Three-term New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg and Vice President Joe Biden were at Johns Hopkins University today to announce a new Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, named for Bloomberg and film producer Sidney Kimmel, who are each contributing $50 million to their alma mater. The new center's focus is on harnessing the body's immune system to attack cancers as it would an infection. Biden is dedicating much of his remaining time in office to the Obama administration's Cancer Moonshot initiative, an effort to coordinate government and private efforts on developing treatments that go beyond the regular heavy doses of chemotherapy and radiation. (by Sean Captain) MB
03.29.16 | 2:10 pm
Mike Bloomberg and others donate $125 million for breakthrough cancer research
04.20.16 | an hour ago
Buzzfeed has a heartbreaking and disturbing story about a rape broadcast live last month on Periscope which at one point reportedly attracted 2,800 concurrent viewers.
But if there's a silver lining to this horrific tale it's that, as commenter Emmay Friedenson points out, "thousands of people saw that video and said, 'NO, this is wrong.'"
04.20.16 | an hour ago
According to a report from Mic, HighThere, an app that bills itself as "Tinder for tokers" is essentially a giant tool that broadcasts the location and illicit drug use of its users. Although it's unclear whether law enforcement is wise to the app, Tony Gambacorta, VP of Operations for the cybersecurity firm Synack tells the outlet, "You could not build a better tool for arresting people than this." DH
04.20.16 | 2 hours ago
Montage, the latest release by tech incubator Jigsaw—formerly known as Google Ideas—will give war reporters a way to sort through the torrent of video footage being captured in conflict areas. The platform has already been used by journalists at the New York Times and the Guardian.
"The explosion of video footage online has been a tremendous asset for journalists and human rights groups trying to hold criminals accountable, but we need the tools to effectively analyze all this rich data," Jigsaw president Jared Cohen said in a statement. PM
04.20.16 | 3 hours ago
While Sanders spent $9 per vote in NY, Trump spent just 13 cents
Talk about the art of the deal. The Republican frontrunner, who got 515,000 votes in the state, spent just $67,000 on radio ads during the primary (and didn't buy a single TV ad), reports the Center for Public Integrity. Meanwhile, the Democratic contender (and self-described Democratic socialist) spent more than $6.8 million on TV and radio ads on his 750,000 votes. Hillary Clinton spent about $3.8 million on ads, and got more than a million votes, the equivalent of $3.62 a vote. MB
04.20.16 | 3 hours ago
According to the AP's official delegate counts, Hillary Clinton's win in New York increased her lead over Bernie Sanders, bringing her eventual victory closer to all but a mathematical certainty. As our graph reveals, every one of Clinton's super delegates would need to switch allegiances —which is extraordinarily unlikely as long as Clinton maintains a comfortable lead—to allow Sanders to pull ahead.
04.20.16 | 3 hours ago
BREAKING: Source: Volkswagen has agreed to spend just over $1 billion to compensate owners of diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests.
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 20, 2016
04.20.16 | 3 hours ago
Vice President Biden spoke at the American Association for Cancer Research's conference about his "moonshot" for a cancer cure. In his own words:
Biden: There are 4 kinds of politics — cancer politics, church politics, union politics, and politics. "They're difficult in that order."
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 20, 2016
04.20.16 | 4 hours ago
Google is putting $45,000 toward expanding the portrayal of computer scientists in media
The money will be invested in screenwriters culled by The Black List, which brings together writers and producers who seek to sell and buy screenplays. Three writers will be chosen to create two TV pilots and a film script that move beyond tropes to better "represent the world in the way in which it is," as Black List founder Franklin Leonard told me.
"For too long, the perception of a computer scientist was a nerdy white guy who is on the spectrum and pounding away at a computer," Leonard said. "The goal here is to create content that shifts the point of view on computer scientists, as it applies to women and people of color."
04.20.16 | 2:40 pm
Microsoft stock has been on the upswing, rising 36% over the past year as the company makes a faster-than-expected transition to cloud-based services like Office 360, Azure, and Dynamics CRM. Microsoft is set to announce its Q3 earnings Thursday, and analysts are expecting a year-over-year growth of a few cents per share, and are watching these key indicators in the results:
• How will sagging PC sales affect sales of Windows software during the March-ending quarter?
• Will Microsoft's cloud-based app business stay on track to meet its goal of $20 billion in revenue by mid-2018?
• Is Microsoft still on pace to deliver its goal of getting Windows 10 on a billion devices by April 2018?
We'll have commentary on the results when they're released Thursday afternoon. MS
04.20.16 | 2:26 pm
Need to reach a spokesperson for the telecom? You might have a hard time if you go to verizonpublicrelations.com or follow @VerizonPR on Twitter. The parody site and account were set up by the Communications Workers of America, the union whose Verizon employees have been on strike since last week.
04.20.16 | 2:09 pm
The legendary scientist and inventor, who now work as Google's director of engineering, tells Playboy that he expects technology and medicine to have advanced far enough by that year to indicate the arrival of the Singularity. That refers to a period in which artificial intelligence will be more powerful than the brain, preceded by about 15 years of life-extending technologies including biotechnology. (h/t Business Insider)
MBAs they gain traction in the 2030s, nanobots in the bloodstream will destroy pathogens, remove debris, rid our bodies of clots, clogs and tumors, correct DNA errors and actually reverse the aging process.
04.20.16 | 1:57 pm
Legal marijuana sales could climb to $11 billion by 2020
With five states having already legalized marijuana for recreational use, and 20 states having legalized it for medical use, the pot industry is one of the fastest growing niches in the U.S., according to high-end projections by Marijuana Business Daily.