Trapper Markelz

TEDxBoston 2011 Recap

I had the honor of attending TEDxBoston 2011. While I was lucky enough to speak at TEDxChange Nashville, and I watch many TED Talks on-line, this is the first time I was able to settle in for an entire TED program and devote my full attention to all of the talks. 

As you would expect, the ideas are big, and the solutions inspiring. My favorite talks were:

Joe Coughlin - Aging as an Extreme Sport
As the number of seniors continues to grow, a new understanding is needed about how environments will need to be reconfigured for their needs. He demoed a suit that a person can wear that makes it feel like you are 80 years old. It turns everyday movements like walking stairs, bending down, picking up objects into a struggle and brings perspective. The take away is that unless you manufacture empathy, it can be hard to design real solutions.

Lisa Gross - Civic Fruit
Lisa gave a very articulate and fun talk about a movement in Boston around planting pairs of apple trees throughout public spaces. It is part public art project, part green movement, part political expression, part food bank. You have to struggle to find reasons why planting fruit trees throughout the city is a bad idea. What I like about this idea is that it starts small, but it scales by inspiring local communities to take up the cause. You no longer just need Lisa going around planting, but you have schools, and churches, and towns all over the region doing their own planting. 

Erez Lieberman AIden & Jean-Baptiste Michel - A Picture is Worth 500 Billion Words
Google has digitized 15 million books. By analyzing the usage of text throughout the ages, it provides an interesting and humorous look at the evolution of our culture. It is amazing the types of patterns you can detect through this type of big-data analysis. You can see things like censorship, proliferation of diseases, and the adoption rate of technology... and that is just text. Imagine when everything is digitized? What patterns will we see then?

Dr. Bo Pomahac - Face the Future
This was the first talk of the day, and it was a crazy one about actual facial transplants. When significantly destroyed, the face is far to complex to reconstruct through plastic surgery. The new alternative is a complete facial transplant. The fact that this is even possible is a scientific wonder. I really like the statement that, while this procedure is risky and it isn't life saving, it is life giving. 

Richard Resnick - The Next Hot Commoditiy of Genone Sequences
This was my favorite talk of the day because it was so mind blowing. The cost of sequencing someones entire genome is falling dramatically. This allows for unprecedented clarity assessing mutations that cause disease and building custom medicine to repair it in our individual bodies. It was a big deal when the human genome project was complete, but now that amount of work can be done in less than a week, and soon it will happen in less than a day. Get ready for a revolution in bio-tech that very few people see coming. 

My main take away was this: You just have to start doing something. Most of the TED Talks were about people who just started doing something small... and that small thing served as inspiration to the larger thing... or served as inspiration to a larger number of people. Given my work in on-line software, I spend a lot of time thinking about how you get systems to scale... but the beauty of many of the ideas and solutions presented at TED is that no one ever cared about scale when they started... they just started doing it... and it grew from there. 

I guess what I am saying is that you could start two types of business. The first type is a consulting business where you build websites for others. This does not scale... because there is only one you... so you can only build as many sites as you have hours in the day. No more no less unless you hire more people... but then you can only keep them assuming you continue to get business at the same pace. The business does not auto-scale up and down.

The second type of business would be an on-line service. You spend the time upfront building the service, then people pay $20 a month to use it. Sure if you get a million people suddenly, you would need to scale that, but then you would have 20 million dollars to do it. The business would auto scale and you just have to provide operational support.

So given those two examples, most TED ideas seem to be the former... a single person just out there doing something. They rarely seem to get to the scale level... but does that matter? Probably not if inspiration is your goal. Can we go beyond inspiration? How many scalable ways are there to save the world?

Success at the Healthways Well-Being Summit

Racing armadillos with Dan Buettner (Blue Zones) and Ross Scott (Healthways)

Last week I was honored to be asked to speak at the Healthways Well-Being Summit. It was an amazing few days of talks about many different angles on well-being.

Some of my favorites included Deepok Chopra's talk about well-being at the cellular level, and his exploration around how language is capable of causing physiological responses. Then there was Daniel Pink telling it like it is on how to build high performance, motivated teams so we can all tackle these challenging health issues. There was of course Dan Buettner talking about his work finding Blue Zones around the world where people live longer than the average and unlocking the secrets. I had never seen him talk before which was fun.

My talk was on the last day of the conference, following a host of smart people from Gallup and Healthways who are working on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and what it can teach us about Well-Being. Right after me was Nicholas Cristakis on who's work many of our ideas at MeYou Health are based. So I have to say that I found myself quite star struck most of the time. 

Here is my talk if you want to give it a view. The title is "Designing for the first step". It is similar to the talk I gave at the Healthcare Experience Design conference recently with a new twist around intelligent inviting which we have rolled out recently. The talk is about 30 minutes long.

Watch live streaming video from healthways at livestream.com

Oh and funny enough, they had an artist make caricatures of all the speakers. Here is mine!

For the record, the power glove idea I think came from my TEDxNashville talk I did last year where I showed a picture of me wearing the glove. Who knows where the carrot came from. I guess I have to embrace the idea that, for Healthways, I am the token gamer!

My TEDxChange Talk: Fulfillment Mechanics

Here it is. My TEDxChange Nashville talk on the Fulfillment Mechanics we can use to build more fulfilling online health and well-being products that make people passionate about healthy behaviors.

Putting this talk together in six weeks was a very arduous and humbling experience and I am honored to have been asked to participate. It has always been a goal of mine to be asked to give a TED talk, and thanks to TEDx and the global proliferation of the TED idea across the globe, more and more people are getting the opportunity to share ideas that they find to be inspirational.

I joined the Health industry because I felt like this is where some of the action is at. This is where we can do things that make a real difference in people's lives. I fully recognize what we are doing is also not easy. It will be filled with success and opportunities to learn and do better. And it will take all of us in all our areas of expertise, leveraging the type of spirited and lateral thinking that TED inspires to really make a difference in the coming years. 

A special thanks to all my friends and family who helped me prepare. Your comments and ideas took me in directions I didn't expect and ultimately culminated in something that I felt comfortable delivering and am proud to have been a part of. Also a special thanks to everyone at Healthways who asked me to participate and pulled together such a smooth running event.

It is a simple idea that the same passion us gamers feel for games, can be created in other types of online products, most notably health. Check back with me in a year and I will let you know how we are doing over at MeYou Health.

I love Soccer

I really like soccer. I often forget how much I like it until the World Cup is on, or I have a chance to go to a game. The last soccer game I went to was when the US Women's team played Russian in 1998 in Rochester, NY and Mia Hamm scored her 100th goal. So, yeah that is over 10 years since I have been to a live soccer match. Sure I have played on a few league teams since then, but not since 2001. So over nine years since I have even played.

Wow has it been that long?

Regardless, I had an opportunity to go to the game thanks to Groupon. There was a Boston special deal where you get a ticket and a T-shirt, so I bought a few and took the whole family. The game started at 7:30pm so that meant it was a really late night for the girls. They were champs though, fueled up on ice-cream, sprite, and popcorn.

It looked like it was going to be a rough game when Seattle got off to a 1-0 lead. But the Revolution came back with three great goals, each of which lead to excited and extended cheering in the stadium. After the game was over,the entire stadium was treated to a really great and really long fireworks show right over our heads. Honestly, I think the girls liked that part the best. That and the ice-cream.

After getting a taste of some MLS soccer, I will be on the look out for more games and tickets. It was a very family friendly evening that I would love to repeat.

When Ideas Have Sex by Matt Ridley

Every now and then, I watch a few TED talks on the train during my morning commute. This talk by Matt Ridley called "When Ideas Have Sex" was particularly interesting. He goes into some depth on how the exchange of ideas is a huge differentiator for modern human species. The best part is when he is talking about how no one really knows how to make the things we use anymore. They don't know how to mine the materials... make the plastics... wire the semi conductors... if you look around at the things you use, it is the efforts of millions of people (the person who grew the coffee for the engineers on the oil rig... etc) to bring the things we use to reality... Contrast that with a stone axe which people built for themselves in entirety. 

Worth watching.

Yes, I watched the Tour de France 2010

Tour de France 2010
Originally uploaded by Cindy Trossaert

I really wasn't that into the Tour de France until my brother Todd turned me on to it last year (2009). He was headed over for work at the Google Zurich office and as part of that was going to be around while the tour was winding its way through the Alps. I followed that year on Versus TV and just happened to get him, his son, and wife in a TV still with Lance Armstrong who took third that year.

After watching it pretty closely for two years now, it is pretty set in my mind that this has to be the most grueling test of human sporting endurance that has ever been conceived. It is a three week, roughly 2,200 mile race through Europe... through hills... over mountains. There are only two rest days in those three weeks. Those days are typically before massive days of mountain climbing. In fact, it has been said that the amount of climbing done by the bikers over the three weeks is close to climbing Mt. Everest three times.

This year was Lance Armstrong's last year in the tour. He has competed in thirteen Tour De France races and has one seven. It is definitely considered one of the greatest individual sporting achievement ever. This was the second year of his comeback since leaving the sport. Last year he was third over all, this year... luck was not on his side. While Lance had a rough Tour, he did help Radioshack get the first place team spot.

But, the story was never really about Armstrong... it was about the defending champion Alberto Contrador and 2009 second place finisher Andy Schleck. These two guys really created an amazing few weeks of racing in the mountains and have created a rivalry that has already produced an electric atmosphere for next year's Tour.

I have to say that I was way more into it this year than last. I had the Versus iPhone app and streamed all the stages live while on my commute and in the mornings at work. I also made sure to follow the #tdf hashtag throughout the day for all the latest updates.

All in all, it was a lot of fun... and unlike other major sporting events like the Olympics or the World Cup, this one happens every year! Congrats to Alberto Contrador for his now third win. I have to say that I wasn't a big fan of Contrador (this year and last), but Schleck and him showed some real grace in the last few days. They are both real competitors but also real friends. They will make great rivals for the years to come.

Also a special send-off congrats to Lance Armstrong who really brought some attention to the sport, and accomplished some amazing things over the years. I never got to see him at the top of his game, but it was great to see him ride as a teammate the whole Tour for Radioshack and his fun attempt on stage 16 to get a stage win.

How we survived without cable

So a few months back, Maureen and I decided to axe the cable subscription for a few reasons:

1. We hardly watched anything but a few shows a week.
2. All of the TV we did watch was available in other places.
3. The price was over $100 just for the cable (with no premium channels)

After months of getting Verizon FiOS offers, they finally promised us a 2-year price plan that makes their phone/internet/cable package cheaper than our current phone/internet Comcast plan... and the internet is much faster... so we couldn't pass that up.

I will say though, with cable canceled, we didn't find ourselves ever missing out on anything. Here is what we used.

Microsoft Zune

 
 

...it isn't just a music player. Zune is actually more of a service that delivers TV, Movies, and Music straight to your TV via the Xbox 360. You pay the $2-$6 per TV/Movie for streaming HD shows. This was really our replacement for the cable on-demand type service.

Netflix Instant

 

Anyone with a Netflix membership must be aware of the ability to instantly watch a small selection of titles directly on your computer. If you have an Xbox 360, you can stream it right to your TV. While Netflix doesn't offer many "new" titles via the service, there are plenty of options if you are looking for a documentary or something to watch on a slow Friday night. There are lots of great kid options too.

Amazon VOD

 

I had only recently found out about this one... but Amazon has all the latest TV episodes and movies available for purchase and streaming off their site. I was using Fancast and Hulu for awhile... and while those services show the TV shows for free... it takes over a week for new episodes to show up. Amazon VOD has them the next day! $1.99 per episode. I was able to get all caught up watching Stargate SGU over the weekend (after it airs on Friday nights) in time for the water cooler discussions on Monday!

Fancast/Hulu

 

I am treating these as one in the same... because they pretty much share all the same content to the point where you can't really tell which site it is coming from. From what I saw, Fancast has a bit deeper library of older seasons on TV shows than Hulu... so that is a big bonus if you want to start an older TV show and get all caught up. 

The last small thing to mention is that having an Xbox 360 was great as well because it allowed us to easily get this content onto our TV... as well as stream in Last.fm as a replacement for any cable-based music stations you might listen to... am I the only person that uses those? :) 

So this weekend we are back to the land of cable.... but only because they are practically PAYING US to use it. I can't really say we missed having cable. Not having a DVR was rough, but we used Media Center on my PC downstairs (I have a TV card) to capture anything on network TV and then stream it upstairs via the Xbox as well... I put in a powerline-based network just for that use and it was pretty great. Although it will be nice to be able to pause TV again. You don't realize how much you take something like that for granted until it is gone. 

A signature fading away...

A few months back, I, along with my buddy Steve, were lucky enough to be in Seattle for a business trip, and took a little side adventure to meet J Allard. As the guy who managed the development of the Xbox, for an Xbox guy like me, it was a fun experience. 

We talked for over an hour about a wide range of topics related to entertainment, user experiences, centered around what we did at 360voice.com and how that might impact other types of interaction with entertainment devices in the future. 

At the end of the meeting, I pulled a super-geek move and had Allard autograph my Zune music player as Allard was also responsible for the technical development of that device as well. If I had my Xbox in my pocket, I probably would have had him autograph that too. Here is what the Zune looks like:

Sadly enough, the signature is starting to wear off... I use my Zune pretty much every day... so it was bound to happen. At least I will always have the memory of having a Zune autographed by J Allard. :)

I held off blogging about my experience with J Allard, because in a professional way, it seems strange to blog about people who you interact with in your career. It still feels strange... so that is why this is more about the fading signature than about J Allard the person. 

I will say that meeting him was a memorable experience... and our conversation solidified in my mind that there are still some really amazing innovations that will come to the consumer entertainment space... and it is fun knowing that 360voice has been a part of that in some small way by impacting the thinking of many innovative people.

The old swing days

A while back, my old dance partner Tracy Hogan put together a DVD of some of our rehearsals and dances. I wanted to get a few of these online so they are part of the public record. Watching these over again really makes me miss it... the fun... the challenges... the friendships... and being that in shape!

Here is a piece that Tracy and I choreographed together. Jeep Jockey Jump.

Best photos of 2008

I have put together the best photos of 2008. Check them out on our Flickr page:

View them now