La bellezza dei giardini ingegnerizzati come si faceva una volta, con sapienza secolare e low-tech, a Pantelleria

Money quote: "Giardini Panteschi have been described as self-sufficient agronomic systems, because they create a nano-climate that simultaneously waters the tree, protects it from relentless wind, retains any rainwater channeled into the garden under the access door during rare rainstorms, allows in sunlight, and radiates stored solar warmth on cold nights. Once built, it “operates” without any need for further human intervention."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pantelleria-gardens-giardino-pantesco

Il sogno di ogni singolo titolista inglese è diventato realtà, quando è uscito uno studio della rivista Nature in cui venivano enumerate le nuove scoperte riguardanti il pianeta Urano, rese possibile da un nuovo tipo di telescopio. Una di queste è che il pianeta puzza di zolfo, il che, tradotto in titolo da giornale, diventa: “Uranus smells bad” o, per i più creativi, “smell like farts”.
Tradotto: “Il tuo ano puzza” o “sa di scorregge”.
Perché anche gli scienziati sono stati dei bambini con dei sogni. Fuori uno.

Link: https://on.mash.to/2Hsu95O

Amp, la tecnologia di Google per la indicizzazione e renderizzazione rapida delle pagine dei siti, è una cosa non buona per svariati motivi. (È anche tra le cose dove Google fa la maggior parte dei suoi soldi)

Money quote: "So it's not really about speed. As with anything that eschews standards for its own modified version thereof, it's about lock-in. Tons of pages in Google AMP markup mean tons of pages that are optimized specifically for Google and indexed primarily by Google and shown primarily to Google users. It's Google's attempt to match Facebook's platform. And yes, Facebook is far worse than AMP, but that doesn't make Google AMP a good idea. At least Facebook doesn't try to pretend like it's open.

The second thing you need to do is get rid of all your analytics data. Instead, you can peek at a small subset of the data Google gathers. That's the AMP analytics deal in a nutshell."

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/19/open_source_insider_google_amp_bad_bad_bad/

Bisogna mangiare più fibra. Pensavo fosse un arguto gioco di parole per un titolo sulla banda larga, e invece si parla di intestino e alimentazione sana. Una volta ripresomi dallo shock, l'ho trovato in verità più interessante della connessione con fibra ottica.

Money quote: "There are so many reasons why, from fast-food marketing to agriculture subsidies, but one contributing factor is the slow death of cooking, and the rise of the restaurant meal. Americans now spend more on food at restaurants than they do at grocery stores, but restaurant food tends to have even less fiber than the food we would otherwise eat at home.

One problem seems to be that restaurant meals aren't typically loaded with two of the best sources of fiber, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. A revealing study from 2007, in which researchers interviewed 41 restaurant executives, showed that restaurants think fruits and vegetables are too expensive to feature prominently on the menu, and “61 percent said profits drive menu selections.” They also opposed labeling certain menu items as healthier choices, saying that would be “the kiss of death.”

So people like to eat out, and when they do, they prefer mushy, fiber-free comfort foods. But that’s a pretty dangerous road to go down."

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/just-eat-more-fiber/550082/

Un bel ritratto di Marissa Mayer, che a quanto pare non ci sta proprio a mollare il colpo, nonostante con Yahoo non abbia decisamente brillato

Money quote: "Why did you leave Google?

I was 37, and I had been working at Google for 13 years. I had been on search for 10 of those years and just had very recently made the change over to focus on Maps as a search technology. And I was like, “You know, I’m just not sure that I want to be like the 50-year-old search girl.”

I’d always had huge respect for Yahoo as a company. When we were here in this office, we dreamed of maybe getting the Yahoo contract, maybe one day powering Yahoo search. In 1999, Yahoo was the internet. And I knew that while there were a lot of things going wrong for the board and leadership at Yahoo, there were a lot of really good people there working on the products."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/business/marissa-mayer-corner-office.html

Insomma, con OLPC è andata proprio male. Ci sarebbe da imparare. Repetita iuvant, articolo da leggere

Money quote: "If you remember the OLPC at all, you probably remember the hand crank. It was OLPC’s most striking technological innovation — and it was pure vaporware. Designers dropped the feature almost immediately after Negroponte’s announcement, because the winding process put stress on the laptop’s body and demanded energy that kids in very poor areas couldn’t spare. Every OLPC computer shipped with a standard power adapter.

By the time OLPC officially launched in 2007, the “green machine” — once a breakout star of the 21st-century educational technology scene — was a symbol of tech industry hubris, a one-size-fits-all American solution to complex global problems. But more than a decade later, the project’s legacy is more complicated than a simple cautionary tale. Its laptops are still rolling off production lines, and a new model is expected later this year.

And people are still talking about the crank."

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now

Dieci anni fa di questi tempi Nicholas Negroponte andava a Firenze per portare il suo OLPC nelle scuole fiorentine. Il vostro cronista era là, e prendeva nota. Visto che si parla ancora di questo apparecchio e del metodo educativo che avrebbe dovuto fare la differenza (ma sembra un secolo fa, ora sono tutti impazziti per Code .org e dintorni) vale la pena ripercorrere quella strada

Money quote: "La scena è la sala colazioni dell’hotel Savoy in piazza San Firenze, subito dietro Palazzo Vecchio, la sede del Comune fiorentino. Sarà una mattinata lunga: Negroponte è arrivato la sera prima da Boston apposta per andare in comune e firmare a fine mattinata l’accordo con l’amministrazione, e nel primo pomeriggio ripartirà per New York. Prima, ci saranno la conferenza stampa, l’incontro con i giornalisti e gli esponenti dell’intellighenzia digitale fiorentina, l’evento pubblico nel Salone de’ Dugento, sede del consiglio comunale fiorentino. La cornice storica di Firenze imbarazzerebbe moltissimi americani per il peso della storia che abita le sue scale monumentali e i suoi saloni affrescati, ma non Negroponte che è laureato in architettura e che a metà degli anni Sessanta proprio a Firenze veniva con la scusa di studiare arte ed architettura per frequentare la fidanzata dell’epoca."

https://www.macitynet.it/firenze_una_mattina_con_nicholas_negroponte_e_lolpc/

https://www.macitynet.it/il_futuro_dellinformatica-_siamo_nelle_mani_del_low_cost_1/

“Avengers: Infinity War”, la recensione (no spoiler) - un film ATOMICO, la mia recensione per Fumettologica

http://www.fumettologica.it/2018/04/avengers-infinity-war-recensione-marvel/

Negli Usa la polizia interrompe una veglia funebre per sbloccare il telefono del morto - il mio articolo per La Stampa

http://www.lastampa.it/2018/04/24/tecnologia/negli-usa-la-polizia-interrompe-una-veglia-funebre-per-sbloccare-il-telefono-del-morto-N1XPlYqyMay8TX1tpmnXuL/amphtml/pagina.amp.html

Nella nostra perenne ricerca del benessere fisico, è emersa una nuova parola: digiuno. Da tempo l'idea di un digiuno intermittente, o comunque gestito in vari modi, è diventata sempre più popolare. E ovviamente c'è chi ci vuole costruire sopra un business. Un'industria del digiuno.

Money quote: "Monthly Google searches for “intermittent fasting,” which has become a catchall term for various forms of the practice, have risen tenfold over the past three years, to as many as 1 million. That’s about as many as “weight loss” gets, and more than “diet.” Now comes the next step, as businesses try to turn various forms of the craze into profit."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-24/intermittent-fasting-is-getting-silicon-valley-startup-treatment

Quanti server servono per accendere una lampadina?

Altra gente che combatte la nevrosi uscendo da Facebook - tre anni fa

Money quote: “Oggi sono su Twitter, che governo più facilmente e che non influisce né sul modo in cui leggo né sul modo in cui scrivo. Non so perché; credo abbia a che fare innanzitutto con la brevità del mezzo. E benché i caratteri a disposizione siano di recente raddoppiati, 280 battute spazi inclusi restano sempre poca cosa: inoltre, cerco sempre di condividere link esterni invece di elaborare aforismi arguti.”

http://www.doppiozero.com/materiali/tre-anni-senza-facebook

Cosa succede quando ci attrezziamo per fare in modo che il nostro gusto venga deciso attraverso metodi algoritmici? Perdiamo in umanità, sic et simpliciter

Money quote: "Philosophers in the 18th century defined taste as a moral capacity, an ability to recognize truth and beauty. “Natural taste is not a theoretical knowledge; it’s a quick and exquisite application of rules which we do not even know,” wrote Montesquieu in 1759. This unknowingness is important. We don’t calculate or measure if something is tasteful to us; we simply feel it. Displacing the judgment of taste partly to algorithms, as in the Amazon Echo Look, robs us of some of that humanity."

https://www.racked.com/2018/4/17/17219166/fashion-style-algorithm-amazon-echo-look

Entro il 2025 BT, principale carrier telefonico britannico, chiuderà la rete di telefonia tradizionale e passerà tutto al VoIP. Siccome BT rivende capacità alle altre telco, lo switch riguarderà la quasi totalità del Regno Unito. Non è necessariamente una buona cosa (si risparmiano molti soldi sull'infrastruttura, ma si riesce a garantire il servizio universale anche in condizioni di crisi di capacità?), però è un segno della direzione dove stiamo andando anche noi.

Money quote: "BT is forging ahead with plans to shut its traditional telephone network in Britain, with the intention of shifting all customers over to IP telephony services by 2025.

The closure of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is part of plans by BT toward internet-based voice calls via a fibre network. As such it will be looking to close a chunk of exchanges.

Yesterday, Openreach wrote to its communications providers about the move. The broadband division will open consultation next month on the withdrawal of its Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) products, which are reliant on the PSTN."

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/19/bt_pushes_ahead_with_plans_to_switch_of_traditional_telephone_network/

Siamo divenetati mille. Anzi, come dice una amica lettrice di questo canale, siamo un numero palindromo, 1001 (e spero presto ancora di più). Grazie. Condivido questa piccola perla di saggezza su come dare più bassi alle AirPods senza bisogno di cacciarsele a forza dentro le trombe d’Eustachio. Valga come monito per chi le ha e come sollievo per chi invece non le possiede...

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/16/16664958/airpods-bass-hack-diy-foam-covers-how-to

Un tentativo interessante per chi sviluppa: una macchina virtuale universale per più linguaggi ed ecosistemi

Money quote: "GraalVM is a universal virtual machine for running applications written in JavaScript, Python 3, Ruby, R, JVM-based languages like Java, Scala, Kotlin, and LLVM-based languages such as C and C++.

GraalVM removes the isolation between programming languages and enables interoperability in a shared runtime. It can run either standalone or in the context of OpenJDK, Node.js, Oracle Database, or MySQL."

http://www.graalvm.org

Un bel po' di tempo fa ho avuto la possibilità di recensire Setapp, l'app store in abbonamento per macOS. Una esperienza più che notevole. Si tratta di un piccolo servizio di culto Made in Ukraina, che continua a crescere anche se per adesso ha numeri ridotti (17mila abbonati). Secondo me però è notevole. E non sono l'unico a pensarlo. Quasi quasi faccio un'altra prova.

Money quote: "

How it works

For $9.99 a month, users get access to Setapp's catalog of apps, which includes everything from file organization apps to translation apps and study aids for the periodic table of elements. You might have to pay thousands to buy any of these apps on their own, but for the flat monthly fee, you can access as many as you want through the Setapp icon on your Mac."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/17/setapp-profile-apple-subnoscriptions-for-enterprise.html

American Airlines sta tagliando via alcuni dei 28 biglietti da 250mila dollari una tantum che permettono infiniti voli in business class (con un supplemento di altri 150mila si aveva diritto ad un ospite ogni volta, sempre gratuitamente). Peccato...

Money quote: "American had been hit hard by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. They’d posted a $76m loss in 1980, and were grappling with new competition, reduced ticket prices, and a changing industry that threatened to sink them into irrelevancy.

The airline’s newly-elected president, Robert Crandall, was on a mission to “cut American down to the bone” and lead a massive expansion from the ground up"

https://thehustle.co/aairpass-american-airlines-250k-lifetime-ticket/

Gli amanti

Money quote: ““I love you,” she says. “Write, write. The days are long and difficult. I need your letters to live. Sleep. Lie down.” She asks for his opinion on projects, and he responds with equal respect for her work”

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/11/illicit-love-letters-albert-camus-and-maria-casares/

Pensavo solo Nietzsche fosse matto. Ma anche Wittgenstein mica scherzava...

Money quote: “He cut a strange figure in Trattenbach. Since, earlier, he’d tried to apply for work under a false name and had been found out, he was open this time about his background—the citizens knew he was descended of one of the richest families in Austria. Yet he lived in ostentatious poverty: he slept in the school kitchen and ate cocoa and oatmeal for dinner out of a pot he never cleaned. The adults of the village distrusted him from the beginning, but he made a more positive impression on some of his students. When one biographer visited Trattenbach fifty years later, he met with former pupils who still remembered Wittgenstein’s lessons, some of which were as charmingly philosophical as one might hope: one student recalled being introduced, at that young age, to the Liar’s Paradox (the Cretan who declares “All Cretans are liars …”).”

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/05/wittgenstein-schoolteacher/

Intelligenza artificiale e intelligenza tradizionale. Un articolo spettacolare. Inizia con una storia da brivido - che serve anche per accreditare l'autore come uno tosto - e poi diventa una ricostruzione notevole e molto comprensibile di quel che ci aspetta.

Money quote: "There is a different narrative that one can tell about the current era. Consider the following story, which involves humans, computers, data and life-or-death decisions, but where the focus is something other than intelligence-in-silicon fantasies. When my spouse was pregnant 14 years ago, we had an ultrasound. There was a geneticist in the room, and she pointed out some white spots around the heart of the fetus. “Those are markers for Down syndrome,” she noted, “and your risk has now gone up to 1 in 20.” She further let us know that we could learn whether the fetus in fact had the genetic modification underlying Down syndrome via an amniocentesis. But amniocentesis was risky — the risk of killing the fetus during the procedure was roughly 1 in 300. Being a statistician, I determined to find out where these numbers were coming from. To cut a long story short, I discovered that a statistical analysis had been done a decade previously in the UK, where these white spots, which reflect calcium buildup, were indeed established as a predictor of Down syndrome. But I also noticed that the imaging machine used in our test had a few hundred more pixels per square inch than the machine used in the UK study. I went back to tell the geneticist that I believed that the white spots were likely false positives — that they were literally “white noise.” She said “Ah, that explains why we started seeing an uptick in Down syndrome diagnoses a few years ago; it’s when the new machine arrived.”"

https://medium.com/@mijordan3/artificial-intelligence-the-revolution-hasnt-happened-yet-5e1d5812e1e7