Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Google joins the titans of Silicon Valley lobbying
With great power comes even greater headaches. Just ask Google.
The company’s transition from upstart to Goliath has multiplied its legal and policy problems. There may be no better measure of this phenomenon than Google’s expansion of its lobbying activities on Capitol Hill.
In just five years, the search engine giant has gone from almost no presence in Washington to spending more money on lobbying than all but one other Silicon Valley company in 2009. And in the past three months, Google topped all other valley spenders.
“The growth in their lobbying reflects what the company has become,” said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “They’ve gone from a tiny company to a behemoth.”
Google’s drive for influence in D.C. extends beyond dollars and cents, and demonstrates remarkable savvy in the ways of Washington. These include Google funding policy fellowships and hosting politicians at the Googleplex, and Google employees taking jobs in the Obama administration.
Google seems determined not to repeat the mistake Microsoft made in the 1990s when the software company ignored politics until it was ensnared in an epic antitrust lawsuit.
There’s certainly nothing unusual about a company aggressively pushing its agenda. But in Google’s case, I think there’s a disconnect between the company’s view of these efforts, and how they look to outsiders.
Google has always
Advertisement
been a company that believes it has a special mission to make the world better, and it sees its lobbying and policy efforts as part of that crusade. In truth, this massive investment in lobbying is just one more sign that Google is acting like the big corporation it has become.
That’s neither good, nor evil. Sometimes Google’s interests align with the interests of consumers, and sometimes they don’t. But while Google believes it’s not evil, its size means many others will increasingly question whether its motives aren’t less than good.
I put this idea to Alan Davidson, head of U.S. public policy for Google, who said it’s not true, and that Google works to show humility.
“We’ve always known that with growth comes responsibility,” Davidson said. “We’re grateful for the company’s success. We know as we grow, we need to show that we’re a responsible industry leader.”
It seemed like just yesterday we were writing stories about “Google goes to Washington” as the Mountain View company opened its lobbying office in 2005. Now, Google’s right at home.
In 2009, Google spent $4.03 million on its lobbying efforts, up from $260,000 in 2005, according to U.S. Senate records. In the valley, that’s second only to
Oracle, which spent $5.1 million. And in the fourth quarter of 2009, Google outspent Oracle $1.12 million to $1.05 million.
While Google’s expansion is extraordinary, it does reflect an increase in the valley’s investment in lobbying. The top 10 valley companies increased their lobbying expenditures from a total of $12.4 million in 2005 to $26.4 million in 2009. Only Hewlett-Packard, a company that’s been around for decades, came close to matching Google’s expansion, growing from $380,000 in 2005 to $3.62 million last year.
“There was always a plan for steady growth in our presence,” Davidson said. “We knew when we started the office here, the issues facing our users and industries were only going to grow out here in Washington.”
Davidson notes that on some of the issues that Google lobbies for, it now butts heads with companies that spend far more on lobbying. While Davidson wouldn’t say which ones, he’s most likely talking about telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, whose expenditures ranged from $12 million to $17 million in 2009. Google looks at them, and still sees itself as the guppy.
And in the tech industry, Microsoft and IBM spent more last year, $6.7 million and $5.4 million respectively. But the gap is closing fast.
Davidson said Google’s efforts are benign, aimed at educating politicians and making sure its users’ interests are being heard.
“We started this office with the same philosophy as we did the business,” he said. “If you start with the user and focus on that, everything else will follow. If what we’re doing is good for our users and the Internet community, then it will be good for us in the long term.”
The problem is that the company often seems so certain of its mission that it can’t believe anyone would question its motives.
For instance, in a New York Times op-ed last fall, co-founder Sergey Brin painted Google’s efforts to scan books as a crusade to protect the world’s knowledge against the ravages of history. He bristled over criticisms of a settlement with publishers and authors: “In reality, nothing in this agreement precludes any other company or organization from pursuing their own similar effort. The agreement limits consumer choice in out-of-print books about as much as it limits consumer choice in unicorns.”
Sorry, but it is hubris to expect us to genuflect and accept that Google is doing this purely for the benefit of mankind. Google is scanning books because it expects to make money in some fashion down the road.
Lobbying on behalf of its position doesn’t make Google evil. It just means it’s a big corporation. But for a company with a messianic belief in its purpose, that’s a hard truth to accept.
Contact Chris O’Brien at 415-298-0207
mailto:cobrien@mercurynews.com
Friday the 15th: “Crash” the Art of Bethany Shorb and Cyberoptix Tielab 2010
Here’s to a lady who multi-faceted talent and dedication have inspired me to re-create myself several times over. Her works an exhibition of grace in the realms of business and pleasure. Come celebrate the success and bask in the fellowship of Bethany Shorb and birthday bud Michael Doyle on this wonderful evening.
Are you fucking dumb get a map
ps check out these beauties:
sexy photo
hex tie
Don’t forget to buy something, you ought to to look this good.
Original Article:
Bethany Shorb’s Cyberoptix Tielab 2010 Preview and Photography Exhibition:
Special Musical Performance by Justin Carver from “Something Cold” and Deth Lab
Friday Jan, 15th 2010 6pm @ 323East in Royal Oak, MI.
These are not your father’s ties – let’s make that clear first. Cyberoptix? Right – and with a fresh bottle of Old Spice wrapped up with it. Knot quite.
These are the works of an imaginative artist and photographer named Bethany Shorb who took the mundane reality of neckwear and proceeded to give it a twist or two in new directions – with bold color, bolder materials, and the novel idea that a traditional symbol of subservience could be transformed into “a subversive object of desire.”
Reaching that goal was aided immeasurably by Shorb’s other talents; besides photography, she is trained in sculpture, costume design, and prop construction. And THOSE accomplishments, we hasten to add, are complemented nicely by her brutally direct understanding of what see sees or what she wants us to see. Shorb has tackled a variety of subjects and (as evidenced by a recent exhibit inspired by J.G. Ballard’s novel CRASH) her “eye” is not a blinking one by any stretch. Something is heated to an almost unbearable degree in her works. And if you can’t stand the heat … well, best you seek out an environment where the climate is more controlled.
But you don’t want to do that. What you want to do is to see the latest creations by this intriguing talent – the ones that 323 East will unveil on January 15. The cravats are cool. The pix are pulsating. Nice way to make a knot in our opinion.
—–
Schooled in both sculpture and photography, Bethany Shorb creates elaborate prop, costume and set constructions that blur the line between both editorial fashion photography and performance art documentation. Her recent Crash series refers to J.G. Ballard’s novel of the same name with scenes titled by the lyrics of The Normal’s song of similar influence, “Warm Leatherette.” Technology, celebrity, sex, and death are perversely glamorized and fetishised in unison in a single explosion of red Swarovski crystals and inflated black latex rubber. Models, wardrobe and set decoration all retain the same visual and emotional weight, a hyper-saturated amalgamation exploring the interstitial space between the alluring and repulsive; hedonism and restraint; the seductive speed of expressways and the still finality of Last Rights.
Bethany Shorb was born in Boston, MA in 1976. She received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture, with an elective in Photography, from Cranbrook Academy of Art and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Boston University with minors in Art History and Photography. Her photography and product design work have been widely published in the United States and abroad; her visual art and product work has been exhibited throughout the United States and is included in numerous private collections. This past summer she taught several printing workshops in her Detroit studio and was recently reviewed in the New York Times and Wired. Her dj alter-ego has performed as half of “Dethlab” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Shorb also founded The Cyberoptix Tie Lab in 2006. As a designer of witty hand printed neckwear, she has applied her experience as a sculptor, couture, costume and graphic designer to transform a much maligned business necessity into a subversive object of desire. Cyberoptix ties and scarves are represented by more than 150 stores in a dozen countries: from Fred Segal in Los Angeles to Libertine in Western Australia. A paradox for the times, Cyberoptix Tie Lab operates one of the largest eco-friendly, solvent-free print shops in the country in Downtown Detroit, while providing a seditious, punky fashion statement for executives bound to the neck noose, and a sharply styled alternative for those who don’t need to wear a tie, but choose to do so.
cyberoptix.com
toybreaker.etsy.com
trunkt.org/cyberoptix
toybreaker.net/blog
dethlab.net
myspace.com/teamdethlab
323East.com
Original Metrotimes article via Facebook
Objectified, a film about industrial design
No commentsObjectified, a film about industrial design, is a new movie by Gary Hustwit. It’s his followup to Helvetica, which was totally awesome. The film should be released in March, 2009.
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Smart Design (New York)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
and more participants TBA
Detroit By Design Fashion Show, Bankle Building 12.06.08
been uber busy, I might put up the shots from motorcity if a few more people mail me.
[cyberoptix.com] clothing by Bethany Shorb
No commentsGenghis Tron & YIPYIP @ Small’s Bar [10.20.08]
i know this was forever ago, but i recently decided yo up these for the sake of the bands. even tho i was pretty shitty this evening. i wanna thank worm of public pubes for enjoying this show with me and sharing. since this show was fucking amazing, i suggest you see these groups whenever you have the chance. please visit their myspaces and give them a listen. now watch this video for Genghis Tron “Asleep on the Forest Floor”.
can’t see the video? click here.
Download: [Genghis Tron - Rock Candy.mp3]
[Wiki yip yip]
[myspace.com/yipyip]
[yip-yip.com]
[Wiki Genghis Tron]
[myspace.com/genghistron]
[genghistron.com]
Girl Talk, Krak Attack, & Deathset @ The Crofoot Ballroom (11.11.08). 372 shot set.
Those of you that called the next day, please call back i kind of smashed my phone and if you didn’t leave your number in my voicemail i don’t have it, that includes the person who works for google + all models. Josh & Liz, this evening wouldn’t have been near as celebratory without you, i love you both. Also Angela & company, really balanced out the pontiac fuglies + your hot pants really made the party. I cannot wait to see your design for our head sex shoot. Joe & Channing, you’re a very fun couple, pleasure meeting you both. Jessica & Greg, i’ll upload the raws to a drop box and mail you the password a few hours after this is posted.
##PLEASE READ##:
So some of our slower readers don’t realize that the photo posts are links to a larger gallery, pay attention to when your cursor changes into Mario’s glove and maybe you wont have that problem. Please people, if you have a question concerning the photos in the gallery, i would rather you leave it as a comment than send me an email, i have enough as it is.
One more things, if the gallery doesnt load at first, or it can’t find the pontiac folder or whatever, give it a few, a lot is going up this morning.
[Enter 11.11.08 Gallery]
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection MAC OSX, torrent
About five days ago pirated releases started dropping for osx right after Windows users got theirs. I’ve scoured the web for the most stable pirated releases and brought them here. There’s the master collection for osx and pc available here, as well as something called the megapack, which i did not download because its 25 muther fucking gigs… but it includes every version of the master collection suites… its huge.. read more on that. You guys can thank me later.
Create visually rich content for virtually any media-print, web, interactive, video, audio, and mobile-using the tightly integrated tools and services in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software. From producing printed pages to distributing engaging content online, on film, on air, and on device, you get the ultimate design environment to keep pace with your imagination.
Design across media using a comprehensive, integrated creative environment; Work deeply in one discipline, such as print, web, video, or audio, and then move your skills and content to another medium efficiently Create eye-catching vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator CS4, produce powerful images in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, and lay out visually rich documents for print and digital delivery in InDesign; showcase design work in dynamic PDF Portfolios Prototype and create leading-edge digital experiences, including interactive websites, applications, user interfaces, presentations, and mobile device content, using Adobe Fireworks CS4, Dreamweaver CS4, Flash, and many other tools in Master Collection Work with a highly efficient pre- and post-production toolset to do video and audio editing, still and motion graphics, visual effects, and interactive media design, and then deliver for film, broadcast, and DVD as well as Blu-ray Disc and mobile authoring Use the indispensable tools in Photoshop Extended more efficiently: Pan and zoom on images smoothly, rotate canvas to any angle, and resize images without distortion using new Content-Aware Scaling; paint, composite, and animate 3D models.
Torrent: [Adobe.Creative.Suite.4.Master.Collection.Mac.OSX] (OSX v10.4.11–10.5.4) | 6.92 GB
Torrent: [Adobe.Creative.Suite.4.Master.Collection] (pc) | 5.58 GB
Torrent: [Adobe CS4 Retail ESD Megapack] (pc) | 34.39 BG
Links: Homepage
On another note, i’ve recently decided how i feel about mashup while talked to my friend sam… it’s soulless. Like crack. Just as popular too. A remix is one thing… but when you find that an attention deficit promoting 45 minute album has been in your player for 2 weeks it’s time to check yourself. Sure I’m a little guilty it’s true, but i’m steadily trading in my girltalk, super mash bros, ludachrist, and other for a more classic jam. From now on I think I’m gonna have to keep it reserved for the party, the club, you know… i’m still psyched for the november 11th girltalk show at the crofoot.
so yeah.. Evolution Control Committee, don’t know where it came from… just found it on my hard drive during a party shuffle, and i happen to have a full album. dude btw, wtf is with itunes “genius”, how soon after i turn it on will the federalis be knocking down my door?
anyway… from the bodom of my heart; here’s a hip, samply, funky low-fo replacement for you mashup fiends to ween down. its like cornelius meets jeff beck meets dj shadow. It’s not the kitschy club shit ur used to.. it’s chill, so actually listen to it before you download this and make it your friday night dance party set. get down.
here’s some randoms:
Download: [04IWantaCookie.mp3] <--my official "stoked for cs4 track"
Download: [05RockedbyRape.mp3]
Download: [19SexRe-Education.mp3]
Download: [Evolution Control Committee - Plagiarythm Nation (2003)] | 71.2 MB
No commentsTwitter – new terrorists’ favourite tool?
The U.S. intelligence community is concerned that terrorists might use micro-blogging tool Twitter to coordinate attacks, according to a purported draft Army intelligence report posted on the Web. The report–present by the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion and posted to the Federation of American Scientists Web site–examines the possible ways terrorists could use mobile and Web technologies such as the Global Positioning System, digital maps, and Twitter mashups to plan and execute terrorist attacks. The report (PDF), which appears to have been first presented earlier this month, was reported Friday by Wired magazine’s Noah Shachtman.
A chapter titled “Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter,” presents general, introductory information on Twitter and how it works, and describes how the service was used to report details of a recent earthquake in Los Angeles and by activists at the Republican National Convention. “Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences,” the report said. The report describes hacktivists as politically motivated hackers. However, the overview notes that the research used to generate the report was gathered from open source intelligence and not compared with information in classified venues.
U.S. is fucked. Why is this in the news… is it news that a terrorist might used technology to plan an attack. I’m going to see if I can find and follow terrorist on twitter. Why don’t they just use facebook? “Hussein has invited you to the ‘Detonate at noon!’ group”.
Source: Cnet, ABC
1 commentNY Times Section – Girl Talk (photo by Christos Schizas)
::update::
among all else that is the happened, the morning i discovered this went into print, i woke up in jeff bass‘ mansion in west bloomfield. thank you Alicia and Kacy for being so hospitable. That was by far the best showing of Ferris Bueller’s Day Out ever. Sha nana na nana na. and… “there’s a big ole’ hole, i’m creepin’ in”. i know that really doesn’t cover any of the events that took place that week, but who will remember anyway? i will. i adore you both. i havent felt this great in a long time.
i also wanna thank publicist Jessica Linker at Pitch Perfect PR for pulling that together and making life a little easier.
::update::
So that shot of Greg Gillis (girtalk) made it to the cover of the New York Times Art Section. Score.
Im shooting the November 11th 8pm show at the Crofoot. Come back for details.
othe sites that appeared when googled.
[nytimes.com]
[venuszine.com]
[jambase.com]
[booshmagazine.com]
[stereogum.com]
[www.melu.ee]
[kramkong-kramkong.blogspot.com]
[hellovegetables.com]
[myspace.com/girltalk]
[pitchperfectpr.com]
Samsung Omnia (i900) Unboxing, with tiny girls
can’t see the video? [click here]
so it’s official, everything is touch and anything less is not touch. so whats left? ah yes, now we must do it with more style, check out the unboxing of the samsung omnia900. i love the sound the horse makes, something about miniature horses being flicked across a room that i wont ever get tired of.
my fav is the youtube responses;
No commentsturky2003 (18 hours ago) Show Hide
im gonna have to go with realpaperboy6645 (19 hours ago) Show Hide
So what is the final consensus? Is this fake or what?TaylorSPL (19 hours ago) Show Hide
You make my brain hurt. It’s real, there’s tiny exploding people inside of every box.alfomp (19 hours ago) Show Hide
That’s great!Majornalis (19 hours ago) Show Hide
I’d put her in my pants.
Cuil is hereeee.
Everyone has been up in arms lately about the new search engine that was launched today by a former Google engineer. They call it “cuil” (pronounced cool) and well I am sorry to say, on initial reviews (both my own and others) it’s not so cool. Cuil claims to index over a 100 billion web pages (three times that of google), which is great…if the results matched or found what you were searching for. I tried many terms and keywords today and very few times, anything of relevance came up. It’s lacking in media specific searches, like video and photos, and seems to spew out junk more than anything. I mean there is obviously a bias for the computer savvy population. They have been spoiled by the quick and easy to use search engines like Google. Google does bring up lots of junk sometimes, but you can usually find something of use…No such luck for Cuil.
All and all it seems like Cuil could become something good, maybe even great, but at this point, It doesn’t look they are going to be attracting many Google users…
-Joshua
[Josh@GrimIndustries]
[www.cuil.com]
Wall E TS XviD-PreVail
PreVail is back with another telesync. This wonderful TS is of WALL·E, it’s using a new video source (possibly Russian) which appears to include the whole of the picture, see example here by x3c. Another great release from my favourite CAM/TS group PreVail.
Edit: NUKED: nuke.with.timestamp
Plot: What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion. Joining WALL*E on his journey across the universe is a cast of characters including a pet cockroach and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.
Genre: Animation | Comedy | Family | Romance | Sci-Fi
IMDB rating: 8.9/10 (23,979 votes)
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Ben Burtt, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger
Release Name: Wall.E.TS.XviD-PreVail
Size: 1CD, 700MB
Quality: 640×272, 25.000FPS, XVID VBR ~1200kbps, MP3 VBR 121kbps
Runtime: ?? minutes
Filename: prv-walle.ts.xvid
Links: IMDB, Homepage, Trailer
Samples: #1, #2, #3, Video Sample
NFO: here
Download: NewTorrents Search, Usenet Search
Father’s Day – Think Local, Bethany Shorb Cyberoptix Tie Lab
Father’s day is someday soon, i dont know when, but less twenty days away. You don’t want to seem ungrateful for all the years he didn’t abuse you, but you don’t have to break the bank for a gift so timeless and classy. In fact, anything other than a tie for father’s day would be an unacceptable gift, and i will direct you to the classiest threads online.
There really is something for everyone at the cyberoptix tielab. At her detroit studio, Bethany Shorb by hand carefully creates neckwear worthy of a frame. The colors are brilliant, the designs sharp and enunciated. Every time i wear her work it sparks conversation. Ties come available in silk, charmeuse silk, animal friendly micro fiber, and an exclusive in twill cotton. Take a quick peak.
[hot seller: exhaust]
[extremely sexy: escape artist]
Rob Corddry at the red carpet world premiere of Twentieth Century Fox’s “What Happens In Vegas”, rocking out one of Bethany’s hot sellers “Bombs Away!”
[cyberoptix.com]
[toybreaker.net/blog]
[dethlab.net]
May 24th. Too Far Gone, No Way Back.
thee party for the evening of may 24th, the remainder of you will be unsatisfied.
May 24 – Detroit
TOO FAR GONE… NO WAY BACK
12 hour party
9pm-1am TOO FAR GONE presented by Dethlab. Tag team DJ set from ADULT., Perspects, Dethlab and Cowboy Mark. DJ set from MOTOR.
1am-9am NO WAY BACK presented by Interdimensional Transmissions. Derek Plaslaiko, Mike Servito, BMG of Ectomorph, Patrick Russell and Carlos Souffront. At 1440 Gratiot, 2nd floor – enter in rear..
722.1682 for more info.
[interdimensionaltransmissions.com]
[deathlab.net]
