Month: July 2019

Spotted: Jaak’s blockchain system Kord is at the heart of the company’s system for global intellectual property rights management. As a decentralised network, the data held in Kord creates a public, industry-wide view of rights that Jaak calls Smart Content.   Working initially with leaders in the music industry, Jaak believes the system will work across…

Spotted: Shoe giant Nike collaborated with Amsterdam-based creative agency HarrimanSteel on a unique influencer campaign. Through social media posts, a select number of runners documented their experience testing out Nike’s Pegasus Turbo line of sneakers.  The campaign featured marathon runner Lee Grantham, who has built an Instagram following of over 100,000 since he began posting…

Spotted: The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are testing a device that can assist astronauts in a rescue on the surface of the Moon. The device, dubbed the Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA), is the first system designed to allow rescue in space. The Extravehicular activity (EVA) suits worn by astronauts are intended to…

The data is piling up. Nobody says we’re headed for a recession definitively because no one really wants to be wrong. But look at this from Brookings. Peek at these points in Newsweek. Some experts have a guess on timing, but that one reads a bit too political for me (economies aren’t exactly subject to…

Spotted: Croatian startup Include has turned simple street benches and bike stands into Internet of Things (IoT) hot points. The solar-powered smart benches are more than “a bench with a mobile phone charger,” notes founder Ivan Mrvoš. Include’s smart benches, known as Steora Urban +, combine IoT solutions and green technology. The benches are powered…

Spotted: UK startup Upright Labs helps second-hand shops market their products to potential customers on a variety of online marketplaces.  The company’s software products include a web-based app that allows stores to easily upload images, prices and descriptions of items, and analyses how many views each item is receiving. The firm uses the data to…

Spotted: Klazz, a language travel startup from Zurich that teaches English, matches international students with domestic teachers as it aims to make the traditionally offline language travel more accessible.  Its website allows the students to tailor their destination, starting date and duration of the course and matches them with the right tutors by displaying the…