Computing
Stopping Fake Online Reviews in New York: "Astroturfing Is 21st Century’s False Advertising"
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that 19 companies had agreed to cease their practice of writing fake online reviews for businesses and to pay more than $350,000 in penalties. "Operation Clean Turf," a year-long undercover investiga… more »
Teens Online, Mobile Apps and Privacy Concerns: New Pew Internet Reports
58% of all teens have downloaded apps to their cell phone or tablet computer. 26% of teen apps users have uninstalled an app because it was collecting personal information that they didn’t wish to share. 46% of teen apps users have turned off location tracking features because they were worried about the privacy of their information. Girls are considerably more likely than boys to say they have disabled location tracking features. 70% of them have sought advice from someone else about how to manage their privacy online. more »
What "substantial improvement" means: Comments on Monetary Policy by Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein
"Specifically, we continue to have a 6.5 percent unemployment threshold for beginning to consider a first increase in the federal funds rate. As we have emphasized, the threshold nature of this forward guidance embodies further flexibility to react to incoming data. If, for example, inflation readings continue to be on the soft side, we will have greater scope for keeping the funds rate at its effective lower bound even beyond the point when unemployment drops below 6.5percent." more »
"I dare say Mrs D. will be in Yellow": Reconstructing an Art Exhibit Attended by Novelist Jane Austen
"Even if Jane Austen had not attended this public exhibit, it would still be well worth reconstructing. ...The British Institution's show was a star-studded 'first' of great magnitude for the art community and a turning point in the history of modern exhibit practices." Among the canvases in the retrospective gallery, portraits of 18th-century politicians, actors, authors and aristocrats offer examples of just how someone such as Jane Austen, who did not personally circulate among the social elite, was nonetheless immersed in Georgian England’s vibrant culture. more »