a Quinta 's weblog : un Blog di Stefano Quintarelli

Google si mette a fare l'operatore cellulare in USA (TheInformation.com)

Google is preparing to sell mobile phone plans directly to customers and manage their calls and mobile data over a cellular network, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. 

The new service is expected run on Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks, two people familiar with the product say. Google is expected to reach deals to buy wholesale access to those carriers’ mobile voice and data networks, making it a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, they say.

Codenamed “Nova,” the project is led by longtime Google executive Nick Fox. A launch this year seems likely. Mr. Fox had previously looked at starting the service last fall, and some employees have already tested it.

via www.theinformation.com

Non mi sorprende per nulla...

Non mi sorprendera' se un domani nascera' un servizio che tramite una notifica di android, sulla base dei tuoi consumi energetici rilevata da dispositivi Nest, ti proporrà una tariffa energetica più conveniente (negoziata imponendo il proprio significativo potere commerciale ai fornitori...)

Se non l'avete ancora fatto, nel weekend, leggetevi questo.. (inglese)  PDF, tempo richiesto 15 minuti.

Da Davos: viviamo in un inevitabile stato di sorveglianza. (non sono d'accordo)

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) -

Imagine a world where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of your DNA. Or where a department store knows from your buying habits that you're pregnant even before your family does.

That is the terrifying dystopian world portrayed by a group of Harvard professors at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where the assembled elite heard that the notion of individual privacy is effectively dead.

"Welcome to today. We're already in that world," said Margo Seltzer, a professor in computer science at Harvard University.

"Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible... How we conventionally think of privacy is dead," she added.

Another Harvard researcher into genetics said it was "inevitable" that one's personal genetic information would enter more and more into the public sphere.

Sophia Roosth said intelligence agents were already asked to collect genetic information on foreign leaders to determine things like susceptibility to disease and life expectancy.

"We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism," she said, referring to witch-hunts against Communists in 1950s America.

What's more, Seltzer imagined a world in which tiny robot drones flew around, the size of mosquitoes, extracting a sample of your DNA for analysis by, say, the government or an insurance firm.

Invasions of privacy are "going to become more pervasive," she predicted.

....

Anthony Goldbloom, a young tech entrepreneur, told the same panel that what he termed the "Google generation" placed far less weight on their privacy than previous generations.

"I trade my privacy for the convenience. Privacy is not something that worries me," he said.

Io non sono d'accordo che sia inevitabile. E' una decisione politica.

E non sono nemmeno d'accordo che i giovani non abbiano a cuore la privacy. anzi. li trovo molto più sensibili di noi.

Coinbase raccoglie altri 75MUSD (e con che azionisti..)

Dal blog di Coinbase:

Coinbase Raises $75M from DFJ Growth, USAA, NYSE, and More

Today we are pleased to announce that Coinbase has raised $75 million in Series C financing, the largest funding round to date for a Bitcoin company. This brings our total capital raised to $106 million.

The round was led by DFJ Growth, with participation from our existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Ribbit Capital.

Three of the world’s most respected financial institutions – The New York Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of USAA, and BBVA (a large multinational bank) also invested in the round alongside personal investments from former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer. This marks the first time that financial institutions have made a major investment in a Bitcoin company.

The round saw participation from a number of other strategic partners who will accelerate our international expansion, including DoCoMo Capital, a division of Japan’s largest mobile telecommunications operator.

Today’s fundraise gives us solid growth capital to continue driving mainstream, global adoption of Bitcoin. We are honored to be joined by such a prestigious group of investors and remain focused on helping Bitcoin continue to grow in 2015 and beyond.

e con questo sono 100MUSD in due anni.

Grazie F per la segnalazione.

Interessante che NYSE e BBVA e l'ex CEO di Citi V Pandit investano su questa iniziativa.

E' arrivata l'edicola italiana: tutti i quotidiani e riviste digitali all-you-can-eat a 15 euro/mese

e' qui:

Il consorzio lo avevamo fatto nascere nel 2012.

E' difficilissimo superare i campanili in italia, questa e' una grande operazione di collaborazione dell'industria. Un grande complimento a tutti gli amici che ci hanno lavorato!

A Sprint va bene la riclassificazione di Intrnet come Title II

Sure, AT&T and Verizon claim that if the FCC increases regulation of internet service to enforce net neutrality then they'd have reason to slow down investing in new upgrades, but Sprint is saying something different. GigaOm points out a letter to the FCC from Sprint (PDF) saying that it doesn't think the application of Title II classification under the Communications act (treating internet like a utility, like phone service) will cause any problems. Stephen Bye, Sprint's Chief Technology Officer writes that "Sprint will continue to invest in data networks regardless of whether they are regulated by Title II, Section 706, or some other light touch regulatory regime" -- supporting what most net neutrality advocates, including the President, are pushing for.

via www.engadget.com

Google fa una azione Antitrust contro Mastercard e Visa

Google is suing Visa and MasterCard over the card giants' interchange fees, alleging that they violated federal antitrust law.

In a move first picked up by Law360, Google filed the suit in Texas federal court just before Christmas, claiming Visa and MasterCard charged "supracompetitive" interchange fees between 1 January 2004 and 28 November 2012. The search firm's suit asks for "actual damages" but stops short of providing a figure.

In July 2012 US retailers reached a $7.25 billion class action settlement with Visa and MasterCard over credit card interchange fees, seemingly ending a seven-year legal dispute.

However, Google opted out of that deal, just one of many players to turn its back on the agreement and file suit. Last March Wal-Mart went to court, claiming that it suffered "enormous" losses because of interchange, asking for damages of $5 billion.

via www.finextra.com

e' in prepaarazione del GooglePay stile Apple Pay ?

disintermediazione dei pagamenti nostrani in vista ? (e loro reintermediazione da parte di Apple e Google ?)

temo che le banche farebbero meglio a prepararsi a dire ciao ciao a grossa parte dei pagamenti on-us e on-we..

L'erba del vicino: Cameron chiede agli USA che le aziende USA spiino per conto del UK

David Cameron is to urge Barack Obama to pressure internet firms such as Twitter and Facebook to do more to cooperate with Britain’s intelligence agencies as they seek to track the online activities of Islamist extremists.

As he becomes the first European leader to meet the president after the multiple shootings in Paris last week, the prime minister will seek to win Obama’s support for his plans to secure a new legal framework to deny terrorists a “safe space”.

The prime minister arrives after he proposed earlier this week that British intelligence agencies have the power to break the encrypted communications of suspected terrorists and insisting that the likes of Twitter and Facebook do more to cooperate with Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping centre.

Cameron will demand that US internet companies store – and then be prepared to hand over – data and content needed by the intelligence agencies “to keep us safe” when he meets the president for talks in the Oval Office on Friday morning.

via www.theguardian.com

Benjamin Franklin disse
"Chi è pronto a dar via le proprie libertà fondamentali per comprarsi briciole di temporanea sicurezza non merita né la libertà né la sicurezza."

Si starà rivoltando nella tomba..

Comprare un tablet su Alibaba - Aliexpress: la mia esperienza

come ho già scritto, come telefono io amo usare un telefono telefono (che mi fa 3gg di batterie) e, invece di portarmi dietro un caricabatteria, mi porto dietro un tablet da 7" che ci sta nella tasca dietro dei jeans ed in quella interna della giacca.

per questo avevo sempre comprato un tablet Samsung 7", ma la velocita', con l'aumentare di complessita' del mio device, era divenuta quasi insopportabile.

allora ho deciso di comprare un tablet piu' recente e potente.

pensavo ad un samsung come quello di Ivan ma nella tasca della giacca che uso di più alla Camera non ci stava per 2-3 millimetri.

allora un paio di domeniche fa ho fatto un po' di ricerche (che ho riassunto in questo file) ed ho scoperto marche che non conoscevo, cinesi.

ho scoperto che c'è un sito tedesco che fa recensione di prodotti cinesi (anche in inglese) GizChina.

ho individuato un tablet che ci sta nella tasca, con un prezzo vantaggioso e caratteristiche buone tra quelle che mi interessavano (non sono interessato alla risoluzione della camera ne' alla presenza di NFC) 

la mia scelta e' caduta sul Cube T7; in estrema sintesi: 4G, Android 4.4.4, CPU 8 core 64 bit a 1,8GHz, Bluetooth 4.0, 1920x1200 pixel, 2GB RAM e 16GBROM, SD max 32GB, batteria da 3500mAh

potete leggere e vedere la review qui.

questo è un video delle performance:

 

il 6 gennaio sera mi sono studiato il funzionamento di Aliexpress (il sito di ecommerce al dettaglio di Alibaba, simile ad eBay) ed in particolare le condizioni di protezione del consumatore e mi sono letto qualche esperienza su qualche forum.

anche se ad un costo complessivo un po' maggiore alla migliore offerta, ho scelto un venditore che offre tutte le protezioni, paga lui il trasporto per eventuali resi, garantisce consegna in meno di un mese e  usa DHL per le spedizioni. (immaginando che sia piu' efficiente di uno spedizioniere di hong kong nell'espletamento delle pratiche doganali)

alla fine ho pagato, oltre al prezzo del tablet, circa 50 euro tra spese di spedizione e spese di sdoganamento.

ho fatto l'ordine il 6 gennaio notte e - con mia grande sorpresa - mi hanno consegnato il tablet stamattina 14 gennaio.

che posso dire ? confermo la recensione. e' velocissimo. pochissimo bloatware (2 programmi) ed anche delle cose di Google, manca qualcosa (ad esempio non c'è Youtube)

speriamo adesso nella batteria e nell'obsolescenza programmata, ma complessivamente, sono MOLTO soddisfatto.

UPDATE: unico neo dopo 24 ore di uso intensivo: la qualita' del materiale dello schermo non è un granchè. è essenziale metterci una pellicola protettiva (per i posteri..)

Il commissario Oettinger a favore dell'insegnamento della programmazione a scuola

Question for written answer E-008802/2014 to the Commission Rule 130 Roberta Metsola (PPE)

Subject: Computer coding in classrooms

The former Vice-President of the Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, has called for mandatory computer coding classes in primary school curricula.

1. Can the Commission provide information on whether it is going to issue an EU-wide strategy in order to promote coding in classrooms?
2. Can the Commission provide information on whether any legislative measures will be proposed to push this matter forward?

E-008802/2014

Answer given by Mr Oettinger on behalf of the Commission

The Commission considers that creating a Digital Single Market - one of the ten priority areas of the Commission's Agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change - should go hand-in-hand with boosting digital skills and learning across society, to empower Europe’s workforce and consumers.

Against this background, and building on its experience[1], digital skills are an important part of the Commission’s skills strategy, including the promotion of coding skills. Coding is considered an increasingly important skill for young people in Europe, whether for future jobs or as a basic literacy to make best use of the opportunities of digital tools and services used in everyday life.

However, education policy including school curricula is the competence of EU Member States or of regional governments and the Commission will therefore not make legislative proposals in this field.

However, the Commission will continue to raise the awareness of the Education Ministries and relevant actors in Europe about the importance of equipping pupils with digital skills, including coding. Introducing such skills in the school curriculum or at least in the after-school hours is important to ensure that all children, irrespective of gender or social background, can become shapers and creators in a digital world.

The Commission will also continue to support coding-initiatives led by volunteers, non-profit organisations and the industry.[2] Overall, such initiatives promote creative and real-life related coding projects appealing to both sexes and promoting transversal skills such as teamwork, analytical thinking, and problem-solving.

La comunità mondiale di Wikimedia si riunisce in provincia di Lecco per riconquistare lo spirito originario

Wikimania Esino Lario is a site-specific event designed to bring together closely our community and to produce an impact beyond our event. In the small village of Esino Lario, Wikimania reconquers the strongly interactive nature of gatherings, where people meet, discuss and collaborate together during a three-days structured conference.

via meta.wikimedia.org

Grandissimi!
Grande Iolanda Pensa che ha avuto l'idea!

Esino Lario ha battuto in finale Atlantic City, Chennai, Dar es Salaam, Manila e St. Louis

Questa la pagina di Wikimedia relativa.