Why we are suing Apple for better HTML5 support in iOS
Nexedi is willing to help improving HTML5 support in the iOS platform. To achieve this we are launching a lawsuit against Apple so that developers of Web browsers with better HTML5 support than Apple's Webkit can publish their applications on Apple Appstore.
Simple questions to help reduce AI hype
AI is a young field full of amazing potential. This mystery and lack of understanding allows for hype to grow unchecked.
Microsoft, I Forgive You
Microsoft is different now. The evil masterminds are all retired. No more Ballmer jumping around screaming for developers, developers, developers. No more Gates plotting monopoly schemes for world …
How Paul Graham Gets It Wrong in “Economic Inequality”
Paul Graham (PG) is one of my favorite writers. His Essays are just about all well worth the time to read (and sometimes re-read). It’s not…
You can’t fix diversity in tech without fixing the technical interview
Hiring is broken. A brief history of technical interviewing, look at where things standa today, and what can be done.
Jacob Appelbaum Leaves the Tor Project
Transitions: Long time digital advocate, security researcher, and developer Jacob Appelbaum...
I stopped contributing to stackoverflow, but it's not declining
“The decline of Stackoverflow” is now trending on reddit, and I started this post as a comment in the thread, but it got too long. I’m in the 0.01% (whichContinue reading
Apple's amusingly round reuse figures
If you take a look at Apple's Environment page you might well be impressed by the amount of reuse Apple is getting by taking back devices....
The collective insanity of the publishing industry
Unless you're a writer, I imagine you haven't been paying quite as close attention to the publishing industry and all its weirdness as I have, and that's a shame, because it's been really entertaining. Actually, entertaining isn't the right word. It's been insane, but the kind of insane that's unreasonably fun to…
Why Do Nigerian Scammers Say They Are from Nigeria? (2012)
Explore research at Microsoft, a site featuring the impact of research along with publications, products, downloads, and research careers.
A New Threat Actor Targets UAE Dissidents
This report describes a campaign of targeted spyware attacks carried out by a sophisticated operator, which we call Stealth Falcon. The attacks have been conducted from 2012 until the present, against Emirati journalists, activists, and dissidents.
Email Isn’t the Thing We’re Bad At
You and me, we’re bad at a lot of things. But email isn’t one of those things, no matter how much it seems like it.
How to run for Florida Office
Hey All, This year I ran for Florida House of Representatives District 49 (Orlando). I lost, but I got 31% of the vote and I only spent $3000. My opponent got 69% of the vote and spent $100,000. I've been asked about this on Reddit, so I'm going to make a detailed post about how
Employment, construction, and the cost of San Francisco apartments
Everyone agrees that housing in San Francisco is expensive, and that the high costs are hurting the city. But there is a lot of disagreement...
Why Online Voting Is a Danger to Democracy
A Stanford computer scientist says Internet voting would be "a complete disaster."
The illegal city of Somerville
Zoning is complicated. It’s complicated on its own, with even small towns having dozens of pages of regulations and acronyms and often-inscrutable diagrams; and it’s complicated as a policy issue, with economists and lawyers and researchers bandying about regression lines and all sorts of claims about the micro and…
Grading Trudeau on quantum computing
Update (4/19): Inspired by Trudeau’s performance (which they clocked at 35 seconds), Maclean’s magazine asked seven quantum computing researchers—me, Krysta Svore, Aephraim Steinb…
Societies with Little Coercion Have Little Mental Illness (2013)
Throughout history, societies have existed with far less coercion than ours, and while these societies have had far less consumer goods and what modernity calls “efficiency,” they also have had far…
Amateur Radio Sleuthing Pins Down Source of Strange RF Interference
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Encryption is a necessity
Recent news around Apple’s resistance to the US government’s demand to decrypt the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters has brought encryption
The Increasing Problem with the Misinformed
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The Trouble with the TPP, Day 5: Rights Holders “Shall” vs. Users “May”
The Trouble with the TPP series concludes the first week with a look at how the TPP treats the interests of rights holders and users completely differently (prior posts include Day 1: US Blocks Balancing Provisions, Day 2: Locking in Digital Locks, Day 3: Copyright Term Extension, Day 4: Copyright Notice and Takedown…
The Suicide of Venezuela
I never expected to witness the slow suicide of a country, a civilization. I suppose nobody does. Let me tell you, there’s nothing epic about it. We who have the privilege of travel often look down…
Facial Recognition’s Threat to Privacy Is Worse Than Anyone Thought
Before all of this ever went down In another place, another town You were just a face in the crowd You were just a face in the crowd Out in the street walking around A face in the crowd -Tom Petty If we don’t speak up now, the days when we can walk around with our heads held high without fear of...