Karen Klein Donations: Indiegogo Campaign Ended Friday With $703,873

The donation campaign for Karen Klein, the 68-year-old bullied bus monitor from the Greece School District in Greece, N.Y.,ended Friday, according to the Indiegogo campaign page.

The campaign raised $703,873 -- more than 45 times Klein's annual salary of $15,506 and much more than the original goal of $5,000. A spokesperson for the campaign said around 30,000 people contributed money following the vicious verbal abuse she endured at the hands of the children she was monitoring.

Max Sidorov, the Toronto man who set up the the Indiegogo account for Klein, told the Associated Press that while the total donation amount shocked him, the outpouring of support for the bus monitor "warms his heart."

“I think that people just love rallying around a great cause, especially helping someone in need or who has been abused or can’t stand up for themselves," Sidorov told the AP. "It just shows there are so many great people in the world"

Late last month, People magazine reported Klein said she plans to donate some of the money to charity and invest the rest.

As for whether or not she plans to return to her job in the fall, Klein told the magazine she's still undecided.


Original source here

Summer schools 'to help poor pupils catch up'

Some 2,000 new summer schools running across England will attempt to put 65,000 poorer children on an "equal footing" with their wealthier peers, Nick Clegg said.

The deputy prime minister said the "brain training" camps would help struggling primary pupils make a good start at secondary this September.

The schools are being funded by £50m targeted at disadvantaged pupils.

They will focus on literacy and numeracy, and art, music and sport.

There will also be sessions to help youngsters get to know their new teachers.

About £50m has been made available to schools through the "pupil premium" - extra funding for disadvantaged children - to run the camps this year.

Mr Clegg said: "This is £50m worth of extra brain training giving tens of thousands of disadvantaged pupils a flying start at secondary school.

"It's two weeks in the summer holidays where pupils can catch up on learning and get to grips with life in secondary school - in short, get in the starting blocks ready for the off in September.

"Those who struggle to make the transition are often among the poorest in society, but two weeks of activities can really help to bridge the gap.

"It's good news for mums and dads too - no parent wants their child to be left out and fall behind. But not everyone has the luxury of taking long periods off work during the summer break.

"Summer schools will ensure pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds can start secondary school on an equal footing with their peers, setting them up to succeed."

'Head start'
Many pupils find the move to secondary school daunting, which can lead to a dip in their performance that they never make up, according to the government.

Its research shows students eligible for free school meals regularly under-perform.

By the end of primary education, just under 58% of disadvantaged pupils have achieved the expected level of attainment, compared with almost 78% of other pupils.

Children's Minister Sarah Teather said: "Many pupils, often those from poorer families, suffer a dip when they join secondary school.

"These brilliant summer schools give those children that need it a head start and the extra help they need so that they are well prepared to succeed at this crucial stage of their education career."

Original source here

School forced to allow transgender pupil, 16, to sit exam in a skirt

A school has been forced to allow a transgender pupil to sit a GCSE exam dressed as a girl, because of equality laws, it was reported.

The school backed down after telling Ashlyn Parram, 16 - who was born a boy but is undergoing gender reassignment treatment - that he could not sit the paper because he was not wearing boys' uniform.

Ashlyn, who was wearing a skirt, said he showed headmaster Chris Walls a copy of the Equality Act 2010, which gave him the right to be treated the same as other pupils.

But the teenager - who was wearing hair extensions and make-up as well as a girl's uniform - said that when he went back into the hall to sit the maths exam he was made to sit at the back of the room 40ft from other pupils.

Ashlyn, who used to be called Lewis, told a newspaper: "The whole way through the exam I felt like bursting into tears, and it was around 15 minutes before I even started the exam because I was so upset."

He claims he was made to feel "like a freak" at Giles Academy in Boston, Lincolnshire. Ashlyn has now left the school and is hoping to to go to college to study maths.

"It's sad that people can't be more open-minded," he told the Daily Mail.

Ashlyn's mother, IT worker Miranda Johnson, 42, made a complaint which was investigated by the chairman of the school governors and dismissed in a letter in whicgh he said all the allegations had been rejected.

She said: "We don't want a penny of compensation. It's not about the money - it's about protecting other children and educating people.

"To be made to sit on your own during an exam is horrendous. If Ashlyn had been black or disabled there would have been uproar."

Ashlyn declared he was gay aged 11 but later realised he was a girl trapped in a boy's body, and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

He is on a waiting list for hormone treatment and from the age of 18 will be eligible for full sex-change surgery.

The Equality Act protects transsexuals from discrimination and harrassment including "by a teacher at school".

A school spokesman said: "Every time we get a complaint we will deal with it in a professional way."

Original source here

National Science Foundation Grant Supports Knox Research

With support from a National Science Foundation research grant, Knox College faculty member David Bunde and a group of Knox students are developing new strategies for teaching computer science at the undergraduate level.

Their work focuses on parallel computing -- basically, a method of programming that better utilizes the multiple processors (or cores) that are increasingly prevalent in computer hardware and enable applications to run faster.

Some computer scientists have taught parallel computing for many years, but almost exclusively to students in upper-division elective courses and in graduate schools, said Bunde, associate professor of computer science at Knox. Undergraduates, especially those in their first year of college, typically haven't studied the subject.

Bunde (in photo above) said his NSF research explores the question: "How do you make this material, which everyone kind of regards as advanced and esoteric, into something we could teach everybody?"

"If all computers are going to be parallel computers, all programmers need to know how to program parallel computers -- including somebody fresh out of college," he added. "This project is one vision of how to do that -- how do we make parallel computing broadly accessible to our (computer science) majors, and by extension, to the rest of the world?"

In a three-year collaboration with faculty and students at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Bunde and several Knox students are exploring programming languages that were designed for parallel computing but aren't in widespread use. They also are developing tutorials and practice exercises to help undergraduates learn the languages.

"The purpose of these tutorials is to simplify teaching of parallel programming languages, given that the currently available teaching resources are cryptic or non-existent, for the most part," said Knox student Andrei Papancea (in photo at right). A junior from Romania, he is one of the students assisting with Bunde's research.

Papancea, who plans to attend graduate school, said the summer research project has been a useful experience for him.

"I definitely got a good grasp of what research entails, and I got more experience working in a team," he said. "I furthered my knowledge of the topic of parallel programming, and thus broadened my knowledge of computer science."

Casey Samoore, a 2012 Knox graduate, started working on the project when it launched in mid-2011.

"The opportunity to do actual work in your field and get paid to do it was very exciting," said Samoore, who plans on a career in computer science education. "It confirmed just how interested I was in computer science and education."

Originally from Springfield, Illinois, Samoore (in photo at right) presented his research at the 2012 conference of the National Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE). He also was among the students selected for Knox College's inaugural showcase of student research and creative work, Horizons: A Celebration of Student Inquiry, Imagination, and Creativity, during Spring Term 2012.

Participating in the NSF research project enables the Knox students to explore a potential career path, gain additional marketable skills, and maybe even help to shape the future of computer science, Bunde said. Other Knox students, too, will benefit from the work, he added."Certainly, there are places that are doing good parallel computing education. We're definitely on that list," he said. "We've worked very hard to introduce (parallel computing) not just once, not just in the specialized course, but throughout the curriculum."


Original source here

US -- State Department Suspends Students Exchange Sponsor

Pacific Intercultural Exchange, Sponsor Company For High School Exchange Students, Suspended By State Department

JACKSON, Miss. -- Hundreds of high school exchange students could be affected by a State Department decision to suspend the sponsor-company that was to bring them to the United States.

A department official told The Associated Press on Thursday that Pacific InterculturalExchange, or PIE, of San Diego was suspended from the popular exchange program on Tuesday.

The official said the agency is working with at least four foreign students now in the U.S. Other sponsoring organizations are trying to find host families for 455 students from 18 countries who had been recruited by the company, but they may have to put off their exchanges until later.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said PIE was suspended for "violating exchange program regulations," but wouldn't elaborate.

The State Department put the company on probation last year, reduced the number of students it could sponsor by 15 percent and ordered it to improve program administration.

A message seeking comment from PIE wasn't immediately returned Thursday. The company's website says it is a nonprofit organization that has facilitated exchanges for more than 25,000 high school students from all over the world since 1975.

The Exchange Visitor Program brings close to 30,000 high school students to the United States each year. Foreign students live with a host family and attend U.S. schools.

The program is a fun and rewarding experience for thousands of students, but it has come under some scrutiny over the years. Advocacy groups often blame the sponsoring organizations, designated by the State Department, for problems that have led to neglect and abuse of the participants, like not properly vetting host families.

Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said it's rare for the State Department to suspend an organization from sponsoring students.

"I believe this action by the State Department exceeds sending a simple `wake-up' call to its sponsors," Grijalva said. "We have nearly 30,000 high school students from across the globe anxious to come to the United States to learn more about American culture and spend thousands of dollars to do so. These students must leave our country at the end of their program with nothing less than a positive impression of the United States."

A lawsuit filed last year in Portland, Ore., alleges that a German student was molested after PIE placed the student in a home with a host father who had a criminal record for fraud.

The complaint, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, said the host father pleaded guilty in December 2010 to four acts of sexual abuse against the student. The lawsuit alleges that PIE did not do an adequate background check.

Earlier this year, AP obtained internal State Department documents that said a review by the agency last year found that 15 of its 39 "largest fee-charging" sponsors were in "regulatory noncompliance," though it didn't say what rules were violated. The memos said the State Department took steps to sever its relationship with one sponsor after the company placed a student "with a host family whose criminal background check revealed a murder conviction."

The State Department told AP in March that it had received 43 allegations of sexual abuse since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, but it's not clear if any of those were students sponsored by PIE.

The State Department has adopted several rules designed to safeguard students in the high school program, including requiring all sponsors to photograph the exterior of the house, the kitchen and student's bedroom. Host families also must provide outside character references. Previously, family members and sponsors could be such references.

But the State Department documents also showed that the agency considered but dropped a plan to require FBI background checks similar to what are used by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because it wasn't "feasible."

Original source here

Minecraft creator sued over user controls

Minecraft maker Mojang is being sued over the way it gives gamers access to mobile versions of the game.

Texas-based Uniloc claims to own the patent that covers the way users are authorised to play via a phone.

Mojang founder Markus Persson said he would "throw piles of money" into the legal fight against the claim.

Mojang is one of ten companies, including Electronic Arts, GameLoft and Square Enix, that have been named in the lawsuit.

The patent that Uniloc claims Mojang and others are using without permission describes a way to check that a person wanting to play a game has the right to do so. If not, that person is locked out of the game.

In its court papers, Uniloc says the version of Minecraft for Android mobile phones violates its patented technology. Throughout the court papers, Uniloc misspells the name of the hugely popular game as "Mindcraft".

Mr Persson announced that Mojang was being sued via his Twitter feedand in subsequent messages announced his intention to fight the claim.

In one tweet, he criticised software patents in general, saying they were "plain evil".

"Innovation within software is basically free, and it's growing incredibly rapid," he said.

"Patents only slow it down. If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent."

String of suits

Uniloc founder Ric Richardson, took to his blog to defend himself against the barrage of comments he had received in the wake of the lawsuit being filed.

Mr Richardson said the Uniloc lawsuit had nothing to do with him. He went on to defend software patents saying: "Having a great technology without a patent is like having a Lamborghini and leaving the keys in it."

Uniloc is known for being aggressive in defending its claims to the many patents it owns.

In the past it has sued lots of large tech firms, including Microsoft, over their use of technologies it claims to own. The eight-year case against Microsoft ended earlier in 2012 when the software giant settled out of court.

On its website, Uniloc said many of the firms it had sued had decided to settle out of court.

Three strikes rule has 'halved piracy' in New Zealand

Internet piracy rates in New Zealand have halved since the introduction of the controversial "three strikes" rule, a record industry group has said.

The rule allows fines of up to NZ$15,000 (£7,600) to be issued to illegal downloaders caught three times.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (Rianz) said 2,766 infringement letters had been sent out.

But the group has called for the cost of sending letters to be cut.

A handful of users in the country had suffered a third strike, TVNZ reported, but none had appeared before the Copyright Tribunal.

However, Rianz reported a significant drop in piracy levels - its data suggesting the incidences of top-200 movies being viewed illegally went from 110,000 in August to 50,000 in the following month, when the rule came into force.

But it added that the number immediately "plateaued", and noted that four out of every 10 internet users in the country still accessed pirated material.

Pirate Bay

In an effort to combat this, Rianz wants to up the number of infringement notices to 5,000 per month, with the current fee of NZ$25 cut to about NZ$2.

The country's Economic Development Ministry is reviewing the fees. Telecoms companies have argued the cost should in fact be higher.

The three strikes rule has faced intense scrutiny around the world, where it has been considered in various guises and configurations.

In the UK, the Digital Economy Act was passed by the last government, but the key provision of the act - sending out warning letters - has been continually delayed. The first letters are not expected to be sent until at least 2014.

Other anti-piracy measures include the blocking of popular websites used to accessed illegal material - such as the Pirate Bay, which was blocked in April this year.

However, the effectiveness of blocking has come under dispute - last week the BBC revealed that, according to one internet service provider, the dip in downloading traffic following the ban lasted only a matter of days.

Review: The Eton Rukus Solar Is The Perfect Outdoor Music Companion

The venerable Will Smith said it best, “Summer, summer, summertime. Time to sit back and unwind.” The sun is out and the tunes should be blaring. That’s where the Eton Rukus Solar comes in. This speaker system streams music from your phone via Bluetooth or 3.5mm cable while keeping its battery charged with a massive solar panel array. What’s more, a USB port allows the Rukus Solar to charge your phone, too.

The Rukus Solar is a fantastic outdoor audio system. Well, that is, aside from two curious design decisions.

Build quality

Like most Eton products, the Rukus Solar feels like it’s built to last. It’s constructed out of hard plastic and the front-side buttons are very sturdy. The speakers are protected by solid grills, and there are bits of rubber placed strategically around the system so the plastic shouldn’t get scuffed up.

The front display is of the e-ink variety. As such the screen can be viewed in direct sunlight, and when in use, doesn’t consume as much energy as a traditional LCD screen.

The solar array takes up the majority of the top panel. It’s huge. Eton claims that the solar panel can recharge the device in 6 hours. However, unless there isn’t a cloud in the sky, I found that the panel is best used to keep the Rukus Solar charged during use. It was much easier and quicker to give the speaker a charge with the included AC plug, and then take the unit outside and let the sun maintain the charge. As previously mentioned, a USB port allows the Rukus Solar to recharge a phone, too.

Audio quality

Audio is streamed to the Rukus Solar through Bluetooth. The audio quality is sufficient for the $150 price point, but not extremely impressive overall. The sound is full and sports a bit of bass. The treble is a tad sharp while the mid-range is about right. It falls squarely in the “good enough” category.

Don’t expect the Rukus Solar to pound. It tends to cut out at high volume although I must admit that the speaker system can hold its own against sound docks in the same price range. It’s not a party speaker but is more than adequate for a few tunes while enjoying some sun.

Two curious flaws

The Rukus Solar features a built-in cell phone holder. But it’s on the bottom of the device. And it’s just a piece of elastic. I don’t trust it.

Of course thanks to Bluetooth’s range, owners do not need to use this holder. The connected phone could be safely stashed away in a bag or pocket and the Rukus Solar would still playback the music. But it would be nice if the speaker system had a more secure, beach-friendly holder. A simple tray or drawer would be sufficient, provide more protection and allow the Rukus Solar to live up to its full potential as an outdoor device ready for some ruckus.

The Rukus Solar lacks an FM radio, which as I’ve concluded after reviewing over a dozen audio docks, is a unfortunate sign of the times. FM/AM radio still appeals to me. When you just need some random music, it’s so much easier to simply turn on a radio than finding your phone, loading the app and then finding an album/streaming station.

There was a time when nearly every household object included a radio tuner. You could nearly walk into the kitchen and tune to AM 760 from the toaster. Now, with the Rukus Solar and its thousands of counterparts, audio is only provided by a cell phone or Bluetooth-equipped media player.

Conclusion
In my mind the Rukus Solar is a near-perfect outdoor device. It’s built to last and makes it easy to bring music outside. Even with the two curious oversights it’s a great device and well worth the $150 MSRP (Amazon sells it for $130). The device comes in black, green and white.

Original source here.

Chirp app sends smartphone data via 'digital birdsong'

An app that transmits data via a burst of "digital birdsong" aims to simplify the way users share images and other files between smartphones.

Chirp plays a two-second long noise that sounds as if it was made by a robotic bird. When heard by other devices it triggers a download.

The software was developed by Animal Systems, a spin-off business from University College London (UCL).

It is free to use, but companies will be charged a fee for add-on services.

At the moment users are limited to sending pictures, website links or 140-character text messages. These appear in a feed similar to Facebook's timeline.

Other applications such as Android Beam, Bump, Datasync and Dropbox allow users to swap material via bluetooth, wi-fi or links to cloud-based storage.

But Chirp has the advantage that it can quickly send data to multiple devices at once without them needing to be either paired or have a wireless connection.

If recipients are offline their devices will remember the "chirp" and download associated content later.

"We are pretty sure this is unique," the firm's chief executive Patrick Bergel told the BBC.

"We solve the problem of having to pair devices to move data. It's fairly novel to be able to transmit information to anyone who is in earshot - a large number of devices can share the same information at the same time using sound.

"You can also use it as a device shifting mechanism. In the future you will be able chirp yourself a link to a map from your laptop."

Mr Bergel says Chirp's distinctive sound allows it to work at low volumes in relatively noisy locations such as pubs, clubs or busy streets.

It can also work over public address systems or radio transmissions - potentially allowing broadcasters a way to send up-to-date pictures or links to background information; or an advertiser to send coupons or snippets of a song or promotional video.

Animal Systems subscribes to a "blacklist" service to prevent users transmitting known pornographic or illegal-content website links. However, it does not plan to moderate other material.

The application works by uploading a user's material to the firm's servers. The data is then identified with a 50-bit address space: one of trillions of available identifiers.

This location is then sent to the sender's device. When the user presses a button in the app it plays an audio-encoded version of the address.

Copy-protected

Data has long been passed between machines in the form of sound, including recordings on tapes used to load programs into 1980s home computers and early modems dialling into networks.

Even so, Mr Bergel said he had taken steps to prevent others copying his product.

A feed of messaged material appears beneath a visualised sound-wave

"We have a systems patent on moving short codes over the air," he said.

"We have [also] solved a lot of difficult problems. There's a lot of technical issues around moving data and making it robust against noise and echoes."

Having launched the app the five-man team behind it will now focus on offering premium services to marketers and other businesses.

Mr Bergel said these could include:

• A guarantee that uploaded content would be permanently kept on the firm's servers.
• Access to analytical data letting firms track whose devices have "listened" to their chirp.
• The ability to send video messages that play within the Chirp app.

Mr Bergel said the ultimate goals was to see manufacturers pre-install Chirp on handsets.

However, he must first convince users that they need the service at a time when wi-fi, 4G data and advanced bluetooth connectivity are becoming increasingly common.

For now Chirp is only available as an iPhone app. An Android version is promised "soon".

NetworkedBlogs, 750k Blogs Strong, Adds Panorama News Reader

NetworkedBlogs, the popular platform that lets bloggers syndicate their work to social networking sites and embed social widgets on their blogs, is changing focus. From today, it will be relaunching its homepage to focus around a new, panorama news reader that lets you follow news on other blogs and the rest of the web, pin articles for reading later, and follow individuals — moves that it’s making to widen its audience beyond that of bloggers, according to Waleed Abdulla, the founder of Ninua, the developer behind NetworkedBlogs.

The aim is “shifting from building tools for bloggers, to building tools for both bloggers and readers,” he tells me. The dual-focus, he says, has always been the aim of the company, but it has only been possible to put it into action after receiving backing from 500 Startups and TMT Investments last year. To date, the company has raised $450,000 in seed funding.

To be clear, the news reading development doesn’t mean NetworkedBlogs is dropping its legacy business: it counts some 750,000 blogs in its network, which use the platform to publish feeds to Facebook and Twitter, and to create tabs for Facebook pages. “Of course we continue to improve our blogger tools as well,” he told me.

While that platform gets used tons daily by those 750k blogs syndicating their content elsewhere, right now the main site gets just over 1 million monthly visits, says Abdulla. The site’s existing, basic news reading app (“just a list of links” is how Abdulla describes it), had only 50,000 visits per month, he says.

The new news reader will give Networked Blogs a crack at raising both of those numbers — and potentially developing it into a consumption platform as much as one used for aggregation and distribution. “Now that we have a much better reading experience, we hope to change [those visitor numbers] soon,” he says.

It will, of course, be contending with a number of other services that are also vying to be the news readers of choice for today’s web consumers. They include mobile-friendly apps like Flipboard and Pulse, Twitter and its many clients, Google Reader and more.

NetworkedBlogs will be approaching this from the standpoint that it already has some traction with bloggers around its existing services.

Among the features: a much more visually-led layout, which uses images from content being syndicated.

And the dashboard-style view, with each blog ordered in columns, is reminiscent of TweetDeck. And for those of us who might use this to keep up on the latest news, there is a handy indication in the main list of titles that tells you the time of the most recent update to that blog.

Abdulla tells me that content on the reader will not be limited to that of the 750,000 blogs.

“You can follow any blog that’s already registered on NetworkedBlogs, or if it’s not, you can add it yourself. The only requirement is that it has an RSS/ATOM feed because behind the scenes that’s how we fetch the content,” he says. He notes that this version does not yet support importing OMPL files or subscribing to feeds without registering them in the directory. “Hopefully soon, though,” he adds.

Mobile. The new service is going live on the website, and so far there are no plans for new mobile apps. Last year, Ninua launched a separate, news sharing app for Android — also part of the strategy to extend beyond blogger services. Abdullah notes that the developers have been “hearing from friends” that they want to see our news reader on the iPad, so that might be the next likely step in mobile, he says.

A film walking you through the changes is embedded below.

Original source here.

Amazon Launches Career Choice Program

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos frequently uses the e-commerce site’s front page as a place to announce changes in service or major new initiatives. As one of the most-trafficked sites on the web, it’s the perfect place to make a big splash. And today, he is using that space to announce its new Career Choice Program, which will provide tuition help for fulfillment center employees who seek careers in well-paying, in-demand areas like computer-aided design or medical lab technologies.

Amazon already touts its ability to pay fulfillment center employees about 30 percent more than retail store employees. But now it’s trying to help them find better-paying jobs. Through the Career Choice Program, Amazon has agreed to pay tuition for employees in its fulfillment centers, as long as they use the money to pay for courses in a select number of areas.

To qualify for the program, employees must have been employed full-time by Amazon for three consecutive years. But once they have reached that threshold, Amazon will provide up to 95 percent of their tuition, textbook, and other fees — up to a maximum of $2,000 per year for four years. That’s not enough to go to a four-year college, of course, but that’s not the goal of the program: Amazon is seeking to provide technical and vocational training for these employees. On the homepage, Bezos notes:

“The program is unusual. Unlike traditional tuition reimbursement programs, we exclusively fund education only in areas that are well-paying and in high demand according to sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and we fund those areas regardless of whether those skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.”

In fact, most of the courses that qualify have nothing to do with career enhancement or moving up the ranks within the e-commerce company itself. They include fields such as Engineering, Information Technology, Mechanical and Electrical Trades, Healthcare, Construction, Transportation, and Accounting. Specific examples of jobs that the e-commerce provider will help them train for include “aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technology, medical laboratory science, dental hygiene, and nursing.”

In a constrained economy, the goal is to provide employees with new skills and more career choice, which is important, especially as the company sometimes takes flak for the way its fulfillment center employees are treated. Providing them with tuition for training programs in high-paying jobs is one way to offer up hope and new opportunities.

Georama’s Map-Based Travel Search Service Goes Live

Chicago-based Georama is now launching what it calls a “map-based travel platform.” In layman’s terms, that’s a travel search service that’s entirely based on top of a map. It can either suggest places for you to go based on your interests or other factors (e.g. time of year), or, if you already have a few places in mind, you can use Georama to explore things like local attractions and activities, restaurants, nightlife, weather, news, deals and more.

The company has bootstrapped itself to $250,000 and raised another $250,000 from undisclosed New York angels a couple of months ago.

Georama was founded by Nihal Advani, an ex-Microsoftie who previously worked in Search (Bing) and Display (Microsoft Media Network). He also interned at Google while in college. Serving as CEO, Advani leads Georama’s team of 17, who are based in both Chicago and India.

So, what’s the big idea with a “map-based” platform, I wanted to know.”We believe in providing an experience for travelers, something that hasn’t been done that well in the online travel industry so far,” Advani tells me. “We built a one-of-a-kind interactive map from scratch - it’s patent pending – to craft a visual experience that is unique, immersive, and fun,” he says. “Georama is also the only true one-stop solution…we have partnered with 20+ providers (and this is just the initial list) bringing together the best content, fares, and social networks from across the web in one place.” The partners provide the content related to fares, destinations, news, deals, etc. on the site.

To be completely frank, color me skeptical about the benefits of a “map-based” travel platform. That’s something that sounds like what people want, but in practice, navigating and exploring through numerous destinations via a map feels unwieldy and cumbersome. I remember talking to JetPac CEO Julian Green earlier this month following his company’s raise of $2.4 million for its iPad travel search platform. He told me that the company had specifically not focused on a map interface, because “even though people like looking at the map – it’s sort of cool – they get stuck, they don’t know where to start.”

To be fair, Georama is trying to help people figure out where to start – its interface lets you click on icons like “beach,” “family,” “golf,” “ski,” “eco-friendly,” etc. to narrow down ideas. But I found that, when pulling up items on the map, pushpins would be dropped on top of other pushpins from the zoomed out worldview, meaning you had to zoom in to click accurately. There is a lot of information available once you have a destination pulled up, however, and the Facebook Connect option lets you see if you have local friends, which is handy. But overall, the UI here needs work – its pop-up destination windows, cluttered interface, and black-and-white icons felt a little old-school for my tastes. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

However, it is nice to have the destination discovery, social features (it also connects with Foursquare, Instagram and YouTube), and the ticket booking process under one umbrella. That’s something that not all competitors in the “social travel” search space currently offer, often focusing more on the “inspirational” rather than the “transactional” part of the equation. One-stop shopping is one of the many reasons why newly-IPO’ed Kayak is so popular, for example. You can browseinterests and deals before booking. But Kayak still feels like it’s more for the final step in travel process – buying tickets – and is not as focused on “where do I want to go?”

Georama has some interesting advisors on board, it should be noted. Currently an ex-Orbitz COO, an ex-President of United.com, an ex-VP of Sabre, the Country Head of Microsoft India, and the Head of BMGI India are all helping Georama, Advani tells me.

The platform launched into private beta at the DEMO conference this year, but is opening to all, with the “official” launch arriving on Wednesday.

Original source here.

NEVER TRY ON CLOTHES AGAIN

As posted on discovery.

Pairing customized avatars with technology similar to that used for airport security, the Me-Ality body scanner could make the process of trying on clothes obsolete. The technology comes from the North American company Unique Solutions and is located in 70 different malls. It resembles an airport body scanner. When the customer stands inside fully clothed, radio waves scan the body and computer software create a 3D avatar of the person. Information about the person's measurements is matched with size data provided by partner stores and the computer recommends clothing that will fit.

Slate writer Nell McShane Wulfhart reports that the "...program created an avatar that bore a remarkable resemblance to the man scanned. His digital doppelganger tried on different items of clothing and told him how they fit ('a little tight in the thighs'). He could even make the avatar walk up and down a virtual runway to see how the clothes looked in motion." via Slate

HUGE RADIO TELESCOPE MADE WITH COAT HANGER TECH

Builders of the biggest radio telescope in the world, the Square Kilometer Array, are borrowing techniques from the makers of shopping carts and coat hangers to stay in the project's budget.

The radio telescope is made up of 3,000 radio dishes and several million non-dish antenna elements located in two different countries -- one array in South Africa and the other in Australia. Each array will be arranged in five sprial arms, extending out to distances of 3,000 kilometers from a center, and are being built to detect electromagnetic radiation emitted by objects in space.

Construction of the arrays will start in 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2024. The product development company, Cambridge Consultants, needs to build each antennae for less than 75 euros (U.S. $92) for a total budget of 1.5 billion euro or U.S. $1.84 billion. But back when they starting pricing out the original prototypes for the antennas, the cost was too high. That's because precision antennas used for astronomy are custom-designed, rather than mass-produced. They have to be the right shape and size to reduce background noise, pick up faint signals and work in relatively narrow frequency bands.

To stay within budget, Cambridge Consultants and the organizations building the SKA looked to the makers of coat hangers and shopping carts, as well as television aerials. Their mass productions techniques made efficient use of metal during manufacturing, bringing down the cost.

Read More:http://news.discovery.com/tech/square-kilometer-array-120720.html

Dreamliner Wins Innovation Award In Europe

By: Wajiha Malik

The European Institute for Creative Strategies and Innovation has named Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner the recipient of its grand prize for innovation.

The award was presented to Yves Galland, president of Boeing France, in ceremonies in Paris.

“We are very proud to receive this prestigious award, which recognizes the 787’s amazing technological breakthrough,” said Galland. “We share this prize with the eight French companies providing critical products and systems onboard the Dreamliner as the entire international team and our customers around the world.”

Made largely from composite materials, the 787 is a twin-engine, long-range, wide-bodied jetliner. The plane is assembled in Boeing’s Everett and Charleston, S.C., plants.

The plane is the first large airliner whose fuselage and wings are not made of metal.

The plane is about 20 percent less expensive to operate than older- generation wide-bodied aircraft.
Boeing began delivering the first production Dreamliners last fall, about three years behind schedule.

Headline July 24th, 2012 / The Every-Round Fighter

'THE EVERY-ROUND FIGHTER' : 

''REVEREND JESSE JACKSON'' 

Yale University 2005. The scene is tense and serious. Jackson arrives at the rally, tne last speaker is winding down. Stepping up to the microphone, he wastes no time on the preaambles. 

"We the people......"

Audience: ''We the people..''
Jackson: ''Have a right....''
Audience: ''Have a right...''
Jackson: ''To organise....''
Audience: ''To organise...''

Again the cause is suffering graduate students. This being Yale and 2005, it's hard to tell the serious protesters from the postmodern pranksters. Some of the signs say 'No Taxation Without Representation' and 'U.S. Out Of Vietnam Now.' 

And Jackson starts his speech in his usual soft rumble, riding the oppressed graduate students to the war in Iraq to Goodman and Chanay and Schwerner, his voice steadily building the sweeping cadences of the southern church. 

What if black football players had to get twelve yards for a first down to ''prove'' themselves? What if white football players had to do only eight yards because they ''inherited'' the other two? There'd be a fight after every game! ''We didn't know how good baseball could be till everybody could play!'' 

Here and there, and then everywhere heads start to nod. It's hard to resist the passion in that rich voice, the very very stirring call to justice. But then Jackson strides to the TV cameras. ''You have been arrested,'' a reporter from the Fox says. ''What next?'' 'The struggle will go on.' The Fox reporter keeps a straight voice, but her eyes widen just a little. The Struggle! 

Does he even know what decade this is? From Martin Luther King Jr, and the Rainbow Coalition to Terri Schiavo and Michael Jackson, this soldier from the great war fights on and on. Let's see for what, now? With the merciless ravages of time, Jackson's beginning to seem tired. 

His face is puffy. There's a spot on his collar. His shoulders sag, revealing a substantial gut. But in a conference room across campus, there's a group of activists who focus on the Yale-New Medical Center, trying to shake money for local playgrounds and higher salaries. They look up at him, waiting for him to say something. 

He tells them that everything Dr King fought for in the sixties is on the chopping block because the right wing backlash wants to roll back labor and civil rights, and we are fighting for a democracy in Iraq that we don't have at home, the same basic speech he has been giving all day. 

With repetition, it begins to seem more and more like something from a left wing Ikea, a mass of standardised parts linked together in slightly different ways. Even he doesn't seem to take his zinger about democracy seriously; sometimes he qualifies it, explaining that he means the ''proportional democracy'' Bush is pressing on the Shiites and the Kurds as a way to avoid civil war. 

But most of the time he doesn't bother. He's moving too fast, talking too much, trying too hard. Onward he hurries to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Each row is packed with pillars of the local black community, a thousand men and women dressed in suits and fancy dresses. 

Reverend Jackson starts off with ''I am somebody,'' and they shout back at him in a single voice: ''I am somebody!"

Good night & God bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

Wheelchair-bound IDF vet latest Israeli to set himself ablaze

Israelis, holding torches, attend a demonstration in Tel Aviv
 on July 21, 2012, in memory of Moshe Silman 

A disabled Israeli Defense Forces veteran has self-immolated, sustaining burns to 80 per cent of his body. The incident follows the death of IDF veteran Moshe Silman, who sparked a series of similar protests by setting himself ablaze last week.

The Disabled IDF Veterans' Association says financial woes compelled the veteran to take the desperate measure.

"The bodies that are supposed to support him, i.e. the Defense Ministry and National Insurance Institute have failed him,” the organization’s spokesman told Ynet News. “I'm afraid over 50,000 IDF veterans share his frustration."

The self-immolation took place hours before the funeral of Moshe Silman, an IDF veteran who died on Friday of burns he sustained during a massive demonstration the previous week. Silman had also set himself ablaze, suffering third-degree burns to over 95 per cent of his body.

In a letter which Silman read out before setting himself alight, he accused the Israeli establishment of "taking from the poor and giving to the rich." He also said that despite being incapable of working due to a stroke, a housing ministry committee did not find him eligible for public housing benefits.

Since then, at least five more self-immolation cases have been reported in Israel, with Sunday’s incident being the most serious since Silman.

Reducing salt 'would cut cancer'

Cutting back on salty foods such as bacon, bread and breakfast cereals may reduce people's risk of developing stomach cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).

It wants people to eat less salt and for the content of food to be labelled more clearly.

In the UK, the WCRF said one-in-seven stomach cancers would be prevented if people kept to daily guidelines.

Cancer Research UK said this figure could be even higher.

Too much salt is bad for blood pressure and can lead to heart disease and stroke, but it can also cause cancer.

The recommended daily limit is 6g, about a level teaspoonful, but the World Cancer Research Fund said people were eating 8.6g a day.

There are around 6,000 cases of stomach cancer every year in the UK. The WCRF estimated that 14% of cases, around 800, could be avoided if everyone stuck to their 6g a day.

Kate Mendoza, head of health information at WCRF, said: "Stomach cancer is difficult to treat successfully because most cases are not caught until the disease is well-established.    (BBC.co.uk)

Irish swimmer dies crossing English Channel

Tributes have been paid to the 45-year-old, who had been 
training rigorously for the swim 

An Irish swimmer has died crossing the English Channel with just 1 kilometre from the coast of France when he took ill. He began his swim from Dover shortly after 9am on Saturday and died at around 1.30am.

Tributes have been paid to Paraic Casey, a 45-year-old from Co Cork whose passion was swimming.



Michael Oram, chairman of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, said: "Attempts were made by crew to resuscitate him before a French rescue helicopter arrived with medics who tried further resuscitation."

A speedboat of rescuers from Calais also rushed to the scene, but despite several attempts medics were unable to revive him.
A post-mortem examination is due to be held to establish the cause of death.

Mr Casey travelled to Dover with his wife and support team during the week, but he had to wait until the weather improved before he could begin his endurance swim.

He was raising money for two charities, Marymount Hospice in Cork and the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Mr Casey, who worked at Fota Wildlife Park, was a member of the Sandycove Swimming Club in Kinsale, Co Cork, for the last five years.

The 45-year-old's widow Riana was on the Pace Arrow support boat next to her husband when he fell ill in the water in the early hours of this morning.


"Paraic was an amazing, healthy, tough, loving husband, friend, brother, uncle, son, nephew and cousin whose recent passion for swimming brought him to great places," she said.

"I would like to thank everyone for their love and support.

"We ask that our privacy is respected during this difficult time."


Mr Casey signed up for the 35km (21-mile) Channel swim two years ago and intensified his training.

Previous achievements include a 16km swim between Cork and Cobh and a relay swim with his wife in Lake Zurich.

U.S. Poverty On Track To Rise To Highest Since 1960s

WASHINGTON — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.

The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.

Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor. More discouraged workers are giving up on the job market, leaving them vulnerable as unemployment aid begins to run out. Suburbs are seeing increases in poverty, including in such political battlegrounds as Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where voters are coping with a new norm of living hand to mouth.

Louis Vuitton readies for Shanghai opening

By Saeeda Zaib
Trends Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

Louis Vuitton is certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to self-promotion and the brand made its intentions in China well and truly clear Thursday, taking out the whole front page of a national newspaper to promote the opening of its new store in Shanghai this Saturday.

With one whole floor that will be open "invite-only," a gilded spiral staircase and specially designed offerings for the Chinese market -- such as made-to-order cases for tea sets and mahjong tile carrying cases -- the outlet in the fashionable Plaza 66 mall is designed to further cement the Louis Vuitton brand in a market now worth an estimated 160 billion yuan (20.4 billion euros) per year, third most in the world behind the United States and Japan.

The Shanghai store that featured on the front page of the China Daily newspaper will be the brand's largest in China, spread across four floors and seeing visitors attended to by more than 100 staff members. There's even a hairdressing salon on the private floor.

Louis Vuitton's Shanghai "maison" joins 15 similar outlets across the globe where the focus from the brand is on made-to-order goods for the very highest-end of the luxury market.

Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica, #2) by Beth Fantaskey

It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?

Drive Angry (2011)

Drive Angry is a 2011 action film starring Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard, and directed by Patrick Lussier. It was released on February 25, 2011. Shot in 3-D, the film was met with a mixed reception and grossed almost $30 million.

Plot: In Colorado, John Milton (Nicolas Cage) interrogates the only survivor of a car wreck he caused, seeking Jonah King (Billy Burke), the leader of a Satanic cult who murdered Milton's daughter and took her baby. In three days, King and his followers will sacrifice the child at midnight. After the man tells him where Jonah King is, Milton sets off for Louisiana to find his grandchild. He is then being followed by a strange man in a suit (William Fichtner) who identifies himself as "The Accountant".

At a diner in Oklahoma, Milton meets a waitress, Piper (Amber Heard), who gives him a ride. After dropping Milton off, she goes to her fiance Frank's (Todd Farmer) house to discover Frank is having sex with another woman. Piper viciously fights the other woman, and gets into an argument with Frank, who then decides to pulverize Piper. Milton rescues Piper, knocking Frank out, and they leave in her car. Later, The Accountant comes to Frank's house, still looking for Milton. Angry, Frank attacks the Accountant, who kills Frank with a broken baseball bat. Police arrive, and the Accountant presents an FBI badge, telling them to help him find Milton, who is supposedly an escaped convict.

Milton and Piper then stay for the night at a roadside bar/motel. Piper later spots Jonah King, who orders his men to find and kill Milton. In the motel, Milton is having sex with a waitress (Charlotte Ross), and without stopping is able to kill most of Hill's men; Piper kills the final one. The Accountant and the police arrive to find Milton. Both officers get killed, and Piper and Milton escape. The Accountant pursues them, but is shot by Milton with the five-barreled "Godkiller". This in turn causes The Accountant to lose control of the car and then crash. Despite not wanting anything to do with the situation, Piper agrees to help Milton to find his grandchild.

Louis Vuitton readies for Shanghai opening

Louis Vuitton is certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to self-promotion and the brand made its intentions in China well and truly clear Thursday, taking out the whole front page of a national newspaper to promote the opening of its new store in Shanghai this Saturday.

With one whole floor that will be open "invite-only," a gilded spiral staircase and specially designed offerings for the Chinese market -- such as made-to-order cases for tea sets and mahjong tile carrying cases -- the outlet in the fashionable Plaza 66 mall is designed to further cement the Louis Vuitton brand in a market now worth an estimated 160 billion yuan (20.4 billion euros) per year, third most in the world behind the United States and Japan.

The Shanghai store that featured on the front page of the China Daily newspaper will be the brand's largest in China, spread across four floors and seeing visitors attended to by more than 100 staff members. There's even a hairdressing salon on the private floor.

Louis Vuitton's Shanghai "maison" joins 15 similar outlets across the globe where the focus from the brand is on made-to-order goods for the very highest-end of the luxury market.

England v South Africa: Hashim Amla now 'an awesome batsman'

Hashim Amla created history when he became the first South African to score a Test triple hundred in the first Test against England at The Kia Oval.
The 29-year-old came to the crease with his team struggling on 1-1, and when they declared almost two days later he had scored 311 not out and helped them to a potentially match-winning 637-2.
He faced 529 balls in an innings that spanned almost 15 hours and contained 35 fours, adding 259 with Graeme Smith for the second wicket and an unbroken 377 with Jacques Kallis for the third.

Former England batsman and Test Match Special summariser Geoffrey Boycott:

"I thought Hashim played marvellously well. He reminds me of Mohammad Yousuf from Pakistan.
"I don't mean just in his appearance, but in the way he bats. He looks cool, calm, collected and unruffled.

"He bats in a way that gives very little hope for the bowlers because he is pretty tight in his defence, his technique is good and he plays the same way at the start of his innings as he does at the end of it.
"When he first came into the game, he had a flourish - a loop to his batting - but he has ironed that out and has got better and better. He has had a brilliant year and a half.
"He now opens in South Africa's one-day squad, so he has a wide range of shots. He plays well off the front foot and his back foot shots are excellent. If you bowl them on his hips, he plays those easily too.
"Quality players like him have good concentration and patience. If you don't get them early, it is hard work.
"That is the way it should be: quality players making it hard work for the bowlers. The kid is a good batsman. He has a wide range of shots and a good defence - it's that simple."

Ex-South Africa captain and all-rounder Shaun Pollock:

"Becoming the first South African to score a triple century was a wonderful achievement for Hashim.
"However, as a player, I don't think you worry about records too much, although it is a wonderful thing to be able to tick off. I think he will be more happy with the way he played and has set this game up for South Africa with a big score.
"These are really exciting times for him, and it shows how good he is and the powers of concentration he possesses. He is a fantastic player who has come into his own.
"He works hard on his tactics and method of playing and he sticks to that. In the one-day format, he came on to the scene and we thought he was not really suited to that format.
"But he has adapted his game and has found a method that works for him in both Test and one-day matches. He has developed into an awesome batsman."

- BBC

German GP: Fernando Alonso wins tense race at Hockenheim

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso beat Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button in a close fight to win the German Grand Prix.

The Spaniard became the only man to win three times so far this season. He drove a controlled race and stayed just far enough ahead of his pursuers to maintain the lead.


Button climbed up from sixth on the grid to pass Vettel at the second pit stops but was re-passed with two laps to go.
However, the Englishman was promoted to second place after race stewards gave Vettel a 20-second penalty for his overtake of Button on the penultimate lap.

Lewis Hamilton retired with gearbox damage after running well down the field following an early puncture. But he will not incur any penalty for a gearbox change because of his retirement.

The result extends Alonso's championship lead to 34 points ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber who had a low-key race to eighth place, never showing any real pace.

Alonso said: "It was tough, not an easy race. Maybe we were not the quickest in dry conditions but we were competitive and it was enough to maintain the lead.

"Great strategy calls from the team to keep me ahead through the pit stops. I knew it would be a long race to the end, with Jenson putting pressure.

"But the car was feeling good on top speed and traction and that was enough to keep the lead into Turn 6, and after that overtaking is not so easy."   (BBC.co.uk)

Google opens year-long Web Lab exhibition at the Science Museum

A series of ‘interactive Chrome Experiments’ have taken up residence in a basement gallery at the Science Museum.

Google hopes that the exhibition will “bring the extraordinary workings of the internet to life and inspire the next generation of computer scientists and enthusiasts. “

Visitors to the Science Museum will be able to play with five demonstrations, while online participants will be able to visit chromeweblab.com and interact with the same installations.

The Science Museum claims the exhibition will be its first that is truly 24-hour, as online users will continue to be able to operate the exhibits overnight when the museum is closed.

The five experiments are Universal Orchestra, an internet-powered eight-piece robotic orchestra; Sketchbots, where custom-built robots take photographs of users and then sketch them in sand; Data Tracer, which maps where the world’s online information is physically stored; Teleporter, which uses web-enabled periscopes to view pre-determined locations around the world; and Lab Tag Explorer, which shows where exhibition visotrs, both online and in the gallery, are from and what they have in common.

Each Web Lab experiment uses a modern web technology to explore a particular idea in computer science, but Google is not explaining the different techniques involved. Instead, it hopes that their effects will inspire children to find out more.

Philippines tightens security at malls after US rampage

The senseless theatre-shooting in US has shaken people all around the world. Philippines specifically is tightening security at all shopping malls.  58 people lost their lives. A 17-year-old Philippino also got shot in the rampage as informed by presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda to the Philippines government on radio.

'We are asking mall operators to have security guards thoroughly search bags in order that we can avoid a similar incident,' he said on Sunday.

'We hope and pray that he will recover from the gunshot wounds,' he said of the teenager, whom press in the Philippines - a former US colony - named as Ryan Lumba.