Dare to Innovate

I produce and fund world-changing science and technology ventures that few would dare to even dream, let alone actually build.

  • We Build Dreams

    We Build Dreams

  • The Arch Mission Foundation is Backing Up Humanity in Space

    The Arch Mission Foundation is Backing Up Humanity in Space

Venture Studio

Venture Studio

A Los Angeles Science and Technology Venture Studio
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Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality

Stealth Mode Augmented Reality App. Coming Soon!
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Chemistry and Medicine

Chemistry and Medicine

A major breakthrough in chemistry, starting with the diagnosis of diseases.
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Internet-of-Things

Internet-of-Things

Linking physical objects to the blockchain
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What Did Blade Runner Get Wrong?

I’m quoted in this article in TheStreet.com on what predictions Blade Runner got wrong.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14331182/2/blade-runner-future-technology.html

In the place of artificial intelligence, we have what Spivack calls “artificial stupidity,” which makes robots do the “stupid things” humans don’t want to do, such as vacuuming your house.

Read More “What Did Blade Runner Get Wrong?”

Magical, My New Startup Studio in LA, Comes Out of Stealth

 

 

 

 

Today we began to reveal a little more of what we’ve been working on in stealth mode, since last December. It’s a new science and technology startup studio, based in Los Angeles, called Magical.

You might think of Magical as a moonshot factory, except that we’re not just aiming for the moon.… Read More “Magical, My New Startup Studio in LA, Comes Out of Stealth”

Our Bots, Ourselves

I was quoted several times in this article on the future of bots and intelligent assistants, in The Atlantic.

Idea: Could a “Basic Cable” Model Solve the Newspaper Industry’s Woes?

Since the advent of the Web, the newspaper industry has struggled with declining subscribers and plummeting revenue.

The failure of the mainstream media, and growing threats from fake news and partisan news outlets, is not only a risk to the newspaper industry (whether paper or completely digital), but is also a threat to the checks and balances that make Democracy work.… Read More “Idea: Could a “Basic Cable” Model Solve the Newspaper Industry’s Woes?”

Announcing the Arch Mission Foundation – Spreading Humanity’s Knowledge in Space

Today we are officially announcing the Arch Mission — a non-profit foundation dedicated to spreading humanity’s knowledge across the distant reaches of space and time. I first wrote about this concept in 2015. We have been working in stealth since then and now I am proud to announce the project has reached a major milestone.

Nerve Center 3.0 Announcement in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal covered the announcement of Bottlenose’s Nerve Center 3.0 platform today. They did a nice job capturing the big idea here.

http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2016/09/13/bottlenose-founder-wants-to-automate-the-work-of-data-scientists/?mod=WSJBlog

AI, BI, and the Necessity of Automating the Analyst

It’s Time to Automate the Analyst

I have been speaking about the need for “automating the analyst” for several years. This need is prompted not only by the data deluge — the Cambrian explosion of data volume, velocity, and variety of data sources — but also by the simple reality that enterprises cannot hire the number of data scientists they need to adapt to this new environment.… Read More “AI, BI, and the Necessity of Automating the Analyst”

Bottlenose Named Gartner Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing

I’m thrilled to say that my company, Bottlenose, has been selected by Gartner Group as a 2016 Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing.

I’m very proud of the team and what we built here. Truly the next-generation of business intelligence, powered by AI and streaming analytics.… Read More “Bottlenose Named Gartner Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing”

My Podcast Interview on Venture Production

I had a fun chat with Nathan Latka on his podcast, about my Venture Studio process and some of the deals I’ve produced.

How Twitter Could be 10X Bigger, 100X More Profitable, and 1000X More Awesome

Read my new article about how to evolve Twitter, on VentureBeat

 

I’ve spent many years studying, writing about, building, and funding companies (such as Bottlenose, Klout, and The Daily Dot) in Twitter’s ecosystem.

Despite the media chatter, I am still bullish on Twitter – as should be any investor who understands the social network’s fundamentals and true potential.

Read More “How Twitter Could be 10X Bigger, 100X More Profitable, and 1000X More Awesome”

My Forbes Interview – People May be Brands, but Brands are Not People

I was recently interviewed by Blake Morgan at Forbes, on the subject of “Building Influence in the Digital Age” — listen to the interview here:

Peter Drucker’s grandson Nova Spivack, CEO of Bottlenose, says that Drucker would have felt today that real influencers are not spending a lot of time on social media.

Read More “My Forbes Interview – People May be Brands, but Brands are Not People”

The Rise of the Chief Analytics Officer

My new article on the growing role of the Chief Analytics Officer has gone live on GigaOm. Read it here.

Futurist Ranking Algorithm Ranks me #20

Interesting ranking of futurists by analyzing their social and Web influence. I rank in the top 20. Of course, I couldn’t have predicted that.

How to Solve Twitter’s Engagement Problem: Add Semantics

The fundamental problem that Twitter has is engagement. If engagement can be corrected, the whole Twitter ecosystem (and their stock price) will improve.

Improving Twitter engagement comes down to fixing the core consumption experience.

First of all what’s wrong with the consumption experience?… Read More “How to Solve Twitter’s Engagement Problem: Add Semantics”

Let’s Put the Wikipedia in Space: The Arch Project

UPDATE: The Arch Mission Foundation was officially launched on October 24, 2016

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In this article, I propose an achievable project to seed the solar system and eventually the universe with digital copies of humanity’s most important knowledge — stored in digital archives that I call “Archs.”… Read More “Let’s Put the Wikipedia in Space: The Arch Project”

How Bottlenose Analyzes 72 Billion Messages a Day to Find Trends

I recently gave a Webinar with my co-founder, Dominiek ter Heide, of Bottlenose on our real-time big data analytics architecture for measuring trends in stream data. You can watch it here.

Twitter’s Future is Actually Its Past – Where Twitter Went Wrong and How to Right It

With the resignation of Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, there has been a sudden burst in commentary on what is wrong with Twitter, and where they should focus next.

There are suggestions that Twitter should focus on live real-time events. There are suggestions that Twitter should focus on algorithms to filter content so they are more like Facebook.… Read More “Twitter’s Future is Actually Its Past – Where Twitter Went Wrong and How to Right It”

Why Twitter’s Engagement Has Fallen

I have been thinking about Twitter for many years. One of the interesting trends that many of us who share an interest in social networks have been tracking is the decline in engagement on Twitter.

Indeed this decline is not only evident from Twitter’s own metrics and reporting, but also to anyone who has been an active user of Twitter since the early days of the service.

Venturebeat Article on the Venture Production Studio Model

Interesting article in Venturebeat about the emerging Venture Production Studio model, which I wrote about in 2011 here on this blog.

Bottlenose Ranked as #13 in Top Startups in LA Listing

I’m very pleased to see Bottlenose getting ranked at #13 in the Top 100 Startups in LA listing this year. We’re making progress!

2014: A Turning Point for the Semantic Web

Read my article in Semanticweb.com about the significance of 2014 in Semantic Web history.

 

Google is moving away from hand-made ontologies — they were never a fan of them. From the early days, Google’s philosophy has been biased towards big data over manually constructed knowledge.

Read More “2014: A Turning Point for the Semantic Web”

I Have Joined the I-COM Data Creativity Awards Board

I am pleased to announce that I have been added to the Board for the Data Creativity Awards, by I-COM, The Global Forum for Marketing Data and Measurement. Details here.

It’s Time for an Open Standard for Cards

Cards are fast becoming the hot new design paradigm for mobile apps, but their importance goes far beyond mobile. Cards are modular, bite-sized content containers designed for easy consumption and interaction on small screens, but they are also a new metaphor for user-interaction that is spreading across all manner of other apps and content.… Read More “It’s Time for an Open Standard for Cards”

The Next Step for Intelligent Virtual Assistants

When we talk about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), the discussion often focuses on the advancements and capabilities of the technology, or even the risks and opportunities inherent in the potential cultural implications. What we frequently overlook, however, is the future of AI as a business.… Read More “The Next Step for Intelligent Virtual Assistants”

Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 Released – Milestone for Real-Time Big Data Analytics

I’m happy to announce the release of Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 today. Analyzing 3 billion messages an hour (72 billion messages a day), and doing real-time predictive analytics on nearly 300 million data points an hour, it’s a big step in real-time big data analytics. … Read More “Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 Released – Milestone for Real-Time Big Data Analytics”

My Thoughts on the Future of Artificial Intelligence (Live Panel Discussion)

I had the honor of participating in a panel on the future of AI with a group of industry luminaries, led by Kevin Kelly of WIRED Magazine.

Watch the discussion here.

Bottlenose Announces Live Trend Intelligence for TV, Radio and Social

My venture, Bottlenose, has a big announcement today. We’re unveiling the first live trend intelligence system to provide analytics against real-time broadcast TV and radio (and social media).  You can read more in the TechCrunch article here.

How Bitcoins Could Restructure the World

Read my article in VentureBeat about how Bitcoins may restructure our civilization, and the need for advocacy to support this transition, if it is going to happen. Here’s an excerpt:

Bitcoin is a trend with all the ingredients necessary for changing the world.

Read More “How Bitcoins Could Restructure the World”

Why Cognition-as-a-Service (CaaS) is the Next Operating System Battlefield

Read my article in Gigaom on the coming cognition-as-a-service wars. The next thing after the Semantic Web.

Did Apple Buy Topsy for Contextual Awareness?

The stunning news that Apple bought social search engine, Topsy, for more than $200M has many scratching their heads. Why would Apple want social data, and why would they pay so much for it?

There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this acquisition — ranging from making Siri better, to making the App Store smarter, to acquiring big data expertise to develop insights on the Apple firehose.… Read More “Did Apple Buy Topsy for Contextual Awareness?”