afternoonbuzz

Global Building Atlas, Roblox eSports, Science Blogs Web Archive, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, December 6, 2025

NEW RESOURCES

Maps Mania: Introducing the Global Building Atlas. “The Global Building Atlas is a new global, high-resolution 3D dataset of the world’s 2.75 billion buildings. Developed by a research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) the Global Building Atlas provides broad coverage of areas historically missing from digital maps, including much of Africa, South America, and rural areas worldwide.”

EVENTS

Tubefilter: Roblox enters the world of esports with a $50,000 Creator Showdown. “If you think you can Steal a Brainrot better than anyone else in the world, you might soon get the chance to prove it. On December 4, Roblox is going live with the Creator Showdown, a $50,000 gauntlet that could serve as the sandbox game’s introduction into the world of esports.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Library of Congress Blogs: Where Science Meets Storytelling: Twelve Years of the Science Blogs Web Archive. ” More than a decade after its launch, the Science Blogs Web Archive continues to grow and evolve. In this interview, Jennifer ‘JJ’ Harbster reflects on building and maintaining the collection, while intern Yahir Brito brings a fresh perspective on updating and expanding it. Together, they share a few of their favorite blogs and discuss why it is important to preserve these unique examples of scientific communication.”

Courthouse News Service: Menstrual app privacy suit nears $56 million payday. “A federal judge signaled Thursday he would grant tentative approval of a $56 million settlement in a class action that accused the period tracking app Flo of sharing users’ highly sensitive information with third parties.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Tom’s Hardware: Google’s Agentic AI wipes user’s entire HDD without permission in catastrophic failure — cache wipe turns into mass deletion event as agent apologizes: “I am absolutely devastated to hear this. I cannot express how sorry I am”. “A developer using Google Antigravity, the search giant’s AI-powered agentic Integrated Developer Environment (IDE), discovered that it had deleted his entire D drive without his permission. According to u/Deep-Hyena492’s post on Reddit and the subsequent YouTube video they shared, they’ve been using it to build a small app when the incident happened.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Search Engine Land: Google’s proposed ad tech fixes face EU scrutiny. “The European Commission is asking industry players to review Google’s proposal to settle major antitrust charges involving its advertising technology business — a case that has already led to nearly €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in fines.”

New York Times: 120,000 Home Cameras Were Hacked for Sexual Videos, South Korean Police Say. “Four people were arrested over the hacking of 120,000 home security cameras in South Korea, whose footage was used to make sexually exploitative material, the National Police Agency said on Monday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

King’s College London: New project sets African-led agendas for film heritage restitution. “A new £1.1 million project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council will engage an international team of scholars, archivists and filmmakers in research on African film heritage restitution.”

Mashable: AI safety report: Only 3 models make the grade. “A panel of eight AI experts looked at the companies’ public statements and survey answers, then awarded letter grades on 35 different safety indicators — everything from watermarking AI images to having protections for internal whistleblowers. Round it all up, and you’ll find Anthropic and OpenAI at the top — barely — of a pretty terrible class.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

SF Gate: Ecuador’s Otavalo Indigenous people use anime to inspire pride in their ancient culture and language. “High in the mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes, a group of young Otavalo Indigenous people is using anime to inspire pride in their ancient culture and language, especially among Otavalo children.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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