Apps

LinkedIn is following Twitter's foray into conversation controls by enabling members to restrict who's able to see and comment on their posts and updates. Members also can prevent replies to specific posts and "mute" select users or company pages from their feed.

Almost everyone agrees that more control is needed on how our private data is used, and a new California law may lead the way. When it comes to apps, up until now our choice has been to either use the app and trust that the vaguely worded privacy agreement really does (fingers crossed) protect our data, or not use the app at all. Of course, there are numerous examples of how that trust has been broken time after time. Now a California law is taking aim at controlling personal data use by companies. Under the law, state residents — and in some cases, all Americans — can demand that large companies show people what data they have about you and with whom they’ve shared it. People will also have the right to request the companies delete and not “sell” the data they have about you.

It is not perfect and it can be a bit complicated. People must go to each company that might have their data in order to delete or restrict what it can do with it. But the California law also envisions the possibility of “authorized agents” that would exercise data rights on our behalf. Instead of you filling out 100 forms to ask 100 companies to delete your data, you would pick a privacy assistant to do it for you. Consumer Reports last month started offering privacy assistant services as a test project.

Interestingly enough, the privacy assistant might just be a web browser where you check a box once and each site you visit then gets an automated notice to prohibit the personal information collected there from being shared or sold. Think of it as a version of the telemarketer “Do Not Call” list. More details about this prospect will emerge as it gets tested and developed.

A clip of a Cartoon Network public service announcement that features Pearl from the "Steven Universe" show talking about the effect of systemic racism on the teaching of history has gone viral on social, attracting millions of views across Twitter and TikTok. "These textbooks are incomplete," says Pearl in the video, "There were Black Roman warriors, Black medieval knights, Black classical musicians, Black cowboys, Black fighter pilots. Where are they?"

Nakia Smith, 22, is using TikTok videos to teach Black American Sign Language (developed during the era of segregated schools) to viewers, and is attracting millions of views. Smith, whose family has deaf people across several generations, is part of a movement that has attracted interest in how Black deaf people communicate and the differences between BASL and American Sign Language.

Seemingly innocuous digital tools and features, such as text size and cursor color, can help students learn — or hamper the experience. A built-in Chromebook feature, for example, not only makes the cursor larger, but it also draws a red circle around the object, making it easier to spot helping distracted remote learners. Gendered voices are another example. Having the option to select a particular voice can enable children and teens to choose the one that puts them most at ease. Text to speech tools are built into most devices and include other features such as voice typing and transcription, and Chromebooks have a built-in screen reader that reads aloud full pages or selected text. The tool highlights individual words as well as the paragraphs that contain them. Other features include options to adjust the speech rate and voice. Additional features are also available.

Imagine a day when Siri or Alexa might be able to let you know you have a cold -- or something worse -- coming on. Researchers are working on a tool that leverages machine learning to detect irregularities in a person's voice that can be linked to certain ailments. The "diagnosis" isn't designed to be definitive, just more of a nudge to seek additional medical care. Privacy concerns abound, but a tool like this makes sense. Who/What has a better gauge on your current health? A doctor you haven't seen in months, or a virtual assistant that can track your movements, monitor your sleep and listen to your every cough and sneeze?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is an emoji worth? Dating back to 1995, emojis have become such a large part of our communication that approximately 5 billion are used every day -- and that's just on Facebook and Facebook Messenger! The most used emoji on Twitter and Facebook is the crying with laughter emoji, whilst the heart is the most popular on Instagram. In a fascinating piece on the World Economic Forum site, you can take a quick look at the history and growth of emojis that may or may not leave you with a "laughing face with tears of joy."

The Insider Intelligence U.S. Digital Trust Survey found that, ranking nine social platforms, consumers have the most faith in LinkedIn when it comes to security, community, ad experience and relevance and overall legitimacy. Pinterest earned the second spot, followed respectively by Snapchat, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook.

Storytelling apps and other tools that use American Sign Language (ASL)can be essential for boosting literacy among students who are deaf and learning remotely, says Melissa Malzkuhn, founder and creative director of Gallaudet University's Motion Light Lab. This article lists digital resources from the Motion Light Lab and other sources that use ASL.

Chinese-owned ByteDance has until Nov. 12 to divest its U.S. TikTok operations, per an executive order by President Donald Trump. TikTok, the personal video sharing site, is particularly popular with tweens and teens. In issuing the order, which also requires ByteDance to destroy all data on U.S. TikTok users, Trump said, "There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance ... might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States." The question for parents, of course, is what app will teens and tweens put their energy into if TikTok goes away.