Processor makers double down on Azure RTOS for embedded IoT

Several processor manufacturers are expanding their partnerships with Microsoft, adding new Azure RTOS embedded development platforms.

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Friday CoronaBuzz, April 3, 2020: 44 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Friday CoronaBuzz, April 3, 2020: 44 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES

BusinessWire: The American Hospital Association and AVIA Launch New Tool to Support Members on the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Crisis: Introducing the COVID-19 Digital Response Pulse (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, the American Hospital Association (AHA) & AVIA are reaching out to all AHA members with a new tool for rapid, critical support to deal with COVID-19. The nationwide roll out of the COVID-19 Digital Response Pulse to all 5,000 members of the AHA provides a free online tool that allows hospitals and health systems to immediately assess critical digital capabilities they will need to meet the challenges of COVID-19 over the weeks and months ahead, and links directly to further information about how members can access and implement the solutions they select.”

The Next Web: This startup made a coronavirus knowledge graph to help doctors with diagnosis. “The freely available tool is powered by an AI engine, which was fed more than 2,000 papers and articles sourced from the medical library PubMed. It allows doctors and researchers to devise a score from various symptoms to decide if a patient is at high risk of moving to a critical stage.”

University of Alabama at Birmingham: New coronavirus symptom tracker launches to improve disease tracking in rural communities across Deep South. “As the Deep South sees a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, experts from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have created a symptom checker to identify hot spots where the virus is spreading. The new website, HelpBeatCOVID19.org, will provide public health officials insight into underserved areas based on the symptomatic data collected from the region and could help inform and enhance public health observation.”

EurekAlert: Coronavirus overview: Here’s the app you were looking for. “There is nothing quite like a quarantine to make one itch to do something useful. Three PhD students from the Department of Mathematical Sciences have done just that. The trio of statisticians have repurposed their tedium and isolation to develop a web app that provides an overview of the coronavirus pandemic in Denmark and across the globe, in a way that is more interactive than other maps and statistics.”

Catholic Philly: Catholic community across U.S. praying live, on YouTube. “The number of Masses, Stations of the Cross, meditations and other devotions being livestreamed by dioceses, parishes and other groups around country continues to grow. In addition, an online database called ‘With Your Spirit’… lists livestreamed Masses around the country and allows Catholics to add Masses and other online services they know of to the database, which has been compiled by Michael Bayer, director of evangelization and adult formation at St. Clement Catholic Church in Chicago, with the help of many volunteers.”

Future of Privacy: FPF Offers New Resources on Privacy and Pandemics. “Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released a collection of  new publications and resources  to help governments, educators, researchers, companies, and other organizations navigate essential privacy questions regarding the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Global leaders responding to the coronavirus pandemic are increasingly relying on data from individuals and communities to analyze the virus’ progression, deploy resources, and make policy decisions.”

9News: New website provides opportunities to help Non-profits in Colorado. “GroundFloor Media, a public relations firm in Denver, wanted to match people who have some extra time right now, with non-profits in Colorado that are really hurting to meet the community need amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

Berkeley News: New live online COVID-19 series connects experts with public. “Across the UC Berkeley campus, researchers are rising to meet the complex challenges of COVID-19, even as the crisis generates waves of news and information that can be confusing and contradictory at times. In response, the university is launching a new online video series, ‘Berkeley Conversations: COVID-19,’ to connect our experts with the public and each other. Through Q&As, seminars, and panel discussions, faculty from a wide range of disciplines – from epidemiology to economics to the computing and data now undergirding their work – will share what they know, and what they are learning.”

BusinessWire: CTA, ATA Launch Directory of Telehealth Technologies Amid COVID-19 Pandemic (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® and American Telemedicine Association (ATA) launched a new website of telehealth technology solutions amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The website, TechHealthDirectory.com, is developed and hosted in conjunction with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and features a growing list of digital health resources – from remote monitoring to telemedicine – to assist the health care industry during the coronavirus outbreak.”

Texas A&M: Texas A&M, NC State Researchers Develop Online Tool For Covid-19 Risk Assessment. “The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis, and government and health care organizations around the world are generating vast amounts of data and models to help inform decisions. However, the majority of impactful decisions on how to handle the crisis are made at the local level, where consistent access and analysis of the data and models can be challenging. To help solve this issue, a team of researchers from Texas A&M University and North Carolina State University have created an online dashboard, the COVID-19 Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI), located at https://toxpi.org/covid-19/map/, to assist local, state, and federal authorities in making decisions about ‘hot-spots’ in COVID-19.”

University of Texas at Austin: New Online Resources Available for Deaf Students During COVID-19. “USTIN, Texas — Parents and educators can make online learning accessible for deaf and hard of hearing students during the COVID-19 pandemic with new online resources from the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes at the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin.”

USEFUL STUFF

Phys .org: Routine and learning games: How to make sure your dog doesn’t get canine cabin fever. “Staying home and not socializing your dogs, most notably puppies, risks them becoming afraid of unfamiliar people and other dogs. This, combined with a being in an urban environment for a long time, relative inactivity, and sub-optimal training activities, could set up a COVID-19 generation of dogs who aren’t equipped for urban and suburban living. And considering the biggest killer of dogs under three years old is behavioral euthanasia, it’s important to take steps to enrich your dog’s environment.”

WP Beginner: How to Run a Virtual Classroom Online with WordPress (Tools). “Luckily, there are easy tools that allow you to run a virtual classroom online without any special technical skills. In this article, we’ll be showing you how to setup a virtual classroom and teach an online class with WordPress.”

CNET: 10 free Zoom alternative apps for video chats. “Stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic? Use these videoconferencing options to keep in touch with family, friends and your workplace.”

e-flux: Italian museums, art galleries, foundations and fairs respond to COVID-19. “The organizations collected here have joined the #iorestoacasa social campaign by promoting virtual initiatives with the aim of establishing a stronger dialogue with the public and jointly fighting the spread of COVID-19. Their new digital programs range in topic and approach: from deep dives into the archive to daily art lessons for kids, from artists’ responses to the crisis to new ways to find community through art, these organizations have re-purposed their websites and social media channels to ensure that art remain a relavent, productive, and positive force during these challenging times.”

Variety: HBO Will Stream 500 Hours of Free Programming, Including Full Seasons of ‘Veep,’ ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Silicon Valley’. “The WarnerMedia-owned premium cabler is making almost 500 hours of programming available to stream for free (without ads) for a limited time on HBO Now and HBO Go services without a subscription, starting this Friday, April 3.”

Broadway World: Belarus Free Theatre Opens Up Its Digital Archive To Share 24 Theatrical Productions From The Past 15 Years. “2020 marks the 15th anniversary of Belarus Free Theatre (BFT), the foremost refugee-led theatre company in the UK and the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. Ahead of the announcement of the full programme of BFT’s 15th anniversary celebrations, and in response to the virus pandemic, the company will open up its digital archive to make 24 acclaimed stage productions free to watch online, alongside the launch of a new fairy-tale-inspired campaign: #LoveOverVirus.”

Consequence of Sound: Quarantine Livestreams: A List of Live Virtual Concerts to Watch. “With all tours and events grounded because of the coronavirus, artists have been using livestreaming to stay close to their fans. Below, you’ll find an updated list of livestreams scheduled for the coming days and details on how to watch them. In particular, fans can catch Dave Matthews, Neil Young, Charli XCX, Miley Cyrus, Ben Gibbard, Rufus Wainwright, Peter Bjorn and John, Big Freedia, Christine and the Queens, Amanda Shires, and more.”

UPDATES

BBC: Zoom boss apologises for security issues and promises fixes. “Zoom is to pause the development of any new features to concentrate on safety and privacy issues, in the wake of criticism from users of the app. In a blog, the chief executive of the video conferencing app apologised for ‘falling short’ on security issues and promised to address concerns.”

CNET: Google pledges $6.5 million to fight misinformation online. “Google has announced plans to donate $6.5 million to fighting misinformation online. The funds, which will go to fact-checkers and other nonprofits fighting misinformation, will have a primary focus on responding to the coronavirus crisis.”

CNET: Amazon restricts sale of N95 face masks, surgical gloves to the public. “Amazon has stopped selling some face masks, antibacterial wipes and other hard-to-find health care products to the general public, saying it’ll sell these items only to governments and health providers during the coronavirus pandemic.”

Reuters: Google to allow some advertisers to run coronavirus-related ads. ” Alphabet Inc’s Google will begin to allow some advertisers to run ads relating to the coronavirus on its platforms, in a change to its rules on ads around ‘sensitive events,’ according to a copy of a memo to advertising clients seen by Reuters.”

Winnipeg Free Press: DiCaprio, others launch $12M coronavirus relief food fund. “Leonardo DiCaprio will help launch America’s Food Fund, which has already raised $12 million to help communities impacted by the coronavirus. The organization said Thursday that the funds will be aimed to help low-income families, the elderly, individuals facing job disruptions and children who rely on school lunch programs.”

WLNY: Coronavirus Update: All New Yorkers Can Now Get Free Meals; COVID-19 Food Czar Kathryn Garcia Discusses Her ‘Biggest Concern’. “Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that all New York City residents can now get free meals at one of the city’s 435 grab-and-go food locations at schools.”

Slashgear: That 2-minute coronavirus test FDA approval was a “misunderstanding”. “After claiming they’d received FDA authorization for a 2-minute coronavirus antibody test earlier this week, a company called Bodysphere just changed their tune. They made clear in their press release released at the tail end of March, 2020, that the Food and Drug Administration had approved their coronavirus (COVID-19) testing kit. It all seemed too good to be true. Turns out, it was.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

CNN: Kansas City’s WWI Museum is avoiding layoffs by giving employees thousands of pages from its archives to digitize. “A museum in Kansas City, Missouri is avoiding laying off its employees during the coronavirus pandemic by giving some of them a big project to take on. The National WWI Museum and Memorial said it is moving 10 of its employees to a team dedicated to digitizing thousands of letters, diaries and journals.”

BetaNews: Grand National goes virtual to give fans their racing fix. “The Grand National is a highlight of the British sporting calendar. An event that prompts people who never normally bet on a horse race to venture a few pounds at the bookies or take part in a workplace sweepstake. With this year’s race canceled due to the coronavirus it looked like they might miss out, but virtual reality is coming to the rescue.”

Glamour: Please stop the ‘Smugsolation’: The boastful new social media trend that sees people flaunting their quarantine privilege. “Smugsolation: (noun) the act of quarantining oneself during a global crisis in an enviable location (penthouse, townhouse, mansion, villa, 15-bedroom ancestral country seat) with expensive foods, booze and/or adorable pets and outdoor space and proceeding to broadcast said situation on social media (see also: tone deaf).”

Nylon: High Fashion Houses Are Launching Social Media Projects For Fans At Home. “Fashion houses are finding ways to keep the creativity going, even while working from home. Alexander McQueen, Balmain, and Bottega Veneta have all launched new initiatives all meant to thrive while the world is in isolation. On Wednesday, Alexander McQueen announced the McQueen Creators project, inviting fans to offer new interpretations of classic McQueen pieces presented through social media. For the first week, fans are encouraged to sketch, paint, or color the rose dress from its Fall 2019 collection, with some to be featured on Alexander McQueen’s Instagram page.”

Vice: DIY Pandemic Haircuts Are the Latest Social Media Trend. “In the latest social media trend in this period of social distancing, people are collectively grabbing the nearest pair of scissors and hacking at their hair. While many rocked their new hairdos, the impulse makeovers didn’t go too well for others.”

The Guardian: Finland enlists social influencers in fight against Covid-19. “Finland has enlisted social influencers in the government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that they are just as useful as mainstream media in a crisis when it needs to inform the population fast, clearly and accurately.”

School Library Journal: School Librarians Can Help During Crisis, But Some Fear Being Shut Out. “April is School Library Month but instead of creating brilliant book displays and highlighting their contributions, school librarians across the country are struggling to find their place in remote learning forced by the coronavirus pandemic. This is a situation prime for their expertise, but many themselves frustrated and on the sidelines of administrative decisions and lesson planning.”

The Guardian: Getty uses remote working in effort to preserve photo archive. “Millions of images – including never-before-seen shots of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – are being preserved remotely as one of the largest photography archives in the world attempts to prevent damage during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Getty Images archive in Canning Town, east London, holds 80m photographs and negatives, some of which are more than 100 years old and need careful preservation and protection to stop them quickly degrading.”

Reuters: The religious retreat that sparked India’s major coronavirus manhunt. “It was late on Sunday night when officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh received the alert. Federal authorities said they needed to track down more than 1,000 people linked to a large Muslim missionary gathering nearly 2,000 km away in the capital New Delhi. Authorities in Andhra Pradesh, a region of about 50 million people, used cell phone towers, government databases and even village volunteers over the next five days to find almost everyone on the list — from attendees to the people they had been in close contact to fellow travellers.”

Thank you Wallace S! From the New Yorker: The Great Zoom-School Experiment. “All across the world, students and parents are involved in a vast cyber-education experiment. Public schools in forty-six U.S. states have closed, and New York City’s 1.1 million public-school students have moved to remote learning, many using iPads and Chromebooks distributed by the city. Day-care centers were doing sing-alongs and circle time via video chat. Parents were moonlighting as technical assistants and home-school instructors.”

RESEARCH

WKYC: Researchers at Case Western Reserve University testing map that assess COVID-19 risk in real time. “The coronavirus pandemic has researchers around the world working in overdrive to create solutions to lessen and ultimately eliminate the impacts of the crippling disease. New developments are being released everyday, including from right here in Northeast Ohio. On Wednesday, researchers at Case Western Reserve University announced that they have developed a new tool to help citizens better assess the risk of COVID-19 based on geographic location, in real-time.”

The Conversation: Meet ‘Sara’, ‘Sharon’ and ‘Mel’: why people spreading coronavirus anxiety on Twitter might actually be bots. “COVID-19 is being described as the first major pandemic of the social media age. In troubling times, social media helps distribute vital knowledge to the masses. Unfortunately, this comes with myriad misinformation, much of which is spread through social media bots. These fake accounts are common on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They have one goal: to spread fear and fake news.”

EurekAlert: Arkansas researchers developing prediction models for coronavirus. “Data science professor Justin Zhan is collaborating with University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences professors David Ussery and Xuming Zhang to develop accurate predictions of genomic variation trends of coronavirus.”

South China Morning Post: Researchers target bat genes in quest for drug to combat Covid-19. “A multinational research team has identified a gene inhibitor in bats that could have potential in the search for antiviral drugs to treat the pandemic disease Covid-19. In a research paper published online on Monday, scientists from China, Singapore and the United States said carolacton, which inhibits a specific bat gene, could help suppress the infection of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.”

FUNNY

Geeks are Sexy: Samuel L. Jackson reads “Stay the F**k at Home”. “While Jimmy is in quarantine, he checks in with the great Samuel L. Jackson at his home. Sam talks about canceling his trip to Italy with Magic Johnson, Jimmy wanting to be a part of their annual vacation, watching ‘Tiger King’ with his daughter, the go-to meal he likes to cook himself, and with all the social distancing demands and calls to stay indoors, Sam delivers an important message to everyone – ‘Stay the F**k at Home!’ ”

POLITICS AND SECURITY

NPR: Exclusive: California Company Under Scrutiny For ‘At-Home’ Coronavirus Test Claims. “With government authorities warning an anxious public about scams related to the coronavirus, a California company is facing scrutiny by members of Congress and the city attorney of Los Angeles for selling COVID-19 test kits that it claimed can be used ‘in the home or at the bedside.'”

Reuters: Exclusive: Hackers linked to Iran target WHO staff emails during coronavirus – sources. “Hackers working in the interests of the Iranian government have attempted to break into the personal email accounts of staff at the World Health Organization during the coronavirus outbreak, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.”

New York Times: Jared Kushner Is Going to Get Us All Killed. “Reporting on the White House’s herky-jerky coronavirus response, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman has a quotation from Jared Kushner that should make all Americans, and particularly all New Yorkers, dizzy with terror. According to Sherman, when New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said that the state would need 30,000 ventilators at the apex of the coronavirus outbreak, Kushner decided that Cuomo was being alarmist.”

ProPublica: In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment. “With the coronavirus outbreak creating an unprecedented demand for medical supplies and equipment, New York state has paid 20 cents for gloves that normally cost less than a nickel and as much as $7.50 each for masks, about 15 times the usual price. It’s paid up to $2,795 for infusion pumps, more than twice the regular rate. And $248,841 for a portable X-ray machine that typically sells for $30,000 to $80,000.”

CoronaBuzz is brought to you by ResearchBuzz. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment, send resource suggestions, or tag @buzz_corona on Twitter. Thanks!

April 3, 2020 at 06:19PM
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MX Player, Virtual Hope Trunks, Google Play, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, April 3, 2020

MX Player, Virtual Hope Trunks, Google Play, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, April 3, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BetaNews: MX Player launches free movie and TV streaming service in US, UK and more. “MX Player is not only a nifty media player, for some time it has also offered free streaming services in India. Now this is expanding into seven new markets including the US, the UK and Australia. While not linked to the coronavirus pandemic, the offer of free entertainment will please many people who find themselves stuck at home. MX Player is home to both licensed and original content, which is currently enjoyed by 175 million monthly users.”

OKC Fox: OKC Memorial and Museum releases Virtual Hope Trunks for learning. “The National Memorial and Museum is releasing a brand new tool to help kids learn while out of the classroom by introducing Virtual Hope Trunks. These online resources are a new way to teach kids about the Oklahoma City Bombing.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Neowin: Google Play Movies could offer ad-supported movie streaming for free. “When it comes to streaming movies, Google Play Movies is nowhere near as popular as Netflix or Prime Video. This is because Google Play Movies is a marketplace where one can rent or buy movies and TV series, while other streaming services follow a subscription model. Google, however, is looking to change things around as it is seemingly planning to offer hundreds of free ad-supported movies through Play Movies.”

CNET: Facebook Messenger launches a new desktop app so you can video chat on a bigger screen. “You can already use Messenger on a desktop browser by logging into the main social network, but now there’s a separate desktop app. The new product is an example of how Facebook has been responding to the surge in video and audio calls as more people are staying at home and practicing social distancing.”

Google Blog: Discover podcasts you’ll love with Google Podcasts, now on iOS. “We’ve redesigned the Google Podcasts app to make it easier to discover podcasts you’ll love, build your list of go-to podcasts, and customize your listening. To support listeners on more platforms, we’re also bringing Google Podcasts to iOS for the first time and adding support for subscriptions on Google Podcasts for Web.”

USEFUL STUFF

Popular Science: It’s time to purge the worst people in your social media feeds. “If there are people you never interact with, or who you would be happy to never hear from again, don’t waste energy scrolling past their updates—cut them out of the picture. Once you’ve done so, you’ll find yourself having a happier, more streamlined experience online.”

Digital Inspiration: How to Send SMS Messages with Google Sheets and your Android Phone. “There are services, Twilio and Vonage for example, that let you send text messages programmatically to any phone number in the world. You can either build an SMS solution on top of these messaging APIs or you can take a simpler and less expensive route – build your own text sending app with Google Sheets and MIT’s App Inventor.”

The Next Web: This handy tool lets you record GIFs straight from your browser. “I like GIFs — perhaps to a fault. I know it’s a dying medium, but I’m still a sucker for a moving image. There’s something awfully satisfying about staring at a GIF that a JPEG can never match. The one thing I despise about GIFs, though, is how much of a hassle it is to make one. Enter GIFcap, a browser-based tool that lets you capture GIFs without the need to download or install any new software. All you need to do is load up the site, and start recording.”

MakeUseOf: The Zoom Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet for Desktop. “With a steep rise in remote working all over the world, the video conferencing tool Zoom is gaining users rapidly. It enables teams to organize and conduct online meetings with ease. If you use Zoom for remote communication, the cheat sheet below can be of great help. It contains keyboard shortcuts to help you use the Zoom interface effortlessly for group messaging and video calling.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: So long and thanks for all the fish. “I am sorry to have to inform readers of the Guardian’s long-running Ask Jack column that its much-loved author, Jack Schofield, died on Tuesday. Jack was taken to hospital on Friday night following a heart attack and died on Tuesday afternoon.” I wrote for Jack several times in the early 2000s. He always had a kind word and I always looked forward to working with him. I’ll miss him.

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Vietnam bans posting fake news online. “The new law, which will come into effect on April 15, will fine people who post or share fake news online VND10 to VND20m ($425-$850), which is several months salary for many Vietnamese. The authorities will also have power to force the user to remove the post.”

Techdirt: How Much Data Does Clearview Gather On People? The Answer (Sadly) Will Not Surprise You.. “How much does Clearview gather on the average person? It’s tough to tell. Asking Clearview directly — at least in most of the US — will get you nothing. However, California’s privacy law (the California Consumer Privacy Act) mandates the disclosure of gathered personal data to requesters. That’s what Thomas Smith of OneZero did. And here’s what he got back.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

April 3, 2020 at 04:39PM
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Infrared light: A game-changer for charging battery-powered devices

Light-based wireless charging eliminates the trade-off between functionality and battery life in many applications without the need for cables.

source http://www.electronicproducts.com/Power_Products/Infrared_light_A_game_changer_for_charging_battery_powered_devices.aspx

Infrared light: A game-changer for charging battery-powered devices

Light-based wireless charging eliminates the trade-off between functionality and battery life in many applications without the need for cables.

from Electronic Products Technology Center Articles https://ift.tt/3dPnpiQ

Stax Museum of American Soul Music, KK Venugopal’s Book Collection, Mozilla, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, April 2, 2020

Stax Museum of American Soul Music, KK Venugopal’s Book Collection, Mozilla, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, April 2, 2020
By ResearchBuzz

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…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

April 2, 2020 at 08:18PM
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Thursday CoronaBuzz, April 2, 2020: 34 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Thursday CoronaBuzz, April 2, 2020: 34 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

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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April 2, 2020 at 06:28PM
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