Coffee Genetics, Standard Telephone Company, California State Parks, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 27, 2023

Coffee Genetics, Standard Telephone Company, California State Parks, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Global Coffee Report: WCR releases Arabica genetic fingerprint database. “Verification of coffee varieties ensures quality control of plant material is available to farmers worldwide. WCR is making the database openly accessible to the scientific community so that it can be used by public and private labs for variety verification.”

Digital Library of Georgia: Standard Telephone Company Records documenting Standard Telephone Company’s provision of services to rural northeast Georgians for the past century are now available online.. “The collection contains historical materials dating from 1904 to 1999 that come from the archives of the independently-owned Standard Telephone Company. Headquartered in Cornelia, it provided telephone service to rural northeast Georgians. Among the materials are items recognizing fifty years of service from the Standard Telephone Company’s longtime employee, Henry Davis, an African-American telephone engineer, the first in Georgia and possibly the nation.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

California Department of Parks and Recreation: California State Parks Unveils Enhanced PORTS Website Offering Innovative Learning Resources for Teachers and Students. “PORTS is an innovative initiative that connects K-12 classrooms with the wonders of California’s diverse state parks through virtual field trips, live interactive sessions, and comprehensive digital resources. The newly updated website offers a range of exciting features to enrich the educational journey of teachers and students across the state.”

WordPress: Introducing the 100-Year Plan: Secure Your Online Legacy for a Century. “A domain is your most valuable digital asset. While standard domain registrations last a decade, our 100-Year Plan gives you an opportunity to secure your domain for a full century.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bloomberg: Google Axes Bad Reviews of Tracker Exposing Uyghur Forced Labor. “The Human Rights Foundation’s Uyghur Forced Labor Checker had been experiencing a spate of unusual activity in recent months, with the number of downloads fluctuating dramatically, according to Claudia Bennett, the nonprofit’s legal and program officer. The tool, a Google Chrome extension, alerts internet users if a retailer or business whose website they are visiting has links to forced Uyghur labor.”

BBC: ‘Girl’ trends are sticky and fun. But they can also be problematic.. “Lazy girl jobs are just one instance of a parade of content recently branded as ‘girl’ trends. In the past month, we’ve seen the rise of ‘girl math’, which allows shoppers to justify pricey purchases with a bit of number crunching; and ‘girl dinner’, in which meagre snack platters constitute a full dinner. As these trends rise, there’s one key thing they have in common besides their nomenclature – there’s nothing inherently feminine about them at all.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: AI chatbots help web content farms copy work from top publishers, report says. “Dozens of websites are using AI chatbots to copy and repurpose articles from top publishers, according to a report from the news-rating group NewsGuard, offering a glimpse into how artificial intelligence tools risk undermining media companies and muddying the online news industry. The 37 websites, which Bloomberg also reviewed, posted stories that contained identical text, photos and quotes to articles previously published by the New York Times, Reuters and CNN, according to the report.” Not that junk content online is anything new.

The Messenger: Trump Advisor’s Former Social Media Company Gettr Accused of Stiffing IT Firm Out of $3 Million. “The social media company founded by Donald Trump advisor Jason Miller stiffed a tech outfit they hired for IT services out of more than $3 million, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in New York.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Oregon State University: FDA approving drugs after fewer trials, providing less information to public, OSU studies find. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is approving more novel pharmaceutical drugs based on single clinical trials and with less public disclosure about those trials than was the norm just a few years ago, a pair of recent studies from Oregon State University found. Researchers agree it is important to minimize delays in making treatments for diseases such as cancer available to patients, but they say their findings point to a need for greater transparency around how drugs receive approval.”

The Conversation: Online gaming communities could provide a lifeline for isolated young men − new research. “Online gaming communities could be a vital lifeline for young men struggling silently with mental health issues, according to new research. My colleagues and I analyzed an all-male online football gaming community over the course of a year. We discovered that members who reported more depressive symptoms and less real-life support were roughly 40% more likely to form and maintain social ties with fellow gamers compared with those reporting more real-life support.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 28, 2023 at 12:07AM
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Hawaii Jobs Portal, Alaskan Native Americans, MIT Press, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 27, 2023

Hawaii Jobs Portal, Alaskan Native Americans, MIT Press, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, August 27, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

State of Hawaii: DLIR News Release: State Activates Disaster Recovery Jobs Portal. “The Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) today announced the availability of a disaster recovery jobs portal for Maui to help workers and businesses impacted by the wildfires. The portal provides access to all currently available jobs on Maui as maintained by the DLIR.”

Anchorage Daily News: New state database shows circumstances around disappearances of hundreds of Indigenous people in Alaska. “A new state database reveals for the first time the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of hundreds of Alaska Native people considered missing in Alaska. The Department of Public Safety calls the Missing Indigenous Persons Report, released earlier this week, a first-of-its-kind effort to publicly release data on Alaska Native and American Indian people missing in Alaska. The data includes whether police believe the disappearance was related to criminal activity or not.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

MIT Press: MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O) achieves second year goal, opens access to eighty-two new books in 2023 . “With 322 participating libraries and new consortium agreements, the D2O publishing model has now opened access to more than 160 scholarly monographs and edited collections.”

TechCrunch: Google TV adds 25 more free channels, NFL Sunday Ticket integration. “Google TV is once again expanding its free live TV lineup. In April, the company announced the Google TV service was growing to include over 800 live TV channels, including those from Tubi, Plex, Haystack and others. Today, the company says it’s adding 25 more free channels to the lineup, which can be watched without having to install any additional apps or needing to sign in.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Mashable: Trump evidently didn’t sell Mar-a-Lago. “Did Donald Trump quietly sell off his Mar-a-Lago estate for hundreds of millions of dollars just a few short weeks before being booked in Georgia for trying to steal the 2020 presidential election? While many media outlets ran with the story, the claim is entirely based on a false record posted to Zillow. It appears to not be true.”

BBC: BBC announces Creator Lab, a brand new talent scheme for Social Media Content Creators, in collaboration with TikTok . “Announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival 2023, the BBC will be collaborating with TikTok for the first year of Creator Lab on this brand new scheme which aims to give 100 social and digital creators, who have an interest in pursuing a career in television, the opportunity to take part in a development programme…”

The Real Deal: Celeb names rise in brick-and-mortar retail game . “Celebrities are translating their brands’ e-commerce success to deals for physical retail spaces. Stores for brands connected to big names account for more than 300,000 square feet of retail space nationally, according to JLL data reported by the Commercial Observer.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: GOP Stumbles in Suit Claiming Google Censors Donation Emails. “A Republican National Committee lawsuit accusing Google of routing emails to Gmail users’ spam folders was tossed out by a judge who said the internet giant fairly concluded they were unwanted messages.”

FedScoop: National Archives discloses planned AI uses for record management. “In its 2023 AI use case inventory, the agency charged with managing U.S. government documents disclosed it wants to use an AI-based system to autofill metadata for its archival documents. Similar to some other agencies, the National Archives also disclosed its interest in using the technology to help respond to FOIA requests. While NARA shared these planned applications, it did not include any current, operational use cases of AI.”

US Department of Justice: Tornado Cash Founders Charged with Money Laundering and Sanctions Violations. “According to the indictment, unsealed today in the Southern District of New York, Roman Storm, 34, of Auburn, Washington, and Roman Semenov, 49, of Russia, created, operated, and promoted Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that facilitated more than $1 billion in money laundering transactions, and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lazarus Group, the sanctioned North Korean cybercrime organization. Storm was arrested today in the state of Washington and will be presented later today in the Western District of Washington.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Harvard Gazette: The eye as we’ve never seen it. “In a culmination of more than a decade of research, Harvard scientists have completed a detailed analysis that could not only light the way to better, more targeted gene therapies for blindness, but also inspire a new appreciation for the vast complexity of human vision. The team, led by neurobiologist Joshua Sanes, has authored a complete catalog of the nearly 160 cell types found across all the structures of the human eye, as well as an inventory of the genes each cell type expresses.”

University of Kentucky: Herculaneum scrolls: A 20-year journey to read the unreadable. “Restoring an ancient library from the ashes of Mount Vesuvius is now closer to a reality. To highlight the progress, this is the first in a four-video series featuring Brent Seales, University of Kentucky Alumni Professor in the Department of Computer Science in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering and his Digital Restoration Initiative team.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 27, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Oregon Housing, NYC Asylum Seeker Spending, World Rugby, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 26, 2023

Oregon Housing, NYC Asylum Seeker Spending, World Rugby, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Central Oregon Daily News: Oregon launches online housing, homelessness, rent and poverty dashboard. “Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) announced the launch of a County Profiles data dashboard Thursday with data about housing and related dynamics across the state. It includes income levels, median home prices, percentage of home ownership and homelessness trends.”

New York City Comptroller: NYC Comptroller Lander Unveils New Online Hub to Track City’s Contracting & Budgeting Data for Asylum Seeker Service Provision. “New York City Comptroller Brad Lander launched a new resource on the Comptroller’s Office website to enhance transparency into the City’s contracting and budgeting for service provision to support asylum seekers. The page, titled ‘Accounting for Asylum Seeker Services,’ brings together the most comprehensive publicly available set of the City’s known emergency contracts, budget projections, and high-level data on the asylum seeker population.”

Hypertext: World Rugby launches free streaming site ahead of 2023 World Cup. “The global governing body for the sport of Rugby has launched its first streaming platform ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France – RugbyPass TV. The streaming platform offers content for free but matches are capped as only the highlights, at least for right now.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WBUR: Ousted Mass. police chiefs missing from state discipline database. “Massachusetts’ new officer disciplinary database lists more than 2,100 officers who were punished for wrongdoing. But missing from that list are several police chiefs who were investigated for their own misconduct.”

Fast Company: Chrome’s sidebar apps are the best new productivity feature no one’s talking about. “Back in May, Google added a brilliant new feature to Chrome, and almost everyone appears to have missed it. It’s called the Side Panel API, and it allows Chrome extensions to run as miniature apps in the browser’s sidebar. Several extensions have used this feature to add vertical tabs in Chrome, while other have added things like a ChatGPT sidebar or a persistent scratchpad for notes.”

How-To Geek: Google Photos Is Getting a Revamped Web Editor. “Google Photos keeps improving, from a new scrapbook and AI tool to 3D Cinematic photos and more. While most of the best editing features have been available on mobile for quite some time, they’re finally coming to Google Photos on the web this week.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Associated Press: Native American Group to Digitize 20,000 Archival Pages Linked to Quaker-Run Indian Boarding Schools. “A coalition advocating for Native American people traumatized by an oppressive system of boarding schools for Native youths plans to digitize 20,000 archival pages related to schools in that system that were operated by the Quakers.”

The Verge: 3D printer nightmare fuel: Bambu X1C and P1P started printing while owners were asleep. “When owners of Bambu’s extremely well-regarded 3D printers woke up on August 15th, some found their printer had gone rogue. Some woke up to failed prints. Some found a second copy of a previous print. And at least a few found their Bambu X1C or P1P had started smacking itself apart — damaging components — while trying to print a second copy atop the object they’d actually asked for.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Gizmodo: The College Board Tells TikTok and Facebook Your SAT Scores. “Many students have no choice about working with the College Board, the company that administers the SAT test and Advanced Placement exams. Part of that relationship involves a long history of privacy issues. Tests by Gizmodo found if you use some of the handy tools promoted by College Board’s website, the organization sends details about your SAT scores, GPA, and other data to Facebook, TikTok, and a variety of companies.”

Radar Online: Blogger Who Owes Cardi B $3.9 Million Offers to Pay 6-Figure Sum to Settle Debt in Bankruptcy, Rapper Objecting to Plan. “The blogger who owes Cardi B millions after losing a defamation lawsuit brought by the singer has offered to pay a 6-figure sum to settle the $3.9 million she was ordered to pay the rapper, RadarOnline.com has learned. According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Tasha K, who filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after Cardi started garnishing her wages, has submitted her proposed plan to repay her creditors.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 27, 2023 at 12:24AM
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Hawaii Air Quality Monitors, California Groundwater Management, Reddit, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 26, 2023

Hawaii Air Quality Monitors, California Groundwater Management, Reddit, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, August 26, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Hawaii News Now: State installs new sensors for Lahaina residents to track air quality in real-time. “One is next to the Lahaina Civic Center. The other two are near Lahainaluna High School. They track whether exposure over 24 hours poses a health risk. And real-time results are updated every 10 minutes.”

California Institute for Water Resources: Database of Demand Management Actions Under SGMA Goes Live. “Demand management – policies that alter the incentives of water users in ways that encourage conservation – will be necessary to achieve groundwater sustainability under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). … We record and explain the demand management proposals made in the state’s 118 submitted [Groundwater Sustainability Plans] and make these data publicly available in a new online platform called the SGMA Demand Management Action Database.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Reddit launches moderator rewards program amid sitewide discontent . “Reddit is launching the ‘Mod Helper Program’ to reward moderators who offer helpful advice to other moderators, along with an updated moderator help center. The announcement comes amid growing discontent among the site’s moderators, many of whom relied on third-party apps that have since been shut down because of Reddit’s API pricing.”

Search Engine Land: Google Search app could soon introduce a new Notes feature. “Google appears to be working on a new experimental feature that would let users respond to links in search results via text, images and stickers, 9to5Google reported. Why we care. There is already a lot of competition for attention in Google’s search results. If this search feature graduates from Labs, there will be even more competition in the SERPs, which could impact your organic search traffic.” None came from Google, but I remember such leave-a-note type Web annotators being briefly fashionable 20-25 years ago. They failed because either nobody used them or left just the kind of comments you’d expect, and it was like accessing a Web site through a layer of graffiti.

Bloomberg: Dropbox Ends Unlimited Cloud Storage Following Google Change. “Dropbox Inc., a provider of online data storage, is ending its unlimited option, saying a small handful of customers were using massive amounts of resources that had the potential to degrade the cloud service for the rest of its clients.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Washington Post: Elon Musk stopped policing political misinformation. The tech industry followed.. “Social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation, abandoning their most aggressive efforts to police online falsehoods in a trend expected to profoundly affect the 2024 presidential election.”

WIRED: How to Talk to Your Kids About Social Media and Mental Health. “Around the world, lawmakers have been mounting pressure on the likes of Meta and TikTok to restrict the addictive design features that young users are subjected to. But social media can be valuable to young people too. Digital spaces can be beneficial settings to build friendships and receive social support from peers. So if your kid starts asking about social media (or you suspect that they already have secret accounts), what’s a parent to do?”

Jewish Herald-Voice: Klezmer Institute awarded NEH grant. “The Klezmer Archive project is creating a universally accessible digital archival tool for interaction, discovery and research on available information about klezmer music and its network of contemporary and historical people. Taking individual melodies as the primary artifact, the digital archive will integrate existing tools and archival methods in novel ways to facilitate search and discovery rooted in the needs of its contemporary heritage community.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

FTC: FTC Action Stops Business Opportunity Scheme That Promised Its AI-Boosted Tools Would Power High Earnings Through Online Stores. “As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, a federal court has temporarily shut down a business opportunity scheme that lured consumers to invest $22 million in online stores, using unfounded claims about income and profits. The operators of Automators also claimed to use artificial intelligence to ensure success and profitability for consumers who agreed to invest with Automators.”

University of Waterloo: Protecting Canada’s energy infrastructure and supply chain from cyber attacks. “An engineering professor from the University of Waterloo was awarded $1.2 million in federal funding to protect Canada’s critical energy infrastructure and energy sector supply chains from cyber threats. Dr. Sebastian Fischmeister and his research team will use the grant to develop an enhanced cybersecurity system, using a checkpoint technology, that can identify the threats to the supply chains serving the country’s energy sector.”

Bleeping Computer: Google Workspace will require two admins to sign off on critical changes. “Google announced today new cybersecurity defense controls that will allow security teams to thwart social engineering attacks like phishing targeting Workspace users and prevent account takeover attempts. Prominently among these new capabilities is the ability to add an additional layer of protection that requires sensitive Google Workspace actions to be signed off by two admins.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Engineer: Digital avatar relays decoded brain signals to give voice to paralysed woman. “A woman with severe paralysis from a brainstem stroke can speak through a digital avatar following the development of a brain-computer interface at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley. The breakthrough marks the first time that speech or facial expressions have been synthesised from brain signals.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 26, 2023 at 05:31PM
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University of Florida, TikTok, Online Media, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 25, 2023

University of Florida, TikTok, Online Media, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Independent Florida Alligator: The Alligator introduces new website that tracks crimes on UF campus. “The Alligator is introducing a new feature on its website to assist students and faculty in tracking crimes on campus; it’s called the UF Campus Crime Project. On the bottom right side of The Alligator website, users will find a new widget that directs them to ufcrime.com. The website features an interactive map of the university, displaying the last 90 days’ worth of crimes that have occurred on campus, along with any available court records.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Land: TikTok search ads are here. “It’s official – TikTok is bringing ads to its search results. In TikTok Ads Manager, you’ll find the ‘Search Ads Toggle.’ This newly added feature ‘leverages advertisers’ existing In-Feed Ad creative to serve ads alongside organic video search results from relevant user queries,’ TikTok said.”

TechCrunch: Friend.tech hype is skyrocketing, but will it actually reach the stars?. “Since Friend.tech opened its invite-only beta test 11 days ago, the decentralized social-focused app has quickly attracted a lot of users, even catching the attention of big name crypto influencers, NBA players and OnlyFans creators. But can it convert all the early hype to meaningful, lasting traction?”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bounding Into Comics: Disgruntled CBR Employee Hijacks Official Twitter Account, Publicly Accuses Outlet Of Becoming “An AI-Driven, Clickbait-Focused Content Mill”. “In a move that speaks volumes to the present state of the entertainment media ecosystem, a disgruntled Comic Book Resources employee recently used their access to the outlet’s official Twitter account to deliver a scathing condemnation of its current leadership direction.”

WBBM: Newberry Library acquires Eastland archive that helps humanize the 1915 maritime disaster . “Chicago’s Eastland Disaster killed 844 people in 1915 when a passenger ship rolled over in the Chicago River, and now some of those lost lives are coming into sharper focus. The Newberry Library has acquired the collection of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.” Please note the second picture in this article includes the deceased body of a child.

SECURITY & LEGAL

SBS News (Australia): New bill to force stronger action on social media disinformation. “Social media is at the centre of many of our lives, but there’s concern it’s increasingly an echo chamber. New legislation seeks to ensure social media platforms are doing their best to combat disinformation, which some say is causing damage to our democracy.”

South China Morning Post: Vietnamese video gaming and social media start-up VNG files to be country’s first tech firm to go public in US. “Formerly known as Vinagame, VNG Corp had its start as a game publisher in 2004. It develops and publishes its own titles as well as local versions of international hits, and has gradually expanded to a wide range of services, such as music sharing, video streaming, messaging, a news portal and mobile payments. It has been exploring going public in the US since at least 2017.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Governing: Public Health Enters the Era of Infodemiology. “Misinformation can thwart the work of public health. Leaders from the field are bringing the mindset they use to detect and contain disease to the rapid, far-reaching spread of an information epidemic.”

University of Mississippi: UM Launching Nation’s First Center for Narrative Intelligence. “The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning has approved the creation of a new National Center for Narrative Intelligence at the University of Mississippi, the first of its kind in the country. Narrative intelligence – a human and artificial intelligence-driven process that analyzes large amounts of data to derive meaning, trends and outcomes is particularly useful in identifying the patterns and flow of misinformation and disinformation. It has broad professional applications in various fields including journalism, health care, national security and public policy.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Hackaday: Wooden CNC Sculpture Displays Conway’s Game Of Life. “Conway’s Game of Life has been the object of fascination for computer hobbyists for decades. Watching the generations tick by is mesmerizing to watch, but programming the data structure and implementing the rules is also a rewarding experience, especially if you’re just getting acquainted with a new computing platform. Just as rewarding can be creating a nice piece of hardware to run the game on, as [SandwichRising] has just done: check out his beautiful wooden Game of Life implementation.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 26, 2023 at 12:24AM
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Three Ballet Teachers, Gulf South Air Pollution, Early Child Education, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, August 25, 2023

Three Ballet Teachers, Gulf South Air Pollution, Early Child Education, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, August 25, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Bard College: Maria Simpson Launches Free Online Ballet Resource for Educators. “Maria Simpson, professor of dance at Bard College, has launched Three Ballet Teachers… (3BT) in collaboration with Zvi Gotheiner and Hannah Wiley. 3BT is an online resource featuring video documentation of original ballet class choreography by the three contemporary ballet teachers.”

NPR: New mapping tool gives county-by-county breakdown of air pollution. “It’s not easy to picture what’s in the air we breathe in Louisiana and Mississippi. But earlier this month, a researcher debuted a new tool that could help. It maps pollution in the region, and some environmental groups are already using it.”

PR Newswire: Innovative digital tool equips policymakers with strategies and innovations from all 50 states to advance and strengthen early education and care (PRESS RELEASE). “The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education today launched the Zaentz Navigator, an innovative, user-friendly, and interactive digital tool to help policymakers and leaders learn how cities and states across the country are working to structure, finance, expand, and advance early education and care.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Bloomberg: Google, Twitter, Facebook Under EU Scrutiny as New Rules Kick In. “Meta Platforms Inc., Google and X, formerly known as Twitter, will need to adhere to strict new content moderation rules in the European Union when a new law governing social media platforms becomes legally enforceable from Friday.”

Mashable: YouTube is testing a new search feature powered by humming. “If you have a song stuck in your head and just can’t remember the words, YouTube is testing a new feature for you. In a blog post, the platform announced this week it will be testing a new app feature on Android phones that allows users to search for a song by humming or recording it for more than three seconds.”

TechCrunch: X tries to lure back advertisers with new $250 ad credit. “X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has a new initiative aimed at luring smaller businesses to advertise on its platform. The company announced on Wednesday it would offer a one-time ad credit of $250 to select businesses when they spend $1,000 or more on new ad campaigns over the next 30 days.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Business Insider: Google’s Achilles’ heel: The tech giant’s struggles in augmented reality highlight a much bigger weakness. “From Iris to Alius to Betty, Google’s code-named AR projects rival a millennial parent’s baby-name list. But the projects have been just that: projects. Google has failed to turn any into a viable business yet, thanks largely to constant pivots and strategy tweaks, which eventually led to a talent exodus, Hugh reports. To make matters worse, the chaos in Google’s AR division comes as one of its biggest rivals — Apple — has generated buzz for its mixed-reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro.”

WIRED: The Internet Is Turning Into a Data Black Box. An ‘Inspectability API’ Could Crack It Open. “In addition to exposing surveillance, browser inspection tools provide a powerful way to crowdsource data to study discrimination, the spread of misinformation, and other types of harms tech companies cause or facilitate. But in spite of these tools’ powerful capabilities, their reach is limited. In 2023, Kepios reported that 92 percent of global users accessed the internet through their smartphones, whereas only 65 percent of global users did so using a desktop or laptop computer.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNN: X took two days to suspend account of suspect in Pride flag killing. “X has suspended an account that posted numerous anti-gay and antisemitic posts and was used by the man accused of killing store owner Lauri Carleton over her display of a Pride Flag. But the account had remained live two days after law enforcement publicly confirmed its existence on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The social media company finally suspended the account Wednesday evening.”

Tech Xplore: Research hack reveals call security risk in smartphones. “Advanced smartphone features attract users who want more from their devices, especially in health and entertainment areas, but do these features create a security risk when making or receiving actual calls?…The researchers’ malware, called EarSpy, used machine learning algorithms to filter a surprising amount of caller information from ear speaker vibration data recorded by an Android smartphone’s own motion sensors—and did so without overcoming any safeguards or needing user permissions.

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Register: IBM says GenAI can convert that old COBOL code to Java for you . “IBM is giving its mainframe customers a tool infused with generative AI to translate COBOL code to Java as part of application modernization efforts. The watsonx Code Assistant for Z is set to be available sometime in Q4 2023. Big Blue says it can speed translation of COBOL to Java on its Z mainframes.”

The Feminist Institute: Preserving the International Museum of Women. “Our previous blog post highlighted the history of IMOW and its multiple digital exhibition initiatives. In this project feature, we’ll discuss our approach to capturing this born-digital resource and considerations to take when preserving digital projects that have reached obsolescence.” Good morning, Internet…

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August 25, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Poetry Book Society Bulletin, Microsoft Excel, WordPress, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 24, 2023

Poetry Book Society Bulletin, Microsoft Excel, WordPress, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, August 24, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

InPublishing: The Poetry Book Society launches digital archive. “Digital access to a fully-searchable modern archive of The Poetry Book Society Bulletin (PBS Bulletin) is now available to the society’s members, as well as poets, literature lovers and libraries worldwide. The archive, created in partnership with digital publishing services platform Exact Editions, offers nearly 25 issues’ worth of content dating back to 2017 and is accessible across web, iOS and Android devices.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel. “Microsoft is bringing popular programming language Python to Excel. A public preview of the feature is available today, allowing Excel users to manipulate and analyze data from Python.”

WordPress: More Control Over Your Domain—Introducing Forwarding . “Ever wished you could seamlessly guide visitors from one domain to another? That’s precisely what domain forwarding does. We frequently use it here at WordPress.com. For instance, when you type in ownyouridentity.online—a catchy and memorable URL, if we do say so ourselves—you’re taken straight to our page at WordPress.com/domains. Today, we’re happy to let you know that domain forwarding is available and easily accessible on WordPress.com.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: How to Watch YouTube Videos Together With Friends: 7 Ways . “It’s a great joy to share a YouTube video with friends. It’s even better to watch it with them. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible, especially if you live apart. So, we have compiled a list of ways to watch YouTube together with your friends. As well as helping you watch YouTube together, these services help you sync playback so that you and your friends are watching the same thing at the same time.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Boing Boing: This young zoologist wants to educate you about weird organisms, prehistoric creatures, evolution, and more. “Meet zoologist Lindsay Nikole, who is based in Torrance, California and who uses both short form (Instagram and TikTok) and long form (YouTube) social media to educate the public about animals of all kinds, as well as about ecosystems, evolution, and more.”

Hollywood Reporter: Bill Simmons, Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain and 36 More on The Future of Podcasting . “‘Podcasting has gone from being an industry that had a ton of speculative money thrown at it, to an industry that now has to figure out how to make money,’ notes Audacy’s Jenna Weiss-Berman when asked to describe how it has transformed over the last five years. Here, many of the top hosts, executives and agents in the business, all featured on THR‘s annual list of The 40(ish) Names to Know in Podcasting Now, weigh in with their hopes, plans and pet peeves.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: Powered by technology, imposter scams drive new wave of fraud. “Computer-generated children’s voices so realistic they fool their own parents. Masks created with photos from social media that can penetrate a system protected by face ID. They sound like the stuff of science fiction, but these techniques are already available to criminals preying on everyday consumers. The proliferation of scam technology has alarmed regulators, police and people at the highest levels of the financial industry.”

Techdirt: Unregulated Data Brokers Using The Data They Over-Collect To Run Ads Opposing The Regulation Of Data Brokers. “We’ve noted a few times that there are two major reasons that the U.S. still hasn’t passed even a basic privacy law for the internet era or regulated data brokers. One, the government is corrupt, and has repeatedly buckled to the lobbying of multiple industries that find the current dysfunction very profitable. Two, the government loves the current lax system because it allows them to dodge warrants.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of British Columbia: People dislike AI art because it threatens their humanity: study. “AI-generated writing, photography, art and music have been skyrocketing in popularity, but that surging success has also triggered an enormous backlash, with many rejecting AI art — and even asserting that its proliferation marks the beginning of the end for humanity. So why do some people react so negatively to art made by artificial intelligence? According to a new study from the UBC Sauder School of Business, it’s because for some, it challenges what it is to be human.”

Iowa State University: Digital real estate listings with more photos, descriptions earn higher sale prices. “In a recently published study, [Professor Cheng] Nie and his co-authors highlight how specific features on Zillow influence people’s decisions when making offers and buying houses. Their analysis indicates listings with more ‘experience attributes’ increase the sale price of properties. Photos and descriptions like ‘upscale bathroom fixtures,’ ‘a sunlit kitchen,’ or ‘an exceptional lake view’ fall into this category. They signal the aesthetic and less tangible benefits of a property.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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August 25, 2023 at 12:35AM
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