In the corner of my mind...

There’s always somebody better than you. This is the best...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:38:22 -0500

There’s always somebody better than you. This is the best beatboxing I’ve seen in a long while. Accurate hits and syncopation!

Siri, or Watson, or Jarvis

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:52:05 -0400

A few days ago as I was walking to work I decided to use Siri to send a message to my girlfriend. I was in a bit of a rush so I used Siri’s dictation ability as I hurried down the street:

“Message Shirley Hey can you grab an onion while you’re at the market today?”

Siri replied, “I have two contacts named Shirley.”

I begrudgingly looked down at the screen and tapped on the correct one.

Siri replied again, “Ok, here’s your message to Shirley. Should I send it?”

I said “Yes,” and off the message went.

It was definitely better than typing as I walked – but at the same time it was such a robotic experience. You see, I believe that Siri is the right step into the future, albeit a premature one. The experience isn’t ready for prime time because nobody likes talking to a machine. Siri should have known I only talk to one of the Shirleys on a regular basis. I should have not had to say “Yes” to send my message, nevertheless having to press+hold the home button to begin the dialogue in the first place.

Even though the current experience is a clunky one, using natural language to interface with our technology is a huge step. But there are even more exciting things on the horizon.

These days, everybody is talking about big data. From IBM’s big data website:

Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. This data is big data.

72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube a minute. 250 millions tweets a day. 300 million Facebook photos uploaded a day. That’s only “social media,” and that number keeps growing. Think about how much medical, scientific, economic, and municipal data there is as well. What do we do with all this data? What really excites me is what can be inferred by all of it.

There are companies like Prior Knowledge that are creating APIs to help companies “Predict product purchases from consumer data” or “Assess disease risk”. That’s powerful.

Watson, the AI that beat the two toughest Jeopardy players in the history of the show, will soon fit into your smartphone. As Bernie Meyerson, IBM’s VP of innovation, said– one day, a farmer could stand in a field and ask his phone “When should I plant my corn?” He would get a reply in seconds, based on location data, historical trends and scientific studies.

Think about how simple–yet powerful– that is. “When should I plant my corn?”

Often times we joke about how far-fetched scifi can be, but in this case, I don’t think it’s that far off. In the movie Iron Man, Tony Stark has a computer named Jarvis with which he has converations. We can’t have conversations with Siri. But in the future we’ll be able to.

One day, Siri, or Watson, or Jarvis, or whatever it’ll be called, will always know when to be helpful and how to make our lives better. We’ll have conversations with our technology that will help us solve problems we didn’t even know we had. And that excites me.

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them..."

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:40:45 -0500

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

A dream, finally realized. A few days ago, my brother Colin and...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:20:08 -0500

A dream, finally realized.

A few days ago, my brother Colin and his good friend Bob launched a Kickstarter campaign for their first product, the Sonastand. I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished, as I’ve been seeing it evolve over the past half year. As I’m sure they know, starting from scratch is just as difficult as it is rewarding, as self-doubt will always be one of the greatest enemies.

If you haven’t already, please take a gander at their Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kcmachine/sonastand

Support it if you can.

kcmachine: This morning we released the Sonastand on...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:29:31 -0500

kcmachine:

This morning we released the Sonastand on Kickstarter.

The response thus far has been absolutely incredible. On my way to meet Bob, I actually was overcome with emotion and was on the verge of tears. It’s just that, you work so hard, sweat all the details, and then you finally release something, and people actually like what you’ve made. They actually like it. What a feeling.

I really admire what Louis CK does. Not only is he extremely...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:27:19 -0500

I really admire what Louis CK does. Not only is he extremely funny, you can tell he just cares, tirelessly fussing over everything that will eventually fall into the hands of a viewer, all the way down to the copy for a signup form.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-25)

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:30:45 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-25):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Last night I went to Barnes and Noble to check out some...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:32:00 -0500

Last night I went to Barnes and Noble to check out some cookbooks. Amidst the rows of smiling faces and promises of delicious, easy-to-cook meals, I remembered that I downloaded Amazon’s Flow app. In a gist, it scans the covers of books, DVDs, and CDs with my iPhone’s camera and instantly displays Amazon’s wealth of information about the product.

Suddenly, the way I’ve been browsing bookstores was completely changed. With my iPhone in my hand I floated from book to book with an overlay of ratings, reviews, and videos augmenting what I saw in front of me. When I wanted any information, I didn’t have to type anything into my phone, or search for (or deal with) a barcode to scan. It was amazing.

This is just the beginning, and I’m excited.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-13)

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:34:44 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-13):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

How a good experience can differ. cc @weightshift

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:44:30 -0500

Naz Hamid:

Our server instead came over and with the traits of a performer, paused to concentrate for a second before reciting the menu by memory. That wasn’t all. At Diner, all tables are covered with a large plain white craft paper of some kind. Upon it, our server sketched out the menu while reciting it, dish-by-dish, ingredient-by-ingredient, beginning with the small plates, larger plates and then the entrees.

I’ve eaten at Diner and my experience was completely different. I was in a cramped corner of the restaurant at night and it was impossible to hear him recite the menu, let alone read anything he wrote because of dim candle-lit setting. Didn’t help that it was also towards the end of the night and the server had probably done it dozens of times before, his waning (or non-existant) enthusiasm was palpable.

Gorgeous. kateoplis: Ville Hara

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:14:14 -0400

Gorgeous.

kateoplis:

Ville Hara

paperandtype: looking very forward to seeing drew & his...

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:39:33 -0400

paperandtype:

looking very forward to seeing drew & his band at one of my very favorite venues.

…

very colorful poster & declaration by watchwork.

About a month ago, in a post I wrote called Wouldn’t it be...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:30:13 -0400

About a month ago, in a post I wrote called Wouldn’t it be beautiful? I dreamt about a hideaway that was always a beautifully comfortable temperature inside. Today, Nest was announced, and it brings us a few steps closer to realizing that. It’s beautifully designed, a thoughtful mix of industrial design and user experience, with Mike Matas leading the UI design.

Check out the video, I’m excited to see where this product goes.

Everybody will share.

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:47:36 -0400

We live in a society of mini-castles. We build psychological and physical walls to protect ourselves to shelter that which means something to us.

Humans have always been embraced compassion and understanding, which is what we call “love”. To deeply understand somebody is to love them.

In the future I believe we will love one another, because our thoughts and emotions will be connected and free-flowing. We are just beginning to let complete strangers see what we’re seeing, read what we’re thinking, and live where we live.

We’re so gung-ho about how we’re now able to communicate with one another, but when was the last time you spoke to one of the billions in China, Brazil, or India? What happens when technology allows us to jump the language barrier? Will less wars be fought? Will we start to understand our differences?

We like to think we’re advanced and “cutting-edge” but yet we’re still so primitive. Technology will usher humanity to a new era.

Iraq War Facts & Stats

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:06:44 -0400

Iraq War Facts & Stats:

kateoplis:

US soldiers killed: 4,481

Seriously wounded: 32,195

Psychological damage: 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3-4 months of returning home.

Journalists killed: 229

Iraqi Police & soldiers killed: 10,125

Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths: Between 108,000 and 150,000 although there’s criticism that that only includes deaths reported by media agencies.

Coalition deaths: 318

Private contractor deaths: 550

Approved & spent: $900 billion taxpayer money through Nov 2010.

Lost & unaccounted for: $9 billion and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped to contractors.

Lost and reported stolen: $6.6 billion dollars earmarked for Iraq reconstruction, reported on June 14, 2011 and called “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

Missing: $1 billion in equipment provided to the Iraqi security forces.

Mismanaged & wasted: $10 billion, per Feb ‘07 Congressional hearings.

Halliburton charges Pentagon has called unreasonable & unsupported: $1.4 billion

Annual air-conditioning cost in Iraq & Afghanistan: $20.2 billion

Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003: 40%

Iraqi Physicians before the Invasion: 34,000. Those who left: 12,000. Those murdered: 2,000.

The Lytro camera is cool, but...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:11:09 -0400

The new Lytro camera is giving thousands of pixel-peeping camera nerds plenty to wish for, with its amazing pictures doing all the talking. But, as Instagram teaches us, it doesn’t really matter how cool your camera is, but rather, how social it is. Looks like the pictures require a special viewer to actually see them and I think there will be resistance to installing it.

What's the future of search?

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:53:14 -0400

Bit.ly thinks it’s realtime and sentiment. For a long time I’ve been interested in sentiment analysis as it applies to our world. Its applications are endless because human emotions pervade everything we do. Google and other traditional search engines deal with knowledge, but Twitter is the closest thing we have to tracking how we feel.

"So, if I impress the fish cook and he impresses me, then the blogger at table 3 has no chance,” Mr...."

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:47:52 -0400

““So, if I impress the fish cook and he impresses me, then the blogger at table 3 has no chance,” Mr. Minnillo wrote. “He is going to be blown away.””

- Sam Sifton’s last review for the NYT is Keller’s legendary Per Se.

Apple's got one thing wrong: Music.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:34:23 -0400

I exclaimed after Spotify’s launch this past July:

Not since Napster have I been this excited about music.

And now, that I think it through, it should be:

Not since Napster have I been this excited about discovering music.

Napster was the reason why I spent sleepless nights during college poring through undiscovered troves of music. It was access to a whole new universe. My life went from discovering the best track on a CD to finding new artists, genres, live sets, and brilliant remixes. Best of all? It was all free.

Apple’s got one thing majorly wrong, and it’s their stance on ownership of music. It was a hackneyed band-aid to appease the labels. They were the pioneer of digital music, but because of it, they’re behind. iTunes and the iPod provided utility and convenience. Sure, 10,000 songs in my pocket sounded great at the time, but looking back it was never that exciting. Spotify + Facebook is.

Music has always been a social activity. iTunes’ pay-to-own content model is inherently not. Facebook shunned Apple’s Ping music service because what’s the fun in seeing that your friend is listening to Feist’s new track, clicking on it, getting a 30 sec preview, then begging you to buy?

With Spotify it’s seamless: On Facebook I see what friends are currently listening to, click on it, and begin seamlessly listening to it instantly. Want to share an entire playlist with complete strangers? Just tweet the link. Subscribe to it if you want, it’ll update whenever the owner makes a change.

Want to hear what the music supervisor to Entourage listens to? Sure, just click here. Wait, did you say Thom Yorke has a playlist too? Yep. With iTunes, this would all seem promotional. But with Spotify, it just feels right.

What’s even better? Because I subscribe to Spotify Premium the music auto-downloads to my phone over WiFi. No messy cables, no per-computer licensing problems. My only gripe is the mobile experience needs a lot of UI work. But it’ll do for now.

Everybody should read Sean Parker’s email to Spotify. He’s a brilliant guy with creative foresight.

Something that caught my attention was when Parker mentions “grey content”:

There are vast repositories of “grey” content on people’s computers across the world. This content is often forgotten by the labels and publishers. The fact that you have a client and P2P capability will allow you to someday unlock all of this content…this goes way beyond the master music catalog that is licensed to you by the labels. A big part of Napster was the joy of discovering various remixes, live recordings and other obscurities that copyright owners have literally lost track of.

This is so right. The Dave Matthews Band has legions of loyal “tapers” who haul expensive equipment to concerts to make high-quality recordings. Artists like Henry Saiz are discovered through their brilliant remixes of popular artists. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in this space.

Music is exciting again because access trumps ownership. Your move, Apple.

Every once in a while I come across an unknown actor who makes...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:19:28 -0400

Every once in a while I come across an unknown actor who makes me say “who was that”? One such person is Michael Shannon, seen above as his character John Givings in Revolutionary Road. He played a small part but had such a profound impact on me with his subtle performance that caused me a great deal of unrest while watching. I just kept thinking — there’s something wrong with this guy. — but it was all just great acting.

He stars in a new movie called Take Shelter that’s getting a lot of Oscar buzz for his performance. I’m a bit reluctant to watch, but only because it looks like quite a ride, kind of like a good rollercoaster.