The online virtual reality experience that almost every tech giant today wishes to commercially exploit may not catch onIn the 1992 sci-fi dystopia Snow Crash, the author Neal Stephenson imagined a bleak 21st century where the collapse of the global economy had seen governments fall and their power replaced by a few giant businesses. The book is notable for prescience, anticipating the adoption of what was then seen as outlandish technologies like the wireless internet, cryptocurrencies and smartphones, as well as the rise of the gig economy. But it is the book’s prophetic vision of “the metaverse” that has revived interest in the work.That is because Stephenson described the online virtual reality experience that almost every tech giant today wishes to commercially exploit. Last October, Microsoft announced that users of its Teams online meetings app would be able to turn themselves into avatars – the term Stephenson popularised in Snow Crash – to encourage users into virtual interaction. Days later Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, rebranded his company as Meta, with a focus on the potential for virtual worlds. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-02-07 19:11:48 UTC ]
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The educational and trade publisher, financially troubled for several years, has agreed with most of its senior lenders and bondholders to a restructuring that would convert existing long-term debt to equity. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Members of the Amazon Prime subscription program will be able to read "Harry Potter'' ebooks for free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, a move intended to encourage consumers to buy Kindle devices. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Raintree has acquired the first titles for its fledgling fiction list, Curious Fox, from Fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A campaign for The Power of Three by H L Dennis, the first book in the Secret Breakers series... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Byliner.com, a digital publishing company, withdrew the ebook “After Friday Night Lights” by Buzz Bissinger from Amazon because of a pricing dispute involving a promotional giveaway. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com has announced a 19% hike in worldwide media sales, which include books, DVDs... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hot Keys Books has partnered with the Guardian to launch a new young person’s writing prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The late Manning Marable won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for history, honored for a Malcolm X book. But no Pulitzer Prize was awarded for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Huffington Post—and digital media—has won its first Pulitzer Prize. The award went to David Wood, in the category of national reporting, it was announced Monday by Columbia University, which administers the prizes.A longtime print journalist who did stints at Time magazine and the Los... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An antitrust suit may provide short-term price reductions on ebooks, but once the competition is flattened, Amazon is likely to resume its monopolistic ways. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Recognizing that collaboration in the industry has never been more important, the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) has joined forces with the Local Media Association (formerly Suburban Newspapers of America) to offer certain product ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fairfax Media is in exclusive talks to acquire the publisher of independent news and opinion website Business Spectator, Reuters says. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google said the program, which allowed independent bookstores to sell ebooks through their Web sites, was not a success. Bookstores said it was a valuable platform that allowed them to give customers something they wanted. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's tax arrangements are in the spotlight this morning after national newspapers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Greg Smith, the former Goldman executive who wrote a widely read Op-Ed in The New York Times about the changing culture at the Wall Street firm, has reported made a deal with Grand Central Publishing, part of Hachette. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The literary genre is white-hot in Hollywood, with filmmakers bidding on unpublished books and paying as much as $1 million for the rights to relatively modest sellers.The back-to-back blockbuster successes of "Harry Potter," "Twilight" and now "The Hunger Games" have turned the hunt for fresh... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Fifty Shades of Grey'' and its two sequels, which became underground sensations and attracted interest from major publishing houses, is headed for Hollywood. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive of the newspaper publisher McClatchy Company, becomes the 13th leader of The Associated Press. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By encouraging readers to tackle longer, more sophisticated novels, the queen of daytime TV may have hurt overall fiction sales. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This story first appears on FOLIO: sister site, minonline. Business-to-business media were in the forefront on March 16 as American Business Media presented its 58th annual Jesse H. Neal Awards at a New York luncheon. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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