Source: Google News | Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski guilty on most charges in pay-to-play trial; must leave office
Equifax somehow still manages to surprise us.
The credit-reporting agency whose allegedly shoddy security practices allowed hackers to steal the personal information of potentially 143 million Americans is back in the news, and it’s not for anything good. In fact, it’s bad — like an additional 2.4 million Americans bad.
On the off chance that you had somehow managed to put the company’s mid-2017 case of likely catastrophic negligence behind you, the get-rich-or-fuck-you-over-trying folks are back to remind everyone just how much we hate them with the bombshell that even more people were hit by hack than originally reported. Read more…
More about Hackers, Hacks, Identity Theft, Equifax, and Tech
Source: Mashable | Equifax just reminded us that it's still the goddamn worst
Source: Engadget | Playboy drops ridiculous copyright suit against Boing Boing
Facebook has rolled out yet another update that has users worrying about their privacy: face recognition. Luckily, there’s an easy way to turn the feature off for good. Here’s how. Read more…
More about Facebook, Iphone, Privacy, Security, and Mashable Video
Source: Mashable | Facebook is using facial recognition — here's how to turn it off
In case you needed another excuse to procrastinate today, Google Chrome just launched a new music experiment, and it’s pretty addicting.
It’s called Song Maker, a browser-based tool that lets you to compose songs with just a few clicks.
It’s part of Google Chrome’s experimental Music Lab, which creates simple music-making tools for education. The project is easy to use, but surprisingly powerful. Each square represents a different note, which you “play” by clicking on it (or tapping, if you’re on your smartphone).
You can also add drum effects and change a handful of the settings, like the instrument style, tempo, and scale. Check out the video below, from Google Creative Lab’s Director Alexander Chen, which provides a good idea of what’s possible. Read more…
More about Tech, Google, Google Chrome, Apps And Software, and Tech
Source: Mashable | Google Chrome's latest experiment lets your write songs in your browser
I’ve never been one to take the easy way out.
I’d rather use stairs than an escalator, I’d rather walk a mile than take an Uber, I’d rather make mayonnaise from scratch instead of buying a jar, and I’ve never, ever used the Facebook Like button.
I’ve been on Facebook since early 2007, and when they rolled out the little thumbs up in 2009, I didn’t know what to make of it. All of a sudden, with one click, you could give positive reinforcement to the banal, odd little posts that people made back then (I was definitely still finishing the prompt “Peter is:” instead of making a complete status update). It felt like such a small change at the time, but quickly altered what Facebook was, and what it meant to people. Read more…
More about Facebook, Reactions, Like, Culture, and Web Culture
Source: Mashable | I have never once 'liked' anything on Facebook. And I never will.
Millennial advisory warning: this video features corny imagery, subpar rhythm, and men who resemble your mall Santa Claus rapping to the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Utah’s mostly Republican lawmakers recently decided to create a Schoolhouse Rock!-inspired video about how a bill becomes a law. The video, set to the theme from Will Smith’s famous TV show, is so bad it prompted a Fox News writer to label it the “worst ever rap sequel to Schoolhouse Rock!.”
And now, just what you’ve been waiting for … “Fresh Prints of Bills Here”: Read more…
More about Watercooler, Parody, Utah, Will Smith, and Schoolhouse Rock
Source: Mashable | Even Fox News is embarrassed by this rap video made by Utah lawmakers
Two weeks after the Parkland shooting, the gun control debate shows no signs of fading out like it has after previous mass shootings. A recent Google Trends analysis shows that people are more open to learning about the issue, as searches for “gun control” topped searches for “gun shop” this past week.
Google Trends are determined based on the total volume of searches related to a topic, divided by location and time range. Then the numbers are proportionately scaled from 0 to 100 based on the volume of searches on all topics. Different states that may have the same number of searches may have different volumes of searches. Read more…
More about Data, Gun Control, Google Trends, Culture, and Web Culture
Source: Mashable | Americans Googled 'gun control' more than 'gun shop' in the past week
Source: Engadget | Trump will meet video game execs to discuss school violence
Project 44 is an all-male dance company in New York City founded by Gierre Gotley in 2010. For the past 8 years, the dancers have been touring the world, from Spain to Cuba, presenting original dances with themes ranging from the current political climate to body positivity. Read more…
More about Mashable Video, Dance, Modern, Dancing, and Ballet
Source: Mashable | This dance company is redefining gender norms