Hans Hoffmann's Blog

The Continental

Published on July 4, 2013 by hansh51Leave a comment

It started innocently enough, following our regular Sunday mass the wife and I decided to go out to breakfast. We were in the University district, where Blessed Sacrament church is located. We walked over to the “ave” and quickly settled on a small little Greek restaurant that we had both been in before in our younger years, called The Continental. It was a non descriptive place, but it was definitely Greek. Besides seating space for customers, it had a shelf dedicated to purchasing Greek items such as Greek wine, Retsina, olives, olive oil, coffee, pasta, rice, grape leaves, – pretty much any item you would need to make a nice Greek dinner. Right next to it was a display of Greek pastries including baklava, honey bars, elephant ears, and more (we will come back to this!). Over the next 17 years this would become a part of Jean and our lives. With the birth of each child, one of their first venture into the world would be a visit to The Continental. As they grew it would be a part of their lives as well as their childhood memories.

The Continental was started over forty years ago by a couple of Greek immigrants, George and Helen Lagos, After 40 years the Continental shuts its doors this past Sunday on June 30th. To read about the history, the Seattle Times ran a nice article on its history (click here). The final weeks since it was announced the Continental has been packed with patrons wanting to pay a final visit and say their goodbyes to both the restaurant and the family they had come to love. It was beautiful and at times emotional. So what was it about this little place that made it special to so many? I can only add the many experiences of my family, which are worthwhile, but I bet there are thousands more stories out there that are so compelling.

Our earliest experiences centered around three people, George, Helen and Katarine. These were the days of a young emerging Hoffmann family. We had one child at the time, our son Henrik. As anyone with kids knows when they are infants a restaurant is but a vessel to wreak havoc with their food. And wreak havoc is what Henrik did very well. Food was hurled to the floor and ground into the carpet. Yet this never bothered Helen or Katarine. As time would pass, we would add a second (Finn) and a third (Jens Christian). In each instance one of their first ventures into the world would be a trip to the Continental. Many times Helen or Katarine would coddle our infant boys so Jean could actually eat her food. As they grew George would often rise up from the regular table and walk over to the boys and ask them to ‘give me five’ and then jokingly wince and say they hurt his hand. The boys would giggle with delight. Mothers and fathers love places that accept and treat their kids well. It eases our stresses. Often in the early days, Helen and George’s son Taso would come in, usually with a book and have breakfast, and help if necessary.

We would have many events at the Continental. When my father was still alive he and my mom would join us for a birthday breakfast. My dad was an old-timer born in 1917, so the Corn Beef and Onion omelette was a must for him. Even though he was getting towards the end of his life and his appetite was not what it once was, he had no issues finishing that omelette. We would often meet friends at the Continental. If I had co-workers from out-of-town I would take them there. Jean met her friend Barb there once a month during dance season. Dmetre would just choose the wine for them. Then they would just talk and enjoy one another’s company. Somewhere along the way Dmetre really started running the show as George and Helen were getting along in years.

There were major life events such as Nov 4, 2009. That was the day Microsoft gave me my walking papers after eighteen years. I had started on November 4, 1991. Microsoft HR has a wonderful sense of humor. It was very difficult on Jean, but there was only one place we could go, The Continental. As we entered Helen stood there and Jean burst into tears as Helen gave her a big hug. At a time of need it was a place of comfort. Lunch was taken care of by Helen and in some way the day as dark as it could have been remains a positive memory in my life.

The regular table was reserved for the true patrons. There was often a group of Greeks. On Sundays there were some Police Officers who we got to know, sometimes they gave the kids police badges. A grumpy old guy named Preston, who has since passed a hundred years old. Somewhere along the way we obtained the status of regulars. One day when we walked in we were told to sit at the regulars table. Some Seattle Seahawks dream of being in the Ring of Honor, I just say you have not done your time. To get to the regular table takes over a decade, so it was a pleasant surprise when we were asked. But I never assumed. We were a morning crowd, but sometimes during the evenings when I came I would be invited to join a group of people and partake in the evenings political discussions. It was nice to sit at the table, but to be honest I just liked hanging out there and enjoying the friendly ambience.

One thing that always impressed me about the Lagos family is there handling of the area, as the location they were in the district was not necessarily the nicest A lot of street people asking for money. Some mentally, not capable. Sometimes they would wander in the door but whether it was Dmetre, Helen or George they were handled gently and without incident. It seemed second nature to them and I guess it would be after 40 years but it always impressed me.

Places like the Continental are a dying breed. Family restaurants passed down between generations. A regular clientele who come not just for the food but the company. A place where you feel welcome when you come in the door.It is common in Europe, but as you move west in the US there are fewer and fewer. But this little place allowed George and Helen to raise a family and dream of a better life for their children. Dmetre was able to do the same for his children. But as sad as I am about losing this establishment, times are changing. The restaurant business is tough and unlike days of old where you lived, worked and died, we have opportunities to allow us to live more these days. To enjoy our later years in life.

Our community is a little less today. However it is not a time to cry, but to be thankful that for so many years so many people had a place to go, to enjoy good food, to enjoy one another’s company and to simply just be. It was a chance to enjoy the simpler, but more important things in life such as family and friends. With that I would just say to the Lagos family, from the Hoffmann family and probably thousands of others a heartfelt Thank You! You will be missed greatly by all, but loved by them as well.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann July, 4 2013

The Cultural Phenomena of Technology

Published on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by hansh51Leave a comment

It is one of those things that begins with a whisper and then continues to grow louder into the wildest of crashing waterfalls. Sometimes it confronts us in a very direct way and other times it sneaks up on us spreading like a virus throughout society. It penetrates our lives and influences others around us. The beneficiaries are our day-to-day modern society that adopts them and adores them. The victors are the people and the companies who make them. In fact we can quantify the victors with the monetary term of billions of dollars. Those who try to stand in the way of these cultural phenomena’s are simply pushed aside and deemed not relevant. We deem these to be the companies we refer to as competition. In the industry this is a big deal and though sometimes accidental many times it is brilliance, such as Steve Jobs. In the end it is about creating emotional connections and not negative emotions but positive ones. Looking through history there have been some big moments (and winners).

The first I remember of this type of phenomena was the build up to the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 95. It was funny at the time as the product was continually being delayed. When the name was announced people even began to wonder if it would even ship in 1995. But at the time Microsoft was the darling of the industry. Even when it seemed destined to fail in the end it always seemed to succeed. Windows 95 would turn out to be the greatest testament to the ability of the company to succeed. When the product finally shipped it was to mass hysteria never seen in the industry. People lined up at midnight waiting for doors to open to a new world of wonder. It brought the idea of technology into everyone’s home. It was exciting and a fulfillment of a vision that Paul Allen and Bill gates had as young boys. It was really the dawn of the new age of technology and every significant technology launch has been compared to the launch of Windows 95. The main competition, Apple, could only sit, watch and wonder, “it should have been us”.

The second phenomena that occurred I did not become familiar with until, then CEO of Novel,l Eric Schmidt left his post and joined a small company known as Google. Google was a search engine provider and certainly not the first, but it would turn out to be by far and away the most successful. It was not long before it seemed everyone was searching the web with Google, as it was far superior to what was on the market. Google’s impact beyond the technology was it changed the market dynamics and how companies made money. They were in many was also the first to demonstrate you can not only make money on the web, you can make tons of money on the web. The growth of Google was so accelerated it was almost hard to comprehend. While they are making all this money they also became part of our cultural linguistics as Google became a verb. By the time Microsoft finally launched a technological viable competitor in Bing, they were no longer visible in Google’s rear view mirror

When the iPhone stated to be discussed the whispers started early and grew loud and clear. I had a friend working at AT&T at the time and he said everything at the corporate office was driving towards the launch of the Apple iPhone. When the iPhone launched in 2007 it would turn out to be a huge success on many fronts, from the device to the apps, creating a new market, a new ecosystem. As time went by what was amazing to watch was the extremely personal relationship that would develop between people and their technology. People really get addicted to these phones and it more or less becomes an extension of the individual. One thing Apple was always great at was creating a product that fostered loyalty. The iPhone would do this in spades. So much changed with the iPhone in how we as a society interact with one another, the iPhone was a truly powerful technical and social breakthrough.

It is difficult for companies to compete against these type of movements in a direct head on manner. Microsoft has more or less tried this with Bing against Google and not seen very good results. The biggest challenge is not the market share but the cultural awareness they are up against. It is not even a technology gap so much as the successful technologies of today are internalized by users, who purchase and use certain technologies without much thought. It is as if they are predisposed to certain choices, they are conditioned . It is hard and I have yet to see a marketing plan that says with our latest release we need to brainwash society and condition them to use our stuff. I would be most entertained if someone would try doing this as I think it would be an eventful exercise. As we have learned over and over again just because you have the better technology does not mean that you win. Part of the challenge when competing with these social titans is that it is not good enough to create a better technology because even if you do, you have to ask, “Now what?”. You need not only a better product but a better vision. Vision should proceed the product, not follow it.

I am waiting for the next phenomena and it may be just around the corner. We are nearing the age of the robot and I am warily awaiting the device that becomes a consumer phenomena. It may also be something not so dramatic. It could be a new social networking innovation. Perhaps Google Glass is bigger than we think or know? All we know is software is becoming pervasive in nearly everything we touch. As Bill Gates said, “It is where the magic happens”. Like all things in tech it is not predicting the future, but timing it. For any company the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is to become a necessary fabric of society. To be wanted. A basic, necessary and powerful human emotion.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann May 29, 2013

The Google Decade

Published on May 17, 2013 by hansh513 Comments

It seems to happen in the industry with relative frequency, there always seems to be one. A Juggernaut a company that does everything right and even when it does something wrong it is looked upon kindly. Sometimes it happens in bursts of two to three years and for a few it happens over the course of a decade. In the past it has been Microsoft and then Apple. It can almost be defined by decades. In the nineties it was all about Microsoft and the rise of Windows and Office. In the first decade of the new century we were introduced to the consumerization of technology and the rebirth and rise of Apple. We had “i” everything – iPod, iPad and iPhone, As we are early on into the second decade it seems a company that is starting to look like it will make it there decade is Google. When I look at their product portfolio, their partnerships, mission statement etc..it all seems to be falling into place. They are in the “zone”. They get positive press even when they are not doing anything.

Though search is still their core business they have started to surround search with a lot of other technologies that have the ability to integrate and leverage the Google search engine. This in the end leads to more Google revenues. I have written several blogs on Google. Some good, some critical. Everything that Google does ties back to this core business, which allows them to do unique things in terms of playing and and altering traditional business models. However as I have written Search was one of those things that changed the playing field. As industry legend Ray Ozzie pointed out while at Microsoft, it was an indirect business model. Google used its massive cash flow from search advertising to fund other software ventures Over time this has led to increased success for the Google Search engine while funding other successful business ventures.

Google Docs has become a significant threat to the only Office productivity suite we have known for the last twenty years,Microsoft Office. When we are discussing Google Docs competing with MS Office we are talking about the cloud space. The desktop for now is safe and sound still the domain of Microsoft Office. However the PC landscape is changing quickly and so are the applications that used to solely be focused as Windows Apps. Google Docs is in a good place as any market share they take is purely greenfield, they do not have the challenges that Microsoft faces in this space. Microsoft has to defend 90% market share. Any drop effects the bottom line. This is an area where innovation is simplification. Among new users we are seeing increased familiarity and adoption of Google Docs. Google has used its huge search revenues to fund this are and they do not really have anything to lose, except money, which they have a lot of. they seem to be gaining inroads in education and start ups. They are generating awareness. They also changed the playing field from a package driven model to a software as a service model. “When facing superior forces change the playing field”, Sun Tzu.

gMail really took off, as the other predominate free internet email service had kind of stagnated, namely Hotmail. It was not until 2012 that Microsoft finally updated the interface for Hotmail and replaced with Outlook. In the meantime gMail has become the default email service people sign up for when they create their first email account. Once you have signed up for a personal email account it is pretty hard to switch. I have a gMail account and I like gMail, but for me to move everything over is a pain and not from a technical perspective, but from a social perspective. I don’t want to have to notify and remind everyone, “hey Hotmail is no longer my preferred email service please use my gMail account, blah, blah, blah..” We used to refer to email as a “sticky” service and that has proven true. Which is why gMail has proven so successful and been a method for Google to get users to leverage other Google services. Once you go in decline in technology it is hard to recover.

Android has becomes the globes dominant mobile OS. Thanks in large part to the folks over in Korea; Samsung One report I read stated that in 2013 800 million Android devices will ship world wide. The benefit is that there are 800 million devices where Google will be the default search engine. It is essentially like printing money. If Google makes $1 per month in search per device that equates to $9.6 billion in revenue, Not to mention the apps that are downloaded to each devices from the app store. Those that are not free but purchased Google gets their cut. Google was smart to use Open Source and make the Android platform free. It makes adoption easier when you don’t have to pay. It is another example of Google using indirect business methods to generate revenue for other business ventures.

Chrome is changing the way we think of a browser. Besides increasing browser market share, they now have hardware devices shipping with the Chrome OS. For those not happy with Windows or a Mac there is yet another choice. But where I think Chrome hits the mark is it seems to be an idea whose time has come. The world is connected so the question is how much local hard drive space do I need anymore? Will it take off? I have played with a Chrome Book and it is light weight and has a very simple user interface. Can I see it being my primary device? For me probably not yet but it is not hard to fathom this is the way the world is headed. In the meantime Chrome continues to increase in browser share.

When Google swayed Microsoft GM Vic Gudotra, to leave the comfy confines of Microsoft they landed a rock star persona. I remember Vic, smart and a showman on stage. He was in Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Evangelism group. He knew the developer community. Since Vic joined left Microsoft, Google has done a phenomenal job courting the developer. One of the hottest developer conferences to attend right now is Google I/O (just held this past week). This year it was sold out in under one hour. Google is an internet company and since the last statistics I saw 75% of development targets internet services, it makes sense that Google is very successful in this arena. If you have a string developer community you have a group creating value for your products, thus making them even more attractive. Google may be the king of the developer community right now with everyone else playing catch up.

Will these things be executed upon to success? One thing Google has done well is reach for the stars in some of their initiatives that stretch boundaries, Google Glass was one that was introduced that seemed rather strange and awkward when it was first introduced. But over the past year it has garnered a tremendous amount of favorable press as more about the technology is understood. the work being done on robotic vehicles has a chance to really change and reshape our society. The opportunity and the benefits are tremendous. As I wrote recently in “The End of the DUI“, thousands of lives can be spared. We can lead more enjoyable and productive lifestyles. It seems right now with existing bets and the “far off” bets Google seems dialed in right now. Playing the future, predicting it.

It is still early in the decade we have time and things can change quickly as is always evident. My blog title is probably just a bit presumptuous. But there are so many things that Google seems to doing rights that this moment and through it all they are generating a tremendous amount of cash reserves. Somethings I did not even touch on such as Google Maps. Apple and Microsoft have tried to compete here, but Google Maps has become such a staple of day to day life it is used by people without much thought. The Google Nexus tablet has proven very popular. Google is at one of those moments in time where everything seems to be pointing their way. Will it change? Yes it will. Momentum shifts quickly in this industry. However when you are in the zone, it is a great and exciting place to be.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann May 17, 2013

High Tech meets Fashion

Published on May 7, 2013 by hansh51Leave a comment

Back a while in history, a little post dot com boom, Microsoft Research and Development came out with a new gadget that used the FM airwaves to communicate with a watch. It would be released and received some love in the press. It was called the Microsoft Spotwatch. It was an interesting idea at the time. In an odd way it made sense. With digital watches I had never really considered it or thought of it as a tiny user interface. But I guess it really was a “mini” UI. Since Microsoft at the time was all about owning the user experience it made sense and, for the first time it seemed Microsoft R&D had actually made something, like a real product coming from our vaunted and well-funded labs. That is a basic tenet of R&D. Create.

Not long after, while walking the halls of Microsoft, one of our geeky employees was actually wearing one. It was actually kind of hard to miss, since it was so big. It was not pretty, rather big and black. It was like a giant Timex watch. You could sort of interact with it. Find weather and simple items like that. However as a project did not last long. Thinking back on it, it was just a little ahead of its time, by a decade. There were other similar projects like this. I was at CTIA Wireless in Orlando and Siemens had made a watch you could stream video to. The guy showing me the demo said there was no commercial viability to the watch, they just wanted to prove it was possible. Projects like the aforementioned two, though seemingly silly and not viable at the time of development are often a window of opportunity for the future. The problem with invention is often the inventors do not think big enough or long-term enough.

Probably the technology that is most on the forefront of this shift to technology engaging the world of fashion right now is Google Glass. It has garnered a lot of press and created come controversy. The 5-Point Cafe in Seattle banned Google Glass from its establishment saying essentially it violated the privacy of its seedy dive bar status (FYI I highly recommend the 5-Point, good food, good drink). I am not convinced it will take off, but it does create a new method of communicating with the internet. In a world where we are increasingly mobile I can now be walking and talking with no device in my hand. The glasses themselves are not aesthetically perfect, but they are not horrible. Not like the SPOT watch. You can see eventually they will be pretty slick, maybe not even noticeable. The power of technology is it seems to always get smaller, until eventually it is vapor.

Returning to our watch theme, of late Apple has been on the press with a Apple iWatch. Are we going back to the future? I have been searching for what this device would look like and the good news is it promises to be much smaller and I hope with Apple’s obsession with great design it should be pretty slick. Bigger question for me is do I really need this in a watch? If it is simple and elegant I could see a lot of simple scenarios where this could be of valid use, beyond just checking the time. I could have local weather mode. Find the nearest taxi. Communicate with my robotic vehicle. Could be my communicator all Star Trek. If I could talk to my watch I could all of a suddenly have a lot of clever uses. Siri on my wrist? I see this happening.

At South by Southwest Google was showing off Google Shoes. A shoe that can collect information as you run. This made me think more of the latest buzz word in tech, “Big Data”. Everything that moves is collecting information. Why not shoes? You could see pursues as essentially a big repository of data. Wallet? Data. The question will be can we make the technology into an accessory that is either unnoticed or looks sleek and something I want to wear. If you watch “Project Runway”, designers are very creative people so the idea of technologies like Big Data, Robotics, and Search meeting Karl Lagerfield, Hugo Boss, and Calvin Klein is more science than fiction. It will be geek meets chic.

Finally there is already a website that addresses these scenarios (are you surprised?). You can go to FashionTech. there is also a battle heating up between Google, Nike and Jawbone in the field of what is being called wearable tech. I prefer fashion tech because if it is not in fashion most people will not wear anyway. There is no question we will be connected in new ways via the clothing we wear. These things are happening in front of us. It has made me think that the trend of the dying PC is not quite as we may think. We are simply moving from a world where the computing power which was once centralized and tied to our desktop is now being distributed into a multitude of devices and fabric. Erich Schmidt, Chairman of Google once said, “Every human will be ten IP addresses”. It does not sound so far off now. We have a wrist watch, sneakers and glasses so I already can count three IP addresses. Seven more does not seem that far off. You won’t connect anymore to the internet you will wear it.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann May 7, 2013

The end of the DUI

Published on April 24, 2013April 30, 2013 by hansh511 Comment

On April 4, 2013 Morgan Frick Williams left her home in Seattle and drove her car to her office in downtown Bellevue. Normally Morgan took the bus across the 520 bridge, but on that day she was going to drive to Bellingham after work to visit an old high school friend who was in a hospice. However in the pre-dawn morning just before she reached the bridge Morgan’s car was met head on by an SUV driving in the wrong direction. Morgan never made it to work, nor will she ever again as the accident took her life. Another victim in a preventable crime that takes nearly 10,000 American lives per year. To put that in perspective, on average every night of the year on 27 occasions across the country a police officer notifies someone with words such as “I am sorry sir, your son is dead”.

I remember the morning of the accident. Turning on King 5 news that morning and being greeted by live footage at the crime scene. Knowing the bridge well it was evident without hesitation that it was a drunk driving accident. The fact that the bridge was closed east bound meant a fatality had occurred. It seemed senseless. Like all drunk driving incidents it seems like it should be preventable. The only problem is to prevent these tragic deaths we have one factor to consider..we are human. We are prone to making poor decisions. Susceptible to addictions. Emotionless at times to the lives of others. Then when all is said and done we have emotions left to live with such as guilt, remorse, regret. depression and pain for those who commit the crime. Those who lose loved ones they live with something far worse, emptiness. Then once they emerge anger and hate, man kinds worst level of emotion.

On the horizon however there is hope. Technology is making breakthroughs that in time will enable those leaving a friend’s party, a dive bar. a corporate Christmas party, in fact name the event, but those that are either mildly intoxicated or severely will get into a car and say”Drive me home”. It will remove the greatest risk, the human risk. Sound far-fetched? Not really, most of the technology exists today. How many people reading this blog use their smartphone Maps application to navigate unfamiliar roads? For years there has been a robotics auto races. The Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA) has sponsored the “Grand Challenge” since 2004. It has since changed into other challenges, the next events scheduled here in 2013. It has morphed into an event that will not require vehicles as that domain is conquered. It will actually be what was once fictional, humanoid robots. The reason being the easy piece, car navigation has become boring.

It is a change that will happen in society and a change, I believe, that is inevitable. There will be many hurdles to overcome. the first being legal. Most states today don’t yet have laws in place that encompass robotic vehicles. As this technology rolls out there will be the trial and error effect. It will lead to lawsuits, which will be nice for a lot of “starving” lawyers, who are a beastly bunch. But the upside to our country will be immense. Both our aging auto industry and are nascent technology sector are behind these efforts. The car is changing. As Bill Ford said it is becoming a platform. Like an iPhone (and with an iPhone in the car) you are seeing apps being built with a car in a mind.

As a society we are almost all using a GPS service, either on our iPhone or Android device. They are not perfect but can get us to our destination without fail over ninety percent of the time. In a robotics world they will occasionally deliver us to the wrong destination. But as with all technology the rough curves will be smoothed out until it ceases to be an issue. Like the dawn of the POC age a car will improve and increase its onboard processing capabilities in time. I stated with 4mb RAM and a 40mb hard disk. Just twenty tears later we talk in gigs of memory and are now seeing terabytes of hard disk space. The robotic car will follow this same path as it matures over time.

Bill Gates is one of the most optimistic people, when it comes to technology, that I have ever heard and I have no doubt he would echo my positive sentiment on this one. The downside is, before this change takes place, there will be not just one or two more Morgan Frick William’s incidents, there will likely be tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of cases just like what we saw and read about on the 520 bridge, In the time since I started writing this blog entry hundreds of lives have been lost. Robotics is set to become a gigantic part of our present. With it many lives will be saved as we will have a means for the drunk driver to not drive, to take away the human element of these travesties

We live in a world where we are almost numb to disturbing, violent and often tragic news. It could be the latest terrorist attack, gun shootings, rape,. pick your poison it is likely to be a daily news story. But in many instances we have one of the greatest human conditions at work; hope. There is around the corner advancements taking place that could one day reduce (not eradicate) a tragedy that has been on place since Henry Ford created the automotive assembly line. The robotics revolution is upon us and it will enable people like Morgan Frick Williams to have a boring drive to work and except for those that know her, we will not know her name. And society will be better for it. More importantly her family and the tens of thousands of lives saved will be better for it.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann April 24, 2013