TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Bing: Get quickly caught up to speed on the Summer Games 2020 with Microsoft Bing. “We’re excited to announce our new experience from Microsoft Bing that helps you get quickly caught up to speed on the Summer Games 2020. From event schedule to medal counter by country and more, this experience will help you find out where, when, and who to watch during the Games.”

BetaNews: Here’s how to watch the Tokyo Olympics in VR. “The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics are shaping up to be one of the most unusual in Olympic history for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that public spectators will not be allowed at any of the events (yeah, and the fact that the 2020 Olympics are happening in 2021). And even though this won’t be the first time that Olympics content will be available in VR, it is a particularly relevant way to experience the 17 days of international matchups this year — if you still have a standard cable subscription.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BuzzFeed News: This Woman’s Viral TikToks Spooking Her Colleague Might Make You Miss Office Pranks. “The office prank — you know them. Tape under the mouse. Screenshotting the desktop and hiding the shortcuts. Sticky notes on everything. And the classic: scaring your co-worker so badly she jumps out of her seat and yells, ‘Goddammit!’ That’s what Jenelle Brennan and Julie English have been up to at their law office job at the Marino Law Group in Rochester, New York.” The lady who’s getting scared thinks it’s funny and doesn’t mind.

Search Engine Journal: Wix vs WordPress: Which Is Better for SEO?. “In this column, you’ll learn the pros and cons of each platform when it comes to SEO, along with some interesting facts and tips to help you make the right decision for your website.” I am 100% against choosing a publishing platform based on its SEO potential. That being said, this is a interesting comparison of elements that aren’t often considered when discussing website builders.

BBC: The online data that’s being deleted. “Thanks to the permanence of stone tablets, ancient books and messages carved into the very walls of buildings by our ancestors, there’s a bias in our culture towards assuming that the written word is by definition enduring. We quote remarks made centuries ago often because someone wrote them down – and kept the copies safe. But in digital form, the written word is little more than a projection of light onto a screen. As soon as the light goes out, it might not come back.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Gizmodo: 25 States Are Forcing Face Recognition on People Filing for Unemployment. “We acclimatize to dangerous tech creep in a series of f*ck-it moments until the point at which we realize a foreseeably bad network is so pervasive, we reluctantly adopt it and move on. There was a time when social media, Amazon shopping, and home surveillance seemed optional—until they weren’t. Now in many states, you’ll have to surrender a faceprint to a private face recognition program in order to access basic government services like unemployment insurance. We’ve been here before.” Asterisk by me because I like these newsletters having some chance of getting through corporate filters.

CNN: TikTok, Biden administration agree to drop litigation over Trump-era app store ban. “TikTok and the US government agreed on Wednesday to drop a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban the short-form video app from US app stores. In a filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the two sides said they had mutually agreed the suit should be dismissed.”

Washington Post: Your contact list is spilling over to the Internet. Here’s how to make it stop.. “The names and contact information that used to stay safe in analog address books now float around the data economy, bouncing from smartphones to app-makers to third-party data collectors. That means apps get the names and phone numbers of everyone in your contacts — from your best friend to the stranger who might have rear-ended you at a stoplight. And companies might sell that information, too.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNN: Fingerprint found on 500-year-old statue may belong to Michelangelo. “A small wax statue may have brought us closer than ever to Michelangelo, after museum experts found what they believe to be the Renaissance master’s fingerprint — or thumbprint — pressed into the material. Specialists at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) discovered the mark on a dark red figurine, which was an initial sketch model for a larger unfinished marble sculpture.”

AFP: Google parent launches new ‘moonshot’ for robotics software. “Google’s parent Alphabet unveiled a new “moonshot” project to develop software for robotics which could be used in a wide range of industries. The new unit, dubbed Intrinsic, will ‘become an independent Alphabet company,’ and seek industrial partners to advance their work helping to make everything from solar panels to cars, the new unit’s chief, Wendy Tan-White, said in a blog post.” Good evening, Internet…

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