Well, OK, maybe some of you have. However, that in no way detracts from their practical innovativeness. And by practical, I mean they’ve developed something way cool we all could use in our daily lives. And by innovative, I mean they’ve developed something sort a new or greatly improved on an existing idea. Here they are, alphabetically (no favouritism here).
Blinkist
Yeah, so your boss (or professor) just assigned you some homework; read that hefty new book that’s all the rage in the business world. However, you have neither the time nor the inclination. Then Blinkist is your answer. It will deliver, for a fee, a 15 minute blurb, or blink, that encapsulates all the key points of over 400 notification titles and they’re adding new titles every month.
Oscar
Crap, sick again! But off to work you go because you’ve got no health insurance. Remedy that with Oscar. Oscar is the hip, new personal market health insurance company (for residents of NY and NJ…soon California and Texas too), that allows you to shop for insurance under the ACA. You list your symptoms and it recommends a doctor and can put you in immediate conversation with one as well. It also tracks your case for you, to include prescriptions, office visits and lab work.
x.ai
You’ve just watched Her, that near future movie about the dude that falls in love with his OS, and, other than being really weird-ed out, you found yourself wondering, “I wish my OS understood me the way Samantha…I mean, how far off is that?” It’s still far off, but x.ai is a step in that direction. x.ai uses your emails to schedule meetings with you and up to 5 of your colleagues/friends. Yes, you talk to Amy (or Andrew) about said meetings and (s)he takes care of the rest, including the tedious email back-and-forth and calendar checks. You set Amy in motion and only hear back from her when the meeting gets confirmed.
Now that you’re curious, check out these truly innovative (practical, too) start-ups and see what all the buzz is about.
Written by: Steve Tinker
