How Social Media Dilutes Scientific Discoveries To Clickbait

The twin demands of immediacy and sensationalism to drive attention contribute to the spread of misinformation about science, often directly in contrast to the actual findings. JL

Jacob Groshek reports in The Conversation:

Beyond misinformation, hype, and other forms of scienceploitation on social media, exposure to uncivil comments can increase polarization among users, particularly related to science topics, such as nanotechnology, and perceptions of risk. New findings indicate social media perpetuates misinformation about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and contribute to the misuse of antibiotics. Incomplete aspects of scientific studies, or misinterpret(ation) of the findings highlight unusual claims. Once these items enter social media, they’re amplified.

You Can Now Give Your Google Assistant A British Or Australian Accent

The sun never sets on the English accent. JL 

Brian Heater reports in Tech Crunch:

It will be a comfort to ex-pats or just those who find the standard U.S. accent grating. Annoyed when their devices inexplicably switched over to American, the voices are the same as those found in their native areas, albeit localized for the U.S. market. These voices are built using DeepMind’s speech synthesis model which uses neural networks to generate audio waveforms resulting in more realistic and natural sounding voices.

Big Telecom Proposes FCC Tax Netflix, Google To Fund National Broadband Expansion

Presumably so the telecoms can continue to invest in ostensibly higher margin, but in reality, money-losing digital content (See: Verizon) rather than actually invest their own funds to provide up to date internet access to people in their monopoly service areas. JL

Karl Bode reports in Techdirt:

An FCC advisory committee has proposed a new tax on Netflix, Google, Facebook, and other businesses that require Internet access to operate. If adopted, the tax would apply to subscription based retail services that require Internet access, such as Netflix, and to advertising-supported services that use the Internet. An extension of a multi-decade effort by ISPs to force somebody else to pay for network upgrades they refuse to fund, despite having received billions to accomplish this. This push to have content companies pay for ISP network upgrades is what began the net neutrality fight.

Doorbuster! When Are Holiday Sales Too Good To Be True?

Research suggests the answer is: almost always. JL

Consumer Reports reports:

“A sale sign causes a physiological arousal in our brains and clouds our reasoning. We become more competitive, emotional, and less rational when we see sales signs. As a result, we make some of our worst shopping decisions.” A nonprofit tracked the prices of 20 big-ticket items sold for 10 months last year. Many of the items were advertised as on sale more than half of the time. At JCPenney, Kmart, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Sears most items were offered at a discount every week or almost every week. The “regular price” listed on all those price tags was seldom, if ever, the price customers paid

Why Workers Are 'Ghosting' Employers Like Bad Dates

Employers are so desperate, and workers have so many options, they don't feel the courtesy or need to show up, let alone notify or respond. They just disappear...like a ghost. JL


Danielle Paquette reports in the Washington Post:

Workers are starting to act like millennials on Tinder: They’re ditching jobs with nary a text. Recruiters have noticed a “ten to twenty percent increase” in ghosting over the past year. Applicants blow off interviews. New hires turn into no-shows. Workers leave one evening and never return. Job openings have surpassed the number of seekers for eight straight months, and the unemployment rate has clung to a 49-year low of 3.7% since September.

America's Top Digital Cities

San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Boston, Washington, Austin, Nashville, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Raleigh, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver etc. JL


Christopher Mims reports in the Wall Street Journal:

As firms cluster around talent, and talent is in turn drawn to those firms, the result is a self-reinforcing trend toward ever-richer, ever-costlier metro areas that are economically dominant over the rest of the country. Ironically, the internet that many of the firms power isn’t helping. While it was supposed to erase distance, it can’t yet replace high-quality face-to-face communication required for rapid-fire innovation.

'Donald' Is Now One Of the Top 25 Most Commonly Used Passwords

Hmmm. But we thought passwords were supposed to make you feel secure...JL

Yael Grauer reports in Motherboard:

The bad passwords of 2018 looked much like the bad passwords of 2017. The top two slots were unchanged: “123456” and “password” remained in first and second place. And like last year, SplashData estimated that 3% of people have used the worst password, and 10% used one of the top 25 worst passwords. There were some changes on this year’s list… “sunshine” (#8), princess (#11), charlie (#21) and donald (#23).