Washington Post [paywall – Seattle Times no paywall] “Let’s Google together. Open a Web browser and search for T-shirts. I’ll wait. Is the first thing you see a search result? I’m not talking about the stuff labeled Ads or Maps. On my screen, the actual result is not in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth,… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: October 2020
A Brief Guide to Online Teaching
Ryznar, Margaret, A Brief Guide to Online Teaching (August 22, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3679117 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3679117 “This brief guide to online teaching offers assistance in selecting between the synchronous and asynchronous online format, before proceeding to a brief step-by-step guide on the design elements of both asynchronous and synchronous online courses. The focus remains… Continue Reading
Taking Back Our Privacy
The New Yorker – Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the end-to-end encrypted messaging service Signal, is “trying to bring normality to the Internet. “…Marlinspike is the C.E.O. of Signal, the end-to-end encrypted messaging service, which he launched in 2014; he is also a cryptographer, a hacker, a shipwright, and a licensed mariner…Marlinspike believes that encrypted-communication… Continue Reading
COVID-19: Government Resources for Real-Time Economic Indicators
CRS Insight via LC – COVID-19: Government Resources for Real-Time Economic Indicators, October 21, 2020: “This CRS Insight presents select real-time economic indicators that attempt to measure the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the U.S. economy. Created by select federal government agencies, these new or unique indicators attempt to measure the… Continue Reading
A Reset for Library E-books
Publishers Weekly – In the wake of the pandemic, can publishers and libraries finally hash out their differences? “…But in mid-March, when the reality of the pandemic became apparent, everything changed. As libraries closed their doors and began shifting their print budgets to digital, dozens of publishers began slashing library e-book and digital audio prices and… Continue Reading
How to Find Your Local and External IP Address
Lifehacker – “Your device’s IP address is a critical piece of information that you probably don’t think about very much. You’ll occasionally need it for a network-related setup (if you’re trying to punch a hole in your network to access the contents of your NAS box, run a web server, or connect to your home-grown… Continue Reading
Copyright in Code: Supreme Court Hears Landmark Software Case in Google v. Oracle
CRS Legal Sidebar via LC – Copyright in Code: Supreme Court Hears Landmark Software Case in Google v. Oracle, October 21, 2020: “In what observers have hailed as the “copyright case of the century,” an eight-member Supreme Court heard arguments on October 7, 2020 ,in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc., a long-running intellectual-property dispute… Continue Reading
How to Take Better Pet Portraits and People Too
Via the New York Times – another pandemic driven, rabbit centric article – Even if you don’t have an expensive camera, you can capture memorable images with your smartphone, the right software and a few tricks. “Much of the internet seems to be made of animal photos, especially pictures of cats. If it all makes you… Continue Reading
USPS IG Report – Operational Changes to Mail Delivery
“This report responds to an August 7, 2020, congressional request regarding concerns that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s modifications to U.S. Postal Service staffing and policies had an adverse effect on Postal Service operations, leading to slower and less reliable mail delivery. This report also responds to a number of recent similar congressional requests. We are… Continue Reading
Politics, Polarization and the Pandemic: Which Media Sources Can You Trust?
“Since the outbreak began, news about Covid-19 has been subject to political manipulation and misinformation, and it continues to spread today. Making matters more complex, we all inevitably bring our own implicit biases or “motivated reasoning” in determining what news and information to believe and what to discount as propaganda from “the other side.” This… Continue Reading
State of the Facts 2020: 37% of Americans say it’s harder to find facts since the pandemic began
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (October, 2020). “State of the Facts 2020: COVID-19.” Topline Results Report “Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are still paying close attention, but few have trusted sources for factual information. Over half of Americans are paying close attention to information related to the virus these days. But 43%… Continue Reading
It’s Google’s World. We Just Live in It
The New York Times – “Googling something was all we once did with Google. Now we spend hours a day using its maps, videos, security cameras, email, smartphones and more….It isn’t just that I am spending more time in a Google search, either. The Silicon Valley company has leveraged the act of looking for something… Continue Reading
