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The Pink-Bikinis Edition Saturday, August 13, 2016

Food Delivered To Your Beach Towel, by Annie Correal, New York Times

Combrr works a lot like Uber: Customers drop a pin at their location. Vendors can accept or decline an order, and customers can track its progress from the app. There’s a $5 delivery fee, and the entire transaction, including the tip, is done digitally, bypassing the city’s requirement for a permit to sell items on the beach.

But in addition to geolocation technology, Combrr relies on customers’ selfies and instructions. A sample note: “We’re wearing pink bikinis sitting under a polka-dot umbrella on 99th.”

Swiftly Everywhere

Introducing A Perfect Companion To Apple's Swift, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Designed solely for the purpose of server-side Swift development, Perfect is a Web application server for OS X and Linux created by a lesser known Canadian startup historically connected to Apple, PerfectlySoft.

Flying High

iPad Apps Help Cut Fatal Crashes Of Private Planes To New Lows, by Alan Levin, Bloomberg

Among the factors credited for the decline: better training of pilots and technological advancements that make planes easier to fly and provide up-to-date weather and other information. That can range from advanced crash-avoidance systems to apps for mobile devices.

Thanks To This Man, Airplanes Don’t Crash Into Mountains Anymore, by Alan Levin, Bloomberg

Before retiring in June, Bateman and his band of colleagues dabbled in the world of Cold War espionage, hid the true cost of their endeavor from their corporate masters and endured skepticism from the very airlines whose planes were being lost. In spite of repeated changes in corporate ownership and the blunt-spoken Bateman’s occasional threats to quit, he worked on his mission to save lives with the same group for almost six decades, colleagues said.

Eventually Bateman’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System became required in most commercial planes around the world, dramatically reducing accidents in which perfectly good aircraft with trained crews plowed into the ground or bodies of water, almost always in poor visibility.

Changing Boss

Taking Your Personal Project Full-Time, by Shawn Blanc

So my point is that you’ve got to love the process and the journey. You must love doing the work. And you’ve got to be delighted with having just a teeny-tiny amount of impact.

This is crucial for a few reasons.

How The Affordable Care Act Contributed The Rise Of The Blended Workforce, by Myuni Khan, NetworkWorld

Along with the rise of professional freelancing and the uncoupling of benefits from traditional employment, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has also played a significant role in facilitating the rise of the blended workforce. The ACA is driving companies to look for ways to contain costs and rethink workforce structures. It is also making it easier for people to become freelancers without sacrificing income or benefits.

Stuff

Lumen Automatically Adjusts Your Mac's Brightness Based On Screen Contents, by Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker

So, if you’re looking at a dark window of an app, it will automatically brighten. If it’s all white, it will darken.

Notes

Apple's Pricey Data Center Finally Gets The Green Light, by Sam Shead, Business Insider

Apple has received planning permission to build just one data hall but it hopes to build a total of eight on the site over the next 10-15 years. The iPhone maker will have to apply for planning permission every time it wants to open a new data hall.

The facility will be built in the middle of a forest just outside the small town of Athenry in County Galway. It will initially consist of a single data hall, an administration building, and other associated developments.

Pokémon Go Crosses $250m In Revenues Since Launch, by Madhumita Murgia, Financial Times

Players of Pokémon Go have spent more than $250m on the addictive “augmented reality” mobile game in its first few weeks, according to an international survey, with the figures suggesting it is on course to hit $1bn in sales.

Facebook Rolls Out Code To Nullify Adblock Plus’ Workaround Again, by Josh Constine, TechCrunch

The cat-and-mouse game is sure to rage on.