entrepreneurship

“Vastly improving the life quality of the visually impaired” — a couple from Barcelona creates a solution that leverages AI and AR

On 03/02/2022, in 5G, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, Europe, experimentation, future, health, ideas, innovation, society, special needs, youth, by Daniel Christian

A couple from Barcelona built A.I. smart glasses to help their son see — from interestingengineering.com by Chris Young
Showing visually impaired people the way with their A.I. smart glasses.

Excerpt:

He and his wife, Constanza Lucero designed a pair of smart glasses that use artificial intelligence and augmented reality to indicate oncoming obstacles to wearers.
…
The couple drew from their respective fields — Puig is an electrical engineer and Lucero a doctor — to build smart glasses that overlay text and graphics over the real-time video feed of their users’ surroundings. They use A.I. algorithms that detect obstacles, signaling them to the wearer as they approach. Users gain added independence, and parents’ and loved ones’ peace of mind.

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything [Steve Grubbs]

On 03/01/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, accreditation, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), change, changing business models, collaboration, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, creativity, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, graphics, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, Metaverse, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, parents/guardians, participation, platforms, simulations, social learning / networks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, United States, vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything — from steve-grubbs.medium.com by Steve Grubs

Excerpts:

The recipe required key ingredients to happen. In addition to an accredited school to manage students, admissions and the for-credit learning, it also needed a platform. That’s where EngageVR comes in. There are other platforms that will ultimately host schools, perhaps AltSpace, Horizon or others, but the first is on Engage.
…
The bottom line is this: creators, coders, educators, entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, parents and students all played a role in finally bringing the first global virtual reality high school to life. It won’t be the last school to open in the metaverse, but to all those involved in this inaugural launch — the Neil Armstrongs of your age — a special tip of the hat today for having the vision and the willingness to launch a better and more equitable era of education.

Also see:

World’s First Metaverse VR High School Speech & Debate Tournament Announced for March — from victoryxr.com
NFT in Edu: What Does the Future Hold? — from gettingsmart.com by Rachelle Dené Poth
Geo Guessing Is Even More Fun In VR On The Meta Quest — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Living in a world of unicorns [Huff Eckert]

On 02/24/2022, in 5G, Asia, business, change, cryptocurrencies, education technology, entrepreneurship, future, game-changing environment, health, India, innovation, internet, Metaverse, society, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Living in a world of unicorns — from pwc.com by Vicki Huff Eckert
Venture-backed giants are scaling up and transforming markets as varied fintech, electric vehicles, and healthcare.

Excerpt:

During the pandemic, edtech unicorns raised (on an annualized basis) eight times the annual amount raised from 2016 through 2019. Tutoring platforms Byju (based in India) and Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang (based in China) received massive investment (each attracted $3 billion to $4 billion in funding between 2016 and 2021). The Business Standard reported that Byju had 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers as of September 2021.

This trend is just getting started—the convergence of the metaverse, crypto, and 5G has the potential to create a web 3.0 economy that we can’t yet fully envision, and that will evolve over the course of the decade.

The innovation imperative: Lessons from high-growth companies [Kark, Smith, DiLorenzo, & Bechtel]

On 02/24/2022, in business, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, entrepreneurship, higher education, ideas, innovation, platforms, technology (general), tools, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The innovation imperative: Lessons from high-growth companies — from deloitte.com by Khalid Kark, Tim Smith, Lou DiLorenzo Jr, and Mike Bechtel
Successful innovation functions display unique characteristics, one of them being technology’s prominent role in driving these initiatives. How can CIOs and technology leaders seize this opportunity and ensure they play a pivotal role in their company’s growth?

Excerpt:

Many enterprises now have an innovation function, whether it be a team that is dedicated to seeking out new opportunities or an executive tasked with finding new ways of working. But according to the latest Deloitte survey, only half of innovation efforts are achieving their desired value, and companies with successful innovation functions have unique characteristics. The study revealed that most leading companies view innovation as something both new—which can include new applications of existing tools—and improved—which may mean simply a measurable advance over legacy alternatives. This covers everything from incremental gains to moonshots.

Also see Deloitte’s Ten Types of Innovations.

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 [various at Forbes.com]

On 02/19/2022, in 21st century, Adobe, Asia, Blockchain, Canada, cryptocurrencies, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, Europe, ideas, India, innovation, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 — from forbes.com; edited by Michael del Castillo and Matt Schifrin; reported by Maria Abreu, Nina Bambysheva, Justin Birnbaum, Lauren Debter, Michael del Castillo, Steven Ehrlich, Chris Helman, Katie Jennings, Jeff Kauflin, Javier Paz, Jon Ponciano, Marie Schulte-Bockum
Cryptocurrencies hog the spotlight, but blockchain’s biggest innovations are below the surface, saving billions each year for the world’s largest companies.

Excerpt:

You’ve come a long way, blockchain! Since our inaugural roundup of the Blockchain 50, published in 2019, the billion-dollar companies (minimum, by sales or market value) on our annual list have moved beyond test projects and now rely on “distributed ledger” technology to do serious work. A lot of the action is in the back office, verifying insurance claims or facilitating real estate deals. It has also become vital to supply chains, whether checking the provenance of conflict minerals like cobalt or tracking auto parts for Renault. Nearly half of the Blockchain 50 are based outside the United States; 14% are Chinese. New this year: venture capital firms, which as a group invested more than $32 billion in the sector in 2021.

Technology We Need: Documenting the complete Learner Record [McClennen & Midles]

On 02/12/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, education, education technology, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, higher education, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, privacy, society, student-related, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Technology We Need: Documenting the complete Learner Record — from gettingsmart.com by Nate McClennen and Rebecca Midles

Key Points

Most innovative schools and a number of states have built Graduate Profiles/Learner Profiles and a handful have created K12 competency progressions that articulate pathways towards meeting the profile.
These learning organizations are using a learning management system (LMS) that does not accommodate comprehensive Learner Records, does not capture or report transparent growth to learners or their families and does not capture out-of-course learning experiences.
We issue a challenge to those building and creating solutions.

From DSC:
The above posting reminds me of the following graphic:

DC: Interesting –> The Gatherverse Summit

On 01/25/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, future, Metaverse, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

DC: Interesting. https://t.co/k3LvqL6u0g

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) January 24, 2022

Talk about engagement! Here are some fun ideas to engage your audience, class, and/or group!!! [Christian]

On 01/18/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Adobe, adult learning, attention, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, love of learning, Microsoft, multimedia, online learning, online media, participation, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart/connected TV, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
These ideas are specially meant for you entrepreneurs and vendors out there! Including such vendors and products such as Zoom, Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, and others!

This idea could also be profitable and fun for CMS/LMS vendors and products such as Instructure/Canvas, Blackboard Learn, D2L, Google Classroom and others!

How might we take engagement within an online-based learning environment to an entirely different level? Well, check out these ideas!

What if learning could feature more personality? Be more fun? Have shades of game shows even!? Yet at the same time, if you are a learner who ventures into the ideas that I’m about to suggest, you had better be ready to back up and explain your perspective/position!

Here’s what I’m getting at. You know when you are messaging you can insert some fun motion graphics into your message?

Well, what about if we could select from a bank of very short video clips during a live/synchronous discussion — or during an asynchronous-based discussion board posting — that contained a famous movie clip/message? Then, if you choose to do that, you are then required to explain your perspective/position.

Video	What the video could mean
“Beam me up Scotty! There’s no intelligent life down here.”	This is ridiculous. No one’s making any sense here.
“You meddling kids.” From various bad guys on Scooby-Doo.	You’re messing with me. I don’t agree with your perspective, and here’s why.
“That does not compute.” Spock from Star Trek.	I don’t agree with your answer. That doesn’t make any sense and here’s why.
“You can’t handle the truth.” Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men.”	Are you sure you want to know the truth about this topic? Can you handle such a truth? This is about to get real in here.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda. Star Wars	Take action on something; do something.
“I’ll be back.” Arnold Schwarzenegger in various films.	I’m stepping away from my desk…but I’ll be back soon. or You may have one this round, but I’ll be back for another round.

Learners within a learning community could use entertainment and have some fun while also having to backup their position/perspective! Talk about engagement! Shooooot.

And/or…learners could be like DJ’s at radio stations — and, on the fly, select from a bank of songs, audio-based noises and sounds!

The danger here is that humor can sometimes backfire and/or offend someone. So we would need to watch the content that’s available to choose from within the repositories of media. We would want to do some serious beta testing here to make sure things stay on the fun, entertaining, and educational sides of things.

Such an approach could introduce opportunities for creativity and for honing one’s ability to think on one’s feet. Also, learners could work on their communication skills as well as their ability to debate or persuade, or to practice some critical thinking.

While more gameshow-like on the surface, if you use such media, you have to explain why you used that media.

$20.8B of EdTech Venture Capital Investment in 2021 through more than 1,500 Funding Rounds [holoniq.com]

On 01/04/2022, in Asia, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, education technology, entrepreneurship, Europe, India, innovation, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Global EdTech Venture Capital Report – Full Year 2021 — from holoniq.com
$20.8B of EdTech Venture Capital Investment in 2021 through more than 1,500 Funding Rounds.

Excerpt:

EdTech Venture Capital reached 3x pre-pandemic investment levels in 2021, accelerating startups around the world with over $20B of funding. Fueled by a massive US and EU investment surge and India’s growth charging onwards, collectively global growth covered an $8B investment collapse from China and managed to set record growth for the sector.

Gaimin has developed an innovative solution to a modern computing problem [Noles]

On 12/29/2021, in 21st century, entrepreneurship, ideas, innovation, internet, telecommunications, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
An interesting approach.

Gaimin has developed an innovative solution to a modern computing problem — from innotechtoday.com by Corey Noles

Excerpt:

Rather than spending billions of dollars on building dedicated resource farms, Gaimin.io are accessing the worldwide gaming community, and utilizing and rewarding this global network of untapped, globally distributed resources of 1.5 billion processing power providers, connected by high-speed internet connections, which can be aggregated, consolidated and then utilized to satisfy any of the myriad of profitable current, and future, needs for processing power.

The Gaimin.io project connects the world’s largest supply of GPU processing power, which belongs to the 1.5 billion gaming PCs in the global gaming community, with the rapidly growing, worldwide demand for massive processing power.

Several items re: NFTs and the pros and cons of using them in our society today. How can the legal realm assist here?

On 12/27/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, career development, change, changing business models, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, innovation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Metaverse, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, pace of change, platforms, play, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As with many emerging technologies, there appear to be some significant pros and cons re: the use of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

The question I wonder about is: How can the legal realm help address the massive impacts of the exponential pace of technological change in our society these days? For examples:

How is — or should — the American Bar Association respond?
Law schools?
Lawyers?
Legislatures?
Judges?
Politicians and others?

Technicians, network engineers, data center specialists, computer scientists, and others also need to be asking themselves how they can help out in these areas as well.

Emphasis below is mine.

NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate — from wired.com by Gregory Barber
The sale of a piece of crypto art consumed as much energy as the studio uses in two years. Now the artist is campaigning to reduce the medium’s carbon emissions.

Excerpt:

The works were placed for auction on a website called Nifty Gateway, where they sold out in 10 seconds for thousands of dollars. The sale also consumed 8.7 megawatt-hours of energy, as he later learned from a website called Cryptoart.WTF.

NFTs And Their Role In The “Metaverse” — from 101blockchains.com by Georgia Weston

Many people would perceive NFTs as mere images of digital artworks or collectibles which they can sell for massive prices. However, the frenzy surrounding digital art in present times has pointed out many new possibilities with NFTs. For example, the NFT metaverse connection undoubtedly presents a promising use case for NFTs. The road for the future of NFTs brings many new opportunities for investors, enterprises, and hobbyists, which can shape up NFT usage and adoption in the long term.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are a new class of digital assets, which are unique, indivisible, and immutable. They help in representing the ownership of digital and physical assets on the blockchain. Starting from digital artwork to the gaming industry, NFTs are making a huge impact everywhere.

The decentralized nature of the blockchain offers the prospects for unlimited business opportunities and social interaction. Metaverse offers extremely versatile, scalable, and interoperable digital environments. Most important of all, the metaverse blends innovative technologies with models of interaction between participants from individual and enterprise perspectives.

From DSC:
How might the developments occurring with NFTs and the Metaverse impact a next-gen learning platform?

—–

Artist shuts down because people keep their work to make NFTs — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann
NFT theft is a huge problem

Someone is selling NFTs of Olive Garden locations that they do not own — from futurism.com by
And you can mint a breadstick NFT — for free, of course

Four resources relating to legaltech — from Zach Abramowitz

On 12/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), change, changing business models, collaboration, communications, disruption, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The following items are from a recent presentation by Zach Abramowitz entitled “Legal Disruption: Key Trends to Watch in 2022.” By the way, you can sign up for Zach’s legal newsletter at zachabramowitz.substack.com/

Marble Law

Darrow raises $20 million to uncover corporate legal violations and bring justice to all — from calcalistech.com by Meir Orbach
The Israeli startup is focused on locating violations that have caused damage to millions of people on average – the threshold for a potential class-action lawsuit

Excerpt:

Darrow has developed a machine learning-based platform which discovers legal violations by some of the biggest corporations in the world. Operating chiefly in the U.S., the company is focused on locating violations that have caused damage to millions of people on average – the threshold for a potential class-action lawsuit.

TermScout

Why school might look a little different these days — from dangerouslyirrelevant.org by Scott McLeod

If the vision of the “Web3” comes to fruition, how might these developments impact the future of lifelong learning? [Christian]

On 12/13/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, Australia, Blockchain, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, Europe, experimentation, Facebook / Meta Platforms, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, ideas, India, innovation, instructional design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, Metaverse, Michigan, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, online learning, online media, skills, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, UK, United States, vendors, web-based collaboration, Web3, by Daniel Christian

The next age of the internet could suck power away from Big Tech while living on the same backbone as cryptocurrencies. Here’s what to know about Web3. — from businessinsider.com by Katie Canales

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Web3 is the next generation of the internet and will exist on the blockchain.
It will be decentralized, meaning it won’t be controlled entities like Facebook or Google.
Twitter, GameStop, Reddit, and VC firm a16z are all putting resources into building Web3.

…

One aspect of the metaverse is that users will hopefully be able to go virtually from platform to platform with one single account — just like we will in Web3.

And NFTs, one-of-a-kind tokens representing your ownership of a virtual good, could be more easily bought and sold with cryptocurrencies within a space like Web3.

From DSC:
How might “Web3” translate into the future of lifelong learning? Here’s one vision/possibility:

Each person would have a learner profile/account that could seamlessly log into multiple education/training providers’ platforms and services. The results of that learning could be stored in one’s cloud-based learner profile. This type of next-generation learning platform would still need subject matter experts, instructional designers, programmers, and other team members. But the focus would be on building skills — skills that an artificial intelligence-backed interface would demonstrate are currently being requested by the modern workplace. This constantly-being-updated list of skills could then link to the learning-related experiences and resources that people could choose from in order to develop those skills.

The following vision/graphic also comes to my mind:

Learning Ecosystems

“Vastly improving the life quality of the visually impaired” — a couple from Barcelona creates a solution that leverages AI and AR

Living in a world of unicorns [Huff Eckert]

The innovation imperative: Lessons from high-growth companies [Kark, Smith, DiLorenzo, & Bechtel]

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 [various at Forbes.com]

DC: Interesting –> The Gatherverse Summit

$20.8B of EdTech Venture Capital Investment in 2021 through more than 1,500 Funding Rounds [holoniq.com]

Gaimin has developed an innovative solution to a modern computing problem [Noles]

Several items re: NFTs and the pros and cons of using them in our society today. How can the legal realm assist here?

Four resources relating to legaltech — from Zach Abramowitz

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