#google search trends july 2020

[kristihines]

Can you trust AI Answers about your health?

During the summer of 2020, when the entire world was focused on the pandemic, getting treatment for other health issues became a challenge.

I started experiencing a lot of back pain, but I shrugged it off as an injury and took Advil to cope.

A week later, I thought I had food poisoning.

I tried an at-home service where they pumped me full of IV fluids.

I went to urgent care. They sent me to get scans. I paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket to get them quickly.

The imaging place never sent the scans to the urgent care.

A day later, I had the worst chills. It was July, in Phoenix. Most likely 100 F. I went outside and was still freezing.

At that point, I was taken to the ER. I ended up in the ICU in one of those rooms they zipped up in plastic.

While most of the focus was on COVID, I had something else: a large kidney stone. The kind that doesn’t pass on its own.

I was in septic shock and acute renal failure according to discharge papers.

The hospital stay itself wasn’t too long, but the treatment with specialists took three months to complete.

Surgeries during COVID were extra special because if you tested positive, your surgery was delayed.

Two years later, in 2022, I ended up in the same hospital for the same reason.

And now, I’m a few days into aggressive antibiotic treatment for my kidneys, yet again. Wondering if I make it to the next followup or have to Lyft off to the ER.

So what does this have to do with Google AI Answers?

In 2020 and 2022, I spent a lot of time perusing Google Search results on kidney stones.

Now, I get AI Answers above at the top of SERPs (search engine results pages).

This wouldn’t be a bad thing if one could trust the AI to accurately summarize its sources.

That’s the big if.

In the first screenshot, you’ll find an AI Answer from Google Search results for the phrase how to pass kidney stone.

The first mistake involved an error with paraphrasing a source with legitimate information.

Because I can assure you after four years of seeing urology specialists, no one has ever suggested drinking two quarts or liters of urine.

The basil leaves suggestion, on the other hand, is suspect. I’ve never come across that as a suggestion. It would have stood out, because I have a lot of basil growing around the garden.

I don’t even remember that website from my previous Google searches. I had to check Wikipedia and other sources to find out what the company even was.

Much like the search quality raters and AI Answer checkers do...

In the second screenshot, Microsoft Bing with Copilot offered ads for supplements and advice from five sources, two of which are the MSN Health Hub.

The hub includes a section where you can Ask a health professional questions.

In the third screenshot, ChatGPT using GPT-4 with browsing offered a concise response based on its training data, but claimed not to have access to external sources.

In the fourth screenshot, Perplexity provided the best AI Answer with 19 sources I recognized from my previous research into this health issue.

Moral of the story:

You can’t trust generative AI with your money or your life issues.

But if you do, start with the right AI Answer engine. One that cites sources you trust and doesn’t suggest drinking your own pee.

Think of Perplexity as a better starting point for more in-depth research that you can discuss during your next doctor’s visit.

Not as a definitive answer.

Follow @kristileilani on X for more on AI news, trends, and tools.

[mariavillalongo]

ETHICAL AND LEGAL FUNDAMENTALS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

The current state of social media is fluctuating, it’s rapidly changing and growing. According to Google search, as of July 2024, there were 5.17 billion social media users globally, which is 63.7% of the world's population. The average daily time spent using social media is 2h 20m. This means more then half of the world is using social media! Each platform on social media has their ethic and guidelines regulations. A strong ethical and legal best practice to have in social media is a social media policy, which is a document that outlines guidelines, expectations, and actions that are expected to be followed for online engagement on social media. It is important to follow these guidelines, if you would like your personal or profile business to grow.

Ethics is a set of guidelines and principals that influence our behaviors. And these guidelines tell us the difference of what is wrong and what is right. For example, bullying people online is not ethical and is not professional, or establishing fake accounts. Following these guidelines helps us become successful in our role in social media.

Now that I have knowledge of these core principals, I can start applying those to my social media strategies. I can see myself not spamming users with my content, posting food or posting so many pictures of the things I’m doing on a daily basis. I have learned that quality is better than quantity. Having the same image is one thing, but having the same content is another. I post many stories of places that I have been to and stories of my kids. I will also be more aware of not streaming any content that’s live on TV as of that is (FTC) Federal Trade Commission also known as, term of services for each platform you are using for your social media.  I will not create a fake account or post fake news, as well reposting something without knowing where it came from, or if the information is true (Misinformation).

Some of the ethical trends happing right now in social media are, loosing control over personal accounts to employers due to influential presence. This means posting or creating post within your personal account about your formal employment without there permission, this can lead to serious legal consequences. Misinformation, posting fake news or reposting anything that is not true, sharing too much. Not being transparent with their audience.

Some of the cases related to social media ethics are, Kim Kardashian, when she introduced her shapewear line called Kimono, which people viewed as not respecting the Japanese culture (Adranly, 2019). Also, Kevin Hart, after it was discovered, the actor tweeted inappropriate comments on Twitter regarding the LGTBQ+ community in 2011, had to step down from his hosting duties for the 2019 Oscars (Campbell, 2020).

Project sweat peas is a nonprofit professional organization, with multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This organization is very consisting with transparency and accurate information, they don’t seem to post reels or pictures in a Narcissim form, so I can say there not spamming others feeds. The organization seems to have an alternative account, but you can tell that it’s a real account because they have the account in their headline. It would be interesting working as their social media manager, this organization is very well respected and their work is inspiring.

Nike is one of the many brands that is following strong media ethical codes, by not sharing customers personal information with anyone. Nike does not share employee personal information on social media or with anyone else. Nike employees should not exploit company products or details that are not public.

They are many professionals that practice strong ethical behaviors, There is a few of them on Instagram platform, I actually follow one of them ( _pagesparks ). She is a Labor and Employment Lawyer, her platforms are about informing users, about legal actions, what to do and what not to do, from a legal standpoint. She is transparent with her content; she states in her post that the information presented is informational and not a legal advice.

Ethical and legal fundamentals are important, it helps bring trust to the audience. Following this ethical and legal codes can help us protect ourselves from any legal issues or loosing our brand/business. As a brand it makes you look good and win the respect of many users, we must also be mindful of other people and their feelings, cyber-bullying is not ok. Making fake accounts its also wrong. My takeaway on this is if we run our social media with good behavior and respect are, (FTC) Federal Trade Commission and (TOS) terms of service agreement we will have a better chance on managing or succeeding with our brand/business.

Just because you’re behind a computer doesn’t mean you can write however and whatever you like and expect the person online to understand what your trying to say, so being mindful of others by respecting their opinions, are some of the key concepts I can bring in my personal conduct online. Being transparent, is important for me because the more transparent and real you are, the better outcome you will have and that’s just in anything you do. Keeping my information up to date its also part of being transparent.

What not to do on social media; Manipulation of concepts, for example, posting something, saying if I get a number of likes, you will have the chance to win $1000. Misappropriation, like jumping in conversations that is not entirely relevant or necessary, or establishing fake accounts.

Finally, core concepts that I will follow as a practicing social media professional.

Transparency - is the key to building authenticity online.

Engaging more with audience - social media is about the conversations; you can’t have success with a community if you are not actively participating in the community.

Ethical principles – Personal behaviors and actions.

Quality over Quantity – quality is always better then quantity.

Having Uniformity- Having the same image is one thing, but having the same content is another.

Having control of your personal accounts.

Follow the Federal trade commission (FTC)

Agree to the term and service agreement (TOS)

Follow ethical and behavior guidelines.

Not taking part on any cyber bullying online behaviors.

Managing professionals and personal accounts within the guidelines

#ethics #behaviors #legalconsequences #ethicalprincipels #misinformation

[molsons112000]

The city of chicago has declined over a million people!!!!! Now you think about that a million people, what does that do to your tax base of the city when you lose a million people!!!

The State of Illinois has declined over 2 million people. What do you think that does to your tax base?When you lose two million people?????

As you see here, the the city of milwaukee has steadily declined in population!

Upstate wisconsin has been aging, and it has had migration that has somewhat offset the shrinking population!!!

But what is the federal government doing about the Northeast? That's dying the midwest that's dying!!!??????

While some cities in the Midwest are shrinking, others are growing, and the overall population trend in the Midwest is changing: 

 





Population decline

Some cities in the Midwest have been experiencing population decline, including Chicago and Milwaukee: 

 





Chicago: The population of Chicago declined by about 0.3% between July 2022 and July 2023. 

 



Milwaukee: The population of Milwaukee has been declining, even as other Midwest cities have rebounded. 

 



Population growth

Some cities in the Midwest have seen population growth, including cities with populations of 50,000 or more: 

 



Northeast and Midwest: Cities in these regions grew by an average of 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, from 2022 to 2023. 

 



Rural Northwoods

The rural Northwoods of Wisconsin has been attracting enough migration to offset the natural decline of its aging population. 

 

Midwest population decline between 2020 and 2022

The Midwest lost more than 400,000 residents during this period, due to a number of factors, including domestic migration, natural decreases, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Census Bureau

Population Rebounds for Many Cities in Northeast and Midwest

May 16, 2024 — Cities with populations of 50,000 or more grew by an average of 0.2% in the Northeast and 0.1% in the Midwest after declining an average of 0.3% and...

I've been trying to change things in the midwest and make it to a place or into a place that would attract people.The midwest in general, has lost millions and millions and millions, and the midwest is very old in average age!!!! 🙄 And I keep on doing everything to revive the midwest, everything you do works against me, and it is dying, and so is the north east and the government, from the federal to the states, to their counties, to their cities are doing s*** about it!!!! But they sure want to promote violence, an uncleanliness and they sure want to promote the LGBTQ. An abortion, and they sure want to promote everything negative!!!! I'm trying to bring in a wave of positivity and get these areas to move in the right effing direction!!!! As you will see below why midwest cities are dying and texas cities are growing, and texas is growing rapidly.And houston is about to overtake chicago for the third largest city in the united states!!!!

Fox Business

https://www.foxbusiness.com › ...

Why Midwestern cities are shrinking while cities in Texas ...

Jun 12, 2020 — Midwest cities such as Charleston, West Virginia and Rockford, Illinois are seeing massive population declines due to job

The two regions of the country that are dying the fastest, the midwest and the northeast and the northeast has the oldest average age, and the midwest is just behind it in.Second!!!! These areas, the Northeast United States and the Midwest are dying dying, dying dying, and all you want to promote is abortion. L g b t q and violence!!!! I keep on trying and I've been working with charities for a long time. Chicago green Chicago cares, which cleans up in all these environmental charities, cleaning up and beautifying, and trying to get this to be a place where people from around the country would wanna come people from around the world would want to migrate to And also people that are, here we'd love to get married and raise a family and have their kids grow up in this wonderful atmosphere!!!!

No, the Midwest does not have the average oldest age in the United States: 

Regional median age: In 2021, the Northeast had the highest median age at 40.4, followed by the Midwest at 39.0, the South at 38.6, and the West at 37.7. 

State median age: In 2022, Maine had the highest median age at 44.8, followed by New Hampshire at 43.3. Utah had the lowest median age at 31.9, followed by the District of Columbia at 34.8, and Texas at 35.5. 

City median age: In 2021, The Villages, Florida had the highest median age at 68.3 years. 

The Midwest has a large share of older adults, but many Midwestern counties are getting younger. For example, between 2010 and 2019, seven out of twelve Midwestern states had a negative or very low positive increase in median age. 

Population Reference Bureau

Which U.S. States Have the Oldest Populations? | PRB

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2020 Population Estimates. While southern states are regarded as retirement magnets, partly due to their warmer weather and ...

So let's look at some of the oldest populations in the United States. What is the government doing about Alaska or Wyoming???? But they're sure focused on Texas in California and New York and other places like Florida growing gangbusters while the rest of the United States is dying!!!! Like you get aaron rodgers, abandoning green bay and going to new york, like the cubs players russo leaving chicago and going and becoming a yankees, everyone, leaving the midwest and going some other place 22 make it, and it is f****** dying here and it's happening in the northeast as well.And the same way in many of these states and the government isn't doing s*** about it!!! And you constantly wanna promote violence!!!!

Population Reference Bureau

https://www.prb.org › wh...

Which U.S. States Have the Oldest Populations?

Sparsely populated states such as Alaska, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Vermont also have very small older adult populations—less than 130,000

The United States has a rapidly aging population!!!! 😳

"Growing older:

The US population is steadily aging, with a larger share of people aged 65 and older than in previous years."

While the United States does have an aging population, it is not considered to have one of the oldest populations in the world, with countries like Japan and several European nations having a significantly higher proportion of elderly residents compared to the U.S.. l

Key points about the US population: 

Growing older:

The US population is steadily aging, with a larger share of people aged 65 and older than in previous years. 

Compared to other countries:

While the US has a significant older population, many other countries, particularly in Europe and Japan, have a higher percentage of people aged 65 and over. 

Census data:

According to the 2020 Census, around 1 in 6 people in the US were aged 65 or older. 

Population Reference Bureau

Which U.S. States Have the Oldest Populations? | PRB

While southern states are regarded as retirement magnets, partly due to their warmer weather and tax benefits for seniors, states in the Northeast and Midwest h...

Then you throw into united states with europe has a rapidly aging population, then japan, the then china, these top economies are rapidly aging!!!!

So you got a segment of asia that's rapidly aging, and then you got most white nations, as I showed, are rapidly aging!!!!

The U.S. centenarian population is the world's second largest – the UN estimates it at 108,000, slightly larger than the Census Bureau's estimate. Japan is the country with the greatest number of people in their 100s, at 146,000. China (60,000), India (48,000) and Thailand (38,000) round out the top five.Jan 9, 2024

https://www.pewresearch.org › ...

U.S. centenarian population is

  We're going to be so upside down. That will have almost no youth, and the country will be a bunch of geriatrics!!!!

So the midwest and northeast are having lots and lots of problems, and the government's doing nothing about it!!!! Some reason they're so focused on violence instead of solving the problem, getting rid of the homeless and the violence and getting on addressing the true issues, because if we keep on focusing on violence and homelessness as the main priorities and then allowing the LGBTQ and abortion. This country is screwed!!!!

National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › ...

Geographic Divergence in Mortality in the United States - PMC

by A Fenelon · 2013 · Cited by 118 — Death rates are standardized using year 2000 age structure. SOURCE: Author's calculations from National Center for Health Statistics Multiple Cause-of-Death ...

City of Chicago (.gov)

https://climatechange.chicago.gov › ...

Climate Impacts in the Midwest

Temperatures are projected to continue increasing across the Midwest, with the greatest increases in average temperature expected in northern areas.

They said illinois has incorrectly, counted their population and underestimated it by thirteen million!

NBC Chicago

https://www.nbcchicago.com › ...

Illinois Undercounted in 2020 Census, Actually Grew to 13 Million

May 20, 2022 — Since the 2020 census incorrectly reported Illinois lost over 18,000 residents — or a drop of 0.14% — the state lost a seat in the U.S.

All the numbers I've seen that stands above that the Midwest and Northeast have been dying and rapidly aging, and the government hasn't done s*** about it, but everybody wants to focus on violence that should be over with and focusing on LGBTQ that should be over and focusing on abortion, right? Those issues should be behind us.They shouldn't exist!!!!

[vilaspatelvlogs]

कोरोना के बारे में जानना नहीं चाहते लोग, गूगल पर खोजते रहे क्या अमिताभ बच्चन कोरोना पॉजिटिव हैं?

कोरोना के बारे में जानना नहीं चाहते लोग, गूगल पर खोजते रहे क्या अमिताभ बच्चन कोरोना पॉजिटिव हैं?

[ad_1]

टेक डेस्क, अमर उजाला, नई दिल्ली Updated Fri, 07 Aug 2020 08:03 PM IST

पढ़ें अमर उजाला ई-पेपर कहीं भी, कभी भी।

*Yearly subscription for just ₹249 + Free Coupon worth ₹200

ख़बर सुनें

ख़बर सुनें

कोरोना संक्रमण फैलने के बाद गूगल सर्च की अहमियत बढ़ गई है। लॉकडाउन के कारण जिन लोगों ने नौकरी गंवाई है, वे गूगल पर बिजनेस शुरू करने के तरीके बारे में सर्च कर रहे हैं, वहीं कुछ लोग…

[dailytomlinson]

One Direction is secretly working on a plan to celebrate their 10th anniversary, Page Six can reveal — with ideas ranging from reuniting for a TV special to a new single.

However, a tour is ruled out, we’re told.

The now-defunct Brit boy band’s anniversary is coming up on July 23 and devoted followers have noticed that Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan have all refollowed Zayn Malik on Twitter, although Malik has not followed them back.

All five are now on different recording labels and have solo deals.

A source close to one of the singer’s management teams said, “There’s still a long way to go and a lot of hurdles. Obviously, at the moment anything they do would have to be done virtually.

“But there’s a lot of good will between them now and they want to make something happen.”

Styles in particular has remained great friends with director and producer Ben Winston, who helmed the Brit boy band’s 2013 movie “This Is Us.”

Styles has a huge solo career and recently hit the charts with his latest album “Fine Line,” while Tomlinson just released his album “Walls” and appeared as a judge on the UK’s “X Factor.” Payne, Horan and Malik have each released their own music.

“We’ve got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice,” Payne, 26, told The Sun on Thursday. “There’s a number of different things that we are all working on to try and make happen and people are forwarding emails around.”

Malik, 27, quit One Direction in March 2015, citing “stress” after leaving their world tour. The rest of the members split that August, reassuring fans the break wouldn’t be permanent — although it ended up being that way.

As we reported, fans are interpreting the guys refollowing Malik as a sign that the time has come for a homecoming, causing the hashtag #OneDirectionReunion to trend on the social-media platform.

“They all followed Zayn again holy s –t,” tweeted one hopeful.

“Zayn is no longer an ex member on Google [search],” pointed out another.

Other hints that fans may be right include that the former members have also refollowed the official One Direction Twitter account, all five of the group’s albums are also now back on Apple Music and the group’s former website has been reactivated.

Speaking about reunion plans, Tomlinson, 28, said in January: “I think it’ll happen at some point, we’d be stupid not to.”

Styles, 26, has also kept busy during the coronavirus pandemic by supporting the coronavirus fight with a new T-shirt — sales of which are going toward the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization. The singer revealed in late March that he got stuck in California after his plans to fly back to Europe for the final leg of his “Love on Tour” was canceled due to the coronavirus.

[rjzimmerman]

Our gardening continues this year as much as it has the last several years. We just completed our food gardens (including herbs) yesterday. Cool and wet weather held us back this year, but the plants are looking good and happy. Today we finished the native wildflower planting, replacing those that didn’t make it from the last couple of years or trying some new things. Our six milkweed plants from about 5 years ago have morphed into maybe a hundred, so we've been yanking some of those out, feeling like we’re killing baby monarch butterfly nurseries. But too many, way too many.

Do we have a “victory garden?” I don’t know and don’t care. We just like to get in the soil and watch things grow. We appreciate the birds and animals that come in the yard, and plant extra food things to share with them. Starting in July, our harvests will start and the wildflowers will be yelling at us.

Excerpt from this story from Mother Jones:

As the pandemic smolders and the economy plunges into an abyss, Americans have reverted to the venerable World War II–era tradition of organized disaster gardening. According to headline writers, that is.

“Food Supply Anxiety Brings Back Victory Gardens,” declared the New York Times in late March. “Just like World War II, many are relying on their garden’s bounty to get them through this uncertain time,” echoed Good Housekeeping in early May. The multinational lawn-chemical giant Scotts Miracle-Gro wants to leverage this sentiment. “Plant your #VictoryGarden today,” a recent ad urges watchers over scenes of sun-dappled suburbanites pulling produce from loamy backyard plots.

Look around, though. Do you see vegetable gardens pretty much everywhere? Not just in private lawns, but also in vacant city lots, schoolyards, public parks, the strip between sidewalks and streets? That’s what Victory Gardens looked like, during World War II and also during World War I’s lesser-known gardening bonanza. These were giant mobilizations, harnessing grassroots energy with massive public investment.

What’s going on now is different. True, Google Trends reports that US searches for “gardens” have spiked this spring to their highest level ever, and vegetable seed sales are way up as well. Nearly 20 percent of adults surveyed in April said they had gardened more than usual in the past month. These data points suggest that millions of people are getting their hands dirty as food insecurity rises and government efforts to alleviate it sputter and our society enters an economic downturn that could rival or surpass the Great Depression.

But these aren’t Victory Gardens, any more than scattered individual refusals to pay rent constitute a general rent strike that challenges entrenched power. A true Victory Garden push would look like something else. It would channel the idled energy of mass unemployment away from despair and into something productive and hopeful, while also relieving stress and increasing access to high-quality fresh food. It would be unmistakably political, even radical. Scotts Miracle-Gro markets Victory Gardens as a self-affirming individual lifestyle choice. History offers a different model.

[kalfaro21ahsgov]

Blog Post #2: Media Assessment of Issue

CBS News

Article Link:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-lives-matter-new-york-city-trump-tower-fifth-avenue/ 

SUBJECT 

What is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?

The mural painted on 5th avenue in New York is in fact a work of progress in the eyes of some and a useless painting in others. It is a supported statement that has viable reasoning to be valid in this current day and age, but some believe that there is little power in this act. Both sides of the issue have valid points for and against the movement, where one says America is Black America and the other being All Lives Matter.   

AUTHOR 

Who authored the source? Google search the author if needed. 

Audrey McNamara who is the author of the source and a breaking news reporter for CBS News

What are their credentials? What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity?

Aubrey McNamara has written for many other news sources such as Yahoo, The Daily Beast, and NPR. She appears to be more liberal, as she has written for Daily Beast. She writes about politics and other breaking news topics. 

CONTEXT 

Where and when was the source produced? 

July 9, 2020 @ 3:51PM, CBS News

How might this affect the meaning of the source?

Written on July 9th, approximately 4 days after the mural was finished, the author did not leave much time to gather criticism on the mural itself. The plan for the Mural had been out for some time, but there was no time to gather information on the effect whether good or bad.Therefore the article really only gives the barebones and many talks about opinions and events leading up to the painting of the mural, but not after. 

AUDIENCE 

Who published the source and for whom was the source created? 

CBS published this article which is considered to be a neutral source, however the article itself was written by a more liberal author. 

CBS appears to be targeting generally most adults in America. The Network is one of the most popular and therefore gets a very large audience. Since it is classified as a neutral source, it would appear to get more traffic than a more biased source of news. 

How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source? 

Since CBS has established themselves as a mostly unbiased source, I don’t think the reliability of their information is compromised by any means. Having the largest audience might even persuade a news network to continue to stay as neutral as possible in order to keep maximum viewership.

PERSPECTIVE 

Is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)? 

The text appears to objective with very little to no bias or personal opinion from the author

If the article is objective, identify the competing perspectives presented in the article. 

The two perspectives in the article are whether or not the Black Lives Matter Mural on 5th Avenue is a good or bad addition to the area and whether the BLM movement is valid in general. 

Which perspective do you agree with and why? 

I agree that the mural was much needed, especially in such a high traffic area. Like the quotes in the article, the history of America has been long neglected and it’s time to face the reality that Black America is America and that BLM.

SIGNIFICANCE 

What is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or competing perspectives; what verifiable facts are presented?

The author uses many quotes from various points of views of the matter. She has quotes from the Mayor of New York who was the one that approved the mural. As well as various quotes from President Trump stating that the mural isn't doing any good on 5th Avenue and is just ruining the area. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the new mural will send a message that "Black lives, in fact, do matter,"

President Trump wrote in a pair of tweets last week that de Blasio "is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue,"

The Examiner

Article Link: https://www.examiner.net/story/business/2020/07/09/strike-for-black-lives-to-highlight-racism/42077171/ 

SUBJECT 

What is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?  

Many people during the month that article was written are planning to walkout and strike to fight against systemic racism and the killing of George Floyd. Claims are also being made that the people are striking against large companies and employers in general that Black people are being paid lower wages. It follows the claim economic justice follows racial justice. The author emphasizes that economic violence kills just like racial violence and both topics go hand and hand.

AUTHOR 

Who authored the source? Google search the author if needed. 

The author of the article is Aaron Morrison who writes for The Associated Press.

What are their credentials? 

Aaron is an award winning journalist who prior to writing for The Associated Press was a Senior reporter for The Appeal and was a Senior writer for Mic.

What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity?

Aaron’s main focus is civil rights and has worked with many activists from the BLM movement to document the work that they are doing. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and has served on the board of the organizations New York Chapter.

CONTEXT 

Where and when was the source produced? 

July 9th, 2020 @ 11:40AM, The Examiner produced this article

How might this affect the meaning of the source?

The article was written in the beginning of the up-tick in the BLM movement. It can be seen in the article that it neglects many of the details that have happened in the past few months, because they hadn’t happened yet. The article focuses on mainly the economic aspects of systematic racism and doesn’t highlight much of the civic action part of it.

AUDIENCE 

Who published the source and for whom was the source created? 

The Examiner produced this article, which is identified as a generally more conservative source. The author of the source has ties to social justice movement and civic action projects which are slightly different compared to some conservative views.

The Examiner appears to target the conservative adult population. Since it is established as a conservative source of news, it would be in the networks best interest to write articles that mainly sway towards the general conservative public view. 

How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source? 

Since The Examiner is a conservative source, there is a notion that they would and probably should write skewed towards the right. Since they have a “promise” to entertain the audience they currently hold, the information and articles that come from The Examiner are more likely to take a conservative viewpoint and leave out the more liberal ideas of a topic. 

PERSPECTIVE 

Is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)? 

The article is mostly subjective, with representation from mainly one viewpoint. However, there is very little to no author opinion.

 If the article is subjective, identify the author’s claim.  

The author himself doesn’t claim anything through his own words, but the details and cite sources are very clearly supporting the point that systematic inequality of any kind should be fought against and the history shows that. The author really only draws quotes and information from those who support the cause and he only takes numbers that prove Black people and other minorities are getting paid significantly less.

Do you agree or disagree and why?

I agree with the author that systematic mistreatment should be fought against. I don’t  necessarily think that money and wages should be the main focus or rather shouldn't overshadow the main theme that put simply Black Lives Matter, but I do believe economic equality has a place in overall equality.

SIGNIFICANCE 

What is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or competing perspectives; what verifiable facts are presented?

The other takes firsthand accounts and quotes mainly from those who support the BLM movement. He also mainly cites numbers that prove that large companies are mistreating their black workers and that they need to realize economic equality has a place in the arising BLM movement.

"We've got the coronavirus going on, plus we've got this thing with racism going on," Andrews said. "They're tied together, like some type of segregation, like we didn't have our ancestors and Martin Luther King fighting against these types of things. It's still alive out here, and it's time for somebody to be held accountable. It's time to take action."

"If in fact we are going to take on police violence that kills, then certainly we have to take on economic violence that also kills," he said.

"We're taking action because words are no longer bringing the results that we need," she said. "Now is the moment to see changes."

The Atlantic

ArticleLink:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/street-naming-more-performative-gesture/614416/ 

SUBJECT 

What is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?  

The mural painted on 5th Avenue is not only a good progress statement for the BLM movement, but it follows a long trend of other cities and other points in history that followed the same course of action to promote a social movement. Cities across the nation are painting their streets with bold statements in hopes of making a statement to those around the nation that this movement is important, not something that can be washed away and it is quite literally written in stone. The renaming of streets and other landmarks is very common in the fight for civil rights and does more than naysayers think. 

AUTHOR 

Who authored the source? Google search the author if needed. 

The author of the source is Deirdre Mask, a writer that wrote the article for The Atlantic. 

What are their credentials? 

Deirdre Mask is a lawyer as well as a writer. She has written for a number of other sources as well, such as The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, Lit Hub, The Harvard Law Review, The New Hibernia Review, The Dublin Review, and Irish Pages. 

What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity?

She lives in London with her family and has written a book about the effect of street addresses on other aspects of someone’s identity. She appears to have written for more liberal sources which would suggest that she has a more liberal point of view. However she has also written for a few international sources which could mean she doesn’t have a large stake in American politics.

CONTEXT 

Where and when was the source produced?

July 22nd, 2020, The Atlantic published this article

 How might this affect the meaning of the source?

This article was written quite a bit after the initial mural in New York was painted, which means it could have more details that followed the finishing of the mural. It gives accounts of those who believe that the mural was a good addition and a couple of those that don’t. It doesn’t directly reference the outcome of the mural itself, but it does tap into the past history of civil rights in general. 

AUDIENCE 

Who published the source and for whom was the source created? 

The Atlantic published this article which is generally labeled as a liberal source. It was written by Deirdre Mask who is also believed to be a more liberal source. This aligns with the public perception of the Atlantic

The target audience of the Atlantic is mostly more liberal adults. Since the network has established itself as a liberal or left source, it would be in the best interest to continue to cater to a liberal audience and write towards the more liberal side of politics.

How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source? 

Since the Atlantic is a liberal source, the information is most likely biased towards the left. They have an unspoken promise to their audience to appeal to the more liberal side of the media and because of that, much of the conservative view is left out of their writing. 

PERSPECTIVE 

Is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)? 

The article seems to be mostly subjective. The author does include her own opinion.

If the article is subjective, identify the author’s claim.  

The author’s claim is that making statements through changing street names and other landmarks similar to them, have a place in social movements. In the past many other groups have done the same thing by renaming their important streets and avenues to reflect the views of the people. In the recent past many street names have been changed to make a statement in many different areas. 

Do you agree or disagree and why?

I agree that making bold statements via mural has a place in movement such as these. I think it does make a difference when you make a statement that lasts (like and painting) and place it somewhere that generally is known to be high traffic. I think those who state that it does nothing basically prove that it does something because if it didn’t do anything then why remove it?

SIGNIFICANCE 

What is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or competing perspectives; what verifiable facts are presented?

The author does directly state her own opinions, and her sources and quotes echo what she thinks. She cites many sources that support the idea that murals and renaming do something. It also goes along with the message that her book conveys, which shows that those views about renaming are her own.

I’ve spent the past four years researching street names and what they reflect about communities. I understand that merely changing a street’s name might be seen as “performative,” another show without substance. But performative can also refer to words that, as the philosopher J. L. Austin theorized, don’t just speak but act. (Try arguing that the words I do, said before your beloved and a judge, don’t actually do anything.) Here, the naming is the doing. And although changing street names alone cannot alter societal norms, it captures the momentum of the BLM movement in a concrete way.

What are the similarities and differences between these three accounts of your issue?

It was interesting to see what the various media sources had to say and how their political view reflected what was written in the articles. I think it was interesting how the two not biased articles followed similar claims and statements. My idea was that they were going to be polar opposites. I think the largest and most anticipated difference between all three is the angle at which everyone comes from. The liberal/left article definitely came from the more “human”/ empathetic point of view. It talked about the more social aspects of the movement. Whereas the right/conservative article brought economics into the equation, which is definitely expected from conservative sources.They came less from the social/human aspects and talked more in terms of money and numbers. The neutral article, under no surprise had a fair bit of both sides. It wasn’t quite as extreme as either of the other articles, but it tackled the views of both sides of the argument 

Finally, which source do you identify with most and why?

I think although I tend to identify more with liberally swayed sources, I actually liked the neutral article better. I think although I enjoy the more social aspect of politics, I think sometimes articles that include too much detail one way or another are too polarizing and exhausting to read.  Passion often makes for longer articles and sometimes they are repetitive and drag on for along time. I like to get in and out with the details and I only will read someone’s opinion if I am genuinely looking for it, which is almost never.

[soloziamwillbetheendofme]

One Direction fans are convinced the boys are set to reunite for the band's 10-year anniversary.

The clues had been adding up for weeks before #OneDirectionReunion began trending on Twitter on Monday, sparking speculation the group is planning something special to mark their formation on July 23.

In a surprise turn of events, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne have all recently re-followed ex-member Zayn Malik - as has the official One Direction Twitter account.

Fans began receiving Twitter notifications that the boys had followed Zayn again, after his departure from the band in March 2015 and severing ties with his former friends.

However, Zayn - who has become more private since embarking on a solo career - has yet to follow them back.

Furthermore, the Pillowtalk singer has gone from being listed as 'ex-member' to 'vocals' on Google search.

In addition, all five of the boys' albums are now back on Apple Music - with the banner image changed to an old picture featuring Zayn - and their official website has been reactivated.

With over 22.4k Tweets about the reunion and counting, fans have been sharing their thoughts about a potential reunion.

One fan wrote: 'All 4 boys and the One Direction official account just refollowed Zayn i'm having a mental breakdown'.

Another enthused: 'They put ot5 back up on Apple Music. When you search for the list of 1D members, Zayn is on the list again. IS THIS A 1D OT5 REUNION? Loudly crying face'

'Ummm tf is happening? Why are all 5 of them back on Apple Music? Somethingssss happening Smiling face with 3 hearts #OneDirectionReunion', another posted.

The excitement recently went into overdrive when Liam Payne teased they were planning something special.

Revealing the boys - who went on an indefinite hiatus in early 2016 - had been in constant contact, it now seems he could have been hinting at Zayn returning.

He told The Sun: 'We've got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we've all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice.

'You hear a lot of people's voices and seeing old content and different things that we haven't seen for a long time or never seen before, it's very interesting.

'There's a number of different things that we are all working on to try and make happen and people are forwarding emails around.'

Elsewhere, Niall Horan took a lie detector test during an appearance on James Corden's Carpool Karaoke last month.

When asked whether 1D would get back together again, Niall confidently replied 'Yes', and the lie detector ruled it was the truth.

Speaking on The One Show in January, Louis teased: 'I think it'll happen at some point, we'd be stupid not to.'

Meanwhile, Harry - who has thus far seemed the most reluctant to commit to a reunion - told Rolling Stone last year: 'I don't think I'd ever say I'd never do it again.'

Interestingly, Niall said earlier this year that the only way for the band to come together again would be for Zayn to get back in touch.

The Slow Hands singer, 26, told The Sun: 'I've got no bad blood with him at all but some things have a lifespan. I don't know.

'We will see what happens. Maybe one day we can reconvene at some point, but not right now.'

However, Louis revealed he doesn't feel ready to make amends with Zayn, who he believes has been 'disrespectful'.

The singer, 28, admitted that he thinks Zayn has talked 's***' in interviews but said he can understand that sometimes you just want to 'run your mouth', referring to his negative comments about the band.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for the band for comment.

The boys have been focusing on their solo projects over the last four years, since going on hiatus in March 2016.

The news of their extended break was first revealed in August 2015, just a few months after Zayn unexpectedly quit the band, leaving fans around the world heartbroken.

He had abruptly left the boys' On The Road Again tour, flying home from Thailand for 'crisis' talks with then-fiancée Perrie Edwards.

The singer said in a statement at the time: 'My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined.

'I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22 year old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.

'I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world.'

The group - who were formed on The X Factor in 2010 - achieved phenomenal success during their short years together.

They won 200 awards including seven Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards and 28 Teen Choice Awards.  

As of 2020, the band has sold a total of 50 million records worldwide.

[lkim21ahsgov]

Media Assessment of Issue

Lauren Kim

Period 6

https://time.com/5794397/supreme-court-abortion-case-june-medical-services-russo/

SUBJECT—what is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?  

The court case of June Medical Services v. Russo will have a huge impact on women and their reproductive rights for years to come

The central message focuses on how significant this case is and how it will be affected by Trump’s 2 new Justices

AUTHOR—who authored the source? Google search the author if needed. What are their credentials? What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity?

Tessa Berenson: Yale graduate, majored in English

White House correspondent

Staff writer for Time Magazine

Over 6 years of experience in journalism

Her gender could be potential impact on her objectivity

CONTEXT—where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning or reliability of the source?

This source was produced on March 3rd, 2020 in the Washington D.C Metro Area

Being in the D.C area, she would have better access to sources and more up to date information regarding the case

AUDIENCE— who published the source and for whom was the source created? How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source?   

The audience would typically be young working females with access to social media. The author is a young working female, and her articles would most likely be written to attract that audience.

The article would be written to inform the audience form a non-biased view, but implicit bias can always affect the outcome.

PERSPECTIVE—is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)?

The text is objective. The article is simply written to inform people of the case, and spread a professional’s opinion on the June Medical Services v. Russo case.

SIGNIFICANCE—what is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or verifiable facts used in an objective source? 

Berenson interviews the Hope Medical Group for Women’s clinic administrator, Kathaleen Pittman about the importance of this case. 

Berenson references the Louisiana Unsafe Abortion Protection Act

Berenson cites a district court’s decisions, and that 0.05% of outpatient abortion procedures involve major hospitalizations

Berenson references the 2016 Supreme Court case of Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt that a TX law was placing substantial obstacles for a woman to get an abortion

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/14/the-similarities-between-slavery-and-abortion/

SUBJECT—what is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?  

    1. Hunt tries to prove his point that slavery and abortion are not dissimilar, therefore abortion is wrong and immoral

   2. The author tries to persuade the audience that abortions should be made illegal because he believes fetuses have rights.

AUTHOR—who authored the source? Google search the author if needed.  What are their credentials? What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity? 

Jeff Hunt

His gender would affect the bias of this article, he will never experience pregnancy or the challenges that it comes with.

He is the director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University and the chairman of Western Conservative Summit

He seems to be affiliated with the Republican party and that would influence his views, and he would display conservative opinions. 

CONTEXT—where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning or reliability of the source? 

July 14th, in the state of Colorado

This was published a few months after the June Medical Services v. Russo case so this may have been written as a response to the Supreme Court’s decision

AUDIENCE— who published the source and for whom was the source created? How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source? 

A conservative, white man wrote this article and his article was pointed to people in a similar demographic

By writing about his beliefs that abortion and slavery are similar, he hoped to achieve a larger audience of those who believe slavery is wrong

PERSPECTIVE—is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)? 

It is very biased

There is little fact, and it is written as an opinion article

SIGNIFICANCE—what is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or verifiable facts used in an objective source? 

Hunt quotes a Mississippian Democrat, Albert Brown (1860) on the issue of slavery

He uses statistics (not cited) about the migration and murders of black slaves and compares them to statistics about abortion (also not cited)

He quotes a recent ACLU blog post titled “What’s Wrong with Fetal Rights” , that the “fetus has legal rights independent of the woman carrying it in her womb”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/abortion-rights-decade-bans-trump-kavanaugh-planned

SUBJECT—what is the main point the source is trying to convey? What is the central message of the document?  

The main point of this article is informing the readers about the challenges abortion advocates have faced, and their future plans

AUTHOR—who authored the source? Google search the author if needed.  What are their credentials? What social, economic, or political affiliations does the author have which may have an impact on their argument or objectivity? buzzfeed--liberal or conservative?

Ema O’Connor, Buzzfeed political reporter

Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature, General, and Art History from Columbia University in the City of New York

Reproductive Policy Reporter for 3 years

CONTEXT—where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning or reliability of the source?

December 17, 2019 in New York

Around December 2019 there was a wave of conservative bills to ban abortions, so this article was most likely written as a response

AUDIENCE— who published the source and for whom was the source created? How might this affect the reliability and objectivity of the source?

The audience would typically be young working females with access to social media. The author is a young working female, and her articles would most likely be written to attract that audience.

The article would be written to inform the audience form a non-biased view, but implicit bias can always affect the outcome.

PERSPECTIVE—is the text objective (neutral or fair point of view) or is it subjective (biased or one-sided)? 

The text is fairly biased and subjective. 

SIGNIFICANCE—what is the evidence used to support the author’s claim or verifiable facts used in an objective source?

O’Connor interviews Tresa Undem, owner of a polling firm who noticed large shifts in opinions on abortion

O’Connor also speaks with Elizabeth Nash, a state trend analyst who claims the recent decade has been a tough fight for abortion supporters

She references a 2012 Virginia bill about trans vaginal ultrasounds and how abortion supporters called it “medical rape”

What are the similarities and differences between these three accounts of your issue? All three of my sources talk about the topic of abortion, and how the laws surrounding it have changed over time. However, changes arise when the authors reveal their opinion on the legality of abortions.

Finally, which source do you identify with most and why? I identify with O’Connor’s source the most. I believe safe abortions should be made available everywhere in the U.S because as a woman, I want to know I have a clinic nearby where I can get a safe abortion. 

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change. 

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though. 

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business). 

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020.  Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS 

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now. 

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention. 

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section]. 

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript. 

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines. 

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries. 

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops. 

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you. 

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design. 

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them. 

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter. 

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin. 

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other. 

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages. 

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day. 

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.  

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes. 

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments. 

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here. 

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15. 

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries. 

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start. 

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now. 

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them. 

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics. 

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin. 

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks). 

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.  

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing. 

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm. 

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools. 

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them. 

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon. 

 ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion. 

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register. 

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+. 

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden. 

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon. 

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template. 

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free. 

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

[wholesalingppc]

[UPDATED] The State of Real Estate Investing PPC During Covid-19

At the time of this writing, it's early October 2020. Now that we have been living in a Covid-19 world for 6 months, let's reflect on our ppc trends since the shutdown happened back in March. We will examine the most important metrics that we use to measure our campaigns. We will look at our Google Ads trends and will make some predictions about what we expect to happen in the future.

Search Volume & Pre-Covid Stats

Are sellers still searching for our services? The answer is a resounding YES. And this is great news for our industry. The chart shows the search volume trend for 3 of the most popular motivated seller keywords (we buy houses, sell house fast, and cash for houses). You can see in this chart that for all 3 of these keywords, the volume is actually trending upward! This means that there are more people searching for our services now more than ever! Though, we will dive into why this may not mean an immediate benefit for investors.

Let's look at our Google Ads search campaigns in March through September and the trends of the most important metrics of them. 

For context, in Dec 2019 - Feb 2020 our total stats across all active search campaigns were: 

Conv Rate: 10.08% 

CTR:2.74% 

Avg CPC: $22.87 

Cost Per Lead: $226.50

CTR & Conversion Rates

First, let's start out by examining the Click-through rates (CTR) and Conversion Rates from the beginning of the govt shutdown in March, through the end of Sept. We will break it down into 3 charts for you with different data points in each.

CTR hovered between 4.5% and 4.65%. Not very much variation at all. We believe this means that the messaging that used to work for homeowners is still resonating and there is still value for our services in the market! 

Conversation rate had more fluctuation and peaked in July, which is not surprising. Summer is typically the hottest time of the year for leads! We will monitor to see if the decrease in conversion from September continues or if it's just natural fluctuation. Conversion rate has not recovered to pre-Covid levels. We suspect it may be to the regulations that have bene put in place making it harder to evict tenants. It may also be that homeowners are in a holding pattern until there is more certainty about what the long-term situation with Covid will be in 2021 (not to mention the election). 

From our sample size, we do not see any significant positive or negative changes due to Covid. We have heard anecdotally that many investors are thriving in real estate right now or have been put out of business completely. Covid may be causing more of a polarization in our industry, where the well run businesses are capitalizing more while those that were struggling died off. But, we can not prove or disprove this speculation with the data we have available.

Avg CPC & Cost Per Lead

Let's now examine the Avg Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and Cost Per Lead (CPL). At the end of the day, CPL is what drives return and is what investors care about most!

Since April, we have seen a steady increase in the Avg CPC. It's still below Dec 2019 levels, but only slightly. This most likely means one of two things. 

First, there could be more competition entering the market. Business owners are getting their bearings after the initial shock of the shutdown and giving it another go (or being propped up by stimulus money).

Second, the value of a lead is increasing and investors are willing to pay more. The value of a lead increases when investors start to profit more per deal. 

As real estate prices nationwide continue to increase, I would speculate that the ladder is more likely, but we cannot know for sure. 

As for the Cost Per Lead, it steadily decreased from the beginning of Covid throughout the summer. But in September it went up to higher than pre-covid levels. Again, this could be natural fluctuation and we will monitor it. The conversion rate heavily affects cost per lead. A drop in conversion rate in Sept as led to this increase, and only time will tell if the trend continues throughout the fall.

A Word On Statistics And Variation

The data we are pulling is highly speculative. Being a small agency, we do not have a large enough sample size to statistically make any conclusions. If we add on a 1 new client in a very expensive market or have 1 account with irregular stats, it will throw the data off. We have significantly more clients in Sept 2020 than we did in December 2019, and to compare them equally would be misleading. Only by having hundreds of data points would we feel comfortable making strong conclusions based on our data.

Summary

As stated above, we can only speculate as to reasonings behind the trends we are seeing. It looks like the real estate market has trended more positively than expected given the circumstances. People are searching for and finding value in our services, just as much as ever. Lead costs are roughly at the same point as pre-Covid levels, but for different reasons. There is still less competition than before, driving prices down, but also less homeowners converting into leads, which drives prices up.

One factor that we do not have data is on the leads per deal ratio. If there truly is less competition than before, we would expect investors to be turning a higher percentage of leads into deals. This ultimately, can affect ROI just as much as any of the metrics we have covered today.

Overall, we think that the early days of Covid-19 polarized our industry. Where tons of investors dropped out, leading to more profits for existing investors, but less investors in the market overall. The trend we have seen throughout the last 6 months is toward pre-covid levels with competition coming back. We also think that once there is more certainty with regulations and the election, there will be an influx of seller leads that have been waiting in the wings.

[besteth1957hn-blog]

Time to get away? The ``Anxiety and Greed Catalog'' from the cryptocurrency market gets to the very best five ever sold

Before 8 weeks, the decentralized finance field (DeFi) provides risen strongly, and multiple blooms have driven a surge in the cryptocurrency market; the other day (10), Bitcoin has been the second time in August that stood at 12,000. https://ask.fm/bestethdifi1995nr9 , with all the influx of a large amount of money, the Crypto Fearfulness & Greed Catalog (Crypto Fearfulness & Greed Index) also climbed to a fresh high this season. (Related news: Currency marketplace consolidation | Futures market bullish ETH breaks $400, BTC difficulties $12,000, DeFi excellent debt sets a record) Recently, the DeFi field is booming. Projects such as Compound (COMP), Chainlink (Hyperlink) and Band Protocol (BAND) have shown double-digit growth. In accordance with data from alternate.me, the catalog of worry and greed within the cryptocurrency market has reached a new high this season. It has already reached the top five levels ever sold. The Fear and Greed Index is a weighted sign of marketplace volatility, transaction quantity, social website conversation, Bitcoin dominance and other data. The current market sentiment will be judged by a quantity from 0-100. The lower the score, the low the score. This means that the marketplace is in extreme panic. On the contrary, this means that investors come in extreme greed. This is actually the trading experience passed down by Warren Buffett:

"Fear when others are usually greedy, greedy when others are usually fearful" Generally speaking, once the market is too emotional, investors will undoubtedly be blinded with the strong rate of return, ignoring the possibility of bubbles. On the 2nd, powered by Ethereum (ETH) breaking through 400 U.S. dollars, Bitcoin also returned to 12,000 U.S. bucks for the first time in August. Different altcoins paid good results one after another, and worries and Greed Index instantly soared to 80; The last time it leaped to above 80, it goes back to June and July this past year, when Facebook just released the "Libra" whitened paper, which introduced a wave of market tendencies. Related https://www.fanfiction.net/u/14116653/ : Facebook "Financial Sector" completed! The head of Libra directed the coordination of Facebook Pay, Novi, Whatsapp payment -The catalog of fear and greed in the cryptocurrency market, taken from: option.me-In fact, Ethereum, which directed the Mavericks marketplace in August this year, has also attained the peak of the year's keyword search trend on Search engines; it's worth talking about Yes, although the ranking of search preferences in each region does not stand for absolute query volume, we can still find from the chart the fact that reputation of Ethereum in Eastern Europe, the Middle Eastern and Africa offers increased significantly. -Changes in the development of Ethereum lookup popularity in the past 12 months, taken from: Google - Search preferences in various areas of Ethereum in the past 12 months, extracted from: Google-On the other hand, Bitcoin's lookup popularity is not as well-known as Ethereum. Development; after falling from the mid-year peak, they have only recently slowly recovered. -The trend of Bitcoin search popularity in the past 12 months, taken from: Google-This seems to reflect that people seem to be more concerned about the Ethereum blockchain, that includes a large DeFi project, than Bitcoin, that is still having difficulties at $12,000. Attention; however, in immediate comparison, Bitcoin is still much better than Ethereum. Bitcoin's search magnitude overwhelmingly exceeds Ethereum's 14 having a value of 72, and its own dominance continues to be unshakable. -Comparison of the trend of Bitcoin vs. Ethereum before 12 months, taken from: Search engines - Comparison from the pattern of Bitcoin vs. Ethereum before 10 years, taken from: Google-Unfortunately, if it is from Bitcoin Comparing the search reputation of Google since the coin arrived, both Ethereum and Bitcoin are usually far below the best level ever sold. In general, Bitcoin is 18, and Ethereum is only 4 compared with that. Nevertheless, Ethereum is also It has already rebounded from your trough in the initial 1 / 2 of 2020, and contains dropped below 2 since the bull hit 9 in December 2017. ??

[tech2globe-web]

How will COVID-19 affect SEO and marketing?

Hello All,

Opening statement.

Coronavirus spread out from Wuhan wet market to world causing business and humans in lockdown state. Wuhan coronavirus affected nearly every country and almost every type of business but here we discuss the impact of the Chinese virus on SEO and digital marketing.

During coronavirus pandemic, there is a huge rise on internet, but the users are streaming through online videos, searching for recipe websites and videos, and they searched for essential items.

COVID affect SEO, ecommerce business and marketing very badly -

During the coronavirus outbreak, many industries suffer a huge loss due to lockdown. But during these tough times, the industries and businesses must stand again turn their loss into profit. Here the most effective technique is SEO and digital marketing trends in 2020 that will helps to retain the traffic to their website.

Demand only increases for essentials ecommerce stores and products in which are toilet paper, hand sanitizers, face mask thermometer, wipes, and more.

During COVID-19 – Organic traffic decreased by 19% and there is a huge decline in goal conversion about 10 to 20%.

Here are some tips which help you to improve your SEO score and helps to retain users.

1. Craft content that connects with trust - 

Nowadays the Chinese virus is at peak during this time don’t make content like rush now sale is live now but make sure your users feel safe and secure with your service. Do not focus on selling the product or service but build trust in them to that your service is safe from COVID-19. Encourage them to stay in and safe.

2. Proactively control and manage your web activity - 

The July 2018 update of google focus on E-A-T. Expertise, Authoritative, Trustworthy.

Here again, google focuses on the content and trustiness of the website to rank in SERP’S.

That’s why you have to proactively manage your web presence. Here are some tips.

Update your schema. It enables Google to show updated and relevant information to the users. For example - You are operating an e-commerce website and adding a product then it is very important to update schemas to show recent changes. You can add event status schema update to customer to inform recent changes.

Update your Google my Business page

Keep an eye on Google Search Console it enables you to filters your data through different aspects.

Keep an eye on your content and campaigns.

3. Keep an eye on quality content marketing and campaign - 

Update your content and campaigns according to the situation and behavior. Content is the only key, through which you can every of your keyword. So you’ll get the best organic traffic after the pandemic

4. Update your security - 

It is important because during the COVID-19 phishing attack is normal and it may harm the website or reputation of the website. For example, COVID-19 offers to get a MacBook in $ 390 USD and they steal your sensitive information.

Check log files for crawl errors.

Configure your website with SSL.

Update Plugins.

5. Be positive, analyze your data, and adjust your SEO and paid ads smartly.

Major Digital Marketing Innovations to Consider During COVID-19. 

We are Tech2Globe, Top leading digital marketing services company in India and the USA with having 10+ years of experience in marketing. If are looking for the digital marketing services for your business and any project in your mind, then you may take a free consultation with us and contact us today - https://www.tech2globe.com/contact-us

[helloworld010720-blog]

Hello World This is Google On 1st july 2020

Our Should You Insulate The Garage Door? Read This Before You ... PDFs

Energy costs change gradually, however with total trend constantly upward, homeowners are increasingly searching for various and additional ways to insulate the house and keep heating & cooling expenses down. One area that is often examined is the garage-- and specifically, the garage door. A garage that is connected to the home and shares several typical walls with the home itself can absolutely provide heat loss, so examining the garage makes perfect sense.

In many homes, the garage door opens several times a day, exposing the majority of an entire wall to outside air. It is like a giant window wall that isn't serving its function at all unless it breaks the thermal envelope in a substantial method whenever needed. For this reason, efforts to seal and insulate a garage are prevented by the very method a garage door functions.

Still, individuals often feel that adding insulation R-value to the garage door is called for and required. And in a few instances, this might be true. Amongst the services, some property owners try is to use standard batt insulation to the inside face of the door. Another approach is to spray foam insulation on the within surface area-- the exact same sort of insulation sometimes sprayed against roofing system sheathing from the within to improve the R-value in an attic.

Not known Factual Statements About Do The Math Before Deciding Whether To Insulate A Garage Door

They require to open and close regularly, often hinging or folding at numerous various points. So neither bat insulation or spray foam insulation is going to work well on the garage door. Even if you find items created for application versus a garage door, the continuous motion of the garage door will ultimately trigger them to flake, pull apart, and fail-- which means that you're taking a look at insulating your door once again and again. This is barely economical over the long run.

Instead of a metal door, which carries out heat and cold easily, choose a fiberglass door with a foam core, which will help stop some of the energy loss from the garage. If you're intending on changing your garage door, checking out an insulated model is most likely a good concept.

Garage door insulation is of minimal value anyway, offered the other locations of the garage that are similarly problematic in regards to heat loss. The Rather than trying to insulate the garage door and other parts of the garage itself, a far more effective service is to focus your attention on the border walls between the primary home and the connected garage.

The Buzz on Residential Garage Doors - Insulated Or Not? - Garaga

Ensure there is a lot of insulation on the interior wall of the garage-- the wall shared with the house itself. By doing so, even if the temperature level changes inside the garage, it won't considerably impact the temperature level inside your house or raise your energy expenses. While many specialists will inform you to insulate the transfer points from the garage to your house itself, there are still times when you may want to additional insulate the garage door, as well as the walls and floor of the garage.

In this circumstances, it does make good sense to maximize the R-value of the walls, floorings, ceiling, as well as the garage door. This can be true of both attached garages and those that are removed and different from your house. If you are supplying Another choice where the garage will be utilized for living area is to insulate the door with a garage door insulation set, readily available at house centers.

[xanderkaiju]

Top 4 Tips For Buying Laptop in 2020

Laptops are compact enough to hold with you, yet versatile enough to run demanding applications. it is the best tool for doing serious work or play whether you're reception , on the road or during a college classroom. For those reasons, we've compiled lists of the simplest business laptops and best laptops, to not mention our greatest laptops rankings for many users.

While standalone tablets and smartphones are always popular, most of the people realize that everything from typing a search paper to crunching video to gaming works better on a laptop. So what sort of laptop do you have to get? We put together a laptop buying guide to assist you out.

There's a big variety of sizes, features and costs , which makes choosing the simplest laptop a challenge. That's why you would like to work out what your needs are.

Quick Tips These are the foremost important things to think about when choosing a replacement laptop. For tons more detail, see the sections below.

12.5 to 14-inch screens offer the simplest balance between usability and portability. Larger screens are fine if you do not travel much and smaller models are great for teenagers . If you're spending over $600, draw a bead on these minimum specs: Core i5 CPU 1920 x 1080 screen 8GB of RAM SSD Storage rather than a tough drive. 8+ hours of battery life is right if you propose to require your laptop anywhere in the least .

Consider a 2-in-1 laptop (either a bendback or detachable) if you would like to use your laptop as a tablet. If not, a typical clamshell notebook could also be a far better choice. Chromebooks are good for teenagers and students and their functionality is expanding rapidly. Windows laptops and MacBooks both offer many functionality; which platform you favor may be a matter of private taste. laptop buying guide rows of laptops

Also Read: Which is the best wireless mouse for gaming?

1. Pick a Platform: Mac, Windows or Chrome OS?

This is not a simple question to answer, especially if you are not conversant in both Macs and PCs. But this quick overview of every platform’s strengths and weaknesses should help.

Most laptops accompany one among three operating systems: Windows, Chrome OS or MacOS (for MacBooks only). Choosing the proper one may be a personal preference, but here's a fast summary of what each offers.

Windows 10

windows 10 home page screenshot The most flexible OS , Windows, runs on more laptop models than Chrome OS or Mac OS X. Windows notebooks home in price from under $150 to many thousand dollars and offer a good array of features from touch screens to fingerprint readers to dual graphics chips. Windows 10, the newest version of Microsoft's flagship OS , provides variety of improvements over Windows 7 and eight , including the power to modify between tablet and desktop modes, a revamped Start menu with live tiles and therefore the powerful Cortana digital assistant.

Since its launch in July 2015, Windows 10 has also added a number of improvements, including the power to use follow-up questions with Cortana, search your email using tongue and use your stylus to scribble almost anywhere. Windows 10 laptops are great for college kids , researchers and business users, and they are the sole machines gamers should consider.

Apple macOS Catalina

All MacBooks accompany Apple's latest desktop OS , macOS Catalina. Overall, the OS offers similar functionality to Windows 10, but with a special combat the interface that substitutes an apps dock at rock bottom of the screen for Microsoft's Start menu and taskbar. rather than the Cortana digital assistant, Mac users get Siri. they will also perform transactions with Apple Pay, take calls or texts from their phones and unlock their laptops with an Apple Watch.

However, macOS isn't made for touch, because no MacBook comes with slightly screen. the newest macOS Catalina OS brings iPad apps over to Mac, also as secondary display support for iPads and new accessibility features.

Chrome OS

google chrome os home screen Found on inexpensive Chromebooks like the Samsung Chromebook 3. Google's OS is straightforward and secure, but more limited than Windows or macOS. The interface looks tons like Windows with an application menu, a desktop and therefore the ability to tug windows around, but the most app you employ is that the Chrome browser. The downside is that a lot of of the "web apps" you employ don't work particularly well offline. However, that's changing as most Chromebooks, including the high-end, Google PixelBook, can now run Android apps.

If you would like a tool to surf the online and check email, navigate social networks and chat online, Chromebooks are highly portable and have a tendency to supply good battery life at low prices. they're also extremely fashionable schools and fogeys , because they're hard for teenagers to infect with malware and more functional than most tablets. If you would like a Chromebook, search for one with a minimum of 4GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. A 1920 x 1080 resolution preferred and 4K is best but very uncommon. Pay extra to urge a 2-in-1 if you propose to use Android apps.

2. Decide If you would like a 2-in-1

Many PC laptops fall under the category of 2-in-1 laptops, hybrid devices which will switch between traditional clamshell mode, tablet mode and other positions in between like tent or stand modes. 2-in-1s generally are available two different styles: detachables with screens that come off the keyboard entirely and versatile laptops with hinges that bend back 360 degrees to vary modes.

Most of those systems are far better at serving one purpose than the opposite , with bend-backs being laptops first and detachables offering a superior tablet experience. However, if you do not see the necessity to use your notebook as a slate, you'll usually get more performance for your money with a standard clamshell laptop.

3. Choose the proper Size

laptop different display sizes 13-inch 15-inch and 17-inch Before you check out specs or pricing, you would like to work out just how portable you would like your laptop to be. Laptops are usually categorized by their display sizes:

11 to 12 inches: The thinnest and lightest systems around have 11- to 12-inch screens and typically weigh 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. 13 to 14 inches: Provides the simplest balance of portability and usefulness , particularly if you get a laptop that weighs under 4 pounds. 15 to 16 inches: the foremost popular size, 15-inch laptops usually weigh 4 to five .5 pounds. Consider this size if you would like a bigger screen and you are not getting to carry your notebook around often. Laptops with 16-inch displays are rare but Apple might get the trend started with its 16-inch MacBook Pro. 17 to 18 inches: If your laptop stays on your desk all day a day , a 17- or 18-inch system could provide you with the type of processing power you would like to play high-end games or do workstation-level productivity.

4. make sure Keyboard and Touchpad

The most impressive specs within the world don't mean diddly if the laptop you're buying doesn't have good ergonomics. If you propose to try to to tons of labor on your computer, confirm the keyboard offers solid tactile feedback, many key travel (the distance the key goes down when pressed, usually 1 to 2mm) and enough space between the keys. If you're buying a Windows laptop, make certain it's Precision touchpad drivers.

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Look for an accurate touchpad that does not offer you a jumpy cursor and responds consistently to multitouch gestures like pinch-to-zoom. If you're buying a business laptop, consider getting one with a pointing stick (aka nub) between the G and H keys so you'll navigate round the desktop without lifting your fingers off the keyboard's home row.

[elegantartpiccollector]

The Most Searched: A Celebration of Black History Makers 2020

This Black History Month, we’re celebrating some of #TheMostSearched moments and individuals in America. To find them, we used U.S.-based Google Trends Data to identify Black American achievements that were searched more than any others between January 1, 2004 – when U.S. Search Data first became available – and July 1, 2019. Here’s to the history makers and all those they continue to inspire. See the full methodology behind the film and explore more of #TheMostSearched at g.co/blackhistorymonth.