A crater is formed when an asteroid crashes into the surface of a larger body like a planet or a Moon.

Embarking on a 1.8 million-mile journey from Kennedy Space Centre, the spacecraft is set to reach Jupiter in 5 1/2 years, utilising gravity assists from Mars and Earth

WMO study says 2023 figure is 151 per cent % of pre-industrial period

The key levels for Bank Nifty futures are 51,200 and 52,700

Here is what the charts say about the shares of Natco Pharma, The Ramco Cements and Tata Power

Bank Nifty futures might see a fall to 50,800

Nifty futures can rise to 24,750

Nifty futures has a support at 24,250; a breach of this can lead to a fall to 24,000 

Here is what the charts say about IGL, JSW Energy and Max Financial Services

Let’s talk about money!

Let’s talk about how hard it is to pay small amounts online to people whose work you like and who could really use a bit of income. Let’s talk about how Coil aims to change that.

Taking a subscription to a website is moderately easy, but the person you want to pay must have enabled them. Besides, do you want to purchase a full subscription in order to read one or two articles per month?

Sending a one-time donation is pretty easy as well, but, again, the site owner must have enabled them. And even then it just gives them ad-hoc amounts that they cannot depend on.

Then there’s Patreon and Kickstarter and similar systems, but Patreon is essentially a subscription service while Kickstarter is essentially a one-time donation service, except that both keep part of the money you donate.

And then there’s ads ... Do we want small content creators to remain dependent on ads and thus support the entire ad ecosystem? I, personally, would like to get rid of them.

The problem today is that all non-ad-based systems require you to make conscious decisions to support someone — and even if you’re serious about supporting them you may forget to send in a monthly donation or to renew your subscription. It sort-of works, but the user experience can be improved rather dramatically.

That’s where Coil and the Web Monetization Standard come in.

Web Monetization

The idea behind Coil is that you pay for what you consume easily and automatically. It’s not a subscription - you only pay for what you consume. It’s not a one-time donation, either - you always pay when you consume.

Payments occur automatically when you visit a website that is also subscribed to Coil, and the amount you pay to a single site owner depends on the time you spend on the site. Coil does not retain any of your money, either — everything goes to the people you support.

In this series of four articles we’ll take a closer look at the architecture of the current Coil implementation, how to work with it right now, the proposed standard, and what’s going to happen in the future.

Overview

So how does Coil work right now?

Both the payer and the payee need a Coil account to send and receive money. The payee has to add a <meta> tag with a Coil payment pointer to all pages they want to monetize. The payer has to install the Coil extension in their browsers. You can see this extension as a polyfill. In the future web monetization will, I hope, be supported natively in all browsers.

Once that’s done the process works pretty much automatically. The extension searches for the <meta> tag on any site the user visits. If it finds one it starts a payment stream from payer to payee that continues for as long as the payer stays on the site.

The payee can use the JavaScript API to interact with the monetization stream. For instance, they can show extra content to paying users, or keep track of how much a user paid so far. Unfortunately these functionalities require JavaScript, and the hiding of content is fairly easy to work around. Thus it is not yet suited for serious business purposes, especially in web development circles.

This is one example of how the current system is still a bit rough around the edges. You’ll find more examples in the subsequent articles. Until the time browsers support the standard natively and you can determine your visitors’ monetization status server-side these rough bits will continue to exist. For the moment we will have to work with the system we have.

This article series will discuss all topics we touched on in more detail.

Start now!

For too long we have accepted free content as our birthright, without considering the needs of the people who create it. This becomes even more curious for articles and documentation that are absolutely vital to our work as web developers.

Take a look at this list of currently-monetized web developer sites. Chances are you’ll find a few people whose work you used in the past. Don’t they deserve your direct support?

Free content is not a right, it’s an entitlement. The sooner we internalize this, and start paying independent voices, the better for the web.

The only alternative is that all articles and documentation that we depend on will written by employees of large companies. And employees, no matter how well-meaning, will reflect the priorities and point of view of their employer in the long run.

So start now.

In order to support them you should invest a bit of time once and US$5 per month permanently. I mean, that’s not too much to ask, is it?

Continue

I wrote this article and its sequels for Coil, and yes, I’m getting paid. Still, I believe in what they are doing, so I won’t just spread marketing drivel. Initially it was unclear to me exactly how Coil works. So I did some digging, and the remaining parts of this series give a detailed description of how Coil actually works in practice.

For now the other three articles will only be available on dev.to. I just published part 2, which gives a high-level overview of how Coil works right now. Part 3 will describe the meta tag and the JavaScript API, and in part 4 we’ll take a look at the future, which includes a formal W3C standard. Those parts will be published next week and the week after that.

Sai Rajesh, the writer-director of the Telugu romantic drama ‘Baby’ that has been eliciting extreme responses, says he did not intend to make a toxic film

Actor-producer Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media debuts at San Diego Comic-Con 2023 by announcing the mythological film ‘Hiranyakashyap’ and comic based on the superhero film ‘Minnal Murali’ 

 After a memorable 2022, the industry suffered a slump in the first half of this year with only Daredevil Musthafa providing a consolation

Sharing an insight into the concept of ‘Beingful leadership’, Ram Nidumolu holds forth on how ancient wisdom models inform this futuristic concept and are relevant to modern managers

At a time when libraries are losing their sheen owing to a lack of patronage, the century-old Ram Mohan Library in Vijaywada continues to attract book lovers to its vast collection of books and its illustrious history

The manoeuvre was performed from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. The spacecraft is now just 177 km away from the moon.

CM announced unconditional crop loan waiver twice unlike other States, he said 

Along with noble intentions, director Praveen Sattaru and actor Varun Tej’s slick Telugu thriller drama ‘Gandeevadhari Arjuna’ needed a smarter script

Written and directed by first-timer Clax, the Telugu dramedy ‘Bedurulanka 2012,’ starring Kartikeya Gummakonda and Neha Shetty, is an indie-spirited narrative that’s delightful in parts 

Naveen Polishetty’s flair for humour and Anushka Shetty’s restrained act work but the simple, predictable ‘Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty’ needed more emotional heft

School authorities told to stay alert and ensure that children do not go near the ponds or tanks in the area to play; electrical connections to be checked

A well-known Carnatic vocalist, Gurucharan shares memories of growing up with his legendary flautist-grandmother, who honed his musical skills

What a relief now to watch mothers on screen trying not to paint a picture of maternal perfection

Director Srikanth Nagothi holds forth on his Telugu film ‘Month of Madhu’ that features Swathi and Naveen Chandra as a middle-class couple

Post the pandemic, it is smooth sailing for cruising as an increasing number of Indians pack their bags to enjoy vacations on luxury liners

From feather-light ‘kavanarisi appam’ in coconut milk and ‘kuzhi paniyaram’ served with ‘pepper kaadai’ to the classic ‘adi kumayam’ in ice cream, what makes this new menu tick at the Chettinad Canteen

As Karkidakam month that falls in the Malayalam calendar during July-August draws to close, it’s a good time to try rejuvenation therapy 

A fact sheet that summarizes the studies on the health effects of exposure to environmental (secondhand) tobacco smoke.

A fact sheet that describes hormone therapy and its role in treating prostate cancer. Includes information about the different types of hormone therapy, how they are used, and possible side effects.

A fact sheet that defines tumor markers and describes how they can be used to aid diagnosis and treatment.

In its ninth edition this year, the festival is expected to draw at least 40,000 visitors, indicating a shift in destination tourism

They include wetlands such as Sultanpur in Haryana, places of mythological significance such as Kurukshetra in Haryana, and cultural heritage sites such as Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh

When a restaurant owner from Chennai made space in her suitcase for Khasi delicacies, smoked meats, and some local liquor

In an age of social media, bombarded by the glossy feed of travel bloggers, the fear of missing out is far more acute

Monsoon tourism packages such as rain walks and guided trips have not been announced for tourists here despite their popularity in ecotourism destinations outside the State.

Embark on treks and trails in the Eastern Ghats and experience the splendour of the monsoon in Andhra-Odisha region

Ricky Kej’s BLR Airport Anthem, featuring fellow Grammy-winner Lonnie Park, tells stories of travel and connection

Anand qualified for the international tournament on his first try competing in a riding event

With October, among all things autumnal, comes cosmos, the ephemeral blossom that shrouds parts of the Northeast in mostly pink, but also yellow, orange and white. We travel to get the best views

The bus terminus is being reconstructed at a cost of ₹15.75 crore under the Smart Cities Mission. Though the foundation stone was laid in June 2023, the work could not be taken up due to opposition from autorickshaw drivers and traders against the demolition of shops at the bus stand 

The drive at 25 locations will go on till November 29; a team comprising police, revenue, PWD and local administration officials launched the work on Jawaharlal Nehru Street and East Car Street

In a future where humanity has been driven underground by an apocalyptic event, a prisoner is haunted by the childhood memory of seeing a man gunned down at an airport. A group of scientists make him their time-traveling guinea pig, hoping that he’ll be able to find a way to restore the society they once knew. […]

Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key questions facing both journalists and loyal oppositions these days is how do we stay honest as euphemisms and trivializations take over the discourse? Can we use words like “fascism,” for example, with fidelity to the meaning of that word in world history? The […]

When the names of French poet Paul Éluard and German artist Max Ernst arise, one subject always follows: that of their years-long ménage à trois — or rather, “marriage à trois,” as a New York Times article by Annette Grant once put it. It started in 1921, Grant writes, when the Surrealist movement’s co-founder André Breton put […]