Light-based wireless charging eliminates the trade-off between functionality and battery life in many applications without the need for cables.
Light-based wireless charging eliminates the trade-off between functionality and battery life in many applications without the need for cables.
NEW RESOURCES
Memphis Flyer: Stax Online Archive Goes Live With ‘Deep Cuts’ Project. “If you’ve binge-watched too many movies and television series during this stay-at-home time, and have done every jigsaw puzzle in the house, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music might just have the solution for the social distancing doldrums. As of now, their massive digitized archive is online, free for perusing.”
The Print: Attorney General KK Venugopal converts his rare book collection into public online library. “It lists over 570 books, some of which date back to the 17th century. The ‘antiquarian’ or rare book collection has been digitally scanned and made available for the public. The publications cover a wide range of subjects, from religion, mythology and the Vedas, to Indian art and sculpture, historical battles, the British Empire in India and tales of travels across the world.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
TechCrunch: Mozilla expands its partnership with ad-free subscription service Scroll. “Last year, Firefox turned on something called Enhanced Tracking Protection for all its users by default, blocking third-party cookies and crypto-mining. Scroll, meanwhile, is a startup that recently launched a subscription service allowing you to read sites like BuzzFeed News, Business Insider, Salon, Slate and Vox without ads, with the revenue split among the publishers that you’re actually visiting.”
PubChem Blog: Integration of WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE data with PubChem. “The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization that aims to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIPO provided PubChem with more than 16 million chemical structures searchable in its patent database called PATENTSCOPE.”
PC World: Google Chrome terms of service are changing on March 31: Here’s what’s new. “It’s the first time since October 2017 that Google has updated the terms of service – PC World has summarised the important changes.”
USEFUL STUFF
Tom’s Guide: Zoom vs. Google Hangouts: Which video chat service is right for you?. “Comparing Zoom vs Google Hangouts comes down to your priorities and needs for communication. They’re both video chat clients that have been widely popular for a while, and can both be found on a variety of platforms.”
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
Arizona State University: ASU, Crash Course partner for series of educational YouTube videos. “Arizona State University will expand access to its academic content to a vast new audience through a new partnership with Crash Course, a YouTube channel of educational videos that has 10 million subscribers. EdPlus, the ASU unit that creates technology and partnerships to develop new ways of teaching and learning, is working with Crash Course to create a series of entry-level course videos, starting with English composition.”
Neowin: Facebook removes multiple white supremacist accounts, groups, and pages. “Facebook’s continued fight against racism and social discrimination has led to the removal of dozens of Pages, Groups, and accounts associated with the Northwest Front. The Northwest Front is a group pushing for a white supremacist nation-state in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
TorrentFreak: Google Removes Official Kodi Download Page After “Bogus” Copyright Complaint (Updated). “Google has removed the official Kodi download page from its search results, following a complaint from a copyright holder. The team behind the perfectly legal open-source software is disappointed that they’re being inaccurately lumped together with pirate services. The same takedown notice also targeted the VLC media player, but those requests were rejected.” Google did restore the page. Eventually.
RESEARCH & OPINION
Phys .org: How social media makes it difficult to identify real news. “There’s a price to pay when you get your news and political information from the same place you find funny memes and cat pictures, new research suggests. The study found that people viewing a blend of news and entertainment on a social media site tended to pay less attention to the source of content they consumed—meaning they could easily mistake satire or fiction for real news.”
Stanford News: Stanford researchers find that automated speech recognition is more likely to misinterpret black speakers. “The technology that powers the nation’s leading automated speech recognition systems makes twice as many errors when interpreting words spoken by African Americans as when interpreting the same words spoken by whites, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford Engineering.”
EurekAlert: Russian trolls on Twitter polarized vaccination during 2016 election cycle. “During the 2016 election cycle, politically polarizing tweets by Russian trolls about vaccination included pro- and anti-vaccination messages targeted at people with specific political inclinations through an assortment of fake persona types, according to a new analysis published this month.” Good morning, Internet…
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Lots of good stuff in the New Resources section today. I’m only doing one of these newsletters a day so they’re going to be enormous. Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES
Analytics India: Google Launches India-Specific Website To Provide Up-to-date Covid-19 Information. “Amid this COVID-19 pandemic, in order to deliver comprehensive and accurate information to people, Google has launched an India-specific website on coronavirus. The site also shares information on how to stay productive during this time. Alongside, the website contains critical information that is required during this crisis, such as crucial helpline numbers, content about symptoms, protective measures, known treatments, and the latest global and Indian statistics.”
Facilities Management Journal: New database launched to keep UK supply chains moving. “The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has set up a database for organisations in urgent need of supply chain resources, to ensure the UK is able to respond to the coronavirus crisis. The database has been made up from information provided by industry, following CILT’s call to action for cross sector collaboration, to support the profession in making sure supply chains are able to respond quickly and efficiently to the ever changing landscape currently being faced.”
PassBlue: A New Tool Tracks Government Policies Responding to the Pandemic. “As the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, plagues the world, a new tool to track and compare how government policies are contending with the pandemic has been introduced by the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, in England. Called the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, it is available online at no cost and will be continuously updated ‘throughout the crisis,’ the press release introducing the tracker said. It launched on March 24, and now has data from 93 countries, including Britain, Canada, China, South Korea, Italy and the United States, some of the world’s hardest-hit nations by the pandemic.”
Yale News: New tool helps policymakers address COVID-19. “Led by Yale alumnus Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins ’13, D-Alaska, a team of data scientists and epidemiologists created a new digital tool examining the potential stresses of COVID-19 on state health care systems given different scenarios of intervention.”
KRON: Hasbro launches website to keep families busy during pandemic. “Hasbro wants to bring fun to families sitting out the pandemic together. The toy company is pointing parents and caregivers to its new website… where you will be able to find ideas and activities to keep kiddos occupied and entertained. The website also features resources to help families cope with stress, parenting articles and activity guides for parents and their children.”
JCK: New Website Rates Corporations’ Ethics During Coronavirus Pandemic. “The site has a single purpose—assigning ratings to companies (Target, General Electric, etc.), celebs and influencers (Gal Gadot, Andrew Yang), and corporate titans (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates) during the COVID-19 crisis by taking into account a wide range of do-goodery and bad behaviors.”
KOAM: New website in Kansas aimed to connect residents with jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 jobs site… allows employers from essential industries to post critical positions that need to be filled to support activities related to helping individuals and businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. The site, which is available at no cost to employers or job seekers, will be updated continuously as businesses add new jobs to the system.”
Gulf Times: Covid-19: QMC launches new website in English. “Within the framework of Qatar’s efforts to combat the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) has launched a new digital platform in English.”
StateScoop: A new website matches cities with pandemic help, but many aren’t ready for partnerships. “Jay Nath, co-CEO of the San Francisco-based civic technology nonprofit CityInnovate, was one of many last week to lend his services to local governments dealing with the spread of the novel coronavirus. But as Nath and his team quickly found out, some cities are spread too thin to even consider third-party solutions to resource shortages or technical assistance during the pandemic, which has so far killed more than 4,600 people in the U.S.”
Stanford News: New website explains how hospitals can decontaminate and reuse scarce N95 masks to fight COVID-19. “Today, a team of 60 scientists and engineers, students and clinicians, drawn from universities and the private sector, are unveiling N95decon.org, a website that synthesizes the scientific literature about mask decontamination to create a set of best practices to decontaminate and reuse this protective face covering during the current emergency.”
USEFUL STUFF
Hypable: J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter at Home’ digital hub offers resources for children and parents. “Harry Potter at Home combines the resources of publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic, Pottermore Publishing, leading spoken-word producer and provider Audible, library supplier OverDrive, and the content creators at WizardingWorld.com.”
Elle: How To Get The Most Out Of Video Call Apps So You Can Have All The Fun With Friends And Family From Zoom backgrounds, through to Houseparty games. “Before we begin, let’s all spare a thought for the new-to-filter-tech boss that got stuck looking like a potato the entire way through a Microsoft Teams call with her colleagues. Thanks mostly to Snapchat, putting filters on our faces before we call, send messages or post online has become totally de rigueur, whether to hide tired eyes behind a face-tuned, wide eyed Manga filter, or to provide the viewer a few laughs by appearing as a puppy, bunny, pumpkin or, now, pickle.”
News@Northeastern: Here’s How To Combat The Fear Caused By A Barrage Of Covid-19 News. “By now, much of the world is under some form of isolation in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19—a worthwhile effort, but one that can create some emotional distress, as well. The constant inundation of emotionally fraught images and information about the disease can drive a dramatic increase in our sense of fear, giving our minds the impression that we’re under constant threat, says David DeSteno, a psychology professor at Northeastern.”
TechRadar: Best virtual pub quiz: a great live online quiz for every day of the week. “We’re not exactly short of things to do at home right now, but one thing that Doom Eternal can’t provide is the human touch of a good old pub quiz. The solution? Our pick of the best virtual quizzes. Whether your preferred digital home is Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or Twitch, we’ve rounded up the best live online quizzes for those who want to show off their obscure knowledge to friends who are either quarantined in the same room, or just a Zoom or Houseparty call away.”
Bloomsburg University: Bloomsburg University to Host a Virtual Self-Care Summit. “Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania will hold a virtual self-care summit from April 5-10. The summit will give individuals the tools to manage stress, anxiety, and overall better self-care during challenging times. The event is free and open to the public and will be live streamed through Zoom and the Access and Success Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/buaccessandsuccess/ .”
SmartBrief: Free resources for educators during the coronavirus pandemic. “As educators in all 50 states shifted, rather abruptly, to virtual instruction amid school closures brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, companies and organizations serving this market stepped up to help. Here is a list of free tools, services and resources — divided by topic or subject area — aimed at helping educators keep their students learning and engaged. And don’t miss the And More section with links to even more curated lists of fabulous freebies and guides. We will update this story as more announcements break.” Nice roundup.
UPDATES
Free Press: £5m coronavirus fund for musicians runs dry after a week. “A £5 million hardship fund set up to tackle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on UK musicians has run dry after a week. The initiative, launched by the Help Musicians charity on March 25, has so far received 10,000 applications.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
Refinery29: April Fools’ Day Is Cancelled — Which Means No Internet Pranks, Folks. “At a time full of so much uncertainty, fear, isolation, and grief, the last thing we need circulating the internet are coronavirus-related pranks that could cause confusion or further spread the already rampant misinformation floating around about COVID-19. And what with everything else being cancelled due to coronavirus, why should April Fools’ Day be exempt? In some countries, including Thailand and India, making April Fools’ Day jokes about coronavirus or joking about having it can even be punishable by jail time.”
BBC: How to dine ‘out’ during Covid-19 . “All over the world, people affected by the coronavirus pandemic are turning to the internet and finding food-related ways to navigate this new territory together.”
Pace Chronicles: International student struggles with time zone changes amid virtual learning. “Pace’s remote-learning announcement created questions among students as the system has never been tested before. But for some international students, the situation is more complex. They turn on their computers despite their local time being far different than the Pace class times.”
Civil Eats: The Local Food Revolution Goes Online—for Now. “As peak harvest season approaches, growers have been scrambling to move their sales online, where orders can be fulfilled without face-to-face interaction, either for through traditional community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes or other creative models. At the same time, groups that support local food economies have also been working to direct consumers to these new systems so that they can continue to buy local food from home.”
France24: Social dis-dance: clubbing goes online as virus shuts nightspots. “Strobe lights flash across a near-empty dance floor, as a DJ live-streams thumping electronic music from a Singapore nightclub to revellers confined to their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak sweeping the globe has shuttered once lively nightspots from London to New York, but innovative DJs have started putting their performances online so clubbers don’t miss out.”
NPR: No Caps, No Gowns: For Many In The Class Of 2020, Commencement Is Called Off. “Administrators and college presidents are scrambling to figure out what to do about graduation this year. How can they acknowledge students’ hard work and success, while still maintaining social distancing amid the outbreak of coronavirus? Many colleges across the country have outright cancelled graduations, others, such as Harvard and Miami University in Ohio, have scheduled virtual ceremonies. Some students have taken things into their own hands and created their own ceremonies — on a reconstructed campus — through Minecraft.”
Indiana History Blog: Coping with Quarantine in a Pre-Digital Era. Read this and marvel over how much feels familiar. “At the height of World War I, Spanish Influenza ravaged Hoosier servicemen and servicewomen. Fortunately, city and health officials acted quickly in the fall of 1918, resulting in Indianapolis having one of the lowest casualty rates in the country, according to IHB historian Jill Weiss Simins. But how were Hoosiers’ daily lives impacted by the dread malady? As we can now relate, the public was consumed with news reports about the pandemic and resultant quarantine, which we will re-examine here via Newspapers.com and the freely-accessible Hoosier State Chronicles.”
AsiaOne: New Instagram pages dedicated to safe distancing markers pasted across Singapore. “Safe-distancing markers have essentially become an art form of its own, really, and now we’re all hardwired to position ourselves away from anything that’s been duct-taped. The surreal decor of our new reality is the focus of a new Instagram page…dedicated entirely to being a visual record of safe-distancing markers found across Singapore.”
London Free Press: No elevators or hugs: Coronavirus survivor now battling stigma. “Park Hyun stops to catch his breath after climbing a few steps to the entrance of the engineering college of the Pusan National University where he teaches. Despite a persistent shortness of breath, he uses the stairs and avoids elevators. Park was Busan’s ‘Patient 47,’ one of more than 5,000 South Koreans who have recovered from a coronavirus infection. But 25 days after testing negative for the second time, he is in a new battle – against the stigma of having had the virus.”
CNBC: How the Burning Man community is helping to get masks and other supplies to hospitals. “It’s still uncertain whether Burning Man, the annual arts festival held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, will operate this summer. But Burners are still gathering, albeit virtually, to donate supplies like masks for hospitals and others in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Men’s Health: Virtual Orgies Are Now a Thing and They’re as Wild as They Sound. “On a recent Saturday night, while you were hopefully self-isolating and watching Netflix, 60 people hit the internet to join a virtual orgy. The sex party was thrown by Shay and Ross, founders of Playscapes, a NYC-based sex club that describes itself as ‘an elite group of sex positive curated events for your entertainment and pleasure.'”
Pelham Daily Voice: COVID-19: What’s A Covidiot? Why’s It Trending On Social Media?. “The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has led to sweeping changes across the country, and now, even a new term: ‘covidiot.’ According to Urban Dictionary, a covidiot is ‘someone who ignores the warnings regarding public health or safety. A person who hoards goods, denying them from their neighbors.'”
RESEARCH
USDA: Rural Development Project Uses 3D Printing in Fight against COVID-19 Spread. “As Kentucky does its best to battle the spread of COVID-19, state officials and medical providers have been looking for ways to answer the increasing need for medical personal protective equipment. One of those responding in a big way here in Kentucky is a somewhat unlikely source: Somerset Community College.”
POLITICS AND SECURITY
CNET: Coronavirus stimulus scams are here. How to identify these new online and text attacks. “As with any public crisis, the spread of the coronavirus has created a new crop of hackers — targeting people who are awaiting their stimulus check, who are working from home and who are just trying to stay healthy. Add in April Fools’ Day and you need to be on guard against all kind of scams and misinformation found online, in your email inbox and even in your text messages.”
Reuters: ‘Things under control’: how Europe sleepwalked into the coronavirus crisis. “Barely a month before Europe embarked on a scramble for masks, ventilators and testing kits to fight coronavirus, governments told Brussels their healthcare systems were ready and there was no need to order more stocks, EU documents show. This rosy assessment is in stark contrast to the shortages of masks and medical equipment just a few weeks later, when the European Commission estimated needs across EU states to be 10 times higher than would usually be available.”
The Nation: Exclusive: The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming. “Despite President Trump’s repeated assertions that the Covid-19 epidemic was ‘unforeseen’ and ‘came out of nowhere,’ the Pentagon was well aware of not just the threat of a novel influenza, but even anticipated the consequent scarcity of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds, according to a 2017 Pentagon plan obtained by The Nation.”
ABC7 News: Beverly Hills Police Department finds 192 rolls of toilet paper in stolen vehicle. “After conducting a traffic stop on a stolen vehicle, the Beverly Hills Police Department found something unexpected… 192 rolls of toilet paper.”
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Set up HootSuite, so now tweets about these resources will appear on both my @ResearchBuzz Twitter account and @buzz_corona . Hope this newsletter is doing somebody some good and all y’all are feeling okay. I’m only doing one of these newsletters a day so they’re going to be enormous. Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES
Spotted on Reddit: Coronavirus Phishing Scams. “Hackers are taking advantage of the coronavirus chaos to trick people into handing over personal details, sensitive information and money. Hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 emails are being sent every week and some cyber security experts say the virus has become the largest theme for phishing scams in years, if not ever. This site collates them and categorises them by attributes.”
CNET: Facebook rolls out tool to make it easier to help during the coronavirus outbreak. “Called Community Help and released in the US and four other countries on Tuesday, the online hub displays fundraisers and posts from Facebook users within 50 miles of their location who are requesting or offering assistance. Users can filter posts by categories such as supplies, transportation and business support, making it easier for them to connect with the right person or volunteer group. People on Facebook are already using features such as groups to help out, but the new Community Help tool will display all this information in one place.”
ABC News: ‘Calling all scientists’: Experts volunteer for virus fight. “Michael Wells was looking for a chance to use his scientific training to help fight the coronavirus when — on the same day the pandemic forced his lab to temporarily close — he decided to create his own opportunity. ‘CALLING ALL SCIENTISTS,’ he tweeted on March 18. ‘Help me in creating a national database of researchers willing and able to aid in local COVID-19 efforts. This info will be a resource for institutions/(government) agencies upon their request.’ That’s how the 34-year-old neuroscientist at the Broad Institute and Harvard University launched a national effort to marshal scientists to volunteer in the fight against the virus.”
CNET: Comcast launches home schooling resources on Xfinity. “Comcast has announced bringing 2,000 hours of kids’ shows and movies to Xfinity on Demand streaming video customers for free. It’s part of the internet provider’s aim of providing educational content available for children and parents self-isolating or quarantining at home during the spread of the coronavirus.”
EurekAlert: D-Wave provides free quantum cloud access for global response to COVID-19. “D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, today announced the immediate availability of free access to its quantum systems via the Leap quantum cloud service for anyone working on responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Joining the effort are partners and customers including CINECA, DENSO, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Kyocera Corporation, KYOCERA Communication Systems, MDR/Cliffhanger, Menten AI, NEC Solution Innovators Ltd., OTI Lumionics, QAR Lab at LMU Munich, Sigma-i, Tohoku University, and Volkswagen, who will provide access to engineering teams with expertise on how to use the quantum computer and formulate problems, as well as help in developing solutions.”
A newly-open archive: Baseball Digest. From the front page: “As fans await the return of Baseball on the field, Baseball Digest has unlocked its archive and made its complete inventory of more than 800 issues from 1942 through 2019 available to baseball fans at no cost online. We hope during these unprecedented times this may, in some small way, help fill the void until we can all return to the ballpark.”
BusinessWire: National Labor Exchange Launches Job Resource to Support Displaced Workers During Pandemic (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, nonprofits DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), announce the launch of NeedAJobNow.USNLx.com, a job site dedicated to providing a centralized location for displaced workers to access employment opportunities from U.S. corporations with immediate hiring needs due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Powered by the National Labor Exchange (NLx), the site houses jobs from vetted employers in all industries and provides an opportunity for Americans to return to work and gain meaningful employment.”
PR Newswire: Clinical Trial Media Introduces New Website, Covid19ClinicalTrial. com (PRESS RELEASE). “The website is designed to help average people make sense of the ever-changing research landscape of the global COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic. The website will provide useful information and some much-needed hope, all based on facts and scientific studies, regarding how clinical research is evolving and leading the charge for a vaccine and treatment.”
Morocco World News: CGEM Guides Moroccan Companies Through COVID-19 Crisis Via New Website. “The bilingual platform, available in Arabic and French, offers regularly-updated information and advice for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The website also contains the latest coronavirus-related news such as the number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco, along with the various initiatives launched to support Moroccan companies and entrepreneurs.”
WRAL: New website helps consumers find local farmers selling meat in bulk. “To help address the increased demand for meat and higher prices due to Covid-19, NC Choices, a program of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and NC Cooperative Extension, launched MeatSuite.com. Through the MeatSuite.com website, consumers can find nearby local farms selling pasture-raised meat in bulk quantities.” Oddly, this site is available for just North Carolina and New York.
NASA: #NASAatHome – Let NASA Bring the Universe to Your Home. “NASA at Home offers something for the whole family. It brings together a repository of binge-worthy videos and podcasts, engaging E-books on a variety of topics, do-it-yourself projects, and virtual and augmented reality tours, which include the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station, as well as an app that puts you in the pilot’s seat of a NASA aircraft.”
Irish Legal News: New website tracks use of online courts amid coronavirus pandemic. “Legal technologist Professor Richard Susskind, who is president of the Society for Computers and Law, said remotecourts.org is ‘designed to help the global community of justice workers – judges, lawyers, court officials, litigants, court technologists – to share their experiences of “remote” alternatives to traditional court hearings’.”
TechCrunch: Wide Open School organizes free educational resources to help parents and teachers homeschool. “Nearly 300 million kids are missing school worldwide because of the coronavirus outbreak, including some 54 million in the U.S. alone. That’s left parents scrambling for resources to help continue their children’s education, often while also working from home themselves — an almost insurmountable challenge. Today, the nonprofit media organization Common Sense is launching a site to help parents.”
StateScoop: New York City launches portal to crowdsource COVID-19 information. “New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications this week launched a new website aimed at getting residents to contribute to the city’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic by self-reporting symptoms or encounters with people who may have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 illness.”
PR Newswire: Sterile Processing Platform, oneSOURCE, Creates Free Database to Address COVID-19 Pandemic (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, oneSOURCE, a leading healthcare management solution, announced a new database to assist healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic. The COVID-19 database will be available to new and current users at no cost and will feature tools that include instructions for use (IFUs) to help protect healthcare workers, reduce community spread and maintain patient safety related to ventilators, respirators, bypass machines, and reusable surgical gowns.”
USEFUL STUFF
SiriusXM: Howard Stern Announces Free Access To Full SiriusXM Premier Streaming Service Through May 15. “Listeners will have free access to more than 300 channels of dynamic programming, featuring the acclaimed TheHoward Stern Show, hundreds of exclusive ad-free music channels, and vital news and information sources. SiriusXM is also adding entirely new curated content, and bringing back some beloved music channels by top artists. #StayHome Radio, a feel-good, ad-free music channel, will launch April 1 on the streaming platform and channel 179 on most SiriusXM radios. The channel will feature happy and uplifting songs from artists like Lizzo and Coldplay to P!nk and Bob Marley.” A credit card will not be required to access the content.
TechRepublic: IBM providing 9 free public cloud business services to customers during coronavirus pandemic. “With more and more companies seeking ways to get their essential work done with a workforce that is now primarily home-based during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, IBM has joined a legion of IT vendors that have been offering some of their critical IT applications and services for free to existing customers to help in this time of crisis.”
Inside the Magic: British Library Makes “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” Exhibit Available Online For Free. “The British Library has decided to make its exhibit: ‘Harry Potter: A History of Magic’ available online so everyone magic-born and muggle alike can have a chance to experience it during the current crisis.”
3DPrint: The Possibilities of 3D Printing for COVID-19, Part One. “At the moment, there are news stories about various ways that 3D printing is being used to address the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Many of these stories are being sent to us directly, hoping to spread the word. For this reason, we will be publishing a series of articles discussing some of the ways that additive manufacturing (AM) has so far served medical efforts. However, it’s important during a time of overwhelming media hype and disinformation that we look at these stories with a critical eye.” Up to nine parts at this writing. Extensive.
CNET: Coronavirus unemployment: Everything you need to know about payments, applying and more. “If you’ve never lost a job or been furloughed, the COVID-19 outbreak might have changed that for you. More than 3 million Americans filed for unemployment the week ending March 21. But that number doesn’t reflect the magnitude of people who are financially suffering right now. Normally, filing for unemployment doesn’t account for those who are self-employed, part-time workers or independent contractors.”
Snopes: Did Johns Hopkins Publish This ‘Excellent Summary’ of COVID-19 Advice?. “This is not something produced by Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM). We have seen rumors and misinformation about COVID-19 citing our experts and circulating on social media, and we have received several inquiries from the general public about these posts. We do not know their origin, and they lack credibility.”
UPDATES
Washington Post: CDC considering recommending general public wear face coverings in public. “Should we all be wearing masks? That simple question is under review by officials in the U.S. government and has sparked a grass-roots pro-mask movement. But there’s still no consensus on whether widespread use of facial coverings would make a significant difference, and some infectious disease experts worry that masks could lull people into a false sense of security and make them less disciplined about social distancing.”
BBC: Coronavirus: Three out of four Americans under some form of lockdown. “About three out of four Americans are now, or about to be, under some form of lockdown, as more states tighten measures to fight the coronavirus. Maryland, Virginia, Arizona and Tennessee became the latest states to order citizens to stay at home, meaning 32 of 50 states have taken such steps. Meanwhile governors are quarrelling with President Donald Trump about the availability of testing kits.”
Reuters: Google Japan defends impartiality of search results amid lockdown rumors. “Google (GOOGL.O) on Tuesday defended the impartiality of its search results after users in Japan seeking to corroborate rumors of an imminent state of emergency declaration by the government were met with no results on its website. Climbing coronavirus cases in Tokyo have seen politicians call for residents to reduce social mixing and have led to a slew of messages circulating on social media asserting a broader lockdown is imminent.”
CNET: UK developing coronavirus-tracking app to ease lockdown restrictions. “A report by Sky News on Tuesday described how NHSX, the innovation arm of the UK’s National Health Service, has teamed with US company Pivotal to develop the app, which could be released when the British government eases the current lockdown restrictions. According to Sky, people will have to opt in to use the app, though the NHS hopes at least 50% of the population will choose to do so.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
BBC: Coronavirus outbreak: Teddy bear hunt helps distract kids under lockdown. “A mass teddy bear hunt is under way around the world to help distract the millions of children locked down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Stuffed toys are being placed in windows to give children a fun and safe activity while walking around their neighbourhood with parents.”
Slate: “I Would Just Love to Put My Arms Around Everybody”. “Two years ago, I talked to Gertrude Johnson Howard—who is now 84 years old and lives in Phoenix—for Slate’s ‘Interview With an Old Person’ series. (It’s exactly what it sounds like.) Our conversation stuck with me because of Johnson Howard’s candor, vivid memories, and spirited optimism. In this moment of widespread uncertainty and fear, as older people are being told with particular urgency to stay indoors and isolated, I checked back in to see how she was processing everything. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.”
CNET: Marvel and DC grind to a halt due to coronavirus lockdown. “Both Marvel and DC have delayed their April 1 comic releases due to the coronavirus outbreak. Following distributor Diamond’s decision to stop shipping print comics to retailers last week, the two publishers opted to stop or cut back on their digital releases as well, as previously reported by CNET sister site Comicbook.com.”
CNN: Doctors turn to Twitter and TikTok to share coronavirus news. “Ali Raja spends his nine-hour shifts in the emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital treating gunshot wounds, sprained ankles, heart attacks and now a growing number of coronavirus cases. But before the emergency physician steps on to his long shift and after he’s done, he’s on Twitter, usually for at least an hour a day.”
The Hindu: COVID-19: Social media overrun by DIY standing desks during lockdown. “With people around the world working from home during the ongoing lockdown, ergonomics is still taken seriously as they try fashion their own standing desks.”
Associated Press: Funding for various Olympic committees might dry up. “The postponement of the Tokyo Games has catapulted the sports organizations that make up the backbone of the U.S. Olympic team into crisis. At least one already has started layoffs and others are desperate to stay solvent. Some are expecting a major downturn in membership dues, while others are reeling from event cancellations totaling more than 8,000 across all sports.”
US News & World Report: Many Schools Are Not Providing Any Instruction Amid Closures. “WITH SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR more than 55 million children across the country – and shuttered for the rest of the academic year in seven states – school district leaders are scrambling to establish some kind of distance learning routine.”
Malta Today: Can our cultural sector survive the pandemic?. “Government’s revised covid-19 economic recovery package did offer some relief to self-employed artists by even acknowledging them as members of Malta’s workforce, but in speaking to stakeholders in the industry TEODOR RELJIC finds that the onset of the virus may have brought to the fore some already existing challenges for creative professionals on the island.”
ZDNet: Debian Linux readies an anti-coronavirus hack-a-thon. “Open-source programmers and engineers have been working on a wide variety of projects to beat coronavirus. These range from hospital management programs to speeding up drug development to building inexpensive ventilators. Now, Debian Linux, one of the oldest and largest Linux distribution communities, is throwing its programming resources behind a hack-a-thon trying to beat COVID-19.”
School Library Journal: The Publishing Industry Adapts to COVID-19 While Offering Support. “The COVID-19 pandemic has kicked off a series of changes in the American book world that may well lead to permanent changes down the line. Among the most immediate effects were the closing of numerous bookstores, while others shifted to curbside delivery only; the cancellation or postponement of major events, including Book Expo America and the American Library Association’s Annual Conference; and a shift toward digital media and online events.”
RESEARCH
National Geographic: Key ingredient in coronavirus tests comes from Yellowstone’s lakes. “MICROBIOLOGIST THOMAS BROCK was tramping through Yellowstone in the 1960s when he stumbled upon a species of bacteria that would transform medical science. Brock was investigating the tiny life-forms that manage to eke out a living in the superheated waters of the park’s thermal pools. There, he and a student found golden mats of stringy growth in Yellowstone’s Mushroom Spring containing a microbe that produces unusual heat-resistant enzymes.”
Phys .org: How to quickly and efficiently identify huge gene data sets to help coronavirus research. “Thanks to the advancement of sequencing technology, it’s possible to produce massive amounts of genome sequence data on various species. It’s crucial to examine pan-genomic data—the entire set of genes possessed by all members of a particular species—particularly in areas like bacteria and virus research, investigation of drug resistance mechanisms and vaccine development. For example, why is the coronavirus resistant to common drugs? Can big data help to rapidly identify the characteristics of such novel virus strains? A group of researchers supported by the EU-funded PANGAIA project is now tackling this challenge by developing methods for comparing gigantic gene data sets.”
CNET: Can zinc protect you from the coronavirus? Don’t believe this myth. “As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, many people are hunkering down and buying as many supplies as possible to last them through a quarantine. You’ve probably already heard of the toilet paper and hand sanitizer shortages, but if you take a trip to your local drugstore you may see an unusual product missing: zinc supplements. People are flocking to zinc supplements because of an email that virologist and pathologist James Robb wrote to family and friends in late February advising them on common-sense ways to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus.”
The Guardian: Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing coronavirus device. “An Australian astrophysicist has been admitted to hospital after getting four magnets stuck up his nose in an attempt to invent a device that stops people touching their faces during the coronavirus outbreak.”
FUNNY
From the always-great xkcd: Pathogen Resistance.
POLITICS AND SECURITY
San Francisco Chronicle: Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy. “The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating. The unusual plea from Capt. Brett Crozier, a Santa Rosa native, came in a letter obtained exclusively by The Chronicle and confirmed by a senior officer on board the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam following a COVID-19 outbreak among the crew of more than 4,000 less than a week ago.”
Boston Globe: Warren to feds: Why did you take Massachusetts’ medical supplies?. “Senator Elizabeth Warren is pressing federal officials for answers on why they seized at least two of Massachusetts’ recent orders for protective equipment, charging that it appears they are still interfering with states’ efforts to track down medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic.”
Radio Farda: Exclusive Report Shows Higher Coronavirus Infection, Death Rates In Iran. “An exclusive report by Radio Farda puts the number of those who have been hospitalized with coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms in Iran at over 70,000 people, will over the official figure of positive cases. The report which sums up the figures released by local officials and the Health Ministry in Tehran as well as media reports says 70,108 patients with clinical symptoms of COVID-19 have been hospitalized in Iran’s 31 provinces, while as many as 4,762 people have died as of March 31.”
POLICE: Exclusive POLICE Survey: Officers Speak Out About Coronavirus. “An exclusive POLICE survey of law enforcement officers working during the coronavirus crisis paints a picture of the nation’s police as not always properly equipped to protect themselves from the disease, confused by their commanders’ and political leaders’ rules of engagement, and praying the conditions they now face are not the new normal.”
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NEW RESOURCES
USPTO: USPTO launches the Expanding Innovation Hub, a new online platform to encourage greater participation in the patent system. “Today, as part of Women’s History Month, the USPTO has officially launched the Expanding Innovation Hub (‘the Hub’), an online platform available on the USPTO website that provides resources for inventors and practitioners to encourage greater participation in the patent system.”
Drone Life: Attorney Launches Drone Legal Database. “As drone technology flies into more aspects of everyday living, legal conflicts are sure to follow. Florida-based aviation attorney Jonathan Rupprecht decided to take a crack at bringing order to the chaos, releasing an online database of drone-related legal activity.”
MIT: 3 Questions: Ritu Raman on the Women in Innovation and STEM Database at MIT. “The Women in Innovation and STEM Database at MIT (WISDM) has relaunched in time for Women’s History Month. First created by Koch Institute postdoc Ritu Raman in 2018 as a way for women to gain visibility by providing a platform for female speakers at MIT, the updated site, powered by the MIT Innovation Initiative, enhances that functionality on a newly-designed platform offering an online space for community, collaboration, and visibility.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
MakeUseOf: Anchor Makes It Easier to Record Podcasts With Friends. “There has never been a better time to start a podcast. With many countries in lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19, recording a podcast is a more productive use of your time than watching Netflix 24/7. And Anchor wants to help you get started podcasting. Everyone either already has a podcast, or has ambitions to start one. However, talking into a microphone by yourself isn’t as much fun as chatting with friends. Which is where Anchor’s Record With Friends 2.0 comes in, making remote podcasting a breeze.”
BetaNews: Now it’s easier to see just what data Facebook and Instagram are collecting about you. “It’s no secret that Facebook gathers staggering amounts of information about its users across its various products. This is something that many people just accept, but there is a slight discomfort in not knowing quite what is being collected. To add a little balm to this aching fear, Facebook has announced updates to its Download Your Information tool on Facebook and Download Your Data tool on Instagram.”
Sometimes I really wonder about these headlines. Vulture: I Can’t Wait to Bully My Friends With Instagram’s New Group Video Chat Feature. “In an attempt to entertain people who are bored or anxious or sad at home, Instagram announced several new features this week. (To those of you who are bored or anxious or sad at home because you are in a position to be able to stay home … thank you for doing so.)”
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
24/7 Sports: Digital football archive a labor of love for Washington SID. “For those of us who are considered ‘non-essential’ workers but don’t work from home and have been ordered to shelter in place, this can be a time to catch up on all sorts of things. Clean the house, organize your papers, catch up on correspondence, cross books off your ‘must-read’ list. For Washington Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications Jeff Bechthold (or Sports Information Director (SID), for short), he doesn’t mind sprinkling in a little bit of work during his forced hiatus. That’s because he’s taken on the task of updating and digitizing Washington’s vast football archive.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
BetaNews: Click-fraud malware found lurking in more than 50 Play Store apps. “Researchers at Check Point have identified an auto-clicker malware family operating inside the Google’s Play Store. Disguised in over 56 applications and downloaded over 1,000,000 times globally, the malware — dubbed ‘Tekya’ — commits mobile ad fraud by imitating the actions of a user, clicking ads and banners from ad agencies like Google’s AdMob, AppLovin’, Facebook, and Unity.”
CNET: Marriott discloses new data breach impacting 5.2 million guests. “Marriott International on Tuesday said names, mailing addresses, loyalty account numbers and other personal information of an estimated 5.2 million guests may have been exposed in a data breach.”
RESEARCH & OPINION
The Next Web: Dubious claims that AI outperforms doctors pose risk to ‘millions of patients,’ study finds. “AI‘s ability to analyze X-rays, MRIs, and other scans has led it to be hyped up as the future of medical imaging. But patients remain reluctant to use it, as they believe only humans can understand their unique needs. Turns out they might be right.”
EurekAlert: Microbiome search engine can increase efficiency in disease detection and diagnosis. “Big data makes big promises when it comes to providing insights into human behavior and health. The problem is how to harness the information it provides in an efficient manner. An international team of researchers has proposed a microbiome search-based method, via Microbiome Search Engine (MSE), to analyze the wealth of available health data to detect and diagnose human diseases.”
Everybody’s Libraries: Build a better registry: My intended comments to the Library of Congress on the next Register of Copyrights. “The Library of Congress is seeking public input on abilities and priorities desired for the next Register of Copyrights, who heads the Copyright Office, a department within the Library of Congress. The deadline for comments as I write this is March 20, though I’m currently having trouble getting the form to accept my input, and operations at the Library, like many other places, are in flux due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below I reproduce the main portion of the comments I’m hoping to get in before the deadline, in the hope that they will be useful for both them and others interested in copyright. I’ve added a few hyperlinks for context.” Good afternoon, Internet…
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