Google learns its Democratic political ties have bounds

After embracing President Obama, Google now finds itself facing off against the president's pick to run the Federal Trade Commission. The irony: a Republican FTC wouldn't have Google in its cross hairs.

by Mayank mishra

(Credit: Google )

Google co-founders Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page, shown here plugging in an electric car, and executive chairman Eric Schmidt have aligned themselves with President Obama. Now Obama's nominee is threatening an antitrust lawsuit.

(Credit: Google )

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Few Silicon Valley companies have ever embraced a political party as passionately as Google has. Its executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has been described as a "kind of guru" to President Obama's campaign manager, and Google employees emerged as the No. 2 donor to the Democratic National Committee in the last election.

That love affair has now become a bit one-sided. Obama's pick to run the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, a Democrat and former aide to Democratic senators, has been carefully preparing a legal assault on the search company.

Leibowitz took the unusual step of announcing a formal investigation into Google's "search and search advertising" practices last month, predicting it would conclude by the end of 2012 -- weeks before his term would end if Mitt Romney happens to be elected. One report says Leibowitz, the Motion Picture Association of America's former lobbyist, wants "the glory" of being the regulator who takes on Google.

The irony of this unrequited affection is that Google's employees and executives, including co-founder Sergey Brin, who donated $30,800 to the Democratic Party last year, likely would not be targeted if a Republican were inhabiting the White House.

"Republicans wouldn't think about bringing a case against Google," says Robert Lande, a professor at the University of Baltimore who specializes in antitrust law. Presidential party affiliation "matters a lot" in deciding whether to penalize companies like Google, Intel, and Microsoft, he says.

Romney has signaled that he's far more willing to let competitors fight it out in the marketplace. Former judge Robert Bork, a critic of aggressive antitrust actions and chairman of Romney's Justice Advisory Committee, has said there are "serious factual, logical, and economic flaws" in an antitrust case against Google. Charlie Black, another Romney adviser, recently slammed the FTC's "phony" investigation of the search company.

Obama, by comparison, is an unabashed antitrust enthusiast: in 2008 he accused (PDF)President George W. Bush of having the "weakest record of antitrust enforcement of any administration in the last half century." The first action Obama's Justice Department antitrust chief, Christine Varney, took when starting her new job was to blame Bush for placing "too many hurdles" in the way of enforcement, and reverse (PDF) her Republican predecessor's policies. The New York Times described it as "Obama Takes Tougher Antitrust Line."

President Obama's pick to run the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, is now targeting Google.

Google's affection for Democrats, especially the president, is long-standing. Schmidt stumped for Obama and joined other company executives in chipping in for the inaugural celebration. Employees and the company's political action committee gave $1.6 million to Democrats in the last presidential election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, but only $300,000 to GOP candidates. In 2008, Google's climate director, Dan Reicher, exhorted an audience at the Democratic National Convention to "get out the vote and let's get Barack Obama elected in November!"

Visit Google's constellation of buildings in Mountain View, and one of the first things you'll notice is a line of plug-in electric cars tethered to charging stations granted priority parking privileges, not far from the handicapped and expectant mothers' spots. Combine that with the company's sharply Democratic tilt, the fundraisers executives including Susan Wojcicki and Marissa Mayer, now at Yahoo, have hosted for the president, and all that seems to be missing are "Hope" and "Change" signs dotting the campus.

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the free-market Cato Institute, says that political enthusiasm hasn't translated into anything tangible for the company. "The love shown to Democrats by Google has not resulted in any material policy benefits," Harper says.

The FTC declined to comment. A Google spokesman told CNET: "We continue to work cooperatively with the Federal Trade Commission and are happy to answer any questions they may have."

A repeat of Microsoft?

Just as Google placed its headquarters in the bright blue enclave of Silicon Valley, Microsoft located its just outside the bright blue enclave of Seattle. In the 1990s, its employees and executives regularly gave more to Democrats than Republicans, in some elections by as much as a three-to-one margin.

But a funny thing happened after a Democratic administration slapped Microsoft with a massive antitrust lawsuit in 1998 and demanded that the company be carved into pieces: the patternabruptly switched. Not only did the GOP receive more money in 1998, 2000, and 2002, but conservative groups discovered a new cause. Americans for Tax Reform fired off a press release titled "Taxpayers Protest the Antitrust Vendetta Against Microsoft," and the Heritage Foundation dubbed it the "financial equivalent" of "state terrorism."

It wasn't until 2004, after the Bush administration settled the case and a federal judge approvedthe deal, that Microsoft employees eventually reverted to their previous political habits.

Albert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, says that there are few differences between presidential administrations when it comes to obvious antitrust violations such as cartels. But there are significant differences, he says, when deciding whether to block mergers or to target companies like Google (what economists call "single-firm conduct").

If the recent comments from Romney's advisors are any indication, Foer says, Democrats "are likely to take a stronger position vis-a-vis Google than the Republicans."

One difference between Google's current travails, including a report this week of yet another FTC investigation, and what Microsoft experienced in the run-up to its own lawsuit is that Republican criticism of executive actions hasn't been as pointed.

It was a Democrat, Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, who recently wrote a letter to Leibowitz saying the idea of a lawsuit against Google "defies all logic." Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, offered more muted criticism in his own letter to Leibowitz yesterday that didn't mention Google by name, and merely suggested the FTC focus on "concrete consumer harms."

"It's really difficult to overstate the degree to which Google alienated congressional Republicans with its support for Net neutrality regulation," says Berin Szoka, president of the TechFreedomthink tank in Washington, D.C. "That issue is going to take a long time and a lot of work for Google to deal with. It's unfortunate, because it's made a lot of Republicans not really think straight and forego their usual skepticism when it comes to regulation."

Yet just as Microsoft discovered allies in the form of the GOP, there are signs that Google isdoing the same. It replaced its outgoing lobbyist, Alan Davidson, an attorney and computer scientist who once worked in the Clinton administration, with a Republican ex-congresswoman. Its PAC gives precisely the same sums to both major parties. And its chief executive, Larry Page, went from writing a check to help pay for Obama's inauguration to not giving to any candidates this time around.

On the other hand, the Bay Area remains politically Democratic, with a strong streak of cultural libertarianism, and its engineers and executives tend to be hostile to conservative views on abortion and gay marriage. Until, of course, a Democratic administration's antitrust attack becomes an existential threat.

Says Harper, who grew up a few miles from Google's headquarters: "Republicans have decided prematurely that Google is not a friendly company. They really should put Google back into the 'gettable' category."

Disclosure: McCullagh is married to a Google employee not involved in the FTC investigation.

Teach a Kid to Code and Unlock Their Future

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. There is a reason ancient proverbs are still quoted and it’s because they ring true in our modern lives. In today’s uber-connected world driven by digital asset innovation, a proverb like this deserves a 2.0 version, so here it goes: Give a kid an iPhone and he’ll play Angry Birds, teach a kid to code and he’ll create value on the iPhone. OK … we realize this isn’t quite as elegant as the ancient proverb, but you probably get the broader picture. Tomorrow’s jobs and opportunities are based in understanding how to create value in the digital realm. So we set out to teach the children… to code.

After receiving a grant from DARPA to fund a whole, new community for students ages 13-18 to encourage CS-STEM skills which we called NoNameSite.com, we leveraged the TopCoder community to build it, improve it, and run it.

Since 2011, NoNameSite.com has come a long way and gained over 3,200 members. To name a few cool features:

-       9 Games; Including one where you’re programming ants to perform missions by using waterbear coding blocks.

-       A Level editor to give our members the control to build new levels for our games.

-       Last but not least, we introduced Zeepl; the NoNameSite.com avatar creator with options to design your own avatar gear.

Learning through games is not a new theory, in fact it’s being used in schools across the country.  It is a great way to get the attention of the students in a roundabout way.  But are the games on NoNameSite.com enough to interest students of all backgrounds and intelligence into pursing CS-STEM careers once they reach the collegiate level?  Is there still that perception of programmers and coders?  Technology and programming is for geeks?  There shouldn’t be…

In this day and age, technology is everywhere.  From phones to televisions to tablets, etc.  Twenty years ago in school we were forced to take a second language to learn – which was appropriate and necessary.  Nowadays all students should be taught to code.  It is part of the now and their future.

If you search the web for coding schools, you’ll get loads of hits; Codecademy, Khan Academy, etc.  They are excellent at what they do and a huge advantage for our society.  I’m jealous I didn’t have these opportunities when I was growing up.  But even now, being a non-technical person and trying to learn to code with what’s available is frustrating; it’s not as easy as it seems.

So we built our own School of Code or SoCo.  It started out as an idea or a quest for me to find a way to become more technically savvy.  I gave the specs to our NoNameSite.com copilots; basically telling them this School has to be easy to use, quick to learn, and provide instant gratification; our target audience being 13-18 year olds.  So our NoNameSite.com members can be texting their friends and even watching television as they participate in lessons.

SoCo was born and it’s ready.  As an intuitive learning platform that makes a game out of learning to code through interactive lessons, scores, badges, and community recognition, it provides that instant gratification that students want. Students with no programming experience are motivated to complete lessons and master programming basics. A simple, drag and drop interface makes the lesson easy to follow. Tasks and projects increase in difficulty as the students move deeper into the process of learning how to code. SoCo offers students a profile page to show personal statistics, badges, and achievements, sharing mechanisms for posting individual scores or lessons to social media and public forums for questions and community feedback.

But we’ve only just begun.  There are so many other things we are going to add to SoCo to make it even better.

 To rip off Mark Zuckerberg, “We’re 1% finished.”

We encourage any educators, parents, aunts and uncles out there to show SoCo to the kids in your family or social circles. You just may change their life and help them unlock their potential in what is an undeniably digital future. 

Big Data + Mobile + Sensors + Visualization + Gamification = Quantified Self

If you’ve yet to dive into material and begin to understand the impact of what is called the quantified self, we suggest you do. This movement is about to get huge as the sheer volume of those classifying themselves as self-quantifiers is doubling annually. As barriers to quantified self fall – via ever smaller sensors, ever smarter data and ever more passive ways to collect and analyze the data – the continuation of individuals into the greater movement accelerates. If your world is technology and you believe in the consumerization of IT, understand now that quantified self is about to jettison the niche realm and rightfully proclaim the position of next.

If you are unfamiliar with the quantified self, we recommend this previous article that defined the movement, the technologies at play and the potential impact on individuals and society. Here is a snippet from the linked article:

In its most concise form, self quantification is the tracking of daily activities through technologies, delivering back to the user some “performance” analytics. The data and metrics help the user alter a behavior in order to self-improve. The soon to be assuaged behavior can be hyper-specific, like wanting to drive your car in the most efficient manner or it can be much more broad involving myriad health conditions and goals you are attempting to reach.

On 3/21, we had the privilege of interviewing and filming three unique companies all based in and around the Cambridge, MA area. Coming later this year, the TopCoder Innovation Series (our unique video series focusing on innovation technologies and techniques) will spotlight the 3 companies –Zeo, InsideTracker and Affectiva – their role in the overall quantified self space and some of the amazing and important work they are embarking on. This hot-spot (Cambridge, MA area) of amazing technology minds is really the perfect geographic location for this movement to take hold. Think aboutthe biggest trends in technology at the moment. Terms like Big Data, mobile UI, data visualization and others are sure to come to mind. It is no coincidence that the quantified self movement is an aggregation of today’s most buzzed about technologies and at the center of quantified self is out and out value creation for individual end users. The movement represents a game-changing shift in how individuals – not multi-billion dollar corporations, but individuals – create & digest data in order to affect personal change. Again, quantified self will soon move from niche to next. Let’s examine 5 pillars of the movement and how they tie directly to quantified self value creation.

The 5 Pillars of Quantified Self

Here’s a super simple graphic that showcases the 5 pillars. Let’s start dissecting each with a look at how Big Data plays into quantified self.

Big Data – The mitochondria of the quantified self movement

“Data is the new oil” is a quote we’ve seen bandied about of late. Data is the power-source behind this movement. Individuals are already creating tremendous amounts of data, far exceeding the market’s current ability to create value from it all. What is about to change, is that individuals are about to gain the power of digesting their own data creation in incredibly compelling ways. The core of this movement is individual empowerment through understanding. Data powers that understanding and taking it one step further, advanced Big Data & machine learning algorithms are the mechanism(s) to create value from it all. The value is then delivered to an end user utilizing gamification, visualization and creative mobile UI.

On Point Read: Open Innovation Algorithm Challenges Will Power Disruptive Technologies

Sensors… Everywhere

A significant catalyst of all this neo-data creation are hyper-specific sensors showing up in everything from clothing (wearable devices) to interactive billboards. Sensors are capturing data at an incredible pace. If you think of the “Front End of Innovation” as ideation, concepts and rapid prototyping, think of sensor technologies as the front end of quantified self. The future of sensors is evident. They are getting smaller, being bundled into singular devices (you can guess which one) and are increasingly becoming ever more accurate in what it is they are set to measure.

Data Visualization – Seeing is Understanding

There is a reason people like infographics. There is a reason Pinterest and Instagram have exploded. People prefer graphics and visuals to  text, it’s the reason I created that “simple” graphic above to showcase the 5 pillars! Visualization of data is a key component to value delivery in quantified self. It allows for pattern recognition and is a primary catalyst that will assuage an end user to alter their behavior. In short, visualizing the data in a compelling manner allows individuals to understand the impact of their decisions like never before. It is incredibly important to this movement. Still not convinced? Watch this TED Talk – The Beauty of Data Visualization.

Gamification’s New Role to Play

You may have had your fill of “all things gamified” in 2011 and early 2012, but I’ve got news for you, gamification is just getting going. It’s not about useless digital flare that would make the manager of “Chotchkie’s” proud, it is evolving into real-world qualifications and measurement where a gamified approach helps to increase uptake, keep users engaged and provide a competition platform for the most dedicated users who simply enjoy pairing their numbers versus others or against their personal best. Gamification plays neatly into visualization as many of the digital assets created to visualize impact have a game element innately baked in. It is a mechanism that when done properly, has huge impacts on the end user.

Mobile – The Linchpin

This one is last on purpose and there are 2 very important ways mobile creates value in quantified self. First, the aforementioned sensor technologies are quickly moving into the mobile device. Star Trek Tricorders aren’t here yet… but, they are coming. The railroad tracks for the 3.0 are already laid, it’s in your pocket or currently in your hand, it is your mobile device. Beyond these amazing sensors, the mobile & tablet UI’s that are being created are ultimately where value is being delivered to the end user in quantified self. All things we’ve talked about; the sensors that feed the data & algorithms that power recommendations, the gamified elements beautifully visualized, it all feeds into how the end user digests the information and that is happening on the mobile & tablet device. Will this evolve further, perhaps into “Google Goggles” and the like? Of course, but for now the device to focus on is the one in your pocket.

Is Apple Iterating While Amazon is Innovating?

Tech media is once again focused mostly on the iconic Apple. Widely considered the most innovative company of the past decade, Apple recently announced and showcased the forthcoming iPhone 5. It’s sleeker, thinner, smarter, faster and as Wall Street salivates upon the news of the company’s ability to launch the new device in so many countries with such swiftness, a deeper question has begun to arise: Is Apple still innovating? A tip of the cap should go to Mashable columnist Chris Taylor whose Op-Ed last week politely asked the same question. In the story Chris points to an amazing grand entry by Sergey Brin of Google recently when he displayed Google’s Project Glass in an incredibly dramatic, stunt-heavy fashion. Clearly, Google’s new foray is innovative and represents a leap in wearable device technology that might forever change the human digital/physical experience. But innovation often happens in much smaller slices too. And we don’t mean an iterative, this screen is now slightly taller, fashion, but rather a more subtle innovation that itself does the one thing innovation does – it changes the user experience.

Late last week, Amazon moved another piece on their digital chessboard. With much less fanfare, Amazon announced that their amazingly popular eReader device – Kindle – along with their Whispersync technology that allows a reader to stop reading an e-book on one device and pick-up reading at the same page on a different device is greatly expanding its capabilities. Now, a user can be reading a book on their kindle, put that device down, strap on their running shoes and access the book through their mobile phone. Only this time, while they are jogging the book is being read to them as the e-book has been seamlessly transformed and delivered to the user in audio-book format.

It may be subtle, it may not wow Wall St. but make no mistake this is innovative. When you alter and improve a consumer experience while simultaneously delivering to that user newer interfaces that allow them to digest more of your paid content, more often… that is innovative.

Surely Apple’s iPhone 5 will sell incredibly well and no one doubts the regal-like stature iPhone has established. It is the world’s best-in-breed smartphone. Yet, from a technology and consumer experience perspective, what Amazon just released is more exciting.

Cloud Computing Job Prospects

Cloud computing is one of today's hottest IT trends, because it's all about saving money and simplifying the lives of users. In cloud computing, large pools of computer systems share an IT infrastructure, enabling products, services and solutions to be accessed and consumed in real-time over the Internet, typically via a subscription model.

The Cloud Computing Landscape

Cloud computing made it onto Gartner's Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009. The research firm has pointed out that companies are still very interested in learning more about how to consume IT services in the most cost-effective way. One of the solutions they are looking into is how to access services such as computational power, storage and business applications from the cloud instead of from equipment located onsite.

While all kinds of vendors, from Microsoft to Google to Salesforce.com, have been putting a lot of effort into explaining their own unique take on cloud computing and their strategies for moving forward with this technology, Gartner has pointed out that cloud computing is an evolving concept which will likely take several years to mature.

Is Cloud Computing Good or Bad for the IT Job Market?

Cloud computing will probably be a good thing for IT job growth overall, but there will be some growing pains. The ability to streamline and cut costs through virtualization, automation and simplification of software setup usually means IT departments can do more with less in certain areas, but it also means that funds can be freed up and can potentially be reallocated to other areas of IT where more personnel are needed.

In addition, if more companies are taking advantage of cloud computing, the vendors that provide these services and related infrastructure are going to have to grow to keep up with the demand. A quick search on a job site like Indeed.com will demonstrate that several IT vendors are interested in ramping up their cloud computing efforts, and are hiring accordingly.

But if you're a veteran systems administrator looking to make a career change, don't expect to move into a cloud computing job if you haven't been keeping your skills fresh. You're going to have a lot of competition from new university grads who will be very well-versed in the Internet and the on-demand model.

Skills Required

Some employers will want you to have exposure to or experience working with the technologies of one of the four big cloud computing companies: Amazon, Google, Microsoft or Salesforce.com, and/or experience working with virtualization technologies such as that of VMWare.

Other requirements may include:

• BA/BS degree in engineering, computer science or related field;
• network and security architecture experience;
• experience with a cloud migration, data center migration, or server consolidation project;
• Knowledge of and experience with technologies such as Java, Web services, SOAP and Ajax;
• communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills.

Silver lining Cloud computing will create two million new jobs in India by 2015

It is a chilling message for the 2.8 million strong workforce that makes up India's information technology (IT) industry. As an increasing number of enterprises adopt cloud computing, there will be a sharp slump in the demand for installation and maintenance engineers. For many in the industry, the option will be stark: reskill or perish.

SPECIAL: Infosys bets big on cloud computing 


Cloud computing, which has existed in some form or the other since 2005 but only picked up over the last three years, is a new paradigm whereby computing is delivered as a service over the Internet rather than as a product installed inside a company's premises. Many believe that firms will shortly no longer have to maintain IT assets such as servers, storage and software in-house. They will be able to rent these as and when required, sharply reducing expensive upfront investments in IT infrastructure.

Cloud enthusiasts, in fact, maintain that renting computing power will become as easy as consuming an application from the iPad - simply go to an online store, look for the applications you need, pay and use them. Great news except for those whose jobs are threatened. "The provisioning of applications was earlier being done by IT teams. There will be fewer such people required since the tenet of the cloud is automation and self service," says T. Srinivasan, Managing Director of virtualisation and cloud infrastructure firm VMware (India).

However, not all IT engineers need start worrying. "Certain categories of engineers will continue to be in demand and many more jobs could be created to offset the loss in maintenance," adds Srinivasan. The number of jobs in application development for the cloud, for instance, will increase. Engineering colleges and technical institutes such as NIIT are already training graduates and engineers who want to reskill in writing 'cloud-ready' applications. While coders use frameworks such as .net and programming languages such as Java to create applications for traditional IT, writing cloud applications will require newer frameworks such as SpringSource and Ruby on Rails.

There will be more new job avenues, which will get better defined in the coming years, as the market for the cloud matures. However, it is essential for IT engineers to be ready to adapt. "Engineering for the cloud requires a mindset change," says Rajesh Janey, President, India EMC Corp, a global IT storage firm. "It is also important to develop talent from the grassroots level rather than just reskilling existing talent."

A study by EMC and Zinnov Management Consulting estimates the total cloud market in India at $400 million: this is expected to touch $4.5 billion by 2015. It expects the private cloud market, where the infrastructure is operated for specific companies, to create 100,000 IT jobs by 2015 from 10,000 today. It also warns that companies are currently underskilled in addressing cloud computing implementations.

A new role in the cloud space is that of an 'enterprise cloud architect', an expert who understands both IT infrastructure and applications, and can design and manage application frameworks and operations. "This is different from traditional IT services where the developer only bothered about developing the application and the infrastructure engineer only worried about maintaining the IT assets," says Kalyan Kumar, a senior executive from HCL Technologies' Infrastructure Services division. "In the new role, these two domains are coming together."

Besides technical jobs, marketing and selling of cloud-based solutions will also be required, which in turn will create a host of new positions. Cloud computing is also giving rise to a new generation of software product companies, which can now sell their products on an on-demand basis over the Internet. Sports analytics firm Sportingmindz, for instance, started in Bangalore in 2006 offers its products on a cloud platform. Idhasoft, an Indian company started in 2006 with operations in the US, has a cloud application that provides a management system for mediumsized hospitals globally.

"Previously, software product firms in India needed enormous amounts of money to sell abroad," says Ramkumar Pichai, General Manager, Customer and Partner Experience, Microsoft India. "They would need to send people abroad and set up offices. With cloud, you will see many more product companies coming up in India."

It is early days yet, but IT engineers who can write cloud-ready applications, provision and maintain the infrastructure at the back-end, appear to have an edge over their peers. VMware-certified engineers - the company conducts a course to enhance technical skills for cloud technologies - enjoy a premium of seven to 10 per cent in the market. "This is true of any innovation cycle," says EMC's Janey. "The early adopters they throw up tend to be valued."

The cloud's impact on other parts of the economy will also be significant. According to a paper by research firm IDC, jobs will be created across functional areas such as marketing, sales, finance and administration, production and service. More than 50 per cent will be in small and medium businesses, two million plus each in communications and media, and manufacturing, and over 1.4 million in banking. Of the 13.8 million jobs created globally by 2015 because of cloud computing, two million will be in India.

Since companies save capex by using the cloud, the money can be ploughed back into their core business. "The rationale for job growth is that IT innovation allows for business innovation which leads to business revenues. This leads to job creation," says the IDC study. Great news at a time of economic uncertainty.

Augmented Reality Goes Niche, 3D Printing Gets Real and the Future of Creation Gets Granular

“Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” For any Trekkie fan, these simple words have become iconic in their own special way. We know the moment Picard finished this demand, the Replicator – the upgraded version of the 23rd Century Food Synthesizer seen on the original Star Trek – would create, out of “thin air” a streamlined, handle-less cup of steaming Earl Grey tea. We have all fantasized over such a machine and recent advances in neo-manufacturing are bringing us closer to the day when we too can bark an order at a machine and be delivered 2 dozen chicken wings, half hot, half teriyaki with blue cheese dressing and a cold beer… or, whatever it is you might enjoy. Joking aside, this movement revolving around on-demand “product” isn’t really about food & beverage at all, at least not yet.

Augmented Reality is Growing Up!

We were waiting, and waiting… and yes waiting for these moments. When AR (Augmented Reality) would show true value in the marketplace and move beyond some cute digital animation against a physical Starbucks cup and into something of very real value. In the last several weeks alone, a few fantastic examples of where Augmented Reality is really heading have shown up and the good news is, AR has finally gone niche.

As an extreme example, this recent Technology Review article (published by MIT) showcases an Augmented Reality helmet designed for, ready for this, welding. And not just any kind of welding, but rather Tungsten gas welding that causes significant challenges to preciseness due to the amazingly bright brights, and incredibly dark, darks created during the welding process with this specific element. Pretty remarkable and amazingly niche.

In a slightly less super-niche way but certainly more commercially mainstream, NConnex, through a nifty augmented reality iPad application, allows you to visualize how a new piece of furniture will exactly fit into your actual living room. Here is a neat video showcasing the technology and the unique way they are also utilizing Microsoft’s Kinect platform to easily generate a 3D model of any piece of furniture.

 Fast forward to around the 3 minute mark to see the application in action.

Both examples show us that Augmented Reality is finally going niche, and often in technology, it’s in the niche where value is born.

3D Printing Gets Real and Does Good

3D Printing, also known as Additive Manufacturing, is a very exciting frontier. Much like Augmented Reality, the possibilities of 3D Printing are really starting to shine as creative ways to use this on-demand manufacturing process are beginning to impact human lives in very big ways. It’s important to note, we’re not downplaying the creative aspects of creating a Yoda head out of thin air, (Fun, that is), as those are the types of projects that gain wide appeal and bring the technology to the masses. But when compared to the below video and how 3D Printing has literally changed this little girl’s life, well, it becomes obvious where new value creation can come from in the arena of 3D Printing technologies.

Programmable Sand: The Future of On-Demand Creation?

Imagine a fresh new crack showing up in the foundation of something important, such as a bridge. Now imagine a “magic” material that is sprayed on the crack that is comprised of what are essentially tiny robots that can communicate with one another and collectively, take the shape of the newly formed crack, filling the space, remedying what would otherwise be a potential danger. Is this very far off? Perhaps, but it’s the experimentation of this type of on-demand creation that is already underway that should get you excited.

MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has been working on this wonder material they dub programmable sand, which is comprised of small ‘robot pebbles’ that have the ability to communicate with another in order to effectively take any shape. The challenge is of course the size of these mini-computer pebbles and just how granular scientists will be able to make them in order to attain ever increasingly accurate copies of the object they are attempting to replicate. Think of it this way: Currently, the replicas they are able to create look like something out of Atari 2600, perhaps as “smooth” as NES 8-Bit. Where do the scientists envision this going? Well, it would look a whole lot more like… 

Whether Augmented Reality, 3D Printing or these remarkable programmable pebbles, the future of on-demand creation and manufacturing is quite bright. And even though all three either blend the digital/physical realm, or exist solely in the physical world, it’s important to realize it will be the software and algorithms on the digital side of the equation that will ultimately bring all of this value creation to life.