JavaScript Toolkit V1.1.0 Released

23584970 story Posted by timothy on Friday September 02, @08:03PM
from the new-toolkit-to-blame dept. First time accepted submitter Mensa Babe writes "Oliver Morgan, the original author of the JavaScript Toolkit, or just 'The Toolkit' as it is known in the JavaScript community, has just announced the release of the long awaited version 1.1.0, with better documentation and added function support. Quoting the project documentation: '[JavaScript] Toolkit offers a large number of integrated methods and utilities to help enrich the javascript object library. Javascript was built originally for browsers and as such lacks a large number of data utility methods with are seen in languages such as Python and Ruby. However times have changed and JavaScript is being used more and more in backend platforms. JS Toolkit aims to bridge that gap and provide everyone a modern developer needs to produce fast, secure and tidy code quick and easily.' The Toolkit fully supports ECMAScript 5 and runs on the most important virtual machines that we have today, including Node.JS, V8, Rhino, RingoJS, and many others. It continues to be actively developed."

internet software upgrades

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PostSecret App Brings Postcard Blog to Smartphones

The new PostSecret iPhone app will allow users to find secrets posted near their current locations.

PostSecret started with people mailing postcards spilling their deepest, darkest, most private thoughts to founder Frank Warren, who published the most intriguing ones on his blog. Now that intimate and anonymous exchange is going mobile with an app that could fundamentally change the crowd-powered art project.

The PostSecret app, scheduled to be released Sunday, will let users take photos with their phones, add 140 characters worth of “secret” and upload everything anonymously to the PostSecret mobile community. Users of the app can then look through the intimate messages and “heart” them, comment on them or add their own secret posts.

It’s a big leap for a successful crowdsourced website that’s always been dependent on the postal service.

“This could be the death of the PostSecret blog,” Warren said in an interview with Wired.com. “My father was visiting with me last week and he said, ‘Frank, I don’t think you realize this but with the PostSecret app, people aren’t going to need you anymore, they’re not going to send postcards, it’s not going to be on the web anymore; it’s going to be on these mobile devices.”

Because the app is mobile, users will be able to tag the locations of their secrets. They won’t have to say exactly where they are, but can pick a nearby location to tag the submission with. The intentionally simple app will also feature Instagram-esque options like photo filters and the ability to make the post less-than-secret by feeding it to Facebook, Twitter or to an e-mail address.

At a time when we often don’t know if our connection to our gadgets is pulling us away from actual human interaction or revealing too much about who we are and where we go, creating an app that collects our most intimate secrets and keeps us anonymous — while simultaneously making us feel closer — could prove to be a welcome relief.

Or it could become a secret-spilling powder keg. Warren is well aware that providing too open of a forum could lead to disasters, but said he hopes users will decide what the best use of the app is.

“There have been apps in the past or websites that have been very popular on college campuses, where it got kind of out control and people were using it to bully or say slanderous things,” Warren said. “We want to make sure the way the app is used is in the best interest of the community.”

To that end, users will be able to flag inappropriate content if they think a post is bullying or damaging. To protect themselves, users, who post anonymously (the app doesn’t require an e-mail address), have the option to remove posts they regret. They can also set their phones to “forget” things as soon as they’re posted, so there’s no evidence on their devices.

‘Maybe there’s a way we could identify a certain college that might be struggling with abuse issues or people thinking about suicide.’

Ultimately, Warren said he hopes the app will serve a greater purpose than just allowing users to confess their sins or share their sexploits.

“Right now I’m looking at a stack of over a half-million postcards — it’s a huge singular resource, but it’s kind of stagnant,” Warren said. “If we could have that information be dynamic like it’ll be in the app, it allows us to think further down the road. Like the way Google can identify where flu is breaking out based upon searches — maybe there’s a way we could identify a certain college that might be struggling with abuse issues or people thinking about suicide, and we could alert the school to make resources available in real time.”

That’s a big ambition. But then again, so was asking total strangers to mail you the things they’ve never told anyone.

The PostSecret app will be available for iPhone (an Android version is coming soon) on Sunday for $2.

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Wednesday links: a risk reversal

Quote of the day

Barry Ritholtz, “The US banking sector is not healthy.”  (Big Picture)

Chart of the day

Intel ($INTC) has a higher dividend yield than Consolidated Edison ($ED).  (Ticker Sense)

Markets

The market seems to be tracing out a higher low.  (Crossing Wall Street, TheArmoTrader)

Is the Brazilian stock market down 25% a buy?  (FT Tilt)

ETF investors are just as nervous as mutual fund investors.  (IndexUniverse)

How long before so-called ‘double-decker funds‘ come to the US?  (WSJ)

Strategy

There is not one beta, but many betas.  (All About Alpha)

On the importance of trend following.  (Pragmatic Capitalism)

The nuance behind the practice of portfolio rebalancing.  (ETF Replay)

What capitulation looks like.  (DowntownTrader)

Unconventional wisdom

Commission-free ETFs are not necessarily cheap.  (Wealthfront)

Individual investors has some very real advantages over professional investors.  (Minyanville)

Don’t believe the hype from system salesmen.  (Peter L. Brandt)

Why writing headlines about market action is a suckers game.  (A Dash of Insight)

Companies

Product momentum is now more important than ever in the tech sector.  (NYTimes)

Kindle Plus:  how Amazon ($AMZN) could create a viable competitor to the iPad.  (Slate)

The regulations surrounding mobile payments is exceedingly complicated.  (Felix Salmon)

Caterpillar ($CAT) as a bellwether for global growth.  (research puzzle pix)

Finance

Why bank stock prices matter.  (NetNet also FT Alphaville)

NYSE vs. Nasdaq for the big tech IPOs.  (Institutional Investor)

Complex products work for the banks, but not their customers.  (Expect[ed] Loss)

What goes on behind the scenes when a broker leaves a firm.  (I Heart Wall Street)

Global

Japan is pulling out some unconventional tools to offset the strong Yen. (WSJ, HuffPo, The Source)

China has had enough of the Euro.  (The Source)

What the case of Italy tells us about the Eurozone crisis.  (Curious Capitalist)

The global economy could take any number of diverging paths.  (Deus ex Macchiato)

Economy

Where QE2 went off the rails.  (FT Alphaville)

Durable and capital goods orders don’t point toward a recession, yet. (Capital Spectator, CBP)

The Baltic Dry Index is showing signs of life.  (MarketBeat)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What you missed in our Wednesday morning linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Too bad the country of Greece isn’t earning royalties off increasingly popular Greek yogurt.  (Atlantic Business)

Feeling a bit chunky?  Blame the bear market.  (LiveScience)

Abnormal Returns is a founding member of the StockTwits Blog Network.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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Did Apple Impersonate Police To Recover the Lost iPhone 5?

23582072 story Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 02, @04:34PM
from the yes-no-maybe dept. zacharye writes "This whole lost iPhone 5 prototype story just got whole lot more interesting. According to SF Weekly, six investigators claiming to be members of the San Francisco police department descended upon one Bernal Heights, San Francisco man's home in search of a lost iPhone 5 prototype that CNET originally reported had been left in a bar. The scary part? The SFPD does not seem to be aware of such an investigation. Instead, it appears as though they may have actually been members of Apple's security team allegedly impersonating police officers." So far this claim seems to be developing solely through media communications; in order for the SFPD to start an investigation, the man whose house was searched would need to speak with the police directly.

apple iphone sfpd

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How to See a Supernova This Weekend From Your Backyard

Starting this weekend, the closest supernova found in at least 25 years will be visible from your backyard with just binoculars or a small telescope. The exploding white dwarf star is currently brightening in the Pinwheel Galaxy, nestled, from our perspective, within the Big Dipper.

Astronomers found the type Ia supernova Aug. 24 within hours, they believe, of its explosion. The team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley, credit the early detection to a specialized survey telescope at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California and advanced computing.

Most supernovas spotted at the Palomar Observatory are around 1 billion light-years away, far too distant to be seen by amateurs. At only 21 million light-years away, the newly discovered, violently exploding star is a close cosmic neighbor. In the video above Berkeley Lab’s Peter Nugent describes how to spot this supernova, set to reach peak brightness Sep. 9.

Video: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.Danielle Venton is a science writer who fosters a special love for bugs, plants, mountains, books and gorgeous space photos. She likes writing with a fountain pen and hopes to walk across the Himalayas one day.
Follow @DanielleVenton on Twitter.

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The diversification debate

I always find it interesting when two of my favorite bloggers come out on opposite sides of a topic at the very same time.  Today the topic is diversification.  First up Howard Lindzon with one of his rules for investing:

2. Diversification is overrated. Bill Gates is only diversified because he has money managers and an estate plan to think about. You don’t have that problem.

Next up Carl Richards writing at the Bucks Blog on the so-called “lost decade for stocks”:

Clearly things were bad for the S.&P. 500 during the past decade, but singling out one market to declare a decade of investing as “lost” ignores the reality: a broadly diversified portfolio can deliver respectable returns even if individual classes perform poorly.

First off both pieces are worth reading in their entirety.  Allow me to split hairs here.  Carl is correct that a broadly diversified portfolio is the best solution for the vast majority of investors.  Howard’s advice is targeted more towards intrepid investors, like himself.  In that sense both bloggers can be correct.

This highlights one of the great challenges of the investment blogosphere.  Bloggers come at topics with different experiences, perspective and audiences in mind.  Readers need to do their part in understanding the perspective of the blogger before they can truly understand their advice.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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Friday 7atSeven: the volatility zone

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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