“The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or the TRACED Act, empowers the federal government with new abilities to go after illegal robocallers. Once TRACED is enacted, the Federal Communications Commission could fine robocallers up to $10,000 per call. It also would require major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to deploy a new technology called STIR/SHAKEN into their networks, which will make it easier for consumers to know if they’re receiving a call from a spoofed number.”
— “Robocall fines rise to $10,000 per call under newly passed law,” Makena Kelly, The Verge
More:
“Senate passes anti-robocalls bill; Trump expected to sign,” Tali Arbel, Associated Press
Well … it’s complicated. Eric Arthur Johnson invented the touchscreen in the 1960s. Stanley Whittingham invented the lithium battery in the 1970s. And a whole bunch of people gave us the Internet.
But surely Steve Jobs saw all this stuff and went “Eureka!”
Nope.
“When Apple engineer Andy Grignon first added internet functionality to an iPod in 2004, Steve Jobs was far from enthusiastic: ‘This is bullshit. I don’t want this. I know it works, I got it, great, thanks, but this is a shitty experience.’”
Image (“Portrait of a Young Girl With an iPhone, after Agnolo Bronzino”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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The movie that scored number 1 at the box office last weekend, with $39 million in ticket sales, was Angry Birds, based on a mobile phone game. Few audience members liked the film, but of course they’d already spent their money. Anger is entertaining, but not for more than a few minutes. Will Trump voters have this kind of buyer’s remorse if he wins the general election?
Image (“Field Guide to Angry Birds [Iratus aves]”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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New Orleans has all the urban problems of any American city — crime, poor education, no parking spaces, economic inequality — and it’s still suffering the aftereffects of devastating Hurricane Katrina. But as the Crescent City celebrates Fat Tuesday, technology has solved one age-old problem:
The Airpnp smartphone app directs you to nearby locations where, for a small fee, the business or homeowner will let you use the toilet facilities. Ninety percent of arrests along the French Quarter’s parade routes are for public urination, so it’s not a piddling matter.
More:
“AirPnP, an app helps find Mardi Gras rental restrooms: BBC report,” By Doug MacCash, Times-Picayune
“Inventive startups are changing the way New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras,” Shannon Sims, Quartz
Top video: “Ain’t No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day” by Benny Antin, from the 1997 album Wild Linoleum. Lyrics here.
Naturally Ms. Zimmerman asked Dr. Chu why chickens cross roads. Her reply:
“I assure you, ornithologists don’t know the answer to that question, any more than they know the answer to why humans spend hours getting chickens to cross the road on our phones.”
More:
“We asked an Ornithologist to Factcheck Angry Birds — And the Results Might Surprise You,” Jess Zimmerman, Atlas Obscura
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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-mwq
Image (“Field Guide to Angry Birds”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Image (“Apple Store, after a 1900 trade card by Tom Browne“) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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“Ever since the first hand-held e-readers were introduced in the 1990s, the digital-reading revolution has turned the publishing world upside down. But contrary to early predictions, it’s not the e-reader that will be driving future book sales, but the phone.”
Image (“Young Beauty With iPhone, after Kikugawa Eizan”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Internet Cafés are an endangered species. Why? Because everyone has a smartphone now, even in Rwanda, Bangladesh, China, India and Nigeria. In the USA, some cyber cafés are staying solvent by offering an extra amenity: Illegal gambling.
More:
“Internet cafes in the developing world find out what happens when everyone gets a smartphone,” Newley Purnell, Quartz
“No takers: After the smartphone boom, cybercafés dying a slow death in Mumbai,” Debasish Panigrahi, Hindustan Times
From the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC):
“The federal court of appeals based in Washington, DC has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security may withhold from the public a secret procedure for shutting down cell phone service. EPIC pursued the DHS policy after government officials in San Francisco disabled cell phone service during a peaceful protest in 2011. EPIC sued DHS when the agency failed to release the criteria for network shutdowns. A federal judge ruled in EPIC’s favor. On appeal, the D.C. Circuit held for the DHS but said that the agency might still be required to disclose some portions of the protocol.”
— “In EPIC v. DHS, DC Circuit Backs Agency Secrecy on ‘Internet Kill Switch,'” EPIC.org
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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