Snapchat is resurrecting the chronological Stories feed for some users

Is this the end of Snapchat’s algorithm?

Even if you’re like me and don’t use Snapchat, you probably heard its user-base crying out in disgust and anger earlier this year when the app was met with a major redesign. Snapchat made both user-facing and under-the-hood changes with this update, but it appears to be pulling back on at least one of these.

One of the most contested changes had to do with the way Snapchat presented Stories. Instead of showing you Stories in the order they were posted, Snapchat decided to implement an algorithm that determined which ones you’d like to see based on the users you interacted with the most. However, some users are now seeing their Stories in a more traditional reverse-chronological order.

Although this is coming from someone that can’t stand Snapchat, this does seem like a move for the better. I personally despise Twitter’s insistent need to show me Tweets from 12+ hours ago it thinks I’d like instead of what people are talking about and sharing right now, and for a lot of users, Snapchat is similar to Twitter in the sense that it’s something you check multiple times throughout the day to see what your friends are up to right that very second — not to see what they were doing 5 hours ago.

The reverse-chronological order will make it more difficult to find Stories from friends that don’t post as frequently as others, but based on the nonstop yelling from users over the past few months, I’m guessing this is something that a lot of you are happy to see.

If you use Snapchat, do you prefer seeing Stories based on who the app thinks you’re best friends with or when they were posted?

Download: Snapchat (free)

IKEA’s first Bluetooth speakers don’t need assembly

IKEA’s team-up with Sonos might not bear fruit until 2019, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to go without distinctly Swedish speakers in the meantime — in the wake of launches in Sweden and mainland Europe, the furniture giant has brought its inaugural ENEBY speakers to the US and UK. To no one’s surprise, they’re built to blend into IKEA’s minimalist decor. The two sizes (8 x 8 inches and 12 x 12 inches) conveniently fit into the company’s latest shelving, while the black or gray polyester fabric on the front makes them a tad friendlier than usual. Naturally, there are stands and wall brackets to help them fit. And in case you’re wondering: no, you won’t need to spend half an hour assembling the speakers with an Allen wrench.

There are some clever functional additions. The smaller speakers include a built-in handle (the larger ones can use their bass port for that role), and you can add a battery pack to the compact model to make it portable for as long as 10 hours. Either model can take a 3.5mm wired cable if you don’t want to go wireless.

The ENEBY line should be available in April with prices starting at $49 (£45) for the 8-inch speaker and $89 (£80) for its 12-inch counterpart. A battery pack will cost you $20 (£15). We wouldn’t expect either model to supply pristine audio (IKEA hasn’t mentioned performance specs), but they give an idea of what IKEA has in mind as it gets into the speaker space. It’s less interested in winning over audio purists and more on creating complements to its existing product line — you’d pick these up while furnishing your living room.

Source: IKEA, (PDF)

Study says Twitter bots share 66 percent of links to popular websites

The Pew Research Center has just released a report detailing the role Twitter bots play in spreading links from popular websites. Researchers analyzed around 1.2 million tweets posted by 140,545 accounts between July 27th and September 11th, 2017 that shared links to 2,315 popular websites. And they found that bots play a larger role than humans do in sharing those links. Of all of the tweeted links included in the study, 66 percent were shared by what appear to be bots. And 22 percent of tweets with links to popular news and current event sites were posted by the top 500 most-active suspected bot accounts. Comparatively, the 500 most-active human accounts were only responsible for six percent of tweeted links to those types of sites.

There are some caveats to keep in mind. Pew used a tool called Botometer to determine which accounts were bots and which weren’t. The tool was developed by researchers at Indiana University and the University of Southern California and estimates the probability that an account is a bot based on factors like its age, how often it posts and who follows it. The study limited its bot classification to a Botometer score of 43 percent, but Botomoter itself says that anything in the 40 to 60 percent range is in a sort of iffy middle ground. Yahoo Finance’s Rob Pegoraro, for example, noted that his Twitter account was given a 37 percent score, though he ensures it’s completely written by him. However, separate testing by both Botometer and Pew researchers found that a threshold of around 43 percent provided the most accurate overall assessments.

Twitter bots have come under quite a bit of scrutiny lately, particularly over their role in spreading misinformation and political discord during recent elections. In that vein, Pew looked into how often suspected bots tweeted links to political sites with a clear conservative or liberal tilt and it turns out they do so less often than they link to more middle-of-the-road websites. Bots were responsible for links to sites with more centrist or mixed audiences around 57 to 66 percent of the time, while they only accounted for 41 and 44 percent of links to sites with conservative and liberal audiences, respectively.

While these findings suggest bots are doing a lot of the legwork when it comes to sharing links, Pew notes that it didn’t look at the truthfulness of the content, whether bots were “good” or “bad,” from where those bots were controlled or what level of human engagement those tweets attracted. Of the types of content being shared, bots accounted for around 90 percent of links to adult content, 76 percent of links to sports content and 66 percent of links to news and current events. You can watch the video below to learn more about Pew’s findings and its methods.

Source: Pew Research Center

Huawei P20 Pro teardown sheds light on its three cameras

Take a look at the P20 Pro and there’s a good chance you’ll wonder how Huawei managed to stuff three rear cameras into a phone roughly the same size as its two-cam rivals. Thankfully, it’s no longer much of a mystery. The DIY repair crew at iFixit has torn down the P20 Pro to explain how Huawei pulled off the design. The primary, monochrome and telephoto cameras are all stuffed into a compact module that’s closely connected to a similarly space-efficient mainboard — in fact, it looks like there was plenty of room for the 4,000mAh battery and speakers (though there’s no headphone jack, alas).

The enclosures for the cameras suggest to iFixit that all three might have optical image stabilization, not just the telephoto module as Huawei claims (the other two sensors use software). However, it’s not certain that this is the case, or that they’re active even if the hardware is present. We’ve asked Huawei if it can clarify the situation.

The one certainty: you probably won’t be fixing the P20 Pro yourself. Many of the components are modular and thus easier to replace (as with the Galaxy S9), but you have to disassemble a significant chunk of the phone to replace the screen. The battery requires some effort, too, and the glass back doesn’t help matters. This is yet another case where clever internal packaging comes at the expense of repairability.

Source: iFixit

Two ‘newly discovered’ human organs aren’t what they seem

For a minute there, 2018 was shaping up to be a year of new organ discoveries. In January, Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, foundation chair of surgery at the University of Limerick, declared that he had “discovered” a new organ, dubbed the mesentery. Then, in March, fledgling science journal Scientific Reports declared the interstitium, a fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the lungs, digestive tracts and arteries, an organ as well. If verified by the rest of the medical community, these findings could potentially revolutionize our understanding of the human body. There’s only one problem with that: these biological structures aren’t actually organs.

“It’s very unusual for people to claim [to have found] new organs and the international anatomy community just laughs at these,” Dr. Paul Neumann, a professor at the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Dalhousie University. “They don’t take them really seriously. The suggestions come from outside of anatomy, and generally, they’re viewed as rather uninformed conclusions.”

“We generally think that what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to elevate the importance of what they’re saying by saying, ‘This is an organ,’” he continued. “As if being an organ conveys some kind of importance to something. You don’t have to be an organ to be important.”

Take the mesentery, for example. First described in 1879, it serves to support and connect the various pieces of the gut. It prevents your intestines from coming into contact with and growing into your abdominal wall while carrying nerves, blood and lymphatic vessels. “If you were to cut the mesentery, the gut would die, and the person would die with it,” Neumann explained.

But just because it serves a vital role in keeping us alive, that doesn’t elevate it to organ status. “It has to have a special function,” Neumann argues. “This is one of the things that Aristotle pointed out, and Galen after him.” Given our current definitions of what constitutes an organ — that it consists of more than one kind of tissue, exist as a discrete unit and performs a specific function — the mesentery only meets two of those criteria.

“The mesentery can be viewed as a unit. It can be viewed as having multiple tissues,” Neumann points out. “But it’s not an organ because it doesn’t serve anything more than a general function, which is connecting parts of the body, conveying blood vessels, and nerves. That’s not a special function.” The mesentery is therefore no more an organ than the esophagus. “Ducts, blood vessels, nerves, functional connections between parts of the body,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to call those things organs, but they are at the same structural level as an organ.”

The interstitium has even less footing to be considered a discrete organ, in part because of the vague definition of what constitutes an organ. On one hand, 1984’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Histology defined the interstitium as “total spaces and holes within a tissue or organ filled with tissue fluid and/or a tissue not specific for the tissue or organ concerned (mostly loose connective tissue).

In some organs, interstitium may contain groups of particular cells (interstitial cells).” As such, the interstitium can just as easily be the fluid-filled space between tissues as it can be the connective tissue itself which surrounds organs. “We don’t actually recognize the interstitium as a general term in anatomy,” Neumann observed.

The other usage of the interstitium, which the research team from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research leveraged in their study published in March, has been around since the 1950s. Back then, the Atomic Energy Commission undertook studies to figure out the effects of nuclear explosions on the body. Part of this research involved calculating the amount of water the human form can hold.

“They found that two-thirds of the body was water,” Neumann said. “Two-thirds of that water was within cells and only about 7 percent was in blood vessels.” The vast majority of the rest — roughly one-sixth of your body weight — is fluid inside in tissues or outside cells, aka interstitial fluid.

“We’ve known for a very long time that most of that [interstitial] fluid is in what we call loose connective tissue,” Neumann stated. These are tissues containing collagen fibers and are largely comprised of ground substance, a hydrophilic complex carbohydrate known as glycosaminoglycan that acts like a sponge, sucking up water. The Feinstein Institute’s study showed images of connective tissue with empty gaps between the cells.

These spaces are actually filled with ground substance, which would not be visible given the confocal laser endomicroscopy method the Feinstein Institute team employed. “This is not a free-flowing fluid,” Neumann continued. “This is fluid that’s sucked up by glycosaminoglycans so it forms a semi-solid gel,” rather than the free-flowing fluid the Feinstein Institute team suggested.

Neumann expresses his doubts that either article could pass peer review, instead attributing the hoopla surrounding these stories is a result of questionable PR practices. “This is a cautionary tale about the proliferation of scientific journals and the insufficiency of skepticism and critical appraisal by popular science journalists,” he wrote earlier this year.

He argues that the mesentery article was the result of a newly founded journal soliciting content, some of which may not have been sufficiently peer-reviewed. “It’s actually a pretty good article if it didn’t make the silly claim that the mesentery is so important that we have to call it an organ,” Neumann quipped.

He was not quite as kind with regards to the interstitium controversy. “It contains a tremendous amount of factually incorrect material,” Neumann explained. “And, in one of the interviews that one of the authors gave, he admitted that this was the 8th journal that they sent it to. ” Interestingly, the article in Scientific Reports does not actually claim that the interstitium is in an organ. That tidbit was only included in the Feinstein Institute press release, which is what many in the media appear to have used as the basis for their reporting.

That’s not to say that the medical community won’t ever declare a piece of anatomy a new organ, but it won’t come about through lab work. There simply aren’t any more nooks and crannies of the human body to peek into to make such a discovery. Neumann believes that new organ designations will be done by more clearly defining what constitutes an organ.

Through his role as Secretary of Informatics for the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists, Neumann has already started that process. “Once we come up with a precise definition of what is an organ,” he said, “we can then make a list of all the organs, and it may be that something that previously hadn’t been thought of as an organ could now be thought of as an organ. But it will be something that’s already known.”

“We have a number of small little glands that are outside of other organs that may become recognized more generally as organs,” he continued. “Most of us already consider them organs, but textbooks may not specifically say they are.”

Much of the controversy surrounding whether the mesentery and interstitium are organs or not is the result of the inherent vagueness of what we consider organs, something that Neumann and his colleagues are working to correct. The standard nomenclature for medicine is Latin which suffers from inherent ambiguities because it allows for words to be used in any order. Neumann has developed what he calls regular anatomical terminology, adjusting Latin so it specifies a word order “so that every anatomical term now loses that ambiguity of meaning,” he explained. The result is a machine interpretable language that can easily be translated into any spoken dialect.

“We can put in the term in English, it gets converted by the machine into Latin, and then can be converted into Spanish,” he said. “So Latin then becomes the language of exchange between versions. Once we’ve created all these dictionaries of Latin to whatever language, we can now translate the Latin term into an appropriate term in a dictionary.” For example, “Cellulae serotonergicae vicinae nuclei vestibularis medialis et nuclei prepositi” would become “Cellulae serotonergicae areae vestibularis,” which you can actually say in one breath.

This could prove to be a boon for the healthcare system, especially as we migrate towards electronic health records. With regular anatomical terminology, so long as your doctor puts in the proper term after operating on you, your medical record will have a log of your surgery that the computer can understand, know exactly what it is and translate into other languages. The system can also be applied to automated medical devices which interpret CT scans and MRIs, making it easier to share their findings with experts around the globe, regardless of the local language.

Facebook starts telling users if Cambridge Analytica had their data

Though initial reports estimated that around 50 million Facebook users’ information was improperly obtained by Cambridge Analytica, Facebook upped that number to 87 million last week. The company also said that it would soon be informing those users that their information was accessed by the political firm. Today, those notices are going out, Facebook confirmed to us, and every user will see one of two notifications. If your data was obtained by Cambridge Analytica, you’ll get a note telling you so. If not, you’ll see a message at the top of your news feed with a link to the apps and website management section of your Facebook settings.

In the message letting users know that their information was shared with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook notes that it has banned the “This is Your Digital Life” website. It also informs users that one of their Facebook friends used the site through Facebook, though it doesn’t say which friend. The message includes a link for users to see how they were affected.

Along with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has also suspended AggregateIQ and CubeYou for using similar tactics. The social media giant has also changed some of its data management practices and rewritten its policies so that they’re easier to understand. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress on April 10th and 11th in order to address concerns over the company’s data security practices.

Image: Facebook

Oregon governor signs net neutrality bill into law

It’s getting increasingly difficult for internet providers to take advantage of the FCC’s looming net neutrality repeal. Oregon Governor Kate Brown has signed the state’s recently passed net neutrality bill (HB 4155) into law, forcing ISPs to honor net neutrality if they want to secure government contracts. As with other states’ legislative campaigns (including Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin), the measure is a creative workaround that enshrines equal treatment of internet traffic without directly overriding the FCC’s order.

A slew of other states (such as Montana, New Jersey and New York) have implemented similar demands through their governors’ executive orders.

The Oregon law doesn’t represent bulletproof protection for consumers. It exempts companies when there’s only one fixed broadband option (and let’s face it, the US is full of regional telecom monopolies). And while it does prevent blocking or throttling outside of urgent situations, it does allow paid prioritization so long as there are “significant public interest benefits” and it doesn’t “harm the open nature” of the service. We’d expect telecoms to test the limits of these rules, and the USTelecom lobbying group (which represents carriers like AT&T and Verizon) have already threatened to sue local governments that pass net neutrality legislation.

All the same, the signing illustrates just how difficult it’s likely to be for the current FCC administration to achieve its anti-net neutrality goals. ISPs will typically have to act as if Tom Wheeler-era net neutrality protections are still in place, and any campaign to undo state measures will likely have to go through a protracted court battle. This doesn’t mean that net neutrality is safe — just that the battle over its fate will take a long while.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Oregon.gov

Apple says it’s now powered completely by renewable energy

After years of chasing the dream of clean energy, Apple announced that it’s facilities are now 100 percent powered by renewable sources. That’s up from the 96 percent in 2016, according to its latest energy report. Apple claims the new milestone covers power usage in its stores, offices, data centers and co-located sites across 43 countries. As for manufacturing, it’s received commitments from 23 partners (including Pegatron and Quanta Computer) to build Apple products using renewable energy.

To be clear, though, Apple’s announcement doesn’t mean all of its facilities are directly connected to clean energy. Instead, in some cases the company is putting renewables back into the grid to offset the fossil fuels it uses up. That’s something Google is also doing for its offices and data centers. An Apple representative tells us that it also relies on renewable energy certificates (or RECs) for around 34 percent of its usage, while the rest is made up from its own green projects. RECs allow companies to make up for their carbon usage by buying renewable energy. Apple is working towards covering all of its energy needs with its own solutions, the rep says.

The company claims it currently has 25 renewable energy projects in operation around the world, generating 626 megawatts. There are also 15 more projects coming, which in total will give Apple 1.4 gigawatts of green energy production. They include the things you’d expect, like solar arrays and wind farms, as well as newer solutions like biogas fuel cells and micro-hydro systems. And don’t forget, the company’s new Cupertino “spaceship” campus is powered entirely by renewable energy.

“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”

Sam Fisher is confirmed for a ‘Ghost Recon Wildlands’ mission

If you were excited about the tease for military shooter Ghost Recon Wildlands getting a Splinter Cell crossover, you’re in luck. The game’s Twitter account just confirmed that Sam Fisher needs your help in a new add-on, “Special Operation 1 – Splinter Cell.” The free mission will kick off the new season in the game, Year 2, on April 10th. It also leads into a weekend of free play on Ghost Recon, set for April 12th through the 15th.

Sam Fisher needs your help. Play Special Operation 1 – Splinter Cell as part of Year 2!

— Ghost Recon (@GhostRecon) April 9, 2018

Of course, Sam Fisher means stealth, and that’s what you’ll get from the mission. While you won’t be able to play as the Spinter Cell protagonist, you will meet up with him after infiltrating an enemy base at night. You’ll then have to protect Sam from various waves of bad guys as he tries to get sensitive intel that has been stolen by the enemy forces. “This is a stealth mission, so breathe, do recon, and take your time,” said Ubisoft’s Nouredine Abboud in a PlayStation Blog post. “Use all of the recon and stealth tools at your disposal, especially your drone and night vision goggles. Divert enemies with diversion grenades. Call in the rebels when you need assistance, or try to play the mission in co-op with your friends if you need extra help.”

The new update also contains a new PVP mode called Sabotage, along with some new PVP features, like the first of a planned six new classes, five new maps and new weapons and perks to take in to player versus player modes. You can also customize your AI teammates in single player mode with new customization options. If you complete the Sam Fisher mission successfully, you’ll get Sam’s iconic three-lensed night vision goggles along with some other loot. “Alright, Ghosts,” says the gravelly-voiced soldier in the trailer for the new free mission. “This is Sam Fisher; let’s go for a ride.”

Source: PlayStation Blog

HQ Trivia is getting more social

HQ Trivia has grown in popularity since launching last year, frequently attracting over one million players per game. Now, TechCrunch reports, the app will begin to incorporate a more social network-type feel, giving users the ability to connect with friends and keep track of their progress. Starting today, UK users can search for and connect with friends within the HQ Trivia app. Once connected, players can see how well their friends are doing and see when connected friends are playing a particular game.

An HQ Trivia spokesperson told TechCrunch, that this update is just the beginning. “This update forms the basis of a variety of new features that HQ will be rolling out soon, leveraging friends’ connections,” they said. The new social features will launch in the US sometime soon.

If social networking isn’t enough to get you in the game, maybe the app’s largest prize ever will. On Wednesday, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will join host Scott Rogowsky to give away $300,000 as part of a promotion for Johnson’s new move Rampage. Games take place a 9PM Eastern daily and 3PM Eastern Monday through Friday.

Via: TechCrunch