NEW RESOURCES

The Library of Congress has added United States treaties to its law library Web site. “We have added the United States Treaty Series, compiled by Charles I. Bevans, to our online digital collection. This collection includes treaties that the United States signed with other countries from 1776 to 1949. The collection consists of 13 volumes: four volumes of multilateral treaties, eight volumes of bilateral treaties and one volume of an index.”

In development: an online archive of African-American poetry and poets. “Until recently there was no center that had significant institutional support and was specifically dedicated to sharing and studying the legacy of African American poetry.* [This is incorrect and is corrected at the end of the article – RB] Earlier this year, poets Dawn Lundy Martin, Terrance Hayes, and Yona Harvey decided it was high time to start one. The trio launched the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP) as a creative think tank to spark conversation and collaboration among poets and other artists, and to promote and archive the work of African American poets for future generations…. Part of CAAPP’s core mission is to archive and document the work of African American poets, which will be accomplished through both a physical collection of books and an online archive of lectures, readings, and discussions.” The article is well worth reading but I cannot find a link to CAAPP as it currently exists. You can find that here.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search in Google Drive is getting better. (Unfortunately it looks like the UI is remaining the same.) “The search box in Google Drive is getting an upgrade that will make it function more like Google Search, Google announced this morning. The improvements include a new autocorrect feature which will help by suggesting corrections to misspelled search terms, as well as support for natural language processing. That means you can now search for files on Drive using language that’s more like the way you speak in real life.”

Facebook’s has added new advertising options for local business. “Facebook Tuesday introduced two new advertising options for retailers looking to boost in-store sales: dynamic ads for retail, and store visits optimization.”

Windows 10 nagware is finally going away. “Thankfully, now that Windows 10 is no longer free* the nagware no longer serves any purpose, and so Microsoft has issued a patch to remove it from Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs. Update KB 3184143’s purpose is to ‘Remove software related to the Windows 10 free upgrade offer’ and will uninstall the following updates…”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

ABC News is teaming up with Facebook are teaming up to livestream the presidential debates. And it’s never been harder for me to rein in the snarky comments. “ABC News is turning again to Facebook as an outlet for extended 2016 election coverage — off traditional TV — with the companies unveiling a partnership to deliver live video programming from the four 2016 general-election debates. The network’s Facebook Live broadcasts will cover the three debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and the VP face-off between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine.”

If you don’t want to watch the debates on Facebook, you’ve got another option: Twitter. “Twitter will livestream the first general-election debate on Sept. 26 as well as the proceeding ones thanks to a partnership with Bloomberg Media. The news comes just a day after ABC News announced it would stream its coverage on Facebook. Other networks have yet to reveal their digital plans.”

Taiwan (the Republic of China) has asked Google to blur the images of structures on Taiping Island. “The disclosure of the structures, revealed when images were updated in July, comes amid rising tensions over Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, and at a sensitive time for the Spratly Islands, a major archipelago located in strategic shipping lanes.” Taiping Island is a big deal but not something you hear about much in United States news. If you don’t know much about it, here’s a backgrounder.

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Pro tip: if you get a USB drive in the mail, don’t put it in your computer. “Police are warning Aussies to stay away and never plug in any of the mysterious flash memory devices that have started showing up in people’s mailboxes. Those that haven’t heeded the warning found their machines infected with malware, and police say the USB sticks are considered to be ‘extremely harmful’.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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