Friday News Roundup: California teen digital law, Bill Gates mistake, and more

Each week we take the most interesting news from the human resources and training fields… and this week there were plenty of exciting stories. Check out our stories on California’s newest digital law, Bill Gates’ “mistake,” and more.

New digital “eraser button” for California teens

Embarrassed by what you’ve done on the web? If you’re a teen in California, you can breathe easier. This past Monday, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill requiring websites to remove content and provide notice of removal when requested by a minor (under age 18). Social media sites are included under the law. A couple caveats: sites are not required to permanently delete the data, just remove it from public view, and posts by third parties are not included-- if someone else publishes the content, the minor cannot force the site to remove it. The law applies even to websites stationed outside of California, as long as the minor resides in the state.

Weightiest Professions

A CareerBuilder survey finds 55% of workers consider themselves to be overweight. Which professions had workers reporting the most weight gain? Here are the top 5: Administrative assistant (69 percent), Engineer (56 percent), Teacher/Instructor K–12 (51 percent), Nurse practitioner or Physician’s assistant (51 percent), Information technology (IT), manager/Network administrator (51 percent). Unsurprisingly, having a sedentary job was the top reason reported for weight gain. Stress eating and eating out were other top culprits.

Hummingbird: Improved Google Search

Disappointed by the results you get when searching long, complex questions? Google has the answer for you! Hummingbird, the newest core algorithm update, is the biggest change since 2010. Most users will not notice a difference to short queries-- but for longer searches, Google can now anticipate further questions. The more terms used to search, the more context Google can gather. Scott Huffman, a key engineering director at Google, says the goal is “to get to a natural conversation” between people and Google search.

Control-Alt-Delete a mistake?

According to Bill Gates, it was. Gates has recently said the 3 key login was not the best idea, originally designed to block other apps from faking the login page and stealing passwords. An original IBM engineer came up with the three key system and wouldn’t create a single key. The Control-Alt-Delete sequence is still used today on Windows, whether to lock a screen, access the task manager, or to open a new login screen.

Image: Ed Yourdon via flickr