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Showing posts from February, 2018

Google’s Flutter SDK for Android and iOS apps now available in beta [Video] | 9to5Google

Google’s Flutter SDK for Android and iOS apps now available in beta [Video] | 9to5Google : Flutter is what makes Google’s not-so-secret Fuchsia operating system possible, and some developers have already used its alpha release to create apps that topped charts both on Android and iOS. Apps and interfaces made with Flutter are built using the same codebase, making it extremely easy for developers to create their apps for both platforms.
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T-Mobile takes swing at ‘dumb and dumber’ competition, details 5G rollout plans for 30 cities this year | 9to5Mac

T-Mobile takes swing at ‘dumb and dumber’ competition, details 5G rollout plans for 30 cities this year | 9to5Mac : customers. T-Mobile has massively bigger plans for a truly transformative 5G experience on your smartphone nationwide. We’re playing the long game … the only game that matters.”
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The Sun’s Facebook chatbot drove nearly half users back to its site - Digiday

The Sun’s Facebook chatbot drove nearly half users back to its site - Digiday : The bot sent a daily round-up of five of the most important stories at around 5 p.m. to catch the rush hour. Readers could then subscribe to receive updates from their club, of which 95 percent of people did. During the�four-week window, The Sun sent 263 notifications about specific clubs, mostly relating to the big three — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United — which linked through to the story on the site and were published based on the news cycle. Successful pieces included reporting�on Lucas Perez signing a four-year deal with Arsenal�and this one on Marcelo Brozovic rejecting Chelsea’s bid in favor for Inter Milan. The number of notifications The Sun sent out increased in frequency as the transfer deadline drew closer.
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Les principaux arguments – OUI � la suppression des redevances Billag.

Les principaux arguments – OUI � la suppression des redevances Billag. : Chaque personne connaît ses besoins et préférences mieux qu’autrui et sait, de fait, comment dépenser l’argent qu’elle a durement gagné. En forçant tout ménage à payer plus de 450.-�CHF�chaque année pour une redevance radio et télévision, on porte atteinte à son droit à l’autodétermination. Ce qui entraîne une détérioration de sa qualité de vie. La suppression des redevances radio et télévision entrainerait une plus grande liberté de choix et une amélioration de la qualité de vie des citoyens. Les privilèges accordés par l’Etat à la�SSR�font d’elle une entreprise quasi-monopolistique qui possède de bien meilleures armes que la concurrence. Ce qui fausse le marché. Cette suprématie freine la capacité d’innovation des acteurs privés qui bénéficient au mieux d’une infime part de la redevance. La suppression de la redevance Billag créerait un marché avec une concurrence plus libre, plus juste, au service du client. D...
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Swiss journalists launch crowdfunded, ad-free online mag - The Standard

Swiss journalists launch crowdfunded, ad-free online mag - The Standard : Over 15,700 people paid at least 240 francs for an annual subscription within weeks of the project’s announcement in April. Private investors contributed another 3.5 million francs. Switzerland has a diverse media landscape, but several publications have closed or downsized in recent years amid dwindling sales and pressure from free online platforms.
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Des millions de la corruption v�n�zu�lienne reposent en Suisse - Le Temps

Des millions de la corruption v�n�zu�lienne reposent en Suisse - Le Temps : D’apr�s le �Tages-Anzeiger�, Credit Suisse abriterait des comptes d’ex-hauts responsables du pays latino-am�ricain inculp�s pour corruption par le D�partement am�ricain de la justice. La Finma enqu�te sur le volet suisse d’un scandale �valu� � un milliard de dollars
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Mac Rumors: Apple Mac iOS Rumors and News You Care About

Mac Rumors: Apple Mac iOS Rumors and News You Care About : Attac is a voluntary association that has been accusing Apple of corporate tax evasion in Europe, in line with the European Commission ordering Ireland to recover around 13 billion euros in back taxes from the iPhone maker in 2016. Apple and Ireland have denied the accusations and are appealing the decision.
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A Celebrity Philosopher Explains the Populist Insurgency | The New Yorker

A Celebrity Philosopher Explains the Populist Insurgency | The New Yorker : On the second night of the symposium, Sloterdijk and his partner, the journalist Beatrice Schmidt, invited some friends to their apartment, on a stately street next door to a Buddhist meditation center. A picture by Anselm Kiefer of a bomber plane hung in the hallway to the kitchen. In the building’s untamed back garden, Sloterdijk began pouring bottles of white Rh�ne wine for his guests. There were whispers about the wonders of his cellar. On a small wooden porch, Sloterdijk spoke to two young women about his recent travails while getting his driver’s license renewed. “It’s a complete horror,” he said. “It takes nine hours in Germany. Only your most maniacally loyal friends are willing to go with you.” When Sloterdijk goes into one of his conversational riffs, there is a feeling of liftoff. A rhythmic nasal hum develops momentum and eventually breaks into more ethereal climes, creating the sense that you have ...
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Leaked Video Shows Trump BURNING Evidence Of What He Did To Vulnerable OLD Lady

Leaked Video Shows Trump BURNING Evidence Of What He Did To Vulnerable OLD Lady : Thanks to the efforts from Trump, the family farm was saved. Annabel Hill died in 2011 at the age of 91, but the farm remains in family hands with Leonard Dozier Hill IV at the helm. Sharp lives in Columbia County and manages a surgery center, and when asked, she said she would proudly campaign with The Donald.
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Eurosport’s The Cube could be the biggest innovation of this Winter Olympics – Digital Sport

Eurosport’s The Cube could be the biggest innovation of this Winter Olympics – Digital Sport : After becoming the first British athlete ever to win back-to-back Winter Olympic titles, Yarnold spoke to former triple jump Summer Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards in Eurosport’s The Cube – a novel approach to broadcasting which brings the presenter and guest into an immersive studio where the background can change, allowing for videos to be presented on the walls and floor instead of relying on a single TV screen or indeed a green screen which can only be seen by the TV viewers. When an event like an Olympic Games comes around, innovation often takes over. Anything to make athletes go faster or further, or to make the social media experience better for fans is rolled out for the big event. And for broadcasters this is no different: every year seems to bring some new technological element into the mix. This year, some Virtual Reality has joined live streaming in the repertoire of the bro...
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Olympics Ratings: Some Rights Holders Do Their Own Measurement – Variety

Olympics Ratings: Some Rights Holders Do Their Own Measurement – Variety : Senior executives at Discovery express frustration that the ratings agencies cannot cope with the breadth of its multiplatform offering or present a comprehensive standard measurement accepted by advertisers across the industry. Like NBC, Discovery’s Eurosport is developing its own system. “We’re redefining television as not just the TV screen but what we’re going to call Total Video, and that will be consumption and engagement across all platforms,” says JB Perrette, president of Discovery Networks Int’l. “We’ll be rolling out a new metric, which we think is more applicable to the 2018 reality of how people are consuming content.”
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Brand perception boost drives McDonald’s to best sales figures in six years

Brand perception boost drives McDonald’s to best sales figures in six years : McDonald’s says improvements in consumer perceptions of the�brand have helped it post its best sales figures in six years. Sales were up 5.5% year on year in the fourth quarter, marking its 10th consecutive quarter of growth. And full-year sales were up 0.3% – the company’s best performance in six years. Speaking on an investor call, CEO Steve Easterbrook said customer satisfaction scores were up across the board as it saw improvements in service, taste and quality. He added that six of its top eight markets saw market share growth with the UK “leading the way”, alongside Canada and Japan.
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English Premier League: Sky, BT and the Amazon question – Digital TV Europe

English Premier League: Sky, BT and the Amazon question – Digital TV Europe : UK analyst outfits Ampere and IHS also squared up from opposing ends of the pitch ahead of the results. Ampere, taking the view that Amazon would likely bid, predicted that the overall value of the rights would top �10 billion for the first time, with both BT and Sky paying more and the value of international rights also increasing dramatically. Ampere predicted that Sky and BT would “remain strong and viable bidders” and would by unlikely to pull back on spend, and that Amazon could be a bidder both for international and domestic rights. IHS on the other hand took the view that bidding for domestic rights would be an “unnecessary extravagance” for Amazon and that it was unlikely that either Sky or BT will have to defend an aggressive bid from their rival after the two companies agreed to distribute one another’s channels on their platforms from 2019. So 1-0 to IHS? The analyst group was quick to note...
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Nearly 100 scientists spent 2 months on Google Docs to redefine the p-value. Here’s what they came up with | Science | AAAS

Nearly 100 scientists spent 2 months on Google Docs to redefine the p-value. Here’s what they came up with | Science | AAAS : Lakens and others will soon publish their own paper to propose an alternative; it was accepted on Monday by Nature Human Behaviour, which published the original paper proposing a lower threshold in September 2017. The content won’t come as a big surprise—a preprint has been up on PsyArXiv for 4 months—but the paper is unique for the way it came about: from 100 scientists around the world, from big names to Ph.D. students, and even a few nonacademics writing and editing in a Google document for 2 months.�
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What many startup founders are getting wrong – Juan Dulanto – Medium

What many startup founders are getting wrong – Juan Dulanto – Medium : Why the term �fully loaded�? Because a lot of unit economics analyses that I come across only include some of the costs associated with each sale, which means that founders are not operating their companies with all of the correct data necessary to understand what is really going on. Should you include customer support? What about marketing? Payment processing? What to include and what to exclude is not an easy exercise, but it is one that will help you gain a better understanding of how your business actually works, and let you paint a more accurate picture of the business’ economics.
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How Apple is paving the way to a ‘cloud dictatorship’ in China | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

How Apple is paving the way to a ‘cloud dictatorship’ in China | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP : Over the next few weeks, iCloud users in China will receive a notification from Apple, seeking their endorsement of the new service terms. These “iCloud (operated by GCBD) terms and conditions” have a newly added paragraph, which reads: “If you understand and agree, Apple and GCBD have the right to access your data stored on its servers. This includes permission sharing, exchange, and disclosure of all user data (including content) according to the application of the law.” In other words, once the agreement is signed, GCBD — a company solely owned by the state — would get a key that can access all iCloud user data in China, legally.
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Why the ‘5 Second Rule’ Will Destroy Your Procrastination, According to Science

Why the ‘5 Second Rule’ Will Destroy Your Procrastination, According to Science : According to the book “The 5 Second Rule” by best-selling author and CNN reporter Mel Robbins, there is a simple rule that can help you stop procrastination in its tracks. The rule is simple: The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal you must act on in it immediately (or within five seconds) — otherwise your brain will start leaning towards procrastination.
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The Inside Story on How “The Wire” Was Cast: An Oral History

The Inside Story on How “The Wire” Was Cast: An Oral History : Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon): I know that for Bunk and for Wendell, he wanted to and needed to [meet him]. I think that he and Bunk, the real Bunk, wound up hanging out quite a bit. I’m glad that I didn’t, because I was able to fabricate something that was close to [Lester], that brought my own humanity to the character and my own investigations into what local government was about.
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Forbes Fintech 50 2018: The Future Of Lending

Forbes Fintech 50 2018: The Future Of Lending : Makes instant three, six and 12 month loans for purchases from 1,500 online merchants. A handful of sellers subsidize 0% rates, but most loans carry annual interest rates of 10% to 30%. Affirm says its machine learning technology allows it to lend to consumers who might not qualify for credit cards and that repayment helps them build credit histories.
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Dua Lipa - Wikipedia

Dua Lipa - Wikipedia : In the summer of 2016, Lipa created the Sunny Hill Foundation with her father to donate to the citizens of Kosovo, where her parents are originally from.[42]
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Populism as Identity Politics: Perceived In-Group Disadvantage, Collective Narcissism, and Support for Populism - Marta Marchlewska, Aleksandra Cichocka, Orestis Panayiotou, Kevin Castellanos, Jude Batayneh, 2017

Populism as Identity Politics: Perceived In-Group Disadvantage, Collective Narcissism, and Support for Populism - Marta Marchlewska, Aleksandra Cichocka, Orestis Panayiotou, Kevin Castellanos, Jude Batayneh, 2017 : Populists combine anti-elitism with a conviction that they hold a superior vision of what it means to be a true citizen of their nation. We expected support for populism to be associated with national collective narcissism—an unrealistic belief in the greatness of the national group, which should increase in response to perceived in-group disadvantage. In Study 1 (Polish participants; n = 1,007), national collective narcissism predicted support for the populist Law and Justice party. In the experimental Study 2 (British participants; n = 497), perceived long-term in-group disadvantage led to greater support for Brexit and this relationship was accounted for by national collective narcissism. In Study 3 (American participants; n = 403), group relative deprivation predicted su...
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Great Moon Hoax - Wikipedia

Great Moon Hoax - Wikipedia : According to legend, The Sun's circulation increased dramatically because of the hoax and remained permanently greater than before, thereby establishing The Sun as a successful paper. However, the degree to which the hoax increased the paper's circulation has certainly been exaggerated in popular accounts of the event. It was not discovered to be a hoax for several weeks after its publication and, even then, the newspaper did not issue a retraction.[7] Herschel was initially amused by the hoax, noting that his own real observations could never be as exciting. He became annoyed later when he had to answer questions from people who believed the hoax was serious. Edgar Allan Poe claimed the story was a plagiarism of his earlier work The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall. His editor at the time was Richard Adams Locke. He later published "The Balloon-Hoax" in the same newspaper.[8] Poe had published his own Moon hoax in late June 1...
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Ennemy

The Enemy brings you face-to-face with combatants from three conflict zones: with the Maras in Salvador, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Israel and Palestine. Their testimonies and confessions about their lives, experiences, and perspectives on war will allow you to better understand their motivations… and their humanity.
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Matt Taibbi's Not-So-Secret Russian Past | HuffPost

Matt Taibbi's Not-So-Secret Russian Past | HuffPost : Though Levitt’s Chicago Reader�article contained nothing I didn’t know, I will be forever grateful to her for introducing the word “asshole” into the Taibbi conversation, so that I don’t have to be the first. “Asshole” is not just a slur; in the hands of philosopher Aaron James, author of Assholes: A Theory (2012) and its timely follow-up Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump (2016), it is a term of art. According to James, an asshole: �(1) allows himself to enjoy special advantages and does so systematically; (2) does this out of an entrenched sense of entitlement; and (3) is immunized by his sense of entitlement against the complaints of other people. James probably never read the eXile, but he nonetheless describes the persona cultivated by both Ames and Taibbi during their eXile�days. �Like the clueless expats they loathed, the editors treated Moscow and its residents as their playground.
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With Waymo Settlement, Uber C.E.O. Makes His Mark - The New York Times

With Waymo Settlement, Uber C.E.O. Makes His Mark - The New York Times : The actions helped lead to a compromise. On Friday, four days after the trial began and revealed some embarrassing testimony, Uber and Waymo announced they had settled the trade secrets dispute. Under the agreement, Waymo dropped the suit and will receive 0.34 percent of stock in Uber. Uber also said that it could have handled some past actions around driverless car tech differently. The settlement signified something else, too: Uber is Mr. Khosrowshahi’s company now. Since stepping inside Uber’s doors last fall, the 48-year-old has made it clear he wants to put the company’s checkered past behind it as fast as possible. With the Waymo deal, he showed the many tactics that he plans to use to accomplish that — expressions of regret, accompanied by conciliation, compromise and efficiency. Call him the diplomat in chief. Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE Uber and Waymo Settle Trade Secrets Suit...
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Apple Is Blocking an App That Detects Net Neutrality Violations From the App Store - Motherboard

Apple Is Blocking an App That Detects Net Neutrality Violations From the App Store - Motherboard : “Differentiation means in this case throttling by Verizon,” Choffnes told me. This would, in theory, be the sort of thing people would want to know—with this knowledge, they could choose to switch to another carrier, or could lodge a complaint against with the Federal Trade Commission.
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Stock Market: Why Tony James's Bearish Call Makes Sense | Fortune

Stock Market: Why Tony James's Bearish Call Makes Sense | Fortune : James cautioned that rates may soon jump. “The economy has been picking up for a while,” he said. “If you’re worried about interest rates and inflation, the stimulus [from the new tax cuts] could be the thing that tips us over to a rate spike.” The yield on the 10-year Treasury has already surged to 2.8%, a four-year high. James is essentially saying that rising real rates will undermine today’s giant valuations. He might have added that when markets turn volatile–and they just did–investors are going to demand a much higher ERP to own stocks.
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Serie A: TV rights awarded to the Spanish intermediary Mediapro for €1.05bn per year for 2018-2021

Serie A: TV rights awarded to the Spanish intermediary Mediapro for €1.05bn per year for 2018-2021 Reg, Media - Paris - Monday, February 5 2018 - News #112261  The  Lega Serie A  has awarded the domestic audiovisual rights of the Serie A for the 2018-2021 period to an independent intermediary, the Spanish audiovisual group  Mediapro , for €1,050,001,000 per year, announced the Italian League on 05/02/2018. "With this price being higher than the minimum amount required by the tender (€1,000 above the €1.05bn floor price), the  Lega Serie A  will now proceed to the Italian Competition and Market Authority (which has 45 days to respond), in order to officially grant the rights in question," said the Italian League.  The Lega Serie A had not awarded any of the five lots proposed on 06/01/2018 (see details below), for the domestic audiovisual rights...
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The New Little Ice Age Has Started - Evidence-Based Climate Science (Second Edition) - Chapter 17

The New Little Ice Age Has Started - Evidence-Based Climate Science (Second Edition) - Chapter 17 : Since 1990, the Sun has been in the declining phase of the quasi-bicentennial variation in total solar irradiance (TSI). The decrease in the portion of TSI absorbed by the Earth since 1990 has remained uncompensated by the Earth's long-wave radiation into space at the previous high level because of the thermal inertia of the world's oceans. As a result, the Earth has, and will continue to have, a negative average annual energy balance and a long-term adverse thermal condition. The quasi-centennial epoch of the new Little Ice Age has started at the end 2015 after the maximum phase of solar cycle 24. The start of a solar grand minimum is anticipated in solar cycle 27���1 in 2043���11 and the beginning of phase of deep cooling in the new Little Ice Age in 2060���11. The gradual weakening of the Gulf Stream leads to stronger cooling in the zone of its action in western Europe and the...
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