Category: News

Lance Armstrong has had a rough couple of years. Once the most beloved athlete in the U.S. for his story of overcoming cancer to become a seven-time Tour de France winner, the cyclist has now fallen into disgrace. After years of litigation, the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last year stripped Armstrong of his titles and banned him from the sport of cycling. Armstrong has lost the support of sponsors and is now facing several lawsuits related to the doping scandal. He recently gave an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he issued an apology and admitted to doping.

This week, the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Armstrong has sold his 1.7-acre estate in Austin, Texas. The report stated that Al Koehler, the founder of Royalty Clearinghouse, has taken out a $3.1 million loan to purchase Armstrong’s estate, which includes a 7,850-square foot house.

Armstrong bought the estate in 2004 and renovated it, hanging his seven yellow Tour de France victory jersey’s on the walls of the house. The athlete also owns a home on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Armstrong was recently spotted in Los Angeles and is rumored to be in talks with movie studios over a biopic of his life. If the cyclist is planning a more permanent move to L.A., he could look into buying the infamous Playboy Bunny House, which just went up for sale and is located directly across the street from the Playboy Mansion.

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Carissa Swenson, the Owner and Technology Specialist of TechTECS, a technology training, education, consulting and support company based out of North Dakota. She and I connected indirectly through the recent Minnesota Telecom Alliance Conference.

Carissa recently started a business to promote broadband adoption through digital literacy training. Here is a list of current training topics:

• iPads for Directors
• Digital Citizenship
• Cloud Productivity Tools

I suspect that list is growing as new topics come up and as she posts more online. I know we discussed topics such as cyber bullying and child safety. (I mention those topics because of another post I’m working on.)

Carissa has worked with/through local providers. I think it’s a great way to get local investment and local involvement. Her approach is a train-the-trainer model. The goal being to increase local capacity for future training and support for ongoing digital literacy. I’ll borrow from her site to explain her process…

Broadband adoption is the focus of many rural telecommunication companies.  Fiber-to-the-home initiatives are expensive so you want to make sure your rural customers are utilizing the high speed connections.  The connections are there but why would they adopt broadband if they don’t really know how it can help them?  Your future customers need someone to show them how a broadband connection can help to improve their lives.  TechTECS has developed a program to help telecommunications companies educate their communities on the many benefits of broadband.

Before starting out on her own, Carissa worked for a state program that provided training to teachers with the expectation that they would become the local experts and trainers to support and increase local digital literacy. I loved the program idea. The idea was to bring in the teachers, pay they for their time (key point!), train them on the digital literacy issues and ask them to pay back with 12 hours of training back in their community.

The innovation comes from the opportunity to get funding for schools. So they got creative with a great way to expand opportunity beyond the school.

Sounded like some programs worth mentioning as Minnesota communities tackle broadband adoption and digital literacy.

To help jump start customer projects for big data, Oracle (ORCL) announced new additions to its Big Data Appliance product family, promising faster performance for all Oracle applications. The announcements were made in Denver this week from Collaborate13, the technology and applications forum for the Oracle community.

Big Data Appliance Enhancements

Oracle announced the availability of Oracle Big Data Appliance X3-2 Starter Rack and X3-2 In-Rack Expansion. This allows customers to select an optimally sized appliance, and the expansion helps them easily and cost-effectively scale their footprint as their data grows. These new configurations contain six Oracle Sun servers within a full-sized rack with redundant Infiniband switches and power distribution units; as well as Oracle Big Data Appliance X3-2 In-Rack Expansion, which includes a pack of six additional servers to expand the above configuration to 12 nodes and then to a full rack of 18 nodes. Both systems include  Cloudera’s Distribution Including Apache Hadoop (CDH), Cloudera Manager and Oracle NoSQL Database.

The Oracle Big Data Appliance X3-2 in a full rack configuration is now available through Oracle Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), offered as on-premise, behind a customer firewall, or for a monthly fee. The X3-2 product family is comprised of Engineered Systems that simplify the implementation and management of Big Data by integrating hardware and software to acquire, organize and analyze Big Data.

Oracle In-Memory Applications

Oracle announced new In-Memory applications for Oracle Engineered Systems, leveraging DRAM, flash memories and the near zero latency InfiniBand network fabric. Many applications within PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Oracle Supply Chain Management and Siebel product families are now available as Oracle In-Memory applications. Existing Oracle Applications run as much as 16X faster on Oracle Engineered Systems and deliver tangible business benefits for customers by providing extreme performance, energy efficiency, lower total cost of ownership, reliability and scalability.

“Oracle continues to demonstrate its commitment to innovation that produces business results and value for Oracle Applications running on Oracle Engineered Systems,” said Steve Miranda, Oracle Executive Vice President of Application Development. “The release of Oracle In-Memory Applications will help organizations not only complete load runs faster, but also discover new insights for efficiencies that would have been previously overlooked.”

Despite ill omens, the IDC report about PC volume decline hitting -14% in the first quarter shows once again how much trouble the tech industry is having when it comes to dealing with the ongoing computer meltdown. As I wrote last December, IDC has been completely out to lunch about this key trend for years. In March of 2012, IDC was still expecting “desktop and laptop sales to take off in the second half of 2012.” Last December, IDC cheerfully predicted 1.2% growth in computer sales between 2012 and 2016. Of course, the PC industry is tucking into a majestic swan dive that makes those projections downright surreal. How can one of the most respected research firms in the computer sector be so disconnected from reality? The answer is simple: Analysts from largest research firms simply aren’t allowed to call major turning points.

Continue reading…

The iPad mini is a unique device in that it offers much more portability than the standard iPad, while still providing a much bigger screen than the iPhone for more enjoyable gaming. Techdy has recognized that as an opportunity to build a game controller specifically for Apple’s smaller tablet, which aims to turn it into a much more capable gaming rig.

The Game D is a controller designed with a standard physical d-pad and four-button arrangement, as well as start/select buttons. The controller is designed to fit inside a slim aluminum shell, not unlike Logitech’s Ultraslim Keyboard for iPad mini, and it also uses magnets to operate. It can be used in two gaming positions, either with the iPad mini mounted in a slot on the keyboard itself, or snapped magnetically to the back of the iPad, for a more traditional gaming layout. Plus, it doubles as a smart cover.

Techdy is looking to crowdfund the development of the Game D, with its own self-run campaign. Reservations for the Game D start at $39, and there’s a Pro version upgrade available for $59 that adds backlit keys, vibration feedback and two analog gamepads. There’s also a Nexus 7-specific model available for Android gamers.

A lot of aspects of the Game D’s eventual design and branding are still up to backers, including its final shipping product name (“Game D” is just a placeholder) and custom color choices, as well as app interfaces for controlling the hardware itself. The development for the Game D is progressing nicely, with a working hardware prototype designed to function with iCade-compatible games, according to co-founder Cyril Chang. He also says that they’ll eventually offer their own open-source game developer kit (GDK), as well as continue to support iCade games at launch.

I’d love a gamepad for my iPad mini, even if it might be a little more taxing on the forearms and biceps than using an iPhone. Techdy hopes to ship these in August of 2013, if it meets its $500,000 target funding goal by the middle of May.

PRO’s: Quick, nimble, smiles-for-miles little hot-rod.

CON’s: Big price tag, lack of limited-slip-differential.

FINAL THOUGHT: The 2013 BMW 135is is a little pocket-rocket of a car that will make you rediscover driving at its core. It’s fun, fast and has the ability to make even grown men giggle.

Buying a car is not a rational decision, it’s an emotional one. We look at style, performance and how that particular vehicle makes us feel. Does it make us smile when we open the garage door. Does it make the right sound when we turn the key. Above all, does it get our adrenaline flowing when we simply go out for a drive. In a day and age where cars are weighed down by government safety regulations, technology and each company trying to outdo the next guy, it’s nice to see that BMW makes at least one car that throws up its middle finger and shows us that a car can still be a good time.

Enter the 2013 BMW 135is. A little pocket rocket of a car that not only puts some serious fun back into driving, but reminds us of a time when cars were cars, not computers. Before we begin let’s get one thing straight. The 135is is not a BMW “M” car, regardless of the fact that it has a few “M” badges here and there. Instead, it’s a BMW 135i with some nifty add-ons from BMW’s parts bin.

A performance exhaust system and power performance kit (updated engine ECU software) help bump horsepower from the standard 300 hp and 300 lb.ft of torque, to 320 hp and 317 lb.ft. Not a monumental increase mind you, but enough to make you feel like you got something for all that extra cheddar. The single turbo straight-6 engine is as smooth as they come. Power delivery is linear all through the rev-range, however once you’re over 2000 rpms, you’ll feel this thing pull like a mini freight train.

My tester was equipped with a six-speed manual transmission that was nothing short of sublime. Gear changes were crisp and smooth with short throws, while a perfectly weighted clutch made driving, even in traffic, a pretty enjoyable experience. I flogged this little car mercilessly on my favorite back roads, and the harder I pushed it, the more enjoyable the car became.

Wrap your hands around the thick steering wheel, turn the traction control off and dump the clutch and you’ll find that the 135is is a deceivingly quick little car. 0-60 mph comes up in under 5-seconds with reserve power always on hand. Find the tightest road you can just so you can shift gears at every opportunity.

I have to say that the Performance Exhaust is a nice touch, as on deceleration you’re treated to some wonderful burbles and pops that will definitely turn heads. If there is one slight in the performance department, it’s the absence of a limited slip differential. I did the ole’ one-wheel peel more than a few times while tearing up the canyons. Not a deal breaker by any means, but something I would definitely remedy if I were to take the 135is to a track day.

Climb inside and immediately you’ll notice that the fit, finish and materials used throughout the cabin are all top notch. However one thing that struck me immediately was the lack of a large screen in the center of the dash, something that we’re so accustomed to seeing these days in newer cars. There was no navigation, no touch-screen and nothing that took away from the simplistic appeal of the cars interior. In short, it was fantastic.

Even though the 135is is a small car that doesn’t mean the interior (at least the front portion anyway) was tight. At 6’4″ / 245-pounds, I not only had ample head and shoulder room, but my right leg wasn’t butted up against the center console, something that usually happens in smaller cars. The front sport seats, while comfortable, will be a bit on the narrow side for larger drivers, but never once did I find them annoying. The 135is does come equipped with rear seats, but I wouldn’t recommend them unless you’re child-sized. The same can be said for cargo space. Yes, you’ll get a few duffel bags in the trunk, but I wouldn’t plan a month long getaway in this thing.

This is a car that’s based around the enjoyment of driving, something that I almost think BMW has forgotten about. With the exception of the M3, I honestly can’t think of another BMW that I would actually own as most their cars as so crammed full of tech and luxury that they’re simply no fun to drive. Are they good cars? Absolutely, but for some reason the company has lost their emotional way. The 135is however is the exception, as it inspires it’s drivers to have fun, to enjoy the drive and push the limits a little bit. This car is what the original M3 was; small, light and a riot on the road.

As you can tell I like this car – a lot. However after pricing it out you’ll find that there is a substantial cost for all this fun. With a base price of $43,250, the 135is is not an inexpensive machine, and in fact our tester (loaded with options) was price at just under $49,000. The real question here is – how much are you willing to pay for a little car that has the ability to put a smile on your face every time you drive it?

My bet… it’s around $49k.

Foursquare has announced that the company has secured $41 million in funding from private equity firm Silver Lake Waterman, as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures.

CEO Dennis Crowley announced the funding Thursday morning.

“The stuff we’re building takes a lot of work. Look at yesterday’s big update, for example. The most amazing thing about it is that it tells you interesting things around you, anywhere in the world, the second you open the app. That’s not easy. We have to crunch your 3,500,000,000 check-ins, layer your social data over it, semantically analyze our tens of millions of tips, and take a look at real-time activity around you. We do all that in under a second, all to recommend two or three places that are perfect for you,” says Crowley.

“We’ve got a ton left to do. We’re building tools for local businesses to connect with their customers. We’re making search better, every single day. We’re building that location layer for the internet – the platform that all other companies use to power location in their apps. This takes time and a lot of work, and great investors.”

On Wednesday, Foursquare launched version 6.0, a significant update to both their iOS and Android platforms that puts local search and recommendations front and center. This update is more in line with the vision that Crowley has for the service – to move well beyond the check-in.

And along with the stated goals of expanding the service and building better tools, you know that Foursquare has to now focus more on monetization.

According to Bloomberg, Foursquare is planning on a whole new slew of ad partnerships, letting every merchant it works with buy ads. They’ll also be expanding their sales team to around 40 people. Foursquare has had ads for a while in the form of sponsored location posts inside the feed and in search results in the app. But they haven’t really taken off, with reports alleging Foursquare only generated about $2 million in revenue last year.

The majority of this $41 million comes in the form of a multiyear loan from Silver Lake, and everything else is convertible debt which can be exchanged for shares later. Taking on this debt allows Foursquare to buy itself some time to figure out how to monetize.

According to Crowley, 1.3 million businesses and 33 million users have “given a try” to Foursquare.

DW Healthcare Partners has promoted two, and added five to its team. Eric Keen was promoted from Vice President to Principal, and works in the firm’s Toronto office. Sameer Mathur was promoted from Associate to Vice President, also in Toronto. The new hires are: Phillip Smith, Karen Jones, Eric Moore, Alex Aptekman, and Philip Edmunds.

PRESS RELEASE
DW Healthcare Partners (DWHP), a healthcare-focused private equity firm, is pleased to announce two promotions and five new hires. The firm has over $500 million of assets under management and an experienced team that now includes 11 investment/operating professionals and three deal-origination professionals. Recent promotions and new hires include:

– Eric Keen, promoted from Vice President to Principal, Toronto Office

– Sameer Mathur, promoted from Associate to Vice President, Toronto Office

– Phillip Smith, hired as Vice President, Park City Office

– Karen Jones, hired as Director, Investment Sourcing, Toronto Office

– Eric Moore, hired as Associate, Toronto Office

– Alex Aptekman, hired as Associate, Toronto Office

– Philip Edmunds, hired as Associate, Park City office

Andrew Carragher, co-founder and Managing Director noted, “We are fortunate, with the launch of our third healthcare fund, to have the opportunity to recognize individual success stories and achievements within our firm. We have also been able to hire talented new professionals with valuable and relevant experience in both the private equity and healthcare industries.”

Eric Keen, has been promoted from Vice President to Principal at DWHP. Mr. Keen’s experience in private equity investments spans more than ten years. Prior to joining DWHP, Mr. Keen worked for The Riverside Company, most recently as a Vice President. During his tenure at Riverside, Eric completed 10 transactions and served on the board of directors of SmartComp LLC, GTI Diagnostics, Inc., Ultravolt, Inc. and Polar Windows of Canada Ltd. Prior to Riverside, Eric worked at Norwest Equity Partners, Marakon Associates and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Sameer Mathur, who joined DWHP in 2009, has been promoted from Associate to Vice President. Prior to joining DWHP, Mr. Mathur worked as an Associate at private equity fund Francisco Partners where he focused on middle market transactions with technology and technology-enabled companies. Mr. Mathur also worked and as a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company where he was involved with private equity diligence, growth strategy, and cost procurement projects across multiple industries.

Phillip Smith has joined the firm as Vice President. Mr. Smith brings five years of healthcare investing, transaction and financing experience to his role. Phillip spent the prior three years working for RoundTable Healthcare Partners, most recently as a Senior Associate. While at RoundTable, his experience included eight investments in medical device and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to RoundTable, Mr. Smith worked as an analyst for Banc of America Securities.

Karen Jones has joined DWHP’s Deal Origination Team as Director, Investment Sourcing. Mrs. Jones’s 25 years of work experience includes acquisitions, investment management, and healthcare technology consulting. She previously worked with Biosense Webster, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products as Clinical Specialist and Territory Manager, Healthwise Diagnostics as Physician Liaison, Enterprise Property Group/Enterprise Investment Management as Vice President Acquisitions, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board as Portfolio Manager.

Eric Moore was hired as an Associate at DWHP. Prior to working at DWHP, Mr. Moore worked with Nomura Financial Institutions Group, Silver Lake Credit and Caymus Capital Partners.

Alex Aptekman recently joined DWHP as an Associate. Prior to joining DWHP, Mr. Aptekman worked with Union Square Advisors, the Global Investment Banking Group at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan in Hong Kong.

Philip Edmunds has joined the DWHP team as an Associate. Mr. Edmunds previously worked with Riveria Investment Group, and Deloitte Consulting.

About DW Healthcare PartnersDW Healthcare Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively in the healthcare industry. The firm manages over $500 million in committed capital across three funds and invests in profitable healthcare companies with proven management teams. DW Healthcare Partners is led by seasoned healthcare executives with more than 110 years of combined industry experience. The firm provides the capital, strategic guidance, and acquisition expertise to help mid-stage companies realize their potential for growth.

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Vic Nyman is the co-founder and COO of BlueStripe Software. Vic has more than 20 years of experience in systems management and APM, and has held leadership positions at Wily Technology, IBM Tivoli, and Relicore/Symantec.

Cloud computing is perceived as a significant threat by some data center organizations. By changing the focus away from managing server resources and adopting a Service-Oriented approach to IT Operations, IT organizations can turn that threat into an opportunity while helping to deliver business innovations to their enterprises.

As you know, the corporate data center faces unprecedented competition for their internal customers. The threat of wholesale IT departmental outsourcing has been with us for quite a while, but for the individual employee, an outsourcing contract has often meant keeping the same job, but just being on the payroll of XYZ Systems instead of Venerable Bank and Trust.

Cloud has the potential to be different. It means your company’s applications will run in somebody else’s data center, using somebody else’s employees to manage somebody else’s servers. It means that business-based application groups can bypass the operations process entirely. And while it is considered unlikely that large, critical legacy applications will be moved to cloud in the immediate future, over time Cloud can mean data center consolidations and staff reductions.

At my company, we deal with customers who are facing this issue on a regular basis. One Director of IT Infrastructure recently told a story about trying to impose some discipline on their server management process, and being told flat out, “We can get the server we want from Amazon in 15 minutes.  What’s wrong with you?” Clearly this is a whole new world.

Better Service is Answer

The key for data center teams is to be able to deliver better service than the cloud providers do. Part of the source of demand for cloud services is the promise of hassle-free, efficient delivery on service-levels – that business applications will deploy and run as asked for, with minimal hassles and downtime.

In many companies, the data center teams use a server resource-based approach to managing application performance. The focus is often on machine resource metrics – CPU and memory utilization, disk IO, network performance – metrics that are only loosely correlated with actual application performance. A better approach is to concentrate on application and transaction response times.

We’ve seen customers who take this approach make significant reductions in their key performance metrics. Availability for mission critical applications has far exceeded SLA levels, and IT Operations teams have been freed up to work to deliver new capabilities.

Here’s how they’ve changed the way they manage the delivery of applications:

• First, recognize that transaction response times are more important than resource utilization. In a large, interconnected application with multiple tiers and extensive virtualization, chances are good that some servers will show high CPU utilization. Chances are also good that those servers will not have anything to do with an application slowdown. Focusing on the individual transaction response time will yield the source of the problem, and will help avoid “red herring” activities that don’t contribute to the solution.
• Second, recognize that every component affects transaction response times. Highly distributed, inter-connected services typically involve ten or more servers – sometimes hundreds of servers. Don’t just look at the application server – the team doing the triage needs to consider the web tier, authentication, middleware, database, and even third-party services.
• Last, recognize that within the problem server, every infrastructure layer affects component response times. Every dependency of the problem server is the potential culprit during a slowdown – rather than just looking at CPU and memory utilization, the data center team needs to look at the application component, other applications on the server, the operating system, virtualization, storage, networking, shared services like DNS, and even server management tools.

By applying the Service-Oriented approach, data center teams can greatly improve their results in dealing with application management – making themselves competitive with cloud offerings.

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

It’s been almost a full year since Google took $1,500 commitments from those that wanted to be among the first to test Google Glass. These Beta versions, now known as Explorer Editions, will finally ship next month based on an announcement made at Google Venture’s Glass Collective event. Those of you that were winners of the “If I Had Glass” contest will also receive your Explorer Editions (for the same $1,500) at the same time, but you will have to travel to either San Francisco, Los Angeles, or NYC to pick them up.

source: TechCrunch

Come comment on this article: Google Glass Explorer Editions shipping next month

LevelEleven, a Detroit-based company focused on enterprise gamification and CRM technology, has completed its $1.5 million seed financing. The seed round was led by Detroit Venture Partners with additional funding from private equity investor Rick Inatome, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and The First Step Fund.

PRESS RELEASE
Detroit-based LevelEleven, a new company focused on enterprise gamification and CRM solutions, today completed its $1.5 million seed financing with an additional $500,000. The seed round was led by Detroit Venture Partners with additional funding from private equity investor Rick Inatome, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and The First Step Fund. The company, located in downtown Detroit’s M@dison Building in the heart of the city’s fast-growing high-tech hub, previously raised the initial $1 million in October 2012.

The new financing will be used to help further accelerate product development and invest in sales and marketing, as momentum for LevelEleven continues to increase. Current clients include Comcast, Dyn, Concur, Delta Airlines, OpenTable and Kelly Services, among many others.

“Over the past quarter we’ve made huge strides in establishing our brand, further developing our software and acquiring new customers, so the timing was perfect to secure additional funding,” says Bob Marsh, LevelEleven CEO. “Having the support of such prominent investors is a real validation of the work we’re doing to help motivate employee behavior in the enterprise sales and CRM space.”

LevelEleven’s initial seed funding was raised by Detroit Venture Partners, the venture capital firm known for investing in seed and early-stage technology companies committed to playing a part of the revitalization of downtown Detroit.

“LevelEleven has experienced significant success since its launch last year and I believe the company is in a great position to capitalize on the growth of the enterprise gamification industry,” said Rick Inatome, who currently serves as the CEO of InfiLaw Corporation, a national consortium of independent law schools. Rick is also a well-known computer industry pioneer who co-founded two multi-billion dollar companies, including Computer City and Inacomp Computer Centers. “I share Bob’s philosophy that meaningful gamification is the key to motivating employees and believe that LevelEleven has tapped into an unmet market need that gives the company tremendous growth potential in the future.”

LevelEleven now has nine team members, and has almost tripled its customer base from 25 to more than 70 clients within the past six months. For more information, visit www.leveleleven.com.

About LevelEleven LevelEleven develops enterprise gamification and CRM solutions to help managers get their sales and service teams focused on the right things by tapping into their competitive nature. LevelEleven’s lead product is an easy-to-use app for salesforce.com that creates high-impact competitions around any data point that can be tracked within a company’s CRM system. Clients including Comcast, Concur, Kelly Services, and Good Technology are experiencing immediate and long-lasting results in securing more client meetings, taking new products to market, improving Salesforce adoption, and closing more business. Originally developed by digital engagement leader ePrize and debuted at Dreamforce 2011, LevelEleven launched as its own company in October 2012, and is ranked as the #1 most popular gamification offering in the Salesforce AppExchange. LevelEleven is based in Detroit, Michigan, and part of the Detroit Venture Partners portfolio of companies.

About Detroit Venture Partners Detroit Venture Partners (www.detroitventurepartners.com) is a venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage technology companies with a strong emphasis on Detroit-based startups. In addition to capital, the company provides hands-on coaching, mentorship, support, and resources to help drive growth and success. The firm was founded in 2010 by Josh Linkner, Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin. By backing the next generation of Detroit entrepreneurs, DVP aims to create jobs, urban density, and hope.

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A consortium led by CSL Capital Management has exited PyraMax Ceramics, selling the company to Imerys S.A. The deal was valued at $235 million, plus possible milestone payments of up to $100 million.

PRESS RELEASE
A consortium led by CSL Capital Management, LLC announced today it has sold PyraMax Ceramics, LLC (“PyraMax”) to Imerys S.A. for a total consideration of USD 235 million and additional payments of up to USD 100 million, subject to meeting certain industrial and commercial performance criteria. PyraMax is in the final stages of completing a state-of-the-art, 500 million pounds per year manufacturing facility comprised of two production lines located in Wrens, GA.
Imerys’ acquisition of PyraMax, added to its current production capacity, will significantly enhance its ability to supply high-quality ceramic proppant to the fast-growing North America non-conventional oil and gas market.
Charles S. Leykum, Founder of CSL Capital Management and Chairman of PyraMax Ceramics, LLC, said “Our management team has done a great job building PyraMax from a greenfield project to near commercial operation. We are excited to work with Imerys, a well-established player in this sector, and think the combination will create a robust supplier to the proppants industry. We wish Don and his team continued success.”
Don Anschutz, President of PyraMax Ceramics, LLC, said “CSL has been an invaluable partner and resource for us and we enjoyed working with them. Their experience building companies and vision for PyraMax to be a state-of-the-art ceramic proppant plant was essential to our success. Joining Imerys will accelerate that vision and give us access to expertise and resources that will increase our ability to anticipate and exceed our customers’ expectations.”
About CSL Capital Management, LLC
CSL Capital Management (“CSL”) is a leading growth equity firm with a value oriented investment strategy focused on energy businesses in the U.S. and internationally. With offices in Houston, TX and Greenwich, CT, the CSL team has deep sector expertise in the energy industry and takes a very hands-on approach to investments; it relies on fundamental growth and strategic thinking, rather than financial engineering, to generate success. Through several investment vehicles, CSL has raised in excess of $650 million of equity capital and commitments.
About Imerys S.A.
Imerys is the world leader in mineral-based specialty solutions for industry with €3.9 billion revenue and 16,000 employees. Imerys transforms a unique range of minerals to deliver functions (heat re- sistance, mechanical strength, conductivity, coverage, barrier effect, etc.) that are essential to its customers’ products and manufacturing processes.
Whether it is mineral components, functional additives, process enablers or finished products, Imerys’ solutions contribute to the quality of a great number of applications in consumer goods, industrial equipment and construction. Combining expertise, creativity and attentiveness to customers’ needs, the Group’s international teams constantly identify new applications and develop high value-added solutions under a determined approach to responsible development. These strengths enable Imerys to develop through a sound, profitable business model.

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A Canadian woman this week was overwhelmed this week after learning she had won money in the Ontario lottery.

According to a report from Chicago’s ABC 7, 51-year-old Maria Carreiro of Toronto had originally thought she had won only $40,000. When her daughter informed her that she had, in fact, won $40,000,000 she “ran down the street like a crazy woman.”

Though $40,000 is quite a windfall, $40 million is a life-changing amount of money. While accepting her gigantic cardboard check this week, Carreiro danced a jig for the cameras and began singing thanks to her god. The woman related to onlookers that she will be going to Hawaii, as she has never gotten a honeymoon in her 30 years of marriage.

Carreiro reportedly played the same lottery numbers, based on her children’s birthdays, for 20 years. On this occasion, though, she had taken a “quik-pick” ticket.

Google Ventures announced the launch of an “investment syndicate” aimed at funding entrepreneurs building interesting ideas for Google Glass. It’s called the Glass Collective, and includes partners at Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

In a a blog post, Google Ventures VP Bill Maris wrote, “Glass is a potentially transformative technology. It’s a window into the world’s information, and a new way to share experiences with those you care about. Here at Google Ventures, my partners and I thought the potential for Glass was significant enough to invite our friends at Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to join us in exploring this big opportunity.”

“Smart entrepreneurs and engineers are going to develop amazing experiences through Glass,” he added.

“This is a platform so new, so unlike anything before, that we can’t guess what the killer apps will be,” says John Doerr from KPCB. “But, believe me, they’re coming. The best ideas for the Glass platform will come from entrepreneurs — they always do.”

“The thesis of Glass is profoundly transformational,” says Marc Andreessen from Andreessen Horowitz. “And as with the Internet and smartphones, a huge amount of work will be done by third-party developers to fully realize the Glass vision. Glass brings developers a new springboard for creativity and an amazing new platform to build the defining applications of the future.”

Those building for Google Glass (and this might be a good place to start) are encouraged to contact the Glass Collective partners. Investing partners from each fund will review startup pitches together.

The Glass Collective notes that they’re not only looking for services, but also hardware for Glass.

Yesterday Dropbox for business received a big update with single sign-on. Now, today, the company rolls out new features for the consumer version of its cloud storage service. New updates have been added to the PC, Mac, Linux, web and Android apps, but those on iOS will have to wait.

All versions receive support for six additional languages — Russian, Polish, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Reginald Harris of Dropbox claims the company has translated 553,800 words in 43,662 lines of code to make this possible. Harris states this enables “sharing your most important stuff with friends and family — no matter where in the world they are or what language they speak”.

In addition an update has rolled out to Android devices bringing the service to version to 2.3.5 and adding support for viewing all photos in your Dropbox, a feature that began being tested on the web back in January of this year. The new version also adds the aforementioned new languages and the usual performance enhancements.

Dropbox, which was founded by MIT students in 2007, now has more than 100 million users worldwide and claims usage in 95 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.

Photo credit: mojito.mak[dog]gmail[dot]com/Shutterstock

“The most important career choice you’ll make is who you marry.” This career advice from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg makes good sense based on research. Among couples, career outcomes are indeed linked to the dynamics of support and career priority within couples.

Yet many people end up in less egalitarian marriages than they expected to have, often facing a “choice” to either stay in jobs that threaten to overwhelm them and their families or to withdraw from the workforce entirely. Just as lack of consensus around finances can doom a marriage, lack of support from one’s spouse can effectively sink a career. To make dual careers work, a couple needs to be on the same page regarding their career and life goals and how they will support each other in achieving them. Here are four strategies for developing and maintaining an effective dual-career partnership.

Shared vision and values. First of all, talk early and often about what matters most to both of you. What gives you a sense of value, meaning, identity, joy? Which of these things do you share? What would you not give up under any circumstances, even if it meant sacrificing in other important areas? Even though you may hope to “have it all,” placing things that are important to both of you (such as career advancement, living in a certain geographic area, starting a business, both being actively involved in your children’s lives, maintaining excellent health) in order of priority improves your ability to make optimal decisions. The purpose of regularly revisiting what you hope to create together is to ensure that — to borrow from the title of a now-classic Harvard Business Review article — your commitments match your convictions. In other words, you want to avoid realizing too late (e.g., when you’ve already called a divorce lawyer) that there is a big gap between what you say you care about most and how you actually invest your time and energy.

Mutual interest, appreciation and investment. Remember that you fell in love with this person because you found him or her interesting. Being interested in and learning about your partner’s work life and sharing about your own are important ways of maintaining that mutual interest and of promoting the limitless possibilities of mutuality. In less successful couples, partners come to inhabit separate, non-overlapping worlds, with the result that they know each other less well and have fewer opportunities for mutual enrichment over time. A good guiding principle to follow is to look for solutions that reduce career-related conflicts and maximize opportunities for career enrichment between the members of the couple. In a recent HBR blog post, Stew Friedman described a relevant example of an executive who improved both his job performance and the quality of his relationship with his spouse by sharing upcoming work challenges and inviting her input. My husband and I routinely help each other decide how to approach issues we encounter in our careers by listening, asking questions, and offering a broader perspective.

A team orientation. If you’ve been working on the first two strategies, it should be fairly natural to help each other out and to work together to find solutions that help you to achieve your shared goals.This often means taking turns, as my husband and I did when we put each other through school. Many dual-career couples confer with each other before accepting travel commitments to ensure that both parents are never away at the same time. The most successful dual-career couples avoid consistently sacrificing one partner’s career in favor of the other’s. This might mean saying to one’s boss, “I’d like to work from home until mid-morning the last week of next month because my spouse will be away at a conference.” In less successful dual-career partnerships, each partner’s interest in the other’s career is often more self-referential — as in, “How will my partner’s work demands or rewards affect me?” as opposed to “How do we meet the demands and enjoy the rewards together?”

Flexibility and adaptability. Both partners need to be open to change and adaptable. Plotting an inflexible dual-career roadmap at the outset and expecting that you will be able to stick to it forever is a recipe for disappointment and missed opportunities. Modern careers don’t typically follow a predictable path; the road is ever-changing. Few people make it all the way through a career without experiencing an unexpected company event that affects their career prospects, a significant failure, an apparent success that turns out to be unsatisfactory, or a desire to make a significant change. Fortunately, having two careers takes the pressure off either person to be responsible for all of the material support of the family unit. Furthermore, shared goals, mutual understanding, and a commitment to helping each other are powerful resources that help dual-career couples work through career and life challenges and changes.

If you fundamentally respect each other, value and appreciate each others’ careers, want to help each other succeed, and keep the lines of communication open, you’ll be able to handle and quite possibly even embrace the twists and turns you encounter along the way.

Back in November of last year, Amazon launched the Amazon Wine Marketplace. It would be wrong to say that they did so quietly – they announced it, and it received moderate coverage. But for some reason it just seemed like it launched, and then we kind of forgot about it. Maybe that’s just me. For shame.

Anyway, it’s still in beta. But today, Amazon has announced the addition of a major state to the mix. Amazon Wine is messing with Texas.

“We’re very excited for Texas wineries to share their highly-ranked selection with our millions of customers through the Amazon Wine store,” said Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. “Our customers tell us they enjoy our wine-country selection combined with the convenience of finding detailed wine information in one place. We want to connect customers with wineries around the country and provide a destination where they can learn about and purchase wines directly from wineries on the platform they trust.”

Adding Texas to the list of available states means two things. First, wine drinkers in Texas will be able to ship wine directly to their doors. And second and more importantly (for the rest of us), Amazon Wine customers will be able to purchase wines from Texas – including Messina Hof, Becker Vineyards, McPherson Cellars, Brennan Vineyards and Llano Estacado, among others.

As of now, Amazon WIne boasts 350+ wineries and 2,200+ labels.

Amazon Wine puts most of the work on the wineries, who process and ship all of the orders. “When you order wine on Amazon.com, you’re ordering directly from a winery,” says Amazon. And due to that, there are only a handful of states that allow customers to receive intrastate wine transactions.

Amazon started out with 12 states back in November, and have since added a few more. As of today, Amazon Wine is available in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.

Amazon Wine offers enthusiasts the ability to browse by region, wine style, price, pairings, and more. It also offers a wine mailing list. According to the company, more states will follow.

With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!

Reviews

Advanced Mobile Care [Tools]

Apps

Google Voice to be included in Google Babel, but not right away

Worms 2: Armageddon blasts its way onto the Google Play Store

Leaked roadmap indicates Microsoft Office won’t hit Android devices until Fall 2014

Download black themed Play Store and other Google apps

Carriers

Deutsche Telekom Approves Better Deal For MetroPCS Merger

Google

Tweet about your favorite things in the Play Store for a chance to win some prizes from Google

Phones

HTC releases the DROID DNA and One source codes

AT&T picking up the LG Optimus G Pro, slated for a May release

Oppo working on building the world’s thinnest smartphone, again, set to be released on April 26th

Samsung ads for Galaxy S 4 surface on YouTube

Samsung further touts Galaxy S 4′s innovative features by telling the masses we still don’t know how truly awesome the features are

ZTE Geek Revealed Running 2GHz Intel Clover Trail+ Processor

Miscellaneous

Survey says Samsung Galaxy phones are simpler than the iPhone

Could LG ship flexible displays before Samsung?

Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa Defeats Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 In Latest Benchmarks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for April 10, 2013

With vital business information spread across your company, at different locations, in various databases and data warehouses, and now potentially in big data platforms like Hadoop, there is no easy way to manage all of this infrastructure, let alone get value out of the data that resides in these systems. Instead managers and analysts are faced with new and complex interfaces to data platforms, multiple third-party APIs, high-priced analytic frameworks and silos of point products that each require a small army of tech-savvy data specialists to operate. But there is an alternative to the build-it-yourself big data trend of the past 12 months. Managed big data services are emerging that are easy to consume and provide a much quicker path to value than rolling out your own.

Our panel of experts will discuss these topics and more:

• Drivers for doing big data as a service
• Understanding the ecosystem of big data cloud services and big data managed services
• When does the cloud model make sense for big data?

Speakers include:

• Jo Maitland, research director, Cloud, GigaOM Research
• Ron Bodkin, GigaOM Research analyst and founder and CEO, Think Big Analytics
• Jim Kaskade, CEO, Infochimps

Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Infochimps for answers to “Selling your big data initiative to your c-suite” a free webinar on Thursday, April 18, 2013, at 10 :00 a.m., PDT.