Category: News

“Simple models and a lot of data trump more elaborate models based on less data.”

With that line, the 2009 paper “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data” (co-authored by Google co-workers Alon Halevy and Fernando Pereira), Google Director of Research Peter Norvig all but guaranteed his status as one of most-quoted — or at least most-paraphrased — people in the world of big data. Last week, Norvig — as well as Google VP of Energy Arun Majumdar — was bestowed a slightly more-formal honor, as he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Norvig, who previously led Google’s search algorithms team and was head of computational sciences at the NASA Ames Research Center, is best known for his work in the realm of artificial intelligence. In fact, the above quote and the paper in which it appears are essentially a testament to the advances Google has been able to make in AI and machine learning thanks to the massive web page and search dataset that Google has amassed. The more examples it has of words and phrases used together in natural language, the better it can perform semantic analysis to determine what’s related to what.

Norvig and Majumdar are among 198 new inductees into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ latest class. According to a blog post from Google, they also join six other Google employees as members: Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Vint Cerf, Alfred Spector, Hal Varian and Ray Kurzweil.

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One way to gain loads of free online storage space is to mix and match storage providers, taking advantage of each to quickly build up tens of gigabytes of cloud-based storage for backup, sync and sharing purposes. The downside of such an approach is the fact you need to manage each provider using its own dedicated app.

Nowhere is this frustration more evident than when using a tablet or phone to access your data, as you have to switch between apps to try and locate where you’ve stored a particular file. But help may be hand in the form of an app for Windows 8, iPad and Android calledRainbowDrive 2.0.0 that attempts to bring multiple providers together under one roof.

The premise is simple: RainbowDrive aims to bring together all your SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and — Windows 8 only at present — Box.net storage accounts into a single, centralised app. Fire it up, log into your various accounts and you’re good to go.

RainbowDrive even supports multiple accounts from the same provider, although the free version of the iPad and Android versions both restrict you to just three accounts in total — you can gain a fourth by sharing the app on Facebook via its Settings screen. No such limitation currently applies to the Windows 8 version.

One logged in, the app should quickly synchronise with each account in turn — we say “should” because we found it took ages to sync with our 25GB SkyDrive account on the iPad, and then got stuck at 100 percent, although it worked fine in Windows 8.

Once synchronised, you can browse your data one of two ways: RainbowDrive defaults to a “by type” view, so all your data across all your accounts is amalgamated together, but you can also browse by individual storage account if you prefer.

From here, you can easily download and upload data to your accounts, play back media and open files in compatible apps. It’s also possible to share file links too — by email and any other supported networks (such as Twitter or Facebook). You should also be able to search across all your cloud storage too.

As we’ve already said, there appear to be some glitches with the app, but it’s still worth investigating if you have accounts with the current list of cloud providers. We expect Box.net support to be rolled out to iPad and Android owners in due course, but whether wider provider support is on the way is not yet clear.

RainbowDrive 2.0.0 is available now as a free app for Windows 8, iPad and Android. Version 2.0.0 has just been released for Windows 8, adding support for Box.net accounts, promising faster loading of the file list and implementing French and German translations.

Photo Credit: Dan Collier/Shutterstock

Avista Capital Partners has agreed to buy Telular Corp. for $12.61 a share or about $253 million. The purchase price represents a 31% premium to Telular’s closing share price on April 26. Telular’s board has unanimously approved the proposed acquisition by Avista. Chicago-based Telular provides remote monitoring and asset tracking solutions for business and residential customers. Oppenheimer & Co. acted as financial advisors to Telular while SunTrust Robinson Humphrey advised Avista.

PRESS RELEASE

Telular Corporation (Nasdaq:WRLS) (“Telular”) and Avista Capital Partners (“Avista”) today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement providing for the acquisition of Telular for $12.61 per share net in cash and approximately $18.5 million in assumed net debt, or approximately $253 million in total consideration. The purchase price represents a 31% premium to the closing share price on April 26, 2013, the last full trading day before today’s announcement, and a 27% premium to the 60-day average share price. The proposed acquisition has fully committed financing and is currently expected to close within 50-75 days.

“This announcement represents a very positive event for our shareholders,” said Joe Beatty, chief executive officer of Telular. “We are proud of our nineteen years as a public company, during which we believe we have served our shareholders well, and the partnership with Avista will allow the Company to expand and build on its success to date. For our customers, we will continue to deliver the best remote wireless monitoring and tracking solutions available in the markets we serve,” concluded Mr. Beatty.

Brendan Scollans, Partner at Avista, said, “Telular’s strong position in three rapidly growing machine-to-machine communications end markets and compelling recurring revenue business model make it a highly attractive platform for Avista.  We are looking forward to working with Telular’s talented management team to drive the next phase of the Company’s growth both organically and through acquisitions.”

Under the terms of the definitive agreement, an entity controlled by Avista will promptly commence a tender offer to purchase any or all of the outstanding shares of Telular common stock for $12.61 net in cash. The closing of the tender offer is subject to customary terms and conditions, including the tender of at least two-thirds of Telular’s outstanding shares of common stock, the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, and the receipt of any applicable consents or approvals from the Federal Communications Commission.

The definitive agreement also provides for the parties to effect, subject to customary conditions, a “short-form” merger without a meeting of Telular’s shareholders immediately following the completion of the tender offer, which merger would result in all shares not tendered being converted into the right to receive $12.61 per share net in cash, without interest.

The Board of Directors of Telular has unanimously approved the proposed acquisition by Avista and recommends that Telular shareholders tender their shares in the forthcoming tender offer.  Mr. Beatty will remain as president and CEO until the closing of the proposed acquisition.

Under the definitive agreement, Telular may solicit superior proposals from third parties through May 29, 2013. It is not anticipated that any developments will be disclosed with regard to this process unless Telular’s Board of Directors makes a decision with respect to a potential superior proposal. There are no guarantees that this process will result in any superior proposal being made or accepted by Telular’s Board of Directors.

Telular plans to release its fiscal second quarter earnings after the market closes on Thursday, May 2, 2013 and will not hold a conference call to discuss earnings given the announced sale of the company. Furthermore, under the terms of the definitive agreement, the Telular Board of Directors is prohibited from declaring any dividends prior to the closing of the proposed acquisition.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Kelley Drye & Warren LLP and Covington & Burling LLP are acting as legal advisors to Telular.  Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal advisor to Avista. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. is acting as financial advisor to Avista and has provided the debt financing commitment for the acquisition.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about beliefs or expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on plans, estimates and projections at the time the parties make the statements and readers should not place undue reliance on them. In some cases, readers can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “should, “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such forward-looking statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in this press release include, among others: uncertainties as to the ability to successfully complete the acquisition in accordance with its terms and in accordance with expected schedule; the possibility that competing offers will be made; the possibility that various closing conditions for the acquisition may not be satisfied or waived, including the tender of at least two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Telular common stock or that a governmental entity may prohibit or refuse to grant any approval required for the consummation of the acquisition; general economic and business conditions; and other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements included in this press release, which speak only as of the date hereof. Neither Telular nor Avista undertakes to update any of these statements in light of new information or future events, except as required by law.

About Telular Corporation
Telular Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLS) provides remote monitoring and asset tracking solutions for business and residential customers, enabling security systems and industrial applications to exchange actionable information wirelessly, typically through cellular and satellite technology. With over 25 years of experience in the wireless industry, Telular Corporation has developed solutions to deliver remote access for voice and data without significant network investment. Headquartered in Chicago, Telular Corporation has additional offices in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Miami. For more information, please visit www.telular.com.

About Avista Capital Partners
Avista Capital Partners is a leading private equity firm with over $5 billion under management and offices in New York, Houston and London. Founded in 2005, Avista’s strategy is to make controlling or influential minority investments in growth-oriented energy, healthcare, communications & media, industrials, and consumer businesses. Through its team of seasoned investment professionals and industry experts, Avista seeks to partner with exceptional management teams to invest in and add value to well-positioned businesses.
About the Tender Offer

The tender offer for the outstanding common stock of Telular has not yet commenced. The foregoing is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities. At the time the tender offer is commenced, ACP Tower Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation, will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Telular will file a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the tender offer. The tender offer to purchase shares of Telular common stock will only be made pursuant to the offer to purchase, the letter of transmittal and related documents filed with such Schedule TO. The tender offer statement (including an offer to purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other offer documents) and the solicitation/recommendation statement, as each may be amended from time to time, will contain important information that should be read carefully by Telular’s shareholders before any decision is made with respect to the tender offer. These materials will be sent free of charge to all of Telular’s shareholders when available. A free copy of the tender offer statement and the solicitation/recommendation statement will also be made available to all shareholders of Telular at www.telular.com or by contacting Telular at 311 South Wacker Drive, Suite 4300, Chicago, IL 60606 or by phone at 800-835-8527. In addition, the tender offer statement and the solicitation/recommendation statement (and all other documents filed with the SEC) will be available at no charge on the SEC’s website:www.sec.gov.

TELULAR SHAREHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE SCHEDULE TO AND THE SCHEDULE 14D-9, AS EACH MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BEFORE THEY MAKE ANY DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFER, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES THERETO.

The post Avista Capital to Buy Telular for Roughly $253 Mln appeared first on peHUB.

Spoiler alert: If your friends acted like your pets, the one that acted like a dog would be loving, affectionate, well-meaning, but ultimately annoying. And the one that acted like a cat, well, he’d be a jerk. Because cats are jerks. Sorry, internet. It’s true. Cute little jerks.

Check out the follow up to 2012′s cat-friend vs dog-friend below:

[via fatawesomefilms]

Apple’s Spotlight selection-based search system is an easy-to-use and practical tool, but, if you want a utility that integrates within your workflow instead of breaking it apart, Quicksilver is the app for you.

Quicksilver is a productivity application designed to help you find things faster on your Mac’s hard drive and enable you to perform everyday tasks quic… (read more)

Last week, Capcom release a multiplayer trailer for the upcoming Lost Planet 3. Today, Capcom has released an even longer look at the multiplayer of Lost Planet 3. In the new video, Lost Planet 3 Producer Andrew Szymanski talks about what players can expect with each of the new multiplayer modes added to the game.

Both the trailer and this new video have revealed two new Lost Planet multiplayer modes – Scenario and Akrid Survival.

Scenario puts a team up against offensive or defensive challenges that they can face in either third-person or first-person modes. Akrid Survival puts two teams up against several waves of Akrid before pitting them against each other.

Nilofer Merchant’s boots at TED2013 were certainly made for walking. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

In today’s talk, Nilofer Merchant gives a startling statistic: we’re sitting, on average, for 9.3 hours per day—far more than the 7.7 hours we spend sleeping. “Sitting is so incredibly prevalent, we don’t even question how much we’re doing it,” Merchant says.Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk “In that way, sitting has become the smoking of our generation.”

But there are consequences. Physical inactivity, Merchant says, leads to upticks in our risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, and type II diabetes.

Merchant’s own habits changed when a colleague couldn’t fit a meeting into her schedule and asked if Merchant could come along on a dog walk instead. Now, she says, “I’ve taken that idea and made it my own.” Instead of meeting in conference rooms, she asks people to go on walking meetings—20 to 30 miles’ worth a week. “It’s changed my life,” she says.

Merchant is carrying on a long tradition of frequent, even ritualistic, walking. Here are some other fans of the amble. Some are walk-and-talkers; others or simply stroll for its own sake.

1. Aristotle allegedly instructed students while strolling about—which fits with his students’ being called “Peripatetics.”
   .
2. In August 1910, Sigmund Freud took a four-hour walk with the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, who had requested an “urgent consultation” via telegraph, according to the BBC. Mahler’s marriage was disintegrating, and he was about to have a breakdown—hence the emergency walk-and-talk with the founder of psychoanalysis. In fact, Freud conducted a number of walking analyses, according to Freud: A Life for Our Time. Another significant example: Freud conducted his first training analysis on Max Eitingon in 1907 through a series of evening walks. Eitingon went to become president of the International Psychoanalytic Association.
   .
3. Steve Jobs made a habit of the walking meeting, especially for first encounters, according to CNNMoney, which quotes from Jobs’ biography: “taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation.”
   .
4. Harry S. Truman was a routine-oriented man, and walking was a fundamental part of that routine. According to the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, Truman woke up at five in the morning for a “vigorous” walk of a mile or two, “wearing a business suit and tie!” (This in addition to his frequent midday swimming session in the White House pool, “with his eyeglasses on.”)
   .
5. Charles Dickens “was from childhood an avid, even compulsive, walker,” Sports Illustrated wrote in 1988. (Apparently, the mid-1800s was “the golden age of professional foot racing, or ‘pedestrianism.’” Who knew?) Dickens frequently walked around 20 miles a day—one night in 1857, he logged 30 miles—and often did so at night. Walking was a means of both observing the cities around him and de-stressing. “Dickens found composition to be hard, painful work,” SI writes. “The hours he spent at his desk agitated him tremendously, and walking served as a kind of safety valve.”

During the 1980s and 90s, Microsoft embarked on what the U.S. Justice Department refers to as an “embrace, extend and extinguish” strategy. Google revises the approach for the new century, but out of necessity. Many of its products or services entered categories where others dominated, such as email, operating systems, productivity suites and web browsers. The company’s business is long about co-opting other platforms, everything from desktop search app for Windows to Google Frame for Internet Explorer, and more.

But there’s nothing quite like Google’s recent invasion of iOS, where many of the apps are even better than Apple’s. Today, a new search app brings one of Android’s best features, Google Now, to iPad and iPhone. There’s irony here, too. On Android, the feature is only available on Jelly Bean, which makes up about 25 percent of the install base. The majority of Apple mobile device users are on iOS 6, and the app supports version 5, too. In short order then, depending on installations, a greater percentage of iPads and iPhones than Androids may have Google Now.

The feature is phenomenal and in some ways frightening. Surely you at least suspect Google watches you online. Saturday, I searched YouTube for Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’”, from Google TV. Yesterday morning, on my laptop, Google Music presented album “Escape”, which contains the track, to buy — just $6.99. That can’t be coincidence. Google watches you. Now. Google Now is tacit admission of this behavior and brings all that monitoring together into a useful utility.

The search giant refers to the feature as a mobile personal assistant. There’s something to that. Google Now presents information, proactively, in cards. Rather than search, relevant information comes to you, like drive-time to work or home, nearby events, flight status, package delivery, real estate listings (close to where you are now), movie showtimes, nearby attractions and much, much more.

Apple also calls Siri a personal assistant, which in my testing can’t compete with Google Now coupled with voice search, which is a killer app combination. If using iOS, see for yourself by asking Siri and Google Search questions.

As for Google Now on iOS, I don’t have iPad or iPhone in house right now. So I asked colleague Wayne Williams to do some quick testing. Functionality of Google Now, combined with voice search, seems comparable to Android, but I can’t confirm full capabilities, such as using Notifications, for example.

Now joins Google Maps and Google+, among others, as exemplary iOS apps, sometimes getting new capabilities ahead of their Android counterparts. The search giant embraces iOS, extends utility with its own services and extinguishes competing ones, or tries to. Like Microsoft, Google leverages a monopoly product (search rather than Windows).

But there’s a difference: Google tries to do better and doesn’t appear to be trying to extinguish rival platforms so much as competing services on them. That’s a departure from Microsoft’s triple-E strategy during the height of monopoly influence.

If you use iOS, try out Google Now and offer reaction here in comments. I am especially interested in how you think Siri compares with Google Now and voice search.

Photo Credit: rudall30/Shutterstock

Tom Sizemore has 136 film and television roles under his belt, and for a guy who grew up on the mean streets of Detroit, the fame that came with starring in revered movies such as “Saving Private Ryan” and cult classics like “Natural Born Killers” meant the world. He earned millions, he rubbed elbows with the biggest stars of the day, and, ultimately, he watched it all float away on a river of drugs and illicit sex tapes.

“I’ve led an interesting life, but I can’t tell you what I’d give to be the guy you didn’t know anything about,” Sizemore writes in his new book, “By Some Miracle I Made It Out Of There”. The book details the demons he’s fought in over two decades of working in Hollywood, including a volatile relationship with celebrity madam Heidi Fleiss that began a downward spiral in his career. He says that at one point, he thought he would have to start rethinking his options.

“Bob [Forrest, from Celebrity Rehab] thought I had a future in helping people get sober, and that seemed like a good idea,” he said. “Because, look, I like to read, see movies, look at art, and be around people. That doesn’t exactly set me up for a lot of career options.”

But with a whopping 18 projects due out in 2013 alone, Sizemore is certainly not sitting back and letting his past dictate his future. While the book details gritty subject matter befitting some of his more violent, sleazy onscreen personas, it is also an honest look at the man he was and the man he wants to be. He says the “a-ha moment” came all of a sudden.

“I used to blame my problems on other people,” he said. “But my moment of clarity, if you want to call it that, came when I was looking in the mirror one day and just burst into tears. It wasn’t just that I looked bad, it was that I knew my problem was me. I used to think it was Heidi [Fleiss] or the police trying to find some sort of scapegoat, but I could suddenly see that it was me and that it had always been me.”

Sizemore now says he’s sober and ready to move on, and he’s also ready for fans to gain a new perspective on who he is.

“I have thin skin,” he says. “I’m not a tough guy. I play tough guys in movies and behaved like one in front of the press because I thought that was what a man did. They can’t believe I have a Master’s in Fine Arts, and that I enjoy Shakespeare. I’m essentially a momma’s boy with a good education.”

A new study by geologists at Cornell University has shown that earthquakes can leave the Earth deformed.

Cornell geologist Richard Allmendinger told LiveScience that strong earthquakes in Chile have left permanent cracks in the surface of the Earth. The findings “perplexed” Allmendinger and his colleagues, as the Earth is known to “rebound” after earthquakes – an effect that is chronicled using satellite technology. Deformation, such as cracks, in the Earth’s surface is generally thought to be temporary, with geological processes erasing them in “days or weeks.” From the LiveScience report:

“It is only in a place like the Atacama Desert that these cracks can be observed – in all other places, surface processes erase them within days or weeks of their formation, but in the Atacama, they are preserved for millions of years,” Allmendinger said.” We have every reason to believe that our results would be applicable to other areas, but is simply not preserved for study the way that it is in the Atacama Desert.”

The researchers were able to study thousands of years worth of earthquakes in the dry rock of the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. Allmendinger told LiveScience that this new research could change current models of the way upper-plate deformation due to earthquakes is recovered. He also stated that another large earthquake (over magnitude 7) could allow geologists to test these new hypotheses.

Attendees of the annual Google I/O developer event are looking forward to the conference, which takes place in two weeks. Sure, they’ll get to hear details of Google’s latest Chrome, Chrome OS and Android efforts, but that’s only part of the story. Often, Google introduces a new Nexus device to showcase its software. Last year the Nexus 7 tablet arrived and this year, it could be a larger Nexus 11 tablet if leaked specifications pan out.

The SamMobile blog, which has a better than average track record for such leaks, reported on Monday that the Nexus 11 appears on Samsung’s 2013 tablet roadmap. Samsung currently makes the Nexus 10 tablet and it also built the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones. As the biggest seller of Android hardware, Samsung is Google’s key partner of late. Then again, the two have a complicated relationship as Samsung’s Galaxy line is becoming synonymous with the Android brand to many.

So what does the leaked roadmap say about a new Nexus tablet? Not much but enough to give prospective Nexus 10 buyers a reason to pause: The rumored tablet is expected to be the first octa-core tablet to market, running on Samsung’s 8-core Exynos 5410 chip. Don’t get too hung up on the eight cores though; they’re not all high performing processors. Instead, four are cutting edge Cortex-A15 cores for heavy duty activities while the other quartet are Cortex-A7 cores to offload lighter tasks and save on power consumption.

The 11-inch display is expected to be a Super PLS TFT screen and I’d expect it to be at least 1920 x 1080 resolution, if not the same 2560 x 1600 resolution used on the current Nexus 10. A pair of cameras should grace the slate — 8 megapixels on the back and 2 megapixels on the front — while a feature unique to Nexus devices may finally appear as well: micro SD expansion.

A lesser version of the tablet is reportedly planned as well: Samsung may create a Galaxy Tab 11 with similar specifications. That device would certainly use Samsung’s TouchWiz software interface and feature set, of course. And if the roadmap is accurate, Samsung will opt for a standard dual-core Exynos 5250 chip; likely to keep costs down.

Could the Nexus 11 be legit? I’d say the odds are quite good although I don’t know if we need a larger Android tablet on the market. Then again, might a Chrome OS tablet be a possibility? If so, then an 11- inch slate might be sized just right, especially with a docking keyboard.

We’ll find out for sure at Google I/O, where we’ll be reporting live.

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Talk about perfect timing. And incredible luck.

Tampa Bay Rays reporter Kelly Nash almost got plunked in the back of the head with a baseball this past weekend. And the near miss was captured by a once-in-a-lifetime selfie and posted to Instagram.

As the story goes, Nash was in Boston working on a feature on the Tampa Bay Rays. According to Nash, she wanted to snap a photo atop the Green Monster in Fenway Park because her whole family is from Massachusetts.

“I knew they would be so excited to see me working at Fenway Park, and when I went to text them the picture I noticed the baseball by my head!” Nash told Fox Sports Florida.

Most dangerous selfie ever. That happened. @ Fenway Park instagram.com/p/YnywPVl8jP/

— Kelly Nash (@KNashSports) April 27, 2013

“I laughed pretty hard when I saw such a surreal picture that I had no idea I took. I thought, you have got to be kidding me, maybe there ARE really angels in the outfield. I actually brought the movie with me on the trip and had it in my bag at the game.”

Nash says that her producer found the ball and gave it to her, so at least she has some hard evidence of her near-serious injury experience.

Think the Angels in the Outfield saved me because I brought their DVD with me on the trip? #ThoughtSo instagram.com/p/YoGDoil8mc/

— Kelly Nash (@KNashSports) April 27, 2013

Just add this to the growing list of reasons that self-shots are rarely ever a good idea.

Data center designs have varied widely, especially over the last several years. Originally data center designs focused primarily on reliability and availability, with little regard to energy usage or long term sustainability. As energy costs rose and operating efficiency gained more importance, a variety of technologies and designs were used in data centers that were previously not considered feasible.

This article series is the sixth in a series of guides, and reviews some of the major factors in the design and construction of a data center that have been discussed in previous editions, such as; ”Build vs Buy”, “Total Cost of Ownership” and “Energy Efficiency.”

This series of articles will examine some of the classic design adaptations and new data center design adopted to meet the paradigm shift underway in the computing landscape, as businesses strive to meet the challenges driven by evolving IT architecture, Social Media, and Mobile Computing, as well as higher availability for Cloud services.

This last guide in the Executive Series is not just about the “nuts and bolts” (Uninterruptible power supplies, back-up generators and chiller plants, etc.) of the data center facility. While they are necessary to support the IT equipment and important elements of design process, they are the enablers, not the drivers of the design process.

If you are a denizen of the “C suite” (CEO, CIO, CTO, etc.) you are more likely to be concerned about meeting the challenges of facing globalized economies along with the ever increasing pressure to deliver competitive innovations and greater performance, yet while economically burdened to do so with less resources. You need to engage with customers by embracing mobile, social and big data analytics. While you will still need to rely on the experts who are intimately familiar with the “inner workings” that make up the data center, senior IT management must set the long term logical information systems direction that in turn drives the physical design criteria.

Here are the article that will follow over the coming days:

• Design for Evolving Hardware
• Design for High Availability and System Failure
• Design for a Dynamic Environment
• Design for Efficient Operational and Energy Management
• Design Lifecycle: Leading Edge vs Current Practice
• Design for a Mobile Environment

The complete Data Center Knowledge Executive Guide on Data Center Design is available in PDF complements of Digital Realty. Click here to download.

Khan Academy has quickly become one of the most popular educational sites in the U.S. and around the world. But TareasPlus, a startup with offices in Colombia and San Francisco, believes it may have a leg up with Spanish speakers south – and increasingly north – of the border.

Since launching last year, the company, which calls itself the “Khan Academy of Latin America,” has produced more than 3,600 instructional videos on math and science topics for Spanish-speaking students, teachers and adults looking for content on finances and other practical matters. On Monday, the startup said it was taking its biggest step toward making money with the launch of a new online marketplace, called Aula, that enables teachers and other users to create online lessons and upload their own videos to TareasPlus.

“We’re trying to push the teacher to create content of his own,” said founder and CEO Hernan Jaramillo. “It allows the teacher to simply create his own set of courses and easily share it with his students.”

While teachers may already have access to learning management systems (LMS) that enable them to share video and other kinds of instructional content with students, Jaramillo said they tend to be cumbersome and clunky to use. For $24 a year, teachers can use the web and mobile-optimized TareasPlus to curate video playlists made from content produced by the startup and other users, as well as include questions and exercises for students and track their progress.

The bigger revenue opportunity for TareasPlus is the capability for teachers to create and host their own courses on the site. Much like instructors on online learning startup Udemy, teachers can offer courses for free or a price of their choosing with TareasPlus taking 30 percent of the earnings.

Targeting Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and around the world

Initially, Jaramillo said, the company thought that its users were individuals aged 13 to 25 who searched online for math and science questions related to their studies. But it realized that about 40 percent of its users are older – aged 35 to 65 – some of those adults include teachers who use the videos in classes or on their blogs, but others are parents looking to review content before helping their kids or adults looking for practical instruction on calculating monthly mortgage or car payments.

To date, Jaramillo said, just 5 percent of the site’s users have been based in the U.S.  But over the next six months, he estimates that the figure could double or triple as TareasPlus uses its new marketplace to attract a larger global audience and builds up content relevant for U.S. users. For example, he said, many of its U.S. users are adults searching for help with “daily math” and finance problems, so future courses could include “math for moms” or “math for traders.”

Earlier this year, Khan Academy announced a partnership with the foundation supported by billionaire Carlos Slim to translate its online video content for students in Mexico and Latin America. (The non-profit is focused on translating its content into more than a dozen languages.) But Jaramillo said his company’s new exchange gives teachers an opportunity to potentially access Spanish-language content from a greater range of sources and make their own lessons available to a wide market.

The startup, which says that it has attracted users with search-engine optimized video content, has raised $1.8 million from online education company Academic Partnerships and says it receives 300,000 to 400,000 unique visitors each month.

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As previously reported, a student at the all-male La Salle High School in Cincinnati attempted to take his own life today by way of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the first class of the day.

According to reports, police have indicated that he did not threaten to harm other students.

The school has now issued the following statement on its site:

ALL LA SALLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE SAFE AND BEING DISMISSED INTO THE CUSTODY OF THEIR PARENTS DUE TO AN ATTEMPTED SUICIDE INVOLVING ONE STUDENT.

The student has not been identified, and his condition is unknown, as reporters wait to hear from hospital authorities. He was reportedly taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

More here.

Chattanooga was one of the first cities in the nation to introduce Fiber Internet to its residents through city-owned utilities. Other cities have slowly been jumping on board with the help of Google Fiber and other organizations. Now the gigabit Internet craze has returned to Tennessee.

Tullahoma is a small city in the south-central part of Tennessee. Its population is estimated at a little over 18,000. Starting this week, the city will start delivering 1Gbps fiber Internet to its subscribers. The Tullahoma News reports that LightTUBe, the city-owned utility company, will be upgrading residents who already subscribe to its 300Mbps plan will be automatically upgraded to 1Gbps at no extra charge over the next few days. The service is pretty expensive at $300, but it’s consistent with the pricing of Chattanooga’s service.

The high price obviously keeps many residents from being able to access gigabit speeds, and the city seems fine with that. Tullahoma Utilities Board Chairman Bob Lindeman says that upgrading the city’s infrastructure to 1Gbps speeds is more about attracting businesses to the area:

“It shows that we can provide anything they want. The TUB board made the decision to build a fiber to the premise system for economic development reasons, and it is paying off for our community. We want to make Tullahoma a much more desirable location for technology companies to locate, due to our ultra-high speed Internet and our highly skilled workforce. Tullahoma is light years ahead of most cities in the United States with the ability to offer these incredibly fast Internet speeds, and we look forward to the benefits this will bring to our city.”

Offering businesses gigabit Internet is definitely a major benefit for any community, but it may be a little shortsighted to keep access out of the hands of most residents. A rural ISP in Vermont is offering 1Gbps speeds to its residents for only $35 a month, and they are likely to benefit greatly. The rollout of Google Fiber in Kansas City has also proven to be incredibly beneficial not just for startups, but for the community as a whole.

Regardless, it’s encouraging to see gigabit Internet rolling out to more cities across the U.S. Sooner or later, the bigs ISPs will have to stop pretending that Google Fiber and its ilk don’t exist. They can’t feign ignorance forever.

[h/t: Reddit]