Hello All
This week we look at several recurrent themes: privacy, UX, Cryptocurrencies, WordPress, and the travel industry. Many of these themes we have all discussed before, but as the patterns emerge in technology, do people’s behaviors change?
Lastly we look at the opulence of private jets, the NYC Subway system, SPAM messages, and the Beatles’ legacy within Rishikesh.
Have a great weekend.
M
1. Edward Snowden Made An App To Protect Your Laptop
“Haven, announced today, is an app that does just that. Installed on a cheap burner Android device, Haven sends notifications to your personal, main phone in the event that your laptop has been tampered with. If you leave your laptop at home or at an office or in a hotel room, you can place your Haven phone on top of the laptop, and when Haven detects motion, light, or movement — essentially, anything that might be someone messing with your stuff — it logs what happened. It takes photos, records sound, even takes down changes in light or acceleration, and then sends notifications to your main phone. None of this logging is stored in the cloud, and the notifications you receive on your main phone are end-to-end encrypted over Signal.”
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/23/16812834/edward-snowden-haven-guardian-project-laptop-phone
2. How A 22-Year-Old Discovered The Worst Chip Flaws In History
“Horn wasn’t looking to discover a major vulnerability in the world’s computer chips when, in late April, he began reading Intel Corp. processor manuals that are thousands of pages long. He said he simply wanted to make sure the computer hardware could handle a particularly intensive bit of number-crunching code he’d created.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-17/how-a-22-year-old-discovered-the-worst-chip-flaws-in-history
3. Hawaii Missile Alert Screen Demonstrates Why UX Design Matters. (From Dawn)
“This is the screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday. The operator clicked the PACOM (CDW) State Only link. The drill link is the one that was supposed to be clicked. #Hawaii”
https://twitter.com/CivilBeat/status/953127542050795520
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/
4. IPFS Is The Distributed Web (From Nate)
“IPFS aims to replace HTTP and build a better web for all of us.”
https://ipfs.io
5. This Is What Happens When You Reply To Spam Email
“Suspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, weeks-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email
6. India Clings To Cash, Even As Tech Firms Push Digital Money
“Yet few of these people actually use Paytm at the store, which straddles two dusty streets in this sleepy north Indian city in which tractors jostle with cows for space on the narrow roads… The scene in Mr. Singh’s shop underscores a persistent reality of India’s economy: People prefer cash for most routine transactions, despite intensive efforts by the government and global technology companies to lure them onto digital platforms.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/technology/india-digital-money.html
7. The Secret Lives Of Students Who Mine Cryptocurrency In Their Dorm Rooms
“In November 2016, he stumbled on NiceHash, an online marketplace for individuals to mine cryptocurrency for willing buyers. His desktop computer, boosted with a graphics card, was enough to get started. Thinking he might make some money, Mark, who asked not to use his last name, downloaded the platform’s mining software and began mining for random buyers in exchange for payments in bitcoin. Within a few weeks, he had earned back the $120 cost of his graphics card, as well as enough to buy another for $200.”
https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-the-secret-lives-of-students-who-mine-c/f-d86c5274cc%2Fqz.com
8. Rise Of Bitcoin Competitor Ripple Creates Wealth To Rival Zuckerberg
“But, Mr. Selkis added, that doesn’t mean Ripple’s price won’t keep ascending. Why? “Because this is crypto, and everyone in the industry is now slinging crack crypto cocaine to retail addicts,” he wrote.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/technology/bitcoin-ripple.html
9. How To Move A Site From WordPress Multisite To Single Install
“Are you trying to split your WordPress multisite network into individual WordPress websites? Moving a single to its own domain is a challege that a lot of multisite admins come across. While running a multisite network has its own advantages, sometimes a single site may outgrow the network and need its own space. In this article, we will show you how to move a website from WordPress multisite network to its own single install of WordPress.”
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-a-site-from-wordpress-multisite-to-single-install/
10. WP Migrate DB Pro
“Migration can be a beautiful thing, even for a WordPress database”
https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/
11. Selling Airborne Opulence to the Upper Upper Upper Class
“For a private-jet broker, success is all about knowing who’s who in the world’s 0.0001 percent.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/magazine/selling-airborne-opulence-to-the-upper-upper-upper-class.html
12. The Case For The Subway
“It built the city. Now, no matter the cost — at least $100 billion — the city must rebuild it to survive.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/magazine/subway-new-york-city-public-transportation-wealth-inequality.html
13. Rebuilding On The Beatles, An Ashram In India Hopes For Revival
“RISHIKESH, India — In 1968, the Beatles and a crew of hangers-on traded hip London threads for kurtas and wreaths of marigold, trudging through dense forest to an ashram in Rishikesh, India, where they spent weeks writing songs.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/world/asia/beatles-museum-india-ashram.html