People are turning their back on those big box businesses who want them to produce more with less and still pay them peanuts (increases not even close to the pace of inflation) while those at the top get even record bonuses. Workers realize in the era of COVID do i want to risk my life to produce products or offer services in which they are not fairly compensated for their efforts. Big corporate greed has finally reached that tipping point where workers are starting their own businesses.
People selling their own products online at Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, Craigslist or their own site. They are offering their services thru Facebook and Instagram. There are startup accelerators, cohorts and share office spaces popping up all over the USA and other countries around the globe. Small business will grow big just by treating their people right and have a built in compensation package where every one shares in success. .
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Materials Not just for quantum computing could be a game changer for electronics and the sensor field “Now, in a paper in Nature Materials, a team led by foundry co-director and UC Santa Barbara materials professor Stephen Wilson reports that a material developed in the Quantum Foundry as a candidate superconductor — a material in which electrical resistance disappears and magnetic fields are expelled…” check out article from materialstoday.com
Being able to change a material’s state from flexible to ridged load bearing state on command could have numerous possibilities in construction, medical, transportation… “Engineers at Caltech and JPL have developed a material inspired by chain mail that can transform from a foldable, fluid-like state into specific solid shapes under pressure…” check out article from scitechdaily.com
Agriculture Bees are not the only pollinators in critical decline, increase your monarch butterfly population to help your crop yields. “Wisconsin Monarch Collaborative members expect that the pace of milkweeds and nectar plants added to Wisconsin’s landscape will pick up,” said Jones. “There is an unprecedented level of attention and funding now going to monarch and other pollinator habitats both nationally and in Wisconsin. Governments, non-profits, and individuals are all focusing on the task.” See the article in Successful Farming
Agriculture business on a steep growth curve looking for employees will be investing in more automation along the supply chain. “The most significant and lasting impact from COVID will be an acceleration in automation,” Dan Kowalski, vice president of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange division, said in a news release. “And it will affect the entire supply chain from field to grocery and restaurants. It won’t be an overnight transformation, but much larger investments in technology now will lead to a much more automated supply chain over the next few years.” …. See article inIllinois Farmer Today
Medical Still looking for that inexpensive rapid testing for COVID-19 there may already be a solution out there. “Researchers from the University of Birmingham have confirmed the speed, accuracy and simplicity of a novel, highly sensitive testing method for COVID-19 that can be deployed at entertainment venues, airport arrival terminals, and in remote settings where clinical testing laboratories are not available.” … see article from Med tech Innovation News
The IoT of healthy things that monitor your health metrics looking at possible challenges in the future. “Wearables and other remote patient monitoring tools have expanded patient care beyond the walls of brick-and-mortar clinics....Even as these devices have widened access, however, the "internet of healthy things" has also meant more potential privacy issues, explained experts in a HIMSS21 Global Conference Digital session available on demand this week”… see more at Healthcare IT News
Venture Funding SoftBank $100 Billion Vision Funddeveloping many start-ups … SoftBank and its $100 billion Vision Fund, the world’s largest technology investor, have massively disrupted start-up investment and deployed about $80 billion. The Japanese company run by Masayoshi Son has put almost $40 billion into 19 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies — 14 on the 2019 Disruptor 50 list. The Vision Fund has made unprecedented VC investments in late-stage companies seeking between 20% to 40% ownership, according to one partner. SoftBank now plans to launch another $100 billion fund, called Vision Fund II. …
Investing in Proptech a fast growing market … Seeking an Edge, Developers and Investors Turn to ‘Proptech’ The swelling market for property technology to help buy, sell and manage properties has attracted building owners as well as venture capitalists. … A May 7, 2019 by Lisa Prevost
Electronics Displays Build Directly on the Human Body “…The device contained a new type of dielectric material — in the form of ceramic nanoparticles embedded in a rubbery polymer — that increased the brightness compared with existing ACEL displays…” “…Dr. Desheng Kong and colleagues used this material to make a four-digit stopwatch display, which they mounted onto a volunteer’s hand. A paper describing the team’s device was published October 4, 2019 in the journal ACS Materials Letters….”
Kit Converts Raspberry Pi into Home Automation … Raspberry Pi can be used as an Alexa or Amazon Echo type of home automation device thanks to a $29 kit from the Geek Shop. The Geek Shop calls the kit ‘The Complete Raspberry Pi and Alexa A-Z Bundle’. The bundle contains four courses which demonstrate how to make a range of home automation tools. … A May 17, 2019 in Electronics Weekly
Mechanics Radiant Cooling for Remote Locations or Enhancing Existing Cooling Systems “…The key to the functioning of this simple, inexpensive system is a special kind of insulation, made of a polyethylene foam called an aerogel. This lightweight material, which looks and feels a bit like marshmallow, blocks and reflects the visible rays of sunlight so that they don't penetrate through it. But it's highly transparent to the infrared rays that carry heat, allowing them to pass freely outward….” The new system is described today in a paper in the journal Science Advances, by MIT graduate student Arny Leroy, professor of mechanical engineering and department head Evelyn Wang, and seven others at MIT and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Commuter Bike shows the Right Stuff … No two commutes are exactly the same. Where you live, where you work, and what you do all play a role in shaping your route—and the gear you need. … May 16th, 2019 by Bradley Ford
Biomedical Humans Regrow Damaged Cartilage “...According to a new study published in the journal Science Advances, cartilage in our joints can repair itself through a process similar to that used by highly regenerative animals such as axolotl, zebrafish, and bichir….”
Energy / Environmental Removing Carbon Dioxide from the Surrounding Air in the Battle against Climate Change “A new way of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of air could provide a significant tool in the battle against climate change. The new system can work on the gas at virtually any concentration level, even down to the roughly 400 parts per million currently found in the atmosphere.” …The technique, based on passing air through a stack of charged electrochemical plates, is described in a new paper in the journal, by MIT postdoc Sahag Voskian, who developed the work during his PhD, and T. Alan Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering…"