Tag Archives: Mountain View

Glass Is The New Black: My Experience As A Google Glass Explorer

By Millie Tadewaldt, Contributor

It’s been about a month since I made the ultimate futuristic fashion statement… that is, a month since I picked up my sky blue Google Glass from the Big G’s sprawling headquarters in Silicon Valley.  In my four weeks as a Google Glass Explorer, I’ve given a lot of thought to this innovative new product: how it could influence my work and personal lives, what disruptions it could lead to, and how it might affect society at large once more than a few thousand people get their hands on it. Google Glass is an ambitious device that is still very much still in alpha: the firmware is minimally-featured, battery life is short, and, without wider adoption, availability of apps and collaborative opportunities for use are lacking.  But, if Google can get users past some of these hurdles, there is much promise for Glass to seriously change the way people interact with the digital world (and the physical world, too). To pick up a Glass, we “Explorers” must attend a fitting in one of a few select Google campus locations.  I’m fortunate to live just up the road from Mountain View, so my husband and I hopped on the 101 one Saturday for the quick one hour drive to Google HQ.  My arrival at the designated building had a Willy Wonka-esque vibe to it: friendly, attractive Glass Guides milled about outside and welcomed us with a huge smile and flutes of champagne. I was given a hands-on lesson in using my new Glass, and then a tour around the campus, a perfect opportunity to try out my new gadget. It was a fun, unique and loyalty-building experience and Google managed it perfectly. Glass is a unique device: most navigation is done either verbally, or through swiping gestures on the outside of a plastic box that sits next to your temple.  The critical part of my initial Glass experience was quickly learning how to use the thing, and it was a huge help to have a friendly Guide sitting next to me, using her own Glass in parallel.  Given how helpful my Guide was, and how relatively technologically-savvy I like to think I am, I found myself immediately wondering how Google would be able onboard the general public when the device eventually enters mass-production. Relatedly, Glass is also a very solitary experience. I discovered this the next week when I offered to do a “demo” of Glass to some coworkers in my office.  We blocked an hour and all sat down at a conference table to give it a try. But, we quickly realized that this “demo” consisted of one of my colleagues wearing the Glass while I clumsily tried to explain it from memory.  I was definitely not as smooth as my Guide had been!  Glass has a handy Guest Mode that you turn on for sharing with friends, but there’s currently no easy way to switch between Google accounts without actually resetting the device to factory settings. This is, of …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Bayer to pay $1.1B for California firm Conceptus

Germany drug company Bayer AG says it intends to buy California-based Conceptus to expand its birth control offerings.

Bayer said Monday it would launch a public offer to pay $31.00 per share for all the stock in Conceptus, Inc. That means Bayer would pay $1.1 billion.

Conceptus makes Essure, an irreversible birth control method in which metal and polyester coils are inserted to block a woman’s fallopian tubes. The procedure can be done in 10 minutes a doctor’s office.

Conceptus CEO D. Keith Grossman was quoted in a Bayer statement as saying Essure “will benefit in new markets from Bayer’s global presence.”

The deal is subject to approval by antitrust authorities and could be completed by midyear.

Conceptus is based in Mountain View, California and employs about 300 people.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Intuit & LinkedIn Invite Bay Area Small Businesses to 'Hire Smart'

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Intuit & LinkedIn Invite Bay Area Small Businesses to ‘Hire Smart’


Expected 400+ small businesses to get expert advice, free resources and a chance for free local advertising

–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Intuit Inc. (NAS: INTU) :

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Small businesses make up 99% of all U.S. employer firms, employing more than 19 million people across the country.
  • Small business employment is a leading indicator of the country’s general economic recovery – last month, firms with less than 20 employees added 10,000 new jobs in March.
  • 41% of employers report that a bad hiring decision cost them at least $25,000 in the last year.

WHAT:

Intuit (NAS: INTU) and LinkedIn (NAS: LNKD) have teamed up for a first of its kind event – ‘Hire Smart‘ in Mountain View, which is dedicated to providing small businesses with the resources and advice needed to hire their first employee.

Led by small business experts, the event will provide insights and tips on how to navigate the challenges of hiring and retaining staff for small business owners – at zero cost to the 500+ expected in-person businesses as well as 1,000+ businesses across the country watching the live streaming online.

WHO:

  • Hundreds of small businesses sharing and learning from each other and experts, joined by more via the web from across the U.S.

  • Bill Rancic
    , Entrepreneur, Writer, and Winner “The Apprentice”
  • Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

LinkedIn to Buy E-Reader Company Pulse for $90M

By The Associated Press

Filed under: , , , ,

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Professional networking website LinkedIn is paying about $90 million to acquire Pulse, which makes an e-reader platform used on mobile devices.

More than 30 million people worldwide use Pulse’s e-reader applications on devices running both Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android-based operating systems. Pulse, based in San Francisco, was founded in 2010 by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta while they were students at Stanford University.

The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, is a combination of 90 percent stock and 10 percent cash.

Following the close, Pulse employees will join LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/linkedin-buys-pulse/

Ericsson Buying Microsoft's Mediaroom Business

By Chris Neiger, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Ericsson is acquiring Microsoft‘s Mediaroom TV business, which it says will make it “the leading provider of IPTV [Internet Protocol television] and multi-screen solutions with a market share of over 25%.”

The purchase announced today is expected to go through in the second half of 2013. Mediaroom provides the technology for TV services like AT&T‘s U-verse, Swisscom, Telefonica, and others around the world. Mediaroom-powered TV services total more than 22 million set top boxes, according to today’s announcement from Ericsson. 

“The importance of video distribution capabilities for the customers and their consumers will be increasing as more and more LTE networks are deployed and filled with smartphone users,” Ericsson said.

According to Ericsson, the global IPTV market is estimated to reach 76 million subscribers in 2013, growing to 105 million subscribers in 2015.

The Ericsson statement said that Mediaroom will be incorporated into the company’s Business Unit Support Solutions department. Mediaroom is in Mountain View, Calif., and employs more than 400 people worldwide. The press release did not include a purchase price.

link

The article Ericsson Buying Microsoft’s Mediaroom Business originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Why Intuit Is Poised to Outperform

By Brian D. Pacampara, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool’s free investing community, accounting software specialist Intuit has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Intuit and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Intuit facts

Headquarters (founded)

Mountain View, Calif. (1983)

Market Cap

$19.4 billion

Industry

Application software

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$4.2 billion

Management

President/CEO Brad Smith (since 2008)

Vice President/CFO R. Neil Williams (since 2008)

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

28%

Cash/Debt

$678.0 million / $499.0 million

Dividend Yield

1%

Competitors

Automatic Data Processing

H&R Block

Paychex

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 95% of the 629 members who have rated Intuit believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Earlier this year, one of those Fools, WildTing, succinctly summed up Intuit bull case for our community:

[T]he one thing that impressed me about this company is they don’t look like they’re afraid of innovation. A potential disruptor came by in Mint, and instead of running away or fighting it, they bought Mint and left it alone to develop. Solid company, solid financials, and still innovating. One of these “DUH” companies I wish I would’ve thought of earlier.

If you want market-thumping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite a strong five-star rating, Intuit may not be your top choice. Want to learn more about some big tech names? Find out “Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?” in The Motley Fool’s latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Just click here to keep reading.

Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.

The article Why Intuit Is Poised to Outperform originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Automatic Data Processing, Intuit, and Paychex. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intuit. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

The Sad Tale of a Forgotten Apple Co-Founder and His Lost Billions

By Alex Planes, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne came together in a suburban bedroom in Los Altos, Calif., to found Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. This true story differs from the popular narrative of the Two Steves forming Apple in Jobs’ garage in two ways. Placing the founding in a bedroom or a garage is just a semantic quibble, but many Apple fans have lost the name of Ronald Wayne to history. Here is the story of Apple, with all three co-founders included, from Owen Linzmayer’s “Apple Confidential”:

Jobs was freelancing at Atari in the early 1970s when founder Nolan Kay Bushnell hired Wayne as chief draftsman (badge #395) for the video game maker. Despite the difference in their ages, Jobs and Wayne became casual friends and would often have philosophical discussions on the ethics of making money. Desiring a tie-breaker in any potential conflicts with Woz, Jobs enticed Wayne to become a partner in Apple by offering him 10 percent interest in the company.

“Either I was going to be bankrupt or the richest man in the cemetery,” Wayne recalls thinking. Since Apple was far from a sure thing, Wayne retained his day job at Atari and worked nights on the original Apple logo and documentation for the Apple I.

Meanwhile, Jobs was hustling up customers. At a Homebrew Computer Club meeting (the club met monthly at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center auditorium in Palo Alto), Jobs gave a demonstration of the Apple I to Paul Jay Terrell, who operated the Byte Shop–arguably the first retail computer store chain in the country, which opened its doors on December 8, 1975 (Terrell’s birthday). Terrell was intrigued and asked Jobs to keep in touch.

The next day, a barefooted Jobs dropped in on Terrell at his store in Mountain View and exclaimed, “I’m keeping in touch.” To Jobs’ utter amazement, Terrell agreed to buy 50 computers for $500 each, cash on delivery. There was only one catch to the $25,000 order: Terrell wanted fully assembled computers.

The trio had originally planned to produce bare circuit boards for $25 each and sell them for $50 to hobbyists who would populate them with the necessary chips and other parts. They didn’t have the money necessary to buy all of the parts required to build 50 complete computers, but Jobs was undaunted. On April 6, he obtained a three-month $5,000 loan from Elmer and Allen J. Baum (one of Woz’s coworkers at Hewlett-Packard), then convinced suppliers to extend 30 days’ credit on $15,000 worth of parts.

The young, ambitious Jobs had no qualms about going into debt to fulfill the Byte Shop order, but the seasoned Wayne was anxious. He wasn’t convinced Terrell would pay for the computers, and the partnership agreement meant that he had unlimited personal liability for any debts incurred by Apple. Just four years prior, Wayne underwent the emotionally painful experience of folding Siand, his …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

How Siri Could Kill Apple

By Greg Satell, Contributor

When Apple launched the iPhone 4S in the fall of 2011, it shattered sales records, selling over 4 million units in the first three days. A big part of that success was Siri, the revolutionary new interface which responds to voice commands. It appeared that Steve Jobs had done it again. (This time, from beyond the grave no less!).  Back in the ‘80’s, he had transformed personal computing by introducing the public to the graphical user interface (first developed at Xerox PARC).  Then came first iPhone with its multi-touch interface, revolutionary for its time (but developed by FingerWorks, acquired by Apple in 2005). Now, Apple appeared to be taking it to the next level, with an interface that didn’t require hands at all.  Once again Siri was not only a technological triumph, but a smart business move.  Rather than spend years lavishing billions of dollars on an R&D program, Apple picked up Siri for a reported $200 million.  Even better, the initial research was financed by DARPA.  (Thanks Uncle Sam!) Alas, things were not what they seemed.  In fact, Siri could signal the beginning of the end for Apple. First, the obvious.  When you ask Siri for something, it inevitably sends you to Google.  So while Apple impresses consumers, their arch-rival at Mountain View profits.  Apple has since launched their own maps (not very effectively, I might add), but their only other option for basic search is Microsoft, which wouldn’t be much of an improvement in terms of competitive concerns. Second, even Siri itself is not truly an Apple product.  Much of the critical technology is provided by Nuance Communications, a leader in speech recognition.  So it’s hard to see how Siri gives Apple any competitive advantage at all. Probably most importantly, with Apple’s paltry R&D budget, it is unlikely that they will be able to compete beyond interfaces and devices (and with the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy 4S, even their position there seems to be eroding).  As I wrote in an earlier post for Forbes, a variety of companies, ranging from Facebook to IBM are investing heavily in systems that combine natural language with Big Data. Apple, for its part, doesn’t seem to have any significant artificial intelligence platform beyond the Siri interface and no big data effort to speak of.  If they did, we would know about it.  Despite Apple’s well deserved reputation for secrecy, even they wouldn’t be able to hide hiring the top notch talent that they would need to build a strong artificial intelligence platform.  There’s just not that much of it around. So it appears that Apple is at a crossroads.  They have plenty of cash and leadership positions in both smartphones and tablets, two high growth categories that are far from saturation.  Moreover, their notebook and iPod businesses continue to be wildly profitable.  However, it’s tough to see how Apple will compete 3-5 years from now when Big Data and artificial intelligence become an important part of the consumer experience. As I’ve pointed out before, it’s not …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Why Google Is Poised to Outperform

By Brian D. Pacampara, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool’s free investing community, Internet search gorilla Google has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Google, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Google facts

 

 

Headquarters (founded)

Mountain View, Calif. (1998)

Market Cap

$268.6 billion

Industry

Internet software and services

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$50.2 billion

Management

Co-Founder/CEO Larry Page

Co-Founder/Assistant Secretary Sergey Brin

Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)

18.7%

Cash/Debt

$48.1 billion / $7.2 billion

Competitors

Apple 

Microsoft 

Yahoo!

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 86% of the 18,052 members who have rated Google believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just last month, one of those Fools, JoeArizona, succinctly summed up the bull case for our community:

Google is far more than a search engine … with the Chrome browser, Android operating system, the Play store, and a new crop of netbooks running the Chrome OS, Google has a lot to offer. The picture will only improve as Google figures out more and better ways to monetize clicks for smartphones and mobile users.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool’s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

HP quashes investor unrest, looks to servers for salvation

Shareholder meetings are almost boring affairs, but today, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, HP’s Board quietly prevailed in several intense battles, including the preservation of its very own membership. The overall message: Let’s look foward to the future, and leave our checkered past behind.

HP
HP‘s shareholder meeting seemed design to project stability.

There’s plenty the Board would no doubt like to put behind it, including six quarters of declining profit and revenue . Though HP isn’t doing quite as badly as expected, sales of its bread-and-butter PCs, workstations, and printers, continue to fall. As a result, shareholders have agitated to oust two of HP’s Board members along with its outside auditing firm, Ernst & Young. And many continue to question the company’s 2011 acquisition of Autonomy, and a Department of Justice investigation isn’t helping. Meanwhile, back at the garage, HP is embroiled in a lawsuit with Oracle over server support.

Against this ragged backdrop, HP’s Board seemed extra-determined to project both sober responsibility and immense excitement. It made no mention of its declining businesses, instead pointing to new opportunities in IT and servers for the burgeoning big-data revolution. In addition, none of the controversial shareholder proposals prevailed.

Shareholder drama fizzles

The biggest flap concerned a campaign by CtW Investor Group to vote down two of HP’s current Board members. CtW blamed John H. Hammergren for his role in the extremely expensive Autonomy acquisition. It also targeted G. Kennedy Thompson for his role in maintaining the high non-audit fees paid to Ernst & Young, which it saw as a conflict of interest with the firm’s role as the company’s financial auditor. When the shareholders voted, however, each Board member received over 50 percent of the votes needed to stay on team HP, and the retention of Ernst & Young as HP’s outside auditor was favored by a very high margin of over 84 percent.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

IPG Photonics Buys Mobius Photonics

By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Oxford, Mass.-based IPG Photonics bought itself a rival photonics company on the other side of the country today. Mountain View, Calif.-based Mobius Photonics makes high-power pulsed UV fiber lasers used in micromachining silicon wafers, via drilling to create a connection between two layers of a semiconductor, and processing solar hybrid panels.

IPG says it’s buying the company in part “to accelerate its entry into the UV laser market,” which IPG thinks “could be a significant sales driver for IPG in the coming years.” IPG believes that in conjunction with its own technology, it will be able to advance the market for low-cost UV fiber lasers.

That being said, the deal won’t have any immediate beneficial effect on IPG‘s finances. While the purchase price it’s paying wasn’t disclosed in today’s announcement, Mobius’ revenues in 2012 were a mere $1.4 million — about 0.2% of IPG‘s sales that year.

Shares of IPG gained 0.7% in Tuesday trading, closing at $62.68 ahead of the announcement.

The article IPG Photonics Buys Mobius Photonics originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of IPG Photonics. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

IPG Photonics Acquires Mobius Photonics to Accelerate UV Laser Development

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

IPG Photonics Acquires Mobius Photonics to Accelerate UV Laser Development

Acquisition Broadens Opportunities in Fine Processing Markets

OXFORD, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– IPG Photonics Corporation (NAS: IPGP) today announced the acquisition of privately held Mountain View, California-based Mobius Photonics to accelerate its entry into the UV laser market and deepen IPG’s development team. Mobius provides high-power pulsed UV fiber lasers for micromachining, such as dicing and scribing of wafers, and VIA drilling and solar hybrid panel processing.

“The acquisition of Mobius Photonics will augment our current development efforts in UV fiber lasers to quickly penetrate the UV laser market, which we believe could be a significant sales driver for IPG in the coming years. Mobius has deep expertise in UV lasers, a strong patent portfolio and proprietary techniques relating to UV lasers,” said Dr. Valentin Gapontsev, IPG Photonics’ Chief Executive Officer. “The market has been waiting for a cost-effective, reliable and stable UV fiber laser. Now that we can combine Mobius’ UV laser expertise experience with IPG’s low-cost, proprietary fiber, pump diode and component technologies, we believe that we can effectively build a presence in the fine processing market.”

“This combination will enable us to leverage IPG’s industry-leading fiber laser technology to advance Mobius’ UV technology and provide our customers with low-cost advanced UV fiber lasers,” said Dr. Robert Byer, Mobius’ Co-Founder and Chairman. “We are proud of the accomplishments of our talented team and look forward to the many opportunities resulting from this transaction.”

Kiyomi Monro, Mobius’ CEO added, “I am pleased that the Mobius team will join IPG, a company clearly committed to investing in technology and the people behind it.”

In the acquisition, IPG acquired an exclusive license of U.S. Patent No. 5,745,284, an early and broad patent claiming pulsed fiber lasers with frequency conversion into UV light, as well as other Mobius patents, licenses and trade secrets.

The employees from Mobius will become part of the IPG Silicon Valley Technology Center. Mobius had revenue from operations of approximately $1.4 million for 2012.

About IPG Photonics Corporation

IPG Photonics Corporation is the world leader in high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. Founded in 1990, IPG pioneered the development and commercialization …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Google Trims Another 1,200 Motorola Jobs. Is This the Final Cut?

By Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Google isn’t done trimming the fat from its Motorola Mobility buyout.

The division will lose another 1,200 jobs in China, India, and America on top of the 4,000 cuts that were made last summer. The news comes from an internal email that was leaked to The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by other sources.

Moreover, 5,000 Motorola workers are heading out to cable equipment firm Arris in a game-changing spin-off that will triple Arris’ sales overnight. The latest cuts will trim Motorola down to less than 10,000 employees. Google as a whole employs nearly 54.000 full-time workers right now.

How far will Google slash its Motorola costs? All things considered, the purported $12.5 billion sticker price has already come a long way down.

Motorola came to Mountain View with a satchel full of tax benefits that takes the effective purchase price down to just $3.8 billion. I think it’s fair to assume that Google will do whatever it takes to reap the full benefits of those tax breaks, even if the process won’t end until 2019.

Throw in $2.5 billion from Arris, and Google is left with a bargain-basement effective price of $1.3 billion. That would be a steal for Motorola’s patent portfolio alone, and Google obviously still hopes to make something out of the handset operation.

Motorola gives Google some skin in the handset-sales game, though not nearly the full-body exposure that Apple gets. Cupertino controls every step of the iPhone and iPad experience, from hardware to software to what services are allowed. As a result, every phone or tablet sold drops directly to Apple’s bottom line.

But Google has to tread carefully with Motorola. Big G can’t just give its own handsets better Android support and stronger marketing assistance than the plethora of existing partners. That would drive world-leading smartphone maker Samsung to embrace another platform instead of Android, such as its own Tizen software. Rumor has it that Sammy is moving in that direction anyway, and Google would be silly to provide the final push.

So Google is squeezing every ounce of efficiency it can out of Motorola, perhaps assuming that the sales side of the business won’t improve much. Cutting costs much further than this would reduce Motorola to a pretty focused play on patents and tax discounts.

Could it happen? Anything is possible, but I’d be shocked to see another round of right-sizing here. Google would never tip its hand that openly.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool’s new premium research report on Google, we …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Green Dot Announces the Appointment of Sam Altman to Its Board of Directors

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Green Dot Announces the Appointment of Sam Altman to Its Board of Directors

PASADENA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Green Dot Corporation (NYS: GDOT) today announced the appointment of Sam Altman, Executive Vice President of Mobile Products and Strategy for Green Dot, to its Board of Directors, effective March 4, 2013. Mr. Altman will serve as a Class I director. The Green Dot Corporation board of directors is now comprised of eight members.

Chairman Steve Streit stated: “Sam brings to our board not only an important connection to Silicon Valley, but also a valuable perspective on our Company’s products and technology. Sam will also continue as an executive of the Company in his current role as EVP/Mobile Products and Strategy. All of us on the Green Dot board welcome his future contributions.”

Sam Altman joined Green Dot in March 2012 upon the Company’s acquisition of Loopt, Inc., a pioneer in mobile user interface design, real-time location-based mobile rewards marketing, and geo-location application technology that Sam co-founded in 2005. Mr. Altman was featured in Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 and BusinessWeek’s Tech’s Best Entrepreneurs. Additionally, he is a part-time partner at Y Combinator, and advises a number of Silicon Valley startups.

About Green Dot Corporation

Green Dot Corporation is a Bank Holding Company with a mission to reinvent personal banking for the masses. Its market leading brand of prepaid debit cards and prepaid reload services are available to consumers at more than 60,000 retail locations nationwide and online at greendot.com. The company is headquartered in Pasadena, California with technology offices in Mountain View, California and Westlake Village, California and its bank subsidiary, Green Dot Bank, located in Provo, Utah.

For Green Dot Corporation
Investor Relations
Christopher Mammone, 626-765-2427
IR@greendot.com
or
Media Relations
Liz Brady DiTrapano, 646-277-1226

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  California

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Green Dot Announces the Appointment of Sam Altman to Its Board of Directors originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a target=_blank …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Perficient Named Google North America Deployment Partner of the Year

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Perficient Named Google North America Deployment Partner of the Year

Award recognizes Perficient’s expertise in enterprise search and successful implementations of the Google Search Appliance platform

ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Perficient, Inc. (NAS: PRFT) , a leading information technology consulting firm serving Global 2000 and other large enterprise customers throughout North America, today announced Google Enterprise has named Perficient the Google North America Deployment Partner of the Year 2012 for enterprise search. The award was presented at the Google Enterprise Global Partner Summit in Mountain View, Calif., and recognizes Perficient for its technical understanding of enterprise search and proven track record of deploying the Google Search Appliance (GSA) platform for customers.

“At Perficient, our clients look to us to provide strategy, planning and deployment expertise for the GSA platform,” said Chad Johnson, Perficient’s Google practice director. “We’re extremely honored to be named the Deployment Partner of the Year. This award demonstrates that we can lead our enterprise content management clients successfully through the enterprise search deployment process from start to finish. We remain committed to providing leading-edge search solutions for customers, allowing them to experience cost savings and increased productivity.”

The GSA provides secure search across all enterprise content, including both internal and external content. It can search web servers, portals, intranets, file shares, content management systems, databases and real-time data in business applications, doing so through the Google search platform. As a Google Enterprise Professional Partner for more than five years and the first partner to achieve the new Qualified Deployment Specialist certification, Perficient helps companies realize the full potential of the GSA by enhancing the search experience, implementing custom connectors to index enterprise content, and by providing training and hands-on assistance. The company has developed content connectors for applications such as Salesforce.com, Atlassian Confluence, IBM Web Content Manager and IBM Quickr, among others, and it has provided complete search interface solutions for customers.

During 2012, Perficient implemented numerous GSA implementations for organizations across all industries, including solutions for pharmaceutical, e-commerce and software companies.

  • A large pharmaceutical company needed a search tool with the ability to search multiple repositories, including a clinical trials management system to find all documents relating to the production of a specific product. Using GSA, they could honor and preserve the security of systems in place to comply with their document handling and regulatory …read more
    Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Green Dot to Participate at Investor Conferences in March

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Green Dot to Participate at Investor Conferences in March

PASADENA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Green Dot Corporation (NYS: GDOT) , a provider of widely distributed, low cost banking and payment solutions to a broad base of U.S. consumers, today announced that it will participate at the following conferences in March:

  • On Tuesday, March 12, the Company will present at the Credit Suisse 15th Annual Global Services Conference at The Phoenician Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ. The presentation will begin at 5:30 PM ET. Investors and interestedparties can access this presentation by visiting the Company’s investor relations website at www.ir.greendot.com.
  • On Wednesday, March 13, The Company will be hosting investor meetings at the Piper Jaffray Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference at the Le Parker Meridien in New York, NY.
  • On Tuesday, March 19, the Company will be hosting investor meetings and participating in a panel discussion at the Barclays Capital Emerging Payments Forum at the Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston, MA.

About Green Dot

Green Dot Corporation is a Bank Holding Company with a mission to reinvent personal banking for the masses. Its market leading brand of prepaid debit cards and prepaid reload services are available to consumers at more than 60,000 retail locations nationwide and online at greendot.com. The company is headquartered in Pasadena, California with technology offices in Mountain View, California and Westlake Village, California and its bank subsidiary, Green Dot Bank, located in Provo, Utah.

Green Dot Corporation
Investor Relations
Christopher Mammone, 626-765-2427
IR@greendot.com
or
Media Relations
Liz Brady DiTrapano, 646-277-1226

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Arizona  California  Massachusetts  New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Green Dot to Participate at Investor Conferences in March originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

At more colleges, classes on genetics get personal

Bakir Hajdarevic didn’t have to study for the most important test in a class last fall. He just had to spit — a lot.

The 19-year-old freshman at the University of Iowa took an honors seminar on personal genetics in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The results would tell them how likely they were to get some forms of cancer, whether they were carriers for genetic diseases, where their ancestors came from, and a trove of other information.

The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. The classes are forcing students to decide whether it is better to be ignorant or informed about possible health problems — a decision more Americans will confront as the price of genetic testing plummets and it becomes more popular.

Hajdarevic said he was eager to “find out about all the little mysteries” lurking in his DNA. Sure he was nervous that he might get bad news about cancer risks. But he said the curiosity to learn about himself — and whether he needed to take steps to improve his health — outweighed those concerns.

And so, one day last fall, he found himself in his dorm room struggling to spit into a test tube that he would mail to 23andMe, the Mountain View, Calif., testing company.

“It was like 10 minutes of spitting, literally,” he recalled, laughing. “I ran out of spit really quickly. I was spitting for like 15 seconds and then I’d run out of juice.”

Such episodes have become more common as similar classes have popped up on college campuses over the past three years with backing from 23andMe, which tests for about one million genetic variants possibly linked to tens of thousands of conditions and traits. The company announced in December it had raised $50 million from investors, and was cutting its price for its personal genotype testing from $299 to $99.

23andMe has offered universities discounts on the testing for the classes, along with course materials, and has partnered with dozens of universities and high schools. Stanford University, University of Illinois, the University of Texas and Duke University are …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Google expansion is latest employee perk designed to spark innovation

Google is already known for great employee perks like free gourmet meals and haircuts, but the Internet search leader is looking to give its workers even more incentive to be innovative in the technology game.

A new 1.1-million-square-foot campus designed according to the working habits of thousands of employees is the ticket.

The search and advertising giant is ramping up to break ground on a 42-acre campus called Bayview next door to its Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif.,that will have nine structures mostly four stories tall, reports Vanity Fair. The buildings, several of which have green roofs including one with an alfresco cafe, will be linked by bridges and look like bent rectangles that carve out room for courtyards.

Google says the structure will be the largest U.S. complex will all radiant heating. It will incorporate environmental factors such as where the sun rises and where the wind blows. As a result, Bayview will be highly energy efficient and filled with natural light.

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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

More top universities to offer free online courses

More top universities outside the United States are joining the rush to offer “massive open online courses” that are broadening access to higher education.

Coursera and edX, two leading providers of so-called MOOCs, on Thursday announced major expansions that will roughly double the number of university partners offering free online classes through their websites.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Coursera said it will add 29 institutions, including 16 outside the U.S. Over the next several months, they will offer about 90 new courses, including some taught in French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese.

“Having courses taught in other languages will enable more students to take our classes,” said Andrew Ng, a Stanford University professor who co-founded Coursera.

Coursera currently offers 220 courses from 33 institutions and has nearly 2.8 million registered users who have signed up for nearly 10 million courses, Ng said.

The new partners include Chinese University of Hong Kong, Technical University of Denmark, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico as well as the universities of Copenhagen, Geneva and Toyko.

Cambridge, Mass.-based edX said it’s adding six new institutions, including five outside the U.S., which will provide at least 25 courses.

EdX, which was launched in May by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, currently offers 25 courses from six universities and has 700,000 registered students.

The new partners are Australian National University, Delft University of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, McGill University, Rice University and the University of Toronto.

Delft University in the Netherlands will be the first edX partner to provide courses as “open content,” which means other universities are free to incorporate the materials into their classes, said edX President Anant Agarwal.

“People can reuse it and remix it,” Agarwal said. “It enables courses to get better and better over time by allowing people to share content.”

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News