Flying a Horse and other Creations

Been reading my former colleague Kevin Ashton's book:  How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery.  Very nicely done, worth the read.

Publishers description: 

To create is human. Technology pioneer Kevin Ashton has experienced firsthand the all-consuming challenge of creating something new. Now, in a tour-de-force narrative twenty years in the making, Ashton demystifies the sacred act, leading us on a journey through humanity’s greatest creations to uncover the surprising truth behind who creates and how they do it.

 From the crystallographer’s laboratory where the secrets of DNA were first revealed by a long forgotten woman, to the Ohio bicycle shop where the Wright brothers set out to “fly a horse,” Ashton showcases the seemingly unremarkable individuals, gradual steps, multiple failures, and countless ordinary and usually uncredited acts that lead to our most astounding breakthroughs. Drawing on examples from Mozart to the Muppets, Archimedes to Apple, Kandinsky to a can of Coke, How to Fly a Horse is essential reading for would-be creators and innovators, and also a passionate and immensely rewarding exploration of how “new” comes to be. ... 

Internet of Things, an Oral History

Kevin Ashton and I were interviewed for an oral history of the Internet of Things this last week by Danny Vinik of Politico.  I gave many, many talks to visitors to our innovation centers on the topic as it evolved from simple tagging to online retail analytics.   Still, I had only a small part, and many other people spent most of their careers in this space, but its evolution continues to be an important part of social, personal and industrial computing history.

Now consider how all of this will be linked to smarter cognitive systems.  Glad to get my thoughts in. Also their broader piece on the IOT.  I apologize for some of the political angling done in the article, even the imagery used for the oral history piece.

RFID, P&G, Lipsticks and the Internet of Things

In the Cisco Blogs, a look at how the Internet of things emerging in a project at Procter & Gamble that tracked lipsticks, and how that has evolved.  Most notable, the considerable to the RAIN RFID Alliance.  by Steve Halliday:

" ... In “How to Fly a Horse” by Kevin Ashton (http://www.amazon.com/How-Fly-Horse-Invention-Discovery/dp/0385538596 ) we learn that Kevin coined the phrase “Internet of Things” (IoT) in 1999 when he was trying to present a solution to the problem of tracking the sales of lipsticks.  Kevin worked at Procter & Gamble and the misplacement of lipsticks in the display case was causing a sales issue when the required color was in stock, on the display, but in the wrong place and not easily found.  Kevin put an RFID tag in the lipstick and an antenna under each location, monitored the display unit, uploaded the information to the internet and used it to make decisions about the actual sales stock position.

Since then the term has been broadened to include almost anything that is in some way connected to the Internet and is providing information that can be used. The term has almost become a part of everyday use, though it seems the understanding of the term has morphed.  In 2013 the Oxford English Dictionary included a definition for the IoT – “The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Internet-of-things ). While this definition is fine, it does not capture the real essence of the concept. ... " 

How to Fly a Horse

Colleague Kevin Ashton writes:

Dear Franz, 

My new book, "How to Fly a Horse — The Secret History of Invention, Creation, and Discovery," comes out on January 20.

It is already getting some good reviews: both Fortune and Business Insider have listed it as a "book to read in 2015;" its first Customer Review on Amazon says "it is so well written that it's hard to put down;" and William C. Taylor, cofounder and editor of Fast Company, describes it is "one of the most creative books on creativity I have ever read."   .... 

" ... n his new book,”How To Fly A Horse,” Kevin Ashton explores why innovators meet resistance and how they overcome it, why most organizations stifle creative people, and how the most creative organizations work. In a passionate and profound narrative that amazes and inspires, Ashton’s book sheds new light on how “new” comes to be. "

Site, video, information and pre-order.

I will followup here when I get a hold of it.

Internet of Things and Ubiquitous Sensing

In Computing Now:  Mentions my colleague and IOT pioneer Kevin Ashton.  Start of a series that will address many of the aspects and issues in the Internet of Things.  Something to watch closely for many reasons.

" ... A pillar of the Future Internet, the Internet of Things (IoT) will comprise many billions of Internet-connected objects (ICOs) or "things" that can sense, communicate, compute, and potentially actuate, as well as have intelligence, multimodal interfaces, physical/virtual identities, and attributes. The IoT incorporates concepts from pervasive, ubiquitous, and ambient computing, which have been evolving since the late '90s and have now reached some level of maturity. It fuses the digital and physical worlds by bringing different concepts and technical components together. Along with the World Wide Web and mobility, IoT potentially represents the most disruptive technological revolution to date. With billions of ICOs and a diverse abundance of sensors, the IoT will be an enabler of ubiquitous sensing. ... "  

The Alleged Spontaneity of Viral and Tremor

My former colleague Kevin Ashton writes about the 'Harlem Shake', which I admit I just noticed a few weeks ago.  My connectedness is more about the technical than the social.  He suggests that the swift movement of the meme was more about what corporations wanted to spread than the spontaneous eruptions of the  'hive mind'.  He tracks the emergence of the idea in early February, and how it was promoted by the press.  With lots of video examples.   Chicken and egg here.  It is scary, though that commercial interests may be able to build the wave to their purposes.   Or inevitable.  Reminds me of Tremor, which I had just heard has been abandoned by its corporate sponsors.  Or has it?  More about Tremor written here.

Advertising and the Internet of things

In the HBR: An internet of things that links to deliverable advertising.  Kevin Ashton, mentioned in the article, worked with us in the innovation center.