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Daily Archives: December 21, 2022

Gone But Not Forgotten (Yet): The Tech That Died in 2022

PC Mag: “This year saw the usual introduction of next-gen smartphones, laptops, operating systems, and smart home devices, with a few unique offerings thrown in there, too. But for all the innovative tech that made headlines or passed through our labs in 2022, there were just as many products and services that powered down for good. It’s time for our annual look at the tech that died this year. Some services have been around for ages and we are just now saying farewell to the last vestiges of a once-great brand. Others went belly up in less than a month. Read on to see what the major companies—Amazon, Meta, and Google—kicked to the curb in 2022, as well as a month-by-month rundown of other products that ended up in the tech graveyard…”

A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business

The New York Times: “A new wave of chat bots like ChatGPT use artificial intelligence that could reinvent or even replace the traditional internet search engine. Over the past three decades, a handful of products like Netscape’s web browser, Google’s search engine and Apple’s iPhone have truly upended the tech industry and made what came… Continue Reading

Inventing the dark Web: Criminalization of privacy and the apocalyptic turn in the imaginary of the Web

Inventing the dark Web: Criminalization of privacy and the apocalyptic turn in the imaginary of the Web by Thais Sardá, Simone Natale, and John Downey. First Monday, Volume 27, Number 11 – 7 November 2022. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v27i11.12691 “This paper examines how the deep Web, i.e., Web sites that are not indexed and thus are not… Continue Reading

Fake job postings are stealing applicants’ money and identities

Washington Post: “…Job sites such as ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn and Indeed say they try to weed out fake job listings and employers, though scammers are getting more sophisticated. These websites also offer tools to flag suspicious content in case a scam gets past their screening. Still, many job seekers are airing their horror stories across social… Continue Reading

Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate

“Consumer Reports found dangerous heavy metals in chocolate from Hershey’s, Theo, Trader Joe’s and other popular brands…People also choose dark chocolate in particular for its potential health benefits, thanks to studies that suggest its rich supply of antioxidants may improve heart health and other conditions, and for its relatively low levels of sugar. In fact,… Continue Reading

User Generated Content and the Fediverse: A Legal Primer

EFF: “A growing number of people are experimenting with federated alternatives to social media like Mastodon, either by joining an “instance” hosted by someone else or creating their own instance by running the free, open-source software on a server they control. (See more about this movement and joining the fediverse here). The fediverse isn’t a… Continue Reading

Document: Report on Trump’s Tax Returns

Ways and Means Committee report on Trump Taxes Joint Committee on Taxation summary of Trump’s returns. WSJ$ – Donald and Melania Trump Reported Negative Income In Four Years From 2015 Through 2020. “The Trumps paid some form of taxes every year, but paid $750 or less in income taxes in three of the six years.”… Continue Reading

No free PACER as U.S. lawmakers exclude proposal from spending bill

Reuters: “U.S. lawmakers have left a proposal to make the federal judiciary’s PACER online court records system free out of a sprawling, $1.66 trillion spending measure unveiled on Tuesday, a setback for advocates as the current Congress nears its end. Supporters of the Open Courts Act had been pushing to get the stalled, bipartisan legislation… Continue Reading

22 findings from the Reuters Institute’s research in 2022 still relevant in 2023

From news avoidance to audience trust and newsroom diversity, our researchers have covered key issues in the past 12 months – “2022 has been a challenging year for journalism. While reporting on Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and on the last stages of a global pandemic, news organisations struggled with loss of interest, news avoidance… Continue Reading

Jan 6th Committee Releases 34 Witness Transcripts

Release of Select Committee Materials Dec 21, 2022 Washington: “Today, the Select Committee had made public 34 transcripts [with redactions] of witness testimony that was gathered over the course of the Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. These 34 records can be found on the Select Committee’s website.” Continue Reading