Moovit, the public transportation app that uses Waze-like crowdsourced data to give users accurate readings on their morning commute, has closed a $28 million funding round, led by Sequoia Capital, to make better use of the data it has collected on public transportation systems across more than 100 cities.

"If you think about what we’re doing today, we’re generating a huge amount of crowd data, up to half a billion reports per month," Nir Erez, Co-founder and CEO of Moovit, told Gigaom. 

As anyone working with data these days knows, there is a massive wave of innovation in analytics today. Hundreds of companies from startups to Amazon and Google are making breakthroughs. In the best spirit of innovation they are building on one another's work to make astounding progress on new concepts like NoSQL databases and cloud data warehouses.

But technology itself is never the whole story.

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A "bio pen" that allows surgeons to draw layers of healing cells on damaged bones and cartilage is closer to entering clinical trials after its creators handed it over to scientists at St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, for further refinement.

Developed at the University of Wollongong in Australia, the pen extrudes cells mixed with a biologically friendly material like seaweed extracts.

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University of California, San Diego researchers have developed an algorithm that's quite impressive from a computer science standpoint, but might give some people flashbacks to high school. The technique uses machine learning to figure out the most-common visual characteristics of certain groups of people (e.g., hipsters, goths and surfers) and trains an algorithm that can label group photos accordingly.

This way, you don't have to tell a site like Facebook that you're into The Cure or many-zippered pants -- it will know just from looking at your pictures.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/377ed152-6220-11e3-bba5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2nC0WpuAU

YouTube's ad revenue is set to hit $5.6 billion this year, according to an eMarketer report relayed by the Financial Times. The same report estimates that the service's net revenue after paying its partners is close to $2 billion, which would be significantly more than the $1.65 billion that Google paid for YouTube in 2006. YouTube now gets about 20 percent of all U.S. online video ad money.

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/12/11/3d-printed-trainers-synthetic-biology-protocells-shamees-aden-wearable-futures/

A London designer and researcher has prototyped shoes that repair themselves overnight. How? They're made of protocells, which are non-living molecules that can be added together to create materials that respond to stimuli like pressure or light. The protocells are 3D printed to fit the wearer's foot perfectly and puff up to create extra cushioning when needed.

Coursera has built a name for itself by providing MOOCs (massive open online courses) in a variety of subjects to practically any student willing to learn. Now, the company will offer those lessons on the go with a new free app -- a boon for students who want to take in lectures during commutes or trips.

The first edition of the app, available today in the iTunes store, offers users the ability to browse through the hundreds of courses offered in 20 different subjects on Coursera.

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Nine months ago entrepreneur and angel investor Zak Holdsworth introduced me to WellnessFX, which provides analysis and data visualizations of your blood. Users receive customized blood tests and clinical advice when they want it. No need to sit on hold for an hour waiting to book my next open appointment, or bug my doctor for the results of my blood work.

If you’re still busy trying to wrap your head around a 12.9-inch iPad, how does a curved screen iPhone(s aapl) sound? That might be where Apple is headed, according to a new patent awarded to the company on Tuesday for a “curved touch sensor.” First noticed by Apple Insider, the patent describes curved screen technology that could potentially make its way into phones, tablets, monitors and mice, among other devices.

Managing software development can seem like a real-life video game, complete with fireballs, mages and warlocks. But just like an old-school Konami code, savvy organizations have learned a few cheat codes of their own that can help keep software projects on track.

Recover from all of those drive-by feature requests
Battling a barrage of out-of-scope feature requests can leave you frustrated and depleted.