Author: Brian

White House Sweats, and He’s the Cause

Brian

WASHINGTON — Michael Strautmanis had no sooner started his White House job as a deputy assistant to the president when his boss began badgering him.

“Am I working out? Am I eating right?” Mr. Strautmanis recalled President Obama asking. “And then he told me that I should use his trainer.”

The very fit president has sent other White House aides to Cornell McClellan, the trainer, a genial master tormenter who is the secret weapon behind Michelle Obama’s famously toned arms and who has overseen both Obamas’ exercise programs for more than a decade.

Mr. Strautmanis made one — and only one — appointment with Mr. McClellan, just to satisfy the president. But Mr. Obama had other plans.

As Mr. Strautmanis walked away from a White House news conference one morning, the president caught up with him and called out, “Strautmanis, Cornell says you’re not showing up for your workouts.”

“And that’s when I knew this was going to be a different experience for me,” said Mr. Strautmanis, who has forsaken cheeseburgers, taken up egg whites and lost 20 pounds since he started twice-weekly sessions with Mr. McClellan in a gym at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

An unassuming 54-year-old with a compact body and an easy laugh, Mr. McClellan has become the unlikely man at the center of a group of top staff members who work out with him, gossip with him, talk about him and even rat one another out to him, especially when someone — that means you, David Axelrod — slips up and gets an extra scoop of ice cream in the White House mess. (But the real culprit, aides joke, are the M&Ms found throughout the West Wing).

Transphorm, Google-Backed Startup, Claims Major Breakthrough In Energy Technology

Brian

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/transphorm-google_n_828427.html

Could a power conversion module really cut energy waste by 90 percent? Google’s betting on it.

Transphorm, a southern California startup backed by Google Ventures and other investors, claims to have created an energy-saving technology that, when fully implemented, will save “the equivalent of taking the West Coast off the grid.”

The New York Times reports that Transphorm’s Umesh Mishra believes their power conversion module, based on gallium nitride (also used in LEDs), will save hundreds of terawatt hours. Currently, conversion modules are based on silicon, which struggles to efficiently convert power at high voltages. An estimated ten percent of energy currently generated in the U.S. is lost as electricity is converted back and forth from alternating to direct current. Mishra claims that gallium nitride can do the same conversion without wasting power.

Google Ventures’ managing director, Bill Maris admits that they have been hesitant when it comes to clean tech investing. But, according to Grist, he feels that “the ultimate impact of this technology is inarguable.”

This certainly isn’t Google’s first foray into green technology. Last year they tried out the Bloom Box, a fuel cell promising to produce more power with less environmental damage. In preparation for Cancun’s climate change talks, Google Earth created online tours and videos highlighting various climate change issues. Plus, Google has created a three-step program focused on being carbon neutral.

Meanwhile, organizations around the world are looking for innovative ways to cut down on energy waste. Helsinki has revealed their underground master plan, which reportedly includes the world’s greenest data center. At present, data centers consume at least 2% of all the world’s energy. Fortunately, innovative methods are being tested to cut down on this waste, and Google’s newest investment could very well be a step toward a much more energy-efficient future.

For conservatives, Michelle Obama is fair game

Brian

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/50155.html

Except for an ill-advised trip to an expensive Spanish resort last summer, Michelle Obama has escaped much of the criticism that has been directed at her husband, keeping a relatively low-profile while primarily focusing on childhood obesity, military families and the arts.

During her first two years in the White House, she was more Laura Bush rather than Hillary Clinton, but that has begun to change. Now, for conservative critics, it is open season on the first lady.

Obama’s admonishments on nutrition and advice on breastfeeding are examples of big government “nanny state” intrusion according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.); her eating habits are evidence of her hypocrisy, according to Rush Limbaugh; her athletic physique is something to be lampooned on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website, which posted a cartoon showing her as overweight and eating a plate full of hamburgers.

To date, the East Wing has managed to stay above the fray, not wanting to take part in a point-counterpoint kind of debate. But to one academic expert on first ladies, the attacks seem unusually pointed.

“There’s so much anger in the criticism surrounding Michelle Obama,” said Myra Gutin, a Rider University professor who has a biography of Barbara Bush and a book on 20th century first ladies. “It seems almost personal to me.”

MIT Sloan TED Fellow Launches LGBT Startup in India

Brian

http://www.fastcompany.com/1701984/mit-sloan-ted-fellow-launches-lgbt-startup-in-india

India only decriminalized homosexuality last year, which may indicate a rather phobic populace and government. But one “out” entrepreneur, Nitin Rao, is on a mission to break the silence and make homosexuality an accepted part of Indian culture.

Riding on the heels of the “It gets better” project–a collective effort to raise awareness and put an end to bullying-induced suicides–Rao launched his LGBT India Foundation to help bring the same kind of public support found in the U.S. to India.

“While there have been valuable efforts in grassroots-level activism, as a social entrepreneur, I sensed a “white space” in the college and workplace settings–this was also a segment where I had the most credibility to apply my entrepreneurial background to make a difference,” Rao tells Fast Company.

“As a gay Indian entrepreneur with experience launching multiple ventures, trained in innovation at MIT Sloan and as an alumnus of The Boston Consulting Group LGBT Network, I felt compelled to get involved, and help address what clearly was a severe void in leadership,” says Rao.

Rao hopes to start a national conversation in India by facilitating workplace discussions and “workplace safe spaces,” sponsoring college clubs, providing student mentorship, launching social media campaigns, and large, public events with corporate conferences and events like TED. For Rao, a serial entrepreneur with startups including Instant Intro and Engineers for Social Impact, the LGBT India Foundation is not only a personal and moral endeavor, but also a straightforward niche opportunity, which comes through in the way he speaks about his startup.

For Hollywood Producers, Is the Glamour Gone?

Brian

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/business/media/23steal.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=For%20Hollywood%20Producers,%20Is%20the%20Glamour%20Gone?&st=cse

FOR decades, movie producers had one of the cushiest gigs in Hollywood. Studios kept stables of them around — all expenses paid — to shepherd movies through their various stages: inception, the nitty gritty of filming, post-production and publicity.

The job was appealing for its variety as studios sought films ranging from teenage blockbusters to arty dramas to dark comedies. Producers also commanded respect because, as powerful middle men, they could help directors stand up to screwball requests from studios, or vice versa.

Today, though, movie producing is in crisis.

Studios, reeling from declines in DVD sales, have sharply reduced the number of producers they keep on retainer. Warner Brothers, for one, has slashed producer deals by 20 percent since 2008, and more reductions are on the way as current deals expire. This has left a generation of producers having to find a new way to pay their development bills.

At the same time, the number of movies being made has shrunk drastically. Half the independent distributors have folded over the last couple of years, and the big studios are cutting back. Paramount Pictures will release 15 films this year, a 32 percent reduction from 2007.

And that leaves fewer jobs for producers.

Many of the jobs that do exist — bloated sequels, bloated remakes — are depressing to this brainy bunch, resulting in a lot of midcareer angst. Yes, everyone wants to make money. But ask five producers why they got into the business and four will pontificate about a desire to create cinematic art. Few would say they came to Hollywood to make a really great “Spy Kids 4.”

On June 4, the Producers Guild of America will host its second “Produced By” conference in Los Angeles. By gathering elite members of the profession together — and inviting the fledgling ranks to mingle with them — the guild hopes to leave all its members smarter and stronger. Among the big names participating are James L. Brooks, Richard D. Zanuck and Brian Grazer.

Louganis Is Back on Board

Brian

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/sports/21louganis.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

FULLERTON, Calif. — The Olympic-size outdoor pool at Fullerton College on a recent afternoon was an aquatics diorama, with a beginners swim class sharing space with a group of seasoned competitors churning out laps. At the far end, in the deep water, three divers practiced their springboard takeoffs.

It might have been an ordinary winter scene in Southern California except for one detail. The coach leaning forward in his chair and speaking so softly that his voice was barely audible over the medley of old pop hits blaring from the loudspeakers was Greg Louganis, considered diving’s Michael Jordan — or Michelangelo.

Louganis, a five-time Olympic medalist, was hired last November by SoCal Divers to coach athletes with wide-ranging ages and abilities. To watch him dissecting a beginner’s front dive tuck during a practice last month was like observing Meryl Streep teaching an introductory acting class.

Louganis became the first man to win consecutive Olympic gold medals (1984 and 1988) in the platform and springboard events, a feat never equaled. He achieved his springboard victory at the Seoul Games in 1988 despite striking the board with his head on his ninth qualifying dive.

In 1982, Louganis became the first diver to be awarded a perfect 10 from all seven judges while performing a reverse two-and-a-half pike at the world championships.

After retiring in 1988, he became a phantom presence in USA Diving, ubiquitous in the record books but otherwise invisible. In the past 23 years, Louganis acknowledged his homosexuality and revealed that he had AIDS, accepted acting jobs and trained dogs for agility competitions.

It never occurred to him to train people until he showed up to watch a competition last year in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and his spot-on assessments of the divers led someone to ask, “Why haven’t you been coaching?”

In Prime-Time TV, Networks Losing the War for 10 P.M.

Brian

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/business/media/21prime.html?emc=eta1

For the past several years, many broadcast network executives have looked at the ratings for their 10 p.m. shows and lamented that it has become impossible to build a true, breakout hit at that hour anymore.

No hits at 10 p.m.? How about Thursday at 10 on MTV? For most weeks this winter, about six million viewers 18 to 49 (the prime age group for most advertising sales) have flocked to “Jersey Shore,” a number that would constitute a blaring hit by almost anyone’s measure.

Nothing at 10 on any broadcast network on any night of the week comes anywhere near that six million figure. In fact, fewer than five shows in all of the rest of television (other than sports) have averaged that many young-adult viewers this season.

On another cable network, the History Channel, a growing hit called “Pawn Stars” has drawn as many as four million viewers between 18 and 49 on Monday nights, posting numbers bigger than “Law & Order: SVU” on NBC and “The Mentalist” on CBS. Dramas like those have managed to attract about 3.8 million viewers in that audience group, the most for network shows at 10.

Indeed, the 10 p.m. time period has become an expensive graveyard for many hourlong network dramas — so much so that one network, NBC, tried unsuccessfully to insert Jay Leno in that hour five nights a week.

NBC had conducted research that mainly blamed the diminishing audiences at 10 on the growing playback at that hour of programs from digital video recorders. But playback of recorded shows does not seem to be unduly affecting shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Pawn Stars” — along with other 10 p.m. cable successes like “The Game” on BET, “Teen Mom” on MTV, “Tosh.0” on Comedy Central and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” on Bravo, all of which are thriving at 10. In that 18 to 49 age group, of the top 15 shows on cable television last week, eight played in the 10 p.m. hour.

TV Industry Taps Social Media to Keep Viewers’ Attention

Brian

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/business/media/21watercooler.html?emc=eta1

By the time the first ballot is opened at the Academy Awards next Sunday, millions of people will be chatting about the awards show on the Internet. And ABC will be ready.

Trying to exploit viewers’ two-screen behavior, the television network has built a companion Web site with behind-the-scenes video streams, so Oscar winners will be seen accepting an award on the TV set, then seen celebrating backstage on the stream.

Experiments like this one are a sudden priority in television land. As more and more people chat in real time about their favorite shows — on Facebook, Twitter and a phalanx of smaller sites — television networks are trying to figure out how to capitalize.

It’s as if people are gathered around the online water cooler — and the television executives are nervously hovering nearby, hoping viewers keep talking and, by extension, watching their shows.

Experts like Ian Schafer, the chief executive of the digital agency Deep Focus, say that Twitter and Facebook messages about shows may well be “the most efficient way to drive tune-in.” Though it is hard to prove the link, Mr. Schafer sees it firsthand when a news segment catches his attention or a basketball game is in overtime. “I’ll say on Twitter or Facebook, ‘You have got to tune into ‘Nightline’ or ‘60 Minutes’ right now,’ and then I’ll get people saying, ‘Oh, thanks for alerting me,’ ” he said.

The water-cooler effect makes big shows even bigger — the Grammy Awards had its highest rating in a decade on Feb. 13 — and gives small shows a new way to stand out.

On the same day as the Grammys, Howard Stern demonstrated the latter with his stream Twitter posts during a re-airing of his movie “Private Parts.” Suddenly, some people flipped over to HBO2 to follow along, and Twitter executives were thrilled. Adam Bain, one such executive, wrote, “This is what fiction TV producers should do every week.”

Irrational Design, a San Francisco Start-Up, Tries to Fly Solo

Brian

Last April, Jared Cosulich and Adam Abrons founded Irrational Design, a technology company, in San Francisco. Since its debut, the start-up has introduced three online commercial products. The founders, who met while working at a software engineering company, Pivotal Labs, are determined to build a business that is free to take risks.

THE CHALLENGE To start a technology company without seeking or taking venture capital financing.

THE BACKGROUND Mr. Cosulich and Mr. Abrons both have software engineering backgrounds and experience working on venture-backed start-ups. Previously Mr. Cosulich, 30, founded CommunityWalk, a Web site that allows users to create interactive maps. Mr. Abrons, 39, is the former chief technology officer of an information technology consulting firm, ThoughtWorks. The two founded Irrational Design with the shared goal of building an agile, bootstrapped company that would be free to experiment. Mr. Cosulich said it was harder for an entrepreneur to “try crazy things” when investors were involved. “They prefer that you double down on what’s working,” said Mr. Abrons.

THE OPTIONS From the beginning, the founders were determined to try bootstrapping. Mr. Cosulich said he might have been tempted to take venture capital had the “right” investors come along — “but more and more I’m not sure the ‘right’ investors exist.” Although he had a good relationship with his CommunityWalk investors, he said he came to believe that founders and investors were rarely motivated by common goals.

A cordless future for electricity?

Brian

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-02/tech/wireless.electricity_1_electricity-low-power-wireless?_s=PM:TECH

Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.

That’s the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that’s able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.

WiTricity’s version of wireless electricity — which converts power into a magnetic field and sends it sailing through the air at a particular frequency — still needs to be refined a bit, he said, but should be commercially available soon.
Giler, whose company is a spinoff of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group, says wireless electricity has the potential to cut the need for power cords and throw-away batteries.

“Five years from now, this will seem completely normal,” he said.

“The biggest effect of wireless power is attacking that huge energy wasting that goes on where people buy disposable batteries,” he said. Watch Giler demonstrate the idea

It also will make electric cars more attractive to consumers, he said, because they will be able to power up their vehicles simply by driving into a garage that’s fitted with a wireless power mat.

Electric cars are “absolutely gorgeous,” he added, “but does anyone really want to plug them in?”

Ideas about wireless electricity have been floating around the world of technology for more than a century. Nikola Tesla started toying with the ability to send electricity through the air in the 1890s. Since then, though, making wireless electricity technology safe and cheap enough to put on the market has been an arduous task for researchers.

Engineers have developed several ways to convert electricity into something that’s safe to send through the air without a wire. Some of their technologies are available on commercial scales, but they have some limits.

Low-level power

One set of researchers is able to send power over long distances but in very small amounts.

For example, in 2003, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company called Powercast used radio waves to light a low-power LED bulb that was 1.5 miles from its power source, said Harry Ostaffe, spokesman for the company.