93791039
submission
rgh02 writes:
Earlier this year, the former prime minister of Pakistan and his family came under scrutiny thanks to revelations in the Panama Papers. The smoking gun in the case of a forged document was none other than a font—Calibri, which, as it turned out, wasn’t even available until after the document had allegedly been signed and dated. This is not the first or the last time typography helped crack a case, and often with help from experts appropriately referred to as the “font detectives.” At Backchannel, Glenn Fleishman dives into the adventures of the experts ferreting out fakery with their knowledge of fonts and the high-profile cases they’ve found themselves involved in.Link to Original Source
93629085
submission
rgh02 writes:
There is an endless variety of apps designed to manage life for the upper middle class, but most low-income Americans don’t benefit from the same time-saving hacks. Thanks to new trends in civic technology, that’s beginning to change. The 43 million Americans depending on food stamps are seeing the introduction of apps like Propel’s Fresh EBT, which allows users to check balances, track deals, and organize budgets accordingly. And Propel is only one of several companies looking to disrupt outdated social programs, Tonya Riley reports at Backchannel. But the Trump administration, with its hiring freezes and budget cuts, poses threats to these advancements. Riley dives deep into the progress that’s been made and how companies are navigating these obstacles.Link to Original Source
92894527
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rgh02 writes:
These days, there’s a lot of attention in the tech world on diversity and inclusion. But there’s one bias that doesn’t get addressed much: age. Age discrimination can be both difficult to prove and difficult to admit to oneself. But it’s time we start talking about it. At Backchannel, columnist Karen Wickre discusses how to survive tech as an "old" and how companies can give, and get, the most to their older employees.Link to Original Source
92804631
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rgh02 writes:
Earlier this summer, popular YouTube channel Auralnauts received some unfortunate news: Warner/Chappell had filed a monetization claim on their “Star Wars Minus Williams” video through YouTube’s Content ID System. More than anything, the Auralnauts were confused—the video the music company was claiming rights over didn’t have any music in it at all. So Backchannel’s Jeremy Hsu did some investigating and found where YouTube’s copyright cops went wrong and discovered just how flawed the website’s policies and processes are.Link to Original Source
92738575
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rgh02 writes:
Microsoft recently announced their plan to deploy unused television airwaves to solve the digital divide in America. And while the media painted this effort as a noble one, at Backchannel, Susan Crawford reveals the truth: “Microsoft's plans aren't really about consumer internet access, don't actually focus on rural areas, and aren't targeted at the US—except for political purposes.” So what is Microsoft really up to? This deep dive into Microsoft’s plan for "white spaces" tells the story newspapers missed and what the internet giant is really after.
