Silicon Valley – Page 2 – Science, Technology, Society

Silicon Valley’s Hottest Commodity: The Design-Savvy Founder

Posted on November 7, 2012March 31, 2013 by timbatchelder

Eric Markowitz, inc.com

Inc.com staff

Don’t get an MBA. Don’t even learn to code. If you really want to start a great company, hone your design skills.

Reams have been written about the importance of founders that can code—or, in Silicon Valley parlance, the…

http://flpbd.it/5lhZ9

Silicon Valley’s Hottest Commodity: The Design-Savvy Founder

Silicon Valley to boost clout in Washington (phys.org)
Myth Busters: Money Does Not Grow On Trees In Silicon Valley (nibletz.com)
Silicon Valley Space Center to Develop Suborbital Payloads for Lynx (parabolicarc.com)
Equity Office selling two major Silicon Valley office parks to Rreef, KBS (bizjournals.com)
The Real Silicon Valley Vs India’s Silicon Valley: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective (nextbigwhat.com)
Asia, Give Up On The Dream Of Being Silicon Valley (techinasia.com)
Silicon Valley HVAC firms heat up the local hiring scene (bizjournals.com)

HBS on why you must tell a story in presentations

Posted on November 5, 2012March 31, 2013 by timbatchelder

Structure Your Presentation Like a Story
Nancy Duarte, hbr.org

After studying hundreds of speeches, I’ve found that the most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs …

http://flpbd.it/HmuZW

Review: “HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations” by Nancy Duarte (speak2all.wordpress.com)
Be Present: Nancy Duarte (alexrister1.wordpress.com)
A Storied Leader: How Nancy Duarte Built a World-Class Company (thedailymuse.com)
“Secrets of the Great Communicators” Nancy Duarte on Marketing Made Simple TV (business2community.com)
Storytelling for Presentations (alexrister1.wordpress.com)
“Secrets of the Great Communicators” @NancyDuarte (digitalethos.org)
The Art Of Public Speaking (twistimage.com)
How to give more persuasive presentations: A Q&A with Nancy Duarte (ted.com)
Slideshare of the Day: Storytelling (tweakyourslides.wordpress.com)

Coursera partners with universities to create new science, humanities and engineering programs

Posted on May 4, 2012February 11, 2013 by timbatchelder

Just finished a great class! (Photo credit: brewbooks)

Coursera Plans to Announce University Partners for Online Classes – NYTimes.com.

Two more Stanford professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller have broken off to create a new online learning startup called Coursera with financial backing from two of Silicon Valley’s premier venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. The startup will provide interactive courses in the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and engineering using the inverted Khan Academy model of knowledge management and partnering with top universities including Stanford, University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. It has secured $16 million in venture capital.

Unlike many new startups, the business model is becoming clear. From a community of millions of learners some should ‘opt in’ for valuable, premium services. Those revenues should fund investment in tools, technology and royalties to faculty and universities.” In fact there is a fear that these startups will “disintermediate” universities by spotting the brightest talents among students and hiring them directly. Other startups include Minerva. For essays, students help by grading each other’s work and providing peer coaching (with an average 22 minute response time).

The companies are providing real world ROI examples including workers who have been able to keep their jobs by upgrading their skills or solve difficult problems such as the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.

Cousera Offers Free Higher Education to the Intellectually Curious (theepochtimes.com)
Generating Revenue from MOOCs (cccblog.org)
Coursera’s fee-based course option (insidehighered.com)
Coursera Announces Details for Selling Certificates and Verifying Identities (chronicle.com)
Four Coursera online classes are deemed worthy of college credit (latimes.com)
Coursera’s Virtual College Courses Now Get You Real Credit, For Under $200 (fastcompany.com)
Education Technology Marketplace Growing Says FreeWebsite.com (prweb.com)
Online Courses (socyberty.com)
Foreign universities consider how best to enter the MOOC market (insidehighered.com)

Singularity University uses software startup model to incubate synthetic biology ventures

Posted on April 19, 2012February 11, 2013 by timbatchelder

Singularity University which is a private university dedicated to speeding education in science and technology is giving away about 50k in cash and services to startups pursuing the new field of synthetic biology to help solve major projects including energy, healthcare.

Singularity University To Incubate Synthetic Biology Startups With New Program | Singularity Hub.

Singularity University Changes Terms For Student Startups (keptup.typepad.com)
New synthetic biology circuits that combine memory and logic (nanowerk.com)
George Church on Singularity 1 on 1: Inactivity and Complacency Are The Most Dangerous Ideas (singularityweblog.com)
FutureMed 2013 Day 1: The 6 “Ds” of Exponential Growth (medgadget.com)
SEED SPOT Incubates Health Startups in Phoenix (forbes.com)
Google lets you pick the problem in improved ‘Solve for X’ think tank site (theverge.com)

Stanford professors create startup to expand high quality university education online

Posted on April 19, 2012February 11, 2013 by timbatchelder

The Stanford professor whose online computer science course went viral is now at it again..

From Silicon Valley, A New Approach To Education : All Tech Considered : NPR.

Stanford University Students Launch Sites By Hand, A Social Business for Global Development of Personal Websites and Effective Web Solutions (prweb.com)
Menlo Ventures’ Pishevar and Goldman’s Stanford to Found Sherpa, a Startup Aimed at Making New Startups (allthingsd.com)
Coursera Wins “Best New Startup Of 2012″, Get Schooled (techcrunch.com)
Startups fighting unemployment: Work for America (mobileworks.com)
Here’s The Coolest New Startup From The Kids At Stanford (businessinsider.com)
The Rise of the Heartland (blogs.wsj.com)
Rackspace Startup Program Spotlight On WiFiSLAM: Indoor Positioning On Your Smartphone (building43.com)

You are not a gadget: Considering the social side of new technologies

Posted on May 22, 2010February 9, 2013 by timbatchelder

A good critique of some of the risks and issues of today’s exploding use of online social media. Jaron Lanier argues it is creating a wealth of fake, fragmented social relationships, endlessly rehashed content and demeaning true human talents. And this is coming from a hardcore techie who developed VR. However his parents relocated to New Mexico from NYC to live in tents for much of his childhood so I suppose he has seen both sides of the coin…

Brain scan: The virtual curmudgeon | The Economist