Category Archives: Technology

So what are the sell side analysts saying now? Barron's excellent columnist, Tiernan Ray, would do well to get Bernstein's Mark Newman in a room with Credit Suisse's John Pitzer and listen to them chat about Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU). These are the two sell side analysts I respect the most, and they have widely divergent views on Micron after the company's blowout quarterly earnings, and ultra super duper maximum deluxe robust (technical term) third quarter guidance, delivered on the March 23 earnings call. The tables below demonstrate how divergent Wall Street's view of Micron has become.

Here are the first five firms I've reviewed, on EPS estimates and price targets:

These are all from reports generated after the March 23 earnings call. Blank cells mean no data was presented.

And here's our quintet on revenue estimates, in billions of dollars:

Huh! Well at least they all agree on the third quarter of 2017. Wait! that's smack in the middle of the guided range of $5.2 to $5.6 billion!

Here's some representative language from the reports. First John Pitzer and team at Credit Suisse:

We continue to see fundamentals for MU improving from here - specifically (1) we expect the pricing environment to remain healthy through 2H17 and drive margin improvement for MU; (2) structurally, Memory is a different industry now - higher concentration than ever (HHI 3,300 now versus only 1,900 in 2007), more diversified demand, and slowing supply - we argue margins are more resilient now than in the past, and expect a re-rating as investors realize normalized earnings of >$2 per year; and (3) we continue to argue that strategic value continues to be underappreciated, particularly given China's interest is Memory. Our TP of $40 represents ~8x of our NTM EPS of $5.34 (w/ SBC).

And here is Bernstein's Mark Newman:

The New Memory Paradigm is back, but how much upside is left? We expect this strong pricing to continue in DRAM through the end of CY17 as supply growth in DRAM remains relatively muted this year. We worry more about NAND oversupply later this CY17 due to Samsung's aggressive supply additions and potential oversupply and price weakness later this year.

Taxes. There seems to be some confusion here on SA, and even on the sell side, about Micron's low tax rate and how long it will continue. For a while. Remember Micron's shareholder unfriendly poison pill to protect their Net Operating Loss Carryforwards?

Here are the NOLs from page 85 of the most recent 10k:

And just for fun, here is the same table from the previous year's 10k so you can see that NOLs are growing, not shrinking:

But beyond all these NOLs, Micron operates in a variety of jurisdictions where they don't get levied the full US statutory rate. As a sanity check I looked at Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) over time, and they have a much larger US footprint as a percentage of their total than does Micron:

Source: Bernstein reports 11/4/14, 3/30/15, 3/21/16, and 2/10/17

Those average to 22.8%, far below the maximum US statutory corporate rate.

Finally, and please don't make me dredge up the explanations and examples from business school, GAAP taxes as shown above are not the same as cash taxes. There are plenty of things to worry about with Micron, but current taxes are not one of them.

Free Cash Flow. Also in the confused category is Free Cash Flow. This has been a legitimate worry with Micron over the past year or so. But now, as this table from John Pitzer at Credit Suisse shows, Micron has become something of a Free Cash Flow generation machine:

Note the second to last line of the table: $4.9 Billion in FCF in 2017 and $5.3 Billion in 2018.

Don't believe Credit Suisse (or want it in a type size you can see)? How about the gang at Citicorp:

Also note what this does for cash balances in Citi's estimation, with a static LTDebt amount of $11.3 billion over the same period:

So at least these two analysts don't feel cash flow is an issue.

I am interested and a bit nervous as to what Micron may do with regard to bidding on Toshiba's (OTCPK:TOSBF) memory assets, and bids are due this week. Bloomberg feels bids may be in the neighborhood of $13 billion. My hope is that Micron joins a consortium bid which I imagine might include Silverlake, their portfolio companies Dell & EMC, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). While I hope Micron won't do a solo bid, they will surely have to ante up in any consortium. And while I don't want dilution, this could be a worthy and ultimately anti-dilutive extremely accretive rollup of more of the memory industry. In a correctly structured and priced consortium bid, I would support Micron making an equity offering of 10% of its shares.

Conclusions. Reviewing what the sell side is saying, or more particularly reviewing how what they are saying has changed, is a key step in beginning to formulate my own earnings estimate. Clearly Mark Newman of Bernstein feels we are late in the cycle and the downturn is around the corner. John Pitzer of Credit Suisse seems to think this cycle has a ways to go. I suspect my own estimate, which I've begun working on, will come out somewhere between the two but trending towards the high side based on the many pages of updates I've read.

I'm a bit surprised that Micron's stock price didn't react more favorably to this incredible earnings call. On the other hand, the aftermarket on Thursday saw 12 million shares traded, the pre-market on Friday saw another 6 million, and Friday's regular session saw 107 million. We are getting some new shareholders for this trip into the wild blue yonder. Buckle up for the trip! Good luck to all.

Disclosure: I am/we are long MU, INTC.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Micron Technology: Analyst Upgrades - Seeking Alpha

SINGAPORE - Law firms here will receive yet another boost to get "smart" by adopting technology, with two new initiatives launched by the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) on Monday (March 27).

The SmartLaw Assist scheme will provide law firms with 70 per cent subsidy in initial costs for an online knowledge database, which will help cut the time needed for legal research by up to 20 per cent, said LawSoc president Gregory Vijayendran.

This was announced by Mr Vijayendran on Monday during the two-day Legal Technology Roadshow at the NTUC Business Centre.

The databases under the scheme, which will support an eligible firm's first-year subscription costs, are from the Singapore Academy of Law, Lexis Nexis or Thomson Reuters.

About $300,000 from the LawSoc's Education Fund has been set aside for this scheme.

Separately, to recognise law firms whichhave adopted technology to improve productivity and encourage more law firms to come on board, Mr Vijayendran also launched the society's SmartLaw recognition scheme.

Law firms who have adopted a practice management or accounting software, an online knowledge management database and have an online presence will be able to use the SmartLaw logo on its website and marketing collaterals.

At the event on Monday, the first 10 firms were recognised with a certificate.

This move comes amid a greater push for legal technology in recent months, including a $2.8 million Tech Start for Law programme by the Ministry of Law, LawSoc and Spring Singapore.

Launched in February, it provides funding support for law firms to adopt baseline technologies in practice management, online research and marketing.

"A smart nation needs smart lawyers... I hope that such technology will enable our small- and medium-sized Singapore law practices to be even more efficient and profitable by allowing our lawyers to move up the value chain," said Mr Vijayendran.

The roadshow is the LawSoc's largest event of its kind thus far, featuring 15 vendors, including products and services which are not under the two schemes, but are offering discounts to law firms.

Justice Lee Sieu Kin, who heads the One Judiciary (IT) Steering Committee, said in his opening speech on Monday that the roadshow is an "encouraging start" to realising the Legal Technology Vision, a five-year blueprint charting the legal sector's use of technology.

He said: "This is the first of many steps for the legal sector in the transformation of the legal sector to stay ahead of impending disruption that technology will bring."

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2 new technology schemes launched to help law firms get 'smart' - The Straits Times

By Hadeel Al-Alosi, Western Sydney University

Posted March 27, 2017 19:10:27

Domestic violence is a serious issue in Australia and globally.

It is an inherently gendered crime. Research consistently shows the overwhelming majority of offenders are male and the victims are female.

Australian governments have recently taken a strong stand against domestic violence, focusing mainly on preventing physical forms of abuse.

For example, in 2015, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) announced it would implement a $30 million campaign designed to reduce domestic violence against women and their children.

Another example is the New South Wales Government's Domestic Violence Strategy 2013-2017, which aims to improve the criminal justice system's response to domestic violence.

But what is missing from these strategies is a focus on technology-facilitated domestic violence.

This is a form of domestic violence that provides abusers a pervasive way to control, coerce, stalk and harass their victims.

It involves a range of behaviours. These include sending abusive text messages or emails, making continuous threatening phone calls, spying on and monitoring victims through the use of tracking systems, abusing victims on social media sites, and sharing intimate photos of the victim without their consent ("revenge porn").

A well-publicised example of technology-facilitated domestic violence is the 2010 incident involving Lara Bingle, whose nude images were shared without her consent by her former partner, Brendan Fevola.

The first Australian study conducted to specifically investigate the use of technology in the context of domestic violence is the 2013 SmartSafe Project.

The study involved surveying 152 domestic violence caseworkers and 46 victims in Victoria.

Almost all of the caseworkers who participated in the survey (98 per cent) said their clients had experienced technology-facilitated abuse by a former partner.

Five of the most commonly used technology and online platforms by abusers are:

Other Australian studies further highlight that technology-facilitated domestic violence is prevalent and has significant "real world" implications.

For example, in its review of domestic violence homicides occurring between 2000 to 2012, the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team observed that technology was commonly being used by abusers to stalk, monitor, and control their intimate partners while the relationship was on foot.

This challenges:

" ... misconceptions that stalking behaviours usually only manifest after the relationship has ended."

On an international level, the United Nations, in its 2015 "wake up" report, estimated that 73 per cent of females worldwide have endured online abuse.

The report also urged countries to recognise that online abuse can be just as damaging as physical violence, and has negative consequences:

" ... for all societies in general and irreparable damage for girls and women in particular."

Given the ubiquity of digital communication devices, it is unsurprising that some people are misusing technology to abuse and harass their current or former intimate partners.

Unfortunately, technology-facilitated abuse has been given little, if any, attention in government initiatives aimed at tackling domestic violence.

For example, the Domestic Violence Strategy does not mention technology-facilitated domestic violence.

There are federal and state laws that may deal with some forms of digital abuse for example, stalking offences or using a carriage service to menace and harass someone.

But there needs to be a coordinated national response, rather than a patchwork of legislation throughout Australia.

This is especially true given the borderless nature of the internet.

This allows abusers to traverse geographical barriers to reach their victims through the use of technology.

It is also evident that there needs to be non-legal initiatives that focus on perpetrator accountability and challenge victim-blaming attitudes.

In the SmartSafe Project, it was reported that:

" ... often police put the responsibility back onto the woman and say she should stop visiting Facebook or using devices."

In 2016 federal parliamentary debates, it was also suggested that domestic violence victims take extra precautionary steps by:

"Shut[ting] off GPS and wi-fi, stay away from social media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram; whatever and remember that the perpetrator will be monitoring the sites of your family and friends to see you wherever you are, because you might pop up; they might take photos of you. So please make sure that children do the same."

Victims (and their children) should not be told to abandon their digital communications.

The focus should instead be on holding abusers to account.

Telling victims to forsake their online presence effectively drives women offline, marking the internet as yet another male-dominated space.

The aim should be to prevent perpetrators from further abusing victims through the use of technology, and ultimately changing misogynist and victim-blaming attitudes.

The National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Hadeel Al-Alosi is a lecturer at Western Sydney University's School of Law. She has a strong interest in the work of community legal centres and addressing access to justice issues for vulnerable groups.

Originally published in The Conversation

Topics: assault, crime, community-and-society, domestic-violence, australia, nsw

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Technology-facilitated abuse: The new breed of domestic violence - ABC Online

Why it's disruptive: Blockchain promises to make firms' back-end operations more efficient and cheaper. Eventually, it could replace companies altogether.

Blockchains are one of the most important technologies to emerge in recent years, with many experts believing they will change our world in the next two decades as much as the internet has over the last two.

Although it is early in its development, firms pursuing blockchain technology include IBM, Microsoft, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, Nasdaq, Foxconn, Visa, and shipping giant Maersk. Venture capitalists have so far poured $1.5 billion into the space, with storied firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and Khosla Ventures making bets on startups.

A blockchain is a golden record of the truth that creates trust among multiple parties.

The applications for blockchain technology seem endless. While the first obvious ones are financial -- international payments, remittances, complex financial products -- it can also solve problems and create new opportunities in healthcare, defense, supply chain management, luxury goods, government, and other industries. In more advanced stages, the technology could give rise to what Gartner calls "the programmable economy," powered by entirely new business models that eliminate all kinds of middlemen, machine networks in which devices engage in economic activity, and "smart assets" in which some form of property such as shares in a company can be traded according to programmable or artificial intelligence-based rules rather than the control of a centralized entity.

What is blockchain: A blockchain is a single version of the truth made possible by an immutable and secure time-stamped ledger, copies of which are held by multiple parties.

Why it matters: It shifts trust in business from an institution or entity to software and could someday spell the demise of many traditional companies. It also promises to make trade-able many assets that are illiquid today, enable our devices and gadgets to become consumers, and bring trust to many areas of business, eliminating fraud and counterfeiting.

How it works: Cryptography secures the data and new transactions are linked to previous ones, making it near-impossible to change older records without having to change subsequent ones. And because multiple "nodes" (computers) run the network, one would need to gain control of more than half of them in order to make changes.

Why it's disruptive: At the least it promises to make firms' back-end operations more efficient and cheaper, but down the line, it could replace companies altogether.

Business opportunities: New services and products will pop up in areas such as creating and trading assets, tracking provenance, managing supply chain, managing identity, and in providing ancillary services to the software itself.

Main vendors: More than a dozen platform vendors have sprung up, and several dozen consulting and implementation providers assist in adopting blockchain projects.

Career options: The main blockchain specialists include developers and business and technical architects. But roles are also needed in risk management, security, cryptography, business process management, product strategy, and analytics.

A blockchain is a golden record of the truth that creates trust among multiple parties. Specifically, it's a secure, tamper-proof ledger with time-stamped transactions, distributed amongst a number of entities.

This means a blockchain -- a piece of technology -- can replace an intermediary in situations where a trusted third party is required. So, for instance, while we now need a bank (or several) in order to make a payment to a foreign country, a piece of software -- the program running bitcoin -- can now send money to someone across the world for us. And the latter is much cheaper and faster -- and, in the case of bitcoin, transparent so you can see when the money arrives, whereas with a bank wire, you have to find out from the recipient. (Blockchains can be made private as well, to protect data.) Overall, blockchain technology promises greater security and lower costs than traditional databases.

"The problem in the market is that blockchain is being used as a collective noun for the bitcoin blockchain and everything else in between, and that's not exactly true," says David Furlonger, Gartner vice president and fellow. Blockchain has become the catch-all phrase for a larger group of technologies called "distributed ledger technology" or DLT. Technically speaking, it is possible to have a distributed ledger that is not constructed as a blockchain (as described below), however, when people refer to blockchain technology, they are often speaking about DLT.

And if you want to get really technical, "DLT falls short because it assumes information gets distributed when in many cases it doesn't," says Javier Paz, senior analyst at financial services research firm Aite Group. But "blockchain," "distributed ledger," or "DLT" should suffice for all but the most technical discussions.

"The key differentiator between a database and blockchain is that a database is managed and controlled by someone," says Eric Piscini, principal of financial services technology at Deloitte. "A blockchain doesn't need to be managed by someone, so you don't have to trust someone to run the platform. It's run by everyone at the same time. That's a shift in business models."

Eventually, blockchains could give rise to a number of peer-to-peer networks not run by any centralized parties that enable the creation and transfer of money or other assets. For instance, the technology could be used to create an Airbnb-like network without the company Airbnb. When combined with the Internet of Things (IoT), it could create an Uber-like program without Uber. Such peer-to-peer networks are often referred to as distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs), and someday, they could transform our whole conception of companies.

Gartner projects that blockchain will result in $176 billion in added business value by 2025, and $3.1 trillion by 2030.

Not every blockchain works the same way. For example, they can differ in their consensus mechanisms, which are the rules by which the technology will update the ledger. But broadly, a blockchain is a ledger on which new transactions are recorded in blocks, with each block identified by a cryptographic hash of that data. The same hash will always result from that data, but it is impossible to re-create the data from the hash. Similarly, if even the smallest detail of that transaction data is changed, it will create a wildly different hash, and since the hash of each block is included as a data point in the next block, subsequent blocks would also end up with different hashes. This is what makes the ledger tamper-proof. Finally, security also comes from the fact that multiple computers called nodes store the blockchain, and so to change the ledger, one would need to gain control of at least 50 percent of the computing power in order to change the record -- a difficult feat especially for a public blockchain such as bitcoin's.

Additional resources

A common saying is that blockchain technology will do what the internet did to media -- disrupt -- but to sectors such as financial services, law, and other industries offering trust as a service.

"The industry has lived and breathed off the back of intermediation," Furlonger says. Noting that banks typically control financial activity and governments usually control the economic assets we use, he adds, "If you think about the way authentication and identification is done, the way you onboard customers, the way you share records, all of this is done through siloed, decades-old channels and processes. And here you have a technology that basically says you no longer need a middleman, you have one golden copy of a record that no one can change ... anyone can join any time because it's open source ... it's kind of free, anyone can create any asset and distribute it to anyone else on the planet. You're basically saying, we're going to change the way the economic models that have grown up for the last several centuries operate. As a result, we're going to change the way society operates as well."

He believes the outcome will be what Gartner calls "the programmable economy," which it defines as a global market powered by algorithmic businesses and DAOs running on blockchain-based networks whose assets engage in economic activity by rules coded in software or artificial intelligence. The two most commonly used public networks so far are bitcoin and Ethereum, a public blockchain like bitcoin's that is focused on smart contracts, which are software programs that execute transactions when certain conditions are met.

But that's at least a decade off. To start, the technology will make the back-end operations of many companies more efficient because, now, firms that work with each other and even different departments within one organization often maintain their own ledgers, duplicating work. "At least we will see it impacting the back and middle office, eradicating the problems and cost associated with sustaining multiple versions of the truth," Paz says.

A recent report by Bain and Company estimated that the savings from implementation of blockchain technology would amount to $15 to $35 billion annually. As services at certain companies become more efficient and cheaper, marketshare among incumbents is likely to change. And because the technology is open source, "You can build that platform for a fraction of what it would cost you with traditional technologies," Piscini says. That gives both startups as well as the software itself an opening. For instance, people could use the bitcoin network, which is not run by any one company, to make payments cheaply, quickly, and efficiently. "If you just enable transactions for others, you're in big trouble," he says, "because the blockchain can replace you as an entity without the need for a legal entity to run it."

Additional resources

Though some executives might fear software replacing their role or their company's, even email hasn't killed snail mail. Though the technology does promise to change existing marketshare, Piscini says companies can avoid becoming obsolete by seizing upon new opportunities. "If companies provide incremental services, if they provide you the ability to dispute transactions, to do some analytics on top of that platform -- incremental value that you don't have today -- that's how they're going to survive." In fact, blockchain technology will enable companies to offer services that previously were impossible without it. Gartner predicts that by 2022, at least one new business based on blockchain technology will be worth $10 billion.

Blockchain technology makes possible new offerings in industries as diverse as financial services, health care, supply chain, oil and gas, retail, music, advertising, publishing, media, energy, government, and many others. In finance alone, it can be used for making international payments, trading stocks, bonds, and commodities, and providing an audit trail for regulators. It can create new forms of assets and make it possible to trade existing illiquid ones, such as mobile minutes, energy credits and frequent flyer miles. It can be used to track provenance, stamping out fraud and counterfeiting in areas such as luxury goods, fine art, pharmaceuticals, food, and government documents. It makes it possible for musicians, writers, and other artists to embed royalty payments into their MP3s, ebooks, and other creations to pay themselves every time their work is bought or resold. It can be used by publishers to run publications funded not by ads but by micropayments issued by readers' browsers. It can enable people to manage their identity and the privacy of their data instead of having to rely on centralized entities such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter. It can show an individual voter that their vote was counted correctly and the entire electorate that no votes were fraudulent or counted more than once. And those are just some examples.

Gartner projects that devices or things using blockchains to transact will comprise 30 percent of the global customer base by 2030. One of the more popular futuristic scenarios is that we may someday tell our self-driving car that we're in a rush and to send a micropayment to any car that is willing to be passed on the highway. The money will be transmitted via a combination of blockchain and IoT technologies.

Additional resources

A host of platform vendors to enterprise have already cropped up. Although the space has more than a dozen players, the most active groups (two are not companies), in alphabetical order, are:

Others include Axoni, Digital Asset Holdings, Monax, Ripple, SETL, Symbiont, and T0 (T-zero, as in settlement in zero days).

Businesses helping firms implement blockchain solutions include Accenture, CapGemini, Chainsmiths, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, IBM Global Services, Infosys, KMPG, PwC, Polaris, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and others. IBM and Microsoft are leaders in cloud blockchain services.

Additional Resources

Numerous executives have noted a talent shortage, and because financial services firms are hiring in the space, blockchain developers command high salaries. Venture capitalist William Mougayar, author of "The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice and Application of the Next Internet Technology," estimates blockchain developers to number 30,000 to 35,000 among an estimated 18 million worldwide in 2014.

The roles needed in the space include blockchain developers, technology architects and business architects, and specialties should include risk management, security, cryptography, business process management, product strategy, and analytics. Technology architects construct the blockchain so that it's appropriate for the business needs, secure, and does what it intends to do. As the technology develops further and smart contracts become a reality, staff will also be needed to combine IoT and artificial intelligence with blockchain. Less blockchain-focused roles are also necessary to ensure the solution can be integrated with, say, accounting.

"People underestimate the complexity of replacing a transaction platform with a blockchain solution," Piscini says. "It may be working in the lab, but when you work from the lab into production, you have a lot of challenges."

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Executive's guide to implementing blockchain technology - ZDNet

March 22, 2017 11:00 PM By Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) New smart phone technology could help millions of men struggling withinfertility.

Millions of couples have trouble trying to have a family.Forty percent of infertility is attributable to men. Now, instead of repeated visits to doctors offices, men might be able to do some critical testing in the privacy of their homes.

I think this device can be as simple as a home pregnancy test for a woman, said researcherHadi Shafiee,

This new technology allows men to collect and test sperm samples at home, instead of having to go to a clinic or doctors office.

Researchers hope this option will someday make fertility testing for men a much easier and less awkward experience.

They have to provide the samples in specific hospital rooms under so much stress and embarrassment, Shafiee said, so we wanted to come up with a technology to enable home based infertility screening.

The technology uses an attachment that connects to a cell phone and a disposable microchip. An app measures the concentration and movement of the sperm.

The new study looked at 350 samples and found it delivers precise results.

This smart phone-based semen analyzer can identify abnormal semen samples with 98 percent accuracy, Shafiee said.

Researchers say the phone technology could also be used by men who had a vasectomyto monitor sperm following surgery. Currently they have to check in regularly with a urologist to make sure the surgery was successful.

It could be some time before men can put the technology to use. Researchers plan additional testing and then will file for FDAapproval.

A lot of men are hoping this will eventually be available.

Stephanie Stahl, CBS 3 and The CW Philly 57s Emmy Award-winning health reporter, is featured daily on Eyewitness News. As one of the television industrys most respected medical reporters, Stephanie has been recognized by community and he...

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Andrew Heikkila is a tech enthusiast and writer from Boise, Idaho.

We live in an amazing world. While were not yet hovering through the skies in flying cars like The Jetsons promised, we are starting to build cars that are driving themselves. On top of that, AI is less technological myth and more hazy future certainty than its ever been, the internet connects all of us in one, giant, interpersonal communications web and, best of all, you dont have to wait for TV programming anymore if youre a Netflix subscriber. On-demand programming yes, that is the best, isnt it?

Almost everything seems like its on demand, delivered from a flat screen with the flick of the wrist, the push of a button and yet, the U.S., one of the richest, most developed countries in the world, is only the 15th happiest, according to the World Happiness Report. Whats more, that levels been dropping since 2005.

So why havent we developed happiness on demand? Weve seen more technological growth in the last 10 years than we saw in the 100 years before that, and it seems weve only grown less happy. What gives? If technology has the potential to solve almost every other logistical problem inherent to the human condition, shouldnt we be able to wield it to become happy?

In early 2014, worldwide news outlets began covering an interesting story about an invention called The Orgasmatron, an implantable piece of tech patented by Dr. Stuart Meloy that can deliver orgasms at the push of a button. Writing for the BBC, Frank Swain explored the story only to find that Meloy wasnt the first person to think about installing pleasure buttons in humans. In the 1950s, Robert Gabriel Heath delivered electrical pulses to the septal region of his patients brains to induce a rush of pleasure and subdue violent behaviors.

The idea of this type of technology is intriguing, and the implications vast. Via electrical impulses, one can induce a powerful and immediate pleasure response in the subject could you also deliver pain? The CIA, apparently, came to ask Heath that very question (the response, apparently, was Heath throwing the suit out of his lab).

Contemporaries of Heaths were more willing to explore the effects of electrical/emotional manipulation, namely one Jos Manuel Rodriguez Delgado, who famously implanted a bulls brain with wired controls and jumped into the ring with it, turning away its charges with the push of a button. Unfortunately (for Delgado), mind control projects were quickly deemed too dangerous to pursue. From Swains BBC article:

However, the public mood surrounding brain implants soured with the publication of his book Physical Control of the Mind: Toward a Psychocivilized Society in 1969, in which Delgado (somewhat naively) downplayed the Orwellian prospects of the devices and encouraged people to embrace the technology. If everyone would consent to implantation to mediate their tempers and traumas, the world would be a better place, he claimed.

The development of psychoactive drugs and other medicines also made these brain implants obsolete. Nevertheless, its worth pointing out that the quest to deliver happiness on demand via technology, literally directly into the brain, is a journey that began at least 60 years ago.

Technology makes people both happy and unhappy, in the broadest sense of the term. When applied to healthcare, for example, its easy to see technology as a harbinger of happiness; pre-Industrial Revolution, two out of every three Europeans died before the age of 30, while today average life expectancy in Europe is 79 for males and 84 for females. Most people are happy to be alive, and medical and pharmaceutical technology means that they can be for longer.

On the other hand, one of the key things that happiness studies find is that people have a hard time being content with what they have, especially in comparison to others. Technologys constant newness is awesome, but the never-ending churn of annual improvements means that a year or two after you buy something (if that), its old or outdated and everybody longs for the newest model.

Think about it this way: Does the thought of indoor guidance systems akin to GPS sound new and exciting? Precision tracking down to the step sounds awesome but at one point before 1995, so did standard GPS. Nowadays, though, every phone is capable of standard GPS to the point that the technology is taken for granted. The same could be said of cellular/smartphones in general. Indeed, the psychological term hedonic treadmill is applied to the human tendency to experience a rise in desires and expectations in tandem with material gain such as innovative new products or a raise in salary, meaning there is no permanent or net gain in happiness.

For a more complicated mix of both, we could look at the world of work. In James Surowieckis Technology and Happiness published via MITs Technology Review, he writes that the workplace is central to peoples sense of well-being and is more important to them than anything, including family. Studies show that nothing not even divorce makes people more unhappy than unemployment. He goes on to show that, paradoxically, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, mechanization of agriculture allowed people to get off the farm, but it meant that theyd be working high-paying, but often miserable, industrial labor.

New evidence suggests people would prefer job satisfaction over a higher salary, as long as basic needs are met (maybe they should have stayed on the farm?). Nevertheless, with wireless laptops, phones and internet connections, were seeing that the gig economy is beginning to thrive, not only because some part-time workers need the side hustle, but also because freelance workers are happier with the freedom and work/life balance they gain by being their own boss.

The pendulum swings back and forth, it seems.

Everybodys heard the old adage that money doesnt buy happiness, and its true, somewhat yet, everybodys also probably heard the tack-on to the adage but it helps. See, we live in a culture dominated by consumerism. From Walmart grocery stores to drive-thru fast food chains, top companies are constantly utilizing and refining data sciences to improve the customer experience, aiming to create happier customers but in this type of culture, its hard to quantify happiness like you can materials.

When taking into account concepts like the hedonic treadmill mentioned above, its easy to see that our temporary fixes for happiness dont last, and that the temporary highs we receive when were buying something new are not that different from the temporary euphoria we feel from using drugs, for example, or even falling in love at the beginning of a relationship.

In one of his videos, titled How Much Money is LOVE Worth?, Vsauces Michael references a U.K. study where the amount happiness from hearing somebody say I love you for the first time is measured against the amount of happiness gamblers feel when they win large sums of money. The study concluded that hearing someone loves you for the first time is the equivalent happiness level of receiving $267,000. Yet, if you asked what people would choose hearing I love you or a quarter of a million dollars which do you think it would be?

The argument can be made that love is really just a chemical reaction that occurs in the brain, like a sort of drug. So do drugs make us happy? Sort of. But another YouTube video by Kurzgesagt exploring addiction brings up an interesting point when exploring heroin use in the Vietnam War. Twenty percent of American G.I.s used heroin in Vietnam, and, of them, 95 percent returned without an addiction problem. He compares this to the traditional experiment where you put a rat in a cage with two water bottles, one water and the other cocaine- or heroin-laced water. Eventually the rats become junkies and die unless you put them in an environment where they can socialize, eat and mate. Then the rats will barely touch the drug water. Kurzgesagt compares the single rat in the cage to the soldier in a horrific war, and the rat park conditions sum up the return home. He says:

Human beings have an innate need to bond and connect. When we are happy and healthy we will bond with the people around us, but when we cant because were traumatized, isolated, or beaten down by life, we will bond with something that gives us some sense of relief. It might be endlessly checking a smartphone, it might be pornography, videogames, reddit, gambling, or it might be cocaine since the 1950s the average number of close friends an American has been steadily declining. At the same time, the amount of floorspace in their homes has been steadily increasing to choose floor space over friends. To choose stuff over connections.

The video ends by suggesting that our views on happiness in todays culture arent natural. There is no quick fix for happiness, no drug or technology that will provide it instantly. The purest source of happiness is found in others.

In a TED Talk by Robert Waldinger, the fourth director of the longest running study on happiness, he says that Good relationships keep us happier and healthier, period. His study has followed two groups comprising 724 men since 1938. One group were Harvard men, the other was a group of boys from Bostons poorest neighborhoods. Waldinger watched men from both groups ascend and descend the social ladder, and the lessons he learned about happiness didnt find their genesis in wealth or fame like many of us would believe (especially when were younger). What he found, instead, is that isolation is toxic, quantity of friends is nice, but most important is the quality.

This is wisdom thats as old as the hills. Why is it so hard to get and so easy to ignore? he asks. Well, were human. What wed really like is a quick fix. Something we can get thatll make our lives good and keep em that way. Relationships are messy and complicated, and the hard work of tending to family and friends, its not sexy or glamorous. Its also lifelong. It never ends.

The only contention that can maybe be made is that AI and robotics may be able to produce synthetic comrades for us someday, but even that venture may be fraught with complications and unforeseen circumstances. The internet, after all, connects the entire world and allows relationships on demand, doesnt it? True, of the 74 percent of adults who use social media, theyre less likely to be socially isolated but social network is also linked to envy, lower self-esteem and an overall decrease in life satisfaction.

Not everybody likes Louis C.K. His comedy is oftentimes dark and perhaps too edgy for the average laugh-seeker but hes an excellent storyteller, and one of my favorites is the story he told The Moth about visiting Russia when he was a 26-year-old writer on the Late Night with Conan OBrien show. Suffering a bad case of burnout, C.K. explains that his vacation was to get away from the stress and gain perspective. However, having gone alone and not speaking any Russian, the experience was extremely isolating for him. Connecting with anybody else was near impossible, but at one moment in the subway while listening to a violinist play music, he tells the audience about his only interpersonal moment with another Russian.

The video is worth watching, simply because part of the humor in Louis C.K.s story is in the way he tells it but the gist is that sitting next to him is a man his age with a broken shoe. Seeing a group of street-urchin looking kids with oversized business jackets, sleeves dragging, dirt on their faces, the man calls out to them in Russian, shows them his shoe, and without so much as rummaging for it, one of the kids produces a bottle of glue from the depths of his sleeve. The man uses it to fix his shoe, hands it back and then the little kids huffs it, his eyes rolling back in his head a bit, and moves on.

And I couldnt believe what I just saw, says Louis C.K. That the misery in this country at that time was so calculable and so predictable, this guy thought, My shoes broken. Oh, theres a child. Hes sure to have some glue in his hand, because the state of our nation is so wretched. And he looked at me, and I was startled he laughed, and I laughed. And he was the only person I had any contact with in the whole Soviet Union. And I realized, this is why I came here: to find out how bad life gets, and that when its this bad, its still f***ng funny.

The point of C.K.s story in this articles context is this: Happiness is hard, but its everywhere. No, there is no quick technological fix for it, and yes, you have to work at it somewhat. Drugs wont fix it. Money wont either. Yet, happiness on demand is a real thing. Its all around you, walking along the street, reading in a coffee shop, sitting on a subway and, even in a foreign country, surrounded by poverty, substance abuse and misery. We find true happiness in connections with others and sometimes its as simple as a shared, fleeting laugh at the absurdity of the human condition.

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Technology, happiness on demand and the absurd human condition - TechCrunch

Nicole Boliaux, Deseret News

Adele Adams, 92, sits in her home in North Ogden on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Adams chose to treat her early-stage breast cancer with cryoablation therapy, which destroys tumors by freezing them with liquid nitrogen, at Ogden Regional Medical Center. After her procedure on March 1, Adams is now cancer free. The blue chair to the right belonged to Adams' husband, who died 10 years ago this Mother's Day from a stroke. Adele has been living on her own since then with her children coming to help when she falls ill.

OGDEN After losing a daughter and two younger sisters to cancer, Adele Adams decided the diagnosis was something she never wanted to face.

Unfortunately, in December, doctors told the 92-year-old she had a cancerous tumor in her breast.

"At my age, you don't want an operation," Adams said, adding that she considered letting it take her life, if that were to happen. "I just want to finish my garden and take care of my house."

Doctors gave her a couple options, including a surgical lumpectomy the typical treatment for tumors throughout the body that is often followed by chemotherapy and/or radiation, or they said she could take medications to decrease the size of the tumor because it did not appear to be aggressive.

"She did not want the surgery," said Adams' son, Bob Adams. "She was against that from the beginning."

Then, Adele Adams was told about a relatively new technology now offered at Ogden Regional Medical Center in northern Utah that would eliminate the tumor during a short, nearly pain-free office visit and ideally result in little to no residual pain or recovery time.

She figured it was a "no-brainer."

"Who would do anything else," said Dr. Jose Perez-Tamayo, a breast radiologist at the hospital who performs cryoablation on breast cancers. "It's a whole new way of looking at treatment for breast cancer.

"We can now take care of the cancer without overtreating it, which is sometimes the concern with chemotherapy and radiation."

Technology developed by Sanarus Technologies employs a quick series of freezing and thawing of the tumor inside the body by circulating liquid nitrogen through a small metal probe inserted into the center of the cancer. The process is guided by real-time imaging using ultrasound technology.

The liquid nitrogen doesn't touch the body, but in the probe intensely freezes the cancer, starving it of blood flow and ultimately leading to dehydration and death of the diseased cells.

"On a biological level, it is doing a lot of really bad things to cells that want to stay alive," said Matt Nalipinski, chief technology officer with Sanarus. He called the action "real magic" and said patients often go home with little more than a bandage covering the small hole used for entry.

"I wish that more women were aware that this exists," Perez-Tamayo said. "I can't believe it hasn't been available before now. Cutting it out just seems so primitive."

The procedure, he said, has been shown to be 100 percent effective for tumors less than 1 centimeter in size. The efficacy drops slightly as the tumor increases in size, but that's also the case with other types of cancer treatment.

"I hope my experience can save others from going through what my sisters did," Adams said. "If there's any question at all, I'd say to look into it. Even young women need extra time to live and enjoy their lives."

She was "thrilled" to be able to get right back to her gardening and home care after the procedure, which was done March 1.

And staving off potentially trying chemotherapy and radiation means Adams can also continue her tradition of eating at Ogden's Pizzeria every Thursday, where she has a permanent lunch reservation. Other than deteriorating hips and nearly lifelong diabetes, the nonagenarian, credits her long, happy and relatively healthy life to "staying active, gardening, being active at church and nice neighbors."

"I am happy. Why slow down?" she said.

It makes Adams happy that more options are now available for Utah women to treat breast cancer, "because so many get it."

Cryoablation has been used for years on tumors in other parts of the body, mostly for benign lesions in the kidneys, prostate, liver and on the skin. But recent study has found it to be just as relevant for breast cancer.

And because of the popularity of preventive screening, Perez-Tamayo said more cancers are being found earlier and tumors are smaller at the onset of treatment, providing more reason for the cryoablation procedure.

The technology, he said, is perfect for women of any age with early stage breast cancers, especially those for whom surgery isn't an option, perhaps because they are too frail or too sick, or because "some women just don't want surgery or chemotherapy."

He said lumpectomies involve potentially troubling anesthesia and often end up damaging surrounding breast tissue or resulting in a full mastectomy.

"I just freeze the tumor," he said, adding that eventually the body will dissolve and remove the frozen-fried cells on its own. Being able to see the detection and treatment through to the end, Perez-Tamayo said, is a "good feeling for a radiologist."

"It feels fantastic," he gushed.

See the rest here:

New technology in Utah freezes, kills early stage breast cancer tumors - Deseret News

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Toyota to gain access to Microsofts operating systems, motion control and artificial intelligence technologies.

Microsoft has signed an agreement to license its connected car technology patents to Toyota.

As part of the deal Toyota will get access to a wide range of Microsofts technologies including: operating systems, motion control, voice recognition, navigation, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The technologies could help Toyota to develop applications that may predict the need for car maintenance, give live-traffic updates, offer routes with less traffic through voice assistance, notify concerned people when stuck in traffic and much more.

The licensing is part of Microsofts intellectual property (IP) licensing programme and suggests that the company is willing work with other automakers in the industry.

Microsofts Intellectual Property Group chief IP counsel and corporate vice president Erich Anderson said: As one of the leading auto companies in the world with a deep heritage of innovation and ground-breaking research and development, Toyota is already a valued partner of Microsoft through the Toyota Connected programme and an early adopter of Azure IP Advantage.

We look forward to deepening this partnership with our IP in connected cars.

He also noted that at present, the automotive industry is undergoing a digital transformation, with connected car technologies. He estimates that in the next three years, more than 90% of calls could be connected and offer services such as predictive maintenance and enhanced safety features.

Microsoft Business Development EVPPeggy Johnson said: The connected car represents an enormous opportunity for the auto industry, and at the core its a software challenge.

Our mission is to empower car makers with technology that allows them to focus on building even better driving experiences for their customers.

Microsoft and Toyota started their partnership last year, when the latter created a new company called Toyota Connected to offer data science services and to develop connected vehicles. As part of the partnership, Toyota has been using Microsofts Azure as the cloud computing platform.

Toyotas Advanced R&D and Engineering executive general manager Tokuhisa Nomura said: This is an exciting time in the industry, and we believe that to create the best, most immersive connected car experiences, automotive makers should partner with technology leaders like Microsoft.

Through this patent partnership between Toyota and Microsoft, we will be able to innovate faster to deliver new, contextual and immersive experiences to our customers.

The company has not disclosed any financial details of the deal.

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Microsoft licenses connected car technology patents to Toyota - Computer Business Review

"If CIOs are truly thinking in a more strategic manner, why shouldn't they become a COO or even a CEO?"

CIOs have more visibility than ever before. Businesses are desperate for executives who understands the power of technology -- and, in most cases, the experienced CIO is best placed to take advantage of that opening.

And as they prove their usefulness, how high on the executive ladder can CIOs rise and what does the future of the CIO role look like? ZDNet speaks to the experts.

Establishing a strong culture of change

Jonathan Mitchell, non-executive director at Harvey Nash and former CIO at Rolls Royce, is an industry veteran who says IT leaders must now be strategic change agents. The ubiquitous nature of technology in modern business means CIOs need to help push digital transformation as quickly as possible.

However, there is a catch -- Mitchell says the average CIOs role tends to be very short, about three to four years at most. "Many of those roles finished with unhappy endings due to poor management of stakeholder expectations and the 'black death' failure of expensive IT projects," he says.

To achieve great results quickly, modern technology chiefs must be more closely integrated to broader business objectives. Engagement, says Poli Avramidis, CIO at the Bar Council, is the watchword, a skill that will not come naturally to all IT directors.

"Making sure that change in behaviour takes place is often the biggest challenge for any CIO," he says. "In many ways, modern IT leaders spend a lot of time selling their ideas internally -- they have to get people across the rest of the organisation to recognise the cultural shift that is required."

The focus on culture is also recognised by Lisa Heneghan, global head of KPMG's CIO advisory practice. She says tech chiefs should encourage their IT teams to think in a creative manner, rather than focusing on operations. The good news is CIOs who help foster great business ideas can rise to the very top.

"If CIOs are truly thinking in a more strategic manner, why shouldn't they become a COO or even a CEO?" asks Heneghan. "It's still a rare move but it could become more common as IT leaders are able to prove how technology enables business strategy in the digital age."

Looking to climb the career ladder

Interim CIO Christian McMahon, who is managing director at transformation specialist three25, recognises the evolution in the role of CIO is often discussed in terms of suitability for more senior positions. However, being a great CIO does not necessarily mean you will succeed in another c-suite role, particularly one as lofty as CEO.

"Just by being the CIO in a large and complex organisation doesn't automatically prepare you for the top role, says McMahon, who has held CIO roles at analyst Ovum and liquidity specialist GoIndustry. "It's a different matter if you are a recognised leader, with an impressive track record of successful delivery."

Chris White, CIO at global firm Clyde & Co, is another IT leader who believes the transfer from technology chief from CEO is a far from straightforward transition. "I don't think it's that simple," he says, before drawing a parallel with developments in his own sector.

"A lot of law firms are run by lawyers," says White. "However, being a brilliant lawyer doesn't give you those business skills -- and why should it? Global change today simply means that to be a successful executive you must be at the very top of your game in terms of business leadership."

The basic lesson for career-oriented CIOs is to focus on management capability. It is a sentiment that chimes with Airswift CIO Brad Dowden, who says CIOs - as modern business leaders - should become experts in as many areas as possible.

Interesting opportunities will come to executives who mesh with their peers.

"I work with everyone across the organisation in all areas of business and I'm an active participant in conversations," says Dowden. "I like it that way because I can hear the challenges they face and then act as a solutions provider. That approach helps my team to deliver better IT services to the rest of the company."

Recognising the inherent value of the CIO role

Promotion to CEO, therefore, does not have to be the CIO end game. Successful IT leaders can forge a great career by helping their business to embrace IT-led change. Take Dave Smoley, CIO at AstraZeneca, who is using technology to transform business operations at the pharmaceutical giant.

The seasoned IT executive -- with experience of technology leadership roles at Flextronics, Honeywell and General Electric -- has been with AstraZeneca since April 2013. "I think I have the best job in the world," says Smoley, who believes CIO roles remains in a state of constant evolution.

"The pace of change in technology is accelerating and the risk of failure, and of malicious behaviour affecting your business, is higher than ever. Businesses need an even greater understanding of technology - they need the right strategy and tactics at the c-suite level. The CIO is well-positioned to take on more and more responsibility in addressing those issues."

However, Smoley also recognises the IT leadership position is open to challenge. If a CIO is not skilled in delivering an IT-enabled business strategy, then there is a risk that some of those concerns could be picked off by some of the new entrants to the c-suite, such as the chief digital officer or chief data officer.

"When you get to the c-suite, it's a beauty contest," says Smoley. "The basic requirements are that you need to be competent and you need to know your stuff. A key component of your role will always be performance, but there's another set of components that relate to behaviour, attitude and popularity."

Smoley says all senior IT leaders must recognise the c-suite is a competitive place. CIOs might find, for example, that some of their peers have technology experience or that they have helped run an IT-focused business. Successful CIOs embrace the boardroom battle and meet the challenge for supremacy head on.

"The CIO used to own the technology domain - increasingly, everybody has got opinions," he says. "And when that's the case, your success comes down to how effective you are and whether your objectives relate strongly to the goals of the broader business."

Original post:

Career prospects in technology: How far can you really go? - ZDNet

HANCOCK COUNTY Two county school corporations will use $75,000 of state grant funding to rev up digital learning efforts within their buildings.

Educators at Mt. Vernon and Southern Hancock schools learned this month their districts received The Digital Learning Grant offered through the Indiana Department of Educations e-learning office.

Mt. Vernon will use the funding to hire at least two technology coaches, called technology integration specialists, to help teachers and staff further integrate technology in their classrooms. Southern Hancock plans to spearhead a project to create flexible learning spaces that will allow students to put technology to use: areas where students could fly a drone, use 3-D printers or produce videos using green-screen technology, for example.

Mt. Vernon and Southern Hancock were among 64 school districts statewide that applied for the grant, according to a news release from the department of education. Thirty-two corporations received up to $75,000 to implement digital learning initiatives; some will invest the funding in one-to-one computing, which puts a school-issued computer in each students hands. Others will expand digital learning programs already in place. The districts selected must use the funds by the end of 2018.

Mt. Vernon fully implemented a take-home computer program during the 2015-16 school year, giving each student in the district a computer to use at school and home, especially when school is canceled because of bad weather. During the past two years, teachers and students have become more comfortable using laptops and iPads to complete assignments, Superintendent Shane Robbins said.

Historically, teachers have pursued technology training off campus, Robbins said. Hiring technology coaches will allow the district to train on site with experts in school technology.

Greenfield-Central hired technology specialists a few years ago and has used them to lead digital learning efforts, including overseeing a team of student tech cadets who troubleshoot technology issues their teachers and classmates run into during class. Mt. Vernon educators consulted Greenfield-Central leaders about using technology coaches when pitching their grant application, Robbins said.

Robbins said some educators are already showing an affinity for implementing digital learning within their curriculum, and hed likely move a current employee to the coaching position if possible and hire a new educator to take their place in the classroom.

Mt. Vernon will also use the funds to pay for professional development for staff, as well as repair or replace student devices.

The funds from the DOE are important because they empower schools to pursue new educational opportunities, Southern Hancock Superintendent Lisa Lantrip wrote in an email to the Daily Reporter.

The district will use the funds to design what educators call 21st-century learning spaces areas within schools that provide hands-on and collaborative learning opportunities for students. At Southern Hancock, those spaces will allow students to use various technological devices.

The push for new 21st-century learning spaces came from evaluating student need and the growth educators have seen in certain programs, such as robotics, said Chris Young, the districts technology expert, who is spearheading the implementation of flexible learning spaces.

Many of todays students enjoy learning with their hands and also in collaborative groups, he said.

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2 districts receive digital learning grants to rev up technology efforts - Greenfield Daily Reporter