Software Innovation—Do You Think the Last 20 Years Were Exciting? The Next 20 Years Will Blow Your Mind

MIT, software, innovation

2010-01-11T17:11:04Z

Brad Feld narrates landmark moments in the evolution of the computer age. He touches on the room-size ENIAC computer, and pays tribute to the Jetsons cartoon as embodying his view of the future as a child. He cites his first programming language (APL, 1976), and first computer (Apple II, 1978). Feld speaks sentimentally of the familiar A> prompt as a quaint relic of the DOS operating system era. Jump to the late ’80s, when Hypercard on the Macintosh was a pre-web foreshadowing of distributing data through multiple applications…“a major breakthrough.” Windows 3.0 heralded the ’90s and subsequent leapfrogging of Microsoft and Apple on the personal computer frontier. He cites the renegade Linux operating system (1991), then the ignoble Michelangelo virus (1992)…“the first time the mainstream media got crazy about computer security.” Feld detours from history to recount naming his software consulting firm Feld Technologies; whenever anything went wrong “people called up and asked for Mr. Feld.” Therefore, he warns “lesson #1 of entrepreneurship is don’t name your company after yourself.” In the mid-’90s, the emergence of the Internet in mass culture made ubiquitous such terms as Mosaic, Yahoo!, Java, Explorer, and other iterations of web browser, search engine, and email protocol. In 1999, E-commerce and the Y2K scare entered common parlance. Around 2000, OS X and iTunes burst on the scene, in spite of post-Internet bubble depression. Feld credits Apple with changing “the way we think about digital content.” Catching up to recent times, he invokes social networking, the astronomical Google IPO, and the notion of Web 2.0. As a venture capitalist, Feld seeks new paradigms in software development as investing prospects for 10 to 20 years – “the next big thing.” He is interested in “immersive experience” that alters human interaction with the computer. His attention is also drawn to decoupling mouse and keyboard from control of the computer toward methods requiring no tactile input. Lastly, he speaks of “cloud computing” where “everything is disconnected from what is on your desktop” and “you don’t have to worry about…data storage and equipment.” Then, elliptically, he reprises a slide of a 1960s room-size computer, suggesting it resembles a latter-day incarnation of a server farm. Full circle. <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="481" height="361" id="Main" align="middle"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://mitworld.mit.edu/flash/player/Main.swf?host=cp58255.edgefcs.net&flv=mitw-01009-sloan-bttc-08-feld-software-07jun2008&preview=http://mitworld.mit.edu//uploads/mitwstill-01009-sloan-bttc-08-feld-software-07jun2008.jpg" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://mitworld.mit.edu/flash/player/Main.swf?host=cp58255.edgefcs.net&flv=mitw-01009-sloan-bttc-08-feld-software-07jun2008&preview=http://mitworld.mit.edu//uploads/mitwstill-01009-sloan-bttc-08-feld-software-07jun2008.jpg" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" width="481" height="361" name="Main" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object> Video 618 software-innovation-do-you-think-the-last-20-years-were-exciting-the-next-20-years-will-blow-your-mind

2010-01-11T17:11:04Z

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/596

customer experience, ux, technology, MIT, amazon

2010-01-11T17:06:14Z

In this lively presentation Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com discusses many of the technological advances that have enabled Amazon.com to be the "earth's most customer centric company". Bezos talks about Amazon's first 30 days of operation, shows the very first home page and explains how the existence of a little known book warehouse in Roseburg Oregon led to the decision to locate Amazon in Seattle. Since 1997, Amazon has spent $800 million on technology, more than it has spent on either warehousing or marketing. A self-proclaimed "EECS-geek", Bezos tells of technological advances that have not only enabled customers to find products, (and now at 28 million items), enabled products to find customers. Hear how Amazon developed "real time personalization", how the company performs "active experiments" and learn more about salad spinners than you could ever imagine. <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="481" height="361" id="Main" align="middle"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://mitworld.mit.edu/flash/player/Main.swf?host=cp58255.edgefcs.net&flv=mitw-00092-ieee-amazon-bezos-25nov02&preview=http://mitworld.mit.edu//uploads/mitwstill-00092-ieee-amazon-bezos-25nov02.jpg" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://mitworld.mit.edu/flash/player/Main.swf?host=cp58255.edgefcs.net&flv=mitw-00092-ieee-amazon-bezos-25nov02&preview=http://mitworld.mit.edu//uploads/mitwstill-00092-ieee-amazon-bezos-25nov02.jpg" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" width="481" height="361" name="Main" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object> Video 617 earth-s-most-customer-centric-company-differentiating-with-technology

Earth's Most Customer Centric Company: Differentiating with Technology

2010-01-11T17:06:14Z

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/1

gel

2010-01-11T12:04:57Z

http://ts.vimeo.com.s3.amazonaws.com/207/664/20766457_200.jpg Barry Schwartz at Gel 2009

2010-01-11T12:04:57Z

http://vimeo.com/5893826

gel, communities, crisis

2010-01-11T12:01:48Z

http://ts.vimeo.com.s3.amazonaws.com/202/664/20266416_200.jpg Scott Heiferman at Gel 2009

2010-01-11T12:01:48Z

http://vimeo.com/5800084

productivity, lifehacking

2010-01-10T10:35:38Z

http://a.images.blip.tv/Themerlinshow-MerlinMannAtMacworld2008TimeAttention137-505-116.jpg Merlin Mann at Macworld 2008: Time and Attention

2010-01-10T10:35:38Z

http://blip.tv/file/642684

inspiring, design, designers, ideo

2010-01-10T09:58:50Z

Tim Brown says the design profession is preoccupied with creating nifty, fashionable objects -- even as pressing questions like clean water access show it has a bigger role to play. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory "design thinking." <object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/TimBrown_2009G-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/TimBrown-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=646&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big;year=2009;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=technology_history_and_destiny;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=not_business_as_usual;event=TEDGlobal+2009;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/TimBrown_2009G-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/TimBrown-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=646&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big;year=2009;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=technology_history_and_destiny;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=not_business_as_usual;event=TEDGlobal+2009;"></embed></object> Video 613 tim-brown-urges-designers-to-think-big

Tim Brown urges designers to think big

2010-01-10T09:58:50Z

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big.html

design

2010-01-10T09:55:47Z

http://a.images.blip.tv/Themerlinshow-MerlinAtIDEOKnowHowTalkWithScottUnderwood20070920256-803.jpg Merlin Mann at IDEO / "Know How" Talk with Scott Underwood / 2007-09-20

2010-01-10T09:55:47Z

http://themerlinshow.blip.tv/file/416567/

urbanlabs, urbanlabs09, spain, urban, infovis

2009-12-24T05:30:40Z

http://a.images.blip.tv/Citilabcornella-KeynoteAdamGreenfieldEnUrbanLabs09286-906.jpg Keynote Adam Greenfield atu UrbanLabs 09

2009-12-24T05:30:40Z

http://blip.tv/file/3005225

urbanlabs, urbanlabs09, spain, urban, infovis

2009-12-24T05:29:22Z

Juan Freire. Keynote at Urbanlabs09 <embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYG40VIC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> Video 610 keynote-juan-freire-at-urbanlabs-09

http://a.images.blip.tv/Citilabcornella-KeynoteJuanFreireEnUrbanLabs09443-650.jpg Keynote Juan Freire at UrbanLabs 09

2009-12-24T05:29:22Z

http://blip.tv/file/3005339

urbanlabs, urbanlabs09, spain, urban, infovis

2009-12-24T05:25:23Z

Ben Cerveny speaking at UrbanLabs09: http://urbanlabs.net <embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYG40R4C" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> Video 609 ben-cerveny-at-urbanlabs-09

http://a.images.blip.tv/Citilabcornella-KeynoteBenCervenyEnUrbanLabs09993-886.jpg Ben Cerveny at UrbanLabs 09

2009-12-24T05:25:23Z

http://blip.tv/file/3005287/