#this isnt even the real download its just the pre installation!

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

Oh no no no no noooooooo

[being-childfree]

How online piracy can put your kids in danger

https://kodi.guide/?p=25847

Safer Internet Day. All week on Yahoo Movies UK we’re going to be exploring the murky world of online piracy, how it affects the film industry and you." data-reactid="31">8 February marks Safer Internet Day. All week on Yahoo Movies UK we’re going to be exploring the murky world of online piracy, how it affects the film industry and you.

Streaming has revolutionised parenting. The days of waiting for what seemed like forever for the next episode of Pigeon Street to air are gone, replaced by Netflix, Now TV and BBC iPlayer filled with a wealth of readily available films and programmes.

Which is great. And not.

IntoFilm. “Some of it is legal and free. Some of it is illegal but, strangely enough, those supplying it tend not to announce it! It can be really tough to distinguish, so it’s not surprising that there is misunderstanding.”" data-reactid="34">“Young people are assailed by sources of content when they go online,” says Paul Reeve, CEO of the educational charity IntoFilm. “Some of it is legal and free. Some of it is illegal but, strangely enough, those supplying it tend not to announce it! It can be really tough to distinguish, so it’s not surprising that there is misunderstanding.”

Torrent sites promising the latest movies are one example of this, but they’ve been joined more recently by illegal apps and add-ons accessed through USB sticks and gadgets like Kodi boxes – relatively new technology which may initially seem legitimate but are far from it.

The Industry Trust, 41% of people who have used boxes or sticks to watch pirated content are parents, a third of whom have children under 10." data-reactid="36">Even more worrying is that, according to UK film & TV consumer education body The Industry Trust, 41% of people who have used boxes or sticks to watch pirated content are parents, a third of whom have children under 10.

“During the last few years many have purchased Kodi boxes that are hacked to provide free, illegal access to various pay TV services,” says Reeve. “In some cases they’ve bought them in good faith from apparently legal sources, so may not realise that they’re infringing. Others will be doing it wittingly. And of course, adults help to model children’s attitudes and behaviour.”

Internet Matters, a non-profit helping to empower parents around web safety. “Children might also be lured to dodgy websites through ads offering free game play or a chance to win prizes and unintentionally be exposed to adult content.”" data-reactid="54">“These devices can often have pre-loaded apps which include porn apps that appear next to kids’ films that children might unintentionally click on,” adds Ghislaine Bombusa from Internet Matters, a non-profit helping to empower parents around web safety. “Children might also be lured to dodgy websites through ads offering free game play or a chance to win prizes and unintentionally be exposed to adult content.”

For many, it’s the lack of safety net which is most terrifying. While you can install parental controls to monitor most every day content (and those who do this with their kids will know it’s not foolproof), once you start engaging with these more nebulous areas, it’s even more unrestricted and unmoderated. 15% of those using boxes or sticks to watch pirated content have experienced age-inappropriate content on TV and the ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated ecosystem used by cyber criminals can sometimes feel impossible to combat.

“There’s a need to inform young people about what’s legal and what isn’t in an incredibly crowded online world,” says Reeve. “Not to mention the considerable dangers and risks around internet safety when accessing illegal sites and torrents.”

“Just like in the real world, there are ways to stay safe by managing potential risks and building up resilience to cope with issues when things go wrong,” continues Bombusa. “In order for us to create a safer internet, we have to help children understand and manage potential risks they may be exposed to and give them and their families the tools to cope when issues arise so they can prevent them from turning into a harmful situation.”

BBFC), whose age ratings offer a sense of confidence for parents about whether a film is age-appropriate for their children. Official sources of film will include those ratings." data-reactid="58">There are also resources like the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), whose age ratings offer a sense of confidence for parents about whether a film is age-appropriate for their children. Official sources of film will include those ratings.

Story continues

However, making young people understand what intellectual property (IP) is remains vital, a tough ask in today’s content-heavy world amongst a contingent where finger-wagging rarely works. “Young people are used to getting instant access to content online and they’re also used to not paying for it,” says Paul Reeve. “They may ask why they should pay when there are so many places to get content for free.”

Mary Poppins Returns and now it’s your favourite film in the whole world, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can download it from home the following week." data-reactid="66">And for those with young children who demand The Little Mermaid 24/7 and try to swipe the TV with their finger when they’re bored of a channel, it’s also about instilling a basic understanding of how the industry works. Which in reality means that just because you went to the cinema last weekend to watch Mary Poppins Returns and now it’s your favourite film in the whole world, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can download it from home the following week.

“With all the ways to watch content online now, it can be difficult for children to understand that it’s not always possible to watch what they want from a legal source,” says Ghislaine Bombusa.

“Understanding the differences between watching shows on Netflix and on an illicit streaming device can be particularly challenging for children.”

Ultimately though, it’s no-one’s goal to drive people away from the worldwide web.

“The internet offers children a wealth of opportunities, so it’s also important for us to teach them how to get the best out of it,” says Bombusa.

“Parents may be correct in thinking that an entirely safe internet isn’t possible,” adds Reeve.

“However, there are many measures that can be taken to reduce the risks…then [people] can feel confident about engaging with all the wonderful things about the internet!”

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2019" data-reactid="73">Safer Internet Day – “together for a better internet” – is today. Read more at: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2019

The best Super Bowl trailers ranked Pixar’s latest short surprises viewers How historically accurate is First Man?" data-reactid="74">Read more The best Super Bowl trailers ranked Pixar’s latest short surprises viewers How historically accurate is First Man?

[rubanblr-blog]

Public Symbiosis 4: User Interaction and Task Input

As these initial explorations in hardware were being made, I was looking into how the users would interact with the badge itself!

Initially, we had been thinking that the ideal would be for this product to be linked to a specific task management app, or to a custom-made app. However, it seemed like these would either not be possible, take too much time, and might be unideal in the way that they would force the use of a specific application.

The backup then was thru SMS, which would be accessible by anyone with any type of phone, and in theory relatively easy to set up. For a reason that I can’t remember anymore though, it was determined that SMS would be too difficult to set up, and so the group had suggested I look into email possibly, which I did.

Yet, I was hesitant about the power of SMS to provide intuitive functionality, and even more with email because either we would have to supply the user with exact instructions for what to say or put in a lot of work into interpreting their commands well, and even if we did that neither seemed to be the ideal medium for task management.

So I had these thoughts in my mind as I was going about my day, and had an ‘aha moment’! Google Drive’s Sheets seemed to have a number of benefits here:

structure | the cells would allow clear delineation of tasks and structured input while having much more flexibility than SMS or email

reduce distraction | crucially, the speadsheets could be opened in a single browser tab on the computer, and not have to rely on classic procrastination tools like texting and email

collaborative | the spreadsheets would be sharable, so both people in ‘symbiosis’ would be able to see the sheet in real-time

record of past | the nature of spreadsheets would allow users to keep a record of the tasks they had finished, both allowing a record of data but also creating a sense of accomplishment

accessibility | the sheet would be able to be opened and edited on any device with internet access without necessitating the download of an application or a specific device

accessibility 2 | it would only require a Google account on the part of the user, something that is quite common, at least at our university (where everyone has one)

better UX I would end up learning that Google Sheets has built-in support for scripts, drop downs, and ‘protected input’, meaning that smart things could be done for a more straightforward and assistive user experience (explained below)

Wow with reasons like these how could we not go with sheets!? I checked in with the team and after their okay, cracked my fingers and began experimenting:

First, I learned about the built-in scripts, which would allow me to use a javascript-like language to do things like have the date filled in automatically when a new task was added:

Then, I worked on figuring out how to access the values of the spreadsheet through a python script. While Google’s own developer APIs were fairly straightforward, I found an even simpler API for Sheets called Gspread that was less flexible but simpler to use and did exactly the things we would need. I installed the correct dependencies, activated a couple of things through Google, and wrote a few lines of code, after which I was able to read from and write to the spreadsheet from my python script!! Here, ‘Bingo!’ was written to the sheet by the script!

After this worked, I thought “hmm, it would be wonderful if sheets might have a checkbox to mark when the tasks were done” and started searching. I didn’t end up finding checkboxes specifically, but someone somewhere on the web suggested and explained that something similar was the ability to add dropdowns to cells! So I used that!

Amazing!

And then it turned out that dropdowns could actually be very useful as an alternative to checkboxes because they would allow an indication of progress, rather than just a binary done / not done! This is really interesting because I hadn’t seen something like this done before (perhaps because it adds slightly more steps?) but adds a sense of accomplishment even if the task isnt yet totally finished yet!

It seemed like 4 options would provide uncomplicated increments while not being too many, so I changed all the dropdowns to:

Around this time, I also discovered that putting in the full date of a task allowed Sheets to provide a cool datepicker to make changing the date simpler!

And then I was also concerned about what would happen if a user acciidentally deleted the pre-defined structure of the sheet (a structure on which the Pi would be relying to figure out the current task and its details). This is when I found this ability to mark certain parts of the sheet as special such that the following prompt would show up if a user tried to change something in that section:

This seemed perfect because the modal dialogue would ensure that a user consciously thought about what they were changing, while also ultimately leaving total control in their hands if they still wanted to go ahead with the change.

In addition, we had decided during our deliberations earlier that the badge would only operate with a single task at a time (because in my research I had found that people recommended focusing on a task at a time to reduce procrastination), so I needed a way to know which task was newest, hence the creation of the ‘total tasks so far’ counter that my python script would check first in order to determine the line number to look at.

All these changes as well as a few aesthetic font and coloring changes later, I ended up with this final version!