The Great Bluetooth Trace
In this week's episode, we catch you up what's been happing with the unemployment systems that were overwhelmed and need more COBOL coders. Then we dive deep into the spec released by Apple and Google for a unified system that would allow for contact tracing across billions of smartphone while attempting to protect individuals privacy and autonomy in the information sharing process.
Monday's big story on Bloomberg was that the US unemployment system was being slowed by problems with an "ancient" programming language. Well, yah heard it here first. Also, ancient seems a bit extreme for something that is 60-years-old, but perhaps in the world of software, that does qualify as nearly pre-historic.
After that, we switch to the biggest news in tech, or perhaps in the world, over the last week. Apple and Google have released a spec for a contact tracing system. As countries around the world work to slowly reopen their economies, contact tracing is a powerful tool for preventing new surges in coronavirus outbreaks. The system the duo of tech giants devised includes specs for bluetooth, cryptography, and APIs. You can read Paul's deep dive take on it at the link above.
Last but not least, if you're interested in donating to help those affected by COVID-19, Sara is working with the .NET foundation on a project called Dev Around The Sun. They are providing assistance and mentorship to folks impacted by this pandemic, and you can learn more about how to donate time or funding at the link above.
Be safe, be well, and we'll talk to you again on Tuesday.