China’s live streaming service goes viral in 2016. The heydays of the flourishing vertical arrive in the first half of this year. Back then, there were more than 300 live streaming platforms in the country thanks to abundant capital supports and easy market access.
“It takes only around two days to develop a live streaming app by using the development kits provided by Tencent Cloud or Ali Could,” said Lei Tao, cofounder of Yixia Technology, the company behind China’s top video blogging and live streaming apps of Miaopai, Xiaokaxiu and Yizhibo.
“For all the platforms that follow the live streaming craze blindly, most of them will die within six months at the most. I don’t think it’s an industry reshuffle, because such services didn’t stand a chance in the first place.” Lei commented.
The real battle in live steaming sector has just begun for most of the platforms are focused on music, dancing or talent shows. “This kind of performance should account for only a small portion of the contents. There is ample room for integrating with education, finance, healthcare and sports industries. They are the future development directions of this industry,” he believes.
Live streaming platforms have voracious appetites for cash. As of present, only one company booked profits while most of the players are still burning cash.
But Lei thinks it’s still early to eye for profits. “It’s determined by the development stage of the whole industry. To pursuit profits too early may bring negative impacts on the long-term prospects of the platform,” he said. “China’s mobile live streaming industry is now comparable to short video market in 2001 or 2002, when 3G network has just become popularized and a small group of users are freed from the constraint of traffic costs.”
“Most users won’t watch live streaming contents under 4G network because it’s too pricy. Commercialization moves won’t be successful when user demands are not fully unleashed.”
Wifi in the 60 GHz band has been specified since 2012 in the 802.11ad extension of the IEEE WLAN standard. It has taken a number of years but it seems that products are slowly becoming available now. Heise and Anandtech have been reviewing the Netgear X10 access point here (in German) and here and the Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying products. So it’s about time to have a closer look at the technology.
There are three interesting whitepapers I can recommend on the topic. On the physical (PHY) layer, have a look at this R&S whitepaper and a similar one by Agilent. After those whitepapers you probably wonder how things are working on the MAC layer which is answered by this great paper by Hany Assasa and Joerg Widmer. Here’s the ultra short summary:
On the PHY, a single carrier data stream with 16-QAM modulation at the high end is used for raw data speeds of around 4 GBit/s. For higher speeds up to 7 Gbit/s, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM) with 355 sub-carriers and 64-QAM modulation at the high end are used. Speeds on layer 3 are, as in the other PHYs, significantly slower!
Both PHYs use a bandwidth of 2 GHz. Yes, that’s enormous, that’s 100 times more bandwidth for a single channel than the 20 MHz and 12 times more than the 8 channels 802.11ac wave 2 devices use in the 5 GHz band for a combined 160 MHz channel.
At 60 GHz data transmissions must be directional, so beamforming is part of the specification an even part of the PHY name: ‘Directional Multi-Gigabit’ DMB PHY.
Signals can’t penetrate walls and must be directional, i.e. they have ‘near-optical’ qualities.
In-room coverage over a distance of 10 meters is the main usage scenario.
On the MAC layer, things work a bit differently compared to previous PHYs for the 2.4 and 5 GHz band. Transmissions are separated into beacon intervals and each interval has zones which are exclusively used for sending beacons in different directions (due to the directional nature of signals at 60 GHz), for beamforming preparation and for sending data packets.
In addition a fast transfer function is part of the standard to continue data transmission in the 2.4 / 5 GHz band when the 60 GHz link suddenly fails. The same functionality can also be used to transfer and ongoing data stream back to 60 GHz when a signal can be detected again.
As noted above, there are only few products supporting 802.11ad so far. However, with 2 access points now available and some client implementations in notebooks as noted in the references above, more might become available soon.
This blog post provides an update on our findings following the discovery of the storage corruption bug last week. In summary, the bug was much less severe than we initially thought. The small number of affected contracts we found is either only exploitable by the owner, or the exploit can only cause a disruption in the user interface and not in the actual contract logic. All exploitable contracts/dapps we reviewed can be fixed without having to upgrade the contract itself. Of course, please still check your contracts to be safe.
Following the discovery of the storage corruption bug in the Solidity compiler and the realization that it may have serious effects on already-deployed contracts that cannot be updated, we started analyzing how common the bug is and how exploitable contracts can be addressed.
We focused on contracts with source code published on etherscan because important or popular smart contracts usually have their source code published there in order to gain trust from their users, who can then verify the compilation. Furthermore, if the source code is not available, it is also much harder for an attacker to find a suitable exploit. Finally, contracts that are privately used (and thus do not require publishing their source code) usually check that they are called from a certain address, and thus an attacker has no means to write to their storage.
In order to automate the process of checking all contracts on etherscan, we created a modified version of the Solidity compiler that can automatically detect the conditions for triggering the bug. This technique has already reduced the number of potentially vulnerable contracts to 167. We then manually checked those contracts for potential corruption of storage that would make them vulnerable to attacks.
It turns out that only ten contracts were vulnerable, so we were able to contact most of the contract owners/developers. Seven out of ten of those contracts are only exploitable by the owner in that they are allowed to change certain parameters outside their permitted range, or allowed to unlock a previously locked contract. One contract is exploitable by unprivileged users but have other major flaws in its design. The other two contracts found to be exploitable by unprivileged users either provided no advantages if exploited or only affected the user interface.
Why are only so few contracts exploitable?
First, let us define what we mean by “exploitable”:
The storage corruption bug is exploitable if it can be used to modify a variable in storage in a way that would not be possible without the bug, and this modification has consequences for the behaviour and use of the smart contract. For example, we do not consider a contract exploitable in the following situations:
The same account would be able to overwrite the variable in the same state of the contract by regular means.
Overwriting can only happen at construction time (note that we did not check whether overwriting occurred at that time).
Overwriting is only triggered in unlikely situations where the contract logic was broken anyway (for example, a 32-bit counter that is incremented once per block, oveflows).
Variables can be overwritten that are unused in the smart contract and look non-critical, but may be part of the public interface.
Why is this critical bug only exploitable in so few cases?
It is a combination of the following factors that together multiply and dramatically reduce the probability of exploitability.
Since small types only provide an advantage in very rare cases, they are seldomly used.
Small types must be adjacent to each other in storage – a single large type in between them prevents the bug from being triggered.
State variables are often assigned one after the other, which removes the corruption at the second assignment.
The combination of “address” and “bool” is most common among the cases that are left, but here, the address variable is often an “owner” that is assigned from msg.sender and thus not exploitable. Even if the owner can be changed, the flag is often a flag that can be still be set by the owner through other means.
How to fix affected contracts
A large majority of the exploitable contracts are only exploitable by the contract owner, administrator or developer, particularly though a single function that allows the owner to be changed. The exploit allows a further escalation of privileges for the owner. In order to prevent the owner from taking advantage of this exploit, a proxy contract can be installed between the owner and the affected contract. This proxy contract forwards calls from the owner, but disallows calling the exploitable functions. If calling the exploitable functions is still necessary, the proxy contract can prevent malicious data from being forwarded to the contract.
If you have specific questions or concerns regarding your contracts, please contact us on gitter.
A FRIENDLY IMPORTANT NOTE FROM LEGAL
The statements in this post are recommendations to address the storage corruption bug in the Solidity compiler. As you know, we are working in an emergent and evolving technical space. The same elements that make this work exciting – the innovation, the impact, the growing understanding of how contracts function – are the same ones that make it risky. If you choose to implement the recommendations in this post and continue to participate, you should make sure you understand how it impacts your specific contract and you should understand that there are risks involved. By choosing to implement these recommendations, you alone assume the risks of the consequences.
Distracted walking has suddenly become a hot topic of conversation, with some Canadian politicians lobbying for the ban of using mobile devices while crossing the street. A recent survey revealed that 66 percent of Canadians actually would like to see ‘distracted walking’ legislation put into place.
The Toronto Police are on a mission to reduce the number of fatalities through its “STEP UP and Be Safe” blitz. Police say that with Daylight Savings Times shift pedestrians are more likely to be involved in sidewalk collisions caused by using a smartphone while walking.
Until November 13th, all police officers are encouraging all pedestrians to avoid using devices that distract “when interacting with vehicular traffic.”
To date, 36 pedestrians in Toronto have lost their life to vehicle related smartphone accidents.
While we’re still months away from an official announcement of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 lineup, information on the upcoming smartphone has come at a steady clip. For example, in just the past fortnight, new and enhanced AI-related features went from a possibility to a foregone conclusion.
The latest rumour, courtesy of Korea and online publication The Investor, suggests Samsung plans to increase the display size of its two upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphones in an effort to appeal to consumers who prefer the Note series.
According to the website’s sources, Samsung will launch two Galaxy S8 models. One will feature a 5.7-inch display, while the other will have a 6.2-inch screen.
For the sake of comparison, the company’s two current Galaxy S7 flagship smartphones feature 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch displays, respectively.
The good news is that the two new phones should be no more cumbersome to use than Samsung’s current flagships; the company reportedly plans to keep each model’s physical dimensions the same by utilizing a bezel-less design.
In addition, the company will reportedly not ship a flat variant Galaxy in 2017, instead opting for two curved screen models. Lastly, the 6.2-inch display model is expected to get a new name — something along the lines of “Galaxy S8 Plus” is likely, according to The Investor.
I have consistently criticized — and ridiculed — Donald Trump. Now he will be president. Stop crying or cheering for a minute, and consider what might happen next. I have. Like a true analyst, I put emotion aside and make some sober predictions. At the heart of this analysis: Donald Trump is no Republican, and owes nobody anything. … Continued
We hear it all the time. A group of cyclists cycling in Richmond are hit by a vehicle at 12:30 in the afternoon last Saturday. One person dies, several are injured. The day before an elderly man, a much-loved grandfather is killed crossing 56th Street in Tsawwassen at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, and police are looking for witnesses to this tragic car crash.
Perhaps we are used to thinking about cars as having advantages in the safety department, and think of pedestrian and cyclist safety as somewhere else, but not on the same road. What ever the reason we as a society and a culture have tragically displaced and defaulted the use of our transportation networks to the automobile, and have tolerated the loss of pedestrians and cyclists in numbers so vast that even the Medical Health Officer of British Columbia, Dr. Perry Kendall has written a report “Where the Rubber Meets The Road” outlining the carnage and critical injuries that are resulting in British Columbia by car dominance. Why did Dr. Kendall write this report? Because being killed or maimed by vehicular traffic and vehicles is a major cause of death and disability in this province.
There are even pedestrian “shaming” campaigns in some jurisdictions, where authorities are asking pedestrians to wear reflective clothing. As shown in Scandinavia where reflectivity is part of the wardrobe and universally mandated and accepted, this DOES reduce deaths and injury, but it is only one small piece of a solution that also includes lower road speeds, education and change in driver behaviour, and road design that means drivers drive slower for the road, not the road speed the driver feels is appropriate for the design.
The City of Toronto has an unprecedented 18 pedestrian crashes a day (three times more than average) and 35 pedestrian deaths so far this year. The Premier of Ontario has just announced that legislation that would give municipalities the power to introduce photo radar technology in school and community safety zones, which takes pictures of the licence plates of speeding cars. Other areas like daycares, parks, seniors’ homes, hospitals and even entire neighbourhoods could also be monitored for speed.
The use of photo radar and fining is controversial in Ottawa where it was felt to be a money grab by the Mayor. However the Premier has said that revenue from enforcement using photo radar would go into road safety programs associated with the municipalities, not general city revenue. And it is a good first step if passed by the Ontario legislature and reintroducing photo radar enforcement to slow cars on an area wide basis is enforced by municipalities. Slower speeds reduce fatalities and injuries. Now we just need to talk about changing road design and driver behaviour to recognize that all users of roads are not vehicular.
The US election is over and it appears some of the 20th century lessons about the importance of tolerance, diversity, and understanding are being challenged. Price Tags contributor Scot Bathgate sent along this article stating that The Canadian Immigration website has crashed on election day, suggesting that some Americans are seeking advice on how to enter Canada either to live in or to become a citizen.
Meanwhile the Indy 100 has repeated the list of the top 230 cities in the world to live in based upon living standards which include political stability, crime, recreation, natural environment, housing and media availability. The top ten cities on that list:
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Sydney, Australia
What impact will this change of governance have on Metro Vancouver? Will the housing market become more expensive as more Americans look to invest stocks and dollars in a more stable Canadian economy? Will there be a surge of political and economic immigrants from the United States? As the only North American city on the above Top Ten list, will we see a new surge of housing buyers?
There is an informal couch surfing list circulating on Facebook of Canadians willing to provide a couch for Americans in the same way that the good people of Gander Newfoundland and elsewhere provided towels, sheets and housing for all those Americans stranded when their grounded airplanes could not go to US airspace after 9/11 in 2001. Except this time the visitors may be looking for a roof for four years not just four days.
Nowadays road accidents have become rampant, and most of the road accidents are by disobeying traffics signs, rules and over speeding. With the increasing number of people driving; youths, men and women all turn although adolescents tend to become more reckless. For this reason, I support all adolescents to be trained and given driving license and the government should restrict to the age and time of alcohol use and cigarette.
The first point, the young drivers don’t follow traffic rules and they’re inexperienced in the road. Controlling the vehicle is an apparent source of accidents, most accidents mainly come from over speeding due to drunk driving. They can’t maintain a proper speed because they are impatient indicating the wrong signal at the wrong place and for the wrong meaning. For example the young driver would like to go to the left and yet the indicator showing the right, this confuses the drivers and other road users and may cause accidents.
In addition, they should be told about the importance of protecting human life and taking responsibility for their choices on the roads. Due to curiosity and influence from other teens, some teens take the vehicles belonging to their parents. They recklessly drive on the highways exposing all the road users to accidents as they are unable to control the car causing accidents. Although most of the accidents would be by mature people, un road worthy vehicles, poor conditions of the road with pot holes and bad weather.
In conclusion, all human adults Nor youth all are vulnerable to accidents and all should have knowledge about the traffic rules and to follow this traffic rules strictly as ignorance and mistake will lead to loss of life.
by Masha (Maria) Koblyakova for The Creators Project
All images courtesy of Ian Byers-Gamber.
The Creators Project team thought we’d give you some much needed R&R from the headlines, so we’ve roped together a regimen of healing and happy stories to help get you through the day.
The latest exhibition by Machine Project, an LA-based art collective, dives into the avant-garde by curating an underwater exhibition. Filling a public swimming pool with works of art in Santa Monica, Snorkel Dreams: A Machine Project Guide to Art Underwater involves 18 local artists who contributed works ranging from photography and blown glass to ceramics and video.
The aquatic art exhibition features an architectural hoop by Alice Könitz, a colorful stained-glass window by Andrew Cannon, and white cups and bowls on the pool floor by Patricia Yossen. For those who don't want to jump into the exhibition, a glass bottom boat by Bob Dornberger ferries around non-swimmers. Enjoy this respite from the white box experience with the immersive images below:
The Creators Project team thought we’d give you some much needed R&R from the headlines, so we’ve roped together a regimen of healing and happy stories to help get you through the day.
As Bob the Drag Queen, winner of Season Eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race, sagely said, “Drag is about blurring the lines of gender and creating art.” As much as we adore Bob, there is perhaps no greater makeup artisté in the drag community than last season's runner-up, Kim Chi.
The effervescent queen caught our attention and dominated our Pinterest feeds with her fantastical drag creations and perfectly painted features. But though her face is always beat for the gods, Kim Chi stole America's heart with her quirky sense of humor and heartbreakingly relatable coming-out story: When her season aired, Kim Chi hadn't yet told her mom that she did drag.
Now, the Korean-American sweetheart is giving another perfectly-contoured Kim a run for her vanity-project money with Kimchiji, a line of glamorous Kim Chi emojis, perfect for throwing a little shade via text. In celebration of all-things glamazon, The Creators Project caught up with Kim Chi via email to chat about her latest venture:
The Creators Project: How would you describe Kim Chi's aura?
Kim Chi: Kim Chi is a live action anime character whose fashion aesthetic could be described as 'bionic doily.' I imagine my aura to be an array of ultra violet colors that spews glitter. I celebrate all things cute, fun, weird, and exotic.
What's your favorite thing about emojis, and what inspired Kimchiji?
We are extremely lazy nowadays. No one writes letters anymore and even texting long paragraphs on your phone is becoming a chore. Emoji significantly cuts down on projecting your emotion through long and meaningless words. Why message your friend and say, "I am extremely emotional right now. My whole is crumbling down and my life feels meaningless. I don't even know who I am anymore," when you can simply send your friend a tired face emoji? Kimchiji offers more options for you to be lazy with your words! Try it! There's some really unique and cool ones in there like a burrito bowl, chicken wing, and even a spanked butt.
Why areKimchiji infinitely superior to Kim Kardashian's KIMOJI?
I wouldn't say Kimchiji is superior to Kimojis. It just offers a different variety of art things for a different audience. Lot of my catchphrases and things I love are all on there!
What's the perfect use of Kimchiji?
The one of me where I look like I'm slicing a neck could be used to put the ho's that's trying it in their place. The one of me where I look surprised could be used to react to any ho's texting you dumb things and you want to let them know that you care even when you really don't. The one of me where I look like a nerd with glasses could be used against any ho that's trying to text you dirty things but you are not the one. The world of simple communication has never been easier and more creative!
A few quotes / internal memos / examples might help:
I want to acknowledge the distraction that is the US election today. I know most here on this thread aren’t Americans, but I recognize what we do in this country has an impact and is watched. In this company, and in this context, my job is to help us stay focused on what we are able to control and what we are here to do. One step at a time. As a human who watches these political turnings with concern and care, I am with you. I’m distracted as well. That said, let’s do our best to focus and get our jobs done. I know it can be hard. I understand the humanity of it. We have a greater purpose at this point though, which is those kids who benefit from the projects we help fund. Our mission is to help them by doing what we do here. Let’s be the best humans we can and focus on what we can control. Let’s work toward helping each other. Let’s put our minds to working together for a common good for mankind.
Ok, one day at a time. Let’s get today’s work done, rest, and help again tomorrow. Thanks team. You are great people and I appreciate each and every one of you.
And part of a private message (posted with permission):
Humanity is a weird thing.
There are so many things going on in our head. Most, even the ones that are logical, have the possibility of conflicting with reality, shaking us hard at any moment. It’s extremely difficult to get through. And, being involved in a group called a “company” is an even weirder, non-natural thing.
It’s tough to not freak out. It’s even harder still when people share or oppose our opinions, which we hold so dear. And that fragile camaraderie or conflict riles us up even more.
But to what end?
What changes when we emotionally react to similarities or differences?
Ideally our relationships don’t. Ideally our intelligently designed motivation, purpose, calling, and desire for mastery don’t.
And because of that idealism, I find it better to put our heads down and focus even more, as hard as it is, on being the people we were called to be, doing what we were called to do, and simply letting go of those things we can’t control and stay true to being the best humans we can on the planet.
A Long Way From Main Street. Handmade collage on cold press paper.
The Creators Project team thought we’d give you some much needed R&R from the headlines, so we’ve roped together a regimen of healing and happy stories to help get you through the day.
The engraved barrel of an antique revolver delicately sits atop the head of a lone bicyclist as they pedal through a desolate landscape that’s been flipped upside down in the surrealist scenery of artist Jay Riggio. His collaged works project bizarre narratives out of an overlapping mixture of found materials taken from discarded books and magazines. Riggio describes this process as bringing new life to once forgotten imagery.
All of Riggio’s works are cut and pasted by hand without a computer. In an artist statement Riggio writes, “The time-intensive analog nature of the medium opposes the ubiquitous digital age, while directly evoking the unprocessed emotional honesty that is at the core of his works.”
The things we couldn’t see. And the way they became so clear. Handmade collage on cold press paper.
Riggio has always been obsessed with the notion of storytelling. He began by writing poems and short stories, eventually shooting film and taking pictures. At the beginning of his career, Riggio says he would paint over polaroids he had taken, “manipulating the image in order to change its context was something I immediately was drawn to.” One day, Riggio says he started cutting up old magazines and putting objects in hands that otherwise wouldn’t be there. “I would do stupid shit like place a dildo in the hand of a smiling middle-aged woman,” says the artist. It’s through these odd pairings Riggio considers why we feel certain images should or shouldn't be placed together.
Before the Beginning and Beyond the End. Handmade mixed media collage on cold press paper.
Through his collage Riggio attempts to dissuade, or at least distract people from this bleak world view and present the world as a tragic, yet beautiful and inspiring place. The title captions of each piece is where Riggio has room to reflect on a work’s perhaps less evident themes. With titles like How I remember you then. How I remember you always and Before the Beginning and Beyond the End, Riggio can provide context to an image that reflects an existential dialogue.
Beside The Reflection of Moving Shadows. Handmade mixed media collage on cold press paper.
Despite their lighthearted appearance, Riggio says a lot of his works comes from a dark place in his mind. The artist feels that the act of creating is a way for him to assuage painful personal thoughts as well as, “temporarily form some order in a world that, to me, is full of disorder.”
Beyond This Broken Promise. Handmade collage on cold press paper.
Despite Google advertising that the Pixel supports LTE band 4, an advanced wireless band, many users are reporting issues when the phone attempts to connect.
Android Police reports that it has received a number of comments about the issue from readers throughout North and South America who’ve had difficulty with the band. Google Product Forums users are also discussing the issue.
Additionally, MobileSyrup‘s Pixel users (myself and Senior Editor Patrick O’Rourke) are also experiencing issues, both for the Pixel XL and the Pixel. The drops in connectivity occur randomly, but with a fairly high rate of frequency — several times a day, in my experience. When the connectivity drops it can take several minutes to return, often necessitating a reboot.
I’m currently on Bell’s network through Virgin Mobile while my colleague is using Telus’ network through Koodo. Both networks use band 4 as a main LTE band.
According to AP, users have also reported issues on other bands, but band 4 is the main cause for complaints. Other users on networks that employ band 4 are not reporting complaints, which may also indicate that the issue is related to specific band 4 networks, not band 4 as a whole.
It should be noted that after tweeting about the issue, MobileSyrup received responses from multiple Telus customers stating that, contrary to our experiences, their connection was dependable. The Made by Google Twitter account also responded to my and Patrick O’Rourke’s tweets, advising us to pop the SIM, clean it and put it back in — essentially the cell phone equivalent of ‘Is it plugged in?’
@Patrick_ORourke Hi Patrick. Let's try to eject the sim card, clean out any dust/lint, reinsert it & restart device. Does that help?
I then followed up with the Made by Google team via phone, where I was assured that this was not a known issue and quickly offered a replacement. MobileSyrup has reached out to Google’s PR team for comment, and will update the story if and when the company makes a statement.
Microsoft is setting its sights squarely on Apple’s laptop customer base with a new trade-in offer that gives buyers up to $750 off a new Surface for trading in an old MacBook Pro or Air.
To take advantage of the offer, buyers can visit the company’s dedicated trade-in page to determine how much they’ll receive, then send in their device. Upon receipt, Microsoft will send an email to the customer with a special promo code that discounts the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book by the amount promised.
Eligible MacBooks are listed on the trade-in page. Clicking on the particular model will bring potential buyers to a page where they are required to answer whether it works and whether they still have the charger in order to calculate the value.
The newer MacBook Pros bring in the most, generally ranging from around $400 CAD to $650 CAD, though we were unable to dig up which model in particular was worth $750. The highest trade-in value we found was $700, brought in by models including the Apple MacBook Pro Retina A1398 ME293LL/A 15-inch. The newer MacBook Airs, meanwhile, tend to bring in between $350 and $525.
The offer is valid from 9pm PST Nov. 7th to 11:59pm PST on November 22nd, available while supplies last both online and in retail stores in Canada.
MobileSyrup has reached out to Microsoft to confirm which model or models come in at $750.
Fast-charging is useful, allowing users to charge their phones significantly in just a few minutes, but in some cases it can also be dangerous, causing batteries to overheat. This is partially because there are so many hardware standards out there for the technology, with various Android manufactures opting for their own proprietary format.
Google has silently updated its Android compatibility definition document with recommendations on hardware specifications for future phones, including the use of USB Type-C. It looks like Google wants Android manufacturers to stick with USB Power Delivery standards, rather than their own proprietary technology.
Most third-party fast-charging technology adopts Qualcomm’s Quick Charge tech, which is now in its third generation, 3.0. MediaTek also offers Pump Express fast-charging technology.
“Type-C devices are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to not support proprietary charging methods that modify Vbus voltage beyond default levels, or alter sink/source roles as such may result in interoperability issues with the chargers or devices that support the standard USB Power Delivery methods. While this is called out as ‘STRONGLY RECOMMENDED,’ in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support full interoperability with standard type-C chargers.”
It looks like Google is planning stricter rules when it comes to Android devices and fast-charging technology, with plans to possibly force manufactures to adopt one type of fast-charging in the future.
To aid in amping up production on its in-demand vehicles, Tesla has announced it’s acquiring German company Grohmann Engineering, which specializes in automated manufacturing, for an undisclosed amount. The company expects the deal to close in early 2017.
“After increasing our output target to 500,000 cars per year by 2018, we began searching for the best engineering talent in automated manufacturing systems,” wrote the company in a blog post released November 8th.
“Today, we are excited to announce that Tesla has entered into an agreement to acquire Grohmann Engineering, a world-renowned engineering company in Prüm, Germany, which will become Tesla Grohmann Automation.”
Tesla lauds Grohmann Engineering as “one of the world leaders in highly automated methods of manufacturing.” The company also notes that Grohmann will serve as its base for Tesla Advanced Automation Germany headquarters, with other locations in the country to follow.
Tesla says that over the past four years it has increased the production rate at its Fremont, California factory by 400 percent and expects this acquisition to accelerate that growth rate.
“As the machine that builds the machine, our factories are so important that we believe they will ultimately deserve an order of magnitude more attention in engineering than what they produce,” wrote the company in its post. “At very high production volumes, the factory becomes more of a product than the product itself.”
Tesla is also in the midst of acquiring SolarCity, a solar panel company in which Tesla CEO Elon Musk owns a large stake, for $2.6 billion.
I like this three part series (part 1, part 2, part 3) on MOOCs from Class Central. Yes, it's true the term MOOC is being phased out (trend 6). But people are still doing online learning, and even open online learning, and they're doing it in numbers greater than ever before, and MOOCs have found their place (trend 1). They are becoming more diverse, and incorporating more toold (trend 4) and by now they are beginning to professionalize (trend 5).
I am writing a short, three-part series, “Cities for Families” to showcase how local governments, non-profits and developers are working to create a family friendly city. This first edition spotlights local government, examining how the City of North Vancouver is achieving this goal.
Family Movie Night at City of North Vancouver (Photo: City of North Vancouver)
As a public health nurse, Linda Buchanan has been an advocate for children and families her entire career. But it was only a few years ago when she was elected to Council with the City of North Vancouver, that she was able to bring their issues to the forefront of her community and motivate the City to develop it’s first Child, Youth and Family-Friendly Strategy.
“It all started when I was first elected to the Board of Education and had to make some tough decisions about closing schools due to declining enrolment. We are facing an aging population in the City of North Vancouver and I wanted to know: how can we allow families to stay and attract new ones to the city?”
Linda was familiar with the work of Dr. Paul Kershaw, founder of Generation Squeeze, and the late Dr. Clyde Hertzman, founder of the Human Early Learning Partnership. Their ideas inspired her to develop a charter encouraging the City of North Vancouver to examine how it supports early childhood development and working families.
“Dr. Kershaw and Dr. Hertzman’s research looks at the demands placed on families in modern society and demonstrates that the environments in which young children develop, especially from 0-6 years old, impact the rest of their lives,” said Linda. “As a working mother of four, I am very familiar with the demands and the need for social support. In cities, we have many tools at our disposal to support children and families in those early years and onwards.”
City of North Vancouver Councillour, Linda Buchanan
CN4Me - City’s First Child, Youth + Family Friendly Strategy
With a clear goal of improving childhood wellbeing, Linda was elected to City Council and put forward a series of motions that led to the CN4Me Strategy, a new Child, Youth + Family Friendly Strategy for the City of North Vancouver. The strategy, developed after surveying over 1000 residents, places families at the heart of all City decisions.
“I wanted to know how we, as a local government, could work together to address the needs of children and families, so we looked at the developmental milestones for children as they go from infancy to childhood to adulthood. We then examined how we can engage them and build a city that meets their unique needs.”
According to the Strategy, 25% of residents in the City of North Vancouver are under the age of 25, which suggests that focusing on their wellbeing within the city can lead to exciting opportunities to enhance community cohesion, nurture future leaders and grow their sense of community ownership.
The strategy also focuses on the role that other organizations play in supporting healthy development. As a result, a CNV4ME Task Force formed with members from the library, RCMP, parks and recreation, and other groups that will ensure the action points of the strategy are implemented.
Bringing Children and Families into the Community Planning Process
The CN4Me Strategy has five themes: community engagement, community spaces, housing, programming and services, and community partnerships. The first goal of “community engagement” focuses on increasing opportunities for children, youth, emerging adults and families to become involved in shaping their community.
In order to achieve this, the City began working with the Society for Children and Youth Society of BC on a tool that allows its departments to look at all of their programs through a child’s lens.
“Children have opinions that matter. It is important for us to listen. We sometimes forget this as we get older,” said Linda. “Now, City staff go to the kids and engage them in schools to talk about planning issues and we have included them on ad-hoc committees.”
When the City was working on the Green Necklace, a walking and cycling path that encircles the urban centre, they invited children to get out on the proposed path with cameras to take pictures and develop potential ideas for what it could look like. Similar work was done with the City’s housing strategy, where children were asked to participate and draw what they love about their home.
Slide the City event on Lonsdale Ave (Photo: Daily Hive)
Making the City Fun, Safe…and Affordable
Bringing children and families into the planning process as part of the CNV4me Strategy has led to several projects aimed at making North Vancouver fun, safe and even affordable.
Playful public art is showing up along the City’s sidewalks. I discovered this while walking along the Green Necklacea few weeks ago and seeing some of the 200 funny figures painted on the asphalt. The work, called “Whatever the Weather” by Mia Weinberg, borrows images from the familiar vernacular of figures in circles commonly seen in street signage.
There are other whimsical additions to local infrastructure and public art, including the Lost Cows of Lillooet, by Nathan Lee and Matthew Thomson installed along Lonsdale Ave. that are part of the city’s stormwater management.
Whatever the Weather - public art along the Green Necklace.
Last summer, the City produced a KidCity Map which was an invitation to it’s youngest citizens to get out and explore the City by foot, bike or transit.
“I saw one of those old fashioned town maps at a restaurant in Kamloops and wanted to develop one for kids,” said Linda. “The map went home with every elementary student in the City. Not only was it a map that showed distances in terms of time, it includes a search and find; and is educational. Feedback was unbelievable, locally and internationally. Kids use it to plan safe routes to school and plan their day.”
Initiated by Linda’s motions to council, safe routes to schools are another city priority with the “Look, Think, Go” campaign for sharing the road. The City has an official Memorandum of Understanding with the School District and educational materials have been developed to support safe routes to school. When planning new sections of pedestrian networks, City staff are moving beyond consulting with adult citizens and are engaging with the elementary and secondary students whose walk or ride to school would be along potential new routes.
Future Family Planning
The challenge ahead in the City of North Vancouver’s ambitious agenda to support families and children is the same issue facing every municipality in Metro Vancouver - maintaining housing affordability. When I asked Linda what her next priority is with the CNV4Me Strategy, she replied:
“We need to engage parents further and hear what they need in order to stay. It is disheartening to hear families are leaving cities like North Vancouver. One bright light that we are hoping will retain and attract new families is revitalizing Moodyville.”
The City of North Vancouver is planning a major area-wide rezoning for the neighbourhood, a predominantly single family and duplex area east of Lower Lonsdale that is targeted for new growth.
Overview of proposed plans for Moodyville
“Moodyville will be a family-friendly community. It is pre-zoned and master planned to include parks and is connected to the Spirit Trail. It will include compact developments like rowhomes,townhomes, low-rise condos, and even woonerfs, which create living streets as shared social spaces that are used by pedestrians, cyclists and cars,” said Linda.
According to Brent Toderian of Toderian Urbanworks, who has been closely involved with the project, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the City.
“As a city planner I’ve referred to this kind of opportunity as a unicorn because it almost doesn’t exist…… it’s going to be a very interesting opportunity that other jurisdictions will look to because the common narrative is that you can’t do this type of thing (assemble detached lots). The City of North Vancouver may be the first municipality to prove that suggestion wrong.”
Beyond Moodyville, the City of North Vancouver is already making headways by proving to other local governments that it’s in their best interest to support families and children, particularly to live in walkable urban communities. Families who can forgo driving and access a range of amenities will stay invested in their communities to ensure that their children grow up healthy and happy.
The old proverb is that “it takes a village to raise a child,” but that village often needs a champion and the City has one in Councillor Linda Buchanan. Together, they have created a progressive agenda that supports families and the healthy development of the City’s youngest citizens.
This is the entire purpose of strategy. Strategy should force through really difficult decisions about what you’re not going to do, which battles you’re not going to fight, just to focus on the things that really do matter.
Most people avoid this. They create strategies to help them do what they’re doing even better. This isn’t strategy, it’s wishful thinking.
A strategy should make you feel uncomfortable. If it doesn’t, it’s probably not a strategy.
A strategy takes bravery and courage to execute. It’s really hard to say “these things are working…but not well enough to justify us to keep doing them”.
Some members will be upset, some colleagues might be upset, but you need to push through that to stick to a strategy that you know will have the best possible impact on the largest number of people.
Believe me, I know how hard it is to embrace that discomfort and kill programs that are popular with a vocal minority but taking up too many resources. But this is exactly what separates the amateurs from the professionals.
Those managing communities as a hobby can afford to do the work they most enjoy. This might mean delighting members at a micro one to one level and resolving each problem as it arises. But you’re not paid to only do the work you enjoy. You’re paid to look at the community in its entirety and figure out how to deliver the maximum possible value.
Get ready to embrace that discomfort, the personal attacks, and the criticism from members who complain about you personally.
…and get ready to enjoy success in the form of graphics steadily ticking up and to the right.
I hadn’t planned on writing anything here about this, but enough people have asked me variations of “OMG ARE YOU OK?” that it’s worth saying something. On October 7, I deleted my twitter and Facebook accounts. It’s not a nihilistic dramatic cry for help. I am fine. Doing great, actually.
It was directly triggered by US election fatigue (and I’m horrified, watching the results starting to trickle in as I write this. How on earth is this even remotely close?). I just got tired of the constant drain, the constant snark, updates, trash talk, and general toxicity of the whole process. For a country that likes to think of themselves as the paragon of democracy, it’s truly shocking just how dysfunctional, distracting, divisive and corrosive their process is. It’s going to take a decade to depolarize and repair after this madness ends.
Anyway.
It wasn’t just because of the US election. I also got tired of the uninformed opinions on how Trudeau is destroying Canada by letting in millions of refugees who are apparently stealing jobs and homes while pushing the price of oil down and therefore responsible for white collar unemployment. Go figure. It’s not an argument that will be resolved by crazy things like facts or honest and open discussion. And I got tired of how I grew to feel about people who repeated uninformed opinions on many topics. So I withdraw from that nonsense. And I’m feeling good about that.
I also threw several babies out with that toxic bath water. I miss regular updates from friends and colleagues. I miss hearing what’s going on in my PhD lab (which is coordinated through a closed Facebook page. Really?). I miss easily contacting friends and colleagues – I’ve realized I have outdated email addresses for several people (happy belated birthday, Jen!).
I know hardly anyone reads my blog anymore, so I miss sharing what I’m doing with people in various communities. But I’m still blogging.
Actually, I’ve been blogging more. I’ve also started posting stream-of-consciousness stuff as well, resurrecting a Known site. I’ve subscribed to several more RSS feeds – pushing close to 1200 now – if anyone has anything really meaningful to say, it winds up posted to or mentioned on a blog somewhere.
I’ve been surprised to realize that my thinking has become less reflexively snarky. I’ve been making more of an effort to actually talk to people, in person, and focusing more on my local communities rather than diffuse connections online.
Am I going to stay off of twitter and Facebook? I don’t know. I think it’s likely. It’s not like I’ve disappeared, and I’m super-easy to get in touch with. But I’ll be staying tuned out of the pointless nonsense.
Donald Trump has been great for my blog, if not for the level of discourse in the nation. He helped me hone my language-focused political analysis in 46 blog posts. For an LSD flashback experience, starting with his announcement in June of last year, just read the titles of what I wrote, with a little … Continued
Regardless of what happens tonight, the future of our nation will depend on what Donald Trump says. He can heal the divisions in American that he has revealed, or he can inflame them. This is no game. But it can be for you, for just one night, because by now, we’re all sick of this. … Continued
All images courtesy of Ian Byers-Gamber.
All images courtesy the artist
JeremyClarkson on Twitter.
JeremyClarkson
on Wed Nov 9 15:16:04 2016..gif)
A Long Way From Main Street. Handmade collage on cold press paper. 
The things we couldn’t see. And the way they became so clear. Handmade collage on cold press paper.
Before the Beginning and Beyond the End. Handmade mixed media collage on cold press paper.
Beside The Reflection of Moving Shadows. Handmade mixed media collage on cold press paper. 
Beyond This Broken Promise. Handmade collage on cold press paper.
