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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
Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction
https://www.wired.com/story/pentagon-cuts-nukes-chemical-weapons-wmd/
DOGE cuts have pushed layoffs to the highest level since the pandemic
https://www.businessinsider.com/doge-job-cuts-layoffs-highest-level-2020-covid-pandemic-2025-3
Innovation
Healthy tissue protected using mRNA encoding for a damage-suppressor protein found in tardigrades
HT @packyM Scientists used mRNA to temporarily shield healthy cells from radiation damage during cancer treatment without protecting tumors, copying a trick from tardigrades. Tardigrades are a micro-animal known for resisting radiation.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-025-01360-5
Technology
ElevenLabs Launches Publishing Platform for AI-Generated Audiobooks
HT @inkbitspixels Authors upload text and choose the voice of narrator. In beta ElevenLabs pays U.S. authors $1.10 for listeners over 11 minutes. Authors retain full intellectual property rights with no exclusivity restrictions and can update their audiobooks at any time.
Author Hugh Howey used Deepseek AI to write poems + published them on the Kindle
What’s really fascinating are the detailed comments on this post!
https://hughhowey.com/the-algorithm-that-learned-to-listen/
Patch scales to 30,000 U.S. communities with AI newsletters
Patch, the hyperlocal digital news platform, has expanded its editorial presence to nearly every town in the US using AI.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/04/patch-news-ai-newsletters-local-communities
LA Times Pulls AI Tool One Day After Launch for Downplaying KKK
The Los Angeles Times removed its new AI feature from an article after it shared a note downplaying the Ku Klux Klan
https://www.thewrap.com/la-times-pulls-ai-tool-for-kkk-gaffe/
Goodbye Clicks, Hello AI: Zero-Click Search Redefines Marketing
HT @neilperkin AI engines & Google’s AI Overviews ‘zero-click search’ (ppl expect to get answers on search results pages instead of clicking on content). Bain: 80% of consumers rely on zero-click in 40% of searches, reducing organic web traffic by 15%-25%
https://www.bain.com/insights/goodbye-clicks-hello-ai-zero-click-search-redefines-marketing/
AI Is Changing How Silicon Valley Builds Start-Ups
ICYMI Start-ups are using AI to maximize efficiency, making money & growing fast without funding or many employees. The biggest bragging rights for them are making the most revenue w the fewest workers.
Google’s NotebookLM AI will change my life-maybe yours too
Interesting interview and perspective on Google’s NotebookLM AI
https://crazystupidtech.com/archive/googles-notebooklm-ai-will-change-my-life-maybe/
AI companies race to use ‘distillation’ to produce cheaper models
https://www.ft.com/content/c117e853-d2a6-4e7c-aea9-e88c7226c31f
Adobe launches a Photoshop iPhone app
The app offers a similar set of editing tools as the desktop version, including layering and masking, but optimized for mobile screens. Photoshop for iPhone integrates with Photoshop on the web, for a fee. For users who want access to the app’s premium features and Photoshop on the web, it’s $7.99 monthly subscription. All current Photoshop paid plans already include access to Photoshop on mobile. Photoshop for Android app planned later this year.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/25/adobe-launches-a-photoshop-iphone-app/
Publishing & Media
Waiting for the Paperback? Good luck.
Readers who don’t want to spend $30 for a new hardcover nonfiction book can no longer count on the release of a lower-cost paperback edition.
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/waiting-for-the-paperback-good-luck-7e698165
Publishers Plan for a New Mass Market Paperback Winnowing
ICYMI Readerlink (the largest full-service distributor of print books to non-trade channel booksellers in North America) recently announced they’ll stop distributing mass market paperbacks to accounts, including mass merchandisers, by end of 2025. Publishers are cutting back on their mass market paperback plans (in favor of trade paperback, which cost more – although see the above WSJ article for cutbacks there too).
The Book Business Prepares for Tariff Turmoil
While the amount of printing done in Canada and Mexico is far less than in China, the new tariffs on those two nations present other challenges. For one thing, the U.S. imported $1.82 billion of uncoated paper, some of which is used in books, in 2023, according to government statistics, with 67% of that paper coming from Canada….One publisher estimated that he may need to add $1 to each hardcover. “I can’t afford to eat the cost.”
Stories by Harper Lee to Appear for the First Time in a New Collection
WH Smith name to disappear from UK high streets after sale
WH Smith’s name is set to disappear from British towns after more than 230 years as they plot a sale without the rights to the brand name. 500 high street stores have an average lease of just 2 yrs, so many underperforming stores could close under new owner. Also, about 200 WH Smith stores contain a post office.
Better sleep, improved memory and 14 other ways books benefit your life
From ‘The Housemaid’ to ‘The Women in Cabin 10’: Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2025
HT @publishingtrend From beloved classics to recent releases, a myriad of books are set to be reimagined for the small and big screens.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/anticipated-movies-tv-shows-based-books-2025/
YouTube Tries Again to Compete With Amazon to Become All-Video Hub
New policy at Huntsville-Madison County (AL) library requires children to have parent’s permission for what they check out
The Illinois Library Lovers Guide to Public Library Elections
Via @veronikellymars
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11SDNyT1aMwc1Dwdbzae9LPqtSVzGo338UOphaC10m3Q/edit?tab=t.0
A ‘great shock’: Julianne Moore’s children’s book under review by Trump administration
Resources & Opportunities
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 few left on the calendar for this round:
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. This time the speakers include:
- Lindsay Peoples (Editor-In-Chief of The Cut),
- Katherine Spillar (Executive Editor, Ms. magazine; Co-Founder and Executive Director at Feminist Majority Foundation),
- Carol Jenkins (Co-Host of “The Invisible Americans” and “Lady Liberty is VERY Pissed!” podcasts and Founding President of The Women’s Media Center)
- Molly Jong-Fast (MSNBC Political Analyst, Host of the Fast Politics podcast, and a Vanity Fair Special Correspondent) – We’re so happy she’ll be the Moderator again!
$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
Meet the Writers’ 10th Anniversary Celebration!
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meet-the-writers-10th-anniversary-celebration
We Need Diverse Books 10th Anniversary Stories Save Lives event!
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of We Need Diverse Books and the Walter Dean Myers Awards. Featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones, Jason Reynolds, and Jacqueline Woodson. 4/10, Washington DC.
https://e.givesmart.com/events/EQl/?isOrderFormActive=true
Black Media Futures virtual conference
3/11/25 1-5pm ET FREE. It explores the current state and future prospects of Black media, and features April Ryan.
https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/events/black-media-futures-2025/
ProPublica Investigative Editor Training Program
Black Women Photographers x Nikon $50K Grant Fund
https://blackwomenphotographers.com/grant-fund
6 Months free Slate Plus Access for recent former federal government employees
WFF Housing Stability Grant for Artists
The Woodman Family Foundation Housing Stability Grant for Artists (WFF HSG) provides grants of $30,000, distributed over three years, to 5 NYC-based visual artists in need who are seeking support for stable housing.
https://www.nyfa.org/awards-grants/wff-housing-stability-grant-for-artists/
We Need Diverse Books Internship Grant Program
MT @diversebooks Looking to break into the publishing industry with a summer internship? The 2025 WNDB Internship Grant application is now officially OPEN! Deadline 4/30.
https://diversebooks.org/internship-grants-application-process/
Voyager Scholarship for Public Service
HT @marcelalandres The Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service offers college students up to $50K financial aid; $10K stipend & free Airbnb housing to pursue a summer work-travel experience;$2K Airbnb travel credit every yr for 10 yrs,totaling $20K.Deadline 4/1
https://www.obama.org/programs/voyager-scholarship/
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