As much as institutions are necessary to make things happen at scale, the role of the individual in creating change cannot be overlooked. Hawaiian entrepreneur Aryn Nakaoka provides a great example of the difference one person and his idea can make in solving a huge problem. His most recent start-up is one that he hopes doesn’t have a long lifespan and that he will willingly help other providers replicate in their service areas.
Brilliantly Simple & App-Free Contact Tracing from the Aloha State
“If this gets someone tested and saves a potential death, it is worth it,” explains Aryn Nakaoka regarding his app-free, contact tracing program, COVID Tracking Hawaii. The motivation for his solution was a visit to a restaurant where he was asked to provide his phone number. What he and his team put together eliminates the need for the business to keep pieces of paper, manage databases, or make calls. Nakaoka wanted a solution accessible to all people, whether or not a person has a smartphone or a flip phone.
Broadband Partners in Education & More
Addressing the “summer slide” for the digital disadvantaged is something that Etex has been pursuing with its local education and faith communities long before the shutdown. The approach they came up with includes providing broadband credits to teachers and families as an incentive for summer learning. In this ViodiTV Real-Time Conversation, Charlie Cano, Etex’s General Manager/CEO, talks about their efforts to use its broadband platform to help students all year long.
Making a Dumb Road, Smart #CES2020
Replacing passive lane reflectors with connected devices will transform highways from dumb to smart, promises Sharar Bahiri, Founder, Chairman & CTO of Valerann. Their solar-powered units include radar, capacitive, and magnetic vibration sensors. They provide visual communications to drivers via multi-colored LEDs. Improving highway safety is the driving force behind Valerann’s quest to see their devices installed on highways around the world.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts
- Almost $4.6B seems like a good haul for the U.S. Treasury Department via the just completed FCC’s CBRS spectrum auction. Shahed Mazumder has done the math on the cost per POP basis. It looks like Verizon was at the extreme end at $0.39/MHz-POP (approximately double the average of $0.22/MHz-POP). Most of their spectrum was in urban areas according to Mazumder. On the other hand, Dish spent @ $0.15/MHz-POP for licenses in mostly rural and less competitive markets.
- “While it may be true that ‘content is king,’ the medium is the ‘country,’ and without inhabitants, there is no one to be ‘king’,” writes Ron Dawson. Great explanation of how Quibi and its struggles prove Marshall McLuhan’s phrase that “the medium is the message.”
- Quincy Remembers – With the 19th anniversary of 9/11, it seems appropriate to link to this brief post about the memorial and special bond that Quincy, IL has with that tragic day.
- Earlier this year, in a ViodiTV Real-Time Conversation, Fred Fishkin spoke of his experience being part of, reporting on, and living through 9/11.
The Korner – The Accessible MRI – #CES2020
The capital costs associated with purchasing and preparing a site for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine have limited the availability of this health diagnostic device. This is an issue in rural areas where the population density doesn’t justify the cost.
Addressing these types of demands, Hyperfine debuted at CES2020 an MRI device on wheels that plugs into a standard AC outlet, does not require a room with special metal shielding, and within 6 minutes provides a brain scan that can be used to diagnose various brain trauma (e.g. internal bleeding, concussion, etc). At 1/20th the cost (approximately $100k versus $2M), it promises to make MRIs much more accessible.
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