Innovation & Tech Today, Summer 2018

E3 FROM PAST TO PRESENT ■ RALPH ECHEMENDIA AKA THE ETHICAL HACKER ■ INNOVATOR PROFILE: RANDI ZUCKERBERG

CRUSHING IT WITH

GARY VAYNERCHUK MARTIN GARRIX MAGIC JOHNSON BROOKLYN DECKER RUSSELL WILSON GORDON HAYWARD SENSI GRAVES

Summer 2018 • Display until Sept. 3, 2018

TM

FOLDING ELECTRIC SCOOTER

RAZOR.COM

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Charles Warner, Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief

“ Although we seem to be drowning in information, we are starving for authenticity.”

Authenticity, Athletes, and Advocates When you get a chance to sit down with someone like Gary Vaynerchuk, you better make sure you have plenty to discuss and you’re prepared for a candid conversation with no B.S. That is exactly the conversation I was honored to experience. We had the opportunity to ask Vaynerchuck questions that focused on everything from blockchain to eSports to cybersecurity and, of course, the current phenomenon that is voice technology.

Having the chance to interview a number of influencers over the years, I can safely say Vaynerchuck was one of the most present and engaged interviewees we have spoken with in a long time, and he brought so much value to our readers. Like him or not, Gary Vaynerchuk always brings authenticity.

Speaking of authenticity, with the proliferation of fake news and ICO scams, hacking and phishing, and of course the Nigerian prince offering millions of dollars if you will just give him your bank account info, we are living in interesting times when it comes to cybersecurity. My interview with Ralph Echemendia, the Ethical Hacker, highlights the current climate of online security and the growing threat of data theft while reminding you there’s no such thing as internet privacy. Although we seem to be drowning in information, we are starving for authenticity. That’s one reason I’m proud to present this issue of Innovation & Tech Today, as we have honest, open discussions with some of the biggest names in the tech space.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

For example, in this edition, sports stars such as Russell Wilson, Magic Johnson, and Gordon Hayward provide their insights into the worlds of tech, business, and gaming.

Professional kiteboarder Sensi Graves discusses her sustainably designed swimwear.

Randi Zuckerberg details her new book and innovative approach to balancing her life and career. Adam Cayton-Holland playfully reflects on social media. And, last but not least, electronic musician Martin Garrix highlights technology’s effect on the world of music. With former and current athletes, sustainability advocates, authors, a comedian, and a musician, this edition is filled with a variety of different voices and perspectives.

And, beyond these innovative personalities, this issue touches on a number of relevant topics. How has gaming’s biggest event evolved over the years? Why does California’s tech industry continue to thrive? How do the worlds of entertainment and politics intersect?

These questions and many more are examined in great detail in the following pages.

We hope you enjoy the latest issue of Innovation & Tech Today and continue to draw inspiration from the ambitious personalities and inspiring stories that shape our world.

CHECK IT OUT…

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Charles Warner

cwarner@goipw.com

We’ve made a lot of noise at some major events this year. Editor-in-Chief Charles Warner had the chance to speak and MC at both the USA Science & Engineering Festival and the Niche Media Conference!

Colella D igital/US ASEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shane Brisson

shane@goipw.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Anthony Elio Alex Moersen

John Gaudiosi

AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR

Michael Coates

HEALTH TECH EDITOR

Paul Sonnier

SENIOR VIDEO EDITOR VIDEO EDITOR

Adam Saldaña Evan Kelley

SENIOR WRITERS

The Shop@

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Kyle Perry, Roger Bean, Nicole Kerr, Rachel Stein, Dr. Julie Carpenter, Win Wolloff, Yiotis Katsambas, VaynerMedia, Mariah Stein, Amy Allison, Shawn Tieskotter, Taylor Hillhouse, Alexia Grevious, Steve Wolf, Carly O’Brien, Catherine Graves, Alexandra Heller This publication is dedicated to the dreamers, the innovators, the collaborators, and the doers – who can’t be bothered by those saying it can’t be done. Nicholas and Aria, the future is yours!

Kevin Campbell Everin Draper Louie Fox Patricia Miller

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sarah Austin

Adam Cayton-Holland

Kelsey Elgie Domier

Al Elio

Scott Jung

Andrew L. Rossow, Esq.

Jen Sanford

Holly Schroeder

Jack Tisch

Liv Upstone

We clearly have an eye for the next big thing in tech.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

contents

SUMMER 2018

106 Crushing It with Gary Vaynerchuk

By Charles Warner Photos By Win Wolloff for Innovation & Tech Today

Departments 10 Since Last Issue 12 Event Wrap-Ups 14 By the Numbers 16 Quick Bytes 22 Women in Tech 24 S ocial Impact Spotlight

25 Development Tech 26 Politics 138 Product Revolution 145 Events 146 Coming Next Issue 148 Lighter Side

28 Innovator Profile Living Lopsided with Randi Zuckerberg

30 Connected Car Gaming and Autonomous Cars – Working Together 32 S mall is Beautiful 34 More to Sustainability Than Meets the Road 36 H ow Nanotechnology Will Make Car Waxing Obsolete

38 Security 50 R ussell Wilson: Super Bowls and Startups

Ralph Echemendia AKA The Ethical Hacker 42 Blockchain’s Cybersecurity Solution

44 Outdoor+Adventure Tech Gordon Hayward Dominates Court and Console 46 DraftKings Founder Matt Kalish 50 Russell Wilson: Super Bowls and Startups 52 Matt Duff: From Baseball to Bowhunting 54 Gear Guide

56 Health Tech Our High-Tech Healthcare Companions 58 Videogames as Medicine 62 VR’s Emergency Revolution Photo courtesy of Nike

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER — YOU’LL BE SURPRISED. This isn’t Broadway, it’s Cleveland’s thriving Theatre District — Playhouse Square. With nine beautifully restored historic entertainment venues, it’s the second largest performance arts district in the country, perfect for entertaining clients or for a special date night out.

You really do get more in our Midwest.

City of

ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT

W W W . R E T H I N K C L E V E L A N D . O R G

contents

SUMMER2018

66 Gaming+Entertainment Martin Garrix on the Tech of Turntables 68 E3’s History of 1-Ups and Game Overs 70 Uncovering Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger 72 Teen Titans’ Khary Payton 76 L ara Croft Returns in Shadow of the Tomb Raider 78 C all of Duty: Black Ops 4 Shoots for Multiplayer Supremacy

80 Tech Zone SoCal is So Right 82 SoCal Rides the Tech Wave 84 GO-Biz Go! 86 Incubating the Future of Medicine 88 Irvine’s Masterful City Plan 90 Moving at the Speed of Business 92 California’s Connected City 94 U CI Innovation Pipeline Flows with Patents and Products 96 Innovation Loves Company

98 Connected Life I, Companion Robot 102 Level Up Your Gaming Room

106 Business Innovations 112 M aking Entrepreneurial Magic with Magic Johnson 116 F ixing Cryptocurrency’s Customer Service Issue

118 STEM Today

Produced in Partnership with the USA Science & Engineering Festival

Young Robotics Wizards, Running Tomorrow’s Missions 122 Where Stunts Meet STEM

126 Sustainability Today Produced in Partnership with Sustainable Brands

126 Bringing Renewables to Off-Grid Communities Photo JJ Estrada/Kingo

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Bringing Renewables to Off-Grid Communities 130 The Conference of Change 131 ESPN’s Sustainable Leadership 132 3-Step Guide to Sustainable Gaming 134 S ensi Sells Sustainable Swimwear by the Seashore

136 Art & Tech The Art of Animating Monsters

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Meeting Up With Gary V.

The largest science and engineering event in the world, the USA Science & Engineering Festival had an incredible showing in 2018, featuring astronauts, scientists, educators, and much more. Innovation & Tech Today was also an official media partner for the event, interviewing such speakers as edutainment enthusiast Dr. Darryl Lee Baynes, stunt scientist Steve Wolf, and astronaut Dr. Jessica Meir.

The Ultimate Wealth & Achievement Summit was a celebration of motivation and inspiration, highlighted by speakers such as Tony Robbins and Robert Herjavec. We had the opportunity to not only cover the event, but meet with event speaker Gary Vaynerchuk for an exclusive interview and photoshoot.

An Electric Shoutout Black Lightning star Cress Williams was definitely one of the highlights of our spring issue, providing an electrifying interview about becoming a superhero. Williams gave us a thoughtful shoutout to his many followers, urging fans to pick up a copy.

Staying Connected With Our Favorite Fans One of our favorite ways to give back to our readers is through our special giveaways. In addition to Roger Bean, who won an official Innovation & Tech Today t-shirt, Kyle Perry was given tickets to Silicon Valley Comic Con, even getting the chance to meet comic book icon Stan Lee.

Check out Innovation & Tech Today on social media!

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

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[ Event Wrap-Ups ] Collision 2018

This spring, the fastest growing tech conference met one of the country’s hottest tech zones when Collision 2018 arrived in New Orleans. With a myriad of speakers, 25,000 attendees, over 5,600 companies, and more than 120 countries represented, Collision couldn’t have a more fitting name. This year featured everyone from former Vice President Al Gore and President of Microsoft Brad Smith to co-founder of Lyft John Zimmer and hip-hop/R&B artist Wyclef Jean.

Next year, Collision will be heading to Toronto, making it one of the hottest tech and business conferences not only in the U.S., but in all of North America.

Silicon Valley Comic Con 2018

Presented by co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc. Steve Wozniak, Silicon Valley Comic Con is the perfect blend between pop culture and the technology that influences it. Featuring top celebrities, comics, independent artists, and cosplay, SVCC has everything attendees want out of a Comic Con, with the added bonus of video games, consumer electronics, and so much more. This year’s convention brought famed celebrities David Tennant, Krysten Ritter, Sean Astin, and even Stan Lee himself.

Smart Cities Connect

Each year, Smart Cities Connect gathers thought leaders and innovators from all over the world to help build the cities of the future. With over 2,500 attendees, 400+ city leaders, and 300+ exhibitors, Smart Cities Connect is a hotspot for the connected world. Visiting Kansas City, MO this past spring, the expo featured mayors, chief sustainability officers, smart city coordinators, and chief technology officers from cities all over the world.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

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e NUMB RS

by the

A look at the metrics shaping the technology market — and our lives

The IDC predicts that smart clothing shipments will increase from in 2017 to

3.3 million

21.6 million

by 2021.

In 2016, EDC predicted wearable shipments will hit

237 million by 2020

Wearables Sales Revenue Worldwide 2015/2018/2021

50 Sales in billions (US Dollars)

Wearables help us do everything from track sleep patterns and listen to workout playlists to monitor our heart rate and altogether live happier and healthier lifestyles. With their utility and style, it’s no wonder that the market has been exploding over the last few years and shows no sign of slowing down.

40

8.5% 3.5%

10 0

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

1.98

3.28

5.93 4.08 5.39

13.36

17.65

2015

2018*

2021*

Smartwatches

Sports, Fitness, and Wellness Trackers

2016 – 34.97

44.1 * 2018 – 48.84 2017 –

2021 –

63.86*

*Projected

14

14.02

20

Worldwide shipments of smart wristbands (in millions)

Employees equipped with wearable technology reported a increase in productivity and a increase in job satisfaction.

Photo Getty Images/iStockphoto

23.12

30

Others *Projected

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Artificial Intelligence Levels Up

Video game developers will have a little less to do this summer as artificial intelligence can now endlessly create new levels for all variety of gaming consoles. Though the tech has been in the making for decades, programmers only recently applied machine learning techniques which allow computers to learn from examples and generate levels similar to existing creations. Developers create rules for the AI to follow, such as how difficult a level should be or how long it should take to complete.

2016’s No Man’s Sky is able to generate up to 18 quintillion unique planets for players to explore. AI can now create video games, drive your car, and serve you cappuccino … but don’t worry, your job is totally safe … right?

R.I.P. Elderly Arachnid

Have you ever been truly saddened by the death of a spider? Nor have I. In this instance, however, it seems tears are the appropriate response as the world’s oldest spider is finally dead. The antiquated arachnid lived to the ripe old age of 43, much to the surprise of researchers who had been studying her since 1974. Number 16, as she was lovingly called, lived in the same burrow in Western Australia for the entirety of her life, rearing her spiderlings (yes, that is the official term for baby spiders) and ultimately dying a violent death at the business end of a parasitic wasp whose offspring slowly devoured her corpse over the course of several weeks.

Though you may not grieve the loss of sweet Number 16, perhaps the possibility of a spider living for 43 years will give you pause the next time you consider smashing that friendly intruder on your windowsill … or not.

Koala-mydia

The John Oliver Koala Chlamydia Ward ( JOCKW) is not only an amusing acronym jokingly created on Last Week Tonight, but also a desperately needed addition to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Oliver may have been making light of an admittedly dark topic, but the ward is providing treatment for thousands of Chlamydia-afflicted koalas. Some surveys report an infection rate of 100 percent in certain populations, indicating that these marsupials are highly susceptible to the disease. Further exacerbating the epidemic is the poor survival rate among koalas who have been treated for Chlamydia with antibiotics. The adorable creatures rely on an intense concentration of intestinal microbes to properly digest their diet of eucalyptus leaves. The antibiotics disrupt the balance of gut microbes, essentially leaving them unable to break down their grub. Though the long term prognosis of these cuddly koalas remains uncertain, shareholders at Koala Condom Company are ecstatic.

Photo plavevski–Getty Images/iStockphoto

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

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Double Deer

“Amazing and extremely rare.” That is how Dr. Gino D’Angelo described the recently discovered two-headed deer from Minnesota. After discovering the deceased specimen while foraging for mushrooms, a local hunter brought it to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, where Dr. D’Angelo was working at the time. Wanting to analyze the conjoined fawns more closely, Dr. D’Angelo froze the specimen and took it back to the University of Georgia.

Photo wrangel–Getty Images/iStockphoto

Following CT and MRI scans, as well as a careful dissection, Dr. D’Angelo and his colleagues discovered peculiar details about the fawns. Tests conducted on the lungs showed they had never breathed air, indicating the fawns were delivered stillborn.

While they had separate necks and heads, their spines were fused together. They had a shared liver but separate spleens, gastrointestinal tracts, and even separate hearts contained within a single pericardial sac. However, there’s still no word from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on the induction of these fawns into the Two-Headed Hall of Fame.

I’m Back, Baby!

Eternal Sunshine of the Snail’s Mind Memory transfer sounds like a plot point of an episode of Black Mirror, but this concept might be closer to fact than fiction. A team of UCLA researchers were recently able to transfer the “memories” from one snail to another. One set of sea snails were trained to react to a miniscule shock to their tail which would trigger a defensive mechanism, causing the subject to contract. When researchers subsequently tapped the snails, those that had been sensitized to the shock contracted for 50 seconds on average, while those who had not been sensitized only contracted for about one second.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Scientists then extracted the RNA from the

nervous system of those that received the shocks and injected it into a number of snails that had not been sensitized. Those snails that had received the injection behaved as if they had themselves received the tail shocks, displaying defensive contractions for about 40 seconds.

Professor David Glanzman, one of the authors from UCLA, explained that it was “as though we transferred the memory.” But hopefully, it left out the memory of the time the snail called his grade school teacher “Mom.”

Everybody loves a good comeback.

Whether it be Madonna, Robert Downey Jr., or post-2007 Britney Spears, coming back from adversity and getting back into the limelight is always great to watch. However, this is a story of something even Britney Spears could not do (and it’s not easy for me to say that): come back from the dead.

The San Quintin Kangaroo Rat, a rodent named for its kangaroo-like hopping, was recently revealed to have been found alive and well by a group of biologists. The animal was believed to be extinct for over 30 years due to the extreme industrial expansion that took place in the area during the 70s.

With the revelation of the resurrected San Quintin Kangaroo Rat, the researchers are publishing the surprising discovery in Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. And now, like every great comeback, keep an eye out for the San Quintin Kangaroo Rat arena tour next year.

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Self-Destructive Ants

Of the various species of insects, ants are one of the most scientifically fascinating.

Considering certain species of ants have one of the world’s most painful stings, live for up to thirty years, and are able to lift fifty times their own weight, they are definitely more interesting than meets the eye. Well, you can add one more special power to ants: the ability to self-destruct.

The newly discovered species, which was dubbed Colobopsis explodens, previously went by the name “yellow goo,” named after the liquid expelled from the colony’s minor workers upon explosion. The ants will generally do this when they feel threatened, resulting in the sacrificial act of exploding and spurting, you guessed it, yellow goo.

While the minor ants prefer to resort to explosive finales when faced with adversity, the soldier ants take a different route: using their unique, large heads as shields. If this species doesn’t prove that Pokémon exist, nothing will.

Bodacious Bone Daggers We live in a time of incredible innovation, with devices and tools that have made life easier.

However, it’s easy to forget that we weren’t always blessed with so many years of technological progress. In fact, just centuries ago, daggers fashioned from bones were a useful (and popular) option.

In a new study published in Royal Society Open Science, researchers discovered that a common weapon of choice in New Guinea used to be bone daggers. Not only were these daggers extremely useful in battle, they also provided a palette for artistic expression, as many of the weapons featured intricate designs.

Additionally, they often functioned as signs of social prestige, as daggers fashioned from a revered man’s femur garnered more clout than others. Unfortunately, while they are definitely useful on the battlefield and in social settings, bone daggers are not available at your local Home Depot. Trust us, we checked.

Photo Credit: Copyright Hood Museum of Art/Dartmouth College; Dominy NJ. et al, Royal Society Open Science

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Photo Nastco– Getty Images/iStockphoto

Deep Sea Dumpster Dive

There are very few places on Earth that have been left completely untouched by humankind. Even the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the ocean, has succumbed to our influence. Recently, researchers discovered the deepest known piece of plastic trash over 36,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. After looking at the Deep-Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos from 5,010 divers that was recently made public, scientists discovered this plastic bag deep inside the Trench.

Don’t be fooled. This wasn’t any spectacular piece of trash either. It was just a simple plastic bag, one that could be found in any grocery store, that had traveled an immense distance. However, this shouldn’t come as a surprise since recent studies estimate that over 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. In more positive news, my friends can no longer call me the “World’s Deepest Piece of Trash,” since this plastic bag has now adopted the moniker.

City Name, ST

DEPARTMENTS / Women in Tech

Finery: Fashion 2.0

By Alex Moersen

In the era of applications that help us manage our everyday lives, actress Brooklyn Decker and journalist Whitney Casey present Finery, your wardrobe in the palm of your hand.

Kristen Kilpatrick Photography

Getting dressed in the morning. It’s a relatively simple task that everyone must accomplish each day. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be expedited.

Enter Finery, a wardrobe operating system that tracks and categorizes your entire closet.

Founded by model and actress Brooklyn Decker and multimedia journalist Whitney Casey, Finery was born out of need for simplification.

Created by women for fashion-forward thinkers, the app helps users monitor and track the contents of their closets. Not only can the app help plan and style outfits, but it can also help keep track of purchases, returns, promotions, and redundancies. In this exclusive interview, Decker and Casey share their insights into entrepreneurship, the role of women in the tech industry, and the software behind their app.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Innovation & Tech Today: How did Finery get started? What inspired this venture?

I&T Today: Tell me about the technology behind Finery.

Brooklyn Decker: Three years ago, we were both using a lot of technology products to manage our everyday lives - Mint to manage our finances, TripIt for travel - but there was nothing to help us manage our wardrobes (despite the vast amount of resources women spend on them). Women spend more on their wardrobes than on their education over the course of a lifetime, yet up to this point there’s been no technology out there to help with the buying, returning, promotions, redundancies, styling, and re-selling. Once we had this realization, we knew it was time to give women such a tool - and Finery was born.

Whitney Casey: Finery is taking a consumerfirst, data-driven approach to a woman’s wardrobe, making it easier to plan and style outfits. Our core technology detects wardrobe-related purchases to automatically generate a visual, virtual inventory of the user’s wardrobe. It then employs machine learning to help her reduce shopping redundancies and utilize the clothing she already owns and loves through personalized styling recommendations. Our platform can track the full lifecycle of a clothing item, from when a woman is browsing and shopping and deciding what she wants, to when she buys it, styles it, wears it, and ultimately re-sells it. These powerful data points

DEPARTMENTS / Women in Tech

I&T Today: As a woman who has been in the tech, business, and media worlds, how do you see the role of women changing and improving?

WC: We have to realize and embrace, this isn’t a moment we are in. This is a movement.

There is room at the top for all of us, no more elbowing each other for that one spot at the table. Instead, let’s build the table together and take all the seats!

I&T Today: Could you talk about your transition from acting/modeling into entrepreneurship? What have been the biggest challenges and what have you learned?

Photos courtesy of Finery

allow our technology to help our users optimize the second most valuable part of the home … the closet.

I&T Today: How does Finery do more than just help people pick out clothes? I understand that the goal is to really help people expedite their routines. Why is that so important?

BD: We realized there was an opportunity to create a platform geared towards women that would help them get back some of their time, money, and mindshare currently spent on their wardrobes. Women spend so much of their time and money on outfits, on top of so many other things, so we wanted to streamline their wardrobe as much as possible for them with Finery.

I&T Today: How important is it to have a female-led tech company in this current business climate?

WC: Women only represent seven percent of the tech space, yet we do 80 percent of the household spending and wear every hat possible.

It’s so important that females are creating and are behind the technology to help each other

manage it all, because we understand each other’s needs and pain points. At Finery, we’re extremely dedicated to building a team of female developers and data scientists to make sure the people behind our platform understand the product and can help us serve our users.

I&T Today: What unique struggles come with a female-led company? On the other hand, are there unique advantages as well?

BD: We love that we’re a female-led company in a typically “male-led” industry. While it has its challenges at times, it’s extremely empowering and exciting to show that we’re a formidable force and that we deserve an equal voice to show what we’re capable of doing. It also gives us an opportunity to encourage other women who have ambitions to break through the fashion and tech world. If our story as first-time female tech entrepreneurs resonates with just one woman out there, that would mean the world to us!

There definitely is a struggle at times to feel like we need to “prove” ourselves, but ultimately we have so much support from other women in tech, and are extremely proud that we’re a female-founded and female-led company.

BD: I’ve always been an incredibly curious person, wanting to learn about other people and their industries. The genesis of Finery stemmed from a void that Whitney and I saw in our own lives. The biggest challenges for me, personally, have been adapting and learning an entirely new industry. Even the simple things like business acronyms: KPI, LTV, don’t even get me started on data cohorts. I would be on phone calls and have an entire list of acronyms in front of me so I didn’t mess up. Film and television don’t teach you that. I love that there are clear-cut goals in business: failures and losses; versus just winning or losing based on subjectivity.

I&T Today: How have you incorporated AI in the platform?

WC: We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our product and we just launched a new version of Finery in mid-May. We took the past year to listen to our users and find out what they really wanted out of the platform – and now we’ve developed a new way to interact with their online wardrobes. We’re so excited to get this new product out, since our users have been asking for styling, and we’re tackling that pain point in an incredibly innovative way.

I&T Today: What advice would you give to up-and-coming entrepreneurs?

BD: Passion is passive. If you are going to build a business from the ground up, you better be OBSESSED with your idea. I mean OBSESSED. It will take that to withstand all the highs and lows you are about to embark on. ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

23

DEPARTMENTS / Social Impact Spotlight

Change Commerce

By Jen Sanford & Liv Upstone

Photo Getty Images/iStockphoto

In a time where giving back and making an impact is of paramount importance, companies are continually looking to align themselves with opportunities for their customers to give - from rounding up the customer’s purchase price to providing the opportunity to donate a dollar or more during checkout. This current model places the choice of charity with the retailer while counting on each individual customer to contribute to the total raised.

choice. ShoppingGives’ program helps connect retailers and charities, living directly on retailers’ websites and providing the option for customers to search and select their favorite causes right at checkout, from their local PTA to their favorite national charity. Retailers can now give charitably while empowering their customers to make an impact in a way that’s personal and meaningful to them – all without the customer spending any extra.

But what if, at the end of the day, it wasn’t the customer paying more, and it wasn’t just the retailer making the decisions on where the funds go? ShoppingGives had a vision to give more control to customers, while empowering retailers to put a portion of their earnings directly in the hands of nonprofits.

“We built Change Commerce to help brands easily make an impact, while specifically giving their customers a choice,” said Ronny Sage, CEO of ShoppingGives. “There is a lot of opportunity to make a difference, and now shoppers can choose the causes that matter most to them.”

The result was Change Commerce, a way to make an impact for nonprofits with each purchase, directly from retailer websites. The new technology enables retailers to donate a minimum of one percent of the total purchase price to any verified nonprofit of the customer’s

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Change Commerce recently kicked off with its first Alpha partner, Glyder.io – a fellow Chicago startup that creates personal care products for men and women to inspire love and confidence. They are a mission-driven brand committed to giving back to the community and bettering the environment.

“It’s a great opportunity for our young brand to be able to help and give back to the causes our community cares most about,” said Glyder.io CEO Kaivan Dave. “Change Commerce also provides a way for all people to easily give back, whether it be on their phone while commuting, at work, or at home. We’re excited to provide a ‘no excuse’ mentality for being able to give to communities.”

Glyder.io is joined by CHCG, a men’s clothing company both based in and inspired by Chicago.

The pair mark the official launch of Change Commerce to the public. As they look to the future, ShoppingGives will be growing the Change Commerce presence while layering on more tools for users and retailers to feel better connected to their social impact and to help nonprofits adapt and grow in everyone’s locale.

■

If you’d like to learn more about Change Commerce or get involved, visit https://resources.shoppinggives. com/change-commerce/.

DEPARTMENTS / Development Tech

Drones, Development, and the Dynamics of Cultural Preservation

By Patricia Miller

Indigenous communities are using new technologies to preserve their land and their culture.

Technology is leaping into the future at a steady pace and bringing with it some incredible innovations for people in remote and isolated communities. Indigenous populations in particular have been affected by the increasing availability and portability of new technologies like solar powered generators, IoT-equipped devices, and drones. These technologies are providing access to a wealth of information and native peoples are rapidly working to apply it to empower their tribes and protect their heritage.

Indigenous communities throughout the world are often perceived as being anti-tech, an assumption that has likely contributed to their continued societal marginalization. Their seeming reluctance to embrace new technologies may hinge on a lack of education about the products or, more likely, a lack of access to the resources needed to acquire them. Professor Kim TallBear, Canada’s Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment, explained to the University of Alberta the assumptions many people make about indigenous cultures: “People

are surprised that indigenous people need to participate in science and technology like anybody else … People across time and space develop tools and technology to live better. It’s more that science takes a lot of money to do, it takes money and infrastructure … It’s not that we culturally reject it.”

Smart technologies in rural communities are becoming more prevalent, particularly with the increased availability of off-grid renewable energies. With a steady connection to the internet and a reliable source of power, communities are finding new and innovative ways to incorporate technology into their lives.

Drones have proven especially helpful in this regard, creating an avenue for native peoples to exercise some control over their territories.

Indigenous communities across the globe face a similar set of problems, namely how to defend their land against corporate entities. The most challenging aspect is how to properly document land ownership and the boundaries of religious sites while obtaining evidence of corporate

violations. In Guyana, members of the Wapichan Tribe are using YouTube videos to learn how to assemble drones from parts available in their village. They then use the drones to monitor and report illegal mining, logging, poaching, or looting of their sacred sites.

Drones also provide an outlet for native people to tell their own stories and document their history. Drone pilot and member of the Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, Myron Dewey, noted the importance of drone video capture technology during an interview with Discover magazine: “Being indigenous, it’s very important that we document our own stories because for too long our stories have been documented for us, and it changes the narrative. And because of the drones, I was able to do that.”

Implementing new technologies has been a positive step for many tribal people, fostering a renewed sense of agency and encouraging them to take an active role in protecting their communities and preserving their cultural heritage. ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

25

DEPARTMENTS / Politics

Did Letterman’s Retirement Pave the Way for Trump?

By Al Elio Less than a month after David Letterman ended his celebrated tenure as the host of The Late Show, American politics and culture entered a new era.

When Donald Trump descended from his golden escalator and into America’s collective psyche on June 16th of 2015, there was no way of knowing how the fabric of American politics and culture would be indelibly changed. And, when considering the impact of Letterman’s retirement, there is no way of knowing how things may have ended up differently.

Watching the back and forth during Trump’s frequent appearances on Letterman’s show, it would be fair to say that the interaction between the two brought out the best of both men.

Trump would tone down his bluster and amplify his charm as Letterman would drive the conversation while peppering his guest with incredulity and snark. While some conversations consisted of the news of the day and innocuous banter about domestic life, Letterman had no qualms about drawing Trump into a corner and attacking him, all with a gap-toothed smile and Midwestern manners.

One particular interaction, in 2013, is emblematic of the relationship. The visit took place during the government shutdown, which provided fodder for both the host and guest. Letterman sprung a pop quiz on his notoriously jingoistic guest. While pulling Trump apparel from beneath his desk, he asked his guest where the items were made. Initially, when asked, Trump said “I don’t know where they were made, but they were made somewhere.” The shirts were made in Bangladesh, while the ties were made in China, Letterman informed him. Trump gave a shrug and an eye-roll, looking ready to move on to the next topic, as Letterman gleefully basked in Trump’s sudden sheepishness. 18 months after Letterman’s retirement, Donald Trump was elected president.

As a general rule, David Letterman was notoriously difficult to nail down politically. His

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

monologues tended to skewer those who made themselves targets through their actions regardless of politics, which acts as more of a philosophy than a strict ideology. In an interview with Regis Philbin discussing his political bent, Letterman said, “A case could be made we are leaning one side than the other but it’s not driven by anything other than who’s easier to make fun of.”

On the other hand, his successor steered The Late Show into a decidedly liberal direction.

Stephen Colbert cut his teeth on ironically roasting the presidency of George W. Bush by embodying the spirit of Bill O’Reilly and the ethos of Fox News. The moment that David Letterman signed off for the final time, the price to advertise on The Late Show skyrocketed. According to Magna Global, a leading marketing firm, the average Letterman viewer was 60 years old. Colbert immediately attracted a younger, more liberal audience. With both Letterman and Leno recently retired, the new late-night focus of blistering, leftleaning commentary and nightly attempts at generating the next viral video left millions of Americans with little to watch as they drifted off to sleep.

Photo Joe Pugliese/Netflix

It’s impossible to know the ways in which an unretired David Letterman would have handled a Donald Trump candidacy and effected its eventual victory, but based on the data, it’s worth considering. The Brookings Institute found that older voters made a substantial impact in swing states, while the average David Letterman viewer was 60 years old. As Letterman stayed largely

apolitical, his suspicion when dealing with and cajoling Donald Trump was glaring. 12.5 percent of voters met the morning of November 8th, 2016, unsure of how to cast their support for the best possible leader of the United States and beyond. With his influence and audience, it seems reasonable, that had David Letterman continued, that the evening of November 8th would have ended differently. ■

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BEFORE

AFTER

innovator profile

Living Lopsided

By Alex Moersen

Founder & CEO of Zuckerberg Media Randi Zuckerberg discovered long ago that the best way to keep your life balanced is by keeping it lopsided.

Ben Arons Photography

Ten years ago, Randi Zuckerberg was working for a startup in Silicon Valley. As her namesake might suggest, that startup was none other than Facebook, the social media titan that has today pervaded everyday life. While at Facebook, Zuckerberg helped the platform grow in a variety of ways, being credited with launching Facebook Live, a feature that is used by major news outlets and standard users alike. But even as she found so much success building up the Facebook platform, there was something that consistently bothered her.

“I was spending a lot of time thinking about diversity in Silicon Valley and tech; more specifically, the lack of diversity. I loved working at Facebook, at the same time, I also felt confused why I would be the only woman in

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

every room,” she explained. However, she realized that this problem would be difficult to fix from within Silicon Valley, prompting her to leave in 2011 and start her own venture with the mission of, as she defined it, “putting smart, savvy, entrepreneurial women and girls at the center of pop culture and media – to start shifting that conservation and getting more women to go into tech.”

Soon thereafter, Zuckerberg Media was born.

At first, the goal was to create content for adults that would bring entrepreneurial women to the forefront of pop culture. However, like many of the best entrepreneurs, Zuckerberg soon found a better route to take and changed course without hesitation. “As I was researching, I came across these statistics that just kept blowing my

mind that it was at nine years old that we lose girls … and if you don’t have a girl identifying with tech and science by that age, it’s so hard to get her interest later on,” Zuckerberg said.

However, she was no stranger to entrepreneurship and knew that sometimes you have to pivot in order to accomplish your ultimate goals. Quickly, she shifted focus and dedicated over half of the company’s resources to developing content for children.

Out of this new focus came numerous projects. Zuckerberg became the best-selling author of Dot., which follows a tech-savvy girl as she adventures through the world, and Missy President, about a fourth-grade girl who wakes

Dot. is the story of a tech-savvy little girl who puts her smarts to the test during an unexpected adventure into the big wide world.

up to discover she has become president. One of the more recent campaigns to come out of Zuckerberg Media is Sue’s Tech Kitchen, described as “a kind of robot restaurant for children” by Zuckerberg. The traveling kitchen teaches students about STEM through food science. This includes everything from coding via candy to 3D printing pancakes. The ultimate goal of the Kitchen was to reach underserved communities. “If you’re unlucky to live in the wrong zip code, your opportunities are so much lower and that was something that didn’t sit well with me,” Zuckerberg expressed. “We started thinking about the students in rural Tennessee, or Mississippi, or these places around the country where they’re not traditionally learning about tech. How can we include those children in the economy of the future? How do we get them interested?”

For Zuckerberg, the answer is all about generating excitement. How do we get students interested in science? Make it fun: “I think if a kid watches chocolate get 3D printed for them, that’s going to make them much more excited

about the world of technology than being forced to sit and take a coding class at school.”

She would know. As a mother of two, STEM advocate, and author of two children’s books, Zuckerberg has become an expert in the best strategies for getting children excited about learning.

But how does a CEO, best-selling author, and podcast host make time for everything on top of being a mother of two? This conundrum inspired her most recent book Pick Three, which debuted in May. “We’re being fed this idea that we should all aspire to this perfect work-life balance, where we are amazing at our jobs and we have great families and we all have six-pack abs and sleep nine hours every night,” she explained. But Zuckerberg started to see the dangers of trying to pursue this unattainable lifestyle: guilt, stress, burnout.

It was after high school when she was first introduced to the idea of being “well-lopsided,” abandoning the ideals of a balanced lifestyle and investing deeply into one thing. As she explained

the concept, “We hear the term ‘well-balanced’ millions of times, but no one ever tells you that it’s just as good a life strategy to be ‘welllopsided’ and really go for it in one area of passion.” Over the years, she developed the “Pick Three” philosophy. She broke down everyday life into five essential categories: work, sleep, family, friends, fitness. The concept is relatively simple. Each day, a person can reasonably focus on three of those things. Zuckerberg’s idea is that this philosophy can actually help people achieve a healthier lifestyle in this non-stop world: “Rather than beat yourself up or try to shove all five in and burn out, it’s much better to just pick three, be great at those three, and not feel guilty about the two that didn’t get picked.”

The concept works well, allowing Zuckerberg to concentrate on her career, write best-selling books, focus on her family, promote STEM education, and even run a marathon. Her ability to concentrate her work has become her greatest asset, allowing her to invest in myriad opportunities and inspire people of all ages to live well-lopsided. ■

SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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CONNECTED CAR

GAMING & AUTONOMOUS CARS—

WORKING TOGETHER

By Michael Coates

Advances in Graphic Chip Technology Drive Both Industries Hardware vs. software. It’s the classic Detroit vs. Silicon Valley back-and-forth about who’s really running the show. And it’s reached another critical inflection point. The computer technology that grew out of the gaming industry fed the rapid growth in self-driving car technology. Now matured, that technology is bringing new hardware and software to gamers.

It’s anyone’s guess where it goes from here, but one can expect this relationship will continue to bear fruit for both industries.

A Short History of This Relationship Computers started showing up in cars around 1968, when Volkswagen dropped a Boschdeveloped computer-controlled electronic fuel injection system into its cars in Europe. The growing demands for increasingly sophisticated emissions controls, improved fuel economy, and better performance essentially opened the door for computers to begin taking over the

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

automobile. Advances in electronics extended their domain, but the basic architecture remained based on the same processing chips running computers worldwide.

In 1999, a little company called Nvidia introduced a graphic processing chip that allowed for “real-time programmable shading,” which enabled artists to expand the realism in games to new levels. This new chip became the basis for parallel computing, which exploded beyond games across the computing world.

What the company had done was move beyond the physical limits of semiconductor chips that were used to run most computers. While computing power has moved ahead steadily over the years, the introduction of parallel computing catapulted development into hyperspeed.

It was 2006 when a new GPU (graphic processing unit) platform was introduced for general purpose computing. This new computer brain became the basis for advances in robots, self-driving cars, and other places where artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed. What began

as a gaming tool expanded into the broader economy, got bulked up to automotive-grade technology, and touched every industry that used computer technology to build a more efficient and profitable enterprise – which is pretty much everyone.

Though GPU parallel processing started with the $100 billion gaming industry, the allure of the $10 trillion transportation industry drew its attention and focus. As a result, we’ve seen amazing advances in the auto world (more on that later). In fact, economists predict the autonomous vehicle (AV) hardware portion of the auto industry will be a $40 billion subindustry of its own by 2030, all built on this massive computing power.

Giving Back Despite the attention lavished on self-driving robotaxis and their cousins, autonomous takeoff-and-landing vehicles (which some might tag as flying cars), the gaming industry is going strong. Now many of the advances of the AV world are working their way back into gaming

CONNECTED CAR

platforms. Building these massive computing platforms and data centers to harness and analyze data for AVs has created a gamestreaming service that promises to deliver a high-performance gaming experience like that on a high-end computer for basic Windows and Mac systems.

Of course, Nvidia has high-performance computers for gamers, too. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, which was introduced late last year, features an incredible 2,432 cores and 8 GB of memory running at 8 Gbps, leading to a total bandwidth of 256 GB/s. Like some automakers, Nvidia expects gamers who buy these machines to customize them even more, boosting clock speeds and adding cards to push performance even further. The computers can handle immersive virtual reality (VR) and highdynamic range rendering (HDR), which enhances the reality of a game.

Power to the AV Pros Of course, if gaming machines are blasting to new levels, the computers critical to autonomous vehicle technology are moving into another world. The driving force for this is safety. A few months ago, Nvidia introduced the Quadro GV100. It has the capability of deep learning, processing up to 118.5 TFLOPS (that’s 118.5 trillion calculations per second), along with 32 GB of high-bandwidth memory.

But that’s only one of the things this GPU can do (and to call it a graphics card is a real disservice). It’s designed with an interconnect

Nvidia’s high-performance graphics cards are being applied to the automotive industry. The company is joining forces with autonomous vehicle designers to enhance vision systems, speech recognition, and overall safety.

that allows it to link its programming and memory to a second computer, at least doubling the processing power. Embedded in this processor is new inference software that Nvidia says can “deploy trained neural networks in hyperscale data centers,” cutting costs while speeding up the computer vision, speech recognition, and recommendation systems that are at the heart of an autonomous vehicle.

This may sound like a one-note cheerleading section for Nvidia, but in computing, as in life, nothing is done alone. In the same way Nvidia has worked with virtually all automakers and suppliers, it maintains close working relationships with Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and other tech companies to move AI technology forward.

The point of all this computing power, at least in the automotive space, is safety. Self-driving cars are moving rapidly toward the consumer market, but they need some help. With this technology, one server is simulating a selfdriving car’s many sensors—such as cameras, lidar, and radar—while another server is

stocked with a computer that simulates the car.

The result is billions of miles driven and will mean, hopefully, a program more capable of dealing with the real world because, through AI, it has a sense of how things happen in reality.

The computers gather information on road conditions from all over the world and create simulations to test the AV software—without putting a wheel on the road or tempting fate with a system that may not be ready for the curve balls thrown in the real world.

Beyond Cars & Games It’s not only cars and games that can benefit from this computing power. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had some thoughts on where all this computing power might lead us: “Clearly the adoption of GPU computing is growing and it’s growing at quite a fast rate,” Huang said. “The world needs larger computers because there is so much work to be done in reinventing energy, trying to understand the Earth’s core to predict future disasters, or understanding and simulating weather, or understanding how the HIV virus works.” ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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CONNECTED CAR

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

By Michael Coates

Two major disruptors look to shake up the world of low-speed electric vehicles.

Bigger is better—that’s the way of the U.S. when it has $2 gas and wide-open highways begging to be challenged. The rest of the world does not have the same perspective. Crowded megacities dominate the developed and developing urban world, while rural areas are challenged with surviving on as little expenditure for vehicles and fuel as possible.

Enter a solution that did have a brief moment in the sun in the U.S., but is now poised to go big around the world—and may make a new run in America.

The subject is low-speed electric vehicles (LSEVs or, as they have been known in the U.S., neighborhood electric vehicles or NEVs).

They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and uses, but the common denominators are: • Low cost—usually $10,000 or less • Simple and cheap to maintain • Small for maneuverability and parking in the city • Functional with a variety of configurations LSEVs have caught on big time in China, but may soon make a dent in the U.S. market. In China, they passed the one million sales mark in 2016 (the last year for which sales figures are available), almost doubling from the prior year.

Their appeal is as outlined above—cheap electric transportation that can maneuver the tight confines of the city and function just as

well in rural spaces. Because they’re electric, LSEVs provide extra mobility benefits for city dwellers (which are limiting internal combustion vehicles), while rural owners prize them for their simplicity to repair and low cost to operate. The market there is expected to continue to grow as the overall Chinese EV market expands, with the vehicles expected to gain more sophistication and consumer features as this happens.

While hundreds of LSEV companies battle in China, the mature markets of the U.S., Europe, and Japan are also ripe for LSEV and other small car disruption. Several companies appear ready to try to make that happen.

Tropos Motors is thinking small, unlike what’s been making EV headlines around the automotive world. Some higher profile startups talk up their big EV trucks, but Tropos is focused on what it calls the eCUV market, defined as an electric compact utility vehicle.

The company recently announced the expansion of its dealer network nationwide and the introduction of several new models.

LSEVs are low cost, easily maneuverable, and completely electric vehicles built for city-dwelling functionality. Car manufacturers in China are already pumping out the tiny, high-efficiency vehicles and automotive industries in Europe and the U.S. are preparing to do the same.

The utility part of the eCUV is highlighted by Tropos, as LSEVs with custom upfits can be used for landscaping maintenance, vineyard upkeep, agricultural support, delivery box trucks, flatbeds, sweepers, and first responder vehicles for fighting fires or delivering emergency medical services. While limited on the street to 25 mph, these LSEVs are capable of hitting 40 mph in controlled venues. They also can handle a 1,100-pound payload. Tropos’ mini-EVs have a nominal range of 40-50 miles, but can go up with bigger battery packs.

Electra Meccanica Vehicle Corp. takes a slightly different track. It shrinks its Solo to a singleseater, takes away one wheel (so it has two wheels in front and a single one driving the car from the rear). It has busted out of the LSEV category, though, by offering an 82-horsepower electric motor that will take the commuter car up to about 82 mph. Right now, the company is taking refundable deposits for delivery of the $15,500 retail vehicle by the end of 2018. ■

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

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CONNECTED CAR

THERE’S MORE TO SUSTAINABILITY THAN MEETS THE ROAD

By Michael Coates Too often the focus for environmental progress in the automobile is solely on the tailpipe (or lack thereof). While tailpipe emissions are important and fuel use contributes to a variety of negative environmental consequences, there’s more to a car’s environmental footprint than that.

The true measurement of a vehicle’s impact on the world goes back to the plant where it is produced. Auto makers are aware that the manufacturing end of the business plays a key role in a truly sustainable product and have been putting more and more emphasis on this end of the business. Here’s a roundup of some of the initiatives that are making cars greener right from the start.

hybrids, but it has taken aim at the back end of operations to make sure the process of building all its cars creates as little impact on the earth as possible.

For Toyota, that entailed a big focus on water and bugs. The company remodeled their Visitors Center in its San Antonio truck plant to give visitors a better glimpse inside the production process. While in that process, the company added a “pollinator garden,” which features 240 native plants to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other insects. Beyond the plant, Toyota is adding gardens at six local high schools.

Toyota: Birds & Bees

GM: Renewable Energy & Landfill-Free

Toyota has a positive environmental image because of its early commitment to fuel efficient

General Motors hit its renewable energy commitment four years early (in 2016) and aims

to run all company facilities on 100 percent renewable electric power by 2050. Similarly, the company hit its landfill-free certification targets four years early with more than 150 facilities worldwide now carrying that designation. For a resource-intensive business like auto manufacturing, this is very significant.

Ford: A Generational Transformation Henry Ford’s Rouge River plant downriver from Detroit was the capstone of his revolutionary approach to the auto industry.

Built in 1917 on wetlands that Ford once considered turning into a bird sanctuary, its goal was to have iron ore come off a ship at one end of the plant along with other materials, with a finished car rolling out the other end. Efficiency trumped any environmental concerns.

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As Ford prepared to enter the 21st century, Henry’s great-grandson Bill Ford Jr. had a vision of transforming this icon of the past century into “a model of industrial production and environmental redesign.” The site received a complete makeover, with the new Visitor Center hitting the Gold LEED mark. The showcase of the project is the world’s largest “living roof,” which is a habitat that treats decades of soil pollution.

The site is designed to use a natural approach to stormwater management and the surrounding wildlife. Inside, the manufacturing processes are designed to minimize waste and have led to lower energy and maintenance costs as well as creating a healthier work environment.

Subaru: Paving the Path to Zero Subaru went “zero-emission factory status” in 2004. The company earned its positive environmental reputation early by shifting all factories worldwide to zero waste more than a decade ago. Of course, they also went to more energy efficient production, lower water consumption, and more recycling. ■

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HOW NANOTECHNOLOGY WILL MAKE CAR WAXING OBSOLETE

By Jack Tisch Usually, when you read about nanotechnology or see it depicted in Hollywood movies, it involves tiny machines or micro-robots doing incredible things. But the first piece of nanotechnology that actually breaks through to mainstream use will likely operate differently.

Instead, it will be an amazing consumer product that, after application, makes your car look like it just rolled off the lot, freshly painted and waxed, for as long as you own it.

In just a few years, “Nano Ceramic Coatings” have quickly grown in popularity to become one of the top-selling vehicle paint protection products in America, even if the vast majority of the nation has no idea what it is. The advanced technology is gaining fast on wax, and by 2020 may make car waxing obsolete.

A nano ceramic coating is a liquid polymer, applied by hand to the exterior of a vehicle. The coating bonds with the vehicle’s factory paint, creating a layer of protection that will not wash away or break down. It won’t wear through the years and can only be removed through abrasion.

Additionally, it does not require repeated applications on a monthly basis.

“Ceramic coatings are so far superior to wax that comparing the two isn’t even relevant.”

“Ceramic coatings are so far superior to wax that comparing the two isn’t even relevant,” says Peter Diebitsch, founder and CEO of Ceramic Pro, the largest ceramic coating distributor in the U.S. “A ceramic coating creates a super-slick, mirror-like finish that nothing sticks to, while the UV protection prevents paint from fading as it reduces visible aging of the vehicle in general.”

All products in the space offer everything from six months to a lifetime of durability, depending on type of install and formula. Still, until very recently, a ceramic coating treatment would definitely be considered an investment: a full professional ceramic coating of a vehicle costs a car owner roughly $1,000, and is guaranteed to last the vehicle’s lifetime.

In the last year, new lower-cost “do it yourself ” nano-ceramic coating products have entered the marketplace and may end up providing a

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Peter Diebitsch, Ceramic Pro

mainstream breakthrough. One low-cost competitor to Ceramic Pro is a DIY nanoceramic coating product called “HydroSilex,” which doesn’t need a professional to apply, can be done at your own home, and only takes ten minutes to complete. It needs reapplication every six months, and doesn’t come with the warranty you’d receive had you invested in the Ceramic Pro treatment.

However, HydroSilex does introduce drivers to nano ceramic coating at a very accessible price point. The best scenario for a car owner might be testing the waters with HydroSilex and seeing the results for themselves. If they’re impressed, then they can step up to a permanent coating treatment by a professional for a longterm solution.

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Hacking as Seen on TV

Photo Andres Hernandez

By Charles Warner & Patricia Miller

From the big screen to the real world, Ralph Echemendia, also known as “The Ethical Hacker,” distinguishes fact from fiction in the realm of cybersecurity.

Hacker and multimedia magnate Ralph Echemendia has been cracking code for over twenty years. His versatility and specialized insight into the world of cybersecurity made him an ideal choice to serve as technical supervisor for the Oliver Stone films Snowden and Savages.

Echemendia’s expertise was also pivotal to the development of the award-winning TV series Mr. Robot, which he found time for when he wasn’t training security experts at the nation’s top tech companies, such as NASA, Google, and Microsoft. In this exclusive interview, “The Ethical Hacker” reveals his biggest concerns about consumer cyber safety, why apathy is dangerous, and how to prevent corporate spies from hacking your mobile devices.

Innovation & Tech Today: After working on movies and films such as Savages and Mr.

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Robot, how do hacking and cybersecurity in mainstream media compare to the real world?

Ralph Echemendia: There has been a great deal of attention paid to the fact that we want to make it realistic as much as possible while still entertaining. It’s really about the storytelling, the computers are just sort of the set. Beyond even the press and the media, movies are really the biggest communicator on a global level, so people look at that and they tend to go home thinking they now know something, so it’s very important that it’s done correctly.

In the real world, it’s a lot different in the sense that the narrative is different, because it’s not about storytelling. It’s about operations and it’s about making money. It’s about all these different things that really don’t apply to what

“ When you really think about it, only a few years ago, companies didn’t even have to necessarily disclose if they had been hacked.”

Hacking as Seen on TV

you’re seeing on screen. But, there’s an important symbiosis between the real world and what Hollywood is putting out and they’re going to be putting out a lot more related to technology because it’s what’s happening.

I&T Today: With all the major hacks that have occured over the past year, how can we expect corporations to improve their cybersecurity practices?

RE: I think a big part of that is obviously legislation and regulations helping to push that on companies that have to do it. When you really think about it, only a few years ago, companies didn’t even have to necessarily disclose if they had been hacked.

The unfortunate truth of it is that what does “more” actually mean for companies? Because they don’t really have the resources. The human talent is one of the biggest problems. There’s a massive scarcity issue when it comes to that. The solution is really in the people. It’s not to buy more tech, necessarily.

Forbes, a couple of years ago, wrote an article about there being a million cybersecurity jobs unfilled on a yearly basis. I saw some other reports saying there are 2.8 million jobs in cybersecurity, most of which will be unfilled because there just aren’t people who have the experience and time in cybersecurity. So that’s the biggest hurdle that companies have to deal with.

On the flip side of that, I think the other thing is to empower the actual users, the consumers, with more tools.

I don’t necessarily think that it’s a company problem or a government problem. As a consumer, you’re really the problem. At the end of the day, if SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Hacking as Seen on TV

I&T Today: How can consumers improve their situation with regard to cybersecurity?

RE: It’s a matter of awareness and that’s the real problem. The majority of the stuff that we use as consumers is a matter of convenience. It creates a much more convenient world for us, and so much so that we rely on it. Once we’ve adopted technology the way we have, we can barely remember what it was like not to have the technology. There has to be some level of situational awareness on the consumer’s side, which is a difficult thing to do because most consumers will want to run away from this issue of security.

It’s a scary issue, and even just the word “security” is one that instills a level of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. That’s really what we have to address. In fact, that’s been my passion over the last two years: to figure out how to communicate to consumers what their mobile devices are doing. It’s easy enough to block what is known to be bad, but what is more difficult is to inform the user of what they don’t really know is happening and empower them.

I&T Today: Do you think the public perception of data security is shifting?

RE: I think, slowly, the public perception is shifting at a mass level as a result of all these types of incidents that you hear about now in the news. It’s nothing new. This has been going on before it was reported. It’s just that now it is being reported, and it’s reaching the mass media, and therefore it’s reaching the masses. So, obviously, that is bringing up their awareness.

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that’s it? She goes, “That’s the end?” And I said, “Well, yeah.

Why? Why are you saying it like that?” She goes, “Well, because when I came in here, I didn’t care.

I didn’t know who Snowden was.

And now I care. I’m aware of this privacy issue, so now I do care, but you’re not really giving me a solution. Now you’ve made me aware of a problem without giving me the ability to do anything about it.” That was very interesting to hear a 17-year-old say that.

That is really the issue, is that at a mass consumer level they might know there’s a problem, but they don’t fully understand the problem, and they don’t know that there’s a solution. They can’t even see a solution.

” It’s a scary issue, and even just the word ‘security’ is one that instills a level of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.”

I&T Today: How does your new app Seguru provide a solution to consumer cybersecurity?

RE: The idea is to empower people to become their own security gurus with information. It’s a number of different technologies, but I call it “safeware” because we’ve got all this software and hardware, clouds, malware, and ransomware, but there really hasn’t been any kind of disruptive innovation in consumer cybersecurity since the antivirus. That’s 25 years old and really does nothing in today’s attack vectors and environment.

Unfortunately, they still don’t know what to do with it. I’ll tell you a little story. I worked on Snowden with Oliver Stone and I took my daughter to see the director’s cut of it. She watched the movie and, at the end of it, the first thing that was kind of funny is she turned to me and said, “That’s it?”

So Seguru is a mobile safeware that allows you to visualize what your phone is talking to and where that is in the world, whether legitimate or bad traffic. If it’s bad traffic, it’ll block it. It’ll alert you to something that doesn’t look like you taking communications on your phone. Then it also alerts you to all the things that are supposed to be “normal.” What you’ll often find is that you’re not okay with some of the things that it’s doing and where that information is going. It has to be easily digestible and de-mystify this issue of cybersecurity in such a way that it almost game-ifies the experience for the user.

It was a weird response. What do you mean,

In a way, it’s kind of turning you into a hacker

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Photo Andres Hernandez

you click and say “Yes” on one of those things, that’s not really on them, that’s on you. And most of the attacks now are targeting the individual more so than the infrastructure of major corporations. I think it’s a combination of being able to address both of those issues.

yourself, with your own data. Spy on yourself, if you will, because that’s what’s happening. All these governments and corporations are spying on you and yet you don’t know what that means.

So when you’re allowed to see what your data does and where it goes, you’re in a position to do something about it.

When we started the Seguru project and were looking at what our phones were communicating with, we were surprised. I’m an expert and I didn’t know my phone was doing this. I didn’t know my phone is communicating with Russia.

Or what the hell is in Thailand? Why is my phone talking to Thailand?

And oftentimes it’s because these companies have partners and a lot of it is advertising. A lot of it is tracking you in one way or another, primarily for the purpose of feeding you ads for consumption of whatever products are out there.

I think that we are surprised only because we don’t really know what they’re doing with our data, and once you actually start to understand that, then you can either accept it or you can choose not to accept it. I want to be able to give people the ability to say yes or no. ■

Blockchain’s Cybersecurity Solution

By Andrew L. Rossow, Esq.

In the wake of the Facebook and Equifax data breaches, blockchain couldn’t be more appropriate.

If there’s anything consumers and those charged with managing our personally identifiable information and financial information have come to know, it’s that those parties have no business holding onto it. All the more better for new methodologies to come into effect. As we are entering into the initial stages of Industry 4.0, cases like the Equifax and Facebook data breaches lend favor to why blockchain may be the most suitable location for our personal and financial information to be held.

Facebook and Equifax Have Illuminated Our Digital Footprints More Than Ever

In the cybersecurity field, data privacy is all the buzz, as it is becoming increasingly complex and elusive. In today’s digital world, almost everyone has an online presence, whether through social media, online banking, or other third-party service accounts. The problem is that, when it comes to all of our online accounts, we really don’t stop to think what the effect could be if all that information we have provided to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other online accounts, was compromised, leaked, sold, Photo Getty Images/iStockphoto

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or distributed. It’s a scary thought because all that we have in our lives is our reputation and our identity. Both of which, when compromised, are nearly impossible to recover or repair.

Facebook suffered the wrath of users worldwide with a $50 billion drop in its market cap, causing users to lose complete confidence in the social media giant. If there’s anything the world learned from Mark Zuckerberg’s Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, it’s that legislators still have no idea as to how the online space works, let alone the very platforms they post on, run their campaigns on, and communicate on.

The questions presented to Zuckerberg were almost comical in the sense that they pertained to how a platform like Facebook profits, advertises, and operates on a daily basis. Yet, many of these legislators are on social media constantly. But, it wasn’t just that, it was the eye-squinting and facial reactions to Zuckerberg’s responses to antiquated questions that were better suited for the stone age than in the 21st century.

Whether it’s social media or credit bureaus, the lessons are the same.

Unfortunately, and frighteningly enough,

Photo Getty Images/iStockphoto

Equifax was back in the headlines this spring, releasing its official statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) informing the public that the initially two reported statistics on the numbers of accounts hacked were in fact much larger than reported. The credit bureau had already reported that the names, SSN’s, and dates of birth of over 143 million US consumers had been exposed, along with driver’s license numbers. However, the SEC’s latest gift was that it was significantly larger, and provided the first breakdown of the exposures.

The breach exposed: • 145.5 million SSN’s • 99 million people’s address information • 27.3 million people’s gender information • 17.6 million driver’s license numbers • 1.8 million email addresses • 209,000 credit card numbers • 97,500 Tax Identification Numbers There has been heavy debate for many years as to why these major credit bureaus are entitled to our information or even have the right to manage it. Well, they shouldn’t. Who should? It’s not a matter of whom, it’s a matter of what. And that what is blockchain.

With The New GDPR Regulation Taking Effect, What Needs To Be Done?

One of the major benefits Zuckerberg’s hearing brought to the general public is that it made it clear that Facebook needs to change its policies and behaviors. There needs to be a clear and comprehensible means of notifying the public on how their data is to be used when it comes to signing up for an account, posting content, or even downloading in-platform games like Candy Crush or other similar applications that require the user to enter information.

The European Union (EU)’s data policy through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one to adopt, adapt, and enact.

In fact, GDPR took effect in May, enforcing the “privacy by design initiative.” This initiative calls for the inclusion of data protection from the onset of designing systems or platforms like Facebook, rather than “adding” it later on. Privacy and data protection shouldn’t be recommended anymore—it should be required everywhere.

Because almost every individual in the world has some sort of online presence, charging Zuckerberg or those higher up in the company

with the onerous task of managing our information is asking the impossible. Given that there will never be a perfect scenario, at least in this century, understanding that humans do make mistakes and aren’t all-powerful, it lends favor to the very creation that our society prides itself on a daily basis—technology. What good is it if we don’t use it or understand it?

With blockchain technology, there is little chance for digital abuse or misuse of our data.

Why? Because the blockchain itself is an encrypted digital ledger that cannot simply be messed with. Migrating consumer information from the time a user signs up on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to the time they close their account (if ever), is a huge burden lifted off corporate executives, leaving it in the hands of the only people who are qualified in handling and managing our information— cybersecurity experts.

It’s time Capitol Hill, legislators, and corporate executives jump into the space and attempt to understand it, because they are doing a disservice to their own constituents and consumers by staying away from it or living in fear of it. Industry 4.0 has arrived and blockchain is here to stay.

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SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

43

Gordon Hayward Dominates Court and Console

By Alex Moersen

Boston Celtic Gordon Hayward is a force to be reckoned with whether he’s holding a basketball or a controller.

During the first game of the 2017-2018 NBA season, Gordon Hayward suffered a season-ending ankle injury. It was a major blow to the small forward, who had just averaged 21.9 points per game the previous season. Luckily, throughout his recovery, Hayward had the support of his teammates, family, and … videogames. While it may sound far fetched, Hayward, a nearly lifelong gamer, has often used video games to sharpen his competitive edge. With 36 total wins in the currently very popular Fortnite, it’s hard to tell which of Hayward’s stat lines is more impressive. In this exclusive interview, Hayward discusses his favorite video games and how esports compares to the NBA. Innovation & Tech Today: How did you first get into gaming?

Gordon Hayward: I’ve been playing video games my whole life. I grew up with video games and grew up as they evolved. I can remember playing NES with my dad and playing Contra and Double Dragon, Duck Hunt, Mario Bros. Then I can remember playing Super Nintendo and Donkey Kong Country and NBA Jam. I think the N64 was huge. I loved playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, all the games that were on N64. Then I got an Xbox and fell in love with Halo and since then have always been an Xbox guy. After high school, I got into StarCraft pretty big time, especially the competitive scene, and the esports scene. After that, I then shifted to League of Legends, and ever since then I’ve really only played PC games. I probably haven’t touched my Xbox in a couple of years.

I&T Today: As both an avid Fortnite fan and NBA star, how would you compare, let’s say, winning in Fortnite, a Victory Royale, to a major NBA win?

GH: When you get a solo Fortnite win, I think especially on PC because it’s really hard to win, it’s definitely a good feeling. I think there’s such a difference though, between winning a game in the playoffs and winning a game in the regular season.

It’s a similar feeling as if you hit a game winner, because it’s super exciting. You feel like you were working the whole game to try to win, and then you get the last kill and it’s definitely a good feeling.

I&T Today: Why do you think video gaming is becoming so popular among professional athletes?

GH: First off, I think a lot of us that are professional athletes right now played video games growing up. I think our age group, we just grew up on video games. So I think we automatically are into it. We’re professional athletes. We compete for a living.

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A lot of the same qualities that I talked about are the reasons why I like it, and it’s just the desire to be the best, the competition, you against another person, your team against another team. It’s very similar to traditional sports in the sense that you’re trying to beat the other team and take home the trophy.

I&T Today: Do you think that playing video games can ultimately benefit your professional training?

GH: Mentally, I think it can help you.

Performing under stressful situations, reacting, teamwork, communication skills; those things definitely apply on the basketball court.

There’s the obvious difference of one is extremely physical and the other one’s not at all, but I think more than anything the mental part of it, and having to think one step ahead of your opponent, see where the game is going to go, and figure out your best chance of winning. That’s very similar to basketball. You’re trying to read the defense, figure out where your opponent’s going to be before he even knows so then you can attack the play and make the right read. There’s definite mental similarities and those for sure help you once you get onto the court.

I&T Today: You actually did some announcing at the most recent League of Legends North American Finals. How would you compare the energy of that event to the NBA Playoffs?

GH: It was really cool to be able to go to those events. I’ve been to the World Finals at the Staples Center when it was there; went to, like

you said, the North American Finals. I think the energy is very similar; it’s just at different times the crowd is erupting. I think the other difference is the athletes. You’re watching the screen and not really focusing on the players, wherein basketball, you’re constantly seeing what the players are doing. But the energy was definitely very similar. The crowd was really into it when I went to the Finals, and at Worlds.

They both have a lot of energy, it’s just the timing of when the applause happens, when there’s noise.

I&T Today: Do you see it becoming as popular as mainstream sports like basketball? What would it take for esports to get there?

GH: A hurdle that I see is I think more and more people are going to watch esports at home, online, through Twitch, and through other streaming apps, but I don’t know if as many people are ever going to go to the events and watch the events like they do for traditional sports.

That’s part of going to sporting events; you get to tailgate, you meet up with friends, you’re enjoying the game, and it’s a completely different experience live. However, when you watch esports online, you’re kind of getting the same exact thing as when you’re watching it at the arena. Because when you’re at the arena, you’re just watching a big huge screen.

It’s going to continue to grow and people are going to continue to watch it, but I don’t know if it will ever be something where, like traditional sports, you go to the event and watch it live.

I&T Today: You have your NBA career, your gaming career, and a family. How do you go about balancing all of that?

GH: It’s been really tough. I basically did nothing but play video games, go to the practice facility, go to games, and that was about it when I was single and just living in Salt Lake, and didn’t have anything else really to do. I had a lot of free time and got a lot of gaming in, and now it’s definitely a little different.

As soon as you get married, it changes. And as soon as you have kids, it changes even more.

One thing that my friend joked about is that we’re going to be the first generation of “gamer dads.” I’m definitely looking forward to playing video games with my kids. They’re too young for it right now; they’re about two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half. I think it’s a hard thing to balance because I do love playing video games, but at the same time, I only get to spend so many moments with my family. So a lot of times that takes precedence over it.

I&T Today: Shaquille O’Neal has Shaq-Fu; Michael Jordan had Chaos in the Windy City.

Have you ever dreamt of having your own Gordon Hayward video game? What do you think that would look like?

GH: It would look something like original Halo 3. I loved the multiplayer aspect of that, with four on four, objective game types. That was arguably one of my favorite games of all time. It would look something like that, and maybe cosmetically there’d be a Gordon Hayward character. A Gordon Hayward skin.

That would be pretty cool. ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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A King Among DraftKings

By Charles Warner

Fantasy leagues have completely changed the landscape of professional sports.

Within this ever-expanding industry, DraftKings Founder Matt Kalish shares what makes his platform so successful.

Fantasy sports have become an essential part of sports themselves, offering an interesting way to add more fun and drama to each game. However, while traditional season-long teams and onetime drafts had long dominated the sector, one phenomenon has revolutionized how we look at drafting: daily fantasy sports. In 2017 alone, daily fantasy sports were responsible for $2.91 billion of revenue, 40 percent of the entire U.S. fantasy sports industry. One of the most wellknown of these services is DraftKings, which offers daily fantasy sports for everything from major leagues such as NFL and NHL to more niche sections such as mixed martial arts and competitive gaming. We had the opportunity to catch up with DraftKings Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder Matt Kalish about the origins of the company, regulations within the industry, and how esports is growing in the daily fantasy sports market.

Innovation & Tech Today: Tell us a bit about the original concept behind DraftKings.

Matt Kalish: If you’re a very competitive person, the idea of just having one draft a year and then playing out your team, it doesn’t create that constant stimulus that you’re really looking for.

In a long season, I feel like people want to be able to have a little more flexibility. It would be nice if you could go on vacation or take a day off and not play, and then pick it back up when you’re ready. And so we felt like our platform provided that kind of flexibility for players.

I&T Today: What was the industry landscape like when you launched?

MK: There was very low awareness of what daily fantasy sports actually was. I’d say there

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Photo Kim Furnald/Verbatim for DraftKings

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you see everybody you can choose from very quickly and scroll in, so that was really nice.

We’ve also recently launched something called Showdown, which is a single game fantasy contest. We launched it for the playoffs and then had a major promotion during the Super Bowl.

That’s nice, because you only have to research one game. So if you’re just doing it for recreation, it’s a very nice product for that, and we also scale all the way up, so people who want more, they can take more. But half our base now is very, very causal and we’re trying to support that and make sure they’re having a great time.

I&T Today: Because your platform is more skill-based, how does regulation play a role with something like DraftKings?

MK: We’re tracking responsible gaming very aggressively. We have all of these different platforms that we’ve built, and it positions us really well for any sort of gaming product. So think the idea of if you’re following the Supreme Court case that New Jersey has brought, challenging PASPA (the Professional And Amateur Sports Protection Act), for example.

Photos Kim Furnald/Verbatim for DraftKings

were tens of thousands of people who had ever tried it at the time, and two of the biggest companies at the time were FanDuel, based in Edinburgh, and this company called DraftStreet that was New York City-based. Pretty early on, when there were only tens of thousands of customers, it was a land grab. So we were out there doing media deals, trying to raise money to buy media to get awareness. We actually got the first league sponsorship of any company in our

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space with Major League Baseball in 2013, and we just showed them some of our engagement data. We said people are watching 60 percent more games because they’re playing fantasy. And that drives all of their metrics, all of their sponsorship values, their advertising revenue.

Everything drives off of consumer engagement, so Major League Baseball made the first big bet.

That could open up sportsbook products in the U.S. That’s something that we’re paying attention to, and we have the right platform for that. We have exactly the same product that the regulators are going to look for when they regulate that product. So, just the backend, the platform that we’ve built, we feel, is so scalable and adaptable to not just within fantasy.

I&T Today: What does the future hold for DraftKings?

I&T Today: Has DraftKings approached esports as well?

MK: This year, we’ve added several new leagues, and we’re going to look at adding additional sports throughout the year and trying to cover the major events that go on worldwide if there’s anything huge, like the World Cup, for example. We want to make sure we have the best fantasy game to support that, and build a custom product around that. We’ve been adding more and more casual game variance. So last year, we launched something called Pick ‘Em, which is a must simpler version of fantasy than using the salary caps, which is our traditional product.

MK: Yeah, we offer League of Legends right now. It’s something we did back in 2015, and so we were extremely early in on the fantasy model, and we’ve been supporting that league for quite some time, and we’ve done some partnerships with some of the different teams out there. It’s such a fluid situation. My belief is the more that there’s organization around the leagues that is well managed, then it’s going to facilitate people following the league much more closely, participating in games like fantasy prediction.

They have an awesome organic viewership, which is one of the apps on my phone that’s not even buried, it’s like top of the first screen. And it’s so accessible and easy to watch the content, almost in contrast to major sports where all the rights and everything are so confusing. ■

So you don’t even need to look at salaries. You just take a person from a list that you’re comfortable with and you can build a team very quickly. It’s very friendly on your phone, the way

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Super Bowls and Startups

By Sarah Austin major learning experience. In this exclusive interview, the NFL star recounts his greatest successes and failures, as well as the origins of his TraceMe platform.

Photo Matt Freedman

Innovation & Tech Today: What are your greatest successes?

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson discusses his foray into social media entrepreneurship.

Both on the field and in the boardroom, Russell Wilson is a force to be reckoned with.

When he entered the NFL in 2012, he immediately made his presence known, tying legendary quarterback Peyton Manning for most passing touchdowns in a season by a rookie. He constantly exceeded expectations, becoming the shortest quarterback in NFL history to start and win a Super Bowl.

Off the field, Wilson has endorsed and invested in a multitude of companies. Most recently, in 2017, Wilson founded a network platform called TraceMe to help connect fans with celebrities. The app collected $9 million in Series A funding with high-profile investors including Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions, Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.

However, as much success as he has experienced, Wilson is no stranger to failure.

Many sports fans will remember his crucial goal line interception that turned the tide of Super Bowl XLIX. Despite the mistake, Wilson kept moving forward, counting the play as a

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Russell Wilson: Undoubtedly everyone will think that winning Super Bowl XLVIII is my greatest success and it certainly is one of the best moments of my life. But I truly think my absolute greatest success was finding my one true love, marrying her, and starting a family together.

I&T Today: On the other hand, what have been some of your greatest failures?

RW: I will always have to answer questions about the one-yard line. That was a pivotal play on the greatest stage in sports and will be replayed countless times. Contrary to what most people would believe, I do not see that play as a failure; I see it as a learning opportunity that I will grow from. I see it as another page in the book. Moving on from that play, the important thing I always remember is not to have any fear.

Once you let the fear of failure enter your mind, it will distract you from your ultimate goal.

I&T Today: What have you learned from these positive and negative experiences?

RW: I have failed many times. Without failure there can be no learning process and improvement. Fail or succeed, I always try to keep my mind neutral. Never get too high or low.

By staying grounded and not forgetting what is most important, my mind remains clear in the most stressful situations. I have learned that consistency is key, and that the best way to separate yourself from the competition is through preparation. Separation is in the preparation.

I&T Today: Could you talk about how tech is incorporated into your football training?

RW: Tech plays a vital role in my training physically and mentally. Physically, during the season and out of season my performance team traces my performance goals and measures my daily recovery. Mentally, I am constantly studying film, my playbook, and also enhancing my mind through the power of technology. My goal each week is to have a limitless mind. I want to feel unlimited.

I&T Today: Could you elaborate on the TraceMe platform?

RW: I started TraceMe just over a year ago with a simple mission: how do we connect fans in a deeper way with the people that inspire them? I’ve been blessed to be under the spotlight for some time now and it’s always been incredibly special every time I have the opportunity to connect with fans. I realized that there wasn’t a platform that allowed me the opportunity to give them more — dive deeper into my life, my interests, and my passions.

TraceMe gives the celebrity, entertainer, or athlete the ability to create with no limitations.

We’re a free app on iOS and Android; when you download TraceMe you’ll see that you can dive into several different uniquely branded worlds.

There’s the Russell Wilson, Ciara, Alvin Kamara, and QB2QB worlds with many more in the pipeline. In each world, we give you behind-thescenes access in a way that hasn’t been done before — bringing fans up close into our lives.

There are 7.5 billion people in the world and I believe every one of them is a fan of something.

One day, TraceMe is where they will go to connect them to those things they love.

I&T Today: What’s next for TraceMe? RW: This is going to be big summer for TraceMe. We’re adding more celebrities to the platform as well as a number of great features that will bring the fans even closer to the celebrities they love. ■

Photo courtesy of Nike

SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

51

From Baseball to Bowhunting

By Everin Draper that kill the bacteria that cause odor. Now there’s a new thing on the market; it’s an ozone generator, and it basically kills all the bad bacteria in the air that causes odor. Hockey players use it, and they’ve been using it for a lot of years in their hockey bags. It pumps this ozone in there, and it literally kills the smell. You don’t leave a scent, so that’s become a big thing in our hunting industry as well.

I&T Today: As someone who has invested time into both baseball and bowhunting, do you see any similarities between the two sports?

As an avid hunter since the age of 13, former MLB pitcher Matt Duff has seen how the sport of bowhunting has evolved over the years. Following his MLB career, Duff, along with co-host Chipper Jones, started Major League Bowhunter, which covers all aspects of bowhunting. In this exclusive interview, Duff shares his insights on bowhunting technology and how the sport is similar to baseball.

Innovation & Tech Today: How have you seen bowhunting technology develop over the years?

Matt Duff: When I first started bowhunting, there were wooden limbs and aluminum risers

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

on the bows. Now all of that has changed. The bows are lighter, much faster. The string materials have changed over the years. The bows have gone from shooting 220 feet per second to 350 feet per second, and that’s all based on the innovations that the archery market has made. I think we’ve gotten to the point now in the archery industry where you can only propel an arrow so fast and remain accurate. I think they could make bows that shoot faster with the technology available, but then you start sacrificing accuracy.

I&T Today: Outside of the bows and arrows, have you seen any other technology become incorporated into hunting?

MD: Everything has evolved technology-wise since I started hunting. You’ve got the innovations in scent technology with the clothing where they have charcoal-infused carbon elements in the clothes that destroy human odor, or capture the odor. One of the big things in bowhunting is being able to get close enough to the game animal you’re hunting without being detected. The introduction of all the scent-suppressing clothing has been a huge thing. Advances have also been made to sprays

MD: I was a pitcher so I relate bowhunting to baseball, where I step on the mound and I’ve got a guy coming up to the plate that has strengths and weaknesses. What are his strengths and weaknesses compared to my strengths and weaknesses? Then how do I exploit his weaknesses or take advantage of my strengths as I’m facing this hitter?

Same thing goes into bowhunting. What advantages do I have over this deer I’m hunting?

It could have everything to do with the terrain. If I’m hunting out in the Midwest, especially out in Kansas or Nebraska, where it’s really open terrain, they have an advantage. They can sit and see for a long way. Whereas, if I’m hunting in the Mississippi River bottoms where there’s heavy timber, those deer can’t see as far.

The conditions too. Is it hot? Is it cold? Are the deer going to be up and on their feet? Same thing with pitching. If the wind’s blowing in, and I’m playing at Wrigley Field, I might be throwing belt-high fast balls and letting them see how far they can hit it.

Chipper [ Jones] and I have been bowhunting a lot of years, and so we’ve taken a lot of our experiences and really that’s what our TV show is about, bringing those experiences. That’s what Major League Bowhunter is all about, and Smokey Mountain, they’re one of our top partners. Hunters and baseball players are big dipping and chew communities, so Smokey Mountain has been really cool for us. ■

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Watershed Ocoee Waterproof Duffel Bag – At just 15 liters, the Ocoee is a lightweight submersible bag designed to be stuffed into tight spaces. Its rugged carrying handles, numerous lash points, and variety of color options make this dry bag a must-have accessory for any boater’s arsenal. $112

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55

Health Tech Presented by

Our High-Tech Healthcare Companions

By Scott Jung

O

f the many technologies portrayed in science fiction that have become reality, robots have perhaps played the greatest role in rapidly reshaping our society.

From architecture to zoology, you can find these electronic helpers tirelessly working alongside their human counterparts in just about every area of research and industry. For better or worse, robots probably deserve more credit than they often receive, frequently placing themselves in environments and situations seen as impossible or too dangerous for humans. Like something from a science fiction film, robots have enabled some humans to have what we would consider superhuman powers.

Healthcare is certainly no exception in this rise of the machines. For both doctors and patients, robotic technology is playing a major role in improving medicine. Thanks to robotics, health care professionals can provide higher quality care and work more productively, and patients can live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Here’s a look at some of the robotic technologies that are transforming healthcare.

Surgical Robots Make It Safer to Go Under the Knife We often like to rightly call surgeons “miracle workers,” but even the most skilled surgeon is still human, limited in his or her precision and accuracy. Surgical robots are able to perform many difficult and complicated procedures that require extremely precise skill on the surgeon’s part. One of the most popular surgical robots, the da Vinci from Intuitive Surgical, acts as replacement hands for a human surgeon by navigating its arms as the surgeon controls it from a nearby computer terminal. Unlike the surgeon, however, the robot isn’t affected by

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factors like too little sleep or too much caffeine that can lead to shaky hands.

As artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to evolve, we’ll likely start seeing the technology incorporated into surgical robots in the future. With access to vast amounts of data and advanced algorithms, surgical robots will assist physicians in making better, more informed decisions without the cognitive biases that can affect a diagnosis. They could one day even plan and perform entire surgical procedures with little or no intervention from human surgeons.

Robotic Pharmacists Make Drugs Safer for All A 2012 study found that for every 100,000 prescriptions, pharmacists made an average of five errors. These errors can potentially be catastrophic by putting patient lives at risk and causing unnecessary financial troubles for everyone involved.

Some pharmacies, like the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), are utilizing robots to assist in processing prescriptions.

By automating the processing and filling process for medications, these robotic pharmacists are able to improve overall efficiency while also improving patient safety.

More than just mechanized pill counters, robotic pharmacists are able to enter secured, sterile environments and prepare hazardous chemotherapy drugs, tasks during which human pharmacists could potentially put the medications, and themselves, in

danger. Additionally, UCSF employs TUG mobile robots from Aethon to transport these medications, as well as surgical instruments, lab specimens, food, and other equipment all throughout the hospital facility.

Before you mark off the pharmacy as another industry that has fallen victim to automation, know that there is still an important place for human druggists. By relegating robotics to the more manual pharmaceutical tasks, pharmacists will have more time to focus on the best drug therapy for a patient and monitor patients for clinical response and adverse reactions.

Tele-Presence Robots Enable Doctors to Make Virtual Housecalls Another kind of machine that you may someday find roaming the halls of a clinic or home is a tele-presence robot. These are essentially mobile videoconferencing systems

that allow doctors to remotely work with patients. One model, the RP-VITA from InTouch Health, aims to be as close to a real doctor as possible. Doctors can remotely move RP-VITA anywhere with just a single click, and the robot can detect and avoid obstacles like IV lines and glass doors as it ambles toward its destination. RP-VITA also runs on InTouch Health’s robust telemedicine platform, which allows it to integrate itself into a hospital’s electronic health record system to display and modify patient data. It’s even equipped with the ability to connect with medical devices such as otoscopes and ultrasounds.

One study forecasts that the tele-presence robot market will grow as high as $7 billion as the technology continues to advance. While it’s not nearly the same as having a doctor available in person, these robots will allow doctors to extend their range of care to a greater number of people by having a presence in every home, no matter how far away.

Therapy Robots Help Patients Heal and Thrive Doctors aren’t the only ones who get to have fun when it comes to using healthcare robots.

The use of robotic technologies by patients to complement or replace drugs and traditional therapeutics is currently one of the hottest new areas of research in medical technology. Many experts believe that some of these “digital therapeutics” have the potential to be just as, or even more, effective than taking medication, but without the nasty side effects.

Ever since it was discovered that the human brain isn’t “hard-wired” and can overcome the paralyzing effects of a stroke or spinal cord injury with intense rehabilitation, the area of robotics has been largely devoted to restoring mobility in victims of a stroke or injury. Similar to the technology that you’d find in an Iron Man suit, these rehab robots feature electronics that can dynamically assist the patient with specific movements that he/she initiates and can adjust its contribution as the patient’s own mobility improves. Some of the rehab robots can be programmed with physical therapy exercises that the patient can perform as the robot’s movement sensors track the patient’s progress.

Therapy robotics have also shown much potential in treating kids with autism. “Nao,” a brightly-colored robot, “Charlie,” a fuzzy green monster, and “Paro,” a harp seal, are just a few of the many robotic creatures designed to treat autism and other mental disorders. Though cute and cuddly, these creatures contain various tactile sensors, microphones, and cameras to detect a child’s movements and behavior, as well as surrounding lights, sounds, and movements, to respond appropriately. A recent Dutch study involving “Nao” showed that autistic kids who included the robot during 20 weekly therapy sessions made more progress on their social skills than those who didn’t get to work with it.

While there’s still a lot more research needed for therapy robots and the digital therapeutics space, it’s certainly not unreasonable to think that, someday, a treatment plan from a doctor could include both a prescription and a robot. ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

57

Health Tech Presented by

Video Games as Medicine

By Paul Sonnier

When we think of video games, the last thing that comes to mind is that they might be used as a medical treatment for a brain disorder or disease. But that’s just what one company, Akili Interactive Labs, is doing.

Based out of Boston, Akili was founded in 2011 by renowned American neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and digital health entrepreneur Eddie Martucci. The startup is unusual in that it counts key executives from the gaming industry (Electronic Arts) and the pharmaceutical industry (Eli Lilly) on its team. The company recently landed $55 million in new funding (total to date is a whopping $127.9 million) to help achieve its goal of obtaining FDA clearance for a custom-developed video game that will be used to both assess and treat pediatric Attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD interferes with functioning or development and contributes to low self-esteem, troubled relationships, difficulty learning at school, and challenges in the workforce.

While ADHD is commonly thought of as a childhood disorder—often diagnosed in children as early as four years of age—it can continue through adolescence, even into adulthood. Typical symptoms include difficulty paying attention, staying focused, and controlling behavior. Another major symptom is hyperactivity, or over-activity. More than 3 million new cases of ADHD are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, and about 8.7 percent of U.S. adolescents (aged 13 to 18 years) and 4.4 percent of adults (aged 18 to 44 years) suffer from the disorder, which has no known cure.

According to the National Resource Center on ADHD (NRC)—a program funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD)— treating ADHD often requires “medical, educational, behavioral, and psychological

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

“ I chose a ‘volcano’ level that required me to tilt the tablet left or right to steer my character’s hoverboard along the path, doing my best to avoid potholes of fire.” Jeff Engel, senior editor at Xconomy

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Health Tech Presented by

intervention,” and is characterized by a “comprehensive approach to treatment sometimes called ‘multimodal’ and, depending on the age of the individual with ADHD, may include parent training, medication, skills training, counseling, behavioral therapy, and educational supports.”

Akili, of course, wants to add video games to this list of treatment options. Or rather, as the company describes it, it is seeking to provide “software-based prescription digital medicine delivered through a creative and immersive action video game experience to keep patients engaged and immersed in the treatment for the delivery of therapeutic activity with excellent compliance.” They added that, “treatment looks and feels like a high-end interactive action video game.” (Remember, these are neuroscientists, pharma, and gaming industry people, so product descriptions are truly mindblowing!) Under the hood of the game exists adaptive algorithms designed to treat ADHD by leveraging the best things about video games: the deep engagement and the rewards that make them so compelling and fun to play.

Akili is creating immersive therapeutic gaming options for people suffering with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The interactive games foster prolonged focus and engagement while offering positive feedback to encourage the user to continue playing. Developers continue to enhance the scope of digital therapeutic treatment options and will soon use the platform to treat other ailments.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

While the game being developed for ADHD is not yet available to the public, in 2016, Jeff Engel, a senior editor at Xconomy, played a demo version called Project: EVO, and described the experience as being somewhat reminiscent of Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64.

As Jeff described it: “I chose a ‘volcano’ level that required me to tilt the tablet left or right to steer my character’s hoverboard along the path, doing my best to avoid potholes of fire. At the same time, various small orbs were flying across the screen. Before the level started, the

software asked me to keep an eye out for a particularly shaped one, and every time that type of object flew by, I was supposed to tap the screen. When I got on a roll, I would enter a sort of hot streak mode that reminded me of ‘star power’ in Guitar Hero.” Co-founder Eddie Martucci indicated to Engel that the level he played corresponds to one segment of a patient’s daily “dose” of the software.

In a statement announcing the new round of funding, Akili indicated that the financing came after positive results of a multicenter, randomized, controlled pivotal study of what the company calls “AKL-T01”, its flagship investigational product designed to treat pediatric attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. (It seems likely that “AKL-T01” is the new iteration of Project: EVO, the demo Jeff Engel played in 2016.) Akili further states that it plans to submit the game to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clearance in the coming months. Once the FDA reviews and gives the game its stamp of approval to be marketed as a medical device, physicians will be permitted to prescribe it as a stand alone treatment for children and adolescents with ADHD. This would make the company’s video game the first ever prescription digital treatment for pediatric ADHD and serve as another major validation for the field of digital health, of which digital therapeutics are an important area. ■ Paul Sonnier is the Health Tech Editor for Innovation & Tech Today and the author of The Fourth Wave: Digital Health, available on Amazon.com. He can be followed on Twitter @Paul_Sonnier.

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Health Tech Presented by

VR’s Emergency Revolution

By Louie Fox

Bowie State University’s VR Lab looks to use advanced simulations to help prepare first responders Virtual reality has undoubtedly grown over the years. While at one point VR was merely a fictional idea, showcased in pieces of classic pop culture such as VR Troopers and Total Recall, nowadays virtual reality has become, ironically enough, a reality. VR is now a consistently improving piece of tech rather than a fad, revolutionizing the worlds of gaming, films, and even activism. However, Bowie State University’s Virtual Reality Laboratory, just outside of Washington, DC, in Bowie, Maryland, is looking to utilize the technology and do something unique: give first responders a realistic training experience.

The work of Bowie State’s VR Lab has the potential to revolutionize the way disaster prevention is addressed. Virtual reality is now being integrated in training for nursing, combat, and even surgery, so it makes sense that disaster response would be the next frontier.

An interesting cross between game development and behavioral analysis, Bowie State University’s Megacity project looks to create realistic disaster scenarios in order to prepare first responders for a number of situations. The project offers an incredibly convenient alternative to realistic simulations and evacuation drills, which can not only be time-consuming, but expensive. It all

started with one main objective: developing a collaborative VR Megacity environment that offers flexibility to run multiple scenarios and evacuation drills for disaster preparedness and response. In addition, it can help train SWAT teams, fire responders, and traffic clearance personnel.

The project is led by Dr. Sharad Sharma, Associate Professor and Director of the VR Lab at Bowie State University, whose work since 2007 has focused on modeling and simulation of emergency response and human behavior.

“Human behavior becomes unpredictable when people make decisions in emergencies,” said Dr.

Sharma. “So analyzing the behavioral aspect of first responders is a necessity.”

The project allows the user to experience everything from hazardous materials and building fires to civil disturbances and terrorist attacks. The intuitive environment enables the user to react to factors such as smoke that can affect quickness and computer-controlled characters that can hinder your progress within the simulation.

The project offers two different control options to enter the Megacity VR environment: immersive using the Oculus Rift Head-Mounted Display and non-immersive using a standard mouse with a keyboard or joystick. This allows users to control their level of involvement and interaction while getting to experience the variety of disaster simulations and what-if scenarios. Dr. Sharma involves his students in developing and programming the scenarios.

Dr. Sharad Sharma’s Virtual Reality Lab combines realistic disaster emulations and human behavioral modeling to prepare first responders for real world emergency scenarios.

One of the most unique aspects of Megacity is the wide range of viewpoints available in the

project. According to Dr. Sharma, “When the user enters the environment, you can enter it from multiple perspectives. You can enter as a civilian, as a policeman, as a medic, or as a soldier. So, when you enter the VR environment, you can navigate as an autonomous agent.” Within the Megacity VR environment, users can encounter multiple computer-controlled artificial intelligence agents with assigned behaviors, such as hostile, selfish, or leader-follower behavior, to interact with the user-controlled agents in multiple what-if scenarios.

Emergency personnel can be trained to respond to a variety of emergencies safely and securely via the Megacity project without ever being exposed to real world dangers.

Considering that the U.S. Bureau of Labor claimed that paramedic and EMT careers would grow 15 percent between 2016 and 2026 (more than twice the average growth rate of most occupations), more modern preparation techniques such as Megacity are vital for first responders moving forward. ■

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US.MSI.COM

Martin Garrix on the Tech of Turntables

By Kelsey Elgie Domier Since the popular release of 2013’s “Animals,” Martin Garrix has made quite a name for himself on the electronic music circuit. Over the years, he has performed at massive music festivals, playing his catchy music at events such as Coachella and Ultra Music Festival. Additionally, at only 22 years of age, Garrix has garnered a number of awards, including winning the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Electronic twice. We had the opportunity to interview the star DJ at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado. In this exclusive interview, we discuss the origin of his creativity, the technology utilized during live performances, and how we connect with music.

Innovation & Tech Today: You’ve been at the number one spot in DJ Magazine’s Top 100 two years in a row.

How does that feel?

Martin Garrix: I’m on the list with all my idols, so in my eyes I’m not a better DJ than them. I feel like it’s more like a popularity thing, but I would never see myself as a better DJ then Tiësto or Carl Cox or one of those guys.

I&T Today: You said you had to pinch yourself when you hit number 40, that was a couple of years ago.

Number one, two years in a row, that’s incredible. You have your own record label, the world’s your oyster.

MG: It’s very crazy, everything has happened the last few years. It’s been one crazy roller coaster. Also, I have an amazing team around me and I bring my family and my friends with me, so they’re all part of the journey. Everything that’s happened has been crazy but also a lot of fun.

I&T Today: Where would you say you derive a lot of your creative inspiration from?

MG: From energy. It’s all about the people I surround myself with, where I am in the world. I get very inspired by different cultures, meeting different people. I love being in Asia. I love traveling in general because every country has something unique, has got different vibes. I always bring my computer with me on the road, and then when I have an idea, I immediately put it in the computer and then I get back home, have a couple weeks off, go back and listen to all the ideas and I cherry pick them. Like, “Okay, I’m just going to finish this one, this one” ... I love traveling and I get a lot of inspiration from traveling.

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Adam Saldaña

I&T Today: Once you get the inspiration, what happens next?

MG: It’s funny because every song starts different.

Sometimes I have a melody in my head and I quickly put the melody in my computer with just a simple piano sound and then I go find a sick sound for it afterwards. Sometimes I like a sound so much, I program the sound and I’m like, “Yo, this sound is crazy. What if I do this melody with it?”

Sometimes it starts with a kick drum, sometimes it starts with me just playing on the guitar, and sometimes it starts me with humming a melody, recording a voice note.

What I like about making music is there is no rule book.

Every song starts different, every song is different, and e very song has a story.

I&T Today: There must be an incredible amount of tech that goes into your productions. What is the biggest change that you’ve seen over the years?

MG: During my first show, eight years ago, it was just me and my manager, and we were touring. Then, the shows got bigger and I needed to expand my team. In one moment, I needed to have a visual guy who did the screens behind me, then I had the lighting guy, then I had the guy who was making sure the microphone and everything works, and you have a production manager and you have a stage manager. It gets really crazy. You need a security guard, then you need two security guards, so the whole change from being a one man army to now, we have a team of 20 people just on the touring side. It is really crazy. But, if I compare even a show from two or three years ago to a show that we do today or last summer, it’s more than just music. Visually, we try to take people on a journey. Light-wise, we have certain moments built-in where it’s just lasers. I want it to be a show, not just a DJ set.

I&T Today: You are involved in everything from social media to even the light engineering. How important is it for you to be so engaged?

MG: I think it is super important to be involved, because it’s my brand, you know? We are a team and I feel like, as a team, you work together. I trust them, I know it will be fine if they do their thing and if I don’t get involved, but I want them to be involved with me, to give me feedback, and I Photo Rachel Kaplan

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SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

67

E3’s

1-UPS&

The largest yearly gaming event in the world, the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) looks to show off major reveals and massive games for their 2018 event. However, not every company has made the most of E3. Let’s take a look at the interesting mix of bad business decisions and incredible moments that have happened throughout nearly 25 years of E3.

GAME OVERS

By Anthony Elio

1995

1995

Sega Starts Sucking Following up their successful Genesis, Sega decided to release its new Saturn console as it was being announced at E3 for $399, which angered retailers and rushed production.

Within a few years, Sega was out of the console market and Sonic the Hedgehog was sprinting towards the unemployment office.

Sony Drops The Mic As a response to the Sega Saturn announcement, Sony’s Steve Race gave the shortest keynote in the history of E3, simply walking up to the podium and saying, “299,” signaling that the price of their new Playstation console would be 100 less than that of their competitor. We can honestly say this is the only time mentioning a price could be considered “badass.”

1996 N64

1997

Metal Gear Solid

1998 Dreamcast

1999 The Sims

2006

2000

Wii and PS3

Halo: Combat Evolved

2005

2001

Guitar Hero

GTA III

2002

Xbox Goes Live In a time when online gaming wasn’t quite the norm, Microsoft announced the launch of Xbox Live, spreading competitive Halo matches across the world and allowing countless 12-year-olds to try out new swear words over the internet.

2003 .2003 PSP

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

Say No To N-Gage Remember all those nostalgic moments you had playing the Nokia N-Gage during long road trips with your family? You don’t? Well, that’s probably because of the console’s cringeworthy E3 unveiling, which included an awkward demo and a rap about how great the N-Gage was. Hey, it’s still lying if it’s in rap form.

Archival game station images credit Evan-Amos/wikimedia

2004

The Legend Of Miyamoto In order to announce The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto entered the stage, wielding a Hylian shield and gleefully swinging a realistic sword around. If this was any other company than Nintendo, this presentation would have actually been terrifying.

2008

Thinking Outside the Square After over a decade of releasing their most popular games exclusively on Playstation, Square Enix announced at E3 2008 that they would be breaking bread with the competition, announcing that their new project, Final Fantasy XIII, would release on Xbox as well. All it took was a few multi-million dollar companies agreeing to make more money to show us that we should all just get along.

2009

Mass Effect 2

2010 Portal 2

2011 Halo 4

2008

Guitar Zero Now that the Nintendo Wii was in millions of households, how did the company capitalize on its success? By announcing brand new entries in the Star Fox, F-Zero, and Metroid franchises? Of course not! Instead, Nintendo closed their presentation with Wii Music, highlighted with an awkwardly performed, off-rhythm version of the Super Mario theme. Finally!

2007

Please Laugh Jamie Kennedy, star of such massive hits as Son Of The Mask and Malibu’s Most Wanted, was given the opportunity to host Activision’s E3 2007 presentation. It went about as well as you’d expect, as Kennedy appeared intoxicated, was heckled by the audience, and his best joke was, “There’s so many virgins in here, Richard Branson is doing this event.”

2012

The Last of Us

2013

Sony Strikes Back After massive backlash to the announcement of Microsoft’s Xbox One having totalitarian rules of no used games and forced online features, Sony thought it was time to capitalize. Just like nearly twenty years earlier against Sega, they expertly insulted the competition, complete with a video “tutorial” on how to get used games for Playstation 4 that literally composed of one guy handing a game to another.

2014

Nintendo’s amiibo

2015

Horizon: Zero Dawn

2016

Spider-Man PS4

2017

X’s and Woah’s Four years after their blunderous Xbox One reveal missteps, Microsoft unveiled Project Scorpio as the Xbox One X, an extremely powerful model of the console. Now just wait for the next iteration a few years down the road so you can choose between the Xbox One X One or the Xbox One X Two.

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UNCOVERING

By Anthony Elio Originating as characters in the 1980s Spectacular Spider-Man comics, Cloak and Dagger (the superhero monikers of Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bown) grew in popularity over the years, leading to their very own comic series as well as an upcoming Freeform television adaptation.

The show, which debuted in June, takes the story of the characters and adapts it to the modern era, tackling current social issues through the lens of two runaway teenagers. In this exclusive feature, we discover how Cloak & Dagger stars Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt connected to their characters, what made them really feel like superheroes, and how the show will stand out from other superhero media.

Aubrey Joseph – Cloak What drew you to the role?

Basically, I had no idea about Cloak and Dagger, or the comic series itself. But as soon as I saw Marvel was at the audition, I was like, “There’s no way I don’t go audition for this.” Then, as I got into the character, and saw what Tyrone’s about, it’s just really about telling the story of a kid that has basically been, for lack of a better word, s*** on by the world. He finally finds Tandy, who understands him, and it’s them two against the world. And that’s the beauty of it.

During filming, when did you really feel like a superhero?

Whenever we did stunts, it was like, “Dang, this is really happening.” Definitely the moment when I really, really felt it was when we shot the scene in the alley, where I was teleported from Detective Connors. It was crazy, because we had to do so many takes because of the effects. But I just remember running down the alley, jumping and just thinking … “I can’t believe this is life right now.”

How will the show stand out in viewers’ minds?

I think what really is going to make the show stand out is just the fact that so many of the Marvel superheroes are adults, and are kind of already established. But for this show, it’s going to be really, really good for these young people who are finding themselves to see themselves on TV and see that these superheroes not only have superpowers, but they’re trying to find their superpowers, and how to master them, and trying to find out who they are at the same time.

So you see these superheroes, who are nowhere near perfect, and I think that’s going to be great for these kids who look at them as role models, and see that they don’t always have to be perfect. They don’t always have to feel weird. It’s just going to show these kids that they’re not alone. That is so important to me.

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Olivia Holt – Dagger What drew you to this role?

I was actually very unfamiliar with Cloak and Dagger before I went in to read for the role of Tandy. I had no idea what the comic was about, what these characters were, what their story was, where they came from. I actually did not get a script until I booked the part, which was a very fascinating turn. I’ve never actually gone in for something before reading the script. There was a bit of timidness not really knowing what the story was, but reading a couple of the comics, I began understanding the tone and where the characters came from and their relationship together.

I’m a massive fan of Marvel and I love everything that they do, so I was very confident on that spectrum. As far as Tandy goes, when I was reading the character breakdown, there was just something so intriguing about her. She has so many different layers and dimensions. She’s ambitious and resilient but cynical ... She’s sort of this woman who marches to the beat of her own drum, and I think that’s what I love most about her. She holds her own. I think that’s sort of what drew me to her, and then obviously the relationship that she ends up building with Tyrone is special and complicated but important.

I think that was also another factor that came into falling in love with these characters and their story.

During filming, when did you really feel like a superhero?

I think it was when we first started using the daggers, which was a very interesting process to rig them onto my entire body. Each time that we had to rig the daggers on, it was a very surreal moment. Both Aubrey and I felt this way. I mean, we both sometimes would just sit back in between takes and just take it all in. Even still to this day, I think we feel like we’re living in a dream and we’re constantly having to pinch each other because it really is an amazing experience. I think one thing that we both feel very strongly about is, “Yeah, we’re a part of a show that involves these awesome powers and these incredible superheroes, but what I feel like the audience is going to love most is, first, these characters as individuals and as people versus superheroes.”

How will the show stand out in viewers’ minds?

I feel like this show is honest. It’s grounded, it’s heartbreakingly beautiful. I mean, we see these characters unfold into themselves in the most complex way, and I feel like, as humans, we connect to that. As people, we want something to relate to and we want something to be moved by.

When I say that we really are tackling current issues, we really are. We’re not necessarily being subtle about it, but we’re not preaching it. I mean, we’re talking about things that are happening in 2018, whether that be addiction or sexual assault or police brutality.

We’re really talking about what it’s like to be a white, young female living in America in 2018 and what it’s like to be a black, young male in America in 2018. I think that’s sort of what separates us.

We’re taking a very current twist to what I think the origin story is for these characters. For some reason, I just feel like the audience is really going to connect to that and they’re really going to be moved by it and impacted by it. I feel very lucky to be able to tell their story like this. ■

Photo Freeform/Frank Ockenfels

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’ ’ h a y o ‘‘Bo

Goes Big Screen

By Alex Moersen

After 15 years of voicing Cyborg for television and video games, Khary Payton is finally ready to take the iconic character to the next level of superhero stardom.

“Booyah” Cyborg’s famous catchphrase has proliferated the D.C. Universe just as much as the character, appearing in TV shows (Teen Titans), video games (Injustice: Gods Among Us), and even the most recent film adaptation of Justice League.

The phrase was invented over 15 years ago by Khary Payton, and the famed voice actor has journeyed with the character ever since. Viewers may know Payton from his role as Ezekiel in The Walking Dead, but it’s likely that most are more familiar with his voice. Now, with the upcoming film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, Payton has the opportunity to bring his longtime character to the big screen. In this interview, Payton discusses his journey with Cyborg, his connection with the character, and how his famous catchphrase came to be.

Innovation & Tech Today: How did you first get into the role of Cyborg?

Khary Payton: I went to school for theater and had been working as an actor professionally for eight years when I finally got that audition. I remember walking into Warner Bros. Animation.

In the lobby was every black dude from TV from the 80s and 90s. There was like everybody from In Living Color; Urkel was there; all the Cosby kids; they were all there. I remember sitting down and thinking, “Well I know I’m in the right place, I just don’t think I got a chance to get there.”

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But I went in to the audition and it was one of the most freeing experiences of my life, auditioning for Cyborg, because you have a microphone and a music stand in front of you and you just go for broke. I think I slapped the music stand over, just because I was being animated with my hands, and people behind the glass were laughing at me. I just had such a good

time, and I remember walking out of there thinking, “Man, I hope they let me audition again because this was so much fun.” I didn’t hear anything for weeks, and then my friend called me up and he said, “Man, they’re talking about you on the show. I didn’t even bring you up.”

I was talking to Sam Register later, who is the boss at Warner Bros. Animation, and the way

handed something that’s really special and awesome. If you lose most of your body in an accident, it’s like you lose the feeling, but you also gain all of these incredible abilities, and I love that my Cyborg character has learned to really love the fact that he’s a superhero.

I feel like for myself, it’s kind of analogous because I have ADHD, and for a long time I hated it. I thought it was this detrimental thing that I had, and slowly over the years I realized it’s a differential. My attention is different, and it goes to a lot of different things and I see the world differently. I think it helps me as far as my imagination is concerned, to be able to find things that I normally wouldn’t find and to react ways that other people normally wouldn’t react.

To me, it really is my superpower and it helps me to be able to bring these characters to life. I’ve learned to embrace it and love this thing that’s different about me. Now I wouldn’t want to have it any other way, because it’s part of what makes me who I am, and a really cool part of me that I really like about myself. In that sense, I feel like Cyborg and I have walked a very similar path.

I&T Today: What has it been like to work with your fellow Teen Titans veterans for such a long time?

that he makes the final decision is, he says to give him their three choices – A, B, and C – and don’t tell him who they are. He just listens to them, and Sam made the final decision and that’s how I became Cyborg. My first voiceover audition and my first voiceover job.

I got to the first day of recording and Greg Cipes, who plays Beast Boy, was sitting next to me.

I leaned over and I was like, “This is my first voiceover job,” and he was like, “Dude, me too.”

We were just freaking out, we couldn’t believe we got this.

I&T Today: You’ve been voicing Cyborg on multiple platforms for 15 years now. What has it been like to journey with that character for such a long time?

KP: There must have been 20 different

character designs that I’ve played of Cyborg.

There’s Lego Cyborg, then there’s a bunch of different movies like the animated movie version of Cyborg, then of course there’s the original, then there’s Teen Titans Go!, and there have been a few other iterations in there. As far as the character is concerned, I’m just being me.

Fortunately, that worked pretty well. If you need Cyborg to be goofy and funny, then it’s me being goofy and funny, slightly heightened. When he gets serious, it’s me being serious. He’s a character that I feel very close to in that sense, so it makes it easy to jump from one style to another.

I&T Today: In what ways do you connect with the character?

KP: I feel Cyborg’s struggle of trying to feel not like he’s been handed a curse, but that he’s been

KP: In the entertainment industry, you don’t get the chance to live the life of a character with a team of people for over a decade. That never happens. If you’re on a show and it lasts for a couple of years, you feel really good about that.

To have this be my first animated show and for it to go for this long, it’s a testament to the people that brought us together. All of these characters that we’re playing really do embody the people. I say that laughing a little bit because Robin on Teen Titans is such a nut job, but the thing that is interesting is that Scott Menville, who plays Robin, is the glue that makes us go. His energy is always leading the way, just the same way that Robin is always kind of leading the way.

Hynden [Walch] calls me to this very day and answers the phone and says, “Hello, dear friend.”

She’s such a sweetheart; you talk to her and you get this warm feeling but she is also a freaking genius. She’s kind of like Starfire in that she’s this sweetie pie but she is also the strongest person in the room. Hynden is the same way. If you need to know something, you don’t have to Google it, you can just ask Hynden because she already

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knows. Tara [Strong] is like Raven because she’s probably the most powerful one out of all of us. She’s been doing this since she was six months old. She’s been in everything and done everything; she’s one of the most versatile voice actors ever and you don’t mess with that girl. She’s got dark magical powers that will sink you. I’m just glad I’m on her side, because she’s amazing.

Cyborg (Khary Payton) joins his fellow Titans – (From left to right) Starfire (Hynden Walch), Robin (Scott Menville), Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), and Raven (Tara Strong) – on the big screen in July 2018

Then, of course, Greg [Cipes] is Beast Boy and you couldn’t ask for somebody to be more Beast Boy than that. The dude is as granola as granola can be. He is vegan; he makes everything out of hemp or something, I don’t know. Greg will come to you with some crazy stuff, but he is never wrong. He just sees the world with this wise innocence. It’s always been crazy to me just how much all of us have these similarities with these five characters. I think that’s why we’ve ended up sticking around as long as we have.

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KP: I feel like a proud papa because before Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, I don’t think Cyborg would have found his way into Justice League, but I think he became part of the comic book zeitgeist.

I don’t think you can talk about Cyborg and the Justice League movie without saying they definitely took some things from Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go! He says “Booyah,” I mean, come on.

I&T Today: Is “Booyah” from the comics or is that something you came up with?

I&T Today: What can audiences, even longtime fans, expect from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies?

show, but to the DC Universe in general. I think

KP: I think they can expect more nostalgia and more homage to not just the old Teen Titans

Titans Go! writes love letters, we pretty much

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

I&T Today: How do you think your portrayal of Cyborg compares to the recent live-action portrayal of the character?

that’s what this ends up being, is our kind of love letter to the DC Universe, and the way that Teen just make fun of people horrendously.

KP: Nope, that was on the first day of doing the original Teen Titans TV show.

It was a funny thing because I said, “Booyah,” and then someone got it confused with “yay-ah,” a euphemism for drugs or something. I was like, “No man! It’s just an exclamation.” So fortunately I was there, because they might have just cut it if I wasn’t there to tell them there was nothing wrong with saying “Booyah.” ■

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Lara Croft Returns in

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

By John Gaudiosi

Square Enix, Eidos Montréal, and Crystal Dynamics are bringing Lara Croft back to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC this September in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It’s the third game in the rebooted franchise, which once again features Grey’s Anatomy star Camilla Luddington as the globe-trotting archeologist.

The new game features locales from Mexico to Peru, and offers open world exploration through jungles, tombs, and crypts. The world is three times larger than that of the last game, offering a lot more exploration, as well as more freedom to deal with solving tomb puzzles and engaging with enemies. There’s also more interaction with local tribes and citizens of Mayan, Mexican, and Incan cultures, which opens up new side quests to explore.

Jason Dozois, narrative director on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, talks about what’s in store for fans in this exclusive interview.

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Innovation & Tech Today: How has the character of Lara Croft evolved over the years?

I&T Today: How has performance capture improved with this new game?

Jason Dozois: Lara’s journey began in 2013’s Tomb Raider with Lara discovering her abilities.

She’s extremely intelligent and athletic, and her drive allows her to discover new things. In this third game, her drive pursues Trinity, the organization that killed her father. In this game, Lara’s more capable and calculating than players have ever seen before as she maneuvers in the jungle and takes out enemies.

JD: Camilla Luddington is back as Tomb Raider and she’s an excellent actress and wonderful to work with. A lot of the process of us capturing the performance capture within the game and collaborating with a lot of people on the cinematics are just giving us a fantastic result as you see in the facial animation and the approach of taking our time and not being in a rush with certain scenes. It really comes across in the performance.

In 2013, the gameplay revolved around enduring the world and offering a first glimpse of seeing tombs, but she was hunted the whole time. Rise of the Tomb Raider was about exploring the world and putting the “tomb” back in Tomb Raider. She became the hunter. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is all about mastering the world and no longer exploring it. Lara becomes one with the jungle to survive and become the apex predator.

I&T Today: What are some of the new abilities and environments Lara will be experiencing?

JD: The biggest thing we worked on is stealth and being one with the jungle. The jungle is a huge part of the environment of this game. You can use mud and foliage to camouflage yourself and really control combat and the stealth

Lara Croft is back with a new set of skills, new treasures to unearth, and a gaming world over three times larger than any she’s previously explored. Cunning and deadly, Croft will utilize stealth and secrecy to traverse jungles, rivers, tombs, and crypts all created with more depth and danger than ever before.

situations, including terrifying your opponents and taking them by surprise. This is a real different game for us.

The jungle is Lara’s world and it needs to be as real and grounded as she is. It’s both beautiful and deadly. In previous games, Lara could go guns blazing if seen, in Shadow she can strike and disappear again. It’s about the fear that Lara feels, and the fear that she instills in enemies.

She can capitalize on that confusion, evening the odds. She’ll use everything the jungle offers; cover herself in mud to camouflage, and use trees and rivers to hide. And the jungle also offers new resources and new ways to craft weapons.

I&T Today: What can you do in the jungle?

JD: The jungle has lots of things. There’s swimming; there are underground areas. We have a portion of the game that’s in Mexico, so there are underground caverns and mountain peaks. The environment is varied with tombs that are natural and tombs that are constructed.

There are a lot of different features that are

going to really test Lara’s traversal abilities.

Lara can also use poison from the jungle’s trees to put on arrows and cause enemies to hallucinate and go crazy, often killing other enemies.

I&T Today: What are some of the challenges when making underwater levels fun?

JD: It comes down to the gameplay mechanics. I know the game designers worked a lot on the feel of the camera, how far you go before you need air, how do you see where to go, and these types of things. It was a huge challenge, but it’s really starting to be fun. To me, it’s one of the best parts of the game now.

The community asked for more underwater swimming. And the caves and caverns have a lot of twists and turns and places where you can get stuck and die. There are also hazards like piranhas and eels in the water.

I&T Today: What are some of the challenges when wrapping gameplay

mechanics with an interactive story that’s controlled by the player?

JD: It’s a challenge to make the story fit with the inputs of the gameplay, but there are also huge benefits to this. If you’re playing something, you can have a feeling of guilt if you did something you thought you were supposed to do and it turns out the character wasn’t supposed to do that. You can create a feeling that no other media can create, so it’s an advantage. It’s difficult, but it can be an advantage when it’s done well.

I&T Today: Can you talk about the tombs and crypts?

JD: Entrances to challenge tombs and crypts are hard to find. And often, once you find the entrance, you then have a journey down into it.

There’s a new traversal element of rappelling, which really gives you that sinking feeling when you drop down into these dark tomb areas where everything is trying to kill you. And they offer 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay, so they’re a lot bigger than in previous games. ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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CALL OF DUTY: Black Ops 4 Shoots For Multiplayer Supremacy

By John Gaudiosi

Activision’s Call of Duty franchise is a perennial billion-dollar dynasty. But when it comes to the three studios creating games under the brand on a rotating schedule, one remains the most popular. That’s Treyarch, which has turned Black Ops into the most played series with over 200 million players to date.

Given the popularity of the game’s online multiplayer offerings, Treyarch has broken from tradition this year and ditched the single-player campaign completely. All three pillars of the new game will feature multiplayer gameplay, including the new battle royale style, the every-man-forhimself “Blackout” mode (think Fortnite but with Call of Duty soldiers, weapons, vehicles and zombies).

Mark Lamia, head of Treyarch, said over the past decade that the studio has never shied away from introducing something new and breaking from convention if they thought it would be fun.

“Black Ops 4 is a living example of what we do as a studio, it’s a game that gives you more ways to have fun with your friends than ever before, and it’s the deepest, most replayable game in Black Ops history,” Lamia said. “And our fans have played the hell out of our Black Ops games. We’ve designed this to be played for months and even years.”

Call of Duty’s latest installment offers upgraded multiplayer gameplay, a new arsenal of weapons, and enhanced tactical foresight for players hoping to master the game.

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This past spring, Activision invited hundreds of gaming press and members of the Call of Duty community from around the globe to play the multiplayer game, offering a deep dive into one of the three pillars of the game universe. The action is set between the events of Black Ops 2 and 3, narratively, allowing players to choose from

classic soldiers while fighting in new locales.

David Vonderhaar, head of multiplayer at Treyarch, said the game’s focus is 100 percent boots-on-the-ground action with brand new combat and tight gameplay that offers a refined tactical experience that’s deeper and more engaging.

“Black Ops has always been about gameplay and the weapons around it,” Vonderhaar said. “We’ve made more improvements to the gun systems in this game than the entirety of the first three games. Hot barrels will smoke, muzzle flashes will light up the screen, bullets will deplete as you expend the magazine, and weapons will have real 3D tracers that let you know where gunfire is coming from.”

There’s an arsenal of new weapons in the game, and each will have unique attachments that are just part of the massive customization options Call of Duty fans have come to expect.

“It’s all about the gameplay and making weapons stand out from each other,” Vanderhaar added. “And new features like predictive recoil pattern allow players to constantly make micro adjustments as they’re shooting, providing a path to master.”

Adding another tactical element to multiplayer is the elimination of automatically regenerating health. Players now have to manually trigger health, which Vanderhaar said rewards aggressive players for being aggressive and allows tactical players to choose when to disengage from combat. The overall idea is to spend more time in combat, and the game’s maps have been designed to keep the flow of action moving frenetically forward. ■

tech zone

SO CAL

SoCal is So Right

RESEARCH PARKS OF THE GOLDEN STATE

Bayer CoLaborator (San Francisco) California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz) Stanford Research Park (Palo Alto)

Cal Poly Technology Park (San Luis Obispo)

California Institute of Technology (Pasadena)

Innovative Village Research Park (Pomona) UCI Research Park (Irvine)

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tech zone

SO CAL

California’s innovative footprint consists of far more than Silicon Valley — as you might expect for a state that ranks as the world’s sixth-largest economy. There are eight designated tech zones, in addition to research parks for tech and innovation, the largest being CalTech in Pasadena.

OFFICIAL CALIFORNIA TECH ZONES

// SILICON VALLEY OF THE SIERRAS //

Nevada County

// SILICON VALLEY //

San Jose and Santa Clara County // SILICON SURF //

Santa Cruz // SILICON SHORE//

Santa Barbara // HOLLYWOOD //

Los Angeles, Hollywood // SILICON BEACH //

Westside Los Angeles (SANTA MONICA, CULVER CITY, VENICE, WESTWOOD, MANHATTAN BEACH, MALIBU, MARINA DEL REY)

// SILICON COAST //

Orange County // PALOMAR/BRESCI RANCH BUSINESS PARK //

Carlsbad // SORRENTO VALLEY //

San Diego

(BIOMED AND BIOTECH)

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tech zone

SO CAL

SoCal Rides the Tech Wave The southern third of California is already a sprawling tech region — and is working hard to tighten alliances and bolster innovation within the industry.

By Robert Yehling It is a land of earthquakes and ocean, towering mountains and verdant valleys, where people head west to become stars, and women and men seek wealth as they have since the Gold Rush years.

Welcome to California, a cradle of tech industry like no other. In a state housing 42 million people, the world’s sixth largest economy, six distinct geographic regions, and 20 named tech zones (and dozens other micro zones), the name of the game is connection and engagement.

California’s prowess extends far beyond Silicon Valley, still the world’s predominant engine for technology startups, innovation, university tie-ins, and venture capital investment. When you think about it, almost the entire state is a leading force: agriculture in the Central Valley; technology collaboration between University CaliforniaDavis and businesses in Northern California; biotech, medical tech, sports equipment, and emerging green tech in the Carlsbad-to-Sorrento Valley corridor in North San Diego County; UCSan Diego and its close proximity to the Salk Institute, Scripps Research Institute, and Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine; the Hollywood-Los Angeles film and media world spilling into a nest of tech and social media startups in Santa Monica and Venice; and the Inland Empire’s green tech, high tech, and nextgen manufacturing operations – which includes the City of Ontario’s ongoing conversion to a smart city.

Meanwhile, the world watches — constantly.

When Governor Jerry Brown spends part of his time traveling to speak with world leaders about

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his state’s economy, one can appreciate how vital California technology is globally. In Spring 2018, for instance, California hosted the Women in Technology Summit, Southern California Technology & Business Summit, California Technology Summit, LA Tech Summit, and Innovate Summit – all of which drew people from around the world.

In this Tech Zone, we’re focusing primarily on tech influencers and innovators in Southern California. “Southern California has a compelling opportunity for leading technology firms that are looking beyond Silicon Valley to access top talent and a greater diversity of ideas and perspectives,” said Google founder Eric Schmidt, who’s been on the front lines since the 1980s in one form or another.

The tech zones of Southern California are widely dispersed, making it more challenging than Silicon Valley-San Francisco to create a clearly defined single zone. Impossible, in fact.

The region itself is about 75,000 square miles, stretching from Santa Barbara south to the Mexican border, and east to the Arizona and Nevada state lines.

However, the powers that be are moving quickly to ensure that the billions of startup and investment dollars pouring into the state enter this fertile, economically lush region that is home to more than 30 million people.

“Southern California is a region of extreme innovation; however, it is so spread out, making it hard to navigate,” said Steve Poizner, founder and board chair of the Alliance for Southern California Innovation. “We believe by finding,

filtering, and aggregating exciting startups from top universities, research institutes, and incubators/accelerators, we can demonstrate the combined strength of SoCal in a compelling way to top investors and thought leaders.”

Adds Jody Foldesy of the Boston Consulting Group, “SoCal can become the next major global tech ecosystem resulting in significant economic and societal impact.”

To do that, the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, a network of entrepreneurs, universities, and investors, interviewed more than 100 thought leaders and business experts to find a path to maximize the potential of the area. At stake, they believe, are 200,000 new jobs and another $100 billion infusion into the SoCal economy. They focused on these points: • Drawing additional venture capital; • Promoting regional strengths of individual areas; • Closer collaboration between regions; • Focusing more on IPOs for upstart companies than acquisitions; • Further emphasizing the area’s strong diversity; • Promoting the area’s front-seat entrepreneurial position abroad.

For this issue, we reached out to city officials, entrepreneurs, political candidates, university program chairs, researchers, and corporate executives that are turning this checklist into a reality, through the work they’re doing in their cities, businesses, and universities, and the larger impact on all of us. ■

Sometimes the address says it all.

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Irvine was master planned to be an economic powerhouse. A strategic location, 21st century university and colleges, business-oriented governance, a high quality of life and rich diversity energizes us. And empowers us to attract and retain the best talent and the brightest companies in the life sciences, technology, digital arts & media and advanced manufacturing.

Ask about Irvine Ready! – our “soft landing” package for qualified companies looking to establish a presence in Irvine- affordable exploratory options, full range of expertise, economic data and industry and employee engagement networks.

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tech zone

SO CAL

GO-Biz Go!

How California Focuses Its Massive Economy

When he stepped into the governor’s office for the second time in 2010, California Governor Jerry Brown faced a huge dilemma. The state had amassed hundreds of billions in debt, schools were failing, and the state’s economic incentives to attract outside businesses – many of them multinational corporations – seemed to focus on two places: Silicon Valley and Southern California, particularly south of Los Angeles.

In 2012, Gov. Brown created a focal point to change that: the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, known as GO-Biz. It has become the single point of contact for economic development and job creation efforts in a state that now leads the nation in fastest growing companies: 670 members of the Inc. 5000 are based in the Golden State. Along with that, in 2014, Gov. Brown established the California Competes Tax Credit.

“Every day, California companies deliver groundbreaking technological advances – from the Internet of Things to artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and nanotechnology,” said Panorea Avdis, GO-Biz Director and Chair of the California Competes Tax Credit Committee.

“Every day, people use technology that was developed in California.”

Thanks to services like attraction, retention and expansion, clearing of regulatory hurdles, small business assistance, international trade development, permit streamlining, and more, GO-Biz has been instrumental in California’s explosion of tech and manufacturing zones this decade. How instrumental? Since 2014, through

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California Competes Tax Credit, GO-Biz has allocated nearly $700 million to 928 companies, which has led (or is leading) to the creation of nearly 90,000 jobs and $16.2 billion in new investments.

Investing $700 million to draw in $16.2 billion in new investment? “The California Competes Tax Credit we were just awarded gives us the ability to invest back into the company by hiring staff, buying equipment, and offering additional services to our customers,” said Mina Doshi, president of INTA Technologies, reflecting the prevalent view of beneficiaries.

“In the last four years, hundreds of companies have made commitments to expand in the state and GO-Biz will continue to host informational workshops and work with our regional and local partners to ensure companies of all sizes know about and apply for these tax credits,” added Avdis.

GO-Biz works with organizations and programs of all sizes, in a wide variety of ways, reflecting the diversity of the state’s tech and manufacturing base. Programs range from the California Film Commission, California Travel and Tourism, and the California Made labeling program, to Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Small Business Assistance, and International Affairs and Business Development.

A quick snapshot of recent activity illustrates how it is touting California’s affluence, resources, leading-edge tech savvy, and forward-thinking business climate and workforce:

• GO-Biz is sponsoring the 2018 California Cyber Innovation Challenge June 22-25 at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. The event matches twenty teams of high school students, following a cybersecurity workforce development conference. “This program will help students across California gain new technical skills to spur new innovation and strengthen cybersecurity,” Avdis said.

• In February, GO-Biz hosted its first Innovation Day, bringing together key stakeholders from iHub, the state’s Innovation Hub Network. The thirty stakeholders discussed cybersecurity, defense, economic development, startup support, and workforce development.

In conjunction with the event, and in lieu of rampant corporate and consumer hacking, GO-Biz launched a California Cybersecurity Labor Market Survey.

• In January, Gov. Brown issued an executive order directing GO-Biz to assist local and regional governments to increase zero-emission vehicles and fund new climate investments, such as plug-in station, greenhouse gas reduction, and climate resiliency projects. This comes after zero-emission vehicle use increased by 1,300 percent in the state between 2011 and 2016. This $2.5 billion investment plan reinforces California’s station as the leading environmental voice and economic driver, in the wake of the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and sharp rollbacks of environmental standards, some in place since 1970. ■

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When UCI research produces brilliant discoveries, we connect them to real world applications – where they can improve and save lives, advance and scale industries or create new ones entirely.

UCI Applied Innovation is a dynamic platform for campus, industry, investors and entrepreneurs to move UCI research from the lab to the real world.

web: innovation.uci.edu technologies: innovation.uci.edu/tech

Together with industry partners and the business community, we are transforming Orange County into a globally recognized leader in entrepreneurship and innovation.

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Incubating the Future of Medicine in genomics, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics, but there’s no access to research equipment, and they don’t have a business plan,” Goth said. “We help them build their business over a 6- to 8-month time frame, giving them a space to work and free access to research equipment. If their idea pans out and they have a business model, then we provide seed funding for them.”

Goth continued, “Since we serve local healthcare groups and those outside the area, doing their genomic testing for them, our service revenue can drive our operational costs. We can use our service revenues to fund startups.”

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Jay Goth flew to London in mid-May with a purpose. While millions of others converged on Windsor Castle for the marriage of Prince Harry and Megan Markle, Goth set forth on his own impressive mission: chairing the infrastructure and investment track at the World Precision Medicine Conference, the first owner of an incubator to speak at the event.

As he spoke, Goth was opening the blinds to his office in the Murrieta Innovation Center in Southern California’s Inland Empire, thousands of miles from festive London. Murrieta Genomics focuses primarily on precision medicine research and application, but is also primed to serve agriculture, forensics, consumer products, and veterinary medicine.

“The conference was great, getting the people together who are funding research and businesses to practice precision medicine,” the co-founder (with John Powers) of Murrieta Genomics said. “We’re getting away from group medicine – group diagnoses and treatments – and focusing on treating to an individual’s biology. Genomics is crucial in this, since it covers many ‘-omics’ in medicine. The more funding and research we can create, the more new discoveries we can bring to market.”

Between San Diego’s biopharm community, Orange County’s medical tech, and LA’s university-rich environment, Murrieta Genomics is perfectly located as the only genomics testing service provider in Southern California. That is one end of the business. The other involves Goth’s and Powers’ determination to help promising ideas become contributors to genomics and medicine — their new incubator.

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2018

“A lot of people are coming up with great ideas

The incubator lab is still under construction, but Goth and Powers have begun taking on fledgling companies – or clients with great ideas that will one day become businesses. Goth’s managing partner status at Forentis Fund, an early stage biotech VC, adds the funding piece nicely. Eventually, he sees 12 to 15 companies per year launching from the Murrieta Genomics incubator. “Even after they leave, if we provide seed funding, our goal is to stay involved through their lifecycle,” Goth explained.

There is also a long view to Murrieta Genomics’ dual structure of incubator-service provider: building a workforce in the Inland Empire. “Most jobs in our sector, and most who work in our sector in the Inland Empire, come from San Diego and Orange counties,” Goth said. “We have primarily service jobs here. We’re working with (the city of) Temecula and Riverside County right now to see how we can keep our talented people who grow up here.”

“At the Murrieta Innovation Center,” Goth said, “we’re starting to bring late-phase R&D in pharmaceuticals into the area. Now, we want to keep the people who go to school here, who graduate from UC-Riverside or Loma Linda University, to grow our own tech cluster. And we’re starting to do it. ■

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Irvine’s Masterful City Plan

By Robert Yehling

In the early 1980s, the City of Irvine consisted of a bustling university, commercial and industrial parks, thousands of acres of strawberry and tomato fields, and about 30,000 residents scattered in neighborhoods.

Then new business started to move in. A new magazine, Entrepreneur, set up shop near John Wayne International Airport. Broadcom and Western Digital came to town and transformed the business landscape forever. Finally, the Irvine Co., landholder of the former 150,000-acre Irvine Ranch, worked with city officials to create a city around the university that also set aside 60,000 acres for open space.

program and 65 STEM-related research centers, while educating many of the 30,000 STEM students who graduate from SoCal colleges each year.

“The Irvine Company did something really spectacular with its holdings, working hand-inhand with city officials to create a business-friendly city, a master planned city, that also provided considerable open space, to have a balance,” said Linda DiMario, Executive Vice President of the City of Irvine Chamber of Commerce. “The master plan is one of our constants, as we seek businesses that fall into our target sectors, and like their employees to reside

Irvine houses some of the region’s most vibrant medical and life sciences facilities. The sector employs over 300,000 people in the state of California, with total wages exceeding $30 billion.

Today, Irvine is one of the most vibrant life sciences, IT, and medical tech cities on the planet, a shimmering diamond in California’s top 5 world economy. It houses 900 tech companies and 450 life sciences companies, with medical tech and academia wrapped around all of it. The centrifugal force of the city, UC Irvine, fosters the growth with its Applied Innovations

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here and contribute to community. The master plan was a model in sustainable cities 25 years before we started using the term.”

Besides the usual corporate relocation lures — tax incentives, infrastructure, favorable property location — Irvine has taken a personal route in creating a massive in-city tech zone. The vast open space and hiking trails in the nearby

Laguna Hills, Laguna Canyon, and Newport Coast are reminders of California’s rancho history, providing many outdoor activities. Then there’s the weather, close proximity to the ocean, Irvine’s middle positioning between L.A. and San Diego, and also its location in the heart of Orange County.

But another factor makes Irvine such a rich contributor to California’s technological prowess: developing and nurturing new businesses, entrepreneurs, and workforces. “It’s a combination of factors,” DiMario explained.

“We have an extraordinary innovation ecosystem, which is not often recognized, since everything seems to be in the shadow of Silicon Valley. One of our biggest assets is Octane, a global leader among incubators and accelerators.

Over 500 companies have germinated through Octane in the last 10 years, and 88 percent are still in business.”

Because it’s so specific, the master plan gives DiMario, her team, and other business developers the ability to develop strong, sustainable programs within it. One example is Irvine’s Foreign Direct Investment Vision, which for 2018 includes the UK, Japan, and continental Europe. “We’re IDing companies that are the right match to grow here,” DiMario said. “We’re a little more strategic in that adherence to the master plan.” ■

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Moving at the Speed of Business The City of Moreno Valley sits in the middle of the Inland Empire, the fastest growing region in America. With 44 top universities in the surrounding area, Moreno is cultivating an educated and robust workforce of enterprising tech professionals.

When executives at luxury electric hybrid auto manufacturer Karma Automotive chose a site for a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, there was only one choice: the City of Moreno Valley, California. Supported by Moreno Valley’s probusiness environment, skilled and motivated workforce, strategic location, and affordable lease rates, the U.S. automaker shipped the first units of its luxury vehicle, the Karma Revero, last year.

Just 60 miles east of Los Angeles and Orange County in Southern California, the City of Moreno Valley is situated in the heart of the Inland Empire, the fastest-growing region in the United States. Less than three hours to Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico, companies like Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Skechers USA, ResMed, Philips Electronics, Minka Lighting, and Aldi Foods call the city home.

With its annual growth rate of 5.04 percent, Moreno Valley’s population of 210,000 is booming. More than 2.3 million people live within a 20-mile trade radius and form a strong

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workforce of 1.1 million. This solid growth has propelled the city to second largest population in Riverside County and 21st largest in California.

Three colleges – the University of California, Riverside, California Baptist University, and Moreno Valley College – attract more than 40,000 students each year. There are also 44 top universities in a 50-mile trade area. Tech companies, like those focusing on spatial data and aerospace and defense, are growing in the region, due to availability of land, robust technical secondary education, and the March Air Reserve Base, also Moreno Valley’s largest employer.

plan check turnaround times, potential costs savings on permits and inspection fees, and a unique business concierge service. With its cityowned electric utility company, Moreno Valley offers attractive electric rate discounts that range from 7 percent to 26.5 percent. Additional discounts are provided for local hire.

Together, the City of Moreno Valley and the County of Riverside run the popular Employment Resource Center, offering businesses free workforce recruitments, employee training, business consulting, workshops, and job postings. Businesses receive incentives for hiring recent graduates as well.

Moreno Valley offers some of the most affordable corporate lease and land values, as well as the best housing value and cost of living, in all of Southern California. The average home value is in the low $300,000s.

Moreno Valley’s ideal location, businessfriendly atmosphere, and motivated workforce are why Karma Automotive and so many Fortune 500 companies have made it their home. ■

Incentives

For more information, visit www.

MorenoValleyBusiness.com or email edteam@ morenovalleybusiness.com.

For businesses looking to expand or relocate, Moreno Valley offers incentives like unparalleled

Southern California’s Genomic Sequencing Incubator Murrieta Genomics is dedicated to bringing genomic research to market by providing the technology, tools and resources needed to fuel genomic entrepreneurship.

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California’s Connected City

As the premier city for business in Southern California’s Inland Empire, the City of Ontario is leading the way in creating a community and business climate that ensures business success.

Located just 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, Ontario is less than an hour from all the business and lifestyle amenities Southern California has to offer.

Ideally situated at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 15, in addition to the Ontario International Airport, Ontario is a gateway to California, the nation, and the world. Ontario boasts all the advantages of a Southern California location, with lower costs of doing business than coastal Los Angeles and Orange Counties, which is why more than 10,000 companies choose to call Ontario home.

Whether a high-tech manufacturer or an innovative technology office, Ontario has the real estate, workforce, and infrastructure to meet any business’s needs.

The City of Ontario acts and thinks like a business, and works hard to eliminate uncertainty and roadblocks to investment in the

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city. Time is money, and the faster a business is approved and operating, the more likely that business is able to achieve success and provide the jobs and revenues that are vital to the economy. The city continues to make important investments in capital improvement projects and expanding city services, especially public safety, in order to deliver an ideal environment for business to prosper.

Ontario understands that in order to succeed in today’s connected economy, companies must have access to the very best in advanced telecommunications infrastructure. For this reason, the Ontario City Council has chosen to invest in OntarioNet, a fiber-optic based broadband service that is making Ontario one of the first gigabit communities in the nation. Fast, reliable connectivity is key in attracting, retaining, and propelling business into the 21st century and beyond. OntarioNet is not only economically beneficial, but has the capacity to adapt and grow with the ever-changing demands of business. To date, 35 miles of gigabit fiber have been installed, and 35 more miles are

currently under construction, with plans to eventually connect every business and resident in Ontario. Fiber-optic-ready properties offer a platform for organizations to operate at a high level of productivity without sacrificing quality of service. Robust fiber networks connect people with opportunities and are helping to move Ontario’s economy at the speed of life.

With approximately 170,000 residents today, Ontario’s population is set to double in the next 20 years with the development of key projects throughout the city, including the construction of 46,000 new housing units and tens of millions of square feet of new commercial and industrial development. We invite you to participate with us in this growth as we set our sights firmly on the future. Whether you’re just starting your company, looking to relocate, or planning to expand, Ontario officials know the best way to attract business is by making it easy to do business. ■ To find out more information about the advantages of doing business in Ontario, visit www. ontariothinksbusiness.com or call (909) 395-2005.

INNOVATION LOVES COMPANY

Located in northern Los Angeles County, the Santa Clarita Valley is a community with the land, innovation and quality of life to forever change tomorrow. Think forward and invest in what’s next.

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UCI Innovation Pipeline Flows with Patents and Products

University of California Irvine is creating a space for inventors to bring their products to life while learning how to create competitive business models.

Surfboards hang from the ceiling and a Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet lurks around the corner as would-be business moguls come and go. They include a Saudi Arabian entrepreneur hoping to launch a camel milk empire, a wavyhaired professor who converted a Roomba vacuum into a therapeutic robot, and a physicist whose laser X-ray machine could lead to compression-free mammograms.

These are some of the concepts percolating in the University of California Irvine’s innovation pipeline, which has produced hundreds of patents and products over the years, from a molecule that might reverse Alzheimer’s to a device that uses belly motion to recharge cell phones. Because the path from laboratory to marketplace can be tricky, the university is boosting efforts to nurture campus entrepreneurship and industry collaboration.

The goal is to spur new companies in Orange County while attracting more creative faculty and students.

The clearinghouse for this activity is a beachthemed outpost called the Cove, headquarters of UCI Applied Innovation. Brimming with hightech gear, seminars, and social events, Applied Innovation connects UCI ingenuity to investors, mentors, and corporate partners. “We’re reinventing university innovation,” says Richard Sudek, the organization’s executive director and campus chief innovation officer.

Seated in a Newport Beach office, former Rockwell International CEO Don Beall and his

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son Ken, a real estate entrepreneur, discuss their vision of Orange County as the next tech mecca, propelled by UCI research. “My dad used to attend a breakfast lecture series where UCI scientists would explain their latest discoveries,” recalls Ken Beall. “He always came back saying, ‘You won’t believe what they’re working on over there.’”

To transform such breakthroughs into companies, the Bealls have funded various campus programs. America’s competitiveness, they say, hinges on speeding the process for bringing university innovations to life. “If a professor is developing the next ‘sliced bread’ and gets industry input, he may learn that a slight modification would turn his invention into a billion-dollar company,” says Ken Beall. The only missing ingredient is access, he adds: “The campus is built in a circle. If you’re an investor or corporation, where’s the front door?” In 2015, the Bealls answered that question with a $5 million gift to create UCI Applied Innovation.

Roam around the Cove and there’s no telling what you’ll encounter: a plastic bust of Abraham Lincoln sitting by a 3D printer, a seminar on “How to Create a Killer Brand Name,” or someone playing Donkey Kong near Tiki god bar stools.

Behind the quirky accoutrements is a serious mission: to help UCI inventors avoid “the valley of death,” where brilliant ideas falter for want of funding or advice. To counter such obstacles, UCI Applied Innovation offers nearly

everything a budding entrepreneur needs, from patent attorneys to cash grants.

Over the years, UCI has incubated scores of groundbreaking ideas. What will the next blockbuster be? One candidate is Lumitron Technology Inc. Although the company’s initial patents were developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the scientist who owns them, Chris Barty, expects to add dozens more at UCI, where he recently joined the faculty.

Lumitron’s core product features X-ray powers that would make Superman jealous. It creates images up to 1,000 times clearer than a traditional X-ray or MRI. The device could also enable compression-free mammograms, he says.

Tom Yuen, a 1974 grad who went on to cofound AST Research, wishes Applied Innovation had been around when he was a student. “I started my first business in my garage, and it took me a very long time to get my company off the ground,” he says. “It would have been great to have a resource like the Cove to help expedite my ideas and avoid common business pitfalls.” ■

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA THINKS BUSINESS AS ONE OF THE LEADERS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, THE CITY OF ONTARIO CONTINUES TO LEAD THE WAY IN BUILDING AN ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE TO BETTER SERVE THE NEEDS OF OUR BUSINESS COMMUNITY. WITH THREE MAJOR INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS, TWO RAILROADS, THE ONTARIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND WORLD-CLASS FIBER OPTIC TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS THROUGH ONTARIONET, ONTARIO IS THE PERFECT LOCATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO THRIVE.

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Innovation Loves Company

By Holly Schroeder, President & CEO of SCVEDC

Innovative businesses deserve an extraordinary location. The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV), located in northern Los Angeles County, offers the space and vision for companies to think big.

Recently, “Built in Los Angeles” named the region one of five emerging LA and OC tech areas to watch, calling the business-friendly sector “ripe for the picking.”

The Santa Clarita Valley is within easy reach of Los Angeles, only 30 miles from downtown L.A. with proximity to both the LAX and Burbank Hollywood airports. The fastest-growing community in L.A. County, the SCV is home to a population of nearly 300,000, as well as the county’s third largest city, Santa Clarita. This award-winning region is known for its educated and talented workforce, thriving technology sector, top-ranked public schools and universities, business-friendly culture, and an unrivaled quality of life. Twice, the City of Santa Clarita has been named the “Most BusinessFriendly City in Los Angeles County.”

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This positive business climate is why the SCV is the location of choice for many tech companies, including Scorpion, Wayforward, Outlyer, Kadenze, Arvato, and Nexus. So why is tech flocking to the SCV? Simply put – the region offers space for companies to grow at a fraction of the cost of Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach. The SCV is home to other thriving business sectors as well. Boston Scientific, Woodward, Advanced Bionics, and Aerospace Dynamics are large employers, as is the film industry, with 20 soundstages and 10 movie ranches. Amazon and Netflix have filmed several recent productions in the area.

Currently under construction is Newhall Ranch, developed by FivePoint – a landmark sustainable community that is zero net energy and carbon neutral. This cutting-edge, mixeduse community spans 15,000 acres that will include 21,500 homes, 11.5 million square feet of commercial space, more than 50 miles of hiking and biking trails in 10,000 acres of

protected open land, and more than 275 acres of community parks.

Newhall Ranch boasts zero net energy homes and buildings, EV charging stations in every home, thousands of EV chargers around the community, car and bike share programs, and an advanced water reclamation plant to supply the community with recycled water.

This project presents an extraordinary opportunity for tech companies to guide and shape smart city planning.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, startups and founders get the support they need with resources like Google Startup Grind (SCV Chapter), CalArts’ Hybrid Incubator for Visionary Entrepreneurs (HIVE), 1 Million Cups, Small Business Development Center (SBDC), City of Santa Clarita Business Incubator, Steamwork Center – and that is just the beginning. ■ Learn more about the Santa Clarita Valley at www.InnovationLovesCompany.com.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT:

ShadeCraft

Intelligent robotics, meet the outdoors. ShadeCraft, the Los Angeles-based pioneer of autonomous outdoor living solutions, has introduced the world’s first intelligent shading system, SUNFLOWER. After announcing the product in 2017, ShadeCraft took orders for the first time at CES 2018. The technology adds to ShadeCraft’s reputation as a provider of robotic solutions for shade and other outdoor functions.

SUNFLOWER features a 10-foot-high robotic umbrella that tracks the sun, using solar power for automation, artificial intelligence, and connectivity to the Internet of Things. It uses a multitude of sensors to collect data, operate autonomously, charge devices, and enhance user experience in real time.

Specific features include built-in WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular capabilities, integrated solar panels, an HD camera, voice activation, and lighting controls that give you the options of changing colors, controlling brightness, turning colors on and off, and scheduling timed events.

For its premiere audio- and voice-activated features, ShadeCraft has partnered with Harman International’s audio and far-field input technologies.

SUNFLOWER can be used for everything from backyard relaxation to hosting large outdoor parties. Its cost, $8,000, reflects superb IT and top-of-the-line voice and audio features, all while providing a sure-to-impress impact on your yard or party setup. ■

CALIFO RN IA 951.413.3460 | www.morenovalleybusiness.com | edteam@morenovalleybusiness.com

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I,

COMPANION ROBOT

With the increased rise of robots, from assistive to romantic, humans will have to adapt and learn how these new companions will fit into our world.

By Alex Moersen

In a blog post on Medium, Ian Bernstein, founder and head of product at Misty Robotics, claimed that “robots will become our friends, co-workers, and a part of our families.”

It’s a nice sentiment, one that has been portrayed in sci-fi films galore and is slowly becoming closer to reality. But, however nice of a thought it may be, what would this implementation of robots actually look like in the real world? How exactly will robots become our friends and family members? Will it be like in A.I. Artificial Intelligence with robots programmed to love their human caretakers?

Perhaps it will be like Her, where humans will fall madly in love with artificial intelligence only to discover that it can never replace the “real” thing. In a worst-case scenario, will robots follow the path of Ex Machina, becoming so sophisticated that they hone the ability to manipulate humans for their own gain?

There’s a growing comfort and intimacy being established between humans and machines. Companion or assistive robots are sprouting up everywhere: Temi, Pepper, Kuri, Hitachi, and many more. The curious thing about these bots is their personable descriptions. Temi is described as “the personal robot;” Kuri is “insanely cute with some serious technology.” While it may seem odd to give these assistive robots personalities, it makes sense from a

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communication standpoint. “It can be beneficial for a robot to design for personas and social interactions in some contexts because it can make human-robot communication efficient,” claims Dr. Julie Carpenter. In 2013, Carpenter received her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and has since focused her research on how people interact with emerging technologies, specifically as it pertains to artificial intelligence and how it encourages or discourages trust and human emotional attachment. According to Carpenter, robots need to be socialized in some way in order to have efficient communication with humans. “Robots that communicate in ways we recognize as humanlike (or even animal-like) can also build trust in the user for collaborative tasks because it appears to indicate a certain level of intelligence,” she explains. Without efficient social interaction, robots would not be able to collaborate with humans on functional levels.

On the other hand, the question still stands

as to how far is too far when it comes to robot personalities. Is there a danger to making robots too personable? Initially, especially as this technology is continuing to develop and improve, there is a risk of investing too much trust into these machines. As Carpenter explains it, “A danger to that perception about implied intelligence is people can also over-rely on the technology because they misjudge exactly how smart, nuanced, or capable the robot really is at carrying out tasks.” This will likely be a common problem as more robots enter the market and consumers slowly learn their capabilities. Of course, as of right now, these dangers are low stakes, especially with the relatively low capacity of tasks that the standard companion robot could fail at. Failure in retrieving the morning paper might act as a slight annoyance, but will leave user’s day, and life, relatively unaltered.

Moving forward, what happens when robots expand out of performing simple, everyday tasks? Acting as friend and family is a much deeper and more complicated task than playing music or answering the phone. Already, there are well-developed sex robots which look and feel like real humans. With the right AI in place, it wouldn’t be far fetched to assume that these romance bots could soon become full-time partners, providing not only physical intimacy, but emotional as well. There are some who

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” This means that culturally we will have growing pains while we figure out how to regard these technological systems that will be so entwined with our lives.” believe that deep, intimate relationships with robots could have adverse effects on human-tohuman relations. While there may be a learning curve, however, Carpenter believes that humans will learn to compartmentalize their relationships with robots: “I don’t believe that social and/or sexualized robots are any existential threat to humanhuman relationships. Robots we treat in social ways will have many emerging roles to people, such as co-worker, alternative social outlet, medium for communication between people, stand-in for someone at a geographical distance, or even as an advanced sex toy. Those interactions are all deeply personal and emotionally intimate. Combined with our tendency to attribute humanlike aspects to robots, this means that culturally we will have growing pains while we figure out how to regard these technological systems that will be so entwined with our lives.”

Although it may be a slow process, eventually robots would carve out their own space in society. Just as one might treat a coworker differently as compared to a spouse, or how a child may treat a nanny as compared to a parent, people would ultimately learn how to interact with robots and treat them according to their established social stature. But of course, there is still an underlying issue here, one that many robot-based movies have explored: love.

Especially with the prevalence of romance robots, it may not be long before the first human-robot love story hits the news. Following that progression, soon thereafter there may even be citizens lobbying for legal human-robot

marriage. Carpenter shared her thoughts on this development, saying, “While in the next ten years it may well be seen as an aberrant social behavior to want to marry a robot, perhaps fifty or one hundred years from now, it will become a more socially acceptable option, and even legalized and accompanied by relevant laws.”

However, there are still many questions that only time will answer. As Carpenter poses them, “Will those types of physically and emotionally intimate human-robot relationships pan out over the long-term for the human in ways they expect or anticipated (e.g. “happily ever after”)? Will people develop a new set of expectations about human-robot relationships and therefore society will adapt definitions of love or romance that are unique to these relationships?” These are just some of the questions that will be answered as humans start to learn how robots fit into everyday life. With only a large handful of robots on the market today, however, it may be some time before society begins to broach these ethical questions. If emotional intimacy becomes programmable, how will that change society’s perspective on love? Carpenter, though, believes that humans will learn and adapt to this new social landscape: “I think in order to navigate these ethical issues, we’ll see society at large evolve to accommodate many types of relationships with robots where we sometimes treat them like tools, or something pet-like or even human-like, and those categories will be further parsed out socially so we have certain behaviors, expectations, customs, and laws about our interactions with them we base on factors like the jobs they do or the context we use them in.” ■

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Level Up YOUR GAMING ROOM

By Patricia Miller Have you ever settled into your couch to start an all-night game session only to realize your setup is completely weak? Your back isn’t supported, you’re too far from the TV, and even your TV isn’t gaming quality anymore. Fear not intrepid introvert, we have all the console gaming solutions for your underwhelming entertainment area.

The consoles of today look very different from the Atari and Sega generation that many grew up with. As technology has progressed, so too has the sophistication level of the average gamer. Consoles are leaping into the future and your home gaming setup should evolve with them. Embrace your inner spendthrift and indulge in the creation of your very own futuristic gaming center. We’ll get you started with our top picks for the best tech to renovate your space.

Terminate Your Old TV 1080p was once the standard for highdefinition televisions. In the world of tomorrow, 1080p will be surpassed by the striking realism of 4K definition. 4K literally means four times the resolution of traditional 1080p, and gaming companies have embraced the evolution wholeheartedly, ensuring all current model consoles are 4K compatible. You’ll be able to decipher every poster in GTA 5 and explosions will take on a startling clarity on your upgraded screen.

Now you’ve been introduced to the world of 4K, but have you experienced the blossoming tech that is OLED? Organic light-emitting diodes are the secret to the tech’s revered contrast, brightness, and clarity. The diodes are so small, they can be used for individual pixels with the capacity to light up and turn off independently. As such, when one diode is turned off, the pixel becomes completely black, thereby increasing contrast and enhancing the brightness of lit pixels. In other words, OLED TVs provide incredible picture quality that can no longer be matched by traditional LCD or even LED technology.

Our recommendation for the optimal viewing experience is the LG C7 OLED 4K HDR TV. LG’s latest model provides top-of-the-line design, excellent HDR color performance, and boasts the best OLED-perfect black levels of any TV to date. Add that to the quality of its motion handling and you’ve got a recipe for the finest viewing experience of your gaming career.

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The Gaming Chair of Tomorrow After hours of gameplay, your couch may have finally developed the right contours to suit your derriere, but does it offer a carbon fiber core, adjustable armrests, memory foam support, and a lifetime of guaranteed gaming perfection? If your couch doesn’t live up to the hype, it may be time to consider the AndaseaT Dark Knight Gaming Chair. Its sleek ergonomic design, faux leather fabric, stainless steel frame, and 160-degree tilt mechanism make this chair a perfect fit for any gamer’s futuristic fanny.

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High-Quality Headset Any dedicated gamer understands the importance of a high-quality headset. Whether you’re listening for enemy footsteps creeping down the hall, or straining to decipher those last mumbled instructions from your team leader, sound quality can make the difference between a riveting round and a lousy level. That’s why our ideal headset is the SteelSeries Arctis 7. It offers clean audio, top-notch construction, a long battery life, and a surprisingly wide range.

The set is compatible with Mac, PC, and PS4. Its self-adjusting headband is ideal for those who want to focus on the game rather than the fit, though it’s not recommended for those with exceptionally large craniums as it runs a bit snug. The USB transmitter included with the headset provides great range and has the option to connect your speakers to the device so when the headset is disconnected, the game switches to your speakers.

The Ultimate Console VR Experience The Playstation VR headset is the only VR option available that doesn’t require an elaborate PC setup to utilize. Compatible with all versions of PS4, the versatile headset allows Playstation fans a wealth of options for their immersive 3D experience. With over 100 games already available and more coming all the time, this virtual reality headset will keep you entertained for hours while impressing your friends with its sleek design and futuristic style.

Must-Have HDMI Selector Switch This seemingly insignificant piece of technology may not be the latest and greatest, but it serves an important function when building your futuristic game center. Few serious gamers limit themselves to one console, and you may have multiple HDMI cords but only a few HDMI ports. That’s where the selector switch comes in, allowing you to plug in all your devices and simply flip a switch to move between one and the other. Goronya makes an excellent 2-port, bi-directional switch that supports 4K ultra HD, 3D, and HDCP Passthrough. You’ll thank me when you’re able to seamlessly transition from SNES Classic to PS4 with the flick of a switch.

Give Your Weak Wi-Fi a Boost Wi-Fi is pivotal to gaming, and a solid connection could save your character from a grizzly death at the hands of that 12-year-old with a T3 connection. A reliable Wi-Fi booster will reduce the number of lag-related deaths you’re forced to endure and, for the money, our pick is the Netgear RBK50 Orbi Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh System. The system boosts your connection up to 4000 square feet and provides consistent, fast coverage even at long range. The Orbi isn’t just a Wi-Fi extender, it doubles as a router that uses a dedicated 5GHz band for backhaul. In other words, the Orbi units communicate on their own private network so the rest of your devices aren’t deprived of connection speed. ■

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BUSINESS INNOVATIONS

The Art of

CRUSHING IT

By Charles Warner

Internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk gives his patented entrepreneurial advice and reflects on the growing worlds of podcasting and cryptocurrency.

Photos Win Wolloff

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“ Passion is an unmatched fuel.

Add being happy to that and you have a wonderful formula for good health.”

This is just one example of the inspirational words of Gary Vaynerchuk. There’s good reason that people look to him for advice Vaynerchuk is an experienced entrepreneur, author, social media influencer, CEO, and online personality. In his newest book, Crushing It!, he builds on his previous experiences, giving advice while reflecting on our constantly changing business landscape.

We spoke with Vaynerchuk about his views on the current state of cybersecurity, the advantages of creating audio content, and advice for the many entrepreneurs that look up to him.

Innovation & Tech Today: Tell us how a typical day starts for you.

Gary Vaynerchuk: There is no typical day because I travel 30-40 percent of the year. So it could be lots of airports. This morning I woke up in Denver. Tomorrow I’m going to wake up in Chicago. But usually, I wake up and look at my phone, make sure nothing’s on fire. What’s lonely about ownership and being a CEO is you’re the last line of defense. So there’s always a little buzzer that goes off and there’s a sense of anxiety. There are always things going on.

I&T Today: Do you find that, on the road, you can actually get more done?

GV: 100 percent. Yesterday, I finally did my email. Because I got lucky; the Wi-Fi wasn’t working when we first got in the plane and so I just got into a rhythm and didn’t get distracted and cleaned up my inbox. The airplane is disproportionately the place where I get the most tangible amount of work done, answering questions that are sitting in my inbox. When it was pre-internet on a plane, I really crushed it. Offline, boom. But the internet, you know, you can get distracted. You can get into a Twitter hole, you can get into,

you know, looking up something. You can get caught up.

I&T Today: What are your thoughts on the current state of cybersecurity?

GV: I think it’s bigger than people realize; I think this is more about being a good person than about security. Most people don’t care about privacy. You think you do, but I don’t think you do, because your actions show that you don’t. We care about the health and wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones and we care about our money, right? As long as those things aren’t compromised. When the 15 biggest celebrities are murdered tomorrow because they gave away their location, I have a funny feeling privacy’s going to start to matter.

If your money was stolen by a scam on the internet and you couldn’t get it back, Chase Bank or Wells Fargo says, “Sorry, tough luck,” I think you would start caring about your credit card number.

I think what you’re going to see is something completely different; I think all of us are going to start acting in a way that we realize people could see this. Does that stop us from texting dumb s***? No. Does that stop people from sending nude photos? No. We’re still going to be us but I think we’re going to start being more empathetic and less hypocritical of each other as we start all realizing that we’re all flawed. So I have a very different point of view on this. I don’t see this as terrible; I see this as phenomenal. I see that transparency is the gateway to happiness and I’m extremely bullish of the human race over the next hundred years.

I&T Today: Tell us a bit about your collaboration with K-Swiss.

GV: I got a random email almost two years ago that said, “I’m the president of K-Swiss

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and we’d like to make a Gary V sneaker.” I liked that email and I was curious if he was for real. I was worried it was going to be an influencer, like there was a sneaker they already made, but I wanted to put my signature and have a Gary V sneaker. But there were two things that mattered to me. One, I thought it was cool; I want to buy nostalgic brands in my career, K-Swiss was a nostalgic brand. And I also like that it could have failed. I liked the fear of falling on my face because I thought that was a good energy and I liked the idea of giving my friends ammo to make fun of me.

Literally one of the reasons I signed the deal was I romanticized this vision 28 years from now where my friends are like, “Hey, remember when you were a d*** and thought you could sell sneakers? You idiot.” I think that’s a good idea to always push yourself where the downside is you can make fun of yourself and move on. That’s how that deal felt. It went really, really well. We have the new one coming out, the 003, in July. It’s going to be a challenge, going to be a lot of pairs, me and the team are looking at it. It’s going to take work but I think it’s going to be successful.

I&T Today: You’ve participated in a fireside chat with Shark Tank’s Daymond John. Did he give you any advice?

GV: He didn’t, but Daymond is awesome. First of all, I tend not to take advice because I think it’s ego but I also think it’s slow. I like taking advice from the audience. I’d much rather read every single person’s comment to this interview than take advice from somebody fancy, I really mean that. And by the way, that’s how I learn, I spew advice all day. If you get value from it, that’s amazing. If you don’t – I love when people are like, “Hey bro, sorry but I don’t watch your stuff.” I’m like, “Great, I wouldn’t watch it either.”

I&T Today: You’re an early investor in Bitcoin, correct?

GV: Let’s not get excited here, but I did buy some Bitcoin in 2014.

I was curious about crypto; I bought some Ethereum. I made some bucks, but I didn’t put in real money. So, it’s nothing, you know, I’m not going to buy the Jets just yet. Maybe the Steelers. [Laughs] I’m unbelievably bullish on blockchain technology. I don’t want to know some of the other coins are going to be the currency that wins. But this would be like somebody saying to me, “Do you believe in the internet?” Yes. “Do you believe in Ask Jeeves?” Maybe. “Do you believe in Netscape

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BUSINESS INNOVATIONS The Art of CRUSHING IT Navigator?” Maybe. “Do you believe in Google?” Maybe.

So the winners on top of blockchain are a little murky.

Obviously Bitcoin’s out and about, but I’m bullish on blockchain.

The internet was a decentralization of a lot of things, but it was still a centralized place, which is why you see big companies built on it. Blockchain goes to a totally different place. I think it brings reputation, and who you are, and your brand to a whole new level and so I’m very excited to see how it plays out in the next two to three decades.

I&T Today: What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions about you?

GV: I’m a very interesting contradiction. I’m super emotional, soft. Because I’m not financially driven, I don’t have that cutthroat, “I’m making a money decision, sorry ma’am it’s just business” mentality. I’ll drag out firing someone; I’ll try to put them on; I’m always there for them.

So I think the biggest misconception is that between my Jersey energy and my bravado, I’m winner take all.

I&T Today: What are some of the advantages of podcasting and voice technology?

GV: Podcasting is audio and audio is passive. Audio is convenient and we love convenience. There are a lot of people that now listen to my podcast instead of watching my videos because it’s easier, like while you’re running, or while you’re driving, or while you’re on a plane, because you have to give the attention to the screen. I’m a very, very big fan. I think we saw pictures and videos have their day, but I’ve done incredibly well in the last seven years on the internet. We’re seeing it and more to your point about voice: A.I., machine-learning intelligence, speaking to Alexa, speaking to Google Assistant, these are incredible technologies.

Typing is faster than making a phone call, that’s why we text and don’t call. But voice is way faster than search.

Search is in deep s***. I would not want my life to be dependent on Google search. Google search is going to decline over the next two decades, very quickly. Look at your kids, or kids in your world. Go look at a seven-yearold, they’re not typing search, they’re voicing search.

They’re using Alexa and Siri on their iPad. 25 percent of all Google searches on mobile devices are voice. 25 percent. Staggering and it hasn’t even slowed to the home market. And I’m excited. In six years when it’s completely dominating, people are going to look back on all the content I made during this time and say, “Wow, he was right.” [ Continues on Pg.140 ]

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“Google search is going to decline over the next two decades, very quickly. Look at your kids, or kids in your world. Go look at a seven year old, they’re not typing search, they’re voicing search.

They’re using Alexa and Siri on their iPad.” A closer look behind-the-scenes with the always-enigmatic Gary Vee during his exclusive interview with Innovation & Tech Today Editor-in-Chief Charles Warner. Vaynerchuck shares his thoughts concerning the rise of cybersecurity, the decline of Google search, and the investment atmosphere surrounding bitcoin.

®

BUSINESS INNOVATIONS

Making Entrepreneurial

Magic

By Anthony Elio Photo Leroy Hamilton

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NBA Hall of Famer-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson discusses his interest in eSports and increasing diversity in the workforce.

Growing up in Lansing, Michigan with nine brothers and sisters, Earvin “Magic” Johnson was given his iconic nickname after a journalist saw one of his high school basketball performances. Five NBA championships, twelve All-Star appearances, and three MVP awards later, Johnson has become established as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. However, Johnson’s work off the court has shown that he carries his enthusiasm and energy into every one of his ventures.

Since his retirement from the NBA in 1991, Johnson has become known for his entrepreneurial work, investing in such ventures as SuperHeroic, Starbucks, and The Los Angeles Dodgers. Recently, the world of professional gaming has captured his attention, as in 2016 he became a part owner of the major eSports group Team Liquid.

Additionally, Johnson is an investor in Jopwell, an organization that helps companies increase diversity in the workplace. In this interview, we discuss the importance of creating a diverse workforce, the rapid growth of eSports, and how competitive gaming compares to modern sports leagues.

Innovation & Tech Today: Tell me a bit about the formation of Jopwell. What inspired your work with the company?

Magic Johnson: The idea for Jopwell was born when co-founders Porter Braswell and Ryan Williams were working on Wall Street and were asked frequently to recruit other candidates who looked like them. They knew top talent was available and thought of the idea to build a diverse professional community where companies could find talent. In 2015, they launched Jopwell.

Jopwell is a career platform that helps Black, Latinx, and Native American students and professionals unlock opportunities for career advancement at all career stages.

Creating opportunities for underserved communities has been in the foundation of my business since inception, and Jopwell’s mission is to end the minority employment gap plaguing America. Investing in Jopwell was an easy decision.

I&T Today: Diversity in the workforce has been a topic of much discussion lately, especially in the tech world. What is one major way Jopwell is looking to solve this issue?

MJ: Jopwell creates true partnerships that empower employers to build more diverse companies by giving them access to top-tier talent and in turn adding viewpoints and voice in their companies that would not be represented otherwise. They also have created a pipeline of talented candidates from historically underrepresented groups, changing the mindset that they are less talented than their white peers.

I&T Today: Do you believe that, with companies like Jopwell, we will begin seeing a major shakeup in the tech industry within the next few years?

MJ: Disrupting the institutionalized factors that lead companies to struggle with diversity and inclusion is a start. It is something that takes time, but I am encouraged by the progress that has been made as more companies begin to release reports, emphasize transparency, and realize that it’s not enough to just state that diversity matters but actually invest in solutions, like Jopwell, that bring upon change. Companies who are aggressively investing in diversity and inclusion efforts are reaping the benefits of their efforts and setting an example for other companies.

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I&T Today: What originally attracted you to the world of eSports?

MJ: My friend and mentor Peter Guber, who I have done major business deals with since investing in movie theaters, introduced me to the world of eSports. I quickly learned that this global phenomenon continues to gain popularity and more acceptance with every day. The international reach really stuck out to me as well.

Worldwide, the eSports audience is estimated at over 300 million, and arenas like Staples Center and Madison Square Garden sell out faster for eSports tournaments than concerts for superstars. Peter’s support, coupled with the rapid growth of the industry and projected monetary value, attracted my interest.

I&T Today: A number of former sports stars have invested in eSports over the past few years. Why do you believe that is?

MJ: I think former sports stars are starting to understand the value of gaming, and this platform is where the next generation of sports fans are developing. More than half of the eSports audience is between the ages of 21 and 35, and 27 percent is between 10 and 20 years old. The fan base will continue to grow as these fans age and new ones enter the space.

The revenue potential is also extremely attractive to any investor. Just last year, the global eSports market was $1.5 billion and is expected to top $2 billion by 2021.

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I&T Today: Do you see the world of eSports ever growing to the point of competing with major sports leagues?

MJ: It’s a difficult question because the audience is certainly there but revenue per eSports enthusiast significantly lags traditional sports. They are on their way if they can figure out how to maximize additional revenue streams (ticket sales, broadcasting contracts, sponsorship, etc.) like the major sports leagues. eSports will have to figure out a way to go from a free model of viewership to a paid model. There is rapid progression in providing unparalleled ingame experiences for live eSports events with new technology.

I&T Today: What similarities do you see between eSports and professional sports?

MJ: The way eSports players approach their craft is similar to how I approached basketball with training, preparation, focus, and competitiveness. The top players are the top players because they understand what it takes to win. It takes a similar level of commitment as professional sports. By being the best at their craft, athletes drive fandom. Their popularity grows through their performance, which is enhanced by their use of social platforms. Teams also create original, behind-the-scenes content for fans, which drives engagement.

Another similarity at its most basic level, watching eSports is fun. Fans want to see the

best players compete at the highest level, the same as traditional sports.

I&T Today: Where do you see the future of eSports?

MJ: Already companies and major sports leagues are entering into the space who wouldn’t have traditionally considered it. Several video game publishers have recently launched their own franchised eSports leagues, including Riot Games and Blizzard. Content platforms are also making deals to have exclusive streaming rights, and we are starting to see traditional sports and the eSports world coalesce with the NFL and Madden, NBA and NBA2K, and the FIFA eWorld Cup. Numerous universities now offer varsity eSports programs and they are starting to seep into high school programs as well. One of the most exciting developments is the training facilities that are being built. At Team Liquid, we recently opened the Alienware Training Facility in Santa Monica, an 8,000-square-foot state-ofthe-art eSports training facility that includes the types of resources usually reserved for “traditional athletes.” With all of these factors and more, the eSports world will only continue to develop at rapid speeds.

I&T Today: Are you a gamer yourself?

MJ: I haven’t been a gamer, but think I could rise to the occasion. I’m a competitive guy! ■

BUSINESS INNOVATIONS

Fixing Cryptocurrency’s Customer Service Issue

By Robert Yehling

Photography by Desiree

“These exchanges don’t know how to set up a good customer service system without running the risk of screwing their customers, or themselves.”

When you watch a fledgling market struggle with customer service and media perception woes — and a wildly fluctuating token, Bitcoin — what do you do? In Benjamin McDaniel’s case, he built a solution.

McDaniel is the CEO of Apollo DAE, a Colorado-based cryptocurrency exchange formed in 2017. Their private sale of tokens concluded in mid-June 2018, with public sale scheduled to begin June 18. “We created Apollo DAE in 2017 to buy crypto, sell it, trade it, and eventually spend it,” McDaniel said.

In a growing cryptocurrency exchange market hampered by media portrayals, public perception, and government skepticism, McDaniel and his team hit upon the problems.

These issues include poor customer service and the inability (or unwillingness) of exchanges to better describe how to navigate their service.

“Almost all crypto brokers and exchanges have the worst customer service I’ve seen, and I’ve been in business a long time,” McDaniel said.

“Some companies don’t respond for three months to emails; one took eight months to respond. They’re getting better, but on average,

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you’re talking two weeks to two months. These exchanges don’t know how to set up a good customer service system without running the risk of screwing their customers, or themselves.”

Which leads to a question: How much information does a customer service rep need to know about a customer’s account to provide proper assistance? “We give our customer service people very limited access to information and funds,” McDaniel said. “They don’t have access to the fund, but they can help customers with questions that help navigate and understand us and crypto better.”

McDaniel feels that social media fans the high emotions surrounding cryptocurrency — take the wild rollercoaster ride of Bitcoin, for example — while spreading incomplete or inaccurate details. “If one thing goes wrong, immediately some turn to social media — someone is stealing your funds! Withdraw! This can crash the market,” he said. “But really, it could have been a minor glitch, impacting one or two people, something easy to fix. At Apollo DAE, if anything goes wrong with our software, we can respond within a few hours.”

Apollo DAE also addresses customer service and media reputation by working with content writers. “There needs to be more tools, more education, and a little bit of regulation so that people don’t feel like they’re breaking the law when they buy Bitcoin,” McDaniel said. “We have a content writer who knows how to portray what we do, write articles, and educate the community.

We’re also setting up a YouTube channel for education videos. This is a very powerful tool, especially with current generations.”

One major educational goal, McDaniel said, is to illustrate that crypto exchanges are not investment trades, but exchange funds. “Right now, exchanges aren’t easy to use, a lot don’t give information on crypto use. It all comes down to, when you buy Bitcoin, knowing what it is and how to use it — and the vast majority of people don’t,” McDaniel said. “Warren Buffett came out in the media and said Bitcoin wasn’t investment, and he was right. He said it while representing the old guard, the status quo, but he was right. It’s a tool for transferring funds from one business or customer to another — and we’re focused on making the customer experience easier.” ■

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Young Robotics Wizards, Running Tomorrow’s Missions Story and Photographs by Robert Yehling

Seven students from Valley Middle School in Carlsbad, California merged robotics with hydrodynamics — and landed in the FIRST World Championships

They meet in the same classroom in which they’ve congregated for ten months. Only it’s not an ordinary classroom. Instead, room B202 at Jefferson Elementary School in Carlsbad, Calif. serves as grand central for one of the nation’s finest school system-wide robotics programs.

On a blustery early spring afternoon, the Valley Girls, a five-girl, two-boy team of eighth graders from Valley and Aviara Oaks middle schools, work out the kinks in their robotics mission. They spread across three tables, two to a team, with robots, mission tables, and laptops; the seventh member is en route from another extracurricular activity. Welcome to mile-aminute middle school life. Even when the world championships are knocking on the door, schedules can and do clash.

The Valley Girls were making final preparations for the FIRST World Championships, the crowning event of the FIRST Lego Robotics League, presented by Lego. They would fly to Houston in April, compete with 108 of the world’s finest teams from 50 countries, and walk away with an experience to enrich a lifetime. Two weeks later, they would be publicly honored at the cutting-edge Agua Hedionda Lagoon Discovery Center in Carlsbad, a facility that teaches environmental science, natural history, and marine biology to 10,000 students per year, and is aligned with the environmental angle of the project.

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On this day, Katelyn Lewis, Josie Dominguez, Emma Barger, Aimee Cuthbertson, Raina Seth, Kian Ghassemian, and Nathan Hall were far more focused than excited, working out final kinks at the end of a long road of preparation.

“The kids got together last June with their various ideas for the FIRST competition,” Robotics Coordinator Mary Krescanko said.

“They’ve all been doing robotics for several years, so we knew we had a good team, but it takes another level to get this far. They have

worked non-stop since June on this project, six or seven days a week, taking their summer vacation and holiday breaks.”

That’s a commitment level that would bring a big smile to robotics league godfather Dean Kamen’s face. In fact, it’s a project team commitment and performance level that would make many corporate executives happy — and lead them to instill such teamwork in their own organizations. “There are a lot of things to bring together, a lot of people the kids needed to talk

to, all the research, getting their mission and robotics down, and then bringing it all together into their formal presentation,” Krescanko said.

The Valley Girls made it to Houston with two impressive competition wins. Last November, they were the top qualifiers in San Diego County, beating out more than 150 other middle schools.

In late December, they won the Southern California Championships over 500 schools. The fact the event was held at LEGOLAND California Theme Park, three miles from their school, made the win that much more special.

“It was great to win in Carlsbad, at Legoland,” said Katelyn Lewis, one of the robot mission programmers. “We’ve all been into Legos and robotics for a long time, so it was special.”

The FIRST Championships require teams to excel in three different competitions: • The robotics game, or mission, that “requires us to complete as many of the 20 tasks on the 7-foot by 3-foot table as possible in 2 ½ minutes, trying to get the maximum 545 points,” programmer Emma Barger explained.

In competition, they run missions on three different boards.

• A hydrodynamics project that solves an existing water or climate issue.

• Judging of core team values.

Katelyn and teammate Josie Dominguez studied a kink in the robot’s ability to complete one of the 20 designated mission tasks, with Katelyn programming on the laptop and Josie tweaking the robot. “I’m resetting missions, so when the robot gets stuck or we miss a task, Katelyn can program and re-run the mission after I fix it. I’m working on the attachments on the robot, the moving parts of the mechanism.”

As Katelyn and Emma checked the robot’s operational schematic on the computer, Josie made a slight adjustment, then they tried again.

Five tasks into the mission, they got stuck.

“It’s going forwards, not backwards,” Josie said.

Katelyn studied the schematic. “It’s not stopping in the right place…” “…because it keeps trying to go forward and it has to go backward in this piece,” Josie added.

They quickly found the others, huddled with the full team, considered everyone’s input, and made another adjustment to the robotic arm.

“Works great,” Josie said with a smile.

When watching this, a visitor likely thought, these are eighth graders? Really?

During their review, Kian walked over with a dense notebook filled with photos of the robots being built, schematics, instructions, guidelines, and everything else you need to turn eighth graders loose in an advanced robotics setting.

“We’ve been together as a team for two years, some of us for three,” he said. “So this notebook tracks a lot of what we’ve done, and gives us any details we might need. Some of us are better at robotics, some better with the hydrodynamics project, but we all have to be fully involved in every part of the competition.”

Katelyn then remembered where she’d left off in our conversation — the hydrodynamics project, phase two of the three-pronged competition. “We had to come up with a project that solves a global problem and create a solution for it. We focused SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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phosphates to remove the chemical from runoff water in drainage canals. A farmer takes the roller filled with leached phosphates and encased with biodegradable iron, buries it in the soil, and uses the Harvest Yield app to systematically release phosphates into crops.

our attention on the Lake Elsinore algal problem. We found out that phosphates were one of the nutrients causing the algae blooms to grow. We thought if we could eliminate the phosphates, the algae blooms couldn’t grow and it would eliminate the health concerns.”

Their solution is, in a word, remarkable: The Phospho-Roller, which draws harmful phosphates from waterways and recycles them into farmlands, where they benefit crops. The roller spins and ionically bonds with the

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The Valley Girls invented the Phospho-Roller after assessing causes of the algal bloom at Lake Elsinore, located in Southern California’s Inland Empire. They studied phosphate levels in a halfdozen worldwide waterways, and consulted with hydrodynamics and agricultural experts across the board. They included Lance Anderson, Southern California’s Regional Agricultural Director; national Marine Water Purification Specialist Daniel Grisby; vintner Christina Smith; Kevin T. Burke, a principal at the Booz Allen Hamilton engineering and IT consulting firm; Dr. Punit Seth, Vice President of IONIS Pharmaceuticals; and others. They pulled months of conversations, research, and their own findings into a stunning five-minute presentation, complete with charts and speaking parts for each member, that dropped jaws with its ingenuity and professionalism.

So impressed were outsiders that the Valley Girls have already spoken with a venture capital group and others interested in seeing the Phospho-Roller come to market, a decision that will be made in the coming months.

Did we mention these are 14-year-old eighth graders?

“I’ve had so much fun with both parts of this, the robotics competition and the presentation,” Aimee Cuthbertson said. Robotics provided an

ideal landing spot for Aimee after she and her family moved to Carlsbad from Scotland in 2014. “We realize that in some ways, the future of the planet is already in our hands. We’ve heard what everyone says, seen all the problems, but our attitude is to start solving the problem now, and not wait until we’re adults. Through FIRST Robotics League, we were able to develop something that we hope will be a solution in the market.”

Now that the FIRST World Championships are over, the Valley Girls have moved on to high school. Some will attend Carlsbad High; others will go to Sage Creek High (whose own robotics team made it to Houston in the high school division). After three years working side-by-side, including an intense last year to make it to worlds, how do the team members feel about moving on?

“I’m going to miss this team a lot, even though we’ll see each other in high school robotics classes and competitions,” said Raina Seth.

Added Josie Dominguez, “What I like is we get to come back and mentor the middle school kids after we move on to high school.”

Even after their robotics team assignments are complete, the students practice core team values. “This is a very special group, one of those teams you hope you get to work with once in your career,” Mary Krescanko said.

It certainly doesn’t stretch the imagination to note that, in a decade or two, the robotics and environmental science worlds will hear from the Valley Girls again — and the world will be better because of it. ■

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Where Stunts Meet STEM

By Anthony Elio

Wolf’s presentations are as immersive as they are entertaining, thrilling children and adults alike with his insights and silver screen secrets as he tours nationwide.

Photo Colella Digital/USASEF

“Hollywood movies are a goldmine of lessons for teaching kids about the wonders of science and engineering.”

Steve Wolf ’s eloquent phrasing captures the connection between blockbuster films and STEM education. An experienced stunt scientist, TV producer, and science presenter, Wolf has spread this message with his incredible performances and keynotes, showing off the science behind stunts at events such as the USA Science & Engineering Festival and the World Science Festival in New York. In this exclusive interview, Wolf explains the daily life of a stunt scientist and gives advice for anyone looking to learn the science behind the silver screen.

Innovation & Tech Today: How would you explain to somebody what a stunt scientist is?

Steve Wolf: A stunt scientist is someone who safely uses science to create the illusions of danger in movies for the purpose of creating exciting stunts and special effects.

I&T Today: How did you first get into that?

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Photo Adam Saldana/IPW

SW: I started working in the film industry as a set medic, providing medical services when they were shooting movie stunts, and I saw people get hurt frequently and thought that if we were to apply more science to the way movie stunts were set up, that we could keep all the excitement and eliminate a lot of the danger. So I started stunt coordinating. As I’ve worked in the industry longer, I’ve realized that the stunt work is really just using a human crash test dummy at the end of the mousetrap of a long experiment that’s set up often in conjunction with the special effects department. The special effects department really works more from the side of science and the other side, the stunt side, is more athletics. I ended up moving into the special effects field because I could apply more science there.

I&T Today: What is a typical day for a stunt scientist?

SW: First, there’s no typical day. A lot of what you do is going to be location-based and taking advantage of opportunities that the terrain offers. But, typically, we’ll get the storyboards of

what an author has in mind in a script, and then we’ll think about how that’s going to look when it’s played on the screen. It’ll usually be a series of short cuts that are edited together to make it look like something happened that might not have actually happened, and it’ll make it look like something happened in a continuous sequence that may have been filmed over many weeks. We look at how we can use sequencing in editing to help create the illusion without having to do things that are genuinely dangerous.

I&T Today: Tell me a bit about Science in the Movies.

SW: Science In The Movies is a live assembly that I perform in schools wherein I demonstrate half a dozen stunts and special effects, and reveal to kids the science that makes the stunts possible. In the course of an hour, we typically cover about 100 STEM concepts.

And we focus on the concepts that the kids have to understand in order to be successful in school. So it’s very aligned with the curriculum.

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In addition to live presentations for schools, festivals, and corporate events, Wolf also offers an immersive experience at his 22-acre Stunt Ranch located outside of Austin, Texas.

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I&T Today: Is there one film you find really shows off the science of stunts for budding STEM enthusiasts?

SW: I don’t think there’s any one film. Really, any action film uses so many stunts and effects that you could easily create an entire STEM curriculum from any given action movie.

If you see somebody even just jump down a flight of stairs, you could measure gravitational acceleration by looking at how quickly they move from one step to the next as they’re going past them. So, the steps act as a natural ruler and you can see how it took them a quarter of a second to go from step 1 to 2, but from step 16 to 17, they were moving many times faster.

Or somebody crashes through a window without getting hurt … how are the molecules of the safety glass engineered differently than the molecules of plate glass? Such that when they break, they create rounded edges instead of sharp corners, revealing the chemical engineering that goes into creating that window.

Say someone runs through a building full of smoke, and you know that it can’t be real smoke because that would be toxic. So, how is that

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smoke created? And did they use a smoke machine or did they use heat to turn a liquid into a gas? You know, to create a phase change, and then that gas expanded and filled the room and made a safe smoke for actors to run around in.

I&T Today: Do you ever find yourself watching a film and saying, “The science doesn’t work on this”?

SW: Well, that would really be dealing more with the content of the film than with how the film was made. So, the content of the film, if it’s purportedly science, could be inaccurate. But the science that’s used to create the film can never be inaccurate. If you were to compare the work of a stunt scientist to an astronomer, an astronomer could be off by manyfold as to how quickly the galaxy is expanding and he could still keep his university job and his tenure.

But if a stunt scientist is wrong about the speed of two different automobiles and someone’s jumping between them, someone could get killed. The consequences of being wrong in stunt science are much greater than they are for other abstract scientists.

I&T Today: Do you believe that, as we see more blockbuster films released, we’re going to start hearing more people discussing stunt science?

SW: I think we’re going to see more on the subject, because people are now realizing that movies aren’t just entertainment. They’re the most heavily funded area of STEM. It’s entirely likely that what is called the second unit budget ... so, that’s the budget for all the stunts and special effects … of all of the Hollywood films produced in a year likely exceed the budgets for cancer research.

I&T Today: What would you tell somebody who wants to enter the world of stunt science?

SW: I would tell an aspiring stunt scientist to learn as much as you can about as many things as you can, because the more areas of content expertise you have, the more options are available to you when it comes time to solve a problem. And you never know what you’re going to need to know to solve a problem, so there’s no area that I wouldn’t study. ■

Virtual Reality Provides Real-World Experience For Bowie State University students, virtual reality is more than a game. Guided by our award-winning faculty, students develop custom scenarios of emergency modeling and simulation to help train first responders in critical decision making.

See the future in STEM bowiestate.edu/computerscience

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Cybersecurity | Software Engineering | Data Visualization

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Bringing Renewables to Produced in partnership with

Juan Fermín Rodríguez, CEO of Kingo Energy, discloses his plans for bringing power to 500 million people in rural communities by 2035.

Off-Grid Communities

By Patricia Miller

Photo JJ Estrada/Kingo

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K

ingo Energy is a fast-growing, multinaitonal company aiming to provide power to those who are too remote to live on the grid. Poor communities and underserved regions are desperately in need of a technological evolution and Kingo’s CEO, Juan Fermín Rodríguez, is working hard to provide them with clean energy solutions to accelerate their progress. Rodríguez and his team have created a system for sustainable solar power at no up-front cost to the consumer.

Interested customers request an installation and Kingo sets up all the relevant tech and appliances. Customers can then buy solar credits for a few dollars and supply an entire household with lighting and even refrigeration. Rodríguez isn’t content to stop there, and hopes his innovation will provide power to hundreds of millions of people over the next few decades.

Innovation & Tech Today: What did you envision when you created Kingo Energy?

Juan Fermín Rodríguez: The vision that we have is creating the largest clean energy user base in history, and to do that, of course, we’re going to need to continue innovating profoundly in both the way that we are creating our technology, but also the way that we’re looking to expand. We keep that very fresh in our day-today to make sure that we always have that audacity that is always needed to really tackle these types of issues. These issues are that big, right? Creating the largest clean energy user base in history is a goal we remind ourselves of every day.

Kingo Energy’s solar powered electrical systems include all the tech needed for a household to upgrade from candles to LEDs. Refrigeration, lighting, and device charging are accessible to rural and low-income families thanks to the company’s prepaid solar credit system. Most communities can access clean solar power for less than the monthly cost of kerosene.

Photos JJ Estrada/Kingo

We operate like a distributable utility. We don’t sell hardware. We completely vanish the purchase barriers by providing our solar units as a service. We keep them in our balances. They’re ours. Let’s say you’re a person out there in the community without power. We come into your community and say, “Look, you want power.

You’re spending $14 a month in candles and kerosene. You should use Kingo that’s $8 a month, or you could buy codes per week or per day.” It’s a service that you’re able to cancel at any point, and very importantly has no upfront cost.

We do free installations, and we just profile our customers based on their demographics, and we decide which is the best system in our portfolio to provide to that person.

After that, people have a perpetual warranty on

their service. One of the biggest issues here is not only the upfront investment that people need to make, but the maintenance of these units. While solar units last, let’s say, 20 or 25 years, batteries have much shorter lives. They may last up to five years. People need the proper maintenance for these units, for which they have no capacity, technically or financially, to upkeep. Our service model provides a perpetual warranty that your service will always work, and if it doesn’t work, you don’t have to continue paying it. You can just give it back.

The risk is completely taken by us rather than by the person.

That’s the biggest innovation … it’s the cornerstone of the business model. Do it like it’s a distributable utility, but using clean energy, and having people save money. People are not only improving their quality of life, but they’re saving money every single month.

I&T Today: How is the company planning to bring power to 100 million users by 2035?

JFR: There are different phases within our plan. Within the next 10 years, our primary focus is going to be in the off-grid sector. There’s close to 250 million homes without power around the world. We’re aiming to get 10 million of those, which represents over 50 million people. There’s five people per home here. After 2025, our objective is to really leverage on how much solar and battery storage is needed in order to take over how we consume energy today. There are predictions that by 2022, solar plus battery storage will be cheaper than any other energy substitute in the world. There are some predictions that it’s going to happen before then and there are places in the world where that’s already happened.

By 2035, we expect that around 70 percent of the world’s energy consumption will come from renewable power. Now it’s only 23 percent, but as the renewables continue to improve, there’s going to be a relevant transition, in terms of how people consume energy in general, and renewables are going to gain a big portion of that market.

Hopefully, we’re going to be pioneers within the sector to target not only off-grid populations, but on-grid and industrial needs also.

I&T Today: How has Leonardo DiCaprio’s involvement as a member of your Board of Advisors impacted Kingo’s visibility?

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“ I locked myself in a dark room as a call to action for people to donate to our campaign and would not leave the dark room until we got to the objective.”

Photo JJ Estrada/Kingo

JFR: We see his investment as tremendously strategic, not only that we’re able to use this capital to invest directly into the growth of the company, but also in the increased capabilities that will come by now positioning Kingo at a global scale as a pioneer in the energy sector.

Leo, he’s an environmental advocate at a global level. His networks in the renewable energy sector are completely relevant to increase our R&D capabilities, which is at the core of our company, and enable us to continue investing heavily in creating more efficient and sustainable technology.

Also, he’s going to give us power to hopefully grow faster by replicating what we’ve done in these initial three countries around the globe.

We’re expanding through a joint venture strategy in which we co-invest with local partners in the specific countries we choose to go into, and having Leo will naturally accelerate our ability to choose the best partners in the primary markets we want to compete in.

I&T Today: What are some of the challenges that you’ve run into while working with rural communities to install your systems?

JFR: There are a variety of challenges that change throughout our growth. Initially, the barriers were the primary financing, because these systems are expensive and you need to buy them up front and then have them sit in customers’ homes and wait until you recover the investment.

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Photo Christelle Thomas/Kingo

Raising money and being able to validate that was a huge challenge. We did this crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, and the idea was to raise enough capital to validate an initial version of the technology that we had developed already with this prepaid solution embedded. I locked myself in a dark room as a call to action for people to donate to our campaign and would not leave the dark room until we got to the objective.

We had it livestreamed on the internet so people could see that I was actually there. I thought it was going to take like seven days, but it took like 25 days, so it was kind of crazy. I was locked in the room for 25 days, but we got to the target, and that funded this first pilot, which generated enough data and traction for us to move on.

In the initial phases, the primary challenge was financing. After we started generating traction, it became more of a technological challenge in terms of not only knowing that your tech was going to work and provide power to people, but also on other aspects like having a wide enough product portfolio that can allow for very high levels of penetration in these communities. The last technological challenge was energy theft. We experienced that firsthand, people trying to hack the units, open the boxes, steal the batteries, steal the panels, steal the light bulbs, whatever. So, going through that challenge was relevant.

I&T Today: Are problems with people trying to hack energy a primary reason you

started incorporating the blockchain into your technology?

JFR: I think it hasn’t affected the hacking as much as it has incorporated intelligence into the hardware. That’s intelligence in our PCB boards, in our battery management systems, in specific boards that we’ve inputted into those solar panels, or the light bulbs themselves, or the refrigerators. We not only provide the solar units to the users, we provide the generation and battery storage components and also the consumption.

Our Kingo salesmen would say, “You’re a shopkeeper, and you want a fridge, but you don’t have the cash to buy the fridge. The cool thing is that Kingo already incorporates the fridge into your service.” Making sure that fridge doesn’t have value in the market is also very important. What we try to do in making the hardware intelligent is not only eliminate the ability for people to hack the units, or steal energy with it, but also to make sure that none of these components have value in the market.

The way that we’ve designed the company around the customer allows us to constantly question ourselves in terms of what additional hardware, or software, or connectivity, or whatever quality of life needs can we bring to our customer so that this customer wants to stay with us for a long time. That’s how we innovate and how we develop each new product that we launch to the market. ■

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atives i t i n i y t i l stainabi u s ’s 2 1 t the Pac a k o o l Taking a By Everin Draper Produced in partnership with

Sports and sustainability. It’s a combination that may not seem intuitive to some. However, if you consider for a moment sports’ relationship with the great outdoors, then it makes sense that one would be heavily invested in the other. This relationship between outdoor sports and sustainability is highlighted each year at the Pac12 Sustainability Conference. Taking place this year in Boulder, CO, where outdoor enthusiasts, sustainability advocates, and college sports fans all converge, the conference is an example of the growing commitment of sustainability among universities.

Few sports may be as closely linked to issues around sustainability than snowboarding. For that reason, Arielle Gold, Olympic Bronze Medalist, CU Boulder graduate, and climate change awareness advocate, will be keynoting at this year’s conference. “Being a professional snowboarder, I’ve spent every year since I was about 13 years old chasing the snow around the world, and have seen snow pack diminish firsthand throughout the world,” she explained.

This connection with the outdoors has inspired her to work to protect the environment she appreciates so much. Of course, for her, it is about so much more than snowboarding: “My inspiration for working with Protect Our Winters is moreso about taking care of our planet as a whole. I have always loved being outside, and I want future generations to be able to take advantage of that as much as I do.”

The Pac-12, with all of its prominence, has the opportunity to make real change. With the ability to reach a wide breadth of people, from

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young sports fans and college-aged students to athletes and alumni of all ages, the conference has a wide audience in which it holds a strong influence. “In college athletics, and athletics more generally, we are fortunate to be part of an industry that is very high profile and can thus have meaningful social impact on our society,” explains Jamie Zaninovich, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of the Pac-12. “With that comes a sense of responsibility, and even obligation, to use this platform to make a positive impact on the world.”

Out of this sense of responsibility and dedication to sustainability, the Pac-12 has established their Sustainability Conference and the Pac-12 Sustainability Working Group, connecting campus leaders from all over, allowing them to collaborate more effectively to leverage sustainability initiatives. This wide collaboration across campuses is vital as the future is in the hands of college-aged students paving the way to the sustainable initiatives of the future. As Zaninovich expressed, “If we can get more people to buy into this principle, we can create a truly sustainable model.” ■

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Entertainment, Sustainability, & SPorts CoNverge

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By Kevin Campbell

ESPN shows that businesses in any industry can strive to be more sustainable.

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Photo Rich Arden / ESPN Images

Photo Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images

Leaders in the sports and entertainment space are joining forces to create a more sustainable and ecofriendly future for their industries in the hopes their efforts will encourage other sectors to follow suit.

In order for sustainability to truly take hold in this world, each and every industry must adopt environmental initiatives. No longer can these programs be reserved for nonprofit organizations, but they must be pervasive, reaching even the most unlikely of industries. In fact, with an audience in the millions, the sports entertainment industry is ripe for sustainability initiatives.

Leading the way currently is ESPN, which will be receiving the Environmental Leadership Award at this year’s Green Sports Alliance Summit. Joining the likes of Jack Groh, director of the NFL’s Environmental Program, Doug Behar, VP of Stadium Operations for the New York Yankees, and Christina Weiss Lurie, partowner of the Philadelphia Eagles, ESPN will receive the award based on the many sustainability initiatives they have implemented over the years.

To those who might not see the connection between sports and sustainability, Justin Zeulner, Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance, explains the industry’s impact on the environment: “The sports and entertainment industry has shown leadership in ecological systems such as green building design and construction, energy efficiency, water conservation, drive to zero-waste, composting, instituting ecologically-intelligent food systems, greener cleaning, investments in renewable energy, etc.” One of ESPN’s greatest environmental achievements has been their sustainable revamping of their annual awards

show, the ESPYS. According to Kevin Martinez, ESPN vice president of corporate outreach, “The ESPYS have realized many achievements over the last decade, including 10 years virtually waste-free, nine years carbon neutral, and 74,000 acres of coastal redwoods protected.”

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Their success branches out from a number of responsible decisions made around the event. Attempts to make the ESPYS greener include: transporting guests in multipassenger vehicles instead of limousines; collecting waste grease from catering and concessions for future use as biodiesel; and employing a red carpet made from over 50,000 recycled water bottles. Martinez explained that sustainability has always been core to ESPN: “We strive to reduce our impact on the environment through careful use of natural resources, and we are committed to minimizing our environmental footprint, improving the health of the planet and inspiring others to do the same.”

ESPN’s environmental leadership shows that any company in any industry has the ability to find creative ways to be more sustainable. As Zeulner expressed, “All of the actions being implemented within the sports and entertainment industry can be done in other industries: all businesses, community centers, and homes … Collectively, we have the obligation to learn from each other, share better practices, and implement real change that will enable all future generations to have the opportunity to live in healthy, sustainable communities.” ■ SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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I&T Today’s 3-Step Guide to Sustainable Gaming Produced in partnership with

By Anthony Elio

The world of video gaming has grown exponentially over time. A 2017 report by Newzoo, a global marketing intelligence firm, revealed that there are currently 2.2 billion gamers across the world, with the industry predicted to generate $108.9 billion in revenue for the year. However, like many massive industries, such as consumables and manufacturing, gaming has faced issues when it comes to sustainability. Between physical waste, irresponsible electricity use, and hardware ending up in landfills, the world of gaming is not hitting many high scores in terms of environmentalism. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can improve sustainability from your very own game room.

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Digitize Your Game Collection Physical games are quickly decreasing in prominence, considering they were eclipsed in sales by digital downloads in 2013 and continue to be the less popular option. However, that doesn’t mean the whole world has gone the digital route, as plastic-cased video games still maintain an audience. The issue is that, between the packaging, distribution, and travel involved with physical game releases, they are a much less environmentally friendly option. A fairly recent example of this issue is the Nintendo Switch, which faced criticism regarding its large plastic cases when compared to its relatively small game cartridges. Thankfully, between the Playstation Store, Nintendo’s eShop, the Xbox’s Microsoft Store, and PC services such as Steam, you have the more environmentally-conscious option of going digital with your games while also saving a trip to the store.

2 Beware Of Vampire Drain Staying plugged in is an essential part of gaming. However, even outside of your dedicated gaming sessions, your consoles could be wasting energy. Like any electronic, game consoles still burn energy when they’re plugged in, commonly referred to as “vampire drain.” True to its name, vampire drain can be pretty scary, with a 2015 National Resource Defense Council report claiming that it costs consumers $19 billion a year in wasted energy. However, there are pretty simple ways to reduce vampire drain while saving money and improving sustainability, such as unplugging your console and television after your gaming session or investing in a power strip with a timer.

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Photo sirastock– Getty Images/iStockphoto

Recycle Your Old Consoles Generally, when somebody upgrades their console when the next new model comes out, they’ll either resell their old system or keep it around for whenever they feel nostalgic. However, especially if said console has experienced wear and tear over the years, there’s a good chance it will end up in the trash, adding to the dangerous amount of e-waste in landfills. There is a much more useful, and environmentally-friendly, way to get rid of your outdated console. Because gaming systems contain parts such as circuit boards and plastic casing, they are able to be recycled. In addition to regional services that help to recycle potential e-waste, manufacturers such as Nintendo and Microsoft offer convenient recycling programs for their products, giving you plenty of options for unloading your old console. ■

THE FUTURE OF PE T TOYS

IS HERE

Automatic tennis ball launchers and brain games for dogs

goifetch.com

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Sensi Sells Sustainable Swimwear by the Seashore Produced in partnership with

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By Patricia Miller

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Kiteboarder Sensi Graves discusses female empowerment, swimwear, and the importance of sustainability.

In 2012, Sensi Graves was a kiteboarding coach, surfer, and water sports enthusiast. As it was her daily work attire, she realized most swimwear wasn’t doing enough to adhere to the ambitions and lifestyle of female athletes. The realization drove her to create a business focused on environmentally-friendly, fashionforward, and functional apparel that would suit any swimmer’s style. Graves and her team have committed to creating a sustainable line of products that inspires a healthy lifestyle while encouraging awareness of environmental issues. In this interview, Graves shares what inspired her to create her company and details how people can take a more active role in their protection of the environment.

Innovation & Tech Today: Why is it so important to you to have comfortable, sustainable swimwear?

Sensi Graves: I was in North Carolina when I started the brand and I was in the water every single day. I was

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Graves is a professional kiteboarder, swimwear designer, and environmentalist, as well as an advocate for female empowerment. Her advertising reflects her passion for body positive imagery and highlights her commitment to a healthy, active lifestyle. Graves’ swimwear is not only sustainable and fashion-forward, it’s designed to stay in place during even the most extreme of water sports.

either surfing or kiting or coaching and my bikini was literally my uniform and my recreation outfit. I’m a super active young woman and I wanted pieces that would stay on and look really good, so that was the idea behind it.

For the sustainability portion, I was really nervous about getting into manufacturing and honestly it was one of the reasons I didn’t want to start a bikini company. Because I thought we really don’t need more products in the world; we really don’t need more of anything, especially manufacturing in the fashion clothing sector. But then I took a step back and said, “You know, Patagonia, they do it right, they do it in a way that’s inspiring, and they do it in a way that’s really trailblazing.” People are going to need swimwear no matter what, so if I can do it in the right way then we’ve got something.

I&T Today: How are recycled plastics incorporated into the fabric of your swimwear?

fabrics are around 80 percent recycled plastic bottles. Econyl uses fishing nets and preconsumer fabric scraps, whereas Reprieve uses only plastic bottles. They work with a lot of people around the world that go and pull these fishing nets out of the ocean and ship them to them.

I would like to get to a point where we can take back people’s old bikinis and turn them into something else, but having that blend of spandex makes it really hard to recycle. We are trending towards, for 2019, having the whole line be produced with recycled fabric but 100 percent has seemed a little impossible because no one is making 100 percent recycled fabric for swim at this moment.

I&T Today: How do your swimsuits help empower female athletes?

SG: They [Econyl and Reprieve, Grave’s clothing manufacturers] take reclaimed plastic bottles and first they chip them into little tiny pieces. They make everything in these plastic chips and then they break it down and start melting it. Then they spin that into a fiber and then turn that into the pre-fabric.

SG: I think that number one, we seek to empower them just by giving them a tool, which is a bikini, that they need to actually go out and do what they love. The idea is to create swimwear that stays on so you don’t have to worry about it. You know that you look good, you feel confident in what you’re doing, and that translates to what you’re doing on the water – whether that be surfing, kiting, competing, or just going out and having fun.

None of the new fabrics are 100 percent recycled because they have to blend it with spandex and spandex is, I think at this point anyway, not possible to recycle. You need that stretchiness in the material, and so most of the

Another big thing that I really value and try to talk about is self confidence and body love. In the swim industry, we see a lot of swim brands that heavily rely on buxom models that aren’t actually doing anything, and it can be really

discouraging for women to compare themselves to that. So we try and bring up the conversation that everyone has body issues, how can we get over this? What’s going to make you feel really good in what you’re wearing and help you to be within your own skin in a way that’s confident and healthy? There’s a lot of negative self talk that goes into being a woman and comparing yourself to other people.

I&T Today: Do you have any advice for outdoor enthusiasts who want to be more sustainable?

SG: The first thing you can do is really look at each of the products that you’re consuming.

With your dollars, take a step back and and look at your whole approach once again, from what you eat to what you wear to what you put on your skin. Most importantly, look at the brands you buy because what’s really going to affect change is where we decide to put our money.

I’ve been really encouraging people to only support people and companies that you align with and sometimes that means spending a little more, especially in fashion. There are certainly brands that are selling two dollar t-shirts, and you’re just like, “Wait a second, how can this fabric cost two dollars?” So maybe question that.

Sometimes it means inconveniencing yourself and being okay with that. Also, trying to identify what’s important to you and taking a stand, because it’s still about having fun and enjoying it and we can’t always be rigid. We’re coming from a place of positivity and love and just trying to spread the message. ■

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The Art of Animating Monsters

By Alex Moersen Movie photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation

A veteran of animation, Yiotis Katsambas, discusses the unique aspects of the artform.

Since he started animating at the young age of 16, Yiotis Katsambas has seen production technology develop immensely. He himself played a major role in that innovation, designing and implementing Flix, an industry standard pre-production animation software.

Being inspired by such films as Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, he decided to take his shot at Hollywood, moving to the U.S. and attending Ringling College of Art. He soon discovered his passion for developing the technology behind storytelling and found his niche in creating tools for artists.

Today, Katsambas acts as Technology Supervisor for Sony Pictures Animation, most recently working on Hotel Transylvania 3. In this exclusive interview, Katsambas discusses the technology behind pre-production, what makes animation unique as an artform, and his favorite scene from Hotel Transylvania 3.

Innovation & Tech Today: How have you seen the technology behind animation change throughout your career?

Yiotis Katsambas: It’s changed a lot. When I

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started as a teenager, there was one 3D animation package that was accessible on our mega computers and you had to type in all the coordinates to actually do something.

Nowadays, you can get animation apps on your iPhone or iPad to play with stuff. So, I really envy this new generation. Just the availability of tools is crazy, like how much stuff is out there to actually get to create and do animation. When I was growing up, we didn’t have luxuries like the internet and Google search. You had to order books – and I grew up in Cyprus so when I would order books, it would take two or three months before I actually got something – where nowadays, through the internet, when you have a question you can Google it and in seconds you can find a really good answer.

In terms of animation itself, renderers have massively improved. Also, there are tons of tools for everything. There are great reading tools. There are a great modeling tools. It’s amazing the availability of all the tools that exist nowadays compared to ‘92 when I was getting into this.

I&T Today: Can you tell me about some of the pre-production technology behind the upcoming Hotel Transylvania film?

YK: Flix is something that we started developing here when I first started. I realized, in the storyboarding world, how many storyboards they would have to create and there was this manual process to actually organize the storyboards.

In live action, we go into production and we can do multiple takes. In animation, it costs a

Art& lot of money. We do our takes in the storyboarding world. Story artists used to draw on paper and it was put up on the wall and it was a very collaborative process and together they would work on every sequence then throw out a bunch of ideas and quickly change a bunch of stuff and try new ideas until they got to the point that they really liked. But then, when we went to the digital world and everybody mostly started using Photoshop, there were a lot of problems.

At the time that I started, I realized that from the beginning of a movie – beginning of preproduction to the end of pre-production – on average, we would create about 100,000 storyboard panels. Actually, I looked at Hotel Transylvania 3, and it created 90,000.

So then I realized, “Okay, we have to do something and we have to come up with a better way to organize our storyboard panels and for one, make the process faster, make it allow storyboard artists to work faster and exchange ideas faster, but also at the same time make it easier for them to collaborate.”

We wanted Flix to be this collaboration hub for story artists and editorial to figure out the story.

Maybe someone would jump in at times and take a look at the state of a sequence so that he can start planning the production side of things. He can

look at this and say, “Oh, we have to figure out some liquid simulations for coffee. I don’t know if we’ve done that.” He can start planning. Even though things are going to change drastically, they can start planning what the production would look like. It’s one of the key things about the software, where production could actually get involved much sooner than ever before just because we were able to do it without any overhead.

I&T Today: What are some of the unique challenges in animation that really separate it from other art forms?

YK: Its strength is also its weakness. The one cool thing about animation is that you can really design your characters to be anything and it’s also its weakness because it can be anything, so trying to narrow it down to what it should be can be a challenge. In live action, you’re more restricted; humans look a certain way. But, in an animated world, like looking at Hotel Transylvania versus how humans are supposed to look, and you have to go through this entire design process and figure that out. It’s not even just the characters, it’s every little thing. Every little thing has to be designed to make it fit in that world. It could be a prop; even a table or a chair has to be designed in some way. It’s really cool on one end because you’re designing an entire world, but then again, you’re designing

thousands of objects.

I&T Today: What advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue a career in animation?

YK: Just start creating stuff. That’s really what it comes down to. You create stuff and with every project that you work on, you learn new things and move onto another project and try something and create more stuff. That’s the main big thing. Also, I imagine that nowadays, it’s a lot easier to team up with other artists and collaborate on projects. So, whenever you get a chance to collaborate on some project, you should take advantage of that. We all have different strengths, mine being more on the technical side of things. As a young artist starts, it would be great to try and recognize their strengths so they can team up with other people who have other strengths. If you’re more technical, you can team up with somebody who’s more artistic.

I&T Today: Do you have a favorite scene from Hotel Transylvania 3?

YK: I really love the sequence from Gremlin Air and there’s another one that went through massive transformations. Dracula is really happy and there’s a character trying to kill him and then he’s dancing on the cruise ship and all the attempts to kill him just fail miserably. ■

Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is premiering this summer to excited audiences worldwide.

Dracula and his family take a luxury cruise to spend some quality time together and escape from the daily struggles of monster life.

But Drac may be in for a surprise when his feelings for the ship’s captain, Ericka, put all of monsterkind in jeopardy.

SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Martin Garrix on the Tech of Turntables (Continued from Pg. 65) want to do it vice versa. You are both in there together to do something sick. To put on a sick show and I feel like if you work as a team, if you give each other feedback, if you rehearse, if you have fun, if you inspire the other, it takes the show to a whole new level.

I&T Today: What do you think it is about music and the culture behind it that really makes us feel alive?

MG: What I like about music the most and why I love being in music, is because I get to see people smile. As cheesy as it sounds, everywhere I am around the world, I get to see smiling people.

Doesn’t matter where you are from, who you are, the moment you are in the crowd together, you are there to have a good time. You are united; you are almost like a family and being part of those memories for those people, being able to see people smile for a living, it’s not even a job. ■

Martin Garrix performed at the massive X-Games 2018 event in Aspen, Colorado.

The Art of CRUSHING IT (Continued from Pg. 108)

Vaynerchuck shares his winning smile with the team at Innovation & Tech Today while dispensing inspiring insights to Editor-in-Chief Charles Warner. His advice for entrepreneurs continues to push his brand over the top while motivating aspiring businesspeople to find the intersection between passion and practicality.

Photos Win Wolloff

I&T Today: There are a lot of people out there with ideas – the entrepreneurial spirit’s strong and you’re their spirit animal. What advice would you give them?

GV: Please, make sure if I’m your spirit animal or anybody else you think is cool – and I know a lot of you think a lot of different people are cool – make sure you understand those people usually deployed a bit of self awareness. They knew who they were. Zuckerberg knew who he was, right? Sheryl Sandberg knew who she was. I knew who I was, forget about anything that I’ve

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done, I understood who I was. I wasn’t going to build a cap of a venture capital fund when everybody wanted me in 2009. Know who you are – self awareness. It’s cute that you’re sitting in class right now thinking you’re going to build the next Uber. But do you have that ability?

Know who you are, get in the game, and put yourself in a position to be successful based on what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about. The delta of what you are good at and what are you passionate about. If you’re one of the great, lucky, fortunate people that what you

love is what you’re great at, you’re going to have some crazy things happen. Try to get as close to that as possible; don’t do something for the most amount of money; don’t do something so not practical that you have to sleep in a cardboard box. These are important conversations, find that delta. I think way too many people are making an extra $30,000 but hate what they’re doing. But they’ve built a lifestyle around the $30,000 so they literally hate their life to have an extra bedroom in their house that they don’t use. ■

Events

Missing your technology fix between issues of Innovation & Tech Today? We don’t blame you. Luckily, it’s not hard to find a gathering of innovative people in a city near you. Have an event you’d like us to include? Email submit@innotechtoday.com

JULY 11-12 Wearable Technologies

USA, San Francisco, CA

11-13 7th Annual STEM Forum

12-15 DreamHack Valencia

23-26 Outdoor Retailer Summer

30 - aug 2 Intelligent Automation

& Expo, Philadelphia,PA

18-19 Community Solar Power

COMMUNITY

Summit, Minneapolis, MN

SUMMIT

Market, Denver, CO

Valencia, Spain

Week Chicago, Chicago, IL

AUGUST 16 Women In Green Forum

9th Annual

Los Angeles, CA

27-28 Digital Summit DC Washington, D.C.

SEPTEMBER 4-8 CEDIA Expo

5-6 TU – Connected Car Insurance

5-7 InterDrone

5-7 TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018

12-14 GSMA Mobile World Congress

14 Global Women in

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24-27

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USA, Chicago, IL

Americas, Los Angeles, CA

Las Vegas, NV

STEM Conference, Mountain View, CA

27-28 Product Innovation Summit Boston, MA

OCTOBER 2-4 Digital Book World Nashville, TN

17-18 Connected Tech Expo/

Light Show West, Las Vegas, NV

4-5 New York Media Festival New York, NY

5-7 Rocky Mountain Audio Festival, Denver, CO

24-28 Crowdsourcing Week Global

Conference, Washington, D.C.

You can’t be everywhere and we understand that. If you feel like you’re missing out, stay tuned to our website and social channels for premier event coverage.

SUMMER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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coming next issue

Fall 2018 Tech Zone: Grand Junction, Colorado Next issue’s Tech Zone takes you to the stunningly beautiful and surprisingly tech-savvy town of Grand Junction, Colorado.

The mountain community was named the state’s first “JumpStart Tax Zone,” resulting in an incredible boom for the once-lagging region. We’ll highlight the hard work of The Grand Junction Economic Partnership and explore what this Tech Zone really has to offer.

Gaming & Entertainment The fall issue will soothe your end-of-summer blues by taking an up-close look at the past decade of superhero films, including all your favorites from Iron Man to Infinity War. If your summer was as busy as ours, you’ll definitely want to catch up on everything from E3, the world’s largest gaming expo.

Home Automation Domination Are you ready to embrace your home’s full potential but afraid of your house becoming smarter than you are? We’ll give you everything you need to know to quell your fears and succumb to the connected side. Once your residence is linked to the Internet of Things, you may feel a little vulnerable. We have all the tips you’ll need to know to keep your domicile secure.

Plus, we’ll detail how to create your optimal home entertainment system to get you through those crisp autumn evenings.

Sustainability Today With all the upgrades you’ll be making to your abode, you’ll need to know how to properly dispose of the packaging in which your new gear arrived. We’ll tell you how to keep your smart home sustainable and highlight some clever ways to conserve, helping you save money and the planet.

Photo yorkfoto–Getty Images/iStockphoto

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The Lighter Side

Social Media is Poison

By Adam Cayton-Holland

One day in fifth grade, our computer teacher lost his s***. His name was Mr. Johnson. People said that he was a genius, some sort of wizard with those new-fangled computer machines. He was clearly obsessed. Every time you passed by the computer lab there he’d be, slouched over some modem he was taking apart, his face aglow in the light of the IBM monitor.

It was recess. Mr. Johnson was playing soccer with a bunch of kids. He was dribbling the ball when two eleven-year-old defenders tried to take it away. They kicked his feet and shins a few times in their clumsy efforts, and suddenly Mr. Johnson just snapped. He started screaming obscenities and swinging fists, lashing out wildly in every direction. Before another teacher dragged him out of there, he had connected cleanly with the heads of two fifth-graders, full-on adult punches to children’s faces.

He was fired that afternoon. We never saw Mr. Johnson again.

I always wondered what that was about.

Looking back on that day, hindsight augmented by 20/20 Google Glass vision, it’s easy to see that there was nothing wrong with Mr. Johnson. He was just trying to warn us about social media.

The man had peered behind the curtain, and the future was terrifying.

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Cyber-bullying, identity theft, memes!

THE RUSSIANS STOLE THE GODDAMN ELECTION THROUGH FACEBOOK!!!

If you knew what Mr. Johnson knew, you would have flipped out too. He could have relayed his message more appropriately, but he was a computer teacher in the early 90s. He wasn’t exactly hired for his social skills.

I honestly believe social media does more harm than good. And I say this as someone who uses it constantly. Not a day goes by that I don’t hurl my persona across social media. I say it’s for work, but the truth is I use it for the same reason everyone else does. I like writing funny tweets or posting photos because I feel that same dopamine rush we all feel when someone out there in social media land likes what we put out.

But the more time I spend on there, the worse I feel. And the worse I feel, the more I seek some sort of relief on social media. It’s an ouroboros that’s left us all ceaselessly scrolling through our feeds, hunched over our phones like depraved junkies, consuming everything, retaining nothing.

What, exactly, is the point?

For my birthday last year, I gifted myself one week with no social media. It was the best week

of my entire year. I read more. I was more present at work and at home. My eyes didn’t ache. And I was still informed. I checked the news app on my phone. I missed nothing. Except trivial bulls***.

Remember that little kid who sobbed about being bullied in school and everyone felt terrible for him? Then remember how the next day they found out it was maybe staged and he and his mom were racists? I missed all of that. When I got back online, people were still buzzing about it, so I asked a friend to explain. When he did, we both marveled at the utterly trivial nature of the story, at the garbage we allow ourselves to get caught up in on a daily – nay, hourly – basis.

And yet here I am, still on social media, writing an article about what a poison it is. I’ll probably tweet out a link to this article as soon as it comes out, replete with pithy hashtag. And then I’ll refresh and refresh, desperate to see how many likes I get.

It’s enough to make you want to punch a fifthgrader in the face. ■ Adam Cayton-Holland is a nationally touring comedian who has appeared on CONAN, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Hidden America. He created and hosts The High Plains Comedy Festival in Denver, CO.

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