This post written by entrepreneur and philanthropist Naveen Jain.  He is the founder of World Innovation Institute, Moon Express, iNome and Infospace. Naveen is a trustee of Singularity University and X Prize foundation.

Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to become expert at something, whether it’s playing the guitar, charting the stars or writing software code. In his landmark book Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell looks at why certain people are successful and postulates that, among … Read More → "Rethinking the concept of “outliers”: why non-experts are better at disruptive innovation"

The Internet of Things is supposed to connect every aspect of our lives from our homes and cars to the objects we wear and the goods we consume. It’s even connecting ice machines. But one thing the Internet of Things lacks is a unifying standard.

Devices will be connected by different radio technologies: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and a host of 2G and mobile broadband cellular technologies. There’s really no way of assuring your ‘thing’ will connect to the network or … Read More → "Why we need a standard for the Internet of Things"

We learn to lie around age two or three. By the time we’re adults, we do it a lot-at least once a day, and perhaps more like 2.92 lies in 10 minutes, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology. It’s no wonder we’ve been chasing after an accurate lie detector for so long.

In fact, we’ve been aiming at ways to expose the lies and the liars … Read More → "How the creator of Wonder Woman also invented the lie detector"

Once in a while, an international company will come out with a new product, brand name or slogan that gets, well, seriously lost in translation. One famous example is Mitsubishi’s unfortunate 1973 decision to name its new SUV the “Pajero,” which translates in Spanish to “wanker.”

Here are 11 more tragic, hilarious, and definitely off-color examples of products that really exist—and don’t always mean what their manufacturers think.

Check out the list here</ … Read More → "11 product names that mean unfortunate things in other languages"

For a long time, aerogel was the lightest and least dense material ever made. Late last year, a metallic lattice structure took the crown. And today, the new champion is officially aerographite, with a density so low that it barely exists at all.

The density of aerographite is a mere 0.2 milligram per cubic centimeter. For the record, the next best thing (those metallic lattice structures) are three times … Read More → "New lightest material ever barely even exists"

Since it seems like most everyone has a cell phone these days, the need for payphones has predictably plummeted. So, what are we going to do with all of those sad-looking payphone kiosks now that no one is using them? New York City has a pretty excellent idea: turn them into free Wi-Fi hotspots.
via SlashGear

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On July 7 a photojournalist discovered an estimated 50,000 bees living in the walls of his Los Angeles home, and he wasn’t even scared.

Spending little time at home because of work, Larry Chen, 27, initially didn’t notice the bees. According to the beekeeper he hired, the hive was an estimated six to eight months old.

A month ago, Chen began noticing bees buzzing in and out of his window, and he decided to investigate. According to Chen, the bees only came out during a 30-minute window in the … Read More → "California man finds 50,000 bees inside his home"

The team that proved it’s possible to travel downwind faster than the wind has done it again, this time modifying their cart to go upwind at more than twice the speed of the circulating air.

Last time around, the Blackbird cart raced downwind at 2.86 times the speed of the wind. Earlier this month, Rick Cavallaro and the Blackbird team braved 104 degree heat at the New Jerusalem airport in Tracy, California, clocking in … Read More → "Wind-powered vehicle can also travel upwind faster than the wind"

In 1970, Bob Russell’s ’67 Austin Healey 3000 disappeared after a date with the woman he’d eventually marry. But he never gave up on her and kept searching for the beauty for 42 years. Suspecting that the rare collectible car would be sold multiple times, he scoured online auctions for it. Finally, one morning, he saw his car for sale on eBay.

That was only the beginning of Russell’s struggle. Next, he had to convince the dealer that it was indeed his Austin Healey and that the dealer had … Read More → "Man finds his car for sale on eBay 42 years after it was stolen"

Astronomers have detected a new, fifth moon orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto, using images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (above).

The irregularly shaped moon … Read More → "Hubble discovers new moon around Pluto"