Tag: technology

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VC Firms Rain Down Cash on Tech Startups, Is Bubble Brewing?

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VC Firms Rain Down Cash on Tech Startups, Is Bubble Brewing?

SAN FRANCISCO — Jan 16, 2015, 6:16 PM ET
By BRANDON BAILEY AP Technology Writer

Cash rained down on startups in 2014, as venture capitalists poured a whopping $48.3 billion into new U.S. companies — levels not seen since before the dot-com bubble burst in 2001. Strong technology IPOs are luring investors chasing the next big return, but with valuations this high, critics suggest some investors may be setting themselves up for a major fall.

“It’s not that many businesses aren’t viable, but the question is, what are you paying for them?” said Mark Cannice, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of San Francisco.

Venture funding surged more than 60 percent in 2014 from the prior year, most often fueling software and biotechnology companies, according to a new “MoneyTree Report” issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters. But the money wasn’t spread around to buoy many more companies. A few just got huge piles of cash.

Last year saw a record 47 “mega-deals,” defined as investments of more than $100 million. That’s nearly twice as many as reported in 2013, said Mark McCaffrey of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who leads the accounting and consulting firm’s global software practice.

Uber Technologies, the ride-hailing service disrupting the transportation industry and generating plenty of press, received the top two biggest rounds of investment last year. Each raised $1.2 billion for Uber, and the company’s value is now pegged at $41 billion. Other major deals included $542 million (mostly from Google Inc.) invested in Magic Leap Inc., a secretive startup working on virtual reality technology; $500 million in Vice Media, which operates online news and video channels; and $485 million in SnapChat, the popular messaging service.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/funding-boom-shows-power-tech-startups-raises-concerns-28263323

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SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY IS COMING FEBRUARY 28

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SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY IS COMING FEBRUARY 28

The largest science extravaganza in northern New Jersey, this year’s Super Science Saturday will feature the incredible 25-foot egg drop challenge; the traditional great paper airplance contest and the live rocket launch, in addition to project presentations by students.

Admission is Free
Location: RHS
9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Super_Science_-Saturday_theridgewoodblog.net_

1.12.15: Workshop Dates are Announced
A three-session workshop will be held on February 13, 20 and 26 from 4:15-6 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. This workshop will provide an opportunity for students to choose a project, set it up and lay it out. Click here for more information.

Full details of the day, including registration forms, can be found on the Super Science Saturday website atwww.supersciencesaturday.org.

Super Science Saturday is proudly presented by The Ridgewood Education Foundation  (https://www.ridgewoodedfoundation.org/) and  Valley Hospital (https://www.valleyhealth.com/).

Click here for the latest Super Science Saturday flyer.

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SiliconValley.com : The 5 biggest tech fails of 2014

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At top: Apple CEO Tim Cook and U2′s Bono weren’t smiling for long after launching U2′s new album on everyone’s iTunes accounts in September.  (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

The 5 biggest tech fails of 2014

In the tech world, we can’t all be winners all the time. 2014 saw some rather spectacular failures. Here are our top (bottom?) five:

5. Google’s Barge

4. U2 and iTunes

3. Amazon Fire smartphone

2. Uber

1. Online security

https://www.siliconbeat.com/2014/12/26/the-5-biggest-tech-fails-of-2014/

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As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up

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As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up
DEC. 15, 2014
Claire Cain Miller

A machine that administers sedatives recently began treating patients at a Seattle hospital. At a Silicon Valley hotel, a bellhop robot delivers items to people’s rooms. Last spring, a software algorithm wrote a breaking news article about an earthquake that The Los Angeles Times published.

Although fears that technology will displace jobs are at least as old as the Luddites, there are signs that this time may really be different. The technological breakthroughs of recent years — allowing machines to mimic the human mind — are enabling machines to do knowledge jobs and service jobs, in addition to factory and clerical work.

And over the same 15-year period that digital technology has inserted itself into nearly every aspect of life, the job market has fallen into a long malaise. Even with the economy’s recent improvement, the share of working-age adults who are working is substantially lower than a decade ago — and lower than any point in the 1990s.

https://theridgewoodblog.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=63837&action=edit&message=9

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Ridgewood High School library gets 21st century update

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Ridgewood High School library gets 21st century update

November 17, 2014    Last updated: Monday, November 17, 2014, 11:20 AM
By Jodi Weinberger
Staff Writer | The Ridgewood New

School leaders last week celebrated the opening of the Learning Commons at Ridgewood High School, a project driven by a multi-year effort from residents and the district to upgrade the decades-old library.

For months during construction, students had been sitting on the floors and in the cafeteria during their free periods without a space to study, but school officials said the wait was worth it.

“A little inconvenience brings us a great facility for all our students at Ridgewood High School,” said Superintendent Daniel Fishbein.

The space doubles the amount of seating, to 200 for students, providing them with cubby spaces to work independently and conferences rooms to work in groups.

Curved tables in the Commons’ open area were designed for more than just aesthetic appeal. They can fit together like puzzle pieces to accommodate large classes and can be pulled apart for just one or two students.

There is bar-style seating where kids can do homework and oversized comfy chairs and large colorful couches for reading.

The light from the library’s existing windows was maximized by lowering the height of the bookshelves. Windows were created facing out into the hallway to make the space seem even bigger.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/library-gets-21st-century-update-1.1135261

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50% of occupations today will no longer exist in 2025: Report

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50% of occupations today will no longer exist in 2025: Report

Press Trust of India  |  Mumbai
November 7, 2014 Last Updated at 21:40 IST

A paradigm shift is expected to be witnessed in the way workplaces operate over the next 15 years, making nearly 50 per cent of occupations existing today redundant by 2025, a report has said.

Artificial intelligence will transform businesses and the work that people do. Process work, customer work and vast swathes of middle management will simply disappear, it said.

The report titled ‘Fast Forward 2030: The Future of Work and the Workplace’ has been prepared by realty consulting firm CBRE and China-based Genesis, a property developer, after interviewing 220 experts, business leaders and young people from Asia, Europe and North America.

“Nearly 50 per cent of occupations today will no longer exist in 2025. New jobs will require creative intelligence, social and emotional intelligence and ability to leverage artificial intelligence. Those jobs will be immensely more fulfilling than today’s jobs,” the report said.

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/50-of-occupations-today-will-no-longer-exist-in-2025-report-114110701279_1.html

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Virgin ‘ignored’ space safety warnings before crash: expert

IceDunk

Memories >>>During a televised hearing, Feynman demonstrated that the material used in the shuttle’s O-ringsbecame less resilient in cold weather by compressing a sample of the material in a clamp and immersing it in ice-cold water.

 

Virgin ‘ignored’ space safety warnings before crash: expert

Los Angeles (AFP) – A rocket science safety expert on Sunday said Virgin Galactic “ignored” safety warnings in the years leading up to the deadly crash of its spacecraft in California, as investigators hunted for clues to accident’s cause.

Carolynne Campbell, a rocket propulsion expert with the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, said she could not speculate on the cause of Friday’s crash without “all the data.”

However, she said multiple warnings had been issued to Virgin since 2007, when three engineers died testing a rocket on the ground.

“Based on the work we’ve done, including me writing a paper on the handling of nitrous oxide, we were concerned about what was going on at Virgin Galactic,” she told AFP.

“I sent copies of the paper to various people at Virgin Galactic in 2009, and they were ignored,” she said.

https://news.yahoo.com/probe-virgin-spaceship-crash-may-085338983.html;_ylt=AwrBJR8tdlZUJ0YAc5XQtDMD

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Drones Could Be Next Tool for Ridgewood Real Estate Agents

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file photo of the Ridgewood blog Drone

Drones Could Be Next Tool for Ridgewood Real Estate Agents
Real Estate News 
Jan 2, 2014 
By: Erik Gunther

Scott Gerami says he’s always “had a passion for gadgets and technology,” and after 26 years in real estate, he’s still looking for an edge to make his listings stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Over the past year, the REALTOR® and managing broker of RE/MAX in Naperville, IL, has been tinkering with a camera-equipped drone aircraft to make his real estate photography really soar.

Folks in the Chicago suburb shouldn’t be alarmed if they see Gerami standing outside a home with a control panel, piloting one of his do-it-yourself flying machines overhead.

The intrepid Gerami is not alone. According to The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, the next trend in real estate photography is being deployed in increasing numbers to capture new angles on high-end homes for sale.

While regulatory issues on these unmanned aircraft are still being sorted out, the birds-eye views are enticing to agents such as Gerami. “I’m looking for unique ideas to set myself apart,” he said.

After watching one of Gerami’s drone-driven videos, you’ll get a sense of how the next wave in real estate photography is taking flight. He first built a couple of “rough and crude” devices “from the ground up,” but he’s continued to make refinements that have allowed him to explore new ways of deploying his flying machine.

He said his latest model, his fourth, cost him about $1,200 to build.

https://www.realtor.com/news/bring-in-the-drones-real-estate-from-above/#.UsuDEWRDuMQ

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Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids use iPads

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Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids use iPads
Posted on Monday, September 15 at 5:03am | By Amy Graff

Steve Jobs was the father of two teenage girls and a son when he passed away in 2011. These kids grew up with a visionary father who co-founded one of the best-known tech companies. Jobs led the world into the digital age with gadgets that transformed the way we listen to music, watch movies, communicate, live our lives.

You would imagine that his children’s rooms would have been filled with iPods, iPhones and iPads.

That’s not the case.In an article in the Sunday New York Times, reporter Nick Bilton says he once asked Jobs “So, your kids must love the iPad?”

Jobs response: “They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

The Times article examines the growing trend among the California Silicon Valley tech set to limit children’s technology use. Many of the people behind the social media platforms, gadgets and games that are consuming our kids’ time and minds aren’t actually allowing their own children to waste an entire Saturday afternoon playing Minecraft on the iPad.

A quote in The Times from Chris Anderson, father of five and chief executive of 3D Robotics, pretty much defines why Anderson and his colleagues are limiting technology at home. “My kids accuse me and my wife of being fascists and overly concerned about tech, and they say that none of their friends have the same rules,” says Anderson, formerly the editor of Wired. “That’s because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand. I’ve seen it in myself, I don’t want to see that happen to my kids.”

Some of these Silicon Valley engineers and execs are even going to the extreme of sending their kids to computer-free schools. A Times story from 2011 reported that engineers and execs from Apple, eBay, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Yahoo are sending their kids to a Waldorf elementary school in Los Altos, Calif., where you won’t find a single computer or screen of any sort. Also, kids are discouraged from watching television or logging on at home.

https://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2014/09/15/steve-jobs-didnt-let-his-kids-use-ipads/#26764101=0

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Katie Couric Interviews Bionic Arm Inventor Dean Kamen

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Katie Couric Interviews Bionic Arm Inventor Dean Kamen

Back in 1980, when Luke Skywalker was fitted with a robotic limb after losing his hand in the film “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back,” it was pure science fiction. But what was once fantasy is now a reality.

Inventor Dean Kamen and his team at DEKA Research and Development, based in New Hampshire, have developed “Luke,” a robotic prosthetic arm, aptly nicknamed after Luke Skywalker.  The arm is considered a game changer for amputees. “Instead of giving them a metal hook that they can’t do anything with, what if we can give them a bunch of grips to do the things you do in daily living? Pick up a spoon or pick up an electric drill or open a door,” says Kamen.  

The idea first came about when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) approached Kamen about building a better prosthetic for soldiers who have lost an arm in combat. “They said, ‘Give us a real hand that works, that has all the fingers and the thumb that can move in every direction. Give us an arm that really functions,'” says Kamen.  

https://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric-interviews-bionic-arm-inventor-185134268.html?fbmark=katiec2014

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The Hi-Tech Mess of Higher Education

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Students at Deep Springs College in the California desert, near the Nevada border, where education involves ranching, farming, and self-governance in addition to academics

The Hi-Tech Mess of Higher Education

David Bromwich
AUGUST 14, 2014 ISSUE

Ivory Tower

a film directed by Andrew Rossi

Andrew Rossi’s documentary Ivory Tower prods us to think about the crisis of higher education. But is there a crisis? Expensive gambles, unforeseen losses, and investments whose soundness has yet to be decided have raised the price of a college education so high that today on average it costs eleven times as much as it did in 1978. Underlying the anxiety about the worth of a college degree is a suspicion that old methods and the old knowledge will soon be eclipsed by technology.

Indeed, as the film accurately records, our education leaders seem to believe technology is a force that—independent of human intervention—will help or hurt the standing of universities in the next generation. Perhaps, they think, it will perform the work of natural selection by weeding out the ill-adapted species of teaching and learning. A potent fear is that all but a few colleges and universities will soon be driven out of business.

It used to be supposed that a degree from a respected state or private university brought with it a job after graduation, a job with enough earning power to start a life away from one’s parents. But parents now are paying more than ever for college; and the jobs are not reliably waiting at the other end. “Even with a master’s,” says an articulate young woman in the film, a graduate of Hunter College, “I couldn’t get a job cleaning toilets at a local hotel.” The colleges are blamed for the absence of jobs, though for reasons that are sometimes obscure. They teach too many things, it is said, or they impart knowledge that is insufficiently useful; they ask too much of students or they ask too little. Above all, they are not wired in to the parts of the economy in which desirable jobs are to be found.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/aug/14/hi-tech-mess-higher-education/

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Breath testing deters alcohol use at Ridgewood dance

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Breath testing deters alcohol use at Ridgewood dance

JUNE 27, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014, 2:40 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER

There were approximately half the number of alcohol-related incidents at last Friday’s Backwoods dance than in previous years, and event organizers chalk up the improvement to the Ridgewood Police Department’s use of random breath tests on the attendees.

Of the 950 Ridgewood High School students to attend last week’s event, which took place in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, “only six” were reported to test positive for alcohol consumption, according to co-organizer Paul Vagianos. In comparison, 11 juveniles were cited for alcohol-related reasons at the September dance, while 10 were sent home from Backwoods in June 2013.

“We’re out of the double digits. This was the best Backwoods ever for that and other reasons,” Vagianos said.

In a conversation with The Ridgewood News on Wednesday, Vagianos noted that the dance had a different vibe than prior events, and the feeling wasn’t necessarily related to the ambiance created by the “Neon Safari” theme. Last week’s event marked the first time in the dance’s brief history that the Ridgewood Police Department conducted random breath tests on the students.

In previous years, Vagianos and David Zrike, co-organizer, greeted each attendee at the gates to the park and performed visual observations, a practice that continued last week. Any student they suspected had been drinking was directed to speak with an officer.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/towns/breath-testing-deters-drinking-1.1042905#sthash.g3UZO9Xx.dpuf

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Ridgewood Library to unveil 3D printer

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Ridgewood Library to unveil 3D printer

JUNE 27, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY LIZ WELLINGHORST
STAFF WRITER

Imagine designing an image of the Eiffel Tower on a computer, saving it to a zip drive, then heading to the local library to make or “print” the three-dimensional plastic miniature statue.

It’s now possible with the Ridgewood Library’s new MakerBot 3D Replicator, a new consumer-grade, desktop-size 3-D printer.

The 3-D printer arrived in mid-May, but hasn’t been officially unveiled yet because the library’s IT department has been working out the kinks.

“We’ve been generating programming, learning its new features and design programs,” said Charles Gallo, technology manager at the Ridgewood Public Library and an alumnus of Ridgewood High School. “What I can say is that the 3D MakerBot is extremely user friendly and accessible to all age groups, and when it’s officially open to the public, they will really enjoy it.”

Friends of the Ridgewood Library, a fundraising arm of the library, donated a $5,000 grant to make the 3-D printing possible.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/at-the-library/printouts-will-be-seen-from-all-sides-1.1042484#sthash.q2SIAwiB.dpuf

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Ridgewood students Skype with scientists

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Ridgewood students Skype with scientists

JUNE 27, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY SALVATORE TRIFILIO
CORRESPONDENT

Ten years ago teachers were armed with little more than a textbook and their enthusiasm to tackle the task of inspiring America’s youth to become doctors, scientists, authors or even teachers themselves.But today, educators like Willard School’s John Altieri have a slew of technologies at their disposal that allow their students experiences that were once just science fiction.

On Thursday, June 12, about 60 students at Willard School took a trip more than 1,400 miles south and nine miles off the coast of Florida, to the world’s only underwater marine habitat and laboratory, all without leaving the comfort of room 122.

“There is only so much an individual teacher can offer, and when we have other people sharing information with these kids, that enhances their education and their experience,” Altieri said.

Altieri’s second-grade class, in collaboration with first- and fifth-grade classes, became the first and only New Jersey classes to join Fabien Cousteau and his crew’s Mission-31 during a half-hour Skype session.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/students-skype-with-scientists-1.1042447#sthash.dD4xQsze.dpuf

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Ridgewood Education Foundation Commits to 1:1 Technology

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Ridgewood Education Foundation Commits to 1:1 Technology 
June 9, 2014 

Ridgewiood NJ, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein has announced the receipt of a grant of $250,000 from the Ridgewood Education Foundation for the district’s new 1:1 Computer Device Initiative.The Ridgewood Education Foundation (The Foundation) will issue its first disbursement of $100,000 to the Board of Education at its July 23 meeting. Ongoing disbursements of $50,000 will be issued annually thereafter for an additional three years.“The 1:1 computer device initiative is the next step in the District Technology Plan and an important aspect of our goals for twenty-first century learning,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein.“On behalf of the Ridgewood Board of Education, I wish to thank The Foundation for their leadership and vision to partner with us in this exciting new program as part of their ongoing commitment and support of the district’s mission of excellence.”

Specifically, the grant will allow the district to purchase and distribute Google tablet Chromebook technology at all levels, K-12, starting in September at the high school and moving into the middle and elementary schools over the next several years.

Chromebooks and the accompanying suite of apps called Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and Google Drive allow users to store and share files from any device that has an Internet connection. As part of the1:1 initiative, the district has provided GAFE accounts to all students. Students in grades 6-12 have also been issued email accounts for internal use only. Using GAFE and Google Drive, students will be able to
access their work at school and home throughout their years in the district. Teachers will be able to provide instant feedback to students on their assignments and easily monitor student contributions to group work. All work done using GAFE is managed by the Ridgewood Public Schools in a safe and closed environment and is the property of the Ridgewood Board of Education

“Clearly from the district’s vision and plan the role of technology will be increasingly important in enhancing academics,” said The Foundation president Jennie Wilson. “The Trustees of The Foundation felt this was an important initiative for Ridgewood schools and vital to twenty-first century learning skills across the district. The vote to fund this grant to the schools was unanimous and very exciting for all trustees. It supports academics and fits perfectly with our mission to enhance education in the Ridgewood Public Schools.”

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