Let’s put a fork in it and call it done. “The Cloud” has now displaced “Social” as the web’s most widely-used and least-understood buzzword. Services like Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive have become mainstream, and other specialized services like Evernote (note-taking), Wunderlist (to-do lists) and Pocket (news aggregator) are heavily used by consumers who don’t even know they’re using the cloud. And while online backup and synchronization companies have been offering personal cloud for years, it took the hockey stick of smart phones and tablets growth to demonstrate – convincingly – its purpose and universal need. As consumers continue spending more of their time online through their many connected devices, the next piece of the connected experience is to consolidate and simplify the cloud itself. The cloud is due for simplification, too. Each of the web’s major leaps forward follow roughly the same pattern:  1) New idea. 2) Profusion of vertical copycats and single-purpose solutions. 3) Elegant consolidation. The cloud is now at stage 3. Not only is the personal cloud replacing the hard drive as the focus of an individual’s web life, but it is also taking over where we keep our content and access services. According to a Forbes interview with Gartner, “the personal cloud will entail the unique collection of services, Web destinations and connectivity that will become the home of computing and communication activities.” We’re beyond the early adopter stage and well into mainstream pick-up. Gartner also predicts that personal cloud will become widely adopted by 2015, but that in 2014 less than 10 percent of consumers will use cloud services as their main storage. Among other things, this all ensures the next couple of years will see a critical shakeout of quality services that allow users to safely and seamlessly store, sync, stream and share using multiple connected devices such as smartphones, media tablets, TVs and PCs over the Internet. The shakeout has just begun. But even now the current and growing issues brought on by the ubiquity of the cloud are clear: fragmentation, inefficiency and security risks are three concerns that should be top of mind for both consumers and service providers. Success in the personal cloud space will only be possible for those able to meet and solve these flaws and challenges. Fragmentation Let’s spend a little time with stage No. 2 – fragmented, single purpose one-offs. The introduction of myriad cloud services has created a fragmentation of apps and programs that serve different purposes on different devices, assuredly doing one and only one thing (often not well). For example, Google Drive is used for documents, but Evernote for one-off notes, and Pocket as a content aggregator. In theory, these are all meant to help simplify and organize your everyday life. We’re beyond the early adopter stage… But many users are already experiencing the hassle of having to update a host of single-purpose apps on multiple devices, often deterring them from continuing to use the service. Practically speaking, using tons of single-purpose apps equates to an operating system “Tower of Babel,” creating conflicts and crash bugs that require almost constant updating.  The average smart phone user now has 67 apps. Is that progress? Almost a portion of a day has to be dedicated to ensuring everything in the cloud is streamlined. In the future personal-cloud world, we will see not an “app for everything” but a handful of applications that make your mobile, multi-device experience easier, richer and more secure. Security In today’s web, first-rate service also means secure service. The mobile device is ground zero of the threat-center, particularly on Android devices. Attacks are on the rise, and cloud-based services are big targets. Making it worse, many developers don’t follow proper encryption protocols that safeguard messages and information from the bad guys. Every app has a different commitment to security – both in terms of level of protection and responsiveness to new, known attacks. Software updates, new programs and apps help offset security risks, but this only comes with one more app to download to make your personal cloud useful and safe. These piecemeal solutions diminish the convenience that the personal cloud is meant to offer. Security risks aren’t going away anytime soon, but the personal cloud storage of tomorrow will offer a unified but distributed  solution that simplifies and increases your protection against security attacks. Efficiency Now, what about the ever-receding horizon of performance? Think about it: GBs of data are being moved from device to device over Internet connections of varying speed. In today’s personal cloud space, this is a problem. …cloud services should be hosted on a single platform One of the biggest issues is caused by the multiple apps and programs running on your computer, TV, tablet or phone that compete for bandwidth – and they’re not talking to each other!  To increase the speed of a given program, applications have to manually be shut down, and the introduction of more and more apps isn’t helping to meet the growing demand of a faster Internet experience. If it’s not already there, expect the next big app to be a personal load balancer. This, in turn, creates another roadblock on the path to a fast and irritation-free personal cloud experience. To stay ahead of the game, the most vital personal cloud services should be hosted on a single-running program. Here, one can find your notes, documents, news, movies and music, where everything runs on a balanced, task-oriented basis and doesn’t drain the efficiency of a device. The Power of the Browser Let’s talk about the helpful older sibling of this equation – the one who’s dealt with these issues for longer than anyone can remember. The application that has something to offer here: the web browser. A lot of emphasis has been placed on myriad apps that solve problems, but one of the more important functionalities of our everyday Internet experience has often been overlooked. Today’s web browser is so much more than the relatively archaic (sorry Netscape) sender, receiver and renderer of http requests. It’s the natural operating system of the personal cloud. And the personal cloud  has reached a level of complexity to where it needs its own operating system. Personal cloud storage within a browser isn’t a new idea. But the browser that successfully provides the service will deliver a streamlined, secure and efficient solution that will adapt to the changing needs of the consumer. It will eliminate the need for a million one-off apps. It will make your web surfing safer and secure. It will ensure speed. The coming years will prove to be a pivotal time in which consumers decide where they want to keep their personal cloud, and the browser is already forming the perfect frame that knits together all the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s consumer. Image: Thinkstock
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More than a week after the PRISM story first broke, you might have reached saturation point when it comes to news and discussion about it. That’s understandable, and it seems like some members of the US Senate feel the same way. Still there have been some important developments this weekend, so we thought it was worth highlighting them. A must-read piece by the Associated Press yesterday took a deep-dive into how PRISM fits into the wider context of US online espionage programs. The AP reports that PRISM acts as a kind of refining tool for data that the National Security Agency (NSA) pulls data from the undersea cables that pipe Internet data in and out of the USA: “Prism appears to do what its name suggests. Like a triangular piece of glass, Prism takes large beams of data and helps the government find discrete, manageable strands of information. “The fact that it is productive is not surprising; documents show it is one of the major sources for what ends up in the president’s daily briefing. Prism makes sense of the cacophony of the Internet’s raw feed. It provides the government with names, addresses, conversation histories and entire archives of email inboxes.” The report, considers whether data gleaned from technology companies via PRISM allows the NSA to navigate through the enormous bulk dump of Internet data it collects from the undersea cables. “For example, not every company archives instant message conversations, chat room exchanges or videoconferences. But if Prism provided general details, known as metadata, about when a user began chatting, could the government “rewind” its copy of the global Internet stream, find the conversation and replay it in full?” In other words, technology companies may be telling the truth when they say that they only hand over specific user information in response to specific requests, but the NSA doesn’t really need anything more from them anyway, because they already have a ‘raw feed’ of Internet traffic to pull from. Read the AP’s article in full for a fascinating, and perhaps troubling, look at what it seems the NSA is up to. Elsewhere, the Washington Post reports that PRISM works with three other programs run by the NSA; MAINWAY, MARINA and NUCLEON. Together, the programs collect vast swathes of metadata about telephone and Internet communications passing through USA. “When the NSA aims for foreign targets whose communications cross U.S. infrastructure, it expects to sweep in some American content “incidentally” or “inadvertently,” which are terms of art in regulations governing the NSA. Contact chaining, because it extends to the contacts of contacts of targets, inevitably collects even more American data.” Keep up with all our PRISM coverage here. We’re sure there’s still more to come. Image credit: Getty Images
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US politicians have drawn themselves into discussions about PRISM and claims that the country spied on its own citizens, yet less than half of the Senate attended a dedicated briefing with NSA director James Clapper and other senior officials, it has been revealed. The Hill reports that a private briefing on Thursday afternoon with the Senate Intelligence Committee, featuring Clapper, NSA head Keith Alexander and others, was attended by just 47 of the 100 Senators. The publication claims that the large number of no-shows was down to many Senators taking the chance to head back to their home states early for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend, rather than hear the organization’s side of the story and grill its top execs with questions. The identity of those who did/didn’t attend has not been released, but the sheer number of empty seats was said to have “exasperated” committee chair Dianne Feinstein, who commented: It’s hard to get this story out. Even now we have this big briefing — we’ve got Alexander, we’ve got the FBI, we’ve got the Justice Department, we have the FISA Court there, we have Clapper there — and people are leaving. A number of politicians have criticized Clapper, the NSA and others in the week that followed the leaking of the PRISM program by former NSA staffer Edward Snowden and the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. President Obama is alleged to have had full oversight of the program and reversed his stance on wiretapping (see this 2006 debate with Joe Biden on surveillance, for example), but it remains unclear which law-makers — if any — were knowledgeable of the processes being undertaken. Irrespective of the severity of the issue — which has remained a global talking point for the past week — you would expect members of the Senate to attend en masse for an opportunity to learn more and ask questions of their own. Particularly given Clapper previously told Congress that the NSA was “not wittingly” collecting data from US citizens; a statement that appears at odds with numerous reports and anonymous sources. Our PRISM coverage is here Headline image via Thinkstock
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Square co-founder Tristan O’Tierney has left the US mobile payments company after more than four years there. O’Tierney announced his departure on Friday – via Twitter – confirming that he has no immediate plans other than taking some time off to travel. Today was my last day at @Square. It’s been an incredible 4 years. What’s next? Not sure yet, except for a bit of traveling! — Tristan O’Tierney (@tristan) June 15, 2013 The spotlight at Square so often tends to shine on charismatic co-founder Jack Dorsey — who also founded Twitter — but O’Tierney played a crucial part in the company and its early development after joining in January 2009. The former Apple and Yahoo engineer built Square’s original iPhone app — which got a significant revamp this week — and led the development of its first iPad app, the Pay with Square service and its Register app for merchants. There’s not a great deal of information about O’Tierney’s departure at this point, but it looks to have been on good terms. It is often the case that early-stage employees (and/or founders) get to a point where the once-small company they worked at has become a much bigger organization that no longer feels like a startup, or they feel that they’ve achieved enough to go on and start something else from scratch. That could well be the case here. Last year was a huge one for Square which saw it close a $25 million investment and partnership with Starbucks, as part of a larger $200 million Series D round that reportedly valued the firm at $3.25 billion. As part of the deal, Square payments are accepted at some 7,000 Starbucks chains across the US. As of September 2012, Square was processing more than $8 billion in payments on an annual basis. Square is building its presence in its first market outside of North America — after it launched in Japan in May — but it has seen a number of high-profile departures this year. COO Keith Rabois left due to a sexual harassment suit from an employee, while Vice President of Partnerships Alex Petrov and Vice President of International Alyssa Cutright were revealed as gone just days before the Japanese launch. Cutright, who departed in March, was responsible for the company’s first international expansion into Canada. Petrov’s exit was particularly strange since he was hired from PayPal at the beginning of May, and left without actually starting at Square. We reached out to O’Tierney to see if he is willing to give us more information on his departure and future plans. Image via Flickr / Sagolla
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Wearable computing is developing into a key focus for the next-generation of gadget lovers, and the ranks could soon include ParaShoot, a device that aims to make capturing your life in HD video as easy as wearing a pendant. Oh, and at less than $300 to boot. The tiny (48 x 30 x 11 mm) recording unit is currently seeking backers on Kickstarter with the aim of making life’s important moments instantly recordable, without the need to rush for a phone or camera. Like Memoto — a successful Kickstarter project in its own right — which clips on to clothing, ParaShoot is wearable thanks to a neck strap (housing its battery) which lets it hang like jewellery or a lanyard. Memoto is image only, but ParaShoot snaps photos (the camera is removable) and records 720 HD video, which can be set to record at automatic intervals — such as five minutes every half an hour. Co-founders Matt Sandy and Colin Glaum (collectively one half of the four man team) say it will support “all smartphone platforms”, but it can also operate standalone. Images and video footage taken on the ParaShoot are automatically stored on its cloud-based service, which will come at a to-be-disclosed monthly cost for ‘unlimited’ storage. The ParaShoot also houses micro-SD cards, for those who prefer their memory physical. An accompanying app turns paired smartphones into remote controls and viewfinders, and enables content to be shared via email or posted to YouTube and Facebook on the fly. The project is targeting $260,000 in fundraising in order to cover the cost of its first set of ParaShoots. It has just passed $18,000 and has a further 38 days in which to raise that figure. The team says that the device will ordinarily cost $269, but early backers can get it — and a bundle of other goodies — for $149 (international delivery costs not included). The first shipment of 500 are slated for delivery in October 2013. Those with less patience can pay $500 to test pre-production models, which are due to ship in September. More details on this cool gadget are in the video. Full details at the Kickstarter page here. Headline image via ParaShoot
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In his landmark 1928 work “Seven Essays of Interpretation of the Peruvian Reality,” the author and marxist philosopher José Carlos Mariátegui argued that Latin America needed to return to the pre-Colombian era destroyed by the Spanish imperialists in order for the continent to achieve true equality. Despite this rhetoric Mariátegu did not, however, advocate throwing out all of the Spaniards. Instead he argued that Spaniards and their descendents willing to accept the new world order should stay. After all, many brought with them farming knowledge and techniques that would be useful in building an agrarian-based societal order. As numerous Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to name a few, battle it out to give birth the region’s first latin-flavoured Silicon Valley, the continent is slowly having to deal with what is for many an inconvenient economic truth: the need for immigration. And through this debate many are arriving at the same conclusion as Mariátegui. Latin America and migration It is not that Latin America is unfamiliar with immigration: indeed, the last 500 years of Latin American history might be summarized by the dual themes of migration and exploitation. The first wave of migration to the region came about through the generations of Spanish and Portuguese who came to populate the continent after the Iberian Crowns’ large-scale annexations. They were eventually followed by African victims of the slave trade. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries merchants from the Middle East trickled in, followed by a second wave of Europeans this time escaping wars, dictatorships and poverty. The present day has also brought with it its share of intra-regional migration produced by events such as Colombia’s civil war, Argentina’s numerous economic catastrophes and Central America’s violence and economic stagnation. Despite grudging acceptance of yesterday’s migration, today’s migration isn’t always popular, as the nationalist sentiments of yesteryear continue to give legitimacy to the preeminence of the nation-state as a stand-alone and sovereign market. In the age of Internet-based consumer products, however, the predominance of the nation-state is a limiting and potentially destructive factor. Each of the countries mentioned is faced with the same conundrum: on the one hand the native tech communities are simply not big enough to produce the critical mass required to develop fully-fledged technology industries. Similarly, aside from Brazil, Mexico and maybe Argentina, no country has a large enough population to sustain a thriving tech. market on its own. Operating in the world of mass volume and small margins, any entrepreneur looking to Latin America as the land of opportunity would be wise to focus on the combined market of 600 million people speaking two primary and not dissimilar languages. With internet penetration in the region almost at 50% and continuing to rise, the terrain is ripe for first movers to replicate the colonizers and plant their flag. The clear solution to this problem would then be for one country or city to create a magnetic force similar to the Silicon Valley where, according to one study by the Kauffman Institute, 52% of tech startups are founded by at least one foreign-born individual. Indeed, so important is the foreign-born workforce to the continued ability of the San Francisco Bay Area to produce the next generation of consumer-products that the Valley’s big players are lining up behind Mark Zuckerberg to lobby for immigration reform. It turns out that world-class companies require world-class employees, and any Latin American country hoping to imitate the U.S. need not ignore the sticky issue of global talent acquisition and retention. Chile leading the way So far only Chile has aggressively pursued a strategy of enriching its tech eco-system by actively seeking to import entrepreneurs from other markets. The much celebrated government backed incubator/accelerator Start-Up Chile offers $40k of seed capital to entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world so long as the individual is willing to set-up shop in Chile and stay for at least 6 months. As the Start-Up Chile website proudly states, “we believe and invest in people, looking at their ideas first and their passports second.” The hope is that through such a period entrepreneurs will be convinced to stay, create jobs and help invigorate the eco-system. After all, without a knock-off effect it would be difficult for the Chilean government to justify handing out the hard-earned tax-payer dollars to foreign citizens. Early signs are encouraging: so far the project has attracted over 600 entrepreneurs from 35 different countries. One such entrepreneur is Daniel Ponce, the Bolivian founder of CityHero.Es, a civic-minded start-up that seeks to promote offline engagement between citizens and governments. Daniel was a member of the Start-Up Chile class of 2012 and relocated from his native city of Cochabamba, Bolivia in order to take part in the program. After finishing at Start-Up Chile he returned to Cochabamba hoping that his start-up’s presence would help spark other socially-minded initiatives in the city. Eventually, however, the opportunity for another round of funding presented itself and the investors, not to mention network and know-how, were all found back in Santiago. Daniel had no choice but to once again cross the Andes to the land of pisco and (lately) protests. Though Daniel has once again found himself in Chile, many other graduates from the program find themselves moving on. Indeed, only about 25% of Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs stay after one year of entering the program. The reasons are many: some see penetrating the Chilean market as too difficult and prefer to operate in their comfort zone. Others have already taken steps to execute on their businesses in their home countries, and therefore log the minimum time required before returning. Still others are the victims of the program’s success. Whether entrepreneurs stay in Chile or not, the program’s global notoriety among tech entrepreneurs has brought with it investors from all over. Some of those investors prefer that the companies they discover in Start-Up Chile accompany them back to places such as Silicon Valley. In other words, Chile has for many entrepreneurs become a hub rather than a destination.  Whereas some might view such an outcome as a poor return on investment for the Chilean taxpayers, others see the benefits as stretching beyond the creation of employment. As Horacio Melo, Executive Director of Start-Up Chile, mentioned to me in an email, all foreign entrepreneurs are asked to make a commitment to give back to the host community. The presence of Start-Up Chile Entrepreneurs in workshops, university seminars, acting as mentors, etc., adds much to the development of Chile’s collective and institutional entrepreneurial memory. “We can’t forget,” Melo wrote, “that centers of innovation often contain very liquid populations. That same constant renewal of talent is what connects and breathes life into different centers of innovation.” Though as a result of its efforts Santiago may appear to be pulling ahead in developing a thriving tech eco-system, the race is far from over. Alternative strategies Given their country’s size and economic clout Brazilian tech. entrepreneurs by and large continue to operate in a very-inward focused manner without much yet feeling the need to focus on their Spanish-speaking cousins. Though it is getting its own Start-Up Chile style program, the Brazilian version will limit foreign participation at 25%. Despite its troubles, including many of its tech entrepreneurs seeking refuge across the channel in Uruguay to avoid rampant inflation and constraining capital flight taxes, Argentina continues to maintain the largest pool of tech-oriented talented in Spanish-speaking Latin America. Indeed, the Argentine-based MercadoLibre remains the only South American start-up listed on the NASDAQ. Ecuador meanwhile is planning to replicate the Korean model of investing hundreds of millions in a new knowledge-based city called Ciudad Yachay that will include a state-of-the-art university and tech-focused industrial park. Finally, never to be outdone by its frenemy Chile, Peru is seeking to replicate Start-Up Chile’s success with its own $20 million USD funded incubator, though its not clear whether or not the fund will invite entrepreneurs from outside Peru to participate. And Telefónica, meanwhile, the massive telecom company with a strong regional presence, is placing its bets across the region through its incubator program Wayra, accessible from 8 different countries. Conclusion The current of tech migration thus continue to flow northwards but, as the game is still in its early stages anything can happen, especially given the good-will and muscle provided by both the public and private sectors. Just as Yahoo’s recent high-profile acquisition of Tumblr has provided much encouragement to the New York tech scene, Latin America may only be one high-profile exit away from invigorating the region with the dual stimulants of hope and cash. And if there is one winner it will ultimately have to be the country or city that does the most to attract talent from elsewhere, for as the United States has shown, without a critical mass the density required to produce a wave of innovation will not materialize, regardless of how educated one’s population might be. Even if the long-term goal is to produce native talent, in the case of developing tech eco-systems the chicken must indeed come before the egg. Since no country has succeeded in replicating Silicon Valley’s creative output no-one can quite say what the winning formula is. What we can say though is that without a doubt one of the ingredients required is a revised understanding of the value of immigrants to a society. And with the Galapagos Islands standing as a constant reminder, changing currents have led to all kinds of evolutionary outcomes hitherto never contemplated or foreseen. Images: Santiago Airport (credit: AFP/Getty Images), Chile’s flag (credit: Thinkstock)
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Kenya is at the forefront of the open data movement in Africa thanks to initiatives such as crowdsourcing software Ushahidi and government tracker Uchaguzi. At the recent The Next Web Conference Europe held in Amsterdam, Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Palo Alto based Institute For The Future (IFTF) made a presentation on the “Nature Of The Future – Socialstructed World.” Gorbis defines ‘socialstructing’ as “creating value by aggregating micro contributions by large networks using social tools and technologies”. In her talk and presentation she touched on topics around socialstructed work, socialstructed learning and socialstructed governance. One of the key points raised by Gorbis in the presentation was the shifting of governance away from politicians and governments towards the citizens thanks to open data and social technology solutions. Kenya’s citizens with the help of technology tools such as Uchaguzi and Ushahidi have proved that with the buy-in of citizens, technology can be used to a certain extent in improving the transparency and accountability of governance — in this case elections — and putting that power in the hands of citizens. But will such initiatives work in countries that have repressive regimes? Africa has many tales of disputed election results, violence breaking out during elections and some regimes abusing their powers in the usage of state funds etc., thus it is a valid concern, despite Kenya’s successes to an extent, to question whether before considering open data, a country perhaps needs a government open to such solutions? Open government before open data? I caught up with Gorbis and her colleague Tessa Finlev (Research Manager, Ten-Year Forecast) to hear their views on and expand more on this and how they see open data shaping governance in Africa. Gorbis explained that socialstructed governance means using open data tools to somehow shift governance from governments to citizens, i.e. “governance beyond government”. This, according to Gorbis, includes citizens actively participating in provisioning of services that are traditionally provided only by the government. She concurred though, that repressive governments (in Africa and the rest of the world) can play a negative role and have the potential of sabotaging or manipulating the use of any such open data tools to further pursue their agendas. Although, with the rising power being put in the citizens hands through social, mobile and internet technologies this will slowly change as the years go on. Finlev agrees that as years go by things will change as “Future Forces” are inevitable, and change in the way governments are elected and they govern is going to happen and will most likely be determined by citizens as more power shifts into their hands. She further added that although in some instances using technology and open data tools is “dangerous” as part of a country’s political processes given some countries have repressive regimes, she made an example of how such tools can be used in other spheres of government citing BudgIT in Nigeria. BudgIT came about as an idea at a hackathon held at Nigeria’s Co-Creation Hub in 2011. As explained by Finlev, it is a tool that engages Nigerian citizens and allows them to participate in governance by making it easier for them to make sense of the country’s national budget in a simpler way and also allowing them to provide feedback on it. One of the examples of how BudgIT encourages civic engagement and governance was during the Occupy Nigeria protests in 2012 where it analysed and concluded that the President’s food budget was 1 billion Naira ($6.2 million) per annum and yet he was calling for fuel subsidies to be cut. They sent a tweet to this extent and it went viral and fuelled a part of the riots that took place with citizens, amongst other things, asking the President to consider cutting his food budget first before cutting fuel subsidies. Currently BudgIT has extended its services to include helping some of Nigeria’s states to make their budgets transparent and easy to understand by the citizens. In response to my question to Finlev asking whether then the solution to some of Africa’s governance problems can be solved by technology and open data, she was quick to point out that people still need food, roads, schools, healthcare, etc. thus as much as technology and specifically mobile technology are driving the move towards a socialstructed world and governance, citizens still have “real” needs. Image: Ushahidi members. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
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Today Microsoft joined Facebook in releasing partially obfuscated data that helped paint a picture of the company’s requests from the government regarding the data of its users. Microsoft, stated that “the FBI and DOJ have given us permission to publish some additional data,” but that the company is only “permitted to include the total volume of national security orders, which may include FISA orders” in what it discloses. Therefore, what we know from the above is only a potion of what the company can state, and the information it can disclose is hard to parse by request. However, we have the numbers [Bolding: original]: For the six months ended December 31, 2012, Microsoft received  between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from U.S. governmental entities (including local, state and federal). This only impacts a tiny fraction of Microsoft’s global customer base. We can directly compare this to Facebook’s more recent statement, as TNW reported at the time: The social networking company revealed that in the second half of 2012, the total number of user-data accounts requested by law enforcement agencies, whether it is local, state, or federal entities, was between 9,000 and 10,000. These cases often “run the gamut” of issues surrounding missing children, tracking a fugitive, investigating an assault, or potential terrorism. On the whole, up to 19,000 accounts were believed to be queried by the US governments. That both companies are reporting half-year figures is not a coincidence. It’s interesting that more Microsoft accounts were potentially part of a FISA dragnet than Facebook, a company better known for its consumer market share. More needs to shake loose. This data release is far from sufficient. However, it does represent a positive unveiling of the working of FISA, and the larger NSA surveillance programs. What we can garner from what we know so far is that you are not part of the program, at least statistically. That said, watch your ass.
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Facebook announced today that it will be releasing all national security orders it receives from the US government, including those from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court and National Security Letters. These federal notices will be included in a transparency report issued periodically, although a specific schedule hasn’t been revealed. However, while this might be good for Internet activists, today’s news only authorizes the company to reveal numbers “in aggregate.” Adamant that Facebook hasn’t voluntarily participated in the US government’s now-revealed PRISM project, today is the next step in the company’s pursuit of vindication. In a blog post, Facebook’s General Counsel Ted Ulyot stated: We’ve reiterated in recent days that we scrutinize every government data request that we receive – whether from state, local, federal, or foreign governments. We’ve also made clear that we aggressively protect our users’ data when confronted with such requests: we frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested. And we respond only as required by law. However, the effect the reported involvement of companies like Facebook, have certainly had an impact on the public perception. To help try and defuse any hostility towards it and to reinforce its claim, Ulyot says that it has advocated for the release of more information from the US government. More to follow.
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Steve Wozniak, a technology icon for his work at Apple, is an elder statesman in the industry; he’s a person whose opinion carries measurable weight. Recently, in an airport, the fine folks of FayerWayer caught up with Woz to talk over iOS 7′s new features, and the NSA’s PRISM program. Whatever the clip lacks in production values, it more than compensates for with candor. There is endless commentary on current NSA programs that both collect phone data, and Internet information floating around the Web and cable channels today. Woz’s, however, is worth listening to as it takes a historical perspective, and weaves modern computing trends – the cloud, SaaS – into the discussion. Enjoy: For more on PRSIM, head here. Top Image Credit: Per-Olof Forsberg
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Anyone who’s tried their hand at designing a typeface will know it’s a wildly difficult process, and to actually come out at the end with something attractive takes an extreme amount of skill and patience. Type design may not be for everyone, but typography is, and nearly every designer works with it daily. This is why Type Release creator Sean Mitchell is here to share with you a list of 24 gorgeous typefaces, all of which were released last month. See his findings, only on TNW: Sudtipos: Esmeralda Pro Delicate yet solid curves, serifs and endings give each composition a fine, elegant and exquisite feeling, along with a firm and sturdy look.   Hold Fast Foundry: Gin Inspired by the likes of old serifs and classic bottles of whiskey and gin.   DSType: Diversa A single typeface with 9 fonts within, containing 2760 glyphs, divided into 9 stylistic sets.   Typotheque: The Lumin Family The Lumin family includes slab-serif, sans serif, condensed and display typefaces, all of which play with the idea of contradiction.   Fontfabric: Nexa Slab Draws from the rich traditions of the classic Neo-Grotesque slab serifs.   Atlas Font Foundry: Heimat Mono Combines an idiosyncratic appearance with the feeling of a grid-based letter construction of the late 20s.   FontFont: FF Dora Based on a detailed study of today’s handwriting styles, the main focus was on transforming handwritten shapes into a serif text typeface, not a script face.   Laura Worthington: Harlean Not your typical script font, she’s quirky, brazen and a bit irreverent.   FaceType: Substance Fulfills the primary role of emphasizing content.   FDI: Canapé A warm and friendly, almost haptical appearance which brings some cosiness to your communication with type.   Kimmy Design: Lunch Box Gives infinite customizable options and a fully authentic look.   The Northern Block: Nuber A linear geometric sans serif influenced by neo-grotesques and the early Swiss type foundries.   The Northern Block: Tabia Inspired by the work and principles of the iconic german industrial designer Dieter Rams.   Mostardesign: Mettro Pro A sans-serif with a technological and minimalist look.   Mint Type: Espuma Pro A soft and friendly humanist sans with strong calligraphic aftertaste.   District: Fair Sans Text The natural follow-up to the popular Fair Sans now a text family based on the calligraphic structure and casual construction of its predecessor.   Hipopotam Studio: Mr Alex A clean & elegant display sans.   Hipopotam Studio: Mr Lucky A hand-drawn layered typeface.   Nootype: Fitigraf A mix between a classical serif font and graffiti street art.   Hamilton Wood Type Foundry: HWT Unit Gothic The Unit Gothic series was released by Hamilton Manufacturing Co. in 1907. This HWT release is the first ever digital version of these fonts.   Moretype: Mic 32 New Stencil Provides an industrial flavour to the futuristic rounded geometry of Mic 32 New.   DizajnDesign: Preto Serif Explores the function of serifs on readability and legibility.   ShinnType: Richler An open, evenly spaced book face.   Insigne: Quarca Masculine power runs strong across the page with bold self-assurance and a raw energy that courses through its thick veins.   Want more? Take a look at our list of new typefaces from April, March, February, January and Winter ’12. They’re worth it — we promise. Top image credit: Thinkstock
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Another week has slipped through our fingers, meaning that it is yet again time to look back over the last seven days of Microsoft news as we do every Friday. This week’s news from the Redmond-based software company is a bit scattered, so we have to move quickly between topics. Ensure that you are following TNW’s Microsoft channel on both Twitter, and Facebook, and let’s dive right in. Xbox One: $499 The Xbox will initially go on sale in 21 countries for $499, €499, and £429 depending on your location. What happens if you are not in one of the supported regions? You likely are all but out of luck when it comes to the new Xbox device. As TNW reported, “the notion of an ‘Xbox One-supported Xbox Live country/region’ [as requirement for use of the Xbox one] appears to be an additional restriction on the console’s functionality.” That requirement and the fact that Microsoft will require the Xbox One to connect to the Internet once per day has left many potential users dissatisfied. The company also made a misstep with its reports on used gaming, on which it has been vague, and generally on the wrong side of ensuring that gamers own their purchased titles and can do what they will with them. It was not a good week for Microsoft in the console space. The company likely needs to reverse several of its positions on the Xbox One months before its sales cycle begins, to unwind the early, self-inflicted wound. Office for iPhone This morning at 5 am Pacific time, Microsoft took the wraps off of Office for iOS. Put most simply: If you are an Office 365 user, and have an iPhone, Microsoft has brought the same Office functionality that Windows Phone users enjoy to your Apple smartphone. Not an Office 365 user, and live on your iOS phone? No Office for you, even if you bought Office 2013 in its standalone format. Why is Microsoft bringing Office to iPhone so late, and in a limited fashion? [T]here have been competitive advantages for Microsoft keeping Office off the iPhone. It provided an advantage to Windows Phone devices, and the first lives of Windows 8 on tablet devices. Enterprise firms that are dependent on the suite had to choose a platform that supported it, and those that did were core to Microsoft’s launch of both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Another way to think of the Office for iPhone restrictions is that Microsoft is now pushing all the harder to move people to Office 365, period. Office in a Box must fade, it would see in Microsoft’s view, to make way for the new service-based version of the productivity suite. The apps, while limited in their functionality, are generally well designed and fit their on-the-go use case. Shared Security Yesterday, TNW’s Jon Russell reported that “Microsoft shares details of software flaws with US agencies in advance to aid their cyber-espionage activities.” This isn’t a surprise; Microsoft reports similar information to the public at large every month through its Patch Tuesday program. The information provided to Uncle Same “before Microsoft publicly announces software vulnerability and issues.” This is to help protect government assets against terrorist incursion. I’m not sure how happy Microsoft’s normal paying customers will be to know that they are second in line. Windows Store(s) Microsoft will build 600 stores-inside-of-stores in Best Buy and Future Shop locations in the United States and Canada. The stores will average a large 1,900 square feet, and feature two specially trained Best Buy employees that can walk consumers through the larger Microsoft set of hardware and software. TNW spoke to Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer who described the current market as an ecosystem competition, with “Windows v. iOS v. Android.” That is one reason the company is investing so heavily into the Best Buy channel: To give its platform a chance to speak across screens, and devices. Microsoft also released this week what could be the best advertisement it has ever created, the first to my knowledge that fully explains why the Windows ecosystem may be worth your time. Windows Phone 8 > Windows Phone 7.X Finally, for the first time, Windows Phone 8 devices outstrip the market share of Windows Phone 7.X devices. This means that in less than a year, Windows Phone 8 has overtaken years of Microsoft’s earlier mobile efforts. It was known that Windows Phone 8 sales were higher than before, but I didn’t expect it to so quickly supercede the global market share of Windows Phone 7, 7.1, 7.5 and 7.8 devices. This underlines Microsoft’s fresh momentum in the smartphone market, and belies how weak Windows Phone 7.X sales were in the past. It’s National Bourbon Day, get to work.  Top Image Credit: Luke Hayfield
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Microsoft today announced a notable Windows Azure milestone: more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 are now using the service. That’s impressive if you remember that Windows Azure was released just over three years ago on February 1, 2010. The company also noted that in just a year, Windows Azure’s customer base has doubled to more than 250,000 at an average of 1,000 new customers per day. Yet we’ve seen those figures before, so the big focus here is the Fortune 500. In October 2012, cloud storage service Box revealed it had signed up 140,000 businesses and was seeing a 92 percent penetration for Fortune 500 companies. Both those statistics have likely grown since then as all companies in the space have been pushing very hard as of late. Windows Azure is of course very different than Box, but what this shows is that large enterprises are perfectly content with cloud-based solutions. In other words, Microsoft has plenty of room to grow its relatively new offering. Microsoft also shared some more interesting figures: This growth tells the story of Windows Azure’s durability, staying power, and value across the globe. But so does the increase in usage. With over four trillion objects in Windows Azure and an average of 270,000 requests per second, customer requirements grow and are met daily. In peak periods, demand can grow to a staggering 880,000 requests per second. Before the end of the year, it’s easy to see how Windows Azure could pass 5 trillion objects, 300,000 requests per second, and 1 million requests per second during peak periods. Along the way, it will continue to be a massive cash cow for Microsoft. See also – Microsoft’s Azure passes $1B in annual revenue, as subscriptions grow 48% in 6 months and Microsoft beefs up Windows Azure with optional multi-factor verification via mobile app, phone call, or SMS Top Image Credit: Robert Scoble
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The NSA’s phone and Internet data collection and surveillance programs have garnered praise, scorn, and everything in between since they had their secrecy abrogated over the past week. While most of the two programs’ support comes from inside the government, the activities have also found opposition from members of Congress, in both chambers. There are several proposed laws that are worth knowing, so let’s dig in. Unnamed Bill: Senators Mark Udall and Ron Wyden According to Senator Wyden’s website, he will introduce legislation along with Senator Udall to “limit the federal government’s ability to collect data on Americans’ without a demonstrated link to terrorism or espionage.” Their beef stems from the idea that the government has a “secret interpretation” of the Patriot Act that is used to abuse the law. Sen. Udall: “Although I strongly believe some authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provide valuable information that helps protect our national security, Americans with no link to terrorism or espionage should not have to worry that their private information is being swept up.” Wyden: “The disclosures of the last week have made clear to the American people that the law is being interpreted in a way that damages their civil liberties and that the system has been set up to keep Americans unaware of the intrusion. When you combine this proposed bill with legislation introduced to declassify FISA court rulings, we are well on our way to better protecting those liberties and promoting an informed public debate.” Defenders of the NSA programs will oppose the above; the Senate’s current filibuster climate would appear to imply that the coming bill from the two Democrats will face an existential struggle. Restore Our Privacy Act: Senator Sanders This bill would, in my initial reading, move to limit the purview of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to ongoing FBI investigations, and raises the burden of proof needed to enact information collection. It also changes the ability for ‘tangible items’ to be taken to require stronger levels of evidence for the need of their collection. The Restore Our Privacy Act also improves the reporting requirements for FISA requests. Reports will be given to the public, and Congress, including the number of requests, and to our legislators, a description of each action and a note on its efficacy; did it in fact limit terrorism? All of the above tightens the reins of what activities can take place under FISA, and greatly expands the internal and external monitoring oversight. You can read the full bill here. Mind Your Own Business Act: Rep. Grayson Rep. Grayson’s act is simple, and succinct. Give it a read: You have to enjoy the chutzpah of what Rep. Grayson has proposed. The above act would utterly choke funding for much of the NSA’s activities. No funding, no action, and no action is precisely what Grayson is trying to enact above. The bill is quite unambiguous. There is an exception for probable cause, which appears narrow enough to prevent abuse. The LIBERT-E Act: Reps. Conyers and Amash The only bipartisan bill among this set, the LIBERT-E Act – god forbid that name sticks – was detailed by the two in the Huffington Post. An excerpt from their piece, on the Act’s two core premises: First, rather than keeping a “relevance” standard that provides no meaningful limit on the mass collection of data, we propose that the government present at least “specific and articulable” facts that show that the desired information is “relevant and material” to an authorized investigation, and that the data pertain only to individuals under investigation. Federal courts created the “specific and articulable” standard decades ago to review certain police searches. It’s the same standard federal investigators must meet to access other electronic communications. By creating a tighter link between the data and the person under investigation, we can help prevent the indiscriminate surveillance of innocent Americans. Second, we require the federal government to release significant opinions of the FISA court, which to date has operated in complete secrecy from the American public. Congress and the American people must know how the law is being interpreted to have an informed debate about surveillance and personal liberty. The two also state plainly that “[t]he government has no business stockpiling so much of our data.” For those in favor of curbing the extensive NSA activities, the above could something of a best shot; it’s not too broad, and it has backing from a member of both parties. It also hits on the idea of secret law. – That’s the briefest of overviews of what is currently percolating on the hill. I would be surprised if more bills were not introduced in the coming week. Current NSA policy is something that many want to get on the record as against. Top Image Credit: ttarasiuk
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Today Chris Poole, also known as Moot, announced that 4Chan sees more than 25 million monthly unique visitors. The popular website has tripled in size over the past three years. 4Chan, as you likely know, is the image-based message board famous for birthing memes such as lolcats and Rickrolling. It has served as a breeding ground for everything from Anonymous activists to child pornography. The site will celebrate its first decade of life this October. Poole announced the news at the Northside Festival in New York. Most recently, 4chan participated in the Mozilla-backed Stop Watching Us initiative to fight NSA surveillance. 4Chan’s controversial reputation comes from some of its anonymous forums that are often rather uncouth, and can contain what would be considered objectionable content either morally or legally. This certainly isn’t to say that all of 4Chan is as such, but the image sharing and commenting service is controversial for a reason. However, as its new traffic milestone indicates, that sheen of contention isn’t proving too hard an obstacle to growth, and in fact might be a sort of accelerant. Top Image Credit: TechCrunch
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Today Reuters reported that at the coming G8 event, President Obama will defend the NSA’s surveillance and data collection programs that have recently caused a sensation both at home, and in foreign media. The United States’ intelligence community, it was recently unveiled, collects so-called ‘metadata’ on each and every phone call placed inside the United States, and has for years. A program called ‘PRISM’ was also recently unearthed, detailing an Internet surveillance system that has unsettled many. The phone program is already under legal challenge. According to Reuters, President Obama’s deputy national security advisor announced the decision to defend the practices at the G8 talks in the coming week. He will detail privacy curbs, and as well as why – in administration view – they are key to fighting terrorism. Other countries, given that the programs target foreign citizens, have a quite obvious interest in what the US is up to. You can be sure about this: Without the leaks of Snowden, and the efforts of the Washington Post and the Guardian, President Obama would be giving a very different lecture. Top Image Credit: TexasGOPVote.com
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BlackBerry rolled out a new beta version of BBM Channels, its upcoming social platform aimed at high-profile brands and celebrities, with a ton of new features today that should improve the general user experience on BlackBerry 10. Search is the most notable addition, as it introduces a new ‘Browse Channels’ tab to help users discover additional accounts to follow. It’s not a game-changer by any means, but will enable users to look up some of their favorite companies and start following them from the outset. Individual BBM Channels are also being updated with clickable PINs. These essentially work in the same way as a handle does on Twitter – users can share them through Facebook or Twitter and if someone else taps on it, they’ll be taken to the appropriate channel in the BBM app. The ‘Browse Content’ tab has also been tweaked this time around so that content is only shown from channels that the user hasn’t already subscribed too. The area is presumably being targeted as a place for users to find undiscovered content, so it makes sense to hide channels that are already visible elsewhere. Users can also delete their own channel at any time – a pretty crucial feature – and also repost other people’s content in their own channel, similar to Twitter or Facebook. Other small, but notable additions include a subscriber count, now available from the channel preview screen, as well support for those all-important animated GIFs. BBM Channels was unveiled by BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins in May as a new method for brands and companies to reach out and engage with BBM users. The idea feels very similar to Plus Friend Home, a combination of both instant messaging and passive social network accounts which was recently unveiled by Korean-startup Kakao for its cross-platform messaging app Kakao Talk. BBM Channels will be rolled out later this summer for the BBM app on BlackBerry 10. The company has also confirmed that it will be added to its upcoming Android and iOS apps sometime later this year, alongside other advanced features such as voice and video calling. Image Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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There was a time that (now Dropbox-owned) Mailbox was the swankiest email app in the App Store and, while it quickly passed 1 million downloads within six weeks of launch, a number of equally as nifty competitors have arrived en masse, including Dispatch. Launched June 4, it’s an “action-based” email app that helps take you to inbox zero via your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Developer Clean Shaven Apps says Dispatch is compatible with Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! and AOL email accounts only, but it appears to support all IMAP-based email services. Dispatch’s real strength is its support for 14 other iOS apps — Safari, Chrome, 1Password, Maps, Google Maps, Instapaper, Due, OmniFocus, Things, Calendar, Reminders, Asana, Drafts, Evernote — but it’s adding to that tally today. The newly updated app now saves links to Pocket and Readability and includes the following additional features: Open App Store links in-app Open and save Passbook passes in-app Advanced setup screen when editing accounts Support for FastMail accounts without going through advanced setup, including enabling its Archive and Mark as spam feature automatically There are plenty of shortcomings with Dispatch, as Clean Shaven Apps readily admits, and that includes no support (or plans for) push notifications or POP/Exchanged-based email. Equally, for now, there is no search, folder support, syncing of drafts or the ability to attach multimedia. Yet, there’s still a lot to love about Dispatch. For one thing, the interface is seriously slick. The basic UI is functional and works well — let’s not complicate email — operating in a Mailbox-like fashion. Swiping left on an email lets you mark as unread/read, star, archive, mark as spam or delete; while the long-swipe can be customized. In addition, the option to undo an action flashes up for up to five seconds, helping to fix any mistakes. Right swiping takes you back to the previous screen — so back to inbox when inside an email, back to settings when inside inbox, etc. Where Dispatch comes into its own is the ability to add pre-defined snippets, which speeds up replying to specific types of emails — for example customer support or acknowledgements of receipt. That works nicely when combined with support for Evernote, Asana, Calendar, Reminders and other productivity services. This is actually the raison d’être for Dispatch. When travelling across Japan Junjie Lin told his friend (and soon-to-be co-founder) Hon Cheng Muh that he wished he could respond to emails using TextExpander: then the concept of the app was born. Dispatch supports snippets from TextExpander as well as its own predefined and customizable ones — such as: an address, signature, passport details, etc. However, it doesn’t yet include support for fill-ins (e.g. auto-creatable times and dates) which could make it even more useful. These strengths — coupled with its self-admitted weaknesses — makes it an ideal and lightweight app to manage the flow of a busy inbox while on the go, though a secondary service is necessary for anything more sophisticated. Personally, I’ve found Dispatch to be more than adequate to handle email on the go, a time when I need to help clear the load, to the point that it has taken over duties from Mailbox on my phone. Currently there is no optimization for the iPad, but Junjie and Hon Cheng would like that to change: While we’d love to make an iPad version of Dispatch, it is still too early to say for sure if we’d be making one. The real negative is that the app is no longer on offer after launch. The price tag has risen from $2.99 to $4.99. But, if you’re someone who often manages email on the go (particular if that entails mass zapping/blasting/deleting) then Dispatch is definitely worthy of consideration. ➤ Dispatch [$4.99 -- iOS only] Headline image via Thinkstock Disclosure: This article contains an affiliate link. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, The Next Web may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question. For more information, please see our Terms of Service.
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London TechCity startup Eyetease has signed a deal with Verifone Media for its iTaxiTop digital media screens to be rolled out on the top of London’s iconic black cabs. The deal (of undisclosed amount) will bring a wealth of “digital content” (ads) as well as the latest news, public information and transport updates to the display-equipped vehicles in what Eyetease is calling the rollout of a “disruptive new media format”. Whether or not the systems will turn out to be more irritating and distracting to the general public than useful or entertaining remains to be seen, but Eyetease is in knowledgeable hands with Verifone as it already controls the media in a fleet of over 8,000 London taxis. “It’s an honor to work with the global leaders in taxi media. Verifone’s experience, network and reputation in the industry is second to none and I’m thrilled to be working with them,” Richard Corbett, CEO of Eyetease, said. The system uses dual LED backlit LCD HD screens that measure 1m x 0.3m and have a 1920×502 pixel resolution. These are mounted either directly on the cab or on roof rails and are combined with GPS and wireless technology. However, it’s smarter than the average ad (sorry, media delivery) system as it changes the content it displays based on location and the time of day. Unfortunately Verifone is keeping quiet on the number of vehicles it will roll out initially but we expect to see the first cabs hitting the streets this summer. Eyetease isn’t the only London startup working in this area, however. TaxiCast by BrightMove Media offers largely the same proposition and also has approval for its first fleet of 25 vehicles to start rolling out, which should begin on 25 June. Image Credit – Eyetease
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Apple’s unveiling of iOS 7, the latest version of its hugely successful mobile operating system, at its Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this week triggered a huge debate about the company’s refreshed interface and new design language. The presentation only looked at the iPhone, however. The iPad and iPad mini, two hugely influential devices for the company, were given little attention in the various demonstrations and slides. iGen spotted some screenshots (via 9to5Mac) of iOS 7 running on Apple’s small range of high-end tablets at the bottom of the official iOS 7 webpage. For the most part, it’s exactly what you would expect. Apple hasn’t changed the spacing between the apps or the general layout used on the iPad. All of the new app designs are present, however, in addition to Apple’s shiny new wallpaper. So if you were worried about what iOS 7 might look like on the iPad – or just curious to see what Apple had planned – your prayers have now been answered. We can only presume that all of iOS 7′s new functionality – the revamped lock screen, multitasking and control panel that slides up from the bottom, among a whole range of reimagined apps – will also be in full effect here. Image Credit: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
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The EE 4G UK hackathon now has its API partners signed up and confirmed, paving the way for the start of the competition that the company hopes will spur the development of apps that make use of its 4G LTE network speeds. The event will take place on the 22 – 23 June at The Hub Westminster in London and developers can take part across three different categories: real-time collaboration with 4G for the business sector, real-time collaboration with 4G for the public sector, and augmented reality (AR) for business. As preparations for the event continue and the 130 or so entrants brush up on their coding skills, the API partners have now been confirmed as Pusher, a cloud service that adds real-time functionality to Web and mobile apps, PeerIndex, a social media analytics company, LinkedIn and Wikitude, creators of one of the first AR platforms and browsers. Representatives from each of the companies will be present at the competition (either in person, or via a 4G video link) to give help and guidance over the course of the weekend. Judging for the main prizes will be carried out by EE, Google and mobile enterprise app development specialists Mubaloo. “Beyond the increase in speed that LTE brings to apps, the hackathon is about encouraging the developer community to think about what it unleashes for enterprise and public sector,” CEO of Mubaloo, Mark Mason, said. “LTE unlocks new forms of apps that don’t have to be as concerned with slow mobile internet speeds. With the ability to have near-immediate delivery of time sensitive data, such as real-time interaction or transaction, a new raft of apps designed for the public sector and enterprise will help internal and mobile workers to achieve more.” Prizes for the winning teams include 4G devices and contracts for 12 months with inclusive 4G data (capped at 500MB) and vouchers for Amazon, Google Play and iTunes stores. Entry for the competition closes just one day before it starts, so it’s not too late to get involved if you’re a developer and want a chance to win those prizes.  Image Credit – Thinkstock/Getty Images
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Mozilla today announced the Mozilla Science Lab, a new initiative to help researchers around the world use the open Web to shape science’s future. To start, this will consist of convening a broad conversation about open web approaches and skills training, working with existing tool developers, and supporting a global community of researchers. Mozilla points out that scientists created the Web. At the same time though, it still hasn’t transformed scientific practice to the same extent it has everyday life in areas like media, education, and business. Scientific research still consists of hundreds of years of entrenched norms and practices, gaps in training, and broken incentive structures (credit systems in science are still largely based around “papers” that discourage sharing, reusing, and adopting the type of open and collaborative learning that the Web encourages). All of this slows down the system, which in turn slows down the speed at which science can better society. Despite the fact that the last century has brought so many discoveries thanks to science, it is still largely rooted in the “analog” age. It’s time to bring it into the digital one. Here’s the vision, from the project’s wiki: The aim of the Science Lab is to foster an ongoing dialogue between the open web community and researchers to tackle this challenge. Together they’ll share ideas, tools and best practices for using next-generation web solutions to solve real problems in science, and explore ways to make research faster, more agile and collaborative. Mozilla has already partnered with Software Carpentry, a program that teaches basic computing skills to researchers to help them become more productive. More to follow.
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Nextdoor, the company behind the private social network for neighborhoods, announced today a partnership with New York City. The move enables its communities to better receive important updates and information from their city officials segmented by neighborhood. Integration with local governments is a natural evolution of the Nextdoor product. Originally aimed at becoming a “Facebook for neighborhoods”, some of the communities have added tie-ins with local law enforcement and other first responder agencies to help keep them safe. It now has more than 12,600 neighborhoods throughout the United States, and will be expanding its service internationally in the near future. NYC Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement: Partnering with Nextdoor is an important step in our adoption of strategic technology that better serves New Yorkers. Nextdoor gives New York neighbors an easy way to connect and communicate with those who live around them. It also provides the City with a direct line of communication to residents about important and often critical updates. With the partnership, NextDoor says that NYC residents will start to receive information from the city through its website. As the city is already pretty savvy in the ways of social media, by dealing with Nextdoor, the government is able to target issues and alerts directly to specific neighborhoods. But while hearing news from the government is great and helpful, it’s only push content, meaning that residents will only hear what the city has to share with them. Citizens won’t be able to submit queries directly to the mayor’s office from Nextdoor or any of their representative, unless they happen to be a neighbor and enrolled on the site. The integration is free for the city and residents. So far, more than 120 city governments are using the service, including those from San Diego, Dallas, and San Jose. While it’s not the first time Nextdoor has been used by governments, the addition of NYC is a significant milestone — now the government of one of the largest cities in the country has essentially placed a seal of approval on the service. Today’s move comes weeks after the private social network for neighborhoods launched its iOS application. Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
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Recent reports have suggested that using your phone for calls, texts and data inside the European Union (EU) could get a whole lot cheaper from as early as next year but while this is on the horizon it’s not likely to happen quite that quickly. That’s right, no longer would you be charged exorbitant amounts of money simply for travelling somewhere in Europe and having the temerity to switch on your phone to make a call, or look up an address to find out where you should be heading. Indeed, just yesterday The Telegraph published a story which said the European Commission had voted to fast-track proposals to abolish roaming charges from 2014, and while this is technically still a possibility, it’s not very likely to happen. Specifically, The Next Web understands from Commission sources that July 2014 is the absolute earliest it could come into force but that the start date is more likely to be 2015, and could be as late as 2017 depending on reactions from national governments and Members of European Parliament (MEPs). So, it seems that while it could come into force next year, that really depends on you and whether you write to your national leaders and representatives in Brussels. Naturally, we wanted to see what Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, had to say about it – after all, it’s her work that is spearheading this push. “I have said from day one in this job that roaming charges should go by 2015. That didn’t look possible when we negotiated the latest regulation in 2012. Now, as part of a wider package it looks possible, and I will propose it,” Kroes told The Next Web. “But it is very important to see this as a package. We can only achieve the end of roaming charges if we get support for the whole package, and voters will need to make their voice heard to make sure it happens quickly.” The proposals to abolish roaming charges as early as next year (but more likely later than that) follow a rallying call Kroes delivered to the European Parliament at the end of May which also included safeguarding Net Neutrality for all. One of the likely stumbling blocks in the plan is expected to come from mobile operators within Europe – there are more than 100 of them and roaming charges from calls, texts and data are still priced at a premium, meaning they’re still a good chunk of overall revenue. The proposals follow Kroes’ earlier work on the topic of roaming, which has already seen the price of using your phone abroad within the EU fall dramatically with introduction of wholesale caps on pricing introduced in July last year. However, with no global regulator or oversight, there is no global agreement, meaning that if you use your phone while travelling outside of the EU, don’t be too surprised if there’s a large bill waiting for you upon your return. So, while next year could see the end of ‘bill shock’ within the EU, it’s not likely. Image Credit – Getty Images
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It’s only been seven months since Andy Lees stepped up to take the role of Microsoft’s VP of corporate strategy and development, but the high-ranking executive is now reportedly stepping down. A report by AllThingsD claims that Lees will be taking a sabbatical – it’s not clear whether the decision is effective immediately – in order to spend time with his family back in the United Kingdom. Lees isn’t leaving Microsoft though – the article adds that an announcement will be made regarding his new role later this summer. The Microsoft VP has had an interesting career at the technology giant. Lees was formerly the head of Windows Phone, but was later “benched” in December 2011 following rumors that he was sullying relationships with key hardware manufacturers. He then had a spell working with US book retailer Barnes & Noble, specifically to bring a dedicated app to Windows 8. Before the app was released, however, a report by Business Week emerged in November 2012 stating that he had moved on yet again to handle corporate strategy. Since then, Lees has been Microsoft’s VP of corporate strategy and development. It’s unclear exactly why he decided to step down from his position this time around. The decision could have been made for personal reasons, or perhaps there’s a more influential or prominent role waiting for him upon his return to Redmond. Image Credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
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