Hearing Health, Massachusetts Lawyers, Google Docs, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 27, 2023

Hearing Health, Massachusetts Lawyers, Google Docs, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Hearing Review: HearingYou.org Portal Provides Hearing Health Data to Public. ” It has been launched by the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (EHIMA) to provide a global audience with information on all aspects of hearing health, including hearing loss prevention and rehabilitation, and to support effective policy measures against hearing loss. The centerpiece of the site is a data hub with the latest research, scientific evidence, facts, and figures on the prevalence of hearing loss; its economic impact; and how hearing loss is linked to chronic diseases such as dementia.”

Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly: Data on Mass. bar available in new online tool. “The Massachusetts Lawyers Census provides six dashboards that include demographic, employment, and professional characteristics of lawyers in Massachusetts presented in tables, charts, and a county-level map. The tool also compares Massachusetts’ lawyers with the general population of the commonwealth.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

9to5 Google: Google Docs adding support for line numbers. “After adding support for non-printing characters earlier this year, Google Docs is rolling out line numbers. Commonplace in legal documents, Google Docs will automatically calculate and show numbers next to each line in a document and appear when printed out. This can be set to show on just a specific section, page, or entire documents.”

Chrome Unboxed: Google Tasks officially freed from its side bar prison, can now be used standalone on the web. “In line with Google’s efforts to merge Reminders into Tasks, its web-based Assistant Reminders landing page evolved into a central hub for to-dos saved to your account. Recently, this page has undergone further transformation and now mirrors the aesthetics of the Google Tasks app and sidebar, logo and all!”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CODART: Virtual Couriering: An Alternative for More Sustainable Loans?. “As for any industry, sustainability is a pressing matter for museums and the art world. In a series of features, CODART will explore this topic and what museums and curators can do. For this article, CODART spoke to several people in the field about the overlooked aspects of virtual couriering and other ways in which museums can deal more sustainably with loan traffic.” I didn’t have a good understanding of virtual couriering, but this article from Artnet helped a lot.

New York Times: A Time Capsule of Human Creativity, Stored in the Sky. “Later this year, the Lunar Codex — a vast multimedia archive telling a story of the world’s people through creative arts — will start heading for permanent installation on the moon aboard a series of unmanned rockets. The Lunar Codex is a digitized (or miniaturized) collection of contemporary art, poetry, magazines, music, film, podcasts and books by 30,000 artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers in 157 countries.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: New Nitrogen malware pushed via Google Ads for ransomware attacks. “A new ‘Nitrogen’ initial access malware campaign uses Google and Bing search ads to promote fake software sites that infect unsuspecting users with Cobalt Strike and ransomware payloads.”

ProPublica: Senator Elizabeth Warren Probes Google’s Quest for Soldiers’ Medical Data. “Responding to a ProPublica report, the Massachusetts Democrat has begun investigating Google’s ‘aggressive’ pursuit of a biotechnology archive that could be used to build AI tools. She also faulted the Pentagon for favoring the tech giant.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Berkeley Engineering: Researchers create open-source platform for Neural Radiance Field development. “Just a few years ago, Berkeley engineers showed us how they could easily turn images into a 3D navigable scene using a technology called Neural Radiance Fields, or NeRF. Now, another team of Berkeley researchers has created a development framework to help speed up NeRF projects and make this technology more accessible to others.”

WIRED: The White House Already Knows How to Make AI Safer. “Legislation is needed to ensure that private companies live up to their commitments. But we should not forget the federal market’s outsize influence on AI practices. As a large employer and user of AI technology, a major customer for AI systems, a regulator, and a source of funding for so many state-level actions, the federal government can make a real difference by changing how it acts, even in the absence of legislation.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 28, 2023 at 12:53AM
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Crop Rotation Patterns, Georgia Civil Rights History, Utah Property Values, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 27, 2023

Crop Rotation Patterns, Georgia Civil Rights History, Utah Property Values, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

US Department of Agriculture: USDA introduces geospatial data product to show crop rotation patterns. “[Crop Sequence Boundaries] is a cutting-edge map of agricultural fields that provides crop acreage estimates and historical planting decisions across the contiguous United States. The open-source product uses satellite imagery and other public data to allow users to analyze planted U.S. commodities, enhancing not only agricultural science and research, but providing producers an innovative resource to help make farming decisions.”

Digital Library of Georgia: Oral history interviews of W. W. Law, civil rights workers, and 20-century Savannah civil rights history are now available freely online . “The content for this project consists of oral history interview videos with W. W. Law and other Savannah, Georgia, community members involved in the Civil Rights movement. The tapes were shot just prior to Mr. Law’s death and are the longest and most detailed interviews he did on his life and career as a Civil Rights activist.”

State of Utah State Auditor: Office of the State Auditor Releases Tool Showing Property Values Across Utah (this link goes to a PDF file.) “This new tool contains data provided by many of these assessors – those interested in greater transparency for taxpayers. This tool helps taxpayers, policymakers, and regulators better understand property assessment in the State of Utah, allowing interested parties to examine parcel-level data across the State using different metrics.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Bing Chat is coming to Google Chrome and Safari. “Watch out Bard — Bing’s AI chatbot is rolling out on Google Chrome and Safari. As first spotted by Windows Latest (via 9to5Google), Microsoft is testing letting users on both browsers access the tool.”

Reuters: Alphabet rallies as Google Search unfazed by challenge from Microsoft’s Bing. “Alphabet rallied more than 5% on Wednesday on signs its dominant Google Search business was faring well in an uncertain advertising market and remained unscathed in the face of competition from an AI-powered Microsoft Bing.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Business Insider: Elon Musk will reportedly force brands to spend at least $1,000 on Twitter ads every month — or lose their gold checkmark. “Twitter’s ads business is in trouble — and the company is reportedly threatening to strip brands of verification if they don’t pitch in to help. Starting August 7, the platform, now called X, will strip brands of their gold checkmark verification if they haven’t spent at least $1,000 on ads in the previous 30 days or $6,000 in the past 180 days, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an email sent to advertisers that it viewed.”

Mashable: Elon Musk and company take @x handle from its original user. He got zero dollars for it.. “So, Musk now has the @x handle. What happened? Did Musk reach out to [Gene X.] Hwang? Did Hwang cash in and get a paycheck from the company for the handle as some on social media have speculated? No, the company just took it from him.”

New York Times: Hollywood Strike Leaves Influencers Sidelined and Confused. “Despite not being in the actors’ union, many content creators are passing up deals to promote films or TV shows because they don’t want to be barred from the guild or face online vitriol.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: Social media shutdowns? Don’t you dare, activists warn EU. “Dozens of international digital and human rights NGOs want the European Commission to firmly reject the possibility of its new content-moderation law being used to compel social media shutdowns.”

WIRED: Twitter Scammers Stole $1,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down . “After Tim Utzig lost $1,000 to a fraudster who tricked him using a hacked Twitter account, I asked an expert in social engineering and hunting scammers to help. Ultimately, we tracked down the suspected culprits and identified a network of apparent scammers and money mules expertly swindling people out of their savings. This scamming saga shows how fraudsters use social media, build a network of people to operate different payment accounts, and apply effective techniques to bilk their victims.”

Al Jazeera: Indonesia blocks Musk’s X.com under curbs on porn, gambling. “Elon Musk’s aspirations for X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, have hit a stumbling block in Indonesia after the site X.com was blocked under the country’s curbs on online pornography and gambling.” Regular reminder that Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world.

RESEARCH & OPINION

Tom’s Guide: I got suspended by Twitter X — and I have no idea why. “On Monday (July 24), at 10:53 a.m. ET, hours before the Twitter signage was taken down at its company headquarters, I found my own Twitter account taken down. Technically, I was suspended, by this company that was seemingly crumbling from within — as CEO Elon Musk had confusingly decided to rebrand to X.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 27, 2023 at 05:31PM
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New Zealand Art, West Virginia Behavioral Health, ChatGPT, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 26, 2023

New Zealand Art, West Virginia Behavioral Health, ChatGPT, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage: New Zealand’s first national register of 20th Century public artworks goes live. “The website is a New Zealand first, providing a single place for New Zealanders to gain knowledge of 20th Century public artworks located in towns and cities across Aotearoa, including works that have been hidden, lost, destroyed, or deaccessioned. At launch the register contains over 380 works which can be searched by information about each of the artworks, the artists, and their locations.”

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources: DHHR’s Bureau for Behavioral Health Announces Evidence-Based Behavioral Health Clearinghouse. “The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), Bureau for Behavioral Health (BBH) has launched the BBH Clearinghouse, an online database of evidence-based practices to help individuals, families, providers, schools, communities, and other partners make informed decisions about selecting effective prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery services.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNN: ChatGPT creator pulls AI detection tool due to ‘low rate of accuracy’. “Less than six months after ChatGPT-creator OpenAI unveiled an AI detection tool with the potential to help teachers and other professionals detect AI generated work, the company has pulled the feature. OpenAI quietly shut down the tool last week citing a ‘low rate of accuracy,’ according to an update to the original company blog post announcing the feature.”

BBC: TikTok adds text-only posts as social media battle escalates. “Chinese-owned video streaming app TikTok says it will offer text-only posts as competition between social media giants heats up.” Remember when everybody said video was going to kill text content on the Internet? lol.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Ars Technica: Borax is the new Tide Pods, and poison control experts are facepalming. I’m facepalming too. When I was growing up Borax was a home remedy against mice. “In the latest health fad to alarm and exasperate medical experts, people on TikTok have cheerily ‘hopped on the borax train’ and are drinking and soaking in the toxic cleaning product based on false claims that it can reduce inflammation, treat arthritis, and ‘detoxify’ the body.”

9Honey: Australian grandmother’s fight to get life-changing drug snatched up by social media fad. “Ozempic, a brand name for the drug semaglutide, is typically prescribed for patients with Type 2 diabetes, but a new social media weight loss fad has caused a worldwide shortage. The shortage hit Australia last year after TikTok videos of women claiming to have achieved drastic weight loss with minimal effort on the drug went viral. It made global demand for Ozempic skyrocket, with thousands seeking the drug, but the subsequent shortage is putting Aussies like [Judith] Lipp at risk.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNBC: Elon Musk’s rebrand of Twitter to ‘X’ could get him in legal trouble with Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft, experts say. “Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand could land him in legal hot water with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others, experts say. On Sunday, Musk announced that he was getting rid of the Twitter brand and logo. The social media platform is now known as ‘X,’ CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed on Sunday.”

Engadget: Mastodon’s decentralized social network has a major CSAM problem. “Of course, the big problem with unfederated social media platforms such as Mastodon is that no one company or entity controls everything on the platform. Every instance has its own administrators, and they are the ones who are ultimately responsible. However, those admins cannot control and moderate what goes on in other instances or servers. This isn’t uniquely a Mastodon problem, either.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NPR: Firefighters and researchers are turning to AI to help fight fires. “Climate change. Firefighters and researchers hope to spot fires more quickly and cut response times using artificial intelligence. Zachary Wells is a deputy chief with the Kern County Fire Department in California’s Central Valley.” This is a transcript of a radio interview.

Beyond Search: And Now Here Is Sergey… He Has Returned. “My personal view is that item one, management’s inability to hit a three point shot, let alone a slam dunk over Sam AI-Man, requires the 2023 equivalent of asking Mom and Dad to help. Some college students have resorted to this approach to make rent, bail, or buy food. The return is not yet like Mr. Terminator’s, Mr. Man-with-No-Name’s, or Mr. Brady’s. We have something new. A technology giant with billions in revenue struggling to get its big tractor out of a muddy field. How does one get the Google going?” Good afternoon, Internet….

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July 27, 2023 at 12:23AM
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Mastodon, Snapchat, Cultural Heritage, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 26, 2023

Mastodon, Snapchat, Cultural Heritage, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: As Twitter destroys its brand by renaming itself X, Mastodon user numbers are again soaring . “As Twitter ditches its iconic branding in favor of owner Elon Musk’s favorite letter ‘X,’ its open source rival Mastodon is seeing usage numbers soar. According to a new post from Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko, the number of monthly active users for his Twitter alternative has been steadily climbing over the past couple of months to have now reached 2.1 million — or, as remarked Rochko, ‘not far off from our last peak.'”

CNBC: Snap shares plunge more than 17% on weak forecast. “Snap shares tumbled over 16% after the company reported guidance for its current quarter that missed analysts’ expectations.”

New York Times: Trump to Return Ancient Coins and Lamps to Israel’s Antiquities Agency. “Former President Donald J. Trump will return a set of ancient coins and ceramic oil lamps to Israel’s government after reports last week that Israeli officials were pressing to retrieve them.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: Export Your Bookmarks So You Can Finally Quit Twitter. “If you want to quit Twitter for good but still have the option to return to your favorite tweets, you should know how to export them to another source. Twitter doesn’t make it easy, but there’s a solid option out there to help you break up with—shudder—X.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Inside Higher Ed: College ‘Email for Life’ at Risk for Many . “For years at Colgate University in New York, students getting an email address ‘for life’ was a given. Then, in February, an email portent arrived—by email, of course: alumni learned that their lifetime email addresses might be phased out next year.”

Daily Beast: JPMorgan Saw Epstein as ‘Advisor’ to Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. “According to bombshell legal filings, Epstein introduced JPMorgan honcho Jes Staley to Google co-creators Brin and Larry Page by 2003. By 2011, the sex-trafficker was considered the ‘biggest revenue producer’ for JPMorgan’s Private Bank and known as ‘the advisor to the Google founders,’ according to the document filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands government.”

Billboard: TikTok Sleuth Appears to Find Jim Crow Era News Story in Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Teaser. “In a TikTok posted on Saturday (July 22), former minor league baseball player Danny Collins did a deep dive on one of Aldean’s promotional TikToks for his controversial song released back in May. Zooming in on a newspaper article in the background of one of the video’s shots, Collins found that it appears to be a piece pulled from a since-discontinued small newspaper from Mississippi.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: UK Pledges Crackdown on Harmful Ads on Google, Other Web Platforms. “The UK said it will force social media platforms and services like Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ads to stop scam advertisements, including fake celebrity endorsements, and take tougher action to prevent children from age-restricted ads for drinking and gambling.”

US Department of Justice: United States Returns Manuscript Signed by Conquistador Hernando Cortés in 1527 to Mexico’s National Archives . “A nearly 500-year-old manuscript signed by Conquistador Hernando Cortés in 1527 has been returned to the Archivo General de la Nación de México – Mexico’s national archives located in Mexico City. On July 19, 2023, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, along with representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, participated in a formal repatriation ceremony at Mexico’s national archives, where the manuscript is believed to have been unlawfully removed from sometime before 1993.”

Washington Post: U.S. intelligence agencies reviewing evidence in Discord leak case. “Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guard member charged with sharing hundreds of classified documents with friends online, is unlikely to stand trial for several months owing to what federal prosecutors described Monday as the large amount of sensitive information related to the case.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Verge: People are using Google Maps to cut down tailpipe pollution. “Drivers are taking Google Maps’ advice for how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their trips, according to the company. In late 2021, Google debuted a feature in Google Maps that allows users to see the most fuel-efficient routes. The feature has since helped prevent around 1.2 million metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions, Google estimates in its latest environmental report released today.”

Essence: Does Personal Style Exist In The Age of Social Media?. “As an active TikTok user, I often find humor in how the platform’s ads influence my shopping decisions, especially when it comes to fashion. I’ve purchased numerous items from SSENSE after watching TikTok creators’ hauls and styling tips. Amidst my shopping spree, I couldn’t help but question if I’m gradually losing my sense of personal style, prompting me to investigate if others are experiencing the same phenomenon. With most of my peers working in the fashion industry in some capacity, I asked them to weigh in their thoughts.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 26, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Rental Fee Transparency, Twitter, Age-Inclusive Design, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 25, 2023

Rental Fee Transparency, Twitter, Age-Inclusive Design, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

San Francisco Chronicle: Zillow and other rental websites agree to disclose ‘junk fees’ in deal with White House. “As rents and security deposits have climbed in recent years, so too have various fees that push renters’ monthly bills even higher — including charges for applications, trash collections and paying rent online. In an effort to bring more transparency to the shadowy costs to the rental market, major housing websites like Zillow and Apartments.com will make rental fees clearer and more prominent to help consumers more effectively comparison shop.”

TechCrunch: Twitter has officially changed its logo to ‘X’. “Twitter has removed the iconic bird logo and adopted ‘X’ as its official logo. This move comes after Elon Musk announced the change over the weekend. The change is already live on the website. Notably, Musk tweeted that x.com now also redirects to twitter.com. In the post, Musk also called this an ‘interim’ logo, so we might see another logo change in the future.”

USEFUL STUFF

Smashing Magazine: Designing Age-Inclusive Products: Guidelines And Best Practices. “With an estimated one in every eight individuals worldwide surpassing the age of 60, who are actively adopting online shopping, the need for user-friendly interfaces tailored to their needs becomes apparent. Explore the guidelines to help you design inclusive products for all, particularly for an older audience and your future self.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

San Francisco Gate: Google software engineer got $605,000 bonus, plus more from massive salary leak. “Workers at the Mountain View-based tech giant compiled a spreadsheet with 12,000 entries, Insider reported Wednesday, containing self-volunteered pay details from full-time software engineers, salespeople, designers, product managers and other workers based in the United States. Eye-popping numbers abound; Google employees’ salaries are regularly five times larger than the national average.” I’m guessing this doesn’t include contract workers?

Axios: AI manipulation of Assassin’s Creed character’s voice stokes actors’ concerns. “Voice actor Victoria Atkin worked hard to record the voice of fictional 19th century freedom fighter Evie Frye for Ubisoft’s 2015 adventure, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. But, without Atkin’s involvement, someone using AI has now made Evie speak all the lead character’s lines in Bethesda’s 2011 epic The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations. “The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Amazon has agreed to pay a $25 million fine to settle alleged children’s privacy laws violations related to the company’s Alexa voice assistant service. Amazon has offered Alexa voice-activated products and services targeted at children under 13 years old since May 2018.”

Arab News: Famous Turkish social media chef CZN Burak sues father for fraud . “Famous Turkish chef and social media sensation CZN Burak, whose real name is Burak Ozdemir, has taken legal action against his father, Hasan Ozdemir, accusing him of committing fraud to the tune of millions of dollars. Chef Ozdemir has gained widespread recognition through his viral videos showcasing his culinary skills, amassing an impressive 49 million followers on Instagram.”

CBC: Some advocates want residential school abuse records re-examined, archived as debate on their future continues. “Geraldine Shingoose was shocked when she opened a report probing what should be done to protect potential unmarked grave sites at former residential schools for Indigenous children. Of the thousands of former students who detailed the abuses they suffered to an adjudicator tasked with determining their eligibility for compensation under the historic Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, only about 30 have sought to have copies of their words archived.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Washington: With a new app, smart devices can have GPS underwater. “…a team at the University of Washington has developed the first underwater 3D-positioning app for smart devices. When at least three divers are within about 98 feet (30 meters) of each other, their devices’ existing speakers and microphones contact each other, and the app tracks each user’s location relative to the leader. This range can extend with more divers, if each is within 98 feet of another diver.”

Rice University: A “neuroshield” could protect citizens from artificial intelligence. “There’s an urgent need to support citizens with a system of digital self-defense, argues a neuroscience expert from Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy. Steps to regulate advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-enhanced social media are needed to protect people from AI ‘hacking’ our interpersonal relationships and collective intelligence, says Harris Eyre, fellow in brain health at the Baker Institute.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 26, 2023 at 12:57AM
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Towards Truth, Medium, ChatGPT, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, July 25, 2023

Towards Truth, Medium, ChatGPT, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, July 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

National Indigenous Times (Australia): New website launched to drive national Truth-telling. “Towards Truth is a partnership between the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the UNSW Indigenous Law Centre (ILC), with significant support from pro bono partners across the legal field. The website compiles laws and policies that have impacted First Nations people from 1788 until today, as well as government documents, reports, media articles and case studies that show their practical effects.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Medium: New Partner Program incentives focus on high-quality human writing. “Changes are coming in August to the way we pay writers for great stories and which countries we support. Here’s what’s happening, why, and what it means for you.” I wrote about my weird Medium spam experience in January 2021..

The Verge: ChatGPT can now remember who you are and what you want. “The newest feature of ChatGPT is designed to help you type a little less. It’s called ‘custom instructions,’ and it gives you a place to tell your chatbot the things it should always know about you and how you’d like it to respond to your questions. The feature is in beta, works everywhere ChatGPT does — it should be particularly helpful on mobile devices — and is available today on an opt-in basis to ChatGPT Plus subscribers everywhere but the UK and EU. (Those are hopefully coming soon.)”

Search Engine Roundtable: How It’s Going After Removing Google AMP Pages 3 Weeks Ago. “On June 28th, three weeks ago, I removed the AMP pages from this site. Overall, I didn’t see overall traffic changes from the change. I did notice issues with this site in Google Discover, a spike in crawl rates, a jump in AMP errors and some more changes.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Reuters: OpenAI’s Sam Altman launches Worldcoin crypto project. “Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launches on Monday. The project’s core offering is its World ID, an account that only real humans can get. To get a World ID, a customer signs up to do an in-person iris scan using Worldcoin’s ‘orb’, a silver ball approximately the size of a bowling ball. Once the orb’s iris scan verifies the person is a real human, it creates a World ID.” I will not share my opinion on this endeavor with you because doing so would violate every obscenity ordinance in a 200-mile radius.

Boing Boing: TikToker calls out and publicly shames pickpockets in Venice, Italy. “Pickpockets in the tourist areas of Venice Italy aren’t taking kindly to a TikToker who records them on video and loudly shouts “Attenzione pickpocket!” (‘Attention, pickpocket!’) to warn people in crowded areas that fast-fingered fiends are in the vicinity.”

The Library of Congress Signal: Centering Digital Collection Users: An Interview with Lauren Algee. “I’m excited to share this interview with Lauren Algee, one of my colleagues in the Digital Services Directorate here at the Library of Congress. My hope that interviews like this help to spread awareness about the background, experience, and interests of the people that support the Library of Congress. Along with that, I think it’s really valuable to hear from members of our teams about how their thoughts on the work have changed and developed over time.”

Current: Digitization project will preserve decades of archival content for Arkansas PBS. “A digitization effort underway at Arkansas PBS will preserve more than 26,000 magnetic tapes in the station’s archives, going back to its first hour on the air in 1966. The tapes also include interviews with the Little Rock Nine, audio of Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s service for Martin Luther King Jr., and several children’s programs from the 1970s previously thought to be lost. The collection also holds nearly 600 interviews with World War II veterans and 700 interviews with movie stars from Good Times Picture Show, a show that aired on the station for about 25 years.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Wall Street Journal: Schools Sue Social-Media Platforms Over Alleged Harms to Students . “Plaintiffs’ lawyers are pitching school boards throughout the country to file lawsuits against social-media companies on allegations that their apps cause classroom disciplinary problems and mental-health issues, diverting resources from education.”

Hindustan Times: Govt warned Twitter of ‘consequences’ for failing to block URLs during farmers’ protest. “In a significant move, the Union government has accepted that it sent out a notice to Twitter warning it of ‘significant consequences’ after the platform failed to block certain URLs during farmers’ protest.”

Reuters: Google owes $338.7 mln in Chromecast patent case, US jury says. “Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) violated a software developer’s patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided on Friday. The jury found that Google’s Chromecast and other devices infringe patents owned by Touchstream Technologies related to streaming videos from one screen to another.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Analytics India: When Google Thinks It Owns the Internet . “Google has introduced a new proposal ‘Web Environment Integrity Explainer’ drafted by four of its engineers, revolving around the fundamental idea of enhancing ‘trust and security’ in the client environment. It introduces a new API that enables websites to request a token, providing evidence about the client code’s surroundings. In short, Google is killing ad blockers. No matter how easy or a positive move it seems at first glance, it has sparked controversy in the tech community for being a huge red flag in privacy rights.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 25, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Virginia Woolf, Project Gutenberg Audiobooks, Space Invaders, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 24, 2023

Virginia Woolf, Project Gutenberg Audiobooks, Space Invaders, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 24, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BBC: Virginia Woolf: Personal copy of debut novel resurfaces. “Virginia Woolf’s personal copy of her debut novel, The Voyage Out, has been fully digitised for the first time. The book was rediscovered in 2021, having mistakenly been housed in the science section of the University of Sydney library for 25 years. It is the only publicly available copy of its kind and contains rare inscriptions and edits.”

Techdirt: New Project Uses AI To Turn Project Gutenberg Texts Into Free Audiobooks With Lifelike Voices — In 30 Seconds. “There are currently nearly 5,000 AI-voiced audiobooks, which can be accessed from a number of streaming services, via the Internet Archive, and directly. Listening to them, it is evident that they are a step up from previous computer-generated audiobooks, with a reasonably lifelike voice and some human-like inflections.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Gizmodo: Google and Taito’s Space Invaders AR Game Is Finally Available for Download. “Worried you’re going to be woefully ill-prepared for an inevitable attack by invaders from outer space one day? Google and Taito—the company who released the original version of Space Invaders back in 1978—have a new version of the game that brings the invaders into the real world using augmented reality tricks through your mobile device, and it will finally be available for download starting tonight.”

Stanford Daily: Sources refused to participate in Stanford investigation of president after they weren’t guaranteed anonymity. “Some witnesses to alleged incidents of research misconduct in Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s lab would not talk to the committee investigating his research after being told their anonymity was not guaranteed, The Daily learned. The Daily also obtained email records showing that the committee was aware of additional allegations that it did not disclose in its report, released Wednesday morning.”

Engadget: Google’s Nearby Share app for Windows PCs is now officially available. “Google says its Nearby Share app for Windows PCs is now officially available. A PC version of the app, which makes it a cinch to share files between devices like Android phones and Chromebooks, has been in beta for a few months, but it’s now ready for prime time.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CNN: ‘It almost doubled our workload’: AI is supposed to make jobs easier. These workers disagree. “Ivana Saula, the research director for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said that workers in her union have said they feel like ‘guinea pigs’ as employers rush to roll out AI-powered tools on the job. And it hasn’t always gone smoothly, Saula said. The implementation of these new tech tools has often led to more ‘residual tasks that a human still needs to do.’ This can include picking up additional logistics tasks that a machine simply can’t do, Saula said, adding more time and pressure to a daily work flow.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Microsoft to stop locking vital security logs behind $57-per-user monthly plan. “Microsoft will expand access to important security log data after being criticized for locking detailed audit logs behind a Microsoft 365 enterprise plan that costs $57 per user per month.”

HHS: HHS Office for Civil Rights and the Federal Trade Commission Warn Hospital Systems and Telehealth Providers about Privacy and Security Risks from Online Tracking Technologies. “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are cautioning hospitals and telehealth providers about the privacy and security risks related to the use of online tracking technologies that may be integrated into their websites or mobile apps that may be impermissibly disclosing consumers’ sensitive personal health data to third parties.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

WIRED: Why Generative AI Won’t Disrupt Books. “…for the most part, despite tech’s sometimes drastic (and often negative) effects on other industries, book- and reading-related startups failed to alter much at all. People are still buying books—in fact, they’re buying more than ever. Pandemic lockdowns brought a perhaps unsurprising boom in sales, and even though numbers slipped as restrictions lifted, print sales were still nearly 12 percent higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, and sales of audio books continue to increase dramatically year over year.”

ProPublica: A Scientist Said Her Research Could Help With Repatriation. Instead, It Destroyed Native Remains.. “Federal agencies have awarded millions of dollars to scientific studies on Native American human remains, undermining the goals of NAGPRA as tribes fight for repatriation.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 25, 2023 at 12:21AM
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