afternoonbuzz

Photographs, Alzheimer’s, Google, More: Saturday Afternoon Buzz, March 7th, 2015

NEW RESOURCES

Canada now has an Edward Snowden archive. “The archive is a joint project between Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Politics of Surveillance Project at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. It is the first time the leaked documents have been indexed and made fully searchable online.”

A new stock agency focuses on mobile photography. “Like Snapwire, Scoopshot, and others, Twenty20 (available via the Web and as an iOS app) connects the massive community of mobile photographers – from amateurs to hobbyists – with major brands, like furniture retailer West Elm, that are seeking photos with creativity and authenticity, rather than the staged images from traditional agencies.”

The NIH and several partners have launched a new Alzheimer’s big data portal. “Developed by Sage Bionetworks External Web Site Policy, a Seattle-based non-profit organization promoting open science, the portal will house several waves of Big Data to be generated over the five years of the AMP-AD Target Discovery and Preclinical Validation Project by multidisciplinary academic groups. The academic teams, in collaboration with Sage Bionetworks data scientists and industry bioinformatics and drug discovery experts, will work collectively to apply cutting-edge analytical approaches to integrate molecular and clinical data from over 2,000 postmortem brain samples.”

Buffer has taken Pablo, its text-over-image service, out of beta. It’s free. I dunno. I still like PixTeller better.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google has a new Maps API. “The new API addresses the problem of GPS jitter, where inaccurate or insufficient data causes apps to display odd routes that pass through obstructions, when tracking a user’s location while they’re on the move.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Pinterest has published its first full-year transparency report. “As tends to be the case, the vast majority of these were from the US, with 39 requests covering 54 Pinterest accounts. The other two were from Canada and Australia.”

You remember that FREAK security flaw I mentioned earlier this week? Apparently Windows computers are vulnerable.

Google is apparently working on a VR version of Android.

VentureBeat takes a look at some of the patents related to Google’s self-driving cars.

Google is hosting a free online conference about education. “When I was a teacher 15 years ago, I loved my students, teammates and the work, but I wished I could work more closely with other teachers and observe their classrooms. Luckily, technology helps us connect more easily, and educators don’t have to feel isolated. We have tools, many of them free, that allow us to share with each other. We’ll put these tools to work on May 8-9, when we host Education On Air, a free online conference about leading for the future and shaping the classroom today. All you need is a web browser and an Internet connection to join from the best seat in the house — your own. Whether you’re a school leader, teacher, administrator, parent, student or just someone who cares about education, we hope you can join us.” Good afternoon, Internet..

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