Mobile phones have helped close the gap between people, connecting friends, family and co-workers across wide distances. But the lines of communication don’t follow traditional state and city boundaries and instead reflect different social influences and relationships that are sometimes harder to understand.

But a new data and visualization project called the Connected States of America helps bring some focus into the way mobile phones facilitate communications and shows how conversations and text-messages bind areas and regions together, even ones that are far apart. Researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab, AT&T Labs-Research and IBM Research showed off their work Wednesday, which takes anonymous aggregated AT&T mobile phone data and creates interactive maps illustrating where calls and text messages are placed and where they connect to.

Spectacular new technology and research parks are under way or in the planning stages around the globe. These parks are increasingly focusing on specific technologies such as clean technology or aerospace.

Singapore is no stranger to world-renowned research parks. JTC Corp., which developed the Biopolis life sciences research complex, is under way with parks focusing on clean technology and digital media.

The 50-hectare (123.5-acre) CleanTech Park is slated to be developed over the next two decades with a completion date of 2030. Developers say its first building, known as CleanTech One, will be completed by the end of 2011. The six-story, two-tower building will have 37,500 sq. m. (403,875 sq. ft.) of floor space. It will provide lab and office space for cleantech companies and will also serve as the gateway into the park.

How much food did you eat yesterday? What about the day before? You probably know generally, but we're in an age now of hyper measurements of personal data and it's high time you could track what you had eaten every day and every meal. That's what new startup

Foodzy helps you do. There are also obvious health benefits. If you can measure your food, you can measure your calories, and then eat fewer of them. Especially if your friends are there keeping you honest. Foodzy, a self-funded startup based in Amsterdam, launched in private beta in April and opened to the public this week. Users can save their data for a limited time for free, or get full access to your data, charts, and diet planning for $15 a year. Says Marjolijn Kamphuis, one of Foodzy's founders: "Being a big food lover, I've always had a hard time keeping my weight steady. The problem is that in the long term, diets are extremely unhealthy and they are hard to maintain. The best way to stay fit is by eating varied, not too much and not too little."

The newly published Global Innovation Index 2011 report ranks 125 countries/economies across the world in terms of their innovation capabilities and results. The Report highlights those countries that achieve more innovation outputs surmounting weaknesses from the input side -- the efficient innovators -- and those that lag behind in fulfilling their innovation potential. Innovation performances are analyzed in reference to the income and regional groups.

The research defines Innovation to include new or significantly improved product, processes and methods in the provision of services; in business and organizational models; in low-tech industries; through creative imitation and technological catch-up; at the public level or at the level of society, all constitute innovations.

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a “rule of thumb” every patent can add up to $1M to your startup valuation for investors, or for M&A exits (merger and acquisition).

The bad news is that patent trolls can squeeze the lifeblood out of innocent and unsuspecting entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the current mess around Lodsys patent No. 7222078. This patent holding company is charging infringement and demanding royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years.

Is being an entrepreneur in your DNA, or can it be taught? A new study from Babson College finds the evidence is "overwhelming" that if business students take at least two core entrepreneurship classes, that can "positively influence" them to go on to start up a business.

Professors at the Wellesley, Massachusetts-based college analyzed a survey of some 3,755 alumni and found that two ("or better yet three") entrepreneurship classes strongly affected students’ decisions to pursue start-ups, and that writing a student business plan also had some influence, though not as strong.

Successful entrepreneurs and innovators might be strong-willed individuals with unique dreams, but they aren't do-it-yourselfers. Leaders might be singled out for their accomplishments, but the best of them walk hand in hand with strong partners. Even "solopreneurs," a new term for people who work alone, need a support system.

The teammates by your side are certainly important. They're part of the family. But even more important are the partners or allies not directly involved in your project or venture who help you extend your reach and get what you need to succeed — key suppliers, distributors, co-developers, independent designers, endorsers, and beyond. They are the extended family.

Everyone knows that the Internet gives us easy access to a plethora of information in the blink of an eye. But for all its wonders, it is also an unchartered frontier where much information is unfiltered, exposing us -- if we are not careful -- to inaccurate or misleading information in science, medicine, technology and other areas, sometimes with unfortunate consequences.

In one such Internet episode recently, parents were strongly advised to forego immunizing their children based on one study that reported that vaccinations caused childhood autism. The study's claim was even endorsed by some celebrities on the net. Despite strong contravening evidence provided by the scientific community, many parents avoided the vaccinations. The study was later found to be fraudulent.

Next month, Better Place, a startup based in California, will begin selling electric cars in Israel that come with subscription packages that include a leased battery and the cost of recharging it. Gasoline is expensive and taxes on gas-powered cars are high in Israel, and the company says the packages could make owning an electric car 20 percent cheaper than owning a gasoline-powered car.

Better Place is trying to solve the biggest challenge to the widespread adoption of electric cars: the limitations imposed by battery chemistry. A battery big enough to give an electric car the same range as the average gas car would be far too large and expensive; and recharging battery packs takes hours at standard outlets, compared to the minutes it takes to refuel a conventional car.

Wind power is one of the fastest-growing forms of power generation in the United States, with more capacity added onshore than coal and nuclear generation combined over the past four years. But to sustain that high growth rate into the next decade, the industry will have to start tapping offshore wind resources, creating a need for wind turbines that are larger, lower-maintenance, and deliver more power with less weight.

To support research in this area, the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $7.5 million to six projects, each aiming to develop advanced drivetrains for wind turbines up to 10 megawatts in size. Five of the projects use direct-drive, or gearless, drivetrain technology to increase reliability, and at least two use superconductivity technologies for increased efficiencies and lower weight.

One question. One hundred and forty characters. $37,000.

It’s no game show — the University of Iowa’s Tippie MBA full-time program is awarding one full financial award package to an applicant who most creatively answers the question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!”, in 140 characters or less on Twitter.

The award will go to a student entering the program this fall.

Jodi Schafer, director of recruiting and admissions for the Tippie School of Management full-time MBA program, said the application Tweet can take the place of the application essay for candidates who are vying for the award, which is valued at $37,000.

President Reagan used to tell his staff a joke about twin boys with extreme personalities, one a total optimist and the other a total pessimist. You can find the long form of the joke here, but when the optimist is presented with a room filled to the ceiling with horse manure, he begins digging through it screaming with delight “Wow, there must be a pony in here!”

We recently conducted our sixth semi-annual “Green & the Economy” survey and the results have sent us scurrying to find a pony buried in all the data. We asked our more than 3,000-member GreenBiz Intelligence Panel for their views on key green economic indicators (you can join our panel here). Our most recent survey, conducted in mid-June, garnered 309 responses with 51 percent from companies with revenues of more than $1 billion (which we’ll refer to as “large companies”).

TORONTO, July 5, 2011 /CNW/ - The National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) is pleased to announce the release of the Investment Activity by Canadian Angel Groups: 2010 Report.  This report, the first of its kind, was completed in partnership with the Government of Canada and authored by Professor Colin Mason. It highlights the importance of Angel capital to the growth of Canada's high-potential companies.

Significant findings of this report include that:

• 90% of companies funded by Angel groups in 2010 were new not follow-on.
• Angel groups collectively received around 1,850 business plans. 14% were considered in detail. Roughly 32% received investment.
• Angels groups invested CAN$35.3 million in the 88 deals for which we have information; an under-estimate as some groups did not report the amount invested. Co-investors were involved in 58% of investments and invested at least a further CAN$29.4 million. It should be noted that these statistics are for Angel groups only and do not include individual Angel investments.
• Angels invested in a wide range of industries but with a strong technology focus including: ICT sector (43%), followed by life sciences (18%) and clean tech (16%).
• 74% of investee businesses had sales revenue in 2010.

Researchers have identified when an important milestone in infants’ development occurs: the ability to transfer knowledge to new situations.

In a series of studies, the researchers found that 8-month-olds had trouble using newly acquired knowledge in a different circumstance, but 16-month-olds could do so.

“Some time between 8 and 16 months, infants begin learning how to learn,” said Julie Hupp, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University’s Newark campus.

This article from Agile 101 takes the 12 principles of risk management from PMBOK and summarizes them in a quick and easy to understand way (with an agile slant). While not a comprehensive explaination, this article does provide a very clear explanation of  what must be considered when applying PMBOK’s principles for Agile Management.

How often does this happen? You start the day with great intentions for barreling through a list of priorities. But at quitting time, you’ve only accomplished one: getting (most of) your email answered and filed. You congratulate yourself on having done that, though a nagging voice in the back of your head whispers that, really, you haven’t done anything at all.

Email doesn’t have to consume your life. Here are 7 ideas for turning email into the tool it is, rather than the be-all and end-all of your days.

1. Lower the volume. When you email the same people too many times per day, they pay less attention. Ideally, your emails will be like eagerly awaited letters that, as a kid, you used to check the mail box for (remember that?)

The term “agile process” is thrown around a lot in the world of software development. Agile software development (as well as project management) basically assumes that things change so fast that you can’t rely on a plan to stay on track–teams need to be constant communication to stay focused on the goal.

You can ignore the “scrums”, “essential unified processes”, or EUPs and other mystifying jargon, but if you can incorporate this idea of being agile, you’ll find it extraordinarily helpful.

A recent blog post from the software developer Agilewords gives 5 tips for leading remote teams that might originate in “Agile” theory, but all team leaders need to implement no matter what process the team uses.

Bangalore: Pitching a VC! Do you think it's an easy task? Yes. Then why is it that many faces rejection in the hands of the VCs? What are the common mistakes that they make while pitching the VC? Look into the following points to prepare yourself before going for a pitch.

1. Ignoring the competition: Entrepreneurs become so confident about their idea and business that they do not find any competition standing near to them. When they say that they don't have any competition then VCs think they have come with a completely revolutionary solution to change the world or they have not performed enough research on the market. And most of the time the second explanation stands true.

I just attended the first domestic Clinton Global Initiative – America (CGI America) conference and participated in the manufacturing sessions. The concept of this event, which drew over 700 participants, was to get public, private and non-profit leaders together in a room, shake lightly and see what comes out.   It is starting to sound like the recipe for a cocktail but it is part of an increasing focus on regions leading the way to economic vitality.

The goal of the conference was to generate “Commitments to Action”- new, specific, and measurable plans to address challenges in the U.S., particularly through job creation and investment. CGI America expected that the participants would find organizations with which they have synergies and make written commitments that will accelerate economic or community revitalization.

One of my favorite recent blog posts is Seth Godin’s “Getting funded is not the same as succeeding.”   Whether or not we’re in a bubble, it’s a sign of the times that this post has to be written in the first place.   As Josh Elman tweets, we’ve gone from RIP Good Times to funding a grilled cheese company in less than three years (Sequoia was involved in both interestingly).  Instead of focusing on the companies that are creating the most value for their customers, we’re talking about who raised the largest round or who’s part of the billion dollar valuation club.

And this is dangerous.  It’s dangerous because we’re celebrating the “success” of fund raisings rather than the success of building truly valuable businesses.   Fundraising success does not always predict long-term success, and the data shows it.  Below are the largest technology venture fundraisings from 2004 to 2008 according to VentureSource (Note: I purposely excluded data from the current bubble and from cleantech, which I imagine only further supports the point).