technology advances

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Diddy Opens Up About Estranged Father in Revealing Interview

He's never been one to reveal anything about his past, but in a rare interview Sean Diddy Combs shared details about an important figure in his list.

The 43-year-old rapper took to his Twitter account on Wednesday (October 23) and posted his latest Revolt TV segment.

"I've never spoken openly about my father ..but launching @Revolttv moved me to share and let ppl kno the truth #free," Diddy tweeted.

During the interview entitled "Confessions," Diddy sat down in his apartment and explained why he misses his father.

"They say you can't miss something you never had, but that's only a little right," Diddy stated. "There's a definitely been times as I've gotten older that I've missed my father - his presence - not being there... There's thing that you would ask your father. There's also things that you would celebrate with him that would make him proud."

Also discussing the influence his drug dealing father had on him, the "Bad Boy for Life" singer said, "I have his hustler's mentality, his hustler's spirit, his drive, his determinations, his swag."

He continued, "My father was a hustler. He was a drug dealer and he was a hustler, so I learned early in life that there's only two ways out of that dead-end jail. It made me work even harder."

"Sometimes you can't just answer why things happen, but I definitely think the route that I went on - staying out of the streets and hitting the books and trying to be somebody - I think he played a role in that," he added.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/sean-diddy-combs/diddy-opens-about-estranged-father-revealing-interview-948870
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Use MongoDB to make your app location-aware

Since I've been the boss man, I find I have fewer opportunities to get into the details of coding as I spend more time dealing with annoyances. Once again, I'm handing over this blog to one of my crack developers, Jonathan Freeman. I think you'll find his explanation of geospatial queries in MongoDB highly useful. -- Andy

The surging popularity of Hadoop has paved the way to storing and processing gobs of semistructured data. Batch processing data is a great way to study the past in high definition, but it's constrained by the simple phrase "next time." As in: "Looks like our customers didn't like the way the checkout process went, let's change that for next time."

Constructing a "this time" solution can be approached in several ways. One angle of attack is to combine batch and real-time analytics: Set up MapReduce jobs to run every night, for example, and pipe the results into a NoSQL database to be queried throughout the day. MapReduce distills and condenses the data set, allowing it to be accessed quickly as needed.

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Another approach is to focus on the state of the user at the current moment. In other words, context -- not what will be, but what is, right now. And particularly for mobile applications, what information could be more important about the user's state than his or her geolocation?

Location awareness is an idea that's spreading both inside the tech world and out (just think about the locavore or farm-to-table trends in the foodie community). GPS-enabled mobile devices have been a boon to developers and technology providers paying attention to these trends. One such provider is our new favorite billion-dollar NoSQL company, MongoDB.

MongoDB's new geospatial query in action
MongoDB has had native geospatial queries for a while (famously used by Foursquare), which make finding documents that are near a given point or documents that lie within a given polygon a breeze.

The latest production release introduced a new query operator: $geoIntersects. The operator packs quite a punch, filling in functionality lacking in previous versions. For example, if you wanted to supply a point and find all the documents enclosing that point, you had to do it on your application layer. If you wanted to supply a polygon and see which documents overlap, you had to do it on your application layer. If you wanted to supply a line and see which documents could be found on that line, you did it in your application layer.

Happily, $geoIntersects does all that and more. On top of the flexibility, it's incredibly easy to use. The general idea is that you can supply a point, line, or polygon, and any document that intersects with the supplied geometry will be returned. To demonstrate, I've built a little Web app that relies on the query.

The app takes a starting and ending address, finds a bike route for the supplied points, and tells you all the Chicago neighborhoods you'd pass through. It will also tell you which Chicago neighborhood you're in at the moment. The app is simple, but shows two possible uses of the new query operator. Here's what it looks like:

TEXT

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/use-mongodb-make-your-app-location-aware-229403?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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Icahn: Apple should launch $150B stock buyback

FILE - In this March 16, 2010 file photo, financier Carl Icahn poses for photos upon arriving for the 32nd annual New York City Police Foundation Gala in New York. Icahn is pressuring Apple to spend $150 billion buying back its own stock, a target that would more than double the amount that the company's board authorized in a previous attempt to placate frustrated shareholders. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Activist investor Carl Icahn has told Apple CEO Tim Cook that the iPhone and iPad maker should launch a $150 billion stock buyback immediately and disclosed that he now owns 4.7 million shares in the company.

In a letter to Cook posted online on Thursday, Icahn said he has increased his stake in Apple by 22 percent from 3.9 million at the end of September. At Apple's current stock price, that's worth about $2.5 billion and amounts to less than a 1 percent stake in the company. He plans to increase his stake.

Icahn wants Apple to launch the buyback at its current stock price, which closed at close to $525 on Wednesday when the letter was sent. He stressed that he does not plan to tender any of his shares in the buyback he is proposing.

"There is nothing short term about my intentions here," he wrote. Over the long term, Icahn said he expects Apple's stock price to increase to $1,250 if the company goes through with the buyback as proposed. The highest point that the stock has ever reached was in $705.07, last September.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

Icahn said he wants to make it "very clear" that he supports Cook and Apple's current management team, as well as Apple's culture and "innovative spirit it engenders." It's just that he believes that Apple's current buyback plan — $60 billion over three years — is too small.

Speaking of his proposal, Icahn wrote, "While this would certainly be unprecedented because of its size, it is actually appropriate and manageable relative to the size and financial strength of your company. Apple generates more than enough cash flow to service this amount of debt and has $147 billion of cash in the bank."

The billionaire investor posted the letter on a new website he launched Thursday, called "Shareholders Square Table."

Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple rose $5.01 to $529.97 in midday trading.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-24-US-Apple-Icahn-Letter/id-ceb1ac047356429ca230db1a89af8940
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The gay couples in N.J. who finally got to say 'I do'

NEWARK, N.J.—Right after the stroke of midnight Monday, seven same-sex couples said “I do” in the marble rotunda of Newark’s City Hall as New Jersey became the 14th state in the union to allow gay marriage.

Senator-elect Cory Booker presided over the weddings, enthusiastically telling each couple, “you may kiss your spouse,” after warning that marriage should not be entered into lightly. The new spouses included a bus driver, two social workers, a municipal court data processor and the retired dean of students at Rutgers University.

“Today is a victory for love,” Booker said, before the newlywed couples chowed down on cake and sipped champagne as dozens of news cameras and reporters watched from behind a roped-off area. The state’s Supreme Court rejected a request from Chris Christie’s administration last week to delay the weddings until it makes a final decision on whether gay marriage is legal in the state. The court said the state’s argument against gay marriage is unlikely to win out, and that the state has no reason to deny gay couples the right to marry.

James Credle, 68, and Pierre Dufresne, 56, were among those wed early Monday morning. The couple first met in 1987 at a gay rights march on Washington, but didn’t get together until 2006. “It was complicated,” Dufresne joked. Credle, who’s originally from North Carolina, wore a gold, floor-length traditional gown from Ghana, while Dufresne wore a simple black suit for the ceremony.

Credle was married before, to a man in the Netherlands who later passed away. After his husband died, he rekindled his romance with Dufresne, who is Canadian. The two spent their entire courtship long-distance.

“I really never thought I would do it because I wanted to wait for all 50 states to have [same-sex marriage],” Credle said of the wedding. But he changed his mind when he heard about the state Supreme Court’s ruling allowing marriages to take place last week. Credle, who lives in Newark, is a retired dean of students at Rutgers. Dufresne is a computer graphics artist.

The Rev. Donald Ransom, an assistant pastor at Unity Fellowship Church and Credle’s friend of 40 years, served as witness. The pair gave each other an Eskimo kiss after Booker declared them married in the state of New Jersey.

Orville Bell, an educator, said he met his new spouse Joseph Panessidi, a retired advertising executive, at a gay bar 15 years ago. Both are activists for gay rights in the community, and friends of Booker’s. The pair, both 65, entered into a civil union four years ago. “We’re now really happy to be able to change that to marriage,” Panessidi said. “It’s clear now—you can’t misunderstand what our relationship is. It can’t be denied or refuted by anyone.”

Jenelle Torres, 42, said she’s been with her new wife Lydia Torres, a UPS driver, for seven years, when the pair met at Unity Fellowship Church. “It was monumental,” Torres said of the ceremony. “It’s humbling.” She wore a gold floor-length gown, while her wife wore a suit and bow tie.

Lynne Womble, 49, met her wife Debra Summers, 47, when they were set up on a blind date three years ago. “I knew I wanted to get married,” Womble, an administrative assistant, said. Summers proposed when the two went on a weekend trip.

It remains to be seen how many same-sex couples will take advantage of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling and get married in the coming weeks. Unlike Newark, some towns have not yet begun issuing licenses. David Levy, a rabbi at Temple Shalom in Succasunna, said his congregation includes same-sex couples who have married in Canada or New York already, but who now no longer have to worry about their home state recognizing their unions. “What’s great is their marriages will be recognized, God willing, here,” Levy said.

Tracy Sprowls, a pastor at First Unitarian in Plainfield, said Unitarian churches would be performing same-sex marriages all day Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/the-gay-couples-in-n-j--who-finally-got-to-say--i-do--114133337.html
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Dogs Shaking in Super Slow Motion Will Fix Any Bad Day

It's no secret that dogs plus great photography and super slow motion have the power to mend the wounds of the world. Who doesn't want more of that? You do. We all do. Here.

US ambassador summoned by Germany over NSA spying

FILE - The Jan. 20, 2011 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel using her mobile phone at the German Federal Parliament Bundestag in Berlin. The German Foreign Ministry said Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 it has summoned the U.S. ambassador in the wake of allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

FILE - The Oct. 25, 2011 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel using the short message service of her cell phone at the chancellery in Berlin. The German Foreign Ministry said Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 it has summoned the U.S. ambassador in the wake of allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

FILE - The May 30, 2012 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel checking her mobile phone prior to the opening of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Stralsund, Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to President Barack Obama on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 after learning that U.S. intelligence may have targeted her mobile phone, and said that would be “a serious breach of trust” if confirmed, her government said. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Thursday following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone.

At the same time, a senior lawmaker expressed concern at the White House's statement that it isn't monitoring and won't monitor Merkel's communications — a response that didn't address what might have happened in the past. And the defense minister added that Europe can't simply return to business as usual in trans-Atlantic ties following a string of reports that the U.S. was spying on its allies.

Merkel's government says she complained to President Barack Obama Wednesday after receiving information her cellphone may have been monitored. It wouldn't elaborate, but German news magazine Der Spiegel, which has published material from NSA leaker Edward Snowden, said its research triggered the response.

The Foreign Ministry said U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson is expected to meet Thursday afternoon with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who will "spell out the position of the German government."

The U.S. Embassy said it had no comment.

Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD television the alleged surveillance would be "really bad" if confirmed. "The Americans are and remain our best friends, but this is absolutely not right," he said.

"I have reckoned for years with my cellphone being monitored, but I wasn't reckoning with the Americans," said de Maiziere, who was previously Merkel's chief of staff and Germany's interior minister.

"We can't simply return to business as usual," de Maiziere said when asked about possible effects on U.S.-German and U.S.-European relations. "There are allegations in France too."

This week, France demanded explanations of a report the U.S. swept up millions of French phone records, and also summoned the American ambassador to demand an explanation.

Leaders of the European Union's 28 countries meet in Brussels later Thursday for a long-planned summit.

De Maiziere didn't specify what effects the affair might have on relations. However, he said that "the relations between our countries are stable and important for our future; they will remain that way."

Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, has been one of Washington's closest allies in Europe. The United States was West Germany's protector during the Cold War and the country is still home to thousands of U.S. troops.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that Obama assured Merkel that "the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

The German government didn't say what Merkel thought of Obama's response, but a prominent lawmaker with her party who heads Parliament's domestic affairs committee criticized Carney's statement.

"I think we are all outraged, across party lines," Wolfgang Bosbach told Deutschlandfunk radio. "And that also goes for the response that the chancellor's cellphone is not being monitored — because this sentence says nothing about whether the chancellor was monitored in the past."

"This cannot be justified from any point of view by the fight against international terrorism or by averting danger," Bosbach said.

Merkel had previously raised concerns over allegations of mass electronic eavesdropping when Obama visited Germany in June, demanded answers from the U.S. government and backed calls for greater European data protection. Her government is striking a markedly sharper tone now, and signaling frustration over the answers provided so far by the U.S. government.

In a statement Wednesday, the government said Merkel called for U.S. authorities to clarify the extent of surveillance in Germany and to provide answers to "questions that the German government asked months ago."

Ahead of Germany's elections in September, which Merkel won, Germany's opposition accused her government of downplaying revelations of NSA spying — although at the time there was no suggestion the chancellor's phone was targeted.

On Wednesday, European lawmakers called for the suspension of an agreement that grants U.S. authorities access to bank data for terror-related investigations, a sharp rebuke of Washington's surveillance programs.

___

AP correspondent David Rising contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-24-Germany-US-Spying/id-2d5265e9acec49849a73b9e16e60f783
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Cisco beefs up enterprise collaboration tools

Cisco will boost its enterprise collaboration stack with products designed to simplify the way companies secure communications, interact with external parties and manage their collaboration tools.

The new wares, which will be announced on Wednesday at the company's annual Collaboration Summit, signal a renewed push from Cisco in this market, where it battles rivals like Microsoft, IBM, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens and Citrix.

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"Collaboration tools are old and broken," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Collaboration Technology Group, during a meeting with reporters prior to today's announcement.

Younger workers demand and expect collaboration tools -- including IM, presence, video conferencing, audio chats, IP telephony and Web meetings -- to be readily available anytime and anywhere, so Cisco is doubling down on mobility and cloud computing.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Trollope said, adding that the products being unveiled represent "a new direction for collaboration at Cisco."

One of the products is the Cisco Expressway, a gateway that secures real-time collaboration, including voice, IM and video communications without requiring device registration, account setup or passwords.

Cisco Expressway, part of the company's Collaboration Edge Architecture, uses Transport Layer Security and works with Cisco product families like Jabber and TelePresence. Expressway will be available in December. Expressway remote and mobile access for Jabber will be included at no additional cost in Cisco Unified Workspace license bundles.

Another new product is Jabber Guest, which plugs into Expressway and lets companies provide secure, controlled access to their enterprise collaboration systems to external parties like partners, contractors and customers.

For example, Jabber Guest lets companies usher in outsiders via a link on an IM or through a button on their website, so that, say, a tech support representative can communicate with a customer through video conference and screen share via a browser or mobile device. Jabber Guest will be available in January. Pricing will be announced then and will be based on the number of concurrent "guest" sessions the customer wants to have available.

Cisco will also unveil a new technology called Intelligent Proximity, designed to make it easy for employees to link their mobile phones with their desk phones so that they can switch calls in progress back and forth, and export contacts and call histories from the mobile phones. The first Cisco phone to gain this functionality will be the Android-based DX650 Smart Desk Phone.

The first implementation of Intelligent Proximity uses Bluetooth, but it will later employ an as-yet-unannounced Cisco technology that will further simplify the linking of devices, according to Trollope. The Intelligent Proximity for the DX650 will be delivered via a free firmware upgrade in November.

For IT administrators, Cisco has enhanced Prime Collaboration, giving it a centralized management console to control most Cisco collaboration products, including servers, desk phones and client software, monitor system health and provision users' own devices. It will be available in November.

Cisco is also announcing the second generation of its TelePresence MX300 endpoint, which is a stand-mounted, high-definition (1080p) display with a camera, four-way conferencing capability, an industrial "sleek" design and simple assembly requirements, according to the company. Available in December, its list price starts at $23,900.

Source: http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/applications/cisco-beefs-enterprise-collaboration-tools-229356?source=rss_applications
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