wasavi is an extension for Chrome, Opera and Firefox. wasavi transforms TEXTAREA element of any page into a VI editor, so you can edit the text in VI. wasavi supports almost all VI commands and some ex commands.
Apple is planning on using its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to dominate mobile payments in North America—something that no company has really managed yet despite the popularity of phone-based payments in other markets. This is being made possible by the inclusion of NFC chips in the upcoming iPhone models, which gives newer iPhones a capability that has been a regular feature in other device ecosystems for some time now.
However, developers excited to take advantage of NFC on iOS devices are going to be disappointed. In an e-mail exchange with Cult of Mac, Apple confirmed that usage of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus NFC chip will be restricted to Apple Pay only.
As explained by Cult of Mac, this restriction (or omission, depending on how you want to look at it) is similar to Apple’s rollout of its fingerprint-sensing TouchID technology with the iPhone 5S—a year after the device’s release, third-party developers are only now being granted access to the TouchID APIs in their apps with the imminent release of iOS8.
Update: NASA has announced that both the Boeing team and SpaceX will move forward on the commercial crew program. See John Timmer's report for details.
NASA is scheduled to make an announcement today about the competition for the Commercial Crew program, the space vehicle that will handle the delivery and return of crew members to the International Space Station and other orbital destinations. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Boeing and partner Blue Origin LLC have the inside track on a contract win. The Washington Post, however, reports that both the Boeing team and SpaceX will be awarded contracts for a demonstration launch.
Blue Origin had been a relatively low-profile space startup. Founded and funded by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, the company has been focused on developing spacecraft with a vertical takeoff-vertical landing first stage—similar to the technology that SpaceX has been working on with its Grasshopper and Falcon 9 launchers. But Blue Origin hasn’t published any information on further developments of its “New Shepard” suborbital vehicle for nearly two years while the company focused on development of its BE-3—a low-cost, reusable liquid hydrogen rocket engine.
It is the engine technology that attracted the attention of Boeing. In July, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announcement said that Blue Origin was part of a Boeing team that entered a competition for an unmanned “space plane” launch system. Its low-cost engine addresses the competition's focus of dropping the cost of putting large satellites into orbit to under $5 million per launch. SpaceX was not included in the teams selected for the first phase of the program, called XS-1, by DARPA.
Netflix—the streaming service that got you hooked on Freaks And Geeksand Undeclared, only to let you down when both shows ran out of episodes after one season—has picked up two rounds of Love, a new comedy series from Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Leslie Arfin. That’s big news for fans of Rust, Love co-star Gillian Jacobs, and/or chronicles of comedically dysfunctional couples, but it’s even bigger news for Apatow, who for once in his professional life doesn’t have to worry if a show he developed will make it to a second season.
“But didn’t Girls, which Apatow executive produces, receive a second season after its third episode, thus negating the thrust of this Newswire?” you might ask. And you’d be right to ask that, though it does nothing to diminish the fact that, in 2016, Netflix subscribers will get to know ...
NASA will make a major announcement today at 4 p.m. EDT regarding the return of human spaceflight launches to the United States. The agency will make the announcement during a news conference from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Right now, wireless carriers aren’t subject to the FCC’s Open Internet rules. To say the wireless industry is less than welcoming of the idea of having those rules apply to their networks would be an understatement.
After hip-hop music was born on the streets of New York City in the 1970s, it quickly grew into a full-fledged pop cultural movement in the early ’80s, a period of expansion chronicled in Ed Piskor’s phenomenal Hip Hop Family Tree, Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics). The cartoonist’s ongoing serialization of the history of hip-hop in the style of a Bronze Age Marvel comic is a weekly fixture on Boing Boing, but seeing these stories in the oversized collections makes for an even more memorable reading experience.
Everything about Piskor’s approach is about turning these human DJs and MCs into larger-than-life idols, using the opportunities afforded by the comic-book medium to exaggerate the physical appearances of the characters as well as the sensory experience of hip-hop performance, whether it’s music, break-dancing, or graffiti art. In his introduction, director Charlie Ahearn—who appears in this volume thanks to his ...
Broadside Ballads from the Bodleian libraries hosts a great collection. I am especially impressed by the fantastic illustration archive, divided into neat and specific categories. Go look!
The University of California’s English Broadside Ballad Archive is also a fantastic project, with a dedicated team making previously hard to find (on microfiche or in archive) broadsides available to everyone, and transcribed to modern eyes and ears. Amazing. What we have online is amazing.
Harvard University scientists have taken their quadrupedal soft robot (see previously) out for some field tests to demonstrate just how resilient the admittedly somewhat creepy walking robot can be. Tests show the robot traversing flames, crawling over heavy snow, and getting run over by a car, all while using an onboard camera to observe its environment.
The soft robot is safe to interact with during operation, and its silicone body is innately resilient to a variety of adverse environmental conditions including snow, puddles of water, direct (albeit limited) exposure to flames, and the crushing force of being run over by an automobile.
VINELAND, NJ—Saying that he doesn’t function properly unless he’s completely jittery and suffering from nausea, local claims adjuster Spencer Howell told reporters Monday that he’s not his normal self until he has too many cups of ...
Once upon a time, Apple was on the same side as its users. The very first iMac, back in 1998, had a handle built into the top of it, where it would be visible when the box was opened. In Ive’s words, ‘if there's this handle on it, it makes a relationship possible…It gives a sense of its deference to you.’ Does anyone feel like their iPhone is deferential to them? What changed? Part of it is what Ethan Zuckerman called ‘the original sin’ of the Internet, the widespread advertising-based model that depends on strip-mining user characteristics for ad targeting, coupled with what Maciej Ceglowski describes as ‘investor storytime’, selling investors on the idea that they’ll get rich when you finally do put ads on your site. The other part is the rise of what Bruce Sterling dubbed “the Stacks”: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft. Alexis Madrigal predicted, “Your technology will work perfectly within the silo...But it will be perfectly broken at the interfaces between itself and its competitors”, and that can only be the case if the companies control what you do both inside and outside the silo. And, finally, of course, our willingness to play ball with them—ie why I didn't want to sign into Google from my phone—has eroded in direct proportion to our trust that the data gathered by companies will be handled carefully (not abused, shared, leaked, or turned over). Right now, a large fraction of my interactions with tech companies, especially the Stacks, feel coerced.
After he defrauded Mississippi single mom Esther Pilgrim, he was arrested, pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was handed five years’ probation. And he was ordered to pay Pilgrim back $19,000 of the money he stole.
Story over. Or so it seemed.
But on Valentine’s Day last year -- eight months after Dateline aired “The Perfect Catch” – culture magazine The Source broke the news online that Tim Dog, aged just 46, had died from a seizure linked to diabetes. Even though the rapper was considered a has-been, whose biggest hit was the iconic 1991 diss track “F*** Compton”, news of Tim Dog’s death made international headlines.
A memorial service was planned in Harlem -- a poster announcing donations could be made via a PayPal account that would benefit Blair’s daughter.
While it was strange perhaps that no media were allowed to cover the local celebrity send-off, it seemed Tim Blair had been laid to rest.
But months after the planned memorial, no public death record of Blair’s death could be found; and whispers began among those who had claimed to have been scammed by the rapper. The memorial service was canceled, they claimed -- a sham. Who was that PayPal account benefiting? Why wasn’t there any public record of Blair’s death?
And it wasn’t long before another outrageous story about the larger-than-life rapper took hold online: that Tim Dog, a brilliant scam artist, had faked his own death to avoid paying the court-ordered restitution to Esther Pilgrim.
Pilgrim, who was no longer receiving monthly payments from Blair, was suddenly stoked -- determined to find her scammer and make sure justice was served.
A Mississippi prosecutor in Pilgrim’s country issued an arrest warrant for Blair, further fueling the “rapper faked his death” story, while Blair’s wife Alexandra – who kept her distance from any media – apparently didn’t seek to silence the growing chorus. Even if she didn’t want to face media cameras, some wondered, why didn’t she release a statement – or produce her husband’s death certificate?
Pumping up the mystery to an even higher volume, rappers with whom Blair had collaborated scoffed at the notion Tim Dog was dead. In fact a few months after Blair’s memorial service, a track called “Falsified” appeared online featuring the vocals of the supposedly dead Tim Dog himself. To those who doubted he was dead, Tim Dog seemed to be thumbing his nose at his victim and authorities -- reveling in his notoriety.
So where was he?
As Dateline set off to investigate what happened to Blair, residency records led our team to a home in Fairburn, GA. There, neighbors claimed they had seen Blair, Alexandra and their young daughter – but said they had kept to themselves for the seven months they lived there, and left suddenly around April this year. Was it possible that the urban former hip hop star from the streets of the Bronx was living a sedate, undercover life in the Atlanta ‘burbs?
Our search took us to another home in Decatur, GA, where traces of Tim Dog petered out. The house where we thought he could be living, was occupied by someone else.
But Pilgrim was still on the hunt and, with help from a man who claimed his boss had been ripped off by Tim Blair in a fake concert promotion deal in Australia, was able to sniff out a new trail of breadcrumbs that she revealed to Dateline.
The clues lit up a new path suggesting Blair had been treated at Atlanta Medical Center before being discharged to Hospice Atlanta. But since the hospice could not release any information about whether Blair had been treated there – we began calling funeral homes in same zip code as the hospice, and continued widening our search until at last one funeral home confirmed a record of the hip hop artist.
Timothy Blair died at Hospice Atlanta, Dekalb County, GA on 14 February, 2013. Dateline obtained his death certificate from the Dekalb County GA Board of Health. No paperwork was filed in the county where Blair was widely believed to be living – because death records are filed in the county of death; and no one except close family, friends and carers knew where the former rapper lived – and died.
There is a final twist in the story of Tim Dog’s death. It turns out his cremation was paid for by the county.
"The HDMI ports have no real function, apart from looking cool," says creator Jonny Barry in an interview. "They actually come with a custom Jordan HDMI cable that when attached, can act as a type of carry cord for walking around sneaker conventions or something!"
If you've ever wanted to showcase your love for the Playstation 4 on the streets, these $950 custom sneakers might help you step out in style. As reported by DualShockers, the "JRDN 4 X PS4" combines the design of the classic Nike Air Jordan 4 with elements from Sony's next-gen console, most notably its HDMI port.
Sadly, the outlets are strictly decorative. "The HDMI ports have no real function, apart from looking cool," says creator Jonny Barry in an interview. "They actually come with a custom Jordan HDMI cable that when attached, can act as a type of carry cord for walking around sneaker conventions or something!" Barry is planning to release a limited edition run of 10, each of which will ship with the cable and a custom box. To order, prospective buyers will need to either send an email or contact the maker through Instagram.
An anonymous reader writes: The net neutrality debate has been pretty binary: ISPs want the ability to create so-called "fast lanes," and consumers want all traffic to be treated equally. Now, AT&T is proposing an alternative: fast lanes under consumer control. Their idea would "allow individual consumers to ask that some applications, such as Netflix, receive priority treatment over other services, such as e-mail or online video games. That's different from the FCC's current proposal, which tacitly allows Internet providers to charge content companies for priority access to consumers but doesn't give the consumers a choice in the matter." AT&T said, "Such an approach would preserve the ability of Internet service providers to engage in individualized negotiations with [content companies] for a host of services, while prohibiting the precise practice that has raised 'fast lane' concerns." It's not perfect, but it's probably the first earnest attempt at a compromise we've seen from either side, and it suggests the discussion can move forward without completely rejecting one group's wishes.
jralls (537436) writes The New York Times broke a story [Monday] (paywalled if you look at more than 10 stories a month) about ToDo, "an open group of companies who run open source programs" who are seeking to "committed to working together in order to overcome" the challenges of using FOSS, "including ensuring high-quality and frequent releases, engaging with developer communities, and using and contributing back to other projects effectively." The more militant among us will read that as "It's not enough getting a free ride off of developers building great software, we want to shove our roadmap down their throats and get them to work harder for us — without having to pay for it, of course." That might be a bit harsh, but none of the companies on the page are exactly well known for cooperating with the projects they use, with Google being one of the worst offenders by forking both Linux and WebKit.
Non-profit project management for a tech education/outreach company funded by donations and Goodwill-style resale. Spanish, Russian, Chinese, or Vietnamese fluency desired.
"The Director of Public Services is part of a threeperson Senior Management Team that shares executive responsibility for the organization of Free Geek as a whole. This position is specifically responsible for connecting with the community while ensuring quality, responsive educational programs and customer, volunteer and donor satisfaction. The incumbent will be expected to cultivate external organizational partners, relationships with donors, and build team strength and cohesion across all organizational levels in the Public Services Department."
JOB TITLE: Director of Public Services
CLASS: Management
CATEGORY: At-will
REPORTS TO: Board of Directors
SALARY RANGE: $40,000-$60,000 (initial salary ordinarily not more than median)
The Director of Public Services is part of a three person Senior Management Team that shares executive responsibility for the organization of Free Geek as a whole. This position is specifically responsible for connecting with the community while ensuring quality, responsive educational programs and customer, volunteer and donor satisfaction. The incumbent will be expected to cultivate external organizational partners, relationships with donors, and build team strength and cohesion across all organizational levels in the Public Services Department. Please see the full job description for further responsibilities and requirements. This full-time position is eligible for medical and dental insurance benefits.
What will candidates love about this job? Free Geek is, hands down, the single best solution for e-waste handling in the greater Portland area. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with representatives from businesses and governments, as well as prospective volunteers, to show off our amazing programs. You’ll get to foster relationships with great community organizations and explore new ground in our outreach and fundraising programs. You’ll have the support of a committed staff and wide-ranging responsibilities that allow for a new adventure every week. Sharing the executive management responsibilities with two other senior managers makes decision-making more powerful and fun.
What do employees say they love about Free Geek? Our mission of combining technology, education, and volunteerism resonates with almost everyone, especially in nature-loving, tech-growing, community-minded Portland. We’ve been a darling of the community for fourteen years and are devising new ways to team up with other nonprofits to help conquer the digital divide. Because we focus on several areas of social service that aren’t often combined, our community of volunteers and supporters is incredibly diverse. Many of our employees cite the opportunity to work with this wide-ranging population as one of the most satisfying aspects of their work experience.
This search is open to INTERNAL and EXTERNAL candidates. For best consideration, please apply before 5pm on Friday, October 3rd. The anticipated start date for this position is early to mid-November. To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, contact information for three references, and concise answers to the following questions to hiring (at) freegeek (dot) org:
Summarize the education and experience that have prepared you for this position and explain why you are the most qualified candidate.
Discuss your experience working with a team to develop and implement a program or project.
Describe an experience you have had leading or managing work in a changing environment.
Founded in 2010 and led by Mr. Meybaum, a visionary entrepreneur and pioneer in 3D CAD cloud collaboration tools, GrabCAD is helping engineers get products to market faster by connecting people, content and technology. GrabCAD offers GrabCAD Workbench, a cloud-based collaboration tool that enables engineers and designers to share, view and manage CAD files and other design data. GrabCAD is also home to a community of more than 1.5 million members from around the world who can access a large public CAD file library as well as connect with other engineers.
The acquisition is expected to enable Stratasys to provide its customers with enhanced collaboration tools and improved accessibility relating to 3D CAD content. The addition of GrabCAD Workbench provides Stratasys with an opportunity to drive communication and ease of use throughout the 3D printing process and grow its technology solutions and user communities.
Rather than having kids pick up a language like Python or Java (as you would in a college or AP Computer Science class), Code Studio teaches the underlying concepts in programming through the manipulation of blocks of logic that, when stacked together in a particular order, move a character around a scene or draw a shape. The interface works a lot like MIT’s Scratch, though Code.org director of product Mona Akmal told me over a Google Hangout that there are a few key difference’s between MIT’s offering and Code Studio, chief among them the use of HTML5 (so it can run in most browsers) and the puzzle-based lesson plans for K-12 students.
Each Tuesday is EducationTuesday here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts about educators and all things STEM. Adafruit supports our educators and loves to spread the good word about educational STEM innovations!
'The damage here isn’t that a bunch of people need to figure out how to delete a (really quite bad) album that they got for free and are now whining about. It’s that Apple did something inconsiderate, tone-deaf, and kinda creepy for the sake of a relatively unimportant marketing campaign, and they seemingly didn’t think it would be a problem.'
Being angry about an album you were given for free does sound dumb, but due to the way iTunes purchase libraries work, that’s not the whole story. As far as most people can tell, purchases stick around forever. I didn’t even know you could hide purchases from your history until this, and I’m supposed to be an expert in Apple stuff.
The right way for Apple to do a big U2 promotional deal like this would have been to simply make the album free on the iTunes Store for a while and promote the hell out of that.
Instead, Apple set everyone’s account to have “purchased” this album, which auto-downloaded it to all of their devices, possibly filling up the stingy base-level storage that Apple still hasn’t raised and exacerbates by iOS’ poor and confusing storage-management facilities. And when people see a random album they didn’t buy suddenly showing up in their “purchases” and library, it makes them wonder where it came from, why it’s there, whether they were charged for it, and whether they were hacked or had their credit card stolen.
It was a sloppy, hamfisted execution uncharacteristic of Apple, much like the painfully awkward, forced, cheesy Tim/Bono marketing skit announcing this promotion that slaughtered the momentum of the otherwise very important iPhone 6/Pay/Watch event.
The damage here isn’t that a bunch of people need to figure out how to delete an album1 that they got for free and are now whining about. It’s that Apple did something inconsiderate, tone-deaf, and kinda creepy for the sake of a relatively unimportant marketing campaign, and they seemingly didn’t think it would be a problem.
It’s a breach of implied boundaries. It will cost them relatively little in the grand scheme of things, but in an area that’s extremely hard to recover: customer trust.
It doesn’t even matter what you think of this particular album. There isn’t an album ever recorded that would have made enough people widely OK with this. “Every iTunes customer” is not only a lot of people, but it’s a lot of very different people. ↩
Each Tuesday is EducationTuesday here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts about educators and all things STEM. Adafruit supports our educators and loves to spread the good word about educational STEM innovations!
