Spotify and music listening: the next 10 years
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]
The Jessica Simulation: Love and loss in the age of A.I.
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
Uber And Lyft Drivers Are Being Carjacked at Alarming Rates
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
A People’s History of Black Twitter, Part II
No longer just an online movement, Black Twitter takes to the streets—and finds its voice.
Who Writes the Rules of a Blockchain?
Decentralized systems rely on decentralized governance. Enter the “governance token.”
A Dialect Coach Assesses Every Russian Accent in Black Widow
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
Uffizi Is Suing Pornhub After It Turns Masterpieces Into Live Porn
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
Want to go viral? Influencers won’t be much help if you’re trying to spread a complex idea
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
Zoom launches Live Game Night Poker with FlowPlay
Your Zoom meetings could get more fun as FlowPlay launches the free Live Game Night Poker on the Zoom platform.
A Framework for the Metaverse — Matthew Ball
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.
An Autonomous Drone Just Beat a Professional Racing Pilot for the First Time
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
Instagram ‘pushes weight-loss messages to teenagers’
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’
Hollywood’s Labor Force Does Not Reflect California’s Diversity
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
Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment
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)
As the delta variant spreads, vaccine conspiracy groups on Facebook have doubled
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
These African animators are saving their native languages using cartoons
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
The American Booksellers Association promoted an anti-trans book, apologized, and then deleted it.
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.
Yes, earworms are annoying, but they may help you process memories
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
Watson as a Warning: Current Limits and Promise of AI
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
Why Netflix’s push into video games doesn’t make sense
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
Who Owns the Teen Girl Aesthetic?
Olivia Rodrigo and Brooklyn indie band Pom Pom Squad are both reimagining girlhood in slyly dark ways, in the lineage of those who came before them.
Inside ‘reality shifting,’ the trend where TikTokers claim they can enter the world of Harry Potter
For most Harry Potter fans, the only way to stroll through Diagon Alley is to visit the reproduction in Orlando’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park. Kristin Dattoo wouldn’t need to make the trip from her native Ontario, however. Instead, the 19-year-old would just shift her consciousness.
Source: Inside ‘reality shifting,’ the trend where TikTokers claim they can enter the world of Harry Potter
Facebook advertisers are panicking after iOS cuts off key tracking data
Enlarge Facebook’s ability to track users and show them certain ads appears to be tanking thanks to Apple’s “ask not to track” feature, according to some advertisers. Apple rolled out the privacy prompt in late April with iOS 14.5. Since then, nearly half of all iOS devices worldwide have at least version 14.5 installed, according to Statcounter , and a vast majority of these devices’ users have chosen to deny Facebook and other apps the ability to track them.
Source: Facebook advertisers are panicking after iOS cuts off key tracking data
When the Game Is Over, Where Do Our Avatars Go?
The player characters from childhood video games were conceived in glory. Where are they now?
What the “Creator Economy” Promises—and What It Actually Does
The influencer is a fading stock character of the Internet’s commedia dell’arte. Often a conventionally attractive white woman, she shows off her aspirational life style via social-media channels. She accrues a large following, and then makes a living by getting companies to sponsor the content of her glamorous life.
Source: What the “Creator Economy” Promises—and What It Actually Does
What Will Be the Language of Our Digital Future?
Most of the tech that we encounter is built with an English-speaking user in mind. After all, English is used throughout the world, with more than a billion people speaking it as a second language. Indeed, most of us who speak English also speak another language, often switching to English only in specific formal contexts or when consuming the cultural products of the current global hegemon, the United States. The platforms that we rely on to remain connected in this digital age are not ready for our multilingual truths: We live in numerous languages, and constraining our ability to communicate in them effectively limits our ability to participate fully in our digital future.
How Warner Bros. is using ‘Space Jam’ to get into the NFT business
Ever since the NFT phenomenon took off several months ago, it’s been all about exclusivity and the value that exclusivity drives—i.e., a lot of money. Digital artists like Beeple have auctioned off NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, of their artwork for tens of millions of dollars at auction houses like Christie’s.
Source: How Warner Bros. is using ‘Space Jam’ to get into the NFT business
Beyond Silicon Valley
The six cities building the future of the global tech industry. Each has its own story and a set of unique factors behind its rise. What they all do carry is a measure of the Silicon Valley myth: The idea that, if you want to make it in tech, you need to be there.
Source: Beyond Silicon Valley
From Macy’s to Ace Hardware, facial recognition is already everywhere
Rite Aid had deployed facial recognition in at least 200 stores over eight years, before ditching the technology last year. Facial recognition is popping up at our favorite stores, but customers are largely unaware.
Source: From Macy’s to Ace Hardware, facial recognition is already everywhere
See also: Black teen misidentified by facial recognition sparks fears of machine-driven segregation
How your Netflix habit is changing contemporary fiction
If you want a preview of next year’s Emmy Awards, just take a walk past your local bookstore. According to data drawn from Publishers Marketplace, the industry’s clearinghouse for news and self-reported book deals, literary adaptations to television have been on a steady climb.
Source: The Rise of Must-Read TV
‘Welcome to the Mesh, Brother’: Guerrilla Wi-Fi Comes to New York
NYC Mesh, a band of a few dozen tech volunteers, takes on Verizon and the big “incumbent providers,” with the promise of inexpensive community internet.
Source: ‘Welcome to the Mesh, Brother’: Guerrilla Wi-Fi Comes to New York
A People’s History of Black Twitter, Part I
From #UKnowUrBlackWhen to #BlackLivesMatter, how a loose online network became a pop culture juggernaut, an engine of social justice, and a lens into the future.
No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world
China’s video game market is the world’s biggest. International developers want in on it – but its rules on what is acceptable are growing increasingly harsh. Is it worth the compromise?
Source: No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world
Emoji Use At Work? Survey Says — Thumbs Up!
If you’ve ever hesitated to add a smiley face or a thumbs-up to an email, a new survey from Adobe may put you at ease. The software company, which conducts regular surveys on emoji use, found that the whimsical icons can make people feel more connected and more receptive to new tasks. They allow people to quickly share ideas. They make group decisions more efficient and can even reduce the need for meetings and calls.
The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies
Melanie Mitchell has worked on digital minds for decades. She says they’ll never truly be like ours until they can make analogies.
Source: The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies | Quanta Magazine
Inside the Industry That Unmasks People at Scale
Tech companies have repeatedly reassured the public that trackers used to follow smartphone users through apps are anonymous or at least pseudonymous, not directly identifying the person using the phone. But what they don’t mention is that an entire overlooked industry exists to purposefully and explicitly shatter that anonymity.
Source: Inside the Industry That Unmasks People at Scale
See also: ‘Chilling Effect’: Reporter Says Police Are Using This Israeli Tech to Hack Journalists’ Phones
Neurocracy is future fiction in the form of Wikipedia
How Half-Life and Deus Ex laid the foundation for a Wikipedia-style murder mystery game In 2048, Wikipedia doesn’t exist. Without enough donations and too many copyright claims, it has to shut down. In 2049, a new substitute rises: Omnipedia, built in the spirit of its predecessor as a free encyclopedia for all.
Source: Neurocracy is future fiction in the form of Wikipedia
I am a Black female CEO, and this is how I redefined the white men’s club in tech
The first female CEO of SMASH explains the lessons she learned from being the only (or one of very few) Black woman in STEM from school to the workplace.
Source: I am a Black female CEO, and this is how I redefined the white men’s club in tech
Shein is the future of fast fashion. Is that a good thing?
The Chinese retailer is fast becoming Gen Z’s favorite fashion company, for its low prices and savvy social media use.
Source: Shein is the future of fast fashion. Is that a good thing?
Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets
Negativity spreads faster than positivity online, and news organizations at both ends of the political spectrum are leveraging this tendency on Twitter, according to a new study.
Source: Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets
See also: Surprise, surprise: Dunking on your enemies boosts social media engagement