afternoonbuzz

Charles W. Chesnutt, Android, Google, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 4, 2023

NEW RESOURCES

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Chesnutt Archive adding author’s correspondence. “The Charles W. Chesnutt Archive at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities is now adding correspondence through a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. About 170 letters between Chesnutt and important historical figures such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and others have been added thus far.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Android can automatically archive apps you aren’t using. “After a teaser last year, Google is ready to help you save space on your phone by shelving unused apps. The company is rolling out an auto-archive feature that removes key parts of apps without erasing personal data. So long as an app is still available on the Play Store, you just have to tap its icon to re-download the missing pieces. This can free as much as 60 percent of an app’s space, Google says.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CNBC: Google employees complain about CEO Sundar Pichai’s pay raise as cost cuts hit rest of the company. “Google CEO Sundar Pichai received a hefty pay raise last year, making him one of the highest-paid CEOs in America. Last week, his company announced the authorization of a $70 billion stock buyback. Meanwhile, Google parent Alphabet has been aggressively cutting costs, including the elimination of 12,000 jobs, in response to slowing revenue growth. That confluence of events has raised the ire of Google’s workforce.”

The Verge: TikTok’s head of US trust and safety is leaving. “TikTok’s head of trust and safety for the US, Eric Han, is leaving the company on May 12th, according to two people familiar with the matter and an internal memo to employees I’ve seen. His departure comes as TikTok is still trying to clench a deal to avoid a ban by the US government.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

San Francisco Chronicle: Court tosses lawsuit accusing Twitter of profiting from sex trafficking. “A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a suit accusing Twitter of profiting from sex trafficking by allowing a paying customer to post nude photos of two 13-year-old boys. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals relied on a 1996 federal law that shields tech platforms from liability for content posted by others, a law now under review in the Supreme Court.”

Oregon State University: OSU research shows how hackers can target smart meters to destabilize electricity grid. “A power transmission grid can be destabilized by hackers who manipulate smart meters to create an oscillation in electricity demand, researchers in the Oregon State University College of Engineering have shown.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Scottish Field: Artificial Intelligence To Help With Gaelic Subtitles. “ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is being used to create a Gaelic subtitle service that could be used by the BBC. Linguists and AI researchers from Edinburgh and Glasgow universities have been awarded £225,000 by the Scottish Government to develop the system.”

Washington State University: Gender gap found in research grant award amounts, re‑applications. “Women researchers received substantially less funding in grant awards than men — an average of about $342,000 compared to men’s $659,000, according to a large meta-analysis of studies on the topic. Women were also less likely to receive second grants to continue their research.”

VentureBeat: Private AI’s PrivateGPT aims to combat ChatGPT privacy concerns. “Today, data privacy provider Private AI, announced the launch of PrivateGPT, a ‘privacy layer’ for large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The new tool is designed to automatically redact sensitive information and personally identifiable information (PII) from user prompts. ”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

UNESCO: UNESCO supports the launch of a MOOC of initiation to Dongba script, “the last living pictographic script in the world”. “The Naxi community numbers around 300,000 people living in Northern Yunnan in south-west China. The Dongba script used by the Naxi is considered the last living pictographic script in the world and is at risk of disappearing, as only a very small number of people can actually use the language. Dongba pictograms have a strong cultural role for the Naxi and are a manifestation of the beliefs of the Naxi people: a form of shamanism based on the cult of nature, associated with popular beliefs and Tibetan cultural influences.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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