NEW RESOURCES

The government of Bangladesh is developing a database of Internet service providers. “Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has issued licences to 434 internet service providers (ISPs) in six categories….Officials said apart from the authorised ISPs, a huge number of unauthorised ISPs based on the small areas in the capital and other parts of the country were offering internet services by collecting bandwidth from the licence holders. But, miscreants carry out different cyber crimes using the internet line from the unauthorised ISPs as well as cyber cafes.”

The Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine is digitizing its globe collection. “The library will also be posting supporting material, including hundreds of old manuals that explain the geometry and mathematics behind the globes, and how to use them. There will also be academic papers that explain the significance and history behind the globes and how they reflect how the world was perceived when the globe was made.” There are only 3 globes online at this point, but if you’re interested in globes, check out this article from July on a Tokyo company which is digitizing globes for the National Library of France. RESEARCHBUZZ: For all your digitized globe news.

The UK National Archives has digitized almost 250 World War I hospital diaries and put them online. “The diaries give fascinating details about daily routines, operations and special events, including Christmas services: on board Hospital Ship Vasna in December 1918, ‘a generous supply of gifts were obtained from the Red Cross Depot in Basra and were distributed by the Matron to all patients, passengers and staff.’”

The publication Bidoun now has an online archive. “The award-winning New York–based publication on art and culture of the Middle East, Bidoun, has released a freely-accessible online archive of all their articles.” I got this in my traps, but not before getting the heads up from my Google+ pal Marsha B. Thanks Marsha!

TWEAKS & UPDATES

The state of North Carolina has added audio for several Senate sessions to the Internet Archive. “The collection currently provides access to over 450 legislative days ranging from 2006 through 2012. Recordings made prior to 2006 are held at the State Archives and made available through a fee-based, digitization-on-demand basis.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker has a nifty article about an iOS app that brings you locally-relevant Wikipedia information. “You can browse a map—centered on where you are—and see articles related to landmarks all around you. Tap one to read it, or bookmark or share it to read later. It’s ideal if you’re wandering a foreign city, or you’re just curious about what’s interesting in your own neighborhood. It’s not all factual, dry, reference stuff either—the app will show you movies filmed or set in your neighborhood, historic battles that took place nearby, and more.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

There’s a new Google Glass in town! And it’s for work. “A newly published FCC filing shows the previously rumored Enterprise Edition headset, and it’s clearly a big improvement over the Explorer model from years earlier. The work-focused eyepiece touts a much slicker (and likely more durable) design with both a larger display prism and a hinge that lets you fold it up for travel. The test photos also reveal a spot for a magnetic battery attachment and what looks to be a speedier Atom processor.”

Apparently Google Translate really let down a minibus driver in Hong Kong. “The Chinese version reads: ‘Please yell out early before [you need to] get off. The driver will raise a hand in confirmation.’ But the English version reads: ‘Please Early Jan loud. GOD! The driver hands.'”

Awww. Google’s robot dogs are too noisy for the Marines. “Kyle Olson, a spokesperson for the Marines, told military.com on Dec. 22 that the noise the LS3’s gas-powered engine gave off was tactically rather unhelpful. ‘As Marines were using it, there was the challenge of seeing the potential possibility because of the limitations of the robot itself,’ Olson said. ‘They took it as it was: a loud robot that’s going to give away their position.'” Shoulda built robot cats.

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Oh look, an end-of-year present from Adobe – another Flash update. Have you stopped using Flash yet? If not, consider this lovely statistic: “For the year, Flash averaged 6.1 bug fixes per week. Think of it as a bug fix every day, but taking Sundays off to rest.”

A researcher who was apparently just poking around found an online database leaking the information of over 190 million voters. The sad, sad thing is I’m not even surprised anymore. “The database includes names, addresses, birth dates, party affiliations, phone numbers and emails of voters in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, researcher Chris Vickery said in a phone interview.” After the leak is closed we need to know who did this. And if it was a federal agency we need to start asking even more questions… Good morning, Internet…

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