NEW RESOURCES

Northeastern Illinois University: Gutiérrez Congressional digital archive at NEIU Libraries is now available for viewing. “When U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez chose not to seek reelection in 2018, he donated his Congressional archives to Northeastern Illinois University. The Luis V. Gutiérrez Congressional Archives, which contain 41 linear feet of documents, awards, letters and other paraphernalia, is now available for online viewing.”

Ohio Senate: Ohio Redistricting Commission Launches Redistricting.Ohio.Gov. “In addition to providing details about dates and locations for the Commission’s upcoming regional public hearings, the website provides access to witness slips for Ohioans who are interested in testifying in-person or submitting written testimony to the Commission. The website also provides access to 2020 U.S. Census data, which members of the public can use to create map proposals of their own. Maps can be uploaded to the website as ZIP files.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Twitter is testing a newsletter subscription button on profile pages. “Twitter is testing a feature that makes it even more enticing to use its recently acquired Revue newsletter platform: the ability to subscribe to a newsletter directly from a Twitter profile, without having to follow a link to a separate website. The feature can be enabled by all Revue newsletter writers, but the button is initially only being shown to a test group of Twitter users on Android and the web.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: The little-known human stories behind emoji designs. “Peter Tosh’s story doesn’t end happily; he was murdered in a horrific attack in the 1980s, but he left both a musical and a political legacy. And if you open your emoji keyboard and search for ‘levitating’, you will find a tiny picture of a man dressed in a dapper black suit, hat and shades. That is Peter Tosh.”

Mashable: Weird Spotify Playlists is an unexpected meme that pushes the boundaries. “There are now memes on Spotify. Yes, Spotify. Starting in the first week of August my Twitter feed became inundated by the account Weird Spotify Playlists, which posts screenshots of playlists where weird doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: BlackBerry resisted announcing major flaw in software powering cars, hospital equipment. “A flaw in software made by BlackBerry has left two hundred million cars, along with critical hospital and factory equipment, vulnerable to hackers — and the company opted to keep it secret for months.”

Wired: Google Docs Scams Still Pose a Threat . “IN MAY 2017, a phishing attack now known as “the Google Docs worm” spread across the internet. It used special web applications to impersonate Google Docs and request deep access to the emails and contact lists in Gmail accounts…. The incident ultimately affected more than a million accounts before Google successfully contained it. New research indicates, though, that the company’s fixes don’t go far enough.”

Business Insider: T-Mobile customers file class action lawsuits as investigation finds 53 million affected by data breach. “The number of users whose personal information might have been compromised in a recent cyber attack of T-Mobile has climbed to 53 million, as the telecommunication company is hit by a pair of class-action lawsuits. T-Mobile announced Friday it had discovered that another 5.3 million current customers and 667,000 former customers also had their information stolen.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

National Institute of Standards and Technology: Common Solar Tech Can Power Smart Devices Indoors, NIST Study Finds . “We usually think of solar, or photovoltaic (PV), cells fixed to roofs, converting sunlight into electricity, but bringing that technology indoors could further boost the energy efficiency of buildings and energize swaths of wireless smart technologies such as smoke alarms, cameras and temperature sensors, also called Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Now, a study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that a straightforward approach for capturing light indoors may be within reach.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

HackADay: Spiffy Summer Project Sources Solar Sounds From Scraps. “[Gijs Gieskes] has a long history of producing electronic art and sound contraptions, and his Zonneliedjes (sunsongs) project is certainly an entertaining perpetuation of his sonic creations. With the stated goal of making music from sunlight, the sunsongs most prominent feature is solar panels.” Good evening, Internet…

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