Donald Sterling hands control of L.A. Clippers to wife: source

(GNN) - Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, banned from the NBA for racist remarks, has handed controlling interest in his team to his wife, the co-owner, and she is negotiating with the league to sell the club, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Friday.

National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver said this week he would prefer to let the Sterlings sell the team "on a reasonable timetable" rather than proceed with trying to forcibly terminate their ownership.

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (C), his wife Shelly (L) attend the NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, in this December 22, 2008 file photo.

Donald Sterling, controlling owner of the Clippers for 33 years, came under fire four weeks ago when TMZ.com posted an audio recording of him berating a female friend for publicly associating with black people, including NBA great Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

His comments sparked widespread outrage from fans and NBA players and led several commercial sponsors to sever ties with the team.

In response, Silver declared Sterling banned from the NBA for life and called on the 29 other team owners who make up the NBA Board of Governors to force a sale of the Clippers, an unprecedented move requiring a three-fourths majority vote.

Sterling has said through a lawyer that he would challenge any such effort in court. His estranged wife and longtime business partner, Shelly Sterling, who owns a 50-percent stake in the team through a family trust, has likewise said she would take legal action to defend her interest in the club.

The league on Monday initiated formal steps to strip Donald Sterling of his franchise, officially charging that his conduct so seriously damaged the NBA that it was grounds for expelling him as an owner under the NBA's constitution and bylaws.

But the next day Silver signaled his willingness to reach a deal with Sterling to avert a confrontation, noting that for the time being, the Clippers were still the Sterlings' to sell.

A source familiar with the circumstances told Reuters that Donald Sterling has since ceded controlling interest in the team to his wife for purposes of selling the Clippers on her terms, and she has begun quietly negotiating with the NBA to do just that, as first reported by TMZ.com.

As described by the source, the arrangement avoids protracted litigation and allows ownership of the team to be transferred on a voluntary basis rather than by a league-enforced sale.

"And obviously, it's subject to the terms and conditions of the NBA," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Attorneys for Donald Sterling and his wife each declined comment. The NBA did not directly address any change in controlling ownership.

"We continue to follow the process set forth in the NBA constitution regarding termination of the current ownership interests in the Los Angeles Clippers, and are proceeding toward a hearing on this matter on June 3," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.(GNN) (Reuters)

(Additional reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Gunna Dickson)

Obama pledges to uphold 'sacred trust' with veterans

(GNN) - At the end of a week rocked by allegations of mismanagement and cover-ups at the Veterans Affairs agency, President Barack Obama used his weekly address on Saturday to again vow to make sure veterans get the necessary medical care.

"Let's keep working to make sure that our country upholds our sacred trust to all who've served," Obama said in his address, slated to air on Memorial Day holiday weekend, when Americans honor their war dead.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement to the press after meeting with U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs Eric Shinseki (NOT PICTURED) at the White House in Washington, May 21, 2014.

"In recent weeks, we've seen again how much more our nation has to do to make sure all our veterans get the care they deserve," he said.

Obama this week responded personally to a growing furor that veterans had suffered long delays in receiving healthcare, making clear that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki's job could be on the line.

Shinseki is slated to give Obama the preliminary results of a review of the scope of the problems next week. Obama has assigned Rob Nabors, one of his top aides, to conduct his own look into what happened. Nabors' review is due next month.

The agency's inspector general, an independent watchdog, is also investigating the allegations. Its review is due in August.

Republican lawmakers are planning investigations and have criticized Obama for being slow to respond.

"Now that we've ended the war in Iraq, and as our war in Afghanistan ends as well, we have to work even harder as a nation to make sure all our veterans get the benefits and opportunities they've earned," Obama said.(GNN) (Reuters)

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton)

Google Close To Snapping Up Satellite Startup Skybox Imaging For $1B+, Say Sources

Google made a play for the skies in April when it swept in and acquired Titan Aerospace amid reports that the drone maker was being pursued by Facebook. But Google’s interest in hardware companies that provide primary sources of data is not ending there. Google is closing in on a deal for Skybox Imaging, a satellite company that specialises in recording very detailed landscape pictures and video, GNN has heard from three different sources.

Google’s interest in Skybox, first reported in April by The Information, had already reached an advanced stage several weeks ago, with the two meeting in at least three rounds of acquisition talks, one source tells us. This was after people in the satellite industry started to hear rumors that Google was eyeing up Skybox, as well as another startup working in a similar area of satellite imaging, Planet Labs.

We now have heard that the deal with Skybox “is happening,” with one person estimating the price at roughly $1 billion. The same source said that at Skybox’s last fundraising round, when it picked up $70 million in 2012, it was valued at between $500 million and $700 million.

Google has declined to comment for this story, and Skybox did not respond to TechCrunch’s requests for comment.

So why might Google be interested in Skybox? There are a few areas where Skybox Imaging — or companies like it — could be attractive to the search giant.

The first is for more data for Google’s consumer mapping services.

Currently, Google uses a mixture of sources for Google Earth, the real-world imaging component of Google Maps. Some of those images are more up to date than others, and some are years out of date. Having its own primary source of data, updated regularly, would provide a more reliable and accurate set of data that Google could potentially expand into more consumer-focused products and services.

The second is for more data for Google’s B2B business.

Google has a business division called “Earth Enterprise” that provides mapping data for large organizations, institutions and businesses. “Google Earth Enterprise allows you to store and process terabytes of imagery, terrain and vector data on your own server infrastructure, and publish maps securely for your users to view using Google Earth desktop or mobile apps, or through your own application using the Google Maps API,” the division notes on its home page.

This seems to be a significant part of the company’s enterprise push — significant enough that news and case studies from the division feature prominently on Google’s general enterprise blog.

“A constellation of small imaging satellites, like what we already have in place today with RapidEye or what Skybox may have in the future, would give Google a very reliable, rich content source for imagery analytics and related applications,” Scott Soenen, CTO at another satellite company, BlackBridge, said. He says his company is planning for the next generation of its own small superspectral satellites that will ramp up imaging capabilities further.

In both of these cases, there are signs of another interesting trend at Google: as the company continues to mature, it is increasingly exploring what other lines of business it might tap in the future beyond its current bread and butter of search-related advertising.

That’s important not just for diversification: some believe search ads will decline as the dominant force in digital advertising prominence over the next couple of years. Maps and organizing data in the physical world are clear extensions of Google’s core search business.

A third area has to do with how Skybox has been conceived as a company. Founded in 2009 by Julian Mann, Dan Berkenstock, Ching-Yu Hu, and John Fenwick, the startup has gone some way towards figuring out how to commercialise its data, rather than provide simple data sources for others to configure as many other companies in the commercial satellite industry have done.

“Skybox is looking very far downstream, and that’s an approach where people have not been very successful,” Soenen says. In that regard, Google appears to be interested not just in data but also some of the talent that’s figuring out interesting ways of using it.

A pricey and dicey game

But! There are some caveats to the Skybox information that we have heard, which are worth noting here, as they explain a bit more about the state of play in the satellite business at the moment.

The first is about the target. We have heard that Google is interested in making a play for a satellite imaging company. But there are a number of companies out there that are using small satellites and other technology to record the earth’s terrain that could fit the bill.

They include BlackBridge, which has a business called RapidEye. This provides wide-scale images of large landscapes, covering around 5 million square kilometers of ground each day; last week it picked up $22 million in funding to expand that business with more satellites. Urthecast, meanwhile, is up there creating video streams of what’s happening down below.

Planet Labs, backed by the likes of DFJ, Yuri Milner and Founders Fund among many others, has deployed nearly 30 of its “birds” — which it calls “Doves” — to continuously record and send images of the earth. While companies like BlackBridge and Urthecast are producing data that is complementary to that of Skybox, Planet Labs is more of a direct competitor, it seems.

There are more companies looking to get in on the opportunity, too. OmniEarth this week announced a partnership with Harris Corp., Draper Laboratory and Dynetics to deploy up to 18 satellites to cover 100% of the earth once a day.

“This system will generate up to 60 petabytes of scientific quality Earth observation data annually to feed the next generation of Big Data analytics,” Lars Dyrud, president and CEO of OmniEarth, said in a statement. “Our planned satellite constellation will provide the platform for users who need high-quality analytics-friendly imagery to automatically extract commerce and environmental information and make predictions.”

Given that initially the rumors were that Google might be looking at a satellite company, possibly Planet Labs or Skybox, it could be that there is intentionally inaccurate information being spread to throw people off the trail of who Google may really be pursuing.

The second caveat is about Skybox itself.
We’ve heard from two different sources that the company, which has raised $91 million to date from a number of investors that include Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners (disclosure: CrunchFund, founded by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, is also an investor), will need to raise more money soon if it doesn’t make an exit.

That’s because building and launching satellites — even the small satellites that Skybox bases its business around — is a pricey game, with the cost to make one device potentially running into the millions, without operational and launch costs for that bird factored in. (Relatively speaking, these are small numbers in the satellite industry, with the types of devices made by the likes of BlackBridge, Skybox and Planet Labs often referred to as “low cost”.)

JP Morgan is among the financiers that we’ve heard mentioned in the context of raising another round. Spreading reports that the company is in play with Google could be advantageous both to current investors looking for a good valuation for the company, as well as for the company as it looks for new backers.

And it turns out that the satellite game is not only pricey, but dicey, too.

Skybox’s existing data comes from the single bird that it currently has in orbit.

It recently put in an order for some 13 more devices to be built by Space Systems/Loral, set for a launch in 2015/2016, but more immediately it has plans to launch its second satellite by the end of June. “Think of that June date as a kind of deadline for Skybox,” one source told us. “Either for an exit, or getting that financing round in place.”

Satellite launches typically take place as “secondary passengers” on larger spacecraft, with many of launches of larger spacecraft getting partly or fully funded by the government.

In the case of Skybox, its plan had been to send its second satellite up piggybacking on the launch of a Soyuz vehicle scheduled to go out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is in Kazakhstan but is fully controlled by the Russian government.

In the wake of sanctions between the U.S. and Russia over tensions in Ukraine – the U.S. State Department on April 28 said it would bar exports, possibly even retroactively, of satellites to Russia if they “contribute to Russia’s military capabilities” – there have been a lot of question marks over how launches from Baikonur would be affected.

SpaceNews reported earlier this month that a Canadian satellite, which was supposed to piggyback on the same Soyuz launch as Skybox’s bird, was barred by the Canadian government from doing so, citing the Ukrainian situation.

Skybox declined to comment to SpaceNews about the impact of the political tension between the U.S. and Russia. Skybox’s are commercial satellites, but even so, the U.S. government has included commercial launches in past restrictions, such as in the case of launches from China.

The launch situation is complicated, but not insurmountable. “India has a very successful launch program, and there are commercial options in the US such as with SpaceX,” notes Soenen from Blackbridge. “So there are a handful of other options for a low-cost satellite launch.”

The one satellite that Skybox has up “doesn’t give them much capacity,” as Soenen puts it. “They wouldn’t be able to do that until they have their full constellation up there.” But nevertheless it is producing some interesting data already. “Beautiful, just beautiful,” is how another industry source described it to me.

In other words, if Google does end up buying any satellite business, it will be but one high step, and a long-term bet, into a more data-rich, map-filled future.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Shieber)

Microsoft Confirms Windows With Bing

Surprising a grand total of zero people, Microsoft confirmed the existence of Windows with Bing today, and its post on the matter is deliciously vague.

The core bit, in keeping to earlier reports, is that Windows with Bing will ship on low-cost devices — Paul Thurrott reported that devices under $250 will be eligible — bringing Windows 8.1′s cost profile better in line with dropping price points for touch-based hardware.

The gist is simple: If Windows kept its OEM fees static as hardware prices fell, the percentage of the cost of a device built on Microsoft costs increases. Windows with Bing appears to answer that concern by allowing cheap devices to forgo some part of normal Windows fees in exchange for pushing Microsoft services.

Microsoft makes money either way, of course. The only question is if pre-loading Bing can make up for the OEM fee delta. Microsoft, however, isn’t likely looking for complete parity. Why? The company is determined to grow its mobile market share. So, it is willing to forgo Windows OEM fees on devices smaller than 9 inches running either Windows Phone or regular Windows, for example. This product is an extension of that work, lowering the cost of Windows-based devices not based on their screen size, but on the size of their price tag.

One day, Microsoft will stop charging consumers for Windows altogether. That day is a long time coming. These are steps in that direction.

In its blog post, Microsoft comments on the potential inclusion of Office 365 in devices that run Windows with Bing:

This new edition will be only be available preloaded on devices from our hardware partners. Some of these devices, in particular tablets, will also come with Office or a one-year subscription to Office 365.

The end result is that more people—across consumer and commercial—will have access to an even broader selection of new devices with all the awesomeness that Windows 8.1 provides, and get Office too, all at a really affordable price. Additionally, as reach expands, the opportunity for developers and their apps also increases.

I have a call into the company to get more clarity on the situation.

For now if I had to guess, Microsoft is willing to sacrifice up-front Windows OEM fees to push not just Bing, but a sheaf of its services. The cost of Office 365 for regular consumers is either larger, or roughly commensurate to the fee it would juice from Dell for a new image of Windows, after all. Give it away for a year, something that won’t impact its earnings, let’s be clear, and then get them on-board after the ‘trial’ year ends.

High life: Punjab has highest number of drug users, says UNODC report

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique on Thursday said collective efforts by the government, the civil society, the media and non-government organisation (NGOs) were required to check use of narcotics.

He said elimination of narcotics was necessary for eradication of communicable diseases.

He said was addressing the launch of United Nation Office of Drug Control (UNODC) report 2013 regarding drug use in Pakistan and the Punjab.

He said drug use adversely affected families of drug users and was harmful for society.

Rafique said drug users injected drugs through syringes and sharing of syringes was among the leading causes of spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis-C.

Rafique said the UNODC and the government should prepare a joint action plan for eradication of drugs.

He said the action plan should include an awareness campaign regarding use of drugs, capacity-building of treatment facilities and the control of HIV/AIDS.

Earlier, a representative of the UNODC presented the report regarding drug use in the Punjab.

He said Afghanistan had become one of the largest poppy cultivating countries in the world and stressed the need of effective measures to control smuggling of narcotics.

Drug use in 2013
Around 4.25 million drug users in Pakistan were considered dependent on substances and required a form of structured intervention for treatment of their drug use disorder, the report said.

It said that due to its large share of the population, the Punjab had the highest number of drug users and people who injected drugs (PWID) with 2.9 million people using illicit substances in 2013, and approximately 260,000 people who inject drugs. The number of people who inject drugs is estimated to 430,000 nationwide.

According to the report, approximately 80 per cent of PWID in the Punjab share syringes regularly, whereas two-thirds report doing so in Sindh and Balochistan, and half in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Among PWID, 73 per cent reported sharing syringes, claiming lack of access to sterile injecting equipment.

The report pointed out that among the general population, only 13 per cent could accurately name three modes of HIV transmission.

Approximately 1.5 per cent of the population (1.6 million people) reported non-medical use of prescription opioids (painkillers) in the past year.

While men were found to use more drugs than women for most drug types, women were more likely to misuse tranquilisers and sedatives as well as amphetamines, the report said.

Overall in Pakistan, approximately 6 per cent of the population (6.7 million people) used controlled substance and misused prescription drugs, the report said.

In addition to drug use, the report pointed to warning signs for a rapid expansion of the HIV epidemic. Survey results detected a high prevalence of HIV risk behaviours among people who injected drugs.

“Because the majority of HIV positive people who inject drugs are not aware of their status, they are also not taking precautions to prevent further transmission,” the report pointed out.

Cannabis was the most commonly-used drug, with a prevalence of 3.6 per cent of the population (4 million users nationwide).

Poly-drug use was also found to be common, with one in five people reporting using more than one controlled substance in the past year.

An estimated 860,000 people (0.8 per cent of the population) were regular heroin users and 320,000 used opium.

The majority of drug users surveyed were between 25 and 39 years of age Cannabis use was highest among 30 to 34 year olds and heroin use was highest among 35 to 39 years olds.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 23rd, 2014.

Ban on wheat supply: Potohar region flour millers threaten to launch protest drive

RAWALPINDI: Flour millers of the Potohar region have threatened to launch a protest drive if their loaded trucks were not released by the authorities in Punjab.

At an emergency meeting held in Islamabad on Thursday, representatives of the flour mills said that trucks supplying wheat to flour mills of the Potohar region were being stopped and unloaded at Sargodha, Wazirabad, Jhang and Mianwali, which may cause a flour crisis in the Potohar region.

The Punjab government has clamped a ban on wheat supply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from Punjab.

Talking to Tribune, Islamabad Traders’ Action Committee Secretary Information Khalid Chaudhry said that 140 mills were facing an acute shortage of wheat after the trucks were stopped in different cities of Punjab. He said that if the practice persisted, mills in the Potohar region will not be able to supply flour to the market.

He said Punjab and Sindh have produced 2 million tons of wheat beyond their set target. He said that the Punjab Food Department, PASCO and the private sector have sufficient stocks, but an artificial shortage was being created.

Traders Action Committee Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Shabbir said that provincial government instead of stopping trucks supplying wheat to K-P, the provincial government was punishing mills in the Potohar region.

He also condemned the ban on wheat supply to K-P, terming it unjust.

“Punishing the PTI-led government in K-P will add to the peoples’ miseries in the province,” he said.
They demanded that the Punjab chief minister and prime minister intervene and ensure smooth supply of wheat to flour mills in the Potohar region.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 23rd, 2014.

Prisoners’ escape: FIA nabs sub-inspector for abetting crime

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a Punjab police sub inspector for releasing three UK-convicted prisoners from the Central Jail Karachi in 2010 on forged papers drafted by a section officer (law) in the federal interior ministry who was arrested by the FIA last month.

The FIA investigation team is also facing great hardship in tracing the two absconding prisoners due to lack of cooperation of interior and prisons department of the Sindh government, it has been learnt.

Sources privy to the matter in FIA informed the Express Investigation Cell that Sub Inspector Ibrar of Punjab police was arrested by the investigation team of FIA Anti-corruption cell, Islamabad Zone, a few days back due to his involvement in the prisoners’ release case.

As per FIR No- 24/14 registered by FIA Anti-corruption cell on March 28, 2014, three Pakistani citizens Nasir Khan, Asad Habib and Rizwan were convicted by the British government in three different murder and narcotics cases.

Nasir and Rizwan were sentenced to life imprisonment in murder cases on February 21, 2002 and November 8, 2010, respectively, while Asad was convicted for 25 years in a drugs case on August 7, 2004.

The three convicts were later handed over by the British government to the Pakistan government under a prisoner agreement on August 21, 2010, and were sent to the Central Jail Karachi to complete their remaining imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Section officer (Law) Ali Muhammad allegedly forwarded letters to the authorities of Central Jail Karachi in different time periods for the release of said prisoners. As a result, Nasir was released on September 9, 2010, while Rizwan and Asad were released in November, 2010.

In pursuance of such FIR, the FIA Investigation team arrested section officer Ali Muhammad from Islamabad and one of the released prisoners Asad from Karachi.

When contacted, the deputy director FIA Anti-corruption cell, Islamabad zone Jalil Khan has confirmed the arrest of Sub Inspector Ibrar for his involvement in the case.

(By Yaqoob Malik) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 23rd, 2014.

The EFF Blasts Twitter For Censoring Itself In Russia And Pakistan

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today upbraided Twitter for censoring itself in Russia and Pakistan, stating that the company has stepped “down from the free speech party.”

The EFF’s argument is simple: Twitter’s decision to censor content on a country-by-country basis was the “least terrible option” available to it, provided that it only did so when the company was “compelled” by a court order in a country where the company has “significant assets or employees.”

In the case of Russia and Pakistan, where local censorship is now instituted by the company, Twitter does not have sufficient local presence to make presented court orders meaningful in the eyes of the EFF.

This makes the censorship in Russia (of a Ukrainian political account) and Pakistan (where takedown requests have ranged from porn to blasphemy) unreasonable according to the EFF, because Twitter’s lack of a local presence precludes it from the behest of the requests.

The EFF is blunt in its assessment of the company’s actions. Regarding the case of censorship in Russia: “If Twitter won’t stand up for political speech in a country where independent media is increasingly under attack, what will it stand for?” And Pakistan: “As disappointing as it is to see Twitter cave in response to pressure from the Russian government, it is even more alarming to see Twitter comply with Pakistani requests based on what ["Pakistani advocacy group"] Bolo Bhi describes ‘little in the way of due process.’”

For Twitter, a service that has done much good around the world by helping to unite protestors and allowing for rapid dissemination of information including dissent, to crack down on its regular users at the non-binding behest of repressive governments is disappointing.

There is a bitter irony of Russia censoring a Ukrainian political account, given that recent Ukrainian protests that drew Russian ire and later incursion used Twitter to organize.

GNN has reached out to Twitter for comment on the presented criticisms.

IMAGE BY FLICKR USER ANDREAS ELDH UNDER CC BY-SA 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)

Should Twitter Crack Open Its Nest Egg To Acquire SoundCloud?

SoundCloud might be the YouTube of music, but that doesn’t mean Twitter should play Google and acquire it. There are better ways to spend the $2 billion from its IPO than on a music startup which won’t necessarily improve its core service. [Update: And now SPIEGEL ONLINE, a German news outlet from SoundCloud's home country, says Twitter is not buying SoundCloud. SPIEGEL reports that Twitter did in fact consider buying the startup, but sources familiar with the matter tell it Twitter decided against going through with the deal.]

MoPub. Now that was a smart acquisition at a price tag somewhere around $350 million. Twitter knows a lot about what people are thinking about but has limited room to show marketing messages. Pouring its targeting data into MoPub so it can sell better ads elsewhere strengthens both.

SoundCloud, on the other hand, makes a lot less sense. Peter Kafka of Re/code reports that sources familiar with both companies say Twitter is considering it.

The service lets anyone upload audio that others can stream or download. People follow each other (yes, like Twitter), and it’s popular with both up and coming DJs looking to host their mixtapes and big name artists trying to generate buzz. SoundCloud earns money by selling pro accounts that lift the limits on hosting and downloads, and with its fledgling native ads like image slideshows and suggestions of whom to follow.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has risen to fill the hole left by Myspace, becoming a highly functional homepage for musicians looking to promote themselves. Last July it had 40 million registered users and served 200 million total users including unregistered listeners each month. By October 2013, that number was 250 million, so it’s safe to assume it’s close to 300 million now. That’s swift growth that shows SoundCloud has big potential.

SoundCloud’s latest $60 million funding round from January reportedly valued it at $700 million. Twitter would likely have to pay a significant premium or even multiple on top of that to buy the startup. Twitter raised about $2.1 billion in its IPO and is still losing money overall, including $132 million in Q1 2014. Twitter also has a $1 billion credit line if it wanted to borrow money. All together, buying SoundCloud could burn a big chunk of Twitter’s cash, or at least cost a significant amount of its current $18.9 billion market cap in stock. Is this really the best use of its war chest or equity?

Twitter Could Own This Era’s Myspace Music

Twitter is eager to expand its audience outside its own service, Kafka suggests. Buying SoundCloud could do that. Meanwhile, Twitter could bring advertising infrastructure to SoundCloud. Kafka cites alignment because the music service with the most links shared on Twitter is SoundCloud, likely from artists tweeting their streams and homepages.

From a higher level, the argument for the acquisition might be that it would aid Twitter’s push to be a next-gen media company. It already hosts images and has Vine for video. SoundCloud could let it control music too. SoundCloud is how many musicians forge a deep connection with their fans, and Twitter could thrive by owning that connection. The ongoing democratization of creation tools necessitates a service for sharing original sounds online.

Twitter could build better promotional tools for musicians on SoundCloud. That way, when artists tweet links to their pages, it gets both high quality content in the Twitter feed and traffic to SoundCloud that it can monetize. Twitter already lets SoundCloud music be played in-line from its feeds through its cards, but interactivity is limited and could be improved if they were one company.

The ideal situation would see Twitter providing SoundCloud with the muscle and runway to become a YouTube-esque publishing platform. Artists would be incentivized to drive traffic there because they’d receive a share of the ad revenue. The issue is that music is often in available many places like streaming and download services, not just SoundCloud. If the two could really succeed in making SoundCloud content shared on Twitter the way artists distribute music directly to fans, the deal could be a good move. But that will take nimble execution.

Still, these synergies might not add up to be worth the price to Twitter.

Twitter Needs To Focus Before It Diversifies
I spoke with several top music tech executives today, and none could come up with a compelling reason why this would be a smart buy for Twitter.

It already tried to make music a bigger part of its service with its We Are Hunted-powered #Music standalone app. That app crashed and burned, though, as users had plenty of other ways to discover music. Twitter shut down the app a few months ago to concentrate on conversations about music in its main app. So while rocking out might be important to people’s lives, they might not look to Twitter for it.

Trying to bolster audio’s place on Twitter by jamming in more SoundCloud might not fare any better. SoundCloud is not a user-generated content-driven service. It’s largely professionals and semi-professionals who upload the music that powers it. While Twitter and Vine might be ruled by “influencers”, the average person can still tweet or shoot a video. Most people have zero they could post to SoundCloud.

Instead, they’re listeners, many of whom play tracks in the background as they surf the web or are on the go. They won’t be so easy to monetize with the visual ads that Twitter knows best, and people despise audio ads. Plus, a fair amount of the content on SoundCloud isn’t properly licensed. Cracking down on that to make it more ad friendly could hurt SoundCloud’s street cred.

Twitter could build better promotion tools for musicians without buying SoundCloud if it wants more music content shared to it. And if it wants to be a media company, music doesn’t seem like the best fit. It’s not inherently snackable the way photos or short video clips are, and people seem reluctant to pay for it like they pay for games or streaming video services like Netflix. Twitter already has strong relationships with artists, and it might inherit a more troubled relationship with record labels from SoundCloud.

While SoundCloud was truly special a few years ago, and still hosts remixes and mixtapes you can’t hear elsewhere, the rise of clean, standardized legal streaming music services like Spotify has reduced its value proposition when it comes to big name artists. Mainstream listeners who want no-hassle access to popular songs can consistently find them elsewhere on services built for listening, not discovery or fan-artist connection. Or on YouTube, whose familiarity, SEO, and browser-based status often make it the quickest way to hear a song. SoundCloud won’t be the exclusive provider of content with mass appeal. That makes it tough to build a media empire on.

Buying Instagram could have given Twitter user-generated, snackable, exclusive content with tons of reach, but that ship sailed to Facebook long ago.

I get why SoundCloud would want this deal. It could give its music huge reach through Twitter’s network, and get monetization help from Twitter’s business team. Without its own ad business shining bright, SoundCloud might find it tough to wow investors with an IPO. A source tells me the major labels are seriously squeezing SoundCloud around licensing, and some in the record business are intent on maiming or killing the company. That makes achieving an exit now even more lucrative, though SoundCloud’s growth means it could become worth a lot more, provided it can survive.

If Twitter was a bigger company with all its ducks in a row, the acquisition might be a better move. When it bought YouTube, Google already had its search ad and AdSense businesses humming, and was working the kinks out of Gmail and Maps. YouTube was only a year old and had raised less than $12 million. Twitter is still trying to stabilize its core product, and while it’s making great early progress with advertising, the business still needs time to ramp up and make the company profitable. SoundCloud is seven years old, and has raised $123 million. It might be a good acquisition, but not for Twitter right now.

It would be for tough for Twitter to make the decision to save the money when it sees Facebook drop $19 billion on WhatsApp. And if Twitter doesn’t buy SoundCloud, maybe Facebook or Google will take advantage of their size and snatch it up.

Still, Twitter needs to stay focused. Focused on making its service more consistently appealing to new users who don’t have a built-in audience, making its feed manageable so veterans become more and more engaged, and improving its ad targeting and measurement to prove return on investment to advertisers so they buy huge campaigns. SoundCloud does none of these. Twitter might be best off saving its money to hire and acquire companies that could make its core service fly higher, rather than just adding another bird to the flock.

[Image Credit: Len Peters/Flickr via NHPR]

Google Adds “Okay Google” Voice Search For All Chrome Users

Maybe you already talk to your computer but now there’s even more reason to – Google has just released the latest version of Chrome, which includes “Okay Google” triggered voice searches that work automatically, without requiring any clicks or other input prompting first. Users will need to enable it once and provide Chrome permission to user their computer’s mic if they haven’t already, but after that, it’s as simple as opening a new tab, navigating to Google.com and speaking the magic words followed by your search request.

The feature works as advertised, and doesn’t fumble even with my mumble. I’m still somewhat old-school in terms of my comfort level with talking at and to electronics and computerized devices, so I’ll probably mostly be sticking to the Old Ways of kludging about on rows of squares printed with alphabetic symbols, but I can still see this being quite useful on occasion.

As an aside, the “Okay Google” verbiage already somehow seems natural, despite the fact that I literally never use that same sentence construction to address real humans or in general conversation, at least as a way to kick-off a conversation. “Okay shopkeep, ring up these groceries.” “Okay girlfriend, meet me tonight at 7.” It doesn’t work, and yet for some reason with Google’s voice-powered features it still does seem to count as ‘natural speech.’ Go figure.

Google To Announce Finalists For Bay Area Impact Challenge

Tomorrow, Google will announce the 10 finalists for its Bay Area Impact Challenge, its latest effort to give back to communities in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area. For the next 10 days, anyone can visit the website to vote for their favorite nonprofit among the group.

According to the Bay Area Impact Challenge site, finalists were selected based on four criteria: community impact, innovation, scalability, and feasibility. Here’s the list of nonprofits that you’ll be able to vote on starting tomorrow:

Beyond 12 - “By integrating personalized coaching with intelligent technology, Beyond 12 bridges the gap between K-12 and higher education to ensure that all students succeed in college.”

Hack the Hood - “Hack the Hood provides technical training in high in-demand multimedia and tech skills to youth who will then apply their learning through real-world consulting projects with locally-owned businesses and non-profits.”

Bring Me A Book - “By providing libraries of high quality children’s books and read aloud workshops to underserved communities, Bring Me A Book inspires reading aloud to children, the most important factor in determining a child’s future success in reading.”

Health Trust – “The vision of The Health Trust is to make Silicon Valley the healthiest region in America— for everyone. Our work includes direct services, grant making and policy advocacy. It organized under three initiatives: Healthy Eating, Healthy Aging and Healthy Living. Our work also includes Destination Home, a public-private partnership galvanizing our community to end chronic homelessness in Santa Clara County.”

BUILD - “Every year in the United States, half a million young people drop out of high school. Most of these young people drop out because they’re bored. Knowing this, BUILD addresses the crisis with a four-year, hands-on entrepreneurship training and college preparation program that makes school engaging and relevant—and consequently motivates students to succeed.”

Mission Asset Fund - “When hardworking families can’t get car loans or own homes, they turn to payday lenders and check cashers to make ends meet. High cost fringe financial services trap people in a cycle of debt, preventing hardworking families from realizing their true economic potential. The solution can be found in the hidden strengths of communities across the country. People come together to lend and borrow money with each other. We connect this practice with the financial system so that borrowers can build credit and a brighter future.“

Center for Employment Opportunities - “EO offers comprehensive employment services exclusively for people with criminal records. CEO’s model is based on a highly structured program of life skill education, short-term paid transitional employment, full-time job placement and post-placement services. “

Pogo Park - “In one of the Bay Area’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, Richmond’s Iron Triangle, we are building great parks and playgrounds. By transforming broken city parks into safe and magical play spaces, we are improving the health and well-being of thousands of at-risk children.”

Community Music Center – “Community Music Center was founded in 1921 with the mission of making music accessible to all people, regardless of their financial means.”

SubArt – “SubArt will reinvent the experience of subway riders by transforming BART and MUNI metro stations into public art galleries.”

On June 3, the company will announce the top four nonprofits, who will each receive a $500,000 grant, support from Google, and access to a co-working space. In addition, 21 other nonprofits will receive smaller grants.

The Bay Area Impact Challenge follows Google’s recent efforts to improve its image in the region. Back in March, the company committed $600,000 to approximately 700 Bay Area projects on Donors Choose, a platform where teachers can list projects that they need funding for in their classrooms. Before that, Google promised $6.8 million to the city of San Francisco to let youth between the ages of 5 and 17 ride MUNI for free for two years. All told, the company has given nearly $60 million to nonprofits in the Bay Area over the last three years.

You can see the advisors Google brought in the evaluate submissions to the challenge below:

Google Plans Low-Cost, High Quality Wi-Fi Networks For Small- And Medium-Sized Businesses, Report Says

Google is apparently planning to offers subsidized, commercial-grade Wi-Fi hardware to small and medium-sized businesses, The Information reports, alongside software to help greatly improve the quality of the Wi-Fi experience at places like doctors’ offices, restaurants, gyms and more. The hardware would be the only cost involved, as it would use the businesses’ existing Internet connections, unlike the Google-provided Wi-Fi networks running at Starbucks businesses across the U.S.

The plan is to get better Wi-Fi in the hands of these businesses in order to get more users working on Google apps and services, which ultimately means more customers spending more time engaging with Google’s money-making products, even when they’re away from their usual home and work Wi-Fi networks. This is the same team behind Google Fiber, the search giant’s high-speed net and TV service, which is being trialled in select markets across the U.S., The Information reports.

A key feature of said network would be that it could remember a user based on their Google account login, and set them up on any other Google-controlled Wi-Fi network anywhere in the world automatically. This so-called Hotspot 2.0 feature would help in terms of clearing up the onerous task of signing in to new networks every single time. And for Google, it means getting users more friction-free access to their Google accounts and services, which has obvious benefits in terms of its ad recommendation engines and products.

Google ultimately wants to blanket the world in connectivity, because that’s the best way for it to grow its user base and get its products in front of as many people as possible. The company announced its acquisition of Titan Aerospace last month, which helps with its ambitious Project Loon – bringing Internet connections to remote corners of the globe. This SMB Wi-Fi project isn’t quite as fantastic in scale, but if real, it has the same aim: make it so as many people as possible can use Google products as much as possible, as often as possible, as easily as possible.

We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation or more info, and will update if we hear back. Update: Google had no comment on this report.

The Surface Pro 3 Is Microsoft’s Answer To The MacBook Air. Again.

Microsoft just announced the Surface Pro 3 and a new direction for the Surface line. Microsoft is no longer looking to counter the iPad. The Surface Pro 3 is Microsoft’s answer to the “heavy” MacBook Air.

This argument is not new. Microsoft touched on this with the Surface Pro and then the Surface Pro 2. The value proposition is simply more clear now. Instead of muddling the argument with examples of how the Surface Pro can be an iPad and a MacBook Air and then an iPad again, Microsoft is now simply saying the new Surface Pro is better than the MacBook Air.

To be honest, it’s the Windows world’s best answer to the fantastic MacBook Air yet. It’s seemingly more powerful and versatile than anything from Samsung, Lenovo or HP.

The Surface has always promised a tablet could replace a laptop. But through two Surface generations, that has so far failed to materialize. The Surface Pro 1 and 2 were too heavy and thick. The screen was too small and the device didn’t work well while on a lap. The Surface Pro 3 answers all of that.

The screen is now larger at 12-inches and sports a higher resolution than the MacBook Air. The Surface Pro 3 with a keyboard is thinner than the MacBook Air. There’s 4g built-in. And for better or worse, the Surface Pro 3 is a touchscreen and has novel OneNote features such as a mode that instantly lets users jot down notes even when the device is turned off.

Still, it’s no MacBook Air.

I once wrote an article comparing the first generation Surface Pro and the MacBook Air. I was mostly wrong. I used the original Surface Pro as a daily driver for several months. The relationship didn’t work out. Microsoft’s promise of a dual function device fell short in real life. The original Surface Pro just didn’t have the chops to hang. I couldn’t use it in my lap, the device wasn’t powerful enough to smoothly run multiple applications over several monitors. The experience was frustrating.

The MacBook Air is the best laptop on the market, bar none. There’s no argument. Apple has progressed the MacBook Air to near perfection. Microsoft knows that, which is why it so directly targeted the device in today’s unveiling.

At this point in the storyline, specs are meaningless. It’s about the experience and with the MacBook Air, Apple created and evolved the computer to truly mean personal. The MacBook Air is not the biggest or baddest laptop available, but it’s the most personal and that’s what makes it sell.

The Surface has always promised to be more personal. But the experience was still lacking. As I found during my time with previous Surface models, the form factor and platform just didn’t mesh.

But Microsoft kept at it and pushed the Surface larger and thinner. Meanwhile, Windows 8 evolved since its release, carefully blending the old Windows with the new Windows. Microsoft might have finally hit a point in both the software and hardware’s life where the Surface can finally be a Windows user’s MacBook Air.

China Bans Windows 8 On Government Computers

Microsoft was just socked with another blow in China. The Central Government Procurement Center has banned the use of Windows 8 on government computers. Reuters reports that computer security relating to Windows XP was cited as the reason.

Like many others, the Chinese government is not happy with Microsoft for ending Windows XP support. The antiquated operating system still powers 50% of China’s desktop market, according to Reuters.

This latest setback comes as Microsoft is struggling in the massive market. Even though computer sales in China matches that of the U.S., the company earned much less revenue, matching that of a smaller market such as the Netherlands.

The company warned for years that support was ending and that companies should upgrade to the latest Microsoft operating system. Yet there were still holdouts for various reasons — but why fix something that’s not broken?

Microsoft is in a tough spot. Microsoft needs to adequately prop-up its latest operating system, but Windows XP will continue to power vital systems that deserve security patches. China is seemingly turning its back on Microsoft until this is resolved.

Govt approves allocation for construction of Bhasha, Dasu dams

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday approved the allocation for construction of 4,500 Mega Watt (MW) Diamer Bhasha Dam, 2,160 MW Dasu Hydro Power Project, construction of a 57 km long stretch of the Faisalabad – Khanewal M-4 Motorway and Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus project.

The decision was taken during a meeting chair by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to finalise the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) allocation for financial year 2014-15 at PM House.

We have embarked upon the road to progress and the projects initiated by our government will usher our country into an era of prosperity, said Nawaz. He added that these projects will not only create millions of job opportunities in the country but also raise the living standard of our people.

Emphasising on the efficient use of public money, Nawaz told the participants of the each penny in the government’s kitty is a public trust.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, MNA Capt (retd) Safdar and senior officials of the concerned ministries.

Prime Minister was given a detailed briefing on the PSDP projects included in the next financial year budget.

Nawaz was informed that each project, whether small, medium or large has been evaluated with reference to cost, importance, priority and time frame.

The premier directed authorities to speed up the initiation of work on Lahore- Karachi Motorway. The premier was informed that the work on this project will be started by end of current year.

The meeting also discussed and approved the initiatives of feasibility study for construction of new rail links from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad via Murree, new rail link from Havelian to Pak China Border, feasibility study to connect Gawadar with Karachi through rail.

Feasibility studies for approach roads to New Islamabad International Airport, New Gawadar International Airport project, Jetty and Infrastructure development at Gaddani, Gawadar Port Economic Free Zone project and Pak-China Technical & Vocational Institute at Gawadar and Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park at Lal Sohnra Park Phase-II (600 MW), were also approved.

In a first, Twitter blocks 'blasphemous' tweets in Pakistan

(GNN) - The online social-networking and microblogging site, Twitter, has honoured five requests brought forward by Abdul Batin, an official of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), to block ‘blasphemous content’ in Pakistan, a New York Times report stated.

Batin had asked Twitter to block accounts, tweets or searches that he considered as blasphemous or unethical in the month of May.

Twitter honoured these five requests, meaning that this content can no longer be seen in Pakistan.

The requests called for the blocking of drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), photographs of burning copies of the Holy Quran and messages from a handful of anti-Islam bloggers as well as the entire account of an American porn star who now attends Duke University, the NYT report stated.

The NYT report also mentioned that it is the first time Twitter has agreed to block content in Pakistan.

The blocking of these tweets in Pakistan is in line with Twitter’s country-specific censorship policy uncovered in 2012.  Twitter said it will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed and will post the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the website chillingeffects.org.

It must be noted, that in May 2012 Twitter was banned in Pakistan for a day due to a drawing competition.

Taking a stand: PTI activists protest Yaseen Khalil’s removal from cabinet

PESHAWAR: Activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) held a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday to express their anger over the removal of Yaseen Khalil from the provincial cabinet.

Protesters, from different areas of PK-5 constituency, set up a hunger strike camp and demanded the provincial and central leadership reinstate Khalil.

The party workers chanted slogans in favour of Yaseen Khalil. Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser arrived at the scene and assured enraged activists he would take up the matter with the PTI leadership. Following this, the protesters dispersed peacefully.
Khalil, when approached, told The Express Tribune he had already made it clear in the assembly that the only objection he and his voters had was the manner in which he had been removed from the cabinet.

“I should have been asked to submit my resignation,” he said.

Khalil added he has been in contact with his supporters and has urged them to refrain from agitation.
“This is our internal matter. I spoke to the protesters and asked them to end the camp,” Khalil said.

He vowed to continue to fight for the rights of his constituency as an MPA.

Similar protests have earlier been held in favour of former health minister Shaukat Yousafzai who has also urged his supporters to remain calm as he had accepted the party’s decision.

Khalil and Yousafzai were removed from the cabinet earlier this month over ‘bad performance’.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 21st, 2014.

Sticking together: Lawyers demand SHO be booked for torturing colleague

HARIPUR: Scores of lawyers protested on Tuesday against the alleged manhandling of their colleague by an SHO last week and issued a three-day ultimatum to the administration to take legal action against the police officer.

Lawyers observed a strike throughout Hazara division, boycotting court proceedings in protest. The black coats took out a rally from Haripur district courts and marched on Shahrah-e-Hazara, carrying banners and placards. They blocked the bustling road for over two hours and staged a sit-in near the District Police Officer’s (DPO) office.

They condemned the alleged torture of their colleague Advocate Awais Sarwar by City SHO Sajid Farooq in police custody.

They said if their colleague had committed any wrongdoing the police should have taken legal action against him rather than subjecting him to severe physical and mental torture during detention.

Local leaders of the legal fraternity said they had opted for a peaceful resolution of the dispute and lodged a complaint against the SHO with the Haripur DPO and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) IGP, seeking an enquiry against the official and his transfer. However, they said, instead of acting on their complaint, the police, at the behest of the city’s big shots, motivated some of their agents to take out a procession in favour of the SHO a few days ago.

Members of the legal fraternity said since Sarwar’s medical report proved bone injuries on his neck and a ruptured eardrum, the administration must immediately register a criminal case against the SHO.

They added failure to do so would force them to protest indefinitely.

High Court Bar Association President Shad Muhammad Khan, Haripur Bar Association President Abdul Razaq Chughtai and Dr Hasnain Raza Turabi were among those who spoke on the occasion.

According to Sarwar, there was a complaint against him by his former in-laws who accused him of opening fire at their house after which Farooq picked him up from his home last week and tortured him at the police station. According to the victim, the thrashing left his neck bone fractured and eardrum ruptured. He accused the SHO of meting degrading and cruel treatment at the instigation of Sarwar’s political rivals and an influential personality of the city.

Meanwhile, lawyers in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan also boycotted court proceedings on the call of the K-P Bar Council against the manhandling of their colleague and demanded legal action against the SHO.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 21st, 2014.