NEW RESOURCES

The Kurator: New website honours the ‘Made in Italy’ style of late fashion designer Walter Albini. “The digital platform… includes photography, designs, drawings and more, some of which have never been displayed publicly before, featuring Albini’s biggest fashion contributions and his famous unisex themes.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Journal: OpenAI Pauses New ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Due To Surge In Demand. “According to a recent post on X by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, the recent surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference has led to capacity challenges, resulting in the decision to pause ChatGPT Plus signups.”

Engadget: Google Maps adds collaborative lists and new transit search customizations. “Google Maps is rolling out some new features ahead of the very fun, not at all hectic travel season known as the holidays. The updates aren’t actually holiday specific — though we’ll admit the timing isn’t bad — with a focus on ways to figure out where you’re going and how you’re getting there.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Verge: How to share large files over the web. “Below, I look at the file sharing options offered by Apple, Google, and Microsoft, along with a couple of third-party apps. There are loads of the latter out there; I’ve just listed one of the most popular and one that I’ve used several times.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CNN: Elon Musk agrees with X post that claims Jews ‘push hatred’ against White people. “An X post Wednesday afternoon said: ‘Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.’ The post also referenced ‘hordes of minorities’ flooding Western countries, a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory. In response, Musk said: ‘You have said the actual truth.'”

Mainichi: Union files labor complaint as Google Japan rejects talks amid huge staff cuts . “A union representing workers at Google’s Japan arm on Nov. 14 filed a complaint with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Labor Relations Commission, claiming the company’s rejection of collective bargaining following a mass layoff plan is an unfair labor practice.”

WIRED: Underage Workers Are Training AI. “Driven by a global rush into AI, the global data labeling and collection industry is expected to grow to over $17.1 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, a market research and consulting company. Crowdsourcing platforms such as Toloka, Appen, Clickworker, Teemwork.AI, and OneForma connect millions of remote gig workers in the global south to tech companies located in Silicon Valley. Platforms post micro-tasks from their tech clients, which have included Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, Google, Nvidia, Boeing, and Adobe.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Techdirt: Unsealed FTC Complaint Shows Data Broker Kochava Hoovered Up Oceans Of Sensitive Data On Millions Of Americans. “According to the amended complaint, the scope of the data Kochava was casually collecting and monetizing is massive. It includes detailed movement data of consumers down to the meter, as they visited sensitive locations like hospitals, temporary shelters, abortion clinics and places of worship. Kochava then made it easy for advertisers to target consumers based on sensitive metrics.”

Reuters: Meta, Alphabet, ByteDance, Snap must face social media addiction lawsuits. “A federal judge on Tuesday rejected efforts by major social media companies to dismiss nationwide litigation accusing them of illegally enticing and then addicting millions of children to their platforms, damaging their mental health. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, ruled against Alphabet, which operates Google and YouTube; Meta Platforms, which operates Facebook and Instagram; ByteDance, which operates TikTok; and Snap, which operates Snapchat.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: V.A. Recruits Millionth Veteran for Its Genetic Research Database. This is a gift article and you should be able to read it without paywall. “On Saturday, after a 12-year effort, the Department of Veterans Affairs reached a long-term goal — it enrolled the millionth veteran in a genetic database, the Million Veteran Program. According to the V.A., the Million Veteran Program is the largest such database in the world.”

Fstoppers: The Great Tragedy of Photography and Social Media. “Images displaying bodies and themes contrary to mainstream preferences often face marginalization or outright censorship. Facebook and Instagram’s murky nudity policies also exemplify how marginalized bodies – particularly queer, non-binary, ethnic minority, and heavier bodies – undergo disproportionate censorship through the veil of moral protectionism and misaligned algorithms. Similar barriers exist for photographers exploring themes of identity, politics, culture, and wellness in nuanced, unconventional ways.”

Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech Awarded $1.5M to Build People-Centric Network for National Research Database. “Open access to research data and information will be key to spur the next wave of solutions to the world’s most complex problems. With that in mind, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is creating the first-ever prototype open knowledge network. Known as Proto-OKN, it will be a free, publicly available, searchable database containing troves of research data from major U.S. government agencies. The project aims to fuel the next data revolution in support of data-centric solutions to societal challenges. A team at the Georgia Institute of Technology is going to help build it.” Good morning, Internet…

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