NEW RESOURCES

Wolfram Blog: Change Your Perspective on the History of Mathematics with These Eight Learning Journeys. “Amid COVID’s first wave, I had the privilege to join forces with Eric Weisstein and his team at Wolfram Research to create the History of Mathematics Project, a virtual interactive gallery highlighting physical artifacts that are important to the history of mathematics, for the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) in New York City. Most of my mandatory confinement at home was spent navigating through online collections from world-class museums, locating outstanding mathematical artifacts and creating interactive and computational explanations for them.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: New Microsoft Office rollout: When you’ll get it, pricing and major changes . “Microsoft’s new, flat-price version of its Office productivity software started rolling out Oct. 5 — the same day as Windows 11. The company previously emphasized that while its main focus remains on its Microsoft 365 subscription offering, it will release the one-time purchase Office 2021 for those who aren’t yet ready to move to the cloud.”

The Register: Microsoft admits to yet more printing problems in Windows as back-at-the-office folks asked for admin credentials. “Microsoft’s brand new operating system, Windows 11, appears to be just as iffy when it comes to printing as its predecessors. The latest problem turned up in the Windows Release Health dashboard last week and warned that a prompt for administration credentials might pop up when the print server and client are in different time zones.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: 15 Sci-Fi Podcasts to Listen to When You Need a Break From This Reality. “What follows are 15 of the best and most interesting sci-fi podcasts in this reality, representing a wide array of styles and sub-genres: from full-cast productions to stories told by a single narrator, from cyberpunk to adventures with aliens, they’re all the products of talented creators shooting their freaky, whacked-out, forward-looking ideas directly into our brains—via our ears.” Slideshow, but well-annotated.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: Facebook’s policing of vitriol is even more lackluster outside the US, critics say. “On a cloudy evening in Nairobi, Berhan Taye is scrolling through a spreadsheet in which she has helped document more than 140 Facebook posts from Ethiopia that contain hate speech. There are videos of child abuse, texts of hate speech against different ethnic groups, and hours-long live streams inciting hatred. These posts breach Facebook community guidelines in any context. Yet for Taye and her colleagues, this is what Facebook’s news feed has looked like for years in Ethiopia.”

MyNorthwest: Priceless archive keeps the history of Pacific Northwest trains running. “A unique partnership between five nonprofit groups devoted to Northwest railroad history means an incredible archive of priceless photos and documents is being preserved and made accessible in person and online from a location in Burien.”

Tubefilter; TikTok Is Bringing In The Beatles. “Thanks to a deal with record labels Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe, TikTok has added 36 of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr’s songs to its sound library, which means creators will be able to use them in videos. Also part of the deal is a Beatles TikTok account…”

SECURITY & LEGAL

BBC: New database launched to counter extremism. “The EMAN Network, standing for Extremist Monitoring Analysis Network aims to ‘combat hate speech and extremist ideologies by profiling radical individuals and organisations of all faiths’. Far-right extremists, anti-Semitic tweeters and those who propagate a violent interpretation of Islam and other religions, are all profiled in EMAN’s database which currently holds around 150 entries.”

Bleeping Computer: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink. “Canon USA is being sued for not allowing owners of certain printers to use the scanner or faxing functions if they run out of ink. David Leacraft, a customer of Canon, filed the class action lawsuit on Tuesday alleging deceptive marketing and unjust enrichment by the printer manufacturer.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Verge: Facebook disputes report that its AI can’t detect hate speech or violence consistently. “The post appeared to be in response to a Sunday article in the Wall Street Journal, which said the Facebook employees tasked with keeping offensive content off the platform don’t believe the company is able to reliably screen for it.” A link to that article will be in tomorrow morning’s issue, due to me not wanting to overload categories. Good afternoon, 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!