Rapper Gucci Mane has hit the ground running following his recent release from prison. Serving 3 years for weapons charges, the musician has maintained a steady output of content, releasing mixtape after mixtape from behind bars. Now that he is free, it would seem Gucci is looking to continue his prolific career by expanding beyond the music world. Gucci Mane has already starred in one Harmony Korine movie, Spring Breakers, and is reportedly starring in another one currently in production. Movies, music, and now, a spokesperson from the publishing house Simon & Schuster has confirmed that Gucci is moving into the book …
The team at Google Brain has devised a way to use books to help computers talk. By feeding an artificial intelligence the text from about 11,000 fiction novels, the team has expanded the A.I.’s ability to have natural human conversations. Essentially, the computer reads these books and becomes a better talker. The variety of expression to be found in these novels is greater when compared to non-fiction books. Encountering a variety of phrases and words that express similar ideas helps computers to understand “the nuance of language”, so that when apps are tasked with communicating with the user, they can …
What’s in a dirty word? What exactly is a dirty word? What effect do these words have on our brain, and why are we drawn to them? Cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen tackles the topic of profanity in his new book, What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Our Selves. It turns out that profanity inhabits a special place in our minds, somewhere separate from chambers that house most normal language. These are unique phrases that carry a unique weight, and while most of the book serves primarily as a crash course in linguistics, a lot …
The children’s literature publishing giant posted its 1st quarter earnings, and things are looking good. Earning $287.7 million, a whopping 48% percent increase when compared to Q1 revenue from last year in which Scholastic earned $191.2 million. These numbers certainly speak to a bit of industry revitalization, although Scholastic is still operating at a loss. Given that schools are out during most of the 1st quarter, this is to be expected, and the losses under which the company is operating are down 21% from last year. Scholastic is quite thankful to J.K. Rowling for these good numbers, as expressed by C.E.O …
The publishing industry is in a state of transition. In the wake of all the change brought about by the development of digital markets and ever-changing readership habits, new players in the publishing world are emerging left and right. Enter Cnet. That’s right, the tech news site where you go to compare laptops and cameras, and catch all the latest iPhone specs. Turns out the popular tech website has directed its clout at the literary world with their Technically Literate; a segment of the website dedicated to publishing original works of fiction “with unique perspectives on technology.” Image courtesy of https://bit.ly/2d3PWCz …
