Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/135398
8B Daily News – Friday, June 7, 2013 Obama wants to transform schools with faster Internet By Reuters President Barack Obama on Thursday will encourage American schools to engage their digital-era students by providing more laptops with highspeed internet connections and fewer textbooks and lectures. Obama will tour a middle school in Mooresville, North Carolina, that has improved its test scores and graduation rates through digital learning, an approach favored in countries like South Korea, which is phasing out printed textbooks by 2016. "This is about transforming teaching and learning in this country," an administration official told reporters ahead of Obama's trip. The average American school has a slower internet connection than the typical American home, the official said, and many schools cannot stream an internet video in more than one classroom at the same time. The administration wants schools to have access to highspeed broadband and wireless within five years so students can use devices at their desks, the official said. This approach would allow students to explore the ocean floor from their desks, collaborate in groups, learn at their own pace, and "help them overcome what is actually a great told reporters. It does not need approval from Congress. Instead, the Federal Communications Commission would make changes to its E-Rate program, a $2.3 billion-per-year-subsidy that allows schools and libraries to get discounted rates for internet service. Administration officials said the effort will require a onetime investment of several billion dollars, which could be generated within a few years by a fee on home phone bills of less than $5 per year per home. challenge in the American classroom today, which is boredom," the official said. The program also would create a huge market for devices and software, another official Who's most popular: Google, Facebook or Apple? By Hayley Tsukayama The Washington Post WASHINGTON — Google beats out rivals Apple and Facebook when it comes to the all-important game of reputation, continuing its place on top of a Washington Post-ABC News poll measuring how respondents feel about some of the country's top tech firms. The poll, released Wednesday, shows that 83 percent of American adults contacted on cellphones and landlines have a "favorable" view of the Mountain View, Calif., company, compared to 72 percent for Apple and 60 percent for Facebook. The overall results are similar to responses that users gave last year, when a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Google had an 82 percent favorable rating, Apple 74 percent and Facebook 58 percent. All those changes are within the 3.5 percentage point margin of error on the poll. Digging into the demographic information shows how different people view each of the companies. Google has fairly strong ratings across all age and ethnic groups and salary levels, with its lowest favorable rating coming from users over 65. They gave the company a 64 percent favorable rating. Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 tended to have higher goodwill toward the tech firms. But Apple's standing with users under the age of 30 dropped significantly from last year's poll. The iPhone and iPad maker has a 71 percent favorable rating with the youngest respondents, down from last year's 81 percent rating. Facebook's grand ambitions get a reality check By Alexei Oreskovic Reuters SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook, which once seemed poised to take over the Internet, is showing its limitations: a host of newer services are gaining ground among trend-setting youth; a much-hyped smartphone app has received a tepid response; and grand ambitions such as taking on Google in the search business seem ever more fanciful. In a volatile Internet industry where companies can rise and fall almost overnight, one might even say that the nine-year-old Facebook Inc is suffering a mid-life crisis. Yet even if the social network falls short of its goal of becoming an all-encompassing Web destination that consumers turn to for everything from messaging to shopping, experts say Facebook has likely achieved enough scale and ubiquity to assure its staying power. "They've gotten so big that it's one of those things you have to use," said Dan Niles, chief investment officer of tech-focused hedge fund firm AlphaOne Capital Partners, which does not have a Facebook position. "You may not like the electricity company but I guarantee you you're still getting electricity." Concerns that Facebook is losing its grip on consumers, underscored by a recent report from Pew Research that showed declining enthusiasm among some teens, have kept a lid on the company's share price even as stock markets rallied. Facebook shares closed at $23.52 on Tuesday, near their six-month low and almost 40 percent below the company's May 2012 IPO price. With 1.11 billion users, a rich trove of data on those users' interests and relationships, vast personal collections of photos and online identity profiles that serve as the log-in for many other services, Facebook faces little near-term risk that consumers will abandon it in large numbers. Consumers spend significantly more time on Facebook than on competing online properties such as Google, Microsoft or Yahoo, according to Nielsen Media Research. And the number of Facebook users who visit the site every day increased to 59.9 percent in the first quarter, compared to 58.3 percent in the fourth quarter. "The newer, exciting stuff is coming from startups, but Facebook is really going to be the glue at the middle," said Bill Lee, an entrepreneur who has started several Web companies. For that reason, he said, Facebook is not going to "pull a MySpace," referring to the one-time social networking leader that was bought by News Corp before it all but collapsed when users lost interest and decamped to Facebook. DEATH BY A THOUSAND SNAPCHATS? Teens use Facebook more than any other social service, according to the Pew report. But in focus groups that were part of the same study, many mentioned waning enthusiasm for the site, citing the increasing number of adults on the service and the flood of frivolous posts shared by friends. The most immediate threat to Facebook, analysts say, comes from a new crop of mobile apps designed for messaging and photo sharing that are attracting millions of users and threatening to siphon some of their time away from Facebook. Japan's Line has racked up 140 million users since launching two years ago, for example, while SnapChat, which allows users to send photos that disappear after a few seconds, said in December that 50 million photos are shared every day. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg dismissed the notion that teenagers were leaving for newer services. She noted during a recent talk at the AllThingsDigital conference that Facebook continued to grow even as other social services were expanding. But Facebook has acknowledged in regulatory filings that some younger users have reduced their engagement with the site to spend more time on other products such as Instagram, a photo-sharing app which Facebook bought in September. If Facebook is not able to keep improving its own product, the horde of smaller services could start to chisel away at usage on the social network, said Chuck Jones, founder of technology research firm Sand Hill Insights. But he said it would be a slow process. "Death by a thousand SnapChats could happen in three-to-five years, but not in the next six-to-12 months," he said. Meanwhile, other online activities that not long ago seemed destined to move inside the walls of Facebook's social network have stayed independent. "People imagined that Facebook would become the Internet," said John Caplan, the CEO of OpenSky, an online shopping service that operates a standalone social network. But while Facebook's core functionality of photo-sharing and connecting with friends is unparalleled, there are few signs that it is dominating other types of online activity. "The reason why we didn't build it on Facebook is that you're not on Facebook to go shopping," Caplan said of his service. Similarly, job-seeking and other forms of professional networking are largely dominated by LinkedIn. Twitter has thrived as a more popular way to get up-to-the-second breaking news and updates from favorite celebrities and other public figures. Google continues to own the critical Internet search business. Net Jacobsson, a former Facebook executive, says a narrower scope and ambition for the company is not necessarily bad. "If you try to be everything, you somehow lose your mission," said Jacobsson. "You try to grab too much, it becomes too bloated and people feel that," he said. HOME TROUBLES Facebook shares are down about 12 percent this year, compared to a 16 percent rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite's 14 percent increase. Part of the pressure, say analysts, has come from the disappointing performance of the Facebook Home mobile app. Facebook is still far more popular among the youngest users polled — favorable ratings outnumber unfavorable by 3 to 1 for 18- to 29-yearolds. That compares with a roughly even split of favorable to unfavorable ratings among seniors. The high level of satisfaction with the social network among young adults may be somewhat surprising given recent data from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project showing that enthusiasm for Facebook has waned among younger users. While the poll didn't survey respondents from Facebook's youngest users in the 13 to 18 age group, those changes could be seen as good news for the company as it faces questions about whether it is losing its cachet with young users. The survey was conducted May 29 to June 2 among a random national sample of 1,007 adults. For the full results of the poll, including breakdowns by education level, salary and political affiliation, check out the full set of data here. Washington Post Co. chairman Donald E. Graham is a member of Facebook's board of directors. LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 10:30 a.m., or soon thereafter as may be heard, in the Board Chambers located at 727 Oak St., Red Bluff, California, the Tehama County Board of Supervisors will conduct a public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance imposing a fee of $1 for each real property instrument recorded by the Tehama County Clerk & Recorder to fund the costs of implementing an Electronic Recording Delivery System, pursuant to Government Code section 27397. All interested persons are invited to attend and be heard. Information regarding this increased fee will be available at the Tehama County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Office, 633 Washington St., Rm. 12, Red Bluff, California at least ten days prior to the public hearing, and may also be obtained by contacting Beverly Ross, Tehama County Clerk & Recorder, 633 Washington St.. Rm. 11, Red Bluff, California, (530) 5273350. Written comments may be delivered at or prior to the public hearing to the Tehama County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Office, 633 Washington St., Rm. 12, P.O. Box 250 Red Bluff, California, 96080 Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Alina Selyukh; Editing by Xavier Briand. LEGAL NOTICE IMPORTANT INFORMTION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER Este informe contiene informacion muy importante sobre su agua potable. Traduzcalo o hable con alguien que lo entienda bien. The City of Red Bluff Public Water System Experienced Levels of Total Coliform Bacteria Above the Drinking Water Standard The City of Red Bluff (City) water system recently violated a State of California Department of Public Health (CDPH) drinking water standard. Although this is not an emergency, as City customers, you have a right to know what you should do, what happened, and what the City is doing to correct this situation. The City routinely monitors for the presence of drinking water contaminants. The City collected 17 samples for coliform bacteria testing during April 2013. Three (3) of those samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria (all absent for fecal coliform). The City has collected 20 samples for coliform bacteria testing so far in May 2013. Five (5) of those samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria with one of the five positive samples also showing the presence of fecal coliform. However, the presence of fecal coliform bacteria was not confirmed in follow-up testing. If the fecal coliform positive had been confirmed, the City would have notified you immediately. The drinking water standard is that no more than 1 sample per month may show the presence of total coliform bacteria. What should I do? • You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. • This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Total coliform bacteria are generally not harmful themselves. Conforms are bacteria which are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other, potentiallyharmful, bacteria may be present. Conforms were found in more samples than allowed and this was a warning of potential problems. • Usually, total coliforms are a sign that there could be a problem with the distribution system (pipes). Whenever total coliform bacteria are detected in any sample, the City does follow-up testing to see if other bacteria of greater concern, such as fecal coliform or E. coli, are present. • People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. Guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from U.S. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1(800) 426-4791. • If you have other health issues concerning the consumption of this water, you may wish to consult your doctor. What happened? What is being done? The City in cooperation with the CDPH continues to evaluate the water system conditions. The City has also sampled all nine well sources and has taken offBEVERLY ROSS, the positive Clerk of the Board of Supervi- line totalwell that tested City has for coliform. The sors also done some water system flushing. Coliform testing is onPublish: June 7 & 14, 2013 going. LEGAL NOTICE For more information, please REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO contact Public Works at (530) PERFORM ENGINEERING AND 527-2605 and press the star key. PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR KIRKWOOD ROAD Please share this information BRIDGE (08C-0218) @ JEWETT with all the other people who CREEK AND COLUMBIA AVENUE drink this water, especially BRIDGE (08C-0037) @ JEWETT those who may not have reCREEK ceived this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, Tehama County Public Works is nursing homes, schools, and seeking qualified engineering businesses). You can do this by firms to submit proposals to posting this public notice in a provide engineering and project public place or distributing copmanagement services for the ies by hand or mail. potential replacement of the Kirkwood Road Bridge (08C- Secondary Notification Require0218) @ Jewett Creek and the ments Columbia Avenue Bridge (08C0037) @ Jewett Creek. Upon receipt of notification from a person operating a public waThese services will be federally ter system, the following notififunded and proposers must cation must be given within 10 have a good understanding of days [Health and Safety Code the general requirements and Section 116450(g)]: project benchmarks associated • SCHOOLS: Must notify school with federal aid projects such as employees, students, and paDisadvantaged Business Enter- rents (if the students are miprise (DBE) and federal lobbying nors). restrictions; DBE contract goal • RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PROPERfor this project is 5%. TY OWNERS OR MANAGERS (including nursing homes Interested parties can request and care facilities): Must notify access to the RFP by emailing K tenants. Rosser@tcpw.ca.gov , pick one • BUSINESS PROPERTY OWNERS, OR OPERATORS: up at the Public Works Office MANAGERS, (address below), or by mail Must notify employees of busi(fees apply). Questions can be nesses located on the property. directed to Kevin Rosser at (530) This notice is being sent to you 385-1462 extension 3051. by the City of Red Bluff in comProposals are due no later than pliance with the State of CaliforJune 28th 2013, 4:00 PM at nia Domestic Water Quality and Tehama County Public Works Monitoring Regulations. Department offices, 9380 San State Water System PWS #: Date distributed: Benito Avenue, Gerber, CA 96035. 5210004 Publish: June 7 & 14, 2013 Published: June 7, 2013