Category: News

Google is really onto something with Street View, and the company is really just getting started, now that it’s got the Trekker out on missions. Still, while Google has had a tremendous amount of outdoor imagery for quite sometime, the indoor imagery is a more recent endeavor, and as we’re seeing, Google is taking us inside all kinds of interesting places.

Reddit user RMartinChi pointed out this abandoned shark museum in Japan that Google lets you virtually walk through. Here are a few shots from within:

Also spotted on reddit: Google Maps Street View Captures Couple Having Sex On The Side Of The Road.

Earlier this week Austin learned that it would get a gigabit network provided by Google with the first customer getting online around the middle of 2014. One of the best parts for the startup community is that Google will also have a small business option, meaning that entrepreneurs will have a chance to get their hands on a gig as well. Judging by an informal survey of locals, most can’t wait.

I asked several people in town for their reaction and thoughts on the news, and I’ve collected the responses here. Here’s what Austin businesses are saying about Google Fiber:

Luis Esteban Caffesse, co-founder of the video production shop Pitch Productions, can’t wait to watch Netflix while uploading client videos after hours:

I can tell you this — the single biggest bottleneck in my work everyday is my internet speed. It’s not my productivity, it’s not my computer’s render times. It is simply the amount of time it takes me to get video content to my clients. Having something with the kind of speed that Google Fiber offers can make the difference between hitting a deadline or not… or between getting a client a copy of their video today or tomorrow.

Internet service is the ONE service in my life that I am more than willing to pay for… but there simply isn’t anything fast enough, even if there were someone willing to take our money.

Brazos Hall in Austin where Google made its announcement.

Joshua Baer, the executive director of the Capital Factory incubator and Chief Innovation Officer at Return Path, is looking forward to the day he can stop waiting on the network to catch up to today’s hardware and software:

To geeks and creatives, having a fast internet connection is right up there with a big monitor and a nice chair. It’s one of the most important factors in job satisfaction and productivity for knowledge workers. At Capital Factory we have one of the fastest Internet connections around. It’s half as fast as Google Fiber and costs $4,000/month compared to $70/month for Google Fiber.

There are three direct benefits Austin will see from Google Fiber. One, Google Fiber will attract more talented workers and innovative entrepreneurs. Two, companies will choose to launch innovative new products in Austin where the market is most receptive and consumers have the infrastructure needed. This means more marketing dollars spent in Austin, more press and attention, and early access to technology for our residents. And finally, the next generation of technology that takes advantage of this new infrastructure will be conceived and developed in Austin.

Austin streets during SXSW 2013.

Kyle Fox, the director of the Austin Technology Incubator‘s IT and Wireless Portfolios, thought more about the bigger picture of a gigabit:

Google Fiber replaces MoPac as Austinites’ quickest route to work. We could no longer have a work commute, nor would we have to wait at the doctor’s office. This will dramatically change how we as humans interact with each other and with the core infrastructure we interact with on a daily basis.

Zach Richardson, a co-founder and CTO at the Daily Dot, an online publication based in Austin, thinks it will make his staff more productive and help recruit developers to town:

Almost everything in my life is somehow connected: workout logging with Map My Fitness, scanned physical mail delivery with Outbox, or HD streaming for TV. Right now I can’t watch TV in HD (streaming) and do some of my work at home at the same time. I had already been looking at multiplexing UVerse and TimeWarner to squeeze a little bit more bandwidth at home.

For any tech-focused business, recruiting and finding talent is one of the hardest things to do. I regularly look at ways I can squeeze every little bit of productivity out of the already existing team we have. This means eliminating non-break idle time. Fast computers and good tools are a large part it, but one of the main bottlenecks (and hardest to solve) is internet speed. It will also help with recruiting in Austin. Engineers want to live and work where they can focus on code and solving interesting problems, not waiting on the internet.

I’d say that personally and professionally these people are excited. I am too.

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A week after the Securities and Exchange Commission clarified its rules to allow for public companies to use social media outlets to announce key company information, Netflix has already decided to take advantage of it and make it official.

On Wednesday, Netflix told investors via a regulatory filing that it plans to disclose material investor information via social media channels.

This includes Twitter, Facebook, and its own blogs. It specifically mentioned CEO Redd Hastings’ Facebook page as a source of possible disclosure, fitting since the whole controversy surrounding the SEC and social media disclosures began with Hastings.

Last week, the SEC concluded a report into the Facebook activities of Reed Hastings. Back in December of 2012, Hastings ran afoul of the SEC when he posted information to his Facebook page that the SEC deemed material. What he said was that Netflix had just topped 1 billion hours of streaming per month.

The SEC claimed that the Facebook post violated Regulation Fair Disclosure, as the material information didn’t appear in an official filing or a press release or some other form of traditional notification channel. Hastings hit back with a two-pronged approach. First, he didn’t think the post constituted “material” investor info. And second, and more importantly, social media is a proper channel for any sort of disclosures – especially his own page which sports over 260,000 followers, many of which are journalists.

The SEC eventually cleared Hastings of any wrongdoing and took the opportunity to update their own policies regarding social media disclosures. The new rules say that it’s fine, as long as the company makes it known to investors beforehand that they will be using the social accounts for such purposes.

Netflix, in its filing, makes that clear:

“The information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information…In light of the SEC’s guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the U.S. social media.”

[Wall Street Journal (paywall)]

Despite having “dragon” right in their name, Komodo dragons don’t, as first glance, appear to be extremely dangerous. However, as anyone who has ever played the video game Far Cry 3 could tell you, the large lizards can be quite dangerous and have poisonous, infectious bites.

This week, AFP is reporting that an 83-year-old woman on the Indonesian island of Rinca was attacked by a Komodo while sitting outside her house. The lizard reportedly bit her right hand and wrist as she was making a broom from a coconut tree. She screamed for help and kicked the Komodo, which then released her.

According to the AFP, the woman needed 35 stitched to close the wound on her arm. Though her hand was paralyzed after the incident, some movement has returned. Her wish is for the hand to heal so she can continue making brooms.

This is the latest in a series of recent Komodo dragon attacks that have hit Rinca Island. In February two Komodo National Park officers were hospitalized after a Komodo dragon infiltrated the park office and attacked them. In October 2012, another older woman on Rinca was attacked as she prepared fodder for her livestock.

(Image courtesy Spencer Weart/Wikimedia Commons)

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The server hall of a data center operated by CoreSite, which recently leased an entire build-to-suit building in Santa Clara.

It’s not every day you see a company lease an entire data center building in one shot. But that’s what CoreSite Realty has accomplished with its newest project in Silicon Valley, where it is nearing completion on a 101,250 square foot build-to-suit project that has been pre-leased by a single large customer.

The new building is part of the growing CoreSite campus in Santa Clara, the Valley’s leading data center hub. The lease was discussed by CoreSite CEO Thomas Ray on the company’s earnings call last month.

“On our Santa Clara campus, we expect to commence and complete SV5, the 100,000-square foot powered-shell build-to-suit,” said Ray. “This pre-leased development enables us to serve a strategic customer and accelerate the monetization of a portion of the land we own on the campus.”

In a powered shell property, the developer builds the structure and mechanical and electrical infrastructure, but the tenant builds out the data center environment. That differs from the wholesale model, in which the landlord builds the complete plug-and-play data center environment, including raised floor space. CoreSite said its construction costs on the project were $19 million, with projected annual rent of  $3.2 million a year.

Key Customer May Boost Campus

“We are helping a customer that’s very, very important to us across North America and just furthering and deepening a good relationship with that customer,” said Ray. “What we believe that customer will be doing on our campus will make the campus even more attractive to other networks and cloud service providers and enterprises.”

Santa Clara is one of the nation’s most competitive markets, with nearly all leading data center and colocation companies maintaining facilities. The CoreSite campus has space for two additional buildings, one currently approved for 210,000 square feet of development, and a second site that will support between 100,000 and 300,000 square feet. The company also leased a previous building on the campus to a single large tenant.

The deal continues the market momentum for CoreSite (COR), a publicly-held real estate investment trust (REIT) which has been one of the industry’s strongest performers on Wall Street, where its shares soared 55 percent in 2012 and added another 26 percent gain in the first quarter of 2013.

Silicon Valley isn’t the only major market where CoreSite is building, as the company has new projects underway in both northern Virginia and New Jersey.

• In Reston, Virginia, CoreSite is building a 200,000 square foot greenfield data center. The company says it will invest $60 million in the facility, commencing construction in the first half of 2013 and delivering finished customer space in early 2014.
• In Secaucus, New Jersey the company has purchased a 280,000 square foot building for a new data center, and expects to invest $65 million to buy the facility and  redevelop the initial phase of 65,000 square feet of data center space. NY2 will offer 4.5 megawatts of capacity in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Secaucus facility will be the company’s first data center in New Jersey. CoreSite has a site in New York City at 32 Avenue of the Americas, and the Secaucus facility will mark an important expansion into the suburban New Jersey market, which offers larger footprints for wholesale data center providers like CoreSite, as well as better economics than Manhattan.it

Secaucus vs. Central New Jersey

“We have high expectations for our NY2 expansion as we enter what we believe is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable submarkets in the U.S. for our targeted applications and customers,” said Ray.

Ray said CoreSite opted to build in Secaucus in northern New Jersey rather than central New Jersey, where three of its competitors in the wholesale market have built their data centers.

“Two of the leading colocation and IT services companies have experienced consistent, robust and highly profitable growth in Secaucus in the Meadowlands,” said Ray. “Additionally, the Secaucus submarket is the leading location in the region for financial services firms, and provides robust, diverse, low-latency network access to Manhattan. These factors differentiate the Secaucus area from the outer submarkets of Somerset and Middlesex counties, which offer the same cost of power but significantly longer and less diverse fiber routes to Manhattan and subsea cable landing stations, access to which is often a key requirement for performance-sensitive colocation applications. We see strong opportunity in Secaucus, and look forward to bringing our NY2 facility online at the end of this year.”

Those of you that own a Nexus 10 will be happy to know that official flip covers are finally available in the Google Play Store. You have your choice of Scarlet or Dark Grey, and they will run you $29.99 plus tax and shipping. Orders will take about 3 to 5 days to hit your doorstep so hit the source link to get started.

source: Google Play

Come comment on this article: Nexus 10 flip covers now available in the Google Play Store

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Teardown videos are a great resource if you want to repair (or hack) a phone yourself. TechnoBuffalo was able to obtain a video of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 getting torn apart, and it appears to be a lot easier to fix than the HTC One? There’s no question the build of the HTC One is of higher quality, but unfortunately the unibody design limits the ease of repair. While many knock Samsung for their quality of build (including myself), you can’t underestimate the importance of easy fixing. In fact, the source of the video said it’s one of the “most repairable smartphones.”

source: TechnoBuffalo

Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy S 4 teardown shows that it’s a lot easier to repair than the HTC One

After hearing much chatter about how bad the PC industry is doing, including some comments that Windows 8 is actually killing the PC market’s growth, it’s not surprising to see reports today that Microsoft is planning to build a 7-inch tablet. People familiar with Microsoft plans told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Microsoft will have new Surface hardware for sale by year end, with one model being a 7-inch tablet.

Anyone remember the UMPC?

If the report is true — and I suspect it is — this won’t actually be the first time we’ll see 7-inch slates running Microsoft Windows. I know because I still have a few old UMPCs, or ultra mobile portable computers, from a half-dozen years ago. Microsoft didn’t make the devices, but worked with hardware vendors to improve touch support for the operating system. Tablets hit the market from vendors such as TabletKiosk, OQO, Acer, Samsung and Asus to name a few. In fact, the Asus model ended up spawning the Eee PC netbook and starting a whole new market.

These small slates were chunky, only ran for three or four hours on a charge, and used inefficient resistive touchscreens. But there was niche appeal to geeks like me that valued mobility. I actually used a Samsung model paired with a 3G phone and folding Bluetooth keyboard as my primary computing device for months. Long before the tablets of today, I was able to get work done anywhere and I didn’t have to tote a large laptop with me. Remember, this was long before the light and thin laptops we have today.

What was wrong with those small slates

While the solution worked for me, it had definite downsides, many of which Microsoft is now in a position to overcome. Look at Microsoft’s Surface hardware and you’ll see great design in a thin package. Capacitive touchscreens have replaced junky resistive options. And instead of dealing with Windows XP crammed into a screen size it isn’t meant for, Microsoft’s Windows 8 touch interface could be a joy to use on a 7-inch tablet.

That last point may be the most important because the idea behind UMPCs are much the same as the tablets of today: a touch-friendly portable computer with access to hundreds of thousands of software titles. Microsoft and its hardware partners couldn’t deliver on that promise back in 2006, however. Hardware limitations were part of the problem, but the bigger issue was one of user experience: the Windows of yesteryear simply wasn’t designed for a low-resolution small screen.

The new Windows could address much of what was wrong with UMPCs

The “modern” — or what used to be called Metro — interface can work on a 7-inch tablet, however. That’s evidenced by Windows Phone 8, which uses the same interface on smartphones that are even smaller.

And that makes me think that a small Surface tablet has much to do with the Windows Blue effort, which is meant to bring more unification to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. It’s even possible that Microsoft will opt to use Windows Phone 8 for a small slate, given that it will support 1080p resolution screens in the future. That’s an outside chance, though: I’d expect the Surface RT software on a 7-inch tablet.

What took you so long, Microsoft?

If Microsoft does create a 7-inch Surface, I’ll surely be interested; after all, I’m a fan of the UMPC concept as well as an early evangelist for the 7-inch slate size. But it’s disappointing that Microsoft is only just now realizing what some of us did in 2010: there’s a potentially big market for small slates. Again, from the WSJ report:

” … 7-inch tablets weren’t part of the company’s strategy last year, but Microsoft executives realized they needed a response to the rapidly growing popularity of smaller tablets like Google Inc.’s 7-inch Nexus, which was announced last summer, and the 7.9-inch iPad Mini introduced by Apple Inc. last October.”

Microsoft had the right idea with UMPCs, but it didn’t tweak the user interface enough. Sure, the devices were expensive and built with typical PC hardware, not components optimized for tablets. That barrier is long gone now, though. Had Microsoft put some serious effort into its new touch interface in a small form factor Surface sooner, the tablet market — and maybe even the PC market — might look different today.

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TV station operator Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said it will buy Fisher Communications Inc. for about $373 million to expand its operations in western United States, Reuters reported. The offer values Fisher at $41 per share, a premium of 5 percent to the stock’s Wednesday closing price. It is 44 percent above the stock’s closing on Jan. 9, a day before Fisher, under pressure from billionaire investor Mario Gabelli, said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.

(Reuters) – TV station operator Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc said it will buy Fisher Communications Inc for about $373 million to expand its operations in western United States.

The offer values Fisher at $41 per share, a premium of 5 percent to the stock’s Wednesday closing price.

It is 44 percent above the stock’s closing on Jan. 9, a day before Fisher, under pressure from billionaire investor Mario Gabelli, said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.

Gabelli, the largest shareholder in the company with a 26.75 percent stake, had then told Reuters that he preferred a leveraged restructuring to an outright sale.

Seattle-based Fisher owns 20 television stations in eight markets and three radio stations. It runs CBS and ABC affiliates such as KPIC TV, KCBY TV and KATU TV.

Sinclair said it expects to finance the acquisition through cash on hand and debt. The company may also raise funds from capital markets.

The company said it would reach about 34 percent of U.S. television households following the Fisher acquisition.

Sinclair’s shares rose 3 percent to $22.48 in early trading on the Nasdaq. Trading in Fisher shares were halted.

The post Reuters – Sinclair Broadcast to Buy Fisher Communications appeared first on peHUB.

In general, the business community is obsessed with what Michael Lewis once termed the “new, new thing.” It’s that faith in a kind of kaizen-in-all-things that has led to innumerable technological, organizational, and social advances in the corporate world. It’s why factories are now safer, hybrid cars are cheaper, board rooms are growing gradually more diverse, and instant communication via email and other technologies is becoming the norm. Progress is good, and the business community has made real advances over the last 50-60 years.

But are there elements of mid-twentieth-century business culture that may be worth preserving? Reading responses to my recent posts on the benefits of reading and of writing personal notes, I was struck by how many commenters waxed nostalgic for these (as many called them) “old school” practices. There was a sense that while progress has been made, certain practices of mid-twentieth-century business culture merit a second look in the modern workplace. That got me thinking — beyond reading books and handwriting notes, what other “old school” office habits might be worth resurrecting? At least five suggestions came to mind:

1. Dress well. One of our enduring cultural fascinations is with yesteryear’s fashion — from Jackie Kennedy’s Camelot attire to Mad Men-style tailoring and taste. But business culture (particularly in the U.S.) has grown increasingly casual over the years. Given recent studies showing that dressing well is associated with professional success, perhaps it’s time to turn the table on that downward slide and revive of a culture of greater sophistication in office dress. This wouldn’t necessary mean growing more superficial, spending more money, or even relapsing into an era of bespoke three-piece suits. But it might mean trading Dwight Schrute for Don Draper once in a while and aspiring to an occasional concern for aesthetics.

2. Make meetings distraction-free. Many meetings — even in-person gatherings — have descended into overdrawn affairs in which the majority of participants are merely listening in between smartphone messages and iPad email alerts. In a recent study, half of the respondents admitted to checking their phones in meetings, a finding other studies have confirmed. But meetings work better when everyone isn’t dumbed down by distraction. Smart, modern workplaces, like Adaptive Path, have had to ban technology in meetings so that everyone acts as a full participant. Doing so can make meetings more focused and productive, and make presenters feel more respected. It can also shorten meeting length, as participants push for conclusion when they get bored rather than passing the time playing Angry Birds.

3. Lengthen lunch. The modern lunch break is an increasingly unhealthy affair. Many folks stay at their desks for lunch or quickly grab food on the go. That may be exactly the right approach some days for busy professionals looking to excel at work and find time for family after. But there may also be value to periodically taking longer, more leisurely lunch breaks. Experts claim that people who take lunch breaks are healthier and more productive. And finding time — even once or twice a week — for an overlong lunch with colleagues has the potential to create stronger relationships at work and make us healthier and more productive in the process.

4. Be punctual. It’s become too easy to run late. When we book time with others, we often think it perfectly appropriate to push meetings back so long as we text or email in advance to warn the other participants. And, indeed, this ability to communicate is helpful when we’re unavoidably detained. But there’s something to be said for old-fashioned punctuality. Sixty years ago, it was important to keep commitments because there was often little opportunity to reschedule on the fly. But even with the advent of always-on technologies, being on time is important. It keeps us focused. It generates a perception in others that we’re reliable. It shows respect for other people, and it can decrease the costly impact of wasted time. One study found that staff lateness costs the UK economy £9 billion per year. Perhaps old school punctuality can pay real and psychological dividends.

5. Take a real vacation. I recently took a trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the place I stayed had no cell phone reception. At first I panicked at the lack of phone and 4G access, but as I took time to kayak, jog along the water’s edge, and generally absorb my surroundings, I became grateful for the opportunity for my moment off-the-grid. Americans, South Koreans, and others are notoriously bad about taking vacation. Tony Schwartz and many others have written extensively about the benefits of taking vacations and disconnecting while doing so. But it bears repeating. If you left the office for a Caribbean beach trip in 1950, it was genuinely hard to stay in touch — no mail, phone calls, or email could reach you. Now it’s far too easy for vacations to be consumed with email communication and conference call interruptions. Treating every vacation like a 1950s vacation might help those who need to truly relax.

Modern business is right to push for progress, but there are always some things from past eras worth retaining. And while the business community should constantly strive for improvement, we should also take care to hold on to those practices of prior generations that made office life more effective, engaging, and fun.

Bill Gates’ first program may have been for tic-tac-toe, but the next generation of tech titans is getting a chance to learn coding by building projects that are even more creative – and colorful.

Over the past few months, Mountain View, Calif.-based Tynker has been piloting its visual programming language with about 25 elementary and middle schools in the Bay Area. On Thursday, the startup said it was opening up its product to teachers across the country.

Inspired by Scratch, a visual programming language developed at MIT, as well as SNAP!, another programming language based on Scratch and created at Berkeley, Tynker gives kids an engaging web-based way for learning the concepts behind coding.

That drag-and-drop approach, in which kids code by connecting colorful, digital blocks in a Lego-like way, was first developed by Scratch. The language launched in 2007 and has inspired an active community of young coders around the world (its website says kids around the world have created more than 3 million projects with Scratch).

“Today’s kids are exposed to so much technology – from the Internet to YouTube to Google to mobile technology – that the become passive consumers,” said Krishna Vedati, Tynker’s co-founder and CEO. “We want to make the active makers and creators.” The company, which launched in 20120, has raised $3.45 million in angel funding from investors including Felicis Ventures, 500 Startups, New School Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and GSV Capital.

Other companies have also built on the Scratch concept with visual programming languages intended to help kids learn or make coding more accessible to a wider audience, including Hopscotch, which takes a mobile app approach to teaching young students, and Google’s Blockly.

But Vedati said Tynker was built on HTML5 standards so that it can be used in any browser without needing Flash, and it added a physics engine and other programming concepts. He also said that instead of just providing kids with a visual language and an open playground for building, Tynker includes a tutoring system that guides students through the different concepts and it tests them along the way, with interactive puzzles.

“It understands where kids are in terms of proficiency and then gives them the next level of content,” he said.

Kids start with the basics – like learning how to make a cartoon dog walk 10 steps across the screen or how to make an animated butterfly follow the cursor.

But, over time, they can learn to construct stories, build games and interactive cards and create flower-like images based on fractals. As they move beyond elementary school and middle school, Vedati said, the program transitions them out of a visual programming language into traditional Javascript.

Given how little computer science education is offered in schools – according to the non-profit Code.org, less than 2 percent of students study programing and it’s not even offered at 90 percent of U.S. schools – Tynker is starting with the education market, not parents (although that will come later).  It has developed a curriculum, which it beta-tested with teachers already teaching basic programming. And it provides teachers with classroom management tools that enable them to monitor students’ progress, assign lessons and grade projects. Because it’s a cloud-based program, kids can work on projects at school and at home.

The standard product, which schools can use in dedicated computer science classes, after-school or lunch clubs or as part of math and science classes, is free to schools. It also offers a premium version that gives teachers access to advanced lesson plans and puzzles, the capability to view how entire classes, as well as individual students, are progressing, and a bigger media library for more extensive programs. While Vedati declined to provide specifics on pricing, he said it will be “well below” the $130 price tag of the average textbook and will depend on the number of seats purchased for a class.

“[It’s] a system that helps kids, in a guided way, to address the complexity of programming, so they can go from crawl to walk to run mode,” Vedati said.  “It takes into consideration how kids learn in a classroom and what happens outside of the classroom [so] they can explore their creativity and their own ideas.”

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Ann Arbor, Mich. – The U.S. Geological Survey awarded a contract last Friday for the construction of a large research vessel for Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior to Burger Boat Company of Manitowoc, Wis. 

The vessel will replace the 38-year-old Grayling, bringing the USGS Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) large vessel fleet up-to-date. The new Grayling will be stationed at the USGS base in Cheboygan, Mich., and will incorporate modern marine standards and state-of-the-art technology to more safely and effectively conduct fisheries research. 

“I am delighted to have achieved this important milestone that will benefit the Great Lakes region for many decades,” said USGS GLSC Director Russell Strach. “This investment would not have been possible without the support from many key partners. The new research vessel will come fully equipped with 21^st century laboratories and scientific instrumentation to support fishery science for the Great Lakes.” 

The funding for this expenditure was accrued from two prior appropriations and held in an account that was not affected by the sequester. 

The replacement vessel is expected to be a commercial grade 78-foot vessel, and will be designed and constructed for a 40 to 50-year service life. This vessel will be capable of performing critical scientific and mission-related tasks, including dragging nets along the lake bottom, catching fish, and using sound-waves to detect fish and assess their abundance.

“The entire Burger team is very excited to be awarded this significant contract,” said Jim Ruffolo, President and CEO of Burger Boat Company. “The Grayling will further reinforce Burger’s commitment to designing and constructing quality vessels that meet each owner’s specific requirements, whether they are custom yachts or commercial vessels.”

This new contract will create additional highly skilled shipbuilding jobs at the Manitowoc shipyard, and the project will help support numerous companies that supply raw materials and equipment for the project.

For over 50 years the USGS GLSC has operated a unique and valuable deepwater fish ecology and assessment program that is the foundation for fisheries management throughout the Great Lakes.

Burger, at 150 years old, is one of the world’s oldest shipyards. From its facility in Manitowoc, Wis., Burger’s craftsmen have built hundreds of high quality vessels as long as 260 feet (80 meters) that can be found in ports around the world. Today, Burger continues its legacy of designing and building vessels to the highest standard from its fully updated shipyard.

JMS Naval Architects of Mystic, Conn., developed the preliminary design of the new Grayling.

The USGS GLSC maintains a fleet of fishery research vessels on each of the Great Lakes to meet the scientific research needs of state, tribal, and federal resource managers for understanding and effectively managing the Great Lakes fishery.

For more information on the USGS GLSC, visit their website.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pulled the cover off his immigration reform group, outlining its position and naming its advocates in a Washington Post op-ed.

He starts off with an anecdote about a young, undocumented student that he teaches in an after-school class on entrepreneurship. The kid’s family is from Mexico, but he’s live in America basically his whole life. Zuckerberg recalls how the student relating his worries about being able to go to college, given his situation.

“These students are smart and hardworking, and they should be part of our future,” says Zuckerberg.

And with that, Zuckerberg announced FWD.us.

“I am proud to announce FWD.us, a new organization founded by leaders of our nation’s technology community to focus on these issues and advocate a bipartisan policy agenda to build the knowledge economy the United States needs to ensure more jobs, innovation and investment.”

And here some of those tech leaders that have joined Zuckerberg on the project:

Reid Hoffman, Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer, Drew Houston, Ron Conway, Chamath Palihapitiya, Joe Green, Jim Breyer, Matt Cohler, John Doerr, Paul Graham, Mary Meeker, Max Levchin, Aditya Agarwal and Ruchi Sanghvi.

“Today’s students should have the same opportunities – but our current system blocks them. We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world,” says Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg gives a basic outline of FWD.us’ agenda. He says that comprehensive immigration reform starts with effective border security and also allows a “path to citizenship” that lets America benefit from its best and brightest. He also calls for higher standards in schools and “investment in breakthrough discoveries in scientific research and assurance that the benefits of the inventions belong to the public and not just to the few.”

Not too specific on the goals thus far, but the message is clear: we have to start keeping the talent here, instead of letting it slip away to other countries.

Zuckerberg says that the group will “work with members of Congress from both parties, the administration and state and local officials. We will use online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes, and we will strongly support those willing to take the tough stands necessary to promote these policies in Washington.”

You can visit FWD.us, today, and connect via Facebook (surpirse, surprise). FWD.us’ landing page asks visitors to “join the tech community in passing immigration reform.”

Side-scrolling games are quite numerous nowadays and those that draw inspiration from classic experiences like Metroid or Castlevania are even bigger in number.

With Guacamelee, Drinkbox Studios wants to prove that such titles can borrow cues from older games but also feature a great experience that can impress without becoming overly nostalgic or by copying mecha… (read more)

The Samsung Galaxy Mega is official folks. As we previously reported, it will come in two sizes: The Galaxy Mega 5.8 and The Galaxy Mega 6.3.  Both of these are aimed at budget-conscious consumers who want a large phone.

The Galaxy Mega 5.8 will feature a 5.8-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, a 1.4GHz dual-core CPU, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory, microSD slot for expanded memory, 8MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera, and 2,600mAh battery. It will be 9mm thick and have HSPA+ 21Mbps connectivity. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 will have a 6.3-inch 720p (1280 x 720) LCD display, a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, 1.5GB of RAM, 8 or 16GB of storage, microSD slot for expanded storage, 8MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera, and 3,200mAh battery. It’s 7.9mm thick and will have support for LTE as well as HSPA+.

Some of these specs aren’t going to wow you, but both of these phones include really good batteries and IR blasters. They also sport Android 4.2, which means owners of these devices will get the same new features that are going to be on the Galaxy S 4. Most of you guys will baulk at the display resolution and CPU, but they are more than adequate for the average user. It will be interesting to see how successful these bad boys are.

Both devices will be available in May starting in Europe and Russia. No pricing was specified.

Full press release:

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY Mega

New GALAXY Mega offers the latest smartphone features with an extensive viewing experience.

SEOUL, Korea, April 11, 2013 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the Samsung GALAXY Mega, a device that combines the portability and convenience of a smartphone with the power, multitasking capabilities and extensive viewing experience of a tablet. The newest addition to the GALAXY family balances an optimal viewing experience on a 6.3-inch HD screen, yet is ultra-thin and portable enough to put into a pocket or hold in one hand. The GALAXY Mega offers a mix of popular smartphone and tablet features such as an effortless user experience, a split screen, multitasking between video and other apps and more.

“We are aware of a great potential in the bigger screen for extensive viewing multimedia, web browsing, and more,” said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Business, Samsung Electronics. “We are excited to provide another choice to meet our consumers’ varying lifestyles, all while maintaining the high-quality features of the award-winning GALAXY series.”

Best of Both Worlds
The GALAXY Mega is an ideal choice for customers who want to get the most out of one device that brings great quality at an even greater value. With a 6.3-inch HD LCD screen with landscape mode support, the GALAXY Mega enables an exceptional widescreen view for various applications including web browsing, video, and SNS.

The GALAXY Mega is also light and thin for incredible portability and easy, convenient mobile phone use. Customers can stay connected with a variety of new phone features including:

• ‘Group Play’: Enables easy content sharing for up to 8 devices on the same Wi-Fi network.
• ‘Samsung WatchON’: Transforms into an IR remote controller for a richer TV experience. Connect the device to your home entertainment system, and it will provide program recommendations, schedules, and even remotely control your TV.
• ‘Samsung Link’: Easily streams photos, videos, notes, or music to your television, tablet or computer.
• ‘S Translator’: Say or text what you need translated into the GALAXY Mega, and it will provide instant translation, using text or voice translation on applications including email, and ChatON.
• ‘ChatON’: Share what’s on your screen with friends to stay more connected.

Productivity and Multimedia for the Multi-Tasker
GALAXY Mega users will accomplish more with the rich, interactive experience and increased usability of the widescreen mode. Split screen capability for a variety of applications including email, messages, ‘MyFiles,’ ‘S Memo,’ ‘S Planner’, and more, makes for increased efficiency. With the popular ‘Air View’ feature, customers can preview information in emails, photos in Gallery, and speed dial contacts.
The GALAXY Mega is equipped with an enhanced 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera, along with a variety of camera modes including ‘Drama Shot’(merging continuous shots of a moving object), ‘Sound & Shot’ (captures 9 seconds of sound and voice together as the picture is taken to capture moments), ‘Rich tone,’ ‘Sports’ and more. The device also packs various newly-introduced features for endless entertainment, including:

• ‘S Travel’: Provides trip information, local guides and resources and more
• ‘Story Album’: Allows customers to create albums of daily events, keep special moments in one place using a timeline, geo-tag information and publish digital albums in hard copy
For users seeking the same great tablet features with even more portability, Samsung is introducing the GALAXY Mega 5.8. This more compact version features a 5.8-inch screen.

Both GALAXY Mega 6.3 and 5.8 run on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean experience, and feature Dual Core Processor, spacious internal storage along with up to 64GB of expandable memory to store favorite apps, music, videos, photos and more. The devices’ advanced software also facilitates more efficient processor use for improved battery life, meaning users can enjoy longer talk time and multimedia use.

The GALAXY Mega will be available globally beginning May from Europe and Russia. The product availability varies by market and will be rolled out gradually.

Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 and 6.2 officially announced