NEW RESOURCES

The country of Cambodia is launching a new online business registration system. “From 4th January 2016 onwards, this system will replace the paper registration system for all new companies. Existing companies will be required to re-register after the registry comes online. It features lesser procedures as compared to before and the registry will contain all the companies’ information that can be accessed by both government agencies as well as the general public.”

The state of Oregon’s History and Archaeology Library is now online. “Organized by county, the online library includes historical books, studies and reports. There are links to lists of historic cemeteries, National Register sites, government records, research and history guides, regional resources, the State Archives and digital projects, such as historic survey maps and photos.”

The European Food Safety Authority has launched a new online site featuring all kinds of information about food consumption in Europe “What is now available to the general public includes statistics–by country–on how often contaminants are found in food, as well as food consumption for a variety of age groups. EFSA’s database also offers more technical content than before, as well as easier access to guidance documents, corporate reports, news, fact sheets and more. All data is searchable via interactive graphs, maps and tables.”

Zooniverse has launched a new project: Shakespeare’s World. “Our mission is to transcribe manuscripts created by Shakespeare’s contemporaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. All of these manuscripts live at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, home of the world’s largest collection of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works.” And if this sounds a bit intimidating: “The interface allows you to transcribe as little as a word at a time—you don’t have to do a whole page—and you can go at your own pace. Everyone can take part and learn as they go along, and all contributions are welcome.”

Naturalist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold now has an online archive. “Recently, UW digitalized Leopold’s substantially influential life works. They created a digital archive of his writings, photos, field work and personal writings such as his high school class notes. This massive collection spans 83 archive boxes, three reels of microfilm, five folios, seven diaries, 12 journals, one scrapbook and one photo album — a seemingly immeasurable treasure trove of one of UW’s most noteworthy faculty.”

USEFUL STUFF

If you’re the OH LOOK SQUIRRELS type, check out these Chrome extensions for blocking distracting / timewasting sites.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Here’s an interesting twist on crowdfunding: Attempting to bribe a high school player to play at the college of your choice. “Welcome to UBooster.org, a crowdfunding site launched Friday that aims to solicit payments for high school athletes to be delivered after their college careers end.” Wow.

YouTube has released its top videos of 2015. I have seen two of these – better get with it.

Google has apparently been talking to the UK government about its auto autos. “Google has held multiple discussions with the British government about the prospects for driverless cars in the UK, documents obtained by the Telegraph show.
The US internet giant has held five face-to-face meetings with the Department for Transport (DfT) in the last two years about autonomous vehicles, according to records made available under the Freedom of Information Act.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Facebook has launched a “security checkup” tool for Android. “Basically the idea behind the app is to keep your Facebook account as secure as possible, such as logging out of Facebook accounts on devices you haven’t used in a while.”

Twitter is now warning some of its users about state-sponsored attacks. “The attack is currently being investigated by Twitter. In their notice to users, Twitter said that the attack only impacted usernames, IP address, email addresses, and phone numbers if a phone number was associated with the account. Twitter did not say which state was implicated—it could have been China, Russia, or even the US.”

Google is formally banning/distrusting Symantec root certificates. “Over the course of the coming weeks, Google will be moving to distrust the ‘Class 3 Public Primary CA’ root certificate operated by Symantec Corporation, across Chrome, Android, and Google products. We are taking this action in response to a notification by Symantec Corporation that, as of December 1, 2015, Symantec has decided that this root will no longer comply with the CA/Browser Forum’s Baseline Requirements. As these requirements reflect industry best practice and are the foundation for publicly trusted certificates, the failure to comply with these represents an unacceptable risk to users of Google products.” Good morning, Internet…

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