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9/29/2015
9/27/2015
Facebook to Help Connect Refugee Camps to Internet
Mark Zuckerberg with President Xi Jinping of China on Wednesday. Credit
Pool photo by Ted S. Warren
Mark Zuckeberg, chief executive of Facebook, will help the United Nations bring Internet connections to refugee camps.
“It’s not all altruism,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in
an implicit acknowledgment that drawing new users to his service is also good
for Facebook’s bottom line. “We all benefit when we are more connected.”
Where and how Facebook will work
with refugee camps, he did not say.
Mr.
Zuckerberg’s remarks came at a lunch hosted by the United Nations Private
Sector Forum at the world body’s headquarters. It was attended by government
leaders and business executives.
One of the speakers was Angela
Merkel, the chancellor of Germany. Mr.
Zuckerberg sat next to her. His company has faced a rash of legal
trouble across Europe, including in Germany, over privacy concerns.
The connectivity ambitions are at
the center of Mr. Zuckerberg’s advocacy effort, Internet.org, whose goal is to
offer Internet access to about four billion people in the world who cannot
afford smartphones or do not live near fiber-optic cable lines or cell towers.
Internet.org teamed up with phone carriers to offer free access to Facebook and
other websites in developing countries like India.
In the courtyard of the General
Assembly building this past week, Facebook displayed pieces of the gigantic
drone that it is building to beam Wi-Fi connections to places that have none.
The drone is as big as a Boeing 737 and is solar-powered. It is one of several
efforts underway by technology companies to spread the Internet to unconnected
parts of the world.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s remarks coincided
with a petition that he began with the entertainer Bono, the philanthropist Mo
Ibrahim and others to expand connectivity, calling Internet access “essential”
and describing it as “an enabler of human rights.”
Soma Oil Company denies accusations (video)
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Facebook launches immersive 360 video
Facebook has launched a new type of
video that will take its users one step closer to the immersive experience of
virtual reality.
The new video, dubbed “360 video”,
allows users to change perspectives within a video by moving their cursor or
finger on the image as the video plays. It could be a first step toward
integrating some of Facebook’s content with virtual reality products.
While most of the images posted to
Facebook are taken with smartphones, 360-degree videos require dedicated
cameras, limiting the potential supply of content for the new feature.
The launch comes at a time when tech
titans are investing in virtual reality and augmented reality. Both GoPro and
Nokia have launched virtual-reality camera rigs that can record spherical
videos such as those now displayed on Facebook. Sony is preparing to launch a
virtual reality headset, called PlayStation VR, next year. Google has teamed up
with GoPro to launch Jump, a spherical video project, while Microsoft unveiled the HoloLens earlier this year.
Google’s YouTube introduced 360-degree
video support in March and announced it was working on spherical video. The
first such videos will show up in users news feeds today. The first
spherical videos show deep-sea divers
swimming with sharks (Discovery TV Network) and Star Wars "The force awakens" (Lucasfilm's special effects team ILMxLAB).
You can also watch the videos by clicking on the titles below
Shark Shipwreck and Star Wars - The Force Awakens
Swimming around the world
 |
| Martin Strel illustrates the route for his planned "Strel World Swim" at Brookfield Property Partners' site at North Cove Marina in Downtown Manhattan |
NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Strel swims
with a knife strapped to his right leg — in case he encounters sharks,
"vampire" fish and other deadly marine life in the world's wildest
waters.
On Thursday, the 60-year-old
marathon swimmer announced the toughest feat of his life: A 10,000-mile, around-the-world
voyage on water to draw public attention to increasing aquatic pollution.
"And for peace and love,"
Strel added in his native Slovenian language.
He will circle the globe in about
450 days, starting in Long Beach, California, on March 22 and passing through
oceans, rivers, canals and other bodies of water in more than 100 countries. He
will swim about 5 to 12 hours each day, depending on the weather and changing
currents. An escort boat will offer emergency support and space for small
breaks.
Strel’s nickname is “Big River Man"
because he has swum the entire length of five rivers — the piranha-infested
Amazon, the Danube in Eastern Europe, China's Yangtze, the Parana in South
America, and the Mississippi.
A native of Slovenia, a small nation
between Italy, Austria and Croatia, Strel now lives in Phoenix.
He is still finalizing details of
his next big, multimillion dollar adventure, which will include the Panama and
Suez canals, the English Channel, the Amazon again as well as the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans and the Red Sea.
Costs, including overnight
accommodations, plus food and other supplies, will largely be organized by the
Arizona-based TDG global marketing and branding firm.
Strel will not be alone in the
water. He welcomes anyone who is interested to join him for stretches of the
route, including the president of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, who is a fine swimmer.
"We'll all be discussing ecology — like how to eliminate plastics from
water."
Strel said the most dangerous fish
on the planet is the tiny candiru in South America that bores into every human
cavity, from the mouth to the ears and nose, growing by feeding on human flesh
and blood.
By comparison, he said with a laugh,
blood-thirsty piranhas "are OK" — but partially because those on the
support boat poured buckets of blood into the Amazon to draw the fish away
after they attacked him.
As for sharks, Strel said they have
left him alone as long as he swam in the same direction, without confronting
them. "I touch them and it's 'OK! I'm your friend."
9/21/2015
9/20/2015
iPhone Index
If you think iPhones
are pricey, spare a thought for those who have to work months to afford one.
The average New
Yorker has to work just three days to be able to buy a new iPhone 6; Beijing
residents have to spend 27 days at the office.
That's according
to a new index of pay and prices in 71 global cities, compiled by Swiss bank
UBS and published last week.
The ranking,
which is published every three years, shows the wealthy residents of Zurich
have to work the least, putting in just under 21 hours on the job before
earning the cash for the must-have gadget.
Londoners have to
slog a little more -- 41 hours -- while workers in Mexico City have to put in
well over 200 hours, putting the luxury item out of reach for many.
The researchers
found that Kiev has the worst iPhone affordability -- Ukrainians have to work
an average of 627 hours -- or 78 days.
In Nairobi and
Jakarta they have to clock up 468 hours, or nearly 59 days.
Below is a list
of the working hours required to buy an iPhone 6 (16GB) in each of these global
cities, according to UBS:
- Athens - 98.2 hours
- Bangkok - 149.6 hours
- Beijing - 217.8 hours
- Chicago - 28.4 hours
- Geneva - 21.6 hours
- Hong Kong - 51.9 hours
- Jakarta - 468 hours
- Kiev - 627.2 hours
- London - 41.2 hours
- Los Angeles - 27.2 hours
- Mexico City - 217.6 hours
- Miami - 27 hours
- Moscow - 158.3 hours
- Nairobi - 468 hours
- New Delhi - 360.3 hours
- New York City - 24 hours
- Paris - 42.2 hours
- Rio de Janeiro - 139.9 hours
- Rome - 53.7 hours
- Shanghai - 163.8 hours
- Sydney - 34 hours
- Tel Aviv - 75.3 hours
- Tokyo - 40.5 hours
- Toronto - 37.2 hours
- Zurich - 20.6 hours
edited from CNN
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