Our advances in technology have allowed us to dream about a fusion plant.  Can this be another "power" industry that our students will help develop?
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"It’s an old joke that many fusion scientists have grown tired of hearing: Practical nuclear fusion power plants are just 30 years away — and always will be.

But now, finally, the joke may no longer be true: Advances in magnet technology have enabled researchers at MIT to propose a new design for a practical compact tokamak fusion reactor — and it’s one that might be realized in as little as a decade, they say. The era of practical fusion power, which could offer a nearly inexhaustible energy resource, may be coming..."

Read more @ MIT News

It seems like Microsoft is turing the corner on education to be more focused for younger students.  Check out all the resources they have through the YouthSpark Hub!
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Microsoft YouthSpark is committed to helping young people capture opportunity. Use our programs to learn skills, to prepare for the jobs of the future, even to start your own business. YouthSpark was created for you.
Read more @ YouthSpark Hub

Although this is years away for public schools (due to cost), we can't wait to introduce and share this type of technology with our students.

Love the quote from this video:

"Anytime you change the way that you see things, it changes the way that you understand them.  As soon as you can change someone's understanding, then they can change the way that they see the world."

Of course, there is the "budget" way of doing this as well:

Using LED's and aeroponic methods, the farm is 75 times more productive than an outdoor farm and uses 95% less water.  This technology would be amazing in our drought stricken California.  We're excited that this "new" industry will be supporting our nutrition needs, and more importantly our students will have the chance to contribute to this industry.  
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"With state-of-the-art, cleantech technology using aeroponics and LEDs, AeroFarms is the commercial leader for indoor vertical farming, utilizing a totally controlled growing environment without sun or soil and minimizing harmful transportation miles."

Read more @ AeroFarms

If you ever wanted an inside view on Hackathons, this is a good read.  Milpitas students have participated in several Hackathons around Silicon Valley.
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"On the third day, half the people on the Startup Bus got motion sick. We hadn’t slept for two or three nights, the roads through the Smoky Mountains were perilously curved, the tour bus was traveling at top speed, and we had all been staring at our laptop screens for far too long.

Someone on my team bumped the table where we sat and it collapsed on our laps for the third or maybe 10th time that day. Alicia Hurst, my team’s designer, grabbed her computer before it fell, but her giant water bottle hit the floor. Again. Emma Pinkerton, our business strategist, held up the table while I scrambled to..."

Read more @ The Atlantic

Here's an interesting paradigm shift of our future of driverless vehicles.  Imagine your ride being subsidized by your activities.  The Wienermobile was way ahead of it's time.  How different will our kindergarten students experience the world in this mobile economy and what type of skill sets will they need to support, operate, maintain, and sustain this economy? 
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"Self-driving cars are just beginning to creep onto our highways. But in the future, autonomous vehicles may dominate the roads, freeing up their human passengers to engage in all sorts of other activities. For instance, you might want to spend your morning commute pouring through your emails whilst a barista prepares your pumpkin spice latte. Wait, what?!

The notion that “driving” may be a very different experience in the..."

Read more @ Gizmodo

"Not long ago, the John J. Harvey, a red steel fireboat built in 1931, left the southern tip of Manhattan. It was headed north for a five day trip up the Hudson River, as far as the Erie Canal and then back. On board were about fifty maritime-history buffs and a bright green piece of hardware mounted on a backpack.  This was 6138580E, one of a handful of Trekkers built by Google in the past couple of years. A Trekker is a portable photographic rig that looks like a long-necked robot with a  dissected disco ball for a head. It contains two batteries, two hard drives, and fifteen cameras that point in..."

Read more @ The New Yorker

Be the next Trekker

Many of our students will be involved in further unlocking the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) providing opportunities and advantages for themselves and for others. 
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"The Internet of Things--sensors and actuators connected by networks to computing systems—has received enormous attention over the past five years. A new McKinsey Global Institute report, The Internet of Things: Mapping the value beyond the hype, attempts to determine exactly how IoT technology can create real economic value. Our central finding is that..."

Read More @ McKinsey & Company
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"Robots are entering the workforce. Some will work alongside you. Others, sadly, will put you out of work. The question is, which jobs are actually on the chopping block?The answer to that has been bathed in media hype, but we talked to experts who gave us some realistic answers about which human careers might be endangered—and why.

Warehouse and factory workers

Robots are already working in distribution centers. This kind of setting is fertile ground for robot takeover, because bots are good at repetitive tasks that don’t..."

Read on Gizmodo.

How many of these companies are you familiar with?  If these companies still exist, our students may develop and market their next generation products.

Read more at CB Insights