NEW RESOURCES

Clare Herald: New website showcases life of Brendan O’Regan. “Brendan O’Regan’s many achievements include setting up the world’s first duty-free airport retail outlet at Shannon Airport. In economic terms, he initiated Ireland’s first programme of foreign direct investment in manufacturing, based on a favourable enterprise climate. Internationally, he is acknowledged as the father of the €70 billion a year airport duty-free business.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: Turn Your Android Into a Wireless Mouse and More. Here’s How. “If your phone’s too old to command a high trade-in value, or you’re looking to save some money on a webcam, a Google Home, a wireless mouse, or you just like to tinker, there are some pretty ingenious ways to repurpose your old device and turn it into something you’ll actually want to use.”

MakeUseOf: How to Legally Download Movies to Watch Offline for Free. “Almost all of us now use streaming services to catch the hottest new movies and TV shows. However, streaming still has one major flaw… you need an internet connection. Which means they aren’t all that convenient when you’re traveling. Fortunately, many of the best streaming services now allow you to download movies to watch offline; and all for free, as part of your normal account. So, in this article, we’ll show you how to download movies to watch offline, free and legally.”

How-To Geek: The Best Raspberry Pi 4 Alternatives. “A semiconductor shortage combined with a surge in popularity has led to a significant supply shortage of Pi 4s. Manufacturers say the device won’t be back in stock until April next year, and in the meantime, the few that are around tend to be priced at a premium — up to 400% more than its intended retail price. But alternatives are available. Some may be slightly expensive, and others may not have the power a Pi 4 has, but they are all in stock and ready to go straight into your next project.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Wall Street Journal: The Surprising Reason Your Amazon Searches Are Returning More Confusing Results than Ever. “If you want to be reminded just how tiny you are, you could travel to a remote part of the world and behold the night sky, or stand atop a mountain and contemplate its immensity, or you could try to find the best garlic press on Amazon… Granted, there are many more stars in the night sky than the 300 or so garlic presses visible on Amazon’s U.S. site. But wading through page after page of those listings, for items with tens of thousands of collective reviews, is, like many searches on Amazon, increasingly an exercise in frustration, despair and confusion.”

Input Magazine: Inside the subreddit dedicated to busting shoplifters. “Because others don’t understand the thrill of busting shoplifters, people like [Alex] McLeod are increasingly turning to Reddit to find people who do. He’s one of the many shoplifting-prevention staff employed by corporations across North America who’s joined r/LossPrevention, a 55,000-member hub for corporate employees battling crime.”

WIRED: Charity TikTok Videos Put an Uncomfortable Spin on Morality. “The hashtag #honestytest has 51.5 million views on the platform—among other tests, creators drop bundles of cash in front of people as a ‘social experiment,’ filming them to see if they’ll pocket the money (some of these people are experiencing homelessness; many of these videos are clearly staged). Ultimately, ‘dishonest’ people are embarrassed in front of millions of viewers, while ‘honest’ people are rewarded financially.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Google says attackers worked with ISPs to deploy Hermit spyware on Android and iOS. “A sophisticated spyware campaign is getting the help of internet service providers (ISPs) to trick users into downloading malicious apps, according to research published by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) (via TechCrunch). This corroborates earlier findings from security research group Lookout, which has linked the spyware, dubbed Hermit, to Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

BBC Sport: Homophobia large portion of online abuse aimed at footballers and basketballers – study. “Homophobia is responsible for a large portion of abuse aimed at footballers and basketballers in the men’s and women’s game, according to a new report. Of more than 1,500 abusive posts included in the report, homophobic abuse was 40% of posts targeted at male footballers, 27% of that sent to female football players, 46% of the abuse aimed at male basketballers and 19% of that posted to female basketball players.”

Phys .org: A quest to digitize 1 million plant specimens. “The Australian National Herbarium in Canberra is imaging nearly a million plant specimens using an automated system developed by Netherlands company Picturae. CSIRO Group Leader for Digitization & Informatics, Pete Thrall, who oversees digital assets at the National Research Collections Australia, managed by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, said the project would help inform bushfire recovery and biosecurity.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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