TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Facebook expands local emergency alerts in the US. “Facebook said Tuesday it’s expanding a tool that some US governments and first responders use to alert local residents about emergencies such as active shooters, missing people and winter storms.”

TechCrunch: Yelp will let users personalize their homepage and search results. “In other words, if you’re a vegetarian, or if you’re a parent who’s usually looking for kid-friendly restaurants, you won’t have to reenter that information every time you do a search. Instead, you can enter it once and Yelp will prioritize those results moving forward.”

Engadget: Alexa adds in-depth NFL stats ahead of the new season. “Alexa’s football knowledge is now decidedly more profound. Amazon has added a slew of info to its voice assistant’s repertoire that includes ‘comprehensive, in-depth’ stats for NFL teams and their players. If you want to know your favorite player’s rushing yards or how many penalty yards the team has racked up, it’s just a quick question away.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: Seven Coding Games to Help You Build Your Programming Chops. “These coding games cover plenty of languages, age ranges, and skill levels, so whether you’re a complete beginner or looking for something on the next level, there’s a game out there to help you learn coding the best way: by doing it.”

Boing Boing: Tool analyzes your personality type based on your Tweets. “Give Analyze Words a Twitter handle—perhaps your Twitter handle!—and it will perform a personality analysis based on all the words it finds.”

How-To Geek: How to Play Adobe Flash SWF Files Outside Your Web Browser. “Web browsers are dropping support for Flash, but what if you have an SWF file to open? Never fear: Adobe offers a hidden Flash Player download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can open an SWF file outside your browser.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The National (Scotland): £200k appeal to put historic Marzaroli photo archive online. “A FUNDRAISER has been launched with the aim of making the entire archive of a celebrated Scottish photographer freely available online. The Oscar Marzaroli images were donated to Glasgow Caledonian University by his family on yesterday, which was the 31st anniversary of his death.”

New York Times: The Baroness Fighting to Protect Children Online. “Beeban Kidron, Silicon Valley’s latest antagonist, sat on the patio of a boutique hotel near Facebook’s headquarters recently, camouflaged in the local uniform of jeans and sneakers. A member of the House of Lords, she had just flown in from London to attend an international meeting hosted by the social network. And now, in a hotel thronging with tech executives, she was recounting her plan to overhaul how their companies treat children.”

The Harvard Crimson: Incoming Harvard Freshman Deported After Visa Revoked. “While most Harvard freshmen settle into their dorms Tuesday, one new student, Ismail B. Ajjawi ’23, faces ongoing negotiations with immigration officers to allow him to enter the United States and study at the College. U.S. officials deported Ajjawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian resident of Tyre, Lebanon, Friday night shortly after he arrived at Boston Logan International Airport. Before canceling Ajjawi’s visa, immigration officers subjected him to hours of questioning — at one point leaving to search his phone and computer — according to a written statement by Ajjawi.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

StateTech: California’s Looming Privacy Law Inspires Other States, Sparks Tech Opposition. “On Jan. 1, 2020, California will begin enforcement of a sweeping new privacy law. The law emerges as a national model, inspiring other states to adopt similar measures. But businesses — and tech companies in particular — express reservations about its requirements.”

Lifehacker: Why You Should Delete Your (Ancient) Foursquare Data. “Remember Foursquare? I used to use it (and the company’s other apps) to keep detailed, digital recordings of everywhere I went, which was the cool thing to do back in 2010. And while I don’t use Foursquare’s Android or iOS apps anymore, I’ve given the company a lot of information about me. Thankfully, it’s easy to see all the data the company has collected from you—and delete it.”

Ubergizmo: Drug Mule Busted At Airport After Authorities Go Through His Search History. “Our searches can tell a lot about us and our current state of mind, and it is because of this that a drug mule entering into Australia was caught. 36-year-old Sam Kul was entering Australia after spending four months in Europe, where upon entry into the country, airport customs officers searched through his phone where they found his search history that led them to believe he was hiding something.” Good morning, Internet…

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