Monthly Archives: May 2012

Google Gains More Ground In Android Dispute

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NEW YORK — Oracle Corp. received another setback Thursday as a federal judge in San Francisco undermined a central part of the company’s multimillion dollar case against Google Inc. over its Android software for mobile devices.

Oracle had accused Google of copyright infringement in using “application programming interfaces,” or APIs, that help Oracle’s Java software work effectively. A jury found Google infringed on those APIs on May 7, but it couldn’t agree on whether Google was covered under “fair use” protections in U.S. law. Without a fair-use determination, Oracle wasn’t able to extract huge sums from Google.

Now, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said Google’s use of the APIs wasn’t covered by copyright law in the first place.

The effect of Thursday’s ruling is limited because a jury had earlier reached an impasse on the issue of fair use. But the ruling could be important in any appeals.

Oracle said it will appeal the ruling.

Android now powers more than 300 million smartphones and tablet computers. Those devices are the chief competitors to Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Google has driven the adoption of Android by giving the software away to manufacturers of phones and tablets. That would have been more difficult for Google to keep doing if the court had found that Google needed to pay Oracle millions of dollars to license Java technology.

The jury in the case had been asked to rule on the infringement and fair use questions on the assumption that the APIs were copyrightable. Alsup deferred a ruling on the broader copyright question until after the trial, which ended May 23.

Alsup ruled Thursday that Google didn’t use Oracle’s exact programming code in Android, but rather wrote its own code to produce the same functions. Although Google used some of the same phrases in the code, Alsup said it had to do so to maintain interoperability. Names, titles and short phrases aren’t covered by copyright, and Google’s use of those phrases amounted to that, he said.

“In sum, Google and the public were and remain free to write their own implementations to carry out exactly the same functions of all methods in question, using exactly the same method specifications and names,” Alsup said.

In a statement, Google said “the court’s decision upholds the principle that open and interoperable computer languages form an essential basis for software development. It’s a good day for collaboration and innovation.”

Oracle countered that Alsup’s ruling would “make it far more difficult to defend intellectual property rights against companies anywhere in the world that simply takes them as their own.”

Alsup’s ruling does not affect the jury’s determination that Android infringed on nine lines of Java coding, but the penalty for that violation is confined to statutory damages no higher than $150,000. Oracle had been seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Google on the API questions.

The jury has also cleared Google of infringing two Oracle patents.

Google Gains More Ground In Android Dispute

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NEW YORK — Oracle Corp. received another setback Thursday as a federal judge in San Francisco undermined a central part of the company’s multimillion dollar case against Google Inc. over its Android software for mobile devices.

Oracle had accused Google of copyright infringement in using “application programming interfaces,” or APIs, that help Oracle’s Java software work effectively. A jury found Google infringed on those APIs on May 7, but it couldn’t agree on whether Google was covered under “fair use” protections in U.S. law. Without a fair-use determination, Oracle wasn’t able to extract huge sums from Google.

Now, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said Google’s use of the APIs wasn’t covered by copyright law in the first place.

The effect of Thursday’s ruling is limited because a jury had earlier reached an impasse on the issue of fair use. But the ruling could be important in any appeals.

Oracle said it will appeal the ruling.

Android now powers more than 300 million smartphones and tablet computers. Those devices are the chief competitors to Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Google has driven the adoption of Android by giving the software away to manufacturers of phones and tablets. That would have been more difficult for Google to keep doing if the court had found that Google needed to pay Oracle millions of dollars to license Java technology.

The jury in the case had been asked to rule on the infringement and fair use questions on the assumption that the APIs were copyrightable. Alsup deferred a ruling on the broader copyright question until after the trial, which ended May 23.

Alsup ruled Thursday that Google didn’t use Oracle’s exact programming code in Android, but rather wrote its own code to produce the same functions. Although Google used some of the same phrases in the code, Alsup said it had to do so to maintain interoperability. Names, titles and short phrases aren’t covered by copyright, and Google’s use of those phrases amounted to that, he said.

“In sum, Google and the public were and remain free to write their own implementations to carry out exactly the same functions of all methods in question, using exactly the same method specifications and names,” Alsup said.

In a statement, Google said “the court’s decision upholds the principle that open and interoperable computer languages form an essential basis for software development. It’s a good day for collaboration and innovation.”

Oracle countered that Alsup’s ruling would “make it far more difficult to defend intellectual property rights against companies anywhere in the world that simply takes them as their own.”

Alsup’s ruling does not affect the jury’s determination that Android infringed on nine lines of Java coding, but the penalty for that violation is confined to statutory damages no higher than $150,000. Oracle had been seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Google on the API questions.

The jury has also cleared Google of infringing two Oracle patents.

‘DO NOT POST’: Major Companies’ Social Media Policies Deemed Unlawful

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WASHINGTON — In an effort to control employees’ activities on Facebook and Twitter, some U.S. companies have instituted social media policies that run afoul of labor law and infringe on workers’ rights, according to a memo issued Wednesday by the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

General Motors, one of the largest automakers in the world, has gone so far as to forbid employees from posting anything potentially “misleading” about the company online and even told employees to be careful about “friending” their co-workers on Facebook, the memo indicates.

Other companies, including DISH Network and Target, have also maintained corporate policies that at least partially violated provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, according to the memo. That federal law covers collective bargaining and employees’ “protected activities” in the workplace.

Written by Lafe Solomon, acting general counsel for the NLRB, the memo is meant to help employers navigate the ever-changing territory of social media and develop workplace policies that keep within the bounds of the law. Solomon essentially acts as the lead prosecutor for the labor board, and the memo lays out his conclusions on a number of issues that have recently come before the agency.

“This [memo] is actually in response to requests from employer groups who said, ‘Hey, we need some guidance. What’s a good social media policy?’” explained NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland. “Social media just by its nature is collective activity, and that goes to the heart of our law. It makes sense that we would pick this up.”

At this point, Solomon’s reading of the law constitutes little more than suggestions to employers on how to avoid potential legal problems. And a GM spokesperson said that despite the NLRB’s recommendations, the company hasn’t changed its policy, maintaining that it “complies with applicable laws.” But the memo may signal some of the legal wrangling that lies ahead, particularly if more workers choose to challenge their employers’ social media policies on the grounds of free speech or labor rights.

The memo quotes social media guidelines from several companies whose policies came up in cases before the board and then provides an analysis of their legality. Judging from those guidelines, companies are trying to walk a fine line between discouraging employees’ unprofessional or unfavorable posts online and stepping on employees’ right to post them.

GM, for instance, laid out some rather stringent rules for Facebook and other sites, urging employees to think twice before linking up with colleagues online or posting about their employer. The policy warned of “disciplinary action” if workers disobeyed the guidelines.

“If you engage in discussion related to [GM], in addition to disclosing that you work for [GM] and that your views are personal, you must also be sure that your posts are completely accurate and not misleading and that they do not reveal non-public company information on any public site,” the memo quotes from the automaker’s policy.

If a worker was ever “in doubt” about whether saying something online would violate the guidelines, the policy warned, “DO NOT POST.”

It also stated, “Think carefully about ‘friending’ co-workers … on external social media sites. Communications with co-workers on such sites that would be inappropriate in the workplace are also inappropriate online, and what you say in your personal social media channels could become a concern in the workplace.”

In the memo, Solomon argued that GM’s policy is unlawful in several ways. Prohibiting workers from posting anything “misleading” is overly broad, he wrote, since such a restriction could be stretched to cover lawful criticism of working conditions. Urging employees to think twice before friending colleagues is also overly broad, he said, since it could “discourage communications among co-workers.” Requiring workers to check with GM managers before posting something would violate labor protections as well, he contended.

Mary Henige, a GM spokeswoman, said via email that the company hasn’t changed its social media policy since it was instituted in 2007. “We feel we have a comprehensive policy that informs and guides employees as they navigate the social web, and complies with applicable laws,” she wrote.

In the case of DISH Network, Solomon argued that the satellite broadcaster’s social media policy infringed on employees’ rights when it prohibited “disparaging or defamatory comments about [DISH], its employees, officers, directors, vendors, customers, partners, affiliates, or our, or their, products/services.” Solomon said that workers could “reasonably construe” this rule to mean they can’t criticize their employer’s labor practices.

He also said DISH’s prohibition on talking with reporters or bloggers without company authorization infringed on workers’ rights under labor law. A DISH spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment.

Target’s policy, the memo alleges, overstepped labor law by telling employees they cannot “release confidential guest, team member or company information” via social networks. Solomon argued that such a rule could be seen as forbidding workers from sharing “their own conditions of employment,” including wages and working conditions. Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, declined to comment on the memo.

The memo doesn’t chastise every company and its social media policy. In fact, it holds up one rather well-known retailer as a model for all others: Walmart. Every section of the company’s recently revised policy is “lawful,” according to Solomon. The company’s guidelines merely prohibit “inappropriate postings that may include discriminatory remarks, harassment, and threats of violence or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct.”

Walmart’s broadest social media rule doesn’t violate the law either, according to the memo, even though it’s a rule that Internet users love to break: “Be Respectful.”

Read the memo:
NLRB on social media

Coolest Job, Maybe?

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Over the past several months there’s been a surge in “Call Me Maybe” spinoffs including everything from business cards to YouTube covers and hilarious parodies.

But now a small public relations firm in Hoboken, N.J., is using Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit song in a bid to recruit candidates for two open positions, Mashable reports.

The YouTube video, which took 90 minutes to film, features all of Litzky Public Relations’ employees in the firm’s office and around the Hoboken waterfront. The entertaining clip includes choreographed moves, lip-syncing and even some yoga moves on company branded mats.

But releasing the video was also a strategic move to lure talented candidates with an appreciation for all things pop culture, the firm explained. And so far, the ‘ad’ seems to have worked.

“We’ve had more than 4,500 views of the video and have received about 100 resumes for the two positions we are currently looking to fill,” Michele Litzky, president and founder of LPR told The Huffington Post.

What do you think? Is this a clever way for small firms to reach the right candidates on a budget?

Watch the original Carly Rae Jepsen ‘Call Me Maybe” song below.

Scott Goodstein: An Open Letter to FCC Chairman Genachowski — Take Action and Stop Political Text Spam

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Chairman Genachowski,

You have heard from us on several occasions that text message spam is overwhelming Americans and is disrupting the political process. From the presidential campaign to local elections, nefarious operatives are taking advantage of loopholes to spam voters, and now they have struck in the most notable race yet of 2012: the recall election in Wisconsin.

Example:

Subject: Union Puppet

Message: Tom Barrett is a Union Puppet who will give Union Thugs everything they want. Call & ask why 414-271-8050.

Messages like this actually caused Barrett Headquarters in Milwaukee to experience phone outages, seriously disrupting their work. This must be stopped. While I understand the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) cannot stop every form of spam text messaging in the U.S., we need your leadership to clarify that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act truly protects consumers and prohibits sending political text spam. Such action is necessary because radical right-wing consultants are claiming that loopholes “allow them” to legally send millions of political text messages to voters that never opted in to these programs. In order to prevent these unscrupulous consultants from sending these unwanted text messages, which may cost the text message recipient, you must address this issue now. As you can see from this next example, spam is by no means limited to attacking the Barrett campaign. Here is one that went out to supporters of President Obama recently in Virginia:

“Obama ally Hillary Rosen criticizes stay at home mom’s like Ann Romney. Listen 312-569-0397″

Political firms have already bragged about sending millions of email to cell-phone text messages in 2010 and 2011, and so it is no surprise that they are doing so again. Imagine how many millions of unwanted and costly messages are about to unleashed on the American public in what may be a close election year. If no action is taken by the FCC, how many companies in America will embrace text message spam as a tactic used against their political and business rivals?

There are many problems with political text spam besides costing the end-user money and being a nuisance. There is no way to unsubscribe from these lists, find out who is sending them, or fact-check them to see if the information in the message is even accurate. Simply put, these messages cheapen our democracy and are just becoming the latest dirty trick, similar to sliding a misleading flyer under a voter’s door, printing lies on a mailer late in an election cycle, or push-polling misleading information.

I understand that these consultants propose that their new technology is not regulated by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. I also understand that America is the only country in the world in which carriers are allowed to charge consumers for two-way text messaging (yes, that is correct, no other country charges a consumer to receive an incoming text message). Therefore, our government has more than a right to step in — they should be obligated to protect consumers from nefarious end-user charges of spam text messages, as well as keep companies in check that use our text message gateways for illegal activities.

Chairman Genachowski, don’t sit this one out and wait for the wireless carriers to protect the consumers on this issue. Since the carriers are not protecting consumers and the political text spammers are flagrantly violating the TCPA, will you step in? Technology has evolved faster and figured out ways to spam consumers with misleading information that can’t be traced back to a source, and costs the end-user money. We need leadership to step in and clarify that the TCPA does prohibit the use of the dirty tricks, and to protect consumers from unwanted charges by penalizing those who choose to spam Americans. And we need this action to happen now, before the 2012 election cycle is over and potentially millions of Americans are forced to pay fees for text messages.

I do not want to sit back and watch as companies break the law and the spirit of American elections spamming citizens with nefarious messages. I was honored to build a text-messaging system for President Obama’s campaign that led to an entire new industry of opt-in text message marketing. This system used new technology to provide voters information on their early vote locations, issue information, and answer questions in real-time. And within two years, I’ve watch bad-players manipulate this new technology to spam and harass voters to make a quick buck.

My company, Revolution Messaging, filed an official petition with the FCC asking them to clarify that the TCPA currently prohibits these dirty tricks. It’s important for the FCC to address political text spam because this is more than just an annoying form of political communication; it’s an invasion of privacy that costs you money.

Bruce Kushnick: I Challenge Verizon to a Public Debate: Piano Optional

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Dear Verizon,

I challenge you to a public debate about our findings in our last report “Verizon’s State-Based Financial Issues & Tax Losses” and the materials in our previous HuffPost articles — and please make sure there’s a tuned piano in the room.

Bob Varettoni, the executive director for corporate communications at Verizon, wrote “It’s Not the Same Old Song at Verizon,” claiming that my last few articles were “outdated and erroneous in many ways.”

I should write a longer rebuttal, but I will keep this brief as I propose we do a public, live debate. The impartial Internet Society (New York chapter) has agreed to host it.

Ironically, Mr. Varettoni started his response by discussing Glenn Gould’s playing of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” Gould took the piano world by storm in 1955 because of his technical prowess. Mr. Varettoni then claims that his later version recorded in 1981 was more mature.

And Mr. Varettoni believes that while Gould’s playing matured in the later recording, I, however, have “been writing variations on this same theme for nearly 30 years — and many of the sentences written in 2012 read as if they had been written in 1983.”

Unfortunately, the Verizon executive doesn’t have a clue about Gould and his playing — as his later version is not considered by many pianists better than the original but different and more of an afterthought to his career.

I can say this because I’ve been playing the piano for 55 years. I have a degree in music composition from Brandeis. I played Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) a few times, and was joined by Robert Koff, founding member of the Julliard String Quartet. I even have a solo piano CD of my own compositions, released in 2008, and just released some free, new, more modern tunes. I’m expecting to play Carnegie again in 2015 and to play in a bunch of clubs in the interim.

But most importantly, regardless of Gould’s playing, the underlying, actual notes and their arrangement — i.e., the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, never changed in the last 271 years. Factual data is always factual data.

Also, Mr. Varettoni seems to have missed the part of my bio where from 1982 to 1992 we worked for what is now the Verizon and AT&T companies. I was one of the leading consultants in interactive services, as told by this New York Times front-page article as I was consultant to AT&T and all of the other telcos. And in 1992, I helped to roll out the first three-digit service, like “311″ in New York, with Cox Newspapers, which was based on a report I wrote in 1990 and published by Probe Research in 1993

But in 1992 I found out that my clients had been not only been able to overcharge my Aunt Ethel thousands of dollars on phone charges, but that the companies had gotten billions of dollars in financial incentives that were supposed to be used for upgrading the network — and this was based on submitting cost studies that were “made up” and commitments that they would never keep. Others have noticed over the last 20 years as well.

As I wrote in our recent HuffPost article, in March, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities just issued a show cause order that Verizon-New Jersey failed to properly upgrade 100 percent of state’s Public Switched Telephone Networks with fiber-optic service, capable of 45 Mbps in both directions by 2010. The original agreement was a horse-trade; the phone company would replace the aging copper wiring with a fabulous fiber optic future if the state changed the law so that the customers would pay more for service, the new financial largess to be used in the new infrastructure building and we know how poorly that went.

While Mr. Varettoni claims that I’ve been doing variations on a theme, truth is, it would seem that I’ve been creating whole symphonies of new findings that matured with age as the more I dug since 1992 the more I found.

Let me address just a few of the wrong notes, foul harmonies and slopping playing of this “Same Old Song of Verizon” — with no disrespect to the Four Tops’ classic, “It’s the Same Old Song.”

1) Paying New York taxes: More like a comic, out-of-tune minuet.

Verizon: “(Kushnick) … faults Verizon for getting a state income tax break in New York because the company does not make a profit on wireline services there.”

And elsewhere: “And yet, Verizon is vibrant and profitable.”

Verizon, New York showed a $2.2 billion loss in just 2010 in its SEC filed state-nased annual report. (See page 3). Simply put, Verizon manipulated much of the business entities and is moving assets out of the utility, including FiOS, many data services, etc.

Isn’t FiOS profitable in New York? What about the “business enterprise services” or even the data services? Aren’t these all profitable? Are the revenues counted in the Verizon, New York report? Have these entities paid their fair share back to Verizon, New York or are customers paying for these services to be deployed?

Verizon, I can’t hear you? Please sing louder…

2) Verizon: “Verizon pays taxes in New York on gross receipts rather than income.”

While Verizon claims that it paid “gross receipts” tax, there is no mention that Verizon “passes through” these “gross receipts” charges to the customers. Here’s an actual Verizon-New York small business customer phone bill with multiple “surcharge taxes” that have been mixed in with other charges where Verizon is charging customers for their taxes. The state law specifically reads that “this surcharge is not required by the Commission.”

How much of these gross receipts tax-surcharges are paid by customers vs. Verizon?

Verizon, you are singing out of key.

3) Verizon: claims we “misrepresent Verizon on New Jersey property taxes.”

Kushnick: We quote the League of Municipalities, which highlighted a current court case against Verizon for stopping to pay property taxes to municipalities.

We didn’t miss a beat.

4) Access line accounting: a deceptive cadence

Verizon: We make “baseless assertions about Verizon shifting assets and changing the way we report wireline access lines.”

Kushnick: This chart on access lines is taken directly from the FCC. It stops at 2006 (the last year the FCC published this data), and the “loss” of lines is based on counting a subset of lines called “switched” access the majority of lines, mostly “Special Access” show massive gains. In fact, only 40 percent of lines are “switched,” and therefore counted.

Where’s FiOS? Where’s the data services? Where’s DSL? Where’s the “Special Access” lines? Remember the losses we just discussed? Those losses and the deceptive accounting of access lines are tied at the hip.

Verizon, I believe you have not practiced your piano scales enough.

5) Musical chairs with construction budgets

Verizon: “and — perhaps most absurdly, given financial realities — suggests that Verizon wireline revenue subsidize Verizon Wireless.”

The New Jersey State’s report we quote outlined how the construction budgets that should have been upgrading the utility plant have been shifted to the wireless company, even though wireline customers have been paying excess profits in the state for decades. Therefore, Verizon will not be upgrading at least 155 communities.

“While it is possible for Verizon to extend service throughout its authorized territory to an additional 155 municipalities in the state that are not included in its current application of 369 towns, Verizon has indicated it will now concentrate its capital expenditures, expected to be between $16.8 billion and $17.2 billion in 2010 on its wireless telephone network. … Therefore, unless a new entrant into the system-wide franchise process emerges in these areas, there is little expectation that they will receive landline cable television competition.”

Maybe you should wear some glasses when you try to read the “sheet music”?

6) Verizon is tone deaf and gets an ‘F’ in music education

Verizon: “So go ahead and listen to Glenn Gould’s recordings and marvel for yourself at the evolution of genius. Today, you can … anytime, anyplace and on virtually any device — compliments of Verizon’s investment in networks.”

First, I do want to thank Verizon. I hadn’t listened to Bach, much less Gould’s rendition in years, though “The Well-Tempered Clavier” is still my favorite Bach collection. Wikipedia writes “The Well-Tempered Clavier” is generally regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of Western classical music.

However, Verizon has left most with a Victrola that is still playing vinyl 45s but charging everyone for digital copies, over and over again.

Moreover, I’m convinced Verizon failed music education and lacks even the basics skills of harmony, theory, counterpoint or analysis, much less a proficiency on their instrument.

Verizon, whenever you ready for a real debate, let me know. But make sure there’s a piano in the room. Someone has to entertain those who attend. Here’s my music bio.

If you’d like to see us debate, just post some comments here or go to Mr. Varettoni’s article. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.

Windows 8 Release Preview Now Available For Download

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Windows fans, rejoice! The latest preview of Windows 8 is available for your testing pleasure.

Microsoft announced on May 31 that the Windows 8 Release Preview, the company’s final prerelease of the forthcoming OS, is now available for download in 14 different languages. You can get it right now by visiting this site here and following the download instructions.

The final version of Windows 8 is expected to launch this fall. According to a post on the Building Windows 8 blog, since the Windows 8 Developer Preview, rolled out last September, millions of people have begun to use the product daily on both tablets and desktops or laptops; the final release will be will work on all those devices.

In February, Microsoft made available a Consumer Preview of Windows 8. That version let users try out and get a feel for the operating system’s dual-mode operating system, featuring the a traditional desktop interface and a unique tablet-friendly “Metro” view (which lends itself to multitouch input via touchscreens and features the live tile interface similar to what you’d see on Windows Phone devices).

The Release Preview rolled out on Thursday brings with it some minor updates since the February preview. New apps like Sports, Travel and News are now available, as well as updates to apps that were released with the previous preview, such as Mail, Calendar and Internet Explorer, reports Wired. The new preview’s Internet Explorer app now supports Flash and its split-screen viewing has been smoothed out, among other improvements.

(Visit the Verge for a hands-on look at the Release Preview.)

According to PCMag, one thing the Windows 8 Release Preview doesn’t include is an update to the OS’s desktop interface, something that Microsoft has promised to include in the final version of Windows 8. CNET explains that Microsoft also plans to drop the Aero translucent glass theme currently featured in the preview with the release of the OS’s final version.

Will you be downloading Microsoft’s Windows 8 Release Preview? Let us know in the comments!

Flip through our gallery (below) to see some of the most exciting new features of Windows 8.

Hypnotic Water-Inspired Exhibits at Eyebeam Gallery

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As the World Science Festival kicks off in New York City this month, the art and technology gallery Eyebeam is bringing art and science together for their new summer exhibit, ‘Surface Tension: The Future of Water.’

Upon walking into the gallery, visitors are immediately faced with hypnotic, large-scale installations and the constant sounds of water across the space. Projects are mounted on walls, suspended like mobiles from the ceiling, and tucked away in hidden, dark corners. Ranging from maps to instruments, films to laboratories, pumps to prisms, it’s a mesmerizing homage to water’s essence. Plentiful as it seems to be, flowing through massive waterways and raining down upon urban centers, the actual availability of drinkable water is a dwindling reality in light of world population growth. The exhibit is meant to engage lovers of science and art in a global phenomenon of ever-increasing importance -– the idea that water must be managed in order to remain sustainable.

hydrocordion
Di Mainstone and Louis McCallum playing the Hydrocordion.

Some artists and designers approach the idea of water’s future from a playful perspective. Hydrocordion, a musical device constructed by artist Di Mainstone, Louis McCallum and other designers, is a complex water organ that invites visitors to become “squeezicians.” Reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg invention, the transparent pipes filled with water move up and down as visitors simultaneously perform a “slipper-jig” on foot pedals and play a water-belly attachment like an accordion. It’s a physical and auditory experience for jiggers and passer-by alike. As Mainstone explained at the exhibition, “I modeled it after a village well, like the one in my mum and dad’s village. I wanted people to have to input energy in the same way for this project.”

Other artists highlight the pure scientific mystery behind water. “Hydrogeny,” a project created by artists Eveline Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, celebrates the atomic wonder that is hydrogen. It consists of a transparent glass tank filled with water and equipped with electrodes that is continuously illuminated by a spectrum of colors emanating from a laser positioned a few feet away. The electromagnetic treatment transforms the glass tank into a window to some distant universe, as the viewer looks out onto a constellation of dancing particles and flickering colors. Peering into the water tank we asked the two artists if the liquid was just water, to which Dmitry quickly replied, “Water is never just water. It’s never just H20.” Evelina went on to explain the phenomenal features of the complicated molecule that makes up water. “In three weeks, life starts emerging in the tank similar to how life first emerged on earth, through sunlight interacting with water in the seas and oceans.”

the swimmer
Still from Fergal McCarthy’s The Swimmer.

A few of the exhibits are more didactic, like Lane Hall and Lisa Moline’s “Basin,” which depicts a simple flow chart of water politics, or Matthew Laws and Hall Watts’ “Urban Water Needs,” that consists of a topographical map made out of used sponges. But other projects have abandoned the typical visual aids used in mapping the role of resources. One in particular is Fergal McCarthy’s reimagination of the 1968 Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer. Also called The Swimmer, the newer film follows artist McCarthy’s swim through Dublin’s public and private waterways, elegantly cutting a new map of the city as he maneuvers through swimming pools and rivers to get from one end of the metropolis to the other.

There is a clear connection between technological advancement and the future of water throughout the exhibits, a partnership that is conveyed in both unity and tension. Artist Julius Popp showcases a giant waterfall of text titled BIT.FALL, that supplies tranquil soundscapes by representing computer-generated texts through a stream of water droplets acting like pixels. Yet while the installation is a fete in water-text, it seems more illustrative of the fleeting nature of information rather than the pressing nature of water scarcity.

Like Popp, most of the artists share a background in the hard sciences, such as curator Ralph Borland, an artist and designer who recently completed a PhD in engineering. As a result, some of the installations rely more on higher-tech mechanisms to create visually appealing demonstrations of water’s capacities, rather than using ready-made or used material to create compelling installations that are less directly educational and more abstractly meaningful. The “Protei 002″ project seems to skirt this approach, creating DIY sailboats that could potentially be used to clean oil spills, which remains a functional design rather than a truly provocative piece.

The message of water’s paradoxical existence is undoubtedly and imaginatively conveyed though, and the interwoven community of scientists and artists does its best to eliminate the imagined divide between the disciplines, providing an interactive space for visitors and designers to explore their liquiphile interests. In this way, “Surface Tension” transcends the typical gallery-walk, making for a genuinely enjoyable viewing experience.

“Surface Tension,” which originated at Science Gallery in Dublin, opened May 30th at Eyebeam in New York and will be on display until August 11, 2012.

Check out a slideshow of images of the water-themed projects below.

Google To Make Merchants Pay For A Spot On Shopping Search Results

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Looks like Google’s free shopping search results won’t be free much longer.

In a May 31 post on its Google Commerce blog, the company announced that, this fall, its Google Product Search feature will turn into a new shopping search engine called “Google Shopping.”

According to Search Engine Land, the service will require merchants to bid for a listing on the search engine itself and for a spot on Google Shopping boxes, which will feature these paid-for shopping search result listings in a box labeled “Sponsored” at the top of Google’s regular search results page. The shopping results usually listed for free by Google on its regular search results page will no longer appear.

Current Google search results page:

google product search

Updated Google search results page:

google product search

Vice president of product management Sameer Samat explained in the blog post that Google Shopping will be built on its existing Product Listing Ads and the switch from Google Product Search to Google Shopping is set to be completed by this fall.

“We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date,” writes Samat. “Higher quality data — whether it’s accurate prices, the latest offers or product availability — should mean better shopping results for users, which in turn should create higher quality traffic for merchants.”

However, as Marketing Land points out, this “paid inclusion” model that Google is currently using with its flight and hotel search result listings and will be using with Google Shopping seems to go against the company’s beliefs. In their 2004 Founders’ Letter, Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote under the heading “Don’t Be Evil”:

Our search results are the best we know how to produce. They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent updating….We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.

With Google Shopping, it seems users will indeed only be seeing what vendors have paid for them to see, as the search engine will only list products from vendors that have paid to be included.

“Paid inclusion has historically been used to describe results that the website owner paid to place, but which were not labeled differently from organic search results,” Google told The Verge, in defense of Google Shopping. “We are making it very clear to users that there is a difference between these results for which Google may be compensated by the providers, and our organic search results.”

What do you think of this new paid inclusion model that Google is using? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

This 84-Year Old Tycoon Won Twitter Today

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T. Boone Pickens may be the coolest billionaire on Twitter.

The 84-year-old Texas oil tycoon responded to a tweet from rapper Drake last night with a tweet of his own. But what’s memorable about the Twitter interaction is not that Pickens responded, but that he trumped the 25-year-old rapper.

Pickens strayed from his usual subject matter and re-tweeted Drake’s message about becoming a millionaire with an observation of his own.

The first billion is a helluva lot harder RT @Drake: The first million is the hardest.

— T. Boone Pickens (@boonepickens) May 31, 2012

Well played, Pickens.

Drake had no choice but to acknowledge the one-up.

@boonepickens just stunted on me heavy.

— Drizzy (@Drake) May 31, 2012

More than 8,200 Twitter users re-tweeted the exchange between the unlikely pair, according to Mashable.

Oddly, Pickens does not follow Drake, so why he chose to respond to the rapper is anyone’s guess.

Check out the gallery below to see Twitter reactions to the back-and-forth between Pickens and Drake.

LOOK: Woman Creates Fake Dating Profile, Gets Crazy Responses

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Alyssa Kramer wanted to see just how far men would go for a good time.

So the Philadelphia blogger created an outrageous online dating profile for her alias, “Marla,” a fictitious 26-year-old from Queens, New York, and wrote about her experiment for Slacktory.

Kramer wrote what she considered to be the most ridiculous descriptions of Marla’s interests and attributes, including a line that detailed her body type as “used up.” She also uploaded a photo that showed only her hair and shoulder — features she didn’t consider particularly sexual.

SCROLL FOR PHOTOS OF “MARLA’S” PROFILE AND CONVERSATIONS

As Jezebel points out, Kramer went into the project with a few rules: Don’t make the first move, don’t further conversations and don’t lead guys on.

Despite her best attempts to dispel men, Kramer received a series of rather amusing responses from potential suitors still interested in chatting. Apparently even talk about constipation (!), syphilis (!!) and incest (!!!) couldn’t keep these dudes away.

Perhaps the moral of Kramer’s story is that there’s someone for everyone… “as long as you’re willing to settle for a guy who might be into some equally weird shit,” Jezebel’s Erin Gloria Ryan notes.

Nevertheless, the journey to finding the perfect partner isn’t always smooth sailing, and sometimes, singletons need a little help navigating the rocky waters of online dating.

Just ask one women whose date confessed to listing all his Match.com dates on spreadsheet or a Philadelphia woman who received a detailed survey from an ex-suitor, asking her to rank his appearance, manners and masculinity.

Despite the popularity of online dating sites, a recent study suggests that finding love on the Internet is no more effective than “the old-fashioned” way.

The report, published in the Feb. 2 issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest notes that the scientific algorithms popular dating sites tout aren’t really that useful in determining the perfect match, CBS reports.

Still, researchers note that online dating also has its upsides, including “increased opportunities to meet potential partners [and providing] minimally threatening contexts for initiating relationships.”

Take Trish and David Palmer, who married after they met playing “Word With Friends.”

Click through the slideshow below to see Marla’s conversations with potential suitors:

What Is Your Best Job Interview Question?

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Congratulations, graduates! All those early-morning classes and late-night cramming sessions and what’s your reward? A lousy job market. Sure, we’ve seen a steady, albeit modest, drop in the unemployment rate over the past several months, but the job market remains anything but robust. Just ask the millions who are still desperately looking for work. For them, and for new job seekers, the key question remains, “How can I stand out?”

Resumes, of course, still matter. (And lying on them, as recently departed Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson learned the hard way, can be a big mistake.) But for many companies, especially smaller ones with close-knit staffs, interviews play an increasingly central role in the recruitment process. Whether it’s a series of one-on-one interviews, group interviews or even psychological tests, in-person conversations are more likely than ever to make — or break — your candidacy.

Here’s the good news. Despite an unemployment rate north of 8 percent, many employers say they still can’t find the right people to fill open positions — which means if you can get your foot in the door, a winning interview just may keep you there.

So what is the person on the other side of that desk really looking for? We decided to ask members of our Board of Directors, some of whom are hiring as we speak, for their toughest interview questions. For other entrepreneurs out there, these should help your own hiring process. And for job seekers, consider it a cheat sheet for your next big sitdown.


JJ Ramberg
Host, MSNBC’s Your Business and Co-Founder, GoodSearch

“The Host”

“Would you be willing to put together an IKEA bookshelf?”

“From the early days of hiring for GoodSearch, I’ve always asked this. In the beginning, this was actually a necessary question, as we moved offices a lot and we in fact did put together a lot of IKEA bookshelves! But there is more to the question than the practicality of gauging their handiwork. Asking this question sends a message to the candidate that we are the type of company that acts like a family, and when things are needed for the company, no matter what they are and no matter what your position, all hands are on deck.”


Tom Szaky
Founder, TerraCycle

“The Eco-Capitalist”

“What do you want out of this role and the company? And where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Basically, what are their goals and desires? Many times, this is a telling question, as people answer it more honestly than other questions. People often only tell you what they think you want to hear. In contrast, it’s a ‘watch out’ if someone is looking to do something unrelated five years from now.

“I also like to ask what someone’s biggest, most glorious screw-up was. I can’t tell you how many times people say they ‘can’t think of something’ or they ‘don’t make mistakes.’ When I hear that, I immediately discount the person’s fit, as everyone makes mistakes. And at TerraCycle, we want to encourage a team mentality of risk-taking and experimenting.”


Tate Chalk
Founder and CEO, Nfinity

“The Matador”

“Why us?”

“When I meet with someone, that’s what I want to know most. That can tell me a lot about a person. Most people don’t take the time to write a cover letter when they apply and, for the most part, don’t do their due diligence before they sit down in front of you.”


Lawrence Gelburd
Lecturer, The Wharton School

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll Professor”

“What are the three most important decisions you have made affecting your professional career?”

“I am always informed by the way interviewees frame their responses and how specific they are. This gives me a great window into their ‘big picture.’”


Phil Town
Investor and Author of Rule #1 and Payback Time

“Rebelman”

“If you’re working here and I think you’re doing a terrible job, how do you want me to handle it?”


Elizabeth Busch, Anne Frey-Mott And Beckie Jankiewicz
Co-Founders, The Event Studio

“The Clipboard Queens”

“How do you work? Can you fit into our culture?”

“We are a unique company with a very virtual team spread out across the country, so that’s really the most important question we’re asking.”


Bob Parsons
Founder and Executive Chairman, The Go Daddy Group

“The Renegade”

“How would you make a difference in our organization?”

“I like to get a sense of the person and what they are most passionate about. I can tell a lot about a candidate by hearing their answer.”


Jennifer Hill
Startup Advisory and Venture Lawyer, Gunderson Dettmer LLP

“The Advocate”

“If you weren’t doing [fill in the blank here], what would you do?”


Clint Greenleaf
Founder and CEO, Greenleaf Book Group

“The Cowboy”

“When I call your old boss, what will she say about you?”

“It absolutely depends on the candidate, but we use the Topgrading method, which is awesome. I highly recommend it. To understand it, read the book ‘Who’ by Geoff Smart — it’s a perfect primer. The best question has several steps, but it’s about references. Note that it’s not ‘references’ in general, it’s a specific person who knows the candidate’s work style. And it’s not ‘if’ but ‘when.’ The candidate is forced to be more honest. It fleshes out his or her true character.”


Eric Ryan
Co-Founder and Chief Brand Architect, Method

“The Soap Guy”

“How will you keep our company weird?”

“At Method, our best question comes during the ‘homework assignment,’ which is the final stage of a candidate’s journey. Think of it as a live audition where they are given three questions. Two are related to the specific position and the last one is always this one. We ask because it’s a cultural value, because we want people who can think differently, and let’s face it, the weirdest people are the ones who change the world.”

Marilyn Monroe Gets The Hologram Treatment

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The hologram trend continues to trudge along, with each week bringing news of plans for another late celebrity’s digital resurrection. This week: Marilyn Monroe.

THR reports Monroe (who would have turned 86 Friday) is the center of an upcoming show with the working title “Virtual Marilyn Live — A Musical Celebration of the Birth of the Pop Icon” (hopefully that will change).

She’s not the only one: Usher will dance with fan holograms during his upcoming June 11th concert, which will be streamed live on YouTube. That event is part of a series which pairs musicians with luminaries in film (the most recent, and notable, of these performances was the Gary Oldman-directed Jack White concert).

Other names being floated (by THR) for hologram consideration include Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando and Haank Aaron (why not!). Of course, the landmark hologram performance came in the form of a bright (and tall) Tupac Shakur, who digitally stunted all over the Coachella stage he shared with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.

As with most things in the entertainment industry, the holograms are a big business. Potential earnings for the estates of dead celebrities could bolster holdings that already run quite deep. Forbes reports Michael Jackson’s estate raked in $170 million and Elvis Presley’s brought in $55 million. Monroe dialed up a still-impressive $27 million.

Of course, where there is money, there are lawyers. THR reports that the Monroe event “could signal the type of legal fights to come,” as the company owning copyrights pertaining to the actress and singer is not working with the company creating the hologram (though a representative says the companies will probably eventually collaborate).

So what say you, readers? Are you eager for a projected version of the Hollywood icon, or are you already growing wary of seeing dead celebrities prance around?

For more on the story, including why upcoming holograms will be more realistic than Tupac’s, head over to THR.

$4 Billion? Maybe Not

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* Square aiming at $4 bln valuation, up from $1 bln

* Is Facebook IPO a turning point for other tech IPOs?

By Sarah McBride

SAN FRANCISCO, May 29 (Reuters) – As Silicon Valley scrambles to assess the impact of the Facebook IPO mess, all eyes are on Square.

The much-heralded, next-generation payments company had been aiming to raise its next round of venture capital funds at a valuation of as much as $4 billion – up from $1 billion just a year ago. That is the sort of acceleration in valuation that happened with Facebook prior to its public market debut.

But with Facebook worth $30 billion less than it was just two weeks ago, industry insiders say that concerns about overexuberance around social media and other Internet companies — which began to emerge late last year — have mounted.

“There’s a chill settling in over the market,” said one late-stage venture capitalist. “Going back to reality is helpful,” he added.

The ability of Square, and a handful of other hot Internet start-ups, including Asana, Just Fabulous and Ideeli, to raise money at super-premium valuations is now shaping up as a test of whether Facebook’s IPO marks a turning point in the latest tech boom.

Facebook’s IPO was a success by one key metric – raising the maximum possible amount of cash in public markets for the company and early investors – but it was a massive failure for later-stage investors and people who bought Facebook shares at the IPO price of $38.

A number of high-profile start-ups had the luck or foresight to raise money from venture capitalists just ahead of the Facebook IPO. Question-and-answer service Quora, founded by Facebook alumni, raised $50 million recently at a reported $400 million valuation, even though it has no revenue. Online bulletin board Pinterest raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.

But those who did not get their deals done before the Facebook offering could be in a tricky spot.

Workplace-collaboration network Asana has been talking to venture capitalists about a new round of funding in the $20 million to $30 million range, two sources said. The new round would value the company at around $250 million. Online retailers JustFabulous and Ideeli are both seeking to raise $30 million to$50 million at a $300 million to $500 million valuation, according to another source who had talked to those companies before the Facebook IPO.

The most visible of all is Square, a company run by Twitter co-founder and Silicon Valley darling Jack Dorsey. Square aims to reinvent the payment function with mobile devices and sophisticated software and identity technologies.

Square announced a $100 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers last June, valuing the company at $1 billion. Other backers include Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, and Visa. Venture capitalists say it is seeking a $4 billion valuation for its next round. A Square spokesman declined to comment.

Venture capitalists generally try to invest in companies they think will be worth at least three to five times more than their initial investment by the time the companies get acquired or go public.

That means Square, to justify a $4 billion valuation, would have to be worth at least $12 billion in a few years – a tall order for a company operating in a business with slim margins, deep-pocketed and established players, and lots of fraud.

Square’s fans counter that it is growing quickly and has a unique opportunity to leverage social-media platforms and upend entrenched businesses that are short on innovation.

Asana might have an easier story to sell. It is run by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and the steady monthly revenue it gets from its best customers – a premium service launched in April – could make it popular with investors looking for reliability as well as growth.

Still, the advantage Asana was perceived to enjoy due to enthusiasm around social networks in general and Facebook in particular could now look more like a liability. A spokesman for Asana declined to comment on financing.

JustFabulous and Ideeli may have a tougher time, some venture capitalists say. JustFabulous co-Chief Executive Adam Goldenberg said the company does not comment on financing. A spokeswoman for Ideeli declined to comment.

Most e-commerce companies eventually are acquired at about one to 1.5 times revenue, but in the early stages they ask for valuations of five or 10 times revenue, venture capitalists say. That means a company would have to increase revenue by a factor of 15 for a venture capitalist to make three times its return.

Very high valuations can also create another problem in that they limit the pool of potential acquirers. At a 10-figure valuation, companies including Apple, Facebook, Google or Microsoft are almost the only possible buyers – an especially important issue if the IPO market as a whole goes dormant for a time.

Asana last raised funds in 2009, when Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark Capital committed $10 million. JustFab raised $33 million last year, and Ideeli has raised a total of $70 million, including $41 million last year.

“I think the valuations in the private market are high,” said Mary Meeker, a former star Internet analyst and now a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Speaking at the “D” conference in Southern California, where many Internet industry leaders gathered this week, she added: “We run a billion-dollar digital growth fund at Kleiner Perkins, and we didn’t invest a penny in the March quarter … We just were having trouble getting comfortable.”

Still, not everyone in Silicon Valley thinks private-company valuations are going to take a big hit.

“When you look a year from now, two years from now, I’m not sure you’re going to say prices came down at high-quality companies,” said Sergio Monsalve, an investor at Norwest.

For venture capitalists, “growth is such a huge factor,” said Golden Gate Ventures’ Glenn Solomon. “And there’s still a ton of growth out there.”

Anav Silverman: Israeli Startup Helping Americans Find Jobs

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As the U.S. economy suffers from a stagnant unemployment rate, an Israeli startup company is using innovative technology to change the way Americans search for and find jobs.

Utilizing social networking as its base, Jobsminer.com is the only job search engine that aggregates jobs in real time from social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus and more. While such social networks are generally limited to family, friends or followers, JobsMiner offers a groundbreaking means to access job opportunities hidden within the vast and relatively untamed social networking frontier.

In unlocking these hidden jobs, JobsMiner presents potential employment opportunities that otherwise would have been missed by the job seeker.

If someone, for example, wants to search for potential jobs in Maine, a simple click on the website’s map of the state yields a list of jobs, ranging from office manager in Portland to registered nurse in Bangor, all drawn from various social networking sites. The job seeker can always tailor the search by specifying the job field he or she is interested in and the geographical area.

According to the company’s CEO, Ran Enoch, over 22 million Americans have used social networks to find their most recent job in 2011.

“The majority of jobseekers today use social networking,” Enoch told me in an exclusive interview.

“Ours is the first and only online tool that searches all social media websites for relevant jobs,” he added.

2012-05-29-JobsMiner.JPG

Photo Courtesy: JobsMiner.com / Description: The team behind JobsMiner.com in the company’s headquarters in Kiryat Ono, Israel.

JobMiner’s social media search engine is based upon the unique technology of Makam, a leading Israeli company which has been monitoring and analyzing social media for seven years, providing services in the fields of government, security, and healthcare to thousands of users in organizations both in Israel and internationally, including the U.S.

“The reason that we chose to launch JobsMiner in the United States is due to the current economic climate of the country and because of our familiarity with the market there,” explained Enoch.

“Our search engine crawls through social networks, blogs and forums, filtering out the clutter and presenting those job opportunities that are relevant to the job seeker. What we realized is that company employees many times will post about a job opening on their social networks before it even appears on the company’s website or job board. JobsMiner gets this information out to a much wider circle of people in the quickest possible way.”

Launched in February 2012, JobsMiner has already helped countless Americans locate jobs, according to Enoch.

Joyce Lain Kennedy, a Los Angeles Times syndicated careers columnist predicts that JobsMiner “holds the potential to play a major role in the 21st century job search revolution.” She described JobsMiner in her column as “an impressive burst of creative energy to refresh your job search.”

With ten Israeli employees who oversee one million job postings per month, JobsMiner is a small startup company located in Kiryat Ono near Tel Aviv, and is looking to expand its services.

“Following our success in the American market, we are looking at the job market in Spain right now,” said Enoch. The company is also looking elsewhere in Europe and plans to make its job service technology available in its own home country in the coming months, with the Hebrew-language system already set.

“Even with our plans to continue expanding, one thing will not change and that is that we plan to always keep our services free of charge,” Enoch told me. JobsMiner provides its services for free as it generates revenue through clicks on Google advertisements on its site.

“In general, our company’s vision is to continue to help people find work across the globe,” concludes Enoch.

Sprint EVO 4G LTE goes on sale Saturday June 2 for $199

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Sprint EVO 4G LTE goes on sale Saturday June 2 for $199

Sprint has finally nailed down the general availability for the HTC EVO 4G LTE, on the new official release date is June 2, 2012. Sprint had originally planned to begin selling the EVO 4G LTE on May 18, but a hold-up in U.S. customs over a patent dispute with Apple kept the phone off the shelves and out of your hands.

With the patent issue now settled and U.S. Customs releasing the shipments from lock-up, Sprint is now free to sell its new flagship phone. According to an announcement made today, “most retail channels” will have the EVO 4G LTE in stock. That includes Sprint corporate stores, authorized resellers, www.sprint.com, and 1-800-SPRINT1. Supply will vary by location, so now might be a good time to butter up your local Sprint salesman or make plans to arrive at the store early on Saturday just in case.

Customers who pre-ordered the EVO 4G LTE and didn’t cancel the reservation were rewarded earlier this week when phones began arriving to those patient users. All others will be able to pick up the latest EVO on Saturday.

P.S. As a general reminder, please note that the EVO 4G LTE is launching sans-LTE, so you’ll be stuck on 3G until Sprint rolls-out coverage to your area. There’s no telling when or if that will be, so be sure to consider Sprint LTE availability when making your purchase.

Alexander Howard: US CTO Looks to Scale Agile Thinking and Open Data to Improve Citizen-Centric Government

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In the 21st century, federal government must go mobile, putting government services and information at the fingertips of citizens, said United States Chief Technology Officer Todd Park in a wide-ranging interview this week: “That’s the first digital government result, outcome, and objective that’s desired.”

To achieve that vision, Park and U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel are working together to improve how government shares data, architects new digital services and collaborates across agencies to reduce costs and increase productivity through smarter use of information technology.

Park, who President Obama chose to be the second CTO of the United States in March, has been (relatively) quiet over the course of his first two months on the job.

Last Wednesday, that changed. Park announced a new Presidential Innovation Fellows Program, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in New York City, in concert with VanRoekel’s new digital government strategy. Both men then spoke (more formally) about digital government at the headquarters of the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. On Friday, Park presented the U.S. CTO’s team’s agenda to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

“The way I think about the strategy is that you’re really talking about three elements,” Park said in our interview. “First, it’s going mobile, putting government services at the literal fingertips of the people in the same way that basically every other industry and sector has done. Second, it’s being smarter about how we procure technology as we move government in this direction. Finally, it’s liberating data. In the end, it’s the idea of ‘government as a platform.’”

In the video below, Park explains how “open data” specifically relates to the things that Americans care about, from access to health care to reducing energy bills to giving kids more educational opportunities, and job creation. In his view, open data is about much more than the consumer-facing apps that are created from it, although the creation of health care apps does matter for entrepreneurs and citizens.

A new iteration for White House fellowship

The idea of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program, Park said, is to bring in brilliant people from outside government to work with talented innovators inside the government on agile teams that work together within a six-month time frame to deliver results.

The idea of such fellow is not novel — President Lyndon Johnson established the prestigious White House Fellows program in 1964. President Jimmy Carter created the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) in 1997. President George W. Bush amended the PMF program with an executive order in 2003.

The highly competitive White House Fellows program offers “exceptional young men and women first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. Selected individuals typically spend a year working as a full-time, paid Fellow to senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries and other top-ranking government officials.” The program has attracted extraordinary young Americans, year after year, for decades. The 14 individuals in the current 2011-12 class of Presidential Fellows, for instance, are accomplished physicians, lawyers, academics and distinguished members of the military. Those diverse faces offer a compelling snapshot of some of the best talent the United States has to offer.

The fellowships are basically scaling up the idea of “entrepreneurs in residence,” Park said. “It’s a portfolio of five projects that, on top of the digital government strategy, will advance the implementation of it in a variety of ways.”

The biggest challenge to bringing the five programs that the U.S. CTO has proposed to successful completion is getting talented men and women to join up to join his team and implement them in a short time frame. At week’s end, there was good reason for optimism, with respect to the candidate pool: Park shared vie email that “within 24 hours of TechCrunch Disrupt, 600 people had already registered via Whitehouse.gov to apply to be a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and another several hundred people had expressed interest in following and engaging in the five projects in some other capacity.”

The White House Innovation Fellows will be working on the following five projects: a new “Open Data Initiative,” Blue Button for America, RF-PEZ, The 20% Campaign, and MyGov.

A federal government-wide Open Data Initiative

In the video below, Park talks about the Presidential Innovation Fellows program and introduces the first program, which focuses on open data:

Blue Button for America

RFP-EZ

The 20% Campaign

MyGov is the U.S. Gov.uk

For my complete interview with Park, which explores each of these fellowships in more detail, read the O’Reilly Radar feature on how US CTO seeks to scale agile thinking and open data across federal government.

‘Thriller’ Dancing Robots Stay In Step With Technology

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This dance routine may be cute and entertaining, but for once, Internet eye candy is not entirely useless.

Scientists at MIT’s Nonlinear Networks Lab have programmed a troupe of humanoid Nao robots — made by a French company called Aldebaran– to dance in synchrony to Michael Jackson’s mega-hit “Thriller.”

While at first glance this might not seem any more exciting than a flash mob, Time’s Techland blog notes “these machines can actually judge if they are a step or two behind the rest of the dancers and catch up.”

SCROLL FOR VIDEO

So does that mean they’re… thinking? Well, only on about the level of bacteria.

MIT’s Patrick Bechon and Jean-Jacques Slotine programmed the robots to utilize quorum sensing, which means that individual robots emit and receive data to figure out what others in the group are doing.

Similar communication is used by bacteria and social insects. Phys.Org explains:

“…organisms emit a small number of molecules into the environment which the others can sense. The more members of the group, the more molecules are present, which lets each member know how many others are there and when it’s time to do something.”

By comparison, the robot “swarm” synchronizes with a global average time kept by a central server. But instead of being slaves to a master signal, the robots contribute to the average. So while they are all marching to the same beat, each robot has his own drum.

“If the connection to the central [server] is lost, the robots simply continue with routine but without centralised synchrony,” according to the MIT Technology Review.

In the video, a man purposefully disrupts a robot mid-performance. The little guy takes a minute to get his bearings, but it eventually rejoins the troupe perfectly on beat.

Yes, the dance is pretty cool to watch, but advances in robotics technology could mean big things for the future, too.

If humanoid robots can be synchronized to do the same task, then they can be synchronized to do related tasks, creating opportunities for applications in industries like manufacturing and construction, according to the MIT Technology Review.

WATCH: ‘Thriller’ Dancing Robots Stay In Step With Quorum Sensing:

Facebook Stock Sinks Again

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NEW YORK — Facebook’s stock is once again declining after its huge but rocky initial public offering.

Shares of Facebook Inc. dropped 96 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $27.24 in midday trading Thursday. The stock is down more than 28 percent from its IPO price.

Facebook began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on May 18. The day started with a delay due to trading market glitches and didn’t get much better from there.

The company, along with the investment banks that led the IPO, is also the subject of at least two shareholder lawsuits. They allege that analysts at the large underwriting investment banks cut their financial forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO and told only a handful of clients. Morgan Stanley has declined to comment. Facebook calls the lawsuits “without merit.”

Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Scott Kessler, who has a “Sell” rating on Facebook’s stock, lowered his target price to $27 from $30 on Thursday. He also lowered his earnings forecast to 39 cents from 40 cents for 2012.

May has been a bad month for the broader stock market too. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.1 points to 12,330.78 amid worries about the European economy.