New Florence. New Renaissance.

Dion Hinchcliffe's "Every Day Carry"

Dion Hinchcliffe is one of my favorite analysts. I absolutely love his coverage of digital technologies. His slides are pure eye candy. 

I look forward to meeting him at events, even though we hardly ever talk enterprise tech. I live vicariously through his tales of exotic travel and foodie meals. And to be honest, I am usually curious about the latest gadget he is tagging along. Its always something new - last time I saw him it was the Insta360 video camera.

I managed to convince him to open up what I call his toy bag – he calls it his "Every Day Carry". If that is his EDC for business travel, imagine the drones, GPS trackers and other stuff he takes on his hikes with his twins. And how wired his car and home must be? 

I think I will have to make his EDC an annual feature for this blog. Bet it is filled with completely new items each year, especially after he discovers goodies at each CES. 

A - Apple iPad Pro 10.5"

B - A5 Memobottle (slides into bag easily and without bulk)

C - Belkin Portable Apple Watch Charger (for my Series 3 cellular)

D - Apple Earpods with Wireless Charging Case (so you can just drop it on a wireless charger)

E - Jawbone Portable Bluetooth Speakerphone

F - Tap Wearable Keyboard (for typing on the go, even when hands full pulling luggage)

G - Insta360 Full 360 Degree Video Camera (shoots everything in every direction, then you extract the shots you want)

H - OmniCharge 20 Ultra High Capacity USB Smart Battery Bank (for keeping everything charged)

I - Tough Braided USB/Lightning Charge Cables (anything else shreds after a few hard trips)

J - Novt Horizontal Folding Keyboard (can slip into blazer pocket for minimal carry, I use for live tweeting/blogging)

K - Micro Bluetooth Earbud - For calls/music with Apple Watch while walking/running, no phone required)

L - Anker PowerPort combined Adapter with Battery and USB-C (backup battery + wall adapter for OmniCharge as well as USB-C plug)

M - JBL Clip (best sounding portable travel bluetooth music speaker, hands down, can be clipped on anything)

N - Lightning adapters for HDMI, power + audio, and VGA

O - Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones (amazing travel headphones with bluetooth)

P - Tumi Card Case

Q - Tumi Coin Purse (for Europe, where they still use coins)

R - Travel Receipt Bag

S - TSA approved multitool including screwdrivers, bottle opener, 18 tools in all (has saved the day several times)

T - Emergency Lightning charger (if all else fails)

U - Smallest Lightning Multicharger (iPad, iPhone, and Apple Pencil at once)

V - Antislip Pads for Electronics on Small Airplane Trays

W - SD Card Wallet and Lightning Reader (always too full of pics and videos)

X - DJI Mavic Pro Drone (best drone on the market until the Mavic 2 came out, I get amazing aerials of tech events)

Y - DJI Mavic Remote Control

Not shown but honorable mention: Beam Authentic Wearable Wireless Name Badge (for custom badges during conferences)

Kitty Hawk Flyer

This single-seat, open-cockpit, 10-rotor machine is designed to give civilian guests—VC funders, policy makers and even car reviewers—a first taste of VTOL flight. Kitty Hawk’s management believes the aeromobile industry’s long play requires building grass-roots support. Actually, with only a 20-minute flight time, the Flyer isn’t good for much more than evangelizing.

Wall Street Journal (sub required)

A Smart Home to Care for the Elderly

My friend Jeff Nolan has written about how he and his wife use technology to take care of their elderly neighbor. It’s worth a complete read and share with others.

'My wife and I care for our 90-year-old neighbor who has no family and simply wants to live in the same home he enjoyed with his wife of 58 years, now deceased. We understand that desire and now work with him on a daily basis to ensure that he has a healthy home environment, is safe, and has a regular schedule of prepared meals that meet his dietary requirements while also giving him variety and enjoyment.

This is not to say that he is spry and young for his age. He is 90-years-old and has limited mobility, poor eyesight, and diminishing mental capacity that is primarily manifested as a limited ability to stay focused on a task. His awareness and memory are excellent, but a load of laundry can span an entire day of start and stop labor. We have increasingly relied on technology to manage the complexity of caring for someone in their own home'

He describes the use of Arlo security cameras, Nest thermostat, Phillips Hue lighting, Dyson Pure, Google Home, Apple HomePod, and Amazon Alexa, Ring doorbell, Euro Mesh Network, Roost Smoke Detector.

Knowing him he has tried out a bunch of other Smart Home devices. I am really proud of this use case. 

Self-driving dataset

UC Berkeley has opened the largest self-driving dataset to the general public. The huge dataset contains 100,000 video sequences which can be used by engineers and others in the burgeoning industry to further develop self-driving technologies.

You can download the dataset called ‘BDD100K’ here. Each video in the dataset is roughly 40 seconds long at decent definition (720p and 30 frames per second).

Along with each video GPS information recorded from mobile phones gives an indication of the approximate driving trajectory. All the videos were collected in various locations across the United States.

Interesting Engineering

 

Harvesting energy from sidewalks

Energy harvesting, which converts ambient, otherwise wasted, energy sources into usable electricity, is expected to contribute to the formulation of a self-generating power grid. This type of grid can enable sustainable operation of wireless sensor networks as the “Smart City” vision becomes reality. Human walking is a plentiful mechanical energy source wasted during daily activities. This study aims to develop an omnidirectional biomechanical energy harvesting (OBEH) sidewalk block that is able to generate electricity from human walking. 

Springer

Here is a startup working on kinetic sidewalks

 

 

The future of insurance

One of the most profitable in the world, the insurance industry exceeded $1.2 trillion in annual revenue since 2011 in the U.S. alone.

But risk is becoming predictable. And insurance is getting disrupted fast.

By 2025, we’ll be living in a trillion-sensor economy, projected to generate bronto-bytes (1000 trillion trillion) of data, as explained by TSensors Summit co-founder Janusz Bryzek. And as we enter a world where everything is measured all the time, we’ll start to transition from protecting against damages to preventing them in the first place.

But what happens to health insurance when Big Brother is always watching? Do rates go up when you sneak a cigarette? Do they go down when you eat your vegetables?

And what happens to auto insurance when most cars are autonomous? Or life insurance when the human lifespan doubles?

For that matter, what happens to insurance brokers when blockchain makes them irrelevant?

Read about in in Peter Diamandis’ blog post

Video below has another perspective on the industry

 

Making cities more livable

Bloomberg profiles several cities which are tackling urban annoyances from public brawls to garbage piles.

An example In Stratumseind, a street in the Dutch city of Eindhoven known for its nightlife, cylinders on lampposts and balconies dispense aromatherapy to deter brawls. After an experiment showed that citrus helped calm prisoners at police stations, Eindhoven is trying it out in an area where police break up fights an average 400 times a year.

Another is waste management in Cascais in Portugal

 

Home of the Future – in 2068?

We’ve finished building our Home of the Future. But now it’s starting to feel more and more like the home of the present. Grant Imahara of The Verge looks at how the tech in our home can change in the next 50 years.

 

BMW’s voice-controlled assistant

It can pick up on routines and habits, allowing users to simply say "Hey BMW, take me home" when they want to navigate back to their house, for example. Additionally, simple statements like "Hey BMW, I'm cold" or "Hey BMW, I'm tired" will lead the assistant to adjust settings like the temperature, lighting and music, accordingly.

Users can also ask the assistant about various aspects of their vehicle, such as how the automatic high beams work, if the oil level is sufficient or whether there are any current warnings. Drivers can also give it access to their calendars in order to receive updates about when they should leave for a scheduled appointment. In the future, BMW says the assistant will also be able to alert drivers to potential issues, like the tire pressure being low, share fuel-saving tips and arrange appointments with a service center. It will also be compatible with other digital assistants, like Alexa, and will be accessible from smart speakers and phones.

Engadget

Disrupting the Car

From CB Insights

In this briefing, we dive into how Big Auto, Big Tech, and startups are battling to own this future, covering the following:

• What’s driving record levels of investment in bike- and scooter-sharing startups, including Uber and Lyft’s recent moves to acquire startups in the bike-sharing space.
• How advances in battery technology are generating a resurgence in investment in electric vehicles, including bikes and scooters.
• Where the $3.4B invested in self-driving technology went in 2017, and how major AV players such as Waymo and GM will influence the ride-hailing business moving forward.
• How OEMs such as Daimler and BMW are changing the face of auto retail with car subscriptions and car-sharing services.