NEW RESOURCES

Spotted via lots of mentions that I could not resolve into an article link: Festivals from India. From the About page: “Festivals From India is an India-UK initiative made possible by the British Council. The digital platform is designed to showcase hundreds of arts and culture festivals across artforms, locations and languages. Whether you love attending festivals, are a festival manager, supplier, sponsor, advertiser, volunteer or just a curious cultural carnivore, Festivals from India is here to help.”

ABC News: Scorsese’s Film Foundation launches free virtual theater. “Film Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Martin Scorsese dedicated to film preservation, is launching a virtual theater to stream classic films free of charge. The film organization announced Friday that the Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room will launch May 9 with the presentation of ‘I Know Where I’m Going!,’ Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Scotland-set romance, recently restored by the Film Foundation and the British Film Institute’s National Archive.”

Times of Malta: Literary foundation launches directory of Maltese writers. “HELA – the hub for excellence in the literary arts – recently launched its new website… which includes a directory of Maltese writers. This depository currently includes information about 40 writers, but the website aims to continue growing to shed light on local writers in Malta and abroad.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Google rolls out new badges to help people avoid bad Chrome extensions. “Google is trying to make it easier for Chrome users to install useful extensions without having to scrutinize where they come from. The company says it has begun applying two new badges to extensions. The first, Featured, looks like a prize ribbon and will be displayed on extensions that ‘follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.'”

USEFUL STUFF

Popular Science: Use this little-known Google feature to bookmark every movie you want to watch . “There are so many streaming services out there that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the choices. And these content factories aren’t slowing down either: Load up Netflix, Disney Plus, or any other streaming app and you’ll find a wealth of new shows and films to pick from every week, whether or not you’ve finished everything else you’re watching (spoiler alert: you haven’t)…. You may not have noticed it among the company’s bigger apps and services—it lives in the shadow of Gmail and Android—but Google Watchlist will log all the films you’re keen to see.”

How-To Geek: How to Transfer EPUB to Kindle. “Kindle eReaders are not limited to books from the Amazon Store. When you get eBooks from other sources, a common file format is EPUB. We’ll show you a few methods to get these files onto your Kindle.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Washington Post: The platform where the right-wing bubble is least likely to pop. “Experts who spoke with The Post suggested that Telegram plays an important, if not yet essential, role in the right-wing information ecosystem, offering a respite from scrutiny and moderation. It’s a place where the fringe’s bubble of disinformation and rhetoric can remain unpunctured — which is often precisely the appeal.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Associated Press: Google, Facebook could face huge fines after new hate speech laws passed in Europe. “Big tech companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta will have to police their platforms more strictly to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content under landmark EU legislation approved early Saturday.”

Bloomberg Quint: These Art Sleuths Are Taking on Traffickers in a $10 Billion Black Market. “From a tiny office in southern India, S. Vijay Kumar scans case files on his laptop with the precision of a forensic scientist. To an untrained eye, the width of a bronze Shiva’s nose or the definition of its knuckles are invisible details. To Kumar, these are clues on a statue that unlock some of history’s biggest art heists.”

SCOTUS Blog: In lawsuit against Google involving ISIS recruitment videos, a chance for the court to take up Section 230. “This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether federal law protects Internet platforms when their algorithms target users and recommend content, in a case alleging that Google aided ISIS’s recruitment through YouTube videos.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Maryland: Researchers Work to Make Artificial Intelligence Genuinely Fair. “Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms help make online shopping seamless, calculate credit scores, navigate vehicles and even offer judges criminal sentencing guidelines. But as the use of AI increases exponentially, so does the concern that biased data can result in flawed decisions or prejudiced outcomes. Now, backed by a combined $1.6 million in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Amazon, two teams of University of Maryland researchers are working to eliminate those biases by developing new algorithms and protocols that can improve the efficiency, reliability and trustworthiness of AI systems.”

Polygon: I Marie Kondo’d my entire internet presence, one account at a time. “At first, each deletion was its own satisfaction, representative of taking back some parcel of attention I had thoughtlessly handed out. But the effort to extricate myself wasn’t always easy or satisfying. So many companies make it enormously difficult to delete your account. At its easiest, it meant navigating through obfuscating design to finally locate a ‘delete’ form. At its most frustrating, it meant numerous help desk tickets and phone calls, countless versions of ‘we’d hate to see you go,’ and disputes with my bank. Over time, the process morphed into more of a meditative ritual.” This was a great read. Nicole Clark was honest about the human foibles of her past self, which is not unusual, but she was also kind to her past self (instead of snarky or impatient or disbelieving), which is unusual. and I think it was that attitude that allowed her to reconnect with some things she’d left behind. Good morning, Internet…

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