NEW RESOURCES

Western University: Free, diverse scientific illustrations boost representation. “A new database of open-source physiology illustrations is now available that reflects the diverse population of students in Canadian universities, thanks to the work of a Western professor and graduate. …
To create the images, [Priya] Modi looked first at the demographic affected by a specific disease, then at who was underrepresented in existing materials to incorporate diversity in areas like gender, age, size and ability.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: The parent company of Evernote and WeTransfer is acquiring pioneering video hub Vimeo for $1.38 billion . UGH. “Vimeo has found a buyer. The 21-year-old video hub has been acquired by Bending Spoons, a tech company that will pay $1.38 billion to pick up a platform that has long promoted artists and their work.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Register: OpenAI reportedly on the hook for $300B Oracle Cloud bill . “OpenAI will pay Oracle $300 billion over the course of five years to fuel Sam Altman’s AI ambitions by providing five gigawatts of compute capacity. At least that’s what unnamed sources familiar with the matter tell the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the contract is set to begin in 2027, giving the AI startup a little over a year to figure out how or perhaps who’s going to be left holding the bill when it falls due.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Medium: Weaponizing Ads: How Governments Use Google Ads and Facebook Ads to Wage Propaganda Wars. “From the Israel–Palestine conflict to Russian and domestic political meddling, paid ads are being weaponized to promote war efforts, demonize opponents, and even undermine institutions like the UN. This article examines how it’s happening, why the platforms permit it, and what ethical and policy questions arise.”

SF Standard: OpenAI thinks its critics are funded by billionaires. Now it’s going after them. “The subpoena, variations of which have been served to at least two other AI governance groups in recent months, was part of OpenAI’s emerging attack on what it believes is a billionaire-backed conspiracy to halt its progress. In court filings and official complaints, OpenAI’s lawyers allege that groups opposed to its conversion to a for-profit company may be funded by Musk or are working with Zuckerberg.”

Mashable: What Oura Ring’s partnership with the U.S. military means for your data. “Oura Ring has announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and many users online are not happy about it. The announcement sparked immediate backlash across social platforms, with concerns ranging from misinformation about data privacy to broader moral objections over the company’s willingness to work with the U.S. military.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Berkeley News: Do chatbots have a moral compass? Researchers turn to Reddit to find out.. “By challenging AI chatbots to judge thousands of moral dilemmas posted in a popular Reddit forum, UC Berkeley researchers revealed that each platform follows its own set of ethics.”

PsyPost: Mobile phone dependence linked to creativity in surprising ways among adolescents. “A study of Chinese adolescents revealed a complex relationship between mobile phone dependence and two forms of creativity: artistic and scientific. At low levels of mobile phone dependence, higher dependence was associated with lower scientific and artistic creativity. However, once dependence passed a certain threshold, the link with scientific creativity disappeared, while the link with artistic creativity became positive.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Ars Technica: This ultra-rare ’90s LaserDisc game console can finally be emulated on a PC. “Here in the year 2025, it’s not every day that a classic gaming console from the 20th century becomes playable via emulation for the first time. But that’s just what happened last week with the release of Ares v146 and its first-of-its-kind support for Mega LD titles designed for the Pioneer LaserActive.”

AFP: Viking ships make final high-risk voyage to new Oslo home. “The first to relocate is the Oseberg, which on Wednesday slowly made its way from its current location in the old Viking Ship Museum, arriving intact a newly built addition that will house the national treasures in optimal conditions. The extremely fragile oak hull inched forward so slowly its movement was almost undetectable to the human eye, the structure encased in a heavy protective steel rig.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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