Thursday, April 30, 2015

First Solar's Disappointing Earnings and Budding Relationship With Caterpillar

Two things stood out in First Solar's earnings report on Thursday: it posted disappointing first quarter numbers, and it plans to make Caterpillar-branded solar panels for the industrial equipment giant.

More Evidence Linking Sugared Drinks To Diabetes

A new study uncovers some potentially important new details about the association between sugared drinks and diabetes.

Playing 'Scholar Of The First Sin' In The Shadow Of 'Bloodborne'

I've forgotten how to use my shield.

How Avid Hopes To Fix A Broken Music Industry

You might not have heard of Avid Technologies—the company behind Pro Tools (music editing/mixing software), Media Composer (digital video editing software) and Sibelius (music notation software)—but I can assure you that everyone who works on the production side of the industry has: behind the scenes, Avid is a household name, with strong footholds in film, television, and music production.

Reports: Yahoo Prepares To Enter Messaging Wars

Yahoo is said to be working on a pair of messaging apps that will let users send live video and texts, to rival Snapchat and WhatsApp.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

With Youku Tudou Partnership, Chinese Drone Maker DJI Turns To Home Market

Drone maker Da-Jiang Innovations(DJI)represents a rare breed of Chinese companies. Unlike most firms that first grow big in domestic markets before going international, DJI’s ambitions were global from the start. With four-propeller models equipped with 1080p high-definition cameras that retail for about $ 1,000, DJI has managed to capture more than 60% of the international markets for consumer drones.

With Youju Tudou Partnership, Chinese Drone Maker DJI Turns To Home Market

Drone maker Da-Jiang Innovations(DJI) represents a rare breed of Chinese companies. Unlike most firms that first grow big in domestic markets before going international, DJI’s ambitions were global from the start. With four-propeller models equipped with 1080p high-definition cameras that retail for about $ 1,000, DJI has managed to capture more than 60% of the international markets for consumer drones.

Secret, The $100 Million Social App, Shuts Down

How long does it take for a startup to go from $100 million to $0? If you are Secret, the anonymous social networking app, the answer is 10 months.

'The Flash' Season 1, Episode 20 Review: Reverse Trap

Another terrific episode of super villainy from CW's 'The Flash.'

How Microsoft is opening Office's brains to apps to make productivity even smarter

Everyone was up in arms when Google rejiggered its privacy policies to allow its various services to talk to each other, but now Microsoft’s taking a page from the same playbook to bring more intelligence to its various Office products—and allow third-party developers to tap into your data to create seamless experiences inside of Office products.

“We are moving from Office for us, to Office with others,” CEO Satya Nadella declared during Microsoft’s Build keynote on Wednesday.

Now, third-party plugins are nothing new to Office—witness the (somewhat neglected and barren) Office app store. But Microsoft’s rolling out a new unified API that allows third-party apps to pull data from all the various Microsoft services you use, from Calendar to messages. That should make it much easier for the company to create seamless, helpful experiences for end users.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Museums Embrace Virtual Tourism With Beam

Suitable Technologies and six US museums have partnered to give people with immobility or physical handicaps the opportunity and ability to visit and virtually tour museums in other cities or countries and not even leave their homes.

Bill to rein in NSA phone data collection reintroduced

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced legislation aimed at ending the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone records across the country.

Four senior members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee planned to reintroduce the USA Freedom Act late Tuesday. The House passed a watered-down version of similar legislation in last May, but the Senate failed to act on it before November’s elections.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Russian Spacecraft Hurtles Towards Fiery Death In Earth's Atmosphere

Russian cargoship hurtles back towards Earth, after flight controllers fail to establish contact.

A New Perspective on Leadership Training: From the Outside In

Before you sign up for one more intensive, introspective “know yourself” leadership training course, take a look at the new trend in leadership development.

Adobe's Project Para: Where Art Meets Programming

An artist's tools have been traditionally defined by the familiar: a paintbrush, paint, a potters wheel, a camera, etc. Over time, with the advent of the technology, we've seen a transformation of art to a digital form.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

15 Websites To Jump Start Your Career

Do We Live In A Hologram? The Idea Just Became A Little Less Crazy

Everything in our universe might be a lot flatter than it seems, at least, if you do the math.

What Apple's Bearish Analysts Are Saying

This note summarizes six sell-side analysts who have Neutral ratings on Apple.

Don't Blame Just China For Escalating The Arms Race In Outer Space

Contrary to popular perceptions, the space race is not just because of any one country in Asia. It is not just about China. It is coming about because of a fusion of national rivalries, which are now extending to outer space.

4 billion vs 7 billion; Can Facebook Overtake YouTube As No. 1 For Video Views And Advertisers?

Remember Myspace? Launched in Beverley Hills in 2003 by Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, in 2005 the pioneering social networking site was acquired by News Corporation for $580m, and for the next 3 years it was the most popular social networking site in the world.

Study: Mental Health Effects Of Bullying Even Worse Than Effects Of Abuse By Adults

According to a new study, those bullied by peers often suffer even worse long-term mental health outcomes than those maltreated by adults early in life.

SpaceX Launched Turkmenistan's First Satellite

SpaceX successfully launched a rocket carrying Turkmenistan's first communications satellite.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Security Software Entrepreneur Joins China's Billionaire Ranks

Lin Hao, chairman of Beijing VRV Software, has joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires following record gains in the share price of the Shenzhen-listed security software company.

What LinkedIn's Acquisition Of Lynda Means For Talent Management

You may have already heard that LinkedIn recently bought Lynda for $1.5 billion. For those of your not familiar with Lynda, it is a platform that provides online courses similar to Coursera and Udemy. You can access thousands of courses on all sorts of different topics and pretty much learn any skill that you want. Not too long ago, I did a podcast interview with the chief human resources officer at LinkedIn, Pat Wadors, (who is also speaking at our Future of Work Forum on April 29th in San Francisco). We had a long conversation about the future of HR so it's very interesting to see this latest development. There are some really great posts that have been written about this, such as this one by Josh Bersin, but I wanted to share my insights. I think this is a huge move — a “genius” move for Linkedin.

Is The Gap Between Business And Technology Executives Finally Closing?

Listen to enough conference speakers, peruse enough analyst reports, and read enough trade press articles, and one can be forgiven for thinking that business and IT people aren't even aware of each others' existence. However, a new survey series suggests that they aren't as far apart as it seems. Both groups recognize the power that new technologies bring to their businesses, and that there's a pressing need to modernize as much as possible.

Disappointing iPad Results Dampen Euphoria Over Apple's Big Quarter

As a general rule, investors seemed happy with Apple's second-quarter earnings report, released after Monday's market close. But the results for the iPad were a disappointment.

Toyota Replies To Fuel Cell Vehicle Critics: Tesla's Elon Musk Not Excluded

Toyota continues to go full-throttle on fuel-cell vehicles. Even calling out critics in its latest promotional video this week. In a not-so-veiled reference to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his comment about fuel-cell vehicles, Toyota captions the video, "Fueled by Bullsh*t | Presented by Toyota Mirai." In the introduction, the narrator, citing

Konami Isn't Dying Without Kojima And 'Silent Hills'

Rumors of the death of Konami are premature at best.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

New China Billionaire Couple's Ysstech Soars Into Earnings Ratio Stratosphere

Tang Qiu, chairman of Shenzhen Ysstech Info-tech, and his wife last week joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires following gains in the share price of the Shenzhen-listed IT services business. It is also a stand-out among the group with nose-bleeding price-earnings ratios.

A Whole Lotta Data Going On

Digital storage is an important element in every aspect of modern digital media workflows, and this is driving the application of both traditional and advanced digital storage technologies. In the media and entertainment industry there is “A whole lotta data going on” and this is driving demand for digital storage where that data lives.

Why Israel Needs And Wants To Support Hispanic Entrepreneurs

As many of you know, I have been spending quite a bit of time these days chronicling my recent travels to Israel as part of a delegation. This is article number seventeen in the series, and it’s the last one for now. I’ve covered a wide range of topics – the role that government, NGOS, and big business are playing in the Israel tech miracle; the demographic, geographic, and infrastructural gaps that Israel must close to evolve its status on the international stage; some of the start-ups that are come out of Start-up Nation that deserve our attention. But until now, I have not written on the subject that inspired my journey to Israel in the first place: the opportunity for Israeli entrepreneurs to collaborate – to share, mentor, and learn from – their peers in the Hispanic entrepreneur community.

Ten Fold Engineering Creates Self-Forming Liveable Structures

Ten Fold Engineering has created a lever-based system that will unfold into self forming liveable structures. The IP company's first partnership is G3 Festivals who wants to develop the technology to create a 40 bedroom hotel for the US market.

Friday, April 24, 2015

A Hospital Is Already Giving Apple Watch To Its Patients

The Apple Watch began arriving in homes and businesses across America on Friday. And in New Orleans, one doctor immediately strapped it to his patient's wrist.

Amazon's Split Personality, Or Why Consumers Aren't The Future

Amazon is two companies in one.

Apple's Watch Is Cool But Version 1 May Not Be Worth The Price

I liked Apple’s Watch but not ready to order the first version.

Forget Net Neutrality -- What About Net Vitality?

It’s been a pretty robust one-two punch for advocates of net neutrality lately. First they won a resounding victory at the Federal Communications Commission, and now a TKO of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger (I’ll have more to say on that later). But if you’re an Internet consumer rather than policymaker or pundit, do we really know how much better or worse the Internet actually will operate now?

You Are Being Physically Tracked When You Shop, The FTC Reveals -- Here's What You Need To Know

You are being physically tracked when you shop, and an announcement from the Federal Trade Commission today revealed scary details as to the extent to which this practice occurs. The FTC announcement, which represents its first action against a company engaged in retail tracking (that is the physical tracking of users

Moore's Law Sans Fans: Apple, HP Signal New Imperative For Intel

After the din from the 50th anniversary of Moore's law dies down, Intel will continue to grapple with a new set of demands.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Microsoft Releases New Windows 10, It's The Big One

Finally it all comes together...

China, Russia Team Up On $200 Million Robotics Deal

In a big move for Sino-Russian economic relations, the Skolkovo Foundation outside Moscow and China's Cybernaut Investment Group have signed a $200 million agreement to create a joint Russian-Chinese business incubator, robotics center and venture fund. The 1,500-square-meter R&D center will be at the Skolkovo Center and will house at least 15 Skolkovo resident companies that are conducting research into IT and robotics, space, energy-efficiency technologies and new materials.

'Bloodborne' Finally Has The Patch It's Needed Since Launch

Bloodborne is a difficult game full of brutally unforgiving enemies assaulting a player who starts out ill-equipped to face them. But the game has been challenging in another way as well. The penalty for death in Bloodborne (a frequent occurrence) isn't just the loss of progress, the resetting of enemies and the draining of all your currency, it also forces players to sit through an almost comically long load screen until they can respawn. The same goes if they're trying to warp in and out of the Hunter's Dream, and a solid percentage of the game can be made up of these load screens depending on how you play.

Apple Product Launch: iPhone 6 And Apple Watch

ShareFile Integrates With Outlook--Encrypted Douments In The Outbox

Citrix doesn't get a huge amount of attention for its file sharing and collaboration solution. The company acquired ShareFile many years ago and has slowly but surely built itself a good business. Citrix focuses on larger enterprise opportunities and does a lot of work in highly regulated industries - organizations who need to meet regulations such as HIPAA and are attracted to ShareFile's more "enterprise ready" feel. While Box and Dropbox get the lion's share of attention in the space, a number of other vendors quietly go about building businesses. As an aside, some just sit and wait for someone to come buy them as was the case this week with the news that Blackberry was acquiring file sharing vendor Watchdox).

Zeiss Batis Fits OLED Display To Camera Lens - Mad Or Inspired?

Now, this is different: Carl Zeiss AG has announced a pair of new lenses, featuring a unique built-in OLED display. Dubbed ‘Batis’, these autofocus prime lenses are designed to fit Sony’s Alpha range of mirrorless full-frame cameras and come in 25mm f/2 and 85mm f1.8 variants - and they are unlike anything seen before...

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

It's Not You, It's Me: Breaking Up With Your Managed Services Provider

As business needs change, enterprises often outgrow the managed service providers (MSPs) they partnered with. When the relationship with a provider just isn't working anymore, what's the easiest and smoothest way to break up?

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Xiaomi To Make Things Even Harder For Apple In India

China's privately held smartphone maker Xiaomi is going after the big guns. It's beat Samsung in China. It is neck and neck with Apple. And now it is going to India on its first stop abroad.

Globalizing The Fight Against Cybercrime

In mid-April of this year INTERPOL launched its brand new cyber-division in Singapore – the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) – which I believe is a landmark achievement for the global state of cybersecurity. I’d been personally campaigning for something like this to happen for several years beforehand, so now, finally, what seemed once a distant dream has come true. And I’m very proud that my company has been a partner of INTERPOL and been supporting it in its ambitious goals for several years.

Why Is The Life Time Value of My Customers Important?

Have you ever watched Shark Tank? The thing they are the most critical of is an entrepreneur who doesn’t know their numbers. So you have customers. You have sales. You know the cost of acquisition for each new customer. You even know how much it costs to create the product or provide the service and […]

Monday, April 20, 2015

Square Enix Developing More Unannounced Games On PS4

In some recent interviews with Square Enix staff, not only are there more unannounced PS4 games on the way but one of them could even be a Secret of Mana title.

Intuit Survey Recommends Aussie Small Businesses To Get An Advisor

The Australian operation of Intuit, a leading U.S. software company and the maker of cloud based accounting product QuickBooks Online has revealed the results of its national small business survey.

Samsung's Chipmaking Business Scores Another Huge Win With Qualcomm

Samsung is getting some good reception for its latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S6, but the company is making serious gains in its chipmaking business too.

https://youtube.com/devicesupport

10 Ways Mobility Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing

81% of CEOs see mobile technologies as being strategically important for their enterprises. The top three technology priorities of industrial manufacturing CEOs are mobility (73%), cybersecurity (72%) and data mining and analysis (70%).

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, America's Favorite Scientist, Experiments With Late-Night TV

Neil DeGrasse Tyson is bummed that he can’t wear pajamas to work.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Why Nintendo Teaming Up With DeNA Is Not The End Of Gaming

When Nintendo and DeNA announced they were hooking up, certain sections of the gaming community went out of their minds. Thinking that Nintendo had utterly sold out and the “Dark Times” of gaming were now upon us. Hysteria aside, this deal won’t really change anything on the Nintendo side of things and may actually improve the quality of mobile gaming overall.

The Big Assist: Can Israel Help Reframe The Narrative About The Future Of Driving?

If you get the opportunity to visit Israel anytime soon, and your objective is to get a read on the rapidly expanding technology sector, there is no doubt that at some point in your journey you are going to hear about -- or run into -- the people at Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY). In 2014, it enjoyed the biggest IPO in Israeli history, raising about $1B at a market capitalization of $5.3B (last time I checked, the market cap was close 10B). That might modest here, in Silicon Valley. But in Israel, the impact is huge. And not just in terms in dollars. They are an inspiration to many start-ups in Start-up Nation who until last year could only imagine smaller exits. But it’s also about the tech: Mobileye has developed a unique set of technologies that assist drivers by warning them of potential collisions and recommending moves to mitigate risk.

MINI's X-Ray Glasses: VR For Driving

Forbes tries out the MINI Augmented Vision glasses which project directions and other information on the driver's field of view. The most exciting feature? X-ray vision lets the driver see through the car to the world outside.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

How 'GTA 5' Can Be The Next 'Skyrim' On PC

Now that GTA 5 has made it to PC at long (long, long) last, many players are finding that the port was worth the wait. The game runs fantastically well and seems to be the culmination of everything Rockstar has learned since the original launch of the title back on last-gen consoles and the new-gen re-release since.

Cuomo's START-UP NY Highlights Failures Of The Empire State Development Corporation

The slow start of Governor Andrew Cuomo's Start-Up NY speak to broader failures in the state's economic development corporation.

Friday, April 17, 2015

The Best SpaceX Photos

The News Media's Use of the Walter Scott Video is - Surprise! - a Newsworthy Use

The New York Times gets it wrong on fair use. According to Christopher Sprigman, a professor at NYU Law School, “The video is newsworthy. The video was newsworthy the day it was shot, and it continues to be newsworthy. That’s why TV stations want to use it. This is a paradigm case for fair use.”

Could the Crimes of Two Corrupt Agents Free Ross Ulbricht?

Although the criminal case against former Agents Carl Mark Force IV and Shaun Bridges alleges corruption of extraordinary proportions, it doesn?t necessarily mean that Ulbricht will get a new trial. Here's why.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Cloud Data Center Trends To Watch For In 2015

By Sarah Tanksalvala

What's Next For The New Dungeons & Dragons?

The fifth edition of the classic fantasy role-playing game set records for best launch ever. Publisher Wizards of the Coast is just getting started.

Nokia's Plans To Divest HERE -- Is The Company Under Valued?

Nokia has planned to acquire Alcatel-Lucent for €16 billion, creating a powerhouse on the mobile networks infrastructure side. On the other hand, the company has also announced that the time is right to divest it’s HERE brand, the leading automotive digital map and location intelligence mobility provider. The valuation figures that are going around for the HERE brand is somewhere around €2 billion, but it is our belief that considering the future growth opportunities for this company, the valuation is on the conservative side.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

'Grand Theft Auto V' PC Version Benchmarked Across 14 Nvidia And AMD Graphics Cards

How does the long awaited PC version of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V perform on your AMD or Nvidia graphics card? Jump in for our benchmarks results across 14 cards and 3 resolutions.

My Ride On A Segway

The headline on Quartz pretty much summed it up:
"The tortured and ludicrous history of Segway ends with its acquisition by a Chinese imitator"

Netflix Subscriber Count Crosses 62 Million Sending Stock Above $500

Netflix closed out the first quarter with 62.3 million members, adding 4.9 million new users in the first three months of the year. In January the streaming company forecast that over the quarter it would add 4 million new subscribers for a total of 57.4 million. With all eyes on subscriber growth Netflix shares shot up close to 12% following the company's after hours release Wednesday, crossing the $500 mark for the first time ever and settling over $530 in the first half hour of trading.

Video marketing for Local Business - Call 800-983-8926

How to Grab More Local Leads with Online Videos http://www.virtualtechsolutionsllc.com/video-marketing/ Running a local business and want to boost your leads? Well, Video Marketing could be the key. Right now, there are people in your local area looking for the services or products that you have to offer. Chances are you have already started to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) and would like to catapult your business website to the top of the search engines. However there is so much more you can do. The vast majority of local prospects surfing the web are probably not in the mood to purchase from you right away. Instead, they want information on what you have to offer. Now, you most likely have pages and pages of text designed to educate somebody about what you sell, but most people do not want to read through that information.

Want More Customers ? Why Video Converts 800-983-8926 - VTS LLC |RocNMedia

WHY YOU NEED VIDEO AND WHY IT CONVERTS? http://www.virtualtechsolutionsllc.com/video-marketing/ VTS LLC & RocNMedia You’ve probably heard over and over again that having a video on your website can actually boost the amount of conversions you receive considerably. But you’re not sure why. Let me explain. 1. First and foremost; a video can help people easily and quickly understand how a product or service works. Some studies suggest that people’s understanding of a product increased by 74% when a video was involved. A better understanding of the product meant that they could make a much more informed decision when purchasing. Remember, people will tend to interpret the text that you write in a number of different ways. There is no real way to know exactly what they will be thinking when they read through what you have written; that’s because what may mean one thing to you may mean something completely different to somebody else. If you utilize a video, then you can demonstrate exactly how your product or service works. In just a couple of minutes of watching a video, people will walk away knowing what you are all about and how you can help them. 2. In addition to this, another piece of research found that 90% of people found watching a video helpful in their purchase decision. As I mentioned before, people do not want to read through a lot of text. They want the key facts. They want to know what they are getting themselves into before they part with their cash. Online videos will help make it clear for them. In the world of internet commerce, trust and credibility are absolutely everything. Sure, people are less cautious than they were in the past when it comes to making a purchase, but they still want to know that they are actually purchasing from a ‘real company’. 3. You only have a short amount of time in which to grab the attention of the online viewer. The quicker you get that information out there and get them to your call-to-action, the more sales you are going to make. There is no quicker method for getting your sales message across than with a video. If it is interesting and actually relevant to what people are interested in, then it is likely they will watch the whole thing. With text, you will be lucky if you can get them to read past the headline, let alone the first paragraph. 4. Finally, if you are marketing your videos in the right way (this means placing them on other websites like YouTube, Facebook, and others), then potential customers will even stumble across them. If they like what they see, it is likely they will carry out further research into your company. The more research they carry out, the more familiar they become with you, and the more likely they are to become a new paying customer.

Want More Customers ? Why Video Convers 800-983-8926 - VTS LLC |RocNMedia

WHY YOU NEED VIDEO AND WHY IT CONVERTS? http://www.virtualtechsolutionsllc.com/video-marketing/ VTS LLC & RocNMedia You’ve probably heard over and over again that having a video on your website can actually boost the amount of conversions you receive considerably. But you’re not sure why. Let me explain. 1. First and foremost; a video can help people easily and quickly understand how a product or service works. Some studies suggest that people’s understanding of a product increased by 74% when a video was involved. A better understanding of the product meant that they could make a much more informed decision when purchasing. Remember, people will tend to interpret the text that you write in a number of different ways. There is no real way to know exactly what they will be thinking when they read through what you have written; that’s because what may mean one thing to you may mean something completely different to somebody else. If you utilize a video, then you can demonstrate exactly how your product or service works. In just a couple of minutes of watching a video, people will walk away knowing what you are all about and how you can help them. 2. In addition to this, another piece of research found that 90% of people found watching a video helpful in their purchase decision. As I mentioned before, people do not want to read through a lot of text. They want the key facts. They want to know what they are getting themselves into before they part with their cash. Online videos will help make it clear for them. In the world of internet commerce, trust and credibility are absolutely everything. Sure, people are less cautious than they were in the past when it comes to making a purchase, but they still want to know that they are actually purchasing from a ‘real company’. 3. You only have a short amount of time in which to grab the attention of the online viewer. The quicker you get that information out there and get them to your call-to-action, the more sales you are going to make. There is no quicker method for getting your sales message across than with a video. If it is interesting and actually relevant to what people are interested in, then it is likely they will watch the whole thing. With text, you will be lucky if you can get them to read past the headline, let alone the first paragraph. 4. Finally, if you are marketing your videos in the right way (this means placing them on other websites like YouTube, Facebook, and others), then potential customers will even stumble across them. If they like what they see, it is likely they will carry out further research into your company. The more research they carry out, the more familiar they become with you, and the more likely they are to become a new paying customer.

SpaceX Rocket Very Nearly Lands After Successful Cargo Launch

SpaceX just missed out on the historic recovery of its prototype reusable rocket, which made it back to Earth, but landed too hard to survive.

Priceza, PricePrice, PricePanda - Who's Winning And Losing SE Asia's Price Comparison Races?

Priceza is the dominant shopping price comparison site in Thailand and may soon be in Indonesia. But by entering three new Southeast Asian markets in March, the startup is facing off against Kakaku's PricePrice (Philippines) and Rocket Internet's PricePanda (Singapore and Malaysia).

Sega Announces More 3D Classics For Release Later This Year

Continuing with Sega’s excellent and apparently rather successful 3D Classic remasters for 3DS, we’ll be getting new 3D versions of Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage 2 and Gunstar Heroes.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

'Star Ocean 5' Goes Next-Gen

Square Enix have been teasing a new role-playing game announcement for a while. It turned out that the new game was in fact Star Ocean 5.

Monday, April 13, 2015

IBM Announces Deals With Apple, Johnson And Johnson, And Medtronic In Bid To Transform Health Care

Experts in health care and information technology agree on the future’s biggest opportunity: the creation of a new computational model that will link together all of the massive computers that now hold medical information. The question remains: who will build it, and how?

Want More Wind And Solar Energy? Invest A Lot More In The Grid

image thumbnail - see full story for attributions
Want to increase the use of green energy and reduce the level of harmful emissions? Invest heavily in the grid to both modernize and expand it, which will accomplish such aims while also building the US economy. That’s the view of energy and utility experts assembled by Public Utilities Fortnightly at

How To Move Your Data To And From The Cloud (Without Breaking A Sweat)

Imagine… if all your data-management capabilities were consistent—even across public and private clouds. Crazy, utopian vision? Not so much. I’ve described that world as having a fabric that connects together all the pieces, to form a coherent, integrated, compatible system…

Apple Watch Wager

My prediction last week of limited Apple Watch sales may have been a little harsh. To lighten things up, I’m making a sporting wager out of it.

6 IoT Startups That Make Connecting Things To The Cloud A Breeze

The ubiquitous network connectivity, affordable compute power combined with rich insights make IoT valuable for enterprises and consumers. The convergence of devices, cloud, and analytics is creating an opportunity for independent software vendors and system integrators. Developers are preparing for new programming models based on microcontrollers and low-powered devices.

Apple Watch Scored An Estimated 1 Million Pre-Orders On Launch Day

The Apple Watch went up for sale last Friday and it was clear supplies went fast. The units ready for the official April 24 launch date quickly vanished off Apple's website. But we still don't know exactly how many units of Apple's shiny new gadget were sold. According to new data from research firm Slice Intelligence, it looks like Apple did pretty well for itself.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Why Variation in Customer Experience Can Be A Good Thing

Last Saturday we flew a Lufthansa airbus from Munich to San Francisco.

States Ignoring Mitch McConnell, Working On Clean Power Plan: EPA

Last month Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged states to ignore the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, but the states are ignoring McConnell, EPA Admninistrator Gina McCarthy said Friday at the University of Chicago. Even states that are suing the EPA are preparing carbon-reduction plans, another official said, to meet their obligations under EPA's proposed rule, which McCarthy predicted will not only be implemented, but will surpass its stated goals.

Limits Of The Electric Car: The Tesla and Volt Vanishing Act Outside Of Los Angeles

Los Angeles -- The city of angels and electric cars.

Nearly Half Of 'Game of Thrones' Upcoming Season Leaks Online -- Was HBO Hacked?

Yesterday, one day before season five of the popular HBO show, Game of Thrones, was scheduled to premier on television, someone released copies of four upcoming episodes, making them available to the public via the Torrent system frequently used for disseminating illegal copies of videos.

What's Hot In CRM Applications, 2015: Why CPQ Continues To Accelerate

Lead management and configure, price and quote (CPQ) are the hottest technologies sales are relying on in 2015. Marketing analytics, digital marketing hubs, and marketing performance management lead the hottest marketing technologies for 2015 according to Gartner.

How Artificial Intelligence Will Eliminate The Need For The Vast Majority Of Life Insurance Agents

All the professions are going to be reconfigured by artificial intelligence. The result will be fewer professionals and many of their roles “downgraded.”

Chicago: The Future Health Tech Hub Of The US? Maybe Sooner Than You Think

Almost every industry in recent decades has fundamentally changed its processes, except health care. The care process has not been redesigned, despite the fact that we have never had better technology, and we all know that if we designed a system from the ground up today, it would look nothing like the one we have. So, as tens of thousands of health and technology experts descend upon Chicago for the annual HIMSS conference this week, the city will do what is does everyday: debate and innovate in health technology.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

How To Kill Your Ecosystem. Twitter Pulls An Evil Move With Its Firehose

Sad news today that Twitter is cutting off access to its "firehose", the stream of Tweets and related information that have been utilized by third party vendors for years.

Clayton Christensen Is Wrong. This Is The Real Capitalist's Dilemma.

It’s much easier to demand lower taxes than to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and airports or preserve our commitment to research and innovation but if we want to win the future, we have to invest in it.

Basis Peak: The Important Features Of The Apple Watch For Less

$199 Basis Peak has the most important features of the Apple Watch.

Best And Worst Things About Android 5.0 Lollipop

Friday, April 10, 2015

Does the Mobile Hit Game Clash of Clans Solve a Human Need in China?

Did you happen to see Liam Neeson’s Super Bowl commercial for Clash of Clans? The numbers say you probably did. The one-minute spot featured the gravel-voiced Irish thespian self-parodying his popular character from the Taken franchise, swearing vengeance upon “BigBuffetBoy85” after watching his disastrously unsuccessful in-game defenses crumble. It’s a clever ad, and a very funny one, even for non-gamers. But clever and funny alone do not rake in 46 million views on YouTube. The game was already so insanely popular, the commercial didn’t actually give it much of a bump in downloads. It was both a high-profile tool intended to drive new business and a victory lap for the company. The clever marketers behind the most watched Big Game ad of the year likely agree that the success of that commercial is because the game is a veritable phenomenon. Clash of Clans has impressed the games world in terms of cultural impact, market penetration, and financial success. This is great news for Supercell, the Finland-based video game company responsible for the massive multiplayer online mobile game. Angry Birds, Rovio’s hit game also developed in Finland, paved the way for casual game success at such levels. Thanks to the startling success of its products, Supercell was making USD $2.4M each day by April 2013. More recently, however, a hacker gave the public a peek behind the curtain at the company’s finances. According to screenshots reposted by the tech news site re/code, the company was making USD $5.15 M per day by February 2014, an increase of more than 100% in less than a year. Although it is unclear how much of this revenue comes from Clash of Clans and how much from Supercell’s other two blockbuster titles, Hay Day and Boom Beach, CoC is easily the most popular of the three. On March 20th, 2015, CoC was the single highest grossing iPhone game in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, France, and Germany—it was also #4 in Sweden and #2 in South Korea. On March 20th in China, however, the game ranked #17. This is not quite an apples-to-apples comparison, since of the top 20 highest grossing iPhone apps in China, only three are produced by non-Chinese companies. In the notoriously difficult-to-enter Chinese market, CoC has enjoyed a unique level of success, just as it has on the global stage. (CoC’s fellow Supercell behemoth Boom Beach clocks in at #11.) In February 2015 my company, Niko Partners, conducted a mini-survey to better ascertain what consumer needs the game has succeeded at filling as part of an effort to understand CoC’s success at penetrating the Chinese market. We surveyed 438 Chinese CoC players to understand how they interact with the game, and how gamer behavior has increased revenue for the title. It is our hope and intention these insights will empower other game creators planning to enter the Chinese market. Clash of Clans is, first and foremost, a very popular title in China. To confirm this, we screened 939 gamers to see which of them played, or had an immediate household family member who played, the game. This yielded the 438 participants qualified to participate in the survey. That is to say 46.7% of respondents are, or are immediately related to, a CoC gamer. This unusually strong participation rate evinces the popularity of this game among Chinese digital gamers. Many of the survey’s findings affirm the game’s popularity across a variety of metrics. To take just one, the game turns out to have notable longevity: 17.8% of gamers in our sample have played for more than 12 months, 13% have played for 6-12 months, 33% for 3-6 months, and 35.7% started within the past 3 months. We also discovered CoC is popular regardless of platform (iOS or Android) or device (phone or tablet). Just to put things into context, when Niko compared data from the CoC survey with one of the quarterly gamer surveys we conducted in 2014, we discovered that had CoC been included in that survey CoC would have been catapulted to the #3 rank of our mobile games list as ranked by gamer declaration of what they play, regardless of iOS or Android. Typically, games are popular only on one form factor; it is less common to be popular on both. Furthermore, gameplay is free, an obviously attractive factor; but additional in-game advantages can be purchased, a tiered model commonly referred to as “freemium,” which appeals to gamers willing to spend a modicum of capital. Yet another measure of the games popularity is the enthusiasm with which gamers record and watch videos of gameplay. One of the features in CoC is it offers gamers the ability to study a replay of a prior attack or watch livefeed of an attack in action. According to Niko’s Chinese survey data, 56% of the gamers take advantage of this video feature. There’s no denying the popularity of CoC videos. Of the 20 games that account for the most-watched gaming videos on YouTube, CoC clocked in at #9 and was one of only two mobile games to even crack the list. CoC has far higher video usage than other casual titles, yet still far lower than hard-core games such as Riot’s League of Legends. While a fort raid is obviously more fun to watch than, say, a recording of someone playing King’s Candy Crush (though there probably is an audience that enjoys watching slo-mo replays of three lemon drops exploding — it’s a big Internet, after all), these videos are not only entertaining They can also educate devoted players on the best ways to advance in the game, and generate revenue for more successful players. Gamers tune in to CoC videos to learn techniques, get step-by-step tutorials, and observe gameplay in action, much like devoted hard-core gamers tune into videos of DoTA 2 and League of Legends. If a CoC gamer posts content to YouTube or other Chinese video sites that takes off, they can receive a portion of the advertising revenue. But beyond demographics, beyond video replays, and beyond the time-tested “freemium” pay structure, we wanted to understand exactly why the game works as well as it does. Digital entertainment fills a void for consumers, and if we can figure out where these voids are, we can predict what characteristics contribute to a successful game. Clash of Clans owes much of its success to the fact that it rewards intense strategizing and heavy time investment, which make cooperative gameplay particularly attractive. The game stokes camaraderie; gamers help each other by forming clans and tag-team building their defensive strategies. In the United States at least some of the clans are comprised of fathers and their children, and we wanted to see if this behavior was mirrored by Chinese gamers. After all, there are few games that offer the opportunity for fathers and sons to team up in cooperative gameplay. The data from our survey supports a hypothesis that Chinese gamers crave entertainment that allows parents and their children, or a set of real-world friends, to cooperate and bond. We believe one of the reasons CoC is so popular in China is that this game plays to the strengths of gamers playing together when they are familiar with each others’ tactics, styles, and strategies. When we analyzed the breakdown of players along age demographics, we discovered that the game spoke to players of all brackets–from under 12 to over 35—and each segment in between. But while the most popular age bracket was 22-29, which netted 26.6% of participants, the second highest bracket was, interestingly, 35-and-up at 21.2%. We believe it’s likely that this unusual skewing towards older players is indicative of parents playing in a clan with their child. In fact, in our survey we show that 30.4% of respondents play with a family member in the same clan. In 8.7% of the cases the clan is entirely comprised of friends and family, and in 21.7% the clan has friends, family, and some strangers too. It turns out 58% of CoC gamers play in a clan with friends or family. Clash of Clans is a powerhouse international title that has successfully built demand in Asia and the West, and has cultivated a type of gaming behavior unbounded by culture or location, or even mobile platform. It is that rarest of birds — a game that brings families and friends together through cooperation, team building, and attracting multigenerational gamers who love the game no matter what their skill level.

Will 'The Witcher 3' Suffer From 'Assassin's Creed' Syndrome?

Will the new open-world 'Witcher' suffer the game design shortcomings that plague so many other open-world video games?

Mobile First - What Does It Really Mean?

I've spent time lately thinking about the notion of "mobile first", the paradigm where application vendors consider their mobile users as the number one priority in their development roadmap. As mobile devices increasingly become the place we transact with an application, vendors need to pack more and more functionality into their mobile apps. This introduces something of a conflict - while they want their mobile apps to be simple, elegant and quick, they also want them to become more and more fully featured.

Why Focusing on Work Life Balance Is A Waste Of Time

Of course we have all heard of work-life balance and it's new cousin, work-life integration. This is an interesting topic because these things are vey individualistic. For example, I work many more hours than a standard, full-time job, however, I have a home office, I love the work that I do, I get to be around my wife and my dog, and I get to take breaks when I want. So when asked, I say I have a great work/life balance. There are others who work a 40-hour, 9-to-5 job, and are done with work as soon as the 5 o’clock hour strikes who also would say they have a great work/life balance. Work-life balance is not about how many hours you work — it is about how you feel.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

What Are You Willing To Pay For A YouTube Subscription?

If real estate value is location, location, location, then digital value is access, access, access.

Living In New York? This App Will Tell You Which Is Cheaper: Uber Or A Taxi

OpenStreetCab tells you whether it's cheaper to hop on a taxi or use Uber X in New York. Other cities might come soon.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Microsoft Announces Its Own Container Play--Because Disruption Is Happening Before Our Eyes

The rise and rise of Docker, the rapidly growing company that has re-popularized Linux containers as a way of packaging applications, has been a sight to behold. Much of the reason for this growth (apart from the fact that momentum breeds further momentum) is that containers are seen as a potential way to reduce organizations reliance on virtualization. Virtualization is an amazingly enabling piece of technology, but it's also pretty heavy for a number of different use-cases. That is where containers come in.

How Obama Could Spark An International Migration Of Startups

Entrepreneurs the world over spend a lot of time thinking of ways to vault hurdles and break down barriers. One set of obstacles that could get a little easier to surmount are the immigration rules that keep foreign entrepreneurs out of the United States and away from its talent and capital.

This Entrepreneur Built A $5 Million Mobile VAS Company In Kenya

Dennis Makori, a 35 year-old Kenyan, is a co-founder and CEO of Onfon Media, a $5 million (annual revenues) value-added telecommunication service provider.

Sprinklr Speeds Social Spree With Get Satisfaction Acquisition

When the social media management firm Sprinklr announced on March 31 that it had raised $46 million in new funding, company President and Chief Operating Officer Carlos Dominguez mentioned the usual likely uses of the money, such as hiring more people and expanding geographically. And this: "some customer service acquisitions."

Predictive Analytics And Novel Visualization Draw Customers To 'Must Have' Data

Anand Sanwal, CEO and Co-Founder of the data analytics company CB Insights tells the entrepreneur’s classic back story in a recent interview about what inspired him to co-found his company: he was in pain doing his job. “I used to work in American Express in their corporate ventures/M&A team. We used data from third parties and I never thought the data was very good for private companies. The UI and UX were terrible. The latency on the data was horrible. Worse, we’d make a bunch of money lending to small businesses at first, and then for whatever reason, all those gains from a few years get wiped out.” And so he set out to invent “a great mechanism to understand the health of private companies.”

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Startup Offers Bargain-Priced Hotel Stays (Catch: They're During The Daytime)

Hotels By Day offers 50% discounts on daytime hotel stays, targeted at jet-lagged visitors and business people seeking private work or meeting space.

7 Ways You Can Use Google Analytics To Power Your Marketing Efforts

Google Analytics is the world’s most popular web analytics application, used by almost every other webmaster. According to SimilarTech, almost 61% of the top 1 million websites (Alexa rankings) use Google Analytics. However, most webmasters don’t use Google Analytics to its full potential. Studies indicate that almost 80% of ecommerce retailers use Google Analytics incorrectly. […]

How (And Why) To Kill Network Hardware

Ericsson is trying to make the “telecom cloud” more open. More specifically, Ericsson is working with Canonical, the company behind commercial support for the Ubuntu operating system (OS) to try to make the “telecom cloud” more open. Even more specifically than that, the two firms have announced a three year partnership which sees Ericsson deploy Ubuntu as the host OS for Ericsson’s branded ‘Cloud System’ platform.

Another Application Delivery Sevice--Appcito Jumping On The Docker Bandwagon

Organizations are increasingly moving from thinking about infrastructure in isolation to thinking about infrastructure as an enabler of the applications they want to run upon it. This change in focus makes total sense - infrastructure is simply plumbing, and that plumbing needs to be built in context to the things that are going to be sitting upon it. Forward-looking organizations realize about this and are starting to talk in terms of "application-aware infrastructure".

Samsung UN65JS9000 SUHD TV Review: The Future Of LCD TV Has Never Looked Brighter

A few weeks back I tested and was frankly pretty blown away by Samsung’s 2015 flagship TV, the 65-inch UN65JS9500. There is, though, just one itsy bitsy little problem with this envelope-pushing screen: it costs $6000. If your wallet has eyes, you can be pretty sure they’re watering right now.

CoreOS And Google Make Their Defensive Plays, Is Docker The Victim?

CoreOS and Google are today announcing a new project, Tectonic, which aims to offer an alternative stack for those wanting to build container-based infrastructure. There is much positioning at play here that is important to understand.

Hong Kong FinTech Lab Held Some Surprises For Startups

Participants in Accenture Hong Kong FinTech Innovation Lab enjoyed the energy of Hong Kong and the advice from bankers, VCs and contract attorneys who participated in the program.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Volkswagen Group: Struggling in the U.S., Succeeding Everywhere Else

It’s no secret Volkswagen’s U.S. efforts have struggled over the past couple years. In 2012, the brand sold 438,134 vehicles, while in 2014 that number dipped to 366,970. This slide contrasted industry growth at over 5% annually. We’ve also seen shopper traffic at Kelley Blue Book drop 14 percent over the last 12 months. These figures might have U.S. customers and analysts thinking the automaker is in serious trouble, but is that an accurate impression? Consider two impressive milestones Volkswagen Group (including Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda) hit for the first time in 2014: 10 million global vehicle sales and €200 billion in revenue. With things going so well globally why are we not seeing the fruits of VW’s labor in the U.S., and how long before the automaker’s success is reflected here? After attending a series of meetings at Volkswagen headquarters in Germany we came away with a clear picture of the automaker’s U.S. strategy, and why it makes sense from a long-term perspective.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Grind vs. Hustle: A Simple Guide To Telling The Difference

With the evident dominance of digital media and abundant access to traditionally unavailable resources, the economy is more do-it-yourself than ever. From emerging entrepreneurs to budding young executives, today's generation takes pride in paving their own path.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

'Bravely Second' Opening Movie Streamed

Bravely Second, the upcoming and anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed role-playing game Bravely Default, has now had its rather beautiful opening movie streamed.

Like PB And Jelly--Cloud Foundry And OpenStack, Better Together

Interesting news today as OpenStack vendor Mirantis joins the Cloud Foundry foundation. While some may see this as a somewhat bizarre blurring of the traditional divisions between infrastructure and platforms, the reality is that it is a move that is beneficial for customers.