NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: The Asian American Foundation Launches Interactive AAPI Nonprofit Database to Unlock Resources and Support for AAPI-Focused Organizations (PRESS RELEASE.) “At launch, the database will feature over 600 nonprofit organizations focused on serving AAPI communities. The AAPI Nonprofit Database will allow users to filter by location, focus area, population served, budget size or years in service, among others. Users will have the opportunity to make donations directly to the nonprofit of their choice or learn how to get more involved.”

Canada MotoGuide: Get Yer Motor Runnin’… Bruce Main-Smith Archive Goes Online!. “The Bruce Main-Smith archive was named after its founder, a British motojournalist and publisher who died in 2018. The archive is a massive collection of out-of-print technical documents and other literature from motorcycle manufacturers (vintage advertisements, sales catalogues and more). This collection of more than 5,000 items stretched from the 1800s to the 1980s.”

Discovered on Mastodon: a book-recommendation site called Viberary. From the About Page: ‘Semantic search is a vibe. A vibe can be hard to define, but generally it’s more of a feeling of association than something concrete: a mood, a color, or a phrase. Viberary will not give you exact matches for “Nutella”, but if you type in “chocolately hazlenut goodness”, the expectation is that you’d get back Nutella, and probably also “cake” and “Ferrerro Rocher”. Semantic search methods include and semantic similarity measures, semantic query expansion.’

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: App Store users are downrating Twitter’s rebranding to X with 1-star reviews. “According to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, nearly 78% of all the U.S. iOS reviews of the newly renamed X app have been 1-star reviews since July 24th, the day of the official rebrand, compared with just 50% over the previous two weeks. (50% is still not a great number and one that speaks to other user complaints about the numerous changes Twitter has made under Musk’s ownership.)”

CNBC: Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to ‘supercharge’ products with A.I.. “In an email to employees Monday, Peeyush Ranjan, Google’s vice president of engineering at Assistant, said the latest reshuffle will include a small number of layoffs. Ranjan said the company will look to push large language model, or LLM, technology into Assistant, Google’s voice-powered software that’s similar to Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BBC: Warning over medical clinics using fake Google reviews. “Medical clinics are using fake Google reviews to boost their profiles online, a BBC investigation has found. Consumer groups say fake reviews are a ‘significant and persistent problem’ and have called on internet firms to do more to remove them and fine companies.”

Rolling Stone: Twitter HQ Neighbor Speaks on Elon: ‘Dennis the Menace Moved Into the Neighborhood’. “Looking back on the ill-considered, short-lived sign, and how it briefly made him a social media celebrity, [Christopher] Beale spoke to Rolling Stone about following Twitter’s ups and downs from close nearby, the absurdity of capitalism in the big tech capital, and whether Musk is paying his rent.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Apple Insider: ChatGPT uncovers Mac malware on the Dark Web. “A cybersecurity firm says it asked ChatGPT to find new Mac security threats, and after some delving, it found one sold on a Russian server. Guardz Cyber Intelligence Research (CIR) most recently uncovered ShadowVault, and reports that it has now followed up that find with a new one — made initially by AI.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Verge: Elon Musk wants a second chance to fail at X. “I understand the driving need to prove to people that you are right, which is why I am to some degree sympathetic to Elon Musk’s ill-advised plan to rename Twitter and turn it into his long-dreamed-of financial heavyweight. He wasn’t right when he tried to rename PayPal in 2000 and create an internet upstart in banking; he’s not right now, either. But that isn’t going to stop him from trying to Show Us.”

British Library Digital Scholarship Blog: Writing tools for Interactive Fiction – an updated list. ‘In the spring of 2020, during the first UK lockdown, I wrote an article for the British Library English and Drama blog, titled ‘Writing tools for Interactive Fiction’. Quite a few things have changed since then and as the Library launched its first exhibition on Digital Storytelling this June, it seemed like the perfect time to update this list with a few additions.’

Iowa State University: Researchers find little evidence of cheating with online, unsupervised exams. “Across different academic disciplines, class sizes, course levels and test styles (i.e., predominantly multiple choice or short answer), the researchers found the same results. Unsupervised, online exams produced scores very similar to in-person, proctored exams, indicating they can provide a valid and reliable assessment of student learning.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Gothamist: A ‘teen council’ at the Brooklyn Public Library combats book bans nationwide. ‘A teen from New Mexico recently had an urgent message for his peers in New York City: “You always think it can’t happen to you until it does.” Ivan Torres, 18, shared his experience with local students through the Brooklyn Public Library’s Intellectual Freedom Teen Council. The unique program connects kids from the most populous U.S. city with teens from states where book bans are roiling communities.’ Good morning, Internet…

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