Category: New visions

It’s true, you’re never really done when you’re working for a startup, or an entrepreneur.  Startup culture has never been bigger.  It is meaningful, makes a big difference, and is a fantastic learning experience.  It also comes with stresses.  They are never “done for the day.”   “For some, the perks of ping pong tables, free snacks and flexible hours are enough to convince early startup hires to sign on the dotted line. For others, the potential to make an impact on a growing business and have a hand in shaping an industry is the main allure. With new and promising startups popping up in locations everywhere from Silicon Valley and New York City to burgeoning tech hubs like Boston and Miami, it’s clear that startup culture has its advantages — and its hardships.”

via ‘We’re Never Truly Done’: 10 Employees Give Insight on Startup Culture.

From the Big Think, another article about a currently hot topic, ageism in Silicon Valley.  This is written by Peter Lawler, who quotes Mark Zuckerberg “young people are smarter” and has many good reasons why it just is not so.  What happened to the wisdom that comes with age?  “A very old professor told me a couple of years ago:  “Every year I know more and more, and the students less and less.”  Me too.  I don’t quite agree with the guy who claimed that today’s young are “the dumbest generation,” but they sure aren’t as smart as they think they are.  (Well, it’s likely I’m not as smart as I think I am either.)”

via The Brutal Ageism of Silicon Valley | Rightly Understood | Big Think.

This is an annual list of MIT Tech Review Smartest Companies.  Not the ones we see frequently, but companies that have the potential for changing lives in  big way.  “We didn’t count patents or PhDs; instead, we asked whether a company had made strides in the past year that will define its field. The biggest of these strides happened at Illumina, which is driving down the price of DNA sequencing to levels that will change the practice of medicine. We also found dramatic developments on the Web, in batteries, and even in agricultural technologies.

Familiar names such as Apple and Facebook aren’t on this list because reputation doesn’t matter. We’re highlighting where important innovations are happening right now.”

via MIT Technology Review’s List of 50 Smartest Companies for 2014 | MIT Technology Review.

Incredible – Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford and literally re-invented phlebotomy.  “Instead of vials of blood—one for every test needed—Theranos requires only a pinprick and a drop of blood. With that they can perform hundreds of tests, from standard cholesterol checks to sophisticated genetic analyses. The results are faster, more accurate, and far cheaper than conventional methods. The implications are mind-blowing.”

via This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood – Wired Science.

From the NYT, and article that talks about an anthropologist on Intel’s team who researches how we use technology and electronics in our lives – helping them visualize aspirations that take them beyond being a chipmaker.  “Dr. Bell’s title at Intel, the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, is director of user experience research at Intel Labs, the company’s research arm. She runs a skunk works of some 100 social scientists and designers who travel the globe, observing how people use technology in their homes and in public. The team’s findings help inform the company’s product development process, and are also often shared with the laptop makers, automakers and other companies that embed Intel processors in their goods.”

via Intel’s Sharp-Eyed Social Scientist – NYTimes.com.

A generation of adults who don’t know life without earbuds.  Surprised there has not been more written about the phenomenon.  This is about perception of music (or chemistry of it.)    “When you listen to music, a part of your brain called the nucleus accumbens activates. This triggers the release of the ‘pleasure chemical’ dopamine, that lives in a group of neurons in your brain called the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA):

via What Music Does to Your Brain While You Work.