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Also, some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a slight typo on a certain Disney CEO’s name in our last issue. (We typed Bog instead of Bob Iger). Whoops. Maybe Disney should buy a swamp in Florida and name it Bog Iger. You heard it here first, Future Party people.
In other news… Apple goes classical, Netflix grabs the (gaming) controls, and the newest job role in AI.
Top Trends
YouTube → Barry
Twitter → Chris Pine
Google → Jeremy Renner
Reddit → Scott Pilgrim
TikTok → “Berry Pie” - Dolly Parton
Spotify → “2am” - Foals, Dan Carey
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MUSIC
A symphony of 1s and 0s // Illustration by Kate Walker
Apple tunes a better music streamer
The Future. The Apple Classical Music app may have flown under the radar for most people, but its creation is one of the greatest feats of data collection and categorization in streaming. While every major streaming service is geared toward helping users find artists, Apple Classical Music focuses on the compositions… and the endless recordings made of them. Its success may make the wrangling of metadata one of the important curation jobs of the digital age.
Organizing the orchestraApple Music Classical is one of the most sophisticated streaming services to ever hit the market.
It features over 20,000 composers, 115,000 works, and five million tracks — giving users thousands of ways to experience recordings of compositions by, say, Bach or Mozart.
Many of the songs are also available in high-resolution lossless and spatial audio, so it sounds like you’re actually listening to the pieces in a concert hall.
For further curation, Apple editors surfaced the most popular recordings, and there are unique repertoire recommendations from classical specialists.
Classical codeWhat gives Apple Music Classical a glimpse into the future is how it wrangles “metadata” — the little bits of information that make music on streaming services actually searchable and discoverable.
While a typical artist like Taylor Swift only needs to be categorized by “title, album, and artist,” a piece of classical music by Brahms can be broken down into “the name of the work, composer and artist, but also the nickname, movement, key, opus number, orchestra, soloist and conductor,” according to Jane Gottlieb, Juilliard’s VP for library and information resources.
We don’t even want to know what that Excel spreadsheet looks like.
GAMING
From mobile to TV // Illustration by Kate Walker
Netflix wants to turn your iPhone into a game controller
The Future. Netflix is luring as many people as possible to its gaming service by turning your phone into a controller. The gambit may make Netflix-gaming adoption as simple as scrolling for something to watch. But, the streamer may need to ensure that it has enough high-quality titles to entice people to actually give it a go. What will be Netflix Gaming’s version of House of Cards?
Mobile for your TVNetflix wants you to play its video games on your TV… by using your mobile device.
App developer Steve Moser found a line of Netflix code that reads, “A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?”
That makes sense for a company that wants, per Netflix VP of external games Leanne Loombe, “Netflix games to be playable on every Netflix device that you have.” Retrofitting your phone is the best way to do that.
Game onDespite the fact that less than 1% of users play Netflix games (according to an August 2022 report from Apptopia), Netflix is doubling down on gaming as the best way to level up growth.
Launching in 2021, Netflix has already released over 55 titles, mostly based on popular IP, and has already announced another 40 for release this year. But the real test will be the eventual release of an upcoming AAA game that the streamer is currently looking for a director for.
And with a cloud-gaming infrastructure in the works, Netflix may be looking to take on PlayStation and Xbox.
TOGETHER WITH AIR MAIL
The Logan Roy school of journalism!
Kidding. And quite the opposite. The sophisticated new AIR MAIL could, however, be thought of as a product of the Graydon Carter school of journalism. The ex-Vanity Fair editor-in-chief sought to provide readers with an amusing, elegantly designed journal and launched the lively digital in 2019.
AIR MAIL is packed with articles on subjects ranging from scandals and crime to art and fashion. It's like having an exciting weekend edition of your favorite newspaper delivered directly to your inbox every Saturday at 6:00 A.M.
AI
Pay to prompt
The AI explosion has already heated up the job market
The Future. Companies are paying top dollar for people who can test, tweak, and collect prompts for generative-AI systems like ChatGPT — that can then be used by the company at large. The hope is that having a dedicated prompt engineer will give firms a leg-up in increasing efficiency with AI. But just as businesses rushed to fill crypto and metaverse roles, the new push for AI experts may be another bubble. Only time will tell.
Human assistanceWanted: humans who can make better AI.
The hot new job in AI is “prompt engineer,” which are people who continually fine-tune prompts for generative AI tools to get better results.
They then train companies on their findings so they can use the AI tools better.
They also save the best answers they can coax out of models as presets so employees at the company can easily access them.
According to Albert Phelbs, a prompt engineer at Accenture-run Mudano, the job is likened to “an AI whisperer.” He writes an average of five prompts a day, interacting with ChatGPT roughly 50 times (which is, in turn, training the AI).
Indeed AISo, if you’re having fun messing around with prompts, just know that a variety of companies are paying a lot for you to do that for them.
Google-backed startup Anthropic is offering $335,000 for a “Prompt Engineer and Librarian,” while document-review firm Klarity is offering $230,000.
But outside of tech, places like Boston Children’s Hospital and London law firm Mishcon de Reya are also hiring and offering competitive salaries.
Fascinatingly, the jobs actually make sense for people from very different educational backgrounds. Recruiters say they’re looking for people with either PhDs in machine learning or ethics.
Future Forecast
For those of you who like to stay a step ahead, here are a few things we’re excited about right now:
The world’s best book summaries. Where are all of our book club babes, self-help gurus, and entrepreneurial aficionados? If you’re like us, you want to read all the books but you don’t have all the time. Shortform has the best zero-fluff guides to thousands of books. Their smart analysis connects ideas in novel ways and even discusses key updates that may have occurred since the book was published. And right now, you can get 3 months free.
A listening movement curated by the EarBuds Podcast Collective is how we decide what’s worth listening to. Subscribe to receive a weekly themed list of five podcast episodes, each chosen by a different person.
Kaleidoscopes of patterns designed to shield us from the prying eyes of facial recognition software. The Italian start-up Cap_able designs bold, colorful knitwear that give us major 90’s vibes. Their Manifesto Collection sports adversarial patches that confuse computer vision systems. Basically, it’s like you’re wearing a super stylish, super scientific invisibility cloak.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
ByteDance pours some Lemon8 on Americans
Choosing to not read the room, ByteDance (owner of the may-be-banned TikTok) is introducing a new social platform in the US: Lemon8. So far, the company is inviting a number of creators to become launch partners in the app, which seems to be focused on fashion and health & wellness. It also seems to be a mix between Instagram and Pinterest, and uses the TikTok algorithm that makes that platform so addictive. The app is currently only available for download.
Read more → nyt
Midjourney hides abuses behind a paywall
After the fake images of the pope in a puffy jacket and Trump fighting an arrest put the internet in a tizzy, generative-AI platform Midjourney announced that it was ending its free trials. The firm said its decision was because of "extraordinary demand and trial abuse." So, if you want to fool the internet, you’ll need to pay at least $10 per month as the company figures out how to better moderate AI outputs… or at least their spread as misinformation.
Read more → engadget
Gig workers earn some sick days
The city of Seattle believes gig workers have a right to take sick days, so the city passed a resolution that forces companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats to offer them to workers within city limits. How many days are we talking here? One day for every 30 days of work (and you’re only required to have been in Seattle for one of those days) and up to nine days accrued that can roll over year-to-year. Technically, the law had been in effect since 2020 as part of COVID emergency measures, but the new legislation cements the rights beyond the pandemic.
Read more → theverge
Meta allows Europeans to opt-out of personalized ads
Adds on Facebook and Instagram can appear highly personalized to the point of psychic, which the EU has not been stoked about for a while; the country has set ordinances to curb the tech giant’s invasiveness. To try to hedge against the consequences, Meta will now let users in Europe switch their ad settings so they can only be identified by age range and general location. But to opt out, users have to submit an online form for review… don’t expect that to appease the EU at all.
Read more → wsj
Tiny satellites could blanket Earth in climate data
A startup called Quub has developed a satellite that “stands shorter than a Gatorade bottle, and at 2.75 pounds weighs less than a small dumbbell.” The idea is that the satellites would circle all over Earth in order to capture real-time climate data and inclement weather, like a forest fire or a tornado, before anyone else can. The company, which only has one “smallsat” in orbit, already has two contracts with the Air Force and hopes to have 400 satellites up by 2025 that provide an updated data stream every 15 minutes. Pretty nifty.
Read more → fastcompany
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Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.Edited by Melody Song. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.