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Archive for Technology – Page 14

Discord, the Gamer’s Platform

Posted by SamDiehl

· Friday, October 12th, 2018

· 2 Comments

Stanislav Vishnevskiy, co-founder of Discord

There a lot of people that play video games in the world. That number is estimated to be around 2.5 billion and rapidly climbing. That is a lot of people, and those people want to connect with others just them. In comes Discord, a platform for the gamers of the world. Discord was created by Stanislav Vishnevskiy and his business partner Jason Citron. Discord is a cloud-based server farm that allows any of its users to create servers for means of communication between them and any members of the server.

Discord was also built on the foundation that customizability is key. Servers can have scripts and bots written into the servers that can auto-reply, auto-post, all those sorts of things. You think it, odds are a Discord server can take care of it. Granted many of these automatic bots are written by high knowledge programmers, but that also gives them an outlet to experiment in their own time. Discord has heavily disrupted the gaming communication industry. Beforehand many people used services like Skype or TeamSpeak, but with Discord the perfect match of lightweight, user-friendly program meets super reliable communication service. The service really has started to revolutionize the way gamers communicate and get to know others. Some users have even gone as far to say that it is the equivalent of Facebook for gamers, the perfect service that meets all their needs and connects with new people from around the world.

Vishnevskiy and Citron really took advantage of a specific niche. Gamers that wanted to communicate with each other, but did not have a well-put together service that allowed them to do just that. Discord today has over 90 million registered users from just the meager 10 they started out with as a test run. Vishnevskiy and Citron continue to push Discord further than ever and who knows what the service will be able to provide next? Discord has been a true example of a disruptive force upon an industry that seemed to have all its players set in stone.

2 Comments

Categories : Communication, Online Companies, Software, Technology, Uncategorized, Video Games

The Billion-Dollar Basement Startup

Posted by PlominskiCC18

· Wednesday, October 10th, 2018

· 6 Comments

Beginning his career in IT consulting, Carl Rodrigues quit his sound job in 2001 with a mission to innovate something extraordinary. It is said that Rodrigues quit his job without any real idea. A risky move for someone who had relatively little savings. After a month, Rodrigues created a software platform which integrated the use of your mobile phone from your laptop.

Image result for carl rodrigues

This is a very useful platform for business professionals who work on their computers all day but might have their assistant answer calls during the day. It allows for the executives, per say, to control their phone from their computer. Rodrigues named his company Soti. His first twelve months were slow, according to the BBC article. Today, Soti is valued at over $1 billion. Rodrigues’ success is a tribute to hard work, dedication, and the willingness to believe in himself despite what others say.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40504764

6 Comments

Categories : App, Business, Software, Technology

Tetra – Calls Transcribed

Posted by SamDiehl

· Wednesday, October 10th, 2018

· 5 Comments

Jon Goldsmith and Nikolas Liolio of Tetra

It all started as a hobby for Phillips Exeter Academy students Jon Goldsmith and Nikolas Liolio. Putting together simple machine-learning models, expanding on them, advancing them with higher-level algorithms. It was good, educating fun for the both of them as they approached their high school graduation and would be heading off to college, but then another opportunity arose. Jon and Nik saw the opportunity to take one of their side projects and incubate it into a major, ground-breaking idea. They were working on various programs that took machine-learning and implemented it into voice recognition and translation, something that has been rising in the tech world for the past few years. However, their idea was a little different than that of the self-translating earbuds or just simple speech-to-text.

They wanted to implement artificial intelligence inside a voice-translation phone app and have the app take down notes specific to each person for later review. Thus, Ask Tetra was born. Ask Tetra, mostly referred to as just Tetra, implements a personal, as well as business, phone app that takes a recording throughout any call and transcribes what was said by each party of the call. Though the base of this idea had been flushed out across many different platforms over the past couple years, Tetra did something very unique to the whole conference call environment. Tetra actively used its AI capabilities to scrub through the transcripts to suggest highlights throughout the call, to ensure all the important talking points can be remembered and referenced later on. In this way, Tetra allows for conference calls to not have to be a constant overlapping of people talking, and people missing out on key information that then either needs to be repeated constantly, or simply forgotten all together.

Jon and Nik should be viewed as models of the new-age entrepreneur. They are young, open-minded individuals who took one of their shared passions, gave it some time to develop, and then took a leap into the industry of consumer tech with their new, ground-breaking idea. Jon and Nik have been able to amass quite a number of backers and investors to keep their idea growing and their company expanding. What once started off as a two man project has now grown to roughly a thirty man operation worth over $1 million , and is working harder now than ever to implement their innovative tech with the web communication giants of today’s world.

5 Comments

Categories : Artificial Intelligence, Communication, Technology

Pain turned Innovation: The Story of Diapack

Posted by YoungLB18

· Tuesday, October 9th, 2018

· 2 Comments

John Jones and Elliot Young were just freshman at Wheaton College, located just outside of Chicago, IL, when they decided to start a company benefiting diabetics around the globe.

Jones, a Type 1 diabetic himself, was all too familiar with the day in day out struggle of protecting his supplies and the shame that was brought upon by carrying a large medicine bag. Diapack is a product that refrigerates and stores medicine for diabetics in a safe, functional, non-eye catching way.

John Jones ’21.

These two students brought their idea to Wheaton College’s Shark Tank competition and Elevator Pitch competition. They won Shark Tank and was mentored by some of the world’s biggest medical startups. After the Elevator Pitch competition Jones and Young were offered $30,000 by a VC, which would fund 30% of their company.

However, the boys said “No thank you.”

They said “by declining the offer we believe we gave ourselves the opportunity to rethink what it means for us to be entrepreneurs. I also suppose, deep in our hearts, we did not feel prepared to be full-time entrepreneurs while going into our sophomore years at Wheaton” (Wheaton College).

Even though the boys turned down a once-in-a-lifetime offer, they had their priorities straightened out. And who knows, Diapack might start up after the young men graduate. However, I admire Jones and his ability to see an issue, and instead of sitting back, to act upon it. The innovation that came from a problem affecting thousands of people because one college freshman was fed up, is deeply inspiring. I personally struggle with letting the fear of the unknown get in the way of innovation. But Jones and Young did not let the fear of the grandeur of the medical world stop them from creating a product that could reinvent how diabetics live everywhere.

I believe that college students here at Grove City College, and around the world, could take a few notes of what these young men have done. There are problems all around us, we just need to develop the ability to see them, feel the pain, and make a change. I think another thing we can learn from Jones and Young is to not let our potential future fog what is right in front of us. The men had a great idea that can make a huge difference in the medical world, but they believe God has them where they are right now for a specific purpose and decided to embrace that.

Am I saying their decision to turn down the VC funding was the right one? Not necessarily, however, I am saying that we have been called to live in the moment and not worry about tomorrow. God has given these men a talent and a passion that could turn into a successful career, but He has also blessed them with the opportunity to go to a well respected College, to learn, and to grow, and they are taking a hold of that.

Seek out pain, make a difference, but do not forget where you are and what you are being called to right now.

Wheaton College. (2018, September 17). A Different Kind of Growth. Retrieved October 9, 2018, from https://www.wheaton.edu/news/recent-news/2018/september/a-different-kind-of-growth/#.W50lUHq2Fqw.facebook

2 Comments

Categories : Medical, Social Entrepreneur

Robotic Farming

Posted by FilbyGC1

· Monday, October 8th, 2018

· 2 Comments

It seems like something straight out of science fiction, but indoor “vertical farming” might just be the future of agriculture. Bowery Farming is a kale-filled farming startup located in northern New Jersey. Irving Fain, the Co-Founder and CEO, wants to connect one of the world’s largest industries with cutting-edge technology.

This modern farming company is pursuing a mission which might just change the future of food and agriculture. Bowery Farming’s proprietary software makes this company so unique. The software makes critical decisions like when to harvest and when to water each plant.

Bowery Farming wants to leverage automation and software with controlled, indoor environments to create a new way of growing food locally. Bowery Farming boast that their facilities are over 100x more productive than the same amount of farmland while using no pesticides and 95% less water.

Irving Fain and Bowery Farming want to give the world improved access to healthier food by better utilizing the resources around us.

2 Comments

Categories : Agriculture, Engineering, Robotics, Technology

Shave Time Shave Money: A Dollar Shave Club

Posted by stewartlg1

· Sunday, October 7th, 2018

· 4 Comments

When a friend of a friend approached Michael Dubin at a party in 2011 about needing help moving a surplus of razors, a light bulb went off in Dubin’s head that would result in a billion dollar deal 5 years later. He thought of the tremendous hassle that comes with purchasing overpriced razors with extraneous features, and realized that if he could eliminate the need to go to a store and provide simple razors for cheaper- real men would appreciate the result.

It only took a week for him to buy the domain, dollarshaveclub.com, and within a few months he had quit his job to work on his new company, Dollar Shave Club, full time. Although the shaving industry was already packed with competitors all trying to make their razors bigger and better, Dubin’s razor took it back to basics and proved to be exactly what the world needed. In March 2012, a Dollar Shave Club went live as its promotional video, featuring Dubin, was posted on Youtube. Dubin’s lack of seriousness and comedic encounters around a large warehouse proved to be the perfect pitch for his company, with 12,000 orders the day of release.

As Dollar Shave Club began to grow and succeed, Dubin was excited to expand his product line from strictly razors, but to oral care and shower supplies. Each year his sales more than doubled and by 2016 he had an offer of 1 billion dollars from Unilever for the company. Dubin never had any intention to sell his company so young, but with the promise that Dollar Shave Club wouldn’t change from its initial intention, he started to entertain the idea. What could he do for the business with 25% more time and no worry of running out of money? So in his hotel room, still in his pajamas, he hit okay and the deal was finalized.

Now with over 3 million subscribers, Michael Dubin is enjoying the life of a CEO with no financial burden and a Dollar Shave Club is continuing to grow and advance.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290539

4 Comments

Categories : Business, Technology

Christopher Gray – Scholly – Scholarships

Posted by warricknj18

· Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018

· 4 Comments

Christopher Gray grew up in poverty in Birmingham, Alabama. He had a single mom, and two younger siblings. None of his family had ever gone to college, but he was hoping to be the first. He did not really have anyone to help him pay for college, since his mom had lost her job during the recession in 2008. He was determined to find out how to get to and pay for college, so he started looking for scholarships. He did not have a computer at home, so he used the library computers where usage time was limited. He would also write his application essays on paper at home, then type them into the application on his phone. All of his hard work paid off, though. In the end, his total was $1.3 million in scholarships that he had earned.
Christopher could have stopped there and been satisfied with just going to college and living his own life, but he did not. He knew that there were thousands of other people just like him who wanted or needed scholarships, but there was not a good process out there for finding them. He also learned that about $100 million in scholarships go unclaimed each year.
So, he started Scholly, an online program to match students with scholarships. He developed a patent-pending algorithm to select the scholarships that fit each student, based on information about them. His major breakthrough came when he appeared on Shark Tank in November, 2015. Within the first few hours after the show was aired, Scholly received 80,000 requests. Scholly now has almost two million users. It has also connected students with over $100 million in scholarships to further their education.
Christopher Gray is an excellent example of someone who saw and experienced a problem, and figured out how to fix it. He has made the lives of many future college students much easier, and he looks forward to continuing to do that with further innovations to the program.

4 Comments

Categories : App, Business, College, Education, Social Entrepreneur, Technology

Braigo- The New Way to Read Online

Posted by kinneywa17

· Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018

· No Comments

Shubham Banerjee is making big waves in the blind community. With a startup called Braigo Labs he is able to sell low cost printers that change internet text directly into Braille. This idea is revolutionary because before this technology existed all internet sights would have to be read aloud by the computer. This technology puts the power back into the hands of the blind. No more having to rely on a computer voice to tell you what is happening on screen

Banjeree has a vision to bring medicine and technology together in the right ways. To ensure that innovation is not being used for profit but to better the community around us. This is the vision that I believe many entrepreneurs should have. The “people first, money second” thought process, brings more people together and ultimately brings more people on board for the idea.

No Comments

Categories : Great Ideas, Medical, Medicine, Technology

This Australian Teen is Worth How Much?

Posted by fisherkoons

· Monday, October 1st, 2018

· 2 Comments

Ben Pasternak, teen genius, is changing the social technology industry at just 19. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pasternak was raised in an average home with parents who supported him greatly throughout his upbringing. One day during a boring high school science class, Pasternak completed his first app, Impossible Rush. Impossible Rush and his second app Impossible Dial were wildly successful, pulling millions of downloads and were both the No. 1 trending app in multiple countries. The success of this young teen was the beginning of his career and lead to him being the youngest recipient of venture capital for technology at just 15 years old. He proceeded to drop out high school to focus completely on his career in technology. It was this decision as well as incredible opportunity that lead him to relocate to a $5,000/month New York City flat. Pasternak’s next project was an Ebayesque app that was specifically made for teens called Flogg. By the age of just 17, Pasternak was worth over a whopping 2 million dollars, but he was heavily restricted by his parents as well as business partners so as to not let the teenager waste it carelessly. He was named one of TIME magazines most influential teens in 2016.

This Australian teen is inspiring because he is true to himself and extremely relatable. He cannot cook anything other freezer-isle pizza, forgets to pay his rent, and refuses to learn how to drive. He believes that cars will be a thing of the past soon enough that getting a license is a waste of time at this point. Pasternak is your every day teenage with a brilliant method behind his success. He claims that the secret formula is truly understanding your target audience. Ben has accomplished this quite accurately because he is his target audience at old 19 years of age. While middle aged individuals try to crack the code and get into the mind of a teen, Pasternak is at quite the advantage. Due to this method of his, Pasternak has comprised his team of extremely young individuals, the oldest (COO) being 30. Ben Pasternak and his now business partner, Isiah Turner, are co-founders of the app “Monkey”. The high school dropout described this new venture as, “a randomized video-chat program for teenagers… Chatroulette, without the pervs”. Funded by $2 million in angel investments, Monkey quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of users who made more than 250 million calls. Pasternak and Turner describe Monkey’s purpose as to, “fill the loneliness void in teenagers’ by helping them make internet friends around the world, who they can then talk to on Snapchat.” Monkey has an extremely strict code of conduct, and prides itself as being a ‘safe space’ for young users.

Ben Pasternak is changing the way young teens are viewing their careers. Their entire perspective on entrepreneurship and social technology is being shaped in completely different ways. All of this and more is being accomplished by your typical teen with yeezys and a hoverboard.

2 Comments

Categories : App, Creating, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Services, Smartphone, Social Media, Technology, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Tags : resale, Social Media, Technology, teen entrepreneurs