And now. It’s here. The Portal is a brand-new mobile app just released by Formidable Engineering Consultants that provides a window into other dimensions of other universes and projects that world view into ours revealing the secrets of those spaces.

Now Available in the Google Play store!

You need this cutting-edge app, and you need it now and you can get it here and you should.

How Do I Use It?

Once you start the app, it will automatically connect to the universe and dimension which provides the strongest signal at that moment. The specific connected universe and dimension are indicated on instrument panel on the app screen. Because of the intense computational expense of the algorithms required to connect to these alternate worlds, during any session the connection may be lost momentarily. The connection status is indicated on the gauge in the upper left labeled TRK. When locked, you are tracking the alternate world otherwise the connection is pending.

FAQ

1. This app is a transformational! How much does it cost?
   The Portal is an absolutely free download from the Google Play store.
2. Free? That’s crazy! How do you do that?
   How do we do it? Volume.
3. What sort of personal information does The Portal collect?
   The Portal collects no personal information. It does not review or collect your experiences or store them anywhere. They are stored on your phone and visible only to you. It should be noted though that by downloading the application you have likely identified yourself as someone who is eager to explore other dimensions and universes. So, you may suddenly be hosting unexpected visitors.
4. The scan function is seemingly random; can I tune into a specific universe or dimension?
   The power of the technology we leverage is such that it attempts connection to the dimension and universe that offers the strongest signal at that point in time. This is the best way to ensure a reliable and strong connection for a sustained experience in that universe and dimension. Manual tuning would be unreliable and quite frankly time consuming.
5. I think I am stuck in a specific dimension of a universe for some reason.
   If the TRK meter turns red, it means that the signal connection has weakened possibly because of the effect of gravity waves in your immediate surroundings. You should try to move to a different area to see if LOCK can be achieved. Failing that, try using the SCAN function to connect to a different (and presumably stronger broadcasting) dimension and universe.
6. When will the iOS version be available?
   Our team of expert programmers are hard at work developing a native iOS version of this application so that iPhone user can also have these altered experiences. The iOS platform does have some limitations that make the trans-dimensional capabilities unlikely, but the next iOS version should allow bridging to multiverses.
7. I have another question, but I don’t know what it is.
   Feel free to post your questions to android at formidableengineeringconsultants dot com. If it’s a really good question, we’ll even answer it.

Formidable Engineering Consultants is proud to unveil My Life Achievements, a new mobile app that uses powerful data mining techniques to provide you these personal insights.

The connection is slow, the compute power intense but the results help reveal your life’s achievements and assist in helping you to understand the potential impact of them.

Now Available in the Google Play store!

You need this profound self-actualizing app, and you need it now and you can get it here and you should.

How Do I Use It?

Because of the intense computational expense of the algorithms required to surface your life experiences, you are limited to retrieving only one such achievement per day. Discovered life experiences can be retrieved starting at midnight, your local time. In order to save these revelations, you should remember to first create a profile by signing up on the Profile page. If you fail to do this, your personal insights may be lost.

FAQ

1. This app is a transformational! How much does it cost?
   My Life Achievements is an absolutely free download from the Google Play store.
2. Free? That’s crazy! How do you do that?
   How do we do it? Volume.
3. What sort of personal information does My Life Achievements collect?
   My Life Achievements collects no personal information. It does not review or collect your experiences or store them anywhere. They are stored on your phone and visible only to you. It should be noted though that by downloading the application you have likely identified yourself as someone who is unfamiliar with themselves so we may sneak up behind you and say “boo” in your own voice!
4. It seems that some of the achievements retrieved are ones I don’t remember doing. What’s up with that?
   The power of the technology we leverage is such that often we retrieve achievements and experiences from so far in the past that you have no memory of them. Additionally, the predictive capabilities of this app are not to be underestimated. This means that some of the retrieved achievements will actually be from your future!
5. I think I am not retrieving any more experiences for some reason.
   Because of the computational effort and complexity of algorithm development, the app may, from time to time, be unable to mine further and extract additional life experiences. Our team of data scientists are working round the clock to overcome those limitations to uncover more life experiences.
6. When will the iOS version be available?
   Our team of expert programmers are hard at work developing a native iOS version of this application so that iPhone user can also gain life insights. The iOS platform does have some limitations that make the predictive capabilities unlikely, but the next iOS version should allow bridging to parallel dimensions.
7. I have another question, but I don’t know what it is.
   Feel free to post your questions to android at formidableengineeringconsultants dot com. If it’s a really good question, we’ll even answer it.

Now – you can! With 100% certainty that your every seething word will be captured by this custom messaging app including every CAPS LOCK obscenity, every misspelled swear word and every misused adjectival phrase. It will all be there. Ready to be fired off into the ether.

Then when you’re ready to send your screed, this custom messaging app takes over after you hit “Send”

Now Available in the Google Play store!

You need And Another Thing! This custom messaging app is just what you need now and you can get it here and you should.

How Do I Use It?

The interface is identical to all other messaging apps. If you want to import your contacts to ease your path to rage, you simply push the Contacts button and choose the recipient(s) from you contact list. When the recipient is an anonymous bot-like corporate surrogate and not in your contacts then just type their contact information (phone number, email or name) and the app will route it automatically.

After selecting the recipient, have at in the Message box, freely typing your thoughts and feelings, unencumbered by spelling correctors, sentence completion suggestions or AI assistants. It’s all you!

When it’s all written down and ready, just it the Send button.

FAQ

1. This app is a godsend! How much does it cost?
   And Another Thing! is an absolutely free download from the Google Play store.
2. Free? That’s crazy! How do you do that?
   How do we do it? Volume.
3. What sort of personal information does And Another Thing! collect?
   And Another Thing! collects no personal information and does not communicate with any external servers. It does not review or collect your messages or store them anywhere. It should be noted though that by downloading the application you have likely identified yourself as someone with vitriol to spare. Not that that make you different or special, really.
4. It sort of seems like I can’t send any of the messages I author. I always have to hit Cancel. What’s up with that?
   That’s weird. We’ll surely look into that and get back to you after a thorough investigation. We assure you that the app has be exhaustively tested by throngs of angry, rage-filled and fully vitriolic individuals while waiting in line at the local DMV.
5. When will the iOS version be available?
   Our team of expert programmers are hard at work developing a native iOS version of this application so that iPhone user can freely express the vitriol afforded by this new technology. At the moment, they are quite busy sending vitriolic messages to the Apple Developer Program about all sorts of perceived slights.
6. I have another question, but I don’t know what it is.
   Feel free to post your questions to android at formidableengineeringconsultants dot com. If it’s a really good question, we’ll even answer it.

Now Available in the Google Play Store!

With this newly released generation of Llama Detector, there are many more advanced computational techniques for us to avoid using. This includes, of course, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, molecular computing, large scale meta-heuristics and conflict‑free replicated data types. We ensured the underlying llama detection technology was improved to be both fully aware and completely devoid of these methodologies in order to bring you the cutting-edge results you had grown to expect – even from that first-generation application – within the framework of this second-generation reimagining.

As before this lifestyle app gives end-users the ability to detect the presence of llamas in any real-world situation.  By leveraging your platform’s high resolution on-device camera hardware and peripherals, images are deeply analyzed and scrutinized to reveal hidden contexts, meanings, contradictions, ambiguities and tensions that would otherwise remain invisible to the naked eye. This app is 100% guaranteed to provide end-users with seconds or even minutes of amusement. 

This posting serves as the end-user documentation and FAQ listing.

Usage

Using the Llama Detector is simple and straight forward.  The application prioritizes use of the high-resolution rear-facing camera on your device.   If the device has no rear-facing camera then the front-facing camera is used. If the device has no camera, then you will need to ask the suspected llama directly whether it is a llama or not or you will need to spend a few minutes carefully examining the suspected area for llamas with a magnifying lens and a feather duster.

Upon launching the application, point the camera at the item or region that you suspect to be llama tainted.  Depress the button labelled ‘scan for llamas’ when you have successfully framed the area that needs to be analyzed. The image will be captured, and the red scan line will traverse the screen, and the analysis and detection process will begin.

The scanning and analysis process duration will vary according to the sensitivity set. After scanning and analysis, the Llama Detector will indicate if any llamas have been detected. Sometimes when other non-llama items of significance are detected, Llama Detector is able to indicate what it has identified.

If you would like to alter the detection sensitivity of the application, you may do so through the application settings (gear icon). Then, adjust the Llama Detection Sensitivity.  Use the slider to choose a value between 1% and 100%.  This will alter the detection algorithm characteristics. A higher value will make the results more accurate with fewer false positives.  The default value is 50%. Note, though, that the higher sensitivity values will draw more power and will likely cause short brownouts in the vicinity. But – it may be worth it!

FAQ

1. How much does this amazing application cost?

Llama Detector is an absolutely free download from the Google Play store.

2. Free? That’s crazy! How do you do that?

How do we do it? Volume.

3. What sort of personal information does Llama Detector collect?

Llama Detector collects no personal information and does not communicate with any external servers. It should be noted though that by downloading the application you have identified yourself as either a llama or a llama enthusiast.

4. I went to the zoo and used Llama Detector at the llama exhibit but it detected no llamas.  Why is that?

Llamas are very difficult to hold in captivity.  They tend to sneak out of their pens and hang out at the concession stands eating hot dogs and trying to pick-up women. For this reason, most zoos use camels or, in some cases, baby giraffes dressed up as llamas in the llama pens.  The Llama Detector application can be used to indicate if a zoo is engaged in this sort of duplicity.  For this reason, many zoos nationwide ban the use of Llama Detector within the confines of their property.

5. I used Llama Detector in my house and it detected a llama in my bathroom. Now I am afraid to use the bathroom.  What do I do?

Llamas are quite agile and fleet of foot.  It is important to note that detection of llamas should be run multiple times for surety.  If the presence of a llama is verified, start making lettuce noises and slowly move to an open space.  The llama will follow you to that space.  Then stop making the lettuce noises.  The llama will wonder where the lettuce went and start looking around the open space.  Then quickly and silently proceed into the now llama-free bathroom.

6. As llama detection technology advances, will this app remain on the cutting edge?

You can rest assured that this app will serve as the gold standard for llama detection. Until it doesn’t.

7. When will the iOS version be available?

Our team of expert programmers are hard at work developing a native iOS version of this application so that iPhone user can enjoy the comfort and protection afforded by this new technology. The team is however somewhat concerned as they have received packages containing llama spit from an address in Cupertino, CA.

8. I have another question, but I don’t know what it is.

Feel free to post your questions to android at formidableengineeringconsultants dot com.  If it’s a really good question, we’ll even answer it.

After a long and mysterious absence, the veritable essential mobile application force that is Formidable Engineering Consultants has stormed back to reclaim its crown. The developer of the ingenious and invaluable Llama Detector has returned. A soon-to-be-released bevy of applications will disrupt your life and, potentially, all life. While the specifics remain fully confidential, one of the applications will be a newly, redeveloped and fully enhanced Llama Detector incorporating new algorithms, techniques and strategies to turn the entire llama detection community on its head.

The hoi polloi are running fast towards the banner marked “Internet of Things“.   They are running at full speed chanting “I-o-T, I-o-T, I-o-T” all along the way. But for the most part, they are each running towards something different.  For some, it is a network of sensors; for others, it is a network of processors; for still others, it is a previously unconnected and unnetworked  embedded system but now connected and attached to a network;  some say it is any of those things connected to the cloud; and there are those who say it is simply renaming whatever they already have and including the descriptive marketing label “IoT” or “Internet of Things” on the box.

So what is it?  Why the excitement? And what can it do?

At its simplest, the Internet of Things is a collections of endpoints of some sort each of which has a sensor or a number of sensors, a processor, some memory and some sort of wireless connectivity.  The endpoints are then connected to a server – where “server” is defined in the broadest possible sense.  It could be a phone, a tablet, a laptop or desktop, a remote server farm or some combination of all of those (say, a phone that then talks to a server farm).  Along the transmission path, data collected from the sensors goes through increasingly higher levels of analysis and processing.  For instance, at the endpoint itself raw data may be displayed or averaged or corrected and then delivered to the server and then stored in the cloud.  Once in the cloud, data can be analyzed historically, compared with other similarly collected data, correlated to other related data or even unrelated data in an attempt to search for unexpected or heretofore unseen correlations.  Fully processed data can then be delivered back to the user in some meaningful way. Perhaps the processed data could be displayed as trend display or as a prescriptive suite of actions or recommendations.  And, of course, the fully analyzed data and its correlations could also be sold or otherwise used to target advertising or product or service recommendations.

There is a further enhancement to this collection of endpoints and associated data analysis processes described in my basic IoT system.  The ‘things’ on this Internet of Things could also use to the data it collects to improve itself.  This could include identifying missing data elements or sensor readings, bad timing assumptions or other ways to improve the capabilities of the overall system.  If the endpoints are reconfigurable either through programmable logic (like Field Programmable Gate Arrays) or through software updates then new hardware or software images could be distributed with enhancements (or, dare I say, bug fixes) throughout the system to provide it with new functionality.  This makes the IoT system both evolutionary and field upgradeable.  It extends the deployment lifetime of the device and could potentially extend the time in market at both the beginning and the end of the product life cycle. You could get to market earlier with limited functionality, introduce new features and enhancement post deployment and continue to add innovations when the product might ordinarily have been obsoleted.

Having defined an ideal IoT system, the question becomes how does one turn it into a business? The value of these IoT applications are based on the collection of data over time and the processing and interpretation (mining) of said data.  As more data are collected over time the value of the analysis increases (but likely asymptotically approaching some maximal value).  The data analysis could include information like:

• Your triathlon training plan is on track, you ought to taper the swim a bit and increase the running volume to 18 miles per week.
• The drive shaft on your car will fail in the next 1 to 6 weeks – how about I order one for you and set up an appointment at the dealership?
• If you keep eating the kind of food you have for the past 4 days, you will gain 15 pounds by Friday.

The above sample analysis is obviously from a variety of different products or systems but the idea is that by mining collected and historical data from you, and maybe even people ‘like’ you, certain conclusions may be drawn.

Since the analysis is continuous and the feedback unsynchronized to any specific event or time, the fees for these services would have to be subscription-based.  A small charge every month would deliver the analysis and prescriptive suggestions as and when needed.

This would suggest that when you a buy a car instead of an extended service contract that you pay for as a lump sum upfront, you pay, say, $5 per month and the IoT system is enabled on your car and your car will schedule service with a complete list of required parts and tasks exactly when and as needed.

Similarly in the health services sector, your IoT system collects all of your biometric data automatically, loads your activity data to Strava, alerts you to suspicious bodily and vital sign changes and perhaps even calls the doctor to set up your appointment.

The subscription fees should be low because they provide for efficiencies in the system that benefit both the subscriber and the service provider.  The car dealer orders the parts they need when they need them, reducing inventory, providing faster turnaround of cars, obviating the need for overnight storage of cars and payment for rentals.

Doctors see patients less often and then only when something is truly out of whack.

And on and on.

Certainly the possibility for tiered levels of subscription may make sense for some businesses.  There may be ‘free’ variants that provide limited but still useful information to the subscriber but at the cost of sharing their data for broader community analysis. Paid subscribers who share their data for use in broader community analysis may get reduced subscription rates. There are obvious many possible subscription models to investigate.

These described industry capabilities and direction facilitated by the Internet of Things are either pollyannaish or visionary.  It’s up to us to find out. But for now, what do you think?

On June 2, 2014, we released our first Android application to the Google Play store.  “Llama Detector” is a lifestyle app that gives end-users ability to detect the presence of llamas in social situations.  It affords the end-user greater comfort in their daily interactions by allowing them to quietly and quickly detect hidden llamas wherever they may be. It does this using the your platform’s on-device camera hardware and peripherals. This amazing and technologically advanced application is guaranteed to provide end-users with seconds or even minutes of amusement. This posting serves as the end-user documentation and FAQ listing.

Usage

Using the Llama Detector is simple and straight forward.  The application prioritizes use of the rear-facing camera on your device.   If the device has no rear-facing camera then the front-facing camera is used. If the device has no camera then you will need to ask the supposed llama directly if it is a llama or spend a few minutes carefully examining the suspected area for llamas.

Upon launching the application, point the camera at the item or region that you suspect to be llama-infested.  Depress the button labelled ‘Scan’ when you have successfully framed the area that needs to be analyzed. The image will be captured and the red scan line will traverse the screen and the detection process will begin.

If you decide against analysis after beginning the scan, for any reason, you may cancel the operation by depressing the ‘Cancel’ button. Otherwise, scanning will continue for approximately 10 seconds.  After scanning, the Llama Detector will indicate if any llamas have been detected. Sometimes other items are detected and Llama Detector is able to indicate what it has identified.

If you would like to alter the detection sensitivity of the application, you may do so through the application preferences.  Choose the preferences either through the soft button or menu bar.  Then, display the Llama Sensitivity Filter.  Enter an integer value between 1 and 1000 where 1000 is the highest sensitivity value (and 1 is lowest).  This will alter the detection algorithm characteristics. A higher value will make the results more accurate with fewer false positives.  The default value is 800.

FAQ

1. How much does this amazing application cost?

Llama Detector is an absolutely free download from the Google Play store.

2. Free? That’s crazy! How do you do that?

How do we do it? Volume.

3. What sort of personal information does Llama Detector collect?

Llama Detector collects no personal information and does not communicate with any external servers. It should be noted though that by downloading the application you have identified yourself as either a llama or a llama enthusiast.

4. I went to the zoo and used Llama Detector at the llama exhibit but it detected no llamas.  Why is that?

Llamas are very difficult to hold in captivity.  They tend to sneak out of their pens and hang out at the concession stands eating hot dogs and trying to pick-up women. For this reason, most zoos use camels or, in some cases, baby giraffes dressed up as llamas in the llama pens.  The Llama Detector application can be used to indicate if a zoo is engaged in this sort of duplicity.  For this reason, many zoos nationwide ban the use of Llama Detector within the confines of their property.

5. I used Llama Detector in my house and it detected a llama in my bathroom. Now I am afraid to use the bathroom.  What do I do?

Llamas are quite agile and fleet of foot.  It is important to note that detection of llamas should be run multiple times for surety.  If the presence of a llama is verified, start making lettuce noises and slowly move to an open space.  The llama will follow you to that space.  Then stop making the lettuce noises.  The llama will wonder where the lettuce went and start looking around the open space.  Then quickly and silently proceed into the now llama-free bathroom.

6. When will the iOS version be available?

Our team of expert programmers are hard at work developing a native iOS version of this application so that iPhone user can enjoy the comfort and protection afforded by this new technology. The team is currently considering whether to wait for the release of iOS 8 to ensure a richer user experience.

7. I have another question but I don’t know what it is.

Feel free to post your questions to android at formidableengineeringconsultants dot com.  If it’s a really good question, we’ll even answer it.

Back in 1992, after the Berlin Wall fell and communist states were toppled one after another, Francis Fukuyama authored and published a book entitled The End of History and The Last Man.  It received much press at the time for its bold and seemingly definitive statement (specifically that whole ‘end of history’ thing with the thesis that capitalist liberal democracy is that endpoint). The result was much press, discussion, discourse and theorizing and presumably a higher sales volume for a book that likely still graces many a bookshelf, binding still uncracked.  Now it’s my turn to be bold.

Here it is:

With the advent and popularization of the smartphone, we are now at the end of custom personal consumer hardware.

That’s it.  THE END OF HARDWARE.  Sure there will be form factor changes and maybe a few additional new hardware features but all of these changes will be incorporated in smartphone handsets as that platform.

Maybe I’m exaggerating – but only a little.  Really, there’s not much more room for hardware innovation in the smartphone platform and as it is currently deployed, it contains the building blocks of any custom personal consumer device. Efforts are clearly being directed at gadgets to replace those cell phones.  That might be smart watches, wearable computers, tablets or even phablets. But these are really just changes in form not function.  Much like the evolution of the PC, it appears that mobile hardware has reached the point where the added value of hardware has become incremental and less valuable.  The true innovation is in the manner in which software can be used to connect resources and increase the actual or perceived power that platform.

In the PC world, faster and faster microprocessors were of marginal utility to the great majority of end-users who merely used their PCs for reading email or doing PowerPoint.  Bloated applications (of the sort that the folks at Microsoft seem so pleased to develop and distribute) didn’t even benefit from faster processors as much as they did from cheaper memory and faster internet connections.  And now, we may be approaching that same place for mobile applications.  The value of some of these applications is becoming limited more by the availability of on-device resources like memory and faster internet connections through the cell provider rather than the actual hardware features of the handset.  Newer applications are more and more dependent on big data and other cloud-based resources.  The handset is merely a window into those data sets.  A presentation layer, if you will.  Other applications use the information collected locally from the device’s sensors and hardware peripherals (geographical location, speed, direction, scanned images, sounds, etc.) in concert with cloud-based big data to provide services, entertainment and utilities.

In addition, and more significantly, we are seeing developing smartphone applications that use the phone’s peripherals to directly interface to other local hardware (like PCs, projectors, RC toys,  headsets, etc.) to extend the functionality of those products.  Why buy a presentation remote when you get an app? Why buy a remote for your TV when you can get an app? Why buy a camera when you already have one on your phone? A compass? A flashlight? A GPS? An exercise monitor?

Any consumer-targeted handheld device need no longer develop an independent hardware platform.  You just develop an app to use the features of the handset that you need and deploy the app.  Perhaps additional special purpose sensor packs might be needed to augment the capabilities of the smartphone for specialized uses but any mass-market application can be fully realized using the handset as the existing base and few hours of coding.

And if you doubt that handset hardware development has plateaued  then consider the evolution of the Samsung Galaxy S3 to the Samsung Galaxy S4.  The key difference between the two devices is the processor capabilities and the camera resolution.  The bulk of the innovations are pure software related and could have been implemented as part of the Samsung Galaxy S3 itself without really modifying the hardware.  The differences between the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5s were a faster processor, a better camera and a fingerprint sensor.  Judging from a completely unscientific survey of end-users that I know, the fingerprint sensor remains unused by most owners. An innovation that has no perceived value.

The economics of this thesis is clear.  If a consumer has already spent $600 or so on a smartphone and lives most of their life on it anyway and carries it with them everywhere, are you going to have better luck selling them a new gadget for $50-$250 (that they have to order, wait for learn how to use, get comfortable with and then carry around) or an app that they can buy for $2 and download and use in seconds – when they need it?

 

There is a great imbalance in the vast internet marketplace that has yet to be addressed and is quite ripe for the picking. In fact, this imbalance is probably at the root of the astronomical stock market valuations of existing and new companies like Google, facebook, Twitter and their ilk.

It turns out that your data is valuable.  Very valuable.  And it also turns out that you are basically giving it away.  You are giving it away – not quite for free but pretty close.  What you are getting in return is personalization. You get advertisements targeted at you providing you with products you don’t need but are likely to find quite iresistable.  You get recommendations for other sites that ensure that you need never venture outside the bounds of your existing likes and dislikes. You get matched up with companies that provide services that you might or might not need but definitely will think are valuable.

Ultimately, you are giving up your data so businesses can more efficiently extract more money from you.

If you are going to get exploited in this manner, it’s time to make that exploitation a two way street. Newspapers, for instance, are rapidly arriving at the conclusion that there is actual monetary value in the information that they provide.  They are seeing that the provision of vetted, verified, thougful and well-written information is intrinsicly worth more than nothing.  They have decided that simply giving this valuable commodity away for free is giving up the keys to the kingdom.  The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Economist and others are seeing that people are willing to pay and do actually subscribe.

There is a lesson in this for you – as a person. There is value in your data.  Your mobile movements, your surf trail, your shopping preferences  It  should not be the case that you implicitly surrender this information for better personalization or even a $5 Starbucks gift card.  This constant flow of data from you, your actions, movements and keystrokes ought to result in a constant flow of money to you.  When you think about it, why isn’t the ultimate personal data collection engine, Google Glass, given away for free? Because people don’t realize that personal data collection is its primary function.  Clearly, the time has come for the realization of a personal paywall.

The idea is simple, if an entity wants your information they pay you for it.  Directly.  They don’t go to Google or facebook and buy it – they open up an account with you and pay you directly.  At a rate that you set.  Then that business can decide if you are worth what you think you are or not.  You can adjust your fee up or down anytime and you can be dropped or picked up by followers. You could provide discount tokens or free passes for friends.  You could charge per click, hour, day, month or year.  You might charge more for your mobile movements and less for your internet browsing trail.  The data you share comes with an audit trail that ensures that if the information is passed on to others without your consent you will be able to take action – maybe even delete it – wherever it is.  Maybe your data lives for only a few days or months or years – like a contract or a note – and then disappears.

Of course, you will have to do the due diligence to ensure you are selling your information to a legitimate organization and not a Nigerian prince.  This, in turn, may result in the creation of a new class of service providers who vet these information buyers.

This data reselling capability would also provide additional income to individuals.  It would not a living wage to compensate for having lost a job but it would be some compensation for participating in facebook or LinkedIn or a sort of kickback for buying something at Amazon and then allowing them to target you as a consumer more effectively. It would effectively reward you for contributing the information that drives the profits of these organizations and recognize the value that you add to the system.

The implementation is challenging and would require encapsulating data in packets over which you exert some control.  An architectural model similar to bitcoin with a central table indicating where every bit of your data is at any time would be valuable and necessary. Use of the personal paywall would likely require that you include an application on your phone or use a customized browser that releases your information only to your paid-up clients. In addition, some sort of easy, frictionless mechanism through which companies or organizations could automatically decide to buy your information and perhaps negotiate (again automatically) with your paywall for a rate that suits both of you would make use of the personal paywall invisible and easy. Again this technology would have to screen out fraudulent entities and not even bother negotiating with them.

There is much more to this approach to consider and many more challenges to overcome.  I think, though, that this is an idea that could change the internet landscape and make it more equitable and ensure the true value of the internet is realized and shared by all its participants and users.

Let me start by being perfectly clear.  I don’t have Google Glass.  I’ve never seen a pair live.  I’ve never held or used the device.  So basically, I just have strong opinions based on what I have read and seen.  And, of course, the way I have understood what I have read and seen.  Sergei Brin recently did a TED talk about Google Glass during which, after sharing a glitzy, well-produced video commercial for the product, he maintained that they developed Google Glass because burying your head in a smartphone was rude and anti-social.  Presumably staring off into the projected images produced by Google Glass but still avoiding eye-contact and real human interaction is somehow less rude and less anti-social.  But let that alone for now.

The “what’s in it for me” of Google Glass is the illusion of intelligence (or at least the ability to instantly access facts), Internet-based real-time social sharing, real-time scrapbooking and interactive memo taking amongst other Dick Tracy-like functions.

What’s in it for Google is obvious.  At its heart, Google is an advertising company – well – more of an advertising distribution company.  They are a platform for serving up advertisements for all manner of products and services.  Their ads are more valuable if they can directly target people with ads for products or services at a time and place when the confluence of the advertisement and the reality yield a situation in which the person is almost compelled to purchase what is on offer because it is exactly what they want when they want it.  This level of targeting is enhanced when they know what you like (Google+, Google Photos (formerly Picasa)), how much money you have (Google Wallet), where you are (Android), what you already have (Google Shopping), what you may be thinking (GMail), who you are with (Android) and what your friends and neighbors have and think (all of the aforementioned).  Google Glass, by recording location data, images, registering your likes and other purchases can work to build and enhance such a personal database.  Even if you choose to anonymize yourself and force Google to de-personalize your data, their guesses may be less accurate but they will still know about you as a demographic group (male, aged 30-34, lives in zip code 95123, etc.) and perhaps general information based on your locale and places you visit and where you might be at any time.  So, I immediately see the value of Google Glass for Google and Google’s advertising customers but see less value in its everyday use by ordinary folks unless they seek to be perceived as cold, anti-social savants who may possibly be on the Autistic Spectrum.

I don’t want to predict that Google Glass will be a marketplace disaster but the value statement for it appears to be limited.  A lot of the capabilities touted for it are already on your smartphone or soon to be released for it.  There is talk of image scanning applications that immediately bring up information about whatever it is that you’re looking at.  Well, Google’s own Goggles is an existing platform for that and it works on a standard mobile phone.  In fact, all of the applications touted thus far for Google Glass rely on some sort of visual analysis or geolocation-based look-up that is equally applicable to anything with a camera. It seems to me that the “gotta have the latest gadget” gang will flock to Google Glass as they always do to these devices but appealing to the general public may be a more difficult task.  Who really wants to wear their phone on their face?  If the benefit of Google Glass is its wearability then maybe Apple’s much-rumored iWatch is a less intrusive and less nerdy looking alternative.  Maybe Apple still better understands what people really want when it comes to mobile connectivity.

Ultimately, Google Glass may be a blockbuster hit or just an interesting (but expensive) experiment.  We’ll find out by the end of the year.