NEW RESOURCES

Herald Scotland: Major Harris Tweed industry archive to go online. “ITS devotees include pop veteran Madonna, former Dr Who Matt Smith and actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Now an archive containing a wealth of material covering more than 100 years of the history of the unique Harris Tweed industry has been opened up for people to view online.” The story did not have an URL on it, so I did some poking around and found this.

Nevada Today: University Community Invited to Experience Reno’s Street Art Like Never Before . “Because murals are ephemeral, the Digital Initiatives Department within University Libraries at the University of Nevada, Reno decided in the spring of 2017 to design a project to digitally preserve and catalog the influx of street art being created in Reno. The Reno Street Art Project is comprised of a digital archive and multimedia virtual reality (VR) time capsule highlighting street art on display in Reno between July 2017 – December 2017.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Next Web: Snapchat’s new feature shines the spotlight on community-made Lenses. “Snapchat today announced it was rolling out Lens Explorer, a new feature that makes it easier for users to tap into the growing market of community-made Snapchat Lenses. With this new feature, the company turns to the creativity of its users to differentiate itself from its competitors.”

CNN: Russian company had access to Facebook user data through apps. “A Russian internet company with links to the Kremlin was among the firms to which Facebook gave an extension which allowed them to collect data on unknowing users of the social network after a policy change supposedly stopped such collection.”

The Verge: Instagram adds the questions sticker, a new way to poll your friends. “In October, Instagram added a polling feature to its ephemeral stories. Today, the company is introducing a new twist on polling with the questions sticker, which lets your friends submit questions for you to answer in a subsequent story post. Instagram says it’s ‘a way to start conversations during moments when you don’t necessarily have a photo or video to share.’ In other words, it’s a way to ensure that people continue posting even if they have totally run out of content ideas.”

USEFUL STUFF

Hongkiat: 50 Sites to Download Free 3D Models – Best Of . “3D printers have immensely revolutionized the art and manufacturing industry. With advancements in the 3D printer technology, it is now not very difficult to own one, even in your home or office. Moreover, you don’t have to be an AutoCAD engineer to design a 3D model for your needs, as this job is taken up by numerous 3D model websites. So, either you want to create 3D furniture, a mechanical component, or even human or animal figurines, here are 50 of the best free 3D model websites to cover up all your needs.” Decent annotation for a list this long.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Racked: The Best Influencers Are Babies . “On Saturday, March 10, at the Hotel Bel-Air, Khloé Kardashian held her baby shower. The event — designed by Mindy Weiss, the most famous party planner in the world, and Jeff Leatham, the most famous florist in the world — was an explosion of pink: Guests entered the dining room under an enormous archway of roses to a room in which thousands of flowers cascaded from the ceiling and onto a bed of bright pink balloons. Topiaries in the shape of elephants and giraffes towered nearby. A neon sign had been constructed in Kris Jenner’s exact handwriting. Invitees included beauty moguls and supermodels and more than one Real Housewife. All in all, the baby shower was a fairly standard Kardashian-caliber event for such a momentous occasion in every way but one: It was sponsored by Amazon.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Researchers found stolen military secrets for sale on the dark web. “Military secrets are often heavily guarded, but it’s meaningless if there’s weak router security. Researchers from Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, say they found a cache of sensitive military documents for sale on the Dark Web, including details on the US Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper drones, as well as training courses on tanks, survival and improvised explosive devices.”

Wired: Twitter’s vast metadata haul is a privacy nightmare for users. “Metadata is everywhere. Everything you tweet, every picture you take, and every status update you post on Facebook. It’s used by police and security forces to identify people who try to hide their identities and locations, while associated metadata in selfies can inadvertently ensnare criminals unaware that the data can destroy their alibi. And metadata on Twitter can also be used in extremely precise identification each and every one of us – according to a new paper by researchers at University College London and the Alan Turing Institute.”

BetaNews: Malware infections drop during World Cup matches — Result!. “Even if you’re not a soccer/football fan, it probably hasn’t escaped your notice that there’s a World Cup going on in Russia at the moment. We expect big sporting events to be exploited to launch phishing and malware campaigns but researchers at Enigma Software have spotted an interesting new phenomenon — malware infections actually drop on match days.” Good afternoon, Internet…

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

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