3D Printed Planes, Shoes, & Everything Else

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3D printing has been a growing trend in New York over the past five years. MakerBot, Shapeways, and BigRep are all based here. The technology has mostly been used for customized low-batch jobs, until now. Just this week, two new partnerships were announced suggesting 3D printing could disrupt traditional mass production and usher in the new era of “Mass Customization.“Boeing has hired… Continue reading 3D Printed Planes, Shoes, & Everything Else

“Reporting in America is strong right now”

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We started our Future-C conference this week with a warmup discussion at the Ford Foundation in midtown Manhattan. Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, and journalist Jeff Howe, presented their book Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future. As the director of the MIT Media Lab and a director on the board of the… Continue reading “Reporting in America is strong right now”

Facebook Launches TV App

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Facebook this week announced the launch of their new TV app which will let Facebook users watch videos from their friends and their “liked” pages on TV, as well as watching the top live videos. Facebook also said that it will recommend videos based on ones users have already watched. The app will be available on Apple TVs,… Continue reading Facebook Launches TV App

The Future of Media

Recently, Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar (“the CNBC for millennials”), and Adam Singolda, founder and CEO of Taboola (a content discovery platform that will achieve $500M+ revenue in 2016), met to discuss the future of media. The conversation, held at Knotel in downtown Manhattan, was wide-ranging. The two men discussed content in an… Continue reading The Future of Media

Brooks Brothers Swap Clothes for Coffee

Brooks Brothers is sacrificing expensive retail square footage at one of it’s stores to incorporate a new cafe concept. The shop, at 901 Broadway in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, is dedicated to the Red Fleece line designed “with the young entrepreneur in mind.”Brooks Brothers, America’s longest established retailer is the latest among several NYC brands who… Continue reading Brooks Brothers Swap Clothes for Coffee

Amazon Grows its Physical Presence

Earlier in 2016, Amazon opened it’s first ever physical bookstore in Seattle, a surprising move given the demise of renowned bookstore chain Borders once Amazon disrupted the space with it’s online alternative.Amazon have successfully followed up their bookstore with 21 pop-up stores to sell some Amazon hardware in shopping malls such as Kindle readers, Fire TV… Continue reading Amazon Grows its Physical Presence

Social Media & Data: The Future of Elections? 

The 2016 U.S. elections are finally over. Eight years ago President Obama revolutionized campaigning with data tracking and social media. The question for us: what did we learn from the 2016 campaigns regarding trends, tools and tactics that will soon be relevant in elections elsewhere? We looked at the election coverage and traveled to Ohio,… Continue reading Social Media & Data: The Future of Elections? 

TEP 2016 Takeaways

Here is a “balcony view” on the 6 takeaways of this year’s TEP & International Week. We have focused again on concepts, ideas and topics that will be relevant for corporations, cities and policy makers in future while introducing startups to the NYC tech eco-system. The findings are almost universally applicable, so we are suggesting… Continue reading TEP 2016 Takeaways

A Case for Distributing Economic Development

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Prior to each TEP, W2NYC and International Week, we talk to each participating startup and explain the program, but more importantly we ask about their objectives for coming to New York City. Over the last five years two things have significantly changed:  From “great to know” to “must know” In the beginning, companies came without… Continue reading A Case for Distributing Economic Development