Dec 26 2012
Wednesday News: Fake views targeted by Google; Apps for your new tablets; a radical solution for global warming
Did you get a tablet for Christmas? If so, here are a few posts that give you an idea what you should load onto your tablet:
- Geekwire’s advice for the new Surface.
- Pocket-lint: The first five iPad mini apps.
- DailyBeast: A list for every tablet owner from the iPad to the Surface to the Android user.
- Verge: The best apps for all devices.
My advice of must have apps? They haven’t changed in a couple of years but I promise to update this for you on Sunday.
Harvard Scientist Proposes Arctic Refreeze to Prevent Global Warming Disaster – Regardless of whether you believe in global warming (I do, for the record), the science behind Dr. David Keith’s proposal to refreeze the arctic is pretty cool. According to the Mashable article, Dr. Keith’s theory stems from a 1991 eruption in the Philippines which sent 15 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere which cooled the Earth for almost two years. To engineer this on a massive level would cost $8 billion and is considered radical but still pretty cool. Mashable
How a terrible music video cheated its way to 8.5 million views – The news that Amazon is deleting reviews based on a secret algorithm designed to reduce review rigging is no surprise to readers here and not altogether unwelcome. Authors like J. A. Konrath thinks that there is no harm when an author engages in this “chicanery” as the NYTimes calls it. Fraud could be another term (a detrimental reliance on a material and deliberate mistatement). Amazon is not the only provider of content cracking down on what it believes to be fraudulent reviews.
Google just stripped Sony and Universal of some 2 billion views on their YouTube channels. Google, like Amazon, is the target of unscrupulous social media tactics from a familiar source – Fiverr, a place where an author can buy reviews, one can also buy views on Youtube, increasing the videos relevancy in search engine results. Google is trying to address this by stripping viewcounts for channels that have improperly inflated views. Daily Dot
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Dec 26, 2012 @ 09:25:00
Jane, what epub reader would you recommend for macs? I love Calibre for organizing, but it’s not a very pleasant reading experience.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 09:27:49
@Liz H.: On your Mac? I hardly ever read on the computer but I recall the Nook App being nice. The Nook App has some customizable features and if you download the Nook Study App, it’s designed for students so there are some decent note taking utilities in the app itself.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 11:19:39
Global warming isn’t any more subject to belief than multiplication tables. It’s easily quantifiable and the numbers show that the Earth’s temperature is rising. The only facets of global warming that are at all debatable is what has caused this and what, if anything, we should do about it.
Anyone who says the don’t “believe” in global warming is just ignorant. Full stop.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 20:54:17
Looks like Apple finally has an Amazon app for the iPad & iPhone. Never thought I’d see that day come. Amazon also just released an app for anyone with a Samsung smart TV (or their older Internet TV with the wifi adapter). Finally, I can watch Amazon prime movies on my iPad or directly from my TV.
Dec 26, 2012 @ 21:15:33
@Karlynp: Amazon has had iOS apps for years. I’ve been purchasing and reading Kindle ebooks through several generations of my iThings (including borrowing Kindle ebooks through my local library system). There’s also a downloadable program for OSX for reading on your computer screen and managing your Kindle collections. I find Calibre more useful, in general.