In This Episode: Google is trying to “kill off” the www. (and the m.) in URLs. The Ocean Cleanup project has a huge job ahead of it. Microsoft plans to implement a “monthly charge” for Windows 7 support: but you can’t have it! Plus: CRISPR.
This Week’s Hosts
- Randy Cassingham, founder of the Internet’s oldest entertainment newsletter, This is True.
- Leo Notenboom, “Chief Question Answerer” at tech education site Ask Leo!
- Gary Rosenzweig host and producer of MacMost, and mobile game developer at Clever Media.
- Kevin Savetz, web site publisher and Computer Historian at Atari Podcast.
- Longer Bios on the Hosts page.
Show Notes
- In the warmup, Gary has been working on an online course for Majave, Kevin take a deep breath!) is porting his phone to a new carrier, attended XOXOfest — where he was enthusiastic about Diana Smith using CSS to re-create paintings (example, example, example), playing games (BusyWork, Goose Game, Multi-screen Pong), and the problem with Apu on The Simpsons. Leo supported the Bike MS fundraiser, and Randy has been using the Join app to do things with his (Android) phone from his computer.
- Randy pointed out that Google is “killing off” the “www.” (and the “m.”) portion of URLs — at least it’s not going to display them in the new release of the Chrome browser (v69), and why that’s making people mad (ZDnet). That let to a discussion of maybe what the real motive is: to push AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) into the forefront, and why that is irritating site owners.
- Gary finds the Ocean Cleanup project interesting: it will be tested this week outside of San Francisco (NY Times). The vessel is a long net that should capture tiny bits of plastic in the ocean. If it goes well, more such ships may be built. And we all learned a new word: Gyre: A circular or spiral motion or form, especially a circular ocean current.
- Randy notes Forbes says that Microsoft “’Confirms’ Windows 7 New Monthly Charge”. The problem is, there’s nothing unusual about this, and YOU can’t pay for the updates that charge brings: it’s only for enterprise-level installations. We talk about why.
- And Leo talked about CRISPR, the gene-editing tech that has great promise for curing diseases (such as Muscular Dystrophy in dogs). The CRISPR acronym (for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) led to a discussion about acronyms in general, including the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (aka the Stop BEZOS Act).
Speaking about gyres (thanks I learned a new word): how do we cut down on garbage polluting the ocean when people won’t even pick up the garbage on their own property?
Sadly, that’s a great question. My answer: peer/societal pressure. “Make littering [and dumping and…] wrong again.” That starts with calling people (and companies, like cruise lines) out when they trash the planet.