Category Archives: Technology & Innovation

For all my techie friends — in the Einstein Alley groups, NJEN, the Keller Center, and the E-Quad — event notices, items from U.S. 1 Newspaper and the NYT

Largesse for math and science

Around Town, Business, Technology & Innovation, ,

I can’t help noticing, in the half page ad in today’s New York Times, that three ot the 16 winners of Simons Foundation prizes are from Central jersey. Names below. And then when I look up “Who is Mr. Simon” I discover that James Simon worked at the Institute of Defense Analyses (the one in Princeton) before he left academe to found his now $23 billion hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies.

He’s using his wealth, at least some of it, “to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.” His money is also behind Math for America and he was one of the first billionaires to sign the Giving Pledge.

News of the 2014 Simons Investigators doesn’t even seem to be up on the web yet, but here is a link to last year’s prizes in math and physical sciences. This year’s winners include Rachel Somerville of Rutgers (theoretical astrophysics), Anatoly Spitkovsky of Princeton (high energy astrophysics), and Moses Charikar of Princeton (computer science, approximation algorithms). Their prize gives them, in effect, an extra sabbatical “to work on long term projects of fundamental importance.”

Congratulations all round. And can anyone tell me whether the Simons family did indeed live in Princeton, when he worked at IDA? I thought of asking Lee Neuwirth, who was in charge of the IDA during those years.

Then I found this link to some fast facts about James Simons and learn he is #93 on the Forbes richest list with $12.5 billion. And here is the New York Times source, July 8, 2014.

The article leans heavily on the revelation that Simons, now 75, failed as a programmer, so he wants young people to know, “If I can do it, so can you.”

Hospitals assume that patients will follow directions when they leave the hospital. VOX Telehealth assumes most will not.

Here is my story about VOX Telehealth, part of the cover story in the June 25 health and fitness issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper.

It’s good news for those advocating e-Patient rights.

keller photo

From little acorns: Teams of Princeton University students are working at the Keller Center this summer to churn out tech startups. On Monday, August 11, they showcase them in an always popular event. For information on how to register, click here.

One such startup — not from a student, but from a professor, was Universal Display. Former Princeton professor Steve Forrest had some bright ideas about bright displays using OLED (Organic Light Emitting Display) technology, and his three-person startup is now 100 plus. His sidekick, CTO Julie Brown, speaks at the Princeton Regional Chamber just as these students finish their project. Her talk: Thursday, August 7, at the Forrestal Marriott.

I’ve registered for both events.

Robert Taub, a pianist, used to be artist in residence (1994-2001) at the Institute for Advanced Study. Now, as told in U.S. 1, he is helping to launch Hook’d, a music app that aims to be the musical equivalent of the photo sharing app Instagram. This new company, MuseAmi, is at 20 Nassau Street.

Taub decries “private music,” listening to tunes on your headphones. “What Hook’d does is make you sound good with pitch correction, reverb, and echo, and allow you to interact with a song that you know and love in less than 30 seconds,” he says.

The current artist in residence is Sebastian Currier.

My neighbor, Shane Farrell, emailed me about events showcasing Andrew Zwicker, running for Rush Holt’s Congressional seat. Fortunately, today’s issue of U.S. 1 tells me what I need to know about him. Click here.

Tonight, Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. he will be at Princeton University’s Whig Hall Senate Chamber speaking with the Princeton College Democrats and the American Whig-Cliosophic Society of Princeton.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 1, 7 p.m. he will be one of the candidates at ACLU primary debate at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. Registration is encouraged: Click here.

Other events are mentioned in the U.S. 1 story.

Zwicker’s opponents include two formidable women: Linda Greenstein and Bonnie Watson Coleman. But — like Holt, he is a product of Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. He is indeed a rocket scientist.

Surging Seas: Predictions for the Jersey Shore

Surging Seas, a new website, lets you forecast how rising tides will affect your waterfront property on the Jersey shore.

An article in USA Today, just in time for Earth Day, tells about this database compiled by the not-for-profit Climate Central, based at Palmer Square.

Ed Felten in the news

Open SSL is like a public infrastructure without a tax base, said Ed Felten in an interview on NPR re Internet security and Heartbleed. Felten was the Princeton Regional Chamber’s luncheon speaker in March.

Fathers of the Internet: March 12

Fathers of the Internet: March 12

Vincent Cerf and Robert Kahn speak at Princeton University on Wednesday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m. in the Friend Center. It’s free. Seating is first come.

Cerf’s most recent notable quote: Privacy may be an anomaly.

Felten: Dollars, Euros — and Bitcoin

Around Town, Business, Technology & Innovation, ,

feltenThere are 12.4 million Bitcoins in existence — but …

the Federal Reserve doesn’t know much about Bitcoin.

And one of Bitcoin’s major banks just did a face plant.

Yet  Ed Felten, former technology guru for the FTC, now returned to Princeton University to teach, says Bitcoin is one of his top predictions for what will work in the future. He was interviewed about this on C-Span, link here.

Felten speaks at the Princeton Regional Chamber lunch on Thursday, March 6, at 11:30 a.m. His topic: “Dollars, Euros — and Bitcoins: the Future of Digital Currency.”

Take the Nobel Prize, add the Oscars, and you have the Breakthrough Prize, screened on  Science Channel
as I write. Billionaires who made their money on the Net pay homage, Hollywood style, to scientists who get $3 million. What is the Princeton connection? Louis Botstein got one last year, the first year.

Of course he did leave The Sigler Genomic Institute for California later that year, but Princeton University got the credit for the prize at the time. Who will be the next laureate from here?

As the daughter of a scientist it is so exciting for me to watch them lauded as not just celebrities but glamorous celebrities. And heroes. Stockholm, eat your heart out.

Zuckerberg just announced that next year there will be a Breakthrough Prize in mathematics. Wow.