Left2MyOwnDevices

"We're opening our API." Four words guaranteed to get developers really excited and get instant press coverage. By allowing programmers to freely access the application programming interface for something, a whole wide world of applications and data sharing opens up when a vendor opens their API.

I don't think it's overstated to say the entire social media revolution is powered by open APIs. The openness of Facebook, Google, Salesforce, Twitter and other platforms has enabled those services to become ingrained into many creative applications.

Embedded devices have the same opportunity. The entire Android movement means many devices, not just smartphones, have access to the operating system and applications developed for it. Specifications like OpenCV allow applications for vision to be developed quickly on a variety of platforms. Vendors can also choose to open up a specific device for developers - for instance, the folks at Jawbone are in the process of opening their Up API, allowing their data to be cross pollinated with other applications.

With popularity comes a price, however. An open API is an easy target for attackers, and security issues begin to arise as use widens. Innovation begins to suffer as well, because while both the vendor and the developer community would like to do the next cool thing, breaking the API and existing applications can be a problem. Managing the change forward so everyone doesn't freak out is a delicate exercise.

Freaking out is exactly what Twitter users are doing right now.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry. You can finish reading this post here.

Most tech businesses have this religious ritual known simply as the long range plan. In it, they try to take the wisdom found in their combined product/service roadmaps - usually extending two, maybe three years into the future - and synthesize a view of the way things should or could be in 5 to 10 years. The idea is to project things such as areas of likely investment or acquisition, research requirements, changes in the competitive landscape, and scenarios for growth (or contraction, part of being prepared) to help with facility and staff sizing requirements.

One encounter with the long range plan sticks out in my mind. "Hey, Bob Galvin is coming by tomorrow. Can we put together a presentation?" I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Galvin, former CEO of Motorola, twice during his tenure. This occasion in the late 1990s would be the second and last time. He had come to Arizona for a celebration for Iridium. Just as we were finishing introductions, he held up a hand, reached for the pager on his belt, smiled and said he had just just received one of the first messages sent over the Iridium network. After that moment, we had his undivided attention.

Our team pulled out every piece of static show-and-tell hardware we could find, along with slides from our roadmaps and long range plan presentation. Mr. Galvin sat very quietly, emitting a few glances of piqued interest and a couple words of encouragement here and there, but not much else. For embedded guys, our stuff was pretty cool, but in the real world we were pedestrian compared to Iridium. Nonetheless, we took our best shot, hoping not to be just a flash somewhere in the sky.

At the end of the presentation, our GM asked: "So, Bob, what do you think?" Mr. Galvin was a lot like a grandfather - he saw his role in later years as supportive, not adversarial or unduly critical. He had other guys on his staff who would tear into details and tear apart weaknesses, but that wasn't his style. Because of that, his answer was about to take us all off guard.

I'm paraphrasing, I wish I had his exact words recorded, but the direction was clear. "Thanks for showing off your technology today. It is impressive, and it is obvious there has been a lot of hard work and progress, and you all are passionate about what you are doing. I have just one question: what do you want this business to be in 30 years?"

Our GM attempted the pre-recorded response, basically: "Pffffft, it is really hard to say where tech will be in 5 years. We'll track our customer needs and respond accordingly." That was the point Mr. Galvin shifted forward in his chair for the first time since he'd walked in, and now he had our undivided attention.

He told us how he Akio Morita, then chairman of Sony, would windsurf and discuss technology. Together, they had laid the landscape for 20th century electronics breakthroughs, including miniaturization and leaps in quality methodology. He said the Japanese would routinely look forward 50 to 100 years in planning, to try to anticipate the breakthroughs for the next century. His message to us was you can't think just incrementally, and while it is important to serve customers they won't show you the next big thing unless they are applying very long range thinking, too.

He asked again: "What do you want this business to be in 30 years?"

That day, we left the room with a "we'll have to think about that," realizing we had absolutely no frame of reference to do so. As it turned out, perhaps Sony and Motorola hadn't thought of all the possibilities. On the day Mr. Galvin passed away:

I've always been bad with the 5 year career planning question. I've never been even close to right, not once. Jobs I thought wouldn't last 5 years went almost 15. Jobs I thought had long term potential moved in other directions without me. I looked up today and realized I've been in Phoenix 19 years now, which doesn't seem possible. The plan has changed, is still changing.

In an era of accelerating change on a myriad of fronts, today we're getting questions like:

I'm a bad one to ask. I can't imagine using Facebook for 25 minutes, at least under a non-brand individual persona. But the point is well taken - will the things people can't live without and the companies we take for granted right now be around long term? I'm sure something filling the role of Facebook today will exist, but maybe not the Facebook brand. Will Google? Will Microsoft? Will HP? Will Intel? Will Sony? I don't know. 25 to 30 years is a long time.

The point: long range technology plans will almost certainly be wrong; don't get too attached. Purpose and vision have a chance to help people and companies create the future, and are what people will hang on to.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry.

Technology always seeks the next frontier. The search for "the next big thing", which may be made up of a bunch of little things in a world with billions of people and more billions of things to connect with, is always on -even if we may not need it. Suddenly, the smartwatch has become the next possible big thing being talked about, and the tech players are lining up at the gate.

The rumors of an Apple smartwatch are intensifying, especially given that Apple appears to have backed off on a TV initiative and is desperately in need of a category buster to regain their innovative edge. In this game, nobody can afford to be one-upped. Samsung and Google are forced to respond, saying essentially they are working on smartwatches, too, but with precious few details.

Pundits are scouring patent filings and hiring patterns looking for clues. The quiet disappearance of WIMM Labs, an early pioneer in Android smart watches, into an "exclusive, confidential relationship" in mid 2012 will likely trace to either Samsung or Google. In reality, Google is already in the race with the Motorola MOTOACTV, designed for the fitness enthusiast. Meanwhile, Apple is patenting everything with "wrist" and "app" in the same sentence.

Already in the smartwatch race are one huge company - Sony - and a bunch of upstarts including MetaWatch, Pebble, i'm Watch, and Basis. The Sony SmartWatchand the made-in-Italy i'm Watch (pictured) target the fashion conscious, with design elements shifting the watch-wearer to digital running Android and providing mostly notification services tethered to a phone via Bluetooth. MetaWatch (actually backed by Fossil and TI) and Pebble (the darling of Kickstarters everywhere) are headed more for the appaholic, trying to appeal to developers creating innovative applications and targeting both Android and iOS. Basis is after the emerging mHealth space, with a sensor-packed device delivering 24/7 activity profiling including measuring sleep habits in a move to assess wellness.

For a category buster to emerge, one question has to be answered: what does a smartwatch do better than other devices? In order for consumers to feel the need, beyond just the initial burst of technophiles who have to be the first with anything, the use case has to feel natural.

The fitness enthusiast is used to strapping on a wrist display, and there is a huge push in the direction of Bluetooth - and away from ANT+, which won't die immediately but will inevitably shrink - making a smartwatch connection between a set of sensors and a smartphone a good fit.

Another good fit is the MP3 player, again powered by Bluetooth with the ability to pair to headphones or speakers over wireless. The days of a single-use music player device (read: iPod Nano) are pretty well doomed, and the interface for a music player is simple enough to drop on a small wrist-worn display. That might push some more casual device users in the direction of a smartwatch, especially an Apple device.

But there are bigger breakthroughs waiting, in areas that smartphones can do but don't seem really natural for. Consider this:

Maybe, or maybe it is still being defined. What if we put NFC in a smartwatch and used it as the catalyst for digital wallets and access control? You have to admit, it would be much more natural to tap a device already strapped to your wrist than to reach into your pocket, wake the beast, and put it back. The other factor here is really interesting:

The missing manufacturer is: Apple. I've shared previously that Apple holds dozens of NFC patents, yet does not have hardware supporting it yet. What if Apple suddenly bursts onto the scene with an NFC-enabled smartwatch, and sets up the delineation between smartphone and smartwatch use cases very clearly?

Think about one application that could really benefit from this: the independent elder. Even if she has a smartphone, Grandma likely would wear a smartwatch, and that could carry so many benefits with it. Sensors could read pulse, respiration, and blood pressure, and also sense orientation and any falling. Notifications could be pushed for medication, and NFC could easily and naturally read a prescription bottle verifying she has the right one. A battery-efficient, always on GPS would have a fix on location at all times. A tethered smartwatch could report its status back through the network to relatives and healthcare providers.

That is just one example. There are more ways to innovate, but if someone succeeds in making the smartwatch must-use instead of just must-have, we'll see something big happen. This is unlikely to come from the fashion-conscious camp (sorry, Sony). It could come from the small startups creating teaming relationships and new applications, rethinking the problem outside of the smartphone boundaries. Or, it may take the big firms establishing it as a complement to smartphones, but with a clear purpose.

I'm not much on watches, but the Pebble seems interesting since it could take over where my bike computer leaves off. How about you? Is there a particular set of features you're looking for, or a particular use for a smartwatch that would make it compelling? Or, do you just not see it in your future? Or do you fall into the technophile category, and already have one - what made you invest early? Thoughts welcome.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry.

CES for years has been the show with TVs and DVD players, photography gear, PCs, audio equipment, electronic toys, and more recently smartphones and tablets. This year felt a lot different - pun intended - as sensing came front and center, and consumers are taking notice.

Microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, enable creation of tiny structures on a semiconductor chip, such as vibrating plates providing a gyroscopic effect. MEMS sensors aren't new, but are hitting new levels of package integration as commercialization and adoption in mainstream devices take hold, and the concepts of sensor fusion and context awareness are now getting a lot of attention.

MEMS gyroscopes are inexpensive - roughly speaking, $1 per axis in significant volumes - and small. While not quite as precise as their larger cousins like the fiber optic gyroscope, they bring impressive capability into the reach of consumer handheld or wearable electronics. Here's a sample of MEMS parts announced at CES 2013.

• InvenSense announced their MPU-9250, a 9-axis - gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass - motion tracking device in a 3mm x 3mm x 1mm package.
• Kionix introduced a thinner 3 axis accelerometer, the KXCJA, in a 3mm x 3mm x 0.7mm package.
• Xsens - the company behind 3D motion tracking for many films - demonstrated their technology for placing sensors on many points of a body, embedded in clothing.
• Bosch introduced several devices, including the BNO055, a 9-axis sensor in a larger 5.0 mm x 4.0mm package but including an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller inside.

Read the rest of this blog post.

The connection between MEMS sensors and mHealth is deep, but the innovations coming from new parts utilizing more intelligence and sensor fusion in many applications will drive the next generation of consumer devices. What have you seen as a useful device integrating motion sensor technology? How does the ability to integrate sensors with mobile device apps change things for you? Share your ideas in the comments.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry.

Dear Santa,
It has been many years since I have written you. I was taught never to ask anyone for anything for myself, that it is a presumptuous and selfish thing to do, so this is not for me. I know you are busy filling the wish lists of children everywhere, but wanted to take a moment to ask for your help for everyone.

There is good news. The love that parents have for their children is still strong. Basic acts of kindness between people still happen. The joy of giving a gift from the heart is still out there. From your perspective, things may not seem all that different, though the gifts people are asking for have changed.

Simple toys and clothes have been replaced by technology on most lists. These tech gifts have become expensive, beyond the reach of many in this economy, but that's not the only problem now. The same gifts that are supposed to bring happiness have in some cases brought other feelings.

Technology has connected our world in amazing ways, closing the distance between people, allowing the exchange of new ideas instantly. But that same effect has increased the clutter in our lives, reduced our attention span, and enabled polarizing discussion that is pushing us farther apart.

With so many items competing for our time and attention, we are now under tremendous pressure just to sort out all the communication aimed in our general direction. Much of it is noise, drowning and numbing us. Thoughtful discussion has been replaced by shouting and soundbyting and pithy Tweets and viral YouTube vids. Information has been displaced by entertainment. Learning has taken a back seat to promotion.

Immediacy has also become distracting, and dangerous. The pressure to post on Facebook daily often outweighs the need to listen to a family member in the same house. We get really frustrated when our technology doesn't work right, and stop everything we are doing to fix it, unhappily growling at others around us until successful. People are willing to risk their lives, and the lives of those they don't know, dividing their attention between driving and texting or talking.

The whole idea of what is valuable has changed. Everyone seems to want instant return on investment, immediate results even when facing the most difficult of issues. Differences aren't celebrated, they are ridiculed, and those who can't deliver something someone wants right away are cast aside. Relationships have become more about what-is-in-it-for-me, and what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, instead of looking at the longer term and overlooking flaws.

Discussions have become unproductive, divisive, and hurtful. People say things on social channels, separated by a comfortable distance, they would never say in front of a person. Friendships end with texts, which is sad. Every move of public figures is dissected, assailed, and resisted by anyone who can post an opinion, which has led to gridlock. Job seekers who invest in face-to-face interviews and hand-written thank you notes get back form emails with the words "not qualified", a non-response that avoids truth. Facts are no longer a requirement, and just slow down the conversation because they have to be explained, or responded to.

Instead, the people sought after are those with rock star or guru next to their name, experts in promotion who can make something appear desirable, skilled in using air time. Substance isn't that important, only the ability to engage and convince enough people to listen.

Santa, have you noticed any of this in the way people use the technology gifts you bring?

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Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry.

Last week while standing with a former colleague at a tradeshow, he asked a simple and yet complicated question:

"Whatever happened to MIPS, anyway?"

I gave him the stock answer that they are still doing well in set-top boxes in Asia, they have a good Android solution, and they are still doing well in high-end network processors like Cavium. He asked the question if MIPS could ever break into mobile and be a threat to ARM, and my response was:

"Intel is to AMD as ARM is to MIPS."

The market of 50B connected devices is a big market, however, and there is still room left for processor architectures as long as they are supported by software and IP-fab partners. Which leads us to the news …

Imagination Technologies, purveyors of the PowerVR family of graphics IP found in many mobile devices including Apple, has acquired MIPS operating assets in a somewhat complicated deal that sent the MIPS patent portfolio to Bridge Crossing. As it turns out, Bridge Crossing is a front for Allied Security Trust, composed of names you'll recognize. I wanted to focus on a brief history of MIPS and what this acquisition could mean.

MIPS began life as one of the first merchant RISC processor architectures, years before ARM parts hit the merchant markets. The R2000 was one of the highest performing RISC platforms of its day - ironically, in a stable with the Intel i960 and the AMD 29k, both since disappeared from the landscape. The biggest hit was the selection of MIPS by Silicon Graphics for their workstation lines, which resulted in SGI acquiring MIPS outright.

As Sun and SPARC started gaining large chunks of the workstation market, MIPS was spun back out of SGI in 1998. With new-found independence, MIPS went in search of embedded applications and more diversified design wins. They found a big one: printing. The R3000 was a solid solution for multi-function printers running Adobe Postscript, and MIPS was off and running again. But, other architectures encroached on that space, with PowerPC at the high end (I actually had quite a bit to do with that), and less expensive architectures like Freescale's ColdFire at the low end.

MIPS continued along the embedded path. They always enjoyed a following in academic circles since the instruction set could be licensed, and one of the more interesting developments was the Raytheon Monarch with research from the University of Southern California and others. The quest for a stable part in the defense community continues, and FPGA technology with processor cores seems to be winning.

As I mentioned, MIPS of late focused on set-top boxes running Android. By providing some architectural acceleration for the Myriad Dalvik Turbo VM, they have been able to build a solid solution for Android in non-handset applications. We know breaking the ARM stronghold on mobile is an uphill battle. MIPS also has significant presence in the network processor market - massively multicored chips designed to handle packets transmitted over the Internet.

Enter Imagination Technologies. They too are locked in a struggle with ARM, but of a different sort. PowerVR graphics is quite competitive to ARM graphics IP offerings, and Imagination makes quite a nice sum from each iPad and iPhone sold. However, go back to my quote: ARM's strategy is much more about enveloping a competitor on multiple fronts, and the combination of a wider range of ARM processor IP cores and software support has taken a toll on MIPS. Without processor IP to compete, Imagination is looking to branch out.

Read the Whole Article.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry.