A prototype glove recognizes pen strokes formed in thin air and turns them into text.

Glow sticks and sparklers are terrific fun. I love drawing light patterns in the air, forming images or tracing out fleeting letters that vanish seconds after they appear.

Similar wrist-strokes can be captured now, some of them anyway, by a prototype glove being designed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

A team at the Cognitive Systems lab put together inertial sensors, an accelerometer and a gyroscope on a knit glove. The retooled mitt recognizes letter and words and even sentences as its wearer draws them in the air.

Unless you completely unplugged over the holidays, you know that if Democratic and Republican lawmakers could not bridge their differences on how best to reduce the nation's budget deficit and debt, the Budget Control Act of 2011 mandated a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to take effect January 1, 2013. While Washington kicked the can down the road on budget cuts, the cliff was avoided – but what does the deal mean for American entrepreneurs?

There is no doubt that we need to address the $1 trillion-plus annual budget gap. The deadlock was over the solution formula and the relative weight that higher taxes and reduced government spending have in it. This default solution was called the “fiscal cliff” because more than a half-trillion dollars in automatic tax increases and spending cuts would automatically kick-in and studies suggested this default solution would have sent the country back to recession and to higher unemployment. Sales of small businesses already rose in 2012 driven by concerns over the looming fiscal cliff, according to a recent survey by BizBuySell. So clearly, if we avoided a self-inflicted path to recession, despite worries extending beyond the tax code to overall uncertainty, what happened on January 1 was at least in part good for entrepreneurs.

Launchpad LA is the latest startup accelerator to refine its model, as experts question how successful the months-long startup-building programs really can be.

But instead of shrinking its investment in promising startups, like Y Combinator announced it would be doing last month, Launchpad's investors are doubling their dollars.

Applications are open for an upcoming February-June class, with participants who each will receive $100,000 (up from $50K) along with all the typical benefits: office space at the Santa Monica facility, mentorship and introductions to potential investors.

“The venture capital fundraising environment has settled into a ‘new normal’ which is characterized by a barbell structure of larger funds which are stage and industry agnostic on one end, and smaller, early stage, industry or region specific funds on the other.

This is certainly true and has been for a long time. The two successful models seem to be the large megafund and the small early stage fund. It's hard to be anything else in VC.

Like many students, Steve Vonderweidt hoped that a master's degree in business administration would open doors to a new job with a higher paycheck.

But now, about eight months after receiving his M.B.A. from the University of Louisville, Mr. Vonderweidt, 36 years old, hasn't been able to find a job in the private sector, and continues to work as an administrator at a social-service agency that helps Louisville residents obtain food stamps, health care and other assistance. He is saddled with about $75,000 in student-loan debt—much of it from graduate school.

Imagine a great white shark with the nose of the Elephant Man. That's the fearsome mug of a basking shark, yet these massive plankton-eaters are harmless to people.

For decades, scientists thought basking sharks were also homebodies, staying close to their feeding areas in cool ocean waters — regions such as Ireland and New England, for example. But a recent 3,100-mile-long odyssey from Ireland to Africa by a shark nicknamed Banda illustrates how little science knows about the biology of the second-biggest fish on Earth, researchers said. The amazing journey was first reported by the Belfast Telegraph.

Overall private equity fundraising was up last year but venture capital didn’t participate in the rebound.

Venture fundraising hit a plateau in 2012 with $20.3 billion raised, much of it by a handful of big firms, according to Dow Jones LP Source. The story was little different from 2011, which also saw about $20 billion raised.

Last year, just 11 funds, all larger than $500 million, accounted for $11.3 billion of venture capital funds raised. That included $2.6 billion committed to New Enterprise Associates for its 14th fund, one of the largest venture funds ever raised. In all, 154 venture funds held closings in 2012, two fewer than in 2011.

Deadline: Monday, March 25th

Download the Application    

The Association of University Research Parks (AURP), the world's leading network of university research, science and technology park professionals, invites you to share your knowledge, expertise and experience by presenting at the 2013 International Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This year's theme is Inventing the Future.    

Proven engines for economic growth and development, university research parks influence their communities in significant ways. AURP's 2013 annual conference, hosted by The University City Science Center, will feature experts who will examine university research park best practices and the strategies which will develop a knowledge-based economy by increasing ties between university, research parks, government, and industry partners.  

With so many young entrepreneurs bursting into the tech startup scene, it can sometimes seem that age is no longer a factor when gaining investor support for your business. As a young entrepreneur myself, I disagree. Being a young business owner has clear pros and cons. By understanding and being aware of how your age can both help and hurt your chances for attracting investors, you will be able to use your age, perspective, and expertise to your advantage.

Focus on Perspective

I try to focus on the areas in which my youth can be an asset and emphasize those as much as possible. Often, I get credit for having a different point of view on the gaming industry than some of my peers due to my age and the time period in which I grew up. Being a young adult during the video game revolution, where gaming went from having a niche and dedicated following to being a massive mainstream industry, makes me more aware of how the audience and its wants and needs have changed. This perspective helped me to realize gamers were looking for a different kind of social media and community platform, which led to the launch of Duxter. See your unique point of view as something that sets you apart from others in your field, and use this knowledge to your advantage during conversations with potential clients or partners.

So you’re getting started with business planning to help run your business better. You’ve understood that what matters is not the plan document, but rather the planning -- effective, lean, streamlined planning, reviewed and revised often, that results in better management. How do you do that? How do you work smoothly between plans and actions, plans and results? Here are my favorite tips.

-- De-emphasize the document. Focus on dates, deadlines, key performance measurements, responsibilities, people, and tasks. Include and always update projected sales, costs, expenses, and cash flow. Make it as specific and concrete as possible.

It’s that time of the year again: time to take stock of what’s gone by and of things to come. For the purpose of this post, I shall stick to what we need to watch out for in the new year. To be precise, what’s going to happen on the technology front in 2013.

Crystal ball gazing does not sit well with me. There’s always the chance of losing one’s shirt if the predictions don’t come true. Nevertheless, I shall carry on gamely, since the world grooves to a techno-beat.

What I am about to write here cannot be labelled “predictions”, strictly speaking. These are not some tech-gypsy’s tale or prophecies based on astral readings, but facts gathered from some solid research and close observance of on-going tech trends. It’s not really rocket science, either. Anybody with a little bit of orientation towards all things tech has a fair bit idea of what’s coming up next; the stuff is all around us man, whether you live in the United States, South Africa or India.

The annual electronics love-fest known as CES has just taken over the Las Vegas Convention Center yet again, and in addition to all the biggest announcements of the show, there are plenty of smaller ones piquing our interest. Among the more neat-sounding ones that have surfaced:

Lost luggage?

A company called Trakdot will offer a “palm-sized” luggage tracker that you can slip into your suitcase and use with pretty much any cellphone. According to the company’s announcement, after you register your gadget on Trakdot’s website, it will send your phone a text or email letting you know where it is (you can also use the company’s smartphone app or check your suitcase’s location on Trakdot’s site). If you’re using the app with the Trackdot, it will send you an alert when your bag is near you on a luggage carousel at the airport, the company says. The company says each Trakdot can be linked to several phones. The device is expected to be available for $50 in March; it will require a $9 activiation fee and a $13 annual fee for service.

Toyota, the Japanese auto giant, hopes to sell more of its cars to people while giving them less of a role in piloting those vehicles. At a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, the company showed off a research vehicle intended as a test bed for ideas to make its vehicles more autonomous, particularly in dangerous situations.

The Advanced Safety Research Vehicle is based on a Lexus LS and used for research at the Toyota Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The car carries forward-looking and side-facing millimeter-wave radar sensors, as well as a 360-degree laser scanner that collects three-dimensional data on anything nearby. Onboard computers use data from those scanners, and data collected from the engine and wheels, to make sense of the car’s surroundings, and operate the car’s controls.

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 billion from 49 listings, and represented the strongest annual period for IPOs since 2000.

Yet 2013 is still projected by The Fiscal Times as a difficult IPO opportunity for startups, due to choppy markets, continuing fiscal uncertainty, and the Facebook fiasco. The dot.com heydays of free flowing venture capital and supercharged IPOs are not back. The market and venture capitalists are looking for business, but with a continuing focus on proven business models.

The ability to network successfully can be one of the greatest assets in business. It allows some people to find incredible opportunities, while others just watch from the sidelines.

Effective networking isn't a result of luck -- it requires hard work and persistence. What does it take to be a super networker? Here are seven of the most important habits to develop:

1. Ask insightful questions. Before attending networking events, get the names of the people who are expected to attend and search social media sites like LinkedIn to figure out which topics they're probably most interested in. For people who are already in your network, don't assume you know everything they're up to. Find out what they're currently working on -- or perhaps struggling with. This attention to detail can go a long way at your next one-on-one lunch or dinner meeting.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone - closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back - is here to stay. A surprise hit of 2012, it is drawing in more users, more handset makers and is shaping the way we consume content.

Thanks to Robin Johnston at TCC’s Foundation, I read an interesting article by Jeffrey Baumgartner entitled “The Seven Essential Characteristics of Innovative Companies.”

Even though the article is written about for-profit companies, I found it applicable to nonprofits as well. According to Baumgartner, innovative companies have a unique and relevant strategy.

As a new year begins, most Americans are focused on the fiscal cliff, but there's also an impending "health cliff" that's arguably far more frightening. The staggering statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on heart disease, diabetes and obesity in America are a wake-up call to the general populous -- as well as technologists and entrepreneurs -- to take control of our physical well-being and to make this action easy and assessable for consumers. CES 2013 will feature more than 250 innovative companies addressing the broader health dilemma, many of which will never make it as long-term players in the space.

Prevention, or the promotion of activities that encourage healthier living, is one particular market that's gaining a lot of attention within the tech crowd. The most notable trend is the advent of connected devices that help consumers monitor, track and ideally modify their behavior to live healthier, longer lives. What started as a geekier Quantified Self movement is crossing the chasm into a bona fide consumer electronics market segment. ABI Research claims that nearly 48M wireless wearable health devices are expected to be shipped in 2013 and CES is poised to reflect this trend.

For entrepreneurs, business school presents a unique set of choices and opportunities that can drastically alter a founder’s chance of success, for better or worse.

I founded Troop ID while I was an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School in February of 2010. And while today we employ 17 people and sign up nearly 1,000 new members daily, our path to success would have been much swifter had I leveraged the resources at my fingertips while in business school. Here are 5 of my top lessons — many of them learned the hard way — for other MBAs considering entrepreneurship:

Whether there is a profit motive or not, the notion that business has a role to play in addressing societal issues is at the heart of today’s discourse on social entrepreneurship.   Defining what social entrepreneurship is as well as the difference between it and traditional non-profit management as well as philanthropy is a flourishing discourse.  Coined by Bill Drayton of Ashoka in the early 1980’s, the term social entrepreneurship has become somewhat of a catch-all phrase.  Originally it referred to someone with the passion of an entrepreneur tackling a social challenge.   Now, it has evolved to a number of meanings including but not limited to social interventions with distinctly business characteristics as well as businesses themselves.

With his remark, Dr. Yunus hit upon one of the main themes of the book: the blurring line between profit and non-profit, business and charity when providing a social good.  The term non-profit organization has been used to describe what an organization is not rather than what it is.  The equalization of social service work with non-profit balance sheets became sacrosanct.  In order to do good, common practice and wisdom told us, we could not also do well.  Now, that notion is being turned on its head.  Not only do social investors believe that it is possible to do good and do well, other aspects of the old mindset are falling away.  Many non-profit organizations are developing profitable income streams to both help their constituencies as well as the sustainability of their organizations by ensuring a stable bottom line. Throughout this book, stories of individuals and organizations are blurring the distinction between profit and non-profit are presented.