Check out this blog showing five awesome and even slightly practical modes of transportation. Ever wanted a flying car, batmobile, or just to ride more safely on your bike? Now you can!

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Fun, Gadget, Technology

We’ve reached the end of a significant phase with eMainstay, a client with whom Astek has spent the last three years building the My25 web-based meal-planning software to improve health and reduce management costs for communities housing people with developmental disabilities.

In order to broaden the market for the software, which has proven highly successful in numerous USDA-funded studies, eMainstay approached Astek to develop a robust new My25 prototype for the software and online community development. We chose video as the form to convey our vision for the future of our software and a truly innovative approach to household-oriented meal planning.

The videos below say it better than words. Bon Appetit!

My25 Business Overview

My25 Online Toolkit Intro

Extra special thanks to Vin Design, Kathleen Ermitage, and Sedgwick Productions for their multiple contributions to the ongoing success of this project.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Fun, Marketing, Technology, Web

Now THIS is the future I dreamed about when I was a kid. It’s still in development, but we’re seeing functional technology that can direct light in such a way as to offer true invisibility. The stuff of fantasy for years, it’s crazy to think that in my lifetime I could see something like an invisibility cloak become a reality. Surely they’ll also develop the special goggle we’ll all need to make sure no one is hanging out unbeknownst in our living room.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Fun, Gadget, Technology

We’ve certainly never installed a camera this deep!

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Fun, Gadget, Technology, Web

Just read a recent Wired article about Shai Agassi’s start-up devoted to eliminating oil consumption by automobiles across the world. It’s a bit long, but worth a read if you’re feeling as skeptical as I am about the baby-step attitude toward the future of efficient automobiles. Agassi’s new company, Better Place, is the result of thinking VERY big, having the charisma to sell his vision, and generating $200 million in start-up capital to get going, making it the fifth largest start-up ever.

The basic concept is to create an electric car recharging infrastructure that gets power from renewable sources. New electric cars will use special charging stations and battery exchange stations to make it convenient for consumers. Electricity will be priced more like cell phones, with options for unlimited miles, a maximum number of miles each month, or pay as you go. Better Place is making deals with governments and states (Israel, Denmark, and Australia for starters, Hawaii not far behind), automobile and battery manufacturers, dealers, venture capitalists — everyone needed to make this fundamental fueling shift possible.

Agassi’s goal is not to make a company, but rather end oil dependence globally. It’s a lofty goal, to be sure, but this is the most encouraging and empowering plan I’ve read about, and it seems so logical that it has everyone he talks to asking, “Why doesn’t this already exist?” Better Place is equated to being more like AT&T than Nokia, and they’ll make their profit on selling the power. All they need is the infrastructure, and I don’t think it will take the world long to grab hold of this. China is a possible early market, as is San Francisco. If all goes well, the company will change standards for car production and energy consumption worldwide.

His goals of changing the world in as few as 20 years are a bit far-flung, but why not shoot for the moon? In terms of lifestyle changes, I think people will wonder why they can’t just charge their cars in the garage overnight, and it’s a legitimate logistical question. I’m all for his network of green power, but having alternative sources for the energy would make it more acceptable in more places. All the world markets won’t be conquered with one solution, so I’m eager to see how his test runs go.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Gadget, Green, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web

While not the first retail DNA test to hit the market, 23andMe seeks to be the first practically-priced one at $399. The company was started by Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google’s Sergey Brin. Almost half of the $8.9 million in funding was provided by Google.

Clearly genetic research and engineering are still controversial topics, but I don’t see a lot of harm in a test that tells us more about the possibility for disease and disorders so that we can be better prepared to live our lives and have children. And even if I did, there isn’t a whole lot anyone can do to stop it.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Gadget, General, Technology, Web

On Friday, September 19th, The Atom Smashers will premiere as a keystone event of Science Chicago, a yearlong citywide effort to promote science!
During this Science Chicago opening week:

• - Mayor Daley will kick off Science Chicago at a press conference powered by bicycles

• - Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of public television’s Nova ScienceNow and frequent guest on The Colbert Report, will present Adventures in Science Literacy: How Societies that Embrace the Discoveries of Nature Have Transformed the World.

• - Science Chicago will take over the Museum of Science and Industry’s front lawn with interactive exhibits, experiments, games and shows, including Tom Skilling, Northwestern University’s Solar Car Team, Mike Davis’s chemistry stunts, and ice cores many thousands of years old.


For the film, a panel discussion with us and physicists will follow Friday’s screening, as will a reception. If you’ve ever wanted to chat with scientists over cocktails, now is your chance.

The Atom Smashers Premiere at Science Chicago 
Film, panel, and reception
Friday, 19 September – 7PM
Second screening (no panel or reception)
Saturday, 20 September – 3PM
West Pavilion Auditorium at the 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
Advance Tickets Recommended
$10 for Adults and $5 for Students and Museum Members
Call (773) 684-1414 for reservations.
Tickets also available at the door.
Complimentary Indoor Parking Provided

Why do we care? Andy’s on the 137 Films board and science is cool!

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General, Technology