Saturday, December 21, 2019

Flickr is losing money, and CEO Don MacAskill is asking users of the photo sharing website for financial help

CROWDSOURCING CAPITALISM

by Jefferson Graham

DECEMBER 20, 2019

It's rare for a tech company to let people in on a dirty little secret. Many of them lose lots of money in their pursuit of customers.

So, it was refreshing to read this honest take on the fate of photo enthusiast website Flickr from the company's owner, Don MacAskill, on Thursday.

His plea begins like this: "Flickr—the world's most-beloved, money-losing business—needs your help."

MacAskill wants people to sign up for $50 yearly subscriptions, which he's offering at holiday discounts of $36, and notes that the price will be going up next year.

In his note, he talks about how his family-run firm SmugMug two years ago bought Flickr from Yahoo, where it "was losing tens of millions of dollars a year." He says SmugMug rescued the company, and saved "tens of billions" of photos from being erased.

"So, we took a big risk, stepped in, and saved Flickr. Together, we created the world's largest photographer-focused community: A place where photographers can stand out and fit in."

How dire is the situation?

"It's not that dire," MacAskill tells U.S. TODAY. "But we do need to get more cash in the door."

He says less than 1% have signed up for the Pro accounts, and that if he could get just over 1%, that would be enough to keep the lights on.

More importantly, MacAskill says he wrote the letter to get honest feedback from customers on whether they're interested in Flickr continuing. "Is this the right way to go? We're about to find out."

Flickr is one of the earliest photo sharing sites, and was purchased by Yahoo in 2005, and it fell on hard times. Yahoo's new owner Verizon sold it to MacAskill in 2017.

But Flickr is still losing money. His solution to make it viable was to eliminate free accounts for storing thousands of photos and convert users into paying customers, at $50 yearly. That change began at the beginning of the year.

"It's losing a lot less money than it was," he says. "But it's not yet making enough....We cannot continue to operate it at a loss as we've been doing."

Flickr is home to over 100 million accounts and tens of billions of photos, he says, offering ad-free browsing and sharing that doesn't include social media tracking, like Facebook.

"We've gone to great lengths to optimize Flickr for cost savings wherever possible, but the increasing cost of operating this enormous community and continuing to invest in its future will require a small price increase early in the new year, so this is truly the very best time to upgrade your membership to Pro."

What happens if customers don't respond?

He says he has several backup plans. "This is a way to find out if we need to go to one of them."

Novartis eyes give-away of costly therapy for babies

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis draw praise and criticism over its give-away

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is preparing to give away 100 doses of the world's most expensive drug, which treats a rare childhood disorder, but its recipient selection process has drawn criticism.

DECEMBER 20, 2019

The company announced this week that starting next month, its AveXis unit will begin distributing doses of Zolgensma, a one-time gene treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, also known as SMA.

The disease affects about 1 in 10,000 births, and which results in death or the need for permanent ventilation by the age of two in 90 percent of cases.

Novartis said a total of 100 doses—which cost around $2 million a pop—would go to eligible patients who are "under the age of two and are a citizen or legal resident of a country where the therapy is not yet approved by regulatory authorities."

The therapy was approved by US regulators in May, but approval in Europe and Japan for instance has been delayed until next year.

Novartis stressed in a statement that AveXis so far had only one facility licensed to produce the therapy, and that the company's first obligation was to provide it where it had been approved or was pending approval, as well as to clinical trials.

"We work diligently to get two more facilities licensed in 2020," it said.

As for the giveaways, Novartis said the intention was for a long-term commitment, with additional doses added to the program on a rolling six-month basis based on patient need and the expansion of capacity.

Novartis said AveXis had worked with an independent bioethics advisory committee to develop the programme, which it insisted was "anchored in principles of fairness, clinical need and global accessibility to best determine the equitable global distribution of a finite number of doses."

'Blinded selection'

It would not favour any child or country over another, it said.

A third party would administer "a blinded selection" every two weeks from a pool of patients proposed by their treating physicians who had been proven to be medically eligible, it said.

Novartis stressed that patients not picked in one selection round would automatically be submitted to the pool of candidates for the next selection as long as they remained medically eligible.

But the process drew criticism.

TreatSMA, a British advocacy group for the disorder, praised Novartis for trying to increase access, but it said it had "yet to be convinced that a health lottery is an appropriate way of meeting the unmet medical needs in this severe disease."

France's AFM-Telethon, which works to raise donations to find treatments for SMA and genetic disorders, went further, criticising the programme as a cruel "lottery" offered to "parents whose children afflicted with spinal muscular atrophy are condemned to death in the short term."

"How can one envisage even for a second that the life of a child can be the big prize in a lottery," the organisation asked on its website.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIG+PHARMA

New studies show vaping illnesses tapering off

by E.j. Mundell, Healthday Reporter
DECEMBER 21, 2019

(HealthDay)—Even as the number of Americans hospitalized with a lung injury tied to vaping passed the 2,500 mark this week, new research confirms case counts are finally declining and vitamin E acetate remains the most likely culprit in the outbreak.

"The outbreak is getting better," Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a Friday media briefing. "While we continue to receive reports of newly diagnosed patients … the level of new cases is greatly reduced."

The latest statistics come in four reports from CDC researchers, published Friday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

In one of the NEJM reports, vitamin E acetate was present in the lungs of 48 of 51 patients who were hospitalized with the vaping illness in 16 states.

"We are confident that vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the [vaping illnesses] outbreak," Schuchat said. "Given all of these findings, including today's study, we can conclude that what I call the explosive outbreak of cases of [vaping illness] can be attributed to exposure to THC-containing vaping products that also contain vitamin E acetate."

But she added a caveat.

"I want to stress this does not mean there are not other substances in e-cigarette or vaping products that are capable of causing lung injury," she said.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,506 lung injury cases have been reported in all 50 states as of Dec. 19, the CDC said in a statement issued Thursday. Fifty-four of the patients have died.

In most cases, patients had previously used a vape product that included THC, the chemical in marijuana that provides a high.

For that reason, the "CDC and FDA recommend that people should not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online sellers," the CDC said.

No one brand has been singled out as the main culprit—in fact, "overall, 152 different THC-containing product brands were reported" as being used by patients prior to their illness, the agency noted.

Still, certain brands seem especially tied to the outbreak.

"Dank Vapes, a class of largely counterfeit THC-containing products of unknown origin, was the most commonly reported product brand used by patients nationwide," the CDC said, although this brand was most implicated in cases arising in the Northeast and South.

"TKO and Smart Cart brands were more commonly reported by patients in the West, and Rove was more common in the Midwest," the CDC said.

The illnesses that are affecting vapers can be sudden and severe. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath and chest pains. Some patients have had so much trouble breathing that they wind up on oxygen, and in extreme cases are placed on a mechanical ventilator.

Evidence continues to build that vitamin E acetate, present in many "black market" vape products, especially those containing marijuana-derived THC, could be to blame.

Testing done on other common vape ingredients—things such as plant oils, petroleum distillates like mineral oil, MCT oil, and terpenes—have shown no role in the illness outbreak.

New forms of vaping-related illness are also emerging. On Nov. 25, doctors reported the first known case of a serious case of what's known as "popcorn" lung, observed in a Canadian teen. The illness involves inflammation and obstruction of the small airways in the lungs.

And a report emerged recently describing the case of a 49-year-old California woman who vaped marijuana and then came down with hard-metal pneumoconiosis or "cobalt lung." That's a form of pneumonia that's normally associated with exposure to hard metals in industrial settings.

The number of vaping-related lung illness deaths reported by federal health authorities rose again this week to 56, up four from last week's total. The deaths occurred in 27 states.

The number of vaping-related lung illness deaths reported by federal health authorities rose again this week to 56 up four from last week's total. The deaths occurred in 27 states.

UPI.COM

U.S. vaping deaths rise again

The number of vaping-related lung illness deaths reported by federal health authorities rose again this week to 56 up four from last week's total. The deaths occurred in 27 states.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=VAPING

'Vast majority' of vaping illnesses blamed on vitamin E

by Carla K. Johnson
DECEMBER 20, 2019

Health officials now blame vitamin E acetate for the "vast majority" of cases in the U.S. outbreak of vaping illnesses and they say doctors should monitor patients more closely after they go home from the hospital.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the updated advice Friday.

And, in a related move Friday, authorities investigating how patients obtained possibly tainted vape products said they have shut down 44 websites advertising the sale of illicit vaping cartridges containing THC.

The new medical advice is based on a close look at about 3% of vaping illness patients who returned to the hospital after discharge and seven who died after hospital discharge.

The study suggests that vaping illnesses can get worse, even deadly, after patients leave the hospital and doctors should check on patients within two days of sending them home.

The two-day followup after hospital discharge is shorter than the previous recommendation of one to two weeks.

Compared to other vaping illness patients, those who went back to the hospital were more likely to have chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or other breathing problems such as sleep apnea. Those who died after hospital discharge were more likely to be 50 or older.

The CDC also released new information that continues to point to a culprit: vitamin E acetate, a thickening agent that's been added to illicit THC vaping liquids. THC is the chemical in marijuana that makes users feel high.

A report published in the New England Journal of Medicine identified the substance in the lung fluid of 48 out of 51 vaping illness patients and did not find it in the lung fluid of healthy people. Vitamin E acetate also has been found in vaping product samples.

In the strongest language yet about what's caused the outbreak, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC told reporters during a telephone briefing Friday that it is her "conclusion" that vitamin E acetate caused the illness in "the vast majority of patients."

The nation's outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries continues, but new cases are on the decline. More than 2,500 cases of vaping illness have been reported by all 50 states. There have been 54 deaths and more deaths are under investigation.

Interviews with patients and families led investigators to some of the websites that were shut down by the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The agencies did not announce any criminal charges.

The 44 website domains—with names including Stoners Marketplace and Anonymous Meds—now direct visitors to a message in red letters that says "This Site Has Been Seized."

Investigators have said they are not interested in taking action against individuals who use vaping products, and are focused instead on suppliers.

Some of the websites shut down were scam sites intended to collect money without ever mailing consumers any products, authorities said.

Federal health officials made clear Friday that tainted THC vaping cartridges are considered the primary cause of a vaping lung injury that has killed 54 people and hospitalized more than 2,000 across the United States.

UPI.COM

CDC: Vitamin E acetate in THC vapes is lung-injury culprit

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=VAPING

'CRISPR babies': What does this mean for science and Canada?

by McGill University

JANUARY 28, 2019

In the wake of the announcement in China last November of the first 'CRISPR babies', Prof. Bartha Knoppers and researcher Erika Kleiderman from McGill's Centre of Genomics and Policy (CGP) have published a commentary article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on the use of CRISPR gene-editing techniques.

In addition to the universal ethical condemnation of Dr. He Jiankui's CRISPR work involving human embryos, the birth of the twin girls has wider legal and policy implications for gene-editing research and its potential clinical translation. This commentary group the ethical critiques of human gene-editing into four broad categories:

concerns about eugenics
the health risks to children
allegations of the failure of professional self-regulation
a possible "chilling effect" on scientific research.

Knoppers and Kleiderman contend that we need a renewed conversation about the criminal law ban on basic research on human germline gene modification in Canada. Moreover, they contend that our current hybrid model of statutory law plus codes of ethics for the governance of emerging biotechnologies is generally inadequate; it should be complemented by models based on a human rights approach. Finally, they propose that basic research using germline modification should be permitted if scientific standards are followed for preclinical evidence and accuracy.

More information: Bartha Maria Knoppers et al. "CRISPR babies": What does this mean for science and Canada?, Canadian Medical Association Journal (2019). DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.181657

Journal information: Canadian Medical Association Journal

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CRISPR

Biomedical law experts suggest it's time to expand the legal term for 'human'

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

genetic experiment — Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A pair of biomedical law experts, one with McGill University the other Stanford University, are suggesting in a Policy Forum piece in the journal Science that it might be time to expand the legal term for "human." In their paper, Bartha Knoppers and Henry Greely argue that recent technological advances have come to blur the line between what is human and what is not, and thus, new terminology is needed.

Over the past few decades, scientists have been carrying out research in which human and non-human cells are mixed, resulting in tissue that could be classified as either human or non-human—grafting or transplanting organs or tissues from animals onto humans, for example, or growing organs in an animal for later transplantation into a human. Also, the development of the CRISPR gene-editing technology allows for changing the genome of a person into something that may not exist in nature.

Knoppers and Greely argue that such technology requires a new look at the word "human"—at least in a legal sense. They note that currently, there are many laws that apply only to humans or to human tissue, and in some cases, to the bodies of human beings after they die. They point out that it is only a matter of time before the term is challenged in a court case. Can it be argued that a monkey has the same legal rights as human beings if all of its organs (except, perhaps, its brain) have come from a human being? Or is a person still human and thus entitled to such rights if he or she is born with a partial brain with no consciousness and is kept alive by machines? To settle such matters in a legal sense, the authors suggest the legal system consider amending the term "human" by adding the word "substantially"—as in, the defendant is "substantially human"—for instance, where a robot with a human brain is on trial for committing a crime.

The authors note that the term already exists in a legal context—in copyright and data protection laws, for example. They further note that the phrase could help in legal proceedings—if a case involving the Chinese twins with edited DNA arose, for example, their lawyers could argue that they are substantially human, thereby assuring them of continued protection as human beings.

More information: "Biotechnologies nibbling at the legal 'human,'" Science (2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aaz5221

Journal information: Science

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CRISPR

Cheers! Scientists take big step towards making the perfect head of beer

by University of Manchester
DECEMBER 21, 2019

Drinkers will soon be cheering all the way to the bar thanks to a team of scientists who have taken a big step forward in solving the puzzle of how to make the perfect head of beer.

Lead researcher Dr. Richard Campbell from The University of Manchester says his findings solve a long-standing mystery related to the lifetime of foams.

And that could be useful for the development of a range of products that improve the creamy topping on a flat white coffee, the head on a pint of beer, shampoos we use every day, firefighting foams or even oil absorbent foams used to tackle environmental disasters.

The scientist, whose study is published in the journal Chemical Communications, turned to the Institut Laue-Langevin in France for one of the world's most intense neutron sources.

At the research facility, he fired beams of neutrons at the liquids used to make foams.

He said: "Just like when we see light reflecting off a shiny object and our brains help us identify it from its appearance, when neutrons reflect up off a liquid they are fired at we can use a computer to reveal crucial information about its surface. The difference is that the information is on a molecular level that we cannot see with our eyes."

While the behaviour of foams made from liquids containing just one additive is relatively well understood, ways to understand the behaviour of liquids containing more additives like those used in actual products have remained much more elusive.

The team studied mixtures containing surfactant—a compound that lowers surface tension—and a polymer—used in shampoos—to come up with a new way of understanding the samples that could help product developers formulate the ideal foam.

In one potential application, beers drinkers might be able to enjoy a pint where the head lasts all the way to the bottom of the pint glass.

In another, the technology could improve the formulation of detergents used in washing machines where the production of foams is undesirable.

And it could also be used to develop more effective products to clean up our oceans by improving the action of oil slick cleaning detergents or potentially even save lives by making fire-fighting foam more effective.

Dr. Campbell said: "For decades scientists have tried to get a handle on how to control reliably the lifetime and stability of foams made from liquids that contain mixed additives.

"While the behaviour of foams made up with just one additive is quite well understood. As soon as mixtures like those used in products were studied the results from research studies failed to paint a consistent picture.

"This is important, as some products benefit from foams that are ultra-stable and others from foams that are very unstable."

The scientists got to grips with the problem by studying the building blocks of the bubbles themselves, known as foam films.

Through reflecting neutrons off their liquid samples, they devised a new way to relate the stability of foam films to the way in which the additives arrange themselves at the surface of the liquid coating of bubbles to provide the stability needed to prevent them from bursting.

"Foams are used in many products—and product developers have long tried to improve them so they are better equipped for the task they are designed to tackle", added Dr. Campbell.

"But researchers have simply been on a different track, thinking of general surface properties and not about the structures created when different molecules assemble at the surface of bubbles.

"It was only through our use of neutrons at a world-leading facility that it was possible to make this advance because only this measurement technique could tell us how the different additives arrange themselves at the liquid surface to provide foam film stability.

"There are a number of installations in the UK and across Europe which produce neutrons—and these research facilities are essential for this sort of work.

"We think this work represents a clear first indication that our new approach could be applied to a range of systems to aid the development of products that can make an impact in materials science and on the environment."

More information: Martin Uhlig et al. New structural approach to rationalize the foam film stability of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte/surfactant mixtures, Chemical Communications (2019). DOI: 10.1039/C9CC08470C

Journal information: Chemical Communications

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BEER

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CHEMISTRY

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=ALCHEMY

TEXT LIKE AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN

Israeli museum explains the emojis of ancient Egypt

by Claire Gounon

A curator presents the exhibition "Emoglyphs: Picture-Writing from Hieroglyphs to the Emoji" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

How does an academic explain the importance of ancient hieroglyphics to modern audiences glued to their phones? Through the cunning use of emojis.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem this week opened the "Emoglyphs" exhibition, comparing the pictograms of antiquity to those of today.

"I usually find it very hard to explain how hieroglyphs are used as a script," the show's curator, Shirly Ben-Dor Evian, told AFP.

"Then it occurred to me that some of the things can now be explained more easily because we are all writing with pictures now—it has become very widespread."

From the heart symbol to little monkeys and foaming glasses of beer, the pictograms of our own time have enlivened discussion on social media and online messaging since the late 1990s.

Some emojis—from the Japanese word for a combination of an image and a written character—have hieroglyphic equivalents, said Ben-Dor Evian, who argues that the images are a language in their own right.

The exhibition, in a small gallery within the Israel Museum, welcomes visitors with a wall bearing similar pictograms from both eras.

The modern purple-suited dancer emoji with his hand raised strikes a similar pose to an Egyptian in a loin cloth from 3,000 years ago.

"There is a similarity in design and shapes, which is very interesting because there are thousands of years and very big cultural gaps between those two systems," Ben-Dor Evian said.

The exhibition, open until late 2020, aims to convey the importance of ancient hieroglyphics to modern audiences glued to their phones through the cunning use of emojis

Images stronger than words

In the Egyptian system, hieroglyphs could designate an object or an idea in so-called ideograms, indicate the sound of the word (phonograms) or serve as classifiers specifying the semantic category of the word.

Emoji, on the other hand, are self-sufficient in designating an idea, a feeling or an object, and are not intended to be accumulated to form a sentence, noted Ben-Dor Evian.

"When you use ideographic writing, the image becomes more powerful than the word," she said.

She cites the example of the revolver emoji, replaced by Apple in 2016 with a fluorescent green water pistol.

"Why did it change? The reason is, once you start using picture as writing, then it's much more powerful than writing the word 'gun'. It's much scarier."

She says the modern use of pictograms is not so different from that in antiquity.

One difference is that the writer decides how emojis are used, while the ancient Egyptians had strict rules around the use of hieroglyphics, believing they were sacred.

The exhibition, "Emoglyphs: Picture-Writing from Hieroglyphs to the Emoji," is open until late 2020 and includes previously undisplayed items from the museum's own collection and others on loan from abroad.

Among them is a necklace made of linen and papyrus and covered with gold, dating from around 100 BC, which bears the inscription of a scarab beetle, symbol of resurrection.

It is reminiscent of today's ladybird emoji, said Ben-Dor Evian.

"My goal as an Egyptologist is to show to people that something that is ancient is still relevant to their lives today," she said.

New Alphabet/Google chief Pichai sees big pay boost

GOOGLE SCREWS ITS WORKERS BUT GIVES BOSS BIG BONUS

Google fires engineer who created browser pop-up message about workers' rights

New Alphabet chief Pichai sees big pay boost

Google parent Alphabet's new CEO Sundar Pichai is in for a big pay raise

Google parent Alphabet boosted the salary of newly anointed chief Sundar Pichai and promised more than $200 million in shares if the company hits performance goals, a regulatory filing Friday said.

Pichai's annual pay will more than double to $2 million next year, and he will be in line for $90 million shares of stock based on how well the internet titan does in the market and another $120 million in shares that vest over time, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by the Alphabet board.

The value of the performance-based shares could be zero depending on whether Alphabet stock hits goals set in comparison to the S&P 100 in the coming two years, the filing said.

Taking the reins as chief executive of Google parent Alphabet, the soft-spoken, Indian-born Sundar Pichai faces a host of challenges at one of the world's most valuable companies, which has become besieged by activists and political leaders.

Increased scrutiny

The 47-year-old Pichai, who will remain as Google CEO in addition to taking up the new post, is seen as a steadying influence at a time when Alphabet faces an onslaught from regulators and others.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping away from their roles at the company they founded two decades ago in a California garage, but will remain in control of the Alphabet board based on share voting rights.

The soft-spoken, Indian-born Sundar Pichai faces a host of challenges at one of the world's most valuable companies, which has been besieged by activists and political leaders

Pichai will take over from Page as CEO of Alphabet, which includes Google as well as units focused on its "other bets" in areas including self-driving cars, life sciences and a variety of "moonshot" projects.

Sundar steps into his new role as antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels and elsewhere are stepping up their scrutiny of Google, which is the internet's dominant search engine and also the maker of the leading Android mobile operating system.

The company has also been in the crosshairs over how it manages "hate speech" and extremist content spread online, and how it deals with children's privacy on its YouTube video service.

Recently, its employees have organized to protest what some claimed was a lack of action on sexual harassment by executives, as well as Google's dealings with the US military and border security authorities.

When Google dropped out of bidding for a massive military cloud computing contract, it faced criticism for being unpatriotic, and Pichai appeared to ease tensions with a fence-mending visit with President Donald Trump.

Last December, Pichai kept calm while testifying in Congress as he parried US lawmakers over complaints of political bias and intrusive data collection.

"We build our products in a neutral way," Pichai said in one exchange

DECEMBER 20, 2019

France fines Google $166 million for abusing ad dominance

France's competition authority fined Google 150 million euros ($166 million) on Friday for "abusing its dominant position" in the online ad market.

The agency said the U.S. tech company mistreated buyers of ads based on keywords. Methods used by its Google Ads platform are "opaque and difficult to understand" and the company applies them in an "unequal and arbitrary way," it said.

It also ordered Google to clarify the rules for Google Ads and its procedures for freezing accounts, to avoid "brutal and unjustified" suspensions.

It's the latest in a string of European fines against Google, which faces very little competition for search engine business across the continent. The company has been hit in recent years with multibillion-dollar fines imposed by European Union authorities for unrelated antitrust cases and is also facing increasing regulator pressure on other fronts in Europe and the U.S.

Google said in a statement that it would appeal, and that its advertising policies are designed to protect consumers "from exploitative and abusive ads."

The case originated from a complaint that online consulting company Gibmedia filed after Google suspended its ad account in 2015. During and after their protracted dispute, Google published similar ads to those run by Gibmedia, according to the ruling, which also cites other examples of companies Google suspended without justification.

While it says Google's argument that it's protecting consumers is "perfectly legitimate," its rules are applied incoherently, with some companies' ads allowed and others that sell similar services suspended, the authority said.

It accused the company of "at best negligence, at worst opportunism" by initially offering services to advertisers that it considers dubious and later suspends, just to grow profits.

The ruling details multiple questions about Google's ad algorithms that the competition authority says have gone unanswered.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=google

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