The Courier: Dunfermline heritage gem looks to take its place on the Fife tourism trail. “The old lady is still in the pink, but at the landmark building in Maygate, the finishing touches are being made to a restoration that should take the 500-year-old, A-listed structure well into this century and pin it to the Fife tourism map. There will be a phased opening, with classes in the outside workshop, creative rental space and the opening of an education centre on the first floor, including a digital archive of Abbot House. A digital archive featuring photographs, drawings, architectural plans, documents, and local records relating to the house will also be accessible to the public.”
Monthly Archives: March 2021
PR Newswire: Getty Images to Acquire Unsplash, the Preeminent Image Platform for Global Creators (PRESS RELEASE)
PR Newswire: Getty Images to Acquire Unsplash, the Preeminent Image Platform for Global Creators (PRESS RELEASE). “Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications, and Unsplash, the preeminent image platform for global creators, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Getty Images will acquire Unsplash. Getty Images will fund the transaction from existing cash balances and the transaction is expected to close at the close of the month.”
Washington Post: A mental health crisis was unraveling on college campuses. The pandemic has made it worse.
Washington Post: A mental health crisis was unraveling on college campuses. The pandemic has made it worse.. “Across the country, some school leaders and experts say the pandemic has brought new urgency to a mental health crisis that had been unraveling on college campuses for years. From social isolation to heightened feelings of inadequacy, students say it has made it harder to concentrate on school and put a strain on families and friendships.”
OCLC: OCLC to convene a diverse group to ‘Reimagine Descriptive Workflows’ in libraries, archives
OCLC: OCLC to convene a diverse group to ‘Reimagine Descriptive Workflows’ in libraries, archives. “OCLC has been awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to convene a diverse group of experts, practitioners, and community members to determine ways to improve descriptive practices, tools, infrastructure and workflows in libraries and archives. The multi-day virtual convening is part of an eight-month project, Reimagine Descriptive Workflows.”
Departures: New Virtual Experience Will Take You Back 2,000 Years to Visit Ancient Roman Ruins
Departures: New Virtual Experience Will Take You Back 2,000 Years to Visit Ancient Roman Ruins. “Virtual visitors can explore incredible landmarks like the 2,000-year-old Temple of Jupiter that’s perched on 3,000-ton stone blocks (it weighs more than the pillars of Stonehenge). The Temple of Bacchus—one of the best-preserved temples in the ancient world—is also on the Sanctuary tour. Those ruins are some of the most incredible examples of ancient architecture in the entire Roman empire. You’ll get to make a total of 35 stops along the virtual journey.”
BNN Bloomberg: Google Promises Not to Muzzle Staff on Pay, Settling Labor Case
BNN Bloomberg: Google Promises Not to Muzzle Staff on Pay, Settling Labor Case. “Google promised not to silence workers who talk about their pay, part of a settlement resolving one of the first legal complaints filed by a new union representing hundreds of employees and contract workers at the internet giant.”
The Verge: Google’s Area 120 incubator releases a powerful AI document scanner for Android
The Verge: Google’s Area 120 incubator releases a powerful AI document scanner for Android. “Google’s Area 120, an internal incubator program for experimental projects, is releasing a new app today called Stack that borrows the technology underlying the search giant’s powerful DocAI enterprise tool for document analysis. The end result is a consumer document scanner app for Android that Google says vastly improves over your average mobile scanner by auto-categorizing documents into the titular stacks and enabling full text search through the contents of the documents and not just the title.”
Reuters: Google to contribute $29 million to new EU fund to fight fake news
Reuters: Google to contribute $29 million to new EU fund to fight fake news. “Alphabet unit Google will contribute 25 million euros ($29.3 million) to the newly set up European Media and Information Fund to combat fake news, the company said on Wednesday, amid criticism tech giants are not doing enough to debunk online disinformation.”
University of Warwick: World’s largest public scenario database for testing and assuring safe Autonomous Vehicle deployments
University of Warwick: World’s largest public scenario database for testing and assuring safe Autonomous Vehicle deployments. “The Safety PoolTM Scenario Database, the largest public repository of scenarios for testing autonomous vehicles in the world, has been launched today by WMG at the University of Warwick, and Deepen AI. The database provides a diverse set of scenarios in different operational design domains (ODDs i.e. operating conditions) that can be leveraged by governments, industry and academia alike to test and benchmark Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) and use insights to inform policy and regulatory guidelines.”
In bed with Google: A new Sleep Sensing feature prompts privacy worries (CNET)
CNET: In bed with Google: A new Sleep Sensing feature prompts privacy worries. “The focus on sleep tracking underscores an uncomfortable reality about Google’s size and ubiquity. The tech giant already collects vast amounts of data about people in their waking lives: what they search for online, what videos they watch on YouTube and where they’ve traveled, from location data gathered through an Android phone or Google Maps. Now the company is zeroing in on the other half of people’s lives — what they’re doing when they’re not awake.”
The Electrochemical Society: Free the Science Week Takes Down ECS Research Paywall
The Electrochemical Society: Free the Science Week Takes Down ECS Research Paywall. “The Electrochemical Society (ECS) celebrates its fifth annual Free the Science Week from April 5-11, 2021, by taking down the paywall to the ECS Digital Library. Throughout the week, the Society’s online collection of published research is freely accessible to everyone. The ECS Digital Library is hosted on IOPscience and includes over 160,000 scientific journal and magazine articles and meeting abstracts, and the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the oldest peer-reviewed journal in its field.”
ZDNet: Google makes Database Migration Service generally available
ZDNet: Google makes Database Migration Service generally available. “Google Cloud on Wednesday announced the general availability of its Database Migration Service (DMS), a serverless tool to migrate MySQL and PostgreSQL databases to Cloud SQL. Later in the year, Google will introduce support for Microsoft SQL Server. DMS supports migrations from both on-premises and other clouds. It offers a unique migration method that uses MySQL and PostgreSQL’s native replication capabilities and maximizes security, fidelity and reliability.”
CNET: LinkedIn is ‘doing early tests’ to build a Clubhouse rival
CNET: LinkedIn is ‘doing early tests’ to build a Clubhouse rival. “LinkedIn is throwing its hat into the live audio ring. The professional networking platform is conducting ‘early tests’ to create an audio experience that’s connected to your professional identity, the company said Tuesday, in a bid to stake out a place in the fast-growing social audio category made popular by Clubhouse.”
CNET: Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective in younger teens
CNET: Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective in younger teens. “Pfizer’s vaccine against COVID-19 shows 100% efficacy and “robust antibody responses” in younger teens, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. In a Phase 3 trial with 2,260 teenagers ages 12-15, the company found the vaccine’s efficacy was higher than for people ages 16-25.”
MIT Press News: The MIT Press launches new open access collection of 34 classic architecture and urban studies titles
MIT Press News: The MIT Press launches new open access collection of 34 classic architecture and urban studies titles . “Today, the MIT Press launched MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies, a robust digital collection of classic and previously out-of-print architecture and urban studies books, on their digital book platform MIT Press Direct. The collection was funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of the Humanities Open Book Program, which they co-sponsored with the National Endowment for the Humanities.”