NEW RESOURCES

Internet Society: New Guide to Federal Broadband Funding Opportunities in the U.S.. “Today, I am pleased to announce the launch of the Guide to Federal Broadband Opportunities in the U.S. By creating this consolidated resource, especially as large amounts of funding become available as a part of COVID-19 relief and Tribes begin utilizing their Educational Broadband Service spectrum, the Internet Society hopes to assist our community to access these vital funds.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Neowin: Google adds Live Caption for audio and video in Chrome. “Google’s Live Caption feature is now available in the Chrome browser on desktop devices, the Mountain View giant announced today. The feature first debuted as an Android accessibility feature at Google I/O in 2019, and it automatically adds captions to audio and video playing on the device, removing the need for apps to add closed captions individually.”

BuzzFeed News: Facebook Is Building An Instagram For Kids Under The Age Of 13. “Executives at Instagram are planning to build a version of the popular photo-sharing app that can be used by children under the age of 13, according to an internal company post obtained by BuzzFeed News.” Oh sure, why not. Because Facebook’s content moderation in its regular properties is just about PERFECT! Not.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Carl Reiner’s Archives Will Go to the National Comedy Center. “Reiner, who would have turned 99 on Saturday, also left behind a trove of documents, artifacts and personal memorabilia, working on TV programs like ‘Your Show of Shows’ and ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and films like ‘Oh, God!’ and ‘The Jerk.’ Now this personal archive will live on: his family is donating it to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, N.Y., so that current fans and future generations can appreciate the breadth of his accomplishments.”

Washington Post: Biden administration revives EPA Web page on climate change deleted by Trump. “The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday relaunched a webpage dedicated to climate change that had gone dark under President Donald Trump, who frequently dismissed the scientific consensus that humans are warming the planet. The restoration of the climate website comes four years after the Trump administration took down much of the EPA’s digital presence that explained global warming and why it is worth fighting.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

KSAT: Proposed African American cemetery database pending in Congress. “Nationally recognized for his work that often bears historical and cultural significance, Everett Fly, is also known for helping descendants find and restore forgotten African-American cemeteries. Word about Fly’s expertise reached the offices of U.S. Reps. Alma Adams, of North Carolina, and A. Donald McEachin, of Virginia. The representatives introduced the African-American Burial Grounds Network Act, which would create a national database of African American cemeteries.”

AP: US charges Swiss ‘hacktivist’ for data theft and leaks. “The Justice Department has charged a Swiss hacker with computer intrusion and identity theft, just over a week after the hacker took credit for helping to break into the online systems of a U.S. security-camera startup. An indictment against 21-year-old Till Kottmann was brought Thursday by a grand jury in the Seattle-based Western District of Washington.”

KARK: New Arkansas bill proposed to collect taxes on social media ad revenue. “SB558 has been filed by State Senator Trent Garner and it looks to tax ad-generated revenues from social media companies. Garner says one way to begin to regulate social media for fairness and to prevent censoring is to implement a tax.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Florida: New AI tool to be tested in NIH-funded study to improve diagnosis of Parkinson’s and related disorders. “The three distinct neurodegenerative disorders — Parkinson’s disease; multiple system atrophy Parkinsonian variant, or MSAp; and progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP — can be difficult to differentiate because they share overlapping motor and non-motor features, such as changes in gait. But they also have important differences in pathology and prognosis, and obtaining an accurate diagnosis is key to determining the best possible treatment for patients as well as developing improved therapies of the future. Previous research has shown that accuracy of diagnosis in early Parkinson’s can be as low as 58%, and more than half of misdiagnosed patients actually have one of the two variants.”

University of Michigan: New crowdsourced project to digitize Michigan lake and fish records, looking for climate trends. “University of Michigan researchers will enlist the help of citizen scientists in a new project to digitize thousands of historical records—some dating back more than a century—about Michigan inland lake conditions and fish abundances. Scientists will feed the digitized data into computer models to study the impacts of climate change and other factors on the fish in Michigan’s inland lakes.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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