How Devs Can Help Beat the COVID-19 Pandemic (thenewstack.io) 40
The state of New York hopes to "amplify" its response to COVID-19 by launching tech-driven products with top companies, and it's looking for professional volunteers with experience in software development, hardware deployment/end-user support, and data science (as well as areas like product management, design, operations management).
Meanwhile, IBM's 2020 "Call for Code Global Challenge" is a virtual hackathon with a $200,000 prize, and they've now "expanded its focus" to include the effects of COVID-19.
Tech columnist Mike Melanson writes: But this is just the beginning of the COVID-19 hackathon boom, which now includes efforts organized by tech giants, state governments, and grassroots initiatives alike. For example, the World Health Organization got together with technology companies and platforms such as AWS, Facebook, Giphy, Microsoft, Pinterest, Salesforce, Slack, TikTok, Twitter and WeChat to launch the COVID-19 Global Hackathon 1.0, which is running as we speak with a deadline for submissions of March 30th at 9 AM PST. If you're too late, fret not, for there are many more, such as the CODEVID-19 hackathon we mentioned last week that has a weekly rolling deadline. And deadlines aside, the U.S. Digital Response for COVID-19 is working to pair technology, data, and government professionals with those who need them, in a form of nationwide, technological mutual aid...
[T]he COVID-19 open-source help desk is "a fast-track 'stack overflow' where you can get answers from the very people who wrote the software that you use or who are experts in its use." And if you happen to be either an open source author or expert, feel free to pitch in on answering questions...
On the open data side of things, for example, GitHub offers a guide on open collaboration on COVID-19, while StackOverflow looks at the myriad ways to help the fight against COVID-19 from home. ProgrammableWeb has a list of developer hackathons to combat COVID-19, and even the Golang team offers some guidance for Go, the Go community, and the pandemic, with Erlang also joining in.
Meanwhile, IBM's 2020 "Call for Code Global Challenge" is a virtual hackathon with a $200,000 prize, and they've now "expanded its focus" to include the effects of COVID-19.
Tech columnist Mike Melanson writes: But this is just the beginning of the COVID-19 hackathon boom, which now includes efforts organized by tech giants, state governments, and grassroots initiatives alike. For example, the World Health Organization got together with technology companies and platforms such as AWS, Facebook, Giphy, Microsoft, Pinterest, Salesforce, Slack, TikTok, Twitter and WeChat to launch the COVID-19 Global Hackathon 1.0, which is running as we speak with a deadline for submissions of March 30th at 9 AM PST. If you're too late, fret not, for there are many more, such as the CODEVID-19 hackathon we mentioned last week that has a weekly rolling deadline. And deadlines aside, the U.S. Digital Response for COVID-19 is working to pair technology, data, and government professionals with those who need them, in a form of nationwide, technological mutual aid...
[T]he COVID-19 open-source help desk is "a fast-track 'stack overflow' where you can get answers from the very people who wrote the software that you use or who are experts in its use." And if you happen to be either an open source author or expert, feel free to pitch in on answering questions...
On the open data side of things, for example, GitHub offers a guide on open collaboration on COVID-19, while StackOverflow looks at the myriad ways to help the fight against COVID-19 from home. ProgrammableWeb has a list of developer hackathons to combat COVID-19, and even the Golang team offers some guidance for Go, the Go community, and the pandemic, with Erlang also joining in.
Anti virus software? (Score:4, Funny)
There is one sure way "devs" can be useful. (Score:3)
They can donate to places that do real research leading to the development of vaccines and treatments - especially fundamental research.
Other than that, the most a "devs" can do is produce a shitshow.
Here's one example of the latter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
I'm pretty sure its the exact same post i've seen several times.
You know you can just look at their comment history, right?
Plus a six digit UID usually means they are old - like me -so get off our lawn please (you can have your ball back).
Re: (Score:2)
Whose comment history?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Whose comment history?
Also, please don't feed the grammar Nazis.
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm wtf?
The comment I thought I was responding to changed ???
I thought it was a brain fart - but why would Seigen1 say to ban an AC...
Re:Poor Man's Vaccine (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Poor Man's Vaccine (Score:4, Funny)
That's like telling people you can fast charge an iPhone by putting it in a microwave oven (which DOES NOT WORK. DO NOT TRY!).
The microwave oven has to be set to Defrost for this to work properly -- but it only works for iPhones, not Android.
Re: (Score:2)
The microwave oven has to be set to Defrost for this to work properly -- but it only works for iPhones, not Android.
Because to brick an Android you only have to install an infected app on it.
Re:Poor Man's Vaccine (Score:5, Informative)
It's unlikely a sick person could fill the bag with enough viral particles to elicit a strong enough immune response. Typical vaccines start with a huge load of viral protein (if not live but attenuated virus) plus a substance known as an adjuvant which is necessary to send enough of a signal to the immune system to trigger a response. So the "sick bag" would be an utter failure as a vaccine.
However, it is quite likely that the idiots involved would overlook something, like the fact that the bunching and folding of the open end of the bag necessary to close it will create areas that are more shaded from the UV, leaving some infectious viral particles intact, or they simply don't expose the virus to enough UV light period, because hey, they're a bunch of idiots trying to perform a complicated science experiment with no knowledge of what they're actually doing. And then the well person gets sick and dies. Maybe the UV even causes a mutation resulting in a more lethal strain, or one that spreads faster, or one that causes fewer symptoms in some people. So no thanks, I'd rather not have a bunch of Dunning-Kruger victims breeding a strain of SuperCorvid.
Re: (Score:2)
Or SuperCovid. I've seen a lot of crows lately, for some reason.
Thank You (Score:2)
I always thought vaccines were non-functional pieces of germs and since UV damages DNA, I thought it might be a possibility. And, of course, I meant this for science to attempt, not John Q Public.
Re: (Score:2)
If we're exposed and viral particles colonise the throat, salt-gargling may not only mechanically remove the virus, but may be enough to rupture viral capsids by osmotic pressure, releasing messenger RNA. Fragments left behind may be enough for the immune system to train itself to deal with the infection effectively.
I don't know if NaCl can work, or if bivalent cation solution (Ca, etc) are better - I cannot do the calculations.
Another option: perhaps a prosthetic device emitting far-UVC light at 222 nm (it
social distancing (Score:2)
mom! more tendies! they want me to teach them everything I know about social distancing!
Is this really.... (Score:5, Insightful)
...an attempt to get coders to work on their problems for free? Or am I missing something?
Re: Is this really.... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty much. It's the State of New York, they are pretty much broke and all the tax payers and businesses left the state due to overburdened taxes. AOC killed Amazon going there and the governor invested $750M in failed solar and wind projects instead of spending $500M on the ventilators it needed for hospitals several years ago
Re: (Score:2)
attempt to get coders to work on their problems for free
Yes, yes. Meanwhile AirBnB encourages their hosts to provide free housing (and better cleaning) for all medical workers to "help".
A lot of this type of generosity is going around.
Anti-virus (Score:1)
notice how they avoid the tough problems (Score:2)
Fuck IBM, bunch of Nazi whores. (Score:1)
Does anyone else in the community feel that the notion of "code contests" is as fucked up as graphic design contests? Every business person knows that it's gauche to hold a contest for a logo, poster or other graphic design element. Why do we allow big corporations to do "crowd sourced" development of new ideas for corporate to own, and only pay out one, tiny prize to the winner? We, as the IT community, are allowing these business assholes to eat our own young, destroy the value of our skills, and carry ou
Re: (Score:3)
Once again (Score:3)
Once again the US wants the easy solution. If the clowns in change of the country knew how to read and work we would not be here. Once again one administration completely ignored advice given to it from the prior admin. And they even went out of their way to undo all pandemic plans drawn up in the past.
So now we are stuck sitting on our hands
They could start by shutting the f*ck up (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I am not sure why you're limiting your comment to Wuhan Flu, it's the same problem with almost every topic, particularly politics, and any other tech subject except aside from open source software. Dunning and Kruger could have invented slashdot.
That was to close off the USA early (Score:3, Insightful)
Waiting for the UN and WHO to comment on word use about wuflu.
Only now people want to do something?
Want to do something? Use the time now to do what you have the skills for:
Spend time to learn to code. Improve your skills for weeks. Learn code. Improve your own skills.
Keep the internet working.
Keep your apps, software, games, networks, system, OS, shop, company, service
Be ready for when a vaccine is out and jobs open.
Make sure your CV and resume lists that you did something good during this time.
Bugs that you did not work on due to a holiday, hobby, work, travel in the past... go back and improve/test/work on your code.
OS changes? Get your code ready for that.
Think of something new and work on that.
Know a lot about GPU? Help with GPU projects.
Know something about a CPU? Help with CPU projects.
Help delivery apps with open source maps, code, networking, code. So their workers can best use their time to get products out to more people per shift.
Consider nations with staff who can cook but who dont have an advanced delivery service app.
Help workers who can do food production who did not deliver in the past. With a new free app/map to become their own brand of delivery service.
That allows them to enter the free market as their own brand of delivery service.
Map the world and set up a food delivery app. That tracks requests, food on the move, returning staff and the next delivery.
No free time?
Work for a tech giant? Just do your job and put the work in work on better quality code. Respond to past bugs and make your products and service actually work as they should.
The state of New York hopes to "amplify" (Score:1)