Global Startup Battle 2012 Voting Begins

From November 9th through the 19th, several teams from all over the world competed in more than 130 Startup Weekends. A winner from each was crowned and uploaded their videos, and now hope to get your votes. In the Philippines, there was the Startup Weekend in Davao and Cebu, and out of the many teams that joined, “My Startup Academy” emerged as the top winner.

My Startup Academy bested 13 other pitches during a presentation last Sunday at the University of San Jose-Recoletos Basak Campus at the Startup Weekend in Cebu. Although judges said the idea had a weaker business model compared with some of those pitched, SWC 2 judge and ClickingLabs president and co-founder Jean-Patrick Bisson said that if the idea is executed and evaluated well, it could become an excellent product.

Michie Ang, leading the team that developed the web service, said “My Startup Academy” is a place where startups can get guidance from the community and experienced mentors. The web service will provide tools that start-ups need to build, thrive and succeed in the industry. This will also allow startups to learn from people and companies “who have been there, done it and made it.”

“The momentum suddenly drops after the 54-hour activity and this is something that we should address,” said Ang during her five-minute presentation before a panel of judges.  She said the web service is helpful in a way that it will help expand knowledge of startups in terms of entrepreneurship and technology. It will also help bridge startups to mentors and angel investors.  “The goal of the team is to build more successful startups that can boost our economy and build more opportunities for everybody,” she said.

My Startup Academy” won a six-month free physical incubation at the University of the Philippines, on top of other prizes. Ang, who is from Manila, brought in a team she met from various Startup Weekend activities. Brian Bibat, Franz Sarmiento and Rubilyn Santa Cruz make up the technical team while Maie Bauza and Rochelle de Leon handle the marketing side.

Zachary Cohn, bootcamp director/ hacker relations of Startup Weekend Headquarters in Seattle was impressed at how Startup Weekend activities are making an impact in the Philippines. Cohn who facilitated Startup Weekend in Davao last Nov. 9-11 and Startup Weekend Cebu 2  last Nov. 16-18 said ideas pitched by participants are “at par” with the pitches in other countries. “Ideas are quite similar but the important thing is how to get things done and make people keep learning through the experience,” he said. Cohn believes Startup Weekend is a great way to accelerate the growth of the entrepreneurial communities. He said if it can achieve a critical mass by getting people involved the rest of the infrastructure will happen.

“Accelerators and incubators will pop up. More angels and venture capitalists will start investing. Infrastructure itself such as faster internet connection, will improve as there is an increase in demand. Once it’s obvious that there is opportunity, universities may even start changing their curriculum to help better prepare students for starting their own companies instead of working for someone else,” said Cohn.

Voting started on November 21st at 12pm PST and EVERYONE can come vote for the team they think should be the winner of Global Startup Battle based on their idea and their video. You can vote once per day until voting closes at midnight on November 27th PST.  This will soon narrow things down to a top 15, and from there, a panel of star judges will crown an ultimate winner!  A panel of experts will decide who will take the top honors — and it’s quite a panel: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Foundry Group’s Brad Feld, TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque, prominent fund manager Chris Hollod, and actress/serial entrepreneur Jesse Draper.

The prizes are crazy awesome, so be sure to support the team you think deserves it. The winning team at the Global Startup Battle will have the chance to earn $15,000 worth of startup support services, VIP plane tickets to Rio de Janiero for the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Congress on March 18-21 and to the San Francisco for the VIP tour of Googleplex.

Let us vote for the Philippines entry to the Global Startup Battle: “My Startup Academy” – a web service that aims to guide startups in developing their ideas.

Global Startup Battle is in its second year and this year has doubled in size from 67 events to 130. Last year’s Global Startup Battle champion, AfterShip, launched a service for e-commerce merchants and buyers that provides live notifications for customers and gives merchants the opportunity to personalize their shipments with up-to-date messages that bolster customer service capabilities. The winner of this year’s Global Startup Battle will be announced the first week of December.

 

AfterShip launched an e-commerce platform for merchants and buyers that provided live notifications for shipments. Earlier this summer, it already raised a seed round from Australia’s Business Switch with an undisclosed sum.

AfterShip helps online stores to auto track packages and notify their customers of the latest delivery status with a simple one-time setup. Without knowing the tracking number, customers always know where the package is. Learn more at http://www.aftership.com . You may follow them on Twitter: @aftership and on Facebook: http://facebook.com/aftership

Click on the link below to vote for “My Startup Academy”:
https://apps.facebook.com/offerpop/Contest.psp?c=233376&u=50788&a=202991206406825&p=5510679098&v=Entry&id=v6460&rest=1





You may check out the My Startup Academy website: http://www.mystartupacademy.org . You may follow them on Twitter: @mystartupacadem or their Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/MyStartupAcademy

Epson’s GPS Running Monitor Meets Athletes’ Needs

 

Launched this year in Japan as the "WristableGPS*", Epson's newly developed GPS running monitor is an accumulation of the company's technologies and expertise. By simply strapping it to their wrists, runners can accurately measure and record their speed and the distances they have run. This new product combines high GPS accuracy with a light, compact design and long-battery life.

LOW POWER CONSUMPTION ALLOWS EXTENDED USAGE

With the number of leisure runners increasing worldwide, many companies have introduced GPS-based wristwatch-type devices that allow athletes to record their distances, routes, and speed. However, products that are light and compact often sacrifice GPS positioning accuracy, and products with accurate GPS often have poor battery life. It has to date been difficult for manufacturers to come up with a product that combines all the key factors of GPS positioning accuracy, compact design, and long battery life.

Epson engineers began work on designing the new GPS running monitor with the aim of solving all these issues. The first challenge was to reduce energy consumption to a level that would allow the battery to operate for 14 hours or more while the GPS function was in operation. To achieve this, the team used an accurate, energy-efficient GPS module that Epson had designed for mobile devices.

Generally speaking, GPS modules use a high proportion of the energy consumed by mobile devices. This means that an efficient module can contribute significantly to the energy consumption of the product overall. Epson leveraged its many years of experience of designing and marketing GPS devices to create a module that achieved the aims of the design team.

ADJUSTING POSITIONING DATA USING ALGORITHMS

The next step was to create an algorithm to improve the accuracy of the distance data. GPS positioning data accuracy can be adversely affected by a wide variety of factors, including the reflection of electronic waves from high-rise buildings. The diagram on the left below shows how positioning data recorded in a high-rise urban environment can be recorded as 60% greater than the actual distance run. However, Epson managed to greatly reduce discrepancies by employing a specially-designed algorithm.

INCLUDES SPECIALLY DESIGNED ANTENNA

The third point was to make the product light and compact. Diagram 2 below shows the shape and mounting layout of conventional GPS running devices. The antenna is mounted in such a way that it points to the sky when you attach the device to your wrist and start to run. However, the angle of the mounting requires the device to be a certain thickness. Epson therefore designed an antenna with a new shape and a wider reception angle, and achieved a thin design by mounting the antenna alongside the battery (as shown in diagram 3).

Epson also took care to make the thin design water resistant and minimize the number of components used. These efforts combined to enable the creation of a running monitor whose compactness, thinness and lightness makes it possible for runners to wear unobtrusively.

                     

Diagram 2

Shape and mounting layout of the antenna receiving signals from GPS satellite

Diagram 3

Shape and mounting layout of the antenna of the Epson GPS running monitor

By combining its compact, energy-saving, and high precision technologies, Epson has been able to develop a unique GPS running monitor capable of meeting the needs of runners.

Rizal Adventure: Exploring Angono and Binangonan

Wazzup Pilipinas!

We've been going to very far places to get a taste of Philippine heritage and culture. I've travelled by plane, by cruise ship, by bus, and by car ... and endured the number of hours of travel just for the sake of adventure. It never dawned onto me that there exists several places near the Metro that's already rich with history. With just very little time, we can immediately immerse ourselves with the festivities, the interestingsites and destinations just right here at the Rizal province.

We were invited to attend the Higantes festivities, along with opportunities to visit other tourist destinations like the Balaw-Balaw Specialty Restaurant and Art Gallery, the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs, and to stay at the luxurious Thunderbird Resorts hotel.

Thunderbird Resorts generously sponsored our travel to Rizal by providing the transportation, accommodation, meals, and guided tour of those three prime tourist spots I mentioned earlier plus the opportunity to stay overnight at their luxurious hotel, eat meals at their restaurants and try the casino for fun.