President Donald Trump's eldest son has changed his account of a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, admitting that the woman told him she had information about Democrat Hillary Clinton
Most sportsmen cheat – they’d be mad not to The Spectator
Red light Districts, green light invention prevents
work interruptions
A UBC computer scientist has invented a unique desk light that automatically switches from green to red when you are ‘in the zone’ and shouldn’t be disturbed by colleagues. FlowLight switches between green and red based on your keyboard and mouse activity. A more advanced version of the FlowLight is being tested to determine whether it can be improved by using biometric sensors to detect heart rate variability, pupil dilation, eye blinks or even brainwave activity.
A UBC computer scientist has invented a unique desk light that automatically switches from green to red when you are ‘in the zone’ and shouldn’t be disturbed by colleagues. FlowLight switches between green and red based on your keyboard and mouse activity. A more advanced version of the FlowLight is being tested to determine whether it can be improved by using biometric sensors to detect heart rate variability, pupil dilation, eye blinks or even brainwave activity.
FindLaw – “Twitter sued the FBI and the Department of Justice to establish the company’s right to say how many national security requests it receives from the government. It is part of the company’s transparency report to tell users how often governments request their information. The government recently lost its motion for summary judgment, while Twitter won its motion for an expedited process. As the case heads to trial, free speech advocates and other social media companies are cheering from the sidelines…The case has been going on since 2014, when Twitter sued the government after offering a draft of its transparency report. The government rejected it, saying the report was too specific and that Twitter should only report general numbers…”How big tobacco has survived death and taxes
Police hunt wine boss over £45m tax dodge
Fact-checking grows again
As 200 fact-checkers from around the world are meeting in Madrid for #GlobalFact4, the fourth annual worldwide fact-checking conference, Duke Reporters' Lab's latest census says there's a 20 percent growth in fact-checking organizations. Here are their criteria.
Tips and tools for teachers, trainers, journalists
See how FactCheckNI figured out a viral fake photo. ... Bellingcat publishes an advanced guide for fact-checking photos. ... The story behind a new game to check your ability to tell fake news from real news. ... A verification plug-in opens in beta
The Washington Post's Fact-Checker takes a White House video full of misleading information about health care, fact-checks it, annotates it and re-posts the video. Watch it.
Who's to blame for fake news? Maybe you are.
Legitimate mainstream news sites are contributing to the spread of misinformation because of those ungodly "sponsored" ads attached to real news stories, says Forbes writer Tony Bradley. His plea to digital newsrooms: Just stop.
Noble parle vino
Misinformation is a bad drug, and we're addicted Biology and psychology play a large part in the dissemination of fake news, Paste writer Roger Sollenberger says. Misinformation feeds our tendencies for addiction, makes us blind to facts, and is "deeply troubling."
New research: Literally, but not seriously
Supporters of presidential candidates who make statements containing factual errors can accept corrections of those misstatements, according to a new study. Sounds like good news for fact-checkers, but the researchers also note those supporters didn't change their attitudes about their pants-on-fire candidate. "Respondents—particularly Trump supporters—took the corrections literally, but apparently not seriously," the authors concluded.
Would you use a Twitter 'fake news' button?
It's a bit of a mystery whether Twitter is serious about developing a way to report fake news, but Vanity Fair already is reporting that Twitter users won't go for it. Meanwhile, historians are concerned that Twitter's fake news problem could change history.
And now for a Facebook roundup
Here's Mashable's look at the story behind those German fines against Facebook. ... Facebook is going to do something about people who post more than 50 times per day because they're typically sharing "low quality content." ... The BBC will expand its Reality Check fact-checking content and work with Facebook on building trust and reducing the impact of "fake news," according to the Beeb's annual plan released Wednesday.
10 quick fact-checking links
(1) The UK’s Better Internet for Kids tackles critical thinking and fact-checking. (2) Despite fake news and alternative facts, humans are still a trusting bunch. (3) Good accountability reporting takes brains, determination, and occasionally an airplane. (4) We all knew that seal didn't hug a beluga whale. We just wanted to believe. (5) A weird analogy results in a weird fact check. (6 ) Some top investigative journalists are teaching human rights activists how to fact-check. (7) The story behind Factitious, a Tinder-like game to spot fake news. (8) Most French, German and American consumers say online ads are as irritating as fake news. (9) Inverse Science takes the fun out of "A Land Before Time" with a fact-check. (10) An actress heads to court on charges she headed a fake-news operation designed to improve stock prices for certain companies.