NEW RESOURCES

Ooooh, this looks like fun. Kifi helps you build a search engine based on links you’ve tweeted, and also makes content recommendations. “Called ‘Kifi for Twitter,’ the company describes the new feature as something of a deep search engine for Twitter because it’s not only indexing the tweet itself, but also the actual content contained in those links you’ve shared, allowing you to more easily retrieve this information in the future.” Can you imagine being able to use something like this to tweet links with topic hashtags and automatically build a searchable subject index of links? Good heavens, I think I have the nerd-vapors…

Hulu has launched its own GIF search engine. Well, sort of: ” The new site, dubbed ‘The Perfect GIF,’ isn’t just a standard Tumblr blog, however, but more of customized Tumblr experience where you can search for and discover TV-related GIFs by tag, show, reaction or action involved. The idea behind the new project, it seems, is to help seed social media with high-quality GIFs based on Hulu’s own licensed and original content, then capitalize on those GIFs’ spread to market the Hulu brand to Tumblr’s younger demographic.”

In development: a database of incidents of fire attack hose burn-through. “As part of a larger research effort focused on the design and development of a next-generation fire attack hose, a team of faculty members and students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has launched a fire department survey and associated online database to gather and document information on actual hose burn-through incidents nationwide. The creation of this database is a key element of the first phase of a long-term project that aims to understand the flammability and limits of current fire attack hoses; define the scope and impact of burn-throughs; and, ultimately, use that data to create a more fire-resistant attack hose. The survey was rolled out in March. In less than three weeks, more than 150 fire departments have reported burn-through incidents and have detailed issues experienced as a result of those hose failures. Although it seems counterintuitive: attack hoses, the key firefighting tool used by firefighters across the country, are not designed to resist the very element they are combatting. In reality, existing hoses—usually made from woven cotton and rubber—can burn through while in use.”

USEFUL STUFF

On the one hand, this is good information to have. On the other hand, you have to give a site permission to scan your e-mail which makes me – ergh. Dashlane has created a tool that scans your e-mail for passwords stored in plain text. You do not have to be a Dashlane user to use the tool, and it’s free.

Do you know how many blogs the Library of Congress has? Over a dozen.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Skype Translator now speaks Italian and Mandarin. Wow!

Interesting: Google bolding answers in search results? They really don’t want you to leave the results page, do they.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

NIST (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) has released its public access plan. PubMed again. “All NIST-funded researchers will be required to deposit their final peer-reviewed manuscripts into [PubMed Central] upon acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal and make them available to the public with no longer than a 12-month embargo period [emphasis theirs]. NIST will also accept final published articles where allowed and will follow the NIH’s current format requirements. As with the other agencies, NIST will provide stakeholders with a mechanism for petitioning the agency to ‘shorten or extend the allowable embargo period.’ NIST envisions that this process would take place through a public petition process run through the Federal Register.”

Google is offering more field trips – this time to science museums.

Facebook is being used to serve divorce papers.

Sounds like Yahoo may finally be ready to move on Tumblr. “The Information reports that CEO Marissa Mayer spoke about the major changes inside the company at an offsite meeting with executives. She also reportedly asked Tumblr CEO David Karp which Yahoo executive he’d like to report to from now on.” Ouch.

You can now move your YouTube channels.

Microsoft and Getty Images are teaming up. “In September 2014, Getty Images sued Microsoft over alleged massive copyright infringement through the Bing Image Widget. Shortly after, Microsoft pulled the Bing Image Widget offline. Today we learn via The Seattle Times that Getty Images dropped the lawsuit against Microsoft on Monday and yesterday announced a new partnership deal with Microsoft to ‘develop next-generation image rich experiences.'” Good evening, Internet…

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