“A new report – Capital markets: The hidden pipeline for fossil fuel financing by the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign on the role of big US banks in capital markets reveals a hidden pipeline for fossil fuel financing through the banks’ underwriting of bonds and equities for polluting companies. The analysis raises important questions about… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2023
How to Tell If an Image Is AI Generated
How to Geek: AI photos are getting better, but there are still ways to tell if you’re looking at the real thing — most of the time. An AI-generated photograph is any image that has been produced or manipulated with synthetic content using so-called artificial intelligence (AI) software based on machine learning. As the images cranked… Continue Reading
When putting AI to work, remember: It’s just a talented intern
Beta News: “Artificial intelligence (AI) models have been generating a lot of buzz as valuable tools for everything from cutting costs and improving revenues to how they can play an essential role in unified observability. But for as much value as AI brings to the table, it’s important to remember that AI is the intern… Continue Reading
Digital Overload – To scholars, Web 2.0 has vastly complicated the production of biography and life writing
JSTOR Daily: How can contemporary biographers contend with the explosion of materials at their disposal? “It may be that the digital revolution has had a more profound effect on biography and life writing than on any other branch of literature, perhaps any branch of the arts,” writes the scholar Paul Longley Arthur. The developments of… Continue Reading
A.I. brings shadow libraries into the spotlight
The New York Times [free link] – to see this text scroll down the page: ” Large language models, or L.L.M.s, the artificial intelligence systems that power tools like ChatGPT, are developed using enormous libraries of text. Books are considered especially useful training material, because they’re lengthy and (hopefully) well-written. But authors are starting to… Continue Reading
FedNow is finally live in the US
Tech Crunch: “The U.S. government’s instant payment system, FedNow Service, went live this week. Here’s a quick refresher on what that is: FedNow is an instant payment infrastructure for transferring money that promises to be a faster payment rail for financial institutions, offering immediate access to funds no matter the day or time. As you… Continue Reading
Time is running out on the Climate Clock
The Verge: “An ominous, 62-foot-long clock looms over New York City’s iconic Union Square, and it’s about to tick past a worrying milestone. It’s called the Climate Clock, and it counts down how much time the world has left to stop climate change from becoming exponentially worse. As anyone who’s experienced the weather lately knows,… Continue Reading
Study of Elite College Admissions Data Suggests Being Very Rich Is Its Own Qualification
The New York Times [free link]: “Elite colleges have long been filled with the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent. A large new study, released Monday, shows that it has not been because these children had more impressive grades on average… Continue Reading
Why Generative AI Won’t Disrupt Books
Wired – free link: “Every new technology from the internet to virtual reality has tried to upend book culture. There’s a reason they’ve all failed—and always will…The tech world has long been convinced that it understands the desires of readers better than they do themselves. For years, VCs have promised to upend books and the… Continue Reading
Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.
Via LLRX – Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say. Rick Anderson, University Librarian at Brigham Young University, contends that the copyright warning notice prescribed by the US Copyright Office misleads library patrons about their fair use rights, and must change. Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 22, 2023
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 22, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on… Continue Reading
The scary world of online behavioral advertising
Lifehacker: “Instead of eavesdropping and storing your voice as many assume, your apps, phone, watch, game system, computer, and probably your oven are greedily collecting every data point they possibly can, including but not limited to your: Location information (both through your device’s location settings and IP address) Search history Browsing history Purchase history Physical… Continue Reading
