This week has been two scoops of hell with extra devils. However I am devoting the next three hours to clearing out my Google Alerts, Pocket queue, Digg feeds, etc. There’s more on the way! Thanks for your patience.

NEW RESOURCES

In development: a digital archive of books printed in India. “A pilot project for a major digitisation initiative – Two Centuries of Indian Print – was announced today by the British Library… The project marks the start of a major programme to share the wealth of Indian printed books held by the British Library dating from 1714 to 1914. The collection, which spans at least 22 South Asian languages and millions of pages, is the most significant held anywhere outside the Subcontinent.” The pilot part of the project will digitize 200,000 pages.

A new database shows how much your local bank invests in the local economy. “In addition to small business lending, the rankings also take into account whether the bank or credit union headquarters are within the user-defined radius, what percentage of the bank or credit union branches are within that radius, bank ownership structure, bank size, small farm lending and speculative trading.”

TWEAKS & UPDATES

Twitter has launched “ScratchReel” GIFs. “The feature works on the web and on Twitter’s mobile apps, and Twitter appears to have been surfacing these images in beta tests for weeks now. You can’t check it out here within an embedded Twitter post — you have to click through — but when you move your mouse cursor or finger from left to right and back again on the moving image, you can control the animation.” This running an animation over and over again like this, backwards and forwards, reminds me of YouTube Poop.

Facebook wants to make it easier to get over your ex. “A feature announced on Thursday will allow people who have split up with a spouse or partner to turn on an option that spares them the emotional pain of constantly seeing their ex-lover’s posts and pictures in their news feed on the world’s largest social network.”

More Facebook: it is adding support for 360-degree videos. “Facebook is adding support for iOS and Gear VR headsets (but not Google Cardboard) and some consumer 360-degree cameras. It’s also opening the format to brands who want to experiment with the videos.”

Bing has tweaked its transit options in Bing Maps. “We’ve now made it easier for you to explore and plan your trips using transit in Bing Maps. We’re happy to let you know that these improvements are now available. Let’s take a look at them.”

USEFUL STUFF

Forbes has a quick writeup on VirusTotal, a Google-owned tool that makes it easy to scan sites for malware. It’s not a substitute for more extensive scanners/protectors, but it’s a handy site.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

A Google self-driving car got pulled over – because it was driving too slowly. Good morning, Internet…

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