NEW RESOURCES

Residents of the state of New York have a new option to learn about their drinking water. “The What’s In My Water tool includes information about contaminants found through state and federal laboratory testing, and the location and nature of some potential threats to local drinking water. The map is searchable by zip code and maps.”

The News Agency of Nigeria has launched a new Web site. “The website, which came on stream at the weekend, warehouses and aggregates press releases from corporate bodies, government and international agencies, NGOs and others. NAN Managing Director, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, who midwifed the new site, said it supplies one of the missing legs in the agency’s bid to boost the flow of information to the general public.”

From the Library of Congress: Veterans History Project Launches World War I Website Companion Exhibit. “The Veterans History Project (VHP) has launched a web exhibit that complements the Library of Congress’s major exhibition ‘Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I.’ The three-part web companion, “Experiencing War,” will help tell the larger story of the war from the perspective of those who served in it. Part I is now available…Part II and Part III will be available in July and September 2017.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: Searching for art just got better. Where will you start?. “While some are drawn to the strong brushstrokes of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, others prefer gazing at the gilded glory of Klimt’s The Kiss, but one thing is certain: people love art. In fact, each month, there are more than 500 million art-related searches on Google. Now whether you’re a casual fan or a true culture vulture, Google can help you become an art expert. Starting today, when you search for art-related things, you’ll have access to more relevant results and the ability to dive deeper into topics of interest. We’ve also added a new feature in Street View (think digital museum guide!) that gives you key insights about the artworks on your virtual museum visits.”

The Verge: Reddit continues to reshape itself by adding location tagging. “Reddit has been quietly transforming into a more mature social network, and today it’s adding another small but critical piece: the ability to add location tags to posts. The feature will launch on mobile and is powered by Foursquare’s directory of locations.”

CNET: Google formally abandons its Nik photo-editing tools. “Google has officially put its Nik photo-editing suite on ice. The tech giant, which last year made the popular collection of photo-editing tools free to use for Mac and Windows, quietly let users know Tuesday that it had gone as far as it plans to go with the suite.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

TechCrunch: Yandex’s on-demand taxi service debuts its self-driving car project. “Russia search and internet technology giant Yandex is showing off the self-driving vehicle prototype developed by its Yandex.Taxi on-demand ride service for the first time, and the video above is the first footage of the car in action. The prototype is meant to help Yandex test its software, which the company thinks it’s uniquely well-positioned to develop for this emerging space.”

The Memo: V&A Director: We’ve been doing digital art all wrong. “For years galleries and museums have been racing to scan, photograph and digitise their collections, in order to open up their collections for a global audience. But is this really a good idea? Former MP and now director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tristram Hunt, this weekend spoke out against the current fetish of digitising art which he says has taken over the art world.”

Bloomberg: Bakers Are Cashing In on Instagram’s Cake Obsession. “In a cramped Manhattan apartment kitchen, Chelsey White painstakingly bakes, assembles, frosts and decorates an elaborate mermaid-themed cake. The entire four-hour process is videotaped, then edited down to a few brisk minutes and shared on social media. Its purpose served, the three-tiered, picture-perfect cake is chopped up and jammed into a Tupperware container. White brings all her leftovers to the office. She hates wasting cake.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

The Guardian: Man fined by Swiss court for ‘liking’ defamatory comments on Facebook. “According to a statement from the Zurich district court, the 45-year-old defendant accused an animal rights activist, Erwin Kessler, of racism and antisemitism and hit the ‘like’ button under several comments from third parties about Kessler that were deemed inflammatory.”

From Trak.in: Perils Of Free WiFi: Google & Railwire’s Users Most Hit By WannaCry RansomWare; MP & Maharashtra Worst Hit States. “The devastating outbreak of WannaCry ransomware across the globe this month has exposed a very crucial vulnerability in our security infrastructure, and if this is not taken care of early on, then hackers would be celebrating Christmas and Diwali every day they wish. Enterprise security firm eScan has conducted an in-depth research into the scale of WannaCry ransomware outbreak in India, and have discovered a very serious, yet conveniently disregarded issue: Free WiFi.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NBC News: So It’s Fine if You Edit Your Selfies… But Not if Other People Edit Theirs?. “A new survey by TruePic found that 93 percent of the 2,133 U.S. adults polled suspect that others have posted edited photos on websites. Of this group, 58 percent said they distrust dating sites because of edited photos, 48 percent said they distrust fitness or weight loss photos, and 46 percent doubt social media images.” Good morning, Internet…

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