So we’re almost at the middle of the month…did you make any New Year’s resolutions? How are you doing with them?

The start of a new calendar year and a new academic semester offer all kinds of possibilities. It’s a hopeful time of year as many people feel empowered to make resolutions or create new behaviors. But without making conscious, repeated choices to do something new, most people quickly fall back into their default habits and routines, especially once confronted with stressful situations. If you haven’t been so successful with your resolutions, here’s a strategy to help you successfully create a new habit or behavior.

Image: http://chronicle.com 

One of the differences between being an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist is that I meet with many more business owners now than I did then. As such, it has become more apparent that many of my struggles as an entrepreneur are surprisingly common. One observation that stands out, probably because it is rarely discussed, is how many founders have relationship struggles with their significant others and families. For me, the brightest years at IronPort were without a doubt the darkest years at home.

Image: Pink Sherbet Photography 

San Francisco, Jan.16, (People's Daily Online)--Working on a cruise ship 12 nautical miles from the coast of San Francisco can help many entrepreneurs get rid of the working visa limitation in the United States. That's why Blueseed is considered as the world’s most amazing upcoming startup community for entrepreneurs.

Since the idea was announced in 2011, it has been a hot topic not only in the high-tech circles but also on the media pages.

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Clemson University launched a new crowdfunding portal to finance projects by students today, making it the first S.C. school to do so.

The site, ClemsonIdeas.com, will be used to raise money for startup companies with a special focus on projects by students in Clemson’s Master of Business Administration program. The site is hosted by a third-party provider, and all of the funds raised will go directly to the person seeking support, according to a news release. Clemson will not receive any funding from the site, and it is not affiliated with any university giving program.

Startup accelerators are nothing new, offering intensive programs that promise to help young companies grow faster and smarter. The latest twist? Niche accelerators that focus on a particular industry or mission -- whether it's healthcare services or building sustainable products.

Image: http://money.cnn.com 

Science has two important yields: increased understanding of the world within and around us (“knowledge for knowledge’s sake”) and solutions to specific problems. But even the most profound scientific knowledge won’t solve world problems such as hunger, poverty and environmental damage if we fail to respect, understand and engage cultural differences.

Image: Edwina Hay 

I hadn’t seen Jim in two years. When we reconnected recently, I was shocked. The handsome, dapper professional I knew had gained 30 pounds and started smoking. Bursting with nervous energy, he told me about his business travails — work so busy he was staying regularly until 10 at night, and a billionaire client sapping his energy and causing him grief. But the project with the billionaire would soon be over, he declared. “That’s great!” I said. “So you won’t have to deal with him again.” Well, Jim allowed, there might be another contract with him in the works.

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Most of us work long hours: 40, 50 or even 60 hours each week. But chances are, given distractions like online entertainment, office snacking habits and ill-designed time management, we're only churning out high-quality work a portion of each day.

Here are five practical steps to incorporate into any morning routine to optimize your time at the office and maintain productivity all day long: 

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At Fast Company, we try to crack the code on what makes a business succeed or fail. It’s a complex mix of culture, strategy, vision, and values.

We’ve chronicled how to bake in success with each hire, the ways in which keep their organizations humming with positive vibes, the transformative power of feedback, as well as how internal competition can crush a staff.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com 

In the megacities of the future, we are going to find new ways to move everyone around--from underground highways to roads where pedestrians and cars share the same space

The United Nations predicts that roughly 60% of the world's population will live in cities by the year 2030. Hopefully, the 5.1 billion of us negotiating tight urban spaces by then will have figured out a better way to get around.

Image: http://www.fastcoexist.com 

Venture capitalists more than doubled their investment in companies based Baltimore- and Washington, D.C.-area companies in 2013.

Venture firms invested more than $1.5 billion in the region in 2013, making that the biggest year for investment since 2001, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Maryland companies took in 43 percent of that investment money.

Millennials, we have a communication — and generational — breakdown. A disconnect of biblical proportions.

Check out this workplace survey from Beyond.com, an online career network. The poll contains a pretty startling statistic:

• 82% of Millennials self-identified as being loyal to an employer ­
• Only 1% of HR professionals believed Millennials are loyal to an employer

For more than three decades, the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco has been the almost-exclusive domain of pharmaceutical companies, the place where the Mercks and Pfizers of the world meet biotechnology startups who help them fill their pipelines.

But it’s a different world today, one where new laws and new digital technologies are upending the way health care is delivered.

Image: Google Ventures - Krishna Yeshwant 

What's the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything? In Douglas Adams' science-fiction spoof “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, the answer was found to be 42; the hardest part turned out to be finding the real question. I find it very appropriate that Douglas Adams joked about 42, because mathematics has played a striking role in our growing understanding of our Universe.

Image: When we look at reality through the equations of physics, we find that they describe patterns and regularities. But to me, mathematics is more than a window on the outside world: I argue that our physical world not only is described by mathematics, but that it is mathematics: a mathematical structure, to be precise. 

Open offices are everywhere, and yet no one seems to like them. Ostensibly they create a "collaborative" atmosphere that would boost creativity (and cut down on rent). But that theory might be bull--so why do we still use them?

This week the New Yorker’s Maria Konnikova methodically broke down the reasons open offices destroy productivity. Namely, they’re too noisy or too quiet; they're full of distractions; they're petri dishes for viruses; but perhaps worst of all, they give employees zero privacy to think or act without being seen by everyone. And though younger workers may prefer the setup’s more casual nature, it’s often to their own detriment:

Image: http://www.fastcolabs.com 

Voting ends soon, please vote today if you haven't voted already!  --Ed.

Richard Bendis Nominated Again!

Each year, Speakers Platform recognizes five speakers within ten popular topic areas. Excellence in speaking is based on: expertise, professionalism, innovation within the topic area, client testimonials & references, presentation skills, original contribution to the field and votes. The only substantive requirement is that the candidates' keynote presentation fee must be under $30,000USD. 

NOTE: clicking on the VOTE button above will navigate you to the page to vote for Rich.  Instructions on how to vote are found there.  Merely clicking on the VOTE button above will NOT register a vote.  We appreciate your support!

At the recently held UnPluggd, one of the speakers (Nikhil, founder of TintUp) mentioned a very interesting aspect of the company culture – everybody in the team knows the company bank balance (ofcourse, revenue) and importantly, each other’s salary details.

This not just brings openness in the team, but also smacks down all specualations/comparisons in the company (yours is bigger than mine?).

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Ink-jet printing technology could be a way to build new tissue meant to restore vision to people suffering from common forms of blindness due to retinal degeneration.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge used a standard ink-jet printer to form layers of two types of cells taken from the retinas of rats, and showed that the process did not compromise the cells’ health or ability to survive and grow in culture. Ink-jet printing has been used to deposit cells before, but this is the first time cells from an adult animal’s central nervous system have been printed.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com 

We are just over two weeks into 2014, and the dominant conversation about healthcare in the U. S. is the Affordable Healthcare Act.  Rather, there is not so much a conversation about the legislation, as there are two distinct points of view blathering on about competing ideological value sets.  If this “debate” is representative of how we are going to approach innovation in healthcare, we are in deep trouble as a society.  Fortunately, in the realm of health care innovation, there are people in the world, doing real work, developing new ways of delivering care, and committing time, energy and creativity to making healthcare better.

 Image: http://www.forbes.com/ - Dr. Stuart is an innovator in advanced care.