GigTank Impressions Day #1: 85 days until Demo Day!
We need connectivity, right? Maybe we even take it for granted, especially here, in the developed world. However when you look into the industry, things are different. Think about the manufacturing industries, things are not moving so fast there. Very often people don’t understand what possibilities can this connectivity bring for them and their business. Of course there are automation systems like Samsung and IBM that are helping large enterprises take the most of their data. However that process is old, it’s not easy to modify in real time, we need a more agile way to do it. Moreover, very often small and medium size businesses can’t afford such a platform.
This is why we developed a platform to help people optimize processes and we’re excited to be part of GigTank!
Just made it to GIGTANK!!!
Well, HUTGRIP made it to the awesome GigTank! I’m Bobi and I just arrived yesterday here in Chattanooga, TN. The place looks amazing, the Co.Lab is a very exciting and creative open space.
Well, I made it, but my bag didn’t, so I’m waiting for it now. The people are great and very welcoming. Everybody is excited about the summer long program, which starts officially on Monday.
So… wait, what is GIGTANK?
GigTank is the world’s only accelerator on a living fiber network. It’s based in the Gig City - Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is absolutely living in the future. The city’s 170,000 businesses and homes are connected to one another by a $300 million, one-gigabit fiber infrastructure. It’s the smartest and fastest grid in the Western Hemisphere.
HUTGRIP is one of the startups that got selected to participate in the program. Other than the actual startups there are many amazing specialists and mentors coming here for the Summer.
The place is great for HutGrip as we’re very much depending on the super-fast and reliable internet infrastructure. Well, the whole Internet Of Things domain heavily relies on the Internet and of course on a bunch of other stuff. There has been a lot lately on the MQTT messaging protocol. Here is a nice piece telling the story of how it came to be: “REST is for sleeping. MQTT is for mobile”. Other than this we have all these hardware components that are doing very good on Kickstarter. Hopefully they will streamline the adoption of all these new technologies and protocols. Check out for example the Arduino compatible Spark Core, they’ve made about $250 000 and they have just started their campaign. In HutGrip we’re looking more into the Software that would help people deal with all the data that is soon going to be available. The onegigabit fiber infrastructure is already setting the scene for so many new applications of these kind! Check out what’s coming next week:
If you’re around, do come and say Hi!
Wearable Tech: Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Think Wearable Tech is just about Pebble and Google Glass? This infographic by footwear retailer Brantano, breaks down this technology by body part to give you the real lay of the land.
Awesome to see InteraXon’s Muse on the list as well as the Apple Smart Shoe.
Source: http://mashable.com/2013/05/04/wearable-tech-fashion/
#Awesome!!!
Oh, the Places You’ll Go
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go..
You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!
Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You’ll be as famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don’t
Because, sometimes they won’t.
I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
‘cause you’ll play against you.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. but mostly they’re darked.
But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact.
And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? 
Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So… get on your way!
Some quotes from “Oh, the places you’ll go!” by Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss is putting my mind into words! + video
The Overview Effect
The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
This is an Agilart Scenario which says that whenever the temperature is above 26 degrees, the Digital Output will be 1(ON) otherwise it would be 0(OFF). The Digital Output in our case is a Z-Wave switch whose initial purpose is to for example to control the lightning at home.
We can use a Raspberry Pi or an OlinuXino controller to run the scenario. The temperature sensor comes for less than $2 and is easy to configure. For the Digital Output Switch we already have an Agilart Driver which will do all the work for us.
Notice the Feed widgets - Feed #1 and Feed #2, they are online data streams that can be configured to store any kind of data coming from the widgets. Here’s what you can see in a user-defined dashboard in hutgrip:
Startup Spotlight: Robotiq Makes Robot Tooling for Agile Manufacturing
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) USA, 90 percent of all manufacturing companies still don’t have a single robot at all!
Well, these robotics startups are surely going to change this.
One of the problems is that robot manipulators have evolved in a direction dictated by their biggest customers: the automotive and electronics industries. Both of these industries rely on high production volumes of standard products. So when smaller companies turn to robots for a solution to their labor shortage, there is a gap between the flexibility that they need and the current state of industrial robots.
They do need to get “smarter.” To make them suitable to the smaller shops with short runs of a high number of different products, they have to become more aware, intelligent, and dexterous.
Some Awesome Connected Products (Part 1 of many!)
You man have notices the connected products you are probably already using in your daily live. They usually go with super smart Apps: Innovation in the [app]cessory space that allows you to enhance game-play and app use with physical products.
First goes the NEST thermostat - a learning thermostat that remembers the temperatures you like, and automatically adjusts the climate in your home based on you.
Nest also has remote control through Wi-Fi and you can review your energy usage via the iPhone app.
Bikn by Treehouse labs turns your smart phone into a powerful tool and lets you track things like your keys and pets with its smart RFID tags and smart phone gadgets.They have created a platform for developing and deploying connected mobile applications and hardware management software.
Nike FuelBand revolutionizes the pedometer with a stylish wrist device that keeps track of your everyday activity via the smart phone app.
The usability, social integration and game play that Nike bring from Nike Plus make FuelBand easy to use and great for keeping track ofyour activity.
Lego has expanded into the world of mobile gaming with its game Life of George, that has you build Lego structures. George has got a challenge for you: the clock is ticking.You need to build fast to get awesome score!
With this clever system Lego have done a great job of linking real-world blocks withapp game play.
The Four Big Themes of SXSW 2013
Awesome post by Toby Gunton from The Institute of Advertising Practitioners (IPA) on the 4 big themes at SXSW this year
For me the big themes were the increasingly connected world, the data that it produces and the impact that will have on people’s lives. There’s no way to make sense of it in a single blog post but I am going to try and explain what I mean.
- Connected Devices
- Big Data
- Robots
- Need for Marketers to Understand New Technology
These all refer to the increasingly connected world.
A few years ago people talked about the semantic web, the Internet of things. Now they are talking about the Internet of everything; from your smartphone to your washing machine, from your connected thermostat to your tablet, from your car to your wearable device, be that Google Glass or any number of health related wristbands.
Increasingly these devices and software have APIs which means they can talk more easily to each other. And with RFID tags this connected world will soon extend beyond smart hardware to simple everyday objects.
Not only are the things around us increasingly connected, they are also learning more and more about us. The huge fall in costs of the smartphone technology stack along with all sorts of sensors means it’s cheap to create connected hardware that learns. A wi-fi chip costs $1, an accelerometer not much more, GPS is built into everything. Devices know who you are, where you are, what you’re doing, what you have been doing and who you’ve been doing it with.
That means all these connected devices are collecting data, huge amounts of data. They are also generating data, meta data. They are creating data from data, learning about us and recording things we may never even know or see. And we are getting better at interpreting and understanding all this data.
