Launching New Service Speaking About the Internet of Things

Posted on 8th October 2013 in collaboration, communication, Essential Truths, Internet of Things, management, marketing, privacy, security, services, strategy

I’ve given speeches to business and academic audiences around the world for nearly 30 years, but haven’t tried my hand at paid public speaking until now!

However, I feel so strongly about the transformational potential of the Internet of Things that I want to evangelize on the Big Stage now, reaching corporate management, associations, and — very important — college and university students, with the message about how the IoT will change everything, and the challenges and opportunities it will bring.

So, I’ve added a new page to this site, promoting myself as a paid speaker and seminar leader.

While I’m glad to custom-craft a speech to your audience’s interests, I have several main ones tailored to various needs:

“It’s Not Just About Things, It’s About People… and Their Dreams”. Sometimes the emphasis on Internet of Things technology obscures the deeper truth: the IoT is really all about people – and improving their lives. This speech introduces laypeople and business leaders to the Internet of Things’ potential to transform every aspect of life for the better! From slippers that save the elderly from falls to hyper-efficient assembly lines that bring manufacturing jobs back to America, I give an uplifting, rapid-fire overview of the many ways the IoT is already changing our lives – and preview the even greater changes to come! I also talk about the important steps, such as new mind sets that value sharing information over hoarding it, that are necessary to fully realize the IoT’s potential.

Josh Siegel is 24. He is Reinventing the Auto Industry (this lecture is specifically aimed at college students). Josh Siegel is a 24-year old Detroiter, MIT grad student and entrepreneur. He uses the IoT to reinvent cars – whether or not Detroit is ready. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is 32, and created an IoT sensation, the Good Night Lamp. Dulcey Madden is 32 (her partners are both 24), and her Peeko “onsie” is saving the lives of infants who might otherwise die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

In this lecture you’ll hear about these and other young visionaries and inventors who are discovering new entrepreneurial opportunities in the Internet of Things. I challenge young listeners: what’s your passion? How will you find satisfying – and enriching – work in this exciting new field? What problem can you solve by inventing an IoT device?

P.S: Ask me to stay around the day after my speech to meet with your senior staff to advise them on how the IoT will affect your college or university, and how you can use it to increase efficiency and cut operating costs!

“I … see all … the devices in your home and … control them”. That’s how a Forbes reporter woke up an unsuspecting homeowner who’d bought an advanced home automation system – and got non-existent security in the bargain!

The Internet of Things might come to a grinding halt if the public and companies feel that their privacy and security are being violated. That’s a very real possibility – former CIA director David Petraeus waxed poetic about its potential as a spycraft tool, and a number of sensationalistic mainstream media reports have detailed the possible dangers of lax IoT privacy and security measures.

In this speech, I may scare you, but I’ll definitely get your attention! I lay out all the risks, issue a challenge to everyone involved in the IoT to make security and privacy a priority, and detail the current state of collaborative efforts to improve security and privacy.

I’m enthusiastic, well-informed, witty, (add positive adjective of your choice here …… , LOL) and convincing! If you’re interested in booking me, just fill out the contact form and download my “speaker one sheet.”

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Essential Truths of the IoT: Listen to the Things

Posted on 4th October 2013 in Essential Truths, Internet of Things, M2M, maintenance, management, manufacturing, marketing

No, “Listen to the Things” isn’t some sort of zen lesson, although it could be!

It is one of my occasional series of “Essential Truths of the IoT“: fundamental underlying principles that are essential to understanding the true nature of the Internet of Things as a fundamental paradigm shift.

Sensor-equipped GE power turbine

I think particularly of General Electric when I think of this fundamental principle, because GE is turning “listening to things” into major innovations in product design that, in turn, are leading to new ways of marketing their products and new revenue streams.

For example, not only is GE able to optimize production of the advanced cell-phone tower batteries at its state-of-the-art factory in Schenectady, NY because of 10,000 sensors on the assembly line, but also the batteries themselves include built-in sensors that allow GE to monitor their condition.

Thinking in terms of “listening to things” has revolutionized the very way GE markets its jet engines. Some of its new engines contain 20 sensors, which can generate up to a were 20 sensors that monitor the engine’s performance, generating up to a terrabyte of information on a cross-country flight. That allows the airline user to do “predictive maintenance,” which uses actual data on the actual engine — not just some recommended service interval for engines in general, to determine when that specific engine needs maintenance for best performance.

It also gives GE the option of leasing the engine instead of selling it, with the actual price of the lease again dependent on the actual usage of that particular engine, rather than some arbitrary average.

The customer also benefits — as does the global environment. GE calculates that if “an average-sized airline used F&CS  (Fuel and Carbon Solution to achieve a 2% improvement in fuel consumption, it would be equivalent to removing more than 10,000 cars from our roads.”

Here’s the problem — and the opportunity. We’re used to “dumb things” that were inscrutable — you couldn’t “listen” to how they were actually operating if your life depended on it. As a result, we don’t automatically see the opportunities to redesign products to include sensors that will automatically report real-time data about their operating state and possible problems. To capitalize on this “Essential Truth” of the IoT we will have to start asking a new question:

what things that are part of our intrastructure and/or our products
can be redesigned so we can “listen” to them — and 
learn from them?

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Tweeting the IoT Summit!

Posted on 1st October 2013 in government, Internet of Things, M2M, privacy, security

I Tweeted throughout the IoT Summit today, cryptic as the comments may have been. You can check them out at @data4all.  Learned a great deal, and picked up several nice examples for the e-book I’m writing on implications for corporate management of the IoT!

Enjoy.  Will do the same tomorrow!

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Could Information Silos Kill the Internet of Things?

Posted on 30th September 2013 in collaboration, Essential Truths, human communication, Internet of Things, M2M, open data

I missed this when it came out in July, but thought it was worthy of notice!

In an Information Age article, Maurizio Pilu, a European leader in development of the IoT, throws cold water on those of us who believe the IoT may be as big an innovation as the Industrial Age. Pilu, who runs the UK’s Connected Digital Economy Catapult, which was established by the Technology Strategy Board to growth the UK’s digital economy, says that the IoT is an “..evolution, not a revolution.”

He should know: after all, his prior job was running the TSB’s “Internet of things” program.

”

“He believes the Internet of things will (sic) gradualy follow analyst company Gartner’s much-cited hype cycle – a peak of inflated expectations, followed by a trough of disillusionment, followed by enlightenment and mainsteam adoption.

“If that’s true, then the trough is surely on its way. Last year, Gartner’s hype cycle for emerging technologies had the Internet of things approaching its peak.

“One risk factor that jeopardises the Internet of things’ potential is siloed thinking, Pilu believes. Every industry projects its own demands on the Internet of things, and the result may be disjointed – and therefore less powerful – systems.”

I don’t buy Pilu’s argument, but I do agree that “siloed thinking” is a threat to full development of the IoT. You’ll remember that my first “Essential Truth” about the IoT is that we must begin asking a fundamentally new question that is at odds with the old way of treating knowledge — hoarding proprietary information:

Who else could use this data?

In part, Pilu’s skepticism stems from the results of a program last year:

“.. the TSB oversaw a significant research programme to study the potential impact of the Internet of things.

“It brought together over 400 business and public sector organisations to develop proof-of-concept projects for potential Internet of things applications. These ranged from a mobile fitness app that could sell aggregated data to retailers to an assisted living system to monitor patients in their homes.

“Ten study groups examined these projects, conducting interviews and focus groups, to assess their technical, social and ethical impact.

“’One thing we found across all the studies was uncertainty about how to unlock the value from the Internet of things,’ says Pilu.  ‘But another common theme was the use of data.’

Pilu argues that making data openly available will be the key to unlocking the Internet of things’ real potential.

But, as many of the TSB’s projects found, this is not always possible. One study looked at the public infrastructure on city streets, for example, and found that the associated data is often held in closed systems or discarded quickly after being gathered. 

“’There are few incentives to make data available, owing to a combination of actual or perceived liabilities, unclear returns and costs,’ it concludes.”

So sharing information won’t come easily. It’s an issue to which I plan to devote much of my efforts in the field. I’ll keep you posted!

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Furious About the Government Shutdown!

Posted on 30th September 2013 in Uncategorized

I try to keep this blog focused on the Internet of Things and related topics such as big data, but I will deviate on occasion (look for at least one post in the next month about the World Champions to Be, AKA the Boston Red Sox!), and this is one of them!

For months, I’ve been looking forward to moderating a panel at the international M2M and IoT Summit, to be held tomorrow and Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington.

As of now, one of the panelists is Mark Eichorn, Assistant Director, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of Consumer Protection, at the Federal Trade Commission (the only US agency that’s demonstrated interest in the IoT).

BUT THAT MAY NOT HAPPEN! You see, if the ignoramuses (let me be blunt about it) who make up the 40 or so (out of 435: you do the math — does that constitute a majority???) “Tea Party” types in the House of Representatives don’t suddenly change their ways, the federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM tomorrow, and Mr. Eichorn and the other federal representatives who were supposed to participate in the conference or attend it, won’t be allow to!

I happen to think federal workers are great such as Mr. Eichorn are great: they work long hours, come in for a fair amount of abuse, and have already suffered financial losses because of the equally stupid sequester.

If you agree, please call Speaker Boehner’s Office, 202 225-0600, and tell him what you think about his spineless leadership.

OK, got that off my chest…

PS: Oh, the cause of all this stupidity? The Affordable Care Act, modeled on our own Massachusetts health reform law, signed by a Republican governor in 2006, and acknowledged by all as a success. It works. Get over it. Give me a break!

PSS: The Tea Party? Latest poll shows public support for them has shrunken to near all-time low!

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Essential Truth: the IoT Democratizes Innovation

Posted on 23rd September 2013 in Essential Truths, Internet of Things

I’ve got Internet of Things innovation on the brain right now: I’m writing a speech specifically to deliver to college audiences to motivate them about careers in the field, so I keep seeing more cool stuff that young people are doing in the field. You know, when you’re a hammer, all you see are nails…

This one was in the current Popular Science, about a young programmer named Nathan Broadbent, who had a hunch, based on two of his preoccupations:

“Web developer Nathan Broadbent loved automating everyday tasks. He also loved frozen dinners and wanted to program his microwave to prepare them. He suspected an oven could harness Universal Product Codes — the bar codes found on almost all food packaging — to download and execute cooking instructions all by itself.”

It was pretty obvious to him, but why wasn’t anyone doing it? “‘We’re at this point with technology that we have everything we need to make this possible, but no one’s doing it.'”

Nathan Broadbent

So, voila, Broadbent hacks his microwave, integrating a Raspberry Pi board and a custom circuit board. He added on a wi-fi adapter, microphone, speaker and barcode scanner for good measure.

Now, when the scanner identifies a frozen food, the Pi downloads the cooking instructions from a online database he created, programming the microwave to cook the food! He can even issue voice commands. And, shades of the Tweeting Toaster, it can even tweet when the cooking is done.

Reading about Broadbent and another young IoT innovator, smart “onsie” creator Dulcie Madden (whose background is in public health, not electronics) leads me to posit another of my Iot Essential Truths, closely related to the earlier one of empowering individuals:

“The Internet of Things democratizes innovation, by giving them tools that make it easier for people who have particular interests, pains, or other motivations, to invent solutions that will make their lives simpler and/or richer, and to find solutions to problems that large companies haven’t even thought of.”

To me, that’s pretty cool (heck, I’m even designing an IoT app myself — because of a chance occurrence that triggered an “aha moment” — if you’re a hungry young app designer, I’m looking for a partner, so contact me!). I wasn’t able to make it to the Maker Faire in NYC this last weekend, but I suspect that a ton of great ideas will emerge from the cross-fertilization that came out of that event!

PS: here’s the Raspberry Pi microwave!

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Chatting up Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino.There at the beginning!

Posted on 19th September 2013 in Internet of Things

I’m about to launch a new venture: paid speaking about the Internet of Things to corporate audiences and college students (details to come in the near future — but feel free to contact me NOW if you think of an audience that would be open to my evangelism for the IoT!).

One of the speeches I’m preparing is aimed squarely at college students — I’ve been excited to see how many 20 and 30-somethings play a lead role in the IoT and I’m also concerned about the future for these kids (my youngest very much included) in terms of the conventional economy — we’re in the process of leaving them with a very sorry mess, and I think they’re best advised to think outside-the-box and create their own opportunities.

WHICH IS A LONG WAY OF GETTING TO A GREAT CONVERSATION that I had at six AM today with one of those leaders who I plan to feature in the speech to provide inspiration, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino,  who I knew primarily as the designer of the Good Night Lamp. I was quick to learn that she’s done much, much more, and was really there at the beginning of the IoT movement!

Here’s what I learned!

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

She began studying product design in Montreal, and her professor told her to investigate the field of interactive design.

Wanting to go back to Europe, she enrolled in the program that many credit with being the home of the first maker movement in the IoT, as one of 17 students in the Design Institute of Ivrea, Italy. If that rings a distant bell, it’s because that’s where the Arduino board was developed, which has been the entry point for so many to the IoT. It was during this period that she actually designed the Good Night Lamp.

 

Good Night Lamps

She then moved to London, forming an Arduino distributorship with inventor Massimo Banzi.

She grew the business to about 12 people, which also did R & D on inter-connected products for companies such as BBC and Nokia.

Deschamps-Sonsino closed the business and then went back to consulting in 2010. In early 2013 she revisited the Good Night Lamp, getting it into production.

When I asked her whether her lack of a programming background was a handicap, she laughed, and said “I still don’t know how to program, but I know enough to be dangerous .. I have a really good understanding of what’s possible and what isn’t” in terms of programming. She thinks her awareness of programming is much higher than most product designers, who are ” …  still interested in designing chairs and salt and pepper shakers!” She thinks that design education must evolve — too much of it is still focused on the kind of mid-20th century design that created cults around designers such as Philipp Starck. She is adamant that there is a role for product designers in the IoT, saying that most of the products have been designed by programmers, who come at product design from a technology perspective. In fact, she thinks that a lot of education will have to change because of the IoT, which she sees as a disruptive technology:  “We have to get away from vertical learning niches, and put more emphasis on collaboration.” She shakes her head at one leading European manufacturer, where the product designers are physically isolated from the technologists and others, making collaboration impossible.

When I asked whether she’d faced any discrimination in the IoT world as a woman, Deschamps-Sonsino said:

“Not really, being a woman was actually useful because there aren’t many around: as long as it’s to my benefit, gets me in front of audiences, it’s OK. Some  who got involved in the IoT in their 30s act inappropriately,but I’m managing it!”

Since I’m hoping to use these speeches to motivate young people to seek IoT careers, I concluded by asking her what the future holds:

“I think it has such tremendous potential, incredible opportunities. I think curiosity is the key. Start looking online for examples of IoT products: people keen to get feedback on their designs. Try to engage: take a 2-day workshop with Arduino. I’d particularly say to younger girls, the idea that tech for boys is total bullshit.

Young people have a lot to contribute. Opportunity for a lot of products because of the freshness of their outlook. You don’t have to learn to code.  Other parts of the industry are ossified , but this is so open.” (my emphasis)

We wrapped up the conversation after 45 minutes. My day was already made! What an inspiration. Thanks, Alexandra!

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More Evidence #IoT has Arrived: CNBC Docu ToNite

Posted on 18th September 2013 in Internet of Things, M2M

On the heels of Tom Friedman’s Sunday NYT column, here’s more evidence the IoT is achieving mainstream recognition: CNBC will air a 1-hour documentary tonight, titled “Rise of the Machines,” 9 PM EDT tonight.

The blurb for the show says, breathlessly:

“All around us, there’s a technological revolution underway powered by devices as small as a grain of rice. They are sensors, capable of tracking and recording everything we do. They’re in our smartphones, our cars, our appliances, even our bodies, and they’re connected to the Internet to share information and make our world smarter. Virtually all products that use electricity – from toasters and coffeemakers to jet engines and MRIs – now have the ability to ‘talk’ to each other, and to us. And, what they have to say is profoundly transforming our lives – the way we travel, treat disease, and enjoy our homes.”

Yep.

Segments in the show will include:

Should be interesting. Insightful or just skimming the surface? We’ll see!

PS: thanks to my book agent, Mike Snell, for tip on this one!

 

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It’s Official: Tom Friedman Anoints the IoT; Plus Jobs Issue Is Raised!

Posted on 16th September 2013 in 3-D printing, Internet of Things, M2M, maintenance, manufacturing, services

OK, the Internet of Things is officially a Big Thing: Tom “World is Flat” Friedman wrote about it in the Sunday NY Times.

Friedman, searching for evidence of American “exceptionalism” in a bleak landscape of Capitol Hill paralysis, etc. zeroed in on GE’s “Industrial Internet” initiatives as a ray of hope. As he wrote,

“I wanted to see what new technologies, and therefore business models — and therefore jobs — it might be spawning that public policy, and education policy, might enhance. I have no idea whether or how G.E. will profit from any of these breakthroughs, but I saw the outlines there of three radically new business trends that the United States should want to dominate.”

One of those themes was how 3-D printing could streamline the design and production process.

The second, which I wrote about earlier, was the concept of crowdsourcing design, in particular the contest GE held to design a new jet turbine mount (more about that later!!!).

Finally, Friedman zeroed in on the IoT, specifically widespread use of sensors:

“Lastly, we are on the cusp of what G.E. calls ‘the Industrial Internet’ or the ‘Internet of Things’ — meaning that every major part of a G.E. jet engine, locomotive or turbine is now equipped with online sensors that constantly measure and broadcast every aspect of performance. Computers capture all this big data and use it to improve everything from the flight path to energy efficiency.”

He gave several examples, such as wind turbines and hospital beds, where data from sensors can help to optimize efficiency and cut operating costs. He pointed out that the data allows GE to create new services “… that offer not just to manage an airline’s or railroad’s engines, but how fast all its planes or trains go, how flight and train schedules are coordinated and even how its equipment is parked to get optimal performance and energy efficiency (aside to marketing managers: what kinds of services would the IoT allow you to introduce, perhaps replacing actual sales of products with leases based on use? Think about it!).

Friedman concludes, “Watch this space, even if Washington doesn’t: When everything and everyone becomes connected, and complexity is free and innovation is both dirt-cheap and can come from anywhere, the world of work changes.”

Indeed! Nice to have someone with Friedman’s clout recognizing the IoT is a paradigm shift!

MEANWHILE: Make certain to read the comments following the column. They are primarily negative, and zero in on one thing: the IoT’s threat to jobs. In particular, the critics focused on the GE engine mount design contest.  One was particularly pointed:

“According to CNNMoney, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt pocketed $25.8 million in total compensation in 2012. That’s about $20,000 every hour and a half. How come 8 geniuses cost only 90 minutes of CEO time?”

You’ve gotta agree, $20,000 ($7,000 to the winner) is a pretty paltry sum considering what GE gets in return, and given readers’ suspicions that companies may let go their salaried designers and instead exploit freelancers (I’ve thought the same about some of the incentives offered by Innocentive member companies for some of the crowdsourcing projects that they’ve offered), you can bet that there will be more criticisms in the future if this becomes a common practice.

The IoT will undoubtably result in loss of some jobs — disruptive technologies do that — although optimists say they will create jobs as well. But if companies don’t want to reap a lot of criticism for their IoT initiatives, they’d better put some thought into the job creation aspect as well!

 

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Could IoT Allow Do-over for Privacy, Security — & Trust?

Posted on 13th September 2013 in communication, management, privacy, security

Expect to be reading a lot here about privacy and security between now and my panel on those issues at the IoT Summit in DC, Oct. 1 & 2, as I prep to ask the panel questions!

Here’s another, from Stacy Higginbotham (BTW, she does a great podcast on IoT issues!), based on a conversation with ARM CTO Mike Muller. It’s reassuring to see that this IoT-leading firm is taking privacy and security seriously. Even more refreshingly, theirs is a nuanced and thoughtful view.

Muller told Higginbotham that IoT vendors should learn from some of the missteps on privacy on the Web so far, and make amends:

“’We should think about trust as who has access to your data and what they can do with it. For example, I’ll know where you bought something, when you bought it, how often and who did you tweet about it.

“When you put the long tail of lots of bits of information and big data analytics associated with today’s applications we can discern a lot. And people are not thinking it through. … I think it’s the responsibility of the industry that, as people connect, to make them socially aware of what’s happening with their data and the methods that are in place to make connections between disparate sets of data (my emphasis). In the web that didn’t happen, and the sense of lost privacy proliferated and it’s all out there. People are trying to claw that back and implement privacy after the fact.”

Higginbotham adds that “… what troubles Muller is that today, there’s nothing that supports trust and privacy in the infrastructure associated with the internet of things.”

What struck me, as someone who used to earn his living doing corporate crisis management, is that one of the critical issues in trust (or lack thereof) is guilt by association may not be logically valid, but is emotionally powerful: if people’s preconception of IoT privacy and security standards is that they’re simply an extension of Internet ones, there’s likely to be trouble.

She goes on to differentiate between security, privacy — and trust.

“Trust is the easiest to define and the hardest to implement. It relies on both transparency and making an effort to behave consistently ….  When it comes to connected devices and apps, trust is probably most easily gained by explaining what you do with people’s data: what you share and with whom. It might also extend to promises about interoperability and supporting different platforms. Implicitly trust with connected devices also means you will respect people’s privacy and follow the best security practices….

“Privacy is more a construct of place as opposed to something associated with a specific device. So a connected camera on a public street is different from a connected camera inside your home. It’s easy to say that people shouldn’t be able to just grab a feed from inside your home — either from a malicious hack or the government (or a business) doing a random data scrape. But when it comes to newer connected devices like wearables it gets even more murky: Consider that something like a smart meter can share information about the user to someone who knows what to look for.

“So when thinking about the internet of things and privacy, it’s probably useful to start with thinking about the data the device generates….

(As for security:) “To protect privacy when everything is connected will require laws that punish violations of people’s privacy and draw lines that companies and governments can’t step over; but it will also require vigilance by users. To get this right, users should be reading the agreements they click through when they connect a device, but companies should also create those agreements, especially around data sharing transparent, in a way that inspires trust.

Governments and companies need to think about updating laws for a connected age and set criteria about how different types of data are transported and shared. Health data might still need the HIPAA-levels of regulations, but maybe looser standards can prevail for connected thermostats.”

Sounds to me as if there’s a role in these complex issues for all of us: vendors, government, and users.

But the one take-away that I have from Muller’s remarks is that IoT vendors must realize they have to earn users trust, and that’s going to require a combination of technical measures and unambiguous, plain-English communication with users about who owns their data and how it will be used. To me, that means not hiding behind the lawyers and agate-type legal disclaimers, but clear, easy-to-understand declarations about users’ rights to their data and companies’ need to directly ask them for access, displayed prominently, with the default being that the user completely denies access, and must opt in for it to be shared. 

What do you think?

Higginbotham concludes that “we need to stop freaking out about the dangers of connected devices and start having productive discussions about implementing trust and security before the internet of things goes the way of the web. Wonderful, free and a total wild west when it comes to privacy.” Hopefully, that’s what will happen during our October 1st panel.

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