NEW RESOURCES

US Department of Agriculture: USDA introduces geospatial data product to show crop rotation patterns. “[Crop Sequence Boundaries] is a cutting-edge map of agricultural fields that provides crop acreage estimates and historical planting decisions across the contiguous United States. The open-source product uses satellite imagery and other public data to allow users to analyze planted U.S. commodities, enhancing not only agricultural science and research, but providing producers an innovative resource to help make farming decisions.”

Digital Library of Georgia: Oral history interviews of W. W. Law, civil rights workers, and 20-century Savannah civil rights history are now available freely online . “The content for this project consists of oral history interview videos with W. W. Law and other Savannah, Georgia, community members involved in the Civil Rights movement. The tapes were shot just prior to Mr. Law’s death and are the longest and most detailed interviews he did on his life and career as a Civil Rights activist.”

State of Utah State Auditor: Office of the State Auditor Releases Tool Showing Property Values Across Utah (this link goes to a PDF file.) “This new tool contains data provided by many of these assessors – those interested in greater transparency for taxpayers. This tool helps taxpayers, policymakers, and regulators better understand property assessment in the State of Utah, allowing interested parties to examine parcel-level data across the State using different metrics.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Bing Chat is coming to Google Chrome and Safari. “Watch out Bard — Bing’s AI chatbot is rolling out on Google Chrome and Safari. As first spotted by Windows Latest (via 9to5Google), Microsoft is testing letting users on both browsers access the tool.”

Reuters: Alphabet rallies as Google Search unfazed by challenge from Microsoft’s Bing. “Alphabet rallied more than 5% on Wednesday on signs its dominant Google Search business was faring well in an uncertain advertising market and remained unscathed in the face of competition from an AI-powered Microsoft Bing.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Business Insider: Elon Musk will reportedly force brands to spend at least $1,000 on Twitter ads every month — or lose their gold checkmark. “Twitter’s ads business is in trouble — and the company is reportedly threatening to strip brands of verification if they don’t pitch in to help. Starting August 7, the platform, now called X, will strip brands of their gold checkmark verification if they haven’t spent at least $1,000 on ads in the previous 30 days or $6,000 in the past 180 days, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an email sent to advertisers that it viewed.”

Mashable: Elon Musk and company take @x handle from its original user. He got zero dollars for it.. “So, Musk now has the @x handle. What happened? Did Musk reach out to [Gene X.] Hwang? Did Hwang cash in and get a paycheck from the company for the handle as some on social media have speculated? No, the company just took it from him.”

New York Times: Hollywood Strike Leaves Influencers Sidelined and Confused. “Despite not being in the actors’ union, many content creators are passing up deals to promote films or TV shows because they don’t want to be barred from the guild or face online vitriol.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: Social media shutdowns? Don’t you dare, activists warn EU. “Dozens of international digital and human rights NGOs want the European Commission to firmly reject the possibility of its new content-moderation law being used to compel social media shutdowns.”

WIRED: Twitter Scammers Stole $1,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down . “After Tim Utzig lost $1,000 to a fraudster who tricked him using a hacked Twitter account, I asked an expert in social engineering and hunting scammers to help. Ultimately, we tracked down the suspected culprits and identified a network of apparent scammers and money mules expertly swindling people out of their savings. This scamming saga shows how fraudsters use social media, build a network of people to operate different payment accounts, and apply effective techniques to bilk their victims.”

Al Jazeera: Indonesia blocks Musk’s X.com under curbs on porn, gambling. “Elon Musk’s aspirations for X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, have hit a stumbling block in Indonesia after the site X.com was blocked under the country’s curbs on online pornography and gambling.” Regular reminder that Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world.

RESEARCH & OPINION

Tom’s Guide: I got suspended by Twitter X — and I have no idea why. “On Monday (July 24), at 10:53 a.m. ET, hours before the Twitter signage was taken down at its company headquarters, I found my own Twitter account taken down. Technically, I was suspended, by this company that was seemingly crumbling from within — as CEO Elon Musk had confusingly decided to rebrand to X.” Good morning, Internet…

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