Talk to your phone app

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Sometimes spotting a problem and getting curious about how the issue plays out in day-to-day life is all it takes to land on a multi-million dollar idea. When Flashfood Founder and CEO Josh Domingues’ sister came home one day from work upset because she had to throw away $4,000 worth of food from a catering event – it became the catalyst for a search for a better way that would forever change his life. “My sister was a chef, she called me after a catering event and said ‘I just threw out $4,000 worth of food.’ I started laughing; ‘Polly, you idiot. Why would you do that?’ She said, ‘oh, this feeling sucks, my boss was over my shoulder making me do it.’ “So I started reading about food waste and I learned that if international food waste were a country it’d be the third leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions behind the US and China. “That led me to talking to store managers in Toronto and I discovered they’re … [Read more...] about The Idea That Saved Shoppers $150 Million: This Innovative App Is Taking On Food Waste And Winning

We may have just witnessed the birth of OpenAI ‘s version of an app store. There were no splashy press events or full-page ads announcing the launch—just a few tweets and a blog post —but the modest debut of ChatGPT’s new plugin system could end up being a pivotal moment in the evolution of personal computing. “Assume we are on the cusp of a new computing platform shift, with generative AI being the new computing platform,” says Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at market research firm Creative Strategies. “It will spread very quickly to billions of users.” OpenAI said in the blog post that it’s rolling out its plug-in program “so we can study their real-world use, impact, and safety and alignment challenges.” Rest assured the program will rapidly advance beyond this phase. Making chatbots useful OpenAI’s AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. It climbed to over 100 million users within two months of its November 2022 launch, and … [Read more...] about Did OpenAI just have its ‘App Store’ moment?

A monk, a composer, and an industrial designer walk into a bar. No, I’m not making a joke. I’m simply imagining a hypothetical scenario where the cofounders of Headspace, Pandora, and Airbnb decide to meet up for drinks. You may think these figures represent a lonely cohort within tech entrepreneurship. We’re often confronted with the tired (and, as the data shows, largely inaccurate) stereotype of the algorithm-crunching, code-wrangling, Patagonia-wearing startup founder. These characters —who undeniably exist, but are more marginal than perhaps realized—effortlessly straddle the worlds of engineering and business. They’re the full package. Admittedly, these characters also tend to be the most visible. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Mark Andreessen all have storied engineering careers—and often complex personal and professional lives that inevitably work their way into popular culture. But when we examine the data, we see a different picture. Rather than … [Read more...] about POV: Tomorrow’s founders can’t code—and that’s OK

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruth had watched as her husband’s behavior grew increasingly erratic. He would pace back and forth in the middle of the night in their California home, Ruth alleges, and would subject her to verbal abuse that escalated in both “frequency and severity”—sometimes in front of their young daughter. He’d also taken full control of the family’s finances, losing the bulk of their joint savings account by trading options. And then things turned violent. “It reached a breaking point when he pushed me in the library,” Ruth says. That’s when she took out her first temporary restraining order against her husband a little more than a year ago. That restraining order was just the beginning of Ruth’s ongoing legal battle with her husband, who’s also refusing her requests for a divorce. Shortly after she filed that first restraining order, her husband hit back with what she calls a “retaliatory restraining order” against her. When a judge … [Read more...] about How ChatGPT can help abuse survivors represent themselves in court

With interest rates up and VC money tightening, entrepreneurs working on breakthrough technologies may have to be tougher and more disciplined than ever. That was a key takeaway from a recent panel at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. The panel, titled “Breaking Down Breakthrough Tech,” featured Van Truskett, executive director of the Texas Innovation Center , the hub at the University of Texas for bringing engineering and science discoveries and technologies to the market; Jeff Cardenas, cofounder and CEO of Apptronik , founded in 2016 with the goal of bringing forth the next generation of human-centered robots; and Teresa Phillips, cofounder and CEO of Spherex , which adapts video assets for different cultures and languages. Though their backgrounds diverge, all three panelists develop products that are considered “breakthrough tech,” or technologies that require foundational research and significant time and money to bring to market. “Because of the nature of … [Read more...] about Why breakthrough tech founders need more true grit than ever

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Ruffles Sneakers has undoubtedly been taking over the sneaker game. With their latest exclusively customized Ruffles Ridge Top sneaker, co-designed with The Shoe Surgeon, Ruffles knew for certain that there was one collaborator in mind with the perfect amount of swag, originality, and unapologetic individuality to rock them. “Once Ruffles got in contact with me, they recognized my individuality. The Own Your Ridges campaign in itself is pretty much T-Pain as an all-around person,” the rapper explained about himself. He continued to explain how he owns his Ridges and is enamored with his own ability to be an individual who challenges the norm. “I pride myself on having a certain kind of style that nobody else is having, and people are afraid to even explore it. I pride myself on being just me. That's what the whole Own Your Ridges thing is. It's being unapologetic about being yourself.” Fans also had the opportunity … [Read more...] about Why T-Pain Thinks Ownership Is Important As A Black Artist In The Music Industry

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Tech industry events provide a valuable opportunity for professionals to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and innovations. While CES is the “big one” of the year for many companies, there are many other gatherings that generate excitement among tech teams. With events focused on everything from gaming to cybersecurity (and everything in between), tech professionals can network with peers, learn from industry leaders and gain new insights into emerging technologies. Below, a panel of Forbes Technology Council members discusses some of their favorite industry events and why they generate so much buzz among today’s tech professionals. 1. Android Dev Summit We are looking forward to attending the Android Dev Summit. This insightful event features top-tier industry experts and provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest development trends, get first access to products and resources that can help grow … [Read more...] about 16 Can’t-Miss Industry Events Tech Leaders Look Forward To

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin CEO at Paulsen , a marketing agency that moves rural America. A crisis never seems to occur at 11:30 a.m. on a Wednesday when your management team is already huddled for a regular meeting. Accidents, storms, outages and fires all seem to happen in the wee hours of the morning when your CEO is three times zones away at a meeting and your operations lead is on vacation. As a communication professional in a fast-moving ag or rural business, if you don’t have a crisis plan in place and a team trained, you’re already behind the ball when your phone rings at 2 a.m. and you hear fire engines wailing in the background. Today is your day to make a preemptive crisis communications plan. Start With Your Objective: Preserve The Brand The goal of a crisis communications plan should be to preserve your brand. You spend day in and day out building it with your farmers, members and customers. One emergency or issue … [Read more...] about Issue Management: Building A Crisis Communications Plan

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The South by Southwest (SXSW) music, film, culture and technology conference that started in Austin in 1987, attracts over 100,000 people every (non-pandemic) year. It is so massive, with dozens of panels every day, music and comedy performances and screenings every night, that no two SXSW experiences are the same. If you have FOMO watching the social media posts fly past during SXSW (it’s called South-by its denizens), it is actually worse if you are here. The panel you skipped to grab a bite with an old friend could turn out to be the best talk of the show. You rely on serendipity and momentary judgements to guide you through a treasure trove of content and people and accept FOMO as inevitable. I was on the jury for the sixteen world premiere XR Experiences competing for the Grand Prize, and I wrote about it in this story . I saw the winner, Consensus Gentium on my smart phone a couple of days before leaving for the … [Read more...] about The Serendipity, FOMO And Joy Of South-By

When LinkedIn launched, on May 5, 2003, it wasn’t a given that it would thrive. Born during the doldrums after the original dotcom bust, it arrived at the same time as a flurry of other social networking upstarts, most of which quickly fizzled. Its emphasis on members’ professional lives rather than personal pursuits was seen by some as a strategic blunder. Even the notion of posting your résumé in public was jarringly unfamiliar and likely to be taken as an act of disloyalty. Rather than falling victim to preexisting assumptions, LinkedIn changed them. Eventually, it was not having a LinkedIn profile that was perceived as a weird career move. As the pandemic and its aftermath have reshaped work, the service has both reflected that new world and equipped workers and employers to succeed in it. Its emphasis on professionalism also offers a safe harbor from more toxic and polarizing social platforms. LinkedIn hasn’t escaped the current tech downturn—in February, it … [Read more...] about LinkedIn turns 20: An oral history of an unlikely champion