The Lamisphere

In the April 15th edition of the Christian Science Monitor, I had the priviledge of providing analysis and commentary of MIT’s “Sixth Sense” device.  For the uninitiated, Sixth Sense is a conglomeration of wearable mobile tools (webcam, 3G modem, micro-projector and palmtop computer) that together collect data about the world around the wearer, and superimpose data from the cloud on top of physicality.

The full article is here: http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/04/15/sixth-sense-a-web-you-can-wear/

You can see a video of the device here:



Some choice quotes:

But observers are already envisioning future improvements to Sixth Sense that could result in some startling possibilities.

“Its current representation is a pretty fun parlor trick that has the roots of being a transformative capability down the road,” says Jonas Lamis, founder of the advanced technology research and consulting firm SciVestor in Austin, Texas.

Among Mr. Lamis’s predictions: Sixth Sense’s current projector will eventually give way to contact lenses that overlay data directly onto a person’s field of vision.

In places where we now find fixed advertisements, like posters or billboards, we will see ads calibrated to our exact location and interests, he says. We will effortlessly access virtual conversations, like those on Twitter, about the people, places, and events we come across in person.

And Sixth Sense-type computers with advanced facial recognition capabilities, Lamis says, might show information about the people we pass on the street. We would know if he donated to a political candidate, if she writes an environmentally themed blog, or if he appears in a database of registered child predators – all in real time.

“People in different areas are thinking about this as viable for consumers down the road,” Lamis says. “It [will have] really profound implications for how [we] ultimately see the world.”

No Comments | In: Accelerating Technologies, Articles, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Disruption, Intelligent Agents, Just Plain Cool, Video, iPhone | | #

No Comments | In: Just Plain Cool | | #

Scenario 2020. WWIII in progress. It’s up to you to save humanity. I love the in-game haptic touch table.

No Comments | In: Just Plain Cool, Video | | #

When I think about the future of the internet and “Web 3.0″, I generally don’t dwell on haptic displays or fully-immersive virtual worlds. Rather I think about the Do Button.  I’ve given a series of talks this year on emerging technologies that will change the world, and one of the main topics covered has been looking at how semantic tools will morph into stronger AI as they become process oriented.

In my world of 2012, the Google home page of the future looks amazingly similar to the home page of today.  The Google search button is relabeled “Do It”, and the logo now sports a techno-color “Agent” appendage.  While the number of pixels changed is relatively small, the implications to a web-engaged society is enormous.

Behind the “Do It” click is a semantic processor that takes the natural language command (e.g. Schedule a date with Kathryn for tomorrow night) and determines the context of the sentence:

• Who is Kathryn?
• What is a “date”?
• When is tomorrow night?
• Is Kathryn available?
• Where is this request to take place?
• What kinds of dates do Jonas and Kathryn like to conduct?
• What needs to be scheduled in order for them to have a date?
• Is a baby sitter available?
• Is a table available?

From there, the process engine goes into action.  Each task is executed through the complex decision-tree of “date scheduling”, ultimately resulting in a text message to my iPhone “Date with Kathryn scheduled, click here for details”.

How the tasks occur may be based on training done to the system on a per user basis, but more likely is based on a collaborative training scheme where you can have your agent execute tasks that were learned by someone elses’ agent in your trusted network.

I’ve pegged the emergence of the Do Button at 2012.  But recent events make me think I have over shot by 3 years.  I’m keeping an eye on a certain Stealth Company that might be scheduling dates for my wife and I within the next 12 months.

4 Comments | In: Artificial Intelligence, Google, Just Plain Cool, Semantic Web, Siri | | #

On your next trip to India – you might just want to take a detour to Ambalappuzha.  Ambalappuzha is a small town in the state of Kerala, in southern India. The town is famous for its Sri Krishna temple and its rice pudding.

For the temple of Ambalappuzha is where the legend of Paal Payasam originates.

According to legend, Lord Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess. The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he wins. The sage told the king that he was a man of few material needs, and thus all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chessboard in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square and so on. Every square will have double the number of grains of its predecessor.

Upon hearing the demand, the king was unhappy since the sage requested only a few grains of rice instead of other riches from the kingdom, which the king would’ve been happy to donate.

Never-the-less, the game commenced, and needless to say the king lost the game. The King called forth to a porter from the royal granary to bring forth a bag of rice to met out the  prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chessboard, the king soon realized the true nature of the sage’s demands. By the 20th square, the number had reached one-million grains of rice and by the 40th square, it became one-trillion. The royal grainery soon ran out of bags of rice. The king realized that even if he provides all the rice in his kingdom and his adjacent kingdoms, he would never be able to fulfill the promised reward. For the amount of rice required to fill a 64-squared chessboard is 18 billion billion grains of rice - 460 billion tons.

Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form, that of lord Krishna. He told the King that he doesn’t have to pay the debt immediately but can pay him over time – and that The king shall serve paal-payasam in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt is paid off.  And today, you will still find rice pudding in the temples of southern Indian state of Kerala.

No Comments | In: Accelerating Technologies, Business, Just Plain Cool, Singapore | | #

I was sitting a home watching TV the other evening when a commercial came on the screen that blew me way.  It was made to look like archival footage of an old gas station being built, circa early 20th century. Snow-capped mountains loom in the distance indicating the creation of an American outpost where the prairie meets the Rockies.  As the time-lapse images progressed over the next minute, I saw the station’s comings and goings.  Kids growing up and heading off by Greyhound.  Cars, pulling in and out of the station getting fancier and larger. A driving piano score creates a tension as the images flashing on the screen go from black and white to Technicolor. The station itself is demolished and rebuilt at least 4 times in those 60 seconds, each bringing us closer to a picture of the 21st century oil economy.

And then the most unexpected thing happens.  The station withers into oblivion, the fields reclaim the asphalt and only the mountains remain.   The punch line:  The new Chevy Volt appears.

In 2010, General Motors plans to launch the Chevy Volt, a “plug-in” electric / gas hybrid that will travel 40 miles without any gas at all.  If battery technology grows on an exponential path (like Moore’s Law is driving the semiconductor industry), by the middle of the next decade, we will see vehicles that can travel hundreds of miles on an overnight charge from your garage.  By the end of the decade ahead, we are legitimately looking at the end of the gas station, as we know it.

So what does this have to do with strategic IT planning?

For the last thirty years, IT strategists and enterprise architects have held the primary roles in the enterprise for understanding technology change.  Because of the nature of the digitization of “Information” and the progress of “Technology” it was frequently enough to be an expert on processes within the four walls of the data center.  But as advancing technologies spill beyond the traditional bounds of the IT department, a new set of skills and a more savvy approach to the politics of the enterprise are necessary for those who wish to continue to wear the strategy badge.  Based on the results of the Architecture & Governance Magazine 2008 readers survey (of which I am the editor), IT departments appear to acknowledge the need to be up to the task.

The most startling result from our reader survey was the increase in C-level involvement in supporting enterprise scale transformation initiatives.  In fact, 56% of those surveyed indicated their CEO, CFO, CIO or VP was responsible for driving large-scale change.  This is up over 500% from our 2007 survey.  Across the board in the survey, as well in side bar conversations, executives are taking a much stronger interest in the sponsorship, capabilities and performance of architects and IT strategists.

Changes like the Chevy Volt occur at the intersection of corporate strategy and technology advancement and this commercial is a harbinger of coming waves of technology progress that are going to turn business models, enterprises, perhaps even whole segments of the economy on their heads.   The energy sector is already headed over the precipice.  Just behind it is everything from medical to mining to manufacturing.

As a strategist of your enterprise, the time is here to look beyond the cubicle wall, past the blinking lights of the datacenter, and raise your eyes to the snow capped mountains beyond.  There’s a change coming.

You can view the Chevy Volt commercial here.

No Comments | In: Articles, Business, Futurism, Just Plain Cool, Video | | #

In Spore, the ultimate simulation game, players guide a single-celled organism through multiple generations. As the game evolves, the species gains intelligence, develops a culture, and begins to explore the larger universe, populated by species developed by other players. Will Wright’s Dangerous Idea from BusinessWeek.

No Comments | In: Just Plain Cool | | #