Innovation
Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses will let you send and receive Facebook Messenger messages right from your face — www.theverge.com
Mark Zuckerberg has announced an update to the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, which will let you use them to send and receive Facebook Messenger messages and use them to make calls through the service.
Snap AR Spectacles hands-on: an ambitious, impractical start
www.theverge.com
Snap’s first Spectacles glasses to include true augmented reality are one of the best AR glasses yet, but they still come with a number of limitations. Here’s what they’re like to use.
Technology
The Metaverse Via Oculus Is Awkward if You’re a Woman. — www.bloomberg.com
How do you jump in the metaverse? @parmy goes on a tour of virtual worlds and learns about awkward situations, penguins, knights, avatars and the presence of the griefers.
Kickstarter said it’s moving to the blockchain, and creators are pissed
The crowdfunding platform Kickstarter announced a plan to help develop, and then move to, a decentralized crowdfunding protocol on a public blockchain. Some Kickstarter creators responded negatively to the announcement. #blockchain
A Log4J Vulnerability Has Set the Internet ‘On Fire’
The flaw in the logging framework has security teams scrambling to put in a fix. Via @wired #log4j
Exploiting Log4j: 40% of Corporate Networks Targeted So Far — www.databreachtoday.com
The year is ending with a cybersecurity bang — not whimper — due to the widespread prevalence of the Apache Log4j vulnerability.
Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm
www.reuters.com
Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping’s speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident. The American e-commerce giant must stop allowing any customer ratings and reviews in China.
Amazon reviews are being gamed by shady sellers who swap out listings on popular pages.
When the Amazon listing for can openers has reviews for garlic, something nefarious is going on.
Publishing & Media
Amazon’s Toll Road
MT @ABAbook Amazon keeps taking more from its third-party sellers. Their cut is now 34%, up from 19% in 2014. This in turn allows Amazon to finance its predatory losses on items like books. Read more key findings from @ilsr’s newest report, “Amazon’s Toll Road.”
Vivendi to Pursue Total Ownership of Lagardère
After Vivendi finishes acquiring additional shares of Lagardère this week, it will own a 45.1% stake in the company, forcing Vivendi to make a tender offer for all remaining shares. Lagardere’s publishing holdings include the Hachette Book Group. The acquisition, should it go through, will make Vivendi the dominant book publisher in France.
John Legend and his entertainment team will publish books at Zando
www.latimes.com
John Legend, Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius, founders of Get Lifted Film Co., are joining the independent publishing company Zando with their own imprint.
Average salary in UK publishing rises but entry level pay gap widens, survey finds
MT @thebookseller “Respondents are overworked, underpaid, stressed and disillusioned,” @bookcareers latest Salary Survey has shown that the average salary in publishing has risen by 6% but the entry level pay gap widens to 49%.
Bloomsbury acquires academic publisher ABC-CLIO for $22.9 million
Kakao buys Asia fantasy fiction platform giant Wuxiaworld — www.kedglobal.com
Mobile storytelling platform Radish, part of Kakao, acquired English-language Asian fantasy fiction platform Wuxiaworld. Wuxiaworld is “the world’s only premium serial fiction player w a majority male audience,” while Radish’s users are predominantly women
Vox Media and Group Nine, digital media giants, have agreed to merge.
www.nytimes.com
New York Magazine and PopSugar will soon be under the same banner as the media industry looks for ways to bring in more ad revenue.
Hearst is launching The Tower, a Luxury E-Commerce Marketplace of four stores from Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, and Esquire
Winners of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards! — www.goodreads.com
The Goodreads Choice Awards are the only major book awards decided by readers. View the winners across all 17 categories now!
2022 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists — pen.org
Booklist Editors’ Choice: Adult Books, 2021
The Best Books We Read in 2021 | The New Yorker
The fiction and nonfiction, old and new, that saw us through the year. #BestBooks
Times Critics’ Top Books of 2021 — www.nytimes.com
The Times’s staff critics give their choices of the best fiction and nonfiction works of the year.
2021 Kids’ Book Choice Awards Announced — www.publishersweekly.com
Every Child a Reader, the charitable arm of the Children’s Book Council, has revealed the winners of its Kids’ Book Choice Awards, formerly known as the Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards.
The Best Book Covers of 2021 — The New York Times — www.nytimes.com
The Book Review’s art director picks his favorite covers from a year that reminded him of the joys of picking up a book and holding it in his hands.
The best book covers of the year 2021
www.creativereview.co.uk
Writer and editor Mark Sinclair returns to give us his verdict on the best book cover designs of 2021. But he opens this year’s review with a serious plea to publishers
Resources & Opportunities
Disability in Publishing
RT @DisabilityinPub Hi! We are a group of disabled publishing professionals working on creating a network to support all disabled people who work in the industry. We’re in our very early planning stages. You can follow this account for updates, job opportunities, disability in pub news, & more!
Neon Hum Podcast Editors’ Bootcamp
MT @neonhummedia ATTN: Neon Hum Editors’ Bootcamp — the FREE training for ppl from underrepresented groups — is back! Learn to edit actual scripts, outline a season, give useful feedback & improve narrative podcasts. One lucky grad will be hired. Apply now.
Bid on a 3-Night Retreat, Including Meals
Last chance to bid on this — auction closes 12/22. It’s a great gift idea! Jennifer Perry has been there and describes it: “This beautiful setting is conducive to work or rest, whatever you want or need it to be. Use the time to reflect on your own, and/or enjoy the camaraderie and feedback from others. It’s an ideal place to write, create, ideate, and rejuvenate. Also a very meaningful gift for someone else in your life. Nature + Time + Creativity + Good Food + Interesting Company = good for the soul.” Bid today and support Women’s Media Group Educational Foundation, which provides scholarships to young women from under-served groups. For @WMG_NYC, generously donated by @HighlightsFound.