(in)Articulate Automation

My lips are moving and the sound's coming out

The words are audible but I have my doubts

-Missing Persons, ‘Words’

Uncanny Valley

Voice activation has become nearly ubiquitous in recent years, with a growing number of households including devices focused on this interaction. It is a remarkable market growth for units that do not work as well as intended.

Not so long ago, there was once a time when talking to a machine was considered an oddity – usually interacted with by folks with a limited grasp of reality.

The leap from rarity to ubiquity came on suddenly, stunning even the most evangelical advocates. Today, the proliferation of 'smart speakers' (a double meaning if one was ever to be had) brought even six-pack Joe into the heady world of voice control.

Just how did we get here? Voice interaction with our computers has been a dream for the wunderkind of MIT and a core character in much of technical science fiction. The computers of the then futurists had personalities built to fit the 'human' interaction - from HAL, 2001's semi-psychotic ulterior motive personality disorder to the overtly chirpy interface central to the Infinite Improbability-driven Heart of Gold.

The current generation of voice-driven smart devices is a leap from the first real-world voice-capable computers. Audrey (Bell Labs, 1952), developed to minimize voice bandwidth before automated switching, could understand spoken numbers only for specific operator voices. Shoebox (IBM, 1962) could understand the numbers 0 through 9 and up to 16 spoken English words. Unlike Audrey, the system did not rely on specific voices; it identified three parts of the word via an analog filter circuitry.

Canned Reality

The reality of voice interaction is far stranger than our expectations. True, there is still the over-reaching effort to have these machines respond to us in a way that approaches the uncanny valley. We want our machines to be 'part of the family,' a natural call and response between intimates. This feeling of closeness belies a subtle manipulation of our day-to-day interactions by the process itself.

Anyone who has interacted with Alexa, Google Home, Homepod, or the mobile phone speech-to-text tool knows how little these devices understand natural cadence speech. For the most part, a person cannot simply utter a complex command/request without at least a few rounds of hearing 'sorry, I don't understand' or having the device play Darling Nikki when asked to 'set to do not disturb.'

As a native New Yorker, having my Alexa units' inability to keep up with my fast-paced speech is damn frustrating, resulting in me repeating a request repeatedly. The same is true for non-native speakers of English. Ask the numerous European friends who have had extended stays in my home. These folks often speak English better than many of my native-born associates. Still, the frustrations they encountered in just attempting to have Alexa set a timer while cooking were off-putting. Ultimately, we could reliably interact with the devices; it only took a complete change in how we spoke.

Me Talk Pretty?

The technology may affect our speech patterns, constructing a more banal and common form of pronunciation. Until the technology can catch up, we are forced to perform a bit of code-switching, speaking in our regular cadence and pronunciation to each other while addressing the technology with something else. Commands to these devices require a slower, more sharply articulated speech- demanding accentuated Ps, Ds, and Bs. The process can feel like being forced to speak a staccato version of 'The Queen's English' (or the now-defunct Mid-Atlantic speech).

This is not the first time technology has influenced the way humans talk. Each new leap in voice communication has forced an alternate voice from its users to ensure efficient intelligibility.

Modern music has a very intimate characteristic that did not and could not exist before the first decade of the 1900s. Singers and performers of the day needed to 'reach the back of the room' by sheer skill. They also needed to have the vocals cut through the instruments and often the sound of dancing feet. Opera singers could do this with sheer power, albeit with more quietly considerate audiences.

Pre-War Dance Hall singers (not to be mistaken for the Jamaican blending of reggae, hip-hop, and R&B) needed a specific range and technique not to be washed out and heard clearly across the room. The falsetto (or, more rightly, a Countertenor ) voice and a passive megaphone provided just the right sound to make the vocals an explicit part of the song. You can hear a bit of this style in early World War I and II movies showing soldiers dancing while on R&R.

That Voice 

Some remnants of the style can also be heard as Swing Big Bands added early vocalists- soon replaced by mellow, more intimate whiskey voices of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Helen Forrest, and Billie Holiday. This new sultry style was made possible only by the addition of microphone amplification. All of these singers were capable of belting it to the back room, but the expressiveness and seduction required a more subtle delivery while still being front and center of the composition. The cultural switch did not go easily for some, as these crooners were seen as too mushy and antithetical to the music by many. Of course, the young kids loved how it gave them a new sensuality and how it had them dancing close - it's no wonder why it was the sound of a generation at war.

Newscasters / Newsreaders are still influenced by the significantly affected vocal delivery of early presenters on the radio. If you have ever listened to early newsreels (like they played in movie theaters after the talkies took over) or recordings of presenters like Walter Winchell, you hear that voice. It is a voice that relies on a sharp but deliberate delivery, a higher, almost nasal register, and a pronunciation of words that sound like a mix of public school British and proper Boston. This is partly due to the era's social ideas on what an authoritative voice should sound like and the limited capability of the early condenser microphones used for radio broadcasting.

The 'voice' itself carried on far past its technical reasons - so an announcer could be understood through the noise of typical radio transmission, especially at the receiver end. The sound became a hallmark of a radio/TV news person, with many taking the style on to show that they were professional broadcasters. You can hear it in how Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite spoke and delivered the news; the affectation is smoother, but the deliberate punchiness remains. The infamous Roger Grimsby of NYC's WABC in the '70s and '80s is a direct descendant and one of the last I can recall that overtly presented in style. It is worth noting that many of the top-flight national news hosts also employ a modern take on the style, but in keeping with the contemporary casual feel, it is an understated method.

Subtle Singularity

Is the technology we have become so enamored with changing how we speak? Several evolutionary biologists have shown evidence that our dependence on digital communication is changing how we think, store, and retain memories. Some discussion and newer studies are looking at whether young users of voice-controlled smart devices are doing a version of code-switching or defaulting to the more pronounced pronunciation used to tell Alexa what they want. The research is looking, in particular, at how the kids talk to each other in the noisy, messy playtime or when frustrated in getting the point across.

Is this the step that brings the devotees of John von Neumann's Singularity to mass acceptance?

Psychotic Reactions Go Bang

Originally posted on the AVNation.tv blog - July 22, 2013

This is Part 2 of the strange trip that Infocomm 2013 was.  It is highly recommended that you read Part 1 here  

I am unclear as to how I got here, ‘all these tubes and wires...’ to paraphrase Mr. Thomas Dolby.  The cottonmouth and clammy skin are indications of a night lost to the reveries as at least a witness, if not a participant, in the annual show ritual of parading half-consciously through the hotel lobbies. These indicators are only second to the throbbing of my temples and the insistent buzzing in my ears.  I feel as though I attended an all-night ‘silent rave’ with my headphones blaring Rancid covers of Mel Torme songs.  All apparent signs indicate that I made it home of my own accord. I last recall that there were great rumors afoot that Apple’s ecosystem had usurped the show with an empty hall and a single booth.

Great Armies were gathering.

My plan (or is that pram? My notes are a mess here) was to arrive early and report firsthand on the carnage. I could see it through the haze of the morning Floridian thunderstorms, ritual bonfires, burnt Ozone, and cannon smoke. Just now, I have the flash of memory of entering the hall bemused by the wake-like quiet and the low rumble of mulling crowds.  Rubberneckers, i thought,  members of the international society of Schadenfreude affectionado’s more likely - these bastards show up in every crowd.  I  was being paid to be here, quelling the nausea is a job hazard, one steels the self to take it all in and report the horrors to the sedate civilians. I made steadfastly toward the exhibit floor doors with the intent of getting a first view and a keen determination to inhale the acrid smells of battle mixed with the fresh linen scent of the pod people of Cupertino.  

Upon opening the door, there was the blinding light from the show floor, which caused me to reach out blindly, bumping into the grunting crowd similarly afflicted, all of us groping for a center with mad abandon, willing our pupils to dilate. White lab mice lay strewn before me, shuddering in disoriented jerks. Given a few more moments, I am sure my bearings would have returned, but then came the enveloping cacophony - a demonic surround sound on steroids - it was like Barry Bonds and Theo Kalomirakis merged V’ger like into Vladimir Gavreau’s love child.  The effect forced a full cerebral shutdown until the mass of stimuli could be processed.  As I began to fade into black, the air was a knife cut thick with hopeful chatter, morning coffee, eggs, a hint of mint, and latex -( While I will not dare to presume the reason for the last item, this is a trade show after all). All of these things I could literally pull out of the air like notes of music to a synesthete.

When I awoke, quivering under a  thermal blanket and warmed under the hot lights of the Chauvet booth an epiphany issued forth from the Jorge Luis Borges thousand typewriting monkeys in my head. No war had been waged, no remarkable battle, no charging light brigades - This is a Psycho-Billy Circus complete with over joyful slap revered guitars. Psycho-Billy, the punk of southern garage bands, mixing Johnny Cash with MC5 and a dash of B movie horror thrown in for spice - rock n’ roll’s sideshow barkers. To the uninitiated or those whose little grey cells are in need of more electrolytes, the show floor is an assault on the senses. It would seem that any manufacture of a device that can produce noise has ascribed to the late Phil Ramone’s ‘Wall of Sound,” accompanied by more flashing, blinking, pulsating lights that should be accompanied by photosensitizer warnings.  One does finally become accustomed to the sensory assault, but when the opportunity arises, leaving the floor into the lesser volume of the lobby can be just as disorienting, causing one to lose footing in a punch-drunk head space as the Cochlear nerve wiggles in its own version of a grand Mal seizure.  

But we were talking about what was on the inside, eh?  Just what were the presenters hawking Baptist ministers like from the company pulpits?   Oddly, there did not seem to be an overriding single theme this year; we’ve been trained to expect this, just like the film studios pumping out varying flavors of the same film over the summer and holiday seasons.  Is it really a coincidence that six studios released a film based on kids' games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders?  The show floor did not seem to have this overly generic commonness, an associate of mine called it ‘evolutionary not revolutionary’. This, I think, hits the nail on the tail of things. The show itself was tremendous, but technology-wise, the industry has entered a tempo of sostenuto. 3D is dead (hooray!), but 4K is not like Savior-Faire (not everywhere), Apple - Apple everywhere, but some droids are creeping in; there is not so much vaporware there, but TIO might just be giving it a go, and Microsoft may be bleeding heavily from Surface losses, but Linq is inside everything (The song of HD-BaseT they sing).  Of new note is the oddly fascinating use of QR codes as a control and documentation interface by AMX

There is, not to put too fine a point on it, no bees in my bonnet as we watch everyone expand their product lines into places that overlap and hip-check current (soon to be former?) partners.   I am eagerly looking forward to next year's show, where we may witness a true Alaskan ‘Breaking’ party as the Ice cracks in the warm sun of Lost Wages, NV.   

Retrograde, in Reverse.

Looking back at past innovations leads to the future.

The innovations of the past are more than examples of wrong turns or outdated methodologies and they are more than modern entrails readings. What the study and working knowledge of past technologies are is inspirational. One prime example is how telephony engineers re-examining the process and patent for a frequency jamming resistant torpedo controller developed by ‘the worlds most beautiful woman’ just prior to WWII lead to our modern smart-phone communications - a process called CDMA. The fact is that nothing is built out of the blue but is based on processes that came before, something akin to Broca’s brain.

 If you are a fan of Scientific American magazine you might recall that some of the most thought provoking articles were not the five page with pull out centerfold on DNA mapping but were located near the back of each edition. Just before the ads selling Name a Star services and other science fandom accessories were the magazines anti- agitprop agitators such as James Burke and his ‘Connections’ articles. Mr. Burke’s column took the reader on a delightfully wandering path to discover how things actually came to be, like how the water wheel lead to breakthroughs in modern computing. The BBC series based on his writings only added to the wonder and prodded one to never take for granted any common device - each has so much history and wonderful things to teach us about why our modern world works the way it does.

I was re-reading  the fantastic AV shout article 'What Goes Around, Comes Around: A Historian’s Response to Unified Communications' By K. Daniel Armstrong recently  and it got me to thinking.  The past is something we are bound to repeat, whether we know it or not. Sometimes this is a good thing, a very good thing.

When I was just cutting my teeth in presentation and live events industry, I was promoted to become a programmer and system engineer using the then cutting edge live show controller Dataton. I presumed that most of my time would be bonding with CRV’s and industrial DVD / Laser disc players. Then they sprang the slide projectors on me. For those of you who are flummoxed by the large spinning discs of plastic some of us used to listen to music on - Slide projectors were these loud, finicky lightboxes that went clickity-clack when you needed to change an image on screen. They were film projectors in slo-mo and my blood ran cold every time the company booked me on yet another, bigger show with them.

It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me- being put on these shows. I had the good fortune to meet and learn from the slide men- gentlemen who had been working and making these industrial revolution sewing machine looking boxes sing and delight audiences for decades - and my world changed. Slide folks were practitioners of an ancient art that,on first pale, looked and acted as if completely divorced from more ubiquitous technologies of audio and video which were slowly encroaching on their native lands. These folks taught me about form and function, about how to properly space text and how a show flow should feel. Being given the privilege of learning from these masters just how the art of multi-image worked, seeing the analog mechanics just enthralled me. The lessons I learned, of stripping things down to their fundamental processes, seeing beyond the shiny gloss has helped me to continue learning with a wide eyed fascination.

The past repeats itself in new ways everyday. 

 

Magical Thinking

Is a business model outside of the apple eco-system (or similar) simply wishful thinking or is there something to the reality distortion field becoming the norm? 

My oldest son lost a tooth yesterday and called me with all the eagerness that a seven year old could muster about the event.  Rooster, my name for him - no not his given name, was excited as this is a milestone, to him, toward teenage hood that others in his class were experiencing  with more regularity.  He was revved up like a rockabilly front-man in new town about getting a golden dollar from the tooth fairy.  Gonzo, my youngest at five, expressed concern about the fact that an unknown and nocturnal creature would be in their shared room while he was asleep and unaware.

“How does the tooth fairy get into the house and put the money under the pillow” - Gonzo asked.

“Magic silly”  answered Rooster.

“But magic isn’t real” retorted Gonzo

“If magic is not real then the tooth fairy can’t be real, mommy?... is the Easter bunny magical?” asked Gonzo.

 

 Photo Credit David Sifry via EveryStockPhoto   

Now here is the quandary. While some would simply gloss over the question with a ‘yes dear’ they use good magic’; I have never been fond of what I call magical thinking, of retelling the tales and lying to my kids about what I know is a fallacy that will either lend them to believe anything can be true or reject everything. To be honest, my sons would not allow such a glib off putting.   Once my oldest came into an understanding of Christmas I wanted to de-stress telling him that Santa Claus was the deliverer of gifts, as you can expect I lost this ‘discussion’ with my wife as soon as she stated “don’t you dare”.  If you are married you understand.  I realize that this makes me sound like the kind of person who reads Charles Bukowski while Joy Division plays in the background but  the reality is  quite kinder than that. Still I do refer to ‘the Santa Character’ when I speak of him, but I do not overtly correct my kids.  So it came as no surprise that my youngest would try to rationalize his fear by deconstructing what was causing him concern and that my oldest would try to accept it, despite himself, because there was the immediacy of money to be had if it were true.    

This episode started me thinking.  Is the AV industry  facing a challenge to its fundamental way of creating installations and some of us are ignoring the fact that the bubble has burst because we still see money in the myth? We know the playing field is changing but by how much and are we truly on the cusp of the great change? Apple has taken the ecosystem model and made it both box store consumer friendly and powerful enough to satisfy all but the most finicky media-philes.  Are we currently only mopping up the last of the ‘legacy’ installs while deluding ourselves that the tooth fairy will provide?

It has been suggested that we are currently in a hybrid moment which will shake out the industry into a more streamlined and unified methodology - just look at how every manufacturer MUST have an iPad app or be relegated to the out-lands.  If we are indeed seeing this happen I feel that historians will note it as the Brundlefly period. Change is afoot but a hardwired and dedicated  (and yes , proprietary) system has a place in the market, a shrinking market to be sure but one whose rock bottom is not zero.  There is value in the model, with some modifications. Installations who need guaranteed reliability, durability and consistent operation require the standard model to insure it will not be filled with service calls and un-billable revisions.

Joseph Campbell - the great writer on myth and meaning-  made a strong argument that myth may have been elbowed out of our day to day conscience by science but its value is strongest when we are facing the ultimate mysteries to stir a sense of awe, humility and respect for what we do not yet know.

The morning after the great tooth fairy debate,  I  had the following conversation with my boys while driving to school:

Gonzo - “Dadu,is magic real? “
Me- “ No,not the way you are asking”
Rooster-” Does that mean the tooth fairy is not real?”
Me - “What do you think?”
Gonzo - “Will I get a dollar when I lose a tooth”
Me - “Yes”
Rooster- “I’m not sure I want to know the answer today”



Update: November 28th. 

Mark Coxon has a great retort to my post on his fantastic blog AV Phenom-  Read it here

This is Not a CES post, Not a CES Post

Originally posted on on Ravepubs, January 19th, 2012

 

This is not a post about CES, No, not at all.  But as you brought it up - just a few thoughts

CES is huge, I mean really huge.  You may think that Infocomm or CEDIA is large but neither one of these have left our dear friend Richard Fregosa curled up in tiny trembling ball on the plush carpet of the LG booth. Actually this did not happen, nor do I suspect Mr Fregrosa exhibits any
public displays of trembling- ever.  It is I who would suffer the ‘who put my knees on backwards today’ walk from canvasing the infinity that is CES.  And yes, I would wind up a puddle on the LG carpet, a booth babe nervously poking at me to see if I was still breathing. Just reading RF’s twitter posts and blog missives for CEPro have me holed up in the corner of my office with the first heat rash symptoms of a  trade show specific agoraphobia.  

When a show can be compared to the infinite universe you know for sure that it is just too damn big.  Watching the Twit.tv folks record iPad Today live walking around the ‘iLounge’ section of the show and twice realize that they had left the section only after someone pointed it out to them -just made me happy it was them not me.

You might argue that the show obviously needs to be as large as it is, just look at all the booths they filled and all the attendees. Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com summed up my feelings when he tweeted:

“@SwanniOnHD: Hard to believe the stuff u see on the #CES2012 floor; much should have been left on the cutting room floor”

Then there is the Gizmodo post by Mat Honan . Gizmodo lives and breaths this stuff so it is worth noting when he says:

“Then it's time for a meeting, so I scuttle out through a maze of ocular and aural assaults, past booth after booth of headset-wearing pitchmen doing their best Billy Mays. Deep in the middle of the din, I meet yet another PR person whom I'll never see again in my life, and settle in for a demo of another product I already know I'm not going to write about.”

With too much space to fill we find ourselves swallowed up in detritus and ephemera.

We, as a culture, are fervently fond our ability to spread out, to take up space. Our homes are a testament to this early pioneer spirit of owning our own spread.  It is also a testament to an entire economy which fuels innumerable bloated shows  full of stuff to fill our abodes with.

In my last post “Knit One, Purl Two”  I touched on the opportunities and advantages of going small - how compression can generate new and exciting ideas. Limitations are liberating, forcing new solutions and even revisiting older ones that we should not have abandoned, Like moderate homes with porches.

I own a fairly modest home, a 1901 colonial which, with the finished attic, is about 1900 square feet.  This is, in reality much too much space.  In reality I only use about half the space for actual living, the rest just accommodates stuff - mostly items I do not need and could be put to better use.  The house was purchased as it fit my other priorities of being near mass transit and within walking distance of a local deli/grocery store/ bara porch, this and the small patch of green in the back.  Given my druthers I would have preferred a smaller house on the same lot with less house  more grass and more porch.  So yes size does matter, just not how we have been taught.  

Recently my wife and I performed the annual post X-mas purge of toys, clothes and other miscellaneous items from the house. Each time we do this, (and we do it at least twice a year which is two times too few for me), I am appalled at the sheer volume of items we have accumulated which we have no real need for.  I think part of the issue is that we actually have the space to keep all this flotsam and jetsam. My parents, most likely subconsciously, purchase too many things for the kids because we can fit it. While anecdotal, when we lived in an apartment the items the grandparents brought in were far less and smaller.

I KNOW it will draw guffaws and hackles but  there is much to said for houses that concentrate on function rather than flash.  I am particularly fascinated with the work of Lugi Colani’s Rotor House concept design or perhaps something along the lines of Normal Projects Origami apartment.  The attraction here is beautiful design with emphasis on natural light and economy of space by creating multifunction without appearing industrial.  While the homes are in the vein of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie homes these homes far more than ranch homes redux, the point is more environmental rather than ornamental.  

There is a larger social effect beyond taking up less space. In a time before ubiquitous air conditioning folks would spend a great deal of time on their porches and stoops - knowing their neighbors and keeping an eye the general welfare of the area. Even today, communities where people use their porches on a regular basis tend to have  lower crime rates.  These communities also generate less trash and are greener in general in particular, if not completely, because there is less space to accumulate random stuff. The trend may be bad for the folks from ‘American Pickers’ and CES exhibitors but not our industry.

In the cloud based future there is less need to have and store a physical medium, for example our playback and storage devices are small and mostly portable.  The trend is for more personal listening (headphones and headphone amps were everywhere at the show, every online magazine commented on just how pervasive the units were).  Even when a more traditional listening experience is desired the new compact speaker systems are comparable with their larger space hogging brethren -(taking into account economy of scales).   

This would, of course, mean a shift in just what and how home media and automation items are created and sold.  Homeowners will be more interested in controls and media delivery that lives and moves from personal device to the home and back again.  Interoperability, quick replacement transition and customization will be the hallmarks of a new mass market controls.

We may feel a bit pressured by this coming small world but the trends of global urbanization and explosion of multifunction products that incorporate a video monitor, storage, Internet connectivity and control in one box show an inevitable path.. This years CES dichotomy of too much floor space and compact offerings are the rune stones. But then again we were not talking about CES, were we?

 

This is Not a CES post, Not a CES Post

Originally posted on on Ravepubs, January 19th, 2012

 

This is not a post about CES, No, not at all.  But as you brought it up - just a few thoughts

CES is huge, I mean really huge.  You may think that Infocomm or CEDIA is large but neither one of these have left our dear friend Richard Fregosa curled up in tiny trembling ball on the plush carpet of the LG booth. Actually this did not happen, nor do I suspect Mr Fregrosa exhibits any
public displays of trembling- ever.  It is I who would suffer the ‘who put my knees on backwards today’ walk from canvasing the infinity that is CES.  And yes, I would wind up a puddle on the LG carpet, a booth babe nervously poking at me to see if I was still breathing. Just reading RF’s twitter posts and blog missives for CEPro have me holed up in the corner of my office with the first heat rash symptoms of a  trade show specific agoraphobia.  

When a show can be compared to the infinite universe you know for sure that it is just too damn big.  Watching the Twit.tv folks record iPad Today live walking around the ‘iLounge’ section of the show and twice realize that they had left the section only after someone pointed it out to them -just made me happy it was them not me.

You might argue that the show obviously needs to be as large as it is, just look at all the booths they filled and all the attendees. Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com summed up my feelings when he tweeted:

“@SwanniOnHD: Hard to believe the stuff u see on the #CES2012 floor; much should have been left on the cutting room floor”

Then there is the Gizmodo post by Mat Honan . Gizmodo lives and breaths this stuff so it is worth noting when he says:

“Then it's time for a meeting, so I scuttle out through a maze of ocular and aural assaults, past booth after booth of headset-wearing pitchmen doing their best Billy Mays. Deep in the middle of the din, I meet yet another PR person whom I'll never see again in my life, and settle in for a demo of another product I already know I'm not going to write about.”

With too much space to fill we find ourselves swallowed up in detritus and ephemera.

We, as a culture, are fervently fond our ability to spread out, to take up space. Our homes are a testament to this early pioneer spirit of owning our own spread.  It is also a testament to an entire economy which fuels innumerable bloated shows  full of stuff to fill our abodes with.

In my last post “Knit One, Purl Two”  I touched on the opportunities and advantages of going small - how compression can generate new and exciting ideas. Limitations are liberating, forcing new solutions and even revisiting older ones that we should not have abandoned, Like moderate homes with porches.

I own a fairly modest home, a 1901 colonial which, with the finished attic, is about 1900 square feet.  This is, in reality much too much space.  In reality I only use about half the space for actual living, the rest just accommodates stuff - mostly items I do not need and could be put to better use.  The house was purchased as it fit my other priorities of being near mass transit and within walking distance of a local deli/grocery store/ bara porch, this and the small patch of green in the back.  Given my druthers I would have preferred a smaller house on the same lot with less house  more grass and more porch.  So yes size does matter, just not how we have been taught.  

Recently my wife and I performed the annual post X-mas purge of toys, clothes and other miscellaneous items from the house. Each time we do this, (and we do it at least twice a year which is two times too few for me), I am appalled at the sheer volume of items we have accumulated which we have no real need for.  I think part of the issue is that we actually have the space to keep all this flotsam and jetsam. My parents, most likely subconsciously, purchase too many things for the kids because we can fit it. While anecdotal, when we lived in an apartment the items the grandparents brought in were far less and smaller.

I KNOW it will draw guffaws and hackles but  there is much to said for houses that concentrate on function rather than flash.  I am particularly fascinated with the work of Lugi Colani’s Rotor House concept design or perhaps something along the lines of Normal Projects Origami apartment.  The attraction here is beautiful design with emphasis on natural light and economy of space by creating multifunction without appearing industrial.  While the homes are in the vein of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie homes these homes far more than ranch homes redux, the point is more environmental rather than ornamental.  

There is a larger social effect beyond taking up less space. In a time before ubiquitous air conditioning folks would spend a great deal of time on their porches and stoops - knowing their neighbors and keeping an eye the general welfare of the area. Even today, communities where people use their porches on a regular basis tend to have  lower crime rates.  These communities also generate less trash and are greener in general in particular, if not completely, because there is less space to accumulate random stuff. The trend may be bad for the folks from ‘American Pickers’ and CES exhibitors but not our industry.

In the cloud based future there is less need to have and store a physical medium, for example our playback and storage devices are small and mostly portable.  The trend is for more personal listening (headphones and headphone amps were everywhere at the show, every online magazine commented on just how pervasive the units were).  Even when a more traditional listening experience is desired the new compact speaker systems are comparable with their larger space hogging brethren -(taking into account economy of scales).   

This would, of course, mean a shift in just what and how home media and automation items are created and sold.  Homeowners will be more interested in controls and media delivery that lives and moves from personal device to the home and back again.  Interoperability, quick replacement transition and customization will be the hallmarks of a new mass market controls.

We may feel a bit pressured by this coming small world but the trends of global urbanization and explosion of multifunction products that incorporate a video monitor, storage, Internet connectivity and control in one box show an inevitable path.. This years CES dichotomy of too much floor space and compact offerings are the rune stones. But then again we were not talking about CES, were we?

DIY Show - I'm a LumberJock and That's Okay!

My AV Nation Podcast "The DIY show" is up- Episode 2 'I'm a Lumberjock & that's Okay!" 

 

 

Anthony Zotti, Jonathan Danforth,Michael Francis, andRJ of DIY Light Animation. Episode 2 of the DIY show: Jonathan takes over the helm as host and we discuss Michael’s first Christmas light show, RJ’s great forum, 3D printing, what makes a DIYer and our favorite resources for information and inspiration.

 

 Click the image to access the show

Do you like it? Hate it ? let us know (hey, wanna be on? just contact me and we will make room at the table!"

Knit One, Purl Two

Originally published on rAVe Pubs December 16th, 2011

 

"If you want to destroy this sweater - Just pull this thread as I walk away...”

- Weezer

Go ahead 'n' pull, you might get what you want or a surprise worth waiting for, depending on yourpoint of view. With the music business  still in disarray and profits bleeding out like a moonshine still at the wrong end of a ATF shotgun, the pundits have declared, yet again, Rock’s demise.

A recent article on CNN discussed the rise of (pop) Country Music sales and radio play as other genres are waning, which *of course* was accompanied buy the hackles of "Rock/ Rap is Dead/Dying.”

There is no denying that modern country music has been on the rise for some time. Hell, NYC has had at least two successful country radio stations.  I have nothing against country music -- well, I do have a lot against country pop, more on that below.  I am a fan of the true roots hillbillies like Hank Williams, the current alt rock decedents of Hank -  Lucero and the rockabilly revivalist Reverend Horton Heat. Unless you want to get caught up in a day long discussion of music history and Situationist aesthetics don’t even hint at asking  me about my Jan Dek fetish.

I do not dislike pop music because it is so prevalent but because it is too easy to like. Top 40 songs are genetically engineered to draw you in and crash your mind on to the rocks of  the island of the Sirens. These songs do not ‘stimulate the little grey cells’ - as Hercule Poirot would say- rather they lull them into a catatonic state suppressing the desire for challenging compositions.  Admit it, you have caught yourself humming along with the muzak in elevator.... and if alone, enjoyed it.  Oh yes you have, and  I’ll bet a dollar bill that you tapped your foot, too.   

It is undeniable that mainstream rock and rap sales have been in decline recently, but  I would not go so far as to start dusting off and updating the obituaries.  These genres have been pushed into smaller spaces - off into the anterooms.  I find this to be an opportunity.

Unlike many I am quite comfortable in small space, the constraints actually promote more creativity by forcing new angles of thought on how to get around them (more about this in my next post).  I could emulate William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch Story telling or Jan Dek’s (I told you I am obsessed) musical interpretations and smash the boundaries à la the 1984 commercial.  Yet, even these follow strict rules and delineation -- just not the ones we have been previously accustomed to.  

Smaller spaces or musical communities can generate more heat - (canned heat?) - confined as they are, once things get cooking.  Underground or regional collectives who have been pushed to the out-lands can grow in what seems a blur and wind up creating  some remarkable sounds and genre bending without the need to seek a more global acceptance.  These tight collectives can also be incestuous and regrettably, (or thankfully depending on how macabre your persuasions are) produce the musical equivalent of the Blue Fugates.  

A well known Alternative/ Punk pioneer often stated that he professionally looked forward to Republican administrations as it stirred up the emotions of the bands and fans (who would often go on to form their own bands).  The message?  Constrictions, or the appearance of, can generate incredible bursts of creativity.  It also generates an exponential explosion of distinct sub-genres.  This would seem counter-intuitive at first unless you have an appreciation for Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tail and the theory of "a thousand true fans." 

The Long Tail upturns a few of the ‘standard models’ of business by showing that a good deal of money can be made in producing not just a few select items, but an entire swath of niche market items, each with their own community of dedicated clientele.

The theory of a thousand true fans postulates - Just how many fans paying (x) amount to you per year would you need to survive and produce your art.  Many independent artists are experimenting with some form of this Kevin Kelly-promoted idea, from Radiohead to Thomas Dolby (have you see his new performances, wow, just wow) to the newUnderground Rap movement.  Think about this for a moment: if you were able to garner a thousand fans who paid you $75 dollars a year, or $75,000, would this be enough?  $75 sound like too much? How about $40 a year, plus concerts/appearance fees. Would this be enough to give you the freedom to create content and access and live comfortably?

While the old school business models may be struggling with a smaller real estate footprint, some are finding opportunity.  Just look at what Louis CK did by providing  a $5 DRM-free product and wound up earning $200k in less than seven days.


My sweater may be undone, but  I still have a stitch in time to create.  Knit one, Purl Two.

 

 

Fast Company No Like Me - Rejects Remote Comments

I rather despise moderated comments, especially on major sites like Fast Company.  I do understand the reasoning though, I mean it IS the wild n' wolly Internet. True, I am a bit Sybil on this.  

Fast Company has an article on the new remote, comparing the histoical content provider (Dish, Cable, etc) supplied units with the new gleaming consumer app driven tablets and smartphones. Granted I did refer to an old post of my that touches on this subject, exepct mine rejects the newy for the old and makes reference to weighted gain knobs as influenced by Miss September 1963.  

This or the comments monitor does not like to counter all the corporate market quotes. 

Alas - here is my commet, for the record. 

I must take a, somewhat,  contrarian view to this article.  While there is a certain allure to the simplified remote and the titanium encased tablet am I alone in feeling that the iPad is well, soul-less in comparison? I am troubled by the frictionless gloss of icons, I miss the tactile feel of a physical interface.  

Perhaps it is simple nostalgia but I long for the clickty-clack-clunk of an 8-track tape, the solid mechanical ka-chunk of open reel tape decks, and the tactile feel and response of weighted gain knobs. I am not sure just why I love these knobs so much, the sheer pleasure of them in my hand – they just feel right, perfectly balanced in my fingers and against my palm. something the smartphones and tablets just do not recreate.

Do not trust the device manufactures to come up with a dramatic method or control experience. Despite claims by the very same that it is the content providers ( Dish, Cable, etc) who are restricting new interfaces by churning out millions of ‘clunky’ remotes into the hands of users - (who have become ‘accustomed’ to it via muscle memory) - no real alternatives have come out.  Does everyone forget the disaster of the Sony Commander? No wonder we stick with tactile response devices provide.  

http://tuckerstuesday.typepad.com/tuckerstuesday/2010/10/8-bit-nostalgia-and-miss-september-63s-influence-on-tactile-controls-.html

 

Tinker, Tech’er, Solder, Sine via RAVE Pubs

This post orginally appeared on Gary Kayye's RavePub Site on August 2nd, 2011 

 

Are you useless?  I am and proudly so and I think you could do with being so too.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment before we proceed -- you should strive to be useless and leading by example, encourage your staff to be the same.

 Useless adjective       \'yüs-l?s\

              1.    Not fulfilling or not expected to achieve the intended purpose or desired outcome

In reality useless is usually based on a simple frame of reference, or in the colloquial -- one man’s   
garbage is another man’s treasure. For an install company, tinkering is a useless endeavor, a wasteful process of learning as you go and where results are not always what one expected. Having a staff of useless tinkerers is not just terrible for your business, much worse; it is the best thing that can happen to it.

Do you remember back to when you were six or seven years old and the concept of chemistry or at least the idea that a mad scientist could hold such power with a simple set of beakers and surgical tubing held so much sway? Back then, you mixed shampoo with wood chips, hair gel, milk and orange juice half waiting for the, mostly inert, mixture to start moving of its own volition. These experiments were mostly harmless but if you were like me the ‘failures’ never dulled the excitement of the possibilities -- ‘if I could just find the right ratios!’ <cue cute-evil laugh>. Then again you could have had a mom like mine who occasionally would provide me with bottles marked ‘ingredient X’ - <Vinegar> and ‘Mystery Powder Y’ - <Baking Soda>.  That particular experiment had me wide eyed and standing atop a three-legged stool as the resulting reaction covered the floor of my room. Did I mention that I also became really good with a mop?

I want to see your staff doing more of the above. No, not the mop - the wild-eyed fascination of deconstructivism. Wasteful, you might say. Absolutely devastating to project deadlines and company profits one might argue. Horse Hockey! I say. (With apologies to Sherman T. Potter)

The process of tinkering provides lessons in how stuff works, it is demonstrative and practical, and there is great value in opening a box and figuring out just how they did that. An even greater benefit can come from forceful misapplication-creating wondrous new functions or in letting the genie out.

I am a big fan of something called Circuit Bending which is the process of opening up consumer electronics - mostly kids’ toys - and modifying the circuit boards to create new sounds. The cult community of circuit bending is part heath kit hacker, part pyromaniac musician and part serious electronics debugger. Modifying a toy is not nearly as simple as it might appear -- these units’ electronics are often undocumented; the process of figuring out just where to connect jumpers requires patience and research. It also requires a willingness to fail.

Failure is constructive.

Are you allowing your staff to fail?  

If you still think that I am full of it just take a look at what 3M™ does. 3M has a long standing policy (since the 1920’s!) of allowing employees - regardless of project schedules - to dedicate up to 15 percent of their paid work hours on personal projects. What possible benefits could a policy which wreaks havoc on deadlines and product to market schedules have?  Not much really -- just the development of whole new markets in adhesives, recording mediums and of course the ubiquitous Post-it-Notes ®.

What untapped solution are you missing out of by holding your staff back?  Where would we be without the invention the iPad typewriter?  For me it would be a sad, sad world.

 

 

er, did I leave the sink running ? perhaps I should go back and check

 I have been busy, busy with my Crestron Social Media duties with 3 tradeshows falling back to back to back.

Fear not I have several posts near completion and will update this week

you can always find me in the persona of http://twitter.com/CrestronHQ and http://twitter.com/tuckertues