TechCrunch Thursday March 20, 2025
Researchers around the world use camera traps — digital cameras connected to infrared sensors — to study wildlife populations. But while these traps can provide valuable insights, they generate massive volumes of data that take days to weeks to sift through. Now, notes TechCrunch, Google has released an open-source AI model, called SpeciesNet, that is designed to identify animal species by analyzing photos from camera traps. Google says the AI model was trained on over 65 million publicly available images.
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PetaPixel Thursday March 20, 2025
Did you see last week’s lunar eclipse? NPR recently rounded up photographs of the celestial event. Meanwhile, PetaPixel features “once-in-a-lifetime” images of the eclipse against the backdrop of the Northern Lights, made by landscape and travel photographer Dan Zafra, known for his website Capture the Atlas. Zafra traveled from his home in Nevada to Alaska to photograph the total lunar eclipse, also known as the Blood Moon, armed with three cameras; one on a star tracker was armed with a 400mm lens for close-ups.
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THE VERGE Thursday March 20, 2025
Bluesky is adding support for three-minute videos – a notable improvement from the previous one-minute limit, notes The Verge. The update is rolling out in Bluesky version 1.99, which also includes a new DM filter that allows users to approve or reject messages from people they might not know. Bluesky is also making it easier to mute accounts: You can now select the three-dot menu beneath someone’s post and choose “Mute account.” Previously, you had to navigate to the user’s profile in order to mute them.
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By
David Schonauer Thursday March 20, 2025
When engineer Joseph Strauss first proposed building a bridge across the one-mile-wide Golden Gate strait in California, not everyone was happy. The US Navy feared that a ship collision or sabotage
to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors, for instance. But since its completion in 1937, the bridge has become a San Francisco landmark: Frommer's travel guide has … Read the full Story >>
