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That's BrandVR's premise — that companies big and small can integrate digital markers and AR technology into their products. Imagine a product on a supermarket shelf that could reveal a video when scanned with an app, or a poster that contains a coupon code for a passerby to unlock.
"Moody and Zach made everything very approachable, so we weren't skeptical at all," Droze said. "We're happy with the direction it's going, and if the weather holds, and that's a big 'if' in Michigan, we expect to begin the mural on April 1."
Beyond Detroit, the brothers are working on augmented reality mural projects in Denver and Miami. Zach's Electrifly is technically a customer of Moody's BrandVR platform. But the two brothers acknowledge that they are often working in sync.
"We help each other out a lot," Zach said.
Moody chimes in. "A few years ago, we were in the Bahamas for a family trip over the holidays. The weather was horrible, so we bought a container of hookahs. We created a hookah distribution business on the beach of the Bahamas because it was Christmas and raining," he said, laughing. "That's just the kind of family we are."
`I WANT my kids to be all-around great,'' says Steve Marsden, whose third son is just over a week old. Mr. Marsden and his wife Elaine are typical parents; they want their children to do all the right things at the right time and be successful once they get into school. But, unlike most parents, the Marsdens are receiving the attention of the local school district even before their preschoolers enter kindergarten.
As voluntary participants in a program called Parents as Teachers (PAT), the Marsdens are getting support in their role as their children's first teachers.
PAT is based on research suggesting that the first three years of life are essential learning years and that parental involvement is an important contributor to a child's success in school.
``We go through our lives getting grades and raises, but there is very little to tell parents that they are doing [their job of parenting] well,'' says Marsha Gebhardt, who visits the Marsden home every six weeks.
Ms. Gebhardt is one of about 1,400 ``parent educators'' who are trained to work with the 53,000 Missouri families participating in the statewide program. Hired by the local school districts, these parent educators provide home visits, group meetings, and annual developmental screening. This screening program monitors language and motor development, as well as testing for hearing or vision problems. Districts are required by the state to provide this service, but families are free to decline the screening aspect of the program, according to Mildred Winter, director of the Parents as Teachers National Center in St. Louis and a founder of PAT. Records are kept by parent educators and these become part of the child's school record.
Home visits take place every month to six weeks and group meetings are held in which parents can get together to discuss problems and insights having to do with raising children.
The Marsdens joined the program when Luke, now age 4, was 1 1/2. Since PAT concentrates service to parents with newborn to 3-year-old children, Gebhardt's visits to the family now focus on Sam, 20 months, and the newest family member, Matthew.
Gebhardt arrives at the Marsdens' middle-class home looking a bit like Santa Claus. She has two shopping bags full of homemade toys. Soon after settling on the living room floor, she blows up a balloon for Luke and Sam to hit back and forth with cardboard bats made from empty paper towel rolls.
Meanwhile, Gebhardt talks with the parents about adjustments the family is facing in response to 10-day-old Matthew's birth. In the course of a one-hour visit, they discuss a number of typical child-rearing matters. According to Gebhardt, the most frequently confronted issues include discipline, sleep patterns, eating, and toilet training.
``Most of what I'm doing is counseling and supporting parents in their job,'' says Gebhardt, who has a master's degree in social work and two children of her own.
``It's really nice to have somebody say, `This is normal, it will pass,''' says Mrs. Marsden.
``We get things off our chest with somebody,'' says Mr. Marsden, adding that Gebhardt brings good ideas for homemade toys and family activities.
Mildred Winter describes the role of the parent educator as a ``listening ear'' who comes in to help solve parents' problems or concerns.
All parent educators have some background in education and must complete a 34-hour training institute. Certification renewal is required annually and a minimum of 20 hours of training is requisite each year.
Home visits and parental education programs are cropping up throughout the United States. But Missouri is the only state with a statutory mandate for statewide parent-education.
``One of the great problems of children in our society is the fact that so many of them are lost to view from the time the parent leaves the hospital with the baby until the baby shows up in school,'' says Edward Zigler, a professor of psychology at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
The unique component of the PAT program is the link between parent education and the local school district, according to Dr. Zigler. ``Schools are beginning to see that if you really want a child ready for school you don't wait for them to show up at the age of five,'' he says.
A pilot project was launched in 1981; more than 300 families in four school districts across the state received the services.
At the end of three years, an independent study found that the participating youngsters were significantly more advanced than a comparison group in language development, intellectual abilities, and social skills. In addition, their parents were more knowledgeable about child-rearing than the average parent who was not involved with the program.
A follow-up study done when the same group was in first grade showed that the participating children maintained their early advantage.
In 1984, under the leadership of then-Gov. Christopher Bond, now a US senator, the state passed legislation to expand the program to all 543 school districts in Missouri.
``We're a very conservative state and the idea of taking children away from the home in the early years would not have been an acceptable one in many areas of our state,'' says Winter. In fact, Missouri did not have mandatory kindergarten until 1986.
Parent participation in the program is voluntary. Ideally, parent educators begin working with a new family in the third trimester of pregnancy. Participants are recruited through hospitals, birthing centers, and various social service agencies, but word of mouth seems to be the most successful recruiter.
The mandated expansion of the program from four sites to 543 diverse school districts created controversy even among advocates of PAT.
An original consultant and founder severed his ties with the state's program in opposition to the rapid expansion. ``I could not see how they could maintain adequate quality the way they were headed,'' says Burton White, director of the Center for Parent Education in Newton, Mass.
``In retrospect, it was really a blessing in disguise,'' Winter says of the move to statewide implementation. ``It has given us a chance to test out the program with every conceivable population.'' About 30 percent of the state population with children from birth to three-years-old are now participating in PAT.
Although it is designed to serve parents of all backgrounds and socioeconomic status, program administrators make an effort to target ``hard-to-reach'' families.
PAT's budget is $13 million for 1991, up from $2.7 million the first year. The districts are required to provide a minimum of five contacts over an eight-month period, including three home visits. More than half the state's districts provide the same level of contact the pilot program offered, according to Winter.
Most of the parent educators work part time, which allows for flexibility in making home visits in the evenings or on weekends.
Districts set salaries for parent educators, but the average pay is about $12 an hour, says Sue Treffeisen, training coordinator at the national center.
A ``Second Wave Evaluation'' is currently being conducted to help answer that question. Results are expected in December.
``I would be amazed if we didn't get positive effects with Parents as Teachers in its present form,'' counters Zigler. He points to many other programs showing positive effects from home visitation and parent education.
``Researchers feel you're never really finished fine-tuning and developing,'' Winter says. The mandate to go statewide gave them no choice but to do the best they could, she says.
``Children and families are having a hard time today in America'' and cannot wait for the last word of science, Zigler says. He has spoken out in favor of national legislation to provide $20 million in federal seed money for the implementation of new PAT programs and the expansion of existing projects. Currently, 81 replications of the program are operating in 28 states.
Export earnings from Vietnamese farm commodities have fallen after many countries let their currencies depreciate significantly, giving their exporters more ability to undercut rivals.
Vietnam's farm exports dropped 7.7 percent year-on-year to around US$9.2 billion in the January-August period, and experts warn that further declines should be expected.
They made the gloomy forecast at a conference held by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development on Wednesday in Hanoi, news website Saigon Times Online reported.
Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, chief of the institute, better known as Ipsard, said since China, which buys 20 percent of Vietnam's agricultural exports, depreciated the yuan last month, Vietnamese exporters have been under pressure to reduce their prices to be able to compete with Chinese products.
Some other major competitors such as Brazil, India and Thailand have also let their currencies declined, he said.
Over the past year, the Brazilian real has fallen 72 percent against the US dollar and the Thai baht, 18 percent, he said.
Nguyen Trung Kien, a researcher with Ipsard, was quoted as saying that in 2013, Vietnamese rice accounted for 66 percent of China's rice imports. But the ratio fell to 47 percent in the first four months this year, after China sourced more rice from Thailand and Cambodia.
Sales of robusta coffee beans could also shrink, now that arabica beans produced by Brazil and Columbia, which are preferred by roasters, have become almost just as cheap.
Vietnam's seafood products are too facing difficulties, considering that its shrimp is now more expensive than similar products from India, Indonesia and Thailand, Kien said.
Ipsard researchers urged local exporters to boost shipments to the US, as the US dollar has remained strong, especially for products that "have advantages" in that market such as seafood, coffee, pepper, cashew, and wood, the news website reported.
For a mid- and long-term solution, the government should help local businesses diversify their markets, for instance by exporting rice to Ghana and the US, and coffee to Australia and South Korea, Kien said.
A child was in critical condition and several others were injured Saturday after a massive pileup snarled traffic on a California highway for hours, authorities said.
The southbound 5 Freeway near Gorman became a mangled mess around 3 p.m. when two separate crashes occurred shortly after each other that led to a chain reaction. Authorities initially said up to 50 vehicles were involved in the pileup with as many as 100 vehicles trapped in between the two crash locations.
The southbound lanes were shut down shortly after.
Videos of the scene showed at least one car in flames, sending black smoke billowing into the sky. Several vehicles were severely damaged and others flipped over.
"Suddenly, I just saw a car stop for no reason and then we all got into an accident," Raul Macias, who was involved in the pileup, told KABC.
A child was taken to the hospital in critical condition, KTLA reported. Another 11 people were hospitalized with moderate to minor injuries.
At least 22 people were also injured but declined to be taken to the hospital.
A horse in a trailer died and two other horses were rescued from the scene.
Officials reopened 5 Freeway just before 7 p.m. Saturday. The exact cause of the crash was not released, although thick fog and poor visibility may have contributed to the incident.
The Digital Security Act, which replaces the much-criticised Information and Communication Technology Act, retains the most problematic provisions of the ICT law and adds more provisions criminalising peaceful speech, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.
It said the act passed by parliament last week, despite vehement opposition from the country's journalists, “strikes a blow to freedom of speech in the country”.
“The new Digital Security Act is a tool ripe for abuse and a clear violation of the country's obligations under international law to protect free speech,” Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, said in a statement.
On Section 21 which authorises sentences of up to 14 years in prison, the HRW said the UN Human Rights Committee has expressly stated that laws that penalise the expression of opinions about historical facts are incompatible with a country's obligations to respect freedom of opinion and expression.
The committee is an independent expert body that monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Bangladesh is a party.
About Section 25 (a), the global rights watchdog said publishing information that is “aggressive or frightening” is not defined in the law. The vagueness, combined with harsh potential penalty, increases the likelihood of self-censorship.
With no clear definition of what speech would be considered a violation of Section 31, the HRW said the provision leaves wide scope for the government to prosecute speech it does not like.
The statement also highlights sections 28, 29 and 31 of the new law which grants law enforcement authorities wide-ranging powers to remove or block online information that “harms the unity of the country or any part of it, economic activities, security, defense, religious value or public order or spreads communal hostility and hatred,” and to conduct warrantless searches and seizures if a police officer has reason to believe it is possible that “any offense under the Act” has been or is being committed.
Journalists in Bangladesh opposed Section 32 of the law, which authorises up to 14 years for gathering, sending, or preserving classified information of any government using a computer or other digital device, noting that doing so is a means to expose wrongful actions by officials, the HRW said.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has stressed the need to protect, not to prosecute, those who disclose information in the public interest. The Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information make clear that journalists should not be prosecuted for receiving, possessing or disclosing even classified information to the public.
Imagine a stampeding herd of angry elephants, and you get an idea of what Democrat Richard Carmona is facing now that he’s offended Arizona Republican Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain.
The two Republican incumbents unleashed a television ad Tuesday accusing Mr. Carmona of dishonesty after he implied in a recent ad that they had endorsed him in the hard-fought Arizona Senate race.
“Richard Carmona’s latest ad is the most shameful of all, implying Jon and I support him. We don’t,” says Mr. McCain in the 30-second television spot, which shows him standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr. Kyl.
The Carmona campaign touched off the furor last week with the release of a television spot showing both Republican senators praising him during his 2002 Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Attorney General. Mr. Carmona, then an unaffiliated voter, was nominated by President George W. Bush, and Republicans later tried to recruit him to run for Congress.
Initial Democratic efforts to defend the Carmona ad were problematic. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Matt Canter apologized for his “poor choice of words” after he initially called the Republican senators’ ad “a hostage video” in a Twitter message. Mr. McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for six years after his plane was shot down in 1967.
“More to the point, if McCain and Kyl are really mere ‘career pols’ easily brushed aside by campaign spokesmen, why did Rich Carmona go to the trouble of doctoring up their testimonials?” said the newspaper editorial.
Mr. Carmona is vying with Republican Rep. Jeff Flake to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Mr. Kyl’s retirement. A Rasmussen Reports poll released Oct. 25 found Mr. Flake leading by a margin of 50 to 44 percentage points.
Snowmobile enthusiasts have one more weekend to ride in the Green Mountain National Forest.
The snowmobile season ends in the Green Mountain National Forest on Monday, April 15. Weather permitting, snowmobile use is allowed on designated trails within the GMNF for four months beginning each year on Dec. 16.
"This has been a wonderful season for snowmobile enthusiasts. Trail conditions throughout the season have been great and use of the trail system has been heavy," John Sinclair, forest supervisor for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests, said in a release. Heavy snow and below freezing conditions provided solid snow pack throughout the GMNF this season, according to forest officials.
Heading into this last weekend of the snowmobile season, trail conditions are highly variable with some higher elevation trails maintaining rideable snow cover, the GMNF said. Most, if not all, lower elevation trails are largely snow-free. Use good judgement or contact your local snowmobile club prior to heading out for a late season ride.
Access to forest roads for wheeled highway vehicle traffic typically opens up on May 1, depending on weather and road conditions. Given the significant amount of snow in the higher elevations this year, it is very likely that spring mud season will extend later into May and possibly even in to June delaying the opening of some forest roads, the GMNF advises. Forest users are asked to plan accordingly and check with their local ranger station for up-to-date road information.
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Skipper Ben Brown reflected on Sussex’s solid season and vowed the players would strive to make 2019 even better.
Brown led the team to a third-place finish in division two of the county championship, one place short of promotion. He said there were plenty of positives, but they had to go one better next time.
Brown told us there was pride at what they had achieved but a sense of ‘what might have been’ at missing out on a return to the top flight. “I think we’ve had a good season in all formats – we think the same about the Twenty20, where it was heartbreaking to miss out in the final. I really feel the same about the championship season.
“We haven’t realistically challenged for a while now – we’ve been okay but we haven’t really challenged.
“But I feel like this year it could have gone our way.
Brown said the aim in the four-day game had to be to go the next step next season and make sure of promotion.
Going up in 2019 could be easier, with three teams set to be promoted to a larger division one for 2020.
“It’s on us now to improve again and not just sit back and think we’ve done enough. We’ve got to go and improve again,” he said.
Brown was named skipper of the four-day team and the One-Day Cup 50-over side before the season began and said he’d thoroughly enjoyed leading the team and combining skipper’s duties with wicketkeeping and batting – and even three overs of bowling in the final home game against Warwickshire.
“I’ve got a really good relationship with Dizzy (Gillespie) – I think we’re on the same page with regard to the direction of the club and how we’re going.
Brown praised the contribution of the young players who’d broken into the side or become regulars this season, like Phil Salt, Harry Finch, Michael Burgess and Tom Haines, and he predicted a tough battle for a place in the starting XI in 2019.
When Kudo Tsunoda took to the stage on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week he and everyone else playing the game were decked out in matching red jump suits, leading some to speculate it was because of tech issues.
Not so, says Microsoft. The red jump suits had nothing to do with Natal's difficulty in picking up certain types of clothing or to compensate for the studio lighting, it was just a joke.
"Actually, the red jumpsuits were just for laughs," a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku. "The Jimmy Fallon crew wanted something funny for the guests to wear and decided on red jumpsuits and turtlenecks. We just wonder if the red jumpsuits will start a new fashion trend."
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Robinson Cano seemed to be next in line as the player to wear pinstripes for his entire career, all set to follow the path laid before him by mentors named Jeter, Posada and Rivera.
And then the Seattle Mariners blew him away with an offer of financial and career security the New York Yankees never came close to matching.
Cano never stopped smiling on Thursday as he was introduced as the Mariners’ new All-Star second baseman. He had $240 million reasons to grin after signing a deal that tied for the fourth largest in baseball history. He has security for the next 10 years knowing that at age 31, he’ll likely never go through the process of needing to seek another contact.