Category Archives: Progress

Kinvey -- the fiercely independent maker of mobile BaaS, or backend as a service, application development tools -- is independent no more. The company has been acquired by tools vendor Progress Software Corp. for $49 million. The move comes on the heels of Progress' April 2017 acquisition of predictive analytics maintenance technology vendor DataRPM.

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Progress CEO Yogesh Gupta and Kinvey CEO and founder Sravish Sridhar are jointly assuring companies and developers that the union will yield new benefits and development capabilities, and no current functionality in any product will disappear.

"We don't see any existing functionality going away; on the contrary, it is growing," Gupta said. "Kinvey is a back-end platform, and we see Kinvey customers getting new value with our data connectivity and integration platform, Progress DataDirect."

Instead of the six to eight data sources to which developers using Kinvey currently have access, they will now have dozens instantly, he said. DataDirect was acquired by Progress in 2003.

Building on its longtime strategy of targeting the needs of developers more so than a business's executives, Gupta said Progress' mission, as evidenced by its legacy of tools acquisitions, is clear. "If you want a full-stack JavaScript platform that allows you to build native apps for mobile or any device without having to rewrite code and with complete connectivity to any kind of data at scale, there is only one player, and that is Progress."

They Kinvey mobile BaaS acquisition fills a glaring void in Progress' product portfolio. It becomes the back-end anchor in an end-to-end application development environment that is fully portable and independent of any particular cloud platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Bluemix, which all offer their own mobile BaaS.

We see Kinvey customers getting new value with our data connectivity and integration platform. Yogesh GuptaCEO, Progress

Kinvey complements the well-regarded Telerik platform, which sits at the front end and is used for developing single-codebase native experiences for iOS and Android. Progress acquired Telerik in December 2014. DataRPM sits in the middle, providing cognitive predictive analytics services that anticipate industrial-equipment breakdowns, enabling the intelligent dispatch of preventative maintenance resources, rather than responding to break and fix alerts.

The Kinvey and DataRPM acquisitions, taken together, bring new a new level of breadth to Progress' application development portfolio, according to Denise Lund, research director for enterprise mobility at IDC. "Together with its DataRPM assets, Progress is quickly becoming a formidable competitor in the intelligent apps development market."

Lund said the trio of acquisitions empowers developers to leverage their familiarity with JavaScript to use Progress' NativeScript open source framework for building native iOS and Android mobile apps from a single codebase. Developers will also have access to microservices that enable them to connect apps to updatable content that is changeable without any negative impact to the front-end user experience, she said.

Chris Marsh, research director for workforce productivity and compliance at 451 Research, agreed, saying the Kinvey transaction is the latest step in a continuing trend: the acquisitions of StackMob by PayPal and Parse by Facebook in 2013, Firebase by Google and FeedHenry by Red Hat in 2014, StrongLoop by IBM in 2015 and Appcelerator by Axway in 2016.

Kinvey, which has long positioned itself as a provider of HIPAA-compliant services, can ensure that apps meet the moving target that is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations, freeing developers to concentrate on building core application functionality, Lund said. According to Sridhar, Kinvey is the engine behind more than 31,000 apps whose 100 million users generate in excess of 10 billion monthly API calls.

Mobile BaaS products historically offered two approaches, with platform-independent tools providers, typified by Kinvey, on one side and all-encompassing cloud platforms with captive tool sets from AWS, Microsoft, Google and IBM on the other. With the independent tools vendors sometimes portrayed as a do-it-yourself bag of parts requiring Lego-like assembly, that characterization is off-base, Gupta asserted.

"It is AWS and Azure customers that get locked into and stuck with a provider," Gupta said. "They offer services as a bag of parts that you have to stitch together, while Kinvey's services are open and well-integrated. You can use whatever tooling you want; AWS is not like that."

Holder Construction, an Atlanta-based builder of arenas, concert halls and stadiums worldwide, is currently a customer of both, using Kinvey as a back-end platform and Progress tools, including the Kendo UI library, on the front end. CIO Bryant King said the combination allowed Holder to implement a purely digital construction management process, completely eliminating paper and printing. "Given that we're a customer of both, the combination of Kinvey and the Progress stack makes perfect sense."

Joel Shore is news writer for TechTarget's Business Applications and Architecture Media Group. Write to him atjshore@techtarget.comor follow @JshoreTTon Twitter.

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Progress snaps up mobile BaaS vendor Kinvey to extend app dev wares - TechTarget

Gab Marcotti enlightens us on the what possibly could have happened to make Dani Alves change his mind from Manchester City to PSG. Jonathan Johnson provides an update on PSG's transfer activity and the ongoing Marco Verratti drama in this summer window.

PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain are set to complete the signing of right-back Dani Alves on a free transfer after the Brazilian international passed his medical in the French capital on Tuesday.

Alves was largely expected to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City after playing for him for a number of years with one of his former clubs, Barcelona.

However, PSG launched a late charm offensive to bring the former Juventus defender to Parc des Princes -- and it worked. Now he is expected to sign a two-year contract with the recently dethroned Ligue 1 champions.

On the face of it, the signing of a 34-year-old right-back should not be celebrated by a club that aspires to make up for disappointment in Le Championnat and the UEFA Champions League last season, not to mention attaining ultimate continental success, but Alves' signing represents so much more than the arrival of a veteran defender.

First of all, the man from Juazeiro is still a capable starter at the highest level and proved that by helping Juventus to last season's Serie A and Coppa Italia titles, as well as the Champions League final.

Alves will bring vast experience to Unai Emery's squad but he will also be able to challenge the likes of Thomas Meunier and Serge Aurier -- assuming the latter stays in Paris his summer -- for a starting role.

The presence of captain Thiago Silva and Marquinhos as Emery's central defensive pairing of choice will make it easy for another Portuguese speaker to adapt in PSG's backline, while the club's strong Brazilian contingent will make Alves feel at home immediately.

Also, Alves is the ideal player to make up for the loss of Pepe to Besiktas. If anything, the former Sevilla man offers the same intense winning mentality but more on the pitch in an attacking sense.

Granted, PSG do not necessarily need another attack-minded right-back with Meunier already there and doing an underrated job. However, the Belgian international is not the one who is likely to make way for Alves in the squad.

Instead, it will almost certainly be Aurier who is granted a summer departure and if that happens, replacing the Ivory Coast international with the South American will be a wise -- albeit short-term -- move.

Aurier's unprofessional antics away from the pitch have long undermined the good he can do on it and a change of scenery will likely rejuvenate the Ivorian and help him to salvage something of the rest of his career.

Indeed, the most impressive thing about PSG's successful late swoop for Alves is what it says about Antero Henrique's arrival as sporting director and his appointment of recently retired Maxwell as his assistant.

Both men worked tirelessly to persuade the Brazilian to move to Paris. Although Pepe's move to Turkey and Thiago Motta's drawn-out contract renewal have shown that Henrique can be a stubborn character when it comes to getting value for money, he and Maxwell have now proved they can sell the PSG project to in-demand players and fight off stiff competition.

Henrique and Maxwell deserve immense credit for getting this deal done and it represents a moment of maturity for the club as it continues to become better structured and serious about its own project once again under Henrique.

With an influential player like Alves at PSG, other talented and ambitious players -- particularly Brazilians -- will be more interested in the project than they were before. Further smart business from Henrique and Maxwell will only build a stronger reputation.

Alves' arrival could make Aurier a useful bargaining chip in the pursuit of a central defender such as City's Eliaquim Mangala or Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario -- even if Monaco's Fabinho remains the priority.

Smart transfer deals such as this one enable PSG to keep most of their transfer budget intact and if they can show similar intelligence in other positions, they could still make one mighty splash when needed -- possibly in attack or attacking midfield.

Jonathan Johnson covers PSG and the French national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @Jon_LeGossip.

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Signing Dani Alves proves Paris Saint-Germain making progress in rebuild - ESPN FC (blog)

Airlines have been making progress in getting a ban on laptops lifted, with more carriers expected to follow suit in the coming days, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)says.

So far, six airlines have been able to allow their passengers to once again bring large electronics onto flight cabins:Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian.

Airlines that have been under the ban, which was initially applied to any U.S.-bound flights leaving from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa, have been able to get the restrictions removed by beefing up their aviation security and screening protocols.

Egypt Air, Saudi Airlines and Royal Air Maroc, along with four overseas airports, are still subject to the ban.

A DHS spokesman said that the remaining airlines can notify the U.S. government that they are ready to implement the enhanced security measures, at which point the department will send out teams to inspect the new procedures. Once compliance is verified, the laptop ban will be removed.

The U.S. was considering expanding the laptop ban to include all U.S.-bound flights. Instead, the DHS rolled out new security measures that all international flights must follow in order to avoid the restriction on large electronics.

Some critics in the airline industry have criticized the timeline for the enhanced screening standards, which are being required in stages, starting this summer.

But the DHS spokesman said that the department would assist airports and airlines in meeting the new requirements of the heightened security plan.

Rafael Bernal contributed

The rest is here:

Airlines making progress in getting flight laptop ban lifted, DHS says - The Hill

KTVB , KTVB 7:49 PM. MDT July 11, 2017

The Antelope Fire (Photo: BLM)

SHOSHONE, Idaho - Fire crews are making good progress on two large lightning-caused wildfires burning in the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls District.

Managers said Tuesday morning that they expect to have containment on the Antelope Fire, burning about five miles south of Shoshone, by 8 p.m. Wednesday and controlled by 8 p.m. Thursday.

The fire started on Sunday and was fueled by strong wind gusts causing it to quickly grow in size. It has scorched about 30,000 acres and forced the closure of several highways in the area - including U.S. 26, Idaho 93 and Idaho 24 - on Sunday and Monday. Those highways have since reopened, but drivers are told to use extra caution while the firefight continues.

On Tuesday night, the BLM said the Antelope Fire was "smoldering," and that crews were working to improve containment lines and mop up hot spots.

View of the #AntelopeFire from Notch Butte. Shoshone in the distance #BLMTFDFire pic.twitter.com/39xpGhasPm

Meanwhile, firefighters have contained the Loveridge Fire, which forced the evacuation of Bruneau Dunes State Park Sunday night. The fire, located about eight miles southeast of the town of Bruneau, is now estimated at nearly 39,000 acres in size.

Crews were continuing to mop up hot spots Tuesday, and expected to have it completely controlled by 8 p.m.

Further south, the Meadow Creek Fire was estimated at 493 acres on Tuesday night. The fire is burning two miles east of Interstate 84, and about 15 miles north of the Idaho-Utah state line.

The fire is expected to be contained at 6 p.m. Wednesday and controlled by 6 p.m. Friday.

#MeadowCreekFire burned actively thru the night. Estimated at 1,500 acres #BLMTFDFire pic.twitter.com/2GFP8s2wcO

2017 KTVB-TV

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Crews making progress on S. Idaho wildfires - KTVB

The Muskogee-based Eastern Oklahoma Veterans Health Care System has made significant strides since a critical 2015 news story was published, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General says in a report released Monday.

Signed by Dr. John D. Daigh Jr., assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, the report says the Eastern Oklahoma system, which includes two Tulsa clinics, has fulfilled 11 of 19 recommendations from a May 2016 site visit and has target completion dates within the next few months for the remainder.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, who requested Office of Inspector General reviews of both the Eastern Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City systems, told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday that we have solved the problem in Oklahoma.

Inhofe was presenting legislation that would permit third-party investigations of VA facilities.

Inhofe praised Ralph Gigliotti, director of the VA Rocky Mountain Network, which includes Oklahoma, and said he thinks most of the problems at Oklahomas VA facilities were related to leadership and turnover in administration.

Mondays report notes that the Eastern Oklahoma system went through several top administrators in a relatively short period of time, but it also highlights broader staffing issues that may continue to be a problem, particularly at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee and some outlying clinics.

Specifically, the report says the systems rural locations and low pay make recruiting and retaining personnel, particularly medical specialists, a difficult task.

It also says the Eastern Oklahoma system has had trouble implementing Veterans Choice, a new program intended to allow veterans to use private health-care providers closer to their homes, and in being able to transfer out patients needing higher levels of care.

Investigators reviewed the deaths of 10 acute- care patients and found it more likely that the deaths were due to the severity of the patients diseases rather than poor quality or a lack of care during their ICU stay.

Inhofe requested the OIG investigations after a Dec. 22, 2015, USA Today story outlining failures in the two systems, and particularly the Oklahoma City hospital.

Since then, Inhofe and other members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation have pressed for changes making it easier for regional directors to dismiss local administrators.

Mark Morgan, who was brought in to run the Eastern Oklahoma VA in 2016 after several temporary directors, said he expects continued progress.

I have reviewed the OIGs findings and recommendations and concur with all of them, Morgan said. We have already implemented or completed 11 of the recommendations and are actively working to complete the remaining eight by the end of the year.

The Eastern Oklahoma system includes the Montgomery Medical Center in Muskogee, outpatient clinics in Tulsa, Hartshorne, Muskogee and Vinita, and the behavioral medicine clinic in Tulsa.

randy.krehbiel @tulsaworld.com

Twitter: @rkrehbiel

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Inspector General says Muskogee VA making progress - Tulsa World

OROVILLE, Calif. Following a searing weekend, slightly cooler temperatures and diminishing winds were helping firefighters Monday as they battled several California wildfires that have forced thousands of residents to flee. Crews also made progress on wildfires in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

Heres a closer look at the fires burning in the western United States and Canada.

CALIFORNIA

Crews made progress overnight on a blaze that swept through grassy foothills in the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Sacramento.

Containment was up to 35 percent, said Mary Ann Aldrich, spokeswoman for the state fire protection agency.

About 4,000 people remain under evacuation orders. But Aldrich said if winds continue to die down, authorities are hopeful some will be able to return to their homes Monday.

The fire has burned nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of grass, injured four firefighters and destroyed at least 17 structures.

The area burning was southeast of Oroville, where spillways in the nations tallest dam began crumbling from heavy rains this winter and led to temporary evacuation orders for 200,000 residents downstream.

It leaves you feeling like you cant catch a break, said Sharon Reitan, who sought shelter at an evacuation center with her boyfriend Sunday night.

They were in Oroville on Friday when the fire broke out and roads to their hillside home were blocked. They later saw photographs of their home burned to the ground.

The wildfire was one of more than a dozen across California that about 5,000 firefighters battled Monday.

In Southern California, at least 3,500 people remain evacuated as a pair of fires raged at separate ends of Santa Barbara County. The largest of the two has charred more than 45 square miles (116 square kilometers) of dry brush and is threatening more than 130 rural homes. Its 15 percent contained.

The fires broke out amid a blistering weekend heatwave that toppled temperature records and made conditions dangerous for firefighters. Slightly cooler weather was expected to give crews a break in the coming days.

About 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south, a 17-square-mile (44-square-kilometer) blaze shut down State Route 154, which was expected to remain closed for days. Its just 5 percent contained.

At least 20 structures burned, but officials didnt say if they were homes.

The fire broke out near a campsite and sent hundreds of campers scrambling, including about 90 children and 50 staff members at the Circle V Ranch who had to take shelter until they could be safely evacuated.

Some of the firefighters working to contain the Santa Barbara County blazes were sent to nearby San Luis Obispo County when a fire broke out Sunday and threatened numerous structures near the town of Santa Margarita. Officials said the fire burned less than 1 square mile (about one-third square kilometer).

___

ELSEWHERE IN U.S. WEST

The fight against a wildfire that temporarily forced the evacuation of hundreds of people near the resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado, is winding down.

Firefighters had built containment lines around 85 percent of the blaze as of Monday, and residents of nearby homes were no longer on standby to evacuate. Crews and equipment were starting to be sent to other fires burning around the West.

The fire 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the Breckenridge ski area hasnt spread significantly was burning on less than 1 square mile (about one-third square kilometer).

Elsewhere, residents who fled a rural Arizona community over the weekend because of a wildfire that destroyed three homes have returned.

Pinal County authorities said residents of Dudleyville, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix, were allowed home Sunday evening after crews stopped the fires growth.

The blaze burned half a square mile (1.4-square-kilometers) of salt cedar primarily along the San Pedro River and was 60 percent contained as of late Sunday.

In New Mexico, firefighters were mopping up a wildfire that sent a tall plume of smoke from mountains overlooking Albuquerque late last week.

___

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Firefighters were contending with more than 200 wildfires burning in British Columbia that had destroyed dozens of buildings, including several homes and two airport hangars.

The three biggest fires, which have grown in size to range from 9 to 19 square miles (23 to 49 square kilometers), had forced thousands to flee.

We are just, in many ways, at the beginning of the worst part of the fire season and we watch the weather, we watch the wind, and we pray for rain, outgoing Premier Christy Clark told reporters in Kamloops.

Rob Schweizer, manager of the Kamloops Fire Centre, said it had been an unprecedented 24 hours.

We probably havent seen this sort of activity that involves so many residences and people in the history of the province of B.C., he said.

Read more from the original source:

Fire crews report progress in California, elsewhere in West - Savannah Morning News

Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle

Damian Jones had an up-and-down rookie year, spending nine stints with the Santa Cruz team.

Damian Jones had an up-and-down rookie year, spending nine stints with the Santa Cruz team.

Damian Jones (left) defends against the 76ers Markelle Fultz on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Damian Jones (left) defends against the 76ers Markelle Fultz on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones and James Michael McAdoo during practice at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones and James Michael McAdoo during practice at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones, JaVale McGee and Matt Barnes during NBA Finals Media Day at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones, JaVale McGee and Matt Barnes during NBA Finals Media Day at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones and Zaza Pachulia against Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 of NBA Western Conference 1st Round Playoffs at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on Monday, April 24, 2017.

Golden State Warriors' Damian Jones and Zaza Pachulia against Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 of NBA Western Conference 1st Round Playoffs at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on Monday, April 24, 2017.

Warriors Damian Jones showcasing progress in Summer League

LAS VEGAS The turning point came Jan. 6 in Santa Cruz. As he posted 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in a 126-124 loss to the Grand Rapids Drive, center Damian Jones on assignment with Golden States Development League affiliate stayed out of foul trouble and didnt commit a turnover in 30 minutes.

Casey Hill, then the Santa Cruz Warriors head coach, smiled each of the three or four times a winded Jones asked to come off the court. Because after weeks harping on the 7-foot, 245-pound rookie to give consistent effort, Hill finally was seeing Jones motor match his physical tools.

That was a great sign, Hill said at the time. If he can go hard like that every night, hell be in the NBA for a long time.

With ideal size, strength and speed for an NBA center, Jones has long wowed scouts with his upside. Now, after a rookie year spent largely in the D-League (now the Gatorade League), he has a shot at cracking Golden States frontcourt rotation.

In the Warriors 95-93 loss Saturday night to Philadelphia in the Las Vegas Summer League, Jones looked like an NBA contributor. He scored 13 points and swatted three shots in 24 minutes. Midway through the third quarter, Jones volleyball-spiked an Aaron Harrison layup attempt into the first row.

The two 18-foot jumpers Jones made reinforced an important development: Anchored to the post in his limited NBA minutes last season, he is at ease enough to attempt the shots in games on which he works in practice. The Warriors hope is that his offensive game will only expand over the next week-plus in Las Vegas.

With free-agent center JaVale McGees status still in flux, Golden State could need Jones to play meaningful minutes next season. The Warriors, who will fill their 15th and final roster spot probably with a big man, want to continue rotating through three centers. After playing only 85 NBA minutes as a rookie, Jones could be the third option behind Zaza Pachulia and David West.

I think that if guys like David West and Zaza start talking to him over the summer and tell him to start preparing, he might slide into a role, guard Patrick McCaw said. I think hell be more than ready for it.

Jones tore his right pectoral muscle while lifting weights 12 days before going 30th overall to Golden State in the 2016 NBA draft. After finally getting cleared for contact work in late November, he logged nine stints in Santa Cruz.

It was a humbling experience for a player who got by on athleticism in his three seasons at Vanderbilt. Many nights, after watching a Warriors home game from the bench, he made the winding ride down Highway 17 to Santa Cruz. In his first few D-League assignments, Jones whose four-year rookie contract is worth up to $5.9 million labored against players earning $19,500 or $26,000, the D-Leagues two annual salary levels.

Hill outlined modest goals for Jones: crash the glass, improve his defensive footwork and, above all else, go hard every play. By that measure, his repeated requests for a breather Jan. 6 against Grand Rapids were a breakthrough. Jones was named the D-League Player of the Month in March and April after averaging 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in 12 games.

A week removed from Golden States second NBA title in three years last month, Jones was back at the teams practice facility in downtown Oakland. Now, he is more than a 7-foot project: Jones is a work in progress.

I feel a lot better, Jones said. Everything comes more natural now.

Added Chris DeMarco, the Warriors Summer League head coach: He plays hard. Im really happy about the way hes playing.

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron

Continued here:

Warriors' Damian Jones showcasing progress in Summer League - SFGate

The U.S. and Turkey are beginning to rebuild trust and could come to an agreement about northern Syria, where the U.S. backs a Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terrorist organization, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told staff at the U.S. consulate-general in Istanbul.

I think were beginning to rebuild some of that trust that we lost in one another: they lost our trust to a certain extent, we lost theirs, Tillerson said on Monday while in Istanbul to attend an oil conference. Were making some progress down in Syria, were hopeful that we can replicate that with Turkey on some areas in the north part of Syria.

Tillersons remarks come after a meeting in Hamburg between President Donald Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin delivered a cease-fire in southwest Syria. Putin, the most significant backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, called the deal a breakthrough on July 9. In a tweet the following day, Trump said the cease-fire seemed to be holding and many lives can be saved.

The U.S.-Turkey relationship has been strained by the U.S. partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces, an umbrella opposition group whose main fighting force is the Kurdish YPG. The U.S. chose to partner with and arm the YPG for an assault on the Islamic States stronghold of Raqqa despite Turkish protests and offers that it could provide an alternative military option. The YPG is affiliated with the PKK, a Kurdish group that has been fighting for autonomy inside Turkey since 1984, and which both Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization.

Tillerson said he hoped for an improvement in ties between the two allies after some six hours of meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on three different occasions.

Our relationship here in Turkey, which has been under some stress for some time, I hope we are beginning to put it on the mend, he told the consular staff. This is an extraordinarily important relationship to the United States for many, many reasons that you would well understand, from a security standpoint to the future economic opportunities as well, and the important geography just by luck of mother nature that the citizens of Turkey occupy at this crossroads of the world.

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Turkey, the only Muslim-majority member of NATO, borders Iran, Iraq and Syria to its east and Greece to the west, making it the main land buffer between the Middle East and Europe. The nation hosts some 3 million refugees from the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts and has suffered dozens of terrorist attacks since the Syrian war began, prompting the U.S. to draw down consular staff in the country and order families home.

I know were not back to full normalization yet but were working on it," Tillerson told them, thanking them for operating in what he called a challenging post. I want to thank our Turkish nationals who I know in particular are operating under some very difficult conditions as this relationship has been strained.

Read this article:

Tillerson Says Syria Progress Could Be Replicated With Turkey - Bloomberg

The tenor Paul Appleby (who has also sung the role at the Metropolitan Opera) embodied both Toms eagerness and his blankness, singing with a fresh and sweet lyric tenor that easily projected in the large, mostly outdoor theater. But he was poorly supported by the Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen, whose muddy and imprecise performance, particularly in the first act, failed to complement Mr. Applebys rhythmic energy. (Mr. Jensen was a late replacement for the injured Daniel Harding.)

Toms adventures in London society, more Dionysus than Dickens, get a flashy modern gloss here. With projections and a group of actors, including more tearing through walls, Mr. McBurney creates vivid vignettes of clubs, skyscrapers, a brothel (including the amusing Hilary Summers as madam Mother Goose), a stock market crash and Toms medley of sexual partners (both women and men). The irony and sharp edges of Stravinskys score, as well as the humor of the madcap staging, keep us at a distance from the action, able to witness Toms downfall with a cool, critical eye.

But the soprano Julia Bullock, as Anne, gave the proceedings a beating heart. Though her voice was sometimes lost in the large theater and her high notes sometimes squeezed, Ms. Bullock made her saintly character sincere without being cloying. She was at her best in the haunting final scene, when her slim, nuanced soprano had a simple honesty.

At the insistence of Nick, Tom marries a local freak of nature, the bearded lady Baba the Turk, whose only asset is her fame. (The projections imply that Tom essentially does it for the Instagram possibilities.) The role of a hectoring sideshow attraction is not the operas most ingratiating element, but this production puts a twist on it. Though written for a mezzo-soprano, here the role is performed by the countertenor Andrew Watts in the spirit of Conchita Wurst or a RuPauls Drag Race runner-up, a funny and appropriately campy choice. (Mr. Watts, though, struggled with the roles large range.)

Mr. McBurneys targets may be on the obvious side, but the staging succeeds through its visual wit and sudden swerves into pathos. When Tom sits in front of his bed and sings I wish I were happy, the music is chilly and austere, and the white box surrounding Mr. Appleby seems to offer no comfort at all. As the auctioneer Sellem, the bald and spectacled Alan Oke bore some resemblance to Stravinsky, dispassionately selling off the 18th-century artifacts of Tom and Babas house or relics from the warehouse of music past.

Despite its humor, everything in this production leads to death and loss. As Nick pushes Tom ever further down the path of debauchery, and eventually penury, the tears in the paper walls multiply. By the third acts Don Giovanni-like graveyard scene, in which Tom plays a card game for his soul, the walls are scarred from his ordeals, implying both psychic damage and hard-won experience.

His voice underlined by a creepy harpsichord, Tom wins his soul, but Nick takes his mind. The final scene, in which Tom wanders through Bedlam, is acted with haunting economy by Mr. Appleby on a scarred, bare stage.

The epilogue echoes Don Giovanni as well: The whole cast reminds the audience of their storys moral, and warns against idle hands and hearts and minds. In other words, get off Twitter.

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Review: A 'Rake's Progress' for a Fame-Hungry Internet Age - New York Times

In Brief A smart home device in New Mexico called and alerted the police to an in-progress domestic assault. Thanks to the device's 911 call, the mother and child were found safe but it does raise questions about the fine line between security and privacy where AI is concerned. Smart Call

Calling for help at the right moment during an emergency can spell the difference between a life lost or a life saved. Thankfully, for a mother and daughter in a New Mexico residence, it was the latter. Except they didnt make the call their smart home device did.

Authorities from the Bernalillo County Sheriff Department were alerted to analleged in-progressassault after a 911 call was made by a smart home device. The operator heard a confrontation in the background presumably from a violent domestic dispute involving Eduardo Barros and his girlfriend. Barros, who was house-sitting that day, allegedly pulled a gun on his girlfriend and then asked: Did you call the sheriffs? The smart device heard it as a voice command to call the sheriffs and then made the call, Deputy Felicia Romero told ABC News.

A SWAT team arrived at the scene and successfully apprehended Barros after hours of negotiation. The girlfriend was injured, according to the police, but the daughter was unharmed.

In a statement sent to ABC News, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III expressed his appreciation for the technology. The unexpected use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life. This amazing technology definitely helped save a mother and her child from a very violent situation, he said.

Indeed, this isnt the first case that shows how the Internet of Things (IoT) can be helpful in matters of the law. Back in 2016, Amazon handed over data to authorities from one of its Echo devices, which served as a key piece of evidence in a2015 murder investigation. Although Amazon obliged eventually, they didprotest initially, saying their artificial intelligence (AI) virtual assistant Alexa has First Amendment rights.

While the question of giving AI rights is still one to be settled, its clear that these smart devices are always listening. For both the incident inNew Mexico and the 2015 murder investigation, this all-hearing presence proved to be a good thing. However, there may be instances when smart devices are overhearingtoo much. The task at handacross the industry where AI is concerned will be tofind a good balance between device security and privacy.

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A Smart Home Device Successfully Reported an In-Progress Crime - Futurism