TWEAKS AND UPDATES
Instapaper is still working on restoring its archives. “As of this writing, access to saved articles prior to December 20th is still not possible, although the folks behind Instapaper have stated they are aiming to fully restore archives ‘by next Friday, February 17 at the latest’.”
CNET: Google Maps makes it easier to share lots of recommendations . “A new Google Maps feature aims to make it easier for you to actually get to those places. On Monday, the search giant updated its app to let people save lists of favorite places and let them share those lists with friends.”
USEFUL STUFF
Search Engine Land: Cool tricks to explore Google’s Knowledge Graph results, featuring Donald Trump. “In the past, I’ve written about how to both obtain and optimize a Knowledge Graph result. In my attempts to learn more and get a better understanding of Google’s Knowledge Graph, I’ve discovered some cool hacks and tricks. While these tricks do not have any significant practical implications, they can serve as a way to better understand how Google’s Knowledge Graph works, which can be used to optimize your personal or company Knowledge Graph results.”
Found this in my Google Alerts: Turn Your Drupal Site Into Google Home. “I’ve dreamed of a day when systems start to work like the home automation and listening (NSA Spying…) devices that people are inviting into their home. ‘Robots’ that listen to trigger words and act on commands are very exciting. What’s most interesting to me in trying to build such systems is,… they really aren’t that hard any more. Why?” There are two videos at the end of the article; the first one’s only a minute long. Watch that one at least.
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
TNW: Twitter is worth less than its Chinese clone. Again. Really creepy graphic! “Weibo is now worth significantly more than Twitter, with a market capitalization of $11.3 billion compared to $11.1 billion. That’s a difference of about $200 million. This is a rare, remarkable state of affairs.”
SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES
It looks like PIP Printing has suffered a leak. (The headline and story use both the words “breach” and “leak”. To me a “breach” is a loss of data caused by a deliberate hostile actor, while a “leak” is a loss of data caused by negligence or misfeasance. This was a leak.) “PIP owner Michael Bluestein told NBC News that the breach appeared to stem from a third-party IT firm that accidentally misconfigured the backup protocols — essentially leaving a ‘back door’ open in the system.”
Asheville Citizen-Times: Facebook defamation leads to $500,000 settlement in Asheville. “A false remark on a Facebook posting that implied a woman got drunk and caused the death of her child has resulted in a $500,000 defamation lawsuit settlement, which one law professor describes as a ‘stunning’ amount.”
Politico: State-sponsored hackers targeting prominent journalists, Google warns. “Google has warned a number of prominent journalists that state-sponsored hackers are attempting to steal their passwords and break into their inboxes, the journalists tell POLITICO.”
RESEARCH AND OPINION
University at Albany: Governments Increasingly A-Twitter. “A study by a Center for Technology in Government (CTG) researcher reveals the factors that are making social media successful in Spanish local governments — results that could very well be applicable to municipal governments in the U.S.” Good afternoon, Internet…
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