On Monday I met with our company lawyers to start the application process for another patent. This will be my second with my current company. I can't really go into the idea as it will take some time to get the application completed and it is best not to say anything about it until that point.
I can write about the inspiration for my idea though and where it came from. At the start of my career I took a class titled, "Thinking Outside the Box." There were a lot of people with many different careers and so it was kind of fun to find out what other people did and why they were there. During the course of the class we all talked about our hobbies. Our instructor mentioned that we might find solutions to our work problems from other sources, including our hobbies. For some reason, that idea stuck with me. I still can't figure out how to get good ideas from skiing, but the idea for my patent came from another hobby: ham radio.
I have been given a new project at work and started thinking about how to break up a really large task into smaller ones. In working with machine learning (ML), one needs a large training data set. So before you can really do anything with ML, you need to gather data. While thinking about how to get this information for my project I started thinking about the data gathering process and realized that something I do with ham radio could be used to help with my project. I immediately sat down with one of our patent agents who agreed my solution could be used to solve a number of problems and so he set up an appointment with our lawyers.
I used to think that the best way to get ahead with my career was to focus on computers and even make it my hobby. After 30 years in the computer industry, I can say that is a recipe for career burnout. Instead take the time to pick up a hobby or two. You never know when it will be the source for a brilliant idea.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Robots
Every year our department does a team-building activity where we take the entire workday and do something fun. My first year, we did a scavenger hunt in downtown San Francisco and I had a great time. This year we got together in a hotel near our office, divided into 10 teams, and built robots. Once completed, we had a competition between the build teams.
I had a few people on my team that I know very well and several others that I got to know better. We had a great time building the robot even though we had to substitute parts as our kit had a missing piece or two. The hours we had to build our robot passed quickly. We all felt like kids playing with a complex Lego set.
Once we completed our robot, we had fun with the competition. Interestingly we had much more fun building the robot than we did playing with it. I think if I wanted to get into robotics with one of my kids, I would want a kit that you could reconfigure for various purposes. Remember that as we approach the Holiday Season.
I had a few people on my team that I know very well and several others that I got to know better. We had a great time building the robot even though we had to substitute parts as our kit had a missing piece or two. The hours we had to build our robot passed quickly. We all felt like kids playing with a complex Lego set.
Once we completed our robot, we had fun with the competition. Interestingly we had much more fun building the robot than we did playing with it. I think if I wanted to get into robotics with one of my kids, I would want a kit that you could reconfigure for various purposes. Remember that as we approach the Holiday Season.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Future Technology
One of my work colleagues and I shared a ride from downtown San Francisco back to our office and we had a nice discussion about the future of technology. We started with the discussion about how certain high-tech celebrities happened to be in the right place at the right time. That coupled with a bit of luck propelled them into technological lore. My colleague is trying to help his sons figure out how they can be in the right place at the right time when it comes to future technology and how to increase their chances of becoming technological leaders.
I think if it was easy to predict where technology will be in five to ten years then everyone would be doing it. That didn't stop us from trying to figure it out for ourselves though. During my somewhat lengthy career in computers and high-tech, I have learned that people don't by technology, they buy solutions to problems. One of those problems is figuring out a way to streamline daily tasks. If you look at something as simple as cooking, think how the microwave has reduced the preparation effort of food. While not all food can be microwaved, a lot can and that has dramatically reduced the time it takes to cook a snack or meal.
As my friend and I drove, we applied the streamlining principle to our drive. We kept having to slow down for certain areas of traffic congestion. If all of the cars on the road could talk to each other and had the smarts to coordinate lane changes, we would have made it back to the office in half the time it took us. Based on that part of our discussion, my friend's boys should focus on self-driving cars. Then I threw out the idea of creating a virtual work environment that could eliminate the need to travel from your home to an office. It would immediately wipe out a significant portion of the traffic on the road. Following that logic, my friend's boys should look at virtual technologies and how to improve them.
As I mentioned, predicting the future of technology is incredibly difficult. This is because there are so many variables and unknowns. You could start moving towards one technology only to have it become irrelevant because of a significant shift caused by another. That is why it is important to always look at trends and constantly be updating your technical skills. Unfortunately that takes a lot of effort.
I think if it was easy to predict where technology will be in five to ten years then everyone would be doing it. That didn't stop us from trying to figure it out for ourselves though. During my somewhat lengthy career in computers and high-tech, I have learned that people don't by technology, they buy solutions to problems. One of those problems is figuring out a way to streamline daily tasks. If you look at something as simple as cooking, think how the microwave has reduced the preparation effort of food. While not all food can be microwaved, a lot can and that has dramatically reduced the time it takes to cook a snack or meal.
As my friend and I drove, we applied the streamlining principle to our drive. We kept having to slow down for certain areas of traffic congestion. If all of the cars on the road could talk to each other and had the smarts to coordinate lane changes, we would have made it back to the office in half the time it took us. Based on that part of our discussion, my friend's boys should focus on self-driving cars. Then I threw out the idea of creating a virtual work environment that could eliminate the need to travel from your home to an office. It would immediately wipe out a significant portion of the traffic on the road. Following that logic, my friend's boys should look at virtual technologies and how to improve them.
As I mentioned, predicting the future of technology is incredibly difficult. This is because there are so many variables and unknowns. You could start moving towards one technology only to have it become irrelevant because of a significant shift caused by another. That is why it is important to always look at trends and constantly be updating your technical skills. Unfortunately that takes a lot of effort.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
The Latest Games
We are entering the 2018 Holiday Season and that means there will be a ton of game releases over the next few months. I know it is only September and talking about the Holidays is a bit early. Those of us in the video game industry have an earlier time frame than the consumers. I'm sure those in retail feel the same way.
Last week Sony released the new Spiderman game for the PS4 and everyone at work has been playing it during breaks. I just got my copy of the game and have yet to play it. The games I am playing have been out on the market for a few months and so I am a bit behind the times. That being said, I am interested in a few of the upcoming games and will probably slot one or two of them in front of Spiderman, even though everyone seems to be enjoying it.
There is one game I played that convinced me to stop watching TV and play video games instead. The sequel will be released towards the end of next month. My hope is that I will finish my current game by them and I will be able to start the new one. Unfortunately I will probably not be done and Red Dead Redemption 2 will have to wait a few weeks before I can play it. Having so many games to play with more coming in the next few months is not really a bad problem.
Last week Sony released the new Spiderman game for the PS4 and everyone at work has been playing it during breaks. I just got my copy of the game and have yet to play it. The games I am playing have been out on the market for a few months and so I am a bit behind the times. That being said, I am interested in a few of the upcoming games and will probably slot one or two of them in front of Spiderman, even though everyone seems to be enjoying it.
There is one game I played that convinced me to stop watching TV and play video games instead. The sequel will be released towards the end of next month. My hope is that I will finish my current game by them and I will be able to start the new one. Unfortunately I will probably not be done and Red Dead Redemption 2 will have to wait a few weeks before I can play it. Having so many games to play with more coming in the next few months is not really a bad problem.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Poor Use of Technology
Last weekend I helped out with the Wasatch 100 ultra marathon. Basically about 400 people signed up to try and run 100 miles in a 36-hour time period. I help with 2 such events every year, with this being the second one. I get to hang out with my wife and a few friends all night on Friday recording when runners come through the 64-mile aid station. We then send the runner number with arrival and departure times to the race organizers who make the information available on their website. This helps friends and family know where runners are but it also helps if we need to do any search and rescue for overdue runners.
I have been helping with the Wasatch 100 for about 4 years now and taken a primary role for the past 2. We use packet radio to transmit the data and that saves a lot of time over sending the information by voice. Both can be done with ham radio and both work well for us.
Last year I was asked to set up a new ham radio technology called a mesh network. The primary radio person before me had tried for 2 years to get it working only to have it fail. I didn't have enough time to work with the organizer ham radio operators to get it set up before the run started and so we went without it. Besides, we had a perfectly reasonable solution with packet radio. Sure it is slow, but it works.
This year, the organizer ham radio operators enlisted the services of a new guy to try and set up the mesh network again. The new guy let me know his plan and I welcomed him onto the radio team. I also filled him in on previous years and the attempt to get the new technology working. We all showed up and started getting things going. The packet radio worked as well this year as it did last and the new guy never could get the mesh network completely running. When it came time to take down our equipment, the new guy had a lot of hardware to pack up and fit in his truck. We just had a tiny little radio, laptop computer, and an antenna.
The new guy summed up his experience with using a mesh network instead of packet radio by saying, "It is a complicated solution to a problem that has already been solved." My fellow ham radio operators at our aid station couldn't agree more.
I have been helping with the Wasatch 100 for about 4 years now and taken a primary role for the past 2. We use packet radio to transmit the data and that saves a lot of time over sending the information by voice. Both can be done with ham radio and both work well for us.
Last year I was asked to set up a new ham radio technology called a mesh network. The primary radio person before me had tried for 2 years to get it working only to have it fail. I didn't have enough time to work with the organizer ham radio operators to get it set up before the run started and so we went without it. Besides, we had a perfectly reasonable solution with packet radio. Sure it is slow, but it works.
This year, the organizer ham radio operators enlisted the services of a new guy to try and set up the mesh network again. The new guy let me know his plan and I welcomed him onto the radio team. I also filled him in on previous years and the attempt to get the new technology working. We all showed up and started getting things going. The packet radio worked as well this year as it did last and the new guy never could get the mesh network completely running. When it came time to take down our equipment, the new guy had a lot of hardware to pack up and fit in his truck. We just had a tiny little radio, laptop computer, and an antenna.
The new guy summed up his experience with using a mesh network instead of packet radio by saying, "It is a complicated solution to a problem that has already been solved." My fellow ham radio operators at our aid station couldn't agree more.
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