Ayah Bdeir: Building blocks that blink, beep and teach | Video on TED.com

Imagine a set of electronics as easy to play with as Legos. TED Fellow Ayah Bdeirintroduces littleBits, a set of simple, interchangeable blocks that make programming as simple and important a part of creativity as snapping blocks together.

Ayah Bdeir is an engineer and artist, and is the founder of littleBits and karaj, an experimental art, architecture and technology lab in Beirut. Full bio »

Instead of having to program, to wire, to solder, littleBits allow you to program using very simple intuitive gestures.” (Ayah Bdeir)

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iTunes – Books – Paperless by David Sparks

Paperless by David Sparks

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This is the first book in the MacSparky Field Guide Series. This book is a large file (850 MB) and includes over 1.5 hours of video and screencasts. This books runs on all versions of the iPad.

• $4.99  Requirements:This book can only be viewed using iBooks 2 on an iPad. iOS 5 is required.

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Check Your Future Social Security Payouts With New Online Tool | The Exchange – Yahoo! Finance

Seal of the United States Social Security Administration. It appears on Social Security cards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read Entire Article here.

by  Lisa Scherzer 

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As of May 1, eligible workers over 18 can access their Social Security statements online — and view their earnings and benefit information — by creating an account at My Social Security.

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You’ll need to provide some personal information (address, Social Security number, phone number) that matches information already on file with Social Security to verify your identity, and answer a few questions for security purposes.

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-The tool shows three options for your monthly benefit amount based on your current earnings rate: at full retirement age; at age 70; and at early retirement age (62). The estimates are based on your average earnings to date and assume you will earn the same annual income from now until retirement.

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JP Rangaswami: Information is food

With a background in economics and journalism, JP Rangaswami has been a technology innovator and chief information officer for many leading financial firms. As an advocate for open source and disruptive technologies, Rangaswami has been a leading force in the success of multiple startups, including School of Everything, Salesforce.comand Ribbit. He blogs (unmissably) at Confused of Calcutta.

Debt Collectors Take Places Alongside Hospital Staffs – NYTimes.com

Read entire article by Jessica Silver-Greenberg.

Hospital patients waiting in an emergency room or convalescing after surgery are being confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside.

This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed on Tuesday by theMinnesota attorney general, raising concerns that such practices have become common at hospitals across the country.

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To achieve promised savings, hospitals turn over the management of their front-line staffing — like patient registration and scheduling — and their back-office collection activities.

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Employees were told to stall patients entering the emergency room until they had agreed to pay a previous balance, according to the documents. Employees in the emergency room, for example, were told to ask incoming patients first for a credit card payment. If that failed, employees were told to say, “If you have your checkbook in your car I will be happy to wait for you,” internal documents show.

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1940 Census Goes Digital « Government Book Talk

Read entire Government Book Talk Article

Last week, on April 2, 2012, the 1940 United States census was released to the public in digital format by the National Archives in conjunction with the U.S Census Bureau athttp://1940census.archives.gov

 

 

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Uber – New York City

Uber is your on-demand private driver.

Request a ride at any time with SMS or by using their iPhone and Android apps.

Text an address to UBR-CAB (827-222) or set your pickup location on the map of our iPhone and Android apps.

Base Fare Start with this fare	$7.00
Per Mile Speed over 11mph	$3.90
Per Minute Speed at or below 11mph	$0.95

Tip is included in your fare.

Applicable tolls and surcharges may be added to your fare.

$20 surcharge on all trips starting or ending in New Jersey.

Minimum fare is $15

Cancellation fee is $10.

 

Sample Fares

Your Uber fare is calculated based on both the time and distance you travel, so fares may vary. These samples are given only as an estimate.

From	To	Estimate
Lower East Side	Gramercy	$19
SoHo	Penn Station	$21
Penn Station	Upper West Side	$25
East Village	Williamsburg	$27
Wall Street	Grand Central	$37
West Village	Park Slope	$42
Upper East Side	Wall Street	$43

 

 

Flat Rates

Uber has negotiated flat rates with our drivers for travel to and from the major airports in New York City

LGA Airport – $70
Between La Guardia International Airport and Manhattan or Brooklyn.

JFK Airport – $85
Between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Manhattan or Brooklyn.

EWR Airport – $105
Between Newark Liberty Interational Airport and Manhattan or Brooklyn, including $20 NJ surcharge.

 

 

 

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Trove of Unsealed Court Documents Capture Kelley Drye Partner’s Push to Get Paid After Age 70

Read entire article in AmLaw Daily

posted by

Sara Randazzo

(Editor’s Note:  These documents provide a fascinating glimpse at how the “other half” work.  I suppose these days, we’d have to call them “the 1%”.  Just something to think about while the rest of us ponder what type of cat food we’ll be able to enjoy in our “retirement” years.)

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Chronologically, the 83 pages of filings–which the judge overseeing the EEOC litigation ordered Kelley Drye to make public on March 2 over the firm’s objections–begin with two letters from D’Ablemont clients expressing dismay that he will no longer be allowed to take the lead on their matters.

“While I understand your firm’s position on partner advancement, it creates a rather difficult situation for our company as we move forward,” says a letter (PDF) dated February 1, 2000, with the writer’s name redacted. “We have remained a Kelley Drye client largely in part to your personal involvement in the growth of our company from 1970 to the present day.”

 

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How much did a Kelley Drye life partner earn? At the time the dispute was unfolding, according to excerpts of a Kelley Drye partnership agreement (PDF) made public Monday, attorneys who had achieved that status received a fixed annual income based on their average earnings in their three peak-earning years as equity partners. (The same agreement shows the firm protecting itself against becoming over committed to retired partners by capping life partner salaries at 4 percent of the firm’s partnership earnings in a given fiscal year and requiring that any individual life partner cannot be paid more than half the average partner earnings for the year.)

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In a March 2000 letter (PDF), D’Ablemont asks that the firm increase the client development funds available to him from $10,000 to $20,000. He needs the money, he writes, to maintain his membership at theWestchester Country Club ($6,800 a year), The Metropolitan Club($1,900) and the club at Seabrook Island ($1,000).

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Jumping ahead, the next letter (PDF) contained in the unsealed documents that management sent to D’Ablemont is dated July 2008. It involves a separate dispute between the two sides–whether or not legal services provided to D’Ablemont’s family should be paid for by the firm.

***

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Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

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Lawyers in Transition Free Webcast: “How to Find a Public Service Job”

Lawyers in Transition Free Webcast 

“How to Find a Public Service Job”

Monday, April 23, 2012 
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Register Online
www.nysba.org/April23rdWebcast

 2012 Career Development Free Live Webcast Series

Sponsored by the Committee on Lawyers in Transition

This webcast is free* to all attorneys, but pre-registration is required.

Panelists will discuss strategies and techniques for seeking, networking and finding a position in the public interest or in local, state or federal government.

Featuring

Christopher J. Muller
Counsel to the Commissioner
Columbia County Department of Social Services

Lillian M. Moy, Esq.
Executive Director, Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Inc.

Henry M. Greenberg, Esq.
Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Wayne G. Hawley, Esq.
Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, Conflicts of Interest Board

This program is part of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Lawyers in Transition series of free, live webcasts on Career Development to help lawyers better manage their careers during this tough economy.  If you are looking to make a career change, leave your current job, or transition back to the workforce after time away from the profession, the Committee on Lawyers in Transition is here to help.  Designed to help attorneys in transition, the career development series of programs offer advice and resources to increase the odds of finding rewarding work. 

Please note: This program does not carry MCLE credit.

In the Albany area?  Attend in person.*
The live program will be held at the State Bar Center, One Elk Street, Albany, NY.

*NYSBA members are invited to attend in person to be a part of the live audience at no charge.  The non-member, in person registrant fee is $25.

In-person participants must arrive by 11:30 a.m.  Pre-registration is required.
Please note that your name must be added to a security list to enter the building.

Register online: www.nysba.org/April23rdWebcast