OLDaily

Introducing fastpages
Jeremy Howard, Hamel Husain, Fastpages, 2020/02/25

This is pretty cool. It's a way to automatically create a website using GitHub Pages. Basically, create a GitHub account, run the fastpages setup, then start publishing your pages. Here's a great example of Fastpages in action. Now - having said that, the instructions are as clear as mud, which is true for everything related to GitHub. So I worked through the process myself and created some much clearer instructions here. But note, I'm still updating these instructions as I post this newsletter. And my site still doesn't work (I'm getting an "Action failed with "Error: Error: The process '/usr/bin/ssh-add' failed with exit code 1" message and you can see it's failing here). I'll keep working on it.

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GitHub Student Developer Pack Now Features 100-Plus Tools
Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, 2020/02/25

This is pretty interesting. "The GitHub Student Developer Pack has just expanded, now featuring development tools and training from more than a hundred companies... The Pack is intended to give students access to developer tools they can learn by using." While it's a greate idea, the Pack illustrates the BIG problem inherent in education-only licensing: "To be eligible for the GitHub Student Developer Pack, you must: Be currently enrolled in a degree or diploma granting course of study such as a high school, secondary school, college, university, homeschool, or similar educational institution (and) have a verifiable school-issued email address or upload documents that prove your current student status." So it's heavily weighted toward formal learning, and leaves people who (say) can't afford tuition fees but are still trying to learn on their own.

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Carnival Cruises, Delta, and 70 Countries Use a Facial Recognition Company You’ve Never Heard Of
Dave Gershgorn, OneZero, 2020/02/25

People talk about banning facial recognition technology, but it may be too late. It's here. The company in question is NEC, and maybe you have heard of therm, as they were a name in computers two decades ago. But it's their biometrics division that has led them to prosperity. "NEC sells its facial recognition technology under the brand NeoFace, which has a number of sub-brands: Express, for use in large security lines; Reveal, for low-quality images and police use; Smart ID, for using mobile devices to verify identity; and Watch, for live facial recognition from video. NeoFace Watch can even be used to identify individuals through car windshields, according to the company."

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Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. announces acquisition of Saba in $1.395 billion deal
Elizabeth Loutfi, Chief Learning Officer, 2020/02/25

In the corporate LMS world, "Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. announced Feb. 24 that it was acquiring the cloud-based talent experience solutions software company Saba for $1.395 billion." That is all.

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