Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty’s computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny. The file consists of a single code— 4c812db292272995e5416a323e79bd37—that secretly identifies her as a 26-year-old female in Nashville, Tenn. The code knows that her favorite movies include “The Princess…
One month after the publication of a hotly contested report on the transparency of media buys on YouTube, advertisers are probing the industry’s largest seller of online ad space for better answers. The controversy sprang from a report by research firm Adalytics which claimed that marketers buying ad space on YouTube are potentially vulnerable to…
By now, most people working in advertising have heard about the recent YouTube scandal. A comprehensive report from measurement company Adalytics provides a long list of cases where TrueView ads didn’t seem to adhere to Google’s quality standards. Ads were served on third-party sites and apps via the YouTube partner network, known as GVP. Many…
I’m no maestra of the avant-garde, and consequently, my interest here is in offering neither definitions nor death knells. To mourn the loss of the avant-garde — or to seek the shock of transgressive aesthetics in increasingly arcane crannies — is an evergreen endeavor. As Roland Barthes wrote, “être d’avant-garde, c’est savoir ce qui est…
Movie studios favoring familiarity and profitability over artistry is nothing new or particularly innovative. At the moment, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike against Hollywood’s profit-driven and margin-squeezing madness, throwing the craven greed of the executive class into even sharper…
Marc Tessier-Lavigne was cleared of accusations of scientific fraud and misconduct. But the review said his work had “multiple problems” and “fell below customary standards of scientific rigor.” Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a noted scientist, announced he would resign as president of Stanford University.Credit…Carolyn Fong for The New York Times July 19, 2023Updated 6:18 p.m. ET Following…
The world of digital ads is reeling after a bombshell report that found Google’s video advertising system may be defrauding customers 80% of the time, violating the promises the company makes to advertisers about where and how those ads are shown. Some advertisers are demanding refunds, which, theoretically, would cost Google millions if not billions…
PORTLAND, Ore.—Mark Rogers has made a list of things he misses about Portland—its vegan restaurants, Powell’s bookstore, public transit—and the things he doesn’t—having his things stolen, stepping in human excrement, extreme politics. The 44-year-old artist moved across the country to Fort Wayne, Ind., last year. “I don’t want to talk trash about my home city…
The Supreme Court says American colleges can no longer consider race in their admissions decisions. Instead, they can try to build racially diverse campuses through less-direct means. Experience suggests that is going to be a hard slog. Nine states, including California, Oklahoma, Michigan, Texas, Florida and New Hampshire, have already banned race-conscious admissions, mainly as…
Long before the Supreme Court took up one of the last remaining cases it will decide this session—the 303 Creative v. Elenis case, concerning a Colorado web designer named Lorie Smith who refuses to make websites for same-sex weddings and seeks an exemption from anti-discrimination laws—there was a couple named Stewart and Mike. According…