Vintage Web History, Mode By Flickr, Youtube Premium Lite, More: Sunday Afternoon Researchbuzz, March 1, 2026

NEW RESOURCES

Gizmodo: Opera Has Turned 30—and Is Celebrating With a Compelling Tribute to Web Nostalgia. “To celebrate the milestone, Opera is doing something brilliantly engaging: It’s put together a Web Rewind archive site that memorializes some of the best online moments and memes of the last three decades. From the classic modem dialing tone sounds, to MySpace and the top eight friends paradigm, it’s a lot of nostalgic fun.”

EVENTS

Flickr Blog: MODE by Flickr: The World’s Photography Festival. “You know those mysterious emails we’ve been sending? The cryptic hints, the ‘something big is coming’ energy? Well, the wait is over. Welcome MODE by Flickr—an immersive three-day photography festival coming to Minneapolis September 18-20, 2026.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Tubefilter: YouTube increases the value of its Premium Lite tier through Background Play and Downloads. “Last year, YouTube launched its Premium Lite tier as a slimmed-down, cheaper alternative to the standard YouTube Premium subscription. Now, YouTube is looking to make that deal even sweeter by adding a pair of useful features for Lite subscribers: Say hello to Background Play and Downloads.”

Reuters: China’s Baidu revenue falls as AI cloud growth fails to offset ad weakness. “China’s largest search engine operator Baidu reported a 4% revenue drop for its December quarter on Thursday, ‌as persistent weakness in its mainstay advertising business offset strong growth in its ‌cloud business.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Bloomberg: OpenAI Says ChatGPT Refused to Help Chinese Influence Operations. “OpenAI said its ChatGPT AI service refused to assist an individual associated with Chinese law enforcement in planning an online campaign to discredit the Japanese prime minister.”

Fox 5 Atlanta: Bud Smith’s Atlanta archive: 1.2M photos seek a permanent home. “Smith, who will turn 78 in April, has documented a front-row seat to history from the basement of his East Point home. His collection, which includes approximately 1.2 million pictures and 60,000 rolls of film, features some of the nation’s most notable newsmakers.”

New York Times: Women Are Falling in Love With A.I. It’s a Problem for Beijing. This link goes to a gift article. “China’s ruling Communist Party wants young women to prioritize getting married and having babies. Instead, many of them are finding romance with chatbots. It is complicating the government’s efforts to reverse the country’s shrinking population and a birthrate hovering at the lowest level in over 75 years.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Courthouse News Service: Ohio school district sues Microsoft, Roblox over video game harm to students. “A small Ohio school district sued three big video game producers with a global reach, claiming youngsters are attracted to and addicted to the online games that have behavioral and financial consequences for the school district and its students.”

TASS: Google fined nearly $300,000 for promoting VPN services. “Moscow’s Tagansky District Court has ordered Google LLC to pay 22.8 mln rubles ($298,600) for promoting VPN services via Google Play, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Northeastern University: How can you avoid AI sycophancy? Keep it professional. “Researchers recently discovered that the overly agreeable behavior of chatbots depends on what role the AI plays in a conversation. The more personal a relationship, the more they will tell you what you want to hear.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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