NEW RESOURCES

Columbia Journalism Review: Cable news profits from its obsession with Trump. Viewers are the only victims.. “…many outlets have seen sharp increases in readership and subscribers by capitalizing on (and reinforcing) the obsession with Trump. A new tool from Stanford University’s Computer Graphics Lab reveals that cable news has undergone a similar transformation. The Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer enables users to track cable news screen time for anyone they’d like, from 2010 to present.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Military Times: Pentagon rescinding order to shutter Stars and Stripes paper. “The Defense Department is rescinding its order to shut down the military’s independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, in the wake of a tweet late last week by President Donald Trump vowing to continue funding the paper.”

BetaNews: Zoom boosts security with 2FA for all users. “Unlike when Zoom initially rolled out end-to-end encryption to paying users only, when it comes to 2FA, paying customers and those using free accounts are being treated equally. The extra layer of security works with all variants of Zoom, from web and desktop, to mobile.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Next Web: This free tool automatically deletes your old tweets, retweets, and likes. “There are a lot of tools out there for deleting your old tweets in bulk, but they don’t offer you much control, and many of them require you to run them manually every time you want to clear your tracks. To get rid of all this headache, developer Michael Lee had made a tool named Semiphemeral to get rid of your old tweets, likes, retweets, and even DMs. This tool was earlier available as an open-sourced version you had to set up on your own server, but now anyone can easily use it through its new web interface.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Computers Can’t Cut Red Tape. “Arizona has also been a case study of the limits of technology in the teeth of a jobless crisis, government bureaucracy and people trying to game the system. States like Arizona have been plagued by old and underfunded technology systems, but policy choices and the scale of need are the big reasons people are having trouble getting financial help.”

CanIndia: Google performs 1,000 tests daily to ensure quality in Search. ” In order to provide reliable information faster for people everywhere, Google is conducting more than 1,000 tests per day on an average to maintain quality in its Search and News platforms. Since 2017, the company has done more than one million quality tests to deliver high-quality information to billions of Search users, informed Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President, Search.”

Arab News: Return of Saddam-era archive to Iraq opens debate, old wounds. “A trove of Saddam-era files secretly returned to Iraq has pried open the country’s painful past, prompting hopes some may learn the fate of long-lost relatives along with fears of new bloodshed. The 5 million pages of internal Baath Party documents were found in 2003, just months after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam, in the party’s partly flooded headquarters in tumultuous Baghdad.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Newcastle University, neighbouring Northumbria hit by ransomware attacks. “A cyber attack at Newcastle University has turned out to be a ransomware infection courtesy of the Doppelpaymer gang. Hackers have posted a small sample of files from the gang on a leaks website, a tactic increasingly used by ransomware criminals to pressure victims into paying up.”

CNN: China’s UK embassy calls for Twitter to investigate after ambassador’s account ‘likes’ pornographic tweet. “The Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom has called on Twitter to investigate after its ambassador’s official account appeared to ‘like’ a pornographic post. The apparent sexually explicit “like” was first identified by a London-based human rights campaigner on Wednesday. It quickly set off a storm online as Twitter users speculated about whether ambassador Liu Xiaoming’s account had been hacked.”

Apollo Magazine: The late Robert Freeman was the Beatles’ favourite photographer – and now his entire archive has been stolen. “The archive stretched back to Freeman’s work in the early 1960s for the Sunday Times, where he made his name shooting portraits – from Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev to jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. His moody monochrome shots of the saxophonist – bebop was rather more to Freeman’s musical taste than pop music – subsequently brought him to the attention of Brian Epstein, manager of a Liverpudlian four-piece who were at that time storming the ‘hit parade’. In short order, Freeman became the Beatles’ most trusted photographer; he travelled with them on tour, discussing music and sharing a room with John Lennon, and was the go-to man for their album-cover portraits.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Engadget: ‘DeepFaceDrawing’ AI can turn simple sketches into detailed photo portraits. “Researchers have found a way to turn simple line drawings into photo-realistic facial images. Developed by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, DeepFaceDrawing uses artificial intelligence to help ‘users with little training in drawing to produce high-quality images from rough or even incomplete freehand sketches.'”

Neowin: Researchers have captured the world’s first 3,200-megapixel image. “Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford, California have captured the world’s largest single-shot image. Comprised of 3,200 megapixels (MP), the image was captured using an array of 189 imaging sensors that are being developed to be integrated into the world’s largest digital camera that is currently under construction at SLAC.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!