TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNN: Snapchat isn’t just for teens anymore. Now it needs to make some real money. “That subscriber number is just a fraction of its overall user base of Snapchat, which has quietly become one of the world’s fastest-growing social platforms. As of the end of June, it reported 397 million daily active users — more than X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The company’s challenge now is figuring out how to successfully monetize those users to turn around a streak of disappointing financial results.”

ABC News Australia: Adelaide woman receives settlement after a lengthy battle against tech giant Google. “Dr Janice Duffy successfully argued in 2015 and 2023 that Google published defamatory extracts from American website RipOff Report on its search engine page, despite her notifying the company and asking for the posts to be removed. She was set to start her damages trial on Monday for her most recent case but reached a confidential settlement with the multibillion-dollar company, which would pay her damages and legal costs.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: 11 of the Best Music Extensions for Google Chrome. “Listening to your favorite music throughout the day can help you relieve stress, improve your mood, and give you an energy boost. That’s the power of music, and if you are a Chrome user, it’s now easier than ever to access and even create new tunes right from your browser. Chrome extensions can be excellent companions for any music lovers out there. Check out the best options for you if music is a big part of your life.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New York Times: Silicon Valley Ditches News, Shaking an Unstable Industry. “Some executives of the largest tech companies, like Adam Mosseri at Instagram, have said in no uncertain terms that hosting news on their sites can often be more trouble than it is worth because it generates polarized debates. Others, like Elon Musk, the owner of X, have expressed disdain for the mainstream press. Publishers seem resigned to the idea that traffic from the big tech companies will not return to what it once was.”

GhanaWeb: Kintampo Waterfalls: Woman behind viral video retracts and apologises over false publication. “In a surprising turn of events, the lady behind the widely circulated Kintampo Waterfalls viral video has formally come forward to retract the content of the video. Farida Antwi, a student at the Kintampo College of Health also admittedly apologised to the public for churning out false information through the publication of the said video.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Brave browser installs a VPN service on Windows whether you want it or not. “Brave’s privacy-centric browser has been downloading VPN services to some customers’ computers without their consent. Noted by Ghacks, starting in 2022, downloading Brave to a Windows PC meant you were also downloading the company’s VPN service, regardless of whether you wanted it.”

CNBC: Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX allies secretly poured $50 million into ‘dark money’ groups, evidence shows. “Former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his allies donated $50 million during the 2022 election cycle toward politically active groups that do not publicly disclose the names of donors, according to documents recently made public by prosecutors.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

AfricaNews: Project to create the largest database on the African genome. ” Scientists plan to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African descent to create what they believe will be the world’s largest database of population genomic information.”

404 Media: Mastodon Is the Good One. “I’ve now been using it for about two months and I am here to tell you that it is, in principle, what we should want the internet to be. If you have been remotely interested in Mastodon but had reservations about joining because you thought it would be difficult, confusing, or otherwise annoying, it is not.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

ABC News Australia: Retired country maths teacher Robert Martiensen created thousands of artworks in secret. “It’s the late 1980s and inside a derelict farmhouse on the outskirts of Mount Gambier in South Australia, a reclusive, retired high school maths teacher begins constructing exquisite wooden boxes, each unique, their organic forms determined by the chunk of wood they came from. The artist’s name is Robert Martiensen, though he’s never been to art school. He keeps his life as an artist a secret, avoids cameras and never exhibits or sells his work.” 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 live at Calishat.