Daily Links
Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program
A little holiday alien visit news for you.
Chrome will start blocking ads on February 15
In June, Google revealed that Chrome will stop showing all ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that display non-compliant ads “starting in early 2018.” Now the company has committed to a date: Chrome’s built-in ad-blocker will start working on February 15, 2018.
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RIP AIM
AOL shut down AOL Instant Messenger, aka AIM, today after 20 years of existence.
Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with a critical flaw
For almost two weeks, Microsoft quietly forced some Windows 10 computers to install a password manager with a browser plugin that contained a critical vulnerability almost identical to one disclosed 16 months ago that allows websites to steal passwords, a researcher said Friday.
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Apple opens its promised podcast analytics service in beta
Apple has launched a beta version of that free podcast analytics service today, giving more information on who is listening on Apple’s Podcast app and their behaviors and preferences.
FCC Votes to Repeal Net Neutrality Rules
The Federal Communications Commission today voted to repeal Net Neutrality rules put in place by the United States government back in 2015 under the Obama administration. Instead of classifying internet service providers as "common carriers" under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC has voted 3-2 in favor of rolling back to reclassifying ISPs as "information service" providers, as they were between February 1996 and February 2015.
The Walt Disney Company To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox
The two companies today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox, including the Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television studios, along with cable and international TV businesses, for approximately $52.4 billion in stock. Immediately prior to the acquisition, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.
Microsoft is adding native OpenSSH to Windows 10
It’s available immediately as a beta option in the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10. TechCrunch reports that the native client will mean developers won’t need to download a third-party client to gain access to remote servers, and ServeTheHome has a quick instruction video on how to enable the new SSH support.
Patreon cancels new service fee, apologizes to users
"Many of you lost patrons, and you lost income. No apology will make up for that, but nevertheless, I’m sorry."
Standards for HTML Email
Previously I talked about how archaic the standards for HTML emails have been. Well, while things have improved a bit, they still aren't great. We are still looking at late 90s, early 00s for our HTML when creating email templates. Now we add to that the technology of smart phones and tablets. Our HTML emails now have to be responsive to a variety of screen sizes on top of working in multiple email clients.
Here are the general rules that any developer should be following to get their HTML email layouts to work for the vast majority of email client options. Since the email rendering engines vary depending on the email client being used, for example later versions of MS Outlook are using MS Word as their email rendering engine. MS Word does not do HTML well at all.
- <table> instead of <div>,
- Hex value colours should be complete (#FFFFFF) instead of abbreviated (#FFF),
- padding instead of margin,
- CSS2 instead of CSS3,
- HTML4 instead of HTML5,
- background-color instead of background,
- HTML attributes instead of CSS,
- inline CSS instead of style sheets or <style> blocks.
Source: Smashing Magazine
Since all email clients handle HTML slightly differently trying to have a consistent look to your email layouts is extraordinarily difficult, so for best results the K.I.S.S. ( Keep It Simple Stupid! ) protocol will give you the best results. The Smashing Magazine article goes into much deeper detail and has many suggestions to help with the construction of standards compliant emails.
When creating email templates, a good tool to use to see what the results will be for a variety of email clients is Litmus. If you send a substantial amount of HTML email, this service will be worth the subscription fees. At the very least try the 7-Day free trial to see what to look for when creating your templates. It can give you a set of steps to follow during your development process.
When it comes to a client who wants a super complicated and beautiful HTML Email design, it is important to supply the client with your knowledge by explaining these issues. We want our clients to be satisfied, but they need to understand that when it comes to email, functionality needs to come before design. If they insist, then sending the email as an image becomes an option, but other functionality will be lost. As long as you communicate this to the client, you've done your due diligence. Remember, you're the expert. Your client has hired you for that expertise. If they decide to ignore that expertise, at least you tried.
Daily Links
Spelling Out HTML Emails
This article by Lee Munroe of HTMLemail.io written for Smashing Magazine goes into some of the finer details about developing HTML email layouts for email campaigns. As I've written about before, developing for HTML email is complicated since there are very few standards and the variety of email clients don't necessarily render the HTML they get in the same way. Mr. Munroe provides some very good advice and some nice resources to help with the issues inherent in developing HTML emails.
Daily Links
Twitter Threads
Twitter is offically adoting "tweetstorm" functionality, calling them "threads". When drafting a new tweet, a plus icon will allow another line, up to a current maximum of twenty-five. They all remain in draft until the "tweet all" button is pressed, submitting each line as a connected twitter thread. Rolling out to iOS, Android, and the web in the coming weeks.
Canadian Trade Committee Warns Against Unbalanced U.S. IP Demands in NAFTA
"That the Government of Canada, during the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, oppose provisions that would reduce its ability to ensure that the Canadian intellectual property regime balances the interests of right holders and users. As well, the government should work to preserve Canada’s ability to modernize its regime following domestic reviews."
Daily Links
Apple Acquires Shazam
On Friday, TechCrunch reported that Apple had agreed to acquire music discovery service and app-maker Shazam. Today, Apple made it official confirming the deal to BuzzFeed News. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement, but according to TechCrunch, Shazam cost Apple somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million.
Kleptocrat
Kleptocrat is an iOS-only mobile game that challenges players to play as billionaire tax-dodgers, who construct ruses to hide their money from the tax authorities. The game is developed by the Mintz Group, investigative/forensic accountants who specializing in finding hidden offshore wealth.
Patreon defends new pricing after user uproar
The change, which goes into effect on December 18th, adds a processing fee to each individual patron pledge, instead of taking the cut out of creators’ total earnings. Because this fee includes a flat 35-cent charge on top of a percentage, it disproportionately affects people making small pledges, or pledging to multiple artists.
Daily Links
2017 Wrapped
Spotify's new "Wrapped" feature replaces the personalized "Year In Music" campaign from 2016. Spotify users can receive a summary of the amount of time they spent playing music and the number of songs and artists they listened to.
Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section
With the shutdown of Chrome Apps, Google is working to bring Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to the desktop. PWAs again aim to bring a few app-like features to websites, giving them a full-screen interface, an "installable" app icon, push notifications, and offline capabilities. They already work on Chrome for Android, so once Google is done here, PWAs would be the only Chrome app type to work across desktop and mobile.
2017 Time Person Of The Year
Time magazine calls them the Silence Breakers, women who've come forward to call out men for sexual harassment or sexual assault by name.
Not Just Bell: Shaw Calls on CRTC To Support Website Blocking
The Shaw submission seeks to equate access to grey market satellite services with unauthorized streaming services. It acknowledges that Canadian copyright law already addresses Internet piracy and that court orders can be obtained to shut down services that violate the law. It argues, however, that even with a court order, the CRTC must still approve website blocking. Unlike Bell, which envisions a website blocking system without court review, Shaw is focused on granting approvals for blocking with court oversight.
Daily Links
Android 8.1 Oreo goes final, rolling out now to Pixel and Nexus devices
Google announced that the new OS is rolling out now and is posting system images for the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, the Pixel 1 and 1 XL, the Pixel C tablet, and the Nexus 6P and 5X. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code drop should be happening now, too
Daily Links
RIP Every Frame a Painting
Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos have shut down their excellent video series on film, Every Frame a Painting. They wrote about their decision in the form of the script for a final episode that never got made.
Apple Classifies 2011 Mac Mini as Obsolete
Mid 2011 models have officially been classified as vintage or obsolete as of November 30, 2017, according to an internal memo distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers and later obtained by MacRumors. The distinction means that Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers will no longer repair or service the 2011 Mac mini, given over five years have passed since it was last manufactured, except where required by law.
Winnipeg reveals plan to allow Uber, Lyft to operate alongside taxis as early as March
Initially, the Winnipeg Parking Authority will oversee the vehicle-for-hire bylaw, Wardrop said, noting the city does not have time to create a new special operating agency before provincial ride-hailing legislation kicks in on March 1.
After 37 years, Voyager 1 has fired up its trajectory thrusters
the Voyager 1 spacecraft is 21 billion kilometers from Earth, or about 141 times the distance between the Earth and Sun. This week, the scientists and engineers on the Voyager team commanded the spacecraft to fire a set of four trajectory thrusters for the first time in 37 years to determine their ability to orient the spacecraft using 10-millisecond pulses.
Google bans Android developers from adding lock screen ads
What some of the shadier developers on Google Play have been doing is replacing the existing lock screen, without asking, and showing a screen that can have a big ad slapped onto the lower half.
Bell Leads on Radical Proposal for CRTC-Backed Mandatory Website Blocking System
The plan is to create a new not-for-profit organization (IRPA) similar in structure to the CCTS, which would be responsible for identifying sites to block. The organization’s board would include representatives of rights holders, broadcasters, ISPs, and consumer groups. There is no reference to independent voices or free speech or civil liberties groups.