NEW RESOURCES

Psychology Today: The Diversity Problem in Face Research. “In a recent paper published in Methods in Psychology, we describe a novel tool for connecting face researchers to the image databases best suited to their research: the ‘Face Image Meta-Database,’ or ‘fIMDb’ for short (Workman & Chatterjee, 2021). The fIMDb is a ‘meta-database’ that indexes known face databases, their characteristics, and how to access them. The fIMDb enables users to build custom searches that, importantly, can be used to filter out stimulus sets with limited diversity. The fIMDb also allows user submissions of new databases and revisions to existing databases. To date, the fIMDb links to 127 different sources for faces that together contain over 4 million images.”

KXLY: New phone app connects you to the nearest Washington winery. “Map My WA Wine is available on both iPhone and Android devices, and helps wine lovers search hundreds of Washington wineries, tasting rooms and vineyards. Planning a trip? You can use the app to create and share itineraries, see what events are happening and search for wineries that are pet-friendly, have live music, serve food and more.”

U.S. Department of Defense: Website Informs Civilians About DOD Opportunities. “The website project’s team lead said the site is primarily a recruitment tool; the website’s purposes were to educate folks about civilian employment and help them explore where they might find their fit within the organization…. There are more than 600 civilian occupations in the DOD. There are all kinds of careers from scientists and engineers to artists to human resource personnel to intelligence analysts to medical professionals.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: Microsoft pauses Windows 365 trials after running out of capacity. “Microsoft introduced its subscription-based Windows 365 last month, and earlier in the week announced general availability for the service that makes it possible to run full versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 in the cloud. If your business was planning on joining the Cloud PC revolution but hasn’t already done so, you might have a bit of a wait on your hands before you can take the service for a spin — struggling to keep up with demand, Microsoft has paused its free trials.”

TechCrunch: Twitter partners with AP and Reuters to address misinformation on its platform. “Through the new agreements, Twitter’s Curation team will be able to leverage the expertise of the partnered organizations to add more context to the news and trends that circulate across Twitter, as well as aid with the company’s use of public service announcements during high-visibility events, misinformation labels and more.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: The Subscription Buffet May Be Over. “Some companies including Disney and Whole Foods, the grocery chain that is owned by Amazon, are charging subscribers more for compelling extras. Others including Spotify and YouTube are experimenting with subscriptions that cost less but come with compromises. Both strategies may show that the endless digital buffet is changing for good.”

AllAfrica: Kenya: New Portal to Curb Academic Dishonesty. “The pace to rid the country of fake certificates is quickly gathering momentum with 74 public universities registering to list their graduates in a central database that will lock out academic cheats. The registration exercise by the institutions to be considered as Qualifications Awarding Institutions will close on September 30.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Infosecurity Magazine: Over 60 Million Americans Exposed Through Misconfigured Database. “Security researchers have discovered an online database completely unsecured and exposed to the public internet, containing the personal details of at least 63 million Americans. A team at vpnMentor led by Ran Locar and Noam Rotem found the Elasticsearch database wide open during a ‘routine research project.'”

BBC: MP Maria Miller wants AI ‘nudifying’ tool banned. “MP Maria Miller wants a parliamentary debate on whether digitally generated nude images need to be banned. It comes as another service which allows users to undress women in photos, using Artificial intelligence (AI), spreads rapidly on social media. The website in question had more than five million visits in June alone, according to one analyst.”

Techdirt: Man Sues Multiple Social Media Services, Claims Banning His Accounts Violates The Civil Rights Act. “Everybody wants to sue social media platforms for (allegedly) violating the First Amendment by removing content that most platforms don’t feel compelled to host. Most of what’s sued over is a mixture of abusive trolling, misinformation, bigoted rhetoric, and harassment. Plaintiffs ignore the fact that private companies can’t violate the First Amendment. The First Amendment does not guarantee anyone the right to an audience or the continued use of someone’s services.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys.org: Finding friends of friends on social media . “A quick way to identify the ‘nth’ friends of social media users based on spatial data mining of profiles and behavior on a service such as Twitter is described in the International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms.”

Reebok: Reebok’s “Courting Greatness” AR Tool, Campaign Empowers Players to Create Basketball Courts Anywhere. “Central to the campaign is a digital tool that utilizes augmented reality to help players map out court features anywhere – on walls, fences, parking lots and alleyways. Throughout the season, to inspire creativity and build awareness around the tool, Reebok will work with local artists in major cities to construct playable basketball art installations, with the first coming from NYC creative collective New York Sunshine that will honor the upcoming Question Mid ‘Iverson Four’.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!