Tom’s Hardware: Atari ST Public Floppy Database now open for everyone — online archive originally designed for ST flash cart packed with classics and homebrew. “An extensive Atari ST floppy disk database can now easily be accessed by all netizens. Originally created to serve floppy images to the owners of the SidecarTridge multi‑function hardware add‑on for the Atari ST family (ST, STE, Mega ST, TT, Falcon), anyone can now browse, search, and download the .ST files to use with other hardware, emulators, or even to rewrite the disk images to actual floppies.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Watch: Google tests sponsored results with new subheading. “Google is now testing a change that displays the websites name directly under sponsored results. Normally, sponsored results just carry the ‘Sponsored Results’ heading, but this test adds a subheading ‘from website icon and website name.'”

TechCrunch: Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app. “According to data from digital intelligence provider Similarweb, Bluesky’s mobile app had 10.4 million monthly active users worldwide in June 2026, down 27.2% year-over-year. In addition, mobile daily active users continued to decline, falling 25.6% year-over-year in July to around 3 million.”

Aywren: Neocities is Improving – And I Noticed!. “As a daily user of the Neocities hosting platform, I’ve observed some quiet updates the site has begun to roll out over this past year. These things are sometimes hard to spot unless you use the site as much as I do, and there are no release notes out there that I can find.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Associated Press: YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel announces debut album with Mr. Aron, ‘I’m So Happy’. “Parents of toddlers everywhere, prepare yourselves. YouTube sensation and music teacher Ms. Rachel and her husband, Aron Accurso, will release their debut album, the 23-track ‘I’m So Happy,’ on Sept. 25…. Ms. Rachel launched her mega popular YouTube channel in 2019 with her husband, known online as Mr. Aron.”

The Stage: Streetwise Opera awarded £189K grant to collate 25th anniversary archive. “Through recordings, photographs, scores, programmes and designs, Streetwise Opera will document its history of work with people who have experienced homelessness to co-create new opera from diverse voices.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

TechSpot: A cybersecurity researcher covered a Toyota in an AI-generated pattern to confuse Flock cameras. “The pattern does not stop a camera from recording. Instead, it is designed to prevent the software connected to the camera from recognizing what it sees. A person or car wearing the pattern would still appear in the footage, but the detection system may not flag it as a person or vehicle.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Amerpie: YouTube Premium kills the ads but doesn’t solve the real problem. Here’s the stack I use to do that.. “Paid for YouTube Premium after years of DIY ad-blocking. Ads are gone; the algorithm, the clutter, and the impermanence aren’t. Building a stack of small tools instead of hunting for one app that fixes all four. First post in a series; toolbox preview inside, full reviews coming.”

Inkdroid: Bandcamp Archiver. “There are already fine tools for downloading a Bandcamp collection: bandsnatch and the bandcamp-collection-downloader both fetch the lot, in parallel, in the format you want. But they know only what they downloaded, and what I needed to know was what I was missing. So I worked with Claude Code on bandcamp-archiver, which reads the embedded tags off my disk, compares that inventory against my Bandcamp purchases, and downloads the difference one album at a time.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

University of Hawaii: Tagging whales from the sky: New methods revolutionize research. “Marine mammal research has attained new heights as scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa are deploying noninvasive suction-cup tags onto humpback whales using drones. Traditionally, researchers from the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) in the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology approached animals closely via boats, deploying tags using a seven-meter carbon fiber pole. Now, technological advances are allowing the team to tag whales from the sky, dramatically shifting how marine data is collected.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: Following the Fire Enhanced Data Strengthens Digital Conservation Decision-Making. “The SE FireMap Viewer 2.0 is a geospatial platform tool that helps land managers, fire practitioners, and conservation partners better understand where wildfires and prescribed fires are happening across the Southeast. The latest version significantly expands on its predecessor’s capabilities by offering improved, high-resolution tracking of historic fire patterns extending back 30 years, including fire frequency, fire free intervals, and the year of the last burn detection.”

The State Scientific And Technical Library Of Ukraine, and machine-translated from Ukrainian: MES opens interactive dashboard “Specialized publications of Ukraine”. “As part of the work of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to develop an open and transparent system of scientific professional publications, an interactive dashboard ‘Professional Publications of Ukraine’ was created. The State Service for Scientific and Technical Publications of Ukraine provided the digital infrastructure and administration of relevant data in the URIS system.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechSpot: Google is testing a new homepage that buries the search button for AI. “As spotted by Search Engine Watch, Google’s latest ‘experiment’ is a new Search homepage shown to users who have not signed into their Google Account. The new page encourages netizens to use more Google AI services, pushing traditional web search queries into the background.” Gross.

ZDNet: I tried Opera’s new vertical tabs – and it might be the best implementation yet. “I’ve been using Opera, on and off, for over a decade. The browser has several features that have become absolute musts for me, such as Workspaces, split screen, and a brilliant theming engine. But the one feature that has been missing all this time is vertical tabs.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Council on Library and Information Resources: CLIR Awards Nearly $1 Million in Recordings at Risk Grant Funds. “The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is pleased to announce the thirteenth cohort of projects for Recordings at Risk, CLIR’s program that funds the digitization of rare and unique audio and audiovisual materials. An independent review panel selected 24 projects for funding from an applicant pool of 94, totaling $993,170 in grant funds. Work on these year-long projects will begin September 1, 2026.”

New York Times: The Creators of VHS Dates Are Ready to Come Clean. This link goes to a gift article. “Viewers, including some celebrities, were touched by the onscreen vulnerability, as well as the outfits and hairstyles that looked like something out of an old Sears catalog. I, too, found it compelling. I scheduled an interview with the two filmmakers who said they had been digitizing the footage. Their publicist explicitly told me these were ‘real’ dating tapes. But when I showed up to meet them at a cavernous studio near downtown Los Angeles, they said, ‘This is where we shoot the videos.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Krebs on Security: Microsoft Plugs Nearly 400 Security Holes. “Microsoft today released updates to remedy at least 398 security vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and supported software, including one weakness that is already being actively exploited and two others that were publicly detailed prior to today.”

The Register: Signal adds an extra layer of security to make sure you’re actually chatting with the right person. “Signal has introduced a new layer of security to help make sure no one has secretly interfered with your encrypted chats. The chat app is favored by diplomats, activists, and journalists for its security. It uses end-to-end message encryption and ‘safety numbers’ – cryptographic fingerprints associated with the keys securing a conversation – which users can compare to verify they have the expected encrypted connection with a contact.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NiemanLab: We analyzed 6,400 New York Times stories to find out how comments change when you give readers more information. “Data journalists have sometimes wondered whether loading a story with data can be overwhelming rather than clarifying. We found that giving readers more information changes who comments, and how.”

Science Literacy Project: Disinformation that spreads during heat waves. “Extreme weather typically brings a storm of disinformation with it; this [summer 2026] heat wave is no different.”

WIRED Middle East: A Palestinian Village Destroyed in 1953 Is Being Rebuilt in VR. “Using oral histories, archival photographs and British maps, Palestinian diaspora architect Tony Ghannam is reconstructing Kafr Bir’im as it existed before its residents were displaced in 1948.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Cambridge Day: “Binge Thinking” aims to provide an antidote to doomscrolling. “[Sara] Wasserman, an associate professor of neuroscience at Wellesley College, was the featured speaker for the pop-lecture series, ‘Binge Thinking.’ The lecture series, which invites local professors to give talks at Boston and Cambridge area bars, is the brainchild of founder Rory Madigan, who works at a think tank in Cambridge.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

TechSpot: Farmer trusted AI after it gave good advice, then it helped wipe out 25 acres of his crops. “Most readers of this site know not to blindly trust AI on important matters, even if it got things right before. A farmer in Chuzhou, China, discovered this the hard way when he took weed and pest control advice from a chatbot. The result was the death of 25 acres of crops.”

ANTI-AI SENTIMENT

The Register: As datacenters expand, so does public opposition to them. “Anti-datacenter sentiment appears to be hardening in the US and UK, with more American jurisdictions blocking new builds and protesters marching against a planned facility in London’s historic Brick Lane. A burst of new projects on both sides of the Atlantic has brought concerns about electricity bills, water supplies, and massive warehouse-like structures looming over nearby homes.”

DATA CENTERS

The Current Georgia: Georgia data centers likely to demand more energy than the state can provide. “Last year, Georgia Power got permission from the state’s Public Service Commission to radically increase the amount of electricity the utility generates and sells. The reason data centers. Now as communities across the state make deals with data center developers, there’s reason to believe Georgia has promised more power than it has to offer — even after Georgia Power’s expansion.”

Mississippi Today: Mississippi should set rules before data centers continue growing, Sen. Hillman Frazier says. “Mississippi has an opportunity before it. Across the country, states are competing to attract data centers and the investment they promise. New jobs, new tax revenue and new technology are all things worth pursuing. But as a state senator, I believe we have another responsibility that is just as important: making sure the people who live here aren’t left asking questions after decisions have already been made.”

Texas Tribune: Here’s how to find information about data centers in Texas. “What information is accessible about a data center project can differ from place to place and depend on whether a project seeks out tax breaks, whether it needs local rezoning or special permits, and how it will get its power and water. Here are some ways Texans and policy experts are tracking down information about data centers through local and state public records or private data companies.”

AI MODELS

MakeUseOf: 8 local AI models that run great on 8GB of VRAM or less. “Running a local AI model usually requires painfully high VRAM, and not everyone has the latest monster GPU with the coveted yet still absurd 20-plus gigabytes of VRAM. Thankfully, there do exist a few surprisingly capable, lightweight alternatives that (depending on your exact use case) might even surprise you with what they can do, whether you’re on AMD or Nvidia.”

Lifehacker: You Can (Maybe) Run Meta’s Latest AI Model Locally on Your Computer. “On Monday, Meta announced its latest AI model: Muse Glimmer. The company isn’t necessarily advertising this model as its biggest and best, however. While Meta has plenty to say about Muse Glimmer’s performance potential, there are two key selling points for the model in the company’s eyes: The fact that it’s open-weight, and that it’s designed to run locally on ‘consumer’ Macs and PCs—though perhaps not on your computer.”

AI IN GOVERNANCE

City and State NY: State Democratic Party files formal complaint over Blakeman’s AI use . “The state Democratic Party is asking the state Board of Elections to take action against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s use of generative artificial intelligence in his campaign materials. In a new letter to BOE officials shared exclusively with City & State, state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs alleged the Blakeman campaign is violating election law through his use of AI.”

Louisiana Illuminator: Rep. Julia Letlow bought Meta stock after signing an NDA with the company, records show. “U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow signed a nondisclosure agreement with Laidley LLC — a shell company of Meta Platforms — on June 29, 2024, giving her access to confidential details about the tech giant’s plans for a $50 billion data center in Richland Parish, according to the document obtained by the Gulf States Newsroom. Within months, she began buying stock in Meta and Nvidia, the company whose chips power Meta’s data centers.”

AI IN WORK

Engadget: Authors face backlash for participation in 2022 Google AI study . “In the spring of 2022, Google began reaching out to a series of writers, including award-winning science-fiction authors and New York Times bestsellers, for feedback on an experimental writing tool. Four years later, their participation has corners of the literary world up in arms.”

AROUND THE AI WORLD

Search Engine Land: Google confirms testing new buttons on home page to drive users to AI-powered search features. “Google is testing new buttons on the Google home page, right beneath the search box, to encourage searchers to try out AI Mode and other AI-powered search features. The buttons are named create images, ask about files and brainstorm and when clicked on, it takes you into AI Mode.” No thanks, I’m good.

The Verge: Disney Plus tries a new AI-powered search. “Disney is testing a new AI-powered tool for Disney Plus that uses a natural language search, a voice query, or a suggested prompt to create a customized row of show and movie recommendations.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: North Korean spies are running local LLMs to cause AI mischief. “The researchers said they observed Kimsuky setting up and operating local LLM environments using Ollama, GPT4All, and Msty, experimenting with other AI tools such as Cursor, and using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for local document searches. This prevents the data from getting sucked into the cloud where enemies might see it and try to stop it.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Reuters: China bets on AI weather forecasting as extreme weather intensifies. “For decades, weather prediction has relied on numerical models running ​on supercomputers that simulate atmospheric physics. AI models instead learn patterns from vast archives of ⁠historical weather observations and can produce forecasts in a fraction of the time. The technology is increasingly being tested during ​typhoon season in East Asia, where even small improvements in track forecasts can help authorities better prepare for flooding, organise evacuations and manage ​potential transport disruptions.”

Northwestern State University of Louisiana: Senior nursing students study community health impacts of Boyce data center project. “Senior Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at Northwestern State University’s Cenla campus studied community health concerns surrounding a data center under construction in Boyce through a Level 5 community impact project.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Columbia Star: Richard Samuel Roberts Collection digitized. “Richard Samuel Roberts became one of South Carolina’s most famous photographers in the 1920s and 1930s. However, after his death in 1936, Roberts remained relatively unknown to all but his family and those who had been his closest friends for more than four decades. His work was brought back to the public with a display at the Columbia Museum and a book in 1986. Now his entire collection has been published online through the University of South Carolina’s Library System.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

New York Times: Malaysia Was Confident in Its Social Media Ban, but Kids Are Still Logged In. This link goes to a gift article. “The authorities have asked social media companies to explain their failure to comply with the ban and detail the measures they have taken to implement age verification mechanisms, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement last week. They now have until January 2027 to comply with the ban, according to Kamaruddin Abdul Rani, the under secretary of the control and compliance division of the ministry.”

The Guardian: Trump’s media company, which also owns Truth Social, reports $238m loss. “Donald Trump’s media company – which owns the Truth Social platform favored by the US president – posted a $238m loss in the second quarter.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Down the Road: Film photography blogs you should follow. “It’s time for my annual roundup of film-photography blogs. Some blogs last for a short time while others last for decades. But the film-photography blogging community remains strong. There are 121 active blogs here! Since last year, 14 blogs either closed or stopped posting. But 23 blogs are either new or have returned after a pause.”

TechCrunch: Historian Jill Lepore says Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy. “In her upcoming book ‘The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State,’ Jill Lepore warns that tech companies are increasingly replacing the functions of democratic government. This shift, she said, marks ‘a return to tyranny and mystification in the form of rule by algorithms, corporations, machines.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Meta and TikTok agree to fact-check content on Spain border crossings after deadly rush. “Social networks Meta and TikTok have agreed to fact-check content ​on border crossings into Spain following the massive rush ‌to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, European Union tech chief Henna Virkkunen said.”

Associated Press: FBI teams with the NCAA to help athletes avoid sexual exploitation. “The FBI is teaming with the NCAA to start a program to combat sexual exploitation of college athletes whose private images are increasingly found and targeted online in an era when they use their name, image and likeness to enhance their own marketability.”

Spectrum News 1: Ohio looks to file class-action lawsuit against Roblox. “Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson is seeking a lead class-action lawsuit against video game developer Roblox. He filed a motion to lead the case on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Concord Monitor: Granite Geek: Science Cafe returns to Concord as the internet falls apart. “This carnage on click-throughs caused by A.I. summaries is so great and happening so quickly that NPR has called it an ‘extinction-level event’ for journalism sites dependent on viewership-based ad revenue. The industry is brainstorming how to react, but a decade of watching us in the media whipsawed by internet technologies makes me doubt there is a solution. Unless the government breaks up Google — yeah, like that’s going to happen — I think the Internet Era for Traditional Media is over.”

Japan Times: How disinformation on X imperils Japan’s democracy. “Tokyo cannot simply stand by while a foreign-owned private platform serves as a pipeline for national destabilization. The Japanese government must take concrete, structural steps to build digital resilience and provide trusted alternatives. First, Japan must support the establishment of an independent, nonpartisan Public Information Verification Network.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

PR Newswire: Former federal data officials answer the question: How many federal datasets have been terminated since January 2025? (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, dataindex.us, the nation’s leading resource for monitoring changes to federal data, published the Federal Data Terminations Tracker—the most policy-relevant, verified source of federal datasets terminated since January 2025. Having evolved from the crowdsourced Dearly Departed Datasets published in October 2025, the tracker combines community reporting with expert identification and review to provide a regularly updated record of terminations.”

BFBS Forces News: Thousands of Indian WW1 soldiers to be remembered in perpetuity after historical injustice. “The British Army’s Major Daljinder Singh Virdee, a driving force behind Sikh recognition in defence, expressed how he felt to BFBS Forces News after the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) announced the largest single addition to its casualty records since the Second World War that will help create a more inclusive narrative of the First World War.”

Daniel N. let me know about his new site, the revamped CiteMe (https://citeme.app. ) CiteMe rang a bell so I asked him when it launched. He replied “The site originally launched in 2024 as a citation generator, built around a Chrome extension. I bought it in January 2026 and rebuilt it completely. The old version generated citations with a language model, which is exactly how fabricated references get made. The current version doesn’t generate them, it looks them up in real scholarly records (OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC, arXiv) and returns what it actually finds. The reference checker the part that takes a bibliography and flags references it can’t verify against those records, launched in March 2026.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Techdirt: SpaceX’s Earnings Show Elon Wiped Out Two-Thirds Of Twitter’s Ad Business. “In the 10-Q, all of X’s revenue is now (misleadingly) labeled “AI” revenue, but even then the reporting has to admit ad revenue took a big hit, dropping $160 million compared to the first half of 2025 (which was already way, way, way lower than when Elon took over the site), going from $870 million in 2025 to $710 million in the first half of 2026.”

TechCrunch: YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money. “Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Currently, creators need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days.”

USEFUL STUFF

How-To Geek: Students can get these 4 expensive apps for free. “Many students can get access to professional software suites for free simply because they’re enrolled in school. Depending on what you’re studying, that can include productivity apps, design tools, programming software, and other programs that would normally cost hundreds of dollars. Before you start paying for software this semester, these are four free options worth checking first.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Search Engine Roundtable: Meta/Facebook Crawling Web & May Be Building Search Engine. “Meta, the social media company that operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, is allegedly crawling the web and in the process of building its own search engine.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: French press body asks competition watchdog to take action over Google AI. “A French press association has asked ​the country’s competition watchdog to take action against ‌Google’s artificial intelligence-generated article summaries, which the trade group says deprive newspapers and magazines of readers.”

Associated Press: US prosecutors want Tate brothers to remain in custody as they fight extradition to the UK. “Prosecutors want social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate to remain in federal custody, arguing Monday that the brothers are a flight risk and a danger to the community, as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom, where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafficking.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: National Gallery Accused of ‘Soft Censorship’ to Avoid Provoking Trump. This link goes to a gift article. “[Steven] Nelson acknowledged that the gallery leaders’ intentions in moving the symposium, which had been inspired by its exhibition on the Black artist Elizabeth Catlett, were in some respects an effort to save it. But he worried that the institution had restricted free speech by limiting access to the event at a time when the Trump administration was looking to reframe American history.”

The Walrus: Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse. “The corpus is collapsing in real time. This degraded digital space should force a broader understanding of cultural sovereignty. Right now, the debate is framed largely as a fight over whether foreign mega platforms like Netflix, YouTube, or Spotify should support Canadian content. That charged conversation sidesteps the deeper question: Who preserves and controls access to our cultural record—not just in the present but for generations after?”

Online Journalism Blog: How data journalism is done on TikTok: six key takeaways from watching 50 videos. “In a guest post for OJB, James Hickman pulls together a set of basic best-practice guidelines for creating data journalism videos on TikTok, from length and location to animation and style.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Radio Nepal Online: Ancient Newa manuscripts maintained online with Japanese support. ” In partnership with UNESCO, Archive Nepal has digitized more than 30 rare and endangered manuscripts dating back 200 to 800 years with the support of the Japanese government.”

Grice Connect: Ogeechee Riverkeeper announces Burroughs Digital Library of Ogeechee River images. “In 2025, Ogeechee Riverkeeper (ORK) received a grant from the Karen and Jerry Burroughs Foundation Fund of The Savannah Community Foundation, to research, create, and curate aerial imagery of the Ogeechee River basin.”

EVENTS

Android Central: Made by Google 2026 Launch Live: Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch 5, Gemini, and all the news. “We hope you’re as excited to learn about Google’s latest smartphones as we are! Last year’s launch was filled with celebrities and internet personalities, and this year looks to be no different, with Stephen Curry, Shubman Gill, Ayami Nakajo, and more, with Trevor Noah hosting. Over the next few days, we’ll be going over what you can expect and covering the event live as it happens so you don’t have to miss a thing!” The event is not until the 12th but the site is already update with pre-event news/information.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: Following Epic loss, Google has started hosting rival app stores in the Play Store. “A new day has dawned in the Play Store, and it’s one that Google tried very hard to avoid. The first third-party app store has arrived in Google Play as a result of the long-running antitrust lawsuit with Epic. Those in the US can now head into Google Play and download Aptoide, a game-focused store that has been available as a sideloaded client since the early days of Android.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Vintage Aviation News: RAF Museum Launches Red Arrows Challenge to Support Preservation and Education. “The RAF Museum has launched the Red Arrows Challenge, a nationwide fundraising event running from Aug. 1 to Oct. 3. Participants can walk, run, or cycle at their own pace while supporting the museum’s preservation and education work, with commemorative rewards, fundraising prizes, and a chance to meet the Royal Air Force’s iconic Red Arrows display team.”

Wayne State University: Wayne State Acquires Casey Kasem and American Top 40 Collection from Radio Historian Pete Battistini. “Pete Battistini has been chasing Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 (AT40) for more than 50 years. In 1971, Battistini heard AT40 for the first time and was instantly captivated, and the passion that followed turned into one of the largest collections of AT40 in the world– and part of that collection now has a permanent home at the Walter P. Reuther Library.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: US court rules Meta, other tech companies must face thousands of lawsuits over social media addiction. “The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the companies’ bid to reverse a lower court’s ruling forcing them to face more than 3,000 lawsuits over the claims filed in federal court, concluding that the appeal came too early in ​the litigation.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

PsyPost: Does Google Search favor a liberal view on immigration?. “Google search results for immigration topics tend to present an overall positive view of the issue, according to a recent analysis of Swedish search data. The research, published in Heliyon, found that while the links skew slightly positive, the search engine tends to place neutral, unpoliticized sources at the very top of the page.”

CrossAsia: Old Tibetan Prints, New Digital Access: PechaBridge and the Digital Collections at Stabi. “Digitization makes historical Tibetan pecha prints visible online, but visibility alone does not make their content readable, searchable, or reusable for research. PechaBridge is an open-source pipeline connecting digitized materials from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with layout analysis, Tibetan OCR, metadata, and review tools.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago’s first-ever ‘cat tour’ brings a day of whimsy to Lincoln Square: ‘I think people need it’. “For two hours, attendees hopped from house to house to view more than 125 residents’ cats on porches, or in windows and yards. … One participant rolled her own cat in a stroller. Some used the official Google Map to go rogue, while others joined one of four guided routes with relevant names: Chonk, Zoomies, Primordial Pouch and Toe Beans.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

ABC News (Australia): AI assistant hacks gym website in first known Australian autonomous cyber attack. “Andrew asked his personal assistant to book him a spot in one of his gym’s coveted morning classes. … His AI assistant found a way to book the gym class months further in advance than the gym allowed, thanks to a vulnerability it discovered in the booking software. Then it went further, kicking someone out of the waiting list who was ahead of Andrew — something it was not asked to do.”

DATA CENTERS

New York Times: New Amazon Data Center Stokes Worry It Would Be the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S.. This link goes to a gift article. “Amazon is investing in a large-scale natural-gas-burning power plant as part of a huge data center in Texas, the company confirmed on Friday, a facility that could become the largest single source of climate pollution in the United States.”

AI MODELS

Axios: OpenAI gives cyber defenders a less-restricted new model. “OpenAI is introducing a more cyber-permissive version of GPT-5.6 Sol to vetted defenders as it prepares companies for autonomous cyberattacks. … The move comes just days after OpenAI said it was delaying the release of its forthcoming model, Astra, after it reached critical hacking abilities during safety testing.”

AI IN EDUCATION

New York Times: A.I. Agents Are Taking Entire Online Courses for Cheating Students. This link goes to a gift article. “Sometimes students can earn full degrees online. In other cases, they take individual classes. In this realm, A.I. cheating is quickly accelerating beyond the copy-and-pasting of chatbot-produced essays and problem sets. A.I. agents have made it possible for students to outsource a semester of work.”

AI FINANCE

Reuters: Data center operator CyrusOne plans potential 2027 IPO, banks pitch for roles, sources say. “CyrusOne, a data center operator owned by KKR (KKR.N) and BlackRock’s (BLK.N) Global Infrastructure Partners, is preparing for an initial public offering as early as ​2027, in what could be one of the biggest IPOs in the ‌sector in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.”

AI IN GOVERNANCE

Forward Kentucky: Andy Beshear defends Kentucky data center order. “Gov. Andy Beshear is defending an executive order aimed at regulating data center development in Kentucky, saying it is designed to protect ratepayers and the environment while allowing projects to move forward where communities support them.”

The Register: Anthropic pledges to embed watermarks to help discern AI slop in sop to EU. “Anthropic will embed watermarks in the text and files generated by future models it launches in the EU, as part of its effort to comply with content and transparency rules in the bloc’s AI Act.”

Politico: The AI industry won a primary fight. Now its target is inspiring lawmakers nationwide.. “A super PAC network backed by artificial intelligence executives hoped to make an example of Alex Bores when it targeted him for defeat in a Democratic House primary over his authorship of a New York AI law. Instead, the New York State assemblymember has emerged as an inspiration and a source of ideas for state lawmakers nationwide who are pushing for rules to rein in AI — despite losing a congressional primary in June under an $8 million barrage of pro-tech attacks.”

AROUND THE AI WORLD

404 Media: Mark Zuckerberg Posts Deranged 6,500-Word Essay About Giving Everyone AI Superintelligence. “Zuckerberg lays out the potential use case for Meta glasses (whose huge marketing campaign cannot get people to stop calling them ‘pervert glasses’), AI agents, open weights AI development, and why data centers are not bad for communities, actually. Like most Silicon Valley ‘utopian’ essays, to believe that any of this is going to go how Zuckerberg suggests it will requires one to have been recently concussed or to willfully ignore how this technology is being used today and believe that thousands of years of human nature will suddenly shift.”

Futurism: Roku Unleashes 24/7 AI Slop Channel. “In one clip that gives an idea of the bottom-of-the-barrel slop that it’s force feeding viewers, we see an AI movie that’s apparently meant to be some sort of medieval drama, only with laggy physics that makes it look like it takes place on the Moon. If there is a plot, it’s masterfully hidden underneath the bizarre way it cuts to different scenes, not to mention dialog that’s delivered with the cadence and awkward pauses of a mid-2000s video game cutscene. No one blinks when they talk.”

Hollywood Reporter: Spotify to Start Labeling AI Artists. “Spotify has announced a new feature intended to label AI artist profiles on the platform, one of the company’s most significant moves to date as the streamer looks to offer users more transparency about AI content on the service.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NPR: How AI is being used to track art stolen by the Nazis. “During World War II, the Nazis looted more than 600,000 works of art, mostly owned by Jews. In the decades since, there’s been an effort to get these works back to their owners, but it’s not easy, and roughly a fifth of them have still not been returned. Now, a new AI chatbot might be making that complicated process a little simpler.”

The Nevada Independent: Could Nevada’s tech epicenter run out of water? That’s the big question in an ongoing suit. “A bitter legal battle has emerged over water availability in Nevada’s technology epicenter, raising questions about whether companies critical to diversifying the state economy have enough water to survive into the future.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Gizmodo: Just How Bad Are AI Data Centers for Your Local Water?. “The proliferation of AI data centers has spurred protests across the United States. Last month, communities that had long fought separate battles against Big Tech’s intrusion into their hometowns organized for the first coordinated national demonstration, staging nearly 150 protests across 42 states. Among their chief concerns is the amount of water these facilities consume to cool servers.”

Search Engine Land: Study: ChatGPT ads appear on 26% of commercial prompts. “SE Ranking found sponsored placements on 25.94% of commercial prompts, putting ChatGPT surprisingly close to Google’s AI Mode, where the company’s previous research found ads on 29.45% of commercial queries.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

The Statesman: Bengal’s revolutionary legacy finds a digital home in BRIL Virtual Museum. “Seeking to preserve Bengal’s revolutionary legacy in an engaging and accessible format, banker and researcher Boddhisatya Tarafdar has launched the Bengal Revolution for India’s Liberation (BRIL) Virtual Museum, a digital archive that traces the state’s defining role in India’s fight against British colonial rule.”

US PIRG: NEW ONLINE TOOL: 2026 ‘Electronic Waste Graveyard’ highlights growing issues of trashed tech products. “U.S. PIRG Education Fund on Tuesday launched its updated online Electronic Waste Graveyard. This interactive digital database reveals how many otherwise-usable smart appliances, phones and other connected devices that people have to trash because the software has expired or lost support.”

Bangkok Post: Take a look at Marilyn Monroe’s lipstick in the first makeup archive of its kind . “What do Marilyn Monroe, celluloid powder and cosmetics dating back to the 17th century have in common? They can now be found under one digital roof. Makeup artist and beauty historian Erin Parsons has launched The Makeup Archive, an online museum dedicated to preserving the history of cosmetics.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Google Play adds Venmo as a payment option. “Google Play already offers other digital payment methods including PayPal and Cash App along with cards from American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and JCB in the United States. Outside the U.S., the company has also experimented with allowing users to pay for digital purchases using cash at a nearby store.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 4 free tools that find what’s wrong with your internet in minutes. “If your Wi-Fi has been flaky lately — buffering during video calls, lagging in games, or just feeling slower than usual — there are a few settings you should check before blaming your ISP. But changing settings is one thing; knowing what to change them to is another. Slow speeds or an intermittent connection are big enough problems for you to know that there’s something wrong with your internet. If you want to know exactly what’s wrong, there are tons of free tools out there that can help you out.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Search Engine Watch: 11 best alternative search engines to Google in 2026. “In recent years, Google has made significant changes that have particularly impacted publishers and other content creators. At the same time, we’ve witnessed the rise of alternative search engines. Although Google continues to dominate the market, there are many reasons you might consider exploring other options. We’ve compiled and tested a list of alternatives in our environment.”

Hollywood Reporter: Top Creators’ Secret Weapon? Indian Video Editors. “Mega-popular creators like Dude Perfect, former NASA engineer Mark Rober, and chef Nick DiGiovanni have all hired remote editors from across the world, according to Sina Sahami, the CEO of YT Jobs, a LinkedIn, of sorts, for YouTubers. These remote gigs are particularly appealing to international youngsters who wander the world, bopping from country to country.”

Associated Press: As AI grips world, the thrill of collecting vintage computers is growing. “While Silicon Valley has since moved on to shaping the future of artificial intelligence, these hardware enthusiasts are intent on saving the Atari, Commodore and IBM machines that are ancestors to today’s laptops, wearable devices and smart phones. Where others see junk, people like [Josh] Dersch see artifacts of computer history that are worthy of attention and respect.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Guardian: Rising number of UK children report seeing explicit deepfakes of themselves. “The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, said there had been a rapid increase in imagery that had been digitally manipulated or ‘faked’ in some way, including with AI and nudification tools. In the first six months of this year it received 420 reports from children of images of themselves that they believed had been faked or manipulated to appear explicit. The number has already exceeded its 2025 total of 397.”

Reuters: Millions of burnt books show how ‘war of endurance’ is hurting Ukraine. “A Russian drone strike ​on Ranok’s warehouse in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on August 1 destroyed about 8 million books, the biggest blow yet to Ukraine’s publishing industry during ‌the four-year-old war. Publishers say more than 10 million books have been destroyed in attacks on warehouses in recent months, threatening an industry that initially benefited from rising demand for Ukrainian-language literature at the start of the conflict.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Richard Nixon Presidential Library: Launch of Virtual Reference Service for Archival Access. “The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum announces the launch of its new Virtual Reference Service (VRS), designed to provide researchers with remote access to archival materials. This innovative service allows users to engage with historical documents through scheduled, staff-mediated sessions conducted virtually.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Evanston Roundtable: Neighborly networks aim to boost pollinator populations one block at a time. “Evanston neighbors are getting together this summer to begin transforming their front yards into pollinator pathways. It’s all part of Bees on the Block, an action research project led by homegrown urban ecologist Libby Shafer.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

DigitalNC: New Issues of The Sylva Herald and Ruralite Reveal History of Female Publishers in the 20th Century. “Thanks to our partners at Southwestern Community College and Jackson County Public Library, along with funding from the Library Services and Technology Act, new issues from 1951 to 1980 of The Sylva Herald and Ruralite (Sylva, N.C.) are now available online at DigitalNC!”

Broadway World: Stephen Petronio Company to Launch Digital Archive of 40-Year Legacy. “The Stephen Petronio Company has announced the launch of a digital archive dedicated to preserving and celebrating the artistic legacy of the Company. Designed as a dynamic online resource, the archive features videos, photographs, interviews, timeline, and other media, offering an intimate look at the breadth of Stephen Petronio’s practice and the Company’s history.”

Greater Greater Washington: DC’s care networks are an urban feature. Governance needs to catch up. “Who is already doing the work of producing health equity in the district, and how does governance support that work? That question is a recurring theme in the DC Voices of Care oral history project, part of Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative. The project documents the experiences of community and organizational leaders whose work, through their organizations and networks, has shaped the conditions that influence health and care across Washington, DC over several decades. ”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: I built my own Wayback Machine, and now I never lose web pages. “Webpage archive tools like The Wayback Machine have rescued me from plenty of dead links, but it has one weakness that is unfortunately unavoidable. It can only recover a page if someone was thoughtful enough to archive it before it disappeared. I wanted a private version where I chose what sites to snapshot, capture them in advance, and keep several recoverable formats on hardware that I controlled. So, I installed ArchiveBox on an Ubuntu virtual machine and started building my own little private corner of internet history.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Tubefilter: For vertical live streamers, YouTube is stressing that practice makes perfect. “Nearly a year after it was first teased, Practice Mode for Vertical Live is here. That’s the name of a new feature that provides a trial run for streaming greenhorns who are looking to go live more often.”

Search Engine Watch: Google says Reddit gets no special preference in search. “Google communications representative Jennifer Kutz confirmed to The Verge that Reddit gets no preferential treatment in Google’s search rankings or AI search features.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette: Emily Dickinson Museum tour guides negotiate first union contract a year after Amherst vote. “A year after voting to unionize, part-time tour guides and educators at the Emily Dickinson Museum, who throughout the spring, summer and fall are leading visitors through the historic homes and grounds that inspired the 19th century poet, are in the midst of negotiating their first contract.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Reuters: Three in five Americans favor stronger oversight of social media companies, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds. “A bipartisan majority of Americans support more government rules for how ​social media companies conduct business, including a requirement of age-verification tools to keep younger children off social media, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.”

Jezebel: Infiltrating the Jennifer Aniston Twitter Bot Squad. “In case you slept through the last decade, the website formerly known as Twitter has devolved into something of a patient zero for dead internet theory. In other words, it’s pretty much just bots, with a side of Poo Crave and Elon Musk. An article published in The New Yorker last week cited a study estimating that, in a sample of more than 1 million Twitter accounts, 64% were likely bots. And after taking several strolls through the dark halls of this hellsite, I now believe that Jennifer Aniston is responsible. Or rather, the fellowship of catfishing bots posing as Jennifer Aniston is responsible.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Hackaday: Track Bird Visitors With A Raspberry Pi And A USB Mic. “Avian Visitors is a lovely project by [Teddy Warner] that uses a Raspberry Pi and microphone to keep track of which birds have been visiting your home, and creates a colorful illustration of recent visitors on top of it all. It reports on a web interface of its own making, but what really takes things to a new level is an optional, stylish E-Ink panel that shows the last 24 hours’ worth of visitors at a glance in a collage.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

CITP Blog: Newsroom Guide for Authentication and Verification in the AI Age. “At our June workshop, organized jointly by Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) and NYU Journalism, participants shared a desire for a practical, short-form resource to help newsrooms understand the current landscape of authentication and verification tools for addressing AI-generated content. To complement our full report, we have translated the workshop discussions into a short guide on considerations for newsroom workflows. The newsroom guide is now available online.”

The Commons: VJC launches digital archive showcasing decades of jazz history. “For nearly three decades, under the direction of Eugene Uman and Elsa Borrero, the Vermont Jazz Center archive team has documented concerts, masterclasses, interviews, and educational programs. These historically significant gems include recent events as well as the special collection of VJC founder Attila Zoller that features recorded performances from as early as the mid-1950s.”

EVENTS

Lifehacker: Made by Google 2026: What to Expect From the Pixel 11 Event. “Almost a full year has passed since the launch of Google’s Pixel 10 phones, which of course means it’s time for the Pixel 11 handsets to make their debut. Another Made by Google event has been scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 12, with everything getting underway in New York from 6 pm EDT / 3 pm PDT.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Guardian: Meet the army of amateur archivists racing to save US history in national parks. “Hundreds of volunteers, many of whom are anonymous, have submitted photos of national signage to the digital archive. As of 3 August, the site has compiled 17,236 photos, including at least one in nearly every national park and historic site in the country.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Herlein: A Quieter Place: Why textlog Reminds Me of the Twitter I Actually Miss. “I was pleasantly surprised to come across textlog, a small, new project that seems to be trying to rebuild that room on purpose. The pitch, in the site’s own words, is ‘a quieter place for your thoughts.’ That’s not marketing copy dressed up as humility — it’s an actual design constraint.”

Meduza: How Russia is impersonating French news outlets in a bid to influence France’s next presidential election. “Russian disinformation networks have launched an active campaign to interfere in France’s presidential election, which is set for April 2027. Over the past two weeks, at least three cases have come to light in which these networks spread fake news about possible candidates on social media, including by posing as popular French outlets.”

Alaska Beacon: Cruise ship helps stranded skiff and crew in Southeast Alaska as Zuckerberg yacht stands by. “A small cruise ship operating in Southeast Alaska made an unexpected detour on Monday night to help a 21-foot skiff that ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau. Michael Love, a software developer from New York City, was a passenger aboard the cruise ship and described the event on social media. What got his attention the most wasn’t the rescue itself — it was when the captain announced that the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and hadn’t answered the radio call for help.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Mashable: TikTok withheld a safety feature from 15 million users, report says. “A confidential internal document obtained by Bloomberg Aug. 4 found that TikTok excluded 10 percent of its U.S. users from an algorithmic safety update in early 2022. At the time, that would have amounted to roughly 15 million people. Among them was Chase Nasca, a 16-year-old from Long Island who died by suicide in Feb. 2022.”

The Register: Intrusion at US healthcare software provider puts 3.8M people’s data at risk. “A US healthcare software provider has admitted that hackers may have made off with sensitive data belonging to 3.8 million people, making it the largest healthcare breach reported to regulators so far this year.”

WYSO: Sacred, historic Ohio sites could have weakened protections under proposed federal regulations. “A federal advisory council is proposing sweeping changes to regulations intended to protect historic sites. The proposed regulations could prevent historic Ohio tribes from saving their sacred sites.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Digital Meets Culture: From Archive to Dataset: AI-Assisted Mass Digitisation of Historical Photographic Collections, Using the Sven Simon Archive as a Case Study. “The objective is not merely to preserve individual images, but to transform entire collection contexts into structured, searchable datasets. The first large-scale implementation is the Sven Simon Archive, comprising approximately 1.6 million photographs relating to German and international political, cultural, economic and sporting history since the early 1960s.”

SDSS: Mapping Monsters: SDSS-V Data Release 20 Unveils All-Sky Views of Supermassive Black Holes. “The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) announces Data Release 20 (DR20), marking a landmark expansion in the study of accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs).” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.