afternoonbuzz

IncogFeedo, HTTPS, Browser Addons, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 31, 2025

NEW RESOURCES

Spotted on Reddit: IncogFeedo. From the About page: “IncogFeedo is a lightweight, privacy-focused RSS reader for fast research on current events. It aggregates feeds from sources you choose and adds convenient research shortcuts: AI verification (Google’s AI mode), Reddit discussions, and Wikipedia search.” Well-featured, clearly not slapped together.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: HTTPS by default. “One year from now, with the release of Chrome 154 in October 2026, we will change the default settings of Chrome to enable ‘Always Use Secure Connections’. This means Chrome will ask for the user’s permission before the first access to any public site without HTTPS.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: These 5 browser extensions make every website more useful. “Your browser hides a bunch of shortcuts and settings you’ve never even noticed, but it’s the extensions that really decide how you experience the web. They smooth out the little irritations your browser can’t fix, sneak in clever features you didn’t realize you were missing, and take over the boring stuff you do on repeat. If your browser still feels the same as it did a few years ago, it’s probably because you haven’t given it the handful of tools that make it truly yours.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Saudi Arabia’s New Power Play Is Exporting A.I. to the World. This link goes to a gift article.. “In northwest Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, a planned $5 billion data center would provide enough computing muscle for coders as far away as Europe to build artificial intelligence. On the country’s opposite coast, another planned multibillion-dollar complex could be used by A.I. developers in Asia and Africa. For generations, Saudi Arabia exported oil. Now it wants to export one of the digital era’s most coveted resources: computing power.”

Gizmodo: ChatGPT Bill de Blasio Is a Sign of Things to Come. “There are at least two Bill de Blasios in New York. But when a reporter for a British newspaper recently emailed one of them to get quotes for an article about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, he got the wrong one. The non-famous DeBlasio (who spells his name ‘DeBlasio,’ not ‘de Blasio’) responded, reportedly using ChatGPT to make himself sound more like the former mayor.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Mashable India: Who Is Michelle Ritter? Ex-Girlfriend Of Eric Schmidt Sues Former Google CEO Over Stalking And Toxic Masculinity. “Michell Ritter (31), a 2021 Columbia Law School grad, founded AI-focused startup Steel Perlot with a $100 million investment from Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt (71) while he was in an extramarital relationship with the woman in 2021. Reportedly, they ended their affair in May 2024. She filed a restraining order against the billionaire, alleging abuse, surveillance, stalking, and toxic masculinity.”

noyb: Criminal complaint against facial recognition company Clearview AI. “Today, noyb has filed a criminal complaint against Clearview AI and its managers. The facial recognition company is known for scraping billions of photos of Europeans and people around the world on the internet – and selling its facial recognition system to law enforcement and state actors.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Johns Hopkins University: Doctors who use AI viewed negatively by their peers, study shows. “Doctors who use artificial intelligence at work risk having their colleagues deem them less competent for it, according to a recent Johns Hopkins University study.”

Straits Times: Watch the making of S-E Asia’s largest digital plant database at Singapore Botanic Gardens. “At the Singapore Botanic Gardens, visitors can now watch botanists painstakingly build a digital database of some 800,000 specimens from South-east Asia and beyond. From a viewing gallery, they can observe the plants being unpacked, barcoded, placed on a conveyor belt and photographed between 9am and 5pm on weekdays.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

BBC: Nude organist statue of Monty Python’s Terry Jones to grin and bare it. “A statue of Terry Jones, celebrating him as the Nude Organist from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, will be unveiled on the seafront of his home town of Colwyn Bay next year. The comic actor and writer, 77, died from a rare form of dementia in 2020 and his family said there had been no shortage of ideas to pay tribute.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.