Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/lCQKJsJPz7o/
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Mini Chic! See Harper Beckham?s Designer Rain Boots
"Harper loves her Marc Jacobs wellies! Rainy day in London," the fashion designer wrote.
Friday, 22 March 2013
Exec CEO Justin Kan Talks Competition, Cleaning, And Future Plans
Hot on the heels of Exec’s Cleaning Service launch in NYC, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to get CEO and co-founder Justin Kan in the studio for a quick chat. We also couldn’t resist checking out the service in action, and thusly hired Execs from the company’s standalone Cleaning app to help tidy up our NYC Aol Ventures crib. For those unfamiliar with Exec, the concept is quite simple. Exec lets you hire people on a case-by-case basis for errand-running and cleaning. The app originally launched as an errand-running service, letting Execs who sign on to the platform (and pass background checks) run to get you coffee, pick up your dry cleaning, or assemble that Ikea bed for you. You’re charged $25 per hour, the majority of which goes to the Exec and a percentage of which goes to the company. After realizing that cleaning was dominating over 50 percent of Exec’s orders, the company launched a standalone Cleaning app in February. Since, the cleaning side of the business has expanded to Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and here in New York City. “We wanted the cleaning app to be the easiest thing you can imagine,” said Justin. “We don’t want you to have to make any decisions.” He mentioned that most of the current cleaning services force you to play phone tag and call a number of services. Meanwhile, on Exec, you simply open the app and are instantly given the availability for your house cleaning and a quote. But even though cleaning makes up a large part of the Exec business, we can’t forget about errand-running. I asked Justin how Exec gets users to change behavior, as most people in the younger demographic feel somewhat uncomfortable giving directions for others to do their chores. But Exec has added layers to the app that give you prompts for what you might do with it, like have someone stand in line for you at Brunch. (Justin’s actually used Exec for that very purpose.) As the company continues to enter new markets, the biggest challenge (according to Justin) is handling the logistics on the backend as the apps scale. In the past eight months, over 11,000 people have applied to be Exec contractors. Not only does the company have to handle the massive hiring funnel, complete with interviews and background checks, but also handle scheduling thousands of workers with real-time tasks onSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dXoqvO528jY/
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Feds crack down on text-messaging spammers
The Federal Trade Commission has gone to court to stop companies from allegedly bombarding cell phone users with hundreds of millions of unwanted text messages that promised ?free? gift cards.
The FTC complaints, filed in courtrooms around the U.S., charge 29 defendants with sending more than 180 million of these spam texts.
"Today's announcement says ?game over? to the major league scam artists behind millions of spam texts," said Charles Harwood, acting director of the FTC?s Bureau of Consumer Protection in a statement.
If you have a wireless phone, there?s a good chance you got one. The text messages offer free $1,000 gift cards from big name companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy.
(Related: Warning: Bogus 'smishing' messages tell lies)
The FTC claims the texts were designed to get people to click on a link that would take them to deceptive websites that requested sensitive personal information ? supposedly needed for shipping ?before they could get that ?free? card.
The commission suspects the information collected was sold to other companies for marketing purposes.
But that was just the beginning. Once the personal information was gathered, people were directed to another site where they were required to sign up for a number of ?offers? in order to be eligible for the gift card.
The FTC?s investigation shows some people had to sign up for as many as 13 offers. This often meant providing a credit card number to sign up for some type of subscription. In some cases, they had to submit applications for a credit card, an action that would show up in their credit history and could affect their credit score.
(More information:FTC Cracks Down on Senders of Spam Text Messages Promoting "Free" Gift Cards)
In its complaint, the government claims the operators of these websites violated the FTC Act by not disclosing all of the conditions attached to that supposedly ?free? gift ? including the possibility that ?lucky winners? would be required to spend money to get it.
The FTC says its investigation shows the text messages were sent to random phone numbers, including to cell phone subscribers who did not have a text message subscription plan. These consumers paid the cost of receiving that spam text. While it may seem like everyone has a text plan, the FTC says as many as 12 percent of mobile phone users do not.
The FTC?s complaints target those who allegedly sent the unwanted text messages and those who allegedly operated the deceptive websites. The courts are being asked to stop the companies and individuals from continuing ?their alleged deceptive and unfair practices? and to freeze their assets.
Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitteror visit The ConsumerMan website.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/feds-crack-down-text-messaging-spammers-1C8736229
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Apple rumored to have a team of over 100 designers already working on the iWatch
Apple Inc. has a team of about 100 product designers working on a wristwatch-like device that may perform some of the tasks now handled by the iPhone and iPad, two people familiar with the company?s plans said.
The team, which has grown in the past year, includes managers, members of the marketing group, and software and hardware engineers who previously worked on the iPhone and iPad, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans are private. The team?s size suggests Apple is beyond the experimentation phase in its development, said the people.
As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire and there is certainly a lot of smoke hanging around when it comes to the iWatch rumor. Apple will have to pull off something pretty spectacular if the rumoured iWatch is to become a hugely popular product. The idea of running iOS on a tiny screen doesn?t appeal to me all that much however until we know exactly what Apple is working on, it?s too soon to comment. If it looks anything like the concept image above then it could be massively appealing!
Are you excited by the rumored iWatch?
Source: Bloomberg Image: GottaBeMobile
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/9yLZ5PJmWss/story01.htm
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Tuesday, 12 February 2013
10 Things to Know for Today
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful from his studio's window overlooking St.Peter's square during the Angelus noon prayer, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful from his studio's window overlooking St.Peter's square during the Angelus noon prayer, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
An Indian woman weeps as she watches from a staircase as rescue workers tend to the bodies of those killed in a stampede on a railway platform at the main railway station in Allahabad, India, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. At least ten Hindu pilgrims attending the Kumbh Mela were killed and more then thirty were injured in a stampede on an overcrowded staircase, according to Railway Ministry sources. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Snow begins to melt on cars parked at a dealership after a winter storm in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
1. POPE BENEDICT XVI TO STEP DOWN
The 85-year-old pontiff, the first to resign in nearly 600 years, says his advanced age and diminishing strength have made it too difficult to carry on.
2. SNOWED-IN NORTHEAST TRIES TO GET BACK TO WORK
Public transit returned after more than 3 feet of snow fell in some places and New York reopened a major highway where hundreds of cars were stranded.
3. MANHUNT FOR EX-LA COP MOVES TO SUBURBS
Police surround the Irvine home of a believed target of Christopher Dorner, and evacuated a San Fernando Valley store after a reported sighting.
4. HORSEMEAT SCANDAL SPREADS THROUGHOUT EUROPE
France says Romanian butchers and Dutch and Cypriot traders were involved in the supply chain that put horsemeat disguised as beef in frozen food. EUROPE-HORSEMEAT
5. GATES BACKS OVERSIGHT OF DRONE PROGRAM
The former defense secretary supports proposals for a special court to review Obama's deadly strikes against Americans linked to al-Qaida.
6. TWISTER DAMAGES MISS. CAMPUS
The governor was to tour hard-hit Hattiesburg today where windows were blown out and roofs ripped off at his alma mater, University of Southern Mississippi.
7. STAMPEDE AT HINDU FESTIVAL KILLS 37
At least 30 others are hurt when thousands celebrating the Kumbh Mela fell into a crush rushing between train platforms.
8. REAL-LIFE CRASH ON REALITY SHOW
Three people died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles while filming an untitled military-themed show for the Discovery Channel.
9. GRAMMYS SPREAD THE LOVE WITH SURPRISE BEST ALBUM WINNER
Mumford & Sons' Babel won the top prize, while the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach took home four trophies and Fun. won best new artist.
10. WHY YOU'LL FIND THE YANKEES PRESIDENT AT DOG SHOW
Randy Levine, co-owner of Mitch, a 5-year-old yellow Lab, says: "He's like Derek Jeter. Very calm."
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Sunday, 10 February 2013
Deceased programmer invented 'Like' button before Facebook, says lawyer
A patent firm has filed a lawsuit against Facebook on behalf of a deceased computer scientist who might have dreamed up the famous "like" button before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even got his start.
The suit revolves around two patents held by the family of Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer, who died in June, 2004, just months after Facebook's Harvard debut.
According to the complaint, on Sept. 1, 1998, Van Der Meer filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a "Web page diary" which allows users to "collect personal information and third-party content, organize the information chronologically on a personalized Web page, and share the information with a selected group of people, such as the end user's friends, through the use of user-settable privacy levels."
Sounds vaguely familiar, no? Hello, Timeline.
Van Der Meer's second patent application describes a method of automatically transferring content from a website to a user's personal "Web page diary" with a click, allowing people to "collect interesting content as they browsed the Web."
Rembrandt ? the company that represents independent inventors and patent holders such as the family of the deceased programmer ? suggests that the second patent outlines the functionality of the Facebook "Like" button. You click it, content of some sort is thrown onto your Facebook Timeline. Or your "Web page diary." Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
The first patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,415,316) was issued on July 2, 2002 and the second patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,289,362) was issued on Sept. 11, 2001. While the patents were pending (and after they were issued), Van Der Meer attempted to "commercialize his inventions." He formed a company and bought a domain, surfbook.com, to launch a "pilot system that utilized some of the innovations described in his patents." He died before seeing his vision through, however.
The odd similarities between Van Der Meer's domain of choice and Facebook's aside, his patents sound as if they could be applied to nearly any of today's social networks. Nonetheless, legal action is currently only being pursued against Facebook and AddThis, a company which "acts like an enhanced version of the Facebook transfer script," according to Rembrandt's complaint, thereby allegedly infringing on U.S. Patent No. 6,289,362 as well.
"We're not currently pursuing claims against anyone else," Thomas Melsheimer, one of the lawyers representing Rembrandt, told NBC News, "but that doesn't mean that won't happen." (One might assume that Facebook was singled out because one of its patents cites one of Van Der Meer's, implying that the company was aware of it.)
Rembrandt is seeking "no less than a reasonable royalty" for the alleged patent infringement. It's tough to guess what this might amount to, but Ars Technica's Joe Mullin does point out that Rembrandt has managed to successfully "wrest a $41 million verdict from contact-lens maker Ciba Vision in 2008" while working with a husband-wife inventor team who developed what may have set the groundwork for the extended wear contacts many of us use.
Additionally, as Melsheimer pointed out to NBC News, the company representing the case, Fish & Richardson, is "one of the largest firms practicing intellectual property" in the U.S. (The firm once beat Amazon in court, when representing an independent feminist bookstore in an infringement case.)
Get the popcorn ready, folks. I have a feeling we'll be hearing about this case for a while.
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
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Tuesday, 29 January 2013
59% Of All Android Tablet Usage Comes From The U.S., Where Amazon?s Kindle Fire Leads The Pack
Android tablets have nearly caught up to iPad devices as the world's most popular tablet platform, and some project that they?may even overtake?iPads later this year. According to new research from app analytics company Localytics, the U.S., and specifically Amazon, should take the most credit for that trend: some 59% of all Android tablet usage came from the U.S., with over half of that attributed to Kinde Fire and Fire HD tablets.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lSKiJqX6cxg/
Friday, 25 January 2013
Practically human: Can smart machines do your job?
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Art Liscano knows he's an endangered species in the job market: He's a meter reader in Fresno, Calif. For 26 years, he's driven from house to house, checking how much electricity Pacific Gas & Electric customers have used.
But PG&E doesn't need many people like Liscano making rounds anymore. Every day, the utility replaces 1,200 old-fashioned meters with digital versions that can collect information without human help, generate more accurate power bills, even send an alert if the power goes out.
"I can see why technology is taking over," says Liscano, 66, who earns $67,000 a year. "We can see the writing on the wall." His department employed 50 full-time meter readers just six years ago. Now, it has six.
From giant corporations to university libraries to start-up businesses, employers are using rapidly improving technology to do tasks that humans used to do. That means millions of workers are caught in a competition they can't win against machines that keep getting more powerful, cheaper and easier to use.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Second in a three-part series on the loss of middle-class jobs in the wake of the Great Recession, and the role of technology.
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To better understand the impact of technology on jobs, The Associated Press analyzed employment data from 20 countries; and interviewed economists, technology experts, robot manufacturers, software developers, CEOs and workers who are competing with smarter machines.
The AP found that almost all the jobs disappearing are in industries that pay middle-class wages, ranging from $38,000 to $68,000. Jobs that form the backbone of the middle class in developed countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
In the United States, half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the Great Recession paid middle-class wages, and the numbers are even more grim in the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency. A total of 7.6 million midpay jobs disappeared in those countries from January 2008 through last June.
Those jobs are being replaced in many cases by machines and software that can do the same work better and cheaper.
"Everything that humans can do a machine can do," says Moshe Vardi, a computer scientist at Rice University in Houston. "Things are happening that look like science fiction."
Google and Toyota are rolling out cars that can drive themselves. The Pentagon deploys robots to find roadside explosives in Afghanistan and wages war from the air with drone aircraft. North Carolina State University this month introduced a high-tech library where robots ? "bookBots" ? retrieve books when students request them, instead of humans. The library's 1.5 million books are no longer displayed on shelves; they're kept in 18,000 metal bins that require one-ninth the space.
The advance of technology is producing wondrous products and services that once were unthinkable. But it's also taking a toll on people because they so easily can be replaced.
In the U.S., more than 1.1 million secretaries vanished from the job market between 2000 and 2010, their job security shattered by software that lets bosses field calls themselves and arrange their own meetings and trips. Over the same period, the number of telephone operators plunged by 64 percent, word processors and typists by 63 percent, travel agents by 46 percent and bookkeepers by 26 percent, according to Labor Department statistics.
In Europe, technology is shaking up human resources departments across the continent. "Nowadays, employees are expected to do a lot of what we used to think of as HR from behind their own computer," says Ron van Baden, a negotiator with the Dutch labor union federation FNV. "It used to be that you could walk into the employee affairs office with a question about your pension, or the terms of your contract. That's all gone and automated."
Two-thirds of the 7.6 million middle-class jobs that vanished in Europe were the victims of technology, estimates economist Maarten Goos at Belgium's University of Leuven.
Does technology also create jobs? Of course. But at nowhere near the rate that it's killing them off ? at least for the foreseeable future.
Here's a look at three technological factors reshaping the economies and job markets in developed countries:
BIG DATA
At the heart of the biggest technological changes today is what computer scientists call "Big Data." Computers thrive on information, and they're feasting on an unprecedented amount of it ? from the Internet, from Twitter messages and other social media sources, from the barcodes and sensors being slapped on everything from boxes of Huggies diapers to stamping machines in car plants.
According to a Harvard Business Review article by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, more information now crosses the Internet every second than the entire Internet stored 20 years ago. Every hour, they note, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. collects 50 million filing cabinets' worth of information from its dealings with customers.
No human could make sense of so much data. But computers can. They can sift through mountains of information and deliver valuable insights to decision-makers in businesses and government agencies. For instance, Wal-Mart's analysis of Twitter traffic helped convince it to increase the amount of "Avengers" merchandise it offered when the superhero movie came out last year and to introduce a private-label corn chip in the American Southwest.
Google's automated car can only drive by itself by tapping into Google's vast collection of maps and using information pouring in from special sensors to negotiate traffic.
"What's different to me is the raw amount of data out there because of the Web, because of these devices, because we're attaching sensors to things," says McAfee, principal research scientist at MIT's Center for Digital Business and the co-author of "Race Against the Machine."
"The fuel of science is data," he says. "We have so much more of that rocket fuel."
So far, public attention has focused on the potential threats to privacy as companies use technology to gather clues about their customers' buying habits and lifestyles.
"What is less visible," says software entrepreneur Martin Ford, "is that organizations are collecting huge amounts of data about their internal operations and about what their employees are doing." The computers can use that information to "figure out how to do a great many jobs" that humans do now.
Gary Mintchell, editor in chief of Automation World, recalls starting work in manufacturing years ago as a "grunge, white-collar worker." He'd walk around the factory floor with a clipboard, recording information from machines, then go back to an office and enter the data by hand onto a spreadsheet.
Now that grunge work is conducted by powerful "operations management" software systems developed by businesses such as General Electric Intelligent Platforms in Charlottesville, Va. These systems continuously collect, analyze and summarize in digestible form information about all aspects of factory operations ?energy consumption, labor costs, quality problems, customer orders.
And the guys wandering the factory floor with clipboards? They're gone.
THE CLOUD
In the old days ? say, five years ago ? businesses that had to track lots of information needed to install servers in their offices and hire technical staff to run them. "Cloud computing" has changed everything.
Now, companies can store information on the Internet ? perhaps through Amazon Web Services or Google App Engine ? and grab it when they need it. And they don't need to hire experts to do it.
Cloud computing "is a catch-all term for the ability to rent as much computer power as you need without having to buy it, without having to know a lot about it," McAfee says. "It really has opened up very high-powered computing to the masses."
Small businesses, which have no budget for a big technology department, are especially eager to take advantage of the cheap computer power offered in the cloud.
Hilliard's Beer in Seattle, founded in October 2011, bought software from the German company SAP that allows it to use cloud computing to track sales and inventory and to produce the reports that federal regulators require.
"It automates a lot of the stuff that we do," owner Ryan Hilliard says. "I know what it takes to run a server. I didn't want to hire an IT guy."
And the brewery keeps finding new ways to use the beefed-up computing power. For example, it's now tracking what happens to the kegs it delivers to restaurants and retrieving them sooner for reuse. "Kegs are a pretty big expense for a small brewery," Hilliard says.
Automated Insights in Durham, N.C., draws on the computing power of the cloud to produce automated sports stories, such as customized weekly summaries for fantasy football leagues. "We're able to create over 1,000 pieces of content per second at a very cost-effective rate," says founder Robbie Allen. He says his startup would not have been possible without cloud computing.
SMARTER MACHINES
Though many are still working out the kinks, software is making machines and devices smarter every year. They can learn your habits, recognize your voice, do the things that travel agents, secretaries and interpreters have traditionally done.
Microsoft has unveiled a system that can translate what you say into Mandarin and play it back ? in your voice. The Google Now personal assistant can tell you if there's a traffic jam on your regular route home and suggest an alternative. Talk to Apple's Siri and she can reschedule an appointment. IBM's Watson supercomputer can field an awkwardly worded question, figure out what you're trying to ask, retrieve the answer and spit it out fast enough to beat human champions on the TV quiz show "Jeopardy!" Computers with that much brainpower increasingly will invade traditional office work.
Besides becoming more powerful and creative, machines and their software are becoming easier to use. That has made consumers increasingly comfortable relying on them to transact business. As well as eliminated jobs of bank tellers, ticket agents and checkout cashiers.
People who used to say "Let me talk to a person. I don't want to deal with this machine" are now using check-in kiosks at airports and self-checkout lanes at supermarkets and drugstores, says Jeff Connally, CEO of CMIT Solutions, a technology consultancy.
The most important change in technology, he says, is "the profound simplification of the user interface."
Four years ago, the Darien, Conn., public library bought self-service check-out machines from 3M Co. Now, with customers scanning books themselves, the library is processing more books than ever while shaving 15 percent from staff hours by using fewer part-time workers.
So machines are getting smarter and people are more comfortable using them. Those factors, combined with the financial pressures of the Great Recession, have led companies and government agencies to cut jobs the past five years, yet continue to operate just as well.
How is that happening?
?Reduced aid from Indiana's state government and other budget problems forced the Gary, Ind., public school system last year to cut its annual transportation budget in half, to $5 million. The school district responded by using sophisticated software to draw up new, more efficient bus routes. And it cut 80 of 160 drivers.
When the Great Recession struck, the Seattle police department didn't have money to replace retiring officers. So it turned to technology ? a new software system that lets police officers file crime-scene reports from laptops in their patrol cars.
The software was nothing fancy, just a collection of forms and pull-down menus, but the impact was huge. The shift from paper eliminated the need for two dozen transcribers and filing staff at police headquarters, and freed desk-bound officers to return to the streets.
"A sergeant used to read them, sign them, an officer would photocopy them and another drive them to headquarters," says Dick Reed, an assistant chief overseeing technology. "Think of the time, think of the salary. You're paying an officer to make photocopies."
Thanks to the software, the department has been able to maintain the number of cops on the street at 600.
The software, from Versaterm, a Canadian company, is being used by police in dozens of cities, including Denver, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.
?In South Korea, Standard Chartered is expanding "smart banking" branches that employ a staff of three, compared with an average of about eight in traditional branches. The bank has closed a dozen full-service branches, replacing them with the smart branches, and expects to have 30 more by the end of this year. Customers do most of their banking on computer screens, and can connect with Standard Chartered specialists elsewhere by video-conference if they need help.
Comerica, a bank based in Dallas, is using new video-conferencing equipment that lets cash-management experts make pitches to potential corporate clients from their desks. Those experts, based in Livonia, Mich., used to board planes and visit prospects in person. Now, they get Comerica colleagues in various cities to pay visits to local companies and conference them in.
"The technology for delivering (high quality) video over a public Internet connection was unavailable 12 or 18 months ago," says Paul Obermeyer, Comerica's chief information officer. "Now, we're able to generate more revenue with the same employee base."
The networking equipment also allows video to be delivered to smart phones, so the experts can make pitches on the run, too.
?The British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced plans last year to invest $518 million in the world's first long-haul, heavy-duty driverless train system at its Pilbara iron ore mines in Western Australia. The automated trains are expected to start running next year. The trains are part of what Rio Tinto calls its "Mine of the Future" program, which includes 150 driverless trucks and automated drills.
Like many technologically savvy startups, Dirk Vander Kooij's furniture-making company in the Netherlands needs only a skeleton crew ? four people. The hard work at the Eindhoven-based company is carried out by an old industrial robot that Vander Kooij fashioned into a 3D printer. Using plastic recycled from old refrigerators, the machine "prints" furniture ? ranging in price from a $300 chair to a $3,000 lamp ? the way an ordinary printer uses ink to print documents. Many analysts expect 3D printing to revolutionize manufacturing, allowing small firms like Vander Kooij's to make niche products without hiring many people.
?Google's driverless car and the Pentagon's drone aircraft are raising the specter of highways and skies filled with cars and planes that can get around by themselves.
"A pilotless airliner is going to come; it's just a question of when," James Albaugh, retired CEO of Boeing Commercial Airlines, said in 2011, according to IEEE Spectrum magazine. "You'll see it in freighters first, over water probably, landing very close to the shore."
Unmanned trains already have arrived. The United Arab Emirates introduced the world's longest automated rail system ? 32 miles ? in Dubai in 2009.
And the trains on several Japanese rail lines run by themselves. Tokyo's Yurikamome Line, which skirts Tokyo Bay, is completely automated. The line ? named for the black-headed sea gull that is Tokyo's official bird ? employs only about 60 employees at its 16 stations. "Certainly, using the automated systems does reduce the number of staff we need," says Katsuya Hagane, the manager in charge of operations at New Transit Yurikamome.
Driverless cars will have a revolutionary impact on traffic one day ? and the job market. In the United States alone, 3.1 million people drive trucks for a living, 573,000 drive buses, 342,000 drive taxis or limousines. All those jobs will be threatened by automated vehicles.
?Phone companies and gas and electric utilities are using technology to reduce their payrolls. Since 2007, for instance, telecommunications giant Verizon has increased its annual revenue 19 percent ? while employing 17 percent fewer workers. The smaller work force partly reflects the shift toward cellphones and away from landlines, which require considerably more maintenance. But even the landlines need less human attention because Verizon is rapidly replacing old-fashioned copper lines with lower-maintenance, fiber-optic cables.
Verizon also makes it easier for customers to deal with problems themselves without calling a repairman. From their homes, consumers can open Verizon's In-home Agent software on their computers. The system can determine why a cable TV box isn't working or why the Internet connection is down ? and fix the problem in minutes. The program has been downloaded more than 2 million times, Verizon says.
And then there are the meter readers like PG&E's Liscano. Their future looks grim.
Southern California Edison finished its digital meter installation program late last year. All but 20,000 of its 5.3 million customers have their power usage beamed directly to the utility.
Nearly all of the 972 meter readers in Southern California Edison's territory accepted retirement packages or were transferred within the company, says Pat Lavin of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. But 92 workers are being laid off this month.
"Trying to keep it from happening would have been like the Teamsters in the early 1900s trying to stop the combustion engine," Lavin says. "You can't stand in the way of technology."
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NEXT: Will smart machines create a world without work?
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Bernard Condon and Jonathan Fahey reported from New York. AP Business Writers Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington, Youkyung Lee in Seoul, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo contributed to this report. You can reach the writers on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BernardFCondon and www.twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP. Join in a Twitter chat about this story on Thursday, Jan. 24, at noon E.S.T. using the hashtag (hash)TheGreatReset.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Second in a three-part series on the loss of middle-class jobs in the wake of the Great Recession, and the role of technology.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/practically-human-smart-machines-job-052642993--finance.html
Friday, 18 January 2013
Governor Bentley establishes College & Career Ready Task Force
Governor Robert Bentley on Tuesday announced a statewide effort that will help students better prepare for successful careers.
The Governor?s College & Career Ready Task Force will bring together members of the education community and the business community in a united effort to strengthen the preparation of students for the workforce.? Governor Bentley is asking business leaders to partner with educators and routinely discuss the types of skills that are needed in today?s workplace.? Educators can then use that feedback, coupled with their own expertise, to develop new programs that will train students in the skills that are sought by employers.
?The result is that more students will be college and career ready, and more people will be able to find a good, well-paying job,? Governor Bentley said.? ?As we continue to strengthen our workforce, that will also help us attract more new companies and more new jobs for the people of Alabama.?
Representatives of K-12 schools, two-year colleges, four-year colleges and the business community will work together on the task force, helping the state offer a more coordinated approach to workforce development.? As part of the task force, businesses can also be encouraged to invest in career training initiatives.
?By coordinating our workforce development efforts, we can give more students a seamless transition from the classroom to the workplace,? Governor Bentley added.? ?The work of the task force can also help more students understand the variety of good careers that are available.? A lot of good career training is already taking place at various schools.? The goal of this task force is to make sure our efforts are reaching more students across Alabama.?
?Governor Bentley and I are convinced that the path to a brighter and more productive Alabama rests in the ability to educate and train our existing and future workforce,? State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tommy Bice said.? ?The formation of the College and Career Ready Task Force is another step in the direction of making sure Alabama students have the knowledge and skills necessary to move seamlessly from high school to college and/or the workforce.? This team of educators and business professionals has been assembled to make sure we are clearly articulating exactly what is expected from teachers, administrators, parents, students and the business community to make sure Alabama students not only graduate from high school, but do so with the ability to successfully transition into college or the workforce without mandatory remediation ? a foundational component of the State Board of Education?s PLAN 2020.?
?The Governor?s College and Career Ready Task Force is another tool that the State of Alabama will have under its belt to ensure that we are preparing our students and citizens for the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow,? Alabama Community College System Chancellor Dr. Mark Heinrich said. ?In our roles as educators and business and industry leaders, tasked with preparing the people of this state to go out and be successful in the workforce, it is crucial that the right people are at the table having the right conversation.?
Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, House Speaker Mike Hubbard, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh and Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield will serve as co-chairs of the task force.
Secretary Canfield said the work of the task force will compliment Accelerate Alabama ? the state?s long-term, strategic economic development plan.
?One of the goals of the Accelerate Alabama partnership is to close the gap between the skills employees have and what employers need.? This task force will tighten our focus on this goal and make it reality,? Secretary Canfield said.? ?Our economic development team, K-12, postsecondary and industry working together will forge a partnership that ensures that every child in Alabama has the opportunity to learn the skills needed in today?s work environment.?
The task force is not a new governance structure or decision-making authority.? Rather, it is a gathering of business and education professionals who will work to make practical recommendations on ways to strengthen workforce development.
Tuesday?s announcement was made at the Shelby County School of Technology, which already offers students a variety of Career Technical Academies.? The academies are a strong example of how the education and business communities can work together to produce a more highly-skilled workforce.? The College & Career Ready Task Force will encourage similar partnerships in additional schools throughout Alabama.
?The key to economic strength in Alabama is a well-educated, well-trained and prepared workforce, and our school district is working very hard to meet this vital goal,? Shelby County Superintendent Randy Fuller said.? ?Many of the goals and objectives for the Governor?s new task force are being successfully modeled here in Shelby County, including a strong focus on workforce development and partnerships with business and industry.? We also have a collaborative effort between the school district, Jefferson State Community College and the University of Montevallo through our very successful Vertical Teaming Initiative.?
The first meeting of the Governor?s College & Career Ready Task Force is expected to take place within the next month.
Source:? Press Office for Governor Robert Bentley
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Nike Testing Newer, Thinner FuelBand
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/I4ZRDRxgGiQ/nike-testing-newer-thinner-fuelband-on-campus
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Sunday, 13 January 2013
Watch This Kid Can Drive Heavy Machinery Like a Total Pro
Stocks hold week?s gains; oil, gold cut into weekly rise
U.S. stocks took a day to step back, with buzz mostly surrounding the prior week?s massive inflows of money into funds and exchange-traded funds. Bonds also saw heavy funds, so investors were basically getting off the sidelines as the year starts.
The dollar lost ground against the euro while gold and oil futures fell, cutting in the week?s gains.
The S&P 500 Index /quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX ended little changed at 1,472.
For the week, the broad stock index rose 0.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449 INDU added 17 points, or 0.1%, to 13,488.
Treasury prices rose Friday, as traders also stepped back and remembered their long-term worries about steps Washington still needs to take and found renewed confidence in the Federal Reserve?s buying.
Yields on 10-year notes /quotes/zigman/4868283/delayed 10_YEAR , which move inversely to prices, fell 4 basis points to 1.86%, coming off an eight-month high posted a week ago.
The dollar lost ground against the euro? /quotes/zigman/4867933/sampled EURUSD on hopes of a less dark outlook for the region, while continuing its stunning gains against the yen ? up 16% against Japan?s currency in the last 12 months.
The dollar index /quotes/zigman/1652083 DXY , a measure of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 79.570 from 79.793 Thursday.
Gold futures fell Friday, but posted a gain on the week as the market looked to recent economic data from China for hints on demand for the metal. February gold? /quotes/zigman/4331913 GCG3 settled at $1,660.60, down $17.40, or 1%, for the day.
Crude for February delivery? /quotes/zigman/2291766 CLG3 fell 26 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $93.56 a barrel. That left oil up on the week marginally from $93.0 a barrel.
? Deborah Levine
Follow The Tell blog on Twitter @thetellblog
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Saturday, 12 January 2013
MilDef Introduces a new Tablet Computer fro Military Applications
DT6 Panther Tablet Computer
MilDef has released a new militarized tablet computer ? the Panther?DT6. This?rugged device is?designed for a wide range of military and field applications. It?features 8.9? WSVGA LCD touchscreen with anti-glare and anti-reflective coating, making it?easier use in all environments. This tablet is fitted with a small keyboard which enables typing of shorter messages or entering encryption keys without the need of an external keyboard.?Its has a hard drive that can be easily removed as the situation in the field develops. With a wide array of accessories, port and communication options, customizable to meet special requirements. The standard unit is equipped with Bluetooth, USB, Serial Port and Ethernet, with further options including GPS, WLAN and WWAN connectivity.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Microsoft Surface Pro hands-on
Even though Microsoft doesn't have a booth at CES this year, that doesn't mean it skipped Vegas altogether. Panos Panay, the general manager for Surface products, is in town, holding meetings with a few members of the media, us included. And he brought some toys with him. Specifically, the forthcoming Surface Pro along with the pressure-sensitive pen that goes with it. We only had a few minutes of hands-on time and in any case, we plan on going into much more detail when we eventually write our review. For now, though, we've got a first look waiting for you past the break. Join us.
Continue reading Microsoft Surface Pro hands-on
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/SkmGERgqXeg/
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Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Top Story Trends for 2013 ? Communiqu? PR Blog
01.07.2013 | Renee Gastineau
?I don?t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.? ? Dick Clark
Predicting the news is like predicting the weather. It you don?t like what you see, wait a moment and it will change. That said, a large part of public relations strategy is researching what editors and reporters will focus on in the coming months and developing stories that support their editorial themes. At Communiqu? PR we?ve been researching story trends, gathering business predictions and looking at editorial calendars to prepare for the 2013 news cycles. Here?s a round-up of trending news stories we, and other industry experts, expect to see as we begin 2013:
- SaaS and IT security will continue to be strong themes in technology business stories in the upcoming year, according to Thomson Reuters.? The company analyzed more than 300,000 media editorial calendars in their MyEdCals database and found that editors at business magazines will be publishing articles that help businesses become more efficient while reducing costs in the coming year. They also predict that editors will dedicate a large amount of space to stories about innovative tools in healthcare technology and educational technology in 2013.
- The workspace of the future is an interesting trend that will gain momentum in the coming year as well. This encompassing topic asks questions like ?What will our offices look like in the future,? or ?Will we have an office at all?? Many of these articles will be tied to mobile and cloud computing, as well as collaboration tools which enhance our ability to work from home, coffee shops, and kids? soccer games. Both business-to-business and consumer-focused companies that demonstrate innovation and productivity tools to keep the workforce engaged while away from a traditional office space will have a strong voice this year.
- Data, data, everywhere. In 2012 we spent a lot of time producing it, gathering it and analyzing it. Now what will we do with it? In 2013 look for stories about how the ability to capture and analyze data flows are improving lives by improving health care, warning about destructive weather disasters and linking people together to build stronger communities.
- In terms of general news, the economy, Medicare reform, environment and climate change, immigration, globalization, and veteran?s issues will continue to dominate political coverage.? In fact, the Poynter Institute?s News University is highlighting courses on these topics to train journalists and provide background and tips for covering these issues.
Of course, this is far from a comprehensive list. What are your predictions for the business news trends in 2013? Please let us know and we may feature them in a future blog.
Sources:
Trends 2013: The Biggest Trends in Business for 2013, Entrepreneur Magazine, Dec. 3, 2012
Report Tags Top Consumer Trends for 2013, CNET, Dec. 13, 2012
20 Tech Trends That Will Define 2013, Fast Company, Dec. 20, 2012
2013 Editorial Calendar Trends in Technology, Healthcare and Education, My Media Info Blog, Dec. 7, 2012
Tags: 2013 predictions, big data, media trends, workplace of the future
Source: http://www.communiquepr.com/blog/?p=4888
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Monday, 7 January 2013
Starbucks enters entrenched Vietnam coffee market
In this photo taken Jan. 5, 2013, customers drink coffee on Trieu Viet Vuong Street in Hanoi, Vietnam. Starbucks announced Thursday Jan. 3, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP Photo /Mike Ives)
In this photo taken Jan. 5, 2013, customers drink coffee on Trieu Viet Vuong Street in Hanoi, Vietnam. Starbucks announced Thursday Jan. 3, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP Photo /Mike Ives)
A customer drinks coffee at Cafe Tho in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Starbucks announced Thursday, Jan. 3, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP photo /Mike Ives)
In this photo taken Jan. 5, 2013, customers drink coffee on Trieu Viet Vuong Street in Hanoi, Vietnam. Starbucks announced Thursday, Jan. 3, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP Photo/Mike Ives)
In this photo taken Jan. 4, 2013, coffee is served at Cafe Tit Chip in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam. Starbucks announced Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP Photo/Mike Ives)
In this photo taken Jan. 5, 2013, customers drink coffee at Cafe Tho in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam. Starbucks announced Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, it would enter Vietnam in early February with a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. But the Seattle-based company faces a unique market in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme; two homegrown chains have established presences; and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops. (AP Photo/Mike Ives)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Nghiem Ngoc Thuy has been slinging coffees to thirsty Vietnamese for 20 years in her colonial-style villa with peeling shutters, and she and her customers aren't too worried that the imminent arrival of U.S. giant Starbucks will alter their time-tested coffee traditions.
Starbucks announced Thursday that it will open its first cafe in Vietnam early next month in Ho Chi Minh City as part of its strategy to expand across Asia, and plans to add more shops throughout the country.
But compared with other Asian markets Starbucks has recently entered, the Seattle-based company faces a unique scenario in Vietnam, where French-inspired coffee culture reigns supreme, two homegrown chains have established presences and family-run sidewalk cafes are as ubiquitous as noodle shops.
"Our prices are affordable for average Vietnamese," Thuy said, pausing for just a moment during an afternoon rush at her family-run cafe in Hanoi, the capital. "Expensive coffee is just for the children of government officials, or people who have lots of money."
Vietnamese coffee, made from ballsy robusta beans, packs a stronger caffeine wallop than European-style espresso, which is made from effete arabica. It has a slightly bitter taste that usually is offset by sweetened, condensed milk known to rattle tourists' eyeballs.
Dang Le Nguyen Vu, whose Trung Nguyen Group owns 55 cafes in Vietnam, said he welcomes Starbucks and doesn't view the American newcomer as a threat.
"I could imagine Starbucks opening up to a hundred cafes at most in Vietnam in the next 10 years," Vu said. "But will people in a country with such a low GDP per capita, and a different taste in coffee, really accept Starbucks?"
Unlike China, where tea is the caffeinated drink of choice, Vietnam inherited a coffee culture from French colonizers in the 19th century. Vietnam also is the world's second-largest exporter of coffee behind Brazil. According to the government, it produced 1.73 million tons of coffee last year, for an export value of $3.7 billion.
Starbucks already operates more than 3,300 stores across 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and its entry into Vietnam marks the latest salvo in a campaign to woo Asia's emerging middle classes despite a stagnating U.S. economy.
Jinlong Wang, president of Starbucks Asia-Pacific, said the company plans to expand across Vietnam in a way that celebrates the country's "coffee culture and heritage."
"We look forward to growing with Vietnam's already vibrant coffee industry, and making a positive impact in the communities where we operate," he said in comments emailed to The Associated Press.
Vietnam's economy has slowed recently in part because of a problematic banking sector, but Starbucks' upmarket brand will appeal to the growing Vietnamese middle class, said Anthony Emms, managing partner at Stanton Emms Strategy Consultants in Singapore, which advises international food and beverage companies on Asian markets.
"I don't believe there is a massive barrier to Starbucks in Vietnam," he said by telephone. "Starbucks is not really a coffee; it's a food-service concept."
More than 60 percent of Vietnam's population was born after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, and there is a strong demand among youth in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for branded clothing and accessories, no matter that the labels often are fakes, and average annual income is only about $1,500.
Other international food chains have opened stores in Vietnam in recent years, including the Australian coffee chain Gloria Jean's Coffees International, the California-based Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and the American fast-food chains KFC and Burger King. And Nestle instant coffee ? engineered to suit the Vietnamese palette ? is sold widely in Vietnamese supermarkets.
But Starbucks would risk alienating some of its potential clients if it didn't include Vietnamese drip coffee on its menus here, Emms said. "Say you get a grandfather coming in with a younger relative ? he might not want to drink a cafe macchiato or latte," he said.
Starbucks' announcement that it is moving into Vietnam has been received without much fanfare in local blogs and state-controlled media, although some speculate about how the company will compete with Trung Nguyen Coffee and Highlands Coffee, a homegrown brand that credits Starbucks as an inspiration.
Nghiem Ngoc Thuy, meanwhile, is still swooping across the worn tiled floors of her cafe, setting down steaming coffees just as fresh customers arrive to order more.
15,000 dong (75 cents) per cup, she said on a recent weekday afternoon, as cigarette smoke curled toward the ceiling. 1,000 extra for condensed milk.
Thuy's family has been in business since the late 1980s, and watched as this leafy neighborhood ? called "cafe street" by some locals ? has welcomed luxury cars, sushi restaurants and upscale clothing boutiques.
A regular customer, electronics salesman Do Thanh Tung, said he is eager to see if Starbucks coffee really is different from the Vietnamese blends he has been drinking since he was 10 years old.
"Vietnamese young people will welcome Starbucks, once they get used to it," Tung, now 30, said as he hunched over a silver laptop.
But he added that he doesn't expect to become a regular Starbucks patron because he drinks five or six cups of coffee a day, and a latte habit would get expensive.
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Indian rape victim's father says he wants her named
LONDON (Reuters) - The father of an Indian woman whose brutal rape and torture provoked international outrage said in an interview published on Sunday that he wanted her name to be made public so she could be an inspiration to other victims of sexual assault.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on December 28 in a Singapore hospital, two weeks after a gang rape on a bus in New Delhi that ignited street protests across India and prompted promises from the government for tougher punishments for offenders.
"We want the world to know her real name," the woman's father told Britain's Sunday People newspaper.
"My daughter didn't do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself," he added.
"I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter."
The paper named the father and his daughter, saying that the father had given his permission, but added that it would not publish a photo of her at the family's request.
The father had already called for new legislation on sex crimes to be named in honor of his daughter.
Reuters has opted not to identify the victim because Indian authorities have banned the media from doing so.
Five men have been charged with her gang rape and murder and will appear in a New Delhi court on Monday.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-rape-victims-father-says-wants-her-named-003200102.html
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Adware and Spyware Blockers | Computers and Technology
The most important things you can do for your computer right now is to install adware and spyware blockers. Everyone is aware of computer viruses and run an anti-virus program to guard your computer against them.
But only a fraction of computer users are running any kind of adware and spyware blockers software. It is believed that 90% of today?s PCs are infected with some form of adware and spyware. Most of the time you are not aware that your computer is even infected.
Adware and Spyware are less noticeable than computer viruses but can be much greater danger to your computer. So what is the danger posed without removing spyware from computers and how do you block spyware and adware on your PC?
If your computer becomes infected, the results range from minor nuisances such as pop up ads to more serious threats including identity theft. Even your passwords and credit card numbers could end up in hacker?s hands and you wouldn?t know it happened until the damage was done.
Spyware and adware files hide in your computer and are loaded down as you browse the Internet. Common culprits include pop up ads, shareware, freeware and instant messaging. However, there are less common ways to become
infected.
Some computers contain adware and shareware files even before you purchase them. Because of this fighting spyware and adware and removing spyware from computers is becoming even harder today.
Spyware and Adware has become such an epidemic that it is the latest target of NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. ?Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance,? Spitzer said in the statement. ?These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers? efforts to remove them from their computers. These issues can serve to be a hindrance to the growth of e-commerce.?
There are many programs that you can download to block adware and spyware from infecting your computer. Protect your privacy, and get the right Internet privacy tools installed on your computer immediately. You need to install adware and spyware blockers now so you can enjoy the Internet without the hidden dangers.
Copyright ? 2005 Spyware Information.com All Rights Reserved.
This article is provided by http://www.spyware-information.com where you will find free spyware cleaners, downloads, removal software, valuable tips and updated articles about adware and spyware that show you how protect yourself from identity theft. For other informative spyware and identity protection articles go to http://spyware-information.com/articles_1.html
Source: http://www.mwstm.com/2013/01/05/Adware-and-Spyware-Blockers/
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