Elon Musk claims arm-wave design tech

Hyper-rich inventor claims to have cracked Iron Man-inspired design process

In a very meta piece of invention, PayPal hecamillionaire Elon Musk has promised that the 3D gesture-hologram system used by Musk-inspired Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies could soon be a reality.

The entrepreneur tweeted that he had come up with a way to let people design industrial parts with a few waves of their hands. Musk also promised to post a video of himself creating a rocket part with hand gestures and then immediately printing it in titanium sometime this week.

Musk said it was a case of life imitating art, tweeting to Iron Mandirector Jon Favreau that he’d been inspired by the scenes of Tony Stark designing his upgraded Iron Man suit in the movie.

Sadly, he has no plans to actually make an actual Iron Man suit and start saving us all from the military-industrial complex.

Meanwhile, Musk’s electric carmaking firm Tesla Motors saw its market value inch over $20bn for a short while yesterday, as sales increases gave investors confidence that the billionaire can keep folks interested in e-cars.

The company finished the day with stocks at a record $164.22, putting its market capitalisation at $19.94bn. Earlier in the day Tesla shares had reached a peak of $173.

Despite early teething problems, Tesla is now riding high as its Model S is the third-best selling luxury sedan in California, the biggest US market, according to the California Auto Outlook of the second quarter. ®

 

Source

Technology: Creating the Class Division

The below is a PBS video that NEEDS watching.

 

How Technology Widens Class Divisions

Paul Solman speaks with Jaron Lanier, widely regarded as the father of virtual reality and the author of “Who Owns the Future?”, about how big computers — and the government and businesses they empower — are creating more economic inequality.

You don’t own your Images anymore : It’s a UK law that isn’t far from home

If you use images online or work in the Image/Photography biz watch out. MUST read below….

If you though someone taking your images online without your permission was bad before….NOW they don’t need permission.

The law hasn’t passed in the USA yet, but it’s not far from us..because it doesn’t matter where in the world the law is located if your IMAGES are online, which is everywhere.

It would be well worth your time to read over this…I no longer feel it’s a matter of if, but when pulic/commercial use of your propery by the general public will take over the status qoe to use images at will, much like facebook and other US tech companies have that power already.

Thinking of selling your own content? Think again…. UK, you get screwed first. Artilce below
—————————————————————————————– 

UK.Gov passes Instagram Act: All your pics belong to everyone now

Everyone = Silicon Valley ad platforms tech companies

Free whitepaper – Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement

Have you ever uploaded a photo to Facebook, Instagram or Flickr?

If so, you’ll probably want to read this, because the rules on who can exploit your work have now changed radically, overnight.

Amateur and professional illustrators and photographers alike will find themselves ensnared by the changes, the result of lobbying by Silicon Valley and radical bureaucrats and academics. The changes are enacted in the sprawling Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act which received Royal Assent last week, and it marks a huge shift in power away from citizens and towards large US corporations.

How so? Previously, and in most of the world today, ownership of your creation is automatic, and legally considered to be an individual’s property. That’s enshrined in the Berne Convention and other international treaties, where it’s considered to be a basic human right. What this means in practice is that you can go after somebody who exploits it without your permission – even if pursuing them is cumbersome and expensive.

The UK coalition government’s new law reverses this human right. When last year Instagram attempted to do something similar, it met a furious backlash. But the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act has sailed through without most amateurs or semi-professionals even realising the consequences.

The Act contains changes to UK copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called “orphan works”, by placing the work into what’s known as “extended collective licensing” schemes. Since most digital images on the internet today are orphans – the metadata is missing or has been stripped by a large organisation – millions of photographs and illustrations are swept into such schemes.

For the first time anywhere in the world, the Act will permit the widespread commercial exploitation of unidentified work – the user only needs to perform a “diligent search”. But since this is likely to come up with a blank, they can proceed with impunity. The Act states that a user of a work can act as if they are the owner of the work (which should be you) if they’re given permission to do so by the Secretary of State and are acting as a regulated body.

The Act also fails to prohibit sub-licensing, meaning that once somebody has your work, they can wholesale it. This gives the green light to a new content-scraping industry, an industry that doesn’t have to pay the originator a penny. Such is the consequence of “rebalancing copyright”, in reality.

What now?

Quite what happens next is not clear, because the Act is merely enabling legislation – the nitty gritty will come in the form of statutory instruments, to be tabled later in the year. Parliament has not voted down a statutory instrument since 1979, so the political process is probably now a formality.

In practice, you’ll have two stark choices to prevent being ripped off: remove your work from the internet entirely, or opt-out by registering it. And registration will be on a work-by-work basis.

People can now use stuff without your permission,” explained photo rights campaigner Paul Ellis. “To stop that you have to register your work in a registry – but registering stuff is an activity that costs you time and money. So what was your property by default will only remain yours if you take active steps, and absorb the costs, if it is formally registered to you as the owner.”

And right now, Ellis says, there’s only one registry, PLUS. Photographers, including David Bailey, condemned the Coalition for rushing through the legislation before other registries – such as the Copyright Hub – could sort themselves out.

“The mass of the public will never realise they’ve been robbed,” thinks Ellis. The radical free-our-information bureaucrats at the Intellectual Property Office had already attempted to smuggle orphan works rules through via the Digital Economy Act in 2010, but were rebuffed. Thanks to a Google-friendly Conservative-led administration, they’ve now triumphed.

Three other consequences appear possible.

One is a barrage of litigation from UK creators – and overseas owners who find their work Hoovered into extended collective licensing programs. International treaties allow a country to be ostracised and punished. The threat has already been made clear from US writers and photographers, who’ve promised “a firestorm“. Reciprocal royalty arrangements can also be suspended, on the basis of “if you steal our stuff, UK, we won’t pay you”. In addition, a judicial review, based on the premise that the Act gives Minister unconstitutional power over the disposal of private property, is not out of the question.

Secondly, the disappearance of useful material from the internet is likely to accelerate – the exact opposite of what supporters wish for. We recently highlighted the case of an aerial photographer who’s moving work outside the UK, and we’ve heard of several who are taking their photos away from the web, and into lockers. The internet is poorer without a diverse creative economy – because creators need legal certainty of property rights.

And finally, there’s the macroeconomic consequences for the UK economy.

The notorious ‘Google Review’ chaired by Ian Hargreaves failed to undertake adequate impact assessments, a giveaway that even the most rabid “copyright reformers” recognise there isn’t an economic case to be made for taking everyone’s stuff and giving it away.

There’s value in works, and if anybody can exploit them except the person who creates them, then value is transferred to the exploiter,” explains Ellis. “This is a massive value transfer out of the UK economy to US tech companies.

Where it will remain, he thinks, because UK tech/media companies – should they appear – almost invariably become US-owned.

Copyright “reformers” of course rarely like to talk about such unpleasant matters – and will steer the conversation away from economic consequences as rapidly as possible. Indeed, the they generally talk using Orwellian euphemisms – like “liberalising” or “rebalancing” copyright. It’s rarely presented as an individual’s ability to go to market being removed. This is what “copyright reform” looks like in practice.

“It’s corporate capitalism,” says Ellis. “Ideally you want to empower individuals to trade, and keep the proceeds of their trade. The UK has just lost that.”

So while the Twitterati and intelligentsia were ranting away about “Big Content”, we’ve just lost the ability to sell our own content. In other words, you’ve just been royally fucked. ®

Taken from Source

AMAZING EMPLOYEES : A re-post

I subscribe toi Inc. Magazine both online and off and this article is really something all people who “work” to read.
not just the boss, and not the employees, everyone can learn from this piece 

Source: http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/10-things-really-amazing-employees-do.html
By 
 

1. Enthusiastically Learn All Aspects of Business

They understand they’re part of something bigger and more worthwhile than just their job. They look to learn other areas of the business and be fluent in finance andmanagement so they’ll positively impact multiple areas of the company.

What you can do: Invest in material and seminars on business basics like accounting, marketing, and management so all employees have easy access to learn and grow.

2. Steward the Company

They treat the company as if it were theirs. They look to make prudent decisions about expenses and opportunities with the long-term future of the company in mind. They easily assess risk vs. reward, selflessly when making decisions.

What you can doBe transparent in your business. The more you share your financials and philosophy, the easier it is for employees to make the right decisions.

3. Generate Viable Opportunities

You don’t have to be in sales or marketing to help a company grow. Strong networkersfrom all divisions see company growth as a collective effort and constantly keep their eyes open for ways to more than pay for themselves.

What you can do: Make sure all your employees understand your value proposition and can easily identify opportunities. Then reward them openly for their efforts.

4. Resolve Issues Before They Are Issues

My favorite days running companies are when I notice positive change in procedure when I was totally unaware of the need for change. Amazing employees are always looking to improve systems proactively, and they do.

What you can do: Communicate a clear written vision of where the company is going and encourage initiative so people feel safe and empowered to make change.

5. Tell It Like It Is

Amazing employees understand that hiding bad news helps no one. They find kind ways to bring uncomfortable information to the surface, but they DO bring it to the surface. They tell people what’s necessary before major damage is done.

What you can do: Foster an open communication environment where people are not only given permission to tell the truth, but also absolutely required.

6. Demonstrate High Standards, With Low Maintenance

I always feel relaxed when I can trust an employee to perform a task to the same high standards I would expect from myself. Not all can do this without constant attention or difficulty. Amazing employees quietly drive their own high standards.

What you can do: Set the example and the tone for high performance with minimal drama. Publicly reward those who can execute in the same manner.

7. Grow Themselves, and Others

They not only drive their own career but they inspire others to do the same. These employees lead by example in how to advance without creating animosity or resentment. They see and create their perfect future, and also bring others along.

What you can do: Encourage personal development and peer growth through dedicated group time and learning for career advancement.

8. Research, Apply, and Refine

No employer expects people to know everything. In this fast changing world, I choose employees who will learn over those who know. The best employee proactively explores options, takes action and then improves without direction from the top.

What you can do: Invest time in exploration and expansive thinking. Encourage people to explore deep visionary projects with time and reward for the findings.

9. Stimulate Happiness

Amazing employees aren’t always sunshine and roses. They do know how to keep it real. But they understand the dynamics of people, stress, and the blend of work, life and friendship. They are self-aware and able to direct their own path that brings out their best with family, friends and career. They exude positive energy even in stressful times and share it around, making for a happier office.

What you can do: Create an environment where people can openly express themselves. Encourage them to work hard in fulfilling ways and achieve their dreams.

10. Facilitate Amazing Bosses

Amazing employees make me grow as an employer. They self-confidently get their value and help me get mine. They make me want to be worthy of working with somebody of such high caliber, without ever saying it directly of course.

What you can do: Make effort to genuinely show appreciation for any of the behaviors above so people feel their value and will grow to full potential. Then they will do the same for you.

Server Location and SEO

Server Location for Best SEOI was out at a networking meeting last week and someone mentioned to me that WHERE you host your website has a direct affect on a website’s Search Engined Ranking.(Or one factor in SEO/search engine optimization.)

At first I was thinking, sure that makes sense, but as the conversation went further the details just didn’t seem right. There was talk of moving from California to Settle and seeing dramatic effects in rankings just because of where the data is being served up from….hmmm

Below is Oregon Publishing’s view on what sever location affects.

  1. Location Finding the right server location should be the first SEO (Search Engine Optimization) task that you do,
    Yes, but think country based, not state or county.
  2. Domain extension.
    Knowing where your website is hosted combined with your domain name suffix/extension (.com, .co.uk, com.au etc.,) will determine which geographical version of Google will give you the best results. If you didn’t know Google has county specific website like google.com.au or google.co.uk. *Important* If you use a generic name suffix such as .com, .org or any domain that is not country specific, Google and the other search engines will determine the location of your website’s business using other on site factors such as telephone and address.
  3. Geo-Targeted.
    If your business is based in the UK and your host is located in the US, your business will be affected. Most of your searchers will actually be using Google.co.uk instead of Google.com so you should do your best to target them.
  4. Load speed of your website.
    A US based server hosting visitors from another country will take longer to load then it would hosting to a user own country. That makes sense, the data has to travel across the world’s datacenters to get develiered.

The quote below is from Google Webmaster Central Post from 2010 (it should be noted over time Google has further decreased relying on server location)

Server location (through the IP address of the server) is frequently near your users. However, some websites use distributed content delivery networks (CDNs) or are hosted in a country with better webserver infrastructure, so we try not to rely on the server location alone.

Source: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.es/2010/03/working-with-multi-regional-websites.html What matters MORE in SEO 

  • Get Inbound local links
  • Use the correct TLD (country code: in USA – .com, UK – .co.uk, AU – .com.au etc.)
  • Use Google Webmaster Tools to verify your Locale (if you don’t own the TLD)
  • Do local keyword research and target the best results
  • Don’t interlink too heavily
  • Host at an IP inside the country you’re targeting
  • Website architecture (easily crawled by the right bots and spiders)
  • Social media Factors Tweets, Likes, Pins, G+, etc.
  • A pages title tag is considered one of most important factor (not just for bots, but what STICKS OUT To Humans as they scan the search results)
  • Keywords in the domain name
  • Remove canonicalization, or simple don’t split your page rank between www.yoursite.com and yoursite.com (pick one and redirect the other to it)

Your Questions and comments about server location and SEO welcomed! 

100 Million Users where? on Yelp!

I was just in a business lunch and we were dicussing some of the social media sites out there that are of use to business. Sure we can say they all have use, but what ones are people really using in MASS?

Well we know the Big 4, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+ …. but what about Yelp?

It is easy enough to connect and create an account to Yelp.com from Facebook or you can just fill out the sign-up form and your in. The FB connect thing is very helpful for those too lazy to create yet another account.

Once you are on Yelp, you are not alone. You will quickly asked to find and connect with friends on this social network. People don;t think of Yelp as Social Media, but when haven’t reviews and feedback not been a social outcry? With 100,000,000 people on Yelp you will find some people you know and you will be connecting and sharing with them…sounds socialistic to me.

Here is the Article:

Ever since Facebook launched the beta version of Graph Search, there has been some speculation around the ’Net that the social network’s new feature could end up being a Yelp and/or Foursquare killer.

 If that is the case, Graph Search will have some big shoes to fill, because Yelp has announced that it received more than 100 million unique visitors in January 2013 (not including the 9.4 million users who used the mobile app during the same timeframe). While 100 million is still far from Facebook’s membership numbers, it does prove that Yelp has a very dedicated user base. Moreover, the engagement that came from these visitors was equally impressive.

 

Yelp Infograhic

Source

Facebook SEARCH is Getting REAL.

what’s the big news…not a Facebook Phone..Mark already told us that…but SEARCH..ooooooh Bing got Bing’ed

… Zuck responded:

We’re working with Microsoft to incorporate social signals into search, and Microsoft is helping Graph Search improve.

But, as noted by Rasmussen, integration stops at the web search level. Bing effectively kicks in when Facebook’s own querying system – which is significantly still in beta – fails to deliver the relevant results. But Microsoft’s search cannot and will not ferret around within Facebook’s social graph where the real ad money supposedly ultimately lies.

 

Full Story Here