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While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important. I also try to include some resources & opportunities. Please let me know what you think.
Important Items
To counter lies about DEI, follow the money
HT @publishingtrend A publishing veteran explains the moral and business imperative of cultivating inclusive initiatives as they face annihilation
https://theemancipator.org/2025/02/20/topics/books/to-counter-lies-about-dei-follow-the-money/
Technology
Dow Jones expands AI marketplace to nearly 5,000 publishers
Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones has quietly built an AI marketplace for publishers to license their content to corporations
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/25/dow-jones-ai-factiva-publishers
Conde Nast And Other Publishers To Leverage Amazon’s New Alexa+
HT @BoSacks Amazon made partnerships with Condé Nast, the Associated Press, Reuters, The Washington Post, Time, Forbes, Business Insider, Politico, USA Today, Hearst, Vox and more than 200 additional outlets for their new Alexa+.
Everything you need to know about Alexa+, Amazon’s new generative AI assistant
Per the demo, “Need dinner plans? She’ll book your favorite restaurant, grab an Uber, and text your sitter — all in one conversation. Want concert tickets? She’ll scout for the best prices. Need to check if the garbage went out? She’ll find that exact Ring clip in seconds.”
Instagram May Launch Reels as Separate App, Increasing Pressure on TikTok
ChatGPT drops its sign-in requirement for search
https://www.theverge.com/news/606939/chatgpt-ai-search-without-account
Kimi k1.5: How China’s New AI Powerhouse is Redefining Multimodal Reasoning and Beating OpenAI’s o1
Kimi k1.5 isn’t just another AI model — it’s a leap forward in multimodal reasoning and reinforcement learning (RL). Developed by Moonshot AI, this model combines text, code, and visual data to solve complex problems, outperforming giants like GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5 by up to 550% in key benchmarks111.
Apple takes on recipe apps with Apple News+ Food
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/apple-takes-on-recipe-apps-with-apple-news-food/
Meta plans to link US and India with world’s longest undersea cable project
Microsoft is retiring Skype
Microsoft acquired Skype, the video-calling platform, in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Two billion people currently use it. Instead they are pushing a free version of Microsoft TEAMS.
Publishing & Media
Dolly Parton Responded to Indiana’s Threat To Cut Funding of Her Children’s Literacy Program With This Smart Instagram Move
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dolly-parton-responded-indiana-threat-180000175.html
A Discovery of Lost Pages Brings to Light a ‘Last Great Yiddish Novel’
Editors waited decades for the final manuscript of Chaim Grade’s “Sons and Daughters.” Its appearance shook the Yiddish literary world. #teamPRH
Did Books Help Bring Down Communism?
HT @publishingtrend ‘It allowed us to survive, to not go mad’: the CIA book smuggling operation that helped bring down communism: From George Orwell to Hannah Arendt and John le Carré, thousands of blacklisted books flooded into Poland during the cold war, as publishers and printers risked their lives for literature
UK children turn to audiobooks as traditional reading falls away
HT @publishingtrend The National Literacy Trust wants schools to adopt new ways to immerse pupils in stories, but experts say only books can teach them to decode words
YouTube Says It Now Has More Than 1 Billion Monthly Viewers of Podcast Content
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/youtube-2025-monthly-podcast-listeners-viewers-1236319232/
Cover to Cover: An Analysis of Titles Banned in the 23-24 School Year
During the 2023-24 school year:
– 36% of banned books feature characters/people of color
– 25% include LGBTQ+ people/characters.
– 73% of all graphic/illustrated titles feature LGBTQ+ representation, people or characters of color, or discuss race or racism
https://pen.org/report/cover-to-cover/
Relocation of 30,000 Young Adult Books in Louisiana Library Shows Harrowing Impact of Moral Panic Over Obscenity and Vague Laws that Lead to Book Censorship
30,000 books in Livingston Parish were relocated while librarians read through young adult titles to decide which may contain unacceptable sexual content.
Resources & Opportunities
Creating a High-Impact TEDx Talk
Join this session to learn how to create a high impact TEDx Talk. Marketing veteran Bridget Marmion will be in conversation with Terri Trespicio, whose TEDx Talk “Stop Searching for Your Passion” has been viewed over 8 million times. 3/4 6-7pm ET on Zoom.
FREE for WMG Members, $15 for non-members.
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6070677
WMG Members-Only Golden Gatherings
WMG Members: To conclude WMG’s milestone 50th Anniversary year (March 2024-March 2025), we are offering several Golden Gatherings—small group socials designed to deepen member-to-member connections with one another and with the larger WMG community as we embark on our next 50 years. Here are the ones left on the calendar for this round:
Dinner for Children’s Book Authors/Aspiring Authors/Lovers with Gabrielle Gayagoy Gonzalez
Monday, March 3, 6:00 p.m. ET
In-person – Bar, Manhattan
Library Lovers Unite! with Miriam Tuliao
Thursday, March 6, 2:00 p.m. ET
In-person – NYPL, Manhattan
Celebrate Women’s History Month with Stacey Ashton
Saturday, March 8, 10:30 a.m. ET
In-person – Museum, Manhattan
Sisters in DEI Lunch with Kathy Sandler
Monday, March 10, 12:30 p.m. ET
In-person – Restaurant, Manhattan
Dinner and Symphony Space Show with Jennifer Perry
Wednesday, March 12, 5:15 p.m. ET
In-person – Restaurant, Manhattan
Chic & Seek at M.M.LaFleur with Jodi Brockington
Thursday, March 13, 6:00 p.m. ET
In-person – M.M.LeFleur, Manhattan
Feminist Journalism Today: A Crucial Conversation About Women’s Voices in Media
@WMG_NYC is proud to announce a 2nd collaboration with @MsMagazine exploring the important role of women’s voices and stories in journalism. Come to our luncheon on 3/25 at 12:30pm ET at Barbetta, NYC. $65 for members; $75 for non-members. All welcome. https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6090610
WMG Wellness Series
$80 WMG members; $100 for non-members (special bundle discount)
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6090679
Pitch Calls & Writing Opportunities
Via @job_writers
https://x.com/job_writers/status/1894514484187652196
Free Workshop for Journalists Writing About Aging
Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism is offering an all-expenses-paid 2-day training for journalists with at least 3 years of exp who are interested in the aging beat (no prior exp in covering aging is necessary). Training will be in NYC 6/4-6/6.
Free Trees in NYC
https://www.nyrp.org/en/get-involved/tree-giveaways/
Free Tulip Day Returns to NYC’s Union Square
https://bucketlisters.com/inspiration/nyc-tulip-day
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