Gli ultimi eroi del volo sono i piloti che fanno trasferimenti da un continente all'altro di piccoli aerei privati per i loro proprietari.

Money quote: "My earliest memories are of lining up my stuffed toys and dolls in the cockpit of a small Cessna aircraft. As my father built up his flying hours, there would be afternoon trips to France - my tiny bicycle stowed away in the back. A cycle ride along the beaches of Le Touquet would be my reward for enduring the occasional bumpy flight without complaint.

Later, as a teenager, I loved listening to stories of his flying adventures. Yet I was aware those gripping tales of flights over war-torn countries or in icy conditions across the Atlantic Ocean were censored to protect me from worrying about his safety.
In 1999 my father was killed when the aircraft he was delivering crashed over the mountains in Canada."

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34484972

Ok, quasi ci siamo. Grazie a una pattuglia di volontari, il primo numero zero della newsletter di Mostly, I Write è andato. Ne faccio un altro prima di cominciare seriamente. Però, se intanto volete iscrivervi, si parte da qui:

https://tinyletter.com/MostlyIWrite

"Gli Astrostoppisti" di Castelli e Zeccara: un classico ritrovato - la mia recensione per Fumettologica

https://www.fumettologica.it/2019/02/astrostoppisti-castelli-zeccara-fumetti/

E-commerce, Londra pronta a tassare Amazon & co per salvare i negozi "fisici" - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/ecommerce/e-commerce-londra-pronta-a-tassare-amzon-co-per-salvare-i-negozi-fisici/

Gli Usa leader del 5G, la gara con la Cina si vince anche con i satelliti - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/telco/5g/gli-usa-leader-del-5g-la-gara-con-la-cina-si-vince-anche-con-i-satelliti

Per comprendere meglio l'attuale ossessione per gli assistenti intelligenti con i quali parlare. L'idea è antica e potente, a me pare odiosa e inutile.

Money quote: "Two decades later, with the rise of voice computing platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, the world’s biggest tech companies are suddenly, precipitously moving in Tunstall-­Pedoe’s direction. Voice-­enabled smart speakers have become some of the industry’s best-selling products; in 2018 alone, according to a report by NPR and Edison Research, their prevalence in American households grew by 78 percent. According to one market survey, people ask their smart speakers to answer questions more often than they do anything else with them. Tunstall-­Pedoe’s vision of computers responding to our queries in a single pass—providing one-shot answers, as they are known in the search community—has gone mainstream. The internet and the multibillion-­dollar business ecosystems it supports are changing irrevocably. So, too, is the creation, distribution, and control of information—the very nature of how we know what we know."

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-alexa-search-for-the-one-perfect-answer/

Google si prende i chip di Lightmatter e investe sull’Intelligenza artificiale - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/google-si-prende-i-chip-di-lightmatter-e-investe-sullintelligenza-artificiale/

Swatch ai ferri corti con Samsung: “Copia i quadranti per gli smartwatch” - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/swatch-ai-ferri-corti-con-samsung-copia-i-quadranti-per-gli-smartwatch/

Giocavate a D e D? Tempo di guardare le mappe

Money quote: "Whether you’ve diagrammed it out on graph paper, or jotted it down freehand; whether it’s a network of underground stone passages or a guide to the only path through a haunted swampland; whether it has a detailed key and spot illustrations or it’s just a bunch of lines, we want to see your original D&D adventure maps. If you’ve ever drawn a dungeon map in the past, send us a picture, and if you haven’t, now’s the time to dream one up. Use your imagination, be detailed, and have fun!"

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/send-us-your-dungeons-and-dragons-map

La conclusione della trilogia di "Dragon Trainer" è una delusione - La
Mia stroncatura per Fumettologica

https://www.fumettologica.it/2019/02/dragon-trainer-recensione-film/

Digital trasformation, allarme Ocse: “Per l’Italia più rischi che benefici” - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/digital-trasformation-allarme-ocse-per-litalia-piu-rischi-che-benefici/

Tra poco mando il secondo (e ultimo) numero zero della newsletter di Mostly, I Write. Se avete voglia di iscrivervi, questo è il momento. Per chi ha già ricevuto il primo (e voi sapete chi siete), non c'è bisogno di fare altro.

Per iscriversi: https://tinyletter.com/MostlyIWrite

(SPEDITA: MA SE VOLETE, POTETE SEMPRE ISCRIVERVI E QUINDI LEGGERLA NELL'ARCHIVIO)

Facebook scommette sulla pubblicità video che “imita” la tv - il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/facebook-scommette-sulla-pubblicita-video-che-imita-la-tv/

Bare Bones si prepara a far tornare BBEdit su Mac App Store - Il mio articolo per Macitynet.it

https://www.macitynet.it/bare-bones-si-prepara-a-far-tornare-bbedit-su-mac-app-store/

Self driving car, decolla la "cloud-alleanza" tra Volkswagen e Microsoft - Il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/cloud/self-driving-car-decolla-la-cloud-alleanza-tra-volkswagen-e-microsoft/

Amazon via dal centro di Seattle: braccio di ferro col sindaco per pagare meno tasse - Il mio articolo per CorCom

https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/ecommerce/amazon-via-dal-centro-di-seattle-braccio-di-ferro-col-sindaco-per-pagare-meno-tasse/

Ma poi Saffo era davvero lesbica? Ma chi era, poi? -- una lettura serale

Money quote: “Even today, experts can’t agree on whether the poems were performed in private or in public, by soloists or by choruses, or, indeed, whether they were meant to celebrate or to subvert the conventions of love and marriage. The last is a particularly loaded issue, given that, for many readers and scholars, Sappho has been a feminist heroine or a gay role model, or both. “As far as I knew, there was only me and a woman called Sappho,” the critic Judith Butler once remarked.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/girl-interrupted

Rarissima avis. Questo tizio non è in malafede e probabilmente fornisce consigli utili per la vita. Tipo che si impara dagli sbagli e non dai successi, e che comunque la vita è complicata e ce ne dobbiamo occupare noi.

Money quote: “Striking Thoughts is a compendium of 825 aphorisms from Bruce Lee. It’s a collection because, unlike most sources of advice, he didn’t believe there was one correct set of ideas to live a good life, let alone that his was the right one:

“Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book.”
This may sound tedious, as we tend to want simple conclusions to address hard problems, but, according to Bruce, neither even exists. There are only questions and answers, both of which are hard-won products of thinking, none of which can provide universal solutions that last forever”

https://medium.com/personal-growth/dont-imitate-successful-people-learn-from-your-mistakes-ea4af41ca66d

Lettura per il sabato. Il perché della lentezza necessaria nel software.

Money quote: “Researchers can test this with rigs that control exactly how much latency users see. They present a user with an interface having (say) 1ms latency and another with (say) 70ms and then ask them to perform operations like tapping a button. If the 70ms interface consistently feels slower than the 1ms interface, 70ms would be a "noticeable difference."”

https://www.inkandswitch.com/slow-software.html

La vignetta del sabato

Lettura per la domenica. A breve in Svezia scomparirà il contante. Non è necessariamente una cosa buona.

Money quote: ““When you are where we are, it would be wrong to sit back with our arms crossed, doing nothing, and then just take note of the fact that cash has disappeared,” said Stefan Ingves, the governor of Sweden’s central bank, known as the Riksbank. “You can’t turn back time, but you do have to find a way to deal with change.””

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/business/sweden-cashless-society.html