NEW RESOURCES

Kentucky Bottom Line News: Kentucky Minority-Owned Business Database Now Available Through the Kentucky Chamber Foundation . “In partnership with various certifying organizations, including the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, and the City of Louisville, the Kentucky Minority-Owned Business Database has now centralized the listing of more than 1,100 minority-owned businesses…. The database features a searchable platform where users can find and filter minority-owned businesses by name, certification type, industry, service provided, location, and more.”

IDW: Battery research – First online database on photocharged materials developed. “Dr. Aleksandr Savateev, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, has developed a unique online database. To do so, he has analyzed and standardized research data from 300 papers published over the past forty years in the field of photocharged semiconductors. The database could be used to find suitable photosemiconductors for designing new batteries, rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors more quickly and in a more targeted manner.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

National Archives: National Archives Tops 200 Million Digitized Pages in Online Catalog. “The National Archives Catalog now contains more than 200 million digitized pages. The Office of Innovation collaborated with offices across the National Archives, as well as external partners like Ancestry and FamilySearch, to reach this milestone in August.”

Politico: National Archives denies Trump referral to DOJ was connected to Dems. “The National Archives is denying Republican accusations that its decision to refer Donald Trump’s handling of classified records to the Justice Department had anything to do with an inquiry from a top House Democrat.”

TechCrunch: Google acquires Twitter-backed AI avatar startup Alter for $100 million. “Google has acquired Alter, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar startup that helps creators and brands express their virtual identity, for about $100 million, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, in a push to boost its content game and better compete with TikTok.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: 10 New Google Docs Features Worth Trying Out. “While the fundamentals are the same (why fix what ain’t broken?), Google continues to add new features to the mix. But they aren’t all obvious, and some of them are hidden behind a nest of menus. As reported by Zapier, there are plenty of features new to 2022. Here are 10 of them worth exploring.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Guardian: ‘I vote for chaos’: Twitter aflutter as users contemplate Musk era. “Elon Musk appeared to have taken control of Twitter on Thursday, after months of legal wrangling over the billionaire’s $44bn bid to take over the social media site. People familiar with the matter said Musk completed the deal on Thursday afternoon, and terminated several top executives at the company, including the chief executive, Parag Agrawal.”

NPR: False information is everywhere. ‘Pre-bunking’ tries to head it off early. “Officials in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Union County, North Carolina, and Contra Costa County, California, are posting infographics on social media urging people to ‘think critically’ about what they see and share about voting and to seek out reliable election information.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Google Play in EU antitrust sights as Android fine appeal pending. “Alphabet unit Google’s Google Play Store is the target of an EU antitrust investigation, the company said in a regulatory filing, a move that could expose the U.S. tech giant to another billion-euro fine. Over the last decade, Google has incurred 8.25 billion euros ($8.24 billion) in EU antitrust fines following three investigations into its business practices.”

Rest of World: Social media gossip is fueling mass arrests in El Salvador. ” The rise of social media-driven arrests in El Salvador came about as a result of [President Nayib] Bukele’s push to get citizens involved in his crackdown by reporting suspected crime. In May, the Salvadoran police (PNC) opened an official, dedicated phone line to receive tips from citizens who suspected others of being so-called terrorists, as the government refers to gang members. Law enforcement soon began to get reports through public and private messages on its social media.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: AI is plundering the imagination and replacing it with a slot machine. “These tools represent the complete corporate capture of the imagination, that most private and unpredictable part of the human mind. Professional artists aren’t a cause for worry. They’ll likely soon lose interest in a tool that makes all the important decisions for them. The concern is for everyone else. When tinkerers and hobbyists, doodlers and scribblers—not to mention kids just starting to perceive and explore the world—have this kind of instant gratification at their disposal, their curiosity is hijacked and extracted.” And here is my periodic reminder that I include articles in this section with which I do not necessarily agree.

Cornell Chronicle: Online microaggressions strongly impact disabled users. “In person, people with disabilities often experience microaggressions – comments or subtle insults based on stereotypes. New types of microaggressions play out online as well, according to new Cornell-led research.” Good morning, Internet…

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