The Billionaire Philanthropist – “It is an American tradition for CEOs to stockpile their wealth, avoid taxes, then in their later years, participate in the theater of giving. Will Jeff Bezos make it scale?..During the political chaos of the last year, one American institution has emerged stronger than ever. As its revenues soared, Amazon’s stock… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Opinion: YouTube may be one of the most radicalizing instruments of the 21st century
Via NYT – Benton Foundation – [Commentary] “It seems as if you are never “hard core” enough for YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. It promotes, recommends and disseminates videos in a manner that appears to constantly up the stakes. Given its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the… Continue Reading
America’s junk epidemic
The Week: “No matter what President Trump says, the decline of American manufacturing won’t be reversed by modest tariffs on aluminum and steel. There is more to this issue than industrial metals. Perhaps the largest structural economic crisis this country faces — one that encompasses everything else from outsourcing to stagnant wages to the environment… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – Barnes & Noble lays off hundreds of experienced employees, may not be long for this world
Via LLRX – Barnes & Noble lays off hundreds of experienced employees, may not be long for this world. Chris Meadows explains the rapid descent of the only remaining national bookstore chain and the impending impact on the bookselling landscape, including on the stores’ employees and customers. Continue Reading
Google Chrome ad blocking system – how it works
Chromium Blog – Under the hood: How Chrome’s ad filtering works – While most advertising on the web is respectful of user experience, over the years we’ve increasingly heard from our users that some advertising can be particularly intrusive. As we announced last June, Chrome will tackle this issue by removing ads from sites that… Continue Reading
Verge: Science’s pirate queen Alexandra Elbakyan is plundering the academic publishing establishment
The Verge: “The publisher Elsevier owns over 2,500 journals covering every conceivable facet of scientific inquiry to its name, and it wasn’t happy about either of the sites. Elsevier charges readers an average of $31.50 per paper for access; Sci-Hub and LibGen offered them for free. But even after receiving the “YOU HAVE BEEN SUED”… Continue Reading
Fate of WHOIS search tools in conflict with new EU data protection regulation
Motherboard: “In May, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will officially go into effect. The GDPR is ostensibly a law to protect the privacy of European citizens when it comes to how internet megacorporations like Google and Facebook handle their data. But the privacy regulations also come with some secondary effects whose influence… Continue Reading
Selecting Entities on Sites and Performing Tasks On Them Through Google
SEO by the Sea: “A patent granted to Google this week describes a way to easily identify an entity such as a restaurant on a touch device, and select it online and take some action associated with that entity based upon the context of a site the entity is found upon. Actions such as booking… Continue Reading
Google lets users mute reminder ads after online shopping
Google Blog: Don’t need a reminder? Now you can mute reminder ads in Ads Settings – “Today, we’re announcing more additions to Ads Settings and Mute This Ad to give you more control to mute the ads you see on Google, on websites, and in apps. Let’s say you’ve walked through one too many puddles… Continue Reading
BBC – The (almost) complete history of ‘fake news’
BBC Trending: “…Misinformation, spin, lies and deceit have of course been around forever. But what Buzzfeed’s media editor, Craig] Silverman and others uncovered was a unique marriage between social media algorithms, advertising systems, people prepared to make stuff up to earn some easy cash and an election that gripped a nation and much of the… Continue Reading
Internet Firearm Sales: ATF Enforcement Efforts and Outcomes of GAO Covert Testing
Internet Firearm Sales: ATF Enforcement Efforts and Outcomes of GAO Covert Testing, GAO-18-24: Published: Nov 21, 2017. Publicly Released: Dec 21, 2017. “The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is responsible for investigating criminal and regulatory violations of firearms statutes and regulations that govern firearms transactions, including sales that are facilitated by the… Continue Reading
Yahoo Search results driven by ads
ghacks.net: “If you visit Yahoo Search right now from a location in the United States, the chance is high that you get more ads on the search results page than organic results. A search for laptops, for instance, returns five ads at the top that fill most “above the fold” space, and another batch of… Continue Reading
