Android 5.0 Lollipop is now upon us, and while you might be rejoicing at all the new features you can take advantage of, you might also be cursing at the state that the new OS has left your device in. We’ve rounded up the most common Lollipop issues so far, together with the fixes you can try to get your gadgets working smoothly again.
Sony may know how to build great gadgets, but convincing people to part with money in exchange for them has turned out to be nearly impossible. In the outfit’s most recent financial results, its faltering mobile division was single-handedly responsib…
Attention, scientists, hobbyists and anyone in between who can design a mean CubeSat, or a mini cube-like satellite, for space exploration: registration is now open for NASA’s Cube Quest contest, and the agency’s giving out cash prizes worth a total …
Smart clothes are starting to catch on in this day and age, as the world of biometrics has advanced by leaps and bounds over the years. Having said that, we are edging closer to a future where it is possible for a shirt to be able to keep track of all your essentials whenever you sweat it out, and the Hexoskin biometric smart shirt happens to be one such shirt – allowing users to gain an in-depth insight concerning their physical training, sleep and daily activities. The latest addition would come in the form of the Arctic Smart Shirt, where it is touted to be the first cold weather Biometric Smart Shirt in the whole world. In fact, the Hexoskin shirt comes chock full of the relevant sensors, making it the perfect base layer when it comes to optimum training in cold weather that could prove to be unforgiving.
First of all, the Arctic biometric smart shirt is not all about capturing readings, either, since it will be able to offer exceptional heat insulation, true breathability, odor-resistance and blocking of fabric pulling and abrasion. Add all of that to a similar high-quality Hexoskin body metrics that their shirts are known for, and you more or less have a winner here. This special shirt has been carefully designed so that it can used across long periods of time without causing irritation to the skin, ensuring that you get to enjoy a comfort level that is similar to that of Merino wool.
The Arctic biometric smart shirt is more or lessa wearable precision lab, where it will offer its users with lab-quality metrics when performance truly matters. There will be a tiny Bluetooth device that will be connected to the fabric sensors, where it is placed in the shirt’s built-in side pocket during activity and sleep. The shirt will be extremely light, warm, comfortable, and users will be well equipped with measurements that they simply are unable to receive from regular fitness trackers. Expect the Arctic Smart Shirt to be made available later next month for $199 a pop.
Press Release
[ Hexoskin Arctic Smart Shirt offers more insight into your everyday activities copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Audio accessory startup Muzik is launching its product after two years of design and gearing up production, making the Muzik smart over-ear headphones available to consumers today for $299 and a ship date ahead of the holidays. The headphone maker has also raised an additional $10 million to help bring its product to market. The smart part of the Muzik headphones revolves around four hot… Read More
Fuffr knows smartphone users like multitouch, so it wants to add more areas of multitouch around your multitouch phone so you can do more multitouching. Why is it trying to do this? It reckons extra space for gestures will come in handy if you want to huddle around a single device to play multiplayer games. Read More
Lauren Flanagan is a professional angel investor, Managing Director of BELLE Capital USA, and lifelong entrepreneur. She’s been named Software CEO of the year by Frost and Sullivan, Top 25 Angels in Tech by BusinessWeek and to 40 over 40. She’s proudest of her Northstar award from Springboard Enterprises. A California girl who now lives along the Lake Michigan lakeshore, wherever she goes and whatever she does, she’s advocating for women and girls.
Lauren Flanagan
What does entrepreneurship mean to you, and what underlying characteristics do you see in successful entrepreneurs?
LF: Entrepreneurship is one of the highest forms of creativity. We create the future, the world we want to live in by inventing new products, services, methods and processes. True entrepreneurs have a relentless desire to solve a particular problem that allows them to override the naysayers and which propels them out of bed every morning, no matter the obstacles. The best entrepreneurs inspire an esprit du corps while leading their team to achieve its mission. Enduring entrepreneurs light their path with humor and kindness.
What are you most proud of in your professional career?
LF: I’m on a mission to help grow the ecosystem of women investors investing in women-led technology companies. My first fund, Phenomenelle Angels Fund, invested in 10 companies. My current fund, BELLE Capital USA, has invested in 3 companies out of a planned 12+ investments over the next few years. I’m very proud that some of the women entrepreneurs I’ve previously backed have joined BELLE as limited partners. This is how women become the solution to our capital access problem. We pay our financial and human capital forward to other women, creating wealth for investors, entrepreneurs and employees alike, and establishing new role models for girls.
I’m also very proud of Current Motor, makers of all-electric motorcycles and solar charging stations for business and government applications. This is by far the hardest problem I’ve ever tried to solve, only possible because we have a terrific team who have brought novel products to market in a highly capital efficient manner. We’re manufacturing in and exporting from Michigan!
If you could do something over in your life, what would it be?
LF: I have very few regrets. I don’t believe in failure either–I prefer to call it Learnings or a “Red Badge of Courage”. It’s only failure if you repeat the mistake, meaning you haven’t learned from it.
I have learned to be more careful about aligning stakeholder values and objectives, whether accepting money from investors or investing in early stage companies. Entrepreneurs should do careful diligence on potential investors (as investors do on them) and make sure their goals and timelines are in alignment. Lack of alignment is one of the biggest causes of “failed” companies and investments.
Tell us about an instance where you had to go against the flow to realize your goal.
LF: An optimistic contrarian, I go against the flow/conventional wisdom all the time, in creating a new girls club in contrast to the good old boys in venture capital. We chose not to seek institutional investors into my fund (BELLE Capital is all women investors or investment entities led by women), we choose to focus on women-led companies (we have no lack of deal flow despite the naysayers), and we invest in underserved markets across the USA (there are great companies being built outside the Bay Area, NYC and Boston). I’m an avid fisherwoman and I like to look for big fish and big companies in waters other boats haven’t found.
How do you achieve work-life balance?
LF: There’s no such thing for entrepreneurs, and there’s no substitute for hard work (“elbow grease” as my Mother calls it) if you are to achieve the mission. However there are phases where you can be working long hours to hit a deadline, and then phases where it’s possible to take more time for yourself, family and friends, girding your strength for the next intense phase of work. It is important to find time daily to feed your spirit, whether it’s being out in nature, through meditation, playing with your dog or going to your preferred place of worship.
LinkedIn style — If you were to give advice to your 22-year-old self, what would it be?
LF: I had already co-founded a few ventures by 22. I’d tell my younger self 3 things:
1) Life is a marathon, not a sprint so take care of yourself first. Healthy bodies and calm minds perform best over time. Sleep is your best friend;
2) What other people think doesn’t matter, so don’t take criticism or rejection personally, and
3) It’s never too early to start growing a diverse investment portfolio.
Follow Lauren Flanagan at @LFlanagan, and check out the other interviews in Going Against the Flow series at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charu-sharma/ or thestartupsutra.com.
“All politics is local,” said legendary politician Tip O’Neill. But if O’Neill hadn’t risen to the nationally prominent position of speaker of the House of Representatives, no one would remember this quotation, which comes from the time when he lost his only election – to the Cambridge City Council in the 1930s.
Local elections in East-Central Europe, for instance, get very little notice outside the region. They don’t attract a great deal of attention inside the region either. In Romania, for instance, turnout for local elections generally falls considerably below 50 percent – and that’s the case for most of the countries in the region. Except for some hotly contested mayoral seats, local elections don’t generate a huge amount of interest.
And yet, these elections are the lifeblood of the democracy. They engage residents in issues that directly affect their lives. They serve as a training ground for politicians. And, in multiethnic countries, they both indicate the status of minorities and represent an opportunity to amplify previously.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has been providing training and resources for local Roma politicians in Romania. In May 2013, I travelled to the outskirts of Bucharest to meet with Alice Pop Ratyis, who took a break from a training to talk with me.
There are somewhere between one and two million Roma in Romania. Ratys estimates that there are around 300 Roma in elected office at a local level. But it’s difficult to calculate how underrepresented Roma are at the local level.
“They are much more dispersed than the Hungarians,” Ratyis explains. “The Hungarians mostly live in Transylvania, and the Roma live all over the country. There are communities that are 80% Roma, there are communities where they are 50% or 20% or just 10%. Previously, they did not necessarily see the importance of having local representatives in the local council. There was always someone from the Roma party, because they were always competing, but they didn’t see the importance of having one more or two more or 10 more in the local council. Now I see that everybody’s oriented toward trying to maintain the local political representation of the Roma. We’ve been doing this now for almost 10 years.”
The number of Roma on local councils is not the only indicator of success. And how long the local councilors have served may also not correlate with efficacy. Ratyis told me about one local Roma councilor who “was so great in discussing and negotiating that she’s done more in her eight months of being a local councilor than others have accomplished in 20 years.”
The main problem with local politics in Romania is not that it’s local, but that’s it’s politics. “Many people are sick and tired of politics,” Ratyis told me. “And it doesn’t matter if you are running on a Roma Party ticket, a Roma organization ticket, or a mainstream ticket. They just say that if you are a politician, you become one of “them” and they just don’t trust you anymore.”
Even the Roma elected officials themselves sometimes discount the efficacy of politics. “Yesterday we had a discussion with the group here,” Ratyis continues, “and I asked them, “Okay, what did you accomplish as local officers in your first mandate?”
“Oh, we’ve done nothing…”
“I don’t believe that you’ve done nothing.” Then it turned out that they’ve really done many things like assessing the community and repairing the roads. And I said, “You see, you initiated it and it happened. So don’t tell me that you didn’t do anything in your first mandate.””
We talked about her early years growing up in Transylvania, the challenges and satisfactions of working for an NGO in Romania, and what advice she has for outside organizations that want to make a difference in the country.
The Interview
The Roma population in Romania is 10-12%?
Officially, though we don’t have the official data from the census, there are about 600,000. Unofficially, international organizations working on Roma issues and even the Romanian government estimate the population as somewhere between one and two million. If it’s one million, it’s 5%. If it’s two million, it’s 10%.
And if it’s 10%, what should their local representation be according to the percentage of the population?
I don’t know because they’re dispersed. They are much more dispersed than the Hungarians. The Hungarians mostly live in Transylvania, and the Roma live all over the country. There are communities that are 80% Roma, there are communities where they are 50% or 20% or just 10%. Previously, they did not necessarily see the importance of having local representatives in the local council. There was always someone from the Roma party, because they were always competing, but they didn’t see the importance of having one more or two more or 10 more in the local council. Now I see that everybody’s oriented toward trying to maintain the local political representation of the Roma. We’ve been doing this now for almost 10 years.
When you say “everybody,” you mean outside actors?
Outside actors, donors, big organizations: I’ve heard from many stakeholders – although we don’t like this word “stakeholders” since it’s too technical — from the region saying that we have to enforce and increase Roma political participation at the local level. It’s good that they’ve come to the same conclusion we came to in 2004-2005. We are very proud that we were the first ones.
About figures for Roma representation: it very much depends on the will and on the environment. Many people are sick and tired of politics. And it doesn’t matter if you are running on a Roma Party ticket, a Roma organization ticket, or a mainstream ticket. They just say that if you are a politician, you become one of “them” and they just don’t trust you anymore. This Roma organization was facing a similar problem. Where they were working as an NGO on various projects in their communities, in only one place did they get a local councilor elected. In the other places where they were brand new, they got elected. So, it’s mostly about how sick and tired people are and whether they turn out to vote. It’s also about valid votes. This is also a problem in the Roma communities: many of the votes got invalidated because people voted for more than one party or person.
The invalid votes were because of the voters’ mistakes?
We don’t know. We were not there. But most of the feedback we got from our partners was that it was a lack of civic and voter education. The double vote, or the two stamps on the same ballot, came from the idea that, “Okay, I will vote for them because they are my Roma, but I will also work with this other party because I promised them in the campaign.” And they did not know that having two stamps on one ballot invalidates the ballot. Another problem was when they supported the mayor’s candidate, who was from one political party, they thought that they had to vote for the same party for the local council. We have a saying: “The number of the votes is not what counts, it’s the people who come to vote.”
Are there organizations that monitor the elections at a local level?
To read the rest of the interview, click here.
A few weeks ago I had a book launch event in NYC hosted by REGUS. One of the big topics of discussion was all around offices and their role in the future of work. In other words, do we need to continue to rely on offices as the only place where we can get work done? I’m sure by now you know what my stance on this is. Absolutely not, we do not need to rely on offices. Today, as long as we can connect to the internet we are able to get our jobs done regardless of where we are or when we are connected. This means employees can work from home offices, cafes, co-working facilities, or anywhere else they can get wifi.
I wrote about this topic in much more detail in an article titled “Why We Don’t Need Offices,” where I explored eight reasons why relying on corporate offices is obsolete. However, I wanted to explore this topic a bit more in a recent episode of The Future in 5!
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Jacob is an author, speaker, and futurist. You can learn more by visiting TheFutureOrganization.com.
You can also subscribe to Jacob’s newsletter to get weekly content on the future of work and the first 30 pages of his new book, The Future of Work.
Providence went 4-0 this week while capturing the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic title behind the stellar play from senior LaDontae Henton. The senior from Lansing, Mich. has been named NetScouts Basketball’s National Player of the Week for games from November 17 through November 23rd.
Henton averaged 24.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game last week while shooting 36-of-59 (61.0 percent) from the field and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from three-point range. His week was highlighted in the final of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic against Notre Dame, where he scored 38 points on 14-of-19 shooting that included the game-winning free throws.
The 6-foot-6 wing was one of the most underrated players in the country last season, but has burst onto the national scene early in the season. With the loss of do-it-all point guard Bryce Cotton, Henton has taken over leadership responsibilities and emerged as the leading scorer. He’s quickly becoming one of the most productive players in the country.
Gonzaga has made a statement early in the season and looks like one of the best teams in the country. Part of the reason has been the play from freshman Domantas Sabonis, who leads the team in scoring thus far. The native of Kaunas, Lithuania has been named NetScouts Basketball’s International Player of the Week for games from November 17th-November 23rd.
Sabonis has been one of the best freshmen in the country and provided productive minutes off the bench this week for the Bulldogs. He averaged 14.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in only 19.3 mpg over three games while shooting 16-of-20 (80 percent) from the floor. The 6-foot-10 power forward has provided toughness and efficiency inside. In his last two games he shot a perfect 12-of-12 from the field.
While just a freshman, Sabonis has looked like an NBA talent and may not be in Spokane very long. He’s a good athlete that runs the floor well and rebounds at a high level. Sabonis has played well inside but his progress throughout his freshman season will be something to watch.
Carl Berman is Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and can be followed on twitter here.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
