Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Aalto’s design factory was expanded to New York
R & D learning environment developed at Aalto Design Factory has already spread to 12 universities and research organizations around the world. Professor Kalevi Ekman’s newest brainchild, the Design Factory was opened on Friday in New York.
Design Factory at Aalto concept has emerged a new kind, open to all product development, research and learning environment. The concept is to accelerate the transformation of teaching and supporting interdisciplinary cultural approach and problem-based learning and research.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/10/03/aallon-suunnittelutehdas-laajeni-new-yorkiin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
9 tricks to appear smart in brainstorming meetings
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/30/9-tricks-to-appear-smart-in-brainstorming-meetings/?ncid=rss&cps=gravity_1730_-490627055562575387
Tomi Engdahl says:
You should grab technology trends
Digitalization top name Tero Ojanperä, and the British brand expert Chris George brought new perspectives to the end of last week held in Finlandia Hall IRP-house Berggren Future Forum. Growth trends were listed, inter alia, 3D printing and the use of artificial intelligence and brand expertise.
The panellists surprised many by telling participants a rare openly career stories and how they actually encourage innovation in their own companies.
They told us specifically how bold innovations and leadership brought the companies to gather speed. All debaters kept the funding they receive very significant factor in the development of the company.
‘ The plans are scaled as soon as global and not worry about the risks,
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/10/10/teknologiatrendeihin-kannattaa-tarttua/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Future engineers: It’s not just about circuits and code
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/rowe-s-and-columns/4442817/Future-engineers–It-s-not-just-about-circuits-and-code?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161012&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161012&elqTrackId=227f0546a08c463781230ba39594dc17&elq=56eaa3fff0144487b1eb76c9f31f701a&elqaid=34321&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=29947
In the early 1970s, WPI completely revamped what had been a typical rigid engineering curriculum, replacing it with one that stresses projects and teamwork. While the program has seen some adjustments, the fundamental premise and project-based spirit are very much intact.
employers today ask “What have you built?,” the WPI professors see a stronger interest in building systems that solve human problems than ever before. While there’s certainly a greater interest in software, many students are looking at being part of a team that creates something.
“We used to look down on people who weren’t hard-core designers,” said Orr. “Detailed engineering and IC design can be done overseas. Today, there’s a local component that comes from being close to the customer. That’s where many students want to be.”
Many employers are looking for graduates with system-level skills. Yes, students still need a solid grasp of the fundamentals, but to build systems that solve real-world problems, they need to think beyond circuits and code. With so much technical information being available online, it’s the creativity that adds value to engineers today and into the future. “We need people with qualitative skills, not just in engineering,” said Vaz.
Solving real-world problems means that engineers need to see the world beyond their major. “As more embedded systems come out, leading to IoT,” said Gennert “there will be a shortage of people with systems skills.” Millenials seem to be answering the call. “Millennials are driven by making the world better, people living longer, and making a better environment. It’s not just about making money.”
Developing systems to solve real problems in areas such as health care and the environment means that engineers need to look at the many ways of solving a problem. But, people tend to look at solving problems based on their backgrounds. That’s why these educators see a need for greater diversity in the engineering field.
“There is economic value in having diverse teams,” Demetry added. “Studies show stronger outcomes from organizations that have diversity in their people.”
The proliferation of open-source hardware (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.) makes it easier to design systems that are closer to the customer because the lower-level engineering is already done. You become a system integrator, or dare I say, a “maker.” That’s fine, until something doesn’t work. Then, you need the depth of an engineering education.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Good ideas are generated outside of the company” – Nokia is looking for new insights into the IoT startups with contest
Twelve Startup or finds himself competing for a team victory Nokia’s Internet of Things Challenge competition. The race reflects how the network technology giant, like many other company believes it will find valuable ideas from outside its own walls,.
The official name of the competition is the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge. Seven series came to a total of 410 proposals were received following multi-stage qualifier finals survived twelve o’clock growth company or a team.
Finland became an abundance of suggestions, but none of them did not reach the climax. The United States is four finalists, two from France and Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Taiwan each one.
“We want to be involved in the creation of ecosystems, which are included as well as suppliers, customers and startups. More generally, the more and more innovation and good ideas will be generated outside the company, and of course we should take advantage of them, ”
“Ideas speed up product development”
This is the fourth consecutive year, while Nokia to organize a similar competition. Every year the number of entries has doubled.
The main sponsor and the judging of Nokia Growth Partners is a private equity fund, which this year began to rotate a $ 350 million investment fund IoT.
“Ideas have helped us to speed up product development, and always races left something in your hand. My staff is inspired by ideas coming from outside, “Niemi says.
“IoT is this umbrella, because it is part of Nokia’s strategy. We are IoT things in many places and in many different parts of the organization team. ”
Nokia produces itself suitable network communication technology IoT communication. However, the company also aims to look at the side, which sends the data to the network.
“Essential IOT operators is the ease of joining the network, sufficient network capacity, the need to collect data and transmit the content.”
Cash prizes will not be shared at all. Instead there is two days practical training in a business and technology mentoring, an open door to Nokia’s ecosystem, as well as contacts with private equity investors and the market in different countries.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/hyvia-ideoita-syntyy-yrityksen-ulkopuolella-nokia-etsii-uusia-oivalluksia-startupien-iot-kisalla-6589775
Tomi Engdahl says:
Grant Gross / PCWorld:
White House to invest $65M in smart-city technologies and $50M in small-satellite tech for broadband and more, as part of $300M innovation package
White House releases money for small-satellite broadband, smart cities
The government will release $65 million for smart-city technology, $30 million for small satellites
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3131048/white-house-releases-money-for-small-satellite-broadband-smart-cities.html
The U.S. government will invest tens of millions of dollars in smart-city technologies and in small-satellite broadband as part of a US$300 million package focused on innovation.
The package of new investments, announced Thursday, will include $65 million in government funding and $100 million in private funding for smart cities technologies. Two new government grant programs will focus on easing traffic congestion and on creating new on-demand mobility services, including smartphone-enabled car sharing, demand-responsive buses, and bike-sharing.
“From automated vehicles to connected infrastructure to data analytics, technology is transforming how we move around our country, and some of the most exciting innovation is happening at the local level,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
“Advancing smallsat technology and adoption could, for example, allow companies to provide ubiquitous high-speed Internet connectivity and offer continuously updated imagery of the Earth,”
“While we’ve made great progress, there’s no shortage of challenges ahead: Climate change. Economic inequality. Cybersecurity. Terrorism and gun violence. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and antibiotic-resistant superbugs,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg in France Advises Startup Crowd
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330630
Michael Bloomberg, CEO of Bloomberg L.P., and Emmanuel Macron, former French Minister of Economy, Friday came on stage together here at a two-day conference called the Hello Tomorrow Summit, “where the greatest minds in science and entrepreneurship meet.”
An audience consisting mostly of French entrepreneurs in technology and science, was here to learn “American style” startup-pitches, to exchange ideas, exhibit prototypes, and participate in discussions about artificial intelligence, mobility, DNA, space, energy and agriculture.
The Bloomberg-Macron panel was a special draw for participants eager for tips about making their startups successful.
Bloomberg and Macron talked about innovation, differences between public and private sectors, and the government’s role in working with startups.
Bloomberg had choice words for millennials who, he said, ask only about “what’s in it for me.” He said a company who gives you a chance to work initiates “a social contract” that obligates you to sticking with the company through good times and bad.
“When you start up a company, the fatality rate is high. When you close startups, you are killing jobs,”
“How do you speak to [economic] losers about the importance of innovation and globalization?
Can you teach innovation?
Macron: No, you can’t teach innovation. You can only teach specific skills — like the “competence” to become risk-takers. You learn to fail and doubt, but also you learn to convince other people to take risks with you.
Bloomberg: You need to build a support system to keep you confident and take risks. But in my case, the fear of failure, its embarrassment and ego kept me going.
Private, public sector differences
Bloomberg: In the private sector, a CEO is generally protected and isolated from stockholders since the board is in the middle and lets you focus on what you need to do. Your success hinges on whether you can deliver a product or not. But the marketplace can force you out, and in that case, changes can take place quickly.
In contrast, the public sector tends to be slower in providing services to people. Changes don’t happen so quickly.
When management changes in the private sector, the people below move up.
Macron: Generally speaking, there is a lack of trust and understanding between the public and private sectors. And yes, the public sector has low focus on delivering services.
Bloomberg: Private sector people tend to think that bureaucrats in the public sector are stupid and lazy. Meanwhile, the public sector people believe all corporations are crooks. But in reality, the proportion of people who are stupid, lazy or crooked between the two sectors is about the same.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The speed of thought
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/measure-of-things/4442854/The-speed-of-thought?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20161021&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20161021&elqTrackId=07c05e1433dc4d24ab8e24dc42527bbf&elq=1b1695b132a14010a8372d71184579a5&elqaid=34476&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30079
Your reaction time depends on two things: first, the nature of the event that demands your attention, and second, the speed that signals propagate through your brain.
The human brain operates on three essential timescales. The three are dictated by the response time of the three tightly networked but still somewhat distinct components:
The brainstem, which is the oldest part of our brains in evolutionary terms, often called the “reptilian brain” by neuroscientists, is the most automatic; it responds in about 0.03 sec.
The limbic system that consists of a bunch of nodule-like doodads in the center of every mammalian and bird brain includes the emotionally-dominated four-F responses—fight, flight, freeze, or mate—and can respond no faster than about 0.2 sec.
The outer layer, the part that distinguishes us from most other mammals, called the neocortex requires at least 0.7 sec to register the thoughts that we’re aware of, conscious thoughts.
We could spend hours arguing over what qualifies as a thought. When you see your nemesis down the hall, your face betrays your displeasure in about than 0.03 sec and then it takes about 0.2 sec for you to replace that dragon scowl with feigned indifference. You’re not actually aware of either of these responses for at least 0.7 sec, if ever. Do both reactions qualify as thoughts? Or, to qualify, does a thought have to be conscious, like which beer partners best with a given conversation?
When you hit the brakes, is it a conscious decision? A preponderance of evidence says no, it wasn’t conscious in that instant, but it was trained by conscious practice when you learned to drive.
Neuroscience, that fascinating, infant science, has yet to define what a thought is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia announces Open Innovation Challenge 2016 winners
http://company.nokia.com/en/news/press-releases/2016/10/26/nokia-announces-open-innovation-challenge-2016-winners
Espoo, Finland – Start-ups with innovative products focusing on the connected home, digital health and big data have taken the top three spots in Nokia’s 2016 Open Innovation Challenge, beating a tough field of over 400 entries in a competition which looks for the next big ideas in Internet of Things domains including public safety, connected automotive, industry 4.0, digital health, utilities, security and smart cities. The challenge was organized in partnership with Nokia Growth Partners, which this year announced a USD 350 million fund for investments in IoT companies.
The first prize was awarded to CUJO for their firewall for the connected home, designed to bring business-level security to the home network. The second prize and investors’ choice prize were awarded to iSono Health, who empower people to take charge of their health with early breast cancer detection. The third prize was awarded to Mobagel for their Decanter(TM) Big Data AI engine which automatically chooses the optimal machine learning model and provides the right actionable insights for marketers and executives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Most startup events are a waste of time. Here’s how to pick the right ones.
https://medium.com/creandum-family/most-startup-events-are-a-waste-of-time-heres-how-to-pick-the-right-ones-3795ce9e4bdc#.bo2rerrz5
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printed ‘Heart-on-a-Chip’ Offers Hope for End of Animal Testing
First ever entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip collects data on how strongly the heart is beating.
http://europe.newsweek.com/3d-printed-heart-chip-offers-hope-end-animal-testing-513368?rm=eu
The first ever fully 3D-printed ‘heart-on-a-chip’ has been developed by researchers, offering a synthetic alternative for the living tissue that is currently used in animal testing.
Harvard scientists created the breakthrough device using printable inks that contain sensors designed to measure how the tissue responds to drugs and toxins.
“This new programmable approach to building organs-on-chips not only allows us to easily change and customize the design of the system by integrating sensing but also drastically simplifies data acquisition,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the CMO, CIO and CDO can join forces to drive digital innovation
http://www.cio.com/article/3130816/csuite/how-the-cmo-cio-and-cdo-can-join-forces-to-drive-digital-innovation.html
Without a shared vision and active collaboration between executives, your business’s talent, resources and goals remain fragmented – and ultimately, innovation efforts will suffer.
Chief information officers and other business technology leaders are frequently reminded to break down silos around IT, integrating the department into the firm by partnering with managers and listening more directly to end user feedback. Even so, many firms continue to tolerate siloed decision-making in the C-suite, with effects that closely parallel the challenges commonly seen with isolated IT departments.
Increasingly, IT leaders must adjust to a new normal. According to this Building Digital Organizations report by my organization, CompTIA, only 19 percent of companies say IT owns the entire technology budget. As other business functions take command of the technology they want in their work routines, CIOs and other chief executives must work together to chart a course for their organization’s digital future.
Without a shared vision and active collaboration between executives, your business’s talent, resources and goals remain fragmented — and ultimately, innovation efforts will suffer. Rather than managing your business function’s digital resources in solitude or attempting to impose your will on the organization, all executives must form a united front to accelerate their technological evolution.
Building a shared vision
Business departments are largely reflections of their leaders, and this is doubly true with regard to technology decisions. Even minor discord between two business heads could lead their respective departments to invest in disparate technologies, introducing obstacles to compatibility and efficiency, and at worst obstructing collaboration between teams.
Fostering better communication
Unified digital decision-making doesn’t happen overnight. Most C-suites must develop a new process to discuss technology-based challenges and opportunities.
Fusing data, marketing and IT
It’s important for the entire C-suite to collaborate with regard to digital innovation, but an even closer dynamic must be forged between the CIO, CDO and CMO. Across industries, IT, data and marketing are becoming interdependent functions — and their shared success depends on the quality of their leaders’ communication.
Even in forward-thinking marketing departments that already use and collect vast amounts of customer information, there’s tremendous value in CIO, CMO and CDO teamwork.
Pushing the digital revolution
Many organizations have already taken the first steps to unifying IT with the other business units. Now is the time to take the next step and break down barriers to C-suite collaboration, particularly between CMOs, CIOs and CDOs, to enable greater transformation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Red Hat CEO: ‘All things open’ isn’t just about technology
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2016/10/26/red-hat-ceo-all-things-open-isnt-just-about.html
Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Raleigh-based open-source technology firm Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), says the world – not just technology companies – are shifting toward “open.”
“We know that bureaucracies, hierarchies, are really good at driving efficiency,” he says. “They’re not good at innovating.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. Convenes Chip Study Group
White House explores China, Moore’s law
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330731&
In the final weeks of his administration, President Obama has convened a group of semiconductor veterans to study the top issues affecting the chip industry in the U.S. The group is expected to submit a report to the next administration recommending significantly higher federal spending on semiconductor research.
A new working group under the well-established President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will look at ways to strengthen the U.S. industry in the face of competition from China and the growing cost and complexity of pursuing Moore’s law.
“Some countries that are important in this domain are subsidizing their domestic semiconductor industry or requiring implicit transfer of technology and intellectual property in exchange for market access,” the White House said in a thinly veiled reference to China in a statement online announcing the new work group.
Indeed, China has prepared a $20 billion investment fund in semiconductors. It also helped organize a $100 billion private fund to spur increasingly active investments in chip M&A deals.
U.S. Needs Big Bet on Chips
Analysts support post-silicon research effort
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330748&
The U.S. government should launch a new multi-billion national research effort to define a post-silicon semiconductor industry.
The working group of semiconductor veterans the White House recently convened should recommend the initiative in its report expected early next year. It could give the next U.S. president a rare opportunity to kickstart an engine for a new golden age in high tech.
While China promises to be a real threat to U.S. chip companies, the looming limits of today’s semiconductor technology are a much larger common enemy. The U.S. has an opportunity to pioneer a path beyond the 3-5nm process technologies companies see at the distant edge of their road maps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thank Goodness for Makers
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=216&doc_id=1330698&
Did you ever fear that hobby electronics was fading away, and were you surprised by the emergence of the Maker Movement?
When I was a young lad, I was always building electronic and mechanical “things” — some of them even worked. A lot of my friends were similarly inclined. Those were the days when it was cheaper to make something than to buy a finished product.Things changed over time. It became cheaper to buy something than to make it. Eventually, when something broke down, it’s owner simply threw it out and purchased a new one. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer people seemed to be interested in building things for the fun of it, and do-it-yourself hobbyist magazines went out of business around the globe.
Then, suddenly, in the early 2000s, the Maker Movement leapt onto the scene. I couldn’t have been more surprised and delighted. In the 1990s, if you had told me that there would soon be Maker Faires around the world — from North and South America to Europe to Asia to Australia — I would have laughed a hollow laugh and shaken my head in disbelief.
How things have changed, spurred on in large part by the Internet, which allows Makers to share their passions with others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“so if you don’t know what you are doing, you should probably not be doing it.”
Can’t learn if you only do things you know.
I would rephrase that as, “so, if you don’t know what you are doing, BE CAREFUL!”
Source: http://hackaday.com/2016/11/11/chemical-hacking-at-a-store-near-you/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Shows Searches Can Boost Early Detection of Lung Cancer
Patients may reveal early symptoms by looking on web for medical terms and treatments
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-10/microsoft-shows-searches-can-boost-early-detection-of-lung-cancer
Microsoft Corp. researchers want to give patients and doctors a new tool in the quest to find cancers earlier: web searches.
Lung cancer can be detected a year prior to current methods of diagnosis in more than one-third of cases by analyzing a patient’s internet searches for symptoms and demographic data that put them at higher risk, according to research from Microsoft published Thursday in the journal JAMA Oncology. The study shows it’s possible to use search data to give patients or doctors enough reason to seek cancer screenings earlier, improving the prospects for treatment for lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
How effective this method can be depends on how many false positives — people who don’t end up having cancer but are told they may — you are willing to tolerate, the researchers said. More false positives also mean catching more cases early. With one false positive in 1,000, 39 percent of cases can be caught a year earlier, according to the study. Dropping to one false positive per 100,000 still could allow researchers to catch 3 percent of cases a year earlier, Horvitz said. The company published similar research on pancreatic cancer in June.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Grace Hopper, Margaret Hamilton, Richard Garwin Named for Medal of Freedom
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/17/grace-hopper-margaret-hamilton-richard-garwin-named-for-medal-of-freedom/
Somewhat hidden among athletes, actors, and musicians, three giants of technology have been aptly named as 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. Grace Hopper, Margaret Hamilton, and Richard Garwin all made significant contributions to the technology that envelops our lives and embody the quest for knowledge and life-long self learning that we’d like to see in everyone.
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper’s legacy lies with the origins of computer science. She wrote the first compiler.
She continued to make huge contributions with lasting effect in developing COBOL, unit testing methods for programmers, and in education.
As Director of Apollo Flight Computer Programming, Margaret Hamilton is the driving force behind the software of Apollo.
Physicist Richard Garwin’s name is most associated with the first hydrogen bomb design. But another part of his work is more likely to have directly touched your life: his research into spin-echo magnetic resonance helped lead to the development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This $1,500 Toaster Oven Is Everything That’s Wrong With Silicon Valley Design
Automated yet distracting. Boastful yet mediocre. Confident yet wrong.
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3065667/this-1500-toaster-oven-is-everything-thats-wrong-with-silicon-valley-design
“We take very hard technologies, AI, deep learning, and lots of sensors, and we apply that to creating a well thought through, simple interface that just makes your life better,” says June cofounder Matt Van Horn, another Apple alum who cofounded Zimride, today known as Lyft. “Our MO is we just want to inspire people to cook more.” It’s a tall order, but one that Van Horn delivers earnestly, the idea being that if cooking required less of us, we’d simply do it more. Yet in buying into the June, the home cook is becoming a consumer rather than a creator. The June asks cooks to put their faith in the fledging startup’s proprietary software getting better, rather than improving their own analog skills—skills that will work on any machine, in any kitchen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
11 Reasons Steve Jobs Wouldn’t Be Happy With Apple
If he were still alive today, Steve Jobs wouldn’t be all that pleased with some of the ways that his company has been thinking different.
http://www.designnews.com/consumer-products/11-reasons-steve-jobs-wouldnt-be-happy-apple?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161119.tst004c
Tomi Engdahl says:
ESC Silicon Valley: Be creative by goofing off
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/rowe-s-and-columns/4443034/ESC-Silicon-Valley–Be-creative-by-goofing-off?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161123&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161123&elqTrackId=bcdb79cbf6f2466c87b5264d9a198888&elq=0c19e1b06268424a8d6cfa3e1aed267c&elqaid=34914&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30479
When do you have your “ah-hah” moments? They usually come not while you’re at work, but while driving, walking, or showering, right? Why does that happen? It’s because parts of your brain work differently than we’ve been led to believe, according to Ransom Stephens. Stephens discards the long-believed notion about your left brain and your right brain. Understanding the new model is the key to creativity and innovation.
While writing his new book The Left Brain Speaks, the Right Brain Laughs, Stephens looks into how to use neuroscience to solve your biggest problems.
“Distraction plays a huge role in innovation,” explained Stephens in an interview, “particularly in lateral thought. Our culture teaches us to work very hard, but you really need to back away.”
he model, which Stephens calls “the oversimplified brain,” consists of three parts: the inner frog, the inner puppy, and the inner Richard Feynman.
“The inner frog part of your brain operates much faster than the other parts.”
The emotional inner puppy, according to Stephens, regulates your emotions. It’s the part that barks, fights, and runs away. The inner Feynman, the cerebral cortex, is the part that does things such as planning. All of these parts play a role in innovation and creativity.
We have many “stupid parallel processors” in our brains. They just operate on their own.
Stephens will tell the ESC audience that some of those thoughts will percolate up to our consciousness, but we can only handle, say, three-to-ten concepts at a time.
Because we can’t handle too many thoughts at once, we tend to use our expertise and experience to filter them and formulate ideas that make sense to us. Experts have many prejudices because they know what will work and what won’t. “We’re prejudiced against things that we know won’t work, but we need to drop those prejudices when we want to think about creating something new.”
Stephens admits that some ideas are stupid, but if you try to discard all the stupid ideas, you’ll eliminate some good ones as well. The problem is that we throw out many ideas before they even reach our consciousness.
Is that why people reject ideas out of hand saying it can’t possibly work?
We’ve trained ourselves to reject things as “not invented here,” something Stephens noted in Reduce your prejudice to innovation.
Stuff information in your brain
So what can you do? “Assemble as much information as you can,” said Stephens. “Stuff as much information into your brain without judging. If you’re trying to solve an engineering problem, get all of your notes and read all those papers, just get it all into your brain, then get out of the office.” Stephens suggests going to a sporting event (he prefers the Oakland raiders), a concert (he prefers a heavy-metal band), or meditate. You need to let the parallel processors make the connections to all the data you’ve acquired. That’s how you boil up the insights. “Relax and let the ideas come. Don’t let your expertise get in the way.
“Many of our insights are dumb, Stephens continued. “You have to go back to the analysis part and figure out what makes sense. Once you get these ideas into your consciousness, that’s when you see the novelty. You combine very different concepts into one solution.”
“Because our culture emphasizes hard work, we tend to over-emphasize the focus. I’m now giving you permission to de-focus. Goofing off is acceptable. When the boss wants you to solve a big problem, go do something fun.”
Part of the reason we’re so successful at innovating is because of the analysis we do. “That’s not just a right-brain thing,” said Stephens, we need both sides.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mintomat: An Overcomplicated Gumball Machine
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/25/mintomat-an-overcomplicated-gumball-machine/
How do you get teenagers interested in science, technology, and engineering? [Erich]’s team at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences makes them operate three robots to get a gumball. The entire demonstration was whipped together in a few days, and has been field-repaired at least once
MINTomat: World’s Most Complicated Bubble Gum Automata?
https://mcuoneclipse.com/2016/11/19/mintomat-worlds-most-complicated-bubble-gum-automata/
Yes, pretty over engineered compared to a normal bubble gum automata, but that’s part of the fun.
MINT is the German language equivalent for STEM. The basic idea is a fun system which puts out bubble gums or mints with human interaction. The user has to use three robotics system to carry a bubble gum out of the system.
The base of the mobile robot is our version of the Zumo robot running with FreeRTOS on an NXP ARM Cortex-M4F. It uses the Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ 2.4 GHz transceiver to communicate with the controller board
Tomi Engdahl says:
Om Malik / New Yorker:
Silicon Valley’s biggest failing is its lack of empathy for the lives disrupted by its tech: from self-driving trucks to the proliferation of fake news — Silicon Valley seems to have lost a bit of its verve since the Presidential election. The streets of San Francisco—spiritually part of the Valley—feel less crowded.
Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/silicon-valley-has-an-empathy-vacuum?intcid=mod-latest
Silicon Valley seems to have lost a bit of its verve since the Presidential election. The streets of San Francisco—spiritually part of the Valley—feel less crowded. Coffee-shop conversations are hushed. Everything feels a little muted, an eerie quiet broken by chants of protesters. It even seems as if there are more parking spots. Technology leaders, their employees, and those who make up the entire technology ecosystem seem to have been shaken up and shocked by the election of Donald Trump.
One conversation has centered around a rather simplistic narrative of Trump as an enemy of Silicon Valley; this goes along with a self-flagellating regret that the technology industry didn’t do enough to get Hillary Clinton into the White House. Others have decided that the real villains are Silicon Valley giants, especially Twitter, Facebook, and Google, for spreading fake news stories that vilified Clinton and helped elect an unpopular President.
These charges don’t come as a surprise to me. Silicon Valley’s biggest failing is not poor marketing of its products, or follow-through on promises, but, rather, the distinct lack of empathy for those whose lives are disturbed by its technological wizardry. Two years ago, on my blog, I wrote, “It is important for us to talk about the societal impact of what Google is doing or what Facebook can do with all the data. If it can influence emotions (for increased engagements), can it compromise the political process?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flying cars are closer than you think
http://www.theverge.com/a/verge-2021/marc-andreessen-horowitz-verge-interview
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where Are the Women Engineers?
Only 12% of engineers are women. That needs to change.
http://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/where-are-women-engineers/3042927446165?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161129.tst004c
The numbers are getting better, but they still aren’t great.
According to Solving the Equation: The variables for Women’s Success in Engineering and Computing , research published in March by the American Association of University Women, more than 80% of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs are in engineering and computing. Yet women comprised only 12% of the engineering workforce and 26% of the computing workforce in 2013. And those low numbers reflect increases, with engineers at about 10% in 2010.
Needless to say this is concerning as we know and have shown time and time again that diversity in the workforce contributes to creativity, productivity, and innovation, not to mention that companies with more diversity perform better financially over the long run. Diversity is needed to steer the direction of engineering and technical innovation.
We also know that in the very near future, the United States will need a mass of new engineers and computing professionals as Baby Boomer engineers exit their cubes and technology continues to become a more pervasive part of our economies, healthcare, in general, our lives. Yet nearly half the population is not approaching or sticking with careers in engineering, nor science, technology, and math.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designing Ourselves: A Future of Cybernetics for Everyone
Neil Harbisson envisions a cybernetic future of artificial sensory organs for the masses.
http://www.designnews.com/content/designing-ourselves-future-cybernetics-everyone/192245216746168?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161130.tst004c
That antenna sticking out of Neil Harbisson’s head isn’t a medical device, it’s not a wearable, and it’s not a gadget. Ask Harbisson and he’ll tell you it’s an “artificial sensory organ” that allows him to overcome his colorblindness and perceive color.
Harbisson, 34, was born with achromatopsia, a rare form of colorblindness that allows him to only see in greyscale. As a child Harbisson said he knew that color existed, but he also understood that he had no way of perceiving it. His study as a musician led him to an answer. “When I started studying music I found out there are technologies that can create sounds. I was interesting in creating a sense of color without changing my existing sense,” he said. Transposing colors into different frequencies of sound seemed an ideal solution, but Harbisson also did not want to sacrifice his ability to hear the rest of the real world for the sake of hearing color tones.
He started looking into bone conduction as a solution and eventually settled on the design for his Eyeborg antenna. “Finding people to collaborate with on the project was easy because I was in an art school at the time,”Harbisson said. “The technology is not complex, it’s the way it’s being used that’s unusual.”
What was complex was finding a doctor willing to graft the Eyeborg onto his skull…particularly after a bioethical committee shot the idea down. He eventually found a doctor in Spain who was willing to perform the procedure under the condition of anonymity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Practicing the art of good research
In a growing digital age, engineers need to ditch the instant-gratification mentality and develop in-depth research skills.
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/practicing-the-art-of-good-research/b34c08134bed1984edcc6cd22cbbbeef.html
Engineers, by nature, are inquisitive folks. They like to look for things, fix things, and learn things. The advent of the personal computer, digital-information storage, and the Internet, with its easy and constant access, has changed the way information is made available. Online search engines encourage typing in keywords, and thousands of results are instantly revealed. But how do you know which of those items will really provide the information you need or are seeking? This effort might actually take some research to get the best results.
There is a lot to learn by reading books and articles. Practicing engineering in the design and construction world helps you become a researcher as well as someone to be researched. Engineers must make time to study, to read, to research. A college professor once told his class that finding an answer is good, but citing the source for that answer not only creates a basis for the research that went into finding that answer, but also lends credibility to it. Another way to look at it is to imagine being questioned about the source of information and your only answer is, “I Googled it.” Next time something needs to be looked up, consider doing research, not just searching. You will be surprised by how much you can learn.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineer, inspire, empower, lead
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/engineer-inspire-empower-lead/efd890db83f19b710046a55a7056f253.html
Think Again: Leaders in automation and control engineering need to focus their time, about four to one, on leadership, rather than management because of a long-standing bias toward managing. See tips, benefits, and examples showing why agile leadership tops traditional management.
Leadership, speed, heart
Flick’s leadership advice follows, paraphrased, including three key points about leading.
1. Leadership is the name of the game. Most companies are over-managed and under-led.
2. The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.
3. Leading means engaging the head as well as the heart. Feelings can be more important than thought.
Quarterbacks are taught to do two things. Look over the defense and locate danger. Blitzes are bad, but they create opportunity, because a quarterback can lead the team to win 70% of the time in one-on-one coverage. Focusing on the game can be overwhelming with too wide of a focus. Winning the next play is the sole purpose.
Quarterbacks are taught to do two things. Look over the defense and locate danger. Blitzes are bad, but they create opportunity, because a quarterback can lead the team to win 70% of the time in one-on-one coverage. Focusing on the game can be overwhelming with too wide of a focus. Winning the next play is the sole purpose.
Enable people
Empower people to do what needs doing. Because we’re over-managed and under-led, the distinction between them is increasingly important. Leaders take complexity and make it simple. Management isn’t designed to move us forward; it keeps us the same.
Two challenges for leaders
Dr. John Kotter, a Harvard professor, talked about two challenges that leaders have in their businesses. The first challenge is complacency. People think what they are doing is just fine, which leads to self satisfaction, even in the face of danger, as in: “I’m OK the way I am. I have this figured out. We’re doing fine.” Complacency is based on past success.
The second challenge is a false urgency. That’s the meeting where everyone’s hair is on fire, based on anxiety and fear. False urgency creates a burned-out feeling, when people operate in a survival mode.
Moving out of comfort
Moving out of comfort zones and taking steps required for change also cause stress and anxiety. Do this exercise. Close your eyes and fold your arms in front of you. Then fold them backward, the other way. [People struggled.] See how even a simple change makes the brain feel funny.
Live consciously: Five benefits
By living consciously, with purpose, it’s possible to:
Constantly look for ways to grow and get better
Empower and inspire others through your actions
Purge nonvalue-added activities from your schedule
Refocus from what you cannot do and look at what you CAN do
Catch people in the act of living company beliefs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Innovation: It’s All in the Software
http://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/innovation-it-s-all-software/27200537546198?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161206.tst004c
Engineers work on a daily basis to translate ideas into real-world innovations and while in many circumstances the world sees hardware as the “new thing,” in many circumstances today the real innovation is all about the software.
Innovation is all about creating something new that is useful to individuals or companies. Innovation requires taking ideas, information, and resources to get a result which is something that has never been seen before. Sometimes innovations are continuous which means they are just improvements upon existing technologies. At other times, innovation can be disruptive and result in something completely unexpected. Engineers work on a daily basis to translate ideas into real-world innovations and while in many circumstances the world sees hardware as the “new thing,” in many circumstances today the real innovation is all about the software.
Hardware is exciting. Individuals can see hardware, touch it, weigh it, and get a good sense for what it is. The same hardware can be reconfigured and manipulated to provide different solutions in disparate industries. In many circumstances, though the hardware is quite limited. First, designers have to configure that hardware in a predefined configuration in order for it to do something useful. Secondly, there are limits to how quickly and how many units can be physically manufactured. Finally, most hardware today isn’t standalone but requires software to drive its behavior.
In many circumstances today, the innovation is in the software. This doesn’t mean that we should ignore hardware and stop trying to push the envelope. Software innovation can never occur without standing on the shoulders of hardware innovators first. At the end of the day, the software driving that hardware can often do more than anyone might ever imagine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where Are the Women Engineers?
Only 12% of engineers are women. That needs to change.
http://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/where-are-women-engineers/3042927446165?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161205.tst004c
The numbers are getting better, but they still aren’t great.
According to Solving the Equation: The variables for Women’s Success in Engineering and Computing , research published in March by the American Association of University Women, more than 80% of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs are in engineering and computing. Yet women comprised only 12% of the engineering workforce and 26% of the computing workforce in 2013. And those low numbers reflect increases, with engineers at about 10% in 2010.
More substantial increases have been recorded, as well, but they are few and far between.
Needless to say this is concerning as we know and have shown time and time again that diversity in the workforce contributes to creativity, productivity, and innovation, not to mention that companies with more diversity perform better financially over the long run. Diversity is needed to steer the direction of engineering and technical innovation.
We also know that in the very near future, the United States will need a mass of new engineers and computing professionals as Baby Boomer engineers exit their cubes and technology continues to become a more pervasive part of our economies, healthcare, in general, our lives. Yet nearly half the population is not approaching or sticking with careers in engineering, nor science, technology, and math.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Needs to Embrace Industrial Revolution
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330950&
Industrial jobs policy is important for many millions of Trump supporters, especially those who lost jobs when factories downsized or closed. But can Trump’s U.S. really compete with Asia and Europe?
During the recent US presidential campaign, most press coverage of the now president-elect Donald Trump was focused on his constant stream of controversial comments, his attacks on opponents — especially on Hillary Clinton — and his style of communication at public appearances, and on social media.
The main policy issues Trump touched on during the campaign got little attention.
But industrial jobs policy is important for many millions of Trump supporters, especially the ones who lost their jobs in the Rust Belt when factories downsized or closed completely over the past two decades.
“The message from Mr. Trump that captivated the Carrier workers — keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States after decades of losses to overseas factories and automation — resonated throughout the Rust Belt,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Dearth of Women in Sciences? Let’s Keep Talking About It!
With women accounting for just 12% of engineers in the US, gender equality has become a burgeoning topic in tech.
https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/dearth-women-sciences-let-s-keep-talking-about-it/77653066246243?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161209.tst004c
With women accounting for just 12% of engineers in the US, gender equality has become a burgeoning topic in tech. So much so, in fact, that a Women in Engineering panel at 7:30 a.m. on the second day of the Embedded Systems Conference , was to a full room.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Needs to Embrace Industrial Revolution
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330950&
Industrial jobs policy is important for many millions of Trump supporters, especially those who lost jobs when factories downsized or closed. But can Trump’s U.S. really compete with Asia and Europe?
During the recent US presidential campaign, most press coverage of the now president-elect Donald Trump was focused on his constant stream of controversial comments, his attacks on opponents — especially on Hillary Clinton — and his style of communication at public appearances, and on social media.
The main policy issues Trump touched on during the campaign got little attention.
But industrial jobs policy is important for many millions of Trump supporters, especially the ones who lost their jobs in the Rust Belt when factories downsized or closed completely over the past two decades.
“The message from Mr. Trump that captivated the Carrier workers — keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States after decades of losses to overseas factories and automation — resonated throughout the Rust Belt,
Tomi Engdahl says:
7,500 Faceless Coders Paid in Bitcoin Built a Hedge Fund’s Brain
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/7500-faceless-coders-paid-bitcoin-built-hedge-funds-brain/
Richard Craib is a 29-year-old South African who runs a hedge fund in San Francisco. Or rather, he doesn’t run it. He leaves that to an artificially intelligent system built by several thousand data scientists whose names he doesn’t know.
Under the banner of a startup called Numerai, Craib and his team have built technology that masks the fund’s trading data before sharing it with a vast community of anonymous data scientists. Using a method similar to homomorphic encryption, this tech works to ensure that the scientists can’t see the details of the company’s proprietary trades, but also organizes the data so that these scientists can build machine learning models that analyze it and, in theory, learn better ways of trading financial securities.
He doesn’t know these data scientists because he recruits them online and pays them for their trouble in a digital currency that can preserve anonymity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kara Swisher / Recode:
Sources: Tim Cook, Larry Page, Satya Nadella, Sheryl Sandberg, plus CEOs of Cisco, IBM, Intel, and Oracle to attend Trump’s tech summit in NY; Bezos may attend — The gathering will take place Wednesday in New York. — Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg …
Tim Cook, Larry Page, Sheryl Sandberg — and maybe even Jeff Bezos — are going to Trump’s tech summit next week
The gathering will take place Wednesday in New York.
http://www.recode.net/2016/12/10/13908492/trump-tech-summit-tim-cook-apple-larry-page-google-sheryl-sandberg-facebook-nadella-microsoft
Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are among the small group of top tech leaders who will attend a summit with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to numerous sources with knowledge of the situation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Want Girls Attracted to Tech? Put A for Art in STEM
http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/education/want-girls-attracted-to-tech-put-a-for-art-in-stem
Two Bit Circus, a technology entertainment company co-founded by a son of videogame pioneer Nolan Bushnell, has been arguing for some time that the push for STEM in education is missing something. Brent Bushnell has used echnology to make art throughout his career. He says that to really draw talented young people into science and engineering careers, STEM needs an “A” for “Art”, turning it into STEAM.
It’s when the school day ends that the differences emerge. Forty-one percent of the parents with boys surveyed said their children show the most interest in technology/computing activities outside of school, compared to 18 percent of parents with girls. Meanwhile, 45 percent of parents with girls report that their children show the most interest in art outside of school, compared to 10 percent of parents with boys.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From STEM to STEAM: A Carnival Ride Into Engineering
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/at-work/education/from-stem-to-steam-a-carnival-ride-into-engineering
Lots of folks have been trying for years to figure out how to get today’s kids interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers.
latest venture is Two-Bit Circus—think efforts so far have been missing something—art. So they’re mixing in art with engineering to create a new acronym, STEAM, and a new venture, the STEAM Carnival.
Bushnell and Gradman envision STEAM Carnival as taking classic carnival games, which have always appealed to kids, and updating them with technology, particularly the kinds designed to wow youngsters, like lasers, tesla coils, motion capture systems, robots, and shooting flames. An unexpected combination? Not really, Brent Bushnell’s father, Nolan Bushnell, worked as a carnival barker before launching the video game industry by founding Atari.
STEAM Carnival will include a digital art gallery, a concert with musical robots, and a fashion show of wearable electronics.
Is STEAM Carnival going to make its founders a fortune? Probably not. But they’ll have a great time thinking up and building the components, will entertain a few communities, and just may capture the imagination of a few kids wanting to further explore a “STEAM” career.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Girls Are Not Attracted To Tech Careers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ira-pramanick/why-girls-dont-like-technology-careers_b_3600588.html
It does not matter where and how they got this notion, but a young child from a middle to upper-middle class family making a statement like the above drives home the following point — that society places little confidence in the ability of girls to do STEM. There is ample evidence in the literature that this phenomenon is quite pervasive. And it is one of the main reasons why many girls are turned off from STEM at a fairly early age.
In my daughter’s case, the above incident had almost no long term impact on her perception of STEM as an area of interest and a potential career path. Both her parents are STEM professionals and she is surrounded by family friends most of whom (including many women) are STEM professionals. Unfortunately, this is not the case with most girls faced with similar challenges in their formative years.
Young girls are not the only ones who have to face such preconceived notions about female aptitude for STEM. Women STEM professionals do too.
Five years ago, I started a non-profit organization called More Active Girls In Computing or MAGIC, that provides 1-1 mentoring to middle and high school girls, over a period of 4-8 months. The mentors work with mentees on STEM related projects of the mentee’s choice that gives them first hand experience of the MAGIC of STEM.
We are a long way from a complete solution, but MAGIC and several other efforts are helping to steer us back in the right direction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Buhr / TechCrunch:
Scanadu to shut down support for its Scout device per FDA regulation and customers are mad
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/13/fda-orders-scanadu-to-shut-down-support-for-its-scout-device-and-customers-are-mad/
Medical startup Scanadu informed customers today it will no longer support its Scout device starting May 15, 2017.
The reason? Though Scanadu has been working with the Food and Drug Administration to get full approval for this and other devices, it seems Scout didn’t make the cut.
Scanadu came out of the X Prize Foundation’s Qualcomm Tricorder competition, but soon broke an Indiegogo record, raising more than $1.6 million in less than a month for the Scout, a medical device that could check for heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
Scanadu used Scout, which could detect vitals such as temperature and upload that information to a smartphone, as a preliminary device for medical research. The device could also send collected information from an app to your doctor.
However, customers paid anywhere from $149 on Indiegogo to $199 to use the device and the information Scout users were given at the beginning of the study conveyed Scout would continue to work after the study.
But it is the collection of that data without anything in return that has sparked a lot of anger in those who’ve bought and supported the use of Scout.
Another user, long time supporter Dr. David Fraser wrote TechCrunch in an email, “They basically took our money, took our data, took the learnings from the process and dumped the very backers who got them started. No recompense, no future trade-up voucher, nada!”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Manifesto: Why We Do Research
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331011&
Core of CEA Leti CEO Marie-Noelle Semeria’s keynote speech at IEDM was her convictions about why we do research. She presented a “manifesto” for scientists, researchers and engineers, laying out their moral and ethical obligations of engineering.
Among many speeches — heavy with talk about nano-scale technology — at the conference, Semeria was in her element. She laid out thoughts about a future in which she foresees biomimicry, storage-class memory and neuromorphic architecture, all the way up to quantum computing.
Manifesto
In a “manifesto” she wrote on behalf of scientists, researchers and engineers, she stated, “Our raison-d’être must be rooted in a sense of ethical and moral obligation and a long-term commitment to our children and future generations.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Star Engineers Are Made, Not Born
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331006&
Instead of pursuing visions of all-star engineers, managers need to develop an atmosphere that promotes autonomy, mastery and purpose
You’ve heard about them — the elusive software engineers that seemingly move mountains, create miracles and build products from scratch overnight. As these so-called “10x engineers” have risen to prominence, they’ve become targets for recruiters at Silicon Valley startups and titans alike. Some engineers are even taking the lead from Hollywood by hiring talent agents to find them the best jobs.
Startups see 10x engineers as their answer to growth hurdles, product dilemmas and go-to-market hiccups. There’s only one problem: 10x engineers don’t exist.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steven Overly / Washington Post:
White House report: AI will lead to long-term growth in productivity and efficiency but will likely lead to millions of job losses in low-skill sectors
Artificial intelligence could cost millions of jobs. The White House says we need more of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/12/20/ai-could-cost-millions-of-jobs-the-white-house-says-we-need-more-of-it/
The growing popularity of artificial intelligence technology will likely lead to millions of lost jobs, especially among less-educated workers, and could exacerbate the economic divide between socioeconomic classes in the United States, according to a newly released White House report.
But that same technology is also essential to improving the country’s productivity growth, a key measure of how efficiently the economy produces goods. That could ultimately lead to higher average wages and fewer work hours. For that reason, the report concludes, our economy actually needs more artificial intelligence, not less.
To reconcile the benefits of the technology with its expected toll, the report states that the federal government should expand access to education in technical fields and increase the scope of unemployment benefits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DARPA Funds Small Businesses with Big Ideas
Pro-kickstart your ideas
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331049&
DARPA, the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, funds big ideas that sometimes become gigantic successes, after taking on equally gigantic risks (many projects fail). Often groups from universities or researchers get the funds. Now the little guy with a big idea can access DARPA’s funding through its Commercial Performer Program, which aims to harness unfunded big ideas from small businesses and individual inventors.
DARPA’s MTO has already advanced the state-of-the-art in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), flash memory and radio frequency (RF) communications that have become the glue to our current connected society. But new ideas will be coming from a wider audience than ever, DARPA reasons, since an increasing number of people are becoming technically savvy and just need the seed money to get started (witness Kickstarter).
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Missing Professional Software Engineer Mystery
Working toward a PE license is a great way for developers to stand apart from the pack.
https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/missing-professional-software-engineer-mystery/10436903747192?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161227.tst004c
Software engineers are everywhere. They develop the low-level firmware that drives our gadgets, the application code that allows us to interact with our devices, the software that manages the internet, satellites, medical devices, automobiles … the list goes on and on. Despite the abundant and ever-growing software developer ranks, there seems to be a mystery; the professional software engineers are missing!
Professional software engineers are those engineers that have successfully passed the NCEES Professional Engineering exam in the Software track. The mystery surrounding the missing professional software engineers is that after examining the latest exam data it is obvious that very few engineers are taking the software exam.
Becoming a Professional Engineer has many advantages such as:
Recognition in the work place
Commanding a higher salary
Access to opportunities that may require a PE license
Less hoops to jump through when serving as an expert witness
Second, developers may not even realize that the Software and Computer Engineering exams even exist! The Software exam was only added as an option within the last three to five years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Erin Griffith / Fortune:
As the list of SV startup scandals grows, entrepreneurs’ “fake it till you make it” ethos garners continued scrutiny from reporters, while investors defend bets — As the list of startup scandals grows, it’s time to ask whether entrepreneurs are taking “fake it till you make it” too far.
The Ugly Unethical Underside of Silicon Valley
http://fortune.com/silicon-valley-startups-fraud-venture-capital/
As the list of startup scandals grows, it’s time to ask whether entrepreneurs are taking “fake it till you make it” too far.
Vinod Khosla did not show up at TechCrunch Disrupt to be harangued by some smartass, know-nothing journalist. The venture capitalist came to talk about disruption and revolutions to an audience of 1,000 potential disrupters and revolutionaries, laptop glow illuminating their faces in a San Francisco warehouse.
After the Wall Street Journal first exposed problems at blood-testing startup Theranos in 2015, for example, venture investors like Greylock’s Josh Elman and Y Combinator’s Sam Altman tweeted defenses against the one-sided “slam piece.”
But as scandals have piled up—and other negative stories have proved to be true—the defensive strategy hasn’t aged well. While some investors are standing by their tainted companies, others are taking pains to distance the bad actors from the rest of the startup pack. Theranos, which has since voided two years of its test results and faces a criminal investigation, is now described as an exception. Just one bad apple.
Lending Club’s loan doctoring? That’s not what startups are about.
No industry is immune to fraud, and the hotter the business, the more hucksters flock to it. But Silicon Valley has always seen itself as the virtuous outlier, a place where altruistic nerds tolerate capitalism in order to make the world a better place. Suddenly the Valley looks as crooked and greedy as the rest of the business world.
“We hope that founders bend the rules but don’t break them. There’s a fine line between entrepreneurship and criminality.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackspace U
http://hackaday.com/2016/12/26/hackspace-u/
It’s funny, how obsessed we are with qualifications these days. Kids go to school and are immediately thrust into a relentless machine of tests, league tables, and exams. They are ruthlessly judged on grades, yet both the knowledge and qualifications those grades represent so often boil down to relatively useless pieces of paper.
A gold standard of education is revealed as an expensive piece of paper with a networking opportunity if you are lucky. You need it to get the job, but in most cases the job overestimates the requirement for it. When a prospective employer ignores twenty years of industry experience to ask you what class of degree you got twenty years ago you begin to see the farcical nature of the situation.
In our hackspaces, we see plenty of people engaged in this educational treadmill. From high schoolers desperately seeking to learn something other than simply how to regurgitate the textbook, through university students seeking an environment closer to an industrial lab or workshop, to perhaps most interestingly those young people who have eschewed university and gone straight from school into their own startups.
The Hackspace As A Learning Environment
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coming Innovations That Will Make Flying Economy (Mostly) Better
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/coming-innovations-will-make-flying-economy-mostly-better/
It’s tempting to envision the vehicles of the future the way Passengers does—luminous, spacious, expertly designed. But in reality, you’d probably settle for an air travel experience that’s even slightly better than what you get today—or at least, not worse.
Here’s what’s coming.
Tomi Engdahl says:
We’re Following the Wrong Celebrities
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331026&
Efforts to increase STEM interest among students are being negated by our excessive attention to Hollywood celebrities, models, and athletes.
I’m fairly certain that very few people heard the news that Joe Sutter passed awayin August 2016 at age 95. Who was Joe Sutter and why should we care? He led the Boeing engineering team that developed the Boeing 747 jumbo jet in the 1960s, an aircraft which completely changed commercial aviation and made air travel truly a routine event and transportation option for the masses.
Only a few other aircraft can make a comparable claim: the Douglas DC-3, Boeing 707, and perhaps the Ford Trimotor
There was almost no attention in the “mass media,” although what he did brought low-cost air travel to their audience.
I understand the need to “escape” and the kind of relief that following the exploits, adventures, and tribulations of these Hollywood-type celebrities and models offers. Still, can engineers get a little-larger slice of the attention piece, please? We’re only asking because it’s the efforts of engineers (and scientists and production people) that make possible all of these miraculous devices and gadgets that you take for granted and think are “no big deal.”
I often wonder why engineers don’t get the celebrity recognition they used to get and still should. Is it because society’s values and, thus, preferences have changed? Or perhaps it is because many products are now the result of diffused efforts by large global teams, while the media prefers stories where one or two people can be the focus. Yes, there have been some technologists as celebrities (the list includes Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk), but they are outnumbered by a large ratio.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Power And Limits Of Money
http://semiengineering.com/the-power-and-limits-of-money/
What motivates successful engineering organizations, and why Google, Facebook and Amazon don’t get or keep all the talent.
SE: How can semiconductor companies ensure their engineering dollars are well spent?
Rhines: Spending earlier is better in any design project. The problem is the tendency to put off the spending until things get tough, which is really just passing the buck. Take a design’s power budget. Early in the architecture if it doesn’t get there, maybe you have some uncertainties. But you are always aware that you have to keep the schedule, and people start to feel that ‘we have to keep moving in the program’ squeeze. What that can mean is the last person gets stuck with an impossible goal. It’s human nature to put things off and think things will get better. But, they don’t always get better. And we all know, there is a budgeted amount [of man-hours and resource-spending]. Squeezing people is a motivator in many cases. But sometimes it’s the father of poor products and late products.
SE: What about salaries? How do semiconductor companies pay enough for the engineers they need but not blow their budgets? How important is being the top salary payer?
Rhines: I’m probably in the minority on this, but I’ve been at this a long time. Over my years of experience, people want to be paid fairly but they really want to be part of something exciting and feel valued.
One company I worked at had a semiconductor project. It was a very aggressive program for a microprocessor, but it had gotten out of control. It was late. People started to put on the squeeze: ‘Just get the tape out,’ and ‘Just do what you have to do.’ You cannot force good people, good engineers, to do bad work. It makes them unhappy and causes problems. And no amount of money changes that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM 5 in 5 | FIve innovations that will help change our lives within five years
http://www.research.ibm.com/5-in-5/
Consider five innovations that will change our lives in the next five years:
With AI, our words will be a window into our mental health
Hyperimaging and AI will give us superhero vision
Macroscopes will help us understand Earth’s complexity in infinite detail
Medical labs “on a chip” will serve as health detectives for tracing disease at the nanoscale
Smart sensors will detect environmental pollution at the speed of light