The Tech Media Minute: Facebook Leans Left, as Amazon Video Direct Is Announced
Facebook has been accused of liberal bias, as Amazon unveils a YouTube competitor. Here’s our daily look at what’s going on in the world of technology in just 60 seconds.
3 Stories/30 Seconds
Where's Donald Trump?
Leaning left?
Facebook’s Trending Topics might not be so popular, at least according to some former employees. In an eye-opening Gizmodo post, former Facebook “news curators” accuse the social media behemoth of “routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network’s influential ‘trending’ news section.” In doing so, “organically trending” topics by Facebook users were discounted.
For its part, Facebook says that it follows rigorous guidelines “to ensure consistency and neutrality … Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum.”
Video Direct by Amazon
Amazon announces a YouTube competitor
YouTube is getting some serious competition. On Tuesday, Amazon announced the company’s new Video Direct service, which allows creators to upload their own videos to Amazon’s Prime Video and generate royalties based on the hours streamed.
As TechCrunch first noted, “the videos can also be packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription to Amazon Prime Video. Add-on subscriptions are available through the Streaming Partners Program, and are intended for larger-scale video providers.”
In Monday’s Tech Media Minute, we mentioned how some artists were growing increasingly angry by YouTube’s revenue terms.
Siri vs. Viv
Siri co-creator Dag Kittalus has introduced his newest creation, Viv. The goal of Viv is to become a platform that developers can use to add a Siri-like intelligent, conversational interface to anything they can imagine. Viv is expected to launch before the end of the year.
Extra Minutes:
Trending on Twitter
Later this month, President Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, site of the world’s first atomic bomb dropping in a time of war. The tag Hiroshima is just one of the topics trending today, May 10.
Here are some of the others:
Today in Tech Media
New films that are available to rent or buy: “Where to Invade Next,” “Regression,” and “Deadpool,” among others.
TechCrunch NY 2016 continues: Speakers today include actor/author B.J. Novak.
Internet of Things World begins in Santa Clara, California.
Looking backwards: On this day in 1969, the first color pictures of Earth from space were sent back from Apollo 10. In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president.
