Categories
Viodi View

Viodi View – 12/28/21

The theme of CES2022 is “Beyond the everyday”. Although the intent of that sentence probably has to do with the impact of different technologies, in 2022 this statement could mean the idea of being around 150k+ conference-goers. It will definitely be a back to the future experience. At least this interviewer will have a limited-edition cotton mask for the endless halls of this seemingly infinitely large conference. Email me if you are going to be at CES.

Speaking of back to the future, this issue looks at some posts that are especially relevant going into 2022 and remembers some folks who made a difference and will continue to influence despite their recent passing.


A Holistic Approach To Lifelong Mobility

ITNAmerica provides the tools for local organizations to create community-based transportation solutions. Its latest tool, ITNCountry provides local non-profits with the ability to connect volunteer drivers with passengers, similar to what Lyft or Uber does, except at a much lower cost basis.

The founder of ITN America, Katherine Freund talks about what her organization does in this presentation moderated by yours truly.  What Freund talks about is more than giving people rides. It is about making it easy for people to connect. As she says, “People will help each other if you help them figure out a way to do it.”

Read and View Here


ITNCountry and ISPs – Stay Tuned

Jan 26th, 2022, 1 PM PST

“Around 40% of rural counties in the U.S. have no public transit services whatsoever,” according to Michael Sena in his latest newsletter (PDF). Affordable mobility is a huge challenge, particularly for seniors.

Mark your calendar for this conversation with Katherine Freund about how ITNCountry could make a difference in rural areas. Patricia Jo Boyers, president/CEO of Boycom, a rural Missouri ISP, will give her perspective and reaction. This will be a great pairing as, like Freund indicates, ITNCountry and rural internet service providers go together “like salt and pepper or bread and butter!”

Set a reminder at https://youtu.be/Ub4_9zim748


Speaking of Mobility and Mobility

The communications link between autonomous vehicles and their respective remote assistant teams is a nice-to-have, but not a must-have, at least for Aurora and Waymo. This is huge as it means the autonomous vehicle use-case of 5G may not be as important as 5G advocates would have us believe. 

This was confirmed this week as a follow-up to a SmartDrivingCar panel from earlier in the year.  Michael L. Sena posed the question in preparation for a book that summarizes the findings from the SmartDrivingCar Summit and sets the stage for the 2022 SmartDrivingCar Summit, which will take place May 5th to May 7th in Princeton and Trenton, NJ.

Read Here


FCC Allocates $603M in Additional Emergency Connectivity Funding by Alan Weissberger

Alan Weissberger provides an overview of the latest FCC and USDA/RUS funding disbursements for the Emergency Connectivity Funding. It will be interesting to see the long-term impact of these funds and of the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Enrollment in the ACP is planned to begin on Friday, 12/31/21.

Read Here


Some Tweets and Short Thoughts

  • Trenton MOVES (PDF) could be a game-changer for Trenton and beyond. Dr. Alain Kornhauser has been promoting this vision of making #autonomousmobility useful for all segments of society. This could propel New Jersey to the front of the autonomous mobility conversation.
  • A sign of the times – De Anza Community College has created coursework to help develop the workforce necessary to electric R2 vehicles and autonomous Prius fleet.
  • The Medium is the Message updated to Web 3.0. Like TV, newspapers, or movies, crypto is the medium and its non-stop pace speeds up time for those in that subculture. 
  • The New Economy of Movement is how the founder/co-director of MOBI describes the efforts of this non-profit alliance to use blockchain to remove the friction of moving physical goods and people, while accounting for asset usage and negative externalities (e.g. congestion, carbon emissions).  
  • Ty Roberts, former CTO of music ID services company Gracenote, was at the Art Basel conference and has an insightful take on how Web 3.0 and NFTs specifically will disrupt the studios and create a fan/artist business & creative relationship.

The Korner – In Memoriam  #

The week of December 13th was an odd one as it brought news of the passing of three people who in various ways made an impact on this author. 

Joe Hawkins – 1932~2021

Joe Hawkins was a terrific engineer, father, and mentor. As described so well in his obituary, he was a Renaissance man. He was skilled at so many things from machining to music to lasers. As a young wannabe engineer, Joe’s wisdom was timely and lives with me to this day. His patience, good humor, and reassurance to a young field service engineer who had just knocked out service to 167,000 cable customers will always be remembered. 

Joe Hawkins circa 1984 when he was president of Quante, USA.

Shannon McDonald – 1954~2021

I always looked forward to seeing Shannon McDonald and hearing her perspective at the various venues where we would meet. It was an honor to interview her in 2014 when she provided an overview of a first-of-a-kind symposium she organized around the potential impact of autonomous vehicles. Every time I spot a parking garage, I think of Shannon as she wrote the book on what might be considered the most significant building type of the 20th century. Her enthusiasm, intelligence, and warmth shine through in this interview

The late Shannon McDonald's profile image at SIU.

Ryan Popple – 1977~2021

It was an honor to interview Ryan Popple in 2017 & hear Proterra’s progress in electrifying shared mobility. He was hyper-intelligent, a great communicator, humble, confident, and affable. He was a true patriot serving as an armor cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, deployed in Iraq between 2000 and 2004. He made a difference.

A toy Proterra bus at the Proterra headquarters.

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

Linked In Profile

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.