Meta’s Ray-Bans, now with advanced "not my problem" filter

I'm seeing a resurgence of educators leaning on the "friction" metaphor, so I'm revisiting my EBR article on the subject. Let’s not fetishize friction, which can become a convenient defense of teaching practices that serve educators better than learners. jonippolito.substack.com/p/does-educa...

Is the chasm between the billions tech is spending on data centers and its scant AI earnings a bet on a shiny future? Or is it a convenient mask for an even less popular agenda? I run the numbers jonippolito.substack.com/p/what-if-da...

Updated yesterday's Substack after news broke of Trump's teleprompter making $100k on Kalshi. This administration has certainly set a new low bar for self-dealing, but prediction markets are supercharging anonymous corruption at the highest levels of government. open.substack.com/pub/jonippol...

Insider trading steering military decisions and politicians betting on their own campaigns. Prediction markets could be the most dangerous new technology since ChatGPT—especially for this administration. My new Substack at jonippolito.substack.com #Elections #PredictionMarkets #IranWar

Librarians wondering how AI affects media literacy/acquisition policies/patrons' needs should consider joining UMaine's Digital Curation program, which tackles AI's impact on collecting institutions. I'm quoted in this related story from local NBC affiliate www.newscentermaine.com/article/news...

If we don't get this right, we will have completely fumbled AI's arrival in the classroom. Quote from MYFest26 webinar co-led with @leaton01.bsky.social and organized by @mahabali.bsky.social and co. myfest.equityunbound.org/events/struc...

Librarian, archivist, or curator looking to level up your digital game? You might be interested in our online courses that teach #DigitalCuration skills. Cherrypick your favorite or take the full grad certificate digitalcuration.umaine.edu #GLAM #libraries #museums #archives #data

Interviewed for this "Spotlight on America" story about data center pushback, I said towns should compare what they're promised with the actual effects reported by communities that have had to live with these things mynbc15.com/news/spotlig...

Chatbots and AI summaries are making access to content increasingly personalized. But what if AI rewrites websites themselves to match your biases? My latest artwork explores what that shift could mean for public knowledge and cultural memory blog.still-water.net/what-you-thi...

Another way to see data centers aren’t just about AI: even by EPRI’s most generous forecast, AI accounts for less than half of the load added since ChatGPT. You may not like what the rest of the buildout is being used for. blog.still-water.net/what-if-data...

If AI accounts for only 20% of data center use, why is it the justification for nearly every new data center? I did the math and suspect Big Tech is using AI as a cover for unpopular uses like surveillance advertising. blog.still-water.net/what-if-data...

Need to put your collection in a database? On the web? There's a course for that! Join us online this fall for Digital Collections & Exhibitions, part of UMaine's all-online Digital Curation program digitalcuration.umaine.edu #DigitalCuration #libraries #collections #archives #museums #GLAM

At today's UMA Faculty Institute @leaton01.bsky.social urges faculty to steer higher Ed through the AI disruption rather than sit back and watch

UMaine's summer Digital Curation classes are full but we have space in this fall's online course DIG 540 (Digital Collections and Exhibitions), aimed to help everyone from labs to libraries organize their material and put it online digitalcuration.umaine.edu

This week GitHub starts training on your code by default. For me, code reuse is probably the most ethical AI use case. But turn off training if you're worried about others using your code unethically: Settings > Copilot > Features > Privacy

Curious about AI’s real environmental impact? In this recorded webinar we debunk overblown claims from both sides, share new comparisons, and demo a tool that tracks your AI footprint in real time. digitalcuration.umaine.edu/teleconferen...

At 6:50am last Monday, markets spiked despite no news on the war. 15 minutes later, the US president announced he's reversing course to de-escalate. Someone's cashing in on vacillation over the war, at a time when Trump's circle is hobbling the SEC blog.still-water.net/its-650am-do...

Is it fair to compare AI’s footprint to Netflix binges or burgers? Join me Thursday 2 April for a non-partisan look at the science that will reveal why context matters as much as numbers. content.fromthepage.com/april-2026-w...

A $400K bet on Maduro’s capture and 11th-hour wagers before the US strike on Iran show how prediction markets can reward insider knowledge. Could they also shape government and military decisions? blog.still-water.net/corruption-g...

On March 9th I’m helping launch AI Foundations for Educators, a 5-week online course that goes beyond workshop-level knowledge to guide teachers and school staff in developing a personalized framework for adapting classrooms to AI. DM me with any questions or visit learnwithai.org/courses.html

Give yourself the gift of digital permanence by applying for a DPOE grant to pay for digital preservation training this spring. Students who've applied it to my online DIG 550 class digitalcuration.umaine.edu say it's easy and paid for the course. --- www.dpoe.network/training-opp...

I just spoke to WGME CBS/Fox last night about a data center proposed for an old Maine mill. Lewiston's climate and water resources are a better fit than in the southern US, but city managers still overestimate the benefits to local economies—about 20 jobs post-construction, many remote.

You can't make this stuff up www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...

November is digital heritage month. Anyone needing help with a collection can register now for my spring course in preservation or apply to UMaine's all-online graduate certificate, which has been called "a national standard for the study of digital curation." digitalcuration.umaine.edu

The What Uses More calculator was featured in Mark Cuban's October AI Bootcamp newsletter, along with Susan Ray's Carbon Footprint Chatbot. Both let students compare AI's environmental footprint to more familiar activities like Netflix or Zoom. sh1.sendinblue.com/3gmy4fvm079p...

Great news for anyone preserving a collection: DPOE grants now fund training like my online digital preservation course on everything from checksums to DNA storage. A number of my past students have landed these grants; you can apply now for my class starting Jan 20. digitalcuration.umaine.edu

🗳️🇺🇸 Tomorrow (Tue 4 Nov) Mainers will decide a referendum that could shape elections for years to come, especially for older/disabled/rural/on-call workers. More at saveabsentee.me. Please vote! #MEpolitics

Google has teased 60-second AI videos from Veo, which sounds impressive until you realize that requires not 10x, but 100x the energy of a 6-second clip. Confirmation of quadratic scaling of AI video footprint: www.linkedin.com/posts/jonipp... Techradar on Veo 3.1: www.techradar.com/ai-platforms....

Terrifying to think the 21st century is a quarter over! Even more so if your library, archive, or museum is still stuck in the previous century. In UMaine's online Digital Curation program, we teach the digital skills necessary to bring your collection into the 21st. digitalcuration.umaine.edu