Innovation
Google Takes Giant Step Towards Powering Blockchain-Based Web 3
Google Cloud launches multi-year partnership with NBA Top Shot creator Dapper Labs to help scale its Flow blockchain. Dapper handles between 500K and 1m transactions a week.
Technology
ICYMI: Update your Apple devices
Apple issued emergency updates to fix a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware to infect anyone’s iPhone, Apple Watch or Mac computer without so much as a click.
How Facebook Relies on Accenture to Scrub Toxic Content for $500 Million a year
www.nytimes.com
The social network has constructed a vast infrastructure to keep toxic material off its platform. At the center of it is Accenture, the blue-chip consulting firm.
Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt.
Facebook is exempting some high-profile users from some or all of its rules, including the posting of false information #Facebook
Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show
ICYMI Its own in-depth research shows a significant teen mental-health issue that Facebook plays down in public. Part 2 in a series offering an unparalleled look inside the social-media giant’s failings — and its unwillingness or inability to address them. #instagram
Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead.
The most divisive content that publishers produce is going viral on Facebook, creating an incentive to create more of it. #Facebook
Intuit to buy Mailchimp for $12 billion
The biggest-ever deal for a privately-held bootstrapped company, as Mailchimp took no outside funding since its 2001 founding.
Inside the dark store: How Getir’s London warehouses work
sifted.eu
Sifted visited on-demand grocery startup Getir’s dark store in Battersea to learn how these microfulfilment centres work.
Ikea launches a massive collection for gamers — including the weirdest product it has ever made — www.fastcompany.com
See more than 30 new products, from chairs to neck cushions. #gaming
Ikea is launching a furniture buyback program in the U.S. — www.fastcompany.com
Done with your Malm? Ikea will pay you for it.
What’s going on with global supply chains? A link roundup thread
How to Thrive in the Modern Workspace — rishad.substack.com
More #WorkplaceWisdom from @rishad.
Publishing & Media
With sales momentum, Bookshop.org looks to future in its fight with Amazon
MT @JaneFriedman Bookshop is on track to do about as many sales in 2021 as in 2020. They now host stores that rank №1 in Google for book recommendations from their @Bookshop_Org lists via @DannyCrichton at @TechCrunch
Vivendi Boosts Ownership of Lagardere, and Will Launch Tender Offer for Full Buyout
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com
The battle for control of Lagardere enters what may be its final stage, as well-funded Vivendi is taking steps towards a full takeover.
What do agents do?
From @carlywatters
NYPL Picture Collection to Remain Browsable
Zibby Books Launches
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com
Podcaster/”book influencer” and author Zibby Owens is launching Zibby Books. Starting in January 2023, the line will publish 12 books a year.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library receives award from Library of Congress — www.wymt.com
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library received the $150,000 David M. Rubenstein Prize from the Library of Congress. The Imagination Library has given away more than 160 million books to children worldwide and now delivers 1.8 million books to children five-years-old and younger every month.
MetGala2021 Books as Looks
RT @PenguinTeen It’s time! Our #MetGala2021 Books as Looks starts now! Call Us What We Carry — @TheAmandaGorman #teamPRH
Pearson Education Sues Chegg, Alleging ‘Massive’ Copyright Infringement
The suit accuses a Chegg subscription study service of illegally appropriating end-of-chapter questions from various textbooks. #BookBusiness #copyright
German Government Offering Bookstores Stimulus
As part of Neustart Kultur (New Start Culture) economic stimulus, German govt offering bookstores 1,030 awards of €8,000 (~$9,450) to €25,000 ($29,530), rewarding stores for being creative and “stimulating cultural life in Germany in difficult times.”
Spider-Man’s First Comic Brings $3.6 Million, Likely a Record — www.nytimes.com
The Amazing Fantasy №15 from 1962 leaps past Superman to sell for what is believed to be the highest price for a comic book.
Travel + Leisure launches online trip booking functionality and subscription memberships
Travel + Leisure has started two trip-booking services, one free and one subscription, for readers of its longtime luxury travel publication. #magazines
Google Says YouTube Nears Revenue of Netflix
“We are now the largest content licensor in the world.” #YouTube
TMZ Sold to Fox as AT&T Sells Off Assets to Pay Down its Debt
RT @michellemanafy AT&T’s WarnerMedia has sold the celebrity news and gossip brand TMZ to Fox Corp. The deal will see the notorious tabloid founded by Harvey Levin operate under the Fox broadcast network umbrella.
Men continue to dominate in the 4 top non-acting Emmys fields: producing, directing, writing, and editing.
Google’s Chromecast to get free TV channels
HT @mediagazer Google is in talks with multiple companies to add free, ad-supported linear channels to Chromecast and other devices running its Google TV platform. This comes after Samsung, Amazon and Roku have seen huge demand. Via @jank0.
BET Studios, a new venture from ViacomCBS, is offering equity stakes to help land bankable producers and screenwriters. — www.wsj.com
Resources & Opportunities
LinkedIn launches a $25M fund and incubator for creators, will test Clubhouse-style audio feature in coming weeks
Via @ingridlunden @TechCrunch LinkedIn is launching an accelerator program as part of a $25 million effort to motivate creators to develop more content.
Beyond Baroque Announces Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Fund And Scholarship — www.broadwayworld.com
HT @lcamfio The fund, named in honor of Beyond Baroque alumna and U.S. Presidential Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman, will provide $10,000 to young poets of color.
The 2021 Breakout Writers Prize — www.authorsguild.org
MT @AuthorsGuild We’re proud to announce the 4th Annual Breakout Writers Prize for Undergraduate and Graduate Students in conjunction with @epiphanylit! Winners receive a cash prize, publication, and a year-long writing mentorship. Submissions close on 11/1.
Ideas & Action: Banned Books Week
MT @randomhouse Join @OneWorldLit on September 29 at 8pm ET for a special Ideas & Action virtual event where we investigate — and celebrate — Banned Books Week, the freedom of ideas, and the necessity and power of even the most discomforting truths. Register for free. #teamPRH
Authors for Voices of Color Auction
#AuthorsforVoicesofcolor auction for non-profits that combat racism in the publishing biz. Bid by 9/30
FREE Virtual Event with Michelle Burford 9/23 7pm
Writer and editor Michelle Burford has co-authored 10 memoirs and 6 New York Times best sellers (3 of which debuted at #1) including “Just As I Am” written with legendary actress Cicely Tyson (who tragically passed away on January 28, 2021, two days following publication of her memoir). Michelle’s celebrity collaborations also include books with Alicia Keys, Toni Braxton and Simone Biles (to name just a few). Come hear her in conversation with @jkhoey at @WMG_NYC with @ShakeandCoBooks.
Media Trends Virtual Panel 9/28 12pm ET
Join @WMG_NYC for a lively panel discussion with women leaders from publishing, digital media, and broadcasting about the changing media landscape. FREE for WMG members, $15 for non-members.
Born in Flames: Feminist Futures — bronxmuseum.vr-ception.com
Cool #VR of an exhibit at the @BronxMuseum