Monthly Archives: February 2023

‘Sometimes Things Break’: Twitter Outages Are on the Rise (New York Times)

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New York Times: ‘Sometimes Things Break’: Twitter Outages Are on the Rise
. “In February alone, Twitter experienced at least four widespread outages, compared with nine in all of 2022, according to NetBlocks, an organization that tracks internet outages. That suggests the frequency of service failures is on the rise, NetBlocks said. And bugs that have made Twitter less usable — by preventing people from posting tweets, for instance — have been more noticeable, researchers and users said.”

TechCrunch: Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter alternative Bluesky hits the App Store as an invite-only app

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TechCrunch: Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter alternative Bluesky hits the App Store as an invite-only app. “Bluesky, the Twitter alternative backed by Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, has hit the App Store and more testers are gaining access. Though the app is still only available as an invite-only beta, its App Store arrival signals that a public launch could be nearing.”

The Guardian: China spends billions on pro-Russia disinformation, US special envoy says

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The Guardian: China spends billions on pro-Russia disinformation, US special envoy says. “The west has been slow to respond to China spending billions globally to spread poisonous disinformation, including messaging that is completely aligned with Russia on Ukraine, a US special envoy has claimed.”

CBS News: “Petfluencer” and “rage farming” among new words added to Dictionary.com

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CBS News: “Petfluencer” and “rage farming” among new words added to Dictionary.com. “The update, published on Feb. 28, includes 313 new words. Many words address modern situations. For example, ‘rage farming’ is the tactic of using inflammatory content to garner a response on social media and ‘pinkwashing’ refers to the way corporations superficially acknowledge and support LGBTQ+ rights while also supporting anti-LGBTQ causes.”

CNN: Ransomware attack on US Marshals Service affects ‘law enforcement sensitive information’

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CNN: Ransomware attack on US Marshals Service affects ‘law enforcement sensitive information’. “A ransomware attack on the US Marshals Service has affected a computer system containing ‘law enforcement sensitive information,’ including personal information belonging to targets of investigations, a US Marshals Service spokesperson said Monday evening.”

Illinois News Bureau: What’s the remedy for medical misinformation?

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Illinois News Bureau: What’s the remedy for medical misinformation?. “Kevin Leicht is a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the science team lead at the U. of I. System’s Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago. He is co-leading the development of a software app that will alert clinicians to medical misinformation on social media.”

Balkan Insight: With TikToks And School Trips, Activists Take On Slovakia’s Disinformation Ecosystem

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Balkan Insight: With TikToks And School Trips, Activists Take On Slovakia’s Disinformation Ecosystem. “Caught between an inadequate education system, government inaction, and mistrust of mainstream media and politicians, Slovakia proves fertile ground for disinformation to flourish. Activists are pushing back on several fronts, including where it all starts: school.”

State of Delaware: State Crash Data Now Available to Public Through Open Data Portal

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State of Delaware: State Crash Data Now Available to Public Through Open Data Portal. “Those evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites or hazardous roadway conditions will find the dashboard useful as it is updated monthly and contains crashes that occurred since 2009 through six months ago. Through the portal, users can filter crash data and visualize the data in charts, graphs and maps.”

Marketplace: Now we’re paying for social media … but for what, exactly?

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Marketplace: Now we’re paying for social media … but for what, exactly?. “They used to say that if you’re not paying for the product, the product is you. But if you’re now paying for social media, what exactly is the product? Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke to Shirin Ghaffary, a correspondent at Vox, about the benefits and trade-offs of the blue badge. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.”

Washington Post: Governments shut down the internet more often than ever, report says

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Washington Post: Governments shut down the internet more often than ever, report says. “Authorities in 35 countries instituted internet shutdowns at least 187 times, according to the New York-based digital rights watchdog Access Now. Nearly half of these shutdowns occurred in India, and if that nation is excluded, 2022 saw the most number of shutdowns globally since the group began monitoring disruptions in 2016.”

TechCrunch: Senator Markey calls on Elon Musk to reinstate Twitter’s accessibility team

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TechCrunch: Senator Markey calls on Elon Musk to reinstate Twitter’s accessibility team. “Like any social platform, Twitter has had its foibles when it comes to accessibility — in 2020, Twitter didn’t even have an accessibility team and only established one after public outcry when the company rolled out voice tweets without captions. But in the few years Twitter did have an accessibility team, the company rolled out features for alt text on images, automatic captioning on videos and captions for Spaces live audio rooms and voice tweets.”

Lifehacker: All the New Android Features Google Announced Today

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Lifehacker: All the New Android Features Google Announced Today. “While it isn’t time yet for the March Feature Drop, it’s still an exciting day to be on Android. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google unveiled nine new Android and Wear OS features users can expect in coming weeks, with some features available starting today. From Magic Eraser dropping on more devices, to new Emoji Kitchen combinations, this update’s a fun one.”

Bloomberg: Google Contract Workers Win Raise Following Union Activism

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Bloomberg: Google Contract Workers Win Raise Following Union Activism. “The Alphabet Workers Union said on Monday that thousands of contract employees assessing the quality of Alphabet Inc.’s Google search and advertising won a raise that brought workers’ wages up to $15 an hour, following a Bloomberg report documenting allegedly inadequate pay and benefits.”