37 States Join Ongoing Google Investigation

Google’s “Street View” Cars Used To Gather Personal Data From Unsecured Wireless Networks?

For the last month, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has been leading an investigation into the improper use of Google’s Street View camera cars to gather personal information from unsecured wireless networks. These Street View cars are supposed to take photos of roads and buildings, and store these photos to digital servers for use in the company’s popular Google Maps online service. But the multi-state investigation, in which Blumenthal has been joined by the attorney generals of 37 other states, has uncovered that these cars were also used to improperly gather private information including e-mails, passwords and other personal data. The investigation follows similar cases in Australia and Germany, and may lead to changes in federal and/or state laws regarding the use of wireless technology to gather information from unprotected wireless networks.

Launched in 2007, Google Maps’ Street View feature uses cars to photograph street layouts and buildings in every direction, converting photos to digital environments that can be navigated virtually from any computer with an Internet connection. But Google did not disclose that these camera cars also detect Wi-Fi access points, in order to help the onboard computers determine their exact locations without the use of satellite-based GPS systems. While connected to these access points, the Street View cars collected approximately 600 gigabytes of data from unsecured wireless networks over a period of three years. According to Google, this gathering of information was accidental, but the attorney generals leading the probe are not so sure.

According to Blumenthal, Google’s responses “continue to generate more questions than they answer. Now the question is how [Google] may have used – and secured – all this private information.” A spokesman for Google said that the company made a mistake in including the code that collected the “payload data” from wireless networks, but that the company does not believe it has broken any laws, and is continuing to work with the “relevant authorities” to address their concerns. Last week, Blumenthal sent a third letter to Google, asking how much testing was done on the Street View software before it was put to use, and suggesting that adequate testing should have revealed the supposed “glitch” responsible for the Street View cars’ collection of personal data. At press time, Google had not issued a response.

Thanks to our amazing customers, we’ve been enjoying a very busy month here in the office. To accommodate, we’ve added 3 new employees to our team over the last few weeks. As a warm welcome, we’d like to introduce them to you- from left to right, meet the new members of the ScanDigital family: Aimi, Richard and Kelly!

All are amazing, enthusiastic and eager to help with your preservation projects. To learn more about them, we asked them all a few silly questions. Read their answers below (some will be sure to surprise you!):
Aimi
Hometown: Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Gardena, CA
What she’s most likely doing outside of work: Watching TV comedies, including The Office and 30 Rock
Favorite part of being a part of ScanDigital’s team: Everyone’s really mellow and nice
Fun Fact: She plays the drums at weekly jam sessions!

Richard
Hometown: Torrance, CA
What he’s most likely doing outside of work: At a Dodger’s Game or placing a bet at the Race Track Favorite part of being a part of ScanDigital’s team: Starting at 9am (he used to start work at 6am)
Fun Fact: He beat Bill Clinton’s brother (who’s apparently a regular at the local dive bar) at a pool game

Kelly
Hometown: Piscataway, NJ
What she’s most likely doing outside of work: At home, watching old cartoons from Netflix (favorites include Rocco’s Modern Life and All Real Monsters)
Favorite part of being a part of ScanDigital’s team: Free water! She loves the water cooler. No joke.
Fun Fact: She was voted Class Clown in high school

To learn more about ScanDigital’s team and hear what we’re up to- stay connected with ScanDigital on Twitter or Facebook. We always love staying in touch with customers, friends and all fans of photography and family history! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Lost Star Wars Artwork To Be Featured At Orlando Exhibition

Original Works By Conceptual Artist Ralph McQuarrie Found In Berkeley Basement

The above drawing, which has been scanned to digital for archive preservation, is a concept drawing for the now infamous Star Wars villain, Darth Vader. When George Lucas was first developing his space epic into workable movie pitch, he turned to an artist named Ralph McQuarrie to help turn his ideas into vivid artwork that could be used to help illustrate the concept of Star Wars to studio execs. McQuarrie eventually became renowned for his vivid artwork, much of which has been analyzed by Star Wars fanatics, film scholars, and art students. But some of McQuarrie’s earliest Star Wars drawings were nearly lost, until serendipity intervened in the form of a broken furnace.

In 2007, a 400-page retrospective called “The Art of Ralph McQuarrie” was published featuring production paintings, matte paintings, and sketches, which were all photographed, scanned to digital, inventoried, and preserved by Lucasfilm. A few months later, McQuarrie began having problems with the furnace in his Berkeley, CA home. According to Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm’s director of content management and head of fan relations, McQuarrie had to move an old bookshelf unit in order to let the repairman access his furnace, and in doing so he found “an old box on a shelf that was filled with treasures.”

Lucasfilm has incorporated these newly discovered artworks into a masterworks exhibit of McQuarrie’s art that will be shown at Star Wars Celebration V, the official Lucasfilm event celebrating all things Star Wars, which will be held August 12^th- 15^th in Orlando, FL.  The exhibit will feature 100 original pieces from McQuarrie’s personal collection, including many of the “lost” thumbnail sketches and pencil drawings that were created in the process of producing the now iconic production paintings that helped Lucas pitch Star Wars to 20^th Century Fox. Also included will be McQuarrie’s design work on other characters, spaceships, creatures, and weapons.    

To view more Star Wars artworks that have been scanned to digital, click here to view the website for Star Wars Celebration V’s art show.

I just returned from a trip to Mexico where my family gathered to celebrate my nephew’s wedding.  We drove from LA to Ensenada, Mexico and all spent an amazing few days together.  I arrived home feeling relaxed, happy and rested.  It was a great vacation. However, I have to say that I didn’t go into it as prepared and organized as I usually do.  The few days before I left were anything but relaxed.  Yes, it’s tough to admit, but even organizers have their disorganized moments :)

Family members had flown in early and were staying with me for a few days before we all drove down to Ensenada together.  I had been looking forward to spending a few days with them taking them sightseeing and catching up.  However, as it turned out, work got busier and busier for me in the days running up to their arrival and while they were here.  Things I had planned to do got delayed and started to pile up. 

The day before I left, I had to run to AAA and get last minute auto insurance for Mexico only to discover from them that I also needed a letter of permission from my car financing company that it was ok to take the vehicle into Mexico.  What the heck???  It took back & forth phone calls and an additional hour out of my day to get the letter.  Also adding stress to the employee who had to handle my “emergency.” If I had done my research and attended to this earlier, I could have gotten it all taken care of well in advance.

I also didn’t take my car to get it checked until the day before we were leaving.  Not good!  I was informed it needed immediate work (that would take 4 hours to complete) to make it safe to drive on a long distance trip.  Aaarrgghh!  This was the day I was intending to take my nephew (not the one getting married) to do some sightseeing in Hollywood & Beverly Hills.  What to do?  I rented a car for the day.  Now not only am I stressed out, in a time crunch, but my lack of planning and preparation has cost me money!

I rushed my sister and nephew through their sightseeing :( in order to get back in time to pick up my car from the mechanic & return the rental car before they closed for the day.  Needless to say, I didn’t finish packing for our trip until midnight and was up the next day at 5am so we could leave early and avoid the early morning traffic out of LA.

I know better than to do this to myself and realized that sometimes, I need to remember to take my own advice!   Check out my July Organizing Tips.  Based on this experience, I’ve compiled a list of Do’s & Don’ts for you, so that hopefully, your travel preparations can go a lot more smoothly than mine did this year!

Enjoy,                                                                                         

~ Jodie ~

Do’s & Don’ts for Stress Free Travel

DON’T:

Leave everything until the last minute.

Cram everything you need to do into the last day before you leave.

Purchase tickets for transportation at the last minute.

Put off applying for passports or other travel documents needed for your trip.

Travel without the necessary insurance for yourself, your luggage or your vehicle.

Assume that everything can be done over the phone or internet. 

Pack without making a list.

Leave the house in a rush.

DO:

Start travel preparations early.

Book your air, bus or train tickets (or have your car serviced) well in advance.

Make hotel reservations, download directions & gather information about the place to which you will be traveling.

Purchase travel insurance and, if needed, additional auto insurance if driving.

Check that your passport or other documents needed for travel are current.

Make arrangements for your home and any pets to be taken care of while you are away. 

Research the weather at your destination for the time you will be there.

Make a list of what you will need to pack based on where you are going and the activities you will be doing.

Contact Jodie Watson:

If you have any questions, would like to schedule a free professional organizing telephone consultation, or would like Jodie Watson to speak at your next corporate function, group meeting, social event, or retreat, call at (818) 590-7800. You can also contact Jodie on Facebook and Twitter or visit her website at Supreme Organization.

Marvel’s “Thor” To Hit Theaters In 3D Next Year

Director Kenneth Branagh Makes His Case For 3D At Comic-Con

Although he has starred in a wide variety of films, from Wild Wild West to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to Pirate Radio, Kenneth Branagh’s work as a director mostly comprises his several critically acclaimed adaptations of William Shakespeare’s plays. So you might be somewhat surprised to discover that Branagh is currently helming the next Marvel Studios superhero movie, which is slated to hit theaters in May of next year.

Simply entitled Thor, the new movie expands the Marvel universe (also occupied by more familiar heroes like Iron Man), to include the Olympus-like realm of Asgard. As punishment for arrogance and reckless behavior, The Mighty Thor is cast out of Asgard, and forced to live on Earth among humans, where he becomes a superhero. And while none of that sounds particularly far-fetched in the world of super hero movies, the story does get more interesting.

Like many other big action movies slated for 2010 or 2011 release, Thor will be presented in 3D. But unlike many directors (Michael Bay, James Cameron) who have expressed concern about the 3D conversion process, Kenneth Branagh is convinced that 3D conversion will add another dimension to his film, and not just in the obvious way. On Saturday July 24^th, Branagh and the cast of Thor will address the attendees of the Comic-Con International expo, both to introduce the new film and to make an argument for 3D.

As tech-savvy Comic-Con attendees are likely to know, the conversion process that turns an ordinary 2D film into a 3D film transfer has been widely criticized, partially because it is theoretically inferior to using a 3D camera (a la Avatar), and partially because movie studios have been pressuring directors to approve last-minute 3D film transfers because the increased ticket prices for 3D movies yield bigger numbers at the box office. But Marvel and Branagh believe that, when done right (a la Alice in Wonderland) the process of 3D conversion can turn 2D film into a convincing 3D experience. According to Branagh, Thor will use 3D not just as a gimmick, but as a “good friend of story and character,” an artistic opportunity to make the movie better. Although Branagh admits to initial skepticism about 3D, he now believes the technology can yield “another draft of the story that can reveal itself in a different way.”

Branagh’s approach to 3D seems to be refreshingly responsible. Branagh’s use of 3D effects in Thor was governed by some pretty reasonable question that many directors of 3D movies haven’t seemed to ask themselves. Is the use of 3D led by story, or the other way around? Can 3D offer a different type of experience, and add something to the story? Branagh believes it can. According to Marvel, the studio has taken an unprecedented amount of time and care in the conversion process, assuring fans that Thor will not resemble the last-minute slap-dash 3D that brought criticism to Warner’s Clash of the Titans. Is 3D a fading fad, or here to stay? It’s up to you to decide.

The best part about connecting with our customers is learning how people are actually using our service to reconnect with their memories and family’s history. Afterall, it’s not about photo scanning or video transfers, it’s about preserving precious memories. To celebrate these stories, we’ll share a particular customer’s photo each month. Our Customer Spotlight this month, highlights one very special customer…Jodis Strother!

Jodis lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two children Riley, 6, and Ava, 4, and dog Max. As she hysterically puts it, she’s “a (never) stay(s)s-at-home mom.”Jodis was motivated to use our services because of her grandmother. “She and my grandfather have lots of old photos that are beginning to fade and that we wanted to be able to share with the family. ScanDigital was the perfect way to preserve and restore these precious photos for ALL of the family.”

The photo shown here shows her grandmother and her classmates. “I love seeing her carefree smile and it gives me the tiniest look into her world before being the great-grandmother of nine children!”

We’re so glad to have helped with Jodis’s preservation project. Now her family history will be protected forever. “The original photos are now safe at Grandma’s and the rest of the family has the gift of being able to share these memories with one another.”

In regards to working with ScanDigital, she admits at first she was nervous, but was quickly relieved with our constant communication. “Once I sent off the photos I LOVED the updates that let me know that they arrived and what steps of the process they were in. I really felt like my photos were being well-cared for. The turnaround time was quick and the results were spectacular.”

If you have a particular image or story that you’d like to share with us- we’d love to hear it about it! Please contact Pamela at weiss@scandigital.com to tell your tale. And as always, you can connect with us on Facebook or Twitter too. Hope to hear from you soon!

Lost Picasso Painting Sells For Over $106 Million

“Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust” Breaks World Record

In the modern world of digital photography, photo scanning, and computer back-up drives, the notion of a “lost image” seems foreign. But a Picasso painting called “Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur” (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust) was considered lost until recently, when it surfaced as part of the private collection of the late Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody, who died last November. Brody was the wife of real estate developer Sidney F. Brody; the couple amassed a large collection of art during the 1940s and 1950s, and most of it has remained in their home ever since.

When the “lost” painting was auctioned as part of the Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale (which brought in a total of over $335 million) it fetched a record-breaking $106,482,500, the biggest sum ever paid for a single work of art. The Brody collection also broke the Christie’s record for the highest total achieved at a single-owner sale.

The sensuous painting comes from the acclaimed series of paintings from 1932 depicting Picasso’s muse and mistress, Marie-Therese Walter. As the most anticipated piece to come to market from private hands in the last ten years, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” had a unique appeal in that it was considered lost for many years. Experts considered the painting lost because it had never been published in color, and because its whereabouts where unconfirmed for years. Now, thanks to photo scanning technology, you don’t have to pay $106 million to get a glimpse of this stunning painting.

In 2004, a 1905 Picasso painting called “Garcon a la Pipe” (Boy with Pipe) fetched $104,168,000. But Picasso briefly lost the title of biggest money-maker when Alberto Giacometti’s 1960 work “L’Homme Qui Marche I, bronze” (Walking Man 1) sold for $104,327,006 earlier this year.

Picasso regained his title when the lead Christie’s auctioneer, Christopher Burge, sold “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” for $95 million. After the buyer’s premium was added (the auction house fee) the total price came to over $106.5 million. The bidding included eight clients, and took only nine minutes. When the price reached 88 million, only two clients remained, and it seems this one-on-one shootout helped raise the selling price. The name of the buyer has not been disclosed at this time.

Best Buy Employee Suspended For YouTube Video

iPhone Spoof Viewed By Nearly 4 Million

One of the most popular digital video transfers on YouTube this week has been an animated satire of iPhone zealots, made by a 25-year-old Best Buy employee named Brian Maupin. This snarky cartoon has been viewed nearly 4 million times since Maupin uploaded it on Thursday June 24^th. In the video, a cutesy cartoon iPhone fanboy with a computerized voice attempts to purchase an iPhone 4. The store clerk informs the would-be customer that he’s all out of iPhones, but has another popular smartphone, the HTC Evo, in stock. What follows is a comical (though somewhat foul-mouthed) conversation in which the store clerk explains ways in which the Evo is the superior device, and the iPhone-seeker dismisses the clerk’s points in monotones, simply repeating “I don’t care.”

“(The HTC Evo) has a bigger screen”
“(The HTC Evo) has a bigger screen”
“I don’t care.”
“The Internet speeds are around three times faste”
“I don’t care.”
“It has a higher resolution camera on both the front and the back.”
“I don’t care.”
“The monthly bill is lower.”
“I don’t care.”
“It can grant up to the three wishes, even if one of them is for an iPhone.”
“I don’t care.”

And so on. Maupin, an aspiring film-maker, should be on cloud nine right now, with so much attention being drawn to his work. But much to Maupin’s surprise, his fifteen minutes of fame nearly cost him his job. He began working for Best Buy in 2007, the same year that Apple launched the first iPhone. One week after he posted the digital video transfer of his cartoon on YouTube, Maupin was suspended from his job for making a video that mocks uninformed customers.

It is clear that Maupin’s intention was for comedy and not brand loyalty – he made a similar video explaining why the iPhone is the better choice. And Best Buy was not named in either video. But Maupin’s employers failed to see the humor that over 4 million others have seen in the videos. In an interview with TechCrunch, Maupin explained why he was suspended.

“They felt it disparaged a brand they carried,” he said, “as well as the store itself, and were fearful of stockholders and customers being turned off to Best Buy Mobile.” Best Buy asked Maupin to quit, but he refused. He was then informed of his suspension, while his future employment prospects would be decided by Best Buy’s human resources department.

Perhaps in the wake of so much negative attention, Best Buy ultimately asked Maupin to return to work. Maupin has not yet decided if he will return to his job.

To see Maupin’s YouTube channel, click here.

Surprising American Flag History

This Year Marks 50th Anniversary of 50-Star Flag, Designed By High School Student

Each year, the 4^th of July brings people together for fireworks, backyard barbecues, and celebrations of Americana in the form of red-white-and-blue everything, from clothing and decorations to candy wrappers and coupons. And along with the miniature flags, weekend sales, and History Channel specials, Independence Day has a tendency to drum up some great little stories about our great big nation. Our favorite this year focused on the American flag as we know it today, with fifty stars for the fifty nifty states. But where did this design come from?

The origin of the American flag is shrouded in mystery. According to the (widely disputed) legend, George Washington presented a pencil sketch to a seamstress named Betsy Ross, who sewed the first American flag based on Washington’s design. There is very little evidence to support this story, though we do know that Ross’s design is one of the oldest. And we know for certain that the flag we fly today came from… a homework assignment?

  The above photo, which has been scanned to digital for preservation, shows President Dwight Eisenhower holding the newly adopted 50-star flag. It was designed in 1958 by Robert Heft, a 17-year-old high school student from Ohio. In response to an assignment to create something based on an original concept, Heft disassembled his grandparents’ 48-star flag, and created the 50-star design now in use, featuring five rows of six stars, alternating with four rows of five stars. In 1958, Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states, but Heft knew that it was only a matter of time until they were granted statehood. He also knew that the 48-star flag, which had flown for 46 years, would need a redesign for the first time in nearly half a century.

Heft’s teacher, Stan Pratt, gave Heft a B- for his efforts, apparently unimpressed with Heft’s flag. Somewhat jokingly, Pratt promised that he’d change the grade to an A if Congress ever adopted Heft’s flag design. Heft took that challenge to his congressman Rep. Walter Moeller, who submitted it (among the 1,500 other entries) before Congress once Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the union.

In 1960, Heft received a phone call from President Dwight Eisenhower, who informed him that his design had been chosen to be the next flag of the United States. On July 4^th, 1960, Heft joined the president in Washington, D.C. to attend to adoption ceremony of his flag. On that day, the flag that Heft sewed at his grandparents’ house was flown atop the U.S. Capitol dome. And – perhaps most satisfying of all – Heft’s teacher gave him that A after all.

For more flag history, and to see more pictures of flags that have been scanned to digital, visit http://www.usa-flag-site.org/history.shtml.

Getty Photography Exhibit Depicts Truth And Artistry

Documentary Photography Since The Sixties

In an era when digital video streams seem to come at us from all sides, a powerful new exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum reminds us that still images still have the ability to command our attention and make us think. Entitled Engaged Oberservers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties, the installation provides and in-depth look at projects by some of the most significant photographers of the last 40 years. At the center of this exhibition is “The Sacrifice” (a detail of which has been scanned to digital above), a massive photo collage by James Nachtwey, depicting intense scenes from military field hospitals in Iraq. The piece is sure to evoke a wide range of emotions, from simple curiosity, to sadness and anger, guilt, pride, and compassion. Like many other works featured, “The Sacrifice” presents vivid and sometimes graphic images that may be too intense emotionally and visually for children, but which provide a rich historical context for anyone interested in understanding more about the world.

James Nachtwey is one of many photographers who, in the decades following the second world war, began to develop what the Los Angeles Times called an “independently minded and critically engaged form of photography.” This new documentary photography combined photo journalism with the individual photographer’s artistic vision to create extended photographic essays that were both personal and global in content.

The individual pictures that compose “The Sacrifice” seize the viewer’s attention with intimate moments – we see the desperation in the eyes of a soldier, the compassion in a chaplain’s hand. But it is the enormity of the juxtaposed images pressed together that gives a sense of scale to the loss and suffering, making the experience at once personal and all-encompassing. 

Engaged Oberservers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties will be on display through November 14^th, 2010. Other featured photographers in the exhibit include Philip Jones Griffiths, Leonard Freed, W. Eugene and Aileen M. Smith, Susan Meiselas, Mary Ellen Mark, Lauren Greenfield, Larry Towell, and Sebastião Salgado. To see more photos from the exhibit that have been scanned to digital, visit http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/engaged_observers/