Sixteen Tools for Enhancing Your Google Search Experience — SearchTweaks

Sixteen Tools for Enhancing Your Google Search Experience — SearchTweaks
By ResearchBuzz

Happy holidays! I made you a present: a collection of sixteen tools to make your Google search better, presented in a new site called SearchTweaks.com . You don’t even have to unwrap it because it’s all ready to go.

As you might imagine, after over 25 years of writing about search engines I have plenty of thoughts and opinions about what’s missing in the search experience and what could be done better. Over the last 20 months or so as I’ve been learning JavaScript, I’ve started making what I want to see. And after I’ve gone to all that trouble to learn and program and troubleshoot, why not share?

SearchTweaks’ tools are divided up into four categories: Query Builders (using external resources like Wikipedia to build more detailed Google searches without personal expertise), News-Related Search Tools (Using the FCC and other information sources to build news searches with transparent sourcing), Time-Related Search Tools (making Google’s date-based searching easier to use), and Search Utilities (hacks and tricks for making the most of how Google’s search works.)

SearchTweaks is free and ad-free. The site is hand-coded HTML/CSS/JavaScript so it should work on your phone, but it was designed with desktop use in mind.
Here’s a brief description of each search tool. Enjoy!

Query Builders

Wiki-Guided Google Search — Searches Wikipedia for mentions of a Wikipedia article, filters the result pages by number of mentions, and generates a list of related topics and Google / Google News searches for each.

Clumpy Bounce Topic Search — “Clump” together popular Wikipedia pages in a category and “bounce” them into a Google search.

Smushy Search — Use the Datamuse API to create randomish topical searches on Google.

News-Related Search Tools

Non-Sketchy News Search — Use Wikipedia to find news sources and bundle them into Google Searches.

Marion’s Monocle TV Search — Use FCC licensing data to find TV stations by city/state, then search their Web spaces via Google.

School Scoop — Browse American schools by city/state and search for them on Google/Google News.

Street Scoop — Enter a US address. StreetScoop will find the nearest large city, query the FCC for the television stations in the area, and aggregate those domain names along with your street name into a Google search.

Time-Related Search Tools

Back That Ask Up — Easily removes recent results from Google News searches.

TimeCake — Specify a starting year (1999-), ending year, and interval of years and get a list of Google searches covering those time periods.

Obit Magnet — Find obituaries by creating very short date-bounded searches in Google and other resources.

Software VerSearch — Use lifespans of software versions to craft more useful Google searches.

Search Utilities

No Shop Sherlock — Eliminate different kinds of ecommerce and other content from your Google search results.

Shuffle Search — Shuffle a short Google query into all possible word orders.

Sinker Search — Fill up your Google query’s 32-word limit by repeating its most important term as a “sinker” to weight the search.

Carl’s Name Net — Search a name in a variety of combinations across several resources.

Anti-Bullseye Name Search — Searches for uncommon variants of a name while specifically excluding popular variants.

December 18, 2023 at 09:26PM
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New Zealand Rugby, Sunscreen in New Zealand, Ford Concept Cars, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, December 18, 2023

New Zealand Rugby, Sunscreen in New Zealand, Ford Concept Cars, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, December 18, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

New Zealand Herald: Rugby Database – a voluntary virtual warehouse of New Zealand statistics. “Two Kiwi blokes started a project of passion three years ago – Rugby Database – a digital directory of every first-class rugby union game played both in New Zealand and abroad by national and provincial teams and players — and that’s just to start with. The project has created a blueprint for other teams and countries to follow suit.”

Didn’t plan this, but I like it. Voxy: Consumer NZ’s sunscreen database provides NZers with a new layer of protection. “Consumer NZ has launched an online database allowing New Zealanders to choose sunscreen brands that are transparent about how often they test their products.” I took a quick look and saw at least one American brand, so I don’t think this limited to New-Zealand-specific products.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Detroit Free Press: Ford just added 100 hidden-for-decades photos of concept cars to its online archive. “This time, Ford is revealing 100 new concept car images, including 45 new vehicles, to total 378 unique concept vehicles online. It looks like a study in futuristic automotive car design executed decades ago. Overall, the Ford Heritage Vault now hosts 1,844 concept car images from 1896 to 2021.”

PC Magazine: End of an Era: Google Groups to Drop Usenet Support. “A social-networking fossil looks even more embedded in sedimentary rock now that Google plans to retire the Usenet gateway it’s maintained at its Google Groups site since 2001.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Business Post (Ireland): Exclusive: the X Files – how Elon Musk’s new rules allow hate to flourish. “Elon Musk’s X has instructed staff not to suspend users that post explicitly racist, sexist and homophobic content, or who send sexual material to another person, as part of a new policy that has radically stripped back the company’s moderation of abusive material. Confidential documents obtained by the Business Post reveal in detail how X, formerly Twitter, has significantly watered down its trust and safety rules over recent months, and how its policies allow abusive and hateful accounts to remain on the platform.”

NPR: Fake social media accounts are targeting Taiwan’s presidential election. “An influence operation spanning Facebook, TikTok and YouTube has been targeting Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election, according to a new report from research firm Graphika. While Graphika wasn’t able to determine who was behind the operation, the report comes amid warnings from government officials and tech companies that elections around the world next year are ripe targets for manipulation from states including China, Russia and Iran, as well as domestic actors.”

Northeastern Global News: From Kate Bush to Glass Animals, how TikTok and TV help give music a new life . “‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ was released in 1958. It wasn’t until 2023 that the song hit the Billboard Top 100. Why? The New York Times said it’s thanks in part to singer Brenda Lee getting on TikTok. Whether it be reviving a decades-old holiday classic or breathing new life into an older release, TikTok, television and movies hold great sway. Where DJs and dance clubs once influenced people’s musical tastes, social media and entertainment are the new tastemakers as they introduce or resurrect music. This leads to songs released years ago hitting charts in a way they didn’t upon release.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Sydney Morning Herald: Facebook and Google to face ACCC oversight under tougher rules for using news. “Google and Facebook will come under stricter oversight from the nation’s competition watchdog under federal plans to ensure the global giants compensate Australian news businesses to use their content. The federal government will draft new laws to toughen the regime and encourage the digital media companies to negotiate in good faith with news providers, clearing the way for commercial deals next year.”

New Voice of Ukraine: Disinformation watchdog alerts to rising tactic as Russia impersonates Ukrainian units on Telegram. “Russian disinformation operatives have stepped up an insidious new tactic – impersonating Ukrainian brigades and battalions on Telegram to sow doubt, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation reported on Facebook on Dec. 16.”

Bleeping Computer WordPress hosting service Kinsta targeted by Google phishing ads. “WordPress hosting provider Kinsta is warning customers that Google ads have been observed promoting phishing sites to steal hosting credentials. Kinsta says the phishing attacks aim to steal login credentials for MyKinsta, a key service the company offers to manage WordPress and other cloud-based apps.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of California Davis: YouTube Video Recommendations Lead to More Extremist Content for Right-Leaning Users, Researchers Suggest. “A multidisciplinary research team in communication and computer science at the University of California, Davis, performed a systematic audit of YouTube’s video recommendations in 2021 and 2022. They tested how a person’s ideological leaning might affect what videos YouTube’s algorithms recommend to them. For right-leaning users, video recommendations are more likely to come from channels that share political extremism, conspiracy theories and otherwise problematic content. Recommendations for left-leaning users on YouTube were markedly fewer, researchers said.”

Notre Dame News: ‘A ticking clock’: First ground-based survey of damage to Ukrainian cultural sites reveals severity, need for urgency. “The war in Ukraine is not just a war against a people, but a war on culture. And after nearly two years of fighting, it is destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage on a scale not seen since World War II, according to new research by University of Notre Dame faculty members Ian Kuijt and William Donaruma.” Good morning, Internet…

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December 18, 2023 at 06:31PM
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George Masa Photography, Mother Jones, Google Gemini, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 17, 2023

George Masa Photography, Mother Jones, Google Gemini, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 17, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Asheville Citizen Times: Word from the Smokies: New database contributes to study of George Masa’s photography. “Angelyn Whitmeyer might be the last person you would expect to contribute to ongoing research surrounding a Japanese photographer who found inspiration in the Great Smoky Mountains. And yet, the world is coming to know more about some sophisticated early images and an unlikely champion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park through Whitmeyer’s new George Masa Photo Database.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Mother Jones: Mother Jones, The Center for Investigative Reporting Announce Merger of Storied, Trusted Investigative Newsrooms. “Two of America’s most storied and trusted investigative news organizations, Mother Jones and The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), are poised to merge and become a multimedia nonprofit news outlet, providing in-depth reporting across every platform where people get their news, from online and social media to video, radio, podcast, and print.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

TechCrunch: With AI Studio, Google launches an easy-to-use tool for developing apps and chatbots based on its Gemini model. “AI Studio is a web-based tool for developers that functions a bit like a gateway into the wider Gemini ecosystem, starting with Gemini Pro and then, at some point next year, also Gemini Ultra. Using the service, developers can quickly develop prompts and Gemini-based chatbots — and then get API keys to use them in their apps or get access to the code to work on it in a more fully featured IDE.”

Poynter: West African fact-checkers team up to correct falsehoods in coup-prone region. “The political landscape in West Africa has been undergoing dramatic changes since 2020, marked by a series of coups that have reshaped governance in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon. This trend of political upheaval extends to nearby Central African countries like Sudan and Chad, with visible signs of instability now emerging in Cameroon and Sierra Leone…. Meanwhile, the primary focus of fact-checkers in the region has shifted to accurately informing the public about the coups and actively correcting divisive falsehoods that often go viral.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Nearly a million non-profit donors’ details left exposed in unsecured database. “The database is owned and operated by DonorView – provider of a cloud-based fundraising platform used by schools, charities, religious institutions, and other groups focused on charitable or philanthropic goals. Infosec researcher Jeremiah Fowler found 948,029 records exposed online including donor names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, payment methods, and more.”

Associated Press: Cambodia welcomes the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s plan to return looted antiquities. “Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of Southeast Asia.”

Reuters: Judge says TikTok must turn meeting records over in U.S. states probe. “A state judge on Friday ordered TikTok to comply with a request from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office for records in a multistate investigation into whether the app puts young people at risk. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said the attorneys general investigating since 2022 have discovered TikTok had an archive of tens of thousands of recorded internal Zoom meetings that the company initially failed to disclose for nearly a year and a half.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Southern California: Copy and Paste: New AI Tool Helps Computers Interpret the World. “Popular augmented reality (AR) apps allow you to cut and paste an image of the sofa into a photo of your living room to see if you like it before buying. A team of researchers at USC Viterbi’s Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science has now developed a similar technique to copy virtual 3D objects and paste them into real indoor scenes. This creates an overall natural and realistic image in terms of spatial relationships, object orientations and lighting.”

The Ohio State University: Using AI to pinpoint hidden sources of clean energy underground. “As efforts to transition away from fossil fuels strengthen the hunt for new sources of low-carbon energy, scientists have developed a deep learning model to scan the Earth for surface expressions of subsurface reservoirs of naturally occurring free hydrogen.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Utrecht University: Rembrandt broke new ground with lead-based impregnation of canvas for The Night Watch. “New research has revealed that Rembrandt impregnated the canvas for his famous 1642 militia painting ‘The Night Watch’ with a lead-containing substance even before applying the first ground layer. Such lead-based impregnation has never before been observed with Rembrandt or his contemporaries. The discovery, published today in Science Advances, underlines Rembrandt’s inventive way of working, in which he did not shy away from using new techniques.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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December 18, 2023 at 01:50AM
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Jimmy Carter, Raleigh Fire Museum, Tracking Santa, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, December 17, 2023

Jimmy Carter, Raleigh Fire Museum, Tracking Santa, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, December 17, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

National Security Archive: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Carter Years, 1977-1981. “The latest in the Archive’s award-winning Digital National Security Archive series, U.S. Foreign Policy in the Carter Years, 1977-1981: Highest-Level Memos to the President comprises more than 2,500 communications and top-level policy-making records that Carter personally viewed and, in many cases, commented on directly.”

DigitalNC: From Fires to Finances, New Reports Now Available from the Raleigh Fire Museum. “Thanks to our partners at the Raleigh Fire Museum, we’re proud to announced that a new collection of vintage fire records are now available on DigitalNC! This new batch contains annual financial reports, fire protection reports, and even a booklet detailing the rules and regulations of Raleigh’s fire department. Ranging from as early as 1948 to as late as 1984, these documents capture the development and growth of Raleigh through the eyes of its firefighters.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Toronto Star: Trudeau’s government sets dollar figures for Google payments to media companies. “The federal government has outlined how its $100-million news deal with Google will be broken down, ruling that broadcasters — particularly the CBC — will get a lower share of the cash, with written media receiving two-thirds of the funds. Ottawa on Thursday published the final regulations that will determine how the Liberal government’s contentious Online News Act will be implemented.”

USA Today: Where is Santa? Here’s when NORAD and Google’s Santa Claus trackers will go live. “Tracking Santa has been a job NORAD has dutifully performed for over 60 years as people around the world wait for Old Saint Nick to deliver presents to all the good boys and girls on Christmas. For those looking to keep tabs on the big man, or simply plan ahead to Christmas Eve, here’s what to know about the NORAD Santa tracker, and when it officially goes live.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Hawaii News Now: Group wants Google to remove map where visitor miraculously survived 1,000-foot plunge. “An Oahu hiking group is trying to get Google to remove a dangerous Nuuanu hike from its maps after a 34-year-old visitor miraculously survived a 1,000-foot fall. He says he relied on the online maps to chart his course.”

Fine Books & Collections: Letters from Design’s Industrial Revolution. “From the mid-fifteenth to the nineteenth century, the letterpress dominated printing, allowing for little design variation. New techniques developed in the 1800s, such as chromolithography with multi-colored prints, rotary printing presses, and hand-drawn lithographed typography, led to a burgeoning time of printed ephemera, especially in advertising. Richard Sheaff, a graphic and publication designer, has amassed one of the leading collections of this material.”

Reuters: Google to test new feature limiting advertisers’ use of browser tracking cookies. “Alphabet’s Google said on Thursday it will begin testing a new feature on its Chrome browser as part of a plan to ban third-party cookies that advertisers use to track consumers. The search giant is set to roll out the feature, called Tracking Protection, on Jan. 4 to 1% of Chrome users globally, that will restrict cross-site tracking by default.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

404 Media: About Using Smart Device Microphone Audio to Target Ads on Their Podcast. “MindSift, a small New Hampshire-based company of just three employees, is part of a new push that aims to target ads by listening to peoples’ everyday conversations through microphones in their smart devices, according to a review of recently deleted sections from MindSift’s website and comments made on a podcast unearthed by 404 Media.”

DefenseScoop: New DDS bug bounty to include rapid response capability. “The Defense Digital Service is launching a longer-lasting bug bounty for white-hat hackers that will also include a ‘rapid response’ capability. The organization, which is part of the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO), is partnering with Bugcrowd, a crowdsourced security platform, on the vulnerability disclosure effort.”

The Verge: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney: the post-trial interview. “Sweeney is Epic’s CEO, co-founder, and importantly its controlling shareholder. He’s the one behind these lawsuits, and it was his idea to challenge these companies in court. It’s been his fight from the very beginning, and he watched almost the entire trial in person from the best seat in the house — with a clear view of the jury, the judge, each witness, and the faces of Google’s lawyers. Last night, I asked him why, what he learned, and what’s next.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Germany’s journey towards open access of scientific publications. “In a conversation with Prof. Dr. Gerard Meijer, Director of the Department of Molecular Physics at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, member of the German Council of Science and Humanities (‘Wissenschaftsrat’) and vice-speaker of the DEAL-consortium, the significance of Open Access and of the recently signed agreements between the DEAL consortium and the major publishers Elsevier, Wiley and Springer Nature are discussed.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Florida International University: Harmony for humans and insects: Architecture students create sustainable art for garden visitors and pollinators. “The student groups each chose a specific part of the garden for their inspiration, identified the animal and plant species that present there, studied their growth and behavior and the qualities of their habitats and then extrapolated those characteristics into complex three-dimensional forms with elaborate textured materials. During the process, they identified insects that can directly benefit from the structures and created designs that would allow plants to grow within and around them over time.” Good morning, Internet…

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December 17, 2023 at 06:32PM
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Video Game History Foundation, Roll Mobility App, Ohio Groundwater, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 16, 2023

Video Game History Foundation, Roll Mobility App, Ohio Groundwater, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 16, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Engadget: The Video Game History Foundation will open a digital version of its research library. “The Video Game History Foundation set up shop back in 2017 and offers a gigantic collection of gaming-related archival materials, from magazines to art books and even source code. Previously, you’d have to make the trek to Oakland, California to peruse the archive, but that changes soon. The VGHF just announced a digital library that will offer remote access.”

New-to-me, looks like it launched in February. KSBY: App provides accessibility reviews of public places worldwide– and you can help add to their database. “Shortly after [Joe] Foster’s outing with the Paralympic athletes, he got started on an app to help individuals better navigate public spaces. It’s called Roll Mobility, and it allows users to filter the kind of accessibility they’re looking for. The app then color codes public places from green to red based on how accessible it is.”

Ohio Department of Natural Resources: ODNR Launches New Website For Accessing Groundwater Data In Ohio. “The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Geological Survey has released a new web-based application to help users monitor groundwater resources throughout Ohio…. The new web application is a robust tool for exploring the state’s groundwater resources and is the most comprehensive dataset available for researching long-term trends in groundwater levels in Ohio.”

EVENTS

US Department of Justice: Chief FOIA Officers Council Meeting Showcases the Use of Advanced Technologies in FOIA. “The Chief FOIA Officers (CFO) Council met virtually on November 9, 2023. Associate Attorney General of the United States Vanita Gupta welcomed attendees, thanked agencies for their work on FOIA reporting, and highlighted the new Search Tool on FOIA.gov that will improve the public’s ability to search for previously released FOIA records and to identify appropriate agencies for new FOIA requests.” The entire meeting is available on YouTube.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Elon Musk’s Twitter a year later: Everything you need to know. “Since Musk bought Twitter and took the company private, the news around the microblogging platform has been a whirlwind, rife with verification chaos, API access shakeups, ban reversals, staggering layoffs, and most notably, rebranding to X…. As X enters year two of Musk’s ownership, here’s a comprehensive timeline of everything that’s happened since Elon let that sink in.”

ZDNet: Later, Discord! Midjourney AI tool is moving to dedicated website. “Midjourney AI offers a robust text-to-image generator that can cook up virtually any image you want. But access has been available only through Discord, which isn’t the most user-friendly platform. Now Midjourney has launched its own website that promises an easier and quicker method of creating images.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Verge: ByteDance is secretly using OpenAI’s tech to build a competitor. “TikTok’s entrancing ‘For You’ feed made its parent company, ByteDance, an AI leader on the world stage. But that same company is now so behind in the generative AI race that it has been secretly using OpenAI’s technology to develop its own competing large language model, or LLM.”

NPR: ‘Shameless’: Reporters Without Borders rebukes X for claiming to support it. “‘Elon Musk’s company is a haven for disinformation and in no way an ally to an organization defending journalism,’ Reporters Without Borders said in an email to NPR. While the group had accepted advertising credits from Twitter before Musk took over, Reporters Without Borders said, it does not receive ‘any form of support from X whatsoever.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNBC: Fake TikTok accounts spread disinformation on Russia-Ukraine war to millions. “Fake TikTok accounts have spread disinformation on Russia’s war in Ukraine to millions of people, new data from the Chinese social media giant shows. Posts on the video-sharing site targeted Ukrainian and Russian users, as well as many across Europe, with content designed to ‘artificially amplify pro-Russian narratives’ on the war, TikTok said in a report released Wednesday.”

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Internet Archive Files Appeal Brief Defending Libraries and Digital Lending From Big Publishers’ Legal Attack. “The Internet Archive is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) non-profit library which preserves and provides access to cultural artifacts of all kinds in electronic form. The brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Morrison Foerster on the Archive’s behalf explains that the Archive’s Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program is a lawful fair use that preserves traditional library lending in the digital world.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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December 17, 2023 at 01:08AM
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Chinese Immigration Act (Canada), California Opioid Support, Dutch PV Deployment, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, December 16, 2023

Chinese Immigration Act (Canada), California Opioid Support, Dutch PV Deployment, More: Saturday ResearchBuzz, December 16, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Launched this summer and discovered while I was chasing down something else, from University of British Columbia: UBC Library collaborates with The Paper Trail project to launch new digital archive. “UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC), in partnership with The Paper Trail project team, has launched a digital archival collection of identity papers known as Chinese Immigration (C.I.) certificates created through Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act.”

State of California: California Adds Resources to Fight the Opioid Crisis. “Today, Governor Newsom is launching a new tool to continue California’s efforts in fighting the ongoing opioid crisis – a comprehensive website with resources for Californians: Opioids.CA.GOV. This website serves as a reliable source of information on prevention, data, treatment, and support where Californians can also access information related to the state’s use of opioid settlement funds and efforts to hold drug-traffickers accountable.”

PV Magazine: Dutch government unveils solar deployment database. “The Dutch government’s new open-access PV database is divided by municipality and region. It offers a complete overview of all available spaces for rooftop PV and solar carports across the Netherlands.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Mashable: In Memoriam: The tech that died in 2023 . “On our second annual list of tech that died, we have entries that lived long healthy lives, ones that were cut down in their prime, as well as those that were discontinued because, well, they didn’t make much of an impact at all. Nonetheless, we honor them here.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

GrepBeat: Hayti Is First All-in-One News And Podcasts App For Black Publishers. “Hayti currently curates news from over 200 publishers (which includes online and print publications and magazines) and podcasts from over 2,000 Black podcasters. [Cary] Wheelous wanted Hayti to ensure that underrepresented journalists get the exposure they need and that their voices are heard by everyone.”

KQED: Protesters Outside Google in San Francisco Call for Immediate End to ‘Project Nimbus’. “Pro-Palestinian Google employees protested outside Google offices in San Francisco on Thursday to demand the tech giant cancel a $1.2 billion contract — called ‘Project Nimbus’ — with the Israeli government and military.”

EdinburghLive: Tributes paid to Edinburgh photo enthusiast who created ‘spectacular online archive’. “Historian and photography enthusiast Peter Stubbs was best-known as the man behind the popular Edinphoto site which boasts an archive of more than 25,000 old Edinburgh images and recollections. Peter ran the website for more than two decades, building up an online resource that was second-to-none in terms of the wealth of content and information relating to Edinburgh’s past.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WRIC: Judge denies Virginia NAACP’s effort to get voting rights restoration database. “A judge has sided with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration that a database used for Virginia’s rights restoration process is exempt from the state’s public records law. The Virginia NAACP filed a Freedom of Information Act request for records on how the state restores the voting rights of people with felony convictions who have served their sentences, a process in which Youngkin (R) has the sole authority.”

Reuters: Britain weighs new consultation on social media impact on teens. “Britain could look at further measures to protect young teenagers from the risks of social media in the new year following the introduction of new online safety laws focused on children and the removal of illegal content, a minister said. The Online Safety Act, which became law in October, requires platforms like Meta’s Instagram and Alphabet’s YouTube to strengthen controls around illegal content and age-checking measures.”

Vice: Cartels Are Using a Police Database to Track and Target Their Enemies. “Mexican criminal organizations are allegedly tapping intelligence and security software, that is also used by the government, to locate and disappear rivals and hide their crimes, according to several sources within Mexican law enforcement and cartel members who spoke with VICE News.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Ruhr University Bochum: Less social media makes you happier and more efficient at work. “In a one-week study, just 30 minutes less social media use per day improved the mental health, job satisfaction and commitment of the participants.”

HuffPost: I Received Death Threats After Elon Musk Put A Target On My Back. Here’s The Truth Of What Happened.. “A year ago, one of my biggest fears came true. My name, work ID picture and old Slack messages were misconstrued, posted on Twitter (now known as X), and then plastered over the headlines of right-wing outlets around the country. They were included within a series of tweets highlighting emails, messages and internal documents from my time working as a senior policy official at Twitter, called the ‘Twitter Files.'” Good morning, Internet…

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December 16, 2023 at 06:31PM
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Hospital Price Files Finder, Clinical Trial Oversight, Colorado Avalanches, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 15, 2023

Hospital Price Files Finder, Clinical Trial Oversight, Colorado Avalanches, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 15, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: PatientRightsAdvocate.org Launches Hospital Price Files Finder (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) announced the launch of the brand new Hospital Price Files Finder, a first-of-its-kind, free search tool of the available price transparency files for 6,000 hospitals nationwide. The tool is searchable by state and region, and eliminates obstacles to finding pricing files by compiling and updating the dashboard with the most current information available.”

STAT News: In response to criticism, FDA publishes new database of wayward clinical trial sponsors. “In a bid toward greater transparency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this month launched a dashboard containing preliminary notices sent to companies, universities, and researchers that failed to register clinical trials or report study results. The agency has so far sent about 120 so-called pre-notices indicating a clinical trial sponsor or investigator failed to comply with a federal law that requires such steps.”

Colorado Mountain College: Governor Polis Celebrates Launch Of Accident Explorer Alongside Colorado Avalanche Information Center And Colorado Mountain College, Keeping Colorado’s Great Outdoors Safe. “Today, Governor Polis celebrated the launch of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and Colorado Mountain College Geographic Information Systems program new Avalanche Accident Explorer. This interactive map displays information about Colorado’s fatal avalanche accidents since December 2009.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Irish Times: Google not objecting to order to provide Micheál Martin with identities of those behind ‘fake adverts’. “Tánaiste Micheál Martin has resolved High Court proceedings he brought against Google seeking information about the people behind ‘fake adverts’ allegedly used to defame him…. The matter returned to court on Thursday when Padraic Lyons SC, with Daragh Breen BL, instructed by solicitor Catherine Ardagh, told the court that an agreement had been reached following discussions between the parties.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Washington Post: Bigots use AI to make Nazi memes on 4chan. Verified users post them on X.. “An antisemitic post on Elon Musk’s X is not exactly news. But new research finds the site has emerged as a conduit to mainstream exposure for a fresh wave of automated hate memes, generated using cutting-edge AI image tools by trolls on the notorious online forum 4chan.”

Tubefilter: The latest lo-fi beats stream stars one of YouTube’s most famous cats. “As it begins its 17th year on YouTube, Simon’s Cat is buying into a beloved format. The feline animation hub led by Simon Tofield has launched a ‘focus music’ video that resembles the chill streams hosted by Lofi Girl.”

Mother Jones: How Former Fundamentalists Are Finding Healing on Reddit. “Fundie snark content is available on TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), but it is most well known on Reddit. There, r/FundieSnarkUncensored, started in 2020, boasts 169,000 followers and is in the top 1 percent of communities on the site. While it doesn’t exclusively cater to ex-fundamentalists, many spend time on the subreddit.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: Musk Must Testify in SEC Twitter Stock Probe, Judge Signals. “A San Francisco federal judge signaled that Elon Musk should testify about his purchase of Twitter Inc. stock ahead of his $44 billion buyout of the company last year as part of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.”

CISA: CISA Releases SCuBA Google Workspace Secure Configuration Baselines for Public Comment. “Today, CISA released the draft Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) Google Workspace (GWS) Secure Configuration Baselines and the associated assessment tool ScubaGoggles for public comment. The draft baselines offer minimum viable security configurations for nine GWS services: Groups for Business, Google Calendar, Google Common Controls, Google Classroom, Google Meet, Gmail, Google Chat, Google Drive and Docs, and Google Sites.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

AlgorithmWatch: AI Chatbot produces misinformation about elections. “Bing Chat, the AI-driven chatbot on Microsoft’s search engine Bing, makes up false scandals about real politicians and invents polling numbers. Microsoft seems unable or unwilling to fix the problem. These findings are based on a joint investigation by AlgorithmWatch and AI Forensics, the final report of which has been published today. We tested if the chatbot would provide factual answers when prompted about the Bavarian, Hessian, and Swiss elections that took place in October 2023.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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December 16, 2023 at 01:34AM
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