NEW RESOURCES

University of Virginia: Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection Launches Book And Virtual Exhibition. “A new book and website tell the story of a small group of Aboriginal artists from Australia who changed the face of global art history – and the resources were produced by the only museum dedicated to Aboriginal Australian art in the United States, the University of Virginia’s Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Order your favorite TikTok recipes from TikTok Kitchens, starting in March. “Who had TikTok delivery on their 2021 bingo card? If you did, congratulations and please let me in on your fortune-telling secrets. On Friday, Virtual Dining Concepts announced it was partnering with the social video app to launch hundreds of delivery-only locations in 2022, according to Bloomberg.”

PRNewswire: Opera and Google renew search agreement (PRESS RELEASE). “Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) today announced the renewal on substantially similar terms of the multi-year commercial agreement to distribute Google Search in Opera browsers. Opera has had a search distribution agreement with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) since 2001.”

USEFUL STUFF

Washington Post: The ultimate guide to secure passwords. “The password fatigue is real, but don’t let it stop you from making some small changes to protect your accounts, your wallet and your identity. Here are six easy things to do today.”

MakeUseOf: 7 Helpful Online Communities for Developers. “If you don’t interact much with fellow developers, programming can quickly become to feel like a solitary and boring activity. But joining developer communities can help you feel connected, keep up with the industry, and get support from other developers.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Verge: WSJ’s deep dive into eating disorder rabbit holes on TikTok explains a sudden policy change. “A troubling report from the Wall Street Journal digs into the personal experiences of young girls who were sent down rabbit holes of extreme weight loss challenges, purging techniques, and deadly diets through TikTok, contributing to the development of eating disorders, or making existing ones worse. The WSJ did its own experiment to see how TikTok’s algorithm can potentially promote this kind of harmful content — its findings may explain TikTok’s sudden decision to alter the way its video recommendation system operates.”

TechRadar: Eagle-eyed Redditor spots a flying Stealth Bomber on Google Maps. “Google Maps is home to a lot of unusual sights, from strange pentagrams in Kazakhstan to a parked UFO in Romania. But a Reddit user has just spotted one of the rarest ones yet: a flying stealth bomber.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Associated Press: Pentagon targets social media posts in new rules aimed at stopping rise of extremism among military ranks. “Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials issued detailed new rules Monday prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review.”

Bleeping Computer: Conti ransomware uses Log4j bug to hack VMware vCenter servers. “Conti ransomware operation is using the critical Log4Shell exploit to gain rapid access to internal VMware vCenter Server instances and encrypt virtual machines. The gang did not waste much time adopting the new attack vector and is the first ‘top-tier’ operation known to weaponize the Log4j vulnerability.”

Europol: Europol coordinates referral action targeting migrant smuggling from Belarus. “On 16 December, a total of 455 social media accounts facilitating the illegal immigration from Belarus to Europe have been targeted as a result of a large-scale referral action. Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC), together with the European Union Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) within Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) coordinated the referral activity which involved law enforcement authorities from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Poland and Germany.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: Navigational Apps for the Blind Could Have a Broader Appeal. “Nearly every blind person has at least one story of getting lost or disoriented…. That may change, though, with the release of new apps specifically designed with pedestrians and accessibility in mind. Thanks to improvements in mapping technology and smartphone cameras, a number have emerged with features like indoor navigation, detailed descriptions of the surrounding environment and more warnings about obstacles.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Mashable: YouTuber breaks down how to timestamp a call using just the background hum. “If you were ever in any doubt as to just how mind-bogglingly impressive science can be, just watch this video of a linguistic expert time-stamping phone calls using the background hum on a line.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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