The last few months of Mozilla news hasn’t all been exactly positive. The once beloved company is fighting to keep its head above water as well as retain its open and anti-corporate identity.
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain
Just over a month ago, Mozilla laid off 250 employees. Understandably, 2020 has been a challenging time for many companies. However, the layoffs were not due to the pandemic or any other reason, the poor executive leadership at Mozilla is to blame.
The writing has been on the wall with this one since Joe Rogan announced his $100 million-dollar multi-year Spotify exclusive deal in May 2020. The Joe Rogan catalogue if you look back far enough is all but certain to have some content that people would find offensive.
Some staff are internally are fighting against content in Joe’s back catalogue which they deem to be transphobic. There is a particular episode where Joe interviews an author who wrote a book comparing transitioning to eating disorders and self-harm, as well as comments made by Joe himself which many have deemed offensive.
After raising the prices of its premium tier last year, Netflix is now raising the prices for its basic and standard plans over the coming weeks for existing members and effective immediately for new signups. The basic plan is going up by $1 to $10.99 and the standard plan increasing by $2 to $15.99.
I do find it quite strange that Netflix would increase the prices of its streaming service during a pandemic, and furthermore, at a time when Australia officially entered recession not too long ago where the economy contracted seven per cent.
I have been solely a front-end developer for six years now and while I can still find my way around on the backend (with Node and PHP) my interest in the backend has all but faded.
This is where platforms like Firebase are a real asset for developers like me.
It is no secret the front-end has become complicated, if you’re not fighting a framework or library for control, you’re debugging confusing TypeScript error messages or trying to get Webpack configured. While the backend is a little more straightforward from a lack of new things to learn every five minutes like the front-end, it’s just another thing to worry about.
It’s hard to deny that Elon Musk’s brand of futuristic dreamer type thinking is not contagious. I, for one, am excited about the future of electrical vehicles and the innovation brought about by Tesla is undeniable.
But, I want to talk about one of Elon’s most bizarre product ideas: Neuralink.
Brain implants, dude.
Allegedly, it’ll cure everything from neurological disorders to autism. And what futuristic brain-computer would be complete without the ability to use it to listen to music as well?
I made a realisation the other day, I own a lot of games. Not just on PC, but on my Nintendo Switch as well. Of all of the games I own, I’ve played maybe a few hours of a couple in 2020, but for the most part, haven’t really spent much time gaming whatsoever.
And it isn’t for lack of trying.
I recently bought the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 remastered version and I was instantly taken back to my youth, the days where I could game all day and then all night, get up and go to school the next day and somehow function.
There has been plenty of talk and speculation for years about what a Grand Theft Auto 6 game could look like, what world it would be set in and how it might work. It’s not an industry secret that GTA V is a money-making machine, still making a tidy profit in the seven years it has been out.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was recently released and it is a next-gen marvel. The game uses a combination of real-life data (Bing Maps run through a 3D algorithm) combined with real weather and air traffic, you’re flying in a realistic living world.
Not that kind of scraping.
If you’re a developer, chances are in your career you’ve written a web scraper before. You either did it for a personal project, learning exercise or you were asked by someone else to build a scraper. My first freelancer job was a scraper on Freelancer.com years and years ago.
There is often confusion around the legality of scraping and it’s not illegal to scrape public data. This was further reinforced by the case of hiQ vs LinkedIn which ruled it is legal to scrape public data.
Well, it has barely been a day with Joe Rogan starting his new $100 million dollars multi-year deal with Spotify and already the move is already generating controversy.
Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that there are numerous existing Joe Rogan podcast episodes missing from Spotify, perhaps most notably are the infamous and highly entertaining Alex Jones episodes. A Reddit thread has compiled a list of missing names and there are some recurring guests that come up.
If you’ve been following any tech news for the last few weeks, you have probably heard about the TikTok situation unfolding in the US where Donald Trump via executive order is forcing a sale of TikTok in the US or banning it.
To say that 2020 has been a wild and unprecedented year is an understatement. TikTok has been a source of entertainment for those staying at home as the COVID-19 pandemic closes down schools, states, countries and limits movement.