NOW
do you believe that Russia is in serious trouble?
Apple
Halts Online Sales In Russia As The Ruble Collapses
…
Russia’s currency has dropped by more than 20% this week, even
after the country’s central bank raised interest rates to 17% in a
bid to stem the decline. Wednesday alone the rule is down 5%, to 71
rubles against the dollar. The currency is falling because of the
falling price of oil and Western sanctions over Russia’s military
actions in Crimea.
…
Apple had held back from raising its prices in Russia to offset the
drop, up until November 26, when it raised the price of the iPhone 6
and iPhone 6 Plus by 25%. Yet even after raising the price of the
iPhone 6 to 39,990 rubles, the value of the sale to Apple in dollar
terms had dropped from
$847 to $585.
(Related)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102275838?__source=google|editorspicks|&par=google&google_editors_picks=true
Markets
rule, 'Russia is on its knees': Altman
…
What Russia's currency crisis has exposed is how profoundly weak the
country has become, the investment bank's founder and executive
chairman said on "Squawk
Box." The commodity-centered economy now faces massive
financial flight, a lack of meaningful foreign investment and highly
leveraged corporations, Altman added.
"We
live in an era where the global capital markets are the super power
in the world, and when they move against you, as they've moved
against Russia as we've all seen in the ruble, there's nothing that
can stop that," Altman said. "The global capital markets
have spoken, and Russia is on its knees."
Strange
that the hackers keep communicating. Makes them easier to trace.
The
hackers who attacked Sony threatened terrorist attacks against the
United States on Tuesday, warning people who plan to go see "The
Interview" in theaters could face a "bitter fate."
The
hacking group, which goes by "Guardians of Peace,"
referenced the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as they warned people not to
go see the comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean
leader Kim Jong-un.
“Warning[.]
We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The
Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those
who seek fun in terror should be doomed to,” the hackers
proclaimed.
…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is aware of the threat and
analyzing its credibility, according to an official.
“At
this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active
plot against movie theaters within the United States.
(Related)
Apparently, Sony (or the actors) don't trust DHS to protect them?
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/227338-actors-cancel-promo-stints-as-sony-hack-fallout-grows
…
Multiple outlets reported on Tuesday that the movie studio has
pulled back the comedy duo’s planned appearances ahead of the
Christmas Day opening of their movie “The Interview.”
BuzzFeed
News reported that the comedy pair canceled
all of their public appearances ahead of the film’s opening.
Variety confirmed
the report, but added that the two are still planning to appear
at a special screening of the film in New York on Thursday.
…
The ongoing repercussions of the hack have been a disaster for the
studio and could cost Sony
well more than $100 million when all is said and done. [Sony's
not talking, so this is likely a guess. Bob]
So a
“Best Practice” might be to hold back a “significant”
improvement in case you need to cover up a significant change that
impacts the competition?
A jury took about three hours to reject an antitrust lawsuit — 10
years in the making — that accused Apple
of using a software update to secure a monopoly over the digital
music market.
The
eight-member jury in federal court here unanimously determined that
Apple
had, in fact, used an update of the iTunes software that it issued
eight years ago to deliver genuine improvements for older iPods.
What's
going on here? Because your photos don't rise to the level of
quality Facebook expects? Because you are frightening off other
users?
Facebook
Automatically Enhances Photos
Facebook
thinks it knows better than you… because you’re wholly incapable
of editing
your own photos. Hence, from now on, Facebook
will automatically enhance any photos you upload to the social
networking site from your smartphone.
Previously,
you were presented with your unedited photo and given the option to
add a filter or adjust its quality in another way. Now, each photo
will be auto-enhanced, with a simple slider allowing you to adjust
the level of enhancement.
For
my students.
How
To Get A Chromecast For Free
U.S.
retailer Best Buy is running a deal at the moment which effectively
makes
the Google Chromecast free to buy. The Chromecast is priced at
$30, Google is giving $20 of Google Play credit to buyers, and Best
Buy are giving away an extra $20 of Google Play credit on top of
that.
For
those who suck at maths, that’s a
Chromecast and $40 of credits for an outlay of just $30. Which
means Google is now paying you to take the brilliant
little media streaming stick off its hands. The one caveat being
you need to register
your device and redeem the offers by December 21. What a
hardship.
For
my fellow academics.
Achieving
human and machine accessibility of cited data in scholarly
publications
Achieving
human and machine accessibility of cited data in scholarly
publications. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e697v2
http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.697v2
“This
brief article provides operational guidance on implementing scholarly
data citation and data deposition, in conformance with the Joint
Declaration of Data Citation Principles (JDDCP,
http://force11.org/datacitation)
to help achieve widespread, uniform human and machine accessibility
of deposited data. The JDDCP is the outcome of a cross-domain effort
to establish core principles around cited data in scholarly
publications. It deals with important issues in identification,
deposition, description, accessibility, persistence, and evidential
status of cited data. Eighty-five scholarly, governmental, and
funding institutions have now endorsed the JDDCP. The purpose of
this article is to provide the necessary guidance for JDDCP-endorsing
organizations to implement these principles and to achieve their
widespread adoption.”
Part
of my ongoing research into beer technology! [Translation: Can you
send me a few cases so I can taste that? Bob]
The
Magic of Beer and Magnets
…
What they found was that when the brew passed through the magnetic
field, the hops broke apart and spread throughout the beverage,
effectively increasing their surface area. With more surface area,
the tiny antifoaming particles bound with more hydrophobins than
whole hops could, the team reported in a paper set to appear in the
January edition of the Journal
of Food Engineering.
Interesting
video? My computer thinks so.
Jeremy
Howard: The wonderful and terrifying implications of computers that
can learn
What
happens when we teach a computer how to learn? Technologist Jeremy
Howard shares some surprising new developments in the fast-moving
field of deep learning, a technique that can give computers the
ability to learn Chinese, or to recognize objects in photos, or to
help think through a medical diagnosis. (One deep learning tool,
after watching hours of YouTube, taught itself the concept of
“cats.”) Get caught up on a field that will change the way the
computers around you behave … sooner than you probably think.
Most
of my classes include at least a mention of the “strategic
implications of X” Dilbert explains how valuable that is...
No comments:
Post a Comment