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I first starting thinking about human/machine augmentations in 2000 when I started a company
focused in the Telco software space. Initially, I focused on how to enable wireless content
development, but at that time, devices were primitive. High speed networks hadn't fully taken
on in many areas of the U.S. for mobile networks and the feeble attempts at standardization
were clearly doomed. We pivoted the company to focus on speech-enabled voice applications
over normal telephones.
In 2005, once again, I was intrigued by the emergence of augmenting human/machine
relations by the idea of "multi-modal" applications; the concept that you could use different
modes of computer input and output that are better suited for human beings. For example,
I might prefer to use voice to input a question in the form of "how would I get to 123 Main
Street?" to the computer. However, the results would be more realistic in the form of a visual
map with turn-by-turn driving directions instead of the computer reading them back to me
in voice. At that time, mobile devices had severe limitations of both processing power and
memory that made it difficult to make it work for broader use. Worse, if you could build the
capability, you couldn't easily distribute it to end users as the carriers owned distributions
with an iron fist and each network was different and very complicated.
Steve Jobs and Apple changed all of that in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone. Having spent
a few years thinking about many great ideas that were not practical to deliver, I was immediately
struck at the opportunity in front of us as human beings. The relationship of human/machine
interaction at that point changed forever. The "real" personal computer was invented; that beige
box under my desk was no longer the future and certainly wasn't personal anymore.
Fast forward five years and Apple's Siri is now popular and we have the ability to create amazing
applications with new experiences possible within hours, not months or years. We have the
ability to click on a button and make these applications available to hundreds of millions of
devices on hundreds of networks all around the world almost instantly. We can create these
experiences without much involvement from anyone. |
