A space for some observations on technology, the tech community, great UX, ideas and various inspiration
Currently comparing blog platforms, to decide on a way forward. This is the alternative link - http://technologythatrocks.posthaven.com/
Following up on my prior post re: hard / tough tech, I wanted to highlight one emerging biotech (true bioengineering really) player that I’m cheering for, based on its potential to provide never-before available options for societal wellbeing and healthcare - for all the future generations to come.
It’s inspiring to follow the news about and evolution of this team, as they appear:
Over the past few years, as well designed, thought out, and tested some services and products are, it does feel that some fare worse than ever.
It’s curious to see a pattern highlighted in a specific consumer segment, by one veteran designer:
Big opportunity for improvement. I’m curious to see other segments called out by folk passionate about improvement, and new options be developed and introduced - all to improve the daily lives of folk in that space, interacting with user-centric products and services.
Some tech companies claim they are “disruptive” or “innovative”, but it is really the ones that make it an absolute no brainer for us to adopt their technology to better our every day. These proliferate rather quickly and in just a few years, make it seem to all of us that it would be really silly to go back to the way we used to run our days or operate our teams.
Starry is one of them.
Their founder, Chet Kanojia, has a great insight about “hard tech”, that is also a thought that all software engineers working on non-critical consumer and enterprise apps should keep in mind.
“I have a new respect for Tesla and those companies who do really hard shit,” Kanojia said. “It’s not like building an app that you can just stick on an AWS server.”"
http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/04/13/starry-new-york
The good news for companies like Starry, is that, by solving the tough problems - they also build a great moat to defend their business.
Continuing with the theme of a lack of reliable, single purpose, focused applications - here is an article on Bloomberg laying out the lack of any “killer apps” for voice, on their Alexa platform:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-11/amazon-s-alexa-has-80-000-apps-and-no-runaway-hit
As a follow up to the Feb 18th post on “What’s Next”, I wanted to highlight this article from Endgadget, which goes along with my thought that the development of specific, narrow use-cases is one of the “next things” in technology. These can be developed on platforms, or developed by individual small teams as startups, and then integrated by the big players into their ecosystem.
Example [1]:
Google Photos / Camera app improving their capabilities to allow their users to crop out unnecessary background, when they are trying to capture receipts. I would think this took some user research and/or feedback from the community, after which that product team at Google decided to develop and roll out functionality to cater to that use-case and thereby, that user-base.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/29/google-photos-clear-pictures-receipts-crop-adjust-documents/
Example [2]:
A bit more well-known and older, but still solid - Shazam.
It has strong focus on allowing its users to “capture and identify music”. Eventually it expanded into TV sounds, commercials, etc. But the point is - that team must have had a very specific use-case in mind, and they nailed it with their user community.
Then, Apple picked them up, to add to their story.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17896350/apple-shazam-app-acquisition-complete-free
Lots of apps will claim similar focus, but are usually not nearly enough.
I’ll expand on this topic more…
Will cover my belief that the best mobile apps have a single purpose.
I’ll expand on this post more soon - but the short of it is - lots of folk wonder what’s coming next in technology?
More specifically, which of the many popular (and currently) less popular) trends out there will actually be broadly adopted, have long-lasting impact in our lives and become foundations for the next emerging set of tech and daily behavior?
(see Michael Lewis’ book for more info on what I’m describing -
https://www.amazon.com/New-Thing-Silicon-Valley-Story/dp/0393347818)
Well, here’s my current stance:
Humane Tech - http://humanetech.com/
Goes along with - http://www.nointerface.com/book/
Augmented Reality (by far - over VR) - see https://www.wired.com/story/mirrorworld-ar-next-big-tech-platform/
Example: compare the rapid adoption of Pokemon Go (and other Niantic Labs experiences) over adoption/growth of VR equipment (home based or retail), games and experiences
Compare hurdles to adoption to both (cost, ease of use, etc)
Decision support technology (yes, ML, AI, etc on some levels)
Reliable messaging, sharing platforms
Narrow (read: limited) functionality apps, focused on very specific personas (over broad audience apps)
Devices and sensors feeding all of the above
In no particular order, these are just some of stories, characters (artists, enterpreneurs, technologists, pioneers, independent thinkers, etc), efforts, communities, concepts — inspire me in various ways.
See the documentaries, films, books, blogs, and thought leadership by these folk, for the reasons why.
Steve Aoki - https://www.netflix.com/title/80118930
YC Community - https://www.ycombinator.com/
Sam Altman - http://blog.samaltman.com/
Alexis Ohanian - https://alexisohanian.com/
DayBreakers - https://www.daybreaker.com/
Humane Tech - http://humanetech.com/
Ayr Muir - https://www.cloverfoodlab.com/about/
Dale Carnegie
Richard Branson
JK Rowling
My family and friends of course :)
What and who inspires you?
Quick post about a positive experience I’ve had with using PrimeNow the other day, while sick. Some folk might think of the service as extra, however it comes in handy when you do not want to leave the house and want to avoid getting others sick with the cold or the flu.
I was able to order cold medicine and fruit filled with vitamin C, all from the warmth and comfort of my home, without being exposed to negative temps outside. I started the order through the web portal.
There was a shopper involved in picking up the items inside the store and packaging them up. When the shopper could not find something I ordered, I got a text notifying me to take a look and make a substitution. Through a URL in the text, I could get directly to the nice chat interface where I was able to see which products were out of stock and the shopper suggested alternatives. No need to sweat the device I was using, no need to remember my login details. It just worked with the minimal number of clicks and I could easily accept a substitution for my original order.
Overall, excellent, speedy, pleasant experience where I walked away, wanting to use this service again.
I had to get a new thermometer while battling the flu the other day. When looking on the shelf at the local CVS, I came across a reasonably priced smart thermometer, called Kinsa, and decided to try it out.
It was a very positive experience, all the way from setup via Bluetooth.
Especially pleasant (I'd go as far as calling it a delightful UX), was the way the application opened up and instead of jumping into the typical homescreen, dashboard, or menu initial screen -- it had a conversation with me, through a super simple chat interface. After answering a few questions, my user profile was created and the app was ready to help me, with my single need of taking a medical device reading (in this case, temperature), and suggesting some next steps based on that (should I call the doctor? are my symptoms serious?) - which is all that I wanted from this app and device.
Hats off to the Kinsa team for designing this experience, and obviously testing it, to make sure it's as easy and useful for all of us to use.
It made my life easier and I'm grateful for having this product available in the local pharmacy.
The experience and guidance that it provided beyond a traditional thermometer, was well worth the premium extra couple of bucks it cost.
Looking back at some posts I’ve saved from over the years, this one stood out today:
Today, the tech hobbies with momentum include: math-based currencies like Bitcoin, new software development tools like NoSQL databases, the internet of things, 3D printing, touch-free human/computer interfaces, and “artisanal” hardware like the kind you find on Kickstarter…
It’s a good bet these present-day hobbies will seed future industries.
It’s especially fulfilling to see mass adoption of wearables today, as well as the ever expanding set of companies offering options to collect, correlate, and offer alerts/intervention/action, based on body signal sensor readings, like EKG, blood pressure, etc.
Makes me happy to have explored the space years ago with the euMetrica project in 2012-2013.
More on the topic and 2 take away lessons for self - in my recent LinkedIn post.
(it’s funny - even TripNotify, as a single day hackathon concept from back in 2012, was in some ways a preview of all of the fall detection apps available today in 2019)
….
Gotta keep going - what’s next?
