NEW RESOURCES

National Library of Medicine: Digitized Document Collection from USPHS Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee Now Publicly Available Through NLM. “A collection of reproduced documents from the 1932 study by the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) on the effects of untreated syphilis in Black men at Tuskegee Institute is now available as a digitized collection through the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The USPHS Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was conducted without informed consent and led to major reforms to protect participants in biomedical research.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Reuters: Payments app Zelle begins refunds for imposter scams after Washington pressure. “Banks on the payment app Zelle have begun refunding victims of imposter scams to address consumer protection concerns raised by U.S. lawmakers and the federal consumer watchdog, in a major policy change.”

Daily Dot: Introducing ‘Meme History,’ a new series celebrating the best memes online . “Today marks the launch of our new YouTube series ‘Meme History,’ celebrating the most iconic memes that have graced the internet since its inception. Why focus on memes? They’ve been a core element of the Daily Dot’s content from the beginning. Our extensive archive, built over a decade of meticulous meme coverage, has been instrumental in the creation of this series. And why choose memes from the vast expanse of human history to spotlight? The answer is simple: memes matter.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Pulitzer Prizes: Pulitzer Board Allows Broadcast Media Sites to Enter Journalism Prizes. “The Pulitzer Prize Board has decided to expand eligibility for its journalism awards to digital news sites operated by broadcast and audio organizations. Entries from these organizations should rely essentially on written journalism.”

Rolling Stone: Internet Sleuths Want to Track Down This Mystery Pop Song. They Only Have 17 Seconds of It. “Before the days of apps like Shazam, trying to identify an unfamiliar song was a team effort. WatZatSong, a social network dating back to 2006 (the early days of Web 2.0) facilitated that process on a global scale. Users could upload tracks that had stumped them, and crowdsource guesses about where it had come from. Some mysteries were swiftly solved; others were tougher to crack. But it wasn’t until 2021 that WatZatSong received what would become its most infamous and enduring submission, from a contributor in Spain going by the handle ‘carl92.'”

Ars Technica: The Humane AI Pin is a bizarre cross between Google Glass and a pager. “Not since Magic Leap has a ‘next-generation’ hardware company been so hyped while showing so little. Everyone in the tech world has been freaking out about this new pocket protector thing that wants to ‘replace your smartphone.’ It’s called the “Humane AI Pin.” As far as we can tell, it’s a $700 screenless voice assistant box and, like all smartphone-ish devices released in the last 10 years, it has some AI in it. It’s as if Google Glass had a baby with a pager from the 1990s.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Yahoo Finance: Why Washington wants to treat Apple and Google like big banks. “A Washington watchdog wants to police Big Tech like it it does big banks, meaning greater scrutiny for popular mobile payment systems operated by Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). A new rule proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would require nonbank financial companies handling more than 5 million transactions per year to follow the same rules as giant lenders already supervised by the CFPB.”

Politico: Macron: Meta, Google ‘simply don’t deliver’ on handling of hate speech. “French President Emmanuel Macron criticized big tech companies’ handling of hate speech on their platforms. In an interview with the BBC, Macron took on Meta and Google specifically, saying that they
‘simply don’t deliver’ on their engagements around content moderation on their platforms.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University at Buffalo: UB researcher receives $2.7 million grant to explore social media links with inflammation, depression. “A University at Buffalo researcher has received a $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for a five-year study that explores the relationship between inflammation and social media use and their possible link to depression in vulnerable populations.”

PsyPost: Smartphone use before bed? It might not be as bad for teen sleep as thought, study finds. “A new study published in Computers in Human Behavior challenges the conventional wisdom about the negative impact of smartphone use on adolescent sleep. Contrary to expectations, researchers failed to find a clear link between teens’ smartphone use before sleep and their sleep outcomes. This suggests that the impact of smartphones on sleep may be more complex than previously thought.” Good morning, Internet…

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