Washington State University: Amid genomic data explosion, scientists find proliferating errors. “Washington State University researchers found a troubling number of errors in publicly available genomic data as they conducted a large-scale analysis of protein sequences. The work, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the world’s most cited microbiology journal, could have important implications for future genomic research.”
Monthly Archives: April 2019
Boing Boing: Jimmy Fallon played a video game on air, meaning that streaming your own game gets you taken down as a pirate, thanks to NBC
Boing Boing: Jimmy Fallon played a video game on air, meaning that streaming your own game gets you taken down as a pirate, thanks to NBC. “NBC (and the other broadcasters) provides copies of its shows to Youtube’s Content ID filter, which is supposed to protect copyright by blocking uploads of videos that match ones in its database of claimed videos. That means that if you own the copyright to something that is aired on NBC, any subsequent attempts by you or your fans to upload your work will be blocked as copyright infringements, and could cost you your Youtube account. The latest casualty of this is the video game Beat Saber.”
Business Wire: Pantene Launches S.H.E. – Search. Human. Equalizer. – to Shine a Light on Bias in Search (PRESS RELEASE)
Business Wire via AP: Pantene Launches S.H.E. – Search. Human. Equalizer. – to Shine a Light on Bias in Search (PRESS RELEASE). “S.H.E. is a search tool that shows us what a more equal world could look like by removing the bias in search. Available via Chrome extension, S.H.E. operates on the search back end by filtering results to produce less biased and more balanced results, ultimately giving the women behind some of the world’s greatest accomplishments and transformations the visibility they deserve.” I was COMPLETELY gobsmacked by this until I saw a little further down that it’s limited in what it can search. Still, though…. The Chrome extension wants really wide permissions and I can’t figure out which search engines specifically this is targeting.
The Verge: A new startup helps podcasts get promoted on other podcasts
The Verge: A new startup helps podcasts get promoted on other podcasts. “Podcast startup RedCircle is officially launching today with a focus on helping small shows grow. Its first step is releasing a feature that assists podcasters in setting up cross-promotions with other podcasters, agreements in which two shows promote each other. It promises there’s more to come.” Reminds me of webrings! Remember those?
South China Morning Post: Time to press ahead with archive law
South China Morning Post: Time to press ahead with archive law. “Just how tall is 4,488 metres? This is roughly half of Mount Everest in height or five of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Intriguingly, it is also the height of the documents destroyed by the Hong Kong government last year. The volume was a three-year high, according to the city’s official records agency. The figure certainly does nothing for the government’s environmental protection credentials. But for a bureaucracy overseeing a sophisticated city of 7 million people, such a volume may well be the result of vigorous control and restraints. However, the lack of legal supervision and sanctions means the public is unable to tell whether this is the case.”
University of Hawai’i: UH Mānoa oral history project preserves Waialua’s past
University of Hawai’i: UH Mānoa oral history project preserves Waialua’s past. “University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students are preserving the history of the North Shore communities of Waialua and Haleʻiwa by interviewing kūpuna (grandparents, elders) from those areas. The three-credit, spring semester course offered by the UH Mānoa departments of anthropology and ethnic studies is an oral history program that preserves the memories and experiences of the kūpuna for future generations.”
The ChronicleHerald: Federal Court sidesteps constitutional questions — for now — in Google ‘right to be forgotten’ case
The ChronicleHerald: Federal Court sidesteps constitutional questions — for now — in Google ‘right to be forgotten’ case. “Google LLC was handed a setback this month in a case over the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ when a Federal Court adjudicator ruled that it won’t delve into the thorny constitutional questions wrapped up in the matter. Instead, the Federal Court will judge two specific points related to Canada’s privacy law, in a reference case brought forward by federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien.”
TechCrunch: NSA says warrantless searches of Americans’ data rose in 2018
TechCrunch: NSA says warrantless searches of Americans’ data rose in 2018. “The intelligence community’s annual transparency report revealed a spike in the number of warrantless searches of Americans’ data in 2018. The data, published Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), revealed a 28 percent rise in the number of targeted search terms used to query massive databases of collected Americans’ communications.”
Techdirt: Texas Senator Pushing A Bill That Would Allow The State To Sue Twitter For Banning Conservatives
Techdirt: Texas Senator Pushing A Bill That Would Allow The State To Sue Twitter For Banning Conservatives. “…a member of the Texas Senate has decided he’s going to force social media platforms to be neutral. Bryan Hughes has crafted a bill that would allow the state’s attorney general to sue Twitter, etc. for booting people off their platforms. There’s a big ‘if’ in the bill that pretty much ensures it will never be enforced, even if it somehow manages to survive a Constitutional challenge.”
Mozilla Blog: Facebook’s Ad Archive API is Inadequate
Mozilla Blog: Facebook’s Ad Archive API is Inadequate. “Facebook pledged in February to release an ad archive API, in order to make political advertising on the platform more transparent. The company finally released this API in late March — and we’ve been doing a review to determine if it is up to snuff. While we appreciate Facebook following through on its commitment to make the ad archive API public, its execution on the API leaves something to be desired. “
CNN: Facebook debuts privacy features as it looks to move past ‘old issues’
CNN: Facebook debuts privacy features as it looks to move past ‘old issues’. “[Mark Zuckerberg] outlined six principals he said the company is focusing on going forward: private interactions, encryption, reduced permanence (meaning content and messages that disappear), safety, interoperability (being able to communicate across the company’s different networks and platforms), and secure data storage (not storing user data in countries where it could be accessed, for example).” The problem is I don’t believe anything he says…
Abacus: Chinese companies are making their employees post ads for them
Abacus: Chinese companies are making their employees post ads for them. “Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, many of us consider social platforms a place to share our curated personal thoughts. In China, though, people are finding it increasingly difficult to keep work from seeping into their private life online. Workers have been taking to the internet in droves, saying they have been ordered by employers to share company ads with friends in their private WeChat accounts. Some even say their bosses have asked to check their posts to make sure they comply.”
Yahoo News: Social media bloggers ‘offer inaccurate or biased diet advice’
Yahoo News: Social media bloggers ‘offer inaccurate or biased diet advice’. “People wanting to lose weight should stay away from bloggers on social media who claim to have the latest diet fix, researchers say. A new study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow found that just one out of nine of the most popular UK bloggers making weight management claims actually provided accurate and trustworthy information.”
Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn is Testing a New Services Section in User Profiles
Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn is Testing a New Services Section in User Profiles . “LinkedIn is working on a new addition to profiles which lets users display a list of services they offer. The feature is currently in testing and was discovered by none other than Jane Manchun Wong.”
Mashable: ‘Game of Thrones’ sets new record by conquering your Twitter feed
Mashable: ‘Game of Thrones’ sets new record by conquering your Twitter feed . “Twitter was ablaze Sunday following the night’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, with show-related content practically everywhere you looked. According to Twitter, the social media love fest was even more intense than usual — setting a new tweet record.”