Author: Sam Arnold

But exactly how unhappy was the year?On Twitter, it was the most miserable in at least the last 12 years, according to Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth, who run the Computational Story Lab at the University of Vermont and use data from the site to measure our collective happiness.Since 2008, the duo has taken a random 10 percent of everything tweeted each day, seeking truths hidden in plain sight. (While acknowledging, as Danforth put it, that “Twitter is a nonuniform subsample of utterances made by a nonuniform subsample of humans who are on the Internet.”)They’ve used it, for example, to…

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the coupling a “poison pill.” While many Democrats and Republicans — as well as some tech companies — agree that Section 230 needs to be reformed in an increasingly digital age, revoking it entirely could prompt damaging effects for free speech online.“Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP,” Trump tweeted this week. “Also, get rid of Section 230 — Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!”The law has been…

The campaign specifically targets Section 230, a decades-old portion of federal law that spares a wide array of sites and services from being held liable for their users’ online speech. President Trump has asked Congress to repeal the rules repeatedly, renewing his threat on Tuesday as lawmakers debated a new round of one-time, $2,000 stimulus checks.“Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP,” Trump tweeted. “Also, get rid of Section 230 — Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the…

The five Europeans placed first at all six of the major events to which they were invited. Their postseason stats show only four losses. One was a for-the-memes showmatch. At another, the winning team was disqualified for using an unsanctioned exploit, and G2 advanced, eventually winning the main event. G2 won more consistently than just about any other team, and they did so with convincing, roguish flair.Wait. What’s that pesky asterisk doing in the first sentence?Since the game launched in June, G2 has had little trouble outplaying their opponents, often leaving the seasoned professionals they’ve gone up against looking like…

Elizabeth Brunner is a San Francisco-based designer and the founder of StereoType, a fashion-forward kids clothing brand that’s designed to celebrate individuality and freedom of expression by blending traditional ideas of boys’ and girls’ wear. StereoType’s blended fashion collection combines elements of style, design and comfort to inspire creativity, individuality and freedom of expression. Throughout her life, Elizabeth has been examining our collective perceptions of fashion, and going through the process of learning and unlearning the ‘rules’ associated with it, which has become a deeply personal journey. After studying fashion design at California College of the Arts, Elizabeth found herself at…

Justin Goodbread, CFP®, CEPA®, CVGA®, owner of Heritage Investors and Heritage Business Advisors, and owner of FinanciallySimple.com, is a nationally recognized financial planner, financial educator, wealth manager, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Armed with 20+ years of experience starting, buying, selling, and owning businesses, Justin spends most of his time helping fellow business owners across the country increase and manage the value of their businesses and personal assets so that they can live the life of their dreams now and in the future. An avid outdoorsman from Brunswick, Georgia, Justin started his first business, a landscaping business, at the age of…

Brooke Markevicius started her career in Nonprofit management and then discovered a love of all things technology (she was fixing everyones computer issues and suggesting ways to upgrade their systems) and decided to get a Masters in Computer Information Systems from Boston University. She went on to work at Postmates in Operations until she left 5 years ago when she realized the lack of flexibility it provided for her as a new mother. Brooke went on to do freelance Web Development and IT Project Management before helping to co-found a co-working space for moms in Tacoma, WA, The Pod Works.…

Candace Owens, a prominent Black activist and Trump ally, tweeted on Dec. 9 that “the same people that are out here yelling ‘my body my choice’ will be telling you that the government has a right to force vaccinate you for a virus that has a 99% survival rate.” Twitter spokeswoman Lauren Alexander said the tweets did not violate the company’s misinformation rules, which specifically prohibit false statements saying the vaccine could be used to harm or control populations.Complicating matters is Trump himself. The president — who has a history of questioning vaccines — has also been notably less vocal…

But exposure notifications only work if you and the people around you turn them on. Yes, you!There’s early evidence this anonymous smartphone technology works — but so far isn’t helping very many Americans. In August, I wrote about the first of these state-sponsored alerts, Virginia’s Covidwise app. In the three months that followed, only 488 people have used the state’s app to send alerts about a positive diagnosis to others.The alerts use software built by Apple and Google into iPhones and Android devices to detect when people (or the phones they’re holding) get into close contact with each other. That…

Matvei Svetlak is the iScanner Product Owner/Developer with more than 10 years of experience in IT. iScanner holds the top positions in the App Store as the most reliable scanner app in the U.S. 60,6M Downloads on Android and iOS. Where did the idea for iScanner come from? Matvei Svetlak: In 2014-2015, we saw the impressive rise of Utilities on the app market and decided to take a close look at this category. Surprisingly, there were almost no solid scanner apps. Like many other growing companies, we were looking for ways to optimize our internal processes, mainly document management. So, our…