NEW RESOURCES

Al Jazeera: Gaza’s first digital archive documents rich cultural history. “Along with a growing team, al-Sallaq, 27, set up Gaza’s first digital archive of historical buildings and heritage sites when she launched a multi-dimensional platform called Kanaan in 2019. With a website, mobile application and Instagram page, the project provides visitors with information in text and video format in English and Arabic, and offers a virtual tour of Gaza’s centuries-old cultural history.”

Calvert Journal: Mask media: Soviet Kazakh health posters from the 1970s. “Vladimir S. Tverdokhlebov’s posters for the Kazakh Red Cross from the 1970s offer an offbeat aesthetic for public safety. Humour, floral imagery, and a playful use of layout counter the cynicism of the time, medicine for the weary then and now.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

British Library Endangered Archives Blog: New online – February 2021. “February may be the shortest month of the year, but it is another month packed with newly digitised collections being added to the EAP website.”

The Verge: Instagram’s new Live Rooms feature lets up to four people go live at once. “Instagram wants more people to go live at once, so today, it’s launching Live Rooms. The feature, which will be available globally, allows four people to video chat in a live broadcast, compared to the previous limit of two.”

CNET: Google adds new productivity tools as companies look to hybrid work. “Google on Monday unveiled new productivity features that are aimed at remote work, as companies consider hybrid work models for a post-pandemic world. The new tools are for Google Workspace, the search giant’s suite of apps and services meant for corporate customers and other organizations.”

USEFUL STUFF

Mashable: 5 password managers to replace LastPass. “According to The Verge, LastPass’s free version will only allow users to view their passwords from one type of device, either mobile or computer, starting March 16. On that date, users will have to choose their device category, which they will be able to switch only three times, or upgrade to Premium at $3/month. Since I do actually want to make my life easier and more secure (and yours, too!): I’ve gathered the best free and paid alternatives to LastPass.”

Hongkiat: Delete Yourself off The Internet – 5 Tools to Try. “If you find something that you want removed from Google’s search engine, you can request Google to remove it from their search engine results with its URL Remover Tool. Outside of this, you will need to talk to the people who own and maintain the site to get your data removed. But if you’re only looking to reduce the visibility of your data online (because deleting yourself from the Internet completely is quite impossible) or want to delete some accounts that are no longer in your use, then these 5 tool can help you get started.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Techdirt: Game Jam Winner Spotlight: The Great Gatsby Tabletop Roleplaying Game. “Best Adaptation is always an interesting category in these jams, because every entry is on some level an adaptation, but that doesn’t mean they are all truly good candidates for the prize. Some make use of elements of a public domain work in a way that detaches them from their source, others focus so closely on the source that it is more like a study of the original — both those things can be amazing, and both approaches show up among our winners this year. But there’s also something special about a game that turns a public domain work into something brand new while also carrying forth and further exploring its original meaning and context. That’s the kind of game that is a candidate for Best Adaptation, and that’s the kind of game The Great Gatsby: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Malaysian news site fined $124,000 for five reader comments. “A Malaysian news site was fined the equivalent of nearly $124,000 for five comments below an article. News outlet Malaysiakini has raised money to cover the fee of 500,000 ringgit, but human rights advocates say it was targeted for its reporting on government corruption, and they worry that the case could chill political speech online.” 500,000 ringgit is a little over $123,000 USD.

Search Engine Journal: Yandex Accused of Anti-competitive Practices in Russia. “Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) issued a one month warning to Yandex to stop showing preference to its own sites. Yandex responded that it is serving users and that the complaining companies themselves exclude Yandex on their platforms.”

Ars Technica: Hackers tied to Russia’s GRU targeted the US grid for years. “For all the nation-state hacker groups that have targeted the United States power grid—and even successfully breached American electric utilities—only the Russian military intelligence group known as Sandworm has been brazen enough to trigger actual blackouts, shutting the lights off in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. Now one grid-focused security firm is warning that a group with ties to Sandworm’s uniquely dangerous hackers has also been actively targeting the US energy system for years.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ReviewGeek: David Attenborough and Dinosaurs Come to Your Living Room in this AR iPhone App. “The app, Museum Alive, is a fun extension of David Attenborough’s documentary Natural History Museum Alive, which was created in 2014. In the film, he encountered CGI skeletons as he walked through the London museum and talked about them. The engaging app has a similar feel but uses animated 3D models of habitats that you or your child can view through a smartphone camera.” Good morning, Internet…

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