curation
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Apple adds curated podcast collections for kids
Four collections vetted by Common Sense Media are available today.
Beyoncé and Peloton team up to gift fitness classes to HBCU students
Beyoncé and Peloton are donating fitness subscriptions to students at 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Apple confirms it bought podcast curation app Scout FM earlier this year
Apple has purchased Scout FM, an app that makes it easy to find podcasts tailored to your tastes.
Netflix test brings human-curated 'Collections' to streaming
Netflix leans on algorithms for virtually all of its show suggestions, but it's trying something radical: curation from real, honest-to-goodness humans. The service is testing expert-crafted Collections that, much like music playlists, offer selections based around certain themes. You can check out a collection of light-hearted fare if you're looking for relief from a stressful week, or go for prizewinning titles if you only want critically-praised pieces.
Pocket's Explore tab adds more reading suggestions
Pocket is one of the slickest bookmarking services for reading on the web, but its strength was never discovering new things to read. Starting today, it's hoping to fix that with a new Explore tab at the top of its homepage: type in what you're looking to read about, and off you go. Trending stories will line up alongside articles that other users have substantially saved. Related topics are also included, if you really have some hours to kill. The feature is in beta at the moment, but Explore doesn't require a login. You just... browse. Possibly forever.
Spotify gets serious about its country music curation
Country music fans are flocking to streaming services and Spotify's latest hire shows the company is taking that segment of its audience seriously. The streaming service nabbed SiriusXM's John Marks to head its curated playlists for the genre. If you'll recall, Spotify, and other services, have made a big push with playlists built by both the artists themselves as well as notable personalities in the biz. While you may not recognize the name, Marks has a knack for discovering new talent and budding acts before they make it big time. For example, he was spinning tunes from artists like Florida Georgia Line, Brandy Clark, Chase Rice and others before they became popular. Spotify already has deals in place for exclusive country releases and to promote emerging acts, as it's already posted content from artists like Hunter Hayes that can't be streamed on-demand anywhere else. If you look to curated playlists to find new music, just know that Spotify's country collections are now in capable hands. [Image credit: ABC via Getty Images]
VSCO Cam adds Collections to curate photos from other users
VSCO Cam has offered some community features powered by its Grid tool on top of its regular photo-editing chops for some time now. Today, though, the company added a new way to interact with your fellow VSCO snapshot enthusiasts. With updates to both the iOS and Android apps, VSCO Cam delivered Collections: a feature that allows you to curate your favorite photos from other users. Grid provides a place to share your images in a minimalist format for all to see, but with Collections VSCO pulls in snapshots you like from other photographers to build a separate library. When you're scrolling through the photos in Search or Explore, simply double tap to save one before publishing it to your Collection.
Joystiq's big list of games on Steam Curators
We're tastemakers! The Joystiq staff has lovingly put together a list of the games we most enjoy on Steam, using its brand new Curators service. See the Joystiq Curators page right here. Our premiere picks run the gamut from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, to Always Sometimes Monsters, to Ys Origins. It's a weird list, just like we are. This introductory curation page is our way of saying hello, not only to you, but also to Steam's new service. As the Curators platform finds its footing, we'll update our list with even more uniquely selected games – ones we like, and we think you'll have fun with as well. Go ahead and follow the Joystiq Curators page on Steam to see all of our new additions as they happen, and join the Joystiq Steam group to discuss the games you love, hate and want to know more about. Enjoy!
Twitter CFO hints at big changes to how your timeline works
Twitter has already started to look more like Facebook, and it might soon start acting more like it too. You see, company CFO Anthony Noto hinted yesterday that the reverse-chronological firehose of tweets that some users hold so dear may give way to a more curated collection of messages cast into the digital ether. To hear him tell it, the Twitter experience as we know it "isn't the most relevant" to the people who actually use the service (a notion that some people would definitely disagree with). That tidbit was lodged inside a broader conversation (which the Wall Street Journal captured) about improving Twitter's search functionality -- Noto pointed out the need for "an algorithm that delivers the depth and breadth of the content we have on a specific topic and then eventually as it relates to people." Those last few words seem crucial -- it sounds like he wants the Twitter experience to become one where content is tailored and presented differently depending on how relevant it is to the user. In the end, it might wind up getting Twitter a bunch of new users (which is exactly what all those antsy shareholders want to see), but would it really be worth alienating the service's hardcore fans?
Making a case for App Store curation
With over 1.2 million applications to choose from, it's hard to dispute that the App Store suffers from a discoverability problem. The degree to which the problem needs urgent addressing from Apple, however, remains an ongoing debate amongst developers and tech observers. Yesterday, former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee published a post making the case for App Store curation. Instead of using algorithms to sort and promote the apps that you permit on your shelves, why not assign a small group of adepts to create and shepherd an App Store Guide, with sections such as Productivity, Photography, Education, and so on. Within each section, this team of respected but unnamed (and so "ungiftable") critics will review the best-in-class apps. Moreover, they'll offer seasoned opinions on must-have features, UI aesthetics, and tips and tricks. A weekly newsletter will identify notable new titles, respond to counter-opinions, perhaps present a developer profile, footnote the occasional errata and mea culpa... The result will be a more intelligible App Store that makes iOS users happier. It's an interesting idea, but one that seemingly ignores what a colossal undertaking across-the-board curation would entail. I'll have an opposing viewpoint piece up soon, but in the meantime, if you're pro- or anti-Apple getting into the app curation game in a major way, feel free to take our poll and speak up in the comments below. Be sure to share your poll answer with your friends using the Facebook and Twitter share buttons on the poll. Should Apple do a better job of curating the App Store?
Digg roots out the most contagious videos with its updated iOS app
If you like whiling away the hours on trending videos, but hate wading through YouTube dreck to find them, Digg has now brought its fledgeling video curation to iOS devices. As with the web, clips are chosen based on how much interaction they get through Digg's own service, Facebook and Twitter. The iOS version closely mirrors the web version with a nearly identical UI, and Digg has also patched bugs and improved performance. There's no sign of an Android update yet (update: according to the Digg Blog an update is coming "shorty"), but we gave it a whirl on an iPad and found the video choices to be brilliant time-wasters -- so, we're sorry this post is a bit late.
Google launches Boutiques fashion search, delivers obligatory iPad app
Hey ladies, are you finding technology is under-servicing your all-important fashion search needs? Well, here comes Google with the solution in the brand new Boutiques.com website, which gives you curated selections of the latest styles, along with advanced search filters like genre, silhouette, pattern, and color families. There's even an algorithm for suggesting items to complete your dazzling look, and once you find just the right pair of pumps, Google sends you along to the appropriate retailer. So it's sort of like Google's Shopping section, only a few orders of magnitude fancier. Oh, and we weren't being sexist in our opener, Boutiques only has women's fashion for now and it's only available in the US, though there are plans to expand on both fronts.
