The cloud behemoth isn’t the first to unveil a quantum service, but it has one striking advantage over its rivals.

When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the radar. The Portal devices were also capable of augmented reality, with Spark AR, the platform responsible for mobile augmented reality experiences on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, supplying the virtual effects.

RT @nycmedialab Today’s consumers are shopping more and more online. According to eMarketer, US consumers will spend $586.92 billion online in 2019, representing more than 1 in every 10 dollars of total retail.

In 2016 romance novels made up 23% of the overall fiction market, and they outperform all other genres. Yet they’re still considered “guilty pleasures.”

Only MotorTrend, Hot Rod and Four Wheeler will continue in print in 2020.

The owner of Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Elle magazines is fighting its workers’ efforts to unionize, including by steering employees to an internal anti-union Web site, according to a report.

Refinery29, a non-union shop that was acquired by Vice Media in November, will now have its editorial workers covered by the collective bargaining agreement hammered out by Vice management and the Writers Guild of America, East.

Amazon, Refinery29 Open First Gift Guide Pop-up Shop from 12/5-12/15 at 76 Greene St

The translator Ken Liu has done more than anyone to bridge the gap between Chinese science fiction and American readers.

Smashwords Presales will allow authors and publishers to design programs that will let readers buy an e-book before its public on-sale date.

Hearst Enters Deal to Rebrand Plaza Hotel Jazz Club as the Elle Decor Cafe for 4 months #magazines

The announcement comes after a tumultuous fight earlier in the year which saw the online giant pull out of a plan to build its new HQ2 headquarters in Long Island City. #Amazon

Hope you’ll join me to help fund Women’s Media Group Scholarships @WMG_NYC

ICYMI For every $3 donated to First Book between now and the end of the year, my company Random House will give two new books to First Book, up to 300,000 books, adding to the 1 million copies already given.