Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror

+ - Google Patents Image-Capturing Walking Sticks 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "GeekWire reports that Google has patented an image-capturing walking stick, which can boldly go where no Google Street View Car can. The walking stick has embedded cameras and location sensors, and a switch at the bottom that causes the device to snap pictures whenever the stick hits the ground. The patent also covers using canes and crutches in a similar fashion."

+ - UnGrounded: Silicon Valley Snake Oil on a Plane

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Bill Gates already called dibbs on polio, so British Airways had to settle for tackling the 'global misalignment of talent' problem, putting '100 of the most forward-thinking founders, CEOs, venture capitalists, and Silicon Valley game-changers' on a flight from San Francisco to London to 'innovate and collaborate to find an effective solution to this growing global challenge.' UnGroundedThinking.com showcases the winning concepts, which include Advisher (an online community to help foster women in STEM), INIT ('nutritional labels' to disclose products' 'STEM ingredients'), DGTL (rewards young women with fashionable clothes for completing coding challenges), Beacons in a Backpack (solar powered backpacks pre-loaded with videos, multimedia content, and game-powered educational tools that also serve as mobile hotspots for rural/remote areas), Tech21 (STEM education program aimed at 21-years-and-older post-college grads in the workforce), Certify.me (allows STEM talent from across the globe to audition for potential employers via standardized-quality assessments), and STEAM Truck (a mobile dance lab where STEM art installations teach kids that science is fun and valuable). 'This has the feel of Southby [SXSW],' gushed a Google Ventures general partner. "It's a serendipitous occasion. It's about time we presented engineers to kids as role models — not just firefighters, cops, doctors, detectives. Who knows? Maybe The Internship changes that.'"

+ - Tech Pushes to Keep Its Spoils in Immigration Bill

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Keen to hold on to its winnings in a landmark Senate immigration bill, the NY Times reports that the tech industry last week put on what one lobbyist called "a full court press" on Capitol Hill, dispatching execs and entrepreneurs to buttonhole lawmakers and rallying people in the industry to dispatch e-mails, telephone calls and Twitter messages to Congress (a "day of action" is scheduled for June 18). 'The biggest push is yet to come,' according to the Times. 'All eyes are on what the industry’s newest, most well-financed lobby, Fwd.us [code.org's evil twin?], backed by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, will do next.'"

+ - Ortiz-Heymann: The Prior Generation

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Two decades before the White House was petitioned to remove U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and her Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann from their jobs for the allegedly overzealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the Boston Globe reported on allegations of 'sometimes heavy-handed tactics and inaccuracies' of an NFL investigation into sexual harassment charges made by a sportswriter against the New England Patriots that was led by Watergate prosecutor Philip Heymann (Stephen's father) and included Ortiz. 'From the day Philip Heymann and his colleagues walked into Foxboro Stadium to investigate Lisa Olson's charges of sexual harassment,' the Globe reported, 'the New England Patriots were on the defensive, and apparently, they stayed there to the end. One day after conducting a preliminary six-hour interview with Olson, Heymann introduced each investigator to the Patriots and outlined their backgrounds at a meeting he later called benign. Yet he also said two weeks ago, "They were frightened from the beginning by the way I introduced people. I said that Jerry O'Sullivan had been US Attorney. I said Jim Ring had been FBI special agent in charge of organized crime."' Regarding Ortiz, the Globe reported, 'Heymann investigator Carmen Ortiz wrote in a memo of her Oct. 18, 1990, interview with [Lisa Olson] that she took no notes and did not tape-record the conversation. Yet she used direct quotes when writing up her 15-page report on the session. When asked to explain, she referred the Globe to Heymann.' Aside from transcripts of two interviews (the tapes of which were destroyed), the Globe reported the NFL kept no notes on its interviews with 89 other people. '"It was contemplated that there would be a motion such as this [a lawsuit by Olson] and we did not want to create that type of document," an NFL attorney explained. According to the Globe, an attorney representing the Patriots said that 'one reason the tapes were destroyed may be that the NFL did not want anyone to hear raised voices or pounding of tables. He said some of those interviewed were not allowed to leave the room and had their livelihoods threatened if they did not cooperate.' Curiously, the elder Heymann featured prominently in a recently-upheld DOJ motion to keep the names of key people involved in the Aaron Swartz case secret — a postcard threat received by Philip Heymann was cited by Ortiz's office as evidence of why such secrecy was necessary."

+ - Before Sacking Aaron Swartz, Carmen Ortiz Tackled the NFL

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "While awaiting White House responses to petitions to remove U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Asst. U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann from their offices for the allegedly overzealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz, let's take a look at an another Ortiz-Heymann collaboration from more than two decades earlier. 'In 1991,' notes Ortiz's official DOJ bio, 'on behalf of the National Football League, Ms. Ortiz investigated allegations of sexual harassment made by a sportswriter against the New England Patriots.' Sounds impressive, although Boston Globe reports from the time (full versions paywalled) noted concerns with how the NFL's investigation team — led by Watergate prosecutor Philip Heymann (father of Stephen) — handled the rushed probe of the Lisa Olson incident. 'From the day Philip Heymann and his colleagues walked into Foxboro Stadium to investigate Lisa Olson's charges of sexual harassment,' the Globe reported, 'the New England Patriots were on the defensive, and apparently, they stayed there to the end. One day after conducting a preliminary six-hour interview with Olson, Heymann introduced each investigator to the Patriots and outlined their backgrounds at a meeting he later called benign. Yet he also said two weeks ago, "They were frightened from the beginning by the way I introduced people. I said that Jerry O'Sullivan had been US Attorney ... I said Jim Ring had been FBI special agent in charge of organized crime."' Regarding Ortiz, the Globe reported, 'Heymann investigator Carmen Ortiz wrote in a memo of her Oct. 18, 1990, interview with [Lisa Olson] that she took no notes and did not tape-record the conversation. Yet she used direct quotes when writing up her 15-page report on the session. When asked to explain, she referred the Globe to Heymann.' Philip Heymann and Ortiz had also worked together on an admittedly disappointing Guatemalan criminal justice reform project (final report, pdf). Recently, the elder Heymann featured prominently in a since-upheld DOJ motion (pdf) to keep the names of key people involved in the Swartz case secret; a postcard Philip Heymann received was cited by Ortiz's office as an example of why such secrecy was necessary."

+ - Would Oprah Approve of Google's Waze Acquisition?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Googlers are no stranger to Google, so before the search giant shelled out a reported $1.3 billion to snatch Waze from the likes of Facebook and Apple, Google was presumably aware of the distracted-driving rap Waze enjoys among some ('using Waze seems as distracting as texting while driving'), even if Waze asserted that no humans were harmed in the making and use of its software. So, how consistent is Google's acquisition of a social GPS maps & traffic app with the no-distracted-driving initiative Google launched with Oprah, not to mention its own calls for autonomous car legislation to help eliminate the threat posed by distracted smartphone-wielding drivers?"

+ - Silly Rabbit, Kickstarter is for Tech Billionaires! 3

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "A few weeks ago, the NY Times examined whether it was ethical for actor Zach Braff to use Kickstarter to ask the public to finance his movie. But that's nothing compared to the chutzpah of billionaire-backed Planetary Ventures, which GeekWire notes is making a plea for $2M in Kickstarter funds for an ARKYD 'public' space telescope (Kickstarter pitch). 'Alien planets are out there and Planetary Resources needs your help to find them,' the company explained as it announced its crowdfunding goal. Hey, you didn't expect Planetary Ventures investors like Larry Page (net worth $23 B), Eric Schmidt ($8.2 B), Ross Perot Jr. ($1.4 B), K. Ram Shriram ($1.65 B), and Charles Simonyi ($1 B) to foot the bill, did you? Isn't it enough that they've agreed to allow $10,000+ Kickstarter donors to mingle with them at two future events? So, is this another example of what Dylan Gadino calls Kickstarter abuse?"

+ - NSA Scandal: Green Dam 2.0? 4

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "In 2009, The Information Technology Industry Council, whose members included HP, Dell and Microsoft, was among 22 industry groups in North America, Europe and Japan that signed a letter urging the Chinese government to review its proposed Green Dam web-filtering software program. Separately, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a joint letter to Chinese officials that the Green Dam mandate posed a "possible barrier to trade" that may violate World Trade Organization rules. Four years later, Popular Mechanics' Glenn Derene is warning that the NSA Prism Program could kill U.S. tech companies. 'Companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google are major exporters of information services,' explains Derene, 'through products such as Gmail, iCloud, Exchange, and Azure. Hundreds of millions of people use these services worldwide, and it has just been revealed to everybody outside the U.S. that our government reserves the right to look into their communications whenever it wants.' But, as in Green Dam, business interests may ultimately trump government interests. Derene concludes, 'I expect the Prism program to fall apart on its own, not because of public outcry but because the companies that participated will now see it as a toxic association that could threaten their status in fast-growing foreign markets. If U.S. intelligence agencies try to compel participation through the courts, I expect companies such as Apple and Google to start putting up a legal fight—not just because Prism is bad public relations, because it's bad for business.'"

+ - MIT President Tells Grads to 'Hack the World'

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "On Friday, MIT President L. Rafael Reif exhorted grads to 'hack the world until you make the world a little more like MIT'. A rather ironic choice of words, since 'hack the world' is precisely what others said Aaron Swartz was trying to do in his fateful run-in with MIT. President Reif presumably received an 'Incomplete' this semester for the promised time-is-of-the-essence review of MIT's involvement in the events that preceded Swartz's suicide last January. By the way, it wasn't so long ago that 2013 commencement speaker Drew Houston and Aaron Swartz were both welcome speakers at MIT."

Comment: MUD, PLATO and the dawn of MMORPGs (Score 4, Informative) 99

by theodp (#43947205) Attached to: Gaming Roots: MUD and the Birth of MMOs

MUD, PLATO and the dawn of MMORPGs: "Richard Bartle has been answering a reader's suggestion that MUD was not, in fact, the first online RPG and that the original multi-user games actually ran on the University of Illinois' PLATO system - generally regarded as the birthplace of the 'online community' concept."

+ - Google Loves "The Internship"; Critics Not So Much

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "It was the best of movies; it was the worst of movies. GeekWire reports that 'The Internship' — the new comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two 40-something guys who get internships at Google — is getting high praise from Googlers but low marks from movie critics. Google CEO Larry Page called the movie "a lot of fun" in his Google+ post, while fellow Google exec Vic Gundotra gushed, "I laughed a lot while watching this movie!" After screening a sneak preview with Google companions, Wired's Steven Levy wrote, "From Google's "point of view, the movie could not possibly be better." USA Today's take, on the other hand, is that "Google has never looked lamer thanks to 'The Internship'." And the NY Daily News calls the movie "an unfunny valentine to Google." But perhaps the unkindest cut of all comes from the NY Post, who suggests that "maybe 'The Internship' was secretly funded by Bing." Ouch."

+ - Microsoft Wants Students to 'Beg for It' [Win8 PCs]

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Q. What do Chris Brown and Steve Ballmer have in common? A. They both want you to Beg for It ("I'll give you what you need. Only if you say please. I'm a make you beg for it. Beg for it."). GeekWire reports that Microsoft is touting its new Chip In program, a crowdfunding platform that allows students to 'beg' for select Windows 8 PCs and tablets that they can't afford on their own. Blair Hanley Frank explains, "Students go to the Chip In website and choose one of the 20 computers and tablets that have been pre-selected by Microsoft. Microsoft chips in 10% of the price right off the bat, and then students are given a link to a “giving page” to send out to anyone they think might give them money. Once their computer is fully funded, Microsoft ships it to them." Hey, what could go wrong?"

+ - Too Many Smart People Chasing Too Many Dumb Ideas 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "In The Unexotic Underclass, C.Z. Nnaemeka argues that too many smart people are chasing too many dumb ideas. "What is shameful," writes Nnaemeka, "is that in a country with so many problems, with such a heaving underclass, we find the so-called 'best and brightest,' the 20-and 30-somethings who emerge from the top American graduate and undergraduate programs, abandoning their former hangout, Wall Street, to pile into anti-problem entrepreneurship." Nnaemeka adds, "It just looks like we’ve shifted the malpractice from feeding the money machine to making inane, self-centric apps. Worse, is that the power players, institutional and individual — the highflying VCs, the entrepreneurship incubators, the top-ranked MBA programs, the accelerators, the universities, the business plan competitions have been complicit in this nonsense." And while it may not get you invited to the White House, Nnaemeka advises entrepreneurs looking for ideas to "consider looking beyond the city-centric, navel-gazing, youth-obsessed mainstream" and instead focus on some groups that no one else is helping."

... when fits of creativity run strong, more than one programmer or writer has been known to abandon the desktop for the more spacious floor. -- Fred Brooks

Close