Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site

Recently Palo Alto Networks released the fall edition of their Application Usage and Risk Report: An Analysis of End User Application Trends in the Enterprise. There are definitely some interesting findings within the report, and I wanted to highlight some of the more noteworthy ones from the perspective of NewsGator, particularly NewsGator Social Sites for Microsoft SharePoint. For instance the report finds that 91% of organizations they polled were using SharePoint, up dramatically from the 37% of organizations who reported using SharePoint in the spring 2009 version of their report. (In addition, their analysis shows a "staggering" 48% year-over-year growth in the market share ... Read Full Story

Grim news hit this university town in late October just two days before a PTA forum on teenage stress: A fourth Palo Alto teen had died after stepping in front of a commuter train in less than six months. With hundreds of parents crowding the forum, school Superintendent Kevin Skelly told the anxious gathering that the latest death was "a cruel irony" because city officials were working to prevent another tragedy. Experts have struggled to understand what generates clusters of teen suicides, a phenomenon that breaks into a community's awareness when they occur in a public place, as they did in Palo Alto. But ... Read Full Story

A Veterans Administration probe that found eight veterans suffered potentially preventable vision loss while under the care of optometrists at a Northern California VA facility is prompting medical groups to call for a state investigation. The groups sent a petition Wednesday to the California Department of Consumer Affairs seeking an evaluation of the care received by the veterans at VA Palo Alto. The patients had glaucoma, a class of eye diseases that can lead to blindness. The California Medical Association, California Academy of Eye Physicians & Surgeons and American Glaucoma Society want the state to suspend a new state law set to take effect ... Read Full Story

KEEPING THE FAITH IN SILICON VALLEY> Spirits are high and ideas are flowing in the cubicles of one startup incubator For months, Saeed Amidi has heard all the talk of doom and gloom in Silicon Valley. Layoffs are on the rise, venture capital investments are plunging, and tech startups are closing their doors. But Amidi doesn't see that pessimism in his own business, a Valley-based incubator called Plug and Play Tech Center. "People are really excited about starting new companies," says Amidi, co-founder and chief executive of the center. In June alone, some 30 startups moved in, bringing the total to more than 220 ... Read Full Story

Tesla Motors will open a new power train production facility and corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., as the electric-car maker moves to expand production after a recent award of government loans, the company said Tuesday. The three-building facility at the Stanford Research Park will build components for Tesla's electric vehicles as well as parts for other automakers. The facility will employ some 350 people with space for up to 650. The carmaker, which currently builds the $109,000 Roadster sports car, is working on additional vehicles to target more mainstream drivers. In March, it unveiled the Model S electric sedan, a seven-seater that it ... Read Full Story