Ever since technology enabled us to work around the clock if we choose to, separating work and personal life has become tough for the best of us.

If we all have 24 hours in a day to spend and we’re all putting in extra hours to build a better product, company, or brand, then how do we come up with another set of “extra” hours to “balance” our life?

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

The point-of-sale terminal at the CVS drugstore in Palo Alto, California, can accept payments through a quick tap from a smartphone. The clerk isn’t sure how it works, though he knows it does because “a few kids” have used it. But one shopper tries it by taking out his Android phone and clicking on Google’s “wallet” app intended to allow instant payment and taps the terminal. Nothing happens. Then he tries PayPal’s payment app. Nothing. Out comes the leather wallet.

Image: http://www.apple.com

Venture capital activity is down from a 13-year high during the second quarter, but a new MoneyTree Report released today shows that venture funding was still going strong in the three months that ended Sept. 30, with $9.9 billion invested in 1,023 deals.

That was almost a 27 percent drop from the $13.5 billion that VCs invested in the previous quarter, and a 9 percent decline in deals, according to MoneyTree data—reinforcing the early returns from CB Insights on third-quarter venture capital activity.

Image: Free Digital Photos

When PwC released its annual survey of corporate chief executives for 2014, it was immediately obvious that change is on leaders’ brains: “As CEOs plan their strategies to take advantage of transformational shifts,” the consultancy reported, “they are also assessing their current capabilities – and finding that everything is fair game for reinvention.”

If the number of executives from other companies who have been benchmarking GE’s management-development centers is an indication, interest in creating corporate universities is on the rise. While these visitors are always intrigued by the commitment and sense of mission they observe, many tend to focus on traditional metrics like the number of classes, the number of participants per year, and the cost. But they sometimes fail to understand that a corporate university can and should be used to drive strategic and cultural change and to champion individual and collective growth. Here are some of GE’s principles for achieving those essential aims:

According to the data, yes, the venture capital industry is shrinking. And it has been shrinking for several years. We have documented a trend of industry consolidation since 2009, and our latest analysis confirms that the trend persists. We find that venture capital dollars continue to concentrate increasingly in the hands of fewer and fewer venture capital firms.

Image: http://www.forbes.com

A Menlo Park firm raised one of the nation’s largest venture capital funds this year, with plans to invest $675 million in startups. Canaan Partners said the firm’s 10th fund would invest two-thirds of the money in information technology startups, with the rest going toward health care companies. The firm is seeking promising companies in a variety of areas, including travel, big data, biopharmaceutical and medical technology.

While most conversations on entrepreneurship at the University generally center on the undergraduate experience, the resources devoted to developing research and science into marketable projects and companies also cater to faculty and post-graduates.

The Medical School’s body of incubation and acceleration, Fast Forward Medical Innovation, was established at the end of 2013 and has since given doctors and engineers the opportunity to expand their lab work into the business world.

The global accelerator DreamIt Ventures has announced that it is now accepting applications for DreamIt Health Baltimore, a four-month acceleration program based in one the country’s leading cities for health. With access to institutions like Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Maryland, healthtech startups chosen to participate in this class will get the opportunity to tap into resources essential to the development, improvement, and market utility of their products.

Image: http://tech.co

October 2014 may soon be remembered as the Month of the Innovator. First, it was the Oct. 3 announcement that the old police station at Main and Hastings will soon be the home of the city's first Technology and Social Innovation Centre. Now, SFU Public Square has launched "Innovation: The Shock of the Possible," a week-long summit dedicated to innovation, and its role in shaping a range of social, environmental, and economic issues.

And to kick it off this Sunday, Oct. 19, is another city first: the Young Innovators Crawl, an interactive event hosted by more than 60 organizations in 30 different spaces, and featuring close to 80 young innovators.

Image: Daniel Dubois, 23, founded Share Shed, a social network that promotes the sharing economy. - http://thetyee.ca

We have said it before, and it will always hold true: you have to innovate or die. The time a company spends on the S&P 500 is 60% shorter today than it was just 14 years ago. Companies that spend too much energy on trying to maintain an existing competitive advantage instead of taking risks on innovation will ultimately be disrupted. There will be many more Kodaks and Blockbusters in the coming years—businesses that once seemed invincibly competitive, only to fall and fall hard because they failed to move forward. 

Like Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, super angels are the best of the best, the superstars who set the standards for others.

Of the hundreds of thousands of angel investors in the United States, a few hundred are super angels – angel investors who have several hundred thousand or often millions of dollars to invest per year. While many are concentrated in Silicon Valley, they are located in many parts of the country. Most have built their own well-known companies and made amazing investments, which is typically where their investment capital comes from. Because of their success and who they know (other extremely successful entrepreneurs and investors) – they are able to attract great deal flow and have direct access to top management talent, strategic partners, other investors and potential acquirers.

The United States technology industry added nearly 119,000 net jobs during the first half of 2014, a new analysis by the TechAmerica Foundation reveals. The industry employed some 6.3 million workers as of June 2014.

During the first six months of the year industry employment increased by 1.9 percent. This growth rate was slightly higher than the 1.8% growth during the same period in 2013, but slower than the 3.5% growth in employment for the overall private sector.

I started my first business at 19 years old and thought I knew it all. The business quickly grew to $500,000 in gross revenue with five employees in three states. Business was good, but because I didn’t learn how to manage my business, things quickly got out of control.

Six years into the business, because of mismanaging the finances, I was $100,000 in debt. My dream of entrepreneurship had turned into a nightmare. This experience taught me some lessons that young entrepreneurs need to know.

Risk-taking is almost synonymous with entrepreneurship. To start and support your own business, you’ll have to put your career, personal finances and even your mental health at stake. 

For most, the prospect of making your own decisions and being in charge of your own destiny is worth it. But if you’re going to be successful as an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared for the risks and challenges that come with it.

There are over 7 billion people in the world. A single trait sets a small handful apart; celebrated and emulated individuals have earned something more valuable than gold. Aretha Franklin knows the answer—R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

You can command obedience, you can cause fear, you can buy services, but respect? You’ve gotta earn that. It’s such a heavy word, filled with reverence and awe. Like an oak tree, it doesn’t grow overnight. But intentionally and mindfully living in a way that cultivates respect is an investment that will yield more than money could ever buy.

Marion Donovan, inventor of the first disposable diaper, told Barbara Walters that one simple question guided her work: "What do I think will help a lot of people and most certainly will help me?"

The advantage — and the downside — of this philosophy was that when she first started out in the 1940s men controlled manufacturing. And to them, the problems she was fixing might as well not have existed.

Image: FLICKR, JON GOOD

Apple is probably one of the most secretive companies in the world, while simultaneously being one of its most popular brands. Its events are also the most glamorous and certainly the most talked-about. What can startups learn from this? Ever since the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, tech companies have turned their launch events into rock concerts. What Eddie Murphy did for stand-up comedy, Apple did for Silicon Valley.

Crowdfunding has become a popular and effective tool in the fundraising toolbox, letting you tap into your network to raise more money more quickly from a wider audience. It is changing the face of charitable fundraising by creating a more engaged approached to giving. Last year, Forbes reported that 30 percent of the $5 billion in crowdfunded donations went to social causes, and this trend only continues to rise.

Image: http://grantspace.org

(NaturalNews) A jaw-dropping report released by the World Health Organization on October 14, 2014 reveals that 1 in 20 Ebola infections has an incubation period longer than the 21 days which has been repeatedly claimed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

This may be the single most important -- and blatantly honest -- research report released by any official body since the beginning of the Ebola outbreak. The WHO's "Ebola situation assessment" report, found here, explains that only 95% of Ebola infections experience incubation within the widely-reported 21-day period. Here's the actual language from the report:

Image: http://www.naturalnews.com/