A day after an image of a drowned Syrian toddler was shared around the world, a Tweet coming from a slightly different angle stopped a lot of people in their tracks.
Dave Galbraith, a tech pioneer and parent, tweeted an iconic black-and-white photo of Steve Jobs with the words: “A Syrian migrants’ child.”
He explained to Meg Graham what he thought when he saw the body of the Syrian toddler on the beach, including that it made him “wonder what little boys like him could have achieved if they had been given the chance.”
Whatever you think of Jobs, the Tweet hit a nerve already made raw by the original images. By Friday it was aproaching 5,000 retweets and 2,500 favorites.
Going into the long weekend, travel-related stories made news. First among them: As bad as the nation is at disconnecting from our smartphones, Chicago is even worse.
A report by Bank of America found that only 4 percent of Chicagoans shut down their mobile phones during vacation — and they weren’t all checking flight times and restaurant reservations. Some 33 percent were accessing them for work reasons as well as personal ones.
That compares to national figures of 7 percent shutting down and 28 percent using phones on vacation for both work and personal reasons.
So we love to work. We’re not here for the weather, amirite?
Meanwhile, two travel-focused Kickstarters posted varying results.
With a raise that ended at $9 million, the BauBax travel jacket became the most funded clothing project ever on Kickstarter. The BauBax, you may recall, includes in travel- and commuter-friendly features from an iPad pocket to integrated eye mask and neck pillow to USB ports. Amina Elahi asked why this fairly simple, low-tech item took the crowdfunding world by storm.
More Top Picks Cages Plants
On the other end of the spectrum, another Chicago product may be ahead of its time, or simply in search of the right customer? The Modobag, a carry-on suitcase or commuter pack that you can ride on, is pricey ($999 on Kickstarter and an expected $1,899 at retail) and heavy at 20 pounds. It also struck us that you’d need to be pretty physically fit to ride the thing, which might mean you didn’t need it so much anyway?
That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to ride, though. See what some of the Blue Sky staff thought after they took it for a spin.
Another alcohol-delivery service? Can it be? Apparently yes.
Sprint announced 750 jobs coming to Chicago by the end of 2016, adding to an earlier announcement of 300. The wireless company plans to upgrade service in Chicago and is also staffing Radio Shack stores it took over as well as other initiatives.
Northwestern has hired a founding leader for its Garage innovation space; Melissa Crounse, a Silicon Valley veteran.
And John Carpenter talked to universities and experts about a thorny modern problem on college campuses: All those students with fresh, unblemished credit histories are a great target for hackers.
TapGenes gives you a way to navigate that awkward conversation with your family about who gifted you with various disease genes, founder Heather Holmes told Kate MacArthur. It’s an idea more people open to exploring these days thanks to the difficult and very public health decisions made by Angelina Jolie.
A suburban model-kit maker got a piece of the “Star Wars” merchandise aka #ForceFriday action, Cheryl Jackson reports.
The Women’s Business Development Center hosted its annual Entrepreneurial Women’s Conference this week, with a tech-focused keynote by Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani. And, she noted, it’s a rich vein for jobs not prey to the pay inequality found in many industries.
“There’s no question that technology spurs innovation. In the digital age it has transformed our workforce,” she said. “To leave women out of this growth is really, really shameful.”
In the Hub, the BusinessCollective shared some book recommendations that fuel your professional efforts but don’t entirely feel like business books. It’s a great list: The ones I haven’t already read are going on my list.
Email: [email protected] * Twitter: @andreahanis