Whoa, whoa, whoa. People are jumping ship on this season mighty quickly after Tuesday night's embarrassing loss to the Vikings, not to mention 52 minutes of awful football against the Giants. Suddenly there are a rash of predictions calling for the Eagles to be one-and-done in the playoffs. Now that could very well be the case, because whether it's the Pack, G-Men, or Bucs, there are no gimmies coming up in the first round. However, it needs to be stressed somewhere that the past two games were outliers for the most part in what has otherwise been a surprisingly good year. Let's examine the glass-half-full take for a moment. The Eagles have a bye. Not in the traditional sense of the word obviously, but that's what Week 17 has become. The starters get some much needed rest, while the coaching staff uses the extra few days to prepare for their likely opponents. They can't begin to construct an entire gameplan until Sunday night, but they can at least check out some additional film. That's a big plus right there, because Andy Reid's teams are known for how well they play after a week off. It's not quite that long, due to their previous game being postponed and the Wild Card playoff game scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 9, but it's still good for the team. Looking at the slate of potential opponents, we've already seen how the Eagles match up against several of them. Green Bay defeated the Eagles by seven points on opening day, but Michael Vick thought they would have won had he played the entire game. They're just as beat up as the Birds, too, putting 14 players on injured reserve so far. The Eagles have also won six in a row against the Giants, who look completely demoralized of late. Their complete implosion in the Miracle carried over to last week's game, where Green Bay absolutely handed it to them. Division rivals are always dangerous, but they are beatable. Even looking ahead a little bit, Philadelphia is 1-1 against the top two teams in the conference. Should they advance, the Birds already dismantled the likely top-seeded Falcons, and were within striking distance of a comeback in Chicago, despite a host of horrible circumstances before and during the game. You may simply be of the opinion the Eagles aren't good enough, or have too many injuries. Plenty of fans still weren't sold on this team as a contender to begin with, all of which are fair assessments. I just think anything can happen when you put their collection of playmakers on the field, and as a result, it's a little early to start waving the white flag if ever believed in the first place. Derek over at Iggles Blog must have been reading my mind. As spectacular as he has played this season, I found myself quietly pondering whether Vick is really the long term solution at quarterback during the worst parts of the Giants game. It went something like this: Are they really going to bring this guy back next season? To do this? By the end of the game, I felt kind of silly about my reflection, and decided to chalk it up as a passing thought during desperate times. I'd be lying though if I didn't admit it creeped back into my mind again during the Vikings game, and it really hasn't gone away since. Derek's take is a little different from mine, in that he is taking the "maybe almost any quarterback can play in this offense" route, which is a point we've brought up before and happen to agree with. With that knowledge, how much sense does it make to pay the older player a substantially larger amount of money? My own feelings are based far more on Vick's production of late, which has been inconsistent at best. I don't mean to pile on the guy after yesterday's review of his performance. He played poorly, but it wasn't entirely his fault. Coaching, O-line, receivers, you name it.�He's thrown a bunch of stinkers lately though. Do defenses have him figured out? Just putting it out there. It's not like the offense was flawless with Kevin Kolb either. He had a couple of great games, but got knocked out against Green Bay and couldn't really get it going in Tennessee. Maybe Vick's up-and-down play is merely proof the Eagles are still are a few pieces away, or that there is something inherently wrong on the sidelines. Still, no matter how many leaps he's made as a quarterback, I wouldn't call the evaluation process over by any means. There is some talk that Dimitri Patterson could be back on the bench once the Eagles return to meaningful action. The journeyman special teamer supplanted an injured Ellis Hobbs after the Kenny Britt debacle, and initially played well enough to keep the job.�That's been far from the case lately however, as offenses have gone at with him ease in recent weeks. Sean McDermott said they would take a closer look at nickel corner Joselio Hanson, who has filled in before to varying degrees of success. He's mostly adequate in a situational role, but has trouble matching up with wide receivers on the outside. It goes without saying that this has become a big problem area for the Birds' defense. Opposing quarterbacks are hardly daring to glance at Asante Samuel, who has had a tremendous rebound season. Offenses have been picking whoever was on the opposite side all season, but it's become a serious concern as Patterson's play has fallen off in recent weeks. Personally, I know I've been banging on this drum all season, but I'd still like to see rookie Trevard Lindley get more of a shot. He did see a good deal of action when Samuel was out, and he didn't seem too out of place from my spot on the couch, which of course is always the best place to determine such things. I know this much: I've seen enough of Patterson and Hanson to know neither is the answer. Lindley might take some lumps, but I would hope not too many more than the other guys have/will.
Cake Decorating
Facebook Career Posts: Intellectual Property, Advertising Counsel, Global Marketing Manager, Singapore and More
An interesting round of new posts on Facebook?s Career Page this week, right before the end of the year, especially couple of interesting intellectual property principal positions that opened up. The two positions ? one based in Palo Alto, Calif. and the other in Austin, Texas ?are tasked with helping Facebook build its Intellectual Property [...]Art marketing
Now Available on iPhone: 3,500 Yelp Check-in Offers and Counting
You may have heard the news last Tuesday that we launched Yelp Check-in Offers: an extension of Yelp Check-ins that gives a way for businesses to reward their most loyal customers, while drawing new ones through their door. For yelpers,...Alternative Energy
Buy a raffle ticket, help DC Central Kitchen!
‘Wayne Kramer Visits DC Central Kitchen’courtesy of ‘DC Central Kitchen’
I try not to beat the drum too hard for charity, because constant demands for donations and stuff tend to be tedious, but this one is too good not to talk about. So What’s the Deal and We Love DC (and also ARLNow.com, K Street Kate [...]Christmas shopping
I try not to beat the drum too hard for charity, because constant demands for donations and stuff tend to be tedious, but this one is too good not to talk about. So What’s the Deal and We Love DC (and also ARLNow.com, K Street Kate [...]Christmas shopping
Hospice charity single hit by iTunes cover version
Two Manchester lads who recorded a tribute single and raised �7,000 through iTunes for the hospice that cared for their late mother have seen their efforts undermined by a cover of their song.Lonely Sky, recorded by teenagers Ben and Jamie Hazelby, has raised a total of �82,500 for St Anne's Hospice, but iTunes proceeds dropped-off when a "tribute" version appeared on the download portal.The alternate version of the song is appearing above the original in the iTunes listings and it is not known whether producers JWH Records intends to donate their proceeds to the hospital.Apple investigatesJamie, 14, says that Apple is investigating and could remove the rival song.He said: "On iTunes people can post comments and they've been posting 'your Mum would be really proud' and stuff like that." "They [iTunes] have told us that the company that's done it has five days to prove that they were allowed to release the song before it gets taken off, and all the money goes back to the hospice," added Ben, 17.The song was recorded with Chris De Burgh on vocals after the two lads featured on TV show Noel's Christmas Presents on December 19th. Ben and Jamie lost their mum to ovarian cancer in January 2009.Related StoriesOpinion: My dad is more tech than meHappy Christmas to all, from us at TechRadarCatch up: this week's most popular postsLatest humanoid robots learn to use objects as toolsDyson reinvents the vacuum cleanerDisneyland
2011: Time for tech enthusiasts to act more charitably
By Dave Nickason
I wish technology enthusiasts could focus more on the good that can be done for people and communities and less on whether their phone matches their shoes or who uses what product. Fanboyism is out of control and detracts from things that are more important.Microsoft doesn't suck, and neither does Apple, Google or any other company with high revenue and long-term success. If someone writes an even slightly pro-Apple article, the Microsoft fanboys go crazy, and vice versa. These companies are all successful, and their products sell well. Shouldn't we all focus on something else?Somehow in technology, we've reached the point of religious war, where the fans of Company A not only buy their products with enthusiasm, but put hours into finding ways to disparage the products of Company B, and reviling anyone who would even consider buying one. If you love Toyota but your neighbor buys a Honda, you don't set their house on fire or move away. So why is there so much anger vented toward someone who likes an iPod, while you prefer Zune?It seems that authors avoid these wars better than the commenters, but when someone writes an article praising a product, it's boring and pointless�to read a dozen comments calling the author a fanboy or worse.Tech bloggers and reviewers are a separate problem. When seeking information about a product, I want to read primarily about that product and less about the competition. Some authors can only write about one product by comparing it to another. Someone will write an article about an Android phone that reads like it was written by Apple CEO Steve Jobs -- Android sucks because iPhone does this, this and that.When I read about a product from a major manufacturer, I assume people will buy that product, and I'm not interested in an article that's nothing more than unflattering comparisons to other products. I want to read about the product being written about, not every competing product with the implication that something else is better. It's not a zero-sum game where in order for one thing to be good, something else has to be bad.There's a real lack of charity expressed by commenters or writers, either toward one another or to other products. Likewise, why must everyone obsess about the tiniest product details and chase every rumor.�Tech publications, blogs and their readers focus too much on the latest and greatest -- hardware, features, convenience, etc. -- but with little mention of how technology can actually make the world a better place for humanity.Another kind of charity is missing, of using all this great technology enthusiasts rave about to help others. It's something to think about as the new year approaches and people make resolutions for 2011.Of all the tech happenings in 2010, the one I remember most is not whose phone OS does copy and paste and whose does not. It's that as of last month, World Community Grid volunteers have donated over 400,000 years of computing time to research on problems like childhood cancer and AIDS -- and that's not a typo.�It's a bunch of geeks donating some spare computing resources to doing good work for the benefit of others.Charity should be everyone's resolution for 2011 -- how we treat each other as tech enthusiasts and how we use technology to make the lives of every one of the world's 7 billion people a little better.Dave Nickason is responsible for IT -- among other functions -- for a 22-employee law firm in New York State. He has been a Microsoft MVP for Small Business Server since 2004 and enjoys exploring how technology can level the playing field between small business and enterprises. Nickason also is a Betanews reader.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Art marketing
I wish technology enthusiasts could focus more on the good that can be done for people and communities and less on whether their phone matches their shoes or who uses what product. Fanboyism is out of control and detracts from things that are more important.Microsoft doesn't suck, and neither does Apple, Google or any other company with high revenue and long-term success. If someone writes an even slightly pro-Apple article, the Microsoft fanboys go crazy, and vice versa. These companies are all successful, and their products sell well. Shouldn't we all focus on something else?Somehow in technology, we've reached the point of religious war, where the fans of Company A not only buy their products with enthusiasm, but put hours into finding ways to disparage the products of Company B, and reviling anyone who would even consider buying one. If you love Toyota but your neighbor buys a Honda, you don't set their house on fire or move away. So why is there so much anger vented toward someone who likes an iPod, while you prefer Zune?It seems that authors avoid these wars better than the commenters, but when someone writes an article praising a product, it's boring and pointless�to read a dozen comments calling the author a fanboy or worse.Tech bloggers and reviewers are a separate problem. When seeking information about a product, I want to read primarily about that product and less about the competition. Some authors can only write about one product by comparing it to another. Someone will write an article about an Android phone that reads like it was written by Apple CEO Steve Jobs -- Android sucks because iPhone does this, this and that.When I read about a product from a major manufacturer, I assume people will buy that product, and I'm not interested in an article that's nothing more than unflattering comparisons to other products. I want to read about the product being written about, not every competing product with the implication that something else is better. It's not a zero-sum game where in order for one thing to be good, something else has to be bad.There's a real lack of charity expressed by commenters or writers, either toward one another or to other products. Likewise, why must everyone obsess about the tiniest product details and chase every rumor.�Tech publications, blogs and their readers focus too much on the latest and greatest -- hardware, features, convenience, etc. -- but with little mention of how technology can actually make the world a better place for humanity.Another kind of charity is missing, of using all this great technology enthusiasts rave about to help others. It's something to think about as the new year approaches and people make resolutions for 2011.Of all the tech happenings in 2010, the one I remember most is not whose phone OS does copy and paste and whose does not. It's that as of last month, World Community Grid volunteers have donated over 400,000 years of computing time to research on problems like childhood cancer and AIDS -- and that's not a typo.�It's a bunch of geeks donating some spare computing resources to doing good work for the benefit of others.Charity should be everyone's resolution for 2011 -- how we treat each other as tech enthusiasts and how we use technology to make the lives of every one of the world's 7 billion people a little better.Dave Nickason is responsible for IT -- among other functions -- for a 22-employee law firm in New York State. He has been a Microsoft MVP for Small Business Server since 2004 and enjoys exploring how technology can level the playing field between small business and enterprises. Nickason also is a Betanews reader.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Art marketing
First impressions: Google TV delights
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
I simply don't understand all the fuss about Google TV delays. I set up the Logitech Revue on Christmas Eve and the family is absolutely loving it. Revue/Google TV delivers one of the best non-cable-provider set-top box experiences I've ever had testing these devices. In fact, setup and benefits make up for all the pain encountered with similar class products running other operating systems.First the news that gets stranger: Following rumors that Google TV asked partners to pull their products from next month's Consumer Electronics Show, there's now buzz that Logitech has either suspended Revue production or shipments until Google releases a software update. Oh yeah? I don't see a problem, whether or not the rumors are true. I'm dumbfounded by how good Google TV is right now. I can compare to Apple TV, but not Xbox 360's integration with AT&T U-verse (I don't have one of Microsoft's game consoles).12 Steps to TV BlissInitially, I found Revue setup to be daunting. I received the Google TV device late afternoon on December 22d but waited another day before installation. Based on my past bad experience with this kind of product -- and, yes, including Windows Media Center -- I was�flummoxed by instruction to connect my IPTV settop box to the Revue. I figured that could only lead to trouble. How wrong I was.Logitech provides an HDMI cable in the box, which I used to connect my AT&T U-verse tuner to the Revue, which in turn got the other cable already connected to the TV -- a three year-old 42-inch Vizio model VU42L. So HDMI goes out from the tuner into the Revue and out to the Vizio. I then turned on the Revue and TV, which launched a 12-step setup process and notification 20 minutes time would be required.I balked at the 12-step process, which was more than Apple TV ever demanded. But Revue/Google TV would be doing more -- gulp, controlling the AT&T settop box and television. For this first impressions review, I won't go through step by step. At some point I entered my Google account ID, zip code, service provider, settop box brand and model and TV brand and model. The process seemed straightforward except for setting screen size, which required using buttons on the Revue keyboard to widen the black display area to cover over blue background.Say Your Hail MarysAfter the setup process concluded, Revue rebooted and I said my Hail Marys (Heck, I'm not even Catholic, but it was Christmas Eve!). What happened next shocked me. Revue provided unified and flawlessly functional access to AT&T U-verse features, the TV and Google TV. Based on past bad experience using this kind of device, I expected either U-verse features to be unavailable or somehow compromised. Not the least. If anything, U-verse is now better, because of Google search.Revue's mini-keyboard replaces the U-verse and TV controllers and, quite surprisingly, offers all the functionality I normally use. I was skeptical of the keyboard, which proved to be too cumbersome with other products I've tested. But, because all the functionality I expect is there and because of the ease of searching, the keyboard is handy and confortable to use -- even for my tech-adverse wife.Google TV starts from Revue's Home button, which serves up appropriate services/applications, such as Amazon Video-on-Demand, Netflix, television and other services. Chrome browser is also available, and it's surprisingly useful and integrated into other experiences. For example, Chrome launches access to Amazon VoD, for renting or buying movies. The experience looks like the Amazon service would in a browser.�I've never been a fan of Internet on the�television, with screen resolution problems being one of several reasons. But I found the browser experience to be surprisingly pleasant considering the TV is more than three years old. One browser gripe: No bookmarks sync with Chrome on PC that I can see.Google Search opens DoorsPretty much any content available in a browser is accessible on Google TV, although the exceptions are perplexing. Hulu isn't available as a service or application (because Google TV uses Android, applications are available, too). This morning, I went to Hulu in Google TV's Chrome browser and immediately received one of several notices the service wasn't available -- yet. But I persevered, getting as far as the video window for a TV show, at which point the final prompt stopped me. Surely, it's a licensing thing, or so I guess after observing that Starz Play is available from Netflix on my laptop but not Google TV.From a user interface perspective, Apple TV is much more visually appealing. But I found searching for and renting movies from Amazon VoD on Google TV to be much more functional. On Christmas Eve, I rented "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" for $3.99. A notice indicated that Amazon VoD HD was coming soon for Google TV, but the quality looked plenty good enough to me. On Christmas Day, my wife and father-in-law rented "That's Entertainment" for $2.99 (for 48-hours), and my daughter and I later watched "Die Hard" streamed from Netflix. I often search Apple TV and can find nothing to watch, because of the presentation and cumbersome search capabilities. So less than two days using Google TV, that works out to two more movies rented using Google TV (and one streamed for free) than Apple TV (for the month). The Apple TV is boxed; I'm done with it.Google search is what makes the experience so far superior to using either U-verse alone or another settop box. For example, this morning I wanted to go from a Web page to Google's main page -- something really unnecessary for searching, which can be done from the address bar. But I was fooling around. Typing "Google" brought up some unexpected choices, including "Google Baby." WTH? There's a new Google service oriented to kids? No. "Google Baby" turns out to be a program airing on HBO in nine days. Google search didn't just cover the Web but future U-verse programming. Clicking "Google TV" took me to information about the show and option to record using the U-verse DVR. Hell, that's slick, and remember AT&T's service runs Microsoft's MediaRoom software. Google search is simply amazing and, as I'll explain in a later post, may fundamentally change how I use the television -- perhaps as much as the DVR did.That's a wrap. I may do a full review in a couple weeks, particularly if Google really does issue a major software update.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Air Purifiers
I simply don't understand all the fuss about Google TV delays. I set up the Logitech Revue on Christmas Eve and the family is absolutely loving it. Revue/Google TV delivers one of the best non-cable-provider set-top box experiences I've ever had testing these devices. In fact, setup and benefits make up for all the pain encountered with similar class products running other operating systems.First the news that gets stranger: Following rumors that Google TV asked partners to pull their products from next month's Consumer Electronics Show, there's now buzz that Logitech has either suspended Revue production or shipments until Google releases a software update. Oh yeah? I don't see a problem, whether or not the rumors are true. I'm dumbfounded by how good Google TV is right now. I can compare to Apple TV, but not Xbox 360's integration with AT&T U-verse (I don't have one of Microsoft's game consoles).12 Steps to TV BlissInitially, I found Revue setup to be daunting. I received the Google TV device late afternoon on December 22d but waited another day before installation. Based on my past bad experience with this kind of product -- and, yes, including Windows Media Center -- I was�flummoxed by instruction to connect my IPTV settop box to the Revue. I figured that could only lead to trouble. How wrong I was.Logitech provides an HDMI cable in the box, which I used to connect my AT&T U-verse tuner to the Revue, which in turn got the other cable already connected to the TV -- a three year-old 42-inch Vizio model VU42L. So HDMI goes out from the tuner into the Revue and out to the Vizio. I then turned on the Revue and TV, which launched a 12-step setup process and notification 20 minutes time would be required.I balked at the 12-step process, which was more than Apple TV ever demanded. But Revue/Google TV would be doing more -- gulp, controlling the AT&T settop box and television. For this first impressions review, I won't go through step by step. At some point I entered my Google account ID, zip code, service provider, settop box brand and model and TV brand and model. The process seemed straightforward except for setting screen size, which required using buttons on the Revue keyboard to widen the black display area to cover over blue background.Say Your Hail MarysAfter the setup process concluded, Revue rebooted and I said my Hail Marys (Heck, I'm not even Catholic, but it was Christmas Eve!). What happened next shocked me. Revue provided unified and flawlessly functional access to AT&T U-verse features, the TV and Google TV. Based on past bad experience using this kind of device, I expected either U-verse features to be unavailable or somehow compromised. Not the least. If anything, U-verse is now better, because of Google search.Revue's mini-keyboard replaces the U-verse and TV controllers and, quite surprisingly, offers all the functionality I normally use. I was skeptical of the keyboard, which proved to be too cumbersome with other products I've tested. But, because all the functionality I expect is there and because of the ease of searching, the keyboard is handy and confortable to use -- even for my tech-adverse wife.Google TV starts from Revue's Home button, which serves up appropriate services/applications, such as Amazon Video-on-Demand, Netflix, television and other services. Chrome browser is also available, and it's surprisingly useful and integrated into other experiences. For example, Chrome launches access to Amazon VoD, for renting or buying movies. The experience looks like the Amazon service would in a browser.�I've never been a fan of Internet on the�television, with screen resolution problems being one of several reasons. But I found the browser experience to be surprisingly pleasant considering the TV is more than three years old. One browser gripe: No bookmarks sync with Chrome on PC that I can see.Google Search opens DoorsPretty much any content available in a browser is accessible on Google TV, although the exceptions are perplexing. Hulu isn't available as a service or application (because Google TV uses Android, applications are available, too). This morning, I went to Hulu in Google TV's Chrome browser and immediately received one of several notices the service wasn't available -- yet. But I persevered, getting as far as the video window for a TV show, at which point the final prompt stopped me. Surely, it's a licensing thing, or so I guess after observing that Starz Play is available from Netflix on my laptop but not Google TV.From a user interface perspective, Apple TV is much more visually appealing. But I found searching for and renting movies from Amazon VoD on Google TV to be much more functional. On Christmas Eve, I rented "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" for $3.99. A notice indicated that Amazon VoD HD was coming soon for Google TV, but the quality looked plenty good enough to me. On Christmas Day, my wife and father-in-law rented "That's Entertainment" for $2.99 (for 48-hours), and my daughter and I later watched "Die Hard" streamed from Netflix. I often search Apple TV and can find nothing to watch, because of the presentation and cumbersome search capabilities. So less than two days using Google TV, that works out to two more movies rented using Google TV (and one streamed for free) than Apple TV (for the month). The Apple TV is boxed; I'm done with it.Google search is what makes the experience so far superior to using either U-verse alone or another settop box. For example, this morning I wanted to go from a Web page to Google's main page -- something really unnecessary for searching, which can be done from the address bar. But I was fooling around. Typing "Google" brought up some unexpected choices, including "Google Baby." WTH? There's a new Google service oriented to kids? No. "Google Baby" turns out to be a program airing on HBO in nine days. Google search didn't just cover the Web but future U-verse programming. Clicking "Google TV" took me to information about the show and option to record using the U-verse DVR. Hell, that's slick, and remember AT&T's service runs Microsoft's MediaRoom software. Google search is simply amazing and, as I'll explain in a later post, may fundamentally change how I use the television -- perhaps as much as the DVR did.That's a wrap. I may do a full review in a couple weeks, particularly if Google really does issue a major software update.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Air Purifiers
Over a million UK kids have no home computer access
A new report reveals that over a million British schoolkids have no access to a computer at home, with the Department for Education refusing to comment on the findings.With over a million UK children 'lacking access to computers' at home, the impact on their education is clear, with computers becoming an increasingly important tool for homework and working on collaborative school projects.Two million not onlineIn addition to the worryingly high number of kids that do not have access to a PC or Mac at home, nearly two million are also unable to get online at home, according to the report from the the E-Learning Foundation charity.Those children from the poorest families in the UK are two-and-a-half-times less likely to have net access at home compared with kids from families at the other end of the social spectrum. The E-Learning Foundation has a clear objective ? to ensure every British school-age child has access to a computer with an internet connection at home.Poverty tech trapThe Department for Education has so far refused to comment on the latest findings.The E-Learning Foundation's chief executive, Valerie Thompson, said: "With so many children swamped with gifts from family and friends over the Christmas period it is important we reflect on the fact that millions of children live in poverty in this country. "For those at school, this translates into very tangible disadvantages when it comes to completing homework, researching topics, independent learning, and communicating with teachers and classmates on the school learning platform. "Without the use of a computer and the ability to go online at home the attainment gap that characterises children from low income families is simply going to get worse."Related StoriesExclusive: ExoPC claims exclusive Microsoft slate retail dealMicrosoft launches HTML5 Labs for developersMicrosoft Windows for ARM devices set for CES 2011Microsoft Windows for ARM devices set for CES 2011In Depth: The hottest PC tech to look forward to in 2011Baby Monitors
Report Strengthens Suspicions That Stuxnet Sabotaged Iran?s Nuclear Plant
A new report appears to add fuel to suspicions that the Stuxnet superworm was responsible for sabotaging centrifuges at a uranium-enrichment plant in Iran.
The report, released Thursday by the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, indicates that commands in the Stuxnet code intended to increase the frequency of devices targeted by the malware exactly match several frequencies at which rotors in centrifuges at Iran?s Natanz enrichment plant are designed to operate optimally or are at risk of breaking down and flying apart.
The frequencies of the Natanz rotors were apparently not a secret and were disclosed to ISIS in mid-2008 ? the earliest samples of Stuxnet code found so far date back to June 2009, a year after ISIS learned about the frequencies. They were disclosed to ISIS by ?an official from a government that closely tracks Iran?s centrifuge program.?
The unnamed government official told ISIS that the nominal frequency for the IR-1 centrifuges at Natanz was 1,064 Hz, but that Iran kept the actual frequency of the centrifuges lower to reduce breakage. According to another source, Iran often ran its centrifuges at 1,007 Hz.
The information would have been gold to someone looking to sabotage the centrifuges since, as ISIS notes, it provided both confirmation that Iran?s centrifuges were prone to an unusual amount of breakage and that they were subject to breakage at a specific frequency of rotation.
Stuxnet was discovered last June by a Belarus security firm, which found samples of the code on computers belonging to an unnamed client in Iran. The sophisticated code was designed to sabotage specific components used with an industrial control system made by the German firm Siemens, but only if these components were installed in a particular configuration. The unique configuration Stuxnet seeks is believed to exist at Natanz and possibly other unknown nuclear facilities in Iran.
After German researcher Ralph Langner first posited that Stuxnet?s target was Iran?s nuclear power plant at Bushehr, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged that Stuxnet affected personal computers belonging to workers at the plant, but he maintained that the plant?s operations were not affected by the malware. However, Ahmadinejad announced in November that unspecified malicious software sent by western enemies had affected Iran?s centrifuges at its Natanz plant and ?succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges.? He did not mention Stuxnet by name.
It?s known that Iran decommissioned and replaced about a thousand IR-1 centrifuges at its Natanz plant between November 2009 and February 2010. It?s not known if this was due to Stuxnet or due to a manufacturing defect or some other cause, but the ISIS report increases plausibility that Stuxnet could have played a role in their demise.
According to an examination of Stuxnet by security firm Symantec, once the code infects a system, it searches for the presence of two kinds of frequency converters made by the Iranian firm Fararo Paya and the Finnish company Vacon, making it clear that the code has a precise target in its sights. Once it finds itself on the targeted system, depending on how many frequency converters from each company are present on that system, Stuxnet undertakes two courses of action to alter the speed of rotors being controlled by the converters. In one of these courses of action, Stuxnet begins with a nominal frequency of 1,064 Hz ? which matches the known nominal frequency at Natanz but is above the 1,007 Hz at which Natanz is said to operate ? then reduces the frequency for a short while before returning it back to 1,064 Hz.
In another attack sequence, Stuxnet instructs the speed to increase to 1,410 Hz, which is ?very close to the maximum speed the spinning aluminum IR-1 rotor can withstand mechanically,? according to the ISIS report, which was written by ISIS president David Albright and colleagues.
?The rotor tube of the IR-1 centrifuge is made from high-strength aluminum and has a maximum tangential speed of about 440-450 meters per second, or 1,400-1,432 Hz, respectively,? according to ISIS. ?As a result, if the frequency of the rotor increased to 1,410 Hz, the rotor would likely fly apart when the tangential speed of the rotor reached that level.?
ISIS doesn?t say how long the frequency needs to be at 1,410 Hz before the rotor reaches the tangential speed at which it would break apart, but within 15 minutes after instructing the frequency to increase, Stuxnet returns the frequency to its nominal 1,064 Hz level. Nothing else happens for 27 days, at which point a second attack sequence kicks in that reduces the frequency to 2 Hz, which lasts for 50 minutes before the frequency is restored to 1,064 Hz. Another 27 days pass, and the first attack sequence launches again, increasing the frequency to 1,410 Hz, followed 27 days later by a reduction to 2 Hz.
Stuxnet disguises all of this activity by sending commands to shut off warning and safety controls that would normally alert plant operators to the frequency changes.
ISIS notes that the Stuxnet commands don?t guarantee destruction of centrifuges. The length of the frequency changes may be designed simply to disrupt operations at the plant without breaking rotors outright, and the plant could conceivably have secondary control systems in place to protect centrifuges and that are not affected by Stuxnet?s malicious commands.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about both Stuxnet and the Natanz facility.
ISIS notes that it could not confirm the brand of frequency converters used at Natanz in order to determine if they are the ones that Stuxnet targets. Iran is known to have obtained frequency converters from a variety of suppliers, including ones in Germany and in Turkey. The New York Times reported in January that a foreign intelligence operation had aimed at sabotaging ?individual power units that Iran bought in Turkey? for its centrifuge program. The ISIS authors say these ?power units? are believed to have been frequency converters Iran obtained from Turkey.
If Stuxnet was indeed aimed at Natanz, and if its goal was to quickly destroy all of the centrifuges at Natanz, ISIS notes that it failed at this task.
?But if the goal was to destroy a more-limited number of centrifuges and set back Iran?s progress in operating the FEP, while making detection difficult, it may have succeeded, at least temporarily,? according to the report.
The authors close their report with a warning to governments that using tools like Stuxnet ?could open the door to future national security risks or adversely and unintentionally affect U.S. allies.?
?Countries hostile to the United States may feel justified in launching their own attacks against U.S. facilities, perhaps even using a modified Stuxnet code,? they write. ?Such an attack could shut down large portions of national power grids or other critical infrastructure using malware designed to target critical components inside a major system, causing a national emergency.?
Photo: A security man stands next to an anti-aircraft gun as he scans Iran?s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, 300 kilometers [186 miles] south of Tehran, Iran, in April 2007.
Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP
See also:
Iran: Computer Malware Sabotaged Uranium Centrifuges
Clues Suggest Stuxnet Virus Was Built for Subtle Nuclear Sabotage
Blockbuster Worm Aimed for Infrastructure, But No Proof Iran Nukes Were Target
SCADA System?s Hard-Coded Password Circulated Online for Years
Online Business Consulting | Internet Business ConsultingCake Decorating
McNabb's Agent Rips the Shanahans
Good for McNabb and his agent, Fletcher Smith, for firing back after the Shanahans handled things in such a poor manner down in DC. From a statement Smith released today: There have been many reports leaked of Donovan not being in shape and not being able to grasp Kyle?s offense. The fact is Donovan came into camp in the best shape of his career having dropped 10 pounds in the offseason. Donovan spent most of his offseason in Washington working out with the Redskins and never missed a practice. Unfortunately, it appears as though the Redskins coaching staff decided that their 12-year veteran quarterback, who flawlessly executed one of the NFL's most complex offensive systems (in Philadelphia), is unable to grasp Kyle?s offense. I believe there is tension between Donovan and Kyle that's rooted in the fact that Donovan has suggested modifications to Kyle's offense based on intricacies Donovan has learned in his NFL career. For example, Donovan has asked all year that the team run more screen passes to help manage the pass rush more effectively.�Ironically, Kyle decided to employ Donovan's suggestions after he unceremoniously benched him on Sunday. The whole thing is worth a read. Things are even crazier down in DC than we could have imagined. Five reportedly took scout team reps today. Scout team.
Computer, Laptop and smart phones
Computer, Laptop and smart phones
SEC launches investigation into Hurd's exit from HP
By Ed Oswald, Betanews
The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a far-reaching investigation into the circumstances surrounding former CEO and now Oracle executive Mark Hurd's departure from Hewlett Packard, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.The regulator is looking into claims that he may have passed insider information to a female contractor, who later became central to his resignation from HP. In addition, his use of corporate expense accounts will be studied: a matter which the HP board used in its efforts to get Hurd to step down.HP has said it is fully cooperating with the SEC's investigation. A spokesperson for Hurd told the WSJ that it was "understandable" that the agency was looking into the matter, but maintained he "acted properly in all respects."Both Oracle and the SEC declined to comment. It is unknown how far along the agency's investigation may be, or whether the SEC plans to file charges.Hurd's exit caught many by surprise: in August Mark Hurd was pushed out of HP's top post following allegations of sexual harassment by the contractor, Jodie Fisher. Later, it was revealed he allegedly attempt to circumvent an internal investigation by moving to settle with Fisher on his own.This all got even stranger when Hurd joined Oracle as its co-president a month later, a company whose freewheeling CEO Larry Ellison took HP to task in the New York Times a month earlier.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Crafts articles
The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a far-reaching investigation into the circumstances surrounding former CEO and now Oracle executive Mark Hurd's departure from Hewlett Packard, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.The regulator is looking into claims that he may have passed insider information to a female contractor, who later became central to his resignation from HP. In addition, his use of corporate expense accounts will be studied: a matter which the HP board used in its efforts to get Hurd to step down.HP has said it is fully cooperating with the SEC's investigation. A spokesperson for Hurd told the WSJ that it was "understandable" that the agency was looking into the matter, but maintained he "acted properly in all respects."Both Oracle and the SEC declined to comment. It is unknown how far along the agency's investigation may be, or whether the SEC plans to file charges.Hurd's exit caught many by surprise: in August Mark Hurd was pushed out of HP's top post following allegations of sexual harassment by the contractor, Jodie Fisher. Later, it was revealed he allegedly attempt to circumvent an internal investigation by moving to settle with Fisher on his own.This all got even stranger when Hurd joined Oracle as its co-president a month later, a company whose freewheeling CEO Larry Ellison took HP to task in the New York Times a month earlier.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Crafts articles
Talking about Microsoft Store
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Last night, while walking around Fashion Valley Mall here in San Diego, I spent some time sizing up the Apple and Microsoft stores, which are just four shops apart. The Apple Store was busier, but I found the Microsoft Store to be more charming. More than any other time viewing the stores, I saw in Christmas shoppers dramatic differences in�clientele.Microsoft Store attracted a crowd, inside and outside the glass windows, as two teens frenetically danced using Xbox and the hands-free Kinect controller. Everyone was having fun. It was raucous with some cheering, a gravity well pulling passersby; I among them.The Apple Store was frenetic, too, but with the charge of bustle -- there being too many people for the confined space. I'm amazed the fire marshall doesn't cite Apple Store, about three times a week, for the flood of humanity swashing against the display tables and one another.Young, hip or chic defined Apple Store shoppers. I immediately thought 1980's Yuppies. Predominately: Twenty-something couples, Neiman Marcus-stylized thirty- forty- and fifty-something couples and teens with one parent -- not two but one. It was a money, upper middle-class crowd.Microsoft Store is where families meet -- parents and plenty of kids or teens. I at first attributed it to Xbox, but parents and kids milled throughout the store, not just the game area. Shoppers looked more middle and working class than those in Apple Store.The atmosphere felt different, too, in a lighter way. I looked at the store's layout differently, seeing the brown and wood tones as being more inviting, more homey than Apple Store's white on seemingly white -- a canvas against which splashes of color draw attention to products for sale. But there was an art gallery sterility to Apple Store.Apple's idea of Christmas: a big Santa Claus in the display window, hunched forward reaching for iPhone (or perhaps iPod), with his backside sticking out at passersby. Inside Microsoft Store, by comparison, the display panels circling the store greeted: "Merry Christmas."It's unlikely that either store had a good sales week. Torrential rains pounded San Diego for most of the previous five days, leading to flooding that filled the back parking lot with water and closing off several of the mall's major entrances. Fashion Valley wasn't the best place to be a shopkeeper during the biggest sales week of the year.But on the evening of December 23rd, with the rains gone, shoppers fell on the mall with even greater deluge. Apple and Microsoft stores were among the mall's busiest shops.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
windows
Last night, while walking around Fashion Valley Mall here in San Diego, I spent some time sizing up the Apple and Microsoft stores, which are just four shops apart. The Apple Store was busier, but I found the Microsoft Store to be more charming. More than any other time viewing the stores, I saw in Christmas shoppers dramatic differences in�clientele.Microsoft Store attracted a crowd, inside and outside the glass windows, as two teens frenetically danced using Xbox and the hands-free Kinect controller. Everyone was having fun. It was raucous with some cheering, a gravity well pulling passersby; I among them.The Apple Store was frenetic, too, but with the charge of bustle -- there being too many people for the confined space. I'm amazed the fire marshall doesn't cite Apple Store, about three times a week, for the flood of humanity swashing against the display tables and one another.Young, hip or chic defined Apple Store shoppers. I immediately thought 1980's Yuppies. Predominately: Twenty-something couples, Neiman Marcus-stylized thirty- forty- and fifty-something couples and teens with one parent -- not two but one. It was a money, upper middle-class crowd.Microsoft Store is where families meet -- parents and plenty of kids or teens. I at first attributed it to Xbox, but parents and kids milled throughout the store, not just the game area. Shoppers looked more middle and working class than those in Apple Store.The atmosphere felt different, too, in a lighter way. I looked at the store's layout differently, seeing the brown and wood tones as being more inviting, more homey than Apple Store's white on seemingly white -- a canvas against which splashes of color draw attention to products for sale. But there was an art gallery sterility to Apple Store.Apple's idea of Christmas: a big Santa Claus in the display window, hunched forward reaching for iPhone (or perhaps iPod), with his backside sticking out at passersby. Inside Microsoft Store, by comparison, the display panels circling the store greeted: "Merry Christmas."It's unlikely that either store had a good sales week. Torrential rains pounded San Diego for most of the previous five days, leading to flooding that filled the back parking lot with water and closing off several of the mall's major entrances. Fashion Valley wasn't the best place to be a shopkeeper during the biggest sales week of the year.But on the evening of December 23rd, with the rains gone, shoppers fell on the mall with even greater deluge. Apple and Microsoft stores were among the mall's busiest shops.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
windows
Review: Seagate BlackArmor NAS 420
Compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac OS, Seagate's BlackArmor NAS is designed for business user and home office user alike. It's easy to get it up and running, though you need a little networking knowledge to get the most from it. Its advanced features aren't always easy to use and access, but they're worth the effort. The drive's back-up features are excellent, offering a wealth of options and facilities such as incremental and differential backups, and wizards are available for both backing up and restoring data. On the business side, you can connect up to 50 workstations. The Seagate Global Access service means files stored on the Black Armor NAS 420 can be accessed securely over the internet using a standard web browser. Two of its four drive bays are populated out of the box and the drives are hotswappable, though the caddies and door are a little flimsy for a business-orientated NAS. You can configure your drives in RAID 0/1/5/10 and JBOD arrays, provided the necessary quantity of individual drives for the RAID array in question is met. Although it's not designed for home use, iTunes and DLNA-compatible media streaming are catered for here. The Black Armor NAS 420 includes good expansion options. It offers two Ethernet ports and four USB ports ? three rear-mounted and one at the front. You can connect external hard drives for extra storage capacity and add a printer for sharing over the network. This NAS drive is a little bulky, so ensure you have enough room to set it up. It's not too expensive, but home and more demanding business users should look elsewhere.Related LinksTechRadar Reviews GuaranteeRead more NAS drive reviewsRelated StoriesReview: Qnap TurboNAS TS-295 ProReview: Synology DiskStation DS211software
Feds Say Airport Body Scanners are ?Minimally Intrusive?
The government said late Thursday the full-body imaging scanners being deployed to airports nationwide are ?reasonable,? ?minimally intrusive,? and their ?interference with individual liberty is limited.?
The Justice Department?s remarks (.pdf) were the first publicly explaining the scanners to the courts. The legal filing was responding to a leading privacy group?s lawsuit urging the courts to suspend their use for, among other things, Fourth Amendment privacy breaches.
The Justice Department, on behalf of the Transportation Security Agency, conceded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines are not foolproof. But their privacy threats, however slim, are designed to protect against terrorists concealing ?non-metallic items,? the government said.
?While TSA has not proclaimed that any single screening device or procedure can provide a 100-percent guarantee of security,? the government wrote, ?pre-procurement testing and initial operational use of AIT indicates that the deployed systems are indeed capable of detecting small quantities of non-metallic items that passengers have concealed on their persons.?
The TSA in March began deploying about 450 of the machines, at a cost of about $1 billion. A brief public outcry against the machines erupted and fizzled around Thanksgiving. The media frenzy came weeks after the Electronic Privacy Information Center urged the appellate court to take action against the devices.
The government responded Thursday, saying that Congress required the TSA to use advanced technology to protect the airports, and that the machines ?deter and detect without physical contact.?
The Justice Department also said that in the post 9/11 world, the populace should expect the procedures, even if they are believed to be invasive.
?Since 9/11, attempted terrorist attacks against airlines have evolved to become even more sophisticated, including the use of nonmetallic explosives as well as other potential threats in the form of powders, liquids, and other nonmetallic materials, ? the government wrote. ?AIT screening procedures advance the public interest in preventing terrorist attacks.?
Wired.com, however, has written extensively that the machines may not be that effective when it comes to body cavities.
What?s more, the government said the screening process is constitutional because it is ?narrowly tailored? to ensuring airport security. In addition, ?the transportation security officer who views AIT images during the screening process is always located remotely from the individual being screened, and within a walled and locked room,? the government said.
The Justice Department noted that passengers have the option of bypassing the machines if they are chosen to go through one. Passengers refusing to partake undergo an intense pat-down search that is similar to the ones given to travelers who set off the rank-and-file metal detectors. The government said 98 percent of passengers acquiesce to the advanced screening.
In case you were wondering, a legal challenge to TSA procedures is usually lodged with the Columbia Circuit appellate court.
Here is a sampling of key nuggets from the government?s brief:
*The privacy safeguards incorporated into the implementation of AIT ensure that AIT screening is appropriately-tailored and minimally intrusive. ?
*?As terrorist threats continue to evolve, the most effective available means of deterring and preventing terrorist attacks requires screening for both metallic and nonmetallic weapons and explosives prior to boarding. ?
*?As the experts at TSA have determined, when implemented along with several other layers of security screening, AIT represents a key layer of defense against terrorist threats.?
*The technology can ?deter and detect, without physical contact, both metallic and nonmetallic threats concealed under layers of airplane passenger clothing.?
*?AIT is being deployed as a primary screening mechanism precisely because metal detectors are not adequate to detect non-metallic explosives and weapons that may be concealed underneath clothing. The AIT scanners identify concealed objects and flag anomalies for further inspection.?
A hearing date has been set for March 10.
See Also:
100 Naked Citizens: 100 Leaked Body Scans
National Opt-Out Day Called Against Invasive Body Scanners
Airport Scanners Can Store, Transmit Images
Lawmakers Move to Eject Nude Scanners From New York Airports ?
Body Scanners Might Violate U.K. Child-Protection Laws
11 More U.S. Airports Get Body Scanners
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McNabb's Agent Rips the Shanahans
Good for McNabb and his agent, Fletcher Smith, for firing back after the Shanahans handled things in such a poor manner down in DC. From a statement Smith released today: There have been many reports leaked of Donovan not being in shape and not being able to grasp Kyle?s offense. The fact is Donovan came into camp in the best shape of his career having dropped 10 pounds in the offseason. Donovan spent most of his offseason in Washington working out with the Redskins and never missed a practice. Unfortunately, it appears as though the Redskins coaching staff decided that their 12-year veteran quarterback, who flawlessly executed one of the NFL's most complex offensive systems (in Philadelphia), is unable to grasp Kyle?s offense. I believe there is tension between Donovan and Kyle that's rooted in the fact that Donovan has suggested modifications to Kyle's offense based on intricacies Donovan has learned in his NFL career. For example, Donovan has asked all year that the team run more screen passes to help manage the pass rush more effectively.�Ironically, Kyle decided to employ Donovan's suggestions after he unceremoniously benched him on Sunday. The whole thing is worth a read. Things are even crazier down in DC than we could have imagined. Five reportedly took scout team reps today. Scout team.
Burglar alarm
Burglar alarm
Please be our Ghost of Christmas Past or Future
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
It's two days to Christmas, and I'm mulling Christmas Past and Christmas Future (You are familiar with the Charles Dickens' classic tale, yes?) I request your participation. Like most other journalists or bloggers, I will post year-end retrospectives and year-ahead prognostications next week. I ask you to contribute. Choose your ghost and your Scrooge. What do you think were the most important events affecting the technology industry in 2010 -- and why? They don't have to be industry shaking, but merely important to you. What would you like to see next year from the tech companies that matter most to you?I often crowdsource material for posts, but this request is different from others. Typically I ask readers to respond in comments and by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). The e-mail responses tend to be long and thoughtful, and I often feel guilty about not being able to use all the contents. I will ask some responders to this question for permission to post their entire response (or a good chunk of it) as a guest contributor. I'll edit your writing, and we can banter back and forth to get it just right. Other e-mail responses and those in comments to this post will go into stories I write about the year past and year ahead.One of my goals during 2010 was to include Betanews readers more in stories. We have an active commenting community. But there are two problems with comments -- most of the commenters aren't identified and, too often, insightful mini-analyses are simply lost in the flow. I want to bring your valuable insight to the surface. Reader contribution will be a top priority for 2011.I've already started reaching out to some readers, asking them to make contributions. You know who you are. This request is broader, and it's an opportunity for you to express what you think mattered in 2010 and what will, or at least should, be important for 2011. There will be plenty of year-end, year-ahead stories as January 1st approaches. Why shouldn't you have a say? Some of you will in blog posts, but here's a chance to reach your community here.Then there's the Joe factor. Some very vocal commenters clearly don't like what I write about. You bash, but often aren't specific. Here's your chance to have your say -- about what you think mattered this year and what should matter in 2011. Any guest posts will be edited for style, not content (unless offensive). The point is to get reader perspectives. If something comes across as fanboyish, commenters can filter it out.For year-end, year-ahead, I will write at least about Apple, Google and Microsoft as companies and cloud computing, mobile devices, security and home/work digital lifestyles as broader topics. You can contribute to these topics, or write about others.Ho Ho Ho Ba Humbug, please comment here or e-mail joewilcox at gmail dot com.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Article Directory Generator
It's two days to Christmas, and I'm mulling Christmas Past and Christmas Future (You are familiar with the Charles Dickens' classic tale, yes?) I request your participation. Like most other journalists or bloggers, I will post year-end retrospectives and year-ahead prognostications next week. I ask you to contribute. Choose your ghost and your Scrooge. What do you think were the most important events affecting the technology industry in 2010 -- and why? They don't have to be industry shaking, but merely important to you. What would you like to see next year from the tech companies that matter most to you?I often crowdsource material for posts, but this request is different from others. Typically I ask readers to respond in comments and by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). The e-mail responses tend to be long and thoughtful, and I often feel guilty about not being able to use all the contents. I will ask some responders to this question for permission to post their entire response (or a good chunk of it) as a guest contributor. I'll edit your writing, and we can banter back and forth to get it just right. Other e-mail responses and those in comments to this post will go into stories I write about the year past and year ahead.One of my goals during 2010 was to include Betanews readers more in stories. We have an active commenting community. But there are two problems with comments -- most of the commenters aren't identified and, too often, insightful mini-analyses are simply lost in the flow. I want to bring your valuable insight to the surface. Reader contribution will be a top priority for 2011.I've already started reaching out to some readers, asking them to make contributions. You know who you are. This request is broader, and it's an opportunity for you to express what you think mattered in 2010 and what will, or at least should, be important for 2011. There will be plenty of year-end, year-ahead stories as January 1st approaches. Why shouldn't you have a say? Some of you will in blog posts, but here's a chance to reach your community here.Then there's the Joe factor. Some very vocal commenters clearly don't like what I write about. You bash, but often aren't specific. Here's your chance to have your say -- about what you think mattered this year and what should matter in 2011. Any guest posts will be edited for style, not content (unless offensive). The point is to get reader perspectives. If something comes across as fanboyish, commenters can filter it out.For year-end, year-ahead, I will write at least about Apple, Google and Microsoft as companies and cloud computing, mobile devices, security and home/work digital lifestyles as broader topics. You can contribute to these topics, or write about others.Ho Ho Ho Ba Humbug, please comment here or e-mail joewilcox at gmail dot com.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Article Directory Generator
Pressed into service as a Metrobus navigator
‘taking the bus’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′
Or, One More Thing an iPad is Good For
There I was, waiting at the bus stop after work, staring at my phone while waiting for Nextbus to load. Nextbus said the H1 bus would arrive in 2 minutes, though the H1 tends to run on Inception time, so I figured that [...]Air Ambulance
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′
Or, One More Thing an iPad is Good For
There I was, waiting at the bus stop after work, staring at my phone while waiting for Nextbus to load. Nextbus said the H1 bus would arrive in 2 minutes, though the H1 tends to run on Inception time, so I figured that [...]Air Ambulance
The Men and No Women of Web 2.0 Boards (BoomTown's Talking to You: Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare)
In one memorable episode of the famous old short films ?The Little Rascals,? after not getting invited to a party, the Our Gang little dudes decided to form their own group, comically called ?The He-Man Woman-Haters Club.?
In other words: No girls allowed!
While it was wink-wink cute when Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat huffed and puffed about keeping out Darla?which they never ever could do?back in the last century, it?s not quite as adorkable when it comes to the boards of all the major Web 2.0 hotshots these days.
That would be Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare, none of which have any women as directors.
As in zero.
What?s most remarkable is that most of these start-ups are run by what I consider enlightened and open-minded entrepreneurs, mostly young enough to be part of a generation more inclined to value equality and diversity in the workplace.
In addition, each of these companies has a massive base of women consumers, in some cases well over 50 percent of its audience.
Thus, it would seem logical that in casting about for those to help guide these companies, one or two women leaders might slip in.
To be fair, it?s not for lack of trying, but of completion, as was the case with Twitter?s recent addition of three new board members.
They were longtime Silicon Valley exec Peter Currie, Flipboard CEO and co-founder Mike McCue and former DoubleClick leader David Rosenblatt.
All are deeply qualified for the Twitter board, which is obviously prepping for its next stage of growth and maturity.
But in its search, the San Francisco microblogging site did not manage to cast the net quite wide enough.
While sources said at least one prominent online woman exec was considered, there were some legitimate issues with her appointment, and it was not completed.
Still, one might imagine Twitter could have tried harder to find other workable choices.
Currently, the Twitter board is made up of the new trio, as well as Benchmark Capital?s Peter Fenton, Union Square Ventures? Fred Wilson, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, CEO Dick Costolo and co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey.
Things are not any better over at Facebook, which has several prominent women execs running the show, most especially its high-profile COO Sheryl Sandberg.
But, inexplicably, though she does attend board meetings, she is not yet a director of Facebook, nor is any other woman.
In fact, here is Sandberg on topic at a recent TED event for women, in an eloquent speech titled ?Why We Have So Few Women Leaders?:
Instead, the Facebook board is all men, all the time, composed of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, prominent techie and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, investor Peter Thiel, Accel Partners? Jim Breyer and Washington Post head Don Graham.
It is no better at three of the most prominent recent Web 2.0 start-ups, which one source attributes to the lack of woman VCs, who are often the first board members after major investment rounds.
At Zynga, the hot social gaming company in San Francisco, it continues, with an all-male board, despite a very heavily female audience for its casual social games.
That would be co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus, COO Owen Van Natta, investor Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, investor Reid Hoffman and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group.
The same is true at woman-targeted?spas, spas and more spas?social buying site Groupon, which has an unusually large board for a start-up and made up of?as per usual?all men.
The list: Co-founder and CEO Andrew Mason, Accel Partners? Kevin Efrusy, former AT&T President and COO John Walter, New Enterprise Associates? Harry Weller and Peter Barris, former AOL exec Ted Leonsis, 37Signals co-founder Jason Fried and early investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.
And, much smaller, is Foursquare?s board, which is the trio of co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, co-founder Naveen Selvadurai and Union Square Ventures? Albert Wenger.
New investors?Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz and O?Reilly AlphaTech Ventures? Bryce Roberts?have observer status and both are, needless to say, dudes.
There is no question it is tough to make sure there is a good balance of qualified women leaders to men in tech?it is an issue we wrestle with every single year for the program of speakers at our own All Things Digital conference, although we are most excellent on this issue on our Web site and conference staff.
But it can be done, especially at public tech companies. Google has two women on its board of nine directors; Yahoo has three of 10; even Oracle has two of a dozen.
But a grand total of zero at the leading companies of Web 2.0 is not just a coincidence.
It?s a shame.
Tomorrow, BoomTown will post a list of great women who would be superb directors for any of these companies, but until then, let?s not follow in Spanky?s steps:
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In other words: No girls allowed!
While it was wink-wink cute when Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat huffed and puffed about keeping out Darla?which they never ever could do?back in the last century, it?s not quite as adorkable when it comes to the boards of all the major Web 2.0 hotshots these days.
That would be Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare, none of which have any women as directors.
As in zero.
What?s most remarkable is that most of these start-ups are run by what I consider enlightened and open-minded entrepreneurs, mostly young enough to be part of a generation more inclined to value equality and diversity in the workplace.
In addition, each of these companies has a massive base of women consumers, in some cases well over 50 percent of its audience.
Thus, it would seem logical that in casting about for those to help guide these companies, one or two women leaders might slip in.
To be fair, it?s not for lack of trying, but of completion, as was the case with Twitter?s recent addition of three new board members.
They were longtime Silicon Valley exec Peter Currie, Flipboard CEO and co-founder Mike McCue and former DoubleClick leader David Rosenblatt.
All are deeply qualified for the Twitter board, which is obviously prepping for its next stage of growth and maturity.
But in its search, the San Francisco microblogging site did not manage to cast the net quite wide enough.
While sources said at least one prominent online woman exec was considered, there were some legitimate issues with her appointment, and it was not completed.
Still, one might imagine Twitter could have tried harder to find other workable choices.
Currently, the Twitter board is made up of the new trio, as well as Benchmark Capital?s Peter Fenton, Union Square Ventures? Fred Wilson, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, CEO Dick Costolo and co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey.
Things are not any better over at Facebook, which has several prominent women execs running the show, most especially its high-profile COO Sheryl Sandberg.
But, inexplicably, though she does attend board meetings, she is not yet a director of Facebook, nor is any other woman.
In fact, here is Sandberg on topic at a recent TED event for women, in an eloquent speech titled ?Why We Have So Few Women Leaders?:
Instead, the Facebook board is all men, all the time, composed of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, prominent techie and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, investor Peter Thiel, Accel Partners? Jim Breyer and Washington Post head Don Graham.
It is no better at three of the most prominent recent Web 2.0 start-ups, which one source attributes to the lack of woman VCs, who are often the first board members after major investment rounds.
At Zynga, the hot social gaming company in San Francisco, it continues, with an all-male board, despite a very heavily female audience for its casual social games.
That would be co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus, COO Owen Van Natta, investor Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, investor Reid Hoffman and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group.
The same is true at woman-targeted?spas, spas and more spas?social buying site Groupon, which has an unusually large board for a start-up and made up of?as per usual?all men.
The list: Co-founder and CEO Andrew Mason, Accel Partners? Kevin Efrusy, former AT&T President and COO John Walter, New Enterprise Associates? Harry Weller and Peter Barris, former AOL exec Ted Leonsis, 37Signals co-founder Jason Fried and early investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.
And, much smaller, is Foursquare?s board, which is the trio of co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, co-founder Naveen Selvadurai and Union Square Ventures? Albert Wenger.
New investors?Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz and O?Reilly AlphaTech Ventures? Bryce Roberts?have observer status and both are, needless to say, dudes.
There is no question it is tough to make sure there is a good balance of qualified women leaders to men in tech?it is an issue we wrestle with every single year for the program of speakers at our own All Things Digital conference, although we are most excellent on this issue on our Web site and conference staff.
But it can be done, especially at public tech companies. Google has two women on its board of nine directors; Yahoo has three of 10; even Oracle has two of a dozen.
But a grand total of zero at the leading companies of Web 2.0 is not just a coincidence.
It?s a shame.
Tomorrow, BoomTown will post a list of great women who would be superb directors for any of these companies, but until then, let?s not follow in Spanky?s steps:
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Tagged: All Things Digital, BoomTown, D: All Things Digital, Facebook, Google, Internet, Kara Swisher, Silicon Valley, Twitter, innovation, video, 37signals, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Andrew Mason, AOL, appointment, audience, base, Ben Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, Bijan Sabet, Bing Gordon, board, Brad Feld, Brad Keywell, Bryce Roberts, conference, consumers, David Rosenblatt, Dennis Crowley, Dick Costolo, director, directors, Diversity, Don Graham, DoubleClick, entrepreneurs, equality, Eric Lefkofsky, Evan Williams, executive, Flipboard, Foundry Group, Foursquare, Fred Wilson, games, Groupon, Harry Weller, he He-Man Woman-Haters Club, investor, Jack Dorsey, Jason Fried, Jim Breyer, John Walter, Kevin Efrusy, Kleiner Perkins, leaders, Marc Andreessen, Mark Pincus, Mark Zuckerberg, microblogging, Mike McCue, Naveen Selvadurai, New Enterprise Associates, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, observer, Our Gang, Owen Van Natta, Peter Barris, Peter Currie, Peter Fenton, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, San Francisco, Sheryl Sandberg, social, Spark Capital, speech, staff, start-ups, tech, TED, Ted Leonsis, The Little Rascals, Union Square Ventures, VC, venture capitalist, Washington Post, Web 2.0, Web site, woman, women, workplace, Zynga | permalink
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Now Available on iPhone: 3,500 Yelp Check-in Offers and Counting
You may have heard the news last Tuesday that we launched Yelp Check-in Offers: an extension of Yelp Check-ins that gives a way for businesses to reward their most loyal customers, while drawing new ones through their door. For yelpers,...Basics of investing
Viral Video: Ustream's Top 10 Live Moments of 2010 (From Chilean Miners to Justin Bieber)
Here?s a really fun video of Ustream?s top 10 live moments of 2010.
The most-watched stream was, no surprise, the rescue of the Chilean miners, but Justin Bieber and Kayne West also scored.
The winners on the live video platform include, in descending order:
10. Disneyland?s ?World of Color? Live
9. Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet Live
8. Ochocinco?s Live Date
7. Taylor Swift?s Exclusive Album Announcement
6. ?The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? Premiere Live
5. Kanye West?s First Ustream
4. Justin Bieber on AMAs Backstage Live
3. Snoop Dogg?s Live Mafia Wars Stunt
2. Paul McCartney?s Live Chat With Fans
1. Live Chilean Miner Rescue
Enjoy:
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Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, media, music, video, almbum, AMA, announcement, backstage, chat, Chilean, date, Disneyland, fan, Golden Globe Awards, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Live, Mafia Wars, miner, moment, Ochocinco, Paul McCartney, platform, premiere, resecue, Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, UStream, viral, World of Color | permalink
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The most-watched stream was, no surprise, the rescue of the Chilean miners, but Justin Bieber and Kayne West also scored.
The winners on the live video platform include, in descending order:
10. Disneyland?s ?World of Color? Live
9. Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet Live
8. Ochocinco?s Live Date
7. Taylor Swift?s Exclusive Album Announcement
6. ?The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? Premiere Live
5. Kanye West?s First Ustream
4. Justin Bieber on AMAs Backstage Live
3. Snoop Dogg?s Live Mafia Wars Stunt
2. Paul McCartney?s Live Chat With Fans
1. Live Chilean Miner Rescue
Enjoy:
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, media, music, video, almbum, AMA, announcement, backstage, chat, Chilean, date, Disneyland, fan, Golden Globe Awards, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Live, Mafia Wars, miner, moment, Ochocinco, Paul McCartney, platform, premiere, resecue, Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, UStream, viral, World of Color | permalink
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Friedgen Gone at Maryland?
”
courtesy of ‘Jimmy Morris’
There seems to be a lot of moving going on for some high-profile DC sports figures this weekend. Hot on the heels of news that Gilbert Arenas is on his way to Orlando comes several reports that Maryland head coach (and the 2010 ACC Coach of the Year) Ralph Friedgen is about [...]Cats
courtesy of ‘Jimmy Morris’
There seems to be a lot of moving going on for some high-profile DC sports figures this weekend. Hot on the heels of news that Gilbert Arenas is on his way to Orlando comes several reports that Maryland head coach (and the 2010 ACC Coach of the Year) Ralph Friedgen is about [...]Cats
Now Available on iPhone: 3,500 Yelp Check-in Offers and Counting
You may have heard the news last Tuesday that we launched Yelp Check-in Offers: an extension of Yelp Check-ins that gives a way for businesses to reward their most loyal customers, while drawing new ones through their door. For yelpers,...Breast Feeding
Bench, McNabb; McNabb, Bench
‘McNabb takes off’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’
It has not been your week, Donovan. First, there’s that whole, “losing streak/Redskins season all but over and everyone’s blaming you” thing. Then, you just want to enjoy a basketball game and these local fans won’t let you be, booing you.�The pickle on your crap sandwich? Rex Grossman, according to reports, [...]CD Duplication
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’
It has not been your week, Donovan. First, there’s that whole, “losing streak/Redskins season all but over and everyone’s blaming you” thing. Then, you just want to enjoy a basketball game and these local fans won’t let you be, booing you.�The pickle on your crap sandwich? Rex Grossman, according to reports, [...]CD Duplication
Google taps networking expert Medin to build out fiber network
By Ed Oswald, Betanews
As Google moves ever closer to its fiber-optic network plans, it has hired networking engineer Milo Medin to oversee its rollout. Medin is widely viewed as an expert in Internet networking, and is credited with pushing TCP/IP in the 1980s as a standard for Internet connectivity.Medin will manage the fiber team and serve as vice president of access services. Google said in February that it planned to build its own fiber network. Hundreds of communities nationwide have vied to be the location where the planned 1 gigabit network will be built -- Google says it will announce a winner early next year."Over the past several months I've been following the progress the [fiber] team has already made--from experimenting with new fiber deployment technologies here on Google's campus, to announcing a 'beta' network to 850 homes at Stanford--and I'm excited for us to bring our ultra high-speed network to a community," he said.Medin apologized for the delay in the announcement of the winning location(s), but stressed the company wanted to "get this right" and that it would have a decision as soon as it was comfortable making one.In addition to his work with TCP/IP, Medin also helped start early high-speed access provider At Home. At Home would later merge with Excite in 1999, although it became a victim of the Internet bubble burst, and folded in 2001 after failing to reach key agreements with telecommunications providers.More recently, Medin has ran M2Z Networks, an effort to bring free, nationwide wireless broadband service to US residents. It was not clear what role Medin would maintain with the company, if any. M2Z's website, however, is apparently down -- with its hosting account "suspended" according to a message on its site.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Candle Making
As Google moves ever closer to its fiber-optic network plans, it has hired networking engineer Milo Medin to oversee its rollout. Medin is widely viewed as an expert in Internet networking, and is credited with pushing TCP/IP in the 1980s as a standard for Internet connectivity.Medin will manage the fiber team and serve as vice president of access services. Google said in February that it planned to build its own fiber network. Hundreds of communities nationwide have vied to be the location where the planned 1 gigabit network will be built -- Google says it will announce a winner early next year."Over the past several months I've been following the progress the [fiber] team has already made--from experimenting with new fiber deployment technologies here on Google's campus, to announcing a 'beta' network to 850 homes at Stanford--and I'm excited for us to bring our ultra high-speed network to a community," he said.Medin apologized for the delay in the announcement of the winning location(s), but stressed the company wanted to "get this right" and that it would have a decision as soon as it was comfortable making one.In addition to his work with TCP/IP, Medin also helped start early high-speed access provider At Home. At Home would later merge with Excite in 1999, although it became a victim of the Internet bubble burst, and folded in 2001 after failing to reach key agreements with telecommunications providers.More recently, Medin has ran M2Z Networks, an effort to bring free, nationwide wireless broadband service to US residents. It was not clear what role Medin would maintain with the company, if any. M2Z's website, however, is apparently down -- with its hosting account "suspended" according to a message on its site.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Candle Making
Kobo adds Instapaper & Facebook ?like? button [TNW Canada]
Kobo, the Canadian E-reader service has recently announced that its iOS apps will now be integrated with the popular ?save it for later? service Instapaper.
The Kobo?s free app provides a slick user interface coupled with 1.8 million free books and access to discounted offers for magazines, newly released books and newspapers.
In the past, we?ve seen quite a few mobile apps like Seesmic and TweetDeck add Instapaper to their feature set because Instapaper is ideal for content junkies. While surfing the web, when you find a great article that you don?t have time to read, Instapaper can save the article for later making it available for reading offline. And the Instapaper tool within Kobo?s app works in a similar fashion.
Within the Kobo iOS app (Phone, iPad, iPod touch), users will be able to clip articles on the web and save & sync them to the Kodo library using the Instapaper tool. It?s sort of� Kodo?s ?save it for later? folder. Books, magazines and newspapers , in addition to articles on the web, can also be added as Instapaper clippings.
?People are constantly discovering a wide variety of great information on the web, but they don?t always have the time to read everything that they come across,? said Mike Serbinis, Kobo CEO. ?With Kobo?s integration with Instapaper, readers can clip, save, and read this content anytime, anyplace they choose using the Kobo eReading application for iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.?
Kobo?s iOS4 updates follow a string of new social tools available on Kodo?s iPad, iPhone and iPod touch apps. Last week, Kobo launched a new feature for publishing a series of shareables to Facebook; book check-ins, passage sharing and reward-badges. Users will also be able ?like? a book within the app, another feature of their Facebook intergration.
These new enhancements are great, but they?re arriving a bit late to the party. And if they really wanted to go ?social? with their badges, they should have teamed up with a service such as Glue, a service that unifies your badges across multiple entertainment platforms. I?m admittedly a bit of a Glue fangirl and I just like my badges neatly displayed in one place. Nevertheless Kobo has extended huge value to their customers with their new social entertainment features.
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The Kobo?s free app provides a slick user interface coupled with 1.8 million free books and access to discounted offers for magazines, newly released books and newspapers.
In the past, we?ve seen quite a few mobile apps like Seesmic and TweetDeck add Instapaper to their feature set because Instapaper is ideal for content junkies. While surfing the web, when you find a great article that you don?t have time to read, Instapaper can save the article for later making it available for reading offline. And the Instapaper tool within Kobo?s app works in a similar fashion.
Within the Kobo iOS app (Phone, iPad, iPod touch), users will be able to clip articles on the web and save & sync them to the Kodo library using the Instapaper tool. It?s sort of� Kodo?s ?save it for later? folder. Books, magazines and newspapers , in addition to articles on the web, can also be added as Instapaper clippings.
?People are constantly discovering a wide variety of great information on the web, but they don?t always have the time to read everything that they come across,? said Mike Serbinis, Kobo CEO. ?With Kobo?s integration with Instapaper, readers can clip, save, and read this content anytime, anyplace they choose using the Kobo eReading application for iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.?
Kobo?s iOS4 updates follow a string of new social tools available on Kodo?s iPad, iPhone and iPod touch apps. Last week, Kobo launched a new feature for publishing a series of shareables to Facebook; book check-ins, passage sharing and reward-badges. Users will also be able ?like? a book within the app, another feature of their Facebook intergration.
These new enhancements are great, but they?re arriving a bit late to the party. And if they really wanted to go ?social? with their badges, they should have teamed up with a service such as Glue, a service that unifies your badges across multiple entertainment platforms. I?m admittedly a bit of a Glue fangirl and I just like my badges neatly displayed in one place. Nevertheless Kobo has extended huge value to their customers with their new social entertainment features.
Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home JobsDiamonds V2
We Love Weekends: December 18-19
‘(348/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’
Carl: Friday I will take my beautiful girlfriend to Don and Darling Wife’s house for holiday festivities. Hopefully this year they won’t make me dive for anything in the outdoor pool. Two years ago I was promised full frontal nudity by another partygoer if I stayed but it never materialized, so I don’t [...]technology
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’
Carl: Friday I will take my beautiful girlfriend to Don and Darling Wife’s house for holiday festivities. Hopefully this year they won’t make me dive for anything in the outdoor pool. Two years ago I was promised full frontal nudity by another partygoer if I stayed but it never materialized, so I don’t [...]technology
Free PlayStation app heading to iPhone and Android
While the world awaits official news of the PSP phone, Sony has announced the imminent release of a free PlayStation app for iPhone and Android users. The app will be available on Apple iOS 4 or above and any Android version 1.6 (Donut) or higher. In version 1.0, users can check their achievements and keep an eye on friends' online statuses, as well as receive news of updates to PlayStation hardware and a feed from the PlayStation Europe blog.No games to playUnlike Windows Phone 7's Xbox Live hub, however, the PlayStation app won't offer any PlayStation games to play on your handset in version 1.0. With a release date no more accurate than "soon", the PlayStation app will be available to iPhone and Android users in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands.Sony is already hard at work on the next version of the app, promising "tons more features" to come in the next few months.Related StoriesVideo: Word Lens - augmented reality word translator launchedVideo: Google Maps 5 for Android finally landsHoneycomb to be Android 2.4?LG B Android handset to be slimmer than the iPhone 4?In Depth: Google Nexus S: 11 tips and tricksBlogs
Google includes personalized voice recognition in new search for Android
By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Affiliate Marketing on the internet
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Affiliate Marketing on the internet
Mark Zuckerberg crowned as man of 2010
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been crowned as Time magazine's person of 2010.Zuckerberg, who gained additional notoriety this year by being the main character of the film The Social Network now also has the honour of being Time magazine's annual Person of the Year, the person the leading US magazine believes had the most influence on events in 2010.Zuckerberg and AssangeThe 26-year-old billionaire was joined on Time's listing of influencers this year by Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange who won a Time readers' poll on 2010's most influential person. Time's annual list feature has been a fixture since the 1920s, with the winner appearing on the cover of one of the world's most influential magazines.Managing editor Richard Stengel said that Facebook is "transforming the way we live our lives every day" with over 500 million users worldwide and around 1,700 full-time staff.'Our little team'Zuckerberg said the award was "a real honour and recognition of how our little team is building something that hundreds of millions of people want to use to make the world more open and connected. I'm happy to be a part of that."The Facebook founder is estimated to be worth $6.9bn (�4.4bn) and is one of the richest men in the US, following Bill Gates' example of giving away much of his wealth to charity.The Person of the Year award used to be called the 'Man of the Year' award, back in Time's pre-feminist days.Facebook is 'best place to work'In other Facebook news, Zuckerberg's company has also been named the best place to work in a new survey by a leading NEW YORKcareer website report published this week.Facebook edged ahead of Southwest Airlines and management consultants firm Bain & Company on the 'best companies to work for' list compiled by Glassdoor.That survey showed that employees don't like poor communication in a company, and really like to work for companies that have "a very solid and distinct company culture." Related StoriesGoogle allows you to roll back your Contacts listSpotify lists most-streamed tracks and albums of 2010Google TV gets Android voice control appGary Marshall: After Wikileaks, what will Amazon remove next?Elderly people rapidly adapting to online social networksDogs
Exclusive: Twitter Raises $200 Million at a $3.7 Billion Valuation; Adds McCue and Rosenblatt to Board
Twitter has completed its latest round of funding?$200 million at a $3.7 billion valuation?with Kleiner Perkins as the lead investor, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Sources said the San Francisco microblogging service is also adding two new board members: Flipboard?s Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt, who ran DoubleClick until a bit after it sold to Google.
Twitter recently added former Netscape exec Peter Currie to the board, as BoomTown previously reported.
A Twitter spokesman confirmed the funding and the board appointments, but declined further comment.
The moves are big ones for Twitter, which is moving fast to upgrade its management and business model under CEO Dick Costolo, who just posted a blog (see below) on the new funding and directors, titled ?Meaningful Growth (although it was first curiously called, ?Stocking Stuffers,? and was much funnier).
But, indeed, a big slug of cash will surely help the start-up?s expansion efforts and essentially declares it is not for sale to bigger companies such as Google (quite yet, that is).
As I reported last week, Kleiner partner John Doerr has been pushing hard to fund Twitter, beating out Russia?s DST Global.
Kleiner is the only new investor in the latest round, which brings its funding total to $360 million since it was founded about five years ago.
The storied Silicon Valley venture firm, which has been aggressively moving into the Web 2.0 space of late, put in $150 million, with the remaining $50 million coming from existing investors.
Past investors include Benchmark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital and several other venture firms and angel investors.
Adding Currie, McCue and Rosenblatt are very strong choices for the board. Currie has deep financial and IPO experience, McCue is a well-connected and innovative entrepreneur and Rosenblatt brings much-needed online advertising heft.
As it happens, Costolo will appear at our D@CES event in January, where I am interviewing him and we can talk about all the changes.
(Thank goodness the funding is done, since I was worried about all those awkward pauses.)
Here is new version of Costolo?s blog post on McCue and Rosenblatt (the old one is below it for you to compare and contrast):
Meaningful Growth
In the past 12 months, Twitter users sent an astonishing 25 billion Tweets and we added more than 100 million new registered accounts. In that time, our team has grown from 130 people to more than 350 today. We?re thankful for every Tweet, every account, and every talented employee who has decided to join the Twitter team. This week, we?ve got some big news to share.
As part of a significant new round of funding with investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and existing investors, we?ve added two new members to Twitter?s board of directors. Please join us in welcoming Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt. The experience these new directors bring to Twitter, along with this renewed investment, will help us continue to grow as a company and business.
2010 was one of the most meaningful years since Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2007. We operate on a principle that people are basically good?when you give them a simple way to express this trait, they prove it to you every day. We?re proud of what Twitter users have accomplished, we?re proud of our work, and we?re very proud of our team. Thanks for being a part of this work; it means a lot to us.
Stocking Stuffer
Growth is fun. In the past 12 months, Twitter users sent an astonishing 25 billion Tweets and we added more than 100 million new registered accounts. In that time, our team has grown from 130 people to more than 350 today.
This week, we added two new members to Twitter?s board of directors who have strong experience running technology companies: Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt. Mike was the CEO of Tellme Networks, is currently CEO at Flipboard and also worked for Netscape and Microsoft (which acquired Tellme in 2007). David is the former CEO of DoubleClick and an ex-Google executive.
We also closed a significant new round of funding, with new investor Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers leading the round. KPCB brings to Twitter a track record of helping build great companies, ranging from Amazon to Zynga (get it? A to Z? See how we did that?), and a team with expertise in Internet, mobile and social platforms. The additional resources and expertise will be extremely helpful as Twitter continues to grow as a company and business.
Thank you to Twitter users everywhere for making 2010 such a good year.
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, Silicon Valley, Twitter, advertising, digital, financial, innovation, social networking, account, angel, appointment, Benchmark Capital, blog, board, business model, California, cash, David Rosenblatt, Dick Costolo, director, DoubleClick, DST Global, employee, entrepreneur, expansion, firm, Flipboard, funding, investment, IPO, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, management, microblogging, Mike McCue, Netscape, Peter Currie, registered, round, Russia, San Francisco, Spark Capital, start-up, tweet, Union Square Ventures, valuation, venture, Web 2.0 | permalink
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Sources said the San Francisco microblogging service is also adding two new board members: Flipboard?s Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt, who ran DoubleClick until a bit after it sold to Google.
Twitter recently added former Netscape exec Peter Currie to the board, as BoomTown previously reported.
A Twitter spokesman confirmed the funding and the board appointments, but declined further comment.
The moves are big ones for Twitter, which is moving fast to upgrade its management and business model under CEO Dick Costolo, who just posted a blog (see below) on the new funding and directors, titled ?Meaningful Growth (although it was first curiously called, ?Stocking Stuffers,? and was much funnier).
But, indeed, a big slug of cash will surely help the start-up?s expansion efforts and essentially declares it is not for sale to bigger companies such as Google (quite yet, that is).
As I reported last week, Kleiner partner John Doerr has been pushing hard to fund Twitter, beating out Russia?s DST Global.
Kleiner is the only new investor in the latest round, which brings its funding total to $360 million since it was founded about five years ago.
The storied Silicon Valley venture firm, which has been aggressively moving into the Web 2.0 space of late, put in $150 million, with the remaining $50 million coming from existing investors.
Past investors include Benchmark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital and several other venture firms and angel investors.
Adding Currie, McCue and Rosenblatt are very strong choices for the board. Currie has deep financial and IPO experience, McCue is a well-connected and innovative entrepreneur and Rosenblatt brings much-needed online advertising heft.
As it happens, Costolo will appear at our D@CES event in January, where I am interviewing him and we can talk about all the changes.
(Thank goodness the funding is done, since I was worried about all those awkward pauses.)
Here is new version of Costolo?s blog post on McCue and Rosenblatt (the old one is below it for you to compare and contrast):
Meaningful Growth
In the past 12 months, Twitter users sent an astonishing 25 billion Tweets and we added more than 100 million new registered accounts. In that time, our team has grown from 130 people to more than 350 today. We?re thankful for every Tweet, every account, and every talented employee who has decided to join the Twitter team. This week, we?ve got some big news to share.
As part of a significant new round of funding with investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and existing investors, we?ve added two new members to Twitter?s board of directors. Please join us in welcoming Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt. The experience these new directors bring to Twitter, along with this renewed investment, will help us continue to grow as a company and business.
2010 was one of the most meaningful years since Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2007. We operate on a principle that people are basically good?when you give them a simple way to express this trait, they prove it to you every day. We?re proud of what Twitter users have accomplished, we?re proud of our work, and we?re very proud of our team. Thanks for being a part of this work; it means a lot to us.
Stocking Stuffer
Growth is fun. In the past 12 months, Twitter users sent an astonishing 25 billion Tweets and we added more than 100 million new registered accounts. In that time, our team has grown from 130 people to more than 350 today.
This week, we added two new members to Twitter?s board of directors who have strong experience running technology companies: Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt. Mike was the CEO of Tellme Networks, is currently CEO at Flipboard and also worked for Netscape and Microsoft (which acquired Tellme in 2007). David is the former CEO of DoubleClick and an ex-Google executive.
We also closed a significant new round of funding, with new investor Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers leading the round. KPCB brings to Twitter a track record of helping build great companies, ranging from Amazon to Zynga (get it? A to Z? See how we did that?), and a team with expertise in Internet, mobile and social platforms. The additional resources and expertise will be extremely helpful as Twitter continues to grow as a company and business.
Thank you to Twitter users everywhere for making 2010 such a good year.
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, Silicon Valley, Twitter, advertising, digital, financial, innovation, social networking, account, angel, appointment, Benchmark Capital, blog, board, business model, California, cash, David Rosenblatt, Dick Costolo, director, DoubleClick, DST Global, employee, entrepreneur, expansion, firm, Flipboard, funding, investment, IPO, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, management, microblogging, Mike McCue, Netscape, Peter Currie, registered, round, Russia, San Francisco, Spark Capital, start-up, tweet, Union Square Ventures, valuation, venture, Web 2.0 | permalink
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Google allows you to roll back your Contacts list
Google has added a feature that allows you to restore your contacts to a point in the past ? just in case you regret that drunken decision to delete your girlfriend/parents/wife's details. The new feature in Google Contacts allows you to roll back to an earlier version of your contacts. We've added a new feature to Google Contacts that allows you to revert your contact list and undo any mistakes made up to 30 days in the past," blogged Gogle's Amanda Camp.'Accidentally'"Let's say you accidentally deleted a bunch of contacts or wiped the contact data from your Gmail account by mistake while syncing to another device. "Visit Gmail's Contacts section, select "Restore contacts" in the "More actions" menu, and choose the time you would like to revert to."Of course, you will lose any contacts you have added in the interim, although you could always re-re-restore or?our head hurts. So, new feature, lets you have a do-over in case you delete something you shouldn't. Related StoriesWikileaks' Julian Assange court appeal makes Twitter historyWikileaks' Julian Assange court appeal makes Twitter historyGmail developer says Google Chrome OS will failSpotify lists most-streamed tracks and albums of 2010Mark Zuckerberg crowned as man of 2010Articles-Marketing
Google includes personalized voice recognition in new search for Android
By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Digital Cameras 2
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Digital Cameras 2
Google includes personalized voice recognition in new search for Android
By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Deforestation
Google launched an update to Android's voice search capability on Tuesday that incorporates speaker recognition to improve results.The new "personalized recognition" feature is currently quite limited: it's only available in English in the United States on Android devices running 2.2 and above.When turned on, the new feature stores your voice searches and builds a statistical profile based upon the pitch and timbre of your voice and the pronunciation and pace of your speech."Speech recognition is based on statistical modeling," Google's help file on the technology says. "To recognize spoken words, we compare the input search to a statistical model of the language and try to find the closest match - the system's best guess at what the user said...Knowing what you said in the past allows us to build specialized models that are designed to match your voice and your words."The feature then, over time, improves the speech recognition capabilities just for you. The recordings of your voice are associated to your Google Account and are not available to anyone's searches but your own. Personalized recognition can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Google voice recognition settings in your phone (Menu>Settings>Voice Input & Output>Voice Recognizer Settings), and all of your voice recordings supposedly can be disassociated from your Google account in your Dashboard under "Speech," but since I've enabled the feature, that option has not shown up yet.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Deforestation
OWN It Online? How Digital Will Oprah?s Latest Attack on the Media Landscape Be?
The marketing of the Oprah Winfrey Network, set to debut January 1, 2011, is definitely ratcheting up.
OWN is being backed by Discovery Communications.
But what will be interesting to see is how much of a digital element there is on OWN, which is obviously heavy on the television shows for the new cable network.
Robert Tercek, who headed digital media for Winfrey-related online properties, left the company earlier this year. Under Tercek, there were several big live events for Oprah.com, as well as one of the biggest book downloads.
But, so far?besides the requisite Facebook and Twitter links?the digital parts on OWN seems to be limited to a lot of promotions for its content, asking the audience for its input about those various shows, casting calls and ?Your OWN Channel.?
That would be ?a destination to tell your stories and express your passion through video.? Apparently, according to one of the OWN videos, about 10,000 videos have been uploaded using its tools.
One video was titled, ?Auntie Bernie?s Cinnamon Stick Fried Chicken,? while another posited, ?There Is An Answer To Every Question, You Just Have To Find It.?
Indeed, although BoomTown thinks all answers are in cinnamon stick fried chicken.
Here is a sizzle reel for OWN, as well as another promotion for the cable channel.
Multicolored balloons and a whole lot of hope seem to be the big themes.
As well as a whole lot of Oprah, natch.
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, media, video, audience, book, cable, casting call, channel, content, Discovery Communications, download, event, link, Live, network, Oprah Winfrey Network, Oprah.com, OWN, promotion, Robert Tercek, show, tool, Your OWN Channel | permalink
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSScell phones
OWN is being backed by Discovery Communications.
But what will be interesting to see is how much of a digital element there is on OWN, which is obviously heavy on the television shows for the new cable network.
Robert Tercek, who headed digital media for Winfrey-related online properties, left the company earlier this year. Under Tercek, there were several big live events for Oprah.com, as well as one of the biggest book downloads.
But, so far?besides the requisite Facebook and Twitter links?the digital parts on OWN seems to be limited to a lot of promotions for its content, asking the audience for its input about those various shows, casting calls and ?Your OWN Channel.?
That would be ?a destination to tell your stories and express your passion through video.? Apparently, according to one of the OWN videos, about 10,000 videos have been uploaded using its tools.
One video was titled, ?Auntie Bernie?s Cinnamon Stick Fried Chicken,? while another posited, ?There Is An Answer To Every Question, You Just Have To Find It.?
Indeed, although BoomTown thinks all answers are in cinnamon stick fried chicken.
Here is a sizzle reel for OWN, as well as another promotion for the cable channel.
Multicolored balloons and a whole lot of hope seem to be the big themes.
As well as a whole lot of Oprah, natch.
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, media, video, audience, book, cable, casting call, channel, content, Discovery Communications, download, event, link, Live, network, Oprah Winfrey Network, Oprah.com, OWN, promotion, Robert Tercek, show, tool, Your OWN Channel | permalink
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSScell phones
Goldman Sachs Programmer Found Guilty of Stealing Code
A Goldman Sachs programmer was found guilty on Friday of stealing high-speed trading software from his former employer.
Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 18, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Russia-born programmer worked for Goldman Sachs until last year when authorities say he siphoned source code for the company?s valuable software on his way out the door to take a new job. The software is used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades and earns the company ?many millions of dollars in profits? each year, according to prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti had called it ?the most substantial theft that the bank can remember ever happening to it.?
Aleynikov, a naturalized American citizen who immigrated from Russia in 1991, earned nearly $400,000 a year as a vice president with Goldman Sachs.
He was arrested in July 2009 at the Newark Airport in New Jersey as he returned from a trip to Chicago, where he?d met with his new employers at competing firm, Teza Technologies, where he was expected to earn about $1.2 million in salary.
After Aleynikov cooperated with agents and allowed searches of his computers and home, he was indicted seven months later.
His trial began Nov. 29. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote sealed the courtroom during portions of testimony involving the Goldman Sachs? proprietary software. Exhibits and transcripts pertaining to the company?s trade secrets were also sealed.
Authorities said Aleynikov stole ?hundreds of thousands of lines? of source code from Goldman Sachs in the days before he left the company on June 5 last year. They said he downloaded various software from the Goldman Sachs network and transferred it to a storage website hosted in Germany before trying to erase his tracks from Goldman Sachs? network. Company computer logs show that on at least two occasions, he transferred the data remotely while logged into his company?s network from his home computer. Prosecutors maintained that among the data he downloaded was source code constituting ?a substantial portion of the company?s proprietary source code? related to high-speed trading.
Goldman Sachs only uncovered the theft in late June after it began monitoring https transfers and saw a large volume of data leaving its network, according to the complaint. The company initiated the monitoring after noticing suspicious activity on the network.
Aleynikov used a script to copy, compress, encrypt and rename files, and then upload them to the server in Germany. Once the data was transferred, the program used to encrypt the files was erased, and he allegedly attempted to delete the network?s batch history showing his activity.
Prosecutors said Aleynikov made several copies of the code and had it on his laptop when he flew to Chicago to meet his new employers at Teza Technologies, though they acknowledge that a search of Teza computers uncovered no copies of Goldman Sachs? source code.
Aleynikov acknowledged taking the code but told FBI agents he only intended to collect ?open source? software files on which he had worked, and that his collection of proprietary files on his last day of work had been inadvertent. His attorneys said he never gave the proprietary files to anyone else and that the portion of proprietary code he took inadvertently was miniscule ? just 32 of about 1,224 megabytes of code ? and hardly constituted the company?s ?entire platform.?
In this file photo taken April 19, 2010, people walk to work outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters, in New York. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 named the companies that used its emergency loan programs during the financial crisis and revealing how much they borrowed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
See also:
Sealed Courtroom Sought in High-Speed-Trading Code-Theft Case
FBI: Russian Programmer Stole Stock-Trading Secret Code
Powered by WizardRSS | Best Membership Site SoftwareDepression
Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 18, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Russia-born programmer worked for Goldman Sachs until last year when authorities say he siphoned source code for the company?s valuable software on his way out the door to take a new job. The software is used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades and earns the company ?many millions of dollars in profits? each year, according to prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti had called it ?the most substantial theft that the bank can remember ever happening to it.?
Aleynikov, a naturalized American citizen who immigrated from Russia in 1991, earned nearly $400,000 a year as a vice president with Goldman Sachs.
He was arrested in July 2009 at the Newark Airport in New Jersey as he returned from a trip to Chicago, where he?d met with his new employers at competing firm, Teza Technologies, where he was expected to earn about $1.2 million in salary.
After Aleynikov cooperated with agents and allowed searches of his computers and home, he was indicted seven months later.
His trial began Nov. 29. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote sealed the courtroom during portions of testimony involving the Goldman Sachs? proprietary software. Exhibits and transcripts pertaining to the company?s trade secrets were also sealed.
Authorities said Aleynikov stole ?hundreds of thousands of lines? of source code from Goldman Sachs in the days before he left the company on June 5 last year. They said he downloaded various software from the Goldman Sachs network and transferred it to a storage website hosted in Germany before trying to erase his tracks from Goldman Sachs? network. Company computer logs show that on at least two occasions, he transferred the data remotely while logged into his company?s network from his home computer. Prosecutors maintained that among the data he downloaded was source code constituting ?a substantial portion of the company?s proprietary source code? related to high-speed trading.
Goldman Sachs only uncovered the theft in late June after it began monitoring https transfers and saw a large volume of data leaving its network, according to the complaint. The company initiated the monitoring after noticing suspicious activity on the network.
Aleynikov used a script to copy, compress, encrypt and rename files, and then upload them to the server in Germany. Once the data was transferred, the program used to encrypt the files was erased, and he allegedly attempted to delete the network?s batch history showing his activity.
Prosecutors said Aleynikov made several copies of the code and had it on his laptop when he flew to Chicago to meet his new employers at Teza Technologies, though they acknowledge that a search of Teza computers uncovered no copies of Goldman Sachs? source code.
Aleynikov acknowledged taking the code but told FBI agents he only intended to collect ?open source? software files on which he had worked, and that his collection of proprietary files on his last day of work had been inadvertent. His attorneys said he never gave the proprietary files to anyone else and that the portion of proprietary code he took inadvertently was miniscule ? just 32 of about 1,224 megabytes of code ? and hardly constituted the company?s ?entire platform.?
In this file photo taken April 19, 2010, people walk to work outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters, in New York. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 named the companies that used its emergency loan programs during the financial crisis and revealing how much they borrowed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
See also:
Sealed Courtroom Sought in High-Speed-Trading Code-Theft Case
FBI: Russian Programmer Stole Stock-Trading Secret Code
Powered by WizardRSS | Best Membership Site SoftwareDepression
Group finds 5 main flaws with proposed Net Neutrality rules
By Tim Conneally, Betanews
A group of more than 80 advocacy groups including The Media Access Project, Reporters without Borders, Daily Kos, Common Cause, and Nonprofit Technology filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday citing five main areas that need improvement in the Net Neutrality legislation coming up for vote on December 21. Unlike former FCC Commissioner Michael Powell, whose main concern is keeping the Internet lean and loosely governed to empower investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses, these groups are focused on the rights of the user."In announcing the circulation of his draft Order, Chairman Genachowski rightly noted that protecting the free market online means that users, not broadband service providers, must choose what content and applications succeed," the letter said. "If the current draft Order is adopted without substantial changes, Internet Service Providers will be free to engage in a number of practices that harm consumers, stifle innovation and threaten to carve up the Internet in irreversible ways."The principle concern these groups have is the Order's omission of "Paid Prioritization," or the ability for service providers to set payment tiers for different types of services and allocate bandwidth accordingly. "Paid prioritization is the antithesis of openness. Any framework that does not prohibit such economic discrimination arrangements is not real Net Neutrality," the letter said. "Without a clear ban on such practices, ISPs will move forward with their oft-stated plans to exploit their dominant position and favor their own content and services and those of a few select paying partners through faster delivery, relegating everyone else to the proverbial dirt road."AT&T's Hank Hultquist openly mocked these groups' knowledge of such issues in August, calling them the "Church of Extreme Net Neutrality," who preach the "old time religion of the dumb network" without taking all facts into consideration.The Group's subsequent gripes all follow along the same lines, asking for more adequate consideration of "full Net Neutrality" to wireless and mobile traffic, which includes the banishment of all economically-motivated traffic prioritization or blocking of applications, sites, and services; and for more comprehensive coverage that lacks loopholes.The group cites the fiasco over "managed services" earlier this year, and points out that there is no specific language protecting against this either."While some highly sensitive and truly specialized services might not be best provided over the open Internet, there is no reason for the FCC to create a specialized services loophole that would undermine Net Neutrality. Unfortunately, the draft Order apparently opens the door to specialized services without any safeguards," the group said.Finally, the group calls Genachowski's rejection of Title II, and gravitation toward the Title I provisions that failed to hold up in the circuit court against Comcast an "unnecessary risk."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
application
A group of more than 80 advocacy groups including The Media Access Project, Reporters without Borders, Daily Kos, Common Cause, and Nonprofit Technology filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday citing five main areas that need improvement in the Net Neutrality legislation coming up for vote on December 21. Unlike former FCC Commissioner Michael Powell, whose main concern is keeping the Internet lean and loosely governed to empower investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses, these groups are focused on the rights of the user."In announcing the circulation of his draft Order, Chairman Genachowski rightly noted that protecting the free market online means that users, not broadband service providers, must choose what content and applications succeed," the letter said. "If the current draft Order is adopted without substantial changes, Internet Service Providers will be free to engage in a number of practices that harm consumers, stifle innovation and threaten to carve up the Internet in irreversible ways."The principle concern these groups have is the Order's omission of "Paid Prioritization," or the ability for service providers to set payment tiers for different types of services and allocate bandwidth accordingly. "Paid prioritization is the antithesis of openness. Any framework that does not prohibit such economic discrimination arrangements is not real Net Neutrality," the letter said. "Without a clear ban on such practices, ISPs will move forward with their oft-stated plans to exploit their dominant position and favor their own content and services and those of a few select paying partners through faster delivery, relegating everyone else to the proverbial dirt road."AT&T's Hank Hultquist openly mocked these groups' knowledge of such issues in August, calling them the "Church of Extreme Net Neutrality," who preach the "old time religion of the dumb network" without taking all facts into consideration.The Group's subsequent gripes all follow along the same lines, asking for more adequate consideration of "full Net Neutrality" to wireless and mobile traffic, which includes the banishment of all economically-motivated traffic prioritization or blocking of applications, sites, and services; and for more comprehensive coverage that lacks loopholes.The group cites the fiasco over "managed services" earlier this year, and points out that there is no specific language protecting against this either."While some highly sensitive and truly specialized services might not be best provided over the open Internet, there is no reason for the FCC to create a specialized services loophole that would undermine Net Neutrality. Unfortunately, the draft Order apparently opens the door to specialized services without any safeguards," the group said.Finally, the group calls Genachowski's rejection of Title II, and gravitation toward the Title I provisions that failed to hold up in the circuit court against Comcast an "unnecessary risk."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
application
Goldman Sachs Programmer Found Guilty of Stealing Code
A Goldman Sachs programmer was found guilty on Friday of stealing high-speed trading software from his former employer.
Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 18, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Russia-born programmer worked for Goldman Sachs until last year when authorities say he siphoned source code for the company?s valuable software on his way out the door to take a new job. The software is used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades and earns the company ?many millions of dollars in profits? each year, according to prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti had called it ?the most substantial theft that the bank can remember ever happening to it.?
Aleynikov, a naturalized American citizen who immigrated from Russia in 1991, earned nearly $400,000 a year as a vice president with Goldman Sachs.
He was arrested in July 2009 at the Newark Airport in New Jersey as he returned from a trip to Chicago, where he?d met with his new employers at competing firm, Teza Technologies, where he was expected to earn about $1.2 million in salary.
After Aleynikov cooperated with agents and allowed searches of his computers and home, he was indicted seven months later.
His trial began Nov. 29. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote sealed the courtroom during portions of testimony involving the Goldman Sachs? proprietary software. Exhibits and transcripts pertaining to the company?s trade secrets were also sealed.
Authorities said Aleynikov stole ?hundreds of thousands of lines? of source code from Goldman Sachs in the days before he left the company on June 5 last year. They said he downloaded various software from the Goldman Sachs network and transferred it to a storage website hosted in Germany before trying to erase his tracks from Goldman Sachs? network. Company computer logs show that on at least two occasions, he transferred the data remotely while logged into his company?s network from his home computer. Prosecutors maintained that among the data he downloaded was source code constituting ?a substantial portion of the company?s proprietary source code? related to high-speed trading.
Goldman Sachs only uncovered the theft in late June after it began monitoring https transfers and saw a large volume of data leaving its network, according to the complaint. The company initiated the monitoring after noticing suspicious activity on the network.
Aleynikov used a script to copy, compress, encrypt and rename files, and then upload them to the server in Germany. Once the data was transferred, the program used to encrypt the files was erased, and he allegedly attempted to delete the network?s batch history showing his activity.
Prosecutors said Aleynikov made several copies of the code and had it on his laptop when he flew to Chicago to meet his new employers at Teza Technologies, though they acknowledge that a search of Teza computers uncovered no copies of Goldman Sachs? source code.
Aleynikov acknowledged taking the code but told FBI agents he only intended to collect ?open source? software files on which he had worked, and that his collection of proprietary files on his last day of work had been inadvertent. His attorneys said he never gave the proprietary files to anyone else and that the portion of proprietary code he took inadvertently was miniscule ? just 32 of about 1,224 megabytes of code ? and hardly constituted the company?s ?entire platform.?
In this file photo taken April 19, 2010, people walk to work outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters, in New York. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 named the companies that used its emergency loan programs during the financial crisis and revealing how much they borrowed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
See also:
Sealed Courtroom Sought in High-Speed-Trading Code-Theft Case
FBI: Russian Programmer Stole Stock-Trading Secret Code
Powered by WizardRSS | Best Membership Site SoftwareAmerican History
Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 18, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Russia-born programmer worked for Goldman Sachs until last year when authorities say he siphoned source code for the company?s valuable software on his way out the door to take a new job. The software is used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades and earns the company ?many millions of dollars in profits? each year, according to prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti had called it ?the most substantial theft that the bank can remember ever happening to it.?
Aleynikov, a naturalized American citizen who immigrated from Russia in 1991, earned nearly $400,000 a year as a vice president with Goldman Sachs.
He was arrested in July 2009 at the Newark Airport in New Jersey as he returned from a trip to Chicago, where he?d met with his new employers at competing firm, Teza Technologies, where he was expected to earn about $1.2 million in salary.
After Aleynikov cooperated with agents and allowed searches of his computers and home, he was indicted seven months later.
His trial began Nov. 29. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote sealed the courtroom during portions of testimony involving the Goldman Sachs? proprietary software. Exhibits and transcripts pertaining to the company?s trade secrets were also sealed.
Authorities said Aleynikov stole ?hundreds of thousands of lines? of source code from Goldman Sachs in the days before he left the company on June 5 last year. They said he downloaded various software from the Goldman Sachs network and transferred it to a storage website hosted in Germany before trying to erase his tracks from Goldman Sachs? network. Company computer logs show that on at least two occasions, he transferred the data remotely while logged into his company?s network from his home computer. Prosecutors maintained that among the data he downloaded was source code constituting ?a substantial portion of the company?s proprietary source code? related to high-speed trading.
Goldman Sachs only uncovered the theft in late June after it began monitoring https transfers and saw a large volume of data leaving its network, according to the complaint. The company initiated the monitoring after noticing suspicious activity on the network.
Aleynikov used a script to copy, compress, encrypt and rename files, and then upload them to the server in Germany. Once the data was transferred, the program used to encrypt the files was erased, and he allegedly attempted to delete the network?s batch history showing his activity.
Prosecutors said Aleynikov made several copies of the code and had it on his laptop when he flew to Chicago to meet his new employers at Teza Technologies, though they acknowledge that a search of Teza computers uncovered no copies of Goldman Sachs? source code.
Aleynikov acknowledged taking the code but told FBI agents he only intended to collect ?open source? software files on which he had worked, and that his collection of proprietary files on his last day of work had been inadvertent. His attorneys said he never gave the proprietary files to anyone else and that the portion of proprietary code he took inadvertently was miniscule ? just 32 of about 1,224 megabytes of code ? and hardly constituted the company?s ?entire platform.?
In this file photo taken April 19, 2010, people walk to work outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters, in New York. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 named the companies that used its emergency loan programs during the financial crisis and revealing how much they borrowed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
See also:
Sealed Courtroom Sought in High-Speed-Trading Code-Theft Case
FBI: Russian Programmer Stole Stock-Trading Secret Code
Powered by WizardRSS | Best Membership Site SoftwareAmerican History
Google: We're activating 300,000 Android phones daily
By Ed Oswald, Betanews
Android activations have now surpassed 300,000 per day which equals the number of activations for Symbian worldwide, according to data provided by Google. It also indicates that the now near-continuous stream of new Android phones is having a positive effect on sales overall.Back in October, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was activating about 200,000 phones per day. The new number also comes from Google's engineering chief Andy Rubin, who tweeted it on Wednesday night. It is not out of the question to think that Android may become the top platform in the world early next year.Such a milestone shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: analysts have been expecting this to happen for quite awhile now. However, the speed at which it has happened -- a fivefold increase in just the last year alone -- likely gives its competitors some pause, if not cause for concern.Surveys show that Android is now comprising about half of all smartphone sales in the US in the third quarter, and comScore found that the OS had nearly 15 percent of the worldwide market in October.Apple may have one last salvo to fire against Android that could slow down its plans for taking over the top spot. First, it is believed that AT&T's exclusivity on the iPhone expires in 2011, which could lead to a significant increase in sales. Add to this the release of the fifth-generation iPhone, and Cupertino might be able to stunt Android's growth, however briefly.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Coin Collecting
Android activations have now surpassed 300,000 per day which equals the number of activations for Symbian worldwide, according to data provided by Google. It also indicates that the now near-continuous stream of new Android phones is having a positive effect on sales overall.Back in October, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was activating about 200,000 phones per day. The new number also comes from Google's engineering chief Andy Rubin, who tweeted it on Wednesday night. It is not out of the question to think that Android may become the top platform in the world early next year.Such a milestone shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: analysts have been expecting this to happen for quite awhile now. However, the speed at which it has happened -- a fivefold increase in just the last year alone -- likely gives its competitors some pause, if not cause for concern.Surveys show that Android is now comprising about half of all smartphone sales in the US in the third quarter, and comScore found that the OS had nearly 15 percent of the worldwide market in October.Apple may have one last salvo to fire against Android that could slow down its plans for taking over the top spot. First, it is believed that AT&T's exclusivity on the iPhone expires in 2011, which could lead to a significant increase in sales. Add to this the release of the fifth-generation iPhone, and Cupertino might be able to stunt Android's growth, however briefly.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Coin Collecting
Updated: Google Nexus S now available for pre-order on four networks
The Carphone Warehouse has announced that pre-orders on four networks for the forthcoming Google Nexus S have now gone live.UPDATE: TechRadar spoke to The Carphone Warehouse, which confirmed a 'huge interest' in the device to us:"The Google Nexus S is a game-changer for Android so it's great to see so many networks getting behind it. We've seen huge interest in the phone over the last few days since pre-ordering began at The Carphone Warehouse," a spokesperson told Techradar."We now have a great offering of Android handsets which will continue to grow in the New Year."The phone will be available to buy both on contract or PAYG/SIM free, with the former costing �35 per month for a free phone - O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange are supporting the phone, but Three is nowhere to be seen.However, while �35 per month does get you a plethora of minutes and unlimited texts, the most you can get data-wise is 750MB included.Go big for a gigTo get over 1GB allowance, you'll need to sign up to a �50 a month deal, which seems a little extreme, and will hopefully be updated when the networks start offering it directly (if they ever do).SIM free the Google Nexus S will cost �549.95, with the PAYG curiously the same, but with a mandatory �10 top up - usually paying a network for the phone will get you a micro-discount at least.Still, there's not long to wait, as the Google Nexus S UK release date is set for 20 December - enough time to blackmail Santa (with those photos of him bothering that OTHER reindeer) into bringing you one.Related StoriesGoogle overhauls Android Gmail appLG backtracks on Android 2.3 upgrade for Optimus OneUpdated: PSP Phone rumours: what you need to knowSony PSP Phone performs poorly in benchmark videoSamsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 Gingerbread update confirmedAdsense
Path Finally Hooks Up with Facebook to Find Friends [TNW Apple]
When Path was launched as an app to share photos with select groups of friends (maximum 50), one of the criticisms was that finding friends was laborious at best. In fact when I first looked at Path, I was rather lost. Tonight TechCrunch has posted that Path now has connected with Facebook so at least you can find your Facebook friends who have Path already.
Since my first review I removed Path from my phone, so I?m going to reload it and see how the Facebook integration looks and check back in a moment?stay tuned for updates.
Update: Just like TC and the Path blog said, you have to login into Path on your browser�or within the to connect up Facebook and Path. You?ll then be presented which of your friends are using Path and have connected Path with Facebook.
For me that was four people.
The better test will be in the next couple days when word gets out more about this.
Is Path going to be one of my favorite photo apps? Not likely. Still not enough there to keep me using it.
Let me know what you think of Path now that it?s been around for almost a month. Will being able to connect with Facebook get you to use it?
Update 2: The Path iOS app update just hit the app store that includes Facebook connections are these additional improvements:
New in 1.1
- Find Friends: Find your close friends with Facebook or your Address Book.
- Communicate: Reply to photos with a text message on iPhone or email on iPod Touch.
- Full Screen: Double tap any photo to view full screen.
New Since 1.0
- Share moments from your camera roll
- Improved friends features
- Improved profile
- Path now supports the camera-equipped iPod touch
- Improved battery life when using Path
Check your iPhones for the updates?well if you?re using Path.
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Since my first review I removed Path from my phone, so I?m going to reload it and see how the Facebook integration looks and check back in a moment?stay tuned for updates.
Update: Just like TC and the Path blog said, you have to login into Path on your browser�or within the to connect up Facebook and Path. You?ll then be presented which of your friends are using Path and have connected Path with Facebook.
For me that was four people.
The better test will be in the next couple days when word gets out more about this.
Is Path going to be one of my favorite photo apps? Not likely. Still not enough there to keep me using it.
Let me know what you think of Path now that it?s been around for almost a month. Will being able to connect with Facebook get you to use it?
Update 2: The Path iOS app update just hit the app store that includes Facebook connections are these additional improvements:
New in 1.1
- Find Friends: Find your close friends with Facebook or your Address Book.
- Communicate: Reply to photos with a text message on iPhone or email on iPod Touch.
- Full Screen: Double tap any photo to view full screen.
New Since 1.0
- Share moments from your camera roll
- Improved friends features
- Improved profile
- Path now supports the camera-equipped iPod touch
- Improved battery life when using Path
Check your iPhones for the updates?well if you?re using Path.
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Google announces Chrome OS hardware and first pilot program
By Tim Conneally, Betanews
One year ago, Google gave the world its first look at Chrome OS, a project taking a new approach to thin clients and terminal computing. The long and the short of Chrome OS is: if the browser is the most-used application on a PC, why would you load it down with anything else? Chrome OS focuses on computers that are permanently connected, where all apps, data, and user identities and desktops are stored in the cloud. The computers running the OS are designed to be as unencumbered by software as possible, so they can run quickly and reliably. Businesses can run them in secure private clouds just as well as consumers can run them on the public Web. The project has come to the point where it can start to be tested in the real world, and Google today announced some crucial details about who will be making Chrome notebook computers, when the public can expect them, and how they'll ultimately work.First, of course, comes the pilot program, which will test the viability of a "Web only" computer among both enterprises and individuals. Already, businesses such as American Airlines, Appiro, Cardinal Health, Kraft, Logitech, Virgin USA, and even the Department of Defense have contacted Google to be included in the pilot. Individual users, however, can apply to test out Chrome OS on the reference hardware at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html.What will testers be handling? An unbranded notebook computer called the Cr-48. It's got a 12.1" display, full sized keyboard, oversized touchpad, World Mode 3G connectivity via the Qualcomm Gobi chipset, 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi, an 8+ hour active battery life with an estimated 8+ hours of standby, a built-in webcam, no spinning hard drives, and a built-in "jailbreaking mode." Google today announced Acer and Samsung as OEM partners, and they will be releasing Chrome OS notebooks in mid-2011. They're all powered by Intel chips, so there's no ARM-based instruction sets here. Unfortunately, the exact chip family and power ratings weren't disclosed today.
Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Google Chrome Product Management holds one of the notebooks used in the pilot program.One of the most interesting parts of the Chrome OS notebook will be its focus on connectivity...FREE connectivity. Google has partnered with Verizon Wireless to offer Chrome notebook users special no-contract data plans. The Verizon Wireless Chrome OS data plan will have 100MB of free data per month per user. Daily unlimited data passes will go for $9.99 per day, and other plans will be sold 1GB at a time.The pilot program will go for about half a year, at which point the first generally-available models will go up for sale. Other OEM partners are expected to be announced in the coming months.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Dance
One year ago, Google gave the world its first look at Chrome OS, a project taking a new approach to thin clients and terminal computing. The long and the short of Chrome OS is: if the browser is the most-used application on a PC, why would you load it down with anything else? Chrome OS focuses on computers that are permanently connected, where all apps, data, and user identities and desktops are stored in the cloud. The computers running the OS are designed to be as unencumbered by software as possible, so they can run quickly and reliably. Businesses can run them in secure private clouds just as well as consumers can run them on the public Web. The project has come to the point where it can start to be tested in the real world, and Google today announced some crucial details about who will be making Chrome notebook computers, when the public can expect them, and how they'll ultimately work.First, of course, comes the pilot program, which will test the viability of a "Web only" computer among both enterprises and individuals. Already, businesses such as American Airlines, Appiro, Cardinal Health, Kraft, Logitech, Virgin USA, and even the Department of Defense have contacted Google to be included in the pilot. Individual users, however, can apply to test out Chrome OS on the reference hardware at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html.What will testers be handling? An unbranded notebook computer called the Cr-48. It's got a 12.1" display, full sized keyboard, oversized touchpad, World Mode 3G connectivity via the Qualcomm Gobi chipset, 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi, an 8+ hour active battery life with an estimated 8+ hours of standby, a built-in webcam, no spinning hard drives, and a built-in "jailbreaking mode." Google today announced Acer and Samsung as OEM partners, and they will be releasing Chrome OS notebooks in mid-2011. They're all powered by Intel chips, so there's no ARM-based instruction sets here. Unfortunately, the exact chip family and power ratings weren't disclosed today.
Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Google Chrome Product Management holds one of the notebooks used in the pilot program.One of the most interesting parts of the Chrome OS notebook will be its focus on connectivity...FREE connectivity. Google has partnered with Verizon Wireless to offer Chrome notebook users special no-contract data plans. The Verizon Wireless Chrome OS data plan will have 100MB of free data per month per user. Daily unlimited data passes will go for $9.99 per day, and other plans will be sold 1GB at a time.The pilot program will go for about half a year, at which point the first generally-available models will go up for sale. Other OEM partners are expected to be announced in the coming months.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Dance
New Miramax CEO Lang Talks Digital Options for Movie Company
While the news has been be out there for a month, Miramax officially confirmed this morning that former News Corp. exec Mike Lang was named CEO of the Hollywood movie company.
What will be interesting about that for digital content players will be to see exactly what the man who was deeply involved in deals to buy the Myspace social networking site and also create the Hulu premium video service will do with Miramax?s rich trove of more than 700 award-winning films, including ?Shakespeare in Love? and ?Pulp Fiction,? in its movie library.
Lang left his post as EVP of business development and strategy at Fox Entertainment, including its film studio, broadcast network, sports and cable channel, earlier this year.
BoomTown spoke to him last night about his new job, which came after he advised the group that finally won Miramax?Filmyard Holdings.
?We are trying to take this company to the next level by exploring not only our traditional options, but our digital ones,? he said.
Miramax will not be aggressive in making new movies, but in taking advantage of the sequel rights it has to a number of hits, as well as the existing movies, which include four of the last 15 Best Picture Oscar winners.
?Our strategy is still emerging, but we want to exploit our assets in a variety of ways,? said Lang, who noted that could include everything from subscription deals with online video services, such as Netflix and Amazon, to digital content lockers in the cloud.
?We want people to be able to access our content across multiple medias,? he said. ?We?ll take any payment, of course, but we also have to be smart about how we do these things.?
Lang, who has always had a foot in both worlds, said he thinks that digital media could develop similarly to the way traditional media has.
?There is no reason to think that digital will not emulate older media, with different windows in which subscribers watch content,? he said.
But, said Lang, he also thinks there is still life in physical media, such as Blu-ray players.
Since the deal just closed with former Miramax owner Disney, there are no employees yet for the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company.
But once he staffs up, Langs said he hopes to present a different picture of Hollywood to the digerati than the more typical wary hostility.
?Our goal really is we want to send a signal that we are a different company,? said Lang. ?Not only about digital, but in being an innovative company.?
Here is the official press release about Lang:
MICHAEL LANG NAMED MIRAMAX CEO
SANTA MONICA, CA?December 8, 2010?Miramax today announced that Michael Lang has been appointed chief executive officer, effective immediately. Lang will be based at the new Miramax headquarters in Santa Monica and will oversee the renowned Miramax film library, which was acquired by Filmyard Holdings on December 3, 2010.
?I have known and worked closely with Mike for almost 20 years and have always respected his talents,? said Richard Nanula, chairman of Miramax and a principal at Colony Capital. ?We are confident that he is the right person to lead Miramax in its next phase of growth.?
?I have always admired the Miramax library, which includes many respected titles and award-winning films,? said Lang. ?Based on the quality of these assets, I believe bringing new life to this library?by working with traditional and new partners?will be an exciting and unprecedented story of growth and innovation. I am honored by this opportunity, and I look forward to working with my partners as we build a new kind of media company.?
Lang, 45, most recently served as a consultant to Filmyard in its acquisition of Miramax. Prior to that, he was EVP, Business Development and Strategy at Fox Entertainment, responsible for strategic initiatives across News Corp.?s entertainment assets, including Fox?s film studio, broadcast network, sports and cable channels. Lang played key roles in the acquisition of MySpace and the formation of the MySpace Music joint venture, and he led the creation of Hulu, with major broadcast partners. In addition, Lang was involved in Fox?s mobile, digital and video game initiatives. He joined Fox in 2004.
Prior to Fox, Lang served as a consultant on media-related investments. In the late ?90s, he was a founding executive of Z.com. Lang began his career at The Walt Disney Company in Strategic Planning. Lang earned his MBA with high distinction at Harvard Business School and he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
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Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, innovation, interview, media, mobile, social networking, video, Amazon, award, Bachelor of Arts, Best Picture, Blu-ray, broadcast, business development, cable, channel, Claremont McKenna College, Colony Capital, consultant, content, deal, degree, disclosure, Disney, Dow Jones, film, Filmyard Holdings, Fox Entertainment, game, growth, Harvard Business School, Hollywood, Hulu, joint, library, locker, MBA, Mike Lang, Miramax, movie, Myspace, NetFlix, network, News Corp., option, Oscar, partner, payment, planning, premium, Pulp Fiction, Richard Nanula, rights, Santa Monica, sequel, Shakespeare in Love, sports, strategy, studio, subscription, venture, winner, Z.com | permalink
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What will be interesting about that for digital content players will be to see exactly what the man who was deeply involved in deals to buy the Myspace social networking site and also create the Hulu premium video service will do with Miramax?s rich trove of more than 700 award-winning films, including ?Shakespeare in Love? and ?Pulp Fiction,? in its movie library.
Lang left his post as EVP of business development and strategy at Fox Entertainment, including its film studio, broadcast network, sports and cable channel, earlier this year.
BoomTown spoke to him last night about his new job, which came after he advised the group that finally won Miramax?Filmyard Holdings.
?We are trying to take this company to the next level by exploring not only our traditional options, but our digital ones,? he said.
Miramax will not be aggressive in making new movies, but in taking advantage of the sequel rights it has to a number of hits, as well as the existing movies, which include four of the last 15 Best Picture Oscar winners.
?Our strategy is still emerging, but we want to exploit our assets in a variety of ways,? said Lang, who noted that could include everything from subscription deals with online video services, such as Netflix and Amazon, to digital content lockers in the cloud.
?We want people to be able to access our content across multiple medias,? he said. ?We?ll take any payment, of course, but we also have to be smart about how we do these things.?
Lang, who has always had a foot in both worlds, said he thinks that digital media could develop similarly to the way traditional media has.
?There is no reason to think that digital will not emulate older media, with different windows in which subscribers watch content,? he said.
But, said Lang, he also thinks there is still life in physical media, such as Blu-ray players.
Since the deal just closed with former Miramax owner Disney, there are no employees yet for the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company.
But once he staffs up, Langs said he hopes to present a different picture of Hollywood to the digerati than the more typical wary hostility.
?Our goal really is we want to send a signal that we are a different company,? said Lang. ?Not only about digital, but in being an innovative company.?
Here is the official press release about Lang:
MICHAEL LANG NAMED MIRAMAX CEO
SANTA MONICA, CA?December 8, 2010?Miramax today announced that Michael Lang has been appointed chief executive officer, effective immediately. Lang will be based at the new Miramax headquarters in Santa Monica and will oversee the renowned Miramax film library, which was acquired by Filmyard Holdings on December 3, 2010.
?I have known and worked closely with Mike for almost 20 years and have always respected his talents,? said Richard Nanula, chairman of Miramax and a principal at Colony Capital. ?We are confident that he is the right person to lead Miramax in its next phase of growth.?
?I have always admired the Miramax library, which includes many respected titles and award-winning films,? said Lang. ?Based on the quality of these assets, I believe bringing new life to this library?by working with traditional and new partners?will be an exciting and unprecedented story of growth and innovation. I am honored by this opportunity, and I look forward to working with my partners as we build a new kind of media company.?
Lang, 45, most recently served as a consultant to Filmyard in its acquisition of Miramax. Prior to that, he was EVP, Business Development and Strategy at Fox Entertainment, responsible for strategic initiatives across News Corp.?s entertainment assets, including Fox?s film studio, broadcast network, sports and cable channels. Lang played key roles in the acquisition of MySpace and the formation of the MySpace Music joint venture, and he led the creation of Hulu, with major broadcast partners. In addition, Lang was involved in Fox?s mobile, digital and video game initiatives. He joined Fox in 2004.
Prior to Fox, Lang served as a consultant on media-related investments. In the late ?90s, he was a founding executive of Z.com. Lang began his career at The Walt Disney Company in Strategic Planning. Lang earned his MBA with high distinction at Harvard Business School and he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
View Comments
Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, entertainment, innovation, interview, media, mobile, social networking, video, Amazon, award, Bachelor of Arts, Best Picture, Blu-ray, broadcast, business development, cable, channel, Claremont McKenna College, Colony Capital, consultant, content, deal, degree, disclosure, Disney, Dow Jones, film, Filmyard Holdings, Fox Entertainment, game, growth, Harvard Business School, Hollywood, Hulu, joint, library, locker, MBA, Mike Lang, Miramax, movie, Myspace, NetFlix, network, News Corp., option, Oscar, partner, payment, planning, premium, Pulp Fiction, Richard Nanula, rights, Santa Monica, sequel, Shakespeare in Love, sports, strategy, studio, subscription, venture, winner, Z.com | permalink
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