NEW RESOURCES

Irish Central has news about an updated resource for those working on Irish genealogy. “Over 250,000 names have been added to an online database of Irish births, marriages and deaths. The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) first established a marriage database in 2014 when it put 40,000 marriage certificates online, subsequently adding entries for births and deaths too.”

The International Tracing Service has published its complete inventory online. “The International Tracing Service (ITS) has published its complete inventory on the internet. The inventory offers an overview of the ITS’s archival holdings, which comprise some 30 million documents on National Socialist persecution and forced labour as well as the fates of the survivors.” This is information on World War II and the Holocaust – You can learn more about the International Tracing Service here.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

More tools from CogDog: Cut ‘n Paste Creative Commons Flickr Attribution Helper Now For Medium. Just what it says on the tin – a tool to make it easier to give attribution of Flickr photos on Medium.

Trello has been acquired. “Atlassian today announced that it has acquired project management service Trello for $425 million. The vast majority of the transaction is in cash ($360 million), with the remainder being paid out in restricted shares and options. The acquisition is expected to close before March 31, 2017.”

Chinese search engine Baidu now has an online banking license. “The joint venture bank named Baixin Bank will tentatively have RMB2 billion in registered capital. Baixin Bank, which is 70% owned by CITIC Bank, with the remaining stake held by Baidu, will not have any brick-and-mortar outlets. It will only operate via the Internet, ATMs and mobile banking.” RMB stands for Chinese Yuan Renminbi; 2 billion in Yuan Renminbi is about $288,400,540 USD, according to the currency converter I used.

USEFUL STUFF

Social Media Examiner: How to Create a Facebook Messenger Chatbot. “Facebook Messenger chatbots can help your followers get answers to frequently asked questions and more. In this article, you’ll discover how to set up a Facebook Messenger chatbot for your business.” Now I’m tempted to try to set one up myself.

Search Engine Land: Essential voice search strategies for 2017. “There’s one thing that remains true about SEO: it’s always changing. One of the big changes that we’re experiencing now in local SEO is the increasing popularity of voice search. Voice search used to be a novelty — now it’s a necessity, especially when you’re on the go with your smartphone or tablet. If you’re a local business, how do you optimize your business for this new personal assistant-type search? Here are some tips.”

BetaNews has a writeup about a tool that simulates a ransomware attack to check for vulnerabilities. “RanSim Ransomware Simulator from KnowBe4 simulates a ransomware attack, testing your system’s defenses against 10 different threat scenarios — InsideCryptor, LockyVariant, Mover, Replacer, Streamer, StrongCryptor, StrongCryptorNet, ThorVariant, and WeakCryptor. It doesn’t alter any files on your drives, and is perfectly safe. Once the test has finished it will show you what files would have been encrypted in a real ransomware infection.”

Useful-for-a-given-value, but VERY useful if you’re into Google Doodles. From Lifehacker: Get a Notification Whenever Google Adds a New Doodle Game. “Google makes some amazing doodles, but every so often they go beyond a drawing. Some doodles include games or an informative piece about the person or holiday they’re celebrating. Now, Google can give you a notification whenever there’s a cool new one.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

The latest data leak victims are lots and lots of Hello Kitty fans. “A Sanrio database that was misconfigured and exposed to the public in 2015 was eventually secured by the company. In a statement, Sanrio said they didn’t believe any data was stolen. But that’s exactly what happened. Now, over a year later, the database has surfaced online. Its resurrection places 3.3 million Hello Kitty fans in the hot seat.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

The Conversation: Searching deep and dark: Building a Google for the less visible parts of the web. “…the vast majority of online content isn’t available in a form that’s easily indexed by electronic archiving systems like Google’s. Rather, it requires a user to log in, or it is provided dynamically by a program running when a user visits the page. If we’re going to catalog online human knowledge, we need to be sure we can get to and recognize all of it, and that we can do so automatically. How can we teach computers to recognize, index and search all the different types of material that’s available online? Thanks to federal efforts in the global fight against human trafficking and weapons dealing, my research forms the basis for a new tool that can help with this effort.”

New Europe: Why study social media in conflict-ridden societies. “…why is it important to study social media in the context of conflict-ridden societies? Social media and networks are transforming the global media landscape by redistributing the power of information and communication among all involved actors, political actors, journalists and citizens. Social media influence political participation and civic engagement in the contemporary complex geopolitical terrain and in this way they (re)shape politics and political discourse. At the same time, political campaigns are based increasingly on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. As a result, all actors strive for online attention and social mediated visibility.” Good morning, Internet…

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