What’s the most impressive thing about Google? Its cool products and the fact that it’s taking over the world? Totally.

Google demoed a new search feature called Conversational Search at the recently concluded Google IO conference. This feature enables you to actually ask your question to Google without hitting the microphone button in the search box. The code word for enabling this feature is ‘Okay Google’.

So how is this a conversational search? Google will speak the answer to your query while (of course) displaying the other search results as well. If you continue asking straight questions related to the initially searched topic, it will continue to speak and display the answers to your questions. As of now, the conversational search is available in the build 27 of Google Chrome but with one stipulation. You will have to enable it by hitting the microphone button in the search box. This extra step will be removed soon after Google has fixed all the bugs pertaining to this feature and all users will then be able to start their conversations by just saying ‘Okay Google’.

Below is a sample test that I ran after upgrading my browser.

1. Open Google.com and hit the microphone button

   

2. Ask – Who is Michael Jordan?
   
3. and ask again

   

4. and again

So how does this work?

This enhancement is based upon Natural Language Processing and the semantics which help in understanding the meaning/relation between the words being interpreted. This algorithm is used in conjunction with the Knowledge Graph (that was introduced last year) to dig into the information for the questions that are being asked by the user. The information which is straightforward, is displayed on Google Cards and read out to the user. As seen from the above example, once the subject is introduced it can be referred to agin in future questions to which Google will respond promptly.

This feature needs a lot of refinement with certain pronunciations and context related statements. While testing, it did get confused between certain words such as ‘when’ and ‘where’, ‘stay’ and ‘say’, etc. Inspite of these small glitches, it performs pretty well with location based questions like ‘What’s the weather?’ It will automatically determine your location and respond with the forecast information. The response of this search will improve with time as the knowledgebase further increases. With the current knowledgebase that Google has, it can answer only specific straight questions while sometimes referring to the information from Wikipedia. When a complicated question is asked, it will just display the search results. This poses a limitation and hinders the ‘conversation’.

But this is just a beginning. This certainly proves to be a definite step towards improving our daily interaction with machines. A few years from now we might have a JARVIS of our own. Have patience.

Okay People! It’s time for you to try this awesome feature and let us know what you think in the comments below.

More than just a nickname for New York City, the term “apple” has come to represent innovation and technology.

That could be due to the glowing, half-bitten apple (logos) we see on various technologies more and more each day. While Apple, Inc. is based in Silicon Valley, there are more than 900 innovative technology companies situated in New York City.

Among those companies, I’ve discovered, we can always find one that will fulfill our needs, from online entertainment websites to food-ordering systems. Yet we don’t know about the hard work behind the success of those companies, just like we don’t really think about how apples grow when we are ready to enjoy their sweet, juicy taste.  

As plants cannot survive without sunlight, companies cannot last without passion, and that strength of feeling can turn tiny things into greatness. On the iSchool EntreTechNY tour, I discovered Scott Wiener, who gives pizza tours in New York. He is no doubt the

Scott Weiner of Scott’s Pizza Tour shares his intense passion for pizza in front of the wood-fired oven at Forcella in the East Village. Photo by Kelly Lux.

most passionate person I have ever met. In Scott’s eyes, the simple crust, cheese and sauce combination is an art. On the three-hour pizza tour we enjoyed, Scott animatedly spoke about the history and taste of pizza with humor and extensive knowledge. He truly loves talking about pizza, and that led him to create an enjoyable career and a successful business.

Passion not only sparks an idea, it also supports an idea like fuel. Dennis Crowley, the founder of Foursquare, told us on this tour that he still finds it amazing when he sees strangers on the street using his product. His belief in the product idea, and his desire to make a difference, have generated a great vision for the company’s future.    

Water is another key factor affecting the growth of apples, providing plants with consistency, balance and the ability to stand tall in the face of a hostile environment, elements that startups also require. Wiley Cerilli, along with his employees’ hard work, determination and ‘work hard, play hard’ credo, created the success of SinglePlatform.

Startup founders, whether pitching to a venture capitalist or selling services to a client, never give up. When they receive “no”s, they revise the presentation, pick up the phone, and try again.

Like the symbol of Tai Chi, hard work isn’t all there is. A fine balance of work and play can increase efficiency and also inspire creativity. I saw ping-pong tables and coffee pots at every stop on our visits. Google, being the most playful of all, also provided us the best explanation for this. Having a scope of thousands of employees, Google would rather add costs (providing free food and convenient facilities) in order to generate more time for employees to be in the office. However, the added time generated isn’t for more of the same work; Google encourages employees to work on personal projects for 20% of their work time.

Surviving doesn’t equal success. To grow tasty apples, fertilizers are needed; resources are fertilizers for companies. Lux capital and RebelMouse showed us how monetary

Photo by Kelly Lux

resources are generated. Different venture capital companies have their own focus point for the type of companies in which they will invest. Though venture capital firms are not always a perfect fit for a startup company (depending on the startup’s stage and nature), human resources are always good for companies. 

The importance of partnership and teamwork were emphasized many times during our trip, since nobody can be good at everything. Many firms focus on the talent and outsource the rest; that is smart entrepreneurship. Conversely, a one-man-band style firm could be fresh and interesting on the street, but never make it to “Broadway.”

Passion, consistent hard work, and cooperation are not only what created the successes of the technology companies, we visited, but also what contributed to the incredible culture of the Big Apple—New York City.

Within the post-industrial brick walls of a growing metropolis, and hidden in abandoned warehouses, makeshift sales rooms, and reclaimed shipping departments, startups are reshaping industry without us even knowing it is happening.

The New York City tech scene is a nostalgic reinterpretation of the industrial age manufacturing boom seen in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Thomas Jefferson thought a collective of small farmers would power the US economy. Under the guiding hand of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, startups are the crops of today’s small farmers, the collective of entrepreneurs slaving away in beautifully designed offices within the ugly industrial framework we call New York.

The HuffPost Live offices. Photo by Kelly Lux

Silicon Valley has always been the poster child for the startup community. It is a community, which lives and breathes off the continuous stream of engineers that flock to it, diplomas in hand. However, once you get beyond the brick exterior walls, the NYC startup scene has so much more to offer.

In contrast to the dream world of Silicon Valley, the revenue model is a key component of the NYC model. This means the startup community is not limited to just engineers, but is also open to business-oriented entrepreneurs, strategists, and as we saw at Huffington Post Labs, Chief Brainstorming Officers. Programming and coding knowledge are not a requirement, but instead are a tactical means of communication. A business minded individual who can “speak geek,” translating design and strategy into technical dialogue is an invaluable component of any NY startup.

One thread that ran through each founder’s story was the attachment they had to their unique vision. Every entrepreneur has a vision

Founder of RebelMouse Paul Berry shares his vision with EntreTech NYC students. Photo by Kelly Lux.

of what they hope their idea will evolve into. It is a child that must be nurtured, protected, and kept at the forefront, not to be lost in the shuffle of energy and creativity that is inherent to the startup lifestyle. If you zoom out, the NYC tech scene itself is a startup. A talented collective of individuals, each with a vision, laying the groundwork for those to follow.

            To boil this weeks events down to identify one specific takeaway seemed like a difficult challenge, but as the week progressed from startup to startup, the answer became apparent. An idea is beautiful in ones own mind, but the art is not in the idea, or even in its creation. The art is in communicating why it matters. It is convincing everyone that the vision you have is valid. Not everyone can understand why you see something as valuable and it is the entrepreneur’s job to fill in the blanks. To build a successful product and startup, not only you, your family, and your closest friends, but also your strongest critics, investors, and users must also believe in the product. They must understand its potential and have a clear concept of its future evolution.

I had always found it hard to believe that the enormous profit potential of startups was not the main draw for entrepreneurs, but a visit to the NYC community argued otherwise. These individuals and teams built products that will ultimately have a strong impact on the lives of others, rather than monetizing them. It is an initiative to impact the world, make your presence known, and give more to it than you take out.  So when the curtain is pulled away, the code of the entrepreneur is revealed—create, so others may prosper.

 Do you own a ping-pong table? Great. You’re now one step closer to becoming an entrepreneur in technology.

I say that because for five days and nearly twenty company visits during our EntreTechNY trip, there was one common denominator: ping-pong tables. For every start-up/major corporation visited, a ping-pong table was present. It was almost like a “secret handshake” of sorts for the entrepreneurial tech community. However, despite the presence of  ping-pong tables at these companies, it was clear that certain places were by no means all “fun and games.”

As our group walked into the startups for the first time, their spaces were filled with a unique energy. It felt as if those places were on the precipice of something truly revolutionary (but they couldn’t quite tell you what yet, due to “proprietary circumstances” or patents pending.)

Beyond youthful energy though, behind every founder or employee was always the ping-pong table. It seemed unavoidable; every office had one. Whether the table was used on a daily basis or as the foundation of a conference table, each one was prominently placed, as if it were a badge of honor and right-of-passage into the true startup scene.

In the ‘NapQuest’ room at the Huffington Post offices. Photo by Kelly Lux.

It became clear after a while that this trend was more than just a passion for casual midday table tennis. The ping-pong table was an unofficial sign that signified, “Hey, we’re still just hanging out, playing around and doing what we love everyday…nevermind that we’re now getting paid to do it.” This concept was believable for the start-ups we encountered, but as we moved into the more corporate scene, it was apparent that while the ping-pong table was still meant to signify the same thing, the table was no longer relevant.      

For years, I had heard stories about Google’s offices. Each time, the stories portrayed those offices more like a playground you got paid to visit. After visiting Google’s offices and spending two hours observing the activities there,  it was clear to me that this “playground” was no longer in service. While Google was once a start-up much like many of the companies we encountered on our NYC journey, it has become a major corporation that has severely outgrown its start-up phase. (In the words of one entrepreneur we spoke with, where there also was a ping-pong table, “Many major companies think that they’re startups still, but they’ve moved on to be institutions.”)

That statement could not be more true than in Google’s case. While the Google offices boasted the most amenities by far (including a Lego play area, food within 150 feet of wherever you find yourself, ping-pong, xBox, foosball, nap stations, and other item that would’ve kept you entertained from ages 7-17 and beyond), it also was abundantly clear that the majority of employees would never have time to spend any of their workday using those play/relaxation spaces. Try to imagine a major corporation like JP Morgan Chase or General Electric having all those amenities…you can’t …because you know there isn’t enough time in the work day for employees to meet deadlines and stay on top of their work while also using play spaces.

The truth is, at a certain point in an uber-successful company’s lifespan, the moment comes where the luxuries of start-up life are no longer applicable to the now-major corporation. Perhaps most sadly, some corporate spaces are still built to reflect a simpler time where playing with toys for an hour or two was therapeutic to the creative process, even though the reality is that there now is no such time to be “wasted.”  Such corporations seem to be desperately trying to cling to a time that will never be there again. Their “creative space”  seems more like a façade for the traditional corporation that is behind it, and in many cases, the “toys” get left behind. 

I don’t expect these corporations to paint their walls white and add cubicles to every available space. I do expect them to own the fact that they are no longer a start-up and are far past the point of ever being one again. 

Should companies past the startup stage be offering amenities like ping-pong tables and nap rooms?  Share your comments below.

Entrepreneurship, especially in the tech space, is becoming more popular by the day. This is so much the case that even established digital agencies and consulting companies have begun to try their hands at encouraging their staffs to become more entrepreneurial, and are focusing on building in-house entrepreneurial companies using corporate resources.  This new entrepreneurship philosophy  is a concept that was revealed on our recent EntreTechNYC trip.

The strategy represents an alternate model for startup “incubation.” In this model, the employing company provides all required resources: talent, funding, connections, etc. , thereby removing most of the risk from the equation. That risk (also referred to as opportunity cost) is often the deciding factor for whether many entrepreneurs pursue their ideas. Companies, by taking on that cost,  are betting that over time, the initial investment will pay off, resulting in substantial returns.

Darren Paul (center), founder of Night Agency, talks with #EntreTechNYC students. Photo by Kelly Lux.

There is a lot of benefit to the individual entrepreneur in choosing this route, but the decision is one that needs consideration of both the best-case and worst-case scenarios. It is a common sentiment in entrepreneurship that those who bear the highest opportunity cost burdens may also, over time, reap the most rewards. Similarly, it’s thought that the smaller the risk, the more moderate the reward. Two companies we visited on the EntreTechNYC trip, Rain and Night Agency,  have structured such partnerships so that everyone shares in the upside of a future liquidity event that ultimately results from a successful startup.  

Entrepreneurs must decide whether or not this new model is the right fit for their own situation. The questions are: is it better for an  aspiring entrepreneur to quit a stable job in order to pursue a business concept as a solitary focus, or does the new incubation model increase the chances of success, even if the entrepreneur is somewhat beholden to the employer? My suggestion is this: read the fine print on any arrangement. In an employment-structured entrepreneurial environment, the host company really has no obligation to give you a part of the upside for your work. That’s because when it comes down to it, the entrepreneur in those circumstances may be no more than simply a glorified employee.

This new incubation philosophy has some merit and intrigue. Like every other entrepreneurial endeavor, however, only time will tell whether or not it will truly be successful.

As you’ll hear every senior say, and as you will one day realize yourself, your four years of college will go by so fast, and you’ll have no idea where your time went. 

1. Corporate isn’t everything. Look into startups and entrepreneurship. It’s important to learn how ideas form and how they grow. Hard work pays off.

2. Internships could turn into jobs–especially at corporate businesses. Do good work, then keep in touch with people you’ve met. References come in handy, and so does experience.

3. Talk to your professors. These people are smart, have experience, and know people you may want to work for. Keep in touch. They don’t enjoy sitting in office hours when no one comes to visit.

4. Learn to code. Coding makes you think in different ways. Learn how programming works. It’ll help you understand why and how computers work the way they do. 

5. Use Twitter, and use it well. As tempting as it is to tweet about your first frat party, remember that you’ll want to build an online presence. Personality matters, but some things are better kept for your conversations at the dining hall. 

6. Try everything once. That includes a coding class, talking to a different group of people, taking on an internship, etc. You’ll never know what you don’t like until you really try it. 

From other seniors and alum…

7. “Take as many different iSchool classes as you can. You never realize what will be useful down the road.” (Adam McMonagle, ’12)

8. “Dabble in EVERYTHING. You don’t have to be an expert, but knowing the basics of many technologies/fields is very crucial!” (David Rosen, ’11, G ’12) 

9. “The Tutorial Lab is a great spot to pull all-nighters.” (Keegan Slattery, ’13)

10. “Embrace every encounter as a networking opportunity. Be that kid.” (Melia Robinson, ’13)

11. “Don’t wait until the last semester to take Java.” (DJ Holland, ’13)

12. “Don’t be intimidated; go friend up the seniors. These are the people you network with when the time comes and you need a job!” (Kevin Luk, ’12)

13. “Take every class Jeff Rubin teaches.” (Kelly Geer, ’12)

14. “If you plan on studying abroad, save some liberal arts core classes to take there. Take your iSchool requirements here, since they aren’t offered abroad.” (Julie Deutsch, ’13)

 Do you have any other advice to offer new iSchoolers or tech students? Share in the comments below!

When was the last time you used Google Talk or AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) as your primary means of online communication? I would say that for me, that was at least five years ago. The days of away messages and profile designs have been gone for a while, but Google has found a way to upgrade their chat platform into 2013. Last Wednesday, Google announced that Google Hangouts will be replacing Google Talk. Now, I know what you’re thinking…Google+ has had Hangouts for some time, and you’re right. But Google has taken Hangouts out of Google+ and built it into a standalone instant messaging app for mobile devices. The product is a combination of the best aspects of Google Talk and the Hangouts feature of Google Plus.

Take a look.

To use the app you simply create a Google account, or log in with a previously existing account.

The best feature of this app is that it works continuously across platforms and presents a unified messaging client. You can one-on-one and group chat across desktops, Android devices, and iOS devices. No matter which device you’re chatting from, this app gives you easy access to your conversations. That is possible by logging the chats on your devices. This may bring up some privacy issues, but as far as I know, my AIM used to log all the conversations I had throughout middle school. If we got through the privacy issue then, I think we can get past it now. 

 The purpose of the Google Hangouts app is to focus on conversations rather than contacts. What you get is a flowing conversation that integrates photos automatically saved into albums, hundreds of emojis, and the ability to start a video chat with up to 10 people at any point.

The chats also personalize conversations with all the participants. A chat  presents all the profile pictures of each member of the hangout and replaces the picture with a typing icon when any member is responding to the chat. The app also allows you to see how far into the message a member has read. In another use of pictures, it presents a watermark image underneath the point where any participant has stopped reading.

With this app, you are really in charge of the notifications. You don’t have to worry about getting the same message every time you open the app on a different device because you get notifications just once. After you see an alert, it will be removed from all your other devices on which Hangouts are enabled. Another option is to set notification snoozing. This feature lets you tweak the settings to keep the app from interrupting you for a set period, such as when you’re at work or out with friends.

Hangouts is available free via Apple’s App Store, Google’s Play store for Android and as a web app on Chrome Web Store.

Will you be trying out Google’s new Hangouts app? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @lindzsilver.

#EntreTechNYC was an exciting and jam-packed week of getting an inside look at the startup and technology scene in New York City.

Photos taken by Katie Hudson

We talked with founders, engineers, venture capitalists, community managers, business development employees, sales representatives, recruiters, and  human resource specialists who work at some of the most innovative companies in New York. Each gave us a different perspective of what it is like working for a startup in the Big Apple. 

They are diverse. Some have four employees, others have hundreds. Some are for profit, others are non-profit. Some have multiple offices around the world, while others have just one small office in a shared work space. None of them are offering the same idea, product or services and all have varying business plans. 

The companies we met with seem like they are completely different and have nothing in common. However, it is just the opposite.

I learned on the EntreTech trip that successful startups have three things in common:

1. Relentless passion
2. The ability to surround yourself with the best people you possibly can
3. The desire to change your community and/or the world

Relentless Passion

Passion is what drives the startup into existence and is what keeps the founder and his or her employees going through their ups and downs. Late nights, early mornings, crazy travel schedules, successes and failures are all fueled by the passion the founder has surrounding their idea. 

Photo by Katie Hudson at Foursquare

For example:  Darren Paul, founder of Night Agency, a full-service creative agency, is passionate about creating ideas and experiences, not just advertisements. The founder of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley, is passionate about changing the way people interact with their communities. Entrepreneur Scott Wiener, of Scott’s Pizza Tours, has an undying passion for pizza and he wants to share his expertise and excitement about it with the world.

The ability to surround yourself with the best people you possibly can 

Founders cannot do it alone, so the best thing they can do is to find the people who share their passion for their idea and for the vision of the company. During our visit to Rain, product manager Doug Crescenzi stated, “The people a founder chooses to work with are the most valuable asset to the company.” 

Photo by Katie Hudson

For Example: Blake Lyon, an Associate at Lerer Ventures, spoke to us about how the partners at Lerer have become so successful because they built a team consisting of their friends and the best people they knew at their previous endeavors. Teams we spoke to at bitly and 2U say they look for people who are smarter than themselves, who can make an impact, and who have interesting hobbies outside of work that make them a better employee. 

The desire to change your community and/or the world

All of the founders we met with spoke about making an impact in their industry, their community and even in the world. It was inspiring to hear that it is their idea and the hope for change that fuels their company; they want to make a difference.

Photo by J.D. Ross at Reddit

For Example: At Foursquare, Dennis Crowley wants to change the way we interact with maps, the city we live in, and the cities we visit. 2U is changing the way students learn and is developing new methods of online education. Charity: Water brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Reddit wants to build a platform for community that will change the lives of its users. 

If an aspiring entrepreneur wants to be successful, it is not venture capital funding, fame  or the need for an office ping-pong table that fuels success. It is the perfect combination of the above three “It  factors” of passion, people, and change.  The founders we met with have not just mastered one of these traits, they know that the key is using all of them to turn their idea into startup reality. 

What other traits have you seen in common among startup founders? Please share in the comments.

EntreTech NYC got off to a surprisingly quick start. The schedule was front-loaded so that Day 1 included the most face-time with founders and higher-ups out of the entire week. From visionaries like Dennis Crowley and Wiley Cerilli, we were privileged to hear unique success stories about incredible companies. One of the things that stood out to me from these visits, as well as from the whole week, was the shift that takes place in the role of a founder within his or her company.

This is a huge and abstract concept. Luckily we had one of the most brilliant and passionate people in New York City help to simplify it for us. Seemingly unintentionally, Scott Wiener from Scott’s Pizza Tour boiled down this entire idea by using the simple analogy of how a pizza maker forms dough. When water, flour, salt and yeast are mixed together in the correct ratio, they will form the perfect dough. However, the technique, attentiveness and gusto employed by the pizza maker can make or break that perfection (literally).

In the context of any company, the pizza maker is a founder. At the start, they develop with a burning desire to satiate taste buds and fill empty stomachs by making a pizza. They do the leg work and assemble all of the ingredients to make the dough, being partners or employees. The founder must determine the correct amount of each ingredient and carefully balance a team. However, there is a point at which  the pizza maker must recognize that they are not the only force that will have an impact on the outcome of the dough.

In an ideal situation, the pizza maker will hand knead the dough, keeping in mind not to over-knead or push out the gases produced by the yeast. In the most important step, he will pick up the dough and rotate it on his knuckles, allowing the familiar pizza shape to be stretched to the correct size by only the power of gravity. Rolling, pulling and tugging could ruin a pizza, it’s best to let it take shape naturally. Scott said it best, “It’s all momentum. Know what you don’t have to do.”

The founders that we got to talk to found themselves in this situation.  With passion and wisdom, they  packed a dough ball full of the people and technologies that would make their companies thrive. They spent plenty of blood, sweat, tears and time in order to knead the dough into the right consistency and make sure their team was doing high quality work as efficiently as possible. After making it this far they could truly focus on the aspects of the business they were the best at. Their initial enthusiasm and dedication generated the momentum that eventually led gravity to pull Foursquare and Single Platform into what they are today.