Why do we date? To connect. To go beyond fleeting, ephemeral interactions and sharing of internet cat photos to find support, understanding, romance, etc. But what happens when we go beyond preferences to conditional? It’s an intriguing question – just what LA-based CupidRadar is hoping to answer. They operate under the premise of the chance encounter – the one run-in that could yield a deep, meaningful, long term connection.
How it works: Every time someone connects to your Karma hotspot, both you and the connecting individual get a free 100mb of data to use. You can add additional data online through your account and Wi-Fi connections are always open to encourage sharing.
It’s a compelling thought – especially when you consider the alternative: 2 year contracts, overage charges, hours of dealing with customer service reps. Ready SIM’s scenario instantly recalled memories of Inspector Gadget’s exploding messages (the cartoon of course, not the terrible live action rehash starring Matthew Broderick *shudders*).
We’re a long ways off from actualizing the future, but there’s definitely a lot of work being put into getting us there safely. It’s a huge eco-system of automotive, tech, and regulations; and with anything industry-concept in nature, we understand that it’s tough to give concrete examples of projects in the pipeline.
You hear the words connected car and your imagination runs wild. Unmanned vehicles, flying transporters, hyperloop capsules, and automated cars, delivered at the touch of a button. It’s the future. It’s what the Jetsons promised us. But let’s be real we’re a long ways away. Luckily though, we are taking notable steps forward.
Imagine it. You’re flipping through Vevo and watching a music video. But first, 30 seconds of commercial. You stare blankly wondering “what’s this a commercial of?” while watching the screen and registering nothing.
Ad/Banner blindness, a talent which we’ve developed rather well as a society: The ability to subconsciously block out commercials WHILE physically watching.
Empathy, breath, communication : focus | Making ideas reality : dependency | Innovate user experience: deploy | Move the needle: data | Whole vision: status quo
Seemingly unrelated but they do sound good, don’t they? Something from a motivational panel, discussing Biz Dev strategies or maybe how to launch a lean start up. Rather, these were the words given in response to the opening question to a panel of product managers to “describe their occupation” in 3 words or less, + an additional word on what their biggest challenge was.
Valuation. You know you need one. Annually. What you may not know is that it really does matter who performs your valuation. There are a lot of valuation companies out there, so I know many entrepreneurs are tempted to just shop around until they find the lowest price, but this is a mistake.
In twenty years, Fiber will be one of Google’s most valuable assets. Fiber is a genius long-term strategic play. Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are striving to be the super-mega technology company that owns every layer of the value chain. Google’s vision is the most ambitious of its peers. To understand that assertion, let’s observe how and when Google encroached on each layer of the technology value chain required to access any web service.
Social analytics and personalization platform GraphDive has closed $2 million in its first ever equity round from Crosslink Capital, Correlation Ventures, Plug & Play Tech Center, Start Capital and angel investors Pejman Nozad, Ullas Naik and Scott Banister.
