Month: March 2016

Apparently. (credit: Microsoft)

It's not April 1. Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise Group, announced today that next year Microsoft will be releasing a version of SQL Server that runs on Linux. A private preview is available today that includes the core relational database features of SQL Server 2016.

The announcement implies two things. Either there is a large number of Linux-using corporations out there that are desperate for SQL Server's feature set (as opposed to open source databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MaxDB, or the proprietary ones such as IBM's DB2 and, of course, Oracle's Oracle), or there is a large number of SQL Server-using organizations out there that are keen to ditch the cost of their Windows licenses but happy to continue to pay for their SQL Server licenses. Neither seems obvious to us.

The Windows version will go into general availability later this year, with a wave of launch-related events starting on Thursday. SQL Server 2016 boasts new in-memory database capabilities that can make some workloads 30-100 times faster and support for encryption for data at rest, in memory, and on the wire. It also offers analytics support using R.

Google's newest hire is coming from a very unlikely place: 4chan. Chris Poole—AKA "moot"—the founder of the controversial anonymous message board, has joined Google. Poole posted the announcement on his blog:

Today I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined Google.

When meeting with current and former Googlers, I continually find myself drawn to their intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm—as well as a universal desire to share it with others. I’m also impressed by Google’s commitment to enabling these same talented people to tackle some of the world’s most interesting and important problems.

I can’t wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities, and to begin the next chapter of my career at such an incredible company.

Poole didn't explicitly say which part of Google he'll be joining, but he did mention "building online communities," which suggests he's joining the Google+ team. Bradley Horowitz, the head of Google+, also announced Poole's hiring—first on Twitter, of course—further pointing to a new G+ hire. Poole announced his retirement from running 4chan just over a year ago.

In the past, Poole has criticized Google and Facebook for their user identification policies on the Internet. Poole disagreed with the push for a universal, real-life identity system, saying, "consolidating identity makes us more simple than we really, truly are."

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10 is one of the few UWP games currently available. (credit: Microsoft Studios)

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian saying that Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP)—the common development platform that covers Windows, Windows Mobile, HoloLens, and soon, Xbox One—"can, should, must, and will die." Sweeney's complaint is that UWP is locked down. By default, UWP apps can only be installed and purchased through Microsoft's store, and they have to run from a sandboxed environment. So some Windows features are, or will be, only available to UWP apps. In this way, Sweeney says that Microsoft is "curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers," especially as Microsoft makes some Windows features UWP-only.

Sweeney wants UWP to either be destroyed or made "open" in the same way that the traditional Win32 API is "open." This is in three parts: he wants UWP apps to be downloadable and installable from the Web by default (without needing to change any settings or enable sideloading), he wants third parties to be able to create their own storefronts for UWP apps, and he wants it to always be possible for developers to sell directly to users without Microsoft taking a 30 percent cut.

This is a strange complaint for two main reasons. The first issue is that the UWP lock-down is, overall, a positive thing. The second is that there doesn't appear to be anything preventing third-party downloads, third-party storefronts, and third-party billing right now.

Enlarge / The Nexus 5X. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Google's Project Fi cellular service is dropping its invite requirement. And to celebrate, the company just announced the deepest discount ever on the Nexus 5X. If you buy the phone through Project Fi and activate it, you can get the normally $349 Nexus 5X for just $199. The offer is valid from today until April 7, 2016.

The deal conjures up images of the two-year contract pricing carriers used to offer on phones, but Project Fi is a pre-pay service with no contracts, so it seems you can cancel at any time. The fine print only says "You must then activate Fi service on the same account within 30 days of device shipment." We guess that you'd then be on the hook for a month of service, which at the minimum pricing will cost about $30. So even if you have no desire to join Project Fi, around $230 for a 5X while cancelling Project Fi is still a deal.

Project Fi is Google's MVNO service that continually switches between Sprint and T-Mobile, while only charging you for the exact amount of the data you use, down to the megabyte. The service also combines all the best features Google Voice, like visual voicemail, number forwarding, and the ability to send and receive SMS messages from any computer and via the Google Hangouts app. The only real downside is the extremely limited device compatibility—the Network switching feature means Fi only works on the Nexus 5X, 6, and 6P. Project Fi charges a $20 base fee for unlimited texting and calls, plus $10 per GB of data you use. We've got a full breakdown of the pricing here.

A model of the spread of radioactive cesium from the Fukushima site. (credit: E. Behrens, F.U. Schwarzkopf, J.F. Lübbecke and C.W. Böning, GEOMAR.)

The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred almost five years ago in March 2011. It is the largest event of its sort since Chernobyl, which occurred 25 years earlier. The accident was triggered by a tsunami and earthquake that led to a meltdown at the plant. During this event, large amounts of radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere. Since then, Fukushima Daiichi has continued to leak radioactive materials into the ground and nearby ocean.

Following the accident, concerns surfaced regarding both agricultural products from the region and the fish caught in nearby waters. In response, the Japanese government began intensively monitored γ-emitting radioisotopes to prevent highly contaminated foods from reaching the market. The two main radioisotopes released during the accident, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs, exhibit half-lives of approximately 2 and 30 years, respectively. So a large amount of the radiocesium released during the accident is still around.

Recently, a team of researchers has re-examined aquatic food contamination data in order to get a better picture of food safety.

Zombie hand cookies. (credit: Rakka)

Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a $1.35 million fine and give users more control over "supercookies" that identify customers in order to deliver targeted ads from Verizon and other companies. Verizon's use of the supercookies without properly notifying users violated a net neutrality rule that requires Internet providers to disclose accurate information about network management practices to consumers, the FCC said.

Verizon's settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, announced today, stems from an investigation into the carrier's "practice of inserting unique identifier headers [UIDH] or so-called 'supercookies' into its customers’ mobile Internet traffic without their knowledge or consent," the FCC said. Verizon began inserting the identifier—which could not be deleted by consumers—into its subscribers' HTTP Internet traffic in December 2012 and made some limited disclosures in its privacy policy. But the company "did not specifically disclose the presence of UIDH and its uses until October 2014," the FCC said.

ProPublica reported in January 2015 that an online advertising clearinghouse called Turn was taking advantage of the unique identifiers, also known as "zombie cookies," and using them "to respawn tracking cookies that users have deleted." Shortly after that, Verizon said it would offer customers a way to opt out.