Category: News

Rick Lombardo, Artistic Director for the San Jose Repertory Theatre, recently participated in an “At Google” talk, in which he discussed becoming an artist, and why theater arts “are going to continue to prosper” in the digital age.

It’s an interesting topic if you’ve got 45 minutes to spare.

The talk took place on April 2nd.

More recent At Google talks here.

Plane flights can be hard. Given how crowded flights are, and how there is no way to escape from them after takeoff, passengers generally have to rely on each other to act civil and be polite. Though the worst most of us can expect is a crying infant, one recent flight found that terrible singing can sometimes be worse.

In a new viral video making its way around the internet, a woman can be seen being escorted off the plane while singing “I Will Always Love You,” the song made famous by Whitney Houston as part of the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard. The woman definitely does not have Whitney Houston’s pipes, though even the famous singer probably wouldn’t be welcome for more than an encore on a long plane flight:

Though Flight attendants during the video can also be heard telling passengers that they are not allowed to take pictures on the plane, there is no official photography ban for airplanes in the U.S. The U.S. FCC does, however, explicitly ban cell phone use during flights. Airlines are allowed to make exceptions for devices, but American Airlines’ current policy is to ban cell phone use on flights:

You may use your cell phone, laptop computer, two-way pager, and PDA until the aircraft door is closed; however, use of cell phones is not allowed during flight per Federal Communication Commission rules.

In the development of natural language processing, the semantic web and so on, e-commerce provides a rich breeding ground. Companies such as Amazon and Google always want to find better ways to learn what it is potential customers are looking for, so the technology follows the commercial imperative.

A Berlin startup called Versus IO is trying to apply natural language algorithms in its product comparison service, and it’s just closed a $2.8 million Series A round to do so. The round was led by Earlybird Venture Capital and also includes Dave McClure, who previously invested $100,000, and angels Lars Dittrich and Dario Suter.

Right now Versus IO offers a relatively limited set of comparison types – it started with mobile phones only, and is slowly branching out into other types – but the company has great ambitions. As founder Ramin Far pointed out to me, comparisons are a regular feature of life:

“The market size is so huge. Whether you’re deciding which phone to buy or which city to move to, we compare all the time because we can reduce complexity. We started from this point, saying we just present the data, and that’s why we think the product is so successful. We will try to use the system everywhere.”

Of course, Versus IO isn’t the first outfit to go for data-driven comparisons: the big rival is FindTheBest, set up a few years back by DoubleClick founder Kevin O’Connor. However, while FindTheBest shows an admirable amount of data about each product, it’s still up to the user to interpret what he or she is shown. And, at least in my opinion, the range of data points on offer can be quite overwhelming as they are presented.

Where Versus IO has the edge here is in the simplicity of its design, but also the natural way in which results are presented. If, for example, I compare the Samsung Galaxy S4 with the iPhone 5, Versus IO spells out what each of the comparison points means in a qualitative as well as quantitative fashion.

Why not compare apples with oranges?

Looking at the data point of maximum exposure length on the smartphone’s camera, the service tells me that the S4 offers “definitely longer exposure” then explains what exposure means and why a longer exposure can be beneficial for night-time shooting. It also tells me that there are “a tad more apps available” for the S4 than the iPhone 5 – I’m not sure that’s true, but it does demonstrate the sort of presentation we’re talking about here.

What’s particularly nifty about Versus IO, and what makes its future so intriguing, is that you can compare items that are not like-for-like. How about comparing the iPhone 5 with a Canon camera, for example? It’s more useful than it may seem at first – many people will want to know if it’s worth buying a point-and-shoot when the camera in their handset is good enough for many circumstances – and it also demonstrates the generic nature of Versus IO’s data model.

The next step, according to Far, is for Versus IO to start being able to interpret and structure user-generated sentiment. It’s a breakthrough that’s “coming very soon”, he promised:

“The crowd has more wisdom than I. Let’s say tomorrow we’re comparing universities or health insurances. So many people know much more than me, but if I ask somebody to tell me what the best health insurance in the UK is, it wouldn’t work. If we look to comments, there’s a lot of helpful input but it’s not structured enough.

“This means we have to find a way to structure this content from the user… but in the beginning you need a data model which is highly generic. We don’t have databases or tables for phones or cameras – this data model is so highly generic, nobody has it like this.”

Versus IO’s traffic is apparently growing by, on average, 35 percent a month, and Far says it’s currently seeing 2.2 million monthly uniques.

How quickly it grows in future will no doubt have a lot to do with its expansion into other item categories, and also whether or not people prefer Versus IO’s approach to that of far more established rivals such as FindTheBest. It should be noted that FindTheBest raised an $11 million Series B round a couple months back, and clearly isn’t sitting still.

That said, Versus IO certainly promises a lot and its user experience is impressively clean yet informative. It’s very much worth keeping an eye on.

As for me, a Capetonian by birth who is now living in Berlin, I’m going to sit back and contemplate Versus IO’s comparison of the two cities. Did you know, Cape Town apparently has “appreciably lower” sales tax than the German capital?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• What’s driving the next phase of the e-commerce evolution
• Facebook’s tactical retreat on privacy
• Google and the Ghost of Silicon Valley Past

At 7:30 on a sunny winter day in London, I settle into a conference room with the usual low-tech tools for high-stakes teamwork: Big white Post-It pads, Sharpies of every color, and a sense of urgency. Six top executives are midway through a 12-week assignment: Figure out how thousands of employees in their $8 billion company can absorb major changes—three acquisitions, a new global IT system, and a mandate to double revenue in three years—in minimal time. Their employer has hired me to help—a job that requires me to serve as an observer, interloper, shrink, and agitator.

By 10:30, the team has efficiently sketched out a job description for the point person who will lead the effort. Suddenly, a snag. Where will this designated miracle worker report? One team member, a no-nonsense American with a Bain Capital pedigree, thinks the answer is obvious: North America Human Resources. Another, a blunt Dutch woman with an equally big personality, is also clear: If the change czar reports to HR, the mission will be dead on arrival. The two go at it like opposing counsel before a judge. With no end in sight, tension rises and the four other team members retreat. One tries to change the subject. Another takes a bathroom break. Finally the combatants, arms folded on chests, also fall silent.

“Time Out,” I call. “What just happened?” More silence, until one of the four non-combatants states the obvious: “This is really uncomfortable.”

As Jon Katzenbach famously delineates, a group does not make team. Turning one into the other requires, above all, close attention to fundamental human dynamics. But team members themselves, intent on content, don’t often see process, even as it derails them.

Straight out of Argyris’s classic HBR article about why smart people can’t learn,” this room is full of people skilled in all elements of leadership except collaborative work and unfamiliar with the messiness of honest, open-ended discussion. The typical corporate fix for the team dilemma is training. But lessons learned in a classroom or on a ropes course rarely translate to the crucible of real life.

In fact, the most effective approach keeps participants right in the plant or at the conference table. This is what organizational development types call “action learning,” and it has two essential ingredients. Participants learn genuine collaboration while tackling the task at hand. Working in real time with their colleagues on immediate problems, participants are motivated and more likely to confront inconvenient truths—if prompted. That’s the second ingredient: Intervention.

Of course, intervention has to be done right. The coach must be involved from the start and work with individual team members in private as well as in the group. I quickly establish my prerogatives as interloper, but guide the team in creating ground rules they will buy into—and absorb into their own leadership repertoire.

The balancing act for the coach: Create a safe space, but push hard.

Honest conversation isn’t the norm in corporate settings, and good team behaviors are often counter-intuitive. The pressure can bring out the dark side of any individual, making it hard to hear the angel. I tap my experience as a clinical psychologist as I call out truths and put people on the spot: Real conversation doesn’t happen without some “drama.” But it’s crucial to distinguish between clinical goals and business goals. I’ve seen some experts, in the interest of honesty and personal growth, set off bombs. I want to open minds and provoke change, but I’m there to move a team forward.

One non-incendiary technique: the element of surprise.

The London team clearly expected me to jump on the two combatants. (Destructive personalities or bad chemistry can destroy a team; in some cases, I’ll recommend disbanding or reconstituting a team.) But I turn to the other four: “Where were you? Do you hang back like that in the office when conflict erupts?” I remind them that they’ve committed to engage fully and we review techniques for handling different personal and leadership styles, staying calm when answers are elusive, and how to steer into a skid. They quickly return to the topic in a straightforward conversation with everyone involved. When we end the session, they haven’t answered the question on a reporting relationship, but they’ve agreed on how to arrive at one and when to report back.

One good session, one problem solved. But that isn’t the only measure of success. A few months later, the business took a sharp downturn due to unexpected economic head winds. The same team was quickly facing new questions with new parameters—and they were up to the task.

Making good on the promise of teamwork has been a challenge since the team idea rose from the tradition of control-and-command management in the 1960s. But now is a critical time to get past the abstract idea and deploy genuine teams that can do the urgent work of innovation and competition. I don’t believe those teams spring up because we want them. It takes a skilled interventionist to connect the dots—and the players.

Final Book Now Available

In 2012, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) approached the National Research Council and asked that a committee be formed to develop a list of workshop topics to explore the impact of emerging science and technology. One topic that came out of that list was directed evolution for development and production of bioactive agents. This workshop was held on February 21-22, 2013.

Directed Evolution for Development and Production of Bioactive Agents explains the objectives of the workshop, which were to explore the potential use of directed evolution1 for military science and technology. Understanding the current research in this area, and the potential opportunities for U.S. adversaries to use this research, might allow the DIA to advise U.S. policy makers in an appropriate and timely manner. The workshop featured invited presentations and discussions that aimed to:
-Inform the U.S. intelligence community of the current status of directed evolution technology and related research, and
-Discuss possible approaches involving directed evolution that might be used by an adversary to develop toxic biological agents that could pose a threat to the United States or its allies, and how they could be identified.

Members of the Committee on Science and Technology for Defense Warning planned the agenda for the workshop, selected the presenters, and helped moderate discussions in which meeting participants probed issues of national security related to directed evolution in an effort to gain an understanding of potential vulnerabilities. Experts were invited from the areas of directed evolution, biosynthesis, detection, and biological agents.

[Read the full report]

Topics: Conflict and Security Issues

Final Book Now Available

Future Battlespace Situational Awareness is the third workshop in an ongoing series of workshops conducted by the National Research Council’s Committee for Science and Technology Challenges to U.S. National Security Interests. The first two workshops looked at individual technologies related to “big” data and future antennas and provided context for the topic addressed in the third workshop—the planning of a future warfare scenario. The objectives for the third workshop were to review technologies that enable battlespace situational awareness 10-20 years into the future for red and blue forces; and emphasize the capabilities within air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace.

The workshop was held on May 30-31, 2012, in Suffolk, Virginia, at the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation. The sessions were not open to the public because they involved discussions of classified material, including data addressing vulnerabilities, indicators, and observables. This series of workshops address U.S. and foreign research, why S&T applications of technologies in development are important in the context of military capabilities, and what critical scientific breakthroughs are needed to achieve advances in the fields of interest— focusing detailed attention on specific developments in the foregoing fields that might have national security implications for the United States. These workshops also consider methodology to track the relevant technology landscape for the future.

The three workshops feature invited presentations and panelists and include discussions on a selected topic including themes relating to defense warning and surprise. Future of Battlespace Situational Awareness summarizes the third workshop.

[Read the full report]

Topics: Conflict and Security Issues

As you may know, Arizona Senator John McCain has sponsored a bill that would take on cable and satellite TV providers by forcing a new “a la carte” system for consumers to pick and choose which channels they want to pay for. Of course, consumers now pay over a hundred dollars a month for hundreds of channels – many of which they never watch. McCain argues that it’s simply becoming too expensive, and that forcing people to pay for channels they don’t want is wrong and must be curtailed.

McCain recently spoke to Bloomberg TV about his new bill, the TV Consumer Freedom Act, which aims to “allow multichannel video programming distributors to provide video programming to subscribers on an a la carte basis, and for other purposes.”

In the interview, McCain likens the current system of subscription-based television to a restaurant with a menu full of pricey packages:

“When I go into a restaurant…I’m given a menu and I can select from it. And the waiter doesn’t come up and say ‘which package do you want, of different courses?’ Now there may be a menu there that you can select, that has entree, appetizers, etc., but you don’t have to pay for things you don’t order. Now, because these people have monopolies…and why don’t restaurants do this? Because other restaurants don’t so therefore they can’t force you to.”

McCain goes on to discuss the efforts against his legislation.

“Are we gonna win? I dunno. I’ll tell you, their lobbyists, when I testified this morning, they were there in their $500 dollar suits…It’s gonna be awful hard to beat them, but they look nice though,” said McCain.

Check out the interview below:

Our live stream from BlackBerry Live 2013 begins at 10:00am ET! The feed will appear below until 11:30am. If you’ve missed it, we’ll be posting the video footage later today.

Netflix’s most recent foray into original programming, Hemlock Grove, may not have debuted to the rave reviews of its predecessor, House of Cards, but it did outperform it in its early days. More people watched Hemlock Grove in the first two days of availability, as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during a recent company conference call.

Despite the lack of critical acclaim, people seem to like the show. This is usually how the horror genre works. And in the genre, when people want more, they usually get it. See franchises like Paranormal Activity and Saw (or more historically, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm St., etc.).

Netflix has not announced plans for a second season yet, but it’s hard to imagine the company killing one of the early cornerstones of its original programming experiment if it’s getting the viewers. But iewers aren’t just watching the show. They’re already anticipating more. Yes, already (it did just come out less than a month ago). This is no doubt a side effect of releasing an entire season’s worth of episodes at the same time.

Nevertheless, as Yahoo reports, there is a high volume of people searching for the release date of the second season, despite no announcement that it will even happen.

The involvement of Eli Roth (one of the show’s producers, who also directed the pilot) was, without a doubt, a huge part of the interest the show generated ahead of its release, but t’s hard to say how much he would be involved with a second season. He clearly has a lot on his plate (and some of us are still hoping he can find time to make “Thanksgiving“). Still, there’s no apparent reason that Netflix wouldn’t push forward with a new season with or without him.

There shouldn’t be a lack of material, based on reports of Brian McGreevy’s work on sequels to the novel upon which the show is based. Shock Til You Drop reported in April of last year:

McGreevy has a second Hemlock Grove novel nearing completion, with a third fully outlined, so expect at least two more seasons should the series find a following.

Warner Bros. owns DC Comics, and its gaming arm at Warner Bros. Games uses that to its advantage every year with a number of DC themed games. One such game is due out later this year, and no, it’s not Batman: Arkham Origins.

Warner Bros. Games and 5th Cell announced today that they’re working on a new entry in the popular Scribblenauts series called Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. As the name implies, players will be solving situational puzzles with the help of DC heroes and villains. What makes this particular game special, however, is that it features over 2,000 characters from DC Comics’ storied history.

5th Cell’s Caleb Arseneaux told Polygon that Scribblenauts Unmasked will have every character to ever appear in a DC comic book. I’m sure the most hardcore fans of DC Comics fans will see if that claim is true, but most will be content to know that there are 33 different Batmans in the game – covering every single variation on the character over the years.

Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure will launch later this year on Wii U, 3DS and PC.

Over on year ago, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed while walking from a convenience store to his home in his Florida neighborhood. The shooter, George Zimmerman, claims that he shot Martin in self-defense, but he is now on trial for the 17-year-old’s murder.

This week, a pre-trial hearing for Zimmerman’s trial turned to the topic of the shouts heard on a 911 call recorded at the time of the incident. Zimmerman had called a non-emergency police number at the time of the incident. Martin was also on the phone, with a female friend who has stated she heard Martin say, “Why are you following me?” shortly before his death.

According to an Associated Press report on the trial, the prosecution has hired audio experts to determine whether the shouts heard on the call recording were those of Zimmerman or Martin. Of the two experts cited in the story, one found that the shouts were Martins and the other found they were a mix of both Zimmerman and Martin. In a court filing, Zimmerman’s lawyer has stated that he believes the audio analysis could prejudice jurors, and should not be allowed at the trial.

Since he was charged with Martin’s murder, Zimmerman has been in hiding and using various schemes to pay for his legal representation.

If you run your car on the race track then you know first hand how punishing it can be on not only the mechanics of the vehicle, but on the paint as well. Rocks and debris can chip and damage your cars finish, as can spilled fluids. Have no fear though because master detailer and car care expert Larry Kosilla of DRIVE CLEAN is here to let you in on a few little tips that will not only extend the life of your cars paint, but protect it during everyday driving as well.

Source: Youtube.com/DRIVE

As the most-requested flavor of Pop-Tart, peanut butter has long awaited its time in the spotlight. Now is that time.

The makers of the popular breakfast pastry, Kellogg, announced this week that they will indeed be selling peanut butter Pop-Tarts and chocolate-frosted peanut butter Pop-Tarts in order to appease their fans. The new additions will come in gold-foil wrappers in an orange box to distinguish them from the other flavors, most likely so that parents can avoid food allergies.

This is actually the second time Pop-Tarts have had a peanutty-flavor; in 1986 they introduced a peanut butter-and-jelly version. It didn’t do so well, but I’m betting this latest incarnation will do just fine. No word yet on whether the flavor will be a permanent addition to the line or if it’s a limited-time item.

“Peanut butter has long been the most requested flavor by our fans,” Pop-Tarts marketing director Dick Podiak said in a release. “We think everyone will agree it was worth the wait once they taste these delicious new varieties.”

There are some limited edition flavors rolling out this week, too, including WildBerry and red velvet. Not all stores will carry them, but you can head over to the Pop-Tarts site to check out the selection.

A prostitution sting in Florida busted a whopping 92 people over a period of four days, Orlando authorities say.

The sting was set up at a local hotel and ultimately captured 39 prostitutes and 12 pimps; among those arrested were a youth minister and a man who was in Florida for his honeymoon.

21-year old Mohammed Ahmed was a newlywed who was apparently trying to arrange for a prostitute to come and service him along with his wife; unfortunately for him, he wound up involved in the massive undercover operation.

Authorities say that prostitution busts are often connected to other crimes and that solicitation is just as illegal when it’s done online, as it mostly was in this case.

“The negative social costs of prostitution hurt families, children, and communities, including the spreading of infectious diseases,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “The nexus between prostitution and other crime, such as illegal drugs, violence against women, and human trafficking, is a real problem.”

No word yet on whether the newlywed’s bride had prior knowledge of his plans or not.

FOX 35 News Orlando

Last week, a couple screen caps of an apparently upcoming Google Maps redesign leaked. While the authenticity of these was questioned, it seemed likely that they were real. Now, it’s pretty much certain than they were, as another leak has sprung ahead of Google I/O.

DroidLife reported on a sign-up page for the new Google Maps leaking last night, and has shared screenshots of that. Luckily for those interested, this includes descriptions of all the new features, so we don’t have to wait for Google’s keynote today to learn about what it does (assuming this is where they are planning on unveiling it, which seems highly likely).

There are a lot of new features. Here is Google’s run down from the leak:

The most comprehensive map, now built for you: The new Google Maps draws you a tailored map for every search and click you make. So whatever you’re trying to find or wherever you’re trying to go, you’ll always have a map highlighting the things that matter most.

A map that gets better with use: As you search the map, star places you like and leave reviews, the map starts to adapt and can suggest things like restaurants you might enjoy or the quickest way home. In other words, the more you use the new Google Maps, the more helpful it becomes.

It’s a pretty big overhaul, and one that seems like it will only make Google’s hugely popular maps service all the more useful, though we’ll have to wait until people can start using it to truly now how good the revamp is.

It will be interesting to see if any complaints come out from competitors. Don’t forget the FairSearch Coalition was formed because of Google’s Flight Search feature, and it looks like they’re making that a much more prominent part of the Google experience.

In his first interview since taking over as Android boss, Google’s Sundar Pichai said that the company wouldn’t be showing any new hardware or software at Google I/O. He didn’t say anything about updates to existing software though.

The Verge reports that Google has signed a deal with Universal Music and Sony Music as part of its plans to debut a streaming music service at Google I/O today. The report also says that Google’s service would be much like Spotify – offering instant streaming of any song on desktop and mobile devices.

Now, the interesting part of this report says that Google is planning on launching two separate music subscription services for YouTube and Google Play Music. It’s no secret that YouTube has become a popular music player with many artists uploading songs to the service. A subscription-based music streaming service would also fit in well with Google’s latest attempt to monetize YouTube. For example, labels could use paid channels to offer entire albums on YouTube to subscribers.

As for Google Play Music, a report out of The New York Times says that Google won’t be offering a free, ad-supported tier of its streaming service. There’s no word on how much it will cost, but it’s said to be competitively priced. in other words, expect to pay about $10 a month for Google’s streaming service.

Even without a free option, Google’s streaming service is an important step in its continued path towards media domination. Apple has been a dominant force in music since the introduction of iTunes in 2001, and Google only started playing catch up with the introduction of Google Music in 2011. The introduction of a music streaming service would put Google ahead of Apple until the Cupertino-based company decides to debut its own rumored streaming service.

We’ll find out later today during Google’s opening I/O keynote if a music streaming service is in the cards for the company. We’ll be covering it live, of course, but you can watch Google’s live stream here. The keynote is slated to start at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.

Rapper Eminem left nearly DEAD after being stabbed 4 times in NYC!

That’s the message circulating around Facebook right now. The post claims that the whole thing was caught on surveillance video, and offers a link to said video.

Luckily for Eminem, the whole thing is just another Facebook hoax. One that if followed, will simply lead you down a path of survey scams, info phishing, and perpetuation of the scam via blanket Facebook shares.

Here’s what the hoax post looks like. It features what appears to be a white male, with multiple knife wounds on his back. I guess it could be Eminem, right?

Clicking on the link takes you to a site called amazingvid.biz, which features a video embed and what appears to be a Facebook comments plugin. But when you click to play the video, it asks you to share it with your Facebook friends before clicking play again. And those Facebook comments? Fake and unclickable. They’re simply there in an attempt to give legitimacy to the scam.

This Facebook scam is simply a rehash of a scam from 2011 that used the exact same image of a white male with his back sliced up to convince Facebook users that Justin Bieber had been stabbed “by a crazed fan outside an NYC nightclub.”

Police in New Jersey have arrested two residents of the Vicente K. Tibbs Senior Citizen Building in Englewood, New Jersey for running a prostitution ring for their fellow residents.

According to a New Jersey Record report, 75-year-old James Parham and 66-year-old Cheryl Chaney were charged for possessing drug paraphernalia and “maintaining a drug nuisance.” Parham allegedly provided residents of the nursing facility with access to crack-addicted prostitutes.

Residents had been complaining to police about the “drunks and addicts” that could be found wandering the facility. Stories from residents recalled non-residents sleeping it off in the lounge, used condoms being found in the recreation room, and late night disturbances that caused residents to lock themselves in their rooms. An undercover police investigation uncovered the wave of crime that had swept the building.

Police have now begun to patrol the entry to the building, turning away vagrants or arresting them for trespassing. The facility is funded by the Englewood Housing Authority, which has stated that it does not have the funds to provide security guards for the building.