marți, 4 iunie 2013

Taking on the Patent Trolls

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Featured 

Taking on the Patent Trolls

Our patent system is meant to encourage innovation and invention. But in recent years, companies called "patent trolls" have used abusive patent litigation designed to threaten innovators in order to extract settlements based on questionable claims.

It costs the economy billions of dollars and undermines American innovation, and today President Obama issued five executive actions and seven legislative recommendations designed to protect innovators from unnecessary litigation and improve the quality patents in our system.

Learn how the Administration is taking on patent trolls to protect American innovation.

Learn how the Administration is taking on patent trolls to protect American innovation.

 
 
  Top Stories

The National Conference on Mental Health

Nationally, an estimated 45 million Americans suffer from illnesses like depression, schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Yesterday, the White House hosted a day-long conference to kick off a national conversation about mental health in the United States.

READ MORE

Hanging Out and Talking Asteroids at the White House

As part of the White House’s ongoing series of “We The Geeks” Google+ Hangouts (focused on highlighting science, technology, and innovation topics), we gathered some leaders in space exploration together for a pregame show to the near-miss of asteroid 1998 QE2 on Friday.

READ MORE

Being Biden Vol. 8: Remembering Senator Lautenberg

In the latest installment of Being Biden, Vice President Biden remembers his friend, the late Senator Frank Lautenberg.

READ MORE

 
 
  Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)

9:30 AM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing WATCH LIVE

10:30 AM: The President delivers a statement

11:10 AM: The President and Chilean President Sebastián Piñerahold a bilateral meeting; The Vice President also attends

12:30 PM: The President and the Vice President meet for lunch

1:00 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney WATCH LIVE

2:20 PM: The President departs the White House en route Bethesda, Maryland

2:30 PM: The President arrives Bethesda, Maryland

2:50 PM: The President visits the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

4:35 PM: The President departs Bethesda, Maryland en route the White House

4:45 PM: The President arrives at the White House

7:00 PM: Vice President Biden Speaks at the American-Turkish Council’s Conference WATCH LIVE

 

 

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#MozCon Speaker Interview: Karen McGrane

#MozCon Speaker Interview: Karen McGrane


#MozCon Speaker Interview: Karen McGrane

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 07:10 PM PDT

Posted by Erica McGillivray

Karen McGrane I'm really excited that we're bringing Karen McGrane, CEO at Bond Art + Science, to this year's MozCon. A veteran of the content world, she's a champion of making great content accessible to your audience. Karen proclaims that mobile is the best thing that's ever happened for content. In fact, she wrote a book on it. She'll be talking "The Mobile Content Mandate" at MozCon, and you won't want to miss it.

When Karen's not rooting for seamless content across all devices, you might find her on Twitter @karenmcgrane and maybe chatting about artichokes. Which as I interviewed her, I wanted to know more about both.

What's inspired you lately?

I always get a huge burst of energy at this time of year. My birthday is April, and springtime always feels like a fresh start. I like to work outside on my terrace when the weather starts getting warm. I’m sitting outside right now! It feels like a good way to get things done and pretend that I’m on vacation at the same time.

Since you'll be talking about mobile content strategy at MozCon this year, what mobile devices are your favorite to use?

I’m a pretty devoted iOS userâ€"I’m on my third iPhone and second iPad (the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.) I think cross-platform use and testing is a huge challenge on mobile. My developer friends spend a lot of time (and often, money) putting together device labs for testing. We’ve been through this before on the desktop web, and hopefully we’ll move quickly to ensure cross-platform and cross-browser consistency on the mobile web tooâ€"that’s what we need to ensure the web grows and evolves.

What sites are your favorite to access on mobile devices?

Sadly, many sites still aren’t optimized for the mobile web. The New York Times mobile website is pretty weak -- they’ve invested more in apps -- so I still visit their desktop site from my mobile browser. (I led the redesign of that site in 2005, so I’m intimately familiar with it!)

In some cases, the mobile website is actually better than the desktop site. Travel is one category where they’ve invested in optimizing for local users, so in many cases the mobile site is faster and simpler. Booking.com provides a great mobile experience, and it shows. Their revenue from mobile bookings tripled from $1 billion to $3 billion last year. 

Booking.com

Banking is another category where they’ve invested a lot in transactional applications. I’m consistently impressed by the mobile banking app from my bank, Chase. But banks have a long ways to go in delivering content to mobile usersâ€"most offer only a paltry subset of product and customer service content compared to the desktop.

You're an extremely proficient writer and speaker. Do you have a certain writing routine that you apply to your daily schedule? A time, a place, a device to start with, a process, music?

If I’m writing an article or a new talk, I must ensure that I have a clear schedule. I need an entire day to focus on the writing, and I can’t concentrate if I’m trying to fit it in around client conference calls and meetings. Given any opportunity to distract myself, I will do it! So I also try to make sure my apartment is tidy, and I’m at inbox zero, otherwise I’ll find myself vacuuming under the bed instead of writing.

I like to write on the sofa or outside on my terraceâ€"I find it easier to focus when I’m away from my desk. I sit at my desk and use two monitors when I’m making slides for a talk, but when I’m writing I prefer to just use my laptop.

On your website, your tagline says "On a good day, I make the web more awesome." Who are the people out there making the web more awesome that you admire?

I’m so grateful to so many people. I’ve learned a lot and been genuinely blessed to work with some amazing people over the years.

The team at Arc90 does some really impressive work, and they are smart people. They put out the read-it-later app Readability, as well as a bunch of projects with banks and publishers.

I teach in the MFA program in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. I teach design management, which is essentially “business skills for user experience designers.” Liz Danzico is the chair of the program, and she’s assembled a fantastic lineup of instructors and every year it’s a great group of students. I learn a lot being a part of it.

And, of course, I’m indebted to Jeffrey Zeldman and the various teams at A List Apart, An Event Apart, and A Book Apart. I write a column for ALA; my book was published by ABA; and I’ve spoken at AEA many times. Zeldman has a real knack for connecting amazing people, and my work is so much better because of the high standards they set.

In addition to being on the cutting-edge of mobile, you're also a computer history geek. Who's your favorite unknown scientist or major contributor in computers that made a huge impact on what we do today?

Well, she’s not exactly unknown, but Grace Murray Hopper is an amazing woman and a fantastic role model for our industry. She spent 40 years in the Navy as a computer scientist, retiring as a rear admiral. There are not many programmers who have a U.S. Navy Destroyer named after them, but the U.S.S. Hopper is named for her. I describe her as "the person who taught computers to speak our language." She came up with the first "compiler," which essentially allowed people to type commands in English, rather than in binary. It took her years to convince people that computers could do more than just arithmetic.

USS Hopper

Okay, now what I've been dying to know, what's your favorite way to cook an artichoke?

I eat a lot of artichokes. My everyday preparation is simply to steam the whole artichoke and serve it with a vinaigrette made of lime juice and good olive oil. For a fancier preparation, I like to braise the artichokes, searing them first and then simmering them in chicken stock and white wine. The only trick to braising is you need to pull off most of the tough outer leavesâ€"I usually yank off what I think is right, then take off another layer. If you can get baby artichokes, they are especially nice when braised and served with the braising sauce over pasta. (I like to serve them with scallops.) Yum.

Yum indeed. Thank you so much, Karen, for sharing a little bit of the future, a little bit of history, and a little bit about artichokes with us. You can follow Karen on Twitter @karenmcgrane or better yet, join us for her MozCon talk.


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11 of the Best SEO & PPC Posts from May

11 of the Best SEO & PPC Posts from May

Link to SEOptimise » blog

11 of the Best SEO & PPC Posts from May

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 04:31 AM PDT

If you are anywhere near as busy as we were in the SEOptimise office during May, it can be difficult to keep up with all the great blog posts that were published. I thought I’d ask the office to see the ones which they thought were worth a read. So, in no particular order, here is our top 6 posts from around the web…

It has also been a busy month on our blog, with May achieving the highest traffic figures of the year so far. So in case you missed any of them, here are our 5 most popular posts of the month…

Did we miss any great posts? We’d love to hear your suggestions, so please add them to the comments below.

© SEOptimise 11 of the Best SEO & PPC Posts from May

Seth's Blog : Self service requires information, which requires design

 

Self service requires information, which requires design

Consider travel as an example:

If you've arranged the flights on the monitor in order of flight time, not destination, requiring me to stop and take out my ticket, you have failed.

If you've hidden the room numbers (or given them fancy names) so that only an employee can find the right spot, you've failed as well.

The label on prescription drugs, the instructions post-doctor visit, the manual for using software or putting together furniture--if we're getting rid of service and turning it into self-service, we owe it to our newly deputized employees (our customers) to give them the tools they need to not need us.

Sure, you need someone in charge of customer service. But you also need someone in charge of service design. Someone responsible for fixing what's broken, not merely apologizing for it again and again.

It's not cheap, but it's way cheaper than answering the phone or annoying the people who pay our bills.

     

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luni, 3 iunie 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


IMF Halves Germany 2013 GDP Estimate; Still Too Optimistic

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 03:08 PM PDT

With most of Europe in a nasty recession, and significant parts of it (Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy) in an outright economic depression, I wonder why it took so long for the IMF to Reduce Germany GDP Forecast.
Germany's 2013 growth prospects have been cut in half by the International Monetary Fund, as it warned that the outlook for Europe's strongest economy could worsen if a eurozone recovery fails to materialise.

 The IMF said falling business investment and the eurozone's ongoing recession, which have hampered German growth, meant the economy would grow by just 0.3pc this year, compared with an April estimate of 0.6pc.

"The uncertainty, mainly surrounding prospects for the euro area and the ongoing recession in the region, have led to declining German exports to the region as well as a sharp pull back in business investment," the IMF said in a report on Monday.
Ridiculous Talk of Uncertainty

Note the ridiculous talk about "uncertainty". What is certain is the IMF is in la-la land, attempting to paint a picture that does not exist.

It is all but 100% certain that a eurozone recovery is not coming, so warning that the outlook for growth "could worsen if a eurozone recovery fails to materialise" is like warning that it might hurt if you are punched in the nose by a professional boxer with full force.

Note too that Germany Q1 GDP Grew At 0.1%, missing expectations. That report came out on May 15, and the IMF just now figured out that German growth is slowing.

Given that Germany is headed for contraction, the IMF is still too optimistic.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Huge Miss in May ISM; Manufacturing Now in Contraction; What the Numbers Mean

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 09:09 AM PDT

US Manufacturing as measured by the May 2013 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® is treading water barely above contraction.
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in May for the first time since November 2012, and the overall economy grew for the 48th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®.
ISM at a Glance

Series DataApr IndexMar IndexPercentage Point ChangeDirectionRate of ChangeTrend (Months)
PMI™49.050.1-1.7ContractingFrom Growing1
New Orders48.852.3-3.5ContractingFrom Growing1
Production53.552.2+1.3ContractingFrom Growing1
Employment50.150.2-0.1GrowingSlower44
Supplier Deliveries48.750.9-2.2FasterFrom Slowing1
Inventories49.046.5+2.5ContractingSlower3
Customers' Inventories46.044.5+1.5Too LowSlower18
Prices49.550.0-0.5DecreasingFrom Unchanged1
Backlog of Orders48.053.0-5.0ContractingFrom Growing1
Exports51.054.0-3.0GrowingSlower6
Imports54.555.0-0.5GrowingSlower4


Synopsis

Last month I stated "Manufacturing employment has grown for 43 months. I expect that trend to break next month. Production was up but inventories were way lower. The drop in inventories, in conjunction with a big slowdown in employment, is likely a leading indicator of future production. The positive surprise that does not fit into the above assessment is that new orders grew at a faster rate. Next month may be telling. I expect the new order divergence to resolve to the downside as the global economy and the US economy are both slowing."

The consensus estimate was for slower growth, but here we are. Manufacturing is in contraction and the economy continues to weaken. Given the plunge in new orders and backlog of orders, jobs and the overall economy will likely weaken as well. Expect that trend of 48 months of economic growth to break next month.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

The National Conference on Mental Health

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Featured 

The National Conference on Mental Health

Nationally, an estimated 45 million Americans suffer from illnesses like depression, schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Today, the White House hosted a day-long conference to kick off a national conversation about mental health in the United States. President Obama stressed the importance of a more open dialogue on mental health issues:

"There should be no shame in discussing or seeking help for treatable illnesses that affect too many people that we love. We've got to get rid of that embarrassment; we've got to get rid of that stigma."

Visit MentalHealth.gov to learn more about the Obama administration's effort to raise awareness and improve care for Americans experiencing mental health issues.

Watch President Obama Speak on Mental Health Issues

 
 
  Top Stories

Hanging Out and Talking Asteroids at the White House

As part of the White House’s ongoing series of “We The Geeks” Google+ Hangouts (focused on highlighting science, technology, and innovation topics), we gathered some leaders in space exploration together for a pregame show to the near-miss of asteroid 1998 QE2 on Friday.

READ MORE

If Congress Doesn't Act, Rates for New Federal Student Loans Will Double

President Obama called on Congress to prevent federal student loan rates from doubling on July 1st. Speaking from the Rose Garden, the President asked the students and young people in attendance to speak out in favor of action on college affordability, just as they did in 2012.

READ MORE

Weekly Address: Congress Should Take Action to Continue Growing the Economy

In this week’s address, President Obama calls on Congress to act to give every responsible homeowner the chance to save money on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low interest rates, put more Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and fix our broken immigration system, so that we can continue to grow our economy.

READ MORE


 
 
  Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)

9:55 AM: The President delivers opening remarks to the White House Mental Health Conference WhiteHouse.gov/live

10:30 AM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

11:15 AM: The President meets with senior advisors

12:30 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney WhiteHouse.gov/live

2:00 PM: Vice President Biden Speaks at the Closing of the Mental Health Conference WhiteHouse.gov/live

WhiteHouse.gov/live Indicates that the event will be live-streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live

 

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