In actuality, not a lot. But, apparently we both believe that the keyboard will eventually become deprecated in favor of more natural inputs.

Over the past 30 years, computers have changed dramatically in terms of processing power, graphics capability, and storage capacity. However, the one thing that hasn’t fundamentally changed is how we interact with the computer. We are still tethered via keyboards, mice, joysticks, and gamepads. Even the Nintendo Wii, as cool as it is, has you tethered to the experience through a wireless controller.

We’re doing our best to change that at PlayMotion, and in some cases, on a grand scale. Some of our experiences have hundreds, even thousands of simultaneous people collaborating together using natural gestures. We believe that the human body is the ultimate input device. Simply put, the human body is capable of performing movements and gestures that cannot be replicated by a traditional input device.

Gates sees diminished role for keyboards

PITTSBURGH - People will increasingly interact with computers using speech or touch screens rather than keyboards, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said.

“It’s one of the big bets we’re making,” he said during the final stop of a farewell tour before he withdraws from the company’s daily operations in July.

In five years, Microsoft expects more Internet searches to be done through speech than through typing on a keyboard, Gates told about 1,200 students and faculty members Thursday at Carnegie Mellon University.

Gates also said the software that is proliferating in various branches of science, including biology and astronomy must become even more advanced.

“They’re dealing with so much information that … the need for machine learning to figure out what’s going on with that data is absolutely essential,” he said.

Microsoft is trying to establish ties not only with university computer science departments but also with reseachers in other scientific areas “to help us understand where new inventions are necessary,” Gates said.

Gates plans to retire as Microsoft’s chief software architect in July and focus on philanthropy.

Hey Bill, it’s one of the big bets we’re making as well, although I don’t think the next point on the curve is as simple as speech recognition and touch screens. It is probably a complex mix of things, including natural, untethered gesture recognition, one of our areas of interest. Let’s face it - touch screens and speech recognition have been around a long time - granted, the technologies are much better now, but I can still type faster than I can dictate (then type to correct). However, consumers are adopting touch technology now en masse (e.g. the iPhone), as well as speech recognition (e.g. voice dialing capabilities on cell devices, Microsoft’s Sync technology for cars, etc.) But we have already come to expect those technologies … we’ve seen them mature over the years.

In my opinion, the next exciting point on the curve is the nexus of computer vision, gesture recognition and visual immersion. I’ll post some more thoughts on this soon …

Cheers.

If you will be attending the upcoming NASAGA 2007 conference, I’ll be delivering a cool keynote presentation (I hope!) on the trends surfacing with using interactive technology in the training and development space. The presentation will present my observations from the past (I spent quite a bit of time in the T&D/technology space with Cambridge Technology Partners and DCI), some observations about the present, and an overview of what I think the future holds (based upon current industry drivers). The latter two areas based upon our current work in the education market with clients at PlayMotion.

Link: North American Simulation and Gaming Association

I may turn the presentation into a video cast or something and post here - time permitting. Hope to see you there!

Cheers.

Dow Jones’ VentureOne published a nice report today, outlining how technology IPOs are back. 7 of the 13 IPOs from Q1/2007 were in the IT/tech space:

As pointed out by others, if this pace continues, it will easily be the best year for tech IPOs since 2000. Not bad.

I think another observation is warranted here. Most of the firms represented above are either in the network infrastructure or mobility sectors. These are both established markets that are resting firmly on solid ground. Contrast that to the IPO scene leading up to the shakeout in 2000, where you had a large number of companies going through an IPO that really should have never even been funded to begin with.

This is good.

Cheers.

The term “Web 2.0″ is (and has been for a while) one of the most over-used and misunderstood phrases in business. I always get a chuckle when someone says they are “all about web 2.0″, when in actuality, they have no clue what it even means. They often use it to represent the “generic comeback” of the tech startup. To some people, any company started after the bubble is a “web 2.0″ company. Funny.

For those who really still don’t get the movement, you owe it to yourself to watch this video. It is a bit long, but be patient - the payoff is worth it. This is done in the style of Lessig and Dick Hardt. Click the video clip below to play it.

Thanks to Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University for putting this gem together.

Cheers.

I have been advising a local entrepreneur who is building a really interesting new web play. A great guy, but doesn’t have a deep background in technology. He is starting to see some traction with his service, and is beginning to run into those early scalability hurdles that so many young startups eventually run into.

Our informal discussions around scalability inspired me to jot down some of my thoughts on this issue, and how early-stage entrepreneurs can scale their technology platform from 5 users to millions.

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Inspired again by this post from Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures, I began thinking of the differences in the capital required to launch something these days. Much ado has been made over Web 2.0, and how much cheaper it is to build technology solutions these todays.

I came across an old proposal that I received from a vendor years ago (in the 1.0 days), and got a good laugh out of it.

We all know that things are cheaper to build these days, but I thought it might be interesting to put together a post illustrating the actual dollar differences in hardware, software, services, and labor costs. And yes, this is my last official post for 2006 - so happy new year in advance (4 hours from now!).

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The other evening I was down at the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Angel investing event, hanging out with Michael Blake of Adams Capital. He and I had a great time reminiscing about the early days of the micro-computing industry. Our discussion inspired me to put this list together. It isn’t really a “quiz”, per se. More like a fun walk down memory lane. Enjoy!

These were all taken from my own experiences. I’m sure that other folks have some good ones, too. Feel free to pile on by adding a comment down below.

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