Category Archives: Technology

Saluting YouTube

Professor creates mini-musical celebrating video website

Joyce Hill Stoner, the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Material Culture in the University of Delaware’s Department of Art Conservation, is an internationally respected scholar and paintings conservator who has a flair for showmanship as well.

Her latest entertainment production, an eight-minute musical in which the state of Delaware salutes YouTube, now is posted on that site for the world to see. Live for just a couple of days, the video already has attracted thousands of viewers. (more…)

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Report Captures Picture of Global Opportunity Divide for Largest Youth Population in History

*Youths echo findings from International Youth Foundation report, which urges actions to help young people succeed.*

REDMOND, Wash. — March 27, 2012 — The numbers are staggering: Our planet has the largest youth population ever, with more than 1 billion people aged 15 to 24, and the figure is racing to 1.5 billion by 2035, according to “Opportunity for Action,” a new report being released today from the International Youth Foundation (IYF). The report shows that while some youths are succeeding, millions of others are not because they don’t have access to the necessary education, skills and opportunities.

Microsoft commissioned the “Opportunity for Action” report to bring attention to the urgency of the global youth opportunity divide — the gap between those who have access to a good education and the technology, skills and connections to be successful, and those who do not. No region of the world escapes the unsettling picture captured by the report. In Brazil, approximately 40 percent of firms have difficulty finding qualified staff to fill job vacancies due to low-quality education. In Asia, 70 percent of working youths are engaged in the agricultural sector, where jobs are seasonal and offer no protections or access to safety nets. And in sub-Saharan Africa, youths are grossly under-employed, leaving 72 percent of young people living on less than two dollars per day. (more…)

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Study: Including Ads in Mobile Apps Poses Privacy, Security Risks

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that including ads in mobile applications (apps) poses privacy and security risks. In a recent study of 100,000 apps in the official Google Play market, researchers noticed that more than half contained so-called ad libraries. And 297 of the apps included aggressive ad libraries that were enabled to download and run code from remote servers – which raises significant privacy and security concerns.

“Running code downloaded from the Internet is problematic because the code could be anything,” says Dr. Xuxian Jiang, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. “For example, it could potentially launch a ‘root exploit’ attack to take control of your phone – as demonstrated in a recently discovered piece of Android malware called RootSmart.” (more…)

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comScore Releases Full Results of vCE™ Charter Study Involving 12 Leading U.S. Advertisers

Study Highlights Importance of ‘Viewable Impressions’ and Need for Holistic View of Ad Delivery for Marketers to Maximize Digital and Cross-Media Campaigns

RESTON, VA, March 26, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released full study results from its U.S.-based vCE Charter Study involving online advertising campaigns for 12 premium national advertisers. The study found that, in many cases, a large portion of ad impressions are not delivered according to plan, and that the quality of ad delivery can vary greatly based on a variety of factors, including site, placement, creative and targeting strategy. (more…)

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Three New Independent Directors Appointed to Yahoo! Board

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, today announced that its Board appointed three new independent directors, effective April 5, 2012 : John D. Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of American Express Company; Peter Liguori, former Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Communications, Inc. and former Chairman and President of Entertainment of Fox Broadcasting Network; and Thomas J. McInerney, the outgoing Chief Financial Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp.

“Each of these individuals impressed the search committee with their demonstrable records of significant accomplishment at the highest levels of media, advertising and marketing, finance, including corporate finance and restructuring, and further insight into customers’ perspectives. Together, they bring a powerful mix of exactly the right ingredients to fuel Yahoo!’s forward momentum. Having thoroughly reviewed a broad range of highly qualified candidates and sought input from a number of major shareholders, the Committee enthusiastically recommended to the full Board the appointment of these three excellent directors,” said Patti Hart, chairman of the Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, which conducted the search process. (more…)

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YouTube Campaign Videos More Positive Than Television Ads

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—YouTube campaign videos are more positive than ads aired on television, a new University of Michigan study shows.

YouTube videos are more positive because they are narrowly targeted to the highly informed, high motivated, usually supportive people who view a candidate’s online video, said Rob Salmond, the study’s author and assistant professor of political science. (more…)

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IBM Strengthens Presence in India with New Office in Ludhiana, Punjab

LUDHIANA, India – 23 Mar 2012: IBM today announced the opening of a new branch office in Ludhiana, Punjab as part of the company’s continued geographic expansion across India.

The Ludhiana branch is IBM’s seventh new office to be opened in India in the past 12 months after those in Coimbatore, Indore, Guwahati, Dehradun, Raipur and Visakhapatnam. IBM is currently focused on increasing its presence in smaller, rapidly developing cities as India’s regions play an increasingly important part in the country’s economic growth. (more…)

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March Multi-Screen Madness: Smartphones and Tablets Drive 20 Percent of Web Traffic for First Round Games of NCAA Tournament

*Sports Category Traffic Jumps 79 Percent on First Day of Tournament, with Smartphone and Tablet Growth Outpacing the Average*

RESTON, VA, March 23, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of a study of web usage related to the 2012 NCAA Tournament based on data from comScore Device Essentials™. The study, which analyzed browser-based (i.e. non-app) page views to the Sports content category, showed that consumers dramatically increased their access of Sports content across all three primary screens for web access – computer, tablet and smartphone – as they tried to stay plugged into the first 32 games of the tournament in real-time. (more…)

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