Aside from rent increases, few effects of the economic boom lifting up the San Francisco Bay Area (or afflicting it, depending on your point of view) have drawn more ire and resentment lately than the private buses. These big, faceless, Wi-Fi-equipped vehicles crawl the streets and highways of San Francisco and the peninsula, shuttling tech … Continue reading “RidePal and the Private Bus Wars: Q&A with Founder Nathalie Criou”
Author: Wade Roush
Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco.
Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.)
I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia.
I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats.
My personal site: waderoush.com
My social media coordinates:
Twitter: @wroush
Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush
Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush
YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967
Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/
Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/
SWIB, WARF Narrow Search for Investment Manager at 4490 Ventures
By the time the champagne begins to flow on New Year’s Eve, tech entrepreneurs in Wisconsin may know who they should pitch if they want an investment from 4490 Ventures, the state’s new $30 million, information technology-focused venture fund. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) are working … Continue reading “SWIB, WARF Narrow Search for Investment Manager at 4490 Ventures”
Houzz—the Alluring App for Home Remodelers and Wannabes
The first time you open the Houzz app on your Apple or Android tablet, you’ll take in the midcentury modern living rooms with their Eames sofas and Noguchi coffee tables, the gleaming neo-Craftsman bungalows surrounded by herb gardens, and the outdoor kitchens complete with wood-fired pizza ovens, and you’ll think you’ve landed inside the digital … Continue reading “Houzz—the Alluring App for Home Remodelers and Wannabes”
MyPad’s Sister App FamilyControls Lets Parents Limit Facebook Access
In Mark Zuckerberg’s world, if you’re 13 or older, you’re mature enough to use Facebook. Some parents would probably disagree. “If a parent gives a child access to Facebook, it’s essentially all or nothing,” says Cole Ratias, founder and CEO of Loytr, a San Francisco-based developer of mobile apps. Once an unsupervised teen has signed … Continue reading “MyPad’s Sister App FamilyControls Lets Parents Limit Facebook Access”
Imergy’s Flow Battery Reboot Offers New Option for Grid Storage
Wind turbines and solar panels are great for extracting “free” energy from the environment, especially in remote areas with no access to the power grid. But their big limitation is that they’re intermittent—they supply electricity only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Renewable-energy developers have long assumed that somebody, somewhere, would … Continue reading “Imergy’s Flow Battery Reboot Offers New Option for Grid Storage”
Teen Trio Builds Stoodle, a Two-Way Whiteboard App for Homework
When I requested an interview last week with Stoodle CEO Arjun Mehta, the startup’s PR rep told me he wouldn’t be free until Sunday. The reason? He was busy studying for the SAT. “It went pretty well,” Mehta told me after the Saturday-morning exam. “All that studying helped.” He’ll find out his scores in about … Continue reading “Teen Trio Builds Stoodle, a Two-Way Whiteboard App for Homework”
High-Tech Holidays: The Xperience Gift Guide, 2013 Edition
Wait, what? Cyber Monday was four days ago, and you still haven’t finished your holiday gift buying? Don’t worry, we haven’t either. But we thought we’d take some time away from our busy shopping schedules to help you find the best presents for the gadget geeks in your life. In the slideshow above, we’ve collected … Continue reading “High-Tech Holidays: The Xperience Gift Guide, 2013 Edition”
New Nine Plus Accelerator Stretches Out the Startup Timeline
Brooks’s Law of software development, coined by Fred Brooks in his 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month, is that adding personnel to a late software project makes it even later. His pithy summary of the law: “Nine women can’t make a baby in one month.” (That’s a lesson the folks building the Healthcare.gov portal at the … Continue reading “New Nine Plus Accelerator Stretches Out the Startup Timeline”
Issuu, Now California-Based, Helps Niche Publishers Go Digital
Say you’re a small publisher producing a print-only publication—anything from a hobbyist magazine to a regional real estate guide to a crafts catalog. You know you could reach more readers if you could offer a digital version. But you don’t have a huge design staff, and you can’t afford the expensive software, such as Adobe’s … Continue reading “Issuu, Now California-Based, Helps Niche Publishers Go Digital”
Reverb Taps Its Word Graph to Reinvent Reader Apps on the iPad
If you’re a news junkie, chances are you don’t get all your content from a single source—but neither do you have time to surf to dozens of different websites. Back in the 1990s, sites like Yahoo and Excite offered a solution: they became portals, one-stop shops aggregating news from across the Web. Yahoo is still … Continue reading “Reverb Taps Its Word Graph to Reinvent Reader Apps on the iPad”
To Tell the Story of Innovation in Detroit, Xconomy Needs Your Help
Whenever I’m describing Xconomy to someone who hasn’t come across our website before, I rattle off the names of the eight high-tech hubs where we have bureaus, in the order we opened them: Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Detroit, San Francisco, New York, Boulder/Denver, and Texas. At that point, the listener usually exclaims “Detroit! Why Detroit?” … Continue reading “To Tell the Story of Innovation in Detroit, Xconomy Needs Your Help”
Idea to IPO: Information Mixer
Learn more about the UCSF Idea to IPO curriculum and meet others who are interested in taking the course. Test out your idea with your peers and get feedback. If you don’t have an idea, perhaps you’ll meet someone who does. Network with people interested in learning about life science entrepreneurship. The Idea to IPO … Continue reading “Idea to IPO: Information Mixer”
The Hottest High-Tech Toy of 2013: Anki’s iPhone-Driven Robot Cars
If you had wandered up to the second floor of the Apple store in San Francisco on a Thursday evening a couple of weeks ago, you would have seen an unusual spectacle. The big wooden tables were cleared of the usual iPads and MacBooks, and in their place visitors had laid out large sheets of … Continue reading “The Hottest High-Tech Toy of 2013: Anki’s iPhone-Driven Robot Cars”
Pocket, the Read-Later App, Makes a Bid to Own the “Interest Graph”
[Corrected 11/14/13, see below] In the world of news-reader apps, the individual reigns supreme. These days, nobody dares to release a news aggregation product for smartphones, tablets, or the Web without including some sort of personalization feature to weed out unwanted content. (The idea that editors should tell you what they think you need to … Continue reading “Pocket, the Read-Later App, Makes a Bid to Own the “Interest Graph””
Boombotix App Coaxes Synchronized Sound from Bluetooth Speakers
It’s no surprise, in this era of personal technology, that more and more people want to fill the air around them with sound from personalized audio systems like the Jambox from Jawbone or the Boombot Rex from Boombotix—devices that stream music from smartphone playlists over Bluetooth. But what if several members of a group all … Continue reading “Boombotix App Coaxes Synchronized Sound from Bluetooth Speakers”
Apple’s Weakness: Customer Loyalty Has Its Limits
If you’re ever forced to read a public company’s annual report, turn first to the “risk factors” section, which is always the most entertaining. This is where companies are required to disclose all of the things that could go terribly wrong with their businesses. It’s a Wall Street version of Edward Gorey’s Gashlycrumb Tinies (“A … Continue reading “Apple’s Weakness: Customer Loyalty Has Its Limits”
LabDoor Sorts the Healthy Nutraceuticals from the Hype
If a dietary supplement is on the store shelf, it must be safe and effective, right? Surely, somebody has tested whether the manufacturer’s claims are accurate? If only that were true. Take the case of Airborne, a mix of vitamins, herbs, and minerals introduced in the early 1990s. Available in effervescent-tablet and powder form, it’s … Continue reading “LabDoor Sorts the Healthy Nutraceuticals from the Hype”
Apple’s iPad Melts Into Thin Air (in a Good Way)
Apple sent review units of its new iPad Air tablet to select journalists earlier this week. I was not one of them, perhaps because of stories like this one. But I was near the front of the line at the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco at 5:00 this morning, eager to plunk down my … Continue reading “Apple’s iPad Melts Into Thin Air (in a Good Way)”
6 Secrets to Slaying the E-Mail Monster
People have been complaining about the onslaught of e-mail almost since the day it was invented. We’ve all heard the statistics: Over 100 billion business e-mails are sent every day, with the average user sending and receiving about 100 messages per day. Reading and answering e-mail takes up 28 percent of the average worker’s day—about … Continue reading “6 Secrets to Slaying the E-Mail Monster”
Tandem Applies Muscle to Mobile (Alternative Accelerators, Part 1)
“College” used to mean something pretty clear: a residential experience where you paid a certain amount for tuition, room, and board and, after about four years, you got a bachelor’s degree. These days, of course, there are just as many two-year community colleges as four-year institutions; you don’t have to live on campus; there are … Continue reading “Tandem Applies Muscle to Mobile (Alternative Accelerators, Part 1)”
QB3 Opens Life Sciences Incubator in San Francisco’s Dogpatch
If you ever pass through San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, or if you attended the massive post-Burning Man “Decompression” street party a couple of weeks ago, you may have noticed the transformation underway in what used to be a sad old concrete building at 953 Indiana Street. The property was once home to a medical device … Continue reading “QB3 Opens Life Sciences Incubator in San Francisco’s Dogpatch”
Meet the Unsung Angels of Silicon Valley
There’s lots of talk among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs about the importance of finding “smart money”—the venture and angel investors whose sheer acumen supposedly allows them to outperform the market and shepherd startups to success. Trouble is, venture returns for the last 10 years actually lag behind those of the broader S&P 500. The average venture … Continue reading “Meet the Unsung Angels of Silicon Valley”
BuzzFeed, and 4 More Bad Startup Ideas that Look Like Good Ideas
Y Combinator staged its annual Startup School event last Saturday, attracting more than 1,700 young startup founders and would-be founders. Andreessen Horowitz partner (and Xconomist) Chris Dixon, the founder of Web startups SiteAdvisor (sold to McAfee) and Hunch (sold to eBay), gave one of the most interesting talks, under the title “Good Ideas That Look Like Bad … Continue reading “BuzzFeed, and 4 More Bad Startup Ideas that Look Like Good Ideas”
Astia, Google Expand Effort to Match Women-Led Startups with VCs
In social media circles, the story of the month isn’t Twitter’s impending IPO, but rather its feud with outside critics over the tiny number of women executives and board members at the San Francisco company. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says he’s had difficulty finding a qualified woman to serve on Twitter’s board. Outsider Vivek Wadhwa, … Continue reading “Astia, Google Expand Effort to Match Women-Led Startups with VCs”
Dijit/NextGuide Gives TV Networks a Reminder Widget
In TV land, there’s a big gap between seeing, saying, and doing. You see an ad, a Web page, or a Facebook post about a new show that looks cool. You say to yourself you’re interested and you want to watch the premiere. But you don’t know when it’s scheduled to air, or you forget … Continue reading “Dijit/NextGuide Gives TV Networks a Reminder Widget”
Please, Keep Paying $80 a Month for Cable So I Can Enjoy Cheap TV
Dear Cable TV Subscriber, I don’t think I’ve ever told you how grateful I am. I haven’t paid a cent for cable television since 2009. Yet I have on-demand access via the Internet to a growing cornucopia of great shows like Game of Thrones, Homeland, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, at reasonable à la carte … Continue reading “Please, Keep Paying $80 a Month for Cable So I Can Enjoy Cheap TV”
App Discovery Is Still Broken; MyPad Offers a Social Solution
It’s one of the strangest contrasts in today’s tech world. Mobile hardware keeps advancing screamingly fast, with each new smartphone model made obsolete by a faster, cooler successor within months. And the number of mobile apps keeps multiplying—it’s surpassed 1 million in the Google Play store and is approaching that number in Apple’s iTunes App … Continue reading “App Discovery Is Still Broken; MyPad Offers a Social Solution”
Here’s How Yummly, the Foodie’s Google, Could Conquer the Kitchen
If you wanted to build a central information hub for the kitchen—connecting consumers with recipe ideas, ingredient lists, shopping assistance, and cooking instructions—you’d probably break the problem down into a few steps. First you’d build the world’s most powerful recipe search engine. Then you’d add filters to help people discover dishes they like, and avoid … Continue reading “Here’s How Yummly, the Foodie’s Google, Could Conquer the Kitchen”
Steve Blank’s UCSF Class Tests “Evidence-Based Entrepreneurship”
Conventional wisdom says the techniques that help today’s technology startups get to market fast—or, just as likely, fail fast, freeing the founders to start over—don’t work in the life sciences. Rapid product iteration based on agile software development methods; continuous business-model adjustments using customer feedback; cloud outsourcing to increase capital efficiency—all these strategies are seen … Continue reading “Steve Blank’s UCSF Class Tests “Evidence-Based Entrepreneurship””
Tax Revolt by California Entrepreneurs Ends in Victory
Taxes aren’t usually the stuff of high drama. But a story that began last year when a California state appeals court unexpectedly struck down an old tax incentive for small-business investors—and that unfolded, in part, here in the pages of Xconomy—has, after numerous twists and turns, reached its end. On Friday California Governor Jerry Brown … Continue reading “Tax Revolt by California Entrepreneurs Ends in Victory”
The Winds of the Future: 5 Ways San Francisco Stays Innovative
In 1920, the San Francisco Bulletin, which was then one of the city’s major newspapers, published a poem by George Sterling, a figure in the city’s Bohemian arts circles. It read in part: The winds of the Future wait At the iron walls of her Gate, And the western ocean breaks in thunder, And the … Continue reading “The Winds of the Future: 5 Ways San Francisco Stays Innovative”
What Is Quora? Seven Answers from Adam D’Angelo and Marc Bodnick
The next time you’re sitting alone with your laptop or smartphone and you have a few minutes free, don’t waste it browsing Facebook photos, watching cat videos on YouTube, or reading cartoons (though xkcd is fine). Instead, do a search at the Q&A site Quora, find a topic that you know something about, and write … Continue reading “What Is Quora? Seven Answers from Adam D’Angelo and Marc Bodnick”
API Strategy & Practice Conference
From the event site: About Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are changing the face of digital business by enabling new business and technical strategies across many industries. API Strategy and Practice is a vendor neutral and community supported API industry conference to connect API Practitioners and: Enable new audiences to understand the API space and start … Continue reading “API Strategy & Practice Conference”
Reimagining Work: Scott Berkun’s Year Without Pants at Automattic
From my desk at Xconomy San Francisco—aka my Potrero Hill apartment—I can look out the window at Highway 280, watch the traffic that crawls into the city every morning and back out every evening, and chuckle smugly. There’s never any traffic congestion on the commute from my bed to my coffee machine to my laptop. … Continue reading “Reimagining Work: Scott Berkun’s Year Without Pants at Automattic”
Evernote Spins Up an In-House Accelerator for App Builders
If you’re passionate about Evernote, the Web- and mobile-based storage platform for personal notes and other documents, chances are you’re in San Francisco this week for the third annual Evernote Conference. It’s the high point of the year for Evernote power users (like me) and for people building third-party applications that make Evernote more useful. … Continue reading “Evernote Spins Up an In-House Accelerator for App Builders”
Wearables, Cancer Care & Algorithms: Rock Health Demo Day in Photos
Rock Health, the San Francisco-based startup accelerator focused on companies at the intersection of healthcare and digital technology, presented its latest class of startups to the world yesterday in a demo day session at UCSF’s Genentech Hall. The 10 companies in this batch—Rock Health’s fifth since its founding in 2011—are working on technologies as diverse … Continue reading “Wearables, Cancer Care & Algorithms: Rock Health Demo Day in Photos”
Heavybit: Grad School for Startups Building a Software Supply Chain
James Lindenbaum, the Heroku co-founder who has spent the last year building a new startup training program called Heavybit Industries, thinks the software industry is still just as primitive as the automobile business was back in the Great Depression. As late as 1930, Ford and other automakers remained vertically integrated, even building the ore processing … Continue reading “Heavybit: Grad School for Startups Building a Software Supply Chain”
10 Ways to Live Longer, Without Help from Google
With a simple blog post or news exclusive, Google can instantly glamorize any field of research, whether it’s teaching cars to drive themselves, sending robotic rovers to the Moon, blanketing Earth with wireless data from balloons, or—this week—helping people live longer. The airiest of promises from the company evokes the world’s awe and admiration, and … Continue reading “10 Ways to Live Longer, Without Help from Google”
Makers on the Waterfront: Inside Autodesk’s New Pier 9 Workshop
“Only a handful of months ago, this whole thing was only an idea, and at times what seemed like a really crazy idea,” said Autodesk president and CEO Carl Bass. “Now it is the envy of everybody’s workshops.” The leader of the San Rafael, CA-based design software maker was speaking last week at the official … Continue reading “Makers on the Waterfront: Inside Autodesk’s New Pier 9 Workshop”
Nomiku’s Story: A Startup Brings Sous-Vide Cooking to Home Kitchens
Take a two-inch thick boneless rib-eye steak. Coat with a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary, a quarter-ounce of dried porcini mushrooms (finely ground), a tablespoon of olive oil, and a sprinkling of black pepper. Vacuum-seal in a Ziploc bag and submerge in water heated at a constant 57°C (135°F). Leave for 3 hours and 15 … Continue reading “Nomiku’s Story: A Startup Brings Sous-Vide Cooking to Home Kitchens”
CA Lawmakers Punt Decision on Startup Tax to Governor
California Governor Jerry Brown will now have the final say on whether small-business investors will be fully—or just partially—spared from the brunt of retroactive tax increases going back to 2008. Unable to come down on one side of the issue or the other, California legislators chose both, approving two conflicting bills last week and leaving … Continue reading “CA Lawmakers Punt Decision on Startup Tax to Governor”
Amplify Health, Benefitter, MedWhat Among DC to VC Showcase Finalists
[Updated 3:00 pm 9/30/13 with a list of the winning startups—see below] Wondering which digital-health startups are most likely to hit the big time? Then you’ll want to keep an eye on Morgenthaler Ventures’ fourth annual DC to VC Startup Showcase, coming up Sept. 30 at the Health 2.0 conference in Silicon Valley. Morgenthaler sorted … Continue reading “Amplify Health, Benefitter, MedWhat Among DC to VC Showcase Finalists”
Google + Bump, Mindjet + Spigit, and More: Bay Area Deals Roundup
There were too many big mergers and funding announcements from the San Francisco / Silicon Valley tech community this morning to let them all pass by. To wit: —Bump, the Mountain View, CA-based Y Combinator graduate whose apps help mobile users quickly exchange contact information, photos, and other files, has been acquired by Google. Bump … Continue reading “Google + Bump, Mindjet + Spigit, and More: Bay Area Deals Roundup”
The iPhone 5S and 5C: Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy
Our expectations about how fast personal technology should evolve have come totally unglued from reality. That was all I could think this week as I surveyed media and consumer commentary about the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, which Apple unveiled at a Sept. 10 press event. From any reasonable point of view, these new … Continue reading “The iPhone 5S and 5C: Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy”
Kauffman Report: It Takes Decades to Build a Startup Hub
The Kauffman Foundation caused a stir in economic-development circles last month with a report showing that high-tech startups are more evenly spread across the United States than many people assume. When researcher Ian Hathaway, an economic advisor with the advocacy group Engine, ranked metropolitan areas in terms of their per-capita density of high-tech startups, his … Continue reading “Kauffman Report: It Takes Decades to Build a Startup Hub”
Altius Education Changes Course After Accreditation Battles
Altius Education founder and CEO Paul Freedman says he knew he was taking a risk when he put all of the company’s eggs, save one, into a single basket: an online junior college called Ivy Bridge, owned jointly by Altius and Tiffin University in Ohio. The for-profit college, whose mission was to go traditional junior … Continue reading “Altius Education Changes Course After Accreditation Battles”
Get Your Own Personal NPR Station with Swell
We’ve hit the time of year dreaded by all public radio fans: pledge drive season, when stations hold your favorite NPR and American Public Media programs hostage until enough listeners pay up. Until recently, there’s only been one way around this semiannual torture ritual, and it’s only been available to listeners of KQED here in … Continue reading “Get Your Own Personal NPR Station with Swell”
Bay Area Deals News: AlienVault, Check, HotelTonight, StartX & More
[Updated and corrected, see below] It’s time for one of our (infrequent) roundups of local venture funding announcements and other deals. —San Mateo, CA-based AlienVault, which helps companies assess security vulnerabilities in their IT systems, announced today that it has completed a $26.5 million Series D investing round, with GGV Capital in the lead. Existing … Continue reading “Bay Area Deals News: AlienVault, Check, HotelTonight, StartX & More”
Polar Users Have a Favorite Yahoo Logo. Will Marissa Mayer Agree?
At midnight Eastern time tonight, Yahoo (NASDAQ: [[ticker:YHOO]]) will announce which of the 30 logo variations it has previewed over the past month will become its new, permanent trademark. The veteran Internet company hasn’t said how it plans to choose the final logo. Given the lead time that goes into changing all the marketing materials … Continue reading “Polar Users Have a Favorite Yahoo Logo. Will Marissa Mayer Agree?”
Sea Level Rise: Time for a Barrage of New Ideas
Everyone recognizes the Golden Gate Bridge. Even if you’ve never visited it in person, you’ve seen it in hundreds of movies and photographs. But I’ll bet you’ve never heard of the Golden Gate Barrage. That’s because it doesn’t exist yet. But as the atmosphere warms, ice sheets melt, and the unruly oceans slosh past their … Continue reading “Sea Level Rise: Time for a Barrage of New Ideas”