so I came up with my first idea when I
was in second grade our teacher asked us
to come up with an idea and create a
prototype I thought for a long time
about everyday problems I had as a
seven-year-old then it hit me I hated
when it would rain and my pants will get
wet I grew up in Montana and if you have
an experienced rain in Montana doesn't
come lightly drinking straight down from
the sky it comes in at a 45 degree angle
cold hard and fast my solution was
perfect I'd create an umbrella to extend
it all the way to the ground so I got to
work creating my prototype a shower
curtain
taped to the place that's forward 25
years I'm now a software engineer and an
inventor at IBM with 370 inventions and
Counting I'm the most prolific female
inventor in IBM history
but not much has changed since my first
idea I'm still solving everyday problems
using existing technologies as an
inventor when I look at a cool new piece
of technology I can see what the future
might hold we're already seeing a shift
from the Internet of Things to the
Internet of everything if you ask any
technologist to predict the future they
will undoubtedly tell you the same three
things in the future technology will be
faster smaller and cheaper so let's
assume we're right that means in the
future every household item no matter
how inexpensive will be able to connect
to the Internet to share information
with anyone or anything willing to
listen but in order to make sense of all
this new data we need software i've
always loved writing software i think
part of that love stems from the fact
that I get a boss computers around
unlike my kids there's no hesitation or
talking back if you ask a computer to do
something it will hang on your every
word when I was an undergrad at Carnegie
Mellon University I remember one evening
running into a group of students huddled
around their computers when I got closer
I notice that they had phones attached
to their laptops they were writing
mobile apps it was the first time I
stepped back and realized that we could
control our things using software but
the code was complicated to send a text
message would have taken them over 40
lines of code today we can do the exact
same thing with a single line of code
how exciting is this for developers and
this is just SMS it is just as easy
to connect a back-end services and
device sensors I've never considered
myself to be a hardware person but
earlier this year I attended an open
source conference and I was blown away
with this presentation that showed how
with just a couple lines of code we
could connect one device to another I
was so excited that that night I stayed
almost all night I know I'm a nerd
guilty
but I made this mobile application to
control a neo pixel matrix by drawing on
my smartphone a modern-day lite brite
now is that I could do more than just
invent new ideas I can create working
prototypes and inexpensively in April I
backed a Kickstarter project called
meadow where it's a tiny board about the
size of a quarter it has Bluetooth and
accelerometer to track movement and
temperature sensors you can also add
additional sensors and lights making it
really easy for developers to make
wearables it's like a Lego kit for
adults and at only $35 it's about the
same price innovators today can use
crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter to
sell fun self-promote and get feedback
from people from all over the world
opening the doors to a whole new group
of people gone is the middleman it's
also possible to create software today
without writing a single line of code
using the apps like if this than that we
can combine two existing applications
and create something new in this rescue
I created if I haven't reached my Fitbit
stuff goal by 5:00 p.m.
it'll automatically create a status
update on Facebook letting everyone know
how lazy I was the speed of invention in
the future will be as fast as we can
dream up ideas we'll be able to use each
other's innovations to test drive ideas
and find inspiration to keep solving
everyday problems so in the future will
never buy toilet paper again each toilet
paper roll will talk to your favorite
online merchants and reorder itself when
it's running low if you haven't worn a
piece of clothing in over six months the
hanger will glow red
if your closet will suggest you donate
it will be safer and not just because of
our home security sensors but because of
our pets they will wear tiny sensors to
measure their heart rates and if they
get overly excited when you're not home
you'll be notified we'll never have to
waste time as a group deciding what to
watch our devices will know who is in
the room and we'll be able to aggregate
everyone's watched an unwatched list to
suggest something to watch that nobody
has seen we might all cuddle up and from
the same television or watch separately
from Holograms in our hands in the
future if you're at the office and it
starts to rain but you don't have an
umbrella no problem you'll be able to 3d
print one up in a matter of minutes when
you get home you'll be able to melt down
that same umbrella and reimagine it into
a toy to entertain your children while
you prepare dinner in an oven that
preheated itself based on recipe chosen
by you or chef Watson how many of you
have asked Siri for directions everyone
or saw Watson compete on Jeopardy it is
already possible for computers to
translate human language into a language
that they can understand the subproblems
so in the future every single one of us
will be able to create software simply
by telling a story and now for my big
prediction
people weren't meant to live forever
each generation we don't just pass along
our DNA we pass along our ideas the
innovations we uncover today become the
building blocks for innovations for
future generations but each new
innovation brings with it a whole new
set of challenges to be solved despite
this trend of moving from the Internet
of Things to the Internet of everything
our lives in the future won't really
change will still fall in love
experience heartbreak lose loved ones
and have babies
we'll make discoveries appreciate art
and tell stories but the time saved that
we otherwise spent on repetitive tasks
is more time we'll have to experience
these unique moments our lives in the
next 20 to 50 years will pretty much be
the exact same as they are today only
with some really cool toys thank you