Business workers hate, hate, hate having to sign onto multiple services — cloud-based or on premises — with different passwords and credentials. That’s why Dropbox is bolstering its business version with single sign-on or SSO capabilities. First, it’s supporting the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) which means if your IT people have set up a SAML federated process in the office, you can sign on once to access all those affiliated applications.
It’s working with identity management experts — Ping Identity, Okta, OneLogin, Centrify and Symplified — to bring SSO to those users. And, in case it’s not clear that Dropbox wants to attract business users, it’s re-christening Dropbox Teams as Dropbox for Business. Got it? Good.
IT admins can already integrate Dropbox with Microsoft Active Directory, the directory services scheme used by many companies, to automate the creation and removal of Dropbox for Teams accounts from an existing directory. But until now (well, actually until next month, when it comes online) it did not support SSO.
Dropbox is the undisputed king of consumer-focused file-share-and-sync — as of November it claimed more than 100 million users. It is far from clear, however, how many of those users graduate from the free to the paid consumer service. Nor does the company provide numbers of Dropbox for Teams, er, for Business users, which costs $795 per year for 5 users plus $125 for every additional user. But it does say that Dropbox is used in 95 percent of all Fortune 500 companies.
As we all know by now, people sho use a given service at home like to use it at work, which means that the 95 percent figure is credible. We also hear about Fortune 500 companies — including IBM – prohibiting the use of such consumer-focused products (including Dropbox specifically), and that’s the trend that Dropbox is trying to nip in the bud here.
But anyone outside of Dropbox would say that it is definitely contending with Microsoft, Box and the Google Apps-and-Drive tandem in business accounts.
Photo shows a server tray using Asetek’s Rack CDU Liquid Cooling system. The piping system connects to a cooling distribution unit. (Source: Asetek)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) looks to join the Department of Defense in utilizing “hot water” liquid cooling, as a retrofit for its Skynet HPC cluster. Asetek announced that NREL will install its RackCDU (Rack Coolant Distribution Unit) direct-to-chip liquid cooling system, as the cluster is relocated to the new data center at the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) in Golden, Colorado.
Last year, NREL had been studying the energy efficiency performance, savings, lifecycle cost, and environmental benefits of RackCDU for potential broader adoption across the DoD. At the ESIF data center, warm water (75 degrees) liquid cooling will be used to operate servers and to recover waste-heat for use as the primary heat source for the building office space and laboratories. The higher liquid temperatures used by Asetek’s RackCDU (105F) will improve waste-heat recovery and reduce water consumption for the data center.
By retrofitting an existing air-cooled HPC cluster with RackCDU, NREL will reduce the cooling energy required to operate this system, reduce water usage in the cooling system and increase the server density within the cluster, reducing floor-space and rack infrastructure requirements. The system will be installed as a drop-in retrofit to existing air-cooled servers and racks.
“Ambient water temperature in the hydronic system is a critical factor in data center efficiency and sustainability,” said Steve Hammond, director of the Computational Science Center at NREL. “Starting with warmer water on the inlet side can create an opportunity for enhanced waste-heat recovery and reduced water consumption, and in many locations can be accomplished without the need for active chilling or evaporative cooling, which could lead to dramatically reduced cooling costs.”
The new Energy Systems Integration Facility is located at the NREL’s campus in Golden. The data center is set to complete construction this summer.
“When we think about how people work, the naïve intuition we have is that people are like rats in a maze,” says behavioral economist Dan Ariely in today’s talk, given at TEDxRiodelaPlata. “We really have this incredibly simplistic view of why people work and what the labor market looks like.”
Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?When you look carefully at the way people work, he says, you find out there’s a lot more at play—and a lot more at stake—than money. In his talk, Ariely provides evidence that we are also driven by meaningful work, by others’ acknowledgement and by the amount of effort we’ve put in: the harder the task is, the prouder we are.
During the Industrial Revolution, Ariely points out, Adam Smith’s efficiency-oriented, assembly-line approach made sense. But it doesn’t work as well in today’s knowledge economy. Instead, Ariely upholds Karl Marx’s concept that we care much more about a product if we’ve participated from start to finish rather than producing a single part over and over. In other words, in the knowledge economy, efficiency is no longer more important than meaning.
“When we think about labor, we usually think about motivation and payment as the same thing, but the reality is that we should probably add all kinds of things to it: meaning, creation, challenges, ownership, identity, pride, etc.,” Ariely explains.
To hear more on Ariely’s thoughts about what makes people more productive – and happier – at work, watch this fascinating talk. Below, a look at some of Ariely’s studies, as well as a few from other researchers, with interesting implications for what makes us feel good about our work.
Seeing the fruits of our labor may make us more productive . The Study: In a study conducted at Harvard University, Ariely asked participants to build characters from Lego’s Bionicles series. In both conditions, participants were paid decreasing amounts for each subsequent Bionicle: $3 for the first one, $2.70 for the next one, and so on. But while one group’s creations were stored under the table, to be disassembled at the end of the experiment, the other group’s Bionicles were disassembled as soon as they’d been built. “This was an endless cycle of them building and we destroying in front of their eyes,” Ariely says. . The Results: The first group made 11 Bionicles, on average, while the second group made only seven before they quit. . The Upshot: Even though there wasn’t huge meaning at stake, and even though the first group knew their work would be destroyed at the end of the experiment, seeing the results of their labor for even a short time was enough to dramatically improve performance. .
The less appreciated we feel our work is, the more money we want to do it . The Study: Ariely gave study participants — students at MIT — a piece of paper filled with random letters, and asked them to find pairs of identical letters. Each round, they were offered less money than the previous round. People in the first group wrote their names on their sheets and handed them to the experimenter, who looked it over and said “Uh huh” before putting it in a pile. People in the second group didn’t write down their names, and the experimenter put their sheets in a pile without looking at them. People in the third group had their work shredded immediately upon completion. . The Results: People whose work was shredded needed twice as much money as those whose work was acknowledged in order to keep doing the task. People in the second group, whose work was saved but ignored, needed almost as much money as people whose work was shredded. . The Upshot: “Ignoring the performance of people is almost as bad as shredding their effort before their eyes,” Ariely says. “The good news is that adding motivation doesn’t seem to be so difficult. The bad news is that eliminating motivation seems to be incredibly easy, and if we don’t think about it carefully, we might overdo it.” .
The harder a project is, the prouder we feel of it . The Study: In another study, Ariely gave origami novices paper and instructions to build a (pretty ugly) form. Those who did the origami project, as well as bystanders, were asked at the end how much they’d pay for the product. In a second trial, Ariely hid the instructions from some participants, resulting in a harder process — and an uglier product. . The Results: In the first experiment, the builders paid five times as much as those who just evaluated the product. In the second experiment, the lack of instructions exaggerated this difference: builders valued the ugly-but-difficult products even more highly than the easier, prettier ones, while observers valued them even less. . The Upshot: Our valuation of our own work is directly tied to the effort we’ve expended. (Plus, we erroneously think that other people will ascribe the same value to our own work as we do.) .
Knowing that our work helps others may increase our unconscious motivation . The Study: As described in a recent New York Times Magazine profile, psychologist Adam Grant led a study at a University of Michigan fundraising call center in which student who had benefited from the center’s scholarship fundraising efforts spoke to the callers for 10 minutes. . The Results: A month later, the callers were spending 142 percent more time on the phone than before, and revenues had increased by 171 percent, according to the Times. But the callers denied the scholarship students’ visit had impacted them. . The Upshot: “It was almost as if the good feelings had bypassed the callers’ conscious cognitive processes and gone straight to a more subconscious source of motivation,” the Times reports. “They were more driven to succeed, even if they could not pinpoint the trigger for that drive.” .
The promise of helping others makes us more likely to follow rules . The Study: Grant ran another study (also described in the Times profile) in which he put up signs at a hospital’s hand-washing stations, reading either “Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases” or “Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases.” . The Results: Doctors and nurses used 45 percent more soap or hand sanitizer in the stations with signs that mentioned patients. . The Upshot: Helping others through what’s called “prosocial behavior” motivates us. .
Positive reinforcement about our abilities may increase performance . The Study: Undergraduates at Harvard University gave speeches and did mock interviews with experimenters who were either nodding and smiling or shaking their heads, furrowing their eyebrows, and crossing their arms. . The Results: The participants in the first group later answered a series of numerical questions more accurately than those in the second group. . The Upshot: Stressful situations can be manageable—it all depends on how we feel. We find ourselves in a “challenge state” when we think we can handle the task (as the first group did); when we’re in a “threat state,” on the other hand, the difficulty of the task is overwhelming, and we become discouraged. We’re more motivated and perform better in a challenge state, when we have confidence in our abilities. .
Images that trigger positive emotions may actually help us focus . The Study: Researchers at Hiroshima University had university students perform a dexterity task before and after looking at pictures of either baby or adult animals. . The Results: Performance improved in both cases, but more so (10 percent improvement!) when participants looked at the cute pictures of puppies and kittens. . The Upshot: The researchers suggest that “the cuteness-triggered positive emotion” helps us narrow our focus, upping our performance on a task that requires close attention. Yes, this study may just validate your baby panda obsession.
What have you noticed makes you work harder – and better?
When eBay bought Magento in 2011 it gained an e-commerce platform that merchants could use to create custom online stores, but eBay has largely kept Magento separate from its most famous e-commerce acquisition, PayPal. That’s now changing, though, as the two are announcing a partnership to integrate PayPal’s m-commerce and mobile payments technology with Magento’s service.
In a blog post Wednesday, PayPal CTO James Barrese said his company is creating two new extensions for Magento’s 150,000 merchants. The first, called In-Aisle Selling, hooks PayPal’s point-of-sale mobile payments service Here directly to a merchant’s store. Here lets a salesman to take a credit or debit card payment anywhere in the store with PayPal’s triangular magnetic reader, while Magento’s ordering and inventory system pulls down all of purchase and customer details.
The second extension is called Order Ahead, which lets merchants set up shop in PayPal’s mobile app. In January, PayPal launched a pilot project with one of its key mobile payments customers Jamba Juice. Customers could access Jamba Juice’s menu from the app, place an order while waiting in line or before they arrived — even make special substitution requests — and of course pay for their drink.
Barrese said pilot was a success and now it’s expanding Order Ahead, starting with Magento merchants. Stores can use specialized templates to create their menus or catalogs and synchronize their opening hours and locations with PayPal’s ordering system. Merchants can then manage the pre-orders through a simple console available in the extension or directly integrate it Order Ahead into their existing point-of-sale systems using Magento’s APIs. Customers can pick up their orders either by presenting their names, order numbers or the QR code on their e-receipts.
Yesterday I attended the House Taxes Committee Meeting. There were two topics that touched upon broadband and both were quick discussions. The super condensed notes on the sessions (vis a vis broadband):
HF1686 (Lenczewski) Public fund investments authorized, energy improvement repayment provided for, capital equipment financing requirements changed, and street reconstruction bond election requirements changed.
Quick Notes: Anything related to fiber was taken off the table once the legislators realized that this amendment might conflict with other policies. They may rework the language – but really the momentum seemed to be to remove it. Some discussion on whether or not the fiber was intended for government-only use – but again momentum was to drop it.
HF389 (Lesch) Collection of 911 fees from prepaid wireless telecommunications services and prepaid wireless E911 services provided for, broadband development grant program established, and money appropriated.
Quick Notes: Legislators were not in favor of the broadband development grant program – more (I believe) based on prepaid phones not being connected enough to the cause than the actual fund. Again They may rework but momentum was to leave off the fund and the higher level momentum was to avoid any controversy.
Below is video and more notes on the session. It was interesting to watch the Tax discussion when what I was listening for was broadband because tax involves some deep ideologies and so it’s clear to see that broadband is not the issue – money is. From that perspective I think the second video I have posted is interesting. Someone mentioned the need to represent the private sector – to which someone else asked who represented the public sector? Just an interesting glimpse.
Discussion on HF1686 (Lenczewski) Public fund investments authorized, energy improvement repayment provided for, capital equipment financing requirements changed, and street reconstruction bond election requirements changed.
Lynnette Slater Crandall – Dorsey Whitney Bond Lawyer – MIPF introduces the amendment.
Questions –
Fiber optic – does that have to do with municipal telecom systems?
Yes – but we just realized that it might be controversial so we ask that we remove that part.
We are looking at Section 4,7,8. We would want to delete the fiber portion from each section (or remove the first mention and subsequent referrals).
Mr. Carlson –
This only refers to intergovernmental fiber connections, not to serve residents or commercial entities. So I question the controversy. Some wealthy counties are already doing this. They are self-funding fiber networks for government use.
Brent Christensen (Minnesota Telecom Alliance) –
The MTA opposes the portiorn of the bill that relates to government funded and constructed networks. (Lines 3.3, 3.4, 5.3, 5,.4, 5.29 & 5.30.) It creates an uneven playing field. Also it permits local government to make investments that may lead to long-term debt for equipment and expenditure in the competitive telecom world for equipment that may become obsolete. Finally the amendment conflicts with Minnesota law that requires a referendum before a city can enter the telecom business.
Mike Martin (MN Cable Communications Association)–
We share MTA’s concern. It opens the door to government sponsored competition. The issue is the ability to lease capacity. There’s no definition of what local governments serve, which could leave to reselling. Dakota & Scott Counties are already doing this. There are transparency issues.
Are governments selling fiber now? Yes – for example Carver County got ARRA funding to build a network and used some bonding to match. Then they asked providers (competitors to existing providers) to come on board too. It means governments might be able to compete at below market rates.
We might not object in areas without service but that’s not necessarily the case here.
Question: This is the tip of the iceberg. Maybe we need to reconsider the referendum with increased transparency. Maybe people need to understand the risk. Monticello is a deal that hasn’t worked.
Dorsey Whitney: It’s not the intent to submit a controversial topic. We’ll try to make a change to accommodate these issues or delete fiber pieces.
General Questions:
Question: We don’t want anything that would be controversy for the private sector – but who is watching for the public sector?
We do work with League of Cities. Sometimes one governmental agency has a diverging view from other types of government entities.
Questions: If it’s all technical why do we need to do this?
It might help the bond owners sleep better at night. There is expanded authority that matters to our constituency.
HF389 (Lesch) Collection of 911 fees from prepaid wireless telecommunications services and prepaid wireless E911 services provided for, broadband development grant program established, and money appropriated.
We fund 911 services in MN by charging a fee on phone bill. More phones don’t have phone bills; they are pre-paid services. One of the leader in pre-paid phones was paying the bill but they quit. So we’d like to get pre-paid phones back
Representing AT&T
We think this is a bill whose time has come. We need to resolve this as the customers change and move away from landline. Prepaid is 23 percent of market .
Questions:
We’re laying this bill over. I have concerns. We talked about adding 4 cents for broadband grant fund. That seems beyond the scope. I hope if this comes back in Omnibus Tax Bill that this gets dropped.
There is one other amendment – delete section 16.
The date for report from Commission of Public Safety from 2014 to 2015. One concern – how do we come up with an adequate fee without a more precise estimate? The sooner we get a report the better we’ll be.
I agree but the department didn’t think they’d have adequate data in the time previously provided.
The need for data and the quicker the better would be helpful. We don’t want to collect more than is necessary.
Dep of Revenue
We want to express concerns. It puts us in the position of being a collector for another agency’s fees. We do collect some fees for other agencies. This puts us in the place of using sales tax system, which puts us in an awkward position given relationship with retail providers.
Question – but you’re already doing it. Department of Public Safety isn’t geared up to collect fees.
Question – Who else could do it?
We could do it, but it’s a bad precedent. We collect annual drycleaner bills. We do solid waste fees. But these are smaller projects. Not of this magnitude.
Jamie Pool – MN Grocers
We are concerned with local business collecting taxes for national providers. We support e-911. The bill goes into effect when minutes start to get used. The fees must be itemized. We’d need to set up systems and start collections. The language also says any fee changes will be announced on the website – requiring us to keep up and opening the door to inconsistency. We understand we don’t’ need to sell these cards – but we want to provide one-stop shopping.
Jackie Mines Emergency Services
We currently collect 911 fees. We distribute it. We provide backbone for infrastructure. We support this bill. It’s a mechanism for fair and equitable fees. With migration to prepaid it’s important to public safety to keep fees coming into the fund. We are happy to make reporting available when we can. We would be happy to send out letters as well as post fee changes on our website. We might need to get contact info on grocery shops.
Samsung released the first Galaxy S4 ads today with all three focusing on a specific feature that’s being introduced with Samsung’s latest flagship device. The first is for Sound Shot – a feature that lets users record sounds alongside their pictures.
The second is for Group Play – a strange feature that has users syncing their phones to all play the same song. It seems a little unnecessary, but hey, somebody will probably get a kick out of it.
The final ad is for S Translator – an app that is basically Samsung’s version of Google Translate.
If you were expecting a bit more humor out of the Galaxy S4 ads, you’ll probably have to wait closer to launch. Speaking of which, the launch shouldn’t be that far away as AT&T will start taking pre-orders for the device on April 16 with a rumored launch sometime in early May.
IObit says their Advanced Mobile Care app is a swiss army knife of Android tuning tools, and they aren’t kidding. From security to performance, there isn’t much this app doesn’t do. It’s actually been out for a while, but they just updated to 3.0 to include anti-theft protection, a call blocker, tablet support, and an improved battery saver.
This all-in-one app features real-time virus scans, anti-theft protection, a game speeder, battery saver, call blocker, app manager, task killer, privacy locker, privacy advisor, and cloud backup. Now you would expect with all these features, it has to be complicated, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Advanced Mobile Care’s UI is elegant, and simple to navigate. It’s the perfect app for not only the expert, but the novice as well.
When opening the app you will get a large SCAN button at the top with a few options at the bottom. Tapping SCAN will completely scan your system and let you know if any viruses are present, what tasks are running, how much cache you have, and how many junk files you have. I personally would stay away from the task side of things because Android already has a very efficient mechanism for that, but the option is there if you insist.
Assuming your device is free from viruses, you will want to concentrate on the cache and junk files. Just tap cache and you will see how much cache is stored for each app. If you’re not familiar with cache files, they are temporary files created by each app. They do nothing but slow your system so deleting them regularly is a good thing. Advanced Mobile Care will already check off all the apps that have cache, but you can bypass that and select the particular apps you want. Junk files will consist of log and temp files, browser history, as well as unnecessary thumbnail files. You can also include your call logs and SMS messages if you wish. After you have made your selections, the SCAN button will now say REPAIR. Just tap on that to clean/delete everything you have chosen. Going back to the anti-virus aspect, it’s a 24/7 scanner, which means it automatically scans any apps that you install, so you don’t have to remember to run the scan.
If you tap on the bottom center box icon, you will see all the other options that Advanced Mobile Care offers:
Game Speeder
If you have any games that are processor intensive and you find they are choppy at best, you will want to utilize this feature. Just add any games that you want, and that choppy lag will disappear magically.
App Manager
Will let you uninstall apps, move any apps to the SD card, and manage any third-party APK files stored on your device.
Battery Saver
Will tell you how much battery is remaining in terms of percentage as well as time.Tap on the top right icon to find out what apps are using the battery the most. Tap on the top left information icon gives you other status info like health, voltage, temperature, etc. You can also choose to turn the Battery Saver option on or off at the bottom. If turned on, it will maximize your battery life. I did reach out to IObit on what exactly the battery saver does in order to improve your battery, but I wasn’t able to get an answer.
Task Killer
It will allow you to kill any apps that are running. You can also exclude certain apps from showing in this list. I would recommend that you stay away from this section because the Android OS already has it’s own management for closing apps.
Privacy Advisor
Will tell you what apps have ads in them as well as tell you what permissions each app has. It will categorize them by permissions so for example, you can quickly find out what apps can access your contacts or your location.
Anti-theft
Will allow you to get the location of your phone, lock it, or sound an alarm in the event that it’s lost or stolen. There is one caveat, and that is that you need to use another phone that has Advanced Mobile Care. It’s not a deal breaker, but a little bit of a nuisance if you’re friend doesn’t have the app already installed on their phone. Just enter the phone number of your lost phone into your friend’s phone with Advanced Mobile Care, and you will be able to do the things I mentioned above.
Cloud Backup
This will let you backup your contacts and call logs. You will need to open an account in order to do this, but it will give you the ability to restore them from any phone. Assuming you contacts are in Gmail, using this to backup contacts is kind of useless, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have another backup if it doesn’t cost you anything.
Just in case any of the above isn’t enough for you, there is a handy widget that lets you quickly run scans directly from your homescreen as well as check system information and set the battery saving mode to on or off.
As you can see, Advanced Mobile Care is definitely the swiss army knife of Android tuning tools. Not only does it offer so many features, but it has a simple and elegant user interface. Now you would think something as comprehensive as this would cost a few bucks, but not this one. It’s absolutely Free and I recommend you try it out now. From anti-theft to making your device run smoother to speeding up your games, there is very little that Advanced Mobile Care doesn’t do. Grab it now and thank me later. Check out my hands on video below and hit one of the download links to get started. As always, let me know what you think.
Apple (AAPL) is set to post its results for the second fiscal quarter on April 23rd and a new report suggests increased competition may have hurt Apple more than usual. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha said in a recent note to clients that competition is hurting Apple more than it has in the past, and he sees iPhone sales in the March quarter falling to 38 million units — though that figure is still up from 35.1 million iPhones in the same quarter last year.
You can find some interesting imagery on Google Maps Street View. It’s no wonder, given the efforts the company takes to produce it. They’ve even gone so far as to design special equipment to get imagery from the places where it’s just too hard to get a car or even the Street View Trike.
Sometimes, you’ll just find some weird stuff. Apparently you can even find people having sex.
A redditor pointed this out in the ever-popular WTF subreddit. My first instinct was to assume that this was a fake. Google wouldn’t really take a picture of this and leave it available on Street View would it?
Luckily, right there at the top of the comments was a link. Yep, it’s really there.
It’s entirely possible that this couple isn’t actually having sex, and is rather just having some fun at Google’s expense. On the other hand, it’s also possible that they’re doing both.
Interestingly enough, Google blurred out the license plate on its own:
You can click through if you want to see it and mess with Google’s controls. If you want to, however, you should probably do it now, because I doubt this will be sticking around for long.
Even when Chelsea Handler isn’t hosting her late night E! talk show, Chelsea Lately, the interviews still seem to become a bit raunchy. The three famed Kardashian sisters (Kim, Klohe, and Kourtney) took over the talk show this week, and were propelled into the kinky fantasies of Russel Brand.
The sisters started off complimenting Brand on his accent, then moved to teasing the comedian when he stumbled over their names. The talk quickly turned sexual, however, when Brand suggested he was “vulnerable to the concept” of a threesome between the Kardashian sisters.
Khloe happily played along, saying, “Well, I heard pregnant pussy is the best pussy.” She was referring, of course, to the fact that Kim is currently pregnant with R&B star Kanye West’s baby.
Brand continued the flirtation saying, “I think pregnant women are radiant and beautiful, and the idea of lactation is an interesting one.”
Not to be outdone, Khloe topped Brand by revealing some very personal things about herself and her sisters.
“You have the best of both worlds, ’cause Kourtney is lactating and Kim is pregnant,” said Khloe. “And I am just, like, ‘raging waters.’ It’s just happy over here.”
The internet of things — the scenario where everyday items are equipped with sensors and pumping out data — still feels largely theoretical. However, it’s bleeding into reality, often in rather prosaic ways. And you don’t get much more prosaic than garbage collection.
One interesting company dabbling in this field, Helsinki-based Enevo, just picked up €2 million ($2.6 million) in funding from Finnish Industry Investment and Lifeline Ventures. The money will be used to help Enevo push its cleantech services across Europe and into North America.
Enevo isn’t the only company working on smarter waste management, but rivals (such as BigBelly) are largely trying to sell more intelligent bins. Enevo, on the other hand, is a services firm that provides sensor units to waste management companies for free. The unit (pictured in the hands of CEO Fredrik Kekäläinen) measures variables such as volume and temperature within the bin, then sends the data back to Enevo via GPRS. The company then uses that data to dynamically optimize collection intervals and routes for its customers.
The intended result? Fewer overflowing bins and fewer pointless journeys to empty bins that are barely full. In the trillion-dollar industry that is waste management (according to Lifeline), that adds up to a pretty big deal. According to Kekäläinen, Enevo’s existing 10-or-so customers are already saving 30 percent on direct waste logistics costs.
Kekäläinen told me on Wednesday that Enevo has started mass production of its sensor units (using a Finnish manufacturer “to make sure it’s really high quality”) and is recruiting salespeople across Europe. The company has deals with municipalities across Scandinavia and is setting up a pilot project in Canada. It’s also in talks with the big bin manufacturers to try get the sensor units integrated into their products.
All in all, it’s a simple idea that can produce tangible results – cost savings for firms and greater efficiency and environment-friendliness for communities. As such, it’s a pretty good example of what we’re hoping to see come out of the much-hyped internet of things.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the FY 2014 budget, in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 10, 2013. Acting Director of Office of Management and Budget Jeffrey Zients accompanies the President.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama said that we must invest in the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising and thriving middle class. He said that every day, we must ask ourselves these three questions: "How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?"
This morning the President sent Congress his Budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which presents his plan to address each of these questions. He also spoke to the press about his proposal in the Rose Garden, and said that while our economy is poised for progress, we need to get smarter about our priorities as a nation. And that’s what his 2014 Budget represents — a fiscally-responsible blueprint for middle-class jobs and growth:
We knew LG’s Optimus G Pro was eventually coming to the US, we just weren’t sure when. Well, the cat’s out of the bag, and sources indicate that AT&T will be picking up the G Pro on May 10th. That puts it right up against the HTC One and the Galaxy S 4, so LG is walking into some very stiff competition with that release date. However, it will be the 5.5 inch version, not the 5 inch version that was released in Japan, so this might attack more of the Note 2′s market instead of the One and S 4.
No word on any other carriers, but I’m sure we’ll hear something sooner or later.
Popular recording artist Brandy recently did an At Google Talk discussing “mapping the past, searching the present, and inventing the future” with Googler Dara Wilson.
The talk was part of the Black Googlers Network’s Black History Month celebration, and took place on February 25th.
Is Facebook losing its stranglehold over young social media users? According to some data from an bi-annual survey, the answer is yes. And it’s not that social media in general is losing its cool factor, it’s that other networks like Twitter and even Instagram (owned by Facebook, of course) are stealing Facebook’s mojo.
The data comes from Piper Jaffray’s 25th bi-annual “Taking Stock with Teens” survey that looks at everything from online shopping and fashion, to tech, social, and gaming.
The survey looked at which social networks are the “most important” for teens. It found that Facebook still holds the top spot – but barely. And it’s been declining over the past year.
Facebook is the most important social network for 33% of the teens surveyed, which is down 9% from 42% back in the Fall of 2012 (the last time this survey was published).
Twitter, on the other hand, saw an increase from 27% to 30% in teens claiming it as the most important social site in their lives. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook but has stayed independent, grew in popularity from 12% to 17%.
Watch out Facebook, Twitter is nearly as important to teens as you.
The only other significant change in social media loyalty among teens in the past few months is in the “other” category. Piper Jaffray notes that the top 5 “write-in” picks for most important social media service were Wanelo, Snapchat, 4chan, Kik, and Twitter’s just-launched six-second video app Vine.
Another interesting find from Piper Jaffray’s survey: Teens still love their iPhones. Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed said that they already own an iPhone (up from 40% in the Fall) and 62% said that they plan on buying the iPhone as their next device. Compare that with Android, which had 23% of teens expressing future desire.
During the PS4 reveal in February, Sony revealed that the console would be using AMD’s new Jaguar x86 system-on-a-chip architecture that combines a CPU and a GPU onto a single chip. There were rumors that Microsoft would be doing the same with the next Xbox, and a new report adds more fuel to the fire.
Speaking to those familiar with Microsoft’s plans, Bloomberg reports that the next Xbox will indeed use AMD’s Jaguar SOC. The report doesn’t mention any specifics, but previous leaks have said that the next Xbox’s CPU would feature eight-cores, and be clocked at 1.6 Ghz. The PS4′s Jaguar has the same number of cores, but is clocked at 1.8 Ghz.
The report says that Microsoft’s move to an AMD-based architecture will effectively kill any chances of backwards compatibility in the new console. The Xbox 360 employs an IBM PowerPC CPU that makes any chance of compatibility with the new AMD chip all but impossible. Of course, the next Xbox could use emulation for Xbox 360 games, but that seems unlikely. Those wanting to play Xbox 360 games will just have to keep their old consoles around.
Bloomberg’s report is just the latest in a number of leaks that are beginning to paint a clearer picture of the next Xbox. One of the most persistent, and plausible rumors, is that the next Xbox will ship with the next generation of Kinect hardware. The surprise is that Kinect will be required at all times, even if the game in question doesn’t require it. Some suggest that Microsoft will be using the Orwellian tech it patented some time ago to enforce DRM or other protective measures based upon the number of people in the room.
Of course, all of this is mere speculation and rumors for now. We won’t anything until Microsoft decides to unveil the console. The latest report suggests that Microsoft will host its unveiling event on May 21, and then reveal more at E3 in June.
If using both a phone and a tablet together is a hot tech trend this year, April’s BlackBerry Fan of the Month is ON TREND.
Meet Sergio – a lean, mean, BlackBerry PlayBook-ing-machine. Sergio knows how to work hard and play hard and he uses his BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to make the best of both worlds. In his personal life, Sergio’s BlackBerry PlayBook helps him stay in touch with his loved ones – his wife, in particular (say it with us – ‘awwww!’)! And in his professional life as a successful business owner, Sergio can’t live without his tablet. It allows him to remotely manage inventory for his robotic pool cleaning company and print invoices on demand for customers. The Evernote app on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is perfect for taking notes and pictures while on the job. And, best of all, he can use it as a phone whenever he needs to. Sergio is one of the original Super Users in the BlackBerry Support Community Forums. He is extremely helpful and passionate about the BlackBerry PlayBook with impressive stats in the community:
Total Posts: 3,704
Total Kudos: 215
Total Accepted Solutions: 107
Like we said, lean, mean, BlackBerry-PlayBook-ing MACHINE. Ladies and gents, I present to you, our April FOTM, Sergio(@icemanswimmer):
How many years have you been on Team BlackBerry?
I have proudly been part of Team BlackBerry since 2010. Honestly, I have to tell you that it has been a great experience. I never imagined my passion for BlackBerry would lead me here to be part of FOTM.
How many BlackBerry devices have you had in total? Could you list them all out for us?
I have had four – BlackBerry Storm 9530, BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry PlayBook tablet (I really love this one) and now I’m getting a super sexy BlackBerry Z10!
How many BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) contacts do you currently have?
On my BBM, I only have a select group of people, 24 right now. But I’m sure BlackBerry 10 will put me back in touch with all those that I miss.
What is your favorite BBM emoticon?
Definitely the laughing one. Haha.
What is the best BBM you ever received?
One from a customer saying that the deal was closed in our favor, definitely the best!
Sergio, if you could BBM your BlackBerry, what would you say? How do you think your BlackBerry would respond?
Sincerely? Please don’t tell my wife, though. I would say, I love you and I can’t live without you.
Of course the BlackBerry would answer: Me too!!
Sergio, we know you own your own company, selling pool products. Tell us more about how and when you started this company!
Sure, it’s a long story but I will try to be brief.
My pool business started about six years ago, I never imagined that I would be doing this. Six years ago, I was selling VoiP solutions. One day my partner met some guys that were involved in the Robotic Pool Cleaning business. They showed him all the beautiful things that robots could do, it was awesome and a really great business opportunity in a market that was not existent in Mexico at the time.
We weren’t sure where to start, but, lucky for me, I’m a swimmer and I knew people that own swimming schools or are Coaches in Acapulco or Cuernavaca, so I used that network to start selling this technology and give the business a shot!
But wait, the story doesn’t end there. Customers didn’t just want the robots to clean their pools. That was just the beginning, later they wanted more from us – they wanted chemicals, equipment, accessories, services etc, so this business has been growing as a result. Now we have more customers than we could have expected and work on some of the main pools in Mexico City.
I need to say that BlackBerry has been part of that story. These devices have been so useful for my business. Thank you guys.
Sergio, how does BlackBerry keep you organized with your work? (Especially since you’re one busy man!)
Well, my BlackBerry and my BlackBerry PlayBook are really my main computing devices, but the BlackBerry PlayBook has sort of won me over because I can do so many things with it.
On the PlayBook, when I’m not at the office I use remote access to check inventory or create invoices. Sometimes I also access email and Docs To Go using my BlackBerry PlayBook.
I use Evernote on the PlayBook for updating the notes I take at each customer visit. This also involves taking pictures so I have a record of water clearness or turbidity, chemical parameters, etc. These notes can be shared immediately with the customers or my suppliers when there are product issues.
Of course, presentations are part of this business, too. I edit my presentations on the PlayBook using an Office app. Sometimes I display these presentations on a LCD or LED TV and use my BlackBerry smartphone as my remote control with BlackBerry Bridge. It is so cool and it looks so profesional that customers are amazed each time I do this. In fact, when I finish the presentation, they often want to take a look at the BlackBerry PlayBook and play with the remote control feature. Haha.
Check this, one of the coolest things I do on the PlayBook is placing calls through VoiP, this turns my tablet into a ‘phablet’ but also helps me reduce my phone costs as much as 40% on local calls and 80% on international calls. I do this when I’m at my customer’s facilities, coffee shops, restaurants or when I’m traveling. The phone function even works through the internet using a modem, but the voice quality isn’t always the best.
Of course, e-mail is one of the things I use most during the day. I probably split by time on e-mail between my two devices evenly.
Getting access to web sites related to the business are part of every day tasks and I mainly do this on the PlayBook.
Those are some of the areas in which BlackBerry helps me a lot.
What did you think about the launch of BlackBerry 10? Did any announcement in particular stand out?
More than seeing this as BlackBerry deserving another opportunity, I thought you guys did this once, why can’t you do it again? BlackBerry 10 has all everything you need to succeed. I’m so sure of that. I believe!
About announcements, yes, of course, there were some that stood out – those about the apps that customers could expect to see and use. There are so many! Congrats to your Developer Relations Team, they are doing a great job!
And finally, we just have to ask: Are you prepared to handle the fame that comes with being our Fans of the Month?
Hahaha, I hope to enjoy it! Bring it on!
Be sure to check out the other awesome members of the BlackBerry Fan of the Month (FOTM) club:
Keep sharing your FOTM suggestions with us, either by leaving a comment below, tweeting to us @BlackBerry on Twitter, or posting on our Facebook page. Stay tuned – our April FOTM could be YOU!
Within moments of seeing white smoke billow from the Sistine Chapel, media outlets were inundated with a slew of reports about the former Cardinal Bergoglio. The Vatican PR machine noted that Pope Francis was an incredibly humble Cardinal who, as was befitting a Jesuit, had an abiding concern for the poor, rode the subway, and cooked his own meals. Oh… and that he was missing most of one lung.
This certainly runs contrary to conventional wisdom about how best to conduct impression management; i.e. “Put your best foot forward.” With Catholics already anxious about the new Bishop of Rome’s wellbeing, doesn’t pointing-out a condition that begs the question, “Was it cancer?” constitute impression mismanagement?
Actually, I think it’s something leaders should do more of. Let’s take an example from history to see why: Back in 1999, Louis V. Gerstner “let out” word that he had a deficiency immediately prior to taking the helm at IBM. Big Blue had been among the nation’s foremost enterprises, but when Gerstner was picked for the top spot it was bleeding red ink. Conventional wisdom would say that to redress the blue mood IBMers were suffering, Gerstner should have greeted them with bravado to boost morale. Instead, Gerstner exposed his soft underbelly by stating, “I don’t completely understand the technology [of IBM’s product line]. I’ll need to learn it, but don’t expect me to master it… unit leaders must translate it into business terms for me.”
Gerstner’s, “I don’t know IT but I know management” was pure genius. Here’s why:
Presenting his IT deficiency made it impossible for anyone to challenge him as being an industry-outsider — he pre-emptively admitted he was and declared that others needed to oversee IT issues.
What Gerstner also did was frame the discussion of what was best for IBM around his strengths. His greeting proclaimed that IT advances wouldn’t fix what ails IBM. They’d turn the company around by reducing costs and increasing profits.
Finally, by admitting a flaw, Gerstner created what psychologists call an augmentation effect: “His managerial strengths must be super-strong,” people were forced to conclude, “Since he was hired despite being ‘short’ on IT competence.”
The notion that admitting flaws enhances impression management efficacy is not mere conjecture. Psychological research on ingratiation conducted by Edward E. Jones (and colleagues) at Duke University proved that self-presentations referencing negative attributes, shortcomings, or flaws, was far more effective at creating favorable first impressions than those that were limited to listing personal strengths and achievements.
This is not to say that a favorable impression is born of admitting every misstep you’ve ever made. As social media aficionados would say, that sort of disclosure is TMI. But when interviewing for a promotion (or taking a new job), meeting potential investors, addressing boards of directors, and the like, volunteering that you have a chink in your armor that intense vetting would ultimately reveal, accrues to your benefit.
Why is this so? As noted, it both takes the wind out of (potential) critics’ sails and helps define the parameters of what is discussed about you. In addition, there are three more seemingly counterintuitive (but actually rational) reasons why divulging a flaw helps you score points when getting to know someone:
When you voluntarily disclose a flaw -as though it is no big deal — you “force” others to think just that. Within a day of learning about Pope Francis’ lacking a lung, news outlets were teeming with articles quoting pulmonologists who said it was of no concern.
Not disclosing personal flaws that are ultimately discovered makes it appear that (a) you hid them, and, (b) they are more damaging than is actually the case. Had Lou Gerstner not allowed, “I’m no IT wizard but I know business inside and out,” some wag could have accused him of assuming the top spot at IBM under false pretenses. That claim, true or not, could have undermined his turnaround efforts: Given the bloodletting he initiated there were countless times that Gerstner’s foes out-numbered his followers.
Acknowledging flaws, irrelevant though they may be to leadership potential, conveys strength of character that a sanitized (positive) self-presentation cannot. Most people over-estimate how damaging their flaws appear, feel that they, alone, suffer them, and are loath to admit them. The sole exception to this rule occurs when someone strives to achieve what shrinks call “secondary gain” — using personal problems to accrue attention, control others, or an appearance on Dr. Phil.
Yes, over-disclosing your dents & dings is a huge error. Most of what we keep private about ourselves is irrelevant to our professional comportment and, as such, of concern to no one. Moreover, to metaphorically strip yourself naked in front of business associates is akin to touting the purity of the meats used in your sausages by providing tours of your processing plant. A simple, “No fillers or additives used” will suffice; specific details of how hogs become your hot dogs are, once again, TMI.
Think of it this way: When fighting your way to the top you never stick your chin out unprotected, allowing it to get hit. But you also can’t keep your gloves up all the time, or you’ll never be able to throw a punch. Instead, you strive, as best you can, to box like Muhammad Ali: Dropping your guard, strategically, to keep your power punch at the ready when it’s time to hit ’em with your best shot.
As the debate over gun rights ramps up in the U.S., reports of accidental shootings that would have remained local tragedies have been rising to the forefront of national news coverage.
This week, a six-year-old in New Jersey died after being shot by a four-year-old neighbor. According to a report from New York ABC station WABC, Brandon Holt of Toms River, New Jersey died after being shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Holt was playing in a four-year-old neighbor’s yard when the four-year-old found the rifle inside his house. The gun is reported to have accidentally fired and hit Holt from 15 yards away. Police have stated that the four-year-old’s parents were also in the yard. Holt was taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center, where he later died from his wounds.
Toms River police are still investigating and have not released any further details about the incident, including information on how the four-year-old may have obtained the rifle.
“When we think about how people work, the naïve intuition we have is that people are like rats in a maze,” says behavioral economist Dan Ariely in 
Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?
