As the discussion shifts to opening the economy, what will commerce look like on the other side is the $20+ trillion question. It feels like there will be permanent structural changes in how business – and everything else – operates. Whatever the changes, it is clear that technology and connectivity will continue to grow in importance going forward. And one of the reporters who has been keeping a close tab on the changes in technology for decades is Techstination’s Fred Fiskin.
We will be interviewing Fishkin tomorrow, Friday, 4/17/20 at 1:30 PDT, on his roots as an award-winning investigative reporter, his thoughts on groundbreaking technologies, and some of the notable people he has interviewed, such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Ripple Effects of the Shutdown: From Broadband to Memory
Communication networks connect us through space, but storage connects us through time. This paraphrasing of Tom Coughlin’s comment summarizes the purpose of our recent ViodiTV Real-Time Conversation. Coughlin, president of Coughlin Associates, is an expert on the data storage market, while Josh Barstow, EVP of Corporate Strategy & Business Development for OpenVault brings decades of experience on the communications side of the business, both as an operator and supplier.
To Shared Spectrum and Beyond
“This commission has moved a staggering amount of spectrum and really, kind of rezoned if you will, the EM (Electromagnetic) spectrum for the next couple of decades worth of applications,” stated Chuck Lukaszewski, Aruba/HPE. Speaking as part of a virtual panel, Lukaszewski expressed his appreciation for the FCC’s bipartisan work in this endeavor and how it will be a catalyst for new applications for decades to come, starting as soon as the end of this year. Lukaszewski was part of last week’s ViodiTV Real-Time Conversation, along with Google’s Andrew Clegg, WISPA’s Richard Bernhardt, and Kelly Drye & Warren’s Chip Yorkgitis, where we talked about CBRS rollouts and the impending FCC vote on WiFi 6E and its implications.
Hydrogen: The Future of Sustainable Air Transportation?
The first word that may come to mind when seeing hydrogen and air travel in the same sentence is Hindenburg. Future generations, however, may think of sustainability when they hear the words hydrogen and aviation in the same breath. The April 7th, 2020 webinar, “Powertrains for the air transportation market: Hydrogen vs. Lithium – what’s better,” made a strong argument for hydrogen as a fuel for future aircraft.
Better Sleep Through Aided Meditation
“The intrusion of technology into our homes and bedrooms is claimed by many of my research colleagues to be robbing of us of precious sleep, and I agree,” wrote Matthew Walker, Ph.D. in chapter 16 of his bestselling 2017 book, Why We Sleep.* At the same time, Walker believed that it would be possible to use technology as a force of good for improving people’s sleep. In this interview, Ariel Garten, the Chief Evangelist Officer of Interaxon describes their latest product, the Muse S, which helps people reduce stress and sleep better, fulfilling Walker’s prediction.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts
Revision 3 of homemade mask using a badge from an NCTC conference. From the brilliant, but frightening category, Rosebud.AI has technology that changes the image of a model based on the demographics of the viewer. They claim a 22% lift in click-through rates in their first advertising campaigns.
- @DriverlessLau asks provides great statistics in her article that asks the question, Are Driverless Vehicles Creating Jobs? In a sense, Dr. Kornhauser has been suggesting the number of jobs could increase as unpaid labor (drivers) is replaced by a service that requires operations and maintenance support.
- It would be interesting to have a similar map showing the change in VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) versus TBD (Total Bits Delivered) via the #informationsuperhighway.
- This video interview from @NCTCtweets WEC20 with @ImOn_Comm CEO PatriceCarroll provides additional background regarding their existing free #WiFi hotspot program to help connect the people in the communities they serve.
- Easter Sunday seemed like a good time to introduce revision 3 of my @NCTCtweets-powered #facemask Now, with an interchangeable smiley face option.
The Korner – An IoT Device that Shines
It’s easy to be dismissive of bringing broadband into the home bathroom, but Shine CEO, Chris Herbert, makes a strong case for his company’s soon-to-be-released, IoT device, Shine Bathroom Assistant. Shine has a simple value proposition, which is the automated cleaning and maintenance of the commode.
A loo that is always clean and that doesn’t require scrubbing is great, but it is the analytics, combined with connectivity, that may be of even greater long-term value. In the above interview, Herbert explains that the associated app, Sam, constantly monitors things like water flow and makes inferences that allow Sam to detect leaks and overflows, track water usage, and diagnose problems.
Could smart toilets someday also diagnose the ills that plague humans? Herbert stated, “I think that intelligent toilets are the future and will have massive benefits to our health.” This recent PC Magazine article takes a somewhat lighthearted look at a serious proposal by Stanford scientists that are working on building a lab in a toilet seat. This is the type of non-invasive measurement that could be valuable for tracking disease, as well as, potentially, for measuring symptoms related to a pandemic.
