevin Future editors who identify as BIPOC: apply to RMMP to receive mentoring, make connections, and find a foothold in the publishing industry. Deadline Oct. 1. Learn more and apply at http://repmatters.org.
LxP Professional Happy Hour — latinxinpublishing.com
RT @LatinxinPub Are you a Latinx publishing professionals? Come celebrate Latinx Heritage Month w/ us for a happy hour next week on 9/29 at 7PM. Drop by and hang for as long as you like! Must RSVP to attend
Third Annual Diversity Summit — Center for Communication —www.centerforcommunication.org
MT @CenCom Take Charge of Your Future at our Diversity+Media Career Summit. Join us anywhere there’s WiFi, Wed., Sep. 30 — Friday, Oct. 2 and sign up for skill-building workshops and networking sessions with recruiters. Everyone grab tickets. It’s free! https://bit.ly/32xCKAO
RT @PitchWars We are officially open to submissions for #PitchWars 2020! The sub window will remain open until Oct 1 at 10pm ET. Don’t forget to add no-reply@pitchwars.org to your email address book so your confirmation email does not get marked as spam. 📨
Win a Free Campaign — Books Forward — booksforward.com
RT @LatinxinPub @booksforwardpr is hosting a giveaway for one free full-service, customized author publicity and book marketing campaign valued at $20,000! Entry is open to authors with targeted publication dates between May-Dec. 2021. Deadline to enter is 10/1/20.
Artist Relief Distributes $13.5 Million in Pandemic Grants —www.publishersweekly.com
The funding initiative, created to assist artists suffering under the pandemic, has distributed more than $13.5 million in emergency grants to more than 2,700 individuals since it was launched in April. It will continue to do so until the end of the year.
APPLY NOW: Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries
MT @ALALibrary ALA has announced plans to award nearly $2 million in grants to small and rural libraries to help them address issues of concern in their communities. Learn how your library can apply. #programminglibrarian #librariestransform
Black Founder Startup Grant — SoGal
MT @garysguide Black Founder Startup Grant (Cash grants for black women & non-binary founders; 9 grants of $10K & $5K; Awardees receive tactical help navigating fundraising environment; SoGal Foundation, Winky Lux, bluemercury, twelveNYC, Lively)
Your First Million • A podcast on Anchor
MT @ArlanWasHere Mark Cuban has given me $6M to invest in underestimated founders (ArlanWasHere Investments Fund I), and I just released a podcast episode with details.
Save the date for this year’s virtual #WellReadBlackGirlFestival —mailchi.mp
RT @wellreadblkgirl Save the date for this year’s virtual #WellReadBlackGirlFestival Our theme? Black Political Power: Past & Present. The full festival line-up will be announced on Oct. 9th. We will gather virtually to read/celebrate/mourn/study and PLAN our way forward.