Tech Trends, 11/08/17
This is a new, daily report, designed to help you discover and capitalize on the tech trends that matter.
A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. The sum total of those changes is transformation. –Andy Grove
Andy Grove is a master who sums up the purpose of Tech Trends. We’re creating a daily report about technology that helps you and your business survive, adapt, and transform to face whatever lies ahead. Let’s jump into it!
Design & Software
Biomimetic designs are designs that imitate the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. At The Mission, we believe biomimetic approaches are the future of all design.
So what better way to minimize noise and maximize aerodynamics for wind turbines and air vehicles than to look to nature? Owls are able to suppress the sound of their wings when hunting prey, which is why they were the perfect example for researchers at Lehigh University to learn from. –Proceedings of the Royal Society
Cryptography & Security
If I were asked what the biggest threat to bitcoin was, I would say regulations. But a recent article on Singularity Hub might sway my opinion, stating that quantum computing could be the next big existential threat. However, my worries were eased a bit by the fact that the NSA and many cryptographers are working to build quantum-resistant cryptographic systems.
In the vein of keeping things secure, here’s an article by Wired on How to Keep Your Bitcoin Safe
AI & Machine Learning
ML is being used in so many applications, and I’m most excited about it’s applications in image recognition. We might be stuck with, “Not Hotdog” now, but the future is bright.
Also, even though image recognition apps (similar to Not Hotdog!) are in their infancy, they are already saving human curators the pain of having to manually comb NSFW Hotdogs.
One of the applications for ML imagery recognition that is rapidly evolving is the detection of health issues by imagery recognition. The University of Waterloo and the Sunnybrook Research Institute is detecting melanoma skin cancer earlier, and Google is detecting diabetic retinopathy (a leading cause of blindness in adults), all through improvements in ML (way too early to call it AI).
The other arena that ML is improving in is around CAPTCHA forms. For any luddite peeps out there, you know those little boxes with letters that are obscure, sideways, or squiggly that you have to type out so the website knows you are a human?
Those are “CAPTCHA systems.” Wellll, now ML is good enough to solve CAPTCHA boxes. The company pioneering these systems is Vicarious. They’re trying to teach robots to see the way that humans do, and their tech was recently able to defeat several CAPTCHA systems.
VR & AR
An AR navigation app, called Blippar, just launched AR City app for iOS users that shows you exactly where you have to walk and nearby points of interest. Although this app is in its very early days, uses Apple Maps (womp, womp..), and can only be used in a few cities right now, it’s a great signal to where the AR mapping world is headed!
Robotics & Hardware
Watch Brett, the robot, learn through failure, and hear details around how to speed up a robot’s learning capabilities in the near future!
Waymo has hit level 4 of autonomous driving (operating a vehicle without a driver), and they are about to start giving rides to passengers!
Biology & Genomics
Blending technology and time tested tradition is (almost always) a solid strategy. From Frontiers:
“Producing better crops to meet the needs of the growing world’s population may lie in combining the traditional knowledge of subsistence farmers with plant genomics. Researchers in Italy and Ethiopia demonstrated that the indigenous knowledge of traditional farmers, passed on from one generation to generation, can be measured in a quantitative way and used with advanced genomic and statistical methods to identify genes responsible for farmers’ preference of wheat.” –Source
Venture Capital & Investing
“Women deliver higher returns, according to a study by First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture firm focused on tech companies. Companies with a female founder performed 63% better than those with all-male founding teams. Yet companies with women CEOs received only 5% of venture dollars in 2016, according to PitchBook. And that number hasn’t changed in 10 years.” –Geri Stengel, Forbes Article
Marketing & Advertising
Okay, seriously. If you’re looking for a fun, deep dive into this stuff, you have to check out Branded by my colleague Ian Faison. Here’s how Ian describes it:
Branded is a daily curated report of industry news designed to help executives in marketing and branding create ROI producing media, stories, and campaigns that deliver long term results.
Branded is brought to you by our team at The Mission. We create original content, shows, and series for brands and distribute them to our audience of millions. To learn more, connect with us here.
Tech & Trends Q&A
Q: What advice would you give to a girl who works at a boring corporate job who is trying to break into a large tech company?
A: Develop a track record of side projects with metrics and milestones that line up well to the role inside the larger company that you are targeting. Side projects are a key way to differentiate you from the competition and get you noticed. Everyone has degrees these days, and the school you went to seems to be mattering less and less. Being a self-starter and taking initiative will always stand out.
Opportunities & Spotlights
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That’s it for today’s edition of Tech & Trends. Want more goodness like this?
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