Generally, you don’t see the first spy shots of a new device coming from the company itself, but Microsoft isn’t really following all that many of the rules with its Surface lineup of house-built Windows hardware. That’s why it makes a certain kind of sense that the first look at what could be a Surface Book 2 comes from none other than Microsoft’s own official… Read More
Fans of the Microsoft Surface Book are aflutter after an image Microsoft posted to its Instagram page appears to show a new version of the high-end computer. The image appears to show a Surface Book with a different hinge design under the screen and above the keyboard. The first image in the story here is a comparison of the image … Continue reading
Google has rolled out an update to the Google wallet app that will make it easier to get the money you are sent from other users into your bank account, the new feature is an automatic transfer that no longer requires you to cash out money from your Wallet balance. The new feature is meant to decrease the time it … Continue reading
Remember those weird dark streaks that NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found last September? These recurring slope lineae (RSL), as they’re called, were originally thought to contain liquid water. On Mars, liquid water would obviously be a huge de…
Zorro appeared during the evacuation at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night, and he didn’t receive a hero’s welcome.
Instead, officers with guns drawn ordered the unidentified man, who was dressed in a Zorro costume complete with plastic sword, to get down on the ground.
LAX confirmed that the man had been apprehended.
The man was reportedly just an actor in the wrong place at the very wrong time. He told CBS in Los Angeles that he had just come from an audition and was waiting for his ride. He didn’t have time to change out of his costume, the station said.
“The next thing I know, [the police are] all over me,” he said.
Next time, dude, put away the getup.
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Nicole Opas/Zynga
Nicole Opas is a games and entertainment industry veteran with 15+ years of experience building and operating games and gaming networks for major companies including Zynga, Disney, AOL and Sony. As the General Manager of Zynga’s newest mobile game, FarmVille: Tropic Escape, Opas is responsible for business growth and goals; oversight of live operations; and driving a unifying product vision to create the best player experience and business outcomes through excellence in execution. Opas joined Zynga in 2011 and has worked on several successful mobile and web games for the company including Zynga Poker, CastleVille Legends and Zynga Bingo.
Prior to Zynga, Opas was responsible for developing an online community of youth gamers on Disney.com and led production of branded casual games across The Walt Disney Company including Toy Story 3, Up, Hannah Montana and Tangled. During her tenure at AOL, Opas created and executed promotional programs to attract and retain visitors to AOL’s casual gaming site including The Sims Online and the first World Series of Poker multi-player online game.
Opas received a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I’ve learned throughout my personal and professional life to not only recognize when opportunities are in front of me, but to have the confidence to take risks in order to pursue them. Now as a leader myself, I’ve come to realize that there were great people creating many of those opportunities for me, so I try to emulate that leadership model for our team. I believe one of the greatest leadership qualities you can possess is a passion to empower those around you.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Zynga?
Working at AOL, I was inspired by their vision to bring the internet into millions of homes. At Disney, I had the opportunity to create great entertainment and work alongside incredible creative talent. While different, both of those experiences blended together perfectly to prepare me for my tenure at Zynga where we are delivering engaging and truly unique experiences, like FarmVille: Tropic Escape, to millions of people around the world.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Zynga?
At Zynga I’ve been able to make games that I truly love to play. From Zynga Poker to CastleVille: Legends to FarmVille: Tropic Escape, I’m driven by the opportunity to create immersive entertainment experiences that are a part of my daily life outside of work. The most rewarding aspect of my job is hearing the stories of connection that people have made in our games. Whether it’s staying in touch with family overseas or meeting the love of their life, the mobile gaming platform is truly unique in how it’s able to so easily, and meaningfully, bring people together.
At the same time, the mobile gaming industry is incredibly dynamic and fast-paced. In just the last six months, there’s been tremendous excitement and innovation around mobile games that are pushing the boundaries of technology and social. While it’s a highly competitive landscape, the opportunity to innovate and make an impact on people’s everyday lives is an opportunity that I’m incredibly excited about.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
Put yourself into a mindset that you CAN work in games. If you have a passion to create interactive entertainment, tell stories, give people aspiration and joy, you can absolutely have a career in gaming. I recommend for women who are seeking engineering or design roles, to explore accessible tools to make some games on your own. For artists, one of the best things you can do is to study the variety of art styles in games and understand that the coding side of game making is actually an amazing blend of art and science.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
Great people with great chemistry make for the best products and teams. As a leader, the most important things you can do are to establish a supportive and enthusiastic culture, bring smart and driven people into it and work together in setting a vision to achieve.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I set my work and personal goals as equal priority. I had a serious medical emergency about four years ago that really changed my perspective about work/life balance. I realized that my health and personal life require equal focus and energy as work. Since then, I’ve developed a healthy balance that has made me more productive at work and happier in my life.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Having good female role models and mentors to look to for inspiration and guidance. One way that I think we can address this is to ensure that both women and men are advocating for visible female leadership at all levels in an organization.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Mentorship has been enormously impactful on my professional and personal life. Whether it’s someone to bounce ideas off of, a trusted resource for perspective or a person who can help open critical doors along your path, I’m a huge advocate for mentorship.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I have a dear friend and mentor, Caren Scoropanos, who is the National Director of Alumni and Cause Marketing at KPMG. I met Caren in my first role in games and she has been a mentor and role model to me ever since. Not only is she a smart and driven woman, she takes on great responsibilities and projects while putting her family and friends first. But what I admire most is that she has a huge heart for the people she works with, especially those who work for her. She taught me the most important lesson I’ve learned as a manager, which is to appreciate and foster the unique talents and capabilities of the people around you.
What do you want Zynga to accomplish in the next year?
At Zynga we are focused on building a world class studio and innovative creative culture which is informing everything we do, from the way we design and staff our teams to creating the best gaming moments possible for our players.
As mobile continues to grow, we’re seeing more and more the impact of female mobile gamers on the broader gaming industry. Taking into account this growing player demographic, every element of FarmVille: Tropic Escape was designed with players in mind, including our very own team which features women in every studio role, from producer to engineer to designer. The diverse team composition reflects our thoughtful approach to putting our players first as we create new game experiences. I’m excited to see how this approach will translate into the experiences Zynga is delivering our players over the coming year.
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As teachers return to the classroom this fall, especially social studies teachers, they face a serious problem. How do you teach about the Presidential election in a responsible way when you know that one of the major party candidates makes statements that are biased, incendiary, insulting, and so out-and-out false that many members of his own party refuse to support his candidacy?
I believe our obligation is not to maintain some abstract form of “balance” in the classroom, but to help students become critical thinkers who learn to listen to others, evaluate their statements carefully and respectfully, and support conclusions with evidence. If one of the candidates and his or her supporters are shown to be lacking by this standard, that is the fault of the candidate, not of the teacher. I also think it is legitimate if as part of a democratic classroom discussion a teacher models how to draw conclusions based on evidence by sharing their personal views on the candidates. If you are nervous about this, discuss it with your department and supervisor.
In previous posts I’ve asked teachers to share ideas and materials.
Cary Waxler, Barrington (Illinois) High School: “I, too, am having a crisis of confidence when it comes to how to approaching this difficult topic. As for the “Day 2” lesson plan, may I suggest the possible addition of an excellent article “Paradoxes of the American Presidency” by Thomas Cronin and Michael Genovese? It is excerpted (I use the article in the Lanahan Readings on the American Polity) from a longer book by the same title. I have found it useful when discussing our conflicting, turbulent expectations of an American President. You can find both a scanned copy and a summary online. The summary works just as well. It is valuable to give students a few of these “paradoxes” first and then let them brainstorm new paradoxes.”
Michael Pezone, High School for Law Enforcement, Queens, NY: “My plan is to have students answer the following question in a formal essay: “How would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. vote in the 2016 presidential election?” Choices are: Trump, Clinton, Johnson, Stein, or No Vote. Prior to writing their essays, students will engage in research and discussion to understand and evaluate: the presidency and electoral process; candidate positions on key issues; Dr. King’s political position; the role of money in elections; “lesser evilism”; and low voter turnout.”
Allison Cannavina, Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Syosset NY: “I also am going to focus on the “big picture”: the role of president (can Trump even do what he promises?), workings of the Electoral College, and voter discontent, etc. Some other ideas I will look at in my Government class include Party Realignment/Dealignment. What is the future of the Republican party? Will it hurt or help Republicans if they support Trump (Christie v. Kaisch)? How will Trump affect Republicans in House /Senate elections? “Horserace Journalism: Does the media focus too much on polls? Role of Women: I teach in an all girl school. Why don’t women support Hillary more? (ie Albright comment: “special place in hell…”). Campaign Financing (impact of Citizens United) and PACs. Voter Identification Laws/ Voting Rights Act. Role of Social Media: free speech or hate speech? Role of “Late Night”: ie SNL, Colbert: funny or biased? Intent of the Framers: You discussed (wonderfully!) the opinion of a very dignified George Washington. This Constitution Day I am going to capitalize on the current popularity/interest in Alexander Hamilton. In his writing, he very prophetically warns against demagogues to seek to gain support based on people’s fears. Overall, I am going to emphasize the importance of civil discourse. As both a teacher and a parent, I am disturbed and saddened by the tone of our discourse, and would like to see it raised to a appropriate level: at least in my little world!”
Sally Ackerman (High School of Applied Communication, Queens NY) recommends using the C3 (College, Career, and Civic Life) inquiry design model developed by the National Council for the Social Studies focusing on the question “Do any Political Parties represent me?” She also uses Election Economics and Understanding Fiscal Responsibility found on the website econedlink.org.
Mike Kalin is an English and history teacher at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA. These comments are excerpted from an op-ed posted on the Boston NPR website Cognoscenti. Kalin wrote: “With the election season in full swing and a new school year approaching, educators will soon confront a difficult question: should we share our own political views with students? As a current high school and former middle school teacher, my answer to this question has always been informed by own experiences as a student. Taught by left-leaning teachers and professors in New England who often made demeaning comments about conservatives, I vowed to never insert my opinions when discussing current affairs in my classes. But the ascendancy of Donald Trump during this presidential campaign has challenged this commitment. Trump’s vitriolic rhetoric, and his history of demonizing marginalized groups, obligates teachers to reconsider their beliefs about how to approach civic education. The overtly racist and xenophobic statements that Trump has made throughout his campaign should compel educators to speak up and denounce the remarks . . . Educators must indeed uphold their duty to invite diverse perspectives into student discussions and to avoid suppressing the free exchange of ideas. But we also need to recognize the grave consequences of allowing Trump’s rhetoric to go unchallenged . . . Let’s be honest: A student who frequently made racist and sexist remarks about classmates would end up in the principal’s office, maybe even find himself suspended. We can’t assign Trump a detention, but at the very least, teachers can explain to students that he’s broken the class rules.”
Jonathan Gold, Moses Brown School, Providence, RI: I wrote a similar piece for Teaching Tolerance. I am interested in trying to spread the message, following your argument and mimicking the similar line of thinking emerging in the media, that the discourse of the 2016 election makes it necessary to put aside notions of neutrality, which I actually believe are outdated and misapplied to begin with, and embrace teaching for justice, morality, and rigor. I’m actually excited for this fall because I think this election makes that approach more imperative and justifiable than ever before. Howard Zinn cautions that, in studying history, “it is impossible to be neutral . . . neutrality means accepting the way things are now.” My ambition is for students in my class to want to make change and to develop strong moral views — which means we teachers can’t pretend that we don’t have them. By owning our morality and demanding rigor in our classrooms, we can knowingly, mindfully and progressively develop students’ abilities to articulate and assess the human experience. As the SPLC report notes, “Many teachers feel trapped behind the prevailing assumption that ‘[c]onventional wisdom and common sense dictate that teachers keep their partisan politics out of the classroom.’ But there is a difference between ‘partisan politics’ and anti-racism and anti-bigotry, not to mention between ‘partisan politics’ and scholarly expectations of reasoned logic, use of evidence, and academic rigor. When one candidate’s platform violates the norms of classroom culture and the expectations of academic discourse, it’s incumbent upon teachers to speak up and teach, just as we would if presented with similar behavior from one of our students.”
Rachel Roberson, San Francisco: “I’m a long-time teacher and currently work as news education manager at KQED in San Francisco. KQED and the National Writing Project are relaunching a project called Letters to the Next President 2.0 to give a national platform to teens to speak out about issues that affect their lives. The Letters to the Next President youth publishing site will launch soon. On it, teens can upload text, video, audio or visual letters that are issue-based, not candidate- or party-based. There are other, similar projects going on right now through PBS Election Central, Rock the Vote and other organizations dedicated to getting young people involved in civic life. You probably are familiar with most of these, but I think it’s important to let teachers know about these resources. As your blog so aptly pointed out, this is a tough election year to be a teacher. Making sure teachers are aware of the many ways their students can make their voices heard will help build participation and confidence among educators, as well as get students excited about the election.”
Paul Oren, Journalism Professor, Valparaiso (Indiana) University: I’m teaching a course entitled “Media and the 2016 Election.” I thought I’d chime in with the two books I’m using. For the bulk of the course I’ll be using “Political Campaign Communication” by Trent, Friedenberg and Denton. The book seems to be a good overview in why many things happen from a communication standpoint. I’ll also be using the classic book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.” I plan on using this book after the election is complete and wrapping up the semester with Neil Postman’s book. As for assignments, I don’t have the first clue yet what I’m going to have them do. Any ideas you’ve seen anywhere would be greatly appreciated!
Election resources worth checking out:
New from Amazon: Drumpf for President: A Scary Fable by R. Pieces in e-book and paperback.
From the Singing History Teachers “Trump vs. Clinton (It’s Gonna Be Me) Election Parody”
5-minute Electoral College song with lyrics from Musical Media for Education.
Globalyceum Election 2016: A free suite of 21 high-quality active learning activities meant to help your students stay engaged and informed this upcoming election season.
Follow Alan Singer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReecesPieces8
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Back in 2014, before the first commercial VR headsets hit the market, Chinese company Dexta Robotics was already asking the hard questions: how do you implement user input and interaction without breaking the illusion of an immersive virtual reality world. Although its Dexmo Kickstarter was canceled, the company continued working on the idea of exoskeleton gloves for VR. And based … Continue reading
A group of six scientists has completed a mission in Hawaii conducted for NASA that simulated how humans would live on the surface of Mars. The mission spanned an entire year and during that time, the team had limited communication leaving them in near-isolation the entire time. During the mission, the only time the scientists were able to go outside … Continue reading
Sometimes, behind-the-scenes tech upgrades can make a big difference. New York’s Governor Cuomo reports that an overhaul of the state DMV’s face recognition software in January has led to more than 100 arrests and 900 open investigations so far. Th…
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