Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #210

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Important Items

Politics at the Pharmacy | How a Ga. woman says her privacy was violated

www.cbs46.com

Georgia’s new abortion law is having some unintended consequences: Some medicines that treat cancer, arthritis, and ulcers can also be used to induce abortions, complicating access to essential drugs.

Forced Parenthood and Failing Safety Nets: This Is Life in Post-Roe America

www.motherjones.com 
The states with the strictest abortion laws are doing the least to help poor families. What could possibly go wrong?

A Christian cell phone company plans to take over Texas school boards

www.axios.com

Extremists funded by outfits like Patriot Mobil have taken over several large school bds. in North Texas.

Russia’s war on Wikipedia

restofworld.org 
Russian Wikipedia editors are being doxxed, threatened, and arrested.

Google Says Trump’s Truth Social Must Scrub Violent Content to Join Play Store

www.nytimes.com

Google said it would not distribute Truth Social, the social media platform founded by Donald Trump, on its Play store until the app removed content that incites violence.

Wear a mask — nothing has changed

covid.cdc.gov

MT @wsbgnl New CDC “community levels” are out. Under the pre-Feb 25th guidance, universal indoor masking would be recommended in 96% of counties. Under the new guidance, universal indoor masking is recommended in 30% of counties.

Investigators Seize 27 Antiquities From the Met, Citing Looting — www.nytimes.com

Investigators in New York have seized 27 ancient artifacts valued at more than $13 million from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, asserting that the objects, acquired to showcase the glories of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, had been looted. The museum said it is cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has executed several search warrants at the museum since February.

Innovation

Transparent solar panels could replace windows in the future. Here’s how— interestingengineering.com 
Transparent solar panels are a real thing, and they’re not just on paper as they are already popping up around the world.

Technology

AI was made to turn David Bowie songs into surreal music videos — www.fastcompany.com

From Bowie to Snoop, AI creates lyrical images that are compelling — with the occasional happy accident. #AI

Ticketmaster selects Flow blockchain for minting NFT event tickets

cointelegraph.com

Over 5 million NFTs have been minted on the Flow blockchain via Ticketmaster to date. #NFT

South Korea expands its efforts to regulate Metaverse

cointelegraph.com

HT @ballmatthew #metaverse

Severe TikTok exploit gives hackers 70 ways to steal your info

www.digitaltrends.com

Testing by #Microsoft revealed a major vulnerability in the #Android version of #TikTok. The exploit could give attackers full access to a user’s account.

Instagram fined ~$403M in EU over children’s privacy

techcrunch.com

Under pressure, security firm Cloudflare drops Kiwi Farms website

www.washingtonpost.com 
Cloudfare Chief Executive Matthew Prince told The Washington Post he would no longer protect the site becaause of a surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site.

Publishing & Media

Bookshop has registries!

bookshop.org

MT @stephopitz ICYMI @Bookshop_Org now has REGISTRIES! You can create registries for weddings, baby showers, classrooms, libraries, lists of books people should get you if they’re going to buy you a gift…Individuals! Couples! Teachers! People who like presents!

Waterstones’ supply chain disrupted in Blue Yonder implementation

inew.news

Gen Z is driving sales of romance books to the top of bestseller lists

www.npr.org 
For months, Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry have occupied multiple spots on the New York Times paperback trade fiction bestsellers list. The success of these romance writers has been aided by Gen Z.

12 Publishing Industry Truths Readers & Writers Should Know

medium.com

ICYMI Wisdom from @janefriedman

Two Bookstores, Two Iconic Black Women — blackbooksblackminds.substack.com 
Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells — Say Their Names

Penguin Random House wants you to get off your phone and read a book for once — www.marketingbrew.com

Its latest campaign seeks to curb tech addictions, even if just a little. #teamPRH

23 Wonderful Short Books to Read Now

www.vulture.com

RT @mariskreizman Want a really good book that you can read in one weekend (or even one afternoon)? I’ve got you.

Beyoncé: a literary guide — www.penguin.co.uk

From feminist polemic to poetry and sci-fi, the themes of Beyoncé’s work can be unearthed in books. We compile the ultimate Bey reading list. From @PenguinUKBooks #teamPRH

Ellen Oh’s Picks for New ‘Required’ High School Reading

www.goodreads.com

From @diversebooks’s @ElloEllenOh

Read Something, Do Something — www.slj.com

Inspired by books, Georgia students and school librarians take action to promote empathy, inclusion, and community engagement in this new initiative from @cicelythegreat.

One in five children do not own any books of their own, according to latest NLT research

www.thebookseller.com

Almost one in five children between the ages of five and eight do not have a book of their own at home, according to the latest literacy survey by the National Literacy Trust (NLT), the highest figure since 2019. The charity said the issue is “considerably greater” in young boys, with 21% without a book, compared with 16% of girls.

Romance Novelist Donates $50,000 to Embattled Michigan Library

ilovelibraries.org

Romance novelist Nora Roberts donated $50,000 to Patmos Library in Jamestown Township, Michigan, after the library was defunded by the community in early August over LGBTQ-themed books.

Virginia Judge Rules Against Book-Banning Attempt

publishingperspectives.com

#FreedomToPublish #FreedomToRead

Austin City Council unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday promoting ALA’s Freedom to Read declaration and opposing book banning

www.austinmonitor.com

#ATXCouncil @austintexasgov #UniteAgainstBookBans

New Missouri law bans ‘sexually explicit’ books from schools

abc17news.com

Serious concerns as almost a third of librarians asked to censor material

www.thebookseller.com 
Following a recent surge in protests outside libraries, censorship and challenges to intellectual freedom are growing concerns, a CILIP survey reports.

Libraries step up to provide aid to hard-up visitors but fear for their financial future

www.thebookseller.com

“I think everybody in the library world is bracing for a very challenging October through to Christmas in terms of closures and new announcements.”

Pearson Pairs E-Textbooks with Free Curated Video Library

campustechnology.com

HT @paulkbiba Pearson has added Channels, a curated library of educational videos, to its Pearson+ e-textbook subscription service.

Indian publishing after the pandemic — “print books have comfortably adapted to digital”

thenewpublishingstandard.com

India is only at 54% internet penetration, so the reluctance of some publishers to embrace digital is understandable — but sorely misjudged. That 54% equates to 755 million people online. That’s already 443 million more than the USA, which has very little room to grow.

Books & Boba — booksandboba.com 
An Asian American Book Club & Podcast

Podcasters test offering more bonus content and additional features to grow subscriptions — digiday.com 
QCode, Tenderfoot TV, NPR and Acast are beefing up their subscription podcast offerings with more bonus content and additional features.

BuzzFeed airport stores launch at LaGuardia as part of growing licensing strategy — www.axios.com

“You’re going to see a lot more physical activations from us,” BuzzFeed’s Melanie Summers says. #BrandExtensions

“Content is king, but product is queen”: How publishers are engaging audiences in the era of personal news cycles

whatsnewinpublishing.com

Strategies publishers are using to build and manage effective product teams.

‘Allure’ to Discontinue Print Edition — fashionista.com 
The Condé Nast-owned beauty title is going digital-only for 2023.

Resources & Opportunities

#PitBLK Practice

www.pitblk.com

RT @_Pitch_Blaque On 9/9 join us for #PrePitBLK a practice event b4 our official pitch party! Tweet your pitch up to 3x between 4–8pm EST & get helpful feedback from our author volunteers. Gas each other up and get excited for the real deal on 9/21 & 22. Visit http://PitBLK.com for rules!

Toolkit — Unite Against Book Bans — uniteagainstbookbans.org

How can you and your community unite against book bans? We’ve put together this action toolkit to help you get started. #UniteAgainstBookBans

Request a Banned Books Week Kit

docs.google.com

MT @PenguinClass Get your community ready to make #BannedBooksWeek a week of action. Order this FREE kit and get postcards for writing representatives, resources, booklists, and more! Read. Resist. Act. Order your kit. #teamPRH

Library Card Sign-up Month — www.ala.org

September is Library Card Sign-up Month. Check out this page for resources, including the chance to win $100. #LibraryCardSignUpMonth

Writing for the Deaf Community and Our Allies

www.eventbrite.com

RT @NovicSara Hey all! On 12 September @Randomhouse will be hosting a writing workshop for the Deaf community. I’m planning to do a Q&A about my writing/publishing process, maybe a writing exercise. In ASL with terps for English. Price includes a copy of TRUE BIZ. #teamPRH

Book-Loving Texan’s Guide to the November School Board Elections

docs.google.com

HT @frankstrong This is a mobilization tool. Use it to volunteer, donate, and organize in your community. Please use this to fight pro-censorship/anti-diversity candidates at the polls.

60+ pitching guides for Vox, NatGeo, Wired, BBC, WaPo, Wirecutter, Slate, and more — freelancingwithtim.substack.com

RT @TimHerrera Freelance journalists! Here are 60+ pitch guides for Vox, NatGeo, Wired, BBC, WaPo, Wirecutter, Slate, and so, so many more

I Will Vote — iwillvote.com 
Be a voter. Find everything you need to vote in your state’s next election.

Airline Customer Service Dashboard

www.transportation.gov

The U.S. Department of Transportation has created a dashboard to ensure the traveling public has easy access to information about services that U.S. airlines provide to mitigate passenger inconveniences when the cause of a cancellation or delay was due to circumstances within the airline’s control.