Scientific American [unpaywalled]: “Most of us have an “inner voice,” and we tend to assume everybody does, but recent evidence suggests that people vary widely in the extent to which they experience inner speech, from an almost constant patter to a virtual absence of self-talk. “Until you start asking the right questions you don’t know… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2024
GoogleDark Web Monitoring
Gizmodo: “The Mountain View company will integrate Dark Web monitoring with Google’s Results About You page sometime toward the end of the month. That feature notifies users if their personal information, their name, address, or phone number, appears in search results. Google has previously stated its goal to scrub personal information from results, though it… Continue Reading
Is AI the Bitter End or the Lucrative Future of Book Publishing?
Esquire – As the law fights to catch up to Big Tech, the future of books hangs in the balance. Are writers doomed by “the biggest rip-off in creative history” or could AI offer new ways of making a living? “I get hung up on the word scraping,” author R.O. Kwon says. “It sounds quite… Continue Reading
Private-Sector AI Indicators Dataset
DataIsPlural: “The Private-Sector AI Indicators dataset, from Georgetown University’s Emerging Technology Observatory, provides “a diverse range of indicators of AI-related activity for hundreds of companies worldwide, from startups to multinationals.” For each of the 670+ companies included, the dataset counts the number of AI-related research articles published by its employees (disaggregated by topic), AI-related patents… Continue Reading
Every Phone Can ID Your Router – Here’s How to Stop It
PC Mag: “Your smartphone constantly checks available Wi-Fi nodes, looking to reconnect with any that you’ve used before. You can see it happening, and it’s very convenient (though vulnerable to spoofing and “evil twin” attacks). What you don’t see is that your smartphone also uploads identifying details about your router to giant databases maintained by… Continue Reading
NewsGuard Launches Monthly AI News Misinformation Monitor
Creating Benchmark for Comparing the Trustworthiness of Leading Generative AI Models – “NewsGuard today launched a monthly AI News Misinformation Monitor – see the July 2024 issue here, setting a new standard for measuring the accuracy and trustworthiness of the AI industry by tracking how each leading generative AI model is responding to prompts related… Continue Reading
Results of Review of Use of Dark Patterns Affecting Subscription Services, Privacy
“The Federal Trade Commission and two international consumer protection networks announced the results of a review of selected websites and apps that showed a large percentage of the websites and mobile apps examined may use dark patterns, digital design techniques that may manipulate consumers into buying products or services or giving up their privacy. These… Continue Reading
How to Search All of Craigslist
HowToGeek: “You can’t search the entire Craigslist site all at once by default—you’re limited to picking one region or another. However, if you’re deal hunting, that is a serious restriction. Here are a few ways to search the entirety of Craigslist all at once…SearchTempest is a website that lets you search Craigslist entries from around… Continue Reading
When implementing AI, first train your managers
ZDNET: “Businesses are rushing into GenAI before establishing adequate systems of governance, which could result in serious issues with quality and compliance down the road. Dropping artificial intelligence into an organization requires more than a working knowledge of AI — this is only the first step. A recent survey shows most organizations and their IT… Continue Reading
Google Silk Roads
Google Blog: “The Silk Roads have linked diverse communities across Asia, Europe and Africa for millennia. They not only unified people through trade, they also helped spread ideas, inventions, knowledge and artistic traditions — bringing distant parts of the world a little closer together. We’re fortunate that many of the treasures from this cultural exchange… Continue Reading
The Free Library by Farlex
34,746,903 articles and books – “Since 2003, The Free Library has offered free, full-text versions of classic literary works from hundreds of celebrated authors, whose biographies, images, and famous quotations can also be found on the site. Recently, The Free Library has been expanded to include a massive collection of periodicals from hundreds of leading… Continue Reading
Requesting Your Support For BeSpacific
Dear Readers, Colleagues, Friends – I have not reached out for quite a while, but perhaps you are indoors during the heat wave and will take a moment to read and respond. Thank you to the readers who currently support BeSpacific on a regular basis. I am hopeful that more readers will join them and… Continue Reading
