Roald Dahl: Not Vaccinating Your Kids Is "Almost a Crime"
When the topic of vaccinations comes up for debate (it's not), I'm always reminded of this video by Penn & Teller that puts it simply enough for anyone to understand.
Kottke's article is accompanied with a screenshot of a tweet where a teen is looking for information on how to get vaccinated behind their parent's backs.
Axios covered the situation with measels in the US yesterday. Anti-vaxxers not only put their own children at risk but every child they interact with.
Why it matters: Unless doctors and the public step up to counteract the vocal opposition to vaccines with evidence-based facts, there is a serious concern that infectious diseases like measles could return full-force, public health officials and scientists tell Axios.
'Evidence-based facts' is one of the most offensive terms I've ever seen written down. I'd love to chalk all of this up to a lack of education but it's not even this one topic or a single social group that is able to look past the truth. Brexit and Trump are two examples in the political world.
How can anyone misunderstand that the MMR vaccine will prevent your children from dying?
Posted 30th Jan 2019 @ 09:00
Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messaging and WhatsApp to become interoperable
More insanity from those at Facebook. Instagram has lost it's founders and continues to be absorbed by Facebook faster and faster. They already share lots of features but to bring Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp into to the fold seems a little bizarre. None of my good will towards Facebook lives in either WhatsApp or Instagram and I'm already using the latter less and less.
Is this the answer to Facebook's problems? Not a chance, this is only going to make it worse.
Posted 29th Jan 2019 @ 14:55
Audi TT brochure hack
Buying a car is up there with the most expensive purchase you'll make and a short test drive is far from enough to give you a feel for the car.
Audi's sleek, new TT model features a "virtual cockpit," a digital dashboard designed to enhance the driver's experience. To help inspire prospective buyers and get them one step closer to sitting in the driver's seat, Audi hacked the conventional sales brochure, an important touchpoint in the customer journey.
This is a great take on how the experience should be, you get to interact with the virtual cockpit and see what's it like. I've driven both an Audi and a VW with this type of display and it is clear and adaptable to the content you need. I'd love to try both the Mercedes and BMW versions to see how they stack up.
Posted 29th Jan 2019 @ 11:55
Rumours of an low-price Apple TV dongle
Like John Gruber, I love my Apple TV(s). The 4th generation is better than the third but both just work. A dongle would be perfect for those who don't see value at it's current price. Thanks to content providers bringing their services to the platform, there are few channels we cannot watch on it and we now rely on just the Apple TV for streaming and catch up services.
If these turn out to be a real thing, I'd look at getting one of these for sure.
Posted 29th Jan 2019 @ 08:30
Facebook's plan: One messaging service to rule them all
I commented on Facebook's plans to unify messaging across their platform earlier today. Axios nail it (emphasis mine):
It will bring together users of all three apps in a single network, database and community — enabling new features and opening the door to even more anticompetitive challenges, privacy troubles and social conflicts.
It's clear there is a bigger plan in play here and perhaps it's as obvious as bringing things closer together in order to prevent them being broken up, but it feels like more of a lack of understanding.
With no leaders from their pre-acquisition eras, the question is when rather than if or even how.
Facebook is committed to users' having a single "real-world" identity.
It's very easy to forget this aspect of Facebook but one of the reasons I do not allow any social media buttons on my websites. A link is all you need.
Posted 28th Jan 2019 @ 14:42