Diamond diodes are at the heart of a nuclear battery, designed by Russian researchers, that achieves ~3,300mWh/g – claimed to be more than any other nickel-63 nuclear battery, and 10 times more than commercial chemical cells. The cell used the beta (fast electron) decay of nickel-63 and diamond Schottkys for energy conversion. The prototype has a ...
This story continues at Sugar cube nuclear battery lasts for 100 years
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Researchers at Newcastle University have been able to 3D-print a biocompatible corneal framework using a new gel formulations that “keeps the stem cells alive whilst producing a material which is stiff enough to hold its shape but soft enough to be squeezed out the nozzle of a 3D printer.”
There is a significant shortage of corneas available to transplant, with 10 million people worldwide requiring surgery to prevent corneal blindness as a result of diseases such as trachoma, an infectious eye disorder,” wrote the researchers. “In addition, almost 5 million people suffer total blindness due to corneal scarring caused by burns, lacerations, abrasion or disease.”
The product uses “human corneal stromal cells” from a donor cornea mixed with alginate and collagen to create bio-ink that can turn into a living cornea. This means that one donor cornea can help multiple patients.
““This builds upon our previous work in which we kept cells alive for weeks at room temperature within a similar hydrogel. Now we have a ready to use bio-ink containing stem cells allowing users to start printing tissues without having to worry about growing the cells separately,” said researcher Che Connon. He built the technology with Dr. Steve Swioklo.
The corneas take ten minutes to print on a cheap 3D printer, a vast improvement on previous efforts. Further, the gel can keep stem cells alive for days, allowing you to print a few corneas over the course of a week.
“This builds upon our previous work in which we kept cells alive for weeks at room temperature within a similar hydrogel. Now we have a ready to use bio-ink containing stem cells allowing users to start printing tissues without having to worry about growing the cells separately,” said Connon.
Master Google Adwords like a boss
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Mining hardware is weird stuff. Either it’s commodity hardware used – inefficiently – for complex computation or specifically-designed, expensive boards that can be used to bring in Bitcoin and little else. Asus, a motherboard maker of some renown, is now helping bridge the gap.
The H370 Mining Master is a basic motherboard that supports 20 graphics cards, the boards used for Ethereum and other less resource-intensive scripts. The cards connect via PCIe-over-USB and each port has is individually controlled and managed by on-board diagnostics. This lets you ensure that each graphics card is running properly and fully connected.
From the release:
Less time maintaining your machine means more time mining with it, which is why the H370 Mining Master includes a suite of diagnostic features designed to make your platform easier to manage. Chief among them is GPU State Detection, which scans the system at boot and indicates whether each riser port is empty, connected to a functional graphics card, or experiencing problems. The updated State Detection GUI clearly identifies the location and status of each port along with the alphanumeric code that identifies it. Onboard diagnostics are augmented by individual debug LEDs that light up when there are problems with specific system components, like the CPU or memory.
The boards also has a number of cryptocurrency features that are activated “out of the box.”
The board ships in Q3 2018 for a few hundred dollars – a far cry from the massive costs associated with custom hardware. Now you just need to power all those massive graphics cards to keep the mining gear going.
Master Google AdWords for a real future and search engine optimization
Following yesterday’s handover of the CEO job at ST, Jean-Marc Chery, ST CEO, has announced the membership of ST’s execuive committee. “ST’s new Executive Committee is a team of strong and experienced semiconductor industry leaders,” says Chery, “our first priority is to deliver on our 2018 business and financial objectives and continue on our path ...
This story continues at Chery appoints ST executive committee
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Researchers at Tohoku University and Mainz University have created a switch to control the spin current. “This is significant because although the technology behind detecting and generating the spin current has been established for some time, a long-missing component in the history of spintronics has been a spin current switch,” said Tohoku University, equating it to ...
This story continues at Spin current switch demonstrated
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
BMP388 is a digital barometric pressure and temperature sensor from Bosch. The 24-bit device measures from 300hPa to 1250hPa, while consuming 3.4 µA at 1Hz “It features a best-in-class temperature coefficient offset between 20 and 65°C, the BMP388 delivers accurate altitude measurement over a broad temperature range,” said Mouser, which is stocking the device, and foresees ...
This story continues at Pressure sensor marks altitude for drones
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Microchip is aiming at closed-loop control with a part of microcontroller families: PIC18 Q10 and ATtiny1607 Both families have features for functional safety, and operate up to 5V to increase noise immunity and increase compatibility with the majority of analogue output and digital sensors. Both also have peripherals that can co-operate while the processing core sleeps. ...
This story continues at Microchip aims at closed-loop control with PICs and ATtinys
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Self-driving cars must reduce traffic fatalities by at least 75% to stay on the roads, according to the US Society for Risk Analysis. The figure comes from Chinese research using a method not previously used to study self-driving vehicle safety perception – an ‘expressed-preference approach’. “The results showed that the public will not accept this ...
This story continues at Self-driving cars need to be four times safer, and preferably 100x
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Kemet has introduced 150°C polymer electrolytic capacitors qualified for automotive use. Called the T599 series, the parts are based on the existing T598 series. “Kemet refined the design, materials and manufacturing to ensure T599 delivers higher stability and endurance under harsh conditions,” said the firm. The parts pass 1,000 hours of humidity bias testing under ...
This story continues at 150°C automotive polymer electrolytic capacitors
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Cloud has joined the LoRa Alliance – the association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN standard for low-power WAN. “The vision of the LoRa Alliance around interoperability and openness aligns with our mission to build the world’s most open cloud and enable faster innovation and tighter security,” says Google’s Antony Passemard, “with the rapid ...
This story continues at Google Cloud joins Lora Alliance
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Analog Devices has introduced a 12-bit ADC that operates at 10.25Gsample/s. Called AD9213-10GEBZ, for it the firm claims “higher parametric performance, greater Nyquist bandwidth, and RF sampling capabilities at higher analogue input frequencies than conventional RF ADCs, allowing for the digitisation of RF signals up to 7GHz. The high sample rate and integrated post processing enable further ...
This story continues at 12bit ADC runs at 10Gsample/s
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
European automotive lighting firm Hella has joined the eSync Alliance, dedicated to creating an over-the-air up-date system for in-vehicle software. The platform branded eSync combines cloud and embedded software to provide a secure data pipeline software and firmware up-dates and the transfer of real-time diagnostics and telematics data from end devices in the vehicle. At ...
This story continues at Hella joins eSync Alliance for automotive over-the-air updates
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
The first human corneas to be 3D printed have been developed by scientists at Newcastle University. It means the technique could be used in the future to ensure an unlimited supply of corneas. As the outermost layer of the human eye, the cornea has an important role in focusing vision. Yet there is a significant ...
This story continues at Newcastle scientists 3D print human corneas
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Imec and Arm have developed a new ultralow-power radio for IoT applications which combines Imec’s latest transceiver frontend, operating from a nominal supply as low as 0.8V, with Arm’s qualified and silicon-proven Cordio Bluetooth low energy 5 digital baseband. Designed for IoT applications demanding very low power consumption, such as leave-behind sensors or wearables, the solution ...
This story continues at Imec and Arm develop ultra-low-power radio
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
The MAX22505 ±40V high-speed USB fault protector from Maxim lets designers eliminate USB port damage from all faults, including ground potential differences, up to ±40V without the tradeoffs required by other products. It protects data and power lines from industrial equipment powered at 24VAC and 40VDC, while also reducing solution size by more than 50% ...
This story continues at Maxim USB fault protector
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Yesterday another Tesla crashed while on Autopilot, running into the back of a parked police car. This is the fifth Autopilot crash in the last 12 months. It happened in California. Tesla’s driver handbook warns that Autopilot “cannot detect all objects and may not brake/decelerate for stationary vehicles or objects especially when travelling over 50 mph”. ...
This story continues at Another Autopilot crash
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Samsung says it has started mass producing 32GB double data rate 4 (DDR4) memory on a 10nm-class process for gaming laptops in SoDIMMs. Compared to Samsung’s 16GB SoDIMM based on 20nm-class 8-gigabit (Gb) DDR4, which was introduced in 2014, the new 32GB module doubles the capacity while being 11% faster and approximately 39% more energy ...
This story continues at Samsung shipping 32GB DDR4 SoDIMMs
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Nuance, the speech recognition specialist, is enabling the Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) multimedia system. MBUX leverages the Nuance Dragon Drive platform to provide a voice-based interface for the cars’ controls. For instance, if a driver asks, “can I wear flip flops tomorrow?” the MBUX assistant understands that the request calls for the weather forecast and can respond ...
This story continues at Chat to a Merc
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
GLOBALFOUNDRIES says its 180nm Ultra High Voltage (180UHV) technology platform has entered volume production for a range of client applications, including AC-DC controllers for industrial power supplies, wireless charging, solid state and LED lighting, as well as AC adapters for consumer electronics and smartphones. GF’s 180UHV platform features a 3.3V LV CMOS baseline, with ...
This story continues at GloFo 180nm UHV process in volume production
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Skyfire co-founder Nitin Bhandari is working on a new approach to cutting our addiction to social media and reducing screen time with a startup called ZenScreen.
The startup has raised $700,000 in funding from Opera (now Otello) and assorted angel investors. It launched iOS and Android apps last month, as well as a Chrome browser extension.
Bhandari, who also served as senior vice president of consumer apps at Opera after the acquisition of Skyfire, said that during his work on mobile browsers and apps, he started to worry about whether creating more engaging — even addictive — apps was a worthwhile goal: “The cognitive dissonance was really eating at me and my team.”
Existing apps lock you out of your browser or smartphone for limited periods of time — for example, I use Forest to cut down on distractions when I need to focus on writing. But Bhandari said the “don’t even touch your phone” approach is “just not practical” for many people.
So ZenScreen includes a number of different features that are designed to create what Bhandari said is “almost like a balanced digital diet.” (In fact, ZenScreen created an “AppKins Digital Health Pyramid” showing which apps you can use as much as you want, and others that should be limited.) Adults can use it to control their own app usage, as well as that of their kids.
For example, instead of trying to keep you off your phone for, say, an hour each morning, ZenScreen offers something called Smart Mornings, where you have 10 minutes to access social apps, followed by 20 minutes where you can only open work apps and utilities. Similarly, you can set limits on how much time you spend on social/entertainment apps during the day and restrict social media again when it’s close to bedtime.
To do this, Bhandari said ZenScreen had to solve “a really hard problem to figure out which app is being used and how long it’s in the foreground.” The company uses VPN technology to monitor your app usage, though Bhandari said, “We have a very unique VPN where all of the technology runs right on your device and sensitive data never comes to our servers.”
ZenScreen offers access to personal app usage analytics and its Quiet Time feature for free, then charges $4.99 per month for everything else.
“I actually compare our pricing to a gym membership — that’s kind of what we’re doing for your brain,” Bahndari said. “When you compare it to $80 a month, or $100 a month for the gym, $4.99 seems like such a no brainer if this topic is important to you.”
Master Google Adwords like a boss
Global sales of smartphones returned to growth in Q1, says Gartner, with a 1.3% increase over Q1 2017. Nearly 384 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter of 2018, representing 84% of total mobile phones sold (see Table 1). Continued weakness in Greater China’s mobile phone market also limited growth potential for the top ...
This story continues at Smartphone growth resumes
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Element14 has launched “Design for a Cause,” its latest challenge featuring the Arduino MKR1000 development board as the key building block in assistive technology for individuals living with physical or mental impairments. From an engineer looking to upgrade a friend’s wheelchair, to designers creating malaria-hunting robots or even an accessible games controller, designers and engineers ...
This story continues at Element14 launches Design for a Cause
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Infineon is in volume production of an expanded portfolio of thin-wafer TRENCHSTOP 5 IGBTs. The new product family is offering up to 40 A 650V IGBT, co-packed with a full rated 40 A diode in a surface mounting TO-263-3 also known as D2PAK. The TRENCHSTOP 5 IGBT in D2PAK package serves the growing demand for ...
This story continues at Infineon expands TRENCHSTOP thin wafer IGBTs
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
The 55 th Design Automation Conference (DAC) will cover many topics for chip and system designers. Although diverse, the event reflects the preoccupations of the industry, namely ensuring functional safety in design, and the role of AI and machine learning (ML) in design for today and tomorrow. OneSpin Solutions and Austemper Design Systems will both ...
This story continues at DAC explores the role of AI and ML across the markets
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
The folks at Spectrum have found a truly cool project for quadcopter pilots. It’s a spinning sensor that will stop the rotors if your finger gets too close to the blades, thereby preventing you – or your kids – from getting cut.
Researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia created so-called Safety Rotor to help prevent accidents with more powerful quadrotor drones. The system constantly senses for a “finger” – in this case a hot dog – and then slams the rotor to a stop within 0.077 seconds. A cage around the propellers spins more slowly than the propellers and is constantly on the lookout for biological material approaching the blades.
The measured latency [of the Safety Rotor’s braking response] was 0.0118 seconds from the triggering event to start of rotor deceleration. The rotor required a further 0.0474 s to come to a complete stop. Ninety percent of the rotational kinetic energy of the rotor (as computed from angular velocity) was dissipated within 0.0216 s of triggering, and 99 percent of the rotational kinetic energy of the rotor was dissipated within 0.032 s.
The safety functionality of the safety system was tested on the bench using a processed meat “finger” proxy to trigger the hoop, and also applied to an open rotor (without hoop) for comparison. The rotor was spun at hover speed (1100 rads−1) and the finger proxy was introduced into the hoop at 0.36 ms−1 … The rotor and finger motion were captured using a shutter speed of 480 Hz. The rotor came to a stop within 0.077 s, with only light marks on the finger proxy from the impact of the hoop. The rotor was completely stopped by the time the finger reached the rotor plane. In contrast, the tip of the finger proxy introduced to an open rotor was completely destroyed.
The kit adds $20 and about 22 grams to the drone so it’s not particularly expensive or difficult to implement. It could be, as they note, a real lifesaver if you tend to put your juicy, blood-filled digits into copter blades.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Kaltura is expanding its enterprise video platform with the acquisition of Rapt Media.
Kaltura already offers support for some interactivity in videos, particularly with quizzes, but co-founder and CEO Ron Yekutiel predicted that this technology is going to become increasingly important: “The bigger play in the world of enterprise and the world of education is a play towards interactivity and personalization.”
Kaltura isn’t the only interactive video startup — for example, I’ve been impressed by the branching narratives powered by Eko. But Yekutiel said Rapt stood out because it offers true interactivity (not just adding a few buttons and links to a linear video) for marketing, education and HR. He also praised its “high availability and reliability with zero lag time.”
In addition, Yekutiel said Kaltura customers had already expressed interest in integrating with Rapt, and he argued that the biggest benefit comes in bringing the technology into the broader Kaltura platform.
“We consider interactivity as one layer of this layer cake,” Yekutiel said. “Nobody wants to connect to 20 technology companies for video … They want to have one platform for all their video needs.”
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Rapt Media was founded in 2011 and has raised $12 million in funding from investors including Boulder Ventures. Yekutiel said Rapt team members will continue to work out of their office in Boulder, Colorado and bring the total Kaltura headcount to more than 450.
“What an honor it is for our vision and technology to be recognized by a video technology powerhouse like Kaltura,” said Rapt Media founder and CEO Erika Trautman in the announcement. “I am excited that Rapt Media customers can now benefit from Kaltura’s wide range of video solutions and easily expand their video strategy to support any use case that may arise today and in the future.”
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked about Elon Musk’s warnings about AI, he had a succinct answer: “I think Elon is exactly wrong.”
“He doesn’t understand the benefits that this technology will provide to making every human being smarter,” Schmidt said. “The fact of the matter is that AI and machine learning are so fundamentally good for humanity.”
He acknowledged that there are risks around how the technology might be misused, but he said they’re outweighed by the benefits: “The example I would offer is, would you not invent the telephone because of the possible misuse of the telephone by evil people? No, you would build the telephone and you would try to find a way to police the misuse of the telephone.”
Schmidt, who has pushed back in the past against AI-related concerns from Musk and scientist Stephen Hawking, was interviewed on-stage today at the VivaTech conference in Paris.
While he stepped down as executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet in December, Schmidt remains involved as a technical advisor, and he said today that his work is now focused on new applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Elon Musk speaks onstage at Elon Musk Answers Your Questions! during SXSW at ACL Live on March 11, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW)
After wryly observing that Schmidt had just given the journalists in the audience their headlines, interviewer (and former Publicis CEO) Maurice Lévy asked how AI and public policy can be developed so that some groups aren’t “left behind.” Schmidt replied that government should fund research and education around these technologies.
“As [these new solutions] emerge, they will benefit all of us, and I mean the people who think they’re in trouble, too,” he said. He added that data shows “workers who work in jobs where the job gets more complicated get higher wages — if they can be helped to do it.”
Schmidt also argued that contrary to concerns that automation and technology will eliminate jobs, “The embracement of AI is net positive for jobs.” In fact, he said there will be “too many jobs” — because as society ages, there won’t be enough people working and paying taxes to fund crucial services. So AI is “the best way to make them more productive, to make them smarter, more scalable, quicker and so forth.”
While AI and machine learning were the official topics of the interview, Levy also asked how Google is adapting to Europe’s GDPR regulations around data and privacy, which take effect today.
“From our perspective, GDPR is the law of the land and we have complied with it,” Schmidt said.
Speaking more generally, he suggested that governments need to “find the balance” between regulation and innovation, because “the regulations tend to benefit the current incumbents.”
What about the argument that users should get some monetary benefit when companies like Google build enormous businesses that rely on users’ personal data?
“I’m perfectly happy to redistribute the money — that’s what taxes are for, that’s what regulation is for,” Schmidt said. But he argued that consumers are already benefiting from these business models because they’re getting access to free services.
“The real value is not the data but in the industrial construction of the firm which uses the data to solve a problem to make money,” he said. “That’s capitalism.”
Make Google AdWords your B*****
A process flow for six-transistor (6T) SRAM suitable for 5nm chips has been created by Belgian research lab Imec working with Unisantis Electronics Singapore. It uses surrounding gate transistors (SGTs) – a vertical gate-all-around architecture developed at Unisantis – to squeeze the cell into foot prints between 0.0184 and 0.0205μm2. “Studies show that the vertical gate-all-around SGT-based ...
This story continues at Gate-all-around key to 5nm SRAM cell
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
ST has brought together the latest digital security techniques in a single chip to protect Smart Things and Networks including those for utility infrastructure against cyber threats. Focused on providing security for connected objects, the STSAFE-J100 gives the object an unalterable identity that can be authenticated; it also handles encrypted communications and provides secure storage. ...
This story continues at ST produces safety chip
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
SecFor Cars, a three year project to provide security for connected cars, has received a €7.2 million grant from the German government. Participants in the project are: Volkswagen, Audi, Infineon, Bosch, ESCRYPT, Itemis, Mixed Mode, SCHUTZWERK, the University of Ulm, the Technical Universities of Braunschweig and Munich, the Free University of Berlin, the Karlsruhe University ...
This story continues at German R&D group for connected car security
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
China’s Q1 chip output grew 20.8% y-o-y to $18.1 billion in the first quarter of 2018, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA). The output value of China’s IC design industry sector increased 22% on year to $6 billion in the first quarter of 2018, while that of the IC manufacturing sector climbed 26.2% ...
This story continues at China chips grow 21%
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Fifteen companies just got off the stage at TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Europe at VivaTech in Paris.
The TechCrunch team has taken feedback from our expert judges and narrowed the group down to five companies that will be competing in the finals on the VivaTech Main Stage at 6:15pm CET. (If you’re not at VivatTech, you can watch the finals live here on TechCrunch.)
One of the startups will receive the the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Top European Startup award, as well as €25,000 in equity-free money. Here are the finalists:
Glowee is developing biological light systems using the natural properties bioluminescent marine organisms. These systems are built by encoding genes in symbiotic bacteria and will require neither electricity nor installation infrastructure.
IOV is building a decentralized DNS for blockchains. By implementing the Blockchain Communication Protocol, the IOV Wallet will be the first wallet that can receive and exchange any kind of cryptocurrency from a single address of value.
Mapify aims to help travelers discover where to head next, what to pack and who to go with. It also allows them to share information about places, people and experiences.
Wakeo helps shippers and forwarders improve customer experience and optimize operations. It does this by consolidating multiple transport partners into a central SaaS platform to bring real-time visibility on all transport flows.
Wingly is a flight-sharing platform that connects pilots and passengers. Private pilots can add flights they have planned, then potential passengers can book them.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
New Jersey-based UnitedSiC has introduced a silicon carbide transistor that can switch 1.2kV and 47A at 100degC. Unusually for SIC transistors, the gate is fully compatible with existing IGBT drivers, and has a 5V gate threshold – avoiding accidental turn-on issues associated with the lower thresholds of SiC mosfets. Called UJ3C120040K3S, its gate characteristics come ...
This story continues at 40mOhm silicon carbide transistor switches 1,200V and 50A
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
A software-only change to the Bluetooth specification could add distance measuring with 30cm accuracy, according to Belgian research lab Imec. Needing only a standard Bluetooth transciever at each end of the link – so applicable to existing phones – adoption could lead to improved positioning, localisation and security. “Today’s localisation solutions merely use signal strength ...
This story continues at Modified Bluetooth could localise to 30cm
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Maxim is claiming “industry’s lowest EMI performance for automotive infotainment and ADAS applications” for a pair of buck converters intended to produce 0.5-3.8V from 2.7-6V. There are two devices, the MAX20073 which outputs up to 2A and the MAX20074 which has a 3A output. Pin-compatible ASIL variants are available. The company also claims “ultra-low quiescent ...
This story continues at EMI-optimised automotive PoL dc-dc buck
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Infineon is in volume production of the IM512 and IM513 series of the CIPOS Mini family. They are the first high efficient IPMs (intelligent power modules) that integrate CoolMOS MOSFETs. The IPMs help in optimizing power efficiency in applications such as compressors, pumps or fans for home appliances. The chips are designed to drive motors ...
This story continues at Infineon in volume production of IPMs with integrated CoolMOS MOSFETs.
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
u-blox and Arduino introduced four new boards to their MKR family, delivering enhanced wireless connectivity options for IoT applications. Previously Arduino adopted u-blox for their MKR GSM 1400. Arduino introduced the MKR family and form factor to address IoT use cases by focusing on a standard blue print including a hardware crypto chip for enhanced ...
This story continues at Arduino and u-blox add four boards
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
From Howeycoin to a Chinese study that found 421 fake token sales, governments and researchers are finally shedding light on bad actors in the token sale space.
Take, for example, Operation Cryptosweep. According to an North American Securities Administrator’s Association, regulators in the US and Canada are looking into 70 token sales and may be taking action against as many as 35. They write:
NASAA members from more than 40 jurisdictions throughout North America participated in “Operation Cryptosweep,” which to date has resulted in nearly 70 inquiries and investigations and 35 pending or completed enforcement actions related to ICOs or cryptocurrencies since the beginning of May. NASAA members are conducting additional investigations into potentially fraudulent conduct that may result in additional enforcement actions. These actions are in addition to more than a dozen enforcement actions previously undertaken by NASAA members regarding these types of products. Many NASAA members also are conducting public outreach initiatives to warn investors in their jurisdictions of the risks associated with ICOs and cryptocurrencies.
“The persistently expanding exploitation of the crypto ecosystem by fraudsters is a significant threat to Main Street investors in the United States and Canada, and NASAA members are committed to combating this threat,” said NASAA President, Joseph P. Borg. “Despite a series of public warnings from securities regulators at all levels of government, cryptocriminals need to know that state and provincial securities regulators are taking swift and effective action to protect investors from their schemes and scams.”
Further, regulators in China have compiled a page detailing scams including products that are clearly pyramid schemes featuring “dynamic (rewards in proportion to money invested)” and “static (fixed)” incentives. After all, anything that claims to offer regular returns is probably suspect.
Other scams include over-the-counter tokens – OTC – that are only available from a certain site and are difficult to trade. Any token without a sufficient – and difficult-to-build – market is ripe for abuse.
Ultimately, crooks follow money. The Washington Post found hundreds of ICOs that featured spurious teams and claims including one site that featured Prince Charles and Jennifer Aniston – under fake names – as members of the advisory board.
What’s the bottom line? There is not nearly enough oversight and far too much fun being had at the expense of the uneducated investor. The financial equivalent of script kiddies are breaking the markets that others are taking time and money to create and there is little recourse. Ultimately, this does little more than damage the perception of ICOs and hurts folks who are trying to legitimately use the techniques to raise cash and build projects. It is, in short, as messy as the early Internet with no fix in sight.
Master Google AdWords for a real future and search engine optimization
IMEC's wireless eye tracking glasses run for 10 hours without re-charging.
This story continues at Eye tracking glasses sense eye’s natural dipole
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Three quarters of the UK’s tech scale-up businesses (defined as 10+ person companies which have grown by 20%+ for the last three years) are confident Brexit won’t hurt them, says a study by the accountants and investment managers Smith & Williamson. 90% are planning to take on more staff. 45% of the tech scale-up businesses in ...
This story continues at High-growth tech companies unafraid of Brexit
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
The Power by Linear LT8361 is a current mode, 2MHz multitopology DC/DC converter with an internal 2A, 100V switch. It operates from an input voltage range of 2.8V to 60V, and is suitable for applications with input sources ranging from a single-cell Li-Ion battery to multicell battery stacks, automotive inputs, telecom power supplies and industrial power ...
This story continues at Current mode, 2MHz multitopology DC/DC converter
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Researchers at the the University of Tokyo have created a method for growing and connecting single neurons using geometric patterns to route the neurons more precisely, cell by cell.
The article, “Assembly and Connection of Micropatterned Single Neurons for Neuronal Network Formation,” appeared in Micromachines, a journal of molecular machinery.
Thus far researchers have created simple brain matter using “in vitro cultures,” a process that grows neurons haphazardly in a clump. The connections associated with these cultures are random, thereby making the brain tissue difficult to study.
“In vitro culture models are essential tools because they approximate relatively simple neuron networks and are experimentally controllable,” said study authors Shotaro Yoshida. “These models have been instrumental to the field for decades. The problem is that they’re very difficult to control, since the neurons tend to make random connections with each other. If we can find methods to synthesize neuron networks in a more controlled fashion, it would likely spur major advances in our understanding of the brain.”
Yoshida and the team looked more closely at how neurons behave and found that they could be trained to connect using microscopic plates made of “synthetic neuron-adhesive material.” They look like little frying pans with extra handles and “when placed onto the microplate, a neuron’s cell body settles onto the circle, while the axon and dendrites – the branches that let neurons communicate with each other – grow lengthwise along the rectangles.”
The researchers then connected the neurons, testing if they would fire simultaneously as predicted.
“What was especially important in this system was to have control over how the neurons connected,” Yoshida said. “We designed the microplates to be movable, so that by pushing them around, we could physically move two neurons right next to each other. Once we placed them together, we could then test whether the neurons were able to transmit a signal.”
It worked.
“This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time a mobile microplate has been used to morphologically influence neurons and form functional connections,” said investigator Shoji Takeuchi. “We believe the technique will eventually allow us to design simple neuron network models with single-cell resolution. It’s an exciting prospect, as it opens many new avenues of research that aren’t possible with our current suite of experimental tools.”
Unfortunately, this is just the first step for this technology, especially considering the millions of neurons necessary to eat, breathe, and sleep (and use the Internet). It is, however, a good start.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Everence co-founder Patrick Duffy knows you might be skeptical about the company’s technology, which takes a DNA sample and using it to synthesize a substance that can be added into tattoo ink.
In other words, you can have the DNA (and soon hair or cremated ash) from a loved one included in a tattoo on your body.
“There’s a definite ick factor [at first],” Duffy admitted, while others might find it “gimmicky” or think “it’s snake oil, it’s fake,” if they don’t take the time to learn more.
But Duffy said the idea behind Everence is to “give people a way to stay connected emotionally in a way that was permanent.”
“It all comes down to emotional connections, intangible links to the things that make us or break us,” he said.
Take Duffy’s co-founder Boyd Renner, who said he served 28 years in the Navy, but was ultimately most inspired by his wife, who has cystic fibrosis: “She does an hour and a half of treatments in the morning, but she still runs half marathons.” So Renner got an “everence” that incorporates his wife’s DNA into a tattoo design that combines elements of lungs, trees and roses.
Or take Johnny Walker, a New York City police officer and 9/11 first responder who has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Walker said that he used Everence technology to incorporate DNA from his family into tattoos, so that they could be with him as he undergoes chemotherapy.
“And if this life was going to take me somewhere else, I didn’t want to go there and be alone,” Walker said. “I wanted to have my family with me.”
As for the technology, Duffy noted that Everence is being advised by medical and scientific experts, including Bruce Klitzman, associate professor of surgery at Duke University, and Edith Mathiowitz. professor medical science and engineering at Brown University. He also said that while the FDA doesn’t systematically regulate tattoo ink, “We went ahead and proactively submitted to them.”
Synthesizing the DNA-based material was the “highest bar” technologically, Duffy said, as well as “the one we could build the strongest intellectual property protection bar around.”
As for using ash or hair, he said it’s “nothing new” to add ash to a tattoo, but many tattoo artists are understandably hesitant to do it. Duffy is hoping to address their concerns both technologically (by purifying the ash and reducing it to a uniform particle size) and economically (by offering insurance case there are any issues). He’s also recruited a group of tattoo artists who can advocate for the product.
“It can be applied by any tattooer in the world, added in with any existing ink with no special equipment, training or materials,” he said. “It lasts forever.”
Everence’s synthesized DNA substance is currently available for preorder at a price of $245.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Research conducted by Studio Graphene, an agency that supports start-ups to commercial status, charts the experiences of tech start-up founders’ experiences. (Spoiler alert: it’s not as easy as they thought.) The survey of over 100 founders of London-based tech business reported finding over half found it took longer than they thought to launch a business ...
This story continues at Tech start-ups – it’s not as easy as it looks
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Hindley Circuits of Cramlington – the PCB and assembly services specialist – has made its second acquisition in a matter of months. Hindley’s latest acquisition is electronic product design and repair specialists Irridian Industrial Electronics to significantly enhance the company’s offering. And the strategic move comes on the back of the business– that is only in its second ...
This story continues at Hindley Circuits makes second acquisition
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
In April, Toshiba started mass production of a three-phase brushless motor driver IC with a rotation speed control (closed loop control) function. The device – the TC78B025FTG – is intended for small fan applications in servers, home appliances and industrial equipment. The cooling fans used in servers and other appliances must be small and rotate ...
This story continues at Toshiba in mass production of three-phase brushless motor driver IC
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Element14 has launched a 6 part bi-weekly BeagleBone webinar series. Presented by Jason Kridner, the co-founder and board member at BeagleBoard.org Foundation and the element14 team, the series provides community members with a grounding in the fundamentals of BeagleBone and will show how to have fun with BeagleBone boards. The series includes the following episodes: Introduction to BeagleBone BeagleBone for ...
This story continues at Element14 launches Beaglebone webinar series
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC) is to move its HQ from the Hamamatsucho Building (Toshiba Building pictured Left below) to Tamachi Station Tower S in the Tamachi district (pictured right below). Since getting Chinese approval last week for the sale of the business to a consortium led by Bain and Hynix, Toshiba has been preparing to ...
This story continues at Toshiba Memory HQ to move for Bain/Hynix takeover
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Sony has bought out the other significant shareholder, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Group, from ownership of EMI Music Publishing as part of its transition strategy. Today, CEO Kenichiro Yoshida (pictured) is expected to announce Sony’s transition from being a hardware company to becoming a company based on gaming subscriptions, software, entertainment, content and services. Buying Mubadala’s ...
This story continues at Sony buys EMI as part of transition strategy
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Managing, buying, and selling commercial real estate is a fairly primitive process. Crexi founder Mike DeGiorgio remembers one experience in 2014 when he was required to fax and mail details about an urgent transaction to the leasing office, a move that made him think he was back in the era of Pogs and MTV’s Real World Season 1.
“There simply was no great industry solution for researching markets, finding comps, transacting, connecting with key stakeholders, purchasing or investing in properties, renting or leasing space, getting a loan, finding partners to purchase properties with, marketing yourself or the properties you own, sell, or lease etc,” he said. “I started thinking about technology solutions for the commercial real estate industry to solve many of these inefficiencies in the CRE space. I could not figure out why it hadn’t been done and set out to build CREXi to help industry stakeholders be more efficient and to make the industry more liquid, transparent, and easier to access.”
Crexi – the CRE stands for “commercial real estate” – has been around since 2015 but recently announced an $11 million Series A as well as some interesting user numbers. Key investors include Jackson Square Ventures, Manifest Investment Partners, Lerer Hippeau, Freestyle Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, and Founder Collective. The company has managed over 100,000 “properties brought to market” on its platform and they have 200,000 users per month. They see more than 6,000 properties listed on the site each month.
The service is a suite of tools that streamlines the entire CRE processing.
“We give brokers the ability to find, manage and qualify leads, market their properties with customizable emails, and communicate with interested parties through in-app messaging. Additionally, our features help brokers interact with the industry and its stakeholders; solicit, make, accept, counter, and negotiate offers; run competitive bidding processes; run escrow and closing processes; research markets and sold properties etc,” said DeGiorgio.
While CRE isn’t very sexy, it’s clear that the industry can use all the help it can get. Considering Crexi manages $450 billion in property value, it’s also clear that this is a lucrative market ripe for disruption.
“We are the first platform to take the entire commercial real estate transaction process online with a simple to use and intuitive interface,” said DeGiorgio. “We collaborate with brokers and principals to blend technology with the fundamentals of CRE transactions, addressing the shifting needs of industry professionals to maximize revenue and minimize time spent on administrative tasks.”
Now he just has to get everyone to throw away their postal scales and fax machines and he help CRE enter the era of Honey Boo Boo and leave the era of the Olsen Twins.
Master Google Adwords like a boss
Lattice has introduced two hardware artificial intelligence algorithm accelerators for its FPGAs, one for binarised neural networks (BNNs) and one for convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Both are aimed at implement neural networks in consumer and industrial network-edge products. They are not suitable for network training, which must be done elsewhere. ‘Binarized neural network (BNN) accelerator’ supports ...
This story continues at Neural network accelerators for Lattice FPGAs
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Arrow Electronics has signed an agreement to supply Scalys’ System-on-Modules (SoMs) and Small Board Computers (SBC) throughout EMEA. Scalys single and multi-core SoMs and boards are small form factor computer boards that can be integrated into many applications, reducing development time significantly. Founded in 2017 to provide advanced, high-performance embedded systems, Scalys has developed a ...
This story continues at Arrow signs Scalys
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Solid State Disks (SSD) of Reading has come up with Hot Standby, a solid state, CompactFlash-based dual drive for replacing ageing and failed, SCSI-based, legacy electro-mechanical storage peripherals including hard disk, magneto optical, tape and floppy drives. Incorporating twin CompactFlash drives, Hot Standby enables the two CompactFlash (CF) cards to work as a mirrored pair ...
This story continues at Hot Standby future-proofs legacy computer systems
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Prime Minister Theresa May is to speak today about the use of AI in the NHS to provide early diagnoses. “Late diagnosis of otherwise treatable illnesses is one of the biggest causes of avoidable deaths,” the PM is expected to say, “and the development of smart technologies to analyse great quantities of data quickly and ...
This story continues at PM to bring AI into the NHS for early diagnoses.
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Dear White People has a pretty provocative title — and the show, for the most part, lives up to that promise, with a sharply drawn portrait of racial tension at Winchester University, a fictional Ivy League school.
It was originally a film written and directed by Justin Simien, who then reinvented the story as a Netflix series with each episode focusing on a different character; the spotlight shifts from Samantha White (played by Logan Browning), the host of the titular radio show, to many of the other students — white and black — around her.
The show just returned for season two, and on the latest episode of the Original Content podcast, we’re joined by our colleague Megan Rose Dickey (who also co-hosts Ctrl-T) to talk about our impressions of the new episodes, the show’s politics and how it resonates with our own lives and experiences.
We also cover Netflix’s goal of hitting 1,000 originals by the end of the year and the Jordan Peel-produced series about Nazi hunters that was just picked up by Amazon. Most importantly, we try to understand why Megan has never seen The Godfather.
You can listen in the player below, subscribe using Apple Podcasts or find us in your podcast player of choice. If you like the show, please let us know by leaving a review on Apple. You also can send us feedback directly.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
In my endless quest to get geeks interested in watches I present to you the Bell & Ross BR V2-93 GMT 24H, a new GMT watch from one of my favorite manufacturers that is a great departure from the company’s traditional designs.
The watch is a 41mm round GMT, which means it has three hands to show the time in the 12-hour scale and another separate hand that shows the time in a 24-hour scale. You can use it to see time zones in two or even three places and it comes in a nice satin-brushed metal case with a rubber or metal strap.
B&R is unique because it’s one of the first companies to embrace online sales after selling primarily in watch stores for about a decade. This means the watches are slightly cheaper — this one is $3,500 — and jewelers can’t really jack up the prices in stores. Further, B&R has a great legacy of making legible, usable watches, and this one is no exception. It is also a fascinating addition to the line. B&R has an Instrument series, which consists of large, square watches with huge numerals, and a Vintage series that hearkens back to WWII-inspired, smaller watches. This one sits firmly in the middle, taking on the clear lines of the Instrument inside a more vintage case.
Ultimately watches like this one are nice tool watches — designed for legibility and usability above fashion. It’s a nice addition to the line and looks like something a proper geek could wear in lieu of Apple Watches and other nerd jewelry. Here’s hoping.
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Amongst a flurry of announcements at Maker Faire Bay Area, Arduino has introduced an easy-to-use FPGA board and a re-boot of Uno Wi-Fi, using a new ATmega processor. FPGA MKR Vidor 4000 is the first-ever Arduino board featuring an FPGA chip – an Intel/Altera MAX10 – plus an ARm Cortex-M0+ based MCU (SAMD21) and U-blox ...
This story continues at Arduino announced FPGA board and new ATmega for Uno Wi-Fi
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
The latest range of modular electronics housings from Phoenix Contact are available in graduated sizes and with standardised device connections such as RJ45, USB, D-SUB and antenna sockets. The ICS (Industrial Case System) series of housings are typically used in power electronics, and process automation applications, such as communication systems, interfaces and gateways, relay assemblies, ...
This story continues at ICS series modular housings from Phoenix Contact
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Boosting the digital skills of UK students is the remit of an on-going collaboration between Siemens and Newcastle University. The University this week saw the opening of the MindSphere Lab which will provide students with access to data from a number of projects across sectors including infrastructure, manufacturing, water and energy. Professor John Fitzgerald, Head ...
This story continues at Siemens creates big data skills lab at Newcastle University
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Fraunhofer has demonstrated the suitability of quantum dots (QD) for self-luminous displays. Quantum dot LEDs, QD-LEDs for short, combine the advantages of organic light-emitting diodes with the outstanding luminous properties of the quantum dots. The emission spectra are very narrow band. As a result, the colors look extremely bright. In addition, the low cost manufacturing ...
This story continues at Fraunhofer develops QD-LEDs
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Infineon to build a new €1.6 billion 300mm thin wafer fab in Villach for power semiconductors.
This story continues at Infineon to build €1.6bn 300mm fab in Villach
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
It is reported that Toshiba has received China’s approval for its salew of its memory unit to a consortium led by Bain and Hynix. The announcement puts Toshiba’s management in a dilemma. China has delayed the decision for so long that Toshiba is no longer contractually obliged to sell to Bain/Hynix. It has been pointed ...
This story continues at China approves Toshiba memory sale
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
A student at Queen’s University Belfast has developed software which can help detect insurance fraud. Jiawen Sun, a PhD student in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has been working for the last three years to create a software system which can analyse graph-structured data. This can be used to detect insurance ...
This story continues at Belfast student develops big data analysis to detect fraud
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Premier Farnell has announced further investment in product inventory as well as the addition of a number of new suppliers to its product offering. Over the past 12 months, the company has invested almost $100m as a result it now has $444m value of product in stock. New supplier franchises have been added over the ...
This story continues at Premier Farnell ups investment in inventory
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Next 10 Ventures is a new firm that’s raised $50 million to invest in new digital content, and also in new tools and services for the creators of that content.
The firm was founded by Benjamin Grubbs, previously global director of top creator partnerships at YouTube, who also serves as Next 10’s CEO. He’s joined by COO Paul Condolora, who was formerly co-head of the Harry Potter franchise at Warner Bros., and who was also in charge of digital and consumer products at Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Grubbs told me the firm’s name refers to supporting the next 10 years of a creator’s career, and that it emerges from conversations he’d been having with successful online creators.
“They ask, ‘How do I take this to the next level?'” Grubbs said. “‘I really enjoy what I’m doing, how do I build a career out of this?'”
He added that he’s looking to work with a “diversified mix of creators” — they don’t necessarily need to have a huge following already, but they should have demonstrated that they can produce compelling videos and they should be “really trying to make a long-term career in this space.”
It sounds like Next 10’s investments will be structured in a number of different ways. In some cases they’ll look like a traditional seed-stage startup investment. In others, the firm will fund its own products and services. And in still others, it will be funding content and partnering with creators.
The firm says it’s focused on three broad areas: video content and IP creation, e-commerce and community-based products and services. And there will be a fund focused specifically on creators of educational content.
In fact, Grubbs said one of the big opportunities is bringing more educational content to Asia. He said that as the young people in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines move online, “education content is lacking on the supply side.”
“What we want to do is not just wait for this market to grow up and graduate, but actually … be an active participant,” he said. “The mission of the company is really to enrich and inspire and entertain — and kind of in that order.”
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Analog Devices is aiming at X-band and Ku-band phased-array antennas with an active analogue beam-forming chip that includes four channels of transmit and receive gain and phase control, plus a transmit/receive switch for each channel. The chip, called ADAR1000, operates in half-duplex: In receive (Rx) mode the four Rx inputs are combined to a common RF_IO pin ...
This story continues at Phased array chip forms beams at 8-16GHz
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
CTAccel, the two year-old French image processing specialist, is partnering with FPGA acceleration specialist Accelize to make the FPGA-based CTAccel Image Processor (CIP) available on on the AccelStore marketplace. CIP is an image processing accelerator that improves server throughput and latency. “By joining the Accelize ecosystem, we are making our image transcoding expertise available to a broader audience of cloud and ...
This story continues at CTAccel joins Accelize to accelerate data centre image processing
Or just read more coverage at Electronics Weekly
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Crypto wallets can’t remain crypto wallets for long. There is so much competition and so many scammers that value-added features like financial services are de rigueur. BRD knows this quite well and is putting $32 million behind the platform to grow out the features and cryptocurrencies supported on their popular app.
Founded by Aaron Voisine, Adam Traidman, and Aaron Lasher, the company started out as a side product called Bread Wallet. BRD, say the founders, was the first iOS bitcoin wallet in the App Store.
The team has 1.1 million users in 170 countries and 76% of those are iOS. They’ve received 71% of their customers in the past year, a fact that attests to the recent popularity of cryptocurrencies. They have $6 billion of crypto assets under protection.
The team has also partnered with Changelly to help transfer more tokens than Bitcoin and Ethereum – including their own BRD token.
How did they raise the money? By token sale, of course. They ran a $12 million presale and a $20 million crowd sale, resulting in a combine Seed and A round that would make most fintech orgs blush.
The team is most proud of their focus on decentralization.
“We’ve made our name around security, first and foremost. That’s what most the miners and dev crowd know us for, as the most secure way to hold and protect all their cryptoassets,” said Voisine. “The assets themselves are not stored in any centralized system within BRD. A transaction on BRD connects directly to the blockchain and are synced in real-time. There is literally nothing to steal from BRD, since we’re not holding a single asset ourselves… even though we have over $6B USD under protection.”
Further, they are offering BRD Rewards that will let BRD users get discounts and other benefits. This is an effort to “bring a much better balance between fees and utilization.”
“We want to be the service for first-time buyers of crypto. We want to be the most popular onramp for consumers into the crypto economy,” he said.
Lasher feels that his mission is far more interesting than just making an iOS wallet. He sees this as a philosophical change that will bring new understanding of the importance of crypto.
“If sending money globally as easily as an email doesn’t impress you, how about the ability to store your life savings in your head, then walking your family across a war-torn border to safety?” he said.
Master Google Adwords and have clients plowing down your door
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Earlier this year, the Arch Mission Foundation managed to include a quartz storage device containing Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy on the Tesla Roadster that SpaceX launched towards the sun. At the time, co-founder Nova Spivack said this wasn’t a one-off stunt, but the first step in a bigger plan.
Today, the foundation is revealing more details about those plans, specifically a partnership with commercial space company Astrobotic, which intends to send a mission to the moon in 2020. Once again, Arch Mission (pronounced “ark”) plans to have one of its storage devices, called Arch Libraries, on-board.
This time, the contents won’t be limited to classic science fiction. The foundation said the library will include Wikipedia, as well as the Long Now Foundation’s Rosetta Project, and more.
All of the content will be stored on “nickel microfiche” — the text and images will be etched by laser onto thin sheets of nickel. Spivack told me that nickel should be able to endure the harsh conditions of the moon (“it’s essentially indestructible”), while the microfiche format won’t require a computer to read, just a really powerful optical microscope: “We don’t want to assume in the distant future that somebody has our operating system.”
This lunar library will be stored on the surface of the moon, courtesy of Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander. Spivack said the library can also be extended and updated in the future with more storage devices.
The ultimate goal, he said, is “putting these archives of human knowledge around the solar system.”
“In a very long time frame — millions of years — it’s guaranteed that at least some of them will still be there,” he added. “Even if an entire planet has been destroyed, there’s still going to be other planets with other [libraries] on them.”
Spivack said he’d been thinking about “major civilizations that were lost, that we don’t know much about,” and he wanted to leave these libraries as “a great gift to archeologists in the future from people today.”
But he argued that the Arch Libraries will have more immediate benefits as well. For one thing, there’s the inspirational potential: “If you want to be a spacefaring civilization, your civilization is not just your rocket … We want people to be able to look up at the moon and have an Apollo moment, a kind of, ‘Wow, human civilization is now on the moon.'”
Plus, the foundation is working with a number of companies to develop “technologies that can send big data into space.” Those technologies will be important because you can’t rely on Earth for critical information — for example, even at the speed of light, roundtrip messages between Earth and Mars could take nearly an hour.
Of course, one of the assumptions behind Spivack and the Arch Mission Foundation’s work is that we are actually on the cusp of establishing a human presence on Mars and elsewhere in the Solar System.
Asked whether he expects this to happen, Spivack said, “As long as we don’t do something stupid, we should have a permanent base on the moon and on Mars in our lifetime. Things are really starting to inflect, especially because the commercial space industry, the new space movement, is really starting to get its wings — thanks to Elon Musk, Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos, but also others that you might not know about yet.”
Make Google AdWords your B*****
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Lerer Hippeau has raised two new funds — $122 million for a sixth fund devoted to seed stage investments, as well as $60 million for a “Select Fund” focused on later-stage deals.
Managing Partner Eric Hippeau said both funds will be used to continue the firm’s existing strategy: “We continue to be seed-first investors and New York-first investors. We’re big believers in New York.”
And while Hippeau acknowledged that the New York ecosystem is still be waiting for the kind of massive exit that makes “a lot of people very rich, who will then leave and start their own companies,” he pointed to recent success stories like Oracle’s acquisition of Moat and Roche’s acquisition of Flatiron Health. (Lerer Hippeau invested in Moat but not Flatiron; both are New York-based.)
“There’s a huge pipeline in New York of companies that have been valued in the hundreds of millions and in some cases billions of dollars — a lot of them are our companies, but not always,” Hippeau said. “That’s where the strength of New York is going to come from in the short term, all of these companies really popping to the surface and adding a few billion dollars of value, one at a time.”
The firm announced its first follow-on fund last year. At the time, Hippeau said it had only raised $28 million so that it could be “synced up” with the main fund, which is what’s happening now.
The first Select Fund was used to make follow-on investments in companies that Lerer Hippeau had already backed at the seed stage, like Allbirds and Casper. That will continue with the new fund, but Hippeau said it could also be used for Series A investments in startups that the firm didn’t back initially, and which might now seem like missed opportunities.
Caitlin Strandberg
Meanwhile, the Lerer Hippeau team has also been growing, with the recent hiring of Caitlin Strandberg (formerly vice president at FirstMark) as principal and Isabelle Phelps as associate, as well as Amanda Mulay as senior talent manager.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join the most active early-stage firm in New York, just as it gets fresh capital,” Strandberg said in an emailed statement. “Lerer Hippeau has built a fantastic reputation as being a hands-on, accessible and helpful investor all while cultivating a powerful and engaged community. I’m looking forward to investing in the next great generation of startups, supporting our existing founders and teams, and continuing to build a great tech ecosystem here in NYC.”
Lerer Hippeau now has around 20 people on the team. And while firms like Andreessen Horowitz (where Mulay used to work) have made their huge support staff a selling point, Hippeau said that at his firm, “We don’t really want to have dozens of people doing this. We want to be very precise and very selective about how we can help.”
Still, he said that “the service that’s most in-demand is help with recruiting,” so it made sense to bring on Mulay to help startups hire, and also to help them “set up a proper HR function.”
Lerer Hippeau’s investment team built its reputation in media — Hippeau was formerly CEO at The Huffington Post, Kenneth Lerer cofounded HuffPost and is now chairman at BuzzFeed and Ben Lerer is CEO at Group Nine Media. (The three of them are pictured at the top of this post.) But with the seemingly constant news about digital media layoffs and shutdowns, would Hippeau invest in a media startup today?
Actually, the firm did back one such startup recently, podcast network Wondery. But Hippeau said media has “never been more than 10 percent of our portfolio.” (Other recent investments include cryptocurrency wallet Casa and cannabis talent network Vangst.)
“We love media, we continue to look at media companies, but we are relatively selective,” he said.
Master Google AdWords for a real future and search engine optimization
Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days
Good Eggs, the food delivery service that promises “absurdly fresh” groceries and meal kits, has raised $50 million in new funding.
That looks like a big turnaround from 2015, when the company had multiple rounds of layoffs, shut down operations outside of San Francisco and brought on Bentley Hall (an executive from Plum Organics and Clif Bar) as its new CEO.
Hall said that after he took over, he spent months focused on retooling the fundamental business: “We didn’t have a single conversation about growth.” Since then, he said the company started looking at “growth with purpose” and in 2018 is ready for “thoughtful, measured expansion.”
“The first change is, we realized that we were a food company enabled by technology, versus a technology company that sells food,” Hall said.
That might sound vague, but it led to more concrete “trickle effects,” like quadrupling the number of products that Good Eggs sells to more than 1,000. Hall said the service has become people’s “primary food supplier,” with the average customer ordering from Good Eggs more than once a week. That also meant the company had to shift from next-day to same-day delivery, which he described as “table stakes in the future.”
At the same time, Hall said the company maintains its “rigorous sourcing criteria,” with 70 percent of its products sourced locally. And thanks to the Good Eggs model, where the company buys directly from local farmers and producers, customers don’t have to worry about sending a delivery person to the supermarket only to discover that the product they want isn’t available.
The new funding was led by Benchmark, with additional participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, DNS Capital, Uprising and Collaborative Fund. Benchmark’s Bill Gurley is joining Good Eggs’ board of directors.
“Our team was deeply impressed by the operational discipline that Bentley and the team at Good Eggs have implemented to transform this business,” Gurley said in the funding announcement. “We made a study of what Good Eggs has achieved and believe the business is very well positioned to capture and scale the growing market of people who are passionate about the quality and provenance of the food they consume. It’s a massive opportunity.”
Good Eggs delivery remains limited to the San Francisco Bay Area, but the company said it will be expanding and adding capacity throughout the region, then launch in Southern California next year.
“We’re not going to grow where we sacrifice the foundation we’ve worked so hard to build, and we’re not going to grow in a way that sacrifices the customer experience,” Hall said. “We’ll grow as quickly as we can while maintaining those two principles. For us, that means expanding slowly and thoughtfully throughout the West Coast.”
And while Hall was happy to frame the Good Eggs story as a turnaround, he didn’t want to take all the credit for it.
“This is such a team effort,” he said. “I know this usually gets told as somebody came in and turned it around, but this was across the entire team. Our 260, 270 hourly employees, they get as much if not more of the credit as I do.”
Master Google Adwords like a boss
