New researches

Monday, March 9, 2020

TikTok, Google, Music Streaming Apps, More: Monday Mid-Afternoon ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020

TikTok, Google, Music Streaming Apps, More: Monday Mid-Afternoon ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: TikTok Hires ‘Chief Information Security Officer’ To Assuage Persisting Concerns. “As security concerns surrounding TikTok continue to mount — and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has become the latest agency to ban the app on all government-issued devices — TikTok has hired a new chief information security officer to help assuage fears.”

Android Community: Google launches new Apps, Games, and Insights podcast. “If you’re interested in the inner workings of the developers of some of your favorite apps and games and this multi-billion industry, there are a lot of materials that you can search for out there. But Google is making it a bit easier for you by launching a new podcast called Apps, Games, and Insights. It will bring listeners “insights, stories, and learnings” from the industry experts and the people and companies behind some of the most popular apps and games out there.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: Stream Music for Free With These 5 Little-Known Apps. “Right now, the top two free music streaming apps are Spotify and YouTube Music. Each offers a few features for free, with ads, and you can upgrade to a premium plan for more features like offline playback. But you might be surprised to know that you don’t need to pay for anything to get a good music streaming experience.”

Digital Inspiration: How to Encrypt and Decrypt Text Strings with JavaScript. “In one of my web projects, I require simple and easy-to-implement encryption and decryption JavaScript library that could encode a piece of text and then decode the encoded string on the server-side. The easiest option is the base64 encoding scheme that can be easily implemented in both native JavaScript and Google Apps Script.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: No Cell Signal, No Wi-Fi, No Problem. Growing Up Inside America’s ‘Quiet Zone’. “Welcome to Green Bank, population 143, where Wi-Fi is both unavailable and banned and where cellphone signals are nonexistent. The near radio silence is a requirement for those living close to the town’s most prominent and demanding resident, the Green Bank Observatory, home to the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. To protect the sensitive equipment from interference, the federal government in 1958 established the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area near the state’s border with Virginia.”

Washington Post: State Department blames ‘swarms of online, false personas’ from Russia for wave of coronavirus misinformation online. “A top State Department official said Thursday that Russia is behind ‘swarms of online, false personas’ that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social media sites, stressing the ‘entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.’ The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government’s Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

TorrentFreak: Torrent Sites Help Game Developer to Share Free Copy of ‘Death and Taxes’. “With help from some top torrent sites, Placeholder Gameworks has released a free copy of its new game Death and Taxes. The developer torrent has the same features as the $12.99 Steam release. While there’s no significant effect on sales, developer Oak, who once was a hardcore pirate himself, is convinced that the official torrent will help the game in the long run.”

The Verge: Google location data turned a random biker into a burglary suspect. “A Florida man who used a fitness app to track his bike rides found himself a suspect in a burglary when police used a geofence warrant to collect data from nearby devices, an NBC News investigation finds. Zachary McCoy had never been in the home where the burglary occurred, but by leaving his location settings on for the RunKeeper app, he unwittingly provided information about his whereabouts to Google, which placed him at the scene of the crime.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Next Web: This algorithm could improve emergency responses by removing lies spread on Twitter. “An algorithm that filters out misinformation spread on Twitter could help emergency services respond to natural disasters and disease outbreaks. The system uses AI to distinguish between legitimate reports and bot-generated messages in real-time to create a stream of only genuine information.”

CNET: Facebook’s transparency efforts around political ads fall short, study finds. “Facebook has tried to make it clearer who’s paying for political ads but a new study from New York University researchers casts more doubt about how well these transparency efforts are working.” Good mid-afternoon, Internet…

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March 10, 2020 at 12:40AM
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Ruggedized connectors target industrial Ethernet designs

Amphenol ICC’s ruggedized, high-speed connectors are designed to meet next-generation industrial Ethernet requirements.

from Electronic Products Technology Center Articles https://ift.tt/2TDZ6MS

Tech Industry Corporate Culture, Vehicle Accessibility, Apple, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020

Tech Industry Corporate Culture, Vehicle Accessibility, Apple, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Inside Indiana Business: Powderkeg Launches Culture Directory. ” Indianapolis-based tech networking platform Powderkeg has launched a new tool it says will showcase tech companies through their culture. The company says the Culture Directory, which currently features more than 300 tech firms, allows tech professionals to learn about company cultures. At launch, the directory includes companies in the Indianapolis area. However, Powderkeg says the directory will expand in 2020 with new features and locations, including Denver, Charlotte, Raleigh, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.”

AT Today: New online car search tool to help elderly and disabled people find a suitable vehicle for their accessibility needs. “The Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) has launched a new online car search tool, with data on over 1,700 vehicles to help disabled and older people shortlist suitable vehicles using specific accessibility measurements.” This resource is UK-based but I saw car brands from all over the world when I played with it.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Apple rejects coronavirus apps not from a ‘recognized institution,’ report says . “Apple is reportedly cracking down on apps related to the coronavirus outbreak, banning apps that don’t originate from a ‘recognized institution’ like governments or hospitals. The move is apparently aimed at stemming the flow of misinformation surrounding the illness.”

Ars Technica: Let’s Encrypt changes course on certificate revocation . “Earlier this week, Let’s Encrypt announced that it would revoke roughly three million—2.6 percent—of its currently active certificates. Last night, however, the organization announced that it would delay the revocation of many of those certificates in the interest of Internet health.”

Engadget: Google will start ranking sites by their mobile version in September. “Google will start indexing all websites by their mobile versions beginning in September. Google was already using mobile-first indexing for new domains, but this change will apply the phone-friendly indexing to all domains.”

USEFUL STUFF

I tried this and it is a wow. The Next Web: This tool automatically removes the background from any video or GIF
. “It’s pretty easy to isolate a background from an image, but things get trickier when we’re dealing with video — unless you use an app that does it automatically for you. Enter Unscreen. This free tool practically lets you drop any video or GIF, and then removes the background for you, leaving only the subject in.”

MakeUseOf: The 8 Best Chrome Privacy Extensions for Better Security. “Google Chrome is the world’s most popular web browser. But it isn’t the world’s most private browser—not by a long shot. Chrome receives consistently poor reviews regarding its approach to privacy. As the world’s largest advertising company, Google is a prime position to exploit the millions of Chrome users around the globe. Thankfully, you can take steps to increase your Google Chrome privacy using extensions. Here are the 8 best privacy extensions for Google Chrome.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Just Security:
A Model for Countering Foreign Disinformation and Interference in Elections. “The lessons from 9/11 are instructive and should be internalized in considering what an effective whole-of-government response might look like in the context of countering foreign disinformation and interference in elections.”

Lifehacker: Playing This Free Game Might Help Find a Coronavirus Vaccine. “Want to help researchers understand and find a vaccine for the coronavirus? Help them out by playing this video game. Foldit is a free puzzle game that tasks players with folding protein chains to change the way they behave.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Boing Boing: This cool online radio station lets you listen to popular songs from any decade and country from 1900 to now. “When you go to Radiooooo you see a map of the world. You click on any country on the map, and select a decade beginning with 1900. It will start playing music from that country and decade.” I tried United States / 1940s and the site started playing a lovely little groove called “Hot Dog” by Chris Powell & The Five Blue Flames. Good afternoon, Internet…

March 9, 2020 at 10:11PM
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Veteran Resources, Coronavirus Information, Facebook, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020

Veteran Resources, Coronavirus Information, Facebook, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, March 9, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

VAntage Blog: Veterans can search free resources through Code of Support’s PATRIOTlink. “Code of Support’s PATRIOTlink® platform is a free online resource database that includes thousands of programs tailored to the military and Veteran community. Through PATRIOTlink, users can search vetted, direct, cost-free services specific to their needs. PATRIOTlink was recently redesigned to make it even easier to use. Now, users can complete searches by entering less information and they can view events and job opportunities in their area through a news feed feature.”

TriCity News: COVID-19: There’s an app for that – thanks to Coquitlam man. “[Curtis] Kim said he programmed the web tool to automatically scrape information from government public health agencies like the BC Centre for Disease Control, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. But the latest data, said Kim, is more challenging to automate because of the lag in reporting. So Kim cross-references the new data and goes in manually throughout the day to update the page.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Facebook bans face mask ads to fight coronavirus price gouging. “On Friday, Facebook announced that it would further attempt to limit coronavirus-related chaos on its platform by banning commerce listings and advertisements for medical face masks.”

Publishers Weekly: Is Macmillan Reconsidering Its Library E-book Embargo?. “At the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, Macmillan CEO John Sargent told librarians that he would come back in March with potential alternatives to the publisher’s controversial library e-book embargo. And this week, Macmillan made good on Sargent’s statement, with an email to a select group of librarians seeking feedback on three proposals that could inform new e-book license terms for public libraries.”

Variety: Read Universal Music Group Chief Archivist’s Update on Damage From 2008 Fire. “The company’s chief archivist, Pat Kraus, sent the company’s staff a memo on Thursday updating progress on the inventory. Among other points, he says that the Times’ assessment may have been flawed due to its use of incomplete records — many of which were also destroyed — and insurance claims made by the company in the months immediately after the fire, which were at times general and based on staffers’ memories. He also provides specific numbers on the inventory, without naming artists.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Washington Post: Facebook has a prescription: More pharmaceutical ads. “Jordan Lemasters keeps seeing ads in his Facebook app for an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drug called Vyvanse. When the Chicago-based audio branding consultant recently clicked on the ad’s drop-down menu and selected ‘Why Am I Seeing This Ad,’ a pop-up said it was because of his age range, because he lives in the United States and because he may have visited Vyvanse.com. But Lemasters felt spooked. The 29-year-old had used another ADHD drug, Adderall, but never publicized it.”

Mashable: Baseball card apps bring a classic hobby into the digital age. “Eventually, the digital revolution comes for everything, even our nostalgic hobbies. That revolution now includes one of the most nostalgic hobbies of all — baseball cards — which have seen a resurgence in the past few years thanks to a movement into the digital realm. Baseball cards are bringing in big money, especially for Topps, the industry giant who remains on top after decades in business.”

Palo Alto Online: Anonymous Confessions pages are surging in popularity on high school and college campuses. Why?. “In September, [Sergio] Charles started Cardinal Confessions, a Facebook page for students to anonymously share confessions of all kinds, both light-hearted and serious — stress, insecurities, relationship angst, questions about a course or grades, politics, campus gossip. He wanted to create a positive online community that would open up real-life conversations and create connections on a campus well-known for ‘duck syndrome’ — a metaphor for students, like ducks, acting calm on the surface but paddling furiously to stay afloat (even though ducks are inherently buoyant).”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Go read about a law school’s ridiculous battle over YouTube copyright strikes. “Copyright law is two things: a gnostically complex rubric for deciding who can reproduce a work of art, and one of the most powerful legal forces on the internet. But precisely how complex and how powerful? Well, enough that a major law school thought it might lose its YouTube channel in a copyright dispute over a video explaining copyright law.”

CNET: Facebook cracks down on sites that impersonate its services. “Facebook said Thursday that it’s suing Namecheap and Whoisguard for providing website addresses that impersonate the social network and can be used for frauds and scams.”

The Register: Staffer emails compromised and customer details exposed in T-Mobile US’s third security whoopsie in as many years. “T-Mobile US was hacked by miscreants who may have stolen some customer information. The telco did not specify exactly when the intrusion took place (and has yet to respond to questions from The Register) in its Notice Of Data Breach.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Sociable: Pentagon plans to digitize the largest repository of disease-related medical data in the world. “The ultimate goal of the Pentagon’s Joint Pathology Center (JPC), part of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is to create a fully digitized and accessible repository of the ‘approximately 55 million glass slides, 31 million paraffin embedded tissue blocks, and over 500,000 wet tissue samples that have been collected over the last 100+ years,’ according to the JPC recommendations report released on Thursday.” Good morning, Internet…

March 9, 2020 at 04:59PM
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Sunday, March 8, 2020

Utah Wildlife Migration, Struggling Coffee Farms, Tech Industry, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, March 8, 2020

Utah Wildlife Migration, Struggling Coffee Farms, Tech Industry, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, March 8, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

Americans on Daylight Savings Time: HEY! Make sure your clocks are right.

NEW RESOURCES

KSL: New website allows people to look at Utah’s wildlife migration patterns. “Since the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Wildlife Migration Initiative launched in 2017, nearly 3,000 animals have been tracked over more than 15 million locations. Some of the information gathered from the research is now available for the public to see online.” Regular readers of ResearchBuzz might be saying, “Didn’t you just do a thing about wildlife migration in Utah?” I did in October, but that was just waterfowl.

Daily Coffee News: MarginalisedFarmers. Org Connects Consumers to Beans Grown On Farms in Need. “In a perfect world, prices paid for all green coffee would meet or exceed costs of production and premiums would always be awarded for quality, yet in reality not all farms suffer equally in a grossly imbalanced, neocolonial trading system that leaves most struggling to stay afloat from year to year. So, if a consumer wants to spend money specifically in support of smaller farms on the brink of collapse, where can they shop?”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Big Tech companies to pay hourly workers affected by coronavirus. “Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and Apple will continue to pay hourly workers who can’t do their jobs remotely even as big technology companies urge their full-time staff to work from home in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.”

BuzzFeed News: Etsy Just Removed All Coronavirus-Themed Merchandise. “On Wednesday afternoon, Etsy removed all items mentioning the coronavirus or COVID-19 after hundreds of merchants posted or tagged items related to the outbreak on the site.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The First News: Photographer lovingly restores photos of 1930s Warsaw and the results are stunning. “Remarkable colourised photos of pre-war Warsaw show the beautiful side of the city before its complete devastation. Photographer and IT specialist Mariusz Zając took old photos and videos he found online and using only his computer and several programs brought Warsaw of the 30s back to life.”

New York Times: How to Make Money in Your Sleep. “Many fledgling creators dream of waking up to viral fame and riches. Now that dream is beginning to look a lot like reality. Hundreds of TikTok users have begun live-streaming themselves overnight, while they sleep. Brian Hector, 18, did it just last week. Thousands of people tuned in. Some even donated to him.” Like anyone wants to listen to me snoring.

Wired: Russia Is Learning How to Bypass Facebook’s Disinfo Defenses. “Since Russia’s stunning influence operations during the 2016 United States presidential race, state and federal officials, researchers, and tech companies have been on high alert for a repeat performance. With the 2020 election now just seven months away, though, newly surfaced social media posts indicate that Russia’s Internet Research Agency is adapting its methods to circumvent those defenses.”

Refinery29: How An Unlikely Instagram Trend Is Bringing Together Gen Z, Boomers, & Everyone In Between. “At the top of a new decade, slime is more than just a toy or an Instagram trend. It has the potential to be a fixture in trendy offices and bedside tables everywhere. But it has a long way to go: Slime sellers will tell you their customers on Etsy are mostly parents looking to feed the habits of their 8 to 12-year olds. But the people behind Instagram’s many slime accounts say that it’s teenagers and young adults who make up the bulk of slime’s online audience.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: Zero-Day Bug Allowed Attackers to Register Malicious Domains. “A zero-day vulnerability impacting Verisign and several SaaS services including Google, Amazon, and DigitalOcean allowed potential attackers to register .com and .net homograph domain names (among others) that could be used in insider, phishing, and social-engineering attacks against organizations.”

Montana Public Radio: Montana GOP Files Complaint Over Bullock’s Social Media Use. “The Montana GOP has lodged an ethics complaint against Gov. Steve Bullock alleging he used state resources during his run for president last year. The Montana Republican Party alleges Bullock used a Twitter and Facebook account for both official and campaign purposes in violation of state law.”

The Register: Don’t be fooled, experts warn, America’s anti-child-abuse EARN IT Act could burn encryption to the ground . “On Thursday, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced legislation with the ostensible purpose of combating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online – at the apparent cost of encryption.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys .org: Scientists break Google’s quantum algorithm. “The celebrated approach taken by Google in QAOA has sparked vast commercial interest and ignited a global research community to explore novel applications. Yet, little is known about the ultimate performance limitations of Google’s QAOA algorithm. A team of scientists from Skoltech’s Deep Quantum Laboratory took up this contemporary challenge. The all-Skoltech team led by Prof. Jacob Biamonte discovered and quantified what appears to be a fundamental limitation in the widely adopted approach initiated by Google.” Good morning, Internet…

March 8, 2020 at 05:19PM
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Saturday, March 7, 2020

Utah Missing People, UK Web Archive, DuckDuckGo, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, March 7, 2020

Utah Missing People, UK Web Archive, DuckDuckGo, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, March 7, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Found via Reddit, a new Web site aggregating information about missing people from Utah: The Names That Matter. From the front page: “Our goal is to compare and compile all state and national databases of missing persons and unidentified remains to create a single reference record for each Utah case. We’ll keep you updated in our blog with information discrepancies and our efforts to contact these databases and resolve conflicting cases.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

British Library: 15 Years of the UK Web Archive – The Early Years. “Think back 15 years to the beginning of 2005. Future Prime Minister David Cameron wasn’t yet Leader of the Conservative party and Google Maps, Twitter and the iPhone all had yet to be launched. It was, however, the year that we started collecting copies of UK published websites for permanent preservation and access.”

CNET: Privacy-focused DuckDuckGo launches new effort to block online tracking. “The company said Thursday it’s started sharing a data set called Tracker Radar that details 5,326 internet domains used by 1,727 companies and organizations that track you online. The data is available to anyone, and browser maker Vivaldi said on Tuesday it has begun doing so.”

The Verge: YouTube is demonetizing videos about coronavirus, and creators are mad . “Everyone wants to talk about the novel coronavirus outbreak right now, but you might hear YouTubers avoiding the subject — if they talk about it, they risk getting their ads shut off.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: The 5 Best Private Search Engines That Respect Your Data. “Finding a search engine that’s both effective and not hell-bent on selling on your information is hard. Fortunately, they do exist, and there are plenty of them for you to choose from. Here are some of the best private search engines available that won’t use you as a product.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Amnesty International: Pho noodles and pandas: How China’s social media users created a new language to beat government censorship on COVID-19. “To fully appreciate conversations on China’s social media platforms, merely knowing Chinese is not enough. To evade the most extensive internet censorship system in the world, netizens have no option but to create their own vocabulary to discuss ‘sensitive issues’. This language keeps evolving as the government constantly adds new topics and terms that are prohibited. And there’s no better example of this linguistic cat-and-mouse game between China’s social media users and the country’s legions of online censors than the current COVID-19 epidemic.”

CNN: In the overlooked world of LinkedIn influencers, a plumber finds a following. “At Texas Green Plumbing, a residential plumbing company in Dallas, the setup resembles a traditional workplace: a reception area, several offices and a training space. But one room has been transformed into a home-made studio decked out with a microphone, video camera, lights and a backdrop that features shelves held up by pipes. That’s where Roger Wakefield, a 56-year-old plumber and owner of the company, spends half of each week filming advice and how-to videos — with the help of a hired videographer — to post to his thousands of followers on LinkedIn, as well as other social media channels.”

ABC News (Australia): Google Maps mission for Wollongong-born hiker on remote New Zealand trail . “A woman with a taste for risky, solo hiking is about to complete a spectacular top-secret journey for tech giant Google, wearing a custom-made backpack with 360-degree camera. After having to lay flat on the ground and grip a boulder for stability in the face of 100kph winds in Patagonia, anything less should be a walk in the park for Sharmali Kulatunga.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Phys .org: Why drug sellers see the internet as a lucrative safe haven. “More than six years after the demise of Silk Road, the world’s first major drug cryptomarket, the dark web is still home to a thriving trade in illicit drugs. These markets host hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of people who sell drugs, commonly referred to as ‘vendors.’ The dark web offers vital anonymity for vendors and buyers, who use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to process transactions.”

BloombergQuint: AT&T Is Cooperating With Justice Department in Google Probe. “AT&T Inc. is cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department in its Google investigation, which is exploring whether the online search and advertising giant violated antitrust laws, according to a person familiar to the situation.”

Japan Times: Spanish ruling on ‘right to be forgotten’ says Google must put man’s acquittal at top of search results. “A Spanish court has partially accepted Google’s appeal against a ruling that ordered it to erase news articles about a man accused of sexual abuse, but the new judgement said the company had to display the man’s acquittal at the top of any search results.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Techdirt: Turns Out Most People Still Don’t Hate ‘Big Internet’ As Much As Politicians And The Media Want Them To. “The good folks over at The Verge have done a big consumer survey of people’s general opinions of various big internet companies and it shows that most people still like these internet services, and believe, on the whole, that they make their lives better, not worse. Even the services that get the ‘worst’ grades, still get over a 60% ‘favorable’ rating, while Amazon, Google, YouTube, Netflix, Microsoft, and Apple all come in over 80% positive (with Amazon, Google, and YouTube breaking 90%).” Good morning, Internet…

March 7, 2020 at 06:40PM
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Friday, March 6, 2020

Sandra Day O’Connor, Women in Chartered Accounting, Kashmir Internet, More: Friday Evening ResearchBuzz, March 6, 2020

Sandra Day O’Connor, Women in Chartered Accounting, Kashmir Internet, More: Friday Evening ResearchBuzz, March 6, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: Sandra Day O’Connor Digital Library Launched (PRESS RELEASE). “The Sandra Day O’Connor Institute today launched its comprehensive Digital Library which catalogs the life and work of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. For the first time, Justice O’Connor’s body of work across her decades in public service is available in an easily accessible, searchable format.”

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales: Gender equality: 100 years of women in chartered accountancy. “To celebrate this turning point, ICAEW has produced a book following the histories of pioneering women in the profession over the past century. We have also commissioned a portrait of Mary Harris Smith. It will be unveiled at this year’s Annual Dinner, where we will also announce three very special Honorary Memberships to women who’ve made a significant impact on gender equality in accountancy. We have also created a digital archive of first-hand accounts of women in the profession over the past century. The fascinating, insightful stories are available here and will be added to as time goes on.” Not a ton of content at the moment.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Next Web: After 8 months, Kashmir finally lifts social media ban — but only on 2G. “After eight months of zero and partial internet, folks in Kashmir will be able to use all sites. However, restrictions on connectivity are still in place. So, only 2G postpaid connections, verified prepaid connections, and fixed lines with Mac address binding can access the internet.”

Tom’s Guide: Google Assistant just gained a feature Alexa can’t match. “Google Assistant is constantly growing its accessibility features, whether it improves its real-time interpreter skills or expands its hand-free capabilities. And starting today, users can ask Google to read web pages aloud to them.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

TechCrunch: Twitter CEO’s weak argument why investors shouldn’t fire him. “Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey might not spend six months a year in Africa, claims the real product development is under the hood and gives an excuse for deleting Vine before it could become TikTok. Today he tweeted, via Twitter’s investor relations account, a multi-pronged defense of his leadership and the company’s progress.”

Mashable: Don’t feel guilty for abandoning the books you’ve Instagrammed. “I am living a lie. I haven’t finished half the books posted on my Instagram. As I type this, these forlorn works of fiction and non-fiction are strewn across my home, unread, unfinished, and abandoned. It was never a deliberate act of deceit. I just kind of…got bored? (To any authors reading this: I can only apologise.)”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: More than a billion hopelessly vulnerable Android gizmos in the wild that no longer receive security updates – research. “File this one under ‘well, duh.’ Consumer mag Which? today published research estimating that over a billion Android devices are vulnerable to hackers and malware as they are not receiving security updates. Data obtained from Google by the publication found that 42.1 per cent of active Android users are languishing on version 6.0 or earlier.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys .org: Team finds citizen scientists make excellent resources. “From tracking the amount of rain in their backyards to monitoring the water quality in local streams, citizen scientists have collected data for as long as there has been curiosity. And, it turns out, their data can be just as valid as that collected by professionals.”

PsychCentral: Social Media Messages to Inspire Exercise May Backfire. “A new Australian study suggests an Instagram movement to promote better health is flawed. Researchers discovered the images associated with an online program appear to make many women feel worse about themselves and their bodies rather than inspiring them to exercise.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

GamesRadar: Always check behind waterfalls for secrets in video games, or just follow this new Twitter account that does it for you. “There’s a new Twitter account dedicated to looking behind waterfalls in video games and letting you know if there’s anything there. It’s a valuable service to anyone who’s spotted a waterfall way off in the distance, sidelined their mission to find and check behind it, only to discover that it’s actually just an honest waterfall.” Good evening, Internet…

March 7, 2020 at 07:23AM
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