Day: October 27, 2019

6% of all U.S. adults twitterers account for 73% of tweets from American adults that mention national politics

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For years now, Twitter has been an important platform for disseminating news and sharing opinions about U.S. politics, and 22% of U.S. adults say they use the platform. But the Twitter conversation about national politics among U.S. adult users is driven by a small number of prolific political tweeters. These users make up just 6% Read more about 6% of all U.S. adults twitterers account for 73% of tweets from American adults that mention national politics[…]

Open database leaked 179GB in customer, US government, and military records

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An open database exposing records containing the sensitive data of hotel customers as well as US military personnel and officials has been disclosed by researchers. On Monday, vpnMentor’s cybersecurity team, led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, said the database belonged to Autoclerk, a service owned by Best Western Hotels and Resorts group. Autoclerk is Read more about Open database leaked 179GB in customer, US government, and military records[…]

AI allows paralyzed person to ‘handwrite’ with his mind twice as fast as using a cursor to select letters

Posted on by Robin Edgar

People who are “locked in”—fully paralyzed by stroke or neurological disease—have trouble trying to communicate even a single sentence. Electrodes implanted in a part of the brain involved in motion have allowed some paralyzed patients to move a cursor and select onscreen letters with their thoughts. Users have typed up to 39 characters per minute, Read more about AI allows paralyzed person to ‘handwrite’ with his mind twice as fast as using a cursor to select letters[…]

Google Accused of Creating Spy Tool to Monitor Employees

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google employees are accusing the company’s leadership of developing an internal surveillance tool that they believe will be used to monitor workers’ attempts to organize protests and discuss labor rights. Earlier this month, employees said they discovered that a team within the company was creating the new tool for the custom Google Chrome browser installed Read more about Google Accused of Creating Spy Tool to Monitor Employees[…]

Maybe It’s Not YouTube’s Algorithm That Radicalizes People but communities forming around the content

Posted on by Robin Edgar

YouTube is the biggest social media platform in the country, and, perhaps, the most misunderstood. Over the past few years, the Google-owned platform has become a media powerhouse where political discussion is dominated by right-wing channels offering an ideological alternative to established news outlets. And, according to new research from Penn State University, these channels Read more about Maybe It’s Not YouTube’s Algorithm That Radicalizes People but communities forming around the content[…]

BBC News launches ‘dark web’ Tor mirror

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The BBC has made its international news website available via the Tor network, in a bid to thwart censorship attempts. The Tor browser is privacy-focused software used to access the dark web. The browser can obscure who is using it and what data is being accessed, which can help people avoid government surveillance and censorship. Read more about BBC News launches ‘dark web’ Tor mirror[…]

SUVs second biggest cause of emissions rise, figures reveal – turns out they are 11% more lethal to driver in an accident too, so maybe just a matter of time before that problem is fixed

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Growing demand for SUVs was the second largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions from 2010 to 2018, an analysis has found. In that period, SUVs doubled their global market share from 17% to 39% and their annual emissions rose to more than 700 megatonnes of CO2, more than the yearly total emissions Read more about SUVs second biggest cause of emissions rise, figures reveal – turns out they are 11% more lethal to driver in an accident too, so maybe just a matter of time before that problem is fixed[…]