NEW RESOURCES

Las Vegas Review-Journal: New website an invaluable resource for Las Vegas startups. “Looking for a deep dive into the Las Vegas startup community and its investors? There’s now a website for that. StartUpNV, a nonprofit business incubator and accelerator for Nevada startups, launched a platform Thursday in partnership with the city of Las Vegas to offer a list of Las Vegas-based startups with data such as funding rounds and valuation.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Wired: WhatsApp Fixes Its Biggest Encryption Loophole. “Over the next few weeks, WhatsApp will roll out an update that adds end-to-end encryption to backups, should you so choose. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature in a Facebook post this morning. It’s a complex solution to a longstanding issue, and one that sets a precedent for companies that don’t want to rely quite so extensively on the security of the world’s handful of dominant cloud providers.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Nation’s Restaurant News: Chipotle Mexican Grill launches new ‘Creator Class’ of TikTok infuencers. “Officials on Thursday announced 14 founding members. One more superfan will have the opportunity to join the class by making a Chipotle-themed TikTok video using #chipotlecreator and #entry between Sept. 9-13. Company officials will choose the top three videos and members of the creator class will select the 15thmember.”

blogTO: Toronto just got a new pop-up where you pay with social media posts instead of money. “Pick Me Ups is Ontario’s first ever post-to-pay pop-up, and just by posting on social media you can get free limited edition items from local makers like Cops, Kwento, Ruru Baked, Milky’s and Naked Beauty Bar.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Texas forbids political ‘censorship’ by social media companies.. “The governor of Texas signed a bill on Thursday banning social media platforms from removing posts because of the political views expressed in them, a measure that is likely to draw significant legal scrutiny after a similar law was blocked by a judge in Florida.”

The Verge: Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchase, rules judge in Epic v. Apple. “Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a permanent injunction in the Epic v. Apple case on Friday morning, putting new restrictions on Apple’s App Store rules and bringing months of bitter legal jousting to a conclusion.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Bloomberg: Google’s Medical Chief Says Company Shifting Health Focus. “In August, the leader of Google Health departed and the division dissolved. While some interpreted the moves as evidence that Google was retreating from health care, the company’s chief health officer said the changes reflected a shifting focus, not an abandonment of a sector the search giant has trumpeted as a promising future business.”

CogDogBlog: Godzilla Eats All the Images Missing ALT Tags . “I can’t fix twitter. Even Twitter can’t really fix Twitter. But I can do something about my own habits, and more– as with a helpful nudge I added and changed some features in the TRU Collector SPLOT to better encourage the acts that my vengeful Godzilla would look elsewhere. In the last year I’ve made more of a focused effort to include alt text for images I tweet.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Boing Boing: “Free Blockbuster” boxes let you drop off, or take, a VHS movie. “‘Free Blockbuster’ is like a chain of ‘little free libraries’, except it circulates that noble medium of the home-video era: The VHS tape. You can drop one off or take one. The movement was started in 2018 by Brian Morrison, who noticed all the abandoned newspaper boxes around and wondered if they could be put to a new use.” Good evening, Internet…

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