For a decade, Art and Lois Serrin have desperately sought the identity of the man they found having sex with their daughter moments before discovering her lifeless body.

Now, innovative DNA technology may have finally revealed his face, officials said Tuesday.

Jodine Serrin, a 39-year-old Carlsbad woman with developmental disabilities, was found beaten and strangledin her condominiumon Feb. 14, 2007.DNA evidence collected from the bedroom where she was found was analyzed numerous times over the years, but it never led to a suspect.

Recently, detectives on the case submitted that DNA to Parabon NanoLabs,which has developed a test that transforms genetic material into a digital image of an unknown suspect.

Investigators believe its the first time the technology has been used in San Diego County, and called it a game changer for unsolved cases especially ones that have gone cold, like Jodine Serrins death.

Carlsbad police Chief Neil Gallucci said any tool that gets detectives one step closer to catching and prosecuting a suspect is a worthwhile investment.

"To create a profile that someone out there recognizes, that sparks even one phone call that helps our detectives thats an awesome possibility, he said.

The process, called phenotyping, uses DNA to predict a suspects skin color, eye color, hair color, gender, ancestry and face shape. It can even determine if someone has freckles or not.

According to the analysis, the man who killed Serrin has very fair to fair skin, green or blue eyes, blonde or brown hair and some freckles. He is likely in his 40s and of Northern European descent.

Using information from Jodine Serrins father, who may have caught a glimpse of the killer that Valentines Day night,police also believe the suspect is heavyset with a fat stomach and disheveled hair. He is between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet tall and likely has a history of mental health issues.

We believe the suspect was an acquaintance of, or had just met the victim, said Tony Johnson, an investigator with the San Diego District Attorneys Office.We believe there are friends of Jodine who will recognize the composite, and we urge them to call us.

Officials released the suspects imageon Tuesday, the 10th anniversary of Serrins death, and asked anyone with information to call (760) 931-2225. Her parents said the image has given them hope that their daughters murderer may one day be brought to justice.

We feel that somehow, somewhere hes out there and somebody knows something whatever that might be, it will help, said Art Serrin.Its been toughwaiting. Ten years is a long time.

Usually on the anniversary of their daughters death, the Carlsbad couple gets out of town to insulate themselves from anything that might remind them of that horrific day.

It was Valentines Day 2007. The parentswere celebrating the holiday at the movies, but Lois Serrin couldnt shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Although Jodine had lived independently for 15 years, she had mental disabilities that called for extra care. It was very unusual to go a day without hearing from her, and they hadnt spoken since the night before.

They left the theater before the movie was done and went to their daughters condominium on Swallow Lane. When they unlocked the door, a chainlock was in place. They called out to her, but there was no answer. Thats when Art Serrin kicked open the door.

The parents rushed in, and stumbled on their daughter apparently having sex with aman who looked vaguely familiar.Startled, they went to another part of the residence to wait, but their daughternever emerged.

When they peeked in on her again, she was dead and the man was gone.

Since then, the couple has partnered with police to solve the case.

They created a website where people could learn of the case and submit information. With help from the Governors Office, a reward of $52,000 was put together for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.

The couple is holding out hope that the new image will finally lead to their daughters killer.

We need to get this monster out of the woodwork and off the street, Art Serrin said. Thats whats kept me and my wife going.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com

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DNA technology gives new face to decade-old cold case - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Men once made a living hammering iron into shoe for horses. Then along came the combustion engine and automobiles.

In a more recent age, there were milkmen, elevator car operators, telephone switchboard operators and, not so long ago, video store clerks. I can remember all but the switchboard operators thanks to the Orr's Department Store in downtown Bethlehem still using elevator drivers in the early 1970s.

My grandmother had a job with the Civil Air Patrol Auxiliary during World War II. She stood atop a high tower to patrol for enemy aircraft in west Bethlehem. I doubt she got paid. I hope not. The Christmas City and its steel mills, along with my grandmother, would have been doomed by the time she spotted the Luftwaffe. Radar became a much better option.

What innovation and technology giveth, they also taketh away. Not long from now, the final tollbooth collectors, bank tellers and store clerks will be in the same category as milkmen: jobs that are gone, and nearly forgotten. Very little is permanent. As the Irish poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy wrote, "Each age is a dream that is dying or one that is coming to birth."

It does little good to look backward. Yearning for the economic days of old is about as fruitful as longing for the body you possessed at age 21. Neither will be back, even with a new gym membership or, for that matter, tariffs and new trade agreements. ArtsQuest is safe. Bethlehem Steel will not be returning.

Our public policy and economic development efforts need to focus on the jobs of today and, more importantly, those coming tomorrow. Innovation is required in preparing workers to meet the innovation in the economy.

It's nearly impossible to find a campaign speech by either a Democrat or Republican that doesn't contain the words jobs and education. That's a good thing. Looking forward, however, is critical. Change is painful. Thoughtful humans want to alleviate the pain of those suffering, physically, mentally or economically. Empathy is good but healing can't begin without truth.

Take a look at agriculture. In 1900, 41 percent of the U.S. workforce was employed in agriculture. By 2000, it was down to just 2 percent. Remember Farm Aid, John Mellencamp and the national empathy about the loss of family farms in the 1980s? Made us feel good but it did nothing to stop the trend. Technology was the culprit. Bigger and more sophisticated machines could deliver more products at a lower price with fewer workers.

Agriculture has adjusted. While there aren't more workers, there are growing local food economies, organic farms, farmer's markets and farm-to-table restaurants because of a focus on quality over quantity.

Many of those displaced farm workers during the 20th century found their way to jobs in manufacturing, often migrating from rural areas into cities. Today it's the loss of those manufacturing jobs that we understandably lament. While Willie Nelson has yet to give a Manufacturing Aid concert, our empathy and understanding is honed. Nearly 6 million jobs were lost in U.S. manufacturing between 2000 and 2009.

The Lehigh Valley has seen growth in manufacturing since the recession. Manufacturing is the largest part of the region's GDP with about 36,000 workers employed by 680 manufacturers. There is a lesson here.

Technology and innovation are making manufacturers in the Lehigh Valley competitive and successful. The steel mills are gone but biotech companies make everything from oral HIV, Ebola and Zika tests to artificial orthopedic joints. Much of it is built by robotics, artificial intelligence and sophisticated technology.

Today's manufacturing jobs require innovative training and apprenticeships. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are going unfilled due to a lack of available engineering and technical talent.

The U.S. Department of Labor last year provided $90 million to expand and diversify apprenticeship options, offering an additional $175 million in grants to dozens of public-private partnerships. In addition to the shop floor, office-based industries such as insurance, health care and IT are searching for trained talent. Apprenticeship programs focus on on-the-job training or technical instruction that pay both workers and companies and results in workers getting industry-recognized credentials.

Since companies receive financial benefit, they are less worried about training workers only for them to leave for better paying opportunities elsewhere. Higher skills development is critical to supporting modern advanced manufacturing. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's new proposed budget adds state support for apprenticeships, albeit with limited funding.

It's critical that innovation in training and education match innovation in the private marketplace. This is America's future in manufacturing. Like agriculture, it's quality over quantity. Vocational-technical schools and community colleges are as critical as Harvard and Yale.

It's imperative that our longing for the days of old doesn't blind us to building an economy and preparing a workforce for today.

Don Cunningham is the president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. His column can be found on the Business Cycle. He can be reached at news@lehighvalley.org.

Get the inside scoop on the Lehigh Valley's business scene on The Business Cycle, themorningcall.com/business

Like on Facebook: facebook.com/LVBizCycle

Follow on Twitter: @LVBizCycle

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Don Cunningham column: Technology giveth, and it taketh away - Allentown Morning Call

As mentioned in our first column about kids and technology, we often begin our parenting presentations by asking the audience what their biggest concern or worry is. Technology, screen time, the internet and social media are always among the first and most common answers.

Parents say things like, Virtual reality is replacing real reality, My kids are hypnotized by those little screens and I cant even get their attention, Social media can be such a cruel, bullying place, I just cant keep them off of the internet, and Im scared to death of what might pop up or They are so addicted to those online games that I cant tear them away.

Questions abound, such as, How can I be totally aware of what they are seeing? Do any of the filters really work? How can they use the internet for homework but not get off onto other sites? How much should I limit their screen time? If I clamp down too hard, will it just make them want it more and find it on their friends phone or at their friends house?

In our previous column, we explored technology as an addiction. We outlined some of the widely varying approaches we have seen parents take, from complete immersion (embrace it, no restrictions) to complete abstinence (no smartphones, no internet other than for homework) and everything in between. Since that first article, we have had many requests for answers for how parents can both understand and regulate what is happening.

So, for what it is worth, here are three guidelines that we think every parent should consider:

1. Instigate the most basic controls. No computers or tablets or smartphones in kids' bedrooms. Keep everything in the kitchen, family room or common areas of the home. Get the best filters you can find (routers are now available that filter content and that can also be set to automatically shut off at dinner time, nighttime and other times that you dont want kids online).

2. Talk extensively with kids both about how wonderful technology can be and about how dangerous it can be. Ask a lot of questions and get kids involved in the discussion. Ask kids what they think the limits should be. You may be surprised at how much they know and find that the limits they suggest may be stricter than what you would set.

Get their input on what age they think kids should have smartphones and on how much screen time should be allowed in the home. Make it clear that you are the one setting the rules and limits but that you want their input. Remember, sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

For young kids who you want to be able to call or text but who you do not want on social media, the simplest solution is a dumb phone rather than a smartphone. When kids reach the required age that you have set, decide together how much your son or daughter should pay on his or her smartphone and on the monthly bill. The percentage of how much the child contributes should be 49 percent or less so you are the controlling owner, which allows you to draft an agreement that includes turning in the phone each evening. Make it clear that privacy is not something that exists between kids and their parents and that you will have apps that allow you to see everything they see or send on their smartphones.

3. View technology as another way to teach good judgment and discernment. Remember that you will not always be around to enforce technology rules and that ultimately your childrens use of or abuse of anything electronic will come down to their own choices and self-control. Kids have a natural and instinctive ability to discern between something that feels good or right and something that feels dark or wrong.

The best long-term solution for helping our children deal with the internet and social media is to help them understand and trust their feelings of discernment and move away from (turn off) anything that feels dark and gravitate to the things that feel light.

The real problem with this whole area of concern is that it takes time and concentration to deal with it. As parents and grandparents, we need to know what is going on and understand and be familiar with technology and how our kids interact with and are influenced by it. Then we need to have open communication with our children and have them teach us as well as learn from us. We need to think of technology as a tool that can bring much good into our lives and that, with enough effort on our parts, can be controlled and used rather than feared and avoided.

As NY Times #1 bestselling authors, The Eyres have now written 50 books and speak throughout the world on families and Life-balance. For seminars and presentations available locally go to http://www.lifeinfullcruise.com or http://www.lifeinfullonq.com.

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3 tips for regulating our kids' technology use - The Herald-Times (subscription)

India is one of the best and worst places to launch a tech startup these days, a contradiction epitomized in a recent survey (pdf) of 170 entrepreneurs across 15 industries. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said India is in the midst of a tech bubble, even as 63% said they were struggling to find funding.

For the past few years, India has been a hotbed of startup activity, even if a good portion of those ventures ultimately dont make it. Between June 2014 and July 2016, more than 2,280 Indian startups began operations; nearly 1,000 of them shuttered. While fail is less of a dirty word in tech than elsewhere, Indian entrepreneurs cite a range of factors in their struggle to find footing, including a lack of funding, lack of innovation, and an oversaturated marketplace. Most of the entrepreneurs surveyed by InnoVen Capital, an Asian venture-lending firm, said that finding cash was their biggest barrier to growth.

[Sixty-three percent] of respondents who attempted to fundraise in 2016 did not have a favorable experience, reads the companys February 2017 Startup Outlook report. The average startup had to pitch to more than six investors before securing funding.

(Only 18% of the companies whose leaders participated in the survey were backed by venture capital; a quarter were funded by angel investors and nearly half were self-funded.)

Among other obstacles, e-commerce and healthcare startups rated revenue growth as a top business challenge, while enterprise startups cited customer acquisition and customer churn. Artificial-intelligence startups cited trouble discovering and hiring talent. Many of those surveyed also called for India itself to foster a more entrepreneurial environment by, for example, increasing investment in digital infrastructure, allowing for more foreign investments, creating stronger intellectual property laws and making updates to public education.

The Indian government has made some strides on this front, including Startup India a plan to reduce taxes and bureaucracy, create incubators and sources of funding, and introduce patent reformsand Digital India, a campaign to improve online infrastructure and internet connectivity.

In the InnoVen Capital survey, fintech CEOs noted their appreciation for policies promoting Digital Payment [and] the Unified Payments Interface, and entrepreneurs in the e-commerce, consumer, and logistics sectors rated the Goods and Services Taxit proposes to offers relief from Indias cascading tax system by subbing in a simplified tax structureas the most helpful government initiative of 2016. One in five entrepreneurs called for more tax-policy improvements this year.

Crowding is a different beast. Although entrepreneurs listed having a robust business model as the most important facet of improving investor sentiment this year, more than 20% of them also said that more exits would help. Seventy percent said they were open to an exit, and nearly two-thirds rated an initial public offering as the most preferred route.

While Indias entrepreneurs are finding inspiration from withindemonetization has done wonders for digital payments startup Paytmforeign tech majors like Google, Airbnb, Amazon, and Uber are still among [at least some] Indian entrepreneurs favorites. Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also has lots of fans in the country.

Challenges or no, 94% of survey respondents said they would be looking to fundraise in 2017some $800 million between them. But theyll have to hurry: Nearly 20% believe that tech bubble is about to burst.

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Even Indian technology entrepreneurs think they are living in a ... - Quartz

BYU-I dedicates three new buildings

With ever changing technology a mainstream of our current society, schools and facilities preparing students for that world face the constant challenge of keeping up with an ever moving target. That's why the new Science and Technology Center at Brigham Young University-Idaho is such a big deal. It looks to close that gap, and prepare students for a future in the world of technology.

"Oh its so exciting," said Alex Loveland, a food science major and senior at BYU-Idaho. "I'm able to see real life applications of some of the things I'm working with."

Food Science is just one of the majors and departments that will call the new facility home. Others include: Computer Information Technology (CIT), Animal & Food Science, Applied Plant Science, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering; with subfields and stuides within each of those majors.

Students say the up-to-date technology really helps prepare them for their fields more adequately. "You know, it's progressive," said Hannah Millet, an animal science major. "We're producing animals and food for people all the time and we need to stay up to date on that."

One particularly neat room in the new Science and Technology Center is called the Cyber Noc. It's a room that shows real time data (or close to it) of cyber attacks and counter cyber attacks occurring on different networks.

The field of cyber security is a subfield of the CIT major, and it's one that's increasingly important and in-demand. "For people that are going into cyber security, they have three jobs (available) to one person," said Alex Bloomfield, a CIT major. The new center at BYU-I gives students the tools to prepare for such fields, like cyber security.

One other thing of interest about the Science and Technology Center is it holds the distinction of BYU-I's most energy efficient building. Staff said they worked closely with engineers and architects to give the building an open and light feel. This means the school saves quite a bit of money on lighting and electricity.

The Science and Technology Center was officially dedicated today by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church. Elder Andersen also dedicated the newly finished Central Energy Facility on campus, as well as the renovated Agricultural Science Center west of town.

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BYU-Idaho dedicates and showcases new Science and Technology Center - LocalNews8.com

GREEN BAY -

Nearly every person, even children have smart phones. Most of the time, experts talk about kids spending too much time on their phones, but what about parents?

As parents we've all been there and felt guilty after spending too much time on our phones while the kids are around.

But there are things you can do to break free from the technology and create a happier family life.

Emily Yonke and her husband are both teachers. They are parents to two little boys. They understand how difficult it can be juggling kids, work and technology. Emily said she spends about an hour a day on the phone, talking with family or on social media.

After a while with Harrison, I started to realize I was on it too much, said Emily.

She noticed times where she wasn't in the moment. Its a guilt many parents feel, her husband did as well.

Why aren't we talking and winding down together? Why is it winding down on your phone? said Emily.

And the Yonkes aren't alone.

You say okay, is it good that for an hour every night, I'm like this on my phone when I have my children around me doing homework, asking me questions, and I'm totally tuning them out, said Dr. Lynn Wagner, an Integrated Lifestyle Physician with BayCare Clinic.

Dr. Wagner says she sees it every day, even in her own life.

I'll put my phone in the trunk, or make a pact when I get home, Ill silence my phone and not look at it, said Dr. Wagner.

She uses Facebook for her business and is constantly checking email from patients.

Dr. Wagner said technology can actually become an addiction.

The first thing they do when they wake up is go through their Facebook or social media, and check their e-mails, said Dr. Wagner.

Using your phone, being on social media -- the comments, the likes -- it gives you a high.

If you're happier on technology on Facebook, or social media platforms than you are in your own life, it should just be an awakening for you that something needs to change in your life, said Dr. Wagner.

So as parents -- even grandparents -- adults in general, what do we do?

It's not going away so I think it's learning how to work with it and make it work for you, said Dr. Wagner.

She explains the first step is do not feel guilty, it's okay. Then, take a look at your habits and then structure your time. Start small. Set aside maybe 30 minutes in the morning 30 at night and dedicate that time to your phone. Otherwise, its out of sight, out of mind.

That's exactly what they Younkes did.

We put them back in the office area over there just to not have it as a distraction with the children around, said Emily.

They came up with the rule about a month ago. Every night after work, their phones go in a box in the office.

At first, Emily says it was difficult.

We both break the habit once in a while, she said.

But now, it's normal and makes their family happier.

Being able to watch them and realize, they're more entertaining than technology is, said Emily.

Exactly what Dr. Wagner talks about -- life is more than technology.

Human connection is so critical for health, for well being, for having a long happy life, said Dr. Wagner.

Jena Richter Landers, a Social Media Specialist at UW-Green Bay also gave us some tips to cut out some technology. She suggests doing things the old school way. Instead of using your phone as an alarm, start using an alarm clock. That'll stop you from looking at your phone first thing in the morning and getting sucked in right off the bat.

She also said use a grocery list, instead of the notepad in your phone. That will stop you from picking up the device so frequently.

You can also delete apps so you physically have to open them in a browser and youll be aware of the choices youre making.

Landers also said you can take disconnected breaks while on vacation.

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Parents and technology How much is too much? - WGBA-TV

Magic Leap C.E.O. Rony Abovitz.

By Brian Ach/Getty Images.

Despite raising more than $1 billion since its 2011 founding, augmented reality start-up Magic Leap still doesnt have much to show for itself. What the company promises, a concept called cinematic reality, described by C.E.O. Rony Abovitz as a combination of virtual reality and an acid trip, does sound magical. But unlike Microsofts virtual-reality headset, the Hololens, which is already available to developers for $3,000, Magic Leaps product is reportedly still years away from market. On Friday, Business Insider published a leaked photo of what appears to be a prototype of Magic Leaps technology, featuring a bulky backpack computer connected to a headset. The photo seemed to confirm an earlier report that Magic Leap is having a hard time shrinking down its technology to fit into a consumer-size device.

Magic Leap C.E.O. Rony Abovitz pushed back on the report over the weekend, explaining on his companys Web site that its technology is still in an early testing phase and promising fans that its eventual product will enable your digital and physical worlds to come together in a very personal, social, and magical way. The leaked photo, he claimed, did not show its prototype but rather a test rig used to collect spacial data for its machine learning.

Abovitzs explanation contradicts the report by Business Insider, whose source told the publication that the bulky, poorly constructed device shown in the leaked image was, in fact, the real wearable prototype, a more finished version of which would be shown to the Magic Leap board this week.

Magic Leap has long faced questions about its much-hyped technology and allegations that it has misled supporters and investors about its progress. Last year, former Magic Leap employees told The Information that Magic Leap had over-promised and would likely under-deliver. According to The Information, the technology behind Magic Leaps initial prototypenicknamed The Beast and described as a rectangular, shoulder-width box that people could look into and see computer-generated images projected over the real worldlikely wouldnt be used in whatever product the company releases commercially.

Not everyone is concerned that Magic Leap hasnt yet finalized its prototype, despite working on its device for about six years. Andreessen Horowitzs Benedict Evans, who says he has seen Magic Leaps technology, joined Abovitz on Twitter over the weekend to defend the start-up. There are a bunch of great people at great companies working on A.R., he tweeted. No one is shipping a final product yet. Evans, whose firm invested in Magic Leap during its Series B fund raise, also dismissed critics of Magic Leaps technology, and added that gloating about any negative news (real or fake) about a start-up is just as bad as uncritical praise. Maybe worse.

Andreessen Horowitz partner Kyle Russell also tweeted a picture of the iPhones prototype, to argue that even Apples flagship device appeared unsightly in the initial phases of its development process.

Unlike the iPhone, however, Magic Leap has been hyped for years by the tech press and by Magic Leaps own marketing team, without plans to launch any time soon. In 2015, the company published a marketing video on YouTube called Just Another Day in the Office, offering a mind-blowing, first-person demo to show off its tech. Magic Leap, which is valued at $4.5 billion, later conceded that its too-good-to-be-true video was just a collection of special effects, created by Weta Workshop, a team based in New Zealand. The video, former employees told The Information last year, was aspirational, and intended to mislead the public about the companys progress.

Sundar Pichai, Googles C.E.O., was born in Chennai, India, immigrating to the U.S. to attend Stanford in 1993.

Alphabet president and Google co-founder Sergey Brin was born in Moscow and lived in the Soviet Union until he was six, immigrating with his family to the United States in 1979.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, was born and raised in South Africa. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 and briefly attended college at Queen's University in Ontario. He transferred to University of Pennsylvania, in part because such a move would allow him to get an H-1B visa and stay in the U.S. after college.

Safra Catz, who served as co-C.E.O. of Oracle, was born in Israel. She resigned from her executive role in December after joining Donald Trumps presidential transition team.

Trump supporter Peter Thiel, who has expressed support for the presidents executive action restricting immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries, is an immigrant himself. Before he co-founded PayPal and made one of the earliest large investments in Facebook, Thiel moved with his family from Germany, where he was born. In 2011, he also became a citizen of New Zealand, adding a third passport to his growing collection.

Born in Hyderabad, India, Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella came to the U.S. to study computer science, joining Microsoft in 1992.

Garrett Camp helped co-found Uber. He was born in Alberta, Canada, and now resides in the Bay Area.

PreviousNext

Sundar Pichai, Googles C.E.O., was born in Chennai, India, immigrating to the U.S. to attend Stanford in 1993.

By Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Alphabet president and Google co-founder Sergey Brin was born in Moscow and lived in the Soviet Union until he was six, immigrating with his family to the United States in 1979.

By FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, was born and raised in South Africa. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 and briefly attended college at Queen's University in Ontario. He transferred to University of Pennsylvania, in part because such a move would allow him to get an H-1B visa and stay in the U.S. after college.

By Justin Chin/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Safra Catz, who served as co-C.E.O. of Oracle, was born in Israel. She resigned from her executive role in December after joining Donald Trumps presidential transition team.

By David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

The founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, was born in France to Iranian parents. He immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s.

By Ramin Talaie/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang moved from Taiwan to San Jose, California, in 1978, at the age of 10.

by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Brothers John Collison and Patrick Collison, twenty-something college dropouts who emigrated from Ireland, co-founded Stripe, a $9.2 billion payments start-up.

By Jerome Favre/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Adam Neumann, raised on an Israeli kibbutz, moved to the U.S. in 2001, after briefly serving in the Israeli army as a navy doctor. Now hes the chief executive of the $16.9 billion New York-based WeWork, which sublets space to individuals and companies.

by Noam Galai/Getty Images.

The co-founder and C.E.O. of health insurance start-up Oscar, Mario Schlosser, came to the United States from Germany as an international student, receiving his M.B.A. from Harvard.

By Kholood Eid/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Trump supporter Peter Thiel, who has expressed support for the presidents executive action restricting immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries, is an immigrant himself. Before he co-founded PayPal and made one of the earliest large investments in Facebook, Thiel moved with his family from Germany, where he was born. In 2011, he also became a citizen of New Zealand, adding a third passport to his growing collection.

By Roger Askew/Rex/Shutterstock.

Born in Hyderabad, India, Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella came to the U.S. to study computer science, joining Microsoft in 1992.

By Stephen Brashear/Getty Images.

Garrett Camp helped co-found Uber. He was born in Alberta, Canada, and now resides in the Bay Area.

By Justin Lane/EPA/Rex/Shutterstock.

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Is Magic Leap Lying About Its Acid Trip Technology? - Vanity Fair

Apples senior vice president of software and services, Eddy Cue, says that since most people are receiving their news online through devices, technology companies have a special responsibility to the people who depend on them to their receive news.

We wanted Apple News to be available to everyone, but we wanted to vet and be sure that the Apple News providers are legitimate, said Cue at the Code Media conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point, Calif., this evening. Were very concerned about all the clickbait and how that's driving a lot of the news coverage.

All of us in technology and services own a responsibility for it. We dont have all the answers by any means. We need to work on it, Cue said.

On Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview that fake news is killing peoples minds and called for a a massive campaign with technology companies to get to work to start to fix it.

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Apple's Eddy Cue says technology companies have a responsibility to combat fake news - Recode

Naked Security

Valentine's day: what's your secret technology crush? Naked Security Valentine's day is traditionally a time when you can act on your secret crushes and let them know how you feel about them. Anyone who cares about security and technology has an app or a platform or a programming language or something that might not be ...

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Valentine's day: what's your secret technology crush? - Naked Security

Technological advances have provided immense improvements in our lives, but often with a hidden cost. Even the historic skills of bronze and iron working were driven by a desire not only for ploughs and tools, but for better weapons of war. This is still the case for much of modern science. Technical knowledge has helped to combat diseases, improve health, provide more food, offer faster travel, or ease hardship, and this is progress. We like novelty and innovation, but forget they happen at the limits of our understanding. We rarely see, or cannot predict, potential dangers. Innovation and knowledge are expanding at unprecedented rates, but we individually understand an ever-smaller percentage of the total.

The numbers of our daily exchanges of emails, phone calls, texts, photographs, and blogs was unimaginable just a few years ago. We receive them but ignore, delete, or forget them far faster than we did with hand-written letters and photographs. Technological progress means the life expectancy of stored data is rapidly shortening as our computer systems evolve and old data are incompatible with the modern storage and software technologies. We have photos of grandparents but do not expect electronic pictures to survive for our grandchildren. Stone carvings did not say much, but they exist.

Unexpected dangers lie in our reliance on computers and communications that are dependent on electrical power, optical fibre links, and satellites. Satellites are crucial for communications yet they have a finite life expectancy, and can fragment into thousands of high speed components that will destroy other satellites. This is a runaway situation, and current plans to improve data rates by doubling the number may mean satellite-based technology is doomed within a few decades. Failed satellites already contribute to a myriad of orbiting fragments, so further collisions are inevitable. Chunks as small as a mobile phone, at orbital speeds, can have kinetic energy 500 times greater than a military tank shell. Impacts are spectacular. Satellite technology may self-destruct; only the time scale is uncertain. Political, or terrorist, acts could rapidly remove satellites.

Such dangers are predictable, unlike natural phenomena such as sunspot emissions which strike the Earth. They make beautiful aurora in the night sky, but have destroyed power networks. We are vulnerable as we are totally dependent on electrical power, electronics, and satellites. Major solar emissions that intersect our Earths orbit are inevitable, and they can cause a total loss of power in advanced societies, including the destruction of satellites. The consequences are so horrendous that few people wish to consider them.

The tangible benefits of technological progress are wonderful, but are matched by irreversible damage to our global resources. To support almost eight billion people, our attempts to provide sufficient food are made with limited regard to the land or other creatures, and we have destroyed cultures and hundreds of languages. Crop yields and health care have advanced with the aid of drugs and chemicals but they are not, and cannot be, confined to their original locations. Food and water supplies are seriously contaminated with a cocktail of chemicals and drugs which no earlier civilization has ever experienced. Despite warnings and research, the potential for allergies, ill health, and mutagenic and fertility changes are ignored by the majority. Humans have always been concerned with the present, self-interest, and profit. This is why we have advanced. The difference now is that we have outgrown our potential resources.

Technologies isolate many people from society, especially the poor or elderly. Our dependence on computers offers an obvious example as the changing systems are expensive or too complex for such people. Instead of benefitting them, they are side-lined. Further, the technologies are invariably designed by, and for, the young, who cannot appreciate how age has reduced sight, sensitivity to pale colours in display contrast, or manual dexterity. Lack of understanding can equally increase vulnerability to computer scams on their data and money. Technology is spawning an exponential growth in cyber-crime. This is globally running at many billions of dollars per year, and steeply rising.

I am highlighting dangers of new technologies that are often unexpected and unforeseen. They are hidden by very positive aspects of new science, but are placing advanced civilizations in danger of a sudden and total collapse. My comments are not anti-technology, but are intended to raise awareness of our vulnerability to the dangers that exist. It is absolutely essential that we recognise this and actively make contingency planning to minimise undesirable consequences. There is urgency, otherwise advanced civilizations will crash within decades. Over exploitation of resources can be addressed if we have the political will. It needs governments with intelligence to recognise that there are natural disasters, such as the sunspot emissions, that are inevitable. These can strikeat any time, and we must have contingency measures in place.

Featured Image credit: Satellite by PIRO4D. CC0 Public Domain viaPixabay.

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How dangerous is technology? - OUPblog (blog)

Formula 1 is now capable of delivering broadcasts directly to internet users following tests carried out in 2016.

Work carried out by Tata Communications in conjunction with Formula One Management, which included a test run at last year's Singapore Grand Prix, has proved that the technology is now in place for 'Over the top' broadcasts, more commonly known as 'OTT'.

This would allow for F1 action to be broadcast direct to a viewer via the internet, rather than requiring access to a particular television channel, which has been F1's mode of delivery for decades.

Tata's managing director of F1 business, Mehul Kapadia, said a lot of effort has gone into removing the delay often associated with watching something live through an internet connection.

"One of the challenges that OTT has faced in the past is that what you see on your television versus what you see on your iPad or phone would not be synced up," he told Autosport.

"That was the one big technology challenge that we have worked on solving, and demonstrating that we can do it.

"This was something we ran at the Singapore race and I would say the technology is now there to do it."

However, F1 is unlikely to witness a quick shift to OTT as its main form of broadcast, with TV companies still paying high fees for exclusive rights.

Kapadia added: "OTT has a couple of answers needed from a commercial standpoint.

"It is a commercial challenge about whether sports franchises want to directly reach to consumers and then not have the scale that comes to them from broadcasters."

While new F1 owner Liberty Media is unlikely to be able to create a shift in the championship's TV model in the short term, Kapadia expects plenty of areas to improve for fans in terms of the viewing experience.

"Loads of opportunities are still there, and there are so many things that we can work on," he added.

"The entire digital transformation that is happening, whether it is the way we work or the way we look at the sport, or how we interact with the sport when you are at the race track or at the stadium.

"Whether you are watching football, F1 or cricket, the entertainment value is coming from being immersive and closer to the sport.

"While some part of that immersion has been solved by what sort of data you can get on your second screen, fundamentally your primary viewing experience, irrespective of the screen size, needs to give you more immersion, more choice in terms of how you want to view it, and a higher degree of what data points you now want to look at.

"We are looking at a 360-degree digital transformation that is going to happen, and all of it catering for fans."

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Formula 1 now capable of 'internet' broadcasts with new technology - autosport.com

Forbes

A New Angel Investing Platform Connects Deep Technology And Science Startups With Capital Forbes There are two stories that have come across my radar in the past year that have reinforced many the things that frustrate me about tech startups and venture capital: the well-known story of Stanford-dropout Elizabeth Holmes and the implosion of life ...

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A New Angel Investing Platform Connects Deep Technology And Science Startups With Capital - Forbes

February 13, 2017 SIAT graduate student Azadeh Foirghani demonstrates the Flex N Feel glove. Credit: Simon Fraser University

Long-distance couples can share a walk, watch movies together, and even give each other a massage, using new technologies being developed in Carman Neustaedter's Simon Fraser University lab.

It's all about feeling connected, says Neustaedter, an associate professor in SFU's School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT). Student researchers in his Surrey campus-based Connections Lab are working on myriad solutions.

Among them, researchers have designed a pair of interconnected gloves called Flex-N-Feel. When fingers 'flex' in one glove, the actions are transmitted to a remote partner wearing the other. The glove's tactile sensors allow the wearer to 'feel' the movements.

To capture the flex actions, the sensors are attached to a microcontroller. The sensors provide a value for each bend, and are transmitted to the 'feel' glove using a WiFi module.

The sensors are also placed strategically on the palm side of the fingers in order to better feel the touch. A soft-switch on both gloves also allows either partner to initiate the touch.

"Users can make intimate gestures such as touching the face, holding hands, and giving a hug," says Neustaedter. "The act of bending or flexing one's finger is a gentle and subtle way to mimic touch."

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The gloves are currently a prototype and testing continues. While one set of gloves enables one-way remote touch between partners, Neustaedter says a second set could allow both to share touches at the same time.

Other projects also focus on shared experiences, including a virtual reality video conferencing system that lets one "see through the eyes" of a remote partner, and another that enables users to video-stream a remote partner's activities to a long-distance partner at home (called Be With Me).

Meanwhile the researchers are also studying how next-generation telepresence robots can help unite couples and participate in activities together.

They've embedded a robot, designed by Suitable Technologies, into several Vancouver homes. There, it connects to countries around the world, including India and Singapore. Researchers continue to monitor how the robot is used. One long-distance couple plans a Valentine's Day 'date' while one partner is in Vancouver, and the other, on Vancouver Island.

"The focus here is providing that connection, and in this case, a kind of physical body," says Neustaedter, who has designed and built eight next-generation telepresence systems for families, and is author of Connecting Families: The Impact of New Communication Technologies on Domestic Life (2012). He has also spent more than a decade studying workplace collaborations over distance, including telepresence attendance at international conferences.

"Long-distance relationships are more common today, but distance don't have to mean missing out on having a physical presence and sharing space," says Neustaedter. "If people can't physically be together, we're hoping to create the next best technological solutions."

Explore further: Review: High-tech gloves work as advertised

Connected wearables. It's a fancy term for gadgets built into clothing or accessories you wear like a smartwatch or fitness monitor or even a Bluetooth headset.

A 'smart glove' that translates sign language from hand gestures to visual text on a screen and audible dialogue has been developed by a Goldsmiths, University of London student. She's now working on an app to enable real-time ...

(Phys.org)Google has been granted a patent for devices and methods for getting information with one's hands. Their patent is titled "Seeing with your Hand."

Watching 'box-sets' and movies together can improve relationship quality and commitment, particularly in couples who don't share friends, according to research from the University of Aberdeen.

Rice University engineering students are working to make virtual reality a little more real with their invention of a glove that allows a user to feel what they're touching while gaming.

People improve their performance more when they practise with a partner rather than on their own, according to a new study.

I'll bet you don't have one of these at home.

Long-distance couples can share a walk, watch movies together, and even give each other a massage, using new technologies being developed in Carman Neustaedter's Simon Fraser University lab.

The Google Chromebook, a type of stripped-down laptop, isn't a practical mobile device for many peoplemostly because it basically turns into an expensive paperweight whenever it can't find a Wi-Fi connection.

Reliability measures of electrical grid has risen to a new norm as it involves physical security and cybersecurity. Threats to either can trigger instability, leading to blackouts and economic losses.

Researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea will be working to develop a new battery, using abundant and readily available seawater.

Microsoft virtual assistant Cortana began holding people to their promises on Thursday.

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Technology puts 'touch' into long-distance relationships - Phys.Org

A perennial challenge for CFOs is finding the right balance between spending and investing without hampering productivity and competitiveness. In the mobile age, this balancing act is more important than ever if companies want to stay one step ahead of disruptors. In the age of digital business, cost optimization takes on new dimensions. The pressure to remain competitive and invest in digital initiatives is increasing across industries, according to a February 2016 Gartner report1.

Cost-optimization strategies must include IT and business initiatives to make sure investments are maximized for long-term growth and profits. In this effort, next-generation technology such as machine learning becomes a critical partner. Theres an old saying, dont be penny wise and pound foolish, says Steven Kimbrough, Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions. Instead of focusing on cost minimization, what youre doing with cost optimization is looking at the bigger picture. Youre taking a wider, broader look. Such a viewpoint is critical if a company wishes to keep growing, because myopic actions like sweeping cuts can hurt the firms future if it means losing experienced workers and gutting operational units.

A perennial challenge for CFOs is finding the right balance between spending and investing without hampering productivity and competitiveness.

In cost optimization, the role of technology is clear, Kimbrough adds. It provides management with more data and analysis so executives can make the best decisions possible for sustainable growth. The broader and longer viewpoint also encourages experimentation because it gives the company more time, wherewithal and organizational room to try new things since not all initiatives succeed. What you want to do is set up the right portfolio, some of which can yield something new.

Suprio Sengupta, senior vice president and global delivery head, infrastructure and cloud computing at NTT DATA Services, says that cost optimization is also about understanding how you could do more with what you already have. As the company maximizes the use of its assets, it gains efficiency and productivity. An obvious outcome from cost optimization is that you become more competitive.

Ways to optimize with technology include automating processes, such as using robotics in manufacturing. Process improvements also could include adoption of cloud platforms where businesses benefit from efficiency and scalability. For example, an engineer managing 200 servers could expand his purview to 20,000 servers with software tools available in the cloud.

In such a software-defined environment, you dont manage each of the elements individually, but manage all of those by a software-defined tool, Sengupta says. He recommends that it is critical to create more of a conscious culture in a firm that looks at and refreshes processes regularly with an eye for optimization.

An obvious outcome from cost optimization is that you become more competitive.Suprio Sengupta, NTT DATA Services

Data analytics is another tool that aids cost optimization. For example, it can help companies determine where to cut costs and personnel as well as identify areas ripe for investment. Machine-learning, as a facet of artificial intelligence, also boosts optimization by being able to automatically detect and bring software fixes to points of inefficiency in operations, reducing human error and the need for human intervention.

While earlier generations of these solutions, such as auto-healing or self-healing technologies, also triggered automatic fixes to problems without requiring human intervention, they operated in an environment where the business logic is static, says Sengupta. For example, they can detect and repair a browser malfunction on a computer so the user does not have to contact the companys call center. But thats where it usually ends.

In contrast, machine-learning solutions continuously evolve. They begin with a default set of business rules but track changes in the operating environment to provide up-to-date solutions. Such software tools use data analytics to identify inefficiencies in operations, and fix recurring patterns of malfunctions or weak links with continually refreshed learning from operational data.

Machine-learning and Energy Savings

Machine-learning uses data to make predictions and inferences on aspects that contribute to outcomes, says Rahul Mangharam, a professor at the University of Pennsylvanias department of electrical and systems engineering. People are trying to figure out relationships between different factors that contribute to costs and performance, and how they could maintain the same performance while reducing costs.

People are trying to figure out relationships between different factors that contribute to costs and performance, and how they could maintain the same performance while reducing costs.Rahul Mangharam, University of Pennsylvania

Mangharam uses machine-learning to help achieve energy savings across 185 university buildings. Those edifices pay electric bills of $28 million annually for using an average of 70 megawatts a day enough to power about a thousand homes. His tool is DR-Advisor, a data-driven demand response recommendation system that he and others created at the university.

DR-Advisor analyzes energy usage data from each building, overlaying that with other data, such as weather patterns or activities conducted within those buildings. It tracks more than 220,000 knobs, or control points that measure indicators such as temperatures and pressure in campus buildings.

That exercise allows DR-Advisor to predict energy usage by the hour in each building and advise facilities managers about which knobs to tweak to increase efficiency. In pilot trials at one university building this past summer, DR-Advisors tools helped cut the usual four-month energy bill of $125,000 by more than a third, or $45,000. Plans are to extend those trials to more university buildings in the near future, says Mangharam.

DR-Advisor is also looking at using its technology in industrial settings such as refineries and boiler plants. For example, it could help a power company understand the extent to which it could use lower-grade fuel, which spews more carbon dioxide, before it begins to attract penalties from regulators and books higher costs, says Mangharam. Consumer and industrial products conglomerate Honeywell is in talks with DR-Advisor to use its machine-learning tools in industrial buildings.

Interpretability is understanding why machine-learning tools made certain choices, looking backwards from the results they generated. Provenance is the historical record of the data and its origins.

As an evolving technology, machine-learning has its share of limitations. Current research is focused on the big challenges of interpretability and provenance, says Mangharam. Interpretability is understanding why machine-learning tools made certain choices, looking backwards from the results they generated. Provenance is the historical record of the data and its origins. Thats because machine-learning in some ways is like a black box, where it is unclear why it makes these choices in cost optimization, such as in the University of Pennsylvania experiment, Mangharam says.

Global Crisis Management

Todays CFOs are embracing cost optimization as a formal objective that is continuously pursued. For example, instead of mindless cost cutting by reducing headcount, a technology services provider could use nonlinear ways to improve productivity, Sengupta says. These would include automation of certain processes and re-evaluating the existing mix of typically costlier onshore engineers and less expensive offshore employees for maximum cost efficiency. Often we find costlier people doing relatively simple work, says Sengupta.

But as companies use technology to control costs, they should not allow that to weaken their competitiveness. For example, heavy layoffs may leave an organization understaffed in crisis situations. Here, centrally-managed global crisis management teams could help them stay prepared, advises Sengupta.

Elsewhere, technology interventions can lead to unintended consequences. Data analytics, for example, certainly enables firms to achieve process-related improvements but not necessarily with brand new innovation. That was the key finding of a recent research paper by Lynn Wu and Lorin Hitt, both professors in Whartons department of operations, information and decisions.

If data on existing processes is analyzed efficiently, it can help firms productivity.Lynn Wu, Wharton

Their research tracked how data analysis and IT skills influenced innovation and process-oriented practices among 330 large firms between 1987 and 2007. If data on existing processes is analyzed efficiently, it can help improve firms productivity, says Wu. However, the research did not find a similar, positive effect of data analytics on innovation.

Further, the Wharton experts tracked patent filings by the firms they studied and found that data analytics could have a negative effect on pursuing riskier paths of innovation. If a firm finds that data-related innovation is cheaper to generate, it might focus on that and not pursue truly novel innovation or risky innovation because that is harder and the returns are uncertain, says Wu.

In the end, technology brings substantial cost-optimization benefits, but it is not a substitute for human judgment at least for now. Truly creative things happen through unique judgments, Wu says. You need to have leaps in imagination. She points to the Wright Brothers invention of the airplane after watching birds fly. Maybe one day, machines and artificial intelligence could do that.

Summary:

Technology plays an important part as organizations try to manage costs while improving competitiveness. Emerging technologies such as machine-learning promise agility, scalability and opportunities to prune costs, but adoption is still in the early stages. To gain full benefits from cost optimization, companies must also institute the right culture and process disciplines.

Key Takeaways

1. Gartner, Cost Optimization in the Age of Digital Business, 29 February 2016.

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The CFO Imperative: Next-Gen Technology Drives Cost Optimization - Knowledge@Wharton

In the wake of North Korea's most recent ballistic missile test the Pentagon is strongly condemning the North Korean program as "a clear grave threat to our national security."

North Korea has continued to test a variety of mid-range and long range ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions barring the development of such technologies.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency described the missile launched Sunday as a Pukguksong-2 missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon. While that claim cannot be proven, the test indicated that North Korea is making progress in using solid booster rockets to launch its newer missiles.

Though the missile was never determined to be a threat to the United States, Davis said the U.S. military has the means of defending itself and its allies from a North Korean missile threat.

Here is a look at North Korea's ballistic missile technologies and the progress they've made in recent years.

What was launched this weekend?

A U.S. official told ABC News that, this weekend, North Korea launched a solid rocket fueled KN-11 missile that is described as an intermediate range missile than can travel 1,400 nautical miles.

It was the first land-based test of a missile designed to be launched from a submarine. It was successfully tested in an underwater launch last year on August 23, though not from a submarine.

According to the official, the KN-11 missile was airborne for 14 minutes on a vertical trajectory and a distance of 310 miles into the Sea of Japan.

The two successful launches indicate North Korea is making progress in developing solid rocket fuel technology, a more stable propellant than the liquid rocket fuel North Korea has used in its other medium and long-range missiles.

The use of solid rocket fuels means North Korea will need less time to prepare making it difficult for American satellites to track potential launches.

Improving Missile Technology

Early this year North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that his country was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). No such test has occurred yet, but the announcement marks North Korea's growing confidence in its missile programs. North Korea has stated publicly that its goal is to develop a miniaturized nuclear warhead small enough to be placed atop a ballistic missile capable of striking South Korea, Japan or the United States.

North Korea conducted 21 missile tests in 2016, the most significant being launch tests of the mobile launched Musudan mid-range missile and the KN-11 submarine launched missile.

The liquid fueled Mususdan was tested for the first time in 2016, but only one of eight launches was a success with the rest ending as spectacular failures.

The solid rocket fueled KN-11 is a missile designed to be launched from a submarine, but this weekend's test now shows the missile can also be launched from land. The success of the rocket fueled system advances North Korea's capabilities and could make future launches harder to detect.

The KN-08 and KN-14 missiles are larger mobile launched ICBM's potentially capable of reaching the continental United States, but North Korea has yet to test the missiles that have only been seen on parade in Pyongyang.

But North Korea has already demonstrated success in developing long-range rocket technology. Last February, the launch of an Unha 3 successful placed a satellite in orbit. American officials have said the satellite tests are used by North Korea to develop its long range ballistic capabilities.

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A look at North Korea's missile launches and technology - ABC News

Security

IBM Watson-powered cognitive security operations center. (Credit: IBM)

Remember the scene when the Avengers are in the process of breaking into a Hydra base in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and virtual assistant Jarvis informs Tony Stark, "The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken"? That really isn't much different from a security analyst making the announcement to his on-campus CISO that a dorm of students has been hit by Locky malware. However, in a vision hinted at by IBM as it officially announced the availability of Watson for Cyber Security, one crucial addition would be extra help so that everybody on the security team would know exactly how to respond to the new threat.

The new Watson security technology is being integrated into IBM's new cognitive security operations center (SOC) platform, which combines the cognitive abilities of Watson with on-the-ground security operations to help cybersecurity teams detect and fight threats across endpoints, networks, users and the cloud.

Several components come into play. IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is a new app that taps into Watson's "corpus" of cybersecurity data, both structured and unstructured, and then correlates it with local security incidents to augment investigations. Based on the information the app gathers, it formulates a threat query to deliver to Watson for additional processing. The advisor program is available in the IBM Security App Exchange.

Among the users of QRadar Advisor is the University of Brunswick, which was one of eight institutions chosen last year by IBM to help the company adapt Watson for use in cybersecurity work. Computer science students at that time were enlisted to help Watson consume and process massive amounts of cybersecurity data, including two decades of security research, details on eight million spam and phishing attacks and more than 100,000 documented vulnerabilities. Now UNB, along with California Polytechnic and other organizations, is testing Watson's ability to aid in directly fighting cybercrime.

IBM is also pushing its Global X-Force Command Center work, which sets up managed service "war rooms" for staying on top of cyber threats. Those operations can be on-premise or hosted by IBM and run through the cloud. As part of that line, the company introduced a Watson-powered chatbot, which it uses to interact with its customers. According to the company, clients may ask Watson questions via instant messaging about their security posture or network configurations or execute commands, such as reassigning a ticket to a new support person.

Now it has also begun testing additional technology, code-named "Havyn" (for "haven"), which provides a voice-powered security assistant, a la Jarvis. Havyn was created by IBM "master inventor" Michael Spisak, who worked on the tool with his 11-year-old son. Spisak had been chatting with Watson through the keyboard when his son asked how come he couldn't just talk to Watson. Experimentation with a low-cost Raspberry Pi microcomputer and equally inexpensive 7-inch touchscreen lead to the development of the voice operation, which allowed Spisak to ask the system verbal questions about cybersecurity. Now it's being tested in the field to provide security analysts with updates on new threats that have appeared, along with recommended remediation steps.

The company has also introduced BigFix Detect, a new endpoint detection and response (EDR) program.

"The Cognitive SOC is now a reality for clients looking to find an advantage against the growing legions of cybercriminals and next generation threats," said Denis Kennelly, vice president of development and technology in the security division, in a prepared statement. "Our investments in Watson for Cybersecurity have given birth to several innovations in just under a year. Combining the unique abilities of man and machine intelligence will be critical to the next stage in the fight against advanced cybercrime."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at dian@dischaffhauser.com or on Twitter @schaffhauser.

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IBM Adds Voice Help to Cybercrime-Fighting Watson-Powered Weaponry - Campus Technology

U.S. Steel broke out of a base Monday as steel stocks rallied broadly. (makspogonii-Fotolia/stock.adobe.com)

The major indexes held gains in afternoon trading Monday, as key leading stocks broke out of bases, including U.S. Steel (X) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM).

The Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 climbed 0.5% each while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7%. All three traded near session highs. Small caps lagged, as the Russell 2000 pared gains and showed a 0.3% increase.

Volume was tracking lower on the NYSE and higher on the Nasdaq compared with the same time Friday.

Steel stocks rallied broadly on news that China is considering sweeping production cuts in steel and aluminum to combat smog. Shares of steel and other materials are among the so-called Trump trade, companies in infrastructure and manufacturing that stand to benefit from the president's protectionist and construction policies.

In the group, U.S. Steel broke out of a cup-without-handle base, clearing the 39.24 buy point in volume 50% more than usual. IBD's steel industry group is in the top 10 of 197 groups, rising sharply in the past couple of weeks. Steel alloys and mining stocks were lagging badly, however.

The fiber optics industry group led the market, up nearly 5%. Finisar (FNSR) is a group leader to watch as the stock rapidly forms the right side of a base. The group was one of the hottest last summer and is showing renewed strength.

Fabrinet (FN), a related company, broke out of a double-bottom base with a 45.30 buy point in heavy trading. The relative strength line has not made a new high, which detracts somewhat from an otherwise strong breakout. Fabrinet has a nearly perfect Composite Rating of 98.

Taiwan Semiconductor broke out of a flat base with a 31.71 buy point. An alternate entry at 31.55 also exists on the chart. Volume was about one-third above average. Despite several down weeks in heavy trading during the 16-week basing process, the chart shows signs of institutional accumulation.

Mobileye (MBLY) broke out of a cup-with-handle base in huge volume. The maker of auto-safety and self-driving car technology struck a partnership with Volkswagen (VLKAY) to develop autonomous cars.

Mobileye shares made a good run from February to August of last year as the development of self-driving vehicles got more serious. The stock had been basing since an Aug. 23 peak.

Regional banks were moving well. Seacoast Banking (SBCF), which serves Florida, broke out of a flat base. The stock is already extended from the 23.10 buy point. Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) cleared the 50.82 buy point of a flat base and remains in buy range. Both stocks are part of IBD's Sector Leaders.

Software and other technology groups were among the top 12 in today's trading. Consumer stocks such as department stores, discount chains and shoemakers also led.

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The electronics sector has risen to No. 2 among 33 sectors. InterDigital broke out Monday.

5:05 PM ET The electronics sector recently moved up to No. 2 among 33 sectors. On Monday, two stocks from that sector broke...

5:05 PM ET The electronics sector recently moved up to No. 2 among...

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Market Higher As 4 Key Steel, Technology Stocks Top Buy Points - Investor's Business Daily

Merry Christmas. Happy birthday. Happy Darwin Day?

In the long list of observed holidays, Darwin Day may seem like a weird one to celebrate. But as the father of evolutionary thought, our buddy Charlie has given us plenty to consider, and changed everything we understand about ourselves and our world.

TNW Conference won best European Event 2016 for our festival vibe. See what's in store for 2017.

While this is a great day to sit back, grab a copy of Origin of Species, and revel in all that humanity has done for science and reason, this post is written to do quite the opposite.

Instead of diving into Darwins discovery of natural selection, Id rathertouch upon how the advent of modern technology has made us dumber. Not in a blatant Darwin Awards aspect, but in a more subtle and possibly more disastrous way.

While the internet has only been around some 20-odd years, its hard to imagine life without it. I live abroad, but am able to stay in touch with friends and family across theglobe. And in a world as vast as ours, the net has given us instant access to a myriad of information otherwise unlikely.

Make no mistake, Im not demonizing the Web, but our dependence on it has a dark side its constant distractions have turned our thoughts into a scattered and superficial mess.

You cant go a minute without checking your textsor see whos favorited your most recent tweet. I, myself, have checked my social media accounts four times while writing this. Yetwe have no idea how we got to this point.

As Roman philosopher Seneca put it: To be everywhere is to be nowhere.

Its not the internet thats to blame, but our own craving for distraction.

When were constantly distracted and interrupted, our brains cant forge the neural connections that give distinctiveness and depth to our thinking.

In an experiment at Stanford University, it was determined that our thoughts become disjointed with increased distractions and multitasking. As such, were much less able to distinguish important information from the trivial stuff.

You can barely navigate the internet without coming across fake news. Not exactly sure when the flair for the dramatic became the norm, but when clickbait titles were no longer shiny and new, publishers had to resort to other creative tactics for traffic. This has led to the new obsession of 100 percent misleading news.

While people are quick to blame the publishers, its the millions of people who cant be bothered to pick up a newspaper or decent online source. Not to mention those who cant tell the difference between Breitbart and The Associated Press.

If you cant name your two US senators, you are not all of a sudden an expert in governmental proceedings. This is just one way lies and conspiracy theories routinely gain credibility. Add a bit of bias to the mix, and youve got the mathematical equation to why any false new story is persuasive.

Thats exactly why fact-checking doesnt work anymore. As Susan Glasser, former editor of Politico, explains Even fact-checking perhaps the most untruthful candidate of our lifetime didnt work; the more news outlets did it, the less the facts resonated.

Not only is fake news damaging to the people its targeted against Pizzagate didnt just stay a funny name to a fake conspiracy, it motivated a lone gunman to enter a restaurant with a loaded weapon.

Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel wrote that only when we pay close attention to information are we able to associate it meaningfully and systematically with knowledge already well established in memory. Such associations are essential to mastering complex concepts and thinking critically.

The richness of our thoughts, our memories and even our personalities hinges on our ability to focus the mind and sustain concentration.

Unfortunately, we now live in a world where you dont need to think to do anything. Weve become dependent on the internet to collect information instead of looking to ourselves to problem solve. Everything from news to opinions and locations are just a Google search away.

As technology advances and social media algorithms continue to only show things it perceives youll like, you will continue to live in an echo-chamber of your opinion and those that think exactly like you.

Its up to us as a society to keep ourselves informed and educated, not be dependent upon technology to do it for us.

Shh. Here's some distraction

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Thanks to advances and breakthroughs in hardware, software and artificial intelligence, eye tracking technology has progressed immensely in the past year, and is now drawing the attention of tech industrys biggest players.

The acquisition of eye tracking companies EyeFluence and Eye Tribe by Google and Facebook respectively, as well as the move toward mobile eye tracking by Tobii Tech are prelude to how human-computer interaction is bound to be transformed in the near future.

Last year, Facebook's VP of Design thought the TNW Conference main stage was the best she'd ever been on.

From monitors and laptops to smartphones and VR headsets, as eye tracking tech slowly finds its way into more and more devices, here are four key areas that will likely be immensely affected by the technology that measures and responds to human eye motion.

2016 was certainly a huge year for VR, with major product releases such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. But VR is all about immersion, and in this respect, eye tracking technology is likely to be a crucial component of next generation headsets.

A VR headset without eye tracking will assume that I am speaking to the person in front of my forehead, says Oscar Werner, VP of Tobii. Our real interest is where I am looking, and there is often a difference between where I look and the direction of my head. VR headsets need to take your gaze into account be become truly immersive.

The use of eye tracking technology will enable VR rendering engines to eliminate current graphics distortions caused from not being able to calculate gaze direction, Werner says.

Moreover, eye tracking is a key element in foveated rendering, the technique which allocates more resources to the area under the direct gaze of the user, and renders the rest of a frame in lower quality. The savings in memory and resources is enormous (Werner approximates at a 30 to 70 percent decrease in the number of pixels drawn) and could enable manufacturers and developers to create realistic quality graphics with much less processing power.

Fove, a Kickstarter-funded project, is the first VR headset to have embedded eye tracking. Google and Oculus are also working on incorporating eye tracking into their next line of VR products. And eye tracking company SMI is partnering with VR manufacturers to bring the technology to both standalone VR HMDs and smartphone slot-ins.

Credit: Amy RosenbergThe biggest challenge gamers have to overcome is to make their intentions known to computers and consoles. And a large part of that is to make the computer understand where were looking at. eye tracking has the potential to remove that hurdle, which is one of the most challenging aspects of engaging with games.

Considerable efforts in the development of peripherals is allocated to easing the navigation of gaming worlds and interfaces. With eye tracking navigation and interaction with gaming interface will be as easy as looking in the direction or at the item of choice.

Whether you want to hack at an object, aim at a target in an FPS, designate a location for your troops to displace, or simply change the direction of the point-of-vue camera, eye tracking will make it a whole lot easier to interact with games. This can potentially be the end of controller and mouse handling.

Tobii has already integrated the technology into several games, including Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Watch Dogs 2. While eye tracking integration will probably make games less challenging, it will pave the way for creating faster paced games.

Aside from that, eye tracking can make game UI interfaces less cluttered and create less intrusive interfaces. For instance, maps, control panels and other UI elements can remain hidden, providing gamers with a richer view of the game environment, and only become visible visible only when the users gaze is directed toward them.

You can also expect the next generation of games to feature gaze-aware objects and characters. For instance, you might incite a fight at a tavern if you stare too long at some surly mercenary, or at his purse maybe.

Eye tracking can also revamp the entire advertising industry. In their current state, ads are measured by impressions, which is not a very precise metric.

The advertising industry is currently in the midst of some major upheaval when it comes to universal standards for measuring ad impact, says Dominic Porco, CEO at Impax Media, a digital advertising company. The whole concept of viewability is now being redefined to make more sense in the age of ad blockers and bot traffic.

When eye tracking becomes an inherent part of all computing devices, ad campaigns can also take into account the amount of actual eye views that ads get. Thatll take a while to become reality, but until then, eye tracking is already showing promise in other fields where digital ads are involved.

Impax Media is using eye tracking technology along with other computer vision techniques to collect attention metrics from its proprietary in-store advertising screens, called Tru View. Were big believers that the future of the ad industry is going to be grounded in attention metrics, as opposed to impressions, and eye tracking is, hands down, the best way to track attention, Porco says.

Thanks to eye tracking technology, Tru View measures total views and view durations for any piece of content in the ad loop. Leveraging other image analysis tools, Tru View also extracts the age range and gender of viewers. The data helps advertisers and location partners to assess audience interest in various messaging angles, and to correlate this information with parameters like location, timing and demographics.

User information collection is always a gray area that that falls across privacy concerns and regulations. Porco says that the technology avoids collecting any data that would uniquely identify viewers, such as the space between multiple facial features.

A large part of the interaction that customers make with products and services is through their gaze. By measuring customer sight, eye tracking is opening up unprecedented possibilities for both lab and real world neuromarketing tests.

It is important for market researchers to evaluate peoples interactions and expectations across the whole omnichannel customer journey and its key touchpoints, says Simone Benedetto, UX researcher at TSW, an Italy-based market research lab.

With eye tracking, Benedetto explains, instead of relying on surveys, youll be able to collect objective data from the eyes of users while theyre interacting with a product or service.

TSW uses mobile eye tracking units along with other wearables in order to collect customer metrics on a wide variety of products and services, both digital (such as online ads, mobile apps, websites, software and device control panels) and physical (such as print material, product packages, cars, home furniture and retail stores).

Gaining insights on natural interaction with products and services enables researchers to identify real usability problems and frustration points and make decisions that improve customer satisfaction and engagement.

From my perspective theres a huge market behind the exploitation of eye tracking into UX-neuromarketing investigations, Benedetto says. Eye tracking allows the implicit measurement of user behavior, and turns that measurement into quantitative objective data. We have only relied on subjective data for years, and its definitely time for a change.

As sight is perhaps the most used human sense, being able to transform it into a human-computer interaction Medium can have huge implications for the future of computing.

Werner says he believes a new paradigm of PC usage will emerge, where eye tracking is a fifth modality that, in combination with touch screens, mouse/touchpad, voice and keyboard, will make computers much more productive and intuitive.

Gaze always precedes any kind of action that you do with mouse, keyboard and voice, so much smarter user interactions will be designed using these technologies, he says.

This post is part of our contributor series. It is written and published independently of TNW.

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Eye tracking technology will change these 4 domains - The Next Web