Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #157

Innovation

New device can diagnose Covid-19 from saliva samples — news.mit.edu

MT @MIT Engineers have designed a small device that can detect Covid-19 from a saliva sample in an hour. The device can be assembled for about $15, is as accurate as PCR tests, and can be repurposed “quite quickly” to detect new variants.

Why AR clothing try-on is nearly here — www.voguebusiness.com

The ability to try on clothes digitally has been a long-term goal that tech companies of all sizes are close to reaching. Here’s why. #AR

Technology

Facebook plans ads revamp in response to privacy concerns

www.theverge.com

Facebook is rebuilding its ads to know a lot less about you — Hundreds of engineers are rebuilding how Facebook’s ads work to place more value on the privacy of the platform’s users. #privacy #Facebook

Facebook’s updated data transfer tool can port events to Google Calendar — www.theverge.com

Facebook has updated its data transfer tool, Transfer Your Information, with the ability to port photos to Photobucket and Facebook Events to Google Calendar.

Fortune raised 429 Ether — about $1.3 million — in its first-ever NFT sale

fortune.com 
Of the proceeds raised in Fortune’s first-ever NFT sale, half will go to nonprofit organizations and the remainder will be split with cover artist pplpleasr.

I Joined a Penguin NFT Club. Here’s What Happened. — www.nytimes.com

Is this what the metaverse looks like? #NFT

Funimation Completes Crunchyroll Acquisition In Anime Streaming Merger Worth Nearly $1.2 Billion — www.ign.com 
Funimation has completed a deal to acquire Crunchyroll in a merger worth approximately $1.175 billion, giving Sony Pictures an anime streaming empire.

Reddit is now valued at more than $10 billion

www.theverge.com

Reddit is quietly rolling out a TikTok-like video feed button on iOS

techcrunch.com

HT @mediagazer

What Makes Elon Musk Move So Fast

mondaynote.com

It is a fascinating read via @filloux

Google to Increase Privacy for Teenagers in Search and on YouTube

www.nytimes.com

Walmart Offers Subscription Services Through Adobe Partnership

multichannelmerchant.com

HT @BISG Walmart partnering w Adobe (rather than Amazon) — Walmart’s marketplace for smaller retailers subscribe to online/store fulfillment + pickup technologies, which will be integrated w Adobe Commerce’s SaaS platform.

Over 100 Amazon delivery companies are banding together to form a new kind of challenger to UPS and FedEx

www.businessinsider.com 
The Front Door Collective is a new national delivery company made up of more than 100 small businesses that deliver packages for Amazon.

Amazon Lottery Offers Vaccinated Workers Cars, $500,000 Cash

www.bloomberg.com

Amazon.com Inc. will offer cash prizes of as much as $500,000 as well as cars and vacation packages to frontline employees who can prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Publishing & Media

ABA Follows Up With Members After Offensive Incidents

lunch.publishersmarketplace.com

What Agents Like to Know About Potential Authors — twitter.com

Via @carlywatters

Boost Book Sales by Optimizing Your Amazon Pages

miralsattar.substack.com

MT @miralsattar How to boost your book sales by making these 5 changes to your Amazon pages

Medium will begin offering writers a 50% cut of the subscriber revenue their content generates

digiday.com 
As the creator services arms race intensifies across digital media, Medium is hoping to stand out by sharing more of its spoils with authors.

How Extortion Scams and Review Bombing Trolls Turned Goodreads Into Many Authors’ Worst Nightmare

time.com

HT @publishingtrend Many authors and publishers now see Goodreads as a “necessary evil” along claims of scams, online abuse and more.

Roxane Gay Books, Her New Imprint with Grove Atlantic — www.libraryjournal.com

Award–winning author and editor @rgay discusses the launch of her new imprint at Grove Atlantic, part of a welcome and necessary change in publishing.

Read Woke ™ Books Launches with the Issues in Action Series — lernerbooks.blog

MT @LernerBooks On today’s blog post authors @cicelythegreat and @_elliottjsmith share the new ISSUES IN ACTION from Read Woke™ Books! Learn about the Read Woke™ Books collection, find free educator resources, and more. #ReadWoke #librarians #educators

PRH and Amanda Gorman Launch Creative Writing Award for Poetry— www.publishersweekly.com

RT @PenguinClass Proud to announce our partnership with @TheAmandaGorman for a new creative writing award focused on poetry for public high school students. #teamPRH

Danny Devito Is Writing a Comic About Batman’s Penguin

gizmodo.com

Amy Schumer Co-Curates ARRIVAL STORIES, Coming From The Dial Press in Spring 2022 — global.penguinrandomhouse.com

#InsidePenguinRandomHouse #teamPRH

Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson — www.jamespatterson.com

MT @DollyParton I’ve combined my love of storytelling and books with the release of #RunRoseRun, a novel I’ve co-authored with @JP_Books!

PEN condemns court ruling to close Belarus centre

www.thebookseller.com 
The Belarusian PEN Centre has been closed down following a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court, leading to condemnation by leaders of the international writers’ organisation.

Discovery to fight Polish foreign ownership restrictions

www.latimes.com

Observers say the proposed Polish law is aimed at Discovery, owner of two dozen Polish channels, including news network TVN24, which has been critical of the right-wing government. #media

The rightwing US textbooks that teach slavery as ‘black immigration’

www.theguardian.com

This is disgusting. Guardian analysis finds that private schools, especially Christian schools, use textbooks that tell of a version of history that is racially biased and inaccurate. #textbooks #publishing

Internet Archive Seeking 10 Years of Publisher Sales Data for Its Fair Use Defense

www.publishersweekly.com 
In their filing August 9, IA lawyers insist the sales data is crucial to its fair use defense in a lawsuit filed last year, while the plaintiff publishers have balked at the extraordinary request.

Authors, publishers risk N500,000 fine as NLN seeks stiffer penalty for defaulters

tribuneonlineng.com

As part of efforts to ensure effective compliance with its legal deposit obligation, the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) has sought a stiffer penalty of not less than N500,000 fine for authors and publishers who fail to deposit their books with the Library.

Libraries Join Effort to Boost Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence

www.publishersweekly.com

The American Library Association announced it is partnering with Communities for Immunity, a collaborative effort among libraries & museums to boost Covid-19 information and vaccine confidence in communities across the United States. #LoveLibraries

NLT and Audible deliver podcast lessons for young offenders

www.thebookseller.com

MT @thebookseller @Literacy_Trust and Audible have teamed up to bring audiobooks to young people in custody, as well as introducing podcast-making lessons, at Feltham Young Offenders Institution, it is part of the NLT’s Inside Stories with Audible project.

The Most Popular Children’s Books From Every Country In The World— bookriot.com 
Diversify your bookshelves with these graphics showing the most popular children’s books from every country in the world!

Bookfeed: Be notified of new books from your favorite authors

bookfeed.io

HT ⁦@swissmiss — This tool (built on the Google Books API) creates a custom RSS feed that notifies you whenever your favorite authors publish a new book.

Why Investing a Few Minutes Each Day to Reading Poetry Improved My Leadership

www.inc.com 
This simple daily habit changed my perspective on leadership — and it’s something any leader should try.

The 100 Best YA Books of All Time

time.com

With a panel of celebrated authors, TIME presents the most compelling, enlightening and influential YA books of all time.

Luxembourg-based RTL takes over Germany’s Gruner + Jahr magazines

www.dpa-international.com

#teamPRH

BuzzFeed News Launching Its Own Cannabis Brand And No, It’s Not Called BuzzWeed

www.benzinga.com

Reader’s Digest Parent Buys Jukin Media In Quest To Become A ‘Billion-Dollar’ Company — www.forbes.com 
Trusted Media Brands has acquired Jukin Media in an all-cash deal that, according to a source familiar with the terms, values the latter at an enterprise value of more than $100 million.

Meredith Says Digital Ads Surpass Magazine Ads

www.marketwatch.com

#magazines

New tool allows NPR to track source diversity in real time

www.poynter.org

MT @mediagazer NPR has developed Dex, a tool attached to its CMS where staff submit information on sources’ race, age range, gender identity and location to monitor diversity.

Why podcasting won’t be anything more than a niche ad vertical: Opinion

adage.com

RT @adage Despite billions invested in podcasting from companies including Amazon, Apple, iHeartMedia, Spotify and more, the early numbers and growth rate show that most consumers are passing on podcasts.

U.S. Postal Service Proposes Holiday Surcharges for Businesses and Individuals

www.wsj.com 
The new fees will apply to businesses and individuals shipping packages between Oct. 3 and Dec. 26, as the agency looks to offset the rising cost of deliveries.

WarnerMedia in Talks to Sell TMZ to Fox

www.yahoo.com

Salesforce enters the streaming wars with new video service for professionals

www.axios.com 
Salesforce is the latest tech giant to venture into video streaming.

NBCU Telemundo Enterprises Creates Hispanic Streaming Unit — worldscreen.com

AMC Theatres, Warner Bros. Agree to Shorten Theatrical Window

variety.com

HT @mediagazer AMC Theatres has reached a formal agreement with Warner Bros. to show the studio’s 2022 slate for an exclusive 45-day window.

Photographer Wins Copyright Lawsuit Centered on Instagram Embeds

petapixel.com 
Paul Nicklen has won a copyright lawsuit against the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which embedded an Instagram post without his permission.

The Creator Economy Is Driven by the Content Entrepreneur

www.thetilt.com

Resources & Opportunities

5 sponsorships available for queer writers of color to attend webinar on query letters

twitter.com

MT @jleebooks Due to an outpouring of generosity, I have 5(!) sponsorships available for queer writers of color to attend this webinar. Hit me up

Mentorship — People of Color in Publishing

www.pocinpublishing.com

MT @PocPub We are now accepting applications for our mentorship program! #peopleofcolorinpublishing

Residencies | Tin House

tinhouse.com

RT @Tin_House Now accepting applications for our 2022 Winter Residencies. Each comes with a $1200 stipend & a fully furnished apartment in PDX. The deadline to apply is 8/29, with application fee waivers available.

New Externship Program at Macmillan Learning to Recruit BIPOC Students to Educational Publishing

community.macmillanlearning.com

RT @MacmillanLearn New paid externship program at Macmillan Learning established to recruit BIPOC Students to educational publishing industry. Applications are open now! #externships #HigherEd #POCinPub

Uncanny Magazine Short Story Submissions

uncannymagazine.com

RT @marcelalandres Uncanny, an online Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine, is open to short story submissions till 9/1 @UncannyMagazine

Grants | The Society of Authors

societyofauthors.org

MT @Soc_of_Authors Our Authors’ Contingency Fund is open for applications — offering hardship grants to authors in financial difficulty due to the pandemic or not. Grants range between £500–2,000 and are designed to meet immediate need.

NBCC Fundraising Auction by National Book Critics Circle

nbcc.betterworld.org

@bookcritics auction to raise funds for DEI initiatives

Free NY Book Forum virtual event — twitter.com

MT @nybookforum will host its third event in a series of free conversations between Janet McCarthy Grimm and representatives of publishing-related industries.

Barnes & Noble BookHaul

www.barnesandnoble.com

MT @BNBuzz You can never have too many books! #BNBookHaul is back! Starting today through 9/6, save 50% off hundreds of hardcover books. In stores and online while supplies last.

Fellows at The Intercept

firstlook.media

RT @rashmee_kumar @TheIntercept is hiring Editorial, Podcast, and Politics Fellows this fall. For 12 weeks starting in October, fellows will work closely with staff to produce and support our investigative journalism. $20/hour. Fully remote. Deadline Aug 30. Apply here!

Free 2021 Virtual Carle Honors — www.carlemuseum.org

MT @carlemuseum The 2021 Virtual Carle Honors is open for registration. Anyone can attend from anywhere on 9/23. It is free. Sign up here: http://ibidmobile.net/carle2021/reservations/… Learn more here: https://carlemuseum.org/about/news-press/2021-virtual-carle-honors-open-registration-auction-artists-and-featured-guests… © 1969, 1987 Penguin Random House LLC. #CarleHonors2021 #teamPRH

NCTE Annual Convention 2021 — convention.ncte.org

Amazing speakers: Michelle Obama, Colson Whitehead, Amanda Gorman, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renée Watson, and others

The 19th Represents: FREE 2021 Virtual Summit — 19thnews.org

Amazing speakers!! Michelle Obama, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Billie Jean King, Cecile Richards, Demi Lovato, The Linda Lindas, and others.

Jubilee — A Black Feminist Homecoming — blackfeministhomecoming.com

RT @jamiaw Jubilee: A Black Feminist Homecoming, is a free virtual experience that will celebrate the rich legacy of Black feminist leaders and activists that have shifted the world towards social change. Register for free! http://bit.ly/jubilee21 #BlackFeministHomecoming #Jubilee21

Free Daybreaker LIVE virtual 80s Dance Party 8/21 11–1pm ET

www.eventbrite.com

#spreadjoy

This Little Village In Upstate NY Is Made Up Entirely Of Bookstores

secretnyc.co

Who’s ready for a lovely literary weekend getaway? Well, the town of Hobart Village in the Northern Catskills region of upstate New York is a book lover’s dream.

Voter Purge Search

fairfight.com

RT @staceyabrams GEORGIA: the Secretary of State’s office has sent over 185,000 purge notices to GA voters. If you receive a postcard, follow the instructions and return it right away. Visit http://GeorgiaVoterSearch.comand call 866-OUR-VOTE with questions or concerns. #gapol