Headworx

I'm not sure if clipboard with the copy-paste concept first appeared in Windows or another OS, but it must have been some 30 years ago. Clipboard has been one of the fundamental UI pillars of multitasking. Then came iOS and Android to kill it, by offering the "share to" replacement. Which could hardly be considered an improvement. And now clipboard is back. At least in the iOS. I'm not exactly sure when it came back, but it is firmly present in the form of a "paste" key on the on-screen keyboard. As is the "copy" option in the "share" menu. And I simply love them both. Android has been long praised for its more flexible application sharing bus. But it is far cry from the iOS copy-paste option. Rediscovered 30 years after the original one :) The most frequently used scenario for me is screen-scrap sharing. Press power+vol_up to capture a screenshot, crop it, share->copy, delete. The cropped tile is in the clipboard now and can be pasted...

After returning from the super intense tour of North American customers, I'm back in my woods cabin continuing daily trail runs wearing the Bose Frames - my go to way of consuming audio content. Actually I have a significant backlog of podcasts and books to go through. It is not that I did not run while in the US. It is just I did not listen to audio, as most of the runs were in urban or suburban environments (read: noisy) and the Frames just don't work when there is outside noise. And somehow I don't like running while wearing headphones and being isolated from the environment. So the first in my backlog was the recent podcast by Richard Lucas interviewing Michael Śliwinski, the founder of Nozbe - the productivity tool . I have never heas4rd of Nozbe and despite considering myself fairly productive, I mostly don't care about the tools. The reason is, at least in my opinion, it is not the tools that make people productive or not. It is the discipline. Of course I do us...

Halfway through the architecture design of Bluetooth mesh (wow that was 6 years ago!) we dived deeply into the application layer. Lighting control was a clear target, so we had had already specified "lightbulbs" and "switches". Connected lightbulb was a symbol of IOT and smartness for many years and even today, in a layman engineer's view it represents what is today knows as NLCs (Network Lighting Controls). But diving a bit deeper under the surface it became clear a the lightbulb would not be a breakthrough. We felt sensors were needed, as almost any "smart" scenario included a sensor - typically an occupancy sensor, triggering light in presence of humans. But was it really smart? In very simple environments - such as windowless rooms - maybe. But was it sufficient for the new standard to make serious inroads into the market? Definitely not. At that time there was another standard - Z-Wave - which had very complete application layer definition. In Z-W...

As COVID seems to be behind us, I had the chance of going on my first intercontinental trip two weeks ago. The itinerary was super dense, as we visited NY, NJ, OH, TX, CA, CO, KS, MO, IL over 12 days, only two times spending more than one night in the same place. And the airline succeeded to lose the luggage only once (and they quickly found it).  Of course for such a trip the less you carry with you the better, but in general I find it impossible to squeeze 12 days worth of clothing and other equipment in a carry-on. Especially as with my daily running habit, I need an extra pair of shoes and walking poles. Still not sure if folding poles are allowed in a carry on. I used to do that, but the TSA regulations seem to say otherwise. On top of the business part we had a plan for a short weekend escape to the desert (overnighting in Joshua Tree and joining the Indian Wells tennis tournament finals). And while two days in the desert do not require any particular gear (you can survive on...

The Internet played a huge role during the COVID pandemic, to keep us globally connected. Despite the lockdowns we were globally connected and thanks to webcams and teleconferencing software applications we could continue being together. Now the war that Russia started in Ukraine changed all that. The Cloud is no longer global. The location of servers and who operates them has become fundamental. Russia (and in consequence the Russian citizens) have been cut off from the services they had been using so happily. Thousands are stuck and stranded in Thailand and many other holiday destinations. Cashless and flightless - without access to their banks and with no (easy) means to return home. The government cannot transact either and considers switching to Bitcoin . But even if Russia accumulates Bitcoins, it is not that easy to spend the cryptocurrency - at some point they will need to convert.  The cuts have so far been virtual, the West simply switched off the services. But one can a...

The war that Russia has started on Ukraine is fought by armies, but equally is also the war which can be won with the support of consumers globally. Ukraine is defending the fundamental rights to independence and freedom. And these are the values of ultimate importance to the whole world. Russia has been stricken by very broad economic and political sanctions. These sanctions, however, could be even more severe. The problem with sanctions is they are imposed by governments who - in turn - care mostly about the electorates. And the electorates, especially in countries not in direct proximity to the war, are not that much willing to give up on their comfort and convenience . People are complaining on rising energy prices, not understanding the importance of the fundamental values this is about. That is also amplified by the lack of understanding how the world works.  The common perception, for example, is that increasing the oil drilling in the US is a bad thing. But we are not incre...

I wish this was published in more upbeat circumstances as the COVID pandemic was going away. The sad thing is - as we thought the difficult 2-year pandemic was behind us, Russia invaded Ukraine and started the terrible war. The war that is tragic in the short term but in the long term should help us shaping even better civilization. There is hope and faith though. And signs that every bad period has its end. For the first time in 2 years I'm going to attend in person a trade show - the LEDucation and then visit a number of our important customers and partners across the US. You can join us there either on the virtual  Democratizing Lighting Controls to Meet Global Sustainability Targets session run by Rafał Han, our CEO, or meet us in person on the show floor. There is light!