2024 Pulitzer Prizes, Google's river flood forecasting and Spotify's big numbers

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With this edition we close the second week of 'On the Net Today' – your go-to newsletter for maximizing your internet experience! Three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) we curate a selection of three valuable resources to enhance your browsing time.

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Here are three recommendations we've prepared for you today:

• Winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism

• Flood Hub: Google enhances global river flood forecasting service with AI

• “Loud & Clear” report: the big numbers of Spotify's business

Winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes

This Monday, April 6, the winners and finalists of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious journalism awards in the world, were announced.

This year, two newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, each took home three awards, while Reuters news agency, The New Yorker magazine, and the Invisible Institute each secured two awards.

Digital media outlet ProPublica has won in the main category of Public Service, for its investigative work on the United States Supreme Court.

• ProPublica Wins Pulitzer Prize for Supreme Court Coverage - ProPublica

The "National Reporting" category saw two winners. One was The Washington Post for its series of articles on the AR-15–style rifle, a weapon used in many mass shootings in the United States.

One of the pieces in the Post series is the visual report "The blast effect: This is how bullets from an AR-15 blow the body apart", which uses interactive visual graphics to illustrate the effects of this rifle's bullets on the human body.

The complete list of journalistic works included in this The Washington Post series can be found in the following link:

• The 2024 Pulitzer Prize Winner in National Reporting: Staff of The Washington Post

The Washington Post shared the "National Reporting" award with Reuters news agency for their series of articles on Elon Musk's automotive and aerospace businesses.

The Pulitzer Prize in the "Illustrated Reporting and Commentary" category went to Medar de la Cruz for his illustrated report "The Diary of a Rikers Island Library Worker", published in The New Yorker.

Local news outlet Lookout Santa Cruz received the Pulitzer in the breaking news reporting category for its coverage of the devastating floods that struck Santa Cruz County, California, in January 2023.

• Lookout Santa Cruz wins Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting - Lookout Santa Cruz

The complete list of this year's winners and finalists, along with links to their respective works, is available here:

• 2024 Pulitzer Prizes

Flood Hub: Google enhances global river flood forecasting service with AI

Google Research is using artificial intelligence to improve its river flood forecasting system in different parts of the world.

According to an article published in the journal Nature, the improved system allows for accurate prediction of river flooding in more than 80 countries up to 7 days in advance, even in vulnerable regions where there is little data.

Google offers this river flood prediction map to everyone in the world.

Links:

• How we are using AI for reliable flood forecasting at a global scale – The Keyword (Google’s blog)

• Global prediction of extreme floods in ungauged watersheds - Nature

• World River Flood Prediction Map - Google

Loud & Clear report: The big numbers of Spotify's business

Spotify has released its "Loud & Clear" report, which provides an excellent visual presentation of the company's music streaming business.

It is a useful resource for artists and music industry professionals who want to better understand this market, its key players, and how the business works.

The report offers ten major data-driven conclusions that Spotify claims prove that music streaming "has continued to create more space for more artists to find success, demonstrating a real change in the business."

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Spotify paid out over $9 billion to artists in 2023. This figure has nearly tripled over the past six years. Since its founding, Spotify has paid out over $48 billion to music rights holders.

• The number of artists generating at least $1 million (1,250 in 2023), $100,000 (11,600), and $10,000 per year (66,000) has nearly tripled since 2017.

• 2023 was a record year for independent artists, who generated nearly $4.5 billion in revenue through Spotify. This is the first year that Indies have accounted for nearly half of the business generated by the music industry on Spotify.

The Loud & Clear report is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the music streaming business. It provides a clear and concise overview of the market, its key players, and how the business works.

Links:

• LOUD & CLEAR: The Biggest Takeaways From Spotify’s Annual Music Economics Report

• Complete report: Loud & Clear

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Thank you very much, happy weekend and we'll see you again on Monday!