morningbuzz

Truth and Reconciliation Mechanisms Archives Locator, Tumblr, Google Photos, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, December 14, 2025

NEW RESOURCES

International Council on Archives: SAHR Announces its New Database “Truth and Reconciliation Mechanisms Archives Locator” (TRMAL) on International Human Rights Day and Discusses Human Rights Archives. “The TRMAL is a unique tool that for the first time allows researchers, conflict-affected citizens, legal scholars and anyone interested to search for the archives that have been created through a diverse range of mechanisms after conflict. Since 1951, hundreds of commissions have investigated and collected evidence or testimonies related to past human rights violations all over the world. Called Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Investigative Commission or Commission of Inquiry, these missions have been conducted at local, national or international level.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tumblr: 2025 in Review. “This year, we took a closer look at the culture bubbling up through tag data and across your dashboards in 2025—the communities, aesthetics, and micro-moments that shaped the year and show no signs of stopping. (Don’t worry—if you’re all about that ships list, keep an eye out for it in the New Year 😉 We’ve broken it down into five chapters, each one illustrated by the posts that best capture the moment, because Tumblr is the people here (including you!), and the posts they make along the way.”

Mashable: Google Photos rolls out new video editing tools. “Google is rolling out a suite of new video editing tools for Google Photos, making it easier for users to craft polished highlight reels directly from their phones. The updates, announced in a press release, expand on the app’s existing highlight video feature and introduce more creative control for Android and iOS users.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: 10 Hacks Every Chromebook Power User Should Know. “These hacks are for power users who want to level up their Chromebook capabilities, and get extra value out of their laptop, beyond the standard use cases that everyone knows about. No matter how you use ChromeOS, there should be something here to help.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Ben Werdmuller: Why RSS matters. “When people think about RSS, they most often associate it with the long-departed Google Reader — but it’s far from dead. From direct subscriptions to syndication into apps that aggregate and re-present content, RSS remains the standard for feeds. It’s the glue that holds the timely web together.” Lots of tools available at RSSGizmos.com!

TechSpot: Over 230 environmental groups across the US are asking Congress to halt AI data-center expansion. “A large coalition of environmentally-focused organizations has sent a scathing letter to members of Congress, urging US representatives to put the development of new data centers on hold. The letter identifies generative AI and cryptocurrency as among the most significant environmental and social threats of this generation, citing their role in fueling an unregulated expansion of data centers across the country.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Google faces $129 million French asset freeze after Russian ruling, documents show. “The administrator of Google’s (GOOG) defunct Russian business has obtained a temporary freeze on some 110 million euros ($129 ​million) of the Alphabet-owned company’s assets in France, official orders seen by Reuters show.”

Associated Press: Trump sued by preservationists seeking reviews and congressional approval for ballroom project. “The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded group, is asking the U.S. District Court to block Trump’s White House ballroom addition, which already has involved razing the East Wing, until it goes through comprehensive design reviews, environmental assessments, public comments and congressional debate and ratification.”

CBS News: Hundreds of British Empire artifacts stolen from U.K. museum, as police release images of men carrying bags. “More than 600 items from a collection documenting the links between Britain and countries in the former British Empire were stolen from a U.K. museum in September, police said Thursday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Search Engine Land: 65% of AI chats have no commercial intent, new analysis finds. “Most AI chats have no commercial intent, users usually ask short questions, and most conversations end after just two turns. Those findings come from a recent analysis by Dan Petrovic, director of AI SEO agency Dejan, who examined millions of conversational turns to show how people actually use AI assistants.”

Harvard Gazette: The problem with the school smartphone debate. “Amid concern about student screen time and mental health, new research indicates that most U.S. public schools already have policies regulating the use of smartphones in class. Hao Yu, associate professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School and at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, said his finding raises the question of whether the policies are being enforced.”

CNN: Videos of sexually suggestive, AI-generated children are racking up millions of likes on TikTok, study finds. “Researchers found more than a dozen accounts posting videos featuring AI-generated girls wearing tight clothing, lingerie or school uniforms, sometimes in suggestive positions. The accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers combined. Comments on many of the videos included links to chats on the messaging platform Telegram, which offered child pornography for purchase, according to the report.” Good morning, Internet…

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