It’s Good to be King – Until Your Not!
How would this go?
Me – “Honey would you turn on the news?”
Spouse – “Sure. I turned on NPR“
Me – “Honey, turn on the lights in the den.”
Spouse – “Hmmm, Ok“
Me – “Honey can you close the garage?”
Spouse – “Really? Ok“
Me – “Honey, it’s a bit chilly, can you turn up the thermostat to 70?”
Spouse – “Can you get off your lazy ass and do it yourself?”
I am confident that if you treated a family member or friend the way you can treat Amazon Echo and Google Home you would be in the dog house fairly quickly. The fact is it is pretty difficult to ask just about anyone to perform all of the trivial acts that fill up our days. Not anymore.
Lately, I have been living like a king.
Me – “Alexa, turn on the lights.”
Alexa – “Ok”
Me – “Alexa set an alarm for 6 am”
Alexa – “Ok, alarm set for 6 am”
Me – “Alexa, play the myths and legends podcast.”
Alexa – “Ok, playing the latest episode of myths and legends.”
Me – “Alexa, set a sleep timer for 10 minutes.”
Alexa – “Ok, I will stop playing in 10 minutes”
Me – “Alexa, turn off the lights”
Alexa – “Ok”
Me – “Alexa, Goodnight”
Alexa – “Goodnight”
This is not a blog about whether to buy a Google Home or an Amazon Echo. Rather it is a discussion of the impact devices and capabilities like these will have on society. Frankly when I hang out in my place in Westford, Ma. and boss Alexa around I feel pretty powerful. Not powerful like a dictator but more like someone in control who gets obeyed without pushback or delay. What effect will this have on us when this type becomes common place? Will we be able to discern between how robots and humans behave? Yes, I said robots. They are among us and they are listening, dutifully.
My Roomba vacuum never tires of sucking up the dust off of my wood floors, unless it uses getting stuck under my chaise as an excuse to sleep. I love the ability to ask Google or Alexa what’s on the docket for tomorrow and whether or not it is going to be a hat and gloves kind of day. The ability to command these little devices makes it easy for me to do even more than I typically would.
What will happen to the first generation that grows up with Alexa as a nanny? Your going to have some pretty precious individuals who are used to always getting their way. More importantly, what will happen when Alexa or Google fail? Your going to have some really frustrated middle schoolers. Your also going to have some pretty bent out of shape adults.
The other day when my Alexa dot lost its little mind, I had to actually reach up and turn on my bedside lamp, manually, with my hands. I could have pulled a muscle or even fallen out of bed!
There is no doubt that things are changing and changing fast but I just want to be on the record for saying these devices are a bit of a tipping point. Once you get used to being the king of your domain its not so easy to go back. In short order, we will be able to ask Alexa for a single malt on a silver tray and that may just be the beginning of the end.
I’m a fan. I will take the time to connect Alexa to my lights and to my Sonos speakers when its supported, but I know one-day things will go wrong and I hope I and Amazon and Google, are smart enough to make sure the lights still turn on and the furnace still heats the house.
What do you think? Have you interacted with these devoted servants? What’s that? I did not hear anything? Will you answer me already? Jeez! Humans!!
Let us not mislabel camera assisted cruise control with true autonomous vehicles.
The Google Self Driving Car and the Tesla Auto-pilot assisted driving are two completely different approaches to developing a truly autonomous vehicle.
First of all, Google uses 360 degree LiDAR which scans everything around the vehicle and collects 1.3 million readings per second. This coupled with: sonar devices, stereo cameras, and radar provides a much more sophisticated approach to “seeing” than what is taking place in Audis, Mercedes and Teslas. Of course it costs a lot more but Google feels that if we are going to succeed in getting robots, (truly autonomous vehicles) on the road, we are going to need to demonstrated extraordinary safety. Secondly, everything a Google car sees and experiences is sent to the cloud, processed and then share with all other Google cars. To quote Google car inventor Sebastian Thrun, “Every new born Google car holds the collective knowledge of all previous cars.”
Tesla’s approach of incremental development leading to a fully autonomous vehicle is a very different and potentially damaging approach to the problem. The problem with Tesla’s strategy is that the are relying on the most unpredictable factor on the planet, the human.
They media is already calling the recent Tesla collision the worlds first “Self Driving Fatality.” Simply put, this is wrong. Its not the same thing. This misrepresentation of the technology could set back municipal legislation on self-driving cars by years. This could cost the US 10’s of thousands of lives in unnecessary auto collisions.
If you are in a position to report on or write about this technology, please take the time to draw the distinction between truly autonomous self-driving vehicles and driver assist technology. There are not the equal.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/189486-how-googles-self-driving-cars-detect-and-avoid-obstacles
The Power of Optimism and Fusion
In 1998, my friend and co-investor in Net-Tv told me about an incredible, also read implausible, investment he and his father were involved in. Tad Buchannan described the technology as a dumpster sized fusion reactor that could power San Francisco. Hearing something like this from anyone should send all smart money to the exits but this was Tad and Mike Buchannan and these were two very honest and trustworthy people. At the very least they believed in what they were investing in so I thought it was worth a look.
What Tad was talking about, in layman’s terms, was an electrical power plant fueled by a continuous fusion reaction. The best way I know to describe this is to say that the company was planning to bottle the sun.
A video from Tri Alpha
When you think about a star, if you ever do, you may wonder how it works, where does all that light and heat come from and how does it work for billions of years? To understand you need to break down Einstein’s theory of relativity. E=MC2 . Simply put E, Energy is equal to the value of Mass multiplied by C The speed of Light squared. In other words, the atomic weight of the two colliding atoms multiplied by the speed of light and squared. The resulting large number is the amount of energy that comes out of the fusion reaction. A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. The idea behind confined fusion is to replicate what takes place in star in a controlled fusion reactor and then capture that heat and energy and convert it to electrons.
A star has plenty of gravity to pull escaping atoms back into its plasma core to foster continuous reactons. In the case of Tri Alpha the gravity is created by a series of electro magnets surrounding a vacuum. The magnets keep the super heated hydrogen, plasma, in place while it is merged with boron. The game is keeping the plasma ball suspended and hot as new fuel is introduced into the system. The fusion reaction caused by the colliding atoms releases enormous amounts of heat and energy which can converted into electricity.
A competing company but agreat explanation of fusion.
Here is the bottom line. If it works you have a system that produces clean electricity from a nearly inexhaustible fule source, water and boron, and the only by-product is inert helium gas and no dangerous nuclear radiation. In other words, exactly what the world needs and more than likely too good to be true.
If this scheme had been surfaced by anyone other than Tad and Michael, who are really trustworthy individuals, I would have never taken a first look. After meet Norman Rosstoker, Michel Bindbauer, Harry Hamlin, Buzz Alderin and George Sealy it was clear to me that these men were serious and convinced the system could be built. As a childhood fan of nuclear subs, nuclear power and Jules Verne, I thought it was worth investigating and eventually investing.
At the time I was a General Partner at Pequot Capital and my job was to make investments in promising technology. The problem with Tri Alpha in my mind, and my partners, was the time required to reach a working prototype. Our investors expected returns in less than 7 years and this project could, and would, take much longer than that. So no one was too surprised when Tri Alpha failed the deal pitch and we all turned down the idea of investing as a fund. Subsequently I told my partners that I was going to invest personally and I was surprised to be joined by: Art Samberg, Larry Lenihan, Erik Jansen and Marco Arese. Art also called John Mack, then at Morgan Stanley and John joined in as well.
In the years and additional rounds of funding to follow Marco and Art played major roles in helping us to expand our investor base. Marco brought in a group of Italian investors which included Enel the Italian power authority. Art got serious and started bringing other serious investors. Years later we would add NEA, and Venrock. As of this writing we have gone from our humble 2.5-million-dollar series A to raise more than 500 million dollars to develop the world’s first clean fusion reactor.
In 2006 I handed by board seat to Art and accepted a seat on the board of Interfusio the offshore holding company for Tri-Alpha. In time Interfusio will be responsible for licensing TAE technology around the world. In the meantime, I listen in on the regular TAE board meetings and I am comforted by the quality of professionals who are now running the board and the company including Dale Prouty who took over as CEO after founder and pioneer George Sealy passed away.
With the company now out of stealth mode and working on our first commercial prototype I am delighted and relieved to report that what was once the riskiest investment of my career may actually turn out to be the most successful and more importantly the most impactful invention of the 21st century. Imagine a world with unlimited amounts of cheap clean electricity. No more need to burn coal or go to war over oil fields. Every country can secure adequate amounts of hydrogen and boron and we can all enjoy cheap and plentiful carbon free power day and night.
This will happen. It will likely happen in the next decade and it could not come at a better time. If we are to reverse the negative impale increased carbon has had on climate change, we will need to convert every power plant on the planet to use Tri Alpha technology. Our cars can be electric and eventually our larger ships can have mini TAE reactors. Planes will need to continue burning dinosaur juice but that is a tiny part of the overall carbon problem.
I am extremely hopeful that the invention of Fusion Electricity has come in time to halt the ceaseless pollution and damage cause by developing and burning fossil fuels and can also lead to a more equitable distribution of wealth and basic human necessities. Of course this last part should not surprise you, after all it should be clear by now that I am an eternal optimist.
Customer Disservice
I have been an ATT customer for over 15 years maybe 20. When you think about the 4 mobile phones in the house and my regular overseas travel the numbers add up. I would say that lifetime billings from ATT have run roughly 75K or approximately 5k per month.
Recently I moved my phone number to my corporate ATT account and setup the old ATT account with my wife as the account owner.
Today, when attempting to unlock an IPhones for my son’s semester abroad ATT denied the unlock not on the basis that the phone was ineligible but because the account was less than 60 days old. I have spent the past 3.5 hours trying to get this restriction waved only to end up with a case being filed and a 72-hour response promise. Not a resolution promise but a response.
If I wish to pay to unlock a phone I already own ATT wants $225.00. Which means this entire mess, which has brought me to the point of leaving ATT and moving to Verizon or Sprint, is all about $225.00 after at least 75K of business.
In my business customer is King. Customer is especially King when he/she is suffering because of some ridiculous bureaucratic regulation that results in punishing long-time loyal customers.
ATT you owe me 3 things:
1. An Unlocked phone, quickly so my son is not stranded in Europe without the ability to communicate for a reasonable price.
2. An apology for taking up my precious Saturday afternoon.
3. A 350 dollar credit for my wasted time and believe me you are getting a rock bottom bargain.
PS – Whether I decide to stay with or leave ATT over this I will still send them the invoice for $350.00. It will cost them more Thant that in accounting confusion trying to figure out if they owe it or how to respond.
ATT it is time to give customer reps like Alexis and Blaine and Carol some authority to make decisions on behalf of your customers. Take a hint from Zappos and then maybe we will not focus so much on the price of data but enjoy the value of consistent quality customer service.
Branding Essentials
Just Media did a nice job helping to summarize the key elements behind branding.
http://justmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/A_View_From_The_Top_JimMcNiel1.pdf
As far as I am concerned marketing is the best job possible for a modern day storyteller.
Chicago to Tax the Cloud –
When I go into New York City to grab dinner and a show I am using New York services. I drive on the roads or use public transportation. City police and state-troopers protect me. I enjoy street lights, parks and entertainment venues. The businesses I visit also use NYC services and for this we all pay taxes. OK, I get it.
Now tell me, exactly what is Chicago doing to assist Netflix in delivering video? How much time has the Chicago city council spent designing AWS API’s? Zero, Zilch, Nada. This is basically a local government imposing a toll on services they have no involvement in and costs the city nothing. Are you ready to pay 9% extra for your cloud applications Chicagoans? Is this the result of Chicago bemoaning the loss of Blockbuster Video Sales Tax? How much tax should we pay to use Google or Twitter? If you were to setup a new call-center using cloud based CRM are you going to choose Chicago and pay an extra 9 percent?
WSJ sums it up well when they point out that Chicagoans may end up paying 18% on “Amusements”. I wonder if this will include watching Nova on PBS?
NetFlix – Get out of Chicago and let the citizens let Rahm Emanuel know how they feel about it!
Letter to a Son
Sunday, February 8, 2015
A few months ago I wrote a letter to a dear friend entering the Marines. I have scrubbed it somewhat to protect the innocent but the central meaning remains in tact. If you are sending someone into the military it may be worth a read.
RCT John Doe
MCRD Parris Island, SC,
Dear John,
Are you feeling Semper Fidelis? Has basic met your expectations? Do you feel today the way you felt before enlisting? While you think about that I will tell you what is going on over here.
Last night the Mrs. and I went to see American Sniper. It made me think of you and who I was when I was your age. We now live in very complicated times. Like you I grew up without a Dad and I had a certain affinity for the military, probably from military school. I, like you, felt like I did not have a whole lot of options when I was 18. I felt it was a good thing to support Reagan in his quest to destroy the USSR. I felt I was being patriotic to a degree. I can completely relate to that sort of thinking.
Now I have a much broader perspective. In thinking about all of the atrocities that are taking place in the world I can understand how you or Chris Kyle may want to get involved and help to right some wrongs. What you, or Chris may not see is what is behind it all. What is behind ISIS are a bunch of lunatic power hungry barbarians who have nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with taking power and ruling as despots. They come from a place where they did not have a lot of options, they feel that they are either doing the work of Allah (idiots) or they know they are self-interested assholes that are conducting a power-grab. There will be thousands of well intentioned, naïve young men who think they are going off to the crusades for some righteous reason. They will be corrupted or killed or most likely both.
Our soldiers, like theirs are following the belief that they are righting a wrong. We are in the Middle East because Bush and his cronies are deeply buried in Oil and the production and sale of it. We have a long history of allowing Big Business to direct our foreign policies. In this case they made a huge error. Picking a fight with the worlds most populace religion is a no win situation for either side.
So what does this mean to you and me? It has been said that if you are not a liberal as a young man you do not have a heart. If you are not a conservative as an old man, you do not have a wallet. I think you can also say that if you are not willing to fight for a cause as a young man you do not have a heart. If you are willing to fight for a cause without understanding it as an old man you do not have a brain.
I would not fight this fight for the US. We are sending our precious young men either to their death or to their future mental disability. You have read enough war literature to understand that men, and now women, never come back with the soul they left with.
So where is all this going? I want you to be selfish. You get this one chance to write your story. One chance to create the life you ultimately want to lead. I expect you will disagree with me. The Marines are very good at teaching men how to go to war and how to feel good about it. However, I believe you can see through it. I think you can understand they are doing their jobs. They are doing what they need to do to look in the mirror and believe in themselves. It would be hard for you to become a recruiter and agree with me. It would be hard to convince men to make the tough decision if you did not believe in the cause.
We will send men to war. We will bomb the shit out of Isis and Boko Haram and eventually even have boots in the dirt. Do you want to put a bullet in a man who, just like you, is a pawn in a game they have no stake in?
In American Sniper Chris Kyle’s father said there are three types of people: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs. He would say that Isis is the wolf, the innocents are the Sheep and the Marines, in this case, are the sheep dogs. I think he is missing a critical player. He is missing the Shepherd. In my story the Shepherd is the US government or Isis leadership and the sheep are actually the men and women they are willing to lead to slaughter to get to what they want,
I think that at some point in our lives we need to figure out what part we are playing in the grand scheme of things, whether we are a pawn or a king, a sheep or a Shepherd. I am not confused about my part. For most of my career I have rented my intellect and labor to men who are looking to make a buck and get ahead. Some times we were aligned and I was well rewarded, sometimes I was merely a pawn and I used this experience to move me forward to the next one. Today I am still a pawn but I am receiving fair compensation and I may be able to move to the back of the chessboard and have more control of my destiny and compensation. Even when you are a CEO you have a board of directors. Even when you are a chairman you have investors. Bob Dylan said “Your gonna have to serve somebody.” The question is, do you know whom you are serving and what their real agenda is? Are you walking into the deal with eyes wide open and getting a fair return on your investment?
I cannot imagine too many American men who have come home from battle really feel like they have made the world a better place. You have but one life to give, shouldn’t you give that life to yourself and to the people that you love?
You are embarking on a long journey. It is hard to know when you are standing at the beginning of a long road where that road will take you. You can only see so far and sometimes the road can become dark and foggy. What will ultimately guide you when you come to difficult intersections is understanding what you are ultimately after. Knowing what milestones you want to reach on that road and seeing them clearly. This ability to imagine or simulate the future is what separates the human brain from all others. Your ability to achieve a clear vision is what will separate you from your peers.
I think the Marines can do a great deal for you. What I do not want them to do is to cloud your vision or corrupt your reality. If you look at what you can learn from the marines and how you can apply that knowledge when you leave you will be working toward a better future. Think of your credentials in 8 years. A distinguished career in the marines focused on (pick one) Intelligence, logistics, electronics, public affairs, legal, can lead you directly to an amazing college and professional career.
Can you imagine what a cake-walk college will be after you finish four years of real on the job experience in the Marines? Pick a job that demands that you become a master sergeant or officer and teaches you a skill that is worth something in the real world. Meaning, from where I sit as an older man, the military, while very real, may not be where you want to be 20 years from now. Choose a path that allows you to make the decision that is best for you. Please do not carry a gun and go to war, that is a road that many, even those who come back, never fully recover from.
What I think, and believe today: You must have a passionate heart as a young man. You want to make a difference and you should. You just need to pause and ask if the mission you are on is a fair one to you and to the rest of the world. Is it honest? Do you have a say in where it takes you? Are you a sheep or a shepherd, a pawn or a king?
You are a fine young man with amazing qualities. You are kind, dedicated, witty and intelligent. You can do whatever you set your mind to. Just be mindful enough to truly know what that is, where it will lead you and what it will cost.
I know this may feel or sound a little preachy and I do not mean to do that. I simply wanted to share with you where my head is these days. I listen to and read the news daily. I am convinced things are fucked up and I know that there is little I can do to change it. Instead of diving deep into the morass our country has created I am focused on building a company that can make a positive contribution to the security of the connected world. This company can do well with my help and they can reward me for the effort. I can then take these rewards and create a life for my family that most Americans only see in movies and fairy tales. I want this for my family and friends. I am building a house in Concord that can be off the grid and survive the Zombie apocalypse, next energy crisis, climate change or whatever else the world throws at us. Why? Because I want to. I want to have a place my family can go and feel safe. I will do my part in my job to make the world better but you can be damn sure I am going to be selfish about it. There are a lot of people suffering in this world. If you can do something that makes the world a little better, do no harm, and not be one of the sufferers, well then I think that is a life well lived.
I am confident that you will make the choices that are right for you. Only you should make these choices, take care not to let others make them for you, for when they do they make them not for you but for themselves. Know where you want to go and you will always take the proper turns on that long journey.
I love you John and wish for you all the success that you deserve and will earn for yourself. Never lose faith in who you are or who you can be. Keep moving forward and keep smiling. In the end, the meaning of life is to be happy. The hard part is really knowing what it is that brings you lasting happiness. In summary what I am saying is don’t be a wolf or a sheep-dog, be your own shepherd.
All the best to you and Semper Fi.
Your Friend,
Jim
Is the Connected World a Werner Herzog Film? Yes
It is the REAL DEAL
There has been a good deal of healthy cynicism regarding Werner Herzog’s involvement in the film Guardians of the Connected World. Some people are stating the NETSCOUT is conducting a farce and that the trailer currently running on YouTube is not actually the work of Werner Herzog.
I am writing this to inform the unbelievers that Mr. Herzog is indeed producing and directing this film and I will tell you why he is. When I first spoke with Werner regarding this project he expressed skepticism and stated the he does not do commercial work. In fact Mr. Herzog turned down the project entirely.
The next day Century Link experienced a vandalized fiber optic cable resulting in huge Internet service interruption in Arizona. I shared this story with Werner and explained to him that if the internet were to go away we would not go back to the 1980s rather we would go back to the 1880s for the simple reason that so much of what we do today relies on our new Connected World and the old processes and approaches are obsolete and laid to rest. The fact of the matter is that the Connected World is a valuable and precious asset and we are substantially dependent upon it.
Now to many of you this may seem obvious but until you really stop to think about what happens when it gets interrupted you really have not thought about it. This is where Werner comes in.
He gets it. While he is not a cell phone carrying, Twitter using, Internet slave, he does not even use the Internet, he understands how pervasive it is and how critical it is to the everyday function of global society. He knows what is at stake and he sees a story. There is a story here. Like Danny Hillis says in the trailer, “the internet was not designed to be the infrastructure of society.” but it is.
So I applaud those who are suspicious of Werner’s involvement in this project. It is wise and advised not to believe everything you read, however, in this case it is true. Werner Herzog is making a film about the Connected World. We at NETSCOUT are sponsoring his work because we believe this is a story that needs to be told. Filming began in March and should be concluded at the end of July. Editing will take place in August and we hope to have something to share with all of you in September.
So too all of you healthy skeptics you have my word that this is the real deal. It is a wonderful project about our industry by one of the world’s greatest storytellers. It celebrates the dedication of all of you who design, build, manage and propel the Connected World. It is an important topic and I for one cannot wait to see how Werner presents and explores what has become one of the most impactful inventions in human history.
Death By Network – Are Stupid Connected Devices Placing Us At Risk?
We all understand that lack of network security can result in economic loss. In the case of identity theft it can destroy your financial stability and take a serious bite out of your well being. However, did you ever consider that poor network security might result in your death?
I was just reading about car hacking when I stumbled upon the below Motherboard video explaining how car hacking works.
Digg How to Hack a car: http://tinyurl.com/o9ekbu6
I then thought, while it is certainly possible to do, how likely is it too happen? You would really need to upset some very well connected people to have them go to the trouble of digitally stomping on your accelerator at just the wrong time.
That’s when I found the Huff Post article on the untimely demise of journalist Michael Hastings. It seems that his car was speeding out of control at 4:20 AM…
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Making a Difference 