David Lidsky's Blog, page 3185
August 25, 2014
More Evidence The NRA Is Marketing To Moms
But why?
The National Rifle Association doesn't make its demographic makeup public, although you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn't concede it is overwhelmingly white, conservative, and male. (Gun ownership data published by Pew Research seems to support this.) But lately, it seems like the NRA's leadership is especially interested in courting a new and very vocal demographic with considerable household influence: moms.
Facebook Continues Its Fight Against Clickbait
The social network will identify clickbait by comparing clicks to likes and comments.
In Facebook's ongoing campaign against promoting deceptive clickbait, the social network said Monday it will take more steps to reduce the visibility of such stories in its news feed.
National Museum Of Iraq Reopens As ISIS Threat Casts Dark Shadow
The Baghdad museum, home to many of Iraq's cultural treasures, had been closed since 2003.
ISIS, the Sunni militant group wreaking violent havoc in Syria and Iraq, is fast extending its reach, claiming Iraqi cities as far southward as Ramadi. That dark shadow didn't stop Iraqis in nearby Baghdad, 80 miles to the southeast, from turning out in droves last week for the re-opening of the National Museum of Iraq, closed for over a decade.
Gaza-Based Journalist Launches "Rubble Bucket Challenge" To Support Palestinians
"The use of water is more important than to empty over our heads."
Repurposing the Ice Bucket Challenge that's taken social media by storm, a Gaza-based journalist created the Rubble Bucket Challenge to support the Palestinian people and raise awareness of life in the conflict zone.
Report: Surveillance Companies Are Secretly Selling Tech That Tracks Your Phone's Location
Selling location-tracking tech is big business, according to a new report in the Washington Post.
Cellular carriers already know where you are thanks to your phone. On paper it makes sense: Service providers like AT&T need to know your location in order to relay calls and texts, determining your position from cell towers. But now, according to a new report in the Washington Post, surveillance companies are selling advanced tracking systems that take advantage of this technology, making it possible even for small governments to track users anytime, anywhere--for days or even weeks at a time with stunning accuracy.
Sleep-Tracking Data Shows Who Was Jolted Awake By The Napa Earthquake
Data from Jawbone Up users charts the magnitude-6.0 earthquake's reach.
At 3:20 a.m. on Sunday morning, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck 9 miles south of Napa. It was the strongest quake to hit the Bay Area since 1989.
Skype Solves The Biggest Problem With Notifications
But can their solution scale to other platforms? That could be trickier.
Push notifications seem so handy, except when they arrive to your laptop, tablet, smartphone--and heaven forbid--even a smartwatch and Google Glass at the same time. So whenever you have a meeting or a new email, it's like a tornado is about to blow through your desk. YOUR MOM HAS LIKED YOUR MOST RECENT FACEBOOK POST. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
This Kickstarted News Site Might Have Located An ISIS Training Camp
Eliot Higgins's new crowdsourced investigation project, Bellingcat, is off to quite the start.
While Reddit's amateur sleuths tend to draw groans or worse for their sloppy crowdsourcing efforts (misidentifying the Boston Marathon suspects comes to mind), an English blogger has carved out a vital place in the news cycle with his meticulous and tenacious crowdsourced reporting.
TiVo Introduces A $50 Over-The-Air DVR For The Post-Aereo Era
The DVR pioneer's cheapest model ever is aimed at cord cutters.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court killed the Aereo service--which used banks of tiny antennas and a cloud-based DVR to let people redirect over-the-air TV to all their Net-connected devices--by ruling that it violated Federal copyright law. Now TiVo, the company which popularized DVRs in the first place, is swooping in to seize what it sees as a market opportunity, with a new version of its TV box aimed at folks who get their TV via antenna rather than cable or satellite.
The Times Square That Could've Been
A new exhibition showcases a skyscraper design competition that had been lost to history.
These days the most contentious debate in Times Square pits cops against superheroes, as street performers dressed as characters like Spider-Man and Minnie Mouse have clashed with police over their right to accept donations. Thirty years ago, a far loftier Times Square debate consumed the city, as developers and architects wrestled with preservationists and theater owners over the question of how build skyward and reduce crime while preserving the neighborhood's frenetic energy and cultural heritage.
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