fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Techs and Teens: The Effects of Social Media on Teenagers
By: Giuliana La Mendola
Tags: Teens And Social Media, Mental Health, Social Media, Internet, Teens

Every generation is characterized by something iconic, whether it be the music of the time, a social movement, or some significant economic event. The generation belonging to the 21st century is characterized by something never seen before: the internet and social media.

Social media has revolutionized the way society communicates and has a number of notable advantages. By using social media, people can connect almost instantly with someone over long distances. It also allows people to stay up to date with current events and follow celebrities, political figures, and

Though social media has given great advantages for communication and information sharing, children that have grown up using social media can be observed to go through some serious repercussions in their development.

Most teens use social for at least nine hours a day, scrolling through pictures, posting videos, and personalizing their content. Sometimes they become dependent on getting their followers approval, so they become vulnerable to harsh comments and bullying. Teenagers susceptible to this can develop mental health issues like social anxiety and depression.

Because interactions on social media are all virtual, teenagers are spending less and less time being with their friends in person. These interactions are, therefore, less meaningful and can lead to a feeling of isolation.

Social media has helped us advance as a society that communicates more efficiently, but the dangers it presents to the upcoming generations should be monitored.

References:

Aacap. (2018, March). Social Media & Teens. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Social-Media-and-Teens-100.aspx

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018, May 31). Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/

Ehmke, R. (2020, June 16). How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

Gordon, S. (2020, July 13). How Social Media Negatively Affects the Teen Brain. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769

Lenhart, A. (2015, April 9). Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

Markey, C. (2019, February 14). Teens, Body Image, and Social Media. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smart-people-don-t-diet/201902/teens-body-image-and-social-media

Teens and social media use: What’s the impact? (2019, December 21). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437
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Latest picks: Monte Carlo Methods and Simulations explained in real-life: modeling insomnia
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Analyzing and Visualizing the 1st Presidential Debate
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Training neural networks to generate piano music
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At AI Music, where our back catalogue of content grows every day, it is becoming increasingly necessary for us to create more intelligent systems for searching and querying the music.

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Tags: The Daily Pick, Bootstrapping, Board Games, Parallel Computing

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We used only synthetic data to train a computer vision model to identify components on a raspberry pi board By Hugo Ponte — 5 min Autoencoders are an unsupervised learning technique, although they…
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What makes one algorithm better than another?
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Teaching AI to plan efficiently
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Building an easy-to-use segmentation tool with transfer learning
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Source: Unsplash.com

By Leon Chlon — 9 min read

After my Data Science Manager offer with Deliveroo was rescinded a few months after I was preparing to leave my cosy consultancy job, and I didn’t have much of a safety net to fall back on and be unemployed for too long. I’ll share everything that helped me land two Data Scientist offers with FaceBook, with the hope that it might help one of you who also finds themselves in the unfortunate place I was in a few months ago.
Hybrid Rule-Based Machine Learning
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Back where it all started
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By Jeremie Harris — 40 min listen 🎧

It’s cliché to say that data cleaning accounts for 80% of a data scientist’s job, but it’s directionally true.

That’s too bad, because fun things like data exploration, visualization and modelling are the reason most people get into data science. So it’s a good thing that there’s a major push underway in industry to automate data cleaning as much as possible.
Machine learning’s only (almost) free lunch
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Photo by Roberta keiko Kitahara Santana on Unsplash

By Alon Bochman — 9 min read

If you fit one of these profiles, this article is for you:

● You are a data science manager. You’d like to improve your team’s productivity with some best practices.

● You are a data scientist. You’d like to learn what happens downstream: How your model turns into a product.
Obtaining and analysing Fitbit sleep scores
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Big data: yesterday, today, and tomorrow
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From Idea to Production
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By Kate Marie Lewis — 16 min read

I have interviewed a lot of data science candidates for various roles. From junior data scientists to hiring the head of the data science team I was working in. Throughout the myriad of interviews where I have been on the hiring panel, there are a few questions that I really like to ask time and time again.
Getting started in data science with Ken Jee
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By Jeremie Harris — 3 min read

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How to thrive after a layoff
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By Kelly Peng — 10 min read

On May 5, 2020, I was laid off from my previous company. On June 30, 2020, I signed the offer from another company that I’m very excited about. I am writing this article to share the experience of some of my coworkers and myself from getting laid off to landing a new job in the midst of the global pandemic. I hope it could be helpful and encouraging to people who are going through layoffs.
Deep Learning on Dynamic Graphs
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By Michael Bronstein — 8 min read

Many real-world problems involving networks of transactions of various nature and social interactions and engagements are dynamic and can be modelled as graphs where nodes and edges appear over time. In this post, we describe Temporal Graph Network, a generic framework for deep learning on dynamic graphs.
Predicting molecular properties with GPflow
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Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

By Kate Marie Lewis — 15 min read

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Depth Considered Harmful?
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Photo by Riho Kroll on Unsplash

By Tony Yiu — 8 min read

History looks deterministic and is often interpreted as such. The early 2000’s Tech Bubble was obviously a bubble and as all bubbles are wont to do, it eventually crashed. This was also true of 1980s Japanese real estate, 2008 U.S. real estate, $20,000 bitcoin, weed stocks, etc. And in the years after the crash, historians focus on how obvious the risks were and how inevitable the eventual implosion was.
Cyberpunk 2077, I Want My Knives Back
By: Antony Terence
Tags: Features, Gaming, Digital Life, Technology, Videogames

Cyberpunk 2077, I Want My Knives Back

A knife to the eye doesn’t make the world blind. But it sure does hurt. It’s no surprise that video games have often relied on the edge of a blade to let players drop a world of hurt on their foes. From Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s roaring finale to Assassin’s Creed titles employing a wide arsenal of throwing knives, it’s a given that the (arguably) biggest title of the year grants you the ability to shred foes from afar.

I’m not going to go into the bugs that need to be fixed and quality-of-life improvement demands that have the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit up in arms. It is by no means a perfect game but I’ve still had a great time so far in its immersive world, clocking a few dozen hours in neon-dripping Night City alone. Eager to test out the effects of my cybernetic puberty, I decided to slot a point into the Dagger Dealer skill. Big mistake.

The target was ready. So was my blade. An unfortunate gang member had to contend with being blinded by both a quickhack and an epic-rarity Chef’s Knife. If that isn’t the best dystopian chef’s kiss of an encounter, I don’t know what is. It was going great until I tried dislodging the blade from the fallen Maelstrom gangster. Alas, the icing on the cake turned out to be futuristic shaving cream. I couldn't find the bloody knife.

Cyberpunk 2077 is absolutely gorgeous. Source: Image captured by Antony Terence.

Butter knives

Sure, some Assassin’s Creed games also have the issue of not allowing thrown knives to be picked up. But in those games, it’s ridiculously easy to grab some gear, either from vendors or straight-up looting. In Cyberpunk 2077, they can cost thousands of eddies each. Getting a knife from an unlucky mobster you mowed down doesn’t happen often enough to make knife throwing viable. And as melee weapons, they preach violence pretty well which makes this omission stand out even more. And don’t get me started on equipping knives from the inventory screen, one at a time.

In a game that relies heavily on character progression, losing a point in a pointless skill is rather irksome. What’s worse is that there is another skill that lets you deal more damage with throwing knives. If you’re willing to throw money at your foes to silence them, be my guest. Games have been getting knives right for ages so Cyberpunk 2077’s bizarre implementation isn’t exactly exempt from complaints.

I still see the problem as something that an update can resolve. Just adding a satchel with a couple of disposable knives would work too. They could have different rarities and effects that spice up the experience. Flaming knives would be wild. But until then, I’m going to stick with an older save. Time travel has its perks. I suppose I’ll stick to using knives only when I’m violating social distancing protocol.
Is Your Phone Really Listening to You?
By: Nishu Jain
Tags: Privacy, Marketing, Digital Life, Cybersecurity, Technology

Is It Spying or Just Technological Advancements?

With the development of technology, phones & other loT devices are becoming smart, as they are being constantly connected with network towers and satellites. Mobile applications like Facebook, Instagram, Gmail, and so on are leveraging this fact to be in constant touch with their respective servers.

This is without a doubt, not a coincidence that you have been presented with ads specifically targeted to your needs, preferences, and interests.

Social media platforms and other businesses are actively investing massive amounts of resources in the development of more sophisticated algorithms and marketing strategies (like ad-targeting) that not only can influence users buying behavior but, can also change how customers think and feel about themselves.

According to Edward and factual studies, this is simply the data collection that is responsible for such advancements. And it is done by almost all of the companies globally, while it is also considered as a normal practice in this industry.

Source: dribbble.com

As studies have shown, 76% of marketers, globally, fail to use behavioral-data of customers to increase their sales with these new marketing techniques and ad strategies. It is only natural that these advanced algorithms are only developed by tech giants, who can harness the power of such largely collected data.

With that said, for the use of modern technology, it is imperative for us that ethical and moral practices are adopted in the development of mobile and other web applications.

A 12-month-long investigation on the matter conducted by Northeastern University researchers concluded that 17,000 popular mobile applications were indeed recording and sending user’s behavioral and analytical data to other third-parties.

Not only this but, in a survey conducted by Eset security, it was found that 80% of participants believed that their phones/applications were spying on their conversations and activities, while only 20% believed otherwise.
How to Launch Apps by Back Tapping Your Android Phone
By: Rui Alves
Tags: Tap Tap, Digital Life, Apps, Android, Technology

What’s Tap, Tap?

Tap, Tap APK grants you access to Android 11s Double Tap Gesture on the back of any device running Android 7.0 or above.

Tap, Tap is a port of the double tap on back of device gesture from Android 11 to any Android 7.0+ device. It allows you to use the gesture to launch apps, control the device (including pressing the home, back and recents buttons), take a screenshot, toggle the flashlight, open your assistant and more. Tap, Tap uses the same machine learning code and TensorFlow models from the Android 11 builds with the gesture, with code directly lifted from SystemUIGoogle where needed.

Tap, Tap is currently in beta and was released by the developers due to the public interest in the feature. Hence, for now, you cannot download it from the Google Play Store. However, you can download the app and install it on your device.

How to sideload Tap, Tap

While on your Android device, please follow this link to the XDA forum thread.

Afterward, download the most recent APK file. In case you haven’t allowed installation from unknown sources, you’ll get a pop-up taking you to the browser setting: slide to Allow From This Source. Then, you can go back and proceed with the installation.

How to launch any app with Tap, Tap

Now that you installed Tap, Tap, the real fun begins.

First, enable the Accessibility Service. This allows the app to perform actions based on your taps.

Screenshot by the author

Then under Accessibility, enable Tap, Tap.

Screenshot by the author

Afterward, let's enable and configure the Gesture settings. You have to first enable Gesture; then, you can either select Double Tap Actions or Triple Tap Actions. I have only used Double Tap so far.

Screenshot by the author

Click on Double Tap Actions; then Add Action; Launch; Launch App; press the + sign; and select the app you would like to launch by back-tapping.

Screenshot by the author

The latest version of Tap, Tap will also allow you to launch Google Assistant, take screenshots, or use utilities like, for instance, the flashlight just by tapping the back of your phone.

There’s a lot more, but I will let you further explore all the cool actions available.

However, in this case, we want to launch our favorite app quickly. Thus, you have to drag the launch app feature to the top of the menu (click and hold to drag).

Voilá, you are all set to start tapping! I hope you enjoy Tap, Tap, and this friendly way to interact with apps and gain precious time.

Feel free to use the response box to share your further insights. Your feedback is highly appreciated.
Cyber News: A New Task-force is in the Making
Tags: Security, Cybercrime, Internet, Digital Life, Cybersecurity

The cyber security realm has seen a huge rise in ransomware attacks in 2020. Over 10 universities among other organizations found themselves to be victimized by the ransomware threat this year. Even though the motive behind most of these attacks was money, few of these have had major blow-backs and has resulted in many companies being shut down as they lacked the wherewithal.

In response, the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) has proposed a new task force under the name of Ransomware Task Force (RTF), whose focus would be on establishing a standardized framework for dealing with the threat of ransomware. The task-force contains some major names like Microsoft, McAfee, Citrix, Rapid 7 and others. The task-force is expected to be launched in January 2021.

The IST said, “Ransomware incidents have been growing unchecked, and this economically destructive cyber crime has increasingly led to dangerous, physical consequences. Hospitals, school districts, city governments, and others have found their networks held hostage by malicious actors seeking pay-outs.”

Philip Reiner, CEO of IST said, “What you have is an understanding from a deep technical perspective that at the same time understands law enforcement, that at the same time understands threat intelligence and at the same time understands the different sectors.”
4 Fun, Easy Ways to Prevent Your Family Holiday Zoom From Becoming a Dumpster Fire of Confusion
By: Amy Shearn
Tags: Zoom, Holidays, Digital Life, Family, Self

4 Fun, Easy Ways to Prevent Your Family Holiday Zoom From Becoming a Dumpster Fire of Confusion

Photo: Marko Geber/DigitalVision/Getty Images

Is Nana still mad that you’re not flying across the country to superspread with the whole extended family this holiday season? Well listen, Nana (and the part of each of us that is secretly still so sad about everything still being virtual): A holiday Zoom can be even more fun than an IRL get-together. And definitely more efficient. You just have to think of it like you would any meeting. For the next hour (max!), your job is to create fun‚ which takes just a little bit of work.

1. Have a host

Actually, have two. You and the funniest family member you can book. Like with any meeting, someone needs to be in charge, and, as Jessica Powell writes, “Whoever owns the meeting needs to keep it moving.”

2. Have a schedule

Anyone who’s ever hosted a children’s birthday party knows that a tight schedule is all that’s between an event host and utter chaos. Family trivia, pandemic bingo, maybe some storytelling time? As we’ve all learned by now, conversation doesn’t exactly flow freely on group video chat. Go with the stiltedness, and have your hosts lead the group through the agenda of fun.

3. Have a system

This has been a golden era for the sentence, “Oh, oops, no, sorry, you go ahead.” To avoid a messy pile-up of Zoomterruptions, adopt a system for indicating who would like to speak next. Ask family members to hold up a hand or a certain object—ornament? menorah? very large glass of wine?—when they want to speak, and say that you’ll call on them.

4. Ask specific questions

“What are you most proud of this year?” “What song got you through 2020?” “Who’s your favorite family member: Nana or Nana?” Sounds formal, but it’s actually much less annoying than informal conversation, which works well enough in real life but just doesn’t work on video, and it ensures everyone gets to take part. Even Uncle Gene.
“The Truman Show” Might Have Been a Preview of Everyone’s Lives Today
By: The Maverick Files
Tags: Movies, Social Media, Film, Digital Life, Society

The Constant Privacy Invasion of Social Media

In 1998, more than two decades ago, the only way of keeping in touch with others was probably via the traditional phone call and potentially good old snail mail — letters and postcards.

The ever-so-convenient cellphone, Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, and the whole works were far from even being possibly conceivable ideas. The internet bubble was yet to happen, and so this is a time when even Yahoo Messenger had only just been launched — Yahoo Messenger was launched in March 1998, while The Truman Show was released in June of the same year.

So, it is safe to say, that everyone’s life was their own — and it was shared with close friends and families, and the neighbors who in those days weren’t mere strangers living next door, but real friends and people you trusted and relied on in times of need.

If someone had a baby you'd probably only find out if they chose to inform you, or the next time you met them, which could be by the time the baby is a couple of years old. If someone had a death, you’d know either by an obituary and notice in the local newspaper, or from word of mouth, and an invitation to the funeral.

Yet, today the world is different. You have a breakup, or a new job, or are headed somewhere beautiful on your honeymoon, or you lost a loved one. The first impulse is to let the world know via a Facebook status update, or a Tweet, or an Instagram update.

Well, if you’re not in a state to do it, someone else will for you. Announce to the world how you’re grieving the loss of a loved one and would like to not be contacted. And the “likes” will start to pour in — to an announcement of death.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against letting your near and dear ones know about the good things and the bad ones that happen in your life, after all sharing compounds joy, and lessens pain. But, does anyone care anymore?

Or is everyone like the audience in The Truman Show who is just happy to derive a variety of emotions vicariously from the lives of others? Are there any real relationships, or feelings anymore? Or are we just living in a world where everything is about external validation, and our lives aren’t really our own anymore?
The Future of Tomb Raider
By: Ben Shelley
Tags: Features, Gaming, Culture, Digital Life, Tomb Raider

The Future of Tomb Raider

The iconic heroine that was too much for one screen has been remade across multiple formats over the course of nearly 25 years. Lara Croft was one of the first female heroines designed to appeal to one half of the audience. She has grown since then and ahead of her 25th anniversary it seems fitting to ask: is there a new Tomb Raider game on the horizon?

Epic traditions

Adventure, strong female characters, and accusations of mass murder have followed the franchise since day one. From the blocky, oversized assets of the early tombs to the realistic mass murderer that arrived in 2013, this franchise has seen it all.

The series is laced with traditions such as dual pistols and a desire to explore. It is this second consideration that has remained prevalent throughout. Since day one, tombs have made an appearance in every game that I can think of, even within the ill-received Angel of Darkness there were ruins to explore. It is something that has stuck.

With time comes evolution and the puzzling tombs of the past were replaced by a more gun heavy approach in the Tomb Raider reboot of 2013. Its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, followed suit with a body count to rival the biggest serial killers being left behind in its wake.

It is with this in mind that the third game in the rebooted series, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, reduced the action and focused once again on the puzzles.

For me at least, the puzzles of Shadow of the Tomb Raider brought about a sense of accomplishment. Rather than shooting my way through the scenes, I was forced to sit and think. The evolution and benefit of time being at play here. A new concept needs to prove itself immediately but an established entity gets time.
Google officially explains what caused Monday’s 47 minutes outage.
By: Rui Alves
Tags: SEO, Google, Internet, Digital Life, Data Science

Google officially explains what caused Monday’s 47 minutes outage. The cause was “an internal storage quota issue.”

I haven’t the faintest clue about what that means in layman's terms. However, thank goodness! I can now assume that the incident wasn’t prompted by a solar plasma outflow originated from Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), causing a massive geomagnetic storm that ionized Earth’s atmosphere. Similar to a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) warhead, being detonated far above the Earth’s surface.

For a minute there, I thought somebody forgot to pay the internet bill.

You can read Google’s official statement here.
What’s an MP3?
By: Heirloom Cloud
Tags: Digital Transformation, MP3, Digital Life, Cloud, Audio

The MP3 is a widely popular format for digital audio. It is playable on any computer operating system and can be streamed through the internet. It’s possible to store thousands of hours of MP3 audio to a single flash drive smaller than your thumb.

An MP3, also called MPEG Audio Layer III, is the most commonly used format for digital audio. MPEG is an acronym for the Moving Pictures Experts Group, who first developed this standard for digital video in 1993. The MP3 is recognized as a non-proprietary audio format by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

MP3 is the perfect format for sharing audio memories with family and friends. The audio can be created in a variety of qualities, ranging from 64 to 320 kilobits per second (kbps). Higher quality makes for a larger file, but the quality cannot be made higher than the original source. 64kbps is good for most voices, but CD-quality MP3 files need to be at least 128 kbps to maintain the integrity of the original music.

The MP3 digital audio file is extremely resilient and moves across the connected world at the speed of light. It can be copied and stored in multiple locations, further increasing its life expectancy to what one might consider indelible. This has lead to a worldwide boom in the preservation of old memories from audio reels, audio cassettes, and one-of-a-kind vinyl recordings. Many have even converted their CD music collections to this more usable and durable format.

If you still need to convert your old audio to digital, consider getting started with Heirloom. Send in a small order and review a digital sample of your media before paying for the service. Conversion of an old audiocassette to 64kbps quality MP3 is only $3.99. Then, enjoy Heirloom’s cloud service so you can share any of your audio with an unlimited number of family and friends.
The Zoom Holiday Bingo Card (…or Drinking Game)
By: Ginny Hogan
Tags: Fun, Bingo, Holidays, Digital Life, Humor

I think we may have reached the point in quarantine where it’s okay to stop appending the word “Zoom” in front of every activity that’s been moved to Zoom — we’ve all been through it enough. We did the Zoomsgiving and the Zoom-o-ween and the Zoomy-fifth-Birthday (it was my 35th birthday, ambiguously defined so some would believe it was my 25th birthday).

However, if you’re not traveling home for the holidays this year (and I hope you’ll consider staying put, given the rise in cases), you may find yourself celebrating the holidays over good ol’ Zoom.

To make things a bit more fun for you, we’ve created the following bingo card (/drinking game).

Also, don’t feel bad if you lose. This holiday season, we’re all losers.

Download a high-res version of the Zoom Holiday Bingo Card here.
It's not everyone, just the mayority of people, enclosed in a globally accepted echo chamber [whom…
By: Pepe Una
Tags: Mental Health, Life Lessons, Social Media, Digital Life, Technology

It's not everyone, just the mayority of people, enclosed in a globally accepted echo chamber [whom sometimes I call drones :)].

I have never used social networks (tried it once for a couple of months, stoped forever after realizing how unhealthy it is), and nothing is missing in my life. I get in contact with whomever I want, I get all the info I need, I express my creativity in many ways and don't have issues with my self worth.

And I'm not the only one. Once I met a young girl who didn't even know what a laptop was, but had more adventurous life than most of the people can imagine (e.g. once she got stranded in the South American jungle, got intercepted by armed militia and became friends with them just by playing her trumpet).

There are people who don't use social networks and live fulfilling lives. The explanation why the majority can't, lies in Bucay's story Chained elephant.

Try gardening. The plants you grow will give you far more likes than any social network ever could.
A Blizzard-Developed Take On ‘Souls’ Feels Inevitable
By: Fergus Halliday
Tags: Features, Gaming, Digital Life, Technology, Videogames

A Blizzard-Developed Take On ‘Souls’ Feels Inevitable

It feels like it’s only a matter of time until Blizzard makes a game that follows in the footsteps of Dark Souls Fergus Halliday Follow Dec 16, 2020 · 8 min read

Although Activation-Blizzard’s recent string of mass firings might point you in the other direction, the reality is the corporate machine behind one of PC gaming’s most beloved studios is ramping up its production capacity in a real way.

For a long time and prior to its acquisition by Activision, Blizzard was known mostly for two things: hardcore PC games like World of Warcraft, and releasing games when they’re done. If you were a Blizzard fan, you might get a new game once every three or four years and you’d be happy about it.

Nowadays, that’s become less and less the case. New esports and casual-friendly franchises like Overwatch and Hearthstone have blended their way into the company’s DNA; classic series like Diablo have found new homes on consoles like Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch; and things like Warcraft 3: Reforged and the BlitzChung controversy have been a sobering reminder that sometimes even Blizzard can mess up a good thing.

To put a finer point on it, the Blizzard Entertainment of today makes more games and tends to do so faster than its legacy counterpart. In fact, according to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, the company has “more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history.”

In a further departure from the company’s legacy of PC-oriented gaming, it’s probably the case that many of these projects are likely going to be mobile games.

After Call of Duty: Mobile, Activision-Blizzard is hungry for a larger slice of the mobile gaming market.

Speaking in a recent investor call, Activision Blizzard president and COO Daniel Alegre admitted the company plans to take all of their popular franchises to the mobile market.

However, irrespective of whether or to what degree the future of Blizzard is mobile-focused, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until Blizzard makes something that follows in the footsteps of From Software’s enormously popular Dark Souls series.

Blizzard has always been known for making good games but they’ve rarely had a reputation that backs up the notion that they make particularly innovative ones. Before World of Warcraft, there was Everquest. Before Hearthstone, there was Magic: The Gathering Online. Before Overwatch, there was Team Fortress 2.

Blizzard has rarely been the company that breaks new ground or invents new genres but they’re usually the one who takes the time necessary to do it justice. Their strengths have always been in the execution and finding the right balance of accessibility, depth, and polish.

Within that context, a Blizzard-developed take on the Souls formula makes a lot of sense. They didn’t invent the Souls-like but they could probably make a pretty compelling riff on that formula and there’s certainly a market for it.
What Did Americans Google Most in 2020?
By: The Maverick Files
Tags: Google, Internet, Digital Life, Technology, Data Science

The Interesting “How To” Searches

#1 — How to cut men’s hair at home

Raise your hands if you’ve had a home haircut this year. I’ll bet most of you earnest readers have your hands raised, and the others have done it in their head. I’ll admit as skeptical as I was letting my wife give me a haircut, I took the leap of faith — and hey — it wasn’t so bad after all!

For those of you who follow celebrities on social media, Mark Zuckerberg for one, surely had multiple haircuts at home, thanks to his wife!

I almost seriously considered saving money by letting my wife do it all the time, except for the hair and the mess all over the house, especially with a 2-yr old at home!

#2 and #3 are related as well — How to plop hair takes the #2 spot while How to color your hair at home gets #3 — my wife is a contributor to that search!

#4— How to wash your hands

Hang on a minute — wouldn’t we all know how to wash our hands? Something we probably learned when we were 2 years old?

Alas, 2020 had other ideas. Washing your hands the usual way was clearly not enough to keep the infections away. So, we all took a Google tutorial on how long and how thoroughly you must wash your hands to feel safe.

The CDC’s webpage on how to wash hands has a slogan: “Clean hands save lives.”

I’d laugh that off in a usual year — but 2020 has taught me to be more responsible!
Oh Apple, Oh Apple
By: Erin Singh
Tags: This Happened To Me, Humor, Digital Life, Apple, Technology

Oh Apple, Oh Apple

Everyone in my family searched high and low for that little cap but it didn’t surface. So my mother wanted me to show her reenactment of my Apple pencil shooting off the table while I was in the middle of drawing another illustration on my iPad.

Here’s why.

We have ducted heating throughout our rental property. But the ducted vent was nowhere near where I was sitting.

After the cap failed to resurface from the depths of below, I got in touch with Apple Inc. and explained my dilemma.

Nonetheless, a lovely Apple Inc. representative said to me,”A lot of people phone us at Apple to order a replacement cap.”

And this Apple representative said you won’t find those caps sold on their website because it’s a “replacement” service. What the?

Anyhow, while I was waiting for the Apple representative to process my order, I wondered:
3 Words to Avoid Using in Your Social Media Updates
By: Erin Singh
Tags: Writing, Social Media, Better Marketing, Digital Life, Technology

3 Words to Avoid Using in Your Social Media Updates

Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

The words final thoughts or final words to wrap up blog posts and viral to blog about successful product launches or stories going viral irks me.

Here’s why.

1. Final Thoughts or Final Words

Unless you’re blogging for the very last time due to a serious illness (God bless your soul) or you’re putting together a legacy project; please avoid using the words ‘final thoughts’ and ‘final words’ at the bottom of your story.

Why?

One business ,Final Thoughts ,was established to connect people with a serious illness to loved ones during and after life.

Final Thoughts offer a self-help solution for palliative care within the digital mental health space by supporting patients diagnosed with a severe illness.

So when you’re about to conclude your blog post or social media update you could write: Over to You, Have Your Say or another ‘call to action’ to ask your readers to engage with you or sign up to your e-newsletter.

2. Viral

For some odd reason mankind loves giving real viruses virtual power by bringing them to life in movies like Contagion.

Then you’ll find some highly intelligent people, who have nothing else better to do with their time, take it one step further by creating virtual viruses because they’d rather scrap the savings accounts of other innocent souls trying to make a living. And then these tech genuises go on to creating anti-virus programs to sell onto these desperate consumers who want to protect their computers from these virtual viruses.

On the other hand you’ll find social media marketers bragging on social media and on business networking platforms about their blog posts going ‘viral’.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with shouting from the roof tops when your blog has reached the masses especially if you’re helping to solve people’s problems.

But how about saying:

My blog post spread like wildflowers.

I know, I know. If that doesn’t float your boat, get creative.

With that said, unless you work in the health and science field, let’s not give viruses anymore power than what they have by scrapping the word “viral” in social media updates.

Because in order to thrive as a human race, we need to create a probiotic technological environment not an “anti-virus” one.
We Asked Bay Area Teachers for Their Standout Zoom Classroom Moments
By: Daniel Lyons
Tags: Zoom, Teachers, Digital Life, Bay Area, Education

I’m met with a series of incredulous looks every time I tell someone, “I teach wilderness and outdoor education… on Zoom.” It can be done, dear readers, but it’s hard to pull off. Just yesterday I sent my students away from their screens on a 45-minute bird-watching expedition — just sit and observe the birds in their neighborhoods. Some told me it was “hella boring,” while others told me it was good for their mental health.

I’m a teacher by day (and a journalist by night), and I’ve experienced firsthand how hard this year has been for educators. They are tired, burnt out, and weary on Zoom. And kids are right there with us.

I’ve had bright spots in the year when Zoom education did what it’s supposed to: help young people learn. But I’ve also had difficult moments, and I’ll be honest — the hard moments are hard. At some point, our school stopped trying to fight students on turning on their Zoom cameras (high schoolers can be self-conscious with cameras on). So, I teach to a sea of lifeless squares for the most part. I don’t know if my students are paying attention, scrolling Instagram, or are even there at all. I miss the in-person interaction enough that I even miss sass students dole out.

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Recently, I randomly called on a handful of students to bring in participation. Usually, this trick works to keep them engaged. But not this time, every single student I called on… silence. Crickets. Nada. It stung. I normally click with kids in real life and work hard to build a relationship But relationship building via tiny Zoom squares is difficult. Many of my students come from historically marginalized communities and virtual learning seems to exacerbate existing inequities. In the moment of pure silence, I almost started crying in front of my kids. I just felt the weight of it all. Zoom school. The pandemic. The way virtual learning is failing our most vulnerable students. I choked back tears and wondered if my students saw.

That being said, I’ve had lighthearted moments, usually stemming from when someone doesn’t know they’re not on mute (we’ve all been there). In one, a student’s little brother sweetly asked: “Is your teacher a boy or a girl?” My student chimed in, “Mr. Lyons is a boy” (correctly gendering me). The young boy then jumped in and said “Wow! He really is a boy!” with such excitement. It warmed my heart that this boy didn’t assume, as adults often do; he genuinely just wanted to know and was excited boys could look like me (I’m transgender). My student was deeply embarrassed she’d left her mic on, but I assured her all was well.

Here at The Bold Italic, we set out to ask teachers these same two questions: What’s been your funniest or most joy-filled moment of virtual school this year? And of course, what’s been your hardest one? These answers teachers from all over the Bay Area, representing all ages of students, had quite a lot to say.
A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Minimalism
By: Zainab Hudha
Tags: Self Improvement, Health, Advice, Culture, Digital Life

You are reading this. That is to say, you have a medium account, a smartphone and a laptop, tablet or PC. At the very least, you definitely have an email ID. Maybe more than one ID.

We are digital beings. You can’t deny that. We are on multiple online platforms and social media sites; we are constantly creating. This is all pretty cool. Until Youtube takes you down a rabbit hole or Facebook convinces you to buy something or Google seems to know just too much.

Let’s be honest. We rarely read any “Terms and Conditions”. Storage settings? Only when the storage is too full already. But, with all our data swimming in the cloud and internet, can we afford to be negligent? We are leaving behind crumbs. In a world of cookies, privacy updates and data mining, we gotta clean up.

Shall we?
Absolutely, Kae.
By: Erin Singh
Tags: Reading, Books, Digital Life, Compromise, Technology

Absolutely, Kae. I enjoyed reading your piece. Thank you for tagging me. My mum owns the latest Kindle and it’s waterproof.

I wished book publishing companies worked with recycled stone paper manufacturers. Because recycled stone paper doesn’t become a soggy mess when it gets wet.