Signs of an increasing demand for privacy

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-apple-ios-14-damage-audience-network-ad-business-2020-8

Looks like Apple continues to reinforce their position as the privacy conscious choice among technology vendors, for those consumers seeking it. Very interesting to see this play out - I believe there’s more room for startups & businesses to emerge and tap into this market, especially as the newer generations who are tech natives and are more familiar with the inner workings of the ad driven businesses / data mining. As they grow older, they will see more options for themselves to distance from the data mining vendors.

Intuitive Design Delights End Users

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-geneva-motor-show/honda-bucks-industry-trend-removing-touchscreen-controls

Great example of a scenario where the User Experience (UX) strongly matters and goes well beyond any simple User Interface (UI) — intuitive controls in the car allow drivers to use them without having to look with their eyes, to perceive config changes, which is especially important to allow the driver to keep their eyes on the road.

User testing matters. User context matters.

Humane Technology

Great write-up from the Center for Humane Technology, specifically about how technologists can take our profession to the next level in terms of positive impact, by being more than simply informative. A number of examples focus on the COVID-19 response and where tech could have (and can still have) a bigger positive impact:

https://medium.com/center-for-humane-technology/from-inform-to-persuade-how-can-tech-step-up-for-humanity-3ac21de4c53b

Technology enabled care

Tech-enabled care is a major emerging theme in the 2010s and beyond. Personal health records, monitoring via wearables, medical diagnostic devices that connect to smartphones or are integrated directly into them, as well as decision support / analytics support systems that enable caregivers, as well as the patients themselves, to have an even more detailed understanding of the physiological state — are being advanced and introduced more frequently. Certainly a cross-functional, cross-domain theme that folk with a broader set of experiences will be able to contribute to.

An example of a service that goes beyond what’s available today to patients, through the use of technology - available below:

https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/comprehensive-tech-enabled-checkup-service-q-bio-scores-40m

Two tech themes - automation and dev tools

Not entirely related, but these two posts nicely summarized two themes I’ve found in tech that I think are worth noting in this blog.

One is a post by Fred Wilson, on developer tools, companies that develop them and their value, as well as which developer tools / software are the best to invest in (and I presume he’d agree with me, if I suggested that’s also the best way to find an employer to work for / team to join — is the same company you’d also invest money in).

https://avc.com/2020/02/being-in-the-flow/

Another one is a post about a startup for autonomous yard trucks - that nicely summarizes why that team chose to pursue that problem space, as a good candidate for automation:

“Outrider CEO Andrew Smith said distribution yards are ideal environments to deploy autonomous technology because they’re well-defined areas that are also complex, often chaotic and with many manual tasks.

“This is why a systems approach is necessary to automate every major task in the yard,” Smith said.”

https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/19/autonomous-yard-trucking-startup-outrider-comes-out-of-stealth-with-53-million-in-funding/

Two significant and exciting leaps in healthtech in 2020

In the face of the seemingly ever-growing set of challenges facing the global community, there are positive and encouraging news out of science & tech that give hope for a brighter future for all.

Two really exciting advances in healthcare technology, that I think are signs of monumental advances for medical care, are these following two stories that came out this January 2020:

https://www.healthimaging.com/topics/healthcare-economics/fda-clear-worlds-first-portable-mri

https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/20/machine-learning-finds-novel-antibiotic-able-to-kill-superbugs/

Two highlights from this January 2020

A recent theme I’ve been thinking of - is that a lot of opportunity in technology is to solve core problems for organizations, that have yet to be solved in a way that’s easily adopted and deployed. Core problems that are much more needed in the short term, than the long term vision apps and services.

One example is the problem of identity management. This raise by Persona is a good example of ventures seeking to solve this:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/28/persona-raises-17-5m-for-an-identify-verification-platform-the-goes-beyond-user-ids-and-passwords/

On an unrelated topic, there has been a lot of talk about Boston becoming unaffordable for entrepreneurs, young startups, and unattractive for those folk who want to take a risk on a job / team / young company. Thereby, there is talk about what the next tech / science / innovation hub in the New England area might be. Is it Worcester, Providence, Manchester/Nashua… or Portland, Maine? With this latest news, my bet is on the latter to become the latest city to attract creative minds, entrepreneurs and bring progress to the world:

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/01/27/maine-native-puts-up-100-million-for-portland-research-center/

Augmented Interaction - Theme for 2020s

I’m under the belief that the tech that will really transform how we work and live in the coming decade, is the tech that will help us better interact with the world around us.

Key word here is interact.

Not model the world around it. Not simulate it. Not discuss it or simply capture an image or audio representation of it.

But truly interact with it.

This is where I think the companies and technology to watch are those that interface with the world.

Some examples from this week:

https://www.geekwire.com/2020/exclusive-apple-acquires-xnor-ai-edge-ai-spin-paul-allens-ai2-price-200m-range/ —- tech to help us interact with objects in the visual field without touching the cloud

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/15/nextnav-raises-120m-to-deploy-its-indoor-positioning-tech-to-find-people-in-skyscrapers/ —- help us interact with real estate

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/14/anyline-series-a/ — interact with anything offline that has numbers or letters on it

Even this — where the interaction is between our bodies and the tech device:

https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/15/fitbit-blood-oxygen-tracking/

Recommended quick reads for 2020 and beyond

As we turn the page and start a new decade next week in 2020, I’d like to highlight a couple of future-looking posts from blogs I follow. It’s a great time to reflect on the past year and decade, and start to think about what’s coming next - for us as technologists, engineers, creators, thinkers, and consumers of what we design and create.

One highlight is the “The End of Cloud Computing” post by Peter Levine on A16Z blog site: https://a16z.com/2019/11/15/the-end-of-cloud-computing-2/

Another one is Fred Wilson’s post from his AVC blog:

https://avc.com/2019/12/annual-year-end-predictions/

Bets in AI - Computer Vision

Despite the sometimes exaggerated expectations of the potential applications of AI in everyday life and work in the past 10 years, there are a few elements within the domain that continue to show promise with advances made by researchers and industry fairly regularly. One of those is Computer Vision (CV), which is fundamental to a number of technologies with practical uses, like Augmented Reality. As with applications of other areas of AI, the most practical here is decision support.

Below is a great article on the team and vision at Paige, which is using CV for medical imaging purposes:

https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/18/paige-raises-45-million-to-detect-cancer-with-computer-vision/

Augmented Intelligence

Great write-up that takes a more rational stance on the potential wins from broader adoption of AI / machine learning. I’ve been borrowing the term “augmented intelligence” when describing the (hyped up in recent years) acronym of “AI”. The algorithms that sift through large amounts of historical data, and then try to make suggestions on data that’s input to the model by the end-user — are most effective at suggesting the next step / action for the human — rather than replacing people’s decisions entirely. This will be especially evident in healthcare, where doctor / clinician decisions will never be replaced, but rather only augmented by output from systems.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/does-ai-have-a-place-in-medicine/

Expansion of core tech by the industry

Great to see a top industry player like Google investing in core research that expands the possibilities of tech applications. Just like they did with opening up and supporting Android for developers, this will expand the scope of what’s possible for developers to solve for, using software — in this case, expanding to another one of the human senses.

http://ai.googleblog.com/2019/10/learning-to-smell-using-deep-learning.html

Focus on making life easier for your users

I’m a big believer in the success of technology that makes a user or community’s day in the life, easier. In other words, the “practical tech” tends to win out in terms of mass adoption, over tech that has potential but keeps to abstract use-cases or ones that carry value for a niche set of users.

A good example of this in the recent years, has been the rollout of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) tech and applications - for enterprise and consumer spaces. Both carried the promise to improve our experience at home and at work.

Thus far, as per the above, AR carried much more practical applications to everyday life with it, and VR has realized much fewer of these.

Google’s recent decision to focus on its AR efforts show their teams’ understanding of where they have impact on the everyday lives of their users.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/15/google-discontinues-daydream-vr/

Crowdsourcing in health tech

Highly recommended read on the application of deep learning to the dermatology arena, that a research team at Google has pursued. This is what I believe to be the promise next generation of health tech start-ups and emerging companies - where curation can be sourced globally.

https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/09/using-deep-learning-to-inform.html

The interesting bit is that a new Netflix original series, “Diagnosis” has come out about the same time (this month, Sept 2019) and covers specific stories where crowdsourcing has led to positive next steps for patients and their families.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80201543

An area worth exploring further.

Learning more about ML and AI

Healthcare benefiting from ML

Really exciting to see progress in application of machine learning (ML) techniques to the world of healthcare, in ways that are immediately applicable to improving the ways care is provided. In this case, it should be possible to better know the timing when a strong medical intervention is necessary, and how early.

https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/using-ai-predict-breast-cancer-and-personalize-care

https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/17/an-experimental-ai-system-can-predict-when-pancreatic-cysts-will-become-cancerous/

The machine becomes an advisor that we and our clinicians can start to lean on more, for more peace of mind and a better life.

Brushing up on the latest - staying current

Bit different of a post this time around.

As commonly thought, I also believe it is important for anyone in the technology, research, scientific, or medical related field to continue to brush up their domain knowledge, sharpen their skillset and understanding of their field, ecosystem, and latest techniques. This allows for improved communication with colleagues, clients, collaborators, and improved chances of being able to make educated guesses about what’s next — useful for creating the next innovation, or knowing where to invest capital and people’s time (including your own).

Some current topics that stand out, that I will be looking to review:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/jhu-data-science

https://www.coursera.org/browse/computer-science/design-and-product

Emergence of AR Applications

In the recent couple of years, I’ve mentioned in conversation with fellow engineers and technologists that I believe augmented reality (AR) has great practical potential to improve how we live and work.

Last week, I got to experience that myself for the first time, in a practical way, when I wanted to quickly get walking directions to a local taco shop, via my Android phone.

Google Maps presented me with the option to get walking directions via AR.

I gotta say, the experience was phenomenal, despite multiple heads up mentioning it was still in preview mode.

The recognition of my position and orientation on a street was a breeze, quick and very smooth. ( I’m assuming it was using location data in combination with visual cues matching to street view data?)

The app also suggested I put the phone down, to focus on what’s in front of me, instead of trying to walk with the phone in my hand, pointing straight. When I followed the app’s instructions, the interface changed back from a viewfinder like state (with AR overlay arrows and endpoint bubbles for my destination), to a regular maps experience.

Try it out yourself!

(side story: while I was using the app to turn the last corner, while I had the phone held up, a passerby paused and let me observe the surroundings with my phone. When I noticed him pausing, I apologized and suggested he continue on. He suggested I finish taking my selfie, to which I replied that I was using Google’s Maps AR experience to navigate. His reply was “Wow, sounds intense”. My guess is we’ll be seeing more folk on the street mistaking the AR navigators with folk taking selfies, which is the more common notion nowadays).