New Florence. New Renaissance.

The Science behind March Madness

Bracketodds, one of many sites which are using basketball “big data” to generate, well predictive analytics.

“Welcome to bracketodds.cs.illinois.edu, a website to evaluate seed distributions in the later rounds of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, commonly referred to as March Madness. This tool uses principles from probability theory and operations research to model the likelihood that a set of seeds will reach a particular round of the tournament. The analytics behind this tool can be found in an article that appeared in the journal, OMEGA”

Ikea’s Flat-Pack Home

“The Swedish furniture giant is famed the world over for its affordable furniture and accessories, but this is the first time it’s come up with a building in which you can put it all.

Called aktiv and retailing for $86,500, the house will be the first in a series of designs offering people an eco-friendly Swedish-inspired home with a functional, wide-open living area that makes careful use of all the available space.”

Digital Trends

Credit to Dennis Howlett for bringing to my attention

Generation Flux

“The business climate, it turns out, is a lot like the weather. And we've entered a next-two-hours era. The pace of change in our economy and our culture is accelerating--fueled by global adoption of social, mobile, and other new technologies--and our visibility about the future is declining. From the rise of Facebook to the fall of Blockbuster, from the downgrading of U.S. government debt to the resurgence of Brazil, predicting what will happen next has gotten exponentially harder. Uncertainty has taken hold in boardrooms and cubicles, as executives and workers (employed and unemployed) struggle with core questions: Which competitive advantages have staying power? What skills matter most? How can you weigh risk and opportunity when the fundamentals of your business may change overnight?”

“Any business that ignores these transformations does so at its own peril. Despite recession, currency crises, and tremors of financial instability, the pace of disruption is roaring ahead. The frictionless spread of information and the expansion of personal, corporate, and global networks have plenty of room to run. And here's the conundrum: When businesspeople search for the right forecast--the road map and model that will define the next era--no credible long-term picture emerges. There is one certainty, however. The next decade or two will be defined more by fluidity than by any new, settled paradigm; if there is a pattern to all this, it is that there is no pattern. The most valuable insight is that we are, in a critical sense, in a time of chaos.”

FastCompany

Trailfinders – a brick and mortar survivor

I used Trailfinders extensively to book international travel in the 80s and 90s. I would originate and travel in London to be able to take advantage of their fares, global travel insurance and intelligence about travel to all kinds of destinations.

In recent years, I seem to use a travel agent, oh maybe once a year – usually a vendor’s agent to make reservation to one of their events. And even that conversation is electronic. I cannot remember the last time I walked into a travel agent’s office.

So, imagine my surprise when I recently got an email from Trailfinders announcing their 25th store. They continue to innovate and thrive as this interview with Managing Director Tony Russell shows. Since their formation in 1970, they have serviced over 12 million customers.

Photo Credit

A picture is worth a thousand calories

A picture can be worth a thousand calories or 800 or 1,800 through a new smartphone application being developed at Purdue University to help the health and diet conscious track their caloric intake by taking a picture of their food.

The application counts more than calories. It also provides information on the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates in food through the Technology Assisted Dietary Assessment system, or TADA, being developed by Purdue's College of Health and Human Sciences and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Purdue University saw it courtesy of Frank Scavo 

Help a Blogger Out – Book giveaway

Chris Jablonski who writes the Emerging Tech blog for ZDNet asked to interview me on my new book. Then, in an innovative twist befitting a book on innovation, he asked to do it in the style of this Esquire magazine interview of actor Willem Dafoe and sent me the prompter phrases below.

All I have to do is come up with some semi-smart answers:)

Well, in my own innovation, I would love to involve my readers. Please send me your suggested answers – any or all – by Friday, March 22. The 3 most innovative (humorous, quirky, creative) sets of answers will qualify for a free copy of my new book.

• Most tech companies
• Dennis Howlett is the only
• Technology driven inspiration
• Writing a blog
• Microsoft should have never
• Both SAP and Oracle
• The biggest misconception about innovation
• Deal Architect has taught me
• I really hope society
• I often think automation
• I will never interview
• Most businesses think Gartner
• One thing about ZDNet
• The New Technology Elite
• On matters of sustainability
• Twitter is to Facebook as

Please email your answers to thenewtechnologyelite AT gmail DOT com. Look forward to some fun! Thanks

Technology and St. Patrick’s Day

“The upgraded version of the Guinness St. Patrick's Day app will help users learn even more about both the famous product and well-known holiday…Fantastic sound and wonderful improved design will captivate customers worldwide. The Guinness St. Patrick's Day app remains as fascinating as ever, though it gets more educational rather than commercial. What is more, the number of supported localizations in the new version increased: now this app is available in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Greece, Poland and Belgium.”

Intellecsoft developer of the iOS apps for Diageo, makers of Guinness

Dude, you are getting the New iPad

Samsung may have coined the putdown line – Dude, you’re a barista - for days like today when Apple fans line up for hours. But their excitement has long buried the Dell dude who a decade ago defined customer glee over new electronics.

Photo Credit

Top Cruise Ships

Conde Nast Traveler ranks the top 100 cruise ships, and has a photo gallery of many of them. While it scored them on itineraries, shore excursions, dining, crew/service, the cabins and design/layout show the magnificent range of technology on board like in the spa on the Seabourn Soujorn.

Florida Tech

Nice profile in Florida Trend of the major institutes in the state and their diversity: Scripps, Sanford-Burnham, Torrey Pines Molecular Studies, Max Planck, Harbor Beach Oceanographic and SRI Marine Tech (in photo)