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Twitter’s Dick Costolo Stepping Down as CEO

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In this Jan. 8, 2014 file photo, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo speaks during a panel discussion at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Costolo will step down as CEO of Twitter after almost five years, the company and Costolo announced Thursday, June 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

In this Jan. 8, 2014 file photo, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo speaks during a panel discussion at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Costolo will step down as CEO of Twitter after almost five years, the company and Costolo announced Thursday, June 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

BRANDON BAILEY, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, who helped turn the trendy messaging startup into a global town square, is stepping down amid criticism over the company’s disappointing financial performance and a recent stock slide.

Co-founder Jack Dorsey, who served as CEO during Twitter’s early years, will temporarily take the reins while the San Francisco company looks for a permanent replacement.

Investors greeted the move with enthusiasm, driving Twitter shares up nearly 6 percent in late trading after the announcement Thursday afternoon. Both Dorsey and Costolo, however, expressed confidence in the company’s direction and said the board isn’t seeking major changes.

“I believe in the course the company is on and the management team’s ability to fulfill that and execute on it,” Dorsey, who is also board chairman, said during a joint conference call with Costolo and Wall Street analysts.

Both men characterized Costolo’s departure, effective July 1, as voluntary. The 51-year-old Costolo said he began talking with Twitter directors about leaving last year, although he did not say what he plans to do next. He will not receive any severance package.

Costolo had been Twitter’s CEO for five years and led the company through a successful stock market debut in 2013. Though he once worked as a stand-up comedian, Costolo has a degree in computer science and led three earlier tech startups, including one that he sold to Google. He was hired as chief operating officer for Twitter in 2009, three years after its launch.

His efforts to turn the once-quirky messaging service into a significant industry player, and a major venue for online advertising, made Costolo a respected figure in Silicon Valley. Two years ago, Time magazine named him “one of the most influential minds in tech.”

But even though Twitter Inc. had $1.4 billion in revenue last year, primarily from digital ads, it hasn’t made a profit as a public company. And its shares have not recovered since they lost almost a third of their value after the company’s last quarterly financial report in April, when it missed Wall Street revenue estimates and prompted some analysts to question the company’s leadership.

At that time, the company also lowered its financial outlook. On Thursday, Dorsey said the company is making no further changes in its financial projections.

While Twitter reported 301 million monthly users in the first quarter of this year, up 18 percent from a year earlier, it hasn’t seen the kind of growth that its bigger rival Facebook has enjoyed.

Under Costolo, the company introduced new advertising products and user features, including Periscope, which allows users to post live streaming video. But if its fans are fiercely loyal, critics say newcomers still find it daunting to learn Twitter’s quirky terminology and customs.

“The vast majority of people who signed up no longer use the service,” said Nate Elliott, a social media analyst at Forrester Research. “They need to do a much better job at giving people a reason to come back every day and making marketers happy.”

“There were lingering concerns among some investors around the leadership capabilities of Mr. Costolo,” added stock analyst Colin Sebastian of RW Baird, in a note to clients after the announcement.

Costolo will remain on Twitter’s board of directors. Dorsey said the company will consider internal and external candidates for his permanent replacement.

According to a company filing, the board won’t decide until later this year if he is to receive extra pay for taking on the CEO duties. The 38-year-old Dorsey said he’ll also continue to run Square, the payment processing startup he founded after a previous stint as Twitter’s CEO ended in 2008.

Costolo tweeted about the change Thursday afternoon. Greeting Dorsey by his Twitter handle, Costolo wrote “Welcome back, @jack” and linked to the official Twitter announcement.

While Dorsey said a search committee will set criteria for selecting the next CEO, he added, “We’re looking for someone who really uses and loves the product.”

___

Technology Writer Mae Anderson contributed from New York.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Community

Advanced Conductors Provide Path for Grid Expansion

Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Photo courtesy UC Berkeley News.
Photo courtesy UC Berkeley News.

By Matthew Burciaga

UC Berkeley News

Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Led by Duncan Callaway, professor and chair of the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), and Amol Phadke, an affiliate and senior scientist at the Goldman School of Public Policy, the first-of-its-kind study details a faster and more cost-effective way to expand the grid and connect the more than 1,200 gigawatts of renewable energy projects awaiting approval. The analysis was first published last December as a working paper by the Energy Institute at Haas and has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington PostHeatmap News, and other news outlets.

“Expanding transmission capacity is critical to decarbonization, and we sought to study ways to build it faster and cheaper,” said Callaway.

It currently takes 10 to 15 years to build a new power line and the U.S. is building transmission lines at a lower rate than it was in the past decade. Without sufficient capacity, renewable energy projects often sit in limbo for years as transmission operators study what upgrades—if any—are needed to accommodate the increased loads.

The authors modeled various scenarios to determine if replacing existing transmission conductors with those made with advanced composite-core materials—a process known as reconductoring—could provide a pathway to faster grid expansion. 

Several reconductoring projects have been initiated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and utility companies in the U.S. have used the material to string transmission lines across wide spans like river crossings. That technology, however, has not made its way to the majority of overhead power lines that feed residential and commercial customers.

“As we learned more about the technology, we realized that no one had done the detailed modeling needed to understand the technology’s potential for large-scale transmission capacity increases,” said Phadke.

Based on the authors’ projections, it is cheaper—and quicker—for utility companies to replace the 53,000 existing transmission lines with advanced composite-core materials than it is to build entirely new transmission lines.

They assert that doing so would reduce wholesale electricity costs by 3% to 4% on average—translating to $85 billion in system cost savings by 2035 and $180 billion by 2050.

“The level of interest we’ve received from federal and state agencies, transmission companies and utilities is extremely encouraging, and since our initial report, the Department of Energy has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to reconductoring projects,” said co-author Emilia Chojkiewicz, a PhD student in ERG and an affiliate of the Goldman School of Public Policy. “We are looking forward to learning about these projects as they unfold.”

Additional co-authors include Nikit Abhyankar and Umed Paliwal, affiliates at the Goldman School of Public Policy; and Casey Baker and Ric O’Connell of GridLab, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive technical grid expertise to policy makers and advocates.

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Black History

A Life of Inventions: Engineer and Physicist George Alcorn

George Edward Alcorn Jr. was born on March 22, 1940, in Indianapolis. Growing up in a family that valued education, Alcorn developed an early love for science and mathematics. He excelled in school, and attended Occidental College in California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1962. He received a master’s degree in nuclear physics in 1963 and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics in 1967 at Howard University.

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Portrait of George Edward Alcorn Jr. Debbie McCallum, Public domain.
Portrait of George Edward Alcorn Jr. Debbie McCallum, Public domain.

By Tamara Shiloh

George Edward Alcorn Jr. was born on March 22, 1940, in Indianapolis.

Growing up in a family that valued education, Alcorn developed an early love for science and mathematics. He excelled in school, and attended Occidental College in California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1962. He received a master’s degree in nuclear physics in 1963 and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics in 1967 at Howard University.

Alcorn began his career in developing scientific technology in private industries, starting a career as a physicist for IBM. His career took off when he joined several prestigious companies and research institutions, such as the Aerospace Corporation, where he developed important technologies for spacecraft. In 1978, he accepted a position at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he worked for the remainder of his career. There, he developed technologies for space stations and private institutions across the nation, becoming a key figure in the field of physics and space exploration.

Alcorn is well known for his groundbreaking work on X-ray spectrometers. An X-ray spectrometer is a device used to identify different elements in materials by analyzing the X-ray wavelengths they emit. His improvements allowed the instrument to detect X-rays with greater accuracy and efficiency. This invention has been critical for NASA’s space missions, aiding in the analysis of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, including Mars and other planets in our solar system.

He also contributed to the development of plasma etching, a process used in manufacturing microchips for computers and electronics. His work in this area advanced semiconductor technology, which powers everything from smartphones to satellites.

 Another accomplishment was the development of new technologies used in the Freedom space station in partnership with space agencies in Japan, Canada and Europe, though their projects never made it to space.

Throughout his career, Alcorn received several awards and honors, including NASA’s Inventor of the Year Award in 1984. In 2010, he received the highest honor from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2015, Alcorn was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his invention of the imaging X-ray spectrometer.

 In addition to his work in the lab, Alcorn dedicated much of his time to teaching and mentoring young scientists. As one of the few African American scientists working in advanced fields like physics and space exploration, he has been an inspiration to young people, especially those from underrepresented groups in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). He taught at Howard University and worked to encourage more African Americans to pursue careers in science and engineering.

George is quoted as stating, “The big thing about being in science and engineering is that if you have a good, interesting project going, work is not coming to work, it’s coming to an adventure.”

George Edward Alcorn passed away June 19, 2024.

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Gov. Newsom Touts California Economic Success

In a 20-minute interview on Oct. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California’s economy is in great shape due to achievements in certain areas. The Governor was speaking at the 2024 California Economic Summit event hosted by California Forward in Sacramento. It was attended by more than 100 leaders from industry, community, and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom. File photo.
Gov. Gavin Newsom. File photo.

By Antonio Ray Harvey

In a 20-minute interview on Oct. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California’s economy is in great shape due to achievements in certain areas.

The Governor was speaking at the 2024 California Economic Summit event hosted by California Forward in Sacramento. It was attended by more than 100 leaders from industry, community, and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

“It is an exciting and dynamic time,” said Newsom. “Thirty-two of the top 50 AI companies are all here in California. We dominate in tourism – record breaking tourism last year.”

“It isn’t by accident that California is an economic powerhouse,” Newsom continued. “Whether it be around education, infrastructure, or immigration, we’re following a formula for success.”

In Newsom’s overview of the state’s economy, he didn’t include why two companies decided to leave for the state of Texas. SpaceX and Chevron announced their departures over the summer.

Billionaire Elon Musk is moving the headquarters of his companies X and SpaceX from San Francisco to Texas. After 140 years of doing business in California, Chevron is heading to the southwestern state as well.

Chevron employs 2,000 workers in San Ramon. It operates crude oil fields, technical facilities, two refineries, and services more than 1,800 retail stations in California.

“There will be minimal immediate relocation impacts to other employees currently based in San Ramon. The company expects all corporate functions to migrate to Houston over the next five years. Positions in support of the company’s California operations will remain in San Ramon,” Chevron shared in an Aug. 2 press release.

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