More than 100 international technology companies have interest in becoming residents of a floating city located in international waters outside of Silicon Valley. The project, called Blueseed, was co-founded by Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija and lead by venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. The company is looking to either convert a cruise ship or remodel a barge in into a pirate island that would provide living accommodations, working space and entertainment facilities for approximately 1,000 customers paying between $1,200 and $3,000 each per month. Read on for more.

The vessel will be stationed 12 nautical miles from the coast of California, in international waters, and it will have a crew of 200 to 300 people. The location would enable non-U.S. startup entrepreneurs to work close to Silicon Valley without the need for a U.S. work visa.

Research released by Blueseed revealed demand from interested U.S.-based companies sat at 20.3%, while Indian and Australian companies made up 10.5% and 6% respectively. The company also found that across the U.S., nearly 7,000 computer science Master’s and PhD graduates each year are foreign nationals, and many encounter difficulties finding jobs before being forced to go home. Blueseed is looking to change that when it launches in the third quarter of 2013.

[Via The Register]

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A number of Google shareholders are asking for the Internet giant to follow in Apple’s footsteps and return part of its $44.6 billion in cash to investors, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Google has more cash as a percentage of market value than five of its largest competitors, including Apple. The iPhone maker recently reinstated a dividend and unveiled plans for a $10 billion stock buyout last month. Google is currently the only U.S. technology company with a market value of more than $125 billion that doesn’t offer a regular shareholder payout. The Mountain View-based company’s cash has almost doubled since 2009, and it has increased by between $2 billion and $3 billion each quarter. A dividend would ease the tensions between the company and its investors, who have endured a 1.5% decline this year. “There’s a pattern here that makes sense, and I’m sure Google will figure out the right thing to do,” said Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co., a New York investment firm that oversees more than $4 billion in assets. “It’s a little bit of a victory dance, if you will, to be able to have the sort of cash surplus that a company like Apple does and Google does. To share some of it is sharing the victory dance.”

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A joint survey conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post found that Google beat out Apple, Facebook and Twitter to win the title of most popular tech brand. The poll revealed that a whopping 82% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Google, with 53% expressing a “strongly” favorable opinion of the Internet giant. Only 9% of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of the Mountain View-based company. Apple followed closely behind Google with 74%, however 13% of respondents had an unfavorable view of the company and only 37% expressed a “strongly” favorable opinion. Facebook and Twitter rounded out the survey with 58% and 34% approval ratings, respectively. Facebook had an unfavorable rating from 28% of those polled, while 36% of respondents had an unfavorable view of Twitter. The survey was conducted from March 28th through April 1st and 1,007 adults were polled.

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AT&T on Monday announced that it is relaunching its AT&T Aspire program designed to help students graduate from high school and prepare for college and careers. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson announced the news during a keynote address at this year’s Building a Grad Nation Summit, where he revealed that the nation’s No.2 wireless carrier has pledged $250 million over the next five years to its AT&T Aspire program. ”AT&T Aspire works toward an America where every student graduates high school equipped with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the nation’s workforce,” Stephenson said. The program will include a wide range of efforts, many of which will focus on providing under-served communities with technology and more modern educational tools. AT&T’s full press release follows below along with a video about the program.

AT&T Announces Quarter-Billion-Dollar Expansion Of Education Commitment

‘Socially Innovative’ Approach To Increase High School Graduates, Boost Workplace Readiness; New Study: Graduation Rates Improve, But Dropouts Remain Too High

Washington, District of Columbia, March 19, 2012

As access to skilled workers becomes increasingly vital to the U.S. economy, AT&T is launching a quarter-billion-dollar campaign to help more students graduate from high school ready for careers and college, and to ensure the country is better prepared to meet global competition.

AT&T Aspire, already among the most significant U.S. corporate educational initiatives awith more than $100 million invested since 2008, will tackle high school success and college/career readiness for students at-risk of dropping out of high school through a much larger, “socially innovative” approach. Social innovation goes beyond traditional philanthropy – which typically involves only charitable giving – to also engage people and technology to bring different approaches, new solutions and added resources to challenging social problems.

The greatly expanded effort centers on a new, $250 million financial commitment planned over 5 years. AT&T Aspire will build on that commitment by using technology to connect with students in new and more effective ways, such as with interactive gamification, Web-based content and social media. The company will also tap the innovation engine of the AT&T Foundry to look for fresh or atypical approaches to educational obstacles. Finally, AT&T Aspire will capitalize on the power of personal connections in the form of mentoring, internships and other voluntary efforts that involve many of AT&T’s approximately 260,000 employees. The Aspire effort already has impacted more than one million U.S. high school students, helping them prepare for success in the workplace and college.

“AT&T Aspire works toward an America where every student graduates high school equipped with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the nation’s workforce,” AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said while announcing the extended commitment during a keynote address at the second annual Building a Grad Nation Summit. The Washington, D.C., event convened by America’s Promise Alliance (www.americaspromise.org/), Civic Enterprises (www.civicenterprises.net/home.html), The Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University (www.every1graduates.org/), and the Alliance for Excellent Education (www.all4ed.org/) brings together nearly 1,200 U.S. leaders to discuss progress and challenges in ending the high school dropout crisis.

Lacking a high school degree is a serious issue in the United States, where one in four students – more than 1 million each year – drops out, according to a March 19, 2012, report by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America’s Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education. AT&T is the lead sponsor of this report. Education experts believe that the lack of a high school degree significantly worsens job prospects in a rapidly changing, increasingly sophisticated job market.

And, if dropouts find jobs, they earn less. On average, a high school dropout earns 25 percent less during the course of his or her lifetime compared with a high school graduate and 57 percent less than a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree.[1]

The situation poses a serious risk to American competitiveness as corporations struggle to find talent, especially in the math and sciences fields. The dropout rate, along with inadequate training and education, is keeping many high-paying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs from being filled. And the situation is expected to worsen as STEM jobs grow a projected 17 percent by 2018. Workers in these positions typically earn 26 percent more than those in non-STEM positions.[2]

Although the problem is serious, there are signs of progress according to the report issued today:

• The high school graduation rate increased by 3.5 percentage points nationally from 2001 to 2009.
• In 2001, the rate was 72.0 percent; by 2009, it had risen to 75.5 percent. From 2002 to 2009, six states experienced large gains in their graduation rates; 14 states made moderate gains; andfour states made modest gains. (Note: 2002 was the first year that state data became available.)
• And the number of “dropout factory” high schools (a high school where 12th-grade enrollment is 60 percent or less than the 9th-grade enrollment three years previously) dropped from 2,007 to 1,550 from 2002 to 2010 – a 23 percent decrease.

The new and expanded AT&T commitment builds on the work AT&T Aspire has completed in the last four years. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have invested more than $100 million in Aspire since 2008 – and more than $923 million in education since 1984. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation’s total community giving amounted to $2.2 billion from 1984 to 2011.

AT&T Aspire will build on that success by focusing on:

• Technology
  • Collaborating with innovators, educators and other companies at the AT&T Foundry innovation centers (www.att.com/foundry) to blaze new ground in developing solutions to improve education. For example, the company will sponsor challenges or contests for mobile application developers to create cutting-edge solutions to complex problems in our educational system. A June “hackathon” in Palo Alto, Calif., is the first scheduled education/technology development event.
  • Expanding strategic alliances with organizations that specialize in developing and marketing new interactive learning tools which better engage today’s students.
  • Incorporating gamification, the Internet, video and social media into educational programs.
  • Enabling students in underserved communities to explore careers before graduation through internships in areas related to 21^st-century skills.
  • Collaborating on a revolutionary nationwide initiative with GameDesk (www.gamedesk.org/), pioneers in game-based and digital learning, aimed at transforming traditional instruction and equalizing education for all students.
• People
  • Because AT&T employees have asked for more opportunities to engage with students and contribute to their success, AT&T will launch the Aspire Mentoring Academy later this year. The academy will enable employees to help students at risk of dropping out of school succeed in the classroom and in life.
  • Building on the success of AT&T’s first Job Shadow initiative (www.att.com/gen/corporate-citizenship?pid=11547) with Junior Achievement (www.ja.org/), the next evolution for Job Shadow will create a program in which employee-student teams learn work/life skills, explore real business problems and form lasting relationships. The initial Job Shadow initiative already has involved 100,000 U.S. students.
  • AT&T employees will provide skills-based mentoring, which pairs them with students based on shared interests to encourage and support career path development.
  • Inspiring more AT&T customers, companies and stakeholders to step up to the challenge of addressing the education crisis.
• Communities
  • Deepening the financial commitment to local education-focused groups that deliver results.
  • Especially groups that embrace social innovation, focus on 21^st-century skills or focus on STEM disciplines for students in underserved communities.
  • Making local contributions to community organizations that specialize in helping students and improving the quality of education.
  • For details on Aspire grant applications, visit www.att.com/education-news  and click on the “Aspire Local Impact RFP” option.

“It will take all of us working together and supporting the hard work of the education community to continue to improve graduation rates and preparedness for careers and college,” Stephenson said. “American business has an enormous stake in the success of our students. It’s time to commit more innovation and resources to the task.”

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled plans to integrate Apple’s Siri voice assistant into its A-Class vehicles, according to a report from PSFK. The integration would allow drivers to access their iPhone apps using voice commands. The feature is being called the Drive Kit Plus program and will work in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz’ Digital DriveStyle app to translate the iPhone’s screen onto the in-car display. The program will feature compatibility with popular apps such as Twitter and Facebook pre-installed, and drivers will be able to listen to music, change radio stations, update their status on social networks and send text messages using voice commands as well. According to the report, the car’s integrated Garmin navigation system will be also compatible with Siri commands. Mercedes-Benz is the first car maker to integrate Apple’s voice assistant into a vehicle, with the feature reportedly set to debut at the 2012 Geneva auto show next month and a rollout to all A-Class vehicles scheduled to begin this fall.

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A patent filed by Google showcases a new technology that could enable users to control Google TV-equipped devices using their voices, reports Patently Apple. Using a specific smartphone app, users could be able to speak commands or queries that are then acted upon by a television, a set-top box, a DVD player or another device equipped with Google TV, according to the patent filing. The patent documentation also mentions an interesting feature where “the provision of the query to the television may occur when the user is within a set distance of his home also (e.g., by determining with GPS functionality on the smartphone that he is within 1/4 mile of the home), and the television may be turned on automatically as he approaches the home, with the television tuned to a channel that is determined to be most relevant to the query.” Google’s technology can also be applied to music, allowing users to remotely set up a playlist to be streamed on a TV or other device. Whether or not we can expect Google TV products to launch with the functionality described in this patent is unknown.

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Aneesh Chopra will step down from his position as the United States chief technology officer. The move is expected to be imminent and, while it’s unclear what Chopra’s next step will be, Fedscoop says sources have speculated Chopra is interested in running for political office or working as the head of a major technology firm in the Washington, D.C. area. Chopra was appointed U.S. CTO in April 2009 by President Obama. Fedscoop said possible replacements for Chopra’s position include Veteran Affairs CTO Peter Levin, Homeland Security chief information officer Richard Spires or Department of Health and Human Services CTO Todd Park.

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The International Trade Commission on Thursday reversed an earlier decision in a patent case that could cost camera maker Kodak hundreds of millions of dollars from Apple and RIM. Kodak had filed suit against both firms, claiming that their mobile devices infringed on multiple patents owned by the Rochester, NY-based company. An initial ruling in favor of Kodak was under ITC review, and the commission on Thursday reversed parts of the decision that had previously been ruled in Kodak’s favor. Other parts of the original ruling were sent to be examined by a judge of administrative law, and a final ruling is scheduled to be made on August 30th.

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Looking to scoop up one of Apple’s ultra-light notebook offerings? You may want to hold on to your wallet for a few more weeks. According to the latest report, Apple is preparing to update the notebook line in the not-too-distant future. “The Taiwan-based supply chain for Apple products will begin shipments of new 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch MacBook Air models featuring Sandy Bridge platform and Thunderbolt interface in late May for launch in June or July,” reads a report filed by DigiTimes. The article goes on to note that the updated Air will be assembled by Quanta Computer, with Catcher Technology, Auras Technology, Shin Zu Shing, Simplo Technology, and Dynapack all supplying components. The report echos earlier prognostications made by Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The current iterations of the MacBook Air were first revealed in October of 2010, just 7-months ago.

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An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled that Kodak did not infringe upon camera patents held by Apple. Reuters is reporting that an administrative law judge rejected the Cupertino-company’s claims, with a final decision by the ITC due on September 19th. Kodak, although not as prominent as it once was when film reigned supreme, still holds a treasure-trove of patents. “Many investors see Kodak’s value in its lucrative portfolio of intellectual property,” reads the report. “It has more than 1,000 patents and it made an estimated $630 million in 2010 from its licenses. But analysts have said this revenue from licenses is unpredictable and the portfolio might eventually dwindle.” Kodak has a pending suit filed against both Apple and Research In Motion, again surrounding smartphone camera technology, that is set to be decided upon on May 23rd.

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The business of smartphone production is starting to look more like the a John Grisham legal novel. While handset makers try to out-innovate each other with high-end, spec-heavy handsets consumers will flock to, lawyers are trying to out-flank each other with patent suits and red-tape. No longer can you have an armada of talented engineers and a driven executive team, you also must possess a war chest of hardware and software patents to prevent your company from entering litigation limbo — just Google the words Nokia, Apple, and patent if you don’t know what we’re talking about.

In an effort to protect itself from this corporate conundrum, Google has announced a $900 million bid for over 6,000 patents currently owned by Nortel. As the company’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Kent Walker, explained in a blog post: “The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology.”

Trying to prevent this, Google has publicly stated that its $900 million offer has been selected as the “striking-horse bid” for Nortel’s portfolio of patents in the company’s upcoming bankruptcy auction. “The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits,” continues  Walker. “In the absence of meaningful reform, we believe it’s the best long-term solution for Google, our users and our partners.”

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Since it is Thanksgiving here in the United States, we thought it would be appropriate to cover a piece of kitchen technology in this week’s installation of Throwback Thursday. Today, in honor of the holiday, we’re covering a gadget invented over forty years ago that may be part of your T-Day celebration today, the electric carving knife.

Patented in 1964 by Jerome L. Murray, the high-tech piece of cutlery looks like a cross between a standard hand-mixer and a pair of electric hedge trimmers. The knife works its magic by rapidly moving two serrated blades back and forth over a central plane. The appliance gained popularity in the late 1960′s after is was manufactured by companies like Black & Decker, although it is less popular today thanks to one major drawback: maintenance. Electric knives have to be taken-apart and cleaned after every use to prevent the growth of bacteria between the blades and in the motor housing, making the convenience of such an appliance negligible.

Although not as popular as it once was, the knife is still used to cut the traditional Thanksgiving squab in houses all around the U.S.

Keep your ears open today, and if it sounds like someone is trimming a rhododendron bush in your kitchen… know that Mr. Murray’s electric knife is hard at work. Happy Thanksgiving!

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

Mail.com held its annual “Breakthrough of the Year” awards show in Los Angeles last night, and — in honor of BGR — they added a technology category to this year’s show. The winner of this year’s Breakthrough award in technology category was RealD. The official line goes something like this: “Using the characteristics of human perception to create a 3D image, the 2010 Breakthrough in Technology award recognizes RealD for the significant impact its breakthrough patented technology has had on our lives. From entertainment to piloting the Mars Rover, heads-up displays for military jets and robotic medical procedures.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with RealD, they are the company behind the cinema technology used to display movies in 3D (e.g. Avatar, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, etc.). RealD’s self-written elevator speech looks like this:

We license our RealD Cinema Systems to motion picture exhibitors that show 3D motion pictures and alternative 3D content. We also provide our RealD Format, active and passive eyewear, and display and gaming technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers and content producers and distributors to enable the delivery and viewing of 3D content on high definition televisions, laptops and other displays.

Congrats to RealD! Hit the read link to see all of the other award winners. Anyone seen a 3D flick in a RealD cinema?

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Stockholm, Sweden is the place to be for cutting edge LTE technology. An active LTE network has been deployed and is being extensively used for testing — one of the first successful trials demonstrated the interoperability of LTE and HSPA networks. In the trial, a multi-mode LTE/HSPA device powered by ST-Ericsson’s commercially available M710 platform was used to launch an LTE mobile broadband data call. The call was then successfully transferred from the LTE network to an HSPA network. Sounds like small beans but seamless switching between LTE and HSPA is critical for the smooth transition from our current network technology to LTE, and with this first successful hand-off, we are one small step closer to commercially available LTE.

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It looks like Radio Shack isn’t the only green game in town when it comes to swapping out your unused gadgets for some cash. California-based Flipswap has just received a whopping $14 million in venture funding to help expand its cell phone and iPod recycling program. Pretty impressive for a “green” company in this uncertain economy. With all of you buying or planning to buy new handsets this winter season, we figure there are a lot of older, now unused handsets floating around. Yeah, some of you will go the eBay or Craigslist route but if you’re looking for an alternative way to offload your phone, you may want to check out Flipswap which will give you cash in return for your old cell phone or iPod. Flipswap is located in 6,000 retail locations and have even partnered with a few online vendors like Newegg and Amazon so you can get cash in the form of a gift card for your old phone. If your phone is too decrepit for cash, Flipswap will still take it for recycling purposes and will plant a tree in your name instead. One new tree is much better than one new handset in a landfill and this year alone Flipswap has planted an estimated 28,000 trees! BlackBerry owners in particular should take note as Flipswap recently partnered with RIM and will give you an extra $50 if you swap an old BlackBerry for a new BlackBerry. The company is also in the process of expanding its retail program so you can get cash for your old phone and apply it immediately to your new handset purchase. w00t! Flipswap is definitely worth looking into before you toss that old handset into your garbage can. Think green and recycle, y’all! Hit the read link for more info or if you’re a Berry addict, go straight to Flipswap’s dedicated BlackBerry page.

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