Category: News

Ever since NVIDIA announced the Project Shield device at CES 2013, they have continued to produce videos for a variety of games coming to the Tegra 4 powered mobile game console. The latest title to be highlighted on NVIDIA’s site is Riptide GP 2, a jet-ski racing game. It should be no surprise that a game involving so much water would show up to help demonstrate some of the capabilities of NVIDIA’s latest chip. 

NVIDIA says the new version of Riptide GP will include “enhanced water and particle effects, HDR lighting, boosted reflection shaders and the all-new spectator mode.” Riptide GP 2 joins other titles like Need for Speed Most Wanted, Burn Zombie Burn and Real Boxing that have received the highlight treatment from NVIDIA.

Check out the video below to see how the Project Shield device works and what Riptide GP 2 will be like on the device.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: NVIDIA

Come comment on this article: Riptide GP 2 splashes down on NVIDIA’s Project Shield device

Fans of the Shadowrun roleplaying game may find themselves spending some considerable time over the next few days watching and watching again a new video of gameplay for the upcoming Shadowrun Returns game. The game combines free form roleplaying with a turn-based combat system to bring the pen and paper game to the digital world. The developers, Harebrained Schemes, raised over $1.8 million via a Kickstarter project to fund development of the title. The video is labeled as Alpha Gameplay Footage and will give potential players an idea of what to expect. An Android tablet version is expected to be released later this year.

Shadowrun takes place in the late 21st century at a time when megacorporations rule the world. Technology is much advanced compared to today, with bioware and cyberware available for individuals looking for an enhancement of their normal capabilities. The setting is sometimes described as cyberpunk in the flavor of William Gibson’s imaginings. The creators of Shadowrun did not stop there though. They brought in elements of fantasy genres as well with the re-emergence of magic in the world. Along with magic, races of beings like orcs, goblins, elves and dwarves also reappeared. This results in a world that is a mashup of science fiction and fantasy.

Harebrained Schemes is currently taking pre-orders for OSX, PC or Linux versions for $15 for the basic version. Upgraded versions, including a Deluxe edition and a Collector’s Edition are available as well. Check out the 20 minute clip below for a good taste of what to expect from Shadowrun Returns.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: Phandroid

Come comment on this article: New gameplay video for Shadowrun Returns released

Plenty of entrepreneurs are trying to capitalize on the growing consumer and investor interest in digital health, but if you want to snare some money from at least one venture capitalist you might want to keep human vices — like lust, gluttony and greed — in mind.

At a SXSW Interactive panel Friday on how health tech companies can design products that encourage users to change their behavior, Mayfield Fund managing director Tim Chang said:

“The way I evaluate a lot of companies now is I look at the design framework. I look at the design framework of the seven deadly sins,” he said. “If an app or service does not tap into one or more of the seven deadly sins, either directly or indirectly, it will not be addicting…I always look along those dimensions.. and see what do those trigger.”

(If you’re particularly virtuous, or just haven’t though about those sins in a while, they’re lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.)

The conversation, which also included Stanford behavioral health expert Stephanie Habif, Basis Science CEO Jeff Holove, and Wired writer Michael Copeland, is clearly relevant these days. Health tracking devices — whether worn on the wrist, clipped to your belt or attached to the body in another way — are flooding the market. But many of these devices, while purchased with the best intentions, end up getting left behind on the dresser (or lost in the wash) after just a couple of weeks because while they generate a lot of data about how far you walked or how well you slept, they don’t necessarily lead to healthier actions.

Public health has historically followed the logic that if you increase someone’s knowledge and persuade their attitude, you’ll get the behavior change you’re looking for, Habif said, but added “but that very rarely works.”

“Knowledge is not enough. Health does not happen in a silo. In terms of what I’ve learned over the years, in terms of health behavior theories we’re trying to operationalize for health behavior change, social is very important. Emotion is very important,” she said. “It’s not just enough to infect the brain and implant the knowledge, you have to stir up the desire engine. You have to tap into emotion.”

Devices and device-compatible health programs hold a lot of promise but, at this point, we don’t know if data tracking actually changes behavior, just that it leads to adherence to the devices, Habif said. But several companies are reporting positive results with programs that use both technology and human interaction (either from expert coaches or peers).

Chang mentioned Chicago-based Retrofit, which provides a subscription-based weight-loss plan that relies on tracking devices and remote communication with behavior coaches and nutritionists. Diabetes-busting Omada Health is also beginning to find success with a model that pairs digital tools with a social support program in which users communicate with a cohort of people who share health indicators and other factors.

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The first wave of connected car apps centered on music and audio streaming. It looks like the second wave of in-dash services may revolve around location sharing.

We’ve already seen location-sharing app Glympse make it into its first connected platform, Ford’s Sync AppLink. Now BMW’s strategic investment arm i Ventures is partnering with family locator service Life360 to develop in-car technologies that would allow family members to locate one another and coordinate their activities. i Ventures is also making an undisclosed investment in the San Francisco startup.

While an app like Glympse allows you to selectively share your location with anyone for a set period of time, Life360 creates a permanent share between a close-knit group such as a nuclear family. That allows Life360 to build services on top of that presence data.

“Imagine you want to meet your wife at your kids’ soccer game,” said Chris Hulls, co-founder and CEO of Life360. “Right now you have to call her, get an address and then program it into your navigation system to get directions. That’s a lot of unnecessary friction.”

What Life360 proposes is an in-dash app that automatically keeps tabs on your family members’ activities. To find your wife, as in Hulls’ example, you merely have to tap on her portrait in the app, and her location is automatically fed into the car’s vehicle nav system.

BMW isn’t the only automaker that thinks Life360 shows promise in the connected car. One of the startup’s lead investors is Fontinalis Partners, a transportation technology fund founded by Bill Ford, the executive chairman of his namesake company. The company recently closed a Series A round of $3.5 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, 500 Startups, Kapor Capital, Venture51, Bullpen Capital, Social Leverage and EchoVC Partners.

As you might expect, Life360 as apps in the works for both Ford and BMW’s connected car platforms, but Hulls said its working with other automakers as well, including Mercedes, General Motors and Hyundai. While Hulls wouldn’t reveal which automaker’s platform would be the first to launch Life360’s app, he said the app would go live in a least one connected car system this year.

We’re already starting to location finding its way into more connected car apps and not just in the form of navigation software. Roximity and BeCouply are using presence data to push location-based deals and recommend nearby activities for the amorously inclined.

And while location-sharing isn’t a feature in most in-vehicle nav systems it’s starting to make it into many mobile mapping and navigation apps. Telenav recently announced an update to its iOS software that can share not only a user’s current location but also your intended destination, allowing friends to coordinate their activities on a map.

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First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry marked International Women's Day at the State Department where they presented the International Women of Courage Awards to nine remarkable women who, as Mrs. Obama said in her remarks, show us what our most basic values look like when they are put to the test.

When these women witnessed horrific crimes or the disregard for basic human rights they spoke up, risking everything they had to see that justice was done.  When they saw their communities or their countries were ignoring issues like sexual violence or women’s rights, they gave those issues a face and a voice.  And with every act of strength and defiance, with every blog post, with every community meeting, these women have inspired millions to stand with them, and find their own voices, and work together to achieve real and lasting change. 

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Google (GOOG) offered hackers a chance at a big pay day if they could crack its Chrome OS platform. The company held its annual Pwnium competition at the ConSecWest security conference in Vancouver this week where it put $3.14159 million up for grabs. While a number of hackers attempted to get a piece of the Pi, a Google spokesperson confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch that none of them succeeded in fully cracking the operating system. The company did reveal, however, that it is “evaluating some work that may qualify as partial credit.” Google is making a big push to boost consumer interest in Chrome OS. The company recently released the high-end Chromebook Pixel to compete directly with the Retina display Macbook Pro.

Unlike countries where people stop to have a nice meal in the workday, Americans have a little noon ritual of their own — sitting alone to chomp over the very same keyboard where they spent the rest of the day. According to Sad Desk Lunch, a site to share your lonely workplace sandwiches or microwave meal, 62 percent of Americans eat where they work.

If you find this depressing, take heart: Help may be on the way, thanks to big data study that showed that workers are happier and more productive when they eat with others and socialize during the work day.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Bank of America used data to discover its employees were 10 percent more productive when the company replaced solo breaks with group ones. Meanwhile, data experiments at other firms led them to make a cheerier, more social work place:

The company decided to make its once-dingy cafeteria more inviting, improving the lighting and offering better food, to encourage workers to lunch together, instead of at their desks.

Sound good? Don’t leap up from your sad little desk and pin the Journal article to your boss’s door just yet. There’s a catch. The employers in the article came to the conclusions they did only by sticking sensors on their workers:

Sensors, worn on lanyards or placed on office furniture, record how often staffers get up from their desks, consult other teams and hold meetings [..]  company employees wore iPhone-size badges.. that collected data on their motions, whereabouts, voice levels and conversational patterns.

The Journal report also notes that “bathroom breaks are optional” for those who are monitored and that employees who felt squeamish about the whole thing could wear dummy badges instead.

(Image by Monkey Business Images via Shutterstock)

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Today is International Women’s Day, and I can think of no better way to mark it than with all the different events this week around women’s empowerment.

President Obama has made promoting gender equality and advancing the status of women and girls central to our foreign policy and national security strategy, including by leading by example at home.

A few events this week highlighted the theme of women’s empowerment:

Today, the First Lady attended the International Women of Courage Awards at the Department of State with Secretary Kerry, an annual event that recognizes the incredible strength and courage of women from around the world – women who have stood up for our most basic rights, even when it meant risking their own safety.  The First Lady emphasized that we must not only stand with these women and their efforts, but also use their example as a guide as we work to lift up the women and girls in our own communities. You can learn more about the women here.

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Source Refrigeration & HVAC, which is backed by Arsenal Capital Partners, has acquired TP Electrical. Financial terms weren’t announced. White, Ga.-based TP provides electrical and EMS contracting services to grocery, commercial, industrial, and retail clients across the Southeastern United States.

PRESS RELEASE

Source Refrigeration & HVAC (Source), a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners (Arsenal), today announced the acquisition of TP Electrical (TP).

Based in White, Georgia, TP is a leading southeast provider of electrical and EMS contracting services to grocery, commercial, industrial, and retail clients across the Southeastern United States. The acquisition builds on the strength of Source’s platform as the leading independent provider of commercial refrigeration and HVAC services in North America, serving the nation’s top supermarket chains, many of the largest convenience store chains, and leading telecom and industrial companies.

“We are excited to add TP’s capabilities and strong customer relationships to our growing southeast team, and we welcome TP’s employees and customers to the Source family,” said Bruce Buchholz, Chief Executive Officer of Source. “Expansion in the southeastern United States continues to be an important strategic focus for us,” added Buchholz. “The TP acquisition allows us to offer our existing southeast customers expanded service and construction-related electrical and EMS capabilities. It also allows us to provide a broader offering for installation jobs with existing and new customers throughout the entire southeast. TP’s expertise coupled with Source’s existing service and installation operations in Florida and Georgia, position us extremely well for continued growth in the broader southeastern market.”

Sal Gagliardo, an Operating Partner at Arsenal Capital said, “TP is well established in the southeastern U.S. market for refrigeration and HVAC electrical and EMS services and has provided a long history of quality solutions and service to grocery, commercial, industrial, and retail clients. The acquisition of TP strengthens the capabilities of our existing service and installation operations in the southeast and supports our overall strategy of continuing to expand our national footprint while we build an industry-leading independent refrigeration and HVAC company”.

About TP Electrical
TP Electrical is a leading provider of refrigeration and HVAC electrical and EMS solutions to the grocery, commercial, industrial, and retail clients across the Southeastern United States.TP holds electrical licenses in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina and is certified in all major brands of grocery-related EMS controllers. They have long-standing relationships with leading grocery retailers and general contractors throughout the southeast.

About Source Refrigeration & HVAC
Source Refrigeration & HVAC is the leading independent provider of commercial refrigeration and HVAC services in North America, serving the nation’s top supermarket chains, many of the largest convenience store chains and leading telecom and industrial companies. With over 1000 employees and service locations nationally, Source designs, installs, services, maintains and optimizes mission-critical refrigeration & HVAC systems. For additional information about Source Refrigeration & HVAC, please visit www.sourcerefrigeration.com.

About Arsenal Capital Partners
Arsenal Capital Partners is a leading New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle-market specialty industrial, healthcare and financial services companies. Arsenal makes investments in sectors where the firm has prior knowledge and experience, and targets businesses that have the potential for further value creation by working closely with management to accelerate growth and leverage the firm’s operational improvement capabilities. Arsenal currently has $800 million of committed equity capital. For additional information on Arsenal Capital Partners, please visit www.arsenalcapital.com.

The post Source Refrigeration Buys TP Electrical appeared first on peHUB.

Austin, Texas — Wearing a textured black jacket from cyberpunk-designer Sruli Recht, and repeating the word “awesome” throughout his hour-long talk, the CEO of 3D printing company MakerBot, Bre Pettis, told an audience of thousands of geeks at the annual SXSW Interactive Festival on Friday afternoon that “It is the best time to get into hardware.”

For the past few years, SXSW — which is like the tech industry’s Spring Break fueled by BBQ, beer and the latest startups — has acted as a platform for a variety of social media and mobile apps to launch and gain mind share. Twitter famously broke out in SXSW in 2007. But at SXSW this year, as the New York Times noted this week, it looks like it’s hardware’s turn in the spot light.

Hot hardware

As rain drizzled down outside the Austin convention center and marketers handed out logo-laden bright ponchos to conference-goers, Pettis used the opportunity of his opening remarks at the show to unveil his company’s new 3D scanner called the MakerBot Digitizer. He referred to the Digitizer as the “washer and dryer” partner to MakerBot’s 3D printer the Replicator 2, and described the Digitizer’s 3D scanning process as “like what happens in Tron when Flynn gets digitized.”

The device, which is supposed to be out in the Fall, will give creators and makers another tool to move designs from the physical world, to the digital world, and back again. While professional designers and artists have high-end machines that do this, the Digitizer is meant to bring this capability to the DIY movement. The Digitizer uses a camera to scan the device as it rotates, the digital design of the 3D object is captured, and the Replicator 2 can replicate the object, or a tweaked version of the object.

Pettis also used his talk to announce that design giant Autodesk is now selling MakerBot’s 3D printers, giving the startup access to Autodesk’s large customer network, and adding some heft to the 3D printer movement. Pettis, who was introduced before his talk as the “King of the 3D printing revolution,” launched MakerBot as a company at SXSW in 2009. (To read more about 3D printing check out our research report on GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

Makers, creators and devices

As Stacey Higgenbotham predicted earlier this week, SXSW Interactive 2013 is all about the DIY maker movement and 3D printing. Across the street from the convention center, Autodesk is hosting a large “Create” space that’s highlighting inventors, and tinkerers and the devices that they’ve developed.

Of course under the Create tent, Autodesk and MakerBot are showing off the Replicator 2, and Autodesk’s 3D printer software and applications, and they’ve even got a vending machine that’s selling 3D-printed monsters. Autodesk has an app called 123D Creatures that lets you make, and print out, monsters on your iPad; Autodesk can use these types of consumer-focused apps as both marketing, as well as to boost sales for its 3D printer software ecosystem.

Other devices under the Create tent include social good gadgets like the BioLite Stove, invented by Alexander Drummond and Jonathan Cedar, the “See Better to Learn Better” low cost eye glasses from Fuseproject’s Yves Behar, and the Embrace Nest baby warmer. Lytro was showing off a camera that was launched at SXSW 2012, and which captures the light field of photos, enabling users to focus on and interact with different parts of the picture.

In fact, in the few hours that the show has been open on Friday, I have yet to see a demo of or hear about a super hot social media or mobile app that’s blowing up at the show. But I have heard about 3D printable rocketships, new wearables from unusual players, and I got a brief demo this morning of the Misfit Shine from Misfit CEO Sonny Vu. I’m sure the digital-only apps and services are here at the show, but hardware and the physical world seem to be overshadowing them.

In a way, that makes sense. The Internet of Things is officially here, and super cheap sensors are enabling gadgets to use data to help us in our daily lives. At the same time, wearable technology like Google Glass is making the computing industry think in an entirely new way. A physical component is almost necessary to move the computing paradigm forward beyond tablets, smart phones, and laptops. And for the early-adopters at the SXSW show this year, that means they get the first change to play with these devices.

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Watch the West Wing Week here.

Violence Against Women Act: On Thursday, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act of 2013, which provides resources for thousands of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. The renewed version of the law extends to protect LGBT victims, immigrants, Native Americans and victims of sex-trafficking. The act will ensure victims and survivors will have the resources they need. With survivors and advocates standing behind him President Obama recognized the significance of the day:

But everybody on this stage worked extraordinarily hard. Most of all, though, this is your day. This is the day of the advocates; the day of the survivors. This is your victory.

• Watch President Obama and Vice President Biden deliver remarks at the signing.
• Read the remarks by President Obama and Vice President Biden here.

First Cabinet Meeting: On Monday, President Obama opened the 17th Cabinet meeting of his presidency and the first of the new term. The President welcomed to the table his newest cabinet members, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. In his remarks, President Obama shared his deep concerns of the harmful and automatic budget cuts known as the sequester and advocated for bipartisan solutions so Americans can be poised for progress:

So one of the things that I’ve instructed not just my White House but every agency is to make sure that, regardless of some of the challenges that they may face because of sequestration, we’re not going to stop working on behalf of the American people to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to continue to grow this economy and improve people’s prospects.

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Third in a series. Two weeks have passed since we last visited this topic, but I wanted to be fair with this next part before writing it. As you will recall from part one, I decided to replace my Windows Media Center HTPC and the NetGear NeoTV 550, because both are so old and slow. While I wanted to do so with one box, there was a major stumbling block — most of our movies are ripped to ISO images. I would prefer a Google TV to replace both, but in the end got a Micca box to take the place of the HTPC and then still ordered a Vizio Co-Star because I simply could not resist.

Things have not gone entirely as I planned. In fact, as you may recall from part two of this series, nothing has really gone the way I had hoped.

Beauty is Skin Deep

The Micca is slim and very handsome. A SATA hard drive can easily be added from an optical drawer on the side of the box to provide built-in storage.

I knew the user interface is scant — I saw the images on the website. That is not my concern. While Windows Media Center has a beautiful motif, I can live without it. I am looking for functionality and Micca promises to play virtually every codec, including my ISO files.

The UI is stark, but not a problem. Functionality is. First, I cannot access the HDD I added to the box from any computer on my network, meaning I cannot move video files to local storage for easier streaming. The box does allow me to access files on other computers and DLNA devices, but that is problematic — sometimes they show up, sometimes not.

Combine these network problems with the UI and it is a recipe for failure. When my family sits down to watch something they expect everything to work. This setup does not always fill that most basic need.

Moving On

So where do I go now? I will remove the HTPC. I have not done this yet because I want to test longer before disconnecting everything. I am very glad I took that approach.

I will move to the Vizio Co-Star full-time, though doing so entails some significant hassle on my part. Those ISO movie files will not play there — I have looked for workarounds, without success. If you know of one, please chime in in the comments below — yes, I am crowd-sourcing my problems.

Where to Now?

For lack of an ISO solution on Google TV, I face the rather daunting task of converting ISO files to AVI format. It is not difficult just very time-consuming. Thankfully I work mainly on my laptop, so to open a file on the desktop and hit a covert button periodically is not labor-intensive. Plus I will save hard drive space.

In the meantime, I will keep the Netgear NeoTV active (it plays ISO — hint to Google) to handle those ISO movies that have not yet been converted — just in case Indiana Jones starts calling my kids’ names.

In part four, I’ll look at how well Google TV can replace a dedicated HTPC — it certainly has to be better than Micca.

Photo Credits: Alan Buckingham

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft (MSFT) was offering its manufacturing partners a discount on Windows 8 licensing fees. The reduced cost will likely help manufacturers offer lower priced Windows 8 laptops. According to Digitimes, prices of Windows 8-powered touchscreen notebooks are expected to drop at least 10%, while some entry-level models could drop as much as 20%. Touchscreen laptops currently account for about 10% of all notebook sales, however the reduced prices are expected to increase sales to account for more than 20% in the second quarter. The new “sweet spot” for touchscreen notebooks is said to be around $500, although it will still likely take some time before consumers fully embrace the new operating system.

Blogging site Storylane has just announced that they’ve been acquired by Facebook for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is talent-based, as Storylane’s Jonathan Gheller says that Facebook will not be acquiring any of their data.

Storylane, a social-blogging site, billed itself a “story telling” network. It was founded two years ago and prompted people to share longer-form personal stories.

“The team from Storylane will be an incredible addition to Facebook,” said Facebook in a statement. “Their previous work showcasing real identity through sincere and meaningful content will make them a perfect fit at Facebook.”

Here’s Gheller’s full post on the move:

Two years ago the team behind Storylane began working to help people connect in more fruitful and meaningful ways. We took on a mission – trying to help people better communicate who they are and what they care about, improve the way we do business with each other, find love and make new friendships. And at the heart of this work has always been our drive to build a more genuine online identity.

After a lot of discussions with Facebook about how our teams might work together to have even greater impact, we are announcing today that the Storylane team will be joining Facebook.

This is an exciting opportunity. Facebook’s mission of connecting the world has always been at the center of our work, and like our friends at Facebook, meaningful connections are what our team is most passionate about.

The beautiful stories you have decided to share with us are yours to keep and share in however way you want. We are building tools that will help you migrate the content to other services if you so desire. I will be in touch with you about those specific tools later, but I can confirm that Facebook is not acquiring any of your data; and we’re working to make sure you can migrate your content in a manageable way.

We want to give special thanks to our investors who supported us and encouraged us to dream big. It has been an absolute honor to work alongside such an outstanding group of people. Our journey as a young company was made possible by their commitment and patience. Without their guidance we would not be in a position to further our mission through Facebook.

Most of all, I want to thank our users. Your passion, sincerity and willingness to share, has made Storylane the incredible experience that exists today. We have learned so much from you. Your ideas and creativity will stay with us and inspire us on the next stage of our journey.

As I’m sure you’re aware, Facebook just unveiled a dramatic news feed redesign that focuses on more visually-oriented stories.

[via GigoOm]

The Associated Press is reporting that Nathan Safferstein, a counterintelligence agent for the Manhattan Project, has died.

Safferstein’s family told the AP that he died Tuesday, March 5 at his home in the Bronx. He had been suffering from an unnamed illness for some time.

As part of the program centered around creating the atomic bomb, Safferstein was trusted with some of the Manhattan Projects’ most precious secrets. The AP report states that Safferstein eavesdropped on Los Alamos laboratory scientists to ensure they weren’t leaking secrets about the program. He was also tasked with transporting sensitive material, such as uranium and top-secret messages.

Safferstein was reportedly a grocery store manager before being recruited into the Manhattan Project and stationed at Los Alamos. He followed the project all the way to the Pacific theater, where he was able to sign his initials to the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima. After the war, Safferstein returned to grocery store work. He went on to become president of a marketing company and later founded two companies.

(Image courtesy Michael Safferstein/AP)

Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame is no stranger to video games. The prolific rocker was immortalized in Guitar Hero 3. Now he has officially joined the cast of Angry Birds in its latest interstellar outing.

Rovio announced today that they commissioned Slash to perform a cover of the Angry Birds Space theme after the guitarist professed last year to being a huge fan of the franchise. The cover can be heard in the latest update for the game.

In even better news, Rovio has also created a Slash inspired bird to join the cast of Angry Birds Space. The little guy just might be the coolest avian rocker since Rock-A-Doodle.

Grab the latest update to Angry Birds Space from Google Play, or iOS.

My skepticism about Facebook is pretty well known. I have found them to be a company that plays loose and easy with people and makes decisions that are not always in their users’ best interest. So yesterday when they announced the news feed redesign, I was a little bemused. My initial reaction: while Google is trying to make the physical world searchable, Facebook is adding a “category menu” to its feed.

Then a friend emailed and said that I was being too harsh because they are, after all, catering to a billion people, are a publicly traded company and are under attack from all sides by more nimble, smarter startups that are taking attention away from them. Fair enough: I decided that I would give them a fair shake whenever I got access to the redesigned news feed.

Given the planet-long wait list, I didn’t sign up and didn’t email Facebook PR. But sometime last night, the new feed update showed up. I have had a few hours to play around with it, and here are my impressions and thoughts on the business implications of the redesign. So here we go:

Four things I like:

• Overall design: Facebook has been stockpiling design talent like the U.S. used to stockpile nuclear weapons. And the result of all that design IQ is finally bearing fruit. The new news feed is actually what Facebook says it is — clean, simple and beautiful. The white space (or gray space) is put to effective use. You can see the iOS and Apple influence on the redesign in small smallest of the elements such as menu items, icons and message status buttons. They also get full marks for creating a unified experience (including the left hand navigation menu — which includes links to apps, messenger, events and what not) that spans elegantly across devices. They get a A- on this (for reasons stated below.)
• Responsive Design: In my test, it worked well on iPad, iPad Mini, desktop, Nexus 7, Nexus 4 and iPhone5. It is very consistent and I wouldn’t change a thing. An A+ on this.
• Photos: Mark Zuckerberg and his coterie might like to think of themselves as rivals to Twitter (not) or a newspaper, but in the end, Facebook is and will always be a giant photo service. And to that end, increasing the size of the photos and being able to create photos collages (collections, as Evan Williams would say) is a great move and actually makes scrolling through photos easier, faster and more enjoyable. I do believe that with this redesign, Facebook has give its core functionality a nice boost. I would give this an A+, though Facebook should consider giving us the ability to make it our default feed.
• Music: Remember that Facebook Music service we talked about back in June 2011? Two years later, the new “music” feed that is showing up a sub-category of their feed is reminiscent of that design. It also aggregates music events in my calendar and also shows me the bands liked by my friends. I like the suggestions that are offered to me but I am still not sure what to do with that information. Why? Because when someone recommends me a or an artist, I want to be able to listen to the song (or the artist’s work) and if I like it, I add to a playlist for future consumption. That flow is still not there. All in all, decent offering which gets a solid B+ from me, because I am still not sure why I care if Kevin Tofel likes Dido.

Two things I don’t:

• Facebook did a nice facelift of the news feed, but rest of the service looks a little out of touch. The Messaging app looks old school and could actually use a quick dusting.
• The Search bar on the top is actually quite worthless and comes in the way of what could be a pretty seamless experience. It is a case of when a hasty business decision gets layered on top of good design decisions — the end result is like a great pair of leather shoes with a plastic sole.

And five burning questions

:

• I have spent a lot of time with the redesign and I am not clear how this solves Facebook’s two major challenges: retention and engagement. Yes, it is lovely, and the notifications are sort of nicer, but it still does nothing to make me come back more often and actually if anything I will spend less time. I can skim photos and bounce much faster.
• The younger demographic, who is leaving the service (though they are still part of the zombie mob), are not going to come back because of the changes.
• The actual news feed, despite the attractive photos and bigger visuals, is still messy and much less useful that it used to be.
• The biggest question that arises from this cosmetic facelift: what happened to Facebook’s ability to actually learn, adapt and become more human with the feed? In other words, has their ability to sift and make sense of data hit a glass ceiling? My guess is yes.

What it means from a business/money perspective?

• Facebook is and will always be news feed centric. And it is one of the main reasons why its early attempts at search and other experiments have not really succeeded. The news feed has to become more context oriented and if they screw up the news feed, they start to lose overall value. So, that is why this aesthetic facelift is much needed.
• Just like I said earlier, Facebook will struggle beyond the news feed and that is why they need to make the feed the focus of all monetization efforts including a more traditional form of advertising. Bigger photos will condition people to bigger ads — something marketers want and like. So expect to see a lot more ads in your feed. I suspect, as the desire to reinvent advertising takes a backseat to realities of the public market.
• Here is the problem with the scenario. So far, you and I don’t much care about the ads that appear on the right hand column. I don’t much care if Zoosk or some crappy ad shows up — I have programmed my brain to ignore it. Others feel that way — though many people are still spending money on those right-column ads.
• Because despite all their posturing, Facebook is terrible at providing context and surfacing ads that make sense. But if they start surfacing similar pointless and terrible ads in the main feed (like all those stupid paid-shares by my friends) then this grand experiment to make more money is going to backfire.

To sum it up

This was a great job to clean up the news feed, make it easier for folks to consume Facebook on all sorts of devices and find ways for easy consumption and create advertising opportunities that are easier advertising agencies and their traditional skills to manage. It is also a tactical admission (though a silent one) about their limitations in providing context and creating a new advertising model.

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In 2013 we are asking everyone to Go Further For Fairtrade. This is the message during Fairtrade Fortnight (25 Feb – 10 March). In particular we will be focusing on food and the crucial role of smallholders, so that together, we really can make 2013 a game-changing year in food.

Smallholders grow 70% of the world’s food. They are critical to the production of many of the tropical agricultural commodities we take for granted – 80% of our coffee is grown by smallholders and 90% of the world’s cocoa. But many farmers are trapped in a cycle of poverty, made worse by decades of price volatility and underinvestment in agriculture, and now facing new threats from a changing climate. This phenomenon is threatening the very sustainability of many of the products we enjoy on a daily basis. Our global food system is unbalanced. It doesn’t work well enough for consumers – horsegate has shown that. And it is wasteful – consumers in rich countries waste as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. Recent World Health Organisation research reveals that, for the first time ever, the number of years of healthy living lost globally as a result of over-eating outweighs the number lost by people eating too little.

We know there is enough food for everyone, but everyone is not getting enough food. 2013 is the year that we need to find better solutions. The UK is hosting the G8 Summit for the first time since 2005 and the week before the G8 the UK government will host a summit on food and nutrition. This is an unprecedented opportunity for leadership to tackle the challenges to the future of our food system; challenges that will need changes from all of us – farmers, the public, and companies as well as governments.

Fairtrade has made real gains in the last few years, bringing lasting benefits to more than 1.25 million producers in over 60 developing countries. This has been supported by DFID through a Programme Partnership Agreement of £12 million over four years. The grant was given to Fairtrade globally to help scale up our work supporting farmers in developing countries to access better terms of trade in global markets. And over the life of this grant Fairtrade has continued to buck the trend by growing well even in the teeth of recession. In the UK, Fairtrade sales grew 19% in 2012, to £1.56bn. Britain now leads the world in Fairtrade.

This support has enabled Fairtrade to reach more people, but it has also helped us bring the benefits of trade to more fragile communities and to begin to target our interventions more. Through this Fairtrade now works with olive farmers in Palestine, raisin farmers in Afghanistan and coffee smallholders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are also able to support women’s groups, like the dynamic entrepreneurs of the Akoma Women’s Co-operative in Ghana, who have begun marketing Fairtrade shea butter.

That is a great start, but it is not enough. We need to step up the pace. We need to reach more farmers and workers in ways that matter to them and that are relevant in today’s volatile climate. We need to identify the circumstances under which Fairtrade can be truly dynamic, which producers can use as a springboard to a stronger future.

Last month I visited two projects in Kenya which are helping producers do just that. In the tea growing region of Kericho, in Western Kenya, Finlays Beverages and the Co-operative Group – with support from DFID – have been working with the Fintea Growers Co-operative Union, which has a membership of around 15,000 smallholder tea farmers, to develop its business. Fintea Growers gained Fairtrade certification in 2011 and this Fairtrade Fortnight they are supplying 50% of the tea The Co-operative’s new 99 Tea Gold. Similarly, in the foothills of Mount Kenya, the 8,000 smallholders of the Iri-Aini Co-operative used the confidence that Fairtrade has given them to develop their own packing facility, working in partnership with Marks and Spencer, with support from DFID’s FRICH fund. This enabled the smallholders to capture 60% more value at source and has spurred them on to start selling their tea locally as part of an exciting new move to launch Fairtrade to the domestic market in Kenya.

Smallholder farmers are not a ‘problem’, neither are they passive ‘beneficiaries’. Indeed, FAO figures show that smallholders themselves already invest US$170 billion a year into their own farms, four times more than investment from all other funding sources put together. With the right support they will build better businesses and make lasting change happen in their communities. And of course we need to ensure the voice of smallholders is heard as we look for lasting solutions to our unbalanced food system. As Beatrice Makwenda from the National Association of Small Farmers in Malawi (NASFAM) once told us, “the person wearing the shoe knows best where it pinches”.

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Please note, this is a guest blog. Views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of DFID or have the support of the British Government.

 

 

If you’re a DIRECTV subscriber then you’ve no doubt had an itch to watch all that exciting TV content on your tablet, but haven’t had an opportunity— until now. DIRECTV has announced its newest app for Android tablet that aims to give subscribers a fairly complete viewing experience, on their tablets that is. Using the app, viewers are able to watch select live channels, browse through all types of channels and even create a customizable homescreen which allows for users to create a list of favorite channels to help truly personalize the DIRECTV viewing experience.

The app comes in at a fairly hefty 15MB, so if you DIRECTV subscribers out there on a Honeycomb+ tablet are ready to start watching some TV on your tablets, head on down to the Play Store today and grab the app today.

 

 

Play Store Download Link

Come comment on this article: DIRECTV App hits the Play Store for tablets