CORONAVIRUS TESTS -WHAT’S AVAILABLE, WHAT’S COMING, WHAT’S IN TRIAL – JUST THE FACTS (APRIL 2020)

Three basic test types are the focus here, and it’s these we will need to have mass-produced and distributed to a significant percentage of the population. Anything less risks prolonging lockdown or making the relaxing of lockdown a gamble. The gamble may pay off, but it may also end up with a death toll in the millions.

Whether you back “gamble!” or “don’t risk lives!” – and where this preference changes, along the infection + fatality + recovery progress line – it’s a question for individuals and its answer is more about your own personality and outlook than any objective data. Some are more gung-ho about life’s ups and downs (everything is a risk, get living). Others are more socially minded about doing the best for the most (all in it together, we’ll beat this if we unite). Whatever.

Here’s the data. Three test types. A bunch of approved, clinical trial and in the pipeline tests. Best thing we can all do, gung-ho or group-first, is keep a close eye on the facts – not just the numbers but the medical supply chains, testing most of all – and hold to account anyone presuming to take authority (be it the President, State Governors, City Mayors, federal, state and city officials). Keep an eye on where the money is going. Keep an eye on where the supply chains aren’t working. Keep an eye on where the institutions are working and where they’re failing. Get loud about any incompetence, corruption, grift, bullshit misdirection, bogus propaganda, etc.

Stay safe.

APRIL 18th 2020

Type of test	Time to results	What it tells us	What it cannot tell us	Figure
Rapid diagnostic test (RDT)	10-30 minutes	The presence or absence (qualitative) of antibodies against the virus present in patient serum.	The quantifiable amount of antibodies in the patient serum, or if these antibodies are able to protect against future infection	RDT figure
Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)	1-5 hours	The presence or absence (quantitative) of antibodies against the virus present in patient serum.	If the antibodies are able to protect against future infection.	ELISA figure
Neutralization assay	3-5 days	The presence of active antibodies in patient serum that are able to inhibit virus growth ex vivo, in a cell culture system. Indicates if the patient is protected against future infection.	It may miss antibodies to viral proteins that are not involved in replication.	PRNT figure

Tests approved in the United States

Country of development	US/China
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Cellex Inc.
Description	RDT, lateral flow assay, which detects IgM and IgG to the nucelocapside protein of SARS-CoV-2. The sensitivity is 93.8% and specificity is 95.6%, when tested at 2 Chinese hospitals in a total of 128 COVID19 positive patients, and 250 COVID19 negative patients (as detected by RT-qPCR).
Phase of development	Approved by FDA for EUA on diagnostics, has CE approval
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers (product number 5513)
Date	April 1, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	ChemBio
Description	This test detects IgM and IgG antibodies to the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2. Sensitivity and specificity values were not released.
Phase of development	Approved for EUA by the FDA
Proposed release	April 14, 2020
Date	April 15, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	Modified ELISA
Authors/Company	VITROS Immunodiagnostic Products Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Total Reagent Pack/Total Calibrator (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics)
Description	This test is a proprietary ELISA, and detects total IgM and IgG, but does not discern between the two. The target antigen is SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Sensitivity was 83% when tested in 36 samples known positive, and sensitivity was 100% out of 400 known SARS-CoV-2 negative samples. Sensitivity increases as day from symptom onset increases. This must be used on the platform VITROS® XT 7600 Integrated System, the VITROS® 3600 Immunodiagnostic System, the VITROS® 5600 Integrated System and VITROS® ECi/ECiQ Immunodiagnostic systems.
Phase of development	Approved for EUA by the FDA
Proposed release	April 14, 2020
Date	April 15, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Mount Sinai Laboratory COVID-19 ELISA IgG Antibody Test
Description	This test detects, qualitatively, IgG present in the serum of patients. The ELISA based method uses a 1:50 dilution of human serum that is flowed over a plate coated with the spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD). Sensitivity and specificity are not yet available.
Phase of development	Approved for EUA by the FDA
Proposed release	April 15, 2020
Date	April 16, 2020

Tests approved outside the United States

Country of development	US/China
Type of Serological Test	RDT, solid phase immunochromatographic assay
Authors/Company	Aytu Biosciences/Orient Gene Biotech
Description	The (COVID-19) IgG/IgM Rapid Test will assay patient antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from blood or plasma samples. The sensitivity is 87.9% and specificity is 100% for IgG, and for IgM it is 97.2% and 100%, respectively.
Phase of development	CE approved, used in China in clinical settings, awaiting FDA approval
Proposed release	Shipments should be ready by early April
Date	March 10, 2020

Country of development	US/China
Type of Serological Test	Proprietary
Authors/Company	ScanWell Health/INNOVITA
Description	This kit is for detection of IgG and IgM for SARS-CoV-2 in the blood, taking only 15 minutes, and is an at-home test. The test has 87.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
Phase of development	Cleared by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and pending approval by US FDA
Proposed release	6-8 weeks (May 1 to May 15), depending on FDA approval date
Date	March 20, 2020

Country of development	Singapore
Type of Serological Test	Not explicity stated, though their “gold standard” is a neutralization assay
Authors/Company	Singapore/ Wang Lab
Description	The Wang lab developed two tests. One, which has about 90% sensitivity, is rapid and uses recombinant viral proteins to detect reactive antibodies. The second is their “gold standard” and utilizes a viral neutralization assay but takes 3-5 days.
Phase of development	Deployed in Singapore
Proposed release	Not stated
Date	March 1, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	Lateral flow assay (RDT)
Authors/Company	Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co Ltd
Description	Wondfo SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Test, which is a lateral flow assay that assays patient IgG and IgM. The article did not specify target antigens, sensitivity, or specificity
Phase of development	CE/IVD, approved by NMPA in China for point of care testing
Proposed release	CE/IVD in the EU
Date	Feb. 22, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	Guangdong Hecin-Scientific
Description	Tests for IgM against SARS-CoV-2.
Phase of development	Cleared by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA)
Proposed release	Approved for use in China
Date	Feb. 22, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Dynamiker
Description	The test, DNK-1419-1, assays for patient IgG and IgM with 92% accuracy.
Phase of development	The NMPA has approved it in the 7th edition of Diagnostic and treatment protocol of COVID-19
Proposed release	Used in China, no other approvals to date
Date	Date not given

Country of development	The Republic of Korea
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	SD Biosensor
Description	US supplier Henry Schein will distribute the test for IVD use only
Phase of development	Approved for diagnostic us outside the US, Research use only in US
Proposed release	2-3 weeks
Date	March 26, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	MayoClinic/University of Minnesota
Description	MayoClinic is developing an ELISA to test for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The types of antibodies are not stated, nor is sensitivity or specificity.
Phase of development	Clinical
Proposed release	April 6, 2020
Date	April 1, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Advaite
Description	RapCov Rapid COVID-19 Test is an in vitro diagnostic test for IgM and IgG antibodies. In a study with 18 healthy and 18 COVID-19 positive patients, the sensitivity was 89% and specificity was 100%. It should be noted that “specificity” was only performed on healthy patient samples, not patient samples from related viruses. Further testing is necessary to validate the test. It is currently being used to study community prevalence in Chester County, PA. https://advaite.com/press-release/advaite-deploys-covid-19-rapid-antibody-test-kits-to-chester-county-and-collaborates-with-pennsylvania-companies-to-scale-up-manufacturing/
Phase of development	Research use only (IVD), not approved for diagnostic use. This company was not found on any FDA categorization of tests
Proposed release	April 2020
Date	April 6, 2020

Tests approved for research or surveillance purposes

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Epitope Diagnostics, Ltd
Description	KT-1032 tests for IgG to SARS-CoV-2, while KT-1033 tests for IgM to SARS-CoV-2. The kits do not state the antigens of interest.
Phase of development	Approved by FDA, for clinical use only and for research use. Not for at home testing. The test itself has not been evaluated by the FDA
Proposed release	Ongoing
Date	March 3, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	CTK Biotech
Description	The test, COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test, tests for patient IgG and IgM in a lateral flow assay.
Phase of development	Not approved for use in the US, but available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers and export out of the US
Date	March 12, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	BioMedomics
Description	This assay detects patient antibodies, IgG and IgM, on a lateral flow assay. It uses a recombinant viral antigen, though it does not state the specific antigen. The test is a 3 line read-out, one line for a control, one line to detect IgM, and one to detect IgG. Three lines indicates the patient has both IgG and IgM.
Phase of development	CE/IVD, approved by FDA but only for research use
Proposed release	CE/IVD, available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers in the US, but only for research use
Date	March 16, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Ray Biotech
Description	This test, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) IgM/IgG Rapid Test Kit, detects patient IgM and IgG to SARS-CoV-2 in patient blood samples. It detects antibodies against the viral N protein.
Phase of development	CE/IVD, approved for research use only in the US. Approved for research use under FDA EUA.
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	March 19, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Creative Diagnostics
Description	Kit DEIASL019 detects patient IgG for SARS-CoV-2, and uses the whole virus lysate as the antibody binding target. The reported sensitivity and specificity are 100% (from 16 and 30 samples, respectively). The DEIA2020 kit only tests for patient IgG that reacts to N protein.
Phase of development	Not approved for diagnostic use; for research use only
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, but not for diagnostic use
Date	March 20, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Eagle Biosciences
Description	This company has two kits, one (KTR-1032) which targets patient IgG, and one (KTR-1033) that targets IgM. The target antigen is an “HRP-labeled-COVID-19 antigen.” They did not list sensitivity or specificity
Phase of development	Research use only, CE/IVD outside the US
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, but not for diagnostic use
Date	Date not given

Country of development	China/US
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Sure Biotech
Description	The Coronavirus Rapid Test assays for IgG and IgM antibody in blood or plasma samples, with 92-96% accuracy.
Phase of development	CE approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE approved
Date	Feb. 2020

Country of development	China/US
Type of Serological Test	RDT, immunofluorescence, colloidal gold
Authors/Company	BioEasy/Shenzhen BioEasy Biotechnology Co.
Description	There are three tests: 1) the 2019 nCoV Ag test, which assays sputum or nasal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 antigens and gives a fluorometric read out, 2) the 2019-nCoV Ag GICA test, which uses colloidal gold, and 3) the 2019 nCoV IgG/IgM GICA rapid test which assays for patient antibodies to the virus from blood samples
Phase of development	CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	Date not given

Country of development	The Republic of Korea
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	Sugentech
Description	This test is a colloidal gold lateral flow assay that can be read in 10 minutes, and measures presence of patient IgG and IgM.
Phase of development	CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	Date not given

Country of development	The Republic of Korea
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	SD Biosensor
Description	This company currently offers 3 tests. 1) The Standard Q COVID-19 IgM/IgG Duo which tests for both IgG and IgM patient antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Sensitivity was 82% and specificity was 97% (based on data from 30 healthy donors and 33 COVID-19 positive individuals. 2) Standard Q COVID-19 Ag, which detects virus antigen from nasopharyngeal swabs, and 3) Standard F COVID-19 Ag FIA, which detects viral N protein present in nasopharyngeal swabs in a fluorescence based assay.
Phase of development	Korea EUA approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, but not for diagnostic use
Date	Date not given

Country of development	Singapore
Type of Serological Test	RDT, prescreen step
Authors/Company	Sensing self
Description	This is a pre-screening, at home test (though not authorized for at-home use yet). It tests for IgG and IgM antibodies, and is reported to be 92% accurate.
Phase of development	CE certified awaiting FDA EUA.
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	Date not given

Country of development	Germany
Type of Serological Test	ELISAs
Authors/Company	Euroimmun AG
Description	This company has two tests, including EI 2606-9601 A, which tests for patient IgA, and EI 2606-9601 G, which tests for patient IgG. The target antigens were not stated, nor were specificity or sensitivity of tests.
Phase of development	Research use only, CE/IVD in EU
Proposed release	CE/IVD in the EU
Date	March 12, 2020

Country of development	Germany
Type of Serological Test	RDT, lateral flow assay
Authors/Company	PharmACT
Description	This RDT tests for IgM and IgG of patients, with 92-98% sensitivity in later stages of the infection (day 11-24) with 100% sensitivity.
Phase of development	Research use only
Proposed release	Appears available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, but no clear approvals
Date	Date not given

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	Liming Bio
Description	COVID-19 IgG/IgM Combo Rapid Test Device is an RDT that tests for patient IgG and IgM antibodies. The sensitivity and specificity for total antibodies were 93.1 and 100%, respectively. For IgG, sensitivity is 82% and specificity is 100%. For IgM, the sensitivity is 62% and specificity is 100%.
Phase of development	CE/IVD
Proposed release	CE/IVD
Date	Feb. 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	Not listed
Authors/Company	Snibe Co
Description	The company provides two tests the 2019-nCoV IgG , and 2019-nCoV IgM tests. The test is a chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA). It has been clinically tested in China, though the exact specificity and sensitivity was not stated.
Phase of development	CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	Feb. 19, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Beijing Wantai
Description	They offer, 1. Wantai SARS-CoV-2 Ab Rapid Test Kit, 2. Wantai SARS-CoV-2 IgM ELISA kit, and 3. Wantai SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA kit. The kits do not state which antigens are used as targets. 93.1% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
Phase of development	Approved for Research use only, unclear if available in the US
Proposed release	Released in China
Date	Feb. 25, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Shenzhen Yhlo Biotech Company
Description	This company provides 2 tests, the iFlash-SARS-CoV-2-IgG and the iFlash-SARS-CoV-2-IgM, which test for patient antibodies to the virus. The target antigen is not specified. The sensitivity of the IgG assay is over 90%, and specificity is over 95%. For the IgM test, the sensitivity and specificity are both over 95%, based on assaying over 1200 Chinese patient samples.
Phase of development	CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	Feb. 27, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	Sanuo Biotech
Description	The SARS-Cov-2 Antibody Test strip tests for patient IgG and IgM. The press release did not disclose sensitivity or specificity of the test.
Phase of development	CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, CE/IVD approved
Date	March 12, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT (colloidal gold lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	BioTime
Description	The SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM kit tests for patient antibodies to the virus from blood or plasma samples. There is no reported sensitivity or specificity.
Phase of development	Only approved for in vitro diagnostic use
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers
Date	Date not given

Country of development	The Republic of Korea
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	GenBody
Description	GenBody FIA COVID-19 IgM/IgG (COVI025)
Phase of development	Research use only, CE/IVD in EU
Proposed release	CE/IVD in the EU
Date	March 2, 2020

Country of development	United Kingdom
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Mologic
Description	Seems to be an RDT (probably to IgM and IgG). No description was given, other than 3.5 million tests were ordered.
Phase of development	UK has purchased 3.5 million, they are validating now with Liverpool Trop Med and St. Georges, London
Proposed release	Date not given
Date	March 29, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Livzon Diagnostics
Description	RDT, lateral flow assay, which detects IgM and IgG to the nucelocapside protein of SARS-CoV-2.
Phase of development	Research use only, CE/IVD approved
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers
Date	Date not given

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	Not stated, seems to be ELISA
Authors/Company	Emory University
Description	Emory University has developed a serological test for COVID-19. Details of the test, such as method, target antigen, and antibody type are not listed. The Clinical Immunology section of Emory Medical Laboratories (EML) plans to begin testing 300 people per day, scaling up to 5000 tests per day by June. They state that it will take one vial of blood.
Phase of development	Research use only, approved under FDA Policy for Diagnostic Tests for Coronavirus Disease-2019 Section IV.A
Proposed release	April 2020
Date	April 13, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Confirm Biosciences
Description	This RDT detects IgM and IgG, though the target antigen is unclear. Sensitivity appears to be 93.8%, and sensitivity is 99.1%, in 704 samples tested. The location of the trial was not disclosed.
Phase of development	Research use only, not approved by the FDA
Proposed release	Available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers
Date	April 15, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Abbott
Description	This test detects IgG to SARS-CoV-2, and must be used on the ARCHITECT® i1000SR and i2000SR laboratory instruments. Sensitivity and specificity are not yet disclosed
Phase of development	Not approved by the FDA, appears to be under Section IV.C. Set for distribution in mid-April 2020.
Proposed release	April 17, 2020
Date	April 16, 2020

Country of development	USA
Type of Serological Test	ELISA (not stated)
Authors/Company	Roche Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test
Description	This tests detects antibodies, including IgG, to SARS-CoV-2 using the cobas e analysers. The sensitivity and specificity have not yet been disclosed.
Phase of development	Not approved by the FDA, applying for EUA
Proposed release	Mid-May in countries accepting the CE mark
Date	April 17, 2020

Tests that are still in development

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	CRISPR-based lateral flow assay
Authors/Company	Broughton et al (Mammoth Biosciences)
Description	Using a CRISPR-Cas12 based method, they can specifically detect virus RNA for the E and N genes. This is called the DETECTR assay, and does not assay for patient antibodies, but the presence of viral RNA. The CRISPR-Cas12 RNA targeting is followed by isothermal amplification of the target, resulting in a visual readout with a fluorophore.This was 90% sensitive and 100% specific.
Phase of development	Pre-clinical
Proposed release	In development
Date	March 10, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	Not stated
Authors/Company	CDC
Description	They are now beginning testing in specific populations, 1) people who have not been diagnosed but live in a COVID-19 hotspot, 2) a later national survey, and 3) populations like healthcare workers.
Phase of development	Clinical
Proposed release	Not given
Date	April 4, 2020

Country of developmentU	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Amanat et al.
Description	An ELISA based method using recombinant receptor binding domain (RBD) regions of the spike protein or the full length spike protein. COVID-19 patient sera was most reactive to the full length spike protein, while non-COVID-19 patient sera did not react to either protein above background
Phase of development	Pre-clinical
Proposed release	Not stated
Date	March 18, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	Proprietary
Authors/Company	United Biomedical (UBI)/ c19
Description	This kit is being tested in a small community in Colorado, in partnership with the Public Health Department of San Miguel County, to test all residents for a SARS-Cov-2 antibody. The assay is testing for antibodies to recombinant fragments of the S, N, and M proteins. So far, the test has 100% sensitivity and specificity after day 10 of symptoms, according to their website. This has not been approved by the FDA. They also state that “Positive results may be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E”
Phase of development	In testing in San Miguel, CO
Proposed release	Ongoing trials in Colorado, no stated release date
Date	March 19, 2020

Country of development	Netherlands
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Okba et al
Description	Modifying existing beta version ELISA kits (EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG) for IgG or IgA, and an in-house ELISA kit, they coated plates with recombinant S1 domain of the spike protein. The commercially available kits are not yet approved for use. They found that the kits were sensitive and specific for the S1 region of SARS-CoV-2, looking at 45 samples overall.
Phase of development	Pre-clinical
Proposed release	Not stated
Date	March 20, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Jiangsu bioPerfectus technologies
Description	This company has two tests, the PerfectPOC Novel Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) IgM/IgG Rapid Test Kit and the PerfectPOC Novel Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) Ag Rapid Test Kit. The IgM/IgG test assays for patient antibodies to the virus from a blood sample, while the Ag Rapid test assays for SARS-CoV-2 antigen from nasal swab samples.
Phase of development	Developed, awaiting approval
Proposed release	Appears available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers in China, but no clear approvals
Date	March 3, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	RDT
Authors/Company	Wuhan EasyDiagnosis Biomedicine Ltd
Description	The SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG Antibody test kit uses blood or plasma samples to detect patient antibodies. There is no listed sensitivity or specificity
Phase of development	No clear approvals
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, but no clear CE or FDA approvals
Date	Date not given

Country of development	Belgium
Type of Serological Test	Dipstick (lateral flow assay)
Authors/Company	Coris Bioconcept
Description	This lateral flow assay detects SARS-CoV-2 antigen in nasal mucus samples. The sensitivity was approximately 60% when tested in two different hospitals.
Phase of development	Clinically testing
Proposed release	available for purchase by research labs/healthcare providers, does not appear to have any approvals
Date	March 24, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Vitalant/UCSF
Description	It appears that Vitalant (a blood donation company) and UCSF have teamed up to make an in-house antibody test for SARS-CoV-2. It is an ELISA based assay, though they have not disclosed which antibodies are detected.
Phase of development	In development
Proposed release	Date not given
Date	March 31, 2020

Country of development	US
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Klein lab, JHSPH
Description	They have adapted an ELISA, based on Amanat et al 2020, that tests for IgG and IgM to the full length Spike protien and to the receptor binding domain (RBD). They are now working to get a mucosal IgA ELISA working. So far, they are using the kit to test samples from Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Phase of development	Pre-clinical
Proposed release	Not given, but being used for research use
Date	April 6, 2020

Country of development	China
Type of Serological Test	ELISA
Authors/Company	Zhang et al
Description	This group developed an in-house ELISA testing for patient antibodies (IgM and IgG) to the SARSr-CoV Rp3 nucleocapside (N) protein. They found that on day 5, 81% of patients were positive for IgM and 100% were positive for IgG (of 16 COVID-19 positive patients).
Phase of development	Pre-clinical
Proposed release	Not given
Date	February 17, 2020

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Countries North Korea Can Currently Hit With Their Missiles

29 May 2017

Should North Korea ever have the capacity to launch a nuclear missile that could reach the U.S. mainland, Trump would have approximately ten minutes to react and make a decision to counterattack.

Chauvin convicted of murdering George Floyd in landmark U.S. racial justice case

21 April 2021

The post Chauvin convicted of murdering George Floyd in landmark U.S. racial justice case appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

Super League shelved as more clubs withdraw

21 April 2021

The post Super League shelved as more clubs withdraw appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

ICYMI – Royal funeral and news from Reuters

20 April 2021

The post ICYMI – Royal funeral and news from Reuters appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

High heels! Real pants! ‘Teeny’ Oscars red carpet signals return to glamour

19 April 2021

The post High heels! Real pants! ‘Teeny’ Oscars red carpet signals return to glamour appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

Members of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter team celebrate first flight on Mars

19 April 2021

The post Members of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter team celebrate first flight on Mars appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

Bengal tiger Garfield reacts at the zoo in Havana

19 April 2021

The post Bengal tiger Garfield reacts at the zoo in Havana appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

Table Mountain wildfire threatens University of Cape Town

18 April 2021

The post Table Mountain wildfire threatens University of Cape Town appeared first on Reuters News Agency.

How a Chinese Surveillance Broker Became Oracle’s “Partner of the Year”

22 April 2021

A network of local resellers helps funnel Oracle technology to the police and military in China.

The post How a Chinese Surveillance Broker Became Oracle’s “Partner of the Year” appeared first on The Intercept.

New Report Documents Nearly 500 Cases of Violence Against Asylum-Seekers Expelled by Biden

21 April 2021

Human rights organizations and border researchers are calling on the White House to end its use of a sweeping Trump-era law.

The post New Report Documents Nearly 500 Cases of Violence Against Asylum-Seekers Expelled by Biden appeared first on The Intercept.

CVS Health Quietly Made Massive Donation to Dark-Money Group Fighting Access to Care

21 April 2021

The pharmacy and health insurance giant gave $5 million to Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.

The post CVS Health Quietly Made Massive Donation to Dark-Money Group Fighting Access to Care appeared first on The Intercept.

Derek Chauvin’s Conviction Was a Relief — but Courts Cannot Deliver Racial Justice

21 April 2021

The killing of a Black girl, Ma’Khia Bryant, just minutes before Chauvin’s conviction is a reminder of how violent the broader system is.

The post Derek Chauvin’s Conviction Was a Relief — but Courts Cannot Deliver Racial Justice appeared first on The Intercept.

The Defund Police Movement Takes Aim at Fusion Centers and Mass Surveillance

21 April 2021

Legislators in Maine are debating pulling funding for the state's fusion center — the first such bill in the country.

The post The Defund Police Movement Takes Aim at Fusion Centers and Mass Surveillance appeared first on The Intercept.

Derek Chauvin Found Guilty of Murdering George Floyd

20 April 2021

The formal jury of Derek Chauvin’s peers assembled in court reached the same verdict as the dozen bystanders who watched him murder George Floyd.

The post Derek Chauvin Found Guilty of Murdering George Floyd appeared first on The Intercept.

Progressive Groups Fight AT&T and T-Mobile’s New Texting Rules

20 April 2021

Critics say the rules, known as “10DLC,” will hamper their organizing and worsen private tech overreach.

The post Progressive Groups Fight AT&T and T-Mobile’s New Texting Rules appeared first on The Intercept.

Congratulations

22 April 2021

submitted by /u/StrangeTrek to r/funny [link] [comments]

“Who is Ghislane Maxwell?”

21 April 2021

submitted by /u/cptbackfire01 to r/conspiracy [link] [comments]

Drug overdose death rate in the US. 47 states (and D.C.) have a higher drug OD death rate than the global no. 2 [OC]

21 April 2021

submitted by /u/Landgeist to r/dataisbeautiful [link] [comments]

Every Roman Settlement, and nothing else

21 April 2021

submitted by /u/ImUsingDaForce to r/MapPorn [link] [comments]

Do spoilers ruin a movie for you?

22 April 2021

View Poll

submitted by /u/OmarZiada to r/polls [link] [comments]

Count Binface’s manifesto is unassailable, deffo got my first choice vote

21 April 2021

submitted by /u/londonskater to r/london [link] [comments]

Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, two former Humanist of the Year winners, denounce the revocation of Richard Dawkins' award in open letter

22 April 2021

submitted by /u/Brandt-son-of-Thora to r/samharris [link] [comments]

Get the FLoC out

21 April 2021

I’ve always liked the way that web browsers are called “user agents” in the world of web standards. It’s such a succinct summation of what browsers are for, or more accurately who browsers are for. Users.

The term makes sense when you consider that the internet is for end users. That’s not to be taken for granted. This assertion is now enshrined in the Internet Engineering Task Force’s RFC 8890—like Magna Carta for the network age. It’s also a great example of prioritisation in a design principle:

When there is a conflict between the interests of end users of the Internet and other parties, IETF decisions should favor end users.

So when a web browser—ostensibly an agent for the user—prioritises user-hostile third parties, we get upset.

Google Chrome—ostensibly an agent for the user—is running an origin trial for Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). This is not a technology that serves the end user. It is a technology that serves third parties who want to target end users. The most common use case is behavioural advertising, but targetting could be applied for more nefarious purposes.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote an explainer last month: Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know.

Let’s back up a minute and look at why this is happening. End users are routinely targeted today (for behavioural advertising and other use cases) through third-party cookies. Some user agents like Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox are stamping down on this, disabling third party cookies by default.

Seeing which way the wind is blowing, Google’s Chrome browser will also disable third-party cookies at some time in the future (they’re waiting to shut that barn door until the fire is good’n’raging). But Google isn’t just in the browser business. Google is also in the ad tech business. So they still want to advertisers to be able to target end users.

Yes, this is quite the cognitive dissonance: one part of the business is building a user agent while a different part of the company is working on ways of tracking end users. It’s almost as if one company shouldn’t simultaneously be the market leader in three separate industries: search, advertising, and web browsing. (Seriously though, I honestly think Google’s search engine would get better if it were split off from the parent company, and I think that Google’s web browser would also get better if it were a separate enterprise.)

Anyway, one possible way of tracking users without technically tracking individual users is to assign them to buckets, or cohorts of interest based on their browsing habits. Does that make you feel safer? Me neither.

That’s what Google is testing with the origin trial of FLoC.

If you, as an end user, don’t wish to be experimented on like this, there are a few things you can do:

Don’t use Chrome. No other web browser is participating in this experiment. I recommend Firefox. If you want to continue to use Chrome, install the Duck Duck Go Chrome extension. Alternatively, if you manually disable third-party cookies, your Chrome browser won’t be included in the experiment. Or you could move to Europe. The origin trial won’t be enabled for users in the European Union, which is coincidentally where GDPR applies.

That last decision is interesting. On the one hand, the origin trial is supposed to be on a small scale, hence the lack of European countries. On the other hand, the origin trial is “opt out” instead of “opt in” so that they can gather a big enough data set. Weird.

The plan is that if and when FLoC launches, websites would have to opt in to it. And when I say “plan”, I mean “best guess.”

I, for one, am filled with confidence that Google would never pull a bait-and-switch with their technologies.

In the meantime, if you’re a website owner, you have to opt your website out of the origin trial. You can do this by sending a server header. A meta element won’t do the trick, I’m afraid.

I’ve done it for my sites, which are served using Apache. I’ve got this in my .conf file:

<IfModule mod_headers.c> Header always set Permissions-Policy "interest-cohort=()" </IfModule>

If you don’t have access to your server, tough luck. But if your site runs on Wordpress, there’s a proposal to opt out of FLoC by default.

Interestingly, none of the Chrome devs that I follow are saying anything about FLoC. They’re usually quite chatty about proposals for potential standards, but I suspect that this one might be embarrassing for them. It was a similar situation with AMP. In that case, Google abused its monopoly position in search to blackmail publishers into using Google’s format. Now Google’s monopoly in advertising is compromising the integrity of its browser. In both cases, it makes it hard for Chrome devs claiming to have the web’s best interests at heart.

But one of the advantages of having a huge share of the browser market is that Chrome can just plough ahead and unilaterily implement whatever it wants even if there’s no consensus from other browser makers. So that’s what Google is doing with FLoC. But their justification for doing this doesn’t really work unless other browsers play along.

Here’s Google’s logic:

Third-party cookies are on their way out so advertisers will no longer be able to use that technology to target users. If we don’t provide an alternative, advertisers and other third parties will use fingerprinting, which we all agree is very bad. So let’s implement Federated Learning of Cohorts so that advertisers won’t use fingerprinting.

The problem is with step three. The theory is that if FLoC gives third parties what they need, then they won’t reach for fingerprinting. Even if there were any validity to that hypothesis, the only chance it has of working is if every browser joins in with FLoC. Otherwise ad tech companies are leaving money on the table. Can you seriously imagine third parties deciding that they just won’t target iPhone or iPad users any more? Remember that Safari is the only real browser on iOS so unless FLoC is implemented by Apple, third parties can’t reach those people …unless those third parties use fingerprinting instead.

Google have set up a situation where it looks like FLoC is going head-to-head with fingerprinting. But if FLoC becomes a reality, it won’t be instead of fingerprinting, it will be in addition to fingerprinting.

Google is quite right to point out that fingerprinting is A Very Bad Thing. But their concerns about fingerprinting sound very hollow when you see that Chrome is pushing ahead and implementing a raft of browser APIs that other browser makers quite rightly point out enable more fingerprinting: Web Bluetooth, Battery Status, Proximity Sensor, and so on.

When it comes to those APIs, the message from Google is that fingerprinting is a solveable problem.

But when it comes to third party tracking, the message from Google is that fingerprinting is inevitable and so we must provide an alternative.

Which one is it?

Google’s flimsy logic for why FLoC is supposedly good for end users just doesn’t hold up. If they were honest and said that it’s to maintain the status quo of the ad tech industry, it would make much more sense.

The flaw in Google’s reasoning is the fundamental idea that tracking is necessary for advertising. That’s simply not true. Sacrificing user privacy is fundamental to behavioural advertising …but behavioural advertising is not the only kind of advertising. It isn’t even a very good kind of advertising.

Marko Saric sums it up:

FLoC seems to be Google’s way of saving a dying business. They are trying to keep targeted ads going by making them more “privacy-friendly” and “anonymous”. But behavioral profiling and targeted advertisement is not compatible with a privacy-respecting web.

What’s striking is that the very monopolies that make Google and Facebook the leaders in behavioural advertising would also make them the leaders in contextual advertising. Almost everyone uses Google’s search engine. Almost everyone uses Facebook’s social network. An advertising model based on what you’re currently looking at would keep Google and Facebook in their dominant positions.

Google made their first many billions exclusively on contextual advertising. Google now prefers to push the message that behavioral advertising based on personal data collection is superior but there is simply no trustworthy evidence to that.

I sincerely hope that Chrome will align with Safari, Firefox, Vivaldi, Brave, Edge and every other web browser. Everyone already agrees that fingerprinting is the real enemy. Imagine the combined brainpower that could be brought to bear on that problem if all browsers made user privacy a priority.

Until that day, I’m not sure that Google Chrome can be considered a user agent.

Numbers

20 April 2021

Core web vitals from Google are the ingredients for an alphabet soup of exlusionary intialisms. But once you get past the unnecessary jargon, there’s a sensible approach underpinning the measurements.

From May—no, June—these measurements will be a ranking signal for Google search so performance will become more of an SEO issue. This is good news. This is what Google should’ve done years ago instead of pissing up the wall with their dreadful and damaging AMP project that blackmailed publishers into using a proprietary format in exchange for preferential search treatment. It was all done supposedly in the name of performance, but in reality all it did was antagonise users and publishers alike.

Core web vitals are an attempt to put numbers on user experience. This is always a tricky balancing act. You’ve got to watch out for the McNamara fallacy. Harry has already started noticing this:

A new and unusual phenomenon: clients reluctant (even refusing) to fix performance issues unless they directly improve Vitals.

Once you put a measurement on something, there’s a danger of focusing too much on the measurement. Chris is worried that we’re going to see tips’n’tricks for gaming core web vitals:

This feels like the start of a weird new era of web performance where the metrics of web performance have shifted to user-centric measurements, but people are implementing tricky strategies to game those numbers with methods that, if anything, slightly harm user experience.

The map is not the territory. The numbers are a proxy for user experience, but it’s notoriously difficult to measure intangible ideas like pain and frustration. As Laurie says:

This is 100% the downside of automatic tools that give you a “score”. It’s like gameification. It’s about hitting that perfect score instead of the holistic experience.

And Ethan has written about the power imbalance that exists when Google holds all the cards, whether it’s AMP or core web vitals:

Google used its dominant position in the marketplace to force widespread adoption of a largely proprietary technology for creating websites. By switching to Core Web Vitals, those power dynamics haven’t materially changed.

We would do well to remember:

When you measure, include the measurer.

But if we’re going to put numbers to user experience, the core web vitals are a pretty good spread of measurements: largest contentful paint, cumulative layout shift, and first input delay.

(If you prefer using initialisms, remember that CFP is Certified Financial Planner, CLS is Community Legal Services, and FID is Flame Ionization Detector. Together they form CWV, Catholic War Veterans.)

The State of the Web — the links

20 April 2021

An Event Apart Spring Summit is happening right now. I opened the show yesterday with a talk called The State Of The Web:

The World Wide Web has come a long way in its three decades of existence. There’s so much we can do now with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: animation, layout, powerful APIs… we can even make websites that work offline! And yet the web isn’t exactly looking rosy right now. The problems we face aren’t technical in nature. We’re facing a crisis of expectations: we’ve convinced people that the web is slow, buggy, and inaccessible. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no fate but what we make. In this perspective-setting talk, we’ll go on a journey to the past, present, and future of web design and development. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and by the end, you’ll be ready to make the web better.

I wrote about preparing this talk and you can see the outline on Kinopio. I thought it turned out well, but I never actually know until people see it. So I’m very gratified and relieved that it went down very well indeed. Phew!

Eric and the gang at An Event Apart asked for a round-up of links related to this talk and I was more than happy to oblige. I’ve separated them into some of the same categories that the talk covers.

I know that these look like a completely disconnected grab-bag of concepts—you’d have to see the talk to get the connections. But even without context, these are some rabbit holes you can dive down…

Apollo 8 Earthrise by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee on Vimeo, 2018. Earthrise by Amanda Gorman on YouTube, 2018. They Saw Earth From Space. Here’s How It Changed Them by Nadia Drake in National Geographic, 2018. Seeing the Whole Earth from Space Changed Everything by Ahmed Kabil for The Long Now Foundation, 2018. Hypertext As We May Think by Vannevar Bush in The Atlantic Monthly, 1945. The Demo by Douglas Engelbart, 1968. Information Management: A Proposal by Tim Berners-Lee, 1989. The World Wide Web proposed new tag: IMG by Marc Andreessen to www-talk, 1993. What is a Polyfill? by Remy Sharp, 2010. Stop solving problems you don’t yet have by Rachel Andrew, 2012. Re: More granularity for font-weight? by Håkon Wium Lie to www-style, 2015. Clean advertising on adactio.com, 2020. 2021 Predictions for UX and Front-End Experts (PDF) by Ire Aderinokun et al. for An Event Apart, 2021. NASA Poppy Northcutt: The Woman Who Took Us to the Stars by Apriya Rai, 2020. Katherine Johnson Biography by Margot Lee Shetterly, 2020. Margaret Hamilton interview by Zoë Corbyn in The Guardian, 2019.

The state of UX

8 April 2021

There is much introspection and navel-gazing in the world of user experience design. More than usual, I mean.

Jesse James Garrett recently said:

I don’t think I know anyone that’s been in UX more than a decade who’s happy with how it’s going.

In a recent issue of the dConstruct newsletter—which you really should subscribe to—I pointed to three bowls of porridge left out by three different ursine experience designers.

Mark Hurst wrote Why I’m losing faith in UX. Too hot!

Scott Berkun wrote How To Put Faith in Design. Too cold!

Peter Merholz wrote Waking up from the dream of UX. Just right!

As an aside, does it bother anyone else that the Goldilocks story violates the laws of thermodynamics?

Anyway, this hand-wringing around the role of UX today seemed like a suitably hot topic for one of our regular roundtable chats at Clearleft. We invited Peter along too and he was kind enough to give us his time.

It was a fun discussion. Peter pointed out that whenever he hears an older designer bemoaning the current state of design, he has to wonder what’s happened in their lives to make them feel that way (it’s like when people complain about the music of today and how it’s not as good as the music of whatever time period I was a teenager). And let’s face it, the good ol’ days weren’t so good for everyone. It was overwhelmingly dominated by privileged white dudes. The more that changes, the better …and it needs to change far, far more.

There was a general agreement that the current gnashing of teeth isn’t unique to UX. It’s something that just about any discipline will inevitably go through. Peter’s epiphany was to compare it with the hand-wringing around Agile:

The frustration exhibited with the “dream of UX” is (I think) identical to the frustration the original Agile community sees with how it has been industrialized (koff-SAFe-koff).

Perhaps the industrialisation of what once a cottage industry is the price of success. But that’s not necessarily bad, as long as you industrialise the right things. If UX has become the churning out of wireframes at scale, then something has gone very wrong. If UX has become the implementation of dark patterns at scale, then something has gone very wrong.

In some organisations, perhaps that’s exactly what’s happened. In which case, I can totally understand the disillusionment. But in other places, I see the opposite happening. I see UX designers bringing questions of ethics to the forefront. I see UX designers—dare I say it?—having their proverbial seat at the table.

Chris went so far as to claim that we are in fact in a golden age of user experience design. Controversial! But think about it, he said. Over the next few days, pay attention to interactions you have with technology, and consider the thought and skill that has gone into them.

I had Chris’s provocation in mind when I wrote about booking my vaccination appointment:

I just need to get in, accomplish my task, and get out again. This is where the World Wide Web shines.

Maybe Chris is right. Maybe the golden age of UX is here. It’s just not evenly distributed. Yet.

It’s an interesting time for the discipline of user experience design. I’ve always maintained that the best way to get a temperature check for your chosen field is to go to a really good conference. If you’re a UX designer and you want to understand the state of the UX nation, you should get a ticket for the online UX Fest in June. See you there!

Of the web

6 April 2021

I’m subscribed to a lot of blogs in my RSS reader. I follow some people because what they write about is very different to what I know about. But I also follow lots of people who have similar interests and ideas to me. So I’m not exactly in an echo chamber, but I do have the reverb turned up pretty high.

Sometimes these people post thoughts that are eerily similar to what I’ve been thinking about. Ethan has been known to do this. Get out of my head, Marcotte!

But even if Ethan wasn’t some sort of telepath, he’d still be in my RSS reader. We’re friends. Lots of the people in my RSS reader are my friends. When I read their words, I can hear their voices.

Then there are the people I’ve never met. Like Desirée García, Piper Haywood, or Jim Nielsen. Never met them, don’t know them, but damn, do I enjoy reading their blogs. Last year alone, I ended up linking to Jim’s posts ten different times.

Or Baldur Bjarnason. I can’t remember when I first came across his writing, but it really, really resonates with me. I probably owe him royalties for the amount of times I’ve cited his post Over-engineering is under-engineering.

His latest post is postively Marcottian in how it exposes what’s been fermenting in my own mind. But because he writes clearly, it really helps clarify my own thinking. It’s often been said that you should write to figure out what you think, and I can absolutely relate to that. But here’s a case where somebody else’s writing really helps to solidify my own thoughts.

Which type of novelty-seeking web developer are you?

It starts with some existentialist stock-taking. I can relate, what with the whole five decades thing. But then it turns the existential questioning to the World Wide Web itself, or rather, the people building the web.

In a way, it’s like taking the question of the great divide (front of the front end and back of the front end), and then turning it 45 degrees to reveal an entirely hidden dimension.

In examining the nature of the web, he hits on the litmus of how you view encapsulation:

I mention this first as it’s the aspect of the web that modern web developers hate the most without even giving it a label. Single-Page-Apps and GraphQL are both efforts to eradicate the encapsulation that’s baked into the foundation of every layer of the web.

Most modern devs are trying to get rid of it but it’s one of the web’s most strategic advantages.

I hadn’t thought of this before.

By default, if you don’t go against the grain of the web, each HTTP endpoint is encapsulated from each other.

Moreover, all of this can happen really fast if you aren’t going overboard with your CSS and JS.

He finishes with a look at another of the web’s most powerful features: distribution. In between are the things that make the web webby: hypertext and flexibility (The Dao of the Web).

It’s the idea that the web isn’t a single fixed thing but a fluid multitude whose shape is dictated by its surroundings.

This resonates with me because it highlights two different ways of viewing the web.

On the one hand, you can see the web purely as a distribution channel. In the past you might have been distributing a Flash movie. These days you might be distributing a single page app. Either way, the web is there as a low-friction way of getting your creation in front of other people.

The other way of building for the web is to go with the web’s grain, embracing flexibility and playing to the strengths of the medium through progressive enhancement. This is the distinction I was getting at when I talked about something being not just on the web, but of the web.

With that mindset, Baldur then takes us through some of the technologies that he’s excited about, like SvelteKit and Hotwire. I think it’s the same mindset that got me excited about service workers. As Baldur says:

They are helping the web become better at being its own thing.

That’s my tagline right there.

Principles and the English language

3 April 2021

I work with words. Sometimes they’re my words. Sometimes they’re words that my colleagues have written:

One of my roles at Clearleft is “content buddy.” If anyone is writing a talk, or a blog post, or a proposal and they want an extra pair of eyes on it, I’m there to help.

I also work with web technologies, usually front-of-the-front-end stuff. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The technologies that users experience directly in web browsers.

I think a lot about design principles for the web. The two principles I keep coming back to are the robustness principle and the principle of least power.

When it comes to words, the guide that I return to again and again is George Orwell, specifically his short essay, Politics and the English Language.

Towards the end, he offers some rules for writing.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These look a lot like design principles. Not only that, but some of them look like specific design principles. Take the robustness principle:

Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept.

That first part applies to Orwell’s third rule:

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Be conservative in what words you send.

Then there’s the principle of least power:

Choose the least powerful language suitable for a given purpose.

Compare that to Orwell’s second rule:

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

That could be rephrased as:

Choose the shortest word suitable for a given purpose.

Or, going in the other direction, the principle of least power could be rephrased in Orwell’s terms as:

Never use a powerful language where a simple language will do.

Oh, I like that! I like that a lot.

The principle of most availability

30 March 2021

I’ve been thinking some more about the technical experience of booking a vaccination apointment and how much joy it brought me.

I’ve written before about how I’ve got a blind spot for the web so it’s no surprise that I was praising the use of a well marked-up form, styled clearly, and unencumbered by unnecessary JavaScript. But other technologies were in play too: Short Message Service (SMS) and email.

All of those technologies are platform-agnostic.

No matter what operating system I’m using, or what email software I’ve chosen, email works. It gets more complicated when you introduce HTML email. My response to that is the same as the old joke; you know the one: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” (“Well, don’t do that.”)

No matter what operating system my phone is using, SMS works. It gets more complicated when you introduce read receipts, memoji, or other additions. See my response to HTML email.

Then there’s the web. No matter what operating system I’m using on a device that could be a phone or a tablet or a laptop or desktop tower, and no matter what browser I’ve chosen to use, the World Wide Web works.

I originally said:

It feels like the principle of least power in action.

But another way of rephrasing “least power” is “most availability.” Technologies that are old, simple, and boring tend to be more widely available.

I remember when software used to come packaged in boxes and displayed on shelves. The packaging always had a list on the side. It looked like the nutritional information on a food product, but this was a list of “system requirements”: operating system, graphics card, sound card, CPU. I never liked the idea of system requirements. It felt so …exclusionary. And for me, the promise of technology was liberation and freedom to act on my own terms.

Hence my soft spot for the boring and basic technologies like email, SMS, and yes, web pages. The difference with web pages is that you can choose to layer added extras on top. As long as the fundamental functionality is using universally-supported technology, you’re free to enhance with all the latest CSS and JavaScript. If any of it fails, that’s okay: it falls back to a nice solid base.

Alas, many developers don’t build with this mindset. I mean, I understand why: it means thinking about users with the most boring, least powerful technology. It’s simpler and more exciting to assume that everyone’s got a shared baseline of newer technology. But by doing that, you’re missing out on one of the web’s superpowers: that something served up at the same URL with the same underlying code can simultaneously serve people with older technology and also provide a whizz-bang experience to people with the latest and greatest technology.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the kind of communication technologies that are as universal as email, SMS, and the web.

QR codes are kind of heading in that direction, although I still have qualms because of their proprietary history. But there’s something nice and lo-fi about them. They’re like print stylesheets in reverse (and I love print stylesheets). A funky little bridge between the physical and the digital. I just wish they weren’t so opaque: you never know if scanning that QR code will actually take you to the promised resource, or if you’re about to rickroll yourself.

Telephone numbers kind of fall into the same category as SMS, but with the added option of voice. I’ve always found the prospect of doing something with, say, Twilio’s API more interesting than building something inside a walled garden like Facebook Messenger or Alexa.

I know very little about chat apps or voice apps, but I don’t think there’s a cross-platform format that works with different products, right? I imagine it’s like the situation with native apps which require a different codebase for each app store and operating system. And so there’s a constant stream of technologies that try to fulfil the dream of writing once and running everywhere: React Native, Flutter.

They’re trying to solve a very clear and obvious problem: writing the same app more than once is really wasteful. But that’s the nature of the game when it comes to runtime-specific apps. The only alternative is to either deliberately limit your audience …or apply the principle of least power/most availability.

The wastefulness of having to write the same app for multiple platforms isn’t the only thing that puts me off making native apps. The exclusivity works in two directions. There’s the exclusive nature of the runtime that requires a bespoke codebase. There’s also the exclusive nature of the app store. It feels like a return to shelves of packaged software with strict system requirements. You can’t just walk in and put your software on the shelf. That’s the shopkeeper’s job.

There is no shopkeeper for the World Wide Web.

Know your ally: Cooperative male dolphins can tell who's on their team

22 April 2021

When it comes to friendships and rivalries, male dolphins know who the good team players are. New findings, published in Nature Communications by University of Bristol researchers, reveal that male dolphins form a social concept of team membership based on cooperative investment in the team.

Membranes unlock potential to vastly increase cell-free vaccine production

22 April 2021

By cracking open a cellular membrane, Northwestern University synthetic biologists have discovered a new way to increase production yields of protein-based vaccines by five-fold, significantly broadening access to potentially lifesaving medicines.

Fat-footed tyrannosaur parents could not keep up with their skinnier adolescent offspring

22 April 2021

New research by the University of New England's Palaeoscience Research Centre suggests juvenile tyrannosaurs were slenderer and relatively faster for their body size compared to their multi-tonne parents.

New Peruvian frog leaps into amphibian species ledger

22 April 2021

Peruvian officials on Wednesday announced the discovery of a brand-new frog, a spotted brown critter with an unusual eye coloring and no eardrum, in a natural park in the Amazon jungle.

In first, Perseverance Mars rover makes oxygen on another planet

22 April 2021

NASA's Perseverance rover keeps making history.

In Peru, pre-Columbian canals offer hope against drought

22 April 2021

In the mountains of western Peru, a farming community is restoring a network of stone canals built more than a millennium ago, hoping the pre-Columbian technology holds the solution to its water problems.

Europe keeps a space-based eye on climate change

22 April 2021

The head of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts knows a thing or two about the relentless intensification of climate change—his agency just released a report showing that the pace of global warming is accelerating.

CORONAVIRUS TESTS -WHAT’S AVAILABLE, WHAT’S COMING, WHAT’S IN TRIAL – JUST THE FACTS (APRIL 2020)

APRIL 18th 2020

Tests approved in the United States

Tests approved outside the United States

Tests approved for research or surveillance purposes

Tests that are still in development

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