TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Library of Congress: New Online: “Poetry of America” Recordings. “This summer, we kicked off our refreshed ‘Poetry of America’ series with a selection of new recordings. Originally launched in 2013 as a counterpart to the Library’s ‘Songs of America’ project, the series comprises field recordings from contemporary American poets. Over the years, we’ve asked poets to choose a singular poem written by another American poet from any period in the nation’s history, record themselves reading the poem and then provide commentary that speaks to how the poem connects to, deepens or re-imagines a sense of the nation. We also ask each participating poet to contribute a poem of their own, which we include alongside the feature. Below, we’re highlighting excerpts from recordings added in July, including each poet’s commentary to whet your appetite.”

TorrentFreak: TorrentFreak is Blocked as a Pirate Site and Hacking Resource. “Court-ordered pirate site blockades are pretty common nowadays. While not everyone sees these as the ideal solution for the problem at hand, they follow the letter of the law. More problematic are the private blocking efforts by various Wifi providers, which we are frequently the target of. Apparently, TorrentFreak is a pirate site too.” This stinks. TorrentFreak is a great news and information site.

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Trends: How to hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. “If you’re anything like us, you love showing off photos you’ve taken with your phone, but there are times when you’ll want to keep certain pictures away from others, because they’re personal or, well, inappropriate. It’s situations like these when the ability to hide photos on your phone becomes invaluable, especially if you have children or friends who use your device often. We’ll detail how to hide your personal images on your iPhone below and even suggest a few apps for some added security. ”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNET: The cure for Facebook’s fake news infection? It might be these women. “In her hushed, measured tone, it may sound like the most placid movie trailer ever. But make no mistake, [Alex] Hardiman and her colleagues are on the kind of high-stakes mission that’s ripe for cinematic retelling. They’re trying to wipe aside fake news from Facebook’s massive social network, a critical source of information to 2.23 billion people, while also fostering a support system for more legitimate reporting. Their success or failure will affect the health of the news industry and the well-being of democracy worldwide. And at Facebook, where men outnumber women nearly two to one, the commanders of this mission are women.

Inquisitr: Facebook Slammed After ‘Gay Cure’ Ads Are Targeted To Young LGBT Users . “In a shocking discovery by the Telegraph, Facebook was caught running ads that were discriminatory and predatory towards LGBT youth. The company took the ads down after the publication exposed the advertisements, but it wasn’t before many people were targeted for the ‘gay cure’ messaging that has been slammed for being ‘aggressive and manipulative.'”

Evening Standard: Glamorous Instagrans: Meet the senior style icons of Instagram. “A whole host of senior style stars are currently smashing OOTDs on the ‘gram and gaining millions of fans in the process. Ranging from 53 to 90-years old, these inimitable fashionistas prove that as you get older you not only get wiser but more confident with your personal style, too.” OOTD = “Outfit Of the Day”

SECURITY & LEGAL

UAB News: Researchers propose new method for secure, speech-based two-factor authentication. “In a paper published at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks in June, Nitesh Saxena, Ph.D., and doctoral student Prakash Shrestha propose a system called the ‘Listening-Watch,’ a more secure, minimal interaction process using a wearable device, such as a smartwatch or activity tracker, and browser-generated random speech sounds.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Verge: Deepfakes for dancing: you can now use AI to fake those dance moves you always wanted. “Artificial intelligence is proving to be a very capable tool when it comes to manipulating videos of people. Face-swapping deepfakes have been the most visible example, but new applications are being found every day. The latest? Call it deepfakes for dancing — it uses AI to read someone’s dance moves and copy them on to a target body.”

Newswise: Researchers Use Crowdsourcing to Speed Up Data Analysis in Corn Plants. “Teaching a machine to finish a complex task can save humans a lot of time, effort and money. But first, the machine has to learn how, and that comes with plenty of its own challenges. An interdisciplinary team of Iowa State University scientists turned to crowdsourcing, or relying on large groups of minimally trained people, to repeat a task often enough that researchers could formulate an algorithm that allows a computer to carry out that task automatically. In this case, the scientists wanted to teach a machine to identify the tassels of corn plants when given a vast number of photographic images to sort through.”

The Next Web: Stingy with your Instagram likes? Us too. “Why are people so stingy with their likes on Instagram? I know I am. I hold onto likes tighter than a bottle of wine at a social gathering. But it makes no sense. Likes are unlimited. And they’re just nice. There’s not even any decision-making involved, as in the case of Facebook interactions. A quick double tap, and you’ve sent a little bit of digital love someone’s way.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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