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“Gadgets aren’t fun anymore,” sighed my wife, watching me tap away on my Palm Zire 72 as she sat on the couch with her MacBook Air, an iPhone, and an Apple Watch.
And it’s true: The smartphone has all but eliminated entire classes of gadgets, from point-and-shoot cameras to MP3 players, GPS maps, and even flashlights. But arguably no style of gadget has been so thoroughly superseded as the personal digital assistant, the handheld computer that dominated the late '90s and early 2000s. The PDA even set the template for how its smartphone successors would render it obsolete, moving from simple personal information management to encompass games, messaging, music, and photos.
But just as smartphones would do, PDAs offered a dizzying array of operating systems and applications, and a great many of them ran Palm OS. (I bought my first Palm, an m505, new in 2001, upgrading from an HP 95LX.) Naturally, there’s no way we could enumerate every single such device in this article. So in this Ars retrospective, we’ll look back at some notable examples of the technical evolution of the Palm operating system and the devices that ran it—and how they paved the way for what we use now.
Sous pression de l'Union européenne, TikTok renonce au système de récompenses de TikTok Lite, jugé trop addictif et dangereux pour la santé mentale des enfants. La fonction va disparaître en France et en Espagne.
At the Raspberry Pi Foundation, we aim to democratise access to digital skills and technologies. One of the ways we do this is via partnerships with youth and community organisations that deliver frontline services to young people experiencing educational disadvantage.
In 2023 we delivered a hybrid training programme to 14 youth organisations in the UK to help youth leaders and educators incorporate coding and digital making activities into their provision to young people. The training programme was supported by Amazon Future Engineer. In this blog, we summarise what we’ve learned from our evaluation of the training and its impact.
In total, 29 youth leaders and educators participated in the training, which consisted of 12 modules delivered across 4 online sessions and one in-person day. We asked participants to complete surveys at several points throughout the programme to enable us to explore their feedback, the training’s impact on their confidence in facilitating computing sessions, and their experiences of running activities with young people.
The educators on this programme were already well motivated to run digital making sessions. But one of the main challenges youth organisations report to us most often is that their staff and volunteers need more confidence in their ability to deliver coding activities on an ongoing basis. It was therefore great to see that, following the training, every participant felt at least moderately prepared to run coding activities, with 2 out of every 5 participants feeling very prepared. Furthermore, we recorded positive impact of the training on participants’ readiness: after the training, 4 out of every 5 participants agreed they had the skills they needed to facilitate activities for young people.
“It was pitched right for the majority of attendees with no knowledge of Scratch[.]” – Karl Nicholson, Manchester Youth Zone
Educators found the training to be high quality and, in almost all cases, beneficial. Participants reported that attending two online sessions in preparation for the in-person training day had improved their experience of the in-person activites.
“It was really great. The online courses are excellent and being in-person to get answers to questions really helped. The tinkering was really useful and having people on hand to answer questions [was] massively helpful.” – Liam Garnett, Leeds Libraries
Some participants told us they struggled with the second online training session. This may be because it contained more challenging content: moving from block-based coding (Scratch) to text-based coding (Python), a transition we know many people new to programming can find difficult.
This feedback has helped inform the next iteration of our training programme for youth and community organisations.
Since the training, attendees across the 14 organisations have reported that, so far, 39 digital making sessions have taken place, reaching 422 young people. Youth leaders and educators who have already run sessions also told us they intend to continue with coding and digital making activities with their young people in the future.
Among these youth leaders was Marie Henry, founder of Breadline London, a grassroots charitable organisation based in Haringey, London, that supports families and young people to break the cycle of poverty through financial education, training, and practical workshops.
Since the training programme, Marie has gone on to start a regular coding club in her local area.
“We are immensely grateful to the Raspberry Pi Foundation team for their encouragement and unwavering support in empowering us to launch our own coding club. Their guidance, expertise, hands-on training workshops, and provision of essential equipment and devices have been instrumental in our journey towards building a positive community for our young coders.
With their help, we’ve gained the confidence, knowledge, and skills needed to inspire the next generation of coders and innovators. We still have a lot to learn, but with them by our side, we are confident that our coding club will be a great success.
Thank you, Raspberry Pi Foundation, for believing in our vision and helping us turn it into reality.” – Marie Henry, Founder of Breadline London
Some of the organisations that participated in the training have not yet run sessions, but plan to start delivery within the next 1 to 3 months. They continue to face some logistical challenges, ranging from staff shortages and volunteer availability, to encouraging local young people with limited prior exposure to computing to join the digital making activities. We are continuing to support these organisations to get up and running as soon as possible.
“Oh my what a great coding after school session I’ve had this afternoon…Scratch not only sets a starting point for children in their ITC learning, but is also a fun way to learn and build on skills they can take with them as they grow. Planting the seeds of aspirations!” – Heather Coultard, Doncaster Children’s University
Our previous blog highlighted the importance of increasing young people’s sense of belonging within a coding club environment, to appeal to marginalised youth. Our findings suggest we are on the right track. Overall, participants felt positive about the training and found it to be of high quality, and it has helped them to deliver digital making sessions to young people in their communities. The organisations’ detailed feedback and impact reporting will continue to inform and improve the development of our training programmes going forward.
We thank Amazon Future Engineer for helping us run this rewarding programme.
For more information about how we can support youth and community organisations in the UK in starting their coding clubs, please send us a message on the subject ‘Partnerships’.
The post Learning from our hybrid training programme for youth and community organisations appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Les sites pornographiques cherchaient à échapper au DSA, le jeune règlement européen sur les services numériques. Malgré des actions en cours, la Commission européenne a annoncé que le DSA s'impose dès maintenant à trois des plus grosses plateformes : Xvidéos, Pornhub et Stripchat.
Après Delta pour les jeux Nintendo, l'émulateur Provenance, qui supporte de très nombreuses plateformes, prépare son arrivée officielle sur l'App Store. En plus de l'iPhone, il mise sur l'Apple TV pour étendre sa notoriété.
Il arrive assez souvent qu'une application iOS soit disponible à l'étranger, mais pas en France. Heureusement, il existe une méthode simple pour accéder aux App Store des autres pays, pour pas exemple télécharger l'émulateur de jeux Nintendo « Delta ».
Poussé par le Digital Markets Act (DMA) européen, Apple a décidé d'autoriser les émulateurs sur l'App Store après 16 années de résistance. Delta, le premier d'entre eux, a fait le choix de l'App Store dans tous les pays du monde… sauf les 27 de l'Union européenne. Chez nous, il faut s'abonner à un magasin alternatif payant pour le télécharger.
Le premier concurrent de l'App Store est disponible sur les iPhone de l'Union européenne. Il coûte 1,80 euro par an, se limite à deux applications pour l'instant et ouvre la voie à des logiciels jusque-là interdits dans l'écosystème Apple.
Contraint par le DMA européen (le nouveau règlement sur la concurrence), Apple annonce l'ouverture de l'iPhone à l'installation d'applications tierces depuis des pages web. La mise à jour iOS 17.5, disponible en bêta 2 ce 16 avril, met fin à une limite de 16 ans.
Apple autorise les émulateurs sur iPhone depuis début avril 2024. L'application iGBA espérait réveiller les souvenirs des joueurs, mais a été supprimée par Apple au bout d'un week-end. En cause : un vulgaire plagiat.
Enlarge / Generic, non-Western Digital SD cards. (credit: Getty)
Western Digital plans to release the first 4TB SD card next year. On Thursday, the storage firm announced plans to demo the product in person next week.
Western Digital will launch the SD card, which follows the SD Association's Secure Digital Ultra Capacity (SDUC) standard, under its SanDisk brand and market it toward "complex media and entertainment workflows," such as those involving cameras and laptops that use high-resolution video with high framerates, the announcement said.
The spacious card will use the Ultra High Speed-1 (UHS-1) bus interface, supporting max theoretical transfer rates of up to 104 MB per second. It will support minimum write speeds of 10 MB/s, AnandTech reported. Minimum sequential write speeds are expected to reach 30 MB/s, the publication said.
Après des années de résistance, Apple autorise finalement les émulateurs sur l'App Store. Cela donne déjà quelques idées à des joueurs.
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A US judge has struck down a lawsuit brought by X against a nonprofit group that researched toxic content on the social media platform, finding the Elon Musk-owned company’s case appeared to be an attempt at “punishing” the group for exercising free speech.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate had sought to dismiss the case from X, which alleged the nonprofit unlawfully accessed and scraped X data for its studies. The CCDH found a rise in hate speech and misinformation on the platform. X had also alleged the group “cherry-picked” from posts on the platform to conduct a “scare campaign” to drive away advertisers, costing it tens of millions of dollars.
In a stinging ruling, US judge Charles Breyer in California granted the motion. “Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff’s true purpose. Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the defendants for their speech,” he wrote in the decision.
Quelques semaines après l'entrée en vigueur du Digital Markets Act (DMA), la Commission européenne va enquêter sur l'application du texte chez Alphabet, Apple et Meta. En cas de non-conformité avérée, ces entreprises pourraient être forcées à changer leurs pratiques.
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | NurPhoto / Getty Images)
X used to be called Twitter, but soon it will become "the Everything App," and that day is "closer than everyone thinks," X CEO Linda Yaccarino promised in one of her first X posts of 2024.
"Nothing can slow us down," Yaccarino said.
Turning Twitter into an everything app is arguably the reason that Elon Musk purchased Twitter. He openly craved the success of the Chinese everything app WeChat, telling Twitter staff soon after purchasing the app that "you basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success,” The Guardian reported.
Le département de la Justice des États-Unis attaque Apple. il lui reproche d'avoir entretenu un monopole illégal pour enfermer les propriétaires d'iPhone. Après une régulation historique en Europe avec le Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple pourrait être forcé à effectuer de nouveaux changements, si les États-Unis gagnent.
Grâce à un nouveau règlement européen, le DMA, Epic Games lancera prochainement son magasin d'applications sur iOS et Android, avec le retour de Fortnite sur iPhone. L'entreprise proposera aux développeurs une taxe de 12 %, soit un modèle semblable à celui d'Apple.
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)
Meta is considering cutting monthly subscription fees for Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union nearly in half to comply with the Digital Market Act (DMA), Reuters reported.
During a day-long public workshop on Meta's DMA compliance, Meta's competition and regulatory director, Tim Lamb, told the European Commission (EC) that individual subscriber fees could be slashed from 9.99 euros to 5.99 euros. Meta is hoping that reducing fees will help to speed up the EC's process for resolving Meta's compliance issues. If Meta's offer is accepted, any additional accounts would then cost 4 euros instead of 6 euros.
Lamb said that these prices are "by far the lowest end of the range that any reasonable person should be paying for services of these quality," calling it a "serious offer."
Lors d'une audition, le développeur Riley Testut, qui a fabriqué un émulateur Game Boy sur iPhone quand il était au lycée, a interrogé Apple sur la taxe de 50 centimes qui sera prélevée à chaque installation d'une application. La marque californienne se dit ouverte à des changements pour éviter de provoquer des banqueroutes.
Les navigateurs web qui concurrencent Safari sur iOS connaissent un boom. La raison ? Le Digital Markets Act (DMA) est entré en vigueur et force Apple à desserrer sa poigne sur iOS. Les internautes font le choix de Brave, Firefox ou encore Opera. Mais des interrogations perdurent.
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Apple will let European app developers distribute iPhone and iPad applications to users directly from a website, instead of through an app store. It's the latest app-installation option announced by Apple as it seeks to comply with new European rules, but this one will only be available to developers who had an app installed by over 1 million users the previous year.
In an announcement today, Apple said it plans to introduce "a new way to distribute apps directly from a developer's website." The Web Distribution option will become available after a software update "later this spring," letting developers "distribute their iOS apps to EU users directly from a website owned by the developer."
"Apple will provide authorized developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users' apps, and more," the company said.
Les effets du DMA bousculent encore Apple, l'obligeant à lâcher du lest. L'entreprise américaine annonce la possibilité prochaine de télécharger des applications directement depuis des sites web.
WhatsApp procède à une modification de l'affichage pour inclure une mention relative au chiffrement de bout en bout par défaut -- qui est en place depuis 2016 sur la messagerie. Avec l'interopérabilité, qui va autoriser des discussions avec d'autres applications, WhatsApp veut rappeler quels sont les tchats bien sécurisés.
En Europe, iOS 17.4 est sans doute une des plus grandes mises à jour de l'histoire de l'iPhone. Elle introduit plusieurs changements liés au Digital Markets Act, comme la possibilité d'installer des applications en dehors de l'App Store. D'autres nouveautés plus mineures, comme de nouveaux émojis, sont au programme.
Comme Apple, Google annonce plusieurs changements à venir sur le Play Store, le magasin d'applications d'Android. Parmi eux, la possibilité pour un développeur de rediriger vers un site web pour finaliser un paiement.
Google Maps ne reviendra pas dans la recherche de Google. En tout cas, pas sous la version qui prévalait depuis des années. Ce qu'il reste de Maps pour l'Union européenne est une version fortement diminuée, qui prend la forme d'une simple image statique. C'est l'arrivée du DMA qui a poussé Google à castrer Maps dans la recherche.
Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)
The European Commission (EC) has sided with Spotify, fining Apple nearly $2 billion for abusive App Store restrictions on developers that it found violated antitrust laws by degrading music streaming apps (other than Apple Music) and spiking prices.
"Apple applied restrictions on app developers preventing them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app (‘anti-steering provisions')," the EC found.
"This is illegal under EU antitrust rules" and harms consumers "who cannot make informed and effective decisions on where and how to purchase music streaming subscriptions for use on their device," the EC said.
Le 6 mars 2024, l'Union européenne devient le territoire le plus strict en matière de régulation du numérique. Le Digital Markets Act vise à restreindre les positions dominantes des grands services américains, avec des changements d'une ampleur inédite.
Le fonctionnement de Maps dans Google est fortement altéré, en raison du Digital Markets Act (DMA), un règlement européen qui entre en vigueur le 6 mars 2024. Mais il est possible d'associer de nouveau la cartographie au moteur de recherche, pour l'utiliser directement dans les résultats.
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It looks like Elon Musk may lose X's lawsuit against hate speech researchers who encouraged a major brand boycott after flagging ads appearing next to extremist content on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
X is trying to argue that the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) violated the site's terms of service and illegally accessed non-public data to conduct its reporting, allegedly posing a security risk for X. The boycott, X alleged, cost the company tens of millions of dollars by spooking advertisers, while X contends that the CCDH's reporting is misleading and ads are rarely served on extremist content.
But at a hearing Thursday, US district judge Charles Breyer told the CCDH that he would consider dismissing X's lawsuit, repeatedly appearing to mock X's decision to file it in the first place.
Opposé depuis longtemps à la taxe Apple des 15-30 %, Netflix n'accepte plus de nouveaux abonnés sur iPhone depuis 2018. À quelques jours de l'entrée en vigueur du Digital Markets Act européen, le géant du streaming annonce interrompre les abonnements de ses clients qui utilisent l'App Store pour payer. Ils doivent changer de méthode de facturation.
Enlarge (credit: Narumon Bowonkitwanchai | Moment)
India's plan to let a moratorium on imposing customs duties on cross-border digital e-commerce transactions expire may end up hurting India's more ambitious plans to become a global chip leader in the next five years, Reuters reported.
It could also worsen the global chip shortage by spiking semiconductor industry costs at a time when many governments worldwide are investing heavily in expanding domestic chip supplies in efforts to keep up with rapidly advancing technologies.
Early next week, world leaders will convene at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, just before the deadline to extend the moratorium hits in March. In place since 1998, the moratorium has been renewed every two years since—but India has grown concerned that it's losing significant revenues from not imposing taxes as demand rises for its digital goods, like movies, e-books, or games.
Enlarge (credit: Matt Cardy / Contributor | Getty Images Europe)
The European Commission (EC) is concerned that TikTok isn't doing enough to protect kids, alleging that the short-video app may be sending kids down rabbit holes of harmful content while making it easy for kids to pretend to be adults and avoid the protective content filters that do exist.
The allegations came Monday when the EC announced a formal investigation into how TikTok may be breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) "in areas linked to the protection of minors, advertising transparency, data access for researchers, as well as the risk management of addictive design and harmful content."
"We must spare no effort to protect our children," Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, said in the press release, reiterating that the "protection of minors is a top enforcement priority for the DSA."
Le DSA (Digital Services Act) entre en vigueur ce 17 février pour toutes les plateformes en ligne. De nouvelles règles européennes s'imposent à elles en matière de transparence et de modération notamment. Des sanctions, parfois très lourdes, sont prévues en cas d'infraction.
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Apple is removing the ability to install home screen web apps from iPhones and iPads in Europe when iOS 17.4 comes out, saying it's too hard to keep offering the feature under the European Union's new Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple is required to comply with the law by March 6.
Apple said the change is necessitated by a requirement to let developers "use alternative browser engines—other than WebKit—for dedicated browser apps and apps providing in-app browsing experiences in the EU." Apple explained its stance in a developer Q&A under the heading, "Why don't users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?" It says:
Addressing the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps using alternative browser engines would require building an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps. And so, to comply with the DMA's requirements, we had to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU.
It will still be possible to add website bookmarks to iPhone and iPad home screens, but those bookmarks would take the user to the web browser instead of a separate web app. The change was recently rolled out to beta versions of iOS 17.4.
Big news for young coders and everyone who supports them: project registration is now open for Coolest Projects 2024! Coolest Projects is our global technology showcase for young people aged up to 18. It gives young creators the incredible opportunity to share the cool stuff they’ve made with digital technology with a global audience, and receive certificates and rewards to celebrate their achievements.
The Coolest Projects online showcase is open to young people worldwide. Young creators can register their projects to share them with the world in our online project gallery, and join our exciting livestream event to celebrate what they have made with the global Coolest Projects community.
By taking part in Coolest Projects, young people can join an international community of young makers, represent their country, receive personalised feedback on their projects, and get certificates and more to recognise their achievements.
Here’s how it works:
Taking part in Coolest Projects is simple:
As well as the global online showcase, Coolest Projects in-person events are held for young people locally in certain countries too, and we encourage creators to take part in both the online showcase and their local in-person event.
In 2024, creators can look forward to the following in-person events, run by us and partner organisations around the world:
More events are coming soon, so sign up to the Coolest Projects newsletter to be sure to hear about any in-person events in your country. And if there isn’t an event near you, don’t worry. The online showcase is open to any young person anywhere in the world.
Coolest Projects welcomes all digital tech projects, from beginner to advanced, and there are loads of great resources available to help you support the young people in your community to take part.
We are running a series of online calls and webinars for mentors and young people to share practical tips and help participants develop their ideas and build their creations. Sign up for the sessions here. All sessions will be recorded, so you can watch them back if you can’t join live.
You can also check out the Coolest Projects guidance page for resources to help you support young people throughout their Coolest Projects journey, including a mentor guide and session plans.
To inspire your coders, encourage them to take a look at the 2023 showcase gallery, where they can explore the incredible projects submitted by participants last year.
Our projects site is also a great place for participants to begin — there are hundreds of free step-by-step project guides to help young people create their own projects, whether they’re experienced tech creators or they’re just getting started.
There’s lots more exciting news to come, from the announcement of our VIP judges to details about this year’s swag, so sign up for email updates to be the first to know. And whether your coders have already made something fun, innovative, or amazing that they want to share, or they’re inspired to make something new, Coolest Projects is the place for them. We can’t wait to see what they create!
The post Registration is open for Coolest Projects 2024 appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Enlarge (credit: Johner Images | Johner Images Royalty-Free)
A US district judge in California has largely sided with OpenAI, dismissing the majority of claims raised by authors alleging that large language models powering ChatGPT were illegally trained on pirated copies of their books without their permission.
By allegedly repackaging original works as ChatGPT outputs, authors alleged, OpenAI's most popular chatbot was just a high-tech "grift" that seemingly violated copyright laws, as well as state laws preventing unfair business practices and unjust enrichment.
According to judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, authors behind three separate lawsuits—including Sarah Silverman, Michael Chabon, and Paul Tremblay—have failed to provide evidence supporting any of their claims except for direct copyright infringement.
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Apple's iMessage service is not a "gatekeeper" prone to unfair business practices and will thus not be required under the Fair Markets Act to open up to messages, files, and video calls from other services, the European Commission announced earlier today.
Apple was one of many companies, including Google, Amazon, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Meta, and Microsoft to have its "gatekeeper" status investigated by the European Union. The iMessage service did meet the definition of a "core platform," serving at least 45 million EU users monthly and being controlled by a firm with at least 75 billion euros in market capitalization. But after "a thorough assessment of all arguments" during a five-month investigation, the Commission found that iMessage and Microsoft's Bing search, Edge browser, and ad platform "do not qualify as gatekeeper services." The unlikelihood of EU demands on iMessage was apparent in early December when Bloomberg reported that the service didn't have enough sway with business users to demand more regulation.
Had the Commission ruled otherwise, Apple would have had until August to open its service. It would have been interesting to see how the company would have complied, given that it provides end-to-end encryption and registers senders based on information from their registered Apple devices.
À partir du 7 mars, les services utilisés par plus de 45 millions de personnes en Europe devront se conformer au Digital Markets Act (DMA), un nouveau texte qui impose des règles strictes en matière de concurrence. Apple et Microsoft ont obtenu le droit de ne pas inscrire iMessage et Bing en tant que « gatekeepers ».
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