New researches

Monday, August 23, 2021

Arizona State University Map Collection, A World Of Difference, Machine Learning, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, August 23, 2021

Arizona State University Map Collection, A World Of Difference, Machine Learning, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, August 23, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Arizona State University: Mapping the ASU Library map collection. “The 3D Explorer is an interactive 3D web scene that literally maps the ASU Library map collection, the Map and Geospatial Hub. With some powerful search and visualization features, the tool allows anyone, from anywhere in the world, to virtually visit and explore the thousands of maps and other materials housed in the Map and Geospatial Hub as if they were physically located in the space itself.”

Google Blog: Explore our planet’s most unique places and cultures. “Our physical world is changing faster than ever. Climate change and global socio-economic shifts are threatening our magnificent natural landscapes and disrupting small communities. In keeping with this, there is value to be found in confronting and documenting our at-risk environment. For World Photography Day, we invite you to explore A World of Difference, a new online exhibition on Google Arts & Culture offering a perspective of these diverse stories through the lens of Italian photographer Angelo Chiacchio, in collaboration with Art Works for Change.”

EVENTS

The Register: Free machine-learning lessons from The Register – starting with Benford’s distribution . “In our new, free MCubed webcast series, we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest ML development-related tools, libraries, and cloud service news, before jumping into hand-selected expert talks. Through those, practitioners will help you freshen up on the basics, share serviceable advice from their day to day work, and provide insight into the issues they’re trying to solve.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

DigitalNC: Issues from 1951 of the Carolina Times are now on DigitalNC. “Thanks to funding from an IDEA grant from UNC Libraries, the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is pleased to now have the full run of 1951 issues of the Carolina Times digitized. The issues from 1951 were never microfilmed, so they were not included in previous projects to digitize the newspaper which were done from film.”

Engadget: Facebook releases Q1 ‘widely viewed content’ report following criticism. “… on Friday, the New York Times published a report saying that it had seen a ‘widely viewed content’ report for Q1 of 2021 and that it showed different trends. For example, the most-viewed link was a story claiming a Florida doctor died from the coronovirus vaccine. Facebook has now confirmed the document’s accuracy and released it directly.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Wake County, North Carolina: Wake County Register of Deeds and Shaw University Collaborate to Complete Enslaved Persons Project. “The Wake County Register of Deeds Office and Shaw University are partnering on a project to unlock the secrets of dozens of property deeds to help better reveal the human stories of slavery in our area. The Enslaved Persons Project is a massive effort to catalog, transcribe and make public the records from more than 30 deed books containing bills of sale and property exchanges to allow hundreds of people to track the history of their families.”

Rest of World: “We do not feel safe”: A Kabul-based crisis alert app struggles to protect its own employees. “Ehtesab means “accountability” in Dari and Pashto, and the app, formally launched in March 2020, offers streamlined security-related information, including general security updates in Kabul to its users. With real-time, crowdsourced alerts, users across the city can track bomb blasts, roadblocks, electricity outages, or other problems in locations close to them…. Despite the company’s single-minded focus on security, the Ehtesab team was caught off-guard by the sudden collapse of the Afghan government over the weekend.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Wired: Millions of Web Camera and Baby Monitor Feeds Are Exposed. “A VULNERABILITY IS lurking in numerous types of smart devices—including security cameras, DVRs, and even baby monitors—that could allow an attacker to access live video and audio streams over the internet and even take full control of the gadgets remotely. What’s worse, it’s not limited to a single manufacturer; it shows up in a software development kit that permeates more than 83 million devices, and over a billion connections to the internet each month.”

Politico: Wrangling over Jan. 6 footage could force open congressional records. “Past efforts to use the courts to force disclosure of congressional records like the videos have gotten little traction, but the Jan. 6-related case seizes on an opinion a D.C. Circuit judge issued in June. The new legal fight has the potential to set a new precedent for what kinds of information Congress must disclose, and when — and is squarely aimed at upending decades of law that shielded the institution from public scrutiny.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Boing Boing: Mindblowing AI pixel art. “AI artist dribnet developed an AI that produces remarkably beautiful (and coherent) pixel art based upon text prompts. He’s established an online notebook where you can make your own.” Very cool.

TechCrunch: A mathematician walks into a bar (of disinformation). “What is disinformation? Does it exist, and if so, where is it and how do we know we are looking at it? Should we care about what the algorithms of our favorite platforms show us as they strive to squeeze the prune of our attention? It’s just those sorts of intricate mathematical and social science questions that got Noah Giansiracusa interested in the subject.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

CNET: NASA rover marks nine years on Mars with glorious 360-degree panorama. “Congratulations, Curiosity, you’ve survived and thrived for over nine years on another planet. NASA’s older Martian rover captured a gorgeous 360-degree panorama in early July and the space agency released it on Tuesday to celebrate the vehicle’s August land-iversary.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 23, 2021 at 05:28PM
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Sunday, August 22, 2021

South Korea Censored Films, TweetDeck, Hiking Apps, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021

South Korea Censored Films, TweetDeck, Hiking Apps, More: Sunday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Korea Herald: Politically censored S. Korean films to be released online . “The Korean Film Archive announced that it will sequentially post a collection of South Korea’s earlier films censored by the state through the Korean Movie Database online history archive center, starting Thursday. The KOFA received donations and preserved some 10,000 materials regarding censorship from the Korea Council for Performing Arts Promotion, the predecessor of the current Korea Media Rating Board, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. ”

USEFUL STUFF

Wired: You Should Be Using TweetDeck . “If you’ve never tried TweetDeck, or if you’ve previously used it and since forgotten about it, here are some of its key features—and it might suit you better than the default Twitter web client. As we’ve said Twitter is testing updates to TweetDeck too, so it looks like even more functionality is on the way (and we’re fingers crossed hoping they don’t hobble any already there.)” I love TweetDeck. It’s mostly how I use Twitter. I am very scared of Twitter is going to do to it.

Mashable: 11 best apps for hiking. “Whether gathering supplies for a day hike or setting up camp for a while, these days savvy hikers are sure to pack their digital backpacks with apps to bring out the best in their treks. Don’t forget your gorp, and steer clear of fat bears. Happy trails!”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

News .au: Google Maps has banned mystery Russian island ‘once owned by USA’. “A remote Russian island has sparked mystery after users discovered it is censored on Google Maps. Jeannette Island, in the East Siberian Sea, appears as a black smudge on the search giant’s digital map tool when searching in Satellite mode. It doesn’t appear to show the same smudge when in ‘default’ mode, however.”

PR Newswire: GE Appliances and Google Sign Multi-Year Deal to Build Next-Gen Smart Home Appliances (PRESS RELEASE). “The two companies will work together to develop the next generation of smart appliances with Google Cloud Vision AI. And GEA will benefit from Google Cloud’s seamless integration with other Google platforms and technologies such as Android and Google Assistant.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: AT&T denies data breach after hacker auctions 70 million user database. “From the samples shared by the threat actor, the database contains customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and date of birth. A security researcher who wishes to remain anonymous told BleepingComputer that two of the four people in the samples were confirmed to have accounts on att.com. Other than these few details, not much is known about the database, how it was acquired, and whether it is authentic.”

BuzzFeed News: Big Tech Thought It Had A Billion Users In The Bag. Now It Might Be Forced To Make Hard Choices To Get Them.. “For months, the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, led by [Narendra] Modi, a nationalist autocrat accused of reshaping India’s secular ethos into a Hindu state, had been hard at work trying to quell an upswell of criticism on social media after a deadly second wave of the pandemic killed thousands and protests from millions of farmers against new agricultural laws rocked the nation. But it wasn’t until the last week of May that things came to a head.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Guardian: Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts. “According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies, with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit. So how do we beat our digital dependency?”

DTU Aqua: Photo posts reveal huge interest for real coastal nature. “Tourists are generating more social media attention about marine protected areas than about other neighbouring coastal areas. In those protected areas they focus more on nature as such, wildlife or wild landscapes, whereas photos from nearby, ‘control’, coastal zones are more focused on human infrastructure like roads, trains, restaurants as well as cultural and historical sites….The photographers also described their photos taken in marine protected areas in a more positive manner than those taken outside MPAs. The social media followers viewing photos of those experiences liked and commented more on MPA photos than they did for non-MPA photos.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Diversity Story aims to ‘extend valuable cultural education to more people’. “Eleanor Park, 16, of McCandless launched The Diversity Story a year ago. People can apply to be staff writers, be interviewed to have an article written about them, or submit writing, artwork, photography and recipes. So far, the site has published more than 60 personal stories and interviews, as well as more than 20 snippets, or short reads, which usually discuss a current holiday or issue.” Good evening, Internet…

August 23, 2021 at 05:24AM
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Utah Mental Health, Spotify, Amazon Alexa, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021

Utah Mental Health, Spotify, Amazon Alexa, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

KSL TV (Utah): Revamped SafeUT app to help children, adults with ‘any size crisis’. “For six years, the SafeUT app has provided access to mental health resources across the state. Now, administrators said they’ve updated the app to serve even more people The SafeUT app launched its new website with expanded resources on Friday.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Spotify and WWE are tag-teaming on podcasts. “WWE and The Ringer (which Spotify bought last year for around $200 million to bolster its sports lineup) are building a podcast network together. The Ringer podcast The Masked Man Show has been rebranded as The Ringer Wrestling Show. More podcasts are on the way, including a narrative series produced by Bill Simmons (a self-professed lifelong WWE fan) and additional shows from WWE talent.”

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Trends: How to use all Amazon Alexa alarm clock features. “Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant has an impressive suite of alarm capabilities, whether you want to set a reminder later in the day or prefer to wake up to certain music or news. We’ll go over everything the Alexa alarm is capable of and how to set things the easy way.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Next Web: A brief history of YikYak — the anon platform making its return. “Yik Yak is back! If you don’t know what it is, I don’t blame you. It was an anonymous gossip platform that had some success, but after running into moderation problems and failing to deal with problematic content, it was shut down in 2017. The company announced on Twitter that it’s making a comeback with an iOS app. But before we get into that, let’s take a look at the brief history of the social network.”

ZDNet: How Internet Explorer really beat Netscape . “Here’s the real reason why IE beat Netscape: Microsoft strong-armed PC vendors into putting the new operating system and its browser on all their PCs. The goal was not so much to kill off other PC operating system vendors. There wasn’t any real competition in the mid-90s. The goal was to destroy Netscape.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

TechCrunch: Google says geofence warrants make up one-quarter of all US demands. “The figures, published Thursday, reveal that Google has received thousands of geofence warrants each quarter since 2018, and at times accounted for about one-quarter of all U.S. warrants that Google receives. The data shows that the vast majority of geofence warrants are obtained by local and state authorities, with federal law enforcement accounting for just 4% of all geofence warrants served on the technology giant.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Wired: The Case Against Music Curation. “We are now deep into a decade of lifestyle curation. Our news feeds on Facebook, the movies we catalog on Netflix, the playlists we make and then loop over and over on Apple Music; the need to personalize everything we do, and everything we consume, is meant to remove unnecessary friction from our lives. It’s meant to make things as seamless as possible. Through brainy algorithms and constant curation, singles like ‘Essence’ benefit from that sort of tireless indexing. Eventually, they exist everywhere. But what if that way no longer serves us?”

EurekAlert: UVA research group opens a path toward quantum computing in real-world conditions. “A research team led by Xu Yi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, has carved a niche in the physics and applications of photonic devices, which detect and shape light for a wide range of uses including communications and computing. His research group has created a scalable quantum computing platform, which drastically reduces the number of devices needed to achieve quantum speed, on a photonic chip the size of a penny.”

News@Northeastern: You Can’t Determine Emotion From Someone’s Facial Movements–and Neither Can AI. “If you saw a person with their brow furrowed, mouth turned down, and eyes squinted, would you guess they’re angry? What if you found out they’d forgotten their reading glasses and were deciphering a restaurant menu Interpreting a person’s facial movements can’t be done in a vacuum; it depends on the context—something that Northeastern neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett shows in a groundbreaking new study published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature Communications.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

BBC: Nine Afghan girl robotics team members safe in Qatar. “After scrambling for days to bring them to safety, nine members of an Afghan all-girls robotics team have arrived in Qatar, the team’s parent organisation has confirmed.Their flight out of Afghanistan was organised by the Qatar government, which expedited visas and sent an aircraft.The team first made headlines in 2017 after winning a special award at an international robotics competition in the US.” Good afternoon, Internet…

August 23, 2021 at 12:16AM
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Nebraska Groundwater, Siri, 1996 Presidential Campaign, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021

Nebraska Groundwater, Siri, 1996 Presidential Campaign, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 22, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Star Herald (Nebraska): Users can use new website to check groundwater quality, chemical content. “The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy launched the Nebraska Groundwater Quality Clearinghouse earlier this week. With more than 1.6 million sample results from some 33,000 irrigation well locations, the website is the culmination of decades worth of sampling and research.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Apple launches a new iOS app, ‘Siri Speech Study,’ to gather feedback for Siri improvements. “Apple recently began a research study designed to collect speech data from study participants. Earlier this month, the company launched on the App Store a new iOS app called ‘Siri Speech Study’, which allows participants who have opted in to share their voice requests and other feedback with Apple. The app is available in a number of worldwide markets but does not register on the App Store’s charts, including under the ‘Utilities’ category where it’s published.”

Boing Boing: Dole-Kemp ’96 campaign website finally disappears. “The 1996 presidential campaign of Bob Dole was not one for the ages, but its campaign website remained live in perpetuity afterward, a glistening perfect Web 1.0 memento of a bygone age. It was rediscovered this summer, briefly enjoying more attention than it ever likely got 25 years ago.”

CNET: Facebook unveils tools to protect Afghan people who fear becoming Taliban targets . “As many Afghans hurry to hide their social media profiles out of fear the profiles will make them targets for Taliban violence, Facebook is launching new tools to help them delete their digital footprints. The move comes just days after the Taliban reclaimed Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Sunday, and announced they’d be taking power in the country for the first time in 20 years.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Facebook says it wants a ‘fair shot’ in the crypto payments sphere.. Doesn’t Facebook just buy its fair shots? “Facebook’s mission is to ‘bring the world closer together.’ Increasingly, that’s about not just connecting friends and family to share messages, but also serving as a platform for people’s financial lives.”

AP: Film bares disputes behind construction of 9/11 museum. “A new film reveals and renews the tensions that went into creating the Sept. 11 museum beneath the memorial waterfalls and reflecting pool at the World Trade Center Unhappy museum officials have objected and sought changes to ‘The Outsider,’ a documentary being released this week that reveals conflicting visions behind the New York landmark, which opened in 2014.”

Make Tech Easier: Facebook Gaming vs. Twitch vs. YouTube Gaming: What’s the Best Live Game Streaming Platform?. “If you watch games, you have probably used or heard of Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Gaming and may be wondering which is the best and how they compare. Here we pit the three titans of game streaming up against one another to decide which is best live game streaming platform.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Sydney Morning Herald: Burden falls on Archives boss to make case for cybersecurity boost. “The head of the National Archives says it falls to him now to make a compelling case to the federal government to secure nearly $170 million to boost the institution’s cybersecurity and digital capability. The government’s long-awaited response to the Tune review of the Archives, revealed in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Thursday, agrees with the need to invest more in cybersecurity and examine the case for a high-tech 5th Generation Digital Archive.

Ars Technica: Apple photo-scanning plan faces global backlash from 90 rights groups. “More than 90 policy groups from the US and around the world signed an open letter urging Apple to drop its plan to have Apple devices scan photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”

Bleeping Computer: You can post LinkedIn jobs as almost ANY employer — so can attackers. “Anyone can create a job listing on the leading recruitment platform LinkedIn on behalf of just about any employer—no verification needed. And worse, the employer cannot easily take these down. Now, that might be nothing new, but the feature and lax verification on career websites pave the ways for attackers to post bogus listings for malicious purposes.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: We trained AI to recognise footprints, but it won’t replace forensic experts yet. “In forensic science, the expert witness plays a vital role. Lawyers seek them out for their analysis and opinion on specialist evidence. But experts are human, with all their failings, and the role of expert witnesses has frequently been linked to miscarriages of justice. We’ve been investigating the potential for AI to study evidence in forensic science. In two recent papers, we found AI was better at assessing footprints than general forensic scientists, but not better than specific footprint experts.”

The Next Web: Analysis: Tesla’s humanoid robot might be Elon’s dumbest idea yet. “Everybody wants this to be real. Me, you, the entire writing staff of the Simpsons (wait for it, I’m sure it’s coming), even Tesla’s competitors. We all want Rosie the Robot to be real. But here’s the truth laid bare: this is a hustle. The Tesla Robot is Elon Musk at his PT Barnum-esque best. He’s promising everything you want and daring you to dream along side him while he picks your pocket.” Good morning, Internet…

August 22, 2021 at 05:33PM
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Saturday, August 21, 2021

Luis Gutiérrez, Ohio Redistricting, Twitter, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021

Luis Gutiérrez, Ohio Redistricting, Twitter, More: Saturday Evening ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Northeastern Illinois University: Gutiérrez Congressional digital archive at NEIU Libraries is now available for viewing. “When U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez chose not to seek reelection in 2018, he donated his Congressional archives to Northeastern Illinois University. The Luis V. Gutiérrez Congressional Archives, which contain 41 linear feet of documents, awards, letters and other paraphernalia, is now available for online viewing.”

Ohio Senate: Ohio Redistricting Commission Launches Redistricting.Ohio.Gov. “In addition to providing details about dates and locations for the Commission’s upcoming regional public hearings, the website provides access to witness slips for Ohioans who are interested in testifying in-person or submitting written testimony to the Commission. The website also provides access to 2020 U.S. Census data, which members of the public can use to create map proposals of their own. Maps can be uploaded to the website as ZIP files.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Twitter is testing a newsletter subscription button on profile pages. “Twitter is testing a feature that makes it even more enticing to use its recently acquired Revue newsletter platform: the ability to subscribe to a newsletter directly from a Twitter profile, without having to follow a link to a separate website. The feature can be enabled by all Revue newsletter writers, but the button is initially only being shown to a test group of Twitter users on Android and the web.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: The little-known human stories behind emoji designs. “Peter Tosh’s story doesn’t end happily; he was murdered in a horrific attack in the 1980s, but he left both a musical and a political legacy. And if you open your emoji keyboard and search for ‘levitating’, you will find a tiny picture of a man dressed in a dapper black suit, hat and shades. That is Peter Tosh.”

Mashable: Weird Spotify Playlists is an unexpected meme that pushes the boundaries. “There are now memes on Spotify. Yes, Spotify. Starting in the first week of August my Twitter feed became inundated by the account Weird Spotify Playlists, which posts screenshots of playlists where weird doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: BlackBerry resisted announcing major flaw in software powering cars, hospital equipment. “A flaw in software made by BlackBerry has left two hundred million cars, along with critical hospital and factory equipment, vulnerable to hackers — and the company opted to keep it secret for months.”

Wired: Google Docs Scams Still Pose a Threat . “IN MAY 2017, a phishing attack now known as “the Google Docs worm” spread across the internet. It used special web applications to impersonate Google Docs and request deep access to the emails and contact lists in Gmail accounts…. The incident ultimately affected more than a million accounts before Google successfully contained it. New research indicates, though, that the company’s fixes don’t go far enough.”

Business Insider: T-Mobile customers file class action lawsuits as investigation finds 53 million affected by data breach. “The number of users whose personal information might have been compromised in a recent cyber attack of T-Mobile has climbed to 53 million, as the telecommunication company is hit by a pair of class-action lawsuits. T-Mobile announced Friday it had discovered that another 5.3 million current customers and 667,000 former customers also had their information stolen.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

National Institute of Standards and Technology: Common Solar Tech Can Power Smart Devices Indoors, NIST Study Finds . “We usually think of solar, or photovoltaic (PV), cells fixed to roofs, converting sunlight into electricity, but bringing that technology indoors could further boost the energy efficiency of buildings and energize swaths of wireless smart technologies such as smoke alarms, cameras and temperature sensors, also called Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Now, a study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that a straightforward approach for capturing light indoors may be within reach.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

HackADay: Spiffy Summer Project Sources Solar Sounds From Scraps. “[Gijs Gieskes] has a long history of producing electronic art and sound contraptions, and his Zonneliedjes (sunsongs) project is certainly an entertaining perpetuation of his sonic creations. With the stated goal of making music from sunlight, the sunsongs most prominent feature is solar panels.” Good evening, Internet…

August 22, 2021 at 05:14AM
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Maine Hurricane Evacuation, Google Health, The Social Dilemma, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021

Maine Hurricane Evacuation, Google Health, The Social Dilemma, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

WMTW: Maine launches new hurricane evacuation dashboard. “The state of Maine has launched a new tool in the event a serious hurricane were to ever hit Maine. It is an online evacuation dashboard. Anyone can use the dashboard to get up-to-date information about the track of storms and directions if there is a need to evacuate.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Becker’s Health IT: Google dismantling health division as chief departs for Cerner. “Google is dissolving its health division as its chief, David Feinberg, MD, departs for Cerner, according to an Aug. 20 Insider report.”

Mashable: Netflix just put hit documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ on YouTube for free. “If you love a good Netflix documentary exposing the truth about the dangers of AI and social media, you might have already seen The Social Dilemma. If you haven’t, you can now watch it for free.”

USEFUL STUFF

KnowTechie: This Google Chrome extension can walk back Twitter’s design changes. “Earlier this month, Twitter released a new design update that changed a few things. As usual, people had mixed feelings about the change, and many despised it entirely. If you were one of those that hate the changes, there is a Google Chrome extension that will revert the changes back to normal.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Verge: Roblox is struggling to moderate re-creations of mass shootings. “For over a year, Anti-Defamation League researcher Daniel Kelley has been finding re-creations of a horrific mass shooting on Roblox — and every time he looks, he says he finds more. Kelley told The Verge it’s happened three times: first in January 2020, then again in May 2021. The most recent incident came on August 13th, as he was preparing a presentation on how to report offending content.”

Federal News Network: NIH team creating new data tool that tracks federal employee perceptions and demographics. “Several agencies have said they’re craving more data that will paint a better intersectional picture of the federal workforce — how women of color or Hispanic supervisors and leaders, for example, are feeling about their agencies and jobs. Current federal survey data doesn’t tell those stories, and some agencies can only collect certain demographic data about their employees on a voluntary basis, a point that Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget leaders have acknowledged is a challenge.”

Ars Technica: iPhone keyboard for blind to shut down as maker cites Apple “abuse” of developers . “An iPhone keyboard for blind users will be discontinued, according to the app’s developer, who alleges that ‘Apple has thrown us obstacle after obstacle for years while we try to provide an app to improve people’s lives.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Taliban reportedly seize biometrics devices used by US military. “The Taliban have reportedly seized biometrics devices used by the US military that could help identify Afghan nationals who worked for the US government and aided coalition forces, raising concerns the Taliban could use the information to retaliate in the wake of the collapse of the US-backed government.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Wired: Now That Machines Can Learn, Can They Unlearn?. “A nascent area of computer science dubbed machine unlearning seeks ways to induce selective amnesia in artificial intelligence software. The goal is to remove all trace of a particular person or data point from a machine learning system, without affecting its performance. If made practical, the concept could give people more control over their data and the value derived from it.”

Pew (PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!): More Americans now say government should take steps to restrict false information online than in 2018. “Amid rising concerns over misinformation online – including surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, especially vaccines – Americans are now a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online. And a majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking such action, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.” Good afternoon, Internet…

August 21, 2021 at 11:59PM
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Afghanistan Casualties, TikTok, iCivics, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021

Afghanistan Casualties, TikTok, iCivics, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 21, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

USA Today: The people behind the numbers in Afghanistan. “At least 2,443 American service members have died in operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel. More than 3,800 U.S. contractors and Defense Department civilians have been killed. At least 47,000 Afghan citizens, and about 66,000 Afghan military and police members, died, as well as 1,144 allied troops. Even more staggering are the numbers of American warriors who returned home with injuries both seen and unseen. Over 30,000 active duty personnel and war veterans of post-9/11 conflicts are estimated to have died by suicide—four times the number that died in combat. As this war comes to an end, USA TODAY honors the men and women in uniform from every corner of our country who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: TikTok’s Just-Launched SiriusXM Station Marks Sonic Extension Of Its ‘For You Page’. “TikTok Radio, as the station is called, will also feature guest-hosting gigs by top native TikTokers and music superstars who boast a substantial following on the platform. These figures will host Creator Invasion, including Alex Warren, Ashnikko, Bella Poarch, Dillon Francis, Dixie D’Amelio, Ed Sheeran, Just Stef, JXDN, Lil Nas X, Loren Gray, Noah Beck, Normani, Spencer X, Tai Verdes, and Walker Hayes.”

Larry Ferlazzo: iCivics Upgrades Its Site & Adds New Features. “iCivics made a number of changes to their site this month, and added some features. I’ve often posted about its different activities, though this year will be the first time I expect to be trying out many of them since I’m teaching ELLs U.S. Government for the first time.”

9to5 Google: Neat tool replaces Google Discover w/ Google Now-like ‘Snapshot’ on rooted Android phones. “Kieron Quinn, a fairly well-known Android developer and tinkerer, this week revealed a new tool that’s been in the works for some time called ‘Discover Killer.’ The tool, true to its name, can turn off Google Discover on your homescreen or replace it with something you prefer.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on Popular Posts. “In that report, a copy of which was provided to The Times, the most-viewed link was a news article with a headline suggesting that the coronavirus vaccine was at fault for the death of a Florida doctor. The report also showed that a Facebook page for The Epoch Times, an anti-China newspaper that spreads right-wing conspiracy theories, was the 19th-most-popular page on the platform for the first three months of 2021.”

CNET: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube face content challenges as Afghanistan falls. “A CNN reporter stands in front of a photo of a helicopter flying over the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, a city that has fallen into chaos. Underneath the image, a caption states: ‘Violent but mostly peaceful transfer of power.’ The image, supposedly a screengrab of the network, circulated widely on Facebook, Twitter and other social media, prompting questions about its authenticity. How could the transfer be considered peaceful, some wondered. Was the language meant to be satire? Turns out the image was fake.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: How to stop a hate raid. “Hate raids happen with little warning. A streamer will get a follow notification and instead of feeling joy that a new person has joined their community, dread sets in as their chat suddenly erupts into an uncontrollable geyser of hateful messages. Hate raids have infested Twitch over the last few weeks, primarily targeting marginalized streamers making life on the platform so miserable many are considering abandoning it altogether.” An infuriating example of a user community relying on itself after the parent company fails to deliver. Remember, Twitch is owned by Amazon. And Amazon was sitting on something like $68 billion in cash reserves as of January. This is not a case of a scrappy startup not having the resources.

Engadget: T-Mobile says data for 6 million additional customers was compromised in breach. “T-Mobile says millions more people have been impacted by its recent data breach than initially believed. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said an additional 6 million or so accounts were affected, taking the total to more than 54 million.”

Ubergizmo: Fire Exit Locks Recalled After Faulty Firmware Prevents Them From Opening. “Doors open and close, and almost never do they fail to do that unless there’s something physically preventing it from happening. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case with around 2,400 fire locks that have been recalled in the US. This is because due to faulty firmware, it prevented the doors from opening.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

BuzzFeed News: A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out To Be Based On Fake Data. “A landmark study that endorsed a simple way to curb cheating is going to be retracted nearly a decade later after a group of scientists found that it relied on faked data. According to the 2012 paper, when people signed an honesty declaration at the beginning of a form, rather than the end, they were less likely to lie.”

Mashable: Facebook report claims decline in hate speech. Experts want more info.. “A report says hate speech is declining on Facebook. The problem? The report is from Facebook. And activists say it’s missing valuable context, data, and transparency. ‘This report fails to answer simple questions we have been asking for years: How much hate speech is there on Facebook? How many users are exposed to it?’ Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told Mashable.”

The Conversation: Is it actually false, or do you just disagree? Why Twitter’s user-driven experiment to tackle misinformation is complicated. “Despite the many factors that influence how individuals identify misleading information, there is still much to be learned from how large groups come to identify what seems misleading. Such data, if made available in some capacity, have great potential to benefit the science of misinformation. And combined with moderation and objective fact-checking approaches, it might even help the platform mitigate the spread of misinformation.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Hackaday: Dedicated Box Makes YouTube More TV-Like. “[Exposed Wire] is a huge fan of YouTube and consumes a lot of content. If that sounds familiar, maybe you should build a dedicated YouTube box, too. You get to push buttons, there’s LEDs, and you can take a break from other screens to look at this one for a while. [Exposed Wire] wanted to make it easier to watch the latest videos from their favorite creators, but we would argue that this is more fun, too.” This would be just the thing for a someone with dementia. The controls are buttons that link to specific channels, and there’s a large image/icon beside each button. Good morning, Internet…

August 21, 2021 at 05:33PM
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