San Jose Taps Microsoft To Boost Customer Service

Local governments are increasingly turning to the cloud -- and Microsoft is actively vying for the business. In its latest win, the City of San Jose is betting big on Redmond's software as it commits to delivering better customer service.

The city chose Microsoft Office 365, Windows Azure and StorSimple -- reportedly over Google Apps -- to boost the productivity of its more than 5,000 employees. The city also expects the software bundle to help it reduce operational costs to more than 984,000 residents in the capital of Silicon Valley.

"Ensuring the productivity of employees is critical when state and local governments are constantly being asked to do more with less," said Michael Donlan, vice president of state and local government at Microsoft. Donlan touted the collaboration , productivity, security and privacy benefits of the company's solutions.

Secured Cloud Productivity

Vijay Sammeta, San Jose's chief information officer, is convinced the combination of Microsoft Office 365, Windows Azure and StorSimple supports both the city's long-term technology strategy and the immediate needs of its employees and residents.

"We turned to Office 365 for secured cloud productivity, which in turn will help us lower our total cost of ownership and support a more mobile and connected workforce of the future," Sammeta said. "The combination of Windows Azure and StorSimple will enable us to streamline storage infrastructure support, which enables our people to make the shift from basic backend operations to citizen engagement and service delivery."

With the Microsoft products and services, Sammeta said San Jose employees will have "constant and consistent" access to documents, email and information through the cloud. And that, he said, will let employees do their jobs in a secured environment regardless of their locations while simultaneously offering the ability to collaborate in real-time with other employees.

End-to-End Cloud Solution

"Instead of purchasing different products for various business needs that may or may not integrate with one another, Office 365 provides us with a complete solution that works both for today's needs and offers flexibility for addressing tomorrow's," Sammeta said. "By making this investment in technology, our staff will have up-to-date, enterprise -class cloud productivity tools, allowing us to catch up several product generations at once."

Sammeta said it comes down to the question of how to focus and leverage the talent of the city: Does it work on activities that don't help provide value directly to residents, or can it concentrate on where it can achieve real impact? As he sees it, the cloud gives the city an opportunity to transform its IT business model so it doesn't have to deal with servers and storage.

"If you're going to have a cloud strategy, you need to take a holistic look at your workloads," Sammeta said. "We know we are only starting to scratch the surface of the benefits to come, which likely will be more than just cost savings for IT. I'm looking forward to opening the door to greater collaboration and removing technology obstacles to our ability to innovate."

Source: http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=88781

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88% What Maisie Knew

All Critics (73) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (9)

The film is touching, filled with taste and care, but not enough to avoid being coy and sentimental.

On the surface, this indie does sound like standard-issue material, but its dynamics are far more complex than its simple exterior.

What Maisie Knew gives the audience a ground-eye view of its mesmerizing title character, a plucky, charismatic New Yorker who navigates downtown bars and building lobbies with the street savvy of a pro.

The result is a film that deeply engages us on multiple levels. Not only do we wonder what Maisie knows and how she knows it, we want to get this seedling to a place where she won't have to be transplanted every day.

It's a study of human nature, not at its worst, but at its most typically pathetic, and it goes to show that the more things don't change, the more they stay lousy.

Intimate, unnerving and entirely addictive.

This is a film that deals in subtle details, and its value lies in the way the filmmakers draw out small moments of surprise or truth from the familiar scenario.

It's far from the first story of a child dealing with the consequences of parental break-up -- but it may be one of the best.

The worthwhile subject matter becomes trivialized.

A wonderful modernized re-telling of the 1897 Henry James short story.

It's an intimate, well-acted and nuanced film that provides a fresh angle on an all-too-familiar struggle.

Onata Aprile is never showy and always authentic, a rare find in a child actor. In fact, she is one of the most self-possessed actors I've seen of any age.

A movie that's much easier to admire than to actually enjoy, no matter how well done or acted.

Onata Aprile's short career should blossom as people react to her subtle performance here.

Despite the big-name adults around her, it's the unknown Onata Aprile who is the star of this movie.

Gazing on Maisie, you want to know what she knows. That you can't is at once your dilemma and your opportunity, what adults must engage in order to be adults.

Despite a sensitive, mature performance from Onata Aprile as Maisie, the girl remains withdrawn and opaque throughout. In telling this sad story from her perspective, it never quite plugs in to what Maisie felt.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/what_maisie_knew_2012/

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Martin Perez turned in his second straight solid effort Friday and Texas pitcher...

Martin Perez turned in his second straight solid effort Friday and Texas pitchers extended their scoreless streak to 20 innings in a 4-0 win over Cincinnati. Perez (2-1), making his third start of the season, gave up six hits over 6 2/3 innings as ?

Source: http://www.facebook.com/amsterdamnews/posts/571479926228448

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Obama tours prison where Nelson Mandela toiled

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama is touring South Africa's Robben Island, where former South African President Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in a tiny cell as a political prisoner.

Obama, his wife and two daughters are viewing the lime quarry where Mandela toiled during captivity. It's also where the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader developed the lung problems ailing him today.

The Obamas' tour guide is 83-year-old politician Ahmed Kathrada (AH-med kahth-RAH-dah), who was also held captive at the prison. He's telling the Obamas the prisoners were forced to work every day.

Obama has been paying tribute to Mandela throughout his weeklong trip to three African countries. Obama will give a major speech later Sunday at the University of Cape Town. The White House says the speech will be infused with memories of Mandela.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tours-prison-where-nelson-mandela-toiled-123410778.html

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Hong Kong lets Snowden leave, with Cuba among possible destinations

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, charged by the United States with espionage, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday, his final destination as yet unknown, because a U.S. extradition request did not comply with the law, the Hong Kong government said.

Edward Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday and his final destination may be Cuba, Ecuador, Iceland or Venezuela, according to various reports. The move is bound to infuriate Washington, wherever he ends up.

"It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source at the Aeroflot airline as saying there was a ticket in Snowden's name for a Moscow-Cuba flight. Itar-Tass news agency cited a source as saying Snowden would fly from Havana to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

The South China Morning Post said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was unaware of Snowden's whereabouts or travel plans.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country". It did not elaborate, other than to say Snowden was "currently over Russian airspace" with WikiLeaks legal advisers.

The White House had no comment on the WikiLeaks posting.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said last week he would not leave the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send him home.

"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

It did not say what further information it needed.

CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and although it retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

The Hong Kong government statement said it had written to the United States "requesting clarification" of earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies.

"The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter, so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong," it said.

China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai; Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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Woman off a cliff video: Infidelity has a price

Woman off a cliff: A married woman throws her husband's "other woman" off a small cliff, a ravine really, in a jealous rage. And the whole incident is captured on video.

By David Clark Scott,?Staff writer / June 22, 2013

In 1697, William Congreve wrote a poem that included the phrase: "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorn'd"

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Over the centuries, that line has been paraphrased and popularized into the saying: "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned."

Now there's a video on the Internet that vividly illustrates the proverbial wisdom.

Captured on a closed circuit security camera is a rendezvous in Arequipa, Peru, between Renzo Zanabria, a married man and Sandra Bruna Morales, his lover. But the tryst is suddenly cut short by the arrival of Zanabria's wife, Lissette Lupo Mamani.

Zanabria's wife grabs Ms. Morales by the hair drags her to the edge of a ravine and pushes her off.

Let's be clear, while most of the English language media reporting on this as a "woman tossed off a cliff " - which sounds more dramatic ? the Spanish news reports used the word "barranco," which means ravine. That seems like a more accurate description of the scene. Of course, the reports say the ravine was about 20 feet deep, so this wasn't like getting tossed into a ditch, either.?

Ms. Morales survives the tumble into the ravine - apparently without serious injury - gets up and leaves, all the while Zanbria's wife is gesturing and shouting at her in anger. Zanabria, wisely, slinks away and out of view of the camera.

Ms. Morales probably didn't expect that getting caught sleeping with a married man would get her tossed into a ravine. And she certainly didn't expect that anyone with access to the Internet would have a front row seat to the incident.

But based on the comments being left on various sites, the sentiment among most women is that if you play with fire, you can expect to get burned. There hasn't been much consternation over vigilante justice or much compassion shown for the woman tossed in the ravine. Some have suggested the wife should have tossed her husband into the ravine too.

Given that all the world saw the incident, and the obvious enthusiasm in the Spanish language media for the story, Zanabria apparently didn't think he had much to lose by taking his plea for forgiveness public as well.

Americas Noticias shows Zanabria holding a microphone and talking into a news camera with this statement, which reads in part:

"I beg you, on my knees?? ... i don't care what others think, my only concern is you and my children, who I need because without you I am nothing. I ask you, please, to forgive me. I have made mistakes, but I miss you."

So far, no reports on how his scorned wife received the request for forgiveness. But one suspects that the "other woman" may have learned a lesson.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/GFpCaVj_l9Q/Woman-off-a-cliff-video-Infidelity-has-a-price

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Snowden arrives in Moscow

By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly

HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - An aircraft believed to be carrying Edward Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday after Hong Kong let the former U.S. security contractor leave the territory, despite Washington's efforts to extradite him to face espionage charges.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was heading for a "democratic nation" which it did not name, although a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said he would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.

Moscow airport officials said the flight from Hong Kong had landed but could not immediately confirm Snowden was on board. However, a source at Aeroflot said he had booked a seat on the service.

Snowden, who worked for the National Security Agency, had been hiding in Hong Kong since leaking details about U.S. surveillance activities to news media.

A spokesman for the government of Hong Kong, a former British colony which returned to China in 1997, said it had let Snowden depart because a U.S. request to have him arrested did not comply with the law.

The United States wanted him to be extradited to face trial and is likely to be furious about his departure. In Washington, a Justice Department official said it would seek cooperation with countries Snowden may try to go to.

"It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

A source at Aeroflot said Snowden would fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then planned to go on to Venezuela. The South China Morning Post earlier said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country".

It added in an update on Twitter that he was accompanied by diplomats and legal advisers and was travelling via a safe route for the purposes of seeking asylum.

"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person," former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for the group's founder Julian Assange, said in a statement.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

Assange has taken sanctuary in the Ecuadorean embassy in London and said last week he would not leave even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send Snowden home.

"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

It did not say what further information it needed.

The White House had no comment.

CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

Although Hong Kong retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over its foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador are all members of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America who pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials.

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai, Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Anna Willard and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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