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Op-Eds
Writing Isn't the Future of Writing
June 2006
My 5-year-old daughter recently asked me about the habits of leopard seals. We went to Google and immediately had thousands...
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Sequencing the Human Lifestyle
June 2006
Ever-expanding knowledge of human behavior, which is being gathered as a side-effect of the increasing use of wearable monitors, is set to have a huge impact on health care.
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On Board with Astro Teller, CEO of BodyMedia
Oct. 2005
Healthcare isn't working in this country and it's getting worse. Costs are rising at 10 to 20 percent per year and as a nation, we're actually getting sicker by most standards. At the rate we're going, this will bankrupt all our major corporations, the bulk of the U.S. workforce and the federal and state governments in the next 10 to 20 years. Worse yet, this situation is the same in most of the first world - to say nothing of the dismal lack of health resources in developing countries.
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War Stories: User friendly in and out of the office
August 10, 2000
The underlying methodology for product development at BodyMedia is a process known as user-centered design. This is the process of crafting the experience of use for the user, rather than focusing on technology or marketing details that so often lead companies astray. We have tried hard at BodyMedia to apply this same methodology to creating BodyMedia "the company" and BodyMedia "the culture." Our belief is that by purposefully creating a positive experience for BodyMedia employees, we stand a better chance of creating what we really desire: a team in the truest and fullest sense of the word.
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War Stories: Pittsburgh almost loses one
June 15, 2000
Last winter, BodyMedia came extremely close to relocating to Boston. An unusual byproduct of the event was the discovery that almost the entire company actually wanted to stay in Pittsburgh. The pressure built up in this situation brought out the true colors of both the VC firm in Boston and our city.
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Smart Machines and Why We Fear Them
March 28, 1998
The cultural definition of artificial intelligence -- or A.I., as it is known -- goes something like this: "A.I. is the science of how to get machines to do the things they do in the movies." No wonder the subject makes some people nervous.
The popular media portray artificial intelligence as one of the heights of human accomplishment, but also as an inevitable catalyst for the downfall of our species. From Frankenstein through HAL to "The Terminator," our culture enjoys wallowing in the fear of our creations.
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Copyright © 2006 Astro Teller. All rights reserved.