Blah blah, great intro about how cool 2014 was for innovation. Let’s get to why you’re here:
- Slack’s team communication in one place, everywhere. Admit it, workplace collaboration, messaging, intranet, project management, etc. sucks. They all do. I haven’t been satisfied with internal communication since I worked at Yahoo, more than a dozen years ago when everyone, EVERYONE used Yahoo Instant Messenger; and I only loved it then because everyone used it, so it mattered. Slack looks to have the potential to be the next Yahoo IM (though I’m sure they hate me for characterizing it as such).
- Flatiron Health’s Oncology Platform. Cancer sucks. I know, I’ve had it. You know why it sucks? Healthcare is ignorant; it’s a bunch of really smart people that are ignorant. Why? Government gets in the way, and I’m not complaining about Obamacare. Everyone is so concerned about privacy and data that they don’t share any of it. How do we fix healthcare? All of healthcare, not just curing cancer but fixing insurance, making better medicines more readily available, lowering costs, reducing mistakes, etc. Through data. Aggregation of, access to, and transparency of data. You know why I got cancer? Because all the doctors I saw over the years never put all the pieces together from one seemingly unrelated issue to the next, correlating that something was wrong.
- DWNLD’s mobile app in minutes. You know what really caused the internet to explode? Commoditization of internet technology enabling anyone, everyone to create a website. That was largely done by the Content Management System which enabled anyone to build a site without coding; and WordPress, which gave developers a framework in which to make it possible for CMS’s to create any kind of site you can imagine. Enablement. Now, everyone’s mobile. Not just the everyone who was online, mobile devices have made it possible for people that don’t have access to the internet to be online. So we’re increasingly talking about EVERYONE and today, we’re still in the early days of the web: requiring developers to build a mobile app. DWNLD is the WordPress of mobile apps (though it’s not open source so we’ll have to see how effectively it transforms the way we build).
Two more in the runner up class- BRCK’s rugged, portable WiFi hotspot. Even though I just pointed out that mobile devices bring the web to everyone, that doesn’t mean they don’t/won’t benefit from internet. Google’s aspirations for Internet access over Africa by way of balloons was fantastical. BRCK is reality.
- uBeam’s ability to convert electricity into soundwaves. What’s neat about those charging pads on which you can just throw your phone and charge instead of plugging it in? You don’t have to spend $50 on a cord. Kidding. Sort of. Neat but you still have to buy the $200 setup while the car charger, battery backup, setup for your office, and adapter for travel still matter. Why can’t your phone just charge in your pocket? Soon it will.
I also REALLY want Alfred to work
