The Verge – Just because you got a nifty new phone doesn’t mean you have to ditch your old one: “The excitement of getting a new phone is often tempered by nagging regret. A lot of times, it’s not like there was anything really wrong with the old phone (unless there was — a bulging… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: November 2020
Formulate Your Election Night Plans Now – 21 ways to distract yourself on Election Day
Lifehacker: “We don’t know what exactly election night will bring, but it’s unlikely that it will be the same straightforward process that has brought us accurate (if unofficial) results before midnight (almost) every other election cycle. And even if things go smoothly, the night is likely to be contentious and stressful for many of us.… Continue Reading
What Is the Election Needle? And Why Will We Have 4 of Them Tonight?
The New York Times – A closer look at our election forecaster before the Iowa caucuses. “Shortly before 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, we expect the first returns from the Iowa Democratic caucuses. If you choose to follow the results live tonight, we hope you’ll do it with us: We’ll have results, analysis from our… Continue Reading
Why You Can’t Rely on Election Forecasts
The New York Times Opinion – Voting models are not as scientific or certain as they may seem.”…There are two broad ways to model an event: using “fundamentals” — mechanisms that can affect the event — and probabilities — measurements like polls. For elections, fundamentals would be historically informed lessons like, “a better economy favors… Continue Reading
What it’s like to get locked out of Google indefinitely
Business Insider – “Entrusting your data to big tech platforms can be highly risky. Users who have been banned by Google for supposedly violating its terms of service have been left without access to key parts of their lives. Many have appealed the suspensions but have received automated responses. They don’t know why they’ve been… Continue Reading
Librarian, Read Thyself
The Rambling: “Why would you enter a dying field?” “You need a master’s degree to shelve books?” “Must be nice to sit and read all day.” Such commentary is a rite of passage for librarians, inflicted by everyone from family members to university administrators. Equally often, however, the remarks are effusive: “I LOVE librarians!” “Librarians… Continue Reading
Zoom Finally Has End-to-End Encryption. Here’s How to Use It
Wired – You can lock down your meetings like never before—even if you have to give up a few features to do so “…What Zoom launched is actually a 30-day technical preview; the company will continue to refine the offering through next year. But even in its early days, it offers a significant upgrade in… Continue Reading
Cyberlaw Clinic and EFF publish Guide to Legal Risks of Security Research
Cyberlaw Clinic: “We are excited to announce the release of A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research (pdf), a report authored by Sunoo Park and Kendra Albert, and co-published by the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Just last month, over 75 prominent security researchers signed a letter urging the… Continue Reading
When To Expect Election Results In Every State
FiveThirtyEight – A complete guide to poll closing times, vote counting and races to watch on election night 2020: “There’s a good chance we won’t know who won the presidential election on election night. More people than ever are voting by mail this year due to the pandemic, and mail ballots take longer to count… Continue Reading
What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers’ Brains?
HuffingtonPost – Social media platforms are sucking a generation into a misinformation rabbit hole: “…It has become a familiar story: The older relative, the intensifying Fox News habit, the alarming Facebook posts, the inevitable detachment from reality. Losing a parent to the conservative cyber-swamp is such a common experience among millennials that it has produced… Continue Reading
Economist Report: Remote Workers on the Move
Up Work: “More than half a year into the pandemic, remote work continues to be the reality for businesses across the country. Even as stay-at-home orders and lockdown measures have eased, many professionals are still working from their homes. This persistence, coupled with findings from early survey results, suggest that remote work is here to… Continue Reading
Twitter and the Federal Reserve: How the U.S. central bank is (and is not) surviving social media
Brookings Economic Studies – Twitter and the Federal Reserve: How the U.S. central bank is (and is not) surviving social media. Peter Conti-Brown and Brian Feinstein Thursday, October 29, 2020. This paper seeks to connect these two discussions—about the Fed’s efforts to increase its communications and the president’s use of Twitter to attack the Fed’s… Continue Reading
