NEW RESOURCES

FDA: FDA improves access to reports of adverse drug reactions. “The new dashboard enables users to search for and organize data by criteria such as drug/biological product, age of the patient, type of adverse event, year the adverse event occurred, or within a specific timeframe. In addition to making it easier for consumers to search for adverse events reported with drug or biologic products, the FDA hopes the increased transparency will spur the submission of more detailed and complete reports from consumers, health care professionals and others, by making it easier for people to see other reports that the FDA receives, and search the database for similar observations.”

DigitalArts: Thousands of Historical Watercolours to be Available Online in a Digital Archive. “Before photographs existed, let alone massive online stock libraries designers have come to rely on, there were watercolour paintings, these brilliant historical artforms documented significant moments in history, such as immigration to new countries, and how society functioned. Now watercolours will be moving beyond the walls of museums and art galleries in a digital format. … The watercolours will be available for your use simply through an online catalogue, to be made available by March next year. Dubbed the Watercolour World, you’ll be able to choose from thousands of digitised documentary watercolours dating before 1900…”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BBC Archives is now on Pinterest. Boards include Classic Dr. Who, Vintage Technology, Vintage Women’s Fashion, and more.

Bloomberg: Google Will Retool User Security in Wake of Political Hack. “The Alphabet Inc. company next month will begin offering a service called the Advanced Protection Program that places a collection of features onto accounts such as email, including a new block on third-party applications from accessing data. The program would effectively replace the need to use two-factor authentication to protect accounts with a pair of physical security keys. The company plans to market the product to corporate executives, politicians and others with heightened security concerns, these people said.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Next Web: Index is the cleaner, faster, better Evernote we’ve been waiting for. “Index isn’t as feature-rich as Evernote. We should start there, because there are a few of you out there that still believe it’s worth stomaching Evernote’s bloat for the two times a year you might use that one feature. What Index lacks in features, it makes up for in efficiency. It’s sleek, minimalist, and fast — all things Evernote is not.”

How-To Geek: How to Recover a Deleted File: The Ultimate Guide. “It’s happened to most of us. You delete a file, and then realize you need it back. This guide explains when you can get that file back and how to go about it. We’ve covered a variety of tools for recovering deleted files in the past, but this guide goes more in-depth. We’ll cover everything you need to know if you want to successfully recover deleted files.” Very extensive. Some of the strategies are definitely not for beginners.

Lifehacker: Free Web-Based Photo Editors to Try If You Don’t Want to Pay for PicMonkey. “….what do you do if you’re a PicMonkey user but don’t use it enough to warrant paying? We’ve come up with a few alternatives. None of them look quite as nice as PicMonkey, in my opinion, but they’ll get the job done. (Before we dive into those, it’s worth noting that the pay requirement only applies to the web product for now—so if you were using PicMonkey on your phone, carry on.)”

Digital Trends: Want To Build Your Own Site? These Are The Best Website Builders To Do It With. “Not everyone wants to hire a company or avid programmer to make their website for them. Some of us would rather tackle it as DIY project, whether merely for the challenge, or simply because we can’t pony up the cash necessary to hire a fully-fledged professional. Choosing among the best website builders isn’t easy though. The features can be varied, and the pricing structure complex. To help you figure out which is the best website builder for you, we’ve put together a regularly updated list of our favorites to walk you through finding the right one.” Covers both free and premium options.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Missouri State University: Special Collection Spotlight: Frisco Lab Photo Collection. “Part of a recent donation from Frisco Railroad researcher and collector Louis Griesemer, the Frisco Lab Photograph Collection (M 97) is currently being processed and digitized by Special Collections and Archives staff. The collection contains over 5,000 images and will be digitized in its entirety, with a selection made available online. Images include interiors and exteriors of railroad cars, locomotives, accidents, broken parts examined at the lab, Frisco employees, company events, and more. ”

New York Times: Facebook Blocks Chinese Billionaire Who Tells Tales of Corruption. “A Chinese billionaire living in virtual exile in New York, Guo Wengui has riled China’s leaders with his sometimes outlandish tales of deep corruption among family members of top Communist Party officials. On Saturday, his tales proved too much for one of his favorite platforms for broadcasting those accusations: Facebook.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Quartz: Germany’s social media law may force Facebook to be judge, jury, and executioner of free speech. “The German government’s controversial new law, which aims to crack down on hate speech on internet platforms, comes into force today (Oct 1). But while it seems like a progressive step towards combatting this issue, there are concerns that the move could lead to excessive censorship due to the level of fines social media platforms face.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

BusinessWire: Twist Bioscience and Collaborators Microsoft, University of Washington Preserve Archive-Quality Audio Recordings for UNESCO’s Memory of the World Collection (PRESS RELEASE). “Twist Bioscience, a company accelerating science and innovation through rapid, high-quality DNA synthesis, today announced that, working with Microsoft and University of Washington researchers, they have successfully stored archival-quality audio recordings of two important music performances from the archives of the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival. These selections are encoded and stored in nature’s preferred storage medium, DNA, for the first time. These tiny specks of DNA will preserve a part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Archive, where valuable cultural heritage collections are recorded. This is the first time DNA has been used as a long-term archival-quality storage medium.” Good morning, Internet…

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