If you’re a social media novice, hashtags — those short links preceded by the pound sign (#) — may seem confusing and unnecessary. But they are integral to the way we communicate online, and it’s important to know how to use them (even though some people, like Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake, are not the biggest fans). Plus, they can be a lot of fun.

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Wisconsin businesses would be allowed to sell stock online under a bill the state Assembly overwhelmingly approved Tuesday.

The Republican measure would let businesses use a model popularized by crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which allow the public to donate money to help finance projects. Contributors often receive a gift or sample product such as T-shirts and bumper stickers.

Programming is an abstract and often private pursuit. But wearable computing projects--made with purpose-built microcontrollers like the Adafruit FLORA--have the potential to change all that, catapulting coding into a vastly more mainstream hobby. But before we’re all wearing “smart” jackets and carrying “context aware” bags, a new generation of coders has to emerge and take the reins on a new and foreign paradigm.

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I challenge all consultants to spend some time — at least a year — back in a “real” job, working shoulder to shoulder with the same kinds of people who pay for their advice. So few authors and experts are willing to do this, because they’re afraid. They know it’s much harder to be accountable for a real team, in a real company, for a real project, than it is to critique and advise from the safety of the sidelines.

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A company noticed a strange anomaly: One of its manufacturing plants had a significantly lower scrap rate. That little finding and its consequences illustrate a point that managers often overlook in their search for innovation: Sometimes it’s better to think inside the box.

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Sexual tension will always exist in the workplace. Affairs happen, and where there’s even the possibility of sex, there’s gossip.

Sex — or the specter of it — haunts sponsorship, prompting men and women to avoid the professional partnerships necessary to achieve their career goals for fear of being censured, fired, or sued. My research shows that 64% of senior men (vice president and above) and 50% of up-and-coming women admit they’re hesitant to initiate any sort of one-on-one with each other lest their motives be misconstrued by their colleagues and rumors start poisoning the workplace. When affairs  — or even the perception of one — are present, 70% of women surveyed say the junior female disproportionately bears the brunt, and 53% of male respondents agree.

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Being an entrepreneur has become something of a fad lately. When everyone you meet claims to be an entrepreneur, how can you spot the real from the fake entrepreneurs? Inc offers a seven characteristics of true entrepreneurs. Here’s one:

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Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs

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Silicon Valley is certainly the place to be for tech innovation. But San Diego, home to Qualcomm and a number of other wireless companies, can hold its own when it comes to health and wireless technology.

A new incubator-accelerator called Wireless Health Hub is launching there with the hope of strengthening the innovation ecosystem. Created by the non-profit SoCal Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Development, which works to attract and support entrepreneurs and create sustainable job growth in Southern California, the incubator-accelerator is taking a long-term view of helping companies grow.

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CAN we ever trust the Internet again? Enlarge This Image

In the wake of the disclosures about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, considerable attention has been focused on the agency’s collaboration with companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google, which according to leaked documents appear to have programmed “back door” encryption weaknesses into popular consumer products and services like Hotmail, iPhones and Android phones.

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“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” ~ John Wooden

This is not some secret sauce, code or insider information and it’s not complicated. Likeability is a powerful, intangible super power to have.

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This month's edition of The Pulse podcast features an interview with Ken Hartman, a senior fellow at Eduventures and former president of Drexel University Online. In the interview with Rodney B. Murray, host of The Pulse, Hartman covers the waterfront of current issues in higher education and education technology, from trends in online learning to current controversies involving accreditation to promising new companies and technologies.

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I’ve often said that to run a startup you almost have to abstract yourself from the daily stresses and grind just to exist. You almost have to have an out-of-body experience as though it’s not really your life but it’s just a game you’re playing in order to not be buried by the burdens of your decisions.

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3D printing is capturing the attention of a lot of people these days, with promises to disrupt the manufacturing process. Devices that can produce finished objects from malleable substrates conjure up utopian visions of Star Trek-like replicators. The promise: We will eventually build anything we want at the touch of a button.

But like many promises of technology that will usher in a golden age, the reality is far less shiny. 3D printing will change the way goods are manufactured, but the old ways will still essentially remain in play, albeit with some changes.

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Should you invest in advertising your app or digital content? Did they know that they might be the next Internet hit in Japan? At B Dash Camp  013 in Osaka, Japan, four panelists, Hiroki Teshima (United Inc and maker of COCOPPA), Shin Murakami (Yahoo Japan), Eiji Takahashi (Alim) and Shinji Kimura (Gunosy Inc) took to a hearty discussion about the elements that go behind a successful hit app moderated by Katsuaki Sato (Metaps).

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A year ago, I had an idea. What if recruiters like myself leveraged LinkedIn to help nonprofits find talented staff members? I was inspired to bring Recruiters for Good (RFG) to life for a few reasons.

I wanted to help budget-strapped nonprofits recruit top talent, as we know talent is the #1 driver of an organization’s success and the nonprofit sector is in many ways in greatest need of improving talent recruitment efforts.

Anyone who has ever feared getting a flu shot should thank the University’s Tech Transfer and FluMist.

FluMist, a painless alternative to the flu shot, was one of the inventions developed in Tech Transfer, a 20-year-old University program that helps faculty members and researchers develop and commercialize inventions and companies.

The University’s Office Technology Transfer reported this week that it had harbored a record 421 new inventions in the 2013 fiscal year.

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The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) today announced the election of its 2014 Board of Directors and new officers. Kevin Byrne, MBA, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of The University Financing Foundation, Inc. (TUFF), will serve as President of its Board of Directors in 2014. Byrne had previously served as AURP president in 2012.

"AURP plays a vital role in fostering collaboration between the university and the private sector. We have a lot of work to accomplish to expand communities of innovation around the world, and I look forward to serving the association as President of the Board," said Byrne.

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. Most importantly, the buck stops with you, so there is no room for excuses and negativity.

Even listening often to negative team members and partners will reinforce negative thinking and behavior, and turn your normally positive perspective toxic. I’ve seen it too often in real life, and it was reinforced to me a while back in a book by Trevor Blake, “Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life.”

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