Jul 26, 2021 | audio, trends
In 2015 Spotify’s Daniel Ek said that he wanted Spotify to ‘be the soundtrack of your life’. Undoubtedly, Spotify and other streaming services are achieving that but the utopian vision is more prosaic in practice. Less ‘that was the best day of the summer’ and more ‘put on some tunes while I cook’. It is a soundtrack, but less the soundtrack to a blockbuster movie and instead more like the soundtrack to daytime TV. Music has become sonic wallpaper that is a constant backdrop to our daily mundanity.
Source: Spotify and music listening: the next 10 years [Mark Mulligan]
Jul 26, 2021 | algo, networking
He couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbot
Source: He couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbot
Jul 26, 2021 | algo, justice & equality, networking, trends
The Markup confirmed 124 carjackings and attempted carjackings of ride-hail drivers across the country. Drivers say the companies are doing little to help
Source: Uber And Lyft Drivers Are Being Carjacked at Alarming Rates
Jul 25, 2021 | justice & equality, networking, trends
No longer just an online movement, Black Twitter takes to the streets—and finds its voice.
Source: A People’s History of Black Twitter, Part II
Jul 25, 2021 | algo
Decentralized systems rely on decentralized governance. Enter the “governance token.”
Source: Who Writes the Rules of a Blockchain?
Jul 25, 2021 | audio, video
Florence Pugh said she was “scared” for her Russian accent to debut in Black Widow , and who can blame her? Putting on any accent can be tricky for actors to begin with , and with a Russian one, there’s always the risk you could wind up sounding like one of the villains from Rocky & Bullwinkle .
Source: A Dialect Coach Assesses Every Russian Accent in Black Widow
Jul 24, 2021 | networking, trends, video
The company’s “Show Me the Nudes” initiative turns classic paintings from international museums into live pornography.
Source: Uffizi Is Suing Pornhub After It Turns Masterpieces Into Live Porn
Jul 24, 2021 | algo, networking, trends
Research from the University of Pennsylvania finds that new and provocative ideas emerge at the edge of networks, from people with fewer contacts and little obvious pull. Marketing and public relations gospel has long banked on the idea that simply reaching the well-connected people at the centers of social networks will create success.
Source: Want to go viral? Influencers won’t be much help if you’re trying to spread a complex idea
Jul 24, 2021 | games & graphics, networking, video
Your Zoom meetings could get more fun as FlowPlay launches the free Live Game Night Poker on the Zoom platform.
Source: Zoom launches Live Game Night Poker with FlowPlay
Jul 23, 2021 | algo, games & graphics, mobile, networking, trends
We need to think of the Metaverse as a sort of successor state to the mobile internet. And while consumers will have core devices and platforms through which they interact with the Metaverse, the Metaverse depends on so much more. There’s a reason we don’t say Facebook or Google is an internet. They are destinations and ecosystems on or in the internet, each accessible via a browser or smartphone that can also access the vast rest of the internet. Similarly, Fortnite and Roblox feel like the Metaverse because they embody so many technologies and trends into a single experience that, like the iPhone, is tangible and feels different from everything that came before. But they do not constitute the Metaverse.
Source: A Framework for the Metaverse — MatthewBall.vc
Jul 23, 2021 | algo, mobile, trends
Unlike auto racing, in drone racing the pilots aren’t subjected to debilitating G-forces, which means the races can take place at impossibly fast speeds . So fast, in fact, that autonomous drones have always lagged behind those piloted by humans who benefit from split-second reflexes.
Source: An Autonomous Drone Just Beat a Professional Racing Pilot for the First Time
Jul 23, 2021 | justice & equality, networking, trends
Researchers find minimal interactions by teen users can trigger a deluge of thin-body and dieting images Instagram’s algorithms are pushing teenage girls who even briefly engage with fitness-related images towards a flood of weight-loss content, according to new research which aimed to recreate the experience of being a child on social networks.
Source: Instagram ‘pushes weight-loss messages to teenagers’
Jul 23, 2021 | justice & equality, video
Norm Langley was one of the first Black camera operators to break into the business in the early 1970s, when the industry was facing government pressure to diversify. He had a 38-year career, working on TV shows like “The Practice” and movies including “The Color Purple” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” In his retirement, he has grown increasingly agitated that his union — IATSE Local 600 — never did more to recruit minorities.
Source: Hollywood’s Labor Force Does Not Reflect California’s Diversity
Jul 23, 2021 | games & graphics, justice & equality
Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Source: Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment (1)
Jul 23, 2021 | networking, trends
One conspiracy warns that you can catch harmful effects from the shot from a vaccinated person—but that drinking white pine needle tea can guard against it. President Biden explicitly told reporters last week that Facebook was “killing people ,” later clarifying that he hoped his comment would drive the tech company to take action against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation teeming on its website.
Source: As the delta variant spreads, vaccine conspiracy groups on Facebook have doubled
Jul 21, 2021 | justice & equality, trends, video
Disney+ and Cartoon Network, two major US animation platforms, announced last month they will air four productions by African creators. This comes on the heels of similar announcements by streaming giants like Netflix and Youtube Originals, indicating a demand for representation and homegrown narratives among African audiences amidst a global market boom for animated content.
Source: These African animators are saving their native languages using cartoons
Jul 21, 2021 | justice & equality, networking
The American Booksellers Association has made their Twitter account private after promoting a scientifically inaccurate anti-trans book, apologizing, and then deleting the apology. The controversy started when the ABA, as part of their July “white box” promotional mailing, sent 750 bookstores a copy of freelance journalist Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters , whose cover features a doleful-looking girl with a big hole cut out of her center.
Source: The American Booksellers Association promoted an anti-trans book, apologized, and then deleted it.
Jul 21, 2021 | audio
Music therapists and shrewd marketers have long taken advantage of music’s ability to trigger memory. As research continues to illuminate how the process works, their techniques and goals are likely to become increasingly refined and targeted.
Source: Yes, earworms are annoying, but they may help you process memories
Jul 20, 2021 | algo, trends
IBM has created an excellent narrow AI solution in Watson, but IBM assumed it had a general AI – an AI that could resolve any problem. General AI only exists in science fiction, and is unlikely to exist in our world any time in the near future.
Source: Watson as a Warning: Current Limits and Promise of AI
Jul 20, 2021 | games & graphics, video
The announcement that Netflix will begin offering video games on its streaming service is rife with red flags. With subscriber growth hitting headwinds in 2021 after a COVID-19-led surge in 2020, Netflix recently made a splashy announcement that it was hiring a gaming executive, Oculus and EA alumnus Mike Verdu , to build up the company’s newly minted interactive division.
Source: Why Netflix’s push into video games doesn’t make sense
