Richards Media Net - Creating Video, Podcasts & Blogs

Time and Space Machine

2010-07-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

Creating a Time and Space Machine with Today’s Technology

A Time and Space Machine - Able to traverse time and space at a moments notice. Just select a location, and a point in time and ba-boom, you are ready to fight evil aliens, and others bent on doing harm to our world. It is a premise filled with all sorts of contradictions as to altering the time-space continuum.

Popular fiction? An advanced future technology? I don't think so. We can start recording time and space for use in our Time And Space Machine today. We can do this by extending currently available services through the use of popular and commonly available technologies. We can make the Time and Space Machine available through the World Wide Web. What we are in need of is the vision. Here it is!

Concept of a Time and Space Machine in the Popular Media

According to popular fiction, a Time And Space Machine is a device that bodily places one or more individuals over geographic space and through time to different location and a different time in the past or future. Once there, an individual can often view (and interfere with) great moments in history, and change the present in an unexpected way. At other times, individuals go into the future, and bring back devices of great or terrible purpose, which have been developed in our future and which have capabilities for which we are unprepared to accommodate, and which cause problems in the current time.

How We Are Going To Define A Time And Space Machine

I would like to define a Time And Space Machine as a service that allows individuals to see images of different locations at different points in time in the past. It would only be able to view such images of locations at times that had previously been recorded. The viewing of such recorded "history" would occur on a personal computer or workstation. I see such a service being made available on the World Wide Web. I will describe what the Time And Space Recorder consists of later on in this article. A Time And Space Recorder will be designed to be used on the worlds roadways as I envision it, and as a result the Time And Space Machine will primarily be designed to view scenes from automobile traveled roadways.

Such a system would have the ability to go forward or reverse in time while focusing on a view of a specific location provided recorded data existed for that location.

Similarly, geographic space could be traversed, while time was frozen.

In addition, one could traverse both time and space at the same time. Either in forward or reverse order, at "normal" speed, or fast forward or fast reverse, kind of like watching a DVD of a travel video.

What Would a Time And Space Machine Consist of in the Way of Equipment?

There would be a Time And Space Viewer, a Time And Space Server and there would be the data acquisition component which earlier I referred to as the Time And Space Recorder.

The Time And Space Viewer would be a personal computer or workstation with a web-browser program. All that it needs to do is view and interact with the Time And Space Server as a standard PC interacts with a web server.

The Time And Space Recorder would consist of a Global Positioning Satellite receiver, one or more video cameras, a video digitizer if the video cameras were not digital, a cellular broadband modem, a small computer, an internet connection, a database program, and a computer program that could tie it all together.

This equipment would be tied together by the computer in a system that allowed the video camera(s) to take in video as a vehicle drives down a road, encodes each frame of video with a latitude, longitude and orientation (direction) taken from the Global Positioning Satellite receiver as well as a time stamp. It could then transmit these images with their associated data to the Time And Space Server. This data would be transmitted through the cellular broadband modem.

The Time And Space Server would be part web-server, part specialized search engine. It would match time and space queries received from the Time And Space Viewers to the data supplied it by the Time And Space Recorders.

How Would This Time And Space Machine Work? What Would It Do?

In order to be feasible, this system would have to be deployed something like an On-Star system with video capability. Cars and trucks would be equipped with Time And Space Recorders as described above. As vehicles traverse the worlds roadways, they would capture video all along their routes. Each frame of video would be encoded with time and location data and sent to the Time And Space Server. If the Time And Space Recorders became commonplace, then many popular roadways would be traveled by these systems several times an hour.

Traverse space

If you had a large number of vehicles that were equipped with the Time And Space Recorders, that were traveling over a given geographic space, collecting images at roughly 30 frames/second, and each frame of video was being encoded with latitude and longitude from the GPS system, there would be quite a collection of images that would span a large geographic space.

If the appropriate software systems were in place to locate and traverse this information (the Time And Space Server), allowing the aggregation of all of the information from all of the vehicles with TASRs that were on the road, one could have a system such as that in the following description:

One could have a website that was similar to today’s map websites such as MapQuest, Yahoo Maps or Google Maps. The individual could type in a specific address or intersection and in return receive an image of a map. Like Google Maps, this map would be scrollable by clicking and dragging the mouse. In addition, there would be an image from a Time And Space Recorder (TASR) on the web page of the given location. If you moved the mouse, guiding a cross-hair around the streets on the map, images that had been acquired by TASRs at that geographic point could be displayed real-time (with a broadband connection) on the web page with the map. Not all of these images would necessarily come from the same vehicles TASR. The images displayed could potentially be from tens or even hundreds of vehicles systems aggregated over time into a system that coordinated with a mapping system on the Internet.

Traverse Time

Now that we can traverse space, how do we traverse time?

Well, taking the system described above, with images aggregated over a large geographic area from multiple vehicles' TASRs, note this: in areas with more traffic, it is highly likely that certain areas will be traversed by TASRs multiple times a day, perhaps, depending on how prevalent these systems are, maybe multiple times an hour. Now in these places that are traversed by TASRs multiple times an hour, if this data is recorded, there will be multiple images of a location per hour, for as long as the information is recorded, which at some future time could potentially be years worth of images. Now imagine the same mapping website as mentioned above. A user puts an address or location in the mapping website, and up pops a map of the surrounding area with a star at the specified location, as well as an image as viewed from the TASR of a vehicle at that location. Now in this scenario, imagine that this page would also have a clock and calendar on it. As you move the hands of the analog clock on the page, images taken of that location closest to the time specified would be displayed real time on the web page. If you wanted images from a different date, you could change that calendar date and the image of that location, closest to the date and time specified would be displayed. It is highly likely that the images would not all be from the same vehicle or TASR, but from an aggregated pool of images coded for that geographic location.

Now Imagine – Time and Space Traversal

Just imagine what would be possible if the number and density of the TASRs was great enough. It would be possible to view the scene of an accident, such as a two car collision using this system, and then follow either vehicle in reverse through time and space to see the events and behavior of the vehicles before the accident. You could, provided the image data resolution was great enough actually watch the accident occur in the form of a video clip. There are a number of possibilities, some very beneficial, and others more reminiscent of the Surveillance Society of Big Brother to be feared.

Although such a system as described may raise certain fears, being bodily transported into the past to battle aliens, and in the mean time disrupting the time-space continuum is highly unlikely to happen given this technology. Or is it?

BrainStormer II

2010-03-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to develop and submit my software to Momentum. Nothing wrong with Momentum, I had run into a set of technical issues which I debated on the likelihood of being able to overcome (and I have since overcome.)

Since last blog article I have created a set of wireframes and storyboards and begun the process of database design. I am using SQL Server Express 2008 to create the database, unfortunately the hosting service I use is SQL Server 2000, so there is a bit of extra work involved in porting the structures over. I'll have to see if the hosting service will support the Express 2008 files.

I've also created a couple of pages and connected them to the database using Visual Studio 2008.

I'll keep you updated as I progress.

Brainstormer - A Web Based Creativity Tool

2010-01-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

A number of years ago it occurred to me that it would be really cool to create a web-based creativity tool which facilitated the activity of brainstorming. Recently, having been out of the computer programming biz for roughly a year, I was looking for something to work on to develop my technical skills, and the brainstorming concept came to the forefront of my mind.

Not only will developing the brainstorming application increase my skills, I also plan on making it my submission to an organization called Momentum (http://momentum-mi.com/) which as they state "is a new kind of venture firm, a collective of designers, dreamers and doers."

My selection of technology is simple. Microsoft and possibly Adobe. I will be using Visual Studio 2008 - and possibly transitioning to Visual Studio 2010 after the VS '10 release. I'll be using SQL Server 2000 for my database as that is database my hosting service uses.

I want to write software which tracks closely to the most effective practices in the business of brainstorming, so I contacted James Manktelow of Mind Tools (http://mindtools.com/) a Brit who maintains a collection of information for improving the human side of business practices. He has a number of articles on his site about brainstorming and a variety of variations on brainstorming. He also has agreed to review the results of my development efforts.

On the technical management side of the project, I've developed a process flow and a new user screen - which I've already decided to rework in an effort to use the .Net 3.5 framework to the greatest extent possible.

That is it for today, check on this blog weekly for progress. Until next time!

Exploring Next-Gen Cameras (Photo and Video)

2009-12-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

Exploring Next-Gen Cameras (Photo and Video)
Next generation recording technology for photography and videography (we are calling both cameras here) is busting loose! With advances in wireless communications, camera's features and operations, and 3D editing, modeling and animation software the cameras of tomorrow will have little resemblance to those of today!

The first aspect of cameras to look at are the newly arriving communications capabilities. There are a number of technologies to choose from. A camera may have Wi-Fi,Wi-Max, Bluetooth or cellular, perhaps all 4. With these capabilities the photos or videos can be delivered to a PC for editing, sharing on YouTube, a TV or a DVD-burner anytime the camera is within range of a compatible wireless technology. There are also a number of activities which may be coordinated between multiple camera operators with wireless technologies. We may cover those at another time.

Onto the structural features and operational issues of future cameras.

First it is quite clear that future cameras will be 3D capable for both stills and video. There exist a number of technologies for filming and consuming 3D content: stereo-optic red and blue, stereo-optic polarized lenses, time-of-flight systems, alternating LCD shutter/image glasses and “bug's-eye” imaging systems. The benefit of time-of-flight systems and bug's-eyes technologies is that in addition to creating 3D stereo-imagery, they also lend themselves to creating 3D meshes or digital models of objects in the field of view. 3D meshes and models provide for later manipulation of a scene in 3D for a future 3D image manipulation and video editing software suite.

Today video editing consists primarily of virtually cutting clips and putting them together in a layering system with creative transitions. Tomorrow's systems, incorporating stereo imagery derived from a 3D mesh/model system will provide for editing through moving and positioning 3D models in a virtual space. This is in contrast to today's “green screen” video technology where different video layers are super-imposed on one another and may possess different lighting characteristics. Also content in different layers have an inability to interact with content in other layers creating a flat look.

This contrasts with 3D editing, where a 3D model of a person, vehicle or building can be copied from one 3D video and placed in another while maintaining consistent lighting and consistent interaction with other 3D models in a scene. In a 3D scene, created with 3D models, objects can quickly be added, deleted or posed. In addition, future 3D editing suites will facilitate the generation of 3D video from viewpoints differing from those originally filmed. It will become a relatively simple task to place a 3D movie star digital model into a 3D location where the star has never been, to do things the star has never done, and have the star look better than they have ever looked.

Today this is common in Hollywood's multi-million dollar blockbusters. With tomorrow's 3D cameras and software this will happen at prices suitable for the casual hobbiest.

Perhaps one of the most visually obvious innovations in camera design will be the “bug's-eyes” lenses. Bug's-eye lenses are paired, hemispherical, geodesic forms used for both imaging and 3D modeling and 3D mesh/model generation. Through the use of an interesting software algorithm and innovative physical design, focusing an image shall be achieved, not through mechanically moving lenses and mirrors, but through a software technique I call “Algorithmic Focusing and Mesh Extraction.”

Using Algorithmic Focusing and Mesh Extraction the count of moving parts in a camera is reduced, simplifying the design and assembly and the longevity is increased through decreased focusing related wear during use.

Additionally the camera will provide the operator with a 3D viewer while imaging, perhaps with binocular-like optics or a diffraction lens.

A substantial amount of meta-data will be available for the imagery created. Even today latitude, longitude, height, orientation, date and time are available.

In the near future adding 3D mesh coordinates and a textual representation of recorded dialog to the meta-data will be possible. This enables cool features such as searching through a video for keywords in the audio meta-data. In addition, using both image and mesh data, imaging systems will have the ability to identify “Things” in the imagery generically such as a “big-old-fat guy” using object detection and distinction features. After the technology matures, the software will make distinctions like both “big-old-fat guy” and “Uncle Tom Sleeping.”
This information will also be embedded into the meta-data, enabling noun-verb searches like “Alex eating ice cream cone” and “Kris bouncing ball.”

So lets review and further illustrate characteristics of future cameras.

First 3D capabilities are guarenteed. Both in stills as well as video. Next-Gen cameras will also create 3D meshes and models- consisting of both 3D coordinates as well as the visual imagery which gets wrapped around the 3D models, be it imagery of skin, bricks or a wood-grain, providing a “real” looking model. Focusing an image won't be done through moving lenses and mirrors but though a technique I call Algorithmic Focusing and Mesh Extraction which generates 3D mesh and image information from the scene brought into the camera through “Bug's-Eye” lenses.

This Algorithmic Focusing and Mesh Extraction software algorithm allows the camera operator to focus on any element in the photo for clear and sharp pictures as well as generating a 3D mesh of the scene. Focusing and mesh generation can be done both real-time in the camera or in the post-production phase with software.

Cameras already create 4:3 and 16:9 imagery, that is old news. The new idea is to decompose a video or picture into elements such as a 3D mesh, imagery, audio data and motion information. Images will be contained and described in a future mark-up language such as Microsoft's XAML. By decomposing pictures and video into computer and human legible XAML or a XAML-like mark-up language, absolutely incredible feats of audio/visual wonder will be enabled. This has implications in a variety of fields from entertainment to Homeland Security.

With camera's wireless communications capabilities it will be possible to orchestrate photo and video sources, both live and post-production, using video content from the cameras on a PC while the cameras are in range. In addition, using either a live feed or post-production it will be possible to introduce elements in scenes that interact with the scene environment, even though they did not physically or visually exist in the scene at imaging time.

This suggests the possibility of merging virtual characters and worlds with a live feed from one or more cameras in various locations around a downtown center or other area of interest.

In the next 5-10 years, camera technologies will explode. You've heard my thoughts on the matter, what are yours?

Pyro-Dinos Coexisted With Mankind

2009-09-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

Portions (C) 1995 American Century Dictionary and (C) 1984 NIV Bible. All other text (C) 2009 Aaron L. Richards, All Rights Reserved.
Yes - you read that right! Fire-breathing dinosaurs not only existed, they coexisted with mankind. How do I know this? The world's greatest history book has a couple of chapters discussing this scenario. In other words, I know because the Bible tells me so! Where? Take a look at the NIV version of the bible, Job 40:15 which states "Look at the behemoth, [...] which feeds on grass like an ox. (16)What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! (17)His tail sways like a cedar; [...] (21)Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh... (23)When the river rages he is not alarmed; he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth. (24)Can anyone capture him by the eyes, or trap him and pierce his nose?" (1984, NIV).

The verses above tell us of a number of attributes which identify this creature. First of all the name of the creature - "behemoth" - which the American Century Dictionary (1995) defines as a "huge creature or thing." We know from fossils that some dinosaurs were huge creatures. We know from studies of fossils that some dinosaurs fed on grass and vegetation which corresponds to Job 40:15, this creature "[...] which feeds on grass like an ox."

The biblical passage also refer to the behemoth having "strength" and "power." Here is the kicker, "His tail sways like a cedar;" Job 40:17 (1984, NIV). If you think of dinosaurs, specifically the brontosaurus, it had a long, thick tail. This is in conflict with the footnotes in the NIV which suggest that the behemoth is "possibly the hippopotamus or the elephant (1984, NIV, Job 40). When the bible mentions "cedar" in other books of the bible it does not mean sprouts or saplings, it refers to well developed or majestic tree trunks (1984, NIV) not the relatively small fly-swatting tails of an elephant or hippo.

Here is another key point - the behemoth in the bible "(21) Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh" (1984, NIV, Job 40:21).

When I was in grades K-12 the understanding of the brontosaurus is that it lived in and ate of vegetation in marshes and swamps. The behemoth is said to be "...secure though the Jordan should surge against his mouth" (1984, NIV, 40:23). The brontosaurus as an extremely substantial animal would live unbothered by the torrents of the Jordan.

Job 40:24 makes an interesting remark, "Can anyone capture him by the eyes, or trap him and pierce his nose?" (1984, NIV). I'll leave answering this question as an exercise for the reader!

Let us look at another one of God's creations described in Job. Job 41:1 reads "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?" (1984, NIV). Job 41:7 states "Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?" (1984, NIV, Job 41:8). If you lay a hand on him you will remember the struggle and never do it again!" (1984, NIV).

Job 41:15 "His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;" (1984, NIV). Job 41:19 "Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. (20)Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. (21)His breath sets coals ablaze and flames dart from his mouth..." (1984, NIV).

Going back to the American Century Dictionary, we see that the word "leviathan" in Job 41:1 is defined as a: "Sea monster" or "anything large and powerful" (1995). OK, sounds like a dinosaur so far...

Next in Job 41:7 the Lord questions Job as to the ability to inflict damage on the leviathan with harpoons or fishing spears (1984, NIV). The footnotes in the NIV sugest the leviathan is a crocodile. I don't think crocodiles are impervious to harpoos or fishing spears, but then I've never tried to use a spear against a crocodile. Let us continue and see where this leads us...

Job 41:15 states "His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; (16) each is so close to the next that no air can pass between" (1984, NIV).

Hmmm... Sounds like a stegosaurus to me. Now we are getting to the really cool stuff!

Job 41:19 illustrates an amazing biological ability - "Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. (20) Smoke pours out from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. (21) His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth" (1984, NIV).

A substantial amount of text is dedicated to expressing the pyrotechnic abilities of our stegosaurus. You may think we are looking at a dragon, the "fictional" beast of ancient times; think about it, what is a dragon but a fire-breathing dinosaur?

How can this be? Let me propose a couple of possibilities. Like the methane producing cows who today are blamed for global warming, the stegosaurus may have produced methane gas as a result of its digestive organs processing food. As an alternative to flatulence it may have exausted this flammable gas through its nostrils and mouth. My only experience with the flammability of the gases resulting from digestive processes are the second-hand stories I've heard in the public school system where

(*** WARNING - DANGER - DO NOT TRY THIS ACTIVITY - BURNS OR OTHER EXTENSIVE INJURIES MAY RESULT ***)

I heard that students placed a match or a lighter behind the bottom of a student who consequently passed gas. The result, depending on who I head tell the tale was either as subtle as the flame turning blue for a moment, to a combustion resulting in a burn through the gas-passer's pants.

Perhaps the stegosaurus had an organ - a bladder dedicated to the storage of methane or other flammable gases resulting from digestive processes.

A second possibility is that bacteria or other components in the digestive process of our stegosaurus enabled fermentation to occur whereby the resulting alcohol once again was stored in an organ, perhaps a bladder of some type, able to be ejected though the mouth or nostrils of our stegosaurus.

I have to admit, igniting the gas or alcohol when ejected from our pyro-dino stumps me. Perhaps a paleontologist, archeologist or anthropologist who has studied dinosaur fossils and remains has an answer. If pushed into guessing, I would offer something like sparking teeth or maybe a chemical ignition with stomach acid or something similar. Hey - Send me your best guess!

Here is the moment of truth. How do I know our brontosaurus and stegosaurus coexisted with mankind? I know because the bible tells me so. Job 40:15 "Look at the behometh, *which I made along with you...*" (1984, NIV). (Emphasis mine). BOOM!

An additional proof, albeit more subtle is the fact that the Lord is mentioning these creatures as the Lord addresses Job (1984, NIV). If Job had no experience or understanding of these creatures, Job would have had a difficult time relating to or understanding the power of God through these creatures.

I was quite surprised when the Lord led me to the revelation a few years ago that fire-breathing dinosaurs coexisted with mankind. I am amazed that I had not been taught this in school. When I read Job, the Lord opened my eyes and allowed me to understand that which may not be clear to others.

A bible verse I've read recently which applies to a number of revelations coming to me states this: Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you, telling you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (1984, NIV).

Praise be to God!

Mobile Memory

2009-06-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

First, understand… Moore’s Law says (depending on who you talk to) that somewhere around every 18 months to 2 years the number of transistors in a processor doubles. Variations on wireless technologies abound. Electronic storage media is becoming very inexpensive.

Imagine if you will, the future of video. A memory card, as San Disk says “fingernail-size[d]” already come in 2, 4, 8 and 16 GB sizes (http://sandisk.com/). According to Apple a movie needs roughly 1.5 GB (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1906?viewlocale=en_US#faq5). So you can put a number of movies onto a 16 GB card the size of a fingernail.

OK – lets look a bit further into the future and toss wireless into the mix. There is a technology called RFID currently in the infancy stage. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. These are small computer chips that can send information over distance to a reading device or computer. The trend is to put tiny RFID chips into retail goods. One focus of this technology is to allow a customer at a retail store to take a cartful of goods tagged with these RFID tags, allow them to walk through a checkout lane, and have a computer read the RFID tags and total your purchases without scanning codes on your purchases. It would allow you to tally your purchases in a second or two without taking them out of the cart. Another current use is in credit cards or the SpeedPass® purchase system where you wave a credit card or a “dongle” near a reader to pay.

Now lets tie this with the memory cards discussed earlier. If you create an RFID tag the size of a fingernail, with16GB (several movies), incredible video games or like SanDisk offers, a 1000 songs (http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4529) of storage, what do you have?

You will be able to watch videos on TV or play games on a mobile video player if people around you have the movies-games-music in their pocket! Movies, games and music will no longer have to be “put into” a player device. You will be able to play and perhaps copy movies, games and music simply by walking around. Think about how large a DVD player is. A RFID reader for movies could take the form of a video connector without the cable, plugged into a television – for those TVs that do not have the reader capability built in.

At some point in the future the price point will allow movies, games, songs, advertisements, etc to be incorporated into stickers or product packaging. So every time you come home from the store your box of Lucky Charms may have a movie or game built in. All your store purchases will transmit content. Your TV, video player, cell phone/PDA will be able to read the digital content through the cupboards, refrigerator, walls of your home and will provide a list of videos associated with all of the products in your home on the screen for you to choose from. These could include promotional, usage, storage, safety videos, games, or value enhancement software.

The step after that is video surface packaging. As depicted in Minority Report, there will be thin flexible film video surfaces. In the movie, they had animated newspapers. Extend that a bit – Your box of Lucky Charms with the video? It will play video advertisements on the surface of the packaging – on the store shelf. Perhaps the movie capability will be enabled at the point of purchase. This may bring on the resurgence of serial (cereal) video programming. Instead of getting a little toy in the box, you will get the next show in a series of programs that plays out over the reoccurring purchases of your cereal. Or maybe the next level of a video game tied into the product(s). Your kids will be mesmerized over breakfast watching, or perhaps playing the box. The movie or game associated with the product could be played on the wall or ceiling (thin flexible film – large size) in all of its superHD-high resolution glory.

One great benefit to this – the need for original content will increase tremendously. Those needed to create video, graphic design, music, 3D modeling and animation, sculpture, photography, story and plot development, martial arts, illustration, aesthetists, athletes, designers will all increase as producers of products and services meet the need of content development to support their offerings.

I get wiggly just thinking about it.

Take that the next step beyond. That box of Lucky Charms – it may begin to watch you and comment on your activities. Hmmm…

The Scared and Hungry Masses

2009-06-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to a high school buddy of mine in Florida when he asked about the Michigan economy.

..."The guys that have run the town have targeted the medical industry. I think the number of square feet in downtown dedicated to medical treatment or research will have gone 8X or more in the next year from 4 years ago. I didn't see the trend 10 years ago, but lately it has become apparent to me that with the aging of the baby-boomer generation, there are big bucks to be made from healthcare.

Looks like you are in a good business (my friend is in medical coding). It is interesting to see how healthcare and IT are getting along. The medical establishment is spending major bucks on IT - programming, systems, networks, etc. This will help them minimize additional headcount and at some point in the next 5-10 years will actually allow them to reduce headcount substantially, even with more patients coming in the door. They will still need bodies to handle patients, but the proportion dedicated to administrative will be substantially reduced. Technology will allow fewer nurses to handle more patients, and those that come into contact with patients will be deskilled. I used to think that there would be a huge number of unemployed resulting from this transition. Now I see that as huge numbers of baby-boomers leave the workforce, they will probably leave many holes that need to be plugged - so it is a matter of developing skills in the workforce that does exist to get them ready with the skills desired by businesses.

The ebbs and flows in industry, the economy and employment will become larger and more pronounced in the coming years. There will be tremendous need in some areas, and tremendous excess in others. Online education is key. If industry wants to be effective, I think business leaders will have to integrate electronic systems of education, training and analysis into the work environment so that they can sit relatively any competent body into the chair and have them come up to speed while performing work.

Tonight I had an epiphany. The small business is back. With corporations divesting themselves of 100,000s of employees, many people are setting up small shops. These are bringing back the small shops along the strip. These small shops not only provide variety which the megastores (currently) can't afford, but they can provide service far above and beyond the megastores as well. These scared and hungry people will use their wits above and beyond what they had when employed by the Fortune 1000, to come up with creative and strategic ways of doing business. Many will leverage technology in ways that ingrain them into their niche, as opposed to trying to be all things to all people like the big box stores and services.

What trends do you see in your business? What questions does your manager not answer when asked? :^) "

Engagement Depth - The Golden Ratio of Media Engagement

2009-05-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

(C) 2009 - Aaron L. Richards - All Rights Reserved.

This past weekend I developed a metric for media engagement. It is called "Engagement Depth" - The Golden Ratio of Media Engagement. It provides a means of comparing the engagement of a companies' clients with the media delivered through the Web, radio and television. Because it is a ratio, it allows the comparison of media consumption on websites with varying amounts of traffic. You can compare the Engagement Depth of a company with 1000 hits/month to the Engagement Depth of a site with millions of hits.

The essence of the calculations brings out the aggregate consumption of time-based media such as video, audio or other temporally-based content. Currently I am visualizing the development of video and audio players compatible with Flash and SilverLight for distribution to media content providers which facilitate the gathering of data to not only calculate the Engagement Depth ratio, but to provide the analytics and data visualization tools for clients interested in the benefits of using advanced metrics for market targeting, analysis and comparative rankings.

Search Engine Freak Out - Start Quivering

2009-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Freaking Google Out

I was thinking about how Google is kicking Microsoft's butt in Google's core competencies. If you look at Microsoft's core strategies for winning the areas they dominate today, there is a strategic 1-2 punch they consistently delivered in each area.

For some reason they are not applying the same strategy in pursuit of the Search business. In specific categories they are now using the similar tactics defensively. To implement the strategy I am writing about, Microsoft will have to communicate with shareholders, and ante up some cash out of their hoard. Google will freak. If Google pulls this article off of Blogger, do you know of any serious non-Google controlled venues for such articles? Do you have Ballmer's email address?

Let me ask you a couple of questions to set the stage. If you have been around the industry for 10 or so years you will know the answers.

How did Microsoft destroy the market for the Netscape browser? How did Microsoft destroy the market for Netscape and Sun Microsystems Web Servers? How did Microsoft destroy the Real Media Player?

They used their successful 1-2 punch: 1) Embrace and Extend, and 2) Give Software for free – preferably integrated into the Windows OS distribution.

In engaging Google they are having a tough time doing the Embrace and Extend, but are making the effort. If they engaged punch number 2 – giving search ads for free, I think Google will start perspiring.

To up the ante a bit more, Microsoft could leverage in their next release of the Windows OS a website “Pregurgitator.” One disadvantage Google has is that they index low traffic websites once a month or so. If you put new content on your website, there can be a significant amount of time before it is incorporated into the Google search results.

Microsoft’s Pregurgitator would be software incorporated into the OS which would index web pages on the server and send the index to Microsoft’s search engine in a format easily and readily incorporated into Microsoft’s search engine. You can think of this as distributed indexing. The possibility exists for distributed search being implemented into the OS as well, but there are several more performance issues to be addressed for that to be attractive. The Pregurgitator could send indexing data daily, perhaps even hourly to Microsoft and be incorporated into search results immediately, and is less affected by individual node performance.

Increasing numbers of users would be attracted through the creation of an “up-to-the-hour” data availability and search results. Through Microsoft Search, users could retrieve breaking news topics approaching real-time.

Steve – just send me the check when you read this. Larry, Sergey – I really like Google too!, if you want to implement this concept to squish Microsoft underfoot – you can send me a check too!

P.S. Steve, Larry, Sergey – I’ve developed a metric for measuring and comparing the level of engagement of visitors to a website consuming audio, video or other time-dependent media. If you are interested, call me and mention “Engagement Depth.”

Michigan - Use CAD to Create Rich Virtual Worlds

2009-04-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

The state of Michigan has a number of great opportunities ahead of it and it just takes a change in perspective to recognize this.

One such opportunity is the ability of Michigan to take advantage of the film and video industries which Governor Granholm has targeted.

As an industrialized state, there are hundreds or thousands of CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) capable professionals in Michigan. These professionals, with a bit of training can create digital models for use in presentations, advertisements and movies. I have been blessed with training CAD students to create interactive presentations and found that these individuals need modest coaching to create truly solid productions.

The CAD skills needed to design cars, furniture and manufactured goods are easily retargeted to those needed in the advertising/video/film industry. They are also targetable to the video game market which has recently superseded the film industry in annual income.

Not only can CAD designers create “virtual worlds” within video games and movies, the CAD designers can use their digital models to create physical items from the digital model through the use of rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing techniques. This would provide for sales of dolls, characters, spaceships and architecture based on the intellectual property of the film or game, and could potentially lead to the manufacturing of such items in the state of Michigan.

With the right software, a CAD designer can not only create virtual models, a CAD designer can also create realistic looking animated products in video, or interactive models on the web. This creates the opportunity to design a product and demonstrate its functionality before making the investment in manufacturing. Companies could sell products based on a digital video promotion – created from CAD, and take orders (and income) before committing to production in order to gauge interest.

Yes - In order to present virtual products in animated videos there will need to be some retraining. However, being faced with a loss of income provides a powerful incentive, a motivation for such activity. Entrenched professionals from the CAD profession need to be shown an upgrade path and a way out of the doldrums that Michigan finds itself in these days. Creating virtual characters and worlds for the video and videogaming industries is one solution.

The Solution: Less Geeky Geeks? No - Geekier Business People

2008-08-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

by Aaron L. Richards

We have met the enemy - and it is us.

According to an article I just read today in West Michigan Business Review (Bomey, Aug. 2008) 25 years ago, businesses and academia got together and identified a problem.

The problem they identified was that the technical people, whether in automotive, computers, medical technology or advanced manufacturing could not communicate effectively with with the business men and women who employed them. There was a gap between the language used by business leaders and the language used by the engineers.

"Ahaa!" said the business leaders, "let's talk to the leaders of the various universities and schools that supply us with workers and have them grow and develop engineers we can share coffee with and converse about the ideas which will make this company grow - ideas we can understand!"

And so they did. Now, 25 years later those students are now in the workplaces throughout the nation. According to the Business Review article I read, the business people are now saying that those same students, brought up in the business-people's best design, do not have the technical skills for our increasingly dynamic and technical world.

The problem is that technology has marched onward. Technology - especially world-class, globally competitive technology has become more diverse - and more specialized. It takes more training and education now than it did 25 years ago, and to win in this game, students have to learn more about less - greater specialization.

Engineers who are competent in these fields learn unique and different ways of expressing ideas and concepts. Ideas and concepts specific to their fields of specialization, methods of communication of which the person schooled in general business practices may have no idea or concept.

Yes - the business leaders and the engineers need to communicate to get the job done. Dumbing down the engineers is not the path to a globally competitive workforce. Geeking up the executives and the business people whose businesses depend on these technologies is the solution.

When I was a child, a teacher sent home a questionaire for the students and their parents to fill out and bring back to school for discussion. One question I will always remember is: "How will school change in the future?" My dad and I talked about it, and my dad said that he felt school will go year-round because of all the new things there will be to learn. He was right. Now I go to school year round for my MBA because of all the great and grand things there are to learn.

As a business leader it is easy to point out ways that others could change to accommodate us. It is much more difficult for us to point out ways that we might accommodate change. Life-long learning is one way to address the new world in which we find ourselves.

MS Competitors Nullify the Gates Advantage

2008-07-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

I was writing a note to a friend of mine who is a Microsoft mouthpiece. He quickly went to work spewing the party line in reponse. Unfortunately that is exactly what Microsoft DOESN'T need - to put on the blinders. Here is my wakeup call to those interested in Microsoft's future.

"The only reason you understate your interest in the mobile market is because Apple is kicking Microsoft's poorly performing butt. Look at Google Trends and compare iPhone to Windows Mobile. If you dare!

In looking at Microsoft over the past 3 years, I would have to say that Microsoft's enemies have nullified the Gates advantage by taking out Gates interest in technology through legal attacks.

With ongoing legal attacks withering Gates' interest in the company, Microsoft has gone from an innovator within its top ranks to a protector of the status quo and a me-too company, which will be its downfall. I hope that Gates will wake-up to this tactic, become recharged, and once-again drive innovation through the ranks of Microsoft."

Teraflop Graphics Cards Beget Technical Innovation in Several Fields

2008-06-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal Online blew my mind tonight (June 16, 2008). Here is a quote:

"Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are packing hundreds of specialized calculating engines on new graphics chips to reach a milestone for speed known as a "teraflop," or a trillion scientific operations per second. They plan to offer the chips to gaming fans in cards for personal computers, but also are marketing the technology to accelerate the performance of desktop and server systems on a wide range of technical chores."

Know what this means?

Intel will have to put teraflop capable units into its chipsets to compete. They will do this within 5 years (my foresight).

From now on out, especially when the software catches up, (Read SilverLight and WPF) computers will be able to do real-time raytracing and lots of those other fancy 3D techniques that are so compute-bound. We will see the day in the next 5 years where you will be able to "photograph" (capture 3D modeling, image and gait information from) someone you know, and then make their 3D animated body do anything you want it to do in a computer display. It won't be possible to tell whether that video is real or "Memorex" (Remember those ads?)

You think SilverLight is cool now!? Just wait until it has a teraflop or two behind it. 3D displays will have to come out pretty soon as when you are talking teraflops, 3D imaging is possible, no, it will be demanded.

There is a lot of talk about how network capacity has to grow. The WSJ has another article about how video will grow 7 times the current load by 2012 to 44 exabytes. If you have multi-teraflop 3D video displays, your bandwidth is going to grow exponentially, not linearly for the display of 3D visual information.

Video will be *everywhere*. Every Neighborhood Watch will have video cameras, every city that does not have video on every street will soon have it. Every car will have it. Every videogame will have it. Every robot, every school, every daycare, every public place, and much of it will be publically available. And there will need to be a way to navigate it, hence my insight into a Virtual-Earth or Google Earth method of traversing space (and soon time) to see video from any source on the globe, and from any point in recorded history. You will be able to have a visual historical time machine.

It is apparent to me that the computer industry is on the verge of exploding with technical innovation. Under the current economic times, companies are hunkering down, spending wisely - but thinking about the wildly possible. And the wildly possible is coming into its own starting Now.

Credited or quoted information is copyright the respective authors and publishers, all other material is © 2008 Aaron L. Richards - Richards Media Net LLC
"Great Opportunities for Media Technologies"

http://richardsmedia.net/
Aaron@RichardsMedia.Net

5 Ways Newspapers Can Flourish in the Internet Age

2008-05-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a blog posting full of doom and gloom for the newspaper industry. However, in thinking about it, newspapers have had substantial benefits for the U.S. for several years. So rather than join the Internet journalists on the newspaper death-march articles, I thought I would put my Internet savvy-ness, my MBA education and my God-given gift of future insight into helping newspapers turn their situation around.

In looking at our local newspaper, the Grand Rapids Press (which quite honestly I have not purchased for the purpose of reading it myself for several years) I could tell you reasons which would make me buy one to read. A. I placed an advertisement in it and wanted to make sure it was printed correctly. B. There was an article about someone or something I have a strong interest in printed in the paper, such as a family member or friends family member. C. There was an article about ME in the paper. D. There was an article I Wrote in the paper. E. There was something printed in large format in the paper that I wanted that I could not print on my home printer.

So lets put these in context. Reason #1 - Advertising. Because the paper in our town, the Grand Rapids Press, still has a substantial following of the old folks, it still pays to advertise in it. I really hate to do so for several reasons. 1. It is very expensive. 2. They cripple it - they will cross-post advertisements into an online classifieds, but they do not enable hyperlinks. In other words, they have the text of the link in the online classifieds, but if you click on it nothing happens. Why do they do that? Do they think that by doing a half-assed job of creating a classified website they are going to slow down the advance of the Internet and save themselves? Stupid - stupid - stupid, they just make people not want to use their website. 3. Pictures are b&w, small and lame, and expensive. 4. No video. 5. No search. 6. No ability to copy, paste and email to my friends and family. This makes http://CraigsList.com look like the Golden Child in comparison.

How to solve these issues? 1. Reduce the cost of advertising. 2. Enable hyperlinks in the online version of the classifieds, charge for this privilege if you need to, how about $5.00/hyperlink. Print the hyperlinks in the paper edition in bright blue. 3. Color photos, higher resolution and larger. 5. Provide for video capability on the online version, and have a staff that can take someone's lame cell-phone video and jazz it up for online distribution.

For B, C & D above, allow people to submit articles, stories and pictures through the Internet. Tell them that you will print them if they meet certain criteria, and tell them the specific issue they will be printed in so that they can buy several copies and give them to friends and relatives. The kind of disrespect show with the "maybe we will print it, maybe we won't, and we won't tell you when" attitude shown with editorials is unreliable, unwanted and doesn't cut it any more.

Print quality user submitted content intermingled with professionally written content in the paper. Provide ratings on submissions the day after in a separate column. Rate by editors rating, readers rating, and any other ratings which make sense.

Most of all, involve your readers. Make an effort to get writers representing every school, every neighborhood, every organization, every business over 10 employees and have them write. Apply an editorial process to their writings and give them validity by publishing them on newsprint. Then be sure to tell their constituents when their content will be published so they can buy copies of the paper - for themselves, their family, friends, customers, parents, membership.

This would result in something that little resembles the paper of today, perhaps would take a larger effort, and would result in much more content being published. There may be many more specialty papers instead of one main publication. One for schools in a region, one for neighborhoods in a region, one for organizations in a city. But it would be content of the people, by the people, for the people. Essentially a publishing clearinghouse. It would sell papers. And its my understanding that if things don't change, you won't be selling papers for much longer.

Put HR Under IT in the Org Chart (Part 1)

2008-04-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings folks!

The following exchanges, part 1 and part 2 come from some classwork I was doing for my MBA curriculum. Most of the time in class I may put forth my ideas, though usually I look to follow the thought pattern proposed by the class text and the instructor.

First week of this HR class however, it became apparent to me that the textbook authors were enamoured of HR, overreached the realities of what an HR person or department could realistically accomplish, and really piled it high in trumpeting the value of an HR department.

The following became quite clear to me, and has generated some discussion in my class, some of which is incorporated into the Part 2 portion of this posting.

HR from my experience is given the following tasks (no I did not find this in the textbook, but from my experiences and discussions of those in the world of work):

Maintain knowledge of skills, wages, benefits in a geographic or competitive area

Maintain employee knowledge and skills (training) in task performance

Maintain employee knowledge and skills in company policies and procedures

Maintain and give access to Employee records and status of various employment related knowledge and activities in relation to employee

Awards, celebrations, employee/superior relationship problems

It is my perception that IT systems can do a better job at most of these functions than human HR department personnel. For the functions that IT is not better at, IT can interface with systems from vendors that can be more effective, cost and performance-wise than internal HR departments. The HR information can be made available on management control panels on intranets or SharePoint portal type systems.

Examples:

#1 above, some job sites make this type of information available already. It could be better organized and made available through an intranet or SharePoint part for a department manager who needs to do hiring, and tied in with corporate budgeting such that the hiring manager would know if they could act as a company to lag, meet or lead in pay (Dreher & Dougherty, Chapter 3, p. 40).

#2 Training can most often (and is already frequently) created by a vendor and made available through an interface in an intranet or SharePoint, again an IT function. In addition, employee skill inventories (Dreher & Dougherty, Chapter 6, p. 38) and record keeping for government bodies can be automated (like OSHA training requirments, technical certifications).

#3 Availability of policy manuals, employee handbook, etc and searchability of content is superior through intranet or SharePoint, again an IT function.

#4 Great for intranet/SharePoint portal (IT).

#5 Awards/Celebrations - Charismatic leader in tandem with tickler system (on intranet/SharePoint)

#5 Employee/employee or Employee/superior relationship problems - internal/external professional counseling (outsource).

HRM would under my model become Human Relationship Management or more likely Internal (Employee) Relationships Management, like CRM - Client Relationship Management or VRM - Vendor Relationship Management which are external relationships. There may still be an "HR" department, but it will be staffed with IT specialists/data entry personnel with HR "overtones" or training in the human element of a company.

I realize and fully recognize the need for "humanists" in a company, especially a large one, and I think that current HR practices miss the mark and potential of the department to optimize human relationships within a company. Then again, I am a computer geek and have not really been inside of an HR department or its inner-workings in order to see what type of positive affect and how it has a positive affect on an organization. I may be missing the mark. Still it is obvious to me that most of the functions of HR as I have outlined them above are better suited to information technology solutions.

References

Dreher & Dougherty. (2001). Human resource strategy: A behavioral perspective for the general manager. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved April 21, 2008 from University of Phoenix, Resource, MBA/530 - Human Capital Development Website: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h

Portions credited, cited or referenced are copyright their respective copyright holders. The rest is (C) 2008 - Aaron L. Richards of Richards Media Net LLC - Great opportunities for Media Technologies!

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Put HR Under IT in the Org Chart (Part 2)

2008-04-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Debbie L. wrote (Comment shortened for brevity):
... If I understand your premise, the majority of HR issues can be handled through IT functions. ... however there will be a great many HR folks who would disagree. From the HR perspective, there is very little black and white. Almost every issue has shades of gray and requires individual perspective, consideration and decision making before application. How would you propose the IT functions handle the shades of gray?

I know that many HR folks would disagree, in fact I appreciate your perspective and asking questions. Most specialists feel that the nature of their work has aspects which would keep it from being automated by computers or IT based systems. If you think about it, the utilities such as electric, phone, gas and water once employed thousands of bookkeepers to do the billing for these companies. They would take the meter readings from the meter readers, pull old records from the previous month, subtract last months reading from this months reading, calculate the billing amount for the month, type out and send a bill. Many of the utilities would just estimate the monthly charge, and do a meter reading 4-6 times a year. "It used to take more than 20 full-time workers to read roughly 140,000 gas meters in the Brockton region," he says. "With new technology, that work is now done by just one person." (Zimmerman, 2004) Now 99% of the bookkeepers are gone.

This example sounds very mathmatical, very calculating, which is supposed to be the forte' of computers. Very black and white.Lets look at something much more people oriented - how about telephone operators? Person to person communications - lots of shades of gray there, right? "One startling example: In 1972, telecommunications companies and other businesses employed 394,000 telephone operators. Today, that number is 52,000, an 87 percent job loss" this information comes from Readers Digest at http://www.rd.com/money/work-and-career/computers-making-some-jobs-obsolete/article27800-1.html (2004). Also from the same source, Readers Digest, "with self-serve gas stations, ATMs and e-tail sites, productivity is on the rise throughout a broad array of service industries. That means the need for new workers is on the decline" (2004).

How about something a little closer to home? Perhaps the elimination of middle management through computer technology: "the explanation for the 1990s downsizing was either new technology or redesign of the organization. Some middle managers and supervisors were replaced by new computer systems that provide surveillance of clerical workers and data entry jobs. These same computer systems also eliminate the need for many middle-managers responsible for collecting, processing and analyzing data used by upper-level decision makers." (Perrucci & Wysong, 1999). This sounds a bit like it could resemble the tasks of an HR department to a degree.

To be fair, I could not find any websites that said that HR departments were being replaced by technology, in fact quite the opposite:

"Myth: HRMS Software will eliminate HR jobs

Reality-Very seldom does anyone actually lose a job when HRMS software is implemented. Staff members who slave over the filing cabinet retrieving and restoring files will lose those mundane duties and gain time for proactive tasks such as reporting and planning.

In larger HR staffs in a manual environment, there may be an overstaff situation to compensate for the lack of automation. In this instance staff members are often reassigned from the filing job to a role that was not getting done before. For example, many former file clerks who have quit the filing habit have become employment specialists and focus their talents on recruiting, taking advantage of the applicant tracking capabilities of the recently implemented HRMS software" (Witschger, 2000).

My argument is that computers do handle shades of gray quite well. Consistently, fairly by looking at the same criteria in the same way every time and not showing partiality due to personal relationships, politics, pressure from staff, etc. I am not saying that people won't influence the results that computers give out, they will. It would be a different type of influence.

I believe that a well setup and programmed system would be more legally defensible, as all steps and reasons for a decision could be documented and traced, it would be consistent in the application of rules from situation to situation, and it could handle a greater volume of work, online 24/7 and reduce "overstaffing" as the quote above calls it.

References

Perrucci, R. & Wysong, E. (1999). The New Class Society. Rowman & Littlefield. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from http://books.google.com/books?id=nzxc7AnUJAgC

Witschger, J. (2000). HR Software Myths. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from http://www.techlinks.net/CommunityPublishing/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3021/HR-Software-Myths.aspx

Zimmerman, S. (2004, September). The Job Snatchers. Readers Digest. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from http://www.rd.com/money/work-and-career/computers-making-some-jobs-obsolete/article27800.html

AIR Over SilverLight

2008-03-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

Looking at Adobe AIR and Microsoft SilverLight, AIR has the superior application model, even against SilverLight 2.0. Here is why.

(I've got to be short and to the point here, my MBA - Transformational Leadership class homework awaits...)

Lets work backword here for a moment. I think that everyone would agree future productivity applications, frequently thought of as word processors and spreadsheets among others are going to be web capable and web delivered. I know that the University of Phoenix is moving from Outlook to Google Gmail, and they seem to be enthusiastic about the online applications such as word processing and spreadsheets they are getting for free as part of the package as they move to Googles GMail.

So when you are using a word processor, what do you need? You need a fully featured application, that can store files for reuse later on. You need an application that you can use if your Internet connection goes down. You want a word processor that you can use where ever you go that you have a computer, regardless as to whether you can connect to the Internet or not. You want it to be cool, and you DON'T want to have to drag your storage device, no matter how small around with you.

Now lets look at Adobe AIR. I must state that I am speaking from a generalists viewpoint here about what I have read about Adobe AIR. Although I have done quite a bit of Flash programming, I have never programmed applications using AIR up to now.

That said, AIR is a cross-platform, Internet connectible/disconnectable applications development platform. What I mean by that is that AIR will run on Windows, the Mac and soon Linux. It can launch applications from the web, or from your local hard disk and communicate with databases, server applications and other applications written with AIR, .Net or other systems over the Internet.

AIR can store data on your local hard disk. So if you build a web-based word processor or spreadsheet program that you can launch by clicking on a hyperlink on a web page, it can be installed on your local hard disk, and even if the Internet goes down in your area, or more likely, you lose your wi-fi connection, the documents you are working on don't go bye-bye. Assume then that you shut-down your computing device and start again several hours later. Since the Adobe AIR-based productivity applications can reside on your hard disk (or the Internet), you can start your AIR-based application, which can read the docs from your hard disk, and then copy them to your storage in the Internet on a server somewhere.

Sounds like WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) based application you say? Yes! - Except that WPF is Windows only! No Mac or Linux support. Can SilverLight do it? Well, SilverLight by itself is not meant for PC-based Internet disconnectable applications. In other words, SilverLight is meant for always-connected-to-the-Internet type applications. You lose your Internet connection, and if you shut down your browser, you are toast. SilverLight is not meant for writing PC based applications like Word or Excel that launch from your local PC and save data to your local PC. At least not by itself.

So what am I saying here? Microsoft is in catch-up mode. Next week we will be hearing great things about SilverLight coming out of MIX '08. I personally have high-hopes for SilverLight, as I think Microsoft (my favorite computer company) is on the right track. However, Adobe with AIR has been on the right-track for quite a while now, and Microsoft needs to make some adjustments in their targeting. I know that they can and will adapt SilverLight (or WPF) to the PC-disk based, local storage enabled, Internet capable and launchable, Internet and browser disconnectable, cross-platform applications model. It is just a matter of time. But in my mind, the sooner, the better!

Virtuality

2008-02-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

© 2008 Aaron L. Richards – All Rights Reserved.
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Richards Media Net LLC – Great Opportunities for Media Technology
Picture this! A 3D virtual world with video represented characters or avatars that you can navigate and explore. In the 3D world that I envision, you would be able to "peer-out" into the real world through web-cam enabled "portals." Kind of a MMORPG that ties the virtual world and real worlds together.

Have "portals" into the real world from the virtual world where web-cams connected to computers or dedicated electronics provide a view into the "real-world" at different places and areas. At these portals, in the physical realm, project through a projector connected to the computer a view into the virtual world onto a wall or computer monitor. In this way, folks in the real and virtual worlds would be able to see and hear each other and communicate. The folks in the real world would see the folks in the virtual world who were in proximity to the portal, and the folks in the virtual world would be able to see people in the real world through the web-cam. Not only could you link physical and virtual, you could link disparate physical worlds together, such as virtual classrooms and discussions, entertainment, simulcasts, homes, sporting events, weddings, clubs, etc.

The virtual world could mimic the physical world, and use systems such as Microsoft’s Virtual Earth or Google’s Earth, and you could traverse virtual space as you do in one of these mapping services/products, and enter an entertainment establishment or business from virtual earth and be exposed to the real-time goings on at that location through video and sound with the portal concept described earlier. This is possible with today's technology. The folks at this location would be able to see who is viewing their goings-on through a projection onto a wall of the “folks” in the virtual world who are “hanging-around” the portal with the view into the real world.

These types of virtual/real-world links are possible though technologies such as Virtual Earth, Google Earth and Microsoft’s WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

In fact with movements made by Microsoft lately, I strongly believe that Microsoft and Google are making motions toward a 3D web that models the physical world in features and geography, and with developments such as 3DV’s 3D video camera (http://www.3dvsystems.com/), it will be possible to replicate not only geography and physical features of the physical world, it will be possible to replicate physical world activities in real-time in 3D in virtual worlds such as Virtual Earth and Google Earth. I plan on doing a video blog soon that will detail some of these activities and the technologies that make them possible.

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Windows Mobile on Nintendo DS

2008-02-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Richards Media Net LLC – Great Opportunities for Media Technology

Windows Mobile rocks. I carry a Dell Axim X50V with me frequently, and am writing this blog entry on it while waiting for my son's swim competition to spin up.

The Axim's claim to fame is that it has a 480X640 pixel display. This is 4 times the resolution of most Windows Mobile machines, provides for a clear, sharp image, and allows me to run PC remote control software so that I can work with my office PC remotely and have an acceptable display. All around I would have to say it is a great every-day PDA.

However, lately I have been thinking of the issues that Windows Mobile devices have, and how to solve them.

One of these issues is cost. Windows Mobile devices do not achieve the economies of scale that other consumer devices achieve, and as a result end up costing more and gaining less industry support in terms of add-ons and software.

In addition, with their small display sizes, they are constrained in terms of what can be realistically and adequately displayed on their small screens.

I think I've found a solution to the issues of cost, availability of software and add-ons and constrained screen sizes. If you want to take advantage of these thoughts, read on!

Think of it this way - Windows Mobile is software. PC software runs on PCs from different vendors such as HP & Dell, as well as different configurations such as desktops, laptops and tablet PCs. Windows Mobile is tightly tied to the hardware it runs on, which is a double-edged sword. It is good because it gives a very consistent user experience from device to device. It is bad for a couple of reasons. Usually you can not upgrade a Windows Mobile operating system. A second downer is that because you do not have a decoupling between the OS and the hardware you can not shop around for the best hardware (i.e. the device) separately from the software.

How about this for an idea. Create a version of Windows Mobile especially for the Nintendo DS! Put it on a cartridge for insertion into the DS just like any of its other software. If necessary, put it on two of the cartridges that fit into the DS. The DS takes old format (Advance) and new format cards simultaneously. Perhaps if you need the extra cartridge, you could put Windows Mobile and Flash memory on two cartridges for insertion into a DS simultaneously.

This solves a number of problems that had been posed earlier. The Nintendo DS has a very low price point for some very capable hardware. It has great sound, a touch screen, fantastic graphics, good buttons, two (Yes TWO) screens, stylus input and control, 3D capability and wi-fi.

It also has a large and competitive market for add-ons, meaning that they are reasonably priced. You can get headsets, microphones, other software – all sorts of great stuff for it!

One thing it does NOT have is cellular phone capability. However this is where you could tie the Nintendo’s wi-fi into Microsoft’s other product lines to solve this problem. Put a software based phone into the Windows Mobile for Nintendo software. Something compatible with Microsoft’s Communication Server. Then sell a server software add-on for Communications Server that ties it into your small business or corporate phone system. The wi-fi from the Nintendo running Windows Mobile could communicate with your companies Communication Server over the Internet, and give you wi-fi based phone service by going through the local hotspot over the Internet to your companies Communications Server, then to the local phone network. In that manner you would not need to have a separate phone service provider for your Nintendo. Just piggy-back onto your small business or corporate phone system service through the Internet. Bingo! A Nintendo running Windows Mobile with phone service where ever you have wi-fi! (With the separate purchase of a microphone or microphone headset of course!)

Windows Mobile would need a bit of a rewrite to take full advantage of the Nintendo’s dual screens and other capabilities. On the other hand, it would open a huge potential market in terms of installed base (all the DS devices already out there, several million) to Microsoft, provide hardware at an excellent price point, and would give DS users both their huge installed base of existing software and hardware as well as the benefits of Windows Mobile, including as I’ve described Internet phone capability, and a tie-in point for Communications Server.

A win-win for everyone!

Talking about win-wins, my son won 3 out of 4 of the swimming events he was in. Awesome!

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Mapping Strategy with Windows Workflow

2008-01-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

(C) 2008 Aaron L. Richards - All Rights Reserved

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In my current MBA course, we are studying strategy and tactics. One of my fellow students, Tony had posted a response to the instructor’s question concerning the essential components for the strategic management process.

After reading Tony's posting, it just occurred to me that strategy formulation both parallels and is targeted in the software envisioning & design realm.

Software, like strategy is designed to accomplish a goal or goals. Both software and strategy may specify many different tasks which need to occur in order to accomplish the goal. Some of these tasks to accomplish a strategy or successful software offering are obvious and easy to implement. Other issues are difficult to understand and identify, much less lend themselves to successful implementation. Often, both strategy and software need to interface to other systems: financial, management, point of purchase, education and training, operations, human resources, IT, technical, data/databases, paper-based systems. They need effective orchestration, they need oversight when first implemented, and they need feedback on how they are doing so that changes/revisions can be made to enhance their performance into the future.

Like Tony's post suggests 10%-50% of strategy implementations are successful, similar to the success rate of software implementations (however you define success). For the successful strategies and software, once it has been effective and reached its goals, you either build on it, or rip and replace and start again to achieve different goals.

This brings me to process graphing tools such as Windows Workflow Foundation. If a large number of your companies' functional units are computerized, you could map out a strategy using a process graphing tool (I would say that definable and repeatable strategies are processes) and control both the development of a strategy, as well as the tactical implementation of it simply by graphing it out in a drawing program. Not only that, but if your internal and external environmental analysis could be "digitized" or turned into computer digital data, then it would be possible not only to develop and implement strategy through drawing process flows, but it should be possible to model it before implementation, to see the "what-ifs" or what the result of implementation would be, to determine whether or not it should be implemented, or if there may be effects that were not foreseen in the development of these process flows.Obviously this would take quite a bit of advanced modeling technology, as well as the "digitizing" of information into an analyzable and modelable format. This type of eStrategitizing may be 5 to 10 years out, but I could see it happening. Maybe not for every industry, but for industries that are data-intensive, digitally connected and computer driven.

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

SilverLight In the Junior Leagues, Now

2008-01-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

(C) 2008 Richards Media Net LLC - All Rights Reserved

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Richards Media Net LLC - Great Opportunities for Media Technology

I am an oldtime Microsoft fan. Having said that, I have some observations on SilverLight that I will comment on.

When it comes to SilverLight, the current edition (1.0) is not even platform parity with Flash MX 2004 which is the edition of Flash of which I am most familiar with. I, from both a Visual Studio developer as well as a Flash developer perspective have had difficulty getting Blend (A SilverLight development tool) to do the most basic event driven activities with SilverLight. It does tweening OK, however I'd used programs in the 90's that did that well.

One thing Microsoft keeps falling on their face with is how to get software developers and designers to work together while keeping their tasks separate. With Visual Studio .Net/2003/2005 this was supposed to happen through the separation of backend coding from the front-end html development. Unfortunately the RunAt="Server" requirement for .Net controls in web development and the server controls in general pretty much required either the designers to know the idiosyncracies of Microsoft's additions to the markup language, or for the developers to touch the designers work, potentially breaking it and preventing the separation between designers and developers development efforts. In addition, I have not yet met a designer who wishes to use Visual Studio as their design tool, even though it supports Microsoft's server controls.

I think Microsoft has missed the mark again with SilverLight. At one point they were strongly targeting designers who by training are strongly anti-Microsoft. By incorporating the .Net languages into SilverLight, I believe that Microsoft will engage a larger software developer audience, however most of those folks could not develop an aestheticly attractive application to save their souls. Microsoft needs to appeal to the "Renaissance Man" & "Renaissance Woman." Those individuals who have both aesthetic sensibilities as well as programming and development capabilities. These are a rare breed, but there is apparently such a market demographic as the targeting of Adobe's web development tools such as Flash and DreamWeaver attests.

Toward this end it would be great if Microsoft would reawaken their great vector/bitmap tool PhotoDraw with XAML support and additional behavior/scripting ability. In addition, rather than have SilverLight be a "me too" product in comparison to Flash, Microsoft should take the ballsy step of daring to make the SilverLight plug-in larger to incorporate the 3D capabilities of WPF. To support this development path, Microsoft should take their 3D modeling and rendering tool (or did they sell that off?) or buy another if need be and give that SilverLight 3D support/XAML support and downsize the tool to something that could be downloaded for free to compete with Googles SketchUp product. By tying an excellent vector/bitmap tool to SilverLight as opposed to the plain-Jane Expression Design you would gather a greater wow factor and faster uptake. In addition, adding the 3D capability along with an excellent 3D tool, you would position SilverLight at the high end of capability, which we all know becomes mainstream capability rather quickly in the computer/Internet world.

With the prevalence of broadband and the ubiquitousness of 3D capable systems, I believe this is a gamble Microsoft should take.I believe Microsoft programming tools are superior for authoring user generated code, and would rather use Visual Studio for editing compared to the Flash MX 2004 editor.

Microsoft learns quickly. Hopefully they are open to direction and are motivated to develop SilverLight into a premiere product. It may be that they already of plans of this nature, and just need time to envision, design and implement.I think the real battle between Flash and Microsoft is 2-3 years down the road. Until then, SilverLight needs to fill in the gaps and build an identity.

Exposing U.S. Goods and Services to the World

2007-12-20T07:11:00.001-08:00

The New, Nontraditional Value of Questionnaires

2007-12-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

(C) 2007 Richards Media Net LLC - All Rights Reserved
A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Richards Media Net LLC - Great Opportunities for Media Technology

If you are not using questionnaires to generate repeat business, you are missing the boat. And this is not just for for the web and software industries!

A questionaire can't be forward looking, in other words to assist in determining what someone wants in a new website, because for the most part, people do not know. Most people I have found do not have the ability to visualize solutions or designs or processes until they are actually looking at and experiencing it. I have heard it said that when people are left to their own free will to decide on what to do, they usually copy someone else. So when you ask someone what they want in a website, if they can describe it at all, they usually say, "I want one that looks just like that one!" This happens while they are looking at their top rated competitor.

I sat in on a talk from a User Experience manager from Google at Michigan State University this past year. He spoke of how Google uses what he called "bucket testing." I have also seen it described as "A/B Split Testing." Here follows a description of it from http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/ab-split-testing.html
"Most of us are familiar with the concept of using A/B split testing to determine which elements on a page are helping the performance of a web page, and which are not.
For instance, one might typically test two different headlines on a landing page. One would then outperform the other, and you would know which is the top-performing page."

Basically it means you integrate the questionaire into the process that you are evaluating. The example that the Google fellow gave was they had a home page, and they wanted to know if blue links led to more clicks, or green links led to more clicks. So they produced two home pages, each with a single but different color of link, and randomly sent one group of web browsers to one, and another group of web browsers to the other. On each one they measured how many clicks occurred on the link. If one color of link had a statistically larger number of clicks, that was the winner. This is easier to do on the web than in other industries, but with a bit of creativity, I think it can be applied to many different situations, and when people are voting with their clicks, or their dollars, it is the real data. If people are answering a questionaire a couple of days after the experience they are questioned about, they may not remember their thoughts or feelings or evaluations from the time of the experience, and the survey is worthless.

Another issue is brought to light by a statement by Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz & Rudelius, “although observation can reveal what people do, it cannot easily determine why they do it, such as why they are buying or not buying a product. This is the principal reason for using questionnaires” (2006).

It strikes me that a survey or questionaire has a strong psychological effect on the individual surveyed as well.If you have a good dinner at a restaurant, but do not tell anyone about it, or express it, it is just a pleasant feeling that goes away and is forgotten.However, if this good feeling is expressed verbally or through filling out a survey, it reinforces the feeling and causes a concious and reinforced recognition of the positive event that is more memorable and more likely to be acted upon at some future time, probably in an attempt to repeat it by repeating the actions leading up to it, as in going to the restaurant again.The more physical, mental and emotional activity a company can generate regarding its products and services, the more involved people will be with its products in the future. I think sports venues are fully aware of this fact, and that is part of the reason sports fans are so involved with the activities. At a sports event you eat, drink, cheer, boo, do the "wave," listen to exciting music, watch the cheerleaders, watch the mid-event activities, smell the foods, fight the lines to the bathrooms and socialize.Any other business that can do that with its products and services will be successful.

Look at the iPhone. At its release, people were sitting in lines for several hours, socializing, eating, drinking, being interviewed by news crews, fighting for their place in line after going to the bathroom. Again it was the event mentality which involves many senses and motor skills and emotions and gets the participants heavily involved in the product or service.

Filling out a survey based on a positive experience may not be as active an experience as going to a sports event, but it IS enough of an experience to reinforce and cause a repeat of a pleasant experience at your business. Take advantage of this opportunity and incorporate questionnaires into your customers pleasant experiences at your place of business. We would be glad to put one on your website for you!

References
Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., Berkowitz, E. N. & Rudelius, W. (2006). Marketing, 8e. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MBA/502 – Managing the Business Enterprise Website: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h

2007-11-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

Are Products Only Sold on Price in the Online Shopping World?
(C) 2007 Richards Media Net LLC - All Rights Reserved
A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and develops Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

Richards Media Net LLC - Great Opportunities for Media Technology

In the online world you cannot have good music, nice decorations and so on... In reality in the online shopping world you must sell the products just based on price.
-April Z.
Note: Question edited for readability

I would disagree a bit with April. Although there are a lot of websites that compete strictly on price, there are a number that do not, and as a result are a better off. I think Amazon (http://amazon.com/) is a good example. Through strong and persistent marketing and as a result, public awareness, many people purchasing books online go to Amazon.

Many people buy from Amazon, because of its reputation, because others they know have ordered from them. Amazon may not be the least expensive, but the peace of mind that is had from ordering from a known entity leads to a better experience than ordering from “supercheapbooks.com” and wondering if and when you will receive your books and whether or not you will have to hassle with an off-shore customer-service representative that does not speak English, that is if you can get a hold of anyone at all. So to state the obvious, a good reputation is worth paying extra for many customers.

There are some sites, Walmart being one, where for a fee you can upload a picture or image to be printed onto a gift card (http://photos.walmart.com/storepage/storePageId=View+All+Products), which can then be mailed to your home, business or the gift recipients address. This is a case where the denomination of the gift card + the printing fee is more than the lowest cost provider of a non-customized gift card, however it is a unique customization service that is still relatively rare and desired by some, allowing for additional profits. Unique and differentiated service is worth paying extra for many customers.

One of the advantages of an eCommerce site associated with a brick and mortar retailer is that in some instances you can buy online, and if it does not fit, look right, wasn't what you expected, you have the option to return it to the brick and mortar retailer instead of packaging it up and going to the post office to return the item. This is another instance where customers might not focus on price, but on convenience. Convenience is worth a couple extra bucks for many customers.

So to address April’s comment above, in the online shopping world, as in the “real” world, goods and services are NOT sold strictly on price. Reasons that customers may pay a bit more for your products or services include your good reputation, unique and differentiated products and services, and convenience.

Just realize, there always will be customers that aim for the lowest price. However there will also be customers that go for attributes that are over and above the price as well.

Credit Card Future – Reaping a Substantial Reduction in Credit Card Theft and Identity Theft Through Design

2007-01-04T05:52:00.000-08:00

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Credit Card Future – Reaping a Substantial Reduction in Credit Card Theft and Identity Theft Through Design
(C) 2007 Richards Media Net LLC - All Rights Reserved

A vision from a man who grew up in the Internet Age, writes computer software and Internet systems for a living, and has visions of the future that keep him up at insane hours of the night.

How is this for a valuable service: Use a credit card as an identity card in conjunction with a PIN - not new idea, used by airline automatic ticketing machines for a number of years now. But associate more personal data with the card, but not in the card, it would be accessed from credit card company electronically from a network through an ID on card. But only authorized through a PIN typed in by the individual using the card and a dynamic ID number provided by the card itself as is postulated below.

Here is an idea for reaping a substantial reduction in credit card theft and identity theft through a simple redesign of a credit card and its associated transactions. Read on!

Have a time-based code displayed or accessible through card like the RSA cards (http://www.rsasecurity.com/node.asp?id=1156). These cards have an LCD display that display a code that changes every 60 seconds. For our purposes, this could change every five minutes and still be effective. This code would have to be typed in along with a PIN in order to complete a transaction online, or could be downloaded into a credit card reader directly from the card during in-person transactions. This would prevent credit card number theft, because you would need physical access to the card in order to use it. A hacker wouldn't be able to use credit card numbers stolen from a retail establishment's database because they wouldn't have the future time-based codes stored there. Such a system would need a stable, time accurate clock, which would not necessarily be cheap, but it would only have to be consistent for a year or two until you received your next card.

Perhaps credit card companies could use this dynamic ID technology to suppress identity theft. If RSA would give the credit card companies a volume discount, the credit card companies could use the RSA card technology as the basis of a new generation of credit card.

Until next time…

I thank God for this vision and letting me communicate it to the world.