Digest #9

I haven't run out of news yet but I really do welcome your news tips. Visit our website to read news, subscribe, submit news, view past digests, see jobs, read testimonials, view community blogs & resources, and more.

Thanks,

Sara Isenberg, Curator, producer, editor

Santa Cruz Tech Beat

ProductOps

City of Santa Cruz Economic Development

Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management

News:

Santa Cruz the birthplace of consumer-friendly technology PrivacyFix
"Rather than pitch a product to venture capitalists or seek revenue from advertisers, Jim Brock took a different route. His strategy was to create a database on privacy policies of 5,000 websites and 1,200 tracking companies and rate them on how well your privacy is protected."

CrowdGrader brings crowdsourcing to the task of grading homework
"Using a novel crowdsourcing algorithm that relies on a reputation system to assess each student's grading accuracy, CrowdGrader combines the student-provided grades into a consensus grade for each submission. Luca de Alfaro, professor of computer science at UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering, and graduate student Michael Shavlovsky developed CrowdGrader."

Author Alex Cowan will speak on "Venture Design -- Determining Success" on Oct 3, 12 noon, at NextSpace
Cowan, author of the book 'Starting a Tech Business' will discuss a set of approaches and tools for creating better products and companies, including elements of design thinking, lean startup, agile, and use of the business model canvas.

UC Santa Cruz receives $1.45M NSF grant for teacher training initiative
"One of the problems that UCSC and the NSF are hoping to solve is the shortage of teachers for STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math... The grant will be used to enhance the existing Noyce Scholarship program at UCSC, which supports students who are committed to teach math and science in local high-need school districts."

Local Filmmaker, Chris McGilvray, partners with Oracle to produce video bios for sailors for Oracle Team USA
"Over the last 4 months we've had the great opportunity to work on this series of Bios for the Sailors of ORACLE TEAM USA. It has been such a pleasure getting to learn more about the guys that man these incredible feats of Engineering and the interests and histories that drive them. My favorite piece of the 24 was Jimmy Spithill because he really opened up about the dynamic nature of sailing and the various areas he draws inspiration from."

PredPol Featured on AJAM's TechKnow Show "PredPol creates live maps in the police station that display past crimes as well as predicted hotspots, so officers know which areas to patrol more closely during their shifts. The software doesn't account for a "gut instinct" when it comes to police work, but it can be a helpful tool to point cops in the right direction."

Watch: KSBW: Watsonville teens create app to help college-bound classmates
12 high school students from Watsonville High spent 5 days working with UC Santa Cruz undergraduates to develop an App to help classmates navigate their path to college.

Two last workshops conclude this year's SBDC free brown bag series at downtown branch of public library
"Using Your Ad Dollars Wisely" is scheduled for October 10 at 11:45am, and "Does Your Business Need Intellectual Protection?" is scheduled for November 15 at 11:45am.

Noteworthy, but not brand new

Watch: Graeme Devine tells the short history of Full Deck Solitaire
Veteran adventure game developer -- who now calls Santa Cruz home -- tells how his wife and daughter inspired him to create an online solitaire game that became the number one free card game, and then the number one free game. An unexpected business was born and their game has had over 2 million downloads in two years.

Philippe Kahn: How an obsessive sailor and his fitness trackers supercharged yacht raising
"By day, 61-year-old Kahn is the CEO of Fullpower Technologies, which builds the motion-sensing technology inside personal trackers like Jawbone Up and Nike FuelBand. Sailing permeates life at the company, where about a fifth of the staff - including an Olympic competitor - has a background in the sport."