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Google Chairmen Eric Schmidt and Director of Google Ideas Jared Cohen author new book looking at our future

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Schmidt/Cohen photo draft.inddGoogle Executive Chairmen Eric Schmidt and Director of Google Ideas Jared Cohen have announced a new book titled, The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, that aims to take a look at our general future. The book is in partnership with Knopf Publishers, a division of Random House, and is set to be published April 23rd, with 150,000 copies being printed initially.

Working at Google, both Schmidt and Cohen have strong opinions about how/will technology is shaping our culture in almost all aspects. The book will tackle not only changing technology like smartphones and computers, but also government, technology’s effect on terrorism, privacy, business and more. “This is a book about the importance of a guiding human hand in the new digital age,” according to The New Digital Age’s authors. “For all the possibilities that communication technologies represent, their use for good or ill depends solely on people. Forget all the talk about machines taking over. What happens in the future is up to us.”

Serving as Google’s CEO from 2001 – 2011, Schmidt is more well known than Cohen. However, Cohen has a diverse/successful background, being an adviser in government to both Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton and has been a successful author. The group he heads at Google founded in 2010 after his government work, Ideas, aims to being technology to the developing world. He has also written a slew of books addressing poverty. Schmidt has always been known to be a talker, so his ideas combined with Cohen’s bank of knowledge should make for one interesting read.


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Google Ideas helps launch counter-radicalization ‘Against Violent Extremism’ network

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GeY4vuWFJOo]

Today, on the Official Google Blog, the company unveiled its next step for the Google Ideas think tank run by former ‘Twitterer in Chief” of the State Department Jared Cohen. In the post, Google announced it would support the Against Violent Extremism, a new online network created by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The project aims to bring awareness to the issue of counter-radicalization while forming a “global network of formers, survivors of violent extremism, NGOs, academics, think tanks and private sector execs.” Google Ideas Director Jared Cohen explained:

This is the first time that former extremists, survivors, nonprofits and private sector leaders from around the world are combining forces and using online tools to tackle the problem of violent extremism… Until now, there has never before been a one-stop shop for people who want to help fight these challenges—a place to connect with others across sectors and disciplines to get expertise and resources.

The AVE network will consist of various resources such as videos, literature, online tools and forums, and information about projects related to the network. The website also includes an interactive map highlighting people, events, and resources for specific locations. The network will “spotlight formers as positive role models for youth” and provide a tool for the public to tackle radicalization issues that many rely on government to fix.

Cohen elaborated by outlining the focus for Google Ideas going forward:


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