NEW RESOURCES

Myanmar Times: NRGI launches open jade data website to promote transparency. “The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has launched a new website… which is the first ever portal to publish data related to Myanmar jade. Data based on the latest figures announced under the Extractive Industries Transparency Imitative (EITI) and Myanmar Gems Enterprise will now be available on the website, NRGI said last week. It will include data on licenses, funds channeled in to the sector as well as revenues generated. ”

Maryland: New Tool Provides Conservation Report Card for Every Land Parcel. “The Maryland Department of Natural Resources launched an innovative new tool to evaluate the conservation benefits and ecosystem ‘value’ of every parcel of land across the state. The Parcel Evaluation Tool was designed to identify and prioritize the conservation and protection of ecologically important, sensitive, and valuable land and watershed resources in Maryland for use by the department, land conservation organizations and trusts, local and state planners, and individual property owners.”

Edible Brooklyn: Use This Database to Connect with Underrepresented Food Professionals. “‘Build a longer table, not a higher fence’ is the call to action of Equity At The Table (EATT), a new database for food industry professionals that focuses on women, non-binary individuals, LGBTQ and people of color.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: Watch Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to the EU in a livestream. “Having previously refused to answer questions in the UK, last week Mark Zuckerberg agreed to appear in front of the EU parliament to speak about Facebook’s use of data. The Facebook chief is due to appear in front of MEPs tomorrow, Tuesday, and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has announced that the appearance will be livestreamed. So, if you fancy tuning in to see what Zuckerberg has to say and how he is able to ‘clarify issues related to the use of personal data’, you will be able to do just that.”

Gizmodo: Yelp And TripAdvisor Team Up To Pile On Google Over Search Monopoly. “Google found itself in an uncomfortable position over the weekend, as 60 Minutes placed a magnifying glass on the company that accounts for 90 per cent of all search traffic and asked if it is operating as a monopoly. Following the broadcast, Yelp and TripAdvisor announced a new initiative designed to restore more diverse local search results that have been undermined by Google’s own first-party services.”

USEFUL STUFF

Hongkiat: 30+ Tools To Enhance Your Flickr Experience. “Being a popular online image platform, Flickr is a revolution for photo sharing and management plus it has a huge community of photographers who showcase their work the world to see. And so to help you make the most of Flickr’s amazing platform, there are a number of tools that can add a lot to your experience. So, no matter you are a casual user or a regular one, here are 30+ tools to enhance your Flickr experience.”

Search Engine Journal: How to Completely Optimize Your Facebook Page. “Features like location Pages, Messenger, Featured Images, and Boost are only a few of the many things you can do to optimize your Facebook page. Use this guide to make sure you’ve set up your Facebook page correctly, and optimized all possible areas of the platform to get the best results for your business.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Kazinform: Unified online library to be created in Kazakhstan. “The entire book stock of libraries in Kazakhstan will be converted into electronic documents to create a unified online library, Minister of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan Arystanbek Mukhamediuly told the opening ceremony of ‘Rukhani Qazyna’ Festival in Astana, Kazinform correspondent reports.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ubergizmo: Teen Monitoring App Accidentally Leaks Account Info Of Its Users. “The app also bills itself as being a ‘secure’ monitoring app, although that seems rather ironic now because according to a report from ZDNet, the app has accidentally leaked thousands of its users’ account information, which includes Apple ID email addresses, the names of the device of its users (which in some cases were the names of the teens), its unique identifier, and even passwords which were stored in plaintext format.”

Bloomberg: Google Could Face $4.3 Billion Claim in U.K. IPhone Privacy Case. “IPhone users suing Google over data-collection claims may be seeking as much as 3.2 billion pounds ($4.29 billion), the search giant said in a court filing. The group representing iPhone users, known as Google You Owe Us, now includes 4.4 million people, according to documents filed with the court at a hearing Monday. The group says the Alphabet Inc. unit unlawfully collected people’s personal information by bypassing Apple Inc.’s iPhone default privacy settings.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

AdWeek: While Well-Intentioned, VR Is Rooted in Privilege and Disregards Those in Need. “Like lots of people in the world, I’ve spent some quality family time roaming my neighborhood trying to capture little cartoon monsters on my cell phone. For many of us, Pokémon Go was our first experience of augmented reality. It was lots of fun. In fact, a lot of the money behind AR/VR comes from the gaming industry. It also comes from education, real estate and high technology—applications that show us what things look like and how things work. But apart from selling us condos, teaching us how to wire a superconductor in record time or tell better stories (which are, admittedly, pretty big things), what actual good will these extended reality (XR) technologies do for us?”

TechCrunch: Are algorithms hacking our thoughts? . “As Facebook shapes our access to information, Twitter dictates public opinion, and Tinder influences our dating decisions, the algorithms we’ve developed to help us navigate choice are now actively driving every aspect of our lives. But as we increasingly rely on them for everything from how we seek out news to how we relate to the people around us, have we automated the way we behave? Is human thinking beginning to mimic algorithmic processes? And is the Cambridge Analytica debacle a warning sign of what’s to come–and of happens when algorithms hack into our collective thoughts?” Good morning, Internet…

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!