23andme: how to use genetic testing while ensuring privacy

How to use 23andMe without giving up your genetic privacy
Sarah A. Downey, venturebeat.com

Sarah A. Downey is an attor­ney, pri­va­cy ana­lyst, and writer at Abine, an online pri­va­cy start­up in Boston. Find her on Twit­ter @SarahADowney.

If you’re like me, the idea of know­ing what’s in your genet­ic pro­file is both…

http://flip.it/GpsmW

Mysterious Apple office in Boston linked to voice tech

Check out this interesting article

Mysterious Apple office in Boston linked to voice tech | Apple – CNET News.

Incredible Thermal Imaging Video of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Hiding

English: Thermal imaging Khmer houses
English: Thermal imaging Khmer houses (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brian Barrett, gizmodo.com

While we had previously seen the stunning thermal images that helped police confirm that Boston Marathon bombing suspect was indeed hiding in a boat, under a tarp, now the raw video of the camera in action has been released.

Incredible Thermal Imaging Video of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Hiding http://flip.it/A320R http://flip.it/Z51Zq

Incredible Thermal Imaging Video of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Hiding

Nanotechnology heater and cooling body wear

How Winter Woes Inspired A Nanotech Fix For Everything From Cold Necks To Knee Pain
By Shaunacy Ferro, popsci.com

Kranthi Kiran Vistakula developed technology that can keep your body comfortable in outside temperatures that range from -50 to 50 degrees Celsius.

With the excep­tion of Russ­ian nov­el­ists, not many peo­ple can say their big break was inspire…

RT @PopSci: Tech Transfer: How a hatred of Boston’s climate led to technology to manage knee and joint pain. http://flip.it/03oG5 http://flip.it/MMKI4

Mitt’s son says he was not up for the job

Mitt’s Son Says He Never Wanted to be President Anyway
Connor Simpson, theatlanticwire.com

If you thought the tale of how Mitt Rom­ney lost the gen­er­al elec­tion was already told, you would be wrong. Because there is so much left to tell, like how Mitt never want­ed to be Pres­i­dent any­way.

At least, that’s what Tagg Rom­ney says …

RT @TheAtlanticWire: Mitt’s Son Says He Never Wanted to be President Anyway http://flip.it/TvMCh http://flip.it/4qmA1

Remote car starter is a sign of the apocalypse

(via The Best Daily Deals in Boston North – Meineke Car Care Center – Remote Car Starter and Installation)

Boston natural gas leaks

Boston has a few thousand gas leaks it shouldn’t worry about
pbgrist, grist.org

Just FYI, Bostonon­i­an­ites, there’s a nat­ur­al gas leak under your city. Not a big deal. It’s a lit­tle one. Lit­tle small lit­tle nat­ur­al gas leak.

And a tiny bit of addi­tion­al bad news — there are also over 3,300 other such leaks.

Fro…

http://flpbd.it/gnnt1

6 Reasons Layoffs Are Really Dumb

Erik Sherman, inc.com

TECHTOWN

It seems like smart just-in-time staffing: You hire for big projects and then let people go when they wrap up. But here’s why it hurts more than it helps.

For the most part, there aren’t many par­al­lels between the cutting-edge…

http://flpbd.it/wfdkE

6 Reasons Layoffs Are Really Dumb

Health 2.0 Challenge #1: Getting Doctors Off Fax

Health 2.0 Challenge #1: Getting Doctors Off Fax Machines
Richard MacManus, readwriteweb.com

Today at the DC to VC: Health IT Start­up Show­case, a col­lab­o­ra­tion between Mor­gen­thaler Ven­tures and the Health 2.0 Con­fer­ence, I saw first­hand how health IT star­tups are tack­ling big, real-world prob­lems. Com­ing from a world where…

http://flpbd.it/hw3nH

A linguistic taste of Massachusetts

The Massachusetts State-house in Boston, Massa...
The Massachusetts State-house in Boston, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hilarious. For anyone who has ever gone to “Dunkin”. If you are going to work in the Boston tech and science community, you need to “speak the language”….

A linguistic taste of Massachusetts – Boston.com.

Biotechs engineer ancient organisms and speed product development

National Science Foundation (NSF) Logo, reprod...
National Science Foundation (NSF) Logo, reproduction allowed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New Boston biotech companies such as Ginkgo BioWorks, Cambrian Innovation, and Manus Biosynthesis are tapping into ancient organisms and new IT capabilities to produce new solutions that are environmentally clean, US based, and fast with as little as 6 month product development life cycles. Gingko notes that 1/4 of their employees are software developers and they are run more like a chip fabrication factory, with robotic automation and bar-coding than a bio lab. The products they are developing include new electrofuels, fine chemicals such as flavors, fragrances, remediation technologies, bio-similars support and new genetic security systems using DOE, NSF, and DARPA grants.

Researchers making microbes that can do the dirty work – Boston.com.

 

TypesOfNewProducts
TypesOfNewProducts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Walk Score City Rankings: figuring out where you can live (and walk around)

Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing The Urban F...
Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing The Urban Fabric (Photo credit: Inhabitat)

This is a great way to assess places you might want to live by how friendly they are for walking about. Boston, DC, NYC and San Fran are all tops which is encouraging but a little surprising given the crazy drivers I have encountered. Still, this probably refers to the downtown areas which feature older architecture that these cities preserve against shopping mall suburban sprawl which encourages auto travel.

Walk Score City Rankings.

Enterprise 2.0: Article in KMWorld

Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston
Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston (Photo credit: @heyamberrae)

 

Great article on Enterprise 2.0

 

 

Writing the book on Enterprise 2.0: KMWorld.

 

 

Brandeis University Health Informatics program integrates computer, social and bio sciences

English: Electronic patient chart of Care2x, a...
English: Electronic patient chart of Care2x, an open source integrated healthcare information system. for verifications contact legal@care2x.org (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yet another Boston area school has launched a health and medical informatics program, largely online. Know for its bioinformatics degree, Brandeis is now adding courses in these other areas.

Health and Medical Informatics | Programs and Courses | Graduate Professional Studies | Brandeis University.

Secret swimming holes and kettle ponds of Cape Cod

English: kettle lakes and peaks of the Alaska ...
English: kettle lakes and peaks of the Alaska Range seen from the Denali Highway Category:Images of Alaska (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Freshwater secrets, paddle optional – Boston.com.

As an avid lake swimmer, I was excited to find this article which reveals some of the unknown freshwater swimming holes and kettle ponds of the Cape.

Energy efficiency “hyper milers” saved thousands in heating costs

This guy keeps his house at 63 degrees year round in Boston with insulation and passive heating so has no need for a heating system.

Home is where the heat is off – The Boston Globe.

Getting real about Enterprise 2.0

E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez » Getting Real about Enterprise 2.0 by Oscar Berg and Henrik Gustafsson.

The end of the office… and the future of work

Image representing oDesk as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

www.boston.com

So recently I’ve been taking a look at new forms of work including elance, odesk and of course well known micro-commerce sites like threadless, etsy, and those periodic sales on ebay… What is interesting is how this article shows these are all part of a larger shift in the way we work which encourages a more mobile, project based workforce.

Human behavior is 93 percent predictable, research shows | Northeastern University News

DLD13 Conference
DLD13 Conference (Photo credit: Hubert Burda Media)

via www.northeastern.edu

Human behavior is 93 percent predictable, a group of leading Northeastern University network scientists recently found. Distinguished Professor of Physics Albert-László Barabási and his team studied the mobility patterns of anonymous cell-phone users and concluded that, despite the common perception that our actions are random and unpredictable, human mobility follows surprisingly regular patterns. The team’s research is published in the current issue of Science magazine. Barabási, who is also director of Northeastern’s Center for Complex Network Research, and his team studied the real-time trajectory of 100,000 anonymous cell-phone users. We now know that when it comes to processes driven by human mobility—such as epidemic modeling, urban planning, and traffic engineering—it is scientifically possible to predict people’s movement.

What a collector loses (and gains) in the age of music downloading – The Boston Globe

www.boston.com

An interesting take on the social science of digital music which uses Locke’s perspective on ownership of property to argue that companies will need to consider ways to add context to technologies which become increasingly untouchable.

via

Borderland State Park: Mountain bike, jog, xc ski, and swim with leeches

Mountain biker gets air in Mount Hood National...
Mountain biker gets air in Mount Hood National Forest, Oregon, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Department of Conservation and Recreation – It’s Your Nature.

A good place to swim? It appears so. Very clear water. And not a leach to be seen, contrary to one mountain biker‘s postings..