NEW RESOURCES

Star Herald (Nebraska): Users can use new website to check groundwater quality, chemical content. “The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy launched the Nebraska Groundwater Quality Clearinghouse earlier this week. With more than 1.6 million sample results from some 33,000 irrigation well locations, the website is the culmination of decades worth of sampling and research.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Apple launches a new iOS app, ‘Siri Speech Study,’ to gather feedback for Siri improvements. “Apple recently began a research study designed to collect speech data from study participants. Earlier this month, the company launched on the App Store a new iOS app called ‘Siri Speech Study’, which allows participants who have opted in to share their voice requests and other feedback with Apple. The app is available in a number of worldwide markets but does not register on the App Store’s charts, including under the ‘Utilities’ category where it’s published.”

Boing Boing: Dole-Kemp ’96 campaign website finally disappears. “The 1996 presidential campaign of Bob Dole was not one for the ages, but its campaign website remained live in perpetuity afterward, a glistening perfect Web 1.0 memento of a bygone age. It was rediscovered this summer, briefly enjoying more attention than it ever likely got 25 years ago.”

CNET: Facebook unveils tools to protect Afghan people who fear becoming Taliban targets . “As many Afghans hurry to hide their social media profiles out of fear the profiles will make them targets for Taliban violence, Facebook is launching new tools to help them delete their digital footprints. The move comes just days after the Taliban reclaimed Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Sunday, and announced they’d be taking power in the country for the first time in 20 years.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Facebook says it wants a ‘fair shot’ in the crypto payments sphere.. Doesn’t Facebook just buy its fair shots? “Facebook’s mission is to ‘bring the world closer together.’ Increasingly, that’s about not just connecting friends and family to share messages, but also serving as a platform for people’s financial lives.”

AP: Film bares disputes behind construction of 9/11 museum. “A new film reveals and renews the tensions that went into creating the Sept. 11 museum beneath the memorial waterfalls and reflecting pool at the World Trade Center Unhappy museum officials have objected and sought changes to ‘The Outsider,’ a documentary being released this week that reveals conflicting visions behind the New York landmark, which opened in 2014.”

Make Tech Easier: Facebook Gaming vs. Twitch vs. YouTube Gaming: What’s the Best Live Game Streaming Platform?. “If you watch games, you have probably used or heard of Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Gaming and may be wondering which is the best and how they compare. Here we pit the three titans of game streaming up against one another to decide which is best live game streaming platform.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Sydney Morning Herald: Burden falls on Archives boss to make case for cybersecurity boost. “The head of the National Archives says it falls to him now to make a compelling case to the federal government to secure nearly $170 million to boost the institution’s cybersecurity and digital capability. The government’s long-awaited response to the Tune review of the Archives, revealed in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Thursday, agrees with the need to invest more in cybersecurity and examine the case for a high-tech 5th Generation Digital Archive.

Ars Technica: Apple photo-scanning plan faces global backlash from 90 rights groups. “More than 90 policy groups from the US and around the world signed an open letter urging Apple to drop its plan to have Apple devices scan photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”

Bleeping Computer: You can post LinkedIn jobs as almost ANY employer — so can attackers. “Anyone can create a job listing on the leading recruitment platform LinkedIn on behalf of just about any employer—no verification needed. And worse, the employer cannot easily take these down. Now, that might be nothing new, but the feature and lax verification on career websites pave the ways for attackers to post bogus listings for malicious purposes.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: We trained AI to recognise footprints, but it won’t replace forensic experts yet. “In forensic science, the expert witness plays a vital role. Lawyers seek them out for their analysis and opinion on specialist evidence. But experts are human, with all their failings, and the role of expert witnesses has frequently been linked to miscarriages of justice. We’ve been investigating the potential for AI to study evidence in forensic science. In two recent papers, we found AI was better at assessing footprints than general forensic scientists, but not better than specific footprint experts.”

The Next Web: Analysis: Tesla’s humanoid robot might be Elon’s dumbest idea yet. “Everybody wants this to be real. Me, you, the entire writing staff of the Simpsons (wait for it, I’m sure it’s coming), even Tesla’s competitors. We all want Rosie the Robot to be real. But here’s the truth laid bare: this is a hustle. The Tesla Robot is Elon Musk at his PT Barnum-esque best. He’s promising everything you want and daring you to dream along side him while he picks your pocket.” Good morning, Internet…

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