Picture a future where you put your finger to your lips to mute your stereo. The movie on your TV pauses when you leave the room. A simple hand gesture towards a door knob opens the door. Putting your hand into a phone symbol activates a cell phone in your car. In a meeting, you swipe the area above your smart device to transfer a document to another attendee’s device. Or during a conversation with another person, you project a web page from your watch or other wearable device and use gestures to search for a fact online as part of your discussion.
Putting future daydreaming aside, newer versions of gesture recognition are already a reality today in a variety of PCs, tablets and smart TVs that have been launched over the past year.
JDSU signed a new customer for gesture recognition.
While still in early stages, it’s exciting to see that we’ve landed a new customer in this promising area.
Network optical solutions were popular.
One of JDSU’s big contributions to networks are optical components and systems that work deep within network infrastructures to help operators manage network traffic in a flexible way. These products are a must for highly functional networks that support unpredictable traffic patterns flowing through networks as people increasingly use connected devices and online apps to function.
Here’s how much revenue increased for three key network products compared to last quarter:
JDSU makes the Q Series laser that is used for micro-machining. A few examples of micro machining include the shaping of tiny holes or slots on parts that go into products like smart phones or laptops. They are also used for the scribing of wafers that could go into things like light emitting diodes (LEDs).
I recently read that in a few decades, people will use up 10 connected devices, which blew me away. Regardless of whether or not that estimate becomes a reality, I think the need for lasers that can create the tiny parts and pieces that make up these electronics won’t be going away any time soon. And of course there’s that little group called the semiconductor industry that uses lasers to shape wafers.
We all keep hearing about “the cloud” and “big data.” PacketPortal is one of those new revolutionary network monitoring systems that fits in here. Cheap and tiny probes throughout the network report back critical network data into a cloud-based system that lets a service provider easily pull the exact information needed to pinpoint and solve a problem.
Last week, JDSU announced its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal year 2012 and I thought it was a good opportunity to share a snapshot of recent company highlights, so here it goes.
In Q4, more than half of JDSU revenue came from new products that support the network.
As of Q4, twenty countries have either issued or announced new banknote designs that use JDSU’s optically variable magnetic pigment as a security feature. The company has beefed up its technology and manufacturing to support these areas and also named Luke Scrivanich, a JDSU executive who has managed a large part of the anti-counterfeiting business for the past four years, to lead this area.
The company is working on new applications for gesture recognition.
Sinclair Vass recently spoke at the annual North American Chinese Clean Tech & Semiconductor Association (NASCA) conference, an event where experts share the latest innovations and breakthroughs happening in the semiconductor field.
Pretty cool stuff. It’s expected that the next generation of processors will help drive even further advances for gesture recognition. I can’t wait to see where it ends up next!
Gesture Recognition is one of the cool new applications that is changing the way we interact with electronic devices and with each other.
WIRED also just posted a story that covers how 3D gesture recognition is becoming a hot area of innovation. We can hope to see gesture recognition in notebooks and PCs by the middle of the year!
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/tech/gaming-gadgets/microsoft-kinect-laptops-wired/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6
In the video clip below, Jason Reinhardt, VP of Global Sales for CCOP at JDSU, discusses top priorities in 2012 and also talks about how his team is able to support so many different types of technologies for so many different markets - including optical communications technology for networks, gesture recognition, lasers, CPV for solar and more.
Last Thursday, our very own Sinclair Vass spoke on gesture recognition at IEEE’s family holiday event in Palo Alto. The room was filled with more than 100 children and their parents who were there to learn more about the science and technology that goes into making gesture recognition possible.
Sinclair started by helping the audience understand what the goal of gesture recognition is: to improve the way we interact with the electronic environment, and build a 3D map of the target object (yourself), which the computer can understand.
There are two technology options that help capture the 3D object in order to make gesture recognition possible: structured light which creates an optical intensity grid and is most often seen with gaming applications, and time of flight which sends an illumination pulse towards the object and calculates the time taken for reflections to return.
The JDSU 2012 tech trends campaign has arrived!
The video below highlights a wide variety of technologies that JDSU creates that play into broader technology trends that ultimately impact people's lives. But what's different about this year's campaign is a message about the continued need for technology innovation to help contribute to a better world.
I've included the video below for you to enjoy, but if you also go to the official campaign page on JDSU.tv at http://www.jdsu.tv/tech-trends/2012 and take a brief survey, you can enter win a free iPad this week!
I recently spoke to Sinclair Vass, senior director of Marketing for the CCOP business segment at JDSU, to get his take on top technology trends for 2012 related to the wide variety of markets that CCOP serves.
In this video, Sinclair touches on upcoming trends in areas that include optical components for telecom networks, lasers for consumer and industrial applications, CPV for solar power, and gesture recognition technology.
Microsoft’s latest video about Kinect is an emotionally appealing and inspiring story. It covers how gesture recognition began as something fun to play with in gaming systems a year ago and now is opening up a whole new world of possibilities for use in healthcare, education and art - just to name a few areas.
Because gesture recognition removes the barriers to how people interact with technology, it is inspiring innovators in many different fields to imagine new and unexpected ways to use the technology that are helpful, life enhancing and even life changing.
Get out the popcorn for this one and enjoy! Start Video CodeEnd Video Code - To learn more about gesture recognition and JDSU’s involvement, please read my previous blog posts: JDSU in Your Home Gesture Recognition: Gaming is Just the Beginning The Early Gesture Recognition Market Gesture Recognition: Getting Rid of the Remote
JDSU technologies are in many products you use at home and some of them were on display this summer as part of new exhibit called the Innovation Expo.
In the video clip below, JDSU reporter Bernie Tylor interviews a JDSU expert about one of the coolest new technologies out there - gesture recognition. It allows people to control technology with body movements instead of using a mouse or controller.
Gesture recognition made a big debut in gaming back in December 2010. There’s been a lot of talk about how gesture recognition will impact people’s lives in the future. It could be used to control remote robots to perform surgery or to more safely operate machines like forklifts.
JDSU impacts people's lives in many ways with a wide variety of technologies.
The company has created a new corporate video that tells the story. Even your grandmother will get it. Enjoy!
I’ve been reading a lot of marketing magazines lately and I’m seeing stats repeatedly that are wiping out some of the assumptions that I had about technology users.
While many of us believe that mobile and social applications are more quickly and broadly used by the younger and hipper crowd, growth of these technologies is actually being fueled by multiple generations and genders.
Early adopters are no longer just young male technophiles and the adoption cycle for new products has shortened. Retiring baby boomers have more free time and are connecting heavily through online and mobile channels. And woman are becoming power users when it comes to social gaming and smart phones.
Gaming isn’t just for kids
o More than half of social gamers are at least 50 years old
o The typical social gamer is a 43-year-old woman
Mobility is not just a guy thing
o iPhone users tend to be more mixed and older, while 55% of Android users are male and under 34 (time for a pink Android!)
o Mobile airport check-in is growing due to higher adoption of smart phones and acceptance by women
I feel hipper already (woops, now you know I’m either female and/or at least 40)! Here are some story links if you want to learn more:
The Geeks are Graying, Inc. Magazine
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-geeks-are-graying.html
Women Want More Interesting Video Games, ABC7 News – KGO – San Francisco, CA
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=8273019
Nearly Half of Social Gamers are at Least 50 – Thrive Past 55
http://thrivepast55expo.com/wordpress/2011/03/nearly-half-of-social-gamers-are-at-least-50-years-old-today/
Typical Gamer is Female and 43 - BizReport
http://www.bizreport.com/2010/02/popcap_games_typical_social_gamer_is_female_and_forty-three.html
Smart Phones and Women Help Check-Ins Take Flight - GigaOm
http://gigaom.com/2011/05/13/smartphones-and-women-help-check-ins-take-flight/
It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day rigors of work. I think every employee feels more inspired when they can connect how their efforts affect the big picture. One afternoon in mid-July, I stepped back from looming deadlines to write down some of the ways that JDSU technology helps make a difference.
Over the past few years, JDSU has invented new optical components that are dramatically smaller and more highly integrated to improve the complex flow of communications. Its optical components and network performance services touch virtually every optical and wireless network in the world.
No. 2 - Harnessing Renewable Energy
No. 3 – Advancing the Future of Gesture Recognition
JDSU optical technology is being used in new gesture recognition platforms that let people control technology with body movements instead of with a mouse or remote.
No. 4 – Supporting New Scientific Experiments
Scientists use JDSU electro-optic modulators to simulate environments that exist in space for a wide range of experiments never before possible on earth. These experiments could lead to major scientific advancements that provide renewable energy solutions and breakthroughs in astrophysics and materials science.
PBS recently aired a great segment about how developers, universities, medical communities and the military are exploring new ways to use gesture recognition technology that will change how we live. Several experts provide perspectives and demonstrate cool examples of how the technology will be used in the near future. The guy who created the interface for “Minority Report” is one of the interviewees. The video is chock full of great futuristic scenarios!