Silicon Valley One World – Page 9 – Demographics, Culture & Life

U.S. Magistrate Judge Says Zhang Must Stay in County Jail—for Now

11Jun

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Says Zhang Must Stay in County Jail—for Now

By Sharon Simonson SAN JOSE—A Chinese professor accused of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets from two Silicon Valley technology companies will remain in the Santa Clara County jail until at least June 24. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins told Hao Zhang’s defense attorneys June 10 that he would reconsider the defendant’s status but that he needed stronger proof that Zhang stood to lose personally in the event of his flight to evade the federal charges. Zhang was arrested May 16 at the Los Angeles International Airport after federal agents boarded his plane from China as it remained on the tarmac. He is accused of stealing trade secrets with commercial and military applications from a former employer in conspiracy with five other Chinese scientists and the Chi...

San Jose Federal Court Takes Up Case Against Chinese Professor Zhang

10Jun

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San Jose Federal Court Takes Up Case Against Chinese Professor Zhang

The link between the treatment of immigrants in the United States and the relationship between the U.S. government and their home countries is well-documented by historians. Doubters need look no farther than the entrance to the federal courthouse in downtown San Jose and the memorial to Japanese-Americans imprisoned during World War II by the U.S. government after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Relations between the U.S. government and the Chinese government have deteriorated in recent months. (Photo by S. Simonson) By Sharon Simonson SAN JOSE — A federal magistrate judge has agreed to reopen a detention hearing for a U.S.-educated Chinese citizen arrested May 16 in Los Angeles on accusations of trade-secret theft involving two semiconductor companies with Silicon Valley ties. Lo...

Spring India Day at San Francisco’s Union Square

6Jun

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Culture

Spring India Day at San Francisco’s Union Square

By Sharon Simonson As many as 30,000 people are expected to descend on San Francisco’s Union Square today to experience Spring India Day 2015, a first-ever showcase of Indian culture, arts and crafts in the Bay Area’s most famous shopping and tourist center. Organizers hope to bring a bit of home to the city’s Indian population and a taste of India to the broader community. “I am a really proud Indian,” said Ena Sarkar, president, chief executive and executive producer of WomenNow TV, an event platform and weekly talk show for South Asians that is carried by KTSF Channel 26 television. "I want people to understand India and Indian culture, to remember that we can create a bridge between here and India, and I want people to know how vibrant we are and how the nation has so much...

29May

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Demographics

Building a Better Workforce

By Sharon Simonson SAN JOSE—Nineteen-year-old Erin Soucy wants to share his love of history using film and animation. He’s starting with practical training: a yearlong program in digital animation at the San Jose campus of the Metropolitan Education District. At the end of his studies this month, Soucy will have a work portfolio and certification that could win him a job at Emeryville’s Pixar Animation Studios, Redwood City-based video game-maker Electronic Arts Inc., in an advertising agency or as an in-house corporate designer, said his instructor Eric Whitman. Soucy plans first to attend college, where he expects to learn more about video game making and “to improve myself overall,” he says. His ultimate goal is to create immersive games to help others see and feel what he ...

San Mateo County Leads Bay Area Economic Growth

28May

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Demographics

San Mateo County Leads Bay Area Economic Growth

Federal data charting five years' business growth suggest San Mateo County is the Bay Area’s true economic sweet spot. (Photo of the Facebook campus the month the company moved in, courtesy Flickr and Jitze Couperus.) By Sharon Simonson For all the debate about the relative economic strength and stature of traditional Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County) versus the new Silicon Valley (including San Francisco), San Mateo County is arguably outrunning both. Nationally, the information-technology sector is leading economic recovery. Industry payrolls expanded more than 20 percent in the five years ending in 2013, reaching $273 billion a year. Internet and software publishers and data storage and processing companies are growing the fastest. The Bay Area’s information-technology...

21May

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Demographics

Bean Power Hodo Soy Style

By Sharon Simonson WEST OAKLAND—For an instant after Minh Tsai opens the metal front door of his West Oakland tofu manufacturing plant, I wonder, ‘Who is this man?’ The Hodo Soy founder and chief executive is dressed in a hairnet, a faded blue, crew-neck long-sleeved t-shirt and sagging blue jeans. My mind connects the face to a photo on the company's website. A note taped to the front door instructs visitors to call to announce their arrival. “We’ll send someone out to get you,” the receptionist’s voice crackled through the intercom after I call. A moment later, Minh pushes open the door with a smile and beckons me inside. I had not expected the company founder to wear a hairnet. The Viet Nam Project He leads me into a small dark room, separated from a factory floo...

It’s Official: San Jose Has A Million Residents

20May

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Demographics

It’s Official: San Jose Has A Million Residents

San Jose is now among the 10 American cities with a population of a million or more, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. By Sharon Simonson New York remains the nation's most populous city with nearly 8.5 million people. It gained 52,700 residents in the year that ended July 1. That was the greatest numeric increase among all U.S. cities. California now has three cities with a million or more people: Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, tying the state with rival Texas, which has Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, for lead among states. San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego and Irvine were all among the nation's 15 largest numerical gainers. San Jose added not quite 12,000 residents in the year; Los Angeles not quite 31,000; San Diego, 21,225. San Franc...

Riding the Waves Across Cultural Divides

11May

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Culture

Riding the Waves Across Cultural Divides

By Sharon Simonson SAN JOSE—Ten years ago, Shreeja Sharma probably could not have found her job in Silicon Valley — or anywhere else in the United States. No, she is not a computer scientist honing technology's cutting edge. She is something a lot cooler — a global citizen riding today's transnational currents of cultural change. A former “radio jockey” for India’s national broadcaster, All-India Radio, Sharma grew up in Delhi, speaks three languages, claims Canadian citizenship and a U.S. green card, and has lived in four countries on two continents. Since January 2012, she has peeled her eyelids back at 5 a.m. each weekday to commute an hour from her East Bay home to the East San Jose radio studios of Desi 1170 KLOK AM. (A “desi” is an Indian person who lives outside ...