Linked List: November 18, 2013

Monday, 18 November 2013

Google Fined $17 Million in Multistate Settlement Over Tracking of Consumers 

Reuters:

Google Inc will pay $17 million to settle allegations by 37 states and the District of Colombia that it secretly tracked Web users by placing special digital files on the Web browsers of their smartphones.

The deal, announced Monday morning, ends a nearly two-year probe by the states into allegations that Google bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple Inc’s Safari Web browser by placing “cookies” into the browser. [...] The Safari Web browser used on iPhones and iPads automatically blocks third-party cookies, but Google altered the computer code of its cookies and was able to circumvent the blocks between June 2011 and February 2012, according to the states’ allegations.

A $17 million fine will really teach Google a lesson. It takes them almost two hours to generate that in revenue.

Apple’s Clean Energy Infrastructure in North Carolina 

Katie Fehrenbacher:

In an unprecedented move — and one that hasn’t yet been repeated by other companies — Apple spent millions of dollars building two massive solar panel farms and a large fuel cell farm near its data center. These projects and are now fully operational and similar facilities (owned by utilities) have cost in a range of $150 million to $200 million to build. Apple’s are the largest privately-owned clean energy facilities in the U.S. and more importantly, they represent an entirely new way for an internet company to source and think about power.

The photos really show the scale of this endeavor.

Football as Football 

NFL team logos reimagined as European football club badges.

Scientists Invent Self-Healing Battery Electrode 

Could be a huge advance in battery durability.

‘I Wouldn’t Compete With “The Elements of Style”; I Would Complement It.’ 

Also related to this week’s The Talk Show, a re-link from 2009: William Zinsser on keeping On Writing Well up-to-date. It’s my (and Merlin’s) favorite book on writing.

Touch ID and ‘Require Passcode: Immediately’ 

Dan Stillman:

For people used to the iOS passcode lock, the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5S, which Apple calls Touch ID, comes with a significant drawback: with Touch ID enabled, it’s no longer possible to set the amount of time since the screen last turned off before the passcode — or, now, Touch ID — is required to unlock the device.

I like his proposal for how Apple could improve this:

So what’s the solution, then? The Require Passcode setting should be separated from Touch ID. The previous timed options should be restored, but, true to the setting’s name, the timer should determine solely whether the passcode keypad appears or whether the phone unlocks immediately when the user slides to unlock. Touch ID, meanwhile, should remain operative on the lock screen at all times, even when sliding to unlock would be sufficient.

(Via Michael Tsai.)

The Great Discontent: Merlin Mann 

Speaking of Merlin Mann, Tina Essmaker has an interview with him at The Great Discontent. Very thoughtful, very funny.

‘My_Feedback.ppt’ 

This week’s episode of my podcast, The Talk Show, featuring very special guest Merlin Mann. We discuss presentation slides, the new iPads, the making of the Major League Baseball schedule, and Malcolm Gladwell.

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