Max Levchin has been many things in his long year run in Silicon Valley — PayPal cofounder, Slide founder, angel investor, etc. etc. — but now he’s trying on something more traditional. He’ll be joining Yahoo’s board of directors, in the latest move by the storied web company to reinvigorate itself as a tech leader. Two current members of the board will be stepping away, Intuit CEO Brad Smith and Weather Channel CEO David Kenny. Mayer, who left Google to take over earlier this year, thanks the two in the official statement, noting their help with the Alibaba share repurchase deal. Interestingly, the release also provides a little more detail on Levchin’s stealthy new startup, HVF: “His latest undertaking, HVF, is focused on solving big problems and improving lives by extracting insights from the vast quantities of data around us.” Meanwhile, as Dealbook notes in its scoop about the changes this morning, this is the fourth director change since activist shareholder Daniel Loeb joined in May. The others are are tech and media consultant Michael J. Wolf, and Harry Wilson, an investor and company restructuring expert.
Like so many heroes of the startup world, Anthony Casalena launched Squarespace from his college dorm room. Now, a decade later, the online publishing company employs a team of 100 and serves 1.4 million websites. Praised for its elegant design, Squarespace empowers users (coders and non-coders alike) to easily build and customize professional-quality websites. The newest version, Squarespace 6, launched earlier this year and has been called "beautiful," "awesome," and "downright luxurious." We stole a moment out of Anthony's hectic schedule to talk about his workspace setup, go-to apps, and favorite tunes. Want to know more? Anthony is chatting live for the next hour.
Update: the q&a is closed. Thanks for all the great questions!
Name: Anthony Casalena Occupation: Founder and CEO, Squarespace Location: New York, NY Current computer: MacBook Pro with three 27" cinema displays Current mobile device: iPhone 5
What apps/software/tools can't you live without?
For the most part, I use Squarespace Note connected to Gmail to record thoughts and tasks throughout the day. I also use Reeder, Pocket, and Twitter for keeping up to date with news, and Taskpaper as a personal database. For project management at Squarespace, we use Google Docs and Trello to manage queues and roadmaps. For coding, I use Sublime Text 2 and Eclipse. I still take some notes in a Moleskine during meetings. Pictured at right: Anthony's iPhone homescreen.
What's your best time-saving shortcut / life hack?
My email is my to-do list, and I'm pretty religious about keeping my inbox as close to zero as possible.
So, your favorite to-do list manager?
I use Squarespace Note and my inbox to manage immediate tasks, and Taskpaper to keep a medium-term list. I like having fewer apps, so this works well for me.
What's your workspace like?
I'm constantly trying to eliminate clutter in my life, so you won't find much on my desk beyond my computer, phone, headphones, and a Moleskine notebook. We have an open-plan office, and I sit with team members from engineering and design so they can have easy access to me and vice versa.
What do you listen to while you work?
Unless I'm in meetings, I listen to music while I work. I like everything from hip-hop to the Beatles. I have a pretty extensive personal music collection, so I don't use streaming services. I'm currently listening to a lot of A Tribe Called Quest.
Pictured above: Anthony's desk.
Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can't you live without?
I'm really happy that I invested in a great pair of speakers at home. I have a set of Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamonds that I use every day.
What's your sleep routine like?
I almost never set alarms?maybe like once or twice a year. Even when I really know I have to be somewhere by a certain time, I'm able to wake up naturally. When I was younger, I could never get to sleep, and I'd stay up working all night until 5 to 6AM and wake up anywhere between 12 and 2PM. I keep much more normal hours now, and always try to get six to seven hours of sleep.
What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?
I think it's important to eliminate the distractions in your life to zero in order to have more time to think about what matters. I try to eliminate clutter in all forms: belongings, apps, processes, etc.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Take a moment to celebrate victories. I really enjoy what I do, and sometimes it can be hard to stop and appreciate what we've accomplished.
Is there anything else you want to share with readers?
I'm what you might call an anti-hoarder?my home and office are both very minimalist and free of clutter. I think the Squarespace design philosophy reflects that as well. Our products always maintain a very clean, simple design, and we do our best eliminate the unnecessary.
Want to know more about Anthony? Connect with him on Twitter @acasalena.
The How I Work series asks heroes, experts, brilliant, and flat-out productive people to share their shortcuts, workspaces, routines, and more. Every Wednesday we'll feature a new guest and the gadgets, apps, tips, and tricks that keep them going. Have someone you'd kill to see featured, or questions you think we should ask? Email Tessa.
Dark Ages scourge enlightens modern struggle between man and microbesPublic release date: 13-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Leila Gray leilag@uw.edu 206-685-0381 University of Washington
Scientists discover how Yersinia pestis avoids setting off immune system's early infection-alarm
The plague-causing bacteria Yersinia pestis evades detection and establishes a stronghold without setting off the body's early alarms.
New discoveries reported this week help explain how the stealthy agent of Black Death avoids tripping a self-destruct mechanism inside germ-destroying cells.
The authors of the study, appearing in the Dec. 13 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, are Dr. Christopher N. LaRock of the University of Washington Department of Microbiology and Dr. Brad Cookson, UW professor of microbiology and laboratory medicine.
Normally, certain defender cells are programmed to burst if they are either invaded by or detect the presence of pathogens, Cookson explained. This host defense mechanism called pyroptosis ("going up in flames") eliminates places for the germs to reproduce. As it splits open, the cell spills a cauldron of antimicrobial chemicals and emits signals to alert of an attack and its precise location. Tissues become inflamed as more cells arrive to fight the infection.
The bacteria are widely believed to be behind the great pestilences of the Middle Ages in the 1300s. The pathogen had evolved a tactic to delay provoking people's protective inflammatory response until it was too late. Plague claimed an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of Europe's 14th century population.
"People and pathogens have been in an eternal struggle since the dawn of humanity," Cookson said. With a hand over hand gesture he explained, "Humans continuously ratchet up their defenses, and germs repeatedly find a way around them."
During several medieval epidemics, the plague started in rats. High-jumping fleas transmitted it to and between humans. It commonly caused lymph nodes to rupture. Respiratory forms were more deadly. They damaged the lungs and were spread by sneezing. Plague bacteria in the blood stream ended lives through sepsis, in which the burden of infection overwhelms the body.
Today, the plague-causing bacteria are still circulating in the world. It is held at bay by sanitation measures and drug treatment.
Plague is now rare, with fewer than 15 infections annually in the United States. The number of cases outside the United States is significantly larger, but not precisely known. Plague therefore remains of scientific interest for several reasons.
The Yersinia survival strategy against the programmed death that could kill it and its host cell may offer ideas for vaccine development, Cookson said. At present, no vaccine exists against the plague. Yesinia is of concern as a potential biological warfare pathogen because it can be aerosolized and unsuspectingly breathed into the lungs. Vaccines are being sought to offer widespread public safety, as are methods for enhancing people's overall infection-fighting capacity.
Yersinia's techniques for modulating an inflammatory response also offer scientists an overarching perspective on a fundamental aspect of a variety of important diseases.
"Many medical problems stem from too much or too little inflammatory reaction," Cookson said. People who launch an insufficient inflammatory response, or whose inflammatory response is suppressed by medications, are prone to viral, bacterial and fungal infections.
"On the other hand, excessive or improperly regulated inflammatory responses are responsible for a large number of chronic conditions," Cookson said. These include vascular flare-ups leading to stroke or heart attack, and autoimmune diseases, among them lupus, juvenile diabetes, ulcerative colitis and myasthenia gravis. Severe injury also can promote
life-threatening lung inflammation.
Additionally, plague isn't the only pathogen to enhance its virulence by sidestepping the inflammatory cell death program. Several other dangerous germs do the same, but in different ways.
Usually immune system clean-up cells that have been breached by an infection assemble a molecular platform called an inflammasome. This assembly, the researchers explained, activates a powerful, protein-cleaving enzyme called caspase-1. The enzyme is made ready to go in the presence of noxious stimuli, including germs, inorganic irritants, and pore-forming toxins.
To survive, Yersinia pestis must disarm caspase-1. Until the present study, bacterial molecules that directly modulate the inflammasome had not yet been reported. LaRock and Cookson were able to identify a leucine-rich protein secreted by Yersinia pestis that binds and disables its arch-enemy, the caspase-1 enzyme.
The potent substance, called Yop M, preempts the activity of caspase-1 and sequesters the enzyme to arrest the development of the inflammasome. As a consequence, the cell fails to sacrifice itself to get rid of the Yersinia and to warn other disease-fighting cells of the infection.
According to the researchers, the Yop M-mediated inhibition of caspase-1 is required for Yersinia to subvert immune signaling, delay inflammation and provoke severe illness. Its dual mechanism for blocking inflammatory cell death, by blocking enzymatic activity and inflammasome maturation, is distinctive.
While caspase-1 is helpful in combating a number of other microbial infections, several researchers have reported it to be harmful when its activation is aberrant or poorly controlled. Faulty caspase-1 regulation is implicated in several inflammatory disorders. Learning how pathogens manage caspase-1 to their advantage may suggest treatments to limiting its excess activity.
###
The research was funding by National Institutes of Health research grants HG02360 and AI057141 and National Institute of Health training grant AI055396. The study also received assistance from the Northwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, which seeks countermeasures against pathogens of national importance.
The Dec. 13 Cell Host & Microbe paper is "The Yersinia Virulence Effector YopM Binds Caspase-1 to Arrest Inflammasome Assembly and Processing."
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Dark Ages scourge enlightens modern struggle between man and microbesPublic release date: 13-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Leila Gray leilag@uw.edu 206-685-0381 University of Washington
Scientists discover how Yersinia pestis avoids setting off immune system's early infection-alarm
The plague-causing bacteria Yersinia pestis evades detection and establishes a stronghold without setting off the body's early alarms.
New discoveries reported this week help explain how the stealthy agent of Black Death avoids tripping a self-destruct mechanism inside germ-destroying cells.
The authors of the study, appearing in the Dec. 13 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, are Dr. Christopher N. LaRock of the University of Washington Department of Microbiology and Dr. Brad Cookson, UW professor of microbiology and laboratory medicine.
Normally, certain defender cells are programmed to burst if they are either invaded by or detect the presence of pathogens, Cookson explained. This host defense mechanism called pyroptosis ("going up in flames") eliminates places for the germs to reproduce. As it splits open, the cell spills a cauldron of antimicrobial chemicals and emits signals to alert of an attack and its precise location. Tissues become inflamed as more cells arrive to fight the infection.
The bacteria are widely believed to be behind the great pestilences of the Middle Ages in the 1300s. The pathogen had evolved a tactic to delay provoking people's protective inflammatory response until it was too late. Plague claimed an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of Europe's 14th century population.
"People and pathogens have been in an eternal struggle since the dawn of humanity," Cookson said. With a hand over hand gesture he explained, "Humans continuously ratchet up their defenses, and germs repeatedly find a way around them."
During several medieval epidemics, the plague started in rats. High-jumping fleas transmitted it to and between humans. It commonly caused lymph nodes to rupture. Respiratory forms were more deadly. They damaged the lungs and were spread by sneezing. Plague bacteria in the blood stream ended lives through sepsis, in which the burden of infection overwhelms the body.
Today, the plague-causing bacteria are still circulating in the world. It is held at bay by sanitation measures and drug treatment.
Plague is now rare, with fewer than 15 infections annually in the United States. The number of cases outside the United States is significantly larger, but not precisely known. Plague therefore remains of scientific interest for several reasons.
The Yersinia survival strategy against the programmed death that could kill it and its host cell may offer ideas for vaccine development, Cookson said. At present, no vaccine exists against the plague. Yesinia is of concern as a potential biological warfare pathogen because it can be aerosolized and unsuspectingly breathed into the lungs. Vaccines are being sought to offer widespread public safety, as are methods for enhancing people's overall infection-fighting capacity.
Yersinia's techniques for modulating an inflammatory response also offer scientists an overarching perspective on a fundamental aspect of a variety of important diseases.
"Many medical problems stem from too much or too little inflammatory reaction," Cookson said. People who launch an insufficient inflammatory response, or whose inflammatory response is suppressed by medications, are prone to viral, bacterial and fungal infections.
"On the other hand, excessive or improperly regulated inflammatory responses are responsible for a large number of chronic conditions," Cookson said. These include vascular flare-ups leading to stroke or heart attack, and autoimmune diseases, among them lupus, juvenile diabetes, ulcerative colitis and myasthenia gravis. Severe injury also can promote
life-threatening lung inflammation.
Additionally, plague isn't the only pathogen to enhance its virulence by sidestepping the inflammatory cell death program. Several other dangerous germs do the same, but in different ways.
Usually immune system clean-up cells that have been breached by an infection assemble a molecular platform called an inflammasome. This assembly, the researchers explained, activates a powerful, protein-cleaving enzyme called caspase-1. The enzyme is made ready to go in the presence of noxious stimuli, including germs, inorganic irritants, and pore-forming toxins.
To survive, Yersinia pestis must disarm caspase-1. Until the present study, bacterial molecules that directly modulate the inflammasome had not yet been reported. LaRock and Cookson were able to identify a leucine-rich protein secreted by Yersinia pestis that binds and disables its arch-enemy, the caspase-1 enzyme.
The potent substance, called Yop M, preempts the activity of caspase-1 and sequesters the enzyme to arrest the development of the inflammasome. As a consequence, the cell fails to sacrifice itself to get rid of the Yersinia and to warn other disease-fighting cells of the infection.
According to the researchers, the Yop M-mediated inhibition of caspase-1 is required for Yersinia to subvert immune signaling, delay inflammation and provoke severe illness. Its dual mechanism for blocking inflammatory cell death, by blocking enzymatic activity and inflammasome maturation, is distinctive.
While caspase-1 is helpful in combating a number of other microbial infections, several researchers have reported it to be harmful when its activation is aberrant or poorly controlled. Faulty caspase-1 regulation is implicated in several inflammatory disorders. Learning how pathogens manage caspase-1 to their advantage may suggest treatments to limiting its excess activity.
###
The research was funding by National Institutes of Health research grants HG02360 and AI057141 and National Institute of Health training grant AI055396. The study also received assistance from the Northwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, which seeks countermeasures against pathogens of national importance.
The Dec. 13 Cell Host & Microbe paper is "The Yersinia Virulence Effector YopM Binds Caspase-1 to Arrest Inflammasome Assembly and Processing."
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Also referred to as hosted PBX, virtual PBX is a distinguished telephone system inclusive of advanced features and functions. In addition, this phone system needs business voip phone service, allowing voicemails together with other mode of communications faster and even more productive. As a consequence of deficient IT spending plan and also resources, quite a few organizations is not able to acquire a refined communication system. Then again, by making use of hosted PBX, you may get to this dream without spending considerably. Right here are the usual features this system is able to offer.
? Convenient to use Due to the significant features a virtual PBX may offer, there is a rising interest in this phone system. No matter what where you are, it?s easy to get connected to the workers, customers, business partners, along with other contacts in case you have hosted PBX. Given that it takes advantage of the web to have a person connected, so long as a pc with internet access exists, it?s easy to call your contacts and also get and send out messages anytime and anyplace. Beneficial functions including call forwarding and also follow-me capabilities will let you get calls in your telephone or residential land line. Phone callers may well give messages which you could tackle later on. Apart from, should you want to strengthen your business communications and evaluate call traffic, the visual call reports could be prompted at realtime.
? User friendly The virtual PBX systems can be slightly managed with out challenges due to its online cpanel. Numerous company extensions are able to keep a single phone number which can be useful to check out fax messages, voicemails, and even valuable calls. It is also by making use of business VoIP systems. Telephone calls are directed to good areas or even business units, steering clear of the chances of phone callers having missed calls or even busy tones.
? Less expensive There?s a multitude of capabilities that you may take pleasure in should you register for a virtual PBX system. You can hold conference meetings on the web and easily share documents and also presentations to a quantity of users. And also the great thing with it is basically that you won?t be faced with highly-priced bills. Actually, you?ll be able to benefit from the various capabilities just like extension dialing, call forwarding, toll free numbers, conference calling, voice mailing, caller ID, and much more with just a minimum rate per month. Besides, enhanced functions just like voice mail transcription, unified communication, call hunt groups, simultaneous ring, live call park, and more are possible by adding only a small extra fee.
? Simple contact management Virtual Private Branch Exchange (PBX) employs online interface, so that it is a convenient option for company to address consumers and also contacts from other existing phone system. If ever the business expands, nearly all aspect of the company gets bigger, as well as manpower, product sales, and communication system. A growing company requires a scalable communication system that can take on the growing call requirements of your company. Utilizing this type of phone system, you can certainly remove and add in contacts and retain the present from your old phone system.
The good thing about employing PBX is something you?ll want to consider if you wish to give your company an advanced and arranged communication system.
ROME (Reuters) - Italian petrol stations began a 60-hour strike late on Tuesday to protest against rising costs and falling profits, causing long queues as drivers rushed to fill up before pumps closed.
Hitting at the peak shopping period before Christmas, the strike comes at unwelcome time for retailers. Weak consumer spending has been a key factor in Italy's sluggish economy, which has been dipping in and out of recession since 2008.
"It is incredible, with all that petrol costs us nowadays, that they can even think of going on strike," Rome resident Ida Lauro said as she queued in her car.
Unions have agreed to maintain minimum service on motorways, with at least one station open every 100 km (62 miles).
In a joint statement, unions said they called the strike to combat "a true aggression against the roughly 24,000 small businesses and 120,000 workers in the sector".
They say oil companies have forced stations to absorb the costs of discounting campaigns, allowing them a profit of just one euro for every 100 euros ($130) or 55 liters of petrol sold.
Oil distributors in Italy Esso and Shell were not immediately available for comment. A government attempt to come to an agreement with the unions this week fell through.
Workers will demonstrate outside government buildings in Rome on Wednesday to pressure the state to intervene.
The strike will end on Friday morning on ordinary roads and late on Thursday on motorways.
Between December 17 and 22 the petrol stations will refuse to pay oil companies for refills. Then, between Christmas and New Year, they will refuse credit and debit card payments in protest at bank charges on electronic payments.
Mario Monti's technocrat government has cut spending and raised taxes since it was appointed last year to pull Italy out of a debt crisis, and is the focus of increasing protests.
The government was thrown into crisis last week when the party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi withdrew its support, prompting Monti to announce he would resign once the 2013 budget bill is passed before Christmas.
Resurrection of extinct enzymes reveals evolutionary strategy for the invention of new functions
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
How does evolution innovate? We exist because our ancestors have had the ability to adapt successfully to changes in their environment; however, merely examining present-day organisms can limit our understanding of the actual evolutionary processes because the crucial events have been masked by the passage of aeons ? what we need is a time machine. Scientists from VIB, KU Leuven, University of Ghent and Harvard have done the next-best thing; by reconstructing DNA and proteins from prehistoric yeast cells, they were able to directly examine the evolutionary forces that have acted over the last 100 million years to shape modern-day enzymes ? biological catalysts that enable organisms to manipulate molecules to their will.
The scientists set out to explore how new genes emerge, how they contribute to the survival of the evolving organism, and how, after a humble start, evolution then refines the function of new genes and hones the efficiency of the enzymes that they encode. One of the richest sources of such new genes is the chance duplication of existing genes. One copy of the gene can then continue to encode the original enzyme, allowing it to perform its original task, while the other is free to change and to perhaps take on a new function; alternatively, the two new enzymes might sub-divide the original task.
Although this pattern of innovation is known to have happened many thousands of times during evolution, the way in which it occurs hasn't been clear. In a paperpublished December 11 in the online Open Access journalPLOS Biology, Karin Voordeckers, Chris Brown and Kevin Verstrepen from VIB in Leuven, together with Steven Maere from VIB and the University of Ghent, tackled this problem, focusing their attention on the evolution of enzymes that have allowed yeast to exploit changing food sources over the last 100 million years of evolution.
The scientists 'resuscitated' ancestral yeast genes, allowing them to examine the properties of enzymes that existed tens of millions of years ago. The original enzyme originally enabled the yeast cells to survive on a diet of maltose, a common sugar, but duplications of their genes gave rise to new enzymes which opened up the possibility of feeding off other types of sugar in the environment. The resurrection of these enzymes meant that the scientist could build up a detailed picture of their atomic structure and directly determine their ability to break down different types of sugars. Armed with this information, they could work out exactly how the enzymes had changed their specificity and how evolution drove their optimisation.
"We used sequence reconstruction algorithms to predict the DNA sequence of ancestral genes from dozens of present-day DNA sequences. This enabled us to rebuild the corresponding ancestral proteins and compare them with those present today", said Steven Maere.
"We searched very specifically for how the yeast adapted to break down various sources of sugar. We found that the primal gene that codes for the protein for the digestion of maltose ? a sugar in grain ? was copied a number of times during evolution. The DNA of some copies changed slightly, resulting in new proteins that could break down different sugars. By modeling these changes in the corresponding proteins, we now understand how just a few changes in the DNA can lead to the development of a completely new activity in the corresponding proteins", said Karin Voordeckers.
"New functional DNA does not appear out of thin air, but is built up gradually from a copy of an existing segment of functional DNA. By reconstructing a piece of prehistoric DNA that was copied several times during evolution, we were able to investigate in detail which changes occur in each of the copies and gradually lead to new functions. As such, our results provide a unique and detailed view into the molecular details of Darwinian evolution" says Kevin Verstrepen.
The scientists propose that the events observed here in the yeast cell's quest for sugar may reflect a general strategy widely used for innovation in evolution.
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Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org
Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
From right Kofi Ashiboe-Mensah, Professor Anthony Panin and a member of the organisation at the launch
In line with promoting ethics, integrity and best practices in education, Exams Ethics International, a non-governmental organisation with the objective of creating awareness on examination malpractices, has launched the 2012 Exams Ethics Marshals International Conference and Awards in Accra.
The conference, to be held in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service from December 10 ? 14, 2012, is on the theme ?Imperative Leadership, Management and Administrative Best Practices for Educational MDA?s and Institutions to rank among the best in the World?.
It is expected to bring together heads of institutions and departments, university professors, directors of education, examination officers and teacher associations from Ghana and Nigeria to deliberate on how to manage the educational systems, with particular reference to examination.
Kofi Ashiboe-Mensah, country director of Exams Ethics International, said the conference was crucial and timely, considering the increased number of students in both private and public universities as well as the pending 2013 WASCE exams.
He said, ?Concrete measures must be put in place, in structure and content, to ensure the delivery of quality education at all levels of the educational system in the country.?
Ashiboe-Mensah said the conference would, among other things, inform stakeholders about the need to eradicate examination malpractices from the educational system as well as bring together Nigerians and their Ghanaian counterparts to share experiences that would impact on their performance.
He also called for parents and teachers to help the children study so as to be prepared for the exams in order to avoid cheating during examinations.
?The children must be taught how to manage their time and study for the exams so when the time comes they will have the confidence to write without cheating,? he said.
Professor Anthony Panin, council chairman of Kadosh College of Management and dean of the Faculty of Economics, Central University College, in his address, said ethical and moral values could be transmitted to the youth only through effective education.
He stated, ?It is the belief of the organisation that unless education is effectively used as an instrument for forging and transmitting ethical values to the youth, all other efforts at promoting ethical and moral values, leadership development and good governance will come to naught.?
He was therefore hopeful the noble cause of the organization would be achieved.
Personalities, institutions and organizations will also be honoured at the conference for their support towards the initiative of Exams Ethics International.
Max Levchin has been many things in his long year run in Silicon Valley — PayPal cofounder, Slide founder, angel investor, etc. etc. — but now he’s trying on something more traditional. He’ll be joining Yahoo’s board of directors, in the latest move by the storied web company to reinvigorate itself as a tech leader. Two current members of the board will be stepping away, Intuit CEO Brad Smith and Weather Channel CEO David Kenny. Mayer, who left Google to take over earlier this year, thanks the two in the official statement, noting their help with the Alibaba share repurchase deal. Interestingly, the release also provides a little more detail on Levchin’s stealthy new startup, HVF: “His latest undertaking, HVF, is focused on solving big problems and improving lives by extracting insights from the vast quantities of data around us.” Meanwhile, as Dealbook notes in its scoop about the changes this morning, this is the fourth director change since activist shareholder Daniel Loeb joined in May. The others are are tech and media consultant Michael J. Wolf, and Harry Wilson, an investor and company restructuring expert.
Like so many heroes of the startup world, Anthony Casalena launched Squarespace from his college dorm room. Now, a decade later, the online publishing company employs a team of 100 and serves 1.4 million websites. Praised for its elegant design, Squarespace empowers users (coders and non-coders alike) to easily build and customize professional-quality websites. The newest version, Squarespace 6, launched earlier this year and has been called "beautiful," "awesome," and "downright luxurious." We stole a moment out of Anthony's hectic schedule to talk about his workspace setup, go-to apps, and favorite tunes. Want to know more? Anthony is chatting live for the next hour. 
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Public release date: 13-Dec-2012
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