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 Will.
1. Google’s ‘Project Owl’
Fake news has been a key talking point in recent months with inaccurate news stories popping up left, right, and centre. Like the rest of us, Google has spent a lot of time trying to separate the truth from the lies and earlier this week announced their newest update – ‘Project Owl’. It aims to deal with concerns about fake news, disturbing answers and offensive search suggestions appearing at the top of search results. Google has outlined three new actions designed to address these specific issues as part of ‘Project Owl’:
- A new feedback form for search suggestions, including formal policies about why suggestions should be removed.
- A new feedback form for “Featured Snippets” answers.
- An increased emphasis on authoritative content to improve search quality.
To find out more about ‘Project Owl’ make sure you read Google’s full blog post that covers everything you need to know.
2. Filthy jeans at a disgusting price
A while ago we found a rather unusual item for sale online, a stone in a small leather pouch – I know! Weird, right? Well our good friends over at Nordstrom are back with another ‘interesting’ item – dirty jeans. The ‘Barracuda Straight Leg Jeans’ come covered in a fake mud substance and are described on Nordstrom’s website as
“rugged, Americana workwear […] that shows you’re not afraid to get down and dirty.”
If the muddy look is for you, then these jeans are available at the very reasonable price of £350. Personally I’m not convinced this look will ever take off, but if you disagree I would suggest rolling around in your garden – it’s a much cheaper alternative to get dirty clothes.
3. Alexa’s looking out for you
This week Amazon have released the newest version of their personal assistant, Alexa. The new Echo Look allows you to take full length photos or short videos of your outfit and get Alexa’s opinion on how you look. These images are then saved to the companion app, which builds a personal lookbook of all the photos you have taken. In addition to this you can now get style advice with the new Style Check, a service that combines machine learning algorithms and advice from fashion specialists to give you a second opinion on your outfit. One feature I do like is the suggestions, the Echo Look will suggest new brands or styles you may like based on previous outfits stored in your lookbook. A great way to find new products or brands that you may have never considered.
However, I can’t personally see many people taking photos their outfit at 7 in the morning before they go off to work.
4. Monkeying around
Last weekend marked what is arguably the most prestigious endurance race in the world – the London Marathon. Thousands of runners took part; from the world’s elite looking to add another medal to their collection, to the less experienced runners who ran for a more personal reason. Either way, completing a marathon is a truly outstanding feat, no matter what your time is… however, one runner has taken this to the extreme. Tom Harrison, a Metropolitan Police officer who goes by the name Mr Gorilla, decided to crawl the entire race on his hands and knees dressed as… you guessed it a gorilla. Tom started his race at 10:34 Sunday morning and by Wednesday lunchtime he was just under halfway through. Like most people who take part in the marathon, Tom’s efforts are all for a good cause. He’s raising money and awareness for the Gorilla Organisation, a charity supporting the conservation of gorillas in Africa. Mr Gorilla has completed multiple fundraising events in his gorilla outfit for the same cause, but the London Marathon is by far the biggest. He is expected to finish the race today so let’s hope the finish line is in sight – keep crawling, Mr Gorilla!
5. Meet Maru
It wouldn’t be a My Five if there wasn’t a dog involved. This is Maru, a confused Husky that thinks he’s a panda… and a seal… not quite sure how that would work, but he’s cute so just go with it.
