Self Driving Cars to dominate roads by 2030

Just saw this from LinkedIn. Kevin Ashton, the man who invented the expression ‘Internet of Things,’ foresees that by 2030, self-driving cars will be the norm.

Self driving cars being the norm in 15 years is not so surprising given that self driving cars from Tesla, Google, and Apple are already testing their own prototypes. In an FT article, Tesla has promised self-driving cars by 2018, Nissan has promised self-driving cars by 2020. Traditional car companies like Toyota, Volvo, and Continental also have experimented with self driving cars. Not to mention a bunch of startups like Auro Robotics, and countless more. Given the nature of competition in a free, open and technology-driven market, it is quite conceivable that self driving cars will be the norm in 15 years.

Its not flying cars, but it will do. For now.

(Btdubs, who is this Kevin Ashton and why have I not heard of him before?)

Harvard Business Review on IOT: Its all about personal augmentation

HBR claims that "they seeing a more human-centric category of IoT activity starting to emerge. It’s less about automation and more about personal augmentation; less about individual devices and more about “living services” that let people program and connect smart devices however they want."

That actually makes sense to me. IOT cant just be about making things faster and repetitive. It has to make life meaningful and enjoyable as well

The HBR article is here

Apple Watch is taking preorders!

The wait is over. Apple is taking preorders for the watch.

Personally, I wont be buying the 1st generation watch. It's not me. I will wait for version 2.0

Why? Well, looking at how huge the change was between the first iPhone, iPod and iPad and the second generation, I feel like it is not a good value to be on the cutting edge. The potential for the iWatch is huge but the practical uses for it and the software and features that will come out from the use cases that will result from the first gen watch will not really surface until 2.0


It is still a great stock to own though.

New words: The "Application-specific IOT" and "Industry-specific IOT"

As I try to learn more about IOT for my own edumacation, I sometimes stumble upon online articles that impart critical knowledge that I cant help but share. This, below, is one of them.

I am linking to an interesting article about the difference between The "Application-specific IOT"  e.g. wearables, the type of IOT that the majority of Americans know and are excited about and "Industry-specific IOT", which is something else that companies within the same industry will pursue.

Quoting the article:

How will IoT fans, pundits and especially company CEOs betting their company business on IoT explain the disparity between the vision and the reality? We are already witnessing the introduction of new “classes” of IoT such as the “industrial IoT”. I expect that we will witness the emergence of “application-specific IoT” and “industry-specific IoT”, which, in so many ways, will not be that different from the many M2M technology implementations that address narrowly defined yet no less valuable business opportunities such as the solutions implemented, for example, by Axeda at Diebold, EMC, GE Healthcare, and Philips Healthcare.

To read more about the Wisdom of Devices and the evolution of the IoT go to Joe Barkai's discussion on General IoT vs. Application-Specific IoT

"Fashion Tech" is another word for "Wearables"

Fashion Tech. I like the phrase.

Its a great word that encapsulates the two biggest determinants of success in wearables. These wearables must be technologically advanced and at the same time these must look good.

On a related note, and this is actually waht reminded me of the term "fashion tech", I just got an email about Fashion Tech Week.  The event's goal is to "showcase emerging products from the fashion/tech, retail tech, beauty, fashion and wearable sectors".

I think I will register and check it out. Well... if its not too expensive to attend. Last year the registration fee is $70. I will need to see a substantive line up of events to pay that much since I am just a hobbyist and a fanboy of wearables. (Its not like I have an employer that would pay for my entry fees.)

Maybe they will see this blog and give me comped tickets. Ha ha.

is Apple Watch making the Swiss nervous?

Italicized excerpt below from Switzerland vs. Apple Watch  Read more by clicking the link

Crowd source vs specialization

Apple has a secret weapon that Swiss watch manufacturers don’t: An incredibly talented community of developers who will take the platform that Apple gives them and design applications for it that will give the Apple Watch capabilities that Apple never even thought of. We saw this with the iPhone, we saw this with the iPad: Apps matter and Apple is smart enough to know that its developer community is one of its most valuable players.

Mass appeal vs elitism for the same price

Apple has another big weapon at its disposal: Millions of diehard fans who will gladly shell out cash to get the Apple Watch and who will evangelize it to others. Apple fanboys are easy to make fun of but their devotion to the brand is something that has been invaluable to Apple during its transformation from a has-been into the most valuable tech company in the world.

A city saved $95m a year in utilities cost through use of IOT

According to this article "The Internet of Everything", aka Internet of Things, IOT, is the next biggest awesomest thing that will save the world because even though it is only in its infancy and is barely better than a bunch of interconnected sensors it generated a city $37 million in light and $58 million savings in water expenses.

----

To learn more about this city and read more about how IOT will save the world, read John Chamber's LinkedIn Blog

How is IOT going to grow?

How is IOT going to grow? at first I thought that it would grow just like the internet did and monetize just like ecommerce did. It's perfect for my own simplified understanding of the synergies among science, engineering and business.

However, there is an alternative view. Its not going to grow the same way because there is no standards body to guide its development.

Equally surprising is the quick quip that IOT is not about the thing or the enterprise, its about content. This line of thought still needs to be developed but its intriguing to me.



Quoting the article of Joe Barkai

We often think of the evolution of the World Wide Web as a model that the IoT will follow. In fact, there is an assumption that with the proliferation of instrumented devices and pervasive commutation, the adoption rate of the IoT will be much faster than that of the Internet. However, the WWW model fostered a culture of collaboration and open standards such as hypertext, HTML and common page browsers; the W3C consortium develops and maintains standards and connects developers and users.

The IOT industry does not seem to converge in this direction; almost the opposite. The space is inundated by numerous of communication standards and data protocols that aren’t interoperable, and companies offering as many one-off solutions to attempt to connect devices using incompatible communications methods and interfaces.

The business potential is not in the conduit, or the “plumbing” of the IoT; it is in the content. (bold emphasis mine)

Jahangir Mohammed, CEO of Jasper says that the Internet Of Things (IOT) is about service

According to Jasper's CEO the internet of things (IOT) is about service, not things. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's  CEO expressed a similar sentiment - that IOT is about things such as the OS and security systems.

He also implied that IOT will be as ubiquitous as ecommerce is now.

The Internet of Things (IoT) transforms the potential of a wide range of products by making them part of a wider service ecosystem, Jahangir Mohammed, CEO of Jasper said, noting: “the internet of things, it’s about service”

“Just about every business is going to become an Internet of Things business, it’s an inevitability. Because not only is the way people use things transformed, businesses are transformed. For the first time, businesses are continually connected to their customers, they know how customers are experiencing their products,” Mohammed said..


See more at Steve Costello's Blog

Microsoft's IOT strategy according to CEO Satya Nadella

Nadella echoed the argument mentioned earlier this month by Jasper's CEO that the internet of things is not just about the things themselves but rather it is more about the systems that make those things function. From this point of view, Microsoft has a big stake in how IOT develops. My initial thought on this news is in order for MS to have a say in IOT it has to put Windows head to head against other operating systems (iOS, Android) and other security and login systems (G+, facebook, Oracle, Cisco, etc)

It is not just about tablets, phones and PCs, but is also a platform that can "in fact run across a lot of places where general purpose compute is going to be important."

The attributes of Windows, its management and security, "are going to be more of a premium going forward," Nadella said

See more at Computer World

"The smart watch wars are still in their early days. Only time will tell how this story unfolds."

Chicago Booth professor comments on the below tweetmaps of Apple and Samsung smart watches:

"The Apple Watch tweets are focused largely on the attributes of the product– design, functionality, technology– and some negatives: accidents, warnings, etc. <snip> On the other hand, Samsung’s messages appear to dwell less on attributes. <snip> There is a lot of attention paid to its competitor, Apple, and its products. This asymmetry between Apple and Samsung might have implications for how much each product needs to compete for consumer mindshare."

Apple Watch Tweets

Samsung Watch Tweets

- See more at Blog of Kilts Center at Chicago Booth

The iWatch is even way cooler than I thought

Image from Tom's Hardware

No, I have not seen one but my favorite blog of all things iWatch, Tom;s Hardware, has the deets

Price: $349+
Screen: 38 - 42 mm
Strap: Gold, etc.

Notable Tech/Features/Qualities/Limitations:

1) Tethered to a phone. Yuck! (iPhone 5 or 6, boohoo for me I have an iPhone 4)
2) Digital crown user interface to scroll, zoom, and go "home" (creative way to navigate a small screen)
3) Taptic engine that allows it to change from a watch to a phone peripheral (okay, this seems like a high tech improvement)
4) Sensitivity to force, differentiating a tap from press. (Hmm. this will be a good feature for mobile gaming)
5) Draw chat messages (emoticons are so 2014 :-( )
6) Retina display (old news, inherited from older products)
7) Sapphire lamination (hey they are finally using that tech! Its supposed to be way harder than the glass they use)
8) Swipe gestures (well duh)
9) Detect pulse then send your heartbeat to another user (fit bit killer, anyone?)
10) Track daily physical activity (finally using gyros and accelerometers for something other than mobile gaming)
11) Control home electricals and electronics (this is an app for your Apple TV and Apples inroads to everything you will buy for your home)
12) Siri (eh, I dont like Siri. She is annoying)
13) Make payments (Apple Pay? Now apple is taking over the banking business too?)
14) Tweet (via twitter app, of course)
15) Check-in to your flight (via an app again)
16) Check-in to Hotel and open your door. (An app that lets you skip the line at the front desk? Sold!)

My judgement (for now):
I'll probably buy it because it seems like it ecourages traveling... well, domestic travel only since its data usage would be very expensive to use when travelling internationally.

iWatch vs Swatch Touch. Which is more fashionable?

Image from Business Insider

From Toms Hardware

When Swatch announced that it will launch a smart watch this fall in order to grab a slice of the $30B market (by 2018), I thought, wow that would be the elegant smart watch. Apple's will be relegated to the techy "casio calculator" bin of history. After all Swatch is the biggest watchmaker.  And it does not just sell Swatch, it also owns Tissot, Longines, Omega and Breguet.

I have to admit, I was wrong. The iWatch launched not just with a technological bang but with a fashionable flair as well. Just look and compare the two images above - Apple is not ceding any territory when it comes to looking good. I should have expected that considering how Apple revolutionized smart phones using not just new tech but also sold them as a fashion accessory.

All I can say is, Hayek better be ready to rumble in the ruway.

Will people start wearing (smart) watches again?

I stopped wearing a watch ever since I owned an iPhone. It was unnecessary. I can tell the time using my Smart Phone. I didn't feel like I needed a watch. I don't see my friends wearing watches. I might have had a strong opinion that people should no longer be wearing these antiquated one trick pony technological has-beens. Sure, watches can do things other than telling time. Perhaps, as an alarm clock, a stop watch or as a fashion accessory. But all those are things that a smart phone can do even better!

Enter smart watches. They are lighter, No need to use up pocket space. and they are not one trick ponies like your grandmama's watches. I would not be surprised if people start wearing (smart) watches again.

Why is Apple launching iPhone 6 phablet and iWatch at the same time?

iPhone 6 is a Phablet a.k.a "5.5 inches or bigger"

It seems that they did so in order for Apple to grab a larger market share of the fast growing phablet aka "big screen phone" market, currently being ruled by Samsung and the fastest growing segment of the global smartphone market. Phablets are forecasted to be ~50% the size of the smartphone market by 2018.

I wont belabor the oblique sexy geekish reference to a phablet being 5.5 inches or bigger, since sex wearables are a different category altogether, but it seems that Apple may have responded to the market by making the iPhone 6 bigger, longer, larger, heavier, bulkier and wider! This is a gamble, and many people will not be happy, but the market is changing and Apple has to change with the times. People now use smart phones mainly to do things other than make phone calls! The top 4 uses of smart phones are internet browsing, IM/chatting on social media, playing music and playing games!

Calling is so 20th Century! Except of course when it is not.

iWatch to the rescue!

The smartwatch done right is the ultimate phablet companion because of its raison d’etre. It's not a phone replacement nor is it expected to do something completely new (for now). It is however expected to do simple tasks faster, and hence, save people time by enabling quick text reads/responses, checking notifications/reminders/calender events without having to pull the phone from the pocket/car plug/iHome, coding in the password, etc. In addition, it will probably have whatever current wrist-worn wearables already have like health tracking (fitbit) and likely bluetooth connection for cars/controls. I won't be surprised if the iWatche and their future Android counterparts will have miniature cameras in the too.

This pairing strategy is already being done by Samsung (the global phablet leader) with its G Watch. I have no doubt that this is what Apple will do as well.

Is this a smart move? Someone like me who likes my small iPhone4 but want to upgrade, now has to buy both the iPhone 6 and the iWatch to get improved experience without the downside. I think people will buy both, but that is just my guess, since I have not seen either the iPhone 6 or the iWatch.

From Forbes

Should I get an Apple iWatch for my birthday?

Rumor has it that Apple will unveil its much awaited iWatch next week, just in time for my birthday!!! And people are speculating on what it will look like. Apparently, it will have 8GB of storage which means that the folks in Cupertino expect you to store songs on your phone.

I like smart watches. The features that I like the most on the current crop are

1) Stealthily read your text messages without having to open your smart phone; especially during dull meetings.
2) Connecting to a car's blue tooth and controlling most of the basics from there. For a perennial car renter like me, this means that I don't have to constantly learn how a new car's dash operates, as long as it has blue tooth, I'm good to go.
3) Monitor health related statistics like pulse rate, miles walked, jogging/biking path,  - its already on your wrist.

4) Plays MP3s while you're exercising. Yeah, smartphones do that too but you don't have to wear those awkward iPhone armbands anymore!

5) It's fashionable. Like Google Glass, just not as dorky.

I'm sure there are a lot more things going for iWatch but I want to focus on the last one bit. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities thinks that it will

        * two screen size options: 1.3-inch and 1.5-inch *

        * two color options: aluminum like the iPhone, with gold color option *

But should I buy the iWatch? Will people buy the iWatch? The iPhone 6 is rumored to come out this fall too so there is competition from Apple itself. Maybe I should just upgrade my phone and wait until after early adapters debug and critique the iWatch. After all, it could turn out as a bad purchase like the Google Glasshole device.

About The Blog

I have been curious about wearable technology for a long time; way before Google Glass, fitbit or FleshLight Launchpad. I met a fellow UChicago alum from SAP who is working on the enterprise side of IOT (Internet of Things) and that got me to thinking that I should write a blog on this topic so that I can have a historical record of what I learned along the way.

I could learn so much about this nascent industry in my spare time that I become an expert in no time!