NEW RESOURCES

NBC News: Twitter deleted 200,000 Russian troll tweets. Read them here.. “NBC News is publishing its database of more than 200,000 tweets that Twitter has tied to ‘malicious activity’ from Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

Scientific American: How to Find a Woman Scientist. “Women from across the world continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In the U.S.—where women make up nearly half of the workforce—they were merely 26 percent of the STEM workforce in 2011 according to the United States Census Bureau. President Obama’s White House worked hard to expand the participation of women, girls and minorities in STEM fields by encouraging mentoring; initiating Let Girls Learn, a program to ensure that adolescent girls worldwide reach secondary school; and retaining women in science careers by investing in affordable childcare. Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a grassroots organization called 500 Women Scientists was established to help propel and maintain the momentum of such efforts.”

Creative Boom: Beautifully designed football programmes from 1960s and 1970s. “One Shilling (1/-) is an ongoing showcase of beautifully designed football programmes, mostly from the 1960s and ’70s. The project is inspired by an immaculately kept and comprehensive collection of Aston Villa programmes that have been accumulated by designer Matthew Caldwell’s Dad, dating back to the late 60s, when his addiction (‘and it is an addiction’, notes Matthew) to holding a season ticket at the Villa, began.” This is currently an Instagram archive only, with a small (albeit beautifully annotated and photographed) collection. Mr. Caldwell hopes to open an online museum.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Times of Malta: Malta company registry data to be revealed by ICIJ. “The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will add data from Malta’s corporate registry to their offshore leaks database on Wednesday. Although the Malta Financial Services Authority runs its own searchable database, which is available upon registration, it does not allow for specific searches of company directors and shareholders.”

Yahoo Finance: BBC Earth virtual reality app launched for Google’s Daydream VR platform. “The BBC has launched a free virtual reality app on Android to enable users to enter the worlds featured in some of its best nature documentaries. BBC Earth: Life In VR uses Google’s Daydream VR technology and Daydream View headset to drop users into animated 360-degree environments based on those seen in shows such as Blue Planet II.”

Venture Beat: Pinterest now lets you archive your boards and rearrange pins. “Pinterest has announced a slew of new tools designed to help users organize their pins and boards. First up, a new archiving option lets you file a board away for posterity without having to delete it. This particular feature serves a number of purposes — for example, you may wish to revisit an old board you’ve created if it pertains to a meaningful life event, such as a birth or a wedding, but you don’t want it cluttering up your main dashboard.”

SEO Roundtable: Google Blogsearch Ping Going Away, Not That Anyone Used It. “Google announced on Google+ and John Mueller also added to it that Google is going to shutting down Google Blogsearch ‘Ping’ service. It launched back in 2006 when a lot of blogging platforms used the ping method to communicate ‘trackbacks’ i.e. link notifications from one blog post to another. Most of you probably have no clue what trackbacks are and if you do, you are probably thinking, wow – a blast from the past.” I think I just added this to make myself feel old, because heaven knows that Ping has not been relevant for years.

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: Use IFTTT to Find Cheap and Free Video Games Online. “If This Then That is great for everything from managing your savings to archiving your favorite songs on Spotify, but did you know you can also use it to find free video games? There are dozens of applets (IFTTT’s name for any combination of triggers and actions used through the service) designed to help you track gaming giveaways.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

ProPublica: I Approved This Facebook Message — But You Don’t Know That. “Hundreds of federal political ads — including those from major players such as the Democratic National Committee and the Donald Trump 2020 campaign — are running on Facebook without adequate disclaimer language, likely violating Federal Election Commission rules, a review by ProPublica has found.”

Bloomberg Quint: Google Lobbying Shifts to Transport, Health: The Influence Game. “Google’s gravest threat is probably a regulatory crackdown on its lucrative search engine, and there’s a resurgent drumbeat about its size and power in Washington. If the company’s worried, that’s not showing up in its lobbying activity. Google outspent every other tech company in 2017 lobbying, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But none of that money focused on the government agencies most in control of its fate in the U.S.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Roses are red, Facebook is blue. Think private means private? More fool you. “Privacy settings on Facebook do not protect users from handing over photos, posts or metadata that is relevant to a court case, a New York judge has ruled. In a decision (PDF) handed down yesterday, chief judge Janet DiFiore said that a court could ask someone to hand over any relevant materials as part of discovery ahead of a trial – even if they are private.”

CNET: Gunman shot dead by police after targeting YouTube stars. “The Albuquerque Journal reports that local man Christopher Giles travelled to Austin, Texas, on 26 January and broke into the home of gamer and cosplayer Megan Turney and Gavin Free of YouTube channel Slo-Mo Guys. Hearing glass breaking, the couple hid and called 911. Austin Police officers confronted Giles as he drove away, hearing a gunshot from the car and returning fire.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

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!