Los habitantes de esta zona de Estados Unidos respiran tecnología por los poros y eso hace que, sin darnos cuenta, incorporemos una jerga muy particular a nuestro vocabulario.

Me ha llegado este vídeo divertido que refleja esta realidad y he pensado en compartirlo con vosotros.

I know it might sound futuristic but they’re building a personal, mobile, auto-diagnostics product-they refer to it as a Medical Tricorder. I believe that their video (co-produced by IDEO) captures very well their vision and spirit.

All the best guys!

Speakers came from very different backgrounds and industries but there was a common denominator: technology is going to become more human-centered, enhancing new user experiences, better communications and healthier life-styles.

These are some of my notes:

Humanization

“Both [Twitter and Square] are great at encouraging more face-to-face human interactions… I believe strongly that this information and these tools help us be better, but we need to be sure as builders of tools that it’s not overwhelming, that it’s meaningful, and that it’s not distracting. That it’s not something that puts technology first; it puts humans first. And the humans’ use of the technology first.” (Jack Dorsey)

Personalization

Ian Blaine, CEO of The Platform, said that content can’t be pushed homogeneously to everybody. The access to the cloud has to be personalized, adapted to everyone’s preferences. This is what they’re doing at Xfinity, creating a customized way to watch media content and movies, making it more personalized, social and more user-friendly.”There will also be a bunch of extra meta-data around the program, making it possible for end users to find new content by actor or even through personal recommendations. Another neat feature: TV viewers will have a history of the nine most recent items viewed across VOD, live TV and online content.”

Connectedness

Mobile internet is connecting us all, bringing up great capabilities and opportunities in various industries: health, communications, sports… It might sound a bit futuristic, but Jawbone Founder and CEO Hosain Rahman says we’re headed to an era where our bodies can be connected to everything in the world, including our remote doctor, coach or heating system. I’m still impressed by the new wristband that his company has recently launched: UP. This system (wristband+ iPhone app) tracks your daily and sleeping activity and helps you live a healthier live.

Openness and interoperability

I love the idea to share our failing experiences to prepare for success. Because the entrepreneurial life is made of ups and downs. We need to have both to succeed.

I have the feeling that entrepreneurship is becoming a popular trend nowadays (especially in Spain). This is great on one hand: we need to change the way traditional companies work. However I believe that most people have a romantic concept of starting a company. It is actually an exciting adventure but it’s not sexy at all. Start-ups take long-hour workdays, economic efforts, tons of creativity, persistence and, of course, failures. So, we all need to embrace failure and, when things are not going as expected, find the way to pivot, reformulate the value proposition or restructure the team without being discouraged.

In this sense, I’d like to share the wise words of Vinod Khosla at FailCon 2011:

We better stop being afraid of failure and get used to talk about it with the pride that we talk about our successes!

Last week was one of those in which I felt very grateful for the opportunities that life is offering me in this part of the world.

First, on Wednesday I had the chance to meet with Yves Béhar, the founder of Fuse Project. His design studio has become a reference in the human-centered design space. As Tom Kelley said: Through his San Francisco-based design and branding company fuseproject, the Swiss-born Behar has shown that a futuristic, hi-tech approach to design can be deeply humane.

I had seen his TED talk on designing objects that tell stories, I admire his work and was very excited to meet him in person. We met in his San Francisco office in SOMA, a reformed industrial building that gathers engineers, designers and strategists. I loved the atmosphere and the lighting system that is a collection of lamps designed and built by the first employees.

We had a very pleasant discussion about Innovalley, innovative startups and the future of wearable technologies. I had the impression he’s one of those visionaries who like staying down to earth. He’s a tech savvy and knows what he talks about. He gave me valuable feedback. I realized he enjoyed working with startups. In fact, Fuse Project has a disruptive programme -The Design Venture – that connects them with startups and creates profitable joint ventures.

On the other hand, I hade the pleasure to met Mark Dwight, the founder and CEO of Rickshaw bags, which is an outstanding bag company. Its brand is strongly related to the city of San Francisco. Sustainability, design and innovation are Rickshaw’s values.  I had the privilege to visit their facilities, an old warehouse in the vibrant Dogpatch District where they create, test and produce their bags.

Mark is a seasoned entrepreneur. He was previously the CEO of Timbuk2, where he led that company’s successful turnaround. The San Francisco bag company was acquired in 2005 by a San Francisco private equity fund. He left after the acquisition and, following his passion, decided to create his own bag company.

“I love bags and the business of bags.” says Mark. I could tell because he talks about his innovative fabrics and designs with bright in his eyes.

He’s also very passionate about technology. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford and though making bags doesn’t sound very technological, he’s always curios to try new products. I’m sure we’ll be able to surprise Mark with some of our latest innovations.

It was a great pleasure to meet both of you. Your energy, enthusiasm, focus and hard-work are a reference for young entrepreneurs.

He’s probably the best entrepreneur we’ve ever had. An actual visionary. Not those who just have crazy ideas, but those who implement them. He didn’t only see the future, but made it present.

As a young entrepreneur, there are many things that I’ve learned from him. In fact, he’s been a reference for the whole community.

Thanks for your positivism,

for revolutionizing several industries making technology at the service of people,

for making things differently,

for telling us what focusing means,

for that amazing commencement speech at Stanford that I repeatedly watch when I need inspiration,

for reminding us that life is fragile but it’s worth living it with energy.

I am happy you saw the project you created become the most valuable company of the world. You deserved that moment after a whole live devoted to disruptive innovation.

Thanks Steve!

Su objetivo no es más que el de acompañar a personas, especialmente mujeres, en el proceso de inclusión social. Lo hacen a través del acompañamiento personalizado, de la formación y, sobre todo, del trabajo digno. ARED tiene muy claro que ofrecerles un camino profesional es la mejor forma de reducir la reincidencia penitenciaria. Por eso creó la empresa Salta que ofrece servicios de catering y confección de calidad. Gracias a los contratos laborales que ofrece Salta se consolida el proceso de inserción en la sociedad.

Quiero compartir con vosotros este video que resume muy bien su espíritu.

Y para aquellos que estéis en Barcelona, el próximo 26 de Octubre en la Sala Astoria, tendrá lugar un desfile  con la colección BCN Tardor 2011 confeccionada por las mujeres de ARED.

This was a remarkable weekend. After too much time, I reconciled with the mountains and I met the challenge of climbing the Half Dome. This granite mass of more than 2600 meters is probably one of the most emblematic mountains of California. The truth is that its more than 1400 meters above the valley floor and its steep slopes make this summit impressive.

It was a day of experiences and emotions. In fact, climbing a mountain is like condensing some of the most relevant feelings of a lifetime in only one day.

• You need to have an ambitious goal
• Starting the trail is always exciting though you might be doubtful
• There are moments of weakness
• There are moments of fullfillment
• You experience fear
• You’re not alone
• Sometimes you don’t see it but you know that you’re walking towards the summit
• When you’re on the top, you experience a deep feeling of freedom and happiness

Click to view slideshow.

Thanks Francesc, Montse, Silvia, Guillem, Oriol, Roger and Maria for being such great fellow adventurers!

Filed under: Friends&Family, Learnings, Thoughts Tagged: effort, Half Dome, nature, Yosemite ]]> http://joseluisagell.com/2011/09/19/half-dome-september-2011/feed/ 0 jlagell Panorama 4 http://joseluisagell.com/2011/09/16/innovalley-on-silicon-valley-entrepreneur-tv/ http://joseluisagell.com/2011/09/16/innovalley-on-silicon-valley-entrepreneur-tv/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:55:52 +0000 jlagell http://joseluisagell.com/?p=920 ]]> I felt flattered when I got the invitation from Chris, the SVASE President, to participate in his TV program and talk about our experience with Innovalley

It’s not easy to talk on TV and it’s definitely much harder when you’re not speaking your own language. However, Chris made things very easy and I am very happy for having shared the program with Virginia from Sylvatex, an amazing entrepreneur.