Morning Update: Mexican journo fired over flood faux pas; A.I. reporter reads weather in China; Twitter livestreams Wimbledon
A young journalist covering severe flooding in Mexico has been fired after she was photographed being carried over puddles by two local people to avoid getting her expensive shoes wet.
Lydia Cumming was fired by TV Azteca, who accused her of lacking professionalism, but the story soon overwhelmed the internet, inspiring dozens of memes. The young reporter was sent to city of Puebla in central Mexico, which was inundated with floodwater.
https://youtu.be/HXKDnqM9Ulw
The Verge: Why Microsoft is betting its future on AI
Satya Nadella bounded into the conference room, eager to talk about intelligence. I was at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA, and the company’s CEO was touting the company’s progress in building more intelligent apps and services.
Each morning, he told me, he puts on a HoloLens, which enables him to look at a virtual, interactive calendar projected on a wall of his house. Nadella appeared giddy as he described it. The system was intelligent, productive, and futuristic: everything he hopes Microsoft will be under his leadership.
Ad Week: Twitter Debuts Live-streaming With High Definition Broadcast of Wimbledon
Twitter today is providing a glimpse into what kind of TV-like platform it could be for sports fans, one of its most-loyal user bases. The social media network’s live-streaming of Wimbledon is Twitter’s first broadcast in high definition.
“Twitter is increasingly a place where people can find live-streaming video, and that includes exciting sporting events like Wimbledon,” a spokesperson for the San Francisco tech company said via email. “This livestream is an extremely early and incomplete test experience, and we’ll be making lots of improvements before we launch it in its final form.”
Recode: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki asks YouTube stars to speak out against racism and violence
“There’s no group of people on Earth that has more power to move people than you do.”
That was part of message that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki shared with the site’s Creator Blog on Saturday morning. After a week in which numerous killings across the country led to even more riots around race and gun violence in America, Wojcicki is calling on Google’s stable of YouTube-created celebrities to speak up and say something positive.
The Verge: Uber asks riders to ‘reflect on gun violence’ as it pauses app for one minute
BuzzFeed first noted the changes as social media users began circulating messages from Uber early today. The company reportedly paused the app for one minute at midnight, as it asked riders “to create a moment of reflection for the Uber community.” A message said the company would donate to anti-violence groups in Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, and Dallas.
Ad Week: 9.58 Seconds Lasts a Lifetime in Usain Bolt’s New Ad for Virgin Media
Virgin Media proves that 9.58 seconds can stretch on indefinitely in a campaign from BBH London that focuses on iconic sprinter Usain Bolt ahead of next month’s Olympic Games in Rio.
At the 2009 Berlin World Championships in Athletics, Bolt famously shattered his own 100-meter world record, establishing a new mark of 9.58, a number that’s become synonymous with the Jamaican track star, even becoming the title of his 2010 autobiography.
