NEW RESOURCES

You have a new tool to see historic Washington DC. From WUSA: New database allows you to see the world as your grandparent did (warning: autoplay video). “It doesn’t take a historian or an anthropologist to know that a lot has changed since 1948. But now a new database can show you just how significantly the landscape has transformed over sixty years. An anthropologist in the district named Jessica Smith has gathered thousands of photos from the late 1940’s, and has put them online in a database, that allows you compare them to today’s view.”

Teen Vogue: 18-Year-Old Maddy Rasmussen Launches Online Database of Abortion Clinic Information. “Maddy Rasmussen, 18, had an important revelation while interning at Legal Voice, an organization that aims to advocate for marginalized groups of women. The teen noted that the internet was lacking a comprehensive database or list of abortion clinics throughout the United States, so she decided to make one. Thus, the Safe Place Project was born: a website that outlines every abortion clinic in the country, in the form of a list and an interactive map.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WordPress 4.8 is now available. “Though some updates seem minor, they’ve been built by hundreds of contributors with you in mind. Get ready for new features you’ll welcome like an old friend: link improvements, three new media widgets covering images, audio, and video, an updated text widget that supports visual editing, and an upgraded news section in your dashboard which brings in nearby and upcoming WordPress events.”

Associated Press: Charity website flags dozens of nonprofits as hate groups. “A website that touts itself as the world’s largest source of information about charities has added a new feature: a warning label on tax-exempt nonprofits accused of spreading hate. GuideStar, a self-described ‘neutral’ repository for data on more than 2 million charities, recently flagged 46 nonprofits for being labeled as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. A banner atop each nonprofit’s GuideStar profile includes the law center’s logo and a link to its home page.”

TechCrunch: Yahoo shareholders approve sale to Verizon. “Yahoo’s shareholders have approved the sale of Yahoo’s operating business to Verizon in a vote held today and confirmed in a press release sent out following the meeting.”

Law Sites Blog: LexisNexis Acquires Ravel Law. “In major legal-industry news, LexisNexis Legal & Professional today announced its acquisition of Ravel Law, the legal research, analytics and visualization platform that empowers users to contextualize and interpret large amounts of legal information to uncover valuable insights.”

Mashable: Twitch is (rightfully) banning people for streaming while driving. “A string of Twitch streamers who use the IRL category (which stands for ‘in real life’ and doesn’t require streamers to be playing a video game) have been banned over the past few weeks, Kotaku noticed. Although the ban reasons listed were not specific to driving, Twitch’s community guidelines specifically state that, notably, ‘content that requires operating video capture equipment and a moving vehicle simultaneously’ is not permitted.”

CBC: Japan’s Softbank buys Google’s robotics firm Boston Dynamics. “Japanese internet, solar and technology company SoftBank Group Corp. is buying robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics from Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent. Terms of the deal, announced Friday, including when it might close, were not disclosed.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Slate: Trump Isn’t the Only Politician Blocking Constituents on Twitter. “As President Donald Trump faces criticism for blocking users on his Twitter account, people across the country say they, too, have been cut off by elected officials at all levels of government after voicing dissent on social media.”

Global Citizen: This Brilliant Instagram Account Wants to Change How People See Africa. “Picture this: an Africa where schoolboys play on iPads, where girls jump off high diving boards at community pools, where people excitedly gather at poetry slam festivals. More often than not, these are not the scenes featured in Western media outlets. Now, thanks to Everyday Africa, a viral Instagram account turned international movement, stereotypical portrayals of the continent are being challenged with each post.”

Radio Free Asia: China Shutters Dozens of Entertainment News Accounts in Social Media Crackdown. “China’s powerful Cyberspace Agency has shuttered around 60 social media accounts on major platforms amid a crackdown on celebrity news and gossip. The agency said the move came amid a crackdown on independent media accounts purveying celebrity photos and gossip sparked by the new cybersecurity law, which came into effect on June 1, and contains a clause stipulating that online content mustn’t breach privacy.”

New Era (Namibia): Tweya cautions public servants on use of social media. “Minister of Information and Communication Technology Tjekero Tweya has urged public servants to use social media with extreme care to avoid creating the impression they are doing so on behalf of their employer. Tweya’s advice is contained in the new Social Media Use Policy and Implementation Plan for 2016/17 to 2019/20, tabled by him in the National Assembly on Wednesday.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!