NEW RESOURCES

Now this is interesting! A database of Hawaiian fishhooks. “The new online database is comprised of over 4,000 individual fishhooks with various adaptive designs—including examples of the two-piece fishhook unique to Hawaii—made between 1000 and 1600 A.D. Three Hawaii Island cultural sites are represented: Puu Alii, Waiahukini Rockshelter and Makalei Rockshelter.”

Torrent users: TorrentTags is building a database of risky torrents. “TorrentTags obtains its data in two ways. Firstly, it uses the Chilling Effects database to import the details of torrents that have already been subjected to a DMCA notice on feeder sites including Google search, Twitter and Facebook. Second, and more controversially, the site is calling on rightsholders to submit details and hashes of content they do not want freely shared on BitTorrent.” This is a good way to distinguish the non-pirated content distributed on Torrent versus the other kind, but such a database has issues. Read the article.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Bing has updated its video search. “All of the related searches have been moved inline with your original search, so as you scroll through the page you’ll have some ideas of what to search for next to help refine your search results. When you hit the bottom of the page, you’ll get even more suggestions and the option to see more video search results. ”

Do you play Chrome’s T-Rex Runner game when you’re offline and bored? It’s gotten an update. “…there is now a new obstacle that gamers will have to avoid in the form of a pterodactyl. Gamers will have to duck the pterodactyl while jumping over cacti, so safe to say that it got a bit more challenging for gamers and will put your reflexes to the test.”

Twitter is launching product and place pages. “The first experience we’re testing is a new way to surface and organize relevant Tweets about products and places on dedicated pages. These pages will feature images and video about the product alongside information such as a description, price, and an option to buy, book, or visit the website for more information.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Ewww. Corbis is charging people a mint for public domain images. “We want people to build services that add value to the public domain, making it easier to search and work with. Corbis’s clip-art search is pretty good, but no better than Google Image Search, the Internet Archive, or Flickr’s search (all of which index the LoC and allow you to restrict your search to freely usable work).”

Going to watch some golf? Better not use Periscope, or much of any other media for that matter. “Officials will be monitoring apps such as Periscope and Meerkat, looking out for anyone trying to shoot the action with their smartphone. In fact, all video and audio recording is banned during the four-day event, so don’t even think about posting content to Facebook, Twitter, or any other online site for that matter. You can, however, snap photos, though obviously not when a player is lining up to take a shot.”

Google will start removing “revenge porn” from its search results.

Google could face deterrent-sized fines in the EU antitrust case. “The ‘Statement of Objections’ issued in April, Bloomberg reports, states that the European Commission ‘intends to set the fine at a level which will be sufficient to ensure deterrence,’ adding that the Commission ‘considers that, based on the facts described in this statement of objections, Google committed the infringement intentionally or, at the very least, negligently.'” I would love to hear the number that the EU would consider to be a “deterrent” to Google.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The DuSable Museum of African American History has launched a crowdfunding campaign to preserve three artifacts.

DuckDuckGo’s search engine traffic has increased 600% since the Snowden disclosures.

Google has patented a system to pair frequently lost/forgotten things with your phone. “A new Google patent published today describes a system that allows you to pair frequently lost or left-behind items like your wallet or your glasses to be paired with your mobile device. If the device senses that it’s leaving the house without those devices coming along, it gives the user an alert.” What I need is something that I can pair with and attach to something I absolutely cannot function without, like my glasses. Something I could clip to my earpiece that would rest snugly against my skull and bonephone me with a beep or buzz when I was about to forget an item would be AMAZING. Good afternoon, Internet…

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