NEW RESOURCES

University of California Riverside: Nearly 6,000 Photographs from the Jay Kay Klein Papers Have Been Digitized. “The California Digital Library and the UCR Library recently partnered to digitize nearly 6,000 photographs from the Jay Kay Klein papers – and completed the task in less than two days…. This was the first in a series of pilot projects to use Pixel Acuity’s specialized mass digitization process to make more of the UCR Library’s non-book collections available online. For this inaugural project, [Eric] Milenkiewicz selected 35mm negatives from the Eaton Collection’s Jay Kay Klein papers (MS 381),documenting the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) from 1960-1971.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

IFTTT is so big at this point that it has to do monthly roundups. “It’s hard to decide what’s more exciting: adding a new service to a robust category, such as smart lighting — or launching a service that’s the first of its kind. Luckily, we don’t have to choose, and July saw new service launches in both groups! Here’s what’s new.”

PRNewswire: Mulvane Art Museum To Permanently House The Rita Blitt Legacy Collection And Archive (PRESS RELEASE). “At the invitation of Washburn University, world-renowned, award-winning artist Rita Blitt is gifting her legacy collection and archive to the University’s Mulvane Art Museum. The Rita Blitt Gallery and Sculpture Garden, currently under construction in Topeka, Kansas, will connect Blitt’s art to the University’s White Concert Hall and create a meaningful link between the performing and visual arts on campus. The grand opening will be celebrated in early November.”

TechCrunch: Google updates Docs, Sheets and Slides with new collaboration features. “G Suite, Google’s set of online productivity tools, is getting a major update today that adds a number of new features to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Most of these updates focus around collaboration, but the service is also getting support for Google Cloud Search and the company is adding new templates and add-ons from partners like LegalZoom, DocuSign, LucidChart and others.”

USEFUL STUFF

Bustle: How To Tell If Your Solar Eclipse Glasses Are Safe, Because There Are Tons Of Fakes Floating Around. “Solar eclipse excitement is sweeping the nation. If you plan to watch, you’ve likely loaded your phone with eclipse apps, started following eclipse-related social media accounts, bookmarked your live stream pages, and bought your eclipse glasses. But, how can you tell if your solar eclipse glasses are safe? There are tons of phony solar eclipse glasses out there, and if your glasses aren’t the real deal you could seriously damage your eyes during this Aug. 21 celestial event.” I swear this is my last 2017 eclipse link. Please be good to your eyes.

Learning in Hand: Google Document URL Tricks . A great little roundup with quick-glance graphics. I think I’ve got a new blog in my feed reader!

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Wired: When Government Rules by Software, Citizens Are Left in the Dark. “IN JULY, SAN Francisco Superior Court Judge Sharon Reardon considered whether to hold Lamonte Mims, a 19-year-old accused of violating his probation, in jail. One piece of evidence before her: the output of algorithms known as PSA that scored the risk that Mims, who had previously been convicted of burglary, would commit a violent crime or skip court. Based on that result, another algorithm recommended that Mims could safely be released, and Reardon let him go. Five days later, police say, he robbed and murdered a 71-year old man. On Monday, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said staffers using the tool had erroneously failed to enter Mims’ prior jail term. Had they done so, PSA would have recommended he be held, not released.”

The Guardian: Women say they quit Google because of racial discrimination: ‘I was invisible’. “Despite Google’s notoriously strict confidentiality policies, which some say are used to intimidate and silence critics, several former and current employees spoke in interviews about the ways in which they believe minorities, particularly women of color, are denied opportunities and equal pay. They described a culture that tolerates racism and sexism, where white male managers frequently support and promote employees who look like themselves.”

New York Times: Cambridge University Press Removes Academic Articles on Chinese Site. “One of the world’s oldest and most respected publishing houses, Cambridge University Press, has bowed to pressure from Beijing and removed sensitive content on its site in China. The content is published in China Quarterly, an academic journal run by the press. In a letter made public on social media on Friday, the editor of the journal, Tim Pringle, said Cambridge University Press had informed him that the authorities had ordered it to censor more than 300 articles related to issues like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the Cultural Revolution. The publishing house’s site risked being shut down if it did not comply with the request, the letter said.”

Digital Trends: Facebook Zooms In On Visual Content To Help Celebrate World Photo Day. “Today, August 19, marks World Photo Day, an event designed to help encourage photographs that inspire positive changes. To celebrate, Facebook is sharing data on all the ways photos have impacted the social media platform.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Secret chips in replacement parts can completely hijack your phone’s security. “People with cracked touch screens or similar smartphone maladies have a new headache to consider: the possibility the replacement parts installed by repair shops contain secret hardware that completely hijacks the security of the device.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Science Daily: Fish database could help eliminate the ultimate bait and switch. “Fish fraud, the misrepresentation of cheaper fish as more expensive ones, is a rampant problem worldwide. Now scientists report that they are making strides toward the development of a protein database capable of definitively identifying fish species. This information could help nab imposters of salmon, tuna and other popular fish before they reach people’s plates.” Good morning, Internet…

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