Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Ashleigh.
1. Two imposters jump on board the Olympic heroes parade
Two men dressed as Olympians and holding fake medals “blagged” their way onto the Olympic float in Manchester this week, posing as gold medalists. Getting beyond the barriers and past entry points manned by security personnel and police, they jumped aboard the float carrying the women’s hockey team and modern pentathlon athletes.
The prank was said to be light-hearted and non-threatening, but a spokesman for the BOA said: “We are aware of the matter, and are disappointed anyone would want to detract from the athletes’ celebration. This did not spoil anyone’s enjoyment of a wonderful event.”
2. Collar that reflects a dog’s emotions has been developed
A Japanese biologist has developed a collar that changes colour and links to an app on your phone to show your dog’s true mood. The technology uses the animal’s heartbeat to show the owner if the dog is feeling calm, excited, happy or is concentrating:
3. Google’s Fact Checker
A new feature, called fact check, has been launched by Google, which adds a label next to news stories in search results:
“You’ll see the tagged articles in the expanded story box on news.google.com and in the Google News & Weather iOS and Android apps, starting with the US and the UK,” said Richard Gingras, Google’s head of news.
4. Instagram’s new feature for those dealing with mental illness
This new feature from Instagram will allow users to flag a photo they deem to be concerning, when they believe a person may be in need of help, completely anonymously. When a photo is flagged, Instagram then sends the person a message that says, “Someone saw one of your posts and thinks you might be going through a difficult time. If you need support, we’d like to help.” With that they see a message with different options for them to get help, and to make the feature as sensitive as possible Instagram has worked with the National Eating Disorders Association and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Instagram’s Chief Operating Officer Marne Levine told Seventeen:
“We listen to mental health experts when they tell us that outreach from a loved one can make a real difference for those who may be in distress. At the same time, we understand friends and family often want to offer support but don’t know how best to reach out. These tools are designed to let you know that you are surrounded by a community that cares about you, at a moment when you might most need that reminder.”
They have also banned a lot of hashtags associated with self-harm and for those that are still featured, support options will pop up when they are searched for.
Let’s hope that the feature is used by people in the way it has been intended, and not abused!
5. Britain’s F**cked?
If you are looking for some amusing content to chuckle at on a Friday afternoon, check out this Facebook page of totally mad content.
And most importantly, meet ‘Dave the Rave’: https://www.facebook.com/fckedbritain/videos/1845633305672620/
