Content Aware media news: October 13, 2022

VR knees, AI for journalists, and cash for news - all in this week's Content Aware media news highlights.

Published: 09:57, 14 October 2022

Corbidge comments on... Zuckerberg's awkward legs
Meta is pushing for VR in the office, which perhaps ironically will be virtual offices and staff where people have meetings and spend too long staring at screens. Will there eventually be VR within the VR, where your virtual character embraces their real-world totem by donning a VR headset in a VR world of the real world? Our man Corbidge goes all Inception as Meta opens the door to what conceivably might become normal for many.
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Join us in Berlin and debate 'cash for news'
If you are in Berlin next week for the MX3 Media Makers Meet for leaders and owners in specialist media, join our roundtable on Wednesday afternoon as the great and the good debate the question "Money for content from Big Tech: is it a deal with the devil, or a fair trade for publishers?".
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AI for journalists
Not all AI seems to be out to try and replace human thinking in the newsroom - some tools are also being expertly used by journalists to get to the heart of a story quicker. Here's how one reporter used AI to help expose illegal mining practices in the Amazon rain forest.
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See what all the h-AI-pe is about
Interested to have a play with the DALL-E 2/OpenAI/Stable Diffusion AI image creation tools that seem to be taking over the world? If the current ways of trying it out seem a bit fishy (some require installation on a PC to flex their muscles properly, then Microsoft will soon bake them into Bing and its Edge browser. Sign up here for early access.
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Audio deep fakes by AI
An imaginary but entirely convincing-sounding interview of Steve Jobs, by Joe Rogan, created by AI as a podcast. The 'subjects' change from time to time, so check back.
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Paywall down, readership up, for Chicago S-T
A mature well-known newspaper site dropping its longstanding paywall and replacing it with a free-and-members model is quite a rarity: read here why the Chicago Sun-Times has chosen to do just that.
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Philippine 'fake news' laws edge nearer
Two bills are currently under debate in Manila which could introduce heavy punishments for deliberate dissipation of lies. Neither are without controversy however, as senators and right bodies say they should not be used - unintentionally, or otherwise - to suppress free speech.
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Mapping a story
Seeking inspiration to visualise some stories using maps? Check this Twitter thread looking at some of the best recent ways of illustrating stories using graphics, video, and inspiration.
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Independents day
Speaking of inspiration, here's some of the best independent titles shortlisted by the PPA for its independent publishers awards bash in November.
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S-Pi in the sky
Hear what sounds like a buzzing outside your 10th floor window? It could be a new type of hack attack: mounting mini computers on drones to sniff out wifi and access credentials from a hovering quadcopter.
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