Thursday News: Upgrade to iOS7; Testicle studies suggest smaller is better; Lance Armstrong gets off on free speech defense; and Macmillan eBook error
Publishing NewsFirst-Amendment / infidelity / Macmillan / quality control8 Comments
Yesterday, all day, I thought it was Thursday. When I realized it was Wednesday, at first I was disgruntled but then I was stoked because I actually gained a day. Today is a bonus day. Maybe not for you, but for me.
How to Upgrade to iOS 7 Right Now – If you don’t want to wait for the iOS7 update next week, you can install the beta now. First update your iTunes and then download the right IPWS package from the list. You can find out the model of your device on the back. Please remember to a) backup and b) this is a beta and not the final product. Yes, I did update for the single ability to change the brightness from the front screen. Lifehacker from Reddit
Testicle size ‘link to father role’ – So if you are looking for a good husband, measure his ballsack. Smaller the better. Small means they will be good fathers and less likely to cheat on you. Larger balls and they will be filled with excess testosterone and be more interested in spreading their seed than taking care of their progency. Oh, and cultural influences may have an impact. But remember, the bigger the ballsack, the bigger the douchebag out of bed. So says Science. BBC News
Judge rules Lance Armstrong doping lies were ‘free speech’ – I couldn’t find the decision on this case, but news reports indicate that the judge ruled that simply because a few mistruths were included, his whole life story wasn’t a fiction. I don’t know if the news reports are misreading the decision or whether it is a free speech case. The case has been dismissed on “free speech” grounds according to all news outlets and therefore the parties who have sued will have to appeal The Age
Hey Macmillan, Why Does My eBook Say That it Belongs to a Public Library? – Strangely a Macmillan published book called Absolution by Murder contains the title page (the page with the title and the author’s name and sometimes a graphic) is stamped with the words “Half Hollow Hills Community Library.” You can see the screenshot over at Nate’s blog. Obviously the book was scanned and converted but it’s a little amusing that this slipped through quality control. And that Macmillan didn’t have its own copy. The Digital Reader
I cannot see what free speech has to do with the Armstrong case at all. Free speech is no defence against deception and fraud, surely?
My hubs is an iDevice developer and from what he has said, I would discourage anyone from installing iOS 7 early. He says that it is such a radical redesign of the operating system that a lot of apps are going to break and will need to be updated. He tends to be like chicken little about this kind of stuff (The sky is falling!) but still, I wouldn’t rush out to update.
My husband is also an iDevice developer, so I got to take a tour on the new system, and I’m with Jane – brightness adjustment from the front page? I’m in. Plus, I liked the new growing folder feature. I want it, and I want it now.
We have a lot of useful spouses on this comment thread :-)
Mine is an evolutionary biologist, and has been laughing about this testicle size study for days. He says that the sample size is so small and the correlation is so tenuous that the paper should never have been published — the only reason that all the news organizations have picked it up is because the journos are stuck in a fourth-grade mentality and literally want to write “bollocks”. (Either that, or they want to feel better about their own endowments.)
In Stutzman v. Armstrong, the judged followed a two-step process in considering a motion to dismiss under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. In order for the defendents to prevail in the motion to dismiss, they first had to show that Armstrong’s “lies” arose from a protected activity (free speech). Once the judge determined that Armstrong’s lawyers made such a showing, then the burden shifted to the plaintiffs in the case. The plaintiffs then had to show they had a probability of prevailing at trial. Although on the burden of proof scale, the probability only had to tip to over 50%, they still couldn’t meet this burden. Thus, the judge granted the motion to dissmiss.
According to the opinion, “[o]nly a cause of action that satisfies both prongs of the anti-SLAPP statute—i.e., that arises from protected speech or petitioning and lacks even minimal merit—is a SLAPP, subject to being stricken under the statute.”
Here’s the entire opinion:
http://bit.ly/14Jku5A
@JenM: My son is with you. He develops apps and has heard tons of horror stories of apps not working with OS7. Apple is now requiring that all submitted new apps as well as updates work smoothly with OS7.
Jane just informed me that the aforementioned case is a ruling on the motion to compel, not the decision to dismiss the case. Sorry about that.
I think this is a link to the Armstrong order.