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.

How Do You Pivot? Why this One GigaOm Article Matters

How do you pivot? How do you change? Do you change? Business leaders, those forecasting and driving strategy, those dubbed “change agents” inside an enterprise have an increasingly tough task. Often they are handed the reigns to steer a company in some new direction, but they battle a mine-field of internal opposition that makes the act of change, very, very difficult. A simple but effective graphic – one that was actually featured in the social media focused post The Social Media Minefield: 5 Factors Blocking Your Success - does a nice job of showcasing common roadblocks that get in the way of you getting to your desired state.

With the understanding that in a traditional enterprise it is far easier to keep things the same, we’d like to turn your focus to a very recent article from GigaOm that highlights the inevitability that is change.

For any programmer or project manager we encourage you to read the entire article here. Beyond this being an intriguing new language full of promise and purpose it remains of course unknown if Halide will get the kind of uptake needed for enterprises to take notice. But that doesn’t really matter because this is just an example of what is consistently taking place in the greater landscape of technology. Every single day, in fact every single moment of every single day, there are programmers from across the globe tinkering, refining, re-inventing and producing iterations, and sometimes all together brand new software languages. The entire industry is in a constant state of continuous innovation. Few will hit, most will miss, and some new advances will even change the world. But where should your focus be as the leader or aspiring leader of an enterprise? Should you chase these new technology languages? How would you chase them if you could?

Utilizing Your Community to Shepherd Change

Thinking about the very concepts of accessing a community might help you through these tough questions. There are at least three circumstances we have experienced at TopCoder that showcase how and why our clients were able to pivot faster to a “new” language via the TopCoder Community.

What’s New to You, is Not to Them

We have found, through practice, experimentation, failure and successes, that often the skills needed to innovate on top of a new software language or framework already exist within our community. When this is the case – and most often it is – the focus completely shifts from “chasing” the talent needed for success and instead keys-in on shaping a highly defined challenge or problem in such a way that effectively communicates how the new language will be utilized. In short, the talent in that specific language already exists, it was only a matter of drawing it out properly.

Ramping-Up the True New, Faster

Surely, there are times when a “brand new” language is being introduced to our community and we recognize that the specialized talent to create value from a certain language might not yet exist. It’s “too new” or for whatever reason, the very vast majority of the members have not experienced the tech as of yet. But even then, it’s a matter of transferring what is the potential value of the community,and shepherding it to a kinetic state of value creation. In short, we have a processes of introducing newer languages to our members and taking certain actions to help ensure quality coders join the competitions focused on this language. In the past we have even set-up competitions that are specifically labeled as training competitions. We alert the community to the fact that a pipeline of work in a certain language is coming, and as a first step, we set up competitions that allow the individuals within, to hone their skills.

Not New, Just Out of Bandwidth

A recent block of TopCoder competitions for a particular client focused on the Sencha Touch 2 mobile framework. Calling Sencha Touch “brand new” would be inaccurate. It is certainly newer, but it is not freshly released like the aforementioned MIT visible web language, Halide. But for our client, the challenge was very real. They had worked with the Sencha framework in the past and wanted to create new applications based on it. However, even though this company is in the Fortune 100, internally, they had only one individual with solid Sencha experience. In other words, their bandwidth to create value in this framework was severely limited. Via TopCoder competitions, they got the right talent to their challenges which resulted in innovative Sencha Touch 2 solutions. The client had no need to source and train individuals or take on consultants. Instead, via the TopCoder Platform, they launched a series of competitions and the process saved them time and money, while delivering outstanding outputs.

The GigaOm article which triggered this post matters. How you as an enterprise pivot matters! That GigaOm story is not uncommon. In fact, it is the norm in technology and software. When considering Open Innovation and the utilization of a community, think of the flexibility this approach can provide your enterprise. Whether you’d like to experiment with a new framework or simply need to address a traditional bandwidth concern in a specific language, development via community can at least be part of your solution.

The Grand Disruption by Technology and Why We Can Be Optimistic About our Future

The Grand Disruption by Technology and Why We Can Be Optimistic About our Future

Ever watch Star Wars? Especially the “newer” of the three – Episodes I, II, & III – and have you ever thought what are all the “people” (Wookies, Humans, whatever those Trade Federation beings were) actually doing? Droids are playing doctor, bringing Luke and Leah into the world, a Droid waitress offers Obi-Wan a cup of Jawa Juice at Dex’s Diner, we even see Droids building other Droids! So, besides selling Death Sticks at the local Coruscant club, and playing politics inside the Galactic Senate, what were all the people doing? What was their labor force doing in this world where Droids did a great deal of the actual work!? Now, have you ever thought about our future’s? What will we do as droids and algorithms take on a greater and greater percentage of traditional work?

Thankfully, there are some really smart people out there already thinking about the challenges facing us humans as we “Race Against the Machine” and the great part? – there is legitimate reason to be incredibly optimistic with regards to what this world has in store for all of us. One of those smart people is Andrew McAfee – a Principal Research Scientist at MIT’s Center for Digital Business and co-author of the previously linked book – and he recently delivered this inspiring TEDx Talk on the subject at hand.

We’d like to personally thank Andrew for not only delivering a well crafted message, but for including the TopCoder Community in his presentation.

Change is most certainly upon us, and we recognize that change of course brings new challenges. But as Andrew showcased in the above video, it’s that very change that causes shifts and may cause some to worry, that also shepherds amazing leaps in mankind that are felt the world over.

Zeo: Big Data, Inception Style Dreaming and the Sleep of Your Future

Zeo: Big Data, Inception Style Dreaming and the Sleep of Your Future

Big Data Catches Some Z’s

Part of the make up of Big Data is the fact that individual human beings are now measuring and tracking their own personal data like never before. To track this data, they are plugged into or utilizing some newer device that is typically accompanied by a mobile application or web interface (or both). This entire movement, tracking one’s personalized performance metrics is dubbed the quantified self. Unfamiliar with the term? Watch this TopCoder Innovation Series video and read this post defining the 5 pillars that comprise the quantified self.

Big Data is a huge part of the quantified self movement in 2 unique ways. It is both an element of the quantified self user experience and the data it helps generate is also an output. First, data that tens of thousands, and eventually millions upon millions of individuals are generating via some quantified self device, is being fed back into platforms and algorithms that help reshape the user experience for that next individual. Then when that “next individual” begins to digitally measure some aspect of their being, they themselves add to this massively multiplying set of data and the cycle continues.

One extraordinarily interesting  and exciting metric – or rather series of metrics surrounding one central topic – is that of tracking your sleep performance, or put more simply, how well you actually sleep and understanding the factors that help you achieve better and better sleep. Zeo is both a leading device and data platform in what is an already competitive space. TopCoder was invited up to Zeo HQ in Newtonville MA (about 15 minutes West of Cambridge) and we sat down with two leaders from team Zeo, co-founder Ben Rubin, and the president and CEO of Zeo, David Dickinson.

The below video goes well beyond what you might expect. Sure, you’ll get a better understanding of the device and mobile app, but you’ll also find out how various individuals are using this newly available data to self improve, how Zeo’s stance on open data and their open API has led to some amazing hacks, including a real-life Inception style connectivity between two lucid dreamers, and even how  a surprising demographic – elite athletes – have embraced the Zeo platform to help speed recovery during training.