SXSW May Put Online Harassment in the Spotlight

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SXSW Interactive might include a daylong event on combating online harassment, Re/code reported Tuesday.

The news followed SXSW's cancellation of two planned panels that were expected to focus on opposite ends of the Gamergate debate.

Threats of on-site violence spurred the decision to cancel both panels, according to SXSW officials.

Caroline Sinders of IBM Watson, Katherine Cross of the CUNY Graduate Center, and Randi Harper, founder of the Online Abuse Prevention Initiative, were slated to speak at SXSW in March during a session titled "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games."

Even if the event organizers should reinstate "Level Up," the participants have not decided whether they would speak at SXSW, Harper told Re/code.

The other cancelled session, "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community," was sponsored by the Open Gaming Society.

In the week following the announcement of the two sessions, "SXSW has received numerous threats of on-site violence related to this programming," said Hugh Forrest, the director of SXSW Interactive, in explaining the cancellation decision.

SXSW takes pride in offering a place for diverse ideas and people, but preserving the "sanctity of the big tent" requires keeping the dialogue "civil and respectful," he said.

"If people cannot agree, disagree and embrace new ways of thinking in a safe and secure place that is free of online and offline harassment, then this marketplace of ideas is inevitably compromised," said Forrest.

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Walmart Catches the Drone Delivery Bug

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Walmart on Monday filed a request with the Federal Aviation Administration to begin deploying commercial drones to transport goods from outside vendors to its distribution centers, as well as to customers' homes.

The company, which has been testing drones in indoor flights, wanted an exemption in order to deploy small unmanned aircraft systems, wrote Shekar Natarajan, Walmart vice president, logistics strategy, in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. Its goal was to create a more efficient delivery system to move merchandise.

"With this application, Walmart seeks to continue its role in not only making the present distribution system more efficient, but also to conduct research and development to support the future extension of that distribution directly to customers by using UAS for deliveries to customers at Walmart facilities, as well as to consumer homes," explained Natarajan.

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Using Tech to Fix the Horrid US Political Debates

I Watched with interest last week's Republican debate and realized very quickly that whatever that was on my TV, it sure as hell wasn't an actual debate. The idea is for us to be able to compare the qualifications and positions of a variety of candidates and then make a more informed choice -- but if every candidate is asked a different question, then how do we compare the answers?

Also, wouldn't the best debate require having all of the candidates on stage? It often seems that the candidates are all debating folks from the other party who aren't in the same room they are.

Seriously, wouldn't this work better if it were more like a good job interview? First you have a set of focused events, during which you ask pointed questions about individual backgrounds. Then you put the folks who survive that process on stage, and ask about how they'd apply their skills to real problems. From that group, you choose the best.

It seems strange that Americans likely put more rigor into hiring a gardener than in selecting the next leader of the free world. Tech could fix that.

I'll close with my product of the week: the TiVo Bolt, which is clearly the best DVR ever built -- and it has to be to compete with the cord-cutter solutions

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Gadget Ogling: Smarter Smartphone Gaming, Modular Watches, and Vampiric Charging Cables

Welcome, one and all, to another edition of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that somehow musters the energy to scour the latest in gadget announcements for those that deserve our praise or scorn, while still full of turkey from this week's Canadian Thanksgiving.

In our post-poultry bliss, we look at a smartphone with a focus on encryption, a modular smartwatch, a game controller for mobile devices, and a cable to power your own device with someone else's.

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Salesforce's Message to Europe

SAlesforce last week said it would invest US$100 million in emerging sales force partners in Europe. The company previously announced a similar program for the Americas, and it hopes to discover valuable new companies and business solutions.



Paul Greenberg and the team at CRM Idol (of which I have been a part) have been doing the same thing -- trying to discover interesting emerging companies in the CRM space for several years now, minus the money.

Even without millions of bucks at stake, the casting call always brings in some cool ideas from around the world, so I have no doubt there are plenty of companies in Europe that will vie for a chance at an investment.

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PRM's Next Act

Partner relationship management, or PRM, has seen its ups and downs over the first part of this century.



Running an indirect channel is vitally important to any vendor trying to extend its reach without incurring the high costs of building up a sales team and all that supports it. Many vendors figure it's more economical to pay partners for performance than to endure the corporate buildout, and they have a good point.

That said, it's important to understand that the indirect channel isn't for every business. Some need to field large sales teams to ensure that their messages are delivered accurately. This is especially true where a vendor continuously has to bring to market new products that need to be sold rather than purchased.

One great example is pharmaceuticals, where patents give the inventor a set number of years to exploit a new drug. After the patent expires, the secondary market can make and distribute very similar products. Doctors and allied healthcare professionals really need the continuous education that pharmaceutical reps provide.

That's not the case with a wide variety of products and services that may not be on any particular patent and that approach commodity status except that they have specific attributes that might be key to assemblies of larger offerings -- for instance, electric motors.

No, they're not all the same and specific applications call for very specific types. If you're in such a market, selling through an indirect channel makes a great deal of sense.

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Sony Shears PS4's Price

Sony last week knocked US$50 off the price of the PlayStation 4, putting the console on par with the $349 Xbox from rival Microsoft.

A cost cut also went into effect in Canada, where the price dropped from Sony's recommended price point of CA$449.99 to $429.99.

Touting upcoming multiplatform games Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Star Wars: Battlefront, Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Shawn Layden asserted that there never has been a better time to pick up the PS4.

Sony is delivering on its commitment to make the PS4 the "best place to play," he said, by cutting its MSRP and putting the console within reach of more consumers heading into the holidays.

The highly anticipated PS4 exclusive, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was still "on the horizon" after being delayed a while back, Layden noted.

That delay left Sony touting exclusive content on multiplatform games, such as timed exclusivity on Black Ops 3 DLC, noted George T. Chronis, director of qualitative analysis at DFC Intelligence.

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