NEW RESOURCES

Tamworth Regional Council (Australia): Historic & art collections from the Tamworth region to feature in new storytelling website. “Nine local government authorities were funded to digitise significant artworks, museum objects and archives in their regions through the NSW Government’s Regional Cultural Fund, which supports the development of cultural infrastructure in regional NSW. … The results of some of this work will now feature on Storyplace, a new website developed by Museums & Galleries of NSW that tells important stories from throughout regional New South Wales.”

Lincoln Journal-Star: New website a guide to Nebraska birding . “With the diversity of birds and habitats in the state, it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to go birding. The Nebraska Birding Guide provides descriptions for 80 locations that offer great birding opportunities. Details are provided for each site, including habitat information, birds to observe, trails to explore, amenities, fees and more.”

Sublette Examiner (Wyoming): New website introduced to bolster state education, employment. “This dashboard… provides users with a greater understanding of what jobs are available in Wyoming, pathways through education to qualify for in-demand jobs, education and training values, labor supply and demand, and growth potential for Wyoming industries within the region.”

USEFUL STUFF

Distractify: Snapchat Geofilters Are Pretty Easy to Create for Any Event or Occasion. “Since it was first introduced, one of the main draws of Snapchat has been the wide array of filters that users can play with to change their appearance or even tag themselves at a certain location or event. Geofilters are only available at certain locations and can be used to share a snap about where a user is specifically. Now, Snapchat has made it possible for anyone to create one.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Yahoo Finance: This ‘rater’ gets paid $10 an hour to teach Google’s algorithm — and he’s not alone. “Google Search may feel like magic, but the engine’s efficacy relies on hourly employees who work for a subcontractor. In the internet age, these are, quite literally, the people who help you find the right pair of pants.”

Fast Company: Can social media be anything but toxic? This new app wants to try. “…I have enjoyed my time touring the invite-only app Somewhere Good. Developed by the team behind Ethel’s Club—a work and social club for people of color that recently evolved into a wellness platform—Somewhere Good has raised $3.75 million in investment to build a new social network focused on healthy conversations for Black and other underrepresented users.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Dutch watchdog ACM to investigate Google Play store practices. “The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) announced on Wednesday a preliminary investigation into Alphabet Inc’s Google for possible anti-competitive practices in its Play store.”

SecurityWeek: GitHub Announces Mandatory 2FA for Code Contributors. “Code hosting platform GitHub on Wednesday said it would make it mandatory for software developers to use at least one form of two-factor authentication (2FA) by the end of 2023.”

National Post: Google pushes for changes to news compensation bill. “Google is urging the Liberal government to amend several sections of Bill C-18, the bill forcing big-tech platforms to share revenue with news publishers, the National Post has learned. That includes language that Google says requires payments to publishers for linking to their content, which it argues contradicts the foundations of how the internet works and sets a bad precedent.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: Europe Is Making Social Media Better Without Curtailing Free Speech. The U.S. Should, Too.. “What distinguishes the bad practices of these other industries from Big Tech is simple — there are laws holding them accountable. That’s what government is intended to do in democratic capitalism: use the law to steer the market back into alignment with the public interest. When concentrated monopolistic power privileges the few over the many and distorts how the free market operates, this kind of correction is vital.” Good afternoon, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!