Sad news. David J.C. MacKay died. He contributed to machine learning and information theory and also invented Dasher and did lots of other things.
But he also wrote an easy book about energy consumption and energy production. Itβs important to do some math if you donβt want to get caught up in green washing. Itβs not a perfect book, but a nice little project. If you donβt know it by now, please have a look.
The quite critical but wll known tech website TheVerge has a short review of the Fairphone 2 online. I find that quite noteworthy as the website is typically US-focused and the device is not available there. Furthermore, the score of 7 is quite acceptable, given the unique proposition of an ethical consumer electronics device challenging the status quo of electronics production.
I have been an enthusiastic FP1 First Edition owner, being amongst the first thousands of users preordering in early 2013. And while I currently donβt own a Fairphone, I think the FP2 is a step in the right direction in so many aspects that i quite curious already about whats coming next.
I know for FP2 owners, Software Updates and Fixes a Priority One now, and even FP1 owners are still hoping for the much needed update to 4.4 KitKat. But I am exited for a Fairphone 3
There is a continuous discussion about companies making products that fail after a set amount of time so the consumer has to buy a new one. Although I have yet to see hard proof of this so called obsolescence by design I found an example that really made me twitch: All Revolv domotica products will stop working on 15 May:
derstandard (an Austrian news paper) brought a story on their online news about the release of FPOOS (in German).
The short article is mainly about the difference between FPOOS & FPOS, about the available source code on http://code.fairphone.com/, and a commitment of FP for future updates. It also tells about other possible (future) OS, like Sailfish or B2G.
Yubico has replaced all open-source components with proprietary closed-source code in the new Yubikey 4s. There might be a good explanation for this, I assume mostly to protect their business form cheap copies, but have a look yourself and discuss/explain it to me if you can.
I hadnβt had the time to really understand all this and for me the Yubikey was mostly too expansive to just play around with it, but I was thinking about getting one.
(For moderators: This is relevant because the yubikey is one of the more interesting uses for the FP2 extension port)
From the βWhat apps do behind your backβ department. This time a company bought by Asics. The βbugβ was βfixedβ now Or why you should not install every app your favorite brand wants to sell you.