Riffin' on '13
·
A very interesting post on the IBM 5 in 5 which takes a human centric approach to writing about what the next 5 years have in store for us is here http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2012/12/the-ibm-5-in-5-our-2012-forecast-of-inventions-that-will-change-the-world-within-five-years.html
The presentation is here on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXkfrBJqVcQ
and the gist is here
Touch: You will be able to reach out and touch through your phone
Sight: A pixel will be worth a thousand words
Hearing: Computers will hear what matters
Taste: Digital taste buds will help you to eat healthier
Smell: Computers will have a sense of smell
My thoughts on this are not mundane but approach a very different side of this problem. The sight, taste and smell aspects of development have been around for a pretty long time. They are not even the most daring of assumptions. I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon which spoke about how "smellavision replaces Television"in 2020+ and I thought, wow, what an idea. Well, it does seem like my wow moment will be seen by me before long.
The kinect was a revolution in how we played our games. The quantified self was a really interesting movement that solidified the cult of Up, Fitbit and Fuel. Bendable mobile screens have been around for some time but havent been mass produced yet. I feel that technology is at a junction where you can play "Name that sci-fi thing-and-we-will-make-it". It really is a 3 part question that we should be asking.
1. What will I see myself use in the next 5 years?
2. What would I really want to own if it gets a little less expensive over the next 5 years?
3. What "Holy Cow" invention is going to make its way into the global subconscious in the next 5 years?
Substitute "next 5 years" with any time frame and the question would still be largely material.
The number 1 question has a few sub parts
a. What would I use because it is better than something that I use already?
b. What would I use because all my friends are using it?(for context because"Some digital content in this message" in my phone messaging system just gets annoying after a while)
c. What would make my life substantially better if I used that system now?
Lets take Mobile for example, I used a Nokia, then a Samsung and then switched to a Windows 7 because it did something that the other did not. Nokia made calls, Samsung allowed me to surf the internet and Windows had apps that made life substantially easier. I then switched to an iPhone because it was a better phone. Also, not having an iPhone effectively ruled me out of group messages and the usual psychological disintegration that comes with having the "uncool" product. These were still minor reasons but the clincher was the lack of apps that have been and continue to be the bane of the Windows Phone ecosystem. Some would argue that the iPhone allowed a lot more than just make calls and receive text messages and in that regard was a (c.). I wouldn't be so sure. The galaxy note is more of a (c.) than the longer iPhone 5.
The question 2 was the tablet for a long long time. I knew it had utility in the gym, I knew it was something that I wanted to use. I knew it had merit. But was the gym use case and the travel use case enough to justify having something that would have its own data plan and cost a little fortune? Does the jawbone become an app on your phone that you only pay a subscription fee instead of $130 for? Does runkeeper expand and become an app that tells you all about good living?
The question 3 this year was Google glass. I do not have the imagination to fathom what could come this year but it sure wont be a better Siri, we have been led one too many times down that path.
Year in review makes sense when we read it back and tally it for surprises and surmises. And in that respect,
let the questions guide but not stifle
let the memories be warm and a giggle,
let the times be new but tethered,
let life be easy but remembered,
let the checklist have consequence
The presentation is here on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXkfrBJqVcQ
and the gist is here
Touch: You will be able to reach out and touch through your phone
Sight: A pixel will be worth a thousand words
Hearing: Computers will hear what matters
Taste: Digital taste buds will help you to eat healthier
Smell: Computers will have a sense of smell
My thoughts on this are not mundane but approach a very different side of this problem. The sight, taste and smell aspects of development have been around for a pretty long time. They are not even the most daring of assumptions. I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon which spoke about how "smellavision replaces Television"in 2020+ and I thought, wow, what an idea. Well, it does seem like my wow moment will be seen by me before long.
The kinect was a revolution in how we played our games. The quantified self was a really interesting movement that solidified the cult of Up, Fitbit and Fuel. Bendable mobile screens have been around for some time but havent been mass produced yet. I feel that technology is at a junction where you can play "Name that sci-fi thing-and-we-will-make-it". It really is a 3 part question that we should be asking.
1. What will I see myself use in the next 5 years?
2. What would I really want to own if it gets a little less expensive over the next 5 years?
3. What "Holy Cow" invention is going to make its way into the global subconscious in the next 5 years?
Substitute "next 5 years" with any time frame and the question would still be largely material.
The number 1 question has a few sub parts
a. What would I use because it is better than something that I use already?
b. What would I use because all my friends are using it?(for context because"Some digital content in this message" in my phone messaging system just gets annoying after a while)
c. What would make my life substantially better if I used that system now?
Lets take Mobile for example, I used a Nokia, then a Samsung and then switched to a Windows 7 because it did something that the other did not. Nokia made calls, Samsung allowed me to surf the internet and Windows had apps that made life substantially easier. I then switched to an iPhone because it was a better phone. Also, not having an iPhone effectively ruled me out of group messages and the usual psychological disintegration that comes with having the "uncool" product. These were still minor reasons but the clincher was the lack of apps that have been and continue to be the bane of the Windows Phone ecosystem. Some would argue that the iPhone allowed a lot more than just make calls and receive text messages and in that regard was a (c.). I wouldn't be so sure. The galaxy note is more of a (c.) than the longer iPhone 5.
The question 2 was the tablet for a long long time. I knew it had utility in the gym, I knew it was something that I wanted to use. I knew it had merit. But was the gym use case and the travel use case enough to justify having something that would have its own data plan and cost a little fortune? Does the jawbone become an app on your phone that you only pay a subscription fee instead of $130 for? Does runkeeper expand and become an app that tells you all about good living?
The question 3 this year was Google glass. I do not have the imagination to fathom what could come this year but it sure wont be a better Siri, we have been led one too many times down that path.
Year in review makes sense when we read it back and tally it for surprises and surmises. And in that respect,
let the questions guide but not stifle
let the memories be warm and a giggle,
let the times be new but tethered,
let life be easy but remembered,
let the checklist have consequence
Gangnam style
·
Gangnam style.
I guess it really is all about making a statement, if you were to take a look at the mirror and consider a statement that would best define you, it would be a pretty hard thing exercise to get about doing. That is where something which is top of mind can be channeled so effectively. 2 things -
It really isnt about the essay you wrote about yourself in seventh grade that defines you, it is the state of being that you feel right now. It is that very thing which makes you who you are.
We change, every one of us, every second of the day. We reserve the right to do stupid things that at the moment seemed like sterling moments of clarity.
We express ourselves through moments of clarity that best resemble us at the given state of time. What we are is tightly coupled within context of how we feel, and what stays with us is as much a part of our existence as it is a part of our expression.
Plight of the QA
·
So why do QA folks design release logos?
I started my career in QA a little over 3 years ago. It was
called an SDET. I vaguely confused it with being a ninja JEDI. I was wrong.
I did not like data. I memorized the bubble sort only
because it vaguely reminded me of bubble wrap, and well, that used to be fun. I
was an avid writer in school, right up till I had to write my competitive
entrance exams with half a million other hopefuls. I was definitely not a geek.
I made a sincere effort to be one though. I bought the glasses and one of those
teach me quick tricks on hacking books that I thought would make me seem cool.
It didn’t, and as with time I would realize, nor would this job.
I was stuck in a vacuum trying to decide what the first stop
on a hopefully memorable career would be back in the sweaty summer of 2008. I
had landed a cushy job that would pay more than I could have ever imagined (It
didn’t, tax laws made sure of that). I started out into the unknown and as with
an exotic dish that you try out, I slowly realized that this was not worth
going through again.
So, I realized that this was wrong and was possibly a bad
career move. I saw no future and an MBA was still some time away. I was being
made to work on things that I felt a natural sense of detachment towards. A
feeling bordering on apathy and antipathy overcame me as I went to work
everyday. In my case, I can always blame the great depression of 2008-09 on my
decision to stick it out in the field of QA. However, the reality is quite
different. I would have stuck around even if Goldman Sachs and the rest of the
Wall Street not indulged in the big short (tip of the hat Michael Lewis). The
inertia was too great. I could do things that I normally would not have had a
chance to do with a job that would consume me. I would have the chance to
cultivate a passion. I could always be on the lookout for something amazing!
After 6 months at work and one-word texts to my then
room-mates that only spelt A-L-C-O-H-O-L, I was pretty much in no mans land.
The work would never get me to where I wanted to be, especially since I did not
know where my destination was. There was so much room for innovation that you
showing up everyday was a mark of how the industry was looking up. The work was
pretty easy and most of it dealt with your ability to be a right royal prick. I
was a natural fit.
Yesterday on the Caltrain, I overheard an anecdote about the
QA director coming into a room full of new recruits and saying “So you all want
to be somewhere else but are stuck in QA?” I thought it was a remarkably honest
appraisal of what some people thought when they got into QA. I personally loved
it till I lost a sense of purpose (which was attenuated to begin with). I think
I would have stayed had it not been for the Brownian movement that I feel my
life inevitably is destined for.
So, why do the QA design release logos? Or do things that
are not even tangentially relevant to the hard programmatic problem at hand?
Because they need to express. So much of the identity of a
QA is linked to what someone else made out of (Dev) what someone else wrote
(PM). Let them express. Let them paint, write poems or throw darts at every bug
that gets reactivated. Let them generally hang around and do their own thing.
It is not why they do it but it is how they have contained themselves for so
long.
Qualcomm and Big Data
·
Qualcomm stole a march on most of the hyperbole by unveiling the Gimbal. This SDK will make it easy to talk to every possible sensor and as Robert Scoble argues, will push us further to the contextual age. No more atomic transactions or context switches, try fluidity on for size.
The sensors may mean a host of things. From being a standalone to being context aware is a huge paradigm shift but I am not sure if this is the inflection point that we have long been rooting for. All this implies, at least in the medium term is that there is going to be an even bigger explosion of Big Data. Big Data is about to become huge and it will be fueled by consumers. Throwing darts in the dark will actually have more information on the game just by your random hits and misses. So whether or not this is the age of context or not, the winners at least for now look poised to survive based on their ability to promise the extraction of wealth from the sheer explosion of data that we find everywhere.
Dead Week
·
In the middle of finding myself,
I take a step back,
The breeze hurts and makes me wonder,
Disjointed moments pluck asunder,
The headphones blare out silence,
But did anyone ever need me around?
Was it a sound that no one made?
A glimmer of hope when the Sun went for shade
The bike turns quietly screeching at brakes,
The pedestrians know better,
But walking downhill when the wheel was there,
Doesn’t make sense, like meaning everywhere,
Understood by a few but critiqued by many,
This seems like a chance to take a lucky penny,
But in dead week, where little else walks,
Why lock yourself out when the day ahead knocks?
Reaching the stand and standing by,
A little movement as time goes to fly,
Would this coffee be an antidote?
Flashes of when a skateboard goes rogue,
I don’t want to leave or stay,
Can I be 31 and wait for May?
The leaves taunt, they know something I don’t,
They wither away, as is their wont,
But dropbox serves its purpose,
I didn’t need to bike away,
Does it really care that I came all this way?
Gaping at an assignment swallowing time,
And effort, which is it first or does it matter?
The walk back is punctuated by stairs,
I wonder what made itself scarce,
The shadows fight in the corner for rain,
The Sun billows howling again,
They are glad, the grass smells greener,
The breeze comes back, it has seen her,
A welcome note and a step away,
A pretty girl an arm’s length away,
Gushing sunlight and the vivid noise,
The sound of calm in eerie poise,
Is it enough to turn the volume up?
Or does it drown out enough of you?
Would it make sense to answer them now?
Or does it stir within you?
Never mind, the dead week await,
Questions can be saved until later,
Would you be the same had you met her?
These are trivial, a story untold,
A questionable choice, a future foretold,
But it’s the dead week, its time to study,
But where is my concentration? Why is life not sturdy?
Bouncing against the uncertain cold,
The chill reminds,
Memories abound but the conscience finds,
The sprinklers come on, has it been this long?
Time flies when you hum on by
But have never heard the song,
Were you led astray in your time here?
The keys slip past,
The concrete glistens,
You only wish someone listens,
But the next photo await the eager
The next class, the next great thriller,
A carousel that ceases to stop,
A melancholy that grows in part,
Is it worth its while to take a step back,
But did it feel like a haystack?
The confusion stems from the Sun and the breeze
They play games and you are in need
Come back home, the dead week won’t wait
As you ride slowly back,
Only some remain seated,
Some stand and wait for their chance,
Others realize its not worth a glance,
Some stop and take a click,
In memory this will be,
The dead week stands testament to walls
And pyramids alike,
The walking finally get their due
A fiction that turns ever so true
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