Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 30, 2013

Guest Beneblog by Gerardo Capiel, Benetech's VP, Engineering One of the highlights of my meeting circuit each year is the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference in New York City. There is no better place to engage with colleagues about new technologies, changing business models, fresh ideas, and shared standards.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

That was the theme of the ninth Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting that President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton recently convened in New York City last month.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

I'm greatly enjoying the CGI event this week in New York. Many great social entrepreneurs running around along with the world leaders (and of course, Angelina Jolie). I've been taking a fair number of pictures.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 1, 2008

I've had the pleasure of knowing Katie Hafner, New York Times reporter and author, for at least five years. She generally writes on tech topics, so I was interested to see her latest book on the famous pianist Glenn Gould, A Romance on Three Legs. Gould was a real character: maybe even stranger than my Caltech classmates.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 16, 2009

According to the company, they had a record 107 books on the New York Times bestseller list in 2008, with 35 of them ranked #1. Hachette Book Group publishes under quite a number of famous imprints, such as Little Brown and Company and Grand Central.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2013

Education was her way out, but when she signed up for graduate studies at New York University, she returned to live with her parents and became involved in and reacquainted with her neighborhood. She grew up in Hunts Point, a South Bronx neighborhood that for decades was plagued by poverty, violence and ecological degradation.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 18, 2008

I also know a tech project that has used the FJC Fiscal Sponsorship Program , based in New York. I've heard it costs roughly 9% of donations, but that's not authoritative. They offer a range of services for their fee. I just talked to one of their founding philanthropists.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2008

I was stunned when I found out in New York that the plane I was boarding was the new Airbus A380, the massive, double-decker airliner. It was easier to say yes than usual: I'd never been to Dubai or the region, and the government of Dubai and Emirates airline offered to fly me there business class!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 15, 2010

For example, I almost always stay with one of my cousins in New York City. Benetech will give me $50 a night in lieu of staying in an expensive hotel. After personnel, travel costs are one of our biggest expenses. I’m sure this is true of a lot of other groups with national or international activities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2008

Below is a story from the New York times that gives us a glimpse of what that world might be like - where two high school children, albeit with some good connections, can demonstrate that some NY sushi is not "kosher" - offering farmed tilapia at tuna prices.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 30, 2005

A great quote from a five minute video on accessible e-text books produced by college students in New York. "For the first time I can read what I want, when I want, where I want, by myself." It really delivers the message of how access to books changes the lives of students with disabilities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 12, 2014

Two days ago, on Tuesday, June 10, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York made a major ruling that emphasizes the legality of fair use for book digitization. In Authors Guild v. copyright law).

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2010

I met with a very senior nonprofit leader last week in New York who explicitly asked us to talk more about what we're thinking. I've been asked by a lot of people both inside and outside Benetech lately to not only talk about the what we do, but the why we do it: the thinking behind it.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 9, 2008

These were quite familiar to folks like Frank Simpson of the Lavelle School in New York and Miki Jordan of the Junior Blind of America in Los Angeles. Like many of the agencies we visited, China is also experiencing a significant increase in kids with multiple disabilities. We visited the English language classroom.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

Here's the letter from the editor of Matilda Ziegler Magazine, which explains why Carrie was deserving of this award: A Letter from the Editor New York City Dec. Every month, Carrie scans and proofs all of the books on The New York Times Best Sellers list, which sometimes is a lot of books. Congratulations, Carrie!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 25, 2007

Fascinating panel: Vint Cerf (Google), Michael Dell(), John Markoff (New York Times), Hamadoun Toure (ITU), Jonathan Zittrain (Oxford) and moderated by Paul Saffo (Institute for the Future). I attended the Internet governance panel this morning (lest you think that Davos is all play and no work).

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 24, 2007

It goes pretty fast on the New York Times, but I wonder about being on a plane wishing it had downloaded something already when the wireless needs to be off. The keys are really small, the contrast is on the low side, and you need to see to read the books (not so good for blind folks). On the obvious complaints: $399 is expensive.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Most of the books I work with are books requested by students and titles from the New York Times (NYT) bestsellers list. I now review books that are scanned and uploaded in formats that can be read using different forms of assistive technology such as text-to-speech, digital Braille or enlarged fonts.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 31, 2008

The ugly truth is out, and it is being picked up by international media that can hardly be accused of cozying up to the guerrilla, such as the New York Times.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 20, 2007

The Benetech team read with great interest the recent Op-Ed in The New York Times, entitled An Atrocity That Needs No Exaggeration. The Op-Ed notes the recent ruling in Britain against the Save Darfur Coalition for overstating the number of dead in Darfur.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Every New York Times Bestseller from the last few years, every Newbery award winning book ever, are all available to Americans with qualifying print disabilities on Bookshare today. We stopped making access contingent on the need to complete a no-revenue contract.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 30, 2005

Tim O'Reilly (who has been hugely helpful to us and especially Bookshare.org) published an op-ed in the New York Times about the Authors Guild suing Google's Library project. A recent article mentions why Benetech is concerned about orphan works: obscure works are hard to find the copyright owner, and it costs to much to hassle with.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 14, 2012

I followed up the Chiang Mai gathering with other meetings with Thailand-based Martus users, and just touched down in New York. We built it to be a tool that truly puts power and responsibility in the hands of its users, and we’re finally beginning to change the Martus project’s operations to match that model.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

Moreover, we recently held a two-day workshop in New York City, bringing together a wide range of activists and funders, developing a model we plan to replicate around the world. Ugandan LGBTI activist and Martus user Richard Lusimbo at the 2014 RightsCon human rights conference.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

Early December, I'm starting to plan a trip to New York. It's my first visit to North Africa, and I'm excited about the chance to meet more of the leadership of the international disability community (especially those engaged in technology issues). On the way to Tunisia, I'm hoping to stop in London for a couple of meetings.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 26, 2004

This morning I downloaded The New York Times. I checked back and was granted permission to quote this! Since the NFB convention in Atlanta, I've been periodically downloading the national magazines that have been made available.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

By Patrick Ball On 14 February 2012, the New York Times reported that a Swiss team had found a weakness in a key algorithm used to make secure connections online. We were worried because the algorithm (called RSA) is also a central part of Martus , our self-encrypting database that backs itself up to a network of servers.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2009

in his New York Times essay Kindle Swindle? I think the publishing industry has a long and proud history of being willing to help people with disabilities, and authors are equally willing to support this as well. Roy Blount Jr. pointed out that the authors have long supported disability access.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

I met her last year at KentPresents , a brand-new conference organized by the incredible duo of Ben and Donna Rosen. Janet is also a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), and she runs a satellite office of LIS there.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

SocialCoding4Good will be attending Mashable’s Social Good Summit in New York September 22-24, and A Billion+ Change’s Envisioning the Future of Corporate Service event in Los Angeles on October 1. We envision a thriving community committed to leveraging technology for good and bridging sectors for lasting, transformative impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 1, 2010

I was able to mention the Venture Capital in Education Summit that I’m attending in New York next week. StartL, a new education VC fund backed by a number of leading American foundations, will be launching there. One of their recommendations was that there be a venture capital fund for investing in education.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 2, 2005

It wouldn't have been that much in New York! And then I note that the meter is clicking up at an alarming rate. By the time we get to the hotel, the meter is reading something like $24. I get out of the cab and ask the doorman about the cab bill, telling him I had just come from the medina.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

New York Every year, social entrepreneurs and donors (along with a whole lot of other folks) converge on New York City. So, let me tell you about a seven week travel jag I recently completed, where I spent almost 70% of the nights not at home (including weekends).

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