First, I owe it to everyone who reads or might read my blog an update. I recently graduated from VA Tech (may of 2011)... something that I never thought would ever happen. Life is good.. Life is new, and exciting, and I am loving every second of it. After graduation I left good old Blacksburg and moved to Orlando where I teamed up with a company called Crunchy Logistics as the Director of Interactive Systems :) So I guess hard work, innovation and a little luck really does pay off!
So Aaron.. you have a "new life".. what are the 3 ways you are going to change the world in the next 3 years?
#1 Way I am going to change the world: Home Automation/Natural User Systems
Well first, I plan to revolutionize the way humans talk.. (actually interact) with computers. I have previously used the term NUI or Natural User Interface to describe this up and coming phenomena, but now.. after brainstorming with the real talent of this ambition, I will be using the term Natural User System.. because we have moved beyond a more natural "interface" and have made significant progress towards a more complete system that encompasses all aspects of a users life. What?!?! Ill explain...
...You wake up in the morning, about the same time you normally do.. and the shower is warming up, the fan attached to the vent is running, you get into the shower and over the speaker you just installed, a voice tells you the latest news from Hack-a-Day, Endgaget, and Popsci... after getting ready.. your about to walk out of the door, when that same computer voice says "Aaron, just to let you know there is a 70% of rain this evening, you might want to grab an umbrella"... you respond... "Computer.. (or Alice ;)... I don't have an umbrella" ...(later that day, on your way home from work, Alice reminds you to pick up an umbrella).
...get the picture?
If you have ever seen the movie Iron Man.. which I am sure you have, this narrative might remind you of that movie where the main character "talks" with his computer. Well, what you saw in that movie.. and what I just described to you might sound like science fiction.. well I can assure you it is not, in fact we are extremely close to this. All of the pieces are there.. its just that no one has put them together... until now. And that is why I am excited for the Townsend/Bitler team to demonstrate this concept and technology to the Crunchy team this Thursday/Friday.
#2 Way I am going to change the world: The STAT Box
It's late.. I have work tomorrow.. not really in the mood to explain this concept to the fullest and not sure I even could :P
In a nut shell, Imagine the xbox kinnect and all of it's glorious power, now take that power.. plug it into a statistical program with some smart algorithms.. add a cheap computer or maybe even to some computer cloud. What do you have? ...well what you have is a box that you the business man, the PR person, the researcher, the professor, can set anywhere.. add a couple of parameters, and in a few hours get un-bias, reliable statistical information. What? Ask yourself, how many people and human hours would it take to do a study on.. lets say.. "what the difference is in Orlando between the people who drink diet coke and regular coke?".. it would take a lot of human hours and a decent amount of undergrad students... yea. Now what if you put a box in front of the fountain machines, the soda aisle in the grocery store.. and in 2 weeks you came back, plugged in your little black box to your PC/MAC (through USB of course) and up came a spread sheet that told you all of the things you were looking for? Pretty powerful in my book.. but who am I to give an opinion.. I only grew up during the Internet age..lol
#3 Way I am going to change the world: The mtBAR
:) I think the title says enough
So Aaron.. you have a "new life".. what are the 3 ways you are going to change the world in the next 3 years?
#1 Way I am going to change the world: Home Automation/Natural User Systems
Well first, I plan to revolutionize the way humans talk.. (actually interact) with computers. I have previously used the term NUI or Natural User Interface to describe this up and coming phenomena, but now.. after brainstorming with the real talent of this ambition, I will be using the term Natural User System.. because we have moved beyond a more natural "interface" and have made significant progress towards a more complete system that encompasses all aspects of a users life. What?!?! Ill explain...
...You wake up in the morning, about the same time you normally do.. and the shower is warming up, the fan attached to the vent is running, you get into the shower and over the speaker you just installed, a voice tells you the latest news from Hack-a-Day, Endgaget, and Popsci... after getting ready.. your about to walk out of the door, when that same computer voice says "Aaron, just to let you know there is a 70% of rain this evening, you might want to grab an umbrella"... you respond... "Computer.. (or Alice ;)... I don't have an umbrella" ...(later that day, on your way home from work, Alice reminds you to pick up an umbrella).
...get the picture?
If you have ever seen the movie Iron Man.. which I am sure you have, this narrative might remind you of that movie where the main character "talks" with his computer. Well, what you saw in that movie.. and what I just described to you might sound like science fiction.. well I can assure you it is not, in fact we are extremely close to this. All of the pieces are there.. its just that no one has put them together... until now. And that is why I am excited for the Townsend/Bitler team to demonstrate this concept and technology to the Crunchy team this Thursday/Friday.
#2 Way I am going to change the world: The STAT Box
It's late.. I have work tomorrow.. not really in the mood to explain this concept to the fullest and not sure I even could :P
In a nut shell, Imagine the xbox kinnect and all of it's glorious power, now take that power.. plug it into a statistical program with some smart algorithms.. add a cheap computer or maybe even to some computer cloud. What do you have? ...well what you have is a box that you the business man, the PR person, the researcher, the professor, can set anywhere.. add a couple of parameters, and in a few hours get un-bias, reliable statistical information. What? Ask yourself, how many people and human hours would it take to do a study on.. lets say.. "what the difference is in Orlando between the people who drink diet coke and regular coke?".. it would take a lot of human hours and a decent amount of undergrad students... yea. Now what if you put a box in front of the fountain machines, the soda aisle in the grocery store.. and in 2 weeks you came back, plugged in your little black box to your PC/MAC (through USB of course) and up came a spread sheet that told you all of the things you were looking for? Pretty powerful in my book.. but who am I to give an opinion.. I only grew up during the Internet age..lol
#3 Way I am going to change the world: The mtBAR
:) I think the title says enough
