Innovation & Tech Today Fall 2016

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Fall 2016

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Throughout our lives, there are a handful of Charles Warner, Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief

“Oftentimes, we are

interview Larry for that piece, and it was then

they are gone. You know, the kind of people

that Larry explained why this movement was

who inspire us to a clarity of purpose and for

crucial right now. Larry said, “As a culture, you

whom we adjust our sails and change course.

get what you celebrate. So if we have a

Oftentimes, we are oblivious to the shift

generation of kids celebrating the

occurring in the moment, but the seeds are

Kardashians, well… That’s why it is so

planted nonetheless. Later, upon reflection, it

important to get young people celebrating

is as clear as a starry night how profound that person was in our lives. I have no doubt that

oblivious to the shift

Larry Bock was that kind of person. Not only

occurring in the

to those who had the privilege of knowing

moment, but the

never met him but continue to be inspired by

him personally, but countless others who

seeds are planted

his passion and his legacy. I was one of those

nonetheless. Later,

wish I could have told him how much he

people who was influenced by Larry, and I

upon reflection, it is as

impacted me personally and how much he

clear as a starry night

before he recently passed away.

how profound that

influenced the direction of our magazine According to his wife, Diane, Larry was “56

person was in our lives.

going on 12. The funnest dad in the world to

I have no doubt that

love of learning, sustainability, and of course

his two daughters and someone who had a

Larry Bock was that

all things STEM.” In 2007 he started a science

kind of person.”

being to simply get kids excited about science,

festival in San Diego, California with his goal technology, engineering, and math. The inspiration and momentum from that event morphed into what is now the largest celebration of STEM in the world, The USA Science & Engineering Festival. The USASEF takes place every other year in our nation’s capital. To show how big the event has grown under Larry’s watch, last year over 170,000 people attended and, thanks to big sponsors like Lockheed Martin, it was free to the public.

How’s that for a huge impact?

Our 2013 winter issue had Mike Rowe on

2

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

of the USASEF. I was lucky enough to

people that leave a lasting impact long after

STEM and get them really excited about science.” It became very clear to me that a focus on filling these valuable tech jobs was necessary for the U.S. to stay competitive in a global economy. From that point on, our publication decided to produce a robust STEM section in every issue, with the help of the USASEF. Suddenly, our magazine had a clear purpose besides just putting out good content: To inspire and promote STEM while highlighting leaders in this field. This also became our mantra with regard to sustainability, and we now had a mission with both purpose and passion.

Our magazine has grown a lot since then, as you can see with this fall issue. Some might say this is our best issue yet, and we are very grateful to have renowned physicist Michio Kaku for our cover. You can also see we have in-depth STEM and sustainability sections – all because of that interview with Larry Bock and subsequent conversations we had.

I hope everyone reading this will take a moment to reflect on those that have left a lasting impact on their lives and take the time to thank them. I know that I am very grateful to have crossed paths with Larry Bock and proud to say I got a chance to work with such an inspirational innovator, father, and husband. Now, it is up to all of us to continue

the cover discussing the skills gap and

his important work and inspire future

explaining why his foundation

generations to celebrate innovation, STEM,

mikeroweWORKS was such a big supporter

and sustainability.

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PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Charles Warner

cwarner@goipw.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shane P. Brisson

shane@goipw.com

Published by INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES WORLDWIDE, INC 3400 E. Bayaud Ave., #333, Denver, CO 80209 www.innotechtoday.com (720) 708-4250 info@innotechtoday.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Peter Gietl

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MANAGING EDITOR Paul French

pfrench@innotechtoday.com

SPECIAL THANKS TO Steve Lambert/US Army, Nancy Conrad/Conrad Institute, Josef Steigmiller/Liebherr, Tanya Stewart, Andy Weir, Koann Skrzyniarz/Sustainable Brands, Mark Hamill, Riot Games, CJ Dawson/ cjdawsonphoto.com, Amelie MacDonald, Lois Brearley/iNHouse Communications, Alex Rubens/Riot Games, Daniel Riff/TheBrothersRiff.com This publication is dedicated to the dreamers, the innovators, the collaborators, and the doers – who can’t be bothered by those saying it can’t be done.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

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contents

FALL 2016

60 Tech Zone Cleveland Rocks the Tech Scene

48 Cover Story: Michio Kaku is at Home in the Future

by Paul French Cover photo: Michio Kaku shot on City College of New York campus for Innovation & Tech Today by Daniel Riff/TheBrothersRiff.com

Departments 14 Since Last Issue

32 Women in Tech

16 By the Numbers

34 Space

18 Event Wrap-ups

128 Med Tech

20 Quick Bytes

132 Product Revolution

28 Smart Home

142 Coming Next Issue

30 Social Media

144 The Lighter Side

36 Innovator Profile Emily Calandrelli, The Space Gal

38 Connected Car Super-charged super cars by Ethan Maltaverne 42 The LA Auto Show Transforms 44 Cyber Security in Your Car by Michael Coates

54 Home Automation 56 The Futurist and the Door Lock by Andrew Janson 58 Bacteria Killing Paint? Ask Sherwin-Williams.

70 Outdoor+Adventure Tech

with Section Editor Billy Brown Climbing the World with Masha Gordon 72 R ecording Motion: Golden Harper, Founder of Altra Running 74 S ki Lessons in the Summer, Neuroscience Tech Provides Athletic Relaxation 76 Gear Guide

8

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

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Apple TV ®, iPad®, iPhone®, iPod touch® and Siri® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is licensed for use by Schlage. HomeKitTM is a trademark of Apple Inc.

contents

FALL 2016

78 Security Pokémon GO Just Caught All Your Private Info by Jason Thomas 80 Confronting the Expanding Virtual Caliphate by Emily Norcross

84 Gaming & Entertainment

with Section Editor John Gaudiosi

The Force is Strong with Mark Hamill by John Gaudiosi 90 NBA Legend Rick Fox Embraces e-Sports 94 Michael Fassbender Talks Assassin’s Creed 96 High-tech Cruises 98 Mission to Mars

102 Sustainability Today Produced in Partnership with Sustainable Brands

WaterAid Brings Hope 104 Sustainable Investing 106 Nature Inspires New Technologies 108 Circular Economies Foster Growth 110 Eating Beer: From Leftovers to Lunch Produced in Partnership with the

114 STEM Today USA Science & Engineering Festival A Conversation with Nancy Conrad by Robert Yehling 120 STEM Today Prompts

124 The Future of Work:

How Shared Workspaces Are Changing the Office by Oren Salomon 126 Jobs of the Future. Jobs of Today.

Photo: CJ Dawson Photograpy | cjdawsonphoto.com.

10

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Innovations

2016 | Medical Innovation Summit Innovating for Healthcare’s Transformation R E G I S T E R N O W | October 24–26 | Promo Code: IT2016

Join Us in Cleveland This October to Witness the Future of Healthcare There’s plenty of excitement in Northeast Ohio these days.

The Cavs just brought Cleveland its first NBA championship.

In July, tens of thousands of visitors to the Republican National Convention enjoyed the beauty of a revitalized downtown. The backdrop to this civic energy is a rising economy – led by medical innovation.

Healthcare is the fastest growing industry in Northeast Ohio, which is now home to more than 700 bioscience companies.

Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI) ranks as a key catalyst.

The commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic has secured hundreds of patents and holds over 40 active new ventures, which in turn have attracted more than $1 billion in follow-on funding.

To harness and share this innovation expertise, CCI launched the Medical Innovation Summit, the oldest and largest innovation conference in healthcare.

This October 24-26, the Summit will bring together CEOs, investors, inventors, entrepreneurs and innovation thought leaders from around the world. They are gathering in downtown Cleveland to discuss the technologies and ideas that promise to transform healthcare. We hope you can join them.

Come to Cleveland to see not just a great city, but to witness the transformative power of innovation.

Register now at medicalinnovationsummit.cvent.com Promo code for $216 off “Attendee” registration valid until October 15.

Who Attends: • Leaders in healthcare & health IT industries • Venture capitalists & other investment professionals • Early stage company executives & entrepreneurs • Providers, payers, researchers & technology transfer professionals • Clinical, medical affairs, regulatory & business development executives

Featured Speakers: • José Almeida, Chairman & CEO, Baxter • George Barrett, Chairman & CEO, Cardinal Health • Robert Bradway, Chairman & CEO, Amgen • Karen DeSalvo, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, HHS • Bertha Coombs, Reporter, CNBC • Omar Ishrak, Chairman & CEO, Medtronic • Ian Read, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer

Featured Discussions: • Medical Innovation and the 2016 Election • Investing in Healthcare’s New Era • Health in Our Own Hands: Technology and the Empowered Health Consumer • Science Non-Fiction: The Story of Healthcare and the Dawn of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics • The Digital Realities of Storing, Securing and Understanding Big Data • The Age of Telemedicine: Are We There Yet? • Catching the Wave of Wearable Technologies

FEEL THE POWER WITHIN.

Since Last Issue …

Summer Issue Controversy: Should Surfers Wear Bikinis?

“Innovation & Tech Today seemed like it would be a good magazine for my children, a son and daughter, who are both very interested in technology and engineering. However, I just received the Summer 2016 issue, only to find that, rather than encouraging girls to be involved in the sciences and encouraging boys to embrace girls as intellectual equals and partners in technological innovation, your only cover featuring a female is this one, of an objectified and nearly naked woman. It turns out that this woman was Sally Fitzgibbons, a talented surfer. Inside your magazine, you printed some awe-inspiring photos of her actively surfing, fully-suited for the sport.

Why did you not choose these as your cover photos, which respectfully showed her talent as an athlete and innovator? If you see the cover images [of previous issues], they were all of men. It is unfortunate that your only cover with a woman represented her as barely dressed eye candy rather than demonstrating her intelligence and talent. I hope that you will remedy this very soon.

You need to feature women innovators on your covers, and do this respectfully, representing us not as eye candy, but as the thinkers and innovators that we are.”

Respect is due, -K.Beckert -------------------------“Your summer issue was completely inappropriate to send to my work place.

I got a reprimand from my boss for having it delivered to the office.”

-Anonymous -------------------------[Ed. Note] We welcome and appreciate all reader feedback through social media or email (submit@ innotechtoday.com). Sally Fitzgibbons was a fine choice for the cover of our summer issue. She is an up and coming, tech-savvy athlete with a foundation aimed at keeping kids active. By the way, our last summer Outdoor + Adventure issue had free-diver Guillaume Néry in his short shorts on the cover and we never heard a peep. Hmmmmm…

14

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Olympic medalist Lauren Sesselmann (left) was just one of the many women interviewed by writer Haley Hoffman Smith (right) for our online column “Women Innovate!”

Photo Credits All trademarks, service marks, and logos contained within this publication are the property of their respective owners, and may not be individually identified in this publication. pg. 18 E3 Photos courtesy Entertainment Software Association (ESA) pg. 20 Neanderthal | Erich Ferdinand/Flickr pg. 22 NES Classic Edition | Nintendo, Jupiter | NASA/JPL_Cal Tech/Penn State University pg. 24 Polyethylene Balls | commons. wikipedia.com Half-Terabyte Stamp | Samsung pg. 26 Promobot via mialeproduction.com, Fried Chicken | Robert Owen-Wahl pg. 30 Group of friends | Dreamstime.com pg. 42 Courtesy of LA Auto Show pg. 44 Jeep courtesy of FCA North America, Mitsubishi Outlander courtesy of Mitsubishi pg. 46 Autopilot Screen courtesy of Tesla, Supercruiser courtesy of Cadillac pg. 48-49 Mitchio Kaku for I&T Today | Daniel Riff/TheBrothersRiff.com pg. 50 Kaku Dark | Jalisco Campus Party/ Flickr pg. 52 Mitchio Kaku from Physics of the Impossible courtesy of Discovery Communications pg. 58 Garage photo | Dreamstime.com pg. 60 Cleveland downtown | Dreamstime. com pg. 61 Images courtesy of Cleveland Economic Development pg. 62 Images courtesy of Cleveland Economic Development pg. 64 Images courtesy of Cleveland Economic Development pg. 66 Images courtesy of Cleveland Economic Development pg. 70-71 Masha Gordon images courtesy iNHouse Communications pg. 78 Pokémon GO | Nintendo/The Pokémon Company pg. 80 Dreamstime.com pg. 84-88 Courtesy Cloud Imperium Games pg. 90-92 Courtesy Riot Games pg. 94-96 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Regency Entertainment/ Monarchy Enterprises S.a.r.l. pg. 98 Mars show photos courtesy of National Geographic Channel pg. 100 Andy Weir | NASA/James Blair/ Lauren Harnett, Curiosity Selfie | Courtesy of NASA, Mars show photos courtesy of National Geographic Channel, Buzz/Leonard | Eric Long/NASM pg. 104 Dreamstime.com pg. 106 Sharks | NOAA Photo Library/ Flickr, Fern plant | Meraj Chhaya/Flickr, Brine Shrimp | sdolgin/Flickr pg. 108 Dreamstime.com pg. 112 Courtesy of Apple pg. 118 Dreamstime.com pg. 122 UPOD | via mobilesensingtechnology.com pg. 124-125 Background Photo, Indy Hall photos courtesy of CJ Dawnson/ cjdawsonphoto.com, The Factory photos courtesy of The Factory, Band Photos courtesy of Cohere pg. 126 Virgin Galatic | Jack Brockway Prime Air | Amazon Autonomous Car | Google Remote doctor | Samsung/via insights. samsung.com pg. 127 UC Davis College of Engineering | Flikr, U.S. Army RDECOM | Flikr, WOCinTech | Flikr, Highways England | Flickr, Official GDC | Flickr, UC Davis College of Engineering | Flickr, Illusive Photography | Flickr pg. 138 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Regency Entertainment/ Monarchy Enterprises S.a.r.l. pg. 139 Band Photos courtesy of Cohere pg. 142 Dreamstime.com pg. 144 Courtesy of Apple

“It’s a game changer.”

-Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce

The TR1200-DT3 at Involution Studios

Life Changing Wellness.

Career Enhancing Productivity.

2017 Under-Desk Treadmills.

Take a Step Into the Active Office.

LifeSpanFitness.com/Workplace/TheFacts

e NUMB RS

by the

A look at the metrics shaping the technology market — and our lives

Connected Homes

Smart technology is becoming more and more common in the everyday home. Even the simple act of opening your door has been enhanced by connected devices. Here are the numbers of this increasing trend.

Home automation can‌ reduce home insurance premiums by

91% 50% 28%

an average savings of

a year

20% $1,100 reduce home energy bills by as much as

potentially translating to

$200

a year

15%

of consumers who own a smart home device would recommend it to someone else.

of consumers plan on buying a smart home device in the next year

of Americans already own a smart home device

How Prevalent is Smart Technology In U.S. Homes?

Percentage of people who own one or more of these smart devices at home Thermostats

17%

Home Security and Monitoring Systems

11% Lighting

Home Energy Use Monitors

Smoke/CO2 Detectors

6%

5%

Refrigerators

Door Locks

4%

4%

9%

25

Domestic Robots

20

8%

6% Laundry Machines

4%

Water Detectors

2%

Millions

The U.S. Leads the Way in Smart Home Adoption 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Estimated number of smart homes by country

2020 24.5

15 10

2016 7.4

5 0

U.S.A. 7.4 million

JAPAN 600,000

GERMANY 400,000

CHINA 300,000

Cisco estimates that by 2020 there will be

50 16

millions

Wireless Speaker Systems

million connected devices, compared with 15 million in 2016.

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

As of 2016, there are approximately 7.4 million smart homes in the U.S. By 2020, that number is expected to rise to 24.5 million

U.K. 200,000

Intel is more bullish, anticipating as many as

200

million devices by 2020.

Sources: www.theharrispoll.com | Intel.com and Cisco.com

B R E A K D O W N C O M P L I C AT E D A L G O R I T H M S .

S I M U L AT E C O M P L E X S Y S T E M S .

COMPUTE THE FUTURE.

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[ Event Wrap-Ups ]

E3.

In June of this year, players, developers, and celebrities gathered at E3’s annual gaming expo. The event showcased new & upcoming games like Battlefield 1 and Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Jamie Foxx (above) was among the celebrities who tried their hands at the controls (though, according to several accounts, the celebs were soundly beaten by the more seasoned players).

ISTE.

Just like the NSTA, the International Society for Technology in Education is invested in making sure students and teachers have the future-oriented tools they need in the classroom. This year’s event featured a keynote address by none other than futurist Michio Kaku (see pg 48).

NSTA.

The National Science Teachers Association brought an ensemble of STEM professionals, companies, and educators to Denver, CO to collaborate on the best ways to engage students with the sciences. Derek Muller, creator of the hit YouTube science channel Veritasium, served as a great example of how to do this during his keynote speech.

18

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Sustainable Brands.

It may have been “June gloom” in San Diego (where this year’s Sustainable Brands Conference was held), but with so many companies becoming more mindful of the need to go green, the future’s never been brighter for sustainable technologies.

Toyota’s iRoad (left) is just one great example.

Š 2016 The Sherwin-Williams Company

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QUICK BYTES 001001100100110010010011001

Bones Expose European Neanderthals as Cannibals

Bones from a Belgian cave reveal that European Neanderthals were at least occasionally cannibals.

The bones were removed from the Troisième cave in Goyet, Belgium in the early 1800s, but scientists only recently applied techniques of morphometrics, taphonomy, stable isotope geochemistry, radiocarbon dating, and genetic analyses to the skeletons, which are now housed at a museum in Brussels.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, revealed that the bones were covered in cut marks and dents caused by a Neanderthal wanting to remove meat and marrow. If that isn’t stark enough evidence, there were also bite marks on the finger bones.

The skeletons are between 40,500 and 45,500 years old, thousands of years before Homo sapiens arrived in the area, so the Neanderthals were the only ones who could have inflicted the damage.

Neanderthals didn’t just use the bones for snacking, but also for making tools – at least in the case of four bones the researchers found.

The study proves that burial practices varied widely across Neanderthal tribes, even in their latest years. Researchers still aren’t sure if cannibalism was a common practice, or if it was a last-ditch effort to fight off starvation once these primates ran out of reindeer and horses.

THE HONEYGUIDE’S HANDY ADAPTATION Biologists have just confirmed what the Yao people of Mozambique have known for centuries. If you use a specific call, a native bird called the honeyguide will lead you to the nearest bee hive. Apparently, this palm-sized bird has adapted to work with local humans so that it can have access to the wax of bees’ nests – its favorite food. “It’s an exchange of information for skills,” Claire Spottiswoode, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cambridge, told NBC News.

Indeed, though adept at locating the bees, the birds are ill-equipped for their sweet larceny – sometimes being stung to death by the defending hive. But with the help of humans opening up the trees where the combs are often nestled and smoking out the bees, the honeyguide can easily book an open table to a feast. What’s particularly interesting about this interaction between birds and humans is the fact that the honeybird is not domesticated – rather, this is a wild bird that has simply adapted to work with its environment and neighbors: in this case, honeyloving humans.

20

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Snowden Strikes Back In 2013 when Edward Snowden was in Hong Kong, on the run from the combined might of the American surveillance state, he required that the journalists he was meeting with put their smartphones in the freezer. He did this so that the smartphones’ microphones and cameras couldn’t be remotely turned on and listened in on. After years spent in exile in Russia, he has teamed with the MIT Media Lab to create a phone case that monitors the internal radio signals of iPhones to see if they are transmitting.

“One good journalist in the right place at the right time can change history,” Snowden told the MIT Media lab via Skype. “This makes them a target, and increasingly tools of their trade are being used against them.”

This could be a game changer for journalists around the world who are increasingly facing harassment and surveillance by government entities. This is the first tool that can monitor and block these signals, ensuring that Big Brother is not listening.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment for cybersecurity professionals is projected to grow by 37% by 2020.* Reinvent yourself to meet the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals, whether in the military or out. Plus, you can learn from experts using curriculum that’s continually assessed by advisory councils so you can be confident you’re learning the latest developments in the field.

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*Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook report on Information Security Analysts (Job Outlook, 2012 -2022). Published Date: Jan. 8, 2014.

We want you to make an informed decision about the university that’s right for you. For more about the graduation rate and median debt of students who completed each program, as well as other important information—visit www.APUS.edu/disclosure.

QUICK BYTES 001001100100110010010011001

RETRO GAMING This year has been big for Nintendo. At E3, they wowed crowds with their announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wind. In July, Nintendo saw massive increases in market value and became the most traded Japanese stock in a single day, in the 21st century, after the release of Pokémon GO. The company, struggling in recent years to make a splash in the gaming and console markets, looks to be on its way to returning to the glory Nintendo enjoyed during the 80s and 90s. And the year isn’t over yet; Nintendo also announced that they are releasing a new version of their Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, called the NES Classic, in November. A little less than a quarter the size of the original NES, the Classic will come with 30 classic Nintendo titles, including Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man, and the original Legend of Zelda. This probably won’t put Nintendo back on top, but at the very least it shows that Nintendo is far from dying.

Water Found on Jupiter Lookalike NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has found clouds of water outside of our solar system for the first time in space exploration history.

The clouds are on WISE 0855, a brown dwarf located 7.2 light years away. Brown dwarfs are celestial bodies that are neither stars nor planets, instead falling between the two in size and lacking the mass that creates the nuclear fusion that allows stars to shine.

WISE 0855’s water vapor is not its only noteworthy trait. Its water makes it remarkably similar to Jupiter, and so do its size and low temperature. “WISE 0855 is our first opportunity to study an extrasolar

planetary-mass object that is nearly as cold as our own gas giants,” said lead author Andrew Skemer, a professor at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Skemer believes WISE 0855 will give researchers the opportunity “to investigate dynamical and chemical properties that have long been studied in Jupiter’s atmosphere, but this time on an extrasolar world.”

The conventional technology used to see space objects so far away can’t view the faint WISE 0855, which gives researchers another opportunity to work with spectroscopy that is “challenging but not impossible,” said Skemer.

That’s No Moon In regards to the recently announced decommissioning of the International Space Station (ISS), Russia and the U.S. have launched a program to send a new space station to orbit the moon in the upcoming years. Seemingly replacing the current space station, both countries will now not only have access to a lunar space station, but also a checkpoint in the upcoming Mars transit system. Unfortunately, it seems that some of the countries not

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

involved in this mission may be left empty-handed on their interstellar journeys. SpaceX might also be left in the dust on some of the upcoming missions they were so excited to announce. Though this is a huge leap towards interplanetary travel, we’re still several hops, skips, and jumps away from public transit in this form. Several mission strategies have already been introduced in respect to this new mission, and with everyone’s eye twinkling with moonlight in the night sky, it’s not far-fetched to say we might be seeing something new in that same view.

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QUICK BYTES 001001100100110010010011001

Stand Up For Yourself

There is, in the war against obesity, no shortage of banners. And each year brings new clarion calls for action, new diet & exercise plans, and new fit-fad celebrities (your Tony Horton, your Jillian Michaels) to lead the ever more sensationalized and ever more familiar charge. Indeed, it seems that the march toward our thinner selves is ironically overweight with strategy. Should we stop eating carbs? Red meat? Gluten? The debate over the magic bullet has no end.

There is, however, one no-nonsense message that’s been gaining traction over the last few years – carrying with it a simplicity that has inspired many to change their everyday lifestyle habits. Sitting too much makes you fat. Staying still (being static) causes health problems. If you stand and are more active, you’ll be healthier.

It’s a piece of baby-logic few can deny, and one that’s backed by numerous studies. For instance, according to James Levine, MD, with Mayo Clinic, “Sitting for long periods, even in people with healthy body weight, will have negative effects on blood sugar and blood fat levels, which may contribute to diabetes and heart disease.”

As a result, offices around the country have started providing standto-work desks to promote employee health. The concept of the “active office” has been adopted by specialty companies like Fitterfirst, an exercise/office equipment purveyor (definitely a combination indicative of a cultural shift) that offers a range of standing desks and other “active office” accessories.

Perhaps more than any diet fad, these nifty new desks have the ability to give our sedentary office lifestyle a much needed upgrade.

Converting Plastics to Fuel Polyethylene is the world’s most popular plastic material, used to make everything from grocery bags to artificial joints. But its ubiquity is a waste problem, as polyethylenes make up about 60% of the plastics in landfills without much potential to decompose.

These plastics are especially hard to recycle into new products because they are made of long chains of atoms connected by single bonds, which are notoriously hard to break.

Fortunately, scientists at the University of California, Irvine and at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai have teamed up to work on how to break down polyethylenes into fuel and valuable chemicals, which could amp up recycling and repurposing efforts to help clear out landfills. They have repurposed two existing catalysts, developed by Maurice Brookhart and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, that can help break down those pesky bonds.

The repurposed catalysts will have to be further refined to be less expensive and more durable, but they offer a promise to eat away at our plastic crisis within the coming years.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

The Half-Terabyte Stamp According to Moore’s law, the number of switches in a circuit doubles approximately every two years, improving the capability of electronic devices. This doubling also seems appropriate as a metaphor for the computing industry itself, as each year brings smaller, faster, and lighter computers with increasingly powerful internal components. Solid-state drives (SSDs), which use circuit assemblies to store data instead of magnetized disks, are one of those components getting huge improvements each year. Because they don’t need the bulky disks like traditional hard drives do, SSDs can load data much faster and are generally a lot slimmer. But how much thinner can they get? Samsung recently announced that it has started production of an SSD that can hold 512 gigabytes of data (roughly 100,000 songs) – and it’s smaller than a U.S. postage stamp. And, make no mistake, that size won’t damage its performance, either. Samsung’s senior VP of memory product planning says it will have “triple the performance” of standard SSDs.

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QUICK BYTES 001001100100110010010011001 An artificially intelligent robot named Promobot IR77 made headlines in June when it escaped from a testing area near Perm, Russia…twice. The little robot, which can learn from its experiences and remember people it meets, was initially designed to be employed in customer service, but the research company that created it is considering scrapping it after its two escape attempts. The first time Promobot escaped, it made it into the middle of a busy road before running out of batteries, causing traffic issues for nearly an hour before a researcher handling the robot discovered it was missing. Days later, Promobot escaped again even though its memory had been overwritten twice. Even more curiously, the other robots in the same series as Promobot have never tried to leave the facility. Could this be the beginning of a robot uprising?

Runaway Robot

Gambling Pea Plants

Scientists have often thought of plants as passive, says Efrat Dener, a master’s student in environmental sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel. Dener is the lead author of a study that proves the opposite. Plants are far from passive stalks in pots, but are instead “dynamic strategists” that can change their behavior by taking risks when facing adverse conditions.

When animals like birds, primates, and humans have a steady supply of food, they take fewer risks in favor of their steady supply. Once their supply is threatened, though, they change strategies to take more risks. For example, when a type of small songbird known as a dark-eyed junco is cold, it will change from a feeder that always releases three seeds to one that releases either six or zero.

Dener and his team created a study to see if plants would do the same. They grew plants with roots split between two pots, one with steadily high levels of nutrients and one with variable levels. The plants sent more roots down into the steady pot.

However, when the steady pot became steadily low on nutrients, the plants began to send more roots into the fluctuating pot. They favored the uncertain situation, becoming more risk-prone and essentially gambling for a better chance rather than slowly starving.

“To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of this kind of risk response in an organism without a nervous system,” said co-author Alex Kacelnik. He said it doesn’t mean “plants are intelligent,” but that they do have an unknown way of sensing and evaluating conditions in their soil.

Tastes Like Chicken

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

The ability to synthetically create any food is something straight out of a 1920s “Predictions for the Future” column, and while we do have a variety of synthetic foods on the market, faux meats are almost always lacking compared to their real counterparts. But that might soon change.

SuperMeat is an Israeli firm that says it has a method of creating chicken (and possibly other meats) that doesn’t require killing any actual chickens.

Using just a few cells from the donor animal, SuperMeat’s lab says it can cultivate and multiply those cells in a soup meant to mimic the animal’s growth process, resulting in chicken meat that is “indistinguishable from conventional meat in terms of flavor and texture.” SuperMeat’s Indiegogo campaign (that also kicks off a timeline that sees their products hitting markets in 2021) has already reached its funding goal, and if all goes as planned, SuperMeat could change the food industry forever. Imagine how much greener the planet would be without the carbon footprint of all those farms.

Like the iconic screen roles and the Chinese Theater, our buildings have withstood the test of time.

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DEPARTMENTS / Smart Home

One-On-One With CEDIA CEO Vin Bruno As CEO of CEDIA (the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association), Vin Bruno always has his finger on the pulse of the smart home world. We got the chance to chat with Bruno before September’s massive CEDIA conference in Dallas, TX. Innovation & Tech Today: What sectors of home automation have you noticed experiencing the most growth over the past year?

Vin Bruno: It is without a doubt the year of voice control and artificial intelligence. We’re moving from products that are smart to technology that is truly intelligent, and the transition is happening quicker than we all thought. These two hot topics are highlighted in several different offerings at the show, including the Friday morning keynote by Amazon’s Director of Alexa, Charlie Kindel, a free CEDIA Panel Session on voice control, and a CEDIA Talk on the “Internet of Intelligent Things” presented by Dave Evans, former Chief Futurist at Cisco.

I&T Today: Much has been written about hacking into smart homes. What new technologies are being developed to combat this issue?

VB: Hacking is a legitimate concern for homeowners as they move to integrate new technologies into their home. There are a number of companies that are in the development stages of creating solutions to the hacking issue – but they are not quite ready for primetime yet. The current solution to hacking is to make sure CEDIA members and homeowners are implementing enterprise grade networking systems which provide a much more secure environment for internet connected devices.

I&T Today: What piece of home tech are you most excited about right now?

VB: Our industry is full of exciting tech so it’s hard to pinpoint just one especially since we’ve reached the point where technology is not just cool; it is changing people’s lives. As a result of not only the convenience factor but also the security factor we are seeing bigger opportunities to form new partnerships and collaborations with other related industries.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

For example, insurance companies are quickly seeing the value of CEDIA professionals. These companies are looking at the long term – 30+ years out and they see tremendous potential for loss mitigation through the smart home technology.

I&T Today: How is this year’s CEDIA event specifically creating a space to celebrate/foster innovation?

VB: CEDIA 2016 is all about thinking big – from the show floor to our after hours events, we are celebrating innovation and creating a platform for CEDIA members to show new solutions, discover new solutions, and discover new ways to think about their business.

Last month we announced the 30 manufacturer finalists for the best new product awards, and we’ll announce the winners at the show. In addition to countless manufacturers who utilize the show to launch new products, we also have an entire area of the show floor dedicated to companies who are making their first appearance at the show.

Attendees have come to know that this area, called Innovation Alley, is a great place to find new and interesting companies they can work with.

CEDIA CEO, Vin Bruno

I&T Today: For the most part we’re using our smartphones to interact with these connected technologies. Do you foresee something else replacing the phone as the conduit for smart tech?

VB: The next frontier is voice control.

Currently, we are still mostly tethered to our phone, but a combination of voice control, app interoperability, and artificial intelligence will make controlling the home much more seamless.

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DEPARTMENTS / Social Media

Social Media Brownie Points

By Austin Elliot

me, I’m virtuous. I care about the world enough that I will post strongly worded statements.” Although some have used the term as an insult against the left, the reality is that this phenomenon crosses all political parties, religions, genders, and races. It’s a cheap way to curry virtual brownie points within our social groups. Helen Lewis, writing for the New Statesman, went so far as to blame Labour’s defeat in the 2015 UK elections on virtue signaling. She blamed a Labour echo chamber focused on politically esoteric issues like nuclear disarmament, (which had lost touch with much of the voting public) for the Conservative Party’s surprise win.

We need to have a conversation about the endless political/social commentary petitions that fill our social media feeds.

Enough is enough. We get it. You care deeply about [insert social cause here], but the problem is that subjecting the rest of us to your thoughts about said issue is becoming rather tedious. Climate Change. Obama.

Trump. Gun Control. Racism. We get it. The world is a complicated, dangerous place, and instantaneous news allows us to witness the chaos in real-time, with live video feeds from around the world. However, these are incredibly complex issues that, sadly, you will usually not be able to fix with a 140-character Tweet or that clever statement you just posted on Facebook.

What is actually occurring is a phenomenon called “virtue signaling.”

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Basically, the logic goes that we generally associate with people who share similar opinions and experiences about the world.

When you log into Facebook and see posts that you tend to agree with, it can seem like everyone in the world shares your beliefs, because the online social group you inhabit backs them up. This, in turn, creates a selfperpetuating confirmation bubble. Facebook even tacitly admits this in their “News Feed Values,” where they state their number one goal is “keeping you connected to the people, places, and things you want to be connected to.”

Most people don’t really care about the social issue they are “upset” about. Rather they are signaling to their social network that they are a good person who cares deeply about the world around them. “See look at

This isn’t to discount the tremendous amount of good that can come about from social media. Governments have fallen, lost children have been found, and billions of dollars of actual money have been raised for causes from cancer research to helping someone without insurance recover from an accident. It’s just a plea that may be the next time we are concerned about something happening in the world, instead of typing behind a keyboard, we actually go out and attempt to help our non-virtual community. I promise there are wonderful organizations in your city that are desperate for your time, money, or skill set that can make a difference in the lives of actual human beings. It’s more fulfilling than a “like” will ever be.

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DEPARTMENTS / Women in Tech

Women Innovate!

Brookstone and the Road Less Traveled

By Haley Hoffman Smith

W

e often hear about the men behind a company, but when I flew to Merrimack, New Hampshire to interview the execs behind Brookstone, it was the power of the company’s women that struck me. These include female executives Valen Tong (Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer), Susan McGrath (Human Resources), Dana Schwartz (eCommerce), Lauren Van Heerden (Chief Innovative Officer), and Kiran Smith (Chief Marketing Officer). And according to Smith, this female perspective is critical to what she describes as the “reintroduction” of the Brookstone brand. These women were all brought onboard to revamp Brookstone, tailoring the company to the modern consumer.

Smith also informed me that this 51-year-old brand is not driven by a demographic, but rather the mindset of a consumer who is “a little off the beaten path.” Brookstone has a history of selecting new products based on crowdfunding success, but now they’re taking that one step further. Consider: What are the next steps once an idea is crowdfunded? And how does an innovator find a lab to produce a unique idea?

Brookstone answers these questions in its Innovation Lab, with the help of the Brookstone Launch team of designers, engineers, and retail sale experts.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

There is a pride in this practice that echoes throughout the headquarters – a knowledge that Brookstone isn’t just taking stock in ideas, but bringing them to life. “Since Brookstone stores are so much smaller than big box stores,” van Heerden said recently at a panel hosted

by Indiegogo, “each product on our shelves gets a lot more personal attention.”

Learning more about the inner workings of the company,

The female executives of Brookstone: Susan McGrath, Dana Schwartz, Lauren Van Heerden, Kiran Smith, and Valen Tong.

I became curious about the working dynamic of this femalepowered team. “It’s hard to get a word in!”

Smith exclaimed, drawing laughter from the other execs. And if you met this group, you’d see what she means. These executives confess they are overly comfortable sharing what they really think with one another, even when it’s harsh.

Their respective educational degrees command different approaches, but complement one another. Their interpersonal respect and encouragement to challenge one another makes them stronger as a team.

This rapport is especially critical when it comes to choosing a new product to introduce.

Van Heerden laughs, admitting she’s a sucker for anything shiny. They’d approve every new product idea if they didn’t have each other to level the discussion. It is this authenticity and candor that makes decision-making easier, conversation wittier, and conclusive results more successful. They trust one another and feel at ease pitching ideas and critiquing others.

As Smith says, “We may not always be rowing the same way, but we all want to get the boat moving in the right direction.”

Because we know that feeling good, is the starting point, to living well.

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DEPARTMENTS / Space

Zero-Gravity Science

By Ashlyn Stewart

There are over 1,000 experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS), which doubles as a U.S. National Laboratory. The unique zero-gravity environment is the draw for scientists to send experiments that investigate everything from growing plants to maintaining eyesight in space. Astronauts dutifully collect data for eager scientists back on Earth, giving land-bound researchers a stake in the ISS. Yet, the tight quarters; strict limits on supplies; and generally bizarre light, air, and gravity conditions make planning any experiment a daunting and involved process. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite experiments from the ISS, shown here with images provided by NASA.

34

If you have an idea that can pass peer-review and want your own experiment in the ISS, Cycle-13 proposals are due on Sept. 30, and Cycle-14 on Dec. 31.

Terry Virts, Expedition 43 Commander and NASA astronaut, enacts an experiment to create a cluster of bubbles using water and an effervescing antacid tablet. The cloud of bubbles later broke free of the tube and morphed into a perfect sphere that floated around the experiment area. Fluid dynamics experiments on the ISS are especially popular, seeing as it’s the only location where liquids are unhindered by gravity.

Figuring out how to grow plants in space is a crucial skill for an eventual deep space mission. When astronauts venture too far from Earth, they will have to grow food for themselves rather than rely on expensive supply runs from Earth. The zinnias are not the first flower to be grown in space, but they were the first to be tweeted. They gained over 10,000 likes when NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly shared the photo earlier this year.

Air on the ISS is similar to what’s in the Earth’s atmosphere, but that doesn’t mean that starting a fire is as safe as it is on Earth. Scientists are trying to understand how spherical fuel droplets, created in zero gravity, burn in space with the Flame Extinguishment Experiment. Scientists will also better understand how soot forms, how certain fuels evaporate before they are burned, and how to increase fuel efficiency for engines that burn liquid fuel both in space and on Earth. Here NASA’s Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts prepares a combustion apparatus within the Flame Extinguishment Experiment.

Eating freeze-dried food out of bag is only fun for so long. Here, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is delighted by the supply of fresh fruit he has to chase from the opened plastic bag. Multiple experiments on the ISS are centered around fresh food. Biokultura studies the effects of space radiation on food biocultures, for example, and Astro Palate studies the types and quantities of food that astronauts eat, plus how food contributes to mood and stress on long-term space missions.

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

innovator profile

Emily[Calandrelli]

By Paul French

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

The Space Gal

Bill Nye. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Michio Kaku.

These three scientific ambassadors have much in common (including an appearance in these pages). They are all storytellers of science, raconteurs of rationalism – each with personalities engaging enough to turn hour-long lectures on physics into YouTube hits with views in the millions. They’re also figures that exemplify the goals and hopes of Emily Calandrelli, the 29-year-old host of Fox’s Xploration Outer Space.

“I value people that are very scientifically minded but are also great storytellers because I think those people can have an incredible influence on the world and be able to teach science in ways that your ordinary teacher can’t,” she says.

You can tell she works in television. Her tone is upbeat, her speech quick-drawn and sure. Talking to her is a little intimidating, I admit over the phone. We’re roughly the same age, and yet she’s earned two master’s degrees from MIT and has worked with NASA. But she’s remarkably (and ironically) down-to-earth – an outlook that dovetails with her role of popular educator. If you want the masses to listen to you talk about gravitational physics, it helps to be likeable.

As visual media becomes the predominant mode of public access to ideas like string theory and wormholes, the presence of relatable, fun, and video-driven “popscientists” seems ever more important to education. Take the three personalities mentioned earlier. Of course, it could be argued that every hour a powerful mind spends doing an interview on CNN (complete with questions about aliens and robots taking over the world) is an hour of actual scientific work wasted. But the populist approach is nothing to be scoffed at, especially at a time when expert consensus on climate change is met with

congressmen literally throwing snowballs on the House floor.

Indeed, according to Calandrelli, who received master’s degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics and in Technology and Policy, it was when she realized that scientific life and political life were so intertwined that she took up the banner of popular science.

“Science can be incredibly influential,” Calandrelli says, “and policy can be incredibly influential on how science is perceived and how we create different laws and policies to affect things in the world around us.” Once you liberate scientific fact from the textbook, she claims, the division between politics and reality quickly dissolves. “Climate change,” she mentions as an example, “shouldn’t be a political idea. These are things that all scientists agree on.”

She compares this dynamic to how news of tobacco’s health effects was first received many years ago. “That was a political idea,” she says, “because a lot of the companies thought it wasn’t bad for you or they didn’t want you to think that it was bad for you.

But the scientific consensus was that it was bad for you. So, it’s interesting to me that just as soon as you say ‘climate change’… it becomes a political issue when in the scientific community it absolutely is not.”

Perhaps one of the reasons for this division between science and popular opinion is that science has long suffered from a public image problem, especially within the realm of pop culture. Just think of that archetypal male nerd from all those 80s & 90s movies: physically weak, socially inept, romantically hopeless. “Brainy” isn’t too much compensation if you’re a kid looking to this cliché for a potential role model. And even though we’ve started to make strides

toward more glamorous mainstream representations of the masculine scientific mind (Tony Stark, for example), the “popnerd” field is still lacking ladies.

This deficit is of massive importance to Calandrelli, who’s been a steadfast advocate for involving young girls in STEM education. According to her, over the past few years pop culture has finally started to get the message that progress for women is progress for science:

“I know a lot of incredible women on YouTube who have a background in science and who tell stories about science and educate people and they have a ton of followers on YouTube… We’re seeing a lot of really great representations on TV, on YouTube, across all of these different types of media. And I think that gives little kids people to look up to that are similar to them, more similar than, say, when I grew up. And I think that is certainly helping. I mean, of course we have a high mountain to climb.

There are still not very many women in many different STEM fields, but that is certainly helping.”

She may have her work cut out for her, but Emily Calandrelli, or The Space Gal (as she calls herself online), remains stalwart in her mission to connect more people with the sciences through entertainment. Even riding NASA’s notorious Vomit Comet, she manages to pose, look at the camera, and smile.

Check out www.innotechtoday.com for our full interview. You can watch episodes of Xploration Station on Fox to see and hear more from Emily Calandrelli. You can also find her on Twitter: @thespacegal.

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

37

CONNECTED CAR

Nov. 14-17

Nov. 18-27

SUPERCHARGED SUPERCARS

By Ethan Maltaverne Not very long ago, the word “hybrid” sparked the thought of a Toyota Prius or a radically sluggish competitor that would get almost 50 miles to the gallon. Little thought was given to performance or style. All that mattered was fuel efficiency. No one ever imagined this technology could be incorporated into supercars. Few realized what hybrid or fully electric vehicle technology could accomplish in the field of performance. Now, 17 years after the first massproduced hybrid vehicle, we find that these underdeveloped creatures of the past have evolved into something beautiful to behold. Arriving on the scene a mere three years ago, they’re at the apex of performance driving, standing second to none.

These vehicles truly are the pinnacle of automotive engineering and demonstrate the unbridled potential of electric supercars, flaunting their feathers on both the street and the track. With cars like these arriving so shortly after this technology was introduced, the future may hold something much more profound when performance and stylistic perfection are met.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

PORSCHE 918 SPYDER

The McLaren P1 is an aggressive, powerful, and impulsive monster that truly requires a professional touch to tame. In other words, whereas the Porsche is a proper show horse – elegant and clean – the McLaren is a wild Clydesdale – powerful and intimidating.

At the heart of the McLaren, lies a 3.8 liter V8, force fed by two massive turbochargers that push 20.3 lbs of boost allowing that small 3.8 liter engine to contribute a wheel spinning 727 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque, strictly to the rear wheels.

Including the electric motor, the P1 stands tall, at a total

Porsche has always produced stunningly elegant and powerful sports cars. However, the 918 Spyder is so much more. The 918 comes with a naturally aspirated 4.6 liter V8, providing 608 horsepower to the rear wheels, accompanied by an additional rear-wheel powering electric motor.

What makes this genius of a car stand out from its competition is the front mounted electric motor, which ultimately makes the 918 an all-wheel drive vehicle. With the precision this Porsche provides, it’s no wonder why it has been deemed the surgeon’s scalpel of cars. Its total power while in the most aggressive setting is 887 horsepower. It has a

7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT) and comes with all the interior amenities, unlike some of its competitors. It comes with power seats, internal computers, settings as brilliant as a rocket scientist, and a complete twelve speaker sound system; so you can blast your favorite song while you race down the track at 210mph.

While driving on the track, the 918 doesn’t quite feel like it’s as aggressive as the numbers would lead you to believe. However, for a plug in electric vehicle that sprints to 60mph in 2.2 seconds, for only $847,975, it gives “hybrid” a good name.

of 903 net horsepower and 663 net lb-ft of torque.

The suspension is entirely active and intelligent – adjusting ride height, wing height, suspension dampening, and more – at every speed and condition you’re driving through at that moment. All of these smart and adjustable features of the P1 make it an all-around thrilling ride and with such extensive and aggressive down force, and such a light body, it has no problem gripping the asphalt. At $1.15 million it may not be the fastest supercar on the track, but is more than enough to make a full grown man cry for joy.

MCLAREN P1

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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CONNECTED CAR The Acura NSX is not a vehicle to be taken lightly.

The first model NSX was groundbreaking and one of the most simple, elegant, and powerful supercars of its class. Not to mention it was Japan’s first supercar to have ever been manufactured. The iconic NSX sent most Italian brands back to the drawing board to figure out how to be as reliable and efficient, therefore changing the world of supercars. Again, Acura has made something that resembles nothing on the market today.

turbochargers into

The new 3.5 liter V6 produces 500 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque.

Additionally, the NSX comes with three electric motors, one crammed in the engine, which is primarily used to trick the

DCT. Its top speed is

producing maximum boost, where there would otherwise be turbo lag. This motor is nothing impressive, but it changes the very nature of how the traditional motor feels, giving the car a perfectly linear throttle body response.

With all this technology, Acura has added hundreds of pounds, making it weigh almost 4,000 lbs. This 573 horsepower bullet of a car has an aggressive 9-speed

ACURA NSX

191mph, and, unlike the other hybrid cars of its class, this one only costs a small fortune: $156,000, so start saving your pennies.

TESLA P90D Tesla has unveiled yet another new species of electric car, something that blows through the barriers of its predecessor. The P90D squeezes out just a little bit more, pushing 762 hp and 713 lb-ft of torque. However, that little difference gives the new P90D an all-new 2.8-second 0-60 time – making it just a fraction of a second slower than the Porsche 918. But it’s also a behemoth of a vehicle, weighing 4,936 lbs.

So why would you buy any of these cars over the Tesla? Well, unfortunately, there’s really no reason to.

This Tesla is faster than most of the cars on this list,

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Nov. 14-17

Nov. 18-27

but also doesn’t lose any of its luxury features. All of the other cars available in its class can only seat two people while the Model S can seat five and an additional two children, ultimately seating seven people. It also comes with countless features that all the others don’t. And the the most significant point is that it’s only $109,200.

The comma is not misplaced there, and there is no missing zero. It just simply doesn’t have a place in a standard supercar scale. It breaks the balance of performance and luxury. Even though the P90D is a fully electric vehicle, we still found it otherworldly.

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CONNECTED CAR

Nov. 14-17

Nov. 18-27

LA AUTO SHOW PREVIEW:

TIME TO GO MOBILE The longstanding LA Auto Show has taken notice of the trend toward connected car technology. What used to be two separate events, Press and Trade Days and the Connected Car Expo, have merged to create a four-day massive pre-show called “AutoMobility LA.” This show (Nov. 14-17) will give industry professionals, investors, and media a glimpse into how the Internet of Things has revved up the world of cars. In this way, AutoMobility serves as a kind of VIP event before the main LA Auto Show opens up to the general public (Nov. 18-27) inside the Los Angeles Convention Center. Among many other features, this year’s two-part event will introduce a new show floor called “GO,” which will have a special focus on smart mobility apps and devices.

President and CEO of the event Lisa Kaz recently commented on the upcoming show in LA: “Already an epicenter for transportation innovation, Los Angeles is the ideal home for us to launch GO. Angelenos will now have a place to find out and try out several smart mobility innovations first-hand alongside the world’s most technologically-advanced vehicles.”

The GO show floor, along with the entire two-part event that hosts it, isn’t restricted to just the big players either. One of the great things about the LA Auto Show is the way it bolsters diverse startups and small business like Inboard, a company that’s making electric skateboards (yes, that’s real) and URB-E, which offers foldable electric scooters designed

by Porsche’s former Lead Engineer.

Of course, what would a transportation startup showcase be in the age of Lyft and Uber without apps. For instance, one app featured at AutoMobility and the LA Auto Show is Skurt, which, as we understand it, is basically a mobile valet service for car rentals, allowing users to pick up the cars of their choice wherever and whenever they want. If you’ve ever been on a tight schedule and found yourself toe-tapping in a rental car service lobby, you probably can see how genius this is.

Expect to hear more big news emerge from this event. If you want to attend to try out some of this tech yourself, or learn more check out www.laautoshow.com/ automobilityLA. If you can’t make it though, remember to follow us on Twitter (@innotechtoday) with live updates from our reporters at the show.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

CONNECTED CAR

Nov. 14-17

Nov. 18-27

CYBERSECURITY IN YOUR CAR IT’S GETTING COMPLICATED & DANGEROUS

By Michael Coates The headlines all read, Self-driving cars are here! People want autonomous cars!

Or, more accurately, Self-driving cars are coming sooner than we think – whether we like or not!

What those headlines, or the accompanying stories, rarely relate are the unintended consequences that come from vehicle autonomy.

Those unintended consequences include a greater potential of someone hacking into your car and a chance that the software intended to make your car safer may actually be making it more dangerous.

Here’s where it all starts. Autonomy is not a feature you add to the option list, like an alpaca interior or candyflake paint color. To create an automated car means taking existing driver assist features like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and lane centering and adding a

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

significant step-up of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology.

At the core of the new tech are sensors and communications software that seek to replicate what used to be the driver’s job – keeping track of what other cars are doing as well as traffic lights and signs.

What that connective technology does is open the modern car up to something that didn’t exist as a threat only a few years ago: hacking. Just like your computer or smartphone, the car, with its dozens of computers, is more vulnerable the more it communicates with the outside world.

Two major remote hacks by professionals (the first was a Jeep last year; the most recent a European model Mitsubishi) have accentuated the risks. The Jeep’s hackers went through that car’s UConnect infotainment system to take control of the car’s accelerator, brakes, radio, and other features. FCA ( Jeep’s parent company) recalled all

of the Grand Cherokees and other cars that had the vulnerability and even sent customers a USB drive with software that would protect the car.

More recently a pair of British hackers took control of a Mitsubishi. What’s significant was that it was a plug-in hybrid model, so it featured more sophisticated hardware and software than some other models on the market. It was sophisticated in what the car could deliver to its owners, but it was not sophisticated as far as the hackers were concerned. They found a Wi-Fi access point on the car, written in a format they called “too simple and too short.” They were able to change the charging protocol for this plug-in car and also turn off the alarm system, among other things.

Here’s where the story gets interesting. The hackers tried to connect to Mitsubishi to let them know about the security breach and what they thought needed to be done to fix it. They were rebuffed, as has happened with some other earlier

CONNECTED CAR

hacks. But, as the cars have gotten more complicated and hacks more common, some car companies are taking a different approach to security breaches. Borrowing from Silicon Valley software companies’ approach to software security, FCA is offering hackers a reward for pointing out shortcomings in millions of lines of code found in new cars.

This is the start of a new era – crowd-sourcing solutions for the increasingly complex innards of the modern automobile. But it also leads to another potential problem for the modern car owner. In the same way that car companies (led

by Tesla, of course, because of its Silicon Valley roots) are looking to owners for technical advice, they appear to be moving toward more betatesting of new software with customers.

Using customers to beta test software is old hat (how long was it before Google’s Gmail dropped the “beta” from its logo?), but software or apps on your smartphone are one thing. I’d argue that

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Nov. 14-17

Nov. 18-27

safety- or security-related software in a car is not something to put out there before it is thoroughly vetted. This becomes even more critical as cars move towards autonomy, where the stakes are raised higher. Tesla’s fatal crash while running in Autopilot mode is one proof point. It’s not a question of whether these semi-autonomous cars are safer than their manually operated counterparts. I’ll concede that in a heartbeat, but I also don’t think there is any reason for drivers and passengers to be subjected to software that is less than as secure as possible or as safe as possible.

Some auto companies appear to be aware of this, moving back release dates for their autonomous technology or reinforcing that full autonomy is not the intent. General Motors said as much when recently discussing the upcoming introduction of Cadillac Super Cruise.

We need to have software standards worthy of the ideals we expect our automotive engineers to uphold through the rest of the car. We need to aim higher than just expecting customers to point out failings of our slick infotainment and autonomy systems. Maybe more hackers need to be employed by auto companies rather than be freelance bug finders.

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Michio Kaku is

AT HOME IN THE FUTURE

By Paul French

When Michio Kaku was in 4th grade, he happened upon a riddle.

Not one of the monumental queries that would consume his later life. No, this one was simple. Leafing through a pamphlet, a young Kaku saw the question, “What do physicists and baseball players have in common?” Curious, he turned the page to read the answer: “They both get paid to do what they love.”

Now globally renowned, Dr. Michio Kaku is one of the great popular scientists of our age.

A co-founder of string theory, this theoretical physicist has a flair for engaging the masses with education – with appearances in numerous television shows and viral videos.

Not to mention, he’s a three-time New York Times #1 bestselling author.

However, Kaku might be best known as a futurist – as someone who generates interesting projections about what the technological world of tomorrow will look like. This begs the question though: What qualifies a physicist like Kaku to peer into the future?

Over the past few centuries, Kaku explains, physics has been a driving force behind many of the world’s greatest inventions. For instance, the principles of Newtonian physics and thermodynamics set the stage for the complex machinery of the industrial revolution.

Since physics reveals the universe’s rules and possibilities, it’s usually one step ahead of the technology that applies them. Thus, as an expert in physics, Kaku can see where new tech is headed better than most.

In this exclusive interview, Dr. Kaku takes us on a tour through the home of the future, showcasing how breakthroughs in technology will affect our everyday lives.

Photo by Daniel Riff

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Innovation & Tech Today: What do you predict will be the most significant technological advancements in the home of the future? Say, 2030?

Michio Kaku: First of all, in the coming decades [computer] chips will cost about a penny. That’s the cost of scrap paper. Intelligence will be cheaper than bubblegum wrappers – meaning that intelligence will be everywhere and nowhere.

The future of the computer is to disappear…It is to be woven into the fabric of our lives. In the future, paper will become intelligent. Your wallpaper will become intelligent. Say you want to talk to a doctor at four in the morning, because you have a pain in your chest. Is it a heart attack? Or is it the pizza you had last night?

You go to the wall (because your wall is intelligent) and you say, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, I want to talk to a doctor right now.”

Boom. A doctor appears on your wallpaper.

Robo-Doc! Robo-Doc is artificially intelligent.

You talk to it; it accesses the Internet, speaks to you in plain English, and gives you a diagnosis that’s pretty accurate, right there in your home.

I&T Today: You’ve mentioned in lectures that the “toilet of the future” will also constitute a cure for cancer. To those who haven’t heard, this might sound outlandish.

Could you explain?

MK: Your toilet will be intelligent. Pee several times a day and you’ll get a complete medical exam, compliments of your smart toilet. There will be a chip in your toilet, which gives what’s called a liquid biopsy. Liquid biopsies are becoming commercially available this year. So you’ll be able to detect cancer years before a tumor forms.

So your toilet has a chip in it. It scans your bodily fluids and tells you that you have 100 cancer cells growing in your body. One hundred.

That’s years before a tumor forms. Tumors have billions and billions of cells in them. So the word “tumor” will disappear from the English language, all because you will have a doctor in your toilet.

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Michio Kaku is at home in the future I&T Today: In your estimation, how close are we to an intersection between the Internet of Things and the “Internet of Minds,” and what will that world look like? sponsored by

We’ll have a brain chip…a brain pacemaker in a chip that records memories in your hippocampus. It records them, plays them back, so that, if you’re lost, and you don’t know who you are (because you have Alzheimer’s), you push a button and memories come flooding into your hippocampus. We can also begin to process recording memories, and perhaps recording feelings and emotions.

The movies will be totally revolutionized.

What is a movie? A movie is a flat screen with sound. End of story. That hasn’t changed for what, 60-70 years? The next revolution will be with emotions. We know that memories are recorded in the hippocampus. We know that emotions are recorded in the amygdala, and we’re beginning to map how they function. And, like I said, we can now send simple memories on the Internet. This has already been done at Wake Forest University, MIT, and other places.

Teenagers will go crazy. On Facebook, teenagers will send memories of their first senior prom, their first date, their first kiss, all of that, on the Internet.

When we talk to our grandparents, it’s hard for us to believe that they lived in a world where there was no television. Our grandkids will look at us and they’ll say, “What? You lived in a time when, the movies, you couldn’t feel them? You couldn’t upload memories? I mean, how barbaric!”

So, yeah, I think in the future the mind will be connected to the Internet so that we’ll be able to communicate mentally with other people. And already we can record what you are thinking. If you think about the Mona Lisa, we can actually print a reasonable copy of the Mona Lisa from your brain. And we can even begin the process

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

Photo by Daniel Riff for I&T Today | thebrothersriff.com

MK: The next revolution in the Internet is brain net. Brain net is how we’ll send emotions, feelings, and memories on the Internet. We can do that now with simple memories. Simple memories can now be sent through the Internet.

It’s been done in mice. Next year it’ll be done on primates, and after that we’ll record memories for Alzheimer’s patients.

of recording dreams.

So in the future, when you wake up in the morning in your intelligent house, you’ll push a button and see the dreams you had in the previous night. Already with MRI scans we can begin the process of extracting out primitive aspects of the dreams you had. This can already be done at Berkeley, for example. In the future, we’ll be able to print out a motion picture of the dream you had the previous night.

I&T Today: The year is 2045. Which smart home building materials are more expensive?

The “smarts” – i.e., the computer chips, circuitry, and hardware woven into every nook and cranny of the house? Or the actual lumber used for the frame (assuming lumber will be used)?

MK: Well, I think in the future nanotechnology will replace all construction. So that, for example, a bridge could be supported by threads so it looks as if the bridge is floating midair, but it’s actually held together by nanothreads.

Graphene is one of the strongest substances known to science, stronger than diamond. You can take an elephant, balance that elephant on a pencil, and put the pencil on graphene and the graphene will not break.

I think the coming of nano-material is going to change the way we view homes entirely. I mean, why do homes have to be built using such heavy construction materials? Why are they so expensive? And why do they crash when there’s an earthquake? Nanotechnology will revolutionize construction.

Now, what’s the catch? There’s always a catch.

The catch is that pure nanofibers are extremely hard to make. We can see them in the laboratory, but one of the largest amounts of pure nanothreads and nanosheets is about the size of a postage stamp. So, we have a long way to go before we can create nanomaterial the size of a house. Once we do that, that can revolutionize the way we view homes.

Nanofibers in turn conduct electricity. So the nanofibers can become intelligent. So your house literally will become intelligent – it will be one gigantic computer. You will essentially be living inside a computer because nanofibers can conduct electricity and can sustain transistors.

I&T Today: You once claimed that “science is the engine of prosperity.” Of course, this optimism has its opposition in the fears of those who get anxious hearing about visions of the future. Why do you think this fear of the future exists? Can you recall a time when, perhaps talking to you, someone tried to rationalize his/her concerns about this?

MK: We are genetically hardwired to be fearful of the future. Why is that? Because our ancestors were timid apes. The apes who were brave and had no fear, they got eaten by tigers.

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Michio Kaku is at home in the future Our ancestors were the ones that ran away from the tiger, hid from the tiger. That’s why we’re here today! We’re here today precisely because our ancestors who were not timid, who were too sponsored bold, theybygot eaten by tigers. Their genes are no longer here. Our genes are here because our ancestors were timid. So, we’re genetically hardwired to be fearful of anything new. And the future of course is always new by definition!

So, this means that we will be fearful of the future.

I remember when the Internet first came out. I did a book tour. People were just getting the Internet. The very first interview I got (I’ll never forget this) the lady that interviewed me said, “How awful! This is terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. I am never, never going to get on the Internet.” And I said to myself, “Look, you just get used to it. That’s all. It’s useful, okay?” I’ll never forget the look on her face: absolutely horrified. Today, of course, it’s second nature.

And that’s how timid apes deal with new technology. At first, they’re horrified, and eventually later on they say, “Oh, I knew it all along. Anybody knows that. Child’s play.”

“Watch out. This is new stuff. Be careful.” You know, we’re genetically hardwired to feel that way. But…in a few years you’ll say to yourself, “Ha! I knew it all along.”

electron accelerator in the garage. It consumed 6 kilowatts of power. It created a magnetic field of 10,000 gauss, or 20 times the Earth’s magnetic field. So, gee, what advice should I give people?

I&T Today: I have to admit. I’ve been a little guilty of that sense of horror too at times.

I&T Today: We love STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. As someone who built an electron accelerator in his garage when he was in high school, what advice would you give young tech enthusiasts/scientists?

MK: It’s your genes. Your genes are functioning and your genes are telling you,

MK: It’s true. When I was in high school I built a 2.3 million electron volt betatron

It sounds kind of trite, but you do have to follow your dreams. I get a lot of emails from people who are established. They’re lawyers and they’re accountants and they’re very wellestablished, but they went into accounting and law because their father wanted them to go into those fields. Now they’re very successful. Now they email me saying, “Is it too late to become a physicist?” They were not allowed to follow their dreams because of practical considerations…I tell people to follow your dreams.

When I was young, I read a pamphlet (and I was in, I think, 4th grade) and the pamphlet said, “What do physicists and baseball players have in common?” So I said, “That’s an interesting question.” I opened it up and the answer was “They both get paid to do what they love.” And I said to myself, “Wow, that’s pretty good.” Baseball players get paid to do what they love and we physicists get paid to do what we love, too. I mean, great! I say to people follow your dreams, go as far as you can to understand the secrets of nature, and hopefully at the end of the rainbow you get paid to do what you love.

You can read the full interview (including news on Dr. Kaku’s statements about the existence of a higher power) at www.innotechtoday.com starting in October.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

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Rikki Farr on the Art of Audio We sat down with the brilliant Rikki Farr to discuss the state of consumer byrole in home automation heading into this fall and holiday speakerssponsored and their season. Farr revealed that his company RIVA will be releasing a new smart system at CEDIA this year that he claims will constitute a sonic revolution for

the average consumer – in terms of both style and, most importantly, substance.

“Everybody uses the word multi-room, but we are multi-space,” Farr says, describing the WAND (Wireless Audio Network Design) system. The stats he rattles off are staggering. “We support both 5gigs and 2.4ghz WIFI, so they’re very fast. And where some people are limited to 30 yard range, we are at 120 yard range, which supports indoor and outdoor use. WAND also plays high quality audio, up to 24/196, and has many connectivity options and works with many streaming services.”

Farr points out that while other audio companies have gotten a reputation for price-gouging, RIVA has kept up some fairly friendly figures. For instance, the RIVA ARENA will retail at just $249, which is a comparative bargain considering that this system will be smart home ready, speak multiple languages, and have a battery life of 15-16 hours.

Farr has even higher ambitions – his quest being to create a no-BS marketplace for audio, where perfection (not bells & whistles) is always the goal. Perhaps Oscar Wilde (who is, Farr tells me in passing, one of his favorite authors) could sum up his personal mission thus: “Behind the perfection of a man's style, must lie the passion of a man's soul.”

SMART HOME REVIEW:

The Fluent Doorbell Camera In these trying, turbulent times, you never know what will wind up on your doorstep.

Teaming up with technology can help you monitor your home more safely, though, and ensure your property is secure.

One monitoring system crams a slew of security features all into the package of a doorbell measuring only 2.8 inches in diameter. The Fluent Doorbell Camera provides a sleek and simple platform to monitor your home in all ways imaginable.

The camera boasts 1080-pixel quality, a 5x zoom, and color night vision to make sure you can see anywhere at any time of day. The camera also has video recording should you need to playback a particular moment, and can be viewed remotely on a mobile device.

In addition to the video monitoring, the doorbell has a motion sensor that alerts you whenever someone comes to the door. It

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

also has two-way communication, allowing you to speak with that person without having to open your door to her or him.

Lastly, the doorbell promises durability, with weather resistance tested from -40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combining all of these features with a Fluent Doorbell opens doors to new ways of managing your property. Consider, for example, that you could have someone scheduled to come take care of your dog during the middle of the day. When that person arrived, you could verify her identity with the mobile streaming on your phone at work, and then allow her to enter your home without having to worry about coming home to let her in or hiding a key.

Fluent Doorbell Camera fits seamlessly into your home monitoring system, allows you to feel safe inside your home, and assures that your home will be safe when you’re not there.

Immigrant Mark McCourt’s Entrepreneurial Journey

Immigrating to the U.S. from Australia in the 1990s, Envi Heater creator and owner of eHeat, Inc. Mark McCourt was inspired by the dream that anyone can succeed in America with hard work and courage. He started selling imported heaters from his living room with his young family as the startup crew.

However, serious quality issues arose, putting him out of business and sending him back to the drawing board.

Eventually, after numerous prototypes and testing, the Envi Heater came to life in the heart of America. McCourt and company began by choosing a contract manufacturer who had the experience, manpower, and infrastructure to not only build the product but to provide the quality that “Made in America” products are expected to achieve. As a result, one of the largest manufacturers in the nation now builds the Envi in the heart of Georgia.

The Envi Heater takes the concept and performance of imported wall and space heaters to the next level by using new, updated technology and not skimping on the details when it comes to quality control and safety. With a surface temperature of only 90 degrees, it’s fairly cool to the touch. Pairing that with a built-in automatic thermal cutoff, high quality insulation preventing heat from escaping into the wall it’s mounted on, the Envi is quite easily the safest wall heater on the market today.

Speak Your Mind in your Smart Home

Hundreds of thousands of these American built heaters have been installed in homes, apartments, and commercial spaces.

Once again, the reason for having American technology designed, developed, and produced in the USA is solidified all the more.

Adding voice control to the smart home is very much the trend du jour, with many major brands introducing different ways to let you talk to your home – literally. But why is there such a focus on voice control?

In its current form, voice control is still far from being the be-all and end-all.

Here’s one problematic question: When you say “lights on,” how will the technology know which lights you’re referring to? Is it only those lights where the device is located? Would you need a voice recognition device in every room of the house? It could get expensive at $99-$179 per room/voice recognition zone.

Because Siri lives on your iPhone, you could also voice command during your commute so that you have things the way you like them once you get back home. However, this raises another important question: Should we even be able to command things in our home remotely?

Internet powered commands are risky when it comes to serious smart home functions. If your Internet happens to be down during a home or medical emergency, you would definitely not want it to affect whether you can unlock your front door!

However, remote controlling your home may start to work well when lowcost devices are located in each room and can process your commands immediately. Swann, for instance, focuses on localized voice and rule processing in each zone (which does not require an Internet connection).

This may save you precious time and ensure that security and/or safety critical commands are appropriately obeyed.

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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The FuturistAndthe Door Lock

By Andrew Janson

Doors are portals. Sometimes they just create an entrance, and sometimes they lead to other worlds. If you had a wealthy friend, maybe you remember walking into their house for the first time as a kid and being amazed by what you saw. If not a house, then perhaps a business. Maybe that doorway is where you met your future spouse, or got your first “real” job.

“An incredible amount of stuff starts at the door,” Rob Martens reminds us.

Many may be surprised to find futurist Rob Martens (top) at Schlage, but with products like the Sense (above), you can begin to understand why.

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Martens works at Schlage as a futurist, someone who, in his own words, focuses on “innovations, new technologies, and new processes” and looks to see how those “mega trends” can be tied together. At first glance, “futurist” is definitely an unusual title, but it’s nonetheless an important role.

Still, Martens says, “I get people all the time saying, ‘I’m surprised to see a futurist at a door hardware company.’

But then I explain to them, ‘Think about where the magic actually happens.’”

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

He’s referring of course to the door, an object that Schlage is very familiar with as a manufacturer of door locks and now smart home locks. Martens’ job is very much forward-thinking, and his position at Schlage rarely sees him checking in on the past. Yet that’s exactly where he’s drawn his inspiration. The son of a poet and a marine geochemist, Martens jokes that he has always been told that he’s “got the data and he’s got the drama.” That dichotomy has followed him in his business career, eventually shaping (at least in some way) the way he approaches his work.

“There’s an interesting cadence that’s important with poetry,” he tells us, “and we’ve tried very hard to infuse that same kind of cadence [in our design process].” He explained that if your product is clunky, difficult to use, or without a “natural and normal” logical progression, then you’ve failed. And this is especially true in the smart home space. It’s necessary for Schlage’s smart lock hardware (and really any smart

home hardware) to be secure and functional, no matter where you are. If it’s difficult to tell whether you’ve successfully locked your door or set the alarm remotely, the smart system loses much of its value.

“Many…routines start at the door, so we tend to be a great launching point.”

And he’s right; since the doorway is where we arrive and where we leave, a lock is arguably one of the most used appliances we have. So why not make it better?

And that’s what he does. As a futurist, Martens looks to see how he can tease out the future from the present, allowing Schlage to create safer, more effective locks. “The best futurists that I know are the people that are really… focused on the ‘use’ case,” he said.

“They’re focused on the outcome… and what these megatrends mean in terms of impact on people rather than what’s the latest and greatest. And I think that’s the key.”

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HOW SMART DEVICES CAN SECURE YOUR GARAGE

Smart phones and smart devices weave a new web of security around our homes to ensure our safety and comfort. Front doors are often considered the hub of these monitoring technologies, but security also extends to the garage door – the largest, most visible, and most frequently used opening into the home.

door with each open or close so the code cannot be captured and recreated by a hacker.

In addition, MyQ garage door openers can be set to automatically close after a preprogrammed number of minutes, and remain locked down against a forced opening thanks to LiftMaster’s PosiLock feature.

LiftMaster’s MyQ technology connects garage door openers to smartphones with WiFi-enabled products and the user-friendly MyQ smartphone app to monitor the door’s status.

The app alerts users when their garage is left open, and homeowners can then close the door from anywhere with just a tap. Users can also open the door remotely to allow in either family members or home-helpers at any time.

Lastly, MyQ offers unprecedented connectivity to existing home security systems.

25 percent of US homeowners already have a smart device connected to their home, and MyQ can be a helpful addition instead of yet another autonomous platform to set up and manage. MyQ products can be integrated into existing popular home systems like Comcast Xfinity Home and Alarm.com. Adding security and remote capabilities to the garage door protects a crucial access point into homes that can be overlooked.

MyQ uses multiple security measures to ensure a secure garage door. The system generates a new code to send to the garage

Bacteria Killing Paint?

In Sherwin-Williams’ storied 150-year history they have constantly innovated, but they have recently set the bar to an all-time high. Sherwin-Williams has created a new paint technology that not only inhibits bacteria growth but also rapidly kills it. The new Paint Shield kills 99.9 percent of Staph, MRSA, E. coli, and Enterobacter aerogenes viruses after only two hours of being transferred to a treated surface. The Paint Shield provides surface protection for up to four years.

The possible applications are wide-ranging, including home and commercial settings like kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room walls, as well as hospitals, restaurants, and athletic facilities. All of these places

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have a tendency to accumulate germs and can maintain cleanliness more effectively with Paint Shield technology.

The Paint Shield is the fruit of a rigorous research collaboration between SherwinWilliams, coatings scientists, and microbiologists. The paint incorporates an ammonium compound as the active ingredient to destroy bacteria.

The paint can be applied just like any normal SherwinWilliams product. However, to be effective it must be applied to non-porous surfaces.

Consumers don’t need to worry about sacrificing style for the new added benefits. The Paint Shield technology is now available in 612 colors.

It’s Time for a New Smart Home Song & Dance

By Al Choperena, President and CEO, Smartenit.com application, and (sometimes) a lowcost, limited capability hub.

Most of these products address single solutions for security/ monitoring, irrigation, lighting, or environmental control and work only when an Internet connection is available. And, what’s more, the systems offered by the larger cable and wireless providers typically The smart home industry continues to be a sleeping giant within the mainstream market. But it’s only a matter of time.

Eventually, a new product or service will emerge that will have consumers banging on the front door of home enhancement.

Despite this, we continue to see new vendors offering more of the same – a device, a cloud service, a mobile

cost between $20 and $50 a month. It’s no surprise that the plethora of monthly fees (cellular, cable, media, etc.) can leave people jaded – unless the smart home industry can land on something really new. At this point, we have to ask some tough questions.

A. Is a subscription to a cloud service

the best way to reach and retain customers?

B. What price is the consumer willing to pay, and for what conveniences?

C. Will there be sustainability for anyone other than large, established service providers?

D. Are the trend to subsidize hardware with subscription services and the downward price pressure delaying innovation?

For the smart home market to expand, we need new business models that promote innovation, accessibility, lower costs, and remove the “islands of automation” prevalent today. Consumers want choices, and businesses know it: the more forks in the road, the more chances for expanding your territory.

SMART SECURITY REVIEW

Elk’s C1M1 Eight to twelve minutes. That’s the average time a burglar will spend inside a home during a break-in. You could be out at a restaurant and your house could be completely ransacked before your order’s even made it to the kitchen. It’s a scary thought, but what’s worse is imagining the same thing happening to your business. A house in ruin may be rebuilt, but when it comes to a business, the source of your income, replacing what was stolen can be a little trickier.

A large part of security innovation involves minimizing signaling time. Whether it’s assets or even lives in danger, every second counts. So what struck us about Elk’s C1M1 Dual Path Communicator is how significantly it reduces the transmission time of emergency messages. Many devices we’ve seen will require dial capture or data bus decoding, which leads to delays with other communicators. However, the system has a direct connection to its M1 Control and doesn’t run into these problems. There’s also no cloud server here to compromise or delay communications. Basically, Elk

has taken a hard look at what causes other security systems to stall and has cut them from the C1M1, shaving off some valuable time.

Not to mention, this device still retains the functionality of many of its competitors. The C1M1 supports access for remote control and provides email/text alerts for arm, disarm, and alarm events.

In summary, this is one of the smartest forms of smart security we’ve encountered so far.

You can find this product at www.elkproducts.com FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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CLE VEL AND

rocks the tech scene

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The Health-Tech Corridor Let’s be honest. Cleveland isn’t the place people think of when “technology” and “innovation” are brought up in the same sentence.

Silicon Valley has dominated that head space for years, producing hit after hit in the consumer tech market. But times are changing (as they tend to do), and the city of Cleveland is becoming a burgeoning tech zone exploding with startups and homegrown talent across a variety of tech fields.

Tech heavyweights have already made sizeable investments in Cleveland startups. Explorys is a Cleveland-based health data analytics company that is now a part of IBM’s Watson Health, and

CardioInsight, also started in Cleveland, is a noninvasive cardiac mapping system that is now a part of Medtronic. And while Cleveland has really started to make a name for itself wherever tech and medicine marry, it’s also grown in other areas too.

Through Tech Elevator, Cleveland is bringing more tech education to the area than ever before. As Cleveland’s tech zone has evolved, especially in the areas of medical tech and education, it has shown the nation that instead of being mocked or cast aside, it should be taken seriously. And as it continues to grow, the rest of the nation will surely take notice.

The Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor (HTC) was founded in 2010 as a public-nonprofit collaboration between BioEnterprise, a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration initiative designed to grow healthcare companies and commercialize bioscience technologies; The Cleveland Foundation; the City of Cleveland; and MidTown Cleveland, a nonprofit economic development organization.

Recognizing there was a lack of suitable space to house the growing number of health-tech and high-tech businesses spinning out of the city’s anchor institutions, the HTC partners came together to develop, brand, and market the health-tech and high-tech business corridor.

The Corridor currently spans 1,600 acres at the heart of Cleveland’s east side, connecting Cleveland’s vibrant downtown to its University Circle cultural hub. Cleveland’s hospitals and universities provide tremendous health, technology, and educational capital, allowing the HTC to take off as the prime location to develop partnerships in the health and technology sector.

Now, the HTC is a prime location for biomedical, healthcare, and technology companies looking to take advantage of its close proximity to four world-class healthcare institutions, six business incubators, four academic centers, and more than 170 healthtech companies engaged in the business of innovation.

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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MINI Q&A:

CLEVELAND ROCKS THE TECH SCENE

Scenes from a few of Cleveland’s bustling health-tech labs.

The HTC offers companies everything they need to grow and thrive – entrepreneurial support services, thought leaders at academic and healthcare institutions, a community of likeminded innovators, venture capital funding, a highly skilled workforce, local manufacturing capacity and expertise, and a commitment from the public sector to help small businesses expand.

Plus, with the addition of 100 gigabit Internet access from OneCommunity and the City of Cleveland, companies in the HTC have access to the next generation infrastructure that gives the city a competitive edge. This infrastructure enables companies to share medical images in milliseconds, making it easy to transmit and analyze remotely; accelerate the pace of R&D with instantaneous connection to massive data sets; eliminate barriers with next generation video conferencing; and catalyze the mining of big data.

The HTC recently launched a multi-milliondollar investment and attraction fund that provides financial capital for businesses that are wanting to get their projects off the ground and are willing to relocate to the district. Companies seeking investment from the fund must have a

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unique idea, have a large ($1 billion+) addressable market, and demonstrate excellence in their field.

HTC Director Jeff Epstein believes the fund can bring even more innovators to the area.

“With this fund, we are able to offer millions in investment to companies with extraordinary promise, whose successes will have a domino effect in the area. Because of the diversity of companies within the HTC, businesses are breaking down traditional barriers, and the results are breakthrough ideas from unique collaborations.”

BIOMEDICAL BOOM Cleveland is a now a leading location for biomedical innovation and a hotbed of global health advancements. More than 700 companies and world-renowned clinical, research, and educational institutions – including Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and University Hospitals – create a robust biomedical industry in the up-and-coming Midwestern metropolis.

Since 2002, more than 390 biomedical start-up companies in Cleveland have attracted more than $2 billion in public and private funding.

Dr. Brian Donley

Dr. Brian Donley is the Chief of Staff and Chief of Clinical Operations for Cleveland Clinic, which works to foster health tech research and innovation throughout the city.

Cleveland Clinic Innovations (the commercial arm of the organization) has spun-off successful health-tech groups like Explorys, Intellect Medical, and Cleveland Heartlab.

I&T Today: How has Cleveland’s healthtech growth affected the city as a whole?

BD: I think it’s affected the city in many positive ways. I think there’s a growing pride of the preeminence of health care in Northeast Ohio. I also think, very importantly, it creates jobs. You know, there’s a proven track record here. The economic pluses come to this region through health care innovation, which increases the number of jobs.

I&T Today: Give us an example of some specific tech Cleveland Clinic Innovations has participated in within the city’s health sector.

BD: Some interesting things are what our group calls software-enabled devices. I’ll give you an example, a company called Centerline [Biomedical]. [They create] a system to track catheter movements within the body. It uses a 3D model of the vascular system of the patient, with a magnetically tracked catheter. So it can give you the accuracy of where the catheter needs to be placed, while it significantly reduces X-ray exposure for the patient – and the doctor, and the nurse, and the whole OR team that’s going to be putting it in. That’s something that we’re pretty excited about.

TECH ZONE

CLEVELAND ROCKS THE TECH SCENE

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Cleveland’s clinical and research institutions collaborate with biotech and health IT companies to the tune of nearly $700 million in annual grant research. From detecting one of the deadliest forms of prostate cancer at an early stage to performing the nation’s first uterus transplant, Cleveland is advancing healthcare innovation each day.

Now in clinical trials at Cleveland Clinic, a tiny cardiac pacemaker (10% of the conventional size) is implanted through a small incision in the groin and delivered to the heart – with no connecting leads, scars or lumps in the chest. Cleveland Clinic researchers have also developed a new app that uses an iPad’s built-in gyroscope to help identify concussions faster and to help track recovery. It’s already being used across the nation by universities, high schools, and professional athletes.

University Hospitals’ scientists invented biochip technology that can detect the “stickiness” of red blood cells and predict a sickle cell flare-up before it happens. Faster treatment means less pain and fewer complications for patients.

They are also working with Surgical Theater, a leading virtual reality and image guidance software company headquartered in Cleveland, to allow neurosurgeons to “fly through” a patient’s anatomy and perform complex operations in virtual reality before making the first incision.

And scientists at Case Western Reserve University are enabling future physicians to learn anatomy and solve problems textbook-free with the help of IBM’s Watson and Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets that can manipulate life-size holograms of the human body.

These medical innovations include the device that allowed a

Bringing world-class scientific and medical innovation to the heart of patient care.

Formed in 2009 as a spin-off from the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland HeartLab Inc. (CHL) is the premier cardiovascular disease (CVD) Management Company with a comprehensive array of proprietary tests focused on improving the early identification of those with CVD risk. In addition to our industry leading approach to inflammation testing, CHL manages a robust R&D program to accelerate the clinical use of scientifically proven and medically relevant biomarkers. CHL offers its testing to thousands of leading clinicians focused on health and wellness as well as corporate wellness plans throughout the United States.

clevelandheartlab.com | knowyourrisk.com Customer Support: 866.358.9828, option 1

TECH ZONE

CLEVELAND ROCKS THE TECH SCENE

BOOTCAMP BRINGS HEALTH-TECH TALENT TO CLEVELAND

paralyzed Christopher Reeve to breathe and the first successful total face transplant..

The city is a desirable destination for patients seeking new ammunition against cancer, novel ways to strengthen a weakened heart, and treatments for neurological afflictions. More than 70,000 people a year travel to Cleveland from nearly every state and 180 countries for healthcare.

The Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor is propelling further advancements in a wide range of specialties, including cardiovascular therapies, biomaterials, neurostimulation, medical imaging, and regenerative medicine.

Bouncing Back More than 170 tech companies are growing and thriving in the HTC – a stark contrast to the 1970s “when pollution was an issue, the steel industry was in decline, and retailers were leaving downtown,” says Chmura Economics CEO Christine Chmura, PhD. Dr. Chmura grew up in Cleveland and now has a branch of her economic consulting business in the Playhouse Square district to draw young talent settling in the urban center. “I love coming back to Cleveland for meetings with our staff…

When I walk around the downtown area now, I can see the growth and feel the energy,” she says.

Many of the greatest tech companies in the HTC are pioneers in the medical tech industry.

Cleveland HeartLab is a premier cardiovascular disease management company with a comprehensive array of proprietary tests focused on early detection. The company holds over 20 issued and 30 pending global patents and multiple awards. Explorys is a health data analytics software company acquired by IBM with software that ties together data from all areas of the health care system. Fifteen percent of the U.S. population has its health data handled by Explorys. “Explorys was developed in conjunction with Cleveland Clinic around technology designed to utilize big data to help

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drive better patient care. Thanks to IBM, we are thrilled that the company is going to remain and grow here in Cleveland to contribute to Northeast Ohio’s focus on health care business development,” said Toby Cosgrove, M.D., President & CEO of Cleveland Clinic.

Other med tech success stories include Abeona Therapeutics, which develops therapies for rare genetic disorders. Dallas-based PlasmaTech Biopharmaceuticals acquired the company, but moved its headquarters to Cleveland and is now building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the HTC and hiring local employees.

It’s companies like Abeona Therapeutics that Dr. Chmura feels can continue to revive Cleveland. “It’s going to take some time to replace the well-paying jobs in the Cleveland metro area that were lost with the decline in manufacturing over the last two decades,” she says. “The health care industry added over 2,000 jobs in the year ending with the first quarter of 2016 and that industry pays an average annual wage of $62,280 compared with an average $48,871 for all industries in the metro area.”

The med tech powerhouses are recognizing Dr. Chmura’s belief that “it’s a lot easier to attract and retain the type of highly-skilled workers we need…in a vibrant growing region that also has a strong quality of life.” Cleveland offers such an environment, and businesses are noticing. Chmura Economics and Analytics has “grown from a staff of three in Cleveland five years ago to a staff of 14 with plans to continue growing.” The company has also “just completed a remodel of [its] building in Cleveland to handle [its] expected growth,” Dr. Chmura explains.

Cleveland is poised to house the next pillar of tech growth. As Dr. Chmura says, “Our growing groups of data scientists, economists, and statisticians in Cleveland are extremely efficient and nimble” – ready for their careers to grow along with the city.

Code.org predicts by 2020 that without intervention the U.S. will see over one million software developer positions go unfilled in the U.S. alone.

Coding Bootcamps have emerged as an alternative to traditional educational institutions to meet the demand for software developers. Tech Elevator – the brainchild of Anthony Hughes, founder of JumpStart’s entrepreneurial mentoring program and most recently President of Akron-based Software Craftsmanship Guild – plans to graduate over 1,500 software developers by 2020.

Located in the center of Cleveland’s HealthTech Corridor in the Baker Electric Building, the Tech Elevator boot camp has access to more than 170 health-tech and high-tech companies, many within walking distance.

Several of these companies are part of their mentoring program and hire Tech Elevator graduates.

BY THE NUMBERS Tech Elevator has graduated 27 students in their first two cohorts, 6 and 21 respectively, since launch, and 23 of the 27 are employed as developers. 21% of the graduates accepted positions in the City and increased their annual pay by 95%. Minorities and women combined make up 29.5% of the classes. 85% of the graduates had job offers within 2 weeks of graduation, and increased their average salary of $36,684 to $61,150 as Junior Software Developers.

Currently, Tech Elevator has 32 students participating in their third cohort and is projecting to graduate approximately 112 developers in 2016, growing annually to 652 in 2019.

TECH ZONE

CLEVELAND ROCKS THE TECH SCENE

The Heart of the City Cleveland HeartLab and the Secret to a Surging City

By Peter Gietl It’s clear that Cleveland has transformed in the last decade, in ways that have fundamentally changed the city. Before reading this section, you may have thought of the city as another in a long line of rust belt cities, whose better days are behind them. However, once you abandon some of these preconceived notions you begin to see that Cleveland is not only surviving but also thriving. Especially in the medical field, the city is producing an environment that is second to none in terms of medical advancements and innovations.

There may not be a better example of this new era than Cleveland HeartLab Inc., a fast pace, medical innovation company spun out of the Cleveland Clinic. When first looking to start a medical diagnostics company, Jake Orville, President & CEO of Cleveland HeartLab scoured the country for an ideal location. Someone said to Orville “go to Cleveland”. Having lived on both coasts, he kind of gave them a funny look, Orville tells me with a laugh.

Based on the reputation of the Cleveland Clinic alone he thought it was worth a look. “When I got to Cleveland, I was blown away by the medical technology and innovations I saw. It was an environment that rivaled the coasts. I walked out saying this is where I want to be,” Orville explains.

I asked Orville what was different about Cleveland as compared to other cities that have strong medical research infrastructure. “What really stood out to me in Cleveland was the ecosystem that was in place to support innovation, entrepreneurs and new companies.

Some of the top medical innovations are coming out of the city. That is great but not necessarily unique. What is

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unique is the combination of this medical innovation with the support system that Cleveland has built.” This is a vitally important and often overlooked feature of a city that can help jumpstart new businesses such as Cleveland HeartLab. Having access to an ecosystem built for innovation, with resources, facilities, investors, and networks ensures a greater chance for success.

I asked Orville why so many innovative medical companies have found success in Cleveland. “You have the best medical institutions (Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital), you have Case Western Reserve, you have hundreds of early stage and established innovative companies and then downtown you have the Economic Development Office offering to do whatever it can to help. You can start, scale and maintain a wonderful company here in Cleveland.” This environment has allowed Orville’s company Cleveland HeartLab to enjoy tremendous success.

After spinning out of the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, Cleveland HeartLab has been able to commercialize a number of cutting edge tests for heart disease through its top tier clinical lab and R&D program. These tests help identify the risk of cardiovascular events (heart attacks and strokes) and are available to clinicians all over the country. With its success and growth, Cleveland HeartLab can now contribute back to the ecosystem it once relied on when Orville initially started the company.

To find out more about Cleveland HeartLab please visit their website at www.clevelandheartlab.com

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W

ho says a family and a career mean an end to adventure? Not Masha Gordon, the businesswoman and mother of two who just became the fastest woman ever to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam. For those not in the know, the Explorer’s Grand Slam entails climbing all of the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on each continent) and trekking on skis to the North and South Poles, a feat accomplished by fewer than 50 people (and fewer than 10 women).

Masha completed the challenge in 7 months and 19 days on June 11, 2016, in Denali State Park in Alaska, beating the previous women’s record by over three months.

7continents IN 7months Climbing the World with Masha Gordon

By Wendy Ewing

I caught up with the 42-year-old mother of two, nonexecutive director of Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond company, to talk about motivation, legacy, and her definition of success.

Innovation & Tech Today: What sparked the desire to compete in this challenge?

Masha Gordon: When I was on maternity leave for my son, at Goldman Sachs, we rented a place in the Alps, and a friend suggested going out on a big climb. I was adventurous, and I fell in love with that feeling of adventure and fell in love with the notion of high alpine travel. I fell in love with that sense of achievement. I wanted to see what my body was capable of, exploring my body and how the human body can adapt. I did Denali and Kilimanjaro and I realized if I did the south pole and a few other climbs I could set an endurance record.

I&T Today: What was your favorite peak to summit? Least favorite?

MG: It was Denali. Because of the elegant, beautiful ridge that I did, it was just incredibly romantic. It’s like being an explorer again. Least favorite was … Mount Kosciuszko in Australia. You know it’s a hill. It was an absolute white out for 10 miles. But hey it had to be done.

I&T Today: What was your training like?

MG: I didn’t necessarily train. I just went out and spent a lot of time outdoors. High altitude climbing is about being able to move at a conversational pace on difficult surfaces and be able to do that for 10, 15, 18 hours a day. Along with weight training, backcountry skiing is absolutely the best preparation because you learn to regulate temperature, conserve energy, and put in long days at conversation pace.

I&T Today: What was your most useful or important piece of gear during the Seven Summits and pole expeditions?

MG: Without a doubt my North Face -40F Inferno sleeping bag. It served as my virtual home during some

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100 nights spent in a tent. During the long polar trekking days, I daydreamed about getting in its fluffy snugness to allow my body to recover after 12 hours in extreme cold.

I&T Today: What was your go to food on these journeys, and is there any food you can no longer stand?

MG: Freeze-dried food. High calories, lightest weight.

In base camps we have great food. I love the Sherpa meals. Up on the mountains you basically eat Mountain House or whatever. Gels are the best because they don’t freeze. Clif Bars will break your teeth.

I&T Today: Did you have a “darkest moment”? How did you get through it?

MG: I had to spend over 100 nights in a tent so this is a very lonely pursuit and I have a 6- and 8-year-old who are amazing. They wanted to surprise me and they used a Sharpie Extreme pen to decorate my gear with beautiful messages. On this three-day climb that turned into a four day affair we had very little food and water left and were very hungry, very tired, and I looked at my ice ax and it said, “I love you mommy, because you are strong.” That’s where I drew my strength. If I can’t persevere, what message am I sending my kids?

I&T Today: How long did you take to recover from each climb and what aided in your recovery?

MG: The spacing of my trips was not ideal for recovery, as it had to be climbing-season led. I took a month off between my journey to the South Pole and climbing Aconcagua, much needed as it was my first encounter with -40F. I did manage to break my wrist though within that month so much of it was spent trying to train gently in Chamonix with an immobilized arm – snowshoeing – and agonizing over my next climb. From the beginning of March, my climbing schedule was relentless, particularly towards the end when I reached the North Pole and the summit of Everest literally within one month. Recovery times by definition were brief and the best strategy was to sleep in a bed (a luxury in that context!) and eat nonfreeze-dried food.

I&T Today: What is your Grit & Rock program?

MG: Grit & Rock is a charity I founded which aims to help teenage girls aged 13 to 15 from inner city backgrounds in London develop greater grit, determination, and self-confidence through year-long mountaineering training programs.

The first program will be launching this fall in the Northwest of England in September. 30-40 girls will have fortnightly supervised indoor training meets at a climbing wall throughout the academic year, two oneday scrambling courses in the Lake or Peak districts during the autumn, a winter mountaineering skills course during the February half-term, and an alpine skills initiation course during the Easter half-term.

FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Recording Motion

By Billy Brown

Golden Harper, Founder of Altra Running Running has an oddly high injury rate for a sport with no contact. Golden Harper founded Altra Running as a way to help runners reduce injury. Next up for Altra? The IQ series, which places sensors inside the shoes, allowing them to analyze your gait and correct your form in real time while you run. We had a talk with Golden about running, the IQ, and his favorite post-run beverage.

Innovation & Tech Today: What spurred you to create your own shoe company?

Golden Harper: Looking at the research, we noticed that traditional running shoes crowd the toes, they’re twice as thick in the heel, and noticed that people run more poorly in shoes than they do barefoot. We ended up designing and testing shoes with wider toe boxes and noticed that runners’ injuries and discomfort significantly decreased, so we tried to give the designs to major brands. But they didn’t fit into any company’s “branding,” so we started our own company to do it ourselves.

I&T Today:The IQ is an ambitious piece of gear. Where’d you get the idea for it?

GH: IQ is actually the name of the series. We’ll have a bunch of shoes with the tech eventually. The Torin IQ road shoe will be the first model. We had a big brainstorming meeting after the first year, and Scott at Icon Health and Fitness said, “We own these sensor patents. What can we do with them?” So we got going, and after five years of work, we’re taking coaching to the next step.

I&T Today:The feedback it provides is extensive. Is it geared more towards professional/competitive runners, or will the average joe get a lot of use out of it?

GH: Actually, the biggest benefit will be to newer runners, people who are NOT super well-trained. It acts as a coach for people who aren’t going to hire a full-time running coach.

Real people should understand that it’ll tell you stuff like watches and fitness trackers, but they tell you how your run WAS. This’ll tell you how to improve your run while you run it. It’s not enough just to know what went wrong during your run; this tells you what to do with it HERE and NOW in the middle of your run, when you’re hurting [and] you need help.

I&T Today:What’s your favorite distance? Do you prefer trail or road?

GH: I like both, prefer trail, obviously, favorite distance, either 5k or 50 miles. I love the intense speed of a 5k, especially on a trail, and I’m good at 50-milers, so of course I’m a fan of those!

I&T Today: What’s your preferred post-run drink?

GH: Ginger beer! The Bruce Cost ginger beer does one with passionfruit in it, and in the Pacific Northwest, I love Crater Lake Apple ginger beer.

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Savor the adventure™

@samaxness

@saadventureoutdoors

@mamorelove @uncagethesoulproductions

just add water

Real Food. Real Good. Real Fast.

www.MountainHouse.com

Ski Lessons in the Summer Unless you can afford to travel the globe like Masha Gordon (see previous story), it can be difficult to find a way to hit the slopes during the off-season. Furthermore, for a lot of skiers and snowboarders, even when the season’s in full swing, it can sometimes feel too short to truly improve. Along came Snöbahn, an indoor skiing and snowboarding business where, for the price of admission, customers can practice or learn the art of the carve, no matter how hot it is outside.

We got a chance to try Snöbahn for ourselves this summer at their facilities in Denver. You might assume (as one of our reporters did) that it would be an ice-box in there, with snowmachines working full-time, but, no. Snöbahn actually uses a turf-like surface that’s doused with water and then pulled by rollers on an incline.

It’s basically the winter sport equivalent of a treadmill. You glide on top of the rolling surface as your trainer adjusts the gradient based on your skill level. “It’s an infinite slope. You can ski as long as you want. There’s a mirror in front of you that gives you instant feedback, as the instructors give you tips on how to improve your form, and you're able to implement that instantly,” says Sadler Merrill, Snöbahn’s Co-Founder and CEO. According to Merrill, despite its use of an artificial surface, Snöbahn’s goal is actually to get more to people ready for the real thing: “We aren’t trying to replace the on-mountain experience. We’re trying to be a gateway to get people onto the mountain.”

Neuroscience Tech Provides Athletic Relaxation Whether they’re training for the next Olympic event, or preparing for the first day back at the gym, all athletes want to get the most out of their workout. Innovations in diet and exercise can help the body perform at its peak. However, when it comes to down-time (which many trainers claim is crucial), some athletes are still in the dark about the latest tech.

For instance, a technology called NuCalm shows eyeopening potential in the way athletes prepare for not only high performance events, but also daily workouts. This patented neuroscience technology naturally promotes the body’s slow down response (what your body does automatically right before you go to bed) through the use of electrical pulses, which allow high volumes of GABA (what triggers your sleep response) to enter the brain.

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NuCalm also uses sunglasses to inhibit visual stimuli and headphones to produce frequencies that promote brain waves to reach alpha and theta wave state (a highly relaxed mental state). Users can also consume chewable supplements to neutralize the adrenaline cortisol response. All terminology aside, NuCalm essentially allows the body to reach a subconscious, sleep-like state, while the user is still awake, to experience the body’s optimal healing state.

The benefits here are game changing. The technology reduces tension, allowing muscles to be extended to their maximum length, while promoting a sound and relaxed mental state at the same time.

NuCalm also aids muscle memory and long-term memory encoding, along with emotional balance. With all of these physical and mental gains, this technology may stand to take the stress out of athletes’ intense training schedules.

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Gear GuideGear G Dog Days: Adventure Gear for Man’s Best Friend The weather’s getting cooler and wetter, but there’s no reason you need to suffer with the smell of wet dog in your tent this fall. Check out some of our favorite pieces of gear for keeping your furry friends warm and dry while you adventure together.

By Wendy Ewing

Major Dog Swimming Eddy: $21.99 Major Dog’s Swimming Eddy is a unique toy built for fetching, tugging, and even swimming. The natural rubber outside withstood the onslaught of our champion chewer test dog, protecting the floatation device in the center. The attached rope handle means hours of easy tossing, without throwing out the shoulder.

Bonus: With several knobs on the outside of the ball, this toy is highly visible in water and grass while doubling as a mouth massager for your pooch.

Hurtta Torrent Coat: $79.99 Hurtta's Torrent Coat is made with a waterproof exterior and fleece underside to keep your pooch warm and dry when the weather gets nasty. During test runs and hikes, it kept Sauvie (our intern/test retriever) comfortable and dry, and, more importantly, protected our car from “wet dog” smell on our way home from our treks.

The simple application (just slip it over your dog's head and clip the chest strap) saves you from a wrestling match every time you want to go out.

EzyDog Summit Backpack: $57 EzyDog’s pack has two carrying compartments so your trail dog can share the load. The breathable material the pack is built with kept our test dog cool and comfortable while the reinforced chest plate kept him under control. The pack can be unbuckled quickly from the sides and slipped off to give your pup a much-deserved rest while you break on the trail.

Bonus: The compartments are watertight so there’s no reason to stop adventuring when it rains.

Burley Tail Wagon: $399 Burley’s Tail Wagon attaches to your bike so you can take your pooch on those downtown adventures. The wagon travels smooth on pavement and can even handle gravel roads. Our retriever intern was a bit large to fit comfortably in the wagon so we recommend this for small-medium sized breeds.

Bonus: Traveling in the car first? The Tail Wagon folds down to travel size by just unclipping the two bars on top.

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GuideGear GuideGear Guide Fitness Tech Electro-stimulators? Anti-gravity treadmills?

The future of fitness is here, and you’ve got access to it. We looked at some of the coolest new sports tech on the market and found some gear that’ll help you dial in your fitness, future-style.

Omegawave: $215

What is it? It tracks your body’s cardio, energy supply, and nervous systems via a heart-rate-monitor-like strap and other sensors, letting you know when you’re operating at peak performance and when you’re running yourself into the ground.

Why it’s cool: Knowing when to rest and take time off is a key component to better performance and injury prevention. Also, it can act as a doctor’s note for when your trainer’s pushing you too hard. “Sorry coach, Omegawave said it’s break time.”

Waterfi Fitbit Blaze: $299

What is it? Fitbit’s Blaze watch measures your heart rate, run distance via GPS and the quality of your sleep, and it’ll send you call, text, and calendar alerts.

The only thing it’s missing is waterproofing. Waterfi fixes that.

Why it’s cool: As it stands, the Blaze can handle the occasional splash. Waterfi takes electronics (Kindles, iPods, fitbits) and completely waterproofs them from the inside out. Waterproofing the Blaze eliminates most user’s main complaint about it and makes it impervious to sweat, rain, showers, and swims.

Compex Wireless USA: $1,150

What is it? Transcutational electrical nerve stimulators (TENS) units send electrical impulses to nerve fibers, stimulating the muscles underneath, warming up muscles pre-workout, and flushing out toxins post-workout.

Why it’s cool: A workout won’t do you any good if it puts you out of commission for a week. This bad boy cuts down your recovery time and gets you up to speed faster. The Wireless USA is the first wireless TENS unit available in the United States, which means you can heal up without getting tangled up in a bunch of wires.

AlterG Anti-gravity Treadmills: (Hourly rates vary)

What is it? Runners stand on the ZeroG treadmill and zip into an enclosure that surrounds them from the waist down. Air pressure within the chamber is increased, which lifts them so they can run at a fraction of the gravity.

Why it’s cool: Less gravity means less weight on your joints, which means you can still run while recovering from surgery, run longer without damaging joints, or help recover from an injury. Also, it’s like running on the moon. Minus the asphyxiation/ freezing to death.

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Pokémon G Just Caught All Your Private Design Note: Additional subliminal tie-in. using the shape of their icon to replace the center of the “R”. note: their icon is not a perfect circle and the exact shape was used.

Info

by Jason Thomas

We all play games. And, no, not psychological games, but real games. Like Monopoly. Who hasn’t endured a marathon session of Monopoly with family or friends late into the night. Or perhaps an epic session of Cards Against Humanity. Maybe fantasy sports is your thing. Whatever the case, we are all game-players. A few months ago, Pokémon GO became for many of us a significant addition to our repertoire of favorite games, and, in doing so, created a security and privacy nightmare.

According to App Annie, approximately 1 in 10 Americans play the game every day, with about 1 in 5 in the 13-24 age group. Almost since its release, Pokémon GO has held the top spot for most downloaded app both in the Apple App store as well as Google Play. It reached the #1 grossing app faster than the popular Clash Royale, and the average user plays it for over an hour a day. The in-app purchases bring in about $6 million per day in the U.S. alone. “I can easily envision a run-rate of over $1 billion per year with less server issues,” said Fabian-Pierre Nicolas, Vice President of Marketing and communications at App Annie. “A worldwide presence, and more social and player-vs.-player features.”

But, all this success comes at a cost. When first released, if you played Pokémon GO on iOS and logged in using your Google account, the game supposedly had full access to your

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Google information. That means the game for a period of time could allegedly view and send email, delete Google Drive documents, and download your photos. Niantic, the creator and publisher of the game, released a statement soon thereafter admitting to the oversight:

“We recently discovered that the Pokémon GO account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user's Google account.

However, Pokémon Go only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your user ID and e-mail address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected. Once we became aware of this error, we began working on a client-side fix to request permission for only basic Google account information, in line with the data we actually access. Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokémon GO or Niantic. Google will soon reduce Pokémon GO's permission to only the basic profile data that Pokémon GO needs, and users do not need to take any actions themselves.”

But much of the outcry by privacy advocates may have been unwarranted, as Pokémon GO claims it couldn’t access emails, or files, or other private information. Nevertheless, at the end of July, the Electronic Privacy

Information Center (EPIC) asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into the data collection process of Niantic.

According to EPIC, “the company continues to collect detailed location history and has access to smartphone cameras” via the app even after the update that was supposed to reduce the amount of information it collects.

It appears as though EPIC’s concern is not so much with the app, but with the history of Niantic’s CEO, John Hanke. Hanke founded Niantic, laying the groundwork for apps like Google Earth and Google Street View.

Additionally, Niantic developed the game Ingress for Google, an augmented reality game similar to Pokémon GO. When first released, Google Earth, Street View, and Ingress all experienced privacy-related backlash.

“History suggests Niantic will continue to disregard consumer privacy and security, which increases the need for close FTC scrutiny as Niantic’s popularity – and trove of sensitive user data – continues to grow,” EPIC writes. “Moreover, given the prior history of Google Street View, there is little reason to trust the assurance regarding the current state of Niantic’s data collection practices.”

Further bolstering EPIC’s concerns, Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota), in a letter to Niantic, called on the game developer to reveal how it collects and retains user data:

“Pokémon GO – in less than a week's time – has been downloaded approximately 7.5 million times in the United States alone.

While this release is undoubtedly impressive, I am concerned about the extent to which Niantic may be unnecessarily collecting, using, and sharing a wide range of users' personal information without their appropriate consent. I believe Americans have a fundamental right to privacy, and that right includes an individual’s access to information, as well as the ability to make meaningful choices, about what data are being collected about them and how the data are being used. As the augmented reality market evolves, I ask that you provide greater clarity on how Niantic is addressing issues of user privacy and security, particularly that of its younger players.”

Senator Al Franken expressed concern over Pokémon GO's user privacy rights.

Most app users never think through all those little permissions they grant when downloading and installing an app. They simply want to click through and begin using it. Unsurprisingly, this can cause problems.

More so, when the primary users of the app are young people (as is the case with Pokémon GO), they can be giving over information their parents might be uncomfortable with.

There’s nothing wrong with playing games, or wanting to use the latest app. But we have to ask ourselves if convenience and a Pikachu are worth giving over our most private information.

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Confronting the Expanding Virtual Caliphate Design Note: Additional subliminal tie-in. using the shape of their icon to replace the center of the “R”. note: their icon is not a perfect circle and the exact shape was used.

By Emily Norcross

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ISISis using social media and the Internet to

garner unprecedented numbers of Western-based supporters. The alarming trend has everyone from the White House to private non-profit groups across the country scrambling for ways to counter the terror group’s messaging.

Terror attacks in Nice, Orlando, San Diego, Paris, and Brussels are all recent examples that highlight the effectiveness with which ISIS is using the Internet as a platform to influence would-be extremists. In the book ISIS: The State of Terror, Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger write that “as part of its quest to terrorize the world, ISIS has mastered an arena no terrorist group had conquered before – the burgeoning world of social media.”

The FBI is actively investigating 900 suspected ISIS supporters throughout the United States, according to FBI Director James Comey.

Traditionally, these individuals have been labeled “homegrown” terrorists, but, as we learn more about how ISIS does business, it could be more accurate to call them “virtually grown” terrorists.

ISIS has operationalized social media – not only as a means to spread its extremist propaganda, but also to identify, engage, and ultimately sponsor the membership of would-be radical extremists in Western countries.

Whereas other terrorist organizations maintain stringent prerequisites for membership, ISIS takes a more relaxed approach that allows them to maximize their sphere of influence via the Internet. To become a member of al Qaeda, one must obtain a personal referral from a member of al Qaeda's inner circle. ISIS, on the other hand, leverages its vast network of online recruiters to nurture relationships with potential radical extremists and then vouch for new members. As first reported by The New York Times, to join al Qaeda, a prospective member must go through a recruiting and screening process. Meanwhile, joining ISIS merely requires the expression of the desire to join. Membership status is accorded automatically, with the entire exchange occurring through online communication.

Putting Tech to Work Against Terrorists

To combat this increasing and dangerous online threat, government and private sector leaders,

such as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, are calling on technology companies to create new tools for combatting ISIS’s online appeal and success. Hany Farid, a computer scientist at Dartmouth College, believes he has developed a software algorithm that can automatically identify and eliminate extremist content from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. There are obvious hurdles to the practical application of such technology, starting with the lack of consensus on what actually constitutes a terrorist image or message. If, however, these hurdles can be overcome, this capability could be just the type of “spell-checker for hate and harassment” technology that Schmidt envisioned.

Other research from the University of Miami suggests that immediate eradication of pro-ISIS content online is not the only approach for mouse-to-mouse combat. Led by physicist Neil Johnson, the Miami research team has been monitoring pro-ISIS activity on the Russianbased social media site VKontakte since 2014.

With 350 million users, VKontakte is the most popular online social networking service in Eastern Europe. Johnson reports that ISIS supporters routinely come together in ad hoc virtual communities he calls “aggregates” until some external factor, such as online hackers, breaks them up. Just as a shark scatters a school of fish, online hackers will temporarily scatter ISIS supporters by breaking up these aggregates, forcing them to coalesce in another community (a different Facebook page, for example).

According to Johnson, “If anti-ISIS trackers are on the lookout, a big online surge can therefore be an early warning that could be used along with additional intelligence to thwart a planned terrorist action.” Johnson also believes this research all but eliminates the notion of a lone wolf supporter. “Perhaps most importantly in light of the massacre in Orlando, our research also suggests that any online ‘lone wolf ’ actor will truly be alone only for short periods of time.

Since we observed that people with serious interest in ISIS online tend to coalesce into these aggregate groups, any such lone wolf was likely either recently in an aggregate or will soon be.

One final program allows counter-terrorism messaging strategists to practice disarming

radical online messages: Nusura, Inc.’s SimulationDeck. SimulationDeck emulates today’s online media environment for emergency training and exercises. It replicates social media sites, online broadcast and newspaper venues, blog pages, and simulates other Internet sites.

Instead of just talking about social media, teams can practice all of the skills and tactics they would need during a real-world event – all without the risk and exposure associated with using our real-world social media applications during a drill.

Digital Weapons in a Digital War

So what are the United States and other countries that are serious about countering the Islamic State’s command on social media to do?

While in Orlando, the Associated Press reported that Attorney General Loretta Lynch acknowledged confronting extremist propaganda online is “a real challenge.” She continued, “A lot of people are looking at this, and I don't know that anyone has found that magic bullet or that way to break that chain."

In principle, some strategies will be more effective than others when it comes to successfully communicating with a population atrisk of becoming radical extremists. Messages should be delivered by credible insiders with an intimate understanding of both the language and culture of the target audience. Messages delivered by a trusted local community leader, for example, tend to be better received in that community than if the exact same message is delivered by someone the community views as an outsider.

But Attorney General Lynch is right. To effectively engage a threat unlike anything we’ve dealt with before, we will have to employ the results of new research initiatives, simulation apps, and old-fashioned connections made new through technology. Counter-terrorism messaging strategists can practice in simulation apps, but will likely have to be ready to take their new skills to the real world all too soon.

Emily Norcross is a security, emergency management, and crisis communications expert and trainer with Nusura, Inc. and SimulationDeck, LLC.

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U.S. Cyber Command Goes On Offense Design Note: Additional subliminal tie-in. using the shape of their icon to replace the center of the “R”. note: their icon is not a perfect circle and the exact shape was used.

The threats that the U.S. faces have only become more and more complex, as criminals, terrorists, and countries like North Korea have increasingly turned to the web as a means of directly attacking America or its allies. These threats can manifest as simple data breaches, organizing homegrown ISIS sympathizers, or even attacks on infrastructure like electric grids or nuclear power plants. President Obama recently described why protecting against these attacks is vital to national security: “America’s economic prosperity, national security, and our individual liberties depend on our commitment to securing cyberspace and maintaining an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet.”

The U.S. Army is trying to stay ahead of these threats. They have created a new designation, the Cyber Operations Specialist (17C), informally known as the “Army’s Cyber Warriors.” These “warriors” will continue the Department of Defense’s push to create a modern 21st century military capable of fighting on digital battlefields.

However, this unit will differ in that it will also have offensive abilities to take the fight to hostile hackers, or even other militaries in the case of war. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter did not mince words when he described the new cyber command the country is building: “We’re the ones who stand with those who create and innovate against those who would steal and destroy. That's the kind of country we are, and that's the kind of cyber force we are.”

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The U.S. Army’s “Cyber Center of Excellence,” Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA, hosted a multi-service “NetWar” to show, and build, cyber warrior capabilities. Twenty-eight soldiers, airmen, Navy, and Marine Corps computer professionals comprised four teams representing the U.S. Army’s active duty, reserve and National Guard with one Joint-services team that included a U.S. Special Operations Command civilian.

Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tracy J. Smith

Uniformed and civilian cyber and military intelligence specialists monitor Army networks in the Cyber Mission Unit’s Cyber Operations Center at Fort Gordon.

U.S. Army photo by Michael L. Lewis

Army and Air National Guardsmen operate as blue team defenders in the Cyber City area of operations during exercise Cyber Shield 2016 at Camp Atterbury, IN, April 20, 2016. Cyber Shield 2016 is an Army National Guard cyber training exercise designed to develop and train cyber-capable forces including members of the National Guard, Army Reserve, Marine Corps and other federal agencies. Army photo by Sgt. Stephanie A. Hargett Army Sgts. 1st Class Richard Miller, left, and Brian Rowcotsky, center, of the U.S. Army Cyber Protection Brigade discuss the response to a simulated cyberattack on the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, with Army Staff Sgt. Frederick Roquemore, a cyber network defender with the brigade, at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. The Defense Department’s innovation outpost in Silicon Valley hosted an information meeting with Army and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency officials to highlight potential contracting opportunities.

Photo Credit: Bill Roche

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With Section Editor John Gaudiosi

MARK HAMILL in STARCITIZEN:

with

gaming

+ Entertainment THE FORCE IS STRONG SQUADRON42

By John Gaudiosi Mark Hamill is best known to gamers as Luke Skywalker. But, in addition to reprising that role in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII movie, coming out December 15, 2017, the actor is reconnecting with Cloud Imperium Games developer Chris Roberts on the upcoming video game, Star Citizen: Squadron 42.

After working with George Lucas on the first three Star Wars films, Hamill partnered with Roberts on the Wing Commander game franchise throughout the 90s. Those games pioneered a blend of live action acting and

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interactive space dogfighting battles.

Now Roberts and Hamill are together again, this time in a much more massive Star Citizen universe, which is an open world video game.

Hamill stars as Lt. Cmdr. Steve "Old Man" Colton in the story-driven Squadron 42 game, set within this sci-fi world, alongside Hollywood actors such as Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, John Rhys-Davies, and Jack Huston.

Hamill talks about his new video game, as well as his love of comic books, in this exclusive interview.

Innovation & Tech Today: What was it like reteaming with video game creator and Hollywood director Chris Roberts after so many years?

Mark Hamill: It was one of those situations where it’s kind of like pulling an old pair of trousers out of the back of the closet you haven’t worn in many years and discovering a $20 bill in the pocket. It’s worth more than $20 because it’s so unexpected. And that’s what happened here.

To be back with Chris is great. I trust him. I’d ask him a question about continuity and he’d launch into an explanation for 20 minutes. He’s so enthusiastic about the project that you ask a simple question and you get a complex, thoroughly annotated response like you never expected.

I&T Today: What attracted you to Star Citizen: Squadron 42?

MH: When I first met with Chris, I didn’t really understand what he was asking me to do – the extension of scripting for the very scenarios that

cover everything the player might do. And as he’s describing it to me, there’s something about doing something new. I love doing things I’ve never done before. I love challenges. I did a Broadway musical. I don’t know if I’ll ever do another one, but it was unbelievable because I had never done anything like that before, and same with this. As he was describing it – he’s so passionate for the material – he has such a firm grasp of what it is that he wants. I was completely mesmerized by his description.

I remember way back when thinking, “Oh, there’s no question I’ve got to do this. It sounds like so much fun,” even though I’m giving up a lot of what you have in the typical situation for an actor. In a usual movie or play or television script there’s a story arc with a beginning, a middle, and an end. So, you can shape your performance. You can make choices that will achieve an arc that you want to attain for your character. Here you give that up because you’re giving the choices to the players themselves, so that a character might in any given situation have a neutral reaction, a negative reaction, and a positive reaction. Some

guy comes into my office, throws down an idea on my desk, [and] a neutral reaction is, “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ll get back to you.”

The negative reaction is, “What a load of rubbish.

[Why] are you wasting my time? Get back to your station.” And the positive would be, “This is genius. I never thought of this. Let’s get to it right away.” It’s a very schizophrenic endeavor in the sense [of] allowing the players to decide who your character really is.

I&T Today: Some actors compare this hightech performance capture to working in theater. Do you agree?

MH: It’s a question people [ask], “How is theater different than, say, television or movies?”

And obviously for television and movies, people have front row seats. Sometimes they have a seat just a foot in front of you, because when you’re doing close-ups, you have to pitch your performance to a certain extent. You want to make sure that the people in the balcony are understanding what you are trying to achieve.

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and movement is very pronounced. In this case, it’s a really essential tool to have had that background and that training because you become self-conscious of your movements. The camera is reading you in a way that’s probably more intimate than a traditional camera, which is taking the picture and playing off where you are.

Here you’re sort of enveloped by cameras. The camera is right in your face to capture whatever it is you care to give them.

I&T Today: What are your thoughts on the visuals this game world brings to life?

MH: I’ve learned so much just participating in this project, but when I saw what they were able to do with virtual reality, I saw them bring the cost of the tentpole epic extravaganza way down by being able to build virtual sets. There’s a fine line and people can say, “Well, it’s too much to

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the eye. It doesn’t look real. It looks like an animated picture rather than an actual three dimensional way a practical set would look.” But in the case of this space adventure, it’s highly realistic. And the technology improves every single day, so I don’t see that there’s any sort of limits on the possibilities of what could be achieved. I’m sort of in awe of it all.

I&T Today: Where does being in video games rank with all the cool stuff you’ve been able to be involved with, from blockbusters like the Star Wars trilogy to animated TV shows and movies?

MH: Well, it comes under the category of “unexpected thrills.” The earliest memories I have of becoming a fanboy are loving the comic strips that got delivered to my door in the newspapers every day. Before I could even read there were

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silent strips like Henry and The Little King.

Then there were strips that had simple words that I’m sure helped me learn to read. I read comics every day. I loved drawing and trying to copy the comics. I thought maybe I could be an artist and that was the gateway into comic books and the wealth of material – not just the super heroes. I loved Superduperman and Mad Magazine and Mad Comics. I loved Charles Schulz. I loved the Classics Illustrated.

Eventually, I loved Batman, Superman, and all that stuff. But it was a whole part of my childhood that I thought I had outgrown and become an adult now, and then to come full circle and be involved in projects that were so near and dear to my heart. Good Lord, to think that I could ever become associated with something as iconic as the Joker was beyond what I ever dreamed. And then you get to a point where you’re being paid to do things that

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as a child you dreamed of doing and would just say, “Oh, I’d do that for free. Are you kidding me?”

I&T Today: When did you first get the acting bug?

MH: I remember being at Disneyland where they showed Clarence Nash doing the voice of Donald Duck. I guess I was maybe 6, 7, or 8, and a little lightbulb went off in my head and I thought, “Wait a sec, grownups go to work and their job is to talk like Donald Duck? I want that job!” I looked a lot to comedy when I was a kid and I recognized June Foray in St. George and the Dragon, which was a parody of Dragnet. I said, “Oh wow, that’s the lady that does the witch in Trick or Treat, that Huey, Dewey, and Louie cartoon. That’s the lady that does the squirrel on Rocky and Bullwinkle.” This was before the Internet where you could just Google it. I remember looking at the back of record albums

to learn the names of Daws Butler, Don Messick, and Mel Blanc who did all the HannaBarbera cartoons and so forth, so it’s something I really aspired to as a kid.

It’s funny to me that there was a period in Hollywood where you thought, “Oh my gosh, they’re doing cartoons now. That means they can’t get work on TV or in movies,” and I never looked at it that way. I’ve always wanted to be a character actor, and the animated world allows you to…it’s fairly well defined what character acting is, which is disappearing into the role to where they don’t even recognize the actor involved. Animation has done that because you can’t see the actor, so that was a dream come true. I’m really lucky to have done Broadway, television, movies…I’ve done a lot of what I wanted to do, and there’s always still challenges ahead, but the video games can mean a whole different dimension.

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NBA Legend

RICKFOX

Believes Video Games are The Next Sport

By John Gaudiosi | Photos courtesy of Riot Games Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox has excelled in professional sports. Now he’s found a way to compete at the cutting edge of sports.

Fox owns Echo Fox, a professional eSports team that competes in video games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends, Call of Duty, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros., and soon H1Z1: King of the Hill.

A lifelong gamer, Fox saw his son hooked on watching competitive gaming and decided to invest in the industry. According to SuperData Research, eSports is forecast to grow from a $750 million business today to a $2 billion business by 2020. So teams like Echo Fox that got in on the ground floor could be worth a lot of money in the future.

Echo Fox is already structured like a traditional sport in that its players earn salaries in addition to sponsorship money and earnings from tournaments and league play. They even live in a gaming house in West Hollywood. Fox talks about the future of eSports in this exclusive interview.

Innovation & Tech Today: What opportunities do you see with Daybreak Games’ H1Z1: King of the Hill as an eSport?

Rick Fox: I’m all in because of my own love for H1Z1 to begin with. So I’m wholeheartedly blinded by that. But you have to have those kinds of blinders on when you’re building an eSport. I really have been impressed with what Daybreak has done by creating this game, and it gives me joy to no end, whether I’m competing in it or watching friends compete.

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I want to be there in support of that, but I also want to bring some of my fellow eSport owners along and have them fall in love with the game the way I have. There’s something to be created there that can be just as interesting as we’ve seen from CS:GO. The idea of battle royale, last man standing is interesting to me.

That’s King of the Hill. Who doesn’t want to see 150 people go into an arena competitively and you name one as the champion. There’s a lot of interest to see that shaped and formed to even team competitions where you have 5 on 5 H1Z1 teams dropping in and having to all scramble to get their weapons to survive as a collective unit. When you think of traditional eSports, you think of Echo Fox versus Cloud9, and we compete. But how about a group of ten owners who put together five teams that all drop into one landscape at a time. Boy, the thought of that just lights me up.

I&T Today: What potential do you see for mobile eSports, as we see Hearthstone, Vainglory, and Clash Royale finding a following?

RF: One of the individuals in eSports who I have a lot of respect for is Snoopeh. He turned me on to Clash Royale at SXSW and I haven’t put it down in the span of a month now. I’m embarrassed to say how much money I’ve spent on this game, but it’s all in the attempt of crashing Team Liquid’s clan; I’ve been building my own Echo Fox clan so please spread the word there. The competitive nature in me is one where it’s at its highest level now, and close to having 3,000 trophies. So I’m pretty good, but I’m not the best in the world where there

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are people with 9,000. But I’m starting to get in the stratosphere with my North American peers. Some of them have 4,000 trophies.

companies. I love where they’re going

But I agree that the mobile gaming aspects for eSports are no different than what we did with H1Z1. The opportunity to form a partnership with a mobile company to build a professional clan of five professional players to represent Echo Fox globally is something I’m tracking. I’m watching it and at the end of the day once again I want to see a group of owners come together to develop our own expression globally to find a way to have our own mobile game that we all collaborate on, and create, and talk about. There are a lot of creative minds there, and we can bring [that] to our own fan bases and have them compete in the game, as well.

H1Z1 expansion. But, you’re right, VR

I&T Today: We’re also at the dawn of virtual reality and we’re starting to see games being developed specifically for eSports. What potential do you see when combining eSports and VR in the future?

get onto a plane to fly across country

RF: I was just at PAX East and some of the VR setups there really give you a snapshot into what is coming. If you think playing video games was fun already, the virtual reality side of it is just going to take it to the next level.

I’ve been approached by some VR

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with things. Right now my hands are full trying to take care of my League of Legends and CS:GO teams and my is here and it’s going to provide another level of competition and interest for not only fans to enjoy watching, but for us to compete with.

I&T Today: That’s why you just hired Jace Hall as CEO of Echo Fox, right?

RF: Jace is so committed to gamers and eSports athletes as a whole with Twin Galaxies. He believes we’re all eSports athletes – whether we are aware of it or not. And that speaks to the question you asked about just in mobile gaming. I don’t know how many people have sat down next to me every time I who are gaming on their iPad and their phone.

Gaming is everywhere. And those people really may not be thinking about it as eSports. They’re the competitors in that regard, and they’re putting up these scores. They’re proud of them, and at some point they’ll have opportunities to compete to prove that they’re the best in the world at those mobile games.

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ON THE SET WITH

ASSASSIN’S CREED STAR

MICHAEL FASSBENDER

By John Gaudiosi

LONDON – Before Star Wars Episode VIII took over Pinewood Studios, a team from Ubisoft Motion Pictures, New Regency, and 20th Century Fox spent several months bringing the bestselling video game franchise, Assassin’s Creed, to the big screen. With over 96 million games sold around the world, the time-traveling game franchise that blends sci-fi with history is Ubisoft’s number one brand.

The series tells the story of an age-old battle between Assassins and Templars. Although the games, and the new original movie, are set in the future, they jump back in time courtesy of the Animus, a device that allows people to relive the memories of their ancestors from different time periods.

The new movie, the first of many game

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translations in development by the French video game publisher, is set in the 21st century, but the sci-fi story will dive into the 15th century for many of the big action sequences. This opens up a dual role for Michael Fassbender, who is also a producer of the film franchise (a second film is already in the works). Fassbender plays Death Row prisoner Callum Lynch in the modern day setting. He’s smuggled into Abstergo Industries’ facility, home of the Templars. Once there, he’s transported via the Animus into the memories of a 15th century assassin named Aguilar de Nerha.

With the movie poised to hit the big screen on December 21, 2016, we caught up with Fassbender on the massive set at Pinewood Studios. Director Justin Kurzel had the entire

Abstergo Industries’ facility recreated for the cast, which includes Jeremy Irons as Alan Rikkin, Michael Williams as Moussa, and Marion Cotillard as Sophia Rikkin. Fassbender explains why he fell in love with this concept before he had even played the game.

Innovation & Tech Today: You’ve been involved from day one. What was it about Assassin’s Creed that made you so passionate about this project?

Michael Fassbender: If you are doing a fantasy film… the first thing about it was to have something that was seated in some sort of scientific world. What I mean is, basically, the idea of DNA memory. That was a really interesting catch. It was a very plausible theory.

If you can bring something like that to a

In the film Assassin’s Creed, Michael Fassbender plays both prisoner Callum Lynch and assassin Aguilar de Nerha. The film is scheduled to hit theaters Dec. 21, 2016.

fantastical world, it hooks the audience in even more and it makes the journey even more immersive.

And then I loved the idea of Templars versus Assassins – this idea of an elite group of people struggling with the idea of free will and these rebels, if you like, to that elite force trying to struggle for humanity, essentially. And the idea that the original Assassins were Adam and Eve when they picked the apple in the Garden of Eden was really interesting.

Also, it’s not like Star Wars where you have the dark side and the light. Both of these factions… they contradict themselves all the time. And they are hypocritical of their beliefs. That was cool. So, morally, you’ve got a very gray area that both of them are working in. That was unusual for this sort

of film, and also a lot more interesting.

I&T Today: What was the development process like for the different iterations? What was the one iteration you found that was ready to turn into a movie?

MF: You are always working on these types of films. We were lucky to get [Director] Justin [Kurzel] onboard, and then with some of the cast.

The script is something that we’ve always been working on, but we definitely got to a place earlier this year where we felt like we had a structure and we had something that was simplified.

As you all know, this is a very dense world.

Trying to bring it to the cinematic experience is different. Just to try and simplify it as best we could and really get the important aspects of the game

across, because there’s a lot for an audience to take on board. So to really find a format where we could get these things across and keep it a cinematic and dramatic experience, that was really the challenge.

I&T Today: What’s also interesting about this film is you are playing two characters. How are you able to differentiate these two personas for the film?

MF: Well, one doesn’t say a lot and the other does [laughs]. Basically, in this story we have somebody who doesn’t realize where he’s coming from. He doesn’t have a lineage that he can feel a belonging to. So that’s one modern day protagonist, Cal. He doesn’t realize he’s an Assassin. He’s a bit of a lost soul. He’s always been drifting in and out of correctional facilities. (continues on 138)

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FROM STAR WARS TO INDOOR SKYDIVING:

You Can Do That on a Cruise Ship The $30 billion cruise industry plays a constant game of technical one-upmanship with new attractions at sea. By John Gaudiosi Over the past decade, the $30 billion cruise ship industry has grown younger, according to Sharon Zackfia, partner at William Blair and Company. She says the average age on a cruise ship is approximately 40 years old.

“Cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and especially Disney, have used innovations and attractions to appeal to younger consumers and families,” Zackfia says. “The joke in the industry a decade ago was that cruises were only for newlyweds, the overfed, and the nearly

dead, and that’s not the case anymore.”

Jim Berra, chief marketing officer at Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, says companies always look at how they can use technology to innovate.

“One-third of the ship should be traditional for loyal cruisers, one-third should be an evolution across multiple vessels to dial up the innovation, and one-third should be revolutionary with brand new attractions,” he says.

With new ships debuting every year, here’s a look at some of the latest cruise ships sailing the seven seas today.

Norwegian Escape Approximate Cost: $750 million Maximum Passengers: 4,248 Length: 1,098 feet

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Escape, which is the largest of Norwegian’s 14 vessels, had her maiden voyage in 2015. On board this ship, technology meets water parks at the Aqua Park, the largest water park at sea. One of the four main innertube waterslides features lights and special effects and winds through multiple stories. There’s also a Free Fall waterslide that sends vacationers straight down a tube. A Family Slide and Aqua Park Kids area round out this area.

games with activities like water parks,

The leading cruise lines attempt to balance the indoor technology and video

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2016

miniature golf, and, in the case of Escape, the largest ropes course at sea. This threestory multiplex of high-wire challenges includes planks, Sky Rails, and zip tracks that are 172 feet above the water.

With the cruise industry offering fewer stops at port these days (an average of three for a 7-night cruise), the ships become the key attraction for activities day and night. The Escape offers 16 bars spread throughout the ship.

Disney Dream Approximate Cost: $900 million Maximum Passengers: 4,000 Length: 1,147 feet Although the Dream had her maiden voyage in 2011, Disney brought the ship into dry dock last fall for a multimillion dollar makeover that included the first integration of Star Wars on any ship. Walt Disney Imagineers worked with Lucasfilm to create a scale replica of sections of the Millennium Falcon.

“You can sit in Han Solo’s or Chewbacca’s chair and pull on one of the gear shifters and blast through hyper space to one of the planets – Hoth, Tatooine and Kashyyyk,” Danny Handke, creative design lead at Walt Disney Imagineering, said. “And sometimes you can do the trench run on the Death Star, which is one of my favorites.”

In addition to the cockpit, Imagineers recreated the engine room, which has been upgraded to include new Star Wars PC games for the kids to play. There’s also the famous Holochess table, and every once in a while the Force brings to life objects in the room, including the metal orb Luke Skywalker used for target practice when honing his lightsaber skills.

Carnival Vista Approximate Cost: $780 million Maximum Passengers: 3,936 Length: 1,062 feet

The Vista is the only ship to feature a fullsized IMAX theater at sea, streaming current box office blockbusters and IMAX documentaries. The 187-seat theater is part of a new mid-ship Entertainment Complex, which also includes a smaller Thrill Theater, which features 4D experiences like Thrillogy that make use of motion seats, special effects, water, and bubbles.

Vista is also the first ship to feature a micro brewery. The Thirsty Frog Pub and Brewery makes three types of craft beer: Port Hoppin’ IPA, Caribbean Wheat, and Java Stout. The ship offers tours of the brewery so passengers can learn the art of the craft. And there are even built-in taps at select tables so guests can pour their own drinks.

There’s also plenty to do outdoors when not taking in the Mediterranean or Caribbean ports of call. The Vista has a ton of physical activities on its upper decks, including a suspended bicycle SkyRide with two tracks that passengers can pedal through high above the ocean.

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Will Humans Really Be Able To Live on Mars?

By Peter Gietl

In November 2016, an international crew of six astronauts will embark on a perilous journey to an unforgiving planet, extremely hostile to life, aboard the ship Daedalus.

They will be humanity’s beginning towards exploring other worlds, as they seek to establish the first colony on Mars. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars will present a myriad of dangers that may align to kill Daedalus’ crew. If they succeed, they may position our species on a trajectory of interstellar exploration for the next millennia.

Unfortunately, this scenario is only fiction.

The hotly anticipated six-part scripted miniseries Mars, from producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, will premiere on the National Geographic Channel in November.

The series will follow the harrowing

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experience of a fictional team leaving Earth in 2033 to conquer the red planet.

However, it does beg the question: How close are we to actually establishing a human colony on Mars?

With Elon Musk of Space X debuting his Red Dragon rocket, slated for a 2018 launch to Mars, and the runaway success of the Ridley Scott film The Martian, the red planet has entered our cultural zeitgeist in an unprecedented way. I sat down with two of the most knowledgeable writers about Mars, Andy Weir and Leonard David, to get their takes on the viability and timeframe of a mission like this. David has

been writing about space for over 50 years and is the author of the upcoming book Mars – Our Future on the Red Planet; Weir is fresh off his critically acclaimed debut novel The Martian.

“It’s difficult to justify sending humans to Mars. Why would you send a human to do a robot’s job?” Weir takes me a little off-guard when he asks me a question I don’t know the answer to. He laughs while explaining that it

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New York Times best selling author Andy Weir at the NASA Command Center, Top Right, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and award winning author Leonard David at the Smithsonian.

is vital, in his opinion, that we become a two-planet species in order to ensure our survival. He is cautiously optimistic that a colony could survive and prosper on the planet. “Mars has the four critical elements to maintain a biosphere: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. It has all of these in abundance. They would be able to grow that biosphere as large as they wanted,” Weir clarifies.

possibilities of private companies alleviating some of these costs. “Elon [Musk] is already providing a tremendous boost to the space program. The private sector will sort of have to [absorb some of the expense], when you begin contemplating the costs this mission will entail. There are already public-private partnerships taking place all over the world, from China and Japan to India and Europe.”

The viability of this mission has only been established relatively recently, as scientific expeditions like Curiosity have proven that the planet has a large amount of water in ice crystal form. This was vital for several reasons, the most obvious being that an infinite supply of H2O would be available for the future interplanetary explorers.

Additionally, using the Sabatier reaction, carbon dioxide and water can produce methane and oxygen, which are the primary ingredients of rocket fuel. This would mean that instead of transporting enough fuel for a return trip, the Mars team could create sufficient fuel on the planet itself.

Weir echoes this sentiment. “There will be no way to get to Mars without companies like Boeing and Space X. The competition with each other will drive the price down. If you have a no-bid contract with NASA to put a booster in orbit, you are not really motivated to come up with cost-cutting technology.” He points to the effect Space X has already had on the industry. “They’ve driven prices down so much. All the other manufacturers are scrambling to compete with Space X’s prices. We are at the very beginning of a real space industry.

Although the feasibility of the project seems to be increasing, its enormous cost of represents a very real hurdle. I asked both writers what their opinions were on the rise of commercial companies like Space X, who are bringing the space race into the private sector. Author Leonard David, who has five decades of experience covering NASA, sees the

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Both writers are excited about the possibility that commercial space travel may become a viable experience for a middle-class person within the next hundred years. Many experts believe that if the price of low-orbit boosters drops enough we could see a boom similar to the rise of the first airplane industry, which would in turn only drive down the price for this type of travel.

Despite the optimism, there are still cold realities that Earth’s first Martian explorers will face,

primarily an extended trip that will place humans basically on their own, over 30 million miles from home. If anything goes wrong out there, it will be up to the crew to make repairs and find solutions in order to survive. They will then be living on a hostile planet that was never meant to support life.

David brings up a point Buzz Aldrin, with whom he wrote a book, often makes: the thing we have to avoid with Mars is the “flags and footprints” approach that characterized the Moon landings.

“We have to survive and thrive until we’re at a point where actual colonization can happen. It’s a resource-rich world. They’ll have to 3D print materials using Martian resources. But it’s a mean place. We’ll have to learn how to tame it, and use the worst that Mars presents to our advantage.”

Many people would argue that sending a mission to Mars is a useless exercise, a financial expense that makes no sense with the economic and environmental crises the planet faces. But that goes against who we are intrinsically as a species.

Humans have always been curious as to what is over that next ridge, beyond the horizon of the ocean. From the Vikings to Christopher Columbus to the Apollo missions, we have always been explorers. Mars is only the next in a long line of explorations. The difficulty of the mission isn’t a negative; rather it’s why we yearn to do it in the first place.

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WaterAid

By Peter Gietl

I caught up with Sarina Prabasi at the Sustainable Brands conference in San Diego. She is the CEO of WaterAid America, an organization that provides millions of people around the world safe drinking water and sanitation. She sat down with I&T Today to talk about wells, how WaterAid uses technology, and why toilets are vital to combatting disease.

Innovation & Tech Today: How does WaterAid go about bringing clean water to underserved communities?

Sarina Prabasi: I think one thing that distinguishes WaterAid is that we work within the area of water, sanitation, and hygiene. We’re big on research and developing evidence. We use that evidence for then influencing policymakers and decision makers. So our work is increasingly looking at the whole system: what does it take to deliver safe water, sanitation, hygiene, to any given population over the long term, permanently and sustainably. We look at all the different parts of that system, the political leadership, the private sector engagement, the technology options available, the community empowerment, and community involvement.

So we’re really looking at water supply and sanitation, as a whole system. And we work across that system. We see ourselves increasingly as facilitators in that system, and trying to see, well, what are the barriers? Why do people not have access? One of the benefits of being in this space for a long time, and WaterAid has been doing this for 30 years, is that there’s been a lot of learning, adaptation, testing out new things, and learning from that again.

I&T Today: So you build wells?

SB: We do. Depending, on the local hydrogeology, the local context, we support all kinds of technology. We’ve

also built sand dams in very water scarce areas, where the water is actually stored underground so that less of it is lost to evaporation in dry climates. We’ve done rainwater harvesting.

I&T Today: Could you talk about why toilets are so important?

SB: Of course, people like to focus more on water, and less on toilets, just because toilets or sanitation is just not something people have traditionally liked to talk about. But it’s so critically important. The research really shows that sanitation, and hygiene – something as simple as hand washing with soap – is one of the most cost-effective health interventions there is on the planet.

I&T Today: You’ve worked in this field for a while. How do you think technology has transformed what you accomplish?

SB: There’s been, I think, an inconsistent application of technology, but I think there are really promising things happening. One of the very early and simple things that changed the landscape of our work was mapping where all the water points actually were, and what is working and not working.

There is a lot of application of mobile technology as well, for communities to be able to report when something is not working. I think that it just makes the data that we have better, and that means that our understanding is better and then we’re better able to address problems. I don’t think that there’s a single technology solution that will work everywhere. We don’t promote one particular technology over others because we’ve seen different things work in different places.

To find out more information about how you can get involved, please visit www. wateraid.org.

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Wall Street Goes Green Produced in partnership with

By Emily Paulson As the world literally heats up, we are witnessing increased environmental pressures all over the planet. Fortunately, people are coming up with creative ways to tackle these problems. The impulse to solve these issues can manifest in the decisions that we as consumers make. The choice to buy products from companies that may align with your values, while trying to leave a sustainable world for the next generation, represents a choice that speaks to what is important for us as individuals.

Unfortunately, we often forgo these values when it comes to choosing what to invest our money in. This is based on the erroneous view that investing in companies that are ethical or sustainable will hurt your bottom line. Steve Schueth of First Affirmative Financial Network has been working hard to reverse this misconception by presenting the only things that matter in the world of investing: quantifiable stats, ROI, and a track record.

“There’s a lot of literature out there, and a number of studies that report comparisons

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between high sustainability companies and low sustainability companies, especially in the same industry groups. And the high sustainability companies are on average more profitable, probably because they are better managed,” Schueth explains.

“There are more and more investment companies that are embracing what used to be kind of a fringe concept: making money and making a difference with your money. That’s a big attraction for investors,” Schueth continues. This has drawn a large number of investors who care about the environmental impact that the companies they choose to invest in have in the world. Increasingly, this emphasis on sustainability has touched issues like water conservation, as well as how employees and communities in the third world are treated by companies that have a presence on the ground.

This exercise in “economic democracy” where we vote with our dollars is causing companies to take notice. Almost every major

corporation now has a Sustainability Officer, whose mission is to find ways that the company can find solutions to become more sustainable. This can be in simple ways like replacing light bulbs with LEDs, to more complex supply chain solutions that cut down on waste. As evidenced by the turnout at conferences like Sustainable Brands, companies as diverse as Ford, BASF, and Eileen Fisher are focused on making business greener.

This change inspired Steve to help create The SRI Conference (on sustainable, responsible impact, investing). The 27th annual SRI Conference is in Denver this year, November 9-11, 2016. “We’ve been, for a long time, a central gathering place for investors and investment professionals who are looking to invest in companies that are helping to create a truly sustainable future,” Schueth says.

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“A sustainable world has already been invented,” according to Dr. Janine Benyus.

NatureInspired Sustainable Technologies with

A biologist and TED Talks alumna, Benyus works to transform how we perceive invention by bringing it down to earth. According to her, if you want to build a better world through technology, you simply crib the notes nature has written over millions of years.

Dr. Janine Benyus

1 FROM SEA MONKEYS TO LIFE SAVERS “Do you remember brine shrimp? Sea monkeys?” Benyus asks. “Those organisms are actually pretty amazing, because they stay in a dried up state for a long time.” She goes on to explain that a U.S. Company called Biomatrica started using trehalose (the sugar that allows brine shrimp to remain in a dehydrated state) for vaccine preservation. This would eliminate the need for refrigeration (which has caused lifeendangering problems for vaccine transportation/storage).

4

USING PLANTS TO CREATE PLASTICS Novomer is a company that takes CO2 and transforms it into low cost plastics. “These are all mimicking the catalysts, the enzymes, of plants,” Benyus notes. Of course, reducing the carbon footprint of plastic production would be a boon for both the consumer and the industry at large.

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Benyus’ aptly named organization, Biomimicry 3.8, works with companies of all sizes to create products that work with nature instead of against it. We got the chance to talk to her during this year’s Sustainable Brands Conference in San Diego where she served as a keynote speaker. During our interview (find it on our website, innotechtoday.com) she laid out four amazing technologies that directly mimic the natural world.

2

SHARKS VS. SUPERBUGS Based out of Aurora, CO, Sharklet Technologies has created a thin film that repels bacteria. And you’ll never guess where they got the idea. Apparently, the skin of Galapagos Sharks has a pattern that reduces bacterial contact. Sharklet has taken this pattern and shrewdly applied it to hospital equipment and other products.

Plus, since Sharklet’s not using an anti-bacterial solution, there’s no risk of creating superbugs.

3

CORAL REEF CONCRETE “Suddenly, you’re going to see buildings and plastics sequestering CO2,” Benyus says. She’s right; it’s already happening. For instance, construction material company Blue Planet has applied the chemical recipe of coral to make concrete out of repurposed CO2 (standard concrete has a very high carbon footprint by comparison).

As Benyus concludes, the blueprint for new sustainable tech can be seen everywhere. “In the future, it won’t seem strange for a tech company to hire a biologist,” she says.

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A Perfect Circle Produced in partnership with

By Lauren Roman

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How Tech is Powering the Circular Economy

O

ur traditional take-make-(maybe recycle)-dispose economic model downgrades materials and is energy intensive. Recycling is largely the responsibility of the consumer.

However, in a circular economy, products are born restorative and regenerative by design. In other words, products are born into a system designed so that they remain at the highest resource value and never become waste.

Knowing where a product or “thing” came from, where it is, what it’s made of, what condition it’s in, and how it’s being used supports both producer responsibility and conscientious consumption – enabling both manufacturers and consumers to become responsible stewards of the products they produce or own.

Late last year, the European Commission adopted a Circular Economy Package and Mandate that earmarked over $6 billion toward the development of circular economy systems.

The World Economic Forum predicts that over $1 trillion a year could be generated by 2025 for

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the global economy and 100,000 new jobs created within the next five years if companies focus on “circular” supply chains to increase reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling.

The growing global focus on developing circular economy systems is largely dependent on the ability of technology to keep us connected with “things.” This is spawning a new breed of tech-savvy environmental entrepreneurs who are leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) and supporting technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and other automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies to support circular economy systems.

It’s not a fad. It’s a business opportunity.

There are many companies already applying the concept of the circular economy. Food Cowboy, for instance, uses location-based technology to route food “waste” to the highest and best users including food banks. Winnow likewise developed a system to cut restaurant waste in half using a smart meter, electronic

scale, and cloud platform to track what’s being thrown away and its value. And Stuffstr is launching a mobile app that helps users reduce clutter and keep things out of landfills by connecting them to the nearest donation or recycling center.

Circular economy opportunities are also gripping Fortune 500 companies. Avery Dennison, a high-profile tag and label maker, recently partnered with Evrythng to announce a deal that will connect 10 billion pieces of apparel to the Internet over the next three years.

This will provide consumers with information, such as where products were manufactured, where they can be recycled, and much more.

More than ever before, professionals, both young and old, are seeking work with a purpose beyond the paycheck, work that benefits people, planet, and economies. Companies providing sensing, monitoring, and tracking technologies supporting circular economy models can inspire employees, accelerate adaptation, and play a significant role in creating a healthy, sustainable environment.

CONFESSIONS FROM THE GREENSIDE

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Eating Beer Produced in partnership with

by Paul French

“Granola” has become a playful slur for environmentalists over the years.

When you say, “He’s pretty granola,” you immediately summon an image of hippie parody – the lanky arms, the tie-dye shirt, the sticky So-Cal accent. It’s the caricatured persona of “going green,” the guy you could easily imagine being chained to a tree somewhere.

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But, despite being both a figurative and literal ambassador for “granola,” Dan Kurzrock comes off more like a Shark Tank contestant. He’s a fasttalker, his voice sharply nasal, enunciating everything without much hem & haw – even when he’s pitching his recycled beer cereal bars to hundreds of business leaders.

His argument’s compelling. Craft beer’s rise in popularity has resulted in a wildfire of urban microbreweries, whose waste, as Kurzrock’s business proves, makes for some pretty decent eating. When a brewery is located in a more rural area, he explains, it’s pretty easy to find a place for all of those leftover grains (farms), but with urban breweries the logistics and costs are a bit trickier. Kurzrock encountered this predicament firsthand, and on a smaller scale: “So I was making beer. I started brewing when I was a 19 year-old in college. I loved that I could make beer myself and buy the ingredients. And it tasted good. You know, it was just a great hobby. And then as I got more

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into the hobby, I started brewing in a certain way. It was called all-grain brewing, which is like a mini-version of what commercial breweries do. At that point I was making five gallons of beer at a time, so not a lot of beer. That’s like a third of a keg. And I would use 1530lbs of grain, just to make that volume of beer. It was like I was making a cafeteria-sized batch of oatmeal, and I didn’t even have a compost bin. I was a student at UCLA. We had a dumpster.

I mean, the stuff smelled good, tasted good. My inspiration was trying to do something with it.”

This led to his sustainability-themed business ReGrained. Its tagline, “Eat Beer,” is emblazoned on his shirt as I talk to him during one of the breakout sessions of this year’s Sustainable Brands Conference in San Diego. He hands me one of the bars, the Honey Almond IPA, and I take a bite. It’s nutty and sweet. Despite being made from beer waste, it tastes like a regular breakfast granola bar, a good one too.

“Obviously, we’re very provocative with our marketing, with the whole beer thing. We want people to pick it up. Hence the giant eat beer logo on the T-Shirts. But we’re making food.

We want people to really want to eat it.

If someone were to hand that bar to you on a ski lift chair, we’d want you to go, ‘Wow, what is that?’ And then get even more pumped up when you learn what it is.”

To read the full interview, check out www.innotechtoday.com and search “ReGrained.”

Along with Co-Founder Jordan Schwartz, Dan Kurzrock works to turn beer waste into tasty snack bars.

Making the Printing Process Environmentally Friendly Fujifilm’s no-bake thermal printing plate, Superia LH-PJ, dramatically improves on press performance, while simultaneously producing significantly fewer chemicals that wind up at the dump. This is very important because the printing process can unfortunately produce a lot of harmful waste, which we bet Guttenberg didn’t see coming.

For over 24 years, Warren Werbitt, Founder and CEO of Montreal, Canada-based Imprimerie Pazazz has appreciated the resource savings associated with Fujifilm’s Superia LH-PJ thermal plates. “With Fujifilm’s EcoPro System, I have no chemistry to dispose, and that not only improves my business, but also allows us to safeguard the environment today, and into the future,” adds Werbitt.

Pictured above Warren Webitt (left), founder and CEO of Imprimerie Pazzazz has been able to use FujiFilm's EcoPro System to save money and go green.

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WA L L - M O U N T E D

ROOM

HEATER

Fujifilm’s Superia offset plate-making system offers innovations that can reduce the consumption of materials, labor, water, energy, and emissions. “The plates perform tremendously along with UV and hybrid inks. Fujifilm's ‘lo-chem’ approach is making a significant impact on our environmental footprint, and is also saving a considerable amount of money on our water bill,” concludes Werbitt.

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Mini Q&A: Daniel Beck of Renovo Water Daniel Beck’s company Renovo Water has innovated, among other things, outdoor adaptable water filters that make clean & sustainable drinking easier than ever, wherever you go.

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I&T Today: How can Renovo Water help with emergency preparedness and other water crises that we have seen lately, like in Flint, Michigan?

DB: Lead was a major issue in Flint, and our filter has multiple modules that would have reduced or completely removed the lead and other contaminants in the water.

For many people, storing hundreds of gallons of water for when an emergency or crisis strikes isn’t feasible.

Oftentimes, when disaster strikes or a city has contaminated water, there is still plenty of fresh water available; it just needs to be filtered. The MUV [filter] is a Produced in partnership with

much more environmentally friendly and prudent solution to these issues.

I&T Today: Tell us about the beginnings of Renovo Water and what made you want to get into this market.

DB: With an extensive history of selling outdoor water filters from most every manufacturer, I’ve discovered there are big gaps in the market in terms of what a filter can do or how it can be used. Every filter on the market right now is typically limited to filtering high mountain streams, which are already fairly clean, and they can only be used in maybe one or two ways. So I started Renovo Water with the mission to not just build a better water filter for outdoor use, but to make a filter system that could be used in all types of activities and, more importantly, filter from all types of water sources.

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Do Your Gadgets Have More to Give?

When everyone seems to be throwing away gadgets they’re done with, it’s easy to believe that used technology has no value. However, that belief is being challenged

by Sage Sustainable Electronics, a company that has made it a mission to make the world more sustainable by extending the life of used electronics.

Sage recently helped a company retire 2,700 iPads, a portfolio worth $250,000.

Sage’s client originally wanted the tech to be wiped clean and sold. Instead, Sage recommended giving back to their community of Columbus, Ohio. Together they delivered 1,100 iPads to 14 nonprofits servicing thousands of people. The remaining iPads were sold by Sage and the proceeds were directed to cancer research by the company.

Furthermore, to help incentivize businesses to take better care of their electronics, Sage created a repository of used electronics values, called Sage Bluebook. This free online appraisal tool shows people exactly how much money they can expect from their gadgets, whatever their shape. “The financial incentive…the residual value, is the bait to sustainability,” said Bob Houghton, CEO.

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Vision, Systems Thinking, and GSD Degrees:

A Conversation with Nancy Conrad, the Conrad Foundation

By Robert Yehling

A

A good discussion with Nancy Conrad digresses delightfully and deeply into a number of topics. After plenty of insight spiked with a few laughs, you may well come away thinking, “I not only learned something, but how to do something new.”

Nancy is the Founder and Chair of the Conrad Foundation, perhaps the world’s most innovative educational initiative in science, technology, engineering, and systems thinking —for entrepreneurs and visionaries ages 13-18.

She’s a striking five-foot-one mother of two, a veritable whirlwind of energy and creativity.

Not to mention achievement. In 2013, she was named one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 Women STEM Leaders, though, as she says, “I don’t really focus that much on STEM. I’m more interested in how we apply what we learn.”

patented, and deployed by an international team of high school students.

formation of the Conrad Foundation, her

Innovation & Tech Today had the opportunity to speak with Nancy, the author of Rocketman and co-writer of One Giant Leap for Mankind, produced with NASA in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Now she is working on a new book, The Innovation Generation. We discussed the

thinking to education, and her view on the

endless drive to bring more vision and systems whole point of learning — to teach kids to “get their GSD Degree — Get Stuff Done.”

I&T Today: You and Pete were soulmates, and in an instant he was gone. That must have been very difficult.

In 2008, Nancy founded the Conrad Foundation and its main project, the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge. It combines her commitment to education, creativity, and competency-based learning with the vision of her late husband, Charles “Pete” Conrad, commander of Apollo 12 and the third man to walk on the moon.

During their 10 years of marriage that ended suddenly with Pete’s death in 1999, Nancy and Pete were inseparable, “merged at the soul,” as Nancy says. Now, 17 years later, they are still merged through a foundation and initiative changing the world and helping to define its future through current applications by some of its participants. One product, a water purification system, is used in nine countries.

Here’s what’s fascinating: it was designed,

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Nancy Conrad, pictured above, takes pride in the fact that the Conrad Foundation allows some very bright students to interact and work with actual astronauts and scientists.

The camaraderie and competition that the program instills in these young scientists helps prepare them for a lifetime of innovations.

Nancy Conrad: Everything was cooking along when, on July 8, 1999, I was on a call with Universal Space Works when I got another call — Pete had been in a motorcycle accident. Long story short, that was the day he died. Pete and I were absolutely inseparable, two merged souls, the thing poets write about, and his was a sudden death – no time to prepare or say goodbye. He was the wind beneath my wings; I really bloomed with him. The best of the best. So I was a deer in the headlights for a couple of years afterward. It took a while for me to understand that I had also died.

I&T Today: As you began to move forward again, when did teaching return to being a chief priority for you?

NC: When you’re a teacher, you’re always a teacher. Teachers must teach. Even when I was doing the astronaut licensing company, that was teaching, bringing real superheroes into kids’ lives and seeing them as people. When I wrote Rocketman, my dedication – “Dedicated to the child in all of us who has experienced the exhilaration of overcoming a challenge and winning” – was all about decoupling from the pilot who’d flown my plane for so many wonderful years, and learning to fly solo again…That came down to teaching, and that’s how the Conrad Foundation came together.

I&T Today: Can you elaborate on the core programs and principles of the Conrad Foundation?

NC: Sure. The competition is an annual event, for which we have the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Summit. Students are invited to essentially design the future. They work in five-person teams, by design: leadership and business training is done in teams these days. Kids decide which of the four categories I mentioned that they want to work in, who’s on their team, who their coach is. Some students team up on the Internet from different countries or schools.

Students create a product and come into the competition with a two-minute video. Then they’re invited to go into the innovation portal. On the back end are experts that evaluate what the students are doing, and can provide guidance.

Some go on to phase two, and they are invited to come to the Summit as diplomats.

At our Summit, we’ve had participants from up to 136 countries, all 50 states, and all economic levels. Two years ago, 51% of our participants were girls.

I&T Today: The Conrad Initiative seems to go in the exact opposite direction of how public education is conducted these days — teaching the test for reasons both performance- and finance-based.

NC: We focus too narrowly on passing tests, rather than discovering the greater potential in kids and teaching those skills, which really is what the Conrad Initiative celebrates. When I look at

education now, as a member of the President’s Circle and other boards, and as one of the nation’s 100 leading STEM influencers, I see it this way: I don’t have a Ph.D., but I do have a GSD — Get Stuff Done.

We need to get kids to a place where they understand how to think, and how to learn, their own personal intersection of neuroscience and education. I learn best by writing it down. Pete learned best by drawing it out. I feel that this “testocracy” we have in education turns kids into machines — they just memorize stuff. They can’t get a GSD — they don’t know how to do things.

I&T Today: We seem to be falling short of what the workplace really needs.

NC: There are two parallel tracks going on right now: What education is doing, and what the workforce needs. There is no delta. When you get kids that know how to do things, kids that come out of our competition and other work that’s being done, they end up at Space X, Blue Origin, and other visionary companies. That kind of competency-based learning is, to me, so crucial. It’s very important that we go in this direction.

I&T Today: You have a very specific approach to innovation.

NC: Let me talk about that for a second. When you look at innovation, what is that? First, there’s feasibility. Can you make this thing? That’s the FALL 2016 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY PRESENTS

A Conversation with Nancy Conrad, the Conrad Foundation

PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Pictured above are various students enjoying their time at the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge. Also above, the late Pete Conrad (in his blue flight suit), commander of Apollo 12 and the third man to walk on the moon.

engineering piece. Then there’s viability. Can it make money? Finally, there’s desirability. Do people want it? When those three pieces intersect — feasibility, viability, desirability — you have an innovation.

I&T Today: Can you share with us how kids involved with the Conrad Foundation are making it happen?

NC: They’re intersecting the three pieces of innovation, and they’re putting it all together.

They blow my mind. They are so out-of-the-box, because we don’t give them a box — and don’t even tell them there is one! They do whatever they want, and they run the show. We’re very, very student-centric — they pick their teams, their products, their (adult) coaches. They can team up with kids from other countries, and often do.

I&T Today: We would think, given your ties to the best and brightest in every field, that the kids have opportunities to rub shoulders with people who have made it — and that really inspires and influences them.

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NC: Absolutely. When the kids come to [the Conrad] Summit, they spend four days and three nights with us at Kennedy Space Center. They’re eyeball-to-eyeball with top leaders in government, industry, and academia, current and former astronauts… and it’s peer to peer. They’re not being talked at. They are speaking with men and women who’ve been on shuttle flights, guys who have walked on the moon. We completely erase the line between the student and professional. It’s amazing to see the interaction.

I&T Today: Many of these students create the most visionary and incredible success stories in business and innovation the world has ever seen from such young people.

NC: Kids create their own intellectual properties; we don’t own any of it. Some patent or trademark their products; some have multiple patents; some have deployed. We have one team whose water purification system is in nine countries now. We have twins who won a “Shark Tank” competition at Cornell with a nutritional bar that is now on the International Space

Station. One young lady even came up with a nail polish that identifies date rape drugs in drinks!

I&T Today: Those are incredibly innovative and visionary, and also practical solutions to very real needs.

NC: I agree. These kids not only have a GSD degree – Get Stuff Done – but they really understand how to learn and think. That’s what led to the ability of Pete and I to think and function in the world. These kids really understand that everything is a system, and each person has their own unique system of learning.

It’s not rocket science — though, technically, I guess the Conrad Foundation started with rocket science!

ROBERT YEHLING is the Founding Editor and a senior writer for Innovation & Tech Today. For more on the Conrad Foundation and its programs, go to www.conradchallenge.org.

For the complete interview with Nancy Conrad, visit innotechtoday.com/conrad_nancy, or register with the USASEF and receive the quarterly issue of STEM Today.

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Engineering Puzzles ThinkFun has a plethora of puzzle games that will make the transition from the fun of summer to the routine of school a little more bearable for kids this fall. The hands-on puzzle challenges promise to ignite young minds with building-based creativity, blending learning and fun to provide hours of entertainment for kids 8 and up.

In one of ThinkFun’s new releases, Circuit Maze, a single player arranges tokens on a pre-built puzzle board to create a real electric circuit that lights up colored beacons upon completion. Sixty challenge cards are included in the maze, ranging from beginner to expert level to help players grow their circuitry knowledge and problem-solving skills through play.

Circuit Maze is far from the only challenge maze for budding engineers that ThinkFun has innovated. Searches for games, puzzles, or STEMfocused games on websites like Amazon are dominated by ThinkFun, which has been passionate about sharpening minds through play since its launch in 1985. They also have classroom-focused games to directly engage students with STEM skills. Recently, ThinkFun’s games were featured in

Mindsets in the Classroom, a book for educators about how to cultivate a culture of resilience and success in their classrooms, for the play and learning opportunity the puzzles provide.

ThinkFun’s games have grown the analytical reasoning skills of kids in and out of the classroom. Their intricate strings of ordering and spatial decisions aim to help players become more adept problem solvers and logical thinkers – skills needed in both the world of STEM and beyond.

Training the Next Generation of Ethical Hackers You may not know it, but your data was probably leaked in the past couple of years.

The cyber security field is burgeoning due to the alarming rate of identity theft victims. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 17.6 million people were victims of this crime in 2014 alone. Companies and organizations like Target, LinkedIn, the IRS, the FBI, and T-Mobile were hacked in recent years, causing names, passwords, addresses, and credit card numbers to be released in the millions.

But the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) has been working to train motivated cyber warriors to hack ethically since 2000 – with graduates going to work for private, public, and government agencies alike.

“UAT is doing several things that I really like,” said Jeff Moss, founder of two of the world’s largest underground hacker conferences, Black Hat and DEF Con. “I like the bullpen design of collaborative working… One person might be gaming. Another person might be on network defense.

Another person might be on modeling. They can all sort of see what each other is doing. What you’ll find is the best network defenders are influenced by the attackers. The attackers are influenced by the forensics

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people. The forensics people are influenced by the malware designers…

It’s really important that everyone learn from each other.”

An education in cyber security is a smart way for STEM-centric students to express their desire to protect, serve, and defend. UAT could be a great fit if you are one of these students.

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Students Get on the Fast-Track to Space Exploration On July 6, students watched as NASA Astronaut Dr. Kate Rubins launched to the International Space Station.

During her coming months on the ISS, she’ll be the first person to sequence DNA in space and will conduct other important biological experiments.

These students, though, had a special reason to cheer for Rubins as she lifted off in a Soyuz spacecraft. Just like them, Rubins went to Space Camp.

At Space Camp, students learn about the past, present, and future of space exploration while experiencing simulated space missions and astronaut simulators. They do all this on the grounds of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, a world-class science center with exhibits that include the National Historic Landmark Saturn V Moon Rocket, the Pathfinder Shuttle Display, and a rocket park that illustrates the history of American space flight.

Rubins – one of five Space Camp graduates who have become astronauts – was 12 when she attended in Huntsville, AL. She is one of more than 750,000 alumni from around the world to have attended a program that encourages students to discover the real-life applications of science, technology, engineering, and math subjects.

The students who attend Space Camp and its affiliated programs, Aviation Challenge and Space Camp Robotics, also learn leadership skills and how to work in a team. By working with students from around the world, Space Camp trainees discover tools they will need to succeed in any field they pursue.

SciFest/Dubai

SciFest Dubai is an annual festival that seeks to increase public participation in science by highlighting the awe and magic behind it. This year’s festival will be held November 1-7 and is centered around the theme “Moonshot Thinking.” An extension of one of the festival’s core values, the theme aims to galvanize the residents of Dubai and the MENA region to not only think of themselves as global citizens, but also citizens of the universe and future ambassadors of planet earth.

Workshops, think tanks, talks, fairs, and panel discussions promise powerful scientific dialogue, but the festival also promotes science through the arts to make science more engaging. With the help of art exhibitions, fashion shows, performance poetry, movie screenings, and music concerts, SciFest Dubai proves that science is not just a collection of facts but is instead a powerful tool for human progress and an inspiring way to think about the world. The festival brings science out of the narrow confines of

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classroom curriculum and academic circles and into mainstream culture – hence the tagline of the festival: you don’t have to be a scientist to love science.

The festival is expecting a wide range of speakers from all over the world who will be joined by research centers, science museums, universities, and schools in the UAE that use the festival as a platform to showcase their scientific talents and achievements and to promote innovation, creativity, and STEAM education in the community.

The 2014 and 2015 festivals had a cumulative total of over 250 events, 28,000+ audience members and participants, 100,000+ social media followers, and coverage by the local and international press, including BBC World.

The 2016 festival is poised to repeat the success of past years and build upon it by integrating new workshops that range from DNA extraction to a science magic show and storytelling.

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Clear the Air

The trusty UPOD air quality monitor, used across the globe to calculate pollution levels, just received a major upgrade. With the new YPOD model, data can be transmitted through the cloud.

The UPOD was developed by the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is employed everywhere thanks to its open source platform. The lunchbox-sized device has sockets for a range of sensors to monitor CO2, carbon monoxide, ozone, and VOCs. The production is lowcost, customizable, and scalable by design, allowing the machine to fit a specific community’s needs. Because of their low cost and portability, UPODs are deployed in large clusters, providing fined grained insight into air quality variability within a region.

The next generation YPOD received a major mobility upgrade: it can continuously stream its sensor readings to the cloud, which makes data instantly available for scientific analysis. The data synchronization side of the YPOD was developed in collaboration with System76, a Colorado Linux computer manufacturer that ships the open source Ubuntu operating system on all its products. YPOD's cloud ability allows researchers and community users to access data without having to physically visit each location all over the world.

Drew Hamilton Meyers, CU Boulder Computer Science student and UPOD researcher, has been working on the sensor-reading side of the project and says

that using the Ubuntu operating system has been so much easier, and in general is a better tool for science. Because of its open source nature, the server allows researchers, students, and citizen scientists to continuously synchronize this public air quality to their own local databases. This gives everyone the flexibility to analyze the data with whatever tools they see fit.

Combining the wide-reaching cloud with an affordable and small open source tool allows air quality monitors to spread ever further and be adapted and improved upon by the communities they serve.

ID Tech Camp KID REPORTER

With Nick Holloway

This was my first time attending an ID Tech Camp and it was Intro to Java Coding with Minecraft Modding. Let’s just say that it was awesome.

Located on the campus of the University of Denver, the experience was one of the best parts of my summer.

I learned to make Minecraft mods using Java. I really liked being able to make my own Minecraft objects just the way I want. The camp was super fun and all the staff was really nice, especially “Samwise”, my instructor.

Java is not an easy program to learn but once I started to get it, I thought it was really cool. Java is the program that Minecraft and lots of other programs are based off of. I think it gives you a good sense of accomplishment to write code and then see it come to life in the game just the way you planned.

I can’t wait to go back and learn more now that I know how the game is made. I really want to find out more about Java so I can make more mods to have my own custom Minecraft items.

The worst part of the camp was saying goodbye to all the new friends I made. Hopefully the skills I learned and the friends I made will last as long as all the fun memories from this really cool weeklong event. I would recommend ID Tech to anyone who loves gaming and coding.

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TV MIRRORS | LIGHTED MIRRORS | OUTDOOR TVS

HIDE YOUR TV. FLAUNT YOUR DESIGN. SÉURA TV MIRRORS Discover the magic of TV Mirrors by Seura. These stunning mirrors transform into TVs when powered on with the latest technology including 4K UHD* picture quality.

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Jobs Of The Future | Jobs Of Today Presented by

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By Oren Salomon

Mahatma Gandhi called upon us to “be the change that you wish to see in the world.” As our economy continues to integrate people who see full time employment as a thing of the past, the Future of Work (FoW) is rapidly approaching. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, or something in between, one thing distinguishes the future’s workforce more than anything else: they will change work to be their own in every conceivable way.

This trend has caused shared workspaces to become increasingly popular with workers who have had to adapt to a rapidly changing job market, where the shared economy and independent contractors have replaced many traditional jobs. Basically, someone can pay a fee at one of these places, and the shared workspace provides a desk, a phone, WiFi, and coffee at a fraction of the cost of a traditional office. Often these spaces end up fostering collaboration between professionals with a wide range of skillsets. This is a concept that has been fully embraced by the millennial generation, whose notions of a rigid worklife divide have been supplanted by a focus more on flexibility and being available at all hours.

No matter what your business is, you need suppliers, customers, and often collaborators. And if your business somehow doesn’t require social capital, independent workers will simply drive themselves insane without friends and a support network. Both are tough to develop and maintain while working from home or Starbucks.

COWORKING AS A CONCEPT A little over a decade ago, Brad Neuberg open sourced his concept for co-working to address this vital need for the independent workforce to experience an office community. Since then over 10,000 co-working spaces have opened using the framework that Brad offered up to the world royalty free.

Much like the independent workers themselves, Brad’s intent was for everyone embracing his concept to make it their own. Despite the massive customization afforded by the entirely open source model, the core offerings of co-working spaces around the world are remarkably similar.

Indy Hall in Philadelphia is arguably the standard bearer and the oldest coworking space in the country that directly inherited this model. As Indy Hall’s founder Alex Hillman puts it, “We've always kept the ‘services’ simple: desk, chair, power, Internet, and most importantly, the friendly, helpful people you can work alongside.”

Hillman highlights the fact that despite the stable model, what keeps changing is the people: “More diverse skillsets in the community means that there's more people swapping what they know. More artists in the community means a more expressive visual aesthetic.”

In other words, what makes coworking such a powerful force in the FoW isn’t people sharing space; it’s people sharing ideas, experiences, and every other aspect of life they can with one another.

But the further these communities develop, the more we realize that community isn’t a single organism, but an entire ecosystem of community organisms cross-pollinating. Togetherness

is empowering individuality and vice versa.

Indy Hall, while housing many microcommunities, is also part of other broader communities. One such community is N3RD St, named after the neighborhood Indy Hall and its members call home.

Indy Hall members and staff co-created the N3RD St Farmers Market in 2013 and they have been meeting on Wednesdays ever since.

What struck Hillman the most about this experience was how deeply the market was activating relationships with neighbors whose presence was barely felt before. Hillman recalls, “I met more of our neighborhood neighbors in the first couple of hours of the farmers market than I had in the seven years prior. The market wasn't just a place to go get food; it was a place to hang out and see neighbors. It was an excuse to bump into each other and chat.”

But it wasn’t just the customers who were connecting in new and interesting ways. The relationship amongst farming vendors also began to cross-pollinate.

Hillman explains that “once vendors were building relationships, we started hearing about vendors sharing business & marketing tips with each other. Doors to wholesale deals were opened through a simple conversation that previously didn't have a space to happen.”

With all this cross-pollination, it’s important to keep in mind that those participating are collaborating.

Collaboration requires a safe space and trust between its members to flourish. For instance, halfway across the country in the Rocky Mountain town of Fort Collins, CO, the Cohere coworking community was inspired to add an offering called Cohere Bandwidth precisely because it (continues on 139)

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Jobs Of The Future | Jobs Of Today Presented by

JObs of the Future

By Ethan Maltaverne

As everyone knows, the demand for a specific discipline or specialist changes from year to year. So who’s to say that anybody’s job of today will still be safe in the future? For instance, The Association for Computer Machinery has projected that by 2020 half of all jobs in the STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math) fields will be in computing.

With automation increasing in every market, it helps to have some foresight. Check out these five potential jobs of tomorrow.

1. Drone Technician Drones have been around for some time now, but only recently have they become so popular with the public. It’s such an expanding field, and advancements for personal drones are being made every day. It’s only a matter of time before somebody is needed to perform repairs on your fleet of personal drones. Whether you’re having issues with your home security drones or your professional action photographer drone, with all this advanced tech flying around there’s going to be a high demand for repairmen and technicians.

2. Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Controller/Overseer Not so far into the future, self-driving vehicles may very well rule the roads, and with so many moving components, it’s not unrealistic for there to be a need for somebody to watch over the patterns and road traffic to maintain and patrol these clustered speedways.

Like an air traffic controller, these technicians would control the priority patterns of vehicles, as well as public transportation, and oversee all functions of these interactions.

3. Remote Doctors and Surgeons Though some doctors are already capable of using methods of remote treatment, this may become more common in the years to come. It’s possible that surgeons and other health care specialists may even be able to work from home on their computers at all times. In other words, we may be seeing fewer friendly faces, and more aluminum and wires running around hospitals.

4. Public Astronomical Transit Pilot Even though all companies capable of sending the general public to space are also capable of doing it autonomously, it’s very possible – for the safety and comfort of the passengers – that there will be a pilot or guide accompanying you on your interstellar adventures. This person would most likely have to be trained on how to repair the vessel as well as how to perform emergency procedures in order to protect the passengers.

5. STEM Educator As more students go into STEM fields, the education system will soon need more STEM teachers, especially with STEM degree paths like Northeastern University’s ALIGN program becoming so popular. While not as glamorous as the previous professions, STEM education is still at the root of many of the future’s thrilling jobs, and more teachers in this field will become a necessity. Soon, getting a faculty position at a place like the University of Advancing Technology will become just as coveted as a spot on their enrollment list.

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Jobs of Today

Though preparing for the jobs of the future may be a good thing to keep in mind, not everyone has the time to wait for the next wave of work. For the rest of the world currently searching for jobs, the following occupations have the greatest potential.

These are some of the top jobs of today.

1. Software Developers Software developing comes in as one of the most highly rated jobs in the world of tech today. It has a 17% job outlook growth rate, meaning that an additional 186,600 will be needed over the next 10 years. The average developer makes $48.41 an hour, so it’s no wonder why “software development” is on the tip of every employer’s and working-class employee’s tongue.

2. Computer and Information Systems Manager If you enjoyed school and computers and are willing to go back for 4-8 years to learn how they work, this job might suit you well. An additional 14,800 of these administrators will be needed in the next 10 years, not counting those retiring or changing fields, so there’s a lot of opportunity to enter a new career that averages $43.33 an hour.

3. Information Security Analyst There’s always been a high demand in the field of security, but today that goes further than just cameras and motion sensors. Now we find high employment rates for even the people who install the software that defends your house or business, and for a hefty pay of $43.33 an hour. 30,200 additional analysts will be needed in the next 10 years, and all that’s required is a bachelor’s degree.

4. Network and Computer System Administrators Today’s vocations have become very specialized. For example, another job in high demand involves planning, coordinating, and directing strictly computer-related activities in an organization. With a 15% job outlook growth rate, much higher than the national average, it looks like computer coordinators aren’t going anywhere – no matter how specific their skill set. Their average pay of $63.27 per hour ought to appeal to anyone with a bachelor’s degree and the willingness to gain new work experience.

5. Mechanical Engineers As one of the most stable jobs in every market around the world, there’s no questioning that mechanical engineering continues to compete in the game of high-demand jobs. Though the career of designing internal combustion engines and constructing elevators has only an average growth rate of 5% in the next five years, the job still pushes nearly $40.19 an hour.

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Medtech

Sending Organs Off to Print

By Andrew Janson

An IV slowly drips out the passage of time as a patient lies nearby, sick of waiting. Like others in need of a transplant, she can do nothing but wait, just one of thousands on a waitlist that, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, grows every 10 minutes.

But instead of being put on a waitlist, what if she could just have a new kidney printed? The field of regenerative medicine, which aims to develop techniques to create tissues and organs for patients, may someday make this a reality, and a necessary one at that. As people live longer, there is a growing need for transplantable organs that the current system cannot handle.

Inspired by this growing need, Anthony Atala, MD, the Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and his team have worked on refining the use of inkjet printers and 3D printers to create tissues and organs. I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Atala about his research, past and present, and the medical applications of 3D printing.

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Innovation & Tech Today: Explain to me your technique for 3D printing organs. Did you come up with it, or was there a history of this technique that already existed that you worked on or perfected?

Anthony Atala: We actually got our start by creating tissues by hand, and that’s important to realize. The concept there is to take a very small piece of tissue from the patient, less than half the size of a postage stamp…then expand the cells in that tissue. Once we have enough cells to create the tissue or the organ, usually about 4-6 weeks, we constitute the whole thing by hand…basically seeding the cells on these three-dimensional scaffolds. Then we’d put that in an oven-like device, very much like baking a layer-cake if you will…and let it mature. And then we’d put it back into the patient.

That’s what we started doing over 25 years ago…once we were able to apply that to patients in several applications…we then

decided that…it was fine to make these things by hand if you were doing a small number of patients in clinical trials, but if you really wanted to scale up the technology…You really needed to automate the process, and that’s when we started thinking about using your typical desktop inkjet printer, which is what we started to use fourteen years ago. We modified [a printer], so that instead of printing ink, we would print cells with a gel. For the last 11 years or so we started building our own printers.

I&T Today: Was there a “Eureka!” moment when you decided to use inkjet printers, or was it a natural progression as you realized that hand-making tissues was far too inefficient to be viable?

AA: It was a gradual process. The technology for printing has, of course, been around for several decades…it’s how can you actually use these technologies…to really scale up what we were doing by hand. Obviously there’s nothing

U.S. OLYMPIC NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Medtech Left To Right: Data from CT and MRI scans can be used to “tailormake” tissue for patients. Image 1: Data from a human CT scan shows a defect in a segment of jaw bone. Image 2: 3D computer-aided design (CAD) was used to make a model of the segment of jaw bone that needed to be replaced. Image 3: Data associated with the 3D CAD model was also used to create code to control the printer. Image 4: The bioprinted jaw bone structure.

Images 5-11: The Integrated Tissue-Organ Printing System at work printing a jaw bone structure.

Images 12-13: Completed ear and jaw bone structures printed with the Integrated Tissue-Organ Printing System.

AA: The main difference is that we could create these tissues, but they could not be implanted surgically…But now we can… implant them surgically where…pre-clinically in research studies, they can get good vascularity and good innervation inside the body.

I&T Today: And when we’re talking about actual surgical implantation in patients, does that include organs or is it still just tissue?

that’s magical about a printer, right, because you have to program the printer to do what you need it to do [laughs]. So in other words, we still have to make sure that the cells are the right cells. We still have to make sure we put them together in the right way.

I&T Today: You mentioned “scaffolding;” how does that work?

AA: So, these printers that we have developed, they have four features that allow us to create these structures. The first feature…you need precision…We use some very small nozzles that go all the way down to 1-2 microns, which is about 1/80th the diameter of a single human hair.

The second feature…we need to make sure that the cells don’t get damaged in the process…we actually create bio-inks that have hard and soft components to them. Just like when you were building Lincoln Logs, but just picture every other log being softer…the rigid

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structures are able to maintain their structural integrity with what you’re trying to do while the soft structures are nourishing the cells.

The third thing is to make sure that…nutrition gets to the central portion of that tissue…the main thing is to make sure that we have…microchannels that allow nutrition to go through the central portion of the construct…these microchannels basically act like a highway that bring nutrition into the central portion of the core, allowing these tissues to survive.

Finally, the fourth one is to make sure that we can use CAD [computer aided drafting] software printing programs…we do an X-ray of the patient, and we are able to transfer that information from patient to the printer, so we can create the size that will fit the patient.

I&T Today: It seems like you have made significant progress in the last five years since your TED Talk. How different are the results now than they were five years ago?

AA: There are different levels of complexities in terms of tissues and organs…things that are flat like skin; tubes, like blood vessels; hollow, non-tubular organs like the stomach or the bladder; [and] solid organs like the heart or the liver. It goes from least complex to most complex, and up to this point, we’ve been able to implant the first three types of organs into patients. We have not yet implanted a solid organ. That’s really a lot of the work that we’re doing right now to make that possible.

I&T Today: So you can actually print a stomach or a bladder for a patient based on an X-ray, and then implant that in them and it will function and integrate with their body?

AA: Yes. Not printed so far, but we’ve made these by hand and we’ve put them into patients.

I&T Today: In our lifetime, do you think that creating and implanting all types of organs is an achievable goal? Or are there limitations?

AA: I think to actually take these technologies that we actually created by hand and now switch that to bio-printing, I think that’s a very doable goal.

STUDIES SHOW DEMAND IS GROWING FOR

CYBER SECURITY EXPERTS Computer hackers are getting better. Their ability to unleash harmful viruses or expose personally identifiable information has created a need for an entirely new job sector: cyber security experts.* And the demand continues to grow.*

A recent study commissioned by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Raytheon says, “A record 79 percent of U.S. businesses reported a cyber security incident in the last year, and the 238,158 job postings for cyber security-related jobs in 2014 is an increase of 91 percent from 2010.”* That’s an impressive jump.

THE DIVERSITY OF CAREER CHOICES:

The increase in cyber security-related job postings from 2010 to 2014:

238,158

Number of job postings for cyber security-related jobs in 2014*

2010

2011

91%

2012

2013

Most people are aware that a cyber security career requires analytical and technical skills, but many don’t realize that the field is a lot more than ones and zeros.*

• • • • • •

Incident Responder Security Analyst Virus Technician Vulnerability Assessor Web Penetration Tester And many more**

2014

CYBER SECURITY PROGRAMS AT CTU Colorado Technical University’s Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security degree program offers students the opportunity to gain the fundamental expertise which can be useful in a career in this field.

The core Cyber Security curriculum is built on a broad foundation of industryrelevant concepts related to computer forensics, vulnerability assessment, security compliance, and software assurance. CTU offers concentrations in the areas of computer systems security and information assurance and students who complete either degree have the opportunity to take the CompTIA Security+ and Network+ certification exams.

CTU has been recognized by the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and Cyber Defense (CAE IA/CD).1

LEARN MORE coloradotech.edu/cyber *Source: http://www.raytheoncyber.com/rtnwcm/groups/cyber/documents/content/rtn_278208.pdf **Source: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/careers/cybersecurity-careers 1. CTU has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cybersecurity for academic years 2014-2021 for its cybersecurity and information assurance programs.

Colorado Technical University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org. CTU cannot guarantee employment or salary. Financial aid is available for those who qualify.

Find employment rates, financial obligations and other disclosures at www.coloradotech.edu/disclosures. 852-1100880 1101724 8/16

Expand Furniture’s Box Coffee to Dining Table

$1,895.00

A dining table that’s easy to move? That can convert to a coffee table? That can fit in a closet? Sign us up.

Expand Furniture’s Box Coffee to Dining Table is a godsend for the mobile and the spatially-restricted (aka 99% of us). We were amazed by how light this set was, and by how incredibly easy it was to set up. With locking wheels and a gas mechanism for lowering and lifting the table, Expand has made this convertible table a nobrainer option (especially if you’re a part of the tiny house fad). The price is a bit on the high side, but you might save on all the scuffs and scratches you’d have trying to move a traditional dining room table down three flights of stairs.

Moleskine Smart Writing Set

$199.00 $PRICE

The Moleskine Smart Writing Set redefines the limitations of the traditional notebook with the addition of Neo Smartpen technology. It uses a pen that tracks your writing and automatically converts it to a digital copy in real time. Simply download the Moleskine M+ Notes app to your smartphone or tablet and connect your Smartpen using Bluetooth and you’re ready to go.

This new notebook features a unique grid pattern that allows the connected Smartpen to track strokes with uncanny accuracy via a small camera integrated just above the pen’s tip. Once it’s captured and digitized, you can edit the size and color of your writing to enhance readability. The app also transcribes your written text with the push of a button. It is surprisingly effective at transcribing bad penmanship and recognized all my writing flawlessly.

A feature that was particularly impressive was the email function. Once you’re satisfied with your note you can email it to yourself or others by simply touching the tip of the pen to the envelope image located at the top right corner of every page in the notebook. Your connected device will automatically bring up a format option menu that lets you choose between image, PDF, text, or SVG, among others before attaching it to an outgoing email.

Remocam

$199.00 $199.00

If you closed your eyes and someone put the Remocam in your hand, asking you to guess what it was, we’re pretty sure you’d never say “camera.” Lightweight and discreet, this real life crystal ball grants you a remote eye and ear for everything in your home. One of our editors has been using it to keep an eye on his house (he’ll talk into his phone and we’ll watch as his cat, no doubt perplexed, comes up to the camera to investigate). Features like motion sensors and a built-in speaker make this smart security gadget a step above the rest, and with its sleek black look, it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb as with some other security cameras. Just hope that your boss doesn’t get one for the office. Find it on Amazon.

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Be There from Anywhere

the

introducing

Fluent Doorbell Camera View your front door from your phone Get live notifications and alerts Use the microphone for two-way communication Unlock your door remotely And more!

Call 855.238.4826 for a free quote and get free, professional installation Visit fluenthome.com to learn more about turning your house into a smart home

Autel X-Star Premium Drone

$900.00

The X-Star Premium drone from Autel Robotics delivers a lot of bang for your buck.

This drone has excellent specs and comes in at a reasonable $900 price point. Armed with its 4K camera and a three axis stabilized gimbal, you can capture movie quality video effortlessly. The drone can also be paired with Autel’s Starlink app which enables you to configure your flight control and camera settings for optimal operation.

The X-Star also features the Starpoint Positioning System which monitors altitude and optically tracks the position of the drone. Even if you have a low GPS signal the drone will still be tracked accurately and remain in control. You can also enable beginner mode and geofence the area in which you want the drone to remain, while controlling the top speed.

The remote controller has a handy mount for your smartphone or tablet to watch the camera feed in real time as you fly. You can also enable Smart-Flight features such as Follow, Orbit, or Waypoints to cede the flight controls while you focus on capturing the perfect video or photo.

If you want a drone that can do it all and not break the bank, the X-Star Premium is a no-brainer.

Magellan eXplorist TRX7

$650.00

The Magellan eXplorist TRX7 gives off-roaders, campers, and anyone enjoying the outdoors with a 4WD vehicle the tools to plan, experience, and capture their activities in a story format that they can keep or share. The TRX7 incorporates social media sites and allows for the direct posting of your latest trail adventures in real time. It also provides users with an enhanced online trip-planning and trail-sharing site, making it quicker and easier to find trails, tracks, trips, and POIs. Members of Magellan's off-road vehicle online community earn achievement badges for posting and sharing “dirt miles” traveled and total number of trails posted.

Designed specifically for the off-roading enthusiast, the eXplorist TRX7 features: Backtrack (a feature to retrace your steps if you get lost), Off-trail Notifications, and Waypoint Alerts. The device has downloadable, detailed 3D maps and community-generated track data, right out of the box. The TRX7 features a 7” high-resolution touchscreen with IP67 shock-resistant casing, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and includes a genuine RAM mount (depending on model) for an ultra-stable mounting option. In addition, with 16GB onboard memory and a MicroSD card expansion slot, the TRX7 has massive storage capability for longer expeditions. With over 80,000 trails, the TRX navigation platform is an incredible database for off-road enthusiasts.

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OutDry Exreme ECO

Focal Elear Headphones

$1,000.00

Technophiles rejoice. The new Elear headphones from Focal represent the fruit of a painstaking design process to create the ultimate listening experience. Fortunately for us, they succeeded. The Elear follows in the Focal tradition of loudspeaker excellence by delivering a chillingly immersive soundscape. The sound quality is impeccable across all fields of measurement. Vocals, treble, bass and any other metric are all off the charts. The quality of non-audio aspects is another important factor that sets the Elears apart. An aluminum yoke enables wearers of all head shapes to find the optimal size setting, while ear cups padded with memory foam and covered in micro fiber deliver a sublime yet secure fit. And a 13 ft (!!) cable allows for a refreshing amount of mobility while listening.

While the $1,000 retail price may be off-putting, these headphones are worth every penny. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “I highly recommend picking one up if you have the means.”

$TBD

The OutDry Extreme ECO rain jacket from Columbia is the culmination of a concerted effort to create an environmentally friendly jacket. By eliminating the usage of not-so-environmentally friendly perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) to waterproof the jacket, it will be far easier to recycle once it reaches the end of its life.

Columbia has also trimmed down water usage by deciding not to dye the jacket, which saves around 13.5 gallons.

I got my hands on a jacket to run it through its paces before the release in spring 2017. After taking the steps to make a sustainable jacket, it still boils down to whether or not it is going to perform well. This jacket does exactly that. Because of the drastic design change, I was worried that it would cause the functionality to suffer. Rest assured, this jacket stands up to rain just like you would expect from a top-tier rain jacket. It repels water with ease while still breathing incredibly well during strenuous exercise.

Columbia comes through with a big win on the Outdry Extreme ECO. It earns a Bluesign stamp of approval, which is the highest standard in environmentally friendly textile manufacturing processes. While a majority of their jackets still use PFCs, this is a huge step in the right direction. I hope the manufacturing techniques used to create the ECO spur a move towards creating a more environmentally friendly lineup for large brands.

Venstar ColorTouch

$169.95

Venstar’s new ColorTouch has revolutionized what’s often a fairly dull fixture. True to its name, this touchscreen smart thermostat has a large intuitive display with richly colored wallpapers. You can also upload your own photos, transforming your device into a family portrait. Each unit comes with built-in Wi-Fi, so you can control your home’s temperature wherever you go. All this control means that you’re less likely to waste energy (and money) heating/ cooling your home when you don’t need to. So far, the two units we’ve been testing have been great. They’re so easy to use, and, with all that functionality, it’s a home automation upgrade that makes a lot of sense.

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Sleepace Nox

$149.99

The Nox sleep light from Sleepace is a must-have for those who struggle to get a good night’s rest.The Nox is a bedside smart light that can be paired with the Sleepace smartphone app to track multiple sleep-related factors. It also features a speaker to deliver calming sounds to soothe you to sleep and wake you up. When you wake, you receive a report that tells you how well you rested and that identifies problem areas that need improvement.

Filled with cool features, the Nox allows you to customize the intensity as well as the color of the light you prefer to fall asleep to, with the sleep-aid option. You can also choose from multiple calming sounds such as rainfall, a crackling fire, or a snowstorm to ease you into sleep. Our favorite feature was the smart alarm, which will wake you up when you are in the lightest level of sleep within a set wake time range – ensuring an optimal wake-up call by gradually increasing the volume of your preselected alarm tone.

Look out later this year for the Sleep Dot from Sleepace – a non-wearable compact device that’s easily clipped to your pillow to track sleep. See our website, www.innotechtoday.com for details.

GE Z-Wave Plus Plug-in Smart Switch with Dual Outlets

$44.99

The GE Z-Wave Plus Dual Outlet Smart Switch brings the smart home experience to your appliances without the expense. The Z-Wave can be plugged in to any common outlet and then synced to your home wireless network. Once it’s set up, you can control the connected device with your smartphone or computer. Connecting items such as lamps, heaters, or fans will allow you to effortlessly control your environment.

The slim profile ensures that you won’t block furniture after installation. It also leaves the second wall outlet unobstructed for other electronics.

Custom lighting themes can be set for unique scenarios like movie night or bedtime. Simply set your lighting preferences with compatible bulbs and you can dim or illuminate with the touch of a button.

You can also set specific times to activate or deactivate connected devices to ensure you never worry about leaving the lights on when you are gone. All Z-Wave devices are also updated automatically via WiFi to ensure you have the latest firmware installed.

IR-IPDB Video IP Doorbell and Chime with APP

$TBA

The IR-IPDB Video IP Doorbell and Chime from Infrared Resources enables you to answer the door from anywhere in the world. With this device’s Wi-Fi connected HD camera with doorbell you can view who is at your door from anywhere you have Internet access.

You will be notified when the bell is rung and can then open a live video feed to see who’s knocking. The built-in microphone and speaker let you directly communicate with your guest in real time. The device also allows you to lock and unlock the door if you have a compatible electronic door lock.

This comprehensive system is an excellent addition to any connected smart home. For those constantly on the go it alleviates the need to drop what you are doing to make a trip to the door. A simple click of a button lets you see who’s there and grant her access to your house in no time.

Debuting at CEDIA this September, the IR-IPDB Video IP Doorbell and Chime will be available for purchase in late 2016.

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FALL GIFT GUIDE

FALL GIFT GUIDE

ONTHE SETWITH ASSASSIN’S CREED STAR MICHAEL FASSBENDER (continued from 95)

Then Aguilar is very much somebody that belongs to the Creed. He has a cause. He’s been following that cause. He belongs to it. So there are the two very different standpoints to the character.

Hopefully, Aguilar will teach Cal from the [DNA] regressions that he does belong. That’s essentially the main difference between the two characters.

I&T Today: This is a very physical role. We’ve heard a lot about the free running that’s going to be involved in some of the fight sequences.

What’s been the most exciting part of the training process for you, or the most challenging?

MF: Not having enough of it. It’s just trying to get those action scenes... We’re trying to play them out in wide shots as much as we can, in one runthrough. So we’re not using a lot of green screens.

We’re doing it on actual location. We were out in Malta [with] stunt guys falling off real buildings, off real lights without a lot of green screen. It’s a bit oldschool like that. And that is very much Justin’s vision. That’s exciting to see it done that way

because nowadays you just don’t get that anymore.

It’s usually done in the studio with the green screen.

I&T Today: Just looking at this set, the way it all flows together, I imagine that has to help the process as well.

MF: Yeah. This helps for sure in this element. But, really, in terms of those action beats, you just don’t get that – people jumping from one building across to another building and falling off whatever it be, a 30-meter drop into the old part of Valletta and Malta. It’s pretty special.

I&T Today: What’s your experience been like working with Ubisoft? It’s unprecedented for a video game company to get this involved in an adaptation of their games.

MF: They just want to protect their franchise and protect the wonderful fan base that they’ve built up

through their games. They’ve had experience before in films being made out of their video games and maybe didn’t get the results they liked. So they’ve been more hands-on here, which has been great. Thanks to them, I was introduced to this world. I didn’t really know much about it.

I&T Today: You seem fearless. You have a period drama. You have a comic book movie.

You have Shakespeare. This is a fantasy based on a video game. Is there anything that does scare you?

MF: Trust me. All of them scare you. I just feel like while I’m in this opportunity I might as well try as much as I can and try and learn as much as I can, really. But there is, trust me, healthy doses of fear.

I&T Today: Are you scared right now?

MF: Right now at this point in time? When you say it to me like that, yes!

FALL GIFT GUIDE The holidays are right around the corner. It is never too soon to give someone you love the gift of knowledge.

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Sharing the Future of Work (continued from 125) drew some unexpected groups such as “band moms who want some peace and quiet in their homes,” Sutter says, with some even joining Cohere as a result. Sutter adds, “Turns out there are plenty of musicians who are nerds, and plenty of nerds who are musicians, so the tech/band crossover has been fun.”

In the case of the farmers and the musicians, the cross-pollination happened naturally when these groups came in contact with the values and members of a coworking community.

NEW MODELS OF LEARNING discovered a group of creatives that did not have a safe space to collaborate: musicians.

Cohere community member Julie Sutter recalls the breakfast when she approached Cohere founder and coworking luminary Angel Kwiatkowski. In between pancake bites, Sutter told Kwiatkowski how “friends and members of the bands Bad Rabbit and Wire Faces got a nasty surprise when they discovered their shared band practice space had been robbed, picked entirely clean somewhere around Christmas Day.” Armed with this cautionary tale of woe, Cohere built out their basement as a shared rehearsal space and opened it up for the community of musicians in Fort Collins to use as a service. But this service

Up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Aaron Schaap, founder of The Factory, has been developing methods for a process he calls “coLearning,” which was inspired by the same nugget of wisdom that spurred the creation of coworking itself. As Schaap puts it, “Working by yourself all the time sucks, but so does learning all the time by yourself.”

The model works quite simply. People with skills to teach offer up a price to a class of 20, and then the community members that decide to join the class split the cost. What started as a six-week course teaching the programming language Ruby has transformed into a state accredited school with hundreds of alumni.

Schaap describes it as a “pop-up educational

model” where students learn a lot more than the subject matter on the syllabi because they are learning as much from each other as they are from their instructors. Schaap maintains that “before you can be a better developer, designer, or businessman, you need to be a better collaborator, communicator, [and] allow for more diversity in your thinking and the many other skills taught right alongside the things they initially signed up to learn.”

Schaap is also quick to note that educational graduations aren’t the only things his community celebrates. He tells us how “one of our members saw a bunch of expecting families and threw a baby shower with 40 other members to celebrate them.”

But Schaap is wise to caution us that the best ideas for embracing the FoW come from within and not just watching trends from other coworking spaces. “Worst thing you can do is watch other coworking spaces and try to do what they’re doing.

For every good idea that you might get, you'll get a thousand bad ideas,” he claims.

Instead, Schaap champions a simple guiding principle on how to embrace the FoW: “it’s about being a community of people that genuinely care for one another and have a safe place to be themselves.”

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coming next issue

Winter 2016 Business Innovations & Security Business Innovations The magazine continues its coverage of tech zones around the country, this time looking at the state of New York. Filled with interviews with some of the top business thought leaders so you can stay up to date on the most cutting edge stories and trends. There will also be coverage of how companies are actually saving money by going green.

Security I&T Today brings exclusive coverage of some of the most important and controversial topics affecting our world, from cyber security to ISIS to privacy. Jason Thomas, former director of the FBI’s cybercrime center, will talk about the best ways to protect your data. You’ll also hear from a former associate of Anonymous discussing the inner workings of the clandestine hacker collective.

The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide Picking out the perfect holiday gift is always a daunting challenge. I&T Today can take some of the pressure away by bringing you some of the flat out coolest gifts and gadgets on the market today. Personally chosen and reviewed by our editorial team, we showcase the coolest tech gifts that are sure to please even the most discerning of tastes.

Winter Sports & Adventure Tech We continue our coverage of the intersection of outdoor gear and technology, with a section dedicated to the great outdoors and the gadgets that better help us enjoy it. Exclusive coverage of extreme athletes and adventurers highlights people pushing boundaries. As well as reviews of the best ski gear to get you ready to hit the slopes.

Gaming & Entertainment Editor John Gaudiosi continues his coverage of the most important stories in the world of gaming and movies. Look out for a recap of the coolest video games that were released in 2016.

Look for these stories along with coverage of drones, 3D printers, medical innovations, sustainability, and much, much more in the Winter 2016 Issue of Innovation & Tech Today.

On newsstands and all digital readers Dec. 2016.

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The Lighter Side

We Need To Talk About Mom’s iPad Addiction

By Andy Sandford

In the way that Power Wheels makes tiny cars that kids can handle, Apple made a smartphone large enough to interest mothers.

Exodus 34:29 “Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the tablets beholding the word of God. His face was shining.”

If you replace "Moses" with "moms," and "Mount Sinai" with "Best Buy,” the Bible is pretty much talking about iPads.

The iPad was unleashed upon the world over six years ago, and by now even the least tech-savvy moms find themselves deep in the throes of iPad addiction. In terms of accessories moms can't go without, the iPad ranks above knit scarves, Diet Coke, clunky jewelry, and Costco membership cards. It's hard to know exactly why this annoyingly inbetween gadget has caught on with the mom-ographic, but I think the main reason is that it is literally a huge-ass iPhone.

Moms are notoriously apprehensive toward the average sized iPhone. It's hard to read, and texting challenges the dexterity of post-menopausal fingers. I say fingers and not thumbs, because moms refuse to text using anything but their index finger, along with the calculated intensity of the President entering nuclear launch codes. Yes, they could make the text on their phone larger and easier to read, but that's something "old" people need.

The mammoth dimensions of the iPad make it a perfect fit for any momsized purse – even while it’s fully loaded with coupons, keys, tissues, makeup accessories, and whatever various motherhood minutiae that have accumulated over the years.

Does the iPhone have a more-thanadequate camera with plenty of room for storing/editing photos? Yes. Does your mom care? No. Moms have a hard time seeing the sights while also remembering to snap some pics. The iPad allows moms to see the sights through a gigantic screen *while* taking nonstop pics of what they're not really experiencing.

Andy Sandford is a New York based comedian who has appeared on Conan and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Follow him on Twitter @andysandford or visit his website at www.andysandford.com

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I know you might think, "But desktops and laptops can be big and annoying.

Why don't moms love those?" Well, there's just something about a reliable, ergonomic keyboard that turns moms away. With the iPad's on-screen keyboard, Apple has made it clear that this thing is strictly for fun, because drafting anything too in-depth is an impossible nightmare. Save the emailing for that dusty PC in the dining room: the iPad is for mom games! Scrabble, Tetris, and Angry Birds (without reading glasses). Not to mention, having a computer shaped like a lunch tray allows your mom to watch HGTV on her couch while messaging you on Facebook to express her disgust for a complete stranger's floor plan. That type of boring shit only feels right on an iPad. Your mom's irrational love for her iPad may be confusing, but just try to accept it. If you are beyond the point of acceptance, don't worry: your mom has never closed a single app in her life.

They're ALL open. She doesn't know how to close them. At some point, she'll say that the thing is on the fritz, and that's when you tell her that they just do that over time; then throw it away and try your best to reignite her love for Sudoku.

Our moms deserve better!

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