NEW RESOURCES

From the Google Research Blog: Distill: Supporting Clarity in Machine Learning. “Science isn’t just about discovering new results. It’s also about human understanding. Scientists need to develop notations, analogies, visualizations, and explanations of ideas. This human dimension of science isn’t a minor side project. It’s deeply tied to the heart of science. That’s why, in collaboration with OpenAI, DeepMind, YC Research, and others, we’re excited to announce the launch of Distill, a new open science journal and ecosystem supporting human understanding of machine learning.”

Today’s Trucking: Database tracks carriers compliant with UFSTP program. “TransComply, the manager of the Uniform Food Safety Transportation Protocol, has launched an online public listing of motor carriers that have complied with all the requirements for participation in the program…. The listed companies have committed to the standards expected for the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule on sanitary transportation of human and animal food. The UFSTP helps shippers, brokers, warehouses and others to find compliant businesses, said TransComply.”

PR Newswire: Gale Celebrates Women’s History Month with Release of New Women’s Studies Archive (PRESS RELEASE). “As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Gale, a Cengage company, has launched a new archive on women’s studies that explores the many contributions of women throughout history. Part of the growing Gale Primary Sources program, the Women’s Studies Archive represents Gale’s focus on publishing material that supports diversity studies and provides historical context around current topics.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google has added search shortcuts to its smartphone app. “Getting up-to-the-minute info is as easy as a single tap. With shortcuts right on the home screen, you now have access to in-depth experiences across sports, eat & drink, entertainment and weather. Need to know whether to bring a raincoat tomorrow? Want the score to last night’s basketball game? Looking for what’s on TV tonight or who’s nominated for best supporting actress? Shortcuts on Google will get you there.”

ZDNet: Google Maps now lets you pinpoint where you parked plus what’s left on the meter. “Do you ever park in a lot and return hours later only to find that you have no idea where in the labyrinth you left your vehicle? One easy solution is to use your smartphone to help remember where you parked and snap one of the signs in a lot marking the area you’re in. But it would be even easier to use a map app to mark where you’ve parked.”

CNET: Twitter shuts down more than 600K terrorist accounts. “Twitter says it’s rubbing out terrorism 140 characters at a time. In a report published Tuesday, the social network said that in the last six months of 2016 it suspended 376,890 accounts for promoting terrorism. Nearly three quarters of those suspensions were caught by the company’s own tools, Twitter said.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 12 Amazing Google Photos Features You Didn’t Know About . “Google Photos has grown into an awesome service. From automatically backing up your phone’s pictures to letting you easily share your photos, there’s a lot to love for anyone who works with photos.” Nice roundup article.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New Zealand Herald: Australia says Facebook and Google are paying more local tax. “Facebook, Google and other multinational companies are now paying tax in Australia based on their Australian profits instead of shifting income to low-tax countries since the government cracked down on such tax avoidance, the treasurer said Tuesday.”

Meanwhile, in Israel… from Globes: Israel probes Google, Facebook tax collection. “The Israel Tax Authority is assessing the activity of Facebook and Google in Israel, sources inform ‘Globes.’ The purpose of the probe is to study the companies’ business in Israel in depth in order to recommend whether they should be taxed in Israel. Tax Authority investigators recently met with media companies and customers that work with Google in order to learn about the two companies’ operational methods in the local market.”

CNET: Google, Jigsaw seek to stop election hacks. “Elections worldwide need stronger cybersecurity, and Google says it has a solution. Jigsaw, a tech incubator owned by Google parent company Alphabet, is working with Google to try to protect elections. Together, they are offering a free tool designed to prevent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and a free extension created to stop phishing attacks.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Threatpost: Mozilla Patches Pwn2Own Zero Day in Firefox. “Mozilla was quick to patch a zero day vulnerability identified in the Firefox browser at the Pwn2Own hacking competition last week. The company remedied the issue just shy of 24 hours of being made aware of the flaw, pushing out the updated version 52.0.1 of the browser late Friday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

From Information Research: ‘Just Google it’ – the scope of freely available information sources for doctoral thesis writing. “Recent developments in the field of scientific information resource provision lead us to the key research question, namely,what is the coverage of freely available information sources when writing doctoral theses, and whether the academic library can assume the leading role as a direct intermediator for information users…. The research team was tasked with identifying whether certain resources could be found in the eCatalogue of an academic library, its subscribed databases, freely available online (through Google or Google Scholar), or whether the resources from the library`s subscribed databases are identical to those which are freely available. The data gathering process included such resource categories as journal papers, printed and electronic books or book chapters, and other documents (legal reports, conference papers, newspaper articles, Websites, theses, etc.).” Good morning, Internet…

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