Facebook and Microsoft have struck agreements with the US government to
release limited information about the number of surveillance requests they
receive, a modest victory for the companies as they struggle with the fallout
from disclosures about a secret government data-collection program.
Facebook on Friday became the first to release aggregate numbers of
requests, saying in a blog post it received between 9,000 and 10,000 US requests
for user data in the second half of 2012, covering 18,000 to 19,000 of its
users' accounts. Facebook has more than 1.1 billion users worldwide.
The majority of those requests are routine police inquiries, a person
familiar with the company said, but under the terms of the deal with the justice
department, Facebook is precluded from saying how many were secret orders issued
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Until now, all information
about requests under Fisa, including their existence, were deemed secret.
Microsoft said it had received requests of all types for information on
about 31,000 consumer accounts in the second half of 2012. In a "transparency
report" Microsoft published earlier this year without including national
security matters, it said it had received criminal requests involving 24,565
accounts for the whole of 2012.
If half of those requests came in the second part of the year, the
intelligence requests constitute the bulk of government inquiries. Microsoft did
not dispute that conclusion.
Google said late on Friday it was negotiating with the government and that
the sticking point was whether it could only publish a combined figure for all
requests. It said that would be "a step back for users", because it already
breaks out criminal requests and national security letters, another type of
intelligence inquiry.
Facebook, Google and Microsoft had all publicly urged the US authorities to
allow them to reveal the number and scope of the surveillance requests after
documents leaked to the Guardian suggested they had given the government "direct
access" to their computers as part of the National Security Agency program
called Prism.
The disclosures about Prism, and related revelations about broad-based
collection of telephone records, have triggered widespread concern and
congressional hearings about the scope and extent of the
information-gathering.
"We hope this helps put into perspective the numbers involved and lays to
rest some of the hyperbolic and false assertions in some recent press accounts
about the frequency and scope of the data requests that we receive," Facebook
wrote on its site.
Facebook said it would continue to press to divulge more information. The
person familiar with the company said that it at least partially complied with
US legal requests 79% of the time, and that it usually turned over just the
user's email address and internet protocol address and name, rather than the
content of the person's postings or messages.
It is believed that Fisa requests typically seek much more information. But
it remains unclear how broad the Fisa orders might be.
Among the other remaining questions are the nature of court-approved
"minimisation" procedures designed to limit use of information about US
residents. The NSA is prohibited from specifically targeting them.
"If they are receiving large amounts of data that they are not actually
authorised to look at, the question then becomes what are the procedures by
which they determine what they can look at?" said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer at
the Centre for Democracy & Technology. "Do they simply store that forever in
case later they are authorised to look at it?"
In addition, some legal experts say recent US laws allow for
intelligence-gathering simply for the pursuit of foreign policy objectives, not
just in hunting terrorists and spies.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
C Foursquare would possible not exist
In actual fact, you shouldn't be at-all surprised through the practice.
Bloomberg Businessweek's Ashlee Vance let slip within an post this past 7 days
that Microsoft is spending developers "$100,000 or more" to develop applications
for its Windows Telephone platform ¨C a beautiful incentive, certain, for people
whose budgets are too constrained or engineering team is simply too busy to port
a preferred app over to Home windows telephones.
However, it is really critical to make clear that Microsoft isn't performing anything at all new, as Vance's report ¨C along with the subsequent follow-ups published by other journalistic entities ¨C might suggest. Microsoft has become paying out developers for their awareness, talent, and app-creation qualities for a while now, as well as determine goes lots higher than $100,000.
Within an write-up revealed in April of final year, the new York Times' Jenna Wortham and Nick Wingfield observed that, "Microsoft is so determined to have heaps of brand-name apps for its Windows Phone app keep that it's prepared to pay for them." The incentive, explained further more down from the write-up, can include things like a payment of anywhere from $60,000 to $600,000 "depending within the complexity with the application."
While this sounds similar to a delicate kind of bribery, Microsoft's incentives have managed to achieve noteworthy benefits that reward builders and individuals alike. Get Foursquare, the example referred to as out within the Times' posting from very last calendar year. With no the monetary strengthen ¨C in such cases, paying for an outdoor business to port Foursquare's app more than into the Home windows Cellphone system ¨C Foursquare would possible not exist on Home windows phones, period.
Considering that then, the Microsoft Shop has ballooned up from around 70,000 applications and online games to one hundred forty five,000. And perhaps that range has also been boosted a bit by Microsoft's 2nd marketing application to persuade developer curiosity: A bounty application that gave builders a $100 Visa gift card for each and every app they posted on the Microsoft Keep, as much as $2,000 worth of total benefits, among March 9 and June 30 of this 12 months.
Needless to say, Microsoft isn't really the one producer that's sought to woo developers while using the guarantees of cold, tricky funds. RIM doubled the reward pool to $2 million for anyone taking part in its closing "Port-A-Thon" method in January of this year ?a that's just after the corporation noticed in excess of fifteen,000 applications submitted about a one-and-a-half-day period in its earlier "Port-A-Thon" celebration. People making or porting applications had been eligible to generate $100 for every, as many as a maximum of $2,000, for every application which was acknowledged to the BlackBerry Environment application keep.
However, it is really critical to make clear that Microsoft isn't performing anything at all new, as Vance's report ¨C along with the subsequent follow-ups published by other journalistic entities ¨C might suggest. Microsoft has become paying out developers for their awareness, talent, and app-creation qualities for a while now, as well as determine goes lots higher than $100,000.
Within an write-up revealed in April of final year, the new York Times' Jenna Wortham and Nick Wingfield observed that, "Microsoft is so determined to have heaps of brand-name apps for its Windows Phone app keep that it's prepared to pay for them." The incentive, explained further more down from the write-up, can include things like a payment of anywhere from $60,000 to $600,000 "depending within the complexity with the application."
While this sounds similar to a delicate kind of bribery, Microsoft's incentives have managed to achieve noteworthy benefits that reward builders and individuals alike. Get Foursquare, the example referred to as out within the Times' posting from very last calendar year. With no the monetary strengthen ¨C in such cases, paying for an outdoor business to port Foursquare's app more than into the Home windows Cellphone system ¨C Foursquare would possible not exist on Home windows phones, period.
Considering that then, the Microsoft Shop has ballooned up from around 70,000 applications and online games to one hundred forty five,000. And perhaps that range has also been boosted a bit by Microsoft's 2nd marketing application to persuade developer curiosity: A bounty application that gave builders a $100 Visa gift card for each and every app they posted on the Microsoft Keep, as much as $2,000 worth of total benefits, among March 9 and June 30 of this 12 months.
Needless to say, Microsoft isn't really the one producer that's sought to woo developers while using the guarantees of cold, tricky funds. RIM doubled the reward pool to $2 million for anyone taking part in its closing "Port-A-Thon" method in January of this year ?a that's just after the corporation noticed in excess of fifteen,000 applications submitted about a one-and-a-half-day period in its earlier "Port-A-Thon" celebration. People making or porting applications had been eligible to generate $100 for every, as many as a maximum of $2,000, for every application which was acknowledged to the BlackBerry Environment application keep.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Google said to deploy Wi-Fi blimps in Africa and Asia
How can the Internet be brought to areas that have no infrastructure for high-speed wireless? Beam the Wi-Fi networks down from flying objects, of course.
Google is reportedly working on creating wireless networks for more remote parts of the world, such as countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, with sky-bound balloons and blimps, according to Wired.
Dubbed "high-altitude platforms," these mechanisms will reportedly be able to connect roughly a billion more people to the Internet worldwide, according to Wired. The blimps signals are said to be able to reach people in areas that are hundreds of square miles.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google is going into the cellular business in Africa and Asia in an effort to connect more people to the Internet. Citing anonymous sources, the news source reported that the networks would be available outside of big cities, where service is spotty or not available.
Besides the Wi-Fi blimps, Google is reportedly also considering a satellite-based wireless system, along with testing other kinds of wireless frequencies, according to the Wall Street Journal. "There's not going to be one technology that will be the silver bullet," an anonymous source told the Journal.
It appears that Google has been working on high-altitude platforms for quite some time. In 2000, the company filed a patent application for a "High altitude platform control system," which involved creating an "aerospace vehicle" that could "improve the reliability of a communications system."
Also, Google isn't the only company that has been working on creating communication networks via blimps and balloons. Lockheed Martin and GlobeTel Communications have also been working on such inventions. And, the company Space Data already operates a network of high-altitude, balloon-borne transceivers known as SkySite Platforms, which serve as wireless towers.
The industry's most significant problem is usually that these low-cost
I to start with acquired wind of Home windows Blue from my contacts about
four months in the past and also have considering the fact that composed lots of
PCMag columns with regards to the OS update. As I've stated in advance of, Home
windows eight.1, as it truly is now officially named, extends this new
touch-based OS to tablets inside the 7- to 11.4-inch range. It is also being
used on what are termed ultramobile laptops, or laptops that specifically use an
Intel Atom processor or perhaps a new low-voltage chip from AMD termed
Temash.
The thrust so as to add Home windows eight to lesser tablets will come as no shock as this is certainly a sector that Microsoft has ignored right up until now, though tablets while in the 7- to 8-inch variety will depict just as much as sixty five per cent of all tablets offered worldwide starting this 12 months. That is certainly because these smaller sized tablets are inclined to generally be cheaper-some promote for under $150 presently and some others are predicted to drop to $129 by the vacations. These smaller sized tablets are evidently being used for written content consumption, not productiveness, but evidently Microsoft also thinks that tablets within the 10.1-inch selection also are media intake gadgets and do not cross around to productivity.
But there is something odd about Microsoft's solution to tablets and Home windows eight.one is notable for just a pair of explanations. Initially, it might be utilized on lesser tablets. Second, when used on tablets or laptops that sport Intel's Atom chip or AMD's Temash processor, the OEM rate for Windows 8.one is about $30 in comparison with its rate on laptops and PCs with much more strong processors the place the license cost ranges from $65 to $85 for every device.
But here's the twist: Microsoft has decided that on tablets around 10.1 inches working Windows eight.one and applying these lower-end processors from Intel and AMD, it can toss Microsoft Place of work in without spending a dime. If I'm not mistaken, Workplace is productiveness program. And so the business seems for being expressing that tablets approximately ten.one inches are generally intake devices, not utilized for productivity, nonetheless it is actually giving them Business at no cost. Go figure! To become fair, this almost certainly has some thing to complete with receiving new buyers common with Workplace and hoping to maneuver them to some cloud subscription of Place of work at some time. Nevertheless, to the surface it continue to appears like a odd shift.
As I said above, OEM distributors could get Windows eight.1 for about $30 providing they use these new low-voltage chips from Intel and AMD and will be executed on screens from seven inches as higher as 13.three inches. However, these devices are clearly for productivity so Microsoft will not bundle Business free of charge. If the OEM sellers listened to they could get Windows Blue for $30 when they utilized Atom or Temash and could use it on touch screens as many as 13.three inches, they jumped within the opportunity to make decrease price tag ultramobile laptops. Though they understand that making touch-based laptops during the $399 to $549 array is somewhat dangerous since it could take in into the revenue of far more expensive ultrabooks, all OEMs have continue to embraced this opportunity and can soon offer these ultramobile laptops.
These lower-end ultramobile laptops are obviously designed to go right after the Chromebook current market that is definitely finding up. In truth, NPD analysts reported that Chromebooks comprised twenty five per cent of all laptops sold in retail less than $300 final thirty day period. Our contacts in a regional retailer tell us they get twelve Chromebooks weekly which they may be all bought out in 48 hrs. While these ultramobiles may very well be priced in a $200 to $250 quality more than Chromebooks, they are doing have complete Windows application compatibility and folks who've invested within the Windows atmosphere over the years could uncover this additional expense tolerable. Also note that customers explain to us the highest price they will spend for just a laptop or Pc is $599.
An rising pattern implies that individuals favor low-cost laptops. Our investigate proceeds to verify that consumers can manage about eighty per cent of their computing wants with a pill plus the remaining twenty per cent should nevertheless be completed on a laptop. For that reason, when it comes to a brand new Computer system, they either opt to lengthen the everyday living in their existing product or purchase a cheap model knowing that it is only necessary for about 20 percent from the issues they are doing, these kinds of as residence funds, managing media collections, or other heavy-lifting responsibilities.
The industry's most significant problem is usually that these low-cost, touch-based laptops not only become wildly well-known, but that they build what we call "the new normal." Because of this though we'll nonetheless promote laptops higher than $599, the change in customer need will increase the amount bought at decreased price tag details. The income margin on these less costly laptops is way lesser than on costly machines and if they take off, they may diminish the desire for higher-priced laptops, that have been the bread and butter on the Computer system industry for decades.
Home windows 8.1 will essentially be a very important edition of Home windows eight as a consequence of this major drive with lower-cost, touch-based laptops. I think that they are going to be a massive hit this back-to-school and holiday season. A far more tricky query to reply is whether or not Windows eight.1 on compact tablets will find any demand. It truly is up from iOS and Android, which each have application outlets boasting more than 800,000 applications. And while we could see some 7-inch Windows 8.one tablets as little as $249 through the holidays, Windows-based tablets may have an uphill climb supplied the present level of competition.
The thrust so as to add Home windows eight to lesser tablets will come as no shock as this is certainly a sector that Microsoft has ignored right up until now, though tablets while in the 7- to 8-inch variety will depict just as much as sixty five per cent of all tablets offered worldwide starting this 12 months. That is certainly because these smaller sized tablets are inclined to generally be cheaper-some promote for under $150 presently and some others are predicted to drop to $129 by the vacations. These smaller sized tablets are evidently being used for written content consumption, not productiveness, but evidently Microsoft also thinks that tablets within the 10.1-inch selection also are media intake gadgets and do not cross around to productivity.
But there is something odd about Microsoft's solution to tablets and Home windows eight.one is notable for just a pair of explanations. Initially, it might be utilized on lesser tablets. Second, when used on tablets or laptops that sport Intel's Atom chip or AMD's Temash processor, the OEM rate for Windows 8.one is about $30 in comparison with its rate on laptops and PCs with much more strong processors the place the license cost ranges from $65 to $85 for every device.
But here's the twist: Microsoft has decided that on tablets around 10.1 inches working Windows eight.one and applying these lower-end processors from Intel and AMD, it can toss Microsoft Place of work in without spending a dime. If I'm not mistaken, Workplace is productiveness program. And so the business seems for being expressing that tablets approximately ten.one inches are generally intake devices, not utilized for productivity, nonetheless it is actually giving them Business at no cost. Go figure! To become fair, this almost certainly has some thing to complete with receiving new buyers common with Workplace and hoping to maneuver them to some cloud subscription of Place of work at some time. Nevertheless, to the surface it continue to appears like a odd shift.
As I said above, OEM distributors could get Windows eight.1 for about $30 providing they use these new low-voltage chips from Intel and AMD and will be executed on screens from seven inches as higher as 13.three inches. However, these devices are clearly for productivity so Microsoft will not bundle Business free of charge. If the OEM sellers listened to they could get Windows Blue for $30 when they utilized Atom or Temash and could use it on touch screens as many as 13.three inches, they jumped within the opportunity to make decrease price tag ultramobile laptops. Though they understand that making touch-based laptops during the $399 to $549 array is somewhat dangerous since it could take in into the revenue of far more expensive ultrabooks, all OEMs have continue to embraced this opportunity and can soon offer these ultramobile laptops.
These lower-end ultramobile laptops are obviously designed to go right after the Chromebook current market that is definitely finding up. In truth, NPD analysts reported that Chromebooks comprised twenty five per cent of all laptops sold in retail less than $300 final thirty day period. Our contacts in a regional retailer tell us they get twelve Chromebooks weekly which they may be all bought out in 48 hrs. While these ultramobiles may very well be priced in a $200 to $250 quality more than Chromebooks, they are doing have complete Windows application compatibility and folks who've invested within the Windows atmosphere over the years could uncover this additional expense tolerable. Also note that customers explain to us the highest price they will spend for just a laptop or Pc is $599.
An rising pattern implies that individuals favor low-cost laptops. Our investigate proceeds to verify that consumers can manage about eighty per cent of their computing wants with a pill plus the remaining twenty per cent should nevertheless be completed on a laptop. For that reason, when it comes to a brand new Computer system, they either opt to lengthen the everyday living in their existing product or purchase a cheap model knowing that it is only necessary for about 20 percent from the issues they are doing, these kinds of as residence funds, managing media collections, or other heavy-lifting responsibilities.
The industry's most significant problem is usually that these low-cost, touch-based laptops not only become wildly well-known, but that they build what we call "the new normal." Because of this though we'll nonetheless promote laptops higher than $599, the change in customer need will increase the amount bought at decreased price tag details. The income margin on these less costly laptops is way lesser than on costly machines and if they take off, they may diminish the desire for higher-priced laptops, that have been the bread and butter on the Computer system industry for decades.
Home windows 8.1 will essentially be a very important edition of Home windows eight as a consequence of this major drive with lower-cost, touch-based laptops. I think that they are going to be a massive hit this back-to-school and holiday season. A far more tricky query to reply is whether or not Windows eight.1 on compact tablets will find any demand. It truly is up from iOS and Android, which each have application outlets boasting more than 800,000 applications. And while we could see some 7-inch Windows 8.one tablets as little as $249 through the holidays, Windows-based tablets may have an uphill climb supplied the present level of competition.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
iTunes made over $4 billion this quarter, boasts 850,000 apps with 350,000 optimized for iPad | www.windows7mart.com
Spitting in the face of naysayers, Apple has announced its first quarter
earnings for this year. Not surprisingly, iTunes is one of the biggest earners
for Apple with $2.4 billion in revenue being generated by media sales in Q2,
AppleInsider reports. That’s a 28 percent increase from last year at the same
time. With apps and services bundled in, the total rose over $4 billion.
Research showed that the iOS App Store made up 74 percent of total app sales
across mobile platforms.
It certainly helps that iTunes continues to support high quality apps and attract innovative, ambitious designers. The store is constantly growing and Apple also revealed the store now offers more than 850,000 iOS applications with 350,000 of those being designed to shine on the iPad.
As far as earnings are concerned, iTunes’ reputation as a breadwinner can be traced back to the diversity of its selection – both in where it’s accessible and what it carries. Apple says the app store covers more than 90 percent of the world population by being available in 155 countries. The broader iTunes store carries 1.7 million iBooks, 60,000 movies in 109 countries, and 35 million songs in 119 countries.
And tossed in as a tidbit for curious developers, over $9 billion has been paid out to app developers on iOS since the store launched back in 2008. With these numbers in front of us, it is all too clear why smaller platforms like Windows Phone are basically ignored.
It certainly helps that iTunes continues to support high quality apps and attract innovative, ambitious designers. The store is constantly growing and Apple also revealed the store now offers more than 850,000 iOS applications with 350,000 of those being designed to shine on the iPad.
As far as earnings are concerned, iTunes’ reputation as a breadwinner can be traced back to the diversity of its selection – both in where it’s accessible and what it carries. Apple says the app store covers more than 90 percent of the world population by being available in 155 countries. The broader iTunes store carries 1.7 million iBooks, 60,000 movies in 109 countries, and 35 million songs in 119 countries.
And tossed in as a tidbit for curious developers, over $9 billion has been paid out to app developers on iOS since the store launched back in 2008. With these numbers in front of us, it is all too clear why smaller platforms like Windows Phone are basically ignored.
The earlier SAP upgrade noticed Eskom consolidate
Africa's premier electrical power business Eskom has begun its migration to
Home windows seven and 8 from Windows XP.
The business can also be incorporating about another 20 SAP business enterprise application modules to the to start with implementation of the SAP improve it finished in Oct 2011.
Eskom supplies ninety five percent of South Africa's electrical power and 40 percent of Africa's overall energy eaten. The state-owned company has 27 key power creating areas supplying coal, fuel, hydro, nuclear and wind electric power.
The earlier SAP upgrade noticed Eskom consolidate from four different SAP systems masking numerous areas of its business enterprise to the single instance, to develop a "single version of the truth", as well as help save numerous Rand from only signing just one SAP software package deal.
On the time the organization also moved far from customised SAP purposes and chose as a substitute to deploy "vanilla" deployments to "remove complexity" from its functions. It was identified by Eskom that customised SAP applications designed info silos and manufactured it more challenging to up grade systems.
Eskom is currently taking that a step even more by adding another twenty modules to protect small business locations together with cellular working, e-recruitment, estates management and other folks, to further more assist 34,000 SAP conclude buyers with the company.
Sal Laher, CIO of Eskom, said, "We are making ready for a third stage inside our SAP deployment down the road, which can assistance us introduce new clever metering techniques, which can be the place the market should head."
Eskom hit the headlines this 7 days when it admitted it might be around the brink of blackouts this coming wintertime as a result of maintenance and ensuing downtime at several of its making plants.
Intelligent metering along with the goal of decreasing energy utilization could support alleviate foreseeable future challenges.
Within the advantages of the Home windows seven and 8 upgrades, covering the desktops, laptops together with other mobile equipment of fifty four,000 people, Laher mentioned, "Migrating to Windows 7 will give us much better integration with other programs, improve mobility, and boost protection.
The business can also be incorporating about another 20 SAP business enterprise application modules to the to start with implementation of the SAP improve it finished in Oct 2011.
Eskom supplies ninety five percent of South Africa's electrical power and 40 percent of Africa's overall energy eaten. The state-owned company has 27 key power creating areas supplying coal, fuel, hydro, nuclear and wind electric power.
The earlier SAP upgrade noticed Eskom consolidate from four different SAP systems masking numerous areas of its business enterprise to the single instance, to develop a "single version of the truth", as well as help save numerous Rand from only signing just one SAP software package deal.
On the time the organization also moved far from customised SAP purposes and chose as a substitute to deploy "vanilla" deployments to "remove complexity" from its functions. It was identified by Eskom that customised SAP applications designed info silos and manufactured it more challenging to up grade systems.
Eskom is currently taking that a step even more by adding another twenty modules to protect small business locations together with cellular working, e-recruitment, estates management and other folks, to further more assist 34,000 SAP conclude buyers with the company.
Sal Laher, CIO of Eskom, said, "We are making ready for a third stage inside our SAP deployment down the road, which can assistance us introduce new clever metering techniques, which can be the place the market should head."
Eskom hit the headlines this 7 days when it admitted it might be around the brink of blackouts this coming wintertime as a result of maintenance and ensuing downtime at several of its making plants.
Intelligent metering along with the goal of decreasing energy utilization could support alleviate foreseeable future challenges.
Within the advantages of the Home windows seven and 8 upgrades, covering the desktops, laptops together with other mobile equipment of fifty four,000 people, Laher mentioned, "Migrating to Windows 7 will give us much better integration with other programs, improve mobility, and boost protection.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Hey, Diana, Smokey, Stevie: You’re on Broadway!
The hit parade reels on seemingly forever in “Motown: The Musical,” a
dramatically slapdash but musically vibrant trip back to the glory days of
Detroit, where the vinyl pouring out of an unassuming two-story house took the
world by storm, all but paving the city’s streets with gold records.
Before we’ve even settled in our seats, we’re being dazzled by a sing-off between the Four Tops and the Temptations. Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye later tear into their dueling versions of the enduring classic “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” (Don’t make me choose, please: I couldn’t live without either.) Snapping their fingers and smoothly wriggling their hips, Diana Ross and the Supremes bop through several of their ear-tickling hits.
There’s Smokey Robinson, too, and Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, and Mary Wells. Something close to rapture spreads through the audience when a magical little dynamo, the young Michael Jackson, takes the stage, spinning like a tiny top and singing with a grown man’s soul in his little boy’s voice box.
These performers are obviously not appearing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, where Broadway’s latest jukebox musical opened Sunday night. Instead, their indelible styles are being effectively recreated by a blazing cast of gifted singers impersonating this crowded pantheon of pop-chart immortals. Our tour guide on this busy joy ride through the Motor City of the late 1960s and ’70s, and the show’s principal character, is Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. Mr. Gordy wrote the book for the musical (adapted from his 1994 autobiography), and his recollections of the era and the artists he discovered form the shaky scaffolding for a musical that is, if nothing else, an efficient endorphin-delivery system for baby boomers.
The story begins at the end, in 1983, when a television special celebrating the Motown legacy is being prepared as a disgruntled Berry (Brandon Victor Dixon) broods in his Los Angeles home, waffling about whether to participate. He’s bruised by the company’s decline, which has been hastened by the departure of many acts he discovered, groomed and elevated into stardom. A few left lawsuits behind as parting gifts. (Although Berry mostly comes across as a heroic figure bordering on saintly, to Mr. Gordy’s credit — and that of the show’s script consultants, David Goldsmith and Dick Scanlan — his conflicts with various artists are not entirely scrubbed from this unofficial record.)
The musical, mechanically directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, then flashes back to the beginnings, when a young Berry — Junior to his large, loyal and loving family — is casting about for a career. A brief stab at boxing fizzles (cuing one of the show’s few — and unfortunate — original songs), and soon Berry is calling on his family’s money to back his dream of creating a record company. He’s already written and sold a couple of songs to Jackie Wilson (a funny Eric LaJuan Summers), but only by owning publishing rights and producing records can real money be made.
More than 50 songs (!) are performed in “Motown,” usually, alas, in truncated versions. Most are simply presented as concert versions by the actors playing the artists who made them famous, but a few are shoehorned awkwardly into the story as “book” songs.
Sometimes the fit seems right, as when Berry serenades his family to the tune of “Money (That’s What I Want),” best known in the Beatles version. Elsewhere, the fit is forced, if not ludicrous. “You’re All I Need to Get By” is performed by Mr. Dixon’s Berry as a duet with Diana Ross (a silky Valisia LeKae) in which they pledge their love. (Never mind that it was recorded by Gaye and Tammi Terrell.) Stranger still, after Diana and Berry are found in bed after an unsuccessful attempt at lovemaking, she leaps up and begins singing “I Hear a Symphony.” It’s like a parody of a Viagra commercial.
Making way for so much music means that “Motown” breezily scrimps on storytelling. Characters come and go so quickly we barely have time to register their famous names, let alone get to know them. Stevie Wonder is introduced as a talented tyke in Act I but doesn’t reappear until the second act, fully grown at the keyboards, singing in Washington to promote the creation of a holiday dedicated to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“Damn, our little Stevie, making history,” Berry opines with cornball sincerity.) The relationship between Berry and Diana moves to the foreground at various intervals, but even major Motown figures like Smokey Robinson (Charl Brown) and Gaye (Bryan Terrell Clark) are reduced to making intermittent cameo appearances.
The dialogue is often vinyl-stiff, written in a shorthand meant to convey as much story as possible in as few words as possible. When Florence Ballard begins behaving erratically with the Supremes, Berry darkly intones: “The pressure of fame is vicious. Not everyone can go the distance.” Enter Flo’s replacement, Cindy Birdsong, seconds later. Rather more tastelessly, Gaye makes a brief allusion to his father, at whose hands he would later die (but not in this upbeat musical, of course).
The telegraphic nature of the book derives partly from the impossibility of telling the stories of all the major Motown artists in a single musical. (The Supremes alone inspired their own musical, “Dreamgirls.”) For a full and coherent history of Mr. Gordy’s game-changing music factory, you’d need to check out Gerald Posner’s engrossing book “Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power.”
But audiences don’t go to Broadway musicals to see audiobooks performed live, and few are likely to complain that “Motown” skimps on what they have come to hear: the sweet stream of music that fused the soul of rhythm and blues with the ear worm hooks of pop to create a genre that played a role in America’s changing attitudes toward race in the 1960s. (Mr. Gordy’s general lack of involvement in politics and his lifelong focus on business become a little bit blurred here; he comes across as far more socially engaged than in Mr. Posner’s book.)
The performers put their songs across with verve and an admirable lack of self-consciousness, given that the audience is likely to be intimately familiar with every nuance of phrasing from the original recordings. Ms. LeKae’s cotton-candy voice matches up nicely with Ms. Ross’s, and she twitches her twiggy frame capably as Diana moves from awkward teenager to glamorous diva, even if the real Ms. Ross’s metallic edges — or should I say, as I’m sure she would prefer, the real Miss Ross’s metallic edges? — have been softened into mohair. As Gaye, Mr. Clarke exudes sexual magnetism during his brief appearances. Mr. Brown’s honeyed croon replicates Mr. Robinson’s convincingly, and in the central role of Berry — I’m tempted to say the only role — Mr. Dixon sings with passionate fervor, although in the dialogue scenes he’s only as good as his often flat-footed material.
But while the audience lapped up virtually all of the musical numbers — even Rick James and Teena Marie drop into the party, briefly and probably unnecessarily — the wildest applause erupted when Raymond Luke Jr., one of two performers who portray the boyish Jackson (along with the young Berry and the young Stevie Wonder), came bounding onstage, exuding the self-confidence and charm of the preternaturally seasoned performer he’s playing.
For all the richness of its gold-and-platinum-plated soundtrack, “Motown” would be a much more satisfying nostalgia trip if Mr. Gordy and his collaborators were more effective curators of both story and song, rather than trying to encompass the whole of the label’s fabled history in two and a half hours. Irresistible as much of the music is, I often had the frustrating impression that I was being forced to listen to an LP being played at the dizzying, distorting speed of a 45.
Motown: The Musical
Book by Berry Gordy, based on his autobiography, “To Be Loved: the Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown”; music and lyrics from the Motown catalog; directed by Charles Randolph-Wright; choreographed by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams; music supervision and arrangements by Ethan Popp; sets by David Korins; costumes by Esosa; lighting by Natasha Katz; sound by Peter Hylenski; projections by Daniel Brodie; hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe; associate producer, Schele Williams; assistant choreographer, Brian H. Brooks; production stage manager, Julia P. Jones; technical supervisor, David Benken; general manager, Bespoke Theatricals; executive producer, Nina Lannan; music coordinator, Michael Keller; orchestrations by Mr. Popp and Bryan Crook; music director/conductor, Joseph Joubert; dance music arrangements by Zane Mark; additional arrangements by Mr. Crook; script consultants, David Goldsmith and Dick Scanlan; creative consultant, Christie Burton. Presented by Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Mr. Gordy. At the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, Manhattan, (877) 250-2929, ticketmaster.com. Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes.
Before we’ve even settled in our seats, we’re being dazzled by a sing-off between the Four Tops and the Temptations. Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye later tear into their dueling versions of the enduring classic “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” (Don’t make me choose, please: I couldn’t live without either.) Snapping their fingers and smoothly wriggling their hips, Diana Ross and the Supremes bop through several of their ear-tickling hits.
There’s Smokey Robinson, too, and Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, and Mary Wells. Something close to rapture spreads through the audience when a magical little dynamo, the young Michael Jackson, takes the stage, spinning like a tiny top and singing with a grown man’s soul in his little boy’s voice box.
These performers are obviously not appearing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, where Broadway’s latest jukebox musical opened Sunday night. Instead, their indelible styles are being effectively recreated by a blazing cast of gifted singers impersonating this crowded pantheon of pop-chart immortals. Our tour guide on this busy joy ride through the Motor City of the late 1960s and ’70s, and the show’s principal character, is Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. Mr. Gordy wrote the book for the musical (adapted from his 1994 autobiography), and his recollections of the era and the artists he discovered form the shaky scaffolding for a musical that is, if nothing else, an efficient endorphin-delivery system for baby boomers.
The story begins at the end, in 1983, when a television special celebrating the Motown legacy is being prepared as a disgruntled Berry (Brandon Victor Dixon) broods in his Los Angeles home, waffling about whether to participate. He’s bruised by the company’s decline, which has been hastened by the departure of many acts he discovered, groomed and elevated into stardom. A few left lawsuits behind as parting gifts. (Although Berry mostly comes across as a heroic figure bordering on saintly, to Mr. Gordy’s credit — and that of the show’s script consultants, David Goldsmith and Dick Scanlan — his conflicts with various artists are not entirely scrubbed from this unofficial record.)
The musical, mechanically directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, then flashes back to the beginnings, when a young Berry — Junior to his large, loyal and loving family — is casting about for a career. A brief stab at boxing fizzles (cuing one of the show’s few — and unfortunate — original songs), and soon Berry is calling on his family’s money to back his dream of creating a record company. He’s already written and sold a couple of songs to Jackie Wilson (a funny Eric LaJuan Summers), but only by owning publishing rights and producing records can real money be made.
More than 50 songs (!) are performed in “Motown,” usually, alas, in truncated versions. Most are simply presented as concert versions by the actors playing the artists who made them famous, but a few are shoehorned awkwardly into the story as “book” songs.
Sometimes the fit seems right, as when Berry serenades his family to the tune of “Money (That’s What I Want),” best known in the Beatles version. Elsewhere, the fit is forced, if not ludicrous. “You’re All I Need to Get By” is performed by Mr. Dixon’s Berry as a duet with Diana Ross (a silky Valisia LeKae) in which they pledge their love. (Never mind that it was recorded by Gaye and Tammi Terrell.) Stranger still, after Diana and Berry are found in bed after an unsuccessful attempt at lovemaking, she leaps up and begins singing “I Hear a Symphony.” It’s like a parody of a Viagra commercial.
Making way for so much music means that “Motown” breezily scrimps on storytelling. Characters come and go so quickly we barely have time to register their famous names, let alone get to know them. Stevie Wonder is introduced as a talented tyke in Act I but doesn’t reappear until the second act, fully grown at the keyboards, singing in Washington to promote the creation of a holiday dedicated to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“Damn, our little Stevie, making history,” Berry opines with cornball sincerity.) The relationship between Berry and Diana moves to the foreground at various intervals, but even major Motown figures like Smokey Robinson (Charl Brown) and Gaye (Bryan Terrell Clark) are reduced to making intermittent cameo appearances.
The dialogue is often vinyl-stiff, written in a shorthand meant to convey as much story as possible in as few words as possible. When Florence Ballard begins behaving erratically with the Supremes, Berry darkly intones: “The pressure of fame is vicious. Not everyone can go the distance.” Enter Flo’s replacement, Cindy Birdsong, seconds later. Rather more tastelessly, Gaye makes a brief allusion to his father, at whose hands he would later die (but not in this upbeat musical, of course).
The telegraphic nature of the book derives partly from the impossibility of telling the stories of all the major Motown artists in a single musical. (The Supremes alone inspired their own musical, “Dreamgirls.”) For a full and coherent history of Mr. Gordy’s game-changing music factory, you’d need to check out Gerald Posner’s engrossing book “Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power.”
But audiences don’t go to Broadway musicals to see audiobooks performed live, and few are likely to complain that “Motown” skimps on what they have come to hear: the sweet stream of music that fused the soul of rhythm and blues with the ear worm hooks of pop to create a genre that played a role in America’s changing attitudes toward race in the 1960s. (Mr. Gordy’s general lack of involvement in politics and his lifelong focus on business become a little bit blurred here; he comes across as far more socially engaged than in Mr. Posner’s book.)
The performers put their songs across with verve and an admirable lack of self-consciousness, given that the audience is likely to be intimately familiar with every nuance of phrasing from the original recordings. Ms. LeKae’s cotton-candy voice matches up nicely with Ms. Ross’s, and she twitches her twiggy frame capably as Diana moves from awkward teenager to glamorous diva, even if the real Ms. Ross’s metallic edges — or should I say, as I’m sure she would prefer, the real Miss Ross’s metallic edges? — have been softened into mohair. As Gaye, Mr. Clarke exudes sexual magnetism during his brief appearances. Mr. Brown’s honeyed croon replicates Mr. Robinson’s convincingly, and in the central role of Berry — I’m tempted to say the only role — Mr. Dixon sings with passionate fervor, although in the dialogue scenes he’s only as good as his often flat-footed material.
But while the audience lapped up virtually all of the musical numbers — even Rick James and Teena Marie drop into the party, briefly and probably unnecessarily — the wildest applause erupted when Raymond Luke Jr., one of two performers who portray the boyish Jackson (along with the young Berry and the young Stevie Wonder), came bounding onstage, exuding the self-confidence and charm of the preternaturally seasoned performer he’s playing.
For all the richness of its gold-and-platinum-plated soundtrack, “Motown” would be a much more satisfying nostalgia trip if Mr. Gordy and his collaborators were more effective curators of both story and song, rather than trying to encompass the whole of the label’s fabled history in two and a half hours. Irresistible as much of the music is, I often had the frustrating impression that I was being forced to listen to an LP being played at the dizzying, distorting speed of a 45.
Motown: The Musical
Book by Berry Gordy, based on his autobiography, “To Be Loved: the Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown”; music and lyrics from the Motown catalog; directed by Charles Randolph-Wright; choreographed by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams; music supervision and arrangements by Ethan Popp; sets by David Korins; costumes by Esosa; lighting by Natasha Katz; sound by Peter Hylenski; projections by Daniel Brodie; hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe; associate producer, Schele Williams; assistant choreographer, Brian H. Brooks; production stage manager, Julia P. Jones; technical supervisor, David Benken; general manager, Bespoke Theatricals; executive producer, Nina Lannan; music coordinator, Michael Keller; orchestrations by Mr. Popp and Bryan Crook; music director/conductor, Joseph Joubert; dance music arrangements by Zane Mark; additional arrangements by Mr. Crook; script consultants, David Goldsmith and Dick Scanlan; creative consultant, Christie Burton. Presented by Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Mr. Gordy. At the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, Manhattan, (877) 250-2929, ticketmaster.com. Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes.
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