Soros is pushing Ukraine towards a better future

Ukraine has been in the news for so long with mostly negative topics related to the Russian invasion in the eastern parts of the country and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian army before. These reports overshadowed the fact that the people of Ukraine decided to rid a corrupt and cleptocratic Regime, that was leading the country back to tyranny. The people of Ukraine chose freedom and and a free economy, and with it an open society following the western model. Its really been that – the choice between cleptocrates stealing the assets of the country or a free society. It had only little to do with any east / west conflict in my view, at least internally in Ukraine. The Ukrainians simply did not care for what Russia thought about their strive for freedom. Obviously, looking at the bigger picture, the Russian regime feared something like this could happen at home and they feared NATO coming closer and, probably most importantly, they feared losing influence. And everyone knows what happened next.

During these rough times, the young and educated in Ukraine did not stand still to move the country forward. I reported earlier about the efforts of the Brain Basket Foundation to educate more IT engineers and Software Developers, with the goal of strengthening this big and important industry. 

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Airy strikes prestigious German Innovation-Award

Peer Arne Böttcher and Helge Knickmeyer proudly holding their award

Peer Arne Böttcher and Helge Knickmeier proudly holding their award

Airy Green-Tech has received the prestigious „Invention Gründerpreis“ in Berlin yesterday for its groundbreaking innovative air-cleaning solution utilizing the power of nature: the Airy planting system. The award is initiated by the „Verband der jungen Unternehmer“ (Young Entrepreneurs) and the national Newspaper „Die Welt“.

What is Airy? Simply put, its a flower pot that ventilates the roots of your plants – and enables them to do magic. According to a NASA study about purifying air in outer space, the best way to remove pollutants and hazardous substances from your environmental air is by using the power of nature. And: other than one might expect, its not the leafs but the roots doing the job. Airy helps the plants to unleash their power by ventilating their roots.

Congratulations to Peer-Arne Böttcher and Helge Knickmeier for their success!

Science-Fiction in Low Tech: mit AIRY filtern Pflanzenwurzeln die Luft.

airyPflanzen reinigen die Luft, das ist bekannt. Die NASA hat in einer umfangreichen Studie nachgewiesen, dass diese Fähigkeit nicht wie bis dahin vermutet über die Blätter, sondern zu rund 90% über die Wurzeln vonstatten geht. Wird die Luft dann direkt an die Wurzeln gebracht, entwickeln einige Pflanzen gradezu erstaunliche Leistungen bei der Beseitigung von Schadstoffen. Sie sammeln diese nämlich nicht nur, sondern wandeln sie in Nährstoffe um. Hochgiftige Schadstoffe wie Benzol und Toluol, Formaldehyd und Trichlorethylen sind dann dauerhaft beseitigt.

Spannend ist dabei auch, dass Pflanzen die Luft nicht nur viel effektiver, sondern auch viel schneller reinigen als „technische Verfahren“ – und zwar ganz ohne Strom und allein durch die Kraft der Natur.

Kostenloses Buch: „Bogenhanf ist nichts zum Rauchen“

Das Hamburger Startup AIRY Green Tech hat vor diesem Hintergrund einen Pflanzentopf entwickelt, der das Wurzelwerk belüftet. Bevor dieser Topf zum Ende des Jahres erhältlich sein wird, gibt es von AIRY jetzt ein Buch, dass tolle Einblicke in diesen hoch innovativen Ansatz bringt: „Bogenhanf ist nichts zum rauchen“ bereitet viel wissenswertes rund um Pflanzen, Luft und Mensch anschaulich auf. In fünf Schritten und auf 102 Seiten widmet sich Autorin Karin Riesterer beispielsweise der Frage, was wir eigentlich einatmen und warum die Innenluft so eine überragende Rolle für das Wohlbefinden von uns Menschen spielt. Sie erläutert, warum die Lösung für unsere Probleme auf der Fensterbank wächst und stellt mit „Dr. med. Drachenbaum und Kollegen“ 18 Pflanzen im Portrait vor.

Das Buch „Bogenhanf ist nichts zum Rauchen“
ist kostenlos und zu finden im Forum von Airy.

Why image intelligence is a key concern – RezF´s Brian Killen @Ad:tech NY

The web is becoming increasingly visible – oftentimes images replace text based communications. One should think „memes“ on Facebook but also sharing product images to indicate that one loves this stuff or just bought it. This still relatively new, dynamically growing world of image sharing brings many benefits, many changes and also so many challenges.

One case we all know. Its two a.m. and all the sudden all the Facebook friends get updates about how awesome the mood is in the pub down at the corner. Or someone finds this hilarious spring-break photo of you from a few years back and shares it with all your friends. Posts that one might regret later. Posts that we would like to track and take off the internet. But how would you possibly find where those pictures ended up to be? These are very individual, personal cases of exposure to what the age of content explosion means. But think about the business impact.

Resolution Foundry CEO Brian Killen

Resolution Foundry CEO Brian Killen

You are a fashion brand and post your collection on your website and to a few select bloggers – knowing it will find its way into Pinterest, Tumblr and the likes. And of course you love it, because this gives you direct access to a huge audience. But how would you know where else your pictures have been posted? People copy and paste them from your site, save as new files – and now you have no idea. Do these pictures link back to your page, so you can sell your collection? Or do they point to counterfeit fraud shops that stole your designs and now stole your copyrighted brand images as well? Making you lose revenue?  

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5 Countries leading the way in Fintech Investment (Computer Business Review)

Computer-Business-Review-logo_620x350The Computer Business Review CBR released today an overview of the five regions investing most in FinTech. Who would have guessed? 🙂 Interesting nevertheless.

5 countries leading the way in fintech investment