TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Tests New Cleaner Knowledge Panel Feedback Interface. “Google Knowledge Panels are fun and when they are wrong, you can submit feedback to Google directly in the search interface. But that interface is pretty ugly, or at least it was. Google seems to be testing a much cleaner and prettier interface for submitting knowledge panel feedback in Google Search.”

USEFUL STUFF

WIRED: How to Build a Huge PC Game Library for Free. “The argument against PC gaming often boils down to: It’s cheaper and easier to deal with a video game console than to set up a powerful gaming rig. But many console jockeys paying full price for new games may not be aware of a simple PC gaming fact: You can get lots and lots of the best PC games of recent years for free, no strings attached, and mitigate your system cost.”

MakeUseOf: The 5 Best Social Networking Platforms for Book Lovers. “If you love to talk about books, there are social media platforms dedicated to book lovers who love to discuss their favorite reads. The platforms are designed to give you recommendations, keep you up to date with new releases, and allow you to leave reviews. You can also form your own book clubs on some. Let’s take a look at where you can find books and connect with book lovers on the web.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Irish Examiner: The social media food influences pushing Irish butter. “Big American dairy processors Land O’Lakes said autumn 2022 butter sales forecasts were much exceeded, thanks to butter board demand. But farmers on this side of the Atlantic have benefited also, because many social media food influencers have made a point of recommending that only high-quality butter be used, with some naming Kerrygold, or recommending that Irish butter be used.” I know this story seems a bit silly but it’s important to understand what a huge economic impact influencers can have. Of course, if you understand that then you start obsessing over how little oversight there is over influencers…

Rolling Stone: Leaked Jan. 6 Committee Report Exposes Twitter’s Post-Insurrection Chaos. “IN THE IMMEDIATE aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, Twitter employees raged at their own company and its leadership, blaming them for the social media giant’s inept handling of Donald Trump and other top MAGA figures’ incitement to violence. ‘Do you want to have more blood on your hands?’ one staffer asked a top executive, Del Harvey, when she questioned whether Trump could inspire more violence in the insurrection’s aftermath.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Tubefilter: Here’s how sweeping legal changes will affect content creators in 2023. “The past year brought about changes to internet laws and regulations in the European Union, as well as challenges to laws in the United States that will begin to take shape throughout 2023. Additionally, regulatory authorities have continued exercising their control in new and emerging areas, dropping penalties and warnings on both creators and brands.”

Coingeek: Scammers target FTX collapse victims by mimicking US State Department. “Oregon’s Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) has warned digital currency investors to do their due diligence before investing in any scheme, given the high spate of fraud plaguing the industry. The financial watchdog disclosed the warning on its official website, listing some of the tactics employed by scammers. One such measure is the re-victimization of FTX’s users with the ploy of recovering lost assets for the defunct platform’s users.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

UCLA: Universities, rich in data, struggle to capture its value, study finds. “Universities are literally awash in data. From administrative data offering information about students, faculty and staff, to research data on professors’ scholarly activities and even telemetric signals — the functional administrative data gathered remotely from wireless networks, security cameras and sensors in the course of daily operations — that data can be an invaluable resource. But a new study by researchers at UCLA and the MIT Press, published Dec. 23 in the journal Science, finds that universities face significant challenges in capturing such data, and that they severely lag the private sector and government entities in using data to solve challenges and inform strategic planning.”

University of Oregon: Satellite imagery could improve fossil-hunting at remote sites. “Satellite imagery could help paleontologists spot promising fossil sites before trekking into remote places. New research from the lab of UO paleontologist Edward Davis in the Department of Earth Sciences shows that satellite data can reveal large individual fossils from the air, allowing field researchers to embark on more targeted searches on the ground.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Caltech: Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit in January. “In January 2023, the Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) is poised to launch into orbit a prototype, dubbed the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD), which will test several key components of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power in space and beam the energy back to Earth.”

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