Here's What the Blizzard Is Shutting Down (BusinessWeek)

Here's how the storm is derailing daily life on the East Coast.

New York City

• Subways will reopen beginning at 9 A.M. Expect residual delays, especially on lines that run above ground.
• Buses are expected to resume limited service by noon.
• The Port Authority has reopened all bridges and tunnels
• John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports are now open, but many flights have been cancelled or delayed. Check with your carrier for details.
• Public schools are closed.

New York

• Governor Cuomo has declared a State of Emergency.
• Metro-North is expected to operate on a Sunday schedule beginning at noon.
• Long Island Rail Road is suspending service until further notice.
• Travel ban has been lifted as of 7:30 A.M.

New Jersey

• Governor Christie has declared a State of Emergency.
• New Jersey Transit is cross-honoring tickets system wide as it works to restore service. Click here for further details.
• PATH trains will operate on a weekend schedule beginning at 9:30 A.M.
• Newark Liberty International Airport is open, but very few flights are expected to arrive and depart. Check with your individual carrier.

Connecticut

• Governor Malloy has declared a State of Emergency.
• The travel ban will be lifted at 2 P.M.
• Metro-North will begin operating on a Sunday schedule beginning at 1 P.M. Full service will be restored on Wednesday.
• State bus service will resume on Wednesday morning.

Rhode Island

• Governor Raimondo has declared a State of Emergency.
• Rhode Island Public Transit Authority has suspended all service for Tuesday.
• Parking bans are in effect at public agencies throughout the state.

Massachusetts

• Governor Baker has declared a State of Emergency.
• The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has shut down all subway, rail, bus and ferry service on Tuesday.
• In Boston, cars parked on major roadways will be towed to make room for plowing operations. The city has made 15,500 free or discounted parking spaces available for Boston residents in private parking lots and garages. 

Maine

• Governor LePage has declared a State of Emergency.
• All state offices are closed. 
• Portland Jetport and Bangor International Airport have cancelled all flights. Bus and ferry services are cancelled.
• There is no travel ban, but residents are asked to stay off the roads unless the absolutely must travel.

Amtrak

• Amtrak has suspended Northeast Regional as well as high-speed Acela service between New York and Boston on Tuesday. Trains will operate on a reduced schedule south of New York City.

Miami-Dade County's total number of payroll jobs surpasses previous economic boom years (The Beacon Council)

Miami-Dade County's total number of payroll jobs surpasses previous economic boom years  (Miami, FL - January 23, 2015) - Miami-Dade County ended 2014 with the highest number of total payroll jobs since before the recession, according to statistics released on Friday. "In December 2007, we had a total of 1.08 million payroll jobs during the height of the economic boom," The Beacon Council President & CEO Larry K. Williams said. "Today, we have surpassed that number with 1.12 million total jobs." The numbers analyzed Miami-Dade County added 30,300 new nonagricultural payroll jobs (not seasonally adjusted) or a 2.8 percent increase from December 2013 to December 2014. Miami-Dade County had the second largest year over year gain in the State of Florida after the Orlando area. Improvements in the non-farm payroll jobs can be found in a variety of sectors. December 2014 saw the historically highest level of non-farm jobs in Miami-Dade County. For the last four months in a row, Miami-Dade County has increased its number of non-farm jobs. The not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from December 2013 to December 2014 increased slightly by 0.1 percentage points, to 6.9 percent from 6.8 percent. Year over year there was a large increase in the labor force and a similar increase in the number of employed people. There was a slight increase in the number of unemployed individuals, thus causing the unemployment rate to increase by 0.1 percentage point. The not seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate from November 2014 to December 2014 increased by 0.7 percentage points, to 6.9 percent from 6.2 percent. Not only did the actual number of unemployed individuals increase, but the total labor force increased as well. In December 2014, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County (taking seasonal fluctuations in the labor force into consideration) was 6.7 percent, which is 0.6 percentage points lower than a year ago (December 2013) and 0.3 percentage points higher than November 2014. The job creation numbers are derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics Program (CES), and only account for non-farm payroll jobs. However, the unemployment rates are derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (LAUS), which includes farm payroll jobs as well as self-employed workers. In addition, the federal government typically conducts interviews in sample households to determine the unemployment rate. Miami-Dade County is one of six metropolitan areas in the United States that uses a different method solely based on a statistical model derived from several data sets. In Miami-Dade County, from December 2013 to December 2014 most industry sectors saw job improvements. The improvements in these sectors contributed to the gain of 30,300 new nonagricultural payroll jobs (not seasonally adjusted). Notably, Financial Activities, Professional and Business Services, Manufacturing, and Construction all continue to experience significant gains after having lost a large portion of their workforce during the recession. Sectors that lost jobs between December 2013 and December 2014 include Wholesale Trade (-1,800 jobs) and Government (-900 jobs). Sector December 2013 - December 2014 Job Change (% Change) Professional and Business Services                         7,000 (+4.7%) Retail Trade                         4,400 (+2.9%) Leisure and Hospitality                         4,200 (+3.3%) Construction                         2,900 (+8.3%) Financial Activities                         2,700 (+3.7%) Hospitals                         2,600 (+5.6%) Ambulatory Health Care Services                         2,400 (+4.2%) Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities                         2,000 (+3.0%) Manufacturing                         1,400 (+3.8%) Information                            100 (+0.6%) Between November 2014 and December 2014, Miami-Dade County gained 3,900 nonagricultural payroll jobs or a 0.4 percent increase. Many sectors added jobs from November 2014 to December 2014, including Wholesale Trade; Information, Retail Trade; Financial Activities and Professional and Business Services. Sectors that lost jobs between November 2014 and December 2014 include Construction (-2,500 jobs), Government (-500 jobs) and Manufacturing (-200 jobs). Sector November 2014 - December 2014 Job Change (% Change) Retail Trade                         1,400 (+0.9%) Leisure & Hospitality                         1,200 (+0.9%) Professional and Business Services                         1,100 (+0.7%) Wholesale Trade                            800 (+1.1%) Hospitals                            500 (+1.0%) Financial Activities                            500 (+0.7%) Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities                            500 (+0.7%) Ambulatory Health Care Services                            300 (+0.5%) Information                            100 (+0.6%) The not-seasonally adjusted December 2014 unemployment rate for the State of Florida was 5.4 percent, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than November 2014. From December 2013 to December 2014, Florida's unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points (from 5.9 percent to 5.4 percent). The United States not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in December 2014, which was 0.1 percentage point lower than November 2014 and 1.1 percentage points lower than one year ago (6.5 percent). For Broward County, the unemployment rate in December 2014 was 4.5 percent, which is 0.3 percentage points lower than November 2014 and a decrease of 0.5 percentage points compared to December 2013. For Palm Beach County, the December 2014 unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than November 2014 and a decrease of 1.2 percentage points compared to December 2013. The overall unemployment rate for the South Florida region (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA) in December 2014 was 5.6 percent, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than November 2014. A year ago, in December 2013, the South Florida unemployment rate was 6.0 percent. In terms of job creation in South Florida, the region gained 72,800 jobs or a 3.0 percent increase from December 2013 to December 2014. From November 2014 to December 2014, South Florida gained 14,400 nonagricultural payroll jobs, which represents a 0.6 percent increase. From the data and analysis above, we see continued improvement in the local economy. Nevertheless, the community needs to remain focused on job-creation projects in targeted industries. These industries have been identified as the Miami-Dade County industries most able to create additional well-paying job opportunities, leading to an improved quality of life for Miami-Dade County residents. The Beacon Council continues to aggressively work on attracting new companies to our community and work on the expansion and retention of existing business. For more information, visit www.beaconcouncil.com --end--

10 good reasons why working remotely makes sense (Tech Republic)

Remote work, flextime, career sabbaticals, and zero-hours contracts are all types of flexible work. But it's remote work that's disrupting the traditional tech industry 9-to-5 grind. Here's why.

When employees carry out their duties away from the office, that's remote working -- also known as telecommuting and telework. It's not an all-or-nothing definition. Some remote workers, like travelling salespeople and call center workers, are permanently away from their organization. Laptop-wielding middle managers regularly dock with the office mothership. Some employees work remotely only when the office is on fire.

The traditional office is under attack, beaten down by remote video calls, outsourcing, and workers in coffee bars. It's a threat that the CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer, famously tried to stamp out by forcing all employees to work onsite. But who wants to work in the old headquarters? "You know what I want to do today? Commute to the office!" Said no one. Ever.

And remote working is on the rise. A US federal government report said that 47% of its employees (that's 1,020,034 people -- no, really, more than a million people) were eligible to telework -- a big increase over the year before.

So is the office dying? Is the attraction of working from the sofa wearing pyjamas just too strong to resist? Last year, a British industry panel led by national daily The Guardian and conference call company Powwownow conducted a round-table discussion to tackle the issue of remote work. Among their concerns: Can you trust a telecommuter? Does absenteeism trump presenteeism? What's going to happen next? Here are some of their conclusions.

1: Remote workers are less stressed

Daryl Wilkinson, group head of digital development at Nationwide Building Society, said he wanted to encourage remote working to empower his staff and as a demonstration to the rest of the company. "There's less stress in the office and the workplace -- people feel empowered to work in a way that suits them and suits the business."

2: Remote workers are well connected

The prevalence of smartphones and social media mean you don't have to be next to someone to communicate effectively. And new business trends like remote administration, cloud-based project management, video conferencing, and BYOD are extending the effectiveness of remote work.

3: Remote workers cost less

Encouraging different ways of working allows companies to reduce their rent and property costs, according to Ian Adams, head of head of strategic marketing development at outsourcing company Mitie.

4: Absenteeism is good

Not the AWOL type of absenteeism -- this is "remote from the office" absenteeism. "The ability to work remotely eliminates the necessity for 'presenteeism' -- being in the office as much as possible," said Jonathan Swan, policy and research officer for Working Families, a charity specializing in work/life balance.

5: The new agile workplace creates new jobs

New ways of working require new roles in the organization. "We're seeing greater collaboration between HR, IT, property and facilities management and job titles like 'workplace director' making this agile workplace happen," Adams said.

6: Remote working provides choice

According to Robert Gorby, marketing director of Powwownow, remote working provides choice. "Choice is very important. There shouldn't be a technology-driven compulsion to work in a certain way."

7: Companies benefit from happier remote employees

Try squeezing a de-stressing lunchtime doze into your office day. That's right; it's impossible. "It's about working with the grain of people's lives," Swan said.

8: Remote workers are more engaged

Nationwide's Wilkinson said, "When you're tweeting with people in your team close to midnight, it brings home that people are experiencing something beyond 'doing work' -- they're engaged in a different way."

9: Remote venues are better than the office

We've all heard about how J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter in her local coffee bar. Now office workers can get some of that action. "Flexible working isn't just office or home -- there may be somewhere near home with better facilities," said Celia Donne, global operations director of Regus, an office accommodations provider.

10: Commuting is bad for you

Even before the workday starts, telecommuting employees are better off than their physical commuting colleagues. According to the UK Office of National Statistics, "Commuters have lower life satisfaction, a lower sense that their daily activities are worthwhile, lower levels of happiness and higher anxiety on average than non- commuters." And less commuting means asmaller carbon footprint, making tree-huggers happier.

The Best Free Google Chrome Extensions (PCMagazine)

These are 90 of the greatest extensions you can and should add to your Google browser.

It's been an up and down year for Google's Chrome Web browser. It's gaining market share; Chrome had 22.65 percent of the market in December 2014 compared to 16.22 percent a year earlier, according to Net Applications. Nice growth, but still behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), which stood at 59.1 percent last month. If you go by other measures, Chrome has an even higher number of users, but they're trending down.

Then it lost some kudos—from us. After several years as the favorite of PCMag's Browser Wars coverage, a resurgent Firefox took our Editors' Choice award late last year. The reason: Chrome lags in graphics hardware acceleration, and it isn't exactly known for respecting user privacy (just like its parent company).

That said, Chrome—now in version 39!—remains a four-star tour de force for Web surfing, with full HTML5 support and speedy JavaScript performance. And, like Firefox before it, it's got support for extensions that just make it even better. Its library of extras, found at the Chrome Web Store, more than rival what Firefox has had for years. In addition, the store has add-ons to provide quick access to just about every Web app imaginable.

Rather than having you stumble blindly through the store to find the best add-ons, we've compiled a list of 90 you should consider. There's a number of them specific to Google and it's own services (such as Gmail), which isn't surprising considering who made Chrome. Most extensions work across operating systems, so you can try them on any desktop platform (and there may be some versions for the mobile Chrome, too.) The majority of the extensions are free, so there's no harm in giving them all a try—you can easily disable or remove them by typingchrome://extensions/ into the Chrome address bar. You can also typically right-click an extension's icon in the toolbar, if it has one, to remove it.

Here they are:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2397682%2c00.asp 

What Exactly is a “Quantum Dot” TV?

What Exactly is a “Quantum Dot” TV?

TV manufacturers are in a constant race to add new “features so they can convince you to buy a new TV. Next up after 3D, 4K, and curved displays: Quantum dots!

Quantum dot displays aren’t a new technology, but they’re making their way to TVs and you’ll see them advertised more soon. LG showed off a quantum dot TV at CES 2015. Sony, Samsung, and TCL will also be selling quantum dot TVs.

Why LED TVs Can’t Match Plasma or OLED TVs

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First, never mind how they work: We’ll tell you why they’re useful. Quantum dots address a big problem with common LED TVs. Many people prefer plasmas (which are no longer being manufactured) and organic LED (OLED) displays. These types of displays are noted for their deep blacks and richer colors than garden-variety LED TVs.

Modern LED TVs are really just LCD TVs, but with LED backlighting. Years ago, LCD TVs used fluorescent tube (CCFL) lighting, which produced a white light. That white light then passed through the pixels on the screen to become whatever color of light was necessary. LED TVs use LED backlighting instead, which uses less power, produces less heat, and requires less space. That’s why modern TVs can be so much thinner and more power efficient.

But something was lost in the transition to LED backlighting. LED TVs use LEDs that produce blue light for their backlight. The light then passes through the filters on the screen and becomes the necessary color of light. But, instead of starting with white light, the LED TV starts with blue light. This results in blacks that appear brighter than they should, and colors that appear less vibrant than they should. To help alleviate this problem, manufacturers attempt to dim the LED backlight in dark areas of the screen — that’s why you see TVs advertised with features like “local dimming” to achieve blacker blacks.

How Quantum Dots Solve the Problem

“Quantum dots” are light-emitting nanocrystals that absorb light of one wavelength and convert it to another. They were actually invented at Bell Labs in 1982.

Basically, they’re tiny crystals that can be added above the backlight layer on an LED TV or another such display. When the typical blue LED light is shone through a layer of quantum dots, the crystals break down the light and produce a richer white light that contains all the colors of the spectrum. This light then results in a better picture quality with darker blacks and more vibrant non-blue colors. An LED TV with quantum dot technology is closer to a plasma or OLED TV in picture quality.

If the TV is edge-lit, the quantum dot technology will be incorporated into tubes on the edge of the display where the light shines through. But, with most TVs, the quantum dots will be another layer of film just above the backlight.

Why Not Just Use Plasma or OLED?

Plasma TVs get a lot of love from home theater enthusiasts, but manufacturers aren’t making them anymore. They’re big, heavy, and consume a lot of power. Some manufacturers were really betting on OLED displays — organic light-emitting diodes, that is — which don’t need a traditional backlight. Instead, each pixel essentially produced its own backlight, if necessary. So, if a pixel needs to be black, that pixel is completely black and no light is shining through it at all. This is why using a black wallpaper can save battery power on your smartphone if it has an OLED display.

That’s all well-and-good, but there have been issues getting OLED manufacturing to scale. OLED TVs are still more expensive and difficult to manufacture than expected. The industry has bet on LED TVs (which are really LCD TVs with an LED backlight). “Quantum dot” technology works with the existing LED displays, as it just requires another layer of film on those TVs. It can be incorporated into existing LED TV manufacturing processes.

Quantum Dots Are Great, But You Might Want to Wait

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Quantum dot TVs sound good. In practice, quantum dots are currently a pricier technology that manufacturers are using to differentiate their more expensive, high-end TVs from their budget or mid-range TVs. With 4K coming down in price, why would you need to buy a more expensive TV? Well, for quantum dots, of course! To be fair, it does cost more to produce quantum dot TVs at the moment.

This at least sounds like a worthwhile upgrade, unlike curved displays and the 3D TVs we don’t hear about anymore. But, although this all sounds good, most people probably won’t want to spend thousands more for a quantum dot display.

In the long run, though, this technology will hopefully come down in price and filter down to even the cheaper TVs, making LED TVs better and closing that unfortunate gap with plasma and OLED technology.

---

So yes, the phrase “quantum dot” actually means something. It even sounds like a nice upgrade. But that doesn’t mean it’s worth paying four times as much for a TV with this feature. You’re probably better off waiting for it to come down in price.

Image Credit: Antipoff at Wikimedia Commons, Karlis Dambrans on Flickr

How French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Became a Terrorist Target (BusinessWeek)

The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo was witty, irreverent, fearless—and a target for terrorism before.

Journalists at the weekly satire newspaper had been placed under police guard after receiving repeated death threats from Muslim fundamentalists. The paper’s offices were firebombed in 2011 after it published cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammed.

Still, Charlie Hebdo (“hebdo” is French shorthand for “weekly”) carried on poking fun at Islam. Provocative cartoons were its specialty. True to form, the last tweet on the publication’s Twitter (TWTR) feed before the deadly Jan. 7 terror attack was a cartoon mocking Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

 The idea of a weekly newspaper specializing in satirical cartoons might seem strange to American readers, but in France, Charlie Hebdo and its leading cartoonists were household names. They included editor Stéphane Charbonnier, who used the pen name “Charb.” He was killed in the attack, along with three other cartoonists, known as Cabu, Tignous, and Wolinski.

Charlie Hebdo grew out of a weekly called Hara Kiri Hebdo founded in 1969 by a group of left-leaning journalists. The newspaper in its current form dates to 1992, when several journalists pooled their money and set up a foundation to run the publication. According to a 2008 story in Le Monde, the foundation was called “Kalashnikov Editions”—by grotesque coincidence, the name of the rifle used in the terror attack.

Charlie Hebdo has been angering Muslims for more than a decade. In 2003 it published an editorial calling Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Muslim academic in Switzerland, “an anti-Semitic propagandist.” In 2006, French Muslim leaders unsuccessfully sued to block publication of a Charlie Hebdo edition containing satirical images of Mohammed. French authorities also tried to stop the newspaper from publishing a cartoon that showed Mohammed naked—and when the paper refused, riot police were sent to guard its offices.

Even after the firebombing forced it to move out of its offices for two months, the staff didn’t seem overly frightened. “We received threats by e-mail all the time, and phone calls, but we didn’t really take them seriously,” an unnamed staff member toldLe Monde after the attack. Charbonnier and other prominent staff members were offered police protection but didn’t always use it, Le Monde said.

Like most newspapers in the 21st century, Charlie Hebdo seemed to consider lack of money as the biggest threat to its existence. According to French press reports, the newspaper had as many as 140,000 regular readers a decade ago, but readership had declined to about 50,000 by last year. Last November, the newspaper made a public appeal for donations, saying it was barely staying afloat.

Matlack is a Paris correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek.

Roku Unveils 4K Plans, Tips New Roku TV Partners (PCMagazine)

Insignia and Haier join Roku's list of HDTV manufacturers working on Roku TVs.

Roku has revealed its plans for the future, and that involves more and higher-resolution Roku TVs.

The HDTV category, introduced last year with the Editors' Choice TCL 48FS4610R$449.99 at Dell and Hisense 40H4, feature Roku's media hub technology built directly into the screen. The company just announced that Haier and Best Buy's electronics brand, Insignia, will get Roku TV models.

Haier plans a line of Roku TV models under its 4 Series, which will range in screen size from 36 to 65 inches. The 40-inch and larger models will have 1080p resolution. The Series 4 Roku TVs won't ship until Q3 2015 and pricing has not yet been announced, but in the interim Haier will ship three "Series 3.5" HDTVs, 40-, 48-, and 55-inch screens that don't have Roku features built in, but include Roku Streaming Sticks that plug into the display's MHL-enabled HDMI port.

Insignia has not given specific information regarding its Roku TV models, but Roku-equipped Insignia HDTVs will be demonstrated at CES 2015.

Besides new partners for Roku TVs, Roku has announced a path for 4K support in future products. The company is working with Netflix to add Netflix 4K support to future Roku products. Additionally, TCL, one of the first Roku TV manufacturers, is developing a 4K Roku TV model capable of displaying 3,840-by-2,160 resolution natively. Currently, Roku has only revealed plans for 4K Roku TVs, and no 4K Roku media hubs, or any new Roku media hubs for 2015, have been announced.

Mucho peso poca plata (Ricardo Tribin)

E  N   M  I   O  P  I  N  I  O  N

El gran genio del arte gráfico, de entretenimiento y cinematográfico, Walter Disney, expresó alguna vez que “la ruta para empezar es la de parar de hablar y empezar a hacer” y mi padre manifestaba que algunas personas se sentían como el ruido del tren antiguo que repetía algo así como “mucho peso poca plata……mucho peso poca plata”, recordando que, en más de una ocasión, resulta lo que no se espera

Y es que los charlatanes muy pronto se descubren, precisamente por eso, aunque algunos resultan tan hábiles que su manipulación puede durar un rato más de lo esperado. De ahí que se acostumbre a decir que quien mucho habla también mucho yerra.

Carlos Enrique Hoyos Salazar solía afirmar que “el silencio era más elocuente que la palabra”, lo cual contenía sabios contenidos de prudencia y humildad. Por ello, al mejor estilo de Lidita Jaramillo, hay que repetir con claridad “es mejor callar que locamente hablar.

http://ricardotribin.blogspot.com

Miami, Enero 3 de 2015