NEW RESOURCES
Came in over the transom: MuGlobe.com. Per the email, the site “creates a virtual radio station from any spot on the planet and streams music for free, with no ads. It also has detailed articles about the music you’re listening to—its history, cultural context and how styles evolve over time—plus playlist support.” When you visit the site it takes you to a random place on the planet; I got dropped into the Congo Basin / Eastern Congo and was presented with a song called “Je m’en fous” in the form of a YouTube video. I confess to chairdancing.
New-to-me, from Vintage Aviation News: Decoding WWII Training Aircraft Markings and Preserving John D. Voss’s Research. “A few letters painted on the side of a WWII training aircraft can offer an important clue to its history. For John D. Voss, deciphering those markings became a research project that grew into USAAF Training Aircraft Fuselage Codes of WWII, a website dedicated to documenting the codes used by the United States Army Air Forces’ training schools.” Unfortunately the site does not have a security certificate, so expect a complaint from your browser.
US DoD: Department of War Publishes Seventh Release of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Files on WAR.GOV/UFO. “Today, the Department of War is publishing the seventh release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed on WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
Mashable: Amazon just rebranded Kindle Unlimited — what you need to know about Kindle+. “As of Oct. 22, Amazon rebranded Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+. Now under your subscription tab, you’ll find your membership listed as Kindle+. But what does this mean for your membership? Has the program or pricing changed? Here’s everything we know about Amazon’s rebrand from Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+.”
The Register: PubKeep picks up where Microsoft Publisher signs off. “Microsoft ended support for Publisher this month, but users with orphaned documents still have options…. Adam Anderly, founder of Texas-based Saint Systems, created PubKeep to replace Microsoft’s application. PubKeep is proprietary, with no plans to open source the code. But it doesn’t require a subscription: a one-time payment of $99 buys the application.”
AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
Associated Press: Microsoft offers a quarter of its global workforce voluntary buyouts as AI spending accelerates. “Microsoft has offered 60,000 employees, or about 27% of its global workforce, voluntary buyouts as the software giant spends heavily on artificial intelligence. The company’s voluntary exit offer was available to eligible employees in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, the company’s Chief People Officer Amy Coleman wrote in a blog post Monday.”
Engadget: Meta is charging government and nonprofit pages to post links on Facebook . “[Daniel] Starks is one of a growing number of people to encounter Meta’s ongoing experiment with charging creators, businesses and other professionals to post links on Facebook. Meta says the test, which is part of its push to sell more subscriptions, isn’t supposed to affect pages for nonprofits or government entities. But that’s not the case, according to nonprofit leaders who spoke with Engadget.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
Deadline: CNN’s Scott Jennings Hit With $72.5M Suit By Hasan Piker Over “Manipulated” Lynching Misquote. “In a blistering response to Scott Jennings allegedly using ‘a false, fabricated, and manipulated video’ claiming Hasan Piker wants to bring back lynching of Black Americans, the left-wing streamer plans to take the CNN MAGA talking head to the courtroom cleaners for $72.5 million.”
Reuters: Court orders Egyptian website closed in case seen as test for independent media. “An Egyptian court convicted the editor-in-chief of leading independent news website Mada Masr of running it without a licence on Tuesday, ordered the site closed and held her in custody for five hours, her lawyers and the outlet said. Lina Attalah of the online newspaper Mada Masr, which has won numerous international awards for its reporting, was fined 3 million Egyptian pounds ($53,400), her lawyers told Reuters. She was released after Mada Masr paid the fine, the newspaper said.”
OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL
UC Berkeley: Harnessing the power of the tides. “To combat climate change, countries worldwide are increasingly turning to clean energy sources such as solar and wind power in place of fossil fuels. Now, civil and environmental engineering professor Evan Variano is exploring another option: tidal energy. Using an underwater kite, he is studying ways to harness the power of ocean currents.” Good afternoon, Internet…
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Categories: afternoonbuzz