Social Media Marketing and Online Shopping: February 2020

Saturday, 29 February 2020

Joe Biden Has Less Than 72 Hours to Savor His Big Night

By BY MATT FLEGENHEIMER AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32EfgbL

Mother and Daughter Attacked for Speaking Spanish, Prosecutor Says

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2vqEVbG

Trump Moves to Calm Fears as First U.S. Death From Coronavirus Is Reported

By BY MICHAEL CROWLEY, MIKE BAKER AND NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38cDQ4P

This is how a race is called the moment polls close.

By BY REID J. EPSTEIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38bjHfp

US election: Is this the best way to pick Trump's challenger?

The way Democrats pick a nominee takes months, costs a fortune and doesn't even lead to high turnout.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Ib6Uig

Setomaa: The Estonia-Russia border tearing apart an ancient people

The Setos' ancestral home straddles Estonia's border with Russia and has become difficult to cross.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2I4dlE3

Your pictures on the theme of 'railways'

Each week, we publish a gallery of readers' pictures on a set theme. This week it is "railways"

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Vvwab1

Clyburn says the Biden campaign needs ‘retooling.’

By BY THOMAS KAPLAN AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Tuf4rg

The Islanders Are Saying Goodbye to Brooklyn

By BY ALLAN KREDA from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/399PJK8

At CPAC, Trump Takes Aim at Rivals

By BY ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2wkvvhX

Biden Wins in South Carolina, Adding New Life to His Candidacy

By BY JONATHAN MARTIN AND ALEXANDER BURNS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2I7NCdQ

Joe Biden wins South Carolina primary with overwhelming support.

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2I5QPKK

After 12 hours, the polls in South Carolina have closed.

By BY LISA LERER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/388KTeQ

A crowd waits for Warren in Houston: ‘I just love her energy.’

By BY MICHAEL HARDY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32ER890

Looking to Super Tuesday, Buttigieg campaigns in Nashville.

By BY DANIEL JACKSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32FTaWd

Oh my god, just wash your hands

Please wash your damn hands.

It's 2020 and yes, full grown adults still need to hear it.

Health officials in Washington confirmed the first death from the new coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, on Saturday. The virus is highly contagious, and as of Saturday, has infected 85,641 people worldwide and is responsible for 2,933 deaths. Symptoms include fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.

As panic around the virus rises, preventative supplies like face masks and hand sanitizer are becoming increasingly difficult to buy. They're out of stock in most drugstores and big box stores like Walmart and Target. On Amazon, brands like Purell and Germ-X are only available through third party sellers at high mark-upsFrustrated shoppers on social media warned others of the hand sanitizer shortage, crowdsourcing lists of stores that still had an inventory. Read more...

More about Hand Sanitizer, Coronavirus, Culture, and Web Culture

from Mashable https://ift.tt/2VJX53d

The Surgeon General Has a Message: “STOP BUYING MASKS!”

The increased demand has led to shortages and price gouging.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2TtvFLY

Converting an Atari 2600 into a Home Computer; Did That Ever Work?

[Tony] posted an interesting video where he looks at the Atari 2600 and the way many companies tried to convert it into a real home computer. This reminded us of the ColecoVision, which started out as a video game but could expand to a pretty reasonable computer.

It might seem silly to convert a relatively anemic Atari video game into a computer, but keep in mind that computers were pretty expensive in those days. Not to mention, the Atari itself was a fair investment back then, too.

There were four options [Tony] found, although none of them seemed to be very popular. One looked like a cassette player that plugged into your cartridge port and a keyboard port for a cheap-looking keyboard. [Tony] thinks it, along with the “piggy back,” never actually made it to market.

Atari also got into the act with the Graduate. For $79 you got 8K of RAM and a membrane keyboard. There was a big public relations push including a very period TV commercial you can see in the video.

Apparently a dispute between Atari and the actual designers of the Graduate, caused Atari to kill the project with no sales. So far, of the three [Tony] covered, none of them were sold to the public.

The fourth one, CompuMate, was sold for $79. You would get some extra memory and an odd-looking membrane keyboard along with a cassette port. If you want to see the guts, fast forward to 13:30. Like many period computers, it will start up at a BASIC prompt. Unlike many other computers, it would also play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The screen resolution was very poor. Apparently, the flavor of BASIC used by the CompuMate isn’t very well documented. A 100 line program fills up the memory which is funny when you think of how much memory your PC or even your phone has today.

It is hard to realize that the days when this kind of add on might make sense was not that long ago. You can wonder what the computers of 2080 will look like.

If you want to write native, there are ways to do that with a bit of work. There are plenty of ways to get the equivalent of a 2600 — and more — in a much smaller package now.

from Hackaday https://ift.tt/2PC92nA

Mo Farah: Olympic champion says new questions over Alberto Salazar are 'not fair'

Mo Farah says fresh questions raised in a BBC Panorama investigation over his relationship with his banned former coach Alberto Salazar are "depressing".

from BBC Sport - Sport https://ift.tt/2TpWPU6

PGA Honda Classic: Tommy Fleetwood leads, with Lee Westwood & Luke Donald two behind

England's Tommy Fleetwood shoots a three-under 67 to hold a one-shot lead at the Honda Classic going into Sunday's final round.

from BBC Sport - Sport https://ift.tt/39cjQjV

South Carolina primary: Joe Biden projected to win

It comes as a major boost to the former vice-president's flagging presidential campaign.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2PALoaR

Berlin International Film Festival: Iranian film about executions wins top prize

Director Mohammad Rasoulof is banned from leaving Iran and filmed There Is No Evil in secret.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Tdyt14

Afghan conflict: What will Taliban do after signing US deal?

A sense of cautious optimism is rising, but Afghanistan's political future is yet to be decided.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/32BUtFX

Friday, 28 February 2020

Coronavirus Fears Reverberate Across Global Economy

By BY MICHAEL CORKERY from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2TmJ4FL

M.I.T. Researchers Cast Doubt on Bolivian Election Fraud

By BY JULIE TURKEWITZ from NYT World https://ift.tt/2PtFgkT

L.G.B.T.Q. group seeks apology following report of Bloomberg staffer’s remark.

By BY MATT STEVENS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2wdV18Q

At CPAC, It’s Now an All-Trump Show

By BY ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2uFQ5cr

Klobuchar kicks off a Southern swing without South Carolina.

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38djaJH

Amid Protests, Roman Polanski Wins Best Director at France’s Oscars

By BY ALEX MARSHALL from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2uIxWuw

Photo: Bernie Sanders high fives tiny supporter.

By Unknown Author from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2VDbXQu

Why Bernie Scares Me

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/399yGrj

Gerald Krone, a Negro Ensemble Company Founder, Dies at 86

By BY NEIL GENZLINGER from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/3aeeJjh

Who Will Care For Society’s Forgotten?

By BY THERESA BROWN AND LEAH NASH from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2weKSc1

Joe Biden Needs a Win in South Carolina. Will He Get It?

By BY NU WEXLER from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2weKQAV

We Don’t Really Know How Many People Have Coronavirus

By BY ELISABETH ROSENTHAL from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2Tcnghj

Tom Steyer showered South Carolina in political spending. Will it pay off?

By BY STEPHANIE SAUL AND KIM BARKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TcmYHf

Celine: Fall 2020

By Unknown Author from NYT Fashion https://ift.tt/397CDwY

Govt rebuffs plea on Census caste data

from The Times of India https://ift.tt/3afdKiV

DC Appeals Court Rules Don McGahn Can Defy A Subpoena From Congress

The decision effectively guarantees "future presidential stonewalling," the dissenting judge wrote.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2T7RKRc

Four Reasons Why The Coronavirus Is Such a Terrifying Economic Menace

The normal playbook for fighting recessions might not work in a global pandemic

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2I7uk8h

How the New Invisible Man Movie Departs From the Novel by H.G. Wells

Leigh Whannell turns the sci-fi classic into a tale of domestic abuse.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/39b1XlJ

Using IR LEDs To Hide In Plain Sight

Getting by without falling under the gaze of surveillance cameras doesn’t seem possible nowadays – from malls to street corners, it’s getting more common for organizations to use surveillance cameras to keep patrons in check. While the freedom of assembly is considered a basic human right in documents such as the US Condition and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is not a right that is respected everywhere in the world. Often times, governments enforcing order will identify individuals using image recognition programs, preventing them from assembling or demonstrating against their government.

Freedom Shield built by engineer [Nick Bild] is an attempt at breaking away from the status quo and giving people a choice on whether they want to be seen or not. The spectrum of radiation visible to humans maxes out around 740nm, allowing the IR waves to remain undetected by normal observers.

The project uses 940nm infrared (IR) LEDs embedded in clothes to overwhelm photo diodes in IR-sensitive cameras used for surveillance. Since the wavelength of the lights are not visible to humans, they don’t obstruct normal behavior, making it an ideal way to hide in plain sight. Of course, using SMD LEDs rather than the larger sizes would also help with making the lights even less visible to the naked eye.

The result doesn’t perfectly obscure your face from cameras, but for a proof-of-concept it’s certainly a example of how to avoid being tracked.

from Hackaday https://ift.tt/2VHR4nF

BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2020: Former players discuss nominees

Former international players including Kelly Smith and Heather O'Reilly discuss the five nominees for the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award.

from BBC Sport - Sport https://ift.tt/3cjPU7q

Walkout as Polanksi wins 'best director' at Césars

The Polish-French director is wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in the 1970s.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2wikSfz

Trump urges Afghans to seize opportunity for peace

A deal will be signed with the Taliban on Saturday as the US prepares to exit Afghanistan.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2vtA5ur

Latvia railway: Why I love living in an old train station

Milda Romanova's home is an old rail station, and at 88 she still loves all things trains.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2VvjX6j

Thursday, 27 February 2020

Philippines volcano: Residents allowed to visit island

Philippines residents briefly allowed to return to homes near the Taal volcano find haunting scenes.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2uBigcm

Leap years and why we need them

It's a leap year which means there's an extra day in the calendar - 29 February 2020. But why do we need it?

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2T4hbmU

Coronavirus: On the front line in Wuhan

The BBC speaks to a Chinese doctor who has been on the front line of fighting Coronavirus in Wuhan.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3950UDG

Burst water main leaves drivers stranded

Flooding in Houston led to cars being submerged and people having to take refuge on their roofs.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Tm0Mcf

India’s Trump hug pushes Dems away

from The Times of India https://ift.tt/2Ptz8sY

Oppn netas’ hate speeches led to Delhi riots: BJP

from The Times of India https://ift.tt/385jZ7q

Why a New Cookbook About Baking While Angry Is Making People So Mad

Who does “rage baking” belong to?

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/32yDrIx

Is Taylor Swift Any Good at Playing a Man? We Asked a Drag King.

Pretty Rik E evaluates the singer’s new video.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2TkXLcq

Whistleblower: Government Workers Greeted Quarantined Americans Without Protective Gear or Training

Those employees then returned to their regular lives without being screened for the coronavirus.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2Tnos04

Bernie Sanders, Closet Conservative

According to his rivals, he’s a radical—and a reactionary.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2T8v2J0

Will It Be Funny if the Houston Astros Win the 2020 World Series?

Several of America’s most popular baseball writers weigh in.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/39d5n7C

Why the Silent Spread of Coronavirus Might Actually Be a Good Sign

It’s all about the death rate.

from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/397waSG

Democrats thrive in the shadow of a Whole Foods. Here’s why that may be trouble.

By BY DAVID WASSERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32AjKQU

No, Not Sanders, Not Ever

By BY DAVID BROOKS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2I3EIy0

With a Rebel Yell, New York Revs Up Its War on Idling Vehicles

By BY JEFFERY C. MAYS from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3cby1HY

Bloomberg’s claim of persuading lawmakers to legalize gay marriage is ‘demonstrably false,’ Cuomo says.

By BY THOMAS KAPLAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/398O8nA

Arlene Shechet Creates Beauty Out of Chaos

By BY MERRELL HAMBLETON from NYT T Magazine https://ift.tt/3acBkN8

Linda Wolfe, 87, Dies; Wrote of ‘Preppie Murder’ and Other Crimes

By BY KATHARINE Q. SEELYE from NYT Books https://ift.tt/3a9aCFe

Home 2, Visitor 1, Spectators 0

By BY ANDREW DAS, JAMAL JORDAN AND HEATHER CASEY from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2TqGDBQ

Buttigieg, recovering from his own illness, discusses unequal medical care.

By BY REID J. EPSTEIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32vL8zo

Bloomberg Pledges Restraint on Executive Power but Reserves Legal Wiggle Room

By BY CHARLIE SAVAGE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Pz9h2O

MIL-SPEC Keyboard Now Salutes USB

When [easyjo] picked up this late ’80s Marconi mil-spec keyboard for cheap, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to convert it to USB — just that it would be worth it. Spoiler alert: those LEDs aren’t a mod, they’re native. They get their interesting shape from the key traces, which are in the four corners.

Despite having way-cool buttons such as WPNS HOLD, and the fact that Control is on the home row where it belongs, this keyboard does not look fun to type on at all for any length of time. Of course, the point of this keyboard is not comfort, but a reliable input device that keeps out dust, sweat, liquids, and the enemy.

This is probably why the controller is embedded into the underside of the key switch PCB instead of living on its own board. [easyjo] tried to analyze the signals from the existing 26-pin connector, but it didn’t work out.

So once he was able to decode the matrix, he removed the controller chip and wired the rows and columns directly to an Arduino Leonardo. Fortunately, the LEDs were just a matter of powering their columns from the front side of the board.

The availability of certain kinds of military surplus can make for really interesting modernization projects, like adding POTS to a field telephone.

Via r/duino

from Hackaday https://ift.tt/384IbqK

U.S. wireless carriers face $200 million in FCC fines for mishandling customer data

Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T can definitely hear the FCC now.

The nation's largest mobile providers are facing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in fines after the Federal Communications Commission determined the companies didn't adequately protect customers' location data. At issue was the practice of selling customers' real-time location data to third parties — data which then ended up in the hands of bounty hunters, debt collectors, and other questionable parties.

The news, reported by the Wall Street Journal, follows a Jan. 31 announcement by the FCC that at least one phone carrier had violated federal privacy protectionsAccording to Reuters, the FCC is set to propose fines of $200 million in total for the four mobile carriers tomorrow. Read more...

More about Privacy, Verizon, T Mobile, Sprint, and At T

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3cigkGD

Saturday, 29 February 2020

Friday, 28 February 2020

Thursday, 27 February 2020

Wednesday, 26 February 2020