Category: News

LearnZillion said it raised $7 million of Series A funding in a deal led by DCM and joined by O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund, and D.C. Community Ventures. The new round brings total funding to date to $9.4 million. The company raised a $2.4 million seed round.

PRESS RELEASE

LearnZillion Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding Led by DCM

Digital curriculum and professional development platform enables K-12 educators to align with Common Core State Standards

Washington D.C., April 15, 2013 – LearnZillion, the first digital curriculum and professional development platform that provides teachers with the tools they need to implement the Common Core State Standards, today announced it has raised $7 million in Series A funding. This brings total funding raised to date to $9.4 million, which includes a $2.4 million seed round. The Series A was led by DCM, with O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund, and D.C. Community Ventures also participating in the equity round. LearnZillion will use the funding to hire key talent to fuel technology development, scale more quickly, and enrich its platform to reach more educators.

LearnZillion is creating a national community of teachers dedicated to high quality instruction of the Common Core State Standards. The company’s web-based platform offers a digital curriculum and professional development platform for teachers, schools and districts implementing the Common Core State Standards. Developed by and for teachers, LearnZillion offers Common Core lessons, assessments, and activities created by top teachers from around the country.  The platform helps teachers understand the new standards, plan effective lessons, and assign content directly to students. The company currently has over 120,000 registered teachers, reaching approximately 1.4 million students, and is adding about 5,000 new teachers every week.

The Common Core State Standards define what students in grades K-12 need to know in language arts and mathematics, to be prepared for post-secondary education and the workforce. Adopted at the individual state level, the initiative will lead to new standardized tests that will measure and compare educational performance nationwide. To date, 46 states have announced their plans to adopt the initiative.

“The Common Core is the biggest shift in education in decades,” said Eric Westendorf, CEO of LearnZillion. “It creates a major pain point for teachers, school administrators, parents and even students. Teachers need new materials and professional development to get up-to-speed. We’re creating a national community of teachers that are embracing the challenge head on. Our platform provides a digital curriculum that’s been created ‘By Teachers, For Teachers’ and is built directly from the Common Core State Standards.”

To develop high quality Common Core-aligned curriculum, the company chooses top teachers from around the country through a rigorous submission and selection process – this year’s team is comprised of 200 teachers from 41 states. LearnZillion’s “Dream Team” of teachers works together over the summer to develop highly effective lessons and resources for the LearnZillion platform and provides educators with practical tools for teaching a Common Core-aligned curriculum. Teachers and parents access lessons and resources on LearnZillion for free. Schools and districts can subscribe to enterprise-level features such as access to premium professional development content, personalized teaching insights, and data analytics.

“Unlike most education technology platforms, where a handful of individuals create niche content and curriculums, LearnZillion offers Common Core-aligned lessons developed by leveraging the experience and skillset of its Dream Team. This produces professional development content that is truly accessible, flexible, and effective,” said Pete Moran, general partner at DCM. “LearnZillion’s management team has that rare combination of time spent in the classroom and expertise in technology to create unique solutions that have huge upside in both an educational and business context. The LearnZillion platform has the potential to become the go-to resource for teachers nationwide on core instructional content, as well help elevate student outcomes in the U.S. in a highly effective way.”

“LearnZillion might be more impactful and cost-effective than doubling the number of instructional coaches we have,” said Jason Kamras, chief of human capital for Washington D.C. Public Schools, in a recent interview about D.C. public school initiatives.

“LearnZillion’s unique approach is definitely a game changer for teachers, parents and students,” said Maura Marino from NewSchools Venture Fund.

The company hosts TeachFest, a three-day event that brings together teachers from LearnZillion’s nationwide Dream Team to develop lessons and resources. Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, TeachFest will take place on May 2-5, 2013 in San Francisco, California.

About LearnZillion
LearnZillion helps teachers and parents meet the needs of every student.  It is the only online professional development platform that builds teachers’ content knowledge of the Common Core State Standards. Built by and for teachers, LearnZillion offers a practical solution to teachers, schools and districts implementing the new Common Core State Standards—a digital curriculum with lessons developed by top teachers from across the country. Teachers and parents access lessons and resources for free. Schools and districts pay to get premium content and advanced features.
Based in Washington D.C., LearnZillion was founded in 2011 by Eric Westendorf, most recently a principal and the Chief Academic Officer of E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington DC., and Alix Guerrier, also a former classroom teacher. For more information, visit http://learnzillion.com/.

About DCM
DCM is an early stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo with more than $2 billion under management.  DCM has investments in more than 200 technology companies across the United States and Asia and provides hands-on operational guidance and a global network of business and financial resources.  DCM has backed industry-leading companies such as 51job, About.com, Clearwire, eDreams, Foundry Networks, Kabu.com, Sling Media, SMIC, and VanceInfo as well as upcoming startups such as 58.com, Bill.com, Bridgelux, Kakao, Happy Elements, and Trion Worlds.  Recent successes (IPOs and M&As) include China-based Renren, BitAuto, Dangdang, Luxin and Vipshop; Japan-based Pokelabo (GREE) and StarFlyer and U.S.-based Fortinet, PGP (Symantec) and SandForce (LSI.) For more information, visit http://www.dcm.com/.

The post LearnZillion Raises $7M From DCM, O’Reilly, NewSchools, Others appeared first on peHUB.

Earlier this week it was revealed that singer Billy Joel’s daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, had been cyberstalked via Facebook. According to a report from the New York Post, the stalker sent dozens of messages to Alexa, some including references to assault, pedophilia, and murder. Alexa was reportedly too frightened of the messages to leave her house.

Billy Joel has now hired a bodyguard for his daughter. The body guard was reportedly hired from a private security firm recommended by Paul McCartney.

Private detectives were also hired to track down the stalker, who turned out to be a woman who lives in Austin, Minnesota. The woman, Sheryl Finley, has a history of mental illness, according to the Post report.

Alexa Ray Joel, who is 27 years old, is the daughter of Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley. Like her father, she plays the piano and is a singer-songwriter. Alexa released an independent album titled Sketches in 2006. She is also the spokesmodel for Prell shampoo.

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng has passed away after years of recovery from a car accident. He reportedly died on Sunday morning at the age of 42.

Cheng’s mother, who goes by the name Mom J on the OneLoveForChi.com site posted the following statement on Sunday:

This is the hardest thing to write to you. Your love and heart and devotion to Chi was unconditional and amazing.

With great love and “Much Respect!” Mom J (and Chi)

Cheng was involved in a bad car accident in 2008, which left him in a coma. He finally came out of it last year, but continued to have health problems (including pneumonia).

Cheng was one of the founding member of the Sacramento-based Deftones who rose to stardom in the mid to late nineties with songs like “Bored,” “7 Words,” and “Teething,” which the band performed in the film “The Crow: City of Angels”. From there, the band’s popularity only escalated, with the release of songs like My Own Summer (Shove It), “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away), and Change (In The House Of Flies).

In addition to playing bass, Cheng also contributed back-up vocals, which can often be heard clearly in live recordings.

image: Artisan News (YouTube)

Nicholas Felton, a Facebook product designer who helped to create the Timeline, has announced that he is “moving on” from the company.

Felton, who began working on the new Facebook Timeline project in April of 2011, says that he’s proud of the projects he worked on and confident in the future products.

Fittingly, you can find his entire message posted on his Timeline:

On April 19, 2011 I walked into the Palo Alto Facebook office and began contributing to the timeline project. Two years, many late nights and a few launch celebrations later I will be moving on.

The opportunity to help mold a service of such importance to so many people has been a high point in my professional career. I’m extremely proud of the projects I worked on, grateful to the teams that built them and confident in the products to come. – feeling nostalgic at Facebook HQ.

Felton originally studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design and credits himself as the founder of Daytum.com. He says in a comment on that post that he will be returning to New York city, but no further info on his plans.

After announcing Timeline at their f8 conference in the Fall of 2011, Facebook began rolling it out, very slowly, in December of the same year. Like many new Facebook products, Timeline was initially met with a lot of negative feedback – both from people concerned about privacy and some who simply didn’t like the design. Over the past year or so, Facebook has made small tweaks to Timeline and users have begun to accept it. Last month, Facebook announced a major refresh of Timeline, bringing a one-column look that puts more focus on interests. That update is still slowly rolling out to all users.

[h/t Mashable]

Signal Hill, an investment bank with offices around the country, is bolstering its West Coast operations in San Francisco with the addition of 13 investment banking professionals from Montgomery & Co., the companies announced today. As part of a strategic refocus, Montgomery has “decided to concentrate on its asset management business,” the company said. Terms of its arrangement with Signal Hill wee not disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE:

Signal Hill, a premier investment banking partnership serving the M&A advisory and private capital raising needs of growth companies, announced today the establishment of a new West Coast operation with deep technology capabilities. Signal Hill’s San Francisco office, which will focus on clients in the software, security, internet & digital media and financial technology industries, is the latest example of the firm’s strategic growth plan. Offices in Boston and Bangalore, India were opened in early 2012.

Effective immediately, Signal Hill will be launching its West Coast platform with an initial team of 13 investment banking professionals from Montgomery & Co., including five senior practice leaders, led by John Roediger. As part of a strategic refocus, Montgomery & Co., a boutique advisory firm with a leading technology practice and an established track record of over 25 years of success, has decided to concentrate on its asset management business.

James Montgomery, founder and CEO of Montgomery & Co. said, “We at Montgomery & Co. believe that Signal Hill is a natural fit for our San Francisco professionals. Signal Hill’s established platform ensures a seamless transition and we’re confident our cultures and shared vision will mesh perfectly.” In addition to aiding with the transition, James Montgomery will serve as a Senior Advisor to Signal Hill and specifically to Scott Wieler, the Firm’s Chairman and Founder. Michael Montgomery, President of Montgomery & Co., will focus on completing existing media client matters.

“We’re delighted to be a part of the Signal Hill team,” said John Roediger, a Managing Director and Head of Signal Hill’s new San Francisco location. “This unique opportunity to join Signal Hill’s fast-growing platform enables us to meet our clients’ needs in a way that ensures we will continue to provide the quality of service our clients expect. We are extremely excited to be able to leverage Signal Hill’s great reputation, international footprint and absolute tenacity.”

“Signal Hill’s West Coast location completes our coverage of the United States,” commented Scott Wieler. “This expansion provides an opportunity to better serve clients, from both a geographical as well as an intellectual capital perspective. All of our clients, regardless of sector or location, will benefit from the deepened domain expertise, well-established relationships and greater scale that this new addition affords them.”

The firm will continue to operate as Signal Hill. Terms of the arrangement will not be disclosed.

The post Montgomery & Co. Gets Out of the Advisory Business appeared first on peHUB.

Do you remember last week when we told you about HTC’s disappointing Q1 earnings report? Well it looks like HTC may have pulled off the turnaround they were hoping for. J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded HTC’s stock to “neutral” from “underweight”.  They also raised the target price from NT$160 to NT$330 due to the sales of their new Flagship Phone, the HTC One.

HTC needed to kick into high gear, and it appears they know that too. Over the last two weeks HTC’s supply issues “have significantly improved” according to Alvin Kwock, J.P. Morgan analyst.

With new vendor qualification, HTC One shipments will continue to improve. March estimates for the HTC One were 300,000 units, but would raise to 1.2 million in April, and 2 Million in May. These numbers could help HTC’s Q2 earnings climb to over 50 percent from their Q1 earnings.

HTC might be back on the right track now, but they still have a long uphill battle against companies like Samsung. HTC lost lot of ground, after the HTC EVO 4G LTE was delayed in some markets.

As always we will keep a close eye on HTC and will update you on all the important information you need to know.

Source: Focus Taiwan
Via: Phone Arena

Come comment on this article: J.P. Morgan upgrades HTC to “neutral”

Oscar Pistorius has been keeping a low profile in recent months, after being charged with the murder of his girlfirend, Reeva Steenkamp. However, it seems that the olympian has now rejoined Johannesburg nightlife.

According to a report in the tabloid The Sun, Pistorius spent a night out with friends drinking this weekend. The sighting is supposedly Pistorius’ first night out since being charged. According to the report, Pistorius was seen at a Johannesburg bar drinking with friends and flirting with women.

Pistorius is currently out on bail while awaiting trial for the Valentine’s Day murder of Steenkamp, who was a model. He was charged with premeditated murder on February 15, and is reported to have cried as the charges were read. Pistorius claims that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder, and shot her through the door of the his bathroom.

Pistorius is a double amputee who uses prosthetics to compete in sprinting. In 2012 he became the first double leg amputee to compete in the Olympics, where he competed in the 400 meter and 4 x 400 meter relay competitions.

Starwood Capital Group said Monday it raised $4.2 billion with latest global fund. The Greenwich, Conn. private investment firm focuses on real estate globally.

PRESS RELEASE

Starwood Capital Group (“Starwood”), a leading private investment firm, today announced the successful closing of its latest global fund, Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX (“SOF IX”). The fund reached its cap with $4.2 billion of commitments from more than 75 investors around the world.
“We are grateful for our investors’ continued support and confidence in our team, which have been instrumental to our success since our founding in 1991,” commented Barry Sternlicht , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Capital Group. “We have now grown to manage more than $23 billion in assets on behalf of clients across our six main product lines; Global Real Estate Investing, Energy Infrastructure through Starwood Energy Group, Global Real Estate Long Short Investing through Starwood Real Estate Securities, Retail Investments through Starwood Retail Partners based in Chicago, Hotel Branding and Management through SH Group, and Global Real Estate Finance through Starwood Property Trust in the U.S. and Starwood Capital Europe Advisers in the United Kingdom. Today we employ over 250 talented people directly, in nearly every expertise in real estate to better support investors in ten offices around the world.”
After dramatically reducing its acquisitions in 2006 and 2008 when real estate pricing made little sense, Starwood significantly increased its investment activity in 2009 and on. Starwood fully invested the approximately $2.8 billion of Starwood Global Opportunity Fund VIII and Starwood Hospitality Fund II which closed in March of 2010 in a variety of assets including more than 18,000 single family lots, interests in more than 9,000 multifamily units, the purchase of six distressed bank loan pools, and more than 70 domestic hotels. Notable transactions include the acquisition of Corus Bank in partnership with the FDIC for $2.75 billion, the joint venture acquisition of Sea Island Resort, as well as providing the startup funding for TRI Pointe Homes which recently became the first homebuilder to go public since 2004.
“We have been actively investing this new fund, SOF IX, since the end of last year, and have completed more than 20 investments both here and in Europe in the past months. We have already invested or committed approximately $2 billion of equity capital in the United States and Europe. The fund, like all Starwood vehicles, is diversified by product type and geography and includes interests in several bank loan pools, distressed debt, more than 3 million square feet of office, 1 million square feet of retail, 15,000 multifamily units and more than 150 hotel properties,” added Jerome C. Silvey , EVP and Chief Financial Officer.
About Starwood Capital Group
Starwood Capital Group is a private, U.S.-based investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. Since the group’s inception in 1991, the firm has raised nearly $19 billion of equity capital, and through its various funds, has invested $15 billion representing over $38 billion in assets and today manages over $23 billion of assets across five businesses, with a primary focus on its private real estate funds. Starwood’s businesses include Starwood Global Real Estate, Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), Starwood Real Estate Securities, SH Group and Starwood Energy Group Global. Starwood Capital Group maintains offices in Greenwich, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles, and affiliated offices in London, Luxembourg, Paris and Sao Paulo. Starwood Capital Group has invested in nearly every class of real estate on a global basis, including office, retail, residential, senior housing, golf, hotels, resorts and industrial assets. Starwood Capital Group and its affiliates have successfully executed an investment strategy that includes building enterprises around core real estate portfolios in both the private and public markets. Additional information about Starwood Capital can be found at www.starwoodcapital.com.

The post Starwood Collects $4.2 Bln with Latest Fund appeared first on peHUB.

Susan Kasser has joined Neuberger Berman as an MD and head of private debt at Neuberger Berman Alternatives. Kasser joined Neuberger Berman in March and is based in New York. Most recently, Kasser was with the Carlyle Group, where she was a founding member of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners.

PRESS RELEASE

Neuberger Berman, one of the world’s leading employee-controlled asset managers, is pleased to announce the addition of Susan Kasser as Managing Director and Head of Private Debt at Neuberger Berman Alternatives. Ms. Kasser joined Neuberger Berman in March and is based in New York.

Neuberger Berman’s Private Debt business is focused on building portfolios of attractive yield-oriented investments, including uni-tranche, second lien and mezzanine, and financing portfolio companies of private equity investors. The Private Debt business is a part of Neuberger Berman Alternatives, a prominent private equity limited partner and an experienced direct equity co-investor. Neuberger Berman Alternatives has approximately 60 investment professionals in its integrated private equity platform, which consists of capabilities across primary and secondary fund investments as well as direct debt and equity investments in transactions led by financial sponsors.
Ms. Kasser joins Neuberger Berman from The Carlyle Group, where she was a founding member of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners. In her prior role, she focused on investing in privately negotiated junior debt and equity securities of middle market and large cap leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and growth financings across multiple industries. Prior to Carlyle, she worked at Goldman Sachs in several groups, including Leveraged Finance, Private Equity and Global Investment Research. Ms. Kasser received an MA in International Economics and Finance and a BA in Philosophy from Brandeis University, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst.
“The breadth of Susan’s industry experience as a deal leader will enable us to further develop and enhance yield-oriented investment solutions for our clients,” said Anthony Tutrone , Managing Director and Global Head of Neuberger Berman Alternatives, which manages approximately $18 billion for institutions and individuals. “By expanding our dedicated effort focused on financing private equity transactions, we are also broadening the partnership between Neuberger Berman Alternatives and the private equity community.”
About Neuberger Berman
Neuberger Berman is a private, independent, employee-controlled investment manager. It partners with institutions, advisors and individuals throughout the world to customize solutions that address their needs for income, growth and capital preservation. With more than 1,800 professionals focused exclusively on asset management, it offers an investment culture of independent thinking. Founded in 1939, the company provides solutions across equities, fixed income, hedge funds and private equity, and had $205 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2012. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

The post Kasser Joins Neuberger Berman appeared first on peHUB.

A few years ago, data scientist Alex Lundry gave a fantastic presentation describing the ways data visualization is being used by political parties to push their own agendas. He showed a Republican visualization of the House Democrats’ health plan — an infographic full of sinuous pipes and literal red tape, smattered with ugly unreadable fonts and unwelcoming 8-bit color palettes — next to a Democratic visualization of the same plan, which instead looked like an Easter basket, a perfectly designed and welcoming bundle of pastel circles.

The difference between the two visualizations, which present the same information, was striking. It’s clear that the spin we’re accustomed to hearing from politicians is now something we’re going to be seeing from politicians as well

The most troubling part of all this is that “we the people” rarely have the skills to see how data is being twisted into each of these visualizations. We tend to treat data as “truth,” as if it is immutable and only has one perspective to present. If someone uses data in a visualization, we are inclined to believe it. This myopia is not unlike imagining the red velvet cake we see in front of us to be the only thing that could have been created from the eggs and milk we mixed together to make it. We don’t see in the finished product the many transformations and manipulations of the data that were involved, along with their inherent social, political, and technological biases.

This is why I love this New York Times‘ interactive, which Times graphics editor Amanda Cox discussed on this site a few weeks ago:

Click or touch to see larger image. View the interactive version here.
source: New York Times

The Times begins with the “raw” data* from which you can compare the Republican interpretation (red-colored glasses) and Democrat interpretation (blue-colored glasses). As the window slides to either set of glasses, we’re greeted by that party’s familiar talking points, accompanied by the interpretation of the data that supports that view. The beauty of this visualization is not in either the Democrat or the Republican end products, but in the concise way it draws our attention to the process of visualizing data to suit our own ends.

Taken in isolation, either final visualization gives us an answer. Taken together, the opposing visualizations force us to ask questions.

Beyond raising awareness about political bias in data visualization, this piece employs a technique that many visualizations can benefit from: comparison. For example, while I can see how well I kept to my own budget by visualizing my monthly expenses, I see a different picture when I visualize my expenses against those of others in my demographic. Similarly, visualizing my spending by type vs. by time of day gives me entirely different views of the same data. The power in each of these examples comes from seeing the data from many perspectives, which altogether form a more informed view than any one individually.

I hope that, as we move into a world where people will increasingly be exposed to shiny infographics and visually-stunning data interactives, that more pieces remind us of the process and motives behind them. Maybe as data visualization becomes more democratized we’ll learn this lesson through doing, or perhaps The New York Times and others will still have to remind us. Either way, I hope others will help bring to light what’s going on behind the scenes so that we can take the task of visualizing data on with our eyes open.

*Let’s leave aside the biases and assumptions in the data itself, e.g. how do we define unemployment?

Visualizing Data
An HBR Insight Center

• The Science of What We Do (and Don’t) Know About Data Visualization
• Tell Better Data Stories with Motion and Interactivity
• Visualizing Hip-Hop Lyrics as Cultural Indicator
• When Creating Visualizations, Question Everything

Continue reading…

Your brain is three and a half pounds of tissue — and yet it’s the key to everything you experience. The National Geographic Channel show Brain Games seeks to give a better understanding of it – by looking at how the brain focuses, processes fears, makes decisions and much more. The show is hosted by Jason Silva, the “performance philosopher” who creates fast-moving films about ideas – like this exploration of last year’s TEDGlobal theme, “Radical Openness.”

Brain Games returns to the air next Monday, April 22, with the episode “Focus Pocus.” In the episode, TEDGlobal 2013 speaker Apollo Robbins, the “gentleman thief,” joins Silva and psychologist Brian Scholl, director of Yale University’s Perception and Cognition Lab, for a look at how the brain focuses on important details – or at least, those it thinks are important.

Below, watch Silva talk about how we focus — and over-extend our focus — in today’s media landscape:

And Robbins describes how he uses the brain’s tools of focus for sleight-of-hand and, in the process, makes a pen disappear:

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 arrived on store shelves this weekend and after spending a few minutes with one, I paid $399 and walked out with the new tablet. That price gets you a 16 GB version of the 8-inch tablet running Android 4.1.2, which doesn’t have any mobile broadband connectivity. This is a Wi-Fi only model and unlike the international version, has the cellular voice capabilities stripped out. That means the Galaxy Note 8.0 competes squarely with Apple’s $329 iPad mini.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 does have some features and hardware components that the iPad mini doesn’t, so I understand the higher price. Is it worth the $70 premium? It’s too early to say as I’ve really only had a solid day to use it. I’ll follow up with an answer to that question, but for now, here are my first impressions, in no particular order, followed by some photos.

• The look and feel is definitely more like a super-sized Galaxy S 4 than a Note 2.
• I can grab the device one-handed from the back; it’s not too wide, even with my small hands. In fact, the Note 8.0 is nearly the same width as the iPad mini: just a scant 1.2 millimeters wide. It is thicker than the iPad mini: 7.95 millimeters vs 7.2 millimeters.
• It’s too early to provide actual battery run-time results, but with limited testing of the integrated 4600 mAh battery I’m expecting at least 10 hours of moderate use.
• Samsung’s 1.6 GHz quad-core Exynos paired with 2 GB of RAM keeps the device moving along nicely. This isn’t the fastest Android device I’ve experienced, but there’s no noticeable lag.
• There’s little new here with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. If you’ve used a Galaxy S 3, Note 2 or any other recent Samsung phones, the UI is the mostly the same. A few new UI tweaks I saw in the brief hands-on I got with Galaxy S 4 have made their way to the Note 8.0, however: You can configure what settings appear in the Notification pane, for example. The Smart Stay feature — keeping the display on when the tablet detects your face — is also here.
• I like the rectangular aspect ration of the 1280 x 800 display. As far as the display itself, it has a slightly higher pixel density than the iPad mini, but generally looks the same; maybe a smidge better. Samsung has some nice options to change the fonts and add clarity to text. Running two apps on a display of this size is excellent; better than on my Note 2.0.
• Like the Galaxy S 4, the Note 8.0 includes a IR-blaster to control your television or set-top box. I haven’t tested this yet. Also included is WatchOn for your local television guide, which correctly showed both my local and FiOS TV stations.
• Video playback is quite good. Over the weekend I watched The Masters golf tournament, YouTube HD movie trailers and an NHL game.
• The 5 megapixel rear camera won’t likely replace your smartphone camera, however, it’s handy in a pinch. It captures images and 1080p video. There aren’t many scene modes, however. I haven’t tested the forward-facing 1.2 megapixel camera for video chatting yet.
• Two speakers at the bottom of the tablet — when held in portrait — are acceptable, but not great.
• Although the device comes with 16 GB of storage, around 6 are used by the system. Good thing the Note 8.0 has a microSD slot so you can add up to another 64 GB of storage.
• The S-Pen for the Note 8.0 is barely longer than the one included with the Note 2.0. I actually like taking notes on the tablet more than on my phone due to the larger screen. I can fit far more information on the screen and the writing surface is more like a small notebook. The back and menu button work with the S-Pen.
• Although the device is designed to be used in portrait mode, the home screen does rotate to landscape.

Overall, I like the device; not surprising given my long-standing preference for small slates. But I’m already wondering where this device would fit in my life. Since it doesn’t have integrated 3G / 4G nor cellular voice, it can’t take the place of my Note 2.0. However, it does provide a better note-taking experience than my phone and replaces all of the functions of my iPad mini. It has even more functionality thanks to the S-Pen and IR blaster.

Part of me feels this is more of the same from Samsung, however. I wish the display had a higher resolution of 1920 x 1080 to make it really stand apart from the iPad mini. Again, I’ll follow up with additional thoughts as I spend more time with it. Then I’ll decide if the Galaxy Note 8.0 has a place in my device rotation or if it’s going back to the store.

Meanwhile, if you have questions about Samsung’s newest tablet, drop ‘em in the comments and I’ll answer as many as I can.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Tablets wars: Apple is from Venus, Amazon is from Mars
• The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player
• How to deliver the next-generation web experience

So you tried Facebook Home, but now you want to remove it as your default launcher and go back to your phone’s stock launcher. Changing launchers can be a little complicated for the novice, but one thing Facebook did right with Facebook Home is make it very easy to turn off. The normal method is to go into settings/apps and select the launcher that’s running (in this case Facebook Home) and select remove defaults. This can still be done, but you can do it in less than half the time by going into the Facebook Home settings and select “Turn off Facebook Home”. The next time you hit your home key, you will be prompted to choose what launcher you want to use (just like when you first installed Facebook Home). Just check “Use by default for this action” and select your stock launcher or any other launcher you might have installed on your phone.

If you ever want to return to using Facebook Home, just open the Facebook Home app like any other app. The next time you hit the home key, you will again be prompted to choose your default launcher, of which you can choose Facebook Home again. Nothing could be easier. Hit the break for a quick video showing you how it’s done.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Come comment on this article: How to turn off Facebook Home and go back to your stock launcher

The Porsche 356 is one of those rare cars that has the ability to put a smile on the face of all those who view it. By today’s standards these cars are considered to be “cute”, but when first released back in the late 1940′s they were at the pinnacle of the performance envelope. This particular car is a 1962 Porsche 356 B Super cabriolet, and it’s one of the more striking cars we’ve come across. Finished in its original factory? Smyrna green paint over brown leather seats, visually the car is just stunning. It’s also one of the more documented 356′s out there. Having covered 125,000 miles and still retaining the original tool kit with Porsche-inscribed wrenches, this is a car that is sure to make a perfect addition to any Porsche collection. Check out more photos after the jump or go directly to the eBay ad below.

Source: eBayMotors.com

Pinterest announced Monday that the company’s app will start coming pre-loaded on all Nook tablets, along with social apps like Twitter and Facebook. The partnership comes as Pinterest works to build its influence with businesses and has expanded to integrate with other products like Microsoft’s Bing image search results.

Ben Silbermann, CEO, Pinterest RoadMap 2012 (c) 2012 Pinar Ozger [email protected]

Nook representatives noted in the press release that Pinterest had been one of the most-requested apps for the Nook store, which allows customers to download games and social apps. Pinterest also fits with some other features of the new tablets Barnes & Noble introduced last fall: An improved magazine- and catalog-reading experience, and a “rip out the page” feature that lets users save pages from catalogs and magazines to a digital scrapbook.

Pinterest, long known for its innovative design, has been growing rapidly over the past few years, and just took in $200 million in a new round of financing  that puts that company’s valuation at $2.5 billion. A February Pew report estimated that about 15 percent of online adults use Pinterest, and the company has been stepping up efforts to provide businesses with analytics tools and specific landing pages just for them. Last week, Bing announced that users would now be able to pin images directly from the search function to Pinterest.

In February Barnes & Noble reported that Nook revenues for the third quarter were down 26 percent to $316 million, even though the company released two new tablets during the year. The company said it expects Nook Media, which it spun off as its own segment last year, to bring in revenues of $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2013.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• The state of cross-platform media measurement
• Social media in Q1: commerce and discovery dominated