NEW RESOURCES

Phys.org: Official launch of public database of ‘at risk’ archaeological sites . “Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa, (EAMENA) an archaeological preservation project, will today launch public access to its online database of nearly 20,000 archaeological sites at severe risk due to conflict and other agents of destruction in the Middle East and North Africa.”

PRNewswire: Progressives for Immigration Reform Unveils online database of H1-B Visas for Immigration Activists and Legislators (PRESS RELEASE). “This online database will quickly and efficiently search hundreds of thousands of Department of Labor records and deliver an impressive array of search results free of charge to the user. For instance, the user can find out the number of H-1B Visa applications in a given locale by searching a state, city, zip code and/or congressional district. Further, searches of this database will deliver individual as well as aggregate salary information for each application, dates when American citizens will no longer be blocked from holding positions, skill levels, job titles, employers, prevailing wage data, and much more. ”

InSight Crime: New Database Aims to Increase Transparency of US Security Aid to LatAm. “The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has created the ‘Defense Oversight Research Database,’ a platform that lists the programs the United States is currently implementing to assist military and police forces abroad in an effort to help assess their impact in Latin America. The database shows what each program consists of, the amount of money it can receive, and when it was established. It also includes relevant news articles and other reports.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database is has gotten an update. “Inspired by the remarkable public response, we recently developed an animation feature that helps bring into clearer focus the horrifying scale and duration of the trade. The site also recently implemented a system for visitors to contribute new data. In the last year alone we have added more than a thousand new voyages and revised details on many others.”

Engadget: Twitter’s own 24-hour news channel will be made by Bloomberg. “Twitter’s evolution into a broadcast platform is getting more notable with the news that it is teaming up with Bloomberg. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the financial outfit will build a rolling, 24-hour news channel exclusively for Twitter.”

LinkedIn has released a new transparency report. “The number of requests received is relatively flat compared to the prior reporting period (145 total requests worldwide in the first half of 2016, versus 150 for the second half of the year). However, there continues to be a noticeable uptick in the number of accounts affected, on average, by an individual request. This imbalance is one we’ll continue to monitor closely, along with the ongoing trend of requests accompanied by nondisclosure (‘gag’) orders.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: The Best Tools to Archive Web Pages. “It seems like a lot of web pages are disappearing from the internet these days. If you feel like taking on archiving duties for yourself, there are a variety of tools for doing so.” Quick roundup article.

Digital Trends: Focus Is A New Chrome Plug-in That Helps You Concentrate. “Designed by Paul Christophe, this extension promises to keep you on track and on task with a little bit of compromise. If you stay focused for 25 minutes, you’re rewarded with a break. But this is one element that keeps you from cheating — Focus blocks distracting sites and keeps an ever-present to-do list on your radar so that you can see just how much you can’t afford to procrastinate (and concentrate on just how much you’ve accomplished at the end of the day).”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

I really hope this isn’t true. From Mashable: Facebook accused of targeting ‘insecure’ children and young people, leaked report shows . “Facebook has apologised for reportedly allowing advertisers to target emotionally vulnerable people as young as 14, as a 23-page leaked document obtained by The Australian revealed.”

Bloomberg Quint: U.K. Warns Facebook, Google, Twitter to Better Fight Hate Speech. “U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd warned Facebook Inc,. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and Twitter Inc. to improve monitoring of extremist and hate content after a panel of lawmakers urged her to consider making the hosting of such material a crime.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Wired: An Obscure App Flaw Creates Backdoors In Millions of Smartphones. “A group of researchers from the University of Michigan identified hundreds of applications in Google Play that perform an unexpected trick: By essentially turning a phone into a server, they allow the owner to connect to that phone directly from their PC, just as they would to a web site or another internet service. But dozens of these apps leave open insecure ports on those smartphones. That could allow attackers to steal data, including contacts or photos, or even to install malware.”

Washington Post:
Net neutrality may be poised for a Supreme Court showdown. “A federal appeals court has said it will not rehear a landmark case looking to overturn the government’s rules on net neutrality, the regulations that forbid Internet providers from blocking or slowing Internet traffic. Monday’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit allows its previous ruling upholding the regulations to stand — and paves the way for opponents of the rules to appeal to the Supreme Court.” Good morning, Internet…

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

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