Historic Costume and Textile Museum, Raspberry Pi, Google Jamboard, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 30, 2023

Historic Costume and Textile Museum, Raspberry Pi, Google Jamboard, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 30, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Kansas State University: Historic Costume and Textile Museum launches online database, showcasing its more than 15,000 artifacts. “For the first time since its inception, the Historic Costume and Textile Museum’s collection will be available to view online. Guests of the database can explore images and descriptions of the thousands of pieces housed at the Historic Costume and Textile Museum, HCTM, which is located on the third floor of Justin Hall.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: The Raspberry Pi 5 uses the company’s own chip designs. “It’s been four years since Raspberry Pi 4 was released, and since then, the company has only rolled out minor upgrades, including doubling the RAM for the base $35 version. Now, the company has officially launched Raspberry Pi 5, which is the first full-size computer from the brand that uses silicon it built in-house. It offers double or even triple the CPU performance of Raspberry Pi 4, with better graphics capability, thanks to its 800MHz VideoCore VII GPU.”

9to5 Google: Google shutting down Jamboard, offering transition to other whiteboard apps . “Back in 2016, Google announced a 55-inch 4K touchscreen that serves as a digital whiteboard for real-time collaboration. Google Jamboard and its mobile apps are now shutting down in 2024.”

USEFUL STUFF

Electronic Frontier Foundation: How To Turn Off Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” Ad Tracking—and Why You Should. “Google referring to any of this as ‘privacy’ is deceiving. Even if it’s better than third-party cookies, the Privacy Sandbox is still tracking, it’s just done by one company instead of dozens. Instead of waffling between different tracking methods, even with mild improvements, we should work towards a world without behavioral ads. But if you’re sticking to Chrome, you can at least turn these features off.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Euronews: Pro-Russia disinformation floods Slovakia ahead of crucial parliamentary election . “Propaganda and attacks on LGBTQ people are prominent ahead of election which could decide whether the country moves politically closer to Moscow. Voters in Slovakia are being inundated with misinformation from home and abroad in the run-up to the country’s parliamentary elections on Saturday. The vote could determine whether the country of 5.4 million moves closer to Moscow or not, with much of the false information coming from Russia.”

University of Massachusetts Amherst: UMass Amherst Libraries Acquire Terri Cappucci Glass Plate Negative Collection. “The UMass Amherst Libraries announce the acquisition of the Terri Cappucci Glass Plate Negative collection. The archive, from local photographer Terri Cappucci ’00BA,’03MFA, of 2,500-3,000 glass plate negatives that date back to the 1860s, was gifted to Cappucci in July of 2019. Cappucci donated them to the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA) in July 2023. Cappucci, who received her MFA at UMass Amherst, is a documentary photographer, alternative process printer, and educator who has been producing her own nineteenth century-style photographs using the wet plate collodion process for many years.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ProPublica: ProPublica and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Have Sued the FDA for Records Related to Recalled Breathing Machines . “ProPublica and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in federal court in New York, accusing the agency of holding back records related to the sweeping recall of breathing machines that were sold around the world.”

Krebs on Security: ‘Snatch’ Ransom Group Exposes Visitor IP Addresses. “The victim shaming site operated by the Snatch ransomware group is leaking data about its true online location and internal operations, as well as the Internet addresses of its visitors, KrebsOnSecurity has found. The leaked data suggest that Snatch is one of several ransomware groups using paid ads on Google.com to trick people into installing malware disguised as popular free software, such as Microsoft Teams, Adobe Reader, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Discord.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Iowa State University: Finding art in the biological rhythms of trees. “Johnny DiBlasi, an assistant professor of art and visual culture, recently received a $10,000 grant from the Iowa Arts Council to develop ‘Transcoded Ecologies,’ a project that fuses artificial intelligence and plant biodata into an art installation that incorporates light and sound. The concept involves sensors that track data produced by tree saplings and an artificial intelligence program that translates the data into a dynamic artistic experience.”

Newswise: Your Zoom background might influence the first impression you make. “In a new study, participants tended to judge faces appearing against backgrounds featuring houseplants or bookcases as more trustworthy and competent than faces with a living space or a novelty image behind them. Gender and facial expression also appeared to influence judgments.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 1, 2023 at 01:02AM
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County-Level Weather Risks, Iowa Libraries, Shadows on Stone, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, September 30, 2023

County-Level Weather Risks, Iowa Libraries, Shadows on Stone, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, September 30, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

US Department of Health and Human Services: HHS Launches Climate and Health Outlook Portal to Identify Counties at Risk of Climate-Related Hazards . “The Portal, hosted on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Geospatial Portal, builds on an OCCHE publication known as the Climate and Health Outlook, which links seasonal weather and hazard forecasts to health impacts. This beta version of the Climate and Health Outlook Portal features interactive maps showing county-level extreme heat, wildfire, and drought forecasts for the current month, along with county-level data on individual risk factors that may make people more vulnerable to negative health outcomes from these climate hazards.”

State Library of Iowa: New “Find My Local Library” Interactive Map Tool from the State Library. “The ‘Find My Local Library’ tool displays an interactive and informational map of all the public libraries in the state. Users can filter data by county, population size, and library district. When a location is clicked, a pop up appears with library information, including address and phone number as well as links to the library website and detail page in the Iowa Library Directory.”

Fordham University: Crowd-Sourced History Project Seeks to Humanize the Incarcerated . “From 1865 to 1925, nearly 50,000 people passed through the gates of Sing Sing prison, just 20 miles north of New York City. Very little is known about who they were. Shadows on Stone, a new crowd-sourced digital history project that began in a Fordham history class, seeks to fill in that gap and, in doing so, help restore the humanity of a group of people who have historically been dismissed as irredeemable.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Google adds a switch for publishers to opt out of becoming AI training data. “Google just announced it’s giving website publishers a way to opt out of having their data used to train the company’s AI models while remaining accessible through Google Search. The new tool, called Google-Extended, allows sites to continue to get scraped and indexed by crawlers like the Googlebot while avoiding having their data used to train AI models as they develop over time.”

CBS News: Boston Public Library opens e-book access to teens across US. “Ahead of Banned Books Week (Oct. 1-7), the Boston Public Library is joining the Book Unbanned initiative…. Anyone ages 13-26 who lives in the U.S. can sign up for a free e-card to access the library’s entire collection of e-books and e-audiobooks.”

TechCrunch: Zapier launches Canvas, an AI-powered flowchart tool. “Zapier today announced the launch of Canvas, a new tool that aims to help its users plan and diagram their business-critical processes — with a fair bit of AI sprinkled in there to help them turn those processes into Zapier-based automations. Canvas is now in early access.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

1 News New Zealand: Experts alarmed as truck drivers livestream on social media. “Experts are sounding the alarm over a social media trend that sees truck drivers livestreaming their drives on TikTok. Users on the social media platform can go live once they have 1000 followers, and it has seen some drivers sharing their trips around New Zealand.” The alarm is less about the livestreaming and more about the drivers interacting with viewers when they’re supposed to be driving.

Business Insider: X owner Elon Musk largely runs the social media giant from his iPhone, employees say. “Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, runs the social media giant from his iPhone and expects staff to send emails in a format that’s easy for him to read on his phone, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Several former and current X employees told the FT that Musk steers the ship from his iPhone and if staff want to get his attention, their emails needed to be sent in a specific format. This includes no attachments, documents, or spreadsheets within the email. Instead, Musk wants all information to be within the body of the email, per the FT.”

New York Times: European Central Bank Is Experimenting With a New Tool: A.I.. “The European Central Bank said on Thursday that it was exploring ways to use artificial intelligence to better understand inflation and support its oversight of big banks, but stressed that these efforts were still in the early stages.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

How-To Geek: Update LibreOffice Now to Fix a Security Flaw. “Earlier this month, a security vulnerability in the popular libwebp software library was discovered, affecting everything from web browsers to email clients. The Document Foundation, the developers behind the free and open-source LibreOffice suite, has now released an emergency update for LibreOffice that includes the fix. You should update as soon as possible if you have LibreOffice installed.”

Bloomberg: Microsoft Says Apple Used Bing as Google ‘Bargaining Chip’. “A Microsoft Corp. executive complained that when it came to the search-engine wars with Alphabet Inc.’s Google, the company’s Bing was never more than a bargaining chip to Apple Inc.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Carnegie Mellon University: Addressing Copyright, Compensation Issues in Generative AI. “Recent work by Carnegie Mellon University researchers tackles the thorny issues of copyright and compensation for generative AI models that create new images. A team in the School of Computer Science’s Generative Intelligence Lab collaborated with Adobe Research and the University of California, Berkeley, to develop two algorithms to help generative AI models take important steps on these issues. The first algorithm prevents these models from generating copyrighted materials, while the second develops a way to compensate human creators when models use their work to generate an image.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 30, 2023 at 05:31PM
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HBCU Symposium on Rhetoric & Composition, Merriam-Webster, Firefox, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 29, 2023

HBCU Symposium on Rhetoric & Composition, Merriam-Webster, Firefox, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 29, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

EVENTS

BusinessWire: Fifth HBCU Symposium to Explore Activism, Literacy, and Rhetoric (PRESS RELEASE). “The fifth Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Symposium on Rhetoric & Composition will take place in-person on October 5-6, 2023, at Jackson State University (JSU). Select sessions will be streamed virtually. The symposium, which focuses on excellence in English composition and rhetoric, acts as a think tank where every two years writing instructors from historically Black colleges and universities gather to discuss strategies that support student engagement, scholarship, and success.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Seattle Times: Merriam-Webster Dictionary reveals almost 700 new words: sports terms, social media phrases and more. “The Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced the addition of 690 new words to its listings on Wednesday, including sports terms beast mode, bracketology and GOATED.”

How-To Geek: Firefox Now Works Better With Google Apps, Including Meet. “Most browsers nowadays are just using the same Chromium engine found in Google Chrome. That means most sites work the same in all Chromium-based browsers, since those sites are tested in the most in Chrome, but they might run into issues on Firefox or Safari. Google’s web apps have been far from perfect on Firefox over the past few years, but now many of them are working better than ever in Mozilla’s web browser, even Google Meet.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Reuters: Social media inspires Japanese women to dash into rickshaw pulling. “[Yuka] Akimoto is one of a handful of women who have chosen to pull rickshaws in Tokyo, attracted to the male-dominated profession through social media, which in turn has given some of these female pullers a strong local and international following.”

University of Texas at Austin: Legendary Film Producer Irwin Winkler Donates Archive to Harry Ransom Center. “Thousands of scripts, photographs, letters and diaries that form the archive of Oscar winner Irwin Winkler, producer of such films as ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘Rocky,’ ‘The Right Stuff,’ ‘The Irishman,’ ‘Creed’ and ‘Raging Bull,’ have been donated to the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Engadget: The WGA strike ends with protections against AI set in place. “The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has voted to officially end its strike, almost five months since it stopped work and demanded a better contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). … WGA’s decision comes shortly after it held a series of negotiation sessions with producers and reached a tentative agreement, with one of the key sticking points being the use of generative AI.”

VOA: Indonesia Bans Goods Transactions on Social Media Platforms. “Indonesia has banned goods transactions on social media platforms in a new regulation, its trade minister said Wednesday, as Jakarta aims to rein in direct sales by major tech firms it says are harming millions of small businesses.”

Fortune: Judge in Bankman-Fried trial to allow evidence of Chinese bribe, drug use by FTX execs . “In a 16-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed to let the prosecution present evidence to the jury that Bankman-Fried sought to bribe a Chinese official in hopes of getting access to $1 billion in funds the country had frozen. While the government has not charged Bankman-Fried with a crime in relation to the alleged incident in the upcoming trial, Kaplan found evidence about the bribe could support allegations about his motive for looting customer funds.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Penn State: Internet-based therapy may help depression in people with multiple sclerosis. “Major depressive disorder affects up to 50% of all individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) at some point during their lifetime and can lead to lower quality of life, greater disease progression and higher mortality. Patients enrolled in a phase 3 trial of an internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy program modified specifically for MS showed a large drop in depressive symptoms compared to a control group. The online program may offer an effective and easily accessible way to manage depression and lead to better quality of life for persons with MS, according to an international team of researchers.”

University of Florida: How valuable are online product recommendations to consumers?. “In today’s online world, third parties collect and store your browsing data at staggering rates. Third parties benefit greatly from this information, but do you get fair returns for sharing your data online? New research from the University of Florida Matherly Professor Anuj Kumar and Santa Clara University’s Xiang (Shawn) Wan (UF Ph.D. ’22) proposed a novel method to measure the value consumers get from product recommendation systems (RS), one of the most prominent online tools that use consumer data.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 30, 2023 at 12:22AM
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15th Century Italian Banking, Megan Thee Stallion, Texas State Symbols, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, September 29, 2023

15th Century Italian Banking, Megan Thee Stallion, Texas State Symbols, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, September 29, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Queen Mary University of London: Historical Treasures from the 15th Century: new website offers a treasure trove of data and research tools. “Queen Mary University of London academics launch new web resource, revealing historical records of two fifteenth-century ledgers of the Bruges and London branches of the Milanese bank Filippo Borromei and partners.”

NME: Megan Thee Stallion launches mental health resources site, Seize The Awkward. “Megan Thee Stallion has launched a new mental health resources website called Seize The Awkward…. Seize The Awkward features a series of videos in which Megan Thee Stallion opens up about various topics like checking in on friends and being vulnerable. There’s also videos from other stars like Noah Cyrus, Ava Max, Tyler Posey and athletes like American football player Caleb Williams and wrestler Big E.” This is the second mental health resources site launched by Ms. Thee Stallion.

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Texas State Library and Archives Commission Launches New State Symbols Website. “The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has announced a new web page featuring the official legislatively-designed State Symbols of Texas. The new site, accessible at http://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/symbols, features each official state symbol with a photograph and citation of the relevant resolution from the Texas Legislature. State symbols have been designated since 1901, when the bluebonnet was chosen as the official flower of Texas by the 27th Legislature.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Rolling Stone: Twitter Fires Election Integrity Team Ahead of 2024 Elections. “Several European staffers working on a threat disruption team for the social platform, including senior manager Aaron Rodericks, have been fired this week, according to a report in the tech publication The Information that cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Site owner Elon Musk confirmed the termination of the team members on Wednesday.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

USC Annenberg Media: Turning the page on banned books: LA libraries widen access to restricted titles. “In response to increasing book challenges in California schools, a new motion from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors aims to widen access to restricted titles by giving every California resident access to LA County libraries’ e-book database.”

Irish Times: TikTok discovers ‘covert influence operation’ targeting Ireland. “Video-sharing service TikTok dismantled a ‘covert influence operation’ network dedicated to targeting users in Ireland with ‘divisive’ content to “intensify social conflict”, the company has disclosed. The influence network was made up of 72 accounts that together had a following of some 94,743 users, and was shut down earlier this year.”

CPA Practice Advisor: IRS Rolls Out New Chatbot Feature for Certain CP Notices. “Chatbots will be used to provide information to taxpayers on the following tax notices: CP2000, CP2501, and CP3219A. These notices inform taxpayers if the tax information the IRS received from third parties, such as employers or financial institutions, does not match the information they provided to the IRS themselves. This discrepancy could cause an increase or a decrease in the amount of taxes a person owes.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Talking Points Memo: EXCLUSIVE: 5th Circuit’s Craven Ruling In Biden Social Media Case Was A ‘Clerical Error’. “The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this morning abruptly withdrew Monday’s order giving red states a chance for an even bigger win in a case that has blocked much of the Biden administration from flagging misinformation on social media sites. The 5th Circuit’s Clerk of Court told TPM that the original order was a ‘clerical error.'”

Ars Technica: FCC details plan to restore the net neutrality rules repealed by Ajit Pai. “Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today announced plans to restore net neutrality rules similar to those that were adopted during the Obama era and then repealed by the FCC when Donald Trump was president.”

Washington Post: He live-streamed his attacks on Indian Muslims. YouTube gave him an award.. “He chased cow transporters on foot and beat them on camera. In return, his fans on YouTube and Facebook left comments full of heart emojis, praising him for doing the work of God. For a century, vigilantes in north India have worked discreetly in a legal gray zone to protect cows, an animal worshiped by Hindus. But these enforcers have become more extreme and flamboyant in the past decade, thanks to American social media companies that reward them with online followings, and officials from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who offer them political protection and champion their militant brand of Hindu nationalism.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

North Carolina State University: State COVID-19 Websites Fail to Meet Accessibility Standards. “Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. states and territories all created websites designed to share information with the public about the disease, vaccinations and related public health recommendations. However, a new study finds these sites do not meet accessibility standards – meaning that some members of the public, such as individuals who are blind or visually impaired, are not able to access all of the relevant information on the sites.”

University of Queensland: Problem drinking linked to alcohol on social media. “A University of Queensland study highlights a direct link between young people’s exposure to alcohol-related social media content and problem drinking. The study led by PhD candidate Brandon (Hsu-Chen) Cheng from UQ’s Australian National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research examined results from 30 international studies of more than 19,000 people aged 24 and younger.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 29, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, TreeGOER, Binance, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 28, 2023

Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, TreeGOER, Binance, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 28, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Daily News (Tanzania): Samia to launch Dr Salim Ahmed Salim’s digital archive. “PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu is set to preside over the inauguration of the Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim Archives in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, September 30, 2023. Dr. Salim is an eminent international diplomat, previously held the esteemed positions of the fifth Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and the eighth Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) from 1989 to 2001.”

SCOOP New Zealand: New Database Paves Way For Trees To Thrive In Face Of Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss . “The database, Tree Globally Observed Environmental Ranges or TreeGOER, for short, documents the observed environmental ranges for the majority of known tree species. It was developed at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), an international research and development organization on trees, forests, agroforestry and landscapes. The open-access database is available on Zenodo and described in the journal Global Change Biology. TreeGOER documents the global environmental ranges for 51 variables for observed occurrences of 48,129 tree species.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Wall Street Journal: The World’s Biggest Crypto Firm Is Melting Down. “After FTX crashed, the world of crypto seemed to belong to the largest exchange, Binance. Less than a year later, Binance is the one in distress. Under threat of enforcement actions by U.S. agencies, Binance’s empire is quaking. Over the past three months, more than a dozen senior executives have left, and the exchange has laid off at least 1,500 employees this year to cut costs and prepare for a decline in business.”

The Verge: Amazon is placing free Alexa Guard security features behind a paywall. “The free version of Alexa Guard that listens for household disturbances was included as a standard feature on Amazon Echo devices. In a recent email to customers, Amazon said that some of Guard’s features like smoke and CO alarm detection will instead be moved to its new Emergency Assist service, which is available for $5.99 per month or $59 per year.”

TechCrunch: Google Podcasts to shut down in 2024 with listeners migrated to YouTube Music. “Google announced this morning it will be shutting down its Google Podcasts app later in 2024 as part of its broader transition to move its streaming listeners over to YouTube Music. The company earlier this year announced YouTube Music would begin supporting podcasts in the U.S., which will expand globally by year-end, and more recently said it was adding the ability for podcasters to upload their RSS feeds to YouTube also by year-end.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Deutsche Welle: EU says Elon Musk’s X is biggest source of disinformation. “The social media network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news, a top European official said Tuesday. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said that X, which is not a signatory to a European Union-wide code of conduct to crack down on fake news on social media platforms and advertising companies, has the ‘largest ratio of mis/disinformation posts.'”

Engadget: Even the CIA is developing an AI chatbot. “The CIA and other US intelligence agencies will soon have an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT. The program, revealed on Tuesday by Bloomberg, will train on publicly available data and provide sources alongside its answers so agents can confirm their validity.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Disinformation is a weapon regularly deployed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.. “What is clear is that misdirection, disinformation and propaganda are weapons regularly deployed in Russia’s war in Ukraine to buoy spirits at home, demoralize the enemy or lead opponents into a trap. And it is often hard to know when reports are false or why they may have been disseminated. Now, Ukraine and Russia are offering dueling narratives over whether a more senior Russian naval officer, the commanding admiral of the Black Sea Fleet, is alive or dead.”

Bloomberg: Apple, Google agreed to ‘defend’ search deal from regulators. “Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) lucrative agreement to use Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google as the default search engine for the iPhone includes a provision that the two tech giants will ‘support and defend’ the deal against government scrutiny, a top Apple executive said at an antitrust trial.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Brigham Young University: Yelp certified: BYU-led research discovering ways to keep fake online reviews offline. “From choosing a restaurant for a special dinner to selecting a new part for a car, consumers are heavily influenced by the experiences of their online peers. However, often lurking beneath the surface of online reviews is misinformation that threatens to erode this trust. A new study led by a BYU business professor offers strategic measures that businesses can take (and that consumers should be aware of) to instill a greater sense of trust in online review platforms and combat misinformation.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 29, 2023 at 12:59AM
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Environmental Documentaries, Online Safety, Moment Magazine, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, September 28, 2023

Environmental Documentaries, Online Safety, Moment Magazine, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, September 28, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

New-to-me, from Smashing Magazine: WaterBear: Building A Free Platform For Impactful Documentaries (Part 1). “WaterBear is a free platform bringing together inspiration and action with award-winning high-production environmental documentaries covering various topics, from animals and climate change to people and communities.”

CISA: CISA Launches National Public Service Announcement Campaign Encouraging Americans to Take Steps to Keep Themselves and Their Families Safe Online. “The campaign includes a public service announcement (PSA) that will air on stations around the country, as well as digital content, a toolkit, and other resources. Recognizing that technology is an integral part of our modern lives, Congress tasked CISA with creating this program to provide small businesses, communities, and individuals with the guidance and tools they need to protect themselves online.”

EBSCO: EBSCO Information Services Releases Moment Magazine Archive. “Moment is a Jewish magazine founded by Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel and Jewish activist Leonard Fein, that explores the complexities of literary, political and cultural religious nuances of the Jewish world. Moment Magazine Archive’s coverage spans from May 1975 to December 2010 and provides in-depth analysis and unique perspectives, insightful articles and criticism on art, literature, world affairs and society, written by leaders and thinkers of the Jewish world and beyond.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Journal: Google Indexing Public Bard Conversations In Search Results. “Google is coming under scrutiny after people discovered transcripts of conversations with its AI chatbot are being indexed in search results.” (This is apparently an error Google is working to fix. Only chats users chose to make public are impacted.)

The Guardian: X/Twitter scraps feature letting users report misleading information. “X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has removed the ability for people to report a tweet for containing misleading information just weeks before a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament in Australia.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Ars Technica: Can you melt eggs? Quora’s AI says “yes,” and Google is sharing the result. “When you type a question into Google Search, the site sometimes provides a quick answer called a Featured Snippet at the top of the results, pulled from websites it has indexed. On Monday, X user Tyler Glaiel noticed that Google’s answer to ‘can you melt eggs’ resulted in a ‘yes,’ pulled from Quora’s integrated ‘ChatGPT’ feature, which is based on an earlier version of OpenAI’s language model that frequently confabulates information.”

Wall Street Journal: TikTok Employees Say Executive Moves to U.S. Show China Parent’s Influence. “TikTok has spent the past three years trying to convince U.S. lawmakers it can operate independently in this country from its China-based parent company, ByteDance. After recent personnel moves, some employees aren’t so sure. Since the start of the year, a string of high-level executives have transferred from ByteDance to TikTok, taking on some of the top jobs in the popular video-sharing app’s moneymaking operations. Some moved to the U.S. from ByteDance’s Beijing headquarters.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: FTC files a massive antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. “The Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen state attorneys general have filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant has unlawfully leveraged its market dominance to stamp out would-be competitors.”

WIRED: FBI Agents Are Using Face Recognition Without Proper Training. “THE US FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has done tens of thousands of face recognition searches using software from outside providers in recent years. Yet only 5 percent of the 200 agents with access to the technology have taken the bureau’s three-day training course on how to use it, a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this month reveals. The bureau has no policy for face recognition use in place to protect privacy, civil rights, or civil liberties.”

New York Times: ‘Unprecedented’ Secrecy in Google Trial as Tech Giants Push to Limit Disclosures. “Now as the case, U.S. et al. v. Google, enters its third week in court, it is shaping up to be perhaps the most secretive antitrust trial of the last few decades. Not only has Google argued for the landmark trial to be largely closed off to the public, but so have other companies that are involved, such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple even fought to quash subpoenas, describing them as ‘unduly burdensome,’ to get its executives out of giving testimony. The upshot is that last week, more than half of the testimony in the trial was given behind closed doors, according to one analysis.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Arkansas: Socially Unacceptable Brand Mentions on Social Media Cause Disengagement. “The researchers found that for highly connected consumers, socially unacceptable brand mentions on social media constituted a threat to their social identity. This threat in turn led to vicarious shame, motivating disengagement from the brand, a separation that can undermine the economic benefits of self-brand connection.”

CNN: Teens are exhausted by phone notifications but don’t know how to quit, report finds. “About one-fourth of notifications came during school hours, a finding researchers said suggests phones and apps could improve on cutting down unnecessary alerts at times when teens shouldn’t be disrupted — especially because, during school hours, most participants used their phone at least once for 43 minutes on average. But some teens used their phones for more than six hours during that time.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 28, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Intuit, Reddit, Google Slides, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 27, 2023

Intuit, Reddit, Google Slides, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ProPublica: TurboTax Parent Company’s Latest Argument Against Free Tax Filing: It Will Harm Black Taxpayers. “Articles published around the country repeat Intuit’s assertion — sometimes almost word for word — that the upcoming IRS pilot program would hurt Black Americans. A researcher whose work is cited by Intuit says the company is misstating her findings.”

Engadget: Reddit turns top contributors’ Reddit Gold into real-world money. “Reddit announced today that it will begin paying top contributors for gold. The platform’s new Contributor Program allows redditors who meet certain requirements to receive real-world money (distributed monthly) for their awarded content. The company is also revamping how post / comment rewards work by eliminating Reddit Coins (and all associated awards) in favor of all gold all the time.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: 13 Free Google Slides Templates for Teachers . “As an educator, you may want to use a visual tool but don’t have much time beyond lesson plans, grading, and lectures. If you’d like to create a presentation for your students or fellow staff members, this list includes several free Google Slides templates for teachers to get you started.”

MakeUseOf: The 7 Best Apps to Track Your Daily Activities. “Finding ways to enhance productivity and make the most of every moment is paramount in today’s world. One of the best strategies you can apply to optimize your daily routine is activity tracking. Analyzing your time welcomes many benefits for your personal growth and time management goals. You can identify and replace unhelpful habits with more productive ones by tracking your daily activities. Make better use of your time using these everyday activity-tracking apps.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Search Engine Land: Google accused of downplaying ad price manipulation. “Advertisers are becoming increasingly frustrated with Google due to long-held suspicions around ad price manipulation and a lack of transparency. … Christine Yang, vp of media at Iris, told Ad Week that she believes the real range of fluctuation can sometimes be as much as 100%.”

Rolling Stone: How Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Distort Reality to Sell Fantasy. “In an exclusive excerpt from Jonathan Taplin’s new book ‘End of Reality’, the author rejects the promises of our new class of oligarchs and their online libertarian fantasias meant to keep us complacent and calls for artists to to make some good trouble.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases. “Hank Asher was a drug smuggler with a head for numbers — until he figured out how to turn Americans’ private information into a big business.”

Ars Technica: SEC obtains Wall Street firms’ private chats in probe of WhatsApp, Signal use . “The US Securities and Exchange Commission has ‘collected thousands of staff messages from more than a dozen major investment companies’ as it expands a probe into how employees and executives at Wall Street firms use private messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal, Reuters reported today, citing ‘four people with direct knowledge of the matter.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: Social media is a double-edged sword for the public image of Canadian labour unions . “Our recent research reveals that rather than revitalize the public image of unions, social media can sometimes have the opposite effect, underscoring a serious concern: the potential for unions to become invisible online.”

PsyPost: New study uncovers a “vicious cycle” between feeling less socially connected and increased smartphone use. “Using smartphones for extended periods could negatively impact mental well-being and social connectedness, according to a recent study from researchers at the University of British Columbia and a media lab in Germany. Unlike earlier research that relied on self-reported data, this study from the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships employed direct tracking of screen time, revealing a ‘vicious cycle’ in which feeling less socially connected leads to increased smartphone use.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 28, 2023 at 12:35AM
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Jamaica Poetry, China Independent Film, Twitter, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, September 27, 2023

Jamaica Poetry, China Independent Film, Twitter, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, September 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Jamaica Gleaner: Digital archive to shake up access to, understanding of Jamaican poetry. “[The digital Jamaica Poetry Archive] will serve as a vital educational resource for students studying literature, Jamaican culture, and related fields. It will provide access to audio recordings of poets reciting their works, allowing students to engage with the nuances of pronunciation, rhythm, and emotion that make poetry a living, breathing art form.” The archive is available but I think it’s still growing.

Newcastle University: Chinese Independent Film Archive launched at Newcastle University. “CIFA is believed to be the only archive of its kind in the world. It is home to more than 800 films, mostly documentaries, dating back to the beginning of the 1990s when Chinese independent cinema first emerged, their associated material culture, oral-history interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, among other collections. The archive aims not only to safeguard this significant but marginalised film culture for future generations, but also act as an alternative record of social changes, historical traumas, and the lives of ordinary people in modern and contemporary China.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

MarketWatch: Twitter and Threads users are spending less time on those services. “X had an average of 21 million daily active users in the U.S. in the first half of September, down from around 22 million in July but a slight uptick from 20 million in the last week of August, according to market researcher GWS Magnify, which collected data from U.S. mobile users. Meanwhile, Threads’ daily active users have evaporated by two-thirds since the social-media platform’s July debut, down to 1.1 million in mid-September from 3.4 million.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Washington Post: Amazon unveils a ‘smarter’ Alexa. Its AI has a lot of work to do.. “Rebooting Alexa is Amazon’s effort to compete in Big Tech’s arms race to put the latest AI tech into consumer products. But in conversations with Amazon executives after the launch event, two concerns lingered: Alexa 2.0 appears to be very much a work in progress. I watched it repeatedly get questions wrong. And can we trust it in the places we use smart speakers at home, like children’s bedrooms?”

Gizmodo: X/Twitter CEO Shares Video Ad That Features Tweets Dunking on Elon Musk. “One of X’s latest ads included some critical tweets, but CEO Linda Yaccarino reposted the ad without them claiming they made a new ‘high-res version.’”

NiemanLab: “Flexicles,” story alert systems, and other ways AI will serve publishers, reporters, and readers . “Understanding artificial intelligence has become an essential skill for a media leader. That isn’t simply because you need to determine whether to allow scraping of your website, whether to sue for copyright, or if you should do a deal with a company like OpenAI. It’s also because you need to figure out which aspects of AI you’ll use in the service of impactful journalism and audience engagement. AI will reshape the media landscape, and the organizations that use it creatively will thrive.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Here are the documents the Google antitrust trial judge didn’t want you to see. “So far, what we have heard paints a picture of a Google that’s both dominant in search and highly cautious about admitting it, to the point of admonishing executives for using terms like ‘market share’ and quietly raising search ad prices to ‘shake the cushions’ and meet revenue targets. The online exhibits drove that point home, including email chains and presentations in which Google executives admit that its vast scale improves the service dramatically and that default deals — which the Department of Justice alleges it struck anticompetitively with both Apple and phone companies — are a powerful tool.”

New York Times: C.E.O. of Google Rival Describes Obstacles to Efforts to Compete. “The chief executive of DuckDuckGo on Thursday described Google as a monopoly that has hurt competition and consumers through its scale and command over the tech industry, in the first testimony of a rival in the federal trial of the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against the search giant.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Northeastern Global News: Muting yourself might not be as safe as you think. This researcher found a way to get audio from still images and silent videos. “Kevin Fu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science at Northeastern University, has figured out a way to get audio from pictures and even muted videos. Using Side Eye, a machine learning assisted tool that Fu and his research team created, Fu can determine the gender of someone speaking in the room where a photo was taken –– and even the exact words they spoke.”

University of South Australia: Social media and low self-compassion behind rise in cosmetic surgery. “But why is social media so persuasive and what is driving young women’s attitudes to cosmetic surgery? In a new University of South Australia study, researchers have explored just this, finding that young women who regularly engage with social media were excessively self-judgemental and more likely to consider cosmetic surgery.”

British Library UK Web Archive Blog: How YouTube is helping to drive UK Web Archive nominations. “There currently exists a plethora of digital platforms for all manner of online published works; YouTube itself has become more than just a platform for sharing videos, it has evolved into a platform for individuals and organisations to reach a global audience and convey powerful messages. Recently, a popular content creator on YouTube, Tom Scott, produced a short video helping to outline the purpose of Legal Deposit and by extension, the work being carried out by UKWA.”

Yale Insights: A Better Algorithm Can Bring Volunteers to More Organizations . “An online platform was connecting millions of volunteers with opportunities—but many organizations were not finding any volunteers at all. Yale SOM’s Vahideh Manshadi and her collaborators found that the platform was steering volunteers toward a small group of opportunities. By building equity into the algorithm, they were able to help more organizations find the volunteers they need.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 27, 2023 at 05:30PM
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Routes to Return, the V&A Museum, Getty Images, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 26, 2023

Routes to Return, the V&A Museum, Getty Images, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Council for Museum Anthropology: Routes to Return. “Routes to Return is a new web resource providing information to aid those interested in understanding pathways for international repatriations from European museums.”

Design Week: V&A launches interactive website in a bid to engage Generation Alpha. “The V&A has launched Mused, a new interactive website, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator for Arts and Culture, in a bid to engage young people in art, design, performance and creativity.” The site was designed with 10-14 year-olds in mind.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

PetaPixel: Getty Images Makes U-Turn as it Launches its Own AI Image Generator. “After months of rejecting AI imagery, Getty Images has today launched its own AI image generator that is exclusively trained on its extensive photo library. Getty is the last of the major photo stock libraries to launch its own AI image generator after it had previously taken a stance against artificial intelligence (AI) — filing a lawsuit against Stable Diffusion and banning AI images from its platform.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: You Can Now Get Your Free Credit Report Every Week, Forever. “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, each credit bureau offered one free credit report per year, meaning consumers generally could obtain three reports annually before having to pay as much as $14 per request. Those same reports were made available weekly at no additional charge in early 2020, a program that was extended several times, ultimately through December 2023. Now, free access to weekly credit reports has been made permanent so it’s easier to monitor your report regularly.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

NME: Kevin James meme explained: why are people sharing ‘King Of Queens’ photo?. “Social media users might have noticed an old photo of Kevin James doing the rounds on social media this week in the form of various memes. The photo shows the US actor pulling a sheepish smirk while shrugging his shoulders, which has been memed with various captions such as ‘when u accidentally like a selfie from 34 weeks ago’ and ‘Hey aren’t you that guy from that meme’.”

Florida State University: FSU philosopher awarded NEH grant to archive, translate the works of a trailblazing German philosopher. “A researcher from Florida State University’s Department of Philosophy, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, has received a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to explore and archive the works of the renowned 18th-century German philosopher Johannes Nikolaus Tetens.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: FCC plays whack-a-mole with telcos accused of profiting from robocalls. “A suspicious phone company is on the verge of having all its calls blocked by US-based telcos after being accused of ignoring orders to investigate and block robocalls. One Owl Telecom is a US-based gateway provider that routes phone calls from outside the US to consumer phone companies such as Verizon.”

New York Times: Will Hurd Releases A.I. Plan, a First in the Republican Presidential Field. “The policy plan on artificial intelligence released by former Representative Will Hurd of Texas on Wednesday makes him the first candidate in the Republican presidential field to formally propose a way to navigate the uses and dangers of a technology so thorny he likened it to nuclear fission.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

North Carolina State University: New Method Helps AI Navigate 3D Space Using 2D Images. “Photos are two-dimensional (2D), but autonomous vehicles and other technologies have to navigate the three-dimensional (3D) world. Researchers have developed a new method to help artificial intelligence (AI) extract 3D information from 2D images, making cameras more useful tools for these emerging technologies.”

Harvard Gazette: How federal missteps opened door to COVID misinformation. “Federal agencies helped set the stage for a wave of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories about its origins through early missteps in messaging about the virus and control measures, stumbles that fueled public distrust and hampered government efforts, according to New York Times health and science reporter Apoorva Mandavilli. For instance, public health agencies failed to speak clearly and in a timely fashion about how the virus could spread indoors, Mandavilli said in a talk sponsored by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication on Wednesday afternoon.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 27, 2023 at 12:33AM
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Amplify Colorado, Offshore Drilling Politics, Donor Advised Funds, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, September 26, 2023

Amplify Colorado, Offshore Drilling Politics, Donor Advised Funds, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, September 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Spotted via Google Alerts: Amplify Colorado. “Amplify Colorado is a publicly accessible directory of experts from communities of color and other diverse communities that newsrooms need to better serve, including, but not limited to, women, youth, elders, LGTBQ+, Coloradans with disabilities, rural residents, veterans, immigrants and refugees. Amplify also includes reporters’ and editors’ contact information so community members can more easily find them.

CleanTechnica: Where Does Your Member Of Congress Stand On Offshore Drilling?. “NRDC’s new tool let’s you check out where your state’s delegation stands on new offshore oil and gas drilling. Some regions—like New England—have rejected drilling top to bottom. Other delegations—like those in Florida —have had a more mixed response. Some elected officials are calling on President Biden to end new offshore drilling across the board. Others object only to drilling along their state’s borders. Still others push for more of our ocean to be sold to Big Oil.”

Financial Advisor: New Website Offers Help In Finding Donor-Advised Funds. “Selecting a donor advised fund from the about 1,000 that are available can be a daunting task for advisors and potential philanthropists. But now there is a website that sorts the details and ranks the best donor advised funds. DonorAdvisedFunds.com ranks funds by criteria such as ease of use, investment options and minimum account size, said Brad Saft, founder and CEO of DonorAdvisedFunds.com.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Register: Google killing Basic HTML version of Gmail In January 2024 . “Google will discontinue the Basic HTML version of its Gmail service in January 2024. It’s unclear when Google made the decision to end Basic HTML support – news of which can be found in this support page titled ‘Use the latest version of Gmail in your browser.’ Archive.org’s last capture of the page comes from late 2022, and Google’s own cache has not coughed up info that would identify the date of the change.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Guardian: AEC struggles to get Twitter to remove posts that ‘incite violence’ and spread ‘disinformation’ ahead of voice. “The Australian Electoral Commission has struggled to get Twitter to remove posts that it says are inciting violence against staff and promoting disinformation about the electoral process ahead of the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, documents reveal.”

Michigan Daily: A closer look at toxic family vlogging channels. “Over the past several years, the curtain has begun to be lifted over many of these ‘wholesome’ family vloggers, and the picture-perfect image that was plastered all over the internet for years on end has been torn to shreds. Issues such as child exploitation, privacy violations and religious prejudice have been brought into the limelight as fans have begun to see the truth behind the light-hearted vlogs they used to enjoy. There is no family, however, who has fallen apart quite so tragically as the ‘8 Passengers.'”

TechCrunch: Google expands its subsea cable infrastructure with Nuvem, connecting the US, Bermuda and Portugal. “Google has announced another subsea cable system, as the internet giant strives to bolster its internet infrastructure and get more people using its array of cloud-based services. Dubbed ‘Nuvem,’ the new cable represents one of more than a dozen cables that Google has invested in through the years, starting with Unity, which went into operation in 2010, stretching more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific from Japan to California.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

404 Media: Congress Introduces Bill That Would Let Farmers Repair John Deere Tractors Without Hacking Them. “A group of lawmakers introduced federal legislation that would make it easier for farmers to repair their tractors and would prevent them from having to literally hack into their John Deere tractors to do some basic repairs.”

TechCrunch: Darrow raises $35M for an AI that parses public documents for class action lawsuit potential . “The [US] may not have the highest per capita amount of lawsuits (that’s Germany), but it has the most of any country overall amid a very active legal industry whose caseload is growing in a market that is worth many tens of billions of dollars. Now, an AI-based startup that’s tapping into those facts for its own business is announcing a round of funding. Darrow — which has developed an AI-based data engine that ingests large amounts of publicly available documents to search for class action litigation potential across areas like data privacy violations and environmental contamination — has raised $35 million.”

WIRED: Meet the Law Geeks Exposing Google’s Secretive Antitrust Trial. “MONTHS OUT OF law school, Yosef Weitzman already has a huge courtroom role in the biggest antitrust trial of the century. In a US federal trial that started last week, Google is accused of unlawfully monopolizing online search and search ads. The company’s self-defined mission is to make the world’s information universally accessible, yet Google successfully opposed live streaming the trial and keeping the proceedings wholly open to the public. Enter Weitzman.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

VentureBeat: Google Bard fails to deliver on its promise — even after latest updates. “Unfortunately, in practice, I find Bard to be a disappointment on many levels. It fails to deliver on its core promise of integrating well with Google apps, and often produces inaccurate or nonsensical responses. It also lacks the creativity and versatility of OpenAI’s GPT-4 (It also has no personality or sense of humor, although some users might not take issue with that). Bard badly falls short of expectations.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Ars Technica: Don’t throw out those used coffee grounds—use them for 3D printing instead. “Most coffee lovers typically dump the used grounds from their morning cuppa straight into the trash; those more environmentally inclined might use them for composting. But if you’re looking for a truly novel application for coffee grounds, consider using them as a sustainable material for 3D printing, as suggested by a recent paper published in DIS ’23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 26, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Skin Regeneration Research, Endangered Syriac, Snapchat, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 25, 2023

Skin Regeneration Research, Endangered Syriac, Snapchat, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Washington State University: WSU students create database to accelerate skin science. “The website — skinregeneration.org — was created for researchers but allows anyone to cross-compare information on more than 33,000 genes from different species as they relate to skin development, wound repair, and regeneration. Ultimately, it could help scientists reprogram adult skin for regeneration during wound healing and to inhibit the aging process.”

Texas A&M Today: Texas A&M-Led Humanities Project Seeks To Preserve An Endangered Language. “Texas A&M University historian Dr. Daniel Schwartz has devoted the last decade of his professional life to preserving the past — specifically, the culture of a 2,000-year-old language known as Syriac. He and likeminded colleagues from around the world have been working across place, time and cyberspace to safeguard Syriac cultural heritage, painstakingly creating Syriaca.org, a cyberinfrastructure to link Syriac literature to their persons, places, manuscripts and key concepts.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Gizmodo: Snap Is Doing What Twitter Can’t. “As Elon Musk threatens to charge all users with a monthly subscription to access Twitter, Snap is seeing a userbase more willing to pay to use the perks of its platform. Snap’s membership service Snapchat+ has reached a whopping 5 million users, which is officially halfway to its goal of 10 million.”

Engadget: Windows’ Copilot AI starts rolling out September 26. “Microsoft announced that its Copilot AI, which currently exists in various iterations in the Edge browser, Microsoft 365 platform and Windows, will be bundled into a single, unified and ubiquitous generative AI assistant across all of Microsoft’s products — from Powerpoint to Teams.”

USEFUL STUFF

WIRED: How ChatGPT Can Help You Do More With PDFs. “THE GENERATIVE AI bot ChatGPT has been busy helping writers, debating issues, generating code, and more—and now that developer OpenAI has opened the door to third-party plug-ins, a ton of new functionality is available. These plug-ins can look up information on the web, draw diagrams, manage travel plans, interrogate Wikipedia, and more. To access the various plug-ins, you need an active, $20-per-month subscription to ChatGPT Plus. Here we’ll focus on one particular type of extension: PDF plug-ins.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Baptist Press: Paying for X (Twitter)? Churches, pastors consider the cost. “Churches tend to focus their social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Accounts on X exist, but generally lag in activity compared to those of pastors and other church leaders. And even for the latter two categories, the way X is used makes a difference as to the need to pay for it. It literally becomes a case of the cost being worth … well, the cost.”

Reuters: With TikToks, memes and Musk comments, Argentina election battle goes viral. “In a high-rise office in downtown Buenos Aires, a loose band of twenty-something influencers gather to plan how to propel Javier Milei to the Argentine presidency with TikTok videos, memes – and some help from Elon Musk.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Guardian: Apple removes app created by Andrew Tate. “McCue Jury & Partners, the firm representing four British women who have accused Tate of sexual and physical assault, claimed that the app deliberately targets young men and encourages misogyny, including members of the app sharing techniques on how to control and exploit women. The firm has also claimed that there is evidence to suggest that the app is an illegal pyramid scheme, with members being charged $49.99 a month to join.”

WWLP: West Springfield Police see increase of “abandoned 911” calls inside The Big E. “Since the start of The Big E fair, six days ago, the West Springfield Police have been called nearly a dozen times by mistake.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Analytics India: Google is Officially Killing the Internet with AI. ” In the latest iteration of the company’s ‘Helpful Content Update’, the phrase ‘written by people’ has been replaced by a statement that search giant is constantly monitoring ‘content created for people’ to rank sites on its search engine. The linguistic pivot shows that the company does recognise the significant impact AI tools have on content creation. Despite prior declarations of intentions to distinguish between AI and human-authored content, with this move, it appears that the company is contradicting its own stance on the omnipresent AI-generated material on the internet.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 26, 2023 at 12:26AM
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Anthony Braxton, Mulgrew Miller, Environmental Stock Footage, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, September 25, 2023

Anthony Braxton, Mulgrew Miller, Environmental Stock Footage, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, September 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Yale Library: Rare collection of recordings by Anthony Braxton enters library’s digital collections. “The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library partnered with the Tri-Centric Foundation to digitally preserve and provide online access to a treasure trove of rare archival material: 751 audio and video recordings by Anthony Braxton, one of the most prominent and ground-breaking composers and musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

Columbia Daily Tribune: Notes and tones: New record, website showcase greatness of the late Mulgrew Miller. “It was with a great deal of pleasure — I certainly could tell I was wearing a full-faced smile — when about 10 days ago, I received texts, Facebook messages and an email or two, each letting me know that Aleta Eubanks, the wife of trumpeter Duane Eubanks, had received permission from Tanya Miller, wife of the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, to launch an ‘all things’ Mulgrew Miller website.”

Studio Silverback: Studio Silverback launch Open Planet, a free footage library for global impact. “We’re excited to reveal our new project, a ground-breaking new footage library, Open Planet, announced today (18 Sept) at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. Launching globally in early-2024, Open Planet aims to revolutionise the way we tell stories about our changing planet by enabling everyone, everywhere, access to high-quality, scientifically accurate footage – free to use for educational, environmental and impact storytelling.” There are already about 3,000 clips available on the pre-launch site.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Mastodon’s latest release makes the open source Twitter alternative easier to use. “As changes at Elon Musk’s X continue to push former Twitter users to seek alternatives, the open source, decentralized social network Mastodon — a popular Twitter/X rival — is releasing an update designed to make it easier for users to get started, use its network even when logged out, and more easily search for content across its platform. The web interface has also received a visual refresh and a number of other improvements.”

USEFUL STUFF

Ubergizmo: Blackmagic Introduces Free iPhone Video App For Pro-Level Filming. “Blackmagic Design, renowned for its high-end digital movie cameras and video editing software, has introduced a free iPhone app designed for advanced video shooting, one that caters to users seeking enhanced creative control over video capture on their iPhones. The app’s interface is touted to be as user-friendly as the company’s award-winning cameras, making it an attractive choice for professionals and enthusiasts alike. Users gain comprehensive control over critical settings like frame rate, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New York Times: Google Says Switching Away From Its Search Engine Is Easy. It’s Not.. “I decided to test how easy or hard it really is to switch to a different search engine. In a blog post this month, Google said the change was a straightforward process and offered three examples… So I followed Google’s instructions and also shared the company’s guidance with a panel of three design veterans. The verdict: It’s hard to switch — and most people would probably give up before completing the change.”

The Hill: Biden campaign launches strategy to combat misinformation on social media. “President Biden’s reelection campaign is creating a working group centered on combating misinformation on social media networks, a Biden campaign official told The Hill on Wednesday. The group will be led by Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager; Michael Tyler, communications director; and Maury Riggan, general counsel, as well as aides from the rapid response communications team and legal team.”

WIRED: The Bizarre Cottage Industry of YouTube Obituary Pirates. “A FEW WEEKS ago, a friend of mine found out that a childhood classmate had died unexpectedly. They hadn’t stayed in touch, but he was sad and curious about what had happened, so he did what people do when they hear that someone they know has passed away: Googled her obituary. What he found was odd—so much so that he texted to ask if I’d ever heard of such a thing. Along with pages hosting her official obit, he saw 10 separate YouTube videos of different people casually reciting information about her death.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: War Crimes Tribunal ICC Says It Has Been Hacked. “The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday its computer system had been hacked, a breach at one of the world’s most high-profile international institutions and one that handles highly sensitive information about war crimes.”

BBC: AI-generated naked child images shock Spanish town of Almendralejo. “A sleepy town in southern Spain is in shock after it emerged that AI-generated naked images of young local girls had been circulating on social media without their knowledge. The pictures were created using photos of the targeted girls fully clothed, many of them taken from their own social media accounts.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Bloomberg: TikTok’s Rules Deter Researchers From Crunching Data on Users, Misinformation. “As TikTok gets more popular, researchers at leading academic institutions want to study what users are doing there. Publicly, the company says it’s open to this, and is partnering with academics. But researchers said so far, the video app’s rules about data are too burdensome.”

Washington Post: Misinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks. “Academics, universities and government agencies are overhauling or ending research programs designed to counter the spread of online misinformation amid a legal campaign from conservative politicians and activists who accuse them of colluding with tech companies to censor right-wing views.” The link is to a gift article so you should be able to read it without paywall. Good morning, Internet…

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September 25, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Chazen Art Museum, iOS 16.7, Substack, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 24, 2023

Chazen Art Museum, iOS 16.7, Substack, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 24, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Chazen Museum of Art: Mellon Grant Helps Exhibition Archive Go Online. “When completed, the Chazen’s digital exhibition archive will include thousands of high-resolution images and documents from the museum’s physical archive…As well, high-resolution images of about 3,000 of the museum’s 24,000 permanent collection objects are online, making highly detailed remote viewing widely available for the first time.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: iOS 16.7 arrives for older iPhones and people who don’t want to upgrade. “The iOS and iPadOS 16.7 update covers all devices that could run version 16, including older stuff like the iPhone 8, iPhone X, and first-gen iPad Pro that can’t be upgraded to version 17. In a couple of months, if precedent holds, newer devices will have to upgrade to keep getting security fixes, while iOS 16 updates will continue to support older devices for at least another year.”

The Verge: Substack’s redesign makes it feel like a more traditional social media app. “After a tease in a blog post on Tuesday, Substack officially shared details about its redesigned app on Wednesday, which offers a new ‘Home’ tab and some adjustments to the app’s current layout.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: Unsubscribe From Unwanted Mailing Lists With This Chrome Extension. “Across all my email addresses, which include school, personal, spam, and work inboxes in both Gmail and Outlook, I currently have 23,754 unread messages. This does not mean I am ignoring important emails related to my job, education, or personal pursuits. It simply means those messages are harder to find because I am absolutely inundated with garbage. In an attempt to clean things up, I added the Trimbox extension to my Chrome browsers to clear out the Gmail boxes. I was admittedly nervous about using a third-party app to hack through all my stupid emails, but it worked out great.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Reuters: X social media’s India, South Asia policy head Gupta resigns-sources. “Social media platform X’s head of policy for India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, has resigned, two sources said, a top departure that comes ahead of India elections and as the company fights a court battle with New Delhi over content removal.”

Mental Floss: 11 Social Media Platforms You Probably Forgot Existed (And Why They Failed). “For every Facebook and TikTok, there’s a Friendster and a Vine. We all probably joined some (if not all) of these websites and witnessed their meteoric rise and respective falls from grace. So why did some succeed while other once-popular social media platforms failed? Here are 11 now-defunct networks that you might have forgotten about, plus why they failed to gain traction with users.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Engadget: The FTC may file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon as soon as next week. “The Federal Trade Commission looks set to drag Amazon into another legal battle between the two sides. The agency is preparing to file an antitrust suit against Amazon as soon as next week, according to Bloomberg. Reuters reports that the FTC has sent a draft complaint to attorneys general in an attempt to get as many states as possible on board with its case.”

NBC News: Social media famous dentist faces backlash on TikTok after women claim he sent inappropriate messages . “A Texas dentist who is known for his brash, edgy humor on social media, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers, has been accused of bullying and sexual harassment by several women who say they received inappropriate messages from his official social media accounts. Kenneth Wilstead, who goes by @DrKennySmiles on Instagram and @DrKennySmilesOfficial on TikTok, often shares his ‘smile makeovers’ on social media.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Stony Brook University: Negative Retweets Add to Voter Fraud Conspiracy Theories. “A team of behavioral scientists using big data and a simulation-based model to analyze social media ‘tweets’ around the 2020 presidential election found that the spread of voter fraud conspiracy theories on Twitter (now called X) was boosted by a negativity bias.”

University of North Carolina: They combat patient loneliness with social media. “Researchers in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and the College of Arts and Sciences are teaming up to demonstrate that social media can be used to improve well-being. They call their method the ‘social connectedness intervention,’ which uses social media to send messages to specific audiences, encouraging them to make in-person connections with other people.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 25, 2023 at 12:54AM
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Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Oklahoma Newspapers, US Census Bureau, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, September 24, 2023

Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Oklahoma Newspapers, US Census Bureau, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, September 24, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Graphic Communications Group (Ghana): Graphic Communications Group Ltd launches Digital Archive spanning over 70 years. “The Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) has unveiled its meticulously curated Digitalised Archive, a comprehensive collection of the group’s invaluable work spanning over seventy years…. Encompassing the entirety of the company’s newspaper publications and exclusive photographs from 1950 to 2000, the archive stands as a testament to the GCGL’s enduring legacy.”

NonDoc: Oklahoma Historical Society secures CNHI approval for online archive of The Edmond Sun. “Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. and the Oklahoma Historical Society have come to an agreement permitting OHS to place tens of thousands of editions of The Edmond Sun archives on its Gateway to Oklahoma History website.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

US Census Bureau: Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Data for Nearly 1,500 Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups, Tribes and Villages. “The U.S. Census Bureau today released 2020 Census population counts and sex-by-age statistics for 300 detailed race and ethnic groups, as well as 1,187 detailed American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) tribes and villages.”

TechCrunch: Google wants to map more of the world’s roads with expansion of ‘Road Mapper’ volunteer community . “Google announced today that it is opening access to more contributors to participate in Road Mapper, a tool where you can add missing roads to Google Maps in areas of the world that need it most.” Thinking about this in relation to the recent Google Maps driving directions lawsuit is kind of .

Times Argus Online: Vermont State University names David Bergh a new interim president. “Vermont State University has named a new president. The Vermont State Colleges System board of trustees announced Friday morning that David G. Bergh will lead VTSU as its next interim president. Bergh takes over following the planned departure of current interim president Mike Smith, who is set to resign from the role by Nov. 1.” Bergh takes over after the disastrous tenure of Parwinder Grewal.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

404 Media: First Google Search Result for Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” Is AI Generated Selfie. “The first thing you’ll see if you search Google for ‘tank man’ right now will not be the iconic picture of the unidentified Chinese man who stood in protest in front of a column of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square, but an entirely fake, AI-generated selfie of that historical event.” Google removed the image after being contacted by 404 Media.

Vox: Stuart Russell wrote the textbook on AI safety. He explains how to keep it from spiraling out of control.. “So what do we need to know about AI right now? What are the questions we should be asking? And how should we be preparing for whatever’s coming? To get some answers, I invited Stuart Russell onto The Gray Area. Russell is a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley and the author of Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control.”

Deutsche Welle: Tanzanians demand return of ancestral skulls. “In a major research project, scientists from Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History, together with colleagues from Rwanda, investigated the origin of around 1,100 human skulls from Germany’s former colonies in East Africa. Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, told DW that it was ‘a small miracle’ to find living relatives for three skulls through DNA analysis and that it was like finding a needle in a haystack.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: US Supreme Court Extends Pause on Order Curbing Biden Social Media Contacts . “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday extended a temporary block on an order restricting the ability of President Joe Biden’s administration to encourage social media companies to remove content it deemed misinformation about COVID-19 and other matters of public concern.”

New Zealand Herald: Social media star jailed for two years for eating pork in viral Bali video. “Lina Lutfiawati, also known as Lina Mukherjee, created a ‘blasphemous’ video when she recited an Islamic phrase before eating crispy pork skin for her two million followers to see. While pork isn’t banned in Indonesia, it is forbidden in Islam and remains taboo among most Indonesians. At least 93 per cent of its 231m people identify as Muslim. Mukherjee, 33, who identifies as Muslim, was charged with blasphemy, which is the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NBC News: Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, ranks last in climate misinformation ‘scorecard’. “Environmental groups slammed Elon Musk’s X app in a report Wednesday ranking social media platforms on their approach to climate change misinformation. X, formerly known as Twitter, ranked last because it’s not clear the app has policies against the spread of misleading information about climate change, according to Climate Action Against Disinformation, the creator of the score card. The group is a coalition of more than 50 environmental groups, ad agencies and other organizations.”

CNN: How California is using AI to snuff out wildfires before they explode. “Firefighters want every leg up they can get to knock out a blaze before it becomes an inferno. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says it has a new tool to battle wildfires before they explode – artificial intelligence.” And remote sensors. Good morning, Internet…

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September 24, 2023 at 05:31PM
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