Moonshots Beyond the Cloud

Some time ago the failure rate of the fingerprint sensor of my Pixel 2 XL Android phone got worse. The device was failing to recognize my fingerprint more and more. Two simple things I did fixed the issue, here they are in case you experience something similar. The first was to clean up the fingerprint sensor . I had been using the phone for a year or so and the sensor had likely gathered significant dirt. Another thing I did was to scan more fingerprints of the same finger to increase the recognition accuracy. 2-3 scans of the same finger should be enough, try more if there is little or no improvement. You may want to scan also a different finger.

The Carnival of the Indies  is a blog carnival for indie authors. Every month the blog The Book Designer posts a collection of links to selected posts by indie authors on industry-related topics such as book design and production, success stories, writing tools and tips, and more. I closely follow this resource packed with valuable information and now I’ve had the opportunity to contribute. Issue #107 (August 2019) of the Carnival of the Indies  includes (under Book Design and Production) a link to a post to my blog, Leanpub and Lean Publishing . It’s an overview for authors who are not familiar with the process and the platform.

Google Blogger turned 20. It was actually Pyra Labs that launched the blogging platform on August 23, 1999 before Google acquired it in 2003. Peggy K celebrated the 20th anniversary of Blogger by briefly telling its history, which is part of the history of blogging, and explains why it’s still worth blogging and using Blogger in this social era. Peggy wrote: While it feels like social media has taken over much of publishing over the past decade, the tide may be turning. As there have been increasing concerns about privacy breaches, harassment and fickle algorithms on Facebook and Twitter, there are rumblings that blogging is making a comeback. I recently came back to Blogger and my motivations are similar to Peggy’s, such as Blogger having the features I need and being integrated in the Google ecosystem. I also share her hope the tide may be turning and blogging may be making a comeback, or at least growing a little more visible and relevant. What about the future of Blogger...

I left the Vodafone store at a shopping mall near Milan, Italy, in the early afternoon of a summer day. Precisely at 02:24pm on August 26, 2009, as printed on the receipt of the HTC Magic Android smartphone I had just bought for €449. It was my first Android device, 10 years ago today. The purchase receipt of my first Android device, an HTC Magic smartphone. I bought it for €449 at 02:24pm on August 26, 2009. Google unveiled Android in November 2007 and HTC released the first consumer Android device in September 2008. I’d say I qualify as an early adopter . Until that summer I had owned two feature phones, an Ericsson R320s and a Nokia 6151. WAP2 on the Nokia seemed an experience straight out of science fiction. But there were things I wanted on the go that only a smartphone could do easily, such as email, Twitter, and real-time text chat. Although the iPhone was already popular, Android looked promising and as a Google enthusiast I was committed to its ecosystem. The HTC ...

Many Android developers make the changelogs of Play Store apps useless by skipping them or providing uninformative fluff. Google isn't setting high standards either. It’s time to improve changelogs or make them go away . Or perhaps turn changelogs into an opportunity. A typical Android user may get half a dozen updates per day. With no changelogs or some indication of what changed, no user is going to check every feature of every updated app just to figure out what's new. Although not many users may read changelogs, those who do can help promote an app and generate buzz around it . Think for example of the tech bloggers, YouTubers, and journalists who report on what new features come with app updates. Or the power users who let their friends and social followers know about cool new features. In these days of visibility challenges and millions of apps in the Play Store, the information on updates can help spread the voice about apps and make them stand out. Changelogs ...

Markus Pössel posted the review paper A Beginner’s Guide to Working with Astronomical Data . It’s a comprehensive overview of processing astronomical images, spectra, and catalog data with application software and the Python programming language. The paper also covers simulations and simulated data. The value of this paper is it distills into a single resource a lot of material available elsewhere, and provides guidance on getting started with the major categories of astronomical data.

Google has updated the Chromebooks landing page and is doing a Chrome OS marketing campaign . These promotional activities focus on consumers and switching to a Chromebook from a traditional desktop operating system. Hallelujah! So far Google targeted Chromebooks to the educational and corporate worlds, where it was easier to get a head start, and more recently to creators. But it has always been in the consumer space where Chromebooks can provide significant benefits to the majority of ordinary desktop users at home. They spend most of the time in a browser anyway and Chrome OS offers additional advantages such as nearly no maintenance, simplicity, improved security, unobtrusive system updates, affordability, and more. Now, if only Google could make it easier for consumers to buy Chromebooks outside of the US...