C'è questo tizio, che pensa di scrivere in modo divertente (a tratti ci riesce) che ha fatto una intera IDE dentro Excel, a suon di plugin. Era tutto cominciato per impressionare la sua ragazza e poi, da cosa nasce cosa.
Money quote: "Back in 2014, my girlfriend, let’s call her Anna, was having a hard time dealing with data in Excel files. Anna worked in quality control in a large pharma company. Every month or two, she’d start bringing home this soul-crushing pile of Excel files to work on, often over evenings and weekends. I wasn’t too happy about this since I had other plans for our evenings and weekends, but it did give me a chance to show off my superior tech skills so I wasn’t too sad about it. You might be surprised to learn that in a developer’s life, there aren’t all that many chances to impress girls with your coding skills."
http://blog.querystorm.com/index.php/2018/04/04/whynow/
Money quote: "Back in 2014, my girlfriend, let’s call her Anna, was having a hard time dealing with data in Excel files. Anna worked in quality control in a large pharma company. Every month or two, she’d start bringing home this soul-crushing pile of Excel files to work on, often over evenings and weekends. I wasn’t too happy about this since I had other plans for our evenings and weekends, but it did give me a chance to show off my superior tech skills so I wasn’t too sad about it. You might be surprised to learn that in a developer’s life, there aren’t all that many chances to impress girls with your coding skills."
http://blog.querystorm.com/index.php/2018/04/04/whynow/
QueryStorm Blog
I wandered off and built an IDE - QueryStorm Blog
A few years ago, I set out to build a small Excel plugin to help out my girlfriend at the time. I ended up building a full-blown IDE over the course of four years and spent the winter in Poland in a startup accelerator. How did this happen? As with many great…
Mi ricordo un pomeriggio a Firenze in cui intervistai Nicholas Negroponte per il suo progetto OLPC e una settimana provando il suddetto computer (la foto che Paolo Attivissimo utilizza come icona in cui mostra un OLPC sta usando il mio).
Il ricordo viene fuori dalla lettura di questo articolo, in cui si racconta lo studio fatto da un gruppo di ricercatori sull'uso del computer da parte di bambini poveri nei villaggi del Madagascar
Money quote: "Research shows that using technology in school makes children more engaged with learning. We wanted to know how children in low-income countries use laptops in their everyday lives; in school and after class. To find out, we embarked on a study in a village in Madagascar four years after the project was launched there."
https://theconversation.com/how-kids-in-a-low-income-country-use-laptops-lessons-from-madagascar-93305
Il ricordo viene fuori dalla lettura di questo articolo, in cui si racconta lo studio fatto da un gruppo di ricercatori sull'uso del computer da parte di bambini poveri nei villaggi del Madagascar
Money quote: "Research shows that using technology in school makes children more engaged with learning. We wanted to know how children in low-income countries use laptops in their everyday lives; in school and after class. To find out, we embarked on a study in a village in Madagascar four years after the project was launched there."
https://theconversation.com/how-kids-in-a-low-income-country-use-laptops-lessons-from-madagascar-93305
The Conversation
How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons from Madagascar
Laptops have introduced the children of Nosy Komba in Madagascar to previously inaccessible tools.
L'iPad 9.7 è pensato per le scuole. Ma siamo sicuri che sia stato veramente pensato per essere usato dai bambini? Oppure è un riadattamento di un apparecchio con altre finalità?
Money quote: "If iPads were meant for kids, then there would be a way for apps to know what the allowed content ratings are. An app should be able to know that I’ve only allowed G and PG media on the device. The Youtube app wouldn’t need its own rating system, and youtube.com would have some WebKit api to call to know to only allow kid-appropriate videos."
https://davedelong.com/blog/2018/04/06/if-ipads-were-meant-for-kids/
Money quote: "If iPads were meant for kids, then there would be a way for apps to know what the allowed content ratings are. An app should be able to know that I’ve only allowed G and PG media on the device. The Youtube app wouldn’t need its own rating system, and youtube.com would have some WebKit api to call to know to only allow kid-appropriate videos."
https://davedelong.com/blog/2018/04/06/if-ipads-were-meant-for-kids/
Dave DeLong
If iPads were meant for kids
I bought my kids (6 & 8) their own iPads last fall. I’m nice, and I’m fortunate to be able to afford it. However, I’ve come to realize that despite my attempts to spoil my kids, these iPads (and all iOS devices in general) are not meant for kids.
Un sistema di microblogging a prova di censura, peer-to-peer. Peccato sia a pagamento per transazione basato su criptomoneta (perché usa una blockchain per funzionare in modo sicuro). Il problema di questo tipo di sistemi è il costo per transazione.
Money quote: "It costs a little bit of ether (a cryptocurrency) to use Peepeth. These fees power the Ethereum network. That's why you'll need MetaMask, which lets you execute Peepeth actions with 1 click."
https://peepeth.com/about
Money quote: "It costs a little bit of ether (a cryptocurrency) to use Peepeth. These fees power the Ethereum network. That's why you'll need MetaMask, which lets you execute Peepeth actions with 1 click."
https://peepeth.com/about
Peepeth
Microblogging with a soul (powered by blockchain)
Tired of toxic social media? Try Peepeth, a social network that promotes mindful engagement. Data is open and transparent (saved to the blockchain).
Ok, questa cosa della fuga da Facebook vi ha lasciato sotto shock? Per voi è arrivato il momento delle decisioni storiche? Volete tornare a vivere una vita in cui possedete tutti i vostri dati? Una vita come durante il fascismo, completamente autarchica, libera dall'arrogante strapotere della perfida Albione-Google? Ecco la possibile risposta: FreedomBox.
Money quote: "FreedomBox is designed to be your own inexpensive server at home. It runs free software and offers an increasing number of services ranging from a calendar or jabber server to a wiki or VPN. Our web interface allows you to easily install and configure your apps. Be your own host!"
https://freedombox.org
Qui l'hardware supportato:
https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Hardware
Money quote: "FreedomBox is designed to be your own inexpensive server at home. It runs free software and offers an increasing number of services ranging from a calendar or jabber server to a wiki or VPN. Our web interface allows you to easily install and configure your apps. Be your own host!"
https://freedombox.org
Qui l'hardware supportato:
https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Hardware
Il tizio che si chiama Orkut e che ha inventato orkut, il social network comprato da Google su cui interagivano 300 milioni di persone che poi Google ha chiuso nel 2014, adesso ci riprova. E fa Hello. Non perché ha cambiato nome, ma perché vorrebbe ricreare la grande e utopica comunità.
Money quote: "You may not know me but 13 years ago I started a social network called orkut.com while I was working as an engineer at Google. I'm the guy orkut.com was named after. In 2014 when Google announced that orkut would be shutting down, it was a sad moment for us. orkut had become a community of over 300 million people and was such an amazing adventure for all of us. Nobody wanted to lose what we had created together. We met amazing new people. We went on dates. We found new jobs. We even got married and had kids because of orkut. We made it happen, together."
http://www.orkut.com/index.html
https://hellodotcom.hello.com/en/index.html
Money quote: "You may not know me but 13 years ago I started a social network called orkut.com while I was working as an engineer at Google. I'm the guy orkut.com was named after. In 2014 when Google announced that orkut would be shutting down, it was a sad moment for us. orkut had become a community of over 300 million people and was such an amazing adventure for all of us. Nobody wanted to lose what we had created together. We met amazing new people. We went on dates. We found new jobs. We even got married and had kids because of orkut. We made it happen, together."
http://www.orkut.com/index.html
https://hellodotcom.hello.com/en/index.html
Hello
hello network
Dopo dieci anni si aggiorna la sicurezza Wifi: arriva la WPA3 - il mio articolo per La Stampa
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/11/tecnologia/dopo-dieci-anni-si-aggiorna-la-sicurezza-wifi-arriva-la-wpa-N16Ghg7FHAliI7e5PaQJTP/pagina.html
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/11/tecnologia/dopo-dieci-anni-si-aggiorna-la-sicurezza-wifi-arriva-la-wpa-N16Ghg7FHAliI7e5PaQJTP/pagina.html
LaStampa.it
Dopo dieci anni si aggiorna la sicurezza Wifi: arriva la WPA3
Password più sicure, cifratura a prova di hacker e, in prospettiva, anche reti WiFi più veloci e con la modalità di connessione facilitata per i gadget “Easy Connect”, che dopo il 2020 diventerà standard
Al bar dove sto lavorando la signora dietro al banco ha messo sul televisore un video della figlia che canta. Brava, ma "sfortunata" perché non c'è verso, non ce la fa. Non riesce a sfondare, forse perché non fa quelle cose che hanno a che fare con raccomandazioni e altro? Non le danno mai la sua grande chance, il suo "big break" che invece danno ad altri ovviamente meno meritevoli.
A parte la considerazione che la colpa sia sempre di altri (tipico, è un'attitudine alla quale faccio una fatica enorme a sottrarmi), c'è da chiarirsi anche sul significato del "non riuscire a farcela perché fanno passare avanti gli altri e non mi danno una possibilità". Quello che segue è un ragionamento un po' verboso e improbabile nella banalizzazione storica, ma che rende bene un passaggio chiave della costruzione della propria identità. Cioè che spesso per le cose che vogliamo in realtà non ci impegniamo abbastanza o, alle volte, per niente.
Money quote: "As I wrote in Real Artists Don’t Starve, the Big Break is a myth. Something we tell themselves out of laziness and fear of the work ahead. If Big Breaks do happen, we’d be better off not counting on them and focusing on what we can control — the work."
https://medium.com/the-mission/your-big-break-is-never-coming-do-this-instead-8157786cfe8e
A parte la considerazione che la colpa sia sempre di altri (tipico, è un'attitudine alla quale faccio una fatica enorme a sottrarmi), c'è da chiarirsi anche sul significato del "non riuscire a farcela perché fanno passare avanti gli altri e non mi danno una possibilità". Quello che segue è un ragionamento un po' verboso e improbabile nella banalizzazione storica, ma che rende bene un passaggio chiave della costruzione della propria identità. Cioè che spesso per le cose che vogliamo in realtà non ci impegniamo abbastanza o, alle volte, per niente.
Money quote: "As I wrote in Real Artists Don’t Starve, the Big Break is a myth. Something we tell themselves out of laziness and fear of the work ahead. If Big Breaks do happen, we’d be better off not counting on them and focusing on what we can control — the work."
https://medium.com/the-mission/your-big-break-is-never-coming-do-this-instead-8157786cfe8e
Medium
Your Big Break Is Never Coming
So instead, practice when no one’s watching
Semplicemente spettacolare: una museo-mostra-evento di arte digitale imperdibile (se siete a Tokyo)
Money quote: "The building is located at the Odaiba in Tokyo bay and was co-founded by the urban developer MORI Building Co.,Ltd. and digital art collective teamLab, which is known for engaging museum-goers with colorful and mesmerizing exhibitions created with cutting-edge digital technology."
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f794d544e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html
Money quote: "The building is located at the Odaiba in Tokyo bay and was co-founded by the urban developer MORI Building Co.,Ltd. and digital art collective teamLab, which is known for engaging museum-goers with colorful and mesmerizing exhibitions created with cutting-edge digital technology."
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f794d544e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html
Uno dei più inquietanti e deliziosi libri che ricostruiscono un delitto pare essere quello scritto da un autore che non sopporta i gialli o i delitti o la suspance in generale.
Money quote: "I don’t have much natural interest in crime, whether true or invented. My proclivities run more toward the mundane joys of domesticity. I enjoy leafing through cookbooks and pulling the Dutch oven down from the shelf, and I share with my mother-in-law a passionate interest in the garden. In the fall, I look forward to the arrival of the various Dutch bulb catalogues; and in the spring, when she tells me, sighing over the phone, that the deer have again eaten the leaves off all her Armenian hyacinths, I feel her pain, not only because I planted those bulbs for her but because I know how pretty they would have been. I have tried to learn to appreciate true-crime books, but without much success. I was only a paragraph into Capote before I’d had enough, and the hundreds of knockoffs were hardly better. I can’t even watch semiviolent movies. I made it an hour into The Talented Mr. Ripley before I had to stop, twenty minutes into Thelma and Louise—it’s not that they’re gruesome, it’s the stress. When I come across the story of a crime in the paper, I feel less excitement than nausea. I don’t want to know how many times the seventeen-year-old stabbed his grandfather, or that afterward he went to the mall and bought new sneakers."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/22/the-difficulty-in-writing-about-murder/#more-124519
Money quote: "I don’t have much natural interest in crime, whether true or invented. My proclivities run more toward the mundane joys of domesticity. I enjoy leafing through cookbooks and pulling the Dutch oven down from the shelf, and I share with my mother-in-law a passionate interest in the garden. In the fall, I look forward to the arrival of the various Dutch bulb catalogues; and in the spring, when she tells me, sighing over the phone, that the deer have again eaten the leaves off all her Armenian hyacinths, I feel her pain, not only because I planted those bulbs for her but because I know how pretty they would have been. I have tried to learn to appreciate true-crime books, but without much success. I was only a paragraph into Capote before I’d had enough, and the hundreds of knockoffs were hardly better. I can’t even watch semiviolent movies. I made it an hour into The Talented Mr. Ripley before I had to stop, twenty minutes into Thelma and Louise—it’s not that they’re gruesome, it’s the stress. When I come across the story of a crime in the paper, I feel less excitement than nausea. I don’t want to know how many times the seventeen-year-old stabbed his grandfather, or that afterward he went to the mall and bought new sneakers."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/22/the-difficulty-in-writing-about-murder/#more-124519
The Paris Review
The Difficulty in Writing About Murder
Cutter Wood doesn’t like mysteries, true crime or even semi-violent films. And yet he began investigating a woman’s disappearance, and wrote a book about her murder.
Il cartello del micro museo di stampe Ukiyoe dice: aperto quando ci sono. Marketing divertente.
Money quote: “The sign outside this studio is enough to make anyone stop and smile. But the amusingly honest announcement of the studio’s hours isn’t the real attraction. The true treasure lies tucked behind the doors, waiting to be revealed whenever its owner decides to open shop”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ukiyoe-small-museum
Money quote: “The sign outside this studio is enough to make anyone stop and smile. But the amusingly honest announcement of the studio’s hours isn’t the real attraction. The true treasure lies tucked behind the doors, waiting to be revealed whenever its owner decides to open shop”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ukiyoe-small-museum
Atlas Obscura
Ukiyoe Small Museum
A tiny collection of traditional Japanese woodblock prints, open only when the owner feels like it.
La grande truffa dell’intelligenza artificiale: le startup che usano persone al posto di algoritmi - il mio articolo per La Stampa
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/12/tecnologia/la-grande-truffa-dellintelligenza-artificiale-le-startup-che-usano-persone-al-posto-di-algoritmi-GTbxpcI0vNoNRm8iz6ICeO/premium.html
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/12/tecnologia/la-grande-truffa-dellintelligenza-artificiale-le-startup-che-usano-persone-al-posto-di-algoritmi-GTbxpcI0vNoNRm8iz6ICeO/premium.html
LaStampa.it
La grande truffa dell’intelligenza artificiale: le startup che usano persone al posto di algoritmi
Non sempre il computer riesce a fare quel che promette. E alle volte è più facile usare (di nascosto) degli operatori umani
Il museo della televisione è a Columbus, in Ohio. Gigantesco e pieno di cose con le valvole...
Money quote: "Thus the Early Television Museum was born, now home to about 200 tube TVs from 1928 through 1962. There are mechanical TVs from the 1920s and ’30s, pre-war British and American sets from the late ’30s and early ’40s, post-war sets from 1945 to 1958, and early color TVs from the 1950s."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/early-television-museum
Money quote: "Thus the Early Television Museum was born, now home to about 200 tube TVs from 1928 through 1962. There are mechanical TVs from the 1920s and ’30s, pre-war British and American sets from the late ’30s and early ’40s, post-war sets from 1945 to 1958, and early color TVs from the 1950s."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/early-television-museum
Atlas Obscura
Early Television Museum
A retro walk through the history of the tube.
“Gli Incredibili 2”, la recensione del nuovo film Pixar - il mio articolo per Fumettologica
http://www.fumettologica.it/2018/07/incredibili-2-recensione-film-pixar/
http://www.fumettologica.it/2018/07/incredibili-2-recensione-film-pixar/
Fumettologica
"Gli Incredibili 2", la recensione no spoiler del nuovo film Pixar
La recensione no spoiler di "Gli Incredibili 2", il nuovo film d'animazione della Pixar, in distribuzione nei cinema italiani dal prossimo 19 settembre.
In rete si trovano un sacco di recensioni. È un genere che, come autore, frequento anche io, ed è interessante vedere come vengono impostate rispetto al pubblico e all'oggetto da recensire. Beh, se la guardate con questa prospettiva, anche la seguente recensione della nuova release di Ubuntu è parecchio interessante per lo sforzo che fa di dare prospettiva e solidità temporale oltre che spaziale al sistema operativo basato su Linux.
Money quote: "This review is going to be a little bit different from others in that I am completely unfamiliar with the modern stock Ubuntu desktop since GNOME 2 was abandoned. I started on Ubuntu back in the "badger" days when it was basically a lightly modified GNOME 2 desktop. Once Ubuntu's default desktop switched to Unity and GNOME 3 was released at about the same time, I found immediately that neither of them would work for me. So I bounced around a bit between various desktops like Cinnamon and MATE before finally settling on XFCE via Xubuntu over the past few years. It's not quite where GNOME 2 was before it was abandoned but it's pretty darn close. Today, we're going to see if Ubuntu 18.04 ("Bionic Beaver" or as I like to call it, "The Beav") and its GNOME 3 desktop is usable for someone as finicky as me."
http://blog.bityard.net/articles/2018/April/in-beaver-we-trust-a-lengthy-pedantic-review-of-ubuntu-1804-lts.html
Money quote: "This review is going to be a little bit different from others in that I am completely unfamiliar with the modern stock Ubuntu desktop since GNOME 2 was abandoned. I started on Ubuntu back in the "badger" days when it was basically a lightly modified GNOME 2 desktop. Once Ubuntu's default desktop switched to Unity and GNOME 3 was released at about the same time, I found immediately that neither of them would work for me. So I bounced around a bit between various desktops like Cinnamon and MATE before finally settling on XFCE via Xubuntu over the past few years. It's not quite where GNOME 2 was before it was abandoned but it's pretty darn close. Today, we're going to see if Ubuntu 18.04 ("Bionic Beaver" or as I like to call it, "The Beav") and its GNOME 3 desktop is usable for someone as finicky as me."
http://blog.bityard.net/articles/2018/April/in-beaver-we-trust-a-lengthy-pedantic-review-of-ubuntu-1804-lts.html
Maxiacquisizione di Broadcom: compra CA Technologies ed entra nel mondo del software aziendale - il mio articolo per La Stampa
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/12/tecnologia/maxiacquisizione-di-broadcom-compra-ca-technologies-ed-entra-nel-mondo-del-software-aziendale-aHqUqDOWPHFBLFTdovjTCL/pagina.html
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/12/tecnologia/maxiacquisizione-di-broadcom-compra-ca-technologies-ed-entra-nel-mondo-del-software-aziendale-aHqUqDOWPHFBLFTdovjTCL/pagina.html
LaStampa.it
Maxiacquisizione di Broadcom: compra CA Technologies ed entra nel mondo del software aziendale
Il colosso con capitale di Singapore si era visto rifiutare la fusione con Qualcomm da Trump per “motivi di sicurezza nazionale” pochi mesi fa
Storia delle pagine-anteprima di Wikipedia, scritta da chi le ha fatte. Un'epopea nella tecnologia e nel codice collaborativo
Money quote: "A few days ago, my team completed the launch of “page previews”—a feature now deployed to hundreds of language editions of Wikipedia. We are seeing up to half a million hits every minute to our API to serve those cards that show when you hover over any link.
On the surface it looks quite simple. It’s something many websites have already. It has an image and some text and shows when you hover over a link. Hardly groundbreaking stuff … or so it may seem.
The original idea was conceived four years ago, based on an idea from a volunteer/editor many years before that.
It’s thus taken a few years for us to get this out to everyone. That might seem strange, but like an iceberg, once you start looking below it, it all makes sense."
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/04/20/why-it-took-a-long-time-to-build-that-tiny-link-preview-on-wikipedia/
Money quote: "A few days ago, my team completed the launch of “page previews”—a feature now deployed to hundreds of language editions of Wikipedia. We are seeing up to half a million hits every minute to our API to serve those cards that show when you hover over any link.
On the surface it looks quite simple. It’s something many websites have already. It has an image and some text and shows when you hover over a link. Hardly groundbreaking stuff … or so it may seem.
The original idea was conceived four years ago, based on an idea from a volunteer/editor many years before that.
It’s thus taken a few years for us to get this out to everyone. That might seem strange, but like an iceberg, once you start looking below it, it all makes sense."
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/04/20/why-it-took-a-long-time-to-build-that-tiny-link-preview-on-wikipedia/
C'è questo tizio che ha speso letteralmente anni per progettare e poi costruire la città perfetta dentro Sim City 3000. Vincent Oscala, uno studente di architettura filippino di 22 anni, ha creato Magnasanti, una metropoli terrificante dove non vorreste mai vivere (ma che potrebbe diventare la megalopoli del futuro). È una storia di una decina di anni fa, ma vale la pena ripescarla: pensate quando ci metteremo sopra dei sistemi di machine learning che poi diventeranno urbanisti, paesaggisti o responsabili per la pianificazione del territorio. Voglio dire: del nostro territorio.
Money quote: "Moreover, the city he created was remarkably stable, with no abandoned buildings and no wasted space. There are no roads — all transit is mass transit. An omniscient police force has eliminated all crime in the city. Magnasanti’s water and power needs are supplied by neighboring cities, eliminating the need for much of the related infrastructure."
https://rumorsontheinternets.org/2010/10/14/magnasanti-the-largest-and-most-terrifying-simcity/
Money quote: "Moreover, the city he created was remarkably stable, with no abandoned buildings and no wasted space. There are no roads — all transit is mass transit. An omniscient police force has eliminated all crime in the city. Magnasanti’s water and power needs are supplied by neighboring cities, eliminating the need for much of the related infrastructure."
https://rumorsontheinternets.org/2010/10/14/magnasanti-the-largest-and-most-terrifying-simcity/
Un telefono Android in bianco e nero. Arriva la semplicità hipster
Money quote: "Blloc is a plain and minimalistic smartphone combining a power saving operating system with efficient hardware and an easy to use messaging platform, it’s built to be the perfect communication and productivity tool that you can rely on every day."
https://www.blloc.com
Money quote: "Blloc is a plain and minimalistic smartphone combining a power saving operating system with efficient hardware and an easy to use messaging platform, it’s built to be the perfect communication and productivity tool that you can rely on every day."
https://www.blloc.com
Blloc
Ratio—Your new homescreen
The ultimate smartphone experience. Boost your productivity. Focus on what matters.