Fwd: Abundance Insider: November 17 Edition

In this week's Abundance Insider: AI fashion consultants, 3D printed fully functional electronic circuits, and editing genes inside the body

In this week's Abundance Insider: AI fashion consultants, 3D printed fully functional electronic circuits, and editing genes inside the body. Cheers, Peter, Marissa, Kelley, Greg, Sydney, AJ, Bri and Jason P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider. Drones Help French Traffic Cops What it is: In Bordeaux, France, police are using drones to monitor roadways and flag traffic violations. When they spot a traffic violation using the drone's camera, officers can track the vehicle before sending traffic cops to stop the vehicle. Since the trial began in the summer of 2017, they've stopped as many as 15 to 20 cars per hour and handed out "hundreds" of fines. Why it's important: If autonomous cars don't break laws, cities won't be able to earn revenue from traffic violations. Until then, tech-savvy police forces will leverage drone and sensor technology to cover more ground better, faster, cheaper and easier than ever before. (The U.K., for example, already has a 24-hour drone unit.) Unsafe drivers and thieves — consider your days numbered.   Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Marissa Brassfield This AI Startup Wants to Automate Every Store Like Amazon Go What it is: San Francisco-based startup Poly is hoping to help all retail stores become like Amazon Go, the experimental unmanned grocery store. Fast Company had an exclusive preview of the technology, which includes a camera system and machine learning models that track customers' behavior. Why it's important: We're rapidly entering an age of perfect knowledge — know anything, anywhere, anytime. Platforms like Poly could help millions of businesses digitize their workforce, understand their customers' habits and feelings, and provide a frictionless retail experience. As cofounder Alberto Rizzoli said to Fast Company, "We want [Poly] to be used in places that are not just products on shelves. Like, how many people are using the coffee machine at a 7-Eleven, or how many people are using the gas pump."  Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Marissa Brassfield   Ford, Ekso Team Up for Bionic Auto Workers What it is: Ford, startup company Ekso Bionics, and the United Auto Workers Union have teamed up to bring bionics to the assembly line. To reduce worker injuries, particularly shoulders, Ekso created the EksoVest, which provides around 15 pounds of lift support per arm. The four workers who have been testing the vest no longer need to ice their necks multiple times per week, feel better overall, and are more energetic during their shifts and afterward. Next, Ekso plans on bringing in powered exoskeletons to do more of the heavy lifting now that workers are becoming accustomed to the feel of the vest. Why it's important: Despite the fear of robots eliminating jobs, there's still plenty of human work to be done, and combining robotics with worker safety and health seems like an great entry point. As these types of exoskeletons and use cases begin to emerge, look for the social dialogue to change, simultaneously accelerating change while also making the future a little less scary.  Share on Facebook Spotted by Sydney Fulkerson  / Written by Jason Goodwin  Alibaba's AI Fashion Consultant Helps Achieve Record-Setting Sales What it is: At Alibaba's annual Singles' Day shopping festival, FashionAI helped drive a significant portion of the firm's $25 billion in sales (a new single-day record). The artificial intelligence system uses deep learning to make fashion recommendations based on the store's inventory and the tastes of fashion experts and designers on Alibaba shopping sites. Why it's important: Exponential technologies are transforming retail — and consumers are clearly responding. Alibaba has announced plans for an app that offers unlimited matching suggestions, demonstrating how data and machine learning enable us to anticipate customer preferences and overdeliver. Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Marissa Brassfield  New Method 3D Prints Fully Functional Electronic Circuits What it is: At the University of Nottingham, researchers have devised a method for rapidly printing fully functional electronic circuits. The team discovered that UV light could be used to evaporate solvents in a silver nanoparticle conductive ink, enabling the fabrication of devices like antennae or solar storage cells at the rate of roughly one layer per minute. Earlier methods required heating the ink in an oven, layer by layer, which is impractical for devices that might require several hundred layers. Why it's important: While we aren't currently able to print integrated circuits this way, we are discovering new methods of turning liquids, inks, and powders into 3D physical devices without massive amounts of energy or time. Look for startups and large corporations alike to incorporate these methods into their design and supply chains. Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin Scientists Make First Attempt at Editing Genes Inside Body What it is: Using zinc finger nucleases, a method of gene editing similar to CRISPR-Cas9, scientists have made their first attempt at editing genes inside the body, hoping to cure the currently uncurable Hunter syndrome. By encoding the good gene and the zinc fingers into a virus modified to target the liver, the the team released billions of the good genes into the bloodstream, with a goal of correcting 1 percent of the cells to bring the 40-year-old Brian Madeaux some relief from daily medication. If successful, the team hopes to test out the treatment on children who have yet to feel the worst effects of the disease. Why it's important: Radical healthy life extension is quickly becoming a reality. Even as this team continues to refine and focus on Hunter syndrome, look for this method to be applied elsewhere by other researchers, and for cross-pollination to accelerate discovery.  Share on Facebook Spotted by Rick Beasley  / Written by Jason Goodwin What is Abundance Insider? This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below. Want more conversations like this? At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here.  Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up. PHD Ventures   800 Corporate Pointe  Suite 350  Culver City,  California   90230   United States You received this email because you are subscribed to Abundance Insider from PHD Ventures. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive.  Unsubscribe from all future emails

Fwd: Please tell me you didn't send that version to anyone ...

Do you sometimes send things out before they're ready? We all do. In fact, I do my best proof-reading after I hit SEND. Part of my job is to call my clients to deliver one of these Very Important Messages: Please tell me this version hasn't gone out. Wait a second, where's the real one ...because this CAN'T be it. Who told you to do it this way? No, really. Give me their number. I'm going to call them and tell them never to talk you again. Earlier this month, I popped open a pitch deck for a friend who needed to raise money, about $3 million in 3 weeks. And after shuffling through the slides, I sent it back with DO NOT SEND THIS TO ANYONE in the email. This pitch is so off-track. But "off-track" can mean a lot of things to different people. If you talk to a professional, who does this all the time, this is what off-track means: There are too many ideas   And no single line of focus   It starts with one premise, then swerves into another, before weaving back to the original idea which it changes midway through the next slide. This is a distracted pitch that doesn't know where it's going, and it's not ready to "go out." "But Oren, how do I know when a presentation is ready?" Good question! Let's spend a few minutes evaluating what you are working on now, before it goes out. First, take off the beer goggles If you're lost in a presentation, first clear your head of the investment of time you've already put in. Just because you put time and money into something is not a guarantee that you deserve to have something good come out. So take off the beer goggles and take a hard look at the pitch that you actually ended up with. Evaluate what's really there. Here's how to test whether something belongs -- There are only SIX things that actually belong in a pitch, so ask yourself whether it is one of these: big idea story (why now) product information and features clear benefits use case/demo financials/ return-on-investment next steps If it's not one of those, take it out. Mission statement? Take it out. More than one chart or graph? ... remove. Quotes ... delete them all. I bet it's an improvement. If it's not one of these six things, it BETTER not be any of these four. These NEVER belong in a pitch: your sob story how you lost everything or never had anything to start with   more than 2 product slides   anything that looks like a pie chart, regression analysis, venn diagram, stacked area chart or other "data visualization" image   stock photography The best presentations I've ever seen aren't presentations at all. They're one-slide to cover a few product particulars and just you, giving the complete story with style, boldness and just the right amount of detail to keep buyers interested. You already have all the convincing elements you need to close any sale or deal. You have a big idea (and why now) You have a product with features & benefits. You have a great company. And of course, YOU are the best person in your industry to work with. What else do you need? Definitely not a bunch of slides to make it confusing and complicated. If you do need a little help putting your big ideas into an amazing presentation, let's get it done. (large projects only please.) I'm an investment banker and dealmaker. If you're working on something big and interesting, connect with me here.          SHARE. If you found any value in this newsletter, or it made you laugh or smile, forward it to colleagues and friends who might be interested. They'll thank you and so will I. SUBSCRIBE. If you received this newsletter from a friend, and would like to subscribe (it's fr/ee!), just enter your name and email address in the box on my blog. If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription Pitch Industries, 5825 Avenida Encinas #110, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Fwd: Identifying High-Potential New Leaders

Identifying High-Potential New Leaders by Jeff Wolf Time to Read: 1 Minute How do you identify high-potential new leaders? Leaders must be proficient in both hard and soft skills. For years, organizations looked at only hard skills or technical knowledge, such as expertise in strategy or finance. They viewed these hard skills as the most important characteristics of high-potential leaders. However, the soft skills (people or interpersonal skills) are key for the next generation of leaders. Look for these soft skills: effective communication coaching ability listening skills teambuilding capability facility for building relationships with their staffs and teams and with cross-functional areas to achieve goals and get work done a sense of inquisitiveness a willingness to improve trustworthiness a tendency to ask a lot of questions an understanding of how their actions have an effect not only on themselves, but also on others Leadership is difficult and demanding because leaders must help drive results, inspire, guide people and teams, and make tough decisions. Clearly, not everyone has the desire to lead, so the first question appears to be: Does the person want to be a leader? What are his goals and aspirations? Does she see the big picture versus having a silo mentality? Does he have the ability to strategically navigate complicated issues? What types of real-life experiences does she have? Is he honest and ethical? Leaders need to be positive and have a great attitude because they can either impart or sap energy. A leader's upbeat attitude becomes contagious, lifting the morale of those around her. You can always teach skills, but you cannot always teach people how to be positive; they either have a great attitude or they don't. Observe firsthand how potential leaders work with others and how other people view them. When they stand up to speak in front of a group, do they exude confidence, present articulate, clear messages, and carry themselves well? They should also have good judgment skills in three discrete areas: People. Can they make sound judgments about people, such as anticipating the need for key personnel changes and aligning people to make the right call? Strategy. Are they flexible and adaptable? Can they make changes when a current strategy isn't working? Grace Under Pressure. When they're in crisis situations, do they remain calm, focus on their goals, think clearly, and develop new alternative strategies? When they make a mistake, do they admit it, let others know about it, and move forward, or do they try to hide it? By admitting mistakes, they serve as role models, communicating that it's okay to fail and make a mistake. Lastly, employ a series of tests and assessments to further measure their hard and soft skills. LOOKING FOR A FRESH PERSPECTIVE TO IDENTIFY AND GROW YOUR LEADERS? Jeff Wolf is the author of the international best-seller Seven Disciplines of a Leader. A dynamic speaker and highly requested executive coach, he was named one of the country's top 100 thought leaders for his accomplishments in leadership development and managerial effectiveness. He may be reached at 858-638-8260 or jeff@wolfmotivation.com ___________________________________________________________________________ THE STRATEGIC PATH TO SUCCESS WHAT IS YOUR ORGANIZATION'S FUTURE?? In 2017, there are few leaders who would dispute the permanency of more price competition, a need for greater efficiency, an influx of new kinds of competitors, and the inexorable force of technology innovation. A SOUND STRATEGY IS AN ORGANIZATION'S ROADMAP TO SUCCESS Introducing the Prometheus Strategic Planning Process— a new way of running an organization in a warp-speed world. Prometheus is based on a fundamental assumption: You won't win in the twenty-first century by merely reacting to change, or making incremental improvements to maintain your current position. To win, you must decide what you want your tomorrow to be and then make it happen, faster than the rate of change in your competitive environment. Prometheus is an absolutely unique, systematic and proven method for designing winning strategies. The process is straightforward enough to grasp readily, yet sophisticated enough to use for planning, executing, and successfully completing projects of any scope and complexity. It guides you to focus on the future and to decide what the real measurements of success need to be; it teaches you how to find the right "targets" for action that will give you the most return on your energy; it shows you how to think about different organizational concepts, and it leads you to plan as carefully for the end of product, service, or business cycles as for the beginning. CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE JOIN US FOR AN EXPERIENCE THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK Wolf Management Consultants, LLC presents the Prometheus Strategic Planning Academy, January 29 through February 2, 2018. The Academy is an intensive five-day program which has already helped hundreds of organizations around the world to dramatically improve their business results.    LIMITED SEATING IS AVAILABLE….don't wait and miss out on your opportunity to learn and practice a unique start-to-finish strategy methodology for your department, business unit or organization. Download the brochure and call Mike Adams at 858-638-8260 or email madams@wolfmotivation.com Don't want to wait? Use PayPal to make your payment today and guarantee your seat. Learn from one of the world's leading experts on strategic planning, John Warden: "The Air Force staff quickly came up with an air campaign, the brainchild of Colonel John Warden, a brilliant, brash fighter pilot and a leading Air Force intellectual on the use of airpower…Warden's original plan would undergo numerous modifications…but his original concept remained the heart of the Desert Storm air war." — Colin Powell, My American Journey "Less than a week had passed since I'd called the Pentagon for help, yet Warden and his team had put together a remarkably good plan…Warden had come up with a strategy designed to cripple Iraq's military without laying waste to a country." — General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, It Doesn't Take A Hero After applying the same concepts in the White House to American competitiveness and as the head of a major Air Force education program, John Warden refined this same strategy process and presented it to the business world. It has impressed executives in a variety of industries as much as it did senior military commanders. Now, through attendance at the exclusive Prometheus Strategic Planning Academy, you can learn about this unique, proven, and revolutionary strategic planning process. Learn practical tools and working knowledge to develop strategic thinking and strategic behavior in your department, business unit or organization. The Academy will give you the practical tools and working knowledge to develop strategic thinking and strategic behavior in your organization. SEATS ARE LIMITED Download the brochure and call Mike Adams at 858-638-8260 or email madams@wolfmotivation.com to reserve your seat. Don't want to wait? Use PayPal to make your payment today and guarantee your seat. Wolf Management Consultants www.wolfmotivation.com Unsubscribe

Fwd: Abundance Insider: November 3 Edition

In this week's Abundance Insider: Robot citizens, teleoperating robots with VR, and the powerful next iteration of DeepMind's AlphaGo. In this week's Abundance Insider: Robot citizens, teleoperating robots with VR, and the powerful next iteration of DeepMind's AlphaGo. Cheers, Peter, Marissa, Kelley, Greg, Sydney, AJ, Bri and Jason P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking hereto this link to subscribe, and send your friends and family to Abundance Insider. Robot Bees Dive In and Out of Water Using Tiny Combustible Rockets What it is: Flying bots (think tiny drones) have been around for several years now, and advances like swarm-based intelligence have augmented their capabilities significantly. Now, Harvard researchers have given bees a more mechanical ability. Bees have been able to fly, swim and dive into water, but until now the surface tension has made coming out a massive undertaking (the surface tension is roughly 10x the bot's weight). By generating oxyhydrogen from water with two electrolytic plates, Robert Wood and his team have effectively strapped on a tiny rocket which, when ignited, propels the bee out of the water. Why it's important: Compared with AI-based systems, this advance might seem like a small deal, particularly when it can't be remotely controlled. But the ability to move between different media or conditions, and in particular by using that media as fuel, is a big step forward in versatility and adaptability. Consider use cases outside of water, like oil spills, and this should spark ideas and lead to new breakthroughs.  Share on Facebook Spotted by Sydney Fulkerson / Written by Jason Goodwin  Sophia Becomes World's First Robot Citizen What it is: Saudi Arabia has just granted citizenship to Sophia, a humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics — the first time a country has granted a robot the same basic status and privileges as humans. The announcement took place onstage at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, reports Fortune. "I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction," Sophia said to the audience during her presentation. Why it's important: As robotics, artificial intelligence, sensors and other enabling exponential technologies develop, we'll start to see more humanoid robots that look, sound and even feel truly lifelike. How will humans respond as these next-gen robots become integrated throughout society — namely, in our communities, offices and homes?  Share on Facebook Spotted by Sydney Fulkerson / Written by Marissa Brassfield  Generating Real-Time Video From Live Brain Scans What it is: Using a form of deep-learning called Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Purdue engineering researchers have developed a system capable of decoding fMRI data streams to recognize images in near real time. After acquiring "11.5 hours of fMRI data from each of three women subjects watching 972 video clips," as KurzweilAI reports, the system was then able to accurately recognize faces, ships, birds, and other scene examples, and understand which areas of the visual cortex were associated with which type of images and information. Importantly, the researchers were also able to do "cross-subject encoding and decoding," which entails taking data from one person and successfully predicting images seen by another person. Why it's important: While the images are not perfect, this is massive step forward in understanding how the brain functions and developing not only therapeutic systems but BCI interfaces as well. Importantly, although we've seen similar examples recently that rely on electrode stimulation and feedback, fMRI is relatively non-invasive, and progress in this space should proceed at a much more rapid rate.  Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield  / Written by Jason Goodwin  Teleoperating Robots with Virtual Reality What it is: MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab CSAIL has developed a VR system that allows users to teleoperate robots via an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. By mapping the human's space to virtual space, and the virtual space to the robot's space, the team effectively enabled users to manipulate objects like stacking boxes at a 100 percent success rate versus 66 percent when operating robots via remote control. Additionally, by introducing stereo HD cameras and relying on the human's visual cortex to map the 3D space instead of a computationally heavy GPU, the team significantly reduced latency and motion sickness. They also successfully operated a robot from over 300 miles away (Boston to Washington, DC). Why it's important: While the researchers tout the benefits of this system for enabling manufacturing workers to participate in the mobile work revolution, the use cases will expand to a much broader universe. What happens when you can place VR enabled robots in hazardous areas where humans can't go, or when motor control becomes fine-tuned to handle ever more granular tasks? Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin Memphis Meats Expects Meat From Cells Available in 2021 What it is: Memphis Meats, a company that uses self-producing animal cells to produce beef, chicken and duck without the animals, has announced the backers of its recent $17 million Series A round. Venture capital firm DFJ led the round, which also featured investments from Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Cargill. "They're the only one that convinced me they can get to a price point and a scale that would make a difference in the industry," said Steve Jurvetson of DFJ, who reportedly spent five years researching "clean meat" technologies and companies. Why it's important: "Clean meat" technologies could dramatically reduce global greenhouse gas production — 14.5 percent of which comes from livestock. As Peter has written in previous blogs, bioprinting meat would enable us to "...feed the world with 99% less land, 96% less water, 96% fewer greenhouse gases and 45% less energy." Considering converging advances in gene editing, vertical farming, sensors and drones, we may soon be able to eradicate hunger and famine for good. Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Marissa Brassfield  AlphaGo Zero Trains Itself to Be Most Powerful Go Player in the World What it is: Google's DeepMind has announced the next iteration of AlphaGo — AlphaGo Zero — which is now arguably the best Go player in history. Unlike AlphaGo's algorithm, which was trained on human amateur and professional games, AlphaGo Zero taught itself to play by playing against itself. In just three days, AlphaGo Zero surpassed the abilities of AlphaGo Lee, which beat world champion Lee Sedol in 2015. At 40 days, AlphaGo Zero defeated AlphaGo 100 games to 0. Why it's important: Faster computers are being used to build faster computers — and AlphaGo Zero proves how fast artificial intelligence is developing. This algorithm is unique in that it independently taught itself to play, first by testing random moves. What becomes possible when algorithms can train themselves, without the aid of data scientists and extensive training data?  Share on Facebook Spotted by Marissa Brassfield  / Written by Marissa Brassfield What is Abundance Insider? This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below. Want more conversations like this? At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here.  Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up. PHD Ventures   800 Corporate Pointe  Suite 350  Culver City,  California   90230   United States You received this email because you are subscribed to Abundance Insider from PHD Ventures. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive.  Unsubscribe from all future emails