NEW RESOURCES

Rutgers University: Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics Launches First Public Database of Scientists in State Politics. “The Science and Politics Initiative at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics has launched the first publicly accessible national database of elected state legislators with scientific, engineering and health care training.”

New-to-me, from Core77: Scan the World Offers 17,000+ Scans of Famous Artworks You Can Download and 3D Print . “Nefertiti, David, Venus de Milo, the Great Buddha at Kamakura. These are just a few famous works of art that have been digitally scanned, and the files made freely available online, so anyone can download and 3D print them. Scan the World: The Open Source Museum has made some 17,000 statues, sculptures, structures and artworks available on their site.”

University of Texas at Austin: Benson Celebrates Centennial with Two New Online Exhibitions. “Two new online exhibits expand on this year’s celebration of the centennial of the Benson Latin American Collection. A new online exhibition, A New Spain, 1521–1821, is curated by LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Coordinator Albert A. Palacios…. Celebrating Eric Williams, curated by Black Diaspora Archivist Rachel Winston, is a retrospective on the intellectual and political life of the longtime prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who was also visionary the leader of the country’s independence movement.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Wales Online: Disney releases 14 free princess books with new Frozen and Cinderella stories. “Disney has launched a free princess storybook collection in a bid to ‘help inspire a kinder world’. Tales of Courage and Kindness includes 14 original stories and is available for digital download from today, Tuesday 27 April.”

CNET:
Facebook shows growth as privacy feud with Apple escalates. “Facebook grew its users and revenue in the first quarter, but the social media giant reiterated that a new privacy update Apple released this week could hinder its ads business.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

WBGO: There she is, online: Miss America archives digitized at Rowan University. “Students at Rowan University are going through a treasure chest of American history that includes jeweled crowns, velvet capes, and a cookbook. It’s 100 years of artifacts from the Miss America Organization. Students are scanning pictures and other documents in addition to taking pictures of the crowns, trophies, and a Waterford scepter carried by winners for what will become the cornerstone of the new Rowan Digital Collections.”

Crack: DJ and Intervention founder Ifeoluwa is launching a digital archive for underground music. “Taking to Twitter, Ifeoluwa – real name Yewande Adeniran – wrote, ‘Hi everyone! I’m starting a digital archive for underground dance / experimental music. I’m looking for people to submit their favourite DJs, producers and composers, both established and newcomers, sesh stories, best night outs, photos and any memorabilia. From any year!'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Google battles landmark UK class action over alleged iPhone tracking. “A proposed multi-billion pound British class action against Google, which alleges the internet giant secretly tracked millions of iPhone users, is not viable and should not be allowed to proceed, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday. Antony White, a lawyer for Google, told the first day of a two-day hearing that any maiden, U.S.-style data protection lawsuit could only seek redress under English laws if a data breach led to claimants suffering damage.”

Wired: They Hacked McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War. “OF ALL THE mysteries and injustices of the McDonald’s ice cream machine, the one that Jeremy O’Sullivan insists you understand first is its secret passcode. Press the cone icon on the screen of the Taylor C602 digital ice cream machine, he explains, then tap the buttons that show a snowflake and a milkshake to set the digits on the screen to 5, then 2, then 3, then 1. After that precise series of no fewer than 16 button presses, a menu magically unlocks.”

CNN: A false facial recognition match sent this innocent Black man to jail. “While facial recognition technology has become increasingly accurate, research has shown it is drastically more prone to error when trying to match the faces of darker skinned people. And because no federal guidelines exist to limit or standardize the use of facial recognition by law enforcement, states — and, more often, municipalities — are left to decide for themselves what, if anything, to do to control its use.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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