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/

Google, Platfora, DataSift: Bay Area Venture News by the Numbers

We don’t try to cook up stories on every Series A, B, C, or D round raised by Bay Area startups. But there seemed to be an extra helping of fundraising deals and other venture-related news over the past few days, so here’s a roundup. From biggest to smallest: $1.5 billion—The new size of Google … Continue reading “Google, Platfora, DataSift: Bay Area Venture News by the Numbers”

SharesPost Designs a Loan Program to Make Options Attractive Again

Venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley are in a fix. They’ve issued oodles of stock options as a low-cost way to convince smart people to come work for them at salaries far below what they could make at Fortune 500 companies. But with the path to an IPO stretching out indefinitely for many startups, these options … Continue reading “SharesPost Designs a Loan Program to Make Options Attractive Again”

10 Kickstarter Projects Every Geek Should Support

[Updated 6/5/2014] We’re living in a golden age for creators and entrepreneurs. If you don’t believe me, just look back about a decade and try to remember how hard it was to publish a book, make a movie, record an album, raise a seed round for your startup, get your software onto a mobile phone, … Continue reading “10 Kickstarter Projects Every Geek Should Support”

Xconomist of the Week: Lisa Suennen on Healthcare Reform Post-Election

It’s been a stress-inducing year for innovators in the healthcare arena. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which calls for the creation of state exchanges to extend health insurance to millions of people who currently lack coverage, passed Congress by a slim margin in 2010 and has been under assault by Republicans ever since. … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Lisa Suennen on Healthcare Reform Post-Election”

Startup Veterans to Share Battle Scars at “The Power of the Pivot”

When you’re old and gray, leaning back in your rocker watching the sun go down, and you think back on your days as a startup founder, which moment will you remember most clearly? Chances are it won’t be the day you signed the incorporation papers, or the day you got your first seed investment, or … Continue reading “Startup Veterans to Share Battle Scars at “The Power of the Pivot””

Intuit Goes All Out to Solve the Innovator’s Dilemma. Is It Working?

Technology writers gravitate to early-stage startups for roughly the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: because that’s where the money is. Or at least, where it could be if the founders get everything right. We love the brash, young CEOs who are out to disrupt entire industries—in no small part because they’re usually happy … Continue reading “Intuit Goes All Out to Solve the Innovator’s Dilemma. Is It Working?”

Less Is Not Always More: The Argument for Apple-style Skeuomorphism

When an obscure archaeological term like “skeuomorphism” starts to show up in the pages of the country’s leading newspapers, you know people must be talking about Apple again. In technology circles, the biggest news this week wasn’t Superstorm Sandy, or the elections, or even the Disney-Lucasfilm deal and the prospect of another Star Wars trilogy. … Continue reading “Less Is Not Always More: The Argument for Apple-style Skeuomorphism”

A Robot Rides Out Sandy, Gathering Data to Predict Storm Intensity

As millions of East Coast residents scrambled to get out of the way of “superstorm” Sandy this week, Liquid Robotics was steering one of its seagoing robots directly into the storm’s path. The Sunnyvale, CA-based company says its robot, a “Wave Glider” model named Mercury, rode out the storm unscathed, and was able to transmit … Continue reading “A Robot Rides Out Sandy, Gathering Data to Predict Storm Intensity”

A New Online “Pre-Accelerator” from Steve Blank and Startup Weekend

In the past, most early-stage startups went down one of three well-worn paths. They either rented office space from a business incubator, in the hope of running into investors and business partners; applied to an accelerator program like TechStars or Y Combinator, which provide mentorship and networking over a set period of several months in … Continue reading “A New Online “Pre-Accelerator” from Steve Blank and Startup Weekend”

Four New Energy Stars: A Greenstart Demo Day Preview

Shouldn’t there be an easy online place to share a bike, the same way people are sharing their cars and apartments these days? Shouldn’t it be easier and cheaper for homeowners to put solar panels on their rooftops? Shouldn’t it be possible to control your electrical plugs, your fridge, your thermostat, or your home security … Continue reading “Four New Energy Stars: A Greenstart Demo Day Preview”

How the Larklife Wristband Could Turn Us All Into Quantified-Selfers

If you’re willing to to walk around all day wearing sensors that record your activity and compile the data into fancy reports and graphs, you must be either a pretty big geek, or a fanatical athlete training for an ultramarathon-style event, or both. At least, that’s been the conventional wisdom. And there’s some truth in … Continue reading “How the Larklife Wristband Could Turn Us All Into Quantified-Selfers”

The iPad Mini: Good News for Education, But “Not a Game Changer”

Well, it’s official—Apple has introduced the iPad mini, defying late founder Steve Jobs, who reportedly commented in 2010 that users would have to “sand down their fingers” to use a tablet touchscreen smaller than that of the original iPad. Why would Apple change its mind about the need for a mid-size tablet? In a column … Continue reading “The iPad Mini: Good News for Education, But “Not a Game Changer””

The Flexibility to Explore: Zuckerberg on Facebook’s Early History

The mob scene outside Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium this Saturday resembled the prelude to a big rock concert, and in some ways, it was. For today’s generation of young tech entrepreneurs, Mark Zuckerberg—the headline speaker, for the third year running, at Y Combinator’s Startup School—is like Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Justin Bieber rolled into one. In his … Continue reading “The Flexibility to Explore: Zuckerberg on Facebook’s Early History”

Moleskine Goes Digital: The Story Behind Evernote’s Smart Notebook

Certain pairings make the world a better place. Peanut butter and jelly. Fred and Ginger. Pinot Noir and chocolate. Evernote and Moleskine. That last one might not be familiar to you, yet. But a few weeks ago, the Milan, Italy-based publisher Moleskine introduced a new line of “Smart Notebooks” designed to be used in conjunction … Continue reading “Moleskine Goes Digital: The Story Behind Evernote’s Smart Notebook”

Square, Box, GitHub Dominate Third-Quarter Venture Activity in Bay Area

The whopping $200 million in fourth-round funding collected by San Francisco-based Square in September topped the list of third-quarter venture deals in the region by a wide margin. The only funding events that held a candle to the digital payment company’s huge Starbucks-fueled round were Box’s $125 million round in July, led by private equity … Continue reading “Square, Box, GitHub Dominate Third-Quarter Venture Activity in Bay Area”

Charles Simonyi, David Allen Team Up To Get Things Done on Mobile

Getting Things Done author David Allen, inventor of a technique used by hundreds of thousands of professionals to manage their workloads, isn’t a big technology booster. Arguing that his method is mainly a habit of thought, he’s never released or endorsed an official “GTD” app or service. In fact, he’s often said that gadgets and … Continue reading “Charles Simonyi, David Allen Team Up To Get Things Done on Mobile”

Punching the “Clear Your Head” Button: The Xconomy Q&A with David Allen

David Allen was in San Francisco on September 7, 2012, to lead a paid seminar on the principles in Making It Work, the sequel to his 2001 bestseller Getting Things Done. I interviewed him after the seminar. Among other things, we talked about the nature of work and ways to think about e-mail overload. Allen … Continue reading “Punching the “Clear Your Head” Button: The Xconomy Q&A with David Allen”

Inventory Data from Retailigence Helps Mobile Users Buy Locally

You’re standing on a hot street, feeling thirsty, and a bus goes buy with an electronic sign advertising your favorite sports drink. Normally, that would just make you even thirstier. But this sign contains some actionable information: the drink is in stock at the 7-Eleven one block away. The chances that the store will soon … Continue reading “Inventory Data from Retailigence Helps Mobile Users Buy Locally”

I Won’t Buy an iPad Mini—But Parents and Schools Will

Until recently, I was an iPad Mini denier. A tablet with a 7- or 8-inch screen feels like the worst of both worlds to me—too big for simple e-reading, too small for serious Web browsing, games, and photos. And Apple has historically been a creator, not a joiner, so the idea that the company would … Continue reading “I Won’t Buy an iPad Mini—But Parents and Schools Will”

BetterDoctor’s Ad-Free Physician Search Tool Goes Nationwide

Every year, 70 million people in the United States set out to find a new doctor. It may be because they’ve moved or switched jobs (and hence insurers), or because they’ve gotten married or divorced or had a new child, or because they have a health problem requiring a specialist. But whatever the impetus, a … Continue reading “BetterDoctor’s Ad-Free Physician Search Tool Goes Nationwide”

Play 2012

From the event website: “The 8th Annual Play Conference, UC Berkeley’s largest digital media and entertainment conference, will be held at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business on October 27, 2012. The conference will once again bring together more than 500 thought leaders, business professionals, industry experts, and graduate students to discuss the most important … Continue reading “Play 2012”

Ginzametrics Helps Huge Sites Get More Search & Social Attention

Ray Grieselhuber, the founder of search optimization startup Ginzametrics, deserves a prize for patience. My first meeting with him was more than two years ago, on September 27, 2010 (I remember that it was a windy but bright afternoon outside Caffe La Stazione in the Dogpatch). I said I’d likely write a story based on … Continue reading “Ginzametrics Helps Huge Sites Get More Search & Social Attention”

Learn from Startup Jedi Masters at “The Power of the Pivot” on Dec. 4

Feels the customer feedback flowing through him, a founder does. Sees the bank account shrinking. Pivots before too late it is. I’ve been thinking lately about starting a blog called “If Yoda Were a VC.” But it’s probably a terrible idea, so to get it out of my system, I’m trying something different: I’m organizing … Continue reading “Learn from Startup Jedi Masters at “The Power of the Pivot” on Dec. 4”

WellnessFX Offers Insights—But Are Americans Ready to Be Healthy?

“It says here you drink four or more cups of coffee a day. Do you feel like you really need that much?” Yes. Yes, I do, thank you very much. I’m on the phone with a doctor in Sacramento. He’s looking at the results of the blood-chemistry tests I recently commissioned through WellnessFX, along with … Continue reading “WellnessFX Offers Insights—But Are Americans Ready to Be Healthy?”

Earn-outs as Multipliers: Deal Mechanics and Returns in Life Sciences M&A

The most important new drugs, devices and other life sciences products are routinely being developed and commercialized under M&A agreements involving long-term earn-out and other milestone-driven contingent payment structures. The negotiation of these structures and post-closing management can have a powerful impact on investor returns in these types of transactions. Please join SRS and Latham … Continue reading “Earn-outs as Multipliers: Deal Mechanics and Returns in Life Sciences M&A”

Twist’s App Spells RIP for OMW—But It’s Really About “Selling Time”

It would be easy to glance at Twist and conclude that it’s just another rinky-dink location app for the iPhone. “Twist is the easiest way to let your family, friends, and colleagues know when you will arrive,” the description in the iTunes App Store languidly asserts. In operational terms, that means it monitors your progress … Continue reading “Twist’s App Spells RIP for OMW—But It’s Really About “Selling Time””

Open Mobile Summit

From the event website: “With smartphones becoming ubiquitous, tablets continue their rapid growth and internet access becomes standard in everything from a TV through to cars, wearables, fridges and a host of other devices, the mobile economy is taking shape. “As carriers continue to redefine business models and new entrants continue to disrupt existing markets … Continue reading “Open Mobile Summit”

Twitter’s iPad App Update Provokes a Backlash

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo appeared on NBC’s Today Show Tuesday morning to unveil a new look for profile pages on Twitter’s website and, much more interesting to this reporter, the new “5.0” version of Twitter’s iPad app. Not earthshaking news, in the grand scheme of things; the previous version of the iPad app was designed … Continue reading “Twitter’s iPad App Update Provokes a Backlash”

Blinkx Reinvents Itself Again, Adapting to the Future of Video

I’ve rarely run into a company as adaptable, even Protean, as Blinkx. I’ve been following it since it spun off from Autonomy in 2004 with the mission of finding applications for Autonomy’s search and indexing technology. The first area that founder and CEO Suranga Chandratillake explored was desktop search for Macs and PCs, but within … Continue reading “Blinkx Reinvents Itself Again, Adapting to the Future of Video”

Morgenthaler Names 13 Finalists for Health IT Pitch Fest

For three years running, Menlo Park, CA-based Morgenthaler Ventures has organized a fall event called DC to VC, with a focus on the conditions for health IT innovation in an era of rapid healthcare reform. The 2011 edition of the DC to VC event was organized around a pitch competition called the Health IT Startup … Continue reading “Morgenthaler Names 13 Finalists for Health IT Pitch Fest”

Why Journalists Shouldn’t Try to Think Like Investors

There are way more Bay Area tech companies than I can possibly cover, so I have to say no to a lot of story pitches. When I do that, I sometimes trot out the investor analogy. It goes like this: “I’m sort of like an angel or venture investor. Except I’m investing my time rather … Continue reading “Why Journalists Shouldn’t Try to Think Like Investors”

Y Combinator Gets an Historian: Inside YC’s Summer 2011 Session

The best way to find out what it’s like inside Y Combinator is to found a startup and get admitted to the program. The second-best way is to read Randall Stross’s new book, The Launch Pad. Y Combinator, of course, is the exclusive school for startups in Mountain View, CA. It’s been described as a … Continue reading “Y Combinator Gets an Historian: Inside YC’s Summer 2011 Session”

Zendesk, Qualys, SoFi: Bay Area Deals News By the Numbers

There’s been a rush of funding announcements from local startups over the last day or two. Could it be that everyone wants to get their news out of the way before the media turns its full attention to Apple’s iPhone event this morning? From biggest to smallest: $113 million—The amount Redwood City, CA-based Qualys hopes … Continue reading “Zendesk, Qualys, SoFi: Bay Area Deals News By the Numbers”

Siri’s Co-Creator, Adam Cheyer, Confirms He Has Left Apple

Adam Cheyer, the chief technical architect behind the Siri virtual personal assistant technology in Apple’s iPhone 4S, confirmed a report today that he has resigned from Apple. “I left Apple for personal reasons some time ago,” Cheyer told Xconomy by e-mail today. Formerly a director of engineering in Apple’s iPhone group, Cheyer has not taken … Continue reading “Siri’s Co-Creator, Adam Cheyer, Confirms He Has Left Apple”

Romney Disses Green Jobs, But Republican Governors Love Them

If you only listened to the speeches of candidates running for federal office, you might think that there’s a stark partisan divide over federal support for cleantech innovation, and that all Republicans see the idea of “green jobs” as a mirage concocted by the Obama Administration. And you wouldn’t be misreading the campaign statements: Mitt Romney’s … Continue reading “Romney Disses Green Jobs, But Republican Governors Love Them”

With NextGuide, Dijit Continues the Search for the Perfect TV App

There’s one thing everybody in the media, mobile, and software world seems to agree on: tablets and television were made for each other. Even more than a laptop, a tablet such as an iPad or Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HD is great for discovering TV shows, movies, and Internet videos that you might enjoy watching. … Continue reading “With NextGuide, Dijit Continues the Search for the Perfect TV App”

Quirky Raises $68 Million to Make Invention More Accessible

Quirky founder and CEO Ben Kaufman may have penned a long and detailed blog post about why it’s not a big deal, but the New York-based startup has just raised a boatload of cash—along with everyone’s expectations of the company, which crowdsources ideas for new consumer products. Quirky announced yesterday that it has collected $68 … Continue reading “Quirky Raises $68 Million to Make Invention More Accessible”

The End of Meat. And Driving. And Football.

Americans are great at giving up things—in emergencies, anyway. Under World War II rationing plans, U.S. citizens cut way back on their use of gasoline, nylon stockings, coffee, sugar, and everything made of steel or rubber. In the 1970s, in response to the Middle East oil embargoes, the federal government imposed odd-even gasoline rationing in … Continue reading “The End of Meat. And Driving. And Football.”

Chartio Gives Tools to a New Generation of Database Jockeys

Even though data is more important than ever—whole businesses are built around collecting it, analyzing it, and repackaging it—you don’t see a lot of CEOs boasting that their companies are “data driven” anymore. That would be like saying that your car is “road based” or that your refrigerator is “cold driven.” It’s so obvious that … Continue reading “Chartio Gives Tools to a New Generation of Database Jockeys”

Workday, Nebula, SV Angel: Bay Area Tech News By the Numbers

It’s been a while since our last roundup of recent Bay Area technology investing news, so let’s catch up a little. From biggest to smallest: $400 million—The amount that Pleasanton, CA-based Workday hopes to raise in an upcoming IPO, according to SEC filings released last week. The company builds cloud-based applications for human resources, payroll, accounting, … Continue reading “Workday, Nebula, SV Angel: Bay Area Tech News By the Numbers”

Phones on Flights: The New Mobile Madness

Earlier this week I was in seat 27D on an American Airlines 737 flying from Dallas-Fort Worth to San Francisco. We were descending into SFO on the final leg of the flight when I glanced across the aisle and was surprised to see that the people in 27B and 27C—an older gentleman and a young … Continue reading “Phones on Flights: The New Mobile Madness”

Why Yammer Said Yes to Microsoft: Q&A with Co-founder David Sacks

I’ve been meaning to catch up with David Sacks, the co-founder and CEO of Yammer, for a while now, and we actually had a meeting on the books for June 6 at the company’s SoMa headquarters. That meeting got canceled, for reasons that went totally unexplained at the time. But it turns out that the … Continue reading “Why Yammer Said Yes to Microsoft: Q&A with Co-founder David Sacks”

SpiderOak: The Online Backup and Sharing Service Where Privacy Counts

When it comes to putting your data in the cloud, the options seem to fall into two familiar groups. There are services like Carbonite and Mozy for backing up individual computers, and then there are services like Dropbox or Box for accessing or synchronizing files across many computers. But maybe that isn’t all there is. … Continue reading “SpiderOak: The Online Backup and Sharing Service Where Privacy Counts”

Greenstart Unveils New Startups, New Coaching Method

The Greenstart digital cleantech accelerator in San Francisco shared details about its third class of startups last week—and about the way it helps companies prepare for the rigors of the real world. On the same day that it named its newest investments—in the areas of collaborative consumption, solar installation, power management, and remote device management—Greenstart … Continue reading “Greenstart Unveils New Startups, New Coaching Method”

10 Indispensable Apps for the Back-to-School Season

There’s a reason that George Fox University, Regis College, Chicago State University, Seton Hill, and other colleges and universities are giving iPads to all incoming freshmen this fall. It’s because the Apple tablets are just as good as laptops for many types of educational tasks, such as notetaking, and even better for others, such as … Continue reading “10 Indispensable Apps for the Back-to-School Season”

Inside Nukotoys’ Project to Build a Monster iPad Hit for Kids

As any game designer will tell you, games with fundamentally new mechanics don’t come along very often. After all, there are only so many plausible ways to move a ball down a field, gamble with a 52-card deck, relabel the properties on a Monopoly board, or knock over a tower with avian missiles. So a … Continue reading “Inside Nukotoys’ Project to Build a Monster iPad Hit for Kids”

The Big Themes at Y Combinator’s Summer 2012 Demo Day

If your startup accelerator rises to a certain level of prominence, you get the opportunity to push a generation of young entrepreneurs in the directions you want simply by virtue of choosing certain startups over others. And because lots of other accelerators, entrepreneurs, and investors take their cues from you, you end up influencing the … Continue reading “The Big Themes at Y Combinator’s Summer 2012 Demo Day”

On Our New Mobile Site, You’ve Been Upgraded to Xconomy Class

Visiting Xconomy.com on a smartphone should be like flying first class in the Pan Am heyday: a chance to listen in on the conversations of some of the day’s biggest movers and shakers in state-of-the-art surroundings with the minimum of aggravation or delay. That’s why we’re excited to announce the arrival of a dramatically upgraded version … Continue reading “On Our New Mobile Site, You’ve Been Upgraded to Xconomy Class”

Western Union’s Telegram to Silicon Valley: We’re Ready to Compete

Western Union built the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, offered the first telegraphic money transfer service in 1871, and became one of the first 11 stocks in the Dow Jones average in 1884. It invented the charge card in 1914, and launched the first fleet of commercial geosynchronous communication satellites in 1974. In other … Continue reading “Western Union’s Telegram to Silicon Valley: We’re Ready to Compete”