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Astrobiologist and geologist Louisa Preston looks for analogues to possible life on Mars in the most extreme environments on Earth. Now she’s also considering how humans might someday make a home on the red planet, and is raising funds on Kickstarter in support of AstroGardening – an educational exhibit designed to explore how we might someday grow food on Mars.

Tell us about your Kickstarter campaign for the AstroGardening project.

It’s based around the idea of Mars gardening. If humans want to go to Mars, how would we live when we got there? What would we need, and what would it look like? With the advancement of space exploration, we’re finding that ideas like this are actually becoming a lot more real – not quite science fiction.

The exhibit, which will be hosted in a number of planetariums and museums in the UK, will be inside a plastic geodesic dome, within which is a beautiful, peaceful garden full of different types of plants, fruits, vegetables and flowers. The soil will be red, just like Mars. There will be signs and information everywhere where people can learn about the different plants, how they might grow on Mars, and the various ways we need to develop tools so we can garden on Mars. Mars is frozen, so we need to be able to extract water and keep plants warm, for instance.

And there will be a rover — the first-ever rover designed solely for gardening. It will be automated to be planting a garden at the end of the exhibit, so people can see it in action.

My project partner, installation designer, maker and guerilla gardener Vanessa Harden, and I are designing and building the rover right now. The Kickstarter funds will be used to build the rover, the exhibit itself — plants, soil, the dome — and so on. Most of the venues have agreed to house the exhibit out of kind, for education purposes, so we’re not paying a fee, and it’ll be free for anyone to come and visit it.

Video above: Introducing the AstroGardening project — and the automated gardening rover.

Does this mean that plants that grow on Earth could be transplanted directly to such an environment?

Yes, absolutely. There have been a number of studies that show that if you plant things like asparagus or potato or sweet potato or different types of grains in soil that’s exactly the same as on Mars, they will grow as long as they have water and sunlight and things that plants need. I think one experiment actually showed that you could grow marigolds in ground-up meteorites, and meteorites from Mars. So we know the planet’s soil will allow it. We just need to create the environment.

The exhibit will explain this to people. It will also teach about the conditions on Mars, how plants grow, what they need, why it’s hard for life to grow on Mars, what therefore makes the Earth so special — and from there why it’s so important for us to protect the environment.

I wasn’t going to lead it on to terraforming, but actually I was speaking to my 10-year-old cousin about it, and he asked, “Well what about if we could change Mars to be like Earth?” Terraforming is a really interesting topic, and sounds very much like science fiction, but there are people looking into it. So hopefully the exhibit will address that point and allow people to ask questions, and we’ll be able to provide the answers about how it might be done, and what the ethics are around whether we should be allowed to change another planet to suit us.

The whole thing came out of a desire to get the public involved in understanding that we’re not very far away from gardening in space becoming a reality — actually being able to garden and set up colonies and civilizations on other worlds — and how it might happen. So we came up with an exhibit that the public can be involved in and not only looks beautiful, but is scientifically relevant and accurate.

How does this dovetail with your work looking for analogue Mars environments on Earth?

It works brilliantly. I look for environments on the Earth that mimic Mars, and I study how life can grow there. In the past, I’ve studied how microorganisms survive in these environments. Are these places really hot, really cold, really acidic, really dry? So it’s a natural step for me to then start thinking about how you might grow plants or how we as humans might survive in these areas, too.

I grew up watching TV shows and films about humans and aliens living on other worlds and I kept thinking, Well how would we live there? These worlds look completely different from ours; how would we survive? And now I’m finally in a position to actually be able to think about this question and use science to answer it.

How did you get into the field of astrobiology?

I was following along a geology career, studying mining, looking at all the different types of minerals that the Earth produces and how we might utilize those as a society, and I met a PhD student who was working on life preserved within rocks in Antarctica. Up until that point I didn’t completely realize or understand that you could actually look for life on other planets as a job — that it was actually a facet of what I was doing. So I did my PhD on a combination of looking at mineral deposits like I’d been studying before, but trying to incorporate the idea of life around these rocks and then life on Mars — to try and merge the two. And I was hooked. I knew that all the rest of the work that I would do from then on would all be geared towards trying to identify and find life on other planets.

Now my main work is looking at environments on Earth that mimic those on Mars. I look at places such as Antarctica, which is the coldest, driest desert on the Earth and is actually the most Mars-like environment we have on Earth. I look at areas in Spain such as Rio Tinto, and I work at impact craters. I’m going to Iceland this summer to do more work on volcanoes and hot springs. What all these environments have in common is that they are places where life lives at very extreme limits. It’s either very, very hot or very cold — places where humans couldn’t survive without lots of help, but some organisms can live perfectly happily.

I try and figure out how they’re able to survive there, what adaptations they have that allow them to survive there. And I study nearby rocks as well, because as these are forming they trap the organisms in them. When I open up these rocks, I can see fossilized life, similar to the type of life we think we might find on Mars. We won’t necessarily see life scuttling around on the surface of Mars, but we might be able to break into a rock, open it, and see fossilized life inside. I look for DNA and proteins, and try to understand how these fossils are formed and identify organic molecules that indicate this fossil was once definitely an organism, not just, say, a wiggly pattern.

You’re working with Senior Fellow Angelo Vermeulen on the HI-SEAS Mars simulation project, where they are investigating how humans might be able to cook their own food on Mars, and his own research on this mission about growing food on Mars is very similar to yours. Did you arrange this together?

Actually, I didn’t get involved in HI-SEAS through Angelo. I do a lot of analogue mission work myself — I was a flight director for a Canadian Space Agency analogue mission. So when the call came out that they were asking for people to be involved in HI-SEAS and to support the mission, I got contacted just through my prior experience.

Angelo didn’t even find out I was supporting the mission until he was actually in the simulation. It was a wonderful moment: we had a kick-off meeting on Skype for all the mission crew to meet the astronauts, including Angelo. When we went around and introduced ourselves, I just said, “Hi. My name is Louisa Preston. I’m an astrobiologist based in London.” All I heard in the other room was, “Louisa??” Now we’re communicating, him on Mars and myself here — and I’m trying to help him with his research as he goes through the mission. It’s really good fun. Every so often he’ll send us a call asking if anyone’s seen any good papers recently or research we might be able to incorporate.

At the moment, I’m studying something that’s a little bit different from what he’s doing. He’s looking at plants that basically don’t need any kind of pollination. They don’t need bees; they don’t need anything to help them reproduce. They just naturally do it. I’m asking, “How would we actually get bees — or use something like bees — on Mars to pollinate plants, and how would we breed them?” So we’re removed at the moment in those areas, but we’re looking to try and join our studies eventually, so it could be interesting. Angelo and I had already been looking for a reason and a way to work together, and this was a perfect opportunity.

What does it mean to be a flight director on an analogue mission, and why would a astrobiologist need to have such an experience? You’re not actually flying anywhere…

Our analogue mission was based in Canada, and it was to send a team to the Canadian high arctic where they were going to study an impact crater. When you have a mission, whether on Mars or on Earth, you have a team that goes into the field, or to Mars, and a mission control. Leading mission control is the flight director who basically manages the team. And that was my job.

There are a number of things you get from these scenarios. The first one is management experience, which doesn’t sound particularly exciting. But in these teams you have engineers, scientists, computational experts, field specialists, medics, psychologists, and a number of different people working together. In our field, if you’re going to stay in space science and you want to work in missions and help extend our knowledge of the solar system, you need to be able to work in a very dynamic team full of extremely different people from disparate backgrounds, and who therefore all think very differently.

There’s a very common clash between scientists and engineers, for example. The scientists want to go to this rock, say, to look at a cool bug. The engineer says, “Well I don’t know how to get you there.” And the scientist says, “Well I want to go there.” There’s always this clash, but it’s a friendly clash with a joint goal. You need the skills to be able to negotiate through this. So to be part the larger picture and to work in these situations and planning missions to other planets it’s an invaluable experience. It’s really good fun as well.

What has your TED experience been like so far?

The one thing about the TED conference is I think everyone spends an entire week with imposter syndrome, because you go there very confident in what you do and very excited to tell everybody about it — then you speak to even one single person and hear what they do and think, “Oh, that’s so much cooler and more interesting than what i do.” The Fellows community is very active; I’m talking with and potentially working with three Fellows at the moment on a number of different projects, which will be really exciting. And a lot of really great publicity has come from being associated with TED, even in the UK where it might not be as well known as it is in America.

I’m also now one of the directors of TEDxLondon, which is happening in July. Its theme is visions of the future, which is not at all in my area, but that means I’ve actually spent a number of weeks speaking with architects and designers and science-fiction writers about their visions of the future, which is absolutely fascinating.

Dell Inc. responded Friday to a proposed alternative – submitted by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management – to a $24.4 billion buyout deal led by founder Michael Dell. In a letter to Dell’s board on Thursday night, Icahn and Southeastern proposed that current owners keep their equity position. Additionally, they would have the option of receiving a distribution of $12 a share in cash or $12 a share in stock valued at $1.65 a share, Reuters reported. Dell said in a statement Friday that it was “carefully reviewing the potential transaction to assess the potential risks and rewards to the public shareholders.”

PRESS RELEASE
The Special Committee of the Board of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) today issued the following statement regarding a non-binding proposal it has received from Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management:

“Mr. Icahn and Southeastern have outlined a potential leveraged recapitalization transaction that they want the Dell Board either to recommend at this time or to consider if the existing going-private transaction is rejected by Dell shareholders. They have also proposed replacing the Board with a slate of new directors who they say would approve such a transaction. Consistent with the Special Committee`s goal of achieving the best possible outcome for all shareholders, we and our advisors are carefully reviewing the potential transaction to assess the potential risks and rewards to the public shareholders.”

Forward-looking Statements
Any statements in these materials about prospective performance and plans for the Company, the expected timing of the completion of the proposed merger and the ability to complete the proposed merger, and other statements containing the words “estimates,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” and similar expressions, other than historical facts, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; (2) the inability to complete the proposed merger due to the failure to obtain stockholder approval for the proposed merger or the failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the proposed merger, including that a governmental entity may prohibit, delay or refuse to grant approval for the consummation of the transaction; (3) the failure to obtain the necessary financing arrangements set forth in the debt and equity commitment letters delivered pursuant to the merger agreement; (4) risks related to disruption of management`s attention from the Company`s ongoing business operations due to the transaction; and (5) the effect of the announcement of the proposed merger on the Company`s relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally.

Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in the materials represent our views as of the date hereof. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof. Additional factors that may cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company`s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2013, which was filed with the SEC on March 12, 2013, under the heading “Item 1A-Risk Factors,” and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K filed with the SEC by the Company.

Additional Information and Where to Find It
In connection with the proposed merger transaction, the Company filed with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement and other documents relating to the proposed merger on May 2, 2013. When completed, a definitive proxy statement and a form of proxy will be filed with the SEC and mailed to the Company`s stockholders. Stockholders are urged to read the definitive proxy statement when it becomes available and any other documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed merger or incorporated by reference in the proxy statement because they will contain important information about the proposed merger.

Investors will be able to obtain a free copy of documents filed with the SEC at the SEC`s website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, investors may obtain a free copy of the Company`s filings with the SEC from the Company`s website at http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/investor-financial-reporting.aspx or by directing a request to: Dell Inc. One Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas 78682, Attn: Investor Relations, (512) 728-7800, [email protected].

The Company and its directors, executive officers and certain other members of management and employees of the Company may be deemed “participants” in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders of the Company in favor of the proposed merger. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered participants in the solicitation of the stockholders of the Company in connection with the proposed merger, and their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, which may be different from those of the Company`s stockholders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement and the other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC. You can find information about the Company`s executive officers and directors in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2013 and in its definitive proxy statement filed with the SEC on Schedule 14A on May 24, 2012.

About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value.

The post Dell Responds to Ichan, Southeastern Offer appeared first on peHUB.

Tim Tebow had a spectacularly bad season last year, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The young quarterback, who has just as many detractors as he does fans, was expected to do great things once he was traded from the Broncos to the Jets. But there was one major problem: the team already had a star quarterback, Mark Sanchez, and Tebow hardly got any time on the field to strut his stuff. Despite coach Rex Ryan’s glowing reviews of Tebow and his ability, it seemed his career with the Jets stalled at the gate. Now, he’s been released, and rumors are floating around the web that he’s being blackballed because of all the media hype surrounding him.

“He seems like a great guy to have on a team, and I’d be tempted to bring him in as our backup,” one NFC head coach reportedly said. “But it’s just not worth dealing with all the stuff that comes with it.”

Because of Tebow’s innate likability, his handsome visage, and the Christian values that include running an organization to help children, he’s garnered a media following like nothing anyone in the NFL has ever seen. His fans are almost in cult status. Yet it’s hard to figure out whether they love him so much because of his talent, or because of everything else.

“The only place that Tebow hasn’t succeeded is in New York, where he couldn’t get off the bench. He may have seen the field more, if, dressed in a cheerleading outfit, he starred as the caveman in a GEICO commercial. The contempt toward all things Tebow was so over the top that it even had Alec Baldwin showing pity – “the only thing more imaginary than Manti Te’o’s girlfriend is the Jets offensive package for Tebow,” says writer John Kirkwood.

For now, it’s hard to say what his immediate future holds. While the media circus isn’t his fault, it’s not going to help him gain a foothold with another team anytime soon.

What you are about to see is perhaps the most beautiful automobile ever created. It has the presence of an Italian supermodel and the power of a well seasoned prize fighter. This is the 1969 Lamborghini Miura S, and with its mid-mounted V12, scrape-the-ground stance and symphonic exhaust note, it may just be the world’s most perfect automobile.

Source: JayLenosGarage.com

So you own an HTC One and you’re a tad jealous of the Drama Shot feature on the Galaxy S 4. No worries because you can do the same thing on your HTC One by utilizing the Sequence Shot feature, but there is some good news and bad news. The good news is that as long as you’re using Zoe, you can make your Sequence Shot anytime you want. With the Galaxy S 4, you have to know that you want to take a Drama Shot before you take the photo. Not only that, you need to make your edits before you can take any other pictures. The results are cool, but a very cumbersome feature. With HTC’s use of Zoe, you can play around with your sequence shot after you get home or even weeks later as long as the Zoe is still on your phone. Now the bad news: You won’t get as many frames as the Galaxy S 4 since the S 4 takes 100 frames over four seconds, while HTC Zoe grabs only 20 frames for 3 seconds. Still, you can get a pretty good looking Drama Shot Sequence Shot, so hit the break to find out how it’s done.

All you need to do is open any Zoe that might feature images for a good Sequence Shot such as someone running or dancing. You want to make sure that the only thing moving is the person that you want to depict for this effect. Make sure to move the slider on the Zoe to after the last movement takes place. Then tap Edit, then Retouch, then Sequence Shot (lower left). After it processes, you will see a bunch of images that you can select or deselect. Obviously the ones that are selected will appear in the final photo. After you are happy with the result, tap Done. At this point you will be given an opportunity for further editing like skin smoothing and eye brightening, but most of those won’t pertain. Now hit the three dot menu at the top right and select Save or Save & Share. Tapping Save will save the image to your gallery and will also be part of the same event that your original Zoe is in. If you tap Save & Share, it will save the image the same way, but you will also be given an opportunity to share it to Facebook, Dropbox, Gmail, Google+, and more.

Sometimes it’s easier to see how it’s done so that is why I put together this video showing you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sequence Shot might be HTC’s best kept secret regarding their camera software and is something that most people don’t know they can do. Hopefully this guide helped you make a really cool sequence image. Be sure to check out our other HTC One guides.

 

Come comment on this article: How to make a Drama Shot or Sequence Shot on the HTC One

The same sensor technology used to track performance of elite athletes and monitor vital signs during childbirth is taking a turn as a tool for fighting drug abuse.

At the American Telemedicine Association conference this week, a psychologist at the Baylor College of Medicine described how he’s using the Zephyr BioHarness wireless vital signals monitor to track cardiovascular and respiratory changes in cocaine users, according to Mobihealth News.

Developed for the military, first responders and athletes, the BioHarness is a chest strap with a battery-powered sensor that monitors a person’s heart rate, breathing rate and other vital signs.

At Baylor, Dr. Jin Ho Yoon is reportedly leading an NIH-funded trial using the BioHarness to see how well it can measure changes in heart and lung function when people are exposed to cocaine. According to Mobihealth, as part of the trial, volunteers who had been addicted to cocaine were administered low-dosage intravenous cocaine in hospital beds, while a control group received saline solution. Among those exposed to the drug, the monitor detected sharp increases in heart rates and breathing rates.

That the device detected an increase in those indicators isn’t as significant as the finding that the monitor could generate more data and at a lower price than typical hospital monitors – and that it could work remotely to monitor people recently discharged from care facilities to make sure that they don’t relapse into abuse. (Although Mobihealth suggests that the battery life would need to be extended for effective remote monitoring.)

Cocaine abuse represents just a small percentage of all illicit drug use, but it leads to more than 40 percent of emergency visits related to overdoses from street drugs, Dr. Yoon reportedly told the conference. And, he plans to continue studies with the BioHarness to determine whether it has applications for helping people to quit smoking and fight obesity.

As we’ve reported previously, sensor technology is a hot area in digital health these days, with companies receiving funding for devices that track everything from sleep disorders to head impacts to medication adherence.

When it comes to using sensors to detect and treat substance abuse, the BioHarness isn’t the only device psychologists are studying. The iHeal, developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is a wristband that detects changes in the electrical activity of the skin, body motion, skin temperature and heart rate to determine when the user might be on the verge of risky behavior like substance abuse. According to reports, it communicates with a smartphone app that prompts users to provide information about potential triggers when the sensor detects a certain stress level and provides timely personalized drug prevention interventions.

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For the last year mobile carriers have entertained a strange notion: content providers should pay for the mobile data their customers consume on operators’ networks. At first, the big internet players seemed to shrug off the suggestion, but carriers may have found their first taker in sports entertainment giant ESPN.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney-owned ESPN is negotiating with Verizon Wireless to let the operator’s customers partake in unlimited quantities of ESPN content without incurring any additional data charges. In essence, ESPN would pay Verizon to exempt its content from its data caps.

The Journal reported that no deal is imminent and ESPN isn’t even sure that the economics will work, but the fact that it’s entertaining the idea is significant. It turns the notion of a neutral mobile internet on its head. The hierarchy of the internet is pretty simple: customers pay for access in the form of data plans, leaving internet players free use of the mobile airwaves to deliver their content either for free or as paid services. If ESPN and Verizon strike a deal that hierarchy gets flipped, and there would be consequences.

The mobile internet has problems, but it works best when it remains neutral

Mobile operators have chipping away at the principle of net neutrality for years, banning certain apps here and restricting competing over-the-top services there. In Europe, carriers are battling with Google over carriage fees. But in this case, a carrier appears to be challenging net neutrality with the complicity of a content provider. I can understand why ESPN might be eager to take the plunge into subsidizing mobile data. In fact, I’m surprised a big name player like Netflix or Hulu hadn’t done it sooner.

One of the biggest obstacles to widespread video consumption on the mobile internet is overage fees. Who’s going to watch a 3-hour sporting event on their mobile phone or tablet if it drains your monthly data plan in the process? If ESPN wants to make consumers as comfortable using its mobile apps as they are watching its cable programming and using its web services, then it has to get around those data caps.

But there are enormous consequences to such a deal. The biggest and most obvious consequence is that it favors one provider’s content over another. If all access is created equal, then no content has an inherent advantage over another — which is the whole idea behind the wireline network neutrality rules the FCC established in 2010. But if consumers know they can get ESPN’s content without incurring any additional charge, they’ll naturally gravitate toward that content.

There’s an even bigger risk that ESPN’s competitors won’t just get penalized in the eyes of the consumer. Their traffic flow could be penalized as well. Embedded deep within Verizon’s network are policy servers that can distinguish an ESPN packet from any other packet. Not only could Verizon use that technology to exempt ESPN traffic form data plans, it also could use that technology to prioritize ESPN’s traffic from all others. The Journal’s story didn’t mention anything about traffic shaping, but you can bet its high on the list in any negotiation.

Do carriers really want to go down this road?

I suspect ESPN isn’t the only content provider interested in bargaining with the carriers. And I’m sure the carriers are thrilled at the prospects at an additional mobile data revenue stream. But there are risks for the carriers, too.

Operators have long complained about being reduced to mere dumb pipes, but these kind of subsidy deals would only make their pipes dumber. If all the big destinations on the mobile internet starting paying network fees for the consumer, then operators won’t have much left to sell. Consumers basically would be dealing with the big internet brands to get their content and their access. That leaves carriers selling smaller and smaller mobile data plans to customers who will increasingly gravitate toward those big content providers. Operators will have even fewer ways of distinguishing themselves from their competitors.

What’s more, operators are making the very dangerous assumption that they will always have the upper hand in such negotiations. Last week The New Yorker published a very insightful piece by Tim Wu about the growing threat to net neutrality. While Wu was making his case for wireline neutrality, his points apply to the mobile internet as well:

An important aspect of the Internet’s original design is that many prices were set at zero—what have been called zero-price rules. The price to join the network is zero. The price that users and sites pay to reach others is zero: a blogger doesn’t need to pay to reach Comcast’s customers. And the price that big Web sites charge broadband operators to carry their content is also zero. It’s a subtle point, but these three zeros are a large part of what makes the Internet what it is. If net neutrality goes away, so does the agreement to freeze prices at zero.

If mobile carriers and content providers start negotiating over access the delicate balance of the mobile internet suddenly goes off kilter. Right now it’s teetering toward the mobile operators but that might not always the case. ESPN, Google, Facebook and HBO are enormously powerful brands and their consumer influence is only growing. Meanwhile carriers are becoming increasingly less significant.

It’s not hard to imagine a day when ESPN asserts itself in mobile just as its done in the cable industry, turning the tables on the operators. One day carriers may have to pay ESPN for the privilege of delivering its sports content.

Featured photo courtesy of Shutterstock user Lane V. Erickson; Verizon photo courtesy of Flickr user slgckgc

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Have you been drooling over the stunning new BlackBerry Q10 since we launched it a few weeks back? Well to soothe your appetite for all things BlackBerry Q10, we’ve highlighted some of our favorite device features in High Definition video with help from our friends at the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team. This is the perfect way (if you ask me) to round up the week and kick the weekend off right.

The BlackBerry Keyboard

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

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Outstanding Design, Specs and Features

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

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BBM Video and Screen Share

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

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BlackBerry Remember for Photos, Videos, Web Links and More!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

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There you have it for your viewing pleasure, the BlackBerry Q10 in fine fashion. Let us know which of the above are your favorite features? Or, if you’ve got a fav’ that we missed, tip us below.

Nintendo is off to a rough start with its new Wii U video game console and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick thinks Microsoft’s “Xbox Infinity” and Sony’s PlayStation 4 could see similar tepid debuts when they launch ahead of the holidays this year. “We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition” Kotick said during Activision’s earnings call this week. The executive noted that Nintendo’s Wii U has had a “very slow” start, and he warned that “uncertainties” in the coming year might impact Activision’s performance.

Continue reading…

Here’s our review of some of this week’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

Latisys and Ascenty Partner.  Latisys announced a strategic partnership with Ascenty, a rapidly emerging metro fiber and data center services provider in Brazil. Under terms of the agreement, Latisys gains access to the Brazilian market and will leverage Ascenty’s Sao Paolo IT Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform and local operations to support its enterprise customers. This strategic relationship expands the addressable market for Latisys in international markets and does the same for Ascenty’s entrance into the US market. Both Latisys and Ascenty build high density data centers that serve as a platform for colocation, managed hosting and cloud services. “There are real challenges that go with international expansion,” said Pete Stevenson, Latisys CEO, based on his significant international experience. “For large IT service providers, it’s a big decision in deciding whether or not to spend capital in a foreign market where the operator has no experience. We think it’s more efficient to manage the execution risk by partnering with a strong local partner so we get speed to market and local operating knowledge for current and future customers that have deployment needs in Brazil.”

Equinix adds AWS Direct Connect to Seattle.  Equinix (EQIX) announced the availability of the AWS Direct Connect service in the Equinix International Business Exchange data centers in Seattle (SE2 and SE3). AWS Direct Connect enables customers to connect their infrastructure directly to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Equinix opened the SE3 Seattle data center earlier this year. Equinix customers can also use AWS Direct Connect to access the AWS GovCloud (US) region from all existing AWS Direct Connect locations in North America. ”By leveraging AWS Direct Connect inside Equinix data centers, customers can take advantage of the cost savings and performance benefits of hybrid environments,” said Chris Sharp, general manager, cloud and content for Equinix. ”As we continue to support expansion of the AWS Direct Connect service to new markets, we are removing barriers to adoption and enabling customers to deliver on the promise of cloud computing.”

ViaWest partners with Wayin.  ViaWest announced its partnership with Wayin, the online social engagement company. The partnership allows both companies to utilize each other’s IT services and join forces to promote and support the thriving Colorado business community and technology expertise. As part of this partnership, Wayin will implement ViaWest’s KINECTed Cloud service to host its employee and social engagement platforms, Wayin Enterprise and Wayin Hub, thereby connecting users globally in real time. In addition, ViaWest is launching Wayin’s enterprise engagement solution, which enables the human resource department to gather employee feedback and sentiments on various questions, surveys and company initiatives. “With ViaWest’s long history in this region, we know we have a dependable partner to pool resources,” states Tom Jessiman, CEO of Wayin.  “ViaWest’s best-in-breed infrastructure powers our applications and we have immediate access to live technical experts when needed. As both companies are Colorado-based, ViaWest shares our commitment to serving the Colorado business community, making the partnership a truly collaborative effort.”

Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce firm, will take a 28 percent stake in digital mapping company AutoNavi Holdings Ltd, part of Alibaba’s move to boost its competitveness by beefing up its product lineup, Reuters wrote. Unlisted Alibaba will invest $294 million to become the largest shareholder in the Chinese-based firm, according to a statement from AutoNavi on Friday which confirmed an earlier report from news portal Sina. The move comes after Alibaba, which competes with Tencent Holidings, acquired an 18 percent stake in Sina Corp’s microblogging service Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, at the end of April.

(Reuters) – Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce firm, will take a 28 percent stake in digital mapping company AutoNavi Holdings Ltd, part of Alibaba’s move to boost its competitveness by beefing up its product lineup.

Unlisted Alibaba will invest $294 million to become the largest shareholder in the Chinese-based firm, according to a statement from AutoNavi on Friday which confirmed an earlier report from news portal Sina.

The move comes after Alibaba, which competes with Tencent Holidings, acquired an 18 percent stake in Sina Corp’s microblogging service Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, at the end of April.

Industry watchers widely expect Alibaba – whose founder Jack Ma steps down as chief executive on Friday – to seek an initial public offering, possibly this year. Some say the company could fetch a valuation as high as Facebook Inc’s $100 billion.

Shares in AutoNavi have risen more than 30 percent since the start of May and stand at $14.77 per share.

Alibaba runs Taobao Marketplace, China’s largest consumer-focused e-commerce website; business-to-business commerce platform Alibaba.com; and Alipay, a PayPal-like online payment platform.

(Reporting by Adam Jourdan, Melanie Lee and Samuel Shen; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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With their scantily-clad waitresses and focus on sports TV, Hooters restaurants aren’t normally thought of as the place to bring your mother. This Mother’s Day, however, the restaurant chain is encouraging moms to ditch the fancy restaurants for some free chicken wings.

Hooters this week announced that on Mother’s Day 2013 mothers who bring their children to a Hooters can receive a free (up to $10) entree with the purchase of a drink. No coupon is needed, but each mom must be “accompanied by one or more of her offspring,” according to the Hooters website.

“Kids of all ages are encouraged to invite their mothers to Hooters for special treatment on Mother’s Day,” said Dave Henninger, CMO of Hooters. “The free entrée deal is just one way for Hooters to show its appreciation for hard-working moms and to provide a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy a delicious meal with the family.”

This isn’t the first time Hooters has offered a Mother’s Day deal. For Mother’s Day 2012 the restaurant offered moms 10 free boneless wings.

Bing has added a bit more Facebook integration to its social search features. Now, you can comment on and like Facebook content right from Bing.

“Bing already lets you view Facebook updates and comments from your friends in sidebar, but now you’ll also be able to add your own Likes and comments to your friends’ Facebook posts directly from Bing,” a Bing spokesperson tells WebProNews. “This is yet another step in Bing’s efforts to make it easier for people to leverage all of the incredible information across the web and content within their social networks to help them spend less time searching and more time doing.”

“Say you’re a huge Beyoncé fan and are searching Bing to see what she’s up to, such as the latest on her trip to Cuba,” the spokesperson says. “While searching, you see a post in Bing’s sidebar from a Facebook friend who has an extra ticket to the sold out Beyoncé concert this week. With Bing, you can now comment on your friend’s Facebook post in one step, directly in sidebar, and claim the extra ticket. You’ve gone from simply browsing for news to attending the concert in one simple step. With Bing’s social search you can connect with your friends and engage with your social world to get things done – all in one spot.”

Of course none of this applies to the “Bing it On” challenge, which Microsoft just kicked off a new campaign for. The site, which lets you do side-by-side blind comparisons between Google and Bing results, strips out special features from each search engine, including Bing’s Facebook integration and Google’s Knowledge Graph.

Bing continues to be a major partner of Facebook’s, also providing the web search results to Facebook’s Graph Search.

Silicon Legal Strategy has added Coleman Cannon as a senior associate in its San Francisco office. Before joining Silicon Legal, Coleman practiced at Silicon Valley boutique law firm Montgomery & Hansen.

PRESS RELEASE
Silicon Legal Strategy today announced the addition of Coleman Cannon as a senior associate in its San Francisco office, marking the firm’s fourth strategic hire in 2013.

Coleman brings his expertise in advising startups, entrepreneurs, venture capital funds and angel investors in venture financings, M&A transactions and complex commercial agreements to the fast-growing team at SLS. He provides SLS clients with day-to-day counseling across the range of legal issues facing early and growth-stage businesses.

Before joining Silicon Legal, Coleman practiced at Silicon Valley boutique law firm Montgomery & Hansen, LLP, where he counseled technology companies and investors in connection with financing and M&A transactions. Coleman also regularly advised companies on structuring and negotiating various commercial agreements, technology development agreements and strategic transactions.

Coleman began his career in the corporate group at Fenwick & West LLP in Mountain View and San Francisco, where he represented technology companies and leading venture capital firms in financing and M&A transactions and advised startups on day-to-day corporate, commercial, employment and IP-protection matters.

Coleman earned his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his J.D. and M.A. from the University of Minnesota.

“SLS is leading the way in providing entrepreneurs, startup teams and investors with not only top-notch legal advice but also ultra-responsive client service,” said Coleman Cannon. “I’m thrilled to become a part of such a talented team and to continue developing deep relationships with startups, entrepreneurs and VCs in the tech community.”

“Coleman’s strong startup experience and practical, business-minded approach will bring a great deal of value to our rapidly expanding client base,” said Andre Gharakhanian, partner at Silicon Legal Strategy. “We’re excited to be adding yet another elite team member to our practice, and we’re looking forward to continued growth this year.”

About Silicon Legal Strategy

Silicon Legal Strategy is the premier boutique law firm providing targeted, bottom-line-oriented advice to technology startups, innovative entrepreneurs and seasoned investors. Trained at the top firms in Silicon Valley, our attorneys and staff are incredibly passionate about technology and have extensive experience representing early stage companies and investors. We are a known quantity in Silicon Valley, and work with or sit across the table from every major law firm in the area. Perhaps most importantly, we ourselves are entrepreneurs. We truly understand the challenges of a startup — like building and motivating a team, creating repeatable processes to ensure continued customer satisfaction at scale and dealing with infrastructure issues. We face these challenges every day — and as a result, are able to deliver more relevant, bottom-line-oriented advice. Put simply, we actually “get” what entrepreneurs are going through.

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A quiet startup called RedWave Energy, based just outside of Chicago, has been heads-down working on building prototypes of tiny antennas that can harvest clean power from infrared light, waste heat and eventually visible light. According to a filing, the company, which was founded in January 2011, has just closed on a $1 million round, and the company’s investors include Northwater Capital.

RedWave Energy says on its website that early markets for the technology could be industries like explosives detection and high speed communications. But later down the line, the end goal could be harvesting solar energy in a method that has twice the capacity of current solar cells and panels but at a lower cost.

Nanotechnology is being used to eek out as much efficiency as possible from solar cells and panels. For example, Swedish startup Sol Voltaics says it has developed a low cost way to make tiny nanowires out of the semiconductor gallium arsenide. Sol Voltaics turns these nanowires into an ink, which can be layered onto basic solar panels and boost the efficiency of a standard panel by 25 percent.

But RedWave Energy’s nano scale antennas — or nantennas — work differently than solar cells. Nantennas act as an antenna or collector to absorb light of specific wavelengths and convert it into electricity. The technology has been around for decades, but RedWave Energy is now trying to commercialize nantenna technology licensed from Idaho National Labs, tech from University of Colorado, and is working with manufacturing company MicroContinuum.

RedWave Energy says it will start to talk more about its energy capture technology after it builds its prototype in the second quarter of 2013. We’ve reached out to the company and will update this if we hear back.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• The opportunities for the Internet and clean power
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Irvine, Calif.-based uParts Inc. has closed on $2 million in Series A financing. GRP Partners and Fraser McCombs Capital co-led the round. The company has created a cloud-based platform servicing the collision repair industry.

PRESS RELEASE
uParts, Inc., announced closing of its Series-A financing led by GRP Partners, Fraser McCombs Capital and other influential individuals in the automotive industry. The company launched operations from its headquarters in Irvine, California enabling electronic parts procurement, predictable fulfillment and communications through an intuitive cloud-based platform servicing the collision repair industry.

“It is astounding that in the year 2013, the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web, repair facilities are placing their part orders using 100 year old technologies — the phone & fax machine,” stated Alex Adegan, uParts’ Founder, President & CEO. “Can you imagine faxing a list of your destination cities to airlines, then waiting for them to call back with possible routes, pricing and availability? Our powerful and intuitive platform solves this problem by allowing all part orders to be placed with a single click.”

“uParts is a great company with a unique service offering to the collision repair industry. Collision shops have been slow to embrace technology for parts procurement and typically use phone and fax calls to place their orders, which results in minimal transparency and higher costs. uParts is solving this problem through technology that will transform the industry,” said Steven Dietz, a Partner at GRP Partners. “We look forward to working with uParts and bringing our experience in technology and automotive to help drive long term value.” Mr. Dietz has joined uParts’ Board of Directors.

“It is a testament to our business model that we are able to attract world-class investment firms such as GRP Partners, the largest venture capital firm in Southern California and Fraser McCombs Capital, one of the leading investment firms in the automotive industry,” stated Alex Adegan. “uParts seeks to modernize the collision repair industry through a web-based platform that seamlessly integrates into legacy applications of repair shops and inventory management systems of part suppliers. This improves profits for our repair facilities by lowering costs, reducing labor and streamlining the entire procurement process. We are pleased to have such esteemed investors recognize our potential.”

uParts is deploying its platform nationally by broadening its installed-base of collision repair centers, electronically integrating with more supplier inventory management systems and expanding its feature-set. The Company is in a strong position to capture a significant portion of the $15 billion collision parts industry.

“Alex Adegan is an innovative entrepreneur and a strong leader who, with his team, are disrupting the collision repair industry,” said Chase Fraser, Managing Partner at Fraser McCombs Capital. “We focus our investments in early stage technology companies in the automotive space and believe we can help uParts grow into a consequential player in this enormous industry by leveraging our experience and relationships.”

About uParts.
uParts, headquartered in Irvine, California, is revolutionizing the repair industry through its cloud-based platform where auto parts are systematically identified, effectively located, and electronically procured. uParts automates the entire procurement process for its partners by seamlessly integrating into their legacy applications and providing a transaction and communications portal. uParts stands at the forefront of technology for the auto parts industry, bridging the gap between repair facilities and part suppliers with powerful cutting-edge solutions. uParts’ pledge is to stay independent and unbiased; and to provide the most effective solutions to its repair facilities and part suppliers.

About GRP Partners.
GRP Partners was founded in 1996 with the mission to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals of building big, transformative businesses. The partners of GRP have been involved with many startups over the years, of which 15 stand out companies have achieved exit valuations above $1 billion. We’re proud of this accomplishment and the diversity of teams that we’ve backed – notably that all of our biggest wins have come from outside of Silicon Valley. Our last fund is the single best performing fund in the United States according to the independent industry database, Preqin. (Preqin 2000 Vintage Funds >$100mm)

About Fraser McCombs Capital.
Fraser McCombs Capital is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies within the automotive space. We are the first and only venture fund that’s managed by automotive entrepreneurs and dealers. We have long standing relationships with Tier 1, 2, and 3 vendors, and connections with leading OEM executives and principals of the largest dealer groups. This allows us to provide key introductions for our portfolio companies.

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A lipstick ban for Turkish flight attendants has been lifted after a public backlash ensued.

Turkish Airlines says that several low-level managers put together a document saying that red and pink lipstick and nail polish would be banned for all female flight attendants without consulting the management. Chief Executive Temel Kotil responded to the document after receiving several complaints that the airline was moving too close to Islamic values for comfort.

“As you know, some in Turkey are a little bit keen about these issues,” said Kotil. “We are a great global carrier and we know what we are doing. As to the lipstick, we had no problems but somehow low-level managers put together a paper without asking us and that paper leaked to the media and became a big issue.”

Kotil now says that flight attendants are free to wear the lipstick and nail shade of their choice.

“Staff can use the colour they want. This measure was not approved by the hierarchy,” Kotilo said.

While they may not be getting that conservative, the airline has imposed a recent ban on alcohol served during flights.

It’s Friday! That means the work week is ending and it’s time for some data center laughs. This week we’re voting on the “May Flower” cartoon by our artist Diane Alber. Please scroll down and vote!

The caption contest works like this: We provide the cartoon and you, our readers, submit the captions. We then choose finalists and the readers vote for their favorite funniest suggestion.

The winner will receive his or her caption in a signed print by Diane!

For the previous cartoons on DCK, see our Humor Channel.

Venture-backed Box has acquired Crocodoc, a startup that makes HTML5 document rendering and viewing technology. Terms of the deal were not released. The full Crocodoc team will join Box, with Crocodoc co-founder and CEO Ryan Damico serving as Box’s director of platform, the company said. Box is backed by venture firms Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Emergence Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Meritech Capital Partners, NEA, Scale Venture Partners, and U.S. Venture Partners.

PRESS RELEASE
Box today announced the acquisition of Crocodoc, the web’s leading HTML5 document rendering and viewing solution. Crocodoc’s technology will be deeply integrated into the Box experience, and also become a core standalone platform offering, bringing HTML5 document viewing to third party applications across the web and mobile devices. The full Crocodoc team will join Box, with Crocodoc co-founder and CEO Ryan Damico serving as Box’s Director of Platform.

“Content sits at the center of every business, and nearly every business application,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box. “Together with Crocodoc, we’re going to transform collaboration on Box and beyond, creating a seamless, beautiful experience for our customers and helping to reimagine the future of documents. We’re going even deeper in the content space, extending Crocodoc’s HTML5 technology to every developer in the world who’s building an application that touches content.”

Founded in 2007, Crocodoc has served hundreds of millions of document previews in the last two years alone. The service powers HTML5 document conversion and viewing for top-tier applications across industries, including Yammer, Facebook, LinkedIn, Edmodo and Blackboard, all of which will continue to be supported. Built on open standards, Crocodoc’s technology for extracting and rendering documents will provide new, sophisticated experiences for Box customers, which include more than 15 million individuals, 150,000 businesses, and major brands such as Gap, McAfee, Schneider Electric and P&G.

“We’re excited to join an amazing team at Box in building the next great enterprise collaboration platform,” said Ryan Damico, co-founder and CEO of Crocodoc. “We want to bring Crocodoc’s technology to as many services and as many people as possible, and joining Box gives us unparalleled reach to accomplish our vision. We’re going to change the way people share and collaborate at work, while continuing to redefine the future of documents on the web and mobile.”

Customers of Box and Crocodoc can expect that:
— Crocodoc’s technology will be deeply integrated into Box’s cloud
content collaboration service, replacing the existing document
previewing experience for all users.
— The Crocodoc API will become a core Box platform offering, powering
HTML5 document viewing for third party applications across the web and
mobile.
— Box will invest significantly in building out Crocodoc’s technology
and ecosystem.
— Box will continue to support all of Crocodoc’s customers.

To experience Crocodoc’s latest technology, visit preview.crocodoc.com.

For more details about the acquisition, visit the Box blog.

About Box Founded in 2005, Box provides a secure content sharing platform that both users and IT love and adopt. Content on Box can be shared internally and externally, accessed through iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone applications, and extended to partner applications such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce. Headquartered in Los Altos, CA, Box is a privately held company and is backed by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Emergence Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Meritech Capital Partners, NEA, Scale Venture Partners, and U.S. Venture Partners, and strategic investors salesforce.com and SAP.

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