afternoonbuzz

UK Government Web Sites, Sweden Architecture, Royal Wedding, More: Friday Evening Buzz, May 18, 2018

NEW RESOURCES

BusinessCloud: Public Can Now Search Government’s Entire Digital Archive. “The British government’s entire online presence comprising billions of web pages has been indexed and digitally archived to the cloud for the first time. Manchester tech firm MirrorWeb has devised an all-new indexing to create an accessible, searchable and user-friendly resource for the public. The National Archives’ gigantic 120TB web archive encompasses billions of web pages – from every government department website and social media account – from 1996 to the present.”

ArchDaily: ArkDes Launches New Instagram Uncovering Hidden Objects From Sweden’s National Architecture Collection. “ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, have launched a new Instagram account showcasing ‘surprising objects’ and never-before-seen gems from Sweden’s national architecture collection. ArkDes Collections, which presents an eclectic mix of drawings, models, and photographs by architects including Ralph Erskine, Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz and Bernt Nyberg, has also highlighted significant work by lesser-known practitioners, such as Léonie Geisendorf and Mariana Manner.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: Watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot this Saturday. “Tomorrow people from all over the world will tune in to watch the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. To give people everywhere a chance to join together and celebrate this royal union, on Saturday, May 19, the ceremony will be live streamed on the Royal Family’s official YouTube channel.”

Eyerys: The AI-Powered ‘Google News’ App Wants To Fix ‘Play Newsstand’ And Journalism. “First of all, Google News app is replacement for the seemingly-abandoned Google Play Newsstand. It leverages AI to train algorithms comb through complex, fast-breaking news stories and break them down in easy-to-understand manner like chronological timelines, local news aggregation, and stories presented in a developing and evolving sequence. Then using the huge quantities of behavioral and search data Google has gathered from users, Google News can show the most relevant news.” I have yet to see an end-user comment about this design that’s positive.

WordPress: WordPress 4.9.6 Privacy and Maintenance Release. “WordPress 4.9.6 is now available. This is a privacy and maintenance release. We encourage you to update your sites to take advantage of the new privacy features.”

TechCrunch: A leaked look at Facebook’s search engine for influencer marketing. “Facebook’s next money-maker could be this tool for connecting marketers to social media creators so they can team up on sponsored-content Facebook ad campaigns. The Branded Content Matching search engine lets advertisers select the biographical characteristics of creators’ fans they want to reach, see stats about these audiences, and contact them to hammer out deals.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Isthmus: Culling the collection. (This is about the state of Wisconsin.) “Founded in 1901, the Legislative Reference Bureau (or LRB) is required by state statute to archive many of the documents created by or used by the Legislature. But librarians who have recently worked in the Bureau say that its mandated task to provide ‘reference services … equally and impartially’ to the Legislature and public is suffering under the current chief, Richard Champagne.”

Bloomberg Quint: Google Slips Ahead of `60 Minutes’ Feature on Antitrust Threat. “The CBS news magazine 60 Minutes will lead its show Sunday with a segment on ‘The Power of Google’ that will include interviews with the company’s critics, who say it stifles competition, as well as the European Union’s antitrust chief. Shares in Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., dipped about 1.7 percent in early trading Friday after the news was announced. The stock was trading down 1 percent to $1070.02 9:47 a.m. in New York.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Times of India: Google says India anti-trust ruling could cause ‘irreparable’ harm. “Alphabet Inc’s Google has said an Indian anti-trust ruling that found it was guilty of search bias could cause ‘irreparable’ harm and reputational loss to the company, according to a legal document reviewed by Reuters. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in February fined Google $20 million for abusing its position in online web search and also slammed the company for preventing its partners from using competing search services.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Guardian: Google’s march to the business of war must be stopped. “Gizmodo reported this week that more than a dozen Google employees have resigned over Google providing AI support to a Pentagon drone program called Project Maven, which aims to improve the ability of drones to identify humans. This follows a public letter, signed by 3,100-plus Google employees who say that Google should not be in the business of war. We agree with and support those employees and we are joined by more than 700 academic researchers who study digital technologies.” Good evening, Internet…

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