Rolandt

The photo is fuzzy, but the lanky bespectacled Westerner standing on the train platform in Beijing is definitely Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. So why is the City being so cagey about his recent five-day trip to China, a place so intricately entwined with Vancouver’s present and future? Specifically, the City withheld the apparent centrepiece of this month’s economic mission – a memorandum of understanding Robertson signed with Mayor of Shanghai Ying Yong. Rather than just...

Review of the Serfas E-Lume 450 Bike Headlight. The compact Serfas E-Lume 450 Bike Headlight bike light is our choice for Best Bright Budget bike light. It is extremely bright with 450 lumens of light, yet has a wide beam. This bike headlight is excellent quality and really great value for money.

The post Best Bright Budget Bike Light – Serfas E-Lume 450 Bike Headlight appeared first on Average Joe Cyclist.

By NICK ROCKWELL and ERIN GRAU

For the second year in a row, we’ve been named to the 2017 Top Companies for Women Technologists Leadership Index by the Anita Borg Institute.

This award recognizes the effort of many women and men in the company to build a diverse and inclusive workforce, which fuels innovation, growth and profitability. We have focused, in particular, on three areas:

• RECRUITMENT: Recruiting and hiring high quality talent with an emphasis on identifying women and other underrepresented minorities. We rewrote our hiring process, and every candidate who interviews with our department is met by a diverse interview panel. Our public job descriptions are following new guidelines to attract candidates from the largest talent pool with the broadest range of abilities. And we are working to build out a diverse talent pool by posting to diverse job boards, attending meetups and conferences, and by holding sourcing sessions with our staff. Through these efforts, we have significantly increased the number of female engineers over the last two years.
• ENVIRONMENT: Retain, support and promote an environment where diverse talent thrives. We wrote communications and conduct guidelines, and partnered with organizations like Girls Who Code, Power to Fly, Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship New York and TechLadies, to empower women internally and externally in the field. We’ve sponsored countless hackathons, conferences and events with the goal of bringing female and other underrepresented technologists together. And a huge milestone was accomplished when we strengthened and broadened our parental leave policy across The Times.
• ADVANCEMENT: Strengthen the internal pipeline of women and underrepresented minorities into leadership positions. We launched a mentorship program, introduced unconscious bias training, and created allies and agents of change throughout the entire technology department.

We are honored to share this year’s list with companies we admire, and we’re proud to be recognized by an organization that shares our commitment to advance women in technology.

Nick Rockwell is the CTO at The New York Times. Find him on Twitter and Medium Nick Rockwell.

Erin Grau is the VP of Transformation and co-chair of The Women’s Network at The New York Times.

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The New York Times Ranks as a Top Company for Women in Technology was originally published in Times Open on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Flower, by thatgamecompany, was released today on the App Store. The game, in which players direct flower petals by manipulating the wind, captured numerous awards and is part of the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection.

Flower was originally released in 2009 on Sony’s PlayStation 3. The game is designed to be a simple relaxing experience that’s accessible to anyone, not people who identify as gamers. On iOS, Flower takes advantage of iOS devices by incorporating tilt to control the petals as they float through the sky. If you missed Flower on Sony’s platforms, a big iPad Pro screen is the perfect place to give this classic a try. Of course, now I want Journey too.

Flower is available on the App Store.

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Spotted: Jam-Packed Bike Parking

What: Busy bike racks.

Where: The Art Gallery of Ontario and 401 Richmond.

Why we think it's dandy: Overflowing bike racks remind us of the number of riders in the city and the need for infrastructure to keep up with the demand.

Also: Ontario's Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Eleanor McMahon, recently announced new funds for new bike parking at cultural destinations, like the AGO (seen above).

See Metro's article.

Submission by Amanda Giacomazzo.

Repurposing some nearby infrastructure. Pro Tip: Check to make sure the street sign is securely in the ground before locking your steed to it (on the sidewalk side, not the traffic side which can result in the dreaded 'taco wheel'.)

Getting creative by going vertical outside of 401 Richmond, a cultural creative hub for Toronto's artists downtown.

Related on dandyhorsemagazine.com:

Spotted: Stop and Smell the Carbon Monoxide

Mo bike lane Mo bike parking problems

Rack’n’Roll: Bike parking in Toronto not keeping pace

Research is showing more and more just how much influence diet has on your overall sense of well-being. From energy level, to focus, to physical health, to your emotions. In the end, no matter what physical activity you do, the quality of the diet you choose to fuel your body with is going to be the biggest impact. To transition to healthier eating patterns, start small and build from a solid foundation.

I’ve been teaching my three-year-old son how to ride his bike on two wheels. When I first took off the training wheels, he quickly lost his balance and felt discouraged. He thought he would be able to ride far and fast right away. He felt stuck, and gaining the skill to ride seemed out of reach.

I told him it was okay to fall. I used to fall all of the time, and sometimes I still do.

I said, “Falling is learning.”

He asked incredulously, “You fall?”

“Yep. It’s normal. That’s how you learn.”

“Okay.” He hopped back on his bike with his eyes on the path. “I’m going to try again.”

He can ride now. He rides farther every time we take the bike out, and I’m starting to lose my breath running alongside. He still falls, but every time he hops up and reassures me, “It’s okay. Falling is learning.”

This is how I approach programming for visualization.

I’m not great with code. I don’t know the best way to do everything. I just try to get things to work the best I can. I debug a lot. Especially in the beginning, when learning any new language, package, or framework, nothing seems to work, but eventually it does.

Visualization beginners get stuck here. Is this the right language? Is there a better way to do this? The key is to fight off these questions in your head early on. The great thing about visualization is that you get instant, visual feedback and your wonderments will answer themselves.

If the chart is wrong, then yeah, there probably is a better way to make it. Debug. Adjust. No big deal. You learn to avoid the mistake next time.

You will fall a lot, especially in the beginning. But that is okay. That means you’re learning.

Tags: mistakes

2018 Breezer Doppler Cafe in pearl yellow and black. Courtesy: breezerbikes.com

The Breezer Doppler Cafe is a butted chromoly steel  650b 11-speed that comes with full fenders.  The MSRP is $1100.

The 650b wheelsize, also called 27.5, has become very popular in the mountain bike world.  At 584 mm, it's the "just right" size for many mountain bikers, in the middle between 26ers (559 mm) and 29ers (622 mm). 650b has also become a popular width for cross and "gravel" bikes.  From a transportation bike standpoint, the advantage of 650b is that it lets you run wider tires for a cushier ride.  Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly raves about the advantages of 650b tires in his "remarkable journey of discovery" series.

Another thing to like about this bike is its 11x1 gearing, which means you get plenty of gear options without having to deal with triple or even double chainrings.  This really simplifies the ride.

Finally, I should admit my bias for retro steel bikes.  This one just looks cool.

And while I'm admitting biases, our love for Breezer should be clear by now.  In looking for bikes that met our standards, we started with Breezer.  Our first bicycle post in Feburary 2008 was about the Breezer Citizen.  Our second post was about the Breezer Uptown. Breezer just makes solid transportation bikes, and they keep getting better and better.

There's been a lot of hype about the Doppler Cafe.  Here's a sampling:

Bicycling

Bicycle Times

CX Magazine

Bike Rumor

Where can you find this bike? Check with your local bicycle shop.  In Washington, DC, that would be The Daily Rider.

Specifications

Sizes	49cm, 52cm, 54cm, 56cm, 58cm, 60cm
Color(s)	Pearl yellow w/black
Frame	Breezer butted-chromoly steel, 44mm headtube, BSA Threaded BB, 142X12 through-axle dropouts
Fork	Full-carbon disc, tapered steerer, 12mm through-axle w/rack, fender & side bottle mounts
Crankset	Forged 1X, 40T
Bottom Bracket	Sealed-bearing, BSA
Pedals	na
Front Derailleur	na
Rear Derailleur	SRAM Apex 1
Shifters	SRAM Apex 1, 11-speed
Cassette	SRAM 1130 Powerglide, 11-42 11-speed
Chain	KMC X11
Wheelset	650Bx32H WTB STP i23 TCS disc, tubeless compatible, sealed bearing hubs, 14gSS spokes
Tires	WTB Horizon, 650x47mm wire bead
Brakeset	Tektro HD-T285 hydraulic disc, 160mm rotor
Brake Levers	Tektro HD-T285 Hydraulic
Headset	FSA 1 1/8", No.10 internal, 36° ACB-sealed, 6.5mm aluminum top cover
Handlebar	Breezer Sweeper Bar, 680mm width, 25Deg backweep
Stem	3D-forged 6061 stem body, +/-7°
Tape	Breezer Ergo cork
Saddle	WTB Volt Comp 142x265, steel rail
Seatpost	Breezer, 6061 alloy, 27.2mm diameter
Fenders	Stainless fenders w/ struts
Headlight	na
Taillight	na
Rear Carrier	na
Drive Unit	na
Weight	29.45lb/13.39kg(size 56)
	*Spec subject to change without notice

I occasionally hang out on StackOverflow and often use an answer as an opportunity to fill a package void for a particular need. docxtractr and qrencoder are two (of many) packages that were birthed from SO answers. I usually try to answer with inline code first then expand the functionality into a package (if warranted). Some make it to CRAN (like those two), others stay on GitHub.

This (short) post is about two new ones: webhose🔗 and pigeon🔗.

The webhose package is an API interface package to https://webhose.io/, which is an interesting service that scrapes the web & “dark web” and provides a short but handy API to retrieving the content using a fairly intuitive query language.

The pigeon package is a hastily-hacked-together wrapper around pgn-extract, a cross-platform utility written in C for working with chess game data in PGN format.

I’m not going to have any time to round out the corners on either of those packages but will gladly make time to help anyone who wants to jump on board to either (or both!) of them.

Working on either package will let you get your feet wet (or, wetter) with R package development. They both need:

• more functions + docs!
• test harness setup
• Travis-CI, code coverage & AppVeyor configs

Working on webhose will give you experience dealing with HTTP APIs (and their API is super clean to work with) and possibly introduce you to an area of research you’re not already in.

Working on pigeon will give you experience integrating C[++] & R code (and the C-library I’ve hack-wrapped definitely needs some care & feeding to ensure no memory leaks are present).

Neither is “mission critical”. The world will gladly go on w/o either of them. But, if you wanted a judgement-free place to hone your R package skills or try/learn new things (and ask questions along the way), file an issue, drop a note in the comments or hit me up on Twitter. If you’re an experienced R package-r and want to “own” either of these, that’s 👍 as well!

I’d encourage all nascent R coders to adopt “SODD” and use SO as a place to hone your skills while you help others (and you don’t need to write a package for every answer :-).

We're reorganizing again and I was recently asked about my education and training. I wasn't sure exactly what to submit but here's what I came up with:

Ben Schiller, Fast Company, Oct 01, 2017

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I've expressed the view in the past that venture capitalists (VCs) don't fund ideas, they fund people, and specifically, people like themselves. This view is becoming more current, as evidenced by this article. "If you’re looking for money to start a new business, it helps to be white, male, attractive-looking, and living in a place like Boston or San Francisco. Better still, you want to have gone to a top-ranked university. People with these sorts of profiles win the lion’s share of funding from VC firms." This - and not our lack of drive, innovatioon or application - is why it's difficult to get startup and growth funding in Canada. It's a network, and it extends beyond just VC (you can find the same ties and connections in media and government, for example). I would love in my lifetime to see this advantage rendered obsolete.

[Link] [Comment]

 

Chain restaurants don’t do that well in the West End.  One year, back in the 1980s, about five closed down on Denman alone – from a ‘Famous Amos Cookies’ to a Burger King.  (We’ll see if the current iteration in Denman Mall survives.)

Here’s another indication – the closure of a Dairy Queen (in what was once a bank) near the corner of Denman and Robson.

It happened suddenly a few weeks ago, and there has been no ‘for lease’ sign posted.  So presumably a ‘higher and better’ use will replace it.  And it will be some kind of indicator when we see what that will be.

 

Rather sadly, across the intersection, another business closed – Punto Pasta.  But this was no chain.  Operated by some Italian immigrants, they were making pasta on site, providing the real thing with the accents to match.

Most likely, they couldn’t sustain such a small local operation where the property taxes alone are brutal, or more optimistically perhaps they found a more affordable location.  (Yeah, right.)

This is interesting for several reasons:

Ever seen a sanitation department use language like that?

It’s a pro-active approach to problem-solving.

And it presumes that since mobile phones and apps are the primary way we connect, there is the technology in place to do so.

 

As reported by the Richmond News, a nasty stretch of road made infamous by four road deaths from 2013 to 2016 is getting  20 cushion type speed humps installed. This section of Richmond’s River Road between No. 7 Road and the Westminster Highway has been called the “Misery Mile” for its tragic toll.

But here’s the surprise~the majority of responding residents in the area told the City of Richmond that they did not want speed hump installation, preferring instead for speed enforcement to be conducted to enforce 50 km/h. Why? As the Richmond News observes “a survey of local residents in the summer, of the 47 who responded, 60 per cent opposed bringing in the speed humps, due to concerns about noise, wear and tear to their vehicles, safety and effectiveness.” 

Imagine~residents were more concerned about the impacts on their vehicles of speed humps instead of the safety and comfort of all road users who could be potentially be maimed or killed on this section of road. Cyclists have long viewed this stretch of road as one of the most dangerous in Richmond. Thankfully City of Richmond staff noted that speed enforcement was not enough to temper bad driver behaviour. Council noted that  “the proposed speed humps have been very effective on the southern stretch of Gilbert Road, close to Dyke Road, without any damage to vehicles, while allowing them to travel at the speed limit of 50. “Although 60 per cent of the survey respondents indicated non-support for the proposed speed humps, the reasons cited for the opposition were found by staff to be primarily based on personal perceptions. Staff assessment was based on technical analysis prior to developing the recommendation.”

Clearly physical deterrents being installed slow vehicles, including the ones belonging to the locals. As this is a stretch of road favoured by cyclists, signage will indicate when motorists can expect large groups of cyclists, and new road markings will be installed. Cost for the 20 speed humps will be $100,000 and will be covered by the City’s traffic calming program.

Location of road fatalities  along River Road. Source: Richmond News

Our neighbour to the south has introduced a new form of bike share — as technology now enables dockless systems.

Results look very promising, compared to Seattle’s old (and much too small) Pronto bike-share system. With thanks to SeattlePI.com and Daniel DeMay.

 

Spin with me.  Click to enlarge.

Seattle’s Department of Transportation (SDOT) said as much earlier this week when it appeared before a City Council committee to report on the progress of the pilot program that launched in July and is set to run until the end of the year. 

With two years and change to grow its user base, Pronto averaged 0.7 trips per bike per day. But in the short time since LimeBike, Spin and Ofo came on the scene in Seattle, they’ve averaged 2.25 rides per bike per day, according to data from SDOT.

And there are a lot more bikes.

Between the three companies, something north of 4,000 bikes are spread across the city, and the permits are up to allowing 2,000 bikes per company. Only LimeBike has pushed out the full 2,000 bikes.

Spin (“Ride for $1, park anywhere”), LimeBike and Chinese company Ofo are the suppliers in Seattle. Other competitors in this arena include Social Bicycles, Zagster and DropBike.   Not to mention increasing N.A. market entry by big and well-funded Chinese firms Mobike (now in Washington, DC) and Ofo.

The key innovation is a solar-powered GPS-enabled smart-lock with communications to a central site, enabling app-driven bike-finding, access and charging via QR code scanning.  The tech builds on the increasing availability of Internet of Things (IoT) products from companies like Qualcomm.  The rest of the bike looks pretty much like a Mobi.

The business model apparently doesn’t include charging cities, or asking for start-up capital — in fact, the theory is that suppliers pay cities.  The dilemma for cities (aside from having existing Mobi-like dock-oriented systems), is that bikes can be left anywhere.  In some Chinese cities, this has created an unbelievable nuisance, as the suppliers keep on pouring bikes in, and people leave them anywhere when they are done with their ride.  Seattle’s choice is to put the onus on the operator to reposition bikes to improve location-related availability and reduce unwanted clutter, with the threat of loss of license and deal-souring bad publicity.

From Jason Margolis at PRI

For Seattle City Council Member Mike O’Brien, who chairs the city’s Committee of Sustainability and Transportation, adopting the Chinese bike-share model makes a lot of sense: “Congestion in Seattle, not unlike other major cities, is bad and getting worse.”

O’Brien adds that Seattle strives to be a leader battling climate change, which means getting more fossil-fuel burning vehicles off the roads.

As for bicycles junking up Seattle’s sidewalks, O’Brien isn’t worried. If problems arise, it’s up to the bike companies to correct them.

“These companies want stories that say, ‘I went and visited Seattle, I went and used company X. It was a great system, and it worked really well,’” said O’Brien. “If there’s a headline article that says, ‘Seattle shuts down company X because they don’t play by the rules,’ that can be pretty damaging to their brand.”

The companies operating in Seattle have trucks patrolling the city, picking up and repositioning the bikes so they’re more equally distributed. Still, it’s hard to find one on top of Seattle’s hills, because people ride them down. The challenge, for now at least in Seattle, isn’t cluttered sidewalks, it’s not enough bikes.

Peter Lewis | The Executive Computer; 'Mother of All Markets' or a 'Pipe Dream Driven by Greed'?:

Amazing to read this piece from 1992, where Andy Grove of Intel pooh-poohs what we would call the smart phone, today:

Sometime around the middle of this decade no one is sure exactly when – executives on the go will begin carrying pocket-sized digital communicating devices. And although nobody is exactly sure what features these personal information gizmos will have, what they will cost, what they will look like or what they will be called, hundreds of computer industry officials and investors at the Mobile ‘92 conference here last week agreed that the devices could become the foundation of the next great fortunes to be made in the personal computer business.

“We are writing Chapter 2 of the history of personal computers,” said Nobuo Mii, vice president and general manager of the International Business Machines Corporation’s entry systems division.

How rich is this lode? At one end of the spectrum is John Sculley, the chief executive of Apple Computer Inc., who says these personal communicators could be “the mother of all markets.”

At the other end is Andrew Grove, the chairman of the Intel Corporation, the huge chip maker based in Santa Clara, Calif. He says the idea of a wireless personal communicator in every pocket is “a pipe dream driven by greed.”

These devices are expected to combine the best features of personal computers, facsimile machines, computer networks, pagers, personal secretaries, appointment books, address books and even paperback books and pocket CD players – all in a hand-held box operated by pen, or even voice commands.

Stuck in traffic on a business trip, an executive carrying a personal communicator could send and receive electronic mail and facsimile messages from anywhere in the country. She could also call up a local map on a 3-inch by 5-inch screen, draw a line between her current position (confirmed by satellite positioning signals) and her intended destination, and the device would give her specific driving instructions (as well as real-time warnings about traffic jams or accidents). Certainly, these are just predictions for now, but they sure are fun to think about.

Once in the meeting, the executive could take notes on the device, and even order pizza for the group using a combination of custom electronic forms and wireless fax. After updating her schedule electronically and sending notes back to her office computer network, she could check restaurant and movie information, including critics’ reviews. Back at the hotel, she could plug in the latest disk-based novel.

Facsimile messages from anywhere in the country! Disk-based novels!

And Grove’s comment is proof, once again, how shortsighted even the most successful 'visionaries’ can be. And the idea that only executives would need them! Wow.

Economists may have found a clue in the big question in the lack of wage growth in the US, despite low unemployment. Fast food chains – and other franchise-dominated business–have long-ingrained policies that block franchisees from poaching workers from each other. 

Rachel Abrams | Why Aren’t Paychecks Growing? A Burger-Joint Clause Offers a Clue

As economists try to understand why wages have stagnated across the country’s economy, they are examining the cheap labor part of the equation closely. A few have zeroed in on an obscure clause buried in many fast-food franchise agreements as a possible contributor to the problem.

Some of fast-food’s biggest names, including Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Pizza Hut and, until recently, McDonald’s, prohibited franchisees from hiring workers away from one another, preventing, for example, one Pizza Hut from hiring employees from another.

The restrictions do not appear in a contract that employees sign, or even see. They are typically included in a paragraph buried in lengthy contracts that owners of fast-food outlets sign with corporate headquarters.

Yet the provisions can keep employees tied to one spot, unable to switch jobs or negotiate higher pay. A lack of worker mobility has long been viewed as contributing to wage stagnation because switching jobs is one of the most reliable ways to get a raise.

Defenders of the practice argue that the restaurants spend time and money training workers and want to protect their investment. But two lawsuits, filed this year against McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr.’s parent company, CKE Restaurants Holdings, contend that such no-hire rules violate antitrust and labor laws.

These tactics are not limited to fast food. Other franchises, like fitness clubs, maintenance services, and others also apply them.

And of course, the companies involved in these practices defend themselves by saying they break no laws, but McDonald’s, for example, has distanced itself from the policy and has informed franchisees it will no longer enforce the rule.

McDonald’s said its policies did not violate any laws. The company recently removed the language from its contract, and declined to say whether the lawsuits had played a role in that decision. CKE declined to comment.

The no-hire rules affect more than 70,000 restaurants — or more than a quarter of the fast-food outlets in the United States — according to Alan B. Krueger, an economist at Princeton University and a chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration who examined agreements for 40 of the nation’s largest fast-food companies.

The provisions, he said, were “ubiquitous” among the companies and appeared to exist mainly to limit both competition and turnover, which can keep labor costs low.

So, a ubiquitous practice, generally invisible to the workers impacted, that minimizes the possibility of gaining higher wages in a fair labor market. 

Although this is happening at the hourly worker end of the economic spectrum, it feels so much like the cartelish practices that Silicon Valley anti-poaching agreements had employed for years to block job-hopping in high tech.

Of course, we are unlikely to see a deep investigation of these practices by a Trump administration, but we should.

Yesterday, I posed a core question regarding tax laws, but the question is pertinent here, too:

We should be looking for ways to level the economy, so that working people don’t live in poverty, that those who put in the time and the years have a career, a home, and a decent pension, that their kids can get a real education, and that all have the opportunity to advance in the economic footrace, and to not face an unending series of obstacles and threats.

This collusion by fast food chains, and other major employers of people on the lowest rungs of our economy, is exactly the sort of obstacle the status quo puts in front of those with the least power in our society.

Denim & Steel @DenimAndSteel
While incompleteness creates space and starter material for creativity: baronfig.com/products/unfin…

Denim & Steel @DenimAndSteel
Imprecision and incompleteness are often key ingredients of interactivity, as they both make room for the unexpected and the personal.

Navin Vaswani @vaswani_
Not to alarm you, but: Jose Bautista, Sept. 2009: .260/.339/.594, 8 HR, 18 RBI Teoscar Hernandez, Sept. 2017: .282/.313/.667, 8 HR, 20 RBI

zero charisma jump @JodiesJumpsuit
Everybody walking around Toronto this morning smiling and shouting a merry "Good morning!" to every person they pas… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

mkalus shared this story from Consumerist.

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As residents of Puerto Rico continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, much of the needed aid sent to the island has yet to make it into their hands. Instead, cargo container after cargo container — holding things like meals, first aid materials, and other items — remain at port because the system in place to move the goods has been equally devastated by the storm. 

Bloomberg reports that despite efforts to ease the transport of emergency materials to the island — such as the recent 10-day waiver of the 1920 Jones Act, which limited the way shipments could be made to Puerto Rico — little in the way of aid has actually reached residents.

Instead of heading to residents in need, the emergency supplies packed into thousands of cargo containers remain untouched near docks, in part because of a lack of workers to unpack them and infrastructure no longer stable enough to transport or house the goods.

“There are plenty of ships and plenty of cargo to come into the island,” Mark Miller, a spokesman for Crowley, an operator of one Puerto Rico dock, tells Bloomberg. “From there, that’s where the supply chain breaks down — getting the goods from the port to the people on the island who need them.”

Not Moving

Trouble transporting the aid comes from a combination of issues on the island: a lack of workers, damaged infrastructure, and a lack of power.

For instance, many of the buildings that would typically be used to house the aid after it is removed from the containers have been damaged and remain without electricity.

Additionally, while Bloomberg notes that trucks sit ready to transport aid, there aren’t drivers available to move them. Instead, many of these people are now caring for their families, cleaning their properties, and abiding by the island’s 7 p.m. curfew.

But even if there were drivers, they likely would run into issues with the island’s infrastructure, as the large trucks used to transport goods across the island are no longer able to navigate unstable, washed out roads or the roads are simply impassable thanks to downed power lines.

Retired army lieutenant general Russel Honore tells Bloomberg that Puerto Rico is in need of assistance from the U.S. military, which could provide ships, aircraft, and trucks that could move the supplies to communities.

Waiting For Space

Another issue affecting the ability to get relief to victims of the storm is the abundance of retailers’ goods sitting on docks.

Bloomberg reports that the storage space used by Crowley is currently housing thousands of containers full of products meant for retailers’ shelves.

The company is trying to get those containers moved in order to make room for aid supplies.

mkalus shared this story from Consumerist.

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The interim CEO for credit bureau Equifax is finally issuing a full-throated mea culpa for the massive data breach that compromise sensitive personal and financial information for about half of the adult U.S. population. In addition to extending the deadline for hack victims to freeze their credit free of charge or sign up for the company’s not terribly enticing anti-ID theft program, Equifax is also promising to offer something new: A way to “lock” your credit file (sort of, maybe, and only partially) for free (possibly).

“We were hacked. That’s the simple fact,” writes interim CEO Paulino Barros in a guest column for the Wall Street Journal. “But we compounded the problem with insufficient support for consumers. Our website did not function as it should have, and our call center couldn’t manage the volume of calls we received. Answers to key consumer questions were too often delayed, incomplete or both. We know it’s our job to earn back your trust.”

On a side note, we’re trying to figure out why a company that failed to protect the data of some 140 million Americans is posting this apology on a paywalled website that most of their victims won’t be able to access.

Moving on, Barros — who took over the top gig at Equifax on Monday after the sudden, entirely expected departure of then-CEO Richard Smith — announced a few tweaks to Equifax’s response to its self-created disaster.

“We have heard your concern that the window to sign up for free credit freezes with Equifax is too brief, so we are extending the deadline to the end of January,” writes Barros. “Likewise, we are extending the sign-up period for TrustedID Premier, the complimentary package we are offering all U.S. consumers, through the end of January.”

The most interesting aspect of Barros’ apology is also the most vague: His pledge to offer a free service that allows consumers to “easily lock and unlock access to their Equifax credit files.”

According to the CEO, once this program is launched this locking and unlocking can be done at will and “the service will be offered free, for life.”

Sounds interesting, but that’s the full extent of the details offered by Barros.

One obvious shortcoming of this proposal is clear from the CEO’s statement: The lock only applies to your Equifax credit files. There are three major credit bureaus — the other two being Experian and TransUnion — and having your credit file locked at just one isn’t going to thwart a dedicated ID thief who wants to run up bills and buy things in your name.

But more than that apparent problem, there are so many questions about this lock concept. What makes this product different from a credit “freeze”? They can’t be the same if Equifax would still charge for a freeze but offer this locking and unlocking without charge. Would there be a PIN involved?

Over at the NY Times, Ron Lieber attempted to get answers from Equifax on a series of questions but to no avail thus far.

“Why not make freezes free for life, too? Why not make them easier to use instead of inventing an entire separate mechanism?” asks Lieber. “Given the mess you face with people’s data security, why not create a three-bureau freeze or lock, so that people don’t have to worry about thieves taking data stolen from Equifax and using it through competitors, Experian or TransUnion?”

Another big question looming about this potential lock offer is whether or not folks who use the lock/unlock option will also be forced to sign away their rights. Equifax’s TrustedID credit monitoring program, which it is currently giving away free to hack victims, includes a forced arbitration clause that blocks the user from suing Equifax in court for any legal disputes involving TrustedID. The company eventually removed that clause from the contract, but only for those who are getting TrustedID free; those who pay to subscribe to TrustedID are still barred from taking the company to court over this product.

For now, the good news is that victims of the Equifax hack have more time to freeze their credit free of charge. While we are very skeptical of what the program will be, it’s a wait-and-see matter for the time being.

mkalus shared this story from Consumerist.

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Travelers around the world are facing delays today after a glitch in a computer system used by many airlines put a kink in usual operations.

Amadeus IT Group SA confirmed on Thursday that a “network issue” in its Altea booking system — which handles flight reservations — caused a disruption to some of its systems.

“Amadeus technical teams took immediate action to identify the cause of the issue and restore services as quickly as possible,” the company said in a statement. “That action is ongoing with services gradually being restored. Amadeus regrets any inconvenience caused to customers.”

The company didn’t elaborate on how many of the 130 airlines that use Altea are affected.

However, Bloomberg reports that British Airways, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Qantas Airways were among those who experienced issues today.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in D.C. told Reuters that Southwest Airlines had a computer issue that prompted a few minor delays at Reagan National Airport, but no other problems had been reported yet.

Other airports around the globe have been chiming in with reports from the ground as well.

“A small number of airlines are experiencing problems across the world and we’re working closely with them to solve the issue,” a spokesperson for London’s Heathrow told the BBC. Meanwhile, Gatwick said there were “brief issues” but that things were back to normal.

Lufthansa and its partner airlines were also hit by the glitch for about 430 minutes this morning, said Frankfurt airport said on Twitter, preventing bags from getting checked in. Operations have since returned to normal.

A spokesman for Groupe ADP — a Paris-based airport operator — said that Air France and other airlines had flights affected by the technical issue at Charles de Gaulle airport.

“This was a worldwide failure (of the Amadeus system). We were no worse affected than other airports,” he told Reuters. “It only lasted a few minutes.”

Let’s take a moment now to enjoy the below clip.

mkalus shared this story .

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mkalus shared this story from jwz.

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Lazyweb, is Google PageSpeed just full of shit, or what?

One of the things it's telling about this image on the DNA Lounge front page is, "Compressing and resizing could save 170.4KiB (90% reduction)." Um, really? That's a 360px wide JPEG, compressed with quality 95, which admittedly could probably be lower -- but to get that image down to the 17k that Google says should be possible, I end up with this. Um, no.

Now maybe they're trying to say that it should be lower resolution too? But the default layout of the front page spends about 166px horizontally on that image, so that'd be 332 pixels on a Retina display anyway, which isn't far of from the 360px that it is now.

What the hell are they talking about?

And what is considered a reasonable compression setting for JPEGs in ImageMagick? 70 looks pretty fuzzy to me. Is "-interlace plane" believed to actually do any good?

(PageSpeed is also really adamant that I minimize my CSS, which could save a whopping 4KB. Prior to transport compression. Which like... fits in the first HTTP packet. Who gives a shit.)

While Apple’s new Files app is arguably one of the best additions to iOS 11, the latest version of Apple’s new mobile operating system, its lack of Google Drive integration made using the app frustrating for many users.

Now, Google has announced that Drive is fully integrated into Apple’s Files app, allowing users to access documents and media from multiple cloud storage providers, including Dropbox and Apple’s own iCloud.

iOS 11 File integration is included in the latest update to Google Drive for iPhone and iPad (version 4.2017.37510). In order to find the feature, look for ‘More Locations’ in the Files app. A new red badge indicates that an additional provider is now available.

“If you have Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps installed as well, tapping on any Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation in the Files app will open the app of the associated Google editor. You can also take advantage of new iOS 11 features like dragging and dropping files between apps and folders in the Files App,” writes Google in the app update’s description.

As expected, this functionality also extends to other Google apps like Docs, Sheets and Slides.

Google Drive is available in the iOS App Store.

The post Google Drive is now compatible with iOS 11’s Files app appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has revealed details about the $500 million CAD Netflix Canada deal that comes as part of Canada’s new cultural policy plan.

The plan, first reported on by CBC, doesn’t include new taxes on digital platforms, despite pressure from traditional television providers to impose a levy on the popular streaming service that would potentially contribute to the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), commonly referred to as a ‘Netflix Tax.’

Instead, Canadian Heritage has announced an agreement that will see the creation of Netflix Canada — a production company for Netflix outside of the United States, which is the first of its kind for the company — and a planned investment of at least $500 million CAD in original Canadian productions by the digital platform over the next five years.

Netflix’s new ‘permanent production presence’

Netflix Canada will be a permanent film and television production presence in Canada, according to the minister. Additionally, it’s as of yet unclear whether Netflix intends to open a satellite office in Canada, which would require the company to pay GST. The company says it has no further comment at this time.

The government notes that as part of this investment, Netflix will support Canadian French-language content on the Netflix platform through a $25 million investment, coupled with a strategy that includes ‘pitch days’ for producers, recruitment events and other promotional and market development activities.

“Fans around the world are already falling in love with Netflix originals produced in Canada,” said Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos in a statement sent to MobileSyrup.

“Today’s announcement affirms there’s more to come as Netflix launches Netflix Canada, our permanent production presence in Canada. We look forward to continuing our work with Canadian talent, producers, broadcasters and other local partners to create Netflix originals in Canada for many years to come.”

If Netflix doesn’t contribute the funds as promised, reports the Financial Post, the streaming giant could be fined up to $10,000 per day under a legally binding agreement with the government.

The government’s ‘Creative Canada’ plans

The government has also announced that, starting in 2018, it will increase the federal contribution to the CMF, to compensate for a decline in funds from cable and satellite distributors.

All this comes as part of a plan dubbed ‘Creative Canada.’

Creative Canada will focus on three things, according to the government: investment in creators, promotion of the discovery and distribution of Canadian content at home and abroad, and the strengthening of public broadcasting and local news.

Additionally, minister Joly and minister of innovation Navdeep Bains sent a letter to Ian Scott, the new Chair of the CRTC, to “set out the issues we see as important for the regulator in fulfilling its mandate.”

The ministers are asking the CRTC to look at how new models will support the creation and distribution of Canadian programming in both official languages.

Further, the Minister has announced Canada will launch “the first federal cultural trade mission in Canada’s history.”

To this end, the government is establishing a Creative Industries Council — co-chaired with Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) — and has added a new investment of $125 million over five years to support Canada’s first ‘Creative Export Strategy.’

Joly also expounded on the importance of the CBC, noting that the government put $675 million of new funds into CBC/Radio-Canada and stating that it has launched a new, “open and independent process” to select the next CBC leadership.

Minister Joly emphasized the importance of local news, as well, announcing a partnership with Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone and the Ryerson School of Journalism to create a digital news incubator.

Praise and criticism

In a blog post, Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, wrote that while Minister Joly failed to shake things up she “deserves credit for delivering a policy that rejects new taxes and regulation, keeps net neutrality intact, and still finds some new money for production and investment certainty from Netflix.”

However, there has also been some early criticism of the recently announced partnership with Netflix, with some suggesting that Minister Joly has done little to “move the dial on cultural policy.”

Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications Luc Fortin is also critical of the plan, stating at a press briefing following the announcement: “I am rather angry, I would say, and especially that we have abdicated on the question of language, among other things, that we are not assured that there is a definite portion of original French-language content, while the same is required of other Canadian platforms.”

Fortin says Joly also offered no details or guarantees about proportion of French-language content in Netflix deal

— Steve Rukavina, CBC (@Steverukavina) September 28, 2017

In a comment to MobileSyrup, Bell indicated it felt the playing field is still far from level between itself and Netflix.

“We note that the Netflix contribution will be voluntary, and a fraction of what Canadian companies like Bell Media are required to pay. Our total annual investment in Canadian content in 2017/18 is 9 times the average amount that Netflix would contribute yearly,” said the company in a written statement.

“The industry is changing rapidly with new technologies, new international entrants and more to come. We’re asking for a level playing field for all participants that ensures maximum benefits for Canadian viewers and creators. That includes an equitable tax regime and balanced approach to investment in Canadian content.”

Rogers, meanwhile, offered a mainly positive comment: “We are glad to see the commitment not to tax Internet services and the recognition of the importance of local news. We look forward to participating in the upcoming legislative and policy consultations announced by the Minister.”

It also noted its own investment in Canadian media content, however, stating it invested over $660 million in Canadian content last year and $580 million the year before.

As it stands, Canadian broadcasters such as Bell and Rogers are legally required to spend a certain amount on programs of national interest (PNI) and French-language content. Canada’s telecom and broadcast regulator, the CRTC, reduced the minimum expenditure requirement to five percent back in May.

However, Joly expressed concerns that slashing this number would discourage companies from putting more money into PNI and French-language content, requesting in August that the commission review its decisions related to PNI and French language content. The results of that review have yet to be released.

Joly closed by stating that, in the year ahead, she would work with the Canadian public, “our partners, and across government to build on the direction I’ve outlined here.”

Update 28/09/17: Updated with comment from industry stakeholders and critics.

The post Heritage Minister reveals creation of first-of-its-kind Netflix Canada production company appeared first on MobileSyrup.