Against a backdrop of a pandemic that has shredded supply chains and gym memberships alike, it was mildly surreal to see professional-grade gym machine company SportsArt launch a rowing machine that can pump energy back into the grid. Like a wind turbine or a solar panel, except powered by pecs, deltoids and trapeziuses. The rower […]
Be aware: Your company is watching you
Call it the public service announcement to start off your year: If you’re working at a startup where IT is a little fuzzy, policies are evolving as the company is being built and the organization is evolving quickly, you’re at higher risk than usual that your employers are willing to move fast, do things and […]
How sweet is your blood? Scanbo gives an answer without poking holes in you
If you have diabetes, or ever suspected that you might, you will have done the poke-your-finger-and-drop-blood-on-a-stick thing until your finger goes numb. Finger-prick blood glucose monitoring is the de facto standard, but AI company Scanbo wants to put an end to all that, replacing the droplet with some off-the-shelf diagnostic tools and a big helping […]
Mosqitter’s machine murders mosquitos with much mirth
After ridiculing one mosquito-fighting product, I figured it’d be only right to highlight another piece of buzz-reducing tech that was showing off its products at CES this year. Mosqitter is an industrial-scale mosquito murdering machine that attracts female mosquitos before they get a chance to lay eggs. From there, it’s a short zap away from […]
Morphée triples down on your relaxation with the Zen
As a journalist and investor, I’m always a little suspicious of single-product, super-niche companies; there are just so many things that can go wrong, and one of the ways that direct-to-consumer brands do well is having the ability to cross-sell to its customers. Morphée was one of those brands, starting with its frankly ludicrously over-designed […]
The Ubiquitous platform brings all the influencers to the yard
With traction metrics that would make any startup CFO foam at the mouth, TikTok influencer marketing platform Ubiquitous is making a big splash in the chaotic market of influencer marketing. It’s one of the fastest-growing segments of advertising and marketing, but one that brings some unique challenges; working with influencers directly is labor-intensive, but results […]
Runwise saves money and the planet by educating dumb buildings
In the U.S., around 13% of greenhouse gases are spewed out of commercial and residential buildings. You’d be forgiven for scratching your head and asking why. If you tour a typical New York building, you’ll often find that the tech that runs deep in the underbellies of the brick-clad behemoths looks like the 1960s and […]
1,000 companies per Y Combinator batch? RIP Y Combinator
Don’t worry, Y Combinator fans, you’ll be able to write off this entire opinion piece as the disgruntled musings of “a failed startup founder who was never able to get into Y Combinator,” because seen through one lens, that’s exactly what I am. But, damn it, for a while there, being a Y Combinator company […]
Judging by the future, not the past, Stride takes steps to turn student finance upside down
If you’re trying to get a mortgage or an auto loan, banks will put on their judging glasses and look into your past. Makes sense; it’s a reasonably reliable indicator as to whether you’ll be able to repay your loans or not. Student financing is a little different. Sure, your past plays a role, but […]
When grandma falls, SafelyYou is there to catch her (on video)
The life of a tech journalist can be soul-sapping. I talk to so many founders — capable, smart, well-connected, experienced founders — who are working on problems that genuinely just don’t matter. They might have successfully raised money. Perhaps they even rounded up a team of smart people like them. They are solving problems that […]