News & Analysis
EE Times 40th: 10 electronics visionaries to watch
R Colin Johnson
11/7/2012 5:38 AM EST
[EE Times is celebrating its 40th anniversary, with special articles to celebrate the innovators who made the electronics industry what it is today, as well as the visionaries who are taking it forward.]
Predicting the future is always fraught with peril, but the visionaries featured here are boldly going where no one has gone before.
To be sure, the personalities featured in this slideshow are not unique--in each category dozens of other pioneers could have been used in lieu of those chosen. Nevertheless, the pioneering vision and unflinching dedication of those featured in this slideshow serve as a shining example of how to “do” the future right.
Please forgive us for including two “ringers” who are not human: Wireless@MIT (which features a photo of the futuristic center where two MIT visionaries work) and “Lucy” an animated avatar which exemplifies a futuristic trend.
David Shepler-IBM
David Shepler was the Jeopardy Challenge Program Manager at IBM Research (shown here giving pointers to the human contestants on how to compete against Watson--IBM’s pioneering artificial-intelligence technology). After Watson beat the reigning human champions on Merv Griffin’s NBC television game show “Jeopardy,” hosted by Alex Trebek, Shepler served as Chief of Operations for the Watson research team’s efforts to adapt its AI to the healthcare field. Now patients in the WellPoint network--the nation's largest health benefits provider--can use Watson to help make more accurate and informed medical diagnoses. Next, Watson is tackling financial services, government-mandate management and retailing. More recently, Shepler became program manager for IBM's Smarter Energy Research Institute, which is developing predictive analytics, system optimization and advanced computation models that will help define the smart grid of the future. Shepler lives in his net zero-energy home in New Paltz, New York.
Click on image to enlarge.
Source: IBM
Next: Tony Fadell-Nest
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Michael.Markowitz
11/8/2012 10:22 PM EST
I like this story, Colin, and I'm glad you picked a MEMS guy. While I acknowledge my strong bias--I am, after all the ST PR guy--I would like to suggest you picked the wrong one!
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agk
11/10/2012 3:16 AM EST
Interesting to read here RRAM,cat's brain in a micro chip,9axis gyro,animated human avatars in holography,i robot,smart prosthetic leg,spectrum utilization 10 fold higher,imaging each bond between atoms,smart zero energy homes and also see the scientists who are doing great work for the future earth.
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GREAT-Terry
11/13/2012 9:09 AM EST
All stories are great. I particularly like those stories related to the application with motion sensing and AI that I believe in not very long time can revolve our life to a new era.
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yalanand
11/17/2012 1:37 AM EST
Thanks for the list eetimes, thanks for introducing these great personalities behind the innovation. Its people like these who's innovation makes our lives better.
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resistion
11/17/2012 11:34 AM EST
I'd tone down the memristor hype, please. Go read the literature, see how far back this goes.
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specialkaye
11/24/2012 10:42 PM EST
Interesting assessment, but it’s not quite accurate. The technology itself is based on a couple key ingredients – natural language and a robust knowledge management platform that puts the control of the virtual assistant in the hands of the deploying company. As a result, each avatar deployed from the system is customized to suit the needs of the client and is specific to their domain. While Siri attempts to provide assistance utilizing a host of features on your iphone, avatars like Lucy have been created to provide assistance to customers with specific questions about their relationship with a specific company (i.e. a bank, travel company, telecommunications provider, retail store, etc.) Moreover, the content is at the discretion of user. Companies have the ability to aggregate their internal databases, CRM, BI tools and more, integrate with any app or web services platform and pull in information from community forums, blogs or other sources if they WANT to. This allows them to customize the experience and maintain control of their brand for a consistent, reliable and personalized experience. It may be worth taking another look at the technology to assess the true value it can provide. Comparing it to Siri and Watson is like apples and oranges
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nicolas.mokhoff
12/7/2012 12:17 PM EST
I agree with your assessments, specialkaye. While the comparison of Lucy to Siri may be ill-advised, the fact that both exist and are beginning to use speech recognition technology in the mass, albeit domain-specific markets,--in the case of Lucy,-- is a trend that will only grow in the next 20 years. Even with Siri the user is constrained to whatever was programmed for the "ideal" average pedestrian. It's clear that as long we can program the recognition algorithms we are in control; when handhelds become smart enough to tell the user what to do w/o being prompted,...
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C VanDorne
2/13/2013 4:06 PM EST
I saw 8 visionaries, not 10, and two things. Note to editors: I would still have read the story if it was entitled "Eight electronics visionaries to watch."
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2/20/2013 3:22 AM EST
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5/12/2013 11:52 AM EDT
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5/19/2013 5:14 PM EDT
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