Category: News

With no jackpot winners in the month of April, the Powerball Jackpot has now risen to an incredible $222 million. There were no jackpot winners for Saturday’s (May 4) drawing, and also no ‘Match 5′ winners, who would have won a $2 million payout. Though no big payouts came this weekend, over one million people across the U.S. won a combined $11.2 million in prizes.

The Mega Millions jackpot has also been growing, and now sits at $154 million. There were also no Mega Millions jackpot winners for Tuesday’s drawing.

Though the odds of any one person winning are, obviously, low, stories constantly pop up to remind players that the odds of someone eventually winning are certain. Just this week, a California woman who accidentally purchased an extra SuperLotto Plus ticket won $14 million for her mistake.

As previously reported, Google has been running a Google doodle honoring Saul Bass in parts of the world where it is May 8th. The doodle has now worked its way over to our neck of the woods in the U.S.

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer who passed away in April of 1996. May 8th is his birthday (he was born in 1920).

Even if you have never heard of Saul Bass, it’s nearly impossible to not be familiar with at least some of his work. You can watch Google’s doodle animation, and see if anything sticks out to you.

Bass is mostly known for designing film title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. Some of his most famous work includes the title sequence to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the AT&T and Bell logos. He also designed the logos for Continental and United Airlines.

Following is a list of his work.

Film title sequences:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Big Knife (1955)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Racers (1955)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
The Shrike (1955)
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Attack (1956)
Edge of the City (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
The Pride and the Passion (1957)
The Young Stranger (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
Cowboy (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
The Big Country (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
The Facts of Life (1960)
Exodus (1960)
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
West Side Story (1961)
Something Wild (1961)
Advise and Consent (1962)
Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
The Victors (1963)
Nine Hours to Rama (1963)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1965)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
Grand Prix (1966)
Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966)
Seconds (1966)
Such Good Friends (1971)
That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Broadcast News (1987)
Big (1988)
The War of the Roses (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Higher Learning (1995)
Casino (1995)

Movie posters:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Edge of the City (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
The Big Country (1958) (style b poster)
Vertigo (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Such Good Friends (1971)
Rosebud (1975)
Brothers (1977)
Notes on the Popular Arts (1977)
Bass on Titles (1978)
The Human Factor (1979)
The Shining (1980)
The Solar Film (1980)
Return from the River Kwai (1989)
Schindler’s List (1993)

Logos and designs:

Alcoa (1963)
AT&T Corporation (1969 and 1983)
Avery International (1975)
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (1980)
Celanese (1965)
Continental Airlines (1968)[10]
Dixie (1969)
Frontier Airlines (1978)
Fuller Paints (1962)
Geffen Records (1980)
General Foods (1984)
Girl Scouts of the USA (1978)
Japan Energy Corporation (1993)
J. Paul Getty Trust (1993)
Kibun Foods (1984)
Kose Cosmetics (1991)
Lawry’s Foods (1959)
Minami Sports (1991)
Minolta (1978)
NCR Corporation (1996)
Quaker Oats (1969)
Rockwell International (1968)
Security Pacific Bank (1966)
United Airlines (1974)
United Way (1972)
US Postage (1983)[11]
Warner Communications (1974)
Wienerschnitzel (1978)
Wesson Oil (1964)
YWCA (1988)

(Photo: Mark Imbriaco via Twitter)

“Does your datacenter cage have SportsCenter?” This photo tweet yesterday by Mark Imbriaco, who works on the Technical Operations team at GitHub, was too good not to share. Imbriaco, who has previously worked at LivingSocial, Salesforce.com, Heroku, 37Signals and AOL, has clearly seen more than few cages in his time, and knows the value of some customization.

We recently shared the trend toward worker-friendly amenities in newer data center projects. But Imbriaco’s tweet raises another aspect of this issue: what are the best ways to personalize space within your cages and data center suites? Share your favorites in our comments.

Blackstone Group LP plans to sell the 23.4 million shares of General Growth Properties Inc. it holds in four funds that were used to help the mall company emerge from bankruptcy more than two years ago, Reuters reported. The sale essentially means Blackstone has exited General Growth, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Factoring in the cost of the shares, which also included 5 million warrants and later the spin-off of Rouse Properties Inc , the fund’s investment effectively was about $8.50 and $9 per share. Based on the price of General Growth on Tuesday, the sale would translate into a gross profit of between 154 percent and 169 percent.

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP plans to sell the 23.4 million shares of General Growth Properties Inc it holds in four funds that were used to help the mall company emerge from bankruptcy more than two years ago, General Growth said on Tuesday.

The sale essentially means Blackstone has exited General Growth, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Factoring in the cost of the shares, which also included 5 million warrants and later the spin-off of Rouse Properties Inc , the fund’s investment effectively was about $8.50 and $9 per share. Based on the price of General Growth on Tuesday, the sale would translate into a gross profit of between 154 percent and 169 percent.

“Blackstone has a finite timeline on its investment,” Green Street Advisors analyst Cedrik Lachance said. “I think it’s harvesting the profits from a highly successful investment.”

Blackstone began selling its funds’ shares in August last year. It later sold back the warrants to General Growth in January.

General Growth shares were down 2 percent, or 47 cents, at $22.86 in afternoon trading.

The post Reuters – Blackstone to Sell Stake in General Growth Properties appeared first on peHUB.

According to CNet…

The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a controversial bill by more than a 2-to-1 margin that would allow states to levy taxes on Internet purchases.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to require online vendors to collect sales and use tax on certain out-of-state purchases, was approved in a bipartisan vote of 69 to 27. The bill, which already has the support of President Obama, will now move on to the House of Representatives.

If approved, the bill would overturn a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that found out-of-state retailers generally don’t have to collect taxes unless they have a sufficient business presence. The bill, officially known as S.743, does include an exception for businesses that make under $1 million a year in revenue.

I’ve written about the Marketplace Fairness Act in the past. The push to tax has come from two fronts. First large businesses, especially those with a brick and mortar presence who are already paying taxes. Second local governments have been pushing to increase tax base. The push against the tax has come from small businesses and entrepreneurs – and I suppose folks who harken back to the early days of the Internet when there was a feeling of wilderness and self-policing.

How many memorable video ads about phones have you seen so far? Off the top of my head I can only think of just two recent ones, both released by Microsoft. The first one is from late-October, last year, and features Steve Ballmer discussing his HTC Windows Phone 8X and the second, unveiled little over a week ago, stars the Lumia 920 in an Android vs iOS fanboy war at a wedding.

Both videos are memorable in the sense that they allow us, the viewers, to actually relate to the folks presented in the two scenarios. We are users of different social networks, send and receive emails and messages each day, have friends who are Android or iOS fanboys and so on. Now, by contrast, Nokia’s new Lumia 928 video ad is one of the weakest attempts at wooing viewers. It lacks any sort of panache or wit.

The video ad pits the Lumia 928 against Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III in a low-light video shoot during a carousel ride at Adventureland, in Farmingdale, New York. The first thing that crossed my mind is: “Why is Nokia trying so hard to beat last year’s flagships?”

Yes, they are both very popular today but the Galaxy S4 is already here touting better features than its predecessor and the iPhone 5 is nearly eight months old. Is Nokia trying to tell us that it can release a smartphone with a better camera when the competition is close to oblivion? If so then job well done, Nokia.

Upon further and closer inspection, the ad presents a different problem — when displaying the side-by-side comparisons, the videos shot with the three smartphones are not even synced. This would be fine had this been an amateurish comparison, but it bears Nokia’s logo.

The results are obvious — the Lumia 928 takes the crown.

I tend to take any shootouts coming from the Finnish manufacturer with a grain of salt. Nokia has already screwed things up once by faking a video. Allegedly shot with the Lumia 920, in the ad a professional-grade camera was used instead. Considering how easy it is to manipulate the outcome of any shootout, it sure looks like Nokia could detail the testing procedures a bit.

Kobo bills its new e-reader, the Aura HD, as the “Porsche of e-readers” — an e-ink touchscreen Wi-Fi device that justifies its $169.99 price tag with a large, high-resolution front-lit screen. I tested the Aura HD and found the screen lovely, but the overall device not worth the price.

Look and feel: Plasticky

Out of the box, the Aura HD is ugly to my eye: White (it also comes in black and brown) and plasticky-looking. The Aura’s back is indented to make it easier to hold, and it’s nice to have the grooves there; I found it about as comfortable to hold as a hardcover book.

Because the Aura HD is larger and slightly heavier than most e-readers, though, it’s less comfortable to hold than a smaller e-reader, meaning that any benefit from the indented back is effectively canceled out. It has a 6.8-inch screen, compared to the standard six inches, and weighs 8.5 ounces (the Kobo Glo weighs 6.5 ounces; the Kindle Paperwhite weighs 7.8 ounces).

There are only two buttons on the Aura buttons: An ugly red power switch (why can’t it be metallic?) and a white button that turns on the light.

The screen: Great light, crisp text

The screen is the best part of the Aura HD. Kobo says that the screen’s resolution, 265 dpi, is the highest on the market, and text is indeed crisp.

To turn on the light, you press the button on the top of the Aura and it turns on at 100 percent brightness. You can’t adjust the light’s brightness through the button, though; rather, you have to tap a lightbulb icon on the Aura’s screen to adjust the brightness.

The light itself is great. It spreads evenly across the screen and is noticeably better than the light on the Kobo Glo when the two devices are compared side by side — the light on the Aura is a little softer, and less fluorescent-looking.

The reading interface: I want my home button

Tap the center of the screen, at the bottom, to pull up the menu — including the home icon, light adjustment icon, font options, etc. It’s the trend now for e-readers to have no physical home button, and I miss them; once you’ve used an iPad or iPhone, you’re in the habit of tapping something below the screen and you notice when it’s not there.

Page turns and refreshes are perfectly speedy. Kobo says the Aura’s 1 GHz processor is 20 percent faster than others on the market, but I didn’t find the page turns noticeably faster when compared to other new e-readers.

Bottom line: Nice screen, but not worth the cost

Yep, the Aura HD’s screen is great. While I was testing the Aura, I compared it to the Kobo Glo, and there is no doubt, when the devices are side by side, that the Aura’s screen is superior.

In real life, though, most users don’t have two e-readers open at the same time, and when it’s just you and the Aura, the device’s deficiencies detract from its great screen. I simply don’t like the Aura’s larger form factor and the extra bulk that it adds. And apart from the screen, the device feels cheap — from the buttons to the plasticky design to the fact that the Aura includes a USB cable for charging but no AC adapter (since it’s supposed to be high-end, why not include that little extra?)

Kobo says the Aura is aimed at avid readers who aren’t particularly price-sensitive, but even those who don’t care that this device is $40 more than the Glo (and $50 more than the ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite or the Nook with Glow Light) shouldn’t automatically trade up: The Aura’s added bulk is not a luxury feature.

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Mr. Rogers was so insanely influential to a generation of kids–and possibly their kids–that it’s hard to believe a biopic hasn’t already been done about him. But never fear, Neighborhood Kids: it’s coming.

Deadline reported that Treehouse Pictures has snatched up the spec script written by Alexis Jolly, whose credits include writing for the Ellen Degeneres Show. Looks like they’ll be casting to fill those iconic sneakers pretty soon.

“Fred Rogers was such an inspirational man for so many people,” said Justin Nappi of Treehouse. “His keen ability to find the good in anyone, or anything, will make for a truly inspiring cinematic experience. In literally shaping the world around him to fit into his own unique perspective, he created what is arguably the most influential American children’s television show of all time.”

So who’s going to play the soft-spoken icon? MSNBC has a poll going on with some of their favorites, which include “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons and “Mad Men” actor Vincent Kartheiser. Head on over and give them your vote.

Adobe is making headlines this week with its controversial decision to discontinue development of Creative Suite in favor of Creative Cloud, but that’s not all we’re seeing from its annual MAX Conference. ColdFusion, Adobe’s Web development software, is the subject of a recent whitepaper that details where the software is at and where it’s headed in the future.

Adobe sponsored a whitepaper from IDC called “Turning Up the Heat with ColdFusion,” and it’s mostly what you would expect from a company-sponsored analysis of its own software. There’s heaps of praise thrown upon ColdFusion for its ease of use while offering all the tools professionals need to build and scale enterprise grade Web sites.

That’s all fine and dandy, but the whitepaper gets really interesting once it gets into future developments. It provides some early details on where Adobe is heading with future versions of ColdFusion. For ColdFusion Server, Adobe has two new releases on the horizon that will add a number of features and enhancements:

Adobe has discussed the broad outline of the next two releases of ColdFusion server — Splendor and Dazzle. In between releases, the team has continued to work on other aspects. For example, support for the popular Amazon cloud in the form of a Splendor AMI was released in early 2013, providing users with a quick and simplified approach to deploying ColdFusion applications in the Amazon cloud. The key thematic areas of improvements for Splendor include bringing ColdFusion into the era of mobile
application development and support for social applications. Special emphasis is planned for additional security features, building on the significant security work done for release 10 and taking its priorities from the OWASP Top Ten Project. Improved manageability and deployment as well as revamped and new PDF integration functionality are also planned.

For the Dazzle release, expansion of the mobile platform support capabilities and support for multiscreen content are planned. Dazzle is also expected to carry the water for Adobe’s aggressive push into the digital marketing space by introducing deeper Web, mobile, and social analytics functionality. A customizable enterprise video portal is also planned, and capabilities that will enable ColdFusion to run in cloud environments in major cloud platforms are expected in the Dazzle release. Finally, the improvements are expected to be accompanied by a strong focus on security, extending the work done with Splendor and prioritizing mobile security according to the OWASP Mobile Security Project.

As for ColdFusion Builder, Adobe plans to also release two new versions to coincide with the Server releases:

Adobe has also identified key work areas for two future releases of ColdFusion Builder. The Thunder release is expected to play a key role in the end-to-end development workflow for mobile application development as well as provide a professional JavaScript authoring experience. Focus on new developers will be delivered with new workflows around a “getting started” scenario. The following release, code-named Blizzard, is expected to coincide with the Dazzle server release and to feature one-click multiscreen support, deployment support in line with Dev/Ops integration trends, and improved test and debug workflows.

The rest of the whitepaper catalogs the various challenges facing ColdFusion, and how Adobe can turn those challenges into opportunities. It also contains a variety of case studies from various software development houses. You can read up on all of that here.

With roots that go back 10 years, you could say Chegg is an old hand when it comes to education technology. But the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that made its name as a textbook rental site still wants a piece of the newest big thing.

On Wednesday, Chegg, which now bills itself as an online “student hub,” said that it is partnering with ed tech darling du jour, Coursera, to provide digital content, including textbooks and other materials, to students enrolled in its massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Through the partnership, Coursera students will be able to purchase Chegg material, as well as receive some publisher content for free. They will also be able to make use of other Chegg features, including Q&A forums, search and highlight options. Coursera students could still purchase content from other sources, but the company said it offers lower prices than other vendors and students wouldn’t benefit from the social options connected to Chegg content.

The companies declined to share financial details of the deal. And, when asked whether similar partnerships with other MOOC providers edX and Udacity might be on the horizon, CEO Dan Rosenweig said, “Our vision is to become the leading connected learning platform… We’re not going to limit ourselves to anything.”

MOOC providers have faced more vocal challengers in recent months, but this deal underscores their steadily growing influence. Even if their completion rates hover around just 10 percent, Chegg clearly wants to be able to get in front of the millions of learning-focused eyeballs that are being drawn to Coursera.

Until now, Coursera professors have only been able to require supplemental content that is available for free on the web and recommend textbooks. Chegg said it will enable the MOOC provider to make some publisher-created content available for free during the course. Students will then have the option to purchase the full eTextbook from Chegg for continued learning after the course.

As of the partnership’s launch, just two courses will offer Chegg content but, over the next few months, the companies said it will expand to several dozen of the site’s 370 courses.

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The Phoenix Suns announced this week that Ryan McDonough has been named the general manager of the NBA team. The 33-year-old McDonough will be officially placed as the GM during an event at the US Airways Center on Thursday.

“Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position,” said Lon Babby, president of basketball operations with the Suns. “His natural leadership and communication skills will serve the Suns well. And, his prodigious work ethic and ability to identify talent will enable us to take full advantage of the 10 draft choices, including six in the first round, that we have over the next three years. We welcome his championship pedigree to our organization.”

McDonough began his NBA career in 2003 as a special assistant to basketball operations with the Boston Celtics. In that position, McDonough was heavily involved in scouting work.

Most recently McDonough served as the assistant general manager of the Boston Celtics. According to the Suns, his experience in draft evaluation and scouting will make him perfect for the organization, considering the team’s six first-round draft picks over the next three years.

The first installment of the four-part Sorcery! series created by Steve Jackson in early ‘80s has recently made its debut on iOS platform.

Unlike other tablet-top games that encourage multiplayer gaming, Sorcery! is all about single-playing. The title presents itself as an adventure gamebook series that mixes RPG elements and a unique combat system.
<... (read more)

Graduation season is upon us — and that means approximately 700,000 U.S. students will be receiving master’s degrees and another 150,000 or so will be getting their doctorates. For some, the path forward is clear: the math experts will be snapped up by hedge funds, the software engineers will have their pick of start-ups, and elite investment banks and consultancies will duke it out for the top MBAs. But a significant number of those students will fling off their mortarboards only to find themselves bereft of job prospects.

Fourteen years ago, that was me. I was graduating with a master’s degree in theological studies; aiming for a career in academia, I had been utterly unconcerned about the practical applicability of my degree. But when I was turned down by every doctoral program I applied to, I suddenly needed a plan to earn a living. That led to a variety of professional adventures, ranging from journalism to documentary film-making to nonprofit management to serving as a presidential campaign spokesperson.

But one of the hardest parts of the journey was the initial step — entering the workforce after two years of rigorous graduate studies and explaining my degree (no, I wasn’t training to become a minister) and, even more critically, its value in the marketplace. If you’ve earned a graduate degree that puts you on a less-than-certain professional trajectory — one that naysayers may even declare “useless” — here are a few strategies that have worked for me.

The truth is, your subject matter knowledge may be irrelevant to anything going on in the business world today. Expert in ancient Roman politics? Biblical exegesis? South American literature? Anyone will want you at their dinner party — but maybe not working at their company. That’s why you need to emphasize your skills, not your content expertise. In college (studying philosophy) and in divinity school, I learned to read abstruse texts with careful comprehension, and fashion tight, logical arguments. That’s an applicable business skill, even if witty badinage about the writings of Thomas Aquinas is not.

Next, you’ll want to position yourself as a potential fount of innovation. How so? Check out the writings of thinkers like Frans Johansson, who argues in The Medici Effect that the best ideas arise from interdisciplinary intersections. You’re never going to win the argument that you’re better qualified than someone who has studied a relevant business discipline — or who has worked in the field for years. So don’t even try. You’re differently qualified, and your unique perspective may be just what the company needs to move to the next level.

You’ll also want to cite your work experience. Many graduate students serve as research assistants, teaching fellows, or writing-center tutors — and you may even have had internships in your field. Those provide valuable “real-world” credentials that will likely be more impressive to potential employers than your degree itself. Can you lead and inspire those in your charge (i.e., a classroom full of twenty skeptical undergrads)? Bridge cultural divides by enabling non-native English speakers to better express themselves? Solve difficult research challenges and unearth crucial facts? Those are abilities that any workplace would covet.

Finally, I’ve found that my theology degree serves another, unexpected purpose: it allows me to make meaningful connections with the people around me. Some could care less, of course. But others have a personal interest in religion or theology; when they find out about my studies, they’re eager to talk and share their own stories. I’ve seen personal sides of colleagues that never would have come out otherwise — their longing to find a calling, or their own faith journey. In a world where business is driven by personal connections, it’s been a powerful vehicle to engage deeply with others. Many people have strong feelings about, or interest in, religion. But even if it’s a shared interest in geography, or urban planning, or British literature, it can be a powerful way to cement a relationship.

In practical terms, my theology degree wasn’t relevant to my subsequent professional life (though I did finally make it into academia, teaching at business schools in addition to my work as a strategy consultant). But it was very relevant to my development as a human being. Grad school may or may not be worth it, depending on your individual goals and circumstances. But if you’ve taken the plunge and are now entering the work world, you owe it to yourself to make the best case possible in explaining its value to others.

Hani Elbeyali is a data center strategist for Dell. He has 18 years of IT experience and is the author of Business Demand Design methodology (B2D), which details how to align your business drivers with your IT strategy.

HANI ELBEYALI
Dell

Even when IT investments are showing positive business results, how could you prove beyond any doubt that this positive impact was attributed to IT investments? Maybe the improvement is due to external economic factors, shift in market demands or weak competition strategy. Not only measuring and reporting the benefits to the business is fundamental, but also how and what to measure are equally as important. These correct metrics will support your efforts in realizing and sustaining IT value.

IT is Core to the Organization

Reporting to management on IT should not mean using IT jargon. This doesn’t help IT and can be counterproductive because the unfamiliar language causes the IT department to be seen as an outsider to the organization’s core.

Imagine that the CIO is walking into a board meeting, the head of the sales department reports on the execution strategy to meet the organization’s financial target, while the CMO reports on the globalization strategy to reach new customers, and the CFO report the financial health of the organization. Now comes the CIO’s turn to report on IT, and he/she starts by talking about the data center PUE ratio, the new ERP modernization project, the unified fabric offerings, and more abstractly, the cloud.

Immediately, everyone in the room puts their heads down, then looks at each other. There’s confusion everywhere – no one understands what this jargon really means. They are asking, “How does any of that IT stuff enable them to perform their business and compete? Why the CIO is even here?” And so on. This type of communication cements the notion that IT is not core to the organization; that it’s only supporting function. What exacerbates the issue is the attitude that if IT is not core to the organization, then, why not outsource it? Or out-task some functions at cheaper price, at minimum.

What to Measure and Communicate are the Real Issues

I certainly agree, showing IT’s value to the enterprise is challenging. The problem is not the value IT creates, but what to measure and how to communicate this value. Current practices in IT performance measurement, metrics and reporting do not help, because they concentrate on reporting how IT spends money, rather than the value created from the spending.

Businesses usually measure success in monetary values, profits and losses, and attainable financial targets. Investments in IT are made only in initiatives yielding positive return on investment (ROI). In many cases, IT projects are long term, the ROI comes in long payback periods, which is not attractive proposition to the business. Charge back and re-allocation makes things worst, because each line of business argues why they are paying too much. As a result, to change the perception of IT into business driver, you must stop reporting on hardware and software performance, start reporting the contribution of IT to the success of the business.

What Happens If IT Impacts On Business Are Reported Correctly

To best demonstrate the technology attribution to the business, and what executives are expecting to see when reporting to management, take a look at the report example provided in table 1.0, this example report¹ is for a mid-size organization. Keep in mind this report is for illustration only; the intent is to shows what important factors relating to report on to the business unites for the past quarter.
Click to enlarge.

Communicating IT Value

The report sample above speaks the same language of the business and it reflects IT attribution to the business the past quarter:

• IT expense as percentage of revenue and gross income for the quarter, 6.3%. The IT organization ranked top 10% when compared to the IT industry.
• The contribution of IT helped grew the business by 14.9% and drive 26.7% top line revenue, while keeping its operating expenses flat, The IT organization ranked top 10% when compared to the IT industry.
• The report shows evidence of the value strategic technology investment can add to the business performance, even in downturn economy.
• What is important to point out is the business continues to squeeze out and shrink the wrong operating expense—IT is only 6.3% of the firm’s revenue.

The business only wants to know the impact of the IT performance on revenue, cost and margin. It’s the job of the IT leader to act as a gateway and ensure communications are translated properly in both directions.

Please note the opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect those of his employer.

Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library.

¹ This is an example report for illustration purposes only

With the exploding popularity of Instagram, the social photo app that now counts more than 100 million monthly active users, it could be easy to forget that you ever shared your iPhone photos any other way. But remember Hipstamatic? The iPhone-exclusive app was one of the early ones that captured the attention of mobile photographers with square frames and filters, but ultimately, it missed the boat on social. And for many people, the rest is history.

Hipstamatic CEO Lucas Buick.

But it seems Hipstamatic isn’t dead quite yet. While the company laid off its engineering team last summer and has tried a few others social apps in the past that didn’t catch on, it plans to announce the debut of Oggl on Wednesday, a standalone app to serve as a social network for your Hipstamatic photos. It will also introduce the ability for users to subscribe to Hipstamatic for exclusive filters.

Even more broadly, it seems Hipstamatic is trying to position itself as the photography app for the true artist, not necessarily for anyone with an iPhone. At the company’s press event in San Francisco on Tuesday, CEO Lucas Buick quoted famous photographer Ansel Adams, showed the work of photojournalist Damon Winter, and referred to features with words like “filters,” “lenses,” and “new gear,” — the types of phrases you hear from serious photographers.

In other words, this is not the app for your selfies.

“We’re trying to build this little empire for photo nerds,” Buick told me. “We’re not trying to build something to be a new communication tool. It’s really an art tool.”

The traditional Hipstamatic app will stay the same for those who want to keep using it, but Oggl will provide the same photo-taking capabilities while also allowing users to share those photos into a feed — very much like Instagram. And most importantly, users can still share photos to other apps including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Foursquare. The app adds a feature I’ve always wished Instagram would adopt, which is basically a photo retweet, or the ability to re-post someone else’s photo that you like. For now, you still have to take your photo in the Hipstamatic app, preventing people from uploading photos they took with a “real” camera and slapping on a filter.

The app will launch in Apple’s App Store this week, and will at first become available on an invite-only basis as it rolls out slowly to users. The app is free to download, with the option to subscribe for 99 cents per month, or $10 per year, for access to special filters and other features.

There’s no question that the addition of a Hipstamatic feed where I can check out my friend’s photos would make me far more likely to use the app. Previously, Hipstamatic wasn’t a destination — it was a camera tool. But that could change; the Hipstamatic filters and photo processing somehow feel more high-quality and expansive than the options on Instagram. Plus, the sharing features that allow me to take photos in Hipstamatic and send them elsewhere is great, especially as social apps are increasingly building silos around content.

There are aspects of Oggl that feel cluttered and confusing. The requirement that you take your photos in Hipstamatic rather than upload them from the camera roll is a real deal-killer. When I’m out on a hike or walking down a busy city street, I want to be able to quickly snap a photo to filter and share on Instagram later. If I have to open an app, there are a lot of photos I’d never take. And the navigation on Oggl between the camera, the multiple filters and lenses, the main feed, and the sharing options isn’t terribly clear.

But using Oggl, I’m reminded of why I initially fell in love with Instagram. As CEO Kevin Systrom has highlighted before, it’s all about the simplicity. Scroll, heart, snap, filter, share. That’s it.

The app’s confusing nature, and Buick’s discussion of Hipstamatic as a “lifestyle brand” in addition to being an app could reflect some of the turmoil and changes the company has faced since Instagram’s rise, which Fast Company examined in a three-part profile of the company’s struggles. Buick said that after Facebook bought Instagram, “everyone thinks they need to buy Hipstamtic,” but that he’s committed to remaining independent of both an external owner or venture funding.

“For us, the biggest challenge is to find ourselves and not forget what we’re doing,” he told me.

So it’s possible that Oggl is too little too late when it comes to social photo apps. But it’s also worth considering that if Instagram starts integrating even further with Facebook over the next few years, and if more sponsored content or advertising starts showing up in Instagram feeds (which isn’t a remote possibility), users could tire of Instagram and start looking for another solution.

And if Hipstamatic sticks around, it could be a good choice.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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For organizations that desire to retain ownership and control of the compute, storage and network equipment, co-location is a critical IT infrastructure solution.

However, traditional co-location typically lacks the transparency, automation and flexibility inherent in cloud services, making it difficult to gain a holistic view of the environment or to easily address certain use cases (such as scale-out web applications or “bursty” and unpredictable workloads).

To solve these challenges, co-located enterprises should now consider an “all-cloud” strategy, right? Not quite. Cloud solutions are not appropriate for every application or workload type, especially if latency, security or uptime is of utmost concern.

So is it possible to have the best of both worlds — the control and reliability offered by co-location and the visibility and flexibility of cloud?

Join Internap on Wednesday, June 5, for a complimentary webcast in which we’ll explore how you can leverage cloud and co-location hybridization for your IT infrastructure.

Attend this webcast to learn:
• Advantages of both co-location and cloud solutions
• How hybridization of the cloud and co-location can result in improved visibility and flexibility for your IT infrastructure
• Real-world use cases in which colocation and cloud efficiently work together

Register for the live webcast
Hybridization: shattering silos between cloud and co-location
Wednesday, June 5, 2013, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT

Fifth Street Finance Corp. is acquiring Healthcare Finance Group, the firm announced Wednesday. HFG is a specialty lender providing asset-based lending and term loan products to the healthcare industry.

PRESS RELEASE
Fifth Street Finance Corp. FSC +0.27% (“Fifth Street”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Healthcare Finance Group, LLC (“HFG”) as a portfolio company. HFG is a specialty lender providing asset-based lending and term loan products to the healthcare industry. Since its founding, HFG has financed in excess of $21 billion in receivables.

To effect the acquisition, Fifth Street anticipates investing approximately $110 million and intends to finance the purchase with available liquidity, including operating cash and borrowings under Fifth Street’s existing credit facilities. HFG’s senior management team has an average of 24 years of healthcare finance or related industry experience and will provide continuing leadership to HFG going forward. Fifth Street expects that the HFG acquisition will be accretive to net investment income.

HFG’s total outstanding loan portfolio, as of May 6, 2013, consisted of 57 loans with a value of approximately $270 million. Fifth Street believes that HFG’s niche focus in the healthcare industry offers the potential for strong asset quality and attractive yields, even during challenging economic or debt capital market conditions. HFG has a quality track record of managing credit risk since inception in 2000.

“Healthcare Finance Group is the oldest, continuously operating stand-alone healthcare asset-based lender in the U.S. We believe that a strategic investment in HFG will provide exceptional opportunities to grow the company’s platform,” stated Leonard M. Tannenbaum, Fifth Street’s Chief Executive Officer, adding, “This investment fits well within Fifth Street’s successful track record for investments in the healthcare sector.”

“Fifth Street is the ideal partner to take what we have built at HFG to the next level,” said Isaac Soleimani, Chairman and CEO of HFG, adding, “The combination of Fifth Street’s access to capital, entrepreneurial culture and savvy professionals, as well as HFG’s expertise, reputation and track record in the healthcare industry, will create a potent force in the marketplace that will accelerate HFG’s growth going forward. We are very excited about Fifth Street’s acquisition of HFG.”

“We believe that the return profile of this portfolio company investment is compelling for Fifth Street,” commented Bernard D. Berman, President of Fifth Street. “We expect our HFG investment to enhance net investment income while maintaining our disciplined underwriting philosophy and sophisticated approach to investment structuring.”

“We are delighted to enter into a strategic relationship with Fifth Street and excited by the prospects for growth it presents,” said Dan Chapa, President of HFG, adding, “The ongoing independence of our business operations will help us stay true to a culture of excellence that has allowed us to cultivate a deep and loyal client base.”

Customary closing conditions, including the expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino Act, apply to the acquisition, which is expected to close by June 30, 2013. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as financial advisors and Kaye Scholer LLP is acting as legal advisor to HFG. Greenhill & Co. is acting as financial advisor and Proskauer Rose LLP is acting as legal advisor to Fifth Street for the transaction.

About Fifth Street Finance Corp.

Fifth Street Finance Corp. is a specialty finance company that lends to and invests in small and mid-sized companies, primarily in connection with investments by private equity sponsors. Fifth Street Finance Corp.’s investment objective is to maximize its portfolio’s total return by generating current income from its debt investments and capital appreciation from its equity investments.

About Healthcare Finance Group, LLC

HFG is a specialty lender dedicated exclusively to providing secured debt financing to healthcare companies. HFG strives to custom-tailor its products to meet the specific needs of its clients. HFG is headquartered in New York City and has business offices in California, North Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with regard to the future performance of Fifth Street Finance Corp. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “projects,” “anticipates,” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and these factors are identified from time to time in Fifth Street Finance Corp.’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fifth Street Finance Corp. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The post Fifth Street Finance Buys Healthcare Finance Group appeared first on peHUB.

An aerial view of DuPont Fabros Technology’s Ashburn Corporate Center, showing the five existing data centers and the future location of the new ACC7 facility. (Image: DuPont Fabros)

DuPont Fabros Technology has begun work on a huge new data center on its campus in Ashburn Corporate Center campus in northern Virginia, the company said Tuesday. The new ACC7 facility will be the largest project yet for the data center developer, with a whopping 41.6 megawatts of power.

The company has been signaling its intent to build additional space in northern Virginia for some time. Now that it has completely filled its ACC6 data center, DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) sees the need to have additional capacity ready for its customers, which include some of the fastest-growing Internet companies.

“Leasing has been very strong at the Ashburn campus,” said Hossein Fateh, President and CEO of DuPont Fabros Technology. “Historically, as we announce a new building, a considerable amount of space gets pre-leased prior to delivery. Given the strength of this market, we have commenced development of 11.89 megawatts of ACC7, and expect it to be delivered in the second quarter of 2014.”

More Capacity, but Smaller Increments

The new data center will bring substantial new inventory online in one of the industry’s busiest markets. DFT has previously built its facilities in phases of 13 megawatts at a time. ACC7 will feature the first use of a new design that allows the company to add capacity in smaller chunks. For ACC7, the base “building block” will be 5.9 megawatts, with the first phase comprising two blocks of space.

Fateh says the new design can work in increments as small as 4.5 megawatts and still meet DuPont Fabros’ goals for return on its investment.

“We expect 3 major benefits from the new design,” said Fateh. “First, we expect to achieve a PUE of 1.2 directly benefiting our tenant’s overall expense structure. Second, moving to a single electrical ring bus provides more resiliency and help us decrease our development cost. Third, we’re now capable of delivering our products in smaller increments, which enables us to accurately match supply and demand while reducing the risk of CapEx spend and carrying costs.”

DuPont Fabros said it expects the construction of the conduit system and first 11.89 megawatts of capacity to cost between $7 million and $7.9 million per megawatt, for a total cost of $155 million to $160 million.