Monthly Archives: August 2012

Shawn Amos: WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

Admit it: you go online when you’ve got an ache or pain, don’t you? Don’t be embarrassed, most of us — in fact, 80 percent of Internet users — look online for health info.

And we’re not just viewing; we’re sharing. Whether it’s posting symptom and treatment stories on PatientsLikeMe or just Tweeting about our allergies, we’re contributing a lot of information, at a time when technology and big data are poised to possibly make significant breakthroughs in medical research.

IBM, for instance, recently teamed with the CDC to help parse patient records to more quickly identify disease outbreaks, while Britain’s NHS is hoping its access to data from 52 million patient records will yield life-saving information.

While much of the medical profession is still trying to navigate the social media minefield for legal and ethical complications, some organizations are lighting the way forward.

The Mayo Clinic gets it, and they have for a while, establishing themselves as the standard-bearer for the fusion of social media and health care.

What’s next for social media and medicine? Watch the latest episode of Freshwire’s “60 Seconds of Social Media” below.

Missed last week’s episode on social media and the travel industry? Catch up here.

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Google Play Store launches end of summer promotion, several big titles participate

Even though Google has yet to officially unveil its latest promotion in the Google Play Store, it appears many major Android App developers have lowered the price on their apps for a limited time.

The End of Summer Sale, which coincides with Labor Day Weekend, is taking place as a search in the Play Store for “****End of Summer Sale” yields 53 results of discounted apps. I believe the page will soon populate with even more apps as developers begin to discount their apps.

Some of the major titles that are currently discounted at 99 cents include SwiftKey 3 Keyboard, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, N.O.V.A 3 – Near Orbit, and Gangster Rio – City of Saints. Feel free to browse the search query below to see if any other titles interest you.

[Google Play Store] [AndroidCentral]

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Facebook Gets Real Serious About Cracking Down On Fake ‘Likes’

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc is weeding out fake “Likes” on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.

Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.

“Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes,” Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.

“While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes,” the post continued.

Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time – a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social network, which has 955 million users.

Many of these Likes come from bogus Facebook user accounts rather than genuine users of the social network.

Meanwhile, various spam-like programs on Facebook deceive users into unwittingly liking something when they perform another action, such as clicking to watch a video.

Facebook said the cleanup will benefit both users and companies that maintain pages on the network, by giving a more accurate measurement of fan count and demographics.

Ensuring the integrity of Likes is serious business for Facebook, which depends on advertising revenue from large brands and other businesses. Many of the ad campaigns that companies conduct on Facebook are designed to garner Likes – a sign that their marketing message has resonated with consumers.

“It’s their currency,” said Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at research firm Altimeter Group. “Facebook is playing the Federal Reserve, to take the counterfeit currency off the market to ensure that there’s quality in the marketplace.”

The problem is not unique to Facebook, say analysts, who note that Twitter and Google Inc also grapple with fake accounts, spam and other techniques to game the service.

But for Facebook, the pressure to show that activity on its social network is genuine has grown as concerns have mounted on Wall Street about the company’s long-term profit potential.

Shares of Facebook set a new low on Friday, falling as much as 5.3 percent to $18.08, after brokerages cut their price targets on the stock. Facebook has lost more than 50 percent of its market value since its initial public offering in May.

Facebook estimates that 1.5 percent of its users are “undesirable” accounts set up for purposes that violate its terms of service, according to its most recent 10-Q regulatory filing.

“I think what they’re intending to do is get a handle on it before it gets really out of control,” Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner, said.

“You can imagine no business wants to pay for advertising to fake accounts.”

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)

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Google Co-Founder Buys Property, Charges Below-Market Rent To People Who Need It

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has long been known for his philanthropic spirit.

Throughout the past few years, Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, have donated millions of dollars in support of a variety of causes, including Parkinson’s research and space exploration.

Now it seems Brin has quietly undertaken yet another charitable endeavor — only this time, the 39-year-old tech titan has set his sights on the world of real estate.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Brin — through his small real estate holding firm Passerelle Investment Company — has been buying up property in Los Altos, Calif., in an attempt to “beautify and transform its sleepy downtown.”

Brin’s company is reportedly also trying promote and protect local businesses, while encouraging family-friendly establishments.

Passerelle…has helped keep some existing mom-and-pop shops in place — sometimes by charging them below-market rents, say local store owners and a person briefed on the firm’s activities.

Passerelle has paid tens of millions of dollars to snap up at least a half-dozen commercial buildings in the past three years, according to public records and local real-estate agents. So far, the firm has brought in businesses that cater to families, such as a children’s bookstore, a children’s “playspace” and a cafe called Bumble that has a supervised children’s play area and sandbox.

Read the full story at Wall Street Journal .

However, while some have lauded Brin’s generosity, not everyone has been thrilled by the changes that Passerelle has brought to the town.

Los Altos Mayor Val Carpenter told the Wall Street Journal that Brin’s company is “now the 500-pound gorilla downtown.”

She added that though the “firm’s moves have “energized” the town…some seniors and others have “very mixed feelings” about supporting such growth because they want the city to keep its old character and aren’t as interested in children-focused businesses.”

Still, as writer Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider notes, Brin, whose Silicon Valley home is located in nearby Los Altos Hills, “is doing a lot of other stuff for the world, and he doesn’t have to be investing in his community like this at all, and it’s just really cool that he is.”

In 2011, Brin and his wife ranked number 25 on the The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50 list of the most-genorous donors for their $61.9 million donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

As of May 2012, the couple — through their Brin Wojcicki Foundation — had donated more than $130 million to Parkinson’s research and has promised to donate up to $50 million more by the end of the year.

The tech titan has also donated millions to space exploration and in 2009, gave $1 million to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, among other charitable contributions.

Brin, whose stake in Google is worth around $17 billion, has also been known for his financial support of the larger tech community.

Last year, for example, Brin made headlines when he donated $500,000 to the Wikipedia Foundation.

Rumor: Samsung Galaxy Stellar will launch on September 6 for $99 on contract

After seeing Best Buy prematurely post a product page for the Samsung Galaxy Stellar, we now have information on a target launch date coming from Verizon’s internal system. The date in question is September 6, which would make the Galaxy Stellar an affordable back-to-school smartphone option.

The leaked information also confirms its 4 inch display, Android 4.0, 3.2MP rear facing camera, 1.3MP front facing camera, 4G LTE connectivity, and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. There is also mention of a Starter Mode, which we have previously seen. The Starter Mode will likely make the device easier to handle for Android newcomers. According to a previous rumor, the Galaxy Stellar is set to launch for $99 on a two year contract.

If the September 6th leaked date for the Galaxy Stellar pans out, then I imagine we will see an official Verizon announcement come Monday or Tuesday.

[Engadget]

This Tech Giant Just Got Even Bigger

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Professional networking website LinkedIn plans to expand its California operation to a new campus in Sunnyvale.

The Mountain View-based company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it has reached a deal to lease 580,000 square feet of space in the city.

It plans to build a new campus there that could accommodate 2,900 workers. The campus is expected to open in July 2014.

LinkedIn spokeswoman Erin O’Harra told the San Jose Mercury News ( ) the company anticipates keeping its headquarters in Mountain View. It is also expanding its space there. http://bit.ly/TAkCsL

___

Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com

Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Camera users can receive 50GB of free Dropbox storage

Owners of the Galaxy S III may be familiar with Samsung’s partnership with Dropbox that allows owners to register for 50GB of free storage space. According to a recent report, the promotion will continue for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Camera owners.

If you plan on purchasing either one of these devices, then it would be a smart idea to sign in with your Dropbox credentials or create an account. As soon as an account is signed in, it will receive 50GB of complimentary storage for two years.

Since both devices lean heavily towards media consumption and production, especially the Galaxy Camera, being able to sync your latest media and documents is a great feature.

[ZDNet]

Check Out This Condo Building That Lets You Park In Your Living Room

A recent report projects Singapore will be the wealthiest country in the world by 2050, so it’s no surprise that the southeast Asian city-state is beginning to throw the bling around.

Case in point: A new condo building that features two-car garages — in every unit. The Hamilton Scotts, a 30-story, 56-unit building features a glass elevator shaft that lifts cars into condo units and parks them, behind a glass wall, next to the living room.

CHECK OUT THE SLIDESHOW TO SEE HOW THE GARAGE ELEVATOR WORKS

‘It’s done in such a way that it’s a museum showcase, it’s not just a car park,” CEO of real estate development firm KOP Properties said, as quoted at the Daily Mail.

That much is clear — this isn’t a condo for drivers of AMC Gremlins, as the promotional materials make clear with their videos and photos of Lamborghinis and Ferraris.

Besides the sky garages, the building has the standard features of high-end apartments: A gym, meeting rooms, jacuzzis and an outdoor pool. Units run from around $9.4 million to about $23.5 million.

And Singapore isn’t the only place where unexpected new features are making their way into apartment buildings. Real estate developers in Peru and India are planning to build condos with swimming pools on their balconies.

CHECK OUT THE ‘SKY CONDOS’ IN LIMA, PERU

CHECK OUT MUMBAI’S ‘AQUARIA GRANDE’

HAMILTON SCOTTS SINGAPORE

‘SKY CONDOS’ IN LIMA, PERU

MUMBAI’S ‘AQUARIA GRANDE’

PHOTOS: San Francisco’s Public Spaces Get A Futuristic Makeover

There’s an old saying in San Francisco: Every time someone checks in at a parklet, an angel gets it’s wings.

Full disclosure: No one has ever actually said that.

Local non-profit Gray Area Foundation For The Arts has teamed up with Intersection for the Arts, Ideo, Rebar, the 5m Project and the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation for a new project called Urban Prototying that attempts to marry technology and innovative public spaces.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

The idea is to create a sort of competition where small groups would work to create projects spanning the divide between public space and the digital network. The mid-Market-based arts organization held a month-long call for submissions and, out of the over 90 ideas pitched, selected the most promising 19 to receive grants and be showcased at the San Francisco Street Exposition in October.

“We’ve been seeing a parallel between DIY urbanism and the DIY civic hacking worlds and we wanted to bring these two communities together to see what possibilities could come out of that,” Gray Area’s Jake Levitas told The Huffington Post. “We wanted to see what would happen if we took the software development cycle applied it to urban space.”

The group held a similar festival in Singapore earlier this year.

Some of the accepted proposals include a fresh take on public urinals, a go-anywhere playground that fits in a suitcase and citywide heart rate monitor.

All the projects are open-source, and the grants have been limited to about $1,000 each. Both of those conditions were imposed in order to make neither access to information nor cost of construction a serious impediment to replicating these ideas in other cities.

“One of the reasons parklets were so successful around the world is because, from the beginning, people released information online about to build them,” said Levitas. “Any of the Urban Prototyping projects that look appealing to someone in Barcelona or New York should be able to be made to happen there.”

If you have a great idea for a project but missed the initial call, take heart. GAFFTA will host a three-day hackathon in late September that gives people another shot at creating the next great urban planning/digital technology hybrid.

All of the selected projects will be displayed at the San Francisco Street Exposition on October 20 and 21.

Check out this slideshow of the selected projects:

Alex Palombo: The Presidential Campaign Turns to the Interwebs

Looking back to the 2008 presidential campaign, a lot of media attention focused in on how effectively President Obama utilized social networking sites to reach voters — particularly, young adults — and spread his policy message to a wider audience. The OFA campaign saw the potential for fundraising, fact-checking and mobilization and took advantage of the rapidly growing online base. Looking to this 2012 campaign, it’s as if there was no other way to campaign but to have a Facebook account, a Twitter handle, a clever Tumblr blog and an active online following.

In the past week, both the Obama and Romney campaigns have ventured even further into online culture to advance their campaigns — albeit in very different ways. Mitt Romney’s campaign became the first political campaign to buy a trending topic on Twitter, while Barack Obama became the first president to participate in an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit.

For the unfamiliar, an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit — commonly referred to as an AMA — is exactly what it sounds like. A famous Reddit user, or “Redditor,” volunteers to answer any question asked of them by any other user. The forum is loosely moderated, and questions can range from “What are your thoughts on net neutrality?” to “Do you prefer boxers or briefs?”

Given the audience of the AMA — at least 29,000 Internet users, mostly younger and tech-savvy — the most prevalent questions were those concerning Internet freedom, net neutrality, and plans to help recent graduates with employment, with Obama saying their fears are legitimate, and laying out exactly how he wanted to work on that problem.

While Obama was busy with the AMA — and crashing the server in the process (oops) — Mitt Romney’s campaign took to Twitter to increase its social media visibility. In addition to tweeting regular news to the more than 950,000 followers of the @MittRomney account, the campaign purchased the trending topic #BelieveInAmerica to be used to inspire conservative voters and rally the young conservative base. The promoted tweet reads: “With the right steps & the right leadership, the 21st century can & will be an American century #BelieveInAmerica.”

The tweet perfectly lines up with everything Romney has been saying for the last months/years of his campaign: The current leadership has failed the country and the economy, and with undisclosed steps and Romney/Ryan leadership, people can once again believe in America.

What really struck me was how emblematic the two social media strategies were of the two campaigns. The idea of the Reddit AMA is to be transparent and open to questioning. It’s commonly used by celebrities, particularly those with large Internet followings — Reddit has run AMAs with subjects like Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings, comedian Louis CK, football player Terry Crews, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. The idea of a promoted tweet or trending topic is to promote a product or message. It’s commonly used by companies and corporations — Twitter has run promoted trending topics and tweets for users like Volkswagen, Papa John’s Pizza, Ford Motors and Google.

The Obama campaign’s participation in the AMA sends the message that the president is transparent and open to questions — despite the fact that he didn’t answer every question asked in the forum. It sends the message that he’s willing to try emerging Internet methods and trendy websites to reach younger voters — it’s not every day a politician willingly goes to the land of trolls and LOLs to answer questions about net neutrality and youth unemployment.

The Romney campaign’s purchase of the #BelieveInAmerica trending topic sends the message that Romney isn’t interested in seeming transparent — we already knew this from the tax return debate. It’s using a traditionally corporate marketing strategy to show Romney’s interest in getting this country back on track with the right leadership, without telling people how, exactly, he plans on doing that (convenient that Twitter only allows 140 characters, with little opportunity for elaboration). And it shows that while he is interested in reaching a wide base of people, he could use a little more experience with how to do that — he has 950,000-plus followers, compared to President Obama’s more than 19 million, and the #BelieveInAmerica trending topic has gathered more mockery than support.

Everyone can agree that the social media is great for giving an inside look at a political candidate. But it’s how the social media is used that gives perhaps the best picture.

Internet Prank Tries To Send Taylor Swift To School For The Deaf For A Live Concert

For the second time in just over a month, an online contest promising a celebrity concert as a prize looks to have been hijacked by a group of determined Internet pranksters.

The target this time? Taylor Swift, who could very well end up performing for an audience made up entirely of students from Massachusetts’ Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The 22-year-old songstress has partnered with Papa John’s and textbook company Chegg for a promotion that will award a live concert to the school with the highest online vote total.

Thanks to an effort among Reddit, 4chan and other Internet users, the country’s oldest school for the deaf holds a commanding lead over the second-place school. Even the Horace Mann School’s Wikipedia page has been edited to include mention of the Reddit-led initiative.

But according to the contest’s official rules, Swift could still opt out of the performance.

“If Music Event details cannot be agreed upon with Taylor Swift and the Grand Prize Winning School, Chegg may award the Music Event to another school,” is one of the stipulations, the New York Daily News reports.

Regardless of the Internet community’s intentions, the school could have the last laugh.

According to Boston.com, those who are deaf can still enjoy music through vibrations, visuals and other assistance. Furthermore, the school’s headmaster Jeremiah Ford said he would be thrilled to welcome Swift to the Horace Mann School for a concert, should it win the voting.

“There are accommodations that make music come alive for deaf people,” Ford told Boston.com. “They have different abilities. They’re not disabled. They’re not impaired.”

“It might have been done with mal intent, and shame on them, but what a great opportunity for us,” he added.

Chegg will also award $10,000 grants to the music departments of the top five vote-getting schools.

Boston.com reports that Ford also said any money the school might receive from the promotion would benefit the students, some of whom are involved in drumming and other acoustic activities. The school used to have a music teacher and has discussed reviving the program.

In July, a similar Internet campaign launched by Boston Phoenix writer David Thorpe sent Pitbull to Kodiak, Alaska, after the city’s Walmart received the most “likes” on its Facebook page. The Miami rapper performed for a crowd of hundreds at the Coast Guard base in Kodiak, and also received a care package containing bear repellent from the local Walmart, the Daily News reported.

French Cat Video Wins Award

U can has trimming le butt hair. Such is life.

“Henri, Paw de Deux,” an existential spoof in which a black, francophone kitty bemoans his tedium, walked away with the honor of “Best Cat Video On The Internet” at the Internet Cat Video Film Festival in Minneapolis on Thursday.

“This is a great honor,” Will Braden, the film’s director, told Mashable. “I don’t think I’ve ever purred this loudly.”

The sequel to the original “Henri” comes packed with subtle LOLs, and of course, nods to French New Wave Cinema… well, sort of.

Henri Le Chat Noir has his own Facebook page, where Braden recently posted a photo of himself celebrating victory with his “Golden Kitty Award.”

And as for the film: It’s not bad, but the third installment, in which Henri goes to the vet, might be better.

Robert Weiss: Lonely and Horny? Married But Open? Seeking Men or Women? Something In-Between? There’s an App for That!

Looking for Love and Sex Online is Old News

For the better part of the past two decades online bulletin boards like Craigslist, dating websites such as eHarmony and Match.com, and endless pay-for-play sexual hookup websites have provided the single, lonely, horny, cheating, or simply bored man or woman with the fastest and most direct route to meet, date, romance, and/or simply have sex.

Finding Sex Faster Than a Table for Two.

As modern life has shifted away from the home or office-based computers and become all about the smartphone, we now have apps that allow us to literally “hook-up” on the go. Smartphone “friend finder” apps like Ashley Madison (for marrieds and partnered individuals seeking “out of the roost” sex), Skout and Blendr (for single straight men and women), Grindr (to find male-male partners) or Pink Cupid (to find lesbians and bisexual partners) — among many others — are actually friend finders in name only. More accurately, these more accurately named, “sex-finder” apps are designed to help you geo-locate an immediately available, readily accessible romantic or sexual partner much in the same way that Yelp or Citysearch will direct you to a nearby four star sushi bar or Italian deli with a good smartphone and the flick of your index finger.

Given the fact that nearly half of all U.S. households now own at least one smartphone, it seems reasonable to assume that increasing numbers of people are eagerly following this app-created breadcrumb trail to sex with strangers wherever and whenever time and circumstances allow.

Once downloaded and opened, sex finder apps bring up an instant photo grid of potentially available sex partners, presorted by location, gender, age and/or sexual preference — all on your smartphone screen. In crowded urban areas these apps often locate multiple people within a mere few hundred feet!

And just like that, the days of being rejected when out clubbing or trying to pick someone up at a party are a thing of the past. With sex apps there’s no muss, no fuss, just the act itself and a handshake on the way out, thank you very much.

Megan, a single medical student in her mid-20s, talks about her sex app experience:

When out at a club a few months ago I decided to give one of these apps a try and turned on Blendr. I swear, in less than two minutes this guy I’d never met or seen — David — started texting me. It turned out that he was hanging out with friends at a bar across the street. Feeling safe, with my friends all around, I texted back, asking him to come over and I’d buy him a drink. In less than five minutes, there he was, arms crossed, big smile on his face, right in front of me. It turns out he’s a really sweet, straight, single, professional ballet dancer. Now how sexy is that? And the great part for both of us is he isn’t looking for a relationship, and neither am I, at least not for the foreseeable future. My school and training schedule is just too crazy for that. But David and I did hook up that night, and quite a few times since, totally without strings, but also having a lot of fun.

Thanks to smartphone apps, seeking and finding fast hot casual sex has become, much like real estate, all about location. The more sizable and interesting the nearby crowd, the better your shot at finding partners. As such, any jam-packed venue is now a prime cruising spot for app-aware people looking to get laid. This entire genre of apps has in effect turned your local dog park, museum, mall, and crowded train station into a gigantic “singles” bar (though not everyone is single). It’s just so easy — just turn on your app. And if you have traditionally been the kind of person too shy to make the first move — no worries, as long as your app is open it is actively signaling your availability, so it won’t be long before someone finds you.

The Dangers of Convenient Sex

Unfortunately, much like a casino app in the hands of a compulsive gambler, those struggling with sexual addiction and similar sexual problems see sex finder apps as the equivalent of crack cocaine. And, as with all addictions, whether to substances or behaviors, the consequences to the active abuser can be profound.

Rico, a 32-year-old gay guy, had this to say about his experience:

Just after a friend introduced me to Grindr, by the end of the first week, without giving it much thought, I’d had three previously unknown sex partners over to my place. In a heartbeat Grindr became my #1 distraction from stress, tedium, and loneliness, but it also quickly replaced dating and most of my social life. Bored at work? Grindr. Sitting at a slow ballgame? Grindr. Out of town and in a lonely hotel room? Grindr. A weekend without plans? Grindr. And so it went. When out to dinner with friends I would set my phone to silent so it would merely vibrate in my pocket when someone was looking to connect with me. Before long using the app started to take over whatever free time I had. I found myself leaving the app on all the time and big surprise, my life quickly became all about the search for sex. Within three months I ended up getting fired for sneaking out of work to hook up. And just as bad, two guys I genuinely liked dating dumped me when they found me cruising Grindr while they were in the other room making dinner or on the phone. They did the right thing, I get that. But I still haven’t been able to put the thing away and stay away.

Rico’s story aside, sex finder apps have for most healthy people generated a reliable new source of casual romantic and sexual encounters, offering a readily available, mostly free source of brief sexual encounters and connection.

Are these apps right for you?

One important recommendation for anyone choosing to enter the “friend finder” world is to make sure they have genuine clarity about what it is they want.

If you’re devoted to finding a spouse or long-term partner, a traditional dating website is probably a much better option than Blendr.

If you are in a primary relationship and looking to cheat — apps likely are your fastest route to sex and potential relationship problems. But do remember to ‘play safe’, especially if you’re planning to keep this secret from a spouse.

If your primary interest is casual sex, sex locator smartphone apps will likely fit the bill.

Regardless of your situation or goal, remember that when using these apps, as do all technologies that involve intensely pleasurable activities, caution should be exercised, particularly by anyone who has a history of losing themselves in escalating, obsessive quests for sexual intensity.

Submit Your Own Eastwooding Photos

It used to be that talking to an empty chair was just another sign that you’re a few chips short of a motherboard. But then again, it’s not like the Republican Party’s platform is based on careful observation of fact, anyway.

Regardless of where you stand in the political spectrum, Eastwood’s ludicrous speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, during which the Hollywood vet addressed an invisible Obama presumably seated in an empty chair placed near Eastwood, is something we can all enjoy. Clearly, “Eastwooding” (the act of pointing at an empty chair and invoking President Obama) has become the meme du jour, following Clint’s now-infamous speech.

To wit: Here’s a slideshow to which you can add your own Eastwooding photos. All you need is a camera and an empty chair, which makes it easier than planking and less controversial than Tebowing or Bolting.

So go ahead, show everyone what you’ve got.

10 Highest-Paying Companies For Millennials

Fiscal Times:

For the most part, members of Gen Y, born between 1982 and 1993, have not lucked out in this economy. Many of them spent a fortune on college degrees that they’re barely using: They’re either fighting to land their first job or are stuck in low-paying jobs such as in retail, where a degree may not even be required. Though the national unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in July, 13.5 percent of people between the ages of 20 and 24 are currently out of work, while 9.3 percent of those 25 to 29 are unemployed. Not to mention the countless number who are underemployed.

RELATED: The 10 Best Cities For Young People To Find Jobs

Once they do find a job, many Gen Yers look for employment in companies that allow for flexible schedules and embrace their entrepreneurial spirit, but the average salaries for this age group are low. In 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly earnings for those 20-24 was $457 (or $23,764 annually) and $649 ($33,748 annually) for those 25-29.

RELATED: Why Good People Can’t Find Jobs

Yet at a handful of companies, Gen Y employees are raking it in. According to a new report by research firm Millennial Branding and from PayScale, Inc., which provides compensation data and software – the companies offering the best salaries to Gen Y employees are in technology. The research included information on millennials working at Fortune 500 companies, and in addition to median pay, it looked at the percentage of Gen Yers among employees, job satisfaction, job stress, meaningfulness of job, schedule flexibility and green score (the company’s environmental footprint as well as its management policies, programs and initiatives, and reporting practices connected to eco issues).

RELATED: Got A Degree? Get Ready To Settle For A Retail Job

Here’s a look at the 10 top-paying companies for millennials, according to the survey.

Jonathan Kim: ReThink Interview: Jake Schreier and Christopher Ford, Director and Writer of Robot & Frank

Set in the not-too-distant future, the movie Robot & Frank (my review here) tells the story of an unlikely friendship between Frank, an aging former cat burglar with a failing memory (Frank Langella), and a nameless eldercare robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard and performed by Rachael Ma) who turns out to be a perfect accomplice.

But Robot & Frank is no hypothetical sci-fi flight of fancy. Screenwriter Christopher Ford wrote the short screenplay the film is based on after hearing an NPR story about how several companies are designing robots that will allow the elderly to live on their own longer by helping them with daily tasks, dispensing medication, and aiding communication with family and emergency services. As artificial intelligence improves, these nurse/servants could eventually end up being true friends and companions, helping stave off the isolation and loneliness that can be as dangerous to senior citizens as any physical ailment.

I contacted Robot & Frank’s director, Jake Schreier, with some questions about the film, technology, and eldercare, and he was good enough to forward them on to Ford. I combined their responses below, some of which have been edited for length and grammar.

Jonathan Kim: I read that Robot & Frank was inspired by an article about how robots would be used for eldercare in the near future, but I was also wondering if either of you had any experience taking care of senior citizens.

Christopher Ford: I only have limited experience taking care of senior citizens myself. Mostly I helped my parents sometimes as they cared for their elderly parents. Both my grandfathers passed away while they were still mostly independent, but my grandmothers both lived longer and had live-in eldercare — from humans, of course. The idea for the movie was first inspired by a piece I heard on NPR, actually. I connected that with what my parents were going through.

Jake Schreier: I’ve watched my mother and uncle go through similar things with my grandmother, and there are certainly elements of those experiences in the film.

JK: What did you relate to when you read the screenplay and what did you think you could bring to it?

JS: Well, I had been involved with the idea since Ford created the original short film it was based on. I think it was more the image of the robot and this old man walking through rural woodlands that always stayed in my mind. Ford had to do the heavy lifting of figuring out how that could be worked into an entire feature. I think there’s obviously a very easy way in which the movie could go to a silly place, but Ford and I always saw something more serious at it’s core, and I tried to bring that to the direction.

JK: What were the challenges you faced getting the tone of the robot’s dialogue right, where it clearly sounded like programmed language, but also had enough emotion that a grumpy guy like Frank could also grow to have feelings for it?

JS: Yeah, that was a tricky balance. Paul Hsu, our wonderful sound designer, and I spent a lot of time trying to find the right balance. There’s only so much you can do with filtration, it really has to come from the performance. Peter has such an amazing amount of caring and empathy in his voice that there’s a lot of emotion that comes through even when his reads are clipped to a monotone. We ended up printing out all of the robot lines in sequence and just having him read them straight through without watching the scenes. It yielded the best balance and consistency. After that, Paul and I were able to adjust timings slightly or pull a syllable from a different take. If it ended up sounding a little inhuman, that was fine.

JK: I was wondering how you decided on the simple design of the robot, who looks a lot like Honda’s walking ASIMO robot, and if you ever considered other designs that were more futuristic and high tech.

JS: The segment of robot design aimed at elder care seems to be oddly focused on these little white spacemen. It’s not just the ASIMO, Toyota has a similar one too, and there are others. We just felt it made sense to stay in that vein. I think they benefit from their simplicity — it allows us to project more emotion onto them.

CF: The robot always had that kind of design, even from the original short I did in film school. I was taken by the image of this tiny little space suit-looking man walking around through a dusty old cottage. I know Jake always liked that image and it was the kernel that we tried to stay true to when we expanded it into a feature.

JK: Most science fiction tends to have technology negatively affecting our lives. Do you share the film’s optimism about how technology and artificial intelligence might not just help us physically, but also emotionally?

CF: One of the first pseudo-AI programs I ever saw was a therapy chat bot named “Eliza.” In its role as a therapist, it was already aiming to help emotionally. Of course it was all just a trick — the way a therapist sometimes talks to you is by rephrasing your statements as leading questions, creating the illusion of intelligence in the chat bot. But even still, I think there was something to it. It was incredibly fascinating to talk to.

I don’t think science fiction has to show technology affecting us negatively. It’s just that when you’re trying to be dramatic, that sort of situation tends to work. But with Robot & Frank, I really wanted the technology issue to be more open-ended. I wanted people to have an argument outside the theater about what they thought instead of the movie telling them what we thought. So the robot does a lot of great things for Frank, including emotionally. Technology can be incredibly positive, especially for our emotional well-being, as long as it lets us understand ourselves better — but we have to not overdo it and make it the center of our lives.

JS: I think I’d say I’m agnostic about technology and our relationship to it. I think it will inevitably change our interaction both for better and worse. Given the amount of knee-jerk negativity you find out there about “robot overlords” and the like, I guess I probably find myself more on the side of defending it than worrying about it. That said, I’m no expert — just trying to keep up.

(Watch the trailer for Robot & Frank here and go here to find out if/when it’s playing near you.)

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GOP War On Porn?

Last week, Republicans were warned not to isolate women voters. This week, they’re being warned not to anger porn-watching voters. Especially because Republicans reportedly watch more porn than Democrats.

Eight of the top ten porn-watching states voted Republican in the last presidential election, according to Harvard researcher Ben Edelman. That stat was quoted by Steven Hirsch, co-chaiman of one of the largest porn franchises, Vivid Entertainment, as he warned the GOP Thursday to back off.

This week in Tampa, Republicans added to their platform a call for more “vigorous” enforcement of pornography and obscenity laws. Current federal obscenity law prohibits hardcore pornography on the Internet, hotel/motel TV, cable/satellite TV and in retail shops–which is pretty much everywhere you can get it. However, enforcement is lax because it has hard to determine which porn qualifies as “obscene,” and the porn industry has usually won such battles in court, Hirsch pointed out.

The big-time producer wrote on Vivid’s web site that Republicans “need to catch up with what’s happening in America and the world today,” he said. “Books like ’50 Shades of Grey,’ dozens of popular cable TV shows and the web have made the public more comfortable with portrayals of sex than they ever have been before… Sex is everywhere.”

Which is exactly what Patrick Trueman, president of the conservative organization Morality in Media, is afraid of. “It’s the Viagra problem for guys in their 20s,” Trueman said to HuffPost. He claims young men are now spending “10 to 12 years looking at porn on the Internet and masturbating to it, so when they are getting married, they are dysfunctional sexually because their brain maps are changed.”

In response to Hirsch’s statement to the GOP, Trueman sent the following to Morality in Media supporters Thursday: “Neither Republicans nor Democrats should be taking advice from a man whose business is sexually exploiting young girls for profit” and who produced “such hardcore porn films as ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ and ‘Savanna’s Anal Gang Bang,’” AVN reports.

Regarding girls who watch porn, he said that they are “several times more likely to engage in group sex.” And, also, “56% of divorces now cite Internet pornography as a factor in the breakup,” he added.

What do the presidential candidates have to say on this “hot” topic? Mitt Romney said in 2007 that he would make sure every new computer is sold with a porn-blocking filter that parents can use to make sure their kids aren’t seeing anything X-rated. In his live chat Wednesday on Reddit, President Barack Obama advocated for Internet freedom but did not comment on porn.

Hirsch’s concluding thoughts on the War on Porn? As long as it’s not child pornography, we shouldn’t be worrying about it. “We have so many more important issues in front of us today than worrying about whether someone is breaking laws that probably should never have been written in the first place,” he wrote.

Hirsch is the same producer who, after Prince Henry’s naked incident in Las Vegas this month, offered the royal $10 million to star in a porn film called “The Trouble with Harry.” He has also been an outspoken critic of Los Angeles City’s recent law requiring porn actors to wear condoms on set.

Jim Kukral: Crowdfunding: Kickstarter vs. IndieGoGo

If you’re going to start a crowdfunding campaign you will inevitably come to the point where you will need to decide what platform to use. For my first project for my book series, I ended up raising over $35,000 on my own, without either Kickstarter or IndieGogo. For my second campaign called Jim For Life, I purposely choose to go with IndieGogo over Kickstarter. Here’s why.

Note: There are plenty of other platforms out there you can use besides these two. These just seem to be the most talked about.

#1 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Kickstarter doesn’t take all projects. Read their terms. They ask you to submit your project first, and if you pass their gatekeeper requirements you get in. I hate gatekeepers. Sure, I get why they do this, and they have every right to do it, I just don’t like it.

#2 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Kickstarter forces you to use the Amazon payment system. Ugh. First off, the set up of verification of your bank account is excessive and takes up to 5-days or more. And frankly, forcing people to pay this way is just ridiculous. IndieGogo takes all major credit cards and Paypal.

#3 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Fees. From Lockergnome’s Chris Pirrillo, Indiegogo offers users the ability to accept funding even when their goals are not met. This comes at a higher percentage (9% underfunded versus 4% for fully-funded projects) but it can help you avoid falling just a hair shy of your goal and losing any chance of funding as a result.

The current fees for projects funded on Kickstarter is 5%. Indiegogo’s fees start at 4% and raise to 9% if you fail to reach your funding goal. That makes Indiegogo a better deal for folks with fully-funded projects and the only option for folks willing to self-fund to make up the difference should they miss their goal amount.

#4 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Did I mention I hate gatekeepers? If you’re going to offer a service, make it open to everyone. Picking and choosing who can use it pisses me off.

Want to see IndieGogo in action? Stop over and drop a buck and get with the Jim For Life project where you can get all of my books for the next year for only $1.00.

Romney Campaign To Accept Text Message Donations

Mitt Romney’s campaign on Friday announced that it would start accepting $10 donations by text message this week.

“We recognize that people lead busy lives, but they still want to support Governor Romney with whatever means they have,” said Zac Moffatt, Romney’s digital director, in a statement. “This technology gives our incredible supporters the ability to make a donation in seconds –- not minutes –- with a text message.”

The service, known as “text-to-donate,” will launch for Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular customers this week. AT&T customers will be able to contribute “shortly,” according to the press release.

Donations can be made by texting the word GIVE to 37377. The move follows Federal Election Commission opinions issued earlier this summer permitting such donations.

Last week, President Barack Obama’s campaign announced its text-to-donate program. The key difference is that Obama donations are capped at $50, compared to Romney’s $10 limit. Donations made by text are charged to customers’ cellphone bills.

جالاكسي نوت 2: صور مباشرة من برلين لاندرويد العرب

في جولة اليوم وسط معروضات برلين IFA 2012 نتوقف قليلا عند اللعبة الجميلة التي اطلقتها سامسونج اول امس والتي كانت بمثابة هدية جميلة لكل من يحب منتجات هذه الشركة، انه جهاز Galaxy Note 2.

نتوقف عند امام هذا الجهاز ونلتقط له الصور ونلمسه باليد ونداعبه بقلم S-Pen الذي يمنحه قدرات غير معروفة لغاية الآن في عالم الهواتف الذكية والاجهزة اللوحية المدمجة معا كهذا الجهاز.

شاشة عملاقة 5.5 وقلم انيق ذكي اكثر مما نتصور، وتصميم جميل في غاية الروعة، وهو رائع بكل ما فيه من هاردوير كذلك، بقي علينا ان نلتقط له الكثير من الصور وننقلها لكم عبر صفحات موقع اندرويد العرب لتتعرفوا عليه مباشرة من برلين قبل حتى ان يصل الى أي متجر.

ولمن فاته التعرف على مواصفات الجهاز التقنية اليكم هذا الرابط عن تقرير سابق في موقعنا.