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This week’s episode of Defiance, “If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” was written by Bryan Gracia and directed by Allan Kroeker. Gracia’s only other writing credit is for One Tree Hill. Up to this point, there has been very little overlap between the writers with only three having written more than one episode. I’d be curious to know how the writing process works for the show. Knowing that the show was in development for five years leads me to believe that they must have a pretty well-fleshed outline of the characters and where they want to go with the show on which the individual writers are expected to draw. I’m curious how much influence showrunners Murphy, Taylor, and O’Bannon had on the individual scripts that came into them. I’m also curious to see what season two will look like, both in terms of scripts and the writers’ room when both Taylor and O’Bannon have gone on to other projects. This week’s episode seemed to have the clearest plot link to the video game. I’ve only played the game once – at the press tour last fall, but I do seem to recall that plague medicine factored into the game. I’d love to hear from people playing the game in the comments below! Am I remembering that correctly? At the very least, the shout out to Doc Yewll’s (Trenna Keating) friend in San Francisco is a reference to where the game is set. Coming on the heels of my discussion with Beth Roberts (NBCUniversal) last week, this does seem to point to a closer connection between the two mediums. The episode picks up right where we left off last week with the outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever. Once again the episode also manages to tell the viewer something about past events and cultural relations while also revealing some new facets of the characters. We learn, for instance, why the Castithans refer to the Irathients as “unclean.” Because they are disease carriers, they don’t get the plague. This, of course, makes the humans fear them too. It’s interesting to see Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) growing closer to the rest of the Irathients. We see both a spiritual side and an animalistic side to her in the episode. Once again, I was impressed at how much Leonidas is able to convey with her body language while being somewhat impeded by the prosthetics of her character. She mentioned sitting at the Toronto Zoo and just watching the wolves as preparation for the role, and it certainly pays off in her body language. It will be interesting going forward to see how this new facet to her life will impact on her relationship with Nolan (Grant Bowler). The moment they share at the end of the episode would indicate that the two have forged a strong enough bond to weather the inevitable strain. The misperceptions between the races was an interesting facet of this episode. While the “typhoid Mary” scenario felt a bit cliché, it still worked. While the Irathients really do seem to be the more primitive and animalistic of the races, they were praying for the other races before the miners got violent. The humans seem to tolerate the other races but remain ready to become hostile primarily out of fear. I can hardly imagine the Castithans praying for any of the other races. Of course, so far, the only real Castithans that we’ve met have been the Tarrs. Quentin (Justin Rain) goes to see Nicky (Fionnula Flanagan) to find out about his mother, Pilar. Once again Flanagan’s performance is outstandingly creepy. We learn that Pilar was bi-polar but controlled by medicine that she and Datak Tarr (Tony Curran) supplied. If we needed further proof that Nicky was corrupt, the fact that she was obviously dealing with Datak proves it. She takes great delight in torturing Quentin by telling him his mother was caught trying to poison him and that his father (Graham Greene) almost killed her. She also reveals that she was having an affair with Rafe. Quentin gives Nicky the artifact in exchange for the information, even though “Luke” (Wesley French) tells him it means he

Sour fruit makes a sweet arrival in San Francisco via @funderhut

July 9-10, 2013 San Francisco, CA Tickets On Sale Now It was a big day for funding today. Here’s the quick overview, with links to full stories. Fab raises $150 million Fab announced last night that it has raised $150 million in a fourth round of funding led by Chinese company Tencent, who’s also appointing a director to the company’s board. The company’s valuation, excluding the new funding, was $1 billion, and this is only the first tranche of it’s fourth round. Fab started life as a gay social network, the pivoted — and what a pivot it was — to an online design store. More info ThousandEyes raises $5.5 million Cloud performance monitoring company ThousandEyes emerged from stealth mode to help IT teams at companies like Equinix, Evernote, Priceline, ServiceNow, Twitter, Zendesk and Zynga resolve performance problems quickly. “Performance management products have not kept pace with the innovation in cloud services. Legacy products are ineffective in solving problems enterprises face today, creating migraines for IT,” said Mohit Lad, co-founder and CEO of ThousandEyes. “We have built a product from ground up for the cloud era to help companies get the best performance out of their cloud applications.” The Series A round was led by Sequoia Capital and un-named Silicon Valley angel investors. Cortica raises $6.4 million Image software startup Cortica announced its second round of funding today for $6.4 million. Cortica creates image recognition software that function similarly to the human brain. It can see something such as a landmark and then provide contextual information about that place. It has a lot of potential for advertising, particularly in wearable computing devices such as Google Glass. The company announced a portion of the funding in May – $1.5 million from Russia’s Mail.Ru. Today’s funding was led by Horizons Ventures, and others. SocialRadar raises $12.75 million SocialRadar combines location-based mobile technology and social media information to make you aware of the people and connections around you. It seems a lot like Highlight, which generated a lot of fanfare at the SXSW conference in 2012 but hasn’t made much noise since. SocialRadar is still in the development phase and is working with iPhone, Android, and Google Glass to “change the way people connect.” Founder and CEO Michael Chasen was a cofounder and former CEO of ed-tech behemoth Blackboard, where he took the company public in 2004, and then sold it to Providence Equity Partners in 2011 for $1.7 billion. More info CRM startup Intercom snags $6 million Intercom, a software startup that promises to simplify customer relationship management (CRM), has just announced a healthy first round of funding. The $6 million infusion was led by the Social+Capital Partnership with participation from previous investor Freestyle Capital and David Sacks, the founder and chief executive officer of Yammer. More info Entelo raises $3.5 Million Entelo is building the next generation of talent acquisition tools focused on helping companies better leverage social data. To address demand for its solutions, Entelo will use the funds to accelerate its growth and research and development efforts, specifically to develop additional products leveraging its impressive data set and predictive analytics engine. The $3.5 million in financing was led by Battery Ventures with participation from Menlo Ventures. Bunch raises $1 million Bunch is a platform that lets people share and discuss things online that they are truly passionate about. Bunch users form communities around topics, and the platform allows these users to publish, and then engage around, longer-form content. The company’s vision is to provide users deeper engagement around topics they care about and to be the first social publishing and discussion platform built for the average Internet user. The company raised $1M from Real Ventures, 500 Startups, BDC Venture Capital, an

July 9-10, 2013 San Francisco, CA Tickets On Sale Now Google product listing ads can make the world’s largest search engine your store, by uploading your products, setting pricing, and letting the magic of the internet happen. That’s all fine for mom and pop, who have three widgets to sell, but how do you upload and manage thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even tens of millions of products on Google Shopping? One solution is AdChemy, which recently released smart software matches an internal customer intent graph to Google’s knowledge graph … and then uploads, monitors, manages, and even assigns keywords to your entire product portfolio, automagically. “We’re seeing rapid adoption of Google product listing ads,” AdChemy CEO Murthy Nukala told me. “The click rate is higher, and conversion rates are higher … the return on ad-spend for PLAs is very, very good – it’s like the early days of keywords … not very competitive yet.” Essentially, we’re in early land-grab stage of product listing ads, Nukala says. The returns are great, because Google is giving the consumer all the information they want right in the ad, and because generally only people who are actively searching for say, a dishwasher, see the ads. Which means that when consumers do click on PLAs, it’s an informed click, and a highly intentional click. That’s why Nukala believes that the number one priority for retail brands should be to do PLAs right. Also, because Google’s changing the landscape of search — and marketing. “The world of search is going thru its most dramatic transition now from an algorithmic search to the introduction of knowledge graph as a second brain for the search engine,” AdChemy Murthy Nukala told me. “By having knowledge graph, the goal is to answer questions as opposed to presenting links. We see a very similar trend happening in the area of product search, and the move to PLAs is the first step.” Knowledge engine is an attempt by Google to understand the world, the objects in it, and their relationships, which enables Google to start answering search queries for intent, not just for a set of words. The same change is affecting product search, and so what AdChemy has done is build an intent graph that shadows or mirrors Google’s knowledge graph. And that intent graph, which models the way consumers think of and search for products, is a major part of what makes it easy to upload and manage thousands or hundreds of thousands of products to Google Shopping. “The knowledge graph at Google is very good for non-commercial entities, but we specialize in commercial entities,” Nukala says. “And once you have the intent graph, we can completely automate keyword creation and search optimization for all your products.” The standard Google Shopping process is to upload products, manually add descriptions and keywords and prices, and then organize them basically by hand in ad groups, setting your ad prices relative to your product prices, and so on. AdChemy automates all that , enabling programmatically-driven ad pricing based on your profitability data right down the SKU level. “One customer told me ‘you’ve essentially taken my website structure, and put it in your product,’ which eliminates an enormous amount of friction for our customers,” Nukala said. “That allows retailers to market in their own language, with their products, their brands, and their categories.” Which basically makes AdChemy a software translation layer between marketers’ products and Google ad structures. Image credit: John Koetsier, AdChemy Filed under: Business .boilerplate-before .event-boilerplate-mobilebeat { width:278px; margin:0px 0px 10px 20px; padding:10px; float:right; border:1px solid #e4e4e4; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; color:#000; } .boilerplate-before .even

Norris was removed from Wednesday's game after taking a foul tip to the groin area, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. [...] Read more Derek Norris news

The San Francisco Giants are hovering around .500 deep into the month of June, and many are already looking forward to the July 31 trade deadline. Although the Giants almost certainly will not be sellers, they could still end up parting with a player or two from the big league roster. Last year, the Giants packaged right fielder Nate Schierholtz with two minor leaguers to acquire Hunter Pence. One season later, the Giants could use an upgrade in the other outfield corner. Unfortunately for the defending world champions, acquiring a left fielder won’t be the club’s most pressing need. Due to both injury and ineffectiveness, the Giants are in desperate want of both starting and relief pitching. But who will they give up in order to land the new talent? Good players don’t come cheap, a fact that became painfully obvious to Giants fans when the team parted with top prospect Zack Wheeler to land Carlos Beltran. This year won’t offer a repeat of the Beltran debacle, mainly because the Giants don’t have any prospects in their system who are as highly regarded as Wheeler was—and still is. So if the Giants want to improve their roster, they will likely have to part with an established big leaguer. Let’s take a look at who they have to offer and what each player’s odds of being dealt are. Starting Rotation Matt Cain: 0 percent Madison Bumgarner: 0 percent Ryan Vogelsong: 5 percent Chad Gaudin: 10 percent Barry Zito: 10 percent Tim Lincecum: 30 percent The Giants recently extended the contracts of both Cain and Bumgarner, making it evident that the organization views the two starters as long-term anchors of the rotation. There is no scenario in which Cain or Bumgarner will be dealt. Vogelsong is injured and was ineffective before hitting the disabled list. That being said, if the righty comes back strong and pitches well before the trade deadline, it’s not impossible to imagine that a team desperate for starting pitching would give up a decent prospect for the well-traveled veteran. But the Giants themselves are shallow in that department, making it very unlikely Vogelsong will be wearing a new uniform come August. Gaudin is an interesting case. If Vogelsong proves himself healthy before the deadline, the Giants could elect to move Lincecum to the bullpen. Should that happen, Gaudin could be packaged with a B-level prospect to a bullpen-desperate team in exchange for a fifth starter. But if Gaudin continues to be effective as a starting pitcher, he almost certainly will stay put. As long as Zito doesn’t reach 200 innings pitched this year, his contract will come to a close at the end of the 2013 season (with a $7 million buyout). Last postseason, the enigmatic lefty showed he can still be a factor in crucial games, making him a viable option for a playoff team in need of starting pitching. But if the Giants want to get anything in return, they would have to cover most of the remaining balance of his contract. Of the six pitchers who have started games for the Giants this season, Lincecum is most likely to be traded. Despite his recent struggles, he is still a two-time Cy Young Award winner who is averaging 8.82 strikeouts per nine innings. Additionally, he showed in the 2012 postseason that he can be dominant out of the bullpen. Based on his skill set, he could net the Giants a decent return in a potential trade. Infield/Catchers Marco Scutaro: 0 percent Brandon Crawford: 0 percent Buster Posey: 0 percent Nick Noonan: 5 percent Joaquin Arias: 5 percent Guillermo Quiroz: 10 percent Tony Abreu: 10 percent Brandon Belt: 20 percent Pablo Sandoval: 25 percent Posey and Crawford are both players who the Giants will keep around for as long as humanly possible. End of discussion. Scutaro is in the first season of a three-year, $20 million deal. Never mind the fact that he’s a great 2-hole hitter; he’s a 37-year-old subpar defender with mallet finger. He’s stayin

The gay marriage ruling we've all been waiting for could finally come tomorrow. Until then, you can watch and listen as every politician and political wonk weighs in, mostly favorably, giving t...

Jesus Guzman and Madison Bumgarner are the latest National League West stars to make headlines. While guys like Yasiel Puig have been doing it on the field, Guzman and Bumgarner did so with their fists.Wednesday afternoon had yet another bench-clearing brawl in the NL West in store for us, and things got ugly.After the San Francisco Giants kept Guzman in the minors for years, he finally got his chance in the big leagues with the San Diego Padres, and he didn't take too kindly to the Giants failing to utilize him.On Tuesday night, Guzman belted a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning off Matt Cain to put the Padres up, 4-3. As he trotted (or skipped) down the first base line he yelled to his bench and showed up his former club.Bumgarner took notice.When Bumgarner faced Guzman for the first time on Wednesday afternoon he got his revenge, throwing way inside on Guzman on the first pitch of the at-bat.Bumgarner was clearly sending a message not to taunt the Giants, and Guzman was furious, walking out to meet the pitcher before catcher Buster Posey and home plate umpire Tony Randazzo held him back.However, Bumgarner appears to have preferred that the two let him go, as he walked over to Guzman, shouting at him the whole way.As the two got closer, the rest of the players got involved and the benches cleared, resulting in both teams pushing and shoving each other, although no serious fights broke out.It's not like the shot at Guzman on Wednesday was unexpected. If I were Jesus Guzman's ribs, I'd double my life insurance before he stands in against Bumgarner tomorrow. #sfgiants.— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) June 19, 2013 The fact of the matter is that if you show up your former team, you're in trouble. No self-respecting team of professional athletes is going to take any form of taunting lying down, and even the fans started jumping on Guzman. #Giants fans take great delight in Sergio Romo whiffing Jesus Guzman on three pitches to start the ninth.— Steve Corkran (@CorkOnTheNFL) June 19, 2013 From all of us here at AT&T Park, you stay classy Jesus Guzman!— Will Candlestick ™ (@CandlestickWill) June 19, 2013 Bumgarner certainly feels the same way the fans do, as he kept things short and simple in his postgame interview. Madison Bumgarner said, "there's no need to talk about that," when asked about throwing a pitch behind Jesus Guzman's back in the 2nd inning.— Steve Corkran (@CorkOnTheNFL) June 20, 2013 This was just another fight between NL West rivals, and it was the third major scrum of the year.The Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers got things started when Zack Greinke plunked Carlos Quentin and Quentin charged at Greinke, ultimately breaking his collarbone and putting him on the DL for a month.Exactly two months after fighting the Padres, the Dodgers were at it again with the Arizona Diamondbacks.Greinke hit Miguel Montero to defend his teammates after Puig was hit the nose by an Ian Kennedy pitch, leading to both benches clearing.Nothing serious happened until the next inning, however, when Kennedy went upstairs again and hit Greinke, which sparked a brawl between both clubs as the benches cleared for a second time.Puig was in the middle of the fracas and had to be held back, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. The Diamondbacks were still talking about Puig’s actions Wednesday, saying that the Dodgers were shouting at him, “No! Not you!” as he kept charging back into the melee. Nine games into his career, Puig is already that valuable. The Dodgers were fearful of losing him to an ejection (which happened) and a suspension (which almost certainly will follow). Puig, though, was in a rage. Kennedy had hit him the previous inning, grazing his nose with a 92-mph fastball. According to several Diamondbacks, Puig kept shouting, “Yo soy Cubano!"—“I am a Cuban!”—as he drifted in and out of the fight, at one point landing a ha

On Wednesday, a startup named Spindle announced that Twitter had bought it and was shutting it down. In a Wednesday blog post, the Spindle team said it's relocating from Boston to San Francisco, where Twitter is based and would be sunsetting the app right away. We've reached out to Spindle and Twitter to see if they have a time frame for shutting it down. Spindle makes a mobile app that hoovers up data that businesses post to Facebook and Twitter, analyzes it, and uses it to alert users to things going on around them. For example, the app could help newcomers to a city find nearby happy hours, dinner specials and clothing sales as they're walking around. With Twitter increasingly becoming a mobile-oriented service, Spindle could help Twitter deliver more location-based services of its own. Spindle employed eight people before the Twitter acquisition including a big braintrust from Microsoft. Spindle cofounder and CEO Pat Kinsel, who spent about two years at Microsoft and left in 2010, was in charge of Docs.com, an online version of Microsoft's Office software that was integrated with Facebook. (Docs is still available as a Facebook app.) Kinsel also worked on Bing.com/Twitter, a Microsoft partnership with Twitter that pulls tweets into Bing search results, according to his LinkedIn profile, In fact, Spindle's other two cofounders are also former Microsoft employees. Simon Yun and Alex Lambert, software engineers Jeff Lupien and Keh-Li Sheng, and Alex Jenkins, VP of product. Ray Ozzie, the former Microsoft CTO and chief software architect who left in 2010, is one of the investors Spindle lists on its website. SEE ALSO: Microsoft Pulls A 180 And Removes The Restrictions From The New Xbox That Video Game Fans Revolted Against Join the conversation about this story »

It's been a rough week for S.F. Newspaper Company president Todd Vogt. Not even a day after Vogt defended his company's decision to bring Michelle Shocked back to San Francisco for a free show during SF Pride weekend, the newspaperman has revoked his invitation and cancelled the concert. [ more › ]