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Sunday, April 10, 2011

San Francisco hopes tech success isn't Bubble 2.0 (AP) : Technet

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San Francisco hopes tech success isn't Bubble 2.0 (AP) : Technet

San Francisco hopes tech success isn't Bubble 2.0 (AP)

Posted: 09 Apr 2011 02:41 PM PDT

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press – Sat Apr 9, 5:41 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – A certain feeling is back in San Francisco. Murmurings of stock market riches. Twenty-something entrepreneurs as celebrities. Lamborghinis parked next to taco trucks.

Driven by social media and mobile startups, the money is flowing in the city's tech industry again, a decade after the dot-com boom minted overnight millionaires and its crash fueled a local recession worse than anything San Francisco has seen in the latest downturn.

A recent tax break for Twitter and other proposals show city officials are hopeful that this latest tech industry prosperity does not portend another bubble and another bust.

"It seems to be the industry that's leading us out of the recession at the moment," said Ted Egan, the city's chief economist. Even so, he said, "it's certainly not yet another dot-com boom."

At present, the signs do not point clearly to the same excess of optimism that led to the high perch from which the city had so far to fall. But some of the numbers swirling around the tech startup scene could stir a sense of deja vu.

Along with Twitter, the San Francisco startup causing the most excitement is Zynga, maker of popular Facebook games like "FarmVille" and "CityVille." Estimates based on recent investments put the valuations of both companies at $7 billion or more.

Yet unlike the first dot-com era, when companies with neither customers nor a clear way to make money raised millions in public stock offerings, both Twitter and Zynga have become major participants in the online economy.

While Twitter is still tweaking its business model and keeps its revenue figures closely held, the company happily claims 175 million users on its way to becoming a global phenomenon.

Zynga's popularity and approach to money-making are even clearer: It sells virtual goods that players use in the company's online games. Last year, the company made about $400 million doing just that, according to published reports.

"It seems like they're doing things that people want rather than what they think they want," said market researcher Colin Yasukochi of today's startups versus those a decade ago.

In a study for his employer, commercial real estate firm Jones Lange LaSalle, Yasukochi found that the number of tech jobs in San Francisco is nearing the peak set in 2000, the height of the dot-com boom.

Yet the 32,000 tech workers today are occupying about half the commercial real estate space as their 34,000 counterparts before the crash — a possible sign that the estimated 500 tech companies in the city are taking a more conservative approach.

During the first dot-com boom, technology companies were committing to large spaces with the intent of filling them with employees well ahead of their needs, Yasukochi said.

"Obviously that growth never materialized," he said. "That had dire consequences."

Those consequences included an office vacancy rate that shot from less than 5 percent to 25 percent in two years.

Accompanied by the crushing blow of the 9/11 attacks on the city's tourism economy and housing prices that kept rising despite major job losses, the dot-com crash hit San Francisco harder overall than the recent recession, Egan said.

As a result, San Franciscans have reason to fear the bursting of another bubble even as they enjoy the fruits of the tech industry's current good fortune.

The hope is that companies, investors and the city itself have learned enough from past mistakes to avoid irrational exuberance.

The possible signs of a different attitude include a much lower rate of venture capital investment. The greater Silicon Valley saw more than $8.5 billion poured into the software industry during the year 2000 alone, according to Thomson Reuters data. In 2010, the amount was less than $2 billion. Startups are still raising money, but running lean has become fashionable.

Last year, Kevin Systrom, 27, co-founded a company that follows the typical lean San Francisco startup model, though with atypical success. The mobile photo sharing service Instagram launched in October. Since then, he says the service has grown to about 3 million registered users, or an average of a half-million new users each month.

Right now the company has four workers — as Systrom puts it, one non-technical person and one engineer for every million users. Despite raising $7 million from investors, he says the company has no plans to go on a hiring spree or seek to cash in on a quick public stock offering, the stereotypical scenario during the first Internet boom.

"It's about going after the best people in the world who want to build a world-class company," Systrom said. "We are pretty sold at staying lean for quite a while."

Instagram got its start at Dogpatch Labs, a San Francisco workspace where as many as 25 small startups at a time occupy desks for a few months while they try to get consumers and investors interested in their ideas.

Ryan Spoon, 30, oversees Dogpatch Labs for Polaris Venture Partners, a venture capital investment firm. During the first dot-com wave, he founded a company in his dorm room at Duke University to connect high school athletes with college coaches. The website, berecruited.com, is still around today, unlike many others that started at the time.

Spoon says that a big difference between those early days and now is the speed with which social networks can give startups feedback on whether they have a good idea or not. Investors see that feedback, too, meaning they'll have a better sense before they pour money into a company whether it has a chance.

"It's easier faster and cheaper to start and pursue an idea than it's ever been," Spoon said. "It's a fun time."

Kremlin rejects FSB proposal to ban Skype, Gmail (AP)

Posted: 09 Apr 2011 03:04 AM PDT

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press – Sat Apr 9, 6:04 am ET

MOSCOW – A Kremlin official has rejected a proposal from within Russia's main domestic security agency to ban Skype, Gmail and Hotmail as a major threat to national security.

A senior FSB official made the proposal Friday, according to Russian news agencies. It came after cyber attacks on Russia's most popular blogging site and the website of a popular independent newspaper this week.

While a Kremlin official condemned the cyber attacks on condition of anonymity Saturday and dismissed the proposal to ban foreign Internet services, commentators saw them as an attempt by authorities to tighten controls on communications before parliamentary elections in December and a presidential vote next March.

Steve Jobs Official Biography Arrives in Early 2012 (Mashable)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 03:57 PM PDT

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Sun Apr 10, 6:57 pm ET

It's official: the first official biography of Steve Jobs will be making its debut sometime in early 2012.

The book, iSteve: The Book of Jobs, is being penned by Walter Isaacson, famed biographer and the former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time. While very little is known about the contents of the book, Isaacson did manage to obtain unprecedented access to Apple, Steve Jobs and even Jobs' family. Simon & Schuster will publish and distribute the book.

This will be Isaacson's fourth biography, following Kissinger: A Biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Einstein: His Life and Universe.

"This is the perfect match of subject and author, and it is certain to be a landmark book about one of the world's greatest innovators. Just as he did with Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson is telling a unique story of revolutionary genius," Simon & Schuster Publisher Jonathan Karp said in a statement.

Apple's CEO is famously secretive about his personal life. Some of the details of his past have been unraveled in unauthorized biographies such as iCon: Steve Jobs and The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, but none of them paint a complete picture. Isaacson's book should hopefully provide some concrete answers to unresolved questions about Jobs's life, along with some new insights into how Jobs runs the world's most valuable technology company.

Will you read the book? What do you hope his authorized biography reveals? Let us know in the comments.

via the Associated Press

'Do Not Track': The Great Debate (PC World)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 06:00 PM PDT

Patrick Miller and Tom Spring Patrick Miller And Tom Spring – Sun Apr 10, 9:00 pm ET

Do Not Track bill, which would let people opt out of Internet advertisers' efforts to track their online activities for better-targeted advertising. On one hand, privacy advocates continually decry the ever-diminishing loss of privacy on the Web. On the other hand, advertisers and trade groups claim that the restrictions would make it harder for online publishers to make money on the Internet--which means that it would be harder for companies to offer free content (such as this article) or free Web apps and services.

(Be sure to continue to the next page where Tom Spring argues why 'Do Not Track' is a big deal .)

Patrick Miller: 'Do Not Track' Is No Big Deal

It's a dilemma, certainly, but as a card-carrying member of the Internet and a responsible tech journalist, my allegiance lies firmly with Free.

To be sure, the Internet has plenty of things that you should be scared of--child predators, identity theft, and crown princes from Nigeria looking for help moving money out of their country all rank pretty high on the list. Tracked and targeted advertising, however, isn't on my list, for three main reasons.

1. This is not the privacy you're looking for: I'm a fan of privacy, generally speaking. I'm big on using my various Facebook privacy settings and ritually untagging pictures after a debauchery-filled evening. I'm so familiar with Google Chrome's Incognito Mode that I don't even know where to find it in the menus because I just use Ctrl-Shift-N. But when it comes to advertisement tracking, I'm not concerned in the least--because that's not the kind of privacy I'm worried about.

The privacy I protect on the Internet is privacy from the people in my life who matter. I don't want my boss to know if I'm looking for another job, or my girlfriend to know if I'm having an affair, or my cats to know if I really want a dog. (To my boss/girlfriend/cats: None of that is true, honest--you can check my browser history if you like.) I also don't want complete strangers to be able to dig up intimate details of my life by plugging my name into Google (before a job interview, for example).

Advertisers don't care about any of that. Their tracking cookies are designed to help figure out what kinds of things I'm interested in and send related ads to me. They don't store any personally identifiable information. Nothing in there is tied to my name at all, just my Web-browsing behavior--and frankly, I doubt I'm unique when it comes to that. ("Wow", they'll say, "this guy doesn't do a whole lot of work.") Perhaps I'd change my tune if I were to see ads for therapy or loaded handguns after changing my Facebook relationship status to "Single," but I'm honestly not too worried about Advertising Profile #9001: Young Adult Male Who Likes Computers.

2. Advertising lets people make money from the Internet: You can consume as much audio, video, and text as you want for the cost of the small coffee that gets you a spot at Starbucks. Never mind that it costs money for someone to record the audio or produce the video or write the words, and that it costs someone else money to bring it to you faster than you can physically listen/watch/read it--you can have whatever you want immediately delivered to you, free of charge. That is the promise of the Internet, and it's a promise sustained almost entirely by advertising. Goodwill alone won't power your Pandora's Phil Collins Radio--the service needs money to pay the piper, which means that it needs to park a few ads there instead.

As a writer, I believe this is important, because it's how I make my living. Unless you, dear reader, are a PCWorld magazine subscriber, the only way I can afford to keep writing is to show you ads while you read this--and the same goes for most of your favorite bloggers, YouTube channels, app developers, and so on. That's pretty cool, because it means that all kinds of creative types can focus on doing interesting things without worrying too much about how to make money from it. Few people would pay money to watch a live video stream of someone playing StarCraft 2, for instance, but throw a few ads on that person's Justin.tv stream, and he can pull in $4500 each month and quit his day job.

Of course, even if Do Not Track is implemented, the Internet will still have advertisements. And that leads me to my third point.

3. I'd rather have better ads than crappy ads: The days of an ad-free Internet are over. Although I'd love to live in a magical world where the Internet never depended on advertising revenue but was just as awesome as it is currently, I don't think that setup is feasible (unless you use AdBlock, in which case this whole conversation is kind of pointless).

The difference with no behavioral tracking isn't that you won't see ads at all--it's that the ads won't be targeted to your online actions. Instead, you'll be inundated with advertisements that range from completely uninteresting pitches (overseas Viagra suppliers) to borderline-insulting assumptions based on your demographic (tacky engagement-ring ads on Facebook). Basically, the ads will suck. You won't be interested in them, which means the advertiser won't make as much money off them, and as a result the Website will have to find new and creative ways to put more ads on the page (like those obnoxious full-screen ads you have to click past to get to an article).

If I have to put up with ads, they might as well be good ads. If I knew that every time I opened a new Web page I'd encounter Super Bowl-quality ads, well, I might not even be able to make it past the first few lines without opening my wallet and buying something.

That doesn't mean I'm against all advertising regulation. I'm glad I don't get telemarketers calling me during dinner these days. But Do Not Track isn't about making advertising less intrusive or annoying, it's mostly about protecting data that, to me, isn't especially important--and it's about condemning me to an Internet where crappy ads reign supreme.

Next page: Tom Spring argues against online tracking by advertisers.

Tom Spring: Advertisers' Online Tracking Is Bad

Note to advertisers who want to track me online: Buzz off.

My privacy is sacrosanct to me, both in my home and online. I have already made enough compromises to accommodate the digital world that I live in. Giving advertisers the green light to profile me, follow me around on the Internet, and show me ads based on my behavior is wrong, and flat-out creepy. It's also potentially dangerous, and it could lead to virtual forms of redlining, leaving the lone consumer at the mercy of powerful companies more interested in their bottom line than my well-being.

Current do-not-track legislation working its way through Congress, and other initiatives put forth on the state level, such as in California, are important first lines of defense against an unchallenged advertising industry willing to test the limits of my personal privacy in exchange for a dime. I applaud these do-not-track efforts, as well as similar ones by Microsoft and the Mozilla Foundation with their respective browsers, Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4, both of which empower the consumer with do-not-track features (albeit flawed ones).

Right now advertisers have the upper hand. In the United States we have few limits on how Web-based companies can track consumers online, and with whom they share that data. Without legal limits--and because do-not-track controls within IE and Firefox rely on the voluntary participation of Websites--consumers are caught in privacy purgatory and have no way to say "no" to tracking.

1. Opting in versus opting out: Consumers, at a minimum, deserve the right to choose whether to be tracked--to opt-in. All I'm arguing for is the real option to tell advertisers to go away, not to track me, and to stop displaying ads based on my online behavior.

That's what the do-not-track measures proposed in Congress and in California provide. Both call for Websites to get opt-in permission from users before collecting personal data. Proposed regulations would also require Web companies to inform users of their data collection and tracking efforts, and would allow civil lawsuits against companies that failed to comply with the regulations.

It's not time to be whistling in the dark, arguing "I love playing Plants vs. Zombies online for free, so screw my own privacy."

2. I'm not paranoid--the threat is real: New methods of data harvesting, coupled with new online advertising techniques, push the privacy envelope way too far. At the heart of these privacy-busting trends is advertisers' desire to track your interests on the Web and display what are called behavior-based ads.

Advertisers have gone way beyond cookies, and are collecting the "public" data we post on social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to target ads more effectively. But might your Facebook status ever be used by a credit agency, health-care provider, or future employer to determine if you are a good bet? See my May 2010 story called "Good-Bye to Privacy?" for a list of companies engaged in such practices today.

Advertising firms bristle at the notion that your credit card issuer could jack up interest rates based on a tweet in which you announce that you just got laid off. But privacy experts say that this scenario may become a reality in coming years (see "Can Your Online Life Ruin Your Credit?").

As a result of online tracking, connections between your offline and online worlds can be made through an e-mail address kept on record by a company that you do business with. That e-mail address could create a link to a composite profile made up of your online activities at social networks and other sites. By cross-referencing that e-mail address, advertisers can show you banner ads tailored to your spending habits, to your health problems, and to your political views expressed on Twitter.

The rise of online tracking and data harvesting has created cunningly effective advertising campaigns customized to a Web surfer's household income, interests, and online activity. The Center for Digital Democracy's Jeffrey Chester tells me he believes that this type of advertising fosters predatory ads. Examples might include dubious health cures or high-interest loans for HDTVs.

The examples above clearly show that online tracking, unlike other forms of online advertising, can be used to identify people surfing online. Patrick says sites "don't store any personally identifiable information." He misses the point. Individual sites (that you haven't registered with) don't store personal identifiable information, but online advertisers that track you do. Sometimes they may have your name. Other times they may know every single thing about you (down to your household income, address, political slant, sports you like, and etc) but just not your name. What's the difference? Lastly, for the determined, such as a government, scammer, or advertiser, it's easy to extrapolate a name from the anonymous data collected online. It's been done many times before.

3. Mythbusting the "Who cares about tracking" argument: The other side of the argument, as Patrick describes, says that prohibiting advertisers from tracking us online would cause the amount of free content (news, games, services, Web apps) to dry up.

Do-not-track doesn't threaten the free Internet - not by a longshot. Patrick is flat out wrong claiming it will and so are others that argued Facebook will have to charge $20 a month if advertisers can't display these type ads. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (PDF) "In 2009, overall revenue from all types of Internet advertising was $22.661 billion, while spending on behaviorally targeted ads was $925 million." That's less than 5 percent.

But in a world where Web surfers can choose to opt out from being tracked online, contextual advertising and nontracking forms of interest-targeted advertising are unaffected. Advertisers can still show Patrick those awesome relevant ads he likes; they just can't use his browsing history on other sites. Non-behavior based forms of online advertising, such as contextual, demographic, search, and social network advertising, would not be impacted by do-not-track measures and can still serve up relevant ads.

Patrick also argues he doesn't care about advertising tracking him because it's "not the kind of privacy (he is) worried about." This smacks of a very narrow "I don't care because it doesn't affect me" attitude. I do care about advertisers tracking me, but more importantly about those seeking loans, life insurance, and health information. I worry about the woman who spent the last six months scouring the Web for information on breast cancer only to have her IP address flagged by a health insurance provider's Website when she requests information for a new policy.

Other Web-focused trade groups argue that do-not-track restrictions are too hard for the advertising industry to implement. That is not true. Microsoft and Mozilla both have proved that implementing do-not-track flags (as an HTTP header) is possible.

Still other parties, such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau, say that doing away with behavioral ads based on tracking data will lead to more-obtrusive ads. In my experience nothing has ever stopped advertisers from squeezing more-obtrusive ads into my browser. If advertisers can do it, they will--do-not-track laws or not.

The just-because-advertisers-can-they-should mentality is a bad one. Unfortunately, most Web surfers don't have the time or energy to understand the byzantine and technically cunning way they are being taken advantage of. It's time to shed a little light on the problem, take a stand, and enforce some limits on the "Internet-advertising industrial complex."

Where do you stand on advertisers' tracking users online? Is it an undue invasion of privacy, or are you fine with behavioral ads? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments area below.

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Berlin moves from capital of cool to start-up haven (AFP)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 03:35 PM PDT

by Patrick Rahir Patrick Rahir – Sun Apr 10, 6:35 pm ET

BERLIN (AFP) – Already a magnet for tourists and young artists, Berlin is attracting a new generation of Internet start-ups, changing the ways scientists interact or musicians store and share music.

So much so that US Internet giant Google is preparing to open a research centre in the German capital.

Based in the top floors of an anonymous building in former communist East Berlin, for example, SoundCloud, launched in 2008, is one of the fastest growing companies in the music world.

The online platform allows users to store and share music or sound without format restrictions. It jumped from two to three million users in three months at the end of 2010 and has now passed 3.5 million, just by word of mouth.

"We're trying to help anybody to express themselves with sound, whether it's music or the little sounds of everyday life," SoundCloud CEO and co-founder Alexander Ljung told AFP.

David Noel, a 32-year-old German-speaking Belgian, is a driving force in the company, its "evangelist" in start-up lingo.

He explained enthusiastically how the platform has become a tool for academic lecturers, "field recorders" collecting bell chimes or bird songs, or for users who keep and share "sound moments," like the moving voice-mail of a dying relative.

Ljung, a 29 year-old sound engineer born in Britain and raised in Sweden, chose Berlin to set up shop after touring several European capitals.

"Berlin offers a really interesting intersection of arts and very strong technology," he said in a telephone interview from San Francisco, where he has a small office.

Ijad Madisch, CEO of ResearchGate, moved his company from Boston to Berlin at the end of 2010 on the advice of a venture capitalist sponsor, who told him "it's either San Francisco or Berlin."

"But it's easier to find developers and programmers here than in Silicon Valley, where Google and Facebook hire all the workforce," says the German-born virologist and research fellow from Harvard Medical School.

ResearchGate is an online portal which connects more than 800,000 scientists around the world, and expects to pass the million mark in the coming weeks.

Free of charge for scientists, revenues come from institutions advertising for jobs or requiring help to organise events.

"It's very difficult to find answers from experts working in connecting fields, like medicine, biology, or bio-statistics, and to get in touch with colleagues from different countries," said Madisch, 30.

By signing up on the platform, researchers can access publications of interest to them, initiate collaborations, exchange experiences and "negative data."

Scientists publish the results of successful research but not what they did wrong, therefore letting others make the same mistakes, Madisch explained.

The start-up's more than 50 employees come from some 20 countries.

Morgane Hillen, a 22-year-old French woman, said she moved to Berlin without knowing a word of German after job stints in Britain and in Japan.

She works in customer support for ResearchGate, along with Italian, Greek, Norwegian or Spanish colleagues, each in their own language.

SoundCloud's staff has the same international make-up. Sharing office space with another start-up specialised in digital books, its 30-strong staff is a mix of 16 nationalities.

Parker Higgins, a 23-year-old legal expert for SoundCloud, moved from New York to Berlin, "one of the coolest places in the world," he says. "It's a big enough city that whatever you're interested in you can dive into."

Germany's reunified capital is now one of the most visited cities in Europe and its inner courtyards teem with artists exploring music or creating installations.

"A lot of people are attracted by Berlin, Berlin itself is a start-up," said Alexander Ljung. "It's growing fast, it's fairly chaotic. Nobody knows exactly where it's going but it's going in the right direction."

Tornado destroys dozen or more blocks in Iowa town (AP)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:12 PM PDT

By GRANT SCHULTE, Associated Press Grant Schulte, Associated Press – 1 hr 7 mins ago

MAPLETON, Iowa – Jamy Garden's house began to rumble with the approach of a tornado that at one point measured three-quarters of a mile wide. Then the windows shattered, spraying her with glass. Using her cell phone as a flashlight, she fled downstairs and called her grandmother.

On Sunday, she returned home, wandering her backyard in a blood-splattered hooded sweat shirt, her right hand and left knee wrapped in gauze. Around her lay a tangle of tree branches, twisted siding, broken glass and a canoe that wasn't hers.

The tornado that struck the evening before damaged more than half of Mapleton, a town of 1,200 in western Iowa, Mayor Fred Standa said Sunday. He estimated about 20 percent of the town was "almost flat."

The huge, centuries-old trees the town was named for had been pulled out of the ground and wrapped around houses and tossed on top of cars, Standa said. In one case, a huge motor home had been flipped on its side.

"It's not a pretty sight," Standa said. "It's something nobody has seen in this town."

Garden's house survived, but everything inside was tossed around. Her two dogs were safe, but she hadn't yet found her cat.

"I don't know where our gazebo went," she said. "The garbage can right there, that was in the front yard. The shed is gone. I don't know what else to tell you. This is the most tumultuous thing I've ever experienced by far."

The tornado destroyed 12 to 15 blocks in the southwest corner of Mapleton when it struck about 7:20 p.m. Saturday, Monona County Sheriff Jeff Pratt said. The tornado destroyed about 100 homes beyond repair, and has displaced an estimated 500 to 600 residents, he said.

The tornado was on the ground for three and a half miles and measured three-quarters of a mile wide at one point, according to the National Weather Service office in Valley, Neb. The twister was measured to be on the lower end of an EF3, which carries wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph.

The tornado was one of several reported in Iowa. The weather service said it had confirmed a total of four smaller twisters that touched down near Early and Nemaha, damaging several homes.

Storms moved through the nation's midsection again Sunday, with some reports of tornadoes in Wisconsin, where several homes were damaged or destroyed. No injuries were immediately reported.

In Mapleton, the roof was blown off a high school, power lines were downed and homes and buildings were destroyed. Pratt said two people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The weather service said it had received reports of 14 to 16 injuries, the most severe a broken leg.

Utilities also were damaged, and gas fumes filled the town, prompting officials to shut off service. Pratt said gas service will remain off for the next two weeks, but electricity should be restored in the next day or so.

The smell of natural gas hung thick in the air Sunday as forklifts and pick-up trucks hauled debris down streets lined with fallen trees.

Tamara Adams, 37, piled branches on the curb, next to the 30-foot-tall tree that rested on top of her house. She said she closed her outside basement door just as the tornado tore the roof off a store that sits diagonal from her house.

"That sound," she said. "I'll never get it out of my head. It had a life. You could hear it breathing and growling."

Terry Siebersma, who runs a downtown liquor store with his wife, was manning his shop when he heard the tornado sirens and saw the sky turn green. In the distance, he saw the twister swirl into view.

"It was almost like the movies," he said. "It was loud really loud."

Siebersma, 53, said he rushed to the basement. Upstairs, he heard bottles breaking. He emerged several minutes later, and the store looked fine. He said he walked to a back storage room and discovered the roof missing and one wall on the verge of collapse.

"We were very, very lucky," he said. "I almost feel guilty."

Gov. Terry Branstad issued an emergency proclamation covering Mapleton and surrounding Monana County on Saturday so the state could send services to respond to the storm, his office said. He toured Mapleton on Sunday afternoon.

Branstad said it was too early to know whether the tornado qualified for federal aid.

"Whatever state resources are needed, we're going to provide," he said.

Monana County is in the same region of western Iowa where four Boy Scouts died in a tornado that struck a scouting ranch in June 2008. The National Weather Service said the tornado that hit the 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the Loess Hills had an estimated wind speed of 145 mph.

___

Associated Press writer Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., contributed to this report.

Cell Phones, Texting and Common Sense (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:43 AM PDT

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben – Sun Apr 10, 2:43 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

Eight states have banned hand held cell phones while driving; 30 states have banned text messaging while driving. Hospitals and schools ban cell phones. Are there other situations where texting and cell phone use are not appropriate?

Digital communication has some advantages. Being connected digitally enables people to work while traveling. Parents are able to maintain communication with children when they are gone. Cell phones provide immediate access to public safety. Children with cell phones may be safer because would-be assailants know these children can call for help easily. Cell phones are useful tools, but all too often, they are merely distracting toys.

The perk with text messaging is that it enables callers to communicate in areas where cell phone use is prohibited. Because callers aren't obviously on the phone, they can still send and receive messages. Is that necessarily a good thing?

When cell phones are prohibited it is generally for good reason. Schools don't allow cell phones because they distract students. Also cell phones with internet usage facilitate cheating on tests. It should be obvious even to laymen that student cell phone use interferes with learning and disrupts the classroom. Cell phones are also banned in many medical areas to avoid interference with medical equipment.

Many employers ban cell phone use, some even in break areas. In most occupations, it isn't safe to talk on the cell phone or text while working. It distracts workers from their jobs. I wouldn't want my doctor, dentist, bus driver, roofer, electrician, child care provider, child's teacher, bank clerk or pilot to text while working. I wouldn't even want my hairstylist, waiter or grocery store clerk to be on his cell phone while waiting on me.

Face to face communication has suffered with texting. Teens talk on cell phones more than they do in person. They bring them everywhere. Teens aren't the only cell phone addicts. My husband and I dined out for our anniversary. A mother, father and small child sat next to us. As soon as they had ordered, mom and dad both got out their cell phones. The3- year-old played games on his Firefly (toddler cell phone).

The rules of common courtesy have blurred with cell phone use. I once observed a women talking on her cell phone and while checking out at the grocery store. The clerk informed her of the total. The woman snapped irritably into her phone, "Hang on, this woman needs something." I've observed mothers ignore crying babies and allow children to wander unsupervised in stores, malls and parks while they text. That's not just ignorant, it's dangerous.

Many stores and businesses, including government offices now have signs posted: "Please finish your call before you approach the clerk." Social mores may have adapted to public cell phone use and texting, but common sense hasn't. Cell phone users might want to exercise a little more prudence, so we don't have to enact laws about issues that should be common sense.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes for 22-plus years parenting four children and 25-plus years teaching K-8, special needs, adult education and home-school. She writes about parenting concerns for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Join the movement for democracy with Fight for Freedom iPhone app (Appolicious)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 01:00 PM PDT

Heavenly gadgets: Spinoffs from space programmes (AFP)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 03:51 PM PDT

by Marlowe Hood and Laurent Banguet Marlowe Hood And Laurent Banguet – Sun Apr 10, 6:51 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – What do ceramic teeth braces, artificial hearts, airbags, insulin pumps and Olympics-calibre swimsuits have in common? Answer: they originated in space.

All these gadgets and hundreds more are spinoffs from technologies developed for the multi-billion-dollar space programmes that kicked into high gear 50 years ago when Yuri Gagarin became the first human catapulted into orbit.

Many of these offshoots began with a quest by American, Soviet and European engineers for materials that could perform new tasks or withstand extreme temperatures, cosmic rays and the stresses of high or zero gravity.

So-called memory metals, for example, that flex and recover their shape in response to heat are used for shower valves to prevent scalding, surgical staples and tubing for reinforcing arteries called stents.

Sharper-than-steel scalpels, medical implants and even performance-enhancing golf clubs -- stronger than titanium as elastic as plastic -- are today derived from a related class of space-age alloys called liquid metals.

Likewise the flexible wire rims of your sunglasses... which may also feature a glass coating, developed to protect astronauts' eyes from glint and glare.

Often the product seems quite remote from the technology that spawned it.

When swimwear maker Speedo set about making a faster suit, it turned to experts at NASA Langley Research Institute, who had specialised in studying friction and drag.

The resulting LZR line, launched in February 2008, quickly became de rigueur for competitive swimmers: more than nine out of 10 gold-medal winners at the Beijing Olympics six months later wore them.

Other space-boosted sportsgear includes athletic shoes with a cushioning material designed by NASA for its spacesuits.

Healthcare monitoring devices have also been derived from space-related inventions.

Technology once used to gauge the temperature of distant stars and planets now monitors the body heat of humans by measuring, in less than two seconds, energy emitted by the eardrum.

Automatic pumps that continuously deliver micro-doses of insulin -- eliminating the need for painful daily shots -- are based on NASA satellite components developed for the Viking Mars mission.

Technology created to track the health of astronauts in deep space has now been integrated into fitness machines: an infrared heartbeat transmitter strapped against the chest uses the heart rate to directly modulate exercise intensity.

And an artificial heart-pump, ten times smaller than earlier models, was inspired directly by systems that monitor fuel consumption on space shuttles.

Some applications have gone from cosmic to cosmetic.

Using material from missile-tracking devices, a company working with NASA invented translucent, shatter-resistant braces that have since been worn by hundreds of thousands of smiling adolescents.

Shock-absorbent foams developed to protect astronauts from the brain-jarring effects of g-force are widely used in protective head gear, including for cyclists.

A light-weight, fibrous material five times stronger than steel -- originally made for the Viking space vehicle parachute -- will soon be integrated in radial tires of your next car, according to NASA.

Even gourmet food fans have reason to hail space-based science.

Borrowing technology developed by ESA to study how fluids move in the bodies of weightless astronauts, Spanish producers can now measure with near-absolute precision the level of humidity in their high-priced hams.

HOW TO: Score a Job at a Creative Agency (Mashable)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 07:21 AM PDT

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Sun Apr 10, 10:21 am ET

If you're a young designer or creative developer who's thinking of applying to work at a top creative agency, you've probably sweat your fair share of bullets during the job search.

You've crafted the perfect resume, cover letter and portfolio, all of which scream "creative," hopefully without inadvertently irritating your potential employers.

But how do you know whether you might trigger a pet peeve or whether you forgot some crucial detail?

We tapped four creative agencies on your behalf and asked them for the critical must-haves and thou-shalt-nots for would-be designers and creative developers. Here are words of wisdom from execs at AKQA, JESS3, Code & Theory and Mekanism -- heed them well, and add your own tips in the comments section.

5 Mistakes to Avoid from JESS3

Jesse Thomas founded creative agency JESS3. His firm has done great work for tons of tech brands such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia; JESS3's also worked for mainstream consumer brands, including Nike. He gives us a quick run-down of five things not to do when applying for a job.

  • Don't misspell anything. "This is the cardinal sin of sending a resume to anyone," Thomas says. "Run spell check, and if you really can't spell with spell check a click away, then you should perhaps go back to school."
  • Always include a cover letter. "You should write a very personal and direct note that explains the key things you want explained ... This is the test of your professional tone," he says.
  • Use a professional email address that is some variation of your actual name, and make sure your name is listed in your email account -- got it, cre8tivedude97@hotmail.com? "Obviously we all have had emails and chat names that we wouldn't want others outside of our social circles to see," says Thomas, "but if you send me an email that doesn't have the name set up and it just shows me a Hotmail address in the name field, you suck at email."
  • Use a professional tone. Thomas makes the salient point, "I need you to be writing my company's emails, so if you can't impress me with yours, why would I want to hire you?"
  • Never send a prospective employer an email from your mobile. "It's a rookie, noob move and you know it!" Thomas says.

3 Quick Tips from Code & Theory

Brandon Ralph is a partner and executive creative director at New York-based firm Code & Theory, which was recently charged with redesigning Vogue's website. He gives the following words of advice to would-be designers:

  • Your first email should include a short and sweet subject line that introduces you and names the position you're applying for. Why the simplicity? "It's good to stand out," says Ralph, "but don't be so clever that it comes off as arrogant."
  • Always include a PDF version of your resume. Ralph says, "Layout matters, but so does scalability."
  • Give your prospective employer a link to your portfolio website, then "let the work speak for itself," says Ralph. "A cumbersome interface sometimes gets in the way of the work."

7 Dos and Don'ts from AKQA

AKQA is one of the leading interactive-focused agencies in the country. Two of the firm's creative recruiters, Lionel Carreon and Barbara Tejada, share these three things they love in candidates -- and four red flags.

Aim for the following:

  • Your portfolio should be filled with home runs. "Your work should challenge us, take us out of our comfort zone and make us jealous."
  • Make sure you can give an elevator pitch for each of your pieces. "Be prepared to speak about your work from brief to completion and explain your ideas simply."
  • Do your homework, kids. Tejada and Carreon say you'll need to "know everything about the agency you are applying to."
Try to avoid these faux pas:

  • Now is not the time to be bashful about communication. "Call and email the places you want to work for, but do it within reason," they say.
  • Don't bad-mouth past experiences, including "ex-clients, ex-agencies, ex-colleagues or that bad cup of coffee you had earlier."
  • Discouragement and pessimism are the enemy in your job search. "Don't give up," the AKQA team says. "If an agency passes on your work, work someplace else and prove them wrong."
  • And finally, Carreon and Tejada caution applicants to avoid using the third person in cover letters and resumes. "It's just creepy."

10 Pointers from Mekanism

Finally, we hear from a few staffers at Mekanism, one of the most creative firms in the world of digital storytelling. Brendan Gahan is the firm's social media director. He, a Mekanism copywriter, a PR staffer and the firm's president, Jason Harris, relay the following tips to would-be creatives:

  • Be passionate about wanting to work at that specific firm. "Be fans of the work," said Gahan. "This is more than a job."
  • Be a self-starter. Gahan says he looks for candidates who, "even if they haven't had a ton of work experience, are already creating stuff on their own."
  • Of course, it helps to have an "amazing work ethic," Gahan says. And if someone can vouch for you on this point, all the better.
  • It goes without saying that you'll need "a website highlighting your work," and Gahan also points out ...
  • You simply must have "great work" in your portfolio.
  • A Mekanism copywriter cautions applicants, "Do not tweet things at [your prospective employers] that link to your resume or reel. That's annoying as hell. It's not clever -- it's weird."
  • One of the firm's PR folks says that you can stand out in a positive way simply "by having a point of view and a personality. ... Don't be afraid to be witty or edgy -- just avoid being offensive."
  • And here's a word for newer or younger applicants: "Be bold, especially if you're a new college graduate. It's challenging landing your first internship or gig out of school, so don't be afraid to cold call or email people you respect within the industry for informational interviews."
  • Express your passions, such as music or fashion, even if they're not necessarily related to the job description. The PR person says, "There are brands out there that can benefit from insights you may have from your other interests. And if you have connections in media in any specific verticals, let your dream employer know."
  • Finally, the firm's president gives the following practical and political tip: "Learn the [agency's] creative work up and down, point out your three favorite pieces of work, and say why they're your favorites. Flattery gets you everywhere."

Social Media Job Listings

Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

More Job Search Resources from Mashable:

- Top 5 Tips for Creating Impressive Video Resumes
- Are Cover Letters Still Relevant For Social Media and Tech Jobs?
- HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile's New Skills Section
- Top 5 Online Communities for Starting Your Career
- HOW TO: Land a Business Development Job

image courtesy of iStockphoto, laflor

Not a lot to like about StuffWeLike iPhone app (Appolicious)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:31 AM PDT

5 Creative iPhone Accessories That Could Be Made With Your Help [VIDEOS] (Mashable)

Posted: 09 Apr 2011 09:49 AM PDT

Amy-Mae Elliott Amy-mae Elliott – Sat Apr 9, 12:49 pm ET

Kickstarter's crowdsourced funding service has already seen success for entrepreneurs with a penchant for Apple's mobile with the Glif iPhone tripod. We were interested to see what other iPhone-themed projects are in the works.

We've found five fabulous iPhone accessories that are currently live on Kickstarter that we think might be worth investigating, including a couple of excellent accessories for iPhotographers and a fun Wii-themed music game.

Have a look through our exciting selection of (hopefully!) coming-soon iAccessories and let us know which ones you'd consider pledging cash to -- and more importantly why -- in the comments below.

1. Invisible Instrument

Got an iPhone? Got a Nintendo Wii? Got a computer? Like music games? Then, boy, do we have the perfect Kickstarter project for you! The "Invisible Instrument" takes an iPhone (or iPod touch) and Wiimote, adds in an app and some computer software and spits out a gesture-based musical device capable of reproducing the sound of multiple instruments.

So far the confirmed instruments include a drum set, violin, cello, bass, keyboard, guitar and theremin, but others are planned and suggestions are welcome.

With the aim to create an "affordable musical tool" that bridges classical instrumentation and computer music, it's a project with lots of potential applications from just plain fun for kids to an actual composition tool for musicians.

Minimum pledge to receive product (with all instruments): $25

2. GoPano Micro

This product is due to cause some real excitement among iPhone videographers as its functionality allows the creation of 360-degree panaromic videos using just your iPhone.

The lens records everything it can "see" all at once, so when you review the video (on the app or the website) you can zoom in and out and pan around to see what's happening around the camera, something the demo video above explains well.

Best of all, it's super-simple to use. The lens just snaps onto the case, and thanks to the free companion app, it's just a matter of hitting record to make futuristic video footage.

Minimum pledge to receive product: $50

3. iPhly

Created by a radio-controlled airplane enthusiast, the iPhly is arguably pretty niche. However, it's a breakthrough product that could potentially bring R/C toys into the iAge.

Rather than the bulky controllers that currently exist for R/C models, the much smaller iPhly attaches to the iPhone, the frequency module of your existing remote slots in the back, and then thanks to the companion app, it can take command of your R/C toy via gesture control.

As well as airplanes, it will work with multiple models of radio-controlled helicopters, boats and cars, and can store profiles along with a pic for quick-glance operation.

Minimum pledge to receive product: $70

4. Tembo Trunks

Tembo Trunks are a great option for iPhone owners on the go, especially those travelling to more exotic climes.

Using horn acoustics, the power-free "speakers" amplify the sound from your iDevice's earbuds to as much as three times the unadulterated volume.

Additionally, they're made of silicone rubber, so they're waterproof, and fold down for easy packing. They seem pretty much indestructible. Due to be available in some fun colors, we think they're a great addition to anyone's iAccessory arsenal.

Minimum pledge to receive product: $39

5. Jawcase Tiburon

The Jawcase Tiburon is of particular interest in what can easily be described as an overcrowded iPhone accessory market. It offers a variety of different functions.

As you'll see in the video above, the Tiburon's clever construction means it can be used for protection, as an all-round, multi-angle landscape and portrait stand, a desktop tripod for photography or video and even, in a pinch, a car mount.

Made out of aluminum and due to be available in a range of finishes, it's a striking, yet minimalist, unisex option for iPhone 4 owners that do a lot with their device and want a case-come-stand to keep pace.

Minimum pledge to receive product: $80

Interested in more iPhone resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

Charlie Sheen hits New York - but what IS the show? (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Apr 2011 05:08 PM PDT

By David Rooney David Rooney – Sat Apr 9, 8:08 pm ET

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – It's a long way from Detroit to New York, especially if you're Charlie Sheen. One week after his "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" tour launched in a disastrous Motor City debut, the show rolled into Radio City Music Hall on Friday night in a streamlined version that was slightly more sedate -- and quite a bit duller.

The most interesting thing Sheen did onstage was throw down the gauntlet to his former "Two and a Half Men" boss, Chuck Lorre.

Near the close of the show, when asked if he wanted his old job back, Sheen said, "Of course, I want my job back, so you guys can keep watching the best f**king sitcom in the world!" He then issued an open invitation to Lorre to join him onstage in his second New York show on Sunday night, "to fix 'Two and a Half Men'."

Sticking with the format introduced in Chicago the night after Sheen was virtually booed off the stage in Detroit, the show was moderated by an onstage interviewer.

Gone is the thankless stand-up comic who turned the term "warm-up act" into a burning at the stake. Gone is the grandiloquent sermon delivered from a lectern in which Sheen spun buzzwords into a personal manifesto for truth in a universe of "fiction-spouting, canker-tongued liar mouths." Gone is the musical guest. Gone is most of the video content hurled on the jumbo screens in desperation whenever Sheen felt the show unraveling.

All that remains of that latter element is a more elaborate reworking of the Andrea Canning "20/20" TV interview, plugged full of broad visual gags that went over gangbusters with the glassy-eyed, beer-swilling stoner crowd. Oddly, this got perhaps the best reception of any part of the show.

But just what is the show? Much as the evening has evolved since Detroit, it remains amorphous and unclassifiable. Depending on your point of view, it's either the perfect response or the ugly apotheosis of a bottom-feeding pop culture saturated in celebrity obsession, rapid-fire visual stimuli and meaningless sound bites.

"How many people want to hear the truth tonight from Charlie?" asked the unidentified moderator, ushering Sheen onstage (wearing a NY Yankees T-shirt and cap) more than 30 minutes after the scheduled start time. But nothing coherent enough to be considered anyone's truth followed.

"Surprise! I'm not staying at the f**king Plaza Hotel," announced Sheen. He then dipped into his hotel adventures over the years with a balance that probably leaned more toward mock heroics and hallucinogenic fantasy than actual experience.

We did get Sheen's account of that night last fall at the Plaza with porn star Capri Anderson. While he concedes that "a chair might have got tossed and there might have been some broken glass," Sheen says the biggest scandal that night was that despite a $30,000 tip, he didn't get to have sex with Anderson. He blamed sleep aid Ambien ("the devil's aspirin") for him ending up naked and attacking the cops.

If the New York show is any indication of what the tour has become, it must be living hell for an addict. Every time Sheen mentions crack or cocaine there are loud cheers, followed by boos whenever he says he no longer partakes.

This crowd -- most of whom looked like "Jersey Shore" rejects and watched the majority of the show through their phone-cams -- has no interest in sober, rational Charlie. They want crazed warlock Charlie. Or Carlos, as many in the house kept shouting.

The interviewer fed Sheen cues through the roughly 55 minutes he remained onstage. They ranged from early showbiz memories to specific movies like "Wall Street" and "Platoon", from his "goddesses" (who appeared briefly) to his bucket list.

None of the responses were especially illuminating, though there were some intriguing conversational detours. When Sheen started extolling his father's epic coolness, having killed Colonel Kurtz in a typhoon, you started to wonder did he think "Apocalypse Now" was real? He also cited Martin Sheen's encounter with a jungle cat in that movie as the origin of his own tiger blood. Whatever, dude.

Sheen tossed the audience a few celebrity bones. He recalled an improbable prank played on John Cusack involving 3,000 angry bees in an Indianapolis hotel. He bowed down before Kiefer Sutherland's "legendary bar tab." And he paid tribute to Nicolas Cage: "The guy's a genius and he went broke. I f**king love him."

"I'm a huge proponent of plan better," responded Sheen to one heckler. "One example of plan better might be drink less and not come here and yell at the guy you've been waiting six weeks to see." Maybe this tour is Sheen's idea of planning better.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Why This Apple Fan Prefers Android (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:43 AM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Sun Apr 10, 2:43 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

COMMENTARY | I admit it. I'm an Apple fanboy. (Just in case you couldn't tell from all the articles I've written, that praised Apple's products and trashed its competitors.) I love the iPad so much that I want to marry it, and I totally would if my girlfriend would let me. But I'll probably never own an iPad, because I love Android more.

Here's why.

Apple's iOS lacks basic features

Features that are basic for me and how I use my phone, anyway. For instance, text reflow, which is making zoomed-in text fit the screen so you don't have to scroll left and right to read paragraphs. Even other Apple fans agree that it's bewildering how iPhones and iPads don't have this. And while Android handset makers seem to be doing away with the trackballs and optical trackpads, I like being able to use my Aria's to position the cursor when typing.

Does that seem kind of boring? It's not when you mostly use your phone to read and write on the Web. I also like home screen widgets, though, like HTC's spectacular animated weather widget (that AT&T ruined for me, but I digress). I like being able to do things like check my bank balance and view all my recent transactions, without having to open an app.

Android plays nice with my stuff

I don't use a Mac, or even a Windows PC running iTunes. I personally love Ubuntu, which is about as close as you can get a PC to becoming a Mac without making a Hackintosh. And my Android phone syncs with my music player on Ubuntu, plus it works nicely with Google's cloud services.

I know, I know, most people aren't interested in upgrading their PC's operating system. Most people probably don't even know what an operating system is. But even if you take Ubuntu out of the equation, Apple products are only designed to play nicely with other Apple products. Don't like iTunes? Tough cookies, you bought an iPhone. Deal with it.

I happen to like iTunes (I'm an Apple fanboy, after all), and I used it a lot when I owned a Mac. I just don't like the idea that because I bought one thing, now I have to use something else. Which brings me to the last reason ...

Android just seems more respectful

Partly because it's so minimalist, in its own way. Those hardware buttons that each Android device has? Because of them, Android apps don't have huge chunks of the screen devoted to menus and back buttons. My Android phone's Web browser shows nothing but the web, like a PC Web browser's full-screen mode, until I press that "menu" button. And instead of taking up the whole screen, notifications on an Android phone appear as icons up at the top, and I can pull the notification bar down and review each one at my leisure.

Probably the biggest reason Android seems so respectful is one it's been criticized for: Letting me review "permissions" for each app I install, like for apps that need to dial the phone or connect to the Internet. It's an extra step I have to go through, sure, and I rarely look at the fine print. But just the fact that it's there makes me feel important. Sort of like how even though I did not enjoy "rooting" my phone, I liked the feeling of knowing I could, thanks to Android's open-source code.

It's like getting a glimpse of a world where I'm not a "consumer," but an actual person.

I like what I see in that world.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Ex-BP boss eyes trio for new investment fund: report (Reuters)

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 06:22 AM PDT

– Sun Apr 10, 9:22 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Petrofac (PFC.L) chairman Rodney Chase, ex-Corus chairman Jim Leng and former Enterprise Oil chairman Graham Hearne are expected to be asked to join the board of a new energy investment fund being set-up by Tony Hayward, the Sunday Times said.

Former BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) chief executive Hayward, who stepped down at BP over his handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, is hoping to raise about 1 billion pounds ($1.64 billion) in a London float in the next six months.

Hayward is expected to team up with financier Nat Rothschild and Julian Metherell, who is to leave Goldman Sachs (GS.N) as head of investment this summer.

Three sources familiar with the matter confirmed the names of the fund's founders to Reuters, although Hayward last week denied the fund was being set up.

Outgoing Petrofac (PFC.L) chairman Chase is being lined up to chair the oil and gas investment fund, while Leng and Hearne have also been asked to join the board, the British newspaper reported.

It said the float could happen in the next three to six months, with the three founders set to absorb the first 20 million pounds of any losses made by the fund. It said a list of potential targets had been made in the Middle East, Russia and Africa.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Credit Suisse has already begun preparing the investment vehicle for a listing.

($1=.6103 Pound)

(Writing by Neil Maidment, additional reporting by Quentin Webb; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
at 9:46 PM

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