It is a season of hubris for Obamacare’s critics. The website is behind schedule, the administration turns out to have misled the public when it insisted nobody would have to change plans, and the roughly 5 percent of Americans with plans on the individual-health-insurance market have been thrown into a panic amid a storm of cancellation notices. This is certainly a political victory for the Republican Party, which has turned the page from its shutdown debacle and found a batch of investigative strings to pull on, administration officials to torment, and new ways to throw red-state Democrats on the defensive. Weeks like this one will continue through this year, and at least for a while into the next one.
Ever since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple watchers have been quick to point out signs the company is in decline. Others mourn the loss of Apple's magic, but argue that innovation is still alive -- it just can't keep up with overhyped expectations. "What does it say about our odd modern age that an electronics company motivated primarily by profit could inspire a tribal fanaticism that most religions, sports teams, and politicians only dream of?" Lydia Depillis asks in New Republic. "And should we be so surprised when that brand fails to meet our expectations?"
One of users' key expectations of Apple has been that it delivers products that work -- elegantly, out of the box, without pain, without compatibility or performance issues. Consistently meeting that expectation has justified the premium prices the company charges. So it's this recent spate of technical issues -- more than any angst over the lost magic of a Jobs-led launch event -- that spells trouble for Apple. Whether as a result of rushing products to market, or finding it harder to issue trouble-free updates across the ecosystem of laptops, tablets, and smartphones it has created, Apple must execute better or risk user disenchantment.
In addition to the spate of technology issues hitting Apple products is the troubling news that the company is suppressing discussion of these bugs on its support forums. InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp writes that Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons and friend to Aaron Swartz, "found himself being thrown into Apple's memory hole this week when he tried to draw attention to a way in which some Apple users could regain Wi-Fi functionality in the wake of iOS 7's problems." Lessig's post informing U.K. users of their warranty rights vanished from the forum, as did a subsequent re-post.
"When did it become inappropriate to inform people about legally protected rights related to technical issues?" Lessig declared in his blog. "Is talking about legal rights the new porn?"
ZDnet's Blue Violet writes:
Apple's policy to remove comments that lend legitimate help is little more than a display of censorship for the internet thought leader, who clearly understands that it is Apple's right to censor its forum users.
But it shows that Apple is well aware of the problem and the critical mass being reached over iOS 7's serious technical problems -- and is both refusing to help and actively removing solutions it simply doesn't like.
A parade of technical problems plus censorship of discussion could add up to a lot of user disillusionment -- and real trouble for Apple.
And in another heavy-handed move, Apple is telling app developers they cannot use the gold iPhone 5s in their ads, citing marketing guidelines which developers must agree to if they want to sell their apps in the only allowed venue: Apple's App Store. It seems that gold iPhones are reserved for Apple's own television and print advertising campaigns. The company also requires that developers' ads which show the iPhone 5c use only the blue or white models. It's hard to imagine a good reason for these color mandates, other than control-freakishness.
Mayor Rob Ford walks past Halloween decorations on his way to talk to media at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford says he has no reason to step down despite police confirmation that they have seized a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
Mayor Rob Ford walks past Halloween decorations on his way to talk to media at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford says he has no reason to step down despite police confirmation that they have seized a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
Mayor Rob Ford talks to media at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford addresses media outside his office in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford says he has no reason to step down despite police confirmation that they have seized a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe.(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
These annotated video frame grab images provided by the Toronto Police Service on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, show Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, left, and his close friend, Alexander Lisi. Police say they rummaged through Ford's garbage and conducted a massive surveillance operation monitoring him and Lisi following drug use allegations. The marks seen on the images were drawn by the police. (AP Photo/Toronto Police Service via The Canadian Press)
This annotated video frame grab image provided by the Toronto Police Service on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, left, and his close friend, Alexander Lisi. Police say they rummaged through Ford's garbage and conducted a massive surveillance operation monitoring him and Lisi following drug use allegations. The marks seen on the images were drawn by the police. (AP Photo/Toronto Police Service via The Canadian Press)
TORONTO (AP) — Calls for the resignation of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford intensified after police said they had obtained a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe, discovered in a massive surveillance operation of a friend who is suspected of supplying the mayor with drugs.
Police said they did not have enough evidence to file charges against the mayor, who had claimed the video didn't exist and vowed not to resign, repeating the pledge Thursday.
Voters could have the final word on the strange career of the populist mayor whose travails have captivated and embarrassed Canadians for months. Ford has promised to run for a second term next year.
"I have no reason to resign," Ford told reporters with a smile, as his office welcomed visitors to check out its Halloween decorations Thursday.
The embattled mayor, who has been the butt of jokes on U.S. late night television, said he couldn't defend himself because the affair is part of a criminal investigation involving an associate, adding: "That's all I can say right now."
Ford faced allegations in May that he had been caught on video puffing from a glass crack pipe. Two reporters with the Toronto Star said they saw the video, but it has not been released publicly. Ford maintained he does not smoke crack and that the video did not exist.
Ford was elected mayor three years ago on a wave of discontent simmering in the city's outlying suburbs. Since then he has survived an attempt to remove him from office on conflict-of-interest charges and has appeared in the news for his increasingly odd behavior.
But the pressure ramped up on Thursday with all four major dailies in the city calling on Ford to resign.
Cheri DiNovo, a member of Ontario's parliament, tweeted: "Ford video nothing to celebrate Addiction is illness. Mayor please step down and get help?"
Police Chief Bill Blair said the video, recovered after being deleted from a computer hard drive, did not provide grounds to press charges against Ford.
Blair said the video of the mayor "depicts images that are consistent with those previously reported in the press."
"As a citizen of Toronto I'm disappointed," Blair said. "This is a traumatic issue for citizens of this city and the reputation of this city."
Blair said the video will come out when Ford's associate and occasional driver, Alexander Lisi, goes to trial on drug charges. Lisi now also faces extortion charges for trying to retrieve the recording from an unidentified person. Blair did not say who owned the computer containing the video.
Blair said authorities believed the video is linked to a home in Toronto, referred to by a confidential informant as a "crack house" in court documents in Lisi's drug case.
The prosecutor in the Lisi case released documents Thursday showing they had rummaged through Ford's garbage in search of evidence of drug use. They show that they conducted a massive surveillance operation monitoring the mayor and Lisi following drug use allegations.
The documents show that friends and former staffers of Ford were concerned that Lisi was "fuelling" the Toronto mayor's alleged drug use.
The police documents, ordered released by a judge, show Ford receiving packages from Lisi on several occasions.
"Lisi approached the driver's side of the Mayor's vehicle with a small white gift bag in hand; he then walked around to the passenger side and got on board," reads one document dated July 30, 2013. "After a few minutes Lisi exited the Escalade empty handed and walked back to his Range Rover."
Another dated July 28 says Lisi "constantly used counter surveillance techniques" when he met with Ford that day.
On August 13 documents say Lisi and Ford met and "made their way into a secluded area of the adjacent woods where they were obscured from surveillance efforts and stayed for approximately one hour."
Ford recently vouched for Lisi in a separate criminal case, praising his leadership skills and hard work in a letter filed with the court. The letter was part of a report prepared by a probation officer after Lisi was convicted of threatening to kill a woman.
Ford said previously that he was shocked when Lisi was arrested earlier this month, calling him a "good guy" and saying he doesn't abandon his friends.
The documents also say that Ford met Lisi through Payman Aboodowleh, a volunteer football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, where Ford coached the team while also serving as mayor. He told police he was "mad at Lisi because he was fuelling the mayor's drug abuse," the document says.
Ford's controversies range from the trivial to the serious: Walking face-first into a TV camera. Falling down during a photo op while pretending to play football. Being asked to leave an event for wounded war vets because he appeared intoxicated, according to the Toronto Star. Being forced to admit he was busted for marijuana possession in Florida in 1999, after repeated denials. Making rude gestures at Torontonians from his car.
"The mayor has said there wasn't a video," Toronto councilor Paula Fletcher said. "He has said there is a conspiracy against him. With Chief's Blair's press conference I think that's put to rest."
Councilor Joe Mihevc said he continues to be shocked by the "depth and revelations that are coming out."
"The mayor has to come clean and do it as soon as possible," Mihevc said. "He needs to talk honestly about his use of illicit drugs."
'Flipping the switch' reveals new compounds with antibiotic potential
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Michael Freitag freitagm@science.oregonstate.edu 541-737-4845 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that one gene in a common fungus acts as a master regulator, and deleting it has opened access to a wealth of new compounds that have never before been studied with the potential to identify new antibiotics.
The finding was announced today in the journal PLOS Genetics, in research supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.
Scientists succeeded in flipping a genetic switch that had silenced more than 2,000 genes in this fungus, the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Until now this had kept it from producing novel compounds that may have useful properties, particularly for use in medicine but also perhaps in agriculture, industry, or biofuel production.
"About a third of the genome of many fungi has always been silent in the laboratory," said Michael Freitag, an associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science. "Many fungi have antibacterial properties. It was no accident that penicillin was discovered from a fungus, and the genes for these compounds are usually in the silent regions of genomes.
"What we haven't been able to do is turn on more of the genome of these fungi, see the full range of compounds that could be produced by expression of their genes," he said. "Our finding should open the door to the study of dozens of new compounds, and we'll probably see some biochemistry we've never seen before."
In the past, the search for new antibiotics was usually done by changing the environment in which a fungus or other life form grew, and see if those changes generated the formation of a compound with antibiotic properties.
"The problem is, with the approaches of the past we've already found most of the low-hanging fruit, and that's why we've had to search in places like deep sea vents or corals to find anything new," Freitag said. "With traditional approaches there's not that much left to be discovered. But now that we can change the genome-wide expression of fungi, we may see a whole new range of compounds we didn't even know existed."
The gene that was deleted in this case regulates the methylation of histones, the proteins around which DNA is wound, Freitag said. Creating a mutant without this gene allowed new expression, or overexpression of about 25 percent of the genome of this fungus, and the formation of many "secondary metabolites," the researchers found.
The gene that was deleted, kmt6, encodes a master regulator that affects the expression of hundreds of genetic pathways, researchers say. It's been conserved through millions of years, in life forms as diverse as plants, fungi, fruit flies and humans.
The discovery of new antibiotics is of increasing importance, researchers say, as bacteria, parasites and fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to older drugs.
"Our studies will open the door to future precise 'epigenetic engineering' of gene clusters that generate bioactive compounds, e.g. putative mycotoxins, antibiotics and industrial feedstocks," the researchers wrote in the conclusion of their report.
###
Editor's Note: Digital images are available to illustrate this story:
A mutated fungus producing pigments: http://bit.ly/19SMdQy
A corn stem infected with Fusarium graminearum: http://bit.ly/1h0SZK8
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
'Flipping the switch' reveals new compounds with antibiotic potential
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Michael Freitag freitagm@science.oregonstate.edu 541-737-4845 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that one gene in a common fungus acts as a master regulator, and deleting it has opened access to a wealth of new compounds that have never before been studied with the potential to identify new antibiotics.
The finding was announced today in the journal PLOS Genetics, in research supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.
Scientists succeeded in flipping a genetic switch that had silenced more than 2,000 genes in this fungus, the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Until now this had kept it from producing novel compounds that may have useful properties, particularly for use in medicine but also perhaps in agriculture, industry, or biofuel production.
"About a third of the genome of many fungi has always been silent in the laboratory," said Michael Freitag, an associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science. "Many fungi have antibacterial properties. It was no accident that penicillin was discovered from a fungus, and the genes for these compounds are usually in the silent regions of genomes.
"What we haven't been able to do is turn on more of the genome of these fungi, see the full range of compounds that could be produced by expression of their genes," he said. "Our finding should open the door to the study of dozens of new compounds, and we'll probably see some biochemistry we've never seen before."
In the past, the search for new antibiotics was usually done by changing the environment in which a fungus or other life form grew, and see if those changes generated the formation of a compound with antibiotic properties.
"The problem is, with the approaches of the past we've already found most of the low-hanging fruit, and that's why we've had to search in places like deep sea vents or corals to find anything new," Freitag said. "With traditional approaches there's not that much left to be discovered. But now that we can change the genome-wide expression of fungi, we may see a whole new range of compounds we didn't even know existed."
The gene that was deleted in this case regulates the methylation of histones, the proteins around which DNA is wound, Freitag said. Creating a mutant without this gene allowed new expression, or overexpression of about 25 percent of the genome of this fungus, and the formation of many "secondary metabolites," the researchers found.
The gene that was deleted, kmt6, encodes a master regulator that affects the expression of hundreds of genetic pathways, researchers say. It's been conserved through millions of years, in life forms as diverse as plants, fungi, fruit flies and humans.
The discovery of new antibiotics is of increasing importance, researchers say, as bacteria, parasites and fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to older drugs.
"Our studies will open the door to future precise 'epigenetic engineering' of gene clusters that generate bioactive compounds, e.g. putative mycotoxins, antibiotics and industrial feedstocks," the researchers wrote in the conclusion of their report.
###
Editor's Note: Digital images are available to illustrate this story:
A mutated fungus producing pigments: http://bit.ly/19SMdQy
A corn stem infected with Fusarium graminearum: http://bit.ly/1h0SZK8
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| E-mail
Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The world’s first billionaire and by some measures the richest person in history, John D. Rockefeller, was once asked how much money was enough. He replied, “Just a little bit more.” Today’s most ambitious and innovative hundred-millionaires must know the feeling: You may be unimaginably rich to most, but hitting the billion-dollar mark—as Ev Williams will thanks to the Twitter IPO, and as Michael Kors likely has with the recent surge of his company stock—is an abracadabra moment. Over the next three weeks, Slate will pinpoint the places and industries where the next greatest entrepreneurs are most likely to cross that 10-figure benchmark in the near future.
Slate’s Moneybox columnist Matthew Yglesias begins by pondering why Sweden, bastion of Scandinavian socialism, outranks the United States, champion of no-holds-barred capitalism, in billionaires per capita. Future Tense lead blogger Will Oremus will profile Lyndon Rive, co-founder and CEO of pioneering clean-energy firm SolarCity. (Wildly successful entrepreneurship may run in Rive’s blood: His cousin is Tesla’s Elon Musk.) Brian Palmer, Slate’s resident Explainer, will consider whether or not the ability to manipulate humans’ gut flora—to make people thinner or healthier or able to digest wheat gluten—might mint a billionaire or two. Elsewhere we’ll explore industries from nanotechnology to geoengineering to fashion and—at the risk of getting ahead of ourselves—speculate on when we might ever see the world’s first trillionaire.
John D. Rockefeller also once said, “The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.” That may be sound investment advice, but rest assured that this series will be light on graphic violence.
Taking a little time to herself in the spooky gray weather of Halloween today (October 31), Cameron Diaz went on that journey that many find truly terrifying: staying fit!
"The Councilor" starlet was slim and sexy, dressed for a lengthy workout in a white visor and jacket, and sporting dark skinnies that accentuated every single one of her stunning curves as she ran through the parks of Boston.
In related news, the 41-year-old blondie is coming at us with a brand new movie called "The Other Women," set for release on April 25th of 2014, and directed by "The Notebook's" Nick Cassavetes.
According to the comedy's synopsis, "After realizing she is not her boyfriend's primary lover, a woman teams up with his wife and plots mutual revenge."
Someone should probably go make a Wikipedia page for the “Warby Parker model,” since it has rapidly become the go-to business strategy for online retail startups.
The latest addition to the genus Ecommerce Lowoverheadus is Greats, a men’s footwear brand that launched in August. The name derives from the ambition to put a fresh spin on the enduring designs in sneaker history. Although that might sound like copycat design, pretty much every shoe brand iterates on others’ designs; as with most menswear categories, the classics persist in one form or another.
Although their wares are manufactured in the same facilities as upscale lines like Lanvin and Balenciaga, the goal is to create high quality goods while keeping the price point low by cutting out retail overhead. The shoes are priced in the range of $39 to $190, and while early adopters will undoubtedly skew toward sneaker aficionados, the target audience is broad.
“We’re going to make shoes for men with feet,” co-founder Ryan Babenzien said.
Babenzien and his co-founder, Jon Buscemi, are career shoe guys. The former did branding and marketing at K-Swiss and Puma, while Buscemi already has founding another footwear brand, Gourmet Footwear, under his belt.
The company raised an angel round of $500,000 last April, at which point they hadn’t even opened a bank account, Babenzien said. They were pre-selling in beta until their launch on August 6 and only began shipping three weeks ago.
Like Warby, Greats got a lot of early attention from press, including the seal of cool-approval on GQ’s blog. Now the team is looking to raise its seed round.
More than anything, Greats is aiming to be a label, not a startup with a clever business model. When we spoke, Babenzien came back again and again to the idea of building a brand, and, more importantly, to making sure that the DNA of the product is readily recognizable to consumers from the get-go. (Lest we forget that, the site’s URL is greatsbrand.com.)
Greats launched with two styles in three colors each and will be rolling out six additional shoes over the course of the next year. Sneakers are a focus in the first batch, but they’ll also be adding styles like boots and boat shoes into the mix by the end of 2014.
At the moment, Greats’s profit margins are 60%, but the team thinks they can get them higher than that.
“I could have sold this for $120,” Babenzien said, gesturing at the $99 black leather sneakers he was wearing. “And nobody would have blinked. We wanted to make a real statement.”
Part of the team’s long-term roadmap is globalizing Greats. Babenzien said they have been seeing web traffic coming from France, England, Asia, Australia, and Canada.
“The culture of men’s sneakers and footwear is global… we’d like to get to $100 million in revenue in five years,” he said. “I think based on what we’ve seen, it’s well within reach.”
They’ll also be taking on auxiliary categories. Socks, for instance, are something they could get into in the near term. (“That’s more of a strategic category than anything else,” Babenzien said.) Bags and sweatshirts would naturally follow. Because sneakers are part of a youth culture, college age guys form a large portion of Greats’s potential market, and the brand has the opportunity to outfit them from the shoes up.
The company has been moving quickly since April, and they’re wasting no time in getting their products into the offline retail world, as well. On November 9, Greats is opening a hundred square foot shop in a small glass walled shopping complex on Williamsburg’s waterfront, which they’re calling the “Field House” in reference to the brand’s vintage athletic vibe. Customers can buy shoes in the shop, although Babenzien noted that it’s the only physical store in which people will be able to make purchases.
The store will only be open from noon to 7 pm on weekends, the point being to get consumers touching and test driving Greats shoes, rather than serving as a major retail location.
Although having an offline location was always in the team’s playbook, they didn’t expect to make the move so soon. But the Williamsburg space was cheap and didn’t have a lease, so they snatched it up.
Greats is also getting product into the real world with two displays at the upscale LA men’s store Union and at High Point, a sneaker Mecca in Phoenix. The shoes won’t be available for sale at either joint; it’s more about building the brand in the context of other sought-after designers.
The sneaker market for guys is big, and these shoes, with their buttery leather uppers, are sweet. (Unfortunately for the ladies, they’re not running unisex sizes just yet.) The tricky part about online native fashion startups is that the fashion part of the equation — finding the line’s voice and aesthetic point of view — so often loses out to a focus on being online native. Young, creative designers fail all the time out of a lack of business acumen, but a fashion label needs direction, achievable through tight branding and great product. The Greats guys get that.
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