Author: Alerts CC

With half of all mobile searches done in the hope of finding local results, and 61% ending in a purchase, it’s no wonder that Google changed the layout of their platform to reflect the increased use of mobile devices to browse the Internet.

Just this week, Google made a serious shift in its bedrock search page. Ads on the right side were removed, and four ads above the unpaid or “organic” listings were added.

The change is seen as a push from Google to encourage advertisers to cater more towards handheld devices, where most searches now happen.

The more limited space for ads should drive up the prices of coveted spots for advertisers. Google’s share of revenue per search ad has decreased of late, so this latest move is also a bid for cash.

Shreya Kushari, SVP of search marketing for DigitalLBi, an ad agency, said “Our cost-per-clicks are going to go up because we’re going to bid aggressively to be on the first four.”

The changes were picked up on Friday by a few search blogs. Results with four ads went from around 2% of searches to one out of five, or 20%, says data from online marketing firm Moz.

Google has been testing search engine results pages with four ads for the last couple of months.

A Google representative confirmed that the right-side ads are out: “We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers.”

The right side of desktop searches will now be empty, except for the “Knowledge Panels”, which are Google’s own results for renowned people, places or things, and Product Listing Ads, which are commerce searches that trigger Google’s own comparative shopping service.

The removal of the right side ads do make mobile search and desktop results more similar, although Google normally shows two or three ads at the top of mobile search results.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism, seen in 35% of all cases. In fact, it’s so common that apparently it’s even made its way to outer space.

Staff from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian’s 3D Digitization Program have discovered writing on the interior of the walls of the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia.

The astronaut graffiti, which as gone unseen for the last 50 years, was written by the crew on their historic mission to the moon in July of 1969. The writing on the walls gives a unique insight into that world changing mission, crewed by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins

Allan Needell, curator of space history at the museum, commented about the module that “This isn’t just a piece of machinery, it’s a living artifact.”

Curators at the Space Museum have been working with the Smithsonian’s 3D Digitization Program to create a high resolution and interactive model of the entire spacecraft. The model will be used in an interactive display in the museum’s exhibition “Destination Moon,” which is scheduled to open in 2020.

The graffiti includes notes, figures and a calendar, and will allow the museum’s curators to compile a more accurate account of how the missions were conducted.

The Smithsonian 3D team brought in its technology partner, Autodesk Inc, to help with the production of the complicated and detailed scan. Autodesk used specially designed equipment to scan the space craft and processed the complex data from multiple 3D capture devices to create one highly detailed and accurate model.

Vince Rossi, a 3D imaging specialist with the Smithsonian, commented that “We want to allow anyone with an internet connection the ability to experience what it was like to sit in the cockpit of the Apollo Command Module.”

Gizmodo reports that the analysis is still ongoing, so it’s possible that the team may make more discoveries about Apollo 11 soon.

A mild flu season is leading many people to forego their annual vaccination shot, but public health officials are still urging people all over the world to protect themselves.

According to the Calgary Herald, influenza experts are taking advantage of the flu season’s slow start to remind people that transmission of the disease usually peaks in mid-January.

“We’re reminding people now to get their flu shots because it takes about two weeks for immunity to build to the flu shot when you do get it,” said Jason Chan-Remillard, manager of a Canadian pharmacy.

“So we kind of want to be ahead of the game, getting our flu shots just before that spike in the flu season hits,” he continued.

Only 99 cases of the flu were reported in Calgary from Aug. 30 to Dec. 26. This marks a drastic decrease from last year, when 1,400 cases were reported during that same period of time.

The Provincial Laboratory for Public Health noted that the number of flu cases typically reaches its peak during the third week of January each year. Despite the unseasonably mild weather, experts still expect this trend to hold strong.

“You don’t really think of the flu when it’s warm outside, and I think that’s led people into thinking they don’t need a flu shot this year,” Chan-Remillard added.

About one in three people still go to work after falling ill, and protecting employees during flu season is a major point of emphasis for many employers.

This year’s slow start may have some feeling safe, but American health officials are joining Canadian experts in their effort to convince more people to get a flu shot.

According to the San Diego Tribune, San Diego has experienced a 37% drop in confirmed flu cases this season compared to last year. However, with three influenza-related deaths already tallied, health officials aren’t taking any chances.

“You can feel that this year’s season is more mild than last year’s, but it’s still early. We just don’t know yet how it’s going to go next month and the month after that. People should realize that the flu is very unpredictable from season to season,” said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s public health officer.

Health officials are also taking this time to dispel the myth that vaccines can actually give recipients influenza.

While no vaccine is 100% effective, numerous studies have shown that the severity of an illness can be reduced with immunization.

Air travel is an already infamously unpleasant experience, and some airlines will soon offer an even more terrible way to fly. American Airlines and Delta Airlines are now offering what USA Today describes as a “fourth class of service.”

In 2016, American Airlines will begin selling “no frills” tickets, an equivalent of the “basic” tickets Delta already offers. The name for this new airborne experience is “last class.”

Both operate similarly to the way low-cost airlines like Spirit and Frontier do, offering “no changes, refunds, upgrades, or advance seat reservations,” so if something goes wrong with your travel plans, customer service isn’t going to be much help.

“The airlines used to brag about flying the friendly skies,” consumer advocacy group FlyersRights.org’s Kendall Creighton told USA Today. “But that happy slogan has been corrupted into flying the abusive skies.”

Perhaps worst of all, these last class flyers are also placed in seats that have even less space in between them than ever before, an age old problem that’s been made even worse.

Previous research has found that 41% of airline passengers said adding more legroom would be the biggest improvement that airlines could make. A TripAdvisor poll from earlier this year found that uncomfortable seats and limited legroom were the most hated parts of traveling, as 77% of poll participants stated.

In other words, rather than improving, airlines have made things worse in an effort to compete with low-cost airlines.

“Last class exists because the airlines are a business,” Phil Derner, Jr., founder of the industry news site NYCAviation, told USA Today. “The airlines that really need to meet their bottom line in a big way are going to push the limits of what they can get away with, and those particular airlines do so because their passengers allow it by patronizing them.”

New York City is undergoing an affordable housing crisis, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recently announced plan to alleviate that crisis is being condemned by residents on all sides of the political divide.

The affordable housing program, if approved, would go into effect over the next decade. In total, the mayor wants to create and maintain 200,000 affordable housing units for working class residents already being pushed out of a gentrifying city.

Critics, however, say that the plan offers too little, too late to address the city’s rapidly rising rents and housing prices, while offering too many concessions to developers interested in developing luxury housing.

To reach the 200,000-unit goal, the city is easing some restrictions on developers under the condition that they set aside a portion of their units for affordable housing, according to Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for housing and economic development and the mayor’s point person on the housing project.

“We are in a true housing crisis, and we can’t just sit by and do nothing as market pressures change the city,” she said.

Of course, most critics agree that the de Blasio administration is about 10 years too late. While the recession and mortgage crisis rocked real estate prices nationwide, New York City was immune to this effect, instead seeing some of the highest prices in the country.

Most experts define affordable rental housing as housing that costs 30% of less of a household’s income. For families looking to buy, Ellie Mae data reveals that successful mortgage borrowers have a debt-to-income ratio of about 24%, on average.

In 2016, New Yorkers are expected to pay up to 65.4% of their income just to afford the median rent, and that’s up from 58.7% in 2015. For the vast majority of New York residents, the median home price is completely out of reach.

Meanwhile, de Blasio also announced a new effort to address the city’s growing homeless population by creating Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement Street Action Teams. Homeless researchers agree that a scarcity of affordable and low-income housing creates homeless populations, and the city has thousands of homeless residents on the streets, not counting the thousands more living in shelters.

The homeless action teams will track the chronically homeless and perform outreach; the mayor hopes to have the teams active by next March.

A new headline from Vice News shouts, “Biodegradable Plastic Is Bullsh*t.”

Biodegradable plastics have been around for decades, and they were originally hailed as a breakthrough development for nascent recycling and marine environmental movements.

But almost as soon as biodegradable plastic came on the market, it became a source of controversy. In one 16-month period in the early 1990s, more than 48 legal actions were taken for false advertising related to biodegradeable plastics, which weren’t so much biodegradable as they were compostable — sort of.

The American Society for Testing and Materials developed new standards for advertising these materials more honestly. In 2011, even those standards were withdrawn after certain manufacturers took advantage of the new rules.

A new report from the United Nations Environmental Programme explains why biodegradable plastics have failed to live up to their name. Many of these so-called green plastics can be broken down, but only if they are placed in a composter that is then heated to 122 degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period of time. The UN report looked at how biodegradable and compostable plastics react in the ocean, and determined those compostable conditions are “rarely if ever met in the marine environment.”

Even worse, biodegradable plastics cause problems for recycling programs that have been proven to work. Plastic containers and packaging make up 39.9% of the material recycled by consumers, the largest category of recycled goods. But consumers are ironically less likely to recycle biodegradable plastics, and even if they do, those materials can cause major problems for recycling plants.

“The real bottom line is that biodegradable plastics aren’t going to be a solution for reducing the impact of marine litter,” said Peter Kershaw, the report’s author. “When you see ‘biodegradable’ on a plastic bag, for example, does that mean if you drop it in the streets, it’s just going to disappear? No, it doesn’t.”

Ultimately, the UN report concluded that biodegradable plastics could do more harm than good. For consumers looking to keep plastics out of the ocean, the prescription remains the same as it ever was: reduce, reuse, recycle.