Computer vision inches toward ‘common sense’ with Facebook’s latest research — techcrunch.com
Can Chinese tech save American news?
#AI-powered hyperlocal news app News Break has more downloads than NYT, BBC, Google News apps w 45M active users, yet it’s not rooted in any of the communities it serves news for. Its algorithmic approach was pioneered by ByteDance’s China-based Toutiao app.
The Value Chain of the Open Metaverse — www.notboring.co
ICYMI Deep dive into #NFTs and #web3 by @packyM @notboringclub
Generate Faces Online Using AI — generated.photos
HT @nycmedialab Very easy-to-use, browser-based Face Generator that allows you to quickly “create a unique person with your parameters in one click.” #AI
Apple invents a new Blood Pressure system using Neural Networks that accepts a Seismocardiogram as input — www.patentlyapple.com
NASA Says Perseverance Rover Has Made Oxygen Out Of Martian Air— www.npr.org
MOXIE, Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, aboard NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover, made oxygen from martian atmosphere by superheating carbon dioxide to cleave it chemically, producing 5 gms oxygen, enough for astronaut to breathe for 10 mins
Iam’s NOSEiD Tracks Your Furry Friend’s Nose In Case They Get Lost — mossandfog.com
When we first heard of NOSEiD, we thought it was a late April Fools’ day joke.
Technology
He’s shaping the future of Spotify, one moonshot idea at a time — www.cnn.com
HT @michellemanafy @kerrymflynn talks to @Spotify’s head of innovation @_mauhan
Spotify announced podcast subscription offering: It will not charge podcasters, nor take a cut. — www.wsj.com
Spotify is now allowing podcasters to offer subscriber-only content, published through its Anchor podcasting software. Creators choose from three subscription tiers — $2.99, $4.99 or $7.99 per month. This comes one week after Apple announced support for paid podcast subscriptions. But where Apple said it would take 30% of first-year subscriptions and 15% after that, Spotify says it will pass 100% of revenue on to podcasters for the first two years, only charging a 5% fee starting in 2023.
Spotify CEO says live audio content is the next ‘Stories’ — techcrunch.com
Live audio experiences will be adopted by every major platform just like Stories have been, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said. Spotify recently acquired a live audio app, Locker Room, whose technology it expects to use to power a range of new live audio conversations.
Facebook, Instagram working on tools to help creators make money — www.cnet.com
One upcoming feature includes a marketplace to match creators with brands that could sponsor them. #Facebook #Instagram
Facebook to pay $5M to local journalists in newsletter push
Facebook will give $5 million to pay local journalists in multiyear deals as part of its new publishing platform to help writers.
Zuckerberg outlines how Facebook will thrive after Apple privacy change
Facebook wants to facilitate more sales of products and services on its own apps as a method of reducing its reliance on Apple.
Facebook’s ‘help keep us free’ plea highlights the true cost of social media. Again.
RT @futureshift It’s not inherently a bad thing always, but never forget that you, Facebook user, are the product.
Clubhouse’s Monthly Downloads Plunge 72%
HT @MariSmith Interesting… Is Clubhouse mania dwindling already? via @TheWrap #clubhouse #socialmediamarketing
Instagram Live takes on Clubhouse with options to mute and turn off the video — techcrunch.com
In addition to Facebook’s Clubhouse competitor built within Messenger Rooms and its experiments with a Clubhouse-like Q&A platform on the web, the company is now leveraging yet another of its largest products to take on the Clubhouse threat: Instagram Live.
Reddit Talk is a Clubhouse competitor for subreddits — www.theverge.com
Apple’s privacy battle with Facebook just became all-out war
Apple update requires apps to ask for permission to track users’ across the App Store and internet. That strikes deep at Facebook’s biz, which has been built over the past decade on tech designed to do exactly that, whether its users know it or not
Amazon is loosening its grip on customers and letting some sellers reach out to them — www.cnbc.com
Amazon is piloting a tool that lets brands communicate directly with shoppers, in a departure from its historically tight control of customer data. The company has rolled out several tools to help businesses build a presence on Amazon as it faces competition from the likes of Shopify. #Amazon
Amazon creates new ad opportunities in Fire TV — adage.com
Amazon announces ad units like screensavers and ‘sponsored content rows’ ahead of NewFronts.
Amazon now has 200 million Prime members, Bezos reveals in annual shareholders letter — www.geekwire.com
ESPN to air Marvel-themed NBA game on May 3 featuring Warriors, Pelicans — www.cnbc.com
The game’s traditional NBA broadcast will air on ESPN, and the Marvel game will be available on the network’s ESPN2 channel and streaming service.
Play something: Netflix launches button for indecisive couch potatoes— www.protocol.com
Can’t decide what to watch? Netflix now has a button for that. With “Play Something,” the company wants to make it easier to pick new titles, which could also help it to surface shows from foreign markets.
YouTube is a media juggernaut that could soon equal Netflix in revenue — www.cnbc.com
If its current growth trajectory continues, YouTube will book between $29 billion and $30 billion in revenue in 2021, on par with Netflix. #Google
YouTube TV removed from Roku channel store amid Google contract dispute
MT @sarafischer @YouTubeTV is removed from @Roku channel store amid Google contract dispute
— Roku says Google had made anticompetitive demands
— Roku is keeping the app available to existing users
@YouTube responds: “To be clear, we have never, as they have alleged, made any requests to access user data or interfere with search results. This claim is baseless and false.”
Microsoft says LinkedIn topped $3 billion in ad revenue in the last year, outpacing Snap and Pinterest — www.cnbc.com
LinkedIn has tried to position itself as a better place than competitors like Instagram or TikTok for business-related ads. #LinkedIn
Here’s how to edit iPhone photos using TikTok’s favorite formula — mashable.com
RT @mashable The viral TikTok photo editing formula makes life look like a sunkissed wonderland.
Wiley Teams with Author to Create NFT Author Trading Card — www.publishersweekly.com
ICYMI #NFTs
From Netflix Streaming To Contact Tracing, The Open-Source Revolution Is Disrupting These 6 Industries
I thought this was interesting: BBC has over 50 open-source projects and is among the most prolific corporate contributors to Github. Active in open source since launching its first website, BBC’s projects center on internal efforts to produce and distribute content. For example, BBC’s StoryPlayer project allows those inside and outside BBC to create and distribute video and audio content that audiences can interact with and personalize. This technology supported the 1,000th episode of BBC’s TV show Click, an interactive experience where more than 300,000 audience members could follow their own storyline. #opensource via @cbinsights
When Technology Goes Awry
I’m listening to the audiobook of Cal Newport’s “A World Without Email.” There’s a story that I didn’t know — Facebook engineers originally were trying to make a feature to aggregate comments, because so many users would type “cool” or “nice,” so the engineers designed the “Like” button. The technology took on a life of its own, and spurred our compulsion to check social media and become addicted to our phones. He details the story in this article.
Apple to help workers get COVID-19 shots at its offices — www.reuters.com
Publishing & Media
‘People’ Teams With CVS Health, Walmart To Drive COVID-19
Verizon is exploring a sale of assets including Yahoo and AOL
The unbundling of publishing (1/x) — therebooting.substack.com
Substack and unionization are a sign of what’s to come by @bmorrissey
Conde Nast plans strategy to merge global editorial teams
Condé Nast title ‘Epicurious’ axes beef recipes — thehill.com
Condé Nast’s food media brand Epicurious has stopped publishing recipes with beef in them.
Why Time Launched a Dedicated Business Vertical — www.adweek.com
Time is unveiling a vertical dedicated entirely to business coverage, called Time Business
The 1911 landmark San Francisco Examiner building is slated to reopen as the Hearst Hotel — www.townandcountrymag.com
No longer a holdout for free, USA Today launches a paywall and digital-only subscription plan — www.poynter.org
Gannett’s flagship national paper quietly started to put some of its premium stories behind a paywall. A subscription costs $4.99 a month. #newspapers
If you’ve ever felt like The Only, The Collective wants you to know you’re not alone — www.poynter.org
RT @Poynter Journalists of color often have a shorthand and comfort with each other. The Collective, Poynter’s new monthly newsletter for JOC by JOC, aims to create that space online.
Weather Channel owner Byron Allen to buy seven TV stations, including Tucson outlet, for $380 million — www.latimes.com
In the past two years, Allen Media has spent nearly $1 billion buying network affiliate TV stations.
Philanthropic Groups Step Up in Last-Minute Tribune Talks
NY Post Reporter Who Wrote False Story on Kamala Harris Books Resigns, Says She Was ‘Ordered’ to Write It
The reporter who wrote a false story about books by Vice President Kamala Harris being handed out to children at a migrant shelter resigned on Tuesday, alleging she was forced to write the story.
Why The New York Times Is Retiring the Term ‘Op-Ed’
Publishers, Authors to Raise More Aid for Indie Bookstores — www.publishersweekly.com
Indie Shindig, a virtual event series for booksellers created by half a dozen publishers, aims to raise up to $18,000 for We Need Diverse Books and Binc. Author Gayle Forman and Penguin Young Readers are contributing sales of Forman’s new novel to Binc’s Thrive to Survive campaign. #LoveBookstores
BINC Survive to Thrive Matching Pool
12 authors & illustrators created a $40K matching pool for @BincFoundation’s Survive to Thrive grant program, which will provide independent bookstores & comic shops with substantial grants over the summer #LoveBookstores
Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria pop-up bookstore Recirculation
In Washington Heights, NYC, Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria has created a pop-up bookstore called Recirculation — Word Up’s main store remains closed for browsing/pick-ups as it operates as a Covid testing site #LoveBookstores
Resources & Opportunities
NYPL Story Line
HT @nypl Want to hear a story? Dial 917-ASK-NYPL (917–275–6975) and select option 6# for Story Line, our new dial-a-story service! A new story will be made available every week in English, Spanish, and Mandarin.
Sundress Publications Now Accepting Residency Applications for Fall 2021 — sundressblog.com
RT @WhitingFdn The @SundressPub Academy for the Arts is now open for Fall 2021 residency applications! Fellowships available for women and nonbinary writers, Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers, and financial need applicants. Applications due May 15th!
Reese’s Book Club
MT @diversebooks Paging: All you dynamic, underrepresented, super-talented, first time women writers. @ReesesBookClub knows you’re out there & is looking for your stories! Check out #LitUp, its new writers fellowship in partnership with We Need Diverse Books.
PRH Audio Aims to Amplify Diverse Voices with New Narrator Mentorship Program — global.penguinrandomhouse.com
ICYMI #InsidePenguinRandom #teamPRH
Friends Work Here
RT @swissmiss There are currently two spots available at @friendsworkhere, my beloved creative co-working community in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Read about us here in this @99u article: https://99u.adobe.com/workspaces/65329/friends-work-here-brooklyn…Inquire to join, here: http://friendsworkhere.com
Discover Your City With Culture Pass — www.culturepass.nyc
RT @nypl New passes are now available for #CulturePassNYC through June 2020! Spend your spring exploring the city and discover dozens of NYC’s cultural attractions — all thanks to your library card.