TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Mashable: TikTok is testing Stories and time is a flat circle . “In the internet is eating itself news, TikTok is apparently launching a new feature: Stories Yep, the app that has caused every other social media company to scramble and create short-form video TikTok clones is now copying the last thing those other apps really had going for them.”

Tubefilter: YouTube Will Disperse Monthly Payments From $100 To $10,000 To Thousands Of Creators Through New ‘Shorts Fund’. “YouTube’s previously-announced Shorts Fund, a $100 million commitment to creators of TikTok-like videos, is launching today and will begin to compensate creators this month, the company said.”

USEFUL STUFF

Search Engine Journal: How to Use Google Sheets for Web Scraping & Campaign Building. “According to Google’s support page, IMPORTXML ‘imports data from any of various structured data types including XML, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RSS and ATOM XML feeds.’ Essentially, IMPORTXML is a function allows you to scrape structured data from webpages — no coding knowledge required. For example, it’s quick and easy to extract data such as page titles, descriptions, or links, but also more complex information.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Hartford Courant: New Instagram series, by Gov. Lamont, will highlight state businesses across the state. First episode goes behind the scenes at Pepe’s Pizza.. “Gov. Ned Lamont was taken behind the scenes of the famous Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven in the debut episode of ‘Made by Connecticut,’ a new Instagram series introduced by the governor, which will highlight businesses across the state.”

Al-Fanar Media: One Year After the Beirut Blast, Technology Keeps Memories Fresh. “On August 4, 2020, at 6:08 p.m., time stood still in Beirut as the city’s port erupted in an explosion that killed hundreds of people and injured thousands more. Though it has been a year since the blast happened, to many of Beirut’s residents, it feels like yesterday. Memories of this day remain crystal clear, thanks in part to digital technology. The devastating blast was preceded by a smaller explosion and fire in a warehouse, and people already had their mobile-phone cameras trained on the port when the second, colossal explosion occurred. Thus, they were able to document the blast as it happened, as well as its aftermath.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Wired: Watch a Hacker Hijack a Capsule Hotel’s Lights, Fans, and Beds. “A TRAVEL TIP: When staying in a ‘capsule hotel,’ the Japanese style of budget accommodation that packs guests into tiny, adjoining rooms not much bigger than their bodies, be considerate of your neighbors. Especially if the capsule hotel you’re staying in offers digital automation features—and a hacker is staying in the next room over.”

The Verge: Colleges across the US and Canada are adopting virtual student IDs. “Apple Wallet has supported contactless student IDs since 2018, with three US universities supporting the feature at launch. The program has been gradually expanding ever since. Yesterday, the company announced that its virtual IDs will finally arrive in Canada this fall. An unspecified number of additional US universities will adopt it for the first time as well.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Penn Today: How racial bias can limit internet access for people of color. “A new study from the Annenberg School for Communication, published in the Journal of Communication, investigates the ways that institutions control who has access to WiFi, and the findings indicate that quality-of-life policing—the report and/or arrest of individuals engaged in nonviolent offenses such as loitering, noise violations, and public intoxication—is used by powerful institutions and privileged people to keep those with less privilege, including people of color, from accessing resources like the internet.”

Ars Technica: If YouTube’s algorithms radicalize people, it’s hard to tell from the data. “…there has been a steady stream of stories about how the process has radicalized people, sending them down an ever-deepening rabbit hole until all their viewing is dominated by fringe ideas and conspiracy theories. A new study released on Monday looks at whether these stories represent a larger trend or are just a collection of anecdotes. While the data can’t rule out the existence of online radicalization, it definitely suggests that it’s not the most common experience. Instead, it seems like fringe ideas are simply part of a larger self-reinforcing community.”

Irish Examiner: Academics using 3D technology to protect Ogham writing. “Irish and Scottish academics are using digital and 3D technologies to protect ancient Celtic Ogham writings. The 1,500-year-old alphabet appears on monuments and objects dating back to the fourth century, as well as manuscripts from the ninth century, and can be found in Ireland and Britain.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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