Hasta La Gadget!

Wondering who would be the first to concoct a Kickstarter for governmental wishes? We suppose it’s Lockheed Martin. Today, the aforementioned outfit has launched an initiative “aimed at expanding its collaboration with Silicon Valley companies to meet the diverse technology needs of the federal government.” Called the Lockheed Martin Silicon Valley Alliance, the hub will reportedly “provide the federal government with greater visibility into innovative technology solutions developed locally,” even going so far as to suggest that a game developer could use their resources in order to improve the realism of a military simulation system. It sounds as if Lockheed will end up being the middleman between aspiring companies and entities like the Department of Defense and NASA, essentially ensuring that whatever is built meets federal requirements. Those interested in venturing down such a rabbit hole can give the source link a look, but as always, we’d caution you to register at your own risk.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: Lockheed Martin

A couple of months after Nike opened its Accelerator startup program for registration, the sportswear giant has deemed just ten companies out of hundreds of applicants to be worthy enough to jump on board the Nike+ API train: FitDeck, GoRecess, Chroma.io, CoachBase, GoFitCause, HighFive, Sprout At Work, GeoPalz, Incomparable Things and RecBob. Selected ideas range from a deck of fitness cards to interactive gaming rewards. As a reminder, the TechStars-run program was designed to encourage companies to use Nike-collected data from devices like the Fuelband and the Sportswatch.

As a reward for getting picked, the winners will undergo a three-month retreat in Portland, Oregon, where they’ll develop and bring those solutions to fruition. Each company gets $20,000 to use to their advantage, along with expert advice from Nike-selected mentors. At the end of it all, they’ll get to pitch their ideas to industry leaders and angel investors in the hopes of taking it to the next level. To find out what each selected participant offers, have a peek at the Nike source link below.

Filed under: Wearables, Software

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Source: Nike

Massive online open course platforms (a.k.a “MOOCs”) is an emerging model of online learning which offer alternatives to expensive degrees. One of such startup is CreativeLIVE, a platform that brings live, online classrooms on creative and entrepreneurial subjects to the audience.

CreativeLIVE announced today that it has raised $8 million in series A financing from Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor, CrunchFund and Google Ventures. Together with the $7.5 million investment from Greylock, this brings its total series A funding to $15.5 million. Strategic investments by William Morris and Creative Artists will ensure that CreativeLIVE have access to a sizable pool of talents. This latest round of funding also sees Flickr founder and Etsy chairwoman Caterina Fake joining the board.

CreativeLIVE was started in 2010 by renowned sports photographer Chase Jarvis in partnership with Craig Swanson as an online space where professional photographers can conduct multi-day seminars via live video to teach specific skills. Audience can watch the live airing for free. However, if you missed the live airing, the videos can be purchased for anything between $29 and $149. Since its commencement, more than one million individuals from 200 countries have participated in its free online seminars.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Ubergizmo Launches its Social Reader for Facebook, 660 Movie DVD Server Coming Soon to UK,

Most folks are familiar with the International Space Station (ISS). However, what you may not know is that the national lab on board the ISS is available to anyone to conduct research, provided that research is deemed worthy enough to make the trip into orbit. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is a non-profit tasked by NASA to find and promote those worthy proposals, and it’s teamed up with the MassChallenge startup accelerator to find the next great entrepreneurial space research project — and they want YOU, dear readers to hit them with your ideas. Want to know more? Join us after the break to find out what it takes to get your research in orbit.

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Source: MassChallenge, CASIS

Emblaze Mobile’s First Else may be no more, but its legacy lives on. During MWC we caught up with the company’s ex-CEO, Amir Kupervas, who started a company called UIU in June 2011 — only a month after his departure and almost a year after the tantalizing First Else got canned. Over at UIU, Kupervas and UX strategist Itay Levin (who also took part in the First Else project) have a more humble ambition: to offer an Android launcher and an accompanying cloud management platform that are simple enough for non-techie users. “In the US, smartphones generate twice as much the amount of calls to the customer centers than the featurephones,” said Kupervas. “There’s a lot of hustle and a lot of confusion on how to work these guys. People are struggling with them, even existing users.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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