Erich Stauffer

Category: Technology

  • 10 Bold Predictions for Elon Musk’s Companies: How Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and More Could Shape the Future

    Based on what you know about Elon Musk and his companies and the state of technology in the world, what are some guesses you have about new products and synergies between the companies? An example would be Tesla utilizing their solar power technology to power computing clusters for AI; and Neuralink utilizing Tesla’s Optimus technology in combination with their Telapathy technology. What else can you think of? Below are 10 things ChatGPT found.

    Here are some speculative synergies and new product ideas across Elon Musk’s companies, based on their current trajectories and overlapping areas of expertise:

    1. Tesla and SpaceX: Energy Storage for Off-World Colonization

    • Concept: Tesla’s energy storage technology (Powerwall, Powerpack, and Megapack) could power off-world colonies or bases on the Moon and Mars.
    • Details: SpaceX’s Mars colonization vision could integrate Tesla’s solar and battery technologies to create sustainable, self-sufficient energy systems for extraterrestrial habitats. These systems could be transported via SpaceX’s Starship rockets, enabling long-term operations independent of Earth’s resources.

    2. Neuralink and Tesla: Autonomous Medical Assistance

    • Concept: Using Tesla’s Optimus robot, combined with Neuralink’s brain–machine interfaces, to provide autonomous medical care and companionship to people with limited mobility or neurological conditions.
    • Details: This could allow patients to interact directly with Optimus robots via Neuralink’s technology, where the robot would assist with daily tasks, monitor health conditions, and even perform minor medical tasks. This system could be expanded to provide in-home support for the elderly or disabled, creating a new frontier in remote health assistance.

    3. SpaceX and Starlink: Autonomous Drone Operations and Remote Monitoring

    • Concept: Combining Starlink with Tesla’s autonomous technology to enable fleets of autonomous drones and vehicles that operate globally in real-time.
    • Details: Starlink’s global coverage could allow Tesla vehicles, as well as autonomous drones, to operate in remote or rural areas with reliable connectivity. This could support activities like agriculture automation, environmental monitoring, search-and-rescue missions, and disaster response, leveraging Tesla’s AI and autonomy frameworks.

    4. Tesla, xAI, and Dojo: AI-Powered Personal Assistants

    • Concept: Tesla’s in-car AI assistant powered by xAI’s advanced AI algorithms and optimized by Dojo, Tesla’s powerful supercomputer.
    • Details: This could create a highly intelligent in-car assistant capable of understanding nuanced instructions, providing highly personalized navigation, suggesting optimal driving routes, managing energy efficiency, and assisting with route planning for Tesla vehicles. It might even extend to personal productivity, allowing the car to act as a mobile workstation.

    5. Tesla and Neuralink: Brain-Driven Vehicle Controls

    • Concept: Use Neuralink’s brain-machine interface to allow drivers to control certain vehicle functions directly with their thoughts.
    • Details: This could initially serve individuals with mobility impairments but later extend to wider applications. For example, Tesla owners could adjust settings, activate autonomous driving, or even summon their vehicle using Neuralink-enabled commands, creating a “hands-free” driving experience.

    6. xAI, Starlink, and SpaceX: Interplanetary Communication and AI-Driven Systems

    • Concept: Utilizing xAI’s AI models and Starlink’s communication network to create an autonomous, interplanetary communication system for future Mars colonies.
    • Details: SpaceX’s Mars colony will require consistent communication between Earth and Mars. An AI-powered communication relay, managed by xAI and Starlink, could help handle delays and manage data intelligently, allowing for more effective communication between planets with minimal manual oversight.

    7. Tesla and Neuralink: Optimus Robot as a Cognitive Extension

    • Concept: Tesla’s Optimus robot could serve as a “cognitive assistant” through integration with Neuralink.
    • Details: People could employ Optimus robots to perform complex tasks that require higher levels of thinking and physical skill. Through Neuralink, the robots could mimic human actions based on neural feedback, potentially assisting people in manufacturing, construction, or high-risk environments, like deep-sea or space missions.

    8. Tesla, The Boring Company, and SpaceX: Smart City Infrastructure

    • Concept: Combine Tesla’s energy solutions, The Boring Company’s transportation tunnels, and SpaceX’s launch technology to create sustainable, high-tech “smart cities.”
    • Details: These cities could include electric vehicles and autonomous public transportation systems running through Boring Company tunnels, powered by Tesla’s solar and energy storage solutions. SpaceX’s launch facilities could be integrated into these cities, allowing for rapid cargo or even passenger transportation across continents via rockets.

    9. Neuralink and xAI: Cognitive Enhancement and Learning Acceleration

    • Concept: Neuralink’s brain interfaces could integrate with xAI’s advanced machine learning models to enhance cognitive functions or accelerate learning.
    • Details: For example, xAI could develop AI-driven educational modules that communicate directly with Neuralink’s brain implants, facilitating rapid knowledge acquisition. This could aid in professions that require advanced training, like pilots, surgeons, or engineers, as well as assist individuals with cognitive impairments.

    10. Tesla Energy, SpaceX, and Starlink: Emergency and Disaster Relief System

    • Concept: Deploy mobile energy units and connectivity solutions for areas impacted by natural disasters.
    • Details: Tesla Energy’s mobile power storage units, Starlink’s satellite internet, and potentially Tesla’s autonomous vehicles could create a rapid-deployment emergency relief system. This setup could help restore power and connectivity to remote or heavily impacted areas during disaster recovery efforts.

    These ideas illustrate how Musk’s diverse ventures could integrate into a cohesive technological ecosystem, offering new levels of connectivity, autonomy, and enhancement for individuals and society.

  • My Experience Managing Salesforce and Other CRMs

    My Experience Managing Salesforce and Other CRMs

    When I worked at Marine Credit Union as a business analyst, I was also a product manager for the company’s CRM system. I then helped them to migrate to Salesforce’s CRM, but that wasn’t my first time administering Salesforce.

    At Skinny & Co., as their IT & Marketing Product Manager, I helped them migrate to – and then later administered – their Salesforce installation as a Salesforce administrator. This involved working closely with IT and Sales departments.

    How a CRM can help manage Sales

    The CRM helped the company stay organized about their sales process and pipeline by creating a mechanism for salespeople to document their activities. While a CRM can be helpful to the company, it’s not always loved by salespeople who dislike filling it out, which is where process optimization can come into play.

    People > Processes > Technology

    Once you have the right people, create processes for what you’ll do when you get a new lead or prospect. Be prepared for when you get them. Decide what information you want to collect from your website using the CRM.

    But you don’t have to use Salesforce for your CRM. It can be as simple as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, Google Sheets, Notion, or SugarCRM. The most important thing is to document all of your interactions with customers in one place.

    What is the best CRM software?

    BestVendor did a survey of 550 startup staffers — most in marketing and executive administration positions — on their favorite tools for email, accounting, web analytics, CRM, productivity, design, storage, payment processing, operations and so forth. Their answers, in aggregate, speak to the growing trend in startups moving toward predominately cloud-based operations, the most popular being Salesforce, which bested its CRM competition with 59% of respondents selecting it as the application of choice.

  • IT & Marketing Product Manager at GoServicePro

    IT & Marketing Product Manager at GoServicePro

    GoServicePro makes field service software. As the IT & Marketing Product Manager, I was primarily responsible for improving the product.

    From client demos to working with developers, sales, and marketing teams – this cross-functional role at GoServicePro provided me with insights into business analysis, technical project management, and fostering collaboration among diverse teams. My proficiency in various technical tools, coupled with my strong analytical and problem-solving skills, will allow me to effectively contribute to the company’s endeavors.

    GoServicePro used Agile methodologies with the goal of delivering value in each sprint, however we sometimes used a waterfall approach at the beginning of a project. Work was mostly in a kanban style (in Trello) rather than scrum.

    My experience working directly with customers and my reasons for considering a consultative and customer-facing role

    At GoServicePro, I regularly worked directly with clients and I loved it. While it can be challenging at times, the filter-free access adds both added responsibility and clarity. I also worked directly with clients at Blue Acorn iCi.

  • How I Helped FedEx Launch their First Fulfillment Service

    How I Helped FedEx Launch their First Fulfillment Service

    As a product manager at Skinny & Co. I added several new features to the order management system that led to the elimination of a FTE, but one of the other things I’m proud of was how I worked with Fedex to develop a new 3PL order management interface that allowed us to send them our orders for fulfillment.

    When FedEx was first getting into the 3PL space, they bought GENCO in Greenwood, Indiana and we were their first customer. FedEx asked me to work with the UX designer at FedEx and the people working in the warehouse to optimize the order management web interface and the system (Manhattan).

    Similar to the middleware I developed for Fishbowl Inventory, the FedEx Fulfillment order management portal used CSV file exports from Fishbowl to import into Manhattan. At first it had basic, limited capabilities but over time, more features were added in subsequent sprints and releases.

    As the key stakeholder at the client level, I was in a unique position to give feedback and have influence over the design and process decisions made. Normally I’m the product manager so this was a different type of experience, one I’ve also done for a Celigo by participating in feedback sessions with them.

    This system is now in use with all of their other FedEx Fulfillment customers.

  • Time-Saving (and Money-Making) Product Improvements as a Product Manager

    Time-Saving (and Money-Making) Product Improvements as a Product Manager

    When I worked at Marine Credit Union as a business analyst, I was also a product manager for checking accounts, which included online banking, their mobile app, ACH, and debit cards. I was also responsible for the company’s CRM system (before I helped to migrate the company to Salesforce’s CRM system).

    During my time at the credit union I made several key product improvements to checking products:

    • Synergy Check Image Sync
    • New, Online Loan Payments
    • ACH Rule Automation
    • New Overdraft Protection Software
    • Automated Error Reporting
    • Loan Payments in Mobile App

    Synergy Check Image Sync

    I created a system that linked check images from the item processing system into the core software, making it easy for employees to look up check images (rather than doing manual searches), which saved time and helped customers.

    New, Online Loan Payments

    I added the ability for loan borrowers to make one-time loan payments online and by phone. Prior to this, they could only pay via mail or in person at a branch.

    ACH Rule Automation

    I helped get a module built for our core processing software that automated business rules for ACH transactions, eliminating all but the outliers, which saved the ACH department in Deposit Operations 10s of hours a week.

    New Overdraft Protection Software

    I launched a new overdraft protection software to increase revenue and decrease risk. Instead of giving everyone a flat amount, it was calculated.

    Automated Error Reporting

    And in addition to working with data analysts to create many different, new reports, I also created a system to automatically email branch, regional, and district managers in escalation when exceptions with new accounts were not resolved in a timely manner. This automation saved hours of manual intervention.

    Loan Payments in Mobile App

    And finally, I added the ability for customers to make loan payments from within their mobile app using a web page managed from the corporate website.

  • Using Middleware to Eliminate a FTE as a Product Manager

    Using Middleware to Eliminate a FTE as a Product Manager

    Sometimes a simple product improvement can lead to dramatic changes in business processes and personnel changes. This is a story about how custom middleware eliminated a FTE.

    At Skinny & Co., as a product manager, one of the products I managed was Fishbowl Inventory (along with the processes and technologies that were involved and integrated with it).

    Fishbowl Inventory was not web-based at the time, it was on-premise software running on a local server. It had file import and export capabilities, but no web-based API.

    Many of our wholesale orders came in through a web portal called Brandwise, which had a file export system where orders could be exported via PDF or as CSV files.

    It was one person’s full-time job to download orders from Brandwise and import them into Fishbowl. They typically did this via the PDF by manually typing the information into Fishbowl.

    When Processes Don’t Work

    One of the first things I did to improve this process was to train the person how to use the CSV imports from Brandwise to import the order information into Fishbowl.

    Fishbowl had a slightly different format so the order manager had to learn how to reformat the CSV file into a format that Fishbowl could accept, and then clean up any errors.

    One type of error was in the name of the customer. If the name was different in any way, Fishbowl would create a new customer record for it, creating duplicates and forking their order history.

    The other issue was that sometimes customers still used old SKUs which wouldn’t translate or import into the system. And a downfall of Fishbowl is that if any information was wrong, none of it imported.

    The order manager reasoned that the amount of time it took to do that was not worth the effort and thus they went back to manually inputting the orders from the PDFs.

    Custom Middleware

    At that point I then set about to fix the file conversion problem to make it easy for someone to be able to input a file from Brandwise to Fishbowl in the correct format without creating duplicate customer records or stopping due to a bad SKU.

    I worked with a development team to write up the use case and then test the results. We developed a system which included:

    • software on the Fishbowl server that synced the customer and product data up to the middleware web server and allowed information to be written back
    • a web interface which allowed the user to import the order file from Brandwise, search and map customer records (if exact match not found), and to search and map SKUs (if exact match not found)

    This process prevented the imports from creating duplicate customer records or failing to import due to a bad SKU.

    And while it had upfront development costs and added a new, monthly hosting fee, it allowed us to eliminate a FTE.

    Later this system was replaced with a more robust, but less custom system from Synqware. Formerly with Bizperanto, Synqware is now part of Celerant.

  • How to Edit Horizontal Video into Vertical Video in Adobe Premiere

    Step 1 – Create a New Sequence

    Choose “Arris Cinema” and then go to “Settings” and change the size to 1080 x 1920. Once the video has been added, in Effects, choose “Auto Reframe” to zoom and crop the video.

    Step 2 – Export the Video

    Choose H.264 and then make sure the checkbox next to “Basic Video Settings” is checked. Click Export.

  • What is a Shareasale Datafeed and How Does it Work?

    As an IT and marketing guy I’m often asked to setup new software or help integrate one system with another. This post is about Shareasale datafeeds: what they are and how they are used – from an IT point of view. If you still need professional help, there is a link at the bottom.

    Summary:

    • a datafeed is just a file that affiliates can download that contains links and info on our products
    • once the datafeed is downloaded, affiliates can use it with special widgets on their site
    • some affiliates specifically look for merchants who have a datafeed they can download
    • if the datafeed is visible in our Creatives under Datafeed, then affiliates can download it
    • it is not an integration, it’s only a file that can be updated at any time, overwriting the old file

    What is a Shareasale datafeed?

    The Datafeed functionality allows merchants like us to upload lists of products to their ShareASale account and provides us with the ability to manage multiple stores and product level commissions as additional options. The Datafeed upload completely replaces the existing product listings in our merchant’s account with every upload. Any items not included in the uploaded file will be removed from the product listings. The full overview of the Datafeed specifications can be found at this Shareasale datafeed setup link.

    Why use a datafeed?

    It allows any affiliate that wants to feature a product on their page or through one of Shareasale’s content tools to display our products on their page. Some affiliates specifically look for merchants with datafeeds.


    How long have they been around?

    At least since 2013.

    How do I check to make sure a datafeed is working?

    It appears to be something only an affiliate can see, but the documentation makes it seem like it’s not an integration, it’s just a file that affiliates download and then use as a source file on their sites. So as long as it’s in your creatives and approved, then it’s “working”.

    Why would it not be working or how to update the file?

    We could find that either Shareasale has an issue with the file or the affiliates themselves have an issue with the file once they go to use it. Once we have feedback, we can upload it again at any time and it will overwrite the file that is currently in Shareasale. Here are some common datafeed problems to watch out for and here are some examples of how to create a product datafeed.

    Conclusion

    I didn’t know anything about Shareasale and I didn’t take the time to learn it before, but when I did take the time to learn it and build context I was finally able to know what a datafeed was used for and to tell whether or not the datafeed was setup correctly. This blog post is meant to help others like me who are tasked with setting up a Shareasale datafeed know what a datafeed is and how to check it so I have more context about what they are for and how they are used.

    Professional Affiliate Setup Help

    If you’re reading this you may be a merchant on Shareasale that is looking for an affiliate management company to help you get setup and build a network of affiliates to help market your products. This is not a sponsored post, but I have worked with Priest Willis and his team at Affiliate Mission and have been pleased with their work, their communication, and their integrity. I highly recommend Affiliate Mission for affiliate management and marketing services.

  • 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.
    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.