Welcome to episode thirty three of the Technology for Good hangout. In this week’s episode our guest was Jon Collins. I’ve known Jon for quite some time online and met him for the first time at out ThingMonk conference last year. In honour of that, I wore my ThingMonk t-shirt for the show!

Some of the more fascinating stories we looked at on the show, included Glasgow University becoming the first university in Europe to divest from fossil fuels, Code.org partnering with Google, and Microsoft to help 100M students learn computer science, and Susan Scrupski’s new venture, Big Mountain Data using Big Data to tackle the problem of domestic violence.

Here is the full list of stories that we covered in this week’s show:

 

Climate

• Scientists find human fingerprints all over Australia’s hottest year on record

Energy

• Drought Dries Up California Hydropower
• DOE: 54-GWs of Untapped Offshore Wind Power
• Glasgow becomes first university in Europe to divest from fossil fuels
• China coal consumption down 23% as more funds dump fossil fuels

Lighting

• Lighting Sheets Would Use Half as Much Power as Lightbulbs
• Efficient, useful blue-light LED draws Nobel Prize in physics

Transportation

• Volvo’s big rig continuously scans surroundings to prevent accidents
• Mercedes built a self-driving truck that could save thousands of lives every year

Smart Cities

• “Reverse Toll” Paid To Pedestrians & Cyclists In Norwegian Town

Comms

• Startup has a way to let your phone make crystal-clear calls

Compute

• IBM highlights a growing Watson ecosystem and API collection

Mobile

• Snowball Debuts A Unified Inbox For All Your Messaging Apps

Sustainability

• New startup aims to reduce local food waste

Education

• Code.org partners with Google, Microsoft to help 100M students learn computer science
• Internet.org promotes apps and sites for women, farmers

Women in Tech

• Facebook, Pinterest, Box Team Up on Mentorship Program for Women in Tech
• My Next Adventure: Big Mountain Data

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