TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Mashable: X’s new mobile logo looks like bad distressed jeans. “Elon Musk’s X — the app formally known as Twitter — has updated the logo for its app to look like distressed jeans from the ’90s. The initial X logo replaced the iconic Twitter bird with an X that had a striking resemblance to the font Monotype. Now, Musk’s X has updated the app’s logo to have a distressed look. Why a microblogging app should be distressed like a pair of black jeans in the ’90s, no one knows. But here’s the new look.”

How-To Geek: LibreOffice 7.6 is Now Available: Here’s What’s New. “LibreOffice is a popular open-source software suite, serving as a replacement for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other applications. It’s a great option if you want to edit documents and spreadsheets without paying a subscription for Microsoft 365, especially since LibreOffice has more features and supports more file formats than many other free alternatives. The Document Foundation has now released LibreOffice 7.6 across all platforms, making the office suite even better.”

USEFUL STUFF

Hongkiat: 9 Best Education Apps for Interactive Learning in 2023. “Ever found yourself frustrated that a simple Google search doesn’t quite cut it? Or perhaps you’re someone with an insatiable curiosity, constantly seeking new knowledge? You’re in good company, and the great news is that our smartphones are now more than just communication devices; they can be our personal learning guides. Yes, education apps have arrived, and they have the potential to revolutionize how we acquire new skills and knowledge, one app at a time.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Verge: Microsoft says listing the Ottawa Food Bank as a tourist destination wasn’t the result of ‘unsupervised AI’. “The ‘human oversight’ curating algorithmic content on MSN somehow missed a list of tourist hot spots that put the food bank at number three.’

CNN: Meet Khan Academy’s chatbot tutor. “More than 8,000 teachers and students will test education nonprofit Khan Academy’s artificial intelligence tutor in the classroom this upcoming school year, toying with its interactive features and funneling feedback to Khan Academy if the AI botches an answer. The chatbot, Khanmigo, offers individualized guidance to students on math, science and humanities problems; a debate tool with suggested topics like student debt cancellation and AI’s impact on the job market; and a writing tutor that helps the student craft a story, among other features.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Search Engine Journal: Is Google Collecting Children’s Data For Ads? New Report Sparks Concern. “A new report accuses Google of serving targeted ads to children and harvesting their data, potentially violating federal privacy laws. The allegations cast doubt on Google’s previous promises to protect children better online.”

Krebs on Security: Karma Catches Up to Global Phishing Service 16Shop. “The international police organization INTERPOL said last week it had shuttered the notorious 16Shop, a popular phishing-as-a-service platform launched in 2017 that made it simple for even complete novices to conduct complex and convincing phishing scams. INTERPOL said authorities in Indonesia arrested the 21-year-old proprietor and one of his alleged facilitators, and that a third suspect was apprehended in Japan.”

Vice: An Online Prophet With a Huge Following Has Been Convicted of Child Abuse. “Rashad Jamal, a New Age prophet with a huge online following among esoteric Black communities, has been convicted of child molestation and cruelty to children. According to court documents obtained by Motherboard, a Georgia judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison and 22 more on probation, for a total of 40 years.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: What if You Knew What You Were Missing on Social Media?. “The Twitter takeover has been a public reckoning with algorithmic control, but any tech company could do something similar. To prevent those who would hijack algorithms for power, we need a pro-choice movement for algorithms. We, the users, should be able to decide what we read at the newsstand.”

Duke University: How to Depolarize Political Toxicity on Social Media. “While social media is often blamed for exacerbating incivility and partisan polarization, research led by Duke University scholars found that anonymous online conversations using a mobile chat platform they developed can reduce political polarization. The research also showed how varying levels of anonymity can shape conversations about politics.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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