New researches

Monday, August 16, 2021

Renewable Energy Planning, NASA, OpenAI, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, August 16, 2021

Renewable Energy Planning, NASA, OpenAI, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, August 16, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

UC Santa Barbara: Expanding Renewable Energy Planning. “The tool uses geographic and meteorological models, calibrated with real-world data, that simulate wind speed and solar radiation across the Earth’s surface. REZoning uses the Global Wind Atlas and Global Solar Atlas, two World Bank-funded projects that are free and publicly available. Other constraints include protected areas, forest cover, cropland, nature reserves and more. By combining all these factors, the software can determine the most suitable sites for wind and solar development in a given region”

NASA: Launch Back to School With NASA: Student and Educator Resources for the 2021-2022 School Year. “As students across the country are saying goodbye to the summer and the new school year is kicking off, NASA is gearing up to engage students in exciting activities and thought-provoking challenges throughout the year ahead…. Below, NASA has prepared a long list of mission-related resources and opportunities for students, educators, and families to utilize during the 2021-2022 school year. Follow NASA STEM on Twitter and Facebook social media channels using the hashtags #BacktoSchool and #NASASTEM for additional content and updates.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: OpenAI upgrades its natural language AI coder Codex and kicks off private beta. “OpenAI has already made some big changes to Codex, the AI-powered coding assistant the company announced last month. The system now accepts commands in plain English and outputs live, working code, letting someone build a game or web app without so much as naming a variable. A few lucky coders (and, one assumes, non-coders) will be able to kick the tires on this new Codex API in a free private beta.”

Search Engine Land: Google adds author URL property to uniquely identify authors of articles. “Google updated the article structured data help document to add new author properties to the list of recommended properties you can use in Google Search. The company said it added a new recommended author.url property to the article structured data documentation.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: How to edit iPhone photos using TikTok’s favorite formula. “The viral TikTok iPhone photo editing formula makes life look like a sunkissed wonderland. TikTok users are finally taking advantage of iOS photo editing features with this ‘hack,’ which is less of a hack and more of an editing formula that plays with shadows, saturation, and color.”

Make Tech Easier: Minecraft vs. Roblox: Which Is Best for You or Your Child?. “Minecraft vs. Roblox is a big battle between two of the leading sandbox games. They both let players build and explore worlds, go on adventures alongside others, and create something akin to using digital Lego bricks. Even so, there are differences you’ll want to know about before choosing one. This post will look at Minecraft vs. Roblox in a number of areas, and which one’s best for you (or your child).”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Liam O’Dell: I asked Twitter your questions about verification – here’s what they said. Twitter recently suspended its verification program, but there’s interesting info here. “With the #VerifyDisabledTwitter campaign raising more questions than answers about Twitter’s elusive verification process, campaign founder and Deaf journalist Liam O’Dell secured an exclusive chat with Twitter to learn more about the blue tick.”

WRAL: New research could help preserve Gullah Geechee lands. “Organized by the town’s Gullah Geechee Culture and Land Preservation Task Force, the Heritage Library of Hilton Head Island and the University of South Carolina Beaufort, the project aims to help Black Americans known as Gullah or Geechee. These slave descendants retained much of their African heritage passed down from ancestors who grew up isolated on coastal islands off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Some of the Gullah Geechee land is particularly vulnerable, project organizers said in a statement, because of the way it was passed down without a formal will.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Motherboard: T-Mobile Investigating Claims of Massive Customer Data Breach. “T-Mobile says it is investigating a forum post claiming to be selling a mountain of personal data. The forum post itself doesn’t mention T-Mobile, but the seller told Motherboard they have obtained data related to over 100 million people, and that the data came from T-Mobile servers. The data includes social security numbers, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, unique IMEI numbers, and driver licenses information, the seller said.”

Engadget: Homeland Security may use companies to find extremism on social media. “The Department of Homeland Security might not rely solely on in-house systems to spot extremist threats on social media. Intelligence officer and initiative leader John Cohen told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Homeland Security is looking at hiring companies to analyze social networks for signs of impending terrorism and other extremist violence. The department had been studying social media before, but the outside partners would help “dramatically” expand these efforts, Cohen said.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Next Web: This AI turns your photos into paintings while you watch. “I sometimes fantasize about hanging an enormous painted portrait of yours truly on my bedroom wall. Visitors would be forced to genuflect before the picture and leave a gift beneath it as a token of respect. Unfortunately, I have neither the money to buy artworks nor the skills to paint one myself. But those barriers will no longer stop me from fulfilling my dream. A team of researchers has developed a tool that will paint your portrait for you.” This is fun to play with, but I had a hard time determining that my test picture uploaded properly and that Things Were Happening. Look for the “breathing” orange logo on the right side of the screen.

CNET: I use subtitles for every TV show I watch and so should you. “Here it is, the galaxy brain take of galaxy brain takes: Subtitles are good. Subtitles are very good. Possibly even always good. No matter what language is being spoken, even if you speak that language, subtitles should be on and visible. At all times.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 16, 2021 at 05:26PM
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Sunday, August 15, 2021

LinkedIn, Twitter, Vanishing Content, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021

LinkedIn, Twitter, Vanishing Content, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn Launches Native Video Meetings. “Since last year, LinkedIn has allowed users to initiate video meetings with each other. However, the call would take place on another app, like Zoom, as LinkedIn didn’t have the technology for facilitating video calls. Owned by Microsoft, LinkedIn has leveraged Azure to create a native solution for connecting users through video. Here’s more about LinkedIn’s native video messaging, which is now available to everyone.”

The Verge: Twitter unblocks Indian politicians’ accounts after suspending them for violating disclosure law. “Twitter has reinstated the accounts of several politicians in India’s opposition party, which were suspended after party leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted a photo of himself with the parents of a girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in New Delhi, Reuters reported. Gandhi had tweeted his support of the girl’s family, saying that they deserved justice and others had shared his tweet.”

USEFUL STUFF

Wired: How to Send Messages That Automatically Disappear. “There is a caveat here for all of these apps, in that the people you’re communicating with can take screenshots of what you’ve said—or, if screenshots are blocked, can take a photo of the screen with another device. Some of them promise to notify you if your messages have been screenshotted or downloaded, but there’s always a workaround. That’s something to bear in mind when choosing who to chat with, and how much to share.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

KTVZ: University seeks to shine light on its past acts of discrimination. “A UW-Madison student evicted from university housing for dating a Black man. Others expelled amid an administrative campaign to systematically seek out and remove homosexual male students from campus. Abusive conduct by a UW-Madison police officer who led the department for decades with impunity. It’s not exactly the stuff of college brochures. But beginning next fall, information about some of the university’s past blemishes will be on public display at the direction of top administrators.”

Albidad: How women on social media led a nutrition and fitness revolution in Saudi Arabia. “Five years ago, preschool teacher Nawal AlKalawi decided for the first time to create an Instagram account—she wanted to post a simple recipe for homemade banana muffins. A few hours later, that first post had more likes and comments than she could ever imagine…. Before long, her ‘Food Evaluation’ account had more than 16,000 followers, and she was also active on Snapchat and other platforms. Her efforts were changing the habits of whole families. Clearly, parents in Saudi Arabia were hungry for health information.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Facebook could be forced to sell Giphy amid competition concerns. “Facebook could be forced to sell Giphy, a platform that allows people to find and share animated images known as GIFs, because of concerns the acquisition would harm competition in the social-media and digital-advertising markets.”

Bleeping Computer: Microsoft: Evasive Office 365 phishing campaign active since July 2020. “Microsoft says that a year-long and highly evasive spear-phishing campaign has targeted Office 365 customers in multiple waves of attacks starting with July 2020. The ongoing phishing campaign lures targets into handing over their Office 365 credentials using invoice-themed XLS.HTML attachments and various information about the potential victims, such as email addresses and company logos.”

Sydney Morning Herald: Google embroiled in Kung Fu controversy. “The International Wushu Federation (IWUF), the world governing body for Kung Fu, has sued in the Federal Court of Australia to force Google, which owns video platform YouTube, to disclose the identity of the operator of the Wushuleaks Channel, which has posted videos alleging IWUF is corrupt.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Newswise: Farmers help create ‘Virtual safe space’ to save bumblebees. “BEE-STEWARD is a decision-support tool which provides a computer simulation of bumblebee colony survival in a given landscape. The tool lets researchers, farmers, policymakers and other interested parties test different land management techniques to find out which ones and where could be most beneficial for bees.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Make: Hacking Garbage Trucks to Bring Broadband to Those in Need. “Millions of households lack the broadband access they need to learn from home, work from home, and generally keep up in our internet-dependent world. What if cities could pinpoint which neighborhoods were in need? What if cities collected real-time information that got services to the people who need them most? And what if they could do it faster and cheaper? They can. One city is bucking the system and using open source hardware, DIY ingenuity, and a pandemic-induced urgency to address the digital divide in real-time, paving the way for others to do the same.” Good evening, Internet…

August 16, 2021 at 05:15AM
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Eastern Railway Timetables, Syracuse University, Telegram Bots, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021

Eastern Railway Timetables, Syracuse University, Telegram Bots, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Times of India: Eastern Railway restores, digitizes heritage timetables. “On India’s 75th Independence Day eve, Eastern Railway has restored and digitized heritage timetables dating from the British era till 1948. The timetables belong to East Indian Railway and Eastern Railway for the years 1869, 1891, 1903, 1906, 1917 and 1948.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Syracuse University: Libraries Creates Department of Digital Stewardship. “Syracuse University Libraries recently created the Department of Digital Stewardship as the next step in the ongoing development of its Digital Library Program. The new department will enhance organizationwide focus on a variety of specialized, digital activities and the necessary infrastructure to ensure persistent access to our unique digital collections.”

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Inspiration: How to Create a Telegram Bot for Sending Notifications using Google Apps Script. “Would you like to receive notifications in your Telegram messenger when a new form response is submitted in Google Forms. Or maybe send a notification alert to your entire Telegram group when an important event happens. In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a new Telegram bot and send messages to your Telegram channel and groups through this bot with the help of Google Apps Script.”

Hongkiat: 200+ Useful Google Assistant Commands . “Google Assistant was first introduced in Google Allo, and it slowly replaced the old de-facto virtual assistant for Android known as Google Now. However, on the bright side, it introduces a lot more commands, features, and integrations than its predecessor. And it’s widely available as well. Sounds interesting? Alright then, let’s check out its commands you can use to improve productivity in your daily lives.”

Lifehacker: 7 Meditation Apps That Are Cheaper (and Better) Than Headspace and Calm. “If you’ve tried Headspace before and found it didn’t work for you, you should know that there is a whole world of niche meditation apps for you to explore. Try out some of these alternatives to see which one works best for you.” This is a slideshow.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

TechCrunch: How Twilio is moving beyond a diversity numbers game toward becoming an anti-racist company. “When George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, it set off a firestorm of protests and shed a bright hot spotlight on the issues of racism in America and elsewhere. As a response, many companies gave messages of support to people of color, yet have failed to make substantive change since that time. One company that is attempting to move beyond lip service and diversity quotas is Twilio, whose CEO Jeff Lawson has made a commitment to work toward being an anti-racist company.”

New York Times: Now Going Viral: Meeting Online Friends in Real Life. “Marissa Meizz, 23, was out to dinner with a friend in the East Village in mid-May when her phone started buzzing. She tried to silence it, but the texts kept coming. They all wanted to know: Had she seen the TikTok video? She clicked the link and a young man appeared onscreen. ‘If your name’s Marissa,’ he said, ‘please listen up.’ He said he had just overheard some of her friends say they were deliberately choosing to hold a birthday party when she was out of town that weekend. “You need to know,” he said. ‘TikTok, help me find Marissa.'”

Washington Post: The story behind Google’s biggest game yet: An Olympics-themed JRPG. “On July 23, in advance of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, visitors to Google.com were greeted by an unusual feature. In place of the standard logo, or a traditional Google Doodle — an illustration timed to a specific date or event — the company published ‘Doodle Champion Island Games,’ a video game. The game, which can be played in as few as 10 minutes or for up to four hours, resembles a sprawling Japanese role-playing game and sports a cute feline protagonist competing in sporting events and tackling side quests. The original plan had never been that big.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ZDNet: This ‘unique’ phishing attack uses Morse code to hide its approach. “Microsoft has revealed the inner-workings of a phishing attack group’s techniques that uses a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ technique plus unusual features like Morse code dashes and dots to hide its attacks.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNET: Electronic Arts says artificial intelligence will make game characters much more lifelike. “There’s always that moment in every video game when the character does something you didn’t expect and breaks the immersion. Maybe a bad guy you just shot falls to the ground with arms flailing like a rag doll. Or perhaps your character moves too stiffly when getting into or out of a vehicle. Electronic Arts is among the companies hoping to turn to artificial intelligence to help fix that problem.” Good afternoon, Internet…

August 16, 2021 at 12:11AM
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Apple, Google Nest Hub, Facebook, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021

Apple, Google Nest Hub, Facebook, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 15, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Reuters: After Criticism, Apple to Only Seek Abuse Images Flagged in Multiple Nations. “After a week of criticism over a its planned new system for detecting images of child sex abuse, Apple Inc said on Friday that it will hunt only for pictures that have been flagged by clearinghouses in multiple countries.”

The Verge: Google’s Nest Hubs will warn users about nearby pollution and smoke. “Google is adding air quality data to its Nest Hub smart displays. While the new feature is still only available in ‘select’ US markets, it’ll give some users an idea of how much risk they might face from smoke and pollution in the area.”

TechCrunch: Facebook is bringing end-to-end encryption to Messenger calls and Instagram DMs. “End-to-end encryption (E2EE) — a security feature that prevents third-parties from eavesdropping on calls and chats — has been available for text conversations on Facebook’s flagship messaging service since 2016. Although the company has faced pressure from governments to roll back its end-to-end encryption plans, Facebook is now extending this protection to both voice and video calls on Messenger, which means that ‘nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said.'”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 8 Social Media Content Calendar Tools for Scheduling Posts. “The world of social media is expanding, and hence it becomes difficult for individual users to post on all the platforms regularly at the right time. In order to manage when and what to publish on social media, you need to stay organized. To make the whole process seamless and hassle-free, check out these eight social media calendar tools for scheduling posts.” Including it because Tamal Das managed to include a couple of scheduling tools I didn’t know about.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Teens Cash in on the NFT Art Boom. “Last fall, Randi Hipper decided to, as she put it recently, ‘go in-depth with the crypto space.’ After hearing about NFTs on Twitter and other social media platforms, Ms. Hipper, then a 17-year-old senior at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, began releasing her own digital artworks — cartoonish and self-referential pieces showing her cruising in a car with a Bitcoin license plate or riding the Coney Island Wonder Wheel.”

The Guardian: From Florence to the machines: the evolution of data journalism – in pictures. “Data-driven journalism has become as ubiquitous as hand-sanitiser during the COVID-19 pandemic, but its roots go back to before germ theory. This resource looks at the history of data journalism, and how changing trends in reporting and technology have fuelled its expansion.”

Slate: What’s Really Wrong With the New Twitter Font. “On Thursday, Twitter updated the design of its app and website. Some users were baffled by a change to the ‘follow’ and ‘unfollow’ buttons that could lead one to mix them up. Others took issue with the new Twitter font, Chirp. While the social network boasted that Chirp is designed to be more accessible and amplify “the fun and irreverence of a Tweet,” many tweets complained that not only is it harder to read, users are complaining of headaches.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Warning: this is very disturbing. I’m not kidding. You may want to skip it. Motherboard: People Buy Custom Baby Monkey Torture Videos on World’s Worst Forum. “People are setting up private group chats and forums to purchase and share custom baby monkey torture videos, an investigation by animal advocacy groups Action for Primates and Lady Freethinker has found.”

Publishers Weekly: Define ‘Reasonable’: Can Maryland’s New E-book Law Help Change the Marketplace?. “In a July statement, the Maryland Library Association (MLA) praised state legislators for recently passing a new law that seeks to ensure library patrons can have access to e-books that are available to consumers in the state. But does the law also give Maryland libraries a little leverage to change the existing terms under which e-books are licensed libraries?”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Museums+Heritage Advisor: New funding opportunities launched as Paul Mellon Centre film series champions properly funded research. “Telling previously unknown or seldom told stories unearthed by recipients of its funding awards, one of six films charting a broad range of topics will be released each week from today. Shot on location at venues including the British Museum and the British School at Rome, the short films – each no longer than six minutes to ensure maximum impact – have been conceived not only to highlight intriguing new research but to make the case for the importance of properly funded scholarship.”

CogDogBlog: What the Olde Links Say About Domains. “Once again, my experience shows that if you publish something on an employer’s web site, or a company’s web site, or even in something that just takes away the work of managing web sites, the chances of it having a life to keep echoing is low. And if you are going to go to the trouble to craft something in writing, why put it in a place where the shelf life is short?”

Gizmodo: Warner Bros. Lets Anyone Be in Its Reminiscence Trailer With a Cool New Deepfake Generator. “As reported by Protocol, to promote its upcoming movie Reminiscence, Warner Bros. partnered with AI face platform D-ID to create a deepfake generator that allows anyone to insert themselves one of the film’s trailers. Using the generator is simple. All you need to do is go to movie’s official website and upload a picture of yourself. The generator will then crank out a short trailer that includes a moving deepfake sequence of your face.” Good morning, Internet…

August 15, 2021 at 05:29PM
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Saturday, August 14, 2021

Our Shared Future, Music Recommendations, Reddit, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021

Our Shared Future, Music Recommendations, Reddit, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BusinessWire: Smithsonian Launches “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past” With a Virtual Forum (PRESS RELEASE). “The Smithsonian will kick off its new race initiative, ‘Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past,’ with a virtual forum Aug. 26. The initiative will bring together resources from across the Smithsonian to explore how Americans understand, experience and confront racism through several critical lenses like wellness, wealth and the arts. ‘Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past’ will include virtual and live events across the country as well as digital content, storytelling and learning resources for students and educators.”

Louder Sound: This website claims it can find your new favourite band. “Music-recommending website Sage claims that it can find you your new favourite band using artificial intelligence. All you have to do is type in your favourite band and least favourite band, and Sage will come up with a list of recommendations for you, with a match percentage for each one and a link to listen.” Your mileage may vary. When I was trying to enter music I like, Sage found bands like Ball Park Music and Lime Cordiale as well as individuals like Dallas Woods and Baker Boy, but couldn’t find Miiesha or Tierra Whack. What?

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Reddit is now valued at more than $10 billion. “Reddit, the self-declared ‘front page of the internet,’ says it is now valued at more than $10 billion after raising an additional $410 million in funding, with the final round expected to grow to up to $700 million. The company continues to build and sanitize its business, removing racist, misogynist, and otherwise controversial communities, as it prepares to go public at some point in the future.”

USEFUL STUFF

Bustle: Instagram Guides Are Way More Useful Than You Probably Think . “While you’re probably not as familiar with Guides as you are with Stories or IGTV, the feature can be incredibly useful: Even if you’re not an influencer or content creator, Guides can be a creative way to blog about your summer, shop products, or discover new trends. Instagram originally introduced Guides to exclusive creators in May 2020, but opened up the feature to all users in November of last year.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Tubefilter: #BookTok Is Boosting Sales For Brick-And-Mortar Bookstores. “TikTok’s crop of book lovers are boosting sales for Canada’s largest bookseller. In its second-quarter earnings report, Indigo Books and Music Inc. said that #BookTok is having a noticeable positive effect on demand, especially for older titles.”

Ars Technica: Excerpt: How Google bought Android—according to folks in the room. “Androids: The team that built the Android operating system is a new book from longtime Android engineer Chet Haase. Haase has been on the Android team since 2010, and he interviewed dozens of Googlers for this book, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at early Android development. With Haase’s permission, we’re giving readers a look at chapters four and five of the book, ‘The Pitch,’ and ‘The Acquisition.'”

DA NANG Today: Data on traditional festivals to go digital. “The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has given the green light to the implementation of a project on digitalising all types of Vietnamese festivals for the 2021-2025 period. They involve traditional and cultural ones, industry festivals, and those of foreign origin.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Daily Sabah: Turkey expedites efforts for new social media regulation. “The Turkish government has accelerated its efforts for a new social media regulation, in light of online manipulations and disinformation about recent incidents such as forest fires and tensions between locals and Syrian migrants in the capital Ankara’s Altındağ district.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Penn State: Seed grant to explore using AI to model subsurface rock formations. “It is difficult for geoscientists to map sedimentary rocks’ compositional and mechanical properties at high resolution, according to Yashar Mehmani, assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. He recently received a seed grant from the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) to investigate using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a new method to model the Earth’s subsurface.”

University of Maine: Researchers assess whether open educational resources improved biology instruction. “The National Science Foundation awarded a nearly $2 million collaborative research grant for principal investigators from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Cornell University and UMaine to assess the effectiveness of open educational resources in teaching core biology concepts, facilitating student-centered learning and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. Funding for the five-year project derived from the NSF’s Vision and Change Program.” Good evening, Internet…

August 15, 2021 at 05:32AM
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Oklahoma Child Care Jobs, Reddit, Twitter, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021

Oklahoma Child Care Jobs, Reddit, Twitter, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

News on 6 (Oklahoma): Local Nonprofit Launches New Statewide Early Childhood Job Board. “A Tulsa nonprofit has launched a new online job board designed to help childcare facilities across the state find qualified workers. The new database allows job seekers to find an opportunity and childcare facilities to find the right candidates…. The database is free for employers to post open positions and for people looking for a job in childcare.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Reddit is quietly rolling out a TikTok-like video feed button on iOS. “From Instagram’s Reels to Snapchat’s Spotlight, most social media platforms are looking toward the TikTok boom for inspiration. Now, even Reddit, a discussion-based forum, is making short-form video more pronounced on its iOS app.”

CNET: Twitter once again pauses verification program to improve application process. “Twitter on Friday said it’s once again hitting pause on its verification program. The company reopened public applications for verification in May after a four-year shut down as it reevaluated its application process. Now, it appears the company has already run into more roadblocks.”

The Verge: Twitter is changing the contrast of buttons again after complaints of eye strain. “Twitter is readjusting the contrast on its buttons following feedback about its design updates from earlier this week. Some people have reported eye strain, headaches, and migraines due to the higher visual contrast in the colors of buttons and links, as well as the new font, Chirp.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

River City News: Three NKY Kroger Stores Part of New Pick-Up Partnership with Google Maps. “According to a news release, when groceries are ordered from Kroger via the grocer’s app, users will have the opportunity to add the order to Google Maps. When it is time to leave, Google Maps will send a notification which will let the user share the arrival time with the store.”

University of Texas at Austin: Archive of Tony Award-Winning Theater Designer Kevin Adams Comes to the Harry Ransom Center. “The archive of award-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams has been established at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, a key research destination for the study of theater and performance history.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Trade Judge Says Google Infringed on Patents Owned by Sonos. “Google infringed on speaker-technology patents held by Sonos and should not be allowed to import products that violate Sonos’s intellectual property, a judge said in a preliminary finding by the United States International Trade Commission.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Carnegie Mellon University: CMU Misinformation Researchers Zero in on Climate Change. “To more effectively combat misinformation, climate change communicators need to focus their messaging on key conspiracy theories that gain the most traction, according to two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. In a recent paper, CMU’s Aman Tyagi and Kathleen M. Carley look at the polarization of climate change beliefs on social media, and offer targeted approaches toward reshaping beliefs.”

Brookings Institution: Nigeria’s Twitter ban is a misplaced priority. “Political activists have the most dominant voice in the conversation while institutional actors and organizations have some of the smallest. While Nigerian citizens and activists continue to use the platform, the Nigerian government has effectively shut itself out from the conversation with only the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, still maintaining a presence on Twitter.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Boing Boing: Fantastically surreal TikTok films about pay telephones. “Solopist makes wonderfully surreal short TikTok films all about pay telephones. The series reminds me of 2600 magazine’s ‘Payphones of the World’ backpage photos, only less real.” Are you a fan of BUTTERED SIDE DOWN or YOU SUCK AT COOKING? Here ya go. Good afternoon, Internet…

August 15, 2021 at 12:28AM
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NYPD Misconduct, Olympics Content, Facebook Dating, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021

NYPD Misconduct, Olympics Content, Facebook Dating, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 14, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Gothamist: Brooklyn DA Releases Massive Trove Of Internal Documents On NYPD Misconduct. “The records reveal a wide range of misconduct allegations and findings against NYPD officers ranging from dishonesty to brutality to inappropriate associations with criminals. The release consists of District Attorney’s office letters prepared for defense attorneys and defendants to inform them of past police conduct that could undermine the credibility of officers called to the stand.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: YouTube Viewers Watched 200 Million Hours Of Olympics Content, To The Tune Of 190 Million Daily Views. “According to the video giant, viewers watched 200 million hours of Olympics content this year, to the tune of 190 million daily views on average. (This includes footage from the Tokyo games and previous Olympics, YouTube said). In 2016, during the Rio games, viewers watched 29 million hours of Olympics content, clocking 24 million daily average views.”

The Verge: Facebook Dating is getting audio chats. “Facebook Dating, the company’s dating service, doesn’t appear to be as popular as other dating apps, but the company is introducing some new features to make it more useful for virtual dating, which has boomed during the pandemic.”

Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn Adds Ratings & Reviews to User Profiles. “An update to LinkedIn profiles will allow users to be rated and reviewed on the skills they offer as service providers. Reviews will be will be displayed in a new section on user profiles that have the services listings option enabled.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Vou: Best 12 Outfit Generator Apps And Websites Of 2021. “An outfit generator is an app or website designed to help users with their sartorial game by generating fresh outfits or combining existing clothes with future online purchases to create new styles. An outfit generator can be used for stylistic inspiration and as a wardrobe builder of custom outfits.” I love these things. I stare at them in awe. I’m like a fish looking at a rocketship.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Daily Beast: Trump’s Favorite Dictator Fueling New Pro-Hitler Movement. “The movement’s digital goosestepping is being led by a small handful of Nazis claiming connections to the Egyptian Armed Forces on Telegram, who are also attempting to build a community on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. At the center of the network is a branded, cloud-based storage drive being shared across a series of Telegram channels as well as Facebook pages and profiles, containing 16,922 multilingual pieces of Nazi footage, photos, text, and Holocaust denial videos, all meticulously ordered in 416 folders. Repeated calls to the Egyptian military’s media office went unanswered.”

Washington Post: Marginalized streamers beg Twitch to ‘do better’ in wake of hate raids, poor pay. “During an Aug. 6 broadcast, the Twitch streamer RekItRaven — who is Black and uses they/them pronouns — emotionally described a series of traumatic, real-life experiences that informed who they are today. In response, viewers in chat told Raven that they were ‘loved.’ This made what happened next especially hurtful. About 20 minutes later, Raven’s chat was suddenly flooded by dozens of users spamming the same message, which read in part: ‘This channel now belongs to the KKK.’ It was the second time that had happened in just one week.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Dutch education IT crisis averted as Google agrees to ‘major privacy improvements’. “Google has agreed to ‘major privacy improvements’ following a threat to ban the use of Google Workspace in education by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA). In March, Privacy Company concluded that eight out of 10 high privacy risks in Google’s productivity suite, Workspace, remained. The Dutch educational institutions then asked the Dutch DPA for advice. At the end of May the DPA warned schools and universities to stop using Google Workspace for Education before the start of the new school year.”

Mashable: Scammers target YouTube’s smart TV activation sites with help from Google. “Mashable has uncovered a scam that weaponizes the YouTube activation screen on Smart TVs. And the scam would be impossible for the fraudsters to carry out without a huge assist from Google, YouTube’s parent company.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Tech Xplore: AI researchers trust international, scientific organizations most, study finds. “Researchers working in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence trust international and scientific organizations the most to shape the development and use of AI in the public interest. But who do they trust the least? National militaries, Chinese tech companies and Facebook.”

Michigan Daily: Dreaming through the screen. “I’ve always been someone that has appreciated silence and even sought it out. I prefer working at night when the noises around me are at a minimum. But when the silence on campus seemed suffocating, I would turn to cooking videos — something that I expect already to be silent. Even the slight punctuation of sounds are predictable and therefore somewhat grounding. These videos were the good types of quiet: anticipated and calm, not anxious or depressing.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Ubergizmo: Animal Shelter Uses Tinder To Help Their Animals Find New Owners. “The Munich Animal Welfare Association recently decided to use Tinder as a platform to help them bring awareness to the various animals that they foster. They created profiles for their sheltered animals and put them on Tinder, using an advertising agency to help them snap some professional headshots for 15 cats and dogs.” Good morning, Internet…

August 14, 2021 at 05:31PM
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