It’s always a treat when a global organization brings their annual confab to my hometown, the capital of Silicon Valley. The ironic thing is that I spent more time looking for parking, than I did commuting to the recent WBA Global Congress. Parking is one of the issues that the Wireless Broadband Alliance hopes to address as it helps cities around the world become smarter.
Beyond the Public Hot Spot & to the Smart City
“How do you make WiFi work on an end-to-end basis,” is the question that the Wireless Broadband Alliance has been addressing, according to WBA CEO, Shirkant Shenwai. As stated in it’s just released report, From 2016 to 5G, this is about moving from “best effort to carrier-grade WiFi networks.” Speaking at the WBA’s Global Congress in Silicon Valley, Shenwai describes the theme of the 2015 conference as building upon carrier-grade WiFi to create a foundation for “smart cities”, which represents a large subset of the Internet of Things.
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Apologies Are Us
There was once was an ad campaign (see the Florists Review from 1920) that suggested that one could “say it” with flowers. Whether the “it” was a symbol of one’s love or an apology for a one’s behavior, the idea is that the gift of flowers would be more meaningful than words alone. Sorry As A Service took this idea of gift giving and is applying it to customer relationships.
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Some Tweets and Short Thoughts:
- Words of wisdom, music, parenting tips & more from the heartland – check out the revamped website of Everett Christensen, owner of Minnesota’s Christensen Communications.
- Having seen and been involved with some of the preparation, I am “ready to take-off” at this week’s Calix User Group in Las Vegas. Hope to see many of you there.
- Bipartisan dig once legislation – seems like everyone can get behind this common sense idea. Now, we need to make sure this happens at the city and county level (Arizona was smart enough to enact this sort of legislation several years ago).
- Interesting article suggesting Tesla Model X owners could rent their autonomous vehicles to others, while they aren’t using it. Improving the 4% utilization, say to 20% by renting it out to others would be the equivalent of reducing the fixed cost part of this very expensive automobile.
- The idea of automation, ridesharing, electrification and connected automobiles, like is promised in the aforementioned article will be the subject of a panel I am looking forward to moderating on November 5th with two preeminent authorities, professors Alain Kornhauser and Shannon McDonald, on new mobility models and their impact on the “built-environment”. Register at From Personal Assistant to Personal Chauffeur.
- “Driverless cars cannot drink alcohol, break the speed limit or get distracted by a text message.” Passengers could also enjoy the fruits of the Internet-connected machine described in the next article, while being ferried about like royalty.
The Korner – The Internet of Beer
Given that this week saw a return to the future depicted in the classic movie, Back to the Future 2, it seems fitting to air a video interview with an inventor of a device that would make the fictional Dr. Emmett Brown proud. In the above interview, PicoBrew CEO and Founder, Dr. Bill Mitchell, describes the Zymatic, a magical device that converts raw ingredients to the beverage of Oktoberfest.
As one would be expected for a device shown at International CES 2015, this device combines processing smarts and Internet connectivity to allow even the most inexperienced to brew their own beer. Brewing starts by pouring the grain, hops and water into the Zymatic. Then, about three-and-a-half hours later, the unfermented beer is deposited in the keg. Yeast is then added and about five days later, the beer is ready. Mitchell indicates that the Internet connection allows one to remotely monitor to his batches.
Spoiler alert…..even this Joe Six Pack thought the beer from this gizmo tasted really good.
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