Plugable

2020: The past decade of ambient computing

Posted on 01. Jan, 2010 by Bernie Thompson in Other

It’s Jan 1, 2020.

Ten years ago we were at the end of the “computer on every desk and in every home” era. The iPhone had begun moving computing off the desk and into the pocket. The most important application was the web browser for content, but operating systems still mattered for running applications.

Ten years later, we’re simply reaching the conclusions of some of those trends–the web browser is where nearly all applications live. An explosion of devices and user interface types running over invisible operating systems have emerged to make those applications accessible in different ways, more transparently integrated with our lives.

We’ve learned to live with the risks and benefits of keeping our data in the cloud, so any display anywhere–with touchscreen, keyboard/mouse, or voice for input–is our own personal computer.

The average family has a display in our kitchen. Continuous voice recognition is again a challenge for the next decade, but discrete voice recognition is ubiquitous. An idle mention of “weather” in a kitchen conversation triggers the display on the wall to show the forecast for coming days.

The phone in our pocket is also a primary computing device. We dock it at our desk to gain a large display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. But all that is stateless. When we unplug and go, we have everything — again, most of which is in the cloud anyway.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and we have access to a lot of pictures.

Displays are everywhere, especially in our urban settings, perhaps overwhelmingly so. Whether signage for a particular store, a billboard, or a public terminal, they’re showing active, context-aware content.

At work, multiple displays are the norm for information workers. Any remaining conference rooms without multiple displays, multiple web cams, and smart integration between them are frustratingly crippled.

And all these displays and terminals are being driven by far fewer “computers”–often just one per house or room, or increasingly one off in a server farm. Perhaps the greatest innovation of the past decade has been a subtle one–we spend less time keeping our computers working, as we have fewer of them. We’ve pushed more of the complexity to fixed-function devices, online services, and computers that are remotely maintained.

Even as our computers have become even more essential to driving our great strides in genetics, materials, collaborative creativity, etc., computing has begun to disappear into the background of our consciousness. More ubiquitous, but explicitly on the mind less often.

And still, the more things change the more they stay the same. The singularity is always a few decades away, and so it is again for the decade ahead.

Generosity, karma, and cakes

Posted on 10. Sep, 2009 by Bernie Thompson in Other

A FedEx truck pulled into the driveway this morning. Ring – Ring.  Delivered a box, addressed to me. It was marked “perishable”, from “The Secret Spoon” company.  No other description on the otherwise white box.

Wow, weird. What is this?  My birthday isn’t this month – must be work related.

Here I am just in the earliest stages of getting things going with Plugable, having just finished at DisplayLink last month – and still feeling guilty about all I chose to leave behind.

The return address is San Diego.   Yesterday, I had some first calls with my ODM contacts about getting devices produced – boy, if this is them, they are crazy and eager.  Doubt it.

I carry it to the kitchen, and Laurie and I huddle around it, making guesses as we open it.  It’s packed in ice for overnight delivery.  No hint yet who it’s from.

And in the middle is a wonderful chocolate cake, with a card.

Good luck in the future, Bernie
With very best wishes from
your friends in Cambridge

Wow.  That’s so cool.  Kind, generous, and surprising.  And very touching to have anyone spend the time to do that.

Karma is real, not in a mystical way, but practically.  This is a surprisingly big world, and yet also a surprisingly small one. We will meet again.  And people notice how others are treated.

So to my friends in Cambridge – you’re wonderful!  So long, and thanks for all the cake¹ (and may the hyperspacial express route not cross your path).

Please don’t be shy to call or email anytime.

Cheers,
Bernie

The Plugable logo

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by Bernie Thompson in Other

I’m fortunate to have a friend, Rob, who has great instincts.  Loves fonts, has a sense of visual style.  And in 10 minutes took a rough drawing and turned it into a fully vectorized, minimalist masterpiece.  Thank you, Rob, for the Plugable logo!  Simply beautiful.