Robin Raskin

The actors’ strike puts the spotlight on AI replacing performers. It’s early days, but soon it will impossible to know real from virtual.

The biggest U.S. government investment in clean tech could be even larger than anticipated, in part by kickstarting the private sector.

Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer, discusses his grandfather’s values and commitment to international cooperation.

Generative AI’s raison d’etre is to help us go faster. But snackable content can be digital junk food.

A growing number of Americans actively avoid the news. And that is a problem for a well-informed democracy. 

The mostly white, mostly male dominated VC community had its chance to widen the tent but has been too slow on the draw. Lemmings are not good for innovation.

We’re beginning to learn to prepare for the unexpected now that the unexpected has become the norm. The realities of the climate crisis become harsher and more inescapable by the day.

Headsets, AR, VR and XR become the rage again.

In the early days of ChatGPT, you had to make a conscious effort to actively seek it out. Now, AI chatbots are becoming inescapable. 

The backlash to advances in artificial intelligence have come in all shapes and forms, from mild concern to dramatic over-reactions. Here’s a look at the primary concerns.

Over 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and around 4.2 billion people–more than half of the world's population–experience severe water scarcity for at least one month per year. 

It’s time to consider that at its heart TikTok is a cultural tool of war attempting to lower the collective IQ of a new generation of American youth.

Mastering the new art and science of Generative AI is all about the power of a good prompt, breaking down the big vision of what you’d like to see and encapsulating it into as few words as possible.

It’s been a helluva month as Google and Microsoft unleash AI-powered search to a wary public.

Wall Street Green's Peter Fusaro believes we’ve moved beyond the education phase into an action and implementation phase that will benefit businesses, investors, and the planet.

The Great Resignation, the Great Layoffs, the quiet firings, the quiet hirings, the quiet quitting. Call the current work environment what you will, but at its core, what we’ve got is a Great Reshuffle, where how we work and get compensated may change forever.

Here’s a mind-blowing number: Roughly 2% of people in the United States grow the food that the other 98% of us consume. Novel agtech is changing what it means to farm.

Bringing people together effectively has become an increasingly important component of corporate strategy and employee retention. In a post-pandemic world, community building became elevated to an art form.

In an economy that’s regaining momentum, the tech sector is the outlier, losing jobs faster than socks lose their mates in the dryer. So how does this economic uptick reconcile with the tumult in tech?

Ask 10 people to define the metaverse and you’ll get 15 different answers. The recent conference served to highlight the metaversal concerns of digital sophisticates.

New educational tools are incorporating curricula based on AI, gamification, AR and VR, and most interestingly, a collaboration that uses blockchain, token systems, and the creator economy. Here are three startups worth a look.

Generative AI is increasingly available to every person–software that can create works of art, music, video, code, and yes, even writing columns like this one, in response to your written commands. Such software was once the domain of computer scientists or enterprises with deep pockets. Now they’re affordable and rapidly heading toward mass market adoption. […]

I’m no longer hiding under my desk awaiting missiles, but don’t be surprised if you see me stockpiling chips in my desk drawer.  Many companies have already reported doing the same, many of them Chinese companies.

As AI assumes more and more previously human tasks, ethicists, futurists, and legal minds are getting apoplectic, scurrying to get out ahead of the issues.

AI-generated art from emerging products like Dall-e and Midjourney begs the question of what is creativity, what is art, who makes it, and who owns it.

Conventional wisdom has it that PCs and electronics are just bad for the environment – think nasty chemicals, extreme water use, and e-waste. Manufacturers are making progress, with more on the horizon.

The art market highlights the problems with a decentralized world. It may ultimately mean that there is no one entity that dominates the scene, but principles of trust and community will result in awesome art creations.

The hackathon will engage the blockchain community and others. Programmers, designers, and innovators aim to build tech to "make wartime life easier."

Little devices can make a big difference in reducing your carbon footprint. Here’s a quick overview.

Solana Spaces was conceived to help demystify crypto and create a sort of ever-changing hangout for fans who are expected to keep exploring the store's latest additions. 

More than one third of the world's population plays video games. The Games for Change Festival spotlights how games can be a force for good.

The fallback definition of porn has been “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it”. The definition of the metaverse may be “I’m in it, but I don’t know it.”

Avatars, navigation, security, the transportability of purchases and wallets, and what you can view with your VR headsets–it’s all completely dependent on which metaverse you visit. This is a real problem.

Crypto is feeling intense pain right now. But the ecosystem must address a thorny problem as it comes of age: energy consumption.

Cevat Yerli wants a metaverse rooted in pragmatism, optimism and happiness. He’s not alone.

Despite daily reports of bad news about cryptocurrencies, the true believers at Consensus in mid June remained optimistic. Community leaders share why that was.

A crypto movement that once tried to circumvent governments and regulators of any kind is finally raising its hand and begging to be regulated.

Sandberg will be remembered as the Wendy to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Her legacy also includes blame for how Facebook amplified divisiveness in humankind. That is a heavy burden.

One-size-fits all paywalls for publishers create societal problems. Time for new models to make sure our news needs are being met.

AI is being used to make all kinds of everyday digital tasks more efficient and easy. The software can do many things you used to have to do yourself–in video editing, dieting, fitness, and plenty of other activities.

Banning abortion pushes the U.S. towards the path of becoming a third rate power, with uneducated, unemployable citizens whose lives will need to be subsidized by government dollars. 

The image of a cleaner planet we experienced during the early pandemic was not a mirage. While we can’t live in lockdown, we can learn its lessons.

Grownups have gotten so excited about what they could do in the metaverse that they’ve all but ignored the kids. And for understandable reasons.

Metaverse Fashion Week was a celebration of virtual sartorial style with over 70 participating brands. From the silly to the sublime, it offered a glimpse at a future where distinctions between reality and digital will blur.

Can government agencies move fast enough to ensure the U.S. remains the leader in digital assets? At least business and Washington are more or less now on the same page.

If the metaverse is the next web, promising fully immersive digital destinations, then NFTs are increasingly positioned as a ticket to get in.

Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s most crypto-conscious countries. Now cryptocurrency is helping both sides. Russians want to evade sanctions, while Ukraine aims to tap crypto wealth.

Fintech is creating a wider, more inclusive tent for those who want access to financial services. Innovators have done that by focusing on the pain points in today’s financial system.

If you take a bunch of Super Bowl fans already punch drunk on chicken wings and beer and serve them up the suggestion of easy gains in crypto, it’s a recipe for risky behavior.

Mobile phones brought huge changes to 9-1-1 emergency systems. Now the internet of things and AI will take them to the next level, improving safety for all of us.

The metaverse exists mostly in the vivid imaginations of its creators. These cheeky poems take you on a tour through the digital landscape.

Dark stores, ghost kitchens, and/or micro fulfillment centers are the latest assault on urban topography. These warehouses live right in your neighborhood, in order to get goods and meals delivered faster than ever.

CES 2022 was a very different sort of show and that may have a big influence in how trade shows, especially this one, are designed in the future.

'Tis the season to be jolly (if possible) and work from home yet again. So let your gift list reflect that! For loved ones still trapped by their screens, here’s Raskin's last-minute list of gifts to make working at home at least a better experience.

NFTs continue their invasion of the art world, most recently at Art Basel. The rich, newly-rich, and JPEG-rich converged in proximity to Basquiat et al.

I see caution flags about how kids will be catered to in this new world everywhere. Now that we’re all big babies in the metaverse, it’s time to make sure we’re minding the real babies with a lot more intention.

Forced isolation, ad fatigue, the desire to be recognized as a full-fledged citizen with rights in cyberspace, and some fantastic technology advancements are bringing us to the birth of the metaverse. It’s still just gestating.

Are we on the edge of breaking through, poised to transform how we as humans will make things forever? This CEO thinks so.

A change in leadership, employees with backgrounds in humanities, and a switch so a "slower, smaller" approach – this whistleblower darling is on a crusade to save lives by saving Facebook.

The metaverse was supposed to be open, not owned by anyone, and interoperable between all platforms. Does that sound like Facebook to you? 

Shortages in the labor market; ports that can’t offload container ships; rising prices–it’s a recipe for a stuff shortage. Taming the supply chain is going to take a concerted effort on many fronts.

Will Facebook continue wading into the quagmire of children’s digital content or double down on the next generation gold rush – the metaverse?

NFTs are being touted as the cure for just about everything that can ail us. Not since the Internet itself has a single concept opened up so much opportunity, speculation and conversely, trepidation.

Right now, companies are fumbling. It’s time to apply a new set of metrics to how work is measured, how it’s compensated, and how much of it can be done remotely.

Chinese officials unveiled tough new limits on the amount of time its young people can spend playing video games, calling them “opium for the mind.“  Let the experiment begin.

Apps are likely to end up a great way to take rigidity and sameness out of Zoom meetings.  But for the moment, to have better meetings you need fewer tools, not more.

CEO John Hanke made waves this week by saying we should concentrate on building a better reality, not sleeker alternative ones.

We are a nation on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown. But are apps the answer?

Uncharted territory. The lure of the unknown. And just like with the explorers of yore, the course of history will inevitably be altered by greed, motive, and human error.

The health care industry has left a gaping hole in serving its largest segment. These products might democratize access to health care for women.

Settle down with one of these good new books by Eggers or Isaacson, among others. You'll gain major insight about tech and might even have fun (depending on the book).

Now that they’ve tasted the sweet cheese of working from home, the rat race has less appeal.

First it was steps, then sleep, but now tech is measuring what you say, how you say it, and whether or not people like it. It all has dystopian impact.

AT&T was broken up in the 80’s. That same year, a giant antitrust suit against IBM was dropped. But both companies broke into parts. The past can instruct the present.

The death of the business card may be inevitable. But it has an awful lot of cultural, historical, business, and even creative significance.

The “affect recognition” market could be worth $56 billion by 2024. But humans misread human emotion, why should computers fare better?

Despite face masks, beauty products sold beautifully during the pandemic. And the industry furthered its pivot to digital, not only online but in stores. Virtual lipstick try-on, anyone?

Tech companies are moving quickly towards grab and go shopping. But as clerks disappear, do we really want to lose the human touch as we do our rounds?

Never underestimate the woman who marries a geek.

Can a private equity firm do better than a telecom as an owner? Don’t throw out your AOL or Yahoo email addresses just yet.

2021 is being hailed as the birth of a mirrored world, where digital simulations and real life will work in concert. Digital twins will be used to create ultra-realistic, bi-directional simulations of everything from smart cities to manufacturing processes, aeronautics, clinical health trials and supply chains.

Facebook this week announced a sweeping audio-forward campaign. In a rare interview with a journalist, Zuckerberg elaborated on Facebook’s ambitious plans.

Columnist Raskin has become, during Covid, a curator of the exploding field of event technologies. Here are some innovative ones. Join her own event to learn more.

The creative industry – art, music, the theatre – was hit hard by the pandemic. Can new tech help them finally get recognized for what they're worth?

The past 12 months have tested us to a near biblical degree. We’ll spend the rest of eternity unpacking its lessons. The risk lies in forgetting everything we’ve learned.

In the future textile manufacturing will be part farm, part chemistry lab, and part factory. Nature and high tech don't have to be at odds.

We’ve had a lot of time to listen this past year, and a lot of incentive to move away from our screens. The year 2021 will be good on the ears.

Where do you go when the things you want in real life are already spoken for? The latest For Sale sign is for all things digital.

Most notable large live events of this coming spring and summer are being canceled for the second year in a row. But as we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, there’s lots of collective soul searching about how we should meet again.

Upwards of 55% of the population worked remotely during the pandemic. With April 15th approaching, keep your financial planner on speed dial.

As education remains deeply impaired by the pandemic, schools will have to push the envelope further, incorporating technologies like 3D, augmented reality, voice tools, and AI learning. Here are a few technologies we think hold particular promise.

The GameStop saga is more than a David/Goliath saga of Redditors versus Wall Streeters. It’s the story of reality versus the both of them.

Facebook suggests that 5% of active monthly users are fake. Social media giants should look to banking's Know York Customer (KYC) tenets for solutions.

Walking through the all-digital CES proved there’s an awful lot of new tech that aims to keep us safer and more hygienic as we emerge from the pandemic. Here are just a few of the products showcasing tech-infused cleanliness.

Discord, Substack, Patreon, and the metaverse are just the tip of the community iceberg.

COVID is forcing us to reimagine a digital immunization records. How we approach it may change how we control the virus, reinvigorate the economy, and open the world after lockdown.

Viewed through a screen, CES may offer us a glimpse at more substance and less glitz than if we were shuffling through the throngs at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the technologies we should really be celebrating.

2020 made us question a lot of assumptions. Here are a few tenets 2020 shattered and rearranged.

There's a new kind of restaurant where food gets cooked but not served. Such establishments may be the savior of the hard-hit industry. And they're giving all of us a wide range of at-home choices.

We’ve mastered attending virtual conferences, but the human connection is hard to find. We’re housebound, with screens our only portal for meeting new people. So a few new companies are taking their cues from the singles scene to come up with solutions.

“Do Not Touch” is this year’s revenue battle cry. Proximity sensing, voice, NFC, 5G, sensors, and the cloud are just some of the enabling technologies that make it all possible.

Martin Cooper is universally celebrated as the father of the modern cell phone. His new memoir is a manifesto that addresses the innate need for people to communicate–past, present and future.

Among the laundry list of behaviors that have been upended by the pandemic is what constitutes playtime for kids. Playdates, playgrounds, and outdoor sports all but evaporated as the world locked down. Screens became the intermediary between kids and the physical world. The silver lining is that parents got to watch and even participate in […]

Earlier this month PayPal announced that in the U.S. it would begin accepting Bitcoin. This marriage further legitimizes the crypto evolution.

With 300 million daily participant meetings, Zoom now aims to move from being just a video conference solution to become a digital ecosystem, "delivering happiness."

Three in four tech companies face difficulty finding candidates with the right skills and abilities. A triple cocktail is moving the dial right now on how to address the school-to- work pipeline, creating vast opportunities for smart educators and smart companies to step up, work to help people, and lessen the friction between schools and business.

As we stare at our screens for a larger portion of each day, the lines between real and digital are getting fuzzier. Phase 2 of screen life will blur real and digital even more.

Tech is reshaping the beauty industry in its own image, turning it more reliant on screens, AI, AR, and personalization. Here are some changes, from the mundane to the sublime, we can expect to linger in the half-trillion-dollar business of cosmetics and personal care products.

People often say the greatest tech innovations emerge from crises. Crypto may be the place to watch this time.

A major tech-infused healthcare movement has been in the works for more than a decade. COVID just kicked it into high gear. Here are ten things you need to think about.

As Facebook and Twitter begin to flag more hate speech and misinformation, new social media hangouts step up to fill the void, for those who don’t like such censorship.

Several companies are developing technology that can read your vital signs (and screen for COVID) via your smartphone camera simply by looking at your face.

If you want to see the future of technology and policy, look no further than digital gaming. Not only are they at the cutting edge in consumer behavior, gaming apps like Fortnite are now in the middle of a national debate about state-of-the-art tech regulation.

OpenAI's GPT-3 was recently described as “the most powerful 'language model' ever created" and has the potential to be the poor man's road to AI riches.

A Microsoft acquisition won’t end well, argues Raskin. Here's why she's rooting for a complete spinoff of TikTok, creating a new American company.

As video becomes the hieroglyphics of our time, we’ll rely on it to communicate more than ever. And increasingly we’re coming to doubt the veracity of all things video.

Controlled by a Chinese media conglomerate and the social media of choice for U.S. 16-24-year-olds, TikTok is being scrutinized and dissected by everyone.

The parallels to today’s Silicon Valley should not be lost. Hamilton’s crew were eking out a framework for democracy. Theirs was a very serious sort of start-up.

Americans are about as likely to report they’ve had Covid-19 and turn over their contacts as they are to report they’ve got head lice or STDs.

Covid-19 has been particularly unkind to older people and has exacerbated what’s been called the Loneliness Epidemic. Now nonprofits are using tech to provide a better quality of life for aging and disabled populations.

With summer camp essentially impossible, innovative parents are turning to alternatives. There are lots of online programs or you can restructure family life, but there are ways to avoid parental burnout this summer.

The tech industry is a redoubt of "white guys doing business." Only 2.8% of Google's U.S. employees are Black. Will today's historic protests finally lead to more inclusion?

Before the pandemic less than 10% of the American population had tried telehealth services. Most of us felt telehealth generally wasn’t much more than a doctor-directed self examination.  “Where does it hurt?  Do you have a fever? ”  A typical session via companies like Teladoc, Amwell or HealthTap took 15 minutes and cost something like […]

The gold rush is on to move live events and conferences online. These are some companies to consider if you want to host an event in this stay-at-home era. The list of companies claiming to turn your event virtual is vast, but I found these to be the pick of the litter.

It’s only been 6 weeks since most large gatherings and events were canceled. Many of us are quickly finding out that, when done right, online events and conferences can be a lot less expensive and remain effective in surprising ways.

At ages 15 and 16 respectively, Sage Khanuja and Nikolas Ioannou were among five winners of Young Innovators to Watch award at CES in January. Their project, Spria, was a low-cost 3D-printed device that could, when administered with a mobile app survey, detect early signs of COPD. Now, they’re developing a smartphone-based technology to offer clinical-quality testing to assess lung capacity just with a phone alone.

A new type of high-tech busking is emerging, and a big canvas that is both isolated and worldwide is taking root. Raskin explains and puts your FOMO at ease with her calendar-based compendium of live, virtual events.

The idea of sleeping through a defining moment of American history resonates. What will it look like when we walk out of this world-wide pause and find ourselves in a world transformed?

Oded Gal is Chief Product Officer at Zoom. Raskin spoke with him the morning after her family’s Zoom Passover Seder and right after a morning Zoom gym class.

As Covid-19 spread, more than 1.4 billion students worldwide suddenly found themselves booted out of the classroom. That began a scramble to create or adopt a makeshift curriculum that could be delivered online.

There’s no better time for the U.S. to embrace digital currencies. It could instantly get funds into the hands of American consumers. Speaker Pelosi’s first stimulus bill even discussed it. A crisis is often when great technologies take off.

Touching was already getting touchier. Now, life under threat of COVID-19 is the ultimate touchless state. But as we reign in touch we lose communication and comfort.

Coronavirus is putting our world on pause, writes this normally peripatetic conference-goer. Amidst the inconvenience, she finds inspiration for embracing the slowdown from, of all things, the Grateful Dead.