NPR’s Morning Edition reports on job counseling efforts at the state of New York’s Department of Labor, and finds it’s using an algorithm developed by Burning Glass Technologies, which is based in Quincy Market.
Burning Glass develops algorithms that parse resume information and try to match job seekers with companies that will actually hire them. The job seeker in the story, a publishing industry executive, wasn’t “overly impressed” with the results, but with unemployment hitting 10.2 percent, somebody has to organize all that resume information.
Bill Warner wants to see more New Englanders get into angel investing. In fact, the founder of Avid Technology says that if 1,000 new angels came up with $20,000 each, that could create a $20-million fund to provide startup money to new tech companies.
Warner’s suggestion, aired at Future Forward 09 in Weston yesterday, does raise the possibility that $20 million would help a lot of regional startups get off the ground before they show up on venture capital firms’ radar. He said of angel investing, “You’ve made some money, and you now have the chance to do something good, and maybe make some more money.”
Or, maybe Warner just wants more people to share the misery. Several attendees saw the irony. Nice suggestion, and worthwhile idea, they thought. But Warner, an angel himself and backer of the TechStars program, was on a panel loaded with angels talking about how tough it is to get a return on their investments and their risk of getting squashed in later VC-financed rounds.
The panel included Warner, long-time software industry leader John Landry, Jean Hammond of JPH Associates, Joe Caruso of Bantam Group, Bengt Karlsson of First Run Angels and Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.
The panel kicked off with Landry, of Lead Dog Ventures, sharing statistics showing that 39 percent of angels never make money and that 48 percent of angel investments will result in a 100 percent loss within five years. Not cheerful news. The panel went on to air grievances about having their investments typically represented by convertible notes rather than stock, less than friendly terms and VC’s not giving angels a fair shake in later rounds.
Yet, despite the gripes, each angel seemed to take pride in their work and their ability to help startups, not only with money but with what they have learned over their careers. Maybe it’s not just about the money.
It’s not a direct response to Vivek Wadhwa’s Boston = No. 2 post on TechCrunch the other day, but Jeff Bussgang offers up a nice counterpoint on his blog through the magic of slides, embedded above.
Among the pluses, Bussgang cites the usual suspects — apparently we’ve got some good colleges around here? — but also a few bonuses you don’t usually see listed: Boston Beer Co., maker of Sam Adams; plenty of quality companies from which to poach employees; and winter, which he markets as “four seasons of fun.”
Technology Review takes a look at Charlestown-based Cogito Health, who has developed software to determine whether people are depressed or not based on an analysis of their voices.
The MIT Media Lab spinout is based on the research of Sandy Pentland.
Who says you need to be on either side of the Charles River to be the home of true innovation? After all Maine has a long history of inventing things you probably thought came from somewhere else. Now the list has grown with the addition of the Slanket, the original sleeved blanket that competitor the Snuggie has so recently made famous.
Apparently Gary Clegg, a University of Maine student in 1998, found the winter nights in Orono too cold, so he came up with the idea of a blanket with sleeves and asked his mom to stitch one up. And that is just the latest in a string of Maine-born inventions that stretch all the way back to the toothpick.
Earmuffs, the power drill, the snow plow and the thermostat all got their start in Maine, as did the invention that helped drive Rhode Island-based Dunkin’ Donuts to its current heights, the donut hole machine.
The Slanket, however, is simply one example of an area where Maine continues to shine in innovation — materials sciences. Last year the Maine Composites Alliance was brought back into the public eye with the appointment of new executive director Stephen Von Vogt, the founder of several composite materials firms, including Maine Marine Composites Inc., along with new funding through the Maine Technology Institute.
As Jake Ward, assistant vice president of research, economic development and governmental relations at the University of Maine, put it in a report on the sector: “We have learned how to stick stuff together.”
Harvard/Duke/UC Berkeley researcher Vivek Wadhwa — he’s dangerously close to surrounding the entire country with his teaching posts — has told the Boston/Route 128 community what he thinks of its old, cranky behind.
Wadhwa, who caused a stink awhile back when he dared to look askance at some NVCA numbers, says Silicon Valley took a commanding lead in the ’90s with its job-hopping, information sharing, networking, etc.
Which brings me to Boston. Ever heard of Route 128? To my surprise, neither have any of my students at Duke or the entrepreneurs I’ve met in Silicon Valley.
…
This organizational mechanism was in sharp contrast to that of Route 128. Dominated by large, vertically integrated, and secretive minicomputer producers such as DEC, Wang, Prime, and Data General. Technology, skill, and know-how were trapped within the boundaries of the large corporations.
Oh … snap. I like the idea of the Boston area tech executive as a collection of C. Montgomery Burnses, and look forward to their withering retorts via telegraph.
Awardee Scott Kirsner posted his take on the proceedings last Thursday night, and we did, too. Above, view a gallery of confused — and maybe a little scared — party-goers awkwardly staring you right in your face courtesy of Greg Peverill-Conti. After the jump, check out a slideshow of the All-Star scene featuring more than just bewildered heads. Read the rest of this entry »
To mark the Internet’s 40th birthday yesterday, the Guardian traces the history of the Internet with a dense interactive timeline. Popular Science covers the same ground via text and photos.
Last week, Mass High Tech asked Leo Beranek, “the second B in BBN,” to sit down with MassTLC chair Steve O’Leary, in an exclusive dialogue about Beranek’s career in technology and entrepreneurship. The interview took place at the Harvard Club in Back Bay in anticipation of MassTLC giving Beranek its Commonwealth Award. In the clip above, Beranek talks about BBN’s role in developing the ARPANet, the forerunner of the Internet.
Keep an eye out for the more video of the interview and a complete transcript running on MHT soon.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have developed a robot — the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) — to offer “the same kind of guidance as an informed and friendly companion.”
The system features an expressive robotic head, pictured above, that would protrude from the dashboard. Nothing creepy there. Media Lab researcher Cynthia Breazeal, Carlo Ratti, and Assaf Biderman are working with the Media Lab’s SENSEable City Lab and automaker Audi on the product.
The robot would analyze your driving patterns, your route, traffic, the weather and other information to guide you. It would also interact with you via expressions, like a smile or the Jesus-Mary-and-Joseph-we’re-going-to-die exclamation point.
Local designer Lauren McCarthy, ex- of MIT’s Media Lab, CSAIL, and Visual Arts Program, developed a hat that detects whether or not you are smiling, and if not, it stabs you in the back of the head: The Happiness Hat.
McCarthy’s web site says the hat is the first in a series of “tools for improved social interacting.” She further explains:
An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. Through repeated use of this conditioning device you can train your brain to smile all the time. The device runs on Arduino.
For my dollar, when I see someone walking down the street with a constant smile on their face, I think “deranged,” not “happy.” But then again, that might be exactly why I need a Happiness Hat.
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