Category: News

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Death is certainly something that comes suddenly and without notice for us humans, making the management of items such as profiles and different accounts a nightmare to manage for loved ones. Fortunately, Google has thought about the tedious process that the masses will have to deal with, so it is trying to make things easier for us by implementing the Inactive Account Manager. Basically what it does is by accessing your Google Account settings, users can instruct Google on what to do with Gmail messages and data from other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason. Think of it like this— if you’re dead, then your account probably won’t be accessed after a certain number of months, so data from the different services can be deleted automatically or accessed by a secondary contact. Sweet.

Let’s just hope that some of you out there don’t have too many incriminating items that can be revealed once you hit the afterlife.

source: Google Public Policy Blog

Come comment on this article: Google launches its Inactive Account Manager, aims to make your digital afterlife as peaceful as possible

Earlier this March CNET and others reported that Twitter had acquired a music app called We Are Hunted and was set to launch a standalone iOS music app this year. While we still haven’t seen a music app, the company called We Are Hunted has now confirmed that it was acquired by Twitter and is working on a new project for its new parent.

The company’s homepage now explains that the service is shutting down, and what that means for users:

“We will continue to create services that will delight you, as part of the Twitter team. There’s no question that Twitter and music go well together. Artists turn to Twitter first to connect with fans, and people share and discover new songs and albums every day. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on at Twitter.”

We Are Hunted declined to explain further what that venture with Twitter might be, and Twitter has not yet responded with any comment on the acquisition.

But Twitter is clearly focused on building out multimedia apps and content, with both the improvement of Twitter cards earlier this month, advertising deals focused around video content, and launch of the standalone video app Vine earlier this year.

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The furor over Google Reader’s eminent demise, while quieter, is by no means over. Today, Digg pours gasoline on the fire, by publishing results from a survey about subscription habits. Late last month, the social news site announced intentions to build its own RSS solution. The company made the task the number one priority and immediately began asking for feedback. Among the 17,000 people who signed up to help shape the product, 8,000 returned surveys.

Keep in mind this is a self-selected group of people most likely to use RSS and doesn’t really represent the habits of most Internet users. Results show that “80 percent of respondents check Google Reader many times a day, and 40 percent follow more than 100 feeds”. In addition, more than 75 percent of the respondents say they use Google Reader for both work and play and the the most popular response to question “If there’s one thing you could remove from Google Reader what would it be”? is “nothing”.

Digg is working furiously to use this data to build the new app, but warns that “we’ll need to make sure we have some serious infrastructure in place to support that kind of usage for launch”. However, the social service also cautions that every capability may not be in place at the time of the beta launch, though it gives no timeframe for that introduction.

Digg isn’t alone filling the void Reader’s imminent demise will leave. Feedly received 500,000 new users in the days following Google’s death notice, while other services, like The Old Reader, have simply come close to unusable in the wake.

Google has simply shot itself in the foot with this move — the market was there, but the company foolishly thinks that the elimination of Reader will somehow force more users to the Google+ social network in order to scan news. However, the services are not related and Google has only alienated customers and created a feeling of distrust among its once-faithful base.

Photo Credit: NinaMalyna/Shutterstock

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The PC market might be a hot mess right now, but anyone using a Windows machine for data analysis might be rejoicing a bit thanks to a new Excel add-on called GeoFlow. It’s a tool for visualizing geospatial and temporal data, a use case that’s only going to become more common as the internet of things becomes more real and sensors make when and where are as critical as how much.

And now, if you have up to a million rows of these types of data and are on a newish Windows machine, GeoFlow will let you plot the data over Bing Maps. The visualizations actually look pretty good, and time lapse capabilities are always good when time is a variable.

I also like Microsoft’s focus on using the tool for storytelling, citing the ability to share findings through “cinematic, guided video tours.” Even though visualizations are getting much better, more impressive and interactive — especially online — telling a good story with complex data is still pretty difficult.

Of course, GeoFlow is only in Preview mode, so it’s possible there are kinks to work out. And, who knows, maybe early users will roundly dismiss it.

One of California ISO’s massive control rooms

But it’s definitely trying to solve an increasingly important problem — something you can see at a far greater scale in the work the California ISO is doing with a startup called Space-Time Insight. Other startups — like TempoDB and SpaceCurve (see disclosure)– are even dedicated to building databases to address the oncoming deluge of this data.

GeoFlow actually comes from much larger-scale project, too, for what it’s worth. In a Microsoft Research blog post on Thursday, the company talks about its roots as part of the Worldwide Telescope project that let users explore a high-resolution, interactive map of the universe.

Disclosure: Reed Elsevier, the parent company of science publisher Elsevier, is an investor in SpaceCurve as well as Giga Omni Media, the company that publishes GigaOM.

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Checking Facebook on the move is a great way to keep in touch with friends and keep up to date with what is going on. But when you are moving about you will invariably hit an area where there is poor signal, and you find that the official Facebook app can be a little on the slow side even at the best of times. oStream offers a possible solution by synchronizing your contents so it is available for offline reading.

Even for those who will own up to being addicted to Facebook, the official Facebook app is far from being without problems. It can be slow and cumbersome to use, awkward to navigate — generally a bit of a pain. In addition to making your newsfeed available offline, oStream also has the added benefit of running much more quickly that the Facebook app — or many popular alternatives for that matter.

The speed is at least in part due to the fact that synchronization takes place automatically in the background. Every 5 and 60 minutes different elements of your account download so the moment you fire up the app your news feed is available to read. If you are concerned about data charges, you can opt to only have synchronization take place over a wifi connection.oStream does not restrict you to passively consuming Facebook. Should you feel the urge to post a comment, want to update your status, or fancy sharing a photo, you can go through the motions even when you do not have a connection available. As soon as you are online your post, comment or photo will be uploaded for the world to see.

While it is unlikely that oStream will become your default app for accessing Facebook — it is lacking a number of features that many people will find important such as messaging, support for events and page administration — but it is something that is certainly very handy to have installed for those times when a connection is simply not available.

oStream is currently in beta and can be downloaded free of charge from Google Play.

The last information we heard about the fabled X Phone’s release date had it pegged for  July. Unfortunately, that release date appears to have been pushed back to at least August, but it could possibly be even later before we see the device. The device is reportedly still in the early prototype phase, so it just wouldn’t be ready for a mid-summer release. Unfortunately, this probably means we won’t see it at Google I/O, either, but I suppose it’s best for Google and Motorola to put out a device that can storm the holiday season instead of rushing something out the door that doesn’t live up to Google’s standards.

source: Phone Arena

Come comment on this article: Motorola X Phone release date pushed back a few months

Yuchan Lee — cofounder of the marketing software company Unica, which sold to IBM for about $480 million in 2010 — has joined the Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners as an entrepreneur in resident. Most recently, Lee served as the vice president and general manager of IBM’s Enterprise Marketing Management Group.

PRESS RELEASE:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Apr 11, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — General Catalyst Partners, a Cambridge, Mass. and Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm that makes early stage and growth equity investments, announced today that Unica co-founder and former IBM executive, Yuchun Lee, is joining the company as a partner in its Entrepreneur in Residence (XIR) Program, focused on software opportunities. XIRs at General Catalyst are proven entrepreneurs who play leadership roles in transforming high growth businesses and in this role, Lee will work closely with the firm’s growth equity team to identify and build technology based companies with a focus on enterprise software and data analytics. Lee joins other exceptional entrepreneurs in the XIR program including Paul Verrochi, Rob Gierkink, Charlie Baker, Tad Elmer, Chris Heim and Dan Mayleben.

Prior to General Catalyst, Lee served as vice president and general manager of IBM’s Enterprise Marketing Management Group, with a global responsibility focusing on the needs of Chief Marketing Officers. He joined IBM in 2010 as part of its acquisition of Unica, a company that Lee co-founded to meet the needs of marketers seeking to embrace technology to reach new customers. As Unica’s CEO since its inception in 1992, Lee’s vision and strategy guided the company through a successful IPO in 2005 and ultimately to its acquisition by IBM.

“Yuchun has a superb breadth of experience successfully leading companies and organizations at all different stages in their lifecycle – from a bootstrapped startup through its high-growth phase and to IPO, and through its acquisition by IBM. With a career leading technology-based organizations spanning nearly thirty years, he brings invaluable knowledge and perspective to our firm, and we’re honored to have him as our partner,” said David Fialkow, managing director and co-founder of General Catalyst Partners.

A respected thought leader in technology and marketing, Lee serves on the board of Vertex Pharmaceutical VRTX -0.02% and is a frequent speaker at industry events. He also co-authored the book “Solving Data Mining Problems Through Pattern Recognition,” and wrote a chapter for the Inside The Minds Books Series titled, “The DNA of Smart Business Growth.”

“The impact of empowered consumers and key software technologies are fundamentally and rapidly altering businesses and their industries. This is something that General Catalyst is intimately familiar with, having led investments in companies like HubSpot, Datalogix and GoodData. Joining the General Catalyst team gives me a platform where I can leverage my operating skills and domain expertise to help entrepreneurs take advantage of this opportunity and scale their businesses effectively,” said Lee. “General Catalyst has built an amazing ecosystem, a talented team of proven leaders and a roster of investments that are transforming their respective industries, and I’m truly excited to be a part of it.”

Prior to founding Unica, Lee held senior-level positions with Digital Equipment Corporation and M.I.T.’s Lincoln and Media Labs. He holds both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from M.I.T. and a Master of Business Administration degree from Babson College.

About General Catalyst Partners

General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that makes early stage and growth equity investments. General Catalyst Partners invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries. Founded in 2000, General Catalyst Partners leverages its principals’ extensive operational, business development and technological expertise to provide portfolio companies with a catalyst for success through business-building and partnership development assistance. General Catalyst has offices in Cambridge, MA and Palo Alto, CA. For more information, visit: www.generalcatalyst.com or https://twitter.com/gcvp

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Adapx, a Seattle-based company whose software aims to speed data capture and collaboration by turning natural speech, sketch, and handwriting into actionable data in Microsoft Office and other back-end systems, has raised $3 million from existing investors OVP Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Pelion Ventures, and Northwest Tech Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE:

Adapx today announced that it has completed $3 million in additional funding to continue the fast growth and adoption of Capturx data capture solutions in mobile worker industries such as Oil & Gas. All of the existing Adapx venture capital investors — OVP Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Pelion Ventures, and Northwest Tech Ventures — participated in the new round.

Oil & Gas leaders such as Kinder Morgan, Chevron, and Finning rely on Capturx to get instant access to data in the field captured on tablets or on paper using digital pens. Adapx has become a recognized leader in the Oil & Gas industry with such recent honors as winning the NACE “Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award” for improving Pipeline Integrity Assessments and invitations to make formal presentations at such leading industry events as the Gas & Oil Expo and the Oil & Gas Asset Integrity Management Conference.

With Capturx Oil & Gas Solutions, integrity teams can automate their field data capture and get instant visibility to data collected in the field using tablets or digital pens and standard paper forms without the costs and delays of paper handling and transcription. Data recorded by pen or tablet on custom forms can be instantly sent back to HQ for immediate analysis, action, and documentation for compliance.

“Oil & Gas teams need fast and reliable ways to capture and share data from the field,” said Ken Schneider, CEO of Adapx. “They join other customers worldwide using Capturx to document a range of processes from health assessments to delivery of food aid in Africa.”

Learn more online: http://www.adapx.com/solutions/oil-gas

About Adapx: Capturx Software from Adapx speeds data capture and collaboration by turning natural speech, sketch, and handwriting into actionable data in Microsoft Office, SharePoint, CRM, ERP, GIS, C2, C4ISR systems and many other back-end systems. By simply speaking and writing, teams get instant access to structured data collected on paper, touchscreens, mobile devices, and wall displays. A range of enterprises and agencies speed workflows and reduce risk by using Capturx to bypass data transcription from paper and cumbersome keyboard- and menu-driven interfaces. Adapx has strategic relationships with Microsoft, ESRI, In-Q-Tel, and works with standard digital pen technology from Anoto.

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President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Nicole Hockley and families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., in the Oval Office, April 11, 2013.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today, the Senate voted to move a step closer toward considering legislation that will help reduce gun violence. Shortly after the vote, President Obama made a call to family members of the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Press Secretary Jay Carney said in this morning’s press briefing that "the President congratulated the families on this important step forward, noting that the bipartisan progress would not have been possible without their efforts. He reiterated that much work remains, and pledged to continue fighting for the votes they deserve."

The families are currently here in Washington, D.C. to ask Congress to pass common-sense measures to reduce gun violence.

President Obama is calling on all everyone who wants to prevent future tragedies like the one that happened at Sandy Hook to stand up and make their voices heard.

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Novaliqu GmbH, a Heidelberg, Germany-based drug delivery company, has raised $18.1 million in its fifth round of financing from the investment company of SAP cofounder Dietmar Hopp. Altogether, the company has raised $35.2 million from investors.

PRESS RELEASE:

HEIDELBERG, Germany–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Novaliq GmbH, a drug delivery company with a focus on the efficacious topical application of poorly soluble drugs, today announced the successful completion of a fifth round of financing of €13.9m ($18.1m). Since 2007, the company has raised €27.1m ($35.2m).

“Novaliq is building an entirely new class of topical drugs for ophthalmic indications, including dry eye, which have the capability to offer compelling alternatives to current products. We are delighted to further invest in Novaliq, with its pioneering ocular drug delivery technology and strong management team”
Financing was again secured exclusively from the investment company of SAP, co-founder Dietmar Hopp’s Dievini Hopp Bio Tech Holding GmbH & Co. KG. With the new funds, the company intends to advance its lead projects into the medical device field to approval, progress its pharmaceutical project CyclASol™ into clinical development, and extend its technology platform.

Dievini is an active investor in life and health sciences companies focusing on innovative therapeutics and diagnostics facilitating novel treatment regimens that will ultimately allow doctors to treat patients with life-threatening diseases better and safer than they can today.

“Novaliq is building an entirely new class of topical drugs for ophthalmic indications, including dry eye, which have the capability to offer compelling alternatives to current products. We are delighted to further invest in Novaliq, with its pioneering ocular drug delivery technology and strong management team,” said Mathias Hothum, Managing Director of Dievini Hopp.

Novaliq GmbH is a drug delivery company developing a superior generation of ocular formulations for poorly soluble drugs. Its patented ocular formulations are based on semifluorinated alkanes (SFAs), which can be easily applied in the form of topical eye drops. A new generation of both prescription and consumer ocular products is possible through the unique and proprietary properties of SFAs as a delivery vehicle.

Novaliq’s strategy is to establish a portfolio of consumer and prescription products in the field of evaporative dry eye disease. These products are intended to cover unmet needs, with one major advantage being they will be preservative free.

“We are pleased about the ongoing confidence and support from our investor in order to systematically develop the company with our technology platform. Our leading prescription product, CyclASol, is the first Cyclosporine A solution for dry eye disease, while other products are based on emulsions, containing potentially irritating surfactants,” said Bernhard Günther, CEO of Novaliq.

This proprietary SFA product is based on the EyeSol™ technology, provided preservative-free in multidose units. The absence of irritating surfactants and preservatives leads to improved tolerability and convenience.

About Novaliq GmbH

Novaliq is a drug delivery company whose goal is to develop innovative pharmaceutical formulations. Its patented semifluorinated alkanes (SFAs) can be used in various routes of administration for the transport of drugs or oxygen for therapeutic purposes. Based on its unique physicochemical properties, Novaliq currently develops innovative ophthalmic formulations, as well as solutions for organ preservation, and has several product candidates with excellent market potential in various stages of development.

The post Novaliq Raises $18.1 Million from Investment Company of SAP Co-founder Dietmar Hopp appeared first on peHUB.

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg launched Fwd.us in a Washington Post opinion piece Thursday, a new group that is lobbying for a new approach to immigration in the U.S. He is joined by some Silicon Valley power houses — John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Dropbox’s Drew Houston and scores of others, including many Facebook alumni. In a carefully crafted piece for our capital city’s home paper, Zuckerberg told the story of his family. He talks about U.S. being left behind. Bring out the violins!

FWD.us is an organization started by key leaders in the tech community to promote policies to keep the United States and its citizens competitive in a global economy—including comprehensive immigration reform and education reform.

I admire that Zuckerberg and his merry band of do-gooders for embarking on this quest. I also respect the idea of education reform and applaud the leadership position this group is taking here. And I also applaud the efforts the group will devote to science and innovation.

However, what I hate is the focus put on a specific immigration issue; but I am getting ahead of myself. This is from an op-ed currently on the FWD.us website:

The economy of the last century was primarily based on natural resources, industrial machines and manual labor. It was an economy where many of these resources were zero sum and controlled by companies. If someone else had an oil field, then you did not. There are only so many oil fields, and there is only so much wealth that can be created from them for society. Today’s economy is very different. It is primarily based on knowledge and ideas — resources that are renewable and available to everyone.

Yup, ideas and knowledge are renewable and available. But do they lay the bricks for the data centers that house Facebook’s servers? Do “ideas” — as Zuckerberg & Co describe — actually build the dams that in turn produce the electricity that helps you poke Mark? The food on your plate, it too is just bits and bytes?

Yup, those things don’t need people. They crop up magically. No natural resources, no machines, no manual labor, just …. ideas and knowledge!

What that snippet from FWD.us tells me that when it comes to our Silicon Valley leadership, there is a disconnect in understanding the real world that exists beyond the browser or the mobile phone. We don’t do empathy and human interactions very well in the Valley, especially companies whose raison d’être is social and people. You know, like Facebook.

The problem with this effort is that many of those leaders live in a bubble that is of their own making and have little interaction with the real world. The fact is that any immigration reform needs to dovetail with the domestic reality of the 21st century America. In order to change the world and wanting new policies, there needs to be a deeper understanding of the world around us.

The Flyover Nation

Between Sand Hill Road and Wall Street lies a big country that is going to bear the brunt of the coming connected age. Sorry Mark, but in the age of data, Facebook is Standard Oil and you are Rockefeller. And unfortunately, you have the data and we don’t. If we did, there would be naked transparency on data and privacy from Facebook. But I am digressing again.

Any immigration debate has to start with the education and re-education of the American workforce. With the coming connected age and continued proliferation of technology into our physical world, we are beginning to see disruption and massive displacement on a large scale. We don’t have the mechanisms in place to train people for this quantified society, where data looks to become the ultimate arbiter. How can we have any talk of immigration and a knowledge economy that doesn’t acknowledge that there is a silent desperation outside of Silicon Valley and New York and Washington, D.C.?

People talk about robot-helpers and an army of drones, but I don’t hear how the factory workers and farmers will actually learn how to use them, as well as tame the data these gizmos will throw up and then will put it to work. What is going to happen to millions of people who will be replaced by those drones and robots? After all, they are as much a part of the capitalist food chain that makes the world go around. Damn … if we are going to continue to be an innovation economy, then it has to be about more than a couple of million people.

The Invisibles

Now let’s talk about immigration issues, because when I see FWD.us and the focus of its charter, I see the same old self-serving argument the technology industry serves up when it comes to immigration reform. In my years of writing about technology, I have seen pretty much the same argument made every single time — just change the billionaire or the company clamoring for this change.

Every discussion is about getting startup visas, or visas for engineers and knowledge workers and experts and how we need to get these people to stay in the U.S. after they are done with college. Let’s not trivialize the challenges facing our society and the reality of immigration and job creation in today’s world.

As an immigrant, I see any such discussion as limited. We can’t have a discussion about immigration reform unless we talk about other immigrants — the invisibles who do a lot of the work in the offices of Facebook and Yahoo, but never get invited to the IPO party or are handed an iPhone. How can we have a lobby group which has no representation from those people? Instead we have this:

Across America, creative, hardworking people in coffee shops, dorm rooms and garages are creating the next era of growth. Let’s embrace our future as a knowledge economy and help them — and all of us — reach our full potential.

If Mark and others really cared deeply about immigration reform on a holistic level then the conversation would involve a whole lot of other people — members of non-engineering and non-technology corps. So, no, I don’t buy that just because an immigrant works on an algorithm make her more important.

I know, because I am one. Perhaps FWD.us and Zuckerberg should start actually learning about the whole and real problem: a society disrupted in connected age.

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Local Corporation, an Irvine, Calif.-based online media company, has entered into a definitive agreement with The Tail Wind Fund to sell $5 million in convertible subordinated notes and warrants to purchase common stock. The proceeds will be used for general working capital.

PRESS RELEASE:

Local Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM), a leading online local media company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with The Tail Wind Fund Ltd., as lead investor, to sell $5 million in convertible subordinated notes and warrants to purchase common stock. The proceeds are to be used for general working capital.

“It allows us to improve our liquidity and fund our key growth initiatives.”
The convertible subordinated notes bear interest at 7 percent per year and are convertible into shares of Local Corporation’s common stock at $2.01 per share, representing a 14.2 percent premium to the company’s closing price on April 9, 2013. In connection with the sale of the convertible notes, the company also issued to the investors warrants to purchase 746,268 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $2.01 per share. The convertible notes mature on April 11, 2015. The warrants are exercisable through April 11, 2018.

“This investment represents a welcome endorsement of our long-term strategy, which is dedicated to sustaining strong revenue and earnings growth through building competitive advantages in the markets we serve,” said Heath Clarke, Local Corporation chairman and CEO. “It allows us to improve our liquidity and fund our key growth initiatives.”

“We believe that Local Corporation is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing revenue opportunities within the local online advertising market,” said Daniel Nye, Portfolio Manager for CIM Investment Management Ltd., the fund manager of The Tail Wind Fund Ltd. “We are looking forward to the company’s future growth opportunities and continued success.”

Merriman Capital, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX:MERR) acted as lead Placement Agent and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE MKT:LTS) assisted on the transaction.

About Local Corporation

Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) is a leading online local media company that connects brick-and-mortar businesses with over a million online and mobile consumers each day using a variety of innovative digital marketing products. To advertise, or for more information, visit: http://localcorporation.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Words or expressions such as ‘anticipate,’ ‘believe,’ ‘estimate,’ ‘plans,’ ‘expect,’ ‘intend,’ ‘project,’ ‘forecast,’ ‘potential,’ ‘feel’ and similar expressions and phrases are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited to, our advertising partners paying less revenue per click and revenues to us for our search results, our ability to purchase advertising from third parties to drive users to our sites, our ability to adapt our business following the shifts in our monetization partners, our ability to monetize the Local.com domain, including at a profit, our ability to retain a monetization partner for the Local.com domain and other web properties under our management that allows us to operate profitably, our ability to develop, market and operate our local-search technologies, our ability to market the Local.com domain as a destination for consumers seeking local-search results, our ability to realize the expense savings from our recently announced cost savings measures, our ability to comply with our debt covenants, our ability to raise additional funds when needed and on terms that are acceptable to us, our ability to grow our business by enhancing our local-search services, including through businesses we acquire, the integration and future performance of our Spreebird business and our Krillion business, the possibility that the information and estimates used to predict anticipated revenues and expenses associated with the businesses we acquire are not accurate, difficulties executing integration strategies or achieving planned synergies, the possibility that integration costs and go-forward costs associated with the businesses we acquire will be higher than anticipated, our ability to successfully expand our sales channels for new and existing products and services, our ability to increase the number of businesses that purchase our advertising products, our ability to expand our advertiser and distribution networks, our ability to integrate and effectively utilize our acquisitions’ technologies, our ability to develop our products and sales, marketing, finance and administrative functions and successfully integrate our expanded infrastructure, as well as our dependence on major advertisers, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Unless otherwise stated, all site traffic and usage statistics are from third-party service providers engaged by the company.

Our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequently filed Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.

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They say nothing is certain but death and taxes. Google has experience avoiding the latter and wants you to plan for the former. While I can only assume that Google would prefer you stick around and use its services and click on the ads for as long as possible, the company has a Plan B. Despite the incredible attempts being made by both medical science and Ray Kurzweil, the search giant goes in another direction. Instead of memorializing you online as some sites allow you to plan for, Google prefers you simply plan what happens to your account when the Grim Reaper comes calling.

The company has released a new settings page so you choose what happens when your account becomes inactive. While Google will not actually come out and use the word “death”, it certainly does an excellent job implying that this is what is meant — perhaps the company did not consult with Mr. Kurzweil, its director of engineering and author of the book The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About the Future.

Google’s new settings page provides a number of options, including, first and foremost, an alert system to let you know your account has become inactive — you know, just in case you have not “moved on”. The alert can be set to message you by either email or text before phase two kicks in — handy for those who opt to be buried with their phones. As the company puts it “there are many situations that might prevent you from accessing or using your Google account”.

If the worst has come to pass then you can also choose what happens from that point on. Customers can add contacts whom they wish to be notified regarding the fact that their Google account is no longer active, share data with those included on the list and even set the account to be deleted on their behalf. The page claims “using Inactive Account Manager, you can decide if and when your account is treated as inactive, what happens with your data and who is notified”.

It is a sad, but inevitable need that Google is filling with this new service. Perhaps the company and Kurzweil could devote more time to circumventing this need than preparing for it. This may be a bit more important than self-driving cars and glasses that shoot video.

Photo Credit: Fer Gregory/Shutterstock

Jay-Z has been in the headlines a lot this week for more than one reason. Reports came out that he was looking to divest his ownership share of the Brooklyn Nets. His trip (with Beyonce) to Cuba has also been talked about a lot in on political sites.

The couple took a trip to the country to celebrate their anniversary. Senator Marco Rubio said the cuban government was using the trip for “propaganda purposes”. He put out a statement saying the Obama Administration should “clarify its enforcement policy on Americans that travel to cuba:

“U.S. law clearly bans tourism to Cuba by American citizens because it provides money to a cruel, repressive and murderous regime. Since their inception, the Obama Administration’s ‘people to people’ cultural exchange programs have been abused by tourists who have no interest in the Cuban people’s freedom and either don’t realize or don’t care that they’re essentially funding the regime’s systematic trampling of people’s human rights.

“According to recent news reports, Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Cuba trip, which the regime seized on for propaganda purposes, was fully licensed by the Treasury Department. If true, the Obama Administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba and it should disclose how many more of these trips they have licensed.”

Well, Jay-Z has responded to critics with a song called “Open Letter,” which is available on SoundCloud:

Jay-Z mentions Obama in the song, but the White House is distancing itself from the whole thing, saying the President had nothing to do with the trip.

Altus Capital Partners, a Wilton, Conn.-based middle market private equity firm, has appointed Heidi Goldstein to the position of principal. Goldstein joined the firm in 2006 and served most recently as a vice president.

PRESS RELEASE:

Altus Capital Partners, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm focused on niche middle market manufacturing companies in the U.S., today announced it has named Heidi Goldstein as Principal. Ms. Goldstein has been a member of Altus Capital since March 2006, most recently as Vice President, and has been actively involved in many of the successful investments made by the firm during that period.

Russell J. Greenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, said, “Heidi’s much-deserved promotion is in recognition of her fine work and many accomplishments. As Principal, I know that she will continue to make important contributions to Altus Capital in the years ahead as we continue to build the firm and create growth opportunities for our portfolio companies.”

Ms. Goldstein has over 15 years’ combined experience in private equity, debt financing and high yield investments. She joined Altus Capital from GE Antares Capital, where she participated in the underwriting and portfolio management of leveraged transactions. Earlier, she worked in the private equity and the high yield investment group at Dilmun Investments, Inc., the U.S.-based investment advisor of Bahrain International Bank. Ms. Goldstein serves on the Board of Directors of International Imaging Materials, Inc., an Altus Capital portfolio company. She earned a BS in Finance at the University of Connecticut.

About Altus Capital Partners

Based in Wilton, CT with an office in Lincolnshire, IL, Altus Capital Partners, Inc. invests alongside management in profitable small to medium-sized manufacturing companies based in the U.S. that have proprietary technologies, processes and products. The Altus investment team is led by three partners who, in 17 years of successfully investing together, have acquired 23 platform companies.

For more information on Altus, please visit www.altuscapitalpartners.com.

SOURCE: Altus Capital Partners

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