How effective are technological tools at changing the behaviors and quality of life of the people who use them? I know a lot of people who bought FitBits in the past two years and zero people who still use one. Meanwhile, our editorial team can’t even figure out how to benefit from a sleep app. 

Are you putting yourself at risk? If so, you’re not alone. 

NannyMe is a business and mobile application created by a few Sacramento high schoolers. Similar to the rideshare app Uber, NannyMe receives babysitting requests, then pings nannies (local high school students), who can accept or decline the job. Since NannyMe launched in December, about 75 families have signed up with the service.

Through certain entrepreneurial eyes, agricultural technology looks a lot more relevant than the latest iPhone app or social networking tool. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, by 2050 the world will need 70 percent more food to feed an additional 2.3 billion people.. And the Central Valley is poised to cash in — if we play our cards right.

In 2013 we reported on Capital Region startup Stevia First and its CEO Robert Brooke’s goal of making his company the first domestic distributor of stevia. Stevia First made significant progress last year, most notably by entering into a partnership with China-based stevia distributor Qualipride International Ltd.

Ryan Montoya’s task is clear, straightforward and possibly, well, impossible: Turn the  Sacramento Kings into the most technologically adept sports franchise in the world.

Longtime Placer County supervisor Kirk Uhler was recently selected as the new CEO of the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance. Uhler is also the owner of Roseville-based Rensa Group, a marketing, communications and government relations firm, and the co-founder of VidGage, a social media platform.

The technology website GeekWire calls the Sacramento Kings the “NBA’s most geeky franchise.” They mean it as a compliment. Here are some of the ways the Kings are maintaining their edge.

Too many pregnant mothers know the feeling of horror: The ultrasound reveals something wrong. Perhaps it’s nothing. But maybe it’s life-threatening, a disease or a disability. Maybe it’s the unthinkable. For hundreds of thousands of years, the unthinkable — babies doomed to die or develop impairments before drawing their first breath — meant only tragedy and heartache. Now there is hope.

Dramatic medical and technological advancements always grab my attention. They cause me to pause and contemplate how incredible the human mind can be. We create such remarkable things. But our achievements and creativity don’t have to be as groundbreaking as fetal surgery in order to influence society.