All That Jazz
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is in full swing, having just wrapped up an opening weekend that featured sets from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Beach Boys, and blues legend Robert Cray. They’re just a few of the more than 5,000 artists who will pack more than a dozen stages over the course of the festival (next weekend’s acts include the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters). Today also marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of jazz pioneer Duke Ellington, perhaps the greatest bandleader of the big-band era. Ellington, along with Mahalia Jackson, headlined the first Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970.
The Birthplace of Jazz
© Infrogmation of New Orleans (CC BY 3.0)
Sir Duke
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The Sounds of the Big Easy
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Checking In on Tech
While the clock might be ticking on TikTok, net neutrality gets a second chance. Learn about these and other tech stories making news.
TikTok is under fire—again
A day after being passed by the U.S. Senate, the National Security Act, 2024, was signed into law by Pres. Joe Biden last Wednesday. The appropriations bill, which follows a TikTok ban campaign started in 2020 by then-Pres. Donald Trump (who has since reversed his position), includes a demand that ByteDance, the Chinese-owned tech company behind TikTok, sell the application within a nine-month period or risk the app being banned in the U.S. ByteDance has said that it will challenge the legislation. TikTok is valued at $100 billion.
The return of net neutrality
The FCC voted to reinstate net neutrality rules last Thursday in a 3-2 vote. The agency under Trump had repealed net neutrality in 2017, arguing that the rules were unnecessary and stifled innovation. Net neutrality ensures that Internet service providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, cannot block or slow access to legal content online.
The ethics of AI
From the rise of deepfake media to the rapid creation and dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, recent advances in artificial intelligence are as alarming as they are exciting and promising. Although there are plenty of laws on the books covering data privacy, data protection, and intellectual property rights, with AI, it’s hard for regulators to keep up. In addition to net neutrality and TikTok, expect legislators to consider accountability, bias, and other AI ethical issues this year.
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