afternoonbuzz

Air Travel Transparency, Alberta Teachers, Google Chrome, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 2, 2022

NEW RESOURCES

Good Morning America: New online dashboard helps fliers navigate flight delays and cancellations. “The U.S. Department of Transportation debuted its airline customer service dashboard today, which details airlines’ ‘commitments’ to passengers in the event of ‘controllable’ cancellations and delays within the airline’s control, such as mechanical or staffing issues.”

CBC: Alberta’s searchable teacher registry to go live this week. “Starting later this week Albertans will be able to search an online database and find out the names and professional standings of 162,000 teachers and teacher leaders dating back to 1954. The province’s new teacher registry will have information about what certificates teachers hold, what the status of those certificates is and when they were issued.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

How-To Geek: What’s New in Chrome 105, Available Now. “Google Chrome version 105 arrived on August 30, 2022. This latest release gains better picture-in-picture support for Android, more tools for web apps to feel native, and some under-the-hood goodies.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Washington Post: Online creators are de facto therapists for millions. It’s complicated.. “In real life, mental health information and care are sparse. In the United States, 1 in 3 counties do not have a single licensed psychologist, according to the American Psychological Association, and Americans say cost is a top barrier to seeking mental health help. On the internet, however, mental health tips are everywhere: TikTok videos with #mentalhealth in the caption have earned more than 43.9 billion views, according to the analytics company Sprout Social, and mentions of mental health on social media are increasing year by year.”

Input Magazine: The adorable love story behind Wikipedia’s ‘high five’ photos. “I love the aughts fashion, the use of the word ‘victim,’ and the fact that ‘finger-guns’ gets a hyperlink in the last caption. The woman in the photo gives an Oscar-worthy performance in the final image — she looks like she’s on the verge of tears — and her male counterpart couldn’t look more smug. The pictures are endearing and capture a kind of humanity you don’t find in your average stock photo…. A quick search of ‘high five wikipedia photo’ shows that the images are an object of fascination for many others besides me.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: Over 1,000 iOS apps found exposing hardcoded AWS credentials. “Security researchers are raising the alarm about mobile app developers relying on insecure practices that expose Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials, making the supply chain vulnerable. Malicious actors could take advantage of this to access private databases, leading to data breaches and the exposure of customers’ personal data.”

The New Arab: Saudi Arabia: Woman receives 45 years prison sentence over social media use. “A Saudi court has sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for allegedly damaging the country through her social media activity, according to a court document obtained on Wednesday. It was the second such sentence that has drawn scrutiny of the kingdom this month.”

Straits Times: Popular Thai YouTuber flees abroad after alleged $77 million forex scam. “A popular Thai YouTuber who claimed to be a successful forex trader has reportedly fled abroad after allegedly cheating thousands of investors out of two billion baht (S$77 million). Ms Natthamon Khongchak, better known as Nutty the YouTuber, defrauded over 6,000 victims, according to Mr Phaisal Ruangrit, a lawyer who campaigns to help fraud victims.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NiemanLab: Most local election offices still aren’t on social media, new research finds. “In our research as scholars of voter participation and electoral processes, we find that when local election officials not only have social media accounts but use them to distribute information about voting, voters of all ages — but particularly young voters — are more likely to register to vote, to cast ballots, and to have their ballots counted.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

CNET: Hear James Webb Telescope Images Translated Into Ethereal Music. “There are many ways to observe the universe. There’s been much fanfare around the first image and data releases from the next-gen James Webb Space Telescope. On Wednesday, NASA gave space fans a new way to experience Webb’s observations with a series of audio tracks.” Good afternoon, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

Categories: afternoonbuzz

Leave a Reply