NEW RESOURCES

GameRant: Archivist Dumps Over 11 GB of Concept Art, Canceled Games, and More. “A video game archivist has just uploaded an 11 GB collection of concept art, footage, photos, and similar content. The data archive contains rare content which has been sitting in the archivist’s hard drive for over a dozen years. It includes titles such as Half-Life 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and unreleased games such as Leisure Suit Larry Pocket Party among others.”

EVENTS

Creative Commons: Celebrate Public Domain Day 2023 with Us: The Best Things in Life Are Free. “Join Creative Commons, Internet Archive, and many other leaders from the open world to celebrate Public Domain Day 2023. As of January 2023, a treasure trove of new cultural works has become as free as the moon and the stars — at least in the USA and many other countries. And what better way to get us feeling inspired than recalling those timeless lyrics of the 1927 hit musical composition: ‘The Best Things In Life Are Free’. We agree! That’s why we made it our theme.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

NBC 4 Washington: The Metrobus Twitter Account Is Back. It’s Still Not Clear Why It Was Banned. “A few hours after the official Metrobus Twitter account was suspended without explanation on Tuesday afternoon, the account was reinstated. But a full day later, it’s not any clearer why the social media platform banned an account dedicated to public transit updates.”

Engadget: Google Meet adds emoji as a ‘non-disruptive’ way to react in calls. “Google is making Meet more social with a new feature called in-meeting reactions. The idea is that users can send one of nine emoji reactions, including 💖👍 and 😂, which will appear on the recipient’s window and be visible to all in the meeting.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

American Archive of Public Broadcasting: Mellon Foundation Awards GBH $16 Million Grant to Support the American Archive of Public Broadcasting . “The Mellon Foundation has awarded GBH $16 million to support the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), a GBH collaboration with the Library of Congress, to digitize, preserve and make accessible historically significant public radio and television programs from producers and stations across the United States. This grant will be the largest private philanthropic grant GBH has ever received.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: FCC Warns Voice Providers of Severe Punishment in Robocaller Crackdown. “The US Federal Communications Commission is continuing to fight back against illegal robocalls. In its latest move, the agency on Wednesday issued cease-and-desist warnings to two more companies.”

India TV: Centre cracks down on fake news peddling YouTube Channels. “The PIB Fact Check Unit (FCU) of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting busted six YouTube channels which were working in a coordinated manner and spreading false information in India. The Fact Check Unit released six separate Twitter threads having over 100 fact-checks to counter the fake news spread by these channels.”

Motherboard: Blockbuster NYTimes Story Accidentally Leaked Phone Numbers of Russian Soldiers Criticizing War. “In its investigation, the Times decided to publish only the first names of the quoted soldiers to protect their identities. The inclusion of apparent phone numbers undermines that effort. Armed with a phone number, Russian authorities may be able to track down who was critical of the government’s wartime efforts. Motherboard found the Times website included not only the numbers of apparent soldiers on these calls, but also the alleged family members back home.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Insauga: Project tackles online racism and misinformation in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon. “A new research project aims to tackle anti-Black racism misinformation on social media in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon. An increase in harmful content online, including misinformation and disinformation, is a threat to freedom of expression and democratic values, according to a press release from Canadian Heritage.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Ars Technica: Chuck E. Cheese still uses floppy disks in 2023, but not for long. “On Sunday, a Chuck E. Cheese employee named Stewart Coonrod posted a TikTok video that documents the process of installing a new song-and-dance show on an old Chuck E. Cheese animatronics system—a process that involves a 3.5-inch floppy disk and two DVDs. Coonrod says it is the last update before his store undergoes a remodel that will remove the animatronics altogether.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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