Orchid Pollinators, Proton Drive, Detecting Political Disinformation, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 14, 2023

Orchid Pollinators, Proton Drive, Detecting Political Disinformation, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 14, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

La Trobe University: Sex lives of orchids reads like science fiction. That’s a heck of a headline to be indexing before 6am. “An international team of scientists including researchers at La Trobe University and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria have created a global database of pollination data for almost 3000 orchid species.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Proton is releasing a native encrypted file-syncing app for Windows. “The key difference between Proton Drive and other cloud-based storage options is that it will offer free, encrypted file storage by default. The service will also offer all of the essentials such as multi-device syncing, offline downloads and version history.”

USEFUL STUFF

International Journalists’ Network: 13 tips for investigating political disinformation. “Almost all smartphones in Brazil have WhatsApp installed on them. While the messaging app helps ensure easy communication within and outside of Brazil, its widespread use also facilitated the proliferation of disinformation in the lead-up to the country’s 2018 presidential election. During that time, Patricia Campos Mello, a journalist with Folha de São Paulo, reported closely on the mass dissemination of disinformation on WhatsApp. Drawing on this experience during a recent ICFJ Disarming Disinformation master class, held in partnership with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Campos Mello offered a series of tips for journalists investigating political disinformation. ”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Ars Technica: Google’s head of AR software quits, citing “unstable commitment and vision”. “Google’s head of operating system and software platforms for augmented and mixed reality devices, Mark Lucovsky, has left the company after months of turmoil for the company’s mixed reality projects and staff. He publicly announced his departure in a tweet on Monday.”

Indian Express: Express Impact | 15 antiquities from New York’s Met among 150 returning to India in 3-6 months: Govt. “Fifteen antiquities returned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Museum are expected to arrive in India in the next 3-6 months. Union Culture Secretary Govind Mohan, briefing reporters Sunday on the third G20 Culture Working Group meeting in Hampi, said this is the first lot of antiquities that the Met has willingly agreed to return to India.”

Business Insider: Lego YouTubers are building massive followings and creating a unique genre of content that taps into viewers’ nostalgia. “[SacredBricks], who asked Insider not to include his real name or age due to privacy concerns, is one of a number of successful online creators who are tapping into their viewers’ nostalgia and going hugely viral by using the famous kids’ toys to rack up viewers.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Krebs on Security: Apple & Microsoft Patch Tuesday, July 2023 Edition. “Microsoft Corp. today released software updates to quash 130 security bugs in its Windows operating systems and related software, including at least five flaws that are already seeing active exploitation. Meanwhile, Apple customers have their own zero-day woes again this month: On Monday, Apple issued (and then quickly pulled) an emergency update to fix a zero-day vulnerability that is being exploited on MacOS and iOS devices.”

Techdirt: Congress May Not Renew Low-Income Broadband Program Birthed During COVID. “Everybody’s experiences with COVID home education and telecommuting briefly shined a bright spotlight on substandard U.S. broadband and policy issues. But with our attention on COVID waning, its impetus for reform on broadband access is as well. ACP money will run out soon, and the debate has begun as to whether Congress should renew the ACP program.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Southern California: The Internet has a Dark Side – Can We Teach Machines How to Identify it?. “‘Bad’ information has serious implications. Misinformation, propaganda, and fake news are prevalent on the web and on social media platforms and can become weaponized, which leads to cyber abuse and, in severe cases, civil unrest. The University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a unit of the Viterbi School of Engineering, is working on two projects aimed at solving this issue from the inside out–by developing technology that can exercise reasoning capabilities when encountering this ‘bad’ information.”

University of California Riverside: AI creates new environmental injustices, but there’s a fix. “A recent paper by University of California, Riverside, electrical and computer engineers finds that technology companies are not doing enough to equitably distribute these growing environmental impacts. The finding mirrors calls from international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for efforts to address AI’s environmental inequity.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 15, 2023 at 12:06AM
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Iowa Newspapers, WordPress, TikTok, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, July 14, 2023

Iowa Newspapers, WordPress, TikTok, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, July 14, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Southeast Iowa Union: Fairfield library’s newspaper archives being uploaded to internet. “The Fairfield Public Library is undertaking a project to upload all newspapers in Jefferson County’s history so that they will be searchable online. The ambitious project involves digitizing newspapers from as long ago as 1847, and covers newspapers such as The Fairfield Ledger as well as newspapers that have not published for decades such as The Fairfield Tribune, The Lockridge Times and The Batavia News.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WordPress: Introducing Footnotes, Details Block, and Writing Flow Improvements. “The team at WordPress is always working to enhance your writing and publishing experience, whether adding brand-new features or fixing bugs and minor inconveniences. The latest round of updates includes a feature you’ve long been asking for, a new block, and a few improvements to the general flow and convenience of publishing.”

Lifehacker: You Can Finally Auto-Mute TikTok. “Opening TikTok with the sound blaring can be a bit embarrassing, especially if you’re in an academic or professional setting. And thanks to the auto-paying feed, this just goes on and on until you either hurriedly close the app, or find the mute switch. But TikTok has now added a much-needed feature that mutes the app on every launch—the videos will still automatically play, but now without sound.”

USEFUL STUFF

Genealogy’s Star: MyHeritage gives free access to 1.3 billion French records for Bastille Day. “We’re giving free access to all 1.3 billion French historical records on MyHeritage, from July 12–16, 2023!”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New Zealand Herald: Top Auckland restaurants hit by fake Google reviews amid scam fears – Cassia, Masu, French Cafe, Sidart, Sugar Club. “People choosing to dine out are being urged to ‘read beyond reviews’ after top restaurants have been flooded by fake reviews on Google, the Restaurant Association says. A number of restaurants, including The French Cafe, Sidart, The Sugar Club and Cassia at SkyCity, have been ‘spammed’ with reviews – most believed to be fake – in the past week.”

WIRED: How AI Can Make Gaming Better for All Players. “The project was inspired by Lance Carr, a quadriplegic video game streamer who utilizes a head-tracking mouse as part of his gaming setup. After his existing hardware was lost in a fire, Google stepped in to create an open source, highly configurable, low-cost alternative to expensive replacement hardware, powered by machine learning. While AI’s broader existence is proving divisive, we set out to discover whether AI, when used for good, could be the future of gaming accessibility.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Musk’s Twitter sues four Texas entities for data scraping -report. “Twitter has filed a lawsuit against four unnamed entities in Texas for data scraping, a local TV station said on Wednesday, explaining why the Elon Musk-owned social network had recently placed daily limits on the number of tweets a user could read.”

ERR: Estonia’s strawberry database helps fight crime. “A reference database cataloging varieties of Estonian strawberries will help prevent fraud and will be able to test if fruit advertised as locally grown really did originate in Estonia. Knowing the geographical origin of strawberries is important because it helps protect the Estonian market and supports farmers and strawberry growers. Until now it has not been possible to do so thoroughly.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Johns Hopkins University: Unleashing the digital Michelangelo from your smartphone. “…what if you could take a video of an object or scene with your smartphone and turn it into an accurate, detailed model, the way a master sculptor creates masterpieces from marble or clay? Its creators claim that the aptly named Neuralangelo does just that through the power of neural networks—and with submillimeter accuracy.”

Stanford News: Satisfaction with online dating app depends on what you’re looking for. “With an estimated 75 million active users each month, Tinder is the most popular dating app in the world. But a new study by Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators has found, surprisingly – though perhaps not to users of the app – that many users are not swiping for dates. In a survey of more than a thousand Tinder users, half said they were not interested in meeting offline, and nearly two-thirds were already married or ‘in a relationship.'”

University of Sydney: Russia’s TikTok: Micro-influencers amplifying misinformation. “Dr Olga Boichak, a sociologist and social media expert, unpacks the rise of micro-influencers on Russian TikTok and the radicalised narratives around the Russia/Ukraine war.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Hackaday: Recreating The Golden Era Of Cable TV. “[Irish Craic Party] has gone to great lengths here to recreate the feel of cable TV from decades ago. It has recreations of real channels like HBO, Nickelodeon, and FX including station-appropriate bumpers and commercials. It’s also synchronized to the clock so shows start on the half- or quarter-hour. Cartoons play on Saturday morning, and Nickelodeon switches to Nick-at-Nite in the evenings.” Wow. Good morning, Internet…

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July 14, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Windows Update Restored, UK Web Archiving, Online Climate Denial, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 13, 2023

Windows Update Restored, UK Web Archiving, Online Climate Denial, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 13, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Ars Technia: Windows 95, 98, and other decrepit versions can grab online updates again. “If you have any interest in retro-computing, you know it can be difficult to round up the last official bug fixes and updates available for early Internet-era versions of Windows like 95, 98, and NT 4.0. A new independent project called ‘Windows Update Restored’ is aiming to fix that, hosting lightly modified versions of old Windows Update sites and the update files themselves so that fresh installs of these old operating systems can grab years’ worth of fixes that aren’t present on old install CDs and disks.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

British Library UK Web Archive Blog: UK Web Archive Technical Update – Summer 2023. “At the end of the last quarter, we launched the 2023 Domain Crawl. This started well (as described in the 2023 Q1 report) but a few days later it became clear the crawl was going a bit too well. We were collecting so quickly, we started to run out of space on the temporary store we use as a buffer for incoming content. The full story of how we responded to this situation is quite complicated, so I wrote up the detailed analysis in a separate blog post. But in short, we took the opportunity to move to a faster transfer process and switch to a widely-used open source tool called Rclone.”

Deutsche Welle: Why is climate denial still thriving online?. “Amid the worst heat waves ever recorded in the United States, China, Mexico, Siberia and beyond, and near-unanimous scientific consensus that humans have induced global heating — in large part by burning fossil fuels — how does such denial continue to flourish?”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BBC: Video games: YouTube channel NoClip rescues tapes from landfill. “As a keen gamer, Danny O’Dwyer’s no stranger to quests. But the documentary maker’s just embarked on a different type of mission. He’s rescued thousands of tapes containing rare video game footage – demo reels, interviews and behind-the-scenes clips – from being sent to landfill and lost forever.”

The Register: China outsources censorship to web giants to break the fake news business model . “Revealed on Monday, the 13 rules apply to ‘self-media’ – publishers and social media accounts not operated or approved by government, and therefore the responsibility of social media and hosting platforms. Platforms will have to enhance review processes for new accounts and name changes. Accounts with political, government, military or media logos must be manually reviewed, and blocked if found to be imposters.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: Tax prep companies shared private taxpayer data with Google and Meta for years, congressional probe finds. “Some of America’s largest tax-prep companies have spent years sharing Americans’ sensitive financial data with tech titans including Meta and Google in a potential violation of federal law — data that in some cases was misused for targeted advertising, according to a seven-month congressional investigation.”

Reuters: Spain’s High Court Shelves Israeli Spyware Probe on Lack of Cooperation . “Spain’s High Court on Monday shelved an investigation into the use of Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group’s ‘Pegasus’ software to spy on Spanish politicians, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and several ministers.”

Variety: Elon Musk, Twitter Slapped With $500 Million Lawsuit Over Ex-Employee Severance Payments “The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of a class of employees terminated since Musk’s takeover of the company in late October 2022. The suit seeks damages of at least $500 million as well as orders compelling Twitter and Musk ‘to abide by all terms of the severance plan by paying all terminated employees what they are owed,’ according to the plaintiff’s lawyers.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Copenhagen: Extreme measuring device can bring quantum technology to your smartphone. “University of Copenhagen researchers have invented a ‘quantum drum’ that can measure pressure, a gas leak, heat, magnetism and a host of other things with extreme precision. It can even scan the shape of a single virus. The invention has now been adapted to work at room temperature and may be finding its way into our phones.”

Montclair State University: Buffalo Supermarket Shooter Plagiarized 80% of Rationale Section of Manifesto from Hate Sites, Study Shows. “A new study by Daniela Peterka-Benton from the Department of Justice Studies and Bond Benton from the Center for Strategic Communication at Montclair State University demonstrates the extent to which Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron’s manifesto – the public statement for why he perpetrated the attack – was derived from hate content he consumed online.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 14, 2023 at 12:33AM
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Claude 2, Twitter, GIMP, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 13, 2023

Claude 2, Twitter, GIMP, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 13, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: New ChatGPT rival, Claude 2, launches for open beta testing. “On Tuesday, Anthropic introduced Claude 2, a large language model (LLM) similar to ChatGPT that can craft code, analyze text, and write compositions. Unlike the original version of Claude launched in March, users can try Claude 2 for free on a new beta website. It’s also available as a commercial API for developers.”

Daily Beast: ‘Just Better’: Even Musk’s Own Twitter Employees Are Using Threads. “Ever since Meta launched its competitor to Twitter last week, Elon Musk has been attempting to tear it down, denouncing Threads’ approach to content moderation, threatening to sue for the supposed theft of ‘trade secrets,’ and even challenging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a penis-measuring competition. Some of his employees, however, are thoroughly enjoying the new app.”

How-To Geek: GIMP 2.99.16 Has New Interface Options and More File Formats. “GIMP is one of the most popular photo editors around, as it provides a free alternative to paid applications like Adobe Photoshop. GIMP 2.99.16 is now available with a bunch of new features and improvements.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Japan Times: TikTok content under scrutiny with Taiwan election heating up . “Scroll through TikTok in Taiwan, and you’ll find a rolling stream of videos covering the heated campaign for next January’s presidential election. That’s making the island the next battleground in the war over political disinformation and the debate over whether China’s government can manipulate the popular app to its advantage — a concern shared in Washington ahead of the 2024 U.S. election.”

New York Times: Artifacts Stolen From Kenya Decades Ago Are Returned. “Throughout the 1980s, vigango, sacred wooden memorial statues, were stolen from Kenya, sold to art dealers and eventually arrived at tourist shops and museums. Now, as part of a continuing effort to repatriate these looted cultural artifacts, officials from the Illinois State Museum and other museums and universities will visit Nairobi this week for a ceremony to recognize the return of the vigango to the National Museums of Kenya.”

Bloomberg: Google Says It Will Fix Vietnam Flag Issue on Image of Island. “Google said it is working to replace a satellite image on its mapping software in which a rendering of the Vietnamese flag on the rooftop of a building in the Spratly Islands appeared to be deleted or altered.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: Google hit with lawsuit alleging it stole data from millions of users to train its AI tools. “Google was hit with a wide-ranging lawsuit on Tuesday alleging the tech giant scraped data from millions of users without their consent and violated copyright laws in order to train and develop its artificial intelligence products.”

Politico: Social media riot shutdowns possible under EU content law, top official says. “Social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat will face possible shutdowns when they don’t crack down on problematic content during riots under the European Union’s content law, Internal Commissioner Thierry Breton said Monday.”

IOL (South Africa): Judge frowns upon magistrate’s use of Google for evidence in criminal case of cybercrime kingpin. “The fact that a magistrate, who granted bail to alleged cybercrime kingpin, James Junior Aliyu, used Google for legal knowledge on some aspects of the case, had an acting judge frowning.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Copenhagen: ChatGPT promotes American norms and values. “ChatGPT, the revolutionary new AI chatbot, reflects American norms and values – even when queried about other countries and cultures. The mismatch has been demonstrated in research from the University of Copenhagen. The AI spun web of cultural bias is a major problem according to the study’s researchers.”

TechCrunch: China’s search engine pioneer unveils open source large language model to rival OpenAI. “In February, Sogou founder Wang Xiaochuan said on Weibo that ‘China needs its own OpenAI.’ The Chinese entrepreneur is now inching closer to his dream as his nascent startup Baichuan Intelligence rolled out its next-generation large language model Baichuan-13B today.”

Stanford University: A new approach to genetic genealogy sheds light on African American ancestry. “Traditional measurements of genetic ancestry rarely offer information on specific ancestors in a family tree. A new approach to genetic ancestry developed by Stanford researchers yields insight into African American history by providing estimates of the number of African and European genealogical ancestors in typical family trees.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 13, 2023 at 05:28PM
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Maine Newspapers, Twitter, Hardware Projects, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 12, 2023

Maine Newspapers, Twitter, Hardware Projects, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 12, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Seacoast Online (Maine): Discover York history: 100 years of York newspapers are now online. “Thanks to a generous grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, 100 years’ worth of the York Weekly and other town newspapers have been completely digitized. York Public Library, in partnership with Old York Historical Society, Advantage Preservation, and York Weekly, recently announced the long-awaited unveiling of the York History Digital Archive.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

9to5 Google: Twitter is blocking Threads links in searches. “While Twitter’s new CEO has been trying to convince us that the platform can’t be replaced by Threads, it seems the company is privately rather less confident. A developer noticed that Twitter is blocking Threads links in searches, with others confirming it.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 18 Unique Creative Projects to Reuse Your Old PC. “When you’re upgrading to a new PC, you might wonder what to do with your old hardware. You could sell it or keep it as an emergency backup machine, but you could also put it to more creative uses.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Philadelphia Magazine: How Josh Shapiro’s Social Media Skills Turned the I-95 Rebuild Into an Online Party. “On Friday, June 23rd, after a fire truck holding a city’s worth of mascots made the inaugural journey across a repaired patch of Interstate 95, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro held a press conference. Flanked by politicians and construction workers and state employees, Shapiro looked out into the crowd and noticed someone.”

University of Georgia: Georgia Newspaper Project transitions to digital preservation. “Since 1953, the Georgia Newspaper Project at the University of Georgia Libraries has microfilmed more than 100 community newspapers, providing free access to the stories of the state’s small towns, big cities, and close communities. But with an 11-year backlog and outdated equipment no longer in production, the future of the project is in flux, and librarians are seeking partnerships to transform the practice using 21st century technology.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: U.S. and E.U. Complete Long-Awaited Deal on Sharing Data. “A deal to ensure that data from Meta, Google and scores of other companies can continue flowing between the United States and the European Union was completed on Monday, after the digital transfer of personal information between the two jurisdictions had been thrown into doubt because of privacy concerns.”

Haaretz: Twitter Facing Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students in Europe Over Antisemitic Tweets. “A German court has ruled that a lawsuit accusing Twitter of allowing hateful content to proliferate on its platform can go ahead, adding yet another challenge for the embattled social media giant.”

CNN: Japan’s largest port hit with ransomware attack. “Japan’s busiest shipping port said Thursday it would resume operations after a ransomware attack prevented the port from receiving shipping containers for two days. The expected restoration of the Port of Nagoya, a hub for car exports and an engine of the Japanese economy, will ease concerns about any wider economic fallout from the ransomware attack.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Verge: Google’s medical AI chatbot is already being tested in hospitals. “Google’s Med-PaLM 2, an AI tool designed to answer questions about medical information, has been in testing at the Mayo Clinic research hospital, among others, since April, The Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Med-PaLM 2 is a variant of PaLM 2, which was announced at Google I/O in May this year. PaLM 2 is the language model underpinning Google’s Bard.”

Washington Post: Opinion: How today’s Twitter has made conservative boycotts more successful. “Initially, this sounded crazy. The timing is suspicious, I grant, but coincidences happen. And it didn’t look to me as if Twitter was the main vector for attacks on Mulvaney, et al. — they seemed to emanate from conservative sites such as the Daily Wire. Over time, however, I’ve come around — and what convinced me was watching people try to agree on a Twitter alternative.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 13, 2023 at 12:46AM
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PACER, Twitter, Migrating from Evernote, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 12, 2023

PACER, Twitter, Migrating from Evernote, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 12, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Motherboard: ‘It’s About the Little Victories’: Government Closer to Paying $125 Million it Overcharged for Court Records. “Impacted parties in a $125 million class action lawsuit regarding charges by the U.S. court records system PACER may have started to receive notifications about the settlement, according to a website dedicated to the lawsuit. The news highlights the massive fees that some PACER users can face, and what critics see as an overpricing for public records that some argue should be free to access.”

CNBC: Twitter traffic is ‘tanking’ as Meta’s Threads hits 100 million users. “User traffic on Twitter has slowed since the launch of Meta’s text-based platform Threads, which has already surpassed 100 million sign-ups since its debut last week.” Let me state here: I don’t believe that 100 million user number. My suspicion is that Facebook is using Threads’ integration with Instagram to play counting games, but I don’t know for sure. On the other hand, Twitter’s activity has fallen off a cliff. I don’t know where they’re going, but Twitter users are definitely leaving from what I see.

USEFUL STUFF

The Verge: How to move your notes out of Evernote. “When an app is depended on by a large number of people — especially one that’s been around long enough so that a number of its users may have a lot of data stored in it — and major changes are instituted, the first thought that many will have is: what will happen to my data?”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Sky News: Twitter wins big name backer against Threads – but it’s the Taliban. “Twitter has won the support of a big name backer against fast-growing rival Threads – but it’s the Taliban. A leader of the hardline Islamist group, which seized power in Afghanistan in summer 2021, said Elon Musk’s platform was a tolerant place that allowed freedom of speech to thrive.”

New York Times: The Twitter Watch Party Is Over. “‘Sharknado’ may not be long remembered as cinema, but it is a historical emblem of the way millions of people shared the experience of live TV at a certain time. A decade later, that time is ending, because of the ways Twitter and TV have changed.”

Mashable: Young people are using TikTok and online communities to quit vaping nicotine. “TikTok, in recent years, has dominated the world of social media by pushing creative boundaries, spreading good vibes, and entertaining us during those idle moments in the grocery store checkout line. But beyond hot takes and get ready with me videos, the social media platform is also bringing millions of young people together to help them quit vaping nicotine for good.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

TechCrunch: UK battles hacking wave as ransomware gang claims ‘biggest ever’ NHS breach. “Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs five London-based hospitals and serves more than 2.5 million patients, was recently added to the dark web leak site of the ALPHV ransomware gang. The gang, also known as BlackCat, says it has stolen 70 terabytes of sensitive data in what it claims is the biggest breach of healthcare data in the United Kingdom.”

Australian Associated Press: Google ordered to hand over details of anonymous sender. “Google has been ordered to hand over the account information and IP address of a person who allegedly defamed a Victorian Labor candidate in an email. Nurul Khan was endorsed to run for the Labor Party in last year’s state election but an email littered with allegations against him was sent to ministers and news organisations on November 9.”

Politico: Social media companies, beware: Governor says lawsuits coming in Utah. “Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday he is getting ready to sue social media companies for the harm caused to his state’s young people. ‘In the coming months, you will see lawsuits being filed by the state of Utah to hold them accountable,’ Cox, a Republican, said during an interview on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Toronto Star: The angst of baby boy billionaires means we all suffer. “I am unable to decide which faux-wrestler has damaged my life more, Zuck, who killed journalism, or Musk, who bought Twitter from Jack Dorsey, who turned my brain into rolled oats. Even picking on these two is evidence of a mental fault. There are many rich men causing havoc, including Peter Thiel, Erik Prince, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Everyone wants to bench-press now.”

Cornell Chronicle: Game-playing automaton acts like an ‘irrational’ human. “Researchers were able to simulate human behaviors using a probabilistic finite automaton, a well-known model of limited computational power. They programmed the automatons to compete against each other in a wildlife poaching game, as either a rhino poacher or a ranger trying to stop the poaching. When the automatons could remember everything, they settled into an optimal game strategy. But when researchers limited their memories, they took some decision-making shortcuts – the same kinds as actual humans playing the game.”

University of Waterloo: Search engines and social media can forecast disease outbreaks. “Internet search engine queries and social media data can be early warning signals, creating a real-time surveillance system for disease forecasting, says a recent University of Waterloo study. Using the example of COVID-19, researchers found there was an association between the disease’s prevalence and search engine queries and social media posts.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 12, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Abu Dhabi Historical Photography, Kick, Stable Diffusion, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 11, 2023

Abu Dhabi Historical Photography, Kick, Stable Diffusion, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 11, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Time Out Abu Dhabi: New York University Abu Dhabi releases 12 historical photo albums. “In a celebration of the region’s rich past, Akkasah, New York University Abu Dhabi’s photographic archive, has just released 12 digital photo albums showcasing beautiful historic images dating from the 1890s to the 1960s. The over 1,500 photographs and prints from NYU Abu Dhabi’s al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art feature people and landscapes from across the region.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: Kick surges to 12 million signups and cuts “unnecessary exposure” to controversial categories. “The platform–which has been working overtime to pitch itself as a viable alternative to Twitch–was co-founded by Stake.com co-founder Ed Craven, and since the beginning has made it clear that, unlike Twitch, it’s a haven for gambling streams. But it seems to have realized rampantly promoting gambling might not be the best move.”

USEFUL STUFF

How-To Geek: How to AI Upscale Any Image With Stable Diffusion. “Disappointed by the low resolution of your Stable Diffusion creations? Or maybe you have older ‘real’ photos you’d like to upscale? Stable Diffusion WebUI has tools for just that, and we’ll walk you through the process while sharing some tips we’ve learned along the way.”

Larry Ferlazzo: This Week’s Free & Useful Artificial Intelligence Tools For The Classroom. “At least, for now, I’m going to make this a weekly feature which will highlight additions to THE BEST NEW – & FREE – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS THAT COULD BE USED IN THE CLASSROOM.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BBC: Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine War misinformation. “False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict continue to go viral on major social media platforms, as Russia’s invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days. Some of the most widely shared examples can be found on Twitter, posted by subscribers with a blue tick, who pay for their content to be promoted to other users.”

Washington Post: Social media injunction unravels plans to protect 2024 elections. “A July 4 injunction that places extraordinary limits on the government’s communications with tech companies undermines initiatives to harden social media companies against election interference, civil rights groups, academics and tech industry insiders say.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Sacramento Bee: California bill to make Facebook, Google pay for news is delayed until 2024. “A California bill that would make Google and Facebook pay for news content that they use on their platforms to sell ads won’t be moving forward this year. Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, and Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, announced Friday that Assembly Bill 886 is being made a two-year bill, meaning it won’t be taken up again until 2024.”

Boing Boing: Emoji ruled legally binding in Canada. “Giving a digital thumbs up to a request is a binding legal agreement, rules a Canadian court. When asked to confirm a contract for flax, a flax seller responded with a ‘thumbs up’ emoji. The buyer relied on this thumbs up, and a lawsuit arose when the flax did not arrive.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PsyPost: Emotional stability and rational thinking are key to fake news sharing and detection, study finds. “New research suggests that two psychological models play a key role in sharing and detecting of fake news across a diverse range of topics. The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, found that higher levels of emotional instability were predictive of sharing fake news and higher levels of rational thinking were predictive of the capacity to detect fake news on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.”

Route Fifty: Cities extract mobility insights from ride-hailing company data. “With access to real-time mobility data from a variety of sources, cities can improve transit efficiency and meet sustainability, accessibility and equity goals.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 12, 2023 at 12:08AM
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