Weekend tidbits and links

🌟It was a lazy weekend in Berlin for Team Davidson. No fireworks, but there was a food truck in the neighborhood selling great spare ribs and burgers.

🍎 What will we see in future Apple Silicon-based devices? Jason Snell speculates on the changes that might be coming to the Mac. Touchscreens are table stakes, in my opinion, as is FaceID for authentication. I’m really interested in seeing what happens.

📦 The recently announced ability to use Azure as a development context for local Docker container development is cool, and is now available with the latest Docker Desktop Edge. This should be a great way to collaborate, test, and, in a pinch, deploy.

🛍 Despite a write-off of almost a half a billion dollars, Om argues that Microsoft had to close its retail stores. The reason? Microsoft is doubling down on its core strength of being a developer and enterprise focused company and is removing distractions.

👨‍🏫 Giving presentations online is a different proposition than doing them in person. Venkat Subramaniam shares his observations about how to be effective online.

🦠 Work continues to establish where the COVID-19 virus came from, and the path may lead to an abandoned mine 1000 miles away from Wuhan. Meanwhile, evidence mounts that the virus lingers in air indoors. I can’t help but think of all the air conditioned spaces where I grew up in Texas and Oklahoma.

🧲 In nicer science news, magnetic fields are amazing. Full stop. They might also answer why the universe is expanding faster than our current understanding of its component ingredients would predict. If, that is, observations of faint magnetic fields a millionth of a trillionth as strong as a fridge magnet’s are a clue.

👋 Have a good week ahead.