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☆ A Qantas jet made a midair U-turn 1 hour into a flight because its paperwork wasn't finalized before takeoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Qantas flight made a midair U-turn because paperwork wasn't finalized before takeoff. The jet was on its way to Perth from Adelaide before it turned around over the ocean. A person with knowledge of the incident told Insider the correct paperwork wasn't finalized before the flight took off, adding that there were no technical issues with the aircraft. FlightRadar24/Google MapsAfter returning to Adelaide, the paperwork was finalized following sign-off by engineers, the person said. The flight then departed for Perth and landed four hours after its scheduled arrival time, they added.

☆ Fact Check-Clip of hundreds of birds flying above a motorway filmed in Texas, not Ukraine in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A clip dating to at least as far back as 2017 showing hundreds of birds flying above a motorway was not filmed in Kyiv, Ukraine, in January 2023. One individual shared the clip filmed from a vehicle showing the flock flying above a motorway, with a caption that reads: “WATCH Huge ‘murder’ of crows reportedly spotted flying over #Kiev, #Ukraine The end of times" (here), (here). The clip is not recent, nor was it filmed in Kyiv, Ukraine. According to the media reports, the clip was filmed on a motorway in Houston, Texas. The clip was widely published by media outlets in January 2017 and was filmed on a motorway in Houston, Texas.

☆ Archaeologists found 38 skeletons in a 7,000-year-old mass grave. All but one had been decapitated.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyArchaeologists have discovered a 7,000-year-old mass grave in Slovakia containing 38 skeletons, with all but one decapitated. A ditch, where the mass grave was found, ran around the village over the length of approximately a mile. An unexpected discoveryA picture shows the mass grave found in Vráble-Ve`lke Lehemby in Slovakia. Prof. Dr. Martin Furholt, Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology/Kiel UniversityThese weren't the first headless bodies found in the ditch. That's why the discovery of such a huge mass of headless bodies came as a complete surprise, Fuchs said.

Gunfire erupted inside a Louisiana night club early Sunday, wounding 12 people in yet another U.S. mass shooting, authorities said. The bloodshed at Dior Bar & Lounge in Baton Rouge unfolded at about 1:36 a.m. CT, police said, less than an hour after 10 people were gunned down at a Southern California dance hall about 1,800 miles west. Dior Bar & Lounge in Baton Rouge, La. Google MapsAll 12 who were shot were taken to hospitals by ambulance or private cars, Baton Rouge Police Sgt. We must demand our leaders lead and act at all levels to address our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”

☆ All 5 escaped Missouri inmates back in custody after three days on the run
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

All five inmates who escaped from a Missouri jail this week were in custody as of Saturday morning, the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department said. The five escaped from St. Francois County Detention Center in Farmington early Tuesday night, they said. All of the escapees were being held based on felony allegations, the sheriff’s department said. St. Francois County Detention Center in Farmington, Mo. The others were found hours later in Ohio, the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department said Saturday.

☆ A tiny, remote village in Alaska is mourning the death of a mother and baby in a rare polar-bear attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A polar bear killed a mother and baby in Wales, Alaska, earlier this week. The bear killed 24-year-old Summer Myomick and her 1-year-old son Clyde Ongtowasruk on January 17 after it chased multiple residents of Wales, Alaska. A map showing the location of Wales, Alaska Google Maps/Insider"The polar bear was chasing them and tried to get in as well. Only 160 people live in Wales, Alaska, and a GoFundMe has been set up for the family of the deceased. This fatal bear attack is the first of its kind in over 30 years.

☆ Forget Google Maps: Why Paper Map Sales Are Booming
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Kate Morgan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

GET LOST The Map Shop, in Charlotte, N.C., sells a wide variety of unique geographic charts. This one shows all the rivers in the U.S., with each color representing a different river basin. IN THE 1880s, Iraqi archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam found a small carved tablet with an image of Babylon at its center, surrounded by a vast salt sea. Historians consider this tablet, roughly 2,500 years old, the earliest existing map of the world. Even “modern” maps look quaint today, when apps like Google Maps put practically every intersection in the world a click away.

☆ S.F. antiques dealer who was recorded spraying a homeless woman with a water hose is arrested
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Johnson-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Johnson | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The San Francisco antiques dealer whose gallery was vandalized and denounced online after viral video showed him spraying a homeless woman with a water hose was arrested Wednesday and charged with battery, authorities said. The man, Collier Gwin, 71, was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge, police said. He was booked late Wednesday afternoon into the San Francisco County Jail, where he was being held on $2,500 bail, according to jail records. A nearby business owner recorded video of Gwin spraying the woman on the sidewalk outside Foster Gwin Gallery on Jan. 9. They will release her within a day.”Foster Gwin Gallery in San Francisco.

☆ Meta's chief product officer says the metaverse will one day be as 'important as the smartphone'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta's chief product officer said the metaverse will one day become as important as the smartphone. Speaking at a Davos panel on Wednesday, Chris Cox discussed Meta's vision for the metaverse. Cox said Meta believes that "one day that computing platform will be as important as the smartphone has become in our lifetimes." It is the "only thing Mark wants to talk about," one director level employee told Insider in April. "It's basically fomenting disorganization and anxiety," an employee told Insider at the time.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered Google in October to make a series of changes, such as refraining from agreements that ensure exclusivity of its search services and mandatory pre-installation of its apps. It also told Google to allow third-party app stores to be housed within its Play Store. "There was negative impact over the years, we hope now consumers and device makers use our app more." About 97% of 600 million smartphone devices in India run on Android, according to Counterpoint Research estimates. Naval Chopra, a lawyer at India's Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, which has challenged Google in courts in the past, said Thursday's court decision was a landmark one.

☆ Solomon Pena was belligerent to neighbors who opposed his political views, condo official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Deon J. Hampton | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Mirna-Alsharif-Byline-Jm.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Pena claimed his defeat was the result of election fraud, Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said Monday at a news conference. Bode said her partner, who died a year ago, had several interactions with Pena. “My partner got into difficult, unsolicited conversations with him as she came in and out of the building,” Bode said. “He’s not a polite, nice person.”Parks said Pena often expressed his political thoughts. “You didn’t necessarily want to get in the elevator with him, because you may not have a nice conversation,” Parks said.

☆ Fact Check-Clip of 2021 military plane accident near Kubinka, Russia falsely attributed to Nepal crash in January 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A clip that featured in news reports of a military plane crash near Kubinka, Russia in August 2021 has been erroneously shared by users online saying it depicts an airplane crash in Nepal on Jan. 15. A reverse image search reveals that the clip featured in news reports of a military plane crash that occurred near the Kubinka airfield outside Moscow in August 2021 (here), (here), (here). Multiple geolocation factors confirm the clip was filmed near Kubinka. Given these angles, the video was likely filmed from an apartment block near Kubinka (55.602243, 36.694633), (archive.is/wip/gQ42t). The clip was featured in August 2021 news reports of a military plane crash near Kubinka airfield, Russia.

The worried parents spoke out last week after learning that the Boone County Board of Education had allowed the 14-year-old suspect to return to school despite having been charged with second-degree terroristic threats. Conner High School in Hebron, Ky. Google MapsParent Rob Bidleman, who said his child was on the teenage suspect’s “active kill list,” struggled to contain his emotions as he described hearing about the development from Andy Wyckoff, the Conner High School principal. “I think it puts an unnecessary burden on Mr. Wyckoff with his own son on that list. Wyckoff was also adamant that his son will remain at Connor High School even though he was one of the threatened students. "Conner High School remains a safe school."

☆ Ukraine credits local beavers for unwittingly bolstering its defenses — their dams make the ground marshy and impassable
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

This is in part because of beavers building dams, with nobody stopping them due to the war. The animals are unwittingly helping Kyiv by building dams that keep the ground marshy and impassable, a military spokesman told the agency. This helps Ukraine by making it less likely that an attack could come via Belarus, which borders Ukraine not far north of the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia may wage an offensive through its ally Belarus into a region of Ukraine called Volyn. Its spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, praised the beavers, which he told Reuters were more working unimpeded, unlike in other years.

☆ Porsche to ensure familiar software is available for customers, spokesperson says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Porsche AG (P911_p.DE) will ensure that familiar software platforms like Google and Apple will be accessible for its customers, a spokesperson said on Tuesday following reports that it was considering integrating Google software into its cockpit. The luxury carmaker declined to comment on whether it was currently in talks with Google (GOOGL.O) over a deal to incorporate Google applications like Google Maps and Google Assistant into their vehicles. A source close to the company told Reuters on Thursday discussions were underway, marking a shift in strategy for the newly listed carmaker which previously had been reluctant to use Google software. Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach, Writing by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Rachel MoreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Google, Porsche in talks over Google Apps access
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The deal, which is only being considered for the Porsche brand and not the Volkswagen Group more widely, would enable Porsche customers access to Google applications like Google Maps and Google Assistant without needing to connect the car to an Android phone. Spokespeople for Porsche and Google were not immediately available for comment. A spokesperson for Volkswagen software unit Cariad declined to comment. Porsche had previously been reluctant to use Google software because Google asked for too much data to be shared, according to Manager Magazin, which first reported the talks. Carmakers including General Motors, Renault, Nissan and Ford use embedded Google technology in their vehicles via a Google Automotive Services (GAS) package, offering features like Google Maps, Google Assistant and other applications.

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Google has been jolted after the Indian antitrust authority sought changes to how it markets its Android system, which powers 97% of smartphones in the world's second biggest mobile market. * Google should not impose any curbs in India on the practice of "sideloading", or downloading apps without using its app store. * Competitors and app developers should not be denied access to the programming interface of Google Play services, the underlying software system that powers Android devices. This directive is meant to ensure compatibility between apps on Play Store and third-party app stores based on Android variants, the antitrust authority has said. * The CCI asked Google not to restrict makers of Android smartphones from developing other devices, such as tablets or TVs based on modified versions of Android.

☆ Apple Maps is getting a big update. Here's what it looks like
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple announced a big update to Apple Maps on Wednesday that will add new photos, buttons and promotions to the app on business pages. The move will encourage Apple Maps users to seek more than just directions by offering new information and photos about business locations. For example, businesses on Apple Maps can now display a "Showcase," or a module with a big picture and the ability to highlight deals or limited-time promotions. Apple Maps will also let businesses add buttons to the top of their profile to let people order or make reservations. Here are some changes coming to the Apple Maps app:

☆ Fact Check-Photo shows crowd gathered on South African beach, not migrants on shore of British seaside town
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Social media users are sharing an image of a crowd standing on a beach and are claiming it shows migrants in Skegness, a seaside town on Britain’s east coast. But the photo was taken in Durban, South Africa, after three people were killed by a large wave in December 2022. It can be traced back to a security service in South Africa which uploaded a series of photos showing its involvement in responding to an incident on a Durban beach in December 2022 (here and here). Based on local reports, (here and here), an unexpected large wave killed three people at the beach on Dec. 17. The image shows a crowd gathering on a beach in Durban, South Africa, not migrants standing on a beach in Skegness in Britain.

☆ Fact Check-Video of street shootout in Mexico between military and other vehicles predates Ovidio Guzman’s arrest in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The video has been online since at least Dec. 25, 2022 and appears to have been recorded in Tamaulipas, another Mexican state. “The Sinaloa Cartel Has launched wide scale retaliatory attacks against Mexican Security forces after the capture of Ovidio Guzmán. The video clip, however, predates his capture. Local media reports locating the video clip in Nuevo Laredo in the state of Tamaulipas are viewable (here), (here), (here), (here). The video clip does not show retaliatory attacks by the Sinaloa Cartel in January 2023.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in October fined Alphabet Inc-owned Google (GOOGL.O) $161 million for exploiting its dominant position in Android, which powers 97% of smartphones in India, and asked it to change restrictions imposed on smartphone makers related to pre-installing apps. "Google will be required to make far-reaching changes to the Android mobile platform which has been in place for the last 14-15 years." Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, but critics say it imposes restrictions like mandatory pre-installation of its own apps that are anti-competitive. The CCI in October ordered Google to not prohibit un-installing of its apps by Android phone users in India -- currently, one can't delete apps such as Google Maps or YouTube from their Android phones when they come pre-installed. "No other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes based on similar conduct," Google said in its court submissions.

☆ The biggest announcements from CES 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Harry Rabinowitz | Harry Rabinowitz Is A Reporter For Select On Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Every year, the biggest brands in tech make their way to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. TelevisionRoku, one of the top streaming platforms for smart TVs, announced that it is releasing its own Roku-branded televisions. Now, Roku will be launching its own brand, with Roku Select and Roku Plus TVs, alongside a Roku TV Wireless Soundbar. TCL, a top smart TV brand, is rebranding and overhauling its TV lineup. Now, all of its smart TVs will fall into two groups: the higher-end Q-Series and the budget-friendly S-Series.

☆ Fact Check-2019 video of Mexican street shootout falsely linked to 2023 capture of ‘El Chapo’ son
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A 2019 video showing a shootout between Mexican authorities and cartel members has been reshared online as if from 2023. The 32-year-old son of jailed kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman is currently being held in Mexico City (here). His capture has triggered a wave of violence largely in the city of Culiacan in the northern Sinaloa state. But a clip showing a violent clash in the middle of the street is unrelated to the 2023 event. The exact location of the incident can be seen on Google Maps: bit.ly/3imKyAo .

☆ TikTok is offering IMDb data on millions of movies and TV shows, giving Gen Z another reason to ditch Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Users can link to movies and TV shows in their videos that direct to an in-app page with data about the title. It's one more way that young people can use TikTok as a search engine. TikTok and IMDb, a movie database owned by Amazon, announced a collaboration on Thursday that will see TikTok licensing IMDb data to power a new feature on the social platform. Creators will now be able to link to movies and TV shows in their videos. Search from the "movies and TV shows" option to find any of the 12 million-plus titles on IMDb.

☆ 3 TikTok SEO strategies that influencers are using to help boost views and engagement with their videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Gen Zers prefer TikTok over Google as a search engine, and influencers are taking notice. Five TikTokers shared the specific techniques they use to make their videos more SEO friendly. These strategies helped make videos more discoverable by users and brands that want to collaborate. Some TikTok creators are starting to adapt their content strategies to make their videos more SEO friendly, following a September New York Times report that Gen Z prefers TikTok over Google as a search engine. Here are three SEO strategies the TikTokers have had success with:

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