Linked List: August 22, 2019

Thursday, 22 August 2019

News Corp Readies News App to Address Publishers’ Concerns About Google and Facebook 

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Lillian Rizzo, reporting for The Wall Street Journal:

News Corp is developing a news-aggregation service meant to address concerns that Alphabet Inc.’s Google News and other digital platforms don’t reward publishers’ work adequately and play down articles from certain types of sites, according to people familiar with the plans.

The service, currently called Knewz.com, is expected to be a website and a mobile app.

No gnews is good gnews with Gary Gnu.

EFF: ‘Apple’s New WebKit Policy Takes a Hard Line for User Privacy’ 

Bill Budington, writing for the EFF:

The policy ends with the clause

We want to see a healthy web ecosystem, with privacy by design.

We couldn’t agree more. We sincerely hope more browsers, such as Google’s Chrome, adopt the tenet of “privacy by design” as well.

MLB Warns Sexual Enhancers May Include PEDs 

Jeff Passan, reporting for MLB:

Major League Baseball in a memo warned about the “very real risk” of over-the-counter sexual-enhancement pills after at least two players this year were suspended for performance-enhancing drugs and said the banned substances found in their urine came from the unregulated products, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

The use of over-the-counter pills, which are often sold at gas stations, is prevalent among baseball players, according to multiple sources. It prompted the league to send out a memo on Monday that outlines the risk of consuming non-NSF-certified supplements.

Michael Kay:

You can’t make it up. Millions of dollars at risk and you pop a couple of pills you buy at a gas station. Mind boggling.

“Gas Station Boner Pills” would be a good name for a band.

Apple Support: ‘How to Clean Your Apple Card’ 

Apple Support:

Some fabrics, like leather and denim, might cause permanent discoloration that will not wash off. […]

Place your card in a slot in your wallet or billfold without touching another credit card. If two credit cards are placed in the same slot your card could become scratched.

My first instinct was to make fun of this: This is no big deal, because it’s not like anyone uses a leather wallet or wears denim jeans. I mean, who cleans a credit card? But after thinking about it, I feel like this really is no big deal because all of the credit cards I’ve ever owned get used-looking over time. If Apple Card gets genuinely sloppy-looking after carrying it like you would any other card — if it’s atypically prone to staining or scratching — that’s a problem. But I suspect these are instructions for obsessives who want to keep their cards in mint condition.