Alan Fitzpatrick, 
Alan is the co-founder and CEO of MailVU.com, a company based in North Carolina that has created an efficient way to send private video emails to anybody anywhere. MailVu also provides embeddable widgets and an API for integration into other websites. As a technology executive, Alan Fitzpatrick is passionate about creating new products, processes and systems. He specializes in video mail, video email, video messaging, VoIP, IP Video, telecommunications services, engineering, and executive management in public and private companies.

1.     What do you think are the most important qualities for a successful leader to possess?
A leader must have a clear vision of where the company is heading and how to get there.  Being ability to articulate that vision in concise, concrete terms, and conveying a mental picture of what the team and individuals will achieve is key to obtaining buy-in and commitment from the organization.  Since the CEO is also the face of the company they also have to be the chief salesperson to external audiences. I believe the leader needs to have expertise in the operations of the business, not being afraid of getting their hands dirty doing the work. The leader should not only serve as the management leader but also as a knowledge leader. This builds respect from the team and helps build a loyal following.  If the leader will answer a customer care call, participate in problem solving, test new features, or cold call a prospective customer, it sets the example for the team.

2.     Can you describe your typical day as a CEO?
A typical day for me involves talking with the larger customers and prospects, working with Marketing on messaging, strategy, and results, and working with product development on new features and timelines. I believe the key factors for any business are developing products that customers want, that they will continue to use over time that they are willing to pay for, with a profit margin to the company.  Without these things you don't have a business.  As a result I spend the bulk of my time on product and sales/marketing.

3.     How do you foster innovation in your company?
Our company is just a year old and we are constantly innovating and expanding our product set.  A great thing about customers is they will tell you what they want!  By having personal communication with our largest customers I get the feedback firsthand with no filters.  We don't always build what the customer requests as a one-off, but we probably build 90% of what they want as it applies to the product in general and is marketable to other clients.  The day you stop innovating is the day the company starts to die.  

4.     How do you manage your work-life balance?
There is no distinction between work and life.  The business is integrated into my daily life and I'll work any day, any time, as needed.  But I'll also take time off for personal things at any time.  It's more a matter of getting things done than trying to differentiate between separate work and life events. We don't have a defined work schedule, but employees are expected to reply to emails and calls every day, and at any reasonable non-sleeping hour.

5.     What changes do you see in the next 5-10 years for business owners and entrepreneurs?
Some of the changes include that fact that information availability is so easily accessed on the Internet, and with social media, feedback and reviews spread in minutes.  You can't hide or conceal issues.  This will drive improved performance and customer service across the board for businesses; otherwise your business will die.  Technology is reshaping everything we do, from marketing with coupon sites, to social media, to communication, and the anytime-anywhere expectation of customers. I also see the cost of most services and products continuing to decrease as price competition unfolds with advent of instant access to information. A good example is a customer in a retail store looking up pricing on their smartphone. Think of what Amazon has done to retail.  It's pretty tough to justify premium pricing to Amazon or Netflix unless you offer something else of concrete value to the consumer.  Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Blockbuster were never able to justify premium pricing.

 

With continual controversy over airport security and the new TSA body scans, the Israel start-up company, BioExplorers, has developed a technology combining the senses of mice and a high-tech machine. Eran Lumbroso came up with the notion of using mice to detect explosives while serving as a major in Israeli Navy, where he led secret R&D projects. Along with his brother, who is also a major in the Israeli Navy, he founded BioExplorers.
  
This unconventional solution is based on the premise that mice have highly sensitive olfactory senses that have evolved over millions of years. Generally dogs are used for explosive and drug detection, but mice actually have 364 more olfactory receptor genes than dogs which results in a greater sense of smell.  The detector system will contain several enclosures that with hold between 4 and 8 mice, as well a machine that looks like the typical metal detector. The mice  will have 4- hour shifts where they will be exposed to the air that passed over each person who walks through the archway. If the mice pick up a scent of an explosive, they run to a side chamber, which sounds an alarm immediately.  The average detection time is between three and six seconds.  The mice will have a working life of eighteen months as well as a ten-day training on different odors. 
 
According to Lumbroso, the advantages of his system are the  reliability of animal explosive-detection capabilities, consistency, and low  cost.  The company ran its first field tests at Azrieli Center, a large mall in Tel Aviv, where more than 1000 people passed through the detector. Lumbroso had 22 mock explosives planted on various people and all were detected. Although they still have some logistical and ethical hurdles to get through, their novel idea is grabbing the attention of those in the Home Land Security market.

MAST (Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology), an Army   research cooperative staffed by Georgia Tech, UPenn, CalTech and NASA, strives   to create technology for the purpose of gathering data and information in  situations that would be dangerous for humans to enter.

Recently, this initiative has developed a group of self-guiding robots (created by the Georgia Tech team) which interact with each other using inertial sensors. They guide themselves using a camera and laser scanner. In order to interact with each other, the robots use a technique called SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) where they can keep track of their own movements to determine their location instead of relying on GPS. The robots work on a team without any kind of hierarchy. The more robots that there are on the team, the faster the data is accrued.  

The future of these team-oriented robots includes  airborne robots that would be able to see and locate specific buildings and  targets.

Many people do not know how much water they use up, and are faced with a shocking reality when they receive their bills at the end of the month. WaterSmart, a green-tech start up founded in November 2009 by Rob Steiner and Peter Yolles, is devoted to help lower water consumption. Based in California,  WaterSmart strives to make it easier for consumers to conserve both water and money.

WaterSmart was founded primarily, in the words of Yolles, to create a relationship between consumers and their water utility. Using software that they specially designed for this purpose, WaterSmart helps consumers know how much water they are using in their household. Thus, consumers are forced to think more analytically about the water that they use and what option is the most cost-efficient. With web technology and data management, WaterSmart has gone a long way in ensuring that customers know exactly how much water their household is using and how their usage compares to the usage of others. Even small steps towards water efficiency go far in long-term saving and conservation.  The innovation behind WaterSmart is particularly important in today’s world because of the rate at which humans are consuming natural resources, without regard to conservation or cost. Indeed, WaterSmart’s emphasis on using software to drive efficiency is certainly a new feature in the market. Both Yolles and Steiner believe that they can reduce water consumption by 2% this year alone.

Recently, WaterSmart raised capital of $900,000, and they hope to use this money to complete projects that they are currently working on and get beyond the concept phase of their project. Already they have won the ImagineH20 water efficiency concept. The impact that WaterSmart would have would be truly incredible: by helping consumers understand their water footprint, they can help households be as cost-efficient as possible.

Have you ever had an idea and thought, “Wow! This is an awesome business idea!”? However, entrepreneurship can be quite difficult without the right support and the right resources, and a lot of ideas are not acted upon. With Craig Walker’s new company, Firespotter Labs, Walker takes great ideas and turns them into successful companies.

Craig Walker is a genius when it comes to startup  companies. He created GrandCentral, which is now known as Google Voice.  Firespotter Labs is his latest venture. On his website, he describes it as not a  company but literally a lab where things are created. Rather than looking for outside entrepreneurs, he has a team of entrepreneurs who generate ideas, create 
companies, and find other people to run them if the business becomes successful. 

Currently,  Mr. Walker’s interests are mobile technology, and while he does not disclose his current projects, it’s safe to say at least one of them has to do with mobile technology. New mobile technology? Whatever he and his team come up with, it will surely be the next big thing.

Empeiria Acquisition Corporation is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which is essentially a blank check company created for the sole purpose of acquiring another company already in operation. Empeiria filed its S-1 (IPO registration) on March 4, 2011, and thus has been in operation for nearly three months. Empeiria has a highly experienced management team led by CEO Alan Menkes, who is also the Managing Partner at G2 Investment Group. 
 
Essentially how a SPAC, and thus Empeiria, works is that it is created only to acquire another company. The SPAC normally has two years to make this acquisition happen. If such an acquisition does not occur within the two year span, then the management team loses their initial investment, but all the other investors get all their money back. From an investor’s perspective, investing in SPACs comes with very low risk. In addition, in the IPO registration of each SPAC, there is a section dedicated to “Proposed Business,” which details what type of target company the SPAC is looking to acquire. Empeiria, for example, would ideally like to acquire an energy, transportation, food, or technology company. However, Empeiria is not limited to such companies and states in the “Proposed Business” section that they will not limit themselves to any industry. Once the business consummation takes place between the SPAC and the target company, the combined company will go public. It is the hope of both the SPAC and investors that once the company goes public, it will  continue to grow and expand. 

This type of blank check company allows for companies to go public in a faster way. SPACs have existed since the 1980s, but briefly went away during the recession two years ago. Now, however, they are making a comeback, and there are currently about 10 SPACs currently looking for a target. SPACs have revolutionized the financial industry and will continue to do so as long as the economy remains healthy.

Recently, PC Aero launched Elektra One, an all-electricity powered
airplane that relies on batteries rather than fuel to keep running. Headed by
CEO Calin Gologan, PC Aero is a Germany-based company specializing in aircraft  design and certification, engineering and consulting, and software development. Two years ago, PC Aero invested its time and resources into implementing electricity-powered aircraft with the hopes of reducing the negative effect that aviation had on the environment, as well as reducing the otherwise highly expensive operating costs. 

Elektra One, PC Aero’s first one-seater airplane that runs on  lithium-polymer batteries, ran its first successful test flight during which it  released no carbon dioxide emissions into the air. Weighing a mere 440 pounds,  the aircraft only spins at 1,400 RPM (revolutions per minute) which keeps it extremely quiet in flight. Furthermore, it has a 16-kilowatt motor, which allows it to fly at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour. By developing Elektra One, PC Aero hopes to reduce noise, decrease operating costs, increase security, increase range, and increase environmental protection. Elektra One is highly environmentally conscious, as it can run about 300 hours a year due to solar energy provided by only 215 square feet of solar panels.  Remarkably, the solar-powered hanger will recharge the airplane’s batteries. During the summer, PC Aero plans to enter Elektra One into NASA’s Green Flight Challenge for $1.5 million. With advanced aerodynamic design, light batteries, and an extremely efficient motor, Elektra One has already proven itself as a strong contender for the prize.  

The introduction of Elektra One into the aviation industry is certainly important as it sets a precedent for future aviation technologies: Elektra One has shown that it is possible to be effective, while simultaneously saving money remaining environmentally-friendly. In terms of future plans, PC Aero plans to produce two- and four-seater electric airplanes (Elektra Two, the two-seater, and Elektra Four, the four-seater). The emergence of more electricity-run airplanes would be crucial as it means the number of carbon dioxide emissions would decrease significantly. Furthermore, the problem of having to deal with earsplitting and loud noises from airplanes would disappear. Though it may take time for Elektra One to properly break into the market, the effects it would have on the aviation industry – and people who ride airplanes – would certainly be wide-reaching.

Written by Janelle Francis

Plastic trash is one of the biggest pollutants of the environment, but Japanese Inventor Akinori Ito has a solution. As the CEO of Blest Company, Ito has developed a household machine that converts plastic bags into crude oil.

According to the Environmental Literacy Council, between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year and instead harvesting this energy it generally thrown away as trash. Ito based the design of his machine on the fact that if plastic bags were made out of oil they should be able to be converted back to their original state. The device melts down the plastic bags, filters and cools the vapors, then finally condenses them back to crude oil. The machine is able to process polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene into oil that can fuel ovens, stoves, or generators. Two pounds of plastic can be converted into one quart of oil, using only one kilowatt-hour of energy.

The cost of the machine is $10,000 right now, but Ito hopes to be able to lower the cost in the future. If more houses were able to have this new device it would not only save the consumer money, but it would also help to save the environment.

      

Written by Heather Kessler

NFC, Near Field Communication, is a short-range wireless communication technology which allows for the exchange of data between electronic devices over a 10 centimeter distance, allowing consumers to perform contactless transactions. Operating at 13.56 MHz and transferring data at up to 424 Kbits/second, NFC provides intuitive, simple, and safe communication between electronic devices. NFC is both a “read” and “write” technology. Communication between two NFC-compatible devices occurs when they are brought within four centimeters of one another: a simple wave or touch can establish an NFC connection, which is then compatible with other known wireless technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. There are major corporations that are excited about promoting the NFC because of the potential impact.  Nokia, Sony, and Royal Philips Electronics founded the NFC Forum in 2004 in order to promote the short-range wireless connectivity technology. Samsung, Motorola, Microsoft and more than 140 other organizations all joined the party shortly after.

NFC has a huge potential to affect every aspect of our lives. It can be used in every devices such as mobile phones that enable payment to a soda machine or when buying groceries, transferring information to digital cameras that send their photos to a TV set with just a touch, or telling your doctor of your medical history.

Think this is farther off in the future? While it might take a few years to fully implement itself in everyday life, it isn’t that far off; phones and credit cards are already running NFC programs.  Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. have advertisements showing a guy air-swiping his card over a scanning device to initiate a credit-card charge. Google established a pilot program on December 16, 2010 in Portland, Oregon. In this program Google brought “places kits of businesses”, including NFC-equipped ‘Recommended by Google’ window decals. Hoping to help businesses increase their online presence, the program allows users to swipe their Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) handset over the Google icon to bring up additional info about the business, user reviews, and to be tagged in that very spot. Now there is no need to get online and tell the world where you are!

No cash? No credit card? No problem, you can still purchase anything that you need while updating your friends and family on what you’re doing, where you are at, and who you are with.  This new technology can make our lives simpler with less “stuff”. Only time will tell if the NFC will be secure and accurate enough to be widely adopted.

Written by Alex Cala 

Solaris Synergy is an Israel-based company that is making strides in floating solar panel technology behind the leadership of co-founders Yossi Fisher, Dr. Yuri Kokotov and Dr. Michael Reyz.   Drawing on over 85 years of experience between them, this team is working to make floating solar panels the renewable energy application of the future.  

The low-profile solar cells of Solaris offer an interesting take on solar energy.  These cells are able to be deployed on fresh, salt or waste water, lakes, ponds, oceans and even waste treatment plants and can become home to Solaris products while taking up less essential space than they would on land.  Products from Solaris could mean widespread solar cell usage if municipalities could place them on their bodies of water, of if smaller applications could be developed for homeowners to place on pools or ponds. 

In September of this year, Solaris will begin a nine-month trial period in the south of France in order to test the efficacy of the solar panels.  The panels will be used at a hydroelectric facility in the region.  Solaris hopes that commercial products can be ready for sale as early as June, 2012.  Visit www.solaris-synergy.com for more information about the company and its ventures.