NEW RESOURCES

A new database provides information on chemical reactions and invites users to submit information as well. “A collaborative and publicly available database of previously inaccessible hazardous chemical reactions has been launched by the Pistoia Alliance, a not for profit group based in Boston, US. This new Chemical Safety Library (CSL) service features a submission tool that allows researchers to add safety data in just minutes, helping to prevent dangerous events from being repeated. ”

The University of Guelph has created a nutrition information database for the needs of farmed fish and other farmed aquatic organisms. “Although specific nutritional requirements for terrestrial animals like cattle, swine and poultry are well known by the producers who raise them, this is not the case for aquaculture. The sheer number of species in aquaculture means that there is a significant gap in the knowledge of nutritional needs of many farmed fish and aquatic organisms. For three years Prof. Dominique P. Bureau, Department of Animal Biosciences, led a team of researchers and a consortium of academic institutions to collect aquaculture nutritional information and knowledge into a central database. Over 500 aquatic species are farmed throughout globally.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Twitter launching Live video API tomorrow. That’s actually today; the article was written yesterday. “Twitter is about to make it much easier for media publishers to post live video broadcasts with the launch of a live video API tomorrow morning. The API will let companies hook up professional broadcasting and video editing equipment to Twitter with more powerful integrations than Twitter’s existing Periscope Producer feature.”

Bloomberg Quint: Google Overhauls Policies After Uproar Over YouTube Videos. ” Google is giving marketers more control over their online ads after a slew of brands halted spending in the U.K. over concerns about offensive content. The Alphabet Inc. unit also expanded its definition of hate speech under its advertising policy to include vulnerable groups, which includes those discriminated against because of their identify, socioeconomic class or country of origin.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: How To Make The Most Of Google Maps. “Google Maps is hands-down one of the best navigation apps on Android and iPhone, but considering most of us use it while driving, it’s easy to miss some of its features. Whether you’re new to Google Maps or a veteran, let’s take a look at the best ways to get the most out of it.”

Fortune Lords: How to Use Google Alerts Plus 12 Powerful Alternatives. “How do you keep up-to-date with all the mentions of you and your brand or competitors? And how do you keep tabs on the latest trends in your industry or niche? It’s impossible to monitor everything when there is so much happening online. But fortunately, there are some web monitoring tools that can help you keep updated.” This list is a bit too oriented towards social media monitoring (as opposed to full Web monitoring) for my taste, but lots of resources here.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The New Arab: Egypt MP says social media activists should be ‘executed’. “An Egyptian parliamentarian has called for the ‘execution’ of social media activists who criticise the state. Ahmed Refaat, a member of the communication and information committee, told Egyptian website Parlmany that social media users are ‘more dangerous than spies’.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Blue Mountains Gazette (Australia): Google called in to scrub politicians’ numbers from the internet. “Internet behemoth Google has been called in to scrub federal politicians’ private mobile numbers from the internet after a bumbling government department published them on its website. The Department of Parliamentary Services took down the offending pages from the Parliament House website on Monday after being alerted by Fairfax Media to the privacy and security breach.” That is not a breach; that is a leak. Yeah?

The Japan Times: Google says hacked websites on the rise and trend looks to continue. “Google painted a bleak picture of cybersecurity trends Monday, saying the number of websites hacked rose 32 percent last year, with little relief in sight.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Quartz: Researchers are using Darwin’s theories to evolve AI, so only the strongest algorithms survive. “For the better part of three decades, most of AI’s brain-inspired development has surrounded “neural networks,” a term borrowed from neurobiology that describes machine thought as the movement of data through interconnected mathematical functions called neurons. But nature has other good ideas, too: Computer scientists are now revisiting an older field of study that suggests putting AI through evolutionary processes, like those that molded the human brain over millennia, could help us develop smarter, more efficient algorithms.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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