Tag: small business news

This incredible miniature technology powers everything from printers to COVID-19 tests

Posted onAuthoradmin

When you think of micro- or nanotechnology, you likely think of small electronics like your phone, a tiny robot, or a microchip. But COVID-19 tests—which have proven to be central to controlling the pandemic—are also a form of miniaturized technology. Many COVID-19 tests can give results within hours without the need to send a sample to a lab, and most of these tests use an approach called microfluidics . Anything that moves or processes tiny amounts of fluid is a microfluidic device. [Photo: Chris Neils/Albert Folch, CC BY-ND ] I am a professor of bioengineering and work with microfluidics for my research. Everything from pregnancy tests to glucose strips to inkjet printers to genetic tests rely on microfluidics Read More …

Miller Genuine Draft and the black hole of space advertising

Posted onAuthoradmin

This week Miller Genuine Draft aimed to be the latest brand to launch a seltzer. Just not the brand extension product you can buy at a store. No, Miller was going to launch a seltzer into space. The brand had spent the preceding days hyping its stunt of launching a hard seltzer—beer’s latest trendy rival—as a gesture of hostility toward yet another tasteless carbonated beverage in a can. Miller has seen the proliferation of hard seltzer, like so many boozy bunny rabbits, increasingly take shelf space and cultural real estate from the original suds. Perhaps the bulk of its disdain is saved for beer brands that have jumped on the clear bevvie bandwagon such as Michelob Ultra, Bud Light, Corona, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. T-minus 45 minutes until MGD launches a hard seltzer. Into oblivion. Tune into @MillerLite 's page to watch it all go down! pic.twitter.com/nGUTycScvx — Molson Coors Beverage Company (@MolsonCoors) May 13, 2021 This was going to be the “beer’s beer” brand’s own little “Stratos” moment. A live broadcast across social media of an elaborately expensive and ultimately pointless stunt. “We brew beer, it’s what we do, it’s what we love,” says the spokesman. “But then so many other brands started hopping on that bandwagon, then all of a sudden there came this overwhelming expectation for us to do the same.” It wouldn’t have to look far for that expectation. Miller parent company Molson Coors has been more than happy to jump on the trend, with hard seltzers such as Vizzy and Coors Seltzer. Sofia Colucci, VP of the Miller Family of Brands, told AdAge , “This program is really meant to reinforce the role of one of our key brand portfolios—the Miller Family—and that we’re a beer’s beer. The only seltzer launch we’re planning is this launch into oblivion, so yes, Miller will remain dedicated to beer and beer only.” Live at 4pm EST. Seltzer gets the launch it deserves ????. https://t.co/yMNtBbmqaO — Miller Lite (@MillerLite) May 13, 2021 When it finally came time to follow through on this elaborate gimmick, though, the brand blinked. There was no real launch. The rocket exploded before taking off. Read More …

A 20-year Apple veteran just unveiled a wild new kind of speaker

Posted onAuthoradmin

From the still-iconic iPod to the human curation of Apple Music to the meticulous design of the digital instruments in Logic X, it’s pretty clear that music is deep in Apple’s DNA. That’s why it’s worth paying attention when a 20-year veteran of the company’s industrial design group goes off to start his own audio hardware company. [Photo: Cell Alpha] Christopher Stringer helped design the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, and other Apple hits. Now he’s the cofounder and CEO of Syng , which is unveiling its first product, a large round speaker called Cell Alpha that sits on a stand on your living room floor or a tabletop. The round enclosure contains woofers on the top and bottom and a trio of mid-range drivers in the middle. The design has a retro-future vibe, as if someone set out in 1970 to envision the sound system of 2050. Stringer believes audio hardware has fallen way behind advances in sound design coming from the entertainment industry today. Audio modes are still basically confined to mono, stereo, or surround sound. “It’s not obvious how limiting that is,” he says. Read More …

Pregnancy care sucks. These companies want to rethink it

Posted onAuthoradmin

Right as the pandemic was getting underway in New York in April 2020, Joanne Schneider DeMeireles had a miscarriage. She knew something was wrong when she went in for a prenatal appointment and her obstetrician told her that her embryo was only five weeks along. “I was like, that’s not possible,” she says. Her doctor dismissed her concern and told her to come back the following week for another ultrasound. Schneider DeMeireles had previously worked at a fertility clinic and knew when she ovulated, and she had been tracking her pregnancy obsessively. The small size of her embryo—how doctors track the age of the fetus—meant there might be a problem. The following week when she returned to the doctor, there was no heartbeat. It was a miscarriage, one that hadn’t yet expelled. Read More …

Pregnancy care sucks. These companies want to rethink it

Posted onAuthoradmin

Right as the pandemic was getting underway in New York in April 2020, Joanne Schneider DeMeireles had a miscarriage. She knew something was wrong when she went in for a prenatal appointment and her obstetrician told her that her embryo was only five weeks along. “I was like, that’s not possible,” she says. Her doctor dismissed her concern and told her to come back the following week for another ultrasound. Schneider DeMeireles had previously worked at a fertility clinic and knew when she ovulated, and she had been tracking her pregnancy obsessively. The small size of her embryo—how doctors track the age of the fetus—meant there might be a problem. The following week when she returned to the doctor, there was no heartbeat. It was a miscarriage, one that hadn’t yet expelled. Schneider DeMeireles’s doctor told her she had two options. She could let her body expel naturally, but miscarriages can take days and are painful. Or she could opt for dilation and curettage (D&C), a procedure that removes tissue in the uterus to prevent possible infection. It’s an elective surgery, one she wasn’t able to access under pandemic restrictions. What her doctor didn’t tell her is that she could take a course of pills to help the miscarriage complete. Schneider DeMeireles later found out that her obstetrician used to be religiously affiliated and since they’re the same pills used in an abortion, the doctor didn’t offer them. In the end, Schneider DeMeireles had to go to a different doctor to access the medication. Schneider DeMeireles’s experience is not unique. But now she is one of many women inspired by their experiences with pregnancy, pregnancy loss, and postpartum care who are trying to change how women receive care Read More …