Nine of world’s biggest banks join to form blockchain partnership

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Rutter said the initial focus would be to agree on an underlying architecture, but it had not yet been decided whether that would be underpinned by bitcoin’s blockchain or another one, such as one being built by Ethereum, which offers more features than the original bitcoin technology.

Once that had been agreed on, Rutter said, the first use of the technology might be the issuance of commercial paper on the blockchain.

Source: Nine of world’s biggest banks join to form blockchain partnership | Reuters

Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to your machine ‘just in case’

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Microsoft told us: “For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade.

Source: Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to your machine ‘just in case’

From: The Appeal of Free: 75 Million Users Download Windows 10 in First Month

Free Windows is proving to be a very attractive price indeed. Seventy-five million users have downloaded Windows 10 to their personal computers and tablets in the first month of its release, Microsoft announced on Wednesday.

HTTP is obsolete. It’s time for the distributed, permanent web

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IPFS is still in the alpha stages of development, so we’re calling this an experiment for now. It hasn’t replaced our existing site storage (yet). Like with any complex new technology, there’s a lot of improvements to make. But IPFS isn’t vaporware, it works right now. You can try it out on your own computer, and already can use it to help us serve and persist Neocities sites.

Source: HTTP is obsolete. It’s time for the distributed, permanent web

Patent Law Shouldn’t Block the Sale of Used Tech Products

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This case raises important questions about the reach of American patent law and how much control a manufacturer can exert after its products have been lawfully sold. Taken to their logical conclusion, Lexmark’s arguments would mean that producers could use patent law to dictate how things like computers, printers and other patented goods are used, changed or resold and place restrictions on international trade.

Source: Patent Law Shouldn’t Block the Sale of Used Tech Products

To encourage innovation, the government gives inventors patents on their creations for a limited time. But patents should not give the manufacturer indefinite control over the product after it has been sold.

Super Mario Maker Exposes More YouTube Copyright Stupidity

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Playboy, obviously, does not own Mario. It did not create Mario Maker. It did not build the level on display in my video. And yet my video was still flagged. What gives?

Source: Super Mario Maker Exposes More YouTube Copyright Stupidity

This, he reasoned, must be the source of the copyright claim. Because automatic Mario Maker levels play out the exact same way for everyone that experiences them, that segment of footage was identical for both of us—down to the very last frame. YouTube’s automated system seems to have flagged it for that reason, even though my footage was uploaded first. Pretty silly!

Economics Has a Math Problem

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Their overview stated that machine learning techniques emphasized causality less than traditional economic statistical techniques, or what’s usually known as econometrics. In other words, machine learning is more about forecasting than about understanding the effects of policy.

That would make the techniques less interesting to many economists, who are usually more concerned about giving policy recommendations than in making forecasts.

Source: Economics Has a Math Problem – Bloomberg View

Is the IoT a Tech Bubble for Cities

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But, with more cities joining the Smart City revolution and investing in sensors and other IoT devices, the risk of a new tech bubble is rising. The same technology giants that helped Barcelona become a smart city are now pushing more pilots of newer technologies with little regard for solutions that already work and can be shared without incurring additional expenses.

Let’s consider a few of the most worrisome issues related to IoT today:

Source: Is the IoT a Tech Bubble for Cities

In the long run, we are being faced with a bunch of independent devices that can’t be managed by a single platform or protocol. Manufacturers are now being required to develop different versions for different standards, effectively increasing manufacturing and engineering costs, and reducing their market potential.

Interfaces last longer than code

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How do you recognize a good API? It’s tough, but one thing is sure, a good interface allows easy swapping of components. If it doesn’t allow easy swapping of components, it’s not a good interface.

Source: 9 – systemD: Interfaces last longer than code – Slashdot

Throughout systemd there is a lack of understanding of proper interfaces. Making the GUI depend on a particular init system is a particularly obvious example of poor design, but the code was written from a ‘code first’ perspective rather than an ‘interface first’ perspective.