Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #216

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Important Items

A New Playbook for Saving Democracy, Defeating Fascism and Winning Elections

www.nytimes.com

RT @AnandWrites Let’s speak the truth. In polls, fascism and liberal democracy are in a dead heat. The pro-democracy side is at risk not just because the right isn’t playing fair. The left is struggling to win hearts and minds. Here is a new playbook for how it can.

Global Internet Freedom Declines for 12th Straight Year, Says Freedom House — techpolicy.press

MT @justinhendrix Perhaps it’s obvious that 16 years of global democratic decline would be accompanied by 12 years of declines in internet freedoms. But the details matter, as do the outliers and “swing states” where the first signs of a change in trajectory may emerge:

Texas schools send parents DNA kits to identify their kids’ bodies in emergencies — www.nbcnews.com

This made me nauseous. Instead of banning guns, they want to ID dead kids.

Innovation

Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2023 — www.gartner.com

Mouse and human brain cells in a lab dish learn to play video game Pong — and offer a window onto intelligence — www.npr.org 
A dish of brain cells learned to play the 1970s video game Pong. The research could help computers become more intelligent

Google Starts Testing Holographic Video Chats at Real Offices

www.cnet.com 
Project Starline, a light field display 3D communication platform, is being installed in some corporate locations for the first time.

Behind the Doors of Meta’s Top-Secret Reality Labs

www.cnet.com 
My visit to a future that isn’t quite here yet: neural wristbands, ghostly 3D audio and lifelike avatars. Plus, the new Meta Quest Pro.

Archaeologists at Pompeii Say the iPad Pro — Which Comes With a LiDAR Scanner — Is Changing the Way They Work

news.artnet.com 
Can the iPad Pro help revolutionize archaeology? It’s already being used to great effect at Tulane University’s excavations in Pompeii.

Technology

TikTok plans to bring a version of China’s $400 billion livestream shopping industry to the US with the beta test of the new TikTok Shop. — www.semafor.com

The company is betting that Americans will fall in love with livestream shopping, a format ByteDance already mastered in China. #TikTok#eCommerce

The dark side of a super app like WeChat

www.technologyreview.com 
When one app gives you everything, losing it becomes unbearable.

Instagram follows TikTok with enhanced ad formats and tools — www.marketingdive.com

ICYMI #advertisingbiz

Pinterest partners with record labels to bring popular music to its TikTok rival, ‘Idea Pins’ — techcrunch.com 
Pinterest announced today its video-focused “Idea Pins” feature will now include the ability to add popular tracks from top artists, thanks to new licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Merlin and BMG.

Google Plans Audio, Podcast Ads for YouTube

www.reuters.com

YouTube will expand ways for advertisers to reach music and podcast listeners and viewers on connected televisions

Universal Studio Group Strikes Development Deals With TikTokers As Part Of New Initative — deadline.com 
NBCUniversal has launched an initiative designed to turn TikTokers into its next generation of television creators.

New Kids’ Privacy App Teaches Digital Privacy While Blocking Trackers — gizmodo.com 
The Do Not Track Kids app will help you fight back against tech companies who harvest kids’ data.

Global social media trends

datareportal.com

Microsoft Full Circle — stratechery.com

Microsoft has come full circle from the company that cared more about Windows than Office.

Meta will be forced to sell GIF platform Giphy after a groundbreaking ruling by UK regulators

www.businessinsider.com 
The CMA argued that the acquisition could make other social-media sites less competitive and reduce competition in the UK digital advertising market.

Kanye West is buying ‘free speech platform’ Parler

www.theverge.com 
Kanye West has announced he’s buying right-wing social media platform Parler. The company said the acquisition would help create “an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome.”

Flipboard cuts 21% of staff

www.axios.com

Lyft’s app now lets you reserve and pay for a parking spot

www.engadget.com

Lyft now lets driver’s search, reserve and pay for a parking spot on its app.

The Creativity Supply Chain is tech’s next huge opportunity

www.fastcompany.com

Creativity has become the focal point of our modern Internet economy. What was once just a means of artistic expression now powers much of how we all interact, work, and play online.

Photoshop is making it easier to quickly edit and collaborate on projects — www.theverge.com 
New collaboration tools and AI capabilities have been announced for Adobe Photoshop, including improvements to automated object selections, content-aware fills, file-sharing collaboration, and content crediting to ensure proper attribution of work.

Adobe announces new features and updates to its Creative Cloud apps at Adobe MAX — 9to5mac.com 
Here are some of the new features and changes coming to Adobe Creative Cloud apps announced at Adobe MAX 2022.

Publishing & Media

Amazon Changes Kindle eBook Return Policy, Ends Lending Between Kindle Users, and More

bookriot.com

Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing — pen.org

RT @ChristaAngelios New report out from @PENamerica on racial equity in U.S. trade book #publishing#WeNeedDiverseBooks #DEI

Frankfurt Book Fair 2022: A ‘Seismic Transformation’ in Scholarly Publishing

www.publishersweekly.com 
From Plan S to the recently announced White House OSTP open access policy, scholarly publishers must navigate a rapidly shifting policy landscape

Dolly Parton proudly accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy at Gotham Hall on Thursday night for her book-giving charity. — apnews.com

Founded in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has sent millions of free books to children around the world

BDMI Invests in Book.io

www.prnewswire.com

#teamPRH

How to Build an Effective Content Marketing Funnel

www.semrush.com

MT @petermccarthy Useful post from @semrush#marketing#contentmarketing

Inside the Identity Crisis at the New York Times — www.semafor.com

MT @maxwelltani An activist investor is exploring whether the NYT should morph from “a news company expanding into these ancillary tech products” into “something like a tech company with an ancillary news product.”

A large portion of the Americans who will pay for news are rich

www.niemanlab.org

About a quarter of Americans have ever paid for news directly. Those who have are more likely to make over $150,000 a year. Only 1% of respondents who “were trying to access a news story online and had to pay to keep reading or watching it” said they would, simply, pay up. Journalism is only essential to a healthy democracy if people of all income levels can access news/information.

AI-enabled writing

twitter.com

This twitter thread on productivity was written by AI and got 1 million views and >23K engagements.

Resources & Opportunities

Democracy, Freedom, Joy, Resistance: How Our History Made Our World

www.eventbrite.com

MT @OneWorldLit Books matter. History matters. Join @nhannahjones and @ColorOfChange President @rashadrobinson on 10/25 for Democracy, Freedom, Joy, Resistance: How Our History Made Our World! Save your spot for this FREE hybrid event here. #teamPRH

Journalism Creator Summit — lu.ma

MT @NewmarkJPlus Thrilled to share the incredible lineup of speakers you’ll hear from at our Journalism Creator #JSummit on Nov 4! RSVP for strategies + tactics to succeed as a journalism creator.

Boston Book Festival — bostonbookfest.org

All sessions are free and open to the public, no tickets, no pre-registration

Promotion for FirstBook — twitter.com

RT @FirstBook For every book purchased on http://shopDisney.com from now through December 31, 2022, @Disney will donate a book to First Book, to help us provide new books to kids in need. Your purchase will spark a donation to First Book & will help make a difference in the life of a child.

ASME Magazine Internship Program 2023 — asmeinternship.secure-platform.com

RT @ASME1963 ASME is now accepting applications for the 2023 Magazine Internship Program. The deadline to apply is December 1. This year ASME expects to offer 20 students the opportunity to intern at magazines and websites primarily in New York.

Voter Information: Get Informed & Vote — www.nypl.org

RT @nypl October 24 is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the November General Election. #NYCVotes

There have been reports of #VoterIntimidation at drop boxes. If you witness it there or at the voting booth, please record & report.

Call Election Protection Hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE

Or email Justice Department Civil Rights Division: voting.section@usdoj.gov