New researches

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Southeast Native Radio, Federal Infrastructure Funding, Archaeology Search Engine, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, May 24, 2022

Southeast Native Radio, Federal Infrastructure Funding, Archaeology Search Engine, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, May 24, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Raven Radio: Southeast Native Radio aired for just 16 years, but its voices will live on in a new digital archive . “Southeast Native Radio was broadcast over KTOO in Juneau for 16 years, from 1985 to 2001. The volunteer-produced show played as current affairs at the time, but twenty-one years later it’s become a window into the lives of the people and events that shaped Native culture in the region over the last century.”

Route Fifty: New Online Hub to Help Cities Apply for Federal Infrastructure Funding. “The Local Infrastructure Hub is bringing together public sector groups and nonprofits to help local leaders navigate the complicated Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act application process in order to win grants. Experts will provide free coaching, data analysis and support, among other things, in developing the applications.”

I found this resource in February but it wasn’t quite ready for public release. It was ready in March, but then the notice got lost in my email. Without any FURTHER ado, from Phys .org: Researcher develops Google for archaeologists. “An incredible quantity of archaeological reports are stored in digital archives. If you want to search for information in them, you have to do this manually. And that is a real chore. Archaeologist Alex Brandsen has now used deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to develop a search engine that can search very precisely through all the data.” You can access the engine at http://agnessearch.nl/ . The interface is in Dutch but Google Translate handles it well.

Vermont Public Radio: The ACLU wants Vermonters to get to know their elected prosecutors. “The ACLU of Vermont is launching an online database to inform voters about their candidates for upcoming state’s attorney elections. The website features detailed profiles on every county’s current incumbent. Each profile includes publicly-available written policies, contact information, and links to learn more.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk’s Planned Twitter Takeover Creates a ‘Chaos Tax’ for Employees. “It is a tricky time to work at Twitter. Far beyond the usual uncertainty at an acquisition target, Mr. Musk’s $44 billion takeover deal has left employees bewildered about what their jobs are and will be, as well as how to keep operating a platform with around 229 million daily users while its would-be owner uses it to publicly assail the company for everything from its free-speech policies to its business model.”

The Register: The Return of Gopher: Pre-web hypertext service is still around. “An announcement about a new handheld games console a few days ago caused confusion, because it was online but not on the web. It was published on Gopher.”

USEFUL STUFF

How-To Geek: Your iPhone Pro Has LiDAR: 7 Cool Things You Can Do With It. “Some high-end iPhone and iPad models have a LiDAR scanner integrated into the camera module on the back of the device. This effectively gives your device 3D scanning abilities with a few unique and interesting applications.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Boing Boing: Adam Savage rants about Google Search. “This video is posted as Adam Savage’s ‘rant on laser printers’ but it’s really about how dreadful Google’s search engine is nowadays. He hopped online to research his way to a nice new ‘large format laser printer’ and found the site useless: the results are a mix of ads, low-quality referral roundups (‘click to see price!’) and incoherent nonsense he suspects is procedurally generated.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Sky News: Facial recognition company Clearview AI fined £7.5m for illegally using images of Brits scraped from online. “Facial recognition company Clearview AI has been fined more than £7.5m by the UK’s privacy watchdog for collecting the facial images of people in Britain from the web and social media.”

The Verge: Google will start distributing a security-vetted collection of open-source software libraries. “Google announced a new initiative Tuesday aimed at securing the open-source software supply chain by curating and distributing a security-vetted collection of open-source packages to Google Cloud customers.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PsyPost: New research links deepfake pornography to psychopathic tendencies. “New research provides evidence that psychopathic personality traits are associated with the creation and dissemination of deepfake pornography. The findings have been published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.”

NewsWise: Body cameras, live streaming bring search and rescue into the next generation. “New digital tools developed and tested at Simon Fraser University have the potential to revolutionize wilderness search and rescue efforts. Developed at the SFU School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), the RescueCASTR system equips rescuers with 360-degree body cameras that send video and photos back live to a central command post.” Good morning, Internet…

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May 24, 2022 at 05:27PM
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Monday, May 23, 2022

Asian Studies Digital Collection, NextDoor, Apple, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 23, 2022

Asian Studies Digital Collection, NextDoor, Apple, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 23, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Georgia Southern University: Georgia Southern launches Asian Studies Digital collection, celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May. “The archive provides a curated collection of multidisciplinary resources in support of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the United States. Contributions are curated from Digital Commons, the University’s open-access institutional repository, and highlight Georgia Southern’s scholarly and cultural assets related to the Asian Studies minor. The collection represents faculty and student research, books, videos, community resources and campus events.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BusinessWire: Nextdoor announces first API partnership with Microsoft to deliver hyperlocal neighborhood content to users (PRESS RELEASE). “Going forward, trending public posts from Nextdoor will be integrated directly into Microsoft properties, delivering engaging local neighborhood content to Microsoft users in the United States. For example, people using Microsoft Bing, Microsoft Start Feed, or MSN in their preferred city will be able to view Nextdoor content for that specific area.”

TechCrunch: Apple adds live captions to iPhone and Mac, plus more accessibility upgrades to come. “Apple has released a bevy of new accessibility features for iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac, including a universal live captioning tool, improved visual and auditory detection modes, and iOS access to WatchOS apps. The new capabilities will arrive ‘later this year’ as updates roll out to various platforms.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: How to Create Stories on TikTok. “Previously popularized by apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, Stories has now made it to TikTok. A new update now allows users of the video-focused social networking service to post images and videos that will stay on the app for 24 hours before being deleted. This article shows how you can get started with your first Story on TikTok.”

Engadget: The best online resources for cooking at all skill levels. “Be it beginner how-tos or deep-dive YouTube videos, we hope this list of Engadget staff favorites will get you started on your path to culinary confidence. Oh, and if you’re ever confused about measurements, a tool like this recipe converter is a good reference to keep on your bookmarks tab.” Let me recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/BerylShereshewsky as another cooking channel. Beryl Shereshewsky tries recipes crowdsourced from all over the world and presents it all with a friendly, kind vibe. Happy little foods.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Voxy (New Zealand): Twenty-eight publishers join NPA’s collective bargaining with Google and Facebook. “Twenty-eight publishers have to date chosen to join the News Publishers’ Association’s (NPA) collective bargaining initiative to seek fair payment from Google and Facebook for the use of Kiwi journalism on their platforms. The diverse group of publishers employ New Zealand journalists across more than 100 titles, providing valuable national and local news to the community.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

PC Magazine: Google: A Spyware Company Exploited 5 Chrome, Android Zero-Days in 2021. “One spyware company exploited at least five zero-day vulnerabilities—four in the Chrome browser and one in the Android operating system—throughout 2021, according to Google. The company’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) says the spyware maker in question is a North Macedonian firm known as Cytrox.”

TorrentFreak: Bogus DMCA Notices Sent to Google By Fake Google….To Protect Google?. “If the title of this article has caused any confusion, please direct any blame towards the architects of some of the most absurd DMCA abuses of recent times. People with an apparent interest in delisting Android APK sites are sending bogus DMCA notices in Google’s name, ostensibly to protect Google’s rights. Who are they sending them to? Google, of course.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Ars Technica: Citizen scientists help discover more than 1,000 new asteroids. “On International Asteroid Day in 2019, a group of research institutions launched a program that could make a deep impact on our knowledge of the diminutive bodies. Using citizen science to train a machine-learning algorithm, the Hubble Asteroid Hunter project identified more than 1,000 new asteroids; the discoveries could help scientists better understand the ring of heavenly bodies that primarily float between Mars and Jupiter.”

CNET: VR Exercise Games Could Offer Hope for Delaying Dementia. “Virtual reality exergaming has exploded in popularity in recent years, with more people getting a workout by using PlayStation VR or Oculus headsets and playing games like Beat Saber and Supernatural. Less known is the impact VR exergaming may have on improving cognitive function in older adults. Growing research, however, suggests VR exergaming, or ‘gamercising,’ may help slow cognitive decline, which could have a major impact on the health and quality of life for seniors.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 24, 2022 at 12:34AM
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Facebook Update, May 23, 2022

Facebook Update, May 23, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Meta freezes hiring for shopping team, Messenger Kids, and other products. “Meta is pulling back its investments in a number of products, including the teams it spun up early in the pandemic to compete with Zoom and build shopping features, The Verge has learned. In addition to a hiring freeze for certain engineering roles, the company also recently paused the hiring of recruiters and low-level data scientists.”

New York Times: Meta to give researchers more information on political ad targeting.. “Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said that it planned to give outside researchers more detailed information on how political ads are targeted across its platform, providing insight into the ways that politicians, campaign operatives and political strategists buy and use ads ahead of the midterm elections.”

CNET: Facebook and Instagram Turn Off AR Filters In Texas and Illinois. “Meta has turned off augmented reality filters for Facebook and Instagram in Texas and Illinois due to facial recognition and privacy laws in those states.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Buffalo gunman’s video is surfacing on Facebook, sometimes with ads beside it.. “People searching on Facebook for footage of Saturday’s racist shooting rampage in Buffalo, N.Y., may have come across posts with footage of the attack or links to websites promising the gunman’s full video. Interspersed between those posts, they may have also seen a variety of ads. The social network has sometimes served ads next to posts offering clips of the video, which a gunman live streamed on the video platform Twitch as he killed 10 people.”

CNET: Meta Doesn’t Want Employees to Discuss Abortion at Work, Report Says. “Meta employees have been told not to discuss abortion on Workplace, the company’s internal version of Facebook, The Verge reported Friday. An executive apparently said doing so could lead to the company being seen a ‘hostile work environment’ following the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion indicating that the court will overturn Roe v. Wade next month.”

CNET: Facebook Says Content Was Mistakenly Pulled Down Because of a Bug. “Facebook parent company Meta said Tuesday that a bug resulted in content getting mistakenly pulled down in the first three months of this year. The social media giant said it fixed the problem and restored posts that were incorrectly flagged for violating its rules, including against terrorism and organized hate.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Washington Post: The midterms are here. Critics say Facebook is already behind.. “Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent recently claimed ‘rampant voter fraud’ in the 2020 election in an ad on Facebook — a misinformation problem Facebook has tried to correct. The ad, which ran in mid-May as part of the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate’s race to win Washington state’s 3rd District, was one of several by the campaign to go undetected by Facebook’s system designed to remove false claims that the election results are invalid, according to a Washington Post analysis of Facebook’s ad library.”

Washington Post: Facebook quietly bankrolled small, grassroots groups to fight its battles in Washington. “Backed by millions from Facebook-parent company Meta, American Edge has launched a full-throated campaign to combat antitrust legislation in Washington, placing op-eds in regional papers throughout the country, commissioning studies, and collaborating with a surprising array of partners, including minority business associations, conservative think tanks, and former national security officials. It’s a political playbook more common to other industries, including pharmaceuticals, tobacco and telecommunications. But tech companies, under heightened scrutiny from federal regulators, are seizing on these methods. (Meta also paid a GOP consulting firm to malign TikTok, The Post reported in March.)”

TechCrunch: Meta faces years of tougher antitrust oversight in Germany. “Facebook’s rebranded parent, Meta, has become the next tech giant to be confirmed as subject to a special competition abuse control regime in Germany, following a 2021 update to its digital competition rules that are focused on large digital companies which are considered to be of ‘paramount significance for competition across markets’, as the law puts it. The designation, which stands for five years, empowers the regulator, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), to take faster action to respond to competition concerns linked to Meta’s operations by imposing operational conditions intended to correct antitrust abuses.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: Facebook Dating was set to take over the market – instead it was dead in the water. “As an online dating technology researcher, I had an eye on Facebook Dating since its announcement. But as I never heard anything about its market success, it took me a while to look into it. Now, I think I have a good idea why the app failed.”

NiemanLab: What’s working for local TV stations on Facebook? Posting early, killing hashtags, skipping sports. “… what local TV stations publish on Facebook is important. They retain generally high levels of trust, and they’re reaching an audience that might not be seeking out much other news on digital platforms. That power can, of course, be used for good or for ill. It’s also the subject of a new paper which examines how local TV stations use their Facebook prominence — and what works for them in terms of making content that spreads.”

Motherboard: Facebook’s New AI System Has a ‘High Propensity’ for Racism and Bias. “Facebook and its parent company, Meta, recently released a new tool that can be used to quickly develop state-of-the-art AI. But according to the company’s researchers, the system has the same problem as its predecessors: It’s extremely bad at avoiding results that reinforce racist and sexist stereotypes.”

May 23, 2022 at 08:22PM
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Ukrainian Tech Workers, Sanctions and Ecommerce, Cultural Warfare, More: Ukraine Update, May 23, 2022

Ukrainian Tech Workers, Sanctions and Ecommerce, Cultural Warfare, More: Ukraine Update, May 23, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Washington Post: Inside Ukraine’s new start-up life: Hallways, closets, bunkers. “Nearly three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s once booming tech community is trying to rebound back to life. As the war continues, tech founders and their employees have settled into new routines, working amid bombs, gunshots and air raid sirens. They build Power Points, take meetings and write emails and pitch decks from apartment hallways, bedroom closets and underground bunkers, trying to meet work deadlines regardless of the circumstances.”

The Guardian: Cosmopolitan no more: Russians feel sting of cultural and economic rift. “Three months into the war, Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world, and almost 1,000 foreign brands – the majority of them voluntarily – have curtailed their operations there, according to records kept by the Yale School of Management. The exodus of companies continued this week with McDonald’s officially announcing it would leave Russia after three decades.”

Associated Press: New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation. “Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer automatically recommend or emphasize posts that make misleading claims about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including material that mischaracterizes conditions in conflict zones or makes false allegations of war crimes or atrocities against civilians.”

USEFUL STUFF

Search Engine Journal: How To Optimize YouTube Videos To Help Ukraine. “Optimize YouTube videos to #standwithukraine by incorporating video SEO best practices. Find tips for keyword research, custom thumbnails, and more.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

14 East: Cultural Warfare Continues Through Classical Music with Russia, Ukraine War. “The dirt scuffs up against the soles of Kharkiv-based violinist Vira Lytovchenko’s shoes as she walks across her basement floor to a lonely chair to practice. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, musicians across Ukraine have been forced to adapt while the rest of the world embarks on cultural warfare — the use of the arts as a cultural weapon.”

The Diplomat: How the War in Ukraine is Accelerating India’s Desire for Tech Autonomy. “In India, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stipulated a loss of trust in both Russian and Western sources of technology as well as a new alertness over any major technological dependence on one partner country. New Delhi’s reinforced belief in self-reliance, or Atmanirbhar Bharat, might in the short run compromise its economic growth, but India’s domestic consensus for technological strategic autonomy is here to stay.”

Yale News: Zelenskyy calls on universities to help rebuild Ukraine’s higher ed system. “On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with presidents, chancellors, and provosts from America’s leading research universities — including Yale President Peter Salovey — to discuss his vision for rebuilding Ukraine’s higher education system, and how educators can help in the days and months ahead. The event, which was held over Zoom, was organized by the Association of American Universities (AAU).”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Gizmodo: This Russian Botnet Is Capable of Manipulating Social Media Trends on a ‘Massive Scale,’ Report Claims. “A new report claims that a subcontractor working for Russia’s intelligence service has a botnet capable of manipulating trends on social media platforms on a ‘massive scale.’ The report, published Thursday by the cybersecurity firm Nisos, alleges that the Moscow-based firm 0day Technologies can spread disinformation at a frightening rate using a customizable suite that is tied to a malicious network. The company has previously worked with the Federal Security Service, one of Russia’s primary intelligence agencies.”

Bleeping Computer: Russian Sberbank says it’s facing massive waves of DDoS attacks. “Russia’s banking and financial services company Sberbank is being targeted in a wave of unprecedented hacker attacks. Earlier this month, the bank fought off the largest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in its history. Sergei Lebed, vice president and director of cybersecurity at Sberbank, told the audience participating at the Positive Hack Days conference that thousands of internet users have been attacking the organization over the past months.”

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group: Russia uses abducted Ukrainians for propaganda video claiming Ukraine is bombing ‘liberated’ Melitopol. “Almost a month after Russian soldiers seized Ihor Artyomenko from his home in occupied Melitopol, he and five other abducted Ukrainians have appeared in a Russian propaganda video. It is near certain that the men gave their supposed ‘confessions’ under torture or other forms of duress, with the video yet another extraordinary attempt by Russia to try against all evidence, to blame the Ukrainian Armed Forces for its bombing and shelling of civilians.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Vox EU: Russia’s e-commerce trade in the aftermath of the 2022 invasion: Evidence from high-frequency data. “Whether economic sanctions against Russia have real effects has been increasingly called into question. This column suggests that changes in e-commerce can demonstrate whether and how the 2022 Western sanctions contributed to de-linking Russia from the West. An analysis of trends in cross-border international online retail based on digitally recorded daily transactions data from 2,288 international and Russian companies shows substantial declines in Russia’s e-commerce transactions. About five weeks after the war started, revenues from e-commerce imports to Russia had fallen by half, with no signs of compensation by Russian retailers in the sample studied.”

Diálogo Americas: Russia Leads the Way in Disinformation Campaigns, Study Finds. “Russia is the leading promoter of disinformation, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) that analyzed public Twitter datasets. Iran, China, and Venezuela also ranked high in the March 30 report, Understanding Global Disinformation and Information Operations. The study analyzed Twitter messages sent by state actors of various countries between October 2018 and March 2021. The think tank’s researchers analyzed the activities and content of Twitter-banned accounts within 90 days of an account previous tweet.”

May 23, 2022 at 06:37PM
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Bronisław Piłsudski, Milan Cathedral, Africa Food Security, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 23, 2022

Bronisław Piłsudski, Milan Cathedral, Africa Food Security, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 23, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

The First News: Extraordinary life of Józef Piłsudski’s older brother told in new website. “The extraordinary life of Józef Piłsudski’s older brother Bronisław is showcased in the first website dedicated to the man many regarded as a real king…. After being exiled to Sakhalin Island in the far east of the Russian Empire, Bronisław soon learned the language of one of the most mysterious peoples in the world, the Ainu, and set about documenting the life and culture of the island’s people.”

Google Blog: Milan Cathedral, up close and beautiful. “Milan Cathedral Remixed was made possible by Google Arts & Culture technology, in partnership with the Veneranda Fabbrica. This ambitious digitization project led to the capture of more than 50 stained glass windows in high resolution, bringing the Google Art Camera to a dizzying height of 30 meters. This captured the details of more than 2,000 stained glass window panels, many of which can’t be seen from ground level.”

PR Newswire: New Agricultural Data Tool Can Help Fight the Growing Food Crisis in Africa (PRESS RELEASE). “The Food Security Tracker for Africa provides free access to real-time data about the supply and demand of major crops, including corn, soy, wheat, and rice for African countries. By combining data on drought, crop conditions, prices, supply and demand all in one place, users will be able to develop more effective solutions and emergency response plans to the growing shortages of key agricultural commodities across the continent.”

The Verge: DeviantArt is expanding its system for flagging stolen NFT art. “DeviantArt is expanding its tool for detecting ripped-off crypto art, offering it to artists outside the platform. DeviantArt Protect, which launched last year for art posted on the site, will now be available for work that isn’t hosted there as well. Users can upload copies of art to Protect and have it matched against non-fungible token (or NFT) images minted to one of several public blockchains. If an identical or near-identical match is detected, they’ll receive an alert and can send takedown requests to major NFT markets like OpenSea.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

NBC News: Celebrity-endorsed NFTs leave some investors ‘financially crippled’. “It’s a pattern that crypto critics, watchdogs and even some influencers point to as an ongoing problem: digital investments riding a wave of NFT enthusiasm and backed by high-profile endorsements that quickly lose value. In some cases, in the crypto world, it’s what’s known as a ‘rug pull.’ But more broadly, ad transparency experts warn, public figures are promoting NFTs often without having done due diligence or warning their fans about the serious financial risks.”

CNET: Google Maps’ New Feature Lets You Visit Restaurants From Home. “Google has a new feature for its Maps app that it’s rolling out this year called Immersive View — and it takes Street View to a new level. It works by using billions of photos to model buildings and trees in 3D using machine learning. Once it becomes available, you’ll be able to experience what a restaurant, neighborhood, landmark or popular venue is like, as if you’re already there.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New York Times Magazine: The ‘E-Pimps’ of OnlyFans . “Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll encounter young people engaged in all sorts of schemes: running drop-shipping companies, minting NFTs, pumping crypto, selling real estate in the metaverse. Many are based in Miami. It’s a place where young marketing types have embraced a vision of what the internet is actually for that is at odds with Silicon Valley’s: less a utopian escape from reality than an infinite expansion of its strip malls.”

Resnicow and Associates: Howard University Acquires Extensive Collection of Gordon Parks Photographs Spanning Five Decades. “Howard University and The Gordon Parks Foundation today announced a historic acquisition of 252 photographs representing the arc of Gordon Parks’s career over five decades…. The Gordon Parks Legacy Collection, a combined gift and purchase, will be housed in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Canadian Press: Glut of social media posts, political divisiveness a challenge for content moderators. “Leigh Adams has seen a steady rise of material for review since she began moderating user comments on websites roughly 14 years ago, but she says the volume only exploded in the last few years as the content’s nature became so divisive there’s only one word for it: ‘Bonkers.’ Misinformation, trolling and worse has always existed online, but Adams says she saw a shift after the U.S. elected Donald Trump president in 2016 that reached a new height when George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, was killed in police custody in May 2020, fuelling racial tensions just as the world was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Vox EU: Using historical newspaper data to deal with measurement error. “Researchers typically collect newspaper-based data for use as outcome, treatment, or control variables in statistical analysis. This column argues that data generated from historical newspaper articles can also be used as a low-cost alternative for resolving measurement errors. The authors illustrate their framework by replicating two recent studies of how the boll weevil – a beetle that infests cotton crops – affected economic outcomes in the US South from 1892 to 1922.”

This Day Live (Nigeria): TETFund Targets Two Billion Pages of Research Materials. “The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has begun a two-billion pages drive to accelerate the ongoing digitisation of thesis across 100 least digitised institutions. Inaugurating the committee on yesterday in Abuja, the executive secretary, Sonny Echono, said the need for a National Academic Research Repository (NARR) necessitated the project, given that numerous research outputs were lying dormant in libraries across tertiary institutions in the country.”

VentureBeat: Can AI write an episode of Stargate? Google AI took on the challenge. “For the cult classic Stargate science fiction franchise, which spanned three series (SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe), character and plot development was helmed by Stargate co-creator Brad Wright. In 2021, Wright publicly posted a message on Twitter asking if it was possible for AI to write an episode of Stargate that would appear on SciFi insider site The Companion. None other than Laurence Moroney, AI lead at Google, responded by picking up the gauntlet to try and prove what AI could do.– though he wasn’t initially worried that AI would replace him or other writers.” Good morning, Internet…

May 23, 2022 at 05:29PM
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Sunday, May 22, 2022

Old Laptop Recycling, Shadowsocks, Singapore Social Media Shenanigans, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 22, 2022

Old Laptop Recycling, Shadowsocks, Singapore Social Media Shenanigans, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 22, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

USEFUL STUFF

Slashgear: 12 Best Uses For Old Laptops. “If you’re the kind of person who just can’t seem to let go of old tech, don’t despair, but do check on your closet-dwelling laptop. There’s a chance that the chemical reactions in the battery have gone rogue, resulting in an explosion or a fire just waiting to happen. Multiple manufacturers have experienced swelling batteries over recent years and that’s a concern, even if your laptop hasn’t been plugged in for some time. Once you’ve ensured your old laptop isn’t plotting your imminent demise, you can start considering what you want to do with it.”

How-To Geek: How to Set Up Shadowsocks With Outline. “Shadowsocks is a powerful tool that can help you escape censorship, in particular the Great Firewall of China. As much as we like it, though, setting it up can be a bit tricky, which is why we’ve put together this guide on how to install Shadowsocks using an open-source program called Outline.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Star (Malaysia): Social media accounts of Singapore political leaders spammed by supporters of banned Indonesian preacher. “The social media accounts of a number of political leaders and government agencies in Singapore have been spammed by supporters of an Indonesian preacher who was denied entry into Singapore on Monday, CNA has reported.”

BuzzFeed News: TikTok Star Charles Gross Doesn’t Want To Be Messy For The Content Anymore. “Charles Gross may have built his entire social media persona around luxury fashion, but he wanted to lunch at a chain restaurant you’d find in an airport. From the videos he posts to his 1 million TikTok followers, I’d expected he’d choose the kind of hydrangea-filled French café that makes you pay for water and air, rather than Le Pain Quotidien (the harder-to-pronounce version of Panera Bread).”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WBUR: Extremists exploit gaming networks and social media to recruit and radicalize. “Alex Newhouse, deputy director at the Middlebury Institute Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, points out that the violence is not linked to the games themselves…. The problem, he says, is that the last two decades made it clear that games are social networks, not just content. With video games and the internet come platforms built to facilitate social interaction and relationships.”

ABC News: Dutch leader faces pressure over old-school text messages. “Mark Rutte is facing unusual political and public pressure after revelations that he has been deleting text messages about official matters for years. Critics accuse him of concealing state activity – but he says the messages just took up too much space in his years-old Nokia phone.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NiemanLab: Do browser extensions keep anyone away from fake news sites? Maybe a tiny bit. “As more companies and platforms adopt ways to figure out whether fact-checking, flagging questionable content, or some other form of alert works best to dissuade people from consuming misinformation, a new study finds that credibility ratings for news sites may offer a tiny ray of hope — if users actually use them.”

The Conversation: Social media can be a force for good in a crisis: lessons from Lagos. “We set out to assess the role that social media played in driving public engagement with Covid health measures in Lagos, Nigeria. We analysed public engagement on Twitter between January and August 2020 that related to the city’s lockdown protocols. One of our key findings was that the public responded most to public health information being shared by prominent individual social media influencers. These included sportspeople, comedians, musicians and business-people.”

Envirotech Online: Gemini Data Loggers sponsors Low Energy Buildings Database. “The Low Energy Buildings Database is the leading publicly accessible database on sustainable buildings and building practices in the UK. Gemini Data Loggers, manufacturer of the Tinytag range of data loggers, is sponsoring a project by AECB (Association for Environment Conscious Building) to upgrade the platform into an international repository for low energy buildings.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Hack A Day: Bi-Color Filament Kicks 3D Printed Optical Illusions Up A Notch. “A new video from [Make Anything] shows off a nice combo that has a real visual impact: ambiguous shapes that look different depending on what angle they are viewed at, combined with an unusual filament that enhances the effect greatly.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 23, 2022 at 01:10AM
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First Book Printed in Ukraine, Irish Archive Reconstruction, Census Undercounts, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, May 22, 2022

First Book Printed in Ukraine, Irish Archive Reconstruction, Census Undercounts, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, May 22, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Aleteia: The first book ever printed in Ukraine was this illustrated Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. “A priceless piece of Ukrainian Christian history, preserved for the better part of 500 years, is one of the latest exhibits to enter the world of digital art. Titled Apostol, or Apostolos, the work contains the texts of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. It was digitized and placed online for the world to view thanks to the Bodleian Library…. According to Bodleian, this is the first book that was ever printed in L’viv, Ukraine, between 1564 and 1581.”

The Guardian: Seven centuries of Irish archives painstakingly recreated after being destroyed in civil war. “In June 1922, the opening battle of Ireland’s civil war destroyed one of Europe’s great archives in a historic calamity that reduced seven centuries of documents and manuscripts to ash and dust. Now, on the eve of the disaster’s centenary, a virtual reconstruction of the building and its archives is to be unveiled. Historians, archivists and computer scientists have spent five years piecing together much of what had been thought lost for ever.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

New York Times: The Enduring Afterlife of a Mass Shooting’s Livestream Online. “In a search spanning 24 hours this week, The New York Times identified more than 50 clips and online links with the Christchurch gunman’s 2019 footage. They were on at least nine platforms and websites, including Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, 4chan and the video site Rumble, according to The Times’s review…. The clips and links were not difficult to find, even though Facebook, Twitter and other platforms pledged in 2019 to eradicate the footage, pushed partly by public outrage over the incident and by world governments.”

NPR: These 14 states had significant miscounts in the 2020 census. “For the 2020 census, all states were not counted equally well for population numbers used to allocate political representation and federal funding over the next decade, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday. A follow-up survey the bureau conducted to measure the national tally’s accuracy found significant net undercount rates in six states: Arkansas (5.04%), Florida (3.48%), Illinois (1.97%), Mississippi (4.11%), Tennessee (4.78%) and Texas (1.92%).”

USEFUL STUFF

WIRED: How to Stay Informed Without Getting Paralyzed by Bad News. “Although technology can produce bad-news paralysis, online tools can also help you make productive contributions within your various roles. As an organization junkie who juggles four part-time jobs with college classes and a private life, here’s how I balance responsibilities.” Personally, I keep lots of tissues handy.

CNET: 10 Free Zoom Alternative Apps for Video Chats. “There are plenty of other video chatting options to use to stay in touch with friends, family and coworkers from around the globe. Below, you’ll find our ten favorite video conference and video chat apps that you can use for free right now. It should also be noted, however, that most of the apps listed here have seen security-related issues in the past, which the companies that own them (including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google) have since patched.”

MakeUseOf: 5 Apps and Extensions to Make Google Calendar Better and More Productive. “A free Google or Gmail account also gives you Google Calendar, making it one of the most popular calendar apps on the planet. While it is loaded with features, it’s not perfect. These free apps and extensions make Google Calendar better and more productive than ever before.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Search Engine Land: Google search results spam for ‘Bill Slawski obituary’ shows the dark side of SEO. “We reported yesterday the sad news that Bill Slawski has died. It’s less than 24 hours later and no actual obituary has been published (either by a news site or funeral home). Yet, Google’s search results are littered with spammy results.”

University of Oxford: 50-year project reveals new insights about the evolution and influence of Voltaire’s thought. “This important work by researchers from the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford has uncovered new insights about the evolution and influence of Voltaire’s thought…. The project team now plan to digitise the entire collection of Voltaire’s work to enable detailed analysis by scholars and researchers from all over the world. This new challenge aims to establish a new cutting-edge digital hub for the humanities in Oxford with a focus on digital research.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNBC: New bipartisan bill would force Google to break up its ad business. “Advertising is a huge part of parent company Alphabet’s business. In Q1, Alphabet reported $68.01 billion in revenue, $54.66 billion of which was generated by advertising — up from $44.68 billion the year prior. The bill would ban companies that process more than $20 billion annually in digital ad transactions from participating in more than one part of the digital ad process, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.”

Ars Technica: Researchers find backdoor lurking in WordPress plugin used by schools. “The premium version of School Management, a plugin schools use to operate and manage their websites, has contained the backdoor since at least version 8.9, researchers at website security service JetPack said in a blog post without ruling out that it had been present in earlier versions. This page from a third-party site shows that version 8.9 was released last August.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

USC Viterbi School of Engineering: Students improve mobile app accessibility for people with disabilities. “Although a growing number of people are dependent on their mobile devices for everyday obligations, developers seldom seek to make their apps accessible to people with disabilities. Mobile apps don’t often pay heed to accessibility guidelines and this can make it more difficult for people with motor disabilities and older individuals to use the app, or even prevent them from carrying out those everyday obligations. Enter Ali Alotaibi and Paul Chiou, two Viterbi Ph.D. students who want to make the process of redesigning apps for accessibility convenient, too.” Good morning, Internet…

May 22, 2022 at 05:36PM
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