IT news June 15: GitHub will replace “master” with an alternative term, Yandex now has a service for video calls, a Dagestan programmer will receive $500,000 from Facebook for creating an algorithm
GitHub will replace "master" with an alternative term due to association with slavery
GitHub CEO Nat Friedman said his service will soon replace the term "master" with one of the more neutral words: "main", "default" or "primary". The change will occur to avoid unnecessary associations with slavery. In addition to “master,” the terms “slave,” “blacklist,” and “whitelist” will disappear from GitHub repositories. Instead of “slave” they will start using “secondary”, and instead of “blacklist/whitelist” - “deny/exclude list”. A few days ago, the developers of the Go language and the Google Chrome browser joined the initiative to remove “racist” terminology from software. The terms “master/slave” were first removed from the Drupal project back in 2014. They started using “primary/replica” instead. Source: ZDNet
JobRunr Java background processing library has been updated to version 0.9.8
Release 0.9.8 of the free background processing library JobRunr has been released. The library is designed for processing and running tasks on a virtual hosting, server or in the cloud. Running JobRunr in the background requires the use of Java 8 lambda expressions. The main difference with the 0.9.8 release is compatibility with Maven Central. Also, the new version has improved performance by 10-15%. The JobRunr library is available for running both one-time and cyclical background jobs. The library can also be used to launch tasks with a delay, after a certain period of time. The user can run jobs in their web application or scale them up by adding other background jobs. JobRunr independently distributes the load across all servers. Source: GitHub
Experts: state support is needed for the development of the Russian IT industry
Analysts at the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) of the Higher School of Economics (HSE) predict a worsening situation in the Russian IT industry. The reasons for this are related to the coronavirus pandemic and negative trends in the country’s economy. According to experts, government support can improve the prospects of the IT industry. Despite the fact that statistical indicators of Russian IT have shown growth over the past 10 years, at the end of the first quarter of 2020, the dynamics showed a drop of 8% for the first time in many years. During the same period in 2019, the industry recorded a growth of 20%. HSE experts are confident that to resume the growth of the Russian IT industry, tax incentives and other support measures from the state are necessary. According to current forecasts, a return to pre-crisis 2019 levels should be expected no earlier than 2024. Source: CNews
Yandex now has a service for video calls “Telemost”
The Yandex company presented an analogue of Zoom - the video calling service Yandex.Telemost. Users can join a call without registering: all they need is an invitation link from the conversation initiator. You can open the link in both a regular and mobile browser. “Telemost” is available at telemost.yandex.ru . In addition to Yandex.Browser and Google Chrome, the new service also works in the Yandex.Disk and Yandex.Mail applications. In the future, Telemost will be combined with other Yandex products. Video conferencing supports simultaneous participation of up to 35 people. Users can mute the microphone and camera, as well as share the screen with other people. Talk time is not limited. Source: TASS
Apple sued over childhood gaming addiction
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California over loot boxes in gaming apps. The corporation was accused of distributing gambling, which is prohibited in the state, and also that its games contribute to the development of addiction in children. In particular, the plaintiffs stated that the presence of loot boxes (in-game purchases) encourages children to spend money on “upgrading” their character and receiving additional bonuses in the game. According to the applicants, this is a form of gambling. The lawsuit also claims that Apple does not describe in sufficient detail the conditions for purchasing loot boxes, allowing developers to determine the age limit of players themselves. “Apple collects a large percentage of in-game purchases known as loot boxes. “Hundreds of games use this mechanism to generate billions of dollars for developers and the company, despite the fact that they are primarily purchased by children,” the complaint states. The authors of the lawsuit ask the court to ban in-game purchases, and Apple to compensate for the funds spent on loot boxes and legal costs. Source: Apple Insider
Dagestan programmer will receive $500 thousand from Facebook for creating an algorithm
Facebook has published the results of a competition to create algorithms for recognizing fake and potentially dangerous videos. The winner was a programmer from Dagestan, Selim Seferbekov. He will receive a reward of $500,000. Facebook spent about $10 million on the competition, announced in the fall of 2019. The company hired more than 3,500 actors, with whom thousands of videos were shot. Each of the videos imitated an amateur video filmed without ideal lighting. So Facebook tried to reproduce the data set from real life as accurately as possible. Facebook's goal was to develop effective measures to combat misinformation on the social network. This requires an algorithm to automatically detect fake and potentially dangerous videos. Selim Seferbekov coped with the competition task best of all. Source: Facebook
In addition to “master,” the terms “slave,” “blacklist,” and “whitelist” will disappear from GitHub repositories. Instead of “slave” they will start using “secondary”, and instead of “blacklist/whitelist” - “deny/exclude list”. A few days ago, the developers of the Go language and the Google Chrome browser joined the initiative to remove “racist” terminology from software. The terms “master/slave” were first removed from the Drupal project back in 2014. They started using “primary/replica” instead. Source: ZDNet
Despite the fact that statistical indicators of Russian IT have shown growth over the past 10 years, at the end of the first quarter of 2020, the dynamics showed a drop of 8% for the first time in many years. During the same period in 2019, the industry recorded a growth of 20%. HSE experts are confident that to resume the growth of the Russian IT industry, tax incentives and other support measures from the state are necessary. According to current forecasts, a return to pre-crisis 2019 levels should be expected no earlier than 2024. Source: CNews
In particular, the plaintiffs stated that the presence of loot boxes (in-game purchases) encourages children to spend money on “upgrading” their character and receiving additional bonuses in the game. According to the applicants, this is a form of gambling. The lawsuit also claims that Apple does not describe in sufficient detail the conditions for purchasing loot boxes, allowing developers to determine the age limit of players themselves. “Apple collects a large percentage of in-game purchases known as loot boxes. “Hundreds of games use this mechanism to generate billions of dollars for developers and the company, despite the fact that they are primarily purchased by children,” the complaint states. The authors of the lawsuit ask the court to ban in-game purchases, and Apple to compensate for the funds spent on loot boxes and legal costs. Source: Apple Insider
GO TO FULL VERSION