Weekly Links #4

Here is my weekly selection of significant news, insightful information bits and interesting analyses from the digital and technology world. Published every Thursday.

• We Know How You Feel
  
  Very comprehensive article about the science of “affective computing”, which is all about teaching machines to read and understand human’s facial expressions and the underlying emotions.
• These Social Media Clickbait All-Stars Are Quietly Building Massive SEO Traffic
  
  Viral sites such as Buzzfeed and Upworthy might have become known for their capabilities to harvest social media traffic, but they for sure are also pretty good at getting traffic from search engines.
• Democracy in the digital era
  
  The Icelandic activist and politician Birgitta Jónsdóttir about the challenges and chances of democracy in an era of technology, complexity and interconnectivity.
• Bitcoin Price Continues to Fall, Breaks $200 Mark
  
  Following the day-to-day price changes of Bitcoin is usually quite meaningless (unless one is speculating with Bitcoin), but according to Coindesk, the latest price drops mean that mining of Bitcoin no longer is profitable.
• There’s a blockchain for that!
  
  But no matter what happens with Bitcoin: The core innovation of Bitcoin, the Blockchain, won’t be affected. There are many ideas swirling around about how to use the system of decentralized verification for other purposes than virtual currency. This article is probably the best I have read so far about what can and cannot be done with the help of the Blockchain.
• Everything that’s wrong with Tesla, and why they aren’t the car savior
  
  A critical take on the hype-car of the decade (which I personally find pretty intriguing).
• North Korea’s Naenara Web Browser: It’s Weirder Than We Thought
  
  North Korea’s very own Internet browser reveals fascinating things about how the country’s Internet works.
• Google Translate can now interpret signs and conversations in real time
  
  I tried to have a translated real-time conversation with the iPhone app and it worked really well. Excellent progress is made in this field.
• How Amazon Tricks You Into Thinking It Always Has the Lowest Prices
  
  The trick: Just having the lowest prices for the most prolific products – because their price tags stick in people’s memories.
• Building The Workplace We Want
  
  Slack, the chat app for teams, has created one of the best, most well-built software products of the past 1-2 years. That can only be done by a company that has a great culture. This post from the Slack blog explains a bit about values and principles.
• Gear VR: For today’s best virtual reality, strap a phone to your face
  
  Judging from this review of the Samsung Gear VR headset, virtual reality really is not ready for prime time yet.
• How My Mom Got Hacked
  
  Malware that encrypts PC user’s personal files and asks for a ransom payment, so called “ransomware”, seems to be increasingly popular among scammers. Informative and partly quite entertaining to read about how they proceed.
• The Stunning Scale of AWS and What it Means for the Future of the Cloud
  
  This post explains how massive the Amazon computer cloud, AWS, actually is.
• A Tarnished Uber Tries To Woo The Press
  
  Uber invites members of the press to “off-the-record” drinks. Unethical and very typical for this company.