This issue is far more Twitter-oriented than I prefer. The afternoon issue will be better.

NEW RESOURCES

Maryland Department of Health: Maryland Department of Health launches new website listing vaccination clinics at local health departments statewide. “The Maryland Department of Health has launched health.maryland.gov/vaccines, which lists vaccination clinics offered by local health departments statewide, including children’s back-to-school and COVID-19 clinics. The new site will also list flu vaccination clinics when available.”

Times of Israel: National Library expands cartographic holdings with 400 rare maps. “The National Library of Israel received some 466 rare maps and 120 books with prints, illustrations and maps of the Land of Israel, from collector Howard Golden…. The National Library cataloged and digitized the maps for preservation and research purposes, which are online, downloadable and available free-of-charge for students, researchers and visitors from Israel and abroad.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Axios: Scoop: X shuts down $100M promoted accounts ad business. “X, the company formerly known as Twitter, will no longer allow advertisers to promote their accounts within the platform’s timeline to attract new followers, according to an email to advertising clients obtained by Axios.” This is crazy. Twitter probably doesn’t have a golden goose anymore, but this is at least an aluminum goose and it doesn’t make sense to toss it in the recycling bin.

TechCrunch: X (formerly Twitter) makes X Pro (formerly TweetDeck) a subscriber-only product. “Elon Musk-owned social network X, formerly Twitter, has made X Pro — which was previously known as TweetDeck — a subscriber-only product. Several users noted on the platform that while trying to access TweetDeck they were shown a popup prompting them to buy a Blue subscription.” When this happens, my already severely-curtailed use of Twitter will drop another 99%. Catch me on Mastodon: researchbuzz@researchbuzz.masto.host .

PC World: TL;DR: Google is adding AI web page summaries to Chrome. “Google is bringing one element of its AI-powered ‘Search Generative Experience’ (SGE) to Google Chrome, following in the footsteps of Microsoft and its migration of Bing Chat into Edge and mainstream search experiences.”

USEFUL STUFF

Social Media Examiner: How to Quickly Create Quality YouTube Shorts. “Want to publish more shorts on YouTube? Looking for an easy-to-use tool? In this article, you’ll discover why you should prioritize short-form content for YouTube. You’ll also learn how to create shorts from existing videos with YouTube native tools.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CityLife: Google’s Gemni: A High-Stakes Move in Artificial Intelligence. “In a bold move, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai decided to merge two major artificial intelligence (AI) teams within the company in April. This decision was driven by the need to catch up to and surpass competitors like OpenAI. Now, Google is preparing to launch a series of large machine-learning models, collectively known as Gemini, in the upcoming fall.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: The Kids Online Safety Act isn’t all right, critics say. “Debate continues to rage over the federal Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which seeks to hold platforms liable for feeding harmful content to minors. KOSA is lawmakers’ answer to whistleblower Frances Haugen’s shocking revelations to Congress. In 2021, Haugen leaked documents and provided testimony alleging that Facebook knew that its platform was addictive and was harming teens—but blinded by its pursuit of profits, it chose to ignore the harms.”

Rolling Stone: X, Formerly Twitter, Wants Lawsuit From Music Publishers Thrown Out. “In the motion, reviewed by Rolling Stone, X cited a 2005 supreme court ruling from MGM Studios v. Grokester and maintained that the suit should be tossed because the publishers ‘do not allege that X encouraged, induced, or intended to foster the infringement of Plaintiffs’ works,’ further arguing that the music publishers ‘must allege that the defendant took active steps with the intent of encouraging infringement.'”

CNN: Special counsel investigating Jan. 6 sought Trump’s direct messages from Twitter, court transcripts reveal. “The special counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump and the aftermath of the 2020 election sought the former president’s Twitter direct messages, of which there were many, federal prosecutors and lawyers for Twitter revealed in newly unsealed transcripts from February court hearings about the search warrant.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Platformer: Elon Musk’s creep show . “To his dwindling fan base, all this will no doubt play as more swaggering derring-do from their real-life Iron Man. But to his employees, his investors, his family and his friends – I wonder if they don’t see something stranger, and darker, going on. For the rest of us, it’s another cringeworthy sideshow on the road to X’s eventual bankruptcy. And one more example of Musk as that most familiar figure: the noisy forum shitposter, forever writing checks with his mouth that his body can’t cash.”

Sydney Morning Herald: Twitter is dead, but what about me?. “Twitter is dead. If we didn’t know it for sure before, the last few weeks have confirmed it. It’s a shambles. It’s glitchy, full of ads, and becoming progressively more unusable. Elon tried changing the entire thing to ‘X’, like a teenager trying to rebrand because nobody at his new school knows he’s a loser yet, but with every new decision the app is hemorrhaging advertisers and users.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Check out Search Gizmos when you have a minute.