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☆ Apple's new AI-narrated audiobooks are supposed to be 'natural sounding' but critics say they're 'not what customers want to listen to'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Apple quietly launched dozens of audiobooks narrated by AI-generated digital voices. The voices, "Jackson" and "Madison" narrate dozens of audiobook titles on the Books app. Critics say the voices lack nuances that humans have and aren't "what customers want to listen to." According to a statement released by Apple, the digital voices are "natural sounding" and "based on a human narrator." "The narrator brings a whole new range of art in creating audiobook, and we believe that's a powerful thing.

An Italian man who authorities say used a sophisticated scheme to steal unpublished works of authors pleaded guilty Friday, prosecutors said. Filippo Bernardini, who worked for Simon & Schuster UK, stole more than 1,000 unpublished manuscripts between August 2016 and January 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. Among those tricked was a Pulitzer Prize recipient, who sent Bernardini a copy of their unpublished manuscript, according to an indictment. “Filippo Bernardini used his insider knowledge of the publishing industry to create a scheme that stole precious works from authors and menaced the publishing industry,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. A representative for Simon & Schuster said at the time that they were "shocked and horrified" to learn of the allegations, and they were grateful to the FBI for investigating the case.

It’s a plot twist the romance writers did not see coming. “I saw the auction that was going on to help raise funds for her funeral,” romance writer T.E. “To find out that it was a hoax, two-and-a-half years later, was just a slap in the face to everybody,” fellow romance writer Samantha A. Cole told NBC News. Cole said she met Meachen around 2017 in one of several online romance writer and reader groups that proliferate on Facebook and elsewhere on the web. Some angry romance writers confronted Meachen online and demanded an explanation, screenshots of the exchanges revealed.

☆ Normal Republicans, Stand Up to the Fringe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Peggy Noonan is an opinion columnist at the Wall Street Journal where her column, "Declarations," has run since 2000. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, and has taught in the history department at Yale University. Before entering the Reagan White House, Noonan was a producer and writer at CBS News in New York, and an adjunct professor of Journalism at New York University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there, in Massapequa Park, Long Island, and in Rutherford, New Jersey. In November, 2016 she was named one of the city's Literary Lions by the New York Public Library.

☆ Why George Santos’s Lies Matter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Bob Pisani: What UBS' Art Cashin taught me about the art of storytelling
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But for 60 years, Art Cashin has been one of the most influential men on Wall Street. Cashin is that rare exception: a man who knows what he was talking about, and sounds like he knows. Tiffany, Cashin said, knew that Morgan loved diamond stickpins, which he used to put in his tie. How do you tell a story about the stock market? Let's get back to the story about J.P. Morgan, Tiffany, and price discovery.

Several Latinos whose lives and work left a profound imprint on American institutions — from arts and entertainment to legal and civil rights — passed away in 2022. Cavazos began his education in a two-room schoolhouse on the King Ranch in Texas, where his father was a foreman. President Reagan named Cavazos Secretary of Education in 1988, making him the first Hispanic ever to serve in the U.S. Together, “Luis” and Maria” showed young audiences that Latinos were people who worked, fell in love and were part of their community. Her goals were to give Latinos a presence in the dance world, and to instill pride in Hispanic culture.

☆ A Green Beret recalls the Christmas Day mission that was almost his last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Recon Team ST Idaho was tasked with locating and destroying a fuel pipeline inside Laos. Just shy of a month earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, ST Idaho had barely survived a cross-border operation in Cambodia. ST Idaho debated if it was possible to lose the NVA and continue their mission but ultimately deiced against it. ST Idaho adjusted its path and continued its slow progress, throwing grenades at any noise they heard, nightmares of previous close-calls on their minds. Thick black smoke choked and blinded ST Idaho, but the SOG operators could see enemy troops advancing close behind the flames.

☆ 'Kidults' age 12 and up are buying more toys than ever, with teens and adults driving significant growth for the industry thanks to the pandemic and TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

'Kidults' age 12 and above are comprising a growing sector of the toy industry, according to NPD Group. NPD Group's Juli Lennett told Insider the growth is largely due to the pandemic and social media. "Now many of them are hooked," Lennett said of kidults who purchased toys early in the pandemic. Today, Lego now sells 100 adult Lego sets, according to the Associated Press, including a replica of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night and a functional roller coaster. "We make LEGO sets specifically for adults with more detail, challenging building techniques, and cool ways to display."

☆ Spare Us a Trump-Biden Rematch
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ 3 ways the book 'You Are A Badass' taught me how to get out of my own way and level up my life and career
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Jaime Stathis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Writer Jaime Stathis says the book "You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero helped improve her life. The book also taught her to stop procrastinating and start doing, and that step got her published. I was first introduced to Sincero in 2011 through friends of friends on Facebook. That last post blew up my Wordpress site — getting thousands of hits every hour for days — that until that point had been mostly read by friends and friends of friends. "You don't need to invent your ideal life from scratch, you just need to figure out what makes you feel alive," Sincero wrote.

A Culture in theCross Hairs Russia’s invasion has systematically destroyed Ukrainian cultural sites. It has also dealt a grievous blow to Ukrainian culture: to its museums and monuments, its grand universities and rural libraries, its historic churches and contemporary mosaics. This is how empires always work.” The war in Ukraine is a culture war, and the extent of the destruction is becoming clearer. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion.

☆ Cheating on your college essay with ChatGPT won't get you good grades, say professors — but AI could make education fairer
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some fear college students will use it to cheat, but these professors say they're not too worried. ChatGPT won't replace original writing, said Selber, but it might help college students refine their work. Dr Leah Henrickson, a lecturer at the University of Leeds, thinks that artificial intelligence, if used carefully, might even make education fairer. Artificial intelligence tools like Grammarly, which analyzes and improves written sentences, are already widely used by college students. According to Henrickson, the University of Leeds is already looking at modifying its assessments in reaction to the rise in artificial intelligence.

☆ GOP Sen. Mike Lee proposes bill that could ban access to Internet porn in the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Sen. Mike Lee proposed a bill that would redefine obscenity and could upend the porn industry. Lee's bill targets content that has the "objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person." The Free Speech Coalition, which represents the adult film industry, said the bill threatens the performers' livelihoods. Lee, of Utah, introduced the one-page bill, titled the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act, on December 14. —Free Speech Coalition (@FSCArmy) December 15, 2022Mike Stabile, public affairs director with the Free Speech Coalition, also told VICE News that the bill "has gotten a huge amount of attention."

"The worst governments are already going to suppress speech," said David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine and the former free speech watchdog for the United Nations between 2014 and 2020. The free speech experts who spoke to NBC News on Friday said Twitter's actions could invite international attempts to manipulate Musk. Would some head of state say, 'Hey, can you do this for my country and prevent public reporting?' Kaye, the former U.N. free speech watchdog, said Musk's behavior reminded him in part of authoritarian leaders who enforce rules against challenging the government or criticizing powerful figures, such as royal family members or regime allies. Musk can talk about standing for free speech all he wants, but this should make it clear to everyone that what he’s doing is quite the opposite.

☆ Disorder at the Border, and in the GOP
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ The Emotional Benefits of Wandering
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alison Gopnik | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Psychologist Alison Gopnik explores new discoveries in the science of human nature. One of my greatest pleasures is to be what the French call a “flâneur”—someone who wanders randomly through a big city, stumbling on new scenes. The surrealists used to choose a Paris streetcar at random, ride to the end of the line and then walk around. And think of Mrs. Dalloway in London, Leopold Bloom in Dublin or Holden Caulfield in New York. But is there any scientific evidence for the benefit of “street-haunting,” as Virginia Woolf called it?

Every year since I was a teenager, my mom has asked what I wanted for Christmas. After all, my reasoning doesn’t seem to require us to engage in, say, the Socratic method. Maybe the pressure to buy Christmas gifts for anyone is a farce, a scheme created by capitalism to get us to spend, spend, spend on things we don’t want or need. They accept whatever bad (based on how little they use them) gifts I buy for them. But I’m tired of participating in a capitalistic sham, and I’m tired of giving Christmas gifts my family and friends don’t want.

☆ Only the Voters Can Crush Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ 'The Whale' review: Brendan Fraser's standout performance can't keep Darren Aronofsky's film afloat
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The love showered on Brendan Fraser out of film festivals inflates expectations for “The Whale” wildly out of proportion, in a movie based on a play that occurs almost entirely within a lone apartment. Weighted down not by its morbidly obese protagonist but rather its stick-thin supporting players, Fraser deserves praise for his buried-under-makeup performance, but that’s not enough to keep the movie afloat. Adapted by Samuel D. Hunter from his play, “The Whale” actually derives its title from the book “Moby Dick,” although the convincing enormity of Charlie’s physique obviously provides another meaning. As poignant and heartbreaking as Charlie’s plight is, “The Whale” can’t transcend the line between theater and film. While it’s easy to root for Fraser to earn accolades, in the annual hunt for award-worthy movies, consider this another one that got away.

☆ Chip and Joanna Gaines Sued by Literary Agent for Breach of Contract
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A New York literary agent is seeking millions in damages in a lawsuit against Chip and Joanna Gaines , the home renovation couple who made farmhouse chic a major trend. The breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court, alleges the Gaineses amended the terms of a five-book publishing deal with a $12.5 million advance brokered for them by Vigliano Associates without the consent of their then-literary agent, David Vigliano .

☆ Psychos in the C-Suite
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ The political and spiritual symbolism of Mauna Loa’s historic eruption
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

For many in the Native Hawaiian community, it carried a larger cultural and political symbolism and a message to respect Indigenous communities and land. Many Native Hawaiians are drawing from their mythology around Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and creator of the islands, to help assign meaning to the historic eruption. “You don’t have authority to shape our sacred lands.”The eruption, Ing said, “is Pelehonuamea saying, ‘They’re right. And Pele’s lava flow, ho’omanawanui said, is associated with a cleansing that the Native Hawaiian community receives with gratitude rather than fear. So now Pele is coming in.”The symbolism around the eruption can also be applied to another lasting colonial force on the island: the tourism industry, Ing said.

☆ Ron DeSantis just announced he has a memoir coming out soon. Here's what we learned from his first book, a scathing take on Obama
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

DeSantis wrote the book during the Tea Party movement and before he ran for Congress. He did so throughout his 2011 book, "Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama." According to NPD BookScan, which tracks retail sales of US print books, "Dreams from Our Founding Fathers" sold 125 copies through July of 2022. In one section of the book, DeSantis wrote that Obama lacked the humility of George Washington, the first US president. Obama, DeSantis wrote, "garnered flattering media coverage by a press thoroughly enamored with his progressive politics."

☆ Ron DeSantis is releasing his first autobiography, in a key sign he's exploring a White House run
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ron DeSantis has a book coming out on February 28. Ron DeSantis of Florida has an autobiography coming out early next year, in the surest sign yet that he's considering a presidential run. Throughout these experiences, the publisher writes of the forthcoming book, "Ron DeSantis learned the same lesson: He didn't want to be part of the leftist elite." Ron DeSantis. That book's publisher was High-Pitched Hum Publishing in Jacksonville, Florida, a cooperative publisher known as a "vanity press" in literary circles.

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