Could Minuum finally evolve the virtual QWERTY keyboard? | Crave - CNET
Did you know the QWERTY layout originated in the 1870s? It might be time for a makeover. The up-and-coming Minuum virtual keyboard minimizes the de facto standard into something far sleeker and sexier.
When in use, a virtual keyboard shouldn’t take up half of your smartphone or tablet screen, but it does, and it sure is ugly. If you’re tired of keys hogging up precious screen space, check out Minuum — a simple, yet intelligent single-row reinvention of the QWERTY layout.
Simply put, the Minuum keyboard, which is gaining traction on crowdfunding Web site Indiegogo, seems attractive as it doesn’t require much space to use. It intelligently predicts what word you’re going for through auto-correction algorithms, similar to a full-size virtual keyboard.
10 Companies Chasing Innovations That Really Matter | Wired.com
M-PESA/Safaricom
In much of the developing world, credit and debit cards have never caught on, since the telecom networks needed to support their use doesn’t exist. In those same places, however, mobile phone use has exploded. In a phenomenon known as “leapfrogging,” the wires needed to power traditional card-based transactions might never get installed, since everyone will just use their phones instead.
In Kenya, mobile operator Safaricom has developed M-PESA, a way to transfer money and make microloans using text messages — no bank account required. Unlike in, say, the U.S., mobile payments have taken off in Kenya thanks to M-PESA, with millions of users. The company is working on rolling out the service to other countries where a lack of financial and technological infrastructure could cease to be a barrier to joining the 21st-century economy.
Photo: Sipa via AP Images
Speaker/Performer: Michael Minear, CIO, UC Davis Health System
Sponsor: CITRIS (Ctr for Info Technology Research in the Interest of Society)
Michael Minear, Chief Information Officer at the UC Davis Medical Center, is a national leader in health-care information technology. He has an extensive record of leading transformations of large, complex organizations in the use of modern information technology.
Injection-free vaccinations developed with the help of the Gates Foundation | The Verge
Researchers have proved that “injection-free” vaccines are an effective tool in the fight against diseases. The team, based in King’s College London and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, used dried sugar to create a microneedle array — a tiny disc that only lightly perforates the skin. The dried sugar, which was laced with a proposed HIV vaccine, dissolves when inserted in to the skin, effectively delivering the vaccine and kick-starting an immune response. The method is far less invasive than conventional vaccines that are delivered via a hypodermic needle.
New Year, New World | New Voices for Our Path Forward (by The GBS Social Business Channel)
Using mobile devices and a new, novel collaborative video production process, millennial generation IBMers share their perspective on the path forward for IBM’s consulting organization, Global Business Services
“The best inventors do it because it is so much fun, they can’t stop doing it.”
Bob Friedlander + James Kraemer
120+ patents, 350+ pending
Wisdom Illustrated
Five Ways The Government Can Create Sustainable Innovation | Co.Exist
The government doesn’t have the best track record when investing directly in sustainable companies, but there is a lot it can do to create an environment conducive to real innovation. This is how it should do it in Obama’s second term.
The affordable Raspberry Pi microcomputer just got even more affordable: the slated $25 Model A Raspberry Pi board has now gone on sale in Europe. The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which created the Pi on a mission to get more kids learning to code, announced the Model A’s arrival and said sales are being restricted to Europe initially but will be opened up to the rest of the world “very soon”.
Highs and lows. Successes and the failures. Late nights and caffeine. Follow along at IBMblr.tumblr.com as we explore innovation and the culture that led to 20 years of patent leadership.
One Year Later and IBM's Social Business is Still Superior to Apple's - Forbes
In an article I wrote last year titled “Why Every Company Needs to be More Like IBM and Less Like Apple”, I compared the cultures of both companies and how over the past 25 years they had flipped: “Today’s Big Blue is the antithesis of Big Brother. It’s ‘Big Open’. A transparent, nimble, collaborative organization known more for listening and engaging customers than for dictating to them. While ironically, some say Apple now resembles Big Brother given their propensity for tight controls.”
That article and the number of follow on pieces written to support and rebuke my argument stirred up a heated debate that continues to this day. So how have the two companies fared in the past year?
IBM’s stock price is up 7% and Apple’s is up about 2.5% year over year. Not a significant difference, but as we’ve seen in the past few weeks, Apple looks to be losing momentum while IBM’s is building.
How An Army Of MakerBot Replicators Will 3D-Print The Future
Ever seen a 3D printer in action? If not, here’s your chance.
At CES 2013, MakerBot showed off its new Replicator 2X, an “experimental” version of the company’s landmark 3D printer that offers some twists on the Replicator 2’s design. The 2X features dual extruding nozzles that allow printing in multiple colors, and it uses thermoplastic ABS instead of the material known as PLA, which tends to be the preferred material for those new to the 3D printing world.
Crowdfunding push for EZ-EV open source electric kit car
Electrical engineer Gary Krysztopik has been driving his self-built, open-framed, three-wheeled electric “hotrod” on the roads and highways of San Antonio (TX) for over three years now, but folks still can’t help staring as he zooms past. While also working on gas-to-electric conversions (including a VW Bug and a Porsche Carrera), he’s been busy refining and tweaking the design for his “battery box on wheels” and is now preparing to release the EZ-EV car as open source plans, build-it-yourself kits and complete vehicles.
To Change A Company, You Need Intrapreneurs | Co.Exist
It can be hard to get a big, slow company to change its ways. It’s the efforts of courageous intrapreneurs that can change their trajectory. The key is to make your company a place where intrapreneurs can thrive.
Multinational corporations aren’t always known for their agility. Organizational change, product evolution, or rebranding—just some of the many ways in which a business has the potential to flex and move—can be laborious undertakings for companies with millions of stakeholders spread far and wide around the world.
But lately, leading companies are taking a page from the startup book and are beginning to leverage entrepreneurial approaches to drive business value. Dubbed “intrapreneurship” by early adopters, this trend highlights the value of people—the “intrapreneurs”—working from within a company who are accelerating change while continuing to drive business benefits. Economic constraints are forcing even large, established companies to act in a manner akin to the startup phase of much younger organizations; they’re leveraging the creativity and passion of their people to become more dynamic, more innovative, and more agile.
