Author: Serkadis

The avalanche of corporate changes and appointments within GM continues in 2010 as well, as the American manufacturer announced the appointment of John Montford as a senior advisor to GM interim CEO Edward Whitacre and Robert Ferguson as vice president of Government Relations.

"John and Bob are proven professionals who have worked in an environment of intense regulatory and political complexity, Whitacre said about the two. I’ve worked with both through a number of issues ove… (read more)

A new year, new hopes for the battered American auto industry… With hopes for the better flooding its corporate buildings, American manufacturer Chrysler announced in the first day of 2010 the launch of a new corporate campaign called " Coming Home".

The goal of the campaign, which will feature Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles as they came throughout the years, is to "inform consumers, suppliers and partners" that Chrysler is a new, revived, reloaded, … (read more)

US-based car manufacturer Ford recently announced that it has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to research and develop new driver stress reducing technology that would be based on several types of data collected by in-car systems. The two companies have already prepared a specially-equipped 2010 Lincoln MKS that will be used in various tests for a period of six-months.

"We strongly believe that driving can be made safer by reducing the stress loa… (read more)

“All that we eat, all that we wear, our houses, every comfort, and all our luxuries are brought us to-day by these invisible, but almost omnipotent, genii of the fire and the lamp and the thunder-storm.” That was R. H. Thurston, director of the …

Have you visited the newly opened God of War III website for Europe? If you’re in the region, of course. If not, you’ve got all the time to do so. And while that’s a treat enough in

Whoa, Nelly! Just weeks after Intel came clean with its new Pine Trial nettop and netbook platform, the company is today cutting loose with a few more. This go ’round, we’ve got the 32nm Arrandale (which consists of the Core i5 Mobile and Core i3 Mobile) heading for the laptops and the 32nm Clarkdale chips over on the desktop front. Starting with the former, most reviews found the CPU + GPU solution to be faster than rivaling Core 2 Duo + integrated GPU options, with the Core i5 being particularly potent in highly threaded applications. Better still, battery life didn’t seem to take a hit even with the extra performance, though high-end, high-res gaming was still a lesson in futility when working without a discrete graphics card. Overall, the chip was a welcome addition to the fold, but we got the feeling that the first wave was priced too high and offered too little of a performance increase on the gaming side to really warrant a wholehearted recommendation. As for the Clarkdale? The Core i5 661 that everyone seemed to snag was found to be blisteringly fast, with most folks deeming it the outright champion in the dual-core realm. Unfortunately, the integrated GPU was — again — not awesome for hardcore gaming, and the questionable pricing didn’t exactly thrill some critics. Do yourself a favor and dig into the benchmarks below — we get the feeling we’ll be seeing oodles of machines hit the wires this week with these chips within.

Arrandale reviews
Read – HotHardware
Read – AnandTech
Read – Tom’s Hardware
Read – PCPerspective
Read – Legit Reviews

Clarkdale reviews
Read – NeoSeeker
Read – HotHardware
Read – HardcoreWare
Read – TechSpot
Read – AnandTech
Read – PCPerspective
Read – Legion Hardware
Read – TweakTown
Read – Overclockers Club

Intel’s Arrandale and Clarkdale CPUs get benchmarked for your enjoyment originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clinical Instructor in Anesthesia Dr. Geoffrey Brant Walton, pictured with wife Melissa and son Will, passed away from colon cancer on Dec. 17. The School of Medicine will rename a teaching award in his honor. (Courtesy of Tatum Tarin)

After a year-long battle with colon cancer, Medical School Prof. Geoffrey Brant Walton died peacefully in his home on Dec. 17, at the age of 34.

The anesthesia department at the School of Medicine will rename its annual teaching excellence award in memory of Walton, a clinical instructor in anesthesia.

Walton came to Stanford in 2003 for a surgery internship at the Stanford University Medical Center, then stayed on for his residency prior to joining the School of Medicine faculty in July 2007.

“Brant was smart, confident and creative,” wrote anesthesia Prof. Andrew J. Patterson, his former mentor, in an e-mail to The Daily. “He liked to figure out better ways of doing things, both clinically and in the laboratory.”

An Exceptional Teacher

Ronald Pearl, chairman of the anesthesia department, said Walton was both passionate and skilled at teaching. “I think that had he not died, he would have become a national leader in teaching,” Pearl said.

To pay tribute to Walton, a teaching honor will now be named the Geoffrey Brant Walton Resident Award for Excellence in Teaching. The recipient is determined by medical students.

Brooks Rohlen, a senior resident in anesthesia, fondly recalled his experiences under Walton’s supervision for the first year of his residency. On Rohlen’s first day, Walton showed up with a cup of coffee and insisted on getting Rohlen one, too.

“Instead of a superior-inferior relationship, he treated me as an equal,” Rohlen said. “It was a beautiful way of approaching a student. He didn’t blow me off, and made sure to take care of me.”

According to Rohlen, when he shared ideas and concepts about medical technology over breakfast, Walton remained supportive. “He’s one of those guys in the world who everyone tells you ‘no,’ but he tells you ‘maybe.’” Rohlen said.

Rohlen also highlighted Walton’s teaching methods. “Everyone thinks they’re a good teacher, but his teaching was that he identified weaknesses,” he said. “He took complex subjects and he taught in a simple but complete way so that it becomes your strength.”

Urologist Tatum Tarin, who completed his residency while Walton was on staff, agreed. “He could really break things down for his anesthesiology residents,” Tarin said. “He was an exceptional teacher.”

“Golden Hands”

In addition to exceptional teaching, Walton will be remembered as an accomplished researcher.

An emerging mind in modern medicine, Walton won various awards including the Anesthesia Department’s Resident Research Award in 2007 and a prize from the California Society of Anesthesiologists.

“Medicine has suffered a huge loss to lose a mind like that,” Rohlen said. “His ability to teach, invent and develop all made him a huge asset to academic medicine.”

In 2000, Walton was named a Howard Hughes scholar. Recipients of the prestigious fellowship are up and coming thinkers in the country who can make a difference on a global scale, according to Rohlen. Using this scholarship, Walton worked closely with Dr. Wally Koch at Duke University, investigating cardiovascular physiology and adrenergic receptor biology.

After completing the fellowship, Walton came to Stanford to further his research in cardiovascular physiology. Patterson mentored Walton during his fellowship at the Stanford Medical Center.

According to Patterson, Walton taught several members of his laboratory team how to perform the microsurgery techniques that he had developed in the Koch lab.

“Brant was a phenomenal researcher,” Patterson wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.

“[Walton] was known to have ‘golden hands’ in the laboratory,” he added. “He quickly showed us why when he started to work in my laboratory.”

Walton’s work on gene expression profiling, done in Patterson’s lab, will be published in Critical Care Medicine in January 2010. Prior to his diagnosis of cancer, Walton also co-authored 10 publications.

“Unfortunately, Brant [Walton] developed cancer before he could realize his full potential with regard to research,” Patterson wrote. “He would likely have developed novel means of monitoring the cardiovascular system – his talent was exceptional.

“[He] would have invented something to save lives, and he would have contributed to a better understanding of heart disease,” Patterson added. “He was just reaching a point in his life where he could make a significant difference.”

A Renaissance Man

To his friends and family, Walton was recognized as an extroverted Renaissance man. He was a musician, scholar, cook, photographer, nature enthusiast, builder, traveler and wine connoisseur.

“He knew so much about history and literature, and he was an accomplished musician,” Tarin said. “He was a national champion jazz drummer. He was a phenomenal cook and father.”

“He just enjoyed life,” added Brenda Walton, his mother.

Walton valued learning and really wanted his son to love learning too, according to Rohlen.

“His biggest concern as a dying father was that his son got to go to college and learn,” he said. “The fact that he wasn’t going to be around for his family was really on his mind – he was such a caring guy.”

“He loved his son and wife,” added his younger brother, Zaak Walton.

Walton also kept an online journal of his fight with cancer in order to keep his family and friends updated about his status.

“Everyone loved him and everybody loved being around him,” Tarin said. “He will be missed.”

A memorial service will be held on campus later this month.

Site of former MoonBean’s may remain vacant until Feb.

Coupa Café will not be open for the start of winter quarter, and the kiosk that once held MoonBean’s Coffee will remain empty until mid-February – at the earliest.

The site remains vacant due to continuing negotiations over the building permit. Accommodating Coupa’s food service required retrofitting the MoonBean’s site, as well as meeting county regulations for food preparation.

“The permitting business all has to do with expanding the food service at the kiosk,” said Andrew Herkovic, director of communications and development for Stanford Libraries.

Stanford is currently awaiting word on its latest permit application. When a building permit is issued, contractors are then expected to take five weeks for construction at the site. Coupa Café will then need time to dress and finalize the site following construction.

“Assuming that the latest negotiation will satisfy the county, we are looking at mid-February [for an opening],” Herkovic said.

If permit negotiations extend longer, the Coupa opening could be delayed even further.

According to Herkovic, as of Jan. 5 an automated espresso machine will be available in Meyer Library. Herkovic said the machine was “not a solution,” but that its presence would serve some of the needs of students, particularly during late-night hours.

Quotes heard by Stanford students over holiday break.

Watching the Rose Parade

Little cousin passes gas

Little cousin (embarrassed): Sorry…

Uncle Jeff: You know son, all odors are particulate.

Aunt Carol: Hahahahahaha. Oh, god. Why did I laugh at that.

Little cousin: …What? I don’t get it.

…A minute passes…

Little cousin: No, really, I don’t get it. What do you mean?

Aunt Carol: HE MEANS that there are LITTLE PIECES OF POOP from your behind flying everywhere around this room right now.

Overheard at a family holiday party

Uncle Bob: If I’m going to play Santa, I need at least another two drinks.

——–

Aunt: What’s your girlfriend’s name?

Nephew: Emma.

Aunt: Hey, wow! Our dog is named Emma.

Nephew: Oh.

——–

Them: Why are you back so soon?

Us: We were about to go into the movie, but then we thought to ourselves, “It’s the holidays. We only get to see our family all together like this once a year, and it would be a shame to waste that precious time sitting in a theater rather than with those we love most. So we came back to spend time with you.

Them: Avatar was sold out, wasn’t it?

Us: GodDAMN it.

——–

Cousin: I can think of no better way to celebrate Jesus’ birthday than by taking a tequila shot right now.

——–

Aunt: What’s your girlfriend’s name again?

Nephew: Emma.

Aunt: Oh right. Hey, did you know that’s our dog’s name?

Nephew: Yeah, you mentioned that.

Overheard in line at the grocery store

“Why would you throw a snowball at a cop car!?”

At a party

Friend 1: You don’t have the palate for shortbread.

…Later on…

Friend 1: My parents have this $6,000 bottle of scotch–want to try some?

Friend 2: Ewww, no! It’s smoky! Ewww, that’ll taste like Chipotle.

Dad, racing into the living room

“Hon, where did you put my back scratcher-slash-hairbrush???”

At a family party

Family is engaged in a heated debate over immigration in a restaurant. The debate-ending comment:

Dad: If you don’t have strong borders, you have Barnes and Noble.

Whispered at cousin’s house

“The mother was worried that it might not be big enough…”

Overheard at a Clippers 76ers game

“76ers? More like Seventy-duck-my-dicksers.”

“Allan Iverson? More like Barely Aliverson.”

Post-holiday phone conversation between two friends

Friend 1: How was your Christmas?

Friend 2: Well, my dad burnt the lamb, but only on the outside. So my little brother had to microwave his because it was so pink, it was basically still BAAAH-ing. And the house got all smoky, so we had to open the door even though it was freezing outside. And then the cat ran out.

Friend 1: Wow, sounds terrible.

Friend 2: The saddest part is that the same thing happens every year. My dad should really cook lamb more often, or not at all…

Stanford alumnus James B. Warlick Jr.’78 has been named the U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria, as confirmed by the Senate on Dec. 29.

Warlick had served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) since 2006, in charge of American foreign policy at the United Nations.

His appointment comes after a long history of service in the State Department.

Warlick’s past assignments include stints at U.S. embassies in Moscow, Germany, Bangladesh and the Philippines. For the first half of 2004, he served as principal advisor to Ambassador Paul Bremer in Baghdad, Iraq.

Later this month, the Senate will vote on the appointment of his wife, Mary Warlick, for the Ambassadorship to Serbia.

Students Work for Immigration Justice

Juan Manuel, a burly 31-year-old day worker from Mexico, received the nickname “Conan” during his first week at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View.

“When I arrived, a coworker said that Conan is the name of a wrestler in Mexico,” Manuel said. “He said, ‘you look like him. Do you mind if I call you that here?’”

For three years, Manuel has been coming to the Day Worker Center, a central place for laborers to connect with employers who need temporary work in jobs like carpentry and landscaping. Students from the Stanford Immigrant Rights Project (SIRP), an undergraduate organization spreading awareness about immigration justice, have been collaborating with day workers like Manuel each Saturday since last quarter.

“Day laborers can come here and work out a fair wage,” said SIRP member Lauren Swartz ’11. “Otherwise, there’s the danger that an employer could drop off workers on the street without pay after they’ve been landscaping all day.”

A group of 15 SIRP members come weekly to offer English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring and build relationships with the workers.

“I think we all would like to see our broken immigration system being repaired, as it affects human lives and neighbors in all our communities every day,” said Minh Dan Vuong ’11, one of the founding members.

The idea of SIRP originated during the popular Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips last spring quarter. Many of the SIRP volunteers participated in the Arizona or San Diego programs.

SIRP President Sharada Jambulapati ’12, an Arizona ASB alumna, commented on the great resulting influence of her trip.

“After our Arizona trip, our group felt really stirred by what we saw at the border in terms of border patrol, vigilantes, human rights issues and in terms of what these immigrants face,” she said. “We had a lot of questions. How do we not make one service trip temporary? How do we make it so that it can contribute to change?”

Swartz took part in the week-long San Diego trip entitled “Crossing the Line(s): Immigration in San Diego” in which students got a first-hand look at immigrant communities along the border. She, too, noted the impact she felt after directly witnessing border crossing experiences.

“We learned that people are human beings and shouldn’t die when crossing,” Swartz said.

Executive Director of the Day Worker Center Maria Marroquín sympathized with the challenges of day workers, having immigrated from Mexico in 1996. The hardships she saw inspired her to create the Center as a resource for the workers.

“I came here 17 years ago as a former teacher without any English,” she explained. “I had a very hard time finding employment, so I did housecleaning. These day workers have children in universities in Mexico or elsewhere and this is the only way for them to provide for them.”

SIRP members and other volunteers also offer lunches and workshops on topics like CPR training or computer skills.

“Conan” Manuel said he comes to the Center every day and signs up on a daily list to get temporary work in the neighboring community.

“Today there are two lists on the wall with 88 men on one list and 17 women on the other list,” he said in Spanish and English. “It depends who can do a good job and who has experience.”

When asked what he enjoys about the Center, Manuel said the community aspect was key.

“I like the family of friends,” he said. “We share the food from 11 to 11:30, and then have ESL classes for three hours. Meanwhile, you wait for work.”

Marroquín said she appreciates the Center’s relationship with SIRP.

“I’m very excited honestly about this,” Marroquín said. “It was sort of my dream to have youth involved with the Day Worker Center because I had an assumption that many people in this area really believed life is easy and take many things for granted.”

Marroquín believes that SIRP students offer a vital perspective in addition to English tutoring and skills training.

“English is important, but all the different experiences that the students bring are highly appreciated,” she said. “It’s very important to have the workers and students learn about their different cultures from each other.”

Jambulapati believes the Stanford community can learn from the Center amid prevailing misconceptions about immigration.

“The media often portrays immigrants as stealing our jobs or wanting economic gains for themselves, but the reality is that they have no options in most of their countries,” she said. “They want to provide for their families and the media doesn’t put a human face on them.”

Jambulapati and the other SIRP members are planning a number of events to raise awareness about immigrants’ rights issues this year. They have also worked with the Stanford Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) to assure that campus landscaping workers receive fair treatment.

SIRP member Justine Corella ’11 hopes to bring other student organizations to the Center.

“Although SIRP is a new group, I feel that it has great potential to raise awareness at Stanford in the future, especially through the outreaches to the Day Worker Center,” she said.

To foster discussion about immigration issues, SIRP hosted a screening of “Rabbit Proof Fence” about Australian border fences on Nov. 19.

“I encourage people to [watch it] because border issues are important to immigrant rights,” Jambulapati said. “The movie will open people’s eyes to seeing that fences are not the best solutions since people will risk everything, including their lives, to cross the border. Instead of militarization, we need more policy and humane solutions for the problem.”

MANILA, Philippines–Constellation Energy Corp. is considering financing and developing seven “potential” renewable energy projects in the country, according to its top official. Jose P. Leviste Jr., president and chair of Constellation Energy …

I was disappointed to learn that Choco’s beloved Pet Promise cat food is no more. According to a letter on the Pet Promise’s website, they are discontinuing production of their dog and cat food effective January 2010.

The decision to stop making the natural dog and cat food was an economic one. However, they are continuing their Pet Promise shampoos. I liked Pet Promise because they were dedicated to sourcing from America’s family farms and helping to protect our planet. Most of all, I liked it because my cat loves it so. And now, as many of you, I must switch.

I know all the brands that made Choco vomit, but what I don’t know is what brand will be his next favorite. Since I tend to be a fan of organic products, I may go with Castor and Pollux. They have a certified organic food named Organix which is supposed to be suitable for any age kitty. If that doesn’t work, there are plenty more to try.

Are you currently feeding Pet Promise cat or dog food? If so, what will you replace it with?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Saying Farewell to Pet Promise Food

Braun's Rams influenced Apple's Ive. Photo courtesy of Gizmodo

A few months ago, my friend Christian Lindholm, partner at Fjord, a convergence design agency, and father of the Series 60 interface (at Nokia) stopped by for one of our quarterly idea sessions. Our conversation eventually veered towards a topic that’s near and dear to both of us: design. I spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating design and its eventual impact on products and companies. Lindholm’s visit coincidentally was a few days before we launched the redesigned GigaOM. I wanted his opinion. Instead he offered great insight. Most companies (including web startups), he said, are looking to “wow” with their products, when in reality what they should be looking for is an “’of course’ reaction from their users.”

Puzzled, I looked at him. And then it hit me: Great design means that one look and the end user reacts by knowing what to do with a knob or a button, without as much as even thinking about it. Of course this knob is what turns the volume up, or brings up the home screen, or in case of our own site design, a hypertext link that brings up posts by Stacey or Liz or me.

This of course factor is at the heart of every great design — from the iPhone to the Braun alarm radio. And it’s an important lesson that every startup and entrepreneur should remember. Whether your company is making a physical product or a web service or mobile application, it’s essential for you to think about design.

This was brought home to me earlier today when I was watching “Objectified,” a documentary film by director Gary Hustwit, who’s well-known for his last film, “Helvetica.” (Both are available for download on the iTunes Store.) Hustwit explores objects around us, how they’re designed, and what they do. It was the best 75 minutes I’ve spent watching a movie, for it not only educated me about design, but it also helped me understand how great designers such as Marc Newson; Dieter Rams, Braun’s former design chief; and Apple’s Jonathan Ive think of and design products.

“In my experience users react positively when things are clear and understandable,” Rams told the Filmmaker. Rams, a veteran designer, is well-known for designing iconic products for Braun. He’s said to have been a major influence on Ive, Apple’s senior VP of Industrial Design.

When talking about the iPhone, Ive told the filmmaker:

When we are designing a product, we look at the various attributes of a product. Some of those attributes are the materials it is made from and the form that is connected to that material. Other issues is physically how do you connect to the product. For example in iPhone, everything defers to the display.

A lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is getting design out of the way. With that sort of reason, it feels almost inevitable, almost undesigned and it feels almost, like of course it is that way. Why would it be any other way?

I think this is what Apple’s competitors fail to understand. Many confuse features — aka feeds and speeds — with what really connects with customers: user experiences. (That’s a primary reason why I’m not a fan of Droid, the much ballyhooed Android device. And it’s also the reason why I have growing respect for HTC and what it’s doing with its Sense technology.)

Explaining Apple’s design philosophy behind MacBook Air, Ive told the filmmaker:

We push ourselves to ask, can we do the job of those six parts with just one? One part that provides so much functionality that it enables one product. It wasn’t design of the physical thing, but it was figuring out the process. It is about what’s important and what’s not important.

It is important to remember things that are important and not important and then removing things that are vying for your attention.

Similarly, all features have to have a reason, Ive explained. He gave the example of the indicator light on a MacBook which simply goes away when the laptop is in use.

Indicator has a value when it is indicating. So you spend a lot of time making things less obvious, less conspicuous. When indicator comes on, it is not a feature. It is a calm and considered solution and focus on how you are going to use it.

10 Rules of Good Design by Dieter Rams

1. Good design should be innovative

2. Good design should make a product useful

3. Good design is aesthetic design

4. Good design will make a product understandable

5. Good design is honest

6. Good design is unobtrusive

7. Good design is long lived

8. Good design is consistent in every details

9. Good design should be environmentally friendly

10. Good design is as little design as possible

But not everyone thinks like that. “What bothers me today is the arbitrariness and thoughtlessness with which many things are produced and brought to market, not only in the sector of consumer goods, but also in architecture and advertising,” Rams said in the film. “We have too many unnecessary things everywhere.” I completely agree. And when the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off later this week in Las Vegas, we’re going to see a gaudy display of these excesses. The good news is that many of these will never see the light of the day.

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Video encoding technology firm Envivio has raised $1 million in funding, per an SEC filing. This brings the company’s total funding to over $30 million, including a $25 million round in 2008. Envivio’s tech enables high-quality video delivery for mobile TV, IPTV and broadcast platforms; Apple demoed its iLiveTV platform for the iPhone during last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Envivio has gained most of its traction overseas. Customers include GlobeCast and Orange (for mobile), Shanghai Media Group (for IPTV) and Televisa (for broadcast), among others. Founded in 2000, Envivio is based in S.F., with offices in London, France, Beijing and Tokyo.

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• Digital Broadcast Fundings: Envivo Gets $25 Million; Verimatrix Gets More Funding

Christmas may be over but that doesn’t mean you still can’t get a reindeer iPhone case. Power Support has joined forces with several high-end designers and artists to bring about creative cases that will not only protect but look good too. There is the Charlotte Ronson Reindeer, Michael 69 Skull, Shikika Tokyo Butterfly, and several others. Each one retails for $39.95 and each Power Support Jacket comes paired with screen protector films.