NEW RESOURCES

In development: a database of ingredients from medieval medical treatments. “Erin Connelly, a Penn Libraries fellow in digital manuscript studies, is creating a database of the ingredients used in medieval medical recipes, analyzing not only what they are, but how they are used in combination. As a member of an ‘ancientbiotics’ team, she is working with an interdisciplinary group—including pharmacists, microbiologists, chemists, medievalists and data experts in the United States and the United Kingdom—to test the efficacy of the medieval medical treatments, and their relevance to modern medicine.”

New-to-me: a database of makeup foundations. “You can either browse by product or select different criteria that matter to you: brand, coverage, finish, skin type, SPF, and more. They even include a guide to each category here. If you’re searching the tool, you’ll then get a list of products that match your search. Each product includes relevant details about its coverage, formula, finish, what shades it comes in, etc.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ZDNet: ​Google: We’re hiking bug bounties because finding security flaws is getting tougher. “Google has raised its top reward for remote code execution bugs in its Google, Blogger and YouTube domains from an even $20,000 to $31,337, marking a 50 percent rise plus a bonus $1,337 or ‘leet’ reward. It’s also bumped up its ‘Unrestricted file system or database access’ reward by 30 percent plus ‘leet’ to $13,337.”

Dropbox has made some updates and rolled them out in a big PRESS RELEASE. “Dropbox today launched a series of new products and business solutions that will transform the future of teamwork. Companies are increasingly organizing themselves around teams, and Dropbox is building the tools they need to be creative and productive. Today’s launches include Smart Sync (formerly Project Infinite), Dropbox Paper, a redesigned Dropbox web interface with improved collaboration features, and new Dropbox Business packages.”

Gizmodo: Facebook Finally Rolls Out ‘Disputed News’ Tag Everyone Will Dispute. “On Friday, Facebook debuted its new flagging system for fake news in America, tagging hoax stories as ‘disputed’ for some users. First announced amid criticism of the company for its role in spreading misinformation during the 2016 election, the new feature uses non-partisan third parties to assess the factual accuracy of stories reported as fake by users.”

USEFUL STUFF

There are just not enough hours in the day. From Hacker Noon: Google Sheets As Your Database . “Very rapid prototyping is helpful for trying out your brainstormed ideas while they are still fresh in your mind, without the need for a lot of setup. New tools are emerging which enable you to rapid try out new ideas at the client, server, and database layers.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Atlantic: The Government’s Secret Wiki for Intelligence. “That site, called Intellipedia, has been around for more than a decade. It’s made up of three different wikis, at different classification levels: one wiki for sensitive but unclassified information, another for secret information, and a third for top secret information. Each wiki can only be accessed by employees in the U.S. intelligence community’s 17 agencies who have the appropriate clearance level.”

BuzzFeed: Frustrated Snap Social Influencers Leaving For Rival Platforms. “During a November 2014 trip to Los Angeles, Boston-based Snapchat ‘creator’ Mike Platco stopped by Snap’s Venice, California, offices to say hello. At the time Platco had amassed a sizable audience of followers — large enough that he was preparing to leave his day job to create content for Snapchat full-time. He figured a casual visit to Snap HQ, while perhaps unexpected, wasn’t untoward given his profile on the platform. But after trading messages with a few Snap employees, Platco was turned away at the door. There would be no visit.”

International Business Times: CommInsure background checks claimants on Google. “Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) wealth manage group executive Annabel Spring has revealed that CommInsure staff used Google to test 1.5 percent of insurance claimants for fraud. She said that less than 0.5 percent of cases resorted to physical surveillance. She added that when the information became contradictory then they would further investigate.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Techdirt: State Supreme Court Says California Officials Can No Longer Hide Documents In Personal Email Accounts And Devices. “Public servants discussing public business. Should be public records, right? California politicians don’t think so. The city of San Jose has spent eight years litigating the issue, hoping for the state’s courts to find it permissible for public officials to hide official communications in personal email accounts and personal devices.”

Krebs on Security: Ransomware for Dummies: Anyone Can Do It. “Among today’s fastest-growing cybercrime epidemics is “ransomware,” malicious software that encrypts your computer files, photos, music and documents and then demands payment in Bitcoin to recover access to the files. A big reason for the steep increase in ransomware attacks in recent years comes from the proliferation of point-and-click tools sold in the cybercrime underground that make it stupid simple for anyone to begin extorting others for money.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

Search Engine Land: The value of search across the modern consumer decision journey. “As disruptive technologies reshape the digital marketing landscape, advertisers are scrambling to stay relevant and top of mind with consumers. In this shifting landscape, paid search continues to evolve outside of the traditional search format as an omnipresent influencer throughout the entire consumer decision journey.” Good morning, Internet…

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