Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #120
Innovation
This could lead to the next big breakthrough in common sense AI — www.technologyreview.com
Technology to watch: Vokenization to train AI — visual for context plus language tokens #AI #innovation
What Snap’s Voca.ai $70M Acquisition Could Mean for Snapchat & Spectacles — Virtual Voice Assistants Meet Augmented Reality — next.reality.news
HT @therlabnyc Snapchat has quietly built a world-class AR ecommerce platform. #AR #voice
To own an AR future, Niantic wants to build an ever-updating3D map of the world — techcrunch.com
HT @therlabnyc #AR
Technology
Thinking About a Holiday Gathering? Look at This Troubling Map First and Reconsider
www.wired.com
An alarming visualization shows the odds that at least one Covid-positive person attends a given event. It should give us all pause about family plans.
How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts — www.billboard.com
Ticketmaster is working on a post-pandemic fan safety plan that uses smart phones to verify vaccination status. #technology
Amazon expands garage delivery to new cities, launches grocery option — chainstoreage.com
Amazon Prime members in more than 4,000 cities across the U.S. can now receive deliveries directly inside their garages, with some eligible for grocery deliveries.
Everything Apple Announced, November 2020: M1 Chip, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini — www.wired.com
The company showed off three new Mac computers Tuesday, all powered by its newly designed M1 chip.
Messenger and Instagram’s ‘Vanish Mode’ makes chats self-destruct with a swipe — thenextweb.com
It was just last week that Facebook introduced ephemeral messages in WhatsApp that disappear in seven days. Now the company is going a step further by introducing “Vanish Mode” for Messenger and Instagram, which will automatically delete text messages and media as soon as they are viewed and you leave the chat.
Python overtakes Java to become the second-most popular programming language — www.techrepublic.com
Java has slipped out of the top two, leaving Python to occupy the spot behind reigning champion, C.
Publishing & Media
‘Not reinventing the content wheel’: Why Meredith is admitting its videos into doctors’ offices — digiday.com
Thousands of TVs in doctors’ offices across the US will now display video content from several Meredith brands, including People, Better Homes & Gardens, Shape, EatingWell, Parents & Health. The content will be curated from existing videos. #magazines
BINC Launches First Holiday Gift Guide
Worldreader is launching in the USA. — www.youtube.com
RT @worldreaders Today, we couldn’t be more excited to announce that we’re bringing our work to the USA — to support vulnerable children during the Covid-19 education crisis and beyond. #KeepChildrenReading #Covid19 #Education
Bookshop launches in UK
In its 1st week of operation after launching in the UK on 11/2, http://Bookshop.org sold £440,000 (about $575,810) worth of books, earning £83,000 (about $108,620) for local bookstores and attracting 480K visitors to the website. #LoveBookstores
35% of the world is reading more during the pandemic. — lithub.com
A regularly updated blog tracking brands’ responses to racial injustice — adage.com
Ad Age has been keeping a live blog tracking responses from brands, media companies and agencies as they take a stand against racism and social injustice.
How The Independent and Dennik N drive subscriptions with reader-centric metrics
RT @michellemanafy How The Independent and Dennik N drive subscriptions with reader-centric metrics | Two news publishers rolled out data-led strategies to identify, engage and convert fly-by users into paying subscribers. @journalismnews
Quartz founder buys it back
Nielsen Brings Facebook-Like Ad Targeting to TV — www.cnet.com
TV is getting more digital, but commercials still tend to be firehoses aimed at wide swaths of people. A Nielsen ratings change could make some TV ads more targeted to you. #TV #Advertising
Netflix Tests Linear Web Channel in France — variety.com
RT @NiemanLab Netflix is testing a new kind of streaming experience where shows are played, for everyone watching, at scheduled times and with no user choice about what to watch
Congratulations on inventing TV, Netflix
Spotify Buys Podcast Ad-Tech Firm Megaphone for $235M
Spotify has acquired Megaphone, a podcast publishing and advertising company, for $235 million in cash from Graham Holdings. #podcasting #adtech
Wondery CEO who built a podcasting powerhouse vows to fight federal corruption charges
Wondery, one of the country’s large podcast publishers, weighs a sale as it grapples with a federal investigation against its CEO and founder. #podcasting
Business
To Combat 2020’s Unpredictability, Campbell’s Offers ‘Dinner Insurance’ This Thanksgiving — www.adweek.com
Seems like creative marketing: Campbell Soup Company is offering Dinner Insurance, a pledge to deliver a fresh replacement to New York City residents living in Manhattan who mess up any side dish on Thanksgiving Day between noon and 5 p.m. ET.
Amazon Charged With Antitrust Violations by European Regulators
Margrethe Vestager, a European Commission vice president, said Amazon was unfairly using data to box out smaller competitors. #Amazon
Sales for Alibaba in China for an 11-day online shopping festival went from $38B last year to $74B this year — www.alizila.com
If there were any doubts about the health of China’s retail sector, the $74.1 billion in GMV transacted during Alibaba’s 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival should erase them. #ecommerce
Resources & Opportunities
Announcing the AALA Agents of Change Mentorship Program! Call for Mentors
RT @MinoritiesinPub Announcing the [Literary] Agents of Change #Mentorship Program! — “The mentorship program will serve historically underrepresented groups, particularly people of color.” #publishing #literaryagents
