Historical tech tree

“The historical tech tree is a project by Étienne Fortier-Dubois to visualize the entire history of technologies, inventions, and (some) discoveries, from prehistory to today. Unlike other visualizations of the sort, the tree emphasizes the connections between technologies: prerequisites, improvements, inspirations, and so on. These connections allow viewers to understand how technologies came about, at …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 9, 2025

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 9, 2025. 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 the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

What Does Palantir Actually Do?

Wired – no paywall: “Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it. Palantir is arguably one of the most notorious corporations in contemporary America. Cofounded by libertarian tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the software …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

AlphaEarth Foundations helps map our planet in unprecedented detail

Google DeepMind: “New AI model integrates petabytes of Earth observation data to generate a unified data representation that revolutionizes global mapping and monitoring. Every day, satellites capture information-rich images and measurements, providing scientists and experts with a nearly real-time view of our planet. While this data has been incredibly impactful, its complexity, multimodality and refresh …

Subjects: AI, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

The struggle over AI in journalism is escalating

Blood in the Machine: “…This week, we’ll dive into a subject close to home: Working journalists’ escalating struggles with AI, through the lens of one major newsroom’s efforts to stop media executives from unleashing AI indiscriminately on its editorial operations. Plus, a new bill proposed in New York might actually have the teeth necessary to …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management

He’s Saving 20,000 Tapes of Underground Music and Making it Free to All

KQED – “In a suburban backyard outside of Sacramento, I open the door to a giant shed, step inside and get smacked in the face by floor-to-ceiling shelves of music history. VHS tapes. Cassette tapes. Reel-to-reels. DATs. Other formats I don’t recognize, and can’t pronounce. Nearly 20,000 of them, all filled with live shows, demo …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Bird migration forecast maps

Van Doren, B. M and Horton, K. G. Year/s of forecast migration map image. BirdCast, migration forecast map; generation date and time (most easily accessible from data on the image). Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Colorado State University. birdcast.info. Bird migration forecasts show predicted nocturnal migration 3 hours after local sunset and are updated every …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

New executive order puts all grants under political control

Ars Technica: “On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order asserting political control over grant funding, including all federally supported research. The order requires that any announcement of funding opportunities be reviewed by the head of the agency or someone they designate, which means a political appointee will have the ultimate say over what …

Subjects: Censorship, Education, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

As the Supreme Court Focuses on the Past, Historians Turn to Advocacy

The New York Times gift article: “Spikes in the number and influence of briefs filed by historians have prompted questions about the role scholars should play in litigation Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. studied history in college and wanted to become a historian. A taxi ride changed his mind. “I was being driven back …

Subjects: Courts, Education, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

US government strikes $1 ChatGPT deal to bring generative AI to federal agencies

TechSpot: “OpenAI estimates that nearly 90,000 government employees at the federal, state, and local levels have started using its chatbot since 2024. A new deal sharply expands that access, offering the federal workforce new tools believed to have the potential to make government operations more efficient and responsive in areas ranging from budget analysis to …

Subjects: AI, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Instagram Map lets your friends, and possibly exes, track your every move

Washington Post – no paywall or MSN: “Instagram has a new feature to share your precise real-time location with friends. There are many, many reasons you should think twice before enabling it. I’ll show you the settings you need to know. Starting this week in the U.S., Instagram rolled out a new map view, which …

Subjects: E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media