L’inchiesta di Spotlight, il team investigativo del Boston Globe, che rivela le debolezze della FAA e la possibilità per i criminali di registrare e usare aeroplani negli Usa in stato di pressoché completo anonimato.

Money quote: “A Spotlight Team investigation has found that lax oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration, over decades, has made it easy for drug dealers, corrupt politicians, and even people with links to terrorism to register private planes and conceal their identities. With the US stamp of approval — signified by a number on the tail fin that always begins with the letter “N” — owners often find more freedom from scrutiny and anonymity while traveling. This has allowed criminals and foreign government officials to mask illicit activities or keep wealth hidden from their home countries.

The registered owner of the crashed twin-engine Piper, a company called Aircraft Guaranty, is part of a nearly invisible private industry that sometimes operates from computer terminals inside FAA offices in Oklahoma, busily registering planes on behalf of foreign nationals — and working in a system that allows them to hide their names from the public. More than 1,000 planes are registered in Aircraft Guaranty’s name at an address in a Texas town of 2,500 that doesn’t have an airport. But it’s enough to give clients both anonymity and coveted US registration for their planes.”

https://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/secrets-in-the-sky/series/part-one/

Marea, il cavo sottomarino che traversa l’Atlantico voluto da Microsoft e Facebook, il mio articolo per La Stampa

http://www.lastampa.it/2017/09/27/tecnologia/news/microsoft-e-facebook-assieme-per-marea-per-il-nuovo-cavo-dati-atlantico-6i1d49ml8GJRVwchSJ6ZVP/pagina.html

Sto per rientrare in Italia e volerò Delta (San Francisco verso New York e poi da là verso Milano). Proprio oggi Delta annuncia che offrirà gratuitamente i servizi di messaggistica sui suoi voli per promuovere le tecnologie installate negli ultimi dieci anni. Ma solo a partire da ottobre. Mannaggia...

Money quote: “Free messaging will be available on all Gogo-enabled Delta flights, including all aircraft with two or more cabins. Customers will be able to access free messaging through Delta's Wi-Fi portal page, airborne.gogoinflight.com. Free mobile messaging will be for text use only and does not support the transfer of photo or video files.”

http://news.delta.com/delta-offer-free-mobile-messaging-flight

Il problema adesso non è soltanto un attacco nucleare da parte della Corea del Nord, ma anche un incidente di proporzioni bibliche, se continuano i test. I cinesi pensano infatti che il tipo di sperimentazione (scavare un buco in una montagna, metterci la bomba, farla esplodere, misurare i risultati) possa portare a devastazioni molto pericolose per la Corea stessa e per i vicini, segnatamente la Cina. A Pechino non sono felici di questa idea.

Money quote: “Another test might cause the whole mountain to cave in on itself, leaving only a hole from which radiation could escape and drift across the region, including China, he said.

“We call it ‘taking the roof off’. If the mountain collapses and the hole is exposed, it will let out many bad things.”

Sunday’s blast was followed by an earthquake eight minutes later, which China’s seismic authorities interpreted as a cave-in triggered by the explosion.”

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2109725/north-koreas-nuclear-test-site-risk-imploding-chinese

Ho un PC con CPU da 24 core e il mouse va a scatti, grazie Windows 10 - il mio articolo per Macitynet.it

https://www.macitynet.it/cpu-24-core-non-si-muove-mouse/

A volte ritornano: X62 è il Thinkpad nato a Shenzen - il mio articolo per Macitynet.it

https://www.macitynet.it/volte-ritornano-x62-thinkpad-nato-shenzen/

Essere incinte senza sapere chi è il padre. La vita diventa all’improvviso più complicata. Ma c’è un modo per ripensarla.

Money quote: “Today, I don’t feel any pain or regret. I just feel love and thankfulness that a situation that felt like “the worst thing to ever happen to me” became the best thing. I don’t feel any shame — I left all of that behind me a long time ago”

https://medium.com/@kaytmolina/i-didnt-know-who-my-baby-s-father-was-1a785a39e164

Se ne stanno occupando un po’ tutti: il futuro del lavoro con l’arrivo massiccio di una nuova generazione di robot e con la intelligenza artificiale che cambia molto se non tutto. La prospettiva del World Economic Forum è interessante soprattutto perché centrale rispetto ai ragionamenti che si stanno facendo sui giornali e nei think tank.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/the-future-is-automated-but-what-does-that-really-mean-for-jobs

Una serie di bancarelle per la vendita di oggetti usato spalmate su 950 chilometri circa, a cavallo tra Michigan e Alabama. È il mercatino della Route 127, con personaggi variegati. Il tutto in un video che dura pochi minuti. Interessante.

Money quote: "Featuring a loveable array of bargain-hunters, decluttering novices and unusual artists, Elvis Loses his Excess, and Other Tales From the World’s Longest Yard Sale collects scenes from the annual Highway 127 Yard Sale, which stretches some 600 miles along US Route 127 from Michigan to Alabama. Driving the sale’s path and capturing the people she meets along the way, the US director Riley Hooper crafts a charming and heartening road-trip film about the multitude of meanings, large and small, carried by our stuff."

https://aeon.co/videos/tiger-rugs-elvis-impersonators-and-jesus-paintings-scenes-from-a-600-mile-yard-sale

È il formato a cambiare il contenuto. Anche per la musica pop.

Ottima lettura sull’industria dei media.

Money quote: “Throughout the history of recorded music, formats have helped shape what we hear. Our ideas about how long a single should be date back to what could fit on a 45 RPM 7" vinyl record. AM radio meant mono recordings, rather than stereo, and producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound—with its cavernous echo and massed instruments—was built for it, offering plenty of depth through a single speaker. Video killed the radio star. Ringtones birthed the quick-hit digital chirps of snap music. The requirements for American Top 40 FM radio, in particular, grew so byzantine by the early 2010s, when blaring, mathematically precise hits reigned supreme, that an industrial-strength supply chain of super-producers and songwriters emerged to fulfill them.”

https://pitchfork.com/features/article/uncovering-how-streaming-is-changing-the-sound-of-pop/

Quando l'ingegno e la casualità si sposano il loro frutto può essere succoso e rinfrescante. Da dirigente del marketing a figurante di televisione e cinema, otto anni di vita intensa e piena di soddisfazioni nel luccicante e rutilante mondo dello spettacolo. Ovvero, mamma guarda come ho sconfitto la crisi.

Money quote: "Eight years ago, I’d never have imagined I’d be playing the VIP bestie of the supermodel Coco Rocha. Or, for that matter, casually strolling by Matt Damon, pretending not to be aware of his scripted meet-cute on a New York City sidewalk. In 2009, I’d lost my job as an ad sales and marketing executive at a publishing company and was having trouble finding a new one. The recession was affecting most businesses, and unemployment had reached its highest level in 25 years; months of interviews and rejections had me searching desperately for new avenues. Unexpectedly, I’d find my first days back at work on a film set, as an extra. What initially seemed like a temporary gig turned into a viable, even unexpectedly stable, way to make a living while also learning the nuts and bolts of a fascinating industry."

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/my-life-as-an-extra/541212/

Magnum PI, Miami Vice, Starsky e Hutch. Un articolo di Quattroruote che racconta le supercar della tv anni Ottanta. Breve e incisivo.

Money quote: "Che fine hanno fatto le auto usate nei telefilm più famosi degli anni 80? Alcune sono state demolite, altre rivendute. Su altre ancora aleggia il mistero. E capita pure che qualche sopravvissuta finisca all’asta per ben cinque volte senza trovare acquirenti. Ecco cinque storie sulle auto che hanno fatto sognare intere generazioni."

https://www.quattroruote.it/news/curiosita/2017/02/03/auto_da_telefilm_ecco_che_fine_hanno_fatto_le_regine_delle_serie_tv_piu_amate.html

Ci sono voluti 82 giorni e 20mila tiri per completare la buca da 2mila chilometri: la più "lunga" nella storia del golf.

Money quote: "Two retired rugby players needed a fresh challenge, so they set off for Mongolia, fell in with a stray dog and completed the longest hole of golf ever played"

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/behind-the-lines/2017/oct/03/longest-hole-golf-ever-mongolia

The Believer ha ripreso regolari pubblicazioni - seppure con un altro editore - mentre McSweeney's va avanti alla grande. Anche sul web, dove fa la lista delle cose più regolate negli Usa che non possedere armi

Money quote:

Owning a fucking dog

Walking a fucking dog

Selling a fucking mattress

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/things-more-heavily-regulated-than-buying-a-gun-in-the-united-states

La mia recensione dell'iPhone 8 per Il Post

http://www.ilpost.it/antoniodini/2017/10/04/liphone-8-plus-provato-bene/

Digg racconta tutto quello che Google ha presentato poche ore fa. A me piace il portatile. Meno i telefoni e le cuffie Bluetooth smart. Una nota: anche Google dice addio al mini jack audio nel telefono. Aspetto che anche loro vengano lapidati sulla pubblica via...

Money quote: “Both Pixels have full aluminum bodies and each have the glass inlay in the top. There's a fingerprint sensor on the back of both phones. There are front-facing stereo speakers... but no headphone jack:”

http://digg.com/2017/google-pixel-event-highlights

Blade Runner 2049 è un capolavoro - la mia recensione per Fumettologica

http://www.fumettologica.it/2017/10/blader-runner-2049-recensione/

Sembra quasi il documentario dietro le quinte di una storia di paperi nel deserto di Carl Barks: cosa sono le rocce sferiche e come si formano?

Money quote: "In fact, spherical boulders are molded over millions or even billions of years by a natural but long-misunderstood geological phenomenon called concretion. The concretion process occurs when sediment that has not yet hardened into rock accumulates around some sort of hard nucleus, such as a fossil or shell, and then binds together with a cementing mineral such as calcite. A natural concrete then forms in the space between sediment grains, banding the layers of sand together around the core, often in a spherical shape."

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/concretion-spherical-rocks

La Chinatown di New York è stata a lungo una destinazione turistica: ricchi o semplicemente benestanti dei quartieri alti alla ricerca di qualcosa di pittoresco e di esotico da guardare: fumatori d'oppio, mercati all'ingrosso, risse e sparatorie. Una vera e proprio messa in scena delle condizioni di vita più povere e disagiate a totale beneficio degli eloi, insomma. Ma non è finita là.

Money quote: "In one form or another, it persisted as a form of tourism until the beginning of the World War II. At that time, the rise of suburbs and television, among other factors, seemed to put it to rest. But beginning in the 1980s, slum tourism has come back with a vengeance and a more international flavor, with tours that see affluent white visitors passing through what are considered slums in countries such as India, South Africa, and Brazil. It’s sparked controversy and moral outrage. Some see it as a racist exercise that taps into a universal fascination with inequality and the less fortunate. Others claim it pumps money into critically poor neighborhoods, as well as the pockets of tour operators. Indeed, in some cases, a significant proportion of slum tourism profit has been pumped back into the communities. But it still represents, to many, poverty as entertainment."

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/slumming-chinatown-new-york-history-fake-opium-dens

Ho recensito per Il Post l’iPhone 8 Plus ma ovviamente non sono stato male. Dal punto di vista fotografico, questo è un buon approfondimento.

Money quote: “Like the camera in every iPhone that preceded them, Apple is touting the cameras in the iPhone 8 Plus and the forthcoming iPhone X as its best ever. This year the company is particularly proud of these, which boast a marquee “Portrait Lighting” feature that brings a range of professional-looking effects to the already great photos the dual camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus is capable of taking”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/iphone-portrait-lighting