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"disqusTitle": "Once Friendly Territory, California Looks to Toughen Rules for Uber, Lyft",
"title": "Once Friendly Territory, California Looks to Toughen Rules for Uber, Lyft",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126917\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/30/lyft-uberx-driver-safety/rs8866_uberx_3-lpr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126917\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126917\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/01/RS8866_UberX_3-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The California Public Utilities Commission requires Transportation Network Companies like UberX to display signage. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Jeremy Raff/KQED) \u003ccite>(Jeremy Raff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n February, when Lyft was battling to stave off regulations of ride-service companies in Seattle, company CEO John Zimmer \u003ca href=\"//www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-tech-community-ride-sharing/%E2%80%9D\">pointed to California as a shining example of a fruitful partnership between a disruptive tech industry and regulators.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California had a yearlong rule-making process with several steps,” he said in an interview about the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last year to sanction what it calls Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs. “And they were able to come out with something that put, in many cases, more strict standards on new companies like Lyft, yet preserved innovation and consumer choice. I think that’s a fantastic model.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Ride-service firms in a struggle with legislators and regulators over insurance and other issues.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But critics of companies like Lyft and TNC behemoth Uber were not so happy with the CPUC ruling. Taxi companies and their regulators led the charge: Despite a host of requirements the commission created as the cost of TNCs doing business in California, these were nowhere near the regulatory burden that taxis had to contend with in San Francisco and other cities, they said. The biggest complaint: The state was not saddling the Lyfts and Ubers with the same stringent insurance requirements that taxi firms must meet under local regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNC industry has portrayed these protests as the loud protectionist rumblings of an obsolete industry. But now, nine months after the commission’s decision paved the way for ride-service upstarts to purloin large chunks of cab business, the home state of the most prominent ride-service companies may be on the verge of levying significantly more rigorous insurance mandates, either through legislation, the regulatory process or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stern \u003ca href=\"//www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/216C7343-8740-40C3-BF60-2B57BF37F8A5/0/LettertoLoganGreenofLyft061014.pdf%E2%80%9D\">letter that CPUC President Michael Peevey sent\u003c/a> last week to UberX, Lyft and three other TNCs serves as a sign of just how precarious things have gotten for the industry in California. The letter threatened to revoke the companies' licenses unless they prevented drivers from operating at five California airports. Not only did TNCs fail to obtain the necessary permits to serve the airports, Peevey wrote, but the vast majority of drivers flaunted CPUC regulations by not displaying required insignias on their vehicles. In addition, some drivers could not provide proof of insurance, and on two occasions at San Francisco International, operated without a valid driver’s license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peevey expressed his \"personal disappointment and concern about this behavior.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber was less than contrite: \"We have spent countless hours with airport managers and their staff to help develop requirements that are aligned with CPUC regulations and embrace the spirit of ride-sharing,\" company spokeswoman Eva Behrend said in a statement. \"The tone of the majority of these conversations has been mutually respectful and productive. It's unfortunate the CPUC is not allowing the airport process they designed to proceed by allowing ride-sharing companies to continue working with California airport authorities on their permitting process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cstrong>Update June 17\u003c/strong>: A representative for Uber said at a state Senate committee hearing today that it needed to do a better job of informing drivers of the insignia requirements. But she also said drivers do not like to identify themselves as working for TNCs because of harassment from taxis. We have also heard this, especially from Lyft drivers, who frequently remove the trademark mustache from their cars for the same reason.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the airport kerfuffle could prove to be a mere skirmish compared to other regulatory battles brewing around an industry that has expanded globally with startling rapidity. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"//dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/%E2%80%9D\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacramento Takes a Whack\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee heard two bills intended to inject a stronger dose of regulation in the world of TNCs, especially around insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">[contextly_sidebar id=\"[contextly_sidebar id=\"04961c76f5ecb41f81c0c29378870f0c\"]\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNCs offer drivers $1 million in commercial liability insurance, the same requirement as what San Francisco taxis must carry. But TNC coverage is \u003cem>excess insurance\u003c/em>, ostensibly triggered only at the point where the personal policies of TNC drivers, using their own vehicle, after all, stop paying. The TNCs contend that drivers' personal policies should be the insurer of first resort. But both the insurance industry and the state Department of Insurance have now taken the position that this set-up is based on a fiction, contingent on the erroneous view that drivers’ personal insurers will be happy to or at least tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially for TNCs, an activity that has not been factored into the price of their policies. If it is a fiction, though, it's one that makes TNC insurance less expensive, because it assumes drivers’ own policies will pick up at least some of the liability cost for accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, another TNC, all insist drivers’ personal insurers have paid claims for accidents occurring during a paid ride. The insurance industry says that’s because the drivers’ insurer didn’t know the accident happened on a TNC call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurance industry is attempting to dismantle this two-tier TNC coverage by backing \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2293/id/1008847%E2%80%9D\">AB 2293\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord). The bill, which does not set specific coverage amounts, would require TNCs to advise drivers that their personal insurance may not provide coverage during TNC work. It would also force the companies to carry primary insurance, like taxis do, and defend drivers against lawsuits for loss or injury when providing TNC services. The bill would also extend the time that drivers are insured to when they have their apps open but have yet to accept a call, so called \"Period 1.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Uber called the bill “a back-room deal by insurance companies and trial attorneys to prematurely force the ridesharing industry to fit their special interests. The bill allows insurance companies to escape their liability for services they’ve already charged ratepayers, and helps trial attorneys work the system to ensure they get the largest payouts possible.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The energy committee forwarded AB 2293 to the Committee on Insurance. The bill does not contain specific amounts of required coverage, but that is where the debate appears to now lie. At the hearing, representatives for Lyft and Uber said they support a number of the bill's requirements: that their insurance be primary, that there be a written disclosure to drivers of TNC insurance limitations and that the period of coverage now extend from app on to app off. However, as an official analysis of the bill states, the TNCs contend that requiring $1 million in coverage for the period before a driver accepts a call would “kill their business model and service.” So the TNCs have proposed an amendment that would set a requirement of just up to $100,000 in insurance, which is what Uber and Lyft offer now for this period. Committee Chair Alex Padilla seemed to push the bill's sponsor, Susan Bonilla, to forward the bill with those requirements. But she said, \"I can’t abandon the reality that catastrophic things do happen and that $100,000 isn’t going to be enough ... What happens after that is exhausted?\" Bonilla did, however, say that she is \"committed\" to treating Period 1 with more flexibility than in the subsequent times a driver will have to covered. Interestingly enough, Kara Cross, General Counsel for the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said Uber told her in negotiations that they can't acknowledge that Period 1 is commercial activity, because that could come into play in the lawsuit against them by the family of Sofia Liu, the 6-year-old killed in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, by an UberX driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:34 p.m.\u003c/strong> Uber's Eva Behrend, in a response to Kara Cross's comment, said, \"That's patently false.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second bill, \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">AB 612\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Los Angeles), is backed by the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California and would legislate requirements closer to what local taxi companies labor under: mandatory drug and alcohol testing of drivers; closer monitoring of DMV records; mandatory criminal background checks; driver fingerprinting; and the banning of anyone convicted of a number of crimes, from burglary to credit card fraud to obstructing a peace officer. The bill also stipulates TNCs must have a preventive maintenance program for driver's vehicles, and that all vehicles involved in TNC work must be registered with the CPUC, with an official decal affixed to every bumper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A provision that would have required TNCs to cover vehicles around the clock was removed from the bill before the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, naturally, is not a fan, calling the proposed legislation “a flagrant attempt to stymie innovation and competition by an antiquated industry. It is an obvious play by the taxicab industry to kill competition and limit consumer choice ... “ Backers of the bill, the company said, wanted to \"make it impossible for companies like Uber to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Rouse, the president of TPAC and general manager of Yellow Cab in L.A., said the legislation is necessary to police companies that are plain out of control. He pointed to the violations at California airports as an example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is not a single jurisdiction, whether inside or outside the U.S., where the TNCs actually follow the letter of the law,” he said. “This is the new world order, where these companies just routinely, habitually thumb their nose at the law in every single city where they operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The committee voted to remove all but the drug and alcohol testing and background check provisions from AB 612. Representatives from San Francisco International Airport spoke in favor of the bill.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CPUC Puts the Hammer Down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TNCs are also under the gun from the \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M094/K268/94268677.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC's proposed modification\u003c/a> of its original TNC decision. These new regulations, if approved, could significantly increase the companies' insurance costs. The modified decision is scheduled to be heard on July 10 or after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal, released last Tuesday, makes no bones about clarifying the issue of whether drivers’ personal insurance would cover claims related to TNC accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A driver’s personal automobile policy is no way required to provide coverage or the duty to defend for TNC services,” the commission wrote. Reinforcing that stipulation, the commission states TNC policies “shall provide exclusive coverage, and assume all liability and the sole duty to defend, at dollar one,” which would prohibit the TNCs' reliance on excess insurance. The proposal does say that a driver’s insurance can be used to cover TNC accidents, but only if it is “specifically written for the purpose of covering transportation network services.” And those policies do not currently exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like AB 2293, the latest CPUC proposal also extends the time that drivers are insured to Period 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UberX driver who struck and killed Sofia Liu in San Francisco was reportedly in this interval between calls, so was not covered by Uber's policy, a limitation not widely known at the time. Subsequently, both \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/14/uber-lyft-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft announced they had closed this gap\u003c/a> by offering up to $100,000 in coverage for drivers in the app on-and-waiting time. However, this won’t be good enough under the CPUC’s proposal, which appears to simply extend the $1 million insurance requirement to this period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have also added $50,000 in collision insurance, and Uber offers $50,000 in comprehensive coverage (fire, theft and such). These are all contingent, however, on drivers having bought the same coverage on their personal auto policies. The CPUC’s proposal gives TNCs no such leeway, making collision and comprehensive mandatory regardless of a driver’s having purchased it on his own. Finally, the commission also wants to require $5,000 in coverage for medical payments related to injuries resulting from an accident. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is \u003ca href=\"//www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/06/12/uber-lyft-setback-insurance-chief-backs-proposal.html?page=3%E2%80%9D\">supporting the proposed CPUC changes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNC Arguments Against\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the CPUC first floated the expansion of the mandatory $1 million coverage to include Period 1, Uber argued it could spur drivers to “(keep) the app open at all times, regardless of the drivers’ intent to accept a request for transportation service … solely to obtain the benefit from the increased insurance.” Uber also speculated that drivers not engaged in TNC work might turn on the app “immediately following an accident in order to try to secure the potentially significant financial benefit of the higher limits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft had similar objections: “(A) TNC driver could forget to close the app and be considered to be ‘providing TNC services’ in the middle of the night when the car is parked on the street and the driver is sleeping, or when the vehicle is being driven by another household member, or when it is being used to transport a driver’s child to soccer practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kara Cross of the Personal Insurance Federation of California says TNCs can guard against drivers gaming the system this way by monitoring their acceptance rates, tracking who has the app on while not accepting rides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stuart Nelson, the president of Point West Insurance, a property and casualty insurance broker in Sacramento, says the CPUC’s mandatory collision coverage could invite fraud. “You could damage a car personally and then say it was damaged during a drive,” he says. “I could have this pre-existing damage and then claim it happened as an Uber driver, and Uber has to cover it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNCs Would Pay More\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson, Kara Cross, and Jerry Sullivan, who runs an insurance brokerage business, all say TNCs will pay more for insurance if the CPUC changes go through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People who write livery are prepared to write the kind of exposure these guys will have,” Sullivan said. “But it’s going to cost them 30 to 35 percent more than they are now.” He said that increase only takes into account the greater expense of extending the period of time drivers are covered — the TNCs might incur additional increases for the additional collision and comprehensive insurance. Nelson thinks requiring TNCs to offer one-size-fits-all collision coverage to every driver could be a significant extra cost, because “there’s no way to properly insure the risk. We won’t know if we’re insuring a 1974 Volkswagen Bug or a Ferrari.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The taxi industry, for its part, is still not happy with the CPUC, because the proposed changes would not go into effect immediately, but after the current TNC policies expire or one year from the effective date of the decision, whichever comes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jerry Sullivan said he was in discussion with Lyft about 18 months ago to broker insurance coverage, but that the company balked when he quoted them a price for primary coverage from Lloyds of London. “They didn’t want to pay the price,” he says. “That’s not how they designed their business model.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126917\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/30/lyft-uberx-driver-safety/rs8866_uberx_3-lpr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126917\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126917\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/01/RS8866_UberX_3-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The California Public Utilities Commission requires Transportation Network Companies like UberX to display signage. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Jeremy Raff/KQED) \u003ccite>(Jeremy Raff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n February, when Lyft was battling to stave off regulations of ride-service companies in Seattle, company CEO John Zimmer \u003ca href=\"//www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-tech-community-ride-sharing/%E2%80%9D\">pointed to California as a shining example of a fruitful partnership between a disruptive tech industry and regulators.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California had a yearlong rule-making process with several steps,” he said in an interview about the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last year to sanction what it calls Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs. “And they were able to come out with something that put, in many cases, more strict standards on new companies like Lyft, yet preserved innovation and consumer choice. I think that’s a fantastic model.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Ride-service firms in a struggle with legislators and regulators over insurance and other issues.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But critics of companies like Lyft and TNC behemoth Uber were not so happy with the CPUC ruling. Taxi companies and their regulators led the charge: Despite a host of requirements the commission created as the cost of TNCs doing business in California, these were nowhere near the regulatory burden that taxis had to contend with in San Francisco and other cities, they said. The biggest complaint: The state was not saddling the Lyfts and Ubers with the same stringent insurance requirements that taxi firms must meet under local regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNC industry has portrayed these protests as the loud protectionist rumblings of an obsolete industry. But now, nine months after the commission’s decision paved the way for ride-service upstarts to purloin large chunks of cab business, the home state of the most prominent ride-service companies may be on the verge of levying significantly more rigorous insurance mandates, either through legislation, the regulatory process or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stern \u003ca href=\"//www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/216C7343-8740-40C3-BF60-2B57BF37F8A5/0/LettertoLoganGreenofLyft061014.pdf%E2%80%9D\">letter that CPUC President Michael Peevey sent\u003c/a> last week to UberX, Lyft and three other TNCs serves as a sign of just how precarious things have gotten for the industry in California. The letter threatened to revoke the companies' licenses unless they prevented drivers from operating at five California airports. Not only did TNCs fail to obtain the necessary permits to serve the airports, Peevey wrote, but the vast majority of drivers flaunted CPUC regulations by not displaying required insignias on their vehicles. In addition, some drivers could not provide proof of insurance, and on two occasions at San Francisco International, operated without a valid driver’s license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peevey expressed his \"personal disappointment and concern about this behavior.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber was less than contrite: \"We have spent countless hours with airport managers and their staff to help develop requirements that are aligned with CPUC regulations and embrace the spirit of ride-sharing,\" company spokeswoman Eva Behrend said in a statement. \"The tone of the majority of these conversations has been mutually respectful and productive. It's unfortunate the CPUC is not allowing the airport process they designed to proceed by allowing ride-sharing companies to continue working with California airport authorities on their permitting process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cstrong>Update June 17\u003c/strong>: A representative for Uber said at a state Senate committee hearing today that it needed to do a better job of informing drivers of the insignia requirements. But she also said drivers do not like to identify themselves as working for TNCs because of harassment from taxis. We have also heard this, especially from Lyft drivers, who frequently remove the trademark mustache from their cars for the same reason.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the airport kerfuffle could prove to be a mere skirmish compared to other regulatory battles brewing around an industry that has expanded globally with startling rapidity. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"//dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/%E2%80%9D\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacramento Takes a Whack\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee heard two bills intended to inject a stronger dose of regulation in the world of TNCs, especially around insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNCs offer drivers $1 million in commercial liability insurance, the same requirement as what San Francisco taxis must carry. But TNC coverage is \u003cem>excess insurance\u003c/em>, ostensibly triggered only at the point where the personal policies of TNC drivers, using their own vehicle, after all, stop paying. The TNCs contend that drivers' personal policies should be the insurer of first resort. But both the insurance industry and the state Department of Insurance have now taken the position that this set-up is based on a fiction, contingent on the erroneous view that drivers’ personal insurers will be happy to or at least tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially for TNCs, an activity that has not been factored into the price of their policies. If it is a fiction, though, it's one that makes TNC insurance less expensive, because it assumes drivers’ own policies will pick up at least some of the liability cost for accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, another TNC, all insist drivers’ personal insurers have paid claims for accidents occurring during a paid ride. The insurance industry says that’s because the drivers’ insurer didn’t know the accident happened on a TNC call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurance industry is attempting to dismantle this two-tier TNC coverage by backing \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2293/id/1008847%E2%80%9D\">AB 2293\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord). The bill, which does not set specific coverage amounts, would require TNCs to advise drivers that their personal insurance may not provide coverage during TNC work. It would also force the companies to carry primary insurance, like taxis do, and defend drivers against lawsuits for loss or injury when providing TNC services. The bill would also extend the time that drivers are insured to when they have their apps open but have yet to accept a call, so called \"Period 1.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Uber called the bill “a back-room deal by insurance companies and trial attorneys to prematurely force the ridesharing industry to fit their special interests. The bill allows insurance companies to escape their liability for services they’ve already charged ratepayers, and helps trial attorneys work the system to ensure they get the largest payouts possible.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The energy committee forwarded AB 2293 to the Committee on Insurance. The bill does not contain specific amounts of required coverage, but that is where the debate appears to now lie. At the hearing, representatives for Lyft and Uber said they support a number of the bill's requirements: that their insurance be primary, that there be a written disclosure to drivers of TNC insurance limitations and that the period of coverage now extend from app on to app off. However, as an official analysis of the bill states, the TNCs contend that requiring $1 million in coverage for the period before a driver accepts a call would “kill their business model and service.” So the TNCs have proposed an amendment that would set a requirement of just up to $100,000 in insurance, which is what Uber and Lyft offer now for this period. Committee Chair Alex Padilla seemed to push the bill's sponsor, Susan Bonilla, to forward the bill with those requirements. But she said, \"I can’t abandon the reality that catastrophic things do happen and that $100,000 isn’t going to be enough ... What happens after that is exhausted?\" Bonilla did, however, say that she is \"committed\" to treating Period 1 with more flexibility than in the subsequent times a driver will have to covered. Interestingly enough, Kara Cross, General Counsel for the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said Uber told her in negotiations that they can't acknowledge that Period 1 is commercial activity, because that could come into play in the lawsuit against them by the family of Sofia Liu, the 6-year-old killed in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, by an UberX driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:34 p.m.\u003c/strong> Uber's Eva Behrend, in a response to Kara Cross's comment, said, \"That's patently false.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second bill, \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">AB 612\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Los Angeles), is backed by the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California and would legislate requirements closer to what local taxi companies labor under: mandatory drug and alcohol testing of drivers; closer monitoring of DMV records; mandatory criminal background checks; driver fingerprinting; and the banning of anyone convicted of a number of crimes, from burglary to credit card fraud to obstructing a peace officer. The bill also stipulates TNCs must have a preventive maintenance program for driver's vehicles, and that all vehicles involved in TNC work must be registered with the CPUC, with an official decal affixed to every bumper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A provision that would have required TNCs to cover vehicles around the clock was removed from the bill before the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, naturally, is not a fan, calling the proposed legislation “a flagrant attempt to stymie innovation and competition by an antiquated industry. It is an obvious play by the taxicab industry to kill competition and limit consumer choice ... “ Backers of the bill, the company said, wanted to \"make it impossible for companies like Uber to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Rouse, the president of TPAC and general manager of Yellow Cab in L.A., said the legislation is necessary to police companies that are plain out of control. He pointed to the violations at California airports as an example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is not a single jurisdiction, whether inside or outside the U.S., where the TNCs actually follow the letter of the law,” he said. “This is the new world order, where these companies just routinely, habitually thumb their nose at the law in every single city where they operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The committee voted to remove all but the drug and alcohol testing and background check provisions from AB 612. Representatives from San Francisco International Airport spoke in favor of the bill.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CPUC Puts the Hammer Down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TNCs are also under the gun from the \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M094/K268/94268677.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC's proposed modification\u003c/a> of its original TNC decision. These new regulations, if approved, could significantly increase the companies' insurance costs. The modified decision is scheduled to be heard on July 10 or after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal, released last Tuesday, makes no bones about clarifying the issue of whether drivers’ personal insurance would cover claims related to TNC accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A driver’s personal automobile policy is no way required to provide coverage or the duty to defend for TNC services,” the commission wrote. Reinforcing that stipulation, the commission states TNC policies “shall provide exclusive coverage, and assume all liability and the sole duty to defend, at dollar one,” which would prohibit the TNCs' reliance on excess insurance. The proposal does say that a driver’s insurance can be used to cover TNC accidents, but only if it is “specifically written for the purpose of covering transportation network services.” And those policies do not currently exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like AB 2293, the latest CPUC proposal also extends the time that drivers are insured to Period 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UberX driver who struck and killed Sofia Liu in San Francisco was reportedly in this interval between calls, so was not covered by Uber's policy, a limitation not widely known at the time. Subsequently, both \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/14/uber-lyft-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft announced they had closed this gap\u003c/a> by offering up to $100,000 in coverage for drivers in the app on-and-waiting time. However, this won’t be good enough under the CPUC’s proposal, which appears to simply extend the $1 million insurance requirement to this period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have also added $50,000 in collision insurance, and Uber offers $50,000 in comprehensive coverage (fire, theft and such). These are all contingent, however, on drivers having bought the same coverage on their personal auto policies. The CPUC’s proposal gives TNCs no such leeway, making collision and comprehensive mandatory regardless of a driver’s having purchased it on his own. Finally, the commission also wants to require $5,000 in coverage for medical payments related to injuries resulting from an accident. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is \u003ca href=\"//www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/06/12/uber-lyft-setback-insurance-chief-backs-proposal.html?page=3%E2%80%9D\">supporting the proposed CPUC changes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNC Arguments Against\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the CPUC first floated the expansion of the mandatory $1 million coverage to include Period 1, Uber argued it could spur drivers to “(keep) the app open at all times, regardless of the drivers’ intent to accept a request for transportation service … solely to obtain the benefit from the increased insurance.” Uber also speculated that drivers not engaged in TNC work might turn on the app “immediately following an accident in order to try to secure the potentially significant financial benefit of the higher limits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft had similar objections: “(A) TNC driver could forget to close the app and be considered to be ‘providing TNC services’ in the middle of the night when the car is parked on the street and the driver is sleeping, or when the vehicle is being driven by another household member, or when it is being used to transport a driver’s child to soccer practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kara Cross of the Personal Insurance Federation of California says TNCs can guard against drivers gaming the system this way by monitoring their acceptance rates, tracking who has the app on while not accepting rides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stuart Nelson, the president of Point West Insurance, a property and casualty insurance broker in Sacramento, says the CPUC’s mandatory collision coverage could invite fraud. “You could damage a car personally and then say it was damaged during a drive,” he says. “I could have this pre-existing damage and then claim it happened as an Uber driver, and Uber has to cover it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNCs Would Pay More\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson, Kara Cross, and Jerry Sullivan, who runs an insurance brokerage business, all say TNCs will pay more for insurance if the CPUC changes go through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People who write livery are prepared to write the kind of exposure these guys will have,” Sullivan said. “But it’s going to cost them 30 to 35 percent more than they are now.” He said that increase only takes into account the greater expense of extending the period of time drivers are covered — the TNCs might incur additional increases for the additional collision and comprehensive insurance. Nelson thinks requiring TNCs to offer one-size-fits-all collision coverage to every driver could be a significant extra cost, because “there’s no way to properly insure the risk. We won’t know if we’re insuring a 1974 Volkswagen Bug or a Ferrari.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The taxi industry, for its part, is still not happy with the CPUC, because the proposed changes would not go into effect immediately, but after the current TNC policies expire or one year from the effective date of the decision, whichever comes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jerry Sullivan said he was in discussion with Lyft about 18 months ago to broker insurance coverage, but that the company balked when he quoted them a price for primary coverage from Lloyds of London. “They didn’t want to pay the price,” he says. “That’s not how they designed their business model.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138706\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnhoke/8622678518\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-138706\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/Mission-street.jpg\" alt=\"The Mission District is ground zero for tough parking and an incubator for many start-up solutions (Shawn Hoke/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission District is ground zero for tough parking and an incubator for many startup solutions. (Shawn Hoke/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There’s a storm brewing in San Francisco over one of the city’s hottest commodities — street parking. Several startup tech companies are trying to solve the headache of endless circling in search of a spot. Billing the ideas as part of the “sharing economy,” companies like \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sweetch-sf/id849841885?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sweetch\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparking.strikingly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MonkeyParking \u003c/a>propose using smartphone apps (what else?) to alert other users that a spot will be opening up and charge them for the privilege of being in the right place at the right time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the idea has people riled up about technocrats making money off public space. Sweetch in particular is aimed at the busy Mission District and encourages users to donate the $5 they get for their parking spot to a charity of their choice. If a user chooses to keep the money, he or she pays a 20 percent transaction fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://missionlocal.org/2014/06/putting-a-tech-price-on-street-parking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mission Local\u003c/a> has been following the apps-will-solve-all-your-parking-problems trend, as well as an online conversation between neighbors and the co-founders of Sweetch, Thomas Cottin and Aboud Jardaneh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Cottin and Jardaneh say they will easily be able to see when drivers are abusing the system and can block them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they tried to explain this on \u003ca href=\"https://nextdoor.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nextdoor\u003c/a>, what ensued was a lively discussion that in large part urged them to reconsider their app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know people will find a way to capitalize on this, to abuse this,” wrote one participant. While she understood the madness of finding parking and would sometimes even be willing to pay, she added, the system was fraught with problems. “I think you need to re-evaluate what kind of resource your app was trying to provide, whether it is actually resourceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another, stating flatly that Sweetch was a “terrible idea,” wondered what would happen if she was driving around and tried to pull into a spot already promised to a Sweetch driver. “Do I need to fight for my right to park?” she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another pointed out that $5 a day is pocket change for “some of us, but it is grocery money for a large number of families in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The Sweetch co-founders say the pushback they are seeing stems from a generational divide, and that soon this kind of service will be common and accepted. In their eyes, information is a commodity people will pay for. And in this case, knowing where that perfect street spot is going to open up saves drivers time and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What do you think of ideas like this? A miracle solution to parking problems or a misuse of public space?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138706\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnhoke/8622678518\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-138706\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/Mission-street.jpg\" alt=\"The Mission District is ground zero for tough parking and an incubator for many start-up solutions (Shawn Hoke/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission District is ground zero for tough parking and an incubator for many startup solutions. (Shawn Hoke/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There’s a storm brewing in San Francisco over one of the city’s hottest commodities — street parking. Several startup tech companies are trying to solve the headache of endless circling in search of a spot. Billing the ideas as part of the “sharing economy,” companies like \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sweetch-sf/id849841885?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sweetch\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparking.strikingly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MonkeyParking \u003c/a>propose using smartphone apps (what else?) to alert other users that a spot will be opening up and charge them for the privilege of being in the right place at the right time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the idea has people riled up about technocrats making money off public space. Sweetch in particular is aimed at the busy Mission District and encourages users to donate the $5 they get for their parking spot to a charity of their choice. If a user chooses to keep the money, he or she pays a 20 percent transaction fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://missionlocal.org/2014/06/putting-a-tech-price-on-street-parking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mission Local\u003c/a> has been following the apps-will-solve-all-your-parking-problems trend, as well as an online conversation between neighbors and the co-founders of Sweetch, Thomas Cottin and Aboud Jardaneh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Cottin and Jardaneh say they will easily be able to see when drivers are abusing the system and can block them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they tried to explain this on \u003ca href=\"https://nextdoor.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nextdoor\u003c/a>, what ensued was a lively discussion that in large part urged them to reconsider their app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know people will find a way to capitalize on this, to abuse this,” wrote one participant. While she understood the madness of finding parking and would sometimes even be willing to pay, she added, the system was fraught with problems. “I think you need to re-evaluate what kind of resource your app was trying to provide, whether it is actually resourceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another, stating flatly that Sweetch was a “terrible idea,” wondered what would happen if she was driving around and tried to pull into a spot already promised to a Sweetch driver. “Do I need to fight for my right to park?” she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another pointed out that $5 a day is pocket change for “some of us, but it is grocery money for a large number of families in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The Sweetch co-founders say the pushback they are seeing stems from a generational divide, and that soon this kind of service will be common and accepted. In their eyes, information is a commodity people will pay for. And in this case, knowing where that perfect street spot is going to open up saves drivers time and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What do you think of ideas like this? A miracle solution to parking problems or a misuse of public space?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Google: 'Not Where We Want to Be' on Diversity",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133673\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-133673\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr-640x403.jpg\" alt=\"Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"320\" height=\"202\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 12:30 p.m.: \u003c/strong>Google is winning plaudits for disclosing data on the diversity, or lack of diversity, in its U.S. workforce. As Martha Mendoza of the Associated Press reports (see the story below), no less a diversity campaigner than the Rev. Jesse Jackson praised the online search and advertising juggernaut for taking “the bold step” of making public the racial and gender breakdown of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=overall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The report, released Wednesday,\u003c/a> shows that Google’s overall workforce in the United States is 70 percent male and 30 percent female. The racial/ethnic breakdown: 61 percent white, 30 percent Asian, 4 percent two or more races, 3 percent Hispanic, 2 percent black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you look just a little further into the numbers, though, the gender divide in what the company defines as its \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tech workforce\u003c/a> is even more pronounced: 83 percent men and 17 percent women. The tech worker group is 60 percent white, 34 percent Asian, 2 percent Hispanic, 1 percent black, and 3 percent two or more races. Among \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=non-tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“nontech” employees\u003c/a>, the gender number is a nearly even split, 52 percent men and 48 percent women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statistics are derived from \u003ca href=\"http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/diversity/2013-EEO-1-consolidated-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google’s latest EEO-1 report\u003c/a> to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mother Jones — “\u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/google-diversity-labor-gender-race-gap-workers-silicon-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Silicon Valley Firms Are Even Whiter and More Male Than You Thought\u003c/a>” — has some cold data to dash on the warm welcome Google has gotten for making its numbers public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MJ’s Josh Harkinson filed a Freedom of Information Act request for diversity data from 10 leading Silicon Valley firms: Apple, Google, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Intel, Gilead Sciences, eBay, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and VMware. The numbers suggest that’s what’s true at Google is true throughout the Valley. They show whites make up 63 percent of the overall workforce at the 10 companies, Asians 25 percent, Hispanics 6 percent and blacks 4 percent. Males predominate, making up 70 percent of company personnel. Whites hold 83 percent of executive positions, the same percentage of males in top jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harkinson also includes a critique of the claim that the composition of the Silicon Valley workforce is just an example of merit at work:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Prominent techies like to say that the Valley is a pure meritocracy, but the glaring disparities make that a dubious claim. “In polite company, I would say it’s a fallacy,” says Laura Weidman Powers, the executive director of Code2040, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that promotes racial diversity in tech hiring. “In impolite company, I would say it’s bullshit.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/mendozamartha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martha Mendoza\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SAN JOSE — In a groundbreaking disclosure, \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google has revealed\u003c/a> how very white and male its workforce is — just 2 percent of its Google employees are black, 3 percent are Hispanic, and 30 percent are women. About a third of the company’s workforce is Asian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The search giant said the transparency about its workforce is an important step toward change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Simply put, Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity,” Google Inc. senior vice president Laszlo Bock wrote in a blog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The numbers were \u003ca href=\"http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/diversity/2013-EEO-1-consolidated-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">compiled as part of a report\u003c/a> that major U.S. employers must file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Companies are not required to make the information public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gender divide is based on the roughly 44,000 people Google employed throughout the world at the start of this year. The company didn’t factor about 4,000 workers at its Motorola Mobility division, which is being sold to China’s Lenovo Group for $2.9 billion. The racial data is limited to Google’s roughly 26,600 workers in the U.S as of August 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg recently said the social networking company is headed toward disclosure as well, but it was important to share the data internally first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple, Twitter and Microsoft did not respond immediately to queries about possible plans to disclose data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hewlett-Packard spokesman Michael Thacker said the firm, with 331,800 worldwide employees, has been publishing this data going back to 2001 as part of a Global Citizenship Report. In its most recent report, the company reported almost 7 percent of its U.S. workforce was black, 6 percent Hispanic and 33 percent were women.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be. … Being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution.’\u003ccite>— Laszlo Bock,\u003cbr>\nGoogle senior vice president\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Bock said Google has been working to diversify, not just its offices but in the broader tech sector. Since 2010, the firm has given more than $40 million to organizations working to bring computer science education to women and girls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also is working with historically black colleges and universities to elevate course work and attendance in computer science, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’re the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be, and that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gender and ethnic disparities are reflected throughout the tech industry. About 7 percent of tech workers are black or Latino in Silicon Valley and nationally. Blacks and Hispanics make up 13.1 and 16.9 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, according to the most recent Census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, Google said, it will work with the \u003ca href=\"http://kaporcenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kapor Center for Social Impact\u003c/a>, a group that uses information technology to close gender and ethnic gaps in the Silicon Valley workforce. The center will be organizing a Google-backed conference in California focusing on issues of technology and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Co-founder Freada Kapor Klein, who started the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lpfi.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Level Playing Field Institute\u003c/a> 13 years ago to teach and mentor black and Latino students in science and math, said Google is showing leadership “which has been sorely needed for a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Google is the company known for the moonshot, and applying that part of Google DNA to this problem is a breath of fresh air,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the Rev. Jesse Jackson launched a campaign to diversify Silicon Valley, asking to meet with leaders of several iconic technology companies about bringing black and Hispanics into their workforce and leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, he’s been leading delegations to annual shareholders’ meetings at firms including Google, Facebook, eBay Inc. and Hewlett-Packard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday Jackson said Google is to be commended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a bold step in the right direction. We urge other companies to follow Google’s lead,” he said. “Silicon Valley and the tech industry have demonstrated an ability to solve the most challenging and complex problems in the world. Inclusion is a complex problem — if we put our collective minds together, we can solve that too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iris Gardner, a manager at nonprofit \u003ca href=\"http://code2040.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Code2040\u003c/a>, which places high-performing black and Latino software engineering students in internships with top tech companies, said Google’s disclosure could mark a pivotal moment in the push to diversify Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a big deal for them to be transparent about something that most companies haven’t in the past been willing to share,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133673\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-133673\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr-640x403.jpg\" alt=\"Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"320\" height=\"202\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 12:30 p.m.: \u003c/strong>Google is winning plaudits for disclosing data on the diversity, or lack of diversity, in its U.S. workforce. As Martha Mendoza of the Associated Press reports (see the story below), no less a diversity campaigner than the Rev. Jesse Jackson praised the online search and advertising juggernaut for taking “the bold step” of making public the racial and gender breakdown of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=overall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The report, released Wednesday,\u003c/a> shows that Google’s overall workforce in the United States is 70 percent male and 30 percent female. The racial/ethnic breakdown: 61 percent white, 30 percent Asian, 4 percent two or more races, 3 percent Hispanic, 2 percent black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you look just a little further into the numbers, though, the gender divide in what the company defines as its \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tech workforce\u003c/a> is even more pronounced: 83 percent men and 17 percent women. The tech worker group is 60 percent white, 34 percent Asian, 2 percent Hispanic, 1 percent black, and 3 percent two or more races. Among \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html#tab=non-tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“nontech” employees\u003c/a>, the gender number is a nearly even split, 52 percent men and 48 percent women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statistics are derived from \u003ca href=\"http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/diversity/2013-EEO-1-consolidated-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google’s latest EEO-1 report\u003c/a> to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mother Jones — “\u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/google-diversity-labor-gender-race-gap-workers-silicon-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Silicon Valley Firms Are Even Whiter and More Male Than You Thought\u003c/a>” — has some cold data to dash on the warm welcome Google has gotten for making its numbers public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MJ’s Josh Harkinson filed a Freedom of Information Act request for diversity data from 10 leading Silicon Valley firms: Apple, Google, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Intel, Gilead Sciences, eBay, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and VMware. The numbers suggest that’s what’s true at Google is true throughout the Valley. They show whites make up 63 percent of the overall workforce at the 10 companies, Asians 25 percent, Hispanics 6 percent and blacks 4 percent. Males predominate, making up 70 percent of company personnel. Whites hold 83 percent of executive positions, the same percentage of males in top jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harkinson also includes a critique of the claim that the composition of the Silicon Valley workforce is just an example of merit at work:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Prominent techies like to say that the Valley is a pure meritocracy, but the glaring disparities make that a dubious claim. “In polite company, I would say it’s a fallacy,” says Laura Weidman Powers, the executive director of Code2040, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that promotes racial diversity in tech hiring. “In impolite company, I would say it’s bullshit.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/mendozamartha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martha Mendoza\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SAN JOSE — In a groundbreaking disclosure, \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/diversity/at-google.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google has revealed\u003c/a> how very white and male its workforce is — just 2 percent of its Google employees are black, 3 percent are Hispanic, and 30 percent are women. About a third of the company’s workforce is Asian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The search giant said the transparency about its workforce is an important step toward change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Simply put, Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity,” Google Inc. senior vice president Laszlo Bock wrote in a blog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The numbers were \u003ca href=\"http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/diversity/2013-EEO-1-consolidated-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">compiled as part of a report\u003c/a> that major U.S. employers must file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Companies are not required to make the information public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gender divide is based on the roughly 44,000 people Google employed throughout the world at the start of this year. The company didn’t factor about 4,000 workers at its Motorola Mobility division, which is being sold to China’s Lenovo Group for $2.9 billion. The racial data is limited to Google’s roughly 26,600 workers in the U.S as of August 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg recently said the social networking company is headed toward disclosure as well, but it was important to share the data internally first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple, Twitter and Microsoft did not respond immediately to queries about possible plans to disclose data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hewlett-Packard spokesman Michael Thacker said the firm, with 331,800 worldwide employees, has been publishing this data going back to 2001 as part of a Global Citizenship Report. In its most recent report, the company reported almost 7 percent of its U.S. workforce was black, 6 percent Hispanic and 33 percent were women.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be. … Being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution.’\u003ccite>— Laszlo Bock,\u003cbr>\nGoogle senior vice president\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Bock said Google has been working to diversify, not just its offices but in the broader tech sector. Since 2010, the firm has given more than $40 million to organizations working to bring computer science education to women and girls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also is working with historically black colleges and universities to elevate course work and attendance in computer science, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’re the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be, and that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gender and ethnic disparities are reflected throughout the tech industry. About 7 percent of tech workers are black or Latino in Silicon Valley and nationally. Blacks and Hispanics make up 13.1 and 16.9 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, according to the most recent Census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, Google said, it will work with the \u003ca href=\"http://kaporcenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kapor Center for Social Impact\u003c/a>, a group that uses information technology to close gender and ethnic gaps in the Silicon Valley workforce. The center will be organizing a Google-backed conference in California focusing on issues of technology and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Co-founder Freada Kapor Klein, who started the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lpfi.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Level Playing Field Institute\u003c/a> 13 years ago to teach and mentor black and Latino students in science and math, said Google is showing leadership “which has been sorely needed for a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Google is the company known for the moonshot, and applying that part of Google DNA to this problem is a breath of fresh air,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the Rev. Jesse Jackson launched a campaign to diversify Silicon Valley, asking to meet with leaders of several iconic technology companies about bringing black and Hispanics into their workforce and leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, he’s been leading delegations to annual shareholders’ meetings at firms including Google, Facebook, eBay Inc. and Hewlett-Packard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday Jackson said Google is to be commended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a bold step in the right direction. We urge other companies to follow Google’s lead,” he said. “Silicon Valley and the tech industry have demonstrated an ability to solve the most challenging and complex problems in the world. Inclusion is a complex problem — if we put our collective minds together, we can solve that too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iris Gardner, a manager at nonprofit \u003ca href=\"http://code2040.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Code2040\u003c/a>, which places high-performing black and Latino software engineering students in internships with top tech companies, said Google’s disclosure could mark a pivotal moment in the push to diversify Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a big deal for them to be transparent about something that most companies haven’t in the past been willing to share,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Good News About Working in the Bay Area: For Many, Wages Are Very High",
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"headTitle": "The Good News About Working in the Bay Area: For Many, Wages Are Very High | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137366\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-137366\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED) \u003ccite>(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before anything else, let’s glory in our superiority. On average, people in the Bay Area are making a lot of money (too bad so much goes to keeping a roof over our heads).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest numbers on employment and wages throughout the United States\u003c/a>, says average wages throughout the region are generally much higher than the national average of $22.33 an hour. The South Bay average is $34.45 an hour, which is 54 percent above the national average; in the San Francisco area, it’s $32.41, which is 45 percent higher than the U.S. mean; and in the East Bay, it’s $28.70, or 28.5 percent higher than the all-American average. Those newly released stats are all from May 2013, by the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the “we sure make a lot of money hereabouts” headline, the bureau’s numbers render a sharp statistical snapshot of the technology workforce and its economic impact in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, note that while tech workers are well paid, they’re not the highest-paid folks in the region. According to the bureau’s report, that distinction belongs in the Bay Area and nationwide to medical professionals: Psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, orthodontists and oral-maxillofacial surgeons are at or near the top of the money list in every California metro area, with average yearly wages topping $200,000. Chief executive officers and lawyers also are among the top-paid professions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second, while there are a lot of tech workers here — \u003ca href=\"http://www.economicmodeling.com/2011/10/14/understanding-location-quotient-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by one measure\u003c/a>, the South Bay has the highest concentration of technology workers in the country — other metro areas (Washington, D.C., Seattle and New York) have a significantly higher number of people working in what the BLS calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes150000.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Computer and Mathematical Occupations\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third, the BLS stats are a reminder that in many parts of the Bay Area, a great majority of people are working outside the technology industry. In the area the bureau calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41940.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara\u003c/a> (actually comprised of Santa Clara and San Benito counties), those in “Office and Administrative Support Positions,” a category ranging from bill collectors to gaming-cage workers, outnumber tech workers roughly 122,000 to 97,000. In the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City area (corresponding to Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties), the tech worker population is outnumbered by those working in office support, sales, food services, financial services and management occupations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why does tech employment have such an outsize impact here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau’s statistics suggest it’s a combination of that high concentration of tech workers here combined with the wages the industry pays. In Silicon Valley, tech workers make up about four times the share of the workforce than they do nationwide — about 10.5 percent versus 2.8 percent across the entire U.S. labor pool. In the San Francisco region, 6.8 percent of workers are in tech occupations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the pay? Perhaps reflecting and partially feeding the unhappy reality of Bay Area property prices, tech wages here are the highest in the country. In Silicon Valley, the BLS says the mean annual tech wage is $115,870, the equivalent of $55.71 an hour. In San Francisco, the figures are $103,780 and $49.89. Those salaries are ahead of every other tech hub in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A glance at the other end of the wage spectrum also provides some concrete evidence of the have/have-not divide that’s led to our regional uneasiness over high real estate prices, Google buses and wealth inequality in general. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are about 50,000 software developers in Silicon Valley with an average annual wage of $130,000 or so. There are also about 55,000 dishwashers, manicurists, fast-food workers, wait staff, parking lot attendants and many others making somewhere between $19,000 and $23,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137366\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-137366\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED) \u003ccite>(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before anything else, let’s glory in our superiority. On average, people in the Bay Area are making a lot of money (too bad so much goes to keeping a roof over our heads).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest numbers on employment and wages throughout the United States\u003c/a>, says average wages throughout the region are generally much higher than the national average of $22.33 an hour. The South Bay average is $34.45 an hour, which is 54 percent above the national average; in the San Francisco area, it’s $32.41, which is 45 percent higher than the U.S. mean; and in the East Bay, it’s $28.70, or 28.5 percent higher than the all-American average. Those newly released stats are all from May 2013, by the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the “we sure make a lot of money hereabouts” headline, the bureau’s numbers render a sharp statistical snapshot of the technology workforce and its economic impact in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, note that while tech workers are well paid, they’re not the highest-paid folks in the region. According to the bureau’s report, that distinction belongs in the Bay Area and nationwide to medical professionals: Psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, orthodontists and oral-maxillofacial surgeons are at or near the top of the money list in every California metro area, with average yearly wages topping $200,000. Chief executive officers and lawyers also are among the top-paid professions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second, while there are a lot of tech workers here — \u003ca href=\"http://www.economicmodeling.com/2011/10/14/understanding-location-quotient-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by one measure\u003c/a>, the South Bay has the highest concentration of technology workers in the country — other metro areas (Washington, D.C., Seattle and New York) have a significantly higher number of people working in what the BLS calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes150000.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Computer and Mathematical Occupations\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third, the BLS stats are a reminder that in many parts of the Bay Area, a great majority of people are working outside the technology industry. In the area the bureau calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41940.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara\u003c/a> (actually comprised of Santa Clara and San Benito counties), those in “Office and Administrative Support Positions,” a category ranging from bill collectors to gaming-cage workers, outnumber tech workers roughly 122,000 to 97,000. In the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City area (corresponding to Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties), the tech worker population is outnumbered by those working in office support, sales, food services, financial services and management occupations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why does tech employment have such an outsize impact here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau’s statistics suggest it’s a combination of that high concentration of tech workers here combined with the wages the industry pays. In Silicon Valley, tech workers make up about four times the share of the workforce than they do nationwide — about 10.5 percent versus 2.8 percent across the entire U.S. labor pool. In the San Francisco region, 6.8 percent of workers are in tech occupations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the pay? Perhaps reflecting and partially feeding the unhappy reality of Bay Area property prices, tech wages here are the highest in the country. In Silicon Valley, the BLS says the mean annual tech wage is $115,870, the equivalent of $55.71 an hour. In San Francisco, the figures are $103,780 and $49.89. Those salaries are ahead of every other tech hub in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A glance at the other end of the wage spectrum also provides some concrete evidence of the have/have-not divide that’s led to our regional uneasiness over high real estate prices, Google buses and wealth inequality in general. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are about 50,000 software developers in Silicon Valley with an average annual wage of $130,000 or so. There are also about 55,000 dishwashers, manicurists, fast-food workers, wait staff, parking lot attendants and many others making somewhere between $19,000 and $23,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders",
"headTitle": "Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A team of neuroscientists at the University of California at San Francisco will receive $26 million dollars over the next five years from the Department of Defense to develop new “electroceuticals,” electricity-based treatments for depression, anxiety disorders, addiction and other mental disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work, which will also focus on veterans with PTSD, is part of President Obama’s Brain Initiative. At UCSF, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Eddie Chang will lead a team studying volunteers who already have probes in their brains as part of treatment for epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(See our coverage on the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/epilepsy-reveals-the-brain-in-action/\">role epilepsy patients play in brain science\u003c/a>)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chang and others will use these probes to look for the parts of the brain involved in depression and PTSD. Once the scientists have those clues, they’ll work with scientists at UC Berkeley and elsewhere to design tiny electronic implants that can stimulate the cells in faulty brain circuits and, they hope, fix those networks and alleviate symptoms. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv data-ajax=\"{'url':'http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders','embed':'<a class=\\"embedly-card\\" href=\\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders\\">Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders</a>'}\">\u003ca class=\"embedly-card\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders\">Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders\u003c/a>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A team of neuroscientists at the University of California at San Francisco will receive $26 million dollars over the next five years from the Department of Defense to develop new “electroceuticals,” electricity-based treatments for depression, anxiety disorders, addiction and other mental disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work, which will also focus on veterans with PTSD, is part of President Obama’s Brain Initiative. At UCSF, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Eddie Chang will lead a team studying volunteers who already have probes in their brains as part of treatment for epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(See our coverage on the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/epilepsy-reveals-the-brain-in-action/\">role epilepsy patients play in brain science\u003c/a>)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chang and others will use these probes to look for the parts of the brain involved in depression and PTSD. Once the scientists have those clues, they’ll work with scientists at UC Berkeley and elsewhere to design tiny electronic implants that can stimulate the cells in faulty brain circuits and, they hope, fix those networks and alleviate symptoms. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv data-ajax=\"{'url':'http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders','embed':'<a class=\\"embedly-card\\" href=\\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders\\">Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders</a>'}\">\u003ca class=\"embedly-card\" href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/27/316129491/military-plans-to-test-brain-implants-to-fight-mental-disorders\">Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders\u003c/a>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Patent Reform Plunged Into Deep Freeze ",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014/05/RS3437_dccapitol0223-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-19227\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014/05/RS3437_dccapitol0223-scr-640x410.jpg\" alt=\"(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"410\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000\">\u003cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\">Patent reform is a big deal in California, and not just to Silicon Valley tech companies. Any company that makes money off a patented idea or technology is keenly interested in what happens at the federal level – or doesn’t. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"This news is devastating to the welfare of startups who will continue to face the threat of patent trolls.\" \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has taken the patent reform bill off the agenda, lamenting in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/comment-of-senator-patrick-leahy-d-vt_chairman-senate-judiciary-committee-on-patent-legislation\" target=\"_blank\">statement \u003c/a>the various industries that rely on patents could not come to terms “on how to combat the scourge of patent trolls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I have said all along that we needed broad bipartisan support to get a bill through the Senate. Regrettably, competing companies on both sides of this issue refused to come to agreement on how to achieve that goal.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill was intended to stymie trolls -- companies that exist solely to buy up patents, threaten infringement lawsuits, and then offer to settle for a tidy sum. A recent report issued by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocs%2Fpatent_report.pdf&ei=ZUd-U-udJ4umyATF24GoAg&usg=AFQjCNGjo7m0fnd7ncG3tbeP76LATX8bwQ&sig2=rs5ii3fjv55Q5bK9kpqZDg&bvm=bv.67720277,d.aWw\" target=\"_blank\">White House\u003c/a> quoted one estimate that trolls extracted $29 billion dollars from their hapless targets in 2011, a 400 percent increase from 2005. Trouble is, your attitude about what parts of the system need reforming -- and how -- differs depending on whether you work in software, biotech, a research university, or even a law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So who scuttled the bill on its way to markup? The Washington Post \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/21/whos-behind-the-last-minute-push-to-thwart-patent-reform/?utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\">reports \u003c/a>it was a coalition of trial lawyers, universities, pharmaceutical firms and biotech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We believe the measures in the legislation … go far beyond what is necessary or desirable to combat abusive patent litigation, and would do serious damage to the patent system,\" reads \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/files/2014/05/BIO-letter-copy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">one letter\u003c/a> sent to Leahy on May 20. \"Many of the provisions would have the effect of treating every patent holder as a patent troll.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They couldn’t reach consensus on elements of the House Bill and finally just gave up,\" Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) told KQED. Lofgren co-sponsored the House patent reform bill that \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnet.com/news/house-passes-bill-aimed-at-curbing-patent-troll-lawsuits/\" target=\"_blank\">passed in December\u003c/a> with bi-partisan support, a rare feat these days in Washington DC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lofgren says the need for patent reform is urgent, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs. \"Nobody likes to be sued, but at least the big companies have the revenue to be able to fight this stuff. The little guys can just be crushed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Silicon Valley lobbying outfit Engine was quick to voice its disappointment. In a press release, Engine \u003ca href=\"http://engine.is/issues/patent-reform-off-the-table-for-now-whats-next/3885\" target=\"_blank\">said\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>This news is devastating to the welfare of startups who will continue to face the threat of patent trolls. That no agreement could be reached, especially in light of the efforts being made across the committee to find common ground, is also bad news for the economy where \u003ca href=\"http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/24/waiting-for-patent-reform-is-costing-us-billions-here-are-the-numbers/\" target=\"_blank\">annual losses from patent troll litigation are billions of dollars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In recent years, it’s become increasingly difficult to get legislation through Congress. Individually and through groups, tech titans have \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/31/silicon-valley-big-bucks-lobbying-force-in-washington-dc/?__utma=34673459.1355619827.1376932905.1400771684.1400783799.180&__utmb=34673459.5.10.1400783800&__utmc=34673459&__utmx=-&__utmz=34673459.1400783800.180.102.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=%28not%20provided%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=148613557\" target=\"_blank\">spent a lot of money\u003c/a> trying to get comprehensive immigration reform passed -– to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While retail, software and IT firms have born the brunt of troll attacks so far, biopharmaceutical firms are fat targets, too, and \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/201945-next-patent-troll-victims-pharma-and-bio\" target=\"_blank\">word is\u003c/a> that industry will face increasing pressure to seek protection from changes in the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after weeks of frustrating negotiations, it looks like patent reform may have to wait for the next legislative session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or maybe not. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Palto Alto) had a different read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Senator Leahy has pushed the pause button,\" she told KQED, noting there has been no vote killing the bill. \"I always welcome in negotiations a time out. Their responsibility is to reach consensus, for the sake of the country.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Lofgren, Eshoo wants to see legislative action now, not next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It really is a racket,\" Eshoo says of the patent troll industry. \"It's a hold up, and it places an economic gun at the head of companies. There's too much of a cost to our national economy. We can't afford this.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=\"N65cwOqaTvWZV0oMuRMrKL7NhN4JZaB9\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014/05/RS3437_dccapitol0223-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-19227\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014/05/RS3437_dccapitol0223-scr-640x410.jpg\" alt=\"(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"410\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000\">\u003cspan class=\"Apple-style-span\">Patent reform is a big deal in California, and not just to Silicon Valley tech companies. Any company that makes money off a patented idea or technology is keenly interested in what happens at the federal level – or doesn’t. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"This news is devastating to the welfare of startups who will continue to face the threat of patent trolls.\" \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has taken the patent reform bill off the agenda, lamenting in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/comment-of-senator-patrick-leahy-d-vt_chairman-senate-judiciary-committee-on-patent-legislation\" target=\"_blank\">statement \u003c/a>the various industries that rely on patents could not come to terms “on how to combat the scourge of patent trolls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I have said all along that we needed broad bipartisan support to get a bill through the Senate. Regrettably, competing companies on both sides of this issue refused to come to agreement on how to achieve that goal.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill was intended to stymie trolls -- companies that exist solely to buy up patents, threaten infringement lawsuits, and then offer to settle for a tidy sum. A recent report issued by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocs%2Fpatent_report.pdf&ei=ZUd-U-udJ4umyATF24GoAg&usg=AFQjCNGjo7m0fnd7ncG3tbeP76LATX8bwQ&sig2=rs5ii3fjv55Q5bK9kpqZDg&bvm=bv.67720277,d.aWw\" target=\"_blank\">White House\u003c/a> quoted one estimate that trolls extracted $29 billion dollars from their hapless targets in 2011, a 400 percent increase from 2005. Trouble is, your attitude about what parts of the system need reforming -- and how -- differs depending on whether you work in software, biotech, a research university, or even a law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So who scuttled the bill on its way to markup? The Washington Post \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/21/whos-behind-the-last-minute-push-to-thwart-patent-reform/?utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\">reports \u003c/a>it was a coalition of trial lawyers, universities, pharmaceutical firms and biotech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We believe the measures in the legislation … go far beyond what is necessary or desirable to combat abusive patent litigation, and would do serious damage to the patent system,\" reads \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/files/2014/05/BIO-letter-copy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">one letter\u003c/a> sent to Leahy on May 20. \"Many of the provisions would have the effect of treating every patent holder as a patent troll.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They couldn’t reach consensus on elements of the House Bill and finally just gave up,\" Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) told KQED. Lofgren co-sponsored the House patent reform bill that \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnet.com/news/house-passes-bill-aimed-at-curbing-patent-troll-lawsuits/\" target=\"_blank\">passed in December\u003c/a> with bi-partisan support, a rare feat these days in Washington DC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lofgren says the need for patent reform is urgent, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs. \"Nobody likes to be sued, but at least the big companies have the revenue to be able to fight this stuff. The little guys can just be crushed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Silicon Valley lobbying outfit Engine was quick to voice its disappointment. In a press release, Engine \u003ca href=\"http://engine.is/issues/patent-reform-off-the-table-for-now-whats-next/3885\" target=\"_blank\">said\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>This news is devastating to the welfare of startups who will continue to face the threat of patent trolls. That no agreement could be reached, especially in light of the efforts being made across the committee to find common ground, is also bad news for the economy where \u003ca href=\"http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/24/waiting-for-patent-reform-is-costing-us-billions-here-are-the-numbers/\" target=\"_blank\">annual losses from patent troll litigation are billions of dollars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In recent years, it’s become increasingly difficult to get legislation through Congress. Individually and through groups, tech titans have \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/31/silicon-valley-big-bucks-lobbying-force-in-washington-dc/?__utma=34673459.1355619827.1376932905.1400771684.1400783799.180&__utmb=34673459.5.10.1400783800&__utmc=34673459&__utmx=-&__utmz=34673459.1400783800.180.102.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=%28not%20provided%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=148613557\" target=\"_blank\">spent a lot of money\u003c/a> trying to get comprehensive immigration reform passed -– to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While retail, software and IT firms have born the brunt of troll attacks so far, biopharmaceutical firms are fat targets, too, and \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/201945-next-patent-troll-victims-pharma-and-bio\" target=\"_blank\">word is\u003c/a> that industry will face increasing pressure to seek protection from changes in the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after weeks of frustrating negotiations, it looks like patent reform may have to wait for the next legislative session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or maybe not. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Palto Alto) had a different read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Senator Leahy has pushed the pause button,\" she told KQED, noting there has been no vote killing the bill. \"I always welcome in negotiations a time out. Their responsibility is to reach consensus, for the sake of the country.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Lofgren, Eshoo wants to see legislative action now, not next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It really is a racket,\" Eshoo says of the patent troll industry. \"It's a hold up, and it places an economic gun at the head of companies. There's too much of a cost to our national economy. We can't afford this.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=\"N65cwOqaTvWZV0oMuRMrKL7NhN4JZaB9\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "good-reads-disrupting-your-laundry-one-healthy-snack-at-a-time",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_136790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/washingmachine.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-136790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/washingmachine-640x406.jpg\" alt=\"(Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"640\" height=\"406\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A New York Magazine commenter puts it best: “Sometimes I read stuff like this and have a hard time figuring out if it’s a parody or the real thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The brightest minds of a generation … have taken the knowledge acquired at our most august institutions and applied themselves to solving increasingly minor First World problems.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Stuff like this” is Jessica Plessner’s story “\u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/features/laundry-apps-2014-5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Let’s, Like, Demolish Laundry\u003c/a>,” on the VC-fueled battle among startups all over the country to invent, or reinvent, the perfect laundry experience. Plessner focuses on Santa Monica-based Washio, a service that employs laundry “ninjas,” dispatched Uber-style via smartphone app, to pick up customers’ laundry and then deliver it again, impeccably washed, folded and packaged. But, of course, doing a super-cool job on your laundry isn’t enough. Plessner relates:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>… The founders wanted to make sure their business stood out from the competition—that Washio established itself as the washing and dry-cleaning service by and for the convenience-loving, whimsy-embracing millennials of the New Tech Boom. “So we came up with the cookies,” says Metzner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by Silicon Valley guru Paul Graham’s seminal essay to “do things that don’t scale,” they sourced cookies from bakeries in their three markets—snickerdoodles in San Francisco, frosted red velvet in L.A., classic chocolate chip in Washington, D.C.—which the ninja delivered, wrapped, along with the freshly laundered clothing. The gesture added another logistical wrinkle to an already complicated business, but it was worth it. “In the beginning, people loved it,” says Metzner. “Our social media went crazy, like, ‘Oh my God, Washio is the best!’ ” …\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Soon, though, Washio started to hear from customers who thought it would be nice to get healthy snacks rather than wonderful cookies. As Plessner says, in San Francisco, “innovations are dying from the day they are born.” We get tired of the new and expect — feel entitled to — something better. Plessner deploys the term \u003ca href=\"http://faculty.som.yale.edu/ShaneFrederick/HedonicTreadmill.pdf?subject=Please+mail+a+hard+copy+of\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“hedonic treadmill”\u003c/a> to describe that rapid cycle of pleasure and excitement devolving into complacency and dissatisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing back from the busy app-driven laundry market, here’s how Plessner sums up much of what she sees happening in the New Tech Boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>We are living in a time of Great Change, and also a time of Not-So-Great Change. The tidal wave of innovation that has swept out from Silicon Valley, transforming the way we communicate, read, shop, and travel, has carried along with it an epic shit-ton of digital flotsam. Looking around at the newly minted billionaires behind the enjoyable but wholly unnecessary Facebook and WhatsApp, Uber and Nest, the brightest minds of a generation, the high test-scorers and mathematically inclined, have taken the knowledge acquired at our most august institutions and applied themselves to solving increasingly minor First World problems. The marketplace of ideas has become one long late-night infomercial. Want a blazer embedded with GPS technology? A Bluetooth-controlled necklace? A hair dryer big enough for your entire body? \u003cem>They can be yours!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Read the entire piece here: “\u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/features/laundry-apps-2014-5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Let’s, Like, Demolish Laundry\u003c/a>“\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_136790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/washingmachine.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-136790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/washingmachine-640x406.jpg\" alt=\"(Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"640\" height=\"406\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A New York Magazine commenter puts it best: “Sometimes I read stuff like this and have a hard time figuring out if it’s a parody or the real thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The brightest minds of a generation … have taken the knowledge acquired at our most august institutions and applied themselves to solving increasingly minor First World problems.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Stuff like this” is Jessica Plessner’s story “\u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/features/laundry-apps-2014-5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Let’s, Like, Demolish Laundry\u003c/a>,” on the VC-fueled battle among startups all over the country to invent, or reinvent, the perfect laundry experience. Plessner focuses on Santa Monica-based Washio, a service that employs laundry “ninjas,” dispatched Uber-style via smartphone app, to pick up customers’ laundry and then deliver it again, impeccably washed, folded and packaged. But, of course, doing a super-cool job on your laundry isn’t enough. Plessner relates:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>… The founders wanted to make sure their business stood out from the competition—that Washio established itself as the washing and dry-cleaning service by and for the convenience-loving, whimsy-embracing millennials of the New Tech Boom. “So we came up with the cookies,” says Metzner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by Silicon Valley guru Paul Graham’s seminal essay to “do things that don’t scale,” they sourced cookies from bakeries in their three markets—snickerdoodles in San Francisco, frosted red velvet in L.A., classic chocolate chip in Washington, D.C.—which the ninja delivered, wrapped, along with the freshly laundered clothing. The gesture added another logistical wrinkle to an already complicated business, but it was worth it. “In the beginning, people loved it,” says Metzner. “Our social media went crazy, like, ‘Oh my God, Washio is the best!’ ” …\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Soon, though, Washio started to hear from customers who thought it would be nice to get healthy snacks rather than wonderful cookies. As Plessner says, in San Francisco, “innovations are dying from the day they are born.” We get tired of the new and expect — feel entitled to — something better. Plessner deploys the term \u003ca href=\"http://faculty.som.yale.edu/ShaneFrederick/HedonicTreadmill.pdf?subject=Please+mail+a+hard+copy+of\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“hedonic treadmill”\u003c/a> to describe that rapid cycle of pleasure and excitement devolving into complacency and dissatisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing back from the busy app-driven laundry market, here’s how Plessner sums up much of what she sees happening in the New Tech Boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>We are living in a time of Great Change, and also a time of Not-So-Great Change. The tidal wave of innovation that has swept out from Silicon Valley, transforming the way we communicate, read, shop, and travel, has carried along with it an epic shit-ton of digital flotsam. Looking around at the newly minted billionaires behind the enjoyable but wholly unnecessary Facebook and WhatsApp, Uber and Nest, the brightest minds of a generation, the high test-scorers and mathematically inclined, have taken the knowledge acquired at our most august institutions and applied themselves to solving increasingly minor First World problems. The marketplace of ideas has become one long late-night infomercial. Want a blazer embedded with GPS technology? A Bluetooth-controlled necklace? A hair dryer big enough for your entire body? \u003cem>They can be yours!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Read the entire piece here: “\u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/features/laundry-apps-2014-5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Let’s, Like, Demolish Laundry\u003c/a>“\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Google Aside, Most Silicon Valley Companies Not Releasing Diversity Stats",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133673\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-133673\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Google may be one of Silicon Valley’s major pacesetters, but few of the region’s tech leaders are copying the company’s decision to publish its workforce demographics. The Mountain View-based search leader \u003ca href=\"http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/15/in-about-face-googletoreleasediversitystats.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced\u003c/a> that decision at its annual shareholders meeting, in the presence of a pro-diversity delegation led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked a number of tech firms that had resisted requests for their data in the past, and very few even responded to our query.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for Netflix told us the company has no plans to release its demographics. She also noted that Netflix is a far smaller company than Google, with employees in Los Gatos and Los Angeles, though it is unclear why its smaller size would make a difference. Shouldn’t that make it easier to release the data, we asked? To that, we got no answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LinkedIn told us it does not release this information either, but it has a diverse workforce of more than 5,000 people in 27 cities worldwide. We asked why the company would not release the information, but there was no response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea behind releasing these statistics is twofold: First, the United State is changing, and its major companies should in some ways reflect the consumers in the nation they serve. Second, the argument goes, diversity is good for business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not know how good baseball could be until everybody could play,” Jackson said at Google’s shareholders meeting. “We will not know how good Google can be until all of us can be a part of that search. And if you can’t find people now, search for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google said it would do so, putting more energy into recruiting diverse board members and top executives. Currently Google only has one C-level executive of color: David Drummond, the company’s chief legal officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We did not know how good baseball could be until everybody could play. We will not know how good Google can be until all of us can be a part of that search (for talent).’\u003ccite>— The Rev. Jesse Jackson\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Many of the companies in the valley have been reluctant to divulge (their workforce data), including Google,” Drummond told Jackson. “And quite frankly, I think we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re wrong about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google’s announcement is good news to organizations like \u003ca href=\"http://www.blackgirlscode.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Girls Code\u003c/a>, a group that encourages girls of color to study science, technology, engineering and math. Founder Kimberly Bryant says unabashedly that Silicon Valley is, in her experience, heavily dominated by white men. She argues that companies that ignore diversity do so at the peril of missing out on the next great developer, engineer or executive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes sense for any company that’s growing or even a startup,” says Bryant. “The place to look is in these areas where women abound, in these areas where people of color abound.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hewlett-Packard seems to be the Silicon Valley company that has gone the farthest in touting its diverse workforce — it has released these demographics for more than a decade. HP’s workforce statistics are in its annual \u003ca href=\"http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/global-citizenship/reporting.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Global Citizenship Report\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/c03742922.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest report\u003c/a> shows HP’s U.S. workforce is about 27 percent nonwhite and almost 33 percent female. Also, CNN got workforce data from a few Silicon Valley companies for an \u003ca href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/17/technology/diversity-silicon-valley/index.html?iid=HP_Highlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">investigative report\u003c/a> last year. Cisco, Intel, eBay and Ingram Micro provided their data when most companies resisted, including Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also reached out to Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, Yelp and Zynga. None of them responded to us, but it seems some of them are responding to shareholders. Apple \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-06/apple-facing-criticism-about-diversity-changes-bylaws.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">changed\u003c/a> its corporate bylaws this year to make it be more diligent in finding diverse candidates for its board of directors.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133673\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-133673\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/RS378_Google_082411-lpr-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Google headquarters in Mountain View. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Google may be one of Silicon Valley’s major pacesetters, but few of the region’s tech leaders are copying the company’s decision to publish its workforce demographics. The Mountain View-based search leader \u003ca href=\"http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/15/in-about-face-googletoreleasediversitystats.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced\u003c/a> that decision at its annual shareholders meeting, in the presence of a pro-diversity delegation led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked a number of tech firms that had resisted requests for their data in the past, and very few even responded to our query.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for Netflix told us the company has no plans to release its demographics. She also noted that Netflix is a far smaller company than Google, with employees in Los Gatos and Los Angeles, though it is unclear why its smaller size would make a difference. Shouldn’t that make it easier to release the data, we asked? To that, we got no answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LinkedIn told us it does not release this information either, but it has a diverse workforce of more than 5,000 people in 27 cities worldwide. We asked why the company would not release the information, but there was no response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea behind releasing these statistics is twofold: First, the United State is changing, and its major companies should in some ways reflect the consumers in the nation they serve. Second, the argument goes, diversity is good for business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not know how good baseball could be until everybody could play,” Jackson said at Google’s shareholders meeting. “We will not know how good Google can be until all of us can be a part of that search. And if you can’t find people now, search for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google said it would do so, putting more energy into recruiting diverse board members and top executives. Currently Google only has one C-level executive of color: David Drummond, the company’s chief legal officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We did not know how good baseball could be until everybody could play. We will not know how good Google can be until all of us can be a part of that search (for talent).’\u003ccite>— The Rev. Jesse Jackson\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Many of the companies in the valley have been reluctant to divulge (their workforce data), including Google,” Drummond told Jackson. “And quite frankly, I think we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re wrong about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google’s announcement is good news to organizations like \u003ca href=\"http://www.blackgirlscode.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Girls Code\u003c/a>, a group that encourages girls of color to study science, technology, engineering and math. Founder Kimberly Bryant says unabashedly that Silicon Valley is, in her experience, heavily dominated by white men. She argues that companies that ignore diversity do so at the peril of missing out on the next great developer, engineer or executive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes sense for any company that’s growing or even a startup,” says Bryant. “The place to look is in these areas where women abound, in these areas where people of color abound.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hewlett-Packard seems to be the Silicon Valley company that has gone the farthest in touting its diverse workforce — it has released these demographics for more than a decade. HP’s workforce statistics are in its annual \u003ca href=\"http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/global-citizenship/reporting.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Global Citizenship Report\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/c03742922.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest report\u003c/a> shows HP’s U.S. workforce is about 27 percent nonwhite and almost 33 percent female. Also, CNN got workforce data from a few Silicon Valley companies for an \u003ca href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/17/technology/diversity-silicon-valley/index.html?iid=HP_Highlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">investigative report\u003c/a> last year. Cisco, Intel, eBay and Ingram Micro provided their data when most companies resisted, including Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also reached out to Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, Yelp and Zynga. None of them responded to us, but it seems some of them are responding to shareholders. Apple \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-06/apple-facing-criticism-about-diversity-changes-bylaws.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">changed\u003c/a> its corporate bylaws this year to make it be more diligent in finding diverse candidates for its board of directors.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Good Read: San Francisco's (In)Visible Class War",
"title": "Good Read: San Francisco's (In)Visible Class War",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_84589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/01/PhotoWeek121026homelessness.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-84589 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/01/PhotoWeek121026homelessness.jpg\" alt=\"PhotoWeek121026homelessness\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A homeless man amid his belongings in the alleyway where he lives in Berkeley. (Anna Vignet /San Francisco Public Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A hat tip to colleague Mark Trautwein, who alerted us to this piece by Danah Boyd, originally published on Medium and then on Huffington Post: \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danah-boyd/san-francisco-class-war_b_5324884.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cstrong>San Francisco's (In)Visible Class War\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> Boyd observes what many — most? — of us do every day: the staggering spectacle of San Francisco homelessness set against the city's spectacular wealth. Of course, San Francisco isn't the only place you can see this. But Boyd argues there's a difference here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>San Francisco is in the middle of a class war. It’s not the first or last city to have heart-wrenching inequality tear at its fabric, challenge its values, test its support structures. But what’s jaw-dropping to me is how openly, defensively, and critically technology folks demean those who are struggling. The tech industry has a sickening obsession with meritocracy. Far too many geeks and entrepreneurs worship at the altar of zeros and ones, believing that outputs can be boiled down to a simple equation based on inputs. In a modern-day version of the Protestant ethic, there’s a sense that success is a guaranteed outcome of hard work, skills, and intelligence. Thus, anyone who is struggling can be blamed for their own circumstances. This attitude is front and center when it comes to people who are visibly homeless on the streets of San Francisco, a mere fraction of the total homeless population in that city.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Boyd prescribes a remedy for the attitudes she describes, born of an experience with a co-worker a decade ago — the simple act of talking to those living on the street:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>If you’re living in the Bay Area and working in tech, take a moment to do what I asked my colleague to do a decade ago. Walk around the Tenderloin and talk with someone whose poverty is written on their body. Respectfully ask about their life. Where did they come from? How did they get here? Where do they want to go? Ask about their hopes and dreams, struggles and challenges. Get a sense for their story. Connect as people. Then think about what meritocracy in tech really means.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_84589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/01/PhotoWeek121026homelessness.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-84589 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/01/PhotoWeek121026homelessness.jpg\" alt=\"PhotoWeek121026homelessness\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A homeless man amid his belongings in the alleyway where he lives in Berkeley. (Anna Vignet /San Francisco Public Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A hat tip to colleague Mark Trautwein, who alerted us to this piece by Danah Boyd, originally published on Medium and then on Huffington Post: \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danah-boyd/san-francisco-class-war_b_5324884.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cstrong>San Francisco's (In)Visible Class War\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> Boyd observes what many — most? — of us do every day: the staggering spectacle of San Francisco homelessness set against the city's spectacular wealth. Of course, San Francisco isn't the only place you can see this. But Boyd argues there's a difference here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>San Francisco is in the middle of a class war. It’s not the first or last city to have heart-wrenching inequality tear at its fabric, challenge its values, test its support structures. But what’s jaw-dropping to me is how openly, defensively, and critically technology folks demean those who are struggling. The tech industry has a sickening obsession with meritocracy. Far too many geeks and entrepreneurs worship at the altar of zeros and ones, believing that outputs can be boiled down to a simple equation based on inputs. In a modern-day version of the Protestant ethic, there’s a sense that success is a guaranteed outcome of hard work, skills, and intelligence. Thus, anyone who is struggling can be blamed for their own circumstances. This attitude is front and center when it comes to people who are visibly homeless on the streets of San Francisco, a mere fraction of the total homeless population in that city.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Boyd prescribes a remedy for the attitudes she describes, born of an experience with a co-worker a decade ago — the simple act of talking to those living on the street:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>If you’re living in the Bay Area and working in tech, take a moment to do what I asked my colleague to do a decade ago. Walk around the Tenderloin and talk with someone whose poverty is written on their body. Respectfully ask about their life. Where did they come from? How did they get here? Where do they want to go? Ask about their hopes and dreams, struggles and challenges. Get a sense for their story. Connect as people. Then think about what meritocracy in tech really means.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Samantha Clark\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/aam-aadmi-party-india-elections-silicon-valley-ex-pats/img_3500/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-135669\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-135669\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/IMG_3500-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"Parwaz Virk, left, and Dilawar Chahal volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party, making phone calls to India to ask people for their votes from Chahal's office in Sunnyvale Friday, May 9. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parwaz Virk, left, and Dilawar Chahal volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party, making phone calls to India to ask people for their votes from Chahal’s office in Sunnyvale Friday, May 9. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Monday, India wrapped up six weeks of voting in its \u003ca href=\"http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/a-primer-on-indias-parliamentary-elections/\">parliamentary elections\u003c/a>. Some \u003ca href=\"http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Highest-ever-voter-turnout-recorded-in-2014-polls-govt-spending-doubled-since-2009/articleshow/35033135.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">551 million people — 66.4 percent of the more than 800 million eligible voters — went to the polls\u003c/a> to choose 543 members of India’s lower house of Parliament. It’s been described as the largest democratic election in history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the Bay Area, a large number of Indian expatriates are avidly following the results, which are expected to be announced on or by Friday, May 16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many are doing more than watching. Last Friday night, teams of Indian expats in San Francisco, Fremont and Sunnyvale worked all night calling voters halfway across the world to urge them to vote for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aamaadmiparty.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aam Aadmi Party\u003c/a> (AAP).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area Indians have poured a large amount of effort, money and technology into the AAP, even though \u003ca href=\"http://www.hindustantimes.com/specials/arvindkejriwalacommonmaninpolitics/spl3-lid.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">party leader and candidate for prime minister, Arvind Kejriwal,\u003c/a> is a long shot to win. The campaign is worth it, the party’s supporters say, because they are investing in a long-term effort to eliminate the corruption that has long characterized India’s bureaucracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Friday night’s calling marathon, a team of about 15 volunteers, mostly tech workers, gathered in a four-room insurance office in Sunnyvale, ate samosas and helped one another connect to a weak Internet signal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they began making phone calls to voters in \u003ca href=\"http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/uttar-pradesh/varanasi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the city of Varanasi\u003c/a>, where Kejriwal is running against Narendra Modi, leader of the powerful \u003ca href=\"http://www.bjp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bharatiya Janata Party\u003c/a> that’s expected to win the national election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hello. Namaste,” they each said into their iPhone headphone mics as they paced around the rooms, gesturing as if the people they were speaking to were right in front of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a script. It’s just us talking, not the party,” volunteer Parwaz Virk said. “When we tell them we’re calling from California, they listen because it’s surprising. What we have to say must be important if people from all the way over here are calling in the middle of the night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pro-AAP teams throughout California made nearly 7,000 calls Friday night, almost a quarter of the party’s total of 28,000 campaign calls that night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the volunteers in Sunnyvale said they’ve had little or no interest in politics before this because India’s established parties offered no progress and no platforms they could support. They called the AAP a cause and a movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The revolution has turned it into a political party,” Virk said. “It’s just based on issues people care about. It’s heartening to see India become more democratic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anti-Corruption Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kejriwal and the AAP (which translates as the Common Man’s Party) say they are committed to cleaning up a system polluted with graft, nepotism and other types of criminality. The AAP grew out of an anti-corruption movement that emerged inside India in 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Indian expatriates have been leaving their jobs to volunteer for the party or even return to India to run on the AAP’s ticket. Others are using their technical skills to support the AAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Indians who’ve come to the West, they see how politics and bureaucracy work,” said Pran Kurup, CEO and founder of e-learning company \u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalect.com/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vitalect\u003c/a> and a coordinator for the AAP Bay Area group.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Some Indian expatriates have been leaving their jobs to volunteer for the party or even return to India to run on the AAP’s ticket.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“And then they go back to India where people don’t have basic necessities like water and electricity,” Kurup said. “The Aam Aadmi Party is doing things that haven’t been done before in Indian politics. After seeing what Obama said about hope, people here saw there were opportunities to do similar things in India. It’s a powerful message that has had a, what we call in Silicon Valley, viral effect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/aam-aadmi-party-india-elections-silicon-valley-ex-pats/img_3506/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-135675\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-135675 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/IMG_3506-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Abhishek Goswami, right, explains to fellow Aam Aadmi Party volunteer Dilawar Chahal how the phone calling works. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Abhishek Goswami, right, explains to fellow Aam Aadmi Party volunteer Dilawar Chahal how the phone calling works. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are about 400 AAP volunteers in California and 2,000 nationwide. Kurup helped run the more than 200-strong volunteer base in Silicon Valley, which at the start of the elections became the party’s unofficial technology team, working closely with colleagues back in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tech workers are very involved because there is a lot of scope for technology to be applied,” Kurup said. “A huge chunk of the underlying technology platforms were developed by tech workers out of India. We can’t all be involved in the ground operations, but involved in cyberspace. We can apply our skills to a cause that matters to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Silicon Valley team built back-end systems using open-source software. The resulting social networking site, \u003ca href=\"my.aamaadmiparty.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my.aamaadmiparty.org\u003c/a>, connects supporters by listing them in a database and allows them to share information, such as news articles and blog posts. They also coordinate Google Hangout sessions between the party’s candidates and voters, and they built the infrastructure for a phone-calling campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But perhaps their biggest contribution has been the building of a fundraising system that promotes financial transparency. The name of everyone who donates and the amount are listed. So is how the party spends the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every penny that the party gets is accounted for,” Kurup said. “This is unheard of in Indian politics. The purpose of the AAP is not to grab power but to change how politics function in India. The first step was to change how funding works, so we stepped up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He likens the party’s emphasis on transparency to the open-source movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall, the open-source movement helps to move technology forward,” Kurup said. “So transparency is a huge part of what the party stands for. Linux was not to put Microsoft out of business. At some level, it was to keep Microsoft honest and to give people more options and move technology forward. That’s precisely what the AAP can accomplish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Priya James used to make marketing videos for startups in Silicon Valley, but she decided to quit her job to volunteer for the AAP. From her home and from the community workspace Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, she creates and edits almost all of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/user/indiACor2010/videos\">AAP’s political videos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The AAP has peanuts compared to the other big parties,” James said. “I told myself I have to give at least one year of my time to the AAP.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From Volunteer to Candidate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Vishwakarma also left her job as a UCSF cancer cell researcher, working on leukemia vaccines and bone-marrow gene therapy, to work as an organizer for the AAP, after she founded the Bay Area group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving San Francisco in January, she returned to her hometown of Hoshangabad, a town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, to help the AAP find a local candidate for Parliament.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lived five years in the U.S. When I go back to India, I do not see any change — that bothers me. They always ask for bribes,” Vishwakarma said. “The roads are still bad. No hospitals, no access to clean water, people are illiterate. If we can have it in the U.S., why not my country?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she had no luck finding someone to run on the party’s ticket, so her AAP colleagues suggested she should run herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Why not?’ If you are not part of the system, you can’t change anything,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vishwakarma then went door to door, asking people about their concerns and for their votes. She said this campaign strategy is unusual in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I found a different India than what I see on the news,” she said. “For the first time, candidates are asking their problems. They were really glad. They feel like we don’t want their money. We just want to solve their problems. These kind of experiences, you get them not from reading a news story or watching TV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vishwakarma said if she doesn’t win, she’ll continue to work with the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area volunteers in Sunnyvale on Friday night said they know change will most likely come slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, if Kejriwal doesn’t win, it would be a failure,” Virk said. “But out of 543 seats, even if we won 20, it would be a big success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said securing just a few seats might win more supporters. Just a year after the AAP formed in 2012, the party surprised people by beating the ruling Congress Party in Delhi’s state elections. Then last December, Kejriwal was elected as chief minister of Delhi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was when I decided I need to be part of it,” said Virk, who called himself a “fence-sitter.” “I am hoping if we have even a little bit of success, more people jump in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later this year, there will be more state elections in India. Virk said he’ll continue volunteering for the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This movement is going to continue in the same spirit because, for us, it is the revolution,” Virk said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Samantha Clark\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/aam-aadmi-party-india-elections-silicon-valley-ex-pats/img_3500/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-135669\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-135669\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/IMG_3500-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"Parwaz Virk, left, and Dilawar Chahal volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party, making phone calls to India to ask people for their votes from Chahal's office in Sunnyvale Friday, May 9. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parwaz Virk, left, and Dilawar Chahal volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party, making phone calls to India to ask people for their votes from Chahal’s office in Sunnyvale Friday, May 9. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Monday, India wrapped up six weeks of voting in its \u003ca href=\"http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/a-primer-on-indias-parliamentary-elections/\">parliamentary elections\u003c/a>. Some \u003ca href=\"http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Highest-ever-voter-turnout-recorded-in-2014-polls-govt-spending-doubled-since-2009/articleshow/35033135.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">551 million people — 66.4 percent of the more than 800 million eligible voters — went to the polls\u003c/a> to choose 543 members of India’s lower house of Parliament. It’s been described as the largest democratic election in history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the Bay Area, a large number of Indian expatriates are avidly following the results, which are expected to be announced on or by Friday, May 16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many are doing more than watching. Last Friday night, teams of Indian expats in San Francisco, Fremont and Sunnyvale worked all night calling voters halfway across the world to urge them to vote for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aamaadmiparty.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aam Aadmi Party\u003c/a> (AAP).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area Indians have poured a large amount of effort, money and technology into the AAP, even though \u003ca href=\"http://www.hindustantimes.com/specials/arvindkejriwalacommonmaninpolitics/spl3-lid.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">party leader and candidate for prime minister, Arvind Kejriwal,\u003c/a> is a long shot to win. The campaign is worth it, the party’s supporters say, because they are investing in a long-term effort to eliminate the corruption that has long characterized India’s bureaucracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Friday night’s calling marathon, a team of about 15 volunteers, mostly tech workers, gathered in a four-room insurance office in Sunnyvale, ate samosas and helped one another connect to a weak Internet signal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they began making phone calls to voters in \u003ca href=\"http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/uttar-pradesh/varanasi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the city of Varanasi\u003c/a>, where Kejriwal is running against Narendra Modi, leader of the powerful \u003ca href=\"http://www.bjp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bharatiya Janata Party\u003c/a> that’s expected to win the national election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hello. Namaste,” they each said into their iPhone headphone mics as they paced around the rooms, gesturing as if the people they were speaking to were right in front of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a script. It’s just us talking, not the party,” volunteer Parwaz Virk said. “When we tell them we’re calling from California, they listen because it’s surprising. What we have to say must be important if people from all the way over here are calling in the middle of the night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pro-AAP teams throughout California made nearly 7,000 calls Friday night, almost a quarter of the party’s total of 28,000 campaign calls that night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the volunteers in Sunnyvale said they’ve had little or no interest in politics before this because India’s established parties offered no progress and no platforms they could support. They called the AAP a cause and a movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The revolution has turned it into a political party,” Virk said. “It’s just based on issues people care about. It’s heartening to see India become more democratic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anti-Corruption Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kejriwal and the AAP (which translates as the Common Man’s Party) say they are committed to cleaning up a system polluted with graft, nepotism and other types of criminality. The AAP grew out of an anti-corruption movement that emerged inside India in 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Indian expatriates have been leaving their jobs to volunteer for the party or even return to India to run on the AAP’s ticket. Others are using their technical skills to support the AAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Indians who’ve come to the West, they see how politics and bureaucracy work,” said Pran Kurup, CEO and founder of e-learning company \u003ca href=\"http://www.vitalect.com/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vitalect\u003c/a> and a coordinator for the AAP Bay Area group.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Some Indian expatriates have been leaving their jobs to volunteer for the party or even return to India to run on the AAP’s ticket.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“And then they go back to India where people don’t have basic necessities like water and electricity,” Kurup said. “The Aam Aadmi Party is doing things that haven’t been done before in Indian politics. After seeing what Obama said about hope, people here saw there were opportunities to do similar things in India. It’s a powerful message that has had a, what we call in Silicon Valley, viral effect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/aam-aadmi-party-india-elections-silicon-valley-ex-pats/img_3506/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-135675\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-135675 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/IMG_3506-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Abhishek Goswami, right, explains to fellow Aam Aadmi Party volunteer Dilawar Chahal how the phone calling works. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Abhishek Goswami, right, explains to fellow Aam Aadmi Party volunteer Dilawar Chahal how the phone calling works. (Samantha Clark/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are about 400 AAP volunteers in California and 2,000 nationwide. Kurup helped run the more than 200-strong volunteer base in Silicon Valley, which at the start of the elections became the party’s unofficial technology team, working closely with colleagues back in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tech workers are very involved because there is a lot of scope for technology to be applied,” Kurup said. “A huge chunk of the underlying technology platforms were developed by tech workers out of India. We can’t all be involved in the ground operations, but involved in cyberspace. We can apply our skills to a cause that matters to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Silicon Valley team built back-end systems using open-source software. The resulting social networking site, \u003ca href=\"my.aamaadmiparty.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my.aamaadmiparty.org\u003c/a>, connects supporters by listing them in a database and allows them to share information, such as news articles and blog posts. They also coordinate Google Hangout sessions between the party’s candidates and voters, and they built the infrastructure for a phone-calling campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But perhaps their biggest contribution has been the building of a fundraising system that promotes financial transparency. The name of everyone who donates and the amount are listed. So is how the party spends the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every penny that the party gets is accounted for,” Kurup said. “This is unheard of in Indian politics. The purpose of the AAP is not to grab power but to change how politics function in India. The first step was to change how funding works, so we stepped up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He likens the party’s emphasis on transparency to the open-source movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall, the open-source movement helps to move technology forward,” Kurup said. “So transparency is a huge part of what the party stands for. Linux was not to put Microsoft out of business. At some level, it was to keep Microsoft honest and to give people more options and move technology forward. That’s precisely what the AAP can accomplish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Priya James used to make marketing videos for startups in Silicon Valley, but she decided to quit her job to volunteer for the AAP. From her home and from the community workspace Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, she creates and edits almost all of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/user/indiACor2010/videos\">AAP’s political videos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The AAP has peanuts compared to the other big parties,” James said. “I told myself I have to give at least one year of my time to the AAP.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From Volunteer to Candidate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Vishwakarma also left her job as a UCSF cancer cell researcher, working on leukemia vaccines and bone-marrow gene therapy, to work as an organizer for the AAP, after she founded the Bay Area group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving San Francisco in January, she returned to her hometown of Hoshangabad, a town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, to help the AAP find a local candidate for Parliament.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lived five years in the U.S. When I go back to India, I do not see any change — that bothers me. They always ask for bribes,” Vishwakarma said. “The roads are still bad. No hospitals, no access to clean water, people are illiterate. If we can have it in the U.S., why not my country?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she had no luck finding someone to run on the party’s ticket, so her AAP colleagues suggested she should run herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Why not?’ If you are not part of the system, you can’t change anything,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vishwakarma then went door to door, asking people about their concerns and for their votes. She said this campaign strategy is unusual in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I found a different India than what I see on the news,” she said. “For the first time, candidates are asking their problems. They were really glad. They feel like we don’t want their money. We just want to solve their problems. These kind of experiences, you get them not from reading a news story or watching TV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vishwakarma said if she doesn’t win, she’ll continue to work with the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area volunteers in Sunnyvale on Friday night said they know change will most likely come slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, if Kejriwal doesn’t win, it would be a failure,” Virk said. “But out of 543 seats, even if we won 20, it would be a big success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said securing just a few seats might win more supporters. Just a year after the AAP formed in 2012, the party surprised people by beating the ruling Congress Party in Delhi’s state elections. Then last December, Kejriwal was elected as chief minister of Delhi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was when I decided I need to be part of it,” said Virk, who called himself a “fence-sitter.” “I am hoping if we have even a little bit of success, more people jump in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later this year, there will be more state elections in India. Virk said he’ll continue volunteering for the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "'Documented': Bay Area Native Jose Antonio Vargas on New Film",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Thuy Vu\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/jose-antonio-vargas.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-135578\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/jose-antonio-vargas.jpg\" alt=\"Jose Antonio Vargas testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform,' February, 2013 Hill in Washington DC. (Allison Shelley/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Antonio Vargas testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform' in February, 2013. (Allison Shelley/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You might call him the accidental immigration activist. After attending school in Mountain View and graduating from San Francisco State University, Jose Antonio Vargas had a successful career as a journalist. He worked at the Huffington Post, the New Yorker and the Washington Post, where he shared a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through it all, he hid a secret. He was in this country illegally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, Vargas revealed his status in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times Magazine essay\u003c/a> and has since become an immigration advocate. His new film, \u003ca href=\"http://documentedthefilm.com/\" target=\"_blank\">“Documented,”\u003c/a> chronicles his life story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FElg8E16LeU?list=UUdvJOtQkB2DL2kEpD1FozQg&w=450&h=253]\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Vargas' mother sent him from the Philippines to live with his grandparents in the Bay Area when he was 12. He learned he wasn't living in the country legally only when he was 16 and tried to apply for a driver’s license. He hasn’t seen his mother in person in 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview for \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">KQED NEWSROOM\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Vargas told me he decided to make the documentary to highlight how it feels to live in this country without papers. “I wanted to humanize this political debate in the most compelling way I could,” he said. “What does it mean to pledge allegiance to a flag since you’re 12, a flag that you find out doesn’t belong to you?”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"right long\">\n\u003ch3>Define American: \"The Pledge\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVirOltugE&w=560&h=315]\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Vargas helped start \u003ca href=\"http://www.defineamerican.com\" target=\"_blank\">\"Define American,\"\u003c/a> a campaign \"about asking how we define what it means to be American, and elevating the conversation about how we engage as citizens.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Vargas’ plight has drawn \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/06/105836/Mark-Zuckerberg-immigration-Jose-Vargas-Joe-Green\" target=\"_blank\">many big-name supporters\u003c/a>, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the immigration reform advocacy group \u003ca href=\"http://www.fwd.us/\" target=\"_blank\">FWD.us\u003c/a>. He’s also attracted many critics who contend he’s illegal, has repeatedly broken the law and should be deported. Vargas says he’s still here because “there’s been silence from the government. I haven’t heard from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration reform is stalled in Congress, but the issue continues to make headlines. This week, the federal government rejected California’s initial design for \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2012/10/01/brown-signs-drivers-license-bill-for-undocumented-immigrants-vetoes-deportation-limits/\" target=\"_blank\">driver’s licenses that would be offered to undocumented immigrants \u003c/a>beginning next year. Meanwhile, Florida is expected to soon join 19 other states to make in-state college tuition available to undocumented youth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas believes immigration reform will ultimately happen not through Congress, but state by state. He also doesn’t want to just change the politics of the movement, but the culture around it, by transforming how undocumented immigrants are perceived in pop culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The immigration conversation has been stuck in the Mexico-Latino-border situation for so long,” he says. “How do I break that and transcend that conversation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas’ film, “Documented,” opens on May 16 in theaters in San Francisco, Berkeley and Sebastopol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\"> [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJ28AZPxZE&w=560&h=315] \u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">KQED NEWSROOM\u003c/a> is a weekly news magazine program on television, radio and online. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, listen on Sundays at 6 p.m. on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM and watch on demand \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview for \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">KQED NEWSROOM\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Vargas told me he decided to make the documentary to highlight how it feels to live in this country without papers. “I wanted to humanize this political debate in the most compelling way I could,” he said. “What does it mean to pledge allegiance to a flag since you’re 12, a flag that you find out doesn’t belong to you?”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"right long\">\n\u003ch3>Define American: \"The Pledge\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6iVirOltugE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6iVirOltugE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Vargas helped start \u003ca href=\"http://www.defineamerican.com\" target=\"_blank\">\"Define American,\"\u003c/a> a campaign \"about asking how we define what it means to be American, and elevating the conversation about how we engage as citizens.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Vargas’ plight has drawn \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/06/105836/Mark-Zuckerberg-immigration-Jose-Vargas-Joe-Green\" target=\"_blank\">many big-name supporters\u003c/a>, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the immigration reform advocacy group \u003ca href=\"http://www.fwd.us/\" target=\"_blank\">FWD.us\u003c/a>. He’s also attracted many critics who contend he’s illegal, has repeatedly broken the law and should be deported. Vargas says he’s still here because “there’s been silence from the government. I haven’t heard from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration reform is stalled in Congress, but the issue continues to make headlines. This week, the federal government rejected California’s initial design for \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2012/10/01/brown-signs-drivers-license-bill-for-undocumented-immigrants-vetoes-deportation-limits/\" target=\"_blank\">driver’s licenses that would be offered to undocumented immigrants \u003c/a>beginning next year. Meanwhile, Florida is expected to soon join 19 other states to make in-state college tuition available to undocumented youth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas believes immigration reform will ultimately happen not through Congress, but state by state. He also doesn’t want to just change the politics of the movement, but the culture around it, by transforming how undocumented immigrants are perceived in pop culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The immigration conversation has been stuck in the Mexico-Latino-border situation for so long,” he says. “How do I break that and transcend that conversation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas’ film, “Documented,” opens on May 16 in theaters in San Francisco, Berkeley and Sebastopol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\"> \u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/SYJ28AZPxZE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/SYJ28AZPxZE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> \u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">KQED NEWSROOM\u003c/a> is a weekly news magazine program on television, radio and online. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, listen on Sundays at 6 p.m. on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM and watch on demand \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/tcrmag/2014/05/2014-05-09d-tcrmag.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We here in California love our smartphones. And it turns out that Africa does, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That continent has witnessed a mobile explosion in the last few years — in fact, \u003ca href=\"http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2014-e.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the fastest mobile growth\u003c/a> in the entire world. As more and more Africans get connected, Silicon Valley is taking notice. The high-tech titans are edging in, trying to figure out how to get in on the game over there. Senegal, a country that well represents Africa’s growing middle class, is a key test site for high tech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Digital Appetite\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a bright, sunny morning in downtown Dakar. And I flag down three friendly-looking teenage girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re hovering around a smartphone — not a flip phone. And I ask Rezina Gerba what kinds of things she likes to do with it. She gives me the universal look for “duh” and explains, “Like everybody else, I send text messages with it. I make calls. I listen to music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I ask the girls to play me a song. They take out “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1JPKLa-Ofc&feature=kp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Drunk in Love\u003c/a>” by Beyonce. It’s the exact same song I’ve been playing — on repeat — since I left San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that moment it hits me: While the cabs of Dakar are more beat-up than the ones back home, the cabbies are texting-while-driving. While the wireless signal is way more shoddy, the kids are downloading songs whenever they’re connected. Our appetite for digital life is basically the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cell Phone Alley\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I turn the corner into a dingy, cluttered alley. It’s the gray market for mobile phones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the entrance peddlers are selling diamond-studded iPhone cases, right by a classy statue of a busty woman on a bike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10140914\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/DemeCellPhoneAlley.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/DemeCellPhoneAlley-400x514.jpg\" alt=\"Tidjane Deme, the head of Google's office in Dakar, buys the latest Samsung Galaxy in this gray market because it's not yet being imported through official channels. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\" width=\"400\" height=\"514\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10140914\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tidjane Deme, the head of Google’s office in Dakar, buys the latest Samsung Galaxy in this gray market because it’s not yet being imported through official channels. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This looks nothing like the Apple Store. But the narrow stalls, squished side by side, are stocked with the latest phones. They’re not all coming in through official channels. Vendors here fly to Europe, pack suitcases and bring them back. There’s also a lot of Chinese knockoffs that go for 70 bucks US — about what a teacher here makes every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy has had his stall for years. He tries to hustle me. We all know technology loses value as soon as you buy it. But smartphones are so hot, he says, they make a great investment — just like gold!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have extra cash and you don’t want to burn through it, you can buy a phone and store your money that way,” Sy says. “Then if you need cash, you can always sell it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Silicon Valley on a Humanitarian Mission?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobile explosion in sub-Saharan Africa came as a surprise. In the 1990s, Western aid groups talked about communal computing — village cyber cafes where businessmen could work by day and village children could Web-surf by night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now nearly \u003ca href=\"http://www.gsmamobileeconomyafrica.com/Sub-Saharan%20Africa_ME_Report_English_2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one in three\u003c/a> people has a mobile phone, and smartphones are a lot cheaper than desktops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Zuckerman, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://civic.mit.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MIT Center for Civic Media\u003c/a>, says, “If you’re an aspirant to the middle class, one of the first things you’re going to do is move from a dumb phone to smartphone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley has noticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Zuckerberg isn’t just the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook.com\u003c/a>. He’s also the founder of \u003ca href=\"http://internet.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Internet.org\u003c/a> — a nonprofit he started last year to spread the Internet around the world. He describes the mission as a humanitarian one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean here we use things like Facebook to share news and catch up with our friends,” he recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8N3wGjiPYg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told CNN\u003c/a>. “But there, they’re going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to health care for the first time ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every tech titan buys his philanthropic intent. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who funds African health and education initiatives, has said of the Internet campaign: “\u003ca href=\"http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dacd1f84-41bf-11e3-b064-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2jXaraByW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As a priority? It’s a joke\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.goosby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Eric Goosby\u003c/a>, a public health expert at UCSF, is less critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m happy that they’re rising up and saying how are they relevant to this burden of disease on the planet,” he says. “”But I’m prepared to say they’re not going to get anywhere without aligning it with knowledgeable people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goosby has been on hundreds of missions to Africa. He welcomes all hands on deck. And even if the motivation is commercial too, that’s OK. But, he says, the digital superhighway doesn’t bypass the need for real roads, real schools and real experts on the ground. “The connectivity doesn’t replace the interaction with a person at a moment of crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Google Guy: Let’s Leapfrog\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is not if Africans will use mobile more, but how.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google has a tiny outpost in Senegal. Tidjane Deme is the head of it. After studying abroad and running a failed startup, he returned to his native Dakar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early days of this office, he’d call his colleagues in Mountain View and they’d kind of hang up on him. ‘”Hmmm you say you’re from Dakar. We have an office there? Let me check,” Deme recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10140916\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/SyCellAlley.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/SyCellAlley-400x538.jpg\" alt=\"Longtime vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy says Africa's growing middle class loves their phones; and he has creative sales pitches. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\" width=\"400\" height=\"538\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10140916\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Longtime vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy says Africa’s growing middle class loves their phones; and he has creative sales pitches. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Silicon Valley, tech companies have gated campuses. Here, IBM and HP are in the same downtown office building. The scene is so small, they’re literally next-door neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deme shuts the door, sits on a giant beanbag chair, and lays out his theory about mobile growth. In sub-Saharan Africa, \u003ca href=\"http://www.unicef.org/french/adolescence/files/ADAP_Learning_Series-5_Africas_Young_Urbanites.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most young people live in cities\u003c/a> now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are really cosmopolitan. They’re watching premiere league soccer games or the last Beyonce clip,” he says, “but they’re also watching comedy, film TV series made by a local creator. So they really consume an interesting mix of local and international content. And Internet should not just be about half of their life. It should be about all of their life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means they need way more local content — especially video content. When Deme compares the written word — typed or SMS texted — versus the video form, “I know without doubt that video form will win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given illiteracy in Africa, visual makes more sense. And also, much like the rest of the world, Africans like to see themselves online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This will require much better \u003ca href=\"https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regulatory-Market/Documents/IIC_Africa_Final-en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">broadband connection\u003c/a>, not just 2G and 3G signals. So the mobile operators have to step up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are more likely to leapfrog in the digital age if we go straight for high-quality Internet bandwidth rather than if we go and build crappy Internet as we have crappy roads,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google data show there’s pent-up demand. So Deme says, each company investing in mobile stands to cash in big time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His theory has a provocative edge. I ask him if it’s unethical to push an Internet connectivity strategy in which people who do not have clean drinking water are paying for digital life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says without pause, “We should definitely not be telling people you’re too poor to get the benefits of Internet. I think that would be ethically wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Local YouTube Celebrities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A growing number of local artists agree with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take the stars of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuLaem52jXY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Journal Rapp\u003c/a> — an edgy news show that’s kind of like the “Daily Show,” except they rap the news. They’re capitalizing on the mobile economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years and years, host Xuman Mactarfal says, he’d see corrupt politicians squandering tax money. “They’re buying luxury cars. And without even hiding. All of that was on TV. It was put on TV”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he and his partner tried to get on TV, producers shut the door. The show’s rhyming format was kind of weird. And the government wouldn’t appreciate the content. So the rappers aired their pilot on YouTube. And on that very same day, “by 7p.m. TV called and said, ‘Yeah guys, we got your contract.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So now they’re on TV and online. And when Google makes money from ads, they get their cut — much like Beyonce.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re hovering around a smartphone — not a flip phone. And I ask Rezina Gerba what kinds of things she likes to do with it. She gives me the universal look for “duh” and explains, “Like everybody else, I send text messages with it. I make calls. I listen to music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I ask the girls to play me a song. They take out “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1JPKLa-Ofc&feature=kp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Drunk in Love\u003c/a>” by Beyonce. It’s the exact same song I’ve been playing — on repeat — since I left San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that moment it hits me: While the cabs of Dakar are more beat-up than the ones back home, the cabbies are texting-while-driving. While the wireless signal is way more shoddy, the kids are downloading songs whenever they’re connected. Our appetite for digital life is basically the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cell Phone Alley\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I turn the corner into a dingy, cluttered alley. It’s the gray market for mobile phones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the entrance peddlers are selling diamond-studded iPhone cases, right by a classy statue of a busty woman on a bike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10140914\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/DemeCellPhoneAlley.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/DemeCellPhoneAlley-400x514.jpg\" alt=\"Tidjane Deme, the head of Google's office in Dakar, buys the latest Samsung Galaxy in this gray market because it's not yet being imported through official channels. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\" width=\"400\" height=\"514\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10140914\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tidjane Deme, the head of Google’s office in Dakar, buys the latest Samsung Galaxy in this gray market because it’s not yet being imported through official channels. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This looks nothing like the Apple Store. But the narrow stalls, squished side by side, are stocked with the latest phones. They’re not all coming in through official channels. Vendors here fly to Europe, pack suitcases and bring them back. There’s also a lot of Chinese knockoffs that go for 70 bucks US — about what a teacher here makes every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy has had his stall for years. He tries to hustle me. We all know technology loses value as soon as you buy it. But smartphones are so hot, he says, they make a great investment — just like gold!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have extra cash and you don’t want to burn through it, you can buy a phone and store your money that way,” Sy says. “Then if you need cash, you can always sell it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Silicon Valley on a Humanitarian Mission?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobile explosion in sub-Saharan Africa came as a surprise. In the 1990s, Western aid groups talked about communal computing — village cyber cafes where businessmen could work by day and village children could Web-surf by night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now nearly \u003ca href=\"http://www.gsmamobileeconomyafrica.com/Sub-Saharan%20Africa_ME_Report_English_2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one in three\u003c/a> people has a mobile phone, and smartphones are a lot cheaper than desktops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Zuckerman, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://civic.mit.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MIT Center for Civic Media\u003c/a>, says, “If you’re an aspirant to the middle class, one of the first things you’re going to do is move from a dumb phone to smartphone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley has noticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Zuckerberg isn’t just the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook.com\u003c/a>. He’s also the founder of \u003ca href=\"http://internet.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Internet.org\u003c/a> — a nonprofit he started last year to spread the Internet around the world. He describes the mission as a humanitarian one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean here we use things like Facebook to share news and catch up with our friends,” he recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8N3wGjiPYg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told CNN\u003c/a>. “But there, they’re going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to health care for the first time ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every tech titan buys his philanthropic intent. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who funds African health and education initiatives, has said of the Internet campaign: “\u003ca href=\"http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dacd1f84-41bf-11e3-b064-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2jXaraByW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As a priority? It’s a joke\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.goosby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Eric Goosby\u003c/a>, a public health expert at UCSF, is less critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m happy that they’re rising up and saying how are they relevant to this burden of disease on the planet,” he says. “”But I’m prepared to say they’re not going to get anywhere without aligning it with knowledgeable people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goosby has been on hundreds of missions to Africa. He welcomes all hands on deck. And even if the motivation is commercial too, that’s OK. But, he says, the digital superhighway doesn’t bypass the need for real roads, real schools and real experts on the ground. “The connectivity doesn’t replace the interaction with a person at a moment of crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Google Guy: Let’s Leapfrog\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is not if Africans will use mobile more, but how.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google has a tiny outpost in Senegal. Tidjane Deme is the head of it. After studying abroad and running a failed startup, he returned to his native Dakar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early days of this office, he’d call his colleagues in Mountain View and they’d kind of hang up on him. ‘”Hmmm you say you’re from Dakar. We have an office there? Let me check,” Deme recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10140916\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/SyCellAlley.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/SyCellAlley-400x538.jpg\" alt=\"Longtime vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy says Africa's growing middle class loves their phones; and he has creative sales pitches. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\" width=\"400\" height=\"538\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10140916\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Longtime vendor Aziz Abdou Salam Sy says Africa’s growing middle class loves their phones; and he has creative sales pitches. (Aarti Shahani/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Silicon Valley, tech companies have gated campuses. Here, IBM and HP are in the same downtown office building. The scene is so small, they’re literally next-door neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deme shuts the door, sits on a giant beanbag chair, and lays out his theory about mobile growth. In sub-Saharan Africa, \u003ca href=\"http://www.unicef.org/french/adolescence/files/ADAP_Learning_Series-5_Africas_Young_Urbanites.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most young people live in cities\u003c/a> now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are really cosmopolitan. They’re watching premiere league soccer games or the last Beyonce clip,” he says, “but they’re also watching comedy, film TV series made by a local creator. So they really consume an interesting mix of local and international content. And Internet should not just be about half of their life. It should be about all of their life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means they need way more local content — especially video content. When Deme compares the written word — typed or SMS texted — versus the video form, “I know without doubt that video form will win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given illiteracy in Africa, visual makes more sense. And also, much like the rest of the world, Africans like to see themselves online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This will require much better \u003ca href=\"https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regulatory-Market/Documents/IIC_Africa_Final-en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">broadband connection\u003c/a>, not just 2G and 3G signals. So the mobile operators have to step up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are more likely to leapfrog in the digital age if we go straight for high-quality Internet bandwidth rather than if we go and build crappy Internet as we have crappy roads,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google data show there’s pent-up demand. So Deme says, each company investing in mobile stands to cash in big time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His theory has a provocative edge. I ask him if it’s unethical to push an Internet connectivity strategy in which people who do not have clean drinking water are paying for digital life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says without pause, “We should definitely not be telling people you’re too poor to get the benefits of Internet. I think that would be ethically wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Local YouTube Celebrities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A growing number of local artists agree with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take the stars of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuLaem52jXY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Journal Rapp\u003c/a> — an edgy news show that’s kind of like the “Daily Show,” except they rap the news. They’re capitalizing on the mobile economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years and years, host Xuman Mactarfal says, he’d see corrupt politicians squandering tax money. “They’re buying luxury cars. And without even hiding. All of that was on TV. It was put on TV”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he and his partner tried to get on TV, producers shut the door. The show’s rhyming format was kind of weird. And the government wouldn’t appreciate the content. So the rappers aired their pilot on YouTube. And on that very same day, “by 7p.m. TV called and said, ‘Yeah guys, we got your contract.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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