Future of Computing is in Your Hands

BBC article " ... Sales of smart phones are expected to overtake those of laptops in the next 12 to 18 months as the mobile phone completes its transition from voice communications device to multimedia computer... "

Nielsen Behavior Tracking and Prototype Store

A good descriptive overview of behavioral tracking in stores by Nielsen. See a previous post about the project called Prism. Also mentioned, Nielsen's use of a test store facility, similar to other immersive innovation centers I have known:

" ... Nielsen has built a secretive 3,000-square-foot prototype grocery store inside its Oldsmar data center, complete with grocery aisles, checkout lanes, shopping carts and thousands of dollars in products. (The site is closed to all but a half-dozen Nielsen employees.) Boxes of Tide detergent, cartons of Folgers coffee and rows of cereal boxes pack the model store so technicians can mimic shopping to see if Nielsen's array of sensors can secretly track people as they shop ... "

Grocery Line Balking

A new study reported on in Progressive Grocer indicates that the average time for people to leave or balk from a grocery check-out line is four minutes. Of course there are typically many personal factors in any such decision, so the results should be carefully considered.

An Oral History of Donald Knuth

In the Communications of the ACM this month there is an interview with Donald Knuth, 'premier artist' of computer science, professor emeritus at Stanford. Many of us were inspired by him and his portrayal of very hard problems as art. His delightfully archaic home page. On his 70th. It fits in well with today's design directions. When I left the Pentagon I was given a set of his books as a parting gift. I can't point directly to the ACM article, but I can point to its origin at the Computer Science Museum site. Inspirational especially for those that are thinking about math and science careers.

Also, the Communications of the ACM, the premier computer science mag and now 50 years old, has done a nice job of making its articles more accessible to the practitioner. Like all technical magazines, as a field expands in depth and breadth, even professionals in the field cannot spend the time to understand articles outside their sub-specialties. We do hunger for new frontiers, accurately explained and abstracted. Now I wish I could link to ACM articles from my blog, to my knowledge I cannot. I do understand the economic issues involved with publishing an expensive magazine.

The Future Has a Kill Switch

In Wired, security pundit Bruce Schneier writes about the potential abuse of the ability to remotely control physical devices: I've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch. He defines the idea broadly, everything from a device refusing to record a copyrighted song, to OnStar giving the capability to police to remotely shut off a car's engine. The concept of who gets to control your 'devices' remotely is worth a thought, and we will see more of this in the future. Schneiers's blog. He was also recently interviewed in the Edge.

GS1 Mobile Commerce Paper

I was reminded of GS1's Mobile Commerce White Paper, which I contributed to in a small way. Good source of information. Now also a mobile commerce video.

Social Media in Business

I attended the first summer Twebinar from SNCR.org and Radian6 this week, wrote about previously. Apparently they got a crowd. Chris Brogan did a good of moderating. See his blog. The video recordings, recorded at the SNCR social media conference, were informal, but well done. Only a few sound and picture drop outs. This was almost as good as being at the conference, ignoring the fact that that it was held in Sonoma :) . Very regrettably, I could not twitter-in since I was otherwise engaged, will try next time. Recommended, largely painless participation. More about the idea and a schedule of upcoming twebinars this summer.

Machine Learning at Google

Machine Learning is a form of AI ... in some senses the highest form since if you build a smart machine it can learn by itself ... work ongoing at Google, always worth following. This post mentions a recent conference they presented at. No details at all though, so disappointing.

Marketing Spend Endures

Continued strong marketing spend at Procter & Gamble and Unilever. In-store still emphasized. “In a period of food price inflation, more of the shopping list is being decided in the store.” - P&G CEO, AG Lafley

Winning at the Shelf

There is a new white paper at the Consumer Goods Technology site, useful, unfortunately requires registration. Not much depth but a good overview. At the end of the report there is, among the small company micro cases studies, a mention of Procter & Gamble and a short description of their standardizing mobile platforms. They also emphasize their 'moment of truth' classification of consumer interactions. Looked familiar. The paper was written by the O4 Corporation.

Also note a pie chart on page six of the report, which claims to show consumer reactions to out-of-stocks. It may be true on average, but consumer behavior depends heavily on the category and subcategory of product as well as other external variables of execution at individual retailers. A simple chart, which shows consumers reacting to out-of-stocks by buying the item elsewhere 31% of the time, is misleading.

Winning at the Shelf Mobile technology is transforming field execution for the world’s leading consumer products companies. In an increasingly tough marketplace, these companies are leading a revolution on the selling floor with new strategies that help create the perfect promotion, the perfect shelf, the perfect order and "win at the shelf"... ".

Overall the paper proposes a sensor-like interaction with store aisles, which is akin to the previous post here about need for better sensor integration and understanding.

More CGT white papers, which you can also get to after you register.

Kinetic Power

In these days of increased sensitivity to power generation and consumption, consider the power of dance.

Replacing Science?

Is it the end of theory? Have we outgrown the need for precision? If we had enough things stored on the Web would it just be a matter of looking it up? Wired's Chris Anderson makes such a suggestion.

Includes one of my favorite quotes, from George Box: "All models are wrong, but some are useful". Often use it when I teach and consult.

He has some good points, and I agree that the world of knowledge is changing. The still nascent semantic web is trying to bring together theory and data. But I am not ready to abandon the beauty of a precise theory by any means.

When we applied AI in industry we hoped for a complete theory of business, what we found to work was a combination of people, (wrong)models, data and theory. That is where the solution lies for the near future. The web gives us new access to more and new kinds of data. We still need the theory. A good rebuttal to Wired from Ars Technica.

Making Sense of Sensor Data

During the early days of RFID applications I thought advanced sensor research would create progress in the area of making sense of sensor data. Have been disappointed so far, especially how these results are visualized. Any pointers? A current CW article on the topic of sensor data in general.

Innovation Exchange

I was introduced to Innovation Exchange ... " an online open innovation marketplace. It's where diverse community members from all over the world respond to challenges sponsored by Global 5000 companies and not-for-profit organizations... " . Look forward to seeing how open innovation is practically implemented.

Another Shopping Assistant

Work underway that sees devices communicating with the shelf, a particular interest of mine. The article provides some interesting details, the device is strictly a prototype. The idea of a shopping assistant is an old one. Most solutions in test today are too complex, and require considerable and expensive infrastructure investments. Few consumers want to deal with them. The only plus here is that the idea could be integrated with a personal cellphone, eliminating some of the complexity. The picture shows a device very similar to one we saw from IBM in 2001. See previous posts on the simpler Modstream and more complex MediaCart.

Prototype Mobile Shopping Assistant Uses RFID to Tip 'n Tell
To access product information, consumers and sales associates can bring an RFID-enabled PDA or cell phone near an item, then tap the device's screen to request additional information .... "

Still Dabbling in Virtual Worlds

A good article on the status of doing business in virtual worlds. In a previous job I investigated the idea for a number of possible applications. No killer apps emerged. Although it drew the interest of many, especially employee gamers, it made many things harder than they should have been. IBM, who invested much in the idea, is discussed. Some companies, notably Cisco, still believe that we are only are only in a hiatus period, and virtual worlds will commonly be part of the future fabric of computing interfaces.

Multitasking Detrimental?

Previously saw studies regarding how interruptions such as Email and Internet messaging can delay work. How about if you specifically plan to do multiple things at once, it too can produce problems. Quite common, technically since at least the 70s. What has changed is the ability to increase the level of multitasking more than ever before.

Nokia Research

A BBC article on Nokia's research. Both about leading edge things they are up to, and some of their global strategy of innovation. Good case study.

Blurring the Line Between Marketing and Service

I see that local Pete Blackshaw has written an item in AdAge: How Apple is Blurring the Line Between Marketing and Service.... " ... Why Consumer-Facing Brands Can Benefit From Better Customer Interaction .. ".

Lessons from Non Simple Machines

In celebration of Rube Goldberg. Of course this is perhaps best seen as the flip side of the lesson of Occam's Razor, or that the likely (best?) solution to a problem is most often the simplest. Or the solution with the fewest assumptions work best. Or in the most modern view: 'Keep it simple, stupid.'