What you are about to witness can only be described as internet gold. It’s a commercial made for a transmission repair facility in Los Angeles, and although it’s a bit on the creepy side, that doesn’t stop it from being completely outstanding. Was it done like this intentionally? Honestly, I have no idea. What I do know however is that this man just solidified himself as a full-on internet legend.
Source: Youtube.com
Rita Pierson leads off TED Talks Education, our first televised event, which will air on PBS on May 7. Photo: Ryan Lash
Rita Pierson is the kind of teacher you wish you had. An educator for 40 years, she is funny, sharp and simply has a way with words — so much so that today’s talk feels a bit like a sermon.
Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a championIn this talk, Pierson shares the secret to teaching students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds — make personal connections with them.
“I have had classes so low, so academically deficient that I cried. I wondered, ‘How am I going to take this group in nine months from where they are to where they need to be?” says Pierson, in this amazing talk. “I came up with a bright idea … I gave them a saying: ‘I am somebody. I was somebody when I came and I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here’ … You say it long enough, it starts to be a part of you.”
Pierson’s talk will open our first-ever television special, TED Talks Education, which airs Tuesday, May 7 at 10/9c on PBS. It will be an exhilarating night, featuring talks from educators and innovators with bold ideas, plus performances from host John Legend. Set your DVRs and read lots more here »
In honor of Rita Pierson and TED Talks Education, I asked the TED staff: who is that one teacher who just really, truly influenced you?
“The teacher who changed my life was, serendipitously, my English teacher for kindergarten, 7th grade and senior year of high school. Ms. Barbato taught me how to write eloquently (I hope!), and she had this unexplained faith in me that really galvanized me as a student. What she taught me stuck with me through college and beyond.” —Olivier Sherman, Distribution Coordinator
“Mr. Eric Yang was only in his mid-twenties when I had him as my AP government teacher, but he was unforgettable. He was the first teacher I had who made keeping up with current events mandatory, forcing us to read news sources on our own time and not just from the textbook. He exuded discipline, and that was contagious.” —Thu-Huong Ha, Editorial Projects Specialist
“Mrs. Bailey was my English teacher. I loved her. I was the younger sister of an already very successful big sister, and that was a cloud over my head too. She held my hand and brought me into the sun with her love of the English language. She recommended books just to me, she made me feel special and I just couldn’t get enough of her. I went on a school trip to Amsterdam with her and she brought her husband, who was an artist. She changed my life.” —Juliet Blake, TED TV (who executive produced TED Talks Education)
“Mrs. Mendelson, my 8th-grade English teacher. This was my first year living in the U.S. I think she set the stage for future learning and she’s the main reason I have such good English right now, both written and spoken. So, thank you, Mrs. Mendelson.” —Ruben Marcos, intern
“I still recall how awesome my 6th-grade teacher, Mr. Fawess, was. Middle school in general is basically Hades. I was extremely small, super nerdy, and had a unibrow, asthma and glasses — plus I left school once a week to take classes at the local high school. I got picked on a lot. Mr. Fawess came up with all these ways to take my mind off that — he talked to me about bullying and how to let things roll off your shoulder and gave me books I could read outside of class. He got me thinking about college early and what kinds of subjects I was most interested in. I consider myself lucky to have had such an inspiring teacher. If only he had discouraged me from dressing up as the skunk in our annual school play.” —Amanda Ellis, TEDx Projects Coordinator
“Robert Baldwin’s class ‘Essay and Inquiry.’ Every day: Walk into class. Sit down. Look at the handout on every desk. Read it. Start writing. Class ends — stop writing. Every day. Except Wednesday, when we’d put the desks in a circle and everyone would read something they’d written. The prompts were everything from simple questions like, “What’s your favorite memory of trees?” to readings from Rachel Carson or W.B. Yeats or Orson Welles. It was a whirlwind of ideas, and the constant writing forced us to wrestle with them, and (tritely but correctly) ourselves. It was like a boot camp in thinking. People I know who took, and loved, that class went on to some of the most amazing careers. Every time we get together, we gush about the quiet, unassuming, force of nature that was Mr. Baldwin. He would have hated that last sentence, because the metaphor is strained. But he also taught us to ignore authority, so I’m writing it anyway.” —Ben Lillie, Writer/Editor
“Mrs. Lewis, my 5th-grade teacher, read to us every week. She made us put our heads on the desk and close our eyes and then read wonderful stories to us: The Golden Pine Cone, The Diamond Feather ... It made our imaginations come alive.” —Janet McCartney, Director of Events
“My junior high school science teacher, Dr. Ernie Roy, with his outsized laugh and booming voice, was one of my very favorite teachers. He demonstrated to us how important we were to him by making what were obviously personal sacrifices on our behalf: when the lab needed equipment, we knew he had purchased some of it on his own; when we couldn’t get a bus for a field trip, he took a few of us in his own car (something which could have gotten him into quite a bit of trouble); and when a big science fair deadline loomed large, he opened the lab every weekend to help us with our experiments. At a point in my life when I didn’t have a lot of guidance or positive role models, he taught me a lot more than science; he taught me, by example, the power of sacrifice, discipline and self-respect.” —Michael McWatters, UX Architect
“Dr. Heller, my 10th-grade social studies teacher, taught me that passion is the key to learning. I had never met anyone from kindergarten to 10th grade that matched his raw passion for the meaning behind historical events, and it was so contagious.” —Deron Triff, Director of Distribution
“Rene Arcilla, a professor of Educational Philosophy at NYU, changed the way I think. Prior to that class, I hadn’t truly been challenged about what *I* actually thought — much of my educational life was about regurgitating answers. Rene was the first teacher who asked me questions that he/we didn’t know the answers to. Realizing that I had to actually provide the answers from within myself, and not look to an outside source, was very difficult at first. It was a muscle I had to build. I owe a lot of who I am today — and even this job — to the introspective, critical and philosophical thinking I learned from Rene’s classes.” —Susan Zimmerman, Executive Assistant to the Curator
“Mr. Downey — 7th- and 8th-grade Humanities. Still the hardest class I’ve ever taken! I’d credit Mr. Downey with helping me think more expansively about the world. Right before 8th-grade graduation, he showed us Dead Poets Society, and on the final day of class we all agreed to stand on our desks and recite ‘O Captain, my captain.’ It was all very dramatic and I think there were tears.” —Jennifer Gilhooley, Partnership Development
“I took my first painting class my sophomore year of high school and fell in love with it. My teacher, Ms. Bowen, told me I could use the art studio whenever I wanted to, and gave me access to all kinds of new paints and canvasses. I spent almost every lunch period there for a few years, and regularly stayed in the studio after school ended. One day, Ms. Bowen told me that a parent of a student I had painted expressed interest in buying the painting of her daughter. After that first sale, I painted portraits of kids in my school on a commission basis, and continued to do so for the remainder of my high school experience. Thanks to Ms. Bowen’s mentorship, I felt empowered to try to make money from something I was passionate about and loved to do. Here is one of the paintings.” —Cloe Shasha, TED Projects Coordinator
“I had a chemistry teacher, Mr. Sampson, who used to meet me at school an hour before it started to tutor me when the material wasn’t clicking. That was the first class I had ever really struggled with, and he made this investment to help me get through the material — but more importantly learn that I could teach myself anything.” —Stephanie Kent, Special Projects
“On the first day of my Elementary Italian Immersion class, I asked to be excused to use the restroom in English. Professor Agostini kept speaking rapidly in Italian as I squirmed in my seat. Since she seemed unclear about my request, I asked her again to no avail. Finally, I flipped through my brand-new Italian-English dictionary and discovered the words, ‘Posso usare il bagno per favore.’ Suddenly, she flashed me a smile, handed me the key, told me where to go in Italian, and pointed to my dictionary so I could learn how to follow her directions. Even though I only studied with her for one semester, I will never forget that I emerged from her class knowing intermediate-level Italian.” —Jamia Wilson, TED Prize Storyteller
“My history teacher in high school, Mr. Cook, challenged us to think hard about what happened in the past and directly related it to what was happening around us. He gave us ways to try and predict what could happen in the future. He was the first person to make me take ownership of what it meant to be a citizen and the social responsibility that came with that. Because he taught ‘World History’ rather than a regionally specific class, we learned extensively about other countries, and I am convinced he is the reason that I went abroad to Ghana in college and I am now still an avid traveler today.” —Samantha Kelly, Fellows Group
“The professor who taught me Intro to Women and Gender Studies my sophomore year of college completely changed my framework for thinking about human relationships within a hierarchy. She brought coffee and tea to class for us every morning to congratulate us for being so dedicated to learning as to choose an 8:30 a.m. class. When I emailed her to say I’d be out sick, she sent me a get-well e-card. And when, in a fit of undergraduate irresponsibility, I simply failed to do an assignment, she wasn’t the least bit mad — instead, I received a phone call from her a week after the end of the semester informing me that, because I’d done such good work, she couldn’t bear to give me the B+ I numerically deserved. It was incredible to see how fully she lived the subject she taught; the philosophy of compassion and equality.” —Morton Bast, Editorial Assistant
“My high school photography teacher, Susan Now. I’m convinced that the support I got from Susan got me through high school. Two years later, when I was freaked out about transferring colleges, I, without hesitation, called her for advice. She made me feel comfortable and challenged me to speak up and be confident with expressing myself as a student. So valuable!” — Ella Saunders-Crivello, Partnerships Coordinator
“Cliff Simon, one of my college professors, taught me that wisdom is the greatest pursuit, our skills and passions are transferable, and that fear will only ever always hold us back. To this day, he’s a great mentor. We’re now great friends, and I even officiated his wedding ceremony.” —Jordan Reeves, TED-Ed Community Manager
“My 10th-grade biology teacher spoke and interacted with me like I was a grown-up individual and not one of a batch of ‘kids.’ He made us all fascinated with the subjects he taught because he spoke to us not at us. I always worked hard to match that capacity that he saw in me. He was only in his 50s when, a few years after I graduated, he died suddenly of a heart attack. Lots of sad former students.” —Ladan Wise, Product Development Manager
“Stephen O’Leary, my professor and mentor at the University of Southern California, showed me that the quality of my thinking could be directly traced to the quality of the authors I referenced in my bibliography. This realization motivated me to both seek and challenge everything I have read ever since. This habit likely played a part in me finding myself so passionate about being a part of TED.” —Sarah Shewey, TEDActive Program Producer
“My high school art teacher was equal parts smart and silly, and always insightful. Mr. Miller showed a bunch of restless seniors that art class wasn’t just about memorizing which painters influenced which periods. Instead, he taught us that art was — at its core — an exciting way to touch both the head and the heart. Mr. Miller took our class to the Met in New York one warm spring afternoon, a trip I’ll never forget. Great art, he told us, was about great ideas, and not simply the pleasing arrangement of color, shape and form. Thank you, Russ Miller.” —Jim Daly, TED Books
“Mrs. Presley, my 1st-grade teacher, advanced my reading skills to full-on chapter book independence … and for that I’ll be forever grateful! But the most valuable gift she gave me was self-esteem. At my school, we’d bring a brown bag lunch with our name written on the bag. I always wanted a middle name like the other kids, and this daily ritual made me feel the lack. I must have let my mom know, because she started to write middle names on my bag. At first it started: ‘Marla Ruby Mitchnick.’ Then ‘Marla Ruby Diamond Mitchnick,’ and then ‘Marla Ruby Diamond Violet Mitchnick,’ and so on. Mrs. Presley never skipped a single syllable — she just read it straight through, and I felt like a beloved and fortunate person with a beautiful name, surrounded by wonderful friends.” —Marla Mitchnick, Film + Video Editor
“I signed up for Journalism 1 in high school having no idea what I was getting myself into. Marcie Pachino ran a rigorous course on the joys of telling other people’s stories and on the extreme responsibility that comes with reporting news that might otherwise go unheard. She was kind and inspiring, but wouldn’t hesitate to give you an edit of an article that simply read ‘Ugh’ in big red letters. The key: you always knew she was right. I went on to become a journalist professionally and, in all my years of writing, I’ve never encountered a more demanding editor.” —Kate Torgovnick, Writer (the author of this post)
“Professor Stephen Commins completely changed my learning experience at UCLA. He pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could accomplish as an undergrad, and having him as my research professor improved my quality of education tenfold. I’ll never forget in my last lecture with him, he left our class with this piece of advice: to work on poverty domestically before attempting to help those abroad, because you aren’t truly a development professional until you have done both.” —Chiara Baldanza, Coordinator
“My high school English teacher Veronica Stephenson went above and beyond to allow me the opportunity to dive into theater and acting in a very underfunded arts community. She saw passion in me, and engaged it by spending a lot of her own time and effort to help me pursue something I loved. I learned so much from her and got more personalized experience than I probably would have from a more arts-focused curriculum due solely to her faith in me.” —Emilie Soffe, Office Coordinator
Now it’s your turn. Who is the teacher who most inspired you? Please share in your comments.
The Acer Iconia B1 just became available only a couple of months ago, but Acer just announced new versions slated for June. They will now offer a 3G version that will feature a MediaTek quad-core processor. The WiFi version will still have the 1.2GHz dual-core MediaTek processor, but both versions will get bumped up to 1GB of RAM as opposed to 512MB of RAM. You will also have your choice of 8GB or 16GB for storage, but they offer a microSD slot for expandability. The display on both devices remains the same, 7-inches with a resolution of 1024 x 600. Last but not least, the materials are more of a premium feel similar to the Iconia A1, and the back will be white.
Pricing starts at €129 for the WiFi version and €179 for the 3G version. Expect to see these mid-June in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Hit the break for the full presser.
New York, (May 3, 2013), Acer today unveiled the second generation Acer Iconia B1 with a new pure and simple design, increased performance and additional 3G
data connection option, setting a new standard for a tablet targeted at young or new users or families looking for an additional tablet for their children. The Iconia B1 is also ideal for busy individuals seeking a convenient mobile companion.
At 17.8 cm (7”) – the same size as standard book page – the display is comfortable for ereading, web browsing, playing games and watching videos. The Iconia B1 joins forces today with the launch of the Iconia A1 to offer a uniformed look and feel when searching for a tablet solution for all members of the family.
The Acer Iconia B1 was introduced today with other new products, including the Acer Aspire R7, Aspire P3 Ultrabook, Aspire V Series touch notebooks and Iconia A1. The new line of Acer mobile products highlights the company’s focus on redefining the computing experience through progressive design. #AcerTouch.
Highly Responsive Fun
To take your experience to the next level, this tablet combines a 1.2GHz dual-core or quad-core processor and 1GB of memory for fast and smooth gaming, web browsing and video watching with Android’s Jelly Bean operating system to get quickly precise answers to your search queries and seamless browsing. For many search queries performed through VoiceSearch, you can now hear a spoken answer quickly.
Fast and Free Media
Over 500 free online magazines from hundreds of publishers and top web sites are always at your fingertips thanks to Google Currents. The recently updated smart mobile app allows you to discover, read, and share your favorite new outlets, blogs and online magazine on the 17.8 cm (7”) WSVGA (1,024 x 600) capacitive display – even when offline. If you are into playing, you have more than 700,000 games and apps from the Play Store to choose from.
Capture and Share More
To top off the rich experience, the Iconia B1 comes with a front-facing camera to engage in live chats with your friends. The camera is on the top right corner and works also when in landscape mode, allowing your friends to get into the picture during a video chat.
Available with WiFi or 3G(2) data connection as 8GB(4) or 16GB(4) version with the option to add 32GB(4) via via microSD™, the Iconia B1 is the ideal easy companion for tablet newbies or children while adults use their own.
Pricing and Availability
The Iconia B1-710 (WiFi) version will be available in Europe, Middle East and Africa mid-June at a starting price of €129.
The Iconia B1-711 (3G) version will be available in Europe, Middle East and Africa end of July at a starting price of €179.
Come comment on this article: Acer announces updated Iconia B1 with 3G and quad-core options
When you produce two wildly popular platforms like Flash and Reader then you can expect to be targeted by those who wish to exploit them for gain. Such is the case for Adobe, the developer behind both applications. The company is a constant target for security exploits and malware, with the vast majority of “update Flash” pop-ups on the web being fakes that lead unsuspecting customers to a bad end.
The most recent is a flaw in Reader, discovered by McAfee researcher Haifei Li. To be fair to Adobe, this one is much less of a problem than some previously discovered. Li writes that “we successfully identified that the [PDF] samples are exploiting an unpatched security issue in every version of Adobe Reader including the latest ‘sandboxed’ Reader XI (11.0.2)”.
In concept, when a specific PDF JavaScript API is called with the first parameter set as a UNC-located resource, Adobe Reader can access that UNC resource. However, this action is normally blocked and creates a warning dialogue which is asks for permission. No problem. However, as Li explains, “the danger is that if the second parameter is provided with a special value, it changes the API’s behavior. In this situation, if the UNC resource exists, we see the warning dialog. However, if the UNC resource does not exist, the warning dialog will not appear even though the TCP traffic has already gone”.
McAfee, while saying that it does not consider this to be a major issue, does consider it a security vulnerability. The company has detected some PDF samples in the wild that are exploiting this issue. “Our investigation shows that the samples were made and delivered by an ’email tracking service’ provider”, Li writes.
And what about the Adobe response? The company briefly acknowledges this latest flaw, telling us “Adobe is aware of reports of a low severity information leakage issue described in a recent advisory. A user’s IP address and timestamp could be exposed when opening a specially crafted PDF. This issue will be resolved in the next scheduled releases (May 14) of Adobe Reader and Acrobat”.
The problem is, indeed, not a major threat, but the word is now out there, which can potentially compound the problem. Common sense should tell customers to not click on email attachments from unknown sources, or even from friends, if the file in unexpected. A better solution is to use a different PDF app — both Foxit and Nitro are free, and much less targeted.
Photo Credit: Cartoonresource/Shutterstock
Square is looking to build a recommendation engine in addition to its payments system that could challenge the likes of Foursquare and Yelp as the company moves into the local recommendation space, The Verge reported Friday.
“I think we can do something a lot better” than those other apps, Ajit Varma, Square’s director of discovery, said in the interview.
While Foursquare has recently confirmed its intentions to move away from check-ins and mayorships and toward local commerce, hoping to solve the problem of finding the best businesses near you — that you’ll actually like — hasn’t been completely solved. Not enough people are checking into places on Facebook yet to make the company’s service all that useful, and while Yelp is the established favorite, reading reviews there is a little like shopping on Amazon — you need to know what you’re looking for when you go in. Google’s search offerings and Google Now app have strong possibilities for local commerce, but haven’t yet captured the mobile market.
While Square is still a relatively young company, having launched in 2010, it’s already inked a deal with Starbucks and has millions of local merchants connected to its payments service, and as we wrote, the company had a particularly strong year in 2012. It makes sense that as the company expands further and more merchants allow customers to pay through Square, it will acquire a vast amount of data about your purchasing habits — data that both Foursquare and Yelp lack.
Square has your credit card on file, knows where you typically shop, how much you spend, and how much you tip, even, which could allow the company to make much smarter recommendations than its competitors. For instance, if I go to Starbucks every day to purchase a bagel, Square might know to recommend bagel shops to me instead of coffee shops. Or if I leave better tips at one restaurant over another, Square might be able to determine how much I really liked those two restaurants relative to each other.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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It’s Friday and time for a few laughs. Towards that end, we run our caption contest on Fridays, with cartoons drawn by Diane Alber, our favorite data center cartoonist! Please visit Diane’s website Kip and Gary for more of her data center humor.
First, we must announce the winner of the “Into Every Life, A Little Rain Must Fall” cartoon: Congrats to reader “Dday,”who submitted, “I ‘m pinging in the rain, just pinging in the rain.”
This week we present “May Flowers.” Diane writes, “Since last week was April showers, I thought it was only natural to have May Flowers.” Enter your caption suggestion below.
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.
May isn’t generally known for snow storms, even up north, so when 18 inches of the cold white stuff drops on several states, it’s headline-worthy.
People in Wisconsin and Minnesota may be rethinking their choice of state this week while battling over a foot of heavy snow. The temperatures dropped below freezing, causing downed power lines and trees and making travel difficult, if not impossible. At least one death has been reported; Wisconsin State Patrol said one man was killed and another injured when a semi truck rolled over on Interstate 94 and was struck by another truck. More than 29,000 people across both states were without power for hours, though many of those homes have had power restored.
Because it’s such a heavy, wet snow, several homeowners and businesses have had to deal with a caved-in roof. Luckily, temperatures are expected to return to normal by Monday.
Though the areas have likely seen snow in May before, this week is sure to set records as far as the amount goes. Minnesota’s record for daily snowfall in May is 12 inches.
President Barack Obama greets President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico at the Palacio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico, May 2, 2013.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
On the first day of his trip to Mexico and Costa Rica, President Obama was in Mexico City for meetings and a joint press conference with President Peña Nieto.
The two leaders, who first met in Washington, DC last November, discussed the broad range of issues that bind our nations and affect the daily lives of citizens in both countries, and renewed their commitment to a strong relationship between the United States and Mexico.
While working together to confront urgent challenges like security, “we can’t lose sight of the larger relationship between our peoples, including the promise of Mexico’s economic progress,” President Obama said. “I believe we’ve got a historic opportunity to foster even more cooperation, more trade, more jobs on both sides of the border, and that’s the focus of my visit.”
One of the most inspiring things to come out of the horrendous recent events in Boston and West, Texas, was the outpouring of help from ordinary people. In Boston, people ran toward the blast site to help victims, or opened their doors to stranded marathon runners so they could rest, make calls if needed, and then gave them rides to wherever they needed to go. In West, firemen who had never seen such a horrific explosion walked into the flames to try and save lives — in some cases losing their own. If there are any doubts that humans have a deep instinct for helping others, such events wipe those away.
Sometimes it seems like it takes a disaster for the media to notice this deeply human trait. But in fact, we can see it every day at food banks, volunteer tutor facilities, churches and other charitable institutions, and just plain friends helping friends and members of their communities.
Many companies strive to tap into this natural impulse, in search of a gentler, kinder, more fulfilling — and some might say old-fashioned — way to build customer relationships and a more powerful customer experience. Think of the old community general store or bank, which gets to know customers on a personal basis and is considered a pillar in the broader community.
That community business ideal is now increasingly possible — and available — on a much broader, even global basis and many firms are striving to make this transition. Why? Because it creates deeper emotional connections with customers, who are not only open, but eager to create new communities among themselves, which in turn generates extraordinary mutual value for customer and business. Such emotionally engaged, altruistic customers will do a remarkable range of things for a business: spread positive word of mouth, funnel referrals to you, provide valuable input into your product roadmaps and strategy, even contribute time and resources to your business.
Yet many companies completely overlook this source of value, or stumble when they try to make the transition to cultivating this kind of customer relationship. Facebook’s efforts to build such social norms into its business have had decidedly mixed results, for example.
Here are some guidelines to help keep you on the right side of the social business street.
Beware of Inserting Market Norms into Social Situations
Suppose one of the stranded runners in Boston had offered $50 to one of the local residents who gave him a ride, under the rationale that it’s about what a taxi would have cost. That would, of course, have been highly offensive: it would have introduced a market norm into a decidedly social situation.
Businesses make this mistake all the time, as MIT professor of psychology and behavioral economist Dan Ariely points out in his book Predictably Irrational. Think of banks that cultivate an image of being like the local community bank of yore, yet rack up nuisance fees to shocking levels when they’re added up over time.
Remarkably, people who should know better are often surprised at this. Researchers conducted an experiment on getting customers to refer business to the firm, offering three incentives: $10 to refer; an opportunity to pass along a $10 discount to the friend (no reward for the referrer); and a mix of the two ($5 discount for the friend and $5 for the referrer). The researchers expected the $10 reward to generate the most referrals, but in fact it generated the least. In other words, they were surprised that people don’t want to spam their friends for money.
Ariely points out that once you cross the line from social norms into market norms, you’ll find it very difficult to get your customers to return to social norms.
Social Rewards Are More Powerful
It’s true. But to work, these rewards need to focus on helping customers build social capital, not financial capital. I once engaged in a lengthy conversation with one of Salesforce.com‘s “MVP” customers at a reception, during one of our Customer Engagement Summits a couple of years ago. SFDC under Marc Benioff has done a superb job of instilling social norms with the firm’s customers, and its MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) do amazing things to promote the firm. They blog regularly about topics of interest to fellow SFDC customers, participate avidly in the firm’s events, and robustly defend the firm when it is unfairly attacked.
Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, I asked him why he did such things. I was expecting him to say that this was a good career move, or that it would help him with a new business he wanted to start. But it turned out it wasn’t about such market norms — it was about social norms. He intrinsically valued the experience — and thus seemed actually confused about my questions. Being an MVP helped him greatly expand his network of valued affiliations. It helped him build his reputation as a leader in the industry. He gained professional status — at the firm’s annual Dreamforce conference, he and fellow MVPs are in reserved seats, front row, center.
The Best Test: Your Own Small Town
How do you tell when your firm is crossing the line between social norms and market norms? The best filter is your own “small town” experience. We all have our own small towns — even those of us born and raised in big cities like New York. Your own small town includes your valued communities: your neighborhood, your local church, the PTA, your book club, your professional association (particularly those in which competitors take off their competitive battle gear and work together in ways that make sense for the larger industry). Ask yourself, what behaviors would be acceptable — or not — in those communities.
Here’s a quick test using Facebook as an example. Would sharing the fact that a Facebook friend “liked” a company Facebook page violate the small town test? Yes. It would be like accumulating information you’ve heard from your friends and neighbors in casual conversation, taking it out of context and putting it in an ad for your business in the town newspaper.
Or what about positioning your friends’ postings on your news feed according to how much they paid? (Basically what Facebook does.) Facebook is also considering introducing video advertising on people’s Facebook pages. Ask yourself, would Starbucks, another firm that generally excels with social norms, consider hanging TV screens from the ceilings at its coffee shops and playing TV ads? Airports do this — but no one would accuse them of trying to build social norms with their customers.
As companies strive mightily to improve the customer experience, and to create much higher mutual value for customers and themselves, they need increasingly to think in terms of social value and social norms as the relevant unit of measurement. And they must ask themselves, “Are we actually treating customers in a way that we’d treat neighbors in our own small town?”
A Miami-Dade police officer who has been fired eight times from three different police departments may now be facing the end of his law enforcement career.
The Miami Herald is reporting that Opa-locka police Sgt. German Bosque attended an appeals hearing on Wednesday, where an arbitrator heard testimony to determine his fate as a police officer.
According to the Opa-locka police department, Bosque had left his police-issued AR-15 assault rifle with the father of his girlfriend, a violation of a 2008 settlement that allowed him to continue working as a police officer. The department is attempting to fire Bosque for the sixth time.
Bosque, who was fired in October, was defended at the hearing by the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association, which argued that Bosque had left the gun in a locked warehouse that only he and his girlfriend’s father had access to. Bosque is hoping that, once again, he will be reinstated with back pay.
According to the Herald report, Bosque has been accused over the years of beating a handcuffed suspect, beating juveniles, hiding drugs, stealing from suspects, defying orders, lying, falsifying police reports, and calling in sick to take a vacation. He is currently under investigation for the alleged battery of a domestic dispute suspect.
In the latest installment of "Being Biden," the Vice President tells the story behind a photo taken with Senator John McCain, just before speaking at the McCain Institute for International Leadership in Sedona, Arizona. Listen:
3D printers are still very much intended for industry professionals or hobbyists. That’s going to change within the next five years though, and Staples has decided to get a head start.
3ders reports that Staples will start offering 3D Systems’ Cube 3D printer at physical store locations by the end of June. If you can’t wait, you can buy the Cube through Staple’s online store today for the relatively low price of $1,299.
“Staples is excited to bring the power of 3D printing to our customers, by being the first major U.S. retailer to announce the availability of this innovative technology that lets you create fully formed objects in your home or small business,” said Mike Edwards, Staples executive vice president, merchandising.
Now this is actually a pretty big deal. Before today’s announcement, those looking for 3D printers had to buy them straight from the manufacturer. Retailers were probably cautious about stocking 3D printers because the high price ensures the technology will be a niche product for at least the next few years. With Staples throwing its support behind it, we might see other retailers stocking 3D printers, including cheaper models.
The Cube from Staples comes with all the benefits of buying one from 3D Systems. In other words, you get to choose your color, including green and pink printers. There’s a wide selection of plastic cartridges, including the more unique materials, as well.
Russia’s numerous highways and byways have a reputation of being full of crazy stuff. Much of the reputation is perpetuated by the omnipresent Russian dash cam, which seems to be attached to about every single automobile in Russia. Search YouTube for Russian dash cam, you’ll see what I mean.
But it’s not all explosions, crashes and such on Russian roads. Good stuff is happening too, as this beautiful compilation proves. Sure, there’s still a lot of crazy stuff happening, even when we see a good samaritan helping out his fellow man – but this is better than most of those videos you’ve seen, right?
[ArkadiYM93 via reddit]
After Facebook bought Instagram, I think we all expected there to be a little crossover in features between both services. Instagram has already introduced a location service with their photos, and now they’ve debuted a photo tagging feature called “Photos of You.” You or your friends can tag each other in pictures, and there’s now a separate section of your profile where you can view photos that you’ve been tagged in. If this sounds similar to Facebook’s photo albums, well… That’s because it is similar to Facebook’s photo albums. Fortunately, you’ve got a few days before those tagged photos go public, so you can change your privacy settings to tone down who can see what or who can tag you in photos. Hit the link below to get the update and start checking it out.
Come comment on this article: Instagram adds Facebook-like photo tagging features in update
Verizon has started rolling out a small Android 4.1.2 OTA update for Galaxy Note II users. While there’s nothing major in the update, you do get more applications added to multiwindow, as well as the ability to change your quick toggles in display settings. Verizon is also removing the Zappos app and throwing in a handful of bug fixes across several apps. Nothing major, but definitely an update worth getting. Hit the source below to get the full changelog from Verizon.
source: Verizon Wireless
Come comment on this article: Verizon Galaxy Note II receiving incremental 4.1.2 update
At a press event in New York City on Friday, Acer announced new mobile products running Google Android and Microsoft Windows 8. The company showed off the $169 Aspire A1, which runs Android and is meant for one-handed use. The new Aspire P3 is a convertible Windows 8 Ultrabook that works as a tablet or laptop due to a unique hinged dock with keyboard.
The new A1 is targeted to budget-conscious shoppers. Similar to the HP Slate 7 at the same price, the A1 cuts corners that keeps it from using premium components. Acer is keeping costs down with a 1.2 GHz quad-core chip from MediaTek and includes only 8 GB of internal storage capacity. Customers can expand storage through a micro SD card or spend $50 more for a 16 GB model. The 7.9-inch display uses the same 1024 x 768 resolution of Apple’s iPad mini; it also has the same 4:3 aspect ratio.
Even with a lower range of specs, the A1 has all the features you’d expect in almost any useful Android tablet: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, a 5MP rear-facing camera that can capture 1080p video at 30fps, a front-facing camera, micro USB 2.0 and microHDMI ports. Acer says the battery is rated for seven hours of use, which is a little light for this category, but not awful either.
I’m more intrigued by the Aspire P3, partially because I liked the Acer Aspire W510 Windows 8 tablet. That was powered by an Intel Atom, but the new P3 has your choice of either an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor for improved performance. Of course, there’s a hit in battery life — I saw a good 12 hours from the Atom-based units; more with the keyboard dock — but Acer says six hours of run-time is possible. I expect that will rise a bit when the next-generation of Core chips, called Haswell, arrives in June.
The 3.06-pound Aspire P3 has an 11.6-inch IPS display with HD resolution. Instead of a traditional keyboard dock, the slate slides into a hinged case. That allows the screen to be propped up while also offering a standard chiclet keyboard. Unlike the dock of the W510, there’s no secondary battery in the P3 dock. Overall, the device looks like a large iPad in a keyboard case.
Acer says the price of the new P3 is $799.99 for the Core i3 model, which is available now.
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Acer just announced the Iconia A1 tablet that will feature a 7.9-inch (1024 x 768) IPS display with an aspect ratio of 4:3. It will include a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, 8 or 16GB of internal storage, microSD slot for expanded storage, 5MP rear camera, front camera (not specified), microSD, microHDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, and WiFi 802.11b/g/n.
It also features Acer’s new “Touch” theme. While the tablet is off, you can press five fingers on the display to wake it up to any app of your choosing. You can also opt for tapping just your thumbs for a different app.
The Acer Iconia A1 will be available starting in June with a suggested retail price of $169 for the 8GB version and $199 for the 16GB version. Full presser after the break.
NEW YORK (May 3, 2012) Acer today unveiled the Acer Iconia A1, the company’s first full-featured 7.9-inch tablet targeted at modern day explorers, adventurers, digital freaks and mobile executives requiring an all-day mobile companion. Thanks to a sleek and light-weight design that is comfortable to hold in one hand, it also easily fits into a purse orbag. The new Acer Iconia A1keeps people entertained and connected with smooth and speedy navigation, browsingand mediaplaybackpowered by a fast quadcore processor.The Acer Iconia A1 was introduced today with other new products, including the Acer Aspire R7, Acer Aspire P3 Ultrabook and Aspire V Series touch notebooks. The new line of Acer mobile products highlights the company’s focus on redefining the computing experience through progressive design. #AcerTouch.
“Tablets are becoming cherished companions to many people as they stay connected and entertained throughout their day,” said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing, Acer America. “We want everyone to experience that. Everything that makes tablets so enjoyable is even better on the perfectlysized Acer Iconia A1. The design is comfortable to hold, while the sleekbuild makesit a natural extension for anyone who wants to keep their digital life right at their fingertips. “
Highly Responsive Fun
Busy mobile users get the prompt performance they want with smooth video playback, and fluid and fast navigation through apps and websites powered by a fast MediaTek Quad Core 1.2GHz processor. Gestures, zooming, scrolling and navigation are all intuitive, and games are responsive, realistic and even more fun with the integrated gyroscope for movement and vibration responses. The LED-backlit display with IPS technology and a 170-degree viewing angle vibrantly highlights videos,
photos and multimedia content in accurate color and brightness. The 1024×768 resolution makes text and graphics crisp and clear, while the 4:3 aspect ratio is great for web browsing and e-reading as well as gaming.
Acer’s new Touch WakeApp® gesture gives customers one-touch express access to their favorite apps directly upon waking from sleep. The Iconia A1 delivers the Google experience with services like Google Now, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, and great content such as magazines, movies, games, books and more than 700,000 apps from the Google Play Store.
Easy to take Everywhere to Stay Connected
Starting at only 0.90 pounds and measuring only 0.44 inches thin, customers will also enjoy taking it with them for navigation and location-based apps via the built-in GPS. The Acer Iconia A1 keeps consumers connected to Wi-Fi networks and hotspots with reliable 802.11b/g/n wireless technology. Plus, the integrated Bluetooth 4.0 lets consumers quickly connect the tablet to a variety of other devices, such as headsets and printers.
Digital Hub
The 5MP rear-facing camera captures 1080p video at 30fps that can easily be edited for quick sharing on-the-go. The front-facing camera pairs with the enhanced microphone to capture video and audio clearly for video chats and recording. The micro USB 2.0 and microHDMI port enable quick transfer or sharing of customer’s photos, music, videos and other digital content.
Available as 8GB or 16GB(2) version with the option to add an additonal 32GB(2) via microSD, the Iconia A1 is the ideal digital companion for people which are constantly up and about.
Pricing and Availability
The Iconia A1-810 with 16GB capacity will be available in June at a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price
of$199.99 USD.
Come comment on this article: Acer unveils the Iconia A1 tablet with 7.9-inch 4:3 IPS display
Since its reveal in February, Sony has been somewhat quiet on the PS4 front. There have been a number of game announcements for the console, but we never got a good look at what it’s like to make games for the console.
Sony is obviously hoping to dispel some of the mystery with a new video series – “Conversations with Creators.” The debut episode pulls aside the development team of Watch Dogs to talk about how the team at Ubisoft is bringing the game to the PS4.
The gameplay on show is nothing new, but it’s interesting to see how Ubisoft is working closely with Sony to make Watch Dogs extra special on the PS4. Part of that is accomplished thanks to the Share button, which the developers shower mountains of love on.
Despite the focus on the PS4, Watch Dogs is also being developed for pretty much every other HD platform under the sun. Ubisoft says the game will be out on the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC and the next Xbox later this year.
