NEW RESOURCES

Want to add a little more formatting to your tweets? There’s an extension for that.

A man in the UK came up with a very elegant way to give everyone in the world an address.

NOAA has launched a new database for information on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “DIVER provides unprecedented flexibility for filtering and downloading validated data collected as part of the ongoing Natural Resources Damage Assessment and response. These data collections now include more than 53,000 samples that have resulted in 3.8 million analytical determinations. Previously, validated data were being posted on http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov as soon as they were available, but in discrete files rather than inegrated through a tool like DIVER.”

Penn Libraries has launched a new digital resources platform. “The site provides digitized cultural heritage materials available as free cultural works that are accessible for use by anyone. The launch of OPenn is a major step in the Libraries’ strategic initiative to embrace open data and democratize access to information….OPenn launched with the entire corpus of manuscripts donated to the Penn Libraries by alumnus Lawrence J. Schoenberg and his wife, Barbara Brizdle. The Schoenberg Collection features manuscripts from all over the world, from the dawn of writing through the 19th century, with a focus on works of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

The National Library of Medicine and FDA have launched public access to the Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID) data. The site is called AccessGUDID. This is not a big deal at the moment, but will be a big deal later: “Because the UDI system is being phased in over the next several years, labelers are currently submitting data on only the highest risk medical devices, a small subset of marketed devices. But as the system is implemented according to the UDI compliance timeline, the records of all medical devices required to have a UDI will be included.”

TechCrunch has an article about Sensay, which allows you to ask expert strangers for help. I kind of dig this; signed up for an early invite. Watch this space.

The UK’s Supreme Court has put video of past cases online. “Eventually the archive is expected to hold as many as 150 courtroom hearings and 900 hours of recordings at any one time.” I went all over https://www.supremecourt.uk/index.html and could not find it, though the live feed is there. Maybe I’m missing it.

Australia has a new charity information database. “The financial information of more than 23,000 registered charities has been made available to the public for the first time. The Charity Register compiled by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is a free, searchable, online database drawn from the financial information registered charities have provided to the ACNC as part of the 2014 Annual Information Statement process.”

USEFUL STUFF

Saving in case I need it later: How to connect to a VPN from your iPhone or iPad.

From SocialTimes: 7 Twitter Tools To Help You Discover Great Content. What, no Nuzzel?!

HubSpot getting REALLY meta: 12 Pinnable Pinterest Pins that Teach You How to Use Pinterest.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Apparently Facebook is testing a thing where you can specify what (pages, friends) you want to see at the top of your timeline. Hey Facebook: if I liked a page how about you assume I want to see updates from that page instead of only having a roughly 10% chance unless I’m willing to jump through hoops? Grr.

Twitter and Google, having smooched and made up, are now doing experiments.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Google has acquired Timeful. “The Timeful team has built an impressive system that helps you organize your life by understanding your schedule, habits and needs. You can tell Timeful you want to exercise three times a week or that you need to call the bank by next Tuesday, and their system will make sure you get it done based on an understanding of both your schedule and your priorities. We’re excited about all the ways Timeful’s technology can be applied across products like Inbox, Calendar and beyond, so we can do more of the work for you and let you focus on being creative, having fun and spending time with the people you care about.”

Fascinating article on Google as giant profiling-and-marketing machine — it wants to put you in a bucket.

Handy: Google lets you bookmark local places from search results. Not live for everybody yet.

RESEARCH AND OPINION

Emily Bamforth wrote a thesis on Twitter and its use by foreign correspondents. Interesting reading. I started talking back to it as I read, which is always a good sign. Good morning, Internet…

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