Test Drive a Top Company - OriginalSteps.com

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Test Drive a Top Company; Published: 19 April 2017; Last Updated: 20 April 2017

Inside the Duolingo headquarters - Duolingo and the global language mix

"Duolingo's mission is to make language education free and accessible to all." - Michaela Kron of Duolingo.

Duolingo's Michaela Kron spoke to the OriginalSteps.com team about the inner workings of this leading language application.

Duolingo was co-founded in 2011 by entrepreneur and computer science, professor Luis von Ahn, known for having invented CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, earning the MacArthur Genius grant, and giving a popular TED talk.

After selling two companies to Google in his twenties, Luis decided to dedicate his life to reducing educational inequity through technology. Inspired by his upbringing in Guatemala, Luis knew that while learning English could double one's income potential, high-quality language education was expensive and inaccessible to those who needed it most. His mission became making language education free and accessible to everyone in the world, so he started Duolingo.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Test Drive a Top Company; Published: 18 April 2017; Last Updated: 20 April 2017

Star Wars Force Band™ Battle Worn image courtesy Sphero © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd. Image copyright: Bryan Rowe

Sphero's connected toys have been labelled as innovative, cool and trendy. It was their Force Band nevertheless that grabbed our attention. So, after patiently waiting for the hype to settle around it, we decided to take it for a test drive - and it works wonders!

The gadget and its functionality has one taking jumps rather than steps forward. Using the concept of the "Force" to control a robotic object quickly fast tracks the imagination into the future. So now imagining what can be, what is possible and how the world can develop has become a logical reality and not just something enclosed within the sectors of Hollywood.

Read more: Sphero paves a way forward

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Test Drive a Top Company; Published: 19 February 2017; Last Updated: 28 February 2017

The future of racing is electrifying! Berlin ePrix 2016 - image source/courtesy FIA Formula E Championship

The motorsport industry is historically one of the cornerstones of the world’s sports market. Fast paced and energised, whether be it on two wheels, four wheels, on land, air or sea, it has always gathered a global following of enthusiastic fans.

When the FIA Formula E Championship was added to this buzzing sports sector, there was a sudden pause. The pause however, was caused by more of an inquisitive approach - after all the historical hustle and bustle of loud roaring engines, popping exhausts and bursting cylinders, seemed to have been shelved for a more quieter and clinical approach. Formula E was the alternative, it brought about a futurist finesse that was sleek, clear and is indeed attractively electrifying....

Paving the way for the future of motorsport is a job description that Formula E reluctantly had to undertake. Though a pressurising role, it is a much needed one. With the use of electric-powered racing cars as its offering, it proves the theory of the benefits and effects of alternative energy. And by doing so, a giant advertisement for the future of racing was sparked!

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Test Drive a Top Company; Published: 23 March 2017; Last Updated: 23 March 2017

The Deutsche Börse Group - stepping up to the global challenge - image courtesy of the Deutsche Börse Group

Along with its markets, products and systems for trading and clearing, the value of Deutsche Börse Group is based on its employees: highly qualified and motivated people with pronounced strengths such as analytic-strategic thinking and intellectual competence and social skills.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Test Drive a Top Company; Published: 31 October 2016; Last Updated: 09 November 2016

Four distinct products; three different companies; two distant continents - connecting one planet's future.

The Force: It is not an everyday occurrence that one can walk around feeling like a Jedi. Well one US-based robotics company called Sphero on the contrary, is bringing that feeling a little closer to homes with their BB-8 and Force Band offering. As BB-8 is now fast becoming a household or office robotic pet. Sphero’s Force Band addition (which helps to control the BB-8 robot), has certainly brought out what was once a dream-like concept of George Lucas’ Star War saga to real life and modern living. Find out more on Sphero.com.

Bringing home the ‘NOW’ generation of Robotics - Sphero's BB-8 and Force Band - image courtesy Sphero © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.