Predicting online user behaviour using deep learning algorithms

In recent years, Instagram has rolled out a flurry of updates as it has sought to become an e-commerce powerhouse, messaging app, and, last summer, a short-form video discovery platform , along the lines of TikTok. Now this public identity crisis is bleeding into its user base. This week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri appeared in full damage control mode . Facing the camera and wearing a bright yellow sweater, he attempted to quash a growing revolt from some of Instagram's most prominent users. Less than 24 hours earlier, Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and other high-profile influencers shared a black-and-white graphic declaring: "Make Instagram Instagram again. (Stop trying to be TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone." READ MORE: Instagram boss addresses user complaints saying new changes are 'not yet good' What do people use ‘close friends’ for on social media? Social media giants agree to 'first of its kind' code of conduct in … [Read more...] about Instagram is annoying its user base, but does it care?

It was a thought I had a couple of weekends ago, while sitting in the passenger seat of my brother’s car en route to the nearest A&E. Twenty minutes after spitting a surprisingly chewy mouthful of Peroni onto a lawn; 19 and a half minutes after my tongue had started throbbing like a burglar alarm; and 18 minutes after it began swelling at a comical, almost cartoonish speed, until it came to resemble the approximate size and precise shape of bovine testicles, suddenly limiting my airways and presenting a decent challenge to my hitherto Zen attitude to the situation. Yes, it was then I thought: “Wasps – wouldn’t the planet just be better off without those little b------s?” Long story short, I was very brave. I lived. And the answer to the question, it turns out, is an emphatic and surprising “no”. A world without wasps would in fact be significantly worse. So, entomologists say, before we begin our annual August panic about deranged wasps invading in a way they never have before, … [Read more...] about It’s time we learn to love wasps

FOR MORE THAN 350 years, men have been going to Georges Bank, 150 miles out on the continental shelf east of Cape Cod, to fish for cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, scallops, lobsters. They have decimated stocks more than once, but the fisheries are still there. Back in the early seventies, when catches were unsustainably high, the harvest was, acre-foracre, the largest in the world. Now other men are heading out to Georges to hunt—through holes inches wide and miles deep-for oil and gas. There won't be many men at first, perhaps a few hundred aboard a handful of exploratory rigs. But that is enough to signal the fact that along the great submerged thumb stretching from Nantucket Shoals toward Nova Scotia, competition for resources has begun in earnest. The conflict involves two resources in one place, both of importance to the modern world. Oil from Georges would reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, if only slightly. Fish—a resource capable of providing half our minimum … [Read more...] about Oil, Fish, and Georges Bank

TikTok users have been widely sharing codewords to offer help to US citizens who are seeking an abortion. Ever since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in June , the social media platform has been flooded with supportive posts. Users have offered to host or take people "camping" or "kayaking" in another state where abortion is legal, instead of using specific phrases. The TikTok videos have also inspired a surge in support in European countries, including Italy and the United Kingdom. But abortion rights organisations have expressed concerns about the online movement and are urging users to promote official support networks. Activists are concerned that TikTok users do not have the training or resources to effectively help and are drawing attention away from established support networks, such as abortionfinder.org . "I think it is very well-meaning that people want to open up their homes, but it is better to go through these established organisations," said … [Read more...] about ‘Camping’: Codewords on TikTok offer help to US citizens seeking abortions

FOR MORE THAN 350 years, men have been going to Georges Bank, 150 miles out on the continental shelf east of Cape Cod, to fish for cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, scallops, lobsters. They have decimated stocks more than once, but the fisheries are still there. Back in the early seventies, when catches were unsustainably high, the harvest was, acre-for-acre, the largest in the world. Now other men are heading out to Georges to hunt—through holes inches wide and miles deep—for oil and gas. There won’t be many men at first, perhaps a few hundred aboard a handful of exploratory rigs. But that is enough to signal the fact that along the great submerged thumb stretching from Nantucket Shoals toward Nova Scotia, competition for resources has begun in earnest. The conflict involves two resources in one place, both of importance to the modern world. Oil from Georges would reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, if only slightly. Fish—a resource capable of providing half our minimum … [Read more...] about Resources: Oil, Fish, and Georges Bank

A SHORT STORY BY SALMAN RUSHDIE EARLY IN 19—, WHEN SRINAGAR WAS UNDER the SPELL of a winter so fierce it could crack men’s bones as if they were glass, a young man upon whose coldpinked skin there lay, like a frost, the unmistakable sheen of wealth was to be seen entering the most wretched and disreputable part of the city, where the houses of wood and corrugated iron seemed perpetually on the verge of losing their balance, and asking in low, grave tones where he might go to engage the services of a dependably professional thief. The young man’s name was Atta, and the rogues in that part of town directed him gleefully into ever darker and less public alleys, until in a yard wet with the blood of a slaughtered chicken he was set upon by two men whose faces he never saw, robbed of the substantial bankroll that he had insanely brought on his solitary excursion, and beaten within an inch of his life. Night fell. His body was carried by anonymous hands to the edge of the lake, whence it … [Read more...] about The Prophet’s Hair

One day, out of the blue, I received a telephone call from two marine biologists in Wales. As I recall, they said something like “Hello there, Dr. Austad. We are marine biologists who study clams that live a very long time. Would you like to collaborate with us to investigate how they do it?” As a biologist of aging who is perhaps best known for making a wager that the first 150-year-old person is already alive, I get a fair number of crank calls and emails from people who want to live forever—or already know how to live forever and just want my help in spreading the word.  Being polite in this case, I recall my answer was something like “Possibly. What do you mean by ‘a very long time’?” “Centuries.” I held the telephone away from my ear. It was a transatlantic call. Maybe I had misheard. “Sorry, I thought you said ‘centuries.’” “Yes, that’s right—centuries.” A few months later, two researchers from Bangor University sat in my office, telling me about the longevity of … [Read more...] about If a Clam Can Live to 500, Why Can’t We?

Charlie Stayt and Dominic Raab clash over petrol prices This article contains affiliate links, we may receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Experian Capitalist confirmed that average petrol prices have fallen to 174.79p per litre. Diesel has not fallen as quickly, with drivers seeing average prices for a litre at 185.4p. Related articles Drivers warned of one button as it boosts 'fuel consumption by 20%' Simple car trick can help drivers slash fuel consumption with 20p coin The 16.5p fall since petrol reached an all-time high of 191.53p a litre on July 3 is only halfway towards where pump prices should be heading this month. … [Read more...] about Relief for UK drivers as petrol prices drop below 175p a litre with further cuts expected

Matthew Wright on girls and mothers not exercising This article contains affiliate links, we may receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info The former journalist joined Gyles Brandreth and the This Morning presenters Craig Doyle and Rochelle Humes as they discussed a news segment claiming girls do less exercise "because they wear skirts". Hitting back at the claims, Rochelle suggested there is likely a different reason, to which Matthew commented that the girls' mothers probably don't do any exercise either. Outraged viewers took to social media to slam his "out of date" views. Related articles Coronation Street fans 'work out' true murder suspect in DNA … [Read more...] about ‘Leave’ This Morning uproar as Matthew Wright slammed over ‘Women exercise less’ remark