5 Intriguing Things
1. "Deep linking" is a subterranean change happening in the way mobile apps work—and it's a big deal.
"Mobile app developers are humans driven by business goals. If the business opportunity is large, but proscribed by narrow rules, they will follow those rules to gain the initial opportunity. For example, when the convener of a new market (Apple) imposes strict rules about how data is shared, and how apps must behave with regard to each other, app builders will initially conform, and behaviors will fall narrowly in line for a cycle or two (in this case, about five years). However, once those rules prove burdensome, businesses will look for ways around them. This is happening in mobile, for reasons that come down to new competitive players (primarily Android) and to a maturation in distribution, revenue, and engagement models (more on that below). The end result: The market is about to enter a phase of 'quickening' – a rapid increase in linking between apps and web-like backends, harkening a new ecosystem in which both foreseeable and unforseen 'life' will be created." (battellemedia.com)
2. The coming era of 'human neural-network modulation'.
"Although the biology and mechanisms underpinning DBS therapy remain unclear, we now know that normal human brain function is largely mediated through rhythmic oscillations that continuously repeat. These oscillations can change and modulate, ultimately affecting cognitive, behavioral, and motor function. If an oscillation goes bad, it can cause a disabling tremor or other symptom of Parkinson's disease. Rogue brain circuits stuck in states of abnormal oscillation in many diseases have become candidates for DBS therapy. Changes in neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neurovascular structures, and neurogenesis may also underpin the benefits of DBS therapy." (nejm.org)
3. Compounding pharmacies are a vexing, increasingly important part of our health care system.
"Authorities accused Chin of instructing pharmacy technicians to mislabel medication to indicate it was properly sterilized and tested. Medications compounded by NECC were prepared, filled and held under unsanitary conditions, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Benedict Celso. 'Chin instructed pharmacy technicians to fraudulently complete cleaning logs at the end of each month purporting to show the rooms were properly clean and maintained when in fact they had not been,' Celso said in his affidavit." (msn.com)
+ On the rise of compounding pharmacies.
"What’s happening right now is some APIs are being opened, not all, and the only way you can actually control the device or integrate it into your ecosystem is by actually going through the cloud-to-cloud... So for example, whatever the device is, is talking to the manufacturer or the vendor’s cloud platform and then they are allowing you access to their cloud’s data … but if I am responsible to you with a level of service for your home so when you push a button you want your air conditioning to go on or off I’m dependent on a third party that won’t give me any guarantee of service — they won’t give you any guarantee of service, so how is that going to work. How is that going to scale?” (gigaom.com)
5. Really interesting quantitative analysis of Apple keynote theater.
"One of Apple’s most successful products—which rarely gets recognized as such—is made not of aluminum and glass, but of words and pictures. The Apple keynote is the tool the company uses a few times a year to unveil its other products to millions of people. To understand their hidden structure, Quartz reviewed more than a dozen Apple keynotes, logging and analyzing key elements. Here’s what we found." (qz.com)
Today's 1957 American English Language Tip
clink (slang for prison); taken from the Southwark Clink, England, & found in English literature from 1515 on.
Rhythmic Oscillations That Continuously Repeat