Tag Archives: silicon valley

Massive Fraud Charge Against Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former President Balwani

Statement from SEC reads: „The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Silicon Valley-based private company Theranos Inc., its founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, and its former President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani with raising more than $700 million from investors through an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.“ (more…)

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Überwachung, Totalkontrolle und tödlicher Irrtum

Staatsmacht oder «digitale» Marktmacht: Mit «Big Data» arbeiten beide an der totalen Kontrolle der Menschen zu ihren Zwecken.

In diesen Tagen sind mir drei aufreizende Texte unter die Augen gekommen. Sie haben einen Zusammenhang.

Der erste stammt von Sascha Lobo. Lobo schreibt viel. Unter anderem eine regelmässige Kolumne in «Spiegel online» unter dem Titel «Die Mensch-Maschine». Jüngst mit dem Vermerk: «Volle Kontrolle». Er schreibt dort: «Eigentlich sollen die Bürger die Machthaber kontrollieren. Doch statt dessen zimmert sich der Staat einen Apparat für vollständige Überwachung zurecht. Plötzlich ist jeder verdächtig, soll alles gespeichert werden.» (more…)

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Good Vibrations: Mediating Mood Through Brain Ultrasound

Ultrasound vibrations applied to the brain may affect mood, UA researchers have discovered. The finding potentially could lead to new treatments for psychological and psychiatric disorders.

University of Arizona researchers have found in a recent study that ultrasound waves applied to specific areas of the brain appear able to alter patients’ moods. The discovery has led the scientists to conduct further investigations with the hope that this technique could one day be used to treat conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Dr. Stuart Hameroff, professor emeritus of the UA’s departments of anesthesiology and psychology and director of the UA’s Center for Consciousness Studies, is lead author on the first clinical study of brain ultrasound, which was published in the journal Brain Stimulation. (more…)

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A ‘Golden Era’ of Insight: Big Data’s Bright Future

For over 20 years, Microsoft Research’s labs around the world have focused on research across a broad spectrum of topics in computer science. From the start, the organization has invested heavily in pioneering breakthroughs in machine intelligence, including efforts in machine learning and big data. In this interview, Distinguished Scientist Eric Horvitz talks about advances he sees on the horizon, the influence they will have on your daily life, and how insights from big data and developing more intelligent software and services will change the world.

REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 15, 2013 – At Microsoft Research labs around the world, some very deep thinkers are contemplating big data.

This includes Eric Horvitz, distinguished scientist at Microsoft and co-director of Microsoft Research’s Redmond lab, who was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work in “computational mechanisms for decision making under uncertainty and with bounded resources.” (more…)

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MobileBits Makes It Easy to Deploy Games on Multiple Devices and Platforms

Microsoft BizSpark One startup streamlines mobile game development while removing barriers for multiplayer games.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 6, 2012 — Multiplayer games thrive when as many gamers as possible can participate. The longtime friends and game developers who founded German-based MobileBits were determined to make it easier for mobile game enthusiasts to immerse themselves in virtual worlds and compete with players globally, without worrying about compatibility issues.

Today, the burgeoning array of device types, versions and platforms in the mobile game market forces developers to create different iterations of their games for laptops, tablets and smartphones running on various operating systems. (more…)

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Ford Motor Company Earns Place in Computing History

Computer History Museum inducts Ford SYNC, powered by Microsoft, as part of permanent collection.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Situated in California’s Silicon Valley, the Computer History Museum has amassed an amazing collection of technology artifacts from the information age. Alongside the 2,000-year-old AntiKythera mechanism you’ll find the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, deemed the first electronic computer. You’ll also see Microsoft creations such as the Microsoft IntelliMouse, the Natural Keyboard and technology from a company you’d likely never expect: Ford Motor Company.

Ford SYNC, the award-winning, in-car connectivity system powered by the Windows Embedded Automotive software platform and co-developed by Microsoft and Ford, will become part of the museum’s permanent display. More than 4 million vehicles have been sold with Ford SYNC since its North American launch five years ago. And with availability expanding to Europe and Asia later this year, Ford predicts that number to reach 13 million by 2015. (more…)

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Yahoo! Makes Comedy Serious Business With Premiere of New Comedy Channel Shows Featuring Seth Morris, Mike O’Brien, Ken Marino and More

*Yahoo! Screen now home to new slate of premium original comedy Web shows*

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, today debuts a variety of original comedy Web shows from a collaborative effort between Yahoo! and top-tier production partners. The new shows include “First Dates With Toby Harris” featuring Seth Morris (Funny or Die); “Sketchy” ( Electus/Principato-Young Entertainment ), and “7 Minutes in Heaven” with “Saturday Night Live”writerMike O’Brien (Broadway Video). The slate of comedy shows also includes an existing Yahoo! Studios original show, “Odd News,” Yahoo! News’ weekly wrap-up on the strangest stories from around the globe, hosted by comedian Greg Proops. All the new comedy shows will live on Yahoo! Screen (https://screen.yahoo.com), Yahoo!’s new online video destination.

In the coming weeks, Yahoo! will debut additional comedy shows including “Hackerazzi” ( David Morgasen ) and “Burning Love” (Paramount Pictures/Red Hour), which features an impressive lineup of celebrity talent and spoofs popular reality television dating shows. (more…)

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Sundance Looks to StorSimple to Simplify Its Massive Storage Needs

*Microsoft BizSpark One startup solves enterprise-class storage challenges with hybrid cloud approach.*

REDMOND, Wash. — March 2, 2012 — StorSimple takes an innovative approach to storage design, betting early on the Windows Azure platform and assembling a first-rate team to make cloud-integrated storage a reality for enterprise companies.

Like many other innovations, StorSimple’s breakthrough began with a fundamental observation followed by a simple question. (more…)

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