Blog
I enjoy writing, and have written thought pieces ever since completing my undergraduate education. Below is some of my general musings, some of my published pieces, and some of my professional writings (when given permission to republish or made publicly available). Enjoy!
February 2024
The apparent paradox between AI's open source and portable nature (free) and its extreme value to society (expensive) presents an opportunity not seen since the beginning of the Internet to disrupt incumbent companies and radically change business models
December 2023
Although most "robots" in the home to date have been IoT devices due to the low cost of Wi-Fi chips, many yearn for a future filled with human-like robots. Is this future forever science fiction, or are there real economic justifications for humaniform robots to exist... and soon
August 2023
Space is rapidly becoming commercialized, and while this is a dream come true for Sci-Fi nerds, it also presents a number of far-ranging opportunities for manufacturers like LG. What can LG do to leverage its scale to benefit from New Space, both as a provider and consumer of space-based technologies?
June 2023
The Apple Vision Pro is a remarkable fusion of technologies and the first high-end pass-through AR headset. However, there are a number of compromises made with this system. What are the implications of this design philosophy for the AR / VR market and consumer electronics as a whole?
April 2023
Something strange is happening in Silicon Valley: A region known for relentless optimism about the future is now reversing course and urging caution about the future of AI software. Technologists are asking for a Pause on AI research. Is such a pause likely or even possible? What would be the result?
March 2023
The biggest winners in the 1849 Gold Rush were not the gold miners, but those who supplied them with the tools necessary to do their jobs. Could the new AI gold rush have similar dynamics, or will the pace of innovation in open-source models make this framework outdated?
November 9, 2022
Web3 is a fascinating technology with the potential to create powerful, decentralized systems that protect privacy, ensure data interoperability, and create a new generation of experiences for users. However, its open and permissionless nature may make it difficult to capture that value in venture scale returns.
August 21, 2022
Marc Andreessen famously claimed, as far back as 2011, that “software is eating the world,” and that it would radically disrupt businesses across industries. This prediction has come true as software has infiltrated every facet of personal life, work life and industry. A decade later, I claim that we are seeing signs that “game engines are eating software.”
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April 20, 2020
When most people hear the word “chip” in the context of a smart home, they immediately imagine the microchips at the heart of their smart devices. But whereas chips power the brains of an individual smart device, CHIP will power the brains of an entire smart home. CHIP will offer huge conveniences to consumers, but its openness may make it harder for hardware startups to build ecosystems and defend against inexpensive knock-offs.
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July 13, 2019
Humans are starting to get better acquainted with personal assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and Bixby. But how would people feel about personalities translating to automobiles, laptops and other household items? Would we want a single seamless personality across all devices, or would we prefer to build new relationships with each of these things? Would we want these things to understand and empathize with us? Do we really need these things to “feel” what we feel or do we just need the experience that they “get” us.
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April 19, 2019
A common question we often receive is "My team is based in [somewhere], but I know that Silicon Valley is the real hub of startups, should we stay there, or move here?" Our response usually is: Why not both?
April 12, 2019
Can enterprise bring sexy back? The consumerization of enterprise tech, defined as corporations adopting consumer-like solutions for business use, and often purchasing through consumer channels, is a trend that's growing.
August 22, 2017
With AIs answering our emails and robots increasingly replacing us on manufacturing assembly lines, mass unemployment due to widespread automation seems imminent. It is easy to forget amid our growing unease that these systems are not all knowing and competent. As many of us have observed in our interactions with AIs, these systems perform repetitive, narrowly defined tasks very well but are quickly stymied when asked to go off script—often to great comical effect. As technological advances eliminate historic roles, previously unimaginable types of jobs will arise in the new economic reality. We combine these two ideas to map out some new jobs that might arise in the highly automated economy of 2030.
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June 5, 2017
For the past decade, technologists and reporters have been claiming the end of Moore’s law is just around the corner. In many cases, they cite a slowing in clock speed improvements, reliance on multi-core architecture for performance gains, and most recently Intel’s discontinuing of it’s Tik-Tok processor iteration cycle. This post will not discuss when Moore’s law will end, but rather, what are the implications to the electronics industry when it inevitably does?
February 26, 2017
Many have dreamed of robots taking over monotonous functions of our daily lives, freeing us humans to work on highly-skilled or creative tasks. Today, robots are increasingly making their way into our homes, offices, and public spaces, but this integration is not occurring in the way that most futurists and popular science fiction writers have anticipated. Here’s our top picks for tasks that were surprisingly easy to automate, and tasks that remain surprisingly hard.
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May 17, 2016
In April 2016, I attended Games Developer Conference to take a look at recent developments in virtual reality technology. The famously mysterious company Magic Leap had a booth among the game studios, and was handing out recruitment pamphlets. A funny picture, I thought, and laughed at the ridiculousness of a balloon on the lunar surface. Because there is no atmosphere, and therefore no buoyancy force, the balloon would simply fall to the ground. When discussing the photo with a friend of mine, she smartly pointed out that the moon does in fact have an atmosphere, albeit a very thin one. Sensing an interesting problem, I asked myself: Could a balloon actually float in the thin lunar atmosphere?
April 27, 2016
Over the past two decades, Amazon had a fantastic rise to become an online consumer packaged goods retail superpower (Alibaba has had a similarly fantastic growth rate, but is out of the scope of this post). Pressure from Amazon is forcing traditionally offline retailers to not only to offer online storefronts, but also match prices or hold flash sales and offer fast shipping to compete.
November 29, 2015
Massive automation of the economy through intelligent and versatile machines may lead to a variety of different social outcomes. However, as even more intelligent and capable machines represent an inexpensive, zero-wage form of labor owned as property, the economics of historical slavery may provide an insightful glimpse of how an automated economy may form and evolve.
September 27, 2015
The phrase “Better Living through Chemistry” encompasses much of the ideology of the 1950's, where material advances through a better understanding of chemistry provided huge economic and quality of life gains. Although many of the chemical advancements provided real benefit to users and the economy, much interest in chemistry was based around hype that chemistry could solve every problem known to mankind. In fact, many chemical advances (and their side effects) were actually detrimental to humans and the environment: toxins in cosmetics, dumping into public water sources, aggressive use of dangerous pesticides, and development of harmful drugs. Despite this, chemistry has undoubtedly changed the world for the better and enabled us to create better products for cheaper. Plastics alone have revolutionized the design of consumer products, and enabled many medical and industrial breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the detrimental side effects of hype in chemistry could only be seen in hindsight.
July 12, 2015
Robotics and artificial intelligences are a staple of science fiction, but their potential impact in our economy is rarely discussed. Prevailing wisdom states that robotics will only replace menial jobs, leaving higher-paying white collar jobs for humans. Indeed, many manufacturing jobs have replaced humans with automated systems, and even some service industry jobs are at risk of automation. However, machine intelligence is quickly advancing, and is finding early applications in business.
May 6, 2015
Project Fi is a new virtual cellular network by Google that connects users to the internet for a low monthly fee by aggregating Sprint, T-Mobile, and Wi-Fi networks. With the introduction of Project Fi, Google now has a presence in almost every part of the mobile value chain. Google provides the content and services which customers consume, the apps that display that content, the marketplace that distributes the apps, the operating system that runs the apps, the phones that run the operating system, and the network that connects the phones to the Internet. Many non-Google websites run on Google App Engine or deliver their traffic via Google infrastructure. Although Google's vertical integration along the signal chain may make some uneasy, it presents Google a unique opportunity to provide better experiences for its users.
March 15, 2015
High-profile hacks and data breaches have brought personal data security into the public mindset. Many companies have neglected to enforce security best practices because of general apathy, higher costs, and lower customer satisfaction caused by complex data security systems. Customers too have been apathetic towards security because of the inconvenience of strong passwords, password managers, and two factor authentication. New biometric security technologies such as TouchID, facial recognition, and others promise to provide a convenient authentication platform. However, the inability to revoke biometric credentials may make users more vulnerable. Other solutions are necessary.
February 10, 2015
As those following the net-neutrality debate surely already know, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler recently announced his net neutrality proposal. On the surface, it appears that the once-telecom-lobbyist had an abrupt change of heart, recounting a heart-felt story of how a closed internet doomed his startup, and embraced the democratic spirit by giving the people what they want: Title II.
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December 1, 2014
The media behaviors of young consumers are changing, establishing new realities for marketers and market researchers.
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September 1, 2014
Net neutrality is a topic of great debate in the United States, following heavily publicized peering disagreements between Netflix and major wireline internet-service providers. Net neutrality on cellular networks appears to be less contentious, although it may have equally disruptive impacts on competition and user behavior.