Lo aveva detto e lo ha fatto: Roy Tennant passa il testimone, e in qualche modo finisce un’epoca.
Money quote: “Editor's Note: Current Cites has been published every single month for the last 30 years, without fail. We are the second longest-lived Internet publication in existence (beat out only by TidBITS by a few months). When I started this publication, I would have recoiled at the idea of taking on such a responsibility had I known what would eventually unfold. I'm the only original contributor left, and I've been it's editor longer than anyone (I did not begin as editor, and we've had two other editors).
After two years of retirement, I now am eager to either shutdown or transfer responsibility for my remaining professional responsibilities. This publication is the last of my obligations. Thankfully, I've found a suitable Editor to take over, Edward Lim Junhao. Since the infrastructure I've used for many years to produce the publication has relied on a number of technologies that now seem overly difficult and/or archaic (Perl scripts, XSLT, command line processing, even a step that requires the long-outdated Lynx web browser), it seemed like well past time to move to a different platform.
Edward has therefore found a different way to take Current Cites forward into a new world. I wish him, and our faithful readers, all the best of luck. And speaking of our "faithful readers," thank you for your collective 30 years of attention. We all appreciated it very much. More than you know. Be well and prosper. - Roy Tennant”
http://currentcites.org/2020/cc20.31.7.html
Money quote: “Editor's Note: Current Cites has been published every single month for the last 30 years, without fail. We are the second longest-lived Internet publication in existence (beat out only by TidBITS by a few months). When I started this publication, I would have recoiled at the idea of taking on such a responsibility had I known what would eventually unfold. I'm the only original contributor left, and I've been it's editor longer than anyone (I did not begin as editor, and we've had two other editors).
After two years of retirement, I now am eager to either shutdown or transfer responsibility for my remaining professional responsibilities. This publication is the last of my obligations. Thankfully, I've found a suitable Editor to take over, Edward Lim Junhao. Since the infrastructure I've used for many years to produce the publication has relied on a number of technologies that now seem overly difficult and/or archaic (Perl scripts, XSLT, command line processing, even a step that requires the long-outdated Lynx web browser), it seemed like well past time to move to a different platform.
Edward has therefore found a different way to take Current Cites forward into a new world. I wish him, and our faithful readers, all the best of luck. And speaking of our "faithful readers," thank you for your collective 30 years of attention. We all appreciated it very much. More than you know. Be well and prosper. - Roy Tennant”
http://currentcites.org/2020/cc20.31.7.html
Pronto per il nuovo numero di Mostly Weekly? Esce domani il primo numero della villeggiatura. Iscriviti qui e fai proseliti anche per questo canale. https://tinyletter.com/MostlyIWrite
Le cose che abbiamo sotto gli occhi ma che l'odio non ci fa guardare. Il Guardian racconta la storia di un paesino siciliano, che stava scomparendo, e che si ripopola con i migranti.
Money quote: "In Rosario’s day, the “foreigner” who came to this picturesque Sicilian village was likely to be from Palermo, 100km away, or nearby Agrigento. But Wale, 35, is from Ekiti state in Nigeria, and he reached Sutera four months ago after a trek covering 6,000km. He lives with his wife and a son, like dozens of other African people seeking asylum who have come from another continent with their families to live here.
“The world is changing,” says Rosario, a 65-year-old retired architect who was born, raised and will grow old in this village, as did his ancestors for generations. “And Sutera is a part of that change.”"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/27/how-refugees-are-breathing-new-life-into-dying-italian-village
Money quote: "In Rosario’s day, the “foreigner” who came to this picturesque Sicilian village was likely to be from Palermo, 100km away, or nearby Agrigento. But Wale, 35, is from Ekiti state in Nigeria, and he reached Sutera four months ago after a trek covering 6,000km. He lives with his wife and a son, like dozens of other African people seeking asylum who have come from another continent with their families to live here.
“The world is changing,” says Rosario, a 65-year-old retired architect who was born, raised and will grow old in this village, as did his ancestors for generations. “And Sutera is a part of that change.”"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/27/how-refugees-are-breathing-new-life-into-dying-italian-village
the Guardian
What happened when migrants moved into my family’s Sicilian village
Refugees are breathing vibrant new life into the dying home town of Lorenzo Tondo’s father-in-law. If only Italy’s ascendant rightwingers saw it that way
È morto a 91 anni Bill English, il braccio (e parte della mente) dietro 'The Mother of All Demos'
Money quote: “English essentially choreographed Engelbart's presentation. Just as important, he made sure there were no technical glitches. That was a challenge, since Engelbart would be in San Francisco demonstrating a system that was being operated 30 miles away in Menlo Park, the two sites connected via a microwave relay. The event went off virtually without a hitch, and a new world was born. "Doug wasn't doing it," recalls Roberta, who had worked as Engelbart's secretary. "It was all Bill." Engelbart died in 2013.”
https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/08/01/023248/william-english-engineer-behind-the-mother-of-all-demos-dies-at-91
Money quote: “English essentially choreographed Engelbart's presentation. Just as important, he made sure there were no technical glitches. That was a challenge, since Engelbart would be in San Francisco demonstrating a system that was being operated 30 miles away in Menlo Park, the two sites connected via a microwave relay. The event went off virtually without a hitch, and a new world was born. "Doug wasn't doing it," recalls Roberta, who had worked as Engelbart's secretary. "It was all Bill." Engelbart died in 2013.”
https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/08/01/023248/william-english-engineer-behind-the-mother-of-all-demos-dies-at-91
news.slashdot.org
William English, Engineer Behind 'The Mother of All Demos', Dies at 91
An anonymous reader quotes The Los Angeles Times: On Dec. 9, 1968, the then-small world of computer engineering was shaken to its core by a presentation of new technologies projected onto a screen in a San Francisco hall. The attendees at the historic event…
Fare un libro di testo per la scuola - o meglio ancora, per l'università - non è opera da poco. Anzi.
Money quote: "We started working on it a little over two years ago, in the fall of 2016. Now it is nearing the end of the fall of 2018 and it is becoming a reality.
What does it take to write a textbook? That's a good question; one that I certainly did not know the answer to going in, and one for which I now need several hours of recollection and introspection to tease out the appropriate response. This blog post is my answer to that question. I hope that it is useful to you, whether it helps understand the scope of the work involved, brings up aspects that hadn't been considered, or points out tools that might help you with your own book."
http://tim.hibal.org/blog/how-we-wrote-a-textbook/
Money quote: "We started working on it a little over two years ago, in the fall of 2016. Now it is nearing the end of the fall of 2018 and it is becoming a reality.
What does it take to write a textbook? That's a good question; one that I certainly did not know the answer to going in, and one for which I now need several hours of recollection and introspection to tease out the appropriate response. This blog post is my answer to that question. I hope that it is useful to you, whether it helps understand the scope of the work involved, brings up aspects that hadn't been considered, or points out tools that might help you with your own book."
http://tim.hibal.org/blog/how-we-wrote-a-textbook/
Una trasformazione fondamentale nel mondo contemporaneo è il passaggio (per meglio dire, l'oscillazione del pendolo) da un modello centrato sul prodotto a un modello centrato sul cliente. Le conseguenze sul mondo del lavoro sono incredibili e per niente positive.
Money quote: "In part, this change reflects a rolling back of labour laws and with them the sense of solidarity among workers. It also follows the shift to an economic model that relies on workers to be more accommodating each year in their role as business and consumer service providers.
The irony is that when the consumer is made king, workers are forced to become even more flexible, providing services on a 24-hour cycle, usually to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/27/work-once-way-to-better-life-not-any-more-property-pensions
Money quote: "In part, this change reflects a rolling back of labour laws and with them the sense of solidarity among workers. It also follows the shift to an economic model that relies on workers to be more accommodating each year in their role as business and consumer service providers.
The irony is that when the consumer is made king, workers are forced to become even more flexible, providing services on a 24-hour cycle, usually to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/27/work-once-way-to-better-life-not-any-more-property-pensions
the Guardian
Work was once the way to a better life. Not any more
A job that provides rising living standards is a thing of the past. Now the route to wealth is through property and pensions
“No, Trump can’t delay the election. First, because the law won't allow it. Second, because restraint and delayed gratification has never been his strong suit (Cit.)
Cadaveri nello spazio. Ma per un buon motivo.
Money quote: "No human has ever flown closer to Pluto than Clyde Tombaugh did in 2015, 18 years after his death. That’s fitting, because he was also the first person to lay eyes on it."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grave-farthest-from-earth
Money quote: "No human has ever flown closer to Pluto than Clyde Tombaugh did in 2015, 18 years after his death. That’s fitting, because he was also the first person to lay eyes on it."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grave-farthest-from-earth
Atlas Obscura
The Grave Farthest From Earth Is on a Spacecraft Headed Out of Our Solar System
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, and then hitched a ride toward it.
La fine di un’epoca: Phil Schiller lascia la carica di senior vice president per il marketing mondiale, al suo posto Greg Joswiak (Congratulations!).
Money quote: “Today Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, has officially stepped down after serving the company for close to 33 years. Schiller stated for the press release that "It has been a dream come true for me to work at Apple, on so many products I love, with all of these great friends — Steve, Tim, and so many more. I first started at Apple when I was 27, this year I turned 60 and it is time for some planned changes in my life."”
https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2020/08/apples-phil-schiller-steps-down-as-svp-worldwide-marketing-as-greg-joswiak-is-promoted-to-fill-that-role.html
Money quote: “Today Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, has officially stepped down after serving the company for close to 33 years. Schiller stated for the press release that "It has been a dream come true for me to work at Apple, on so many products I love, with all of these great friends — Steve, Tim, and so many more. I first started at Apple when I was 27, this year I turned 60 and it is time for some planned changes in my life."”
https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2020/08/apples-phil-schiller-steps-down-as-svp-worldwide-marketing-as-greg-joswiak-is-promoted-to-fill-that-role.html
Patently Apple
Apple's Phil Schiller Steps down as SVP Worldwide Marketing as Greg Joswiak is Promoted to fill that Role
Today Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, has officially stepped down after serving the company for close to 33 years. Schiller stated for the press release that "It has been a dream come true for me to work at Apple, on so…
Newsletter, le opere struggenti di solitari geni della scrittura digitale - il mio articolo (molto autoreferenziale) per Il Post.
https://www.ilpost.it/antoniodini/2020/08/05/newsletter-le-opere-struggenti-di-solitari-geni-della-scrittura-digitale/
https://www.ilpost.it/antoniodini/2020/08/05/newsletter-le-opere-struggenti-di-solitari-geni-della-scrittura-digitale/
Il Post
Newsletter, le opere struggenti di solitari geni della scrittura digitale
Le newsletter, queste amate e anche queste sconosciute. Ce ne sono tante, tantissime. Ma attenzione, il prodotto genuino non sono quelle fatte a nastro dai giornali come tentativo di sbarcare il loro traballante lunario
Il mio uso di git è poco più che ricreativo (non mi serve per il codice, ma per il testo) e decisamente non collaborativo (scrivo da solo). Però trovo git utile e molto efficace. Basta allontanarsi un giorno dalla riga di comando e ti giochi quasi tutta la memoria delle opzioni anche solo di base.
La cosa speciale è che questo libro sintetico e potente è fatto dalla ottima Julia Evans in collaborazione con Katie Sylor-Miller, una vera esperta. Non lo regalano (12 dollari) ma li vale tutti.
Money quote: "If you find git confusing, don't worry! You're not alone.
People who've been using it every day for years still make mistakes and aren't sure how to fix them. A lot of git commands are confusingly named (why do you create new branches with git checkout?) and there are 20 million different ways to do everything.
This zine explains git fundamentals (what's a SHA?) and how to fix a lot of common git mistakes (I committed to the wrong branch!!)."
https://gumroad.com/l/dangit-git
La cosa speciale è che questo libro sintetico e potente è fatto dalla ottima Julia Evans in collaborazione con Katie Sylor-Miller, una vera esperta. Non lo regalano (12 dollari) ma li vale tutti.
Money quote: "If you find git confusing, don't worry! You're not alone.
People who've been using it every day for years still make mistakes and aren't sure how to fix them. A lot of git commands are confusingly named (why do you create new branches with git checkout?) and there are 20 million different ways to do everything.
This zine explains git fundamentals (what's a SHA?) and how to fix a lot of common git mistakes (I committed to the wrong branch!!)."
https://gumroad.com/l/dangit-git
Gumroad
Dangit, git!
If you find git confusing, don't worry! You're not alone.People who've been using it every day for years still make mistakes and aren't sure how to fix them. A lot of git commands a...
Con Phil Schiller finisce l’epoca dei cavalieri di Steve Jobs - Il mio articolo per Macity
https://www.macitynet.it/con-phil-schiller-finisce-lepoca-dei-cavalieri-di-steve-jobs/
https://www.macitynet.it/con-phil-schiller-finisce-lepoca-dei-cavalieri-di-steve-jobs/
macitynet.it
Con Phil Schiller finisce l’epoca dei cavalieri di Steve Jobs
La “pensione” del dirigente di Apple, che a sessant’anni e un notevole patrimonio personale assume una carica più distaccata dal lavoro quotidiano in azienda, è anche un passaggio storico nel ricambio all’interno dell’azienda
Ne ho scritto anche io nel mio piccolo: la Ue ha multato Google che adesso ha deciso di mettere a pagamento le sue app e servizi Android per i produttori di smartphone che vendano in Europa (finora era tutto gratuito). La cosa più probabile è che succeda come in Cina: fioriranno un mare di nuovi negozi.
Money quote: "In China, each app store has a different rating system and a different community of users reviewing an app. Different stores also present apps in a different order, with their own ways of prioritizing which apps to highlight or show in search results. For example, Tencent’s Myapp and the 360 Mobile Assistant contain sections that list the most popular apps among men and women. The immense fragmentation of Android in China, which varies across different smartphone makers, means that the average Chinese user uses nearly 40 apps on their phone a month and about 11 a day, according to App Annie. These numbers are slightly higher than ones for users in the US and Europe. They’re also more likely to have 100 apps on their phones in total.
In 2013, 25 percent of Chinese users said that the most important feature on a smartphone was that it had a wide variety of apps, reports Nielsen. The need for more apps has even driven Chinese smartphone companies to be among the first to offer a whopping 1TB of storage."
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/17/17984976/android-europe-future-china-play-store-european-commission-antitrust
Money quote: "In China, each app store has a different rating system and a different community of users reviewing an app. Different stores also present apps in a different order, with their own ways of prioritizing which apps to highlight or show in search results. For example, Tencent’s Myapp and the 360 Mobile Assistant contain sections that list the most popular apps among men and women. The immense fragmentation of Android in China, which varies across different smartphone makers, means that the average Chinese user uses nearly 40 apps on their phone a month and about 11 a day, according to App Annie. These numbers are slightly higher than ones for users in the US and Europe. They’re also more likely to have 100 apps on their phones in total.
In 2013, 25 percent of Chinese users said that the most important feature on a smartphone was that it had a wide variety of apps, reports Nielsen. The need for more apps has even driven Chinese smartphone companies to be among the first to offer a whopping 1TB of storage."
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/17/17984976/android-europe-future-china-play-store-european-commission-antitrust
The Verge
Want to understand the future of Android in Europe? Look at China
What happens when you no longer have one central hub for apps and services?
Non importa che siate programmatori, questo thread su Twitter è semplicemente fantastico
https://twitter.com/ctrlshifti/status/1290968510521196544?s=21
https://twitter.com/ctrlshifti/status/1290968510521196544?s=21
Twitter
Kat Maddox
Is it better to indent your code from left to right or right to left? Been hearing different opinions
Forwarded from Fumettologica
Uno dei manga più emozionanti di sempre. Oggi è il giorno giusto per ricordare (e rileggere) Gen di Hiroshima, che racconta a fumetti la bomba atomica sganciata su Hiroshima il 6 agosto del 1945.
https://www.fumettologica.it/2015/08/hiroshima-gen/
https://www.fumettologica.it/2015/08/hiroshima-gen/
Fumettologica
La grande bomba su Hiroshima, e la piccola storia di Gen
Gen di Hiroshima racconta gli orrori della bomba atomica sganciata in Giappone sul finire della Seconda guerra mondiale, il 6 agosto 1945.
La trasformazione dall’analogico al digitale non è un processo “1/0”. Ci sono fasi intermedie. Uno è il passaggio dal digitale tradizionale al cloud. Quando i prodotti diventano servizi a cui ci si abbona: la musica, ad esempio. Ecco cosa succede quando un servizio di musica in streaming fallisce e viene chiuso (in questo caso si tratta di Google Music). Soprattutto, cosa succede ai file di musica che avete caricato voi nel cloud e che sono altrimenti introvabili.
Money quote: “A copy of your files isn't hard to get, either. The Google Music Manager is a Windows and Mac application that can upload music or download your entire music collection with a few clicks, but like Google said, it will stop working soon. The other option is Google Takeout, which will wrap your entire music collection in a zip file and send you a download link. The processing for this can take hours. Whichever option you choose, make sure you do something before December because, after that, there will be no way to recover your music.”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/google-music-shutdown-starts-this-month-music-deleted-in-december/
Money quote: “A copy of your files isn't hard to get, either. The Google Music Manager is a Windows and Mac application that can upload music or download your entire music collection with a few clicks, but like Google said, it will stop working soon. The other option is Google Takeout, which will wrap your entire music collection in a zip file and send you a download link. The processing for this can take hours. Whichever option you choose, make sure you do something before December because, after that, there will be no way to recover your music.”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/google-music-shutdown-starts-this-month-music-deleted-in-december/
Ars Technica
Google Music shutdown starts this month, music deleted in December
August begins the four-month Google Music shutdown.
Nonostante lo scetticismo di mio suocero, che è medico, è dalla nascita dell’Apple Watch che penso che Apple stia facendo qualcosa di profondamente diverso dal resto dei produttori di apparecchi digitali e gestori di dati nel cloud. Apple sta lavorando al piano della salute digitale in maniera creativa e secondo me convincente. Perché l’idea di raccogliere tanti, tantissimi dati da una fetta della popolazione che non è un campione statistico ma una percentuale convincente consente di trovare correlazioni inedite: sono le conoscenze emergenti grazie ai big data.
Oppure, come in questo caso, fare degli studi con le università sfruttando un pool molto più ampio e variegato dei soliti campioni di studenti universitari che si prestano a fare da cavia di laboratorio. Credo che, se le cose vanno avanti così, nei prossimi cinque-dieci anni vedremo emergere delle conoscenze inusitate. Il che mi fa un po’ dispiacere, con le mie piccole ansie e patologie minime, perché ne riuscirò a vedere gli sviluppi solo parzialmente e da una prospettiva limitata.
Money quote: “UCLA has launched a major new study, sponsored by and in collaboration with Apple, designed to help revolutionize detection and treatment of depression.
The three-year study, which begins this week, was co-designed by researchers at UCLA and Apple to obtain objective measures of factors such as sleep, physical activity, heart rate and daily routines to illuminate the relationship between these factors and symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-launches-major-mental-health-study-to-discover-insights-about-depression
Oppure, come in questo caso, fare degli studi con le università sfruttando un pool molto più ampio e variegato dei soliti campioni di studenti universitari che si prestano a fare da cavia di laboratorio. Credo che, se le cose vanno avanti così, nei prossimi cinque-dieci anni vedremo emergere delle conoscenze inusitate. Il che mi fa un po’ dispiacere, con le mie piccole ansie e patologie minime, perché ne riuscirò a vedere gli sviluppi solo parzialmente e da una prospettiva limitata.
Money quote: “UCLA has launched a major new study, sponsored by and in collaboration with Apple, designed to help revolutionize detection and treatment of depression.
The three-year study, which begins this week, was co-designed by researchers at UCLA and Apple to obtain objective measures of factors such as sleep, physical activity, heart rate and daily routines to illuminate the relationship between these factors and symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-launches-major-mental-health-study-to-discover-insights-about-depression
UCLA
UCLA launches major mental health study to discover insights about depression
Researchers from the Depression Grand Challenge are collaborating with Apple to measure factors like sleep and activity to understand how they affect symptoms of the disorder.
Icone open source (cioè, non solo gratuite) per tutti. Sia per i computer che anche per il web
Money quote: "Eva Icons is a pack of more than 480 beautifully crafted Open Source icons for common actions and items.
Download our set on the desktop to use them in your digital products for Web, iOS and Android."
https://akveo.github.io/eva-icons/#/
Money quote: "Eva Icons is a pack of more than 480 beautifully crafted Open Source icons for common actions and items.
Download our set on the desktop to use them in your digital products for Web, iOS and Android."
https://akveo.github.io/eva-icons/#/
akveo.github.io
Eva Icons - beautifully crafted Open Source UI icons for common actions and items.
Eva Icons is a pack of 480 delightful icons available for free. Download Eva Icons to use them in your products for mobile and web apps. Available as SVG, PNG, Web Font and Sketch. Open Source, built by the Nebular team.
“Dello scrivere cose lunghe”: Un po’ perché d’estate uno ha più tempo e dice “mi riposo, scrivo giusto due righe per distrarmi” e poi ci passa la giornata, e un po’ perché sto provando la nuova Magic Keyboard dell’iPad Pro e quindi devo macinare battute su battute, spazi inclusi, ho tirato fuori un altro papiello.
Doveva essere una cosina veloce veloce su una app (Workflowy) con la quale organizzo le cose lunghe che scrivo, e poi è cresciuta, cresciuta, fino a diventare questo cosa lunga lunga. Ma ci tengo, perché è anche un po’ un esperimento: ho scritto questo articolo per il Post direttamente dentro Workflowy e ho cercato di embeddarlo in WordPress con risultati miseri (il link in uscita)(se vi viene in mente come fare, scrivetemi, s’il vous plait). Se volete vedere, trovate un gran bel semilavorato e puntinato, con rientri a destra e a sinistra che non parla di nulla (al solito). Come non cedere alla tentazione?
https://www.ilpost.it/antoniodini/2020/08/07/dello-scrivere-cose-lunghe/
Doveva essere una cosina veloce veloce su una app (Workflowy) con la quale organizzo le cose lunghe che scrivo, e poi è cresciuta, cresciuta, fino a diventare questo cosa lunga lunga. Ma ci tengo, perché è anche un po’ un esperimento: ho scritto questo articolo per il Post direttamente dentro Workflowy e ho cercato di embeddarlo in WordPress con risultati miseri (il link in uscita)(se vi viene in mente come fare, scrivetemi, s’il vous plait). Se volete vedere, trovate un gran bel semilavorato e puntinato, con rientri a destra e a sinistra che non parla di nulla (al solito). Come non cedere alla tentazione?
https://www.ilpost.it/antoniodini/2020/08/07/dello-scrivere-cose-lunghe/
Il Post
Dello scrivere cose lunghe
Mettetevi pure comodi, perché non sarà una cosa breve. (E c'è anche un tocco di sperimentalismo: proviamo a vedere se riesco a scrivere il post con Workflowy)