Tag: Dr. Craig Brown

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Emerging Technology and Digital Currency – Global Banking of the Future

Technology Disruption within Finance

Digital payment systems are the newest form of electronic currency to hit the markets and is widely accepted by many as an official form of currency. According to Wiki, Bitcoin, for example, is a decentralized digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. Peer-to-peer technology is primarily used to operate with no central authority: transaction management and money issuance are carried out collectively by the network. Digital payment systems use digital currency which is sent easily through the Internet, without needing to trust any third party.

• Transactions:
o Are irreversible by design
o Are fast. Funds received are available for spending within minutes.
o Cost very little, especially compared to other payment networks.

• The supply of digital currency is regulated by software and the agreement of users of the digital payment systems and cannot be manipulated by any government, bank, organization or individual. The limited inflation of digital currency and its supply is distributed evenly (by CPU power) to miners who help secure the network.

Digital currency has managed to create a financial system designed to “Disrupt” the banking/finance industry. From reading various sources, the intent behind the technology was to create a way to exchange currency without the rules that govern banks. The technology behind the digital payment systems and digital currency is not regulated and is self-policed. Was there a demand for this market? This is the kind of “out of the box” thinking that created services like Bitcoin, Paypal, Google Wallet and Apple Pay. The launch of several major digital payment system services is now going on 6 years with a growing customer base year after year. It stands to reason that this Digital payment systems service and digital currency is not going away.

The technology behind digital payment systems Is the focus of this blog. The emerging innovation that controls the digital payment systems are built on top of Big Data Technology. The systems utilize thousands of nodes, hundreds of thousands of database records, if not millions, and it utilizes these technological layers with split second response time.

The traditional banking transactions systems cannot match the transaction performance demonstrated by the Big Data Technology driving the digital payment system transactions. The traditional banking transactions must cross through several layers of technology in order to reach its customers. The data associated with these traditional banking systems are heavily regulated, secured, encrypted, monitored and otherwise policed, so that every transaction is accounted for.

With the current technology driving traditional banks, I think it would be safe to say that the banking industry is more than likely going to transform over the next 10 years into more of a digital payment systems look alike. I believe that the emerging technology driving digital currency is forcing this transformation. Why do I believe this is so? I believe this because the customer base of digital payment systems is growing. Look at the partnerships between digital payment systems like Paypal and Bitcoin accepting payments on behalf of digital shopping carts for major retailers.

These same digital payment systems are not offering credit and other financial services as well. This is what industry experts consider the making of a digital transformations and how they take shape. One day some college students created a networking system that was made so that students could communicate, share pictures, share ideas and much much more which ultimately created something new called Social Media. This might be a crude example of a digital transformation, but I think you all get the point.

Big Data, machine learning and data analytics is the future of technology. I do not think that anyone who understand the contributions Big Data innovation has had on emerging technology would disagree. Within this future are many new technological advancements, innovations and emerging technologies. Google Wallet, Paypal, Apple Pay, Bitcoin and other cloud based digital payment systems are just a few examples of what has happened since 2010.

Hadoop was first released in 2008 and it has taken a huge presence within the innovative ranks. I would consider this a larger example of emerging tech since 2010. The future is not that far off. With the number of tech startups that are popping up this is a representation of an army of technology inventors that are releasing new inventions daily, weekly, monthly and yearly continuously impacting the Technology landscape. Banking as we know it has already changed. Traditional banking is also transforming but this transformation will take some time as banking is redefining itself within the global community.

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Internet of Things Smartphones by Dr. Craig Brown #ioT #data #naturalresources

 

The internet of things on Smartphones is represented by all of the things that makes a smartphone smart and how its users have grown new dependencies on the smart phone features. What is ironic is that we still use the word phone in Smartphones in stead of referring to its name as Smart Devices.

I say this is ironic because the phone is the lease used feature of the Smartphone. Talking to other phone users has become the last line of defense for all forms of communications. Have you ever had someone start a conversation with, “Did you get my Text?”, or “Did you get my email?” So the phone is what we use to reach out when all other options have not gotten you a response and you need the data “NOW”.

 

Smart devices have forever changed other markets as they provide its users with so many more additional capabilities besides talking. We watch TV, take pictures, stream music, stream video, read and compose email, host online meetings, join online communities, take training classes, network and of course post, tweet, share and download content. Smartphones have almost endless capabilities with the number of mobile applications available today.

Within the Internet of Things on Smartphones the question I pose to the online community is this: Are we more productive and therefore bring more value add into our daily lives with the use of smartphones? Now before you answer yes without hesitation let me quantify the question a little further. Before smartphones it was necessary to know how to read maps in order to navigate through areas that were unfamiliar in order to find your way around.

Today this skill is almost gone. I was talking to a group of kids and I pulled out US Road map and I asked them to plot a course from point A to Point B and offered a cash reward. They spent 15 minutes debating me on why it was not necessary to need this skill. With the youth in mind as you think about this question, I will add that the smartphones indeed provide people with the ability to discover, identify, communicate and share with split second response time.

However, when the power is off temporarily or when the internet is down temporarily the youth just stop in their tracks and wait for these much needed resources to be restored. In the meantime not very much can be achieved during the waiting period. I was talking to this same group of students that I asked to read the map and asked if either of them had ever been in a situation where they were using the navigation app on their phone to get them to a location and then lost power to their phone.

2 of the students responded with “OMG, Yes.” I asked so what happened and they told me that they basically had to spend an hour driving around looking for a “Starbucks” to get a charge. Basically, the mission changed from heading from point A to point B to finding a power source.

Smartphones continue to get smarter therefore so does its users. As we become more dependent on our personal tech to help us maintain our daily lives there may come a time when the internet will be considered equal to essential natural resources like Food, Air and Water. This, in my opinion is bigger than the Internet of things.

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#IoT on Personal Technology By Dr. Craig Brown – #IoTPersonalTech

So we now live in a world that defines us by the tech that we have access to.  In other words we tend to consider people who have yet to embrace smart phone technology as disconnected.  “You still have a flip phone?”  While on the other side of the coin we have people that carry smart phones, tablets (more than 1), laptops and hotspots for connectivity.  So where is all this going?  We started out referring to access as “The Web”. 

This term became too limited and seem to mean web pages so a switch was needed to be more encompassing of all things connected besides web pages.  The formal name seemed to be the best way to go.  So “The Internet” is now what we use to refer to being connected.  Well not to bore you with evolution, but the internet is now referred to as “The Internet of Things”.   To make matters worse that is not enough anymore.  Now we have to add a “of what” in there.  So I will be focusing on “The Internet of Things on Personal Technology” – #IoTPersonalTech. 

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When did we reach a time and place where a laptop and a mobile phone was not enough technology to satisfy the appetite of the average person?  When did we reach a time when our phone contacts were the only data that you would lose if you were unfortunate enough to lose your device?  When did we reach a time where we need more than a 100G of personal space for a device with an additional 20G of space in the cloud, along with more than 2 TB of space for our laptop served up via an external disk drive.  All of which is used to hold personal data (unrelated to our professional responsibilities)? 

“The Internet of Things on Personal Tech has transformed us unto walking “data generators”.  We curate, post, tweet, share, stream, download and upload data at the speed of light.  We risk injury and even death generating data while we drive.  We have more data now than ever before, growing whole new generations of technology, as a result.  Now we have apps to manage apps.  Now we have data about the data.  Now we have trackers to tell us who is accessing the data and what they did with it as a result. 

 The question I have is, “Are we all better off, as people, with all of this data.” Many of us are walking around with terabytes of digital information and entertainment.  Can anyone remember how to make a dinner reservation without tech?  Is this even possible?  Can anyone remember how to buy tickets to the movie theater without tech?  Well these are simple questions.  What about the signage that is displayed now asking you to PAY ATTENTION and to put down the tech, in such places like the local “DMV” and the local “Court House”. 

What about the Millennial generation?  How would they function without data?  “The Internet of Things on Personal Tech” has reached such proportions, now with wearable tech, that a whole new vertical within the tech industry has been created. “The Internet of Things on Personal Technology” will surpass most other technical verticals simply because of the population.  Personal tech it not just utilized by the wealthy.  These are no longer tools that are used to help us compete in business.  We have begun to govern our day to day lives as a result of this and the end result is DATA. 

Once again I ask, “Are we better off as people with the amount of personal tech available today.”  Will we reach a limit of access where there is not enough space in the cloud to possibly hold it all?  We already know that we cannot keep the data secured.  That issue will continue to grow as the amount of data that needs protection continues to grow.  My fear is that the answer is yes.  We will reach of limit of data over load. So then what happens next to us people? 

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 Dr. Craig Brown @craigbrownphd 2015-07-14 23:12:06

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Giving Back

Balance is key for Dr. Craig Brown.
That means giving is as essential as receiving. Dr. Craig is a giver by nature — professionally, through his experiences as a cancer survivor and how he teaches his children to live life to the fullest through his adventurous (but safe) hobbies.

Dr. Craig knows what it means to overcome adversity. He knows what it means to persevere. The compassion that stems from his own experiences has fueled his efforts to encourage children and adults with disabilities and other hardships. He is spearheading a nonprofit organization, EPIC (Empowering. Purpose. Integrity. Character.) Youth Sports, which provides a safe and fun environment for teaching the fundamentals of basketball for preparing youngsters  for competition. Dr. Craig stands by the fundamental principles of the program, which strives to prepare participants to be outstanding citizens who will grow through character development, leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship and develop a family environment within their teams and the community.

Dr. Craig is also dedicated to introducing disadvantaged children and young adults to careers in technology as producers and entrepreneurs and he is a staunch supporter of health and wellness programs such as LiveStrong.