Rolandt

From Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times DealBook:

A billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur was outed as being gay by a media organization. His friends suffered at the hands of the same gossip site. Nearly a decade later, the entrepreneur secretly financed a lawsuit to try to put the media company out of business.

That is the back story to a legal case that had already grabbed headlines: The wrestler Hulk Hogan sued Gawker Media for invasion of privacy after it published a sex tape, and a Florida jury recently awarded the wrestler, whose real name is Terry Gene Bollea, $140 million. What the jury — and the public — did not know was that Mr. Bollea had a secret benefactor paying about $10 million for the lawsuit: Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and one of the earliest investors in Facebook.

If ever there were a case with no one to cheer for, this is it: Gawker does do good work, but they do really terrible things as well, and their outing of Thiel despite his explicit request not to is indefensible. It disgusts me, and my disgust is only deepened by the moralizing and righteousness of the post in question, as if Gawker has the right to make the most personal of decisions for anyone.

It is also legal and protected speech.

Thiel, meanwhile, is being a bully of the first order. He is attempting to run Gawker out of business — this lawsuit he is funding is one of many, and he has lawyers looking for more — in part because he can, and in part because he has styled himself as a twisted version of Batman: a vigilante who is not so much above the law (what he is doing is also perfectly legal), but rather one who uses the law to first and foremost avenge himself even as he spins a story about his defense of the vulnerable. Thiel told Sorkin:

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” he said on Wednesday in his first interview since his identity was revealed. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.” Mr. Thiel said that Gawker published articles that were “very painful and paralyzing for people who were targeted.” He said, “I thought it was worth fighting back.”

Mr. Thiel added: “I can defend myself. Most of the people they attack are not people in my category. They usually attack less prominent, far less wealthy people that simply can’t defend themselves.” He said that “even someone like Terry Bollea who is a millionaire and famous and a successful person didn’t quite have the resources to do this alone.” Mr. Thiel said that he had decided several years ago to set his plan in motion. “I didn’t really want to do anything,” he said. “I thought it would do more harm to me than good. One of my friends convinced me that if I didn’t do something, nobody would.”

What a hero.

The Conditions of Superheroes

In one of the more thought-provoking essays I have read all year Brian Phillips put his finger on how comic book hero movies have, in his words, “become vehicles for talking about larger social issues”, particularly the exercise of power in a post 9/11 world:

In the world of these films, there were no mutants or “enhanced humans” or benevolent alien overseers within living memory. Society was more or less just like our society. Then superheroes arrived. A line was crossed. Things changed. There is always, in these movies, a sense that the world has gone a little crazy, that we are dealing with a new order whose rules no one really knows. And that newness partly explains the extreme focus on the problem of whether and how the abilities of the heroes can be accommodated within the existing framework of governments and laws and the popular will.

The other explanation for that focus is an irony that, when you start to lay it out, is kind of gobsmacking, and that gets at an almost Greek-tragic dimension of recent comic-book movies. (Let’s say Norse-tragic, because Thor.) The irony is this: The superheroes in superhero movies are always the only force capable of saving humanity from the threats it faces. But with astounding regularity in post-9/11 comic-book films, the threats mankind has to be saved from were either unleashed by the heroes themselves, came into being simultaneously with the heroes, or both. In other words, the chaos from which the heroes are required to save the world is implicit in the heroes’ being in the world in the first place; even when the protagonists aren’t actually the authors of the crisis they are fighting against — something that, again, happens with startling frequency — they are manifestations of the same fundamental shift.

From this perspective, it could not be more perfect that Thiel made the largest part of his fortune by investing in Facebook, where he still sits on the board. Facebook specifically and the Internet broadly has made it possible for sensationalistic rags like Gawker to exist, even as it has fundamentally weakened journalism by destroying the geographic monopolies that guaranteed the financial freedom to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Thiel as the personification of the tech industry is very much the superhero looking to remedy a problem he created.

Vigilantism and Unintended Consequences

And so, as is the case with the superhero movies Phillips describes, who you think is right depends on your perspective. Narrowly speaking, it is hard to fault Thiel — hell, the fact he was willing to wait eight-and-a-half years to exact the revenge he promised Gawker publisher Nick Denton should he out him is almost admirable, and in a weird way likely explains why Thiel has such an unbelievable track record as both an entrepreneur and investor (Paypal and Palantir as an entrepreneur, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, Stripe, Yammer among many others as an investor). Gawker did him wrong and he is exacting his revenge on a time scale far more expansive than Denton likely thought possible.

Again, though, Thiel has already won. He is fabulously wealthy and extremely influential, and say what you will about Gawker, the liberal democracy that made it possible for the companies Thiel has built and invested in to emerge depends on a free press; driving a publication to bankruptcy via lawyer fees may be legal by the letter of the law, and even deserved on a personal level, but it is in absolute violation of the spirit of the law and, I might add, a rather hypocritical — or is it ironic? — use of government by the avowed libertarian Thiel. What are more concerning, though — and implicit in this concern is a critique of libertarianism — are the second and third-order effects of Thiel’s approach.

The most obvious second-order effect is that, as Felix Salmon writes, Thiel is providing a blueprint for the suppression of the press by the wealthy. But what concerns me — and what ought to concern Thiel, and all of the Silicon Valley elites celebrating his actions — are the third order effects. Specifically, Thiel’s actions are bringing into stark relief the fundamental weakness of old analog businesses like journalism relative to the incredible power and strength of the technology sector, and if companies follow Thiel’s example, the freedom that makes the emergence of said companies possible could quickly come under threat — and deservedly so.

Consider Facebook: I have argued strenuously that the idea of Facebook consciously abusing its unprecedented power over what people see is absolutely a problem in theory, but one that is contained by Facebook’s own incentives and the fact that the alternative — government regulation of speech — is even more undesirable. At the same time, I am troubled by the societal impact broadly of Facebook’s efforts to be neutral via algorithm and the potentially destructive impact that has on our politics in particular. What is truly alarming, though, is the prospect of a company specifically and an industry broadly that is convinced of its own righteousness, unconscious of its own power, and blind to what it doesn’t know, making decisions with unintended consequences — like outing LGBTQ people at scale.

Truthfully, though, Facebook is one of many (and has proven itself to be rather benign, in my estimation). You don’t need to go a block in SOMA or a mile down El Camino Real to encounter any number of companies full of people attracted by shared backgrounds and experiences that are “changing the world”, fueled by little more than a cult-like devotion to mission and a bank account full of money betting on the market-monopolizing effects of Internet economics. And — this is the scary part for the industry — the more those companies are not just successful, but abusive in their obliviousness to the societal impact of that success, the greater the likelihood that the only possible countervailing force — the government — will have no choice but to give in to the certain backlash and interfere.

In other words, the avowed libertarian is, in some small way, showing the way in which the government interference that he claims to detest might come to bear — as a response to unconsidered abuses of power — all in the service of settling scores made possible by the industry that made him rich.

Power and Responsibility

Here’s the fact of the matter: what Gawker did (and still does) is wrong, but it’s wrong in the way that — and forgive the seriousness and political nature of this analogy, but I think it captures my point — Saddam Hussein was an awful dictator who murdered his own people. Taking him out may have been satisfying and justifiable in a narrow sense, but at what cost to the United States in both treasure and broader legitimacy?

The tech industry, like Thiel, is no underdog: it is the dominant economic force not just in the United States but in the entire world, both because of the wealth it creates, but especially because of the wealth it destroys. And, to quote another comic book figure, “With great power comes great responsibility”.

In this case, no matter how badly Thiel was personally hurt by Gawker, or how morally wrong their actions were, he is the one with far greater power, and the appropriate approach is not to leverage said power in an act of vigilantism, but to exercise the responsibility of defending the conditions that made his power possible to emerge, conditions that I believe are to the long-term benefit of everyone. That would be an approach worth applauding and emulating, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because the freedom that made possible the tech industry that made Thiel rich depends on it.

UPDATE: I tweeted a follow-up to this article here. Please read it.

Each month our editors will answer your most pressing questions. Although we try to cover as much as we can in our reviews and guides, if you’re looking for further advice please write to us at notes@thewirecutter.com, and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.

Silencing a crowded office

Q: I read your reviews on noise-cancelling headphones. I have a very hard time concentrating in my work environment, as we have seven people in a room working. Office chatter is ongoing. I can’t use music to block out the chatter because it interferes with my ability to concentrate. I have tried earplugs but they block out very little.

Are there any headphones or earbuds that can block out noise without using music?

A: We recommend you first try a few different types and styles of earplugs. This is easily the cheapest route to relative peace and quiet. Getting a good fit and seal is key, and without both sound will leak through—that might explain why you’re not satisfied with the ones you’ve tried. One option to try is a pair of Mack’s Ultra Soft Foam earplugs, recommended in our travel guide.

If that doesn’t do the job, some passive hearing protection is your best bet. We don’t have a specific guide for this, but the ClearArmor Safety Earmuffs look like headphones, are inexpensive, and have a rating of 4.8 stars (out of five) on Amazon across over 3,600 reviews. They should definitely reduce the office din.

I wouldn’t recommend active noise-cancelling headphones because they typically work only in the lower-frequency range (e.g., airplane engines, road noise). Voices won’t be affected at all, and possibly worse, the headphones might cancel out HVAC and computer noise, letting you hear voices better.

Another trick is something I use when I can’t have music playing: listening to white noise. A few apps, like this one, allow you to create a blend that works for you. You could use this with some in-ear headphones, perhaps with some noise-isolating Comply tips (be sure to find the tips that fit your specific model of headphone) in addition to the noise-isolating earmuffs listed above. That should give you quite a cone of silence.

Sound for an outdoor theater

Q: I’ve read your reviews for a long time and am consistently on your site prior to buying any electronics. I’ve got a less-standard question and was hoping you might be able to give me some advice. I’ve set up an outdoor movie-viewing area in my backyard. The screen is portable, as is the projector. I can move them from my smaller deck to my midsize backyard depending on the size of the crowd I’ve got over. I took the screen and projector for their maiden voyage this weekend and used your top pick for budget soundbars (Vizio 5.1). It worked and sounded great but I think I’m looking for a quicker and easier setup. I’m wondering if you think I should go for a more singular soundbar (Yamaha YAS?) or maybe a high-end portable speaker system (Peachtree deepblue?). As it’s an outdoor movie situation and more of a novelty than anything, I don’t necessarily need the full surround sound experience, but am more so looking for a mixture of volume and clarity for both small and large crowd settings.

A: If you want a quick and easy setup, the Peachtree Audio deepblue2 will work well. I’m not certain what source you are using, but with 3.5mm analog and optical inputs it should handle the same sources that the Vizio soundbar can. It won’t offer the same performance that stereo speakers will, but it should offer similar stereo separation to the Vizio soundbar.

Printing pix from phones

Q: I used to have a dozen different photo-printing apps on my iPhone, and tried over a couple of years to test them. However, when I upgraded from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone SE, I started fresh. I’ve had photos printed on glossy paper, matte paper, wood, even glass. All were nice enough to try a second or third time. In the end, I’d simply like great prints on quality (maybe even archival) paper sent to friends, family, or myself once in awhile. I’d rather not buy a printer for the house. Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A: Great question—and kudos for taking the step of preserving your memories. I keep thinking I need to get more of my favorite photos printed! This isn’t something we’ve specifically looked at (though we’d like to in the future). But from people that I’ve talked to—journalists and photographers alike—I’ve heard nothing but good things about Mpix, Nations Photo Lab, and Artifact Uprising. If you’re dead set against using websites, and want to stick to printing directly from your phone or tablet, both MPix and AU have iOS apps, and the Artifact Uprising one is made by VSCO, who make my favorite iOS photo editing app. And if you ever do decide to make the leap into high-level art prints at home, we’ve got you covered.

Great socks that mean business

Q: My question for you: I’ve been searching for a great athletic sock that also looks dressy enough to wear with business clothes—has anything like that come across your radar? Would really simplify my sock drawer!

A: I’m a huge fan of Darn Tough socks, which we currently recommend in our review of the best running gear (on Sweethome) and are a pick in the update to our travel gear guide. They’re exceptionally durable and have better moisture management than anything I’ve tried. As for “athletic, but dressy,” Darn Tough offers a spectrum of options: If you want something that tilts athletic, the Micro Crew has great cushioning and sweat wicking, but the color schemes are borderline business casual—they’d fly on the West Coast but maybe not in DC or NYC. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the company’s Dress Sock (calf length) and Solid Basic Crew (crew length), which are business casual no matter how you slice them. However, because they’re thinner, they don’t have as much moisture-wicking ability. I’ve used these for running and hiking but try not to if I can avoid it. Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum is the World Champion Micro Crew, which is a medium-light sock that works well as both an athletic sock and a dressy one (I think it’s technically a cycling sock?). The rainbow stripe at the top can look a bit unprofessional if revealed, but that’s not an issue if you’re wearing longer pants.

Wi-Fi reception at sea

Q: I am on a boat in a marina and am physically maybe a quarter mile from the point of propagation of the Wi-Fi Internet signal being broadcast by the marina. I get a marginal signal and would like to get a much stronger signal.

My question is about whether to use routers and extenders—or to go with the amplified antennas out there like the Bad Boy, or any of the several similar ones. And has anyone done the same kind of comparative testing you do to be able to give recommendations about which of the antennas is best for a particular application?

A: An interesting problem! So, if you can get a signal from your boat, and the wireless connection works—but just isn’t very good or fast—you might be able to get away with just using a great Wi-Fi extender in your boat. If you can, try placing it in a window, or with as few obstructions between it and the marina as possible. (Don’t just place it on a shelf inside your boat somewhere.) And don’t output a Wi-Fi network on the same band that your extender is using to connect to the marina’s wireless signal, as that could hurt your performance a little.

Though you could certainly go with a more complicated solution like point-to-point networking gear that creates a wireless bridge between one location and another, you’ll have to make sure that you can set that up at the marina. You’ll need to find a location that has power to mount the device, an Ethernet connection to the marina’s existing network, and a clear shot to wherever it is you’ll mount the other point-to-point device on your boat. And, of course, you’ll have to go through a slightly more complicated setup process than you’re probably used to, and you’ll still have to buy some kind of access point for your boat that you’d hook into your second bridge device via Ethernet.

I’d try the extender first and see if it works well for your needs before going for a more complex and costly solution. (Be careful when opening up the box and setting up the extender so you can easily return it if it doesn’t work out.)

Illuminating headlight upgrades

Q: Do you have any opinions on the best halogen or xenon (anything but HID, really) low-beam headlight bulbs? I’d hate to drop $80 to $100 for something that doesn’t live up to its hype and/or will conk out after six months.

A: A lot of people are probably wondering how to get more light out of their car’s headlights. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that out of 82 headlight systems it tested recently, only one rated “good”—and that one’s available only as part of a $3,300 option package on the most expensive version of the Toyota Prius v wagon. A whopping 44 were rated “poor” (including those of all other Prius v models, by the way).

Replacing a headlight’s standard bulb with a premium one can produce more and whiter light, which some people find more pleasant. But, as Consumer Reports found in a 2013 test, premium bulbs don’t actually help you see farther down the road. That’s because the maximum distance your car’s headlights can reach is determined more by the design of the lamp housing and reflector—which direct where the light goes—than by the bulb. Also, there wasn’t that much difference in light output among the high-end bulbs Consumer Reports tested. So shop by price.

Charlie Smith writes in the Straight about the numbers of people riding bikes in Vancouver.  He calls the results “spectacular”. And with good reason, and great timing, as we head into another Bike to Work Week.

Vancouver records spectacular increases in cycling trips

When Lon LaClaire joined the City of Vancouver’s engineering department in 1997, council had just passed a landmark transportation plan with 76 major initiatives. It marked the first time that the city explicitly expressed a desire for more trips by walking, cycling, and transit and set out ways to accomplish that . . .

. . .  Within a decade, however, cycling had almost tripled and there were more than 50,000 bike trips inside the city, according to a May 2006 report by LaClaire.

By 2013, the city reported that 83,000 trips were taken on a bike. The following year, this rose to 99,000, and by 2015 the number shot up to 131,000. That’s a 32-percent hike in cycling in a single year.

“These jumps are just really, really shocking,” LaClaire said . . .

. . .  According to LaClaire, one of the biggest obstacles to cycling is the perception that it’s not safe. That’s where the separated bike lanes have helped.

“The more that we build these facilities where people can visualize themselves taking that route on a bike, the more likely they will,” LaClaire said. “I would say the results of what we see on these investments kind of validates what people have been telling us in our surveys.”

Seth Clifford:

Apple and Google, in the eyes of the general public and many tech bloggers, have been at war for many years, and in vague terms, both companies sell fancy mobile phones. But the implications of those businesses are so far beyond the face value of what we see. And what I’ve realized is that they aren’t zero-sum or mutually exclusive. What I’ve come to understand is that the more the two companies seem to have been battling, the more the individual directions of each company become unassailably concrete.

Different directions toward the same destination. But I would also add fundamentally different cultures and focus. This is what makes observing both companies so fun these days.

→ Source: sethclifford.me

From The Sun:

Two-thirds of Metro Vancouver residents are calling for immediate transit improvements, saying better mass transit could help resolve the region’s housing affordability issues, according to a new study by Angus Reid Global. …

About 58 per cent of those questioned in the online forum say they voted no in last spring’s plebiscite, while 42 voted yes.

BC Business reports on an online Insights West poll of 802 residents throughout the province about their commute.  Results vary, of course, by location, and there are plenty of insights into how we get to work, and how we’d like to.

Asked to describe their ideal work commute, compared to their actual:

City of Vancouver

• 18% would drive, and 21% do.
• 29% would take transit, and 38% do
• 16% would take a bike, and 10% do
• 31% would walk, and 20% do

Province-wide:

• 34% would drive, and 43% do.
• 23% would take transit, and 19% do
• 11% would take a bike, and 3% do
• 23% would walk, and 9% do

Transit riders, in particular, do not like overcrowding (77%) and waiting (64%). To me, this suggests that demand exceeds capacity.

Transit congestion

And Eric MacKenzie discusses the poll in 24 Hours Vancouver

According to an Insights West poll conducted for BC Business, 23% of B.C. residents surveyed said they consider their commute “moderately annoying” and a further 6% said their daily trip is “very annoying.”

However, tedium among people on their way to work or school is nearly exclusive to those who drive or take public transit. Some 96% of those travelling on foot and 95% of cyclists described their commute as some level of “pleasant.” Less than two-thirds of drivers and transit users did the same . . .

. . . Meanwhile, results of the poll suggest that the same trends will continue. More than 90% of cyclists said their commute is better or the same compared to five years ago, but 33% of drivers and 28% of transit riders said their trip to work got worse over the same period.

pricetags: Astonishing how this story finds its parallels in Vancouver, San Francisco and other cities attracting world capital.

The air of unreality about these hip house floggers is entirely fitting. House prices are unreal. Ridiculous. Every day there are stories about the insanity of our current housing crisis, but it goes on and on. We laugh at images of what are basically cupboards for sale or rent. We cry or sigh with identification at the tales of young folk who can never really leave home.

Except that some are not so young. Fortysomethings are having to move back in with their parents after marital bust-ups or because they no longer manage their own housing costs, the so-called “doomerang generation”. …

What does it now mean to be an adult if the old markers of adulthood become out of reach? Levels of home ownership are in decline. We now have a fully fledged caste system delineated by property.

This is happening in the US, too. Wages for under-30s are going down. International surveys indicate that what millennials crave is job security. Lack of security also means delaying that other marker of maturity – having a baby – often indefinitely. All over the world, women are choosing not to procreate. This is entirely understandable. Why would women have children when their jobs are not secure? Many younger women feel their choices have been absolutely narrowed.

A global downturn has meant that many of the foundation stones that we used to mark adulthood have been dug up, so that everything feels a bit shaky.

Full column here.

While many analysts still have doubts about Snapchat’s profitability, the social platform’s recent $1.81 billion USD funding raise indicates investors, including Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic, are confident that the app will figure things out. TechCrunch reports that its valuation is now $18 billion USD, according to a source.

Snapchat is a popular social app in which messages, pictures and videos quickly vanish after being viewed by the recipient.

TechCrunch claims a leaked pitch deck states that Snapchat brought in $59 million USD in total 2015, with the app only beginning monetization efforts in the latter half of that year. Snapchat is currently generating revenue through advertising – trying out new formats such as shoppable ads – and according to that same leaked deck, expects revenues of between $250 million USD and $350 million USD for 2016.

Related reading: Facebook Messenger could become more like Snapchat with rumoured self-destructing messages

The Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fourth-largest bank, has over 46,000 employees across the country. Today, it announced its second quarter financial results and plans to shed 4 percent of its workforce, which represents 1,850 jobs.

The financial institution did not disclose which jobs will be cut nor in what provinces. However, BMO says its cutting those jobs due to new technologies and changing consumer behaviour.

“The underlying activity that drives the charge really relates to the increased use of technology in our business,” said BMO CFO Thomas Flynn during a conference call. “And that’s true both on the customer-facing side, where customers are increasingly doing things in a digital way — either mobile or online — but also in terms of how we use technology to drive efficiency in our business.”

BMO has maintained a mobile presence, on iOS, Android and BB10, for a number of years now. The bank also recently teamed up with MasterCard to pilot a biometric corporate credit card program, more commonly known as Selfie Pay, that will launch sometime this summer.

BMO, like RBC and CIBC, will also support Apple Pay in the coming weeks.

Related: Face-on with ‘Selfie Pay’

Dave, The Blog Herald, May 28, 2016

Unlike Don Tapscott, I'm not going to transform myself into a blockchain expert. But some people will, and if you are one of those, here is a list of blogs that might get you started.

If you believe the Boston Globe or the Wall Street Journal, students are increasingly writing papers on their phones. While there are some benefits, teachers ought to discourage it, since it interferes with reflection and promotes a pernicious first-draft writing habit. The articles on this topic are anecdotal Like most trend pieces, both of these articles are … Continue reading Why students shouldn’t write on a smartphone →

The post Why students shouldn’t write on a smartphone appeared first on without bullshit.

Amen, Harry Dean! All this talk of coding or being coded is besides the point, when push comes to shove most people simply need a code. I come back to Repo Man (1984) a lot when I am thinking about Reclaim Hosting‘s code. In fact, I already played on the idea of a Reclaim Code with the above clip. So when sitting down to talk to Bryan Mathers earlier this week about some artwork I was excited when I found the discussion led us into the territory of this 1980s punk cult classic.

Tim, Lauren and I had been brainstorming what visuals we needed for the website. One of the things Tim mentioned was artwork that might help communicate our migrations service. We provide anyone that signs up free migrations to our hosting service. This is something few, if any, other hosting services provide, and I believe it does go above and beyond. Moving your stuff is stressful, and we make it painless, so the idea was to communicate this. Bryan had the idea of people outside a van with white gloves moving crates of records, which I totally loved. It set me down the road to Repo-perdition. In Repo Man the government agents worked out of a hi-tech industrial bread delivery truck (you can see the back of it in the image above–also what is the technical term for that kind of truck?). This image of movers with white gloves made me think of the government agents in nuclear suits moving the contaminated bodies of the homeless in Repo Man.*

I really do love the play of and on culture in an aesthetic, and I think that’s where most “serious” scholarship and research in edtech failsmiserably—they’re not only by and large rudimentary, but also boring as hell. And the same is true for other hosting companies, who use stock images of a server room and soul-less text to sterilize anything resembling an experience. It tells people you are uninterested in the ideas and simply doing it for the money; an aesthetic to one’s life and work that reinforces your ethos matters. So Bryan Mather was off to watch Repo Man, and I am anxiously awaiting his artistic genius! He already sketched up a scene for the truck that I loved, so I think this is going to be awesome (no pressure, Bryan! ). Regardless, it helped me re-connect with a film that I love dearly—and come to find out it supplies and edtech code I can live by:

________________________

*And they also used flamethrowers as established by the image above—now there is a throwback to bava days gone by.

Safari Technology Preview Release 5 is now available for download. If you already have Safari Technology Preview installed, you can update from the Mac App Store’s Updates tab. Release 5 of Safari Technology Preview covers WebKit revisions 200418–201083.

JavaScript

• Corrected the entropy of Math.random() for the first two invocations (r201053)
• Corrected sticky RegExp handling when backtracking alternatives with dissimilar match lengths (r200946)
• Fixed ES6 site compatibility when Function.name is inferred from property names (r200423)
• Sped up ES6 Array iterators between 4x to 6x (r200422)
• Made the Object constructor be aware of new.target by storing the target’s prototype to the newly created object’s prototype (r200421)
• Fixed calls to getters and setters on super being called with wrong this object (r200586)
• Improved error messages for accessing arguments.callee and similar getters in strict mode (r200694)
• Made TypedArray.prototype.slice use the byteLength of passed array for memmove (r200667)

CSS

• Fixed the cascading order for !important properties in ::slotted and ::host rules correctly (r201073)
• Added color-gamut media query support for wide gamut displays (r201065)
• Made Web Fonts only download when characters are used in its unicode-range (r200601)
• Restored legacy parsing of color attributes with 4 and 8 digits (r200501)
• Corrected how transitions behave when auto values are used (r200622)
• Unprefixed -webkit-cross-fade() (r200888)
• Corrected cross-fade() rendering to match expectations (r200889)
• Corrected how prefixed and unprefixed variants in CSSStyleDeclaration are handled (r200769)
• Stopped attempting to compute min/max width for replaced elements with no intrinsic size (r200486)
• Unprefixed CSS Grid Layout properties (r200510)
• Fixed static position for positioned CSS Grid items (r200572)
• Corrected parsing when just using span as a grid-line value (r200755)
• Implemented CSS Grid auto-repeat computation (r200618)

Web APIs

• Started blocking Geolocation API calls on pages served over insecure connections (r200686)
• Made NodeList iterable (r200619)
• Added support for title attribute tooltips inside Shadow DOM content (r200923)
• Stopped retargeting event.target when an event bubbles up from an assigned node to its assigned slot (r200464)
• Enabled IndexedDB in Web Worker scripts (r200697)
• Fixed IndexedDB transactions so they can’t be committed or aborted twice (r200598)
• Started propagating user gesture state across postMessage boundaries (r200908)
• Aligned window.scroll(), scrollTo(), and scrollBy() with the CSSOM spec with support for the options argument (r200907)
• Made all scrolling height and width values be integral rounded (r200915)
• Added support for ArrayBufferView in the CSS Font Loading API (r200921)

Web Inspector

• Hook up ShadowChicken in the Debugger tab to properly show tail call deleted frames (r200981)
• Made let and const work as expected in Console evaluations (r200533)
• Improved organization of the Debugger tab sidebar (r200566, r200600)
• Added Object Graph view to heap snapshots and removed the Summary view (r200474, r200517)
• Fixed sites that relied on putting custom properties on console.prototype (r201022)
• Improved performance of filtering large timeline recordings (r201047)
• Made Inspect Element and element selection work with Shadow DOM nodes (r200539)
• Fixed the start times in the Frames timeline data grid (r201082)
• Started persisting breakpoints in scripts named via //# sourceURL (r201019)
• Fixed the scrollbar covering the last column in data grids when always showing scrollbars (r200962)
• Fixed Computed Style so it no longer shows both prefixed and unprefixed variants of properties (r200952)
• Made the Call Trees view in the Timelines tab filterable and hide it from views that are not filterable (r200708, r200873)
• Started showing in-progress message in timeline views that do not show data until the recording finishes (r200573, r200594)
• Improved performance of the Console when it tries to render thousands of messages at once (r200471)
• Fixed filtering by duration in the Frames timeline view (r200809)
• Fixed loading of //# sourceMappingURL with a relative URL (r200806)
• Improved console.count() to better match other browsers
• Improved performance of the Timelines tab by profiling Web Inspector with Web Inspector (r200740, r200745, r200773, r200779, r200949)

Media

• Made media elements not pause right away when removed from the document (r200431)
• Started returning a Promise from HTMLMediaElement.prototype.play() (r200638)
• Stopped updating media duration at playback end while seeking (r200675)

Security

• Fixed case matching against the path portion of CSP source expression URLs that ends in a forward-slash (r200445)
• Corrected a CORS check what was sometimes incorrectly failing for media loads (r200493)

Networking

• Stopped restarting a resource preload if there is already one pending for the same URL (r200630)

Accessibility

• Media controls are now keyboard accessible along with other Shadow DOM elements (r200520)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed large animated GIFs not animating until the last frame on slow networks (r200939)
• Fixed Zoom In and Zoom Out on PDF documents (r200611)

The Olympic Village and Environs.  Most of it didn’t exist five years ago.

From the New York Times:

The study, published in JAMA, adjusted for age, sex, income and other factors, and found that the prevalence of being overweight and obese was more than 10 percent lower in the one-fifth of neighborhoods rated highest for walkability than in the one-fifth rated lowest.

Over the 12-year study period, being obese and overweight increased by as much as 9.2 percent in the three-fifths of neighborhoods rated lowest, with no change in the two-fifths rated highest. …

The authors acknowledge that this was not a randomized trial and does not prove causation. Still, the senior author, Dr. Gillian L. Booth, a physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said that the healthiest neighborhoods seem to be those where cars are not a necessity.

“Walking, cycling and public transit rates were much higher in walkable neighborhoods,” she said, “and that leads to better health outcomes.”

From Tanya Paz:

Seriously. I know it’s early. That’s why it’s called Early Council. I’ll be up because the screaming seagulls and honking geese will have woken me up by then.

It’s an intimate opportunity with about 20-30 other people interested in the topic to discuss Active Transportation in the City of Vancouver.

Join Councillor Heather Deal to discuss the next steps for investing in our city’s active transportation infrastructure, and the steps being taken to ensure we eliminate fatalities and serious injuries for pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders, and others in our city.
I hope to see you there!

Early Council – Next Steps for Vancouver’s Active Transportation

Monday, May 30

7:30 am – 9:00 am

The Juice Truck | 28 West 5th Ave
Includes muffins and coffee by donation

RSVP online

I saw a thing on Twitter that said I’m just an old guy complaining about the new ways. Then the tweet was deleted, to the credit of its author. But let me take up the point.

It’s not the new ways that bother me — it’s the old old ways. That is, how I wrote apps before I started using AppKit.

In those days it was common to use C or C++ — always C for me, thankfully — and you may or may not have used an app framework (MacApp, PowerPlant, MFC, etc.). The app framework might generate code for you, which was a source of fragility and bugs. But, even if not, you had to do things like this:

Menu item with unique ID is chosen
App’s central event handler is called
App looks at its context and dispatches event to the right function

There were lots of switch statements. To add, for instance, a copy (or whatever) implementation to a particular view, you’d have to edit your event dispatcher to know about that particular view and its copy function. Making changes required making changes in various places.

Sure, there were things you could to make this a bit easier. It didn’t have to be total spaghetti. But, even at best, it was bad code, and there was nothing you could do about it.

Contrast that with the first time I used AppKit about 15 years ago. I wrote an action method in a view, wired it to a menu item in Interface Builder, and it worked. No switch statements, no touching a half-dozen locations just to add a command.

I’m sure, that first time, that I didn’t even wire that menu item up to First Responder. It was wired directly. But, even still, AppKit used the runtime’s dynamic features to be able to find and call the right object and the right method. And that’s still true today. (Even in UIKit. Even if it’s a button. In other words, if you don’t think you’re taking advantage of Objective-C’s dynamic features, you totally are.)

It seemed like magic, then. I later came to understand how it worked, and then it just seemed like brilliance. (Brilliance is better than magic, because you get to learn it.)

* * *

So when people like me write about these problems, it’s not because we fear the future and new ways of doing things. We love learning new ways of doing things — particularly when they’re better solutions to the problems we have.

We’re not afraid of the future — we’re afraid of the past.

We remember how these problems were solved by the static languages of the day, and we don’t want to go back. In the words of Guy English:

If you see a switch statement or dispatch table they blew it.

So, again, I’m documenting the problems currently solved by Objective-C’s dynamism, and suggesting that Swift, as it evolves, needs to take these problems into account. The foundation should be built with some idea of what the upper floors will look like.

The answer doesn’t have to be that Swift is dynamic in the way Objective-C is, or even dynamic at all. But the eventual Swift app frameworks need to solve these problems as well as — hopefully better than — UIKit and AppKit do right now. And those solutions start with the language.

PS I think I’ll write about plugins next.

John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, May 28, 2016

I have a story I often tell. Suppose, I say, two people want to travel from Edmonton to Calgary. What's the best way to do this? Should they each get a separate car and race? Should they bid against each other for the one remaining car, with only the winner traveling? No, competition won't get these drivers to Calgary faster nor more efficiently. The rational thing to do is to share a ride. John Warner writes, "Competition works really well when the goal is to determine who is a winner and who is a loser and the winners benefit, receiving their tributes and rewards. When the rewards are outsized, or the punishment severe, truly terrible behaviors can result." He's right.

Contact North, May 28, 2016

This is a good but not especially imaginative article on what to expect from mobile learning in education. For example, what factors will impact  the use of mobile technologies? Bandwidth, instructor use and proficiency, and student proficiency, we are told. Well - yeah. Anything else? Or, for example, what can we expect in the future? We are told: location-based learning, augmented reality, wearable learning, internet of things, and 'apps' for learning. The same stuff, in other words, that we've been reading about for a decade. And yes, we are told to ramp up instructor training, secure leadership buy-in, and measure project results. Yawn. 

How did Vancouver become the least affordable city in North America? Edwin Lane reports from the Canadian city where house prices have gone through the roof.

Affordability campaigner Eveline Xia and local politician David Eby outline the extent of the affordability crisis. Researcher David Ley from the University of British Columbia explains how a flood of Chinese money is fuelling price rises while and Cameron Muir, chief economist at the British Columbia Real Estate Association, questions whether foreign money is really to blame at all.

City planner Andy Yan asks why cities are failing their young people and housing economist Thomas Davidoff explains why better taxes are the solution.

Story here.

I’m going to start “calling” my startup ideas in the same way Andy Dwyer calls band names.

So, first up: it’s like REI for D&D players.

We’d sell a “basic adventurer’s kit” that came with iron rations, wineskin, torches, 50 feet of rope, etc.

Then you could get “class specialization” kits, for example:

• Rogue: contains lockpicks, a pack of cards, and invisible ink.
• Wizard: parchment, ink, and a dozen small vials of reagents, orb.
• Cleric: bandages, salves, holy symbol.

We could also offer Tolkien-esque maps of hiking areas and fancy medieval-looking bags/knives/hiking boots. See what carrying 40lbs of gear into the woods actually feels like! Then get it as a gift for a friend.

Gotta get the gear.

The future is arriving …

For a decade, Oregon has been the undisputed leader in pursuing the idea of taxing drivers not on the amount of fuel they buy but on the number of miles they drive. Starting this summer, though, the Beaver State will get some company: California plans to launch a nine-month experiment in July to test out different ways of charging by the mile. …

Under California’s trial, drivers will get to choose how to keep track of the miles they drive, either by buying a decal for an allotment of miles or using GPS-enabled systems to tally them. That’s more options than Oregon offers its drivers under its mileage tax program, which launched last summer.

Oregon began looking at using a vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) tax 15 years ago. It conducted two pilot projects in the last decade before launching OReGO last summer. The new program allows drivers to pay 1.5 cents per mile driven, instead of the state’s 30-cent per gallon fuel tax. Participants still pay the fuel tax at the pump, but the amount is credited against their bill for mileage taxes.

Two outside vendors keep track of the mileage each vehicle travels, bill customers and send the fees to the state. The arrangement is designed to protect the privacy of the drivers by preventing the state from knowing where vehicles have traveled, their speed and other driving behavior. The companies also offer other features, such as fuel efficiency monitoring, to attract participants.

Full story here.

Barbeque and Bike Wash

Get your bike geared up for summer!  Velopalooza, in partnership with Landyachtz, is hosting a bike wash and barbeque!  Have your bike cleaned by our team of volunteers while you enjoy something from the grill.  There will even be mechanics on site to offer a tune up.

Sunday, May 29

12:00-4:00 pm

The Landyachtz Factory Store – 1146 Union Street

By donation. All proceeds going to support the Velopalooza Bike Festival

If you’d like to volunteer at the bike wash please contact volunteer@velopalooza.ca

Photo by Yvonne Bambrick

Bike Spotting on Bloor: A Sneak Peek at what’s inside our upcoming June print issue

Join dandyhorse (we'll be covering the event!) Sunday May 29 for  Bike with Mike, Mike Layton's annual celebration at Christie Pits

We asked Mike Layton if he was looking forward to the new bike lanes on Bloor, here's what he had to say:

The Bloor bike lane has been a long time coming and I am very excited that we are so close to that reality along this section of Bloor. Having grown up in the neighbourhood, I know how dangerous cycling on Bloor can be. A trip along Bloor will soon be an enjoyable part of my daily cycling commute, and the commute of many others.

One note of caution: We need more bike parking. Even without the lane, cyclists lock their bikes to anything nailed down along Bloor because the parking is so limited. If we think the bike lane will bring more bikes, we need to put in more bike parking.

I’ve been working closely with the neighbouring councillor, Joe Cressy, Cycle TO, the BIAs and local residents groups to help move this forward. We’ve been meeting with other councillors to ensure support in the upcoming vote. I have also been pushing staff at City Hall to stay on track for implementation this spring.

Buy our June issue here or pick up a free copy at better book and bike stores this June.

Coming in June! Our new issue of dandyhorse includes cover art by Kent Monkman, interviews with Catherine McKenna and the women behind Toronto's first feminist bike zine, lots of news and views on Bloor, Under Gardiner and the West Toronto Railpath and much, much more! Get dandy at your door or at better bike and book shops in Toronto.

Related on the dandyBLOG:

PSA: Bike with Mike 2016

Bike Spotting Bloor with the women behind Books on Bathurst

PSA: Bike with Mike 2015

Bike with Mike 2014

Artist profile Rob Collinet

Riding on rainbows

Rob Collinet designs Toronto- and bike-focused art and often puts that art on T-shirts. He recently created a Blue Jays logo with a raccoon.

Rob is a bon vivant bicyclist and artist about town and dandyhorse is very pleased to feature his work our homepage right now - and spread the bike love!

Starting with Rob, and continuing through June, we'll be asking people to share their bike pride during PRIDE month, which is also BIKE month! It's going to be a dandy month! (Our new issue is arriving on newsstands and in better bike shops this June too.) More details below on how to submit your BIKE PRIDE story!

Why are you proud to be a cyclist?

I’m proud to be a cyclist, in part because it is a human-powered activity that gets me where I want to go, but I'm also proud because it shows that we don’t all need to be in cars all the time, separated from others and the elements. And I find it fun.

Why are you proud of Toronto?

I am proud of Toronto because of it's diversity in culture, art, food and recreation. It’s a world-class city in so many regards and is only getting better.

Tell us one thing you love about your bike.

I have several bikes (four) but in general, what I love about cycling is the feeling of freedom I experience. That could happen while coasting down the Lower Don River Trail or mountain biking in Crothers Woods, but particularly when I hop on my bike and ride along country trails, sometimes near the Toronto Zoo in the summer.

Could you tell us a bit about your inspiration behind your creative practice?

My inspiration for the bike illustrations and designs was to show my love of biking and bike culture. I am fascinated by words and symbols and this comes through in a lot of my work.

The feeling of freedom I mentioned is like riding on a rainbow, I imagine.

The riding the rainbow T-shits are available at Rob's Threadless artist shop: https://robcollinet.threadless.com

You can follow Rob on Instagram too, to see his other work.

Contribute to this special edition of Bike Pride Bike Spotting: Email us and tell us why you're proud to be a cyclist and why you're proud of Toronto (and plug your own project, event or creative work too)!

Email bikespotting@dandyhorsemagazine.com and we might publish your words and photo.

Related on the dandyBLOG:

Bike to Work Day is May 30, 2016

Bike with Mike is May 29

#BooksonBathurst with The Reading Line is May 28

Bike Spotting buffered bike lanes

To better help you ensure your account is safe and secure with Compose, we've expanded our authentication system to support FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F). If you're currently accessing your Compose databases, now would be a good time to increase the security of your account and if you're using 2FA right now, here's another option. Your Compose Account is the key to your database kingdom and you need to do everything you can to keep it secure.

Passwords are just the start

Passwords can be secure, but truly secure passwords can be hard to remember. If you reuse your password and it is compromised, it is a very time-consuming process to change your password for every site and service you use. There are great apps out there like 1Password to generate and manage passwords, but they aren't free and your sign in still only has one authentication factor.

Authentication factors can be things you know, like a password, something you have, like a key or something you are. The more independent factors you have for authentication, the less likely you are to be compromised.

Enter 2FA

To make apps more secure, two-factor authentication (2FA) came onto the scene. 2FA systems require two different pieces of information to be input to verify your identity. One of them can be your password and the other comes from some other source.

There are one-time passcode generator apps for your phone like Google Authenticator, Authy that you configure with accounts at providers like Compose, Github and Gmail which generate one-time passcodes that change using the standards developed by the Initiative for Open Authentication (OATH).

When you login, there's a prompt to enter the token generated by your authentication app or receive a one-time passcode vide SMS text on your phone.

The basic premise behind 2FA is that it is harder for someone to access your account with two authentication factors in place rather than just a password. There is a problem with most of these 2FA systems though; they aren't a second authentication factor, just another thing that you get to know and use to log in. It's basically a second password.

Enter Universal 2nd Factor Authentication

Until now, we've only offered 2FA here at Compose. Today We're introducing Universal 2nd Factor Authentication with hardware keys. U2F means you can authenticate with something you have, a physical hardware key, like a Yubikey that you can plug into your USB port, which can be used as a second factor – something you have.

A Yubikey is a USB device that fits nicely on your keyring and acts as your second factor for authentication. You plug it in to your USB drive and, when prompted by the site you're logging into, push the "Y" button on the device. The Yubikey will communicate with the site to authorize your login.

If you already have a FIDO U2F hardware key, getting it set up with your Compose account is pretty simple, if you don't, we can help you on that front.

Getting Started with Yubikey

Getting your Yubikey setup is pretty straightforward. Keep in mind, that not every site or configuration works with Yubikey. For example, if your computer doesn't have a USB port (like the new Macbook), you can't plug it in. You'll also want to make sure it's compatible with your browser - it works great with Chrome, but isn't supported by Safari. It may not work for you and, if not, you should go ahead and configure 2FA.

To get started, you'll need to have 2FA configured for your account. If you haven't done that, it's pretty simple. To do that login to your account, click here and you'll see this screen:

Select if you want to auth using a text every time you login, or if you want to use an app like Google Authenticator to generate a code for you to use. Both of these 2FA options are considered "things you know." Even if the code was just texted to you or generated by your authenticator app, you're still inputting information that you now know as your second factor for authentication.

As a side note, it's a good idea to add a number to use for Fallback SMS and download recovery codes if you're using an app for authentication.

Now that 2FA authentication is setup, you have a screen like this:

Click view registered keys and you'll have an option to register a key. Give it an alias, click add, plug in your Yubikey, push the button on it and you're all set. Now your Compose account is more secure. Each time you login, you'll input your username, password and make sure you Yubikey is in.

Now you're ready to get started with U2F.

A few weeks ago, news broke of the Canadian government’s intention to reject the immigration application of two individuals, potentially due to their association with the Chinese telecom company Huawei.

What was first reported by the South China Morning Post, exploded onto an international stage as outlets were made aware that the Canadian government was citing espionage under section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

It was recently revealed that what was thought to involve two Chinese individuals in reality involves four, one of them being the spouse of a Huawei employee who was rejected on the basis of association.

The individuals have refused to publish their names, and according to the Globe and Mail, seem to have nothing in common with each other excluding their association with Huawei.

Furthermore, the Globe spoke to a Toronto immigration lawyer Chantel Desloges who stated it’s extremely rare that Chinese immigration applications are rejected on the basis of espionage, and that in fact, she’s never personally seen one.

Huawei operates fairly unrestricted in Canada, though the Chinese company has faced security allegations in several other countries. While Huawei operates in the United States, it’s banned from partnering with larger telecom companies like Verizon or AT&T. Furthermore, Australia blocked Huawei in 2012 over cybersecurity concerns.

Both refused groups are being represented by Jean-Francois Harvey, a Canadian immigration lawyer based out of Hong Kong. Harvey told the Globe that he finds the timing suspicious, seeing as the applications were unrelated to each other. The only common factor was the applicants’ employment with Huawei.

The applicants had apparently reached the final stages of the 2-year application process when they were refused, much to Harvey’s surprise.

At the beginning of May, the SCHP reported that a Canadian immigration officer told two Huawei employees that they were part of an “inadmissible class of persons” under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. MobileSyrup previously reported that Huawei had made significant investments in Ontario, including a pledge to invest $500 million in the province by 2020.

The Canadian government has given the applicants 30 days to provide more information about their case, which Harvey claims to have filed, and are now waiting for a response.

Related reading: Immigration prepares to deny two Huawei employees entrance to Canada

With Microsoft and Intel by its side, Samsung has entered the two-in-one market with a creditable stab at the laptop-tablet hybrid.

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S marks the first Galaxy to run an operating system other than Android, and is in many ways unique in the product category, due to its Super AMOLED screen, slight size and included keyboard. But how does it stack up against what most regard as the reigning champ of two-in-ones, the Surface Pro 4? And can this device truly hope for mainstream success? I spent a week with the TabPro S to attempt to find out.

Specs

• Display: 12-inch Super AMOLED 2160 x 1440 touch screen
• Width: .69 kg (1.5 pounds)
• Thickness: 6.3mm (.25 inches)
• Internal storage: 128 GB
• Processor: Intel dual-core 1.51GHz M3-6Y30 SoC
• Graphics: Intel HD 515 Graphics
• OS: Windows 10
• Camera: 5-megapixel front and rear-facing cameras 

Classy exterior, flashy display

The TabPro S makes a great first impression. The device’s included faux leather keyboard case makes it look like a classy folio. It’s more demurely professional than the Surface Pro 4’s fabric keyboard covers and may in fact even challenge the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in sleekness.

It’s also only 6.3mm thin and .69 kg (1.52 pounds), making it noticeably thinner and lighter than the Surface Pro 4, which clocks in at 8.4mm and .76 kg (1.69 pounds). It outdoes the iPad Pro too, which is 6.9mm thick and .71 kg (1.57 pounds) for the Wi-Fi-only version. The keyboard case adds another 4.9mm of width, but still leaves it feeling slim and light.

The thing that really wowed me upon my first interaction, however, was the display. The TabPro S’ display features Super AMOLED technology, leading to crisp blacks and brilliant contrast. Just like on Samsung’s smartphones, the beautiful display almost blinded me to certain legitimate issues.

For instance, to facilitate its svelte physique, the TabPro S only offers a single USB-C port and 3.5mm audio jack. While USB-C may be the way of the future, for now it makes the TabPro S a lot less accessible, all but necessitating the added purchase of an adapter hub. In comparison, the Surface Pro 4 has a USB 3.0 port, MicroSDXC card slot, Mini DisplayPort and charging port.

Awkward and rigid, like me in middle school

On the left, the TabPro S keyboard. Bottom right, the Surface Pro 4 type cover. Top right, Surface Pro 3 type cover.

A crucial element of any two-in-one device is its keyboard. It defines whether or not the device can endure serious usage as a laptop. Skimp on the keyboard and the entire device suffers. Unfortunately, Samsung skimped on the keyboard.

It’s just not in the same league as the Surface Pro 4. The Surface’s keyboard has island-style keys, meaning they’re spaced apart from each other like on most modern laptops, as well as a smooth-scrolling trackpad.

The keys on the TabPro S are squished together and the track pad is significantly stickier and more unpredictable. Cutting and pasting links, for instance, often resulted in a chaotic jumble of tabs opening and closing, while the scrolling was somewhat stuttering.

Its case also has an exceedingly rigid form factor. While the Surface Pro 4 has a kickstand built in that can rotate to any angle, the magnetic case of the TabPro S has exactly two angles: upright, for desk work, and reclined, for lap use. Neither are optimal.

One good thing about the case, however, is that it’s included in the box, which is not so with the Surface Pro 4.

Light but sufficient processing power

The TabPro S is equipped with an Intel Core M3 processor, the same SoC that the Surface Pro 4 packs in its 128 GB version. It’s more than enough to perform day-to-day work tasks, like web-browsing and document editing, but if you’re computing needs are more heavy-duty – say video editing – this device isn’t ideal for you.

The TabPro S isn’t meant to be turbo charged, however – it’s lack of an internal fan makes that a necessity. On that front, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did not notably overheat at any point during use.

Owning a Galaxy smartphone opens up cool additional features. Since the TabPro S is NFC-enabled, anyone with a recent Galaxy device can tap the keyboard case, then scan their fingerprint on their phone to unlock the device. Users can also can check and reply to phone notifications.

Enough juice for a working day

Just like the processor performance, the battery life of the TabPro S was satisfactory. With my moderate work use – browsing, Word, Slack – the device lasted 13 hours before shutting off, much over a full work day. It promises 10.5 for heavier use. It also states that it should take two and a half hours to charge the 5,200mAh battery, which I found to be accurate.

Windows 10 features

The TabPro S runs Windows 10, the first of its Galaxy ilk to do so. I quite liked the user experience, which brings professional gravitas to the two-in-one. In particular, I enjoyed having access to features such as Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana, Snap Assist, and the ability to stream Xbox One content.

Snap Assist, which allows you to pin different windows in set positions on your screen and use them simultaneously, is useful but undoubtedly works better with the Universal Windows Apps than third-party apps, which sometimes have to be resized or take too long to snap in place. Similarly, Edge, the Internet Explorer reboot, works a lot more smoothly than Chrome.

The special Canadian price

One of the most important aspects of any device is the price, but it’s perhaps especially important for the TabPro S as it stakes out its place in the market. To my mind, its best bet would be positioning itself as an attractive prospect for the mid-range buyer.

But while the price in the U.S. might back up that idea, here in Canada it does not.

In the U.S. the TabPro S is $899, keeping the device behind the $1,000 mental barrier. In Canada the TabPro S is $1,299 before tax. One could buy a MacBook Air (which has an Intel Core i5 processor) for about $200 less.

But even if I allow for the idea that Samsung’s plan is not to take a slice of the laptop demographic, but to tap in to the existing two-in-one market, the business case doesn’t make much sense. It’s offering a cut-budget version of the Surface Pro 4, for almost the same price.

The Surface Pro 4’s regular Canadian price for the 128GB model is $1,179, but it’s important to keep in mind that it doesn’t ship with a keyboard. That costs an extra $199.99. Taking the keyboard in to account, the Surface Pro 4 is then $1,378.99.

That’s $80 more expensive than the TabPro S, which, honestly, is worth it merely in consideration of the better keyboard.

Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $1,249 for the 128GB version sans keyboard.

One last thing to keep in mind: for regular use, most people would require a USB-C hub. Samsung’s model comes with HDMI and USB-A plug-ins and retails for approximately $100. The accompanying S Pen is also not included in the box, and is expected to begin shipping later this quarter.

Can it beat the Surface Pro 4?

On the left, the TabPro S. On the right, the Surface Pro 4.

After a week with TabPro S my verdict tends towards no. Its rigid form factor makes the TabPro S fall short of two-in-one excellence. My addendum, however, is that it is an impressive first try, and with a retooled keyboard and a lower price point, could certainly give other devices a run for their money as a quality budget option.

As for the future of two-in-ones, it remains difficult for me to see a convincing argument for their value. The current argument is: you get a tablet and a laptop for the price of one. The reality is, because the keyboard is in the protective case, you end up rarely detaching the tablet for solo use, and so end up with a small, subpar laptop for the price of a real laptop.

But that analysis only relates to things as they stand now. Perhaps the entire laptop computing industry will tip towards two-in-ones, ramping up the specs until they become the new normal. If the two-in-one becomes the master of all, I’ll be the first to line up for mine, but the TabPro S certainly brings us no closer to that future. Despite its beautiful screen and decent performance, I’d still have to call it a master of none.

Pros:

• Lightweight and portable
• Beautiful Super AMOLED screen
• Keyboard included

Cons:

• Hefty Canadian price tag
• Awkward design
• Small keyboard and sticky touchpad
• Only has a USB-C port

Patrick O’Rourke contributed photography to this review.

Ian: Remind anyone of Coal Harbour? (Or likely Vancouver House … or….)

Almost two-thirds of homes in the Tower, a 50-storey apartment complex inLondon, are in foreign ownership, with a quarter held through secretive offshore companies based in tax havens, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

The first residents of the landmark development arrived in October 2013, but many of the homes are barely occupied, with some residents saying they only use them for a fraction of the year.

The revelations about the Tower are likely to be seized on by campaigners and politicians as the starkest example yet of the housing crisis gripping the capital, in which too many new homes are sold abroad as investments and left largely empty while fewer and fewer young people can afford to buy or even rent in the city.

Full story here in The Guardian