Daily Archives: May 7, 2017

Many religious freedom advocates are actually disappointed with Trump’s executive order – Washington Post

Posted: May 7, 2017 at 11:46 pm

President Trump signed a controversial executive order on May 4 that the White House says "promotes free speech and religious liberty." (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

NEW YORK President Trumps new executive order was the talk of thenight at a gala Thursday for religious freedom advocates at the Pierre Hotel, located just blocks from Trump Tower. Sipping cocktails and eating crab cake and salmon hors doeuvres, guests appeared divided over whether Trumps order should be viewed as a clear win or a steep disappointment.

Seated under dimmed chandeliers, many advocates said their expectations were high, sinceTrump has repeatedly promised he would champion Christians religious freedom. Instead, several people at a dinner hosted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said the text of the order doesnt accomplish very much at all.

Earlier this week, many advocates believed that the order would contain language included in an early draft leaked in February. The early draft included grant exemptions for religious believers, schools and corporations to federal laws they disagree with, including LGBT and abortion rights laws. Instead, Trump said he would target the Johnson Amendment, a law that effectively bars politicking from the pulpit. The move was praised by several evangelical pastors who have been supportive of him, but Trumps decision frustrated many people at the gala.

Its irrelevant, its offensive, its ignored by churches anyway, said Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor who is well respected in this crowd.He got enthusiasm in return for getting nothing.

This annual event of more than 500 people draws some of the whos who in religious freedom advocacy, especially Catholics and evangelicals but also some Muslims, Sikhs, Mormons and Jews. The Becket Fund was behind the high-profile Supreme Court case involving Hobby Lobby, which fought the Obama administration on an Obamacare mandate to cover contraceptives.

The firm has also defended Little Sisters of the Poor on the same contraception issue, and a Becket Fund lawyer who has worked on the case said she was pleased with Thursdays order. During a reception Thursday at the Rose Garden, Trump told the nuns, Your long ordeal will soon be over, okay?

A spokeswoman for the nuns said they were nervous when it appeared last week that the Justice Department didnt seem to bechanging direction on the mandate yet, but she said they were pleased with Trumps words and the executive order.

Were taking him at his word until we cant, spokeswoman Constance Veit said. We have to be happy with every step forward.

But others at the gala were not thrilled with the order. One of the guests, Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, was planning to attend the Rose Garden ceremony in which Trump signed the order, but he decided against it once he learned what the text would be.

For the people in this room, the Johnson Amendment is not a priority, he said. We should say thank you, but [what the executive order does]should have been totally expected.

Several religious freedom experts and observers said Thursday they dont expect the executive order to change anything.

The Johnson Amendment is so rarely enforced that the language in the executive order about free speech is practically meaningless, said John Inazu, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

For a stark contrast, think about the immediate consequences to real people of Trumps immigration order, Inazu said in an email. The provision that could affect the Little Sisters of the Poor instructs agencies to consider issuing amended regulations, something Trump didnt need an executive order to do.

The executive order doesnt hint that pastors should be allowed to endorse from the pulpit, said Douglas Laycock, a professor at University of Virginia Law and an expert on religious freedom. It suggests churches should not be found guilty of implied endorsements where secular organizations would not be, but Laycock says he doesnt hear of stories where that has happened.

But the IRS does jawbone churches in a way that it does not appear to jawbone secular nonprofits. Maybe thats what its supposed to be about, he wrote in an email. The three agencies will likely do something for the Little Sisters, but no one knows what, and this order in itself does nothing.

In his Rose Garden remarks, said Charles Haynes, a religious freedom expert at the Newseum, Trump appeared to misunderstand the current IRS regulations to mean that religious leaders are kept from speaking about political or public policy issues. Religious leaders can endorse candidates or parties, but they cant do it from the pulpit or in the name of the church.

The executive order tells various Cabinet secretaries to come up with regulations protecting religious liberty consistent with current law but it doesnt necessarily change the status quo, which Haynes described as all talk and no action.

President Trump may think theatrics in the Rose Garden will satisfy his base, but somehow I doubt it, Haynes said.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which many might expect would oppose the executive order, said Thursday that it had no plans to file a lawsuit. The ACLUs executive director, Anthony Romero, said in a statement that the order was an elaborate photo-op with no discernible policy outcome.

At Thursdays gala, evangelical author and radio host Eric Metaxas, who endorsed Trump, threw up his hands and said he didnt know what to think about the executive order. The order had pleased many evangelical pastors who had dinner with the president and key members of his staff on Wednesday night where he first announced his plans.

The order shows how Trump delivers on his campaign promises, said Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse. Grahams ministries were audited by the IRS four years ago after they took out ads urging people to support political candidates who believe marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. Speaking by telephone Thursday, Graham said he wont change the way he runs his ministries, but he sees that as protection from the IRS.

We should not be muzzled for speaking out on political issues just because were people of faith, he said. Like other religious conservatives, Graham said that while he would like to see more protections for business owners, he was pleased with Thursdays outcome.

Could more be done? Yes. I think well take what we can take when we can get it, Graham said. Eighty percent is better than nothing.

Graham called African American churches smart because they just ignored that amendment all together. Theyve been having politicians in their pulpits for years, he said. White pastors shouldve just ignored it but they didnt.

According a 2016 survey the Pew Research Center, just 14 percent of Americans heard their clergy speak for or against a candidate last spring or summer, compared with 29 percent of black Protestants who had heard their clergy speak out directly about specific political candidates.

Eugene F.Rivers III, a black Pentecostal minister in Boston who was attending Thursdays gala, said the Johnson Amendment has not been on the list of pastors concerns. Defending religious freedoms of the black church, which serves the poor in many communities across the country, should be a priority, said Rivers, who is director of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies. Rivers said religious groups were treated like useful idiots duringthe Obama administration, but he wasnt thrilled with this particular executive order either.

While we understand the political motivation of our white evangelical brothers, theres probably a more sophisticated approach to religious freedom, Rivers said.

This piece has been updated.

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NZ’s Tax Freedom Day has arrived 6 days later this year – but is paying tax so bad? – Stuff.co.nz

Posted: at 11:46 pm

ROB STOCK

Last updated14:44, May 8 2017

STAPLES RODWAY

Tax Freedom Day has fallen six days later than it did last year, according to the accountants who calculate it.

Each year Staples Rodway works out the day when New Zealanders have "collectively paid off theirtaxbill for the year and can keep the rest of their income for themselves".

It does itby analysing GDP,taxrevenue and currenttax brackets, and concluded that people were effectively paying moretaxthan they did in 2016.

"The total amount Kiwis paid intaxeshas increased by 9.5 per cent year-on-year, more than double the increase of last year, alongside a 5.1 per cent increase in nominal GDP," said Staples Rodway's Mike Rudd.

READ MORE: *KiwiSavers 'harshly' taxed compared to property investors, book claims *Tax freedom day falls again

While things like council rates have been rising in many areas, the increase in the tax take was largely explained byrising corporate profits, and hence the tax companies paid.

STAPLES RODWAY

Mike Rudd, tax expert from Staples Rodway, says the country is paying more tax this year than last.

"Our methodology shows the true impact of the government on your back pocket each year," said Rudd.

"Most of the growth in governmenttaxrevenue has come from the corporate sector.

"By the end of February this year, corporatetaxcollected was already 25 per cent higher than in the year to March 2016. In the absence of any majortaxchanges in the last year, this can only be a sign of a well performing New Zealand economy in spite of uncertainty on the global horizon."

123rf

Let's talk about tax, baby! It's the word on everyone's lips with Tax Freedom Day, and the launch of a popular book on tax fairness falling on the same day.

"Bracket creep" was also having an impact as rising wages resultedin people moving into higher tax brackets.

A person earning the average national wage was paying nearly 3per cent more intaxthan they did in 2011, said Rudd.

"Had the marginaltaxbrackets moved in line with wage growth, the average wage earner would have an extra $33 in their pocket per week."

Tax Freedom Day can shift a great deal, depending on who occupies the Beehive. In 2008, Staples Rodway declared May 21 was Tax Freedom Day.

In 2012, it fell onApril 27.

SUPPLIED

Deborah Russell is one of the co-authors of Tax and Fairness published by BWB Texts.

ACT leader David Seymour the taxpayer was "persecuted" under the current government.

"I thought getting rid of the socialists in 2008 meant happy days for taxpayers, but today's setback leaves us in a crappy haze," he said.

"In just one year, New Zealanders have lost an extra week to the government."

Tax Freedom Day falls on the same day that a new book on tax fairness was published by BWB Texts authored by tax experts Terry Baucher and Deborah Russell.

In Tax and Fairness they call for a system that taxes income and wealth gains more consistently, as currently wealthy people can earn a lot of their annual increases in wealth from capital gains, which are often not taxed at all.

Baucher and Russelloppose the demonisation of tax.

"We need to understand taxation as the price we pay for a civilised society. It is not an unjustified impost from a tyrannical government, as libertarians argue; it is the contribution we choose to make through our democratic institutions ensuring that each of us is enabled to flourish, and live a good life," Russell and Bauchersaid.

"Proudly paying our taxes is a sign that we believe in our own capacity to create a flourishing society that gives all New Zealanders fair opportunities. We should smile when we pay our taxes."

Rudd said tax freedom days were calculated in many countries around the world, and the New Zealand date sat around the middle of the pack.

Everyone's individual tax freedom day would vary. For property investors, for example, it "probably would be a lot earlier," Rudd said.

"We are hearing that the government is considering providing some relief to the taxpayer in this year's Budget to be delivered on May 25," Rudd said. "Our hope is that this will include adjustingtaxbrackets to account for inflation over the past nine years since the last adjustment."

-Stuff

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Freedom Of Thought And Speech Must Include The Offensive, The Irritating, The Contentious And The Heretical – HuffPost UK

Posted: at 11:46 pm

Last week Lib Dem leader Tim Farron was hauled over the coals for his beliefs about homosexuality. Apparently Farron once suggested that homosexual sex is a sin which led to five days of intense pressure from the media, politicians and celebrities, to clarify his stance on the issue. "The true sinner is Farron himself" said David Walliams: "You are definitely a sinner for your continued intolerance and prejudice." Meanwhile David Baddiel branded Farron "a fundamentalist Christian homophobe" which is surely as bad as anything Tim Farron asserted in the first place. Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said it's "appalling" if Farron thinks homosexual sex is sinful.

Eventually the Lib Dem leader declared to the BBC that homosexual sex is not a sin. But should it really matter if Farron does hold a private view that is contrary to what is mainstream in 21st century Britain? This is a personal conviction that is clearly not impacting on his policies - he has voted in favour of LGBT rights and freedoms on a regular basis.

Even if Farron announced in public that in his mind homosexual sex is a sin he should have the freedom to continue to say it, not to be silenced, humiliated publically and hounded out of office. Yes, many people will find such views distasteful and deeply offensive perhaps but the answer to this is open debate and a robust exchange of ideas not censorship. As the great philosopher JS Miller said if we silence the expression of an opinion we "rob the human race" either by depriving the opportunity of exchanging error for truth or, if the opinion is wrong, losing the clearer perception of truth.

Freedom of thought and freedom of speech, if it is any freedom at all, must encompass the freedom to disagree and to challenge received wisdom. As part of this it must accommodate for the dissenting opinion and what many perceive to be the unpleasant belief.

Lord Justice Sedley, in his landmark ruling in the case of Richmond-Bate, put it better than anybody. He said that free thought and flowing from this free speech includes "not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having." True liberalism and an enlightened and progressive approach to politics must recognise and embrace this.

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Media Freedom Is Our Freedom – Fiji Sun Online

Posted: at 11:46 pm

From left: femLINK Pacific executive director Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, Fiji Sun managing editor training Nemani Delaibatiki, US Ambassador to Fiji Judith Cefkin, Fiji Times deputy editor in chief Elenoa Baselala, Senior Lecturer and Co-ordinator USP journalism programme Shailendra Singh during the World Press Freedom Day panel discussion at the University of the South Pacific in Suva on May 3, 2017.

This is an edited version of Nemani Delaibatikis My Say on last nights FBCs 4 The Record programme.

There has been a lot said about Media Freedom in this country coinciding with World Press Freedom Day celebrated on May 3. Media Freedom is all our freedom. When people attack media freedom they attack all our freedom because Media Freedom is an important pillar of democracy.

Journalists must be allowed to freely do their work. Last year three of our female journalists from FBC, Fiji TV and Fiji Sun were attacked outside the Suva Court by members of the public. As far as the Fiji Sun case is concerned, we have not heard what had happened to the suspect, after a complaint was lodged with the Police.

Journalists have a legitimate and lawful role to play in our democracy. Anyone who tries to stop a journalist from carrying out his or her work is breaking the law.

Journalists must be allowed to work in an environment that is free and without fear or intimidation.

We should condemn all acts of violence, threats and intimidation against journalists.

Journalists have responsibilities that come with Media Freedom. There is no such a thing as absolute freedom. Its the same in many democracies around the world. There are laws that are there to protect people. The Defamation Law is a classic example. It gives people the right to sue a journalist if they feel they have been defamed. Journalists here are required to adhere to a code of ethics that is incorporated in the Media Decree. There is nothing new in the code because it was adopted from the practices of the past.

I want to say categorically that we enjoy media freedom in Fiji, that journalists are free to do their job. There seems to be a perception that there is no media freedom or that the media is restricted. That is not true. If it was true we would not have a robust media today that includes two daily newspapers and a number of magazines, a host of radio stations and three television stations operating in a very competitive media environment.

The fear is a hangover from the days of the censors in the newsroom. Those days are long gone and Id like to encourage all journalists to go out and do their job. Parliament has also repealed the penalty provision for journalists in the decree. If journalists follow the basic rules of journalism that their stories are accurate, fair and balanced and in the pubic interest there is nothing to worry about.

We all need to be grateful and build on what we have today. Its a far cry from those dark days when journalists worked under immense pressure during the height of the political upheaval.

Media Freedom should not be viewed purely by whats happening now. But it should be taken into context with what has happened since 1987.

We should all do whatever we can within our power that we do not go back to 1987. We know what happened in 1987. A lot of people were hurt and the economy went into a tailspin. Racial and religious division and disharmony plunged the country into a serious political crisis. Only a minority benefitted from the turmoil that ensued. The first and subsequent coups just prolonged the agony. The barriers that divided us and bred prejudices and racism have now gone. We now have a Constitution that for the first time eliminates racial segregation. We now have equal citizenry and common identity. This provision outlaws discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, religion, colour of skin, physical conditions, gender and sexual orientation. These are universal principles that are strongly rooted in many religious beliefs including Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Everyone is equal before civil law and Gods law.

But the events of 1987 clearly breached the law on both fronts.

One of the responsibilities of the media today is to report and articulate issues to help people make responsible decisions so that there is no repeat of 1987 and the subsequent coups.

The media cannot operate in isolation and say thats not our responsibility. Anything that incites racial and religious tension is obviously not good for us.

Again I reiterate that while the media enjoys this freedom it also has an important responsibility to protect and defend democracy and all the principles enshrined in our Constitution.

The media is an essential stakeholder in our quest for peace, tolerance, stability and prosperity.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj

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How to Transform Business Using Technology – Government Technology (blog)

Posted: at 11:45 pm

Everywhere you turn, businesses are reinventing themselves around new apps, new digital processes and new ways of reaching customers with 21st-century products and services.

At the end of last year, CIO Magazine ran this article listing eight top digital transformation stories, which included household names like JetBlue, Target, Wal-Mart, Subway and Domino's. Heres an excerpt:

CIOs are spending 18 percent of their budget in support of digitalization, a figure expected to increase to 28 percent by 2018, Gartner analyst Andy Rowsell-Jones told CIO.com in October after surveying 2,600 CIOs worldwide. Going digital often means significant challenges and consequences, says Rowsell-Jones, adding that companies are overhauling their business models and allocating more of their IT budgets to catch digital disruptors.

Living in Michigan, I find the Domino's story to be especially compelling. Watch this video to see how the pizza-making business has become so much more than baking cheese, dough and tomato sauce by using technology to grow the number of customers, improve service and increase revenue.

At the same time, time technology is being applied to virtually every global industry in new innovative ways. For example, the global construction industry is using mobile technology to save hundreds of millions of dollars on changes to construction designs and the building process. This Market Watch story explains how.

Exclusive Interview With Andrew Haggard

In order to dig deeper into this topic and learn how more about how these changes are actually occurring behind the curtain, I turned to Andrew Haggard, who is a leading business transformation expert from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Mr. Haggard is a PwC director based in Boston who specializes in IT strategy and business transformation all across the USA. Prior to joining PwC, Andrews experience includes over three years as a senior manager at EMC consulting, helping clients build out technology infrastructure in the public and private sectors. Earlier in his career, he was the founder of White Mountain Strategy.

Dan Lohrmann (DL): What are the biggest obstacles you see for businesses transforming and becoming more innovative using technology?

Andrew Haggard (AH): One of the biggest obstacles for companies looking to leverage technology to innovate their business is a gap in the investment necessary by business and technology leaders to prioritize scarce time in structured strategy and planning process. Without this thoughtful coordination and prioritization, it is challenging for teams to create the capacity for piloting innovative capabilities and building into a technology blueprint that will deliver both near-term and long-term business results. With continuous pressure to deliver new projects, maintain the existing technology platforms, and address emerging enhancement and reporting requirements, tasks will always fill up the available capacity. Therefore it is critical to shape demand for technology resources, limit or eliminate low-value add work, and create accountability to focus to deliver on the foundational improvements and new business technology capabilities that have the highest probability to generate a return on investment and move the business forward.

DL: What are the main impediments to successfully changing the way business and IT collaborate to deliver value?

The biggest business and IT collaboration challenge faced by our clients is a lack of a clear alignment across business stakeholders and between business and IT teams of what capabilities are a true enterprise priority. Without a blueprint of the future, and a clear roadmap to sequence new capabilities there will be ongoing pressure to address the squeaky wheel, spin off shadow IT projects, and generally sub-optimize a companys technology investments.

Another issue arises when the roles of business and IT team members in business technology delivery are not clear. We recently were conducting an IT capability assessment at a mid-sized pharmaceutical company and we interviewed over two dozen business leaders to gain perspective on how they interacted with IT and what were the gaps in IT capability delivery. Over half the issues and pain points that were raised when about how technology capability is delivered were business process, policy or requirements issues.

Business Stakeholder: We dont get the reports and data that we need from our systems.

Interviewer: What reports and data are the highest priority to track and manage your business operations?

Business Stakeholder: There is not a lot of agreement on that across the leadership team. I would say it varies.

So here is a company that is moving fast, with significant gaps in their ability to track business performance in their core systems, yet the leadership team has not fully articulated what are their priority metrics and how they want to measure their business. This was a clear example of the need to invest the time to gain alignment and clearly define what the priority data needs for the business are before trying to craft a technical solution. The technical solution, in this one instance a standard financial dashboard, is technically solvable. But the requirements needed to be prioritized, clearly written and testable before beginning to patch together a solution.

DL: What are the biggest challenges to change the way companies use technology in the traditional areas of people, process and technology?

AH: For people, the biggest challenge to deliver leading business technology capabilities is that the needs of a modern IT delivery model are evolving, and the people with the skills required to operate in the emerging landscape are scarce and challenging to hire and retain. As companies shift to more modern platforms, invest heavily in Web and digital capabilities, and elevate the maturity of the planning and collaboration processes between IT and business leaders, a new set of both hard and soft skills are required. Skills required by companies modernizing the way they deliver new capabilities requires more than just converting Test Analysts positions to Test Engineers as one example, or simply growing your Web developer teams. Successful transformation also needs to be a more comprehensive change effort that includes both business and IT stakeholders. Skills that future IT organizations will need to invest in more heavily include architect roles, digital skill sets, data scientists, test automation expertise, developers adept at agile operations, business analyst with platform specialties, and technology vendor management, to name a few.

The biggest challenge in the area of process design, both business processes that are integrated with system design and configuration as well as IT delivery processes, is to make effective change that is connected to a broader design. The most successful companies start with a macro, high-level vision of how all the processes should fit together in the end state, then prioritize the levers of change that will make the biggest impact and create the most value. Companies that do detailed process design incrementally and use the do learn do iterative approach to process improvements have the ability to course-correct and also see incremental value that creates more momentum for more constructive change.

One issue is that we often see in addressing technology is teams drilling down quickly into a discussion on the merits of various tools, SaaS solutions, and software packages before investing in a clear definition of what the priority business requirements are. Or business stakeholders will come to IT with a request to deploy a specific solution. Technology investments should be evaluated based on the most efficient way to deliver the required business capability. This requires involvement of the enterprise and solution architecture teams to evaluate design options, make / buy assessments, and potential for re-use of existing code or to apply the solution more broadly to meet similar business demands. Skipping straight to a tool solution does not provide the latitude to evaluate the solution options in the broader context of the entire business technology portfolio.

DL: What are common characteristics of leadership teams of companies that have successfully undertaken significant change to the way business technology is delivered?

AH: Companies that are successful share a few traits:

DL: What trends do you see in 2017 that are different than five years ago?

AH: Emerging technology delivery trends we see now include:

DL: What are the challenges looking forward?

AH: The first movers in technology transformation are getting evaluating and getting ahead of the following trends:

DL: I want to thank Andrew for taking the time to provide us answers and a glimpse into what it takes to successfully build innovation and cutting-edge technology in business transformation.

Closing Thoughts

You may be asking: Where are the government examples?

While I firmly believe that these same business transformations principles apply to the public and the private sector, I deliberately focused on the private-sector digital transformation examples in this piece. Later this summer, I plan to come back to this topic with compelling government examples from around the world.

One more resource to help. This MIT Sloan School of Management article offers nine elements of digital transformation. I urge you to think through these important elements as you move forward.

Finally, I really like this CNBC.com article which describes why Malcolm Gladwell thinks we all should slow down and do less, in order to be great at what we do.

I think Gladwells insights apply to this business transformation process using technology. We need to take the needed time to engage the business as Andrew Haggard describes in his answers.

If you do, what will be the result? You will see more effective digital transformation and the business benefits displayed by the leading companies who keep reinventing their customer service.

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Local seniors take on new technology – Bakersfield Now

Posted: at 11:45 pm

by Reyna Harvey, Eyewitness News

A group of local seniors learn about new technologies to better communicate with their friends and family. (KBAK/KBFX/Reyna Harvey)

Seniors can have a pretty big learning curve when it comes to using technology.

The residents at Brookdale Senior Living are shortening the gap on that curve with the swipe of an iPad screen.

The workshop is taught by Technical instructor Brenda Malin.

Residents are shown how to use everything from iPads, social media and mobile devices .

They also meet in small groups and take monthly trips to the Apple Store to have their tech questions answered by experts.

The goal of the workshop is to help improve their quality of life.

The seniors plan to use their new found tech skills to help one another.

"I can depend on the other residents, if they know the answer to be able to lean over and show the person besides them how to do it," says Malin.

If you would like more information about the program you can visit brookdale.com.

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Mother’s Day: The best gifts for the mom who loves technology – USA TODAY

Posted: at 11:45 pm

Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA Today Published 11:54 a.m. ET May 7, 2017 | Updated 11 hours ago

Columnist Jennifer Jolly shows you the coolest tech for Mother's Day. Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA Today

From unicorn roses to selfie drones, here are unusual gadget gifts for mom.(Photo: James Nickerson for USA TODAY)

Hey! Mothers Dayis right around the corner (May 14th). From Unicorn roses to selfie drones, here are all the gadget gifts no one else would ever think of except a mom who covers tech for a living.

Moms like me love to capture every moment of our familys lives. But were never in the photos because were always taking them! Heres a hands-free hack to take snapshots and selfies to new heights: the Rova Selfie Drone ($299.00). Just launch this frisbee-sized flyer into the air and its built-in obstacle avoidance technology keeps it from crashing down on the kitchen table while it catches all the best angles. She can even share the photos straight to social media right from the app, because if it didnt happen on Instagram, it didnt really happen, right?

LifePrint is an augmented reality photo printer that creates great still shots.(Photo: LifePrint)

Moms a family photo nut but I bet shes never printed a video before. LifePrint ($129.95) is an augmented reality photo printer that creates great still shots, but when viewed through the LifePrint app, the images come alive into animated videos like magic. It prints videos from Facebook, Instagram, Apple Live Photos, and more.

Rainbow roses from F-T-D.(Photo: Jennifer Jolly special for USA Today)

Wait, flowers? Arent flowers pretty standard for Mothers Day? Not the rainbow roses from FTD making headlines as the newest must-have in the whole unicorn craze. How do you get the petals to be so different? Magic. Duh.

ProFlowers has a pretty enchanting take on fresh flowers this year too. They partnered with All Across Africa to offer handwoven basket vases ($29.99 and up), created by artists in Rwanda. No two are ever the same, and by giving one to mom youre also providing clothes, shoes, healthcare, school supplies, and all kinds of other support for the talented creators who made them.

Heres another great go-to for matching your one-of-a-kind mom with a one-of-a-kind gift from some of the worlds most talented artists like her own child! Grab a piece of your own childhood art, pick out a gorgeous frame and setting, and give her the most personalized, meaningful piece of wall art shes ever seen. Or use your own likeness for a stunning custom print ($29.99 and up at Minted.com).

For the gadget-loving mom who covets her smartphone (guilty!), check out these beautifully bold new Symmetry cases from Otterbox ($39.95). Theyre built to protect and impress, just like mom, and theyre designed by some of the top fashionistas on the planet, so mom can keep her digital lifeline safe and secure and sport some sexy style at the same time.

Mom might have rocked a fanny pack in the glory days of the 1990s, but today, Mobovidas Bristol Belt Bags ($85.00 and up) are the hip, fashionable, modern version of on-the-go carry-alls. Its made of luxurious leather and has pockets for all the things mom totes along, like her keys, phone, and even a built-in phone charger in case she runs out of juice but still needs to check in.

Okay, so your guitar or drums lessons mom paid for didnt amount to much of a music career, but you can still serenade her with a personalized tune all her own with Songfinch ($200). You fill out a Mad Lib-style questionnaire to give the artists some inspiration, and Songfinchs professional songwriters will craft the ballad just for her. You can even pick the genre, and after its made, mom can download, share, and show it off to whoever she wants, scoring you big points along the way.

For moms with musical aspirations of their own, the One light keyboard is the fast-track to success.(Photo: Smartpiano)

For moms with musical aspirations of their own, the One light keyboard ($269.99) is the fast-track to success. This app-enabled instrument guides her through lessons in no time, and before you know it shell be keying her way through some seriously impressive tunes. The keys light up to teach each skill in the most intuitive way possible, and it includes built-in speakers and works with both iOS and Android phones.

It goes without saying, but everyone once in awhile mom needs to unwind with a nice glass of wine, so what better way to help her enjoy her me time than with monthly deliveries of the best wine the world has to offer? Wincs monthly wine boxes (starting at $13 per bottle) are hand-picked by top wine tasters and are sourced from as close as California or as far away as France, South Africa, and even New Zealand.

Nimb , a stylish smart ring that instantly notifies you, and even emergency responders, if shes ever in trouble.(Photo: Nimb Inc.)

Give mom a gift that will let her know that she really does mean the world to you with Nimb ($129), a stylish smart ring that instantly notifies you, and even emergency responders, if shes ever in trouble. The ring works hand-and-hand with an app to send out instant alerts if an emergency strikes, and shows you exactly where she is. Its a little peace of mind in a crazy world, and mom will definitely appreciate that.

Jennifer Jollyis an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at jj@techish.com. Follow her on Twitter@JenniferJolly.

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Mother's Day: The best gifts for the mom who loves technology - USA TODAY

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AFRL leader had front row seat to world’s best technology – Dayton Daily News

Posted: at 11:45 pm

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

When the Air Forces most advanced F-22 stealth fighters lost their cockpit displays crossing the international dateline over the Pacific, the phone of C. Douglas Ebersole began to ring.

Ebersole was an aerospace engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which at the time in February 2007 was in the middle of a major snowstorm.

I got the call at home and they said, Hey, youve got to got to get into the office right away, he remembered.

Ebersole, 58, of Beavercreek, was the point man at the Air Force Research Laboratory, ending his 35-year career late last month, the last two years as the civilian executive director of the agency. His successor hasnt been announced.

Brig. Gen. William T. Cooley became AFRLs military commander last Tuesday.

Ebersole has had a front row seat watching technology AFRL has worked on show up on the front lines.

In January 1991, when F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack jets bombed Baghdad at night and escaped unscathed in a barrage of anti-aircraft fire, Ebersole watched the campaign unfold on television. He had more than a passing interest in the once secret jet: He was the lead flight technology engineer on the program at AFRL.

Those kinds of groundbreaking projects are what AFRL has focused on in its labs and directorates at Wright-Patterson and in Florida, New Mexico, New York and Virginia, according to scientists.

He was on the hook a decade ago to find out what was wrong with the F-22 and fix it. Working with engineers and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, they found a fix within a week and the planes continued to Japan, he said.

Sometimes, you learn from your mistakes, right? he said

The Wayne High School alumnus has Purdue University and University of Dayton engineering degrees, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology masters of business administration degree and was a senior executive fellow at Harvard University.

From his former vantage point as the highest-ranking civilian leader and assistant to the AFRL commander, he helped oversee a $4.9 billion budget and 6,300 scientists and engineers.

More than half the AFRL budget is derived from customers such as contractors and government agencies to fund lab research.

C. Douglas Ebersole was recently named the Air Force Research Lab executive director. Staff Writer

Outside funding rose to $2.7 billion last year, compared to about $2 billion in 2014, he said. The demand is particularly strong at the Information Directorate at Rome, N.Y., he said.

Hopefully, the trend will continue, Ebersole said. That brings a lot of work into AFRL and I think it demonstrates the value that maybe these external customers see, which might be tied to telling our story a little bit better.

In recent years, stop gap funding measures in the absence of a fiscal year budget for months have caused turbulence in steering the future of the agency, he noted.

Theres some areas we want to place some big bets and its just hard to do that if you dont have that solid five-year budget plan coming out of Capitol Hill, he said. Thats probably the biggest part is just not knowing the future.

Wright-Patterson is headquarters to AFRL and has four of nine directorates: Aerospace Systems, Materials and Manufacturing, Sensors, the 711th Human Performance Wing.

AFRL has placed big bets on future hypersonic and directed-energy research and autonomous systems, resulting in remotely piloted drones to fly in tandem with manned aircraft.

Among its marque programs, the agency has tested hypersonic vehicles for a future high-speed strike weapon and has focused on creating a laser weapon that can fit on a fighter jet by the next decade.

AFRL has urged researchers to pursue more patents. The push was started after a high-level Air Force leader thought AFRL wasnt producing as many patents compared to their counterparts in Army and Navy research labs, according to Ebersole.

Thats something I was the champion for here in AFRL, and weve made progress there, and weve really tried to decompose what is the problem, he said.

Since then, AFRL recognized researchers with a wall of fame of sorts inside the agency, taking note of patented research work.

The first thing that became evident was we werent celebrating it, he said.

The agency hired tech scouts to comb the laboratories and work with researchers to discover what work coming out of the lab might lead to patents and invention disclosures, the first step to a years-long process to obtain a patent.

Sometimes a researcher doesnt see novel, he said. He or she doesnt really realize the work that theyre doing is patent-able.

Along with tech scouts, the agency hired paralegals to work on the paperwork for invention disclosures and patents.

One thing about researchers (is) they may not want to write a patent, write an invention disclosure, but they love talking about their work, he said. And thats been the game changer is to just do the work a Ph.D. white coat researcher doesnt want to do because he or she just wants to do his work.

In fiscal year 2015, the agency recorded 108 invention disclosures, and 101 the following year, figures show. So far this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, the agency has reported 84.

Last fiscal year, AFRL had 49 patents, the most recent numbers available.

The science and technology agency also has pushed taking technology developed in the lab and putting it on the commercial market to lower costs and build the defense industrial base.

AFRL has an entrepreneurship program for scientists and engineers who may leave the agency and set up small businesses for work started in the laboratory.

During Ebersoles tenure, AFRL also opened a satellite office in downtown Dayton this spring to put researchers outside the fence into collaboration with technical experts. This month, nearly 40 academic and industry researchers around the world will explore challenges in autonomy with AFRL scientists inside the Dayton office for three months.

The next project will explore augmented reality, joining virtual reality with a real-world environment.

Top leaders interest in AFRL

The agencys research has interest among the highest-ranking Air Forces leaders. In February, AFRL representatives met with Gen. David L. Goldfein, the four-star commander of the military branch, and Acting Secretary of the Air Force Lisa S. Disbrow.

AFRL leaders have met with the top two Air Force leaders every six months or so since the first session in August 2014.

It really has been able to communicate the value of AFRL to the most senior leadership in the Air Force, Ebersole said. The fact that we have that communication loop with them, it does allow us to get re-vectored. It allows us to get aligned with the warfighter.

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AFRL leader had front row seat to world's best technology - Dayton Daily News

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Canadians unconcerned about technology’s impact on the economy: poll – The Globe and Mail

Posted: at 11:45 pm

If machines are really getting smarter and threatening to replace human workers en masse, Canadians dont seem overly alarmed just yet.

Thats the upshot of a poll released Saturday by Abacus Data. The Ottawa polling firm found 89 per cent of Canadians agreed technological change has been good for the world, while 76 per cent agreed technological change has been good for my own economic well-being. While wealthier respondents were more likely to see technology change as good for their prosperity, two-thirds of respondents labelled working/lower class agreed.

The broad consensus that technological change has been good for the world crosses party lines, generations, and self-defined class status, Abacus said in a release. Majorities in every case are of the view that the impact has been positive for them personally. Only 18 per cent of adults were fearful about the impact of technological advances, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet, as well as globalization and immigration.

Those results came despite the fact 62 per cent of those polled agreed whether we like it or not, technology will continue to disrupt the economy and were evenly split on whether AI and automation helped or hurt Canadas future economic prospects. Respondents were relatively more negative on the potentially harmful impacts of technology on the Canadian economy than from immigration or globalization.

Recent breakthroughs in AI machine learning many pioneered by Canadian researchers have paved the way for technology to radically change how work is done and by whom, or by what. Self-teaching algorithms and robots are poised to perform tasks that machines have been unable to do on their own such as operating cars, detecting fraud, transcribing human speech, and sorting, selecting and packing goods. That has raised the spectre that millions of workers could be displaced by machines in years to come.

Technology proponents argue there will still be plenty of work for humans, but how they do their jobs and what they are paid could be transformed. The first effect of machine intelligence will be to lower the cost of goods and services that rely on prediction in a range of sectors, University of Toronto academics Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb wrote in a Harvard Business Review article titled The Simple Economics of Machine Intelligence, published last November. As a result, we will start using prediction to perform tasks where we previously didnt [while] the value of other things that complement prediction will rise.

The question of technology is becoming more complex or nuanced, said Abacus chairman Bruce Anderson. On the whole, Canadians see big upsides to the technological revolution that has transformed world economies. However, there is already a fair bit of anxiety about the dislocation that may occur as a result of artificial intelligence and automation.

The findings mirror the results of a global survey by British research firm Vanson Bourne last year, commissioned by Dell Technologies, that suggested Canadian companies hadnt been as affected by digital disruption, nor had they transformed as much to compete in the digital economy as their peers elsewhere. Another poll, by the Angus Reid Institute last year, found 63 per cent of Canadians were seriously concerned new technology would likely eliminate more jobs than would be created.

Abacus surveyed 1,500 randomly selected Canadian adults online from April 21-24. The poll, weighted according to census data, is considered to have a margin of error of plus-minus 2.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Follow Sean Silcoff on Twitter: @SeanSilcoff

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Canadians unconcerned about technology's impact on the economy: poll - The Globe and Mail

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Remember when technology felt fun and life-changing? – The Guardian

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Professor Brian Cox, one of the curators of the new Tomorrows World. Photograph: Leili Farzaneh/BBC

A younger member of my family has been known to leave the room, wailing: Theyre talking about sweets again! when those of a certain age rhapsodise about the confectionery of yore; Spangles, Sherbet Fountains and Kola Kubes do not float his boat. Thus we are made to realise how tiresome group nostalgia is to youth, which immediately sparks a slew of memories of how irksome it was every time ones parents insisted that David Sylvian was all well and good, but they preferred songs where you could hear the lyrics.

So the first rule of writing about the BBCs (sort of) revival of Tomorrows World, the future technology programme that ran for nearly 40 years, is to avoid banging on about how back then we were all told wed be swallowing pills instead of roast dinners and be strapped into personal transporters. (The latter became so ingrained in the collective culture that there is a band called We Were Promised Jetpacks, formed in 2003, the year Tomorrows World last aired).

Tomorrows World 2.0 does not mark the return of Maggie Philbin, Judith Hann or Kieran Prendeville to our screens, alas; indeed, it is nothing so unsophisticated as a single TV programme, but an entire science strand (we didnt have strands in the olden days, kids; we had about three telly programmes a day, tinned peas, fresh air and skittles). The BBCs intention, in the words of one of the seasons curators, Professor Brian Cox, is to represent the institutions of Britain coming together to inspire current and future generations, to convince them to embrace the opportunities that science brings, to foster a spirit of curiosity and tolerance and to embrace the unknown not in fear but in wonder.

Nobody could argue with that and we must all hope that PBC follows through on his hint, earlier last week, that he might consider a career in politics; things, after all, can only get better.

But capturing the spirit that fuelled the original and the enthusiasm that greeted it might prove more complicated. Its not that the public isnt interested in scientific and technological innovation or blind to the benefits that it can bring; far from it. We pride ourselves, now, on being early adopters, captains of multiple screens, health and fitness self-quantifiers, remote heating controllers, online shoppers, streamers, downloaders. We eagerly monitor developments heralding the active involvement of robots in our everyday lives, of driverless cars whizzing us along motorways, of day trips to space and though many are wary of saying it, so primal a fear does it evoke increased dominion over death itself.

The landscape is radically altered from the 1960s and from Harold Wilsons celebrated speech at the Labour party conference in 1963, in which he exhorted his audience to embrace the white heat of technological revolution and use it to adapt and to further their Socialist principles. Labours new leader it had been only nine months since he had taken over from Hugh Gaitskell, his mission to restore the party to government after over a decade in opposition sought to align scientific progress with Labour values and to contrast it with the more resistant attitudes of the entrenched elites.

As Matthew Francis pointed out in a piece marking the 50th anniversary of the speech, Wilsons declaration of intent took place against the backdrop of a public argument between scientist CP Snow, who had accused the ruling classes of being natural Luddites and literary critic FR Leavis; in essence, it was science versus culture, a destructive polarisation whose effects can still be felt.

That was 1963; Tomorrows World launched two years later. Among the innovations that it showcased, often many years before their widespread introduction, were mobile phones, touchscreens, breathalysers, chip and pin. In the more modestly populated TV schedules of its heyday, it became something close to destination viewing.

Fast forward to the present day, and to the jewel in the new Tomorrows World crown Expedition New Earth, in which Professor Stephen Hawking will argue, as has been widely reported, that the human race needs to make alternative living arrangements in the next 100 years, as climate change, overpopulation and the threat of asteroid strikes make our home increasingly precarious.

This is decidedly postlapsarian talk; factor in more frequent mentions of nuclear war and it becomes terrifying, just as we were terrified by the apocalyptic TV drama Threads in 1984. But Tomorrows World was not Threads; it was more hopeful, more committed to believing that our ingenuity and endeavour would deliver progress to the benefit of all.

Vast advances have occurred; ask the parents of a premature baby, anyone waiting for breakthroughs in stem cell therapy or enhanced crop production, or those who communicate with faraway loved ones via Skype. But they have been accompanied by other, more ambiguous changes, chief among them the revolution in communications that has brought us, alongside an ability to break down barriers of space and time, a hyper-accelerated and atomised culture.

It is, surely, more rather than less likely that the internet will discover a cure for cancer. But although future discoveries and innovations are just as probable, they are also far less predictable. The fact that every step towards them is often more likely to be open to mass scrutiny has consequences. Take recent reports of the relatively imminent arrival of artificial wombs, of crucial importance in the care of aforementioned premature babies: wondering at this marvel is swiftly displaced by the battle for territory between feminists (and other sane people) and mens rights activists, who declare the obsolescence of women.

Its possible and certainly desirable that Brian Cox et al will prove a counterblast to such nonsense; that he chose to include the word tolerance alongside curiosity is itself telling. Science isnt something to be tolerated it is simply something that is. But we will need to take ourselves in hand, too, to acknowledge that much technology is no sooner birthed than put into the service of rampant consumerism.

A current TV advert shows a chap going home on the bus. He holds a large potato, his sustenance for the evening, presumably to be cooked and gussied up with a tin of tuna or beans or some grated cheese. Simple, nutritious, actually quite delicious. The ad, though, urges him to toss his spud for his hearts desire: pad thai, on his doorstep with just a click and a credit card. Im not sure technology as lubrication of instant gratification chimes with the spirit of Tomorrows World. Love, and use, the new technology, but dont improve your tea, improve yourself.

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Remember when technology felt fun and life-changing? - The Guardian

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