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Daily Archives: February 8, 2023

Vermont State U Will Make Libraries All Digital

VT Digger: “Vermont State University plans to repurpose libraries on its five campuses and move to an “all-digital academic library” system when it launches as a unified institution in July. The university also expects to move one athletic program to a different conference and convert another to a club program.  Parwinder Grewal, who is set to become president of the new university, announced the “two major transformation decisions” in an email to students, faculty and staff Tuesday afternoon. The goal of the changes, Grewal said, “is to strengthen and expand access to our athletics offerings and provide greater equity of access to our library services.” But the announcement drew swift rebukes from some students.  Deanna Oakes, a senior at Northern Vermont University’s Johnson campus, said she and other students felt “blindsided” by the administration’s decisions.  “It’s kind of sad,” she said. “And it feels like a real loss to me.”The changes come as the Vermont State Colleges System seeks to consolidate its sprawling network of campuses. After merging Johnson State College and Lyndon State College into Northern Vermont University in 2018, it is now combining the latter institution with Castleton University and Vermont Technical College.  The resulting Vermont State University expects to “transform the physical libraries” on its Castleton, Johnson, Lyndon, Randolph and Williston campuses this summer “to respond to what works for students today and best supports them holistically on their educational journey,” Grewal wrote. That involves eliminating all physical resources in the university’s libraries and transitioning to a digital-only library. Books, collections and other materials are set to be redistributed, in part to community members, according to an FAQ published by the university…”

DeepL logo Write Beta

DeepL: “Perfect your writing in seconds. Write clearly, precisely, and with ease. This tool allows you to correct mistakes, rephrase your sentences and improve your writing. The green highlight on the right indicates a change. Click on a word to see suggestions or rewrite the entire sentence.”  Translate text [31 languages], Translate files [PDF, Word… Continue Reading

Why Switching to a Paid Email Provider Is Better for Online Privacy and Security

MakeUseOf: “Free email services have dominated the market for a long time—Gmail alone has more than one and a half billion active users worldwide. However, many users have switched to or are considering switching to a paid email provider for better security. Several paid email services, including Proton Mail, Tutanota, CounterMail, and others, were introduced… Continue Reading

Google Maps’ Immersive View is now available across five cities

The Verge: “Immersive View is now rolling out for Google Maps in five global cities after the feature was first introduced across hundreds of notable landmarks last year. It combines billions of Street View and aerial images, allowing users to scope out neighborhoods as if they’re flying overhead and then drop down to street level… Continue Reading

ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare

The Conversation – If you’ve ever posted online, you ought to be concerned: “ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Within two months of its release it reached 100 million active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application ever launched. Users are attracted to the tool’s advanced capabilities – and concerned by its potential to… Continue Reading

The Most Important Job Skill of This Century

The Atlantic: “A product race is under way in the world of artificial intelligence. Just this week, Google announced plans to release Bard, a search chatbot based on its proprietary large language model; yesterday, Microsoft held an event unveiling a next-generation web browser with a supercharged Bing interface powered by ChatGPT. Though most big tech… Continue Reading

Treasury Report Assesses Opportunities, Challenges Facing Financial Sector Cloud-Based Technology Adoption

“The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released a report, The Financial Sector’s Adoption of Cloud Services, on the potential benefits and challenges associated with the increasing trend of financial sector firms adopting cloud services technology. While cloud services can increase access and reliability for local communities as well as empower community banks to compete… Continue Reading

100 Best Children’s Books of All Times

TIME: “We’re living in a golden age of young-adult literature, when books ostensibly written for teens are equally adored by readers of every generation. In the likes of Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen, they’ve produced characters and conceits that have become the currency of our pop-culture discourse—and inspired some of our best writers to contribute… Continue Reading

EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats

1st EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats. Towards a framework for networked defence, February 2023. “This first edition of the report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference threats is informed by the work of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) Stratcom division 8 in 2022. It is the first of its kind… Continue Reading

NIST Selects ‘Lightweight Cryptography’ Algorithms to Protect Small Devices

NIST: “Lightweight electronics, meet the heavyweight champion for protecting your information: Security experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have announced a victor in their program to find a worthy defender of data generated by small devices. The winner, a group of cryptographic algorithms called Ascon, will be published as NIST’s lightweight… Continue Reading

Microsoft’s new Bing and Edge hands-on: Surprisingly well-integrated AI

engadget: “The age of generative AI is upon us, and this week alone Google and Microsoft made major announcements around their respective products for the masses. While Google unveiled an “experimental conversational AI service” called Bard yesterday, Microsoft had a fuller slate of news to share at its event in Redmond, WA today. Through a… Continue Reading