NOTE: Unless explicitly noted as such, nothing in here is an April Fool. If I got fooled by something, I’d appreciate your letting me know. If you’re looking for a cute April Fool joke, check out this video from the National Library of Scotland.

NEW RESOURCES

BBC: Earliest editions of Radio Times magazines now available online. “For the first time, we are now releasing the complete 1920s magazines online to the public, as part of the BBC Genome Project. The BBC has in the last few years used the scanned and processed listings from the issues of Radio Times from 1923 to 2009 to create the BBC Genome database. This database containing more than five million programme listings is available to the world community. It is intended to become a comprehensive record of all BBC programmes, but it is not yet complete.” Many thanks to Ruth O’L for the tip!

3Ders.org: 3D scanning allows Dundee’s D’Arcy Thompson Museum to share virtual zoological collection online. “The D’Arcy Thompson Museum at Scotland’s University of Dundee has created a library of 3D models documenting its zoological collection. CT scanners and handheld structured light scanners were used to turn the originals into digital files, and the collection been accessed from more than 25 countries.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

From the National Museums of Kenya: National Museums of Kenya Launches Key Initiative With Amazon Web Services and Intel to Digitize Premier Collections in Earth Sciences. (Link is to a PDF.) “The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) today announced a long-term strategic initiative, teamed with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Intel, to digitize marquee collections in Earth Sciences, starting with Archeology and Paleontology. The first phase of the proposed project will involve digitization of a selected number of Kenya’s premier fossils and culturally significant artifacts, the creation of an open access digital database, and an interactive website (‘virtual museum’). The platform will be hosted on the AWS Cloud. Digital Divide Data (DDD), a non-profit enterprise with expertise in digitization of cultural heritage collections will partner with NMK on this initiative.” The fascinating thing to me is that this is a collaboration with Amazon — not Google..

Mashable: Snapchat wants you to submit ALL THE videos. “Snapchat wants you to watch more Stories, so it’s making them easier to discover. The app on Friday released the ability (in specific cities) to search for Stories with the nifty search bar they introduced to the top of the main screen back in January.”

TechCrunch: Nuzzel launches a ‘Newswire’ for sponsored content. “For the first time, news aggregator Nuzzel will include advertising. That doesn’t mean you’re going to see banner ads popping up all over the startup’s app and website. Instead, the Nuzzel Newswire consists of sponsored links in Nuzzel’s email newsletter, pointing to a blog post, press release or news article of the advertiser’s choosing.”

USEFUL STUFF

New York Times: A Quick Guide to Backing Up Your Critical Data. “As headlines about hacking and cybertheft remind us daily, our personal devices are vulnerable. The good news is that setting up a system to keep your files backed up automatically is easy. Spending a little time today could save you a lot of trouble in the future. Here’s a quick guide to the basics, with tips from our partners at The Wirecutter, the product review website, and J. D. Biersdorfer, who writes the Tech Tip features for The New York Times.”

WIRED: Wanna Protect Your Online Privacy? Open a Tab and Make Some Noise. “Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to let internet service providers sell your browsing data on the open market. This decision angered a lot of people, including programmer Dan Schultz. After reading about the vote on Twitter at 1 AM, he turned off Zelda and coded this ghost currently opening tabs on my machine.”

EFF: The Most Powerful Single Click in Your Facebook Privacy Settings. “Getting a new job, recovering from an abusive relationship, engaging in new kinds of activism, moving to a different country—these are all examples of reasons one might decide to start using Facebook in a more private way. While it is relatively straightforward to change your social media use moving forward, it can be more complicated to adjust all the posts, photos, and videos you may have accumulated on your profile in the past. Individually changing the privacy settings for everything you have posted in the past can be impractical, particularly for very active users or those who have been using Facebook for a long time.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Bloomberg Quint: Google’s U.K. Unit Reveals Tax Charge and Jump in Profits. “Google’s U.K. business is to pay 25 million pounds ($31.4 million) in U.K. corporation tax, according to its latest results, a year after the company was ordered to hand over 130 million pounds in back taxes to the government.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

From the US Embassy in Haiti: Haitian National Police (HNP) and U.S. Embassy Target Fake Facebook Pages Defrauding Visa Applicants. “In a joint effort between the HNP and the U.S. Embassy, Embassy staff worked with Facebook to remove three profiles that were impersonating the U.S. Embassy. The fraudulent profiles, which included ‘Ambassy usa in haiti’ and ‘Ambassade des Etats unis en Haiti port au prince,’ advertised fake visa programs. Applicants were directed to non-Embassy telephone numbers to reach people who pretended to be Embassy employees. These profiles were fraudulent and several dozen Haitian citizens lost hundreds of dollars each by transferring money to bank accounts in the scam, lured with the promise that their visas would be automatically approved for a training program or scholarship opportunity.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

MIT Technology Review: Baidu’s Plan for Artificial Intelligence without Andrew Ng. “When Andrew Ng, one of the world’s leading thinkers on artificial intelligence, announced he would be stepping down from his position as chief scientist at Chinese search giant Baidu, the company’s stock dropped nearly 3 percent in just a few hours. It was a reflection not only of Ng’s prominence and fame, but also of the importance investors have placed on the search giant’s focus on AI. The technology has become a key element of the company’s strategy, and Ng’s departure comes at a time when Baidu is determined to double down on its AI efforts.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Saturday fun from News18: Google Brings Pacman on Google Maps on April Fool’s Day. “Just like every year, Google has got in store a peppy present for its users for April 1. The ‘April Fool’ gimmick that Google releases every year has found its way to the Google Maps yet again.” Good morning, Internet…

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