Weekly News Roundup: May 22, 2015

Five Top Venture Capitalists Name the Top 10 Tech Trends of the Next 5 Years

Forbes | Robert Hof | May 22

http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2015/05/22/five-top-venture-capitalists-name-the-top-10-tech-trends-of-the-next-5-years/

“Get ready for the Skynet economy, the death of the car, and the re-emergence of women in tech. Those are three of the top 10 trends coming in technology in the next few years, according to several top venture capitalists…The criteria for the trends are that they must not be obvious (a rule frequently broken) and will be big in five years (also often broken). Offering their prognostications at the were Bill Gurley of Benchmark Partners (recently described by rival VC Marc Andreessen as “my Newman” after Jerry Seinfeld’s enemy), fast-talking science geek Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, China-focused Jenny Lee of GGV Capital, early-stage investor Rebecca Lynn of Canvas Venture Fund, and former serial entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar of Sherpa Ventures.”

University of Washington Wins $100K from Google for Encouraging Women to Study Computer Science

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | May 21

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/university-of-washington-wins-100k-from-google-for-encouraging-women-to-study-computer-science/

“The University of Washington’s computer science department today won a $100,000 top prize from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). The NCWIT, a 10-year-old non-profit that promotes women’s participation in computing, picked the UW’s CSE program based on “significant gains” made in increasing women enrolling and graduating from its department.”

5 Numbers That Explain Why STEM Diversity Matters to All of Us

Wired | Maeghan Ouimet | May 21

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/5-numbers-explain-stem-diversity-matters-us/

“The ongoing debate about the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) diversity dilemma has a pretty low signal-to-noise ratio: Despite the constant stream of TED Talks, books, blog posts, and corporate initiatives, there’s surprisingly little consensus about what the latest statistics and trends mean—much less how we’re going to address the issues they raise…In the interest of speaking a universal language, here are five revealing numbers that paint a clear-eyed picture of the state and impossible-to-ignore implications of STEM diversity today.”

Tech Giants Urge Obama to Reject Policies That Weaken Encryption

New York Times | Nicole Perlroth | May 19

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/technology/tech-giants-urge-obama-to-reject-policies-that-weaken-encryption-technology.html

“A collection of tech industry giants like Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft, as well as civil liberties organizations and Internet security experts, sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday warning of the unintended consequences of any policy meant to weaken the encryption technologies that protect Internet communications.”

Seattle Partners with Google for Wi-Fi Lending Service

Puget Sound Business Journal | Jacob Demmitt | May 18

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2015/05/seattle-partners-with-google-for-wi-fi-lending.html

“The city’s libraries announced a new Wi-Fi hotspot lending programming Monday, which is funded through a $225,000 grant from Google. There will be 150 new hotspot transmitters people will be able to check out from the library for three weeks at a time for free. They’ll be able to use the transmitters to get online at home for free.”