NEW RESOURCES

United Nations Library: Update on UN Digitization Programme . “From A as in Acid to Z as in Zinc, the complete series of historical Statistical Yearbooks has been digitized and is now freely available online. The project comprised a joint effort between the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. To mark the launch of the Statistical Yearbook 2017, the Library’s Digitization Unit scanned 55 volumes of past issues referencing statistics of countries and regions dating back to 1948. Currently all historical yearbooks are accessible through the website of the Statistics Division; the yearbooks will also be accessible in the UN Digital Library.”

News 4 San Antonio: Texas makes searching for unclaimed property easier with updated website. “The Unclaimed Property Division at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has unveiled a new website… There you can search for any unclaimed bank accounts, court deposits, bill over-payments or other assets that you may have forgotten about that can be returned to you.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Library and Archives Canada Blog: Victoria Cross Recipients: First World War now on Flickr. “The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration in the Commonwealth and takes precedence over all other medals, decorations and orders. A recognition of valour in the face of the enemy, the VC can be awarded to a person of any rank of military service and to civilians under military command. So far, 98 Canadians have been awarded the Victoria Cross, beginning with Alexander Roberts Dunn who in 1854 fought in the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. The Victoria Crosses were awarded to 71 Canadian soldiers during the First World War, and 16 were awarded during the Second World War.”

Ars Technica: Google Maps adds color to help you hone in on points of interest. “Google is rolling out a new look for Points of Interest (POI) on Google Maps. These are the little business location icons that pop up when you’re browsing the map or viewing search results. Google says it has updated Maps to ‘better highlight the information most relevant to each experience (think gas stations for navigation, train stations for transit, and so on).’ You probably don’t care about local gas stations when you’re looking up subway locations, so Maps will be smarter about which icons it shows you.”

Bloomberg: Mashable Is Close to Sale to PCMag Publisher Ziff Davis. “Ziff Davis, the digital media unit of J2 Global Inc., is close to an agreement to buy the struggling online news publisher Mashable Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter. A deal with Ziff Davis would offer Mashable a financial lifeline to continue its foray into video, a more costly endeavor than the written journalism that marked the company’s earlier years. ”

USEFUL STUFF

INC: 9 Facebook Hacks and Tricks Anyone Can Use. “Think you’ve been on Facebook so long that you know all the ins and outs? Guess again. As Internet-savvy as you may feel, there are always little tips and tricks that you probably didn’t know that will simply change your life. Here are 9 essential Facebook hacks you need–but didn’t even know you did.” Quick roundup but a couple of gems here.

Motherboard: The Motherboard Guide to Not Getting Hacked. “Do you want to stop criminals from getting into your Gmail or Facebook account? Are you worried about the cops spying on you? We have all the answers on how to protect yourself.” This is really extensive but the guidelines are simple enough that even relative beginners can follow many of them.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNET: Ignored by big telecom, Detroit’s marginalized communities are building their own internet. “Being stuck without access to the internet is often thought of as a problem only for rural America. But even in some of America’s biggest cities, a significant portion of the population can’t get online. Take Detroit, where 40 percent of the population has no access to the internet — of any kind, not only high speed — at home, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Seventy percent of school-aged children in the city are among those who have no internet access at home. Detroit has one of the most severe digital divides in the country, the FCC says.”

TIME: Twitter Is Full of Fake History Photos. Here’s How to Outsmart Them. “The Twitter war between historians and history-photo accounts has been going on for years — but now, as it becomes clearer than ever that inaccurate information floating around on Twitter can affect the course of world events, the battle has taken on new importance.”

TechCrunch: YouTube terminates exploitive ‘kids’ channel ToyFreaks, says it’s tightening its child endangerment policies. “Following consumer outrage over YouTube’s handling of disturbing videos aimed at children on its network, the company has now banned one of the more controversial kid channels it hosted, Toy Freaks. The channel, the 68th largest on YouTube with over 8.5 million subscribers, was often criticized for its vile and seemingly exploitive videos featuring a dad and his daughters, which many said bordered on abuse.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

I can’t even, y’all. From The Register: Massive US military social media spying archive left wide open in AWS S3 buckets . “Three misconfigured AWS S3 buckets have been discovered wide open on the public internet containing “dozens of terabytes” of social media posts and similar pages – all scraped from around the world by the US military to identify and profile persons of interest.”

The Verge: Amazon Key’s camera can be disabled by a third party, allowing couriers to reenter your house . Is anybody shocked by this? “The service relies on Cloud Cam and a compatible smart lock, and only grants permission for a courier to enter after they scan a barcode, which is checked against information in the cloud. A camera also monitors and records the drop-off so customers can check that nothing suspect happened. Now security researchers have found that the camera can be disabled and frozen from a program run from any computer within Wi-Fi range, reports Wired. That means a customer watching a delivery will only see a closed door, even if someone opens the door and goes inside — a vulnerability that may allow rogue couriers to rob customers’ homes.” Good morning, Internet…

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