Stuff New Zealand: Social media vitriol has ‘profound effect’ on council staff

Stuff New Zealand: Social media vitriol has ‘profound effect’ on council staff. “‘Yous are proving to be ABSOLUTELY USELESS,’ reads one, under a Tasman District Council post about a cycle lane. ‘You f**cken clowns, no brains at all.’ ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!? WHO IS MAKING THESE INCOMPETENT DECISIONS!?’ another shouts. Stuff contacted Tasman and Nelson councils to ask how they dealt with social media vitriol after a council employee, who asked to remain anonymous, got in touch to express their distress about such comments.”

Stuff (New Zealand): Stuff Group withdraws from X (formerly Twitter)

Stuff (New Zealand): Stuff Group withdraws from X (formerly Twitter). “Stuff, New Zealand’s biggest independently owned news business, will stop sharing content to X (formerly Twitter), effective immediately. The company, which owns this website, has flagged it is increasingly concerned about the volume of mis- and disinformation being shared, and the damaging behaviour being exhibited on and enabled by the platform.”

1 News New Zealand: Experts alarmed as truck drivers livestream on social media

1 News New Zealand: Experts alarmed as truck drivers livestream on social media. “Experts are sounding the alarm over a social media trend that sees truck drivers livestreaming their drives on TikTok. Users on the social media platform can go live once they have 1000 followers, and it has seen some drivers sharing their trips around New Zealand.” The alarm is less about the livestreaming and more about the drivers interacting with viewers when they’re supposed to be driving.

New Zealand Herald: Are social media dance trends the key to keeping the Tongan language alive?

New Zealand Herald: Are social media dance trends the key to keeping the Tongan language alive?. “Tongan culture is inherently tied to its youth, with an average age of 20 years among Tongan people in Aotearoa. They are harnessing the power of social media trends, like Tongan dance, to both preserve their heritage and engage with a global audience. Aisea Latu, from the Black Grace Dance Company, underlines the significance of this exchange: ‘As long as you pass it down properly and you see other cultures getting involved with it too, then it’s just another way of expressing Tongan-ness.’”

New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage: New Zealand’s first national register of 20th Century public artworks goes live

New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage: New Zealand’s first national register of 20th Century public artworks goes live. “The website is a New Zealand first, providing a single place for New Zealanders to gain knowledge of 20th Century public artworks located in towns and cities across Aotearoa, including works that have been hidden, lost, destroyed, or deaccessioned. At launch the register contains over 380 works which can be searched by information about each of the artworks, the artists, and their locations.”

Stuff New Zealand: Google Maps sends Sky Waka seekers to ‘wrong side of mountain’

Stuff New Zealand: Google Maps sends Sky Waka seekers to ‘wrong side of mountain’. “A Google Maps glitch reportedly sent ‘hundreds’ of vehicles seeking Ruapehu’s Sky Waka gondola ride to the remote Tukino ski field on the eastern side of the mountain.While no mishaps were reported, the Tukino operators say their website makes it clear the skifield should only be accessed by high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles with chains aboard.”

New Zealand Herald: Top Auckland restaurants hit by fake Google reviews amid scam fears – Cassia, Masu, French Cafe, Sidart, Sugar Club

New Zealand Herald: Top Auckland restaurants hit by fake Google reviews amid scam fears – Cassia, Masu, French Cafe, Sidart, Sugar Club. “People choosing to dine out are being urged to ‘read beyond reviews’ after top restaurants have been flooded by fake reviews on Google, the Restaurant Association says. A number of restaurants, including The French Cafe, Sidart, The Sugar Club and Cassia at SkyCity, have been ‘spammed’ with reviews – most believed to be fake – in the past week.”

ABC News: 2 men who helped run popular pirating website Megaupload sentenced to prison in New Zealand

ABC News: 2 men who helped run popular pirating website Megaupload sentenced to prison in New Zealand. “Two men who helped run the once wildly popular pirating website Megaupload were each sentenced by a New Zealand court on Thursday to more than two years in prison. The sentencing of Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk ended an 11-year legal battle by the men to avoid extradition to the United States on more serious charges that included racketeering.”

Stuff New Zealand: To combat AI this election, we need to rediscover the art of conversation

Stuff New Zealand: To combat AI this election, we need to rediscover the art of conversation. “ChatGPT, the AI engine at the centre of the current controversies around machine intelligence, itself suggests the negative impacts could be disinformation and manipulation, deepfake technology, biased algorithms, voter profiling and microtargeting – proving that ChatGPT might be more self-aware than the average beltway politician.”

Farmers Weekly: Waste not want not in database project

Farmers Weekly (New Zealand): Waste not want not in database project. “A Plant & Food Research effort to match up food processors grappling with waste byproducts with innovators seeking animal feed solutions will help keep thousands of tonnes out of landfills in coming years. The research agency is using the Canterbury region as the test bed for a database to match up processors with potential end users, with a view to eventually rolling out the project nationally.”