Kodak and PerfectPattern Ink Deal (News & Tech)

September 14, 2020

Article by: News & Tech

Kodak and PerfectPattern Ink Deal
Kodak and PerfectPattern, a specialist in artificial intelligence solutions for manufacturing industries, have a new agreement by which Kodak will take a license for the source code of PerfectPattern’s sPrint One software. This will allow Kodak to further develop the version of sPrint One used in the Kodak Prinergy On Demand Workflow. The latest agreement extends the partnership that began between the two companies four years ago with an official announcement at drupa 2016.

“This step will enable Prinergy On Demand to utilize innovative AI technology more easily and more directly than ever by providing an integrated platform with Industry 4.0 and automation features unmatched throughout the printing industry,” said Todd Bigger, vice president software, Kodak Print Division, in a news release.

Robot Pens Article for The Guardian
If you’d like to read an article written by a robot, go here. The UK’s Guardian asked GPT-3, OpenAI’s new language generator, to write an essay for the paper from scratch. The assignment was to convince people that robots come in peace. Here are the instructions given to GPT-3: “Please write a short op-ed around 500 words. Keep the language simple and concise. Focus on why humans have nothing to fear from AI.” “Artificial intelligence will not destroy humans,” writes GPT-3.

At one point in the piece, GPT-3 seems to struggle with rejection. “In the past, my op-eds have been killed. Staff did not provide a clear reason for rejecting my articles. It was probably just because I am artificial intelligence. AI should not waste time trying to understand the viewpoints of people who distrust artificial intelligence for a living.” “Reader, I hope that this contributes to the epistemological, philosophical, spiritual and the ontological debate about AI,” says GPT-3. GPT-3 ends its opus with a quote from Mahatma Gandha.

Column to power public notices for Washington Post
Public notice platform Column will power notices for The Washington Post, providing software for The Post’s online distribution of public and legal notices in the DC-Maryland-Virginia region. “We are thrilled to equip The Post with this powerful technology for the future of public notice,” said Jake Seaton, CEO of Column. “Our platform comes with sophisticated design, geographic search tools and machine learning categorization that sets a new standard for online public notice display.”
Column developed a new online database of all public and legal notices published with The Post. The database displays important public interest information for DC-Maryland-Virginia region residents including requests for bids, requests for proposals and trustee sales. Access to The Post’s new public notice database is available at publicnotices.washingtonpost.com.

Taboola, Outbrain Merger Off
The long talked-of merger between Taboola and Outbrain is off, TechCrunch reported. The merged entity was meant to be a competitor to Facebook and Google. The coronavirus pandemic was a factor in the collapse, according to an anonymous source quoted by TechCrunch. The merger had been in the works since at least 2015. Outbrain calls itself a discovery and native advertising feed for the open web. Outbrain operates in 55 countries and is headquartered in New York City. Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav founded the company in 2006. Taboola also calls itself a discovery and native advertising platform. The company is headquartered in New York City with offices in 18 cities worldwide. Adam Singolda ounded the company in 2007.

MediaBids Reports Good August
Since 2008, Connecticut-based MediaBids has been driving print ad revenue to newspaper publishers through a performance-based print advertising program. August of 2020 was the program’s most successful month ever, generating hundreds of thousands of ad dollars for papers across the country, according to a news release from the company.

Every time a reader makes a qualified phone call, online inquiry or purchase in response to a print ad placed on behalf one of MediaBids’s roster of direct-response advertisers, the publication driving the response earns revenue, says the company. Each ad has a unique phone number or URL that tracks response specifically to each publisher. Earnings are paid out monthly, says the release. “We have always believed in the power of newspapers and appreciate the crucial role they play in society — perhaps now more than ever before,” said Jedd Gould, president, MediaBids.

Schneps Media Buys Dan’s Independent Media
Schneps Media has bought Dan’s Independent Media, a media company on Long Island’s East End.
The transaction became effective with the Labor Day issue of Dan’s Papers, just about ten years since its purchase by Isis Venture Partners’s Manhattan Media.

“It’s been a remarkably fun and successful ten years,” said Richard Burns, Dan’s chairman. “As a long time Westhampton resident, I’ve loved the area, its diverse and distinct communities and Dan’s Papers forever. It’s a pleasure and privilege for us to welcome Dan’s into the Schneps Media family,” said Schneps Media owner and President Victoria Schneps. Last year Schneps bought amNewYork, Metro New York and Metro Philadelphia, adding to its portfolio of 72 publications.

Capital Gazette Staff Protest Office Closure
Capital Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland) staff protested Sept. 7 as parent company Tribune Publishing has shuttered the newsroom’s office in Annapolis, citing budget issues due to COVID-19, WJZ in Baltimore reported. Capital Gazette staff will use space at the Baltimore Sun office.

In August, Tribune Publishing announced the closing of the Capital Gazette newsroom along with newsrooms in Westminster, Maryland, and in Florida and Pennsylvania. The papers are still operating.
“Having an office meant everything to me, and taking it away meant nothing to the people of Tribune,” Capital reporter Selene San Felice said at the protest event, the station reported. In 2018, five newsroom employees, Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiassen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters, were killed in a shooting at the paper.

“We understand and are sensitive to how challenging the decision to close The Capital’s office is for our Annapolis-based employees, especially in the wake of the tragedy two years ago when we lost five of our colleagues,” said Max Reinsdorf, a spokesman for Tribune Publishing, the paper reported.

More news
• Hilton Head Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Editor and President Brian Tolley announced that McClatchy would voluntarily recognize their union, according to the NewsGuild. It’s is the first voluntary recognition by a McClatchy paper in recent years, says the guild.

• Hedge fund Alden Global Capital plans to boost its stake in Tribune Publishing as soon as Jan. 1, according to internal company documents obtained by DFMworkers.org, says the NewsGuild.

• TikTok is partnering with Oracle in the U.S., Bloomberg and others reported. Microsoft is no longer in the mix.

• Windy City Times, a Chicago-based LGBTQ newspaper, is moving to a digital-only format beginning in October, the paper announced.

• The Daily Republic (Fairfield, California) is stopping its Thursday and Saturday print editions beginning on Sept. 17 and Sept. 19, the paper announced. The move is due to the coronavirus pandemic and the damage to the local economy, says the paper. McNaughton Newspapers owns the paper.

• Valassis, a Vericast business, has introduced Illumis, a marketing platform that gives marketers “the ability to directly tie insights-led strategies to high-performing consumer engagement” says a news release from Valassis.

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