For this week's edition of Historical Friday, we're going to take a look at Disney's revolutionary multiplane camera system which was used for incredible effect in classic movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), and Bambi (1942).
People who appreciate good astrophotography will no doubt be familiar with the work of Don Pettit, a veteran NASA astronaut who is closing in on having lived 500 days of his life in space.
Pettit is now in the midst of his third stint on the International Space Station, and the decade he had to prepare for his current stay in orbit was put to good use. Accordingly, he is well stocked on cameras, lenses, and plans to make the most of six months in space to observe the planets and heavens from an incredible vantage point.
Ars has previously written admiringly of Pettit's work, but his latest image deserves additional mention. When I first saw it, I was dazzled by its beauty. But when I looked further into the image, there were just so many amazing details to be found.
Today's deals include $200 off Samsung's M8 smart monitor. 
Walmart has the refurbished Sony XBR-49X800E 49" 4K Ultra HD HDR Smart LED HDTV (2017 model) for $350 with free shipping.Another day, another Facebook privacy mess. Actually, this one is a few different privacy messes that we'll roll up into a single post because, honestly, who can keep track of them all these days? While we've noted that the media is frequently guilty of exaggerating or misunderstanding certain claims about Facebook and privacy, Facebook does continue to do a really, really awful job concerning how it handles privacy and its transparency about these things with its users. And that's a problem that comes from the executive team, who still doesn't seem to fully comprehend what a mess they have on their hands.
The latest flaps both involve questionable behavior targeted at younger Facebook users. First there's a followup on a story we wrote about a few weeks ago, involving internal Facebook documents showing staffers gleefully refusing to refund money spent unwittingly by kids on games on the Facebook platform. Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting, who broke that story, also had a much more detailed and much more damning followup, about how Facebook was clearly knowingly duping young children out of their parents' money.
Facebook encouraged game developers to let children spend money without their parents’ permission – something the social media giant called “friendly fraud” – in an effort to maximize revenues, according to a document detailing the company’s game strategy.
Sometimes the children did not even know they were spending money, according to another internal Facebook report. Facebook employees knew this. Their own reports showed underage users did not realize their parents’ credit cards were connected to their Facebook accounts and they were spending real money in the games, according to the unsealed documents.
For years, the company ignored warnings from its own employees that it was bamboozling children.
A team of Facebook employees even developed a method that would have reduced the problem of children being hoodwinked into spending money, but the company did not implement it, and instead told game developers that the social media giant was focused on maximizing revenues.
Yes, they not only called it "friendly fraud," but in an internal memo, they explained "why you shouldn't try to block it" (i.e., why you should let game developers scam kids out of their parents' money).
This reminds me so much of the early days of adware scammers, who pulled similar kinds of stunts -- and it's incredible to think that Facebook, which presented itself as a squeaky clean alternative to the open web where those kinds of scams piled up, was basically doing the same thing on a much larger scale. The Reveal article has much more on this, and is worth reading in full to see how the focus on revenue had the company deliberately look the other way as it scooped up cash from kids.
But rather than focus on that, we already need to move on to the more recent Facebook privacy scandal, which also (partially) involves kids. Last summer, we wrote about how Apple had booted Facebook's Onavo app from its app store. Facebook had marketed it as a privacy protecting "VPN," but it was really pretty blatant spyware. Indeed, late last year when yet another Facebook privacy scandal broke, it was revealed that Facebook had been using Onavo data to determine what competitive apps were most popular -- including giving it ideas on what apps to buy or (much more damning) what apps to hinder or block from Facebook.
Apparently, even having Apple boot the app didn't give Facebook the idea that maybe this spyware was going a bit too far. Instead, it now appears that Facebook "pivoted" into paying teens to install Onavo on iPhones in a way that routed around Apple's App Store blocks, by saying it was a part of "Facebook Research." And they hid this from Apple by using third party "beta testing" services:
The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest to cloak Facebook’s involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas” — a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe.
Facebook appears to have desperately wanted all of this data, if it was willing to go these lengths even after Apple had booted Onavo. After TechCrunch broke this story, Facebook claimed that it would stop that program on iPhones, while Apple claims it banned the app before Facebook itself could pull it.
For years, people like Jaron Lanier have argued that Facebook should pay its users for all the data they get -- but I think even people who wanted payment would balk a bit at how much access people were giving in exchange for $20/month in gift cards.
“By installing the software, you’re giving our client permission to collect data from your phone that will help them understand how you browse the internet, and how you use the features in the apps you’ve installed . . . This means you’re letting our client collect information such as which apps are on your phone, how and when you use them, data about your activities and content within those apps, as well as how other people interact with you or your content within those apps. You are also letting our client collect information about your internet browsing activity (including the websites you visit and data that is exchanged between your device and those websites) and your use of other online services. There are some instances when our client will collect this information even where the app uses encryption, or from within secure browser sessions.”
And, of course, the setup required you to keep the app running and spying on everything if you wanted to keep getting paid.
Facebook, in response to the TechCrunch story, did its standard PR tap dance, insisting that they weren't hiding anything (Apple's response suggests otherwise, as does the fact that Facebook specifically used these 3rd party services). But, once again, like with so many other Facebook privacy scandals, the reason why so many people get upset about this is because they were not open and transparent about what was going on, and that's why it's so surprising to everyone.
The only "good" news is that on the same day all of this came out, it was announced that Facebook has just hired two of its biggest privacy critics to work on privacy issues at the company: EFF's Nate Cardozo and Open Technology Institute's Robyn Greene (*Disclosure: I know both Nate and Robyn, and Nate did, very helpfully, represent us on one issue while he was at EFF.) I know some may cynically see this as Facebook trying to co-opt some of its critics, but both Nate and Robyn have incredibly strong track records on privacy, including being vocally critical of Facebook and its policies. Hopefully this is a sign that the company is actually taking these issues seriously (better a decade too late than never).
Large portions of the U.S. government are shut down, but espionage doesn’t wait for anybody. The U.S. military launched a Delta-IV Heavy rocket on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but its payload is a mystery. Why? Whatever America just launched into space is for the National Reconnaissance…
Footage shown at the D23 Expo shows the Avengers assembling and bringing in a very excited Scott Lang.
The post Marvel Teases Captain America: Civil War with Ant-Man Bromance, Black Panther at D23 appeared first on WIRED.
Climate change means that it's no longer certain that the tailgate you've planned for the third weekend in August will have clear skies and sunshine. Fortunately, a group of Chinese researchers think that they've developed a system that'll predict...
Back in 2012 , Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, announced that Bezos Expeditions discovered the location of several long-lost rockets used by the Apollo program to launch people to the moon. Now, those rockets are on display.
Here’s a little usability design problem for you.
What’s wrong with this picture?
It’s the login popup from Zaxaa, my new favourite selling platform.
On at least one occasion, I have entered my details (which autofill using LastPass, highly recommended) and then immediately clicked the “Forgot Password” button, after which I have to click back to log in properly.
There are three problems I can see…
The first is the relative positioning of the buttons, more specifically alignment.
The elements on this form are left-aligned. There’s an invisible alignment axis, which I’ve highlighted here.
Alignment axes are one way of indicating to your visitor that elements are related. So what this alignment is essentially doing is saying, “Here’s the Login form, and you need to do 1, 2, 3 (optional remember me), 4” where (4) is actually the wrong button.
What you actually need to do is go down the alignment axis… Login, 1, 2… and then across to the actual Login button, in a big “L” shape! And that doesn’t seem obvious.
Solution: Move the “Login” button to where the “Forgot Password?” button is now.
The “Forgot Password?” button is more than twice as large as the “Login” button. That makes it seem more important, because size is one of the strongest noticeability factors (make sure you read Save the Pixel to discover a lot more about these, they’re essential to good graphic design).
This is a mistake, because the default use case is to hit “Login”. Forgetting your password is an edge case: it shouldn’t happen very often at all. We should always prioritise the default path.
Solution: Ensure the “Login” button is the biggest button on the form.
The background of the form is a dull dark green. The “Login” button is a lighter, brighter version of that same green.
The “Forgot Password?” button, on the other hand, is orange. It’s halfway round the colour wheel from green, so it’s contrasting. And that also makes it stand out, compounding the problem of its size.
Solution: I would not have “Forgot Password?” as a button, because it doesn’t really perform an action — it actually changes your state.
Logging in is an action, but all “Forgot Password?” does is bring up a new option, so I think it should be a link. That will be more appropriate to its status, making the option smaller and less noticeable.
The post Login Form Usability Problem Solved appeared first on Web Design from Scratch.
The best part about the Segway craze is that it's now over. It's time for a ballin' new form of personal transportation like whatever the heck this thing is. Created by fabricator Izzy Swan, this machine is a strange mix of Segway and AT-ST. It uses ...
Want to up the ante on your costume for the next big comic convention? Capcom will soon have you covered. The game developer has teased plans for an official, wearable Mega Man helmet that lights up. It won't grant you cybernetic powers, but it defin...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Yesterday, NASA launched SMAP, Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite, strapped to an unmanned United Alliance Delta II Rocket. Whereas many of NASA's recent launches have had ISS or deep space trajectories, SMAP will be turning its gaze on earth—more specifically, the soil beneath our feet.
The markers used by baristas at coffee shops to label cups might soon be useful for more than just identifying your drink. Inspired by the experience of burning your tongue on overly hot coffee, the Ink N Drink markers contain heat-sensitive ink that lets you know which drink is yours, and if it's safe to sip yet.
Best Buy has the Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition for $14 with free in-store pickup or free shipping to home on $25+. Features blocks upon blocks upon blocks of materials that can be used to build just about anything. 
Today only. Sears has the Wellington Electric Fireplace (7690N) for $150 with free shipping. Features 1400W heating element output power, built-in media shelf, and a sturdy top that supports up to 37" flat screen TV.
In 2012 I bought an apartment specifically to rent out on airbnb. I've been managing it remotely for the past year. This post includes everything I learned as well as some revenue numbers.
    
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Woot-Lib!: [plural noun] Friday
Remember that game you played as a kid (that we're not able to name directly for trademark reasons) where you'd fill in the blanks with nouns and adjectives and stuff? For this Woot-Off we're asking you, our loyal denizens, to help us write a bunch of upcoming writeups in a similar fashion. Play along here!
“Down and Out in the South” is a series of studio portraits by photographer Jan Banning that explore the issue of homelessness.
The project started back in 2010 while Banning was working as an artist-in-residence. A board member of the art center suggested homelessness as a potential subject matter for Banning to explore.
The photographer was initially hesitant, feeling like he “had little to contribute to existing images” due to the fact that “society’s outcasts have been photographed very often.”
However, after thinking about it some more, Banning decided to tackle the project—albeit in an angle different from most photographers. Rather than photographing the men and women on the streets where they live, he decided to photograph them as he “would photograph any other member of society.
Banning deliberately tried to avoid many of the clichés of photo projects involving homelessness. Instead of finding people who stand out as “different” in one way or another, he invited the people into his makeshift studio for portraits against a neutral backdrop. Banning’s goal was “focusing on their individuality rather than on stereotypes.
“I want to show who they are rather than what they are labeled,” he says.
The portraits show men and women Banning encountered in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi between 2010 and 2011:
Banning ended up photographing around 100 homeless men and women in the South. The subjects were from a metropolis, a medium-sized city, and a few rural towns (Banning wanted a “fair degree of representation” in his series). Each portrait subject was given a print of their photograph.
42 of the portraits have been published in a hardcover photo book titled “Down and Out in the South.” You can also find the project over on Banning’s website.
“Down and Out in the South” by Jan Banning (via Slate)
P.S. Back in February, we featured a project in which Banning photographed government officials from around the world in their offices.
Image credits: Photographs by Jan Banning and used with permission
Dan from the Journal of Ride Theory passed me a copy of the original prospectus for Disneyland -- a rare and wonderful document I've never seen or even heard of before. I'm delighted to bring it to you today. Dan explains:
I like it because I get the sense it's an edited transcript of Walt just making up fun stuff on the fly. I have no evidence for that, but I know he was good at telling stories without a script, and there's something about the phrases used that sounds a bit like Walt talking off the cuff. But what do I know?
I found it ten or so years ago, in the files of Eyerly Rides in Salem. They had a contract to build the Dumbo ride and a windmill Ferris wheel for Disney, but the deal fell through when Lee Eyerly got cancer. Also, Walt insisted the ride must load everybody all at once, while the Eyerlys knew from experience that was an inefficient way to work the queue.
At one point, somebody at Eyerly went to a bookstore and bought a Little Golden Book (or something) of Dumbo so they could have reference pictures in order to design the fiberglass elephants.
Take Walt being intractable, add the Eyerlys insisting they knew their business, then throw in cancer, and the deal fell through -- amicably, as I read the documents. Arrow Development got the contract for Dumbo. It barely worked on opening day and queues have been long for that ride ever since. The Ferris wheel idea wasn't built until Disneyland Paris.
I've got a LOT of transcripts of phone calls on that deal, and a few drawings/diagrams. Scanning all those documents is a one-of-these-days project.
Read it all the way through for an example of horrible, casual racism.
Disneyland Prospectus (Thanks, Dan) 
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