New researches

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Revolutionary War-Era Books, Twitter, Blockchain, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 9, 2023

Revolutionary War-Era Books, Twitter, Blockchain, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 9, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Princeton University Library: Sidney Lapidus ’59 gift to Princeton University Library opens digital access to collection of rare Revolution-era books and publications. “The collection includes more than 2,700 original books, atlases, pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines relating to human and political rights, liberty, and independence around the time of the American Revolution. Lapidus also made a financial gift that enabled the PUL team to digitize the collection, making it keyword-searchable and openly available to the world.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

New York Times: Five Takeaways From the House G.O.P. Hearing With Former Twitter Executives . “House Republicans on Wednesday summoned former Twitter executives to answer to accusations that the social media platform has tried to silence voices on the right, but the hourslong hearing yielded new revelations about how the company failed to limit hateful speech or material that could incite violence, sometimes altering its own rules to avoid doing so.”

USEFUL STUFF

WIRED: The WIRED Guide to the Blockchain. “Even before the FTX scandal, the crypto industry was hit by a crisis of confidence, with crashing values sparking layoffs at industry leaders like Coinbase. Some may argue that this is the death throes of an idea that never really found its feet, but it may just be growing pains before cryptocurrencies and the distributed ledger that powers them settle down and find some real purpose.” The backgrounder and explainer I was missing.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bloomberg: TikTok Reveals Russian Disinformation Network Targeting European Users. “TikTok Inc. identified a Russian disinformation network spreading war propaganda about Ukraine to more than a hundred thousand European users over the summer, the company disclosed on Thursday.”

The Pitt News: ‘Meeting through eating’: New student-launched web app builds connections through food. “Potluck is now rebranding to Greatings, and the organization is launching a new website in March. Founded by students Avi Moses, Joe Slomowitz and Oliver Yao last year, users can join or create groups on the platform to meet up in person at a local eatery or brewery and socialize with new people.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: Elon Musk’s Twitter fails first EU disinformation test. “Tech firms were asked to provide hundreds of detailed numbers and data on how they tackle falsehoods and foreign interference on their platforms. But Elon Musk’s social network Twitter was the only tech company that provided an incomplete report, short of data and with no information on what its plan to cooperate with fact-checkers is, according to the European Commission.”

Stuff New Zealand: Massive government database had rules breached more than 100 times. “Rules regulating the use of a sprawling Government database containing personal information of about nearly every New Zealand resident have been breached more than 100 times, new data shows. Many of the breaches were minor, and Stats NZ – the agency responsible for the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) – said no individual’s privacy had been breached.”

Daily Beast: Thieves Have a New Target for Big Paydays: Political Groups. “It’s a mysterious crime wave that has cost its victims more than a million dollars. But unlike usual heists, this one is hitting political groups, with fraudsters in recent months targeting corporate PACs, national trade association committees, and campaigns. While there are no confirmed links yet between the incidents, federal filings indicate a surge in reported activity in 2022, as criminals have exploited vulnerabilities unique to political committees. And among a few targets, some patterns seem clear.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ABS-CBN News: DENR, PhilSA to create database of natural resources. ” The environment department and the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) are teaming up to create a database of natural resources. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and PhilSA on Monday signed a memorandum of agreement to use satellite imagery in the creation of the national environment and natural resources geospatial database.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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February 10, 2023 at 01:43AM
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Insect Genomes, Stable Attribution, Soilmates, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, February 9, 2023

Insect Genomes, Stable Attribution, Soilmates, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, February 9, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Farming Online: New insect genome database to boost nature friendly pest control. “A new database of 19 insect genomes encompassing some of the most damaging pests of crops worldwide has been made publicly available. It includes some of the most common pest threats faced by UK farmers including wireworm, cabbage stem flea beetle and pollen beetle, as well as other globally important species.”

Analytics India: Find the Real AI Artists with This Powerful New Tool . “[Stable Attribution] works on reverse engineering principles to extract the images that were used to create an AI image. The platform also allows attribution to the artists whose images were used for the creation.”

Joe: New app pairs food with ‘soilmates’ to help combat waste. “Swipe right – a new tool is helping the nation to combat food waste by finding ‘soilmates’ for their leftover veg. The site lets people choose the unwanted vegetables sitting in their fridge drawers and produces tasty and waste-free recipe suggestions which put them to good use.” I tried it briefly and it’s adorable.

Smithsonian Magazine: Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Designs Were Never Built. Here’s What They Might Have Looked Like . “Despite his celebrity status, less than half of Wright’s designs were ever built. Over the years, some of his existing works have been demolished. But now, Spanish architect David Romero is using computer-generated models to see what Wright’s unrealized structures might have looked like.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: Google will soon default to blurring explicit image search results. “Google has debuted a new default SafeSearch setting, somewhere between ‘on’ and ‘off,’ that automatically blurs explicit images in search results for most people.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

ABC News (Australia): Deepfake ‘news anchors’ appear in pro-China footage on social media, research group says . “The fake anchors – for a fictitious news outlet called Wolf News – were created by artificial intelligence software and appeared in footage on social media that seemed to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, US-based research firm Graphika said in its report.”

Engadget: Microsoft’s new Bing and Edge hands-on: Surprisingly well-integrated AI. “I was able to briefly check out a full demo here with Dena Saunders from Bing Engineering. It was nice to see everything at a more comprehensible pace, but it was unfortunately restricted to a set of scripted examples. I gained access to the preview version of Bing at about 2:15pm PT today, and also had to install the Developer channel version of Edge to see today’s new features.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Chicago Sun-Times: Feds’ child porn sweep on Telegram app leads to arrest of Chicago man, more than a dozen others. “The work of Homeland Security Investigations in Arizona, dubbed Operation Swipe Left, led to Norris ‘Nick’ Stauffer. It also resulted in criminal charges against more than a dozen people elsewhere — including at least two with political ties — amid allegations of livestreamed abuse, kidnapping threats and the production and distribution of child pornography.”

Reuters: Nigeria asks social media giants to curb fake news ahead of election. “Nigeria has asked Google and Meta to control the spread of fake news on their platforms ahead of a presidential election this month, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Friday. Nigerians go to the polls on Feb. 25 to elect a new president, with three frontrunners promising to deal with the rising cost of living, insecurity and a slow-growing economy.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Western University: Mapping the stories of formerly enslaved Black Londoners focus of new research. This is London Ontario, not London England. “In 1856, Benjamin Drew, a U.S. abolitionist, travelled to Canada to transcribe the oral stories of formerly enslaved Black refugees…. But what of their lives afterwards? With Drew’s accounts as their starting point, Western researchers Miranda Green-Barteet and Alyssa MacLean are working to trace the paths these self-liberated individuals took after arriving in London.”

University of Michigan: Robot: I’m sorry. Human: I don’t care anymore!. “Humans are less forgiving of robots after multiple mistakes—and the trust is difficult to get back, according to a new University of Michigan study.”

The Conversation: ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare. If you’ve ever posted online, you ought to be concerned. “ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Within two months of its release it reached 100 million active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application ever launched. Users are attracted to the tool’s advanced capabilities – and concerned by its potential to cause disruption in various sectors. A much less discussed implication is the privacy risks ChatGPT poses to each and every one of us.” Good morning, Internet…

February 9, 2023 at 06:32PM
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Wednesday, February 8, 2023

OSINT Flight Tracking, Clinton Administration Russia Policy, Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 8, 2023

OSINT Flight Tracking, Clinton Administration Russia Policy, Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 8, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Business Insider: The college student who tracks Elon Musk’s private jet is launching his own flight-tracking website. “Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old college student known for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet on social media, is launching his own jet-tracking website. Sweeney told Insider he decided to create the web-based public database after aviation data company JetNet announced last month that it had purchased ADS-B Exchange, a free website that tracks thousands of commercial aircraft around the world.”

National Security Archive: Launching the Clinton Administration Russia Policy in 1993. “With the Cold War coming to an end and the Soviet Union dissolving, President Bill Clinton was determined not to miss a historic opportunity to help Russia transform into a democratic capitalist state, according to a set of declassified State Department records published today by the National Security Archive.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

University of Washington: UW project has uncovered thousands of racially discriminatory housing covenants in Washington state – and it’s not done yet. “More than 40,000 property deeds containing racially discriminatory language have been uncovered in Western Washington by the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, and director James Gregory and his team aren’t finished yet.”

USEFUL STUFF

Spotted on Mastodon: a Google Sheet showing Twitter bots moving to Mastodon. Since Twitter is making its API a paid service, a lot of these bots will stop working on Twitter soon. There are over 110 listings at this writing.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Essence: Meet ‘Good Feed,’ The New Black-Owned Social Media Platform For Women, By Women. “Think YouTube meets Medium, but specifically for women. The new platform is described by its creator, media vet Joe Anthony, as an online home to write articles, share videos of varying lengths, and create episodic content that feel good.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Washington Post: U.S. government is not investigating Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase. “Federal authorities have no plans to open an investigation into Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter with help from foreign investors, according to two people aware of the matter, despite concerns from President Biden and the demands of a top Democratic senator worried about the social network’s international financial backers.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Tech Xplore: Teenagers want interactive technology in museums, research finds. “New research from the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) in Portugal has revealed that teenagers are not big fans of museums but are keen on interactive technology during their visits. Working with the Natural History Museum of Funchal, the research team conducted participatory design sessions with 155 teens aged 15 to 19, to better understand what would make for a great museum experience for them.”

Penn State: New AI tool helps provide better care to pregnant women in Kenya. “When compared to Jacaranda Health’s baseline AI model, TRIM-AI is roughly 17% more accurate at predicting high-risk medical conditions from text messages sent by new and expecting Kenyan mothers, which reduces the help-desk agents’ workload by approximately 12%. Their model also annotated messages more efficiently and accurately than human agents did.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

CNN: Codebreakers find and decode lost letters of Mary, Queen of Scots. “A trio of codebreakers has found and deciphered a treasure trove of lost letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots. The 57 secret letters, from Mary Stuart to the French ambassador to England between 1578 and 1584, were written in an elaborate code. The findings come 436 years after Mary’s death by execution on February 8, 1587.” Good afternoon, Internet…

February 9, 2023 at 01:04AM
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Stained Glass Artworks, California General Plans, National Palace Museum of Korea, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, February 8, 2023

Stained Glass Artworks, California General Plans, National Palace Museum of Korea, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, February 8, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Western University: Western researchers unveil stunning stained-glass artwork in online gallery. “From Western’s Law Library to city hall to one of the grandest cathedral churches in London, Ont., Christopher Wallis’ art shines, the brightly coloured panes illuminated by the sun pouring through the stained glass windows. But much about Wallis (1930-2021) and his art was unknown throughout his career…. At least until Cody Barteet stumbled upon thousands of images of stained glass from the Anglican Diocese of Huron and started digging.”

UC Davis: UC Davis Team Develops Online Tool to View General Plans Across California. “California law requires that each of the 482 cities and 58 counties develop and adopt a general plan, which is a comprehensive long-term plan for the development of those communities. But generally, there has been no one place to access those plans. The new database allows users to look at those plans in one place using search terms.”

Korea Bizwire: National Palace Museum of Korea Goes Online. “The National Palace Museum of Korea (NPMK) announced on Monday that it opened an online exhibition showroom enabling users to take a full glance at about 800 royal relics held at the museum. The online museum leveraged virtual reality (VR) technology to bring the museum’s seven permanent exhibition rooms into a virtual space.” Everything’s in Korean but Google Translate handles most of it. Tip: There’s an audio narration available. If you click on that and then choose subtitles, Google Translate will translate them for you so you can read while the lady talks.

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: THECB releases free college and career planning tool for families. “Tomorrow Ready Texas includes step-by-step action plans for families with teens in 8th through 12th grade. Families can customize these plans to match their child’s specific interests and goals, and stay on track with deadlines, milestones, and career goals. The free resource also includes specific information for families of students with disabilities.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Motherboard: AI-Generated ‘Seinfeld’ Show Banned on Twitch After Transphobic Standup Bit . “‘Nothing, Forever,’ the infinitely-generating AI version of Seinfeld that tens of thousands of people were watching has been banned for 14 days from Twitch after Larry Feinberg—a clone of Jerry Seinfeld—made transphobic statements during a standup bit late Sunday night.”

Search Engine Land: Google launches Bard, its answer to ChatGPT – here’s what it looks like. “Google is now testing Bard, its answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Google CEO Sundar Pichai today announced the soft launch of Bard to a set ‘trusted testers,’ showcasing what this early experimental release looks like with some examples.”

Daily Beast: Relatively Few People are Paying for Twitter Blue, New Numbers Suggest. “At one point, he told employees that he wanted half of the company’s revenue to come from subscriptions—a far cry from the paltry 180,000 people in the U.S. who were paying for Twitter subscription services, including Twitter Blue, in January, according to The Information. That number represents just .2% of the platform’s active monthly users, the outlet reported, a far cry from the 62% of U.S. users that represent Twitter’s total subscriber base.”

USEFUL STUFF

WIRED: This Tool Makes Twitter More Bearable to Read. “Sometimes, though, a friend sends me a Twitter link and I want to know what it is. The problem: If I open Twitter I’m going to notice some notifications, start scrolling, and notice I’m in a bad mood a half hour later when I still haven’t stopped scrolling. That’s why I’m a fan of Nitter, a free service that lets you quickly look at a tweet, thread, or profile without getting sucked in.”

MakeUseOf: A Complete Guide to Using Collaborative Tools in Google Docs. “You no longer need to email a Word document back and forth between coworkers to get things done. You could, but with web-based word processors like Google Docs, collaborating and communicating is a breeze. Within the software, you’ll find various tools and features that help you stay updated and out of each other’s way. In this article, you’ll find a complete guide to using these tools in Google Docs.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Getty Images sues AI art generator Stable Diffusion in the US for copyright infringement. “Getty Images has filed a lawsuit in the US against Stability AI, creators of open-source AI art generator Stable Diffusion, escalating its legal battle against the firm.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNBC: ChatGPT’s ‘jailbreak’ tries to make the A.I. break its own rules, or die. “ChatGPT creator OpenAI instituted an evolving set of safeguards, limiting ChatGPT’s ability to create violent content, encourage illegal activity, or access up-to-date information. But a new ‘jailbreak’ trick allows users to skirt those rules by creating a ChatGPT alter ego named DAN that can answer some of those queries.”

The Atlantic: My Printer Is Extorting Me. “After years of holding out, my family finally succumbed to a pandemic inkjet purchase. (Like many, we were doing a lot of online shopping in 2020, which meant a lot of return labels.) I girded my loins for the agony of paper jams, phantom spooler errors, and the dreaded utterance ‘Driver not found.’ What I did not expect, however, was for my printer to shake me down like a loan shark.” Good morning, Internet…

February 8, 2023 at 06:28PM
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Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Chaim and Inna Hecker Grade, Bitmap Fonts, Cambridge Research Papers, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 7, 2023

Chaim and Inna Hecker Grade, Bitmap Fonts, Cambridge Research Papers, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 7, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Jewish Telegraphic Agency: YIVO digitizes writer Chaim Grade’s archive, a Yiddish treasure with a soap opera backstory. “This week YIVO and the NLI will announce the completion of the digitization of ‘The Papers of Chaim Grade and Inna Hecker Grade,’ making the entire archive publicly accessible online.”

New-to-me, from Hackaday: Reliving A Bitmapped Past With A Veritable Hoard Of Bitmap Fonts. “The fonts seen with old computer systems such as those from Apple and Commodore, as well as Microsoft Windows 3.1 and older, form an integral part of our interaction with these systems. These days such bitmap fonts are a rarity, with scalable vector-based fonts having taken their place on modern-day systems. This unfortunately also means that these fonts are at major risk of being lost to the sands of time. This is where [Rob Hagemans] seeks to maintain an archive of such bitmap fonts, ranging from Acorn to MSX to Windows.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BusinessWire: Majority of Cambridge Research Papers Now Open Access (PRESS RELEASE). “Over 50 percent of Cambridge University Press research articles are now published open access (OA) and so freely available to read. Having passed the 50 percent threshold for last year – approximately 10,000 papers being fully open – Cambridge University Press is aiming for the vast majority of its research papers to be published fully open access by 2025.”

New York Times: Musk Pledged to Cleanse Twitter of Child Abuse Content. It’s Been Rough Going.. “Over 120,000 views of a video showing a boy being sexually assaulted. A recommendation engine suggesting that a user follow content related to exploited children. Users continually posting abusive material, delays in taking it down when it is detected and friction with organizations that police it. All since Elon Musk declared that ‘removing child exploitation is priority #1’ in a tweet in late November.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: The 6 Best Chrome Extensions to Enhance Roblox. “Roblox is a great game, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be better. There are loads of features that are just missing from the game, which the developers may never add in. Luckily, Chrome extensions let you quickly and easily add these new features right into your game with almost no work. All you have to do is install the extension, and it’s like you have a brand-new game. Here are the six best Chrome extensions to enhance your Roblox experience.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Mashable: What if ChatGPT was a cat?. “ChatGPT, the online artificial chatbot taking the world by storm, is being used for a lot, including messaging Tinder matches and writing essays. It was only a matter of time before replicas and chatbot spin-offs trickled our way. One such AI asks: what if ChatGPT was a cat?”

The Art Newspaper: Artefacts in Swiss museums were looted from the Kingdom of Benin, new report says. “Twenty-one works in Swiss museum collections were looted from Benin City when the Royal Palace was plundered by the British Army in 1897, a new report reveals. The report, published by the Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI) group, focused on 96 Benin bronze items in eight museums including the Musée d’ethnographie de la Ville de Genève and the Museum der Kulturen Basel.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: America’s top cyber diplomat says his Twitter account was hacked. “America’s top cybersecurity diplomat Nate Fick said his personal Twitter account was hacked, calling it part of the ‘perils of the job.’ Fick tweeted the news from his personal account Saturday evening.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PC Magazine: ChatGPT Passes Google Coding Interview for Level 3 Engineer With $183K Salary. “Google fed coding interview questions to ChatGPT and, based off the AI’s answers, determined it would be hired for a level three engineering position, according to an internal document.”

The Print: Budget 2023: One lakh ancient inscriptions to be digitized under ‘Bharat SHRI’, says FM Sitharaman . “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2023 on Wednesday said a specialized repository will be made in a digital epigraphy museum by the digitization of one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.” One Lakh is 100,000. Good afternoon, Internet…

February 8, 2023 at 01:13AM
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RSS Feed Search Engine, Tracking Tech Layoffs, Anne and Kirk Douglas, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, February 7, 2023

RSS Feed Search Engine, Tracking Tech Layoffs, Anne and Kirk Douglas, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, February 7, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Fairly new, definitely new-to-me: Feedle. It’s a search engine to find content from RSS feeds. Additionally, you can save searches as their own RSS feeds. I didn’t like the full-page format of the search results, but the results themselves were solid. Recommended, adding this to my toolbox.

Slate: Why One Random Dude Is Better at Tracking Tech Layoffs Than the Government. “If you’ve read about layoffs recently, there’s a good chance you read about the number of tech jobs lost in the past year. If you did, that number almost certainly came from one very small, very scrappy database: layoffs.fyi.”

Deadline: Douglas Foundation Archive Adds 10,000 Personal Items From Anne And Kirk, Goes Online Fully Digitized For Public Access. “Now the Douglas Foundation, which was created by Kirk and Anne in 1964 when Michael was just 20, has just launched for the first time a high resolution on-line library of documents, photos and memorabilia digitized from Anne’s private archives of more than seventy years.”

PRNewswire: Nationwide Database of DBE-certified Companies Publicly Available Through DBEsearch.com (PRESS RELEASE). “Acknowledging the importance of supplier diversity, DBEsearch today announced the availability of the first nation-wide online database of minority-owned business. This searchable directory centralizes listings of more than 55,740 certified minority-owned businesses across 48 states.” I like the idea, but the implementation is awkward and you have to provide an email address in order to search. If the focus of this search engine was anything other than nationwide DBE-certified business search, I would have skipped it.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Telegram’s latest update adds real-time message translation. “With its first update of 2023, Telegram is making it easier to communicate with people who might speak a different language than you. The next time someone messages you in a language other than your default language, you’ll see a translate bar at the top of the interface. Tap it to translate their message in real time.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: Free online resources for kids that celebrate Black history and culture. “The ones below represent a variety of tools from national museums and educational nonprofits, created to educate and engage children in Black history and culture through interactive events, entertaining videos, and content that profile Black visionaries and leaders.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Motherboard: ‘Nothing, Forever’ Is An Endless ‘Seinfeld’ Episode Generated by AI. “There is one woman and three men who seem to be the animated versions of Seinfeld’s main characters, Elaine, Jerry, George, and Kramer. But unlike Seinfeld, these characters are set in a modern-era NYC, and their voices and bodies look and sound robotic. That’s because ‘Nothing, Forever’ is a live-streaming show that’s almost entirely generated by algorithms. It’s been streaming non-stop on Twitch since December 14.” I’ve never seen an episode of Seinfeld so I lack context, but this is some weird stuff.

Business Insider: Laid-off Google employees are turning to a Discord server with nearly 18,000 members for emotional support and financial advice. “Google employees who were recently laid off have joined a Discord server to get emotional support and financial tips after departing from the tech giant. ‘Google Post-Layoffs’ has more than 17,800 members, comprised of laid-off Google staff, current employees, former workers who left prior to the job cuts, recruiters, and journalists.”

Unseen Japan: Twitter-Addicted Japan Laments the Service’s “Ice Age”. “Twitter users in Japan have remained fairly nonplussed by Elon Musk’s private takeover of the once-public service. But a recent spate of account freezes this past week have led some to wonder whether it’s the end days. Others, however, vow they’ll keep rearranging deck chairs until the vessel sinks.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: FTX Inquiry Expands as Prosecutors Reach Out to Former Executives. “Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are speaking with lawyers for former officials at the collapsed crypto exchange FTX and scrutinizing the immediate family of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.”

Bleeping Computer: TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate confirm data breach affecting 20M customers. “PeopleConnect, the owners of the TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate background check services, confirmed they suffered a data breach after hackers leaked a 2019 backup database containing the info of millions of customers.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Washington State University: Pro-cannabis social media linked to youths’ intentions to use. “Despite laws against advertising cannabis to teens, young people reported in surveys that they still see a lot of positive cannabis messages through social media posts. Washington State University researchers found these messages were also connected to the teens’ intentions to use cannabis, and for college students, with their actual use. Anti-cannabis messages also had an effect in lessening use-intentions, but young people saw less of those types of messages.” Good morning, Internet…

February 7, 2023 at 06:28PM
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Monday, February 6, 2023

The Alabama Baptist, Library of Congress eBooks, Bing, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 6, 2023

The Alabama Baptist, Library of Congress eBooks, Bing, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, February 6, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

The Alabama Baptist: Historical TAB issues now available to view online. “Thanks to a new resource at Samford University’s Special Collection, you can now view whole pages of every existing issue of The Alabama Baptist published from Feb. 4, 1843, through 1902…. The 1,463 available issues can be browsed by date or by a keyword search.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Library of Congress: Introducing the new EPUB reader for e-books at the Library of Congress. “… we are happy to share the news that an EPUB viewer was launched on loc.gov. The viewer makes EPUBs available for reading on loc.gov and provides a richer interface for users. So, why is an EPUB viewer important? First, it allows users to access the titles (nearly 900!) only available in EPUB format without requiring downloads.”

Search Engine Land: Microsoft Bing’s ChatGPT interface spotted in the wild. “Microsoft Bing is working towards integrating ChatGPT with GPT 4.0 into its search interface in the coming weeks and now we may have spotted some of those testing efforts in the wild. Owen Yin posted screenshot and a GIF of Bing integrated with ChatGPT on Medium.”

Engadget: TikTok rolls out its own strike system for creators who violate its rules. “TikTok is trying to make it easier for creators and others to navigate its rules, and understand what’s happening to their accounts. The company is introducing a revamped ‘account enforcement system,’ a series of changes that includes a new strike system, as well as features that allow creators to check if their content has been blocked from the app’s recommendations.”

USEFUL STUFF

Search Engine Journal: How to Block ChatGPT From Using Your Website Content. “There is concern about the lack of an easy way to opt out of having one’s content used to train large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. There is a way to do it, but it’s neither straightforward nor guaranteed to work.” Unlike a lot of the “how to” articles I index, this one is fairly speculative. Useful with lots of good information, but speculative.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bloomberg: Wikipedia is blocked in Pakistan over ‘sacrilegious’ content. “Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia services in the South Asian nation after the platform failed to remove ‘sacrilegious’ content. The action was taken because some of the content is still available on Wikipedia after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline, Malahat Obaid, spokesperson for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said by phone.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Associated Press: Apple and Google app stores get thumbs down from White House. “The Biden administration is taking aim at Apple and Google for operating mobile app stores that it says stifle competition. The finding is contained in a Commerce Department report released by the administration on Wednesday as President Joe Biden convened his competition council for an update on efforts to promote competition and lower prices.”

HuffPost: TikTok Bans Medieval Times Union Account Following Trademark Complaint. “TikTok did not respond to HuffPost’s questions Monday regarding the banning of the union’s account. It’s not clear whether the complaint made to TikTok stemmed from the account’s name — @Mtunitedca, a reference to the union, Medieval Times Performers United, and its bargaining unit at the California castle — or the content of its posts.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys .org: Research shows how covert language is used to avoid detection on Instagram. “The study, led by Dr. Vahid Parvaresh of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), found that the majority of posts which meet the description of hateful content do not contain overtly derogatory words or expressions. Instead, hateful sentiments are frequently conveyed through covert or modified wording.”

Wall Street Journal: ChatGPT Needs Some Help With Math Assignments . “If you ask ChatGPT who is taller, Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming, the bot accurately says Yao is 7’6” and O’Neal is 7’1” but then concludes that Shaq is taller. The bot miscalculates the square roots of large numbers. Ask it to show its math, and it often produces detailed formulas that look great but contain errors, such as 2 x 300 = 500.” Good afternoon, Internet…

February 7, 2023 at 01:54AM
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