I am a fan of Shark Tank, which airs on ABC on Friday evenings. The quirky entrepreneurs, the business strategy, even the Sharks themselves are entertaining. For those of you who have not seen the show, small-time entrepreneurs present their various start-up businesses to a panel of venture capitalists, a.k.a. the Sharks, and request the financial investment and brainpower of the successful panel.
A couple of weeks ago, the show featured Scan.me, a QR code application available on various mobile operating systems for a nominal fee. Despite more than 50 million downloads attributed to the app, I was struggling to see the compelling and unique value proposition or a long-term business case. Will anyone use QR codes in the future? Mark Cubin, one of the Sharks, offered a concise and, surprisingly insightful reason for refusing to invest in the business. Mark had these words for the entrepreneurs:
I’m a big fan of the sensor business. I think that’s the future of technology. The fundamental problem I have [with investing in your QR code business] is scans versus sensors. In a sensor-driven world, the information is accumulated and gathered everywhere with no action by the user. Whereas, in your world, whether it’s Google Glass where you have to talk, or where have to take your phone and scan, in a sensor-driven world, these [QR codes] don’t exist. For that reason, I’m out.
I too am a big fan of sensors. Already if I can attach a wireless device to an everyday item, or purchase an upgraded Internet-connected model — sign me up.
Arguably the “Internet of Things” (IoT) was the biggest trend at CES 2014, which took place last week in Las Vegas and was profiled in Josh’s trials and tribulations from the road. Wearable tech, smart home products, connected cars, entertainment systems – CES has it all.
Some of my favorite items on display at CES 2014: The CubeSensor which monitors air quality, temperature, humidity, noise, light, and atmospheric pressure and notifies the user via visual and push notifications so that he can make adjustments as needed to improve his environment; Kolibree, a sensor-embedded toothbrush that sends data directly to your smartphone, and, when combined with a few off-the-shelf sensors, can tell you how long you brushed, where you missed, and how to improve the effectiveness of your brushing; Revolv, a solution to unify all of my smart home devices; and finally, the Voyce Collar, which is, in short, a fitness monitor on steroids and re-imagined for Fido.
It’s hard to explore just one way that the IoT will forever change the communications industry, or our everyday lives for that matter. A few years ago we were talking about the ability to embed sensors in ordinary products; but today the talk has moved to how these sensors, which already exist in the marketplace, can communicate with one another and increasingly make autonomous decisions based upon my preferences and habits.
I was taking to my fiancé this past weekend about how my expectations have now changed. I used to be impressed that my smartphone could track my heart rate during my workout and understand how many steps I had taken in a day. But now I expect those information points to be razor accurate, not just estimated, and I want a machine to analyze and interpret this data for me, and suggest improvements to my daily schedule.
My Nest thermostat is ahead of the curve, learning my habits, when I return home at lunch, when I go the gym, and, as result, when to turn the heat up and down. But this is just the beginning.
Josh touched upon this concept last week when he mentioned a smart home that may not let me in the door if I have not yet completed my daily allotment of physical activity, as determined by a wearable sensor that communicates with my home. Another example is a connected car that can communicate with sensors on the road and automatically slow down based upon traffic and weather conditions, or an entertainment system that can communicate with a wearable biofeedback device and suggest pay-TV movies based upon my mood.
The IoT represents a fundamental shift in how we use the Internet and how it can, IMHO, improve our lives. It’s a game changer. We talk a lot about bandwidth-intensive applications – video, telemedicine, real-time multimedia testing of students in schools – but these smaller bit and byte services driven by sensors will be just as important and prolific.
As for Scan.me, despite the founder’s lack of success on Shark Tank, the publicity alone has been well worth his appearance on the TV show. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend Shark Tank (the TV show, that is) and a bottle of wine – a recipe for a rip- roaring Friday night.
