NEW RESOURCES

Vietnam+: Digital library traces Vietnam-France cultural, historical interaction. “Formed under cooperation between the National Library of Vietnam and the BnF, the library brings together more than 2,000 remarkable documents, from collections of the two national libraries and their partners… The website is available in both French and Vietnamese. The documents include prints, manuscripts, maps, drawings and photographs, testifying the interaction of culture, history and science between the two countries from the 17th to the 20th century.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: These global projects expand the reach of fact-checks. “Journalists can play a fundamental role supporting an evidence-based discourse by listening to their audiences’ concerns and providing corrective information about misconceptions that circulate online and offline. To support this work, the Google News Initiative launched a $3 million Open Fund in January. Over a three-week window, we received more than 309 applications from 74 countries. Today, we are announcing the 11 projects that were selected through an extensive review process that included a 17-person project team and an expert jury reviewing the highest-scoring applicants.”

CNET: Instagram adds new restrictions, warnings on direct messages to help protect teens. “Instagram on Tuesday said it’s introducing new features aimed at protecting young people on the photo-sharing app, including prompts about ‘potentially suspicious’ direct messages and restrictions on messages between teens and adults they don’t follow. ”

USEFUL STUFF

Ubergizmo: Free Alternatives to Zoom That Are Privacy-Friendly. “Zoom emerged as a popular video conferencing tool amidst the pandemic. It is still a decent choice to go with even with all the privacy and security concerns revolving around it. However, there are potentially better options to Zoom that are also free-to-use, and you might want to consider them for a better user experience and privacy. In this article, I’m going to mention the best free alternatives to Zoom.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Arab News: Turkey free speech advocates pin hope on new app. “Clubhouse is a San Francisco-based app that was launched last year and requires newcomers to be invited by existing users before they can join. It offers a selection of audio chat rooms that are divided by topic. Turkish citizens, in particular, have been drawn to the medium for political expression.”

The Verge: Stream It Yourself. “Twitch is usually thought of as a place for streaming video games. And while that reputation is deserved — yes, a lot of people stream their gaming on Twitch — the site also has a surprising breadth of channels. Makers & Crafting is one of them; the category was created in 2018, after Twitch renamed ‘Hobbies & Crafts’ to better represent the many pros who streamed in it (in their words). According to Twitch Tracker, a website that logs Twitch statistics, the category averaged 520 viewers in September 2018, the month it was created. As of January 2021, Makers & Crafting was averaging 1,520 viewers, or about three times more.”

Techdirt: Game Jam Winner Spotlight: Rhythm Action Gatsby. “From the name alone, you can probably guess what the game is: rhythm action games are a popular genre, and hey, why not make one for The Great Gatsby? The premise is presented as a joke, with the designer describing it as ‘the way F. Scott Fitzgerald would have wanted his legacy to be maintained’ — but the game doesn’t just lean on this one bit of amusing silliness, nor does it cut any corners in fulfilling its promise. Rather, it’s full of handcrafted original material.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

BBC: China’s tech giants fall under regulator’s pressure. “China’s tech giants are coming under increasing pressure from regulators worried about their growing influence. By Monday, Tencent had shed more than $60bn (£42bn) from its market value as its share price slid over concerns of greater regulator scrutiny. Media reports suggest that rival tech giant Alibaba may have to sell some of its media assets under the crackdown.”

ZDNet: Microsoft investigates potential ties between partner security firm, Exchange Server attack code leak. “The suspected state-sponsored Chinese hacking group Hafnium was originally attributed to exploitation of the zero-days. Now, however, proof-of-concept (PoC) code has been released and more advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are attempting to capitalize on the situation. Ransomware, too, is now being deployed in some attacks.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

AP: Israeli experts announce discovery of new Dead Sea scrolls. “Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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