Author: Erich Stauffer

The Acceleration of Artificial Intelligence

Sometime over the last 20 years artificial intelligence has gone from something we laughed about and feared in movies to something that people are now devoting their lives to and view it as a salvation for (or the destruction of) mankind.

Stock photo representing artificial intelligence by Adobe.

Tim Urban at Wait but Why has already written a tome on “The AI Revolution” (Part 1 and 2), which is a very good primer on AI. For a slightly longer read, consider Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. This post is neither.

This post is meant to describe the acceleration of artificial intelligence development as seen through various news updates and published papers. In the process I hope to convey to you, the reader, how close we are to artificial general intelligence (AGI).

What is Artificial Intelligence?

For this post, we are limiting the topic to AGI, which Tim Urban describes as, “a computer that is as smart as a human across the board—a machine that can perform any intellectual task that a human being can.” The problem is that we may not have a good way of quantifying AGI. It’s as if once we’ve achieved any new threshold in AI, humans tend to move the bar higher.

Once there is a program in existence that does the job, you are inclined to think it’s merely a formula and that isn’t thinking. The very success of me producing a program which exhibits thinking causes you to deny that that can be thinking.” -Dr. Richard W. Hamming (1915-1998) in a lecture from “The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn: Artificial Intelligence – Part I” (April 7, 1995)

Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler echo this sentiment in their book, Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World, which covers artificial intelligence as “exponential technology”. It’s not just this human bias that hides artificial intelligence’s acceleration, sometimes AI gets written about by other names such as “natural computing”:

Researchers at UCLA and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan have developed a method to fabricate a self-organized complex device called an atomic switch network that is in many ways similar to a brain or other natural or cognitive computing device…The device we have created is capable of rapidly generating self-organization in a small chip with high speed…Experiments demonstrated that the atomic switch network exhibits emergent behavior…has the potential to process information at very high rates…We plan to move towards a hybrid morphic system using the best of conventional computation with our brain-like device capabilities…This would be a radical step in the real development of AI.” –Scientists develop atomic-scale hardware to implement natural computing, May 13, 2015 by Lisa Zyga

“Emergent behavior” is when a number of simple entities (agents) operate in an environment, forming more complex behaviors as a collective. This is similar to cellular automata that Stephan Wolfram describes in A New Kind of Science.

“RMIT University researchers have mimicked the way the human brain processes information with the development of an electronic long-term memory cell. Researchers at the MicroNano Research Facility (MNRF) have built the one of the world’s first electronic multi-state memory cell which mirrors the brain’s ability to simultaneously process and store multiple strands of information. The development brings them closer to imitating key electronic aspects of the human brain — a vital step towards creating a bionic brain.” –Nano memory cell can mimic the brain’s long-term memory, May 12, 2015

Sometimes, narrow AI technology is created that works in ways that the creator did not intend or does not understand. “He can’t really explain all the reasons it does what it does. It’s started making decisions on its own,” which is a quote from George Hotz in “The First Person to Hack the iPhone Built a Self-Driving Car. In His Garage; George Hotz is taking on Google and Tesla by himself” by Ashlee Vance.

“He’d devoured the cutting-edge AI research and decided the technology wasn’t that hard to master. Hotz took a job at Vicarious, a highflying AI startup, in January to get a firsthand look at the top work in the field, and this confirmed his suspicions. “I understand the state-of-the-art papers,” he says. “The math is simple. For the first time in my life, I’m like, ‘I know everything there is to know.’” -George Hotz

The Economics of Artificial Intelligence

And then there is the economic aspect of AI. More narrow AI such as those used in driverless cars may have the need to buy gas (or electricity) and get maintenance. It can even make money for it’s owner by making deliveries or driving people around.

The self-driving car then, calculating it has approximately 3.5 hours before it will be required by one of its owners again, logs in to Uber and makes itself available for a 3-hour block as a self-driving resource. It is immediately called out to a pickup, and after 3 hours has earned $180 in fees, which it puts away in its wallet.” -“The Death of Bank Products has been greatly under-exaggerated” by Brett King, an excerpt from the book, Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane.

What happens when AI starts making money, needs it’s own bank account and credit cards, and needs to be able to make transactions on it’s own? With artificial intelligence, that future is sooner than you might think.

It’s theoretically possible to write an autonomous self-funded application on Ethereum that earns money to pay for its own execution, or rather its own existence. It might create value by enabling new kinds of markets, for example. Artificial intelligence might help optimize the value it delivers to ensure its own survival. In this case, it’s not just the network that’s unstoppable, but an autonomous agent operating within the network. Cue Skynet joke.” -“Ethereum: Rise of the World Computer” by Rick Seeger.

Skynet may not be a joke. The United States military is increasingly looking into how artificial intelligence can help supplement drones and fighter jets on the battlefield.

One new project … is called Avatar, and calls for the Pentagon to pair high-tech “fifth-generation” fighter jets like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with unmanned versions of older jets like the F-16 Fighting Falcon or F/A-18 Hornet, which would be flown without a pilot for the first time. The Avatar effort was previously called Skyborg by SCO and is known as “the Loyal Wingman” concept in the Air Force, Roper said. The program will require unmanned fighters to act with enough autonomy that the pilot in the manned jet doesn’t have to direct them all the time.” – by Dan Lamothe

Why are Smart People So Afraid of AI?

You may have read that Elon Musk is weary of an AGI becoming an artificial super intelligence, which according to Nick Bostrom, could happen minutes to weeks after AGI is established. Elon Musk has read Nick Bostrom’s work and it’s part of why he’s helped create Open AI, a collaborative effort to create an open-source AI.

The hope with Open AI is to reduce the risk that one person, company, or country could create and control an AI that could cause unintended (or intended) negative consequences. But what types of negative consequences?

The Paperclip Maximizer

The “paperclip maximizer” is a thought experiment showing how an artificial general intelligence, even one designed competently and without malice, could ultimately destroy humanity. The thought experiment shows that AIs with apparently innocuous values could pose an existential threat.

An extremely powerful optimizer (a highly intelligent agent) could seek goals that are completely alien to ours (as humans), and as a side-effect destroy us by consuming resources essential to our survival. I thought it would have been better to use red staplers, but that’s just me. 🙂

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence

When I was 14 I called to get a ‘free’ magazine subscription in the mail. The operator asked me what I was interested in and I said ‘artificial intelligence’. Immediately, an unknown man on the line bust out laughing, but quickly contained himself. No one is laughing now.

April 10, 2016
Virtual Reality’s Mainstream Moment: Ready Player One

Stock photo from Adobe not related to book or movie by Ernest Cline.

I remember it like it was yesterday: March 28, 2015, the day Ready Player One and its corresponding virtual reality (VR) game, The Oasis, were simultaneously released.

While it is true that Avatar 2 released its own VR game months earlier in 2007 it wasn’t until Ready Player One’s “The Oasis” that VR games were considered mainstream.

The Platform Wars

Just like in the early days of gaming consoles like Nintendo, SEGA, and Atari, today’s VR landscape is equally segmented and even more fractured because of PCs and mobile devices.

In the beginning, relatively cheap options like Google Cardboard or View-Master were under $20 while devices from Oculus cost $800 and required a $300 graphics card in a PC.

Adobe stock photo of cardboard VR glasses to play games in 3D.

The Adoption Curve

Early adopters eagerly purchased any new technology no matter the cost, but for mass adoption the price point of a VR gaming unit had to fall under $400. That happened in March of 2018.

Samsung, Facebook’s Oculus, and Microsoft all had solutions in the mix, but it was Nintendo who leapfrogged them all with a device that used low-power, cell phone processors and a simple headset device we all know as the Nintendo VoyR.

The Network Effect

The VoyR debuted with Mario Planet, but it was The Oasis that was a breakout hit. Although the elements of Mario Planet were familiar (Mario Cart anyone?), it was the built in friendship and messaging abilities that Nintendo built into the game that truly allowed it to prosper. Steam, Battle.net, Sony PSN, and Xbox Live all quickly followed suit.

But VR wasn’t limited to gaming. Because of the success of Nintendo and other platforms, Facebook was now a place I could go to talk to my friends in 3D and group texts in iMessage could now be done via avatars with Apple’s new VR headset. Even Google was back in the game with Glass VR, Nexus VR, and Chrome VR.

The Internet of Things

VR applications opened up a whole new use for Internet connected devices. Apple Car drivers could now virtually do a walk through of their house to look to see if they left something or see who is at the front door when the doorbell rings.

2018 also saw UBER “drivers” designated to serve a pseudo-AI role of making sure self-driving car passengers feel comfortable in much the same way self-checkout cashiers used to help people when they got stuck checking out some weird item.

Augmented Reality

Not all VR tech involved a fully immersive environment. Special “see through” versions from Warby Parker and View-Master allowed an entirely new market of face recognition CRM software for LinkedIn and Minecraft skins for your home.

But maybe the biggest surprise was the return of the local arcade where specialized VR and augmented reality (AR) environments could be setup for bowling on the moon or playing real-life Mario Kart. But by far Dance Dance Revolution is the most fun.

First World Problems

The worst part about VR is taking the headset off and readjusting to the real world to do things like eat and use the restroom. That’s why VR headset makers quickly moved to create hybrid VR/AR headsets that let you see “both worlds” without having to remove the mask.

And like in Ready Player One, sometimes people hide behind the mask and you really don’t know how someone looks in real life. But maybe that’s okay. Because you can’t judge a book by its cover and maybe you shouldn’t judge a person by the way they look in real life either.

April 10, 2016
Will Ready Player One Ever Become a Real Game?

Ready Player One is a book written by Ernest Cline in 2011. On March 30, 2018, the feature length film will debut in movie theaters, but will there ever be a real virtual reality game like the one found in Ready Player One?

In the novel, The OASIS is a virtual universe, containing thousands of worlds. It functions both as an Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) and as a virtual society, complete with OASIS currency.

Imaging if Facebook came out with an Oculus-Enabled Facebook where people could meet, interact, learn, work, and play online instead of in real life (IRL). That’s basically what The OASIS is, but could it ever actually be made?

Simulation games from stock trading to The Sims have been popular ever since computers became popular, but so far Virtual Reality (VR) has been out of the reach of what technology could handle. But that may be changing.

Computers are getting smaller and faster every few years, but also there has been increased effort in understanding how the brain interprets visual information which is critical for how VR environments work.

Hardware and software is being developed that will allow intensely real-like environments that VR provides. The brain is incredibly adaptable and can easily assimilate into an environment that is initially foreign.

People have long been fascinated with existential ideas about what makes reality real and what it means to live inside a simulation. As we move closer to this new world of VR games and lifestyle, we’re about to find out.

March 17, 2016
Looking Back on Virtual Reality

My grandson using a cardboard VR headset.

When my kids were teenagers I used to wonder why they spent all their time on Snapchat, Peach, and Tinder, but it’s been fun to watch them fret over their kids’ obsession with virtual reality.

While my kids grew up playing Minecraft, my grandkids have grew up in Minecraft. For what it’s worth, I enjoy hanging out online. I have a house on Mars right next to Elon Musk.

When I was young Facebook was something you looked at through a screen. It seems so primitive now, kind of how books seemed to us when dial-up first came around.

I remember when I got my first headset (this was before VR contact lenses came out). Facebook had just started allowing people to meet virtually in rooms.

At first it was simple. You could change the background on the walls and swap out chairs and furniture. It was kind of like The Sims. But then people started wanting to go “outside”.

That’s when Facebook launched Oculus Outside, the online realm where we all now spend most of our time.

It seems odd that we all used to drive to work. At least now when we do need to go somewhere that driverless cars allow us to stay jacked in.

I’ve tried different gear over the years – from Samsung to Microsoft – but my favorite is Nintendo.

Nintendo mistakenly missed out on the mobile app phenomenon from 2007-2017, but leapfrogged and dominated VR starting in 2018 just as self driving cars started gaining popularity in America.

I’m young enough to remember the NES and what it was like to play Super Mario Bros the first time. Now I help people who get stuck on Super Mario Planet as a full time job.

If someone would have told me when I was 35 that when I was 65 I’d be doing virtual tech support for avatars inside a virtual world I would have said, “Only in The SDN.”

March 16, 2016
On Making Gnomes: How The Sims Made Me an Entrepreneur

Shortly after my wife and I first moved into our first home together, we created a game room. We had consoles and PCs and a single bed we used as a couch. One of the games we liked to play was The Sims.

In The Sims: Livin’ Large, there is a “KraftMatic Woodworking Table” where Sims can carve gnomes out of blocks of wood. At first, gnomes might only sell for $1, but as the Sim’s Mechanical skill improves, they will increase in price.

One day after my wife and I were sitting there watching a simulated person build something and sell it while we sat watching, a simultaneous ‘light bulb’ went off in our heads when we both realized we could ‘build gnomes’ in real life.

We never played The Sims again.

My wife started a custom knitting company, became a lactation consultant, and is now selling essential oils and making soap. I started out doing handyman work, started a web design company, and started a career in IT.

March 16, 2016
My SEO Strategy
SEO – search engine optimization mindmap on napkin with cup of coffee

Occasionally I get questions from clients and post my answers publicly here. This simple question, “What are your ideas for SEO,” prompted me to write this blog post so I could help other people in addition to my client.

What is SEO?

While the letters are an abbreviation for “search engine optimization”, there are many definitions of what this means. To simplify it for this blog post, I’m going to divide it into two distinct terms:
1. On-Page Optimization – what you do on the website to attract search engines.
2. In-Bound Marketing – what you do off the website to attract search engines.
On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization involves making sure the structure, meta information, and schema information is optimized for the site. Examples include using only one H1 tag, the page title, and meta description contain your primary keyword.

In-Bound Marketing

In-bound marketing involves getting backlinks to your website or page from relevant sources in a variety of different ways. Examples include asking a relevant directory or blog author to post a link back to a relevant page on your website.

How Should I Get Started?

The ‘low hanging fruit’ is to do a site audit to determine the state of your HTML tags, meta tags, and site schemas. After that, move on to backlinking to your existing content from your existing social media and then build out from there.

Proper HTML Tag Structure

“HTML” stands for hypertext markup language and is simply plain text that when rendered in a web browser, changes the look of the text it’s surrounding. It has markup tags for both heading and style:
1. H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 are all heading tags. “H1” should only exist once per page.
2. Strong and Bold (b) are examples of style tags that search engines may use to know what is important.
By using the keywords you want to rank for in the heading and strong/bold tags, you’re letting the search engines know that this page or website is about those keywords and so they should pay attention to them.

Proper Meta Tag Structure

There are many different types of meta tags, but we’ll focus on these two: Title and Description:
1. Title: this is what displays in the top of the web browser, not necessarily what is shown on the page.
2. Description: this is the short paragraph that displays under the title in search results.
Both the Title and Description tags should contain your keywords, but they should be readable to the user, not just a list of keywords. And in case you’re wondering, the “Keywords” meta tag is now largely ignored by search engines.

Proper Site Schema Structure

Site schema is information that makes it easier for search engines to read the information on your web pages so they can serve relevant results to users. There are three main kinds of site schema: Schema.org, Facebook Open Graph, and Twitter Cards:
1. Schema.org: a collaboration between Google, Bing, Yahoo! to standardize structured markup.
2. Facebook Open Graph: integrates your website with Facebook by allowing it to become a “graph” object.
3. Twitter Cards: allows photos and videos to be displayed as Tweets using data from your website.
Don’t worry if this is overwhelming. Most modern website templates contain SEO-optimized HTML tags, will prompt you for title and description tags, and will already contain the proper site schema structure.

How Do I Know What Keywords to Use?

All of SEO is predicated on the notion that you know what problem you’re trying to solve. Usually that problem is, “I want to rank for X” where X is the keyword they most associate with their business or the highest potential for income.

If you don’t know what keyword(s) to go after, then the first step is to do keyword research. There are several ways to do this such as by using Google’s Keyword Planner Tool (part of Google Adwords) or by using an autocomplete tool like Ubersuggest.
1. https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
2. https://ubersuggest.io/
How Do I Get More Backlinks?

The best way to get more backlinks is to create more content. The best kind of content is the kind that answers people’s questions or is entertaining (i.e. is valuable to the reader). Seth Godin calls this type of content, “remarkable”.

Once you have created content, you now have something to link back to from social media or relevant directories. If you’ve solved a problem for someone in a forum, you can legitimately link back to that post without fearing spam complaints because you’re being helpful.

How Do I Know What Questions People Have?

The first place to look is in your own email inbox or customer support portal. What questions do you get from your current or prospective clients? Is there a response you find yourself writing about over and over? Other places include:
1. Quora: this is literally a website full of questions. Quora is like a more respectable Yahoo! Answers.
2. Forums: online forums can be found by searching for your keyword + “forum”. Look for the sticky posts.
3. Buzzsumo: this site shows you the most popular articles about a given topic using social shares as it’s metric.
Once you know what keywords you’re trying to rank for, what questions people have about those keywords, and your site structure has been optimized for SEO, it’s now time to create SEO-optimized content to share.

How Do I Create SEO-Optimized Content?

SEO-optimized content is predicated on using a site that is SEO-optimized on-page (SEE “On-Page Optimization” section above). It’s key components are that the keyword is used in the title and the content is valuable.
- Keyword is used in title: make sure the primary keyword is used organically in the title of the page or post
- Content is valuable: make sure the content answers a question someone has or provides entertainment
If you offer a service, explain how someone could solve the problem themselves. Be as detailed as possible. Show every step along the way. It will show how knowledgeable you are to those who want to pay and help those who don’t.

What is My SEO Strategy?

My strategy is to ensure the site has been SEO-optimized on-site, ensure all content has been backlinked to from social media at least once, and then begin creating new SEO-optimzed content to share on social media.

Only once I have done those 3 things will I begin the long courtship with other websites, directories, and forums to get backlinks to the content I’ve already created. To adapt an Albert Einstein quote:

Try not to become a [site] of success , but rather try to become a [site] of value.”

Who is Erich Stauffer?

I’ve been writing about SEO since 2009. A lot has changed over the years, but some things have not. Valuable content that answers the questions of the reader is good for both search engine results and the customer.

If you’re interested in hiring me to consult with you about your SEO strategies, packages start at $200 per session for one-on-one SEO advice on your specific situation. I look forward to helping you with your business.
February 28, 2016
How to Get More Followers on Peach: 5 Ways

Peach is one of the newest and hottest social media apps, but how do you get more followers on Peach?

1. Post more often

Peach has a “friend-of-friends” feed that allows you to see what some friends of friends are posting. Appearing regularly in this feed is a great way to build up your friend list. To do that, post often.

Why? Because each new posts brings you to the top of your friend-of-friends feed, the more friends you have, the bigger your extended network. That will likely be your biggest driver of new friends to your Peach account.

2. Use your other social media accounts

You probably already have an existing audience on other social media platforms to help build your Peach following. You can use those other social media platforms to ask people to follow you.

People are looking for people to follow right now. Now is the time to build your following. This could be the next Vine. Remember to accept the people who add you and interact with everyone.

3. Create great content

Like any social media account, you want to create content that people actually want to see, but to get people to follow you, create exclusive content as a way to drive people from platforms like Twitter and Snapchat into Peach.

Ideas for exclusive content could be insider photos or information that you only share on Peach or even a contest or giveaway to give people a reason to follow you there and interact with you. That brings us to engagement.

4. Be engaged with your followers

Like Facebook, users have “friends” on Peach and you must be friends with someone to “like” or comment on their posts. Users can also interact with each other via a multi-faceted interaction menu, similar to Facebook’s old Poke feature, friends can wave, boop and send cake to each other.

5. Break content up into smaller chunks

Peach encourages the easy sharing of video, images, gifs and even user-created drawings. The real differentiating factor in the app are Slack-like commands called “Magic Words”. One thing you can do to boost engagement is to break content up into 2–3 short posts instead of one longer one.

If you have a longer post, try breaking up your posts into 2–3 sections. This lets you appear more times in the feed and thus fuels the “friend-of-friends” feed mentioned in point number 1: Post more often. Happy Peaching!

You can follow me on peach @erichstauffer. See you there.

January 20, 2016
2015 Year in Review

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” Ecclesiastes 5-18-20

In January I helped Jason renovate his great room. I occasionally do carpentry on the side and Jason needed trim installed. During that time I discovered Jack’s Donuts. I was beginning to build out my ‘breakfast brand’ persona online.

I also got a chance to go to Chicago for a HVAC tradeshow. GoServicePro had a booth there and I helped tell people about the system in hopes of getting some demos scheduled back at the office. It worked.

In February, my kid’s mom and I went to Nashville for the iTHRIVE conference, which is a Young Living Essential Oils business conference. I watched the baby during the day and we hung out together at night.

In March, my kid’s mom and I went to Kansas City to attend an essential oils conference for men. While out there we had the opportunity to have dinner with my aunt, Peggy. It was good to catch up with her and see her again.

In late March, Twitter released Periscope and I had some fun making live videos with it. Making more videos was one of my resolutions for the year. I wanted to ‘do the things I asked my clients to do’ and one of those was make videos.

In April I started a new company with Matt Geddie and Rahul Sahni. It’s an import/export company that connects buyers and sellers around the world. I had to learn about Alibaba and international trade. We ate a lot of food together.

I also started creating more videos of myself in order to document more of my day-to-day life. I started posting them on Facebook and YouTube. I got a lot of weird questions and comments, but I was trying to practice what I preach.

I called the videos “1-minute updates” and started creating a new video every weekday. I would record them on my way to work while driving in the car. I told people it was “practice” for making videos.

In May, I started working nights and weekends at Skinny and Company more. My daughter, Amalia, had a birthday. She turned 2. On Mother’s Day we all went up to the Indiana Dunes State Park. It was a cold, fun day. We have lots of neat pictures.

Jason and I held a Minecraft Conference for the kids. They got to play Minecraft together and teach other about what they had been learning. Jason and I also went to a concert in Fountain Square. While I was waiting on Jason to show up I made a video.

The boys wanted to go fishing so I bought some fishing rods from Wal-Mart and we headed down to my parents house. This was their first time fishing, but the only thing they caught was a frog. It made me realize I still don’t like to fish.

In June, coworkers at GoServicePro (Hans and Chris) and I started doing weekly ‘food challenges’ where we would go get a similar food and do ‘blind taste tests’. We started with subs and moved on to various foods throughout the month like dark sodas, hot dogs, and gourmet hamburgers. This was all practice shooting and editing video using iMovie on my iPhone.

Kevin and Carmina finished up Soccer. I had fun watching them play and going on walks with the other kids along the river behind the soccer fields. I even got to play one game against Kevin. Afterwards, I took the boys to get ice cream.

My kid’s mom wanted me to help her landscape the yard so we started trimming back old bushes and tearing down vines that had grown up against the house. Eventually we took down the back deck, too. It was hard work, but it looked better when done.

I attended another “Dude’s Game Night” at Jason’s house with some guys that are friends with Jason who have become friends of mine including Cullen, Chris, and James. Sometimes Hans comes too. Jason’s wife makes lots of good food. It’s a good time.

Carmina and I both have birthdays in June. My mom came up for Carmina’s birthday party. Jason took me out for waffles on my birthday and then we went on a “Tour of the North” another day. We went to Marion, Huntington, and Upland.

At the end of the month, we went up to the Indiana Fiddlers Festival with my parents. The kids enjoyed listening to the music and walking the trails. At work, Michael, a new guy started. Michael had a beard too and he appreciated my beard.

In July I celebrated my brother’s birthday with a trip to Steak n Shake with his daughters. During this month my kid’s mom, Suzanne started doing Periscopes for her business. Jason and I went to a Foxing and Mewithoutyou concert in Indianapolis.

And then we found out my mom had cancer.

My brother, Scott, and I celebrated my mom’s birthday at Red Lobster. My kid’s mom, Suzanne, attended a Young Living convention in Texas for a few days, leaving me alone at home. Here’s what we talked about before she left:

My daughter, Magdalena, made me salsa. It was good. When Suzanne got back, she started making bars of soap and shampoo for Skinny and Company. August is our wedding anniversary. My brothers, Mitch and Scott, got together at BW3s to discuss family matters.

Later on that month my mom had us all down to her house to take group, family photos. Back in Tipton I took my two sons to their first high school football game. The baby, Amalia, has started to grow up and is going on more walks with us.

In September, Jason and I took a road trip down to Bloomington and walked around the IU campus. I had a dream about a ‘red caboose’ restaurant in Tipton and then Noblesville’s train museum gave out caboose rides at the Pork Festival.

I went down to visit my parents in Franklin and my dad gave me a guitar. My kid’s mom went on another business trip, but this time to Utah. I started helping out nights at Bonzi Sports again by helping him setup Opencart. Jason and I kayaked the White River.

In October I went and saw The Martian and my mom started chemotherapy. iOS 9 came out and McDonald’s started serving breakfast all day. I took a week off from GoServicePro to meet with clients during the day and take a family vacation to see my Aunt Janice and Uncle Dan in Texas.

We first drove to Chicago where we went to Millennium Park and Lou Malnati’s. The next day we flew to San Antonio where we saw The Alamo and walked the River Walk. We then drove to see my Grandpa Stauffer and then finally to see my aunt and uncle.

It was the first time I’d flown since June of 2000 when I went to Texas for a wedding. Dan and Janice’s daughter, Amy (my cousin), was getting married. It was good to spend some time with the two youngest children and Suzanne – and to see Grandpa, Dan, and Janice.

One of my goals on the vacation was to make a decision whether to start a new company (if so, what type) or continue on the path I was on already. I thought about it all week and on the plane ride back to Chicago I finally had an answer.

I started Breakfast Club Me as a creative outlet and to practice building a consumer brand and online marketing using social media, email, and video. It would build on the ‘breakfast guy’ brand I had already built up naturally over the years.

My first product would be a t-shirts that said things like, “Biscuits”, “Waffles”, and “Sandwiches”. I didn’t know much more than that when I started. But to get started I found some similar shirts online and started creating content right away. Within 30 days I had my first product.

In December we got fiber optic Internet installed at our house and we really started ramping up soap production for Skinny and Company. My kid’s mom makes their shampoo bars and I make the wood molds and do the stamping. This is the part of the post where I tell you what I learned.

Kids grow up. They only ask you for “big jumps” or for you to take them to the park for a short time. After a while, they stop greeting you when you get home and sleep in when you leave in the morning. When a child asks for a hug. You stop whatever you’re doing and give it to them.

December 31, 2015
On Facebook Acquisitions, Predicting the Future, and Messaging

In the book, How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery, I learned that people aren’t very good at predicting the future, but they are okay at predicting the next thing. Our brains just aren’t wired to take 2 steps at once, but we can make 1 step + 1 more step fairly easily. Because this explanation sounds dumb, you know that it’s true. Let me give you an example from the book:

Hand a person a box of tacks, a book of matches, and a candle. Ask them to mount the candle on the wall.

Most people first start by making a shelf of tacks on the wall and then attempting to mount the candle on the shelf. Once they realize the box is empty and they see the shelf they think: I can use the box as a shelf and they correctly mount the box to the shelf with the tacks and put the candle in the box.

Facebook bought Oculus Rift. Facebook bought Whatsapp.

Months later we are just now seeing how those first steps are leading to the next steps. Oculus Rift lets people experience virtual worlds with other, real people in real-time. Whatsapp is a messenger platform. Facebook is a social media platform, which also features a heavy game element and already had Messenger. Messaging is already a bigger platform worldwide than social media and is set to grow. Gaming platforms like Steam, Xbox Live, and Battle.net are likely where Facebook is headed with their VR set, but I’m guessing they will have a live-meeting aspect as well.

I’m rambling now. I don’t know anything. Here’s what I know:

When I was young I used to have a third place to call my own. It was called “The Blue Lounge“. When that was threatened, I built an outdoor Blue Lounge. When that was taken away, I kept looking. I kept looking for a place that I could meet my friends and have a conversation. I dreamed of a day where I could virtually sit in a room with people just like I could back in the Blue Lounge. Now that day may be approaching.

But what about coffee?

I hear you. Get coffee together when you can. We’re not animals. Get out of your storage shed, onto your motorbike, and get down to The Raft to be with other people now and again. It’s good for you – and you just might save the world.

November 24, 2015