Kottke: “The NY Times has had a difficult time covering the 2024 election in a clear, responsible manner. But I wanted to highlight this short opinion piece from the paper’s editorial board, which I’m reproducing here in its entirety: You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Perplexity will show live US election results despite AI accuracy warnings
Ars Technica: “On Friday, Perplexity launched an election information hub that relies on data from The Associated Press and Democracy Works to provide live updates and information about the 2024 US general election, which takes place on Tuesday, November 5. “Starting Tuesday, we’ll be offering live updates on elections using data from The Associated Press… Continue Reading
ChatGPT rolls out a Google competitor with a skewed view of the news
Poynter: “When I asked the latest artificial intelligence-powered search engine from ChatGPT what’s happening in my city of St. Petersburg, or Orlando and Miami, I didn’t find links to the largest newspapers in Florida. Instead, I found articles from the New York Post, The Sun, People Magazine — and real estate blogs St. Pete Rising… Continue Reading
Nearly 200 Percent Surge in School Book Bans (2023-2024 School Year)
“PEN America today released new documentation of public school book bans for the full 2023-2024 school year, recording 10,046 instances of books banned nationwide, a dramatic 200 percent rise over the previous school year. Since 2021, the free expression organization has counted close to 16,000 instances of book bans in public schools.” “Nineteen Minutes by… Continue Reading
LLRX October 2024 Columns and Articles
Artificial Intelligence and Unconscious Bias Risk – Elizabeth Sweetland reviews: Meredith Broussard, More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech (MIT Press 2023). 248 Pages. Trump’s Election Lawyers Must Heed Their Ethical Duties – Attorneys Stephen Marcus and Bruce Kuhlik discuss the ethical responsibilities of lawyers in the context of predicted attempts… Continue Reading
Block ads and tracking on your smart TV
Practical Betterments: Sick and tired of ads? Blocking ads on your smart TV might be right for you! Warning: blocking ads and tracking may result in saved time, more enjoyment of your life, increased privacy, a slightly lower electricity bill and not memorizing the side effects of erectile dysfunction medication by heart. To block ads… Continue Reading
My Favorite Uses for AI, As an AI Skeptic
Lifehacker – “Like the Metaverse and NFTs before it, it feels near impossible to follow tech news right now without hearing about AI. I understand it can get annoying: The tech is still in development, and everyone’s still figuring out the ethics of generating AI Art, or how to make it not suck. Then, there… Continue Reading
The chatbot optimisation game: can we trust AI web searches?
The Guardian -“…Looking into the sort of evidence that large language models (LLMs, the engines on which chatbots are built) find most convincing, three computer science researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found current chatbots overrely on the superficial relevance of information. They tend to prioritise text that includes pertinent technical language or is… Continue Reading
Every tool you need to work with PDFs in one place
I Love PDF – Every tool you need to use PDFs, at your fingertips. All are 100% FREE and easy to use! Merge, split, compress, convert, rotate, unlock and watermark PDFs with just a few clicks. Continue Reading
Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
Open Culture: “The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put online 492,000 high-resolution images of artistic works. Even better, the museum has placed the vast majority of these images into the public domain, meaning they can be downloaded directly from the museum’s website for non-commercial use. When you browse the Met collection and find an image… Continue Reading
‘We were just trying to get it to work’: The failure that started the internet
BBC – “On 29 October 1969, two scientists established a connection between computers some 350 miles away and started typing a message. Halfway through, it crashed. They sat down with the BBC 55 years later. At the height of the Cold War, Charley Kline and Bill Duvall were two bright-eyed engineers on the front lines… Continue Reading
ProPublica’s Coverage of the Election Issues That Matter to Voters
With just days to go before Election Day, political coverage is everywhere. ProPublica avoids horse race coverage of the election, instead deeply exploring issues that voters care about, like immigration, abortion, health care, the economy, extremism and education. Continue Reading
