I BitCoin sono una cosa brutta e cattiva

Money quote: "In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto served the world an entirely new kind of currency. It was one that people could move over the internet instantaneously and nearly free of charge."

https://medium.com/mit-technology-review/lets-destroy-bitcoin-3211861ce7a3

L’immagine della settimana è una fake news deliziosa

Viviamo immersi in una montagna di articoli cialtroni di autoaiuto e di pseudoesperimenti per migliorare e potenziare le nostre capacità. Non parliamo poi di quei casi di pseudo-gonzo journalism in cui il tizio o la tizia di turno provano a vivere in prima persona le esperienze di cui vogliono parlare. Ecco. In realtà certe cose, certi esperimenti, si possono fare e anche bene. Si chiama giornalismo di qualità. BBC?

Money quote: "One recent winter, I decided to find out. Working with sleep researchers Derk-Jan Dijk and Nayantara Santhi at the University of Surrey, I designed a programme to go cold-turkey on artificial light after dark, and to try to maximise exposure to natural light during the day – all while juggling an office job and busy family life in urban Bristol.

The discoveries I've made have revolutionised my attitude to light ­­­– and how I live my life during the night and day. I now make simple, daily choices that can transform how I sleep, how I feel and perhaps even my cognitive abilities. Could you be doing the same?"

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180424-what-i-learnt-by-living-without-artificial-light

Sempre più spesso trovo l'orgoglio di programmatori front e backend che si ribella contro tutta questa enfasi sulla intelligenza artificiale, machine learning e trucchi e trucchetti legati a questo approccio. In realtà, si è sempre potuto fare molto con gli strumenti che ci sono da tanto tempo...

Money quote: "In a former life, I used to write SQL to extract customer of the week. Basically, select from orders table where basket size is the biggest. We will then email a nice thank you note to this customer and attach a small coupon/voucher....

...Guess what? 99% of these people became repeat customers. We never needed ML. We just wrote a simple SQL and got this information. We did the same thing for customers who last shopped 3 or so months ago...."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/987602838594445312.html

Classica storia che i giornali amano: donna giapponese di 82 anni impara a programmare e la sua prima app sfonda di brutto (sort of).

Money quote: "Upon retiring from a 43-year career as a bank clerk (she began at age 18), Wakamiya spent long hours caregiving for her then-90-year-old mother. Feeling isolated, and seeking connection with the outside world, Wakamiya bought her first computer, then moved on to a Microsoft PC, and later a Mac and iPhones. In between learning the piano, at age 75, Wakamiya eventually joined a computer club for seniors, Mellow Club, learning to create Excel art along the way. Then, this past year came Wakamiya’s focus on creating the game Hinadan.

The app, based on the annual Japanese doll festival of Hina Matsuri, invites players to arrange 12 ornamental dolls — representing the country’s emperor, family and guests — in a specific order. The game requires in-depth memorization of various arrangements, and has become especially popular with older women, who enjoy playing it with their grandchildren, Wakamiya said."

https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2018/worlds-oldest-app-developer-fd.html

I nuovi MacBook Pro hanno cambiato tastiera (ma non lo dicono) - il mio commento per Wired.it

Money quote: "Qual è il grande problema di Palermo si chiedeva Johnny Stecchino, nel film omonimo di Roberto Benigni del 1991? Il traffico, ovviamente. Che, se da un lato non era falso (il traffico di Palermo all’epoca era veramente incasinatissimo) dall’altro non era neanche vero, perché il vero problema ovviamente era la mafia. Ecco, prendetela come una provocazione con il sorriso sulle labbra, però Apple sta usando lo stesso metodo per le tastiere dei suoi MacBook Pro: qual è il loro più grande problema? Che sono rumorose? Vero. Però è il fatto che si rompano con troppa facilità ad essere una notizia."

https://www.wired.it/gadget/computer/2018/07/16/macbook-cambia-tastiera/

Storie di sviluppatori: come si sono organizzati quelli di 1Password per la nuova versione della loro app per macOS (nota: non sono più loro cliente perché sono passati al modello in abbonamento, per il quale ho forti riserve come utente)

Money quote: "When considering a paid upgrade, developers have two choices: they can re-use their existing app or submit a new one. Both have their pros and cons."

https://blog.agilebits.com/2018/05/10/getting-1password-7-ready-for-the-mac-app-store/

Per chi sente il bisogno irrefrenabile di ringraziarmi in modo costruttivo per Mostly, I Write, qualcosa di educativo in tema di scrittura... un corso Udemy (i corsi si possono regalare anche a terzi, cioè me; altro che Prime day...)

Nota per me stesso: ecco una nuova espressione da imparare: "Charging economy". Bello l'elettrico ma ci dimentichiamo che gli apparecchi elettrici a batteria devono essere ricaricati. Ecco una storia molto particolare che balla attorno a questo problema.

Bird è una startup americana, la Uber dei monopattini elettrici. Si prendono, si usano pagando un dollaro più 15 centesimi a minuto, e si lasciano quando non servono. La notte vengono recuperati da ragazzi e ragazze pagati non male, che li caricano a casa loro. (In Italia i monopattini elettrici, essendo veicoli a motore senza pedali e non registrati, sono vietati)

Money quote: "“Charging scooters for Bird is like Pokémon Go, but when you get paid for finding Pokémon,” says Nick Abouzeid, a 21-year-old charger in San Francisco. Several nights a week after work, he and his girlfriend go on walks around the city, collecting scooters and bringing them back to his apartment building to charge in the basement."

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charging-electric-scooters-is-a-cutthroat-business/560747/

Per la Cassazione tedesca i genitori possono ereditare il profilo Facebook della figlia morta - il mio articolo per La Stampa

http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/17/tecnologia/per-la-cassazione-tedesca-i-genitori-possono-ereditare-il-profilo-facebook-della-figlia-morta-97Zw34Kf4Fi1tgw7e1LRAJ/pagina.html

Sempre in viaggio e sempre affascinato dagli orologi e dallo scorrere del tempo: il ritmo circadiano non è monolitico, ma ci sono molti elementi diversi da tenere in considerazione.

Money quote: "“Jet lag is so awful because you’re not simply shifted, but the whole circadian network is not aligned to each other,” said Prof Russell Foster, chair of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford. “If you were completely aligned but just five hours shifted you wouldn’t feel so crappy.”

It is also helps explain the extensive range of health risks experienced by shift workers, who are more likely to suffer from heart disease, dementia, diabetes and some cancers. “They’re having to override their entire biology,” said Foster."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/06/western-society-is-chronically-sleep-deprived-the-importance-of-the-bodys-clock

Inoltre, se si dorme poco (da cinque ore in giù) pare che si muore prima

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/23/weekend-lie-ins-could-help-you-avoid-an-early-death-study-says

Il logo di Jeanne Lanvin, madre e figlia vestite uguali: una storia affascinante

Money quote: "A cette époque, Jeanne Lanvin est une chapelière installée au 22 de la rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, son atelier-boutique dans lequel sa fille joue les mannequins sous l’œil réjoui des clientes. C’est pour les beaux yeux de sa gamine que Jeanne commence à vêtir des poupées, avant de se tourner, rapidement, vers des modèles pour Marguerite. “Par tradition, les petites filles étaient habillées comme leurs mères, et Jeanne a su inverser la tendance, affirme Laure Harivel, en charge du patrimoine chez Lanvin."

http://www.polkamagazine.com/laiguille-et-la-marguerite/

Un fumetto online per raccontare la storia di cosa succede quando si vivono momenti epici e devastanti, ricordando chi non c'è più.

Money quote: "“The greatest generation” was defined by their suffering. Will we be?"

https://medium.com/the-nib/life-during-interesting-times-fd776c82e7ba

Export di armi. Chissà come sta messa l’Italia

Perfetta spiegazione di cosa sta succedendo nelle nostre città e nelle nostre vite attorno allo sharing transport, o meglio "floating transport". E lo spiega Citymapper una app che offre un servizio globale per gestire tutti gli altri (vivamente consigliata).

Money quote: "Change in relationship between user, operator, and regulator
With fixed transport, the regulation has often driven the operator, with the operator then guiding the users. Now the relationship gets flipped. The users will drive the operators, i.e. the new brands will respond rapidly to demand in order to survive. The regulators will accelerate to cope with all the new operators and services."

https://medium.com/citymapper/the-age-of-floating-transport-a87e2476f961

I nuovi MacBook Pro di Apple hanno un hard disk velocissimo - il mio articolo per La Stampa

http://www.lastampa.it/2018/07/18/tecnologia/i-nuovi-macbook-pro-di-apple-hanno-un-hard-disk-velocissimo-ZZnbNVr2yjRYZuPmZS3UDP/pagina.html

Goat è una delle startup più promettenti dell'ultima mania per la sharing economy in mobilità: i monopattini elettrici (che da noi peraltro sono vietati). Ma la concorrenza è dura e quasi mai onesta.

Money quote: "GOAT has permission to launch up to 500 scooters as part of the pilot program, but is currently incrementally deploying scooters 20 at a time. The company tells TechCrunch it’s also working with other cities in pursuing permits in multiple areas.

“In April we watched two California-based companies enter our market, ignore the balance, and exploit the policies and patience of our local city government but today we’re thankful for the due diligence the City of Austin put into place to ensure dockless mobility is a viable option to support their long-term objectives that we’ve worked to support,” GOAT CEO Michael Schramm said in a statement. “Since the City of Austin’s rules were established our team has worked tirelessly to prepare for a launch in our city that meets all of the criteria set forth by the ordinance for dockless mobility.”"

https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/24/goat-launches-electric-scooters-in-austin/

Una riflessione per niente banale sul passato, di cui ci sentiamo proprietari. In questo caso, il discorso è declinato attorno ai troll, cosa che lo rende ancora più spettacolare a mio avviso. Bella lettura

Money quote: "Recently, I tweeted about the pervasive nature of trolling and how people have always excused online behavior that is largely inexcusable. Almost immediately, a professor in London chastised that idea. He insisted that there was indeed a golden age for trolling, especially “for those of us who can actually remember the “eternal September,” the month in 1993 when a huge influx of America Online users began to overwhelm the online culture and norms of Usenet.

Reader, I laughed. It is unsurprising for a distinguished professor to engage in this kind of “gatekeeper” behavior. After all, his esteem rests on the fact that he knows certain things that others do not. Like all gatekeeper behavior, it was ostensibly a check on the credibility of the target. Also like all gatekeeper behavior, it wasn’t really about whether or not someone passes the test, but rather the gatekeeper feeling like they can control what is true and not true about the subject. Alas for him, I was there in 1993, too, equal parts young, naïve, and shy, but so damn excited about the idea of suddenly communicating with people around the world. This was a new thing, after all. And I will never, ever forget my first reaction to dealing with strangers on the internet: “Why is everyone so mean?”"

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17561768/dont-feed-the-trolls-online-harassment-abuse

Rivoluzione comunista in Unione Sovietica e sessualità femminile: uno spaccato interessante

Money quote: "For Kollontai, the sexual revolution was mainly about mentally liberating women from the expectations of monogamy and servitude to the family. Being able to decide when to have children, she argued, and secure in the knowledge that the state would provide for them, would allow women to study, work and involve themselves in public affairs. She hoped that these transformations would create ‘a new way of being/everyday life novy byt’ and a ‘Woman Human Being’."

https://aeon.co/essays/the-shining-moment-when-russian-revolutionary-women-reinvented-sex