Apple and Facebook will cover the cost of freezing employees’ eggs
Apparently, Facebook has been offering to cover the costs of egg freezing for female employees since January 1st this year, and you know who’s following in its footsteps? Apple. The iPhone-maker plans to offer the same service to its employees starting in January 2015. According to NBCNews, these two might just be the first employers willing to pay for the entire cost of egg freezing for non-medical reasons, which means everyone qualifies for the benefit, not just cancer patients for whom the procedure was originally intended. Most likely, employers hope to encourage female staff members to stay with them even during the last few years most women can conceive (late 30’s to early 40’s), as those are also the years one typically takes on senior positions. They’re probably also betting on the move to save them recruiting and hiring costs in the long run, while keeping top talent around and promoting gender diversity at the same time.
Egg freezing, as you might have guessed, allows women to store their egg cells until they’re ready to get pregnant. These eggs taken during a woman’s younger years have better chances of being fertilized later on, though the procedure doesn’t guarantee a 100 percent success rate. Harvesting around 10 eggs cost around $10,000, with storage adding $500 per year to that amount — both Facebook and Apple are willing to cover up to 20 grand.
While we’re sure there are many women who’d love to take advantage of the opportunity, this move will surely face a lot of criticisms. Some might view it as a ploy to make women sacrifice their childbearing years all for the sake of climbing up the corporate ladder. Others might be worried that having this option readily available places additional pressure on women to put having children on hold. Harvard Law School professor Glenn Cohen also raised a valid point in a blog post last year, where he asked: “…would [female employees] take this as a signal that the firm thinks that working there as an associate and pregnancy are incompatible?”
Still, egg freezing advocates believe it’s the right time to offer the procedure as a perk at work, as more and more people become open to the possibility of going through it. According to the founder of Extend Fertility, which promotes egg freezing in the US, more women now also view it as a means of empowerment and not just their last chance to have a child.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Science, Apple, Facebook
Source: NBCNews
Google teams with researchers to store and crunch cancer data
Healthcare is the new black, and Google has waded into the fray with projects like Helpouts and smart contacts. Now, its Research at Google arm will team with a think tank called the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) to create the Cancer Genomics Cloud. The $6.5 million project will migrate massive amounts of data from the Cancer Genome Atlas to the Google Cloud platform, giving cancer researchers around the world a common database to work with. Google will also provide the compute power needed to analyze the massive datasets. Though genome studies have provided a huge boost to cancer research, they’ve excluded many smaller institutions that don’t have large processing clusters. ISB said the new cloud will “democratize” the field by opening it up to more researchers and making collaboration just a Hangout away.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Source: Research At Google (Google+), Institute for Systems Biology
Nexus 6 Watch 2014: Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus size comparison shows there’s not much in it
The announcement of the Nexus 6 could be just around the corner, but that’s not going to stop the leaks getting out in the meantime. Latest on the list of leaks is the above image courtesy of the newly named Total Tech Media (renamed from TK Tech News) which allegedly shows a Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus size comparison with the two literally and figuratively titanic devices next to each other. What you will notice is that while the Motorola-manufactured Nexus 6 is probably just a hair longer and wider than the iPhone 6 Plus, it’s still able to fit its much larger 5.9-inch display (vs 5.5-inch display) into its body much more comfortably with thinner bezels on all sides.
Apart from the obvious size comparison, we can see the dual speakers that have been rumoured for the Nexus 6 which in turn looks very much like the front face of the Moto X 2014. On the inside though, the Nexus 6 is a completely different beast, suspected to boast a Snapdragon 805 clocked at 2.7 GHz, 3GB RAM and that 5.9-inch display will give the device a Quad HD resolution. Hopefully we won’t have long to wait before the device is announced, or at the very least its bigger brother, the Nexus 9, as we can’t wait to see what it and Android L can do.
What do you think about the Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus size comparison? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: TK Tech News via Phone Arena
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Giovanni Calabrese continues teasing Android L release with progress photos of Google lawn sculptures
Giovanni Calabrese has an incredibly enviable job – he is one of the designers of the Google lawn sculptures and for the last few days has been working at Google HQ on something secret. Not secret enough to take a few pictures, however it’s pretty impossible to actually divulge anything from these photos except that it is probably for the upcoming Android L release, which could be happening any time now. As the pictures show, the lawn sculptures have been moved around a little and there is plenty of other sugary goodness just lying around like a gingerbread man and cupcakes.
Calabrese posted multiple times this week about licorice, raising the question of whether that was going to be the name of the next build of Android. Suffice to say that everyone is still guessing and Google has thought to make light of that earlier today with a teaser video earlier today. In fact, that video shares a lot of themes with Calabrese’s work in that it appears that they are simply putting up a whole lot of dessert related things on the lawn in anticipation of the lawn. For more photos of the proceedings, make sure to hit the source links to visit Calabrese’s posts. We’re not going to guess what’s going on, but according to many rumours, we won’t have long to wait before Android L, as well as the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, become official.
What do you think is going on with Google’s lawn sculptures? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
Source: +Giovanni Calabrese (1), (2)
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The New York Times wants you to help identify old newspaper ads
Unless you’re clipping coupons, advertisements are the last thing you look for when you pick up the newspaper. They’re also the part of the New York Times archives that the newspaper wants you to look at the most, but not just for the sake of revenue. Madison, a new project from the New York Times’ research and development lab seeks to document the paper’s long history of advertising with by crowdsourcing advertisement identification. That is, asking the public to view archives of old papers and sort out if a specific section of a paper is an ad, who it is advertising for, and to help transcribe the text.
If you’ve ever filled out Capcha words to prove your human, you’ve gone through a similar process: Hive, the NYT’s crowdsourcing platform, serves the user a highlighted image of an archived newspaper page and asks them specific questions, like identify how many ads are in the selection, for instance. There’s a fun “ranking system,” too: as you identify ads, Madison bestows you with new pseudo-prestigious titles – in just a few minutes I went from being a “reader” to a “finder.” Neat. The project is starting with ads from the 1960s as a nod to Mad Men, apparently, but will be extending the program to cover other periods soon.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Gigaom
Source: Madison
Sundar Pichai and Google tease Android 5.0 and L
With Android L due today, Sundar Pichai teases out a what he’s calling #NationalDessertDay in an attempt to find what sweet Android 5.0 will be named after.
The usual suspects that we’ve seen rumored are present: Lemon Meringue Pie, Lollipop, and Licorice, and interesting Oreo even makes an appearance.
Check it out below:
Met some sweet new friends today. #NationalDessertDay #Android http://t.co/KNxe1LjpgI
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) October 14, 2014
Where does your money sit on what Android L stands for?
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Android L Confirmed as Lollipop?! Nexus 6 Teased Again! – ManDroid Daily
It won’t be long now folks. Android L is about to get its name, and the Nexus 6 is about to be announced. Many have thought, given Google’s hints, that both were going to be announced today. We will see folks, but a lot of other Android L and Nexus 6 is talked about today in the Daily, so enjoy yourself!
Android News
Nexus 6 render
Android L confirmed as Lollipop
Android L casting
Nexus 6 teased in leaked video
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TSMC Reportedly In Charge of A8X Chip Production for 12.9-Inch iPad
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has landed the contract to produce Apple’s A8X chip that will be featured in the company’s forthcoming 12.9-inch iPad, according to Digitimes. The report notes that the processors will be intended for “Apple’s next-generation iPad to be released in early 2015,” and lines up with a report earlier year from Taiwan’s TechNews which shared similar details.
Apple’s A8X chip as seen on a supposed logic board for the iPad Air 2
Sources close to the production of the A8X also state that the chip is being manufactured with the same 20-nanometer process used for the A8 chip that is found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, the report also notes that the A8X’s bigger system-on-a-chip may create potential yield rate issues for TSMC.
Recent part leaks have indicated that the A8X chip will likely debut with the iPad Air 2, which is expected to be unveiled alongside the next-generation Retina iPad mini at an event this Thursday.
It is unknown as to whether the company will also unveil the 12.9-inch iPad at the event, however the The Wall Street Journal noted that Apple was delaying mass production of the 12.9-inch iPad to deal with strong iPhone 6 Plus demand. A report from Bloomberg in August also claimed that the 12.9-inch iPad would be launching in 2015.
Google Glass Launches Notification Sync
You’re walking down the street, anxiously awaiting a text from your friend. What do you do? Keep checking your phone? Egads! This isn’t 2008; we need something more convenient. Enter Notification Sync on Google Glass: now you can see your Android phone notifications through your Google Glass, similar to the way Android Wear works. Now you can get your notifications while leaving your phone in your pocket.
The update should be heading out this week, so look alive! You also need to have the latest version of MyGlass. The video below will show you how to set it up.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Google+
Come comment on this article: Google Glass Launches Notification Sync
AT&T Hints at Imminent Nexus 6 Release
The Nexus is approaching! AT&Ts website has leaked news about the new device, notably that it will be available directly through the carrier and supposedly priced at $50 on-contract.
The information takes some looking for to be able to see, though. When you look at the page for the LG G3 Vigor, in the sidebar, there sits the Motorola Nexus 6. Don’t get too excited: the link will only take you to other Motorola phones already on the network.
The photo in the box is also the LG Vista, which will hopefully change after the release date tomorrow. *Fingers Crossed.* Hopefully the price doesn’t change, though. If you want to enter into a contract with the death star, it’d be better to enter into it with an extra $150 in your pocket, compared to the $200 price point for most flagships.
Source: AT&T‘
Via: Android Police
Come comment on this article: AT&T Hints at Imminent Nexus 6 Release
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