Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Good news: Flickr fixed that weird problem we spotted yesterday. Their Creative Commons images Explore site, a gateway to the millions of photos published under a set of CC licenses, is now functioning correctly once more. Check out those numbers, too! Attribution License: 63,307,001 photos Attribution-NoDerivs: 17,964,458 photos Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs: 85,391,471 photos Attribution-Noncommercial: 42,889,941 photos That’s…
Students at Columbia University are fretting over the arrest of a fellow undergraduate accused of dealing drugs on campus. The alleged dealer was an active user of Venmo, a mobile app for sending money to people, and on Venmo, transactions are public by default. Yes, even drug transactions. Much of his activity has since been removed or…
I have never been so happy to see a Twitter notification. (Twitter) Twitter has taken its biggest step yet against harassment. And here’s the incredible thing — cue parades, confetti, brass bands, etc. — this new step actually works. Twitter is calling it a “quality filter,” and it’s been rolling out to verified users running Twitter’s iOS…
At its F8 developers conference today, Facebook offered a first look at a solar-powered drone capable of beaming internet access to remote areas around the globe. Built by Ascenta, the solar-powered droner developer Facebook acquired last year for $20 million, the drone is huge. It has a wingspan larger than that of a Boeing 737…
Facebook, a dull and endlessly scrolling record of personal propaganda and content headlined in two or more sentences, isn’t satisfied with the way its 1.4 billion users (most non-sentient) consume the news. According to theNew York Times, it takes an epic eight secondsfor the average Joe Facebook User to load an outside news link, clicked…
Earlier this week the New York Times reported that Facebook was offering publishers a deal: With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half…
Nothing attracts news organizations like Facebook. And nothing makes them more nervous. With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half a dozen media…
Editor’s note: The new issue of our sister publication Nieman Reports is out and ready for you to read. I write a column for the print edition of the magazine; here’s mine from the new issue. It deals with distributed content — a very hot topic given the Facebook news of the last 24 hours…
An algorithm that just went up for auction in New York. (Chris Maury, “Progression: Triptych, 2011-2013.” Available on Artsy.net.) Until about three weeks ago, Pinterest was — hands down, no contest — my absolute favorite social network. Yeah, I know it lacks the cachet of Twitter or Snapchat. I understand its associations with the bored…
Tayser Abuhamdeh doesn’t have what most people would call an exciting job. He works behind the counter at a deli in Brooklyn, a small shop that does a brisk business in snacks, coffee, and cigarettes. In June of last year, on a whim and mostly out of boredom, Abuhamdeh mounted his phone next to the…