mpicpp (3454017) writes with word that Mozilla released a full development environment integrated into Firefox (available now in nightly builds). From the announcement: Developers tell us that they are not sure how to start app development on the Web, with so many different tools and templates that they need to download from a variety of different sources. We’re solving that problem with WebIDE, built directly into Firefox. Instead of starting from zero we provide you with a functioning blueprint app with the click of a button. You then have all the tools you need to start creating your own app based on a solid foundation. WebIDE helps you create, edit, and test a new Web application right from your browser. It lets you install and test apps on Firefox OS devices and simulators and integrates the Firefox Developer Tools for seamless debugging and inspection across those devices. This is a first step towards debugging across various platforms and devices over WiFi using open remote debugging APIs. The default editor is based on CodeMirror, but the protocol for interacting with the IDE is open and support for other editors (Emacs anyone?) should appear soon.
In the buildup to tomorrow's Google I/O conference, App Annie has released a report detailing the rapid growth of Google's Play Store and the revenues it's producing. After surpassing a million apps last summer, Android's app repository now has more than 1.5 million, with downloads reportedly growing by 50 percent between 2013 and 2014. Income from those apps is increasing at an even faster pace, more than doubling last year's totals. What's notable about that growth is that it's being driven almost entirely by freemium apps — free to download, but including paid in-app purchases — which now produce 98 percent of all revenues from Android apps and games.
Japan maintains its lead as the world's biggest spender on in-app content, driven primarily by addictive mobile games, with the US and South Korea following in a distant second and third spot. Games aren't influential just in Japan, however: they account for roughly 40 percent of all Android downloads and generate almost 90 percent of the platform's revenues. Asian markets are leading the way in embracing the freemium model in games and the rest of the world is following a similar trajectory. Android's users might still be reluctant to pay for apps, but content inside those apps is apparently proving much more enticing.
Prince is apparently getting his musical inspiration from Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit. Speaking to The Minnesota Star Tribune, Prince said that "This Could Be Us," a track from a newly announced solo album, was named in reference to the #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin meme. Prince explained that he was inspired by a widely retweeted image taken from his 1984 film Purple Rain, showing him and co-star Apollonia Kotero on a motorcycle, with the words "This could be us... but you playin" emblazoned above and below their faces.
The song is reportedly a "joyful ballad," laid over with Prince's "ecstatic" vocals. The singer has had difficulties with record labels in the past, but his new album, along with a remastered 30th anniversary version of Purple Rain, will be released on Warner Bros. Records. He had previously announced that he would be releasing an album with his band 3rd Eye Girl, called Plectrum Electrum, but his solo album is yet to be named. Neither has a release date yet.
Prince has previously shown hostility toward the internet in general, calling it "completely over" in an interview in 2010, and lobbying aggressively to sue pirates of his music. But while he professes to hate the internet, the star joined Twitter in last year, and this new meme-centric song isn't the first time Prince has shown that he is very capable of exploiting his persona and mythos online. "Breakfast Can Wait," released by Prince and his band 3rd Eye Girl in August of 2013, makes reference to a sketch by comedian Dave Chappelle. In the sketch, Prince — played by Chappelle — invites an impersonated Eddie Murphy back to his house, before beating him at basketball and serving him breakfast. The single's cover, tweeted along with the words "Game: Blouses," shows Chappelle in full Prince regalia, holding plate of pancakes.
Over the years, Apple has raised over $75 million for Product Red. The initiative — started by U2 frontman Bono — directs a chunk of profits from various products to the fight against AIDS. But few people know about Apple's contributions; the company rarely boasts about or issues press releases marking Product Red milestones. And Bono isn't happy about that. He wants to see Apple do more to raise awareness around the cause; much more than it's doing now, anyway. "Apple is so fucking annoyingly quiet about the fact they've raised $75 million," Bono told an audience during his recent Cannes Lions presentation. "Nobody knows!" To its credit, Apple does have an entire page of its website dedicated to Product Red. Here, the company proudly shares that it's generated over $70 million for the cause.
Bono was joined on stage by none other than Jony Ive, Cupertino's design guru. Last year, the pair worked together on an auction designed to raise some serious cash for Product Red. But their previous collaboration didn't stop Bono from chiding Ive over Apple's tendency to hide the Red logo on its products. As just one example, he pulled out an iPad cover. "Where's the Red branding?" he asked Ive. In this instance, Apple placed the Product Red emblem on the inside of the cover, an area that most people never see.
"Nobody can see that. This is modesty run amok." Bono pressed on with his criticisms. "This is the Apple way. They're like a religious cult." Ive didn't seem to agree with Bono's take. Instead, he highlighted Apple's growing portfolio of products that each kick in proceeds toward Product Red and have led to that $75 million total. "We started in 2006 with one Red product, a Nano, and now we've got well over half a dozen," he said. "It's been really, really special for us."
Apple has been participating in Red for years now, and co-founder Steve Jobs was one of its earliest proponents — Bono described him as "a kind of co-creator." But as we all know, Jobs himself was often obsessed with the smallest design details, and this led to a dustup over Red's logo and its use of parentheses. Jobs at first told Bono that Apple would never use the parentheses; "nothing interferes with the logo," Jobs reportedly said of Apple's own iconic mark. But a night's sleep combined with an impassioned email plea from Bono proved enough to change Jobs' mind. With one exception. Jobs told the singer that Red's parentheses would never be seen on the interior decor of an Apple Store. "And to this day, you will never see the parentheses in an Apple Store," Bono said.
An anonymous reader sends this report from Ars Technica: The Federal Aviation Administration has said that online shopping powerhouse Amazon may not employ drones to deliver packages, at least not anytime soon. The revelation was buried in an FAA document (PDF) unveiled Monday seeking public comment on its policy on drones, or what the agency calls "model aircraft." The FAA has maintained since at least 2007 that the commercial operation of drones is illegal. ... In Monday's announcement, published in the Federal Register, the FAA named Amazon's December proposal as an example of what is barred under regulations that allow the use of drones for hobby and recreational purposes. The agency did not mention Amazon Prime Air by name, but it didn't have to. Under a graphic that says what is barred, the FAA mentioned the "Delivering of packages to people for a fee." A footnote added, "If an individual offers free shipping in association with a purchase or other offer, FAA would construe the shipping to be in furtherance of a business purpose, and thus, the operation would not fall within the statutory requirement of recreation or hobby purpose."
In the mid-1930s, an Australian journalist visited Germany to report on the rise of fascism and interview Adolf Hitler. The atrocities she saw there, which included the public beating of Jews, forever changed the course of her young life. Nancy Wake, who died Sunday at age 98, would spend World War II fighting Nazism tooth and nail, saving thousands of Allied lives, winding up at the top of the Gestapo’s most-wanted list and ultimately receiving more decorations than any other servicewoman.
Wake made her way from Spain to Britain, where she convinced special agents to train her as a spy and guerilla operative. In April 1944 she parachuted into France to coordinate attacks on German troops and installations prior to the D-Day invasion, leading a band of 7,000 resistance fighters. In order to earn the esteem of the men under her command, she reportedly challenged them to drinking contests and would inevitably drink them under the table. But her fierceness alone may have won her enough respect: During the violent months preceding the liberation of Paris, Wake killed a German guard with a single karate chop to the neck, executed a women who had been spying for the Germans, shot her way out of roadblocks and biked 70 hours through perilous Nazi checkpoints to deliver radio codes for the Allies. (via)
In order to earn the esteem of the men under her command, she reportedly challenged them to drinking contests and would inevitably drink them under the table.
THAT IS LITERALLY THE PLOT TO INDIANA JONES THIS WOMAN IS SOCOOL SHE’S PRACTICALLY FICTION I LOVE HER.
The Structure of Protection by Oluwaseyi Sosanya from the Innovation Design Engineering program. The project is a beautiful loom specially designed for weaving in three dimensions. Using a single thread, the loom can create complex structures that are incredibly strong, essentially becoming a 3D printer of weaving. We love the way the project combines modern techniques with the traditional. Sosanya even visited fabric mills in the North of England to research mechanical weaving practices. See the machine and its outputs on the next page.
Unlike a traditional loom, the shuttle moves in all three dimensions, allowing more movement of the weft and opening new structural possibilities. The resulting materials can be used for all sorts of purposes and can be created with different weaves.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
"it's not like I'm a fascist or a racist," Oldman told Playboy. "There's nothing like that in my history."
Gary Oldman slammed ‘hypocrites’ for condemning Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin for racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs.
Maybe Gary Oldman should've stuck to a script.
The "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" star launched into a profanity-laced defense of scandal-scarred actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin in an interview with Playboy magazine, calling the political correctness that pervades Hollywood "crap."
"I don't know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we've all said those things," the 56-year-old actor told the men's magazine in the July/August issue that hits stands Friday. "We're all f-----g hypocrites. That's what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n----r or that fucking J--? I'm being brutally honest here. It's the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy."
Gibson hasn't enjoyed too much support from his Hollywood peers after audio secretly recorded by baby mama Oksana Grigorieva which included threats and racial slurs. That came four years after Gibson launched into an anti-Semitic tirade when a police officer pulled him over during a DUI arrest.
Oldman didn't stop there.
Handout/Getty Images Actor Mel Gibson’s mugs shot from his infamous July 2006 DUI arrest. EnlargeJoe Marino/New York Daily News Alec Baldwin allegedly made a homophobic slur at a paparazzo. Enlarge
"Alec (Baldwin) calling someone an F-- in the street while he's pissed off coming out of his building because they won't leave him alone. I don't blame him," he told Playboy of the "30 Rock" actor's infamous use of a homophobic slur last year after being provoked by a paparazzo.
"So they persecute. Mel Gibson is in a town that's run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he's actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him-and doesn't need to feed him anymore because he's got enough dough.
"He's like an outcast, a leper, you know? But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn't turned and said, "That f---- kraut" or "F--- those Germans," whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That's what gets me. It's just the sheer hypocrisy of everyone, that we all stand on this thing going, 'Isn't that shocking?'"
At that point in the interview, the British actor seemed to realize that his own words could be construed as shocking.
David James/ Twentieth Century Fox Highly Evolved? Gary Oldman stars in ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.’
"You have to edit and cut half of what I've said, because it's going to make me sound like a bigot," Oldman told his interviewer.
The self-described Libertarian, however, didn't try to backtrack, continuing to blast Hollywood and the culture at large for what he called a "double standard."
He lamented that that left-leaning comedians like Bill Maher joked about Ellen DeGeneres being a lesbian under the guise of satire, while Baldwin got vilified for saying the same thing. And that Academy voters who didn't support "12 Years a Slave" were labeled racists.
Oldman, though, was quick to emphasize that he's not railing against those specific examples, but just dishonesty in general. For example, while he clearly doesn't support Hillary Clinton for President - alluding to a parallel with one his past movies, "The Contender" - it isn't because she's a woman.
"I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn't share, but it's not like I'm a fascist or a racist," Oldman told Playboy. "There's nothing like that in my history."
After Ibanez explains that the new course she plotted for the Rodger Young (without oversight, explicit approval, or notification to superiors) is “more efficient this way,” Barcalow walks to the navigator’s chair, presses a few buttons, and the computer responds with a blinking-red Big Text Label reading “COURSE OPTIMAL” and a spinning graphic of two intersecting grids.
Yep, that’s enough for a screed, one addressed first to sci-fi writers.
A plea to sci-fi screenwriters: Change your mental model
Think about this for a minute. In the Starship Troopers universe, Barcalow can press a button to ask the computer to run some function to determine if a course is good (I’ll discuss “good” vs. “optimal” below). But if it could do that, why would it wait for the navigator to ask it after each and every possible course? Computers are built for this kind of repetition. It should not wait to be asked. It should just do it. This interaction raises the difference between two mental models of interacting with a computer: the Stoic Guru and the Active Academy.
Stoic Guru vs. Active Academy
This movie was written when computation cycles may have seemed to be a scarce resource. (Around 1997 only IBM could afford a computer and program combination to outthink Kasparov.) Even if computation cycles were scarce, navigating the ship safely would be the second most important non-combat function it could possibly do, losing out only to safekeeping its inhabitants. So I can’t see an excuse for the stoic-guru-on-the-hill model of interaction here. In this model, the guru speaks great truth, but only when asked a direct question. Otherwise it sits silently, awaiting contemplating whatever it is gurus contemplate, stoically. Computers might have started that way in the early part of the last century, but there’s no reason they should work that way today, much less by the time we’re battling space bugs between galaxies.
A better model for thinking about interaction with these kinds of problems an active academy, where a group of learned professors is continually working on difficult questions. For a new problem—like “which of the infinite number of possible courses from point A to point B is optimal?”—they would first discuss it among themselves and provide an educated guess with caveats, and continue to work on the problem afterward, continuously, contacting the querant when they found a better answer or when new information came in that changed the answer. (As a metaphor for agentive technologies, the active academy has some conceptual problems, but it’s good enough for purposes of this article.)
Consider this model as you write scenes. Nowadays computation is rarely a scarce resource in your audience’s lives. Most processors are bored, sitting idly and not living up to their full potential. Pretending computation is scarce breaks believability. If ebay can continuously keep looking on my behalf for a great deal on a Ted Baker shirt, the ship’s computer can keep looking for optimal courses on the mission’s behalf.
In this particular scene, the stoic guru has for some reason neglected up to his point to provide a crucial piece of information, and that is the optimal path. Why was it holding this information back if it knew it? How does it know that now? “Well,” I imagine Barcalow saying as he slaps the side of the monitor, “Why didn’t you tell me that the first time I asked you to navigate?” I suspect that, if it had been written with the active academy in mind, it would not end up in the stupid COURSE OPTIMAL zone.
Optimal vs. more optimal than
Part of the believability problem of this particular case may come from the word “optimal,” since that word implies the best out of all possible choices.
But if it’s a stoic guru, it wouldn’t know from optimal. It would just know what you’d asked it or provided it in the past. It would only know relative optimalness amongst the set of courses it had access to. If this system worked that way, the screen text should read something like “34% more optimal than previous course” or “Most optimal of supplied courses.” Either text could show some fuigetry that conveys a comparison of compared parameters below the Big Text Label. But of course the text conveys how embarrassingly limited this would be for a computer. It shouldn’t wait for supplied courses.
If it’s an active academy model, this scene would work differently. It would have either shown him optimal long ago, or show him that it’s still working on the problem and that Ibanez’ is the “Most optimal found.” Neither is entirely satisfying for purposes of the story.
How could this scene gone?
We need a quick beat here to show that in fact, Ibanez is not just some cocky upstart. She really knows what’s up. An appeal to authority is a quick way to do it, but then you have to provide some reason the authority—in this case the computer—hasn’t provided that answer already.
A bigger problem than Starship Troopers
This is a perennial problem for sci-fi, and one that’s becoming more pressing as technology gets more and more powerful. Heroes need to be heroic. But how can they be heroic if computers can and do heroic things for them? What’s the hero doing? Being a heroic babysitter to a vastly powerful force? This will ultimately culminate once we get to the questions raised in Her about actual artificial intelligence.
Fortunately the navigator is not a full-blown artificial intelligence. It’s something less than A.I., and that’s an agentive interface, which gives us our answer. Agentive algorithms can only process what they know, and Ibanez could have been working with an algorithm that the computer didn’t know about. She’s just wrapped up school, so maybe it’s something she developed or co-developed there:
Barcalow turns to the nav computer and sees a label: “Custom Course: 34% more efficient than models.”
BARCALOW
Um…OK…How did you find a better course than the computer could?
IBANEZ
My grad project nailed the formula for gravity assist through trinary star systems. It hasn’t been published yet.
BAM. She sounds like a badass and the computer doesn’t sound like a character in a cheap sitcom.
So, writers, hopefully that model will help you not make the mistake of penning your computers to be stoic gurus. Next up, we’ll discuss this same short scene with more of a focus on interaction designers.
Because George’s attitudes toward royalty are… cavalier at best. :)
(reportage after the fact: “She also visited the sets at the Titanic studios, where the global television hit Game Of Thrones is filmed - walking past the famous Iron Throne of the show, and disappointing millions of avid fans by not taking a seat.”)
ETA:According to the Beeb, the Queen was presented with the above miniature version of the Throne to take home.
Scalable, customized manufacturing is about to be faster than ever with 3D Systems’ revolutionary continuous, high-speed fab-grade 3D printer. As the module producer for Google’s Project Ara, this 3D printer is blazing new trails in the methods and production levels of additive manufacturing. This is the future of production 3D printing, and mobile phones are just the beginning….
Nest now works with all kinds of devices — lights, appliances, fitness bands, and even cars. Connect your Nest to things inside and outside of your home, and we’ll get even better at keeping you comfortable and safe. We can also give you new ways to save energy around the house.
surprise! it looks like all of portland's new condo buildings, and is about as big as one
"Late Monday night, Will Aitchison -- a labor attorney serving as the spokesman for the neighborhood coalition -- emailed Rose with the $1.3 million cash offer. That email included an earnest-money agreement, and a photocopy of a $50,000 check. The new buyer, Aitchison said, intended to preserve the 122-year-old home.
Aitchison clearly expected the offer would allow Rose -- who has also dealt with protests outside his home in San Francisco -- a graceful exit from Willamette Heights. Clearly stung by the petition drive, the Roses early offered to sell the house back to the former owners, Jim Draudt and Ann Witsil, if they were given an additional $75,000, presumably to cover the cost of the designs for the new 5,900-square-foot palazzo, the "Deku Tree Retreat." "
Many years ago, I acquired the unfortunate habit of collecting really heavy objects, like books. Or enamel signs. Or typewriters. My mother once asked me, “Can’t you collect something lighter — styrofoam cups, beach balls, anything?”
For the sake of more floor space and fewer chiropractor visits, I’ve given up on collecting typewriters, though I will keep two. This is one of them, a Model 4 “Mignon” made by Allgemeine Electrizitäts Gesellschaft (AEG) in 1926. I like its baffling quality — anyone who sees it will pause for a moment, trying to suss out the purpose of this contraption. It’s clear enough that letters are involved, but what happens after that is not so obvious. The back looks typewritery enough, but the rest? There are only three unmarked levers, so maybe this is some instructional aid? I’ve always thought it looks most like a Ouija board with telegraph keys.
It is an “index” typewriter, meaning that the typist uses one hand to point a metal stick at a letter on a grid, and the other hand to press a lever to print the letter. The division of work between left and right hands feels a bit like playing a guitar, with one hand picking the notes and the other making them audible. But the sound of a Mignon is more like a construction site: Thud. Thud. Chunk. [pause] Thud-thud. Chunk. Thud.
The user had to completely finish typing one letter before seeking the next, turning every document into a slow and plodding travail. After decades of competition, index typewriters dropped out of the market in the mid-thirties, and the (much faster) keyboard models became the norm.
The Mignon’s “type sleeve”, the cylinder carrying all the letters, was readily accessible and could be easily swapped out for other styles: roman, italic, blackletter, fraction sets, and so on.
Several manufacturers offered changeable type elements, starting in 1893 with Blickensderfer’s Model 5. Still, many associate this feature with the IBM Selectric “golf ball” of the sixties and seventies.
The machine I found came with a roman, italic, and “Schecksicherung” (“check protection”) style, which would perforate the paper with letters made of thorns. I had hoped to make a specimen of all three styles, but sadly the ancient ink ribbon was not up to the task.
The “Mignon” name was lifted out of French, and translates most commonly as “cute” or perhaps “dainty”. Not really the name I would have picked, though I suppose it sounds better than “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” or “Was ist das?”
The public domain is supposed to be what we receive in return for, and after the expiry of, time-limited, government-backed intellectual monopolies that are granted to creators. As Mike noted recently, that neat equation does not reflect today's reality for copyright, where the situation is so complicated that it requires a 52-page handbook to determine whether or not something is in the public domain.
But the situation is actually far worse than that, because the public is being denied access to many works that are unambiguously in the public domain because of new restrictions being placed on them when they are digitized. That's something that Techdirt has discussed before, but such stories have been largely anecdotal. Research from New Zealand provides us with more detailed information of what's going on:
In order to establish the extent to which digitized public domain books are being restricted, a sample of 100 pre-1890 books was selected from the New Zealand National Bibliography (NZNB). This sample was chosen on the assumption that these works had entered the public domain under New Zealand copyright law. Each book in the sample was searched for within six online repositories: Google Books, Hathi Trust, Internet Archive, Early New Zealand Books (ENZB), New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC) and Project Gutenberg. In addition, Google and Bing searches were conducted for all sample books that could not be located within these repositories.
Here's what the researchers discovered:
The findings of this research suggest that a high proportion of digitized public domain books are being restricted by online repositories. Out of a sample of 100 public domain books, only three are hosted by repositories that do not impose any form of usage restriction. Furthermore, 48 percent (24) of all digitized books [50 out of the 100 public domain sample] are hosted by a repository that restricts or blocks access, with the most restrictive repository limiting or blocking access to 91 percent (21) of sample books within its collection.
They also managed to pinpoint the key problem:
Almost all access restrictions applied to public domain books within the sample were the result of repositories using a process of estimation to assess copyright status. Within the sample, a one-minute search located accurate biographical information about authors two-thirds of the time. This task takes a fraction of the time required to digitize a book, which involves 30 minutes to scan 500 pages (Kelly, 2006).
A solution is the following:
Digitizers should incorporate the sourcing of copyright information within the overall process of digitization, and copyright estimation should only be used as an option of last resort. Furthermore, copyright estimation periods should better reflect statistical norms regarding the actual duration of copyright protection. The current estimation period of 140 years, used by Google Books and Hathi Trust, is far too conservative. If hosted under this policy, 47 percent of sample books would be restricted. This is despite the fact that all books with locatable biographical information were confirmed as being in the public domain for between 30 and 132 years.
This goes back to the problem of determining whether a work is in the public domain or not. Because that can be complex, those carrying out the digitization of works simply assume the worst, just to be on the safe side. That's something that needs to change, otherwise we risk losing not just the benefits of digitized public domain works, but also our undoubted rights to access them freely.
"PayPal once rejected a candidate who aced all the engineering tests because for fun, the guy said that he liked to play hoops. That single sentence lost him the job."
— Max Levchin
today at the kennel i was walking this dog and after he took a shit he sat down next to it and looked up at me with this really proud expression like “look what I did isn’t it amazing” dogs are so stupid i love them so much
Super Opinionated.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
Handout/Getty Images Actor Mel Gibson’s mugs shot from his infamous July 2006 DUI arrest. Enlarge 
Joe Marino/New York Daily News Alec Baldwin allegedly made a homophobic slur at a paparazzo. Enlarge 
David James/ Twentieth Century Fox Highly Evolved? Gary Oldman stars in ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.’ 
