Free streaming music was put on trial at the Grammys

At tonight's Grammys, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow and Common took the stage to stand against free tier music streaming. It marks the second time he aligned himself with prominent recording artists to pressure companies like Spotify to pay artists for their work, and encourage fans to buy albums instead of streaming them.

"ISN'T A SONG WORTH MORE THAN A PENNY?"

"Isn't a song worth more than a penny?" Portnow asked the audience at the Staples Center, referring to the minuscule profits artists earn from ad-supported streaming. "Listen, we all love the convenience, and we support technologies like streaming, which connect us to that music. But we also have to make sure that artists grow up in a world where music is a viable career."

Common went on to give a shout out to fans actively helping artists today: "So tonight, my comrades of the recording academy would like to thank our fans who support our work by going to a concert, subscribing to a music service, collecting vinyl, or speaking out for artists’ rights." Collecting vinyl is a particularly timely mention, since sales have been exploding in recent months. Just ask Technics.

Portnow took the stage last year alongside Jennifer Hudson to launch the Creators Alliance, an activist group that set out to lobby for fair pay for artists. He took direct aim at Spotify, too, saying "remember that music matters in our lives, and that new technology must pay artists fairly."

La FTC demanda a los operadores de dos “escuelas secundarias” en línea

Presuntos “fabricantes” de diplomas declaran estar acreditados, pero los diplomas no son legítimos La Comisión Federal de Comercio (FTC, por su sigla en inglés) le ha radicado cargos contra dos operadores de “escuelas secundarias” en línea que declaran ser legítimas pero que en realidad no son más que “fábricas” de diplomas que cobran entre $135 y $349 por un certificado inservible. En sus demandas contra los dos grupos en corte federal, la FTC alega que estas operaciones engañaron a consumidores respecto de su legitimidad, incluyendo su asociación con programas de equivalencia de escuela secundaria reconocidos. Usan nombres como West Madison Falls High School, Columbia Northern High School, Stafford High School y varios otros. “Los demandados se aprovecharon de gente que buscaba obtener un diploma de escuela.”  Dijo Jessica Rich, Directora del Buró de Protección del Consumidor de la FTC, al respecto. “Si una compañía dice que puedes obtener un diploma en poco tiempo y simplemente tomando un examen en línea, es casi can certeza una estafa.” En los documentos presentados por la FTC en ambos casos se alega que las operaciones compraron una serie de nombres de sitios web diseñados con la intención de dar la impresión de ser escuelas secundarias en línea legítimas y usaron meta-etiquetas enganosas con términos tales como “GED” y “GED en línea” para que los sitios web falsos aparecieran en los primeros puestos de las búsquedas en internet. Una vez que los consumidores llegan a las páginas web de los sitios de las escuelas, se encuentran con mensajes que implican que los diplomas que ofrecen los demandados son equivalentes a un auténtico diploma de escuela secundaria. Según los documentos presentados por la FTC, los “cursos” se componen de cuatro exámenes de respuestas de opción múltiple sin control de tiempo ni supervisión que requieren que los estudiantes respondan correctamente el 70 por ciento de las preguntas de cada examen. En algunas “escuelas secundarias”, cuando los estudiantes no cumplen con ese estándar, se les indica que vuelvan a tomar el examen, y esta vez, las respuestas correctas aparecen resaltadas para que los estudiantes las cambien. Otras “escuelas secundarias” les proveen una “guía de estudio” a los estudiantes, que cuando se usa, también resalta las respuestas correctas que tienen que seleccionar los estudiantes. Tras completar los exámenes a los consumidores se les indica que accedan a una sección con un conjunto de menús para que juzguen sus respectivas “experiencias de vida”, y en esta sección del sitio, la selección de la frase “sabe conciliar una chequera” equivale a un crédito académico de contabilidad. Y si un consumidor dice “escucho música ocasionalmente” le podrían otorgar un crédito académico por un curso de apreciación musical. La presentación de la FTC en ambos casos refiere la experiencia de numerosos consumidores que procuraron usar los diplomas recibidos de parte de los demandados para conseguir empleos, presentar solicitudes de inscripción en escuelas de estudios terciarios e incluso para ingresar al servicio militar, y que descubrieron que los diplomas no eran reconocidos. De acuerdo a los términos de la demanda de la FTC, los demandados indujeron a error a los consumidores efectuando declaraciones referidas a su pertenencia a organismos de acreditación que no existen y que fueron inventados por los propios demandados. Los demandados Capitol Network  indujeron a error a los consumidores diciendo que estaban certificados por el Departamento de Defensa o que cumplían con sus programas de estandarización de educación en línea. En sus presentaciones, la FTC le solicita a la corte que expida un interdicto de carácter temporario y que ordene el congelamiento de los activos de los dos grupos de demandados:  Stepping Stonez Development, LLC, también en ejercicio del comercio bajo los nombres American Certification Specialists, Intentional Growth, LLC, y Stephen J Remley; y Capitol Network Distance Learning Programs, LLC, Capitol Network Digital Licensing Programs, LLC, Veritas Sales, Inc., Nicholas A. Pollicino, Anthony J. Clavien y Adam F. Pollicino. La FTC también ha producido un nuevo artículo educativo para consumidores que contiene consejos para no caer en una estafa de diplomas de escuela secundaria en línea.  El resultado de la votación de la Comisión para autorizar a su personal a presentar las demandas y solicitar los interdictos de carácter temporario fue 4-0. Las demandas fueron presentadas ante la Corte Federal de Distrito para el Distrito de Arizona. NOTA: La Comisión presenta una demanda cuando existe una “razón para creer” que la ley ha sido o está siendo violada, y cuando la Comisión considera que el procedimiento es de interés público. El caso será decidido por la corte.   La Comisión Federal de Comercio trabaja para promover la competencia y proteger y educar a los consumidores. Usted puede aprender más sobre los temas de interés de los consumidores y presentar una queja de consumidor en internet o llamando al 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Haga clic en la opción “me gusta” la FTC en Facebook, “síganos” en Twitter, lea los artículos de nuestro blog y suscríbase a los comunicados de prensa para acceder a las noticias y recursos más recientes.

Einstein Was Right (Again): Gravity Ripples Across the Universe as Waves

Scientists have discovered the existence of gravitational waves, tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time, which have long been predicted but never before been seen or measured. The discovery cements a fundamental premise of how gravity operates and offers astrophysicists a new way to explore the universe.

“We have detected gravitational waves. We did it,” said David Reitze, the executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). “I am so pleased to be able to tell you that.” Direct measurement of these waves is the type of fundamental discovery a physicist can expect to see rarely, if ever. 

Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves 100 years ago. The theory states that gravity—the warping of space and time by mass—would manifest as ripples.

Physicists have long had indirect evidence that such exceedingly tiny waves exist but never had technology capable of detecting and measuring them. A gravitational wave is about 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a proton. The waves stretch and compress space on tiny scales at the speed of light and project the forces of massive bodies such as black holes and neutron stars across vast distances.

A technician works on one of LIGO's optics. Source: LIGO Laboratory

The waves were detected by LIGO at 5:51 a.m. EDT on Sept. 14 and came from the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light years from Earth. The black holes were 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, respectively, and as they coalesced into one, they ejected about three solar masses of energy into space as gravitational waves. The merger was consummated in just 20 milliseconds.

Had technology of the era been adequate, Einstein likely would have invented the LIGO experiment himself, Weiss told a packed news conference. “He was smart enough and he knew enough physics,” Weiss joked, drawing laughs from other physicists. “He wasn’t just a theorist.”

The ability to routinely detect these distortions of space-time opens up several promising areas of scientific research. 

Kip Thorne, a Caltech theorist and LIGO co-founder, described the instruments as “a new window” for astronomy, much as X-rays, radio waves, and optical light power other types of telescopes. It's “a whole new way to observe the universe,” he said.

Gravitational waves may also allow physicists to further their understanding of the most extreme parts of nature, such as the space near black holes where space and time are highly warped.  The back holes' merger and gravitational waves are just “our first beautiful examples” of “the warped side of the universe,” Thorne said.

Such an extreme was depicted, for example, in the 2014 movie Interstellar. In the film, one hour on a planet was equal to seven years on the crew’s craft due to the differences in how time elapsed in each place because of warping from a black hole. (Thorne was also an executive producer and consultant for that film.)

Two additional LIGO detectors are scheduled to begin operation by 2019 in Japan and Italy. The new facilities will help astrophysicists pinpoint the precise location of cataclysmic events, be it black hole mergers or the decaying source of a supernova. 

A group from Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the finding today at the National Press Club. The National Science Foundation funded the work, along with research agencies from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

An aerial view of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detector in Livingston, Louisiana. LIGO has two detectors: one in Livingston and the other in Hanaford, Washington. LIGO is funded by NSF; Caltech and MIT conceived, built and operate the laboratories. Source: LIGO Laboratory

The waves were found by LIGO using two detectors nearly 1,900 miles apart, one in Hanford, Wash., and the other in Livingston, La. Each has two sealed vacuum shafts, both 2.5 miles long, outfitted with lasers and mirrors. Traveling at the speed of light, the gravitational wave detected in September arrived at the Washington site 7 milliseconds after it was recorded in southeastern Louisiana.

The lasers measure the distance between the mirrors on a very precise level and can detect changes as small as 10-19 meter. When a gravitational wave passes through the earth, distorting space and time, the distance between the mirrors changes. Because it is a wave with a frequency, Reitze likened the detectors to an omnidirectional microphone. 

Initial funds for the project were committed in 1992. The first observations began in the summer of 2002 and proved fruitless for eight years. An upgrade completed last year led to the current observations. Researchers said the current LIGO instruments are only about one-third as sensitive as they were designed to be and that they expect further work will increase sensitivity and likely record more gravitational waves.

 

These Are the World's Most Miserable Economies (BusinessWeek)

Misery index of inflation, unemployment shows 2015 economies about as depressed as expected, while economists see more of same this year

Thanks to off-the-charts inflation, Venezuela will probably retain the dubious honor of being the most miserable economy for a second year.

Galloping inflation at an annual average of 98.3 percent last year alongside 6.8 percent unemployment earned the South American country the runaway top spot on the 2015 misery index. With no end in sight for Venezuela's economic woes — estimates in Bloomberg surveys predict consumer price growth of 152 percent and joblessness averaging 7.7 percent — economists polled for the 2016 index see it remaining the unhappiest country.

The ranking of 63 economies is compiled by adding a country's jobless rate and inflation, a long-standing calculation in which a higher score indicates more misery. Venezuela's 159.7 tally for the 2016 misery index done by Bloomberg quadruples the next-worst ranking Argentina.

The global slump in crude prices has been especially destructive in Venezuela, where oil makes up 95 percent of exports. Falling revenue is further weighing on budget strains, as Venezuela owes as much as $10 billion in foreign bond payments this year.

President Nicolas Maduro, who has declared an "economic emergency," told lawmakers last month that it was time to raise gasoline prices and that he'd look at adjusting fixed currency rates. Prices at the pump in Venezuela are the cheapest in the world, even as costs for everyday items and luxuries are surging — a dinner for two at a nice restaurant might demand more than a month's worth of minimum wage. 

Meanwhile, Maduro's new economy minister has said that price growth doesn't exist in "real life," blaming speculation, usury and hoarding among the business class.

In Argentina, authorities are in the midst of overhauling the national statistics agency and have stopped reporting some economic indicators until that's done, after being accused for years of releasing dodgy data.

While Venezuela and Argentina are tackling inflation, rounding out the top five unhappiest economies in 2016 are those desperately trying stop unemployment from deepening: South Africa, Greece and Ukraine.

Elsewhere in the world, the picture isn't quite as bleak. There were success stories last year, with Poland ranking No. 42 on the scale, versus a No. 19 spot initially projected at the start of 2015, in part due to lower-than-expected joblessness. But 2016 might see Poland climb the misery index amid an increasingly uncertain fiscal and economic outlook (including a possible debt downgrade) caused by the new ruling party's costly campaign promises.

The world's happiest economies this year will look similar to last year's rankings. Thailand, in part due to unique structural issues that allow more people to count as employed, will stay as least miserable. Singapore, for which survey data is newly available this year, will debut at second-best. Switzerland, Taiwan and Japan will keep top-five status from 2015.

Switzerland's case is cautionary for fans of the misery index: While the Swiss are slated to enjoy continued low joblessness, economists see falling consumer prices this year. Discounts can be great for consumers, but also could portend deeper problems within the economy. Switzerland, for its part, is still trying to maintain currency stability since dropping its currency cap a year ago.

Economists are looking for signs of improvement in Russia, Romania, and Ireland — each of which will achieve a more favorable position this year, according to the survey. After contracting by 3.7 percent in 2015, on the back of sinking oil prices and inflation-dampened consumer spending, economists expect a gradual "L-shaped" recovery for Russia, with the world's largest energy exporter seen returning to 1.3 percent annual growth in 2017.

Misery index calculations were compiled using the median estimates in Bloomberg economic surveys from the past three months. Figures for 2015 inflation and unemployment data reflect the average over the year and use the most current data available for each country.

For a look at the full misery index rankings, click here.

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¿Confianza, amor, compartir la contraseña?

8 de febrero de 2016

por 

Andrew Johnson

División de Protección del Consumidor y Negocios

Una buena manera de evitar que los piratas informáticos y los ladrones de identidad accedan a tus cuentas es crear una contraseña sólida. ¿Pero qué sucede si la compartes con una persona conocida? Muchos adolescentes y adultos jóvenes les están dando las contraseñas a sus amigos o seres queridos como una muestra de confianza o amor. Después de todo, compartir es demostrar cariño, ¿cierto? Pero lo que podría parecer un hito en una relación puede resultar una decisión muy perjudicial.

Piénsalo bien. Si le das tu contraseña a otra persona, no solo tiene acceso a tu información privada sino que también puede cambiar tu contraseña y bloquearte completamente el acceso a tu cuenta. En las redes sociales, cualquiera que tenga tu contraseña puede postear en tu nombre. Imagina lo que un ex novio o ex novia podría decir (como si fueras tú) y el daño que podría causar a tu reputación y tus perspectivas de empleo.

Y mientras te guardas tus contraseñas para ti mismo, sin importar lo geniales que sean tus amigos o seres queridos, lee las siguientes recomendaciones  para crear contraseñas que te permitan mantener tus cuentas protegidas... de todo el mundo:

Evita lo obvio. Cuando escojas una contraseña, no uses nombres, fechas números de teléfono ni ninguna otra cosa que alguien pudiera averiguar en un sitio web o medio social.

Crea una contraseña sólida. Una contraseña compuesta de un mínimo de entre 10 y 12 caracteres y una mezcla de letras, símbolos  números es más difícil de piratear y adivinar. ¿Te preocupa olvidarte tu contraseña? Inventa una frase y conviértela en tu propio acrónimo. “La contraseña de mi cuenta en línea es solo mía" se convierte en cce1e$$m!apww@. No uses frases de películas ni letras de canciones.

Sé creativo con las respuestas a las preguntas de seguridad. Tus conocidos podrían conocer datos como el apellido de soltera de tu madre o el nombre de tu escuela primaria. Los piratas informáticos también pueden encontrar esos datos usando los medios sociales y otras búsquedas en internet. Trata de responder las preguntas de seguridad que sean más difíciles y respóndelas con oraciones completas en lugar de pocas palabras.

LinkedIn plunges 44%

LinkedIn's stock had its worst day ever.

Shares cratered by as much as 44% in trading on Friday after the company reported a quarterly loss on Thursday, with guidance that was weaker than expected.

It was the worst decline ever for the stock and has erased about $10 billion of the company's value.

The social network for professionals said that it expected first-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.55, but analysts had estimated $0.75, according to Bloomberg.

It projected full-year revenues at $3.6 billion to $3.65 billion, versus $3.9 billion expected.

LinkedIn reported revenue of $861.9 million for the fourth quarter, and its earnings loss was $0.06 a share, or $8.4 million.

It recorded year-over-year growth in revenues in its major business segments, including a 22% rise in premium subscriptions.

The company said in its earnings release that the number of cumulative members grew 19% to 414 million, with mobile visits now making up 57% of all traffic. In December, it launched an updated version of its app.

LinkedIn also announced that it was killing Lead Accelerator, a business-to-business ad network it got with the 2014 acquisition of Bizo.

Pacific Crest's Evan Wilson and Tyler Parker did not like this decision.

They said in a note on Thursday:

We would understand if the ad network had grave privacy issues or if there was no demand, but other examples show us this is not the case. Now Sales Navigator really is LinkedIn's only big near-term opportunity to materially increase the monetization of its data set. Ugh.

Over the past year, LinkedIn shares have fallen by about 52%.

"We did not learn our lesson," the Pacific Crest analysts wrote. "LinkedIn has rarely given investors a reason to own the stock in 1H and it has happened again. It will have to spend the balance of the year restoring confidence in a much tougher environment."

Here's the drop in trading on Friday to the lowest level in three years:

SEE ALSO: This trick will help your LinkedIn profile be seen by more employers

Sale of a Portion of Board-owned Property Located at N.E. 2 Avenue and N.E. 40 Street

The Miami-Dade County Public Schools has released the above-referenced Invitation to Bid, ITB15-050-MT, Sale of a Portion of Board-owned Property, located at NE 2^nd Avenue and NE 40^th Street. The ITB and all applicable attachments can be obtained from Procurement Management Services website using the following link: (http://procurement.dadeschools.net/bidsol/asp/bid_portal.htm ). 

Here, please select Solicitations, non-construction, and the documents are visible under New Bids and RFP’s.

Furthermore, here are some important dates to remember:

1.       Pre-Bidders Conference is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23^rd at 10am at the School Board Administration offices, Suite 650;

2.       Deadline for all Questions is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23^rd at 5pm; and

3.       Proposal Submission date is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8^th at 2pm. Late Bids will not be accepted.  

As a result of this posting, the Cone of Silence is in place. Please adhere to Board policy 6325, Cone of Silence, and submit all communication related to this Bid to my contact information below.

Thank you in advance for your interest in this solicitation and should you have any questions/comments, please feel free to contact me.

Melody Thelwell, MPA

Chief Procurement Officer

Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Procurement Management Services

1450 N.E. 2^nd Avenue, Suite 650

Miami, Florida 33132

Phone: (305) 995-1434

Facsimile: (305) 995-2445

Email: mthelwell@dadeschools.net

Website: http://procurement.dadeschools.net/