Make Tech Easier: “While we consider PDFs as the gold standard for professional documents, they often present challenges when it comes to editing. One easy way for you to edit a PDF file is to convert it to Google Docs. Once you have edited it, you can then export it to PDF. Here is how… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Findings Report: Governance on Fediverse Microblogging Servers
Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi with the support of the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund August 20, 2024 [PDF version / web version] [Quick-Start Guide to Fediverse Governance Decisions] [Fediverse Governance Opportunities for Funders & Developers] Project Introduction – We proposed this project in the fall of 2023 based on our shared sense that the Fediverse’s… Continue Reading
Ginni Thomas Privately Praised Group Working Against Supreme Court Reform
ProPublica – “Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on a major religious-rights group for fighting efforts to reform the nation’s highest court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses. Thomas expressed her appreciation in an email sent to Kelly Shackelford, an influential litigator whose… Continue Reading
The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case
Wired unpaywalled: “The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle [The case is Hachette Book Group Inc. v. Internet Archive, 2d Cir., No. 23-1260, 9/4/24.]—in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital… Continue Reading
Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
The New Yorker [unpaywalled]: “…Art is notoriously hard to define, and so are the differences between good art and bad art. But let me offer a generalization: art is something that results from making a lot of choices. This might be easiest to explain if we use fiction writing as an example. When you are… Continue Reading
GPT-fabricated scientific papers on Google Scholar
GPT-fabricated scientific papers on Google Scholar: Key features, spread, and implications for preempting evidence manipulation: “Academic journals, archives, and repositories are seeing an increasing number of questionable research papers clearly produced using generative AI. They are often created with widely available, general-purpose AI applications, most likely ChatGPT, and mimic scientific writing. Google Scholar easily locates… Continue Reading
Freetube is the best way to watch YouTube
PopSci: “YouTube’s website is a rabbit hole, designed to keep you watching as long as possible. Freetube won’t cure your addiction, but it does let you take control over your relationship with the video streaming site. The application allows you to take total control of what does and doesn’t show up on the screen. Don’t… Continue Reading
6 Tips to Make You a Better Reddit User
Gizmodo: “Reddit isn’t difficult to use, and you don’t even need an account to browse through everything ‘the front page of the internet’ has to offer. Recent and popular posts are just a click away from the main homepage, and you can use the search box at the top to look for posts on almost… Continue Reading
Amicus: Judge Aileen Cannon must be reassigned in Trump case
“Judge Aileen Cannon should be reassigned in the federal classified documents case against former President Donald Trump if the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reverses and remands her decision, according to an amicus brief filed today on behalf of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, former United States district judge Nancy Gertner, New York… Continue Reading
U.S. Charges Hamas Leaders in Oct. 7 Massacre in Israel and Other Terrorist Attacks
The New York Times [this is a free link] -Federal prosecutors charged Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, and five senior members of the group with planning and carrying out years of terrorist attacks in Israel, including the Oct. 7 massacre, according to a sweeping complaint unsealed on Tuesday. The criminal complaint, originally filed in… Continue Reading
The Accelerationists’ App: How Telegram Became the “Center of Gravity” for a New Breed of Domestic Terrorists
ProPublica: “…Late last month, Telegram burst into the news with another arrest related to alleged criminal activity on the giant messaging and social media platform. This time, the man in police custody was the company’s founder, Pavel Durov. French authorities detained the Russian-born billionaire after his plane touched down at an airport a few miles… Continue Reading
From School Librarian to Activist: ‘The Hate Level and the Vitriol Is Unreal’
The New York Times: “One Sunday morning two years ago, Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian in Watson, La., woke up and saw an email on her phone that left her shaking and breathless. The expletive-laced message from a stranger accused her of being a pedophile and a groomer, and concluded with a threat: “You… Continue Reading
