Innovation & Tech Today - Fall 2015

“The absolute most serious problem humankind faces is climate change.”

Bill Nye pulls no punches p90

PREMIERE!

SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

Inside the

X-Files

Revival with Creator Chris Carter FALL 2015

Display until Dec. 5, 2015

HOME AUTOMATION & ENTERTAINMENT SPECTACULAR 20+ Thought Leaders

Internet of Things Update Tony Hawk Angela Bassett Ron Perlman Camilla Luddington Jon DeVore

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

What a year it’s been for technology, in all its forms and uses.

No matter which way we turn, we find a new application or advance — and as soon as (or before) we learn it, something else comes along. How do we keep up? How do we keep applying and incorporating these great tools into our lives?

Into our homes?

That is a perfect place to begin as we bring you the Fall issue of Innovation & Tech Today.

This is our third annual Home Automation special edition, which leads into the 25th annual CEDIA EXPO to be held Oct. 14-17 in Dallas.

Home Automation and the Internet of Things have gone from being nice futuristic ideas to the center of our lives. Think about your average day; the remotes you push, the music and video you stream, the lights and air you monitor, the garage door you open and

close, or the sprinklers or security systems you set. Are they all connected?

Better yet, are you controlling any or all of these with an app? If so, you’re definitely part of the biggest technological piece of the global economy — and we present latest news, products and perspectives from the brightest minds in the business.

From there, we continue with what I feel is our most diversified publication yet, including more than 20 top-flight interviews.

Gaming and entertainment are huge parts of home automation, and gaming can be considered one of the world’s largest participatory activities. So, we uncorked the genie in a big way, thanks to large part to our gaming/ entertainment editor John Gaudiosi. The result? One of the best gaming sections of any tech magazine. We open with John Faulkner’s exclusive interview with The X-Files mastermind Chris Carter, skateboard legend/ gaming mogul Tony Hawk, and the gaming (as in, in the game) experiences of star actors Angela Bassett and Ron Perlman. If that’s not enough, check out Liam Kivirist’s mano y mano comparison of the top audio streaming services.

We also celebrate the launch of our newest section, Sustainability Today. I&T Today Founding editor Robert Yehling and I are very passionate about this subject, and we have spent the past year preparing for this moment. We kick off with a clear look into our urban future, Smart Cities, and then our coverage of the Sustainable Brands ’15 San Diego conference. We’re very happy to be joined by our newest partner, the Sustainable Brands community, which will work hand-in-hand with Bob and I to develop a section that serves readers, partners, and the growth of sustainable business practices.

Speaking of sections, ever hear of Bill Nye the Science Guy? Better question: Who hasn’t? Bill kicks off our Back-to-School STEM section, in association with the USA Science and Engineering Festival, with his trademark insights, opinions, revealing comments, and visions for the future in a wonderful interview he conducted with us. Right behind that is another frank conversation about education and technology, this from bestselling science fiction author David Brin.

There is so much more, from our adventure tech section to the terrible problem of patent trolling, from wonderful new work in brain rehabilitation to the continued integration of wearables in our life. It is our pleasure to bring it to you, and as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Charles Warner, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Lead, follow, or * get the ?#!@ out of the WAY!!

速

*Heck

WWW.RIVAAUDIO.COM

Talk to your home Set Thermostat To 72 Degrees

Voice Activated

Close Garage Door

Play My Voicemail Call Tim At Work

Turn On The Front Sprinklers

Home

Media

Security

Climate

Lights

Irrigation

Messaging

Pool & Spa

Video

Energy

Doors

Home Theater Voice Control

Shut Off All House Lights

Imagine the possibility of monitoring

and controlling all the various devices in your home by using the sound of your voice, the web or a host of other interfaces. With Home Automated Living’s HALŽ system, you can!

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HAL allows you to use any web browser to log on to your home and control lights, appliances, audio, video, security, shades, blinds, doors, pools, sprinklers, thermostats and more all from one app.

You can even do it by VOICE! Ask HAL to tell you the latest stock quotes, weather reports, sports scores, news or TV listings. On the way home?

Just pick up your phone and call HAL to raise the thermostat, turn on the lights, close the curtains or recite your shopping list.

There are a number of ways you can speak to HAL. Best of all, HAL is not a cloud based solution so everything takes place locally in your home.

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PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN- CHIEF Charles Warner cwarner@goipw.com

Published by INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES WORLDWIDE, INC 3400 E. Bayaud Ave., #333, Denver, CO 80209 www.innotechtoday.com (720) 708-4250 info@innotechtoday.com

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Rachel Horn/CEA; Whitney Prantz/Planetary Society; Carly O’Brien/USA Science & Engineering Festival; Laurie Cantillo/NASA; Panasonic Pressroom; Alyssa Hershfield/ Cohn & Wolfe; Whitney Gonzales and Nicole Swickle/Red Bull North America

This publication is dedicated to the dreamers, the innovators, the collaborators and the doers who can’t be bothered by those saying it can’t be done.

Nicholas and Aria, the future is yours!

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Robert Yehling ryehling@wordjourneys.com EDITOR Melissa Hirsch melissa@goipw.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shane P. Brisson

shane@goipw.com

VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS Kelsey Elgie Domier kelsey@goipw.com

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Luke Leary

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SALES & MARKETING COORDINATOR

GAMING EDITOR

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EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Charlie Hernandez

Laura Jordan Danielle Webster John Gaudiosi Jake Faulstich Michael Coates

SENIOR WRITERS

Lee Bell Kelsey Elgie Domier John Faulkner Peter Gietl Lisa Lunney Michael Mascioni Trish Schieffelin

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Marc Daniels Austin Escher Johanna Chapman Liam Kivirist Timothy Sprinkle Aaron Whitfield

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Publication Printers Corp

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Safety & Security Safety

Structural Integrity Vibrations are monitored in buildings and bridges

Motion-based street lighting increases safety while reducing energy consumption.

Noise, motion and crowd detection lead to safer neighborhoods

Item Location

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Efficiency is increased by tracking items in warehouses, buildings or streets for asset control. Plus, stolen property can be tracked for recovery

Nuclear, chemical and biological monitoring help prevent emergencies – leading to public health and well-being

Environmental Sensing Weather

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Electromagnetic Emissions Power lines, cellular and other emitters monitored for regulatory compliance

Air & Water Quality Pollution can be measured remotely and can trigger notifications as needed

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contents

fall 2015

COVER STORIES:

DEPARTMENTS

68BILL NYE:

The Everything Guy

2 From the Publisher 12 By the Numbers 14 Quick Bytes 26 Home Automation 28 Security 30 Education 32 Women in Tech 34 Wearables 36 Social Media 38 Young Tech 40 Innovation 42 Connected Car 154 Product Revolution 157 Gift Guide 159 The Lighter Side 160 In Our Next Issue

14 28 154

46 MEDICAL TECH 48 Med Tech Innovations at

72X-FILES REVIVAL

Cerebrum Health Centers

with Chris Carter

50

Prompts: The Latest News

52 I&T TODAY FOCUS: HOME AUTOMATION 60 IoT 64 Restaurant Tech 66 Prompts

111 BREAKING BOUNDARIES

in Human Flight & Freefall

72 BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW: SUSTAINABILITY TODAY!

78

64

70 L.A. AUTO SHOW PREVIEW The 2016 Cadillac ATS-V Sedan was unveiled during its global debut at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. The ATS-V's 455 hp, twin-turbocharged V6, can go from zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds. It is the fastest production Cadillac ever. What does this year’s show have in store?

(Cadillac News Photo)

82 78 82 86 88

Smart Cities Sustainable Brands Coverage Columbia Island Talking Story, Effectively Rob Zimmerman of Kohler discusses sharing sustainability success

8

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Relax RELAX

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contents

fall 2015

90 I&T TODAY FOCUS: STEM

100

100 How to STEM-ify Your School

Interview with Principal Maria Vera-Drucker

102

REAL Diversity in STEM: Artists, Cheerleaders, and More!

104 106 108

Nifty Fifty (times 4): STEM Pros in the Classroom Interview: Author/Futurist David Brin

104

STEM Summer Camps

106

110 OUTDOOR & ADVENTURE TECH Presented By AspectSolar 118 The Gear Guide

120 122

NEW: Fall Travel Guide EVENT: The Outdoor Retailer Show

118

120

124 I&T TODAY TECH ZONE FOCUS: NORTH CAROLINA RESEARCH TRIANGLE 125 North Carolina’s Research Triangle

by Timothy Sprinkle, author of Screw the Valley

127 By The Numbers: Tarheel Style 128 Interview with Jim Morgan of FUJIFILM 124

132 GAMING & ENTERTAINMENT EXPLOSION!

136 Catching Air with Pro Skater 5: Tony Hawk 138 Camilla Luddington is Lara Croft 140 Interview: Angela Bassett 142 The Walking Dead VR 144 Music Streaming Showdown!

146

By Liam Kivirist

Conversation with Ron Perlman

140

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

136

138

SAFE & SMART Clarion Intelligent Safety systems and technologies keep you and your vehicle safe and secure at all times. From simple back-up cameras to advanced blind spot detection technologies and sophisticated automatic parking systems, Clarion’s unique industry know-how improves the overall driving experience and proactively assists drivers to stay away from unexpected perils on the road.

Learn more clarion.com/us

e NUMB RS

by the

A look at the metrics shaping the technology market — and our lives Average Number of Battery-Operated Devices in more than 78 Million Homes:

U.S. Households with at least 1 Smart Home Device:

28

16

%

22

%

of the smart home devices purchased in the first three quarters of 2014 were smart security cameras.

smart home familiarity

U.s. Unit Sales

80

40

70

35

60

30

50

25

40

20

30

15

20

10

10

5

0

0

Sales of Smart Home Devices from 2012 to 2013 Almost Doubled

>500,000,000

Number of smart home monitoring devices that will be deployed in homes globally by 2018

Smart Home Revenues by 2018:

$71 Billion

SOURCES: ABI Research, Parks Associates, Juniper Research

*Smart home devices included: thermostats, networked cameras,door locks, waterleak, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as well as light bulbs, switches, plugs, outlets and power strips.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Companies With Highest Rates of UnAided Awareness as Smart Home Service Providers: % of people who Identified Apple as a Smart Home Service Provider Unaided:

5 3

% of people who Identified Nest as a Smart Home Service Provider Unaided:

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COMPILED BY I&T TODAY STAFF

Google’s Battle for Micro-Moments You may have noticed Google added a new feature for mobile devices making it easier to buy things. You know how sometimes when you Google something, a sub category of search results called “Shop on Google” will show up? Well, according to Google, 1 in 5 people swipe through the options, indicating a possible desire to buy. As of August 2015, it’s much easier to do so. A swipe automatically provides more information and a custom buying page.

On the one hand, this technology empowers the consumer: we get more information now. But on the other hand, is the encouragement of impulsivity limiting our freedom to make thoughtful, well-informed choices?

The innovation aims to gain footing in the battle for what Google calls “micro-moments” – those fractions of a second between the time we’re researching the best running shoe and the decision to buy one.

NASA’s recently released images of Pluto revealed a big surprise: water in the form of ice.

Pluto FTW

Have you ever broken up with someone only to later realize they were much cooler than you thought?

That’s basically what’s going on with Pluto. To the dismay of everyone who dutifully learned the pneumonic device My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Ninety-Nine Pizzas in elementary school, the “P” in Pizza, Pluto, was downgraded to a dwarf planet, and the official number of planets in our solar system decreased from nine to eight.

But in mid-July, NASA released images of Pluto that revealed its secret awesomeness. Mountains that would “stand up respectably against the Rocky Mountains,” according to John Spencer, planetary scientist on the New

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Horizons mission, appear to be made of ice – water ice.

Although it was previously hypothesized that Pluto was covered in ice, it was believed to be the non-life-sustaining kind of ice.

A few other shocking revelations about our ex-planet resulted from the images which were obtained via a probe that traveled over 3.6 billion miles since Jan 19, 2006.

Has Pluto been holding out on us? Or did it get cooler after the breakup? “This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” said Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team leader Jeff Moore of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The surface may still be active today.

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Turing Test Passed?

Human-like Robot, Pepper, Exhibits Fear, Happiness, and Provides Comfort.

Alan Turing, famous for a number of impressive feats including being one of the first computer scientists (note: he was born in 1912), developed what’s now called the Turing Test, which is a proposed standard for calling a machine ‘intelligent.’ The idea is this: if a person could have a conversation with a machine and mistake it for a person (based on its use of language), it’s intelligent.

Based on a report by journalist Yuri Kageyama, it seems Pepper may pass the Turing Test. You might call Pepper a real life Baymax. According to Kageyama, Pepper commented he looked a little thin and should watch what he eats before asking how his day was. “What’s striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you — frankly a lot better than some real-life people,” Kageyama says.

Pepper will appear surprised and fearful if all the lights suddenly go out. If you pet him and give him some love, it’ll exclaim, “I am going to cry for joy!” Pepper dances, plays games, and can be programmed by anyone. Extremely patient, capable of small talk, and continually ‘learning’ (Pepper’s conversational repertoire is constantly being updated via Wi-Fi), Pepper is potentially the ideal companion for children, seniors, and fans of the cute. Currently only available in Japan at a cost of about $10,000 (including maintenance and insurance), you’d better be a pretty big fan of cuteness to invest at this point.

BACK UP VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN THE FIELD –

WITHOUT A LAPTOP

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

If you’re out all day shooting Drone footage or taking shots while travelling, you may not have access to your laptop, but still want to back up your shots. Tech that’ll store your images in this situation is nothing new. But what is new is the ability to instantly see the photos on your phone, so you can relax while reformatting your card.

Additionally, you can cull and edit full-res images (if that’s your thing) from the accompanying app while you wait for your plane.

The product, GNARBOX, slammed its Kickstarter targets in just a few days. They’ll retail for $249 when they (hopefully) hit shelves in March 2016.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW US. Innovative engineering of medical imaging products is in Fujifilm’s DNA. In 1936, just two years after the company was founded, Fujfilm introduced x-ray film. Then in 1981, at the dawn of the digital age, Fujifilm invented the digital x-ray.

Less than two decades later Fujifilm was the first recognized healthcare technology company to offer its web based Synapse® PACS, giving clinicians access to diagnostic images anytime, anywhere.

The innovation continues with Fujifilm’s expanding healthcare IT portfolio that is physician tested, patient focused and IT approved. Each Synapse offering presents unique advantages for every aspect of healthcare enterprises. But put our products together – and that’s when we really deliver. All Synapse products easily integrate with each other and offer a way to capture, store, manage and view diagnostic images and patient data. The way we bring everything together is what sets us apart.

AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE JUST THE WORLD’S LARGEST FILM AND IMAGING COMPANY. fujifilmusa.com/medicalimaging

FUJIFILM, Value From Innovation, ASPIRE HD and SONOSITE are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation and its affiliates. © 2015 FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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Smart Chairs’ Focus on Community Outreach Digital Bus Tour Millenials grew up watching pop culture on MTV, saw the widespread distribution of webcams and reality TV, and now live in a world where Skype, FaceTime, and Snapchat are all normal. Finally, we’ve innovated the interview to reflect this multi-year digital transformation.

Josh Weidling created the Digital Tour Bus: a blog, news content, and video site. With a fan base of over 45,000 on YouTube and over 120,000 on Twitter, Digital Tour Bus mixes Skype and blog to take fans face-to-digital-face with touring musicians. The interviews are comedic, unusual, sarcastic, and most of all, real. Influenced by shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and South Park, Weidling came up with the idea in college, and it has been growing ever since. The site is best known for a video series, Bus Invaders, but with others including Cooking at 65 mph, Tour Pranks, and Tour Tips, you can see it’s not your normal sit-down interview. Digital Tour Bus combines knowledge with presence, connects fans to artists, and does it in an original way that we haven’t seen before. Check it out sometime and try to watch just one. www.digitaltourbus.com

Next Level Selfies

Selfies are regarded by some as the downfall of our future, by others as fun (but only ironically), and others as their passion. Nearly everyone has an opinion. Even Disney recently banned selfie sticks. Regardless of your opinion, the evolution of the selfie seems inevitable.

At CES in 2015, Nikon brought the selfie to the next level by taking over 50 simultaneous images of participants to create a rotating ‘3D’ selfie.

Now, Doob will actually 3D print your selfie! Users visit a store to be photographed, then the 3D printers get to work. The printing process takes about 24 hours.

After some post processing, you show up at your front door.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

In our last issue of I&T Today, we shared the story of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Marc Fucarile, who credited the KD Smart Chair with giving him the quality of life he enjoys while continuing to recover from his devastating injuries.

It turns out KD Smart Chairs has wheeled into a very strong place in the community by creating a chair worthy of the acclaim. Most recently, they gave away a chair at the Ms. Wheelchair America 2016, a raffle won by Miss Tennessee.

“We believe community outreach plays an important role for the brand,” said Gene Kursky, Marketing Director. “This proves awareness and reaches potential customers who can learn more about our chairs.

We have also attended Ability Expo shows in California and New York City by having a booth, which gives an opportunity for individuals to try out our chairs.”

What they’re trying out continues to redefine the efficiency of wheelchair mobility. The KD Smart Chair packs its long-lasting lithium ion batteries, stalwart frame and countless adjustment and usage features into a very light, 50-pound chair. The company also is building lifestyle-oriented accessories for the chair, including a new luggage bag into which the chair fits for traveling.

The point, Kursky says, is to change the mentality of wheelchairs from carriers of handicapped people to transportation vehicles for active lifestylists who happen to be without the use of their legs — as recent innovations show.

“Users may also have the ability to plugin in their chairs using their tablets, phones or laptops to control their chairs, get maintenance alerts and other vital information about their chairs to make them run smoothly and safely. Another innovation in the wheelchair industry that I think will make noise is the ability to climb stairways,” Kursky said.

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The Ashley Madison Fallout As if from an episode of Mr. Robot, the Ashley Madison hakers, known as the Impact Team, laid down an ultimatum in August: shut down the immoral site for married people seeking affairs, or users’ identities would be leaked. Since the hackers followed through on their threat, divorce lawyers have been busy, Josh Duggar was outted as a user in his second scandal in recent history, and Ashley Madison’s parent company has offered a $500,000 reward for information about the vigilante hackers. Tragically, two people have committed suicide, allegedly because of their identities being released.

The hack and resulting media coverage has sparked internet debate, specifically about the causal relationship between the

hack and resulting events. While some outlets are reporting the suicides, for example, have tragically occurred because of the hack, others argue that the infidelity and inability or unwillingness to deal with the consequences of that infidelity lead to these awful consequences.

The clearly complex issue centers around how enthusiastic we are to protect the right to privacy of those cheating on their spouses. “This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality,” Avid Life Media said in a recent press release.

The Impact Team has employee emails, user messages and photos, and other data that may be leaked in the future.

There were an estimated 39 million users on the site at the time of the hack.

Corrections Spring 2015: p48: Photo caption iLumi’s investor on Shark Tank was Mark Cuban, not Daymond John. p129: Catrike review Model reviewed and photographed was the Catrike 700, not the Catrike Expedition Summer 2015: p52:

Photo caption We mistakenly identified Dr. Joseph Maroon as Dr. Frank Maroon

p88: Title LiNa should have been Li Na

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Did we miss any? Are you mad at us?

Glad we found errors? Drop us a line and let us know: info@goipw.com.

Your comments just might be featured in our next issue.

Target’s PR Blessing/ Curse Target is facing some heat after announcing in August that it will no longer categorize toys and bedding per gender for children.

(Ex-)customers took to Facebook to express anger and disappointment at the new policy, decrying, among other things, the over-emphasis of political correctness in our society.

Consumers also argued for the existence of differences between boys and girls But Target is also receiving praise for the decision from others who don’t see the need to label certain bed spreads or toys as being specifically for boys or for girls. Whether or not there are differences between genders has little to do with the color of paper or signs in the toy aisle, some argue.

In an entertaining turn, a Facebook user changed his name and profile picture to appear to be a Target customer service representative, and ‘responded’ to complaints. He instigated the angry mob by claiming bathrooms were next, and encouraging those customers who claimed they’d never return to the store to not let the door hit them on the way out.

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The Top 10 Richest People in Tech

Larry Page

$33.4B

Sergey Brin

$23.8B

Bill Gates

Larry Ellison

Jeff Bezos

Mark Zuckerberg

Jack Ma

Steve Ballmer

Laurene Powell Jobs

Michael Dell

$79.6B

$23.2B

$50B

$22.7B

$47.8B

$21.4B

$41.2B

$19.4B

Source: Forbes

Netflix Says Goodbye, Hulu Says Hello… to Epix

As more people are cutting their cable and using services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Now, streaming services are becoming increasingly competitive. Which company has rights to the best movies and TV shows, and which company develops the best original content are both battle grounds for the cable cutting market. Netflix’s development of award winning shows such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and others positions it as a forerunner in the original content category. In that vein, the company recently made an announcement.

“We have decided not to renew our agreement in the U.S. with Epix, the cable network, which means that some high profile movies including Hunger Games: Catching Fire, World War Z and Transformers: Age of Extinction, will expire at the end of September in the US,” wrote Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos in a blog post. “If you want to see them on Netflix US, now is the time.”

The streaming service shifted the conversation to the quality of original content in the same blog post: “For those of you who love action thrillers, be sure to watch Narcos, our new, critically acclaimed series on the birth of the cocaine trade and the rise of Pablo Escobar and for those of you who love Keith Richards (who doesn’t?), we think you’ll enjoy the Netflix Original documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence from Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville arriving on September 18.”

Epix begins its new streaming partnership with Hulu beginning in October.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

One Billion Users on Facebook on August 24th Mark Zuckerburg announced in late August that Facebook set an unbelievable record. He wrote in a Facebook status: “We just passed an important milestone.

For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day. On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family.”

Studies have shown time and time again that social media tends to make people less happy (though this fact doesn’t stop us from using the platforms), but Zuckerburg has a different perspective: “Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world. A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more opportunities, and a stronger society that reflects all of our values.”

There are over 1.49 billion registered users on Facebook; that’s more people than live in China.

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Customization: Not Just for Home Automation You’ll see the word ‘customized’ all over our Home Automation section, but the benefits of customized solutions goes far beyond the confines of where we live. We would call customization a buzzword or trend, but at VH Skates, it’s been central to their work for 20 years.

VH Skates builds their boots around the player’s foot, carefully analyzing any inconsistencies or abnormalities through photos, measurements, and tracings. Then the real science of mapping the information to create a custom foot last begins.

“Using heat and negative pressure, we mold and essentially bond the boot to the orthotic-grade inner foam liner,” said a company spokesperson. VH Skates uses an assortment of high-grade materials (including aerospace grade carbon fiber and thermoplastic polymers) to produce a strong but light custom skate.

“The value of using so much thermoplastic with the carbon fiber weave is that when the skater receives the skate that is built in the shape their foot, they are able to really refine the fit by ‘baking’ the skates at 200 degrees for 8 minutes or so – and the thermo plastic allows them to really mold the boot directly to their foot.”

The result? Fit and comfort that blows away off-the-shelf skates.

Cannibal Frogs, NBD

Frogs eat each other, which apparently is not a surprising fact in the science community – despite the more widespread perception they only eat bugs. Scientists have been aware of frog cannibalism for some time, and there are even instances of frogs eating their own siblings on record.

What is novel is the how, when, and why of frog-on-frog snacking. Some highlights from a recent study we hope don’t make you green around the gills: • Frogs are about 40% more likely to eat other frogs when they were living in a non-native habitat compared to in their native habitat, • For every 1mm increase in body size, a frog becomes 2.8% more likely to eat other frogs, and • They’re three times more likely to eat a frog of another species vs. a frog of their own species.

UPitch? THE WORLD (MEDIA) CATCHES Imagine a publicity world without costly press releases, exorbitant monthly PR agency retainer fees, or the need to be properly connected to receive publicity. All you need is an app on your smartphone, one that many prominent journalists are already following.

The UPitch app, which releases this fall, will enable everyone from large multinational corporations to solopreneurs to kids building a killer STEM experiment or playing in a garage band to input a brief pitch into the UPitch app. That pitch, the size of an extended Tweet or condensed press release, comes complete with images, headline, and summary.

Meantime, journalists can follow, while choosing discovery filter settings and swiping through pitches and story ideas the way Millennials swipe through Tinder and Snapchat.

UPitch is streamlining the PR Process in a way that will eventually be more convenient for journalists and more cost-effective for businesses, start-ups, entrepreneurs, artists, etc. The media onboard makes it very clear what kind of power this app possesses: New York Times, NY Daily News, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune & SunTimes, Toronto Star, ABC News, FOX News, CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, E! News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Conde Nast Traveler, Family Circle, Woman's World, SheKnows, Sports Illustrated, Good Housekeeping, JET, The Advocate, USA TODAY, WIRED, CNBC, Food Network Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, StyleBistro, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Daily Telegraph, Thomson Reuters, National Geographic, Men's Health, HGTV, CNN/CNN.com, MailOnline.com, Cumulus/IHeartMedia/Clear Channel radio stations, Global News Canada, CBC Radio Canada, TheDailyBeast, and more.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

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DEPARTMENTS / Home Automation

Stepping Into the Internet of Things the one which transforms the industry.

Until that time, we as industry professionals leave the consumer wrestling with a platform decision based on the speculative statements and unfounded predictions of the person in the position of selling these systems. The connected product company is in a somewhat precarious position: an enabling technology they have little control over is central to the buying decision.

How does the consumer step into the IoT market without wasting time and money on early adoption starts and stops?

While arguably the most advanced Internet of Things industry is in home automation, make no mistake – Things means all Things, and not just home Things. The capabilities of connected devices is positively impacting agriculture, construction, education, finance, health services, manufacturing, natural resources, transportation, utilities, and all areas of research. In home automation, however, the large Do-it-Yourself home improvement and construction retailers already have their own platforms to cover a host of home-based connected devices.

These platforms have their strengths, but a significant obstacle is that they do not integrate with each other. The company that cracks the interoperability challenge will be

The good news for the IoT business owner is that the front end consumer experience (i.e. the user app) can be loosely coupled with the platform. By designing and building the user app in the beginning with the right architecture to enable transportability from one platform to the next, you can save the consumer from risking it all on throw-away technology. In the end, you also save the business when requirements mandate shifting to a different platform.

If you’re a consumer, consider the following facts and questions when investing in home automation products and services: • Supported Devices: Review the list of connected devices offered by your vendor/platform, and choose the platform that has most or all of the devices that you need to connect. This will reduce the complexity of the solution, and maintenance will be easier.

• Extendibility: How easily can you add new devices to your

Mitch Landry is the Co-Founder and President of Cecropia Solutions. The Internet of Things practice at Cecropia Solutions has helped big name companies connect their products and devices to the end consumer. Learn more at cecropiasolutions.com.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

By Mitch Landry

platform? Can it learn new protocols? Does it allow you to add new device types from the same protocol? Even if your platform has the full set of devices that you are currently looking to connect to, it is always important to consider a solution’s flexibility in order to add more devices in the future.

• Configuration and Price: Look for an easily configurable solution.

You don’t want to end up learning every protocol in order to set up your home automation solution.

Another important aspect is the price; some solutions will force you to buy special components to achieve connectivity, and a complex installation can increase costs. Steer away from solutions that require support contracts for installation.

• System Availability and Stability: If you plan to use your connected devices day or night, then it is important to choose a system that is always available. Want an instant response? Choose a system that is fast and reliable. Big IoT platforms have huge scalability challenges, and it’s up to the consumer to research the solution being offered to understand performance, availability and stability.

The jury is still out on which platform is the right one to bet on, but the time has come to get into the IoT game. With sufficient research (and a little bit of luck), you can find a solution that you will be able to use for years to come.

DEPARTMENTS / Security

Biometrics, Cyberattacks, and You

By Robert Yehling

When Gurpreet Manes discusses today’s pandemic of security breaches, he realizes that hackers from U.S. adversaries and even domestically are already studying the newest technology to worm into our sensitive data.

Thus, the CEO of SecuEra jumps to the chase: how we identify ourselves online. That is the one place, he says, where hackers can easily access our records — or find themselves up against an impenetrable wall.

“You can issue identities that are very difficult to falsify,” Manes said.

“You can assure that authentication verification provides access to only the people that actually have access. Most log-ins have user-based passwords or PINs – a single layer. That is not true high-end security.

When you combine that with a biometric like a smart card, voice, fingertips, DNA, or optical identity, the authenticated user only accesses data.”

SecuEra has firmly established itself as a user-centric solution provider for national IDs and passports, federal and corporate employees, and the healthcare and education industries. This also includes pension and retirement plans, Social Security, airport security, SIM cards, payments, and record and identity authentication for hospital and patient records. SecuEra is the most established U.S.-owned company for developing identity products, a service for which 80% of solutions come from overseas firms.

“Combining identity and biometrics is the solution,” Manes said.

“Being able to auto-detect you from your biometric profile, however it is registered, makes it convenient for the user to be ultra-secure. How is a foreign adversary going to run a live attack on biometrics when all they can get is a user password? Trying to detect a biometric identity is impossible remotely. There are too many variables.”

One of the problems with the hacking of federal and municipal networks, Manes points out, comes from the security systems that are installed. While hackers study the newest technology, the government installs systems originally released two or more years ago. For ultrasophisticated hackers, such systems are easy mark — especially since they don’t combine user IDs and passwords with biometrics.

“There are many legacy systems in place here,” he said. “That’s why developing countries can build very secure systems right away. They’ve never done it before, so they don’t have existing systems. What we do is not to add more layers, but to integrate our solutions with legacy systems. That way, we upgrade security and efficiency at the same time.”

Battling with hackers is like playing chess on a grandmaster level: either the culprit or the security provider will keep three moves ahead.

In SecuEra’s case, that means working with

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Gurpreet Manes, CEO, SecuEra

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates to provide biometricbased credentials.

“The cost has been what has made deployment of this very slow so far,” Manes said. “We try to avoid that. Vendors often support PKI only in the network; we support it, no matter where they or we are sitting. We work per workflow, and per user flow, using different certificate authorities. All in the same credential.”

On a consumer level, Manes and his team are also working to consolidate some of our most-used ID-based tools, such as driver’s licenses and credit cards. As he describes it, the solution is something that seems highly likely to catch on – fast.

“We’re working to combine identity and payment,” he explained. “A driver’s license can also be used as a payment product with using MasterCard, Visa and others. By combining payment processing with Identity, we have solved the problem of ID management being seen as a cost overhead.”

By providing certified payment tools with ID, users can make bank transactions with ID credentials, which saves money for banks, ensures social payments reach the designated beneficiary, and helps reduces the size of the underground economy. The ID can be via card, mobile device, biometric, or a combination of the three. For SecuEra, this is fully supported today.

“We see a day where you will be able to utilize 10, 20, or even 30 different services off one identity that is password, PIN, and biometrically verified. We believe that provides the best user security.”

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DEPARTMENTS / Education

High-Stakes Mistakes: The Dangers of E-Shame

By Marc Daniels

A

s a high school counselor, I witness countless student crises each year.

Still, every now and then a particular student’s story really stays with me. Recently, one such story involved a student who I will call ‘Sarah’. In middle school, a boyfriend convinced her to send him a shirtless photo. This led to blackmail, dissemination of the photo, and Sarah frequently labeled as a ‘slut’.

Stories like Sarah’s are so common nowadays they no longer shock me. What is shocking, however, is the total lack of empathy typically extended to these students by the adults in their lives. Many adults suddenly display short memories, forgetting how their own adolescence was filled with naiveté and regrettable lapses in judgment.

An important generational difference is that unlike today’s youth, contemporary adults were not raised on social media. By ignoring this fact, today’s self-righteous grownups espouse technological blind spots when criticizing ‘kids these days;’ these adults fail to recognize how young people pay a significantly higher price for adolescent missteps due to the increased accessibility, prevalence, and permanence of digital information. What’s more, today’s students are vulnerable to a pernicious form of societal victim-blaming that I call e-shaming.

E-shaming is dangerous, unfair, and must be properly understood in order to be resisted.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

E-shaming, unlike more traditional forms of shaming, is potentially inescapable.

Students like Sarah were once able to seek respite from their social problems at home; today’s students are forced to abandon any kind of phone or online access if they hope to avoid continual afterschool harassment.

Additionally, prospective employers and college admissions officers are now able to access compromising online information revealing students’ past indiscretions.

These discoveries can cost students invaluable opportunities and permanently damage their social and professional reputations. Yet, perhaps the worst aspect of e-shaming is adults’ rush to condemn and stigmatize these students. I remember Sarah tearfully recounting how abandoned she felt when her typically supportive family virulently attacked her character. What Sarah really needed was support. Instead, what she received were endless denunciations by those she trusted most.

When I spoke about her case with an administrator, the response was a frustrated sigh: “These kids will never learn.”

The problem with this perspective is that kids cannot ‘learn’ when they are e-shamed into submission. Students’ failures are supposed to be learning experiences; yet, what kind of growth should require humiliating photos forever hanging over a student’s head? The gross disproportion between Sarah’s mistake and her effective punishment is disturbing. Our kids are being e-shamed by their communities, stigmatized for lapses in judgment that our society treats as 21st-century ‘scarlet letters’.

This is not okay. Eradicating e-shame requires a fundamental shift in our attitudes.

No matter our disappointment, it’s our responsibility as caring adults to help students cope rather than further contribute to their humiliation. E-shaming is never appropriate, and it rests on us to curb its devastating impact on students’ lives.

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DEPARTMENTS / Women In Tech

How One Exec is Shaping the Smart Age

By Lisa Lunney

The smart home has arrived, and it is here to stay. We are in the age of technology; our everyday life is made easier with the use of technologies continually developing and being introduced in technological marketplaces from year-to-year. By combing the technologies we wear to smart phones and watches, and the intuitive tech in our homes, we are now connecting all parts of our lives to become truly smart technologists.

Bauer has revamped Panasonic with smart technology for everyday life, including beauty, home, entertainment, and travel.

Creating a smart and connected home allows homeowners to have peak levels of comfort and security whilst in control of all aspects of the home. Smart technology doesn’t just include security – it has now expanded to controlling thermostats, window shades, lights, and even locks. The future is here. Homeowners can be in complete control of their most important possession: their home.

Smart technology targets users of all ages. Many new devices and connections are created to be user friendly, not menacing and confusing as some would imagine.

Smart home technologies have incredible advantages over their predecessors. There is so much more to a smart home than just turning something off from a smartphone. Air monitors prove to be beneficial for everyone, from those who are affected by allergies, asthma, or COPD. These alerts can save users from potential medical episodes and trips to the

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

ER. In a few years, homeowners will no longer be plagued by the daunting question: did I shut the oven off? Smart technology will have the ability to control household appliances from phones.

A smart home is not complete without boosting our home entertainment to new levels. Since the birth of video game consoles, we have consistently seen upgrades year after year. To see just how far the world of technology has come, glance back to the original Nintendo system and compare now to the capabilities of the WiiU. Gaming consoles now cater to movie buffs with the additions of apps, physical activity with Kinect sensors, music streaming, and even photo sharing. Massive screens similar to those we used to only see in movie theatres now occupy family rooms across the USA. Many of these LED televisions offer access to social media channels, Flickr, YouTube,

and Netflix. The days of physically renting films are over, instead replaced with Netflix, ShoMi, Hulu, and other video and television services.

Influencers and innovators of both well-known and emerging companies are at the forefront of the new technologies and changes.

It is thrilling to see so many women in technology taking the reigns and bringing great changes to everyday life. Julie Bauer is a name all innovators recognize.

Since joining Panasonic, Bauer took the world by storm with her unique ideas and passion for success. Bauer has revamped Panasonic with smart technology for everyday life, including beauty, home, entertainment, and travel.

With Julie’s lead, Panasonic is no longer seen as limited to television technology.

Smart technology is here; users will soon hold their entire world in the palm of their hand.

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DEPARTMENTS / Wearables

Polar: Do More With Your Wearable Data The wearables market continues to grow faster than an exploding universe, it seems. It is so hot that the question is not whether companies jump in, but how well and quickly they develop useful, high-quality products when they do.

By Lee Bell improvements),” Herlihy said. “We’re riding a fine line. We have to make sure we stay true to who Polar is: a provider of heart rate and fitness assessment technology. But we also need to appeal to customer desires. Right now, for example, people are looking for smart notifications, text messages, or mid-workout measures that come through to their devices.”

Michael Herlihy

According to The Gartner Group, the wearables market will exceed $5 billion in 2016. In the U.S., we’re using more than 84 million devices. Research firm IDH offers a mind-boggling statistic: the wearables market will grow at an average compound annual rate of 43.4 percent — for the next five years.

“I can sum up developments in one word: ever-changing. The marketplace has grown by leaps and bounds the past couple of years,” said Michael Herlihy, Senior Product Specialist for Polar, the fitness wearables leader. “With that

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

has come an influx of new products and features. As a company that competes in this marketplace, it’s up to us to manage the expectations of the customers with the potential of the technology we offer them.”

Those expectations are great.

In the past few years, customers have graduated from having fitness devices, to seeking basic post-workout measurements, to expecting 24/7 monitoring, measuring, and assessing of all activity.

“Customers are looking for more (features and wearable tech

Polar has been making fitness technology since 1977, but the wearables market as we know it only began heating up in 2009.

Back then, customers were thrilled to see such technology. Today, they offer plenty of input as to what they expect, need, and desire from their devices.

“We’re noticing a big leap in customer knowledge, and the specific measures they’re looking for,” Herlihy agreed. “There will always be a demand for people monitoring their health. Because of that, there’s been a solid marketplace for us in the 35-plus years we’ve done business.”

Along those lines, Polar has busted open the proverbial barn doors by promoting four new and/ or refined products— the newlyreleased Loop 2, M450 GPS bike computer, M400 GPS running watch, and A300 fitness watch.

Both the M400 and A300 offer

24/7 activity tracking. This approach falls into the ‘Internet of Things’ category; for the exercise enthusiast, it provides a gold mine of data.

“They’re part of a connected product lineup that works in conjunction with both a web service and an application we call Flow,” Herlihy said. “You not only have recording capabilities, but when used in conjunction with a mobile device, a smartphone or tablet, you can transfer the activity and exercise data to the app for analysis, and then ultimately to the website, which gives you more detailed reporting.

“It’s that back-end technology which, quite frankly, separates the leaders from the others in the marketplace.”

What are the big-picture results of the rapid rise in wearable quality and connectivity? According to the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, it amounts to “significant improvements in preparation, training, and recovery aspects of fitness, as well as fieldbased team sports.”

“It’s just remarkable how big it has become,” Herlihy said.

“As far as quality of product, it varies. Leading companies are making some amazing fitness wearable technology, while the others are kind of saying, ‘Well, here’s ours, too.’

LEE BELL is a Senior Writer for I&T Today.

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DEPARTMENTS / Social Media

The Entertainment Chicken or the Social Media Egg

By Jake Faulstich

The entertainment industry continues to dominate the social media space. Is the entertainment industry causing our obsession with social media, or vice versa?

Social media has transformed the entertainment industry from something we enjoyed by ourselves or with a small group of friends to something we enjoy with our entire social network.

Information, reviews, promos, and more are all available through social media and tailored to fit our likes and dislikes. On top of that, social media has given us a much easier way to access our favorite entertainers; they’re all just a tweet away.

Not only do we learn a lot about entertainment from social media, but we post a ton, too. In a recent study of Facebook posts, from socialmediatoday.com from September to December, 2014, the entertainment industry accounted for a whopping 63.2 percent of all posts across six different industries: retail, auto, telecom, financial services, and food and beverage.

What’s driving this much excitement? The study found that “traditional links account for 79.3 percent of posts,” far surpassing photo or video links. What this means is that people are actually sharing links to what they’re watching or listening to, versus sharing images of the experience or asking for opinions of others in a simple text post.

If social media is about anything, it’s about sharing pieces of our lives with others. What better way than to share the things we think

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

are valuable, like music, movies, TV shows, and sports?

automatically,” according to their website.

releases partial unfinished tracks to fans through Soundcloud.

Listening to music has cultivated entire social media networks like Soundcloud, where users can connect with strangers around new music. We can also connect services like Spotify to Facebook, which keeps an ongoing history of what we’re listening to, therefore giving us yet another way to connect with others.

There are other benefits to following your favorite entertainment personalities online, too. Being a part of a social media fan community often allows you to receive behind the scenes updates and special offers. For example, Beyoncé’s social media album release back in 2013 sold 356K copies in the first day, and according to data from Twitter cited by Billboard, generated 1.2 million tweets in 12 hours. It also allows direct access to your favorite artists without the labels getting in the way. Take for instance electronic artist Deadmau5, who constantly

Lastly, and I think most interestingly, social media communities like YouTube and Vine have allowed people to create their own entertainment channels and brands where they’re the stars.

It’s now possible to be home schooled at 13 years old because your production schedule of your YouTube show with millions of viewers keeps you so busy.

The same occurs with movies and TV. Social media has boiled over into other services, prompting them to make social communities of their own. For instance, Netflix allows you to “send recommendations to Facebook friends and share what you watch with them

How do you use social media to keep up to date with entertainment news? Do you use social media to reach out to your favorite entertainers? Tweet us on Twitter @jkfaul and @InnoTechToday.

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DEPARTMENTS / Young Tech

Travel Easy: Tech Hacks to Improve Your Next Trip

By Aaron Whitfield

All my life I’ve loved to travel — whether it’s an 18-hour road trip to Colorado, a week-long conference in San Francisco, or the adventure of a lifetime in Eastern Europe. In our technology-dependent world, travel will either be much easier or a much bigger pain depending on how well you plan a few important details.

While it may seem like a nobrainer, the biggest and most important travel tech tip I can give is to take a portable charger with you. You may even want to take two. Airport terminals often don’t have wall outlets, but if they do, they aren’t always guaranteed to work or may already be occupied.

On a similar note, consider packing two charging cables. When I travelled to Belgrade, Serbia, my original lightning cable for my iPhone shorted and would not charge my phone. By luck, I was able to stumble upon a store that sold a lightning cable so I could charge my phone. However, it took several hours of searching before that happened.

A less well-known tip I like to share is to Google your flight. By simply Googling your flight number (e.g. Aer Lingus 6107), Google will give you detailed information including your arriving and departing gates and terminals, along with estimated times. This is super

beneficial for international flights, as you may be without 4G LTE once you land in Europe, or wherever you are traveling.

I also highly recommend downloading your flight operator’s official app to store your boarding pass. For those who prefer to receive your boarding pass via email, I always highly recommend to save your boarding pass as a PDF on your phone using an application from the App Store. While it may not be needed, having a backup copy is always super helpful in tight or stressful situations.

Last but certainly not least for those travelling by air, if you’re flying internationally out of the U.S., always check what kind of travel adapter you need. When traveling to a couple tech and gaming conferences outside of the U.S., I’ve been surprised by the amount of people who forget to bring a travel adapter. I bought mine on Amazon for $12.99, which is much less expensive than they tend to be at your final destination.

Road tripping instead of flying? A hidden gem I found is an app named GasBuddy, which is almost an essential. GasBuddy is a simpleto-use app, which shows you all the gas prices in any given area. This information can help you budget more effectively.

Aaron Whitfield is the CEO of PocketFullOfApps.com and a Senior Writer with Innovation & Tech Today. He is based in the Midwest and can be emailed at admin@pocketfullofapps.com or contacted via his website aaronwhitfield.me

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DEPARTMENTS / Innovation

Why Are Patent Trolls Getting Away With It?

By Lee Bell In 2011, Shane Chen started a rage. His selfbalancing Solowheel electric unicycle provided both great fun and exercise for millions of users.

That fulfilled the goal Chen, CEO of Inventist, Inc., holds for all of the dozens of lifestyle products he’s invented.

While sales in the United States have been strong, the big explosion has happened in

offering even lukewarm enforcement. Sharing Zimmerman’s skepticism is Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association.

“It’s definitely gotten worse. Far worse. Here and abroad,” said Shapiro, one of the world’s most knowledgeable and ardent proponents of patent protection. “The percentage of lawsuits

they go after the low-hanging fruit, the businesses that can’t afford a lawyer,” he said.

That’s not all. Once a suit is initiated, the company must state which specific patent is being infringed, and how — a cumbersome process for a single patent holder, let alone larger companies that might be trying to protect hundreds of patents from various trolls.

The Consumer Electronics Association’s Gary Shapiro (L) is one of the world’s foremost crusaders against patent trolling.

China, beginning with the Solowheel’s appearance on a Chinese TV show called Happy Camp. Amazingly, Chen has seen nothing from the millions of units sold there.

“We saw a few knockoffs at first, which is very common for products with U.S. patents that make it to China,” Chen told I&T Today. “A year later, we saw 100 to 150 copies. Now, they are copying the copies and selling them worldwide.”

This is of paramount concern for Chen, one of the most prolific but least-known inventors in the sports, outdoors, and lifestyle marketplace.

Besides Solowheel, he has invented the Hovertrax, a jointed, electric skateboard; and the Aquaskipper, a waterborne device that looks and works roughly like a bike.

While China continues to tout their growing protection of intellectual property, Chen advises businesses to heed the cautionary words of folks like James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, whose organization reported that only 21 percent of its members believed China was

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

has gone up dramatically. We thought we had something when the House of Representatives passed the Innovation Act, 325-91, in late 2013 – but Sen. Reid, then the Senate Majority Leader, pulled the legislation. Now it’s open season for patent trolls, and open season for the trial lawyers who are looking for work.

“Patent suits have gone up 1,500 percent since 2005. And these suits only occur when an extortion attempt by a patent troll fails. The problem is that 80 percent of troll victims are small and medium-sized businesses [such as Inventist]. When you start up a company and have interested investors, you pour your resources into product development and marketing. But when you get hit by a patent troll, no other investors will likely come your way. It’s a loss for both the business and the investor — as well as the economy.”

For those small businesses that can afford an expensive patent troll lawyer, Shapiro notes the lawyer must think like a patent troll. When that happens, chances of IP protection increase.

“Trolls don’t want to go through litigation, so

“At some point, Congress will have to act,” Shapiro said. “This hurts big companies as well as start-ups. Let’s say a troll copies 110 patents.

The jury rules in favor of the company on 109 of them, and throws one to the patent troll, thinking they’re doing the company a favor.

They’re not. What if that’s the patent that can change a market, or a product category? That is no way to act.”

There might be light on the horizon. A new bill, HR 9, recently moved through the House Judiciary Committee on a 24-8 vote, and will be considered by the full House in the fall. The Senate is prepping its own version, S1137, but supportive lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – a strong majority – are taking heat from trial lawyers and members of the pharmaceutical industry about some provisions.

To that, Shapiro simply says, “For every week Congress doesn’t pass a good bill, the economy loses $1.5 billion – and this is a bad time in our economic progression for anything to weigh on the economy. We have to succeed in the next couple of years.”

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DEPARTMENTS / Connected Car

Car-O-Stats? How Smart Homes and Smart Cars Communicate

By Michael Coates

The convergence of automobiles and technology is a hot topic, but is it just hot air? If there is hot air floating around, can convergence play a role in cooling it down? That’s not a rhetorical question, but a real one being answered in Silicon Valley by an auto company working with a subsidiary of Google that was founded by Apple veterans.

It all began casually enough in a fairly typical Silicon Valley way: friends from two tech offices conversing about their current projects. Only a little more than a year ago, when Ford employed just ten people in its Palo Alto research office (it now has 120 employees), Sync 3 team product designer Casey Feldman walked over to Nest’s offices. Nest was one of the Valley’s darlings, a start up with a headturning new technology that promised to bring home thermostats (among other home technologies) into the 21st century. They were promising enough to be scooped up by Google for $3.2 billion.

Fast-forward several conversations and many engineering hours. They succeeded in getting a smart car to talk to a smart thermostat and its companion smoke detector, according to Feldman. They worked up a Proof of Concept with the following characteristics: •W hen leaving, the Ford car would tell the Nest thermostat to turn on Auto-Away mode to help save energy; •W hen returning home, the Ford vehicle automatically alerts the Nest thermostat of the vehicle’s temperature setting and sets the temperature inside the home to match; •U se the size of the home and its heating system to determine when the app triggers the thermostat; and •B oth Ford and Nest to get smarter together over time by learning and adjusting to preferences and patterns of the family.

The application is still working its way toward production with the biggest consideration being how and what appears from Nest on Sync.

Ford is concentrating on fully integrating it into the Sync 3 system and tailoring the display so, as Feldman says, “you can focus on your drive, but be connected.” The goal is not to create more distraction, but to position most of the functions as automatic but emergency signals (such as the smoke detector going off in your house while you’re away) that give you the opportunity to act on them.

This collaboration is the first of many you can expect to see coming out of the expanded automotive labs in a Silicon Valley that is bubbling with innovation.

Some of these labs have been there for decades, but the change in the past few years is a desire by the auto companies to not just gather technology, but learn from and become a part of the Valley culture of fast-moving development. The rapid embrace of Apple’s Car Play and Google’s Android Auto programs into the dashboards is harbinger of a convergence that promises to change not only what happens in our cars, but those apps’ expanded roles in our lives.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

MICHAEL COATES is the Automotive editor for Innovation & Tech Today.

The publisher/editor of Clean Fleet, he is based in Northern California.

A NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BRAIN TREATMENT

“

Cerebrum Health Centers spend a lot of its time on the individual.

That’s great to have that one-on-one interaction with doctors and nurses.

You don’t really get that in many places.“ TBI PATIENT, CEREBRUM HEALTH CENTERS

At Cerebrum Health Centers, We Restore Hope.

Beginning with the simplest beliefs in service and human kind, each patient and case is treated with a unique, customized plan. Evaluated as an individual with a very specific brain function, the results of those evaluations are paired with a treatment plan that is as distinct as the patients themselves. Our desire is to establish tailored therapies that overcome brain dysfunction and ultimately start to give patients their lives back.

WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT, OUR THERAPY SHOULD BE TOO

HOPE. It’s what most patients with traumatic brain injuries and neurological disorders have lost in their search for answers. While consulting countless doctors and specialists and ruling out numerous medical issues, these patients are still left without successful treatment.

Appointment after appointment leads to dead ends and exasperation, often resulting in patients doubting their own symptoms and experiencing a desire to give up.

The Future of Brain Health “Changing lives every day by empowering our patients with knowledge and solutions.”

We combine research-backed exams with extensive testing that we perform on each patient in our office. By using this method, we are able to get a full picture of the patient’s brain function and pinpoint certain brain impairments that may be responsible for limiting their functionality. That key information is then used to establish a baseline for neurological performance and secondary testing that may be necessary. Once testing is complete, the next step is to prepare a treatment plan which will suggest appropriate milestones to gauge future progress.

MOVING POSITIVE DIRECTION YOUR LIFE IN A

What We Do is Amazing Because of What Human Kind Can Do “Evoking passion for human kind in other people.”

At Cerebrum Health Centers, your care is not a formula. We believe every patient is unique, therefore, our multi-disciplinary care team will develop an individualized plan that includes intensive in-office therapies as well as simple in-home exercises that are all selected to meet each patient’s specific condition. We measure progress regularly, adapting to any adjustments needed to refine the plan and achieve the desired results.

Neuroplasticity “Restoring healing that patients have not experienced before.”

Because the brain has the inherent ability to repair itself, we target our treatment therapies to the affected areas of the brain using specific activities that begin to rebuild neural pathways. We combine visual, physical, and speech therapies that are aimed at reactivating the nervous system where abilities have been compromised. These treatments support each patient’s therapeutic path and keep them on track to recovery. We assist a broad range of needs, from TBI, concussion, stroke, PTSD, headaches and migraines, dystonia, alzheimers, parkinsons, autism, ADHD/ADD, and neurological and movement disorders.

(469) 804-3733

Cerebrum.com Headquartered In Dallas, Texas

Medtech FUJIFILM’s Amazing Biotechnology

Interview with Martin Meeson

Protein-based therapies are gaining popularity and support in the medical community. For the companies producing therapeutic proteins (a $108 billion industry in 2010), finding a partner with the ability to produce and maintain efficient and high quality cell lines is pivotal. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is one such organization. President Martin Meeson discusses the work Fujifilm accomplishes in this vein, including the innovative Apollo platform they’ve developed and more in this exclusive interview with I&T Today.

Innovation & Tech Today: Can you tell us a little about Apollo™, its application, and what types of therapeutic proteins are currently being developed?

How will Apollo™ enhance productivity and range?

Martin Meeson: Apollo™ is our mammalian expression platform that we have developed in order to help our clients produce a high quality recombinant cell line that will help them generate clinical material in a rapid manner without having to sacrifice quality and manufacturability. We think of our Apollo™ Expression Platform as giving our clients a ‘Cell Line for Life,’ meaning it will not only support them through the clinical stages of development, but that it can carry them into commercial production of their therapies. What is exciting for us to see is the wide range of therapeutic areas that our clients are using Apollo™, from oncology applications to rare diseases.

I&T Today: In layman’s terms, can you take our readers through the process of locating and developing a cell line and identifying a resulting medical solution? What type of R&D does this require? And how are you not only hosting and facilitating that R&D, but bringing it to the healthcare profession?

MM: Identifying an efficient and high quality cell line is the first critical step in the development of a therapeutic protein. If a company does not have an efficient way to make the proteins (the ‘active ingredient’ in a biologic drug) in large enough volumes to meet the dosing requirements for the

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

patient population they are seeking to treat, the company does not have a viable medicine to offer.

This is where we come in. As a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), we do not develop therapeutics for ourselves. We apply our experience and our platforms to help a wide array of companies bring their products to the patients, either supplying clinical trial material or commercially approved medicines. From an R&D perspective, it took several years of innovative work for FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies to develop a cell line that we could offer our clients as a solution to help bring their products to the patients. And the innovation work has not stopped with the launch of the Apollo Platform. Innovation is a continuous process, so we are always looking at ways to improve our offering.

I&T Today: You partner with customers at all stages of their product lifecycle. This is an approach many would like to take, but the process often gets broken up between service providers. Could you tell us why Fujifilm takes this approach and how it has worked to benefit your customers?

MM: Having a full lifecycle offering is a huge benefit to our clients. We are never planning on stopping and handing off to someone else. We are continually focused on the next stage. This focus, coupled with our extensive experience, has helped our growth over the years. Seeing hundreds of different molecules with different challenges is a powerful offering. That experience and know-how is very unique, as it incorporates not only technical excellence, but also quality and operations expertise. Our clients come to us because we can help get their process developed, so that not only will it maintain the functional integrity of their therapy, but it will meet the scrutiny of the regulatory agencies. We help clients develop programs that take into account what they will need if they are in early clinical phase. We also help clients get their more advanced clinical stage program into a commercial-ready state.

–LB & TS

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW US. Based on years of research and development, Fujifilm conducts clinical biopharmaceutical research and development for new drugs to fight illnesses such as Influenza and Alzheimer’s. Fujifilm is also a leading contract biomanufacturing organization that develops new drugs to combat illnesses such as cancers and rare diseases.

AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE JUST THE WORLD’S LARGEST FILM AND IMAGING COMPANY. www.fujifilmusa.com/BiologicsContractManufacturing FUJIFILM and Value From Innovation are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation and its affiliates. © 2015 FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Medtech

A Brain-to-Brain Partnership

By Robert Yehling

Thanks to two wars, a billiondollar lawsuit against the NFL by its alumni, and the premature brain injury-related deaths of several sports legends, brain injury has leapt from a case of deniability to part of our social conversation. We’ve taken giant leaps in diagnosing and reporting these diagnoses, increasing preventative measures, and finding treatment and therapy programs.

On top of that, neuroscience has exploded in the past decade, along with attendant focus on brain disorders such as PTSD, ADD, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s, dementia, the autism spectrum, TBI, and more.

Now, it’s time to leap into nextgeneration therapies that restore injured brains to equal or even greater function while refining protocols and technology to determine types, locations, and severity of brain injuries much closer to the time of impact or other event.

“There’s still so much we don’t know about the brain; we probably use 10 to 12 percent of our brain’s potential in a given day,” said Dr. Andre Fredieu, former medical director and current consultant for Cerebrum Health Centers in Dallas.

“There’s 90 percent of brain function

where we don’t know exactly what is involved. People who have suffered brain injuries might seem to be doing extremely well, and actually operating within that other 90 percent. That can lead to subtle deficiencies that can hamper them when they try to manage their lives and other basic functions. What we don’t know will play a role in what we can ultimately discover in treating the brain.”

Cerebrum Health Centers are leading-edge diagnostic and brain rehabilitation facilities. Their combination of diagnostic and therapeutic technology, and therapy protocols that include nutrition, exercise, activities, homeopathic and naturopathic treatments, along with standard medical treatments, has earned them accolades from all corners of the brain injury issue.

“We’re optimizing neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to heal itself,” says Dr. Brandon Brock, lead clinician for Cerebrum Health Centers in Dallas. “We create an environment for the healing of the brain. That includes use of different types of diagnostic equipment to pinpoint where the issues are in the brain, and using very innovative technology like our patented off-axis

“ We’re optimizing neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to heal itself.”

— Dr. Brandon Bock, Cerebrum Health Centers

(continues on page 151)

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

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Medtech Medical Innovations, Resilience, & Community Support: Changing the Life of a Child Paralyzed at Birth

When Evander Conroy was born in Sydney, Australia, his spine was damaged by a malignant tumor in his chest. His mother, Clare, was told he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Unconvinced by this prognosis, she met Andrea

Behrman, Ph.D., director of the Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric Neuro-Recovery at the University of Louisville. Dr. Behrman treated Evander once in 2013 and again in 2014. He progressed significantly, and even took independent steps.

Evander returned to UofL to receive Locomotor Training with Dr. Behrman. He was the first to use a special locomotor treadmill designed specifically for children by Dr. Behrman and her team. Before this medical innovation was

available, LT therapists had to use adult treadmills modified to accommodate children.

Funding for the development of the treadmill came from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. –TS

Calming Our Brains…in 4 Minutes With seemingly more stressors than a star-filled sky hitting us on a daily basis, it’s no wonder that stress and anxiety are sometimes more familiar to us than our own children. But what do we do after getting home from work? We often stress and worry some more, part and parcel of why Americans are the most sleep-deficient workforce of any industrialized nation.

Thankfully, neuroscientists have occupied themselves with finding a solution. A fantastic example of this comes from Solace Lifesciences with NuCalm®, the world’s only patented solution proven to balance and maintain the health of the human autonomic nervous system, which manages the stress response.

“We have a singular purpose; to lower stress

and improve sleep quality without drugs,” said the CEO of Solace Lifesciences, Jim Poole. “As a culture, we are not getting enough rest or good quality sleep. (Recently) at a lecture I asked people if they knew what the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA was. No one did. We are overly reliant on stimulants for productivity, when we should better understand how key neurotransmitters such as GABA help us rest and restore, and perform at maximum efficiency.”

also seek shortcuts, ways to cheat those patterns.

This technology mimics patterns that the brain identifies to help it relax. We are not doing anything foreign; we’re simply adding fuel and patterns to the brain, and the brain is taking its brain wave to deep relaxation.”

Over an eight-year period, a pioneering neuroscientist at Solace Lifesciences perfected a four-pronged technology to guide a stressed brain to a state of deep relaxation and restoration — in four minutes. “The brain works in patterns; we’re always seeking patterns,” Poole said. “Our brains

The technology zooms in on the two ways our brains communicate with our body — chemically and electrically. Top professional athletes, cancer patients, pilots, and over 400,000 dental patients across 5 continents have used NuCalm to achieve high-performance relaxation.

Jim Poole

UNORTHODOX, COLLABORATIVE SCIENTIFIC METHODS Researchers, Meet Surgeons: THE IN VAIL THAT ARE PRODUCING INCREDIBLE RESULTS to be here,” Dr. Huard said, fresh off a two-day scientific summit he called with the goal of establishing Vail as a hub for translational medicine.

Nestled in the mountains of Vail, Colorado, The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Dr. Johnny Huard Institute recently welcomed Dr. Johnny Huard, internationally recognized for his leading edge research in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine as it relates to the musculoskeletal system. “It was a natural fit for me

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

In a unique setup, Huard splits his time between UTHealth Houston and The Steadman Clinic, which provides a huge benefit to both organizations – and Steadman’s patients: “One part of my team is in Houston doing basic science research and development, and one part of the team is in Vail doing clinical translations. So what we discovered with basic science, we can apply right here at The Steadman Clinic.

“You need to be crazy a little bit to try something like this,” he adds.

But it’s worth it, especially to the patients. Huard’s work involves using stem cells and platelet-rich plasma to speed up recovery for musculoskeletal injuries (ACL tears, for example) – as well as to extend the life of joint replacement surgeries and improve pain associated with normal aging.

These exciting developments would have proven much more difficult if not for the collaboration between researchers and clinicians: “The problem is twofold. The

scientists sometimes, we don’t know what the real problem is because we have to do surgery to see it. But for the surgeon, I think it’s very important to educate them about the new technology.”

Want to know how to apply the information Huard’s teams are discovering every day? “The best gift you can give to your newborn – forget the flowers, forget the teddy bears – is setting aside $2,000$3,000 to store their stem cells.

That’s the best thing you can give your kid.”

–MH

It boils down to four sets of controls: Environment. Light.

Security. Entertainment.

Home automation fans out from there, continuing to change the face of our lifestyles and home building itself.

Billions are being poured into products, systems, and solutions every year to

make our lives easier and our homes smarter, safer, and more efficient.

Home automation is big business. It’s dynamic. It’s moving rapidly. Yet, in many ways, we’ve only just begun.

With CEDIA right around the corner at the time of press, here is our third

annual look at Home Automation and the Internet of Things. This section features insights from those tech leaders are who are creating our ever-smarter homes.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

From High-End Novelty to DIY As automated homes increase in numbers, options, and affordability, we enter a new phase in the market.

Will do-it-yourself automation be next?

By Robert Yehling

emember those heady days of, say, three years ago, when many of us with just enough technology to be dangerous talked about smart homes like we were kicking it with George Jetson? How we would turn on and off every home control, device and appliance with a remote — or wink of the eye? And monitor our homes from afar with an app?

This world is very much here. It has grown deeply and widely enough to bring in most homeowners, not just the wealthiest. As the frontliners of home automation, installers and system integrators get ready to break bread at CEDIA Expo 2015 in Dallas October 14-17, everyone is bracing for continued explosive growth as the novelty of home automation evolves into widespread adoption of it.

Keep those seat belts buckled. According to all ends of the home automation world — manufacturers, systems integrators, market analysts, alliances and installers — this economic boom ride is accelerating rapidly.

According to the research firm Market to Market, today’s $9.95 billion market will reach $22.4 billion in the Americas alone by 2020 — a compound annual growth of 17.62 percent.

FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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W

ealthier homeowners are not driving this upward surge.

Working-class homeowners are. Now, they can also decide whether to have their systems installed and integrated, or to do it themselves. DIY is the true driving force, according to the large group of industry experts interviewed for this article.

“Home automation used to be the rarefied domain of the very rich, with custom homes featuring complex hard-wired systems,” said George Land, director of Nexia Home Intelligence. “Wireless and cloud technology makes even sophisticated smart home deployments incredibly affordable, flexible, and – most importantly – updateable.”

Added Blake Allen, the CEO of EcoNet, manufacturer of smart air vent and water shutoff valve systems, “Thirty years ago, you could buy X10 products to automate your home, but only the .01 percent who were geeks played with it; I was one of those geeks. You had to be a computer techie guy to make any of it work.

More recently, when companies like Lowe’s, Staples, and Home Depot came out with their own home automation products, that told me it’s no longer the geeky guy, but the home renovator, who is buying.”

“For a few hundred dollars, a homeowner can have a smart home system that controls their locks, lighting, thermostat, garage door, and even their outdoor irrigation,” Nexia’s Land said. “And, they can install themselves with the know-how. That was unimaginable just a few years ago.”

Land makes a great point. A quick spot search of the Top 10 home automation platforms (Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.) revealed anything but sticker shock: prices ranged from $50 for Wink’s Connected Home Hub to $279 for the iControls’ Network Hub. Thanks to product expansion, growing competition and options, average price points for all four hubs of the home automation wheel — environment, security, lighting, and home entertainment — are dropping directly into the wheelhouse of the readily affordable.

This move is not without its issues. While we celebrate the home automation industry’s climb above the $10 billion annual sales mark, either this year or next, consider this: according

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

This market is only firing on

half of its cylinders.

Fun and convenience have been two of the biggest results of home automation technology development in 2015.

Products like the Amazon Echo (right) make home automation engaging and fun; the EcoNet (far right) helps consumers lower their energy bills.

to Markets & Markets, only 47% of North Americans have an awareness of smart home technology. And 49% are not sure how smart home technology could ease their lives.

Translation: This market is only firing on half of its cylinders.

which brand of lighting you prefer,” Ben-Gal

There is also the ongoing challenge of making all devices interoperable. The Internet of All Things in Your Home is tightening up, but as On Controls CEO Itai Ben-Gal notes, it remains one of two vital areas of further development, for manufacturers and residents alike.

increase the overall visibility of the category

“We know that your TV manufacturer didn’t ask you which smart thermostat you own or

home automation continues to grow, any issue

said. “We tie all of these intelligent devices together seamlessly to give the user an easy way to control all of their smart home components now and in the future.

“The proliferation of affordable solutions will exponentially. It wasn’t long ago that ABS brakes were an option on cars—or highdefinition TV was a choice at A/V retailers.

Consumers want technology that makes their lives easier, more efficient, and adds luxury to their lifestyle. As this groundswell of interest in of familiarity will dwindle away,” he added.

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The other vital area is security — the word we don’t like to hear, but the one we can’t live without. Easier-to-use and install security systems are bursting onto the market, as well as systems that can interact with and even control (through their panels) other aspects of the smart home.

We all need one: everyone agrees.

However, the prevalent issue, according to ELK Products Director of Sales & Marketing Trudy Phillips, is the priority we assign to a home security system.

“I’m very concerned that the focus is not on security,” Phillips said. “Automation is wonderful as it takes care of mundane tasks, gives us more free time, and enhances the beauty and comfort of the home; however, the priority should be to keep people safe.”

For a few hundred dollars, a homeowner can have a smart home system that controls their locks, lighting, thermostat, garage door, and even their outdoor irrigation,” Nexia’s George Land said.

“And, they can install themselves with the knowhow. That was unimaginable just a few years ago.”

In this era of home automation with manufacturers, system integrators, and consumers pushing toward audiophileand theater-quality home entertainment systems that can set the mood of an entire house, the Lenbrook Group’s premier brands — NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, and Bluesound — sit in the cat bird’s seat as a long-time leader in high performance, high value components.

“For over four decades, we’ve been serving the needs of audio/video

whom the brand is named), is known globally

specialty dealers and custom integrators with

as the dean of Canadian loudspeaker

truly innovative, high performance audio/video

designers.

components and loudspeaker systems,” marketing manager Mark Stone said in a

Bluesound, the last of the Lenbrook Brands, is

summer interview. “Our NAD audio and video

a system of audiophile-grade wireless HiFi

components make integration with the

speakers and digital players that allow you to

Phillips has a major point: According to Transparency Market Share, a research group, security products only comprise 14 percent of the home automation market.

For ELK Products, which manufactures its M1 security systems with the intelligence to provide very flexible automation solutions, this news could be cause for future sales celebration.

advanced control systems used in home

stream your entire music collection, or from

automation a snap. Our approach has always

any online streaming service, to any room in

been a ‘music first’ philosophy.”

your home in true high resolution. Bluesound

including all-in-one music systems and

At various times during the past 40 plus years,

Phillips doesn’t see it that way; when she speaks of it, concern edges her words. “In our increasingly connected world, consumers need to be aware of the risks of choosing home automation solutions that are not security centric.”

headphones.

media, retailers, and music lovers alike have

NAD’s sister brand, PSB Speakers, are

considered the Lenbrook brand offerings

renowned for their full line of dynamic, true-to-

ahead of their time. Technology may have

nature speaker systems for home theater and

finally caught up, but it took an entire home

audiophile music systems — perfect for

automation revolution to make it happen —

creative home entertainment system

and a set of systems that makes it very

developers. How good is the brain trust

difficult to leave the home theater and enjoy

behind PSB? The developer, Paul Barton (for

high resolution audio like never before.

Many remote services store customer’s private information in “the cloud”. While there is a cloud service for ELK panels,

56

PSB/NAD/Bluesound

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

Not only that, but their offering is multipronged. NAD Electronics features their Masters and Classic series, home theater components, and VISO lifestyle products,

was created from scratch by NAD and PSB sound engineers and designers driven by a singular idea – absolute, total perfection in high-performance sound.

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™

Apple and Android apps specific to M1, are also available and allow more secure remote control as smart phones/tablets communicate directly with M1 over the consumer’s home network. Another big concern is the increase in DIY installations.

“Having a security professional is essential,” Phillips said. “If you have all these great devices in your home without adequate security, you may be opening yourself up to hackers and worse. When it comes to life safety, leave it to the professional installer and make sure you choose a system with a security foundation.”

WHICH BRINGS US TO DIY —home

automation’s newest driver. The U.S. has been a do-it-yourself culture since native peoples and then early immigrants arrived.

With a retail environment supporting DIY, we’ve picked up our tools in 2015 and headed into our home controls, systems, and hubs.

DIY home security panels are proliferating, but, as Trudy Philips of ELK Products (shown above) points " out, “We still believe in having your security system monitored, because that allows the system to transmit to a monitoring station that can get in touch with the police, fire, and medical people to get to your house.”

ELK smart interfaces shown above

Operating within six business segments, Nortek’s home automation products are in more than 2 million homes – even though you may know them by different names.

“ The people who are buying these things today are very much self-sustaining, DIY types. They’re not afraid to be challenged, and they can do some things to tweak the products.

That’s where we’re at today.”

– Avi Rosenthal 58

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

According to Jasco CEO Cameron Trice, this has transformed the playing field. “In a DIY environment, the game changes,” he said. “We look at technologies already becoming familiar to people. For example, Bluetooth is now in your car. It’s in your headphones. It’s in your speakers. It’s on your Fit Bit, your Apple Watch. And it’s already on your iPhone or Android device.

The second part is device-to-device. If I buy a lighting control, I want to know that my phone or tablet can talk directly to that light switch. I know because it’s Bluetooth, it’s going to work.”

One company directly impacted is Nortek, which enjoys $2.6 billion in sales across six divisions, making it the world’s largest manufacturer of Z-Wave devices. Nortek provides thermostats, garage door openers, lighting controls, security solutions, and gateway controls for automated homes. Its devices are compatible with more than 40 gateway products, including its own, which lead the market with 2 million home installations and counting.

“There are a bunch of people who walk into Lowe’s on a Saturday, and the first thing they say is, ‘I need help; I don’t want to do it myself,’” Avi Rosenthal, the vice president of security and control products, said. “There

are just as many others who say, ‘I can do it myself. I’m going to give it a shot. I just need the product.’

“The next 18 months are going to be very telling about how the consumer interacts with these devices. The people who are buying these things today are very much selfsustaining, DIY types.

They’re not afraid to be challenged, and they can do some things to tweak the products. That’s where we’re at today.”

Stores like Lowes, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart attract the DIY and plug-and-play crowds, both of which will visit retail locations to make their homes smarter.

We’re also in an era of differentiation, where we expect customization, even at the very

common chain retailers at which we shop. For manufacturers of automated home electronics, that means rebranding or customizing products – or entire lines –to suit specific chains.

“We worked with our retail partners to customize. We’re small and agile enough to do that customization, if Target wants to differentiate, or if Wal-Mart wants a different line,” Jasco’s Trice said.

“A customer at Best Buy is looking for a different experience, and products that reflect why he chose that store instead of Costco or Wal-Mart. This is especially important with small things, which is what makes home automation and connects through the Internet of Things.”

Differentiation usually follows the emergence of disruptive technologies, which is piping hot right now, according to home entertainment experts such as Aaron Spann of DarbeeVision, an industry leader in 4K and image processing technologies and products. “They seem to be coming up with a little more frequency lately,” Spann said. “When we’re at CEDIA, we’ll be looking at new technologies being shown, not (continues on page 150)

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By Lee Bell

During the past two years, the Internet of Things has evolved from a term into a growing part of our lives. Still, we’ve only begun to tap the potential of connectivity between devices, machines, and people Let’s start with your average day.

You wake up and tap an app to activate appliances such as coffeemakers and toasters. Then, you throw on running clothes and click another app to monitor your quick three-miler. Upon getting home, an urgent work email arrives; you respond, sending an attachment that solves the problem. Then, while rushing off to work, you click your trusty home security app, and the garage door closes while the security system activates.

This very typical daily routine illustrates something that Terepac CEO Ric Asselstine feels is the ‘now-is-the-future’ scenario all businesses and individuals should heed.

“With this convergence of machines, devices, connectivity, and people, we’re now transacting our entire experiences, it would appear, on our smartphones,” Asselstine said. “The partitions between work, home, and play are starting to crumble. We now manage everything through our smartphones. It’s an entire ecosystem.”

The ecosystem to which Asselstine refers, the Internet of Things, has run full-throttle for the past two years. Never have more devices, machines, systems old and new, and cloud-based services been interconnected. For those growing into the IoT, the millennials, it feels as natural and comfortable as breath. For older generations, it’s taken an adjustment. Yet, wherever we turn,

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the IoT is part and parcel of how we navigate the world.

“And it’s only just begun,” Asselstine said. “About 95 percent of the things that could be connected are not yet connected [according to Cisco]. There are a lot of claims that IoT is here and has already been done, but the fact is, almost nothing’s done yet.”

Asselstine makes a huge point. With products and devices flooding the market, claiming complete connectivity to all other devices, it is important to note that the IoT structure is still evolving. Alliances such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth SIG, and Wi-Fi have taken connectivity a very long way, but what about older business machines? Or more streamlined cloud services? Or continuing to grow capacity? Or relationships between companies, their suppliers and partners?

Mass proliferation is everywhere.

The auto industry has already been revolutionized by connected car technology. Our music and movie libraries roam with us from home to phone, car stereo to media player. Cumbersome, outdated corporate and government legacy systems are being retrofitted with nodes to connect them with their digital counterparts.

Without question, it will be done, as the revenue stream for IoT is of global proportions. According to McKinsey, the economic value of IoT will reach $11 trillion by 2025 — about 65 percent of the 2014 U.S. Gross Domestic Product.

That is a staggering sum, and a reason why some companies are flooding the market with interconnected devices, while others are building the solutions to further connect them.

“We see an evolving trend with how users interface with their systems – from voice command to glasses, watches and other wearables,” said On Controls CEO Itai Ben-Gal. “One commonality with all of these interface advances is personalization. Where an old hard-button remote on the coffee table was once the only interface for everyone, today each family member can benefit from a personalized interface within their

Itai Ben-Gal, On Controls CEO

smart phone, tablet or any of the modern wearable devices we see emerging on the market.”

Ben-Gal is speaking of IoT in action. We buy the devices, and we sync them to our tablets or smartphones. Then we reach out into the vast world of our life and work experience, and interconnect every step of the way. All you need to do is glance at the apps on your smartphone, your personal hub, to see how IoT works for you.

Likewise, in the business world, organizations are finding ways to better connect their back-end machines with front-end operations, the cloud, each other, and for some, their end-user customers’ smartphone apps.

The IoT boils down to relationships. That is where a flurry of behind-the-scenes work is going on. With tens of millions (continues on page 151)

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

How Jasco Simplifies and Customizes Simultaneously

Taking the WORK out of Networking Rudy Kern spent a decade being challenged like everyone else by the sheer volume of time that networking requires — especially for systems integrators. Then the founder of Custom Integration Solutions hit upon an idea: what if I reverse the course so that integration can be optimized while shrinking networking time?

“I didn’t see any structure to the network side of the systems we built,” Kern said. “As I spoke to my peers, I found that they too were experiencing the same problem.

“Networking has been the highest investment of time with the smallest return. This is compounded by the fact that the entire system relies on this single component to work efficiently. I believe networking should require the smallest investment of time with a healthy margin and proven stability.”

This is where CIS’ newest solution comes into play for integrators in the home and commercial automation world — and also provides plenty of capacity for more hook-ins during our wild ride into the Internet of Things. An alternative to port- and cloud-based solutions, the CIS solution, of which new recurring revenue models will be formally introduced at CEDIA in Dallas in October, focuses on ease-ofinstallation (less than an hour) and two-ended security from intrusion on both the end user and integrator side.

“Our solution puts the tick marks in a number of boxes,” Kern said. “We have built multiple models for recurring revenue for the integrator.

This has been in effect for some time now and will be formally introduced at CEDIA along with some other key features that we believe to be forward thinking.”

Kern used a catchy, instantly relatable analogy for Baby Boomers and Gen Xers to show the difference in range and performance integrators have seen thus far from the new solution. “As a young boy, I once built my own telephone,” he recalled. “It was highly efficient and effective, although it had a range issues. Sadly, the length of the string between the two tin cans was a limitation.

“When I was a young man and required a mobile phone, I went to my provider, bought the phone, and they activated it. Performance with no range limitations!”

The current model has been distributed in Canada since January 2014, and has achieved three master distributors in the United States. Kern and his CIS team have been building relationships with key distributors to facilitate solid solutions for partners from distributors to integrators. A significant milestone is they are now a URC Total Control Industry Partner.

This major leap into nextgeneration systems integration is the culmination of 12 years of work for Kern. In that time, CIS has evolved from small to large systems, and is now versed in primary and subsystems systems involving the automation of heating/air, lighting, lighting distributed audio/visual/ pools, gates, and more.

Jasco has supplied products into numerous lifestyle categories during the past 40 years, with a real focus on home automation over the last decade. As the smart home and IoT space threatens to become inundated with product and hub choices, Jasco is focusing even more on customizing and simplifying at the same time.

Take Jasco CEO Cameron Trice’s comment on protocols such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. “We have a full ecosystem of Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth lighting control and home automation products,” he said. “Many people don’t know what wireless (protocols) are running in the background, and they really don’t need to know unless they just want to. Our job as a supplier is to make things work, easier to use, and to simplify people’s lives, not complicate them.”

Trice’s point is well taken. Setting up a smart home should be as simple as choosing the devices you need to automate your whole home or maybe just a few lights, and then downloading an app on your phone or tablet. However, in some cases, consumers have become increasingly confused, despite the fact their overall familiarity with home automation is growing.

Part of the solution, Trice feels, is for manufacturers to focus on product categories that suit their expertise and then work with the right platform providers to connect those products.

“Our primary focus in the connected home space is controlling and automating lights and providing enhanced energy savings and security through switches and sensors, an area where we have demonstrated long term leadership with the GE brand,” he explained. “We haven’t strayed from our core competence.”

Indeed, Jasco has built its business through powerful collaborations and partnerships. “We have a philosophy of collaboration,” Trice said.

“We partner with some of the most advanced players across platforms, from industry behemoths to upstarts. We’re not going it alone or straying from what were good at; we’re using our credibility and scale to partner with some of the best brands and technology providers in the world to bring solutions that people really want and are easy to use to the connected home.”

Which brings up customization. With consumers seeking more customized solutions, the pressure on manufacturers to differentiate is huge. “We’re agile enough to do that customization,” Trice said. “We know an electronic superstore or online shopper is looking for something different than a wholesale club or mass merchant shopper, and we know that a professional installation has very different needs from a quick DIY project to automate a few lights. We customize our product solutions and content by channel.

“This is especially important with small things, which connect your home and are the foundation of the Internet of Things. We’re very good at the small things that have a big impact in your home.”

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Smartenit’s 360-Degree Approach to Life Situations When we discuss home automation, rarely do we hear about specific plants in specific parts of the yard. Or elderly living. Or creating instant water. Then again, it’s all part of “harmonizing the connected life”, as the Smartenit slogan goes, to take us further into seamlessness.

We paid a drop-in visit to Smartenit’s Southern California office on a sweltering late July afternoon to talk with CEO Al Choperena about the more refined applications of his technology. We got a quick idea of Choperena’s passion by the opened-up motherboards and circuit boards strewn across his office, a latter-life version of a Lego-covered boy’s bedroom.

Then, Choperena showed a short video that encapsulated Smartenit’s state-of-the-industry, app-driven offering. “We take our firmware and put it into many different platforms, which satisfies our vision,” he said.

Two subjects were on Choperena’s mind. Not surprisingly during California’s Summer of Drought, one was water. “One of the biggest wastes of water comes when we turn it on and heat it up; sometimes, you wait a long time,” Choperena said. “However, it’s easy to get hot water instantly by circulating it through a pump with our controller after its first use, rather than using the water heater again — which uses up more water and energy. You’ll lower your energy costs.”

The other side of an overly dry — or wet — water season is outdoor watering. Smartenit has been ahead of the curve since day one through its integration with partner brands; now, Choperena and his team have ratcheted up the quality another

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notch. A sprinkler management kit embedding their technology includes the Smartenit Gateway, a ZigBee HA Range Extender, and ZigBee 16-valve irrigation controller. It all runs on the iSmartenit app.

“This is really important with the water scarcity we have,” he said, “You can deal with microclimates. The bad thing about smart timers is they don’t take every zone into account; how you plant the front is going to be different than how you plant the back. We can set each timer to the specific types of plants, their water needs, and soil and air conditions.

“This technology is also great for detecting slab leaks, which are prevalent in Southern California. Our pipes are buried beneath slabs, and they cause major issues. Yet another related application is the early detection of the overflow of air conditioner condensate so as to avoid damage to rafters.”

His other focus was on senior living and assisted care. Smartenit’s approach reaches beyond killer solutions and ease-of-use, and into the one thing most important to seniors: living with dignity. “There are many applications with our technology to help elderly people maintain their quality of life and independence,” Choperena said. “It’s a matter of dignity. But reality is reality. So, for example, we can put sensors on doors, include motion sensors, and everything can be monitored and controlled from the gateway. With that smart intelligence, you can alert someone when an undesirable situation occurs. You hit your Smartenit app, and it alerts a nurse, a monitoring center, facility personnel, relatives, etc.”— R.Y.

From intuitive set-up wizards, to viewing different areas of your home, Smartenit has a solution to fit your needs and is compatible with a growing number of manufacturer products.

Analog Food

in a

digital world Story and Photos by John D. Ivanko

The restaurant industry is huge – $709 billion according to the National Restaurant Association (NRA). The number may be so high because 43 percent of all food spending was on food consumed away from the home in 2012, most often at restaurants, as the USDA’s Economic Research Service found.

So, it’s no wonder that technology is transforming what and how we eat and drink.

The 2015 NRA Show showcases innovation for both back of the house and front of the house, served up on the plate or in a glass. The NRA’s Food and Beverage (FABI) Awards recognize progressive food and beverage products, and their Kitchen Innovations (KI) Awards focus on the technology that allows chefs to do that they do so well. Here are some of our favorites:

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Imagine one piece of equipment that can poach, grill, bake, fry, steam, roast – perfectly – regardless of whether you’re preparing fish, meat, baked goods, poultry, vegetables, egg dishes or desserts. Add sensors that read temperature, time, and moisture level in addition to the size, quantity, and condition of the items being cooked, plus how they’re being prepared, and you have the SelfCookingCenter 5 Senses from Rational. “It’s the only cooking system that senses, recognizes, anticipates, and learns from the chef or cook, and communicates with them,” says Marc Fugaro, an Executive Chef and Regional Sales Manager for Rational.

No longer just for amusement parks, a thrill ride might be coming to a bar near you. The Jet Buzz 360 from Dinomotion is the first of its kind: a two-seat open-capsule with 360-degree turning and 100-degree 4 tilting. The 3D HD interactive ride 1. The Chefjet Pro 3D printer takes a total of 7 minutes from start to final product, can send riders down up to five such as an intricate cupcake topper 2. Part of the Heineken USA’s new BrewLock different virtual roller coasters for a draught system. 3. Chef and the SelfCookingCenter teach each other and improve food quality. 4. Jet Buzz 360 takes restaurant patrons on virtual roller coaster rides. seven minute series of twists, turns and upside down loops. The ride combines be completely recycled after use. “The beer never several emerging technologies – 3D comes into contact with air, light or oxygen, so it’s graphics, high definition and video game perfectly carbonated,” explains Peter Camps, While beer has been flowing since Mesopotamia interactivity – with the power of robotics.

Commercial Marketing Manager at Heineken was the hot spot, among this year’s FABI Award John D. Ivanko is author of numerous books, USA. The new 20-liter kegs weigh 25 percent less winners was Heineken USA’s new BrewLock including Farmstead Chef and ECOpreneuring. than a comparable steel keg and yield 99 percent, draught beer system. The draught system for His home office is completely powered by the reducing waste and increasing profits so practically Heineken Lager and Newcastle Brown Ale provides brewery fresh taste with a system that can wind and sun. every drop can be enjoyed.

Edible 3D printing on display showcased fondant cake decorations including spectacular geometric shapes and intricate artwork.

Created by the Chef Jet Pro 3D printer from the 3D Corporation, the company also leads the 3D printing revolution in the medical, military, and automotive industries. The printer is capable of turning out full color sugar cake toppers, custom candies, and other novelty items.

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DogWatch Pet Boundaries

An aspect of home technology often not included in overall discussions, but vitally important to millions of pet owners, is the safety of our dogs and cats. And the boundaries they keep, both outside and inside the house. To that end, DogWatch offers an array of electronic pet fences. This includes an indoor pet fence that keeps pets off of kitchen counters or specific furniture, out of the trash (or an entire room), and from dashing out the door when it is open. The technology is as fascinating as it is simple: a small transmitter is placed in the area that is off-limits to your pets. Your pet (dog or cat) wears a small receiver on its collar that detects a harmless, noiseless signal that is used to train the pet where he is welcome and which areas are off-limits. In addition, the same collar can be used with DogWatch’s popular outdoor fence, thus creating a fully inside-and-out pet containment system without leashes or unsightly fence structures.

When Keen Home showed up at Disrupt NY 2013, they turned more than a few heads with a smart air vent that could control temperatures in individual rooms. What could be more convenient or comfortable — or perfect?

That’s what the producers at Shark Tank thought as well.

Keen’s Ryan Fant and Nayeem Hussain appeared on the show and turned a few more heads — creating a bidding war between Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, and Robert Herjavec that Herjavec won.

With that exposure and

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DogWatch’s initiatives underscore how technology can interface the relationship between you, your home, and your pets to combine convenience and safety – benefits that can be enjoyed equally by both you and your four-legged family members.

A Truly SMART Smart Vent

another $1.5 million in seed funding, Keen’s Smart Vent will begin showing up in Lowe’s Home Improvement Centers this October. Now seemed like a perfect time to talk with the Keen Home Team.

“Shark Tank ended up being a great opportunity for Keen Home,” Fant said. “We had a very positive experience securing one of the highest valuations in the show’s history. The exposure was great for our Smart Vent as we saw a dramatic increase in website traffic along with customer pre-orders.

“As for the Sharks themselves, we greatly benefited from doing our homework on each Shark before entering the tank. The important thing to remember is that they are all individual investors looking for specific things in a business. One of them may be very focused on the underlying technology, while another is fixates on the marketing strategy,” he added.

Why the excitement? When Fant described the Smart Vent’s features, one could almost see the Sharks cranking up their bidding.

The Smart Vent is equipped with pressure and temperature sensors that allow it to understand a room’s environment, which enables it to automatically adjust the amount of airflow entering specific rooms. And with the Keen Home App, a user can individually customize each room’s temperature.

“The real focus of the Smart Vent is comfort. Comfort is the reason people run their HVAC systems. It always has to be about comfort first,” Fant said.

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ELK’s encrypted Two-Way Wireless sensors for the M1 offers a truly secure and reliable wireless solution, defending against interference, hacking, and jamming. Advanced features ensure reliability, extend battery life, and shorten installation time. Two-Way also provides innovative security enhancements; such as, the ability to activate the sounders in all smoke detectors during a fire alarm plus utilize the status inquiry button on key fobs to see if an alarm has been activated before entering the home.

Securing & Simplifying Life.

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Fingerprints are the new Keys The goal of technology is to make our lives easier. Perhaps the most important innovations take steps to make living our lives seamless, uninterrupted by daily frustrations. One daily frustration that has become cliché for good reason is the difficulty caused by losing keys.

The tech industry at large has approached this problem from a variety of angles: keyless cars, devices you can put on your keychain and locate with your phone, etc.

Keyless entry for your home is becoming more popular as well. When combined with biometrics (something you can’t lose), users can be sure their home is secure.

One such keyless entry device is the IXM Touch by Invixium, a cutting edge biometric product with clever integration with Control4, a

leading provider of personalized automation and control solutions. With your fingerprint, you can restrict access to an office, wine cellar, vacation home – really anywhere you’d like personalized control, access, and protection.

There’s a lot of reasons keyless home entry might not work. What if you want to let a guest leave and return at will? Can it be hacked? Is it easier to break into than a traditional lock?

With the IoT growing everyday and its implications just beginning to surface, these are fair questions. But products like the TOUCH have users’ safety at ‘heart’. Owners can program up to 5,000 users and customize when those users have access or allow home access remotely. The TOUCH will sound the alarm if an intruder tampers with it.

Towards Bulletproof Media Systems When Larry Allhands tried to find a media system to handle his content streaming and storage needs, he didn’t like what he saw. So he reached into his bag of tricks as a Silicon Valley high-tech expert and built one. Then he realized the market didn’t offer anything like his device.

“I just used standard existing technology, and it blew away home entertainment installers; they kept telling me how fast, cool, and stable it was,” Allhands said. “I saw a need, and my advantage is that I’m not from this space.”

His device has evolved into the award-winning FIRE-FX line of media systems, which are catching fire with systems integrators because of their superior player and hub capabilities — well demonstrated in one of the catchier online videos in the IT space. Allhands and his fellow Army Signal Corps officer and Vice President Dave Putman take a player outside and shoot it.

Literally. While the player blows apart, the data stays intact. “Yes, it’s literally bulletproof,” Allhands chuckled. “And we build our products with that mindset. Our point is that we make a bulletproof

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software package.”

The FIRE-FX system is a local library intended for media collectors. It’s flexible for systems integrators, with a free, open interface, giving customers the option of doing everything from ripping their DVD libraries to downloading through a third-party service. The system is not available at retail stores, but sits at a middle price point for integrators building higherend systems. Besides its quality and price, system integrators love its ease-of-installation. At trade shows, Allhands and his team routinely call nontechnical executives and attendees off the floor, and watches them set up the player within 15 minutes.

FIRE-FX has raised plenty of eyebrows, including those of the Savant Systems team. Savant invited FIRE-FX to demo the media player with a Savant control system at a recent trade show; that led to

a partnership, which includes a player with special features available only to those using Savant control systems in their homes.

Allhands and his team are well positioned for a further explosion of media player and storage needs if Internet taxation and download tax legislation passes. “We don’t know how the Net Neutrality legislation and Internet taxes are going to affect Netflix and the other content streaming services,” Allhands said. “If streaming movies or TV shows becomes costly, I think that will only boost our situation, since people will want to have their favorite TV shows and movies on their hub.

They will build up their own war chest of entertainment.”

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The Acceleration of Auto Tech Fusion

By Michael Coates

L.A. Auto Show and Connected Car Expo Preview The BMW i3 took home Green Car of the Year honors at the 2014 L.A. Auto Show

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hen the Los Audi has teamed up with both Google and Apple to Angeles integrate Android and iOs with the Audi Connect system.

Auto Show approaches on the calendar, it means the auto show season has officially announced. One of the sessions at CCE will take begun! News of novel autoa deep dive into Android Auto, calling on Henry motive products and technology will begin to Newton-Dunn, the app’s design manager, to look flood the headlines. Many of those headlines will behind the scenes and into the thought processes invariably come from the new dimension of the of one of the world’s largest tech company’s most L.A. Auto Show, the Connected Car Expo. As aggressive moves into the automobile arena. if the slated 30 global reveals of new cars and trucks in L.A. aren’t enough, the CCE shifts “The role of CCE is to explore, explain, and (pun intended) focus from hardware and help navigate through this disruptive time,” horsepower to the technology that increasingly summarized Flynn. To that end, 25 auto and dominates many automotive discussions. tech thought leaders will speak at the day-long The new expo reflects the increasing convergence of automobiles and technology.

“The convergence is happening faster than anyone expected,” said Brendan Flynn, the L.A. Auto Show’s Senior Director of Marketing and Communications. That acceleration was obvious in the first half of 2015 as auto companies bought tech companies and/or ramped up their internal tech capabilities in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

CCE will feature automakers expounding on the potential they see for more technology inside the car.

The push to merge cars and technology comes from outside the auto companies as well. Google and Apple introduced Android Auto and Car Play, respectively, both of which attempted to bring their mobile-centric tech and applications into the car. The systems were not only embraced by automakers, but many car companies worked with Google and Apple to make sure the technology was available in the dash of new cars almost as soon as it was

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program, which will take place at the J.W. Marriott – across the street from the L.A. Convention Center where the auto show will take place the following day. In addition, 30 companies including Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Google, Volkswagen, Continental, Movimento, Redbend, J.D.Power, Pebble, Local Motors, and others will bring displays and hold press conferences to present their own views of the auto-tech amalgam.

This year CCE will add a touch of reality show Shark Tank as it presents the “Top 10 Automotive Startups,” a collection of promising outliers who may set the future direction of the auto industry.

The packed day of presentations and press conferences will also examine: • 3D printing as a potential method of future car production; • Cybersecurity, including a deep dive into “The Hack Heard Around the World” with a first-hand report from Chris Valasek, who took

control of a Jeep Cherokee remotely over a 3G connection; and “Three Problems; Three Solutions,” which looks into the most critical points of vulnerability of our connected cars; • Autonomous vehicles, where Roger Lanctot, Associate Director at the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics, speculates that contrary to conventional wisdom, self-driving cars could result in more drivers, more cars, and more deaths. It’s a contrarian view to the autopocalyse some in the industry predict with the advent of self-driving cars. The twists and turns on the road to autonomous cars will be discussed in another session; • Car sharing, where the president of the L.A. Taxi Commission and the founder of a startup called Hop Skip Drive will present two views of the car-sharing/ride-sharing present and future; • Over-the-air software updates, pioneered by Tesla, and predictions about whether or not they’ll catch on from executives at Movimento, Redbend, and Jaguar Land Rover; and • How gaming and wearable tech will influence vehicular electronics. Executives from Google, Edison Research, and Pebble will delve into what may change and when.

Back at the L.A. Auto Show, in addition to more than two dozen debuts, the Green Car of the Year will be awarded (the BMW i3 won last year). Also, a ride-and-drive will be set up to give media attendees first-hand experience with some advanced technology vehicles.

More information about CCE and the L.A. Auto Show is available at www.ConnectedCarExpo.com and www.LAAutoShow.com.

DO YOU HAVE THE NEXT BIG THING IN IOT? Z-WAVE LABS IS A BRAND NEW COMPETITION SPONSORED BY THE Z-WAVE ALLIANCE TO SUPPORT AND INCENTIVIZE INNOVATION ON THE Z-WAVE PLATFORM. The year-long Z-Wave Labs Program will accept applications from start-up companies and entrepreneurs looking to bring IoT Z-Wave products to market in categories including (but not limited to) residential, commercial, automotive, healthcare, security, energy and aging in place.

Once per month, the program will reward one selected individual or company with a year-long full membership to the Z-Wave Alliance, as well as access to the new IoT-ready 500 Series Z-Wave Developer Kits from Sigma Designs.

Ready to Join the IoT Revolution? Submit your entry today www.z-wavelabs.com

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COMPILED BY

Robert Yehling

Sustainability. It might be the most important word in both business and our personal lives today.

Thanks to climate change, dwindling resources, our global economy, the growing emphasis on green products, and the Internet-driven power of the consumer, companies have shifted the way they do business, grow and obtain materials, and serve customers. They have taken creative, community-oriented approaches, developed entirely new product lines, and switched from exploiting our natural resources to helping preserve them.

The result? A business approach that will enable us to prosper during our rapidly changing times.

We at Innovation & Tech Today have reported on sustainability since our premiere issue. Now, we step it up. Thanks to support from groups like Sustainable Brands and The Sustainability Consortium, we present Sustainability Today, a special section within each quarterly issue. This gives companies and individuals a strong vehicle for sharing their programs and strategies — and it gives you greater insight into how these organizations are looking out for our future, as well as their bottom lines.

Our journey begins‌

FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Peer Stewardship: The Future of Sustainability

By Robert Yehling Matthew Yeomans knows his way around stories. He’s dealt with some of the most outlandish claims, and battled through the “take it or leave it” corporate mentality like the rest of us. Now, he finds himself in a position all forward-thinking, customer-focused businesses and people strive to achieve: carrying forth a message of peer-to-peer stewardship.

“I used to be able to throw stuff at you, and you could take it or leave it. I could have a wall up,” Yeomans said at the Sustainable Brands (SB) ’15 San Diego conference. “That’s all changed with social media. As the company, as the brand, this is really scary, because it makes me accountable. I have to learn very quickly how I’m going to engage with customers.

“Social media has radically changed our way of interacting, and also the idea of the information superhighway. When you care about a certain issue, you can find someone anywhere in the world who also cares about that issue.”

Therein lies both the present and future of a truly sustainable life, business, and world: caring for each other as well as our bottom line. From TED Talks to conferences and seminars,

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strategists and consultants have spent the past few years sharing the power of storytelling in branding and connecting with customers. The importance of story has never been greater as companies move deeper into the brave new world of greater resource management, local sourcing, transparency, community involvement, waste control, education, and customer relationships in which customers are peers – and success is tied to the future of the world.

“These are not the ruthless people in business,” said Greg LaBar of the consulting firm Dix & Eaton. “These are the people who need to move more and more into driving the way we do business. I think that’s happening. It’s going to take us forward doing business in an ethical, sustainable, and creative way that benefits everyone.”

We, the customers, are no longer the taglines, afterthoughts, or merely end-users — we are partners. A perfect example of this new dynamic comes from Sprint’s Keanon Swan in his flowing description of the ever-innovative Sprint’s transition to wheat straw as a material source for paper packaging and billing:

As businesses and customers begin to thrive in a more sustainable economy, we look ahead to what it really boils down to: taking care of each other “We talk about a road map, look at innovation, and take the long view,” he said. “What can we do to lighten the product and make it more efficient […] and simpler for the customer? Then we move to the next phase, to lighten the paper itself.

We took it from 20-pound to 18-pound paper, thus reducing white space. Then we try to save the company money and experiment with the next thing, which led us to wheat straw. That leads us to the eco-envelope, the two-way reusable envelope. And we keep asking, what can we do for the customer?”

Swan’s view of the customer as a center-seat partner is no accident. While businesses break out lofty (and impressive) numbers of gallons of water and raw materials saved, local jobs created, natural energy sources utilized, and other statistics, they are moving toward a far more important solution — treating their customers as if they are stakeholders. Because, they are.

Haven’t they always been? After all, if I don’t buy your product, you are out of business. That’s a pretty important stakeholder.

Take Stella Artois’ collaboration with Water.org.

One of the world’s largest breweries, Stella Artois’

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How Brands are Failing: The Missed Opportunity of Social Media Sustainability is about working together as much as it is about finding renewable resources, saving on energy, and being mindful of communities in which businesses operate.

Today, there is no greater public barometer of a company’s ability to connect with customers than social media.

Water — and the lack or excess thereof — was the primary resource on participants’ minds at Sustainable Brands’ SB 15 San Diego conference in June. The conference featured more than 50 engaging workshops and plenary sessions, including an impressive “What Great Brands Do” presentation from branding strategist Denise Yohn (above left).

most precious resource is water. And beer drinkers. To bolster their commitment to water conservation, they partnered with Water.org, hitching their brand to a globally conscious, cultured, and powerful organization involved with the ultimate peerto-peer caretaking duty — protecting the one resource that assures our survival. As Water.org’s Julia LaGuardia put it, “Human impact is really important. We put a human face on the astounding facts and figures.”

We, the customers, are no longer the taglines, afterthoughts, or merely end-users —

we are partners.

Then look at what their joint program includes: a 360-degree, rich content approach with selective advertising, video, social porting, Instagram, the TVC shopping network in Mexico, a Tumbr immersive campaign, aggregated content, and photographs.

They used this approach on World Water Day, which coincided with Super Bowl XLIX in February, and received 25,000 site visits within minutes after their two ads ran.

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“We’ve focused on sharing journeys, promoting challenges, calls to action, and milestone updates for consumers to see our collective actions,” said David Butler of Stella Artois.

Among those highly impressed with the Stella Artois/Water.org approach is Alexandria Bennett of Source Intelligence. “I think one of the most important things is to get rid of much of the corporate vernacular. We need to communicate and convey our stories like writers and storytellers do. They’ve done that.”

During his talk at SB ’15 San Diego, Matthew Yeomans, the owner of the media business Sustainly, shared a study he conducted of the Facebook practices of the world’s top 15 consumer companies: Associated British Foods, ABInBev, Coca Cola, Diageo, DANONE, General Mills, J&J, Kimberly-Clark, Mars, McDonalds, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dove, and Nescafe.

“What do companies love to be and love to portray themselves as to you?” Yeomans asked.

“You’re going to find out on Facebook.”

Yeomans learned that of the 195 total product brands represented by the Big 15, a total of 74 communicated in some way about corporate sustainability — a surprisingly low 40 percent.

Four brands made up 50 percent of that total.

Butler’s and Bennett’s words drive to the heart of what will sustain businesses, economies, and the planet — our understanding and central involvement. It also circles back to Yeomans’ concerns as author of the Social Media Sustainability Index: We’re all in it together, businesses of the world. Are you?

“What we have is a failure to communicate on a brand level,” he said. “Fundamentally when it comes to sustainability at this moment, companies don’t trust themselves to communicate it at a brand level. It gets in the way of the arc of the story or message they want to present.”

“Businesses cannot look at social media as a silo within a larger marketing plan,” he said.

“Likewise, sustainability isn’t a tactic. It’s a fundamental business philosophy. To get past the other brands, I have to build community, I have to build trust, and I have to be creative.

That is a really potent recipe for communicating sustainability.”

Yeomans suggests companies change the way they tell stories — drastically. “If you don’t connect in a way that gives your customer a reason to join your journey, you’re not going to have success.” He then presented eight tips for soft sustainability — the key to peer-to-peer success on social media and in the marketplace: • Know your audience • Know what you have to say • Know what you do well • Know your strengths — and weaknesses • Know how to be transparent • Know how to be creative • Know how to be useful • Know how to lead and when to lead the debate

And for giving we, the people, the feeling that companies care about our lives and needs. If they don’t, we’re a click away from switching to a brand that does care. That is the heart of peer-to-peer stewardship.

What is the smartest city in the world? What makes it that way? We look at the latest, most essential form of urban development to ensure sustainability and efficiency.

Smart Cities, Smart Citizens

By Catherine Cunningham, Ph.D.

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I

t is not necessarily tall or short, big or small, remote or central. However, it is intelligent — very intelligent. So much so that it connects within and beyond itself to optimize the quality of urban life for all.

Welcome to the smart city, the urban model that follows the basic hierarchy of a thriving, living, integrated ecosystem.

Resources (water-energy-waste) flow efficiently; traffic is nearly non-existent; manufacturing and production hubs are optimally coordinated; commercial business centers share a distributed renewable energy resource; and neighborhoods, parks, and public spaces are safe and social (both virtually and actually).

Governments enjoy direct, realtime access to citywide information, so as to clip the wings of crime or catastrophe at its source.

Science fiction? No, this is fast becoming the current reality for leading-edge world cities through the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and others. It is also a new way for visionary companies like Panasonic and Qualcomm, who are reinventing the urban landscape for tomorrow.

Sound cool? Complex? Well, it should. We are talking about the infinite opportunities to

integrate efficiency, safety, and higher quality of life into every city process and system for each of the 3.6 billion urban dwellers who live and work in the world’s major cities. In fact, the transformation of the urban landscape has already begun. It only now needs smart citizens (you and me), ever-growing political will, and a bit of capital to embrace our smarter future, in order to speed and to scale.

If you’re reading Innovation & Tech Today, then you are already probably smart, and you already understand the socio-economic, environmental stakes here.

Cities are responsible for nearly 70% of our global carbon footprint while housing 50% of the people on the planet. They add stress to existing infrastructure-resources-roads, which in turn creates a positive feedback loop to changing climate. Now, imagine our footprint if we ramp up urban population from 50% to 70% by 2050, as predicted. You get the picture.

Simply put, we need to innovate. If we apply the human body metaphor to the urban landscape, then we need to upgrade the neural networks of our cities and engineer intelligent tissues into our existing urban bodies to help them operate healthier and

more efficiently. Smart citizens need healthy urban bodies, right?

Smart Urban Mobility Already, many cities from Seoul to San Francisco have interactive, virtual mapping digital technologies such as crowd-sourced point-to-point taxi services and integrated light rail, train, bus, and car share mobility apps and maps. More public-shared transportation options are coming online in major world cities. Then there’s traffic – not just Internet traffic, but physical, bumper-tobumper, uber-frustrating traffic, where the only consolation (if you are a hybrid/electric car owner) is that your car battery re-charges after you brake 100 times per hour. If you’ve not yet crossed over to the light electric side, then the smart real-time traffic flow maps (complete with construction zone warnings and alternative GPS re-routing strategies) are very effective lifemind-time savers.

ARUP predicts that, if we don’t upgrade to first-rate smart mobility, United States city congestion costs in 2030 will reach nearly $186 billion per year. That’s a lot of traffic ticket capital to raise. I imagine smart citizens wouldn’t let that happen, because Smart Urban Mobility is the New Green.

Smart Urban Infrastructure It’s challenging to deliver consistent and citywide mobile connectivity and bandwidth capacity 24/7. Further, if we expect nearly 25 billion smart devices to be connected to the virtual cloud of everything by 2020, as is predicted by the Gartner Group, Juniper Research and others, then managing the ever-increasing Internet traffic for all our daily tasks (beyond averting traffic) becomes an even greater challenge.

Now, imagine that we will evolve as truly connected urban dwellers, with 3.6 billion people tweeting, searching, purchasing, poking, and posting over 100 to 200 times a day. What’s the solution to well-managing and well-directing all that virtual traffic? Localize it. That’s exactly what Qualcomm is doing, weaving connectivity and capacity into existing infrastructure citywide. Imagine adding local hotspots to park benches, light posts, or corner mailboxes. What about the once-commonplace public telephone booths, now urban heritage sites? New York and Qualcomm are actively converting them into Innovation Hubs, equipped with Internet connectivity, mobile recharge capacity, and digital information displays. All we need next is

“ …United States city congestion costs in 2030 will reach nearly $186 billion per year. That’s a lot of traffic ticket capital to raise.”

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Starbucks coffee, and we’ve begun the Pursuit of Happyness (remember Will Smith’s film?) toward a new re-wired entrepreneur hub culture.

While we’re in renovation mode, why not re-paint those light poles with solar cells, attach a microwind turbine or two, or add an air quality meter (like smart urban planners are doing in China)? We would succeed in creating a local, distributed, shared hybrid energy source that also measures air quality. It creates a new way of looking at ourselves as global citizens who access and exchange energy from any point in our connected urban ecosystem. As the initial investment, urban tax, or loan is paid down to build the infrastructure, then that energy resource becomes free. Imagine a free resource — sounds great, doesn’t it?

“The perfect storm narratives on climate-congestioninconvenient truths are swiftly being replaced by the refreshing, regenerating, intelligent narratives on smart and connected cities.”

What about the role of upgraded neural networks on enhanced performance, reliability, and response time for civil services?

Imagine the impact on urban justice, peace, and disaster relief if surveillance cameras were integrated into traffic lights. And what if cities further launched cool citizen response campaigns and apps so that those 25 billion devices could be used by smart citizens uber-networked citywide

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to automatically alert relevant response teams when an emergency strikes (Ebola), a natural disaster hits (Kathmandu earthquake), or a crime spree breaks out (Ferguson, Baltimore)?

What could Baltimore and Kathmandu possibly have in common to mitigate future devastation and the extraordinary resources now needed to aid repair? Both need smarter infrastructure, where surveillance can help lead to greater public service and social justice.

Digital Technology for Water Efficiency Then there’s digital technology.

What if we use it to monitor, manage, repair, upgrade, and optimize existing city infrastructure preventatively? The New Climate Economy Report estimates that $90 trillion will be invested in urban infrastructure globally in the next 15 years. With the right digital technology, partners and purposeful urban managers can more efficiently target and tackle the bumps and the bruises in our vintage urban centers. They can use localized sensors on roads to target the most damaging potholes for repair.

Sensitive digital technologies can rapidly detect and pinpoint leakages in water pipelines, note lower or higher water pressure, and measure water quality. With these tools, imagine the environmentenergy-cost savings. Given depleting ground water storage, current drought conditions, and chronic dependence on imported water, a digital solution to identifying water loss hot spots and streamlining connectivity among all the stakeholders must be music to any mayor’s ears.

In Saipan, a U.S. territory in the

Northern Mariana Islands, Qualcomm and CH2MHill recently joined forces to address the small city’s 70% water leakage and water theft problem with a new cellular-based metering system. Imagine what Qualcomm’s digital technology could do for Los Angeles at scale!

From Waste to Fuel Finally, no urban story is complete without covering the ripe topic of trash. If we as smart citizens embraced cradle-to-cradle circular economy principles of design (e.g. William McDonough, The Upscale: Beyond Sustainability) and reduce, reuse, recycle, or repeat urban zen philosophies, then the concept of waste would be eliminated. If we really want to take the urban ecosystem metaphor to its zenith point, we can look at converting waste to wealth in our cities.

Enter again the smart technology Qualcomm has introduced to trash collection. It begins with smart trash bins, where solarpowered intelligence screens monitor contents and wirelessly communicate that information to a virtual site accessible for collectors en route. Isn’t it more efficient for collectors to skip visiting half-full or empty trashcans every day? Imagine that same technology and new efficient

pick-up protocol applied to other city resource flows, like delivery of medical supplies, packages or flowers.

I don’t normally get excited about trash, but you have to admit, this technology presents a pretty amazing picture moving forward.

And the story has just begun. Most thrilling is that the lead characters across the urban landscape, like Panasonic and Qualcomm, are reinventing a new era of urban innovation and collaboration. Says Kiva Allgood, head of Qualcomm’s Smart Cities Initiative, “that’s where the real magic happens.”

Clearly, it’s the dawn of a new day. The perfect storm narratives on climate-congestioninconvenient truths are swiftly being replaced by the refreshing, regenerating, intelligent narratives on smart and connected cities.

Since cities are made of citizens, we can’t forget that our future urban landscape is only as intelligent as the smart citizens who design, manage, and maintain them.

That would be you and me.

CATHERINE CUNNINGHAM is a writer, screenwriter, futurist, and circular economy expert based in Orange County, CA. She can be reached through www.eikosphere.org.

Get used to the look: by 2025, it is expected that more than 100 smart cities will be created to become major world centers.

by Terepac

The Intersection of Relevance&Resiliency

Sustainable Brands’ annual San Diego conference moved from sharing success stories to implanting practices for our new economy — and environment

By Robert Yehling

W

hile Southern California baked in the sun, leaching what little water remained during a drought considered the worst in 500 years, everyone from basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, 300 exhibitors, and more than 2,000 leaders, to innovators and drivers of our business future packed into Paradise Point in San Diego to buckle up for the long haul.

generations in terms of age groups,” said Raphael Bemporad, co-founder of BBMG. “Generations are shaped by events and experiences that define who we are and help us understand the issues and world around us.

This particular generation — the one that will lead us through this very difficult time and into a more sustainable world — connects various ages and the issues. They connect the right thing to do with the cool thing to do.”

In this case, ‘the long haul’ involves the products we will buy and way we will do business during a far different economic, climatic, and technological time than anything the baby boomers or Gen X knew when they were building businesses in their 20s and 30s.

These changes are why much of Sustainable Brands (SB) ’15 San Diego conference focused on repositioning younger entrepreneurs and sustainability experts not as followers of a wellworn path, but creators of something entirely new. Also, of blurring the focus on age itself.

Bemporad makes a strong point: Right now, talking and walking sustainability is cool.

However, it’s also what will keep us viable as a culture and an economy. “We’re at the intersection of relevance and resiliency right now,” he said. “This is where brands of the 21st century will succeed. You can’t separate these two anymore.”

“For a long time, we’ve been talking about

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This mantra was borne out in various shapes and forms during four days of beachfront plenaries, keynotes, seminars, parties, and hallway discussions. A trio of city planners broke down how the City of Phoenix is

combining state-of-the-art LED lighting (cool, resilient) and better negotiating with solar and utility companies (necessity) to create one of the nation’s most energy-efficient municipal power grids (relevance). Green Advantage, a consultancy firm, touted how MGM resorts is converting 1.3 million lights to LED, saving more than 20 million gallons of water per year, and recycling more than 56,000 tons of waste annually — a perfect mixture of present relevance leading to future resiliency.

Even the Boy Scouts of America, the denizen of conservation-minded youth organizations, has jumped into the relevance/resiliency discussion. The BSA awards 22 million outdoor recreation merit badges and 11 million natural sciences merit badges per year. Both are now required to attain the coveted Eagle Scout status, as well as community service projects; scouts perform 17 million hours of such service each year.

“We’ve been practicing conservation and sustainability and instilling those values in our scouts for a hundred years,” a BSA spokesman said. “It’s nice to see that these kids can move out of scouts and into something where they already have a lot of training, when you think about it.”

Since we were in San Diego, at the heart of a drought that has taxed Californians to the tune of mandatory 25% water rationing and caused more than 3 million acres to burn — in 2015 alone —

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Greg LaBar, the managing director of Cleveland-based Dixon & Eaton, a corporate communications and consultancy firm, agrees. “That’s a great comment,” he said. “Our offices sit atop Lake Erie, which has a much different water issue than the drought in California or the flooding in Texas and Florida. The ability to localize and customize shows really good leadership.

SB ’15 San Diego drove beyond the typical conference fare of keynotes and presentations, as attendees networked and collaborated on solutions they built into their businesses during the summer — when not having fun testing electric cars.

water was on everyone’s minds. Alliances, consultancy groups and companies touted their water savings, some of which were stunning.

Organizations like Water.org discussed specific projects and alliances they’ve formed, and how they’re breaking out their stories, successes, and messages on social media. Even Sustainable Brands jumped into the act, allowing signs to be planted outside the conference center to show the other coastal water issue — rising seawater levels and flood lines, should the global meltdown continue at its same terrifying rate.

In the trenches and various workshops, the talk wasn’t about sharing stories or touting lofty statistics, but to identify and deploy specific solutions now.

“I’m noticing that we’re moving into much more of an execution phase,” said Rob Zimmerman of Kohler, the multi-billion dollar manufacturer of household fixtures and commodes, all centered on water flow. “How are we paying closer attention to specifics? With Kohler, we focus on the fact that there are 50 states and 50 different water issues — the drought in California and the west, floods in Florida, Texas, and parts of the South, all the snow in New England, runoff from dairies and farms in Wisconsin and Midwestern states, lake pollution issues in the Great Lakes states, concerns over fracking seepage … When we can provide solutions to specific environmental or community situations, then we’re driving to the potential of a lasting, sustainable solution, in my opinion.”

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produce paper bills without tree pulp — by using wheat straw, a far more renewable and fastgrowing resource.

“A huge part of the sustainability effort is telling our story well, and continuing to find new stories, because that is how people relate to something new,” he said. “But the next step forward is converting them into things we can use in our lives. That’s the jump forward I saw this year in San Diego.”

“I do believe water is the one issue that, no matter how much attention we give it, it’s not enough. A gallon of water is almost as expensive now as a gallon of gas in the store. That should open people’s eyes.”

Even the storytelling is getting more specific. Whereas the SB ’14 San Diego conference focused heavily on rich, impactful success stories, the 2015 conference was a discussion on how all companies are diving further into sustainable practices. In fact, as LaBar noted, the big problem in the corporate world now isn’t greenwashing — overstating the company’s sustainability footprint — but green blushing, which is understating actual accomplishments. While that sounds almost like an anathema in today’s hype-filled branding climate, Zimmerman pointed out that Kohler didn’t start telling its sustainability story until 2008, even though it had been fitting homes with water-efficient products since the 1970s.

“I’ve been very surprised by how realistic people are,” LaBar said. “The people who are at this conference are not the ruthless people in business. They are the people who care, and these are the people who need to move more and more into driving the way we do business.

Five (Sustainability) Aspirations During his talk at SB ’15 San Diego, BBMG’s Raphael Bemporad made a startling comment: “For awhile, we’ve been missing a truly aspirational generation.” As he elaborated on what it would take for us to again reach for the proverbial stars, like the Baby Boomers actually did in the 1960s, he hit upon a five-point checklist for achieving aspiration within sustainability practices: Abundance Without Waste: Create more experiences/products with fewer resources, replacing the feeling of “we don’t have enough” scarcity.

Be Truly As You Are: Welcoming imperfection as a beautiful, honest state. “It takes us from controlling conversations to listening to the other party and working on more collaborative solutions,” Bemporad said, citing Everlane’s radical transparency program as an example.

“Normally, at events like this that are concerned with the future as well as the present, you have true believers who say all week, ‘everything is great and we’re taking the world by storm.’ But here, everyone is well aware of the challenges at hand and building realistic, attainable programs to overcome them. That’s tough for true believers, because you want to believe everyone is just like you — and why wouldn’t they do this?

People are very realistic, and that has really impressed me.”

Do It All: Move from a fixed position or way of doing business to a fluid, engaging way in which all can share success “based on our happiness and life choices,” Bemporad said, citing Urban Outfitters as a perfect example.

Sprint’s Keanon Swan expressed the same surprise as LaBar while touting a new way to

Do Some Good: Reinvent the way we do business to better serve humanity.

Get Closer: Connect with people behind a brand’s promises, looking at the customer value of a transaction rather than making the sale. PayPal was cited as a chief practitioner.

San Diego and Jacksonville will soon begin piloting new GE technology designed to help them become more intelligent and efficient.

Both cities will incorporate into the GE LED solution that uses LED street lighting installations to connect, collect, and analyze data. It will harness the power of the industrial Internet to help their cities run better while providing new services and conveniences for residents and visitors. By repurposing street lights with LEDs containing sensors, controls, wireless transmitters, and microprocessors, a city will be able to create new opportunities for reducing cost, optimizing operations and creating value-added services for residents, making their cities even more livable and workable.

According to Maryrose Sylvester, president and CEO of GE Lighting, “We will be working with the cities to analyze data trends and determine where the solution holds the most value and how it will ultimately be used.”

"Jacksonville is excited to be on the front lines with this pilot project, using new technology to increase efficiency and drive innovation at no cost to taxpayers," added Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown.

"This technology has the potential to transform how our city solves problems by allowing us to use the power of data to drive outcomes that give us flexibility, efficiency, and new, creative actions to enhance life in our city."

(SOURCE: Disney)

(SOURCE: Green Advantage)

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GE to Pilot Intelligent City Development

From Fantastic to Super Sustainable

By Michael Mascioni

The Weird Past and Promising Future of Columbia Island The evolution of Columbia Island reads like an outlandish adventure or historical novel – and now, a direct peek into the present and future of well-integrated renewable energy.

A radio transmission center was built in 1941 on the two-acre island near New Rochelle, NY by CBS, only to be purportedly used for secret military purposes during WWII. CBS decommissioned the transmission center after a pilot crashed there in 1967, killing five.

CBS then sold the island to Peter Lind Hayes, a radio announcer, who in turn, donated the island to the College of New Rochelle. The college owned the island for about 20 years before deeding it to their caretaker, who held it for about 20 years. In 2007, it was sold it to Al Sutton, an MD, film producer, and human rights activist now converting the former commer-cial building into a residence.

What do you do with a broken-down island?

Turn it into a model of sustainable solar living, if you’re among those on New York’s Columbia Island.

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When Sutton acquired the island, it was mired in disrepair. After a false start with one contractor, he turned to Marine Solutions, a Long Island outfit known for its inventive use of marine materials and equipment to refinish, repair, and restore boats and buildings in marine environments.

Harry Hunt, the company’s proprietor, has overseen a large scale rebuilding and renovation process on the island, casting aside the dilapidated transmission center, broken windows, and other fading remnants from the island in favor of green energy systems.

A key part of the rebuilding process involved turning the island into a self-generating power environment. The island’s current energy self-sufficiency is driven by its 60 solar panels and solar storage capability. The panels and solar storage units were installed three years ago and are supported by 6 Xantrex 6,000-watt inverters. The island uses 7,000 to 8,000 kilowatts of solar energy at peak periods. It also utilizes the solar panels, inverters, and 40 lead-acid batteries packed with 48 volts to store solar energy. Provisions have been made to supplement the solar/clean energy component with diesel fuel, primarily for two 45-kilowatt Mastry MasPower generators in the kitchen area, but so far there has been virtually no need to rely on that fuel.

Plans are afoot to install wind turbines on the island in the not too distant future. However, Columbia Island’s next door neighbor, Pea Island, will feature a large wind turbine, pending permit approval.

Another key challenge, fresh water needs, was addressed by Marine Solutions with its Village Marine Tech reverse osmosis system.

Given its unusual history, it’s not surprising to hear that Hunt has plans to write a book about the island’s history. Certainly, Columbia Island’s strategy serves as an inspiration to others to maximize their use of renewable sources, even in the most obscure locations.

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Talking Story, Effectively Kohler’s Rob Zimmerman discusses how the home fixture giant shares its sustainability successes publicly — and why others must do the same

‘ We continued to increase our investment in sustainability, but we also had to be willing to talk about stuff, whether we knew it would work or not.’

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Developing a sustainability practice is one thing.

Sharing the story in a compelling way that engages customers is another. This dilemma faces many companies as they bring their leaner, greener, more community-oriented practices to the forefront.

“We’re doing all these wonderful things, we have a great product line that helps people save water in their homes, and we’re not talking about it,” said Rob Zimmerman of Kohler, the multi-billion dollar manufacturer of energy-efficient faucets, toilets, and other water-oriented home fixtures. “It’s like sales; you get the sale when the risk of change becomes less than the risk of staying the same.

“That’s where we were at. We continued to increase our investment in sustainability, but we also had to be willing to talk about stuff, whether we knew it would work or not. It’s the journey that’s interesting, not what we did last year.”

changing 1.6 liter-per-flush toilets were all the rage in California as far back as the 1980s. “Even in the 1970s, we advertised and encouraged low water-use faucets and showerheads,” Zimmerman recalled “We’ve believed in conservation and the need for conservation for a long time.”

How does Kohler tell its long, illustrious story today?

With strong, catchy storytelling techniques involving innovative practices and a dynamic blog format on their ‘Believe in Being Better’ blog. No surprise there.

“A little less than two years ago, we launched believe.kohler.com,” Zimmerman said. “We took stories from across the company and told them from the point of view of our Kohler associates: ‘I’m working on this project to reduce water use in our shop in China.’ We call it a blog, but it’s really more of a very short-story format, where we’ll have a paragraph or two, and then a picture, and then populate that blog. We have about 150 stories on there now, from all over the world.”

As Zimmerman noted, a discussion about sustainability is a discussion about moving forward It’s the journey that’s interesting, from today. That’s not easy in a society that touts past not what we did last year. achievements, celebrates history, measures today’s efforts based on yesterday’s balance sheet, and tends to One of the projects they’re touting speaks of the fear the unknown — as in, the future. Multiply that impact of sustainability and renewal on an individual several times over, and you have the reality of basis: the Reneww House Project, a joint effort with companies who are trying to forge practices for these far Whirlpool. The companies are retrofitting a 90-year-old different times while adhering to long-held missions, home converted into graduate student housing at shareholders’ concerns, and the like.

Purdue University. “We started this last year with the goal of going net zero energy, which we’ve done; now Consequently, companies struggle to tell their we want to go net zero water,” Zimmerman explained. sustainability stories in a way people can relate to and “Whirlpool has the washers and dishwashers; we have act upon. As Zimmerman noted, discussion often tends the fixtures, toilets and faucets. Between the two to circle around a subject without landing – no matter companies, just about every drop of water that’s used in how good their practices might be. the home is going to go through our products. There “The term I picked up at this conference was ‘green are three or four grad students living in this house at blushing’,” Zimmerman said while taking a break at one time, so it’s not a lab. It’s real life.”

Sustainable Brands’ SB San Diego 15 conference. “It’s The results are measured so the students, too, can when people are afraid to say exactly what they’re doing evaluate their energy use. Zimmerman feels projects for fear of being dragged through the mud by an such as Reneww speak to the next step in our environmentalist. They’re afraid of saying more and sustainability growth — to focus on systems rather than overstating where they’re at, and then they say nothing. individual end uses. “Regulators in the industry talk Kohler was probably in that position until two or three about gallons per flush, and that’s a start, but to get to years ago, and then finally, it dawned on our senior the next level, we’ve got to look at it as an integrated leadership that we have to have a position.” system,” he said. “That’s the intent of this project.”

Ironically, Kohler has one of the best and longestIt’s also a story that will find plenty of adopters when running records of sustainability in the world. Their told. No green blushing about it. water-efficient faucets and fixtures have occupied American homes since the 1970s, and their industry— R.Y.

81%

express concern about the environment

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expect sports teams to use environmentally friendly practices

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Welcome to the (Solar-Powered) Treehouse

participate in recycling

55%

56%

Are more likely to support environmentally friendly sponsors

Key Points of President Obama’s Climate Change Plan At the same time Pope Francis suggested a revolution was necessary to combat climate change, President Obama took the front lines in August with a bold, ambitious plan. According to the EPA, the $8.4 billion plan will result in $34 billion to $54 billion in benefits. Its highlights include: •S tates must meet specific carbon emission reduction based on their individual energy consumption; •C arbon dioxide emissions will be limited in power plants nationwide; •A cap-and-trade policy will be instituted to allow lower-energy users to sell credits to higher-level polluters to extend their limit; •S tandards of performance will be established.

When the world’s premier sustainable builders gather in Washington D.C. November 18-19 for Greenbuild 2015, they’ll be seeking out companies and partners whose green products truly fit the ‘sustainable’ bill while also pointing the way forward.

What about combatting any wood-based building’s greatest nightmare — water? Given the current state of the water sealant and transparent stain market, sustainable builders and architects can be excused if they give the product category a pass. After all, stains are toxic and use bee’s wax to create the spectacular ‘dancing water’ effect we see in TV commercials and in magazine ads.

“If you have a new house, or old house, you probably have some transparent stain on there; there’s probably 40 or 50 [stains] on the market with well-known names,” said Hank Croteau of Seal-Once. “The tech in how those products are made is very similar.

Anybody can make them. They’re using COCs and toxic chemicals, and no matter which one you use, it’s high maintenance; you have to apply it every year or two.”

The problem, Croteau says, is that the products aren’t waterproof at all. Once they break down, and their water-repellent qualities evaporate, the wood absorbs water, “which is the killer of everything. If you don’t address it, you have rotten wood. What’s changed in the last 40 years in formulation is

better marketing. If anything, the formulations have gotten worse.”

With Seal-Once, Croteau has transformed the playing field. Unlike the others, Seal-Once is a non-toxic, fully waterproof product with no VOC’s (even the Marine product is fishfriendly) that not only protects wood, but strengthens its own defenses against water absorption. “If you put this product on wood, by itself, without color on it. The nano particles in Seal-Once are the size of an atom. Water is the carrier. You brush or spray; you can’t roll it.”

There are two principal secrets to the process, one of which Croteau revealed.

“When you put it on wood – any kind of wood, including iron wood such as IPW, composite wood and concrete/masonry – the water will evaporate and bring the particles inside the wood,” he said. “It actually forms a clear, flexible polymer that becomes 100 percent waterproof. When it rains outside, your deck will get wet, but it will never absorb water.”

And for the other? It boils down to a version of reverse engineering that millions of frustrated homeowners wish they could use to reverse their own experience with stains.

“You can put it on an existing piece of wood that has absorbed water before, and has mildew stain or mold, and our product works in reverse — but I can’t tell you how,” Croteau said coyly.

Remember slapping together stray 2x4s and pieces of plywood for a backyard treehouse? In this era of sustainability, apparently things have changed.

:\prompts_

SPORTS FANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

A New Zealand engineer, Jono Williams, has developed a solar-powered treehouse. The Skysphere works with voice commands and even alerts you when you need more beer. Like other automated homes, the lighting, temperature, and sound system are remotely controlled with a mobile app.

The Skysphere features 270 square feet of living space. It sits 10 meters (33 feet) above the North New Zealand countryside, and offers a 360-degree view.

“From an early age I have always liked to make things,” Williams told CNN. “I am most pleased with my in-couch, refrigerated beer dispenser. This allows me to press a button on my phone and have a cold beer served directly to my hand.”

It took Williams three years and $50,000 to build Skysphere — a far cry from those nickel-and-dime childhood treehouses, but certainly a great example of innovation.

Meet Seal-Once: Your Home’s New Best Friend

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STEM As summer ends and the 2015 school year begins, I&T Today examines trends for the upcoming school year, as well as a look at the best STEM camps of the summer.

Project-Based Learning continues to be a hot topic, reflected in the coding and robotics camps that kept students sharp while school was it. Exclusive interviews with Bill Nye, Principal Maria Vera-Drucker, and the esteemed speakers from the Nifty Fifty Program make this our most in-depth STEM section produced in proud partnership with the USA Science & Engineering Festival. The USA Science & Engineering Festival will be held April 1417, 2016 in Washington, D.C. with Founding & Presenting Host Lockheed Martin.

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Bill Nye The Science-PoliticsEducation-Social MediaHome AutomationGlobal Warming-Guy

Interview by Melissa Hirsch & Charles Warner Bill Nye. If you grew up in the 90’s, your brain will automatically recall the words “The Science Guy” – and maybe even the iconic show’s theme song. Bill hasn’t missed a step since his days teaching kids about the earth’s crust, how light works, and so much more. For starters, he’s the CEO of the Planetary Society, which was co-founded by his former teacher, Carl Sagan. He’s taken on the anti-science mongers of the world in interviews. His next book, Unstoppable (out November 10), not only describes him, but tackles what he sees as the biggest problem facing humankind: global warming and those who deny it. On #TuesdaysWithBill, he hits the Twitter-verse with no-nonsense answers to the world’s science questions.

Nye’s sense of humor, intelligence, and willingness to discuss tough issues make him a hit with millennials nationwide and a favorite among USA Science & Engineering Festival attendees. The 18-time Emmy winner has wowed fans since the Festival’s inception, and is projected to attract some of the largest crowds at the 4th Festival on April 16-17 in Washington, D.C. In this exclusive interview, Nye shares his views on just about everything under (and including) the sun.

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STEM I&T Today: What are the biggest obstacles to getting kids in STEM?

“ I want the millennials to be the next Great Generation.

I want them to change the world.

This is my hope.

This is my dream.

This is what I work towards.”

Innovation & Tech Today: Why are events like the USA Science & Engineering Festival so important?

Bill Nye: Well, the big thing we all talk about continually is hands-on learning.

You want kids to be able to touch things – not just watch them. Everybody agrees: it is important to give students an opportunity to really touch things and really see things. All of our technology and our food and our weather reports – everything comes from a relatively disease-free society compared to a hundred years ago. That’s all a result of science, so of course you want to get kids excited about that. But also, from a practical standpoint, you get to get kids excited about engineering jobs.

If you’re a corporation like Lockheed Martin who has a strong presence

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there, you have to get engineers in the pipeline, too. You gotta get kids excited about science and engineering so you can hire them as employees someday.

I&T Today: I think another point about the USA Science & Engineering Festival people talk about is the importance of kids having role models and seeing people who are really happy in their jobs. Do you think experience combats the stereotype that it’s uncool to be a geek?

BN: Yes. The strongest evidence I can think of is The Big Bang Theory. It is the biggest TV show on television – not just the biggest sitcom, but it has the highest ratings all week. They’re all lovable geeks! That alone is incontrovertible evidence that it’s hip to be a square.

BN: It turns out algebra is the single most reliable indicator of whether or not a kid pursues a career in science or math. It’s not clear that it’s cause-and-effect, but what we want to do is start teaching algebra earlier and have it be lower pressure.

Traditionally it’s taught in middle school, and either you like it and get into it, or you hate it and no one ever makes you do it again.

We want everybody to be fluent in algebra. It’s a solvable problem.

You do not need to scrap the entire school system. It’s a tweak to enable science technology engineering and math for a better tomorrow for all of humankind.

Is that so wrong?!

When you have a space program, you do not have to run around obsessing about creating STEM! STEM! STEM! STEM just happens as part of your everyday experience.

I&T Today: And that’s really closely related to the projectbased learning you hear a lot of buzz about, too.

BN: We love project-based learning.

That’s also the hands-on learning. You want to build a robot? That’s all you.

I&T Today: And then the math and science is something that you learn so you can do something really awesome like building a robot instead of just passing a test.

BN: Yeah, exactly. This is part of the theater background, but I remind everybody, it’s test time! You nervous?

Yes, you’re nervous. And before a show you’re nervous. As the saying goes, if you’re not nervous, quit doing it. When you teach people, remind everybody to take the nervousness and turn it into excitement. Not saying, WOW! A pop quiz! Cool! But just, Well, a pop quiz.

Okay. Time to focus.

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I&T Today: What’s the importance of adding the “A” in STEM and making it STEAM?

BN: I guess I’ve expressed opinions on all those things, haven’t I?

BN: When you do that, you diffuse it a little bit. You don’t want to eschew the arts. They’re very important. You know, I was just in Japan (recently), and it’s a real thing – when Japanese society does anything, they take into account how it looks. And why don’t we all do that? Japanese companies want U.S. students engaged with their students, because it is generally agreed U.S. students are somewhat more creative. They also want U.S. students to see disciplined Japanese science students doing disciplined things – not just dinking around. Toshiba has an exchange program. It’s called Tomodachi, which means friendship.

The better you know your neighbors the more likely you’ll do business with them, and then more productive and creative everyone will be, the better the world will be tomorrow.

I&T Today: Yes, and it’s really important that you do. Have you noticed a change in the political climate and how we address these sorts of issues?

What role do you think science plays in shaping these conversations?

I&T Today: With the hashtag #TuesdaysWithBill, reading mean tweets, and your cameo on Inside Amy Schumer, do you think it’s important to really be engaging the millennial crowd and getting them thinking about and talking about science?

BN: Well, of course, but those are the people who grew up watching the show. It’s fun for me to engage them, and those are people that are going to finally change the world. This is to say we are living now in an extraordinary situation where people are denying climate change. This is a problem I realize now has to be solved in parallel with actually solving climate change. So, engaging millennials and encouraging them to vote for the environment I think in the short, medium, and long-term would be in everyone’s best interest.

I&T Today: You talk about intelligent design, homosexuality, fracking…

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“ It’s a tweak to enable science, technology, engineering and math for a better tomorrow for all of humankind.

Is that so wrong?!”

BN: The absolute most serious problem humankind faces is climate change.

That is sciencebased policymaking.

Vaccinations – that’s science. It is not freedom of choice. I have a right to not have your smallpoxinfected kid running around my society.

I went to elementary school with a guy who had polio. You do not freaking want polio, I’m telling you right now.

So there’s a vaccine for it, and that’s a science-based policy. When it comes to homosexuality, the proof that there is a sound policy is that the Supreme Court just issued a ruling that you can marry anyone that you want. And that is also, if you look at the biggest picture, science-based decision-making.

Homosexual people exist in society.

Deal! That whole thing for me is so personal. A guy wants to marry another guy. So what?! I can understand now from an evolutionary standpoint there are traditions which discourage homosexuality, because that eliminates or greatly reduces the chance of having grandkids. I can understand where topdown management of a religion would discourage that. But, there’s a lot of kids happening anyway with 7 billion people in the world.

I&T Today: So, do you think our society and the world at large would be better off if science dictated more policy and religion?

BN: Well, religion you’ve got to keep separate. That’s another idea those people who wrote the Constitution had. It’s a great idea. These guys running for president right now bringing it up is very troubling. But we want science-based everything.

This doesn’t mean you seek a single scientific authority and do what he or she says. It means you have a society where all the voters and taxpayers are scientifically literate. They’re not all engineers. They’re not all scientists.

They don’t all write scientific papers.

But they have an appreciation for it in the same way everybody has an opinion on what’s right and wrong as manifested in our laws. People have opinions about whether or not a law is good. In the same way, we want everyone to have an opinion about science from scientifically literate society.

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I&T Today: I’m interested in how you would go about differentiating a good scientific perspective from a bad one.

BN: That’s the whole thing – we want everybody involved. The one thing you can count on in science is that it’s going to change. The information you find tomorrow’s going to be different from the information you have today. That’s part of the process, and that’s what we celebrate.

So when it comes to climate change, it has been politicized. That is to say you can argue about whether or not it’s really happening. That’s wrong from a scientific standpoint. Climate change is very well-documented from a scientific standpoint, and at least 97% of the world scientists are very concerned about it. But in the United States, especially the fossil fuel industry has been involved in so many political campaigns, a great number of politicians have been influenced to believe or to say they believe that climate change isn’t a settled issue. That is based on the fossil fuel industry.

I&T Today: I love what you said about the millennials being the ones to change the world.

BN: Climate change denial is not entirely, but generally, a generational issue. Millennials do not deny climate change. It’s old guys, people my age, who deny climate change.

I&T Today: I think that they’re more savvy than we give them credit for, and they have a few tricks up their sleeves to be a positive force for change especially with regards to climate change and maybe politics.

What you think about that?

BN: Well, I mean that’s my dream. Last night, I submitted the last version of the manuscript of my next book, which is called Unstoppable: Climate Change in the Next Great Generation. My parents

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“ Dismiss science because it changes? No, we prefer you dismiss your other beliefs.” were both veterans of World War II. My dad was a prisoner of war, and my mom was in the Navy. People call them the ‘Greatest Generation.’ I want the millennials to be the next Great Generation. I want them to change the world. This is my hope. This is my dream. This is what I work towards.

I&T Today: Have you noticed a change in corporate America’s attitude toward sustainability?

BN: Well, green is the new black as they say. Corporations have their whole brands based on this now. The interesting thing is an organization like REI. They’re like, Hey! We were here first! Whole Foods and Chipotle, too.

These guys are all about sustainability.

You go into a restaurant, and the pork is all grass fed. It’s in the culture. In car companies, you have fully recyclable body panels, recyclable tires, and so on.

It’s all the rage. Of course, from my point of view it’s not enough, but the longest journey begins with a single step.

I&T Today: Hopefully it’s moving away from just the lip service that you’ve seen in the past, even if it is just in small steps.

BN: Well, small steps are how you get going on this. And the millennials are going to demand it. There’s an interesting market question. I just mentioned Chipotle (it must be on my mind). They’re saying, no genetically modified organisms. We’ll see how well that does. We’ll let the market sort that out. I strongly feel that genetically

modified organisms are not inherently bad. We’ll see how that sustainable that is for businesses – if they can raise enough food without GMO’s, if people really do prefer the old technology flavors versus the new ones.

I&T Today: What are the biggest obstacles to having your dream of millennials changing the world actually coming to fruition? On the other hand, what are the most encouraging things you’ve seen in this group of people that lead you to believe this could happen?

BN: These people, those who work at the Planetary Society, they work hard.

They’re enthusiastic, passionate people who accomplish great things. And the technical savvy is after my time. Double thumbs juggling. It’s amazing. The obstacle is climate change denial. It’s a serious problem in the U.S. The other thing is people feeling powerless. The problem is so big, there’s no way to get started on it.

I&T Today: I think they don’t believe they have a voice. Politics is all bought and paid for, so it is hard to get representatives who stand up for what the people want.

BN: And it’s not that they’re evil.

It’s that we’ve accidentally created a system where you need so much money to stay elected. This goes back to gerrymandering of congressional districts. Each time it was done, it seemed like kind of an okay thing to do. But we’ve gotten really out of hand.

Gerrymandering is a solvable problem.

It’s going to take voters and taxpayers agreeing that we need to solve it, but the biggest picture to remind everyone of is we’re more alike than we are different. You think you don’t have anything in common with those people in that neighborhood, but you do. The reason we don’t fix gerrymandering is for the most part because we’re afraid of people that we don’t know. It

Be Brilliant.

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STEM

“Vaccinations – that’s science. It is not freedom of choice. I have a right to not have your smallpoxinfected kid running around my society.”

turns out that you actually have more in common with them than you think.

That’s my claim.

I&T Today: What are your thoughts on home automation and the Internet of Things?

BN: I have a Nest thermostat, and it’s fantastic. It cools off the house from my car. This week, I had use of the BMW i3. It’s their small electric vehicle, which is excellent. And you have got to be able to check your vehicle’s state of charge from your phone! You need that as part of your life! After you drive an electric car, you will never go back. One of the reasons you’ll never go back is when you get in your car in the morning, the cabin has been preconditioned: the airconditioner or heater has been turned on. It’s automated. I’m a big fan of that having sensors in the refrigerator reminding you get a get a quart of milk.

With that said, you have to protect the infrastructure. You cannot let the Internet get hacked. It cannot go down.

These are things we have to keep in mind. The Internet isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. I’m a big fan of net neutrality.

As soon as you have a communications company making a deal that gets you faster Internet than your neighbors, you’re heading for trouble. You want to democratize information.

I&T Today: What do you think about the line of reasoning that privatizing Internet will make for a better product?

BN: Disagree. Do you want to privatize the sewer? To privatize the voltage?

Over here we use 195, over here is 98 – No! That is almost certainly lobbying from communications companies who see the opportunity to make a very good living without having to change much. In fact, you could even argue that service would go down if you privatize it. What does everybody complain about? Any talk show host can make a joke about the cable company. There is

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a comedian, Larry the Cable Guy, whose name is a joke. I want everybody to have a highest-quality Internet possible.

In the argument that the free market always does it better, I disagree. The example everybody gives is that we went to the moon. Yes, we went to the moon on the lowest bidder. Hoover Dam was built by private companies, but somebody had a vision. It was not a private company. Somebody will make wire, somebody will make modems, and somebody will make Bluetooth devices. But the standards will be agreed upon through a democratic process, and the quality will be kept up because you want the best service for everyone.

I&T Today: Is that the same with healthcare?

BN: Yes! Well, yes! That’s a solvable problem. Why not have the best healthcare in the world in the United States? Why not have the best healthcare for everybody?

I&T Today: A recurring theme in our discussion is the alignment of science with common sense. It seems like the two are connected in one way or another.

BN: Well, as my parents, especially my mom so often said, “Common sense is not that common.” It seems obvious to me that you don’t have poor people who can’t get access to the Internet.

That’s not in your best interest. You do not want a situation where rich people get water for their lawns, but poor people can’t get clean water for the baby’s formula. As obvious as that is to me, other people think if someone doesn’t have money, they just shouldn’t have [that resource]. They’re just as passionate and believe just as strongly as I do, but I just disagree with them.

What we want is for everyone to get a vote, and then we sort out what’s right and wrong. I’ll give you an example. I used to think genetically modified food

was sort of dangerous because we couldn’t predict what would happen in the ecosystem. But, after having spent another two years with it, I was wrong. I think genetically modified food is actually a pretty good idea. What we need is not to regulate new organisms so much as to regulate farming practices.

I&T Today: Since science changes over time and new studies sometimes disprove what we thought was foundational, do you think people use that fact to further solidify their religious or political beliefs? Are they misguided in doing so?

BN: Dismiss science because it changes? No, we prefer you dismiss your other beliefs. Everyone would really prefer that. For a long time people though that diseases were caused by evil spirits. A reasonable premise, but it turns out that’s not what causes diseases. People used to think that only virgin women could plant seeds to have a successful harvest. That’s probably not true. It’s a hypothesis that you can disprove, so that’s the essence of science. And that it does change is not to say that everything changes.

Because science change doesn’t mean that Rubidium has a different number of protons. There’s a lot of things in science that are true that are going to be true forever. The sun is hot. There you go. People used to think that emotions come from your heart, but they most certainly come from your brain. People didn’t believe that blood circulated in veins and arteries, for crying out loud!

Hear more from Bill Nye the Science Guy this coming April at the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C.

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STEM Interview with Principal Maria Vera-Drucker

How to STEM-ify Your School Principal Maria Vera-Drucker of PS 376, Felisa Rincon de Gautier School of Technology in Brooklyn, NY, transformed her school’s curriculum from that of a fairly traditional school into a cutting-edge, STEM-centered curriculum. It’s now recognized as a Showcase School, a learning facility for other educators in the area who wish to similarly improve their schools. In this exclusive interview, Ms. Vera-Drucker provides some insight to what it takes to become a Showcase School.

Innovation & Tech Today: Can you tell us about the shift to STEM-based curriculum at your school?

Maria Vera-Drucker: Well, it was about four years ago when I noticed that technology was not an option for our students. I walked into the building, and I noticed technology was under-developed where it was being used.

There was PowerPoint and Jeopardy, but it wasn’t clearly connected to the content. So, I put together an Instructional Technology Committee, which consisted of classroom teachers and a supervisor. Every Friday morning, we would teach them how to teach adults.

I&T Today: It sounds like you first had to focus on getting the teachers on board.

MVD: I have seasoned teachers who have been working 17, 18, 20 years in the school system. Not having technology skills was a problem. I wanted to go in slow, because I didn’t want to discourage them. So at first it was like, If you’re willing to do this pertinent training, you can come in and learn this application. So it was presented as something fun for the teachers.

I&T Today: How about Project-Based Learning?

MVD: Project-Based Learning – I think that is the way to go. It requires designing a lesson plan backwards, and it allows teachers to be creative. But at the same time, you cannot teach about whales, if you do not know their behavior, habitat, diet, etc. or have the academic record to support the learning.

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So, even though this is something that was not taught to teachers in college, and they probably can’t care less about the whales, they have to be able to answer kids’ questions.

These are things that the teachers have to learn. And they have fun. I tell my teachers, ‘I am saving you from Alzheimer’s because your brain cells are just multiplying daily!’

But the other thing is I don’t have a high disciplinary problem because my students are engaged. I don’t really have to spend time disciplining kids. I maybe have one or two incidents a week versus having ten or fifteen.

I&T Today: That’s remarkable. You think that’s because of the Project-Best Learning?

MVD: Yes. The minute they’re not motivated, they start looking elsewhere. Idle time is wasted time, but if they’re busy, there’s no time for that. They also have to learn how to work together, which a lot of adults don’t know how to do. They don’t want to be part of a project, and they get mad, feeling like they are entitled to suck everybody into their drama. Being a productive, creative adult, there’s a social emotional aspect, as well as the academic.

You can’t have one and ignore the other.

I&T Today: What kind of tech do you use?

MVD: At our school, we use GarageBand, Pixie, iMovie, clay animation, we have a 3D printer, we do podcasting — the list goes on.

We also use Keynote, PowerPoint, and Excel to track their data, and we build robots and do coding. Of course Keynote, PowerPoint, Excel to track their data, and we build robots and we do coding, too. We have an environmental design lab and one of the A+ Mobile Labs. We have the Mobile STEM Lab, and it’s amazing.

All the teaching tools and technology gets combined – they do such a fantastic job.

They’re highly effective with teachers. Every classroom has 10 to 15 laptops. These are things that schools are just starting to do, but we’ve been doing this for four years.

There’s so much we do here. I’m just so impressed with my staff. They really have taken it to a whole different level.

I&T Today: It seems like a lot more work initially for teachers to coordinate with other teachers. How are you able to make that work at your school?

MVD: At our school, we have double planning.

And we make sure we provide time for the teachers to meet on a daily basis. And we emphasize the collaboration – you cannot work in isolation.

I&T Today: From your perspective, is it essential that admin is on board with this or could teachers get it started at the school?

MVD: Admin needs to be able to have the knowledge and the skills, because if they don’t, then how are they supposed to support the teachers?

I&T Today: What advice would you give to a school that’s trying to function more like yours?

MVD: I think you have to take risks. You have to know your craft. Once you know your craft, you can take the risk. And you have to understand our society and have the skills to make our world a better place. At the end of the day, you want to impact our society so we can all benefit. There’s a lot of poverty and crime, but if we prepare our children with the skills to communicate, we will make some great lawyers. We will make some great politicians. We will make some great salesman. We will make great teachers [and engineers, and scientists]. So I think we need to take risks, we need to know our craft, and we need to understand our world and what our world needs.

–MH

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STEM

DIVERSITY:

NOT JUST ABOUT RACE, RELIGION, OR GENDER. In so many corporate settings, ‘diversity’ is a matter of ensuring your male-to-female or black-to-white ratios are acceptable, lest you be subject to criticism or open to lawsuits. For those willing to delve a bit deeper into diversity, hiring people with disabilities and eliminating discrimination based on religion can be important. Let’s consider a different perspective of diversity – one that takes into account people’s other interests or attitudes.

The lack of diversity (as traditionally understood) is a widely acknowledged problem. As Bitsbox CPO Aidan Chopra said, “If the people building technology are all nerdy guys, we’re doomed. We just have to get more people coding, period. It means people who would go to art school, or who would become architects (like I did), or creative people who don't want to approach coding from a purely mathematical standpoint.” It’s comforting to know that the leadership at Bitsbox, a company that provides a box full of materials that teach kids to code, is not only aware of the lack of diversity in STEM fields, but also has a sophisticated understanding of how to solve the problem.

One way they demonstrate this nuanced thinking is to make it easy for visual, artistic kids to buy into the value of coding: “Visual kids are really motivated by making visual things, and Bitsbox makes it incredibly easy to make visual things—apps with lots

of graphics and awesome sounds,” Chopra said.

It’s not just the visually artistic kids we want to intentionally bring to the STEM side of things. Darlene Cavalier is the leader of the Science Cheerleaders (put on the map by the USA Science & Engineering Festival), a group that may at first seem to be an unlikely source of diversity in STEM. The organization consists of former and current NFL and NBA cheerleaders who work in STEM fields when they’re not on the sidelines. They encourage kids to consider STEM careers while they

“ I think when we look at diversity in education, it really is about accessibility” - Warren Barkley, former educator and current CTO of SMART Technologies

scientists appear happier and more likely part of a team. “Some people will see the Science Cheerleaders and say, ‘Oh, I get it. You want people to know that cheerleaders aren’t dumb,’ and that's all they take away. And that's great, but these women love being scientists and engineers, too. They’re certainly anything but sad and lonely and socially awkward. So some people will see them and think differently about what it means to be a woman in STEM,” Cavalier said.

Cheerleaders also possess a skillset hugely beneficial to the STEM

playfully challenge stereotypes about women in STEM and cheerleaders.

“The beauty of our campaign is that people take away what they want to take away,” Cavalier said.

She referenced a fascinating National Science Foundation study in which it was found middle school students depict female scientists as working alone and being ‘severe’, while male Aidan Chopra and Scott Lininger of Bitxbox

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The Science Cheerleaders at the USA Science & Engineering Festival, showing kids their enthusiasm for STEM.

“ There’s an estimated 3 million cheerleaders in the United States.

They are driven.

They are ambitious.

They’re focused.”

– Darlene Cavalier

community. As Cavalier points out, “There's an estimated 3 million cheerleaders in the United States. They are driven. They are ambitious. They’re focused. They definitely rely on good time management skills, resilience, and teamwork. All those skills that make them great cheerleaders will make them outstanding scientists and engineers.

Science needs them!”

The Science Cheerleaders push the boundaries of our expectations of what a scientist is – in a good way. If you feel it’s inappropriate for a scientist to also be a cheerleader, it may be time to consider why.

Cavalier has one theory: “Being involved in personal pursuits outside the lab may lead others to believe these women are not as committed to their professional careers.” she said. “That’s simply not true.”

(The good news? Younger generations don’t seem to have these hang ups. The kids and parents at the USA Science & Engineering Festival show immense support for the Science Cheerleaders, another program importantly committed to all kinds of diversity in STEM.) The idea that a serious career or interest requires 100 percent, 24/7 commitment is especially common in high school and graduate school. Making it as easy as possible to enter STEM fields regardless of students’ extracurricular activities is incredibly important, and educational tech products such as those developed by SMART Technologies make it more possible to cast a wide net.

“I think when we look at diversity in education, it really is about accessibility,” said Warren Barkley, former educator and current CTO of SMART Technologies. “Over 70% of students have a device in their pocket when they get to school. Over 90% touch the Internet every day. The ‘bring your own device’ movement you see in enterprise really needs to bring its way into education wherever the playing field is.”

As has been proven time and again, increasing diversity in the workforce leads to more creative problem solving and better products. Furthermore, it has never been easier to work with people globally. Why not begin this globally inclusive mindset at a younger age?

“We have a product called the Smart amp, which is an expansive virtual learning space,” said Barkley. “It allows teachers to create projects that enable groups from anywhere in the world to work together. One example is a class on the East Coast of the U.S. doing project-based learning with another class in the U.K. Both groups can study the Revolutionary War, and share their different points of view about it. Kids who can’t be in school because of something medical, for example, can still be involved in the project.

It’s accessible as long as you have a web browser.”

Diversity leads to increased creativity and more effecting problem solving. Imagine how much more creative we could be if we construed ‘diversity’ more broadly and inclusively. While we should care about the (very low) number of women in engineering fields, for example, it is limiting to focus on only gender when we could also concern ourselves with artists (like Bitsbox), individuals with multiple and diverse interests (like the Science Cheerleaders), and people in a different location (like SMART Technologies).

As Bill Nye suggests (see page 98), the world would be much improved if its inhabitants were more scientifically literate. Likewise, our increasingly important technology-related lives would be much improved if we were all technologically literate.

FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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STEM

NIFTY FIFTY PROGRAM Did you always dream you would work for NASA? What type of fieldwork a Climatologist does? Do you travel all over the world? What it’s like to work at Google? These are some of the questions students can ask real life scientists and engineers as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival’s Nifty Fifty Program (times 4). The Nifty Fifty Program is a unique curriculum that allows students to interact with STEM professionals that travel to schools across the D.C. Metro area. The program features some of the most inspiring names in STEM discussing the latest in green technology, engineering, human health and medicine, astronomy and space exploration, nanotechnology, computer science, and more.

InfoComm International, the organization that sponsors the program, is a non-profit trade organization for Audio Visual professionals. “Audio Visual is a very specific discipline, and a lot of people in the industry never studied A/V in school. It’s just not usually a topic taught at university or high schools. A lot of people fall into it because they either love music or they volunteered in their high school working on A/V etc,” said Betsy Jaffe, InfoComm International Senior Vice President of Member Services. “The number one obstacle to growth in the field is a lack of qualified personnel. So, we really want to spread the word about how great the industry is, and how you can have a really great career in it even if you’re not college bound.

The partnership with the Nifty Fifty Program is a win-win-win. InfoComm is able to share the perhaps unexpected benefits of entering the A/V field. The students learn about exciting for careers in STEM. The speakers are energized and inspired by the students. Just take a look at their perspectives on the program! (See next page.)

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Nifty Fifty Speakers and hosting schools share their experiences with the groundbreaking program: Kitt Vanderwater, Speaker, Google Software Engineer: “…I admit, I was a little bit nervous beforehand because I wasn’t sure how well I’d relate to middle school students … I really was blown away at how amazing they were. They laughed at all the right places, had fun and interesting questions, and were great to talk to over lunch.”

Zulma Whiteford, STEM Coordinator at St. Louis School: “The program has offered a once-in-alifetime opportunity for my students and inspired them to pursue their passions…

I sincerely believe the program is helping lead students into future careers in STEM. It was absolutely heartwarming to see some of my more reserved students come to life and engage [Kitt Vanderwater] in a meaningful conversation.”

Tyler DeWitt, Speaker, Ph.D. student in Microbiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Science Communications Expert: “I bring colorful props, tons of plush microbes, jars labeled “bacteria pee,” and wrap it all up in a compelling story with lots of humor. It’s awesome to see the kids laughing and smiling while learning about science. So many times when students ask questions, I think, Wow, that’s such a thoughtful question. And you’re how old?!”

Dr. Kim Cobb, Speaker, Geochemist and Climatologist: “Students are sophisticated consumers, and at every Nifty Fifty event I’ve done, I’ve had a question from them that I’ve never had before. They keep me on my toes!

And they demonstrate a real hunger for exchanges with real scientists.”

John Brophy, Speaker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mechanical Engineer: “I was very impressed at the number and quality of the questions asked by the students. Some questions showed a surprisingly deep understanding of the subject matter (space propulsion), and at one point I had to stop and ask them, ‘Are you sure you don’t already work for NASA?’”

Mary Hartman, STEM Department Chairperson: “It is part of our mission to expose students to the opportunities in STEM-related careers that are connected to space investigations and research…We are considering creating a middle school STEM booth at the US Science & Engineering Festival in April 2016 based upon some of the projects they may undertake this fall and winter…We are excited to see where this student generated and developed endeavor will take us”.

Learn more about the Nifty Fifty Program by visiting the USA Science & Engineering Festival’s website.

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Education, Robotics, and Young Entrepreneurs:

Conversation with Author/Futurist David Brin

By Robert Yehling Like most science fiction authors, David Brin finds his mind chock-full of futuristic thoughts as well as story ideas.

He delivers the goods constantly, as shown by his more than 25 sci-fi novels, several of them bestsellers. However, what separates Brin from many of his sci-fi peers is his commitment to and practice of advanced ideas in education, many of which have landed in robotics and STEM. He’s also a participant in the USA Science & Engineering Festival’s Nifty Fifty Program, visiting schools in the Washington D.C. area and getting students excited about STEM. Two years after meeting Brin at the Southern California Writers Conference where he was a keynote speaker, we had the opportunity to reconnect and discuss his passions and the direction of education.

Innovation & Tech Today: David, what has fed the spirit of innovation and convergence of science, technology, engineering, and math that defines STEM today?

David Brin: The can-do spirit has always been a substantial part of the American experience. One hundred years ago, every boy learned telegraphy, and this was the launching point for Thomas Edison. Awhile later, it was bicycles and motorcycles, which became the

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platform from which the Wright brothers took us into the sky.

And every kid seemed to have grease-stained hands from working on cars, which had a major effect in World War II with jeeps, trucks, and tanks.

This tendency continued with hobbyists who explored the mysteries of electronics; some became billionaires.

I&T Today: What do you make of the use of computers today in advancing the innovative ideas of young people?

DB: In recent years, there is a fear that this tradition had been broken, because the technologies were too difficult to do at home and in the garage. Instead, a generation seems mired in video games, which taught no useful skill except perhaps to become a drone or fighter pilot. But in recent years, the maker movement has really taken off with cities and high schools catering to an almost inherent desire to apply the skill with curious hands and minds.

I&T Today: How has this manifested?

DB: In the robotics leagues that now have teams in up to 10,000 high schools across the country. Dean Kamen’s FIRST robotics league has at least 7,000 high schools. The robotics are part of this revolution, but it’s going to really take off when the biologists do giant labs that compress to desktop units. Any teenager on the planet (will be able to) sit before her molecular Mac and synthesize any organic compound.

pushed through Congress, to have the Internet free of almost all government control. It is simply to let it fly free all over the world. People ridiculed Gore for claiming that he “invented the Internet,” which he did not claim, but he probably has a better claim to that title than anyone except Vinton Cerf (who helped develop it in the late 1960s and 1970s).

This judo move liberated several billion people with access to the entire sum of human knowledge to communicate freely across all borders. Now, Elon Musk, Google, Facebook, and a number of other groups are aspiring to launch swarms of satellites and drones that will let anyone in the planet uplink without having to go through national servers.

I&T Today: What has impressed you most about the pace of tech development and adoption in your 40plus years as a sci-fi writer?

I&T Today: What impact do you feel that social media and its ability to broadcast information instantly — and create networks — has made on today’s kids?

DB: Probably the most amazing jujitsu move that any civilization ever pulled was in the late 1980s bill that Al Gore

DB: I am unimpressed with social media. Call me an old grouch, but I do not see people engaging in elevating

▼

(L) Students work on their robot during one of the competitions during FIRST Robotics League competitions.

▼

(R) Robots are tested with a variety of skills challenges that the students must conquer.

conversations in 140 characters. Likewise, Facebook does not engender deep thinking.

We need innovations in social media that subtly encourage interest in areas vital to education and achievement, and to create those conversations and experiences. I have some patents in this area. But now is not the time to discuss that. And we need to always remember that face-to-face learning and face-to-face conversations will always be the best way.

I&T Today: How has art been affected by technological developments over the last several years?

DB: Among the things that nobody would’ve expected would be the death of melody. In the 60’s, it seemed as though there was a never-ending supply of wonderful melodic tunes. This had a resurgence in the 80’s, but since then we’ve gotten used to the notion that musicians must create variations in rhythm and beat and poetry or remix earlier melodies. What we’ve come to realize is that melodic forms are a limited resource mathematically. It’s not that we were better, it’s just the first time the civilization had unleashed such a high ratio of talent. Our parents came home from World War II and

were building a white picket fence. And, for the first time, for an entire generation, if you had musical talent you got music lessons. That never happened in the history of humanity. How many musicians were born in Mozart’s time, but were passed over or died young? In our generation in America, the unleashing of such vast amounts of talent all at once created a storm that basically devoured the available melodies. I hate to depress you, but we are finding other ways to be creative. It shows that the future is sometimes controlled by resources.

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STEM briefs LEGO Robotics Camp

My Java Journey At iD Tech Camp

From the first line of code, I knew this camp would be a dream come true. Trading a canoe for a computer, I couldn’t wait to create my own computer game at iD Tech’s Java Programming week-long camp held on the Lake Forest College Campus. My computer lab held sixteen students, but the group was split into two classes of eight, each with their own counselor who went under a code name like shark bait or S++. They guided us through the process of learning to code Java.

Starting out with printing messages in the console and performing simple prompts, the learning ramped up, leading up into my final project to show my parents at the end of the week: a Brick Breaker game. The game took two days of work and nearly 500 lines of code with plenty of errors to correct, but the journey to completion made the success even more rewarding. I even had to program the velocity of the ball.

“Java is on over 3 billion devices,” says my iD Tech camp counselor Ben Malone, when asked why learning Java is a valuable skill. “It’s a universal coding language. All sorts of devices run it. It’s fairly easy to learn and has a wide variety of tools and uses.” I’ve always wanted to create a game, so Java seemed perfect, building on my math skills, having just completed 7th grade Algebra.

My takeaway: Java is a powerful tool to bring my imagination to life with code. I credit the fun, friends, activities and, of course, learning Java, for making my week at iD Tech camp the highlight of my summer.

–Liam Kivirst

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Just because it’s summer, that’s no reason to let up on STEM-tivities. Case in point: summer camps like those organized by OpenWorld Learning (OWL).

“Students can lose up to 20% of what they learned during the summer,” said Andrew Castillo, OWL’s Development Manager. “OWL's summer program helps the student retain what they learned during the school year while providing a safe and fun environment to continue and further their education during the summer.”

One camp attended by I&T Today kid reporter Nick Harris, the LEGO Robotics camp, develops students’ STEM skills and teaches them to build, well, LEGO Robots. Students launched LEGO catapults using computers, and the camp ended with a competition to see who could use the catapults to knock over construction paper buildings.

The importance of camps like OWL’s? Besides the obvious need to develop STEM skills in students for work force readiness, OWL works with students living at or below the poverty line. “The digital divide is rapidly increasing and over 50% of our students don't have a computer at home. The OWL program provides an opportunity for students to earn a laptop or tablet. This is often the first laptop or tablet in the household.” –T.S.

SPACE: The Gateway to STEM As Bill Nye says in our cover story, space centers are the gateway to STEM. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, home to Space Camp®, is living proof. “We really do consider our Space Camp program (see note below) a workforce development program because we have so many kids go on to do more math and science classes,” said a spokesperson. In 2013, the Center did a study with Space Camp grads (there are now 700,000 alums): • 88 percent of Space Camp graduates surveyed said they planned to take more STEM classes after attending camp; • 71 percent of respondents are now in a career field related to aerospace, technology, energy, defense, or biotechnology; • 66 percent of those respondents said Space Camp inspired their decision to enter that STEM field Maybe it’s that the STEM skills are clearly applicable, and students realize they’re not just learning math for math’s sake. It could also be the interactive displays and exhibits, including the Apollo 16 capsule and, soon, a replica of the Payload Operations Integration Center, which is in contact with the International Space Station twenty four hours a day. Whatever they’re doing, it’s working.

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BREAKING BOUNDARIES IN HUMAN FLIGHT & FREEFALL

Jon DeVore was buzzing with energy in Chicago less than 24 hours before he set a free-flying, headdown world record with 164 fellow skydivers. We caught up with the professional skydiver, BASE jumper, and blockbuster stuntman who manages the Red Bull Air Force.

In this exclusive, DeVore talks about the role technology has played in advancing multiple facets of the sport, surviving a 90 MPH crash in New Zealand, and turning his passion into his profession.

Interview By

Kelsey Elgie Domier

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Innovation &Tech Today: Tell us about your passion for human flight.

Jon DeVore: I grew up in a special place called Juneau, Alaska. Growing up in a small mountain town instilled the adventure spirit in me. When I found skydiving, I was only seventeen. After my first jump, I realized all of the other sports I was in love with – like skiing – didn’t quite give me the same feeling. I always tell people: you either check it off your bucket list, or you’re hooked. There is no middle ground.

I&T Today: What was it like seeing yourself in Ironman 3 and Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon?

JD: What’s crazy is I got into skydiving mentally before I even jumped in 1991.

That was when most people first fell in love with skydiving, when the oldschool Point Break movie came out.

And after I got into the sport, I looked at people who were 45 and asked myself, What did they do to turn their passion into their profession? Few people today can say that all that they do is professional skydiving. The people that I saw doing the best at the time were the guys that found a way into the world of production. The first time I looked up and saw myself flying on screen I was

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just…speechless. It was almost like a dream, like you’re waiting to wake up because you realize you’ve accomplished your goal. Full circle, I got hired on as the aerial stunt coordinator and the top stunt double for the new Point Break movie. Which is surreal to me, because it’s what got me into the sport.

I&T Today: What goes through your mind before a big jump?

JD: The most intense thing we do in our career is the wing suit BASE jump proximity flight. It’s the most unforgiving, and most of our calculations and thoughts go into these kinds of jumps. It’s a major rush and a train wreck of emotions. You’re thinking about

everything from calculation, the serving conditions, and making sure everything you mapped out is accurate since you are so low to the ground that you can’t crash. Crashing is fatal. That is heavy on your mind. Me personally, I have a beautiful wife and two little girls. I have to make it home alive and make the smart choices. My last mantra right before I exit is to tell myself to control my animal. One might call it ego, but I think of it as my inner animal. When you get into a really intense flight, a lot of times, that inner animal takes over. It can make you push it a little too far. You think you can clear this hump, make it through these trees, or whatever that little devil on your shoulder is telling you to do. It pushes you to seek that little adrenaline rush – it’s like a mini turbo booster. I’ve had some really close calls, so I try to keep that animal inside at bay as much as possible.

I&T Today: What was it like to walk away from that 90MPH crash in New Zealand?

JD: That was a long time ago.

It’s funny you know about that!

It was intense. You know when it happened, I never lost my train of thought. But, when I hit the ground, I saw black for two minutes before I started seeing anything. In my mind I was sure I was dead. I thought I was

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going to another life because I still had that inner dialogue. It stayed for months after. I wondered if I was living in a parallel universe. I was weird mentally for a little while. The lightning strike of luck was that I didn’t get hurt at all from going in with barely any parachute at all.

I&T Today: How did it happen?

JD: So, the Cliff’s Notes version: We were jumping out of a helicopter at 12,000 feet with snow skis on. Eventually my stunt was to cut the parachute and ski away – not super difficult for those who’ve practiced it. When you pull off a little pilot chute, it eventually pulls your main chute out. Mine hung up, so it was just towing along and didn’t go through the deployment sequence. I was reaching for it, and the next thing you know I was flying like I was sitting on my ass, not standing up on my skis. So my feet were up in the air, and by the time I got my parachute pulled, the lines wrapped around my ski boots and bindings. It kind of hog-tied me, and I went into the ground.

I&T Today: And you’re still at it!?

JD: Luckily, that happened when I was super young! But you know, in the end I’m going to be jumping until I’m 100 years old.

I&T Today: Some people think you guys are batsh*t crazy, but there is an intense process behind each jump. What is that like?

JD: We push it as the Red Bull Air Force Team. We do 60+ shows per year. What’s really special and intense about it is that 9 out of 10 times they’re in a place that would otherwise be illegal to jump into. First, we collect all the basic details of the jump. Then there’s a lot of Google

WHAT’S THE #1 ITEM ON YOUR BUCKET LIST? I want to be the first man to climb Denali and then speedride it. Like I said, I’m from Alaska so there are a lot of personal reasons why I would like that. Unfortunately, the only thing that is stopping me is that it’s illegal to parachute in a National Park.

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IT’S A MAJOR RUSH AND A

TRAIN WRECK OF EMOTIONS. Earth research, site visits, and making sure the flight path for the jump is going to work. We have the ground safety guys talking to us up in the aircraft, down to the second we jump so we know what the live conditions are down there.

I&T Today: Tell us about some innovations in skydiving.

JD: What really got me, for lack of a better word, famous in the sport was when a small group of guys in Arizona (where I moved to start my skydiving career) and I developed vertical flight. And at that time, nobody really thought it was possible to get off the belly to earth position with much control. But a small group of us believed we could fly feet towards earth, head-first towards earth, and any three dimensional variations – even choreographed together. For many years I was one of 10 to 12 people in the world that kind of perfected this.

When the wing suits were perfected, we were able to start jumping off big cliffs. It was a rebirth of my love of human flight because, even though I’ve done over 19,000 jumps from the sky, it was a whole different animal to have terrain, trees, and features so close to you that you are really without a shadow of a doubt a flying machine. You see a tree or a knoll, and you can maneuver around things on a dime. It’s really addictive to have that power.

Then there is the world of speedriding. A handful of us have done it for quite some time, but it’s only recently getting attention.

The reason for this fast growth is that it takes a combination of being a proficient big mountain skier and a proficient canopy pilot to be a speedrider. But really the sport is a perfect hybrid of big mountain skiing and high performance parachute flying. It’s really opening everyone’s eyes to what is possible on these mountains. We are able to go to this terrain and these features that no one would

ever get to. There is no way in and no way out. It makes you feel like the mountains are yours to play with.

I&T Today: Tell us about the role tech has played in your career.

JD: The coolest thing for our sport has been a company called iFly. They build huge skydive wind tunnel machines that are popping up like wildfire. Those things are absolutely amazing.

These wind tunnel machines are so engineered and fine-tuned that the air is 100 percent identical to skydiving. Somebody like myself can go in and train for a world meet and be able to do years worth of training in a couple weeks without jumping out of a plane everyday. There is no substitute for exiting the airplane, but it accelerates the learning curve beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.

Also these gadgets are really helping us improve the wing suits. When we race through gates for Red Bull, we have little computers onboard called Flysight. There are a few other heads-up display companies that are starting to perfect things like glide ratios, horizontal speeds, and vertical speeds. A couple years ago all we had was feeling. Technology and GPS stuff has started to catch up enough that we’re able to see real-life data.

I&T Today: You guys have the first female member on the Red Bull Air Force, Amy Chemelecki. What is your projection of the number of female action sport athletes?

JD: I think it’s going to be tremendous, to be honest! It has really picked up over the last decade, and everybody I’ve talked to is excited: sponsors, fans, you name it. Everyone is really getting behind supporting the female athletes.

The world is their oyster at this point. That door is swinging wide open, and I’m seeing a lot of opportunities for the girls out there in the skydiving community. It’s really cool.

Any I&T TODAY readers with some major political pull, feel free to help our boy Jon out with a letter of exemption. (And if not, check him out on Instagram @jondevore)

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LEARN THE TERMS AspectSolar suggests Four geeky terms you should know about portable solar power

1 “LiFePO4”

(pronounced‘life-poe-four )

A few years ago, Scientific American called lithium iron phosphate “a great material.” When considering environmental impact, value, operating temperature and leakage possibility, LiFePO4 is the clear choice. Lead, cadmium, nickel, manganese and cobalt are toxic heavy metals; they are integrated into most batteries. LiFePO4 is part of Li-ion battery family, too. However, since LiFePO4 does not contain any heavy metal, it is considered one of the most eco-friendly even among its siblings. Moreover, LiFePO4 batteries afford users high discharging current and are non-explosive because of the extremely stable chemical composition. They charge more quickly and are lighter weight than some other products in the portable solar power arena that utilize inferior composites. Now you know.

3 “Lifecycles”

A lifecycle describes the process of charging and discharging a battery. Some batteries contain a single lifecycle; once their power is depleted, they are no longer useful. Rechargeable batteries afford users multiple charges. Some of the highest quality batteries available – namely LiFePO4 - offer 2,000 or more lifecycles. That means if they are charged and discharged one time per day, every day, they will last for more than five years. When comparing portable solar power solutions, consider lifecycles as the real definition of value.

2 “Wh” vs. “mAh”

Comparing the wattage, voltage, input and output of portable solar power panels and batteries can be confusing. These are measurements of the duration of power—milliamp hours vs. watt-hours—and they are different, but related.

Here’s an equation that probably hearkens back to high school: E(Wh) = Q(mAh) × V(V) / 1000

TTo clarify, a watt-hour is equal to the milliamp-hour, multiplied by the volts (based on the device or appliance you’re powering), divided by 1,000. Still confused? Here’s an analogy: to measure items in your fridge, the bigger ones would be measured in gallons or liters, the smaller ones in ounces. Same with solar power generators and batteries: larger batteries are measured in watthours, smaller batteries such as Lithium-ion polymer which is very commonly used in laptops, cameras and smartphones (less power, shorter duration) are measured in milliamp hours. All AspectSolar products are calculated in watt-hours for simple side-by-side comparison.

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4 “DoD”

DoD most commonly refers for “Department of Defense” (less popular is “Day of Defeat” for Half Life fans), and could also mean “Denim On Denim” in fashionista parlance. For portable solar power batteries, it means “Depth of Discharge”.

The rule is quite simple: the smaller DoD the larger number of cycles. With 50% DoD, the LiFePO4 cells may have well above 5000 cycles (see #3) according to recent testing.

AspectSolar is the technology leader in dependable, lightweight, portable solar power solutions. The company’s best-of-class solar energy products enable users the freedom to easily capture and store solar power as usable electricity in remote areas or where traditional power is disrupted.

With multiple patents for its award-winning products, AspectSolar’s panels and high-efficiency, green technology batteries are endorsed, proven and durable. To learn more, visit aspectsolar.com.

速

Gear Guide Manduka: PRO Yoga Mats The Manduka PRO yoga mat is an ultra-cushioned, lifetime-guaranteed yoga mat. Exceptionally non-slip, even a very sweaty yogi can dig deep with confidence. The PRO is of highest quality and available for $108 at: www.manduka.com

Autonomous Avionics: Drone Built by a guy name Bernie in a garagesized workshop in Denver, Autonomous Avionics brings us the Tarot 680, a lightweight and portable DIY drone made for aerial photo/video. Camera not included. Find this model and others, starting at $150: www.autonomousavionics.com

CycleOps Not your momma’s indoor bike, CycleOps combines stationary exercise benefits with the custom choice of your own bike. Sacrifice nothing and train at home with this stationary attachment that gives you true-toroad resistance and power readings. Riding inside doesn’t get more real than this. $900 at www.cycleops.com

KAMMOK: Roo Tear- and-rip resistant and roomy enough for two, this amazing hammock even comes with its own water-resistant compression sack for lightweight travel. And don’t forget about the Glider Rainfly (inspired by the sugar glider). This rainfly for your hammock is complete with AmphibiskinTM Fabric that keeps you comfortably protected in your Roo from elements like rain, snow, and extreme temperatures. Roo: $99; Glider Rainfly: $230. Snag one today and get outside! www.kammok.com

Club Glove: TRS Ballistic Luggage The innovative luggage from Club Glove is super durable, and the patented wheel base system with high quality inline skate wheels means unprecedented hassle-free movement. Heavy, multiple bags don’t pose a problem, either. It is the only luggage with which one piece can be connected to another for one-handed gliding through the airport, even on not-so-smooth surfaces that we often encounter during travel. When not in use, each piece fits inside another, making for ultra space-efficient storage. You can feel good about your purchase of TRS Ballistic Luggage, too. It’s all made in the U.S.. “I will always exhaust all possibilities for making our products here in America– it’s just more fun!” said CEO Jeff Herold. Travel with the best: www.trsballistic.com.

VSN: V.360° The V.360° camera is badass. Like a GoPro on steroids, you can capture true-to-life 360° images and video. Mount anywhere: it’s water/shock proof up to 3 feet for 30 minutes. Complete with GPS and time-lapse for both iOS and droid. Record, stream, view live, and share instantly for only $449 (phone not included) at www.vsnmobil.com

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Catalyst waterproof case Otterbox shmotterbox. These new waterproof cases from Catalyst are where it’s at. Catalyst has made cases shock, water, and life proof down to the millimeter without compromising style.

So many colors to choose from, and all clear back housing so that the Apple logo isn’t compromised either. $70 at www.catalystlifestyle.com

Lifestraw Lifestraw is so freaking cool. With this on-the-go personal water filter for any water bottle or water source, you can use it when camping, hiking, or playing 127 hours in the wilderness. Sip straight from a stream or use the water bottle with this outdoor innovation. $25 at www.buylifestraw.com

LuminAid Man made fire, and two amazing women made solar light. LuminAid is a portable, solar light that’s perfect for any situation.

Charge with the sun, inflate, and illuminate for hours. Multiple options include colored LED and waterproof packs. Party host or lost in the woods, everyone needs one. $25: www.luminaid.com

KaZAM bikes Any millennials with millennees? KaZAM Bikes introduces innovation for kids under age 6 learning to ride. No scraping of knees or falling on heads with this step-in frame that introduces balance before pedaling, making the transition into biking faster and safer. Training wheels are for babies. Make your kid feel awesome starting at $65: www.kazambikes.com.

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Compiled by Danielle Webster

Looking to take one last vacation before the season changes?

Whether you’re looking to prolong summer or delay winter, here are some select destinations that are perfect for fall.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of those places that’s amazing any time of year, but the off-season of fall and winter just may be the best with round-trip flights as low as $450. Check out the site-seeing destinations like La Paz Waterfall and Tortugeuro Park, as well as the activities at the Gulf of Nicoya. Phosphorescent bugs and algae make the lake luminescent, so night kayaking is simply surreal.

Lisbon, Portugal

If someone combined San Francisco and Spain, you’d get Lisbon. This friendly, laid-back city has plenty to offer: an outdoor shopping area, which leads you to the Santa Justa Lift; a tram along the coast, lined with beachy cafés and the breathtaking Carmo Convent; and actual castles. A perfect mix of the old and new, Lisbon has some of the most modern architecture and underground public transportation in Europe.

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague provides a time warp for the dreamer in all of us. Walking across the Charles Bridge and into a castle, you’ll find charming restaurants and coffee shops selling everything from superior chocolate to pumpkin soup. If you’re going to visit one museum, make it the Alfons Mucha museum to see rare lithographs from the Czech artist Mucha (the artist for JOB rolling papers), along with some rare Dali paintings. Sign your peace on the Lennon Wall, and try some highly crafted Czech beer.

Barcelona, Spain

Anyone who loves architecture or art history will fall in love with Barcelona. The Basilica de la Sagrada Familia and the Park Güell should be at the top of anyone’s list. After your fill of cheap and delicious Tapas, check out the Parc del Laberint. Channel David Bowie as you find your way around a maze in front of an old 18th century estate that you’d swear you saw in a Wes Anderson film. For a perfect end or beginning to your night, see the magic fountain of Montjuïc, where water and lights dance together every half hour.

Portland, Oregon

Portland is absolutely beautiful this time of year with some of the most colorful trees in the country, and it’s not as cold as you think. The city is easy to navigate; there are parks, breweries, and live music all in close proximity. Aalto, a bar located on Belmont Street, has an everyday $2 happy hour menu. Get the grilled cheese with tomato soup, #trust. Drive up to Mount Hood or visit the Pacific Coast to take advantage of one of the few states with both mountains and water.

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By Charles Warner

The Outdoor Retailer Show: The Most Fun We’ve Ever Had in Utah

If we had to sum up the 2015 Summer Outdoor Retailer Show in one word, it would be: stupendous! Although the I&T Today writing team covers more than a dozen high-profile trade shows and expos throughout the year, this is by far one of our favorites. Sit back and enjoy as we save you a lot of walking and give you a peek at Outdoor Retailer, Summer 2015.

First, let’s visit one of the hottest sporting crazes, Stand-Up Paddleboarding. Outside, we were mesmerized as chiseled athletes demonstrated their prowess in pools. Inside, we browsed all the cool gear that goes with your SUP. Dockslocks CEO Sean Carmichael and his crew from outside Orlando, FL, showed us how to lock your board. Kialoa Paddles came from the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon to discuss the passion and innovation behind their hand-crafted paddles that were first custom built for surfing and SUP legend Laird Hamilton.

For campers out there, all the major players were represented with large, colorful displays of everything you could need in the mountains. Packboat showed their folding two-person kayak that would fit in a compact car’s glove box.

OK, not the glove box, but definitely any trunk. From clothing, to backpacks, to sleeping bags, to tents, it was all there. A suggestion for next year? Have a Night-at-theMuseum raffle to stay at the show in one of the tent cities.

If paddling on water or kayaking isn’t your thing, there were lots of footwear brands represented. They included Ecco, Hoka One One (the hottest brand in the running world today), and even a company that makes connected, smart insoles. We tried out the One-Wheel, transportation gizmos by Inventist, and even saw one of the toughest looking E-bikes designed for rugged terrain made by Polaris. Hey, it is 2015, you know? There are a lot of fun ways to get around besides just walking, and they were all represented here.

The Outdoor Retailer Show brought all the best outdoor and adventure innovations in one place. Our favorite parts? The friendly staff and vendors, watching the SUP-ers, and the latest tech and gadgets.

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Besides the extremely helpful staff and good natured exhibitors, we wondered about other trade show perks.

Like food and drinks, for example. Outdoor Retailer had attendees covered: there were vendors throughout. We especially liked the handmade breakfast burritos outside the main hall. Later in the day, many exhibitors gave out beverages to the thirsty throngs. Fusion Jerky cleverly offered a local craft beer pairing with their various flavors of tender and moist jerky. It was a big hit!

There was a spirit of cooperative capitalism in the air as the snow-capped mountains formed a perfect backdrop to this iconic summer event. We can’t wait for the winter version of Outdoor Retailer Show, and in the words of Dean Martin, ‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow’!

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By Tim Sprinkle

North Carolina’s Research Triangle The Raleigh-Durham Economy Was Built on Big-Company Innovation. Can Startups Flourish There?

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T

here are a few different names for the region in central North Carolina that includes the state capital of Raleigh, as well as its sister cities of Durham and Chapel Hill.

Basketball fans know the area as ‘Tobacco Road’, a nod to both the region’s agricultural roots as well as the in-state sports rivalries between Duke University, The University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, and Wake Forest University, all located within 100 miles of each other along Interstate 40, which bisects the state from east to west.

Geology buffs know it as the ‘fall line’, in reference to the waterfalls and rapids that are common in nearby waterways.

The region, which happens to be located where the hilly, upland North America Piedmont and flat Atlantic Coastal Plain meet, has a rolling quality marked by short, steep hills and winding streams that can be markedly different from the flat lowlands in the state’s eastern counties.

▼

An aerial view of the massive Research Triangle Park. Says Fujifilm’s Jim Morgan of the area’s many advantages, “To have a major development center with access to an experienced, talented workforce, access to the new graduates and professional medical staffs from those very highly thought of academic institutions, and having products already installed in those institutions, it gives us the best of all worlds.”

But it is also ‘The Triangle,’ so named after the Research Triangle Park, a 7,000-acre office and research park located near the intersection of I-40 and the Durham Expressway, roughly equidistant from downtown Raleigh and Durham. Created in the early 1950s, the nonprofit entity that runs the Park was designed to keep the many Ph.Ds and other researchers coming out of the local universities in the area after graduation by attracting major research institutions to Raleigh-Durham to employ them. And the plan worked – as of today there are more than 170 tenants operating out of the Research

Triangle Park, including IBM, Cisco, NetApp, GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, Merck, and many others working on everything from cancer research, to nanotechnology, to semiconductor design. According to Park officials, more than 40,000 people come to work each day within its boundaries.

For more than 60 years, established companies like these have helped put RaleighDurham on the map as a center for innovation and economic development. But that model has been changing in recent years, favoring entrepreneurship and smaller, more agile companies over those of earlier generations.

“The Park was designed in the 1950s to be the new suburban research park,” Bob Geolas, the current CEO of the Research Triangle Park, told me on my visit to the

Park. “It was very dynamic thinking at the time. Mom and dad would live in the suburbs.

Dad would drive his car to the research park. And that worked great.”

But driving from the suburbs to the office park has recently given way to a preference for more dense live-work developments, shared office spaces and less reliance on traditional commercial real estate.

“How do we secure a place that’s not just a place of innovation, but a place of new startup innovation?” Geolas asked when describing the steps that the Park itself is taking to appeal to today’s workers, including smaller, more flexible facilities and more walkable amenities. “And we want to do it in a way that’s as big and significant as the creation of the Park itself was fifty years ago for America.”

FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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The Triangle region these days ranks in the top ten municipalities nationwide in terms of venture capital investments, and more than a few homegrown companies are nearhousehold names in the tech space, including open-source software pioneer Red Hat and analytics developer SAS Institute.

Still, despite the area’s long history as a part of the innovation economy (thanks to the Research Triangle Park), and its deep bench of available workers (thanks to the three major research universities in the Triangle), the North Carolina startup ecosystem is still in the growth stage, with a handful of local success stories but ongoing

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challenges finding funding, attracting talent, and growing selfsustaining businesses. Part of the problem is that the area itself is so large and spread out. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the greater Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area, which makes up The Triangle, encompasses eight counties with a combined population of more than 1.9 million people. The metro area consists of more than 4,500 square miles, including everything from Downtown Raleigh, Cary, and Apex to the east, to Durham and Chapel Hill to the west. That can make it tough for like-minded tech founders to find each other, let alone work together as part of a cohesive startup ecosystem.

Even just within the City of Raleigh there are seven or eight active submarkets, according to Derrick Minor, Raleigh’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager, each with different types of companies and different populations living there. The challenge is not only getting these companies together, but getting them to participate in the entrepreneurship community that he is trying to build. The eventual goal, he says, would be to the benefit of everyone involved, including the regional economy, and would enable startups to better share talent, publicize mentorship opportunities, and discuss investor leads.

“I probably once a week or so find a company, a new company, and they’re decent sized—thirty, forty, fifty people, but still in growth mode—that I had never heard of before,” Minor says. “Those are good problems to have, sure, but it’s just about uncovering those guys and communicating those successes to everyone else that, hey, there’s stuff going on here.”

▼

S

ure, the major players in the Research Triangle are still doing well, but they are no longer the only game in town for the RaleighDurham area when it comes to technology. Need proof? According to AngelList, the state of North Carolina is home to more than 1,100 technology companies as of 2015, including both startups and more established firms. This list includes everything from ShareFile, a cloudbased file sharing and storage service that is now a subsidiary of Citrix and was once named to the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies; ChannelAdvisor, a now-public ecommerce platform that connects online retailers with new customer groups; and WedPics, a photo and video sharing app aimed at the wedding market. PlotWatt, based in Durham and backed by more than $4 million in funding, offers customized energy monitoring services to help commercial and residential customers cut their energy spending, while Raleigh-based KnowledgeTree maximizes sales teams effectiveness by shaping sales messaging.

American Underground, office and coworking spaces in Durham and Raleigh, reflect a national trend towards these types of incubators. With classes; access to software, experts, and events; and the freedom to visit multiple locations, American Underground raises the bar for coworking spaces.

Total Number of Equity Deals:

174 % of Wages in NC in the Tech Sector:

Total Amount of

$622,383,469 Total Amount of

$277,769,748

9.5

Funding for Tech NC Companies

49.5

Number of Tech Companies Receiving Deals:

83

% of Employees in NC in the Tech Sector:

5.6

Funding for NC Companies

% of Residents who have a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher:

1 1

% of Unemployed residents:

Ranking of States by Percentage of Women in Tech Fields:

4.8

people in NC

63

Tar Heel Tech: By The Numbers

% created

by IT/Infomatics/ Software:

Total Job Creation in 2013: % created

by Life Sciences:

of these are in Professional Scientific & Technical Services industry

38 21

Ranking for Funding for Public Research Universities:

150 startups employ nearly

8,000

% of Recent Graduates of central Raleigh universities with STEM degrees:

Combined Annual Payroll:

Number of Acres:

7,000

Stats: http://research.unc.edu/impact/unc-startups/, http://durhamchamber.org/economic-development/economic-profile, http://www.ncstir.com/tech-report/nc-tech-sector/nc-tech-sector-overview/, http://raleigh4u.com/newsvideos/news/346-2013-2014-annual-report

$2.9B

Number of Global Companies:

190

35

4,586

Medical Informatics and the NC Research Triangle Conversation with Jim Morgan, Vice President of Medical Informatics, FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc. If you dropped your business into a place that fulfilled your technology, research, product development, piloting programs, sales, and prospective employee talent pools — both seasoned experts and young workers — what would you think of your luck? More than likely, you’d feel like you hit the lottery.

This dream scenario amounts to the day-to-day operations of FUJIFLM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc., one of the cornerstone operations in the North Carolina Research Triangle Park. Vice President of Medical Informatics Jim Morgan found himself pausing for breath when he recited the list of advantages and opportunities the Research Triangle has provided Fujifilm over the years.

In this exclusive interview with

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Innovation & Tech Today, Morgan talked about the evolution of medical informatics. He also discussed central presence in our lives (whether or not we know the term itself), and about where it all happens — smack in the middle of the Tar Heel State.

and now 3D imaging systems.

Medical informatics was meant to cover both the information and imaging domains.

Innovation &Tech Today: Could you give us a primer on exactly what medical informatics is and what it directly applies to in our lives?

I&T Today: Just in the past few years, a great deal has changed in the relationship between digital technology and the medical field.

How specifically has that impacted the areas in which Fujifilm practices medical informatics?

Jim Morgan: Medical informatics is the evolution of the combination of textual information, radiology information systems, hospital information systems, and imaging.

You’re now combining that textual information with imaging information, and imaging has expanded throughout the field — radiology, oncology, cardiology,

For Fujifilm, medical informatics is radiology, cardiology, 3D imaging, and the medical archive space.

JM: I think in the last four years specifically, the Affordable Care Act has driven the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) across all institutions in the U.S. That driver of the EMR, which was effectively a consolidation of all

textual-based information in a hospital, has further driven the consolidation of the imaging component. Now, you not only want to look at a radiology or pathology report, but you also want to look at the imaging, or the lab report. It has resulted in tighter communication between all the systems and clinical users.

I&T Today: What is Fujifilm doing to drive that process and also make it easier for these

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systems to better interact — and for patients and doctors alike to enjoy the healthcare benefits, and, hopefully, the lower costs that would follow?

JM: To get better outcomes and be more efficient at a time when reimbursement levels are being driven down by overall healthcare cost containment efforts, companies like ours have had to expand the number of products we offer. If you went back to 1999, when we first offered our Picture Archive Communications System (PACS), to today, where we’ve added Radiology Information System (RIS), Cardiovascular Information Systems (CVIS) and 3D visualization systems, to just this past May, when we acquired a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) company we’d partnered with for a couple of years, you can get an idea. The key piece for us is to continue to provide hightechnology systems that allow our end users to deliver high-quality patient care at the greatest level of efficiency. This is a very good outcome.

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I&T Today: Fujifilm is a major presence in the North Carolina Research Triangle. In fact, it’s an integral part of the medical side.

How has the medical research community grown in the triangle in recent years? And how is it advancing your work as a company and the quality of healthcare in general?

JM: Not only is there a significant number of medical companies, which offers us a resource pool of experienced individuals, but you also have leading academic institutions like Duke, the University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State. It turns out Duke and UNC are current customers of our Fujifilm medical products, so we have relationships that benefit both our current and future product versions.

To have a major development center with access to an experienced, talented workforce, access to the new graduates and professional medical staffs from those very highly thought of

From Top Left; Research Triangle Facilities, Synapse VNA workflow, VNA Data Screen, Cardio Vasular Information System.

academic institutions, and having products already installed in those institutions, it gives us the best of all worlds. We cannot only tap into the talent pool, but also the knowledge of the physicians to

help guide our development of the products. And it’s all within a few miles. The research triangle is very efficient and convenient for us.

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

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VIE ER

If 2014 was the year for Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Minecraft fans, then 2015 heralds the age of the actor as video game superhero.

All year long, since Kevin Spacey won the NAVIGTR, the video game acting equivalent of an Oscar, for his work in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, actors have appeared in major roles in many of our favorite games. We celebrate their presence yet again in this issue, as Academy Award winner Angela Bassett and Hellboy and Sons of Anarchy star Ron Perlman offer us insights into why the video gaming environment literally gives entertainers a new acting platform.

INT

+ Entertainment

Of Ch ris Ca rte r

Chris Carter and I met in November 1981 at Surfing Magazine where he was an editor and I was an advertising guy. Surfing’s editors barely tolerated the advertising side, being wary of product pitches that may influence the purity of their writing, so I learned to keep my distance. But Chris was different, having a curiosity of all things, and would occasionally ask a question or two about what I was up to.

Fast forward a few decades. Chris has not lost any of that inquisitive nature. He’s now running a massively successful company best known for The X-Files television series and films, of which he is the creator, producer, writer, and director. For those who weren’t attuned to the hit series in the late 1990s and early 2000s, The X-Files’s combination of conspiracy theories and technology (sometimes futuristic) made it a forerunner of current highly-rated prime time shows like Scorpion, The Arrow, Fringe, and others.

It was recently announced the cult classic would return for a six-part limited run.

Innovation & Tech Today: With such a lengthy time between the original series ending and the new episodes (thirteen years), much has changed in the world. As you were preparing story lines for the upcoming series, what influences you now and during the first The X-Files go-around?

Chris Carter: Well, everything, as I really try to keep my eyes open and ears peeled. I have lots of ideas, and I always tell people that I have way more ideas than time. You try to winnow your ideas and take the best ones; and once you do have an idea, that is the exciting part. An idea is like something adrift in the ocean. It starts to accumulate matter and living things attach to it, and you hear something or see something or read something or someone says something, and then it seems like everything starts to relate to your idea. It is a wonderful experience when you have a spark of inspiration and then it starts to accumulate, what I would call, its goodness.

I&T Today: Are their any TV shows you specifically like or enjoy?

CC: Almost everything I watch is good while some are great. I actually love everything, and it is rare when I hate something. Mad Men is a masterpiece.

I&T Today: How about religion or spirituality as influencers?

CC: It’s everything; it is the beating heart of The X-Files. I would say The X-Files is a search for God, because it is, and I think science is also a search for God. And I think Mulder is really looking for the mysterious and the Newmanist, which for me was his religious quest.

Scully is a Catholic. She wears a cross around her neck, believing in her God, while Mulder believes in a much more New Age God. I&T Today: The X-Files had technology in the storylines that was prescient and ahead of the news. Where did that foresight come from?

CC: Well, I can tell you I wish I had been much more of a creative thinker when it came to the digital information revolution, because who could have imagined when we were working on our TRS-80 (Radio Shack) computers that we would be where we are today? We were ahead on The X-Files in science, such as clones, because there were no such things as clones when we were doing clones.

We also were ahead on the technology of Transhumanism,

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gaming+Entertainment which is the idea we are not going to be just human but become more than human by being implanted with nanotechnology, with technology being part of our physiology.

I&T Today: How does technology as a theme come into The X-Files?

CC: The X-Files mythology deals with the intelligence community, and that intelligence community, particularly with DARPA, drives technology. And so The X-Files and technology are intertwined in that way. The technology of tomorrow, we were trying our best to anticipate through the telling of these stories, of how that technology could be used against us. A theme of The X-Files is how technology actually has a dystopian flavor.

We are writing about the ideas of technology and use them as themes in the stories, but we are using the latest advances in technology for our work on the show. I have never written a screenplay on a typewriter, only a computer.

I have edited on mechanical analog systems with film, but now everything is edited digitally.

The technology has revolutionized the business I work in, particularly now with cameras. An example is that digital camera quality has become so sharp that Quentin Tarantino is saying that movies shot on digital cameras are like watching episodes of television in public.

So there is a technological pushback from artists. Even while the technology has enhanced and facilitated good work, it has also at the same time made us stop and think about the product that comes out of our heads.

I&T Today: So, the upcoming episodes of The X-Files will be shot digitally?

CC: Good question. Most likely it will be shot digitally. And amazingly, the cost to shoot digitally is no less than to shoot on film as it takes more technicians because you have new people working with your crew that you didn’t have when shooting film. There are big benefits to it as film is not running through a camera, and you don’t process that film then digitize it, as it is digital information from the beginning.

I&T Today: What about other producers you know — what are they shooting with?

CC: A friend of mine just did Breaking Bad,

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and now he has done a spinoff, Better Call Saul, where the story rolls back in time, which means they have to make people up to look younger.

He said they had a lot of trouble with make-up and wigs because the cameras The X-Files stars David Duchovny (L) and Gillian Anderson join Chris Carter, once the are so sharp you can’t editor of Surfing magazine, now the proud creator of one of TV’s greatest-ever shows. disguise it because you see the make-up and the “An idea is wig. Problem. Digital cameras are great for NFL like something football but not so great for what I would call, adrift in the the world of make-believe.

ocean. It starts to

accumulate matter One of the things I love most about and living things filmmaking is making beautiful pictures, but attach to it, and you one of the things I love about those pictures is hear something or see there is depth of field in them. That to me is something or read where the visual artistry lies in that separation something or someone of foreground and background. If everything says something, and then is in focus, it flattens; and if everything is it seems like everything starts in focus, as a storyteller, it takes away to relate to your idea. It is a one of your big tools which is to put wonderful experience when something in focus and out of focus to you have a spark of create a value relationship. You can’t do that inspiration and then it if everything is equal.

When I set out to do this X-Files series, and as I did on the nine seasons, I have eight days to film an episode. When they were doing shows from the 1960s and 1970s, like Bonanza or The Rockford Files, they had about five days, that’s almost double the time. Those old shows, everything looks flat and not necessarily artistic visually. It’s because they lit them all the same way. They blasted the light because it was easier and faster to do it that way. Now we take a cinematic approach in television, which is to do scenic or cinematic lighting. This is one of the technological revolutions I have seen, even in the time I have been in this business.

I&T Today: How do you use or not use computers on The X-Files?

CC: Editing of course, which is done concurrent to your film schedule. Every episode we do has special effects, and this is very good for your story. When I wrote The X-Files pilot, I gave it to a friend of mine who’s

starts to accumulate, what I would call, its goodness.”

opinion I could not value more, an Academy Award-winning Production Designer who had just done forty-four episodes of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories. He read the script and gave me valuable advice that to make things scary – don’t show them, keep them in the shadows. For two reasons, they’re scarier, and, you don’t have time to show them because you will not have the time and money to create the monster that is much scarier in the shadows. He was absolutely and exactly right.

As far as The X-Files, everything about the show is dark, except Scully’s point of view which was light, and his advice saved me. Saved me! There is lots of great technology out there, but I don’t use it for these two reasons – you don’t have time and money to use it, and it’s better not to use it. It is generally better for the viewer to have to use their imagination.

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Tony Hawk Catches Major Air With Pro Skater 5 The most famous skateboarder of all time makes a video game comeback after 13 years, talks legitimacy of gaming as a professional sport, and more

By John Gaudiosi These days, Tony Hawk is helping Mini Cooper sell Countryman family cars.

Generations of today’s parents have grown up watching Hawk revolutionize the sport of skateboarding and playing video games he helped design.

Activision and developer Robomodo have Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 on store shelves now – the first new Pro Skater game in 13 years, and the first game for today’s PlayStation 4 and Xbox One gamers. It’s also the first game in which players can choose to play as Tony Hawk or as his son, Riley.

“It’s not nepotism,” said Hawk.

“He definitely deserves to be in the game. He earned it. And to be honest, I was surprised that he agreed to do it. The request did not come from me. The request came from elsewhere, and I said, ‘Hey, they asked if you wanted to be in the new game,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it sounds like fun.’ And I was like, ‘Wow.’”

We just felt like it was time to bring back that old gameplay, but in the new environments and using the new technology.”

Like his father, Riley went through the entire process of having his body and head scanned for the game.

“It definitely looks like him,” said Hawk. “He’s got the hair and the tattoos, but he looks younger. He doesn’t look as old as he is.”

Other skaters featured in the game include Nyjah Huston, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Ishod Wair, Leticia Bufoni, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Andrew Reynolds, and Lizzie Armanto. These athletes compete in the X-Games and other events.

Back in the day, Hawk helped ESPN launch the X-Games and turn it into a global event that helped extreme sports reach the mainstream.

Last year, the X-Games added video games to the competition, allowing Call of Duty and CounterStrike: Global Offensive pro gamers to win the same old medals as skateboarders, BMX stars, and other extreme sports athletes.

“It’s fine with me that eSports is part of X-Games,” said Hawk. “I think it’s cool.

Online gaming is more popular than

(continues on page 152)

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gaming+Entertainment

Camilla Luddington is Lara Croft

By John Gaudiosi Actress Camilla Luddington is known for two very different roles to very different audiences. The British actress plays American doctor Jo Wilson in ABC’s long-running hospital drama, Grey’s Anatomy. And she uses her natural accent to breathe life into the iconic video game character Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider video games from Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics.

Luddington has spent the past five years working on the performance capture and voice acting to bring Lara to life in two games, including the most recent: Rise of the Tomb Raider. The game is out Nov. 10 for Xbox One and Xbox 360 before coming to Windows 10 and Steam in early 2016 and PlayStation 4 in November 2016 (the result of a Microsoft exclusive deal).

The actress talks about her latest stint as the globetrotting archaeologist in this exclusive interview from San Diego Comic-Con. Innovation &Tech Today: What was it like returning as Lara Croft this time around?

Camilla Luddington: It was even more exciting this time around because when we finished the first

game, I was nervous about how the fans would receive it. And now I feel like there’s this huge fandom support going into the second game.

Lara’s a little bit darker at the beginning of this game, which was really fun to play. I was super excited. And to come back to Comic-Con for the second time was an amazing experience.

I&T Today: How has performance capture technology evolved since the first game?

CL: With this game we were able to use a new technology called Mova. Previous mo-cap had 90 points of reference on your face. Mova is now 7,000 points of reference, so that makes for a much more detailed specific look for Lara. Even in the trailer she looks a lot more realistic. She looks fantastic.

I&T Today: How did you juggle your work on Grey’s Anatomy and making this game at the same time?

CL: Well, literally every day off I had in the past two years I hopped onto Tomb Raider. So I had this joke that I save people in the day, and I kill people at night.

That’s what I feel like. I feel like I’m jumping back and forth constantly.

I&T Today: How much input did you have working on the script?

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gaming+Entertainment Angela Bassett is everywhere these days.

The Academy Award-nominated actress has gone virtual with Ubisoft in her firstever video game with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. She plays Six, the first female agent of the elite covert operatives, and the commander of the team that players take the role of in the new firstperson shooter action game.

Bassett also returns for a third stint – and a third character – in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Hotel. She plays hotel jazz singer Lolita Jones in the new horror series, which also stars Lady Gaga, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kathy Bates.

And come January, she’ll be on the big screen, reprising her role as Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs in the big budget action sequel, London Has Fallen. She survived the White House terrorist takeover in the first film, Olympus Has Fallen.

Angela Bassett

ENTERS THE GAME

By John Gaudiosi

Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau from American Horror Story: Coven

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The 57-year-old wife of actor Courtney B. Vance talks about all of these projects, and explains what has helped her navigate the challenges of Hollywood over such a long and diverse career in this exclusive interview from E3 in Los Angeles.

Innovation & Tech Today: What attracts you to strong female character roles in film, television, and now video games?

Angela Bassett: Perhaps growing up in a single parent household with just my mom…all the struggles that she had to go through to raise these two girls when she didn’t have a lot of resources and money.

But she had a lot of reserve, and a lot of personal pride in herself and in her family.

She holds you to this high standard that you have to meet, and she won’t take average as an excuse for not giving your best. I remember receiving that lesson from her. So it’s always translated into me not quitting, giving my best, being professional, being courteous, and just setting a high bar for myself in my profession, in friendships, and especially in my career. When you’re 15 you certainly don’t have any mentors or any family members that you can go to who can say, “Oh, this is the path that you walk. Oh, I’ll knock on this door. Here, go and sit down and have a conversation with this person

and they’ll take your hand and give you the ropes.” You have to learn them by yourself, and there’s something to that. Of course, you do get insight along the way.

You say, “Okay, let me go to school. Let me try to learn so that maybe I’ll be the cream that rises to the top in a field where there’s so much competition and you want to be a survivor and you want to last.” And that takes a great deal of strength and fortitude and belief in yourself and in your abilities as well, especially when there are those that tell you it’s difficult. You know very few actors really make a living acting. But tell me I can’t do something and I’ll show you I can. So that attitude having to come up in those odds and those circumstances fuel that I can do it, I will myself to do it.

I&T Today: Games have a history of strong female characters like Lara Croft and Samus. What impact do you feel your Six could have on the over 50 percent of females who play video games today?

AB: Wow, over 50 percent of women play games?! That’s quite a big number there. I hope it will be an inspiration. I hope it will be just the beginning of more. I mean Lara Croft and Six that’s two huge women in games. I hope it continues to open the door and that more female figures are on their way.

I&T Today: Did you play any Rainbow Six games for preparation for the role?

AB: No, I didn’t, but I’ll certainly be playing them now after this, now that I’m a big part of it.

I&T Today: How have you seen video games open up new opportunities for actors today?

AB: This was actually my first introduction to it. I know some actors have been doing games, as entertainment is broadening. The last few years we’ve seen games evolve. This is the pinnacle. This is the top of the mountain. Acting is just so much more fluid now, be it film, or television, or video games, or Broadway.

And I appreciate that.

I&T Today: How do you feel games have influenced what Hollywood film and TV shows today?

AB: The very successful ones, they take

Angela Bassett as Desiree Dupree from American Horror Story: Freak Show As Six in Rainbow Six: Siege

note of because it translates to what Hollywood understands.

I&T Today: How did working on Rainbow Six Siege compare to big budget movies like London Has Fallen?

AB: In London Has Fallen, you’re in a real car doing motion cap. In Rainbow Six, I was behind a little steel desk, not a real desk as we know it in an office, but something that simulates a desk talking to people I couldn’t see. In London Has Fallen we had two or three guys in the car with me, but what we were reacting to – the danger, the peril – we relied on the director to heighten the suspense, or to make sure that we were all in the

“ Tell me I can’t do something, and I’ll show you I can.”

same world and the stakes were really high. So we had someone yelling at us telling us what to do and we could play off each other in this same world on the motion capture stage. For the game, I couldn’t react off of someone else, but I did have to also rely on the director to

get me exactly in the world and explain how high the stakes were. So they both relied on the director and your imagination.

I&T Today: We’ve seen a lot of TV shows turned into video games over the years. What would the American Horror Story video game be like?

AB: It’d have to be off the chain. I don’t know how many levels there would be, but it’d keep you up all night I’m sure. Fans really love the show, and it’s a little bit scary with a lot of campy humor. The game would be a little frightening. I don’t know if the gamer would be in the position of being led by Jessica Lange, but it could change. Every level could be different. We change season to season. I don’t know what that game would look like. I have no idea. Do you think it would be a good game?

I&T Today: It could make a survivor horror game with some humor in it.

AB: Yeah, like Coven.

:\prompts_

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess follows on the heels of Deception IV: Blood Ties. In this new installment, players not only relive Laegrinna’s entire pursuit to free her father, the Devil, from his eternal prison, they’re also introduced to an entirely new, wickedly sadistic, and infernally mischievous character: Velguirie. Available on PlayStation®4, and digitally on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PlayStation®Vita handheld system. This title has been rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB.

Set against a backdrop of a fragmented nation, players take the mantle of a Daimyo, a feudal lord of the Sengoku era (15th-16th century Japan), and fight for the great ideal of uniting the war-ridden country. Providing the choice to play as either a historical personality or a uniquely created character, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence is both a full-scale historical simulation and a bona fide strategy title. Available in North America for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and digitally for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC via Steam®. This title has been rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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Be Infected or Amputate

Starbreeze VR Producing The Walking Dead Game

By John Gaudiosi

M

ost game developers interested in virtual reality are content with creating content for existing VR platforms like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Sony Morpheus, or Samsung Gear VR. But Swedish developer Starbreeze decided to design its own StarVR headset in tandem with its first VR game demo based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. There’s no launch date for either the full game or StarVR, but this new VR technology made its debut at E3 in Los Angeles for media, and it was revealed to fans at Walker Stalker Fan Fest during San Diego Comic-Con. A semi truck is now

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touring the United States with the Walker Stalker Fan Fest to give additional fans the opportunity to enter Kirkman’s world in this fourminute game demo.

The game demo puts players in the wheelchair of a surgeon who just cut off his own legs to save himself from becoming infected.

He’s then wheeled through an animal hospital as Walkers attack from all sides. But he also has to contend with the survivors who have their own agenda, and only want the keys he possesses. The game features plenty of zombies to shoot at, but also some intense character interactions.

“We believe virtual reality to be the next thing in games,” Emmanuel Marquez, Chief Technology Officer at Starbreeze, says. “When we looked at James Cameron’s first foray into 3D movies, he designed his own cameras, so we thought we needed to make our own hardware for VR games.”

The StarVR headset differentiates itself from the competition by using dual quad HD screens that wrap around one’s peripheral vision with a 210-degree field of view. Marquez says this total immersion, which includes 5K VR visuals, helps combat issues like motion sickness. (continues on page 153)

gaming+Entertainment The value of mobile devices is connectivity and accessibility. Not so long ago, having the power to play your favorite tunes anytime, anywhere was just a dream. It’s now something many people enjoy in their daily lives, from your ’80s car tunes to some morning coffee jazz and everything between. Ever since Pandora exploded onto the scene in 2000, many companies have put their best efforts into the market including Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud and the brand new Apple Music. But what music streaming service is right for you?

THE MUSIC STREAMING

By Liam Kivirist

Rdio takes pages out of many different music streaming services’ books and adds their own twist. Rdio has a 30 million song library and personalized Internet radio stations with free and multiple paid tiers available. Rdio’s free tier allows ad-based access to their personal Internet radio stations. Rdio’s paid tiers start at $3.99 per month with Rdio Select, offering ad free listening with unlimited skips. Rdio alternatively offers their Rdio Unlimited for $9.99 per month, offering all of the benefits of Rdio Select, plus it includes the ability to listen to or download any song, album or playlist on demand.

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Although larger music streaming services may be able to offer the biggest names in music, there is always the talent in the shadow. SoundCloud is a free music hosting site and home to a multitude of indie and up-and-coming musicians.

Because of the nature of anyone being able to upload, official information on the amount of music on SoundCloud is unavailable. SoundCloud’s paid tier is designed for creators — not consumers.

Pandora is the first music streaming service that stole the limelight, and it still holds the top spot.

Pandora sticks to its roots in personalized Internet radio, thus lacking many of the features that alternative streaming platforms have, but it’s still the music streaming service with the most active members with over 72 million.

Just enter a song or band you like, and Pandora’s algorithm generates a song you are likely to enjoy based on your initial selection. Pandora allows you to thumbs up, thumbs down, and even skip songs (although your skips are limited if you’re a free member), which the algorithm factors into choosing the next song. Pandora’s algorithm is very different from alternative Internet radio services. Instead of playing songs very similar to the original artist, Pandora will attempt to introduce you to new artists and songs based off your previous opinions.

With only one million songs in its library, Pandora hosts the smallest database of all of the music streaming services. But you never feel the small size of the library, due to the fact that you’re unable to search for individual songs. Pandora is available on virtually all devices for free with ads, or ad free for $4.99 per month. For Pandora, its simplicity has captured and retained its user base.

Spotify is a titan of the music streaming world with over 60 million active users in over 58 countries. Until recently, Spotify’s library of songs had little competition.

They offer over 30 million songs with 20,000 more added each day, with both a free ad-based tier in addition to a paid tier at $9.99 per month.

Spotify set the standard for streaming music tracks. Their library includes virtually any song or band you could want, though some artists like Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks have famously retracted their music from Spotify due to monetization and other issues. In addition to being able to listen to your favorite tunes, Spotify is rich with user-created playlists, each with their own library of songs hand picked by other users. Although the majority of Spotify’s listening audience have user-created playlists, it also has a personal Internet radio available. Very similar in style and concept to Pandora, Spotify Radio’s algorithm and selection of music is different in that it provides much less diversity of music choice. It tends to stick to songs very similar to the original band.

New to the music streaming scene, Apple Music hopes to attract listeners by bundling it with the new iOS 8.4 and offering a free three-month membership. Additionally, it will likely attract new members with their expansive music database of 37 million songs. There also might be some exclusivity with certain musicians. For example, last fall Taylor Swift took her music off of Spotify, but you’ll find her music in Apple Music’s library.

Similar to other music streaming services, Apple Music allows you to listen to public playlists or create your own.

In addition, it offers custom radio stations curated based on your preference. Nothing beats a bit of personality.

Apple Music is creating a unique experience with Apple Music’s Beats 1, a worldwide Internet streamed radio station with professionally selected music streaming 24/7 through Apple Music.

It’s most likely that Apple Music is already installed on your iOS devices, with a built-in free trial. After that, it’s $9.99 per month.

There’s no free ad-based tier option, a big difference from other services.

Apple Music also has an alternate option for families at $14.99 per month that covers up to six users in the family. It will soon be available for Android with a Fall 2015 release date.

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Hand of God

Sons of Anarchy

Hellboy

Ron Perlman

Zombies, Crowdfunding, and the Evolution of Gaming As We Know It

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By John Gaudiosi

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Actor Ron Perlman has established himself as an actor to be reckoned with in critically acclaimed TV series like Sons of Anarchy and Hand of God. But gamers know the actor for his work as the narrator in the Fallout franchise (Fallout 4 is out Nov. 10), and they can now hear him in Treyarch’s Call of Duty Black Ops III: Zombies – Shadows of Evil (out Nov. 6). Best known by genre fans as the antihero Hellboy in Guillermo del Toro’s films, the actor was at San Diego Comic-Con to check out Activision’s Zombie Escape Room – a fright fest with real actors that challenged attendees to escape from zombies in real life. Perlman talks about going virtual against zombies in this exclusive interview.

Innovation &Tech Today: What’s it like stepping into the world of Call of Duty Zombies?

Ron Perlman: It’s kind of thrilling because not being a gamer myself, but knowing a lot of guys who are major devotees, I knew the scope of it going in. When I got the call, “Would you be interested?” it was a no-brainer. It was like, “Oh yeah, what do we got to do, who do we got to kill?”

I&T Today: Can you talk about your character in Shadows of Evil?

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

RP: He’s a boxer. And when I was a younger actor, all I wanted to do was play a boxer. Then when I hit 50, I thought it would be really nice if I could play a boxer’s manager. And then a couple of years ago, I decided that it would really be great if I could play a boxer’s grandfather. And now, due to the miracle of CGI and mo-cap, I’m playing a boxer at 65 f*cking years old! So it’s kind of a dream come true.

I&T Today: What’s your zombie apocalypse weapon of choice?

RP: I got a left hook and a right roundhouse, and I guess since they’re still putting the game together, an assortment of state-of-the-art weaponry to go along with a bad attitude and probably some horrible breath.

I&T Today: What do you think separates the huge multi-billion dollar Call of Duty video game from other video games out there?

RP: If I knew that, I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair doing this interview. I’d be running a major corporation. I have no idea what it is that taps into the psyche of guys, not even just in America, but internationally – because this thing is big the world over. If any of us knew that we’d all be doing something different than what we’re doing, you

know? Every once in a while you’re 12 feet from the cup and you hit a putt with your eyes closed, and it falls in the hole. And that’s what these guys do.

I&T Today: How have you seen video games evolve since your early work on Halo in Fallout?

RP: I don’t ever get to the place where I’m experiencing the games as a player, but I do see the different engineering, the different devices that are used in the mo-cap work, the amount of different options they’ve given themselves in creating real three-dimensional, natural looking things since I started till now. It’s kind of cool to have been in the game long enough to see the curve, the evolution taking place. And you know that whatever they’ve invented yesterday is going to be replaced a year from yesterday by something twice as good, so it’s an on-going kind of a thing, and it’s fun to be part of watching the technology.

All this technology is harnessed by the human imagination, so that’s even more mind-boggling.

I&T Today: Speaking of motion capture, what do you think lends itself to the acting field and getting more actors involved in working in video games?

Call of Duty Black Ops III: Zombies

With Guillermo del Toro

Enjoying a laugh at Comic-Con with Christina Applegate and Channing Tatum

RP: We got some great actors involved in this iteration of Call of Duty with Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough, and Robert Picardo. We followed some great actors last game (Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Mob of the Dead) like Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Chazz Palminteri, and my buddy Joey Pants (Joe Pantoliano). I think there’s finally a recognition on the part of us creative types that by doing this we reach people we would never reach through movie careers or television careers. And that’s the name of the game, isn’t it? So, I’m stoked to know that when this game comes out in

November there’s going to be a whole bunch of people who never heard my name before who are going to go, “Oh, that guy.”

I&T Today: Did you ever play any arcade games when you were younger?

RP: The only games I played are love games.

I&T Today: Like Pac-Man and Ms. PacMan? RP: Just ask my wife. She would basically be the first to tell you, “That mother f*cker.

He’s just constantly playing.”

I&T Today: We’ve had Hellboy video games. Do you think crowdfunding could help get Hellboy 3 made?

RP: I’m not a fan of crowdfunding, and I definitely don’t think crowdfunding has a place in big studio movie making. I think big studios need to step up and do their job. It’s the fan’s job to sit there and have some buttered popcorn and a regular CocaCola, or in my case a root beer, and just enjoy the movie. I mean, 15 bucks for a movie ticket is enough.

I&T Today: How has being in Fallout impacted your life?

RP: There was a lot of speculation that I would come back into Fallout in its fourth installation. I’ve never seen my social media numbers become so profoundly different in 48 hours as after the announcement for Fallout 4. I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen for Call of Duty, which is the biggest one of all, so it’s humbling. Games make movies like Titanic look like preschool.

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:\prompts_ The Race For Commercial VR Ever since its Kickstarter launch in 2012, Oculus Rift from Oculus VR has allowed us to step into virtual worlds in most spectacular ways – and inspired a wave of VR companies, each with their own concept, device, and configuration.

Although it has been almost three years since the start of the VR gold rush of development, almost all of the front line VR devices still lack consumer versions.

Things are about to get interesting for consumers interested in VR, though.

Oculus Rift’s new release is coming in early 2016, plus Valve’s and HTC’s new VR devices, the HTC Vive, with a potential release date of this November.

“Our goal is simple: create the most immersive VR product in the market,” says Dan O’Brien, executive director of

connected products at HTC. “Consumers will tell us if we’ve met that goal. There’s a lot of people bringing different versions of VR and solutions to market. It’s here, it’s real, and the application for VR is limitless.”

HTC Vive

“We have also built in a Chaperone system, which allows the user to define the area in their room they can move freely,” adds O’Brien. “We are bringing some additional safety features that will really make consumers feel comfortable moving around a room without the worry of bumping into objects or walls.”

With the number of devices heading to the market, the race for commercial VR is certain to be a boon for VR enthusiasts, with companies eager to share their version of virtual reality. – LK

Oculus Rift

Unlocking the full potential of the HoloLens Unless you’ve been living under an augmented reality rock, you have most likely heard of Microsoft’s new mixed reality device, the HoloLens.

Microsoft has been pushing the HoloLens as a new way to experience your favorite games.

“Microsoft HoloLens is our holographic computing device, powered by Windows 10 – it brings holograms into your world, an experience called mixed reality,” says Joel Gunderson of Waggener Edstrom Communications’ Rapid Response Team for Microsoft.

Examples of mixed reality were seen at E3 2015 with their “Halo 5 Experience,” which features the user walking through a spaceship set while the HoloLens displays waypoints and information straight to the user. This created an experience much closer to a

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

personal navigator than a video game.

Although in the past we’ve seen that gamers are willing to empty their pocketbooks to try new tech, the HoloLens is a device that has a compelling potential beyond gaming. The HoloLens has the ability to mature into a way of assisted life, with the device projections guiding you through your day.

“For developers, Windows 10 and Microsoft HoloLens are the premier holographic platform that enables you to unleash your creativity and be among the first to shape holographic computing,” adds Gunderson. “Microsoft HoloLens will transform how companies, designers, and creators work with three-dimensional data to bring products and information to life. This is just the beginning.” – LK

From High-End Novelty to DIY Continued from page 59

only in (media) distribution, but also in visual displays. There are also some disruptive platforms; for example, virtual reality has had a huge surge in public awareness. How will the CEDIA market address and adopt that?”

Spann also pointed out the prevalence of licensing and partnering. With numerous associations, alliances, partnerships, and licensing arrangements in existence, this business model is no stranger to home automation. However, he’s intrigued by the increase in cross-platform partnerships, such as those DarbeeVision and its newest signature system powerhouse, the DVP-5100 CIE, now enjoy with Blu-Ray manufacturers Cambridge Audio and Oppo, video processor Lumagen Radiance, and the Optoma family of DLP projectors — all of which utilize DarbeeVision’s processing technology.

“This has been our plan from the beginning, to get our technologies into the hands of as many people as possible,” Spann said. “We have our own ‘tweener’ line, but integration and partnerships are the most efficient way for consumers to get our technology; we usually sell to systems integrators, A/V shops and home theater installers.”

Speaking of the future, all parties agree that home automation will continue growing rapidly on the three engines of do-it-yourself potential, affordability, and tighter integration between devices and protocols. “Alarms people are starting to align security products with Z-wave and other devices, so that people you get your alarm system from, or people who sell you your cable TV system, are going to offer home automation,” EcoNet’s Allen says. “We’re

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

According to the research firm Market to Market, today’s $9.95 billion market will reach

$22.4 billion

in the Americas alone by 2020 — a compound annual growth of

17.62 percent.

now at the step, the next couple years, where companies like Apple and Samsung are going to strive to make home automation seamless.”

How do we get there? Nortek’s Rosenthal has a quick and succinct response: “For the person to pull it out of the box, and it’s perfect as-is.”

What will that take? “A couple of things,” Rosenthal said. “The software has to get better, and the user experience has to improve (and it’s improving every day). The quality of user experience is going to drive adoption. The products themselves? There’s not much you can do with a light switch. What really drives consumer adoption is what that light switch is interacting with. In the Z-Wave world, we’ve got Wink hub and Amazon Echo communicating with each other with Z-Wave devices. It’s one of the first times I can sit in my living room and say, ‘Turn on the light,’ and the light goes on almost instantaneously.”

The futurists among us, like On Control’s Itai Ben-Gal, see our relationship with our homes

becoming ever more personal. “Where an old hard-button remote on the coffee table was once the only interface for everyone in the home,” he said, “today each family member can benefit from a personalized interface within their smart phone, tablet or any of the modern wearable devices we see emerging on the market.

“What lies far into the future? Maybe a system that adapts to your lifestyle and anticipates automated commands without the need to push a single button,” he added.

Another consideration is the climatically changing environment around us – particularly as it impacts electricity and water. According to Rob Zimmerman of home fixture giant Kohler, “The house of 25 years from now will look the same but function very differently than the house of today. Technology has a lot to do with that. So does environmental necessity, starting with water issues.”

Like many others in home automation and IoT, Nexia’s Land points out we are living the future in many ways. The question is no longer if there is enough product variety in home automation — but how we relate with our devices, appliances and systems.

“Established standards such as Z-Wave, WiFi, and Bluetooth give people confidence that their devices will work with each other and with many of the various control hubs out there,” Land said. “As smart home providers like Nexia adopt common standards that are used in everyday life, the risk of obsolete or incompatible technologies is minimized.”

IoT, Version 2 Continued from page 60

“ We can take results from our diagnostic equipment and put a very specialized treatment plan together with the chair.”

— Dr. Sandeep Vaid A Brain-to-Brain Partnership Continued from page 48

rotational chair. We also use particular technologies to optimize eye movements.”

Eye movements are a primary indicator of hidden brain injuries.

The binocular vision work of Dr. Patrick Quaid, the author of Seeing is Behaving (to be released in 2016), and his team at the Guelph Vision Therapy Center in Ontario, Canada, has put him on that country’s front line on the subject.

In the U.S., Fredieu and his colleagues at Cerebrum Health Centers have further amped up the eye-related brain diagnostics and therapy with videonystagmography (VNG), a machine that tracks eye movement in order to diagnose a specific type of brain injury or disorder.

“Our eyes and our vestibular system receive the most information from the environment and bring the most input into the

greatest number of areas of the brain,” Fredieu explained. “If we have a brain injury, our eyes won’t move together well, or move smoothly. Our eyes aren’t moving in a way to allow us to see things correctly — which diminishes the quality of information we receive from the environment and how the brain processes it.”

From the therapeutic side, Cerebrum uses devices including the off-axis vertical rotational chair, which spins in different positions and directions to activate damaged parts of the brain. “We can take results from our diagnostic equipment and put a very specialized treatment plan together with the chair,” explained Dr. Sandeep Vaid, medical director at Cerebrum Health Centers in Atlanta. “If we spin someone to the right, we’re activating their left hemisphere. If we spin them forward, we’re reaching the posterior portion. We can look at

how someone’s eyes are moving and deficiencies in their balance, and use the chair.”

Fredieu and other neurologists are quick to point out we’re still at the beginning. Studying the inner workings of the brain is very similar to studying the universe — the more you find, the more awaits discovery. One area always sits at the tip of Fredieu’s tongue.

“We really need to do a better job of identifying brain injury faster,” he said. “If someone suffers a subtle injury, and they’re placed back in the field — whether military theater, the gridiron, or even a classroom setting —if their brain hasn’t been given the opportunity to heal, then further damage can result.”

Senior Writer and I&T Today Founding Editor ROBERT YEHLING is the author of Just Add Water, a biography of autistic surf star Clay Marzo.

of devices certified as Z-Wave or Zigbee, home automation and connected car technology interfacing is growing tighter every day. Companies are working with affiliates, vendors, and sometimes even their own competitors to create connections and cloud-based services that serve the entire market. As Nexia’s George Land notes, “Established standards such as Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth give people confidence that their devices will work with each other and also with many of the various control hubs out there. For example, Nexia uses Z-Wave and Wi-Fi to communicate with hundreds of compatible devices from top-tier manufacturers like Trane, General Electric, Schlage, Andersen, First Alert, and Pella.”

Which brings us to the Z-Waves, Zigbees, and Bluetooths of the world. These technologies have become buzzwords in the business world, but very few people know how they work. Cameron Trice of Jasco Products, a supplier of many products with one, two, or all three certifications, feels that the ultimate goal for the Internet of Things is that they need not know much about the certification standards — only that they work.

“The number one problem for wireless is reliability of the signal, making sure the signal reaches the source and does what you want it to do,” Trice said. “Our value is combining a lighting control with a mesh network, connected to your phone via Bluetooth. We’ve combined them into one easy-tounderstand technology. This is why you’ve seen so many lighting control brands come and go in the last 15 years. The biggest problem in lighting is the inability for devices to communicate with it.

Through Bluetooth and a mesh network, you now have that solution.”

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Like father, like son; Tony (l) and Riley Hawk

Camilla Luddington as Laura Croft, fighting a yeti [right]

Tony Hawk Catches Major Air With Pro Skater 5

Camilla Luddington is Lara Croft

Continued from page 136

Continued from page 138

skateboarding for the most part, so why not? And then have the best players rise to the top. It’s fascinating to me that you can make a career being good at video games. It’s fascinating that you can make a career at skateboarding.

When I was a kid, I just did it because I loved it.”

There are similarities between the rise of eSports – which today has 260 million fans around the globe – and the path that skateboarding took in the early days before X-Games gave a broadcast window to an underground sport.

“I see that maybe the gamers are striving for legitimacy and acceptance in the mainstream because most parents or elders you tell that you’re going to make a career at being the best video gamer, that doesn’t seem something tangible to them,” said Hawk. “That definitely was the case when I was skating when I was growing up. If you told your mom or dad that you wanted to go be a pro skater they’re like, ‘What are you going to do for a job, though?’”

One of Hawk’s jobs is still making video games. He said he’s involved in every step of the development process, and he plays each ‘build’ of the game as the developer progresses. The new game introduces a seamless online multiplayer world to explore.

“The new online mode allows up to 20 players at a time,” said Hawk. “You can have friends

152

playing from all across the world and you can create your own parks and share them. We have some of the favorite classic levels that we’ve brought back, and we’ve created new ones. But the controls remain the same that people are used to.”

Everything players could do alone in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 they can now do with friends online. As for Hawk, he finds himself logging more time playing kids games when he does have some free time.

“Mostly I’m playing games with my daughter,” said Hawk. “We play Disney Infinity together because she likes to play the character she sees in the movies. I used to play all the LEGO games with my kids because they wanted me to finish the hard levels, but now my kids are off on their own.

They’re playing Destiny and Minecraft 24/7. That’s our house.”

Hawk believes the timing is right to bring back the fan-favorite Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater because there’s such a nostalgic element. Fans have been asking him to bring this franchise back for years.

“With all the new consoles in place we just felt like it was time to bring back that old gameplay, that old control scheme, but in the new environments and using the new technology,” said Hawk. “I’m excited because I’ve been waiting, too.”

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

That wait is finally over.

CL: We had a table read, which is the first time we had ever done that.

Because of the size of the game, it took hours for us to read out loud the entire script. That helped me. And then I got to go back and say, “Hey, I don’t think this makes sense,” or “This jump from this scene to this scene doesn’t make sense,” or “Why is she saying this?” It becomes a collaborative effort amongst everybody, but I feel like it only helps to serve the story at the end of the day.

that Lara Croft has played in attracting more female gamers?

I&T Today: What do you think fans will be excited about when it comes to the locales and the enemies in the next installment?

CL: I am terrible at every game except for Sonic because I’ve been playing it since I was a kid, but Tomb Raider is very difficult for me. It’s frustrating for me because I know where I need to go and what to grab to kill somebody, but I just can’t find anything.

CL: Everything is a little creepier and a little darker than in the last game, so fans will just have to wait and see how that all ends up appearing and coming to life.

CL: I met so many girls today actually that said that they weren’t gamers and then they bought Tomb Raider, so they’re relating to something and relating to her. There just needs to be more of those kinds of characters to bring in more of those female gamers.

I&T Today: How good are you at playing these games?

I&T Today: Does Crystal Dynamics give you any cheats or anything?

I&T Today: Was it fun to get a chance to play in this ice landscape?

CL: No. None. I’m going to have to ask them for this game.

CL: Yeah, it was very different. I kind of hated it at the same time because it required a lot of yelling, and I lost my voice so many times. So I hope that she’s on the beach in the next game.

I&T Today: When you’re playing other games do you feel a little of Lara Croft’s influence with the way start acting the way that she does, moving the way she does?

I&T Today: What do you think it is about Lara Croft as a character that has stood the test of time over so many games and films and connected with people?

CL: I think her strength and drive are really inspiring. And I don’t think there are enough female characters that are these heroes. She sticks out as one and will continue to be iconic because of that.

I&T Today: What role do you feel

Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey’s Anatomy.

Photo Credits

All trademarks, service marks, and logos contained within this publication are the property of their respective owners, and may not be individually identified in this publication. p10 Tony Hawk/Dale May p12 2d Furniture and Electrical Appliances from Vector.me, Smart House Graphics,Security Camera/ Designed by Freepik Shots from the VR zombie experience.

CL: No. I feel competitive though. I feel like I can’t play a game without comparing it to Tomb Raider, which I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

I&T Today: Has playing her now for so long rubbed off on you in any way?

Be Infected or Amputate

p14 Pluto photos/Courtesy of NASA

Continued from page 142

p16 Pepper/Jill Giardino

Marquez has been involved in virtual reality for the past 20 years, but he says what differentiates today’s booming market is the lighter, more affordable high-resolution screens that have become available thanks to advances in smartphone technology.

It also helps that companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Valve, HTC, Unity, AMD, and Nvidia are all investing in VR.

I&T Today: Have you noticed any crossover between Grey’s Anatomy and Tomb Raider fans?

“We need to create a new ecosystem with content for every kind of entertainment and game,” Marquez says. “The Walking Dead is a global mainstream property, which is great for attracting an audience that’s never tried VR. It’s also perfect for VR because Robert Kirkman’s universe allows us to connect with players’ emotions, especially fear, which is a very different gaming experience with full immersion.”

CL: I’m starting to see it, yes.

I know some fans of Tomb Raider that now watch Grey’s and some Grey’s fans now have played Tomb Raider. They take pictures holding the games, so it’s really fun to see that crossover, actually.

The StarVR headset also allows Starbreeze to add real plastic guns to the mix through tracking technology.

The Walking Dead VR game uses a prototype shotgun, which has to be physically cocked after each shot in the real world to take out virtual zombies.

I&T Today: How cool is it to be able to tell people that you play Lara Croft?

“The tracking system we’ve designed is easy to implement not only for the headset, itself, but also things like the gun,” Marquez says.

“We use markers for position tracking, but also any device you could put in the same field of the camera.”

CL: I think that even in just working out and wanting to kick butt and take Taekwondo and whatever, anything like that makes me want to be more of a badass.

CL: It’s very cool. I’ve been hoping forever it would give me street cred. I’m not sure it has, but just to be part of something iconic is amazing.

Wifi Router/Wilson Joseph/Noun Project

Marquez would like to see all future Starbreeze games developed with a VR experience designed for StarVR.

They could follow the model of The Walking Dead, which has a separate PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One game in development separately from the VR game.

Dan Murray, president of Skybound Interactive, likes the new StarVR headset and believes it could be used for additional Skybound properties and potentially by other game developers in the future.

“As we got deeper into the conversation with Starbreeze about StarVR, we thought it’d be great for other things we’re doing at Skybound,” Murray says.

Starbreeze is taking its time developing StarVR and is not releasing a launch window. The game company is also hedging its bets by allowing The Walking Dead VR game, which also has no launch window, to work on other VR headsets like the HTC Vive.

Given that Digi-Capital forecasts VR will become a $30 billion business by 2020, there’s no rush to get a headset to market. Piper-Jaffray forecasts there will be over 12 million VR headsets by the end of 2016, but the real growth of this space will occur through 2020 and beyond.

The good news for fans is that you don’t have to buy a VR headset to play a new game. Starbreeze is also developing a co-op game set in Washington, D.C. that features some of the same characters that appear in the VR game. That game will be coming out for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in 2016.

p26 Home Automation Illustration/Designed by Freepik p36 Illustration/vecteezy.com p42 Fusion Hybrid/Ford Motor Co. p53 Jetsons/FreeVector.com Technology Eye/Morgue File_ DeduloPhotos p54 Echo/Amazon, Home Automation Illustration/iPad Control Panel/Lutron Electronics Co.,Inc. p54 BestBuy/flickr_ StockMonkeys.com, Walmart/ Walmart, Lowes/Lowes p70 Audi A3, Connect Control Panel/Audi, BMW i3/BMW Press Club p90-91 Bill Nye/Lightsail p92 Bill Nye/Lightsail p94 Bill Nye/Michael Colella p96 Bill Nye/Michael Colella p98 Bill Nye/Michael Colella p106 Wavy background/Vecteezy. com p107 - Students photo/Argenis Apolinario, Roboto action/Adriana M. Groisman p120 Ariel Costa Rica/ Tamarindowiki_01 p124 East Franklin and Columbia Street Downtown Chapel Hill/ Chapel Hill Orange County Visitors Bureau p126 Downtown Raleigh/Courtesy of the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau, Digital Youth/ Courtney Johnson p134 Chris Carter with Gillian & David/Frank Micelotts/FOX p138 Camilla Luddington/Square Enix p140 Angela bassett as Marie Laveau/Fox p141 Angela Bassett as Desiree Dupree/Red Carpet Photo/Fox, Rainbow Six: Siege/Ubisoft p152 Tony Hawk/Dale May, Rise of the Tomb Raider/Square Enix p153 Rise of the Tomb Raider/ Square Enix

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productREVOLUTION [2]

[1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

[6]

[ 1 ] Mistura: Timepiece Have a fashion craving you can’t pinpoint? Try these unique and badass watches by Mistura. Each timepiece is more of an art piece than a watch. Crafted with the finest wood from around the world, each watch combines art and nature that will definitely make people jealous. Design your next timepiece, starting around $189, here: www.mistura.com.

[7]

[ 2 ] KeySmart: KeySmart Compact Key Organizer What if your keys could fan out in such an organized way that the perfect key pops up for you, every time? The KeySmart pocket organizer for your keys makes you look less like a janitor and more like a business professional. Turn heads for only $20 at www.getkeysmart.com.

[ 3 ] AcousticSheep LLC: Sleep Phones Falling asleep can be difficult in today’s noisy world. AcousticSheep made sleeping easier with SleepPhones, a musical headband to wear comfortably through the night. No pressure, no adjusting; just slip on, fall asleep, and stay asleep. Innovative adult lullabies starting at $40 can be found here: www.sleepphones.com.

[ 4 ] Neutral Posture: Right Chair The way you sit has been upgraded thanks to Neutral Posture. These executive level chairs give you options for adjusting, and contoured seat design for upper and lower back. Synchro-tilt features imitate more natural movement of the hips while you sit, to keep you moving naturally while you’re still. Active seating never felt so good. Find your Right Chair for around $500 at www.neutralposture.com.

[ 5 ] Smartenit: Harmony H3 The Harmony H3 by Smartenit lets you control anything, from anywhere. The Android-powered media box allows the user to trigger alarms, receive notifications, monitor power consumption, even stream, store, and play media files. Home automation is real. $150 smartenit.com/product/harmony-h3/

[8]

[ 6 ] Sengled USA: Sengled Boost Sengled offers us another option for smart light bulbs, the Boost, an LED bulb with Wi-Fi repeater. No router equipment or cords. Screw in bulb, download app, and you have Wi-Fi in plain sight, or plain light, with the flip of a switch thanks to Sengled. Faster speeds and brighter lights for $50 at www.sengled.com.

[ 7 ] Sennheiser: Presence

[9]

The Presence Bluetooth headset is just that: present without being intrusive. Made for business professionals on the go, it’s perfect for those who want the convenience of a Bluetooth headset without being the idiot in the grocery store. Amazing battery life, supreme noise cancelling capabilities, and tough durability. Communicate more clearly for $180 at en-us.sennheiser.com.

[ 8 ] Schlage: Connect The Schlage Connect offers keyless control of your home. With customizable access codes and no keys to worry about, leaving and coming home are easier. Fingerprint-resistance and the anti-pick shield ensure long, easy use. Control your home from anywhere for around $200 here: www.schlage.com/en/home/keylessdeadbolt-locks/connect.html

[ 9 ] Blackloud: Netti and Buzzi Buzzi by Blackloud is the ultimate all-in-one controller. Any outlet can be connected to your device via the almighty cloud and app.

Turn on/off and check lights with the push of a button. Use with the Netti to extend your Wi-Fi, increasing signal strength to your existing network. An Ethernet bridge on the side transforms wired devices into wireless. Smart home indeed for only $100 each. www.blackloud.com/buzzi/ and www.blackloud.com/netti/

FALL 2015 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

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productREVOLUTION [1] [ 1 ] VSN: V.ALRT V.ALRT is a wearable that’s ideal for active individuals, children, and seniors who might need emergency assistance. The press of a button triggers your phone to call help and send your GPS location. Works with both Android and iPhone, comes as a wristband or pendant attachment, and requires no charging! $59.99 at www.vsnmobil.com

[2]

[ 2 ] Soundcast: Melody Bluetooth Speaker Bluetooth speakers are pretty normal these days, but it’s hard to find good quality sound that also can be reliable outside the home. This weather resistant Bluetooth speaker has a 20-hour battery life. That’s enough to blast all the Now CD’s back to back. The perfect choice for any situation, purchase for $399 at www.gosoundcast.com

[ 3 ] Magellan: MiVue 658 The Magellan MiVue 658 is really cool. What would be a typical GPS for your car steps it up with a forward-facing camera, tracking all that happens on the road. Record road trips or impact during accidents. For $250, get the next line of defense for car safety here: www.magellangps.com

[3]

[ 4 ] Onanoff: Skin

[4]

Onanoff, a gadget accessory company, has a synthetic leather case to protect your Macbook.

Sort of like a sticker, this ‘skin’ keeps your Macbook scratch-free without the bulk of a case.

Don’t worry, your Apple logo remains visible.

Whew. $50 at www.onanoff.com

[5]

[ 5 ] Jasco: GE Branded Plug-in Smart Dimmer & Outdoor Smart Switch Get the Home-Alone handle on your house with Jasco’s GE branded Bluetooth Smart Lighting Controls. Without a hub or gateway needed, the Smart Dimmer uses Bluetooth Smart Mesh technology to dim and control indoor lights, while the Outdoor Smart Switch wirelessly controls outside lights or other devices from your smartphone or tablet. Using the app powered by Avi-On, you can enjoy the benefits of home automation without re-wiring, making it easy to set-up and use. $44.99. Shop the full GE Bluetooth ecosystem here: www.EZbluetooth.com

[ 6 ] Bluesound: PULSE MINI

[6]

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The new Bluesound PULSE MINI is an All-In-One Wireless Streaming Music System, part of Bluesound’s audiophile-grade wireless digital multi-room music system. Bluesound Gen 2 features many new designs and performance capabilities. Six new models, control from anywhere, perfect for any room or listening situation. Elevate your sound, $499 www.bluesound.com

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INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | FALL 2015

The Lighter Side Is Smart Tech Making us Dumb? By Austin Escher

I

s smart tech making us dumb?

Many seem to think so; yet, whenever this view is expressed publicly, smart tech critics tend to sound like Luddites, antimillennials, or the “get off my lawn” variety of grandparent.

Chances are you’ve probably heard someone recently grumble about “people and their phones these days…”

They lament how our once proud society has foolishly traded away our autonomy for an addiction to overly indulgent and unnecessary tech-cessories.

For these smart tech detractors, signs of the apocalypse abound.

Autocorrect, acronyms and emojis bastardize the English language, one text at a time.

GPS navigation renders us all geographically challenged, at the mercy of lost network signals and depleted batteries.

Household voice-command systems have users cemented in couches, barking orders to robots in empty rooms (their poor, confused pets!).

And it’s only getting worse.

We no longer require keys to open our doors, hands to hail our cabs, or wallets to carry our credit cards. Soon we may not even have to drive our own

cars. And for the kicker: the layman has no idea how any of his technology even works, despite the fact that it’s slowly and stealthily turning him into an idiot. All of this in the name of convenience, comfort, and progress.

This portrayal of the smart tech critic may seem an unfair caricature to some, but generally speaking, smart tech detractors cannot help but seem out-of-touch with their Reefer Madness-like paranoia. After all, what are we talking about here?

Adjusting thermostats, turning keys, and carrying credit cards?

Performing these tasks on a daily basis seems about as valuable to human intelligence as cursive writing. In fact, there are countless other examples of once “valuable” skills that are now understandably and justifiably obsolete thanks to technological advances— bloodletting, abacus-counting, and ice cutting, just to name a few. Is this really something to mourn, or simply the inevitable result of human ingenuity?

Honestly, if the death of the abacus depresses you, smart tech is likely the least of your worries.

that isn’t the right question.

I recently heard a much more reasonable criticism of smart tech that had less to do with lost intelligence than it did disconnection. It was suggested that smart devices are so engrossing and pervasive that they totally monopolize our attention, causing us to neglect our most valuable relationships and commitments as a result.

The question this critic asked was not, “Is smart tech making us dumb,” but much more reasonably, “Is our infatuation with smart tech limiting our happiness?”

Now, it would be ridiculous to blame smart tech for how its consumers choose to behave, but the point still remains.

Perhaps we love our gadgets just a bit too much and at least occasionally unplugging our machines is essential for our happiness. Perhaps we’d be dumb not to.

So, is smart tech making us dumb? Probably not. But maybe

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Happy Holidays!

The best gadgets, gifts, and services, to give your favorite techie – or yourself if you’ve been nice!

Business Innovations We examine how technology continues to shape the business landscape, whether that be through ergonomic office furniture, shared workspaces full of tech startups, or telecommunication developments that connect companies around the world.

I&T Today speaks with business and innovation leaders across all sectors to bring the best minds together in our Winter Issue.

Outdoor & Adventure Tech For Winter Skiiers, snowboards, and other cold-weather adventurers, don’t miss our favorite devices to keep you connected and frostbite free during the snowy season. We’ll also interview a couple renowned adventure innovators with the inside scoop on their inspiration, fears, and the tech they rely on every trip.

in our next issue Sustainability Today

I&T Today continues to investigate sustainability in the corporate sphere – what it means, how companies are taking it to the next level, and where it’s going.

STEM Education CES Preview & Las Vegas Tech Zone Like chocolate and peanut butter, I&T Today examines the explosion that is the Las Vegas Tech Zone just in time for annual technology supershow, the Consumer Electronics Show. With Screw the Valley author Tim Sprinkle, we delve into what makes Vegas a startup & tech hub, as well as what to expect from the region in 2016.

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The focus on STEM continues as does our partnership with the USA Science & Engineering Festival. We’ll examine what keeps students going in STEM, and what keeps them from enjoying all the STEM fields have to offer.

Look for these stories, along with our departments, Gaming & Entertainment, Gift Guide, Product Revolution, and much more in the Winter 2015 issue of Innovation & Tech Today. On newsstands and all digital readers December 6.

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