“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” Steve Jobs said in 2007, when he introduced the first iPhone. Eleven years later, the question isn’t whether he was right. It’s whether we like the way we’ve changed.

Today, the average American checks his or her phone 47 times a day — many more if they’re younger — and spends about four hours a day staring at its screen. That’s roughly a sixth of our total time alive. Given these numbers, it makes sense that there’s an increasing sense of concern over our relationships with our phones.

When Steve Jobs first came up with the idea for the iPod, it wasn't actually a machine he had in mind, but "a thousand songs in my pocket." It was, at the time, an impossible idea, because hard drives of that capacity and size just didn't exist. In fairly short order though, the technology caught up to the vision.

That kind of singular focus and drive helps explain Jobs' incredible success, but what about his failures?  The Lisa, a precursor to the Macintosh, flopped. So did his first venture after Apple, NeXT Computer. Even at the height of Apple's dominance, there were failures such as iAds. Apple TV still hasn't really gained traction.

On Thursday, Silicon Valley industry executives met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who emphasized his country's potential for business development. Mr. Trudeau also unveiled a new fast-track visa program for international skilled workers. 

Image: Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press/AP

The surging popularity of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies offers a vision of a more efficient world where individuals can deal directly with each other without trusted centralised institutions.

That's the positive narrative , but technology has promised many things in the past, only for them to either fail or take a lot longer to hit critical mass. But how will it bring substantial improvements in business performance of global companies?

By StartUp Health’s reckoning, New York City was the second most active city for health tech dealflow in 2017 with $1 billion invested across 63 deals. San Francisco had nearly twice the number of deals and more than three times the amount, but the closest to New York was Boston with 29.

So who are the big players in healthcare investment in the Big Apple? A new report from New York Healthcare Business Leaders breaks down some of the larger investors across life science and healthcare.

Some simple (and honestly sort of scary) ways we can potentially prolong the human life.

You’ve likely heard of an elevator pitch, but have you heard of an ice hole pitch?

Polar Bear Pitching, as it’s called, is perhaps the most extreme form of startup pitch competitions. Participants withstand snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures for an opportunity to win €10,000, among other prizes. There is no time limit, but there is one catch: Entrepreneurs must stand waist-deep in the Baltic Sea for the duration of their pitches. Talk about motivation to keep it short.

Image: HENRI LUOMA

When you’ve got the flu, the only true cure is rest and time—there’s no food or drink that will magically make your symptoms go away. But making sure you’re staying hydrated and eating nutrient-rich foods can help ensure you don’t feel any worse than you already do and may help ease your discomfort and get you back on your feet faster.

Investing for the sake of the adventure is rarely a good idea. Venture capitalists are masters of investment and run the game on what makes a sound business decision and what looks too risky. They’ve built careers off of detailing the key factors necessary to make these decisions, regularly. Ernst & Young U.S. Venture Capital Leader Jeff Grabow shared his wisdom with me recently on a podcast I ran, where I learned all about what venture capital really is and why VCs invest.

You don’t have to be a new venture advisor like me to hear all the excuses for not starting your own business. I’m sure all of you have friends who are not happy in their employee roles, and are not shy about complaining, but never seem to get around to doing anything about it. They can cite all the myths about being too old to change, not having the money, or no business degree.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The NASA spacecraft that gave us close-ups of Pluto has set a record for the farthest photos ever taken.

In December – while 3.79 billion miles from Earth – the New Horizons spacecraft snapped a picture of a star cluster. The photo surpassed the “Pale Blue Dot” images of Earth taken in 1990 by NASA’s Voyager 1.

The images for “Pale Blue Dot” – part of a composite – were taken 3.75 billion miles away.

Image: This December 2017 false-color image made available by NASA in February 2018 shows KBO (Kuiper Belt object) 2012 HZ84. This image is, for now, one of the farthest pictures from Earth ever captured by a spacecraft. I NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute via Associated Press

Surrounded by students from Rowan College at Burlington County, Gov. Phil Murphy renewed his higher education pledge: free tuition at every community college throughout all 21 counties in the state.

“If you talk about free community college for all, which sounds like, ‘Oh my Lord, that’s a big sticker shock.’ In fact, we think it’s about a $200 million annual investment or expense. And I can’t think of a better way to spend that money than to try to achieve that aspiration,” said Murphy.

Image: https://www.njtvonline.org

Despite its importance for health and well-being, many American adults find it difficult to consistently get enough sleep. Approximately 50 million to 70 million Americans suffer from a sleep disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sleep disturbances are particularly common in older adults and involve a variety of problems including difficulties falling or staying asleep, interrupted breathing and restless leg syndrome.

ICF named the world’s Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2018 today. This year’s list includes communities from four nations, with Taiwan contributing three, Canada two communities and Australia and Finland one each.

The seven will travel to London in June where one will go on to be named the Intelligent Community of the Year, succeeding Melbourne, Australia, the reigning #1 community.  The announcement will take place as the culminating event at the ICF Global Summit from 4-6 June at Siemens’ Crystal Facility and other sites around London. (www.icfsummit.com)

You promised yourself this was the year you’d finally launch–and sustain–some sort of side project, be it picking up a few freelance clients, launching a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel, or setting up an e-commerce shop. One day in the hopefully not-too-distant future, your side hustle might even grow into a full-time business.

Getting the most out of capital projects requires, among other things, great attention to the details, strategic thinking, cultivating stakeholder buy-in, working closely with local communities, and finding and forging the right partnerships and funding formulas. It also takes bold vision and the ability to think big and persevere.

Two growing institutions in southern New Jersey, Stockton and Rowan universities, are examples.

Image: RENDERING COURTESY OF STOCKTON UNIVERSITY

Olympic veteran and bronze medalist Erin Hamlin has been named the flag bearer for Team USA at the PyeongChang Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, according to a statement from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The New York native made history at the 2014 Sochi games when she became the first U.S. athlete to win an Olympic medal for singles luge. In 2009, she was the first American female luger to win a world championship.

Machines are expected to excel humans in language translation by 2024, in writing high-school essays by 2026, in driving a truck by 2027, and working in retail service jobs by 2031, according to research by Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute and Yale University. By 2049, machines will be able to write a bestseller, and by 2053 they’ll be working as surgeons. The technology of artificial intelligence will be at the centre of these applications.

4490 Ventures, a Madison, WI-based venture capital firm that supports startups in the Midwest, has raised $49 million for its second fund, according to a document filed with federal securities regulators on Wednesday.

Greg Robinson, managing director at 4490, says the document is an “interim filing” and 4490 plans to finish raising its second fund later this year. He declined to say how much additional money his firm is seeking to raise.

Many organizations have top-level goals for innovation but struggle to measure progress toward them.  How can you assess the current state of your innovation capability?  There are three critical areas to consider.

First, you should measure your ability to fill the pipeline by monitoring the number of new ideas being generated.  If you have a suggestions scheme you can scrutinize how many submissions you get each month.  If you are canvassing ideas from outside your organization (e.g. through social media, competitions or open innovation) monitor the numbers coming in.