NEW RESOURCES

WVTF: Students at Radford University are digitizing more than 2,500 pieces of art. “Below ground in the basement of the Radford University Art Museum, students are at work cataloguing more than 2,500 pieces of art from the museum’s permanent collection for a new online database. This collection includes work by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Dorothy Gillespie, as well as pieces that Radford students have created over the years.”

Bianet: Virtual Madımak Massacre Museum opens. “The Madımak Massacre Memory Center Virtual Museum opened last night (October 1). … The Sivas massacre or Madimak massacre was an act of mob arson on July 2, 1993, at the Hotel Madimak in Sivas, Turkey, which resulted in the killing of 37 people, mostly Alevi intellectuals. Two perpetrators also died during the incident. The victims, who had gathered in the hotel for the Pir Sultan Abdal festival, were killed when a mob set fire to the hotel.”

Undark: Searching for Wisconsin’s Dugout Canoes . “The dugout canoe, which was likely made from a tree that once grew in Wisconsin, is one of more than five dozen located, catalogued, and photographed by [Sissel] Schroeder and [Tamara] Thomsen as part of the Wisconsin Dugout Canoe Survey Project, an effort to identify and document the origin, style, and tree species used to make dugouts. The team is also building a library of 3D interactive digital models of the dugouts, which is available to the public online.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Land: Microsoft CEO: AI will make Google more dominant. “‘Bogus.’ That’s what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thinks about Google’s argument that there is actual choice in the search engine market. And artificial intelligence will provide zero advantage or hope for any companies that hope to enter web search – the ‘biggest no-fly zone of all,’ Nadella said.”

Apple Insider: TikTok is considering offering an ad-free subscription to keep up with rival platforms. “Strings found in the latest release of the TikTok app, spotted by Android Authority, indicate that the testing could begin soon. TikTok has not confirmed it has interest in introducing a subscription fee at this time. During the testing phase, the ad-free TikTok experience will be available for $4.99 per month. The success of this test may determine its wider rollout, and final pricing may vary upon the public release.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Deadline: Star BBC Presenters Should Avoid “Political Campaigning” On Social Media, New Rules State. “While presenters should be allowed to enjoy freedom of expression on social media, they should not be involved in ‘party political campaigning, support for or attacks on political parties, individual politicians, governments or activist organisations,’ the report states. Furthermore, the BBC should should ‘be prescriptive’ in what is not acceptable to help presenters find the line.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Supreme Court to Hear Challenges to State Laws on Social Media. “The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether Florida and Texas may prohibit large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express, setting the stage for a major ruling on how the First Amendment applies to powerful tech platforms.”

TechCrunch: Elon Musk’s X Corp. faces trademark lawsuit from social media ad agency. “When Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X this summer, there were concerns that the new company could face trademark lawsuits as there were nearly 900 active U.S. trademark registrations that cover the letter and branding ‘X’ across various industries, according to comments made by trademark attorney Josh Gerben, speaking to the press at the time. Now his firm is representing what may be the first client to sue X over its trademark — a Florida-based social media ad agency, X Social Media, that connects clients with opportunities to market themselves across social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

WIRED: How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet. “There have long been suspicions that the search giant manipulates ad prices, and now it’s clear that Google treats consumers with the same disdain. The ’10 blue links,’ or organic results, which Google has always claimed to be sacrosanct, are just another vector for Google greediness, camouflaged in the company’s kindergarten colors.”

Tokyo Institute of Technology: Dark Patterns in Japanese Mobile Apps. “Popular Japanese mobile apps have malicious design elements called dark patterns or deceptive user interface designs, researchers from Tokyo Tech have found. A new class of dark patterns, called ‘Linguistic Dead-Ends,’ of types ‘Untranslation’ and ‘Alphabet Soup,’ was also discovered. The researchers found an average of 3.9 deceitful design elements per app and uncovered how language and culture influence the presence and impact of these manipulative practices in digital design in Japan and across the globe.” Good afternoon, 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. I live at Calishat.