NEW RESOURCES

The Salisbury Museum and the Salisbury Journal (both UK) are teaming up to digitize the Salisbury Journal’s photo archive. “The Journal photograph archive has a new home after Salisbury Museum agreed to digitalise more than 100,000 historic pictures. The collection documents the city’s history back to 1953 and will now be preserved for future generations.”

TWEAKS & UPDATES

Facebook is making some changes to its real name policy. “Starting today, Facebook users will notice a new system for reporting fake names along with a new system for responding to those reports. The system now includes specific support channels for LGBTQ issues, non-Western names, and instances of stalking or abuse.”

LinkedIn has added some new features to its job postings. “When we asked professionals who recently landed a new job about the process, the #1 obstacle they faced was not knowing what it’s really like to work at the company. With our new Premium insights, we aim to make crucial intel about a company more transparent. You’ll now have important details about a company’s growth rate, average tenure, and top schools and companies they hire from so that you can determine if a company is truly the right fit for you.”

Seagate Personal Cloud now has an IFTTT channel.

Google’s got a new Chrome experiment, and of course it has a Star Wars theme. “Because you can’t get enough Star Wars, Google is letting you turn your phone into a lightsaber so you can slay Storm Troopers on your computer screen. Yes, really.”

USEFUL STUFF

A quick Google search can give you a bubble level on your smartphone.

Nice roundup from Make Tech Easier: 5 tools for making custom maps.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The new CIO of the California State Library system wants to make virtual tours of archives and exhibits by using GoPro. Get some Periscoping in there too, buddy: “David Wanjiru, who started the job on Nov. 2, told StateScoop that one of his long-term plans is to stand up a ‘virtual library,’ where users could watch video tours of the research institution’s archives or explore its museum exhibits. To create this resource, Wanjiru would outfit staff members with GoPro cameras that would record images of the library, he said.”

Today’s Yahoo pile-on? The acquisition of Polyvore. Not all the spin in the world could put a shine on this. “Yahoo bought Polyvore in July for $230 million. Polyvore, a social commerce site that lets users make artistic collages of clothes and accessories, was founded by three Yahoo alums, including Jess Lee, whose relationship with Mayer dates back to Lee’s days as a Google APM more than a decade ago.” That looks really bad. If, as Yahoo’s CEO, you feel that the Polyvore deal is an essential part of your strategy or a complete part of a balanced breakfast or whatever – you better justify it as transparently as possible, or it’s going to look like a payout. It’s days like this I wish Robert Townsend were still alive, because I’d love to hear his commentary.

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Hzone, an app for HIV+ singles, was found to be leaking user data, and if you ever wanted a complete definition of trainwreck, read the article to see how the company handled it. “Screenshots provided to DataBreaches.net on December 8 by Vickery revealed that 4,926 user accounts from Hzone Dating App for HIV-positive Singles were leaking. The personal information included date of birth, religion, relationship status, country, email address, ethnicity, height, last login IP address, username, orientation, number of children, and password hash.”

You’ve heard, I’m sure, about jurors getting into trouble over things they write on Facebook. But what about judges? “A lengthy Friday post on a Support Judge Olu Stevens page on Facebook has led to new objections and a motion by an assistant commonwealth’s attorney seeking the jurist’s recusal in a criminal case, according to the Courier-Journal and WDRB. At issue are two statements in the post, which concerns the lack of racial diversity on juries and appeared over Stevens’ signature.” Good morning, Internet…

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