Stefan Kanetis’s mother loved her life as a dancer, but paid a price for it when she was in her later years. The wear and tear on her body made it difficult for her to get around. Her doctor suggested swimming, but getting in and out of a pool would be very difficult. So Mr. Kanetis invented a pool with a floor that raised and lowered…
Continue reading… “Pool disappears beneath stone slab”
Inventor Robert Norton Noyce
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the life and career of inventor Robert Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel. Noyce, who died in 1990, is credited with the invention of the integrated circuit. His patent for a “Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure” paved the way for the semiconductor revolution of the next decades.
He was called the Mayor of Silicon Valley and his relaxed corporate structures encouraged his employees to experiment in an era of buttoned-down austerity. Without Noyce and his various projects, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now…
Continue reading… “Google Celebrates The Career Of Microchip Inventor Robert Noyce”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Between 1990 and 2005, immigrants created 25% of all the publicly traded companies in the U.S. These included some of our best-known businesses such as Intel, Sun, eBay, Yahoo, and Google. This same group of foreign nationals went on to become the inventors behind 25% of all patents filed in U.S. in 2006.
Continue reading… “Are floating incubators a precursor to floating countries?”
Kids get monthly fun delivered to their door with The BabbaBox.
The BabbaBox is a monthly membership based kit targeting ages 3-6 that’s delivered to your home with ALL the physical materials plus know-how content to really engage with your kids through experiences and activities you can do together…
Continue reading… “The BabbaBox is a monthly box of creativity for kids”
See it. Report it. Right here, right now.
What an amazing new way to get the news from where it is happening to you. Crowdsourcing is becoming the catalyst for all kinds of innovations and this is the one that tops our list today!
Media outlets spend a lot of money, time and effort to dispatch news crews and helicopters to catch breaking news — but often, they arrive too late and wind up covering the aftermath instead of the actual event…
Continue reading… “Rawporter turns everyone into a reporter”
Ferdinand Pecora
The economy was tanking. Millions lost their jobs. Stocks were down. And since bankers seemed to be riding out the bad times better than anyone, the government appointed a commission to look into who was to blame for the crash. But this was 1933, and Ferdinand Pecora was chief counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Banking and Currency…
Continue reading… “The man who busted the ‘Banksters’”
Consider it a public service.
I don’t know about you guys, but my parents are terrible at computers and still use IE5. That’s why I think Update Your Parent’s Browser Day is a great new holiday we all should take advantage of…
Continue reading… “Update Your Parent’s Browser day”
Syneseizure, the hack that won the “People’s Choice” award
Earlier this month, Science Hack Day SF brought together 150+ scientists, designers, developers, and makers to collaborate on science-related projects. Along with US hackers, the event included participants from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, and South Africa thanks to a grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation toInstitute for the Future. My IFTF colleague Ariel Waldman, the lead on Science Hack Day SF and the grant, posted about the insanely creative and wonderful projects that emerged from the 48 hours of science hacking: a DNA-based cocktail, a globe where the location of the International Space Station is tracked using a laser pointer, the Isodrag Typeface that rescales letters based on their aerodynamic drag, and many others…
Oh no, he forgot milk!
Even the brilliant mind of Leonardo da Vinci needed to jot things down in a notebook so he could remember what he needed to do. The only difference, of course, is that da Vinci’s to-do list was much more complex than ours. I mean, who needs to calculate the measurement of Milan and its suburbs and learn how to repair a lock, canal and mill?
Continue reading… “Here’s what Leonardo da Vinci’s to-do list looked like in 1490”
America should not ignore an obvious source of human capital – those from other countries.
What drives innovation? People with creative ideas, intellectual talents and personal ambition do. America has always relied individual and collective breakthroughs in human knowledge and production to enhance our lives and our econom, from advances in science, mathematics and health care to new technologies, products and companies. As the nation continues to find ways to improve the educational and life opportunities of its own citizens to help spark innovation, we should not ignore an obvious source of human capital–those from other nations.
Buckminster’s legacy given new wings.
Buckminster Fuller only designed about a dozen of domed structures to begin with, and many have either been torn down in lieu of new construction or simply left to rot. But not the dome at Materials Park in Ohio, it just received a $7 million facelift and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)…
Continue reading… “Buckminster Fuller’s largest dome is now a National Historic Place”
The video is released today, and it does not disappoint.
Succinctly but effectively, Annie Leonard tells the story of how our tax dollars are being misappropriated to prop up an ailing, energy intensive, resource hungry and ultimately counterproductive “dinosaur economy”. And she then goes on to make the case of how we could do things better…
Continue reading… “Launched Today: The story of ‘Broke’ puts the real crony capitalism on notice”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.