Innovation
You Can Now Play Pac-Man on the Side of a Pizza Hut Box Through Augmented Reality — www.adweek.com
The campaign aims to elicit pizza parlor nostalgia. #AR
How Snapchat’s AR capabilities are boosting its commerce efforts — www.modernretail.co
ICYMI More quietly, Snapchat — much like TikTok — is also positioning itself as a more commerce-friendly space. #AR #ecommerce
Microsoft’s New Intelligent Speakers Transcribe & Translate Meetings Automatically — www.theverge.com
Microsoft is launching new Intelligent Speakers for Microsoft Teams. These new puck-like devices can automatically detect who is talking and transcribe and even translate what they’re saying.
Inside Facebook Reality Labs: Wrist-based interaction for the next computing platform — tech.fb.com
RT @schrep Here’s some mind-blowing technology being developed by @boztank and his team for our AR glasses: wrist-based sensors that let you control devices using the same electrical motor nerve signals you use to move your hands
Deep Learning Enables Real-Time 3D Holograms On a Smartphone
HT @nycmedialab
How Science Fiction Can Accelerate Innovation for Your Company — www.inc.com
HT @neilperkin How science fiction can help chart a businesses’ future path #Innovation
Technology
Amazon to expand health care service across US — sg.news.yahoo.com
Amazon to launch health care service to employers across US, including quick access to telemedicine, home visits. The Amazon Care initiative will offer “a range of urgent and primary care services” but will not replace comprehensive medical insurance.
Clubhouse promises its accelerator participants either brand deals or $5K per month during the 3-month program — techcrunch.com
Amid growing competition from Twitter Spaces and other newcomers, popular social audio startup Clubhouse is making a move aimed at seeding its network with more high-quality content: It’s launching an accelerator program.
TikTok will add personalization to the ads users see on its platform starting April 15 — www.adweek.com
They will be based on users in-app activities, such as liked videos and interactions with ads
China’s tech giants test way around Apple’s new privacy rules
Chinese tech companies, including ByteDance and Tencent, are testing a tool to bypass Apple’s privacy rules and track iPhone users without their consent to serve them targeted advertisements
Netflix Debuts ‘Fast Laughs’ Clip Feature That Resembles TikTok — www.bloomberg.com
ICYMI Netflix is pushing deeper into short video clips that viewers watch on their phones, putting the streaming giant in closer competition with the likes of TikTok #Netflix
Twitter is testing letting you watch YouTube videos right from a tweet— www.theverge.com
Twitter is testing a way to let you watch YouTube videos right from your timeline. The new feature is in testing starting on March 18th on iOS.
Instagram Plans Separate App for Kids Under 13 — www.adweek.com
The Facebook-owned platform introduced several safety features for teens earlier this week
Spotify Unveils ‘Loud and Clear,’ a Detailed Guide to Its Royalty Payment System
The majority of US adults have no interest in voice shopping
#smartspeaker #voiceshopping #Alexa #digitalshopping
Scientists may have solved ancient mystery of ‘first computer’
Researchers claim breakthrough in study of 2,000-year-old Antikythera mechanism, an astronomical calculator found in sea. The Antikythera mechanism, considered the world’s first analogue computer, is a hand-powered 2000-year-old device that can display motion of the universe & predict movement of 5 known planets, phases of the moon and solar & lunar eclipses.
Pivoting from NASA, Russia partners with China for lunar space station— www.theverge.com
Russia and China have signed an agreement to jointly build a lunar space station, cementing Moscow’s pivot from NASA’s rival Moon program.
Moving fast and breaking us all: Big Tech’s unaccountable algorithms— rankingdigitalrights.org
Much of the technology driving revenues for the world’s most powerful digital platforms is accountable to no one — not even the companies themselves.
Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn share the most data with third parties
Self-supervised learning: The dark matter of intelligence — ai.facebook.com
Generalized knowledge about the world, or common sense, forms bulk of biological intelligence in humans & animals. This ability taken for granted in humans, but remains open challenge in AI research. Common sense is the dark matter of AI. #AI
Would you get a tattoo that fades in a year? Ephemeral is banking on it— www.fastcompany.com
These tattoos are applied like traditional tattoos with needle based machines. The difference is in the ink.
The End of Silicon Valley as We Know It?
ICYMI An insightful long read from @timoreilly
Zoom Escaper lets you sabotage your own meetings with audio problems, crying babies, and more — www.theverge.com
Had enough Zoom meetings? Free app Zoom Escaper will help you self-sabotage your next video call with audio problems and sound effects. Choose from crying babies, construction noises, unwanted echoes, and more to gift yourself with a reason to drop the call and pick up your life.
Publishing & Media
How publishers are finding audiences on Clubhouse — digiday.com
Cosmo’s next step is to create a Clubhouse room for its Astrology vertical, which has a devoted following on social platforms. via @digiday
Yes, Podcast Listenership Is Still on the Rise
Weekly U.S. podcast listeners averaged 5.1 podcast shows in the last week.
What news publishers can learn from Netflix
Traditional media groups face a challenge to justify value amid competition from rival sources for attention
In Reversal, Netflix Discussed Selling Shows to TV Networks
Netflix has made a name for itself as the exclusive home for its original series like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “Stranger Things” and “Firefly Lane.” But in what could be a major departure in strategy, the streaming giant has explored licensing some of its movies and series to other TV outlets owned by companies like NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS.
Amazon Music Launches New Shopping Experience — risnews.com
HT @BISG Amazon Music announced the integration of artist merchandise within its mobile app. Artist merch will appear in the Amazon Music app on participating artists’ pages, side-by-side with their songs, albums, live streams, and music videos. #Amazon
Facebook will soon begin testing partnerships with a small group of independent writers for its new publishing platform
HT @DylanByers The company plans to build tools within the platform that allow writers to monetize.
Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up — www.wired.com
Wikipedia wants to change its relationships with Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple — each relies on the internet encyclopedia as a cost-free resource for their profitable platforms and virtual assistants.
How the New York Times A/B tests their headlines — blog.tjcx.me
Part 1 of a series on the New York Times, in which I take a close look at how (and when) the New York Times tests multiple headlines for a single article. By @tomjcleveland
Journalism’s Value is Completely Divorced From Its Worth in the Marketplace, Exhibit DCXXIV: The case of the $1,814 screenshot » Nieman Journalism Lab — www.niemanlab.org
Information wants to be free, information wants to be expensive — but there’s no guarantee it’ll be any good at figuring out which is which, especially when NFTs are involved.
Newsday opens multimedia facilities, launches Newsday Productions
via @newsandtech
The New Yorker Rolls Out a New, Star-Studded Virtual Event Series, The New Yorker Live — www.adweek.com
RT @michellemanafy Publishers are rethinking their long-term strategies for virtual events. Rather than offering free experiences rushed to market, publishers are tying virtual events to subscription products as key acquisition and retention drivers.
Are Brand Magazines Still in Print? — wwd.com
Net-a-porter, Goop and Away are among those that have ceased print, but others like Uniqlo, Maapilim and Goat are still going strong. #magazines
Eying Increasing Membership, Oprah Launches Oprah Daily — www.adweek.com
On March 25, O, The Oprah Magazine will be retitled Oprah Daily and enlarge its digital presence to include a new website featuring daily posts on current events and pop culture, as well as updates from Winfrey herself.
Multichannel News, a publication that has covered the TV industry for 40 years, will be combined with sister title Broadcast + Cable
Elsevier Strikes Historic Open Access Deal With University of California— www.publishersweekly.com
Ruptures in the Mediascape
Always interesting deep long read from @rishad.
Why We Shouldn’t Assume Amazon Has It All Figured Out — www.nytimes.com
Even the big tech companies don’t have it all figured out.
Amazon has done so many smart things that some of the best ones get forgotten
ICYMI Some history from @MikeShatzkin on things Amazon did that were smart in the beginning when selling books online #Amazon
Does Amazon make more from ads than AWS? — www.ben-evans.com
Quite possibly.
B&N to Release New Nook Tablet in April — www.publishersweekly.com
Barnes & Noble will release a new 10-inch Nook tablet e-reader in April. The device was developed in partnership with Lenovo, and will cost $129.99.
Amazon Will Stop Accepting* Mobi Files in June
How Crying on TikTok Sells Books — www.nytimes.com
ICYMI “BookTok” videos are starting to influence publishers and best-seller lists, and the verklempt readers behind them are just as surprised as everyone else. #BookTok
CBC blog series: Canadian book buyers
In this blog post, @BookNet_Canada tells you all about Canadian book buyers: from most popular formats and subjects to preferred channels to complete a purchase, and more. #BookIndustry
How Children Read Differently From Books vs. Screens — www.nytimes.com
Scrolling may work for social media, but experts say that for school assignments, kids learn better if they slow down their reading.
Women’s Media Group Names Board of Directors for 2021–2022 — www.publishersweekly.com
So honored to serve as Co-President of @WMG_NYC, along with this powerhouse group of women!
Resources & Opportunities
Colorful Grant
MT @Rich_Tu Just launched the COLORFUL grant with the @TheOneClubfor young #BIPOC creatives. One grantee will get $3000 (no obligations!) and others will receive FREE entry into #YG19. Let’s break down every barrier and build a better industry. LETSGOOOO