Database In 1978, I built a retrieval tool based on a new multiple index scheme to help the DOE to track energy consumption in the US.
Transaction Tracking Later in 1979, they brought us back on a project to track the activity of US citizens. They decided to work around the reluctance of US citizens to carry an ID card within the US by using a new-fangled financial concept - the credit or ATM card. Weak ID demanded often was considered as good as or better than strong ID demanded infrequently.
Desalination Around 1980, I came up with a gravity powered undersea desalination system. After the inevitable objection of the patent office (supposedly prior art), my patent agent convinced me to drop it. I was naive about the patent process and did drop it. I still think its good.
Shared Economy. In 1983 I argued that because of the cost of land, solar power did not make sense unless it was part of a dual use system, where the solar energy collectors were also providing another benefit - like being the roof of covered parking lots (we really needed those in Pheonix, AZ!), or the roadway itself. That led to a proposal to share use of cars, i.e. rent them out while they were unused (Uber/SmartCar??).
Citizenship 1991 - I became a US citizen.
Web Search Do I need to say more? I can tell an interesting story how a project suggestion to a Stanford student in 1994 based on web equivalence to Memex turned into the AltaVista search engine.
Movie Streaming NETFLIX like application proposed in October 2002. A VC suggested I focus on the application and not the data broadcast technology I was pushing. I rewrote the business plan to describe a movie download business using a monthly charge revenue model (I used $10/month), with the technology I was pushing as a cost reducer to make it feasible (because communication costs were then too high). I listed getting movie producer cooperation as a major risk, with use of indie productions as a possible workaround. NETFLIX got started around this time...
IP Radio Here is another application of the same technology but that never got any traction. I still think it is a good idea. For some reason, Sirius and/or Liberty Media wanted it dead.
Local Web/Web Maps An Internet Explorer page developed in 2004 and published in 2005 is shown here. An updated version that works on more browsers can be found here. In 2005 Google Maps published their map with a pin (I used a star) feature. In 2011 Google also resorted to using a simple dot to indicate the locations of local businesses of a certain class when there are too many of them, which lets a user zoom in on the neighborhoods where you will have many choices. The two finger expansion of a web page or a map used on many smartphones today was anticipated using the technology available then - using mouse click and drag.
Layman Lobby In 2008 - annoyed at what Somali pirates were doing to Indian sailors, I wrote a heated letter to the Indian Government asking why they did not get the Indian Navy to do something. By golly - they actually reacted (but sadly, no acknowledgement!) - and were the first navy to really stand up to them. But I got a lesson in how to get governments to run with an idea.
Space Exploration In 2017 I suggested to Trump that he turn NERVA back on, and use it to implement a Mars ferry - in a competition among nations.
Covid-19
A suggestion
to Alex Azar, Secretary HHS, on Covid-19, which the airline industry seems to have partially followed before things got all political...
Last Updated 2022-02-27