NEW RESOURCES

Mashable: New debunking site might be the winning tool in those frustrating Facebook fights. “In a timely (and necessary) step towards broader news literacy, a new fact-checking site has launched to teach people how to better pinpoint misinformation. Called RumorGuard, it offers a one-stop shop for misinformation debunking and a glimpse into the fact-checking process, on top of a library of authoritative tools to help individuals spot, verify, and fight against rapidly spreading misinformation themselves.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Even Signal is hopping on the Stories bandwagon. “Like Instagram, Facebook and so many others, Signal is hopping aboard the Stories bandwagon. The privacy-focused messaging app started beta testing an ephemeral Stories feature this week. Users can share videos, images and text-based messages with their friends. Stories will vanish after 24 hours.”

CNET: Google’s Splatoon Easter Egg Lets You Paint Search Results. “Google is celebrating the launch of Splatoon 3 on Nintendo Switch with a colorful Easter egg that gives you the chance to cover your search results with paint, as previously reported by Nintendo Life.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: How to Use Google Earth Web as a Presentation Tool. “Google Earth isn’t just a cool navigation tool. You can also use it for presentations that involve real-life locations. The app already has a built-in feature just for that purpose. Let’s say you’re a travel journalist and you want to be able to demonstrate where you’ve been around the world when pitching to new clients. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create such presentations on Google Earth.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Poynter: How fact-checkers are banding together to serve Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. “With more than 200 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa by a wide margin. But given the relatively few fact-checking organizations in the country, the ratio of fact-checkers to the overall population is comparably tiny. Setting out to reverse this trend, a group of African fact-checking organizations is banding together in a coalition to maximize its impact in the country ahead of the 2023 election season.”

Tubefilter: Snapchat’s 523 program is back with $10,000 monthly grants for “small content companies from underrepresented groups”. “Snap is now accepting applications for its 523 accelerator. Through $10,000 monthly grants and other benefits, the parent company of Snapchat will empower content businesses that are at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by individuals from underrepresented backgrounds.”

Washington Post: Europe’s largest airline is a troll on social media — and it’s working for them . “Last month, when a Ryanair passenger tweeted a complaint about the lack of a window by her exit row seat, she might have expected Europe’s largest airline to offer an apology using language straight out of a customer service manual. But this wasn’t British Airways or Lufthansa. It was a no-frills carrier that might best be described to Americans as the Spirit Airlines of Europe — if Spirit had the most savage Twitter presence of any brand in the sky.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CISA, and a PDF, unfortunately: Malicious Cyber Activity Against Election Infrastructure Unlikely to Disrupt or Prevent Voting . “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) assess that any attempts by cyber actors to compromise election infrastructure are unlikely to result in largescale disruptions or prevent voting. As of the date of this report, the FBI and CISA have no reporting to suggest cyber activity has ever prevented a registered voter from casting a ballot, compromised the integrity of any ballots cast, or affected the accuracy of voter registration information.”

Ars Technica: Elon Musk can’t be trusted to complete merger, Twitter tells judge. “Elon Musk’s latest promise to buy Twitter can’t be trusted, the company told a Delaware Court of Chancery judge yesterday.”

The Verge: Can an artist sue over a virtual tattoo? It’s complicated. “Over the past several years, the creators of two major sports titles have fought protracted lawsuits over their right to use tattoos on avatars of players without paying a fee to the person behind the tattoo. Late last week, one of those suits went to a jury, ending with a payout to the artist. It’s not a clean win for either side, but it does offer a fascinating case of how complicated tattoos and copyright really are.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

FedTech: DNA and Glass May Provide Alternative Storage Methods as Data Backlog Grows. “The size of the datasphere has exploded. In 2020, the world created or replicated more than 64 zettabytes of data. That number that is expected to increase to 175ZB by 2025, driving the need for improved storage options.”

The Conversation: With seemingly endless data storage at our fingertips, ‘digital hoarding’ could be an increasing problem. “The way we interact with digital content through easily available smartphones, social media and messaging apps only exacerbates the behaviour. Social media platforms especially encourage us to hoard, as our emotions get entangled with the digital contents we share with others, such as photos with lots of shares or likes. If it can take up to 25 or more selfies before seeing a ‘winner’, the sheer volume of content creation raises an important question: how do we plan to manage this morass of data?” Good morning, Internet…

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