Tech Tomorrowland

Owning property can be stressful, especially when you have several different pieces to maintain. Instead of having to worry about the various parts of real estate management in multiple places, Ender provides a centralized location for all of someone's management needs.

The site really caters itself to property managers. Ender claims that they are "building the operating system of real estate." The system features integrated accounting that caters to property owners, renters, and vendors. All parties can pay and be paid through the convenience of Ender. It also has task managing capabilities, such as putting in maintenance requests, responding to tenants, and hiring and scheduling vendors.

Farming and agriculture are at the center of humanity. Without farms, there would be no production of food, and society would cease to exist. Like it or not, food production is one of the most necessary factors of life.

The farming industry needs support in a variety of ways, and Gramophone is using technology to assist farmers in India. Gramophone is an app, with access to resources and community in one platform. Users can order seed, fertilizers, crop tools, and other needs directly from the app. They can also sell, or buy, crops anywhere in India through the marketplace feature. Additionally, Gramophone has a social network for farmers and agriculture experts to connect and discuss. There are also features to help farmers with testing their soil nutrition, as well as monitor for the growth and health of someone's crops.

We live in a digital world. This entire blog would cease to exist if we didn't. So much of my education has relied on technology and the internet, and that became the case for most of the world once the pandemic began. I felt a bit ahead of the curve when everyone shifted. My high school was a STEM and 1-to-1 technology school. Everyone had iPads that were regularly used in the classroom and at home. In college, one of my journalism professors formerly worked at Bloomberg and knew all about Zoom. She regularly had us meet virtually, rather than cancelling class for last minute happenings. It was fun and exciting to do something else, then it became the norm worldwide in the blink of an eye.

This may be off topic, but it's what I think about when I consider how education has become more and more digital over the years. Clever is right on par with that transformation.

Born out of frustration of having to use multiple softwares and tools for digital education, Clever has sought out to be a service that has everything needed for learning in one place. With this learning management system (LMS), students are able to access lessons, teachers are able to create lessons and assignments, and parents are able to track their child's progress and communicate with teachers. It's a win-win-win.

Most recently, Clever was acquired by Kahoot!, a longtime favorite in the classroom. Seriously, nothing is more fun than walking into class and your professor has Kahoot up and running. I think it'll be interesting to see what kind of integrations come out of this acquisition.

Smell is a powerful sense, and one that I think is often underrated. Everyone hypes up sight and sound, but what about the ability to smell? It feels like it is sometimes treated as an afterthought. But not with recent technologies.

Dogs are often trained and used to detect certain smells, such as marijuana or bomb materials. We see them in airports around TSA, sometimes they visit schools to do drug checks, these trained dogs are often kept on military bases. What if a trained dog could be replaced by a cyborg that's capable of detecting smells? It would reduce the amount of time and money spent on training dogs, as well as provide those dogs with more opportunities to not be working.

Koniku has thought about this. Extensively. They have developed a technology that can detect smells. The device is a small, silicon semi-circle, and as the company describes, "cyborg." The company has done thorough research and has found a way to combine biology and computers to detect smells.

It has several applications, some more obvious than others. Of course, the technology can be used to replace trained dogs in airports or schools. It's also used in a military application, and there is current development to place the device in drones in order to detect certain bombs in an area, without putting soldiers at risk. Koniku is also able to be used in the agriculture industry. Since it is able to detect smell and has taste receptors, the technology can check for the quality of food before it ever leaves the farm. And finally, what I think it coolest, is this technology's ability to detect viruses, such as COVID-19.

When the pandemic started, a lot of life shifted. Work seems to be something that was most impacted, as almost everyone has to have some sort of job. Many jobs transferred to an online or remote format, increasing the number of people working from home, and drastically changing what a work environment and culture looks like sans office.

One thing that comes from being in-person that is a little challenging to achieve remotely is realtime feedback, praise, and engagement throughout a company. Karma is a startup that is working to change that.

Karma Bot is an add-on for team messaging platforms like Slack, Teams, and Telegram. It's basically a rewards program. Team members can earn and distribute "Karma Points" to each other based on good work, nice comments, or other positive interactions. Once people have accrued enough Karma Points, they can trade them in for prizes like gift cards, food, books, or days off.

This seems like a really nice incentive and way to get a remote team to interact with each other more. I could see how this could get a little competitive, because there are leaderboards within an organization using the service, but overall it seems like a positive add-on.

We only have one planet, so we must use our resources wisely.

Vertus is a climate tech startup that is finding new ways to create green fuel from waste . They currently have two technologies they are using to accomplish this-- Brio and Boda.

Brio is a small unit that lives inside of anaerobic digestion lifeforms. It helps increase the amount of waste these organisms can digest, while also increasing the amount of energy they produce. Brio increases the waste and energy productions by about three times the normal rate.

Boda is a technology that eats CO2 and H2 to produce renewable natural gas. The technology works to convert gas from anaerobic digestion into bio-methane.

Both of these technologies are great for the environment and necessary as we continue to find solutions for climate change.

When you first meet someone new, you only have a few seconds before they start to form opinions on you. This also applies to the endeavors you explore on the web.

There are many people who are in the video industry or want to be, and YouTube is a popular outlet for this medium. Intro Maker helps people create custom intro and outro clips for their YouTube videos. It's not limited to YouTube-- the intros you make on Intro Maker can be used on video and any platform available that hosts videos.

Users can select a template from the dozens that are available. From there, they can customize the template to match the needs of their video or channel/page.

Like 55 Knots, Intro Maker is using a subscription model for their business. I've noticed that this model is really popular for creative companies and is pretty well-received by younger generations. Intro Maker originally operated on a price-per-video style, but are hoping to find more financial success in the subscription model.

In 2020, Intro Maker created over 750,000 videos (that's a lot). I'm sure that they've seen similar success in 2021, and are hoping to start showing profitable ads on shorter videos.

Let's be real, not everyone can be a creative. That's why we turn to the people who are when something artsy is needed.

55 Knots is a graphic design startup that has been taking off. Based in Australia, 55 Knots is a company that provides graphic design projects for companies, and offers various levels of pricing and assistance based on what the customer needs.

The agency has a subscription model, which was adapted as a way to keep small businesses as customers and not have to rely on big businesses coming for one project at a time. This route seems to have been successful, and the agency had 200 subscribers at the start of 2021.

The interface of their website is well-laid out. Visitors can pretty easily find the information that they need. My one qualm is that I do not like the color scheme they've decided to use. The contrast between black and neon pink and neon green screens early 2005 blacklight emo. It also hurts my eyes. That's not very important, but it is something that has stood out to me.

Congruent with most people, I really like to travel. Seeing new places and having unique experiences is one thing I get so excited to do, which is why this startup in particular is really cool to me.

HelpStay is an online community that connects travelers with locals to create a symbiotic relationship. If a traveler needs a place to stay or is looking for a tour guide, they can check out HelpStay's community to see if there are any services they can provide in exchange for what they need. For example, an older woman in Latvia has decided to be a host on HelpStay and needs help painting her dining room. Two travelers are looking for a place to stay while visiting Latvia, so they decided to help the elderly woman with painting her dining room so that they can be guests in her house during their trip.

This is a really innovative creation, and utilizes an online community to connect people with others who can help them out.

Since starting in 2014, HelpStay has been relatively successful. Thousands of helpers have been matched with hosts in over a hundred countries around the world.

If the pandemic has forced you to work from home and you find yourself struggling without person-to-person connection, then this might be for you.

Founders Cafe, created by Maddie Wang (a former Stanford student), is an online co-working space. You must apply to join the space, and once you've been accepted to the cohort then you are able to access the benefits of the space.

Cohort members have 24/7, worldwide access to the space. There is also live video and chat boxes available for people to interact and collaborate.

Wang designed this space with startups in mind. She is aware of how difficult running a startup can be, and how beneficial it is to have other people to bounce ideas off of.

This isn't Wang's first startup. It would be interesting to see maybe a non-pay model in the future, perhaps with limited utilities available or a time limit for how long someone can use the cafe.

Normally, I focus on tech startups for this blog, but this is just too fun not to share.

Off Limits is a startup out of New York, New York by Emily Elyse Miller, determined to change the status quo around breakfast cereal.

Miller grew up in a household that explored many different health foods, which meant she rarely was able to eat the "fun" cereal-- the cereals full of sugar and artificial colors and a toy in the box. Given that, Miller wanted to create a cereal that could be fun and healthy. In comes Off Limits.

The cereal is plant-based, crossing off the healthy mark. But to go the extra step, the cereal features fun flavors, colors, and bright, colorful boxes. The brand has also launched their own "cereal glitter" for customers to pour on their Off Limits cereal (and if the glitter turns your milk blue then you'l have good luck, according to the brand).

I'm someone who loves social media, so it's pleasing to see that Off Limits has a good social media presence. It's also great for branding and targeting young adults who would be interested in health food cereal. Their TikTok page is entertaining. I particularly like how they keep putting boxes of cereal on store shelves, and the times when they have tried to buy the cereal at stores where it's not actually sold.

Is this another post about NFTs? Yeah, yeah it is.

The Pixel Cosmos describes itself as a 'metaverse waiting to be filled with two-dimensional worlds.' Users can design their own pixel planets within the Pixel Cosmos in-house canvas, and then sell their work as an NFT.

The cosmo art goes a step further when users join the Pixel Cosmos Discord chat. Then, users can submit their planets to be voted on by members of The Federation. It is unclear who exactly composes The Federation. Once someone's planet is chosen it is added to the marketplace for collectors to purchase as an NFT. The Pixel Cosmos also promotes the planets on social media.

Productivity seems to be a challenge for many people. I can't even argue, because I struggle all the time with staying on task. I'm forever envious of the people who have no trouble focusing or completing tasks in a timely manner.

Beeminder can be the solution some are looking for. It's an app that helps you track your goals and tasks. But if you don't reach your goals? Then Beeminder charges your credit card. For real. The program is equipped with graphs to track your progress. There is a red dashed line to measure how well you're staying on track. If you're not reaching your goals and go above the red line, then Beeminder makes you pay up. If you keep up with your goals and stay below the red line, then Beeminder doesn't take any of your money. They're really going for an approach that forces productivity by putting something important at risk. The amount Beeminder charges starts at $5 and goes up to $2430. Can you imagine having over two thousand dollars at stake in order to stay productive? It might work for some.

Video games are fun, let's be real. They're nothing new, but the idea of online gaming and e-sports has definitely been on the rise in the last few years. Popularity for e-sports has manifested in Twitch streamers making careers by playing games online and in universities hosting e-sports teams and tournaments. It's a kind of fun that many people seem to be getting on board with.

Rally Cry is a video game startup that makes games specifically to be played in a workplace setting. The idea is that this loose environment will help employees connect with upper management and their coworkers. There are currently two products being offered by the company-- Air Force Gaming and Company Clash. Air Force Gaming is the official gaming program for the United States Air and Space Force. The products provide a platform for professionals to play against each other in different style video games. Rally Cry also has Discord channels for users of the products.

Local news is revolutionary. It's practically kept the newspaper industry alive. But what if a robot was reporting the news?

Contentyze does exactly that. Using data from spreadsheets, this application can fill in templates to create your next story. This tool was designed to help with producing localized stories for several different markets. It's useful for reporting election results, stock market shifts, or sports updates. Users of Contentyze can create thousands of stories at once just by having an AI plug in their spreadsheet data to a story template. This entire process is being coined as AI journalism.

I could see this tool being incredibly useful on election nights, when stories need to be updated quickly with new data as it comes into the newsroom. It could also be helpful for keeping tedious stories up-to-date, like what's going on with the stock market. I could also see this tool being a threat to some newsroom jobs. We've already seen a sharp decrease in the number of staff members at any given newsroom, especially with the rise of multi-skilled/multimedia journalists (not to mention the expectation for a journalist to be able to 'to it all'). With a robot available to write and keep stories up-to-date, there could be further staff cuts.

Halloween is right around the corner, and everyone is gearing up for the spooky season in various ways. Your neighbors may have decorated the yard, you may have already taken a trip (or two or three) to your local Spirit Halloween pop-up. But some people? They're carving pumpkins on the blockchain.

Crypto Pumpkins is an NFT that allows for people to buy carved pumpkins on the blockchain. The pumpkins are bought and sold exclusively using cryptocurrency. I'm not sure if there is much more to it than that. Buyers can choose to have their pumpkin carved with one of the 5, 923 designs made (each one unique) or they can choose to design their own carving. By the end of September 2021, 18 Crypto Pumpkins had been sold.

It seems like an entertaining idea. I don't fully understand the blockchain or NFTs, so I don't think that this is something I'd be particularly interested in spending money on. I imagine as the blockchain moves into the mainstream and is less of a 'Silicon Valley tech bro' conversation, then this might do well. People love halloween and they love to decorate their spaces with cute things. As we become more of a technology-centered world, it's only natural that people will want to shift their decorating to the digital spaces they are most often in.

It's been established that social media is on the way out. But what's next?

Kids are already deciding on what's to come in the world of tech and media. They're interacting with it daily. They're playing games, making friends, buying merchandise, and creating experiences. Children are already exploring the metaverse.

The metaverse is a digital, usually online, space that allows for usesrs to combine experiences in one immersive environment. How are kids already ingrained in something so new and hard to grasp? Easy, they're all playing Roblox.

Roblox is a great example of the metaverse and its function. Users can play games, interact with each other, build, shop, explore, and so much more. Recently, concerts, with real musicians, have been held in Roblox.

There are eight key components of the metaverse- identity, friends, immersiveness, anywhere, variety, low-friction, economy, trust and civility. These elements, combined with a digital presence, help to structure the metaverse.