Discussions

Alibaba is bringing poker to China, where gambling is illegal

Gambling is illegal in mainland China. Outside the two national lotteries and freewheeling city of Macau, anyone looking to scratch their betting itch had better do so in hiding. That’s why Alibaba’s recent deal to bring poker to China raised a few eyebrows – but there’s more to it than the headline.https://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-match-poker-gambling-china

Cybersecurity and transportation

Using gamification to improve transportation systems One of the major challenges that almost every big metropolis in the world is dealing with is the issue of congestion during peak hours. Most municipalities deal with this by investing in improved infrastructure, but this demands significant resources in both time and money. In the meantime, citizens are left frustrated with the existing transportation solutions.http://www.gameffective.com/cybersecurity-and-transportation-june-gamification-roundup/

Improvements for smaller app downloads on Google Play

Google Play continues to grow rapidly, as Android users installed over 65 billion apps in the last year from the Google Play Store. We’re also seeing developers move to update their apps more frequently to push great new content, patch security vulnerabilities, and iterate quickly on user feedback. However, many users are sensitive to the amount of data they use, especially if they are not on Wi-Fi. Google Play is investing in improvements to reduce the data that needs to be transferred for app installs and updates, while making data cost more transparent to users. Read on to understand the updates and learn some tips for ways to optimize the size of your APK.http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/07/improvements-for-smaller-app-downloads.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FhsDu+%28Android+Developers+Blog%29

Android Developer Story: StoryToys finds success in the ‘Family’ section on Google Play

Based in Dublin, Ireland, StoryToys is a leading publisher of interactive books and games for children. Like most kids’ app developers, they faced the challenges of engaging with the right audiences to get their content discovered. Since the launch of the Family section on Google Play, StoryToys has experienced an uplift of 270% in revenue and an increase of 1300% in downloads. Hear Emmet O’Neill, Chief Product Officer, and Gavin Barrett, Commercial Director, discuss how the Family section creates a trusted and creative space for families to find new content. Also hear how beta testing, localized pricing and more, has allowed StoryToy’s flagship app, My Very Hungry Caterpillar, to significantly increase engagement and revenue.http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/07/android-developer-story-storytoys-finds.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FhsDu+%28Android+Developers+Blog%29

22 of 28 Russian rowers banned from Rio Games

Lausanne (AFP) - Rowing's international governing body FISA announced on Tuesday that 22 of 28 Russian rowers have been banned from competing in the Rio Games, based on criteria fixed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over state-sponsored doping in Russia. With just six rowers still eligible, Russia can only compete with one boat in Brazil, a men's coxless four, FISA said, after the country had originally qualified five boats. This follows FISA's announcement on Monday that three Russian rowers -- Ivan Balandin, Anastasia Karabelshchikova and Ivan Podshivalov -- would be barred from competing in Rio. Podshivalov and Karabelshchikova are not eligible because of past doping offences for which they served suspensions in 2007 and 2008, FISA said.http://sports.yahoo.com/news/22-28-russian-rowers-banned-rio-games-federation-180801090--oly.html;_ylt=AwrBT83Yp5dX7AMAKcBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyaHZjYzhtBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjE4NzlfMQRzZWMDc2M-

Face Plants, Fire Extinguishers and Other Fails: The Olympic Torch Stumbles Toward Rio

The torch relay for the Rio Olympic Games has been a sport of its own — a contact sport. The torch began its trip around Brazil in early May. And it has not been an entirely smooth journey. When nonathletic people of all ages try something outside their comfort zone, like running with a torch for a few hundred yards, things can go wrong. There are also enough people who object to the Brazilian government’s spending money on the Games — and enough general pranksters — that disruptions have occurred, despite heavy security.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/sports/olympics/olympic-torch-relay-fails-and-crashes.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Twitter signs deal with NHL and MLB to livestream games

Twitter has struck a deal to livestream some NHL and Major League Baseball games for free, but Canada will be shut out for the most part. Twitter Inc. announced Monday it will stream one weekly out-of-market hockey and baseball game per week, and will also create a nightly sports highlights show, The Rally, which will be streamed free daily. "Twitter has long been a great partner and platform for both baseball and hockey fans as they follow their favourite teams and players every day," said Kenny Gersh, a spokeman with MLB's media division. "We know fans will embrace what this wide-ranging partnership brings – expanded and reliable access to live baseball and hockey and the introduction of Twitter's first daily live highlight show delivered intuitively to a platform where they're actively engaged with the games."http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-sports-streaming-1.3694452

About 20 percent of Russia's Olympic team barred from Rio so far

MOSCOW -- At least 105 athletes from the 387-strong Russian Olympic team announced last week have been barred from the Rio Games in connection with the country's doping scandal. International federations in canoeing, sailing and modern pentathlon ruled out eight on Tuesday, including an Olympic gold medalist. Rowing added 19 more athletes to three that had previously been announced. Swimming has also barred some athletes. Some appeals are likely. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Putin had discussed the doping issue with his national security council. "The topic of the recent International Olympic Committee ruling relating to Russian athletes was raised ahead of Putin's planned meeting tomorrow with the Russian Olympic team," Peskov was quoted as saying.http://www.cbsnews.com/news/about-20-percent-russia-olympic-team-barred-rio-games-so-far/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=26966198

A bathhouse visit, great food and Soviet-era video games

It’s the simple things that sometimes present the biggest challenges. I was looking for a way to get to the Four Seasons Moscow, a huge beige box of a building that skirts Red Square in central Moscow — but I couldn’t figure out how to get across the road. The broad Mokhovaya Street stood in my way, imposing, and there were no crosswalks to be found. Jaywalking seemed inadvisable — no one else was doing it, so I wasn’t about to, either. A stairway that led down to a passage under the street eventually got me to my destination, late to my meeting with Gleb Kryuchkov, chief concierge at the hotel, where rooms are decidedly not frugal.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/travel/budget-travel-moscow-russia.html?smid=tw-nytimestravel&smtyp=cur

This Stunning Bridge Proposal for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games Was Inspired by the Olympic Rings

The San Shan Bridge, designed for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, is a stunning piece of infrastructure inspired by the Olympic rings. The bridge proposal by the Beijing- and Vienna-based firm Penda in conjunction with Arup engineers is on the shortlist for this year’s World Architecture Festival.http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2016/07/26/san_shan_bridge_is_a_stunning_piece_of_beijing_winter_games_infrastructure.html

Do video games lead to violence?

The 18-year old gunman who killed nine people in Munich, Germany, on Friday was a fan of first-person shooter video games, according to reports. This detail in the unspooling story of the rampage led many to worry that violent video games may be negatively affecting their own children. What is the truth? Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics take a firm stance against children and teens playing violent video games.http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html

Twitter to live stream weekly out-of-market baseball, hockey games

Twitter announced Monday it will live stream weekly out-of-market MLB and NHL games. In addition, Twitter is also launching a live, nightly streaming show covering multiple sports called The Rally, produced by over-the-top sports network 120 Sports. The once-a-week out-of-market baseball and hockey games will be available free for logged-in and logged-out U.S. Twitter users with MLB games available worldwide, except in select international territories. The schedule of games streaming on Twitter will be announced at a later date. The streaming rights for MLB and NHL games and 120 Sports content come through Twitter's new partnership with MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media and internet company of the professional baseball league.http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/twitter-live-stream-weekly-market-914167?utm_source=twitter

Facebook will start streaming basketball games as a run-up to the Olympics

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER’S live video rivalry goes beyond Periscope and Facebook Live. Both social platforms are also duking it out over live sports broadcasts from major organizations. Over the next two weeks, the NBA and USA Basketball will be live-streaming a mix of nine men’s and women’s exhibition games. You’ll be able to watch Kyrie Irving, Maya Moore, Boogie Cousins, and Elena Delle Donne take on the likes of Argentina, China, and France, all from the comfort of your News Feed. The games will be streamed on the Facebook pages for USA Basketball and the NBA, and they may show up as promoted posts in your feed, too.http://www.wired.com/2016/07/usa-basketball-exhibition-games-will-stream-live-facebook/?mbid=social_twitter

Ubuntu Linux Forum Hacked! Once Again

No software is immune to being Hacked! Not even Linux. The Ubuntu online forums have been hacked, and data belonging to over 2 Million users have been compromised, Canonical just announced. The compromised users’ data include their IP addresses, usernames, and email addresses, according to the company, who failed to apply a patch to secure its users' data.http://thehackernews.com/2016/07/ubuntu-hacked.html

Notice of Ubuntu Forums breach; user passwords not compromised

There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums site. We take information security and user privacy very seriously, follow a strict set of security practices and this incident has triggered a thorough investigation. Corrective action has been taken, and full service of the Forums has been restored. In the interest of transparency, we’d like to share the details of the breach and what steps have been taken. While user data such as email addresses was exposed, no passwords were compromised. We apologise for the breach and ensuing inconvenience.https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/07/15/notice-of-security-breach-on-ubuntu-forums/

Top 5 Discussion Forums for Bloggers For Self Promotion

Top 5 Discussion Forums for Bloggers For Self Promotionhttp://www.bloggingehow.com/

Social networks need to be more like online forums

Social networks are the modern day watering holes for the internet. But back in the '90s, I didn't have Twitter and Facebook. Instead, my destination was the online forum, a site where I could discuss a variety of topics in the form of posted messages (hence the term "message board"). Be it a bulletin board system (BBS) or a Usenet news group, these message boards were my first introduction to the social web. They're still around today of course, but I've largely stopped using these forums in favor of the aforementioned social networks. But there is one thing I do miss about them: a sense of community.https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/01/social-networks-need-to-be-more-like-online-forums/

F1 sound on the cheap, ugly history, Evo vs. Focus RS and more: This Week On The Forums

Eating a meal with young children is seldom a relaxing or enjoyable experience. But feeding wee ones after they've seen a personified potato have its skin peeled off and baby carrots get eaten alive? That's likely even less fun. Unfortunately, some parents now face that challenge, because as The Guardian reported this week, a California theater recently showed an audience set to see Finding Dory a trailer for Sausage Party, a new animated film that's about as suitable for children as bourbon. I can laugh because I don't have kids. Here's what else happened this week:https://epicenter.epictions.com/epicbeat/exploreAll/?query=forums&stream_id=epicbeat&stream_type=general&timeRange=720&tab=content

Everything we love to eat is a scam

Among the many things New Yorkers pride ourselves on is food: making it, selling it and consuming only the best, from single-slice pizza to four-star sushi. We have fish markets, Shake Shacks and, as of this year, 74 Michelin-starred restaurants. Yet most everything we eat is fraudulent. In his new book, “Real Food Fake Food,” author Larry Olmsted exposes the breadth of counterfeit foods we’re unknowingly eating. After reading it, you’ll want to be fed intravenously for the rest of your life.http://nypost.com/2016/07/10/the-truth-behind-how-were-scammed-into-eating-phony-food/

Top 10: World's Best Chocolate Shops

While several European countries are known for their fabulous chocolate-making, the world hosts thousands of exceptional chocolatiers—in some unexpected places. Top chocolatiers generally work with couverture (first-rate chocolate containing a high percentage of cocoa butter) to make their creations, versus fresh cocoa beans, although an increasing number now experiment with bean to bar. Some makers even grow their own cacao beans. Direct contact between growers and makers is the best-case scenario for sustainable, or at the very least fair trade, chocolate.http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/worlds-best-chocolate-shops/