New researches

Monday, January 17, 2022

Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, Genealogy Apps, College Admissions, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, January 17, 2022

Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, Genealogy Apps, College Admissions, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, January 17, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

WECT (North Carolina): Cape Fear Museum’s photo collection is now available online. “Cape Fear Museum of History and Science’s photographic collection is now available online to anybody for viewing. The museum worked with Rediscovery Software to create a database of the museum’s photo collection of over 15,000 images. After 20 months of work, the photos also feature tags and ways to search them via various filters.”

The Spec: Root & Seed app and podcast helps families hold on to their history. “Three years ago, Anika Chabra lost her mother. But she lost something else, too…. Chabra wanted to create a platform to help people document and celebrate their culture, and turned to a co-worker in the advertising industry, Jennifer Siripong Mandel, to do it with her. The pair’s brainchild: The Root & Seed Conversation Tool web app helps people celebrate their family traditions, culture and roots.”

EurWeb: Shawntia Lee: Founder of App That Simplifies the College Admissions Process for Black Students. “College Thriver Education’s new app is designed to help bridge the gap and increase college readiness retention among students of color. The app simplifies the college admissions process from start to finish by connecting grades 6-12 students to data-driven feedback to help them adequately prepare and meet college admission standards. Students can use the app to find community-based solutions for the resources needed such as housing, funding, testing, tutoring counseling, mentoring, and transportation.” The app is free.

Concordia University News: Concordia archivists move digital publications collection to a new location. “The final steps of the project took all summer, but the historical archives team at Concordia’s Records Management and Archives (RMA) has officially moved its publications collection to the Internet Archive. The new location is much more sortable and searchable than the RMA general website. The collection dates back to 1926 and includes long-running publications such as The Loyola News (1938-1969), The Georgian (1936-1970) and The Thursday Report (1977-2005).”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Variety: Betty White’s 100th Birthday Celebrated by Google With Search Easter Egg. “In honor of the late Betty White’s 100th birthday, Google is showering its search page with rose petals — a nod to Rose, her beloved character from ‘The Golden Girls.'”

Gulf Times: QNL digitises more than 13mn pages in ongoing project. “Qatar National Library (QNL) has so far digitised more than 13mn pages in its digitisation project as the library is highlighting the process of converting information from a physical format into a digital one at the ongoing Doha International Book Fair 2022, a top official of QNL told Gulf Times.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: Stop straining to read small print on your iPhone, iPad or Mac screen with these tools. “With the recent spike in remote and hybrid work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re spending a lot of time looking at screens. And while we’re navigating screens’ headache-inducing blue light and tiny print on websites, we should remember that technology must also be accessible for blind and visually impaired users. Fortunately, Apple added a number of accessibility features in iOS 15 that you can explore and customize under Settings > Accessibility.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Texas State Library And Archives Commission Announces $750,000 In Community Advancement Grants For Texas Libraries . “The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) this week announced that it will soon begin accepting grant applications for the Community Advancement Packages (CAP) Grant Program, designed to help libraries serving populations of 60,000 or less respond directly to identified community needs in 2022. The application window opens Jan. 26, with a deadline of April 1.”

BuzzFeed News: How A Group Of Twitter Colleagues Blew Up Wordle. “The success of Wordle, the game most easily characterized by the green-and-yellow square emojis that are saturating Twitter feeds worldwide, traces back to a small group of nerdy New Zealanders who were looking for a pandemic distraction.”

The Dubrovnik Times: Google opens Peljesac Bridge before official ceremony – don’t follow this advice. “The Peljesac Bridge is nearing completion, with the actual bridge expected to be fully completed and issued with permits by the end of the month, however the two access roads are still in the ‘under construction’ phase. Google however has a different view and have already connected Dubrovnik to the rest of Croatia on their Google Maps service.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Gizmodo: New Bill Could Stop New York Police From Using Keyword Search and Geofencing Warrants. “The Reverse Location Search Prohibition Act, which was recently re-introduced to the New York state assembly by a group of Democratic lawmakers, would ban police from making certain kinds of data requests to tech companies—specifically geofence and keyword search warrants. Such warrants, which are increasingly used by law enforcement in investigations, have notably riled privacy advocates. Critics argue that police are effectively skirting the Fourth Amendment—since such requests allow investigators to sift through personal data without notifying the affected party with a publicly served warrant.”

Washington Post: Academics want to preserve video games. Copyright laws make it complicated.. “For decades, champions of the video game industry have touted gaming’s cultural impact as the equal of literature, film and music…. In the process, though, the would-be preservationists have found a number of challenges that include, ironically, legal opposition from video game companies and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade organization that lobbies on behalf of game publishers.” Good morning, Internet…

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January 17, 2022 at 06:34PM
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Sunday, January 16, 2022

California Educational Resources, Public Domain Game Jam, Spotify, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, January 16, 2022

California Educational Resources, Public Domain Game Jam, Spotify, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, January 16, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

PRNewswire: Gale and California State Library Partner to Provide K-12 Students and Educators Access to STEAM Digital Resources (PRESS RELEASE). “The California State Library and Riverside County Office of Education have partnered with Gale, part of Cengage Group, to provide California’s more than six-million K-12 students and over 300,000 educators with access to science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) digital resources from Gale. These new resources are part of California’s K-12 Online Content Project and are available at all schools (10k+) and public libraries (1.1k+) throughout California to support and strengthen STEAM learning.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Techdirt: There’s Still Plenty Of Time To Join The Public Domain Game Jam!. “We’re approaching the halfway point of the jam, so there’s still plenty of time to sign up on itch.io and start working on an entry! You don’t need to be an experienced game designer to get involved — entries can be as simple as a page of instructions for a roleplaying game or rules that require a normal deck of playing cards. If you want to try your hand at making a digital game, there are easy-to-use tools out there like Story Synth, created by our partner in running these jams, Randy Lubin.”

Tubefilter: Spotify Shutters Internal Podcast Studio, Laying Off And Reassigning Staffers. “Spotify has shuttered its in-house podcast studio and laid off several staffers affiliated with the division. The studio, dubbed Studio 4 inside the company and referenced externally as Spotify Studios, was behind shows like Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls 1 Keith, Dissect, and Chapo: Kingpin on Trial.”

USEFUL STUFF

Wired: The Mega-Guide to Fixing Your Own iPhone. “APPLE’S IPHONES ARE some of the best smartphones you can buy, but no device is perfect. Things can and do go wrong with these powerful pocket-size computers. Tracking down the correct iPhone fix can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. But don’t let it get you down. Before you give up on your malfunctioning iPhone, have a look through our troubleshooting guide.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Android Authority: Who handles your death better? Google, Facebook, and Apple compared. “With so much of our lives wrapped up in online services, we tend to be thankful for companies stepping up security to prevent hacking and privacy violations. But this can actually backfire when it comes to the deceased — suddenly, partners and family may not be able to access vital information, such as bank and insurance accounts, or photos and videos of important memories. Personal data might disappear in the ether after our death. A number of tech companies are trying to address this problem. Google, Facebook, and Apple are among the most prominent in people’s lives — so how do they stack up against each other when it comes to dealing with the inevitable?”

Mashable: Creator of a years-old app called Wordle will donate proceeds from its newfound popularity. “Wordle is the daily, browser-only word game we can’t get enough of, so it’s not surprising that Wordle copycats have been sprouting up in the App Store. Those copycats aren’t the first to use that name, however. Developer Steven Cravotta actually used ‘wordle’ first — five years ago. Now, he’s using his app’s surprise popularity to help others.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Route Fifty: Top Public Sector Cybersecurity Threat No Longer is Employees. “Hackers pose the greatest cyber risks for states and localities, followed by careless workers and foreign governments, according to an annual IT report.”

The Verge: Safari 15 bug can leak your recent browsing activity and personal identifiers. “A bug in Safari 15 can leak your browsing activity, and can also reveal some of the personal information attached to your Google account, according to findings from FingerprintJS, a browser fingerprinting and fraud detection service (via 9to5Mac). The vulnerability stems from an issue with Apple’s implementation of IndexedDB, an application programming interface (API) that stores data on your browser.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Next Web: Dear websites, please stop asking me to download your mobile app. “Please stop asking me to your mobile app. I don’t want want to use it. I don’t care if you think your app is the bees-knees. If I wanted to use your app, I’d go to the app store and download said app. But I didn’t do that. Instead, I’m writing this letter to make my stance clear: I prefer to access your service within the comfort of a browser, thank-you-very-much.”

SciTechDaily: Ancient Ostrich Eggshell Beads Reveal 50,000-Year-Old Social Network Across Africa. “Humans are social creatures, but little is known about when, how, and why different populations connected in the past. Answering these questions is crucial for interpreting the biological and cultural diversity that we see in human populations today. DNA is a powerful tool for studying genetic interactions between populations, but it can’t address any cultural exchanges within these ancient meetings. Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History have turned to an unexpected source of information—ostrich eggshell beads—to shed light on ancient social networks.” Good evening, Internet…

January 17, 2022 at 04:56AM
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Transatlantic Slave Trade, Rylander Theatre, Creative Commons, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, January 16, 2022

Transatlantic Slave Trade, Rylander Theatre, Creative Commons, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, January 16, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BusinessWire: National Geographic Dives Into the Untold History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade With New Podcast, INTO THE DEPTHS, Launching Jan. 27 (PRESS RELEASE). “Ahead of Black History Month, National Geographic is launching a powerful new podcast, INTO THE DEPTHS, on Jan. 27, 2022, that uncovers the deep history of the transatlantic slave trade as it follows a group of Black divers who are dedicated to finding and helping to document slave shipwrecks.”

Digital Library of Georgia: Historic Materials from the Rylander Theatre, President Jimmy Carter’s Childhood Theatre in Rural Americus, Georgia, Now Available Online. “The items in this collection show the ‘first life’ (1921- c. 1951) of the Rylander Theatre and the various types of entertainment the establishment hosted, including live musicals, vaudeville shows, and movies (both silent and ‘talkies’). In addition, a 1929 school club card and a 1930 theater coupon book show a detailed picture of Depression-era Americus, the popular tastes of this South Georgia town, and details of how local businesses sought to incentivize commerce in their communities during dire times.”

EVENTS

Creative Commons: Join us for ‘Ground Truth in Open Internet’ — the new Creative Commons Open Journalism Webinar Series and Training. “Journalism provides a crucial public service. Access to verifiable information and stories that question the underlying terrain of power is critical to democratic societies. Yet, journalism as we know it faces existential new challenges. Increasingly, journalists face work-halting financial and ethical challenges, as well as threats to their physical and digital safety, when sharing information online.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Scholar Blog: Save papers to read later. “Found an interesting paper and don’t have time to read it right now? Today we are adding a reading list to your Scholar Library to help you save papers and read them later. You can also use it to save papers you find off-campus but want to read on-campus where you have access to the full text, or papers you find on your smartphone but want to read on a larger screen.”

British Library Medieval Manuscripts Blog: Our digitised collection keeps on growing. “Long-term readers of our blog may know that we periodically publish lists of our digitised manuscripts, the last of which was published in January 2021. With the arrival of the New Year, we are releasing an update to our lists of manuscript hyperlinks. We hope this makes it easier for readers and researchers to explore our amazing digitised treasures online. We also want to share some updates on our digitisation progress over the last year.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: What Is an AI File? How to Open It Without Adobe Illustrator. “The AI file is the most common type of vector image. It’s a proprietary Adobe Illustrator format, so it can be tricky to open AI files if you don’t have Illustrator. How you do it depends on what you want to do with it. Put simply, it’s easy to open an AI file just to view, but it’s less straightforward if you want to edit it. In this article, we’ll take a look at both scenarios.”

ReviewGeek: The 6 Best ‘Wordle’ Alternatives. “As you’d probably expect, you’ve got more than a few copycat options to choose from. However, we recommend diving into some of the more … creative alternatives, as they keep the original game mechanics but offer a few new features and rules as well. We’re sure you’ll find one (or several) new fun alternatives to help you fill the hours in between your daily Wordle puzzle!”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Verge: Google might’ve accidentally approved an ad for a Target gift card scam. “Most of us check our gift card balances online (because who actually keeps those receipts that tell us how much money we have left on them?), making an apparent oversight by Google all the worse. It appears that Google inadvertently approved a prominent ad for a phony Target gift card balance checker that’s meant to steal your funds.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Backdoor for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now. “The discovery is significant for several reasons. First, fully cross-platform malware is something of a rarity, with most malicious software being written for a specific operating system. The backdoor was also written from scratch and made use of four separate command-and-control servers, an indication that the people who developed and used it were part of an advanced threat actor that invested significant resources. It’s also unusual for previously unseen Linux malware to be found in a real-world attack.”

CNET: Ukrainian government networks infected with malware, Microsoft warns. “Microsoft said late Saturday it had identified dozens of computer networks at Ukrainian government agencies and organizations infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware. The malware targets multiple organizations in Ukraine, including government agencies that provide critical executive branch or emergency response functions and is designed to make computers inoperable if activated by an attacker, Microsoft said.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Florida: Why we love Wordle, according to science . “Social psychologist Matt Baldwin wakes up thinking about the yellow and green boxes of Wordle, the free, once-a-day word game that has gained millions of fans since its public launch in October. Unlike most players, though, he understands why our brains crave it. Baldwin, a University of Florida professor, points to several psychological concepts that may explain our infatuation with the simple but sharable game.”

Newswise: AI Tool Promises Better Automated Analysis of Datasets with Rare Items, a Key Real-World Limitation. “The MiikeMineStamps dataset of stamps provides a unique window into the workings of a large Japanese corporation, opening unprecedented possibilities for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. But some of the stamps in this archive only appear in a small number of instances. This makes for a ‘long tail’ distribution that poses particular challenges for AI learning, including fields in which AI has experienced serious failures.” Good afternoon, Internet…

January 16, 2022 at 10:43PM
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Saturday, January 15, 2022

Slovak Video Games, WWII Hungarian Soldiers, IndexNow, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 15, 2022

Slovak Video Games, WWII Hungarian Soldiers, IndexNow, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 15, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

The Verge: How a design museum unearthed a treasure trove of classic Slovak games. “Late last year, the Slovak Design Museum released a translated collection of ’80s text adventures from the region. The games, often programmed by teenagers, capture a moment in history when the first generation of Slovak developers were learning their craft to share among their friends.”

Hungary Today: Database of Hungarian Heroes of World War II Available Online. “A new website, a database of Hungarian soldiers who died, were injured, or became prisoners of war during World War II, was unveiled Tuesday at the Military History Institute and Museum in Budapest.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Journal: IndexNow Enables Data Sharing Between Search Engines. “Microsoft is making the IndexNow protocol easier to implement by ensuring submitted URLs are simultaneously shared between search engines. IndexNow launched in October 2021 as solution to help websites get their content indexed and updated in search engines faster.”

Search Engine Land: DuckDuckGo passes 100 billion searches. “DuckDuckGo, the privacy focused search engine, announced it has surpassed 100 billion searches – all time. It posted this announcement on Twitter.”

USEFUL STUFF

PetaPixel: This Web App Can Use One Photo’s Colors to Grade Another. “Image Color Transfer is a free, browser-based application that allows a photo to be color graded to match the color of another photo, similar to the ‘Match Color’ feature found in standalone photo editing applications.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: Absurdle: the machiavellian version of Wordle. “What if Wordle became evil? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Absurdle. Absurdle is the invention of a designer who goes by the alias ‘qntm’. Consider it an alternative ruleset to Wordle – a game that sharpens the original premise into a horrific machiavellian scheme. The gambit is heady, but I’ll try to explain it the best I can.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Watchdog says Google offers to exclude Showcase from general searches in Germany. “Google has offered to remove Google News Showcase content from general search results in Germany in a bid to end a competition inquiry, the country’s Federal Cartel Office said on Wednesday.”

The Markup: College Prep Software Naviance Is Selling Advertising Access to Millions of Students. “For nearly two-thirds of American high schoolers Naviance software is an integral and nearly unavoidable part of the college research and application process. For colleges and universities, it’s also a targeted advertising platform with a captive audience of millions of students looking to make one of the largest financial investments of their lives.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of New Mexico: CSWR restores historic Tomé patent and map. “The town of Tome, best known for its popular El Cerro de Tomé Good Friday pilgrimage, is now celebrating a different historic resurrection. The town map and patent were recently restored and digitized by archivists at the UNM Center for Southwest Research (CSWR), making the 162-year-old-documents available to the world.” Good afternoon, Internet…

January 16, 2022 at 03:02AM
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Saturday CoronaBuzz, January 15, 2022: 36 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.

Saturday CoronaBuzz, January 15, 2022: 36 pointers to updates, health information, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Please get a booster shot. Please wear a mask when you’re inside away from home. Much love.

CORONAVIRUS MISINFORMATION / FACT-CHECKING

The Hill: Dan Bongino Temporarily Suspended From YouTube Over COVID Misinfo. “Fox News host and conservative media mogul Dan Bongino will not be ‘owning the libs’ on YouTube for at least one week after being hit with his first strike on the platform.”

New York Times: Scores of doctors and scientists sign a statement condemning personal attacks against Fauci.. “More than 200 leading American doctors and scientists — including four Nobel Prize winners and a former Republican leader — have signed an open letter in support of Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, calling Republican attacks on him ‘inaccurate, unscientific, ill-founded in the facts and, increasingly, motivated by partisan politics.'”

Maine Public Radio: Ellsworth doctor faces license suspension over COVID misinformation allegations . “During a virtual meeting, Maine’s Board of Licensure in Medicine voted unanimously to conduct a further investigation into Dr. Meryl Nass of Ellsworth in response to at least two complaints that she was spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The board also voted to subpoena additional records from Nass and approved suspending her license for 30 days during the investigation, although it also gave the doctor another option.”

MISINFORMATION / FACT-CHECKING – IVERMECTIN

Daily Beast: Glenn Beck Says He Has COVID Again and It’s Hit His Lungs—but He’s Taking Ivermectin. “Conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck has fallen sick with the coronavirus—again. This time around, the former Fox News host turned conservative media mini-mogul said Wednesday afternoon, the illness has progressed into his lungs.”

HEALTH CARE – PEDIATRICS

Alabama Department of Public Health: Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations are at record high in Alabama, immediate measures necessary. “Hospitalizations of children in Alabama due to COVID-19 are at a record high, and immediate measures need to be taken to reduce COVID-19 in the pediatric population. The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and the Alabama Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), urge parents to minimize their children’s exposure to COVID-19 in schools and public places, wear well-fitting masks in schools, and get vaccinated if they are eligible.”

News4Jax: COVID-19 pediatric hospitalizations in Florida hit new record. “Total COVID-19 pediatric hospitalizations in Florida reached a new high, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data posted Friday. Friday’s update showed there were 237 total pediatric patients confirmed with COVID-19 in the state. The previous high was 235 reported Wednesday.”

EVENTS / CANCELLATIONS

Billboard: Every 2022 Concert & Festival Canceled Due to COVID-19. “As announcements of cancellations and postponements roll in, we’re keeping track of the latest in this updating list. Below, find all the 2022 concerts and festivals that have been canceled or rescheduled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (These are listed in descending order of announcement, so find the latest cancellations at the very top.)”

INSTITUTIONS

Detroit Jewish News: Synagogues Face Tough COVID Questions (Again) as Omicron Surges. “Nearly two years ago, when the pandemic hit the United States, synagogues were lauded for rapidly moving their entire slate of programming and worship online, and for finding ways to connect with congregants in a world where few were leaving their homes and many were dying. Since then, congregations’ plans have yo-yoed along with case rates, vaccinations and variants.”

BUSINESS / CORPORATIONS

CNN: Walgreens and CVS temporarily close some stores as Covid surges. “Two of the biggest retail pharmacies in the U.S. are temporarily closing some stores and pharmacies on the weekends as the latest surge in Covid-19 causes staff shortages.”

Associated Press: December retail sales slip after a record holiday season. “Americans overlooked shortages, spiking prices and uncertainty over the omicron variant to break spending records during the critical holiday shopping season. But figures released Friday show that after spending robustly early in the holiday season, consumers sharply slowed their purchases from November to December.”

NBC News: Covid testing company with 300 pop-up sites across U.S. faces multiple probes. “The Illinois-based Center for Covid Control was founded in Dec. 2020 by Aleya Siyaj, 29, whose previous experience includes starting an axe-throwing lounge and a donut shop, according to state business records and her LinkedIn page.”

The Verge: Google is now requiring office workers to get weekly molecular COVID-19 tests. “Google will require anyone going to one of its US offices or facilities to have received a negative molecular test for COVID-19, the company informed employees Thursday in a memo obtained by CNBC. Workers going to the office regularly will have to get tested weekly, chief health officer Karen DeSalvo said in the memo, and employees have been asked to report their vaccination status and wear surgical-grade masks indoors.”

WORLD GOVERNMENT / NON-US GOVERNMENT

BMJ: WHO recommends two new drugs to treat patients with COVID-19. “The drug baricitinib (a type of drug known as a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis) is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical covid-19 in combination with corticosteroids, says a WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts in The BMJ today.”

BBC: ‘High confidence’ Omicron is less severe in UK. “There is now high confidence that Omicron is relatively mild for most adults, says the UK Health Security Agency in its latest risk assessment. This is largely thanks to vaccines providing high protection against serious illness caused by this latest Covid variant that is infecting many.”

Washington Post: German police used a tracing app to scout crime witnesses. Some fear that’s fuel for covid conspiracists.. “Authorities in Germany are under fire for tracking down witnesses to a potential crime by using data from a mobile phone app that was intended to help identify close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus.”

UNITED STATES / UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

ABC News: Biden administration to launch website for free at-home COVID tests on Wednesday. “The Biden administration will launch a new website on Wednesday that Americans can use to request free at-home rapid COVID tests mailed to their doorsteps, senior White House officials said on Friday.”

CBS News: Coronavirus infections inside U.S. immigration detention centers surge by 520% in 2022. “On Thursday, 1,766 immigrants were being monitored or isolated at ICE detention facilities due to confirmed coronavirus infections, a more than sixfold jump from January 3, when there were 285 active cases, government statistics show.”

Capitol Media Services: Feds might seek $163M refund over Arizona’s anti-mask mandate rules. “Federal officials are ordering Arizona to rescind its policy of giving COVID-19 dollars only to schools without mask mandates or face having to give back $163 million in aid. But a top aide to Gov. Doug Ducey is vowing to fight the move.”

Defense One: DOD Grants First Religious Waivers for COVID Vaccine. “In all, some 18,500 U.S. troops have requested such exemptions. The Air Force received the highest number of requests with 10,766, followed by the Marine Corps with 3,350, the Navy with 2,844, and the Army with 1,746. No other branch has reported an approved request, but have provided data on the number of disapproved accommodations.”

New York Times: The C.D.C. conceded that cloth masks do not protect against the virus as effectively as other masks.. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday clarified its stance on various kinds of masks, acknowledging that the cloth masks frequently worn by Americans do not offer as much protection as surgical masks or respirators.”

Axios: COVID deaths are climbing as cases skyrocket. “COVID deaths are also on the rise, up from about 1,200 per day two weeks ago to an average of over 1,700 per day now. The toll is a reminder that while Omicron is not as deadly as past variants, it’s still a serious threat for vulnerable people.”

NBC News: Amid labor shortage, Army offers largest enlistment bonus ever. “The Army is seeking to blunt the pandemic-fueled labor shortage rocking the country’s economy with its largest bonus ever — $50,000. In a release Wednesday, military recruiting officials said the incentive, for qualified recruits who sign up for certain career paths and agree to active-duty six-year enlistments, is aimed at luring the ‘same talent’ that private companies are competing for.”

STATES / STATE GOVERNMENT

State of Connecticut: Governor Lamont Announces Agreement With Disability Rights Groups on Distribution of COVID-19 Rapid Tests and N95 Masks. “Governor Ned Lamont today announced that his administration, working in cooperation with the Office of Attorney General William Tong, has reached an agreement with Disability Rights Connecticut and Connecticut Legal Rights Project regarding the state’s ongoing distribution of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests and N95 masks.”

Detroit Free Press: Officials refute report expected to allege undercount in COVID-19 long-term care deaths. “Michigan health officials are disputing a report that they say is expected to allege the state undercounted potentially hundreds or thousands of COVID-19 deaths of residents at long-term care facilities.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Associated Press: Garbage and recyclables pile up as omicron takes its toll. “The omicron variant is sickening so many sanitation workers around the U.S. that some cities have had to delay or suspend garbage or recycling pickup, angering residents shocked that governments can’t perform this most basic of functions.”

INDIVIDUALS / BANDS / GROUPS

BBC: Covid: Viral photo highlights challenges of vaccinating Amazon. “A photo of an indigenous man carrying his father on his back to take a Covid-19 vaccine in the Brazilian Amazon has gone viral, and became a symbol of the complicated vaccination logistics in one of the world’s most remote areas. The photo taken by a doctor shows 24-year-old Tawy holding Wahu, 67, after both were given a vaccine dose. They had to walk for hours through the forest to reach the vaccination site.”

New York Times: Fugitive Who Faked His Death and Fled U.S. Is Caught in Scotland, Officials Say. “The remembrances poured in for Nicholas Alahverdian, saying that he had succumbed at 32 to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2020…. But his demise was greatly exaggerated, the authorities in two states said this week. Mr. Alahverdian, a convicted sex offender wanted on a rape charge in Utah, was alive and not so well, prosecutors in Utah and the Rhode Island State Police said.”

CNN: Chinese woman stuck in blind date’s house by sudden Covid lockdown. “The 30-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Wang, went to meet her blind date for a home-cooked dinner on January 6 in her hometown of Zhengzhou, a city in central China grappling with a coronavirus outbreak…. Just when Wang was about to go home after the meal, she found out the whole neighborhood had gone into a swift lockdown, she said.”

Vice: This Man Went Looking for a Date Who Could Infect Him With COVID. “As much of the world fights to stem the spread of the virus, one man’s quest to become infected bucks the trend. A masochistic kink perhaps? The suspicion, according to insurance officials and Thai media, is that he planned to make an insurance claim.”

Daily Beast: Unvaxxed Lunch Lady Wants You to See Her COVID Death Spiral. “Michelle Fluegge wants everybody to see the photo of her on a ventilator during her very worst days because it shows what can happen if you fail to get vaccinated. ‘If I can help even one person,’ she told The Daily Beast of the picture, which shows her unconscious on a ventilator, her face pallid, the endotracheal tube down her windpipe held in place by a head strap, two other tubes inserted in her nose.”

K-12 EDUCATION

KMBC: Kansas board passes measure to ease COVID-19-related substitute teacher shortages. “A Kansas state board is hoping that making it easier to obtain a substitute teaching license will help ease the severe shortage of substitute teachers across the state. The Kansas State Board of Education Wednesday passed a temporary emergency change to the requirements to obtain a Temporary Emergency Authorized License.”

RESEARCH

New York Times: Unvaccinated women with Covid are more likely to lose fetuses and infants, Scottish data show.. “Researchers in Scotland reported on Thursday that pregnant women with Covid were not only at greater risk of developing severe disease, but also more likely to lose their fetuses and babies in the womb or shortly after birth, compared with other women who gave birth during the pandemic.”

New York Times: A popular at-home test detects most infectious Omicron cases, a study suggests.. “The Abbott BinaxNOW, a widely used at-home coronavirus test, can detect most people who are infected with the new Omicron variant and are carrying high levels of the virus, according to a new, real-world study of more than 700 people who visited a walk-up testing site in San Francisco.”

New York Times: Halting Progress and Happy Accidents: How mRNA Vaccines Were Made. “The vaccines were possible only because of efforts in three areas. The first began more than 60 years ago with the discovery of mRNA, the genetic molecule that helps cells make proteins. A few decades later, two scientists in Pennsylvania decided to pursue what seemed like a pipe dream: using the molecule to command cells to make tiny pieces of viruses that would strengthen the immune system.”

CRIME / SECURITY / LEGAL

Global News: ‘Abhorrent’: Fraudsters pay Downtown Eastside residents to get vaccinated in their place. “Health officials in Vancouver say they’re aware of cases of people trying to pay vulnerable people in the city’s Downtown Eastside to get vaccinated for them so they can fraudulently obtain a COVID-19 vaccine passport.”

POLITICS

CNN: Senate Democrats press White House on Covid-19 testing shortage. “The Biden administration is facing intense scrutiny from a small group of Senate Democrats about the administration’s Covid-19 pandemic response, mainly the testing shortage as cases of the Omicron variant have surged across the United States.”

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January 16, 2022 at 01:29AM
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Wordle-Avoidance, Online Collaboration, YouTube Creators, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, January 15, 2022

Wordle-Avoidance, Online Collaboration, YouTube Creators, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, January 15, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

USEFUL STUFF

KnowTechie: How to remove any mention of Wordle from your Twitter feed. “Muting words on Twitter is a great way to keep your feed clean of spoilers and people you would rather not think about, so it’s the perfect option in this instance. Follow along below and free yourself from the grasp of Wordle.”

MakeUseOf: The 14 Best No-Signup Collaboration Tools You Can Use in 10 Seconds. “Many believe that collaboration should be as ‘painless’ as possible. This article presents you with a worthy collection of no-signup tools for the ultimate collaboration experience at work or school.” Several of these I had not heard of at all!

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: YouTube rich list: MrBeast was the highest-paid star of 2021. “Jimmy Donaldson, the 23-year-old American better known as MrBeast, was YouTube’s highest-earning content creator in 2021, according to Forbes. His elaborate stunts have generated more than 10 billion views on the platform and earned him $54m (£39m).”

Independent: Developer sabotages own code to break thousands of apps in protest against world’s biggest companies. “Marak Squires, a coder from New York, seemingly purposefully corrupted two open-source libraries called ‘faker.js’ and ‘colors.js’. The former receives 2.8 million weekly downloads from GitHub and supports 2,500 projects, while the latter is downloaded 20 million times per week and supports 19,000 projects.”

New York Times: Crypto Enthusiasts Meet Their Match: Angry Gamers. “Skeptics argue that cryptocurrencies and related assets like NFTs are digital Ponzi schemes, with prices artificially inflated beyond their true value. Some question whether cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, which are slippery concepts, have any long-term utility. Nowhere has there has been more unhappiness than in the games community, where clashes over crypto have increasingly erupted between users and major game studios like Ubisoft, Square Enix and Zynga.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Khmer Times: Human traffickers use social media to lure job seekers to Cambodia. “Human traffickers in Việt Nam are finding ever more inventive ways to lure potential victims overseas for exploitation. Through social media networks like Facebook or Zalo, they are offering well-paid jobs at casinos or online games in Cambodia, before springing their trap.”

CNET: TLDR Act aims to make website terms of service easier to understand. “A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced legislation that aims to simplify the often lengthy and complex terms of service that people must agree to before using many online sites and services.”

Irish Examiner: New law regulating social media and streaming services to be approved by Cabinet. “The bill will establish a new media commission, which will include an online safety commissioner. The new body will be responsible for overseeing updated regulations for broadcasting and video-on-demand services, such as Netflix and Disney+, and the new regulatory framework for online safety.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of New Mexico: Jupiter-like planet discovered through TESS and citizen scientist collaboration. “Since 2010, Tom Jacobs, a former U.S. naval officer, has participated in online volunteer projects that allow anyone who is interested — ‘citizen scientists’ — to look through NASA telescope data for signs of planets beyond our solar system. Now, Jacobs has helped discover a giant gaseous planet about 379 light-years from Earth, orbiting a star with the same mass as the Sun.”

MIT News: “Hey, Alexa! Are you trustworthy?”. “The researchers found that family members tend to think a device is more competent and emotionally engaging if it can exhibit social cues, like moving to orient its gaze at a speaking person. In addition, their study revealed that branding — specifically, whether the manufacturer’s name is associated with the device — has a significant effect on how members of a family perceive and interact with different voice-user interfaces.”

University of Wyoming: UW Joins Buffalo Bill Center, UK Institutions in Digital Humanities Project . “Researchers at the University of Wyoming and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West have joined international colleagues in Wales in a new project aimed at developing digital tools to analyze historical book illustrations to gain a more thorough understanding of history. Using a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities and the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, the team will use cutting-edge computing techniques to uncover hidden histories contained in the collections of several cultural institutions.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

NiemanLab: The New York Times debuts a fellowship for crossword constructors. “The New York Times announced a new fellowship for crossword constructors on Monday aimed at increasing the number of puzzles created by underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, and those in the LGBTQ community.” Good morning, Internet…

January 15, 2022 at 07:29PM
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Friday, January 14, 2022

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Google, Google Voice, More: Friday Evening ResearchBuzz, January 14, 2022

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Google, Google Voice, More: Friday Evening ResearchBuzz, January 14, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Jing Culture & Commerce: The Academy Museum Steps Up Its Digital Offerings Across Web And Mobile. “The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures may be a newcomer to the museum space, but already, it’s mapped out an expansive online strategy. This week, the Los Angeles institution, with the backing of Bloomberg Philanthropies, unveiled a number of digital platforms spanning web and mobile with the aim of enhancing both onsite and offsite visitor experiences.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

I have mentioned this story before but I’m going to take the rare step of mentioning it again because this is a great explainer of what Google is accused of doing with its advertising auction. Wired: Google’s Alleged Scheme to Corner the Online Ad Market. “IN 2010, A Google product manager named Scott Spencer gave an interview explaining Google’s use of ‘second-price’ auctions to place ads across the web. In a second-price auction, the highest bidder wins, but only has to pay whatever the second highest bid was. Economists love this setup—the guy who theorized it won a Nobel Prize—because it encourages participants to bid whatever the item is truly worth to them without worrying about overpaying. As Spencer explained, ‘it minimizes the need to “game” the system.’ But what if Google was the one gaming the system?”

9to5 Google: Legacy Google Voice, including answerable ‘Carrier Call Forwarding,’ shutting down next month. “A little over three and a half years after Voice was massively redesigned, Google started telling original users that the legacy web version would stop receiving updates and encouraged them to migrate over. Legacy Google Voice is now set to be ‘phased out’ from next month.”

USEFUL STUFF

Wired: How to Reboot Your Gadgets and How Often to Do It . “GADGETS ARE GREAT, which is why our homes are full of them. But sometimes things go wrong, and wasting time by troubleshooting is nobody’s idea of fun. But turning things off and on again—the common refrain of the IT department—can alleviate a host of problems. If you automate or schedule regular reboots, you can even prevent issues from ever arising, and give your gadgets the best chance of running smoothly.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Billboard: Issa Rae’s Raedio Label Teams With Google for Emerging Artists Program . “The Raedio Creator Program Supported by Google will select two female artists and two composers to receive funding and resources to create and retain full ownership of their music. The funding from Google will cover recording fees, producer costs and marketing expenses for the female artists to put out a three-to-five song EP. The Raedio record label branch will supervise and distribute the projects, which will be available on all digital service providers (DSPs).”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ABC 13: Astroworld Fest: FBI portal goes online for photo or video uploads of the Houston concert disaster. “On Friday, more than two months after the deadly concert surge at NRG Park, the Houston Police Department announced the establishment of a public-facing FBI website, urging those who have any photos or video taken at the concert venue back on Nov. 5, 2021, to upload them to the portal.”

TechCrunch: In bad news for US cloud services, Austrian website’s use of Google Analytics found to breach GDPR. “A decision by Austria’s data protection watchdog upholding a complaint against a website related to its use of Google Analytics does not bode well for use of US cloud services in Europe. The decision raises a big red flag over routine use of tools that require transferring Europeans’ personal data to the US for processing — with the watchdog finding that IP address and identifiers in cookie data are the personal data of site visitors, meaning these transfers fall under the purview of EU data protection law.”

Politico: Zuckerberg and Google CEO approved deal to carve up ad market, states allege in court. “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai personally approved a secret deal that gave the social network a leg up in the search giant’s online advertising auctions, attorneys for Texas and other states alleged in newly unsealed court filings.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Daily Nous: News About Two Open-Access Philosophy Journals. “One philosophy journal has shed its corporate publisher to protect its current open-access status, while another has initiated a funding plan that offers departments of philosophy institutional memberships.”

TechCrunch: Google’s loss to Sonos settles it: Big Tech has an IP piracy problem. “Big Tech thus takes what it wants. It then uses scorched-earth litigation tactics to beat up on complaining IP owners. It drags out litigation over many years and imposes massive litigation costs on IP owners seeking justice. Many IP owners don’t even file a lawsuit. They know it is ruinous and self-defeating to try to protect what is rightfully theirs. Simply put, Big Tech benefits from stealing IP. The legal costs and potential damages, if ever issued after years of litigation, are paltry by comparison.” Good evening, Internet…

January 15, 2022 at 06:17AM
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