Synopses & Reviews
“Distilling research over a score of years, Bo nicely describes Ubiquitous Computing’s tremendous business potential.”
--Gordon Bell, author of Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything
“In a field where there remains a surprising paucity of authoritative reference works in print, Bo Begole’s detailed and comprehensive overview stands out.”
--Adam Greenfield, Managing Director of Urbanscale; author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing
“Finally, a comprehensive and wonderfully clear articulation of Ubiquitous Computing....”
J--ohn Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corp. and Director of Xerox PARC
“For innovating in an ever more uncertain world, Bo Begole shows us that computing power everywhere has emerged as the essential foundation.”
--Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director of the Leadership Center, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; author of The Go Point: When It’s Time to Decide
“Few people on the planet know more about Ubiquitous Computing and context awareness than Bo Begole.”
--Justin Rattner, Intel Chief Technology Officer and Director of Intel Labs
“Coming from the birthplace of Ubiquitous Computing at PARC, Dr. Begole’s excellent introduction to this growing technology is approachable, interesting, well-informed, and humorous.”
--John Krumm, Microsoft Research; Editor of Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals
“Ubiquitous Computing for Business takes the potential value in Ubicomp technology and makes its value real.”
--Mike Kuniavsky, author of Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design
“On par with the business impact of laser printing, the Ethernet, and personal computing, this new paradigm of Ubiquitous Computing is revolutionizing the ways businesses exchange information and interact with customers.”
--Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox Chief Technology Officer and President of the Xerox Innovation Group
From the Web to the iPod, cell phones to social networks, a few extraordinary technologies have changed the world, enabling massive new industries and destroying companies that couldn’t adapt. It’s about to happen again, thanks to new Ubiquitous Computing (“Ubicomp”) technologies that will interweave computing more deeply into human life than ever before.
Bo Begole stands at the center of the Ubicomp revolution: He leads the team at the legendary Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) that invented the paradigm and are creating and commercializing its technologies. In Ubiquitous Computing for Business, Begole briefs you on everything you must know to drive breakout value from Ubicomp technologies.
Begole maps the emerging landscape of Ubicomp, explaining how it reinforces and redirects other societal trends. Next, he helps you identify exceptional opportunities to profit from Ubicomp in internal processes, supply chains, and external products and services. Along the way, he helps executives, strategists, technology managers, and entrepreneurs make better decisions about everything from “build vs. buy” to risk mitigation.
• Embedding Ubicomp into higher-value offerings…
…or spinning Ubicomp solutions into whole new businesses
• Helping users, not bewildering them
Leveraging pervasive devices, networks, and data to deliver services people want
• Touching, moving, grasping, and beyond
Replacing mice and windows with Reality-Based Interaction (RBI)
• How to win in a Ubicomp world--or at least avoid losing
Preparing for the collision of digital and physical worlds
Synopsis
Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) is the next game-changing technology. In Ubiquitous Business, PARC UbiComp pioneer Bo Begole shows you how to successfully incorporate it into your products, services, processes, and strategies. Begole introduces UbiComp's component technologies, thoroughly illuminates its potential impact, and demonstrates how to achieve real competitive advantage with it.
Synopsis
Following in the footsteps of the web, Web 2.0, and the iPod, Ubiquitous Computing ("UbiComp") is the next game-changing technology. Leading expert Bo Begole, the director of PARC’s UbiComp Center, shows executives, technology managers, and entrepreneurs how to successfully incorporate UbiComp into their own products, services, and strategies. Begole introduces the technologies of UbiComp, shows how they fit together, and identifies the challenges and opportunities they present. Next, he answers the key questions decision-makers and strategists ask most often about UbiComp, including:
- What is it, why does it matter, and how will it impact my business?
- What industries will be most affected first?
- Which parts of my organization will UbiComp change most?
- What UbiComp solutions should we consider for our internal business processes?
- How should I position my company for these transformations?
- What barriers must we overcome and which barriers can we erect for our competitors? What should I build, partner, or buy?
- What barriers does my company need to overcome to adopt a UbiComp-based business?
About the Author
Bo Begole is a Principal Scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center, the famed innovation center credited with inventing and commercializing many core information technologies, including laser printing, Ethernet, graphical user interfaces, the laptop, and more. He currently manages the Ubiquitous Computing Area at PARC, a computer science team that invents and commercializes novel technologies like those in this book. Before joining PARC, he worked at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, where he created systems to facilitate global collaboration and sensor networks. Dr. Begole habitually collaborates with social scientists and others to create innovations that help people work together remotely, find information more rapidly with less effort, communicate more efficiently, and increase the performance of people using information technologies.
Dr. Begole has chaired committees of several research conferences crossing the fields of human[nd]computer interaction and computer-supported cooperative work, and he has participated on organizing and program committees in Ubiquitous Computing, intelligent user interfaces, user interface software and technology, and pervasive computing. With colleagues, he has written dozens of papers that have appeared in peer-reviewed scientific conferences and journals. He holds several patents. He also hosts and participates in several Silicon Valley business technology special-interest groups and has spoken at several business and technology conferences.
Dr. Begole received a B.S. degree in Mathematics (summa cum laude) in 1992 from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.S. degree in 1994, and a Ph.D. in 1998 in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. Before earning his degrees, he served in the U.S. Army from 1981-89 and during the Gulf War in 1991 as an Arabic language translator. He lives in Los Altos, California, with his wife, Florence, and three children, Brighton, Aiden, and Annecy.
Table of Contents
About the Author xi
Chapter 1 Introduction: Reading the Waves 1
Section I: Background and Capabilities of Ubiquitous Computing
Chapter 2 Profound Technologies 7
Chapter 3 Harmless if Used as Directed 31
Chapter 4 Still Stupid after All These Years 53
Chapter 5 Missing Ingredients 83
Section II: Business Opportunities
Chapter 6 Making Choices 101
Chapter 7 The Soft Sell: Personalized Marketing 111
Chapter 8 Breaking Out of the Supply Chain Gang 137
Chapter 9 Discontinuous Connections 173
Chapter 10 Coordination 187
Chapter 11 Clear Sailing 201
Chapter 12 Ubiquitous Business 229
Appendix Further Reading 241
Index 243