NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: Cockroach Labs Releases Free “SQL for App Developers” Courses to Bridge Education Gap (PRESS RELEASE). “Most SQL courses available today are designed for database administrators, operators, and data scientists–this six-course SQL program was designed for app developers by app developers to fill that gap.”

Bernews: Emancipation Website & Art Exhibition Launch. “Earlier this week, the Department of Culture unveiled an exhibition entitled ‘Pioneers Who Persevered: Black Nurses in Segregated Bermuda,’ which is currently on display at the Bermuda Society of Arts. ‘The exhibition is partially virtual and links to a new Emancipation website developed by the Department, which chronicles key milestones in Bermuda’s history,’ a spokesperson said.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Bleeping Computer: Microsoft starts blocking Office macros by default, once again. “Microsoft announced today that it resumed the rollout of VBA macro auto-blocking in downloaded Office documents after temporarily rolling it back earlier this month following user feedback. The change comes after the company improved its user and admin support documentation to make it easier to understand the available options when a macro is blocked.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Hamilton College: Saving a Small Nation’s History. “In 2019, a team of Hamilton College staff and students traveled to the island of Nevis, birthplace of the College’s namesake Alexander Hamilton, to collaborate with staff members from the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society. Their goal was to digitize records in fragile physical condition and/or of significant historical value, including minutes of the Nevis Council, baptismal records from Anglican churches, and the only known printed copy of the Laws of Nevis (ca. 1773).”

MIT Technology Review: Chinese gamers are using a Steam wallpaper app to get porn past the censors. “Online porn is banned in China, so people there have to get creative to access it. Steam is one of the only popular global platforms still available in the country, and its community features, international high-speed servers, and increasingly hands-off approach when it comes to sexual content have made it an inevitable choice. Chinese users now make up at least 40% of Wallpaper Engine’s global user base, MIT Technology Review estimates.”

MarketingBrew: Reddit’s advertising policy seems to differ from subreddit to subreddit. “R/mileycyrus. r/mensrights. r/daftpunk. r/floridaman. These are the subreddits where, for one reason or another, Reddit doesn’t appear to allow advertising, according to a third-party tool. The results, pulled from the 2,500 most popular subreddits run through an API called Pushshift, show that despite spending the last decade courting advertisers and trying to address brand-safety concerns, Reddit’s actual brand-safety approach appears to be cautious, making it seem somewhat unpredictable and inconsistent.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: South Carolina lawmakers want to banish abortion talk from the Internet. “Known as the ‘Equal Protection at Conception—No Exceptions—Act,’ the bill would ban any website from hosting or publishing any information about accessing or self-inducing abortion ‘knowing that the information will be used, or is reasonably likely to be used, for an abortion.'”

Associated Press: Secret Service Jan. 6 texts erased despite Congress’ request. “Secret Service text messages from around the time of the attack on the U.S. Capitol were deleted despite requests from Congress and federal investigators that they be preserved, the agency confirmed Tuesday in response to a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.”

Engadget: T-Mobile will pay $350 million to settle lawsuits over massive data breach. “If you were a T-Mobile customer in August 2021, you may get a few dollars from the carrier in the near future. It has agreed to settle a consolidated class action lawsuit filed against the company over a data breach that exposed the personal information of 76.6 million ‘current, former and prospective customers.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Texas at Austin: New Partnership Will Scale Up Investment in Ethical AI Research and Innovation. “AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin and the MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to solving problems for a safer world, have formed a partnership that includes accelerating innovative ethical artificial intelligence (AI) research currently underway by interdisciplinary teams of researchers who are part of UT Austin’s Good Systems research grand challenge.”

Washington State University: ‘Nomadic broadband’ helps rural first responders stay connected. “The nomadic system taps a variety of wireless technologies and unused TV and radio wavelengths to provide high‑speed internet in Washington’s rugged, rural Ferry County, where digital connectivity is the sparsest in the state. In an emergency, that void can leave residents and first responders in the dark.”

Cornell University: Preventing scrollers’ remorse: How to know what users want. “A new model can help online media companies figure out what gives users long-term satisfaction – not just the instant gratification of continual scrolling – which may result in less time spent on the platform, but fewer users who quit entirely.” Good morning, Internet…

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