Recent content by AgentPete

(I'm still fiddling with this, there may be some duplication with yesterday's list...) This Week’s Bestsellers: September 15, 2025 New picture books dominate the latest Publisher Weekly bestseller list. A Stephen King and Maurice Sendak retelling of *Hansel and Gretel* tops the picture‑book...

And fyi, will revert to having the news headlines shown as headings here, not running into the description, it's easier to scan.

I think it’s always been there, but yes, it may be about to be “discovered”… :) p.

Sorry about yesterday, here is today's summary. I may try to automate the posting procedure here so that it still gets posted even if I'm not physically at my desk to do so... :) p. - Words Without Borders Receives $100,000 Grant – The Hawthornden Foundation gave Words Without Borders a...

I have a ridiculously early meeting in town today so won't be able to post the Daily News Update until I'm back, late afternoon.

OK, so unless folk object (it can be quite long!) I'll continue posting it, then. It does give you a quick overview of what's happening in my little neck of the woods :) Yes, it inches that possibility closer. I’ve always said that “LLM rights” ought to be sold like any other rights in a book...

I get a daily summary of the most important publishing news (UK and US) from the usual trade news sources… today’s bulletin is below. I’d be happy to share it in the Colony… Let me know if you might find this useful, or if it would be overkill. --- Author Sam Blake urges 'better protections'...

A lot of the problems with AI occur because we don’t have a good grasp of what it is that its actually doing. AI has has no real “understanding” of anything. It’s really just a computer model that works out probabilities. It predicts what what’s most likely to come next in a sequence, based on...

I think that’s more than likely - and there are plenty of examples of “AI self-bias” already. The endpoint (at least as far as “Big AI” is concerned) is the total elimination of the human workforce. That, really, is their ultimate monetization strategy. OpenAI is already trying to create (and...

While I’m on the subject of AI, this tech news is actually pretty important. There is now a way to functionally remove your copyright data from an LLM, that they’ve scanned and included without permission. They can no longer claim that it’s impossible, or too expensive… Maybe a watershed...

This is from the UK Press Gazette. I like that people are starting to develop a sense of what’s real writing – and what isn’t. Only thing I don’t like – I love em dashes! Hope – I’m – not – mistaken – for – a – bot…...

Following on from Mel’s post, this chap landed on my knee yesterday, a Common Darter dragonfly. However, I was horrified to later learn of their utterly lewd behavior, and I quote: “Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air: the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward...

Hey Clare! The platform is still in "beta" and this is exactly why:) What I intended when creating that system was for Updates to Indeed stay non-public untill you're ready for your platform to go public. NB other Full Members will see your posts, but others won't. Looks like you've just found...

Fyi, emails are calculated to account for about 0.3% of the world’s carbon footprint. It’s not as profligate as dear old ChatGPT, but it’s something.