Google has added public alerts to search and Google Maps. “Public Alerts … aims to show ‘relevant weather, public safety and earthquake alerts’ from the U.S. National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. It is available in-browser, on Google Maps for Android and Google Now for Android devices running Jellybean (4.1).”

Not only is the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam creating an online museum of its works, it’s allowing users to reuse and remix them: “The ultra high-resolution images of works, both famous and less well-known, can be freely downloaded, zoomed in on, shared, added to personal ‘studios’, or manipulated copyright-free. Users can have prints made of entire works of art or details from them. Other suggestions for the use of images include creating material to upholster furniture or wallpaper, or to decorate a car or an iPad cover for example.” Direct link to English version here.

GigaOm has an interesting writeup on a new iOS app that lets you make “instructional storyboards.” “Basically, you use your iPhone to shoot a series of stills, then record an eight-second voiceover for each picture. The result is playable through the app or online.” I can see using this to quickly make basic instructional videos at work. But you can’t search? HowDo has recently left private beta and is available in the app store for free.

The state of Wisconsin has launched a new Web site that lets citizens find private lands that are available for public use. “An online map highlights areas across the state where private landowners have agreed to allow the public to use their land in exchange for tax breaks.”

The state of Washington has released a new, small archive of food and farming photographs.

Apparently Iran has created its own search engine.

TechCrunch has a story about EverySignal, which it describes as “Google Alerts For Your Social Feeds”. I like the idea but based on the article it isn’t quite what I’m looking for….

Interesting article: Top 10 tips on how to make your open access research visible online.

Facebook has finally killed off its Questions product. While I thought it was a good idea, they never did much with it. I find Quora and LinkedIn useful for asking questions, depending on what the question is.

Google has revamped the composition features in GMail.

And speaking of Google, don’t forget to stop by its homepage today for the holiday doodle. Happy Halloween, Internet…