We tend to overestimate the short term impact of a technology and underestimate the long term impact. — Dr. Francis Collins
The first Monday of 2010 might be a good moment to look at the State of Technology: what has it brought us, what is it doing for us now and where is it all taking us in 2010?
In 2010 the World Wide Web will unofficially turn 21. Twenty-one is an important age. It is supposed to be the age of maturity. In a way you could say that the web is mature now. It is an individual object, system, movement or organism that has found its place in society. It is here, it is visible and unavoidable and not going away anytime soon. We all use it and most of the readers of this blog make their living off of the web.
But what is the meaning of maturity? When you turn 21 you might think that you know everything there is to know and you might even feel very mature. Once you turn 31 or 41 and think back you realize that you were just a child. Now imagine turning 51 or 61? How much do you think will have changed between your 40th and 60th birthday? Now imagine the future of the web.
Right now the web has reached an important milestone. They say that if you want to turn an activity into a good habit you have to keep it up at least 21 days. After that your brain and body are used to it and it will be easier to keep up. The Web is a well established good habit. It is here and has conquered a place in our lives and in our society.
Lets take a look at some short term developments for 2010. As expected the world won’t suddenly and drastically change this ear. But there are a few issues that will be worth following: (more…)
Around half of the tech businesses started in Silicon Valley are started by non-Americans. Tech entrepreneur and now Congressman, Jared Polis, has proposed a new visa category to or a new “start-up visa” to help foreign born tech entrepreneurs stay in the USA.
The idea is part of a proposed overhaul of the US immigration system.
“Every day the American economy is losing ground – not to mention high-tech jobs and technologies – to India and China because foreign-born entrepreneurs cannot secure a visa to stay in the US,” [Polis] said.
This will help entrepreneurs who can secure funding stay and grow their business. The article shares Eric Diep’s story. Diep, who is Canadian, started an Internet applications company but had to leave the USA because he couldn’t qualify for an EB-5 visa.
Each year the USA issues 10,000 of these. In order to get one applicants need to invest $1m and create 10 full-time jobs. Diep eventually got funding, but now he spends his time commuting back and from from Canada to Silicon Valley. This new class of visa could avoid this sort of problem.
This is how it will work:
It would be granted to foreign entrepreneurs if their business plan attracts either $250,000 from a venture capital operating company that is primarily US based or $100,000 from an angel investor.
They must also show that the business will create five to ten jobs or generate a profit and at least $1m in revenue.
Is there anyone out there who has been impacted by not being able to get an EB-5 visa? How does this proposed visa category match up to similar ones that already exist in Canada, the UK and Australia?
My mother gave her old laptop to my 8 year old daughter on her birthday. Since then Loïs has started used the computer to look up stuff on Wikipedia, interact with friends and teachers on a social network and emailing her grandparents.
Last week, when I picked her up at school I overheard her talking to a friend. She was already connected to this girl on their social network and they had been communicating via chat there. A lot of kids in her class are online and connected on the local popular social network and even the teachers use it to send around information or photos.
Today they were exchanging email addresses, for the first time, and this is what they said:
Loïs: “So when I come home I will add you to my AddressBook so I can email you” Friend: “Okay, I will accept you right away” Loïs: “You won’t have to accept me. I can just add you” Friend: “Really? That is weird. You can just add anybody?” (more…)
It shouldn’t come as too great a surprise that a great majority of crashes involve pedestrians.
One car company, Volvo, has reacted faster to the fact and devised a system to prevent pedestrian accidents from taking place and it will be available in a matter of months.
In order to test the new technology in big city traffic, a disguised prototype of the Volvo S60 with two safety experts on board has been rolling through the streets of Copenhagen.
With a goal to eventually develop a car that is virtually incapable of crashing. Their first step is the introduction of the Volvo S60 in 2010, with the ability to detect a pedestrian in front of the car and brake automatically if the driver doesn’t react in time. (more…)
Despite recording significant growth, the Venture Capital industry in China is set to get a further boost thanks to a new plan announced by the Chinese Central government to channel VC funds to innovative companies with high-growth potential.
VC investments in China recorded significant growth quarter-on-quarter, almost tripling from $211 Million (1.4 Billion Yuan) in the second quarter to $630 Million (4.3 Billion Yuan) in the third quarter of this year.
A statement issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance outlines a plan for collaboration between the central government, local governments and private investors to establish venture capital funds that could accelerate this growth further.
According to the statement, each of the funds will hold at least $37 Million Dollars (250 Million Yuan), though it does not elaborate on the number of funds that will be established. They will be required to invest in early-stage companies and those with a high-growth potential.
The capital for those funds will be provided through a combination of various government bodies and other investors.
The central government will provide no more than 20% of the total funds, the local governments should match or exceed the central government’s investment, while private investment from institutional, corporate or foreign investors will provide a minimum of 60%.
The government will not intervene in the management of those funds. Instead, a professional management institution that will be composed of at least three experienced venture capitalists will be tasked with the management of those funds
This plan follows an earlier announcement by the NDRC to launch VC funds with private investors totaling $1.32 Billion (9 Billion Yuan) and focused on supporting the technology and energy industries.
Details are still sparse, but it seems like an interesting initiative that could spur innovation in China.
So, in the interests of getting all of us – men and women – thinking about why women are often less represented in the tech field, I’m taking Boris up on his offer of a right of reply, via guest post here at The Next Web.
As a longtime tech journalist and editor turned web publishing teacher and communications consultant, I’ve spent the last decade working in Australia’s male dominated tech industry. So I have experienced my share of frustration at the fact that the gender balance is so poor. In the open source tech community in Australia, women make up just 7 % of participants. I hate the fact that so many Australian girls drop out of maths and sciences at high school, that their enrolments in tech related courses at uni are so low, and that girls are often absent from tech events for students. (more…)
Grace Murray Hopper, Pioneer Computer Scientist and inventor of the ‘Computer Bug”.
Madeleine Albright once remarked that “the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. She didn’t make that up but was quoting Abba Eban, a former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, but I heard it from her first. I’m starting to think the same quote applies to women. Seriously. The longer I work in our industry the more I’m starting to think that most women never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Don’t get me wrong. I love women and think they are smarter, faster and more organized than men. Unfortunately I don’t see too many women taking advantage of their skills and the opportunities presented to them. No, this is not just an observation by a male macho geek. I have some pretty impressive data to back this up. Of course, with lies, damn lies and statistics as the basis of my assumptions, I could be wrong. So consider this a RFC.
First of all I want to get started with women in technology. Why aren’t you dominant in our space? No really, why not? On the web, nobody knows whether you’re are a pony, a geek or a women. The reason why so many web entrepreneurs are geeks with pimples is that they can be. Nobody judges them on their body odor, pimples, glasses or stutter. All they are judged on is their work. Or as Jessica Livingston explains: (more…)
There were over 1000 people at this grand opening, including some high profile Microsoft execs like the COO Kevin Turner who came out to cut the ribbon.
They say the store looks more like an Apple Store (imitating again?) so that means I have to go to an Apple Store and see with my eyes how it really looks (luckily, there are several around Phoenix area). Maybe the look of the store is because MS worked with a former Apple store designer?
The people were enthusiast about the opening but let’s see how they’ll appreciate Microsoft’s products, especially the newcomer Windows 7 (soon I will buy a machine which runs that so I am eager as well).
Well okay, I actually receive an average of 2160 spam messages a day. I don’t actually read any of those because my mail is checked for spam first at Gmail, than at Me.com and finally in Apple Mail. I end up deleting 10 to 20 spam messages from my inbox a day that aren’t caught somewhere along the way.
But today I read two spam messages. Here they are:
I received these within seconds of each other and of course they are were completely automated. I smiled when I read the first one because it is such a nice example of how people can screw up with technology.
My emailaddress is bomega@me.com (yeah sure, send me more spam, I don’t mind) and as you can see the clever developers at ‘CGT Consult’ had their computer analyze that and and conclude than I must be “B. Omega” who works at “Me.com”.
The reason I’m sharing this with you is that it was just such a great example of how NOT to use technology. I couldn’t have asked for a better example to prove a point I want to make.
Technology: Enjoy In Moderation
We all love the personal touch: a friendly word, a hand on our schoulder, the sound of our own name and the bartender that knows what we drink. Unfortunately technology makes it far too easy to become distant, cold and impersonal. It is just too easy to spam your whole address book. Copy list, paste in BCC field, press send. Annoy 1000 people in three clicks. Done.
The trick to technology, the secret, is to use technology to make your life easier but stay personal, at every level. The challenge is to use cold technology to warm up your communication and strengthen your relationships. Sounds easy enough but technology keeps seducing us to take advantage and show our bad sides.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Contacting 10 people personally is more effective than spamming 1000 strangers. Give it a try and find out for yourself.
The guys over at IDEO Labs were fortunate enough to grab a tour of WATG’s Wimberly Labs and EON Reality’s new immersive 3D room.
The iCube is described as being:
“comprised of three white walls and a floor, all about 10′ x 10′ in size. Onto each surface is projected a high-resolution, stereoscopic image. A viewer stands in the room wearing polarized 3D glasses — like you might use in a 3D movie — with small markers that stick out a bit from the frames.
The markers are illuminated by IR LED floodlights located on the perimeter of the room, and IR-sensitive cameras use those positions to determine the precise location of each eye within the room. From those positions, stereo images for each projector are calculated and rendered on the fly, and the result is absolutely amazing.”
A video demo can be found below but I highly recommend you watch the HD version here.
It shouldn’t come as too great a surprise that a great majority of crashes involve pedestrians.
Yesterday, 
