Google Acknowledges Diversity Problem (PCMagazine)

Google's workforce consists of 70 percent men and 30 percent women, but only 5 percent black and Hispanic.

• BY STEPHANIE MLOT
• MAY 29, 2014

Silicon Valley continues taking baby steps toward a more diverse tech industry—see Marissa Mayerand Satya Nadella, both recent additions to the CEO club. But many high-profile organizations still fall short of a true melting pot of employees.

Chief among them is Google, which this week formally addressed its shortcomings by publishing employee gender and ethnicity stats.

"Put simply, Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity," Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of People Operations, said in a blog post. "And it's hard to address these kinds of challenges if you're not prepared to discuss them openly, and with the facts."

And the facts are these: The search giant's workforce consists of 70 percent men and 30 percent women. About 61 percent of those workers are white, while Asians make up another 30 percent. But the African-American and Hispanic communities are poorly represented, making up only 2 and 3 percent of the company's population, respectively.

But it's not easy filling out the ranks with women and minorities, Bock said. He blamed the low rate of women earning computer science degrees (18 percent) and the modest number of blacks and Hispanics graduating college (10 percent)—let alone with a CS degree (fewer than 5 percent).

"So, we've invested a lot of time and energy in education," as well as money, Bock said. Since 2010, Google has contributed more than $40 million to organizations focused on women and computer science.

The tech giant also works with historically black universities to boost attendance and coursework in the computer science department.

"But we're the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be," Bock said. "And that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of its solution."

Though not a real selling point for future employees, Google does offer employee resource groups, built to educate and support. Among them are the Asian, Black, and Filipino Google Networks, the Gayglers, the Greyglers (for workers "of a certain age"), Google Women in Engineering, and the Special Needs Network.

Along the way to a more diverse field of computer science, we often forget that one of the earliest CS pioneers was, in fact, a woman. Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and Navy Rear Admiral, was honored by Google in December, on what would have been her 107th birthday. Ada Lovelace, the world's first programmer, also got a homepage doodle in Dec. 2012.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Cybercriminals extorting money from Android users (TechRepublic)

Michael Kassner May 28, 2014  

Android users are now at risk from Koler ransomware, which is a type of malware that threatens victims with action from legal authorities unless they pay a steep fine. 

Ransomware is a particularly frustrating type of malware. Those caught by it seldom escape without losing valuable data or money -- or worse, both. Ransomware attempts to extort money from victims and punishes in one of two ways:

• The victim is locked out of the device, but the data is intact (not encrypted).
• The victim has access to everything on the device, but the data is unusable (encrypted by the ransomware).

It was only a matter of time before bad guys determined it was worth their effort to adapt ransomware for devices running Android firmware. That might be because Gartner predicts the number of Android phones sold will approach 1 billion this year.

How Android ransomware works

As with PC (later OS versions) ransomware, Android ransomware requires social engineering the victim to get the malware loaded on the computing device. Android ransomware has the additional complication of requiring the user to grant certain permissions to the malicious app with embedded ransomware.

Digital extortionists use an effective and time-honored scheme to trick victims into installing Koler, the first active and successful Android ransomware. The scheme currently preys on people who use their Android phone or tablet to visit illicit websites for the sake of viewing illegal pornography, but as with all malware, it could easily spread to other sites.

The first step in the scheme is to build a malicious duplicate of the real video download website. Next step is rerouting visitors from the real website to the malicious duplicate. If that works, the visitor has reached the point of no return. The soon-to-be victim will be asked to download a special viewer required by the video. Once the viewer is installed and ready to go, the victim opens the video expecting to see something else. But all that shows up is the following warning:

 Image: Ars Technica

As malware goes, Koler is interesting in that the ransomware checks the mobile device's country and language settings, altering the above message to match. In the UK, for instance, an image of the Queen of England is shown to potential victims. But as with other ransomware, there are some telltale signs that this is not the real deal. For example, the FBI is not part of the Department of Defense, and having President Obama pointing a finger seems a bit far-fetched.

Whether the victim understands the warning is fake or not is immaterial. The warning window blocks all attempts by the owner to use the mobile device for anything, including deleting the ransomware app via the Settings screen. Rebooting does not help, as Koler activates early in the start-up sequence.

The next screen the victim sees is the one below, instructing how the victim can pay $300 to remove the offending pornography from the device and return control to the user:

 Image: Sophos Ltd.

There is no banned content, and paying the ransom is not recommended. Trusting those who are trying to extort money seems like a bad idea. There are other options. One option is fast and simple, return the Android device back to factory condition using the reset option (steps may differ depending on phone manufacturer). The drawback to resetting the device is that all personal information and installed applications will be lost.

Since Koler locks the mobile device, and does not encrypt the stored data, another option presents itself. Like Windows, Android has a version of safe mode.

Using Android safe mode

Using safe mode is not a 100% guarantee. Paul Ducklin of Sophos provided an excellent "How to" post showing three different options for accessing safe mode. However, Ducklin also mentioned that manufacturers have fractured Google's version of Android into their own versions of firmware, making it all but impossible to guarantee that using safe mode will work. That said, Ducklin offered the following assurances:

• Employing safe mode does not require any special technical skills.
• Safe mode doesn't require special software to be installed prior to the problem.
• If safe mode doesn't work, you can go back to where you were and be no worse off than you were before.

"In theory, if your phone isn't rooted," Ducklin said, "then no third-party apps you have installed should be able to trick the system into loading them in safe mode. So booting into safe mode means you should always be able to get into the list of downloaded apps, malware or not, and remove unwanted ones."

Some proactive advice

Koler has been around for a while, meaning all of the mobile antimalware app developers have it on their radar, their apps are detecting it, and preventing Koler from installing (including the free versions). It might be worth the few minutes to install an antimalware app, forget about it, and let it work in the background.

Google along with other reputable Android market places are aware of Koler and preventing developers from uploading Koler-embedded apps embedded, which is why it is important to avoid apps that are advertised in ads or pop-up commercials.

Finally, Android does not make it easy to back up personal data on mobile devices, so consider using one of the online file-sharing services similar to OneDrive or DropBox for their convenience and ability to help recover or restore valuable files.

Spreading malware

Regardless of what we think about Koler using a pornography connection, the scam is working. Otherwise, the bad guys would not be using it. That said, the bad guys, not ones to miss an opportunity, will adapt Koler and similar Android ransomware to other subject matter that will entice enough users to make it worth their while.

Vaya!!! Que aguacero… Por: Ricardo Tribin Acosta

EN MI OPINION:

Aguaceros los hay por doquier, incluso con bautizo propio. En mi época de niño y adolescente, era muy común hablar del  aguacero de las dos de la tarde , viviendo en la “querendona, trasnochadora, y morena”, como definía a mi bella ciudad natal, Pereira, el gran maestro musical Luis Carlos González Mejía, autor de muchas y magnificas composiciones en las que se destaca universalmente “La ruana”, la cual es el precisamente el “abrigo del macho, macho”;. Todo el mundo estaba entonces “preparado y  listo”, de manera similar a como, cuando en los partidos de futbol, así lo anunciaba el “colorado”, Carlos Arturo Rueda Convers.

En esta ocasión quisiera hablar de los aguaceros emocionales que a veces se nos presentan, programados, o no, los cuales nos bambolean, cual chubasco común y corriente. Estos son sorpresivos y otras veces anunciados, los que fueren como fuesen nos afectan en mayor o menor grado de intensidad.

Un verdadero logro consiste en terminar el día en paz, a pesar de las tormentas, y para este propósito se hace más que conveniente el mantener en todos los momentos y situaciones la cordura, la serenidad, y la calma, evitando de esta manera cualquier estrago indeseable que en nuestros sentimientos pueda llegar a ocurrir.

http://ricardotribin.blogspot.com

Miami, Mayo 24 de 2014

The Right Way to Bring a Partner Into Your Business (BusinessWeek)

By Karen E. Klein May 15, 2014 

Question: I’m a home improvement contractor. I want to bring on a partner into my business. This partner is neither licensed nor insured yet but has the skills needed to grow my company. Should I do a general partnership or a limited partnership?

Answer: Let’s start with some definitions—and a caveat: Partnerships and other business entities are governed at the state level. That means the rules and regulations will vary depending on where your company operates and where it was formed for legal purposes.

Typically, however, a general partnership is a twist on the sole proprietorship—the simplest business entity—with ownership shared by two or more individuals. It does not provide any shield on personal liability. That means if someone successfully sues the company, the partners’ personal assets could be taken to satisfy a court judgment.

STORY: How Small U.S. Businesses Can Court Customers in China

A limited partnership typically consists of one general partner and any number of limited partners, says David Black, an attorney with Florida business law firmBerger Singerman. The only personal assets the limited partners are on the hook for are what they invested in the company. But, as in the general partnership, no limit exists on the general partner’s personal liability if a court hands down a judgment against the partnership.

Limited partners are also generally restricted in how they can participate in the company’s operations and decision-making, says Brian Burt, a partner who chairs the emerging business group at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix. “They can be tricky, but [limited partnerships] are often used in real estate, where a number of passive investors become limited partners. In those cases, you can structure it so that the general partner is not an individual but an LLC,” he explains, referring to limited liability companies. That guarantees protection for the general partner as well. Professional service companies and venture capital firms are entities that sometimes use the limited partnership structure as well.

So what’s your best bet, as a small home-improvement contractor? None of the above, says Melanie G. Rubocki, who co-chairs emerging companies and venture capital firmwide at Perkins Coie in Boise, Idaho.

STORY: Advice for Small Businesses Considering Dropping Health Coverage

“Any time you’re doing business, you’re susceptible to being sued, and that’s especially true in construction,” she says. “You need to protect yourself whether you bring on this new partner or not.”

She, and all the other experts we talked with, recommended that you form an LLC for your business—and do it sooner rather than later. Without that legal protection from personal liability, you’re putting your home, your bank accounts, and all your other assets on the line every time you take a job, because no matter how good you are, there’s always the potential for something to go wrong and for a dispute to wind up in court.

Forming an LLC has become relatively cheap and painless these days because there are many online options. Still, it pays to hire an attorney to help you and talk it through with your accountant, as well. The LLC offers a lot of flexibility, so you’ll have a number of choices to make that you could probably use some advice on. For instance, “you may not want to bring this new guy on and give him a huge piece of the company up front,” Rubocki says. “With an LLC, you can structure it so that perhaps he earns his way into the company.”

BLOG: Facebook Joins National (Marketing to) Small Business Week

Depending on how you set up the LLC, there are options to help you manage your profit and losses and to minimize your tax liability. And since the LLC is a “pass-through” entity, your income from the business will continue to be declared on a Schedule C on your personal income tax return, so the company won’t pay corporate taxes. It seems like a no-brainer, whether you take on another owner or not.

Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.

Can Microsoft create a new market with Surface Pro 3? (ZDNet)

 Summary: Microsoft Surface Computing chief Panos Panay talks about Microsoft's current and future Surface plans and positioning.

With the just-announced Surface Pro 3, Microsoft is trying to establish a positioning niche: A tablet that can replace a laptop.

Typically when a tech vendor tries to do this, officials there -- and/or the analysts who cover the market -- spend lots of time and often money in the hope of creating a new, sticky term for that niche. (Examples: phablet, private cloud.)

But Microsoft isn't going that route with its latest 12-inch Surface device. Company officials are calling the latest member of the Surface family a tablet. (Sorry, El Reg... they didn't go with your suggestion of"slabtop." Nor did they use the already-established "two-in-one" or ultrabook labels.)

"We are making a market," said Corporate Vice President of Surface Computing Panos Panay, during an interview that ZDNet's Ed Bott and I had with him right after yesterday's Surface Pro 3 launch in New York.

• Read more: Surface Pro 3: Thinner, lighter, more flexible

"We are still calling this a tablet," Panay said of the Surface Pro 3. "Tablets have not landed" and not really hitting the productivity sweet spot, Panay said. These days, "laptops are solving the problems that tablets did" because of better battery life/power consumption, weight and thinness, he claimed.

More Surface Pro

• What you need to know
• Can the execution match the message?
• For Surface, third time a charm?
• Surface Pro 3 pricing
• Thinner, lighter, more flexible
• CNET Hands-on: First Take
• Surface Pro 3: In pictures
• What, no ARM-based Surface Mini?

The external competitor on which Panay and his team have their sights set is Apple, as the premium prices and specs for the Pro 3 made clear. Microsoft is gunning to replace the MacBook Air and the iPad with the Surface Pro 3. But I'd argue there's another competitor at which Microsoft is taking aim with the new devices: High-end Windows ultrabooks like the Acer Aspire S-7 I purchased recently.

The intended audience for the new Surfaces are "consumer first, and premium," Panay stressed. He said Microsoft expects the product to do well with students and others interested in notetaking, but that the company isn't positioning the Pro 3 as a business device. (Update: That's because Microsoft is making the assumption that consumers increasingly are bringing devices to work. Of course, if a business wanted to order thousands of Surface Pro 3s for its users, Microsoft would be happy to fulfill that order.)

To take on these competitors, Microsoft is attempting to bring some unique attributes to its latest Surface devices. The new hinge and kickstand on the device will allow users a lot more viewing angles. The new Surface Pro 3 Type Keyboards add a magnetic band that provide a sloped and more stable surface, which is easier on the wrists when typing for extended periods.

And then there's the new digitizing pen that comes for free in the box with the Surface Pro 3's. Panay called the pen "a platform" during our interview and said to expect the Surface team to continue to invest heavily in the pen, going forward.

What else will the Surface team be focused on in the coming weeks and months?

"I'm designing a lot of devices with many different form factors and shapes," he said.

And among those potential sizes and shapes is an eight-inch mini tablet, he said. (Microsoft was expected to launch its Surface Mini at yesterday's self-described "small gathering," according to various sources, but nixed that announcement somewhere in the past few weeks.)

Panay said "we still think there's life" in the eight-inch tablet segment. "There are more opportunities there."

Panay confirmed there's also still a future for more ARM-based Surfaces beyond the Surface RT and Surface 2. It's also worth noting that Microsoft plans to stop making Surface Pro 2 devices and make the Surface Pro 3 the new Intel-based flagship sooner rather than later, according to Panay. (That might explain why most of the Surface Pro 2 models are currently sold out in its stores.)

Will Microsoft ever do a true laptop with a permanently-connected keyboard and flat and sturdy base? Panay said the Surface team "got pretty far with" a cover that would provide more of a tray-like bottom, but decided to nix it because it was too clunky and inelegant.

I, myself, hope they keep trying to find a way to bring something like this to market, as the Surface Pro 3, even with its "lappability" improvements still doesn't really work for me on my lap the way my Acer does.

I think Microsoft needs a name for this laptop-tablet hybrid category the company is attempting to carve out. Suggestions, anyone?

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for 30 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Why We're Better Off Eating Plenty of Fat (BusinessWeek)

Last week science helped us clearly establish that wine may or may not be good for you. You’re welcome. Now, what about fat?

In the latest is-it-or-isn’t-it nutrition debate, author and cheese advocate Nina Teicholz says fat has been misunderstood and unfairly vilified. Her new book, The Big Fat Surprise, argues that more fat—including the saturated kind found in meat, dairy, and eggs—leads to better health and weight loss. Bloomberg Businessweek wanted to know how she decided it was all right to give such seemingly indulgent advice. What follows is an edited, condensed version of the conversation.

So now you would have us get our fill of fat?

STORY: Fast-Food Strikes Go Global, With Different Demands

You can have a good 50, 60 percent of your calories as fat, and that’s fine. It won’t damage your heart. Don’t be afraid of those foods. They’re tasty and uniquely satisfying, and we’ve been terrified of eating them. This French woman I ran into said, “I love cheese, but I feel like I’ll be condemning my children to being orphans.” And I said, “Eat the cheese! It won’t cause your early death, and it’s delicious.”

Saturated fat does not cause heart disease, and a high-fat diet over the last decade has been rigorously tested in numerous clinical trials, and it shows that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is healthier than a low-fat diet looking at markers for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

What do you eat?

STORY: Fed Up Review: Food Addiction Isn't a Metaphor

I start my day with bacon, or egg, or sausage, or meatballs.

Meatballs?

If you read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy they eat meatballs for breakfast, too—I was so amused by that. For lunch I graze because I never really sit down for lunch. I’ll have handfuls of nuts, cheese, tuna fish salad. In the evening, we have some kind of stew or roasted chicken or fish.

But I am a data point of one. Science is about looking at large groups of people—data points are anecdotes and they’re interesting, but they don’t establish truth. But you don’t have to eat chicken and fish for the rest of your life.

And you’re health is fine? Your weight?

The last time I got my cholesterol tested, it looked great; it looked better than when I was in my thirties, and I’m in my forties now. I’m not super thin because I’ve been sitting at my computer for so many months now, but my weight is normal.

Then why do all of us think fat is unhealthy?

The idea that saturated fat causes heart disease goes back to a theory rooted in the 1950s that was proposed by one scientist and became enshrined, first in the American Heart Association in 1961 and became basically over the years a fact. But it had never been tested. Evidence against it—when it was finally shown—[the claim] was really poor and inconclusive and has since fallen apart.

No offense, but why should we trust you?

I have been digging into this research for 10 years. I looked through all of the original research. I did not rely on any summary or review documents. We’re in the third generation of scientists universally believing that fat and saturated fat cause heart disease. That’s accepted, and no one goes back to read what it’s based on. I don’t accept—and have not accepted—any industry money in my research.  Almost everyone in nutrition researchers [gets] funding from industry because the government just doesn’t fund that much nutrition research. It doesn’t automatically bias their results, but I came without any preconceptions in this field. I am an outsider who brings a rigorous, science-journalist perspective.

Wong is an associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek. Follow her on Twitter @venessawwong.

Que no panda el cúnico (Ricardo Tribin Acosta...EN MI OPINION)

Así decía El Chapulin Colorado cuando se encontraba en una situación complicada y todos nos reíamos, pues nos parecía una frase simpática la cual, traducida al lenguaje normal, seria “Que no cunda el pánico”. Pero en fin, el buen humor que Roberto Gómez Bolaños le imprimía siempre a sus personajes, nos hacia reír a carcajadas aunque, a la misma manera que usaba Mario Moreno “Cantinflas”, siempre dejaba un mensaje profundo en sus palabras.

Ello también podría ampliarse buscando el aserto que propende por día a día vivir cada vez más calmados, pacientes y tolerantes, en nuestros diferentes asuntos, de manera tal que, como expresara Teresa de Ávila “ Nada me turbe, nada me espante; Dios no se muda; la paciencia todo lo alcanza; quien a Dios, tiene nada le falta; solo Dios basta”. Teresa, quien fue un personaje de profunda fe, entendía como hoy lo hace el gran motivador espiritual Joel Osteen, que cuando andamos de la mano de nuestro Creador las cosas saldrán adelante sin mayores sobresaltos.

Entonces la meta será el no dejar que las emociones se nos alteren, pase lo que pase ya que, si estamos como caballo brioso, brincando de un lado a otro para calmarlas, lo único que estaremos logrando será el agregar mayor estrés a lo que vivimos, cuando lo ideal para afrontar las cosas será el hacerlo de manera ponderada y dentro del mejor nivel de equilibrio emocional y mental.

http://ricardotribin.blogspot.com

Miami, Mayo 17 de 2014

Neutrality Internet, Part 2 (PCMagazine)

 A senior Comcast executive said this week that he expects the company to have some sort of data cap in place within five years.

Comcast Exec Predicts Data Caps Within 5 Years

• BY CHLOE ALBANESIUS
• MAY 15, 2014 

Comcast is still experimenting, but EVP David L. Cohen sees some sort of usage-based billing in the next five year

"I would predict that in five years Comcast at least would have a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint," David L. Cohen, Comcast executive vice president, said during a Wednesday appearance at a Thomson Reuters event.

However, Cohen suggested that the large majority of customers would never hit that cap. "I don't think we will want to be in a model where it is fully variablized and 80 percent of our customers are implicated by usage-based billing and are all buying different packets of usage," he said. "I don't think that's the model that we are heading toward, but five years ago I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad. So very difficult to make predictions." 

Comcast has already experimented with usage-based billing. It introduced data caps for its residential customers in October 2008 after accusations in 2007 that it was cutting off bandwidth hogs without warning. Consumer groups filed complaints with the FCC, resulting in an enforcement action against Comcast - and the birth of the FCC's activity on net neutrality.

By 2012, however, Comcast opted to ditch those data caps and explore other options. Comcast said it would try out two approaches in select markets: a 300GB monthly cap for basic service and higher caps for more advanced levels of service, plus $10 for an additional 50GB; or 300GB for all tiers of service and $10 for 50GB more.

Comcast now has a series of pilots to test usage-based options, including one in Atlanta, Cohen said this week. "We are trying to go slowly here because we have no desire to blow up our high-speed data business," he said.

A monthly cap with the option to purchase more capacity if you run out appears to be the most popular option, Cohen said, as is a low-usage option for those who don't use the Web as much. "We continue to tweak this and we continue to work it around," Cohen said. But "in our pilot markets, more than 98 percent of our customers are not affected by this."

Cohen did not believe usage-based billing would be a point of contention in the regulatory review of its merger with Time Warner Cable because "it's a generic industry-related issue."

But "I wouldn't be stunned to see usage-based billing questions in the NPRM [notice of proposed rulemaking] around the open Internet because people have tried to make this an open Internet issue," Cohen continued.

That includes Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who has called for strong net neutrality rules that make inter-connection deals like the one Comcast struck with Netflix a thing of the past. At this point, the FCC is not including inter-connection, or peering, deals in its net neutrality proposal. And Cohen said this week that Netflix needs to pay its fair share.

"If Netflix doesn't bear its share of those costs to connect to the network then we have no choice but to raise prices for everyone else," he said. "Even though Netflix is responsible for one-third of the traffic on the Internet at peak times, that means two-thirds of the traffic is not Netflix. And making a rough approximation here, why should two-thirds of the people who never use Netflix pay for the cost for Netflix to attach to our network?"