IFTTT: Bringing Web Applications to a New Level

IFTTT (shortened “If This Then That”) is a service that allows users to conveniently connect different web applications such as Facebook, Dropbox, Evernote and Weather. IFTTT is using simple conditional statements which the company call “Recipes.” The Recipes should fit into “if this then that.”

Breaking down the parts of the Recipe, the “this” part represents the Trigger. “I am tagged on a Facebook photo” is an example of Trigger. On the other hand, the “that” part represents the Action. An example of Action for the Trigger “I am tagged on a Facebook photo” could be “Send me a notification on Facebook.” This combination of Trigger and Action is called Recipe.

Since IFTTT developer Linden Tibbets introduced the service in 2010, IFTTT is offering service for 121 channels. Among them are Flickr, Twitter, Foursquare and Box. In June 2012, IFTTT was integrated with Belkin WeMo as the service entered the so called Internet of Things space. IFTTT can now be combined with other services like Yahoo! Pipes to build a more elaborate system that makes consumption of contents from different sources easier.

Critics may view the idea of IFTTT as somewhat nerdy. This observation motivated Tibbets to make the service as simple as possible. Such a mission was expressed within the first line of IFTTT’s internal guidebook: “IFTTT enables everyone to take creative control over the flow of information.”

Aside from what IFTTT does on the social media network, the service can also be used to track down a stolen property. The service may be used to send an email notification or text message as the serial number of a stolen item appears on Craigslist. Just recently, a man who lost his bike created a Recipe instructing the service to send him an email as soon as a bike frame that fits his description shows up on the web. The man ultimately got his bike back.

Tibbets began working on IFTTT in 2010 in his small apartment. This was just the beginning. From his apartment, IFTTT has moved to a business office in San Francisco. From a one-man gang, IFTTT has evolved into an eight-employee company. Tibbets and his team are working hard to realize plans of expansion in many different ways. Among the new channels that IFTTT wanted to incorporate into the service include sports, personal finance and e-commerce.

YY.com: Engaging Millions of Chinese in Social Media

YY.com is a Chinese social network that has recently reached the 400 million mark. Large groups of social media users with their specific interests - sports, gaming, music and education - gather on the YY.com portal to showcase their talents or skills and earn real money. Founded in 2005 as DuoWan, YY.com started as an online gaming platform that supports multi-player role games. YY.com observed that its gamers use the chat to plan their battle strategies. In 2008, the communication tool YY Yuyin, was introduced. YY Yuyin’s chat added video and voice over into the gaming experience. Instantly, it became a hit.

Forbes likened YY.com to a virtual mega stadium where 1 million people can log in at the same time. Watching, commenting and engaging in the same activity can happen at the same time. The Chinese youth can have a real time voice and video interaction. Facebook was good in connecting but YY.com is more than just connecting. It is about engaging.

One the most popular features of YY.com is karaoke where a singer can perform while thousands of logged in listeners can listen while giving their comments one to the other through chatting or voice over. Tickets in the form of virtual roses are used by listeners to access the contents of their favorite singers. At the end of the show, the virtual roses can be traded for real money of up to $20,000 a month.

How a Unique 12-Digit Code Can Uproot Corruption in India

By virtue of an executive order, the Central Government of India created the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in February 2009. UIDAI will be headed by a director-general carrying the rank of a cabinet and will be supervised by the Planning Commission. UIDAI was established to implement the Aadhaar scheme. All the residents of India will be issued a 12-digit unique identification number.

UIDAI was tasked to gather multimodal biometrics of residents - photographs, fingerprints and iris scan. The information will be the basis of an ambitious identification database. UIDAI uses a technology that can enroll millions of data every day at 99.99% accuracy. The robust system uses an open and scalable model.

Over the past decades, social welfare was India’s way of fighting poverty. The program has guaranteed jobs for the poor residents of Indian villages at an average daily wage of $60. However, out of the 1.2 billion people in India, only 200 million of them have driver’s license. The rest go about without any valid ID. This situation is the groundwork for the rampant frauds in India. Through the help of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, a robust, government-backed identification system is being helmed. Its success will be the first of its kind in the world - one that is fully verifiable online. To date, UIDAI has issued more than 450 million ID which can be used at anytime, especially for travel.

Those who have been enrolled in the program had their fingerprints taken and irises scanned, and have been issued their unique 12-digit code - scheme that proved helpful to a country with high illiteracy rate. The code is ready to be connected to a bank account. Their earnings are confirmed through a text message. Their money need not be skimmed or picked up. Instead, the ID user can proceed to an UID-recognized business to have their fingerprints scanned. Through the UID, the users are paid the exact amount that they earned rather than just a fraction of their earnings reaching their wallets.

Partners HealthCare: Pooling Resources for Wider Community Reach

Partners HealthCare is a collaboration of healthcare institutions and professionals established to serve the local and global communities through patient care, teaching and research. Founded as a not-for-profit company in 1994, Partners is the result of the initial collaboration of its founding members, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

In order to carry out its community services, Partners has put up specialty and community hospitals, health centers and home care, established a physician network, and managed care organizations. Its teaching affiliate is the Harvard Medical School.

With close to 60,000 professionals and employees, Partners is Massachusetts’ largest private employer. It works on an annual budget of $1.4 billion, majority of which is spent on research. It founding members are still the largest recipients of the National Institutes of Health funding among private hospitals in the US.

Partners’ medical education programs are among the most competitive in the US. Partners offers over 200 residency and fellowship programs. Its training programs for physicians regularly rotate among the academic medical centers and the specialty and community hospitals.

Fairlife: Creating a Revolution in Milk Products

There is a worldwide clamor for healthier sources of protein. But this source is not just any healthy source of protein. It has to be lactose-free. It must contain little fat. Its texture must be silky smooth. It must contain natural honey. Is there such a source of protein as this?

Yes, there is. And the co-op of dairy farmers called Fairlife is producing such product: the Core Power. Core Power is actually a milk product. This high-nutrition milk drink contains 50% more natural protein and calcium but with 50% less sugar than the ordinary milk drink. Core Power is amazingly delicious, although it has zero protein powders.

Fairlife is the brainchild of Mike McCloskey, a veterinarian who became a farmer and entrepreneur. He leads a group of 92 independent dairy farmers whose families are committed to support sustainable and traceable agriculture. These farmers belong to busy families who wanted to be sure that they get better nutrition through the wholesome real drink they produce.

Using its proprietary membrane filtration process, Fairlife has revolutionized the dairy industry through the Core Power. Unlike traditional milk processing, Core Power passed through soft filters to produce concentrated nutrients like protein and calcium. Simultaneously, the process separates the fat and the sugar from the real milk.

Since Core Power comes from independent dairy farmers, the high standards of milk quality are maintained while not neglecting the importance of animal care and agricultural sustainability. This embodies Fairlife’s promise: “from grass to glass®” The cows at Fairlife live in clean barns. They walk freely on soft sand beds that surround their cages. They are looked after by passionate stewards that ensure they are protected from the wind, rain and snow.

As a pioneer in sustainable practices, Fairlife converts cow manure to power the fleet of 42 compressed natural gas milk truck at Fair Oaks farm. Fairlife demonstrates responsible family farming that uses less water while producing more of useful and sustainable products.

Bruker Corp: A Leader in Scientific Instruments

When it comes to scientific instruments, researchers and scientists alike cannot just settle for substandard quality of materials. They always trust the best there is like Bruker Corporation. Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the company is engaged in the manufacturing of scientific devices used in molecular and materials research.

The company has been around since the 1960 and has taken on huge research projects and produced products for global use. Among its notable products is the 21.0 Tesla FT-ICR MS which they built for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the Florida State University. The business is known as the parent company of Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies and the Bruker Scientific Instruments. The growth of Bruker is attributed to its strategic acquisition of similar businesses. Its last purchase was made in 2013 in the entity of Prairie Technologies.

This organization started in Germany and has now global operations. The company generates billions in annualized revenue and is publicly traded on the NASDAQ.