Report: Snap Inc. spent millions to get better at augmented reality The Social Software Weblog The creators of Snapchat are running toward an IPO at full speed, but it seems to have nabbed itself a neat holiday gift along the way. According to a report from The Calcalist (as interpreted by The Times of Israel), … Read more
Facebook ‘lurking’ is making you miserable and here’s what you can do about it Mashable! by Rachel Thompson LONDON — Another study has proved what we already knew but didn’t want to admit — Facebook ‘lurking’ is making you miserable Censorship on Social Media: 2016 in Review EFF.org Updates by Jillian York Censorship comes in … Read more
Romania readies itself for first female and first Muslim prime minister EurActiv.com by Samuel Morgan Romania could appoint its first female and first Muslim prime minister after the Social Democratic Party (PSD) put its support behind Sevil Shhaideh, in a shock move following the Eastern European country’s 11 December elections. EurActiv Romania reports. Debate: A Muslim … Read more
Anonymous’ Barrett Brown Is Free—and Ready to Pick New Fights Wired Top Stories by Andy Greenberg After four years in prison, Anonymous’ rabblerousing information activist is back with a new plan to restart his radical muckraking. Inside ‘Methbot’: The massive Russian cybercrime operation stealing millions from advertisers Mashable! by Patrick Kulp Security experts have uncovered … Read more
EU wants to know if Facebook lied about Whatsapp EUobserver.com – Headline News Facebook said in 2014 that linking WhatsApp’s phone numbers with Facebook was not possible. In 2016, it became possible, and it happened. Idiocraski: the apocalyptic situation in Poland after a year of trumpism Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow It’s been a year … Read more
5 of the biggest fake news stories from 2016 Mashable! by Gianluca Mezzofiore We live in a ‘post-truth’ era, or at least according to Oxford Dictionaries which named it ‘word of the year’ in its annual poll. Tip: Bookmark this list of affordable 360-degree cameras Journalism.co.uk If you want to get started with 360-degree photos … Read more
Germany-wide consortium of research libraries announce boycott of Elsevier journals over open access Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Germany’s DEAL project, which includes over 60 major research institutions, has announced that all of its members are canceling their subscriptions to all of Elsevier’s academic and scientific journals, effective January 1, 2017. Washington Post launches Chrome … Read more
Berlin lorry attack: Man films chaos moments after truck hits BBC News | Europe | World Edition An eyewitness describes filming “horrible scenes” moments after a lorry ploughed into a Christmas market in Berlin. Berlin Christmas market attack ‘affects all Europe’ EurActiv.com by Frédéric Simon French President François Hollande and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker sent … Read more
Police who shot dead Gezi protester fined $2,800 Hurriyet Daily News A court in Istanbul has fined a police officer who shot dead a protester during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Turkey’s high court receives 60,000 applications since July 15 coup attempt: Top Judge Hurriyet Daily News Some 60,000 individual applications have been made to … Read more
EU’s Galileo satellite system goes live after 17 years BBC News | Europe | World Edition Europe launches its long-delayed Galileo satellite system, aiming to be the world’s most accurate. Romania: a social democratic anomaly in eastern Europe? open Democracy News Analysis – by Cornel Ban Romania should be the ideal playground for right-populist parties, … Read more
Decentering “the human” at the interfaces of anthropology and science studies? Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology This entry is part 19 of 19 in the Decolonizing Anthropology series. By: Kristina Lyons #AnthroForward Post-Election Resources American Anthropological Association by Anne Kelsey On December 7th the AAA asked our members to join us in a live … Read more
Report: Nearly 25% of Americans admit sharing fake news The Next Web by Bryan Clark Nearly a quarter of Americans surveyed admitted to sharing fake news. You can interpret this two ways: that’s not as terrible as I first thought; or, three-quarters of Americans are liars (or completely oblivious). Facebook Finally Gets Real About Fighting Fake News … Read more
KickassTorrents ex-staffers brought the torrent site back from the dead The Next Web by Mix Back in July, millions of pirates got their hearts broken when their go-to torrent site KickassTorrents suddenly shut down following the arrest of alleged founder Artem Vaulin – but it seems not all is lost. A group of devoted ex-staffers has kicked off a … Read more
Turkish economy shrinks for first time since 2009 Hurriyet Daily News Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a bigger than expected 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2016 on weak consumer spending and exports, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Dec. 12 Charter amendment draft submitted to Turkey’s parliament Hurriyet … Read more
The wild west of automated news. A Medium collection ************** Centre for Community Journalism launches network to represent independent news publishers Journalism.co.uk The network will provide an online forum, training and advocacy for its members The year of the fact-checking bot Nieman Journalism Lab by Bill Adair A year ago, I predicted that 2016 would … Read more