IBM: Chips to Think Like Humans

Few years back I decided to get into learning electronics hardware implementations as in SmartGrid and firmware applications. I believe that the convergence of soft, firm, and hard-wares is the future and understanding and leveraging this convergence will be key to success for companies that use technology for enablement.

Here is just such an example coming out of IBM, "IBM training computer chip to learn like a human", details here.

"Synapse was designed to learn through experience, find correlations, create hypotheses and remember outcomes. As chips such as Synapse become smarter and smaller, it will be possible to embed them in everyday objects. That portends a future in which the interaction between computer and user is far more natural and ubiquitous."

US Power Grid

“Let’s see if anyone complains if we eliminate it,” Joe McClelland, head of electric reliability for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

To accomodate the variability of renewable power sources like wind and solar, the FERC is considering frequency variations. Now, who keeps time by the grid?

"A lot of people are going to have things break and they're not going to know why," said Demetrios Matsakis, head of the time service department at the U.S. Naval Observatory, one of two official timekeeping agencies in the federal government.

Details here.

Intelligent Microgrid - Innovation Center for the Smartgrid

From the Vancouver Sun here, ""We keep talking about smart grid as if it's one set of technologies," Hassan Farhangi, director of BCIT's group for advanced information technology, said in an interview... "That's not the case. It's a collection of ideas that could have different variations and different characteristics based on where you implement them.""

"In order to be successful, "you need to bring together expertise in a wide variety of disciplines. You need individuals with backgrounds in information technology, telecom systems, power systems, business systems, consumer behavior, social sciences - and all of these need to work together," said Hassan Farhangi, director of BCIT's group for advanced information technology."

Very nice! The folks at Intelligent Microgrid here are building an "Innovation Center" as we termed them at Procter & Gamble... An immersive and experiential environment to not ask but to collaboratively co-create, test, try, observe, refine and transform.

"BCIT is designing and building a scaled down version of the Intelligent Grid - the Intelligent Microgrid. This will enable utility providers, technology providers, and researchers to work together to test and improve architectures, protocols, configurations, and models. This will in turn enable the evolution of the Intelligent Grid and chart a path from the lab to the field for innovative and cost-efficient technologies and solutions for British Columbia's Intelligent Microgrid."

Google: The Democratization Engine

Google is the "Democratization Engine" for the world's shoppers and consumers.  Let's talk Android - 

I am leaving the charms of the iPhone and the Apple!  If a few decades in the technology industry has taught me anything, it is that closed systems have revenue spikes when they deliver on the unmet need, though quickly lose it as competitors emerge with more standardized and open systems.  It is more so at speed now as the consumer is empowered.  Sounds cliche because marketers have used "we are empowering the shopper/consumer to make intelligent choices", yet today, the marketer has a tough battle on had.  The shopper/consumer are empowering themselves.

My foray into Apple's world was with the Lisa... then came the standardization driven through the IBM PC compatible running DOS and Apple products took their niche spot in the market while a somewhat open and driven towards standardization system of the IBM compatible allowed a world of inventions to become innovations, from hardware, firmware to software.

Can history repeat itself? Yes, it can and will.  It is not a claim but reality that the Android based smartphones will trump the iPhone in growth and market share.  Unless - Apple decides to change "some" thing(s) in its approach.  Its differentiation is diminishing due to competitor offerings, while its lock on distribution through AT&T will be ending in the USA.  Its partnership with AT&T perhaps will add to iPhone's decline as Consumer Report recently rated AT&T as the worst wireless service provider, see here.  Also, the Consumer Report has declined to recommend the iPhone as well, details at Consumer Reports here.

The activations of Android based devices is growing at 110 million, 5X what they were 10 months ago.

Andy Rubin, head of Google's mobile software recently said, "We are web-centric."  This is the reason to believe that Google will be successful against Apple and Microsoft.  He further added, "We really understand distributed computing - and I think Apple really understands desktop computing."

For those who may have forgotten or don't know, Google quietly acquired Android, Inc. back in 2005, see Business Week article here.

Core to this transformation in the market will be, as Financial Times quotes Andy Rubin "Leaving developers free to create new versions of their apps, rather than forcing them to "jump through hoops" to seek approval each time, as Apple does, echoes the web's approach to rapid iteration and improvement."

See FT article here.

Next on Google's democratization list, my guess - The SmartGrid!!!  I will write more how it can accomplish it soon.