Author Archive

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/business/dealbook/angry-birds-rovio-ipo.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com/ The digital world is littered with one-hit wonders — companies that tried to turn a single successful brand into a big-time business only to be eclipsed by changing technology and consumer tastes. The maker of Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment, hopes to defy that trend. Rovio found success in a smartphone game Angry Birds. Rovio helped →

I have written several postings on SOLU computer that aimed to reinvent personal computer. Solu Machines, founded in 2014, was developing a Solu computer it claimed to be revolutionary. I did report about it that because it looked interesting and I happen to know the person behind this vision. At least what they did was →

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/finland-s-welfare-state-has-a-massive-baby-problem You know you’ve got a problem when even the best don’t have the solution. Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there’s little to suggest a reversal in →

https://blog.acolyer.org/2017/09/19/to-type-or-not-to-type-quantifying-detectable-bugs-in-javascript/ Very interesting scientific analysis of using Flow/TypeScript annotations to autodetect 15% of bugs in JavaScript  To type or not to type: quantifying detectable bugs in JavaScript Gao et al., ICSE 2017 Is it worth the extra effort to add static type annotations to a JavaScript project? Should I use Facebook’s Flow or Microsoft’s TypeScript if so? →

Why do cheap key feel so bad when typing. Let’s take a tear-down of one HP keyboard. Let’s open it Rubber makes the “keyboard bad feel”. I remenber rubber keyboard feel from Sinclair Spectrum (at 1983)… Flexible circuit board material is used for switches Circuit board Not much to see on the other side of →

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.fi/2017/09/are-facebook-and-google-new-colonial.html?m=1 To qualify as colonial powers, Facebook and Google must effectively limit the choices and power of users, and punish or coerce those who question or resist their power. The phrase that captures this broad narrative is: When an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. In other words, if you’re not →

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/scientists-have-managed-to-store-light-as-sound-for-the-first-time/ A team of researchers from the University of Sydney has managed to convert the digital information carried by light waves into sound waves inside a microchip. As reported in Nature Communications, the researchers were able to build a chip that slows down light by turning it into sound waves. “The information in our chip in acoustic →

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/18/antifeatures-for-all.html In July, the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium overruled dozens of members’ objections to publishing a DRM standard without a compromise to protect accessibility, security research, archiving, and competition. EFF appealed the decision, the first-ever appeal in W3C history. 58.4% of the group voted to go on with publication, and the W3C did so today. It →

https://makezine.com/2017/09/07/secure-your-raspberry-pi-against-attackers/ Raspberry Pi boards are fantastic for any project — they’re cheap, easy to use, can run a wide range of possible operating systems, and provide programmable GPIO pins as well as multi-core CPU availability and multiple USB ports. You can use Raspberry Pi boards for all kinds of automation and information gathering projects. But, →

https://opensource.com/life/15/2/five-specialized-linux-distributions-computer-repair?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY There are specialized tools that can aid you in fixing problems with a computer or help you be prepared for when something bad does happen. Many of these tools are actually highly-specialized Linux distributions.  This article takes look at five different Linux distributions designed to make your life easier when computers start giving you →