NEW RESOURCES

Scientific Data: Caravan – A global community dataset for large-sample hydrology . “This paper introduces a dataset called Caravan (a series of CAMELS [Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies]) that standardizes and aggregates seven existing large-sample hydrology datasets. Caravan includes meteorological forcing data, streamflow data, and static catchment attributes (e.g., geophysical, sociological, climatological) for 6830 catchments. Most importantly, Caravan is both a dataset and open-source software that allows members of the hydrology community to extend the dataset to new locations by extracting forcing data and catchment attributes in the cloud.”

National Archives Blog: RG 242: Target Dossiers Pertaining to the British Isles, 1938-1945 Now Fully Digitized!. “The records in this series are a subset of RG 242: National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675-1958. The dossiers, which are aerial photographs and maps of German identified bombing targets, are arranged by country and, thereunder, by location.”

EVENTS

Creative Commons: Scanning 3D: Cultural Heritage Preservation, Access and Revitalization. “On 7 February 2023, Creative Commons will host a panel discussion on 3D scanning, preservation, access and revitalization of cultural heritage.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Motherboard: AI-Generated Voice Firm Clamps Down After 4chan Makes Celebrity Voices for Abuse. “ElevenLabs didn’t point to any particular instances of abuse, but Motherboard found 4chan members appear to have used the product to generate voices that sound like Joe Rogan, Ben Sharpio, and Emma Watson to spew racist and other sorts of material. ElevenLabs said it is exploring more safeguards around its technology.”

Search Engine Roundtable: More Bing Search Features & Tests. “Here is another batch of Microsoft Bing Search tests and features that were caught out in the wild that I wanted to share with you. They include sorting, filtering, carousels, animations, related content and maybe even some bugs?”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Daily Dot: ‘An immense loss’: Stripper Web, a popular forum for adult entertainers, shutters after 20 years. “Stripper Web, an online forum for exotic dancers, webcam models, and online sex workers announced this week that it’s closing on Feb. 1. The forum, which houses over 900,000 posts and discussion threads from workers in the adult entertainment space, said in a statement the site’s shuttering was a ‘difficult decision.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Twitter asks judge to toss out proposed sex bias class action. “Twitter Inc has asked a federal judge to toss out a proposed class action claiming the company targeted female employees during its recent mass layoffs, saying the plaintiffs failed to identify any actual discrimination.”

The Register: Google slays thousands of fake news vids posted by pro-China group Dragonbridge. “Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has burned more than 50,000 spammy fake news stories and other content posted by the pro-China ‘Dragonbridge’ gang. Dragonbridge ran disinformation campaigns across Google-owned platforms YouTube, Blogger and AdSense.”

Ars Technica: GitHub says hackers cloned code-signing certificates in breached repository. “GitHub said unknown intruders gained unauthorized access to some of its code repositories and stole code-signing certificates for two of its desktop applications: Desktop and Atom.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

WIRED: I Spent a Week Using Only TikTok for Search. “Younger users are sidestepping Google in favor of the social app’s search engine, so I tried it too. You will absolutely believe what happened next.”

CogDogBlog: It’s as if MarketingGPT is already in play… pooping on the web. “In Chapter 32 of the ‘You Cannot Make this**** Up Book of Internet Stupidity’ I submit for your disapproval perhaps evidence that GPT AI is in use already for marketing pimple brains.”

TechCrunch: Google created an AI that can generate music from text descriptions, but won’t release it. “An impressive new AI system from Google can generate music in any genre given a text description. But the company, fearing the risks, has no immediate plans to release it.” Good morning, Internet…

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