NBC Los Angeles: Twitter Tells All Users to Change Their Passwords as Security Precaution. “Twitter on Thursday advised all users to change their passwords after the company discovered a bug that stored unmasked passwords. The social media company said that said the bug was fixed and that there was “no indication of breach or misuse by anyone.” It urged its more than 300 million users to change their passwords on all services that use the same password.”

NEW RESOURCES

Library of Congress: Introducing Library of Congress Story Maps!. “Story Maps, created within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based software platform created by Esri, combine text, images, multimedia, and interactive maps to create engaging online narrative experiences. Under a program spearheaded by the Geography and Map Division, collection specialists from across the Library have produced Story Maps with content from the hidden and not-so-hidden collections of the library. We are pleased to showcase the first three published Story Maps from this program, with many more to come!”

Bowery Boogie: 190 Bowery’s Jay Maisel Launches Archival Photo Website. “According to the media advisory, Maisel reviewed ‘hundreds of thousands of 35mm Kodachrome slides’ from 1954 to 2000, and selected favorites for publication. Many were shot right here on the Bowery, including his home-studio at 190 Bowery.” I found the jazz collection the most striking but all the pictures here are great.

WVAH: Explore hospitals and services in West Virginia with new website. ” The West Virginia Hospital Association unveiled a new tool that is designed to make it easier for you to find out about hospital care and services…. This gives you the opportunity to explore hospitals in your area, compare their quality scores and find ones offering specific services related to diabetes, hip replacement, cancer and many others.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Axios: NowThis to launch breaking news channel on Snapchat. “NowThis, the millennial social video media outlet that’s part of Group Nine Media, will announce today the launch of NowBreaking, a breaking news channel produced exclusively for Snapchat Discover. Why it matters: It will be the first real-time breaking news channel launched on Snapchat Discover exclusively built for global breaking news updates — not general or feature news stories.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with NowThis, but they seem to me a bit like Vox, only more globally-oriented. Good videos on YouTube..

NPR: Pocket Casts acquired by NPR, other public radio stations, and This American Life. “Pocket Casts, widely considered to be one of the best mobile apps for podcast listening, has been acquired by a collective group that includes NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life. ‘This unprecedented collaboration furthers public radio’s leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution, while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms on the market,’ the companies said in a press release announcing the news. That team of stations and podcast producers are responsible for some of the format’s biggest hits like This American Life (duh), Serial, Radiolab, and Planet Money.” Pocket Casts is my favorite podcast app; I use it every day and I desperately hope the acquisition doesn’t mess it up.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNET: Is Facebook secretly building an internet satellite? Signs point to yes. “Facebook may be secretly working on its own satellite broadband service. The possible move comes just a few months after SpaceX launched its first two prototype satellites for an internet constellation it hopes may one day be over 11,000 strong.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Coindesk: A New Facebook Messenger Malware Is Targeting Crypto Users. “A malicious Google Chrome extension known for its effectiveness has been revamped to target cryptocurrency exchanges, cybersecurity company Trend Micro reported this week. Dubbed FacexWorm, Trend Micro said in a blog post that the malicious extension’s capabilities ‘were made over’ to steal user credentials for Google, MyMonero, and Coinhive; in sum, it promotes a scam that dupes users into sending ether to the attacker’s wallet and drains a computer’s processing power to power clandestine cryptocurrency mining.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EFF: There is No Middle Ground on Encryption . “Encryption is back in the headlines again, with government officials insisting that they still need to compromise our security via a backdoor for law enforcement. Opponents of encryption imagine that there is a ‘middle ground’ approach that allows for strong encryption but with ‘exceptional access’ for law enforcement. Government officials claim that technology companies are creating a world where people can commit crimes without fear of detection.”

The Register: NASA dusts off FORTRAN manual, revives 20-year-old data on Ganymede. “NASA scientists have made some new discoveries about Jupiter’s giant moon Ganymede, thanks to a dedicated team, an elderly VAX machine and 20-year-old data from the long-defunct Galileo probe. Fifteen years after Galileo (no, not that one) ended its days with a plunge into the atmosphere of Jupiter, NASA scientists have resurrected the 20-year-old datasets and added more detail to the puzzle of Ganymede’s magnetosphere.”

Eyerys: Facebook Uses Billions Of Instagram Photos To Train Its AI: Without Prior Notification. “The social media network by Facebook is a free service. Anyone can register to use its service, and anyone can use it. And here the benefit is immediate and obvious. So, what’s in return? Facebook and its properties have allowed users to limit what other users can see. But there is no saying what Facebook can do with things that are uploaded to its servers. For short, everything it has about its users, is for financial reward for the company. Users don’t know exactly how the company use this massive trove of data. Here, Facebook is giving a glimpse: it uses photos users have uploaded, to train its AI.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

PocketGPSWorld: GeoGuessr A Google StreetView Game For Everyone. “I happened across this site by happy accident yesterday and it’s quite a lot of fun! GeoGuessr is a a web game whereby you are presented with Google StreetView images and are asked to guess the location of the image by placing a pin on a map. The more accurate your guess and the closer to its origin the more points you score.” This is an interesting game. I’m kind of crap at it. Good morning, Internet…

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