Just going through some of the prep material for my upcoming workshop on data management when all of a sudden:
A victim of modernist urban planning and architecture in Brussels: lavish halls that were replaced by a bland parking, which itself is now demolished again. Read more about it here, including some impressive pictures.
Have been using Startpage.com in combination with DuckDuckGo as an alternative to Google. They just launched a new design which is pretty neat.
A look at voice-activated speakers powered by “intelligent assistants” and news consumption(/coercion?). Read more in the industry report from Reuters.
TIL : there is an Alexa microwave, and it can reorder your popcorn when you run low. What? 😩
Via @kottke: “How AI Agents Cheat” - There’s some funny ones. 🤡
Via @BrunoLatourAIME and The Guardian on changes to how standard kilogram is defined: ““If aliens ever visit Earth what else would we talk about other than physics?” said Schlamming…”.
New York Times article on Yuval Harari by @NellieBowles “The futurist philosopher Yuval Noah Harari thinks Silicon Valley is an engine of dystopian ruin. So why do the digital elite adore him so?”.
Great article via Aeon on link between increased oranges demand and organised crime: “Sicily’s mafia sprang from the growing global market for lemons – a tale with sour parallels for consumers today” Read more here.
Openculture on the creation of a new online database with works from overlooked female artists from the 15-17th century. More making invisible works visible?