Blockchain Browser Brave Offers Free Access to Premium Content on News Site Cheddar

Blockchain-enabled web browser Brave has partnered with news website Cheddar to offer its users three months of free access to premium content, a press release reports Jan. 29.
According to the press release, Brave Browser users will automatically obtain access to premium content on Cheddar’s website, without action on the user’s end. Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar, said that “the idea of unlocking our premium feeds for Brave users via crypto funding, with no sign-up, seemed like a natural way to engage a passionate community.”
The Brave browser is an open-source, pay-to-surf browser based on Chromium that blocks ads and website trackers. The press release reports that Brave browser has 5.5 million monthly active users on its desktop and mobile versions.
As Cointelegraph reported in December last year, Brave is now the default browser on Exodus, “the first native blockchain phone,” produced by major smartphone manufacturer HTC.

FOLIO Launches Aster Release

FOLIO, a community collaboration to develop an open source Library Services Platform (LSP), is kicking off 2019 with a release that will reach a variety of notable development milestones in accessibility. The FOLIO Aster Release is the first in a series of named releases that will begin to define the features and functionality of the open source LSP.

Aster will include general UX improvements and accessibility features including WCAG 2.0 support for forms, focus components, keyboard shortcuts and colors/icons/images. The release will also include cataloging template capability and MARC editing along with improvements to searching and editing instances, holdings and items.

FileZilla® joins EU-funded bug bounty program

ileZilla®, the popular cross-platform file access and transfer software application, has joined the EU-funded bug bounty program to make open source software more secure.

The European Commission, which proposes and enforces laws for the European Union, has made treating critical open source software as a public good a top priority. Realising the importance of the security and reliability of all digital infrastructures was the driving factor behind the Commission’s decision to identify open source programs that are critical to the European Commission, and to fund initiatives to make them more secure.

Innovation and Value Initiative Releases Open-Source Model for Assessing Value of EGFR+ Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment Sequences

As an open-source model, the entirety of the IVI-NSCLC model package, including detailed methods documentation, R software package, source code and user interfaces, are available for access and download via IVI’s website. IVI’s open-source models are developed iteratively with feedback and suggestions from all interested healthcare stakeholders. IVI invites public input on all aspects of the first version of the IVI-NSCLC model during the public comment period, which ends April 1, 2019. All public comments will be reviewed by a Technical Expert Panel (TEP), engaged by IVI to synthesize feedback and recommend prioritized modifications for inclusion in the next model release.

Open-source drug discovery takes aim at malaria and neglected diseases

The plates were part of the Malaria Box, packaged and shipped by the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a nonprofit drug research foundation based in Geneva. Between 2011 and 2015, MMV distributed hundreds of these boxes, free of charge, to almost 200 research groups in 30 countries. The goal was to make it easier for academic researchers to discover new malaria treatments among the compounds stored within. The only condition was that they should put their results in the public domain.

MMV and DNDi make compounds available for research into new drugs for pandemic diseases

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have launched the Pandemic Response Box to provide researchers with free access to 400 diverse compounds to accelerate the discovery of new treatments for life-threatening pandemic diseases.

The Pandemic Response Box is a collection of structurally diverse antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal compounds - selected by disease experts - for screening against infectious and neglected diseases. The compounds are in various phases of drug discovery or development. In return for receiving the drug-like molecules free of charge, researchers from around the world agree to make their screening results publicly available and to publish their findings in an open access journal two years following data generation.

thinkWhere creates online map portal for Open European Geographic Data Services

thinkWhere is developing an online mapping portal to improve access to official European geospatial open data. Working with EuroGeographics, as part of the Open European Location Services (Open ELS) project, thinkWhere will create, maintain and support a user interface giving registered users access to open data from public authorities.

“thinkWhere has a proven track record within the not-for-profit sector having worked alongside organizations such as the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team and People In Need and were a natural fit as technical lead on this element of the project,” commented Mick Cory, Secretary-General and Executive Director, EuroGeographics.

thinkWhere Creates Map Portal for Open European Geographic Data Services

thinkWhere is developing an online mapping portal to improve access to official European geospatial open data.

Toyota's Tri-Ad Division Wants Open Source Maps to Guide the Self-Driving Cars of Tomorrow

Few open-access journals meet requirements of Plan S, study says

Only a small proportion of open-access scientific journals fully meet the draft requirements of Plan S, the initiative primarily by European funders to make all papers developed with their support free to read, a study has found. Compliance with the rules could cost the remaining journals, especially smaller ones, more than they can afford.

Plan S, which takes effect next year, stipulates that any published research funded by its members must appear on open-access platforms that meet certain requirements. At most, only 889, or 15%, of 5987 science and medical journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) would fully comply with Plan S, according to data gathered by Jan Erik Frantsvåg of the University of Tromsø–the Arctic University of Norway and Tormod Strømme of the University of Bergen in Norway. They published their findings on the Preprints platform on 16 January. Even fewer journals in the social sciences and humanities complied fully: only 193, or 3%, of 6290 such publications.

Facebook Should Be Made to Adopt Open Source Solutions Warns Expert

Facebook is trying to unify its messaging services, potentially causing a monopoly. One expert believes the company should.

Open standards can disrupt Facebook’s messaging monopoly

Facebook is working on integrating Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp's messaging platforms into a monopoly. Here's how it can be disrupted.