Blog

Today, President Obama held a bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny at the White House before the two leaders traveled to the Capitol for a St. Patrick's Day Luncheon.

In their Oval Office meeting — the fifth since President Obama took office — the President and Taosiseach reaffirmed the incredible bond between the United States and Ireland. 

"We have an incredibly strong partnership on economic issues, on security issues," President Obama said. "The Taoiseach has shown great leadership during difficult times in Ireland. And we’re seeing progress in the Irish economy."

Noting one example of this progress, President Obama mentioned a deal to sell American-made planes to Ireland that will help businesses here in the U.S create jobs. 

read more

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch has reportedly been wooed away by Apple. CNBC is reporting that Lynch has been hired but so far there are no details as to what his job title or responsibilities at the company would be.

ALERT: Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch is leaving the company this week to join Apple, sources tell @jonfortt. $ADBE $AAPL—
  (@CNBC) March 19, 2013

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lynch has been at Adobe since 2005 when the company acquired Macromedia. He is credited with the decision to develop early desktop publishing software Dreamweaver while at Macromedia.

The move to Apple would be tinged with a bit of irony considering the bad blood between the two companies. In 2010, Steve Jobs posted his “Thoughts on Flash” regarding Adobe’s technology and its viability for mobile devices. Adobe publicly took exception to Apple’s claims, but just a couple years later,  Apple decisively won the battle.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The state of cross-platform media measurement
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

Another piece of the Redbox Instant puzzle has just fallen into place, as the Redbox Instant app for Xbox 360 is now available to download. Microsoft first announced the app back in February, saying that it would be coming in the “very near future.” It looks like they were waiting for Redbox Instant to come out of its beta period.

Which is what happened last week. After a three-month beta, Redbox Instant finally launched to the public.

Redbox Instant costs $8 a month, and that includes unlimited streaming of all 4,600 movies (no TV shows yet) in the Redbox Instant catalog, as well as a bonus 4 free DVD rentals from Redbox kiosks (which pays for over half the price itself, when you think about it). For $9 a month, you can upgrade your subscription to include Blu-Ray discs in the total package.

As of now, this is an exclusive deal – the Xbox 360 is the only console to feature a Redbox Instant app.

“Attention Redbox fans: the Redbox Instant by Verizon app is available on Xbox 360 now. Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers in the U.S. can sign up for Redbox Instant by Verizon and start enjoying Hollywood’s newest releases, in addition to a movie-lovers collection of popular classics available for unlimited streaming. Redbox Instant by Verizon also offers the ability to purchase and rent new releases and stream them directly into your living room through Xbox 360 without needing a subscription.” says the Major Nelson blog.

The Redbox Instant app also supports voice and gesture control via Kinect.

Yes, as with most streaming apps on the Xbox 360, a Xbox Live Gold membership is required. If you’re not a Gold member and you still want to check out Redbox Instant app – you’re in luck. The app will be unlocked for all Xbox LIVE members for a limited time.

Unlike some daytime TV doctors, Dr. Mehmet Oz is an actual medical doctor. While that means his medical advice on The Dr. Oz Show may carry more weight than other TV doctors, it also means some viewers may put too much stock in some of the more home-brewed “remedies” sometimes described on the show.

The New York Daily News is reporting that a New Jersey man is suing Oz over an insomnia cure the doctor described on his show.

The remedy that caused the man such trouble was one described by Dr. Oz on a show in April 2012. The “knapsack heated rice footsie” cure for insomnia involved placing uncooked rice into a pair of socks, heating them in a microwave, and placing them on the feet for 20 minutes to help with sleep.

The man suing Dr. Oz, 76-year-old Frank Dietl, ended up with third degree burns on his feet after attempting the remedy. Dietl reportedly has neuropathy in his feet due to diabetes, meaning he could not feel the rice burning his feet.

The Daily News report states that Dr. Oz did warn his viewers not to heat the rice sock too hot, though no specific warnings were issued for people with neuropathy.

One of the cool things about Google Drive is that it allows users to collaborate on documents in real time. Now Google is bringing that same functionality to apps built with the Google Drive SDK.

Google announced today that developers can now build collaborative apps with the Google Drive SDK by using the Realtime API. Here’s a breakdown of what it does:

Developing for the Drive Realtime API is almost as simple as working with local objects. The API provides collaborative versions of familiar data objects such as maps, lists, strings, and JSON values and automatically synchronizes and stores modifications to these objects. Your application reads from and writes to these objects like any other local object. Change event handlers can be added to collaborative objects so that your app can react to changes from other collaborators.

If you want to learn more about the Realtime API, check out this video from Google on it:

Some developers already have access to the API, and have built some rather impressive live collaboration apps using it. One such app is Neutron Drive, a Google Drive app that allows users to edit code. Now multiple users can edit the same code simultaneously thanks to the Realtime API:

For more information on the Realtime API, check out Google’s documentation. There are other examples of the Realtime API in action over at Google Developers Blog as well.

DC Devices Inc. has raised US$9 Million from a consortium of investors. Lumira Capital joined the financing along with existing investors Third Rock Ventures and General Catalyst. Gerry Brunk, managing director of Lumira, joined the company’s board of directors. Tewksbury, Mass.-based DC Devices, a medical device company for the treatment of congestive heart failure, has been venture-backed since 2009.

PRESS RELEASE:

DC Devices Inc., an innovative medical device company developing first-in-class structural heart devices, today announced that it has secured $9 million in financing. Lumira Capital joined the financing along with the company’s existing investors Third Rock Ventures and General Catalyst, and Gerry Brunk, managing director of Lumira Capital, has joined the DC Devices board of directors. This financing will support DC Devices’ accelerated development and ongoing clinical evaluation of the first trans-catheter

device for the treatment of diastolic heart failure (DHF), also known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

“Patients suffering from diastolic heart failure have no effective treatment options today, and a mortality rate that rivals that of cancer,” said Mr. Brunk. “With heart failure representing the single largest cause of hospitalizations in many countries, and the largest cost line item in the U.S. Medicare budget, new therapies are desperately needed. We’re very excited to support the DC Devices team in its effort to bring a potentially transformative new therapy to patients.”

DC Devices’ proprietary, minimally invasive InterAtrial Shunt Device (IASD™) system is the first device intended to treat DHF/HFpEF. The IASD system works to relieve increased left atrial pressure, the main cause of DHF/HFpEF symptoms, by placing a permanent implant in the atrial septum designed to reduce the elevated pressure and relieve symptoms. The innovative IASD system allows physicians to perform this trans-catheter treatment without open-heart surgery and
in a controlled fashion using standard interventional cardiology techniques.

“This is an exciting time of growth and progress for DC Devices, as we have completed our firstin-human safety studies and are currently enrolling a European pilot trial for our proprietary IASD system,” said George Fazio, president and chief executive officer of DC Devices. “We expect to make rapid advances this year, as we work toward our goal of developing a new, minimally-invasive and permanent device for the treatment of DHF/HFpEF that is designed to be cost-effective, and could dramatically improve patients’ quality of life while significantly reducing hospitalization costs.”

Mr. Brunk joins the current DC Devices board of directors, which includes: David Celermajer, M.D., co-founder, DC Devices; George Fazio, chief executive officer, DC Devices; Paul LaViolette, partner, SV Life Sciences, who serves as chairman; Mark Levin, partner, Third Rock Ventures; and Hemant Taneja, managing director, General Catalyst.

About DC Devices 

DC Devices is dedicated to revolutionizing the treatment of heart failure with first-in-class structural heart devices. The company is developing the first trans-catheter device for diastolic heart failure (DHF), also known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). It

 

s proprietary and innovative InterAtrial Shunt Device (IASD™) system is minimally invasive and is designed to relieve increased left atrial pressure (LAp), the main cause of DHF/HFpEF symptoms. The IASD system is designed to be cost-effective and is intended to dramatically improve patients’ quality of life while significantly reducing hospitalization costs. The IASD System is currently under clinical investigation outside the U.S., and is not available in the U.S. for investigational use or commercial distribution. Founded by experienced and proven leaders in the interventional cardiology space and medical device industry, DC Devices is funded by leading investors Third Rock Ventures, General Catalyst and Lumira Capital. The company is headquartered in Tewksbury, Mass. For more information, please visit www.dcdevicesinc.com.

Photo courtest of Shutterstock.

The post DC Devices Raises $9M from Canadian & U.S. VC Funds appeared first on peHUB.

As a community college teacher, I know that excellence happens every day in community college classrooms and campuses across this country. Both in my classroom and when I’m on the road visiting community colleges, I am fortunate to see firsthand the tremendous impact these schools have on so many students.  I see students striving, teachers inspiring, and administrators innovating – each doing their best to make the community college experience richer and more meaningful. President Obama has made community colleges a centerpiece of his goal to have the best-educated, most competitive workforce in the world.

Earlier today at the Newseum in Washington, DC, leaders in education and business congratulated Santa Barbara City College from California and Walla Walla Community College from Washington for being selected as co-winners of the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Kingsborough Community College – CUNY from New York and Lake Area Technical Institute from South Dakota were honored as finalists-with-distinction.

read more

A day after BlackBerry (BBRY) CEO Thorsten Heins said that the company wasn’t going to produce another tablet until it had figured out how to make it more than “just another tablet,” a senior executive said that a sequel to BlackBerry’s Playbook tablet is already in the works. Mike Al Mefleh, a BlackBerry director of product management, claimed in an interview with Emirates 24|7 at the Dubai BlackBerry User’s Forum that the company will release six new BlackBerry devices in 2013, in addition to a new Playbook. The executive didn’t reveal a release timeframe, however sources speaking to Emirates 24|7 suggest the device, which may sport a 10-inch display, could launch by the end of the second quarter. BlackBerry is also expected to update the original Playbook to the BlackBerry 10 operating system later this year.

Metro 2033 is one of the best shooters of the past five years. It was a delight to learn last year that the game was getting a sequel. The uncertainty surrounding the game’s former publisher – THQ – was a little unnerving though. Thankfully, Metro Last Light found a home at Deep Silver, and will be released later this year.

The first trailer under the game’s new publisher was released today, and it shows more of the world players will be exposed to in Last Light. In short, it looks like more of the drab, depressing environments of the first game, but that’s only a good thing. Metro 2033 excelled in selling its atmosphere and Last Light looks to continue in its footsteps.

Metro Last Light will be launching on May 14 across the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Ed. note: This post was first published on the official blog of healthcare.gov. You can see the original post here. 

Enacted three years ago, the health care law is making the insurance market work better for you by prohibiting some of the worst insurance industry practices that have kept affordable health coverage out of reach for millions of Americans.

As a former state insurance commissioner, I know that for too long, too many hard-working Americans paid the price for policies that handed free rein to health insurance companies. For more than a decade before the Affordable Care Act, premiums rose rapidly, straining the budgets of American families and businesses. And insurers often raised premiums without any explanation.

It wasn’t fair and it was costing you your hard-earned dollars, security, and peace of mind.

The Affordable Care Act is working to bring affordability and fairness to the marketplace by barring insurers from dropping your coverage when you get sick or placing a lifetime dollar limit on coverage. In 2014, it will prohibit discriminating against you or anyone with a pre-existing condition, such as high blood pressure, asthma, or cancer.

read more

Last month, Facebook began testing a new targeting feature for marketers called lookalike audiences. Today, the company announced the global launch.

The feature enables marketers to target audience segments with similar common attributes (interests, demographics) to the customers a marketer has already identified as a target audience, through the custom audiences feature.

“With lookalike audiences, advertisers (both e-commerce companies and direct response marketers) can expand their reach to specific geographic areas or audiences who are not already fans of the company’s page while still maintaining the desired demographic profile of their existing audience,” a spokesperson for Facebook tells WebProNews. “Companies using custom and lookalike audiences only know the size of their targeting groups; Facebook does not share any personal information from those audiences with advertisers.”

“We’ve seen this new type of targeting drive a wide range of success metrics for direct response companies like Fab, including lower cost per checkout, lower cost per acquisition, larger purchase size, and faster and increased return on investment,” the company says in a blog post.

The Lookalike Audiences tool will be available to all advertisers, in any country, from the power editor, this week.

With the NCAA Tournament fast approaching, people are beginning to fill out their brackets with the hopes of stunning their office buddies with the perfect pick of all 63 games.

Too bad it’s simply not going to happen for you. Sorry, man.

DePaul professor Jeff Bergen is here to give to a clear, concise explanation on why you’ll never fill out a perfect bracket. And not just you – nobody is likely to fill out a perfect bracket. There are simply too many possible outcomes. And you’re probably basing your decisions on which mascot would win in a fight anyway. Or team colors. Don’t lie, we know how you pick brackets.

[DePaul Newsroom]

DAYTON, Ohio – Colo has come to the customer. In a business park just minutes from its global headquarters, LexisNexis is housing racks of IT gear inside factory-built data center modules from IO. It’s an example of a new paradigm for enterprise data centers, in which pre-fabricated designs can create resilient Tier III facilities within 120 days at any location a customer chooses.

LexisNexis, an information service provider for the legal profession, is the prototype customer for IO’s on-site offering for enterprise customers. IO has built a data center on LexisNexis’ doorstep in Springboro, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, where the company has already deployed two double-wide D2 modules,housing 400 kilowatts of IT load.

This new facility is filled with modular data centers, steel enclosures which are about 42 feet in length and can house up to 50 racks of IT gear. Dubbed “IO.Anywhere,” the modules are built in a factory in Phoenix and can be shipped virtually anywhere by truck, rail or plane. IO has developed modules for networking gear and power and cooling equipment, allowing customers to create all components of a modern data center.

A New Look for Enterprise Data Centers

IO shifted to a modular design in 2010, and until now has housed its customers in a pair of massive “modular colo” facilities the company has built in Phoenix and New Jersey.  The IO Ohio facility represents the next phase in its vision, opening up new possibilities in site selection that could gradually alter the enterprise data center landscape.

IO and other modular providers say these designs provide a cheaper and faster way to deploy data center capacity. They also offer a predictable, repeatable design that can standardize many aspects of expanding data center capacity. That’s attractive to a growing list of enterprise customers, including LexisNexis, which is using IO’s “Data Center as a Service” program .

“This is a much better way to do it,” said David Short, Senior Project Manager for LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier. “We’ve got to get to a point where we can control our operations and control our costs.”

In addition to housing its IT gear, the 46,000 square foot Dayton facility includes offices for LexisNexis, which will soon build a networking operations center (NOC) at the site to manage its global data center footprint.

Over time, LexisNexis will add another 400 kW of capacity, while IO will fill the remainder of the 26,000 square foot data area with modules housing its own colocation customers. This offers a “best of both worlds” relationship – Lexis-Nexis gets a dedicated, energy-efficient infrastructure that can be built in phases, while IO gets a marquee anchor tenant to support the facility, as well as the ability to generate revenue from its own customers.

More “Anywhere” Projects in the Works

The Dayton facility is IO’s first public construction project at a customer-selected site, but there are already more in the works. IO is creating modular data centers for investment bank Goldman Sachs in the United States, the UK and Singapore. And last week’s announcement that IO has won a $17.5 million contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission could mean a future presence for IO in the Washington D.C. market.

LexisNexis is a long-time IO customer, starting out in traditional raised-floor data center space in IO’s first project in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company provides managed hosting and business continuity services for  law firms, helping them safeguard their intellectual property. The Dayton facility will consolidate LexisNexis customer gear that previously was housed in a facility in Columbus, Ohio.

Short said the switch from a traditional data center to a modular deployment wasn’t a major stumbling block for LexisNexis’ customers. ”It’s an education process for our customers,” said Short. “As soon as they walk in and see it, they get a comfort level.”

The IO. Anywhere modules are among a new generation of customized container-based designs that resemble a traditional data center. To provide visual continuity, the module design incorporates a raised floor, which isn’t essential but provides a familiar look and feel for users.

Efficiency Through Containment, Control

Efficiency is a major selling point for the IO modular solution, along with its flexibility and repeatable design. The enclosed environment functions like a containment system, allowing greater control over cooling airflow. The modules create a consistent environment that allows LexisNexis to customize its configuration “inside the box,” an important consideration for service providers.

“We were able to design a power distribution system that allows us to install two to five cabinets at a time,” said Short. “That flexibility is important.”

IO began retrofitting the space last  July, and LexisNexis was able to begin moving in by early November.

“We were able to bring IO Ohio online in less than 90 days, demonstrating the technology’s ability to deliver data center capacity where and when it’s needed to meet the growing demands of customers,” said Rick Crutchley, Senior Vice President of Global DCaaS Sales for IO. “We’re proud to continue our relationship with LexisNexis as they adopt a Data Center 2.0 strategy for their IT operation in Ohio.”

Lexis-Nexis is also using the IO.OS software to manage its infrastructure in Dayton. With a growing number of companies providing modular and factory-built data center products, IO sees its data center management software as a differentiator as more companies enter the market for modular enclosures.

The industry debate about modular data centers will continue, as some continue to question the economics and breadth of use cases for modular designs. The IO Dayton facility provides a real-world example of the potential for local deployments, adding another data point to the discussion as IO continues to make its case, one customer at a time.

For more photos of the facility, continue to page 2.

Note: This post contains strong language.

Convicted murderer T.J. Lane was sentenced to life in prison for the 2012 murder of three high school students in the Ohio town of Chardon.

According to an Associated Press report, the 17-year-old Lane, who attended an alternative school, walked into the Chardon High School cafeteria on the morning of February 27, 2012 and fired a .22 caliber pistol at a group of students. Three students died, and Lane, now 18, pleaded guilty to three counts aggravated murder last month. To date, he has provided no reasoning for his actions.

At his sentencing today, Lane showed his contempt for the court and his victims by wearing a white t-shirt with the word “KILLER” scrawled on it in marker. Lane smirked and gazed off while family members of his victims testified that he should receive the maximum penalty available.

During the sentencing Lane opted, against his lawyer’s advice, to address the courtroom. In a shocking display, Lane turned toward the families of his victims and spouted vulgarities, raising his middle finger to the courtroom.

“This hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory,” said Lane. “Fuck all of you.”

Lane’s three life sentences do not allow for the possibility of him ever being paroled. The death penalty was unavailable to the prosecution, as Lane was only 17 at the time of the shooting.

The Yucaipa Companies, the investment firm founded by Ron Burkle, has invested in Brew Hub, which will offer craft brewers the opportunity to partner brew their beers on site. St. Louis-based Brew Hub was founded by a team of former Anheuser-Busch executives led by Tim Schoen. Brew Hub announced plans Tuesday for its first brewery in Lakeland, Fla., the first of at least five planned facilities around the country.

PRESS RELEASE

Brew Hub, a company led by a team of beer industry executives and craft brewing experts, has announced plans for the company’s first brewery in Lakeland, Florida. The Florida brewery will be the first of at least five planned facilities that will offer craft brewers the opportunity to partner brew their beers on site.

Partner brewing is a process that will allow craft breweries not only to brew their beer to exact specifications under the supervision of their own brewmaster, but also to package and distribute from the Brew Hub brewery and make their beer available for export to international markets. Partner brewing will allow craft breweries to expand their distribution without the overhead costs of building a new brewery or transporting beer across the country.
The Brew Hub will also offer craft breweries services including sales, marketing, logistics, legal, and government affairs.
The Lakeland brewery will be located in Interstate Commerce Park off the I-4 Corridor and will have an initial brewing capacity of 75,000 barrels, or one million cases, annually. The site’s central location will allow the company to efficiently distribute beer to wholesalers throughout Florida and the Southeast.
Brew Hub brewing operations will be led by Chief Brewmaster, Paul Farnsworth who will oversee all aspects of design, layout, construction and day-to-day operation of the new brewing, production and warehouse facility in Lakeland, Florida. Farnsworth earned a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of London and has been instrumental in the startup or operation of over 100 breweries in 10 countries.
Brew Hub was founded by a team of former Anheuser-Busch executives led by Tim Schoen . Schoen, CEO, Jerry Mullane , President and Mark Greenspahn , Vice President of Operations. Brew Hub is supported by financing from The Yucaipa Companies of Los Angeles.
“Brew Hub will allow great craft brewers to grow their businesses by expanding into new markets they otherwise could not reach,” said Tim Schoen , chief executive officer of Brew Hub. “This is the most exciting time in history to be in the beer business. Beer drinkers are constantly looking to discover new beer styles and brands every chance they get, but many of the beers they love aren’t available where they live. We’re planning to change that in the Southeast and across the country.”
Brew Hub plans to open at least four similar facilities over the next five years. Specific markets will be determined based on demand, but the company is considering strategic locations in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Texas and West Coast. This network of Brew Hub facilities will allow craft brewers from across the country to enter new markets.
“There are so many craft brewers making amazing beer today, and the demand from consumers is almost insatiable,” said Schoen. “But too much demand can also be a problem. Building a brewery is not realistic for many brewers and contract brewing opportunities that exist today are less than ideal. We believe our partner brewing model will allow craft brewers a great opportunity to expand their business and reach new consumers.”
The company will begin building the Lakeland brewery, packaging and cold storage warehouse in April. The site will operate as a central distribution facility for craft brewers beginning in fall 2013. The Lakeland facility will deliver beer to wholesalers throughout Florida and the Southeast and will begin brewing beer in summer 2014.
“The Brew Hub is an idea that’s time has come,” said J. Paul Pepin , Pepin Distributing Company, Tampa, Fla. “The demand for craft beer in our area is almost endless, and, while the local craft beers are excellent, beer drinkers also want access to beers they’ve had in their travels. Brew Hub will allow us to deliver these beers fresh and in a way that makes good business sense for brewer, wholesaler, retailer and, most importantly, the consumer.”
Brew Hub was founded in 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri by a team of beer industry executives and craft brewing experts led by Tim Schoen . “Where Craft Brewers Go to Grow,” Brew Hub provides full brewing, packaging, distribution and selling services for craft brands that are capacity, geographical, or capital constrained. The company plans to have five breweries located throughout the country that will cater to craft breweries. Each facility will allow craft brewers to partner brew their beers on site.

The post Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Invests in Brew Hub appeared first on peHUB.

Keek is a video sharing platform best suited to status updates. Share what you’re doing with this easy to use app or browse the activity feed to see what Keek users are doing worldwide.

Capture video then upload it for your friends to see. You can be social by sharing your video with the Keek community or you can also share your video with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, email and SMS.

Interact with the Keek community by posting text or video comments, customize your activity stream. Keek is easy to use, supports front and back cameras and can upload videos in the background so you can keep using your device.

Click here to download Keek for BlackBerry 10, free from BlackBerry World.

Yesterday, in honor of Women’s History Month, we welcomed a group of high school students to participate in a conversation with a mentoring panel at the White House.

Our panel included luminaries from a diverse range of fields: Tamika Catchings, professional basketball player, and founder of Catch the Stars Foundation, which works with at-risk youth. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America and a lifelong advocate for civil rights, workers, and women. Abbe Raven, President and CEO of A&E Networks. And Suni Williams, an astronaut who took recently took charge of the International Space Station.  Alex Wagner, News Anchor at MSNBC, moderated the panel.

Each woman talked about their trajectory, their role models and influences, and gave advice on success in their career. The young people in the audience asked questions such as, “What makes a strong woman?” and “What do you do during moments of self-doubt?”

It was a wonderful opportunity to have an honest dialogue between generations, and I left feeling so encouraged by the stories of the panelists and the voices of the audience.

This event was one in a series to honor Women’s History Month. It was followed by a celebration with President Obama and the First Lady in the Residence.

read more

It is officially that time of the year — when grown men call in sick to sit home and watch younger men and women play basketball. In other words, it’s March Madness time. While you are watching those games, and possibly cursing your bracket choices, Microsoft would like to have a bit of your attention.

While the company’s first big Microsoft mobile viral campaign, known as Smoked by Windows Phone, seemed to pop up everywhere and get all sorts of attention, the latest campaign has kept a much lower profile.

Now Microsoft aims to change that as Ben Rudolph, father of both campaigns, announces that the Windows Phone Challenge is coming to the television during the big college basketball tournament. “A new spot that pits the Nokia Lumia 920’s PureView camera head-to-head against the Samsung Galaxy SIII will run on ESPN and CBS throughout the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament”, Rudolph says.

Only the one 30-second spot is planned for TV as of right now, but there is a longer format version, along with other videos, that you can watch over at that Challenge Playlist on YouTube.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has been getting batted around a bit the past couple of days and likely needs the good publicity anywhere that it can be found, and Rudolph is probably the perfect guy to try and right the ship.

Microsoft created quite a commotion among Windows users when they announced that the classic Start button will no longer be part of the operating system in version 8.

Obviously, third-party developers responded to the users’ needs by making available both free and paid solutions that mimic the old orb.

ImmersiveTaille, on the other hand, u… (read more)