Monday, September 4, 2023

UK Intellectual Property Office, Reddit Content Moderators, Museum of Classic Chicago Television, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 4, 2023

UK Intellectual Property Office, Reddit Content Moderators, Museum of Classic Chicago Television, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 4, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

UK Government: Powerful new search tool will help IPO maintain patent quality. “‘SEARCH’ is based on the state-of-the art patent search tool developed and used by the European Patent Office (EPO), widely regarded as the best such tool in the world. The IPO has worked with the EPO to develop ‘SEARCH’ as the national office version. The IPO is the first national IP office to implement the tool when conducting patent searches, and is already experiencing the benefits.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: Reddit faces content quality concerns after its Great Mod Purge. “Did you know that improper food canning can lead to death? Botulism—the result of bacteria growing inside improperly treated canned goods—is rare, but people can die from it. In any case, they’ll certainly get very ill. The dangers of food canning were explained to me clearly, succinctly, and with cited sources by Brad Barclay and someone going by Dromio05 on Reddit (who asked to withhold their real name for privacy reasons). Both were recently moderators on the r/canning subreddit and hold science-related master’s degrees.”

TorrentFreak: TV Museum Will Die in 48 Hours Unless Sony Retracts YouTube Copyright Strikes. “Rick Klein and his team have been preserving TV adverts, forgotten tapes, and decades-old TV programming for years. Now operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Museum of Classic Chicago Television has called YouTube home since 2007. However, copyright notices sent on behalf of Sony, protecting TV shows between 40 and 60 years old, could shut down the project in 48 hours.”

Bloomberg: Big Tech firms bracing for EU’s biggest antitrust crackdown; Apple, Alphabet, Meta likely to be affected. “Big Tech is bracing for the European Union’s biggest ever clampdown on anti-competitive practices in the digital economy, potentially provoking a new wave of legal battles between regulators and Silicon Valley. By Sept. 6, antitrust regulators will announce a list of services likely to include Alphabet Inc.’s Google Search, Apple Inc.’s App Store, Amazon.com Inc.’s marketplace and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, to be targeted by rules aimed at preventing the most powerful firms from wrecking new markets before it’s too late to act.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Chess .com: How A Bolivian Junior Chess Champion Became A Social Media Star. “WCM Alexandra Prado, also known as AlexandraChess, is the mind behind some of the internet’s most-viewed chess content, with hundreds of thousands of followers across different platforms. How did a young chess champion from Bolivia become one of the world’s most-followed chess influencers? Read her story to find out!”

New York Times: We Used A.I. to Write Essays for Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Here’s How It Went.. “While the chatbots are not yet great at simulating long-form personal essays with authentic student voices, I wondered how the A.I. tools would do on some of the shorter essay questions that elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth are requiring high school applicants to answer this year. So I used several free tools to generate short essays for some Ivy League applications. The A.I. chatbots’ answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NBC News: Ruby Franke, Utah family YouTuber, arrested on abuse charges after malnourished child in duct tape is found. “Ruby Franke, the Utah mom behind the now-defunct family YouTube channel ‘8 Passengers,’ was arrested Wednesday on child abuse charges after authorities found a malnourished minor with open wounds and duct tape on their extremities, officials announced.”

WWLP (Massachusetts): Private investigators seek new record access law. “A bill before the Joint Committee on Transportation would allow licensed private investigators and detectives to digitally access records managed by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Industry experts say they are already legally entitled to this information under the Driver Privacy Protection Act, but must go in-person to the registry where they sometimes end up waiting for hours alongside those renewing their license or scheduling a road test.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Daily Dot: Is it fair to film people with dementia and put it on TikTok?. “While many of the parents shown in these videos are consenting to being filmed—or, at least to videos of them being posted—some TikTokers film their parents with dementia reacting to gimmicks or just going about their day. Dementia is the umbrella term for diseases that can develop with age that result in the loss of cognitive functioning, like retaining memories or even being able to take care of oneself.”

UCLA: Bringing the history of L.A. workers’ movements into the present – and future. “A course being developed by UCLA labor studies professor Tobias Higbie will aim to inspire a new generation of change-makers.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 5, 2023 at 01:00AM
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WWII Romani Genocide, Southern Baptist Convention, National Diet Library Japan, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, September 4, 2023

WWII Romani Genocide, Southern Baptist Convention, National Diet Library Japan, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, September 4, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

New York Times: An Effort to Focus on Long Overlooked Roma Suffering in the Holocaust. “As many as a half million Romani people were killed by the Nazis, according to one estimate. A new database tells the story of that genocide and its impact on individual lives.”

The Oklahoman: Southern Baptist Convention task force says development of sex abuse database continues. “A Southern Baptist Convention task force said it is in the midst of the vetting process for a highly anticipated database of sex offenders. The Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force shared its progress on Thursday as it unveiled a new website aimed at preventing sex abuse and rooting out predators within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The task force said the new website, sbcabuseprevention.com, is an ‘online hub for abuse prevention resources’ across the denomination.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

National Diet Library (Japan): Integration of the NDL Online and NDL Search web services. “The National Diet Library, Japan, (the NDL) plans to integrate two of its current web services: the National Diet Library Online Search and Request Service (NDL Online) and the NDL Search. These two will be launched as a new NDL Search web service in January 2024.”

Vivaldi: Massive code refactoring brings speed to Vivaldi. “Our new version on desktop – Vivaldi 6.2 – is now faster, especially when you open a new window. By rendering browser windows through React portals, we’ve unlocked new possibilities, reduced memory usage, and significantly improved overall performance.”

TechCrunch: The fall of Babylon: Failed telehealth startup once valued at $2B goes bankrupt, sold for parts. “It’s the end of the road for Babylon Health, the London telehealth startup once valued at nearly $2 billion after being backed by the likes of the founders of DeepMind and deep-pocketed health insurance companies. After the company’s U.S. shares became worthless and its operation turned insolvent earlier this month, last night, the U.K. subsidiary of the business formally went into administration. At the same time, the administrators sold a large chunk of its assets to eMed Healthcare UK, a new subsidiary of U.S. company eMed.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Wall Street Journal: In Exile in Berlin, Ukrainian Artists Confront the War. “Like many other Ukrainian artists, [Vlada] Ralko and [Volodymir] Budnikov are processing the trauma of Russia’s aggression while in exile in Berlin. Some 1.2 million Ukrainians have poured into Germany since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and the capital, where about 10% of the refugees live, has become a hub of Ukraine’s cultural diaspora. Visual artists, performers, writers and filmmakers are responding to the war while helping to change the perception of Ukrainian art and culture.”

NBC News: Ads for AI sex workers are flooding Instagram and TikTok. “Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have tried to keep a tight lid on sexualized content in recent years, banning nudity outright in almost all cases, kicking off sex workers and even cracking down on some artists and educators who speak frankly about sexual health and safety. But a new kind of sexualized content has lately been getting through their moderation systems: ads for scantily clad and dirty-talking chatbots, powered by what their creators say is artificial intelligence.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Associated Press: New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns. “Those attending outdoor parties or barbecues in New York City this weekend may notice an uninvited guest looming over their festivities: a police surveillance drone. The New York City police department plans to pilot the unmanned aircrafts in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend, officials announced Thursday.”

Washington Post: Trump’s Truth Social facing a key funding deadline. “With the merger stalled for months, Digital World is fast approaching a Sept. 8 deadline for the merger to close and has scheduled a shareholder meeting for Tuesday in hopes of getting enough votes to extend the deadline another year. If the vote fails, Digital World will be required by law to liquidate and return $300 million to its shareholders, leaving Trump’s company with nothing from the transaction.”

Slate: The Volunteer Moms Poring Over Archives to Prove Clarence Thomas Wrong. “[Jennifer] Birch is one of about 20 volunteers with Moms Demand Action, part of the gun safety group Everytown, who are scouring archives across the United States for historical firearm regulations. The project is far from academic.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Kansas: Influential ‘Instavangelists’ Blur Line Between Religion And Social Media. “Social media has radically changed the way we do things, from communicating to purchasing to learning to voting. But according to a new article, it’s also transformed the way we define religion — particularly among women.”

The Register: What happens when What3Words gets lost in translation?. “What3Words, the website and app that translates physical coordinates into short memorable combinations of words, has been praised and criticized over the years. Now a computer scientist at the University of Exeter in the UK has formally described in a paper how confusion can arise from the geocoding algorithm used by What3Words, and questioned its fitness for directing emergency services to incident locations.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 4, 2023 at 06:04PM
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Sunday, September 3, 2023

Youth Justice Interactive Dashboard, California Legislation, TikTok, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 3, 2023

Youth Justice Interactive Dashboard, California Legislation, TikTok, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 3, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

UK Authority: Wales gets data dashboard on youth justice. “The Youth Justice Interactive Dashboard has been made available by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, providing data around 10-17 year-olds who offend, on topics including the nature of their offences, outcomes and relevant indicators on issues such as accommodation, education and mental health.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Bloomberg: Tech Industry Dodges California Social Media Addiction Bill. “Legislation aiming to hold social media platforms liable for addiction and other harms (S.B. 680) to child users was killed by a key committee Friday, the second year in a row this has happened.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Messenger: TikTok Scrubs 284 Accounts Tied to Chinese Disinformation Campaign . “TikTok has removed 284 accounts associated with a Chinese disinformation campaign after the Guardian Australia reported on their existence. The ByteDance-owned social media platform removed the accounts in the same week that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram claimed to have removed roughly 9,000 accounts associated with a Chinese disinformation campaign focused on Australia and a few other countries.”

TechCrunch: Google pulls popular but controversial live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store. “Google has removed popular but controversial live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store. The company confirmed the move to TechCrunch, saying that the app violated its user-generated content (UGC) policy.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

404 Media: Scientologists Ask Federal Government to Restrict Right to Repair. “The organization that represents the literary works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has filed a petition with the Federal Government, asking it to make it illegal to circumvent software locks for the repair of a highly specific set of electronic devices, according to a letter reviewed by 404 Media. The letter doesn’t refer to any single device, but experts say the petition covers Scientology’s ‘E-Meter,’ a ‘religious artifact’ and electronic that is core to Scientology.”

New Voice of Ukraine: Drone operating now part of ‘Defense of Ukraine’ classes being piloted in Lviv. “War has changed the way Ukrainian schoolchildren study, as can be seen by at least one class in Lviv, who spent their first day back to class learning how to operate unmanned aerial drones (UAVs), as seen in photos published by Lviv mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, on social media on Sept. 1.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

9to5 Google: Google Now was the better phone assistant, no AI or LLMs needed. “Google’s in-progress plan to revitalize Assistant is by infusing it with LLMs (large language models), starting on mobile, which should mean Android. Hopefully that ‘supercharged Assistant’ will be able to analyze what’s on my screen, find dates/times/locations, and offer to save it in Google Calendar for me. It’s ridiculous, however, that we had that functionality 6-7 years ago and didn’t need the bleeding edge in computer science to get it.”

North Carolina State University: Potential Employers View Job Candidates Differently If They Post Online About Mental Health. “It is increasingly common for people to discuss mental health challenges on social media platforms, but a new study finds these disclosures can affect the way potential employers view job applicants.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

University of Maine: UMaine IMRC uses its tools to preserve historic fly rods — including Teddy Roosevelt’s. “Fly fishing is an essential piece of Maine’s history and culture. The artists at the University of Maine’s Innovative Media Research and Commercialization (IMRC) Center knew this when they were approached with the task of using the tools at their disposal to help Thomas Rod Co., a historic fly rod maker based in Brewer, preserve and recreate its legacy designs — including the one personally used by President Theodore Roosevelt over 100 years ago.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 4, 2023 at 12:27AM
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Illinois Child Welfare, MayoTerrace Online Museum, Beescape, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, September 3, 2023

Illinois Child Welfare, MayoTerrace Online Museum, Beescape, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, September 3, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

State of Illinois: Illinois DCFS Launches Child Welfare Dashboard and Study of Child Protection Services to Increase Transparency and Accountability. “The Illinois Child Welfare Insights Tool is the latest innovation supported by the Pritzker administration at DCFS, which is responsible for investigating reports of suspected child abuse and neglect; licensing Illinois’ childcare centers, adoptive and foster homes, and adoption agencies; and providing community resources to families experiencing social and economic hardships. The launch of this new Insights Tool marks the first time that Illinois residents, child welfare advocates and the families receiving these services have near real-time access to information used by DCFS administrators.”

New-to-me — an online mayonnaise museum you can visit virtually. “If you won’t be exploring Japan anytime soon, interactive MayoTerrace online museum tours can be reserved for free and are conducted over Zoom. You’re sure to get some brilliant mayo-centric ideas for your next meal, and might even be inspired to make a permanent home for Kewpie Mayo in your pantry.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Penn State: New updates come to ‘Beescape,’ an online tool for supporting pollinators. “Beescape is a mapping tool that allows users to highlight a particular location or area and get information about the habitat quality for bees. The updates include several changes to make the website more interactive and user-friendly, based on feedback given by stakeholders including growers, beekeepers, scientists and conservationists.”

CTV News: Online News Act could see Google, Meta pay combined $230 million to Canadian media. “Federal officials estimate Google would need to offer $172 million and Facebook $62 million in annual compensation to satisfy criteria they’re proposing be used to give exemptions under the Online News Act, a bill passed over the summer that will force tech companies to broker deals with media companies whose work they link to or repurpose.”

USEFUL STUFF

New York Times: Use Your Phone as a Pocket Tutor for Study on the Go. “Autumn is edging closer, and the return to a more regular office schedule looms for many people — and with it, the waiting time for transportation, meetings and appointments. Games, reading, social-media scrolls or just zoning out are common ways to spend these spells, but if you want more mental stimulation, why not boost your brain with brief lessons in subjects that interest you? Here’s a guide to finding Android and iOS apps that turn your smartphone into a traveling pocket tutor.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BGR: This generative AI game development tool looks absolutely ridiculous. “The world of generative AI is getting bigger with every passing day as more developers find new ways to utilize AI prompts. Perhaps one of the most ridiculous I’ve seen so far, though, is Hiber3D, a new tool that uses Google’s generative AI to create entire worlds using simple prompts like you’d see used in ChatGPT.”

Sports Illustrated: NBA Referee Eric Lewis Retires Amid Probe Into Social Media Activity. “Former NBA referee Eric Lewis has informed the league that he’s retiring from his duties as an official effective immediately, per a statement released from the league’s office of communications on Wednesday. Lewis had been the subject of an investigation involving his social media activity following allegations that he operated a burner account on X, formerly known as Twitter, which frequently posted in defense of himself and other NBA referees.”

Rolling Stone: Elon Musk Wades Deeper into Antisemitic Propaganda. “On Thursday, a number of accounts began tweeting #BanTheADL, calling on Musk to remove the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from the site. The ADL is a civil rights organization focused on combating antisemitism and extremism. Momentum for the action seems to have been stirred by a meeting earlier in the week between the ADL’s national director, Jonathan Greenblatt, and Linda Yaccarino, in which the pair discussed how to curb the hate and toxic propaganda that have flourished on X ever since Musk’s takeover last year.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Europol: Qakbot botnet infrastructure shattered after international operation. “Europol has supported the coordination of a large-scale international operation that has taken down the infrastructure of the Qakbot malware and led to the seizure of nearly EUR 8 million in cryptocurrencies. The international investigation, also supported by Eurojust, involved judicial and law enforcement authorities from France, Germany, Latvia, The Netherlands, Romania, United Kingdom and the United States.”

SF Gate: Injured person reportedly dies after Cruise cars block first responders. “On Aug. 14, two stalled Cruise vehicles delayed an ambulance from leaving the scene of a crash in which a driver had hit a pedestrian with their car, according to reports from the San Francisco Fire Department. The pedestrian later died of their injuries, which first responders linked to the delay in getting them to the hospital.”

Reuters: U.S. judge approves payouts from Elon Musk’s SEC settlement. “A federal judge on Friday authorized the payout of $41.53 million to investors who lost money when Elon Musk tweeted about taking his electric car company Tesla (TSLA.O) private. Payouts will come from a ‘fair fund’ created under a settlement between Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, arising from Musk’s August 2018 post on Twitter that he had ‘funding secured’ for a Tesla buyout.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Architect Magazine: Materials Science Is Starting to Reap the Benefits of AI. “Scientists have begun exploring the use of AI tools to automate a variety of tasks that are typically time-consuming, including manual endeavors such as identifying relevant references or potential compound ingredients. Remarkably, researchers have also begun employing AI to discover new materials and develop current material compounds in previously unexplored ways.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 3, 2023 at 05:28PM
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Saturday, September 2, 2023

Reporting UAPs, Lafayette College Creative Writing, Google, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 2, 2023

Reporting UAPs, Lafayette College Creative Writing, Google, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 2, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Space: Pentagon UFO office unveils official website for US government personnel to report sightings. “The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) unveiled the new website on Wednesday (Aug. 30). According to a note from the office’s director, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the website will be used to inform the public about ARRO’s findings as well as offer a way for the public to report sightings of UFOs or, as they’re now called, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).”

Lafayette College: New Digital Collections Launch This Fall. “The 138 digitized issues of The Marquis document the history of student creative writing at Lafayette College through poetry, prose, and humor pieces from the post-WWII era to recent years and offer snapshots of student life and perspectives over the last 75 years on College Hill.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Google now blurs explicit imagery in Search results by default. “Google is finished rolling out its new SafeSearch feature that blurs explicit imagery, such as violent or sexual photos, by default. The company announced back in February that it would be rolling out the change later this year, and has now confirmed in a blog post that it is available to everyone.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Quartz: Google’s new AI-powered search results are ripping off news sites. “Earlier this year, as part of its experiments with artificial intelligence, Google released a new search feature that provides an AI-generated overview of search results. The idea is to get users to their answers faster, without needing to leave the search results page. Google says the AI-generated digests use key points from news articles that are not behind a paywall. Critics say the summaries amount to theft, and could incentivize media organizations to put more of their work behind paywalls.”

Apple Insider: Apple is eliminating the social media support roles from Twitter and others. “The official @AppleSupport account was launched in 2016, and it’s primarily used to provide tips for Apple products and address customers directly. The account earned an award from Twitter that same year, thanks to its high level of engagement. However, according to sources speaking to MacRumors, that will be coming to an end. The report states Apple is planning to eliminate its social media support advisor roles available on Twitter/X, YouTube, and the Apple Support Community forum.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

5 News: Social Media Safety Act blocked by Arkansas judge. “A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a new law that would have required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, preventing the state from becoming the first to impose such a restriction.”

404 Media: I Tracked an NYC Subway Rider’s Movements with an MTA ‘Feature’. “During all this monitoring, I wasn’t anywhere near the rider. I didn’t even need to see them with my own eyes. Instead, I was sitting inside an apartment, following their movements through a feature on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) website, which runs the New York City subway system.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PR Newswire: One in five social media users consider themselves an influencer or content creator (PRESS RELEASE). ” One in five (19%) social media users consider themselves to be content creators (10%) or influencers (9%), according to new Mintel research. This number increases to 28% for Gen Z social media users as 11% consider themselves to be influencers and 17% content creators. Meanwhile, three-quarters (76%) of self-proclaimed influencers are living the social media dream by earning enough money from content creation and advertising to support themselves without other work.” That’s… not what I would have expected.

PsyPost: A new mouse maze emoji to increase scientific representation on social media?. “A brief focal point article published in Lancet Neurology questions whether implementing a mouse maze emoji could prove useful in representing the advances made in neuroscientific research. Emojis are small digital icons that are used in digital communication, often conveying emotion or context that may be missing in conversations over text.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Meredith College: New Historical Marker to Recognize Work of Human Computers. “An event celebrating a new historical marker in downtown Raleigh commemorating the women who worked as ‘human computers’ for the U.S. space program and military will be held on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Meredith College alumnae are among the women whose work is recognized with this new marker.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 3, 2023 at 12:38AM
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16th and 17th Century Ireland, Mütter Museum, Latinx Nebraska, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, September 2, 2023

16th and 17th Century Ireland, Mütter Museum, Latinx Nebraska, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, September 2, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Maynooth University: Unveiling the MACMORRIS Project. “MACMORRIS is an acronym for Mapping Actors and Communities: Modelling Research in Renaissance Ireland in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century. It is a radically new digital-humanities project, which, for the very first time, maps the full range and richness of cultural activity in a time of change, conflict and, ultimately, transformation.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: The Mütter Museum launches new collections database, without images of human remains like Einstein’s brain. “The Mütter Museum has launched a new searchable online database of its collection of historical medical equipment and anatomical specimens that will be free to researchers and the public alike. The new database contains more than 20,000 records and photographs, including 5,100 high-resolution photos not previously available. Missing from the database, however, are images of the collection displaying human remains…”

University of Nebraska-Omaha: Preserving and Sharing Voices of Latinx Omahans. “Through a collaborative effort between UNO’s Office of Latino and Latin American Studies (OLLAS) and UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections, 22 bilingual oral histories from the Voces of a Pandemic Collection, part of the Conversaciónes: Latino and Latina Voices of Omaha project have been recorded, preserved, and shared online.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Gizmodo AU: Google Chrome’s New Tool Lets You Copy and Paste Screenshots From Videos. “Students, teachers, and vintage TV screencappers, the Chrome browser has a new feature that makes taking screenshots of scenes easier than before. Google used a blog post about helpful classroom tools to subtly announce the ability to copy a frame from a video. It’s available in the latest release of Chrome and will roll out to everyone this week.”

University of Sydney: Google adds health tips to extreme heat warnings based on latest research. “Important health and safety tips are being made available to millions around the world, thanks to a new Google search feature developed in collaboration with the Global Heat Health Information Network and informed by University of Sydney research.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Verge: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 to get people to ditch Google. “I thought I had malware on my main Windows 11 machine this weekend. There I was minding my own business in Chrome before tabbing back to a game and wham a pop-up appeared asking me to switch my default search engine to Microsoft Bing in Chrome. Stunningly, Microsoft now thinks it’s ok to shove a pop-up in my face above my apps and games just because I dare to use Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge.”

Ars Technica: Researcher builds anti-Russia AI disinformation machine for $400. “[Nea] Paw claims to be a cybersecurity professional who prefers anonymity because some people may believe the project to be irresponsible. The CounterCloud campaign pushing back on Russian messaging was created using OpenAI’s text generation technology, like that behind ChatGPT, and other easily accessible AI tools for generating photographs and illustrations, Paw says, for a total cost of about $400.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: Google Alleges ‘Deep-Seated Bias’ by DOJ Top Antitrust Official. “Alphabet Inc.’s Google told a federal court Thursday that it should be allowed to interview the Justice Department’s top antitrust official under oath, alleging his ‘deep-seated bias’ against the company led the federal government to sue it for antitrust violations.”

BBC: Anonymous Sudan hacks X to put pressure on Elon Musk over Starlink. “A hacking group called Anonymous Sudan took X, formerly known as Twitter, offline in more than a dozen countries on Tuesday morning in an attempt to pressurise Elon Musk into launching his Starlink service in their country. X was down for more than two hours, with thousands of users affected.”

The Street: FTX victims’ face doxxing threat after sensitive data taken by hackers. “Kroll, the firm managing customer data of FTX collapse victims, was hit by a data breach this month that resulted in customer data being stolen. The company was struck by ‘a cybersecurity incident that compromised non-sensitive customer data of certain claimants in the pending bankruptcy case,’ FTX said. However, Kroll announced that hackers also stole sensitive data in the hack.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Foreign Policy Research Institute: Russian Disinformation in Africa: No Door on this Barn. “In 2018, Yale scholar Timothy Snyder called Russian information operations in the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, ‘the most sophisticated propaganda campaign in the history of warfare.’ Likewise, recent advances of Russian disinformation in Africa have resulted in some of the swiftest successes in the history of propaganda. They lie mainly unopposed by any country, Western or otherwise.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Florida International University: Study: Revamped calculus course improves learning. ” The model, developed at FIU, focuses on mastering different ways of thinking and solving problems – skills that are important beyond the classroom. Rote memorization and large lecture halls have been replaced by active learning classrooms where students work collaboratively to solve problems. The result is greater learning outcomes and an understanding of calculus concepts, as well as better grades than their peers in traditional, lecture-based classes, according to the research.” Good morning, Internet…

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September 2, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Friday, September 1, 2023

NOAA Tidal Flooding Predictions, Isolated Indigenous Peoples, Google Forms, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 1, 2023

NOAA Tidal Flooding Predictions, Isolated Indigenous Peoples, Google Forms, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, September 1, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

US Department of Commerce: Commerce’s NOAA Releases New Monthly Tool to Predict High-Tide Flooding. “As high tide flooding continues to break records, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a new monthly tool to predict high tide flooding. The new high tide flooding outlook will help coastal communities better understand when and where high tide flooding may occur and the likelihood of high tide flooding for each day in the calendar year.”

OPI: On Bruno Pereira’s birthday, Opi, Coiab and Opan launch a platform to monitor isolated indigenous peoples. (Everything with regards to this article has been machine-translated from Portuguese.) “The tool gathers information from public databases and field surveys of the Observatory’s networks. Combined, this information makes it possible to analyze the living conditions and territories of these groups. The initiative is a collaboration between [Observatory of Isolated Indigenous Peoples and of Recent Contact] and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) and Operation Amazônia Nativa (Opan).”

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Inspiration: Post Google Forms Responses to Discord Channels. “Learn how to automatically send form responses collected through Google Forms on a Discord channel with the help of Document Studio. The tutorial also provide instructions on how to use Apps Script to post form responses to Discord using webhooks.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

404 Media: ‘Life or Death:’ AI-Generated Mushroom Foraging Books Are All Over Amazon. “Amazon has an AI-generated books problem that’s been documented by journalists for months. Many of these books are obviously gibberish designed to make money. But experts say that AI-generated foraging books, specifically, could actually kill people if they eat the wrong mushroom because a guidebook written by an AI prompt said it was safe. The New York Mycological Society (NYMS) warned on social media that the proliferation of AI-generated foraging books could ‘mean life or death.'”

The Verge: The end of the Googleverse. “For two decades, Google Search was the largely invisible force that determined the ebb and flow of online content. Now, for the first time since Google’s launch, a world without it at the center actually seems possible. We’re clearly at the end of one era and at the threshold of another. But to understand where we’re headed, we have to look back at how it all started.” Interesting article to read as someone who was there for all of it and has drawn very different conclusions in some cases.

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Judge allows age-discrimination lawsuit against Elon Musk’s X to proceed. “A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing X, the social media service formerly called Twitter, of disproportionately laying off older workers when Elon Musk acquired the company last year. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Tuesday said the plaintiff in the proposed class action, John Zeman, had provided enough evidence that the mass layoffs had a greater impact on older employees to continue pursing the case.”

New Arab: Saudi critic sentenced to death for social media posts. “Saeed al-Ghamdi, Mohammed’s brother and an activist living in exile outside Saudi Arabia, said the case against Mohammed was at least partly built on posts on X, formerly Twitter, criticising the government and expressing support for ‘prisoners of conscience’ like the jailed religious clerics Salman al-Awda and Awad al-Qarni. Mohammed al-Ghamdi’s account on X had only nine followers, according to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Engadget: Americans growing anxious as AI adoption expands, Pew Research finds . “Americans have grown more worried about AI in the last nine months. A new survey from the Pew Research Center [ed note: PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!] indicates 52 percent of respondents are more concerned than excited about rising artificial intelligence use, up 14 points since December. Meanwhile, only 10 percent say they’re more excited than worried, while another 36 percent described their views as equally balanced.”

TechCrunch: In Threads’ dwindling engagement, social media’s flawed hypothesis is laid bare. “The hard truth behind the phenomenon? For too long, social media platforms have been operating as if connectivity provides the same fulfillment as human connection. The result is, two decades later, social media’s driven our culture and communal well-being to an unprecedented loneliness epidemic that no platform seems capable of fixing, let alone addressing. It’s time for a hard reset.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

University of Central Florida: Limbitless Solutions Receives Epic MegaGrant to Create Multiplayer Prosthetics-Training Game. “UCF professors and nonprofit organization Limbitless Solutions have received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games, known for operating Fortnite and developing Unreal Engine. Limbitless Solutions is known for developing expressive, 3D-printed arms and accessibility-focused video game training. Their training games directly support producing and delivering cost-free prosthetic limbs for the limb-difference community.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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September 2, 2023 at 12:44AM
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