This is one for the olds: Do you ever wonder what you might have invented if you had grown up with access to the Internet and not just Mattel Electronic Football?
I know, probably nothing, right?
But Rishi Shah is emblematic of this generational difference for me, maybe because he was born the year I graduated high school. He was a kid who invented a computer business as a teenager in his parents’ house, and he is now CEO of ContextMedia, which said this week that it will add 600 jobs by the end of 2016. Mayor Emanuel attended their press conference. Is it now a rite of passage, having Rahm show up at your jobs announcement: You know you’ve made it when?
Shah co-founded the company with Shradha Agarwal. Neither is 30 years old yet.
ContextMedia already has a full floor in the AMA Plaza at 330 N. Wabash, which is still known to many olds as the IBM Building.
Things change.
Mattel Football was pretty great though.
Elsewhere on the change beat:
Amina Elahi talked to a Visa executive about why your bad password soon might not matter anymore
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— namely, because Apple has gotten us accustomed to fingerprint scanning so fast. No more 1234 or, if you’re a super-creative type, 4321.Amina was also there as Women Tech Founders took the stage at 1871, launching its own efforts to inspire young women to pursue careers in technology. Leadership abhors a vacuum, amirite?
Meg Graham reported on the Chicago Public Library’s first three locations for its WiFi lending program, which allows card-holders to “check out” Internet access. On the same day, library commissioner Brian Bannon spoke at the City Club of Chicago. Emanuel was there, too, before addressing the club himself the next day.
New from NorthShore University HealthSystem: a heat map for fever, or think of it as a weather-map-like visualization of outbreaks. How near is the flu to you? It knows.
John Carpenter wrote about MashPlant, an online platform where students can create and share class-related content about art and science out of public eye, under the guidance of a teacher. Founder Jason Brett co-founded Chicago’s Apollo Theater in 1978 and co-produced the romantic comedy “About Last Night” in 1986. “Community is the most powerful learning environment, because you feel safe,” he said. “You’re with others like you.”
In the Office Tours series, Meg and photographer Andrew Nelles cruised Pivotal Labs’ new office in the Merchandise Mart. The company is based in San Francisco, but this outpost features works by Chicago artists.
In the Hub, Inc. magazine weighs in on innovative immigrants, who are more than twice as likely to start a business as native-born citizens, and the small signs that it might be time to quit your day job in favor of your side gig.
Blue Sky’s next “Launch Your Blog in Less than a Day” class with Jimmy Greenfield and Nick Tann is March 10. The event with The Second City’s Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton, authors of “Yes And,” has sold out, and we look forward to seeing you there Wednesday. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend!