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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. This is a double issue, so lots of links! Please let me know what you think.

Important Items

Maybe Don’t Take for Granted That You’ll Be Able to Vote in the Midterms

The SAVE Act is a direct attack on women’s voting rights. The so-called Save Act would strip millions of their access to the vote and make the process harder for everyone else. According to research by the Brennan Center for Justice, more than 21 million US citizens of voting age don’t have easy access to proof of citizenship documents, and only about half of American adults have a passport, while millions do not have access to paper copies of their birth certificates. Married women whose legal names do not match their birth certificates could be disenfranchised by the Save Act, and folks looking to obtain lost or misplaced birth certificates would face financial and logistical hurdles. The Save Act would restrict voters’ ability to register to vote online and through the mail while also severely limiting the ability of non-partisan civic organizations to conduct voter registration drives, which have been crucial to civic engagement for more than a century. That’s because, despite voters’ ability to register to vote at the DMV and registration efforts by political parties, data shows that voter registration drives from non-partisan organizations can account for about one-fifth of voter registration applicants – roughly equal to the political power of California, Florida and Texas combined.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/03/republicans-save-act-women-voters-midterms.html

Innovation

Google’s Taara Hopes to Usher in a New Era of Internet Powered by Light

The Alphabet “moonshot” project is launching a new chip to deliver high-speed internet with light instead of radio waves.

https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-google-taara-chip-internet-by-light/

Technology

Authors pen open letter demanding big tech is “held accountable” after Meta “trains AI on pirated books“

Authors have signed an open letter from the Society of Authors demanding that Meta be held to account by the UK government following allegations in the US that authors’ works have been used without permission or remuneration to train its AI model

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/authors-pen-open-letter-demanding-big-tech-is-held-accountable-after-meta-trains-ai-on-pirated-books

Amazon Kindle’s new feature uses AI to generate recaps for books in a series

HT @publishingtrend

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/03/amazon-kindles-new-feature-uses-ai-to-generate-recaps-for-books-in-a-series/

Taylor & Francis to Translate Books into English Using AI

It is unclear at this time whether T&F holds translation rights for the works it intends to bring into English using AI, how those authors might be compensated, & how many titles this might cover.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/97417-taylor-francis-to-translate-books-into-english-using-ai.html

The Economics of an AI Future Doesn’t Work for Publishers

Fifty million dollars per year. That’s what News Corp got from OpenAI to license its content. It’s the kind of offer that would have any publisher envious—especially when the profit margins approach 100%. But the fundamental problem is none of this licensing revenue can ever offset the massive drop in revenue due to a loss of audience. And it’s not just News Corp. Many others have done deals, including:

Dotdash Meredith is getting approximately $16.3 million per year
Axel Springer is generating in the eight figures per year
The Atlantic and Vox Media both have deals for an undisclosed amount of money

https://www.amediaoperator.com/analysis/the-economics-of-an-ai-future-doesnt-work-for-publishers/

Bloomberg Has a Rocky Start with Test of AI

Bloomberg has had to correct at least three dozen AI-generated summaries of articles published this year

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/business/media/bloomberg-ai-summaries.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8E4.-NSd.Bpd3xsjdzWi3&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Reuters is offering AI tools for its customers

Instant translations can be downloaded and used as subtitles, while the transcriptions in multiple languages allow it to be searched in different languages.

https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/reuters-is-offering-ai-tools-for-its-customers/

AI-assisted reporting in Gannett newsrooms raises questions about role of new technology in building a community

Several Boston news outlets have published articles by an “AI-assisted reporter,” prompting experts to reflect on journalism’s path forward.

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/03/25/ai-assisted-reporting-in-boston-area-newsrooms-raises-questions-about-role-of-new-technology-in-building-a-community/

As AI Takes His Readers, A Leading History Publisher Wonders What’s Next

“We will no longer be publishing to readers, but we will just be feeding the machine, and the readers read what the machine gives them,” he said, with a degree of concern. “Who controls the machine? What biases does the machine have? How does this affect the world?”

https://www.bigtechnology.com/p/as-ai-takes-his-readers-a-leading

‘Insane’: OpenAI introduces GPT-4o native image generation and it’s already wowing users

While users have praised the improved image quality, OpenAI has not disclosed the specific training data for this feature, which may raise copyright concerns among artists. GPT-4o enables users to generate and refine images through conversational prompts, supporting applications in design, education, game development, and marketing. Notable improvements over DALL-E include better text integration within images, enhanced contextual understanding for interactive refinement, and the ability to manage multiple objects in a scene. Despite its advancements, GPT-4o faces limitations, including cropping issues and challenges with non-Latin scripts. OpenAI has implemented safety measures for image verification and restrictions on harmful content.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/insane-openai-introduces-gpt-4o-native-image-generation-and-its-already-wowing-users/

Microsoft adds AI-powered deep research tools to Copilot

Microsoft’s Researcher combines OpenAI’s deep research model with advanced orchestration and search capabilities, allowing it to conduct analyses such as developing go-to-market strategies and creating quarterly reports. Microsoft’s Analyst, built on OpenAI’s o3-mini reasoning model, specializes in advanced data analysis and can use Python to address complex queries while providing transparency in its processes. A notable advantage of Microsoft’s tools is their access to work data and various third-party data connectors, allowing Researcher to integrate information from platforms like Confluence, ServiceNow, and Salesforce. However, challenges remain in preventing hallucinations and inaccuracies in the outputs of these models.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/25/microsoft-adds-ai-powered-deep-research-tools-to-copilot/

Otter’s new AI agent can speak up in meetings

Otter has launched the Otter Meeting Agent, a voice-activated assistant that answers questions using company meeting data, currently available on Zoom and soon on Microsoft Teams.

https://www.theverge.com/news/635176/otter-ai-voice-activated-meeting-agent-availability

Runway Gen-4 solves AI video’s biggest problem: character consistency across scenes

Runway launched Gen-4, its most advanced AI video generation model, which aims to revolutionize film production by achieving character and scene consistency across multiple shots, a challenge that has plagued previous AI video generators. The New York-based startup, supported by Google, Nvidia, and Salesforce, allows users to create five to ten-second clips at 720p resolution. Gen-4 addresses the longstanding problem of visual continuity in AI filmmaking by establishing a persistent memory of visual elements, enabling it to render characters and objects from various angles while maintaining their core attributes. Users can provide reference images and descriptions to generate consistent outputs. Their approach distinguishes it from competitors by assembling a comprehensive digital production pipeline that reflects traditional filmmaking processes.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/runways-gen-4-ai-solves-the-character-consistency-challenge-making-ai-filmmaking-actually-useful/

H&M Knows Its AI Models Will Be Controversial

H&M plans to produce AI versions of models to generate product shots for new SKUs quickly & efficiently. They are giving rights to the talent and letting them use their ‘digital twins’ for other companies.

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/technology/hm-plans-to-use-ai-models/

China has developed an AI system that supercharges its already formidable censorship machine

It’s primarily geared toward censoring Chinese citizens online but could be used for other purposes, like improving Chinese AI models’ already extensive censorship

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/26/leaked-data-exposes-a-chinese-ai-censorship-machine/

Traffic to U.S. retail websites from Generative AI sources jumps 1,200 percent

The Adobe Analytics retail insights are based on > 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites. Generative AI traffic has doubled every 2 months since Sep. 2024.

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2025/03/17/adobe-analytics-traffic-to-us-retail-websites-from-generative-ai-sources-jumps-1200-percent

Bill Gates says a 2-day work week is coming in just 10 years, thanks to AI replacing humans ‘for most things’

https://fortune.com/2025/03/27/billionaire-bill-gates-two-day-workweek-ai-replacing-humans/

Substack Plans Video Feed Similar to TikTok

Substack will roll out a scrollable video feed in its app, making it the latest platform to introduce a TikTok-like feed.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/31/substack-is-rolling-out-a-tiktok-like-video-feed-in-its-app/

Sinclair Gets US OK to Fly Drones for News

Sinclair will become the first broadcast media company authorized in the US to use drones for newsgathering.

https://rbr.com/t-drones-over-people-without-waiver/

Publishing & Media

WH Smith to sell its High Street business to Modella Capital for $100 million

Modella Capital plans to rename the high street stores sold by WH Smith to TGJones. The deal does not include the sale of the WH Smith brand or its travel retail business. WH Smith will continue to operate its outlets at railway stations, airports, and hospitals under the same name.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/wh-smith-to-sell-its-high-street-business-to-modella-capital-for-100-million-heres-what-the-deal-covers/articleshow/119661217.cms

Books ‘exempt from US tariffs’ – but booksellers and distributors still anticipate ‘major supply chain issues’

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/books-exempt-from-us-tariffs-but-booksellers-and-distributors-still-anticipate-major-supply-chain-issues

It Looks Like Publishers Escaped Tariffs On Newsprint

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/404772/paper-tiger-it-looks-like-publishers-escaped-tari.html

NaNoWriMo Closing After 20 Years

HT @publishingtrend

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/02/creative-writing-nanowrimo-to-close-after-20-years

Sports Illustrated to launch new prediction market platform

Sports Illustrated is teaming up with UK-based media firm Galactic to launch a predictions market allowing users to bet on anything linked to athletic events – except the outcome of games.

https://next.io/news/betting/sports-illustrated-launch-prediction-market-platform/

Yahoo sells TechCrunch to investment firm Regent

Yahoo has struck a deal to sell TechCrunch, the 20-year-old tech journalism site, to Regent, a media investment firm

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/yahoo-techcrunch-regent

U.S. authorities closing Canadian access to historic library that straddles Quebec-Vermont border

RT @EveryLibrary A small town in southern Quebec says American authorities have decided to close the Canadian access to an historic 100 year old library that sits on the border between the two countries.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/us-authorities-closing-canadian-access-to-library-that-straddles-quebec-vermont-border/

Resources & Opportunities

Pivot into Possibility: Career Breakthroughs for Uncertain Times

Join Michelle Garside, Author, Speaker, and Co-Founder of Soul Camp Creative, for a transformational evening to celebrate the evolution of your professional identity, honoring where you stand today and the growth that awaits you. Michelle has worked with thousands of authors, consultants, creatives, founders, and entrepreneurs to redefine their brands and reposition themselves in powerful ways. Typically, her breakthrough brand sessions are valued at $3,500, but attendees will receive an exclusive laser coaching session as part of their attendance fee.

Thursday, 4/17 6-8pm Grae Wellness, 89 5th Ave. (btwn 16th & 17th St.), NYC

$30 WMG members; $39 for non-members

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6090758

The New Fourth Estate: How Newsletters Are Reshaping Independent Media

This discussion explores how digital newsletters on platforms like Substack and others have transformed the media landscape, creating new opportunities for independent journalists and content creators. We’ll discuss the economic viability of newsletter-based journalism, the challenges of building sustainable audiences, and what this trend means for the future of news, commentary, and specialized content. Join us for insights on how these nimble, focused publications are redefining what it means to be a journalist in the digital age.

Panelists:

Marisa Kabas (Writer, Reporter, and Author of The Handbasket newsletter and website)
Jo Piazza (Bestselling author, podcast creator, award-winning journalist, and Author of Over the Influence on Substack)
Leigh Stein (Author, Writer, and creator of Attention Economy on Substack)
Kat Tenbarge (Award-winning Journalist and Writer of the Spitfire News newsletter)
Moderator: Kathleen Schmidt (Founder of Kathleen Schmidt Public Relations and Author of Publishing Confidential on Substack)

Tuesday, 4/22 12-1:15pm ET via Zoom

FREE for WMG members; $15 for non-members

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6121737

Podcast Startup and Growth – Creating, Marketing & Scaling Your Show

Whether you want to start your own podcast or are already an experienced podcaster, this session will help you get started, craft compelling content, plan strategic marketing, and grow your audience. What You’ll Learn:

Craft Engaging Content – Structure episodes that captivate listeners and build a loyal audience.
Enhance Audio Quality – Use AI-powered tools to improve sound clarity and production value.
Design Standout Cover Art – Create professional visuals that make your podcast stand out.
Boost Your Podcast’s Reach – Leverage social media, SEO, and strategic partnerships.
Monetize & Scale – Explore revenue streams and sustainable growth strategies.

Join us for expert guidance and a live Q&A to get your podcast noticed and thriving! Plus, apply what you learn at this event right away with a 30-day free trial to Adobe Podcast.

4/30 via Zoom 12-1pm ET. FREE for WMG members; $15 for non-members

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6129568

Taste, Talk, and Connect: A Special Night at Tsion Cafe in Harlem

Join us for a memorable evening of networking, culture, and cuisine at Tsion Cafe, the popular Harlem restaurant of chef and author Beejhy Barhany. In celebration of her new cookbook, Gursha: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond, Beejhy invites WMG members and friends to experience the flavors and traditions of Ethiopian and Israeli cuisine. She will be joined by literary agent Sally Ekus, Knopf senior editor Tom Pold, and writer and cookbook collaborator Elisa Ung for a discussion about bringing this unique cookbook to life.

Guests will enjoy:

A plant-based buffet dinner featuring dishes inspired by Gursha
A signature cocktail crafted from a recipe in the book
A panel discussion on the making of Gursha with Beejhy Barhany, Sally Ekus, Tom Pold, and moderator Elisa Ung
A traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony led by Beejhy Barhany
Dessert, book sales, and a signing with the author

This is a great opportunity to connect with fellow food lovers, gain insight into cookbook publishing, and learn about the culture and traditions of the Ethiopian Jewish community. All are welcome!

5/15 6-8pm ET at Tsion Cafe in Harlem. $45 for WMG members; $55 for non-members

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6140428

Meet the Writers’ 10th Anniversary Celebration!

https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/meet-the-writers-10th-anniversary-celebration

NYWICI Presents the 55th Annual Matrix Awards

https://nywici.wildapricot.org/event-6047621

What Do Literary Agents DO All Day?

HT @marcelalandres Virtual Panel featuring Linda Camacho, Adria Goetz, and Sera Rivers, 4/24 7pm ET

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4517418150432/WN_8SVMjkzzTgaEksQRkGvxcA#/registration

The Business of Writing: What I Wish Every Writer Knew

4/23 2pm ET Free w @JaneFriedman

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2017437034288/WN_r6aHxtFBSAKjYbkJKY9wag#/registration

Sustainability in Publishing

4/16 6pm Virtual Free for NYBF members, $5 for non-members.

https://newyorkbookforum.org/event/sustainability-2025/

Typographics is a design festival for people who use type

The annual event series, now in its 11th year, is focused on contemporary typography and where its future may lie. Various events are planned between June 23 and July 3, 2025, at The Cooper Union in New York City and online.

https://2025.typographics.com

Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award for the best original poem about LGBTQ life

HT @marcelalandres Prize $500, deadline 6/27

https://givalpress.submittable.com/submit

Gloria’s Foundation Fellowship 2025

Activists, artists, changemakers, & creative thinkers should apply. Deadline 5/1.

https://www.gloriasfoundation.org/fellowship-terms

Tällberg Leaders Mentoring Leaders

1-on-1 year-long mentorship. Deadline 5/1.

https://tallbergfoundation.org/tlml/apply/

Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl

4/19-4/26

https://sites.google.com/view/bklyn-bookstore-crawl/?pli=1

Free Tax Help from NYPL

RT @NYPLEvents Get free expert help preparing and filing your taxes at NYPL with organizations including AARP, Single Stop, and Campaign for Working Families. See if you qualify for help from tax assistance providers and learn more about local tax assistance programs.

https://www.nypl.org/community/services/income-tax-information

Opening day of the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer

4/26 12-4 free

https://daviscenter.centralparknyc.org/activities/events/join-us-for-the-grand-opening-of-the-davis-center-at-the-harlem-meer

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