Plus what if a theoretical bus hit Facebook?, Dell's tablet-laptop,
students on Google, and more
Aerial view of Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. A month after the Japan disaster, engineers were still struggling to prevent a meltdown. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
A burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
I was one of the 520 people laid off by Zynga yesterday. What do you wanna know about Zynga? AMA >> Reddit
The anonymous writer:
I was just laid off yesterday, along with 520 other employees. I'm willing to talk about the company that all gamers love to hate if anyone wants to know more about it. I need to keep my identity on the down-low because I'm job hunting now and not trying to burn bridges. So I can't give specifics on the the projects I worked on, but can talk to a lot of the games, processes, culture, infamous game copying, etc.
Fill your boots.
Evernote's three new security features >> Evernote blog
The security and privacy of your data are our top priority at Evernote. Today, we're happy to announce the availability of three new security features:
Two-Step Verification
Access History
Authorized Applications
Which big services now don't have two-step authentication?
Making Google's CalDAV and CardDAV APIs available for everyone >> Google Developers Blog
Piotr Stanczyk, Tech Lead:
In March we announced that CalDAV, an open standard for accessing calendar data across the web, would become a partner-only API because it appeared that almost all the API usage was driven by a few large developers. Since that announcement, we received many requests for access to CalDAV, giving us a better understanding of developers' use cases and causing us to revisit that decision. In response to those requests, we are keeping the CalDAV API public. And in the spirit of openness, today we're also making CardDAV - an open standard for accessing contact information across the web - available to everyone for the first time.
Can we have a Google Reader reprieve too?
Prenda seeded its own porn files via BitTorrent, new affidavit argues >> Ars Technica
Remember the California judge who blasted a group of plaintiffs for claiming defendants had been downloading porn on the flimsy evidence of an IP address? They seem to be active again. We start with a defender..
Graham Syfert is a local Florida lawyer who has been defending people caught up in Prenda purported copyright suits. Last we heard from the defense attorney, he appeared to have settled some cases with the porn trolling outfit. Nearly two weeks ago, Syfert told Ars that he was still involved in two more Florida Prenda-related cases: Sunlust Pictures v. Nguyen, and First Time Videos v. Oppold.
The latter case was initially filed back in July 2012 against a Florida man named Paul Oppold. Oppold was accused of downloading an unauthorized copy of a First Time Videos (FTV) pornographic film which was being represented by Prenda.
Prenda Law is apparently the subject of a US Attorney's investigation.
Students' attitudes to Google products >> The Beans Group
The tech press may be intrigued with Glass, Google's new wearable device, but does it excite a youth generation for whom technology plays a fundamental daily role? Over half of UK students (55%) would like to try Glass and see what it can do. However 61% would be self-conscious doing so and 48% would worry that other people might think they are being recorded [Glass enables users to record real time conversations discreetly]. Those not wearing the device were concerned that Glass users would be recording them (66%) or not fully attentive (51%). Around one in ten would feel envious of Glass owners.
Plenty more insights into attitudes over voice control, Google Wallet, Google Music and the brand itself.
Proteus Digital Health: ingestible sensors and more
Our digital health feedback system is powered by you. It includes wearable and ingestible sensors that work together to detect ingestions and physiologic data. By capturing objective information and providing actionable insights, you can take control, communicate with caregivers and clinicians, and stay well.
Includes a sensor you swallow that will transmit a unique ID. And which "is designed to move through the body in the normal process of digestion." Um. (Thanks @HotSoup for the link.)
Dell XPS 11 combines the best of Lenovo's Yoga and Microsoft's Surface >> The Verge
The hinge on the XPS 11 allows the screen to flip nearly a full 360 degrees, turning the workaday laptop into a fun-filled tablet — very much in the same vein as Lenovo's Yoga machine. You can't detach the display, but the sub-15mm thickness with the keyboard included makes this a reasonable device to use in tablet mode even with the keypad still attached. Intelligently, Dell has designed the keyboard so that once the hinge passes 180 degrees, it becomes insensitive to input.
A non-detachable keyboard and a touch-sensitive screen where it functions as a tablet or a notebook? This is just like the tablets of 2001. Keyboard detachability is emerging as a key function - and this hasn't got it. (Thanks @technotrousers for the link.)
Japan's radiation disaster toll: none dead, none sick >> The Age
Heard much about Fukushima lately? You know, the disaster that spread deadly contamination across Japan and spelt the end for the nuclear industry.
You should have, because recent authoritative reports have reached a remarkable conclusion about a supposedly "deadly" disaster. No one died, nor is likely to die, according to the most comprehensive assessments since the Fukushima nuclear plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
That's from two independent international reports: radioactive material released from Fukushima's four damaged reactors, three of which melted down, has had negligible health impacts.
Nothing happens if a bus hits Facebook >> SFGate.com
Caleb Garling:
You may have heard of the morbid concept of a company's "bus number": the number of employees that, if they were suddenly to get taken out by a bus, would bring business to a halt due to the loss of their skills or knowledge.
In Silicon Valley tech companies, typically top engineers — who have an understanding of the product only recorded in their vast brains — and one or two executives make the list. I spent two years at a tech startup that had about 80 people, and the bus number was two, maybe three.
With the way tech is starting to enmesh itself in our lives, I've wondered if a sort of bus number existed. How many tech companies are there that, were they to magically evaporate, bring the average person's life to a significant halt? Which ones would really throw a monkey wrench in the daily fabric of technology? Not behind-the-scene all-stars like NVIDIA, IBM and Intel, but the ones that people associate with their day. Naturally any loss would be filled in by competitors eventually, but there are a few companies whose disappearance would change the game for a significant period of time. (And redefine "first world problems.")
Take note too of his "note for commenters". Golden.
students on Google, and more
Aerial view of Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. A month after the Japan disaster, engineers were still struggling to prevent a meltdown. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
A burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
I was one of the 520 people laid off by Zynga yesterday. What do you wanna know about Zynga? AMA >> Reddit
The anonymous writer:
I was just laid off yesterday, along with 520 other employees. I'm willing to talk about the company that all gamers love to hate if anyone wants to know more about it. I need to keep my identity on the down-low because I'm job hunting now and not trying to burn bridges. So I can't give specifics on the the projects I worked on, but can talk to a lot of the games, processes, culture, infamous game copying, etc.
Fill your boots.
Evernote's three new security features >> Evernote blog
The security and privacy of your data are our top priority at Evernote. Today, we're happy to announce the availability of three new security features:
Two-Step Verification
Access History
Authorized Applications
Which big services now don't have two-step authentication?
Making Google's CalDAV and CardDAV APIs available for everyone >> Google Developers Blog
Piotr Stanczyk, Tech Lead:
In March we announced that CalDAV, an open standard for accessing calendar data across the web, would become a partner-only API because it appeared that almost all the API usage was driven by a few large developers. Since that announcement, we received many requests for access to CalDAV, giving us a better understanding of developers' use cases and causing us to revisit that decision. In response to those requests, we are keeping the CalDAV API public. And in the spirit of openness, today we're also making CardDAV - an open standard for accessing contact information across the web - available to everyone for the first time.
Can we have a Google Reader reprieve too?
Prenda seeded its own porn files via BitTorrent, new affidavit argues >> Ars Technica
Remember the California judge who blasted a group of plaintiffs for claiming defendants had been downloading porn on the flimsy evidence of an IP address? They seem to be active again. We start with a defender..
Graham Syfert is a local Florida lawyer who has been defending people caught up in Prenda purported copyright suits. Last we heard from the defense attorney, he appeared to have settled some cases with the porn trolling outfit. Nearly two weeks ago, Syfert told Ars that he was still involved in two more Florida Prenda-related cases: Sunlust Pictures v. Nguyen, and First Time Videos v. Oppold.
The latter case was initially filed back in July 2012 against a Florida man named Paul Oppold. Oppold was accused of downloading an unauthorized copy of a First Time Videos (FTV) pornographic film which was being represented by Prenda.
Prenda Law is apparently the subject of a US Attorney's investigation.
Students' attitudes to Google products >> The Beans Group
The tech press may be intrigued with Glass, Google's new wearable device, but does it excite a youth generation for whom technology plays a fundamental daily role? Over half of UK students (55%) would like to try Glass and see what it can do. However 61% would be self-conscious doing so and 48% would worry that other people might think they are being recorded [Glass enables users to record real time conversations discreetly]. Those not wearing the device were concerned that Glass users would be recording them (66%) or not fully attentive (51%). Around one in ten would feel envious of Glass owners.
Plenty more insights into attitudes over voice control, Google Wallet, Google Music and the brand itself.
Proteus Digital Health: ingestible sensors and more
Our digital health feedback system is powered by you. It includes wearable and ingestible sensors that work together to detect ingestions and physiologic data. By capturing objective information and providing actionable insights, you can take control, communicate with caregivers and clinicians, and stay well.
Includes a sensor you swallow that will transmit a unique ID. And which "is designed to move through the body in the normal process of digestion." Um. (Thanks @HotSoup for the link.)
Dell XPS 11 combines the best of Lenovo's Yoga and Microsoft's Surface >> The Verge
The hinge on the XPS 11 allows the screen to flip nearly a full 360 degrees, turning the workaday laptop into a fun-filled tablet — very much in the same vein as Lenovo's Yoga machine. You can't detach the display, but the sub-15mm thickness with the keyboard included makes this a reasonable device to use in tablet mode even with the keypad still attached. Intelligently, Dell has designed the keyboard so that once the hinge passes 180 degrees, it becomes insensitive to input.
A non-detachable keyboard and a touch-sensitive screen where it functions as a tablet or a notebook? This is just like the tablets of 2001. Keyboard detachability is emerging as a key function - and this hasn't got it. (Thanks @technotrousers for the link.)
Japan's radiation disaster toll: none dead, none sick >> The Age
Heard much about Fukushima lately? You know, the disaster that spread deadly contamination across Japan and spelt the end for the nuclear industry.
You should have, because recent authoritative reports have reached a remarkable conclusion about a supposedly "deadly" disaster. No one died, nor is likely to die, according to the most comprehensive assessments since the Fukushima nuclear plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
That's from two independent international reports: radioactive material released from Fukushima's four damaged reactors, three of which melted down, has had negligible health impacts.
Nothing happens if a bus hits Facebook >> SFGate.com
Caleb Garling:
You may have heard of the morbid concept of a company's "bus number": the number of employees that, if they were suddenly to get taken out by a bus, would bring business to a halt due to the loss of their skills or knowledge.
In Silicon Valley tech companies, typically top engineers — who have an understanding of the product only recorded in their vast brains — and one or two executives make the list. I spent two years at a tech startup that had about 80 people, and the bus number was two, maybe three.
With the way tech is starting to enmesh itself in our lives, I've wondered if a sort of bus number existed. How many tech companies are there that, were they to magically evaporate, bring the average person's life to a significant halt? Which ones would really throw a monkey wrench in the daily fabric of technology? Not behind-the-scene all-stars like NVIDIA, IBM and Intel, but the ones that people associate with their day. Naturally any loss would be filled in by competitors eventually, but there are a few companies whose disappearance would change the game for a significant period of time. (And redefine "first world problems.")
Take note too of his "note for commenters". Golden.
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