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Silicon Florist links arrangement for August 30, 2016

Rick Turoczy on August 30, 2016

Here’s another collection of (what I found to be) interesting links. Among them, Skyward, PolySync, the cofounder myth, the next great platform, Chirpify, Nike, SETI, Grimm, and more than a Eugene teen wanted in a senior photo.

Skyward: We Partnered with PrecisionHawk to Provide a Full-Service Drone Platform

Here at Skyward, we spend a lot of time talking shop with commercial drone operators all over the world. What problems are they solving? What challenges do they have? We consistently hear that managing multiple disconnected apps and technologies requires a significant amount of time, especially for those businesses that are beginning to scale up.

Modeling the Contemporary Social Internet

There’s something about the last several years, nevermind the last several days, that have left me with the distinct sense that something qualitatively changed in terms of how individuals interact online. Declarations of 2014 as the year of Internet Outrage, a read-through of Jon Ronson’s “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”, and numerous examples lost in a streaming set of media delivered over the past few years makes it feel like perhaps, far from people changing, the conditions underlying interactions between people have changed such that we are in a new Internet era in terms of socializing online.

3 West Coast driverless-vehicle startups move into U-M incubator (including Portland’s PolySync)

“TechLab at Mcity represents a learning opportunity for engineering students that is uniquely available at U-M thanks to the commitment of faculty and the unparalleled resources of Mcity,” said Thomas Frank, executive director of U-M’s Center for Entrepreneurship. “We are expanding this program because the demand from both emerging companies and students interested in participating is extremely high. We believe in the model of applied learning as a key driver for innovation.”

Breaking a myth: Data shows you don’t actually need a co-founder

We are often told that starting a startup on your own is madness. There are thousands of articles out there that tell you that, as well as why you need a co-founder. Probably solid advice, but data from thousands of startups in CrunchBase shows a different side of the story. More than half of startups with an exit did so with just a single founder. The average is 1.72 founders.

The Next Great Platform is the One That We Already Have

So everybody is sitting around talking about what the next great platform might be. Is it augmented reality? Virtual reality? Drones? Robots? Artificial intelligence?

Here’s my take: All of this “it’s over” talk has happened before, and all this will happen again. Looking back to 2002–2004, we all felt that the consumer Internet was played out.

Togo’s Rewards Tribe Members On Social Media With Chirpify And Paytronix

With the Paytronix reward program solution, Togo’s engages with its Tribe members in their channel of choice, whether that be mobile, in-store, or online. Members can, for example, sign up online as Tribe members and redeem accumulated points when in store via their mobile device. And, with Chirpify, Tribe members can earn a multitude of rewards — from exclusive specials, to surprise offers, and points — for their social media engagement which is tied to a member account linked to a Paytronix wallet.

Nike OSS

Keep track of Nike’s Open Source Software efforts by following this Github repo.

Tweets of interest

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A Eugene teen gets a little more than she expected in her senior photos.