Leaked Mozilla document shows Firefox OS tablet, TV stick, router, and even a keyboard computer

Found on Venture Beat on Thursday, 24 December 2015
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Leaked by Spanish blog Hipertextual, the document shows four Firefox OS devices: a tablet, a router, a smart TV stick, and a keyboard computer.

Like any tech company, Mozilla loves to experiment with new ideas. That said, the company isn’t confirming that these projects are currently in development, so don’t hold your breath. They may never see the light of day.

They basically tossed out Thunderbird and turned Firefox into a clone of Chrome. Seems Mozilla is looking for a new field to get back into the market; maybe they should have just listened to their users who are (or were before they switched) pretty sceptical of the development. Instead, they focused on what a few UI designers thought is a good idea and now their basis crumbles.

Woodland rejects solar farm

Found on News Herald on Monday, 14 December 2015
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She is a retired Northampton science teacher and is concerned that photosynthesis, which depends upon sunlight, would not happen and would keep the vegetation from growing.

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer.

He said the solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland.

There really is no limit to stupidity.

Mark Zuckerberg Philanthropy Pledge Sets New Giving Standard

Found on Bloomberg on Wednesday, 02 December 2015
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Facebook’s chief executive officer and his wife, Priscilla Chan, unveiled the plan in an open letter to their newborn daughter, Max (short for Maxima), in a Facebook post on Tuesday, promising to donate 99 percent of their stock in the social-networking company "during our lives."

The new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be a limited liability company controlled by Mark and Priscilla, not a charitable trust, meaning they will also make philanthropic investments and back political causes.

There’s also one more thing in common with the philanthropic endeavors of Buffett, Gates and Zuckerberg: they reduce their tax bills, as the contributions are tax-deductible.

A very noble decision, isn't it? Zucky shifts shares from a company he controls to another company he controls with an additional bonus you might want to call tax evasion; and by donating it "during their lives" they make sure that they won't run out of money anytime soon (if you could waste the approximately 450 million they keep). Not to forget, there is also the assumption that Facebook's stock value will stay the same or grow. A dangerous assumption on the Internet where you can kick the bucket any day, like former hyped sites like MySpace et al proved (and younger users are already moving on). Yes, the concept is good, but it's not like he suddenly turned into a saint.

What the New Star Trek Show Needs in Order to Triumph

Found on Wired on Saturday, 28 November 2015
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This month CBS announced plans to launch a new Star Trek TV series in 2017. Few details are known about the show—which will be produced by Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the last two Star Trek films—but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating.

Speculations are just speculations. We will see it when it goes on air.

Facebook offers all employees four months paid baby leave

Found on CNet News on Friday, 27 November 2015
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"This expanded benefit primarily affects new fathers and people in same-sex relationships outside the US," wrote Lori Matloff Goler, Facebook's vice president of human resources, in a post Friday. "We want to be there for our people at all stages of life, and in particular we strive to be a leading place to work for families."

As one of the reasons for updating its parental leave policy, Facebook cited Pew Research that says half of fathers are worried that they don't spend enough time with their children.

Funny that this change happens just a few days after Zucky takes a pause. It looks like before nobody really cared about that.

Reuters Issues a Worldwide Ban on RAW Photos

Found on PetaPixel on Thursday, 19 November 2015
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Reuters has implemented a new worldwide policy for freelance photographers that bans photos that were processed from RAW files. Photographers must now only send photos that were originally saved to their cameras as JPEGs.

RAW photos do allow for a greater degree of post-processing flexibility, so based on the new policy, it appears that Reuters found that photos processed from RAWs are more likely to distort the truth.

I wasn't aware that JPEGs less likely "distort the truth". Guess all those photoshopped images floating around online are by far closer to the reality than people originally assumed.

Anne Frank’s Diary Gains ‘Co-Author’ in Copyright Move

Found on New York Times on Monday, 16 November 2015
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The Swiss foundation that holds the copyright to “The Diary of Anne Frank” is alerting publishers that her father is not only the editor but also legally the co-author of the celebrated book.

The move has a practical effect: It extends the copyright from Jan. 1, when it is set to expire in most of Europe, to the end of 2050.

The foundation insists that by issuing an early warning of its intent to extend the copyright, it is acting ethically to prevent publishers from pursuing a course that might be unproductive and costly.

It's all about the money. Always and everywhere. Just let the copyright expire with the death of the original author; others don't have to profit from works they did not even create.

10,000 wax cylinders digitized and free to download

Found on Boing Boing on Tuesday, 10 November 2015
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The University of California at Santa Barbara library has undertaken an heroic digitization effort for its world-class archive of 19th and early 20th century wax cylinder recordings, and has placed over 10,000 songs online for anyone to download, stream and re-use.

There are 2,000 more cylinders to come, and you can adopt a cylinder for a tax-deductible $60, which covers the rehousing, cataloging and digitizing of the cylinder.

Wait until the music industry reads about that. Music, available for free download sure has to violate their copyrights and just calls for DMCA notices before they sue the University for billions of damages.

Russia plane crash: '11,000 tourists back' from Egypt

Found on BBC News on Sunday, 08 November 2015
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Moscow announced on Friday that it was suspending all flights to Egypt after a Russian plane crashed in Sinai - having initially dismissed suspicions that a bomb brought down the jet.

An Egyptian member of the international team investigating the crash has told Reuters that they are "90% sure" that a sound heard in the last moments of the recording of the plane's cockpit voice recorder was an explosion caused by a bomb.

Militants in the Sinai Peninsula affiliated to Islamic State have claimed that they brought down the airliner, but they have not said how.

Messing with Russia is amongst the worst ideas one can have. Unlike most other leaders, Putin won't hold back if threatened. Maybe after all those years of civil and religious war, it will be Russia who takes down IS because the Kreml won't resort to diplomacy.

Candy Crush maker King bought by Activision Blizzard

Found on BBC News on Tuesday, 03 November 2015
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Candy Crush describes itself as the "sweetest game around" - but even so there's no guarantee that the $5.9bn (£3.8bn) takeover of King.com won't leave both investors and players with a bitter taste.

Candy Crush Saga, which was first launched on Facebook and smartphones in 2012, caught the public imagination and still makes up about a third of the company's revenue.

Even though the company has produced more than 200 games, including the popular Bubble Witch and Farm Heroes, it has yet to repeat the success it found with Candy Crush Saga.

$5.9bn for that? That's what's wrong with this world.