The Innovators Issue 2 | Neural Nets vs. Lego Bricks, Elon Musk, and Circular Runways.
This is the online issue of The Innovators. To get each issue delivered to your inbox sign up for the newsletter here or at the bottom of this post.
Here’s to the crazy ones
Firstly big thanks for the great response to the last issue, it was shared by so many people and there are significantly more of you this week, so welcome.
There was some feedback about the length of the last issue, as well as a few questions about The Innovators not being weekly. The online version was split up into three parts with Future Now and In Focus each featuring as standalone posts on the Medium Publication — so I think part of me agrees it may have been too long. However, at the same time, those two sections also got significant engagement and praise so what is the best approach? As a workaround, I’ve decided to test doing a shorter version focused around 8Bits alternating every second week with the longer format version. At the end of the day, those who are here for the short version can skip over the remainder.
Tom Kennedy // Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
8Bits
8 points for rapid intake1. Read — I’m juggling listening to two of Neil Gaiman’s books, American Gods, and Norse Mythology. While tackling John Sanei’s What’s Your Moonshot, in physical format. Next up is Legacide by Richard Mulholland. I’m really enjoying our local writers at the moment and sense a post coming up about which ones to read/follow. Let me know what local authors you’ve been reading/enjoying.
*You can see a full list of books I’ve read or have been recommended over at Goodreads.
2. Bookmarked — While reviewing my bookmarks for the past week I realized I’ve actually shifted away from traditional bookmarking and the majority of my content is now saved within Facebook as “saved posts.” How do you bookmark content these days?
Challenge: Anyone out there who has more “saved posts” on Facebook than I do and can send a screenshot as proof, will get a personal shoutout on all my platforms. I’m sitting at 4648! Thankfully they have finally launched a search function.
My top save this week was this slightly old video of Elon Musk that is quite moving. Click
3. Signed Up — Richard Mulholland’s new Newsletter “Rich’s weekend distraction” features a bunch of great content by the man himself. Judging by the last issue I think this is going to be a goodie, sign up here
4. Installed — I’ve just installed the public BETA of iOS 11 and MacOs High Sierra — both seem rather stable and each have some really great features. Read more about each here: iOS | MacOS. If you’re ready to brave the BETAs, you can sign up for access here *They do have bugs, do so at your own risk
*Homescreen change — Added Adobe Scan— A free scan app with text recognition superpowers. Use your phone or tablet to capture images and instantly turn them into PDFs that help you work faster. You can capture just about everything — from notes and receipts, to whiteboard discussions and pictures. So far it’s been great.
5. Watched — After mentioning it to a friend, I went back and watched one of my favorite TED talks this week. In it, Tony Robbins discusses the “invisible forces” that motivate everyone’s actions. I was never the biggest fan of Tony until I heard his podcast with Tim Ferris which changed my perception of him hugely. If you haven’t heard it then give it a listen here.
6. Hacked — I first used Grammarly a long time ago and it was cool but was it a game changer? I wasn’t sure, it became annoying and interfered with my workflow. BUT I just started using it again and the latest version is phenomenal and the online/app editor works brilliantly. I’m actually writing this on it as we speak because annoyingly it doesn’t work with Medium
*Extra — I discovered Site Stacks this week while researching a new startup idea. It’s an incredible tool that lets you discover the complete tech stack of any website. Give it a go here*Random example Travelstart [Results]
7. Listened — I spent most of the week listening to Audible, testing new recommended podcasts and reviewing my own The Innovators podcast episodes to do the show notes. So I have nothing shareable to add this week I’m afraid.
8. Followed — I followed a whole bunch of people on Medium now that I’m active on the platform again. Here are few of the noteworthy follows: James Altucher, Peter Diamandis, Gary Vaynerchuk and M.G. Siegler.
Want more? Read on…
Slack Community
Would you join?
I just flighted the idea of creating a learning/sharing community on my social accounts and the feedback was a resounding, “YES.” The idea came from last weeks bookmarked entry — The Farnam Street Website. He has created an annual subscription based community forum within Slack. He describes it as:
“It’s a community of like-minded people just like you. This is your opportunity to share links, discuss topics and bounce ideas off some of the smartest people on the planet.” — “Members include CEOs, best-selling authors, and even coaches and general managers from professional sports teams; there’s also engineers, money managers, teachers, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. The common denominator is a love of learning and self-improvement.”
I love the idea and wondered whether something like that could work here. If I did it, would you join it?
Please let me know by replying to this post!
What are you up to?
Let me know what you’ve been consuming, testing or trying out so I can give it a whirl and possibly add it to one of the upcoming newsletters. You can connect with me via the social links below or by emailing tom@theinnovators.co.za. Please don’t send me SPAM though.
Great Reads
Neural Nets vs. Lego Bricks via Robert Scoble
Building and testing the detectors took quite a while, but eventually I was able to identify pieces with impressive accuracy. But the system was too slow to keep up with the machinery. After a few other failed approaches, and six months in, I decided to try out a neural network. I settled on using TensorFlow, an immense library produced by the Google Brain Team. TensorFlow can run on a CPU, but for a huge speed increase I tapped the parallel computing power of the graphics processing unit in my US $700 GTX1080 Ti Nvidia video card.
Tesla to build world’s biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia
For months, politicians and fossil fuel industry have lied about the viability of renewables. Now Tesla’s big battery in South Australia will prove them wrong
Shared w/ me by you.
No paid content, no affiliate links — no bullshit. Just things sent to me by you to be featured here.
Could circular runways be the future of air travel? via Dale Wright
Circular runway would allow three planes to take off and land at the same time. Researchers propose building a 3.5-km-wide circular strip with banked sides.
How China Is Changing Your Internet via Ryan Brauer
In China, a sheltered internet has given rise to a new breed of app, and American companies are taking notice. What was once known as the land of cheap rip-offs may now offer a glimpse at the future.
Medium Freebie
Feather Icons — I have a design background so icons, fonts and various freebies are quite a thing for me. This collection of icons was pretty great. Check it out
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Have a wonderful week
Tom Kennedy // Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
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